GLAAD slams use of 'homo' in 'Hancock'

Damon Romine, a blogger for GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and the group's entertainment media director, is miffed that the Fourth of July flick's main character in “Hancock,” played by Will Smith, slings some anti-gay rhetoric.

Romine notes, “GLAAD understands that sometimes anti-gay language shows up in dramatic narrative to reveal a character’s true colors, or to convey a message. But there’s a big difference between using it to highlight a character’s anti-gay attitudes and making a cheap, unfunny shot at gay people.”

The context?

When Jason Bateman’s idealistic public-relations character (responsible for rehabilitating the protagonist's tarnished image) shows the anti-social boozer Hancock a bunch of comics featuring superheroes, Hancock’s response to each one is “homo.” Not cool.

The GLAAD blogger continues, “No one would have missed the line if it wasn’t there, but an unfortunate choice was made to go for the cheap gay joke. In that moment, young gay people in the movie’s audience are put in the position of being ridiculed by a character they are expected to regard as a hero.”

Click here for GLAAD's remarks.