Laughing about our differences brings
us together, Vince Vaughn said Thursday in responding to calls to cut
a gay joke from the upcoming Ron Howard-directed film The Dilemma.
Last week, after CNN host Anderson
Cooper criticized the film's trailer during an appearance on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show, the studio responded by altering the online
version of the trailer.
The new trailer no longer includes
Vaughn's character in a boardroom saying, “Electric cars are gay.
I mean not 'homosexual' gay, but 'my parents are chaperoning the
dance' gay.”
Vaughn said that while he was
“outraged” by bullying and persecution, joking about our
differences “brings us together.”
“Drawing divided lines over what we
can and cannot joke about does exact that; it divides us,” he said
in a statement to celebrity
website E! “Most importantly, where does it stop.”
The gay rights group GLAAD is
spearheading an effort demanding Universal Pictures delete the joke
from the final film, set for release in January.
“If Universal insists on keeping the
homophobic material in the final movie they are helping to fuel a
climate that endorses and promotes anti-gay attitudes,” GLAAD's
online petition reads.
The group also wants studio executives
to pull the plug on the film's theatrical trailer, which has not been
altered.
“When 'gay' is used as a pejorative
in such a public way for millions to see and laugh with, it
legitimizes and propels the many taunts that gay people endure,”
Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD, said in a statement. “Amidst
a rash of bullying related suicides and anti-gay hate crimes, we need
to tell Universal and America that our community is tired of being
used as a punch line.”