Mouthful Of Hate

When Sacha Baron Cohen put his crotch in the face of Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards it was a moment of divine inspiration. Here was the homophobic rapper (at least that's the image he puts across in his songs) getting a face full of ass and balls.

And he looked pissed. His bodyguards looked pissed. Audiences members looked confused and perplexed. It was a great moment, and the only one to blame is Eminem.

When someone puts himself out there as being so homophobic you can only expect a backlash. One of the best backlashes is, of course, comedy. If everyone is laughing (which I was), it's pretty damn hard for them to feel sorry for you. I watched it and thought, "Wow, he really deserves this one."

I'm kind of surprised Cohen didn't get the crap pounded out of him. He was pushed around a bit, and it looked like maybe one fist flew, but damn if that wasn't worth it. The rapper, who attacks everyone in sight (and this is more than fine), sets himself up as a target for those people, and believe me they can hurt him more than he can hurt them. That was proven here. So why is that?

When Eminem attacks unprovoked (which again, is fine), he makes his targets victims. Victims of his hate and anger. When those targets fight back, however, it becomes self-defense and justice. People sympathize with that. They figure the original aggressor got what he had coming, and I can't disagree.

I am in no way suggesting Eminem tone down his act. I'm not a fan of his, but I totally defend his right to say whatever the hell crosses his mind. I'm also encouraging people to fight back, especially if it is done in a humorous way, such as Cohen's actions. Perhaps gay men can run up to the rapper and dry hump him. The paparazzi is around, so it will all be caught. (Just expect charges to be pressed, but again -- worth it.) Perhaps they can proposition him in the most obscene way possible.

I worked with a homophobic guy who often called me "faggot." I didn't really care, but it was annoying. (I'm one of those "consider the source" kind of guys.) So, one day after saying enough is enough, I waited until he was talking to this girl he really liked and said something like "Craig, I've been waiting forever to do this."

And I kissed him.

I only kissed him on the cheek, but it was enough. He flipped. She laughed her ass off, as did everyone else who saw it. Then he stormed out. Our relationship changed, though. After that, he actually stopped calling me names (again, not that I cared), and sometimes even pretended to be gay. (It was almost as if he didn't get that it was a joke, and that was kind of odd.)

Sometimes that's all it takes. If it doesn't work -- fine. You still got a good joke out of it .. and a television audience is nothing but amused.