Elton John says he too is offended by
the inclusion of a gay joke in the upcoming Ron Howard-directed
comedy film The Dilemma.
“Enough already!” the 63-year-old
singer-songwriter told glossy US. “I hate bigotry. I hate
racial hatred. I hate sexual hatred.”
After CNN host Anderson Cooper
criticized the film's trailer during an appearance on The Ellen
DeGeneres Show, Universal Pictures responded by altering the
online version of the trailer.
The new trailer no longer includes
Vince Vaughn's character in a boardroom saying, “Electric cars are
gay. I mean not 'homosexual' gay, but 'my parents are chaperoning
the dance' gay.”
John praised Cooper for speaking out.
“His heart is in exactly the right
place – same as mine. He thinks the way I do. He's intelligent,
and he's on the side of what we're on,” he added.
Last week, Vaughn defended the joke,
saying 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 exactly that; it divides us,” he said
in a statement to celebrity
website E! “Most importantly, where does it stop.”
“Vince is right,” media watchdog
group GLAAD said. “Comedy does bring us together, unless one of us
is the punchline. Then it pushed us apart.”