Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy
Reporting from LA: Censored Brokeback, the musical
By Sophie Sharp
None of you know who Drew Lachey is. Those of you who do will demurely deny it to preserve your credibility. All this is fine. Mr. Lachey is best known for the following accolades: He was a member of the boy-band 98 degrees; He is brother to Nick Lachey, the former Mr. Jessica Simpson; He was, up until last previous Sunday, living out the twilight of his c-list fame (oxymoron?) competing in an ABC television show called “Dancing with the Stars.”
Incidentally, Mr. Lachey won this competition. But what I found interesting, as did ABC, was the exchange that occurred directly after Mr. Lachey completed his winning freestyle dance. Mr. Lachey and his dance partner, professional Latin ballroom dancer Cheryl Burke, completed a rousing western-themed dance to the song “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” by Big and Rich. At the completion of the dance, Mr. Lachey and Ms. Burke stood to get commentary from the judges.
Giddy with the excitement from the performance, choreographer judge Bruno Tonioli blurted out, “You are ready for Brokeback Mountain, the musical.”
In response to this, a smiling Mr. Lachey took the cowboy hat from Ms. Burke’s head, turned around, covered his rear with the hat, and swaggered a few steps away. Laughing reaction shots from Nick Lachey and Drew’s fiancé in the audience followed, and the judging continued.
But all was not well at the network. ABC edited the ass-covering and subsequent stagger out of the west-coast broadcast of “Dancing with the Stars.” The west coast edition goes from “Brokeback Mountain, the musical” straight to a guffawing Nick Lachey and fiancé. What gives?
Internet conspiracy theories are already circulating. Lachey is homophobic. ABC doesn’t want to alienate what is likely a sizable gay audience for the show. Lachey was actually sort of knock-kneed in his walk, and was therefore paying subtle homage to bottoms everywhere.
I was an intern at MTV when Janet Jackson’s nipple overshadowed everything else that happened at Superbowl XXXVIII. After watching a network-wide fallout at MTV following the unfortunately titled “Nipplegate,” this is my take. Lachey’s completely un-explicit reference to homosexual anal sex was a little too PG-13 for an overzealous network standards department in the FCC equals Big Brother age of media.
Thanks to the modern marvel of YouTube, you can view the unedited video for yourself. Spend time as I did, mentally comparing the wobble in Lachey’s legs with the smile on his face. Do you see undertones of homosexuality, homophobia, or any thing else potentially offensive or relevant? Apparently ABC did. Watch here.
By Sophie Sharp
None of you know who Drew Lachey is. Those of you who do will demurely deny it to preserve your credibility. All this is fine. Mr. Lachey is best known for the following accolades: He was a member of the boy-band 98 degrees; He is brother to Nick Lachey, the former Mr. Jessica Simpson; He was, up until last previous Sunday, living out the twilight of his c-list fame (oxymoron?) competing in an ABC television show called “Dancing with the Stars.”Incidentally, Mr. Lachey won this competition. But what I found interesting, as did ABC, was the exchange that occurred directly after Mr. Lachey completed his winning freestyle dance. Mr. Lachey and his dance partner, professional Latin ballroom dancer Cheryl Burke, completed a rousing western-themed dance to the song “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” by Big and Rich. At the completion of the dance, Mr. Lachey and Ms. Burke stood to get commentary from the judges.
Giddy with the excitement from the performance, choreographer judge Bruno Tonioli blurted out, “You are ready for Brokeback Mountain, the musical.”In response to this, a smiling Mr. Lachey took the cowboy hat from Ms. Burke’s head, turned around, covered his rear with the hat, and swaggered a few steps away. Laughing reaction shots from Nick Lachey and Drew’s fiancé in the audience followed, and the judging continued.
But all was not well at the network. ABC edited the ass-covering and subsequent stagger out of the west-coast broadcast of “Dancing with the Stars.” The west coast edition goes from “Brokeback Mountain, the musical” straight to a guffawing Nick Lachey and fiancé. What gives?Internet conspiracy theories are already circulating. Lachey is homophobic. ABC doesn’t want to alienate what is likely a sizable gay audience for the show. Lachey was actually sort of knock-kneed in his walk, and was therefore paying subtle homage to bottoms everywhere.
I was an intern at MTV when Janet Jackson’s nipple overshadowed everything else that happened at Superbowl XXXVIII. After watching a network-wide fallout at MTV following the unfortunately titled “Nipplegate,” this is my take. Lachey’s completely un-explicit reference to homosexual anal sex was a little too PG-13 for an overzealous network standards department in the FCC equals Big Brother age of media.Thanks to the modern marvel of YouTube, you can view the unedited video for yourself. Spend time as I did, mentally comparing the wobble in Lachey’s legs with the smile on his face. Do you see undertones of homosexuality, homophobia, or any thing else potentially offensive or relevant? Apparently ABC did. Watch here.
posted by Thessaly | 12:16 AM
4 Comments:
This is interesting, but think of how far we've come with media censorship. Fifty years ago, you couldn't even reveal a toilet in a studio film. And we all know after the Oscar montage that Brokeback isn't the first big Hollywood movie about gay cowboys. Oh, the repressed homoeroticism.
I just realized: I think we're obsessed with gay cowboys.
www.soft-curls.com
I know this post is ancient, but it was the only reference to Lachey's Homophobia that came up in a Google search. More evidence of Drew's homophobia from his recent appearance on Regis & Kelly: In a BBQ segment, Drew refused to stand close to a speedo-clad dancer who hung around after the go-go segment, and he kept warning the guy, only half-jokingly, to keep his distance.
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