Paris Barclay Undermines the LGBT Community; Darren Criss Remains Grossly Overrated
Last night, power gay Paris Barclay accepted the HRC Visibility Award. The honor was one he unquestionably deserved. His title and position of influence within the LGBT are an intersectional victory, and his body of work is impressive. But even the most distinguished of queer role models can perpetuate gross attitudes that glorify the common decency of straight allies (see also: Ryan Murphy's writing, GLAAD, any credit given to Macklemore's existence).
The night began with Paris, Darren Criss, and Darren's girlfriend Mia Swier on the red carpet.
Why was Darren Criss tagging along with him, you might be wondering. According to Paris, it was a deal they struck up. Darren would warm the crowd up for Paris's important speech in exchange for a sexual favor. "I promised him a vaporub if he would come out and do this, so I guess now I owe him a vaporub," Paris said, making a reference to a classic non-consensual rubdown on Glee. I'm sure the audience all got the joke and were laughing on the inside. They certainly weren't on the outside.
Paris went on to thank Darren for being a Big Goddamn Hero, courageously resisting all primitive heterosexual urges to fly into a gay panic and punch Chris Colfer right in his slightly effeminate face every single time they've been paid to kiss as an infrequent and chemistry-free part of their lucrative jobs. "Darren, thank you so much for being that straight guy on Glee who represents everybody, and doesn’t feel bad about kissing," Paris gushed. "You are an amazing example." Many of us were undoubtedly tragically blind to how Darren magically represents everybody until Paris put it like that. Thankfully he took the opportunity, while accepting his Visibility Award, to point out how a straight guy alone can represent our community.
For some reason, a lot of people took issue with Paris's wording in the speech. When approached about it, Paris gave this sarcastic and appallingly dense response:
But not everyone saw a problem with it. Darren, for his part, was deeply moved by the way Paris lavished him with undeserved praise.
In return, Paris praised Darren yet again, this time for the work Darren did warming up the crowd for him.
What kind of warm up did Darren give him that made it such a great night? I didn't put myself through the torture of watching the video, but it apparently involved Darren pointing out that a hilarious joke could be made about the fact that a gay black man could be president of an organization. Was he thinking of a gay Obama joke? Or something even more offensive? He kindly left it to our imaginations.
So the important question here is: When will Darren win an award for not only being Gay-For-Pay, but also for limiting his hilarious black jokes to jokes about the way big black women sing? Only time will tell!
[video]
The night began with Paris, Darren Criss, and Darren's girlfriend Mia Swier on the red carpet.
Why was Darren Criss tagging along with him, you might be wondering. According to Paris, it was a deal they struck up. Darren would warm the crowd up for Paris's important speech in exchange for a sexual favor. "I promised him a vaporub if he would come out and do this, so I guess now I owe him a vaporub," Paris said, making a reference to a classic non-consensual rubdown on Glee. I'm sure the audience all got the joke and were laughing on the inside. They certainly weren't on the outside.
Paris went on to thank Darren for being a Big Goddamn Hero, courageously resisting all primitive heterosexual urges to fly into a gay panic and punch Chris Colfer right in his slightly effeminate face every single time they've been paid to kiss as an infrequent and chemistry-free part of their lucrative jobs. "Darren, thank you so much for being that straight guy on Glee who represents everybody, and doesn’t feel bad about kissing," Paris gushed. "You are an amazing example." Many of us were undoubtedly tragically blind to how Darren magically represents everybody until Paris put it like that. Thankfully he took the opportunity, while accepting his Visibility Award, to point out how a straight guy alone can represent our community.
For some reason, a lot of people took issue with Paris's wording in the speech. When approached about it, Paris gave this sarcastic and appallingly dense response:
But not everyone saw a problem with it. Darren, for his part, was deeply moved by the way Paris lavished him with undeserved praise.
In return, Paris praised Darren yet again, this time for the work Darren did warming up the crowd for him.
What kind of warm up did Darren give him that made it such a great night? I didn't put myself through the torture of watching the video, but it apparently involved Darren pointing out that a hilarious joke could be made about the fact that a gay black man could be president of an organization. Was he thinking of a gay Obama joke? Or something even more offensive? He kindly left it to our imaginations.
So the important question here is: When will Darren win an award for not only being Gay-For-Pay, but also for limiting his hilarious black jokes to jokes about the way big black women sing? Only time will tell!
[video]
