Phil,
That's not alliteration.

wait. so he apologized to cowboys and horses, but not to gay people?

Oh, man. I don't like sports; it's an all-men club, and that means a lot of homophobia and 'gay jokes' abound. And everyone goes 'ha-ha, isn't he funny?' because if they don't, they're called 'gay' or 'faggot' too. The first step to stopping stuff like this is stopping the hatred of gays, and making sure that everyone knows jokes like this are not okay. I highly doubt it'll do much, but it's worth a shot.

Who cares? Everyone's guilty of making a "gay" joke at some point in their life.

As a gay man, I actually found Jackson's joke quite funny...

Blah.
Who hasn't laughed when one of his/her coaches spoke of "penetration?" That was tied for my favorite with the times a coach would grab someone off the bench and say, "Go give him a blow."

A little inappropriate, maybe, but this didn't sound like a derogatory comment at all. In fact, if we are going to have mainstream hit movies about gay cowboys, then we should expect sexual references derived from such films to enter the public lexicon.

13 Matt Says:
Sounds like some group needs attention. Neil G. Giuliano is just another Phil Donahue.

Hey! I like Phil Donahue. =(

dudes i am gay and i saw nothing wrong with it, i mean seriously leno after the movie came out over used the jokes to death, and there was a slight anti gay feeling in it any gay person could tell that, but this guy was not attacking any gay person, was not putting us down was not being harrassing at all, lighten up on him he could have been alot alot worse, not everyone that says a gay joke is wanting to hang all gay people, just like everyone that says a black joke is wanting harm for blacks if that was so mad tv would have been off the air along time ago.

What struck me oddest was that, if you're going to talk penetration, why the focus on gay sex? Isn't hetero sex much more likely to result in penetration of some kind?

I got the gist of what he was up to, however. He all but called the opposition fags, which you know is what he really wanted to say.

So when the guy from the Catholic league gets upset about a joke, hes a nut job. But when someone from the defamation league gets pissed off about a sexual reference not even a gay joke, we have to support them 100%. Stop being so knee jerk C&L.

Here's another one to read aloud:
A joke you can tell the kids:

a guy walks into a GAY psychatrist's office and says, "Doctor, doctor! You gotta help me! I keep having recurring nightmares! First I dream I am a teepee then I dream i am a wigwam!"

The doctor looks at him and says, "Every night you have this same dream? First you are a wigwam and then you are a teepee? It's easy, my friend, you are just too tense!"

Lollimom @ 18:

What struck me oddest was that, if you're going to talk penetration, why the focus on gay sex? Isn't hetero sex much more likely to result in penetration of some kind?

I got the gist of what he was up to, however. He all but called the opposition fags, which you know is what he really wanted to say.

Nah-h...he wasn't talking about THE METS!!! BWahahahahaha!

15 Eddybaby Says:
Here’s one you have to say out loud for it to work:

A guy and a giraffe walk into a bar, they proceed to drink whisky until they are both totally s#!tfaced. The giraffe passes out and falls off his stool and lays out toes up on the floor. His pal stands up, downs his drink, and walks toward the door. Just then the bartender yells at the man, pointing at the giraffe, “Hey! You can’t leave that lyin’ THERE!” The drunk turns and says, “Thats not a lion, its a giraffe!”

Okay,…a GAY giraffe, then, if that makes it fit the thread better.

Lol.

I hate the Lakers.
I hate Phil Jackson.
I am gay.
I thought that joke was funny.
And, if you follow his joke through to it's natural conclusion, he is saying that gay basketball trumps straight basketball. It's about the penetration, after all.

GLAAD, what a waste of time, really.

You've got to be kidding me. There is no bigger hippie liberal in the entire NBA than Phil Jackson.

Some people have too much free time on their hands.

Look at it this way, though - I bet GLAAD filled up some of their coffers for 2008 with this pseudo-crisis. It reminds me of the way the NRA pokes around once in a while when there isn't a real gun control crisis at hand.

Who hasn't said anything inappropriate? I have, but I thought it was a weird joke to make publicly...

I probably would have made the same joke- among my friends who know me- not on television in front of reporters. Hello...

tdizzle @ 35:

Why is this on a politics blog?

Uhh... let me see if I can do this....

Crooks and Liars is run by Amato...
He appears(ed?) on the Young Turks that broadcast out of LA...
LA is home to the Lakers....
The Lakers are Coached by Phil Jackson...
Phil pissed off GLAAD with his comment....
GLAAD is a political action group....
that probably likes Kevin Bacon

I have a hard time taking any man seriously who spends so much time playing with his balls.

I don't think he has a thing to apologize for. I chuckled when I heard what he said.

I'm gay and find it funny. Some people really need to lighten up. Life is far too short.

Just some poor judgement - mostly on the part of GLAAD.

With all of the justified battles to be waged, this kind of scolding just undermines their position (pun intended).

Herby @ 41:

gwen @ 11:

so that joke was offensive because...???? Come on GLAD, ever hear of picking your battles?

I guess they do, because I've been on a few news sites, and don't seem to see any comment from GLAD on this matter. It was the NBA that issued the reprimand and i think they over-reacted.

OOPs sorry, I was wrong someone from GLAD did say something... My Bad... Still think it's been blown out of proportion.

sheesh.....much ado about nothing.....damn..people need to lighten up...bad joke or not....

This is getting out of hand. Too much PC is not a good thing.

As a gay man I did not find the "joke" offensive but I found the apology very offensive. What an a** hole. Richard from Toronto.

Come on people, we know what sports are all about... a bunch of men running around trying to get balls. That's what the team sport mentality revolves around. However, if you take alook at, say, swimming...

51 Sir Craig Says:
Amazing - not one comment on this thread actually condemning Phil Jackson’s comment, but rather dozens of comments wondering why this is even an issue, and they are all being shown.

This is why C&L is a much better forum than those right-wing asylums. Oh, and by the way, this really is a total non-issue. Phil said nothing derogatory about gays, instead referring to a movie that has been made fun of by literally hundreds of comedians with little to no anguished cries or rending of clothing.

That's cuz C&L friggin' roxxors. That is all. =)

There's a great issue in Eightball by Daniel Clowes (also reprinted in the book 20th Century Eightball) in a piece called "On Sports" in which it says

"The Sporting Green is a Freudian Battleground on which Primitive Psychsexual Conflicts are played out using a Sadistic Lexicon, both physical and verbal, of sublimated Homosexual Rape and Oedipal Hostility!"

I think his remarks were in appropriate whether they refer to gay or hetero sex. He's a public figure and is idolized and respected by kids as well as adults. To my mind, if there's a chance a kid might be listening, clean it up a bit. Save your clever double entendres for your cocktail parties, Phil.

WorldAsUnwill @ 5:

Is this even worth a mention? It's a gay joke. I like to make gay jokes, racist jokes and jokes about all kinds of "shocking" things but that doesn't mean I hate gays or black people or whatever. People should lighten up.

Of course not, as you are not a public figure who represents a large entertainment business, nor do you make statements to international media about your business.

You sound like a reasonable person, who can think before you speak, intelligent enough to sympathize with other humans, and honest enough to sincerely apologize when you accidentally make offensive statements.

Bill B. @ 61:

This is the one thing I despise about liberals in general (I'm a far left pro-socialist liberal myself) -- political correctness. Politeness is one thing, but political correctness is way too extreme.

If any gays, lesbians, cowboys, or horses didn't like Jackson's joke, get over it.

Hmm, okay, as long as you take my jokes about faux far left pro-socialist liberals on international media silently. Perhaps you also will silently take my publicly broadcast insincere apologies.

He's just another dumb jock, who cares. These are grown men playing kids games and it is our national obsession. If people cared half as much about serious issues as they did about the Super Bowl, .................................

WorldAsUnwill @ 5:

Is this even worth a mention? It's a gay joke. I like to make gay jokes, racist jokes and jokes about all kinds of "shocking" things but that doesn't mean I hate gays or black people or whatever. People should lighten up.

Amen to that.

When you start getting all hot and bothered about such meaningless issues, you need to start checking yourself.

um, ok. it wasn't a funny joke but its not particularly offensive - other than its 'not funny-ness'...who cares?

Josh @ 55:

Am I the only one that thinks the apology was even better than the joke?

I thought the "apology" was awesome.

You guys have to remember, he is a basketball coach. I don't think he thought "Brokeback Mountain" because it was the first thing to come to mind. I bet he actually does call it that in practice. Why? Because he's a basketball coach!! To win the game you've got to stop penetration (basketball kind). How do you get your players to listen to you and take something serious? Make them think - play on the double entendre with "penetration". If they think, "whoa, I got to stop the penetration because if I don't then maybe I'm gay!" that's even better. He's a basketball coach.

And I disagree with him. I think he's much funnier than Jay Leno. He apologized to horses! And, by the way, everybody knows Brokeback Mountain was set in Wyoming, but he apologized to Texans. You think he was thinking about the Spurs or Mavericks? Phil Jackson is a smart dude, and if you think its inappropriate to make a joke about having a sexual orientation, or sex in general, you need to be reminded that we are all just a bunch of animals who only have been out of the trees for a few thousand years.

The guy is not making gay slurs, he's comparing his teams play to a fictional film. As a gay basketball playing cowboy I found it funny.

Poor, poor, pitiful gays and lesbians, especially the ones who sit around in a room trying to decide who is defaming them the most. Is there anything more humorously defamatory than forming an 'Alliance Against Defamation'? How about an 'Anti-Defamatory Alliance of Bi-Sexuals'? An 'Alliance of Heterosexual Felons Against Defamatory Slurs by Gays and Lesbians'? The 'Association of Anti-Defamatory Organizations and Alliances Formed by Gays and Lesbians and Others of Queer Sexual Persuasions'?

It was hillarious!!!! The word Brokeback is very comical these days. The absurdity of two gay cowboys - who would by appearance look like lockstep neoclowns - is almost satirical in nature.

Zen master - the king of all media.

shfv @ 75:

this is overblown, I am a homosexual, I thought it was rather humorous

You're a "homosexual"? Sounds like you are a very. serious. person.

You're a queen! A queer! Loosen up!! :)

Filthy Harry @ 39:

pissed off patricia @ 37:

If I had a quarter for every blond joke I've heard I would be rich, but I wouldn't be offended.

Cause you didn't get them?

sorry, couldn't resist.

No, Patricia got them. Her blonde hair comes from a bottle.

Sorry, I couldn't resist :)

Let's face it. Anal sex is a funny subject.

Oh please, you can't even joke these days and everyone gets offended. [Unfunny. And offensive-Sitemonitor]

I seem to be agreeing with a lot of posters here, but seriously, where's the problem? Bunch of men, bunch of "penetration", easy Brokeback joke. In poor taste given that it was a public comment, sure, but I guess I don't see where that's in any way offensive. Had the teams been of mixed genders, then a different pop-culture-reference would have, of course, been appropriate.

Heck, I work in electronics and I've lost count of the number of (usually bad) jokes surrounding wire strippers. (And butt crimp connectors, of course.) I've never been accused of being misogynistic or disparaging of erotic dancers of any gender for that matter as a result. Just low-hanging fruit in the humor orchard is all.

The apology, on the other hand, that's kinda weird. I'm going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume his list of "If I had offended" people/professions/animals was intended to point out that he didn't mean offense to anybody, but it sounded a lot more like an awkward attempt to avoid even mentioning anything related to homosexuality.

Eh. I don't get how that is offensive to gays. Anyone?

What gays don't have penetrative sex? I highly doubt that... I could see the league dinging him for any sexual innuendo AT ALL (which is what I think he meant by alliteration), in light of the Isaiah Thomas thing. But this isn't specifically offensive to gay people that I can see.

As a coach, I'm sure he was trying to signal to his team that he was upset that they were so sloppy on defense that they were "penetrated" over and over. I'm sure he was thinking of Deliverance, but since most of his players are way too young to remember, he picked the first man on man penetration he could think of that they'd know... not quite as good a fit since as #90 points out Brokeback is more about willingness and intimacy as opposed to the spooky stuff in Deliverance.

Or, maybe Brokeback IS appropriate, as he would then be asking, "So what's the deal here team? Maybe you guys just like bending over? Are we not competing here? Or do you simply enjoy being penetrated... we aren't supposed to SUBMIT to the other team, dang it, etc."

Coaches are weird folk, and there may be homophobia in sports historically... But I'd say put down those torches and pitchforks on this one (blech -- I can't believe I've just defended Phil Jackson). Using sex of some sort to communicate with jocks will always be there. "Balls in a vice", "don't just bend over and take it", "don't make love to him -- box him the hell out of there", etc.

Kinda goes with the territory of males + exertion. Or males + anything, really (gee, thanks nature). Add to that the fact that many athletes abstain from any sex before important performances, and it really is unavoidable.

This stinks of the "PC police" that aren't so much interested in protecting the feelings of gay men, but dominating in their own perverse fashion...

Lynnianaa @ 7:

Who cares? Everyone's guilty of making a "gay" joke at some point in their life.

"Everyone's" not Phil Jackson. He's held to a higher standard because of his position. He should have his wrist slapped.

Just another overpaid arrogant talentless American asshole.

kerplunk @ 95:

Just another overpaid arrogant talentless American asshole.

Yeah, he's talentless... he only has 10 NBA championship rings. As for overpaid, don't hate the player, hate the game.

i've got to agree with all the "lighten up" comments.

do gay jokes belong in the closet? i say, mainstream them. good natured joshing about sex is a way of becoming comfortable with people; when folks STOP thinking that any reference to gay men is automatically offensive, then we've achieved acceptance and equality.

also, i think an insincere apology was entirely appropriate. and i hope jackson meant it that way.

btw, did anyone see nathan lane's "brokeback mountain: the musical" bit that he did on letterman's show when the movie first came out? hilarious. and somehow, i don't think nathan was offended.

Jackson is right that he's no comedian. He's also no movie critic. Nor is he a social commentator or a human rights activist.
His function on this earth is to win basketball games. And he deserves to be kicked and kicked hard if he starts to drift even one micro-millimeter away from that function. His apology didn't need to be an apology, it just needed to be an acknowledgement of this fact. He should have learned as much from Michael Jordan: you open your mouth when you're selling something. Otherwise keep it shut.

Penetration. Tight End. balls. ball field.field of play. Ball handler. In the box. Hit the hole.Perform.A leg up. Coming home. Came up big. ......Any society that doesn't make sexual jokes out of such obvious material is in serious trouble.

I say consider the source; it's coach boob! Now I'm assuming here but to most gays I assume coach boob is hardly a predominant figure or authority nor does what he said impact us at all.

Hard drive,sustained drive,pile drive,drive through the hole,open hole

who cares lighten up

stet @ 101:

Jackson is right that he's no comedian. He's also no movie critic. Nor is he a social commentator or a human rights activist.
His function on this earth is to win basketball games. And he deserves to be kicked and kicked hard if he starts to drift even one micro-millimeter away from that function. His apology didn't need to be an apology, it just needed to be an acknowledgement of this fact. He should have learned as much from Michael Jordan: you open your mouth when you're selling something. Otherwise keep it shut.

Lighten up; if us homosexuals are fine with it, then you (a closet homosexual?) should be as well.