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Crossposted with permission from the glaadBLOG.
~~Autumn Sandeen~~
Tonight Show Makes Tired Transgender Jokes
by Jonathan Rosales, GLAAD’s Entertainment Media Manager
On last Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show, host Conan O’Brien repeated his “Conan’s Tabloid Moment” segment and used the skit to make easy and unfunny jokes at the expense of the transgender community.
“Conan’s Tabloid Moment” typically involves O’Brien staging scandalous tabloid photos with the (false) intent of selling them to magazines to make a profit. In Thursdays segment, O’Brien began by posing at a strip club after a few drinks then wondered how to make the situation even more embarrassing for himself. At this point, a neon sign reading “Trannie’s” appears and the female strippers slap on fake mustaches.
Conan O’Brien has shown in the past that he is a comedian capable of making gay-themed jokes without resorting to cheap laughs and offensive slurs. This was most recently on display when he made fun of NBC‘s Failing grade in the GLAAD Network Responsibility Index. Unfortunately, sensitivity to transgender issues is an area in which many comics frequently fall short. Not only is the term “tranny” offensive to the transgender community, the representation of transgender women as mustached men in dresses is a harmful misrepresentation.
GLAAD has reached out to NBC and is hoping to have an update to this issue soon.
15 Comments
A programming suggestionAs I suggested over at ENDABlog: Conan? At your earliest convenience, please schedule both Joey Lawrence and Patrick Duffy as guests on an episode of your version of The Tonight Show.
I was really shocked when I looked on google for a transgender kiss videoNearly every one used the slur Autumn finds the most offensive,(not tranny, and not it.)
What are the odds every Black video would use the N-word as the title, or every woman’s video would use the C-word.
Granted I have no moderation on my google search, but still the casual use of this term….says a lot.
News FightNow if Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would team up to beat him up again. This time for real.
For Pete’s Sake…What a non issue issue.
what a callous responseTrannie/Tranny = Nigger, Faggot, Cunt, Wop, Dago, Kike, Spic, etc, etc, etc. The fact that so many people seem to be not aware of it doesn’t make it a non-issue, but thanks for celebrating your ignorance and insensitivity in public.
It’s a hell of a lot easier to avoid idiots if they make themselves obvious.
Further proof I’m not from this planet…
…why millions think this hack is funny, trans “jokes” or not.
MB phone home!
I love watching Conan
Agree 100%A “tranny” is a part of a car, not a person.
why is it always considered “funny”?In addition to the use of the word many find offensive, I just experience a gut-level anger and disgust whenever struggling comics (given his ratings…) turn to making TS/TG jokes in hopes that EVERYONE finds that subject automatically good for laughs… Cross-dressing is a similar and related subject… a male-bodied person in a dress equals big hilarity?
They need to understandThere are plenty of people out there who equate a “a male-bodied person in a dress” with the right to discriminate (or worse).
Dena
That’s evil and disgustingThey make me want to puke my guts out.
I censored the rest of my post because it graphically expressed how I want to take out my anger on Mr. O’Brien. He’d better pray he doesn’t meet up with me, that’s all I’m going to say.
I haven’t watched O’Brien for yearsBut back when I sampled him (I think I kept watching in hopes that sooner or later I’d see what was funny about him–didn’t work), I came away with the distinct impression that, like Jay Leno, he never let a night go by without making at least one nasty joke about LGBT people. It was usually but not always gay men. The fact that’s he’s moved on to bigtime trans-bashing comes as no surprise to me.
I’ve never found the man even remotely funny. I can’t fathom why other people do, except that schoolboy nastiness obviously appeals to lots of nominal adults as well as adolescent jerks. (And I have to add that I have always had a thing for red-haired men, but looking at him makes me retch; that takes some doing.)
Who is Pete?Another dumbass bigot?
ROFL QScribe!Best. Riposte. Possible. Kudos for that!
they way i see it…trans people will always be made fun of, just like every other kind of person that exists will be made fun of. this is what comedians do. when i see it from this perspective, i am happy that he used cis women to play the “trannies” and not “men in dresses”. does anybody else think that its atleast, maybe, a tiny step forward?
oh, and i also hate the word tranny. in my experience the people who use the word tranny are either hateful or only want to be my friend because they think its cool.