Earlier this week Nigel Lythgoe, a judge on the reality show So You Think You Can Dance stirred up controversy when he commented that the samba danced by male contestants Misha Belfer and Mitchel Kibel was too effeminate. He later tweeted “The same-sex ballroom guys did remind me of Blades of Glory. However, I’m not a fan of Brokeback ballroom.”
Today he issued an apology and GLAAD seems to have accepted it.
“I sincerely regret the fact that I have upset people with the poor word choices and comments I made both during the taping of the So You Think You Can Dance audition and on my personal status update,” said Lythgoe. “I am not homophobic and it was extremely upsetting for me to be classed as such.”
In Saturday’s apology, Lythgoe both explained his actions and took responsibility for the repercussions. The executive producer stated, “I believe the sexual orientation of an auditioner or contestant is irrelevant. The fact that I have unintentionally upset people is distressing to me and it is obvious I have made mistakes that I must learn from. I trust that my humor will be more sensitive and mindful moving forward.”
A happy ending seems imminent for all, as seen in GLAAD president Neil G. Giuliano‘s reaction to the apology.
“We certainly appreciate the dialogue and the opportunity for Nigel to help further educate people about how words and images matter,” said Giuliano. “His sincere words are appreciated.”
Honestly, I hope that show continues to have controversies from time to time. I really love writing the titles for these articles.
i dont think he should apologize for anything.
its his opinion… jesus
oh that’s right. I remember now. You’re the one who keeps posting about ewww! gay guys and how much you hate them.
This was never a case of homophobia, but this guy has to apologize because people like you are too dense to understand context. Way to go, PC police.
this has nothing to do with my comment to eww. he/she has said things before like eww gay guy and how much he/she hates them hence my “i remember [you] now”
i’m not pc police, if nigel would have done a better job @ critiquing the dance w/o bringing in the gay factor, apology would not have been necess.
The possibilities for jokes and puns are endless that that show’s title.
Way to go Nigel. I think (and hope) he’ll do a better job from now on of critiquing the dance in an honest, witty way that he generally does, but in a way that could not even remotely be interpreted as homophobic.
You should change your name to McCarthy… or better yet “McGaythy”.
There is no one here named McCarthy…?
wendie already posted something like this : (
i don’t think his comments were homophobic at all, he didn’t say they couldn’t date he said he doesn’t like the way they DANCE. there are obviously specific criteria the judges look for in a dance competition esp ballroom which is why males are always paired with females. all of the judges explained that.
Ah Jesus Christ, he’s a middle-aged white straight or closeted white man who’s lived in privilege all his life, chances are he IS homophobic as hell, and his comments definitely were, especially the “Brokeback Ballroom” one. Not much room for interpretation.
Anyway, hilarious title Kelly, I laughed nearly as much as at the ” It’s my party…” one :)
He was dead on and shouldn’t have to apologize for anything if that’s what he truly believes. If never fails to amaze me how the gay rights bunch claim to be so “liberal” and “open-minded” until it comes to someone’s freedom of expression and if that person says something that is critical of homosexuality. Then they want to cut their tongues out and crucify them — total and complete hypocrisy. That was his opinion and he’s entitled to it. Frankly, the sight of two men dancing together under this type of format would make me want to hurl, too, regardless of how good they are at it. It just doesn’t look normal to me and never will.
Well, talking about nudity. For ages there have been a nude shot in the intro of SYTYCD.
We finally pointed it out in a youtube movie. We’re still not sure if the string was photoshopped in or the nudity frame was photoshopped by a disgruntled SYTYCD producer. The frame IS real though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIc9-FgJ3c0