Opinions on the forced outing of Naya
Rivera's lesbian character on the Fox musical-comedy Glee vary
widely on the Internet.
On this week's episode, titled Mash
Off, Rivera's Santana Lopez was forced out the closet before she
had the opportunity to tell her parents that she is gay.
Santana, who is known for delivering
insulting one-liners, pushed Finn Hudson (played by Cory Monteith)
too far on Tuesday's episode.
In one scene, the pair trade insults as
Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris), Santana's love interest, looks on.
“Hey, Santana,” Finn calls out.
“You look like an ass-less J-Lo.”
“Is that really all you can come up
with?” Santana rhetorically asks. “You seriously think you can
out-insult me? I'm from Lima Heights. I was raised on insults.
It's how mi abuela put me to sleep at night. And she is not a nice
lady. You know, she tried to sell me once. And it wasn't until I
got to kindergarten that I learned my name wasn't garbage face.”
During a later altercation that takes
place in a crowded hallway, Santana rips into Finn as she delivers a
fake apology: “I'm sorry you sing like you're getting your prostate
checked, and you dance like you've been asleep for years, and someone
just woke you up.”
As she triumphantly walks away, Finn
calls after her, “Hey, Santana. Why don't you just come out of the
closet?”
The outing hit a nerve with gay fans of
the show who took to social media to express their disapproval.
“Finn Hudson, all lesbians are going
to kill you tonight in your sleep,” said one tweet.
“Dear Finn Hudson, We're coming for
you. Signed Brittana fandom and #gaysharks,” another wrote.
Lesbian entertainment website
AfterEllen.com
said Santana's insults did not justify Finn's actions. “I am not
happy with Santana in this scene, but right now I never want to see
Finn Hudson's face again.”
But Entertainment
Weekly came to Finn's defense, writing: “I know that this
will be divisive because he essentially outed her, but I don't think
it was done out of meanspiritedness (yes, Finn is still the
complicated 'hero').”
Gawker
agreed, saying the closet had turned Santana into “an evil
bitch” and “she got what she had coming.”
The debate is certain to escalate when
the show returns in two weeks.