Universal Pictures has altered a
trailer for the upcoming Vince Vaughn comedy The Dilemma after
an outcry over a gay joke.
In the original trailer, Vaughn's
character in a boardroom says, “Electric cars are gay. I mean not
'homosexual' gay, but 'my parents are chaperoning the dance' gay.”
“The teaser trailer for 'The Dilemma'
was not intended to cause anyone discomfort,” Universal said in a
statement released Friday. “In light of growing claims that the
introduction to the trailer is insensitive, it is being replaced. A
full trailer, which has been in the works for some time, will post
online later today.”
The new trailer comes after a loud
outcry from gay groups and high-profile celebrities
During a Wednesday appearance on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and host Ellen
DeGeneres criticized the trailer.
Cooper said he was “shocked” by the
joke's inclusion. “We gotta do something to make those words …
unacceptable, 'cause those words are hurting kids,” Cooper said,
referring to the recent string of teens who had committed suicide
after being bullying because they were gay.
“The use of the word 'gay' in this
trailer as a slur is unnecessary and does nothing more than send a
message of intolerance about our community to viewers,” Jarrett
Barrios, president of the media watchdog group the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), said in a statement.