Thursday, December 16, 2010

Hispanic homophobic bigots ask the FCC to fine Univision for interviewing Ricky Martin

[UPDATE #1: This is out there already so I've changed my mind. Here is the direct link to the Spanish language call for a protest at the Miami affiliate of Univision. Also, thanks for AfterElton and Towleroad for picking up on this post as well as Joe.My.God. It's worth going over to Joe's and read the many comments the story has elicited from his readers].

[UPDATE #2: A photo of the  12/18 protest here]

[h/t: Ricky Martin fan @RachelLapp ] Did you catch pop singer Ricky Martin having explicit gay sex with a very gay man on a very gay "Aqui y Ahora" special that aired on Univision - the leading Spanish language network in the United States?  You didn't?

You know, the November 2nd "Aqui y Ahora" special in which he couldn't stop having shockingly ultra-gay sex in front of the cameras even as respected journalist Maria Elena Salinas tried to ask him if he was comfortable with his new status as an out gay man? No?

Well, apparently everyone in the United States and Latin America saw the censored version except for the members of a tiny Hispanic evangelical church in South Florida who seem to have watched a whole different show than the one I saw.

They are rallying outside the studios of a local Miami Univision affiliate on Saturday to protest the airing of the show and to call upon the the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fine the network based on it's "pornographic, indecent or obscene" content.

Translated from the religious homobigots' Spanish language press release:
On November 2nd, 2010, Univision broadcast a program called: Ricky Martin... Without Secrets, in which he spoke of having his first sexual encounter when he was 15 years of age and that, after having slept with women, he had relations with men. Afterward he felt confused until one day when he was being interviewed he felt attracted to the reporter who was interviewing him. To the point of falling in love with that man. Presenting himself as being ultra-successful, showing images of his 10 million dollar house, riding a sport motorcycle through the streets, walking through the beach and then, showing images of his concert, in front of thousands of young folk, he presents himself as the role model to follow for the children who watched the program at the child friendly hour of 7 to 8 pm.

As people who value the principles that gave birth to this nation, we have decided to say 'enough' with these shows that violate the innocence of our kids and promote confusion at a time in which our youth are developing.

Univision's complicity in transmitting this message deserves, on our side, our complaints before the FCC - the entity that regulates media in the Unites States - which says that any pornographic, indecent or obscene content can be reported as a complaint.
That's what they write online. In a downloadeable pdf document available from their website purporting to be a partial transcript of what was said in the show they lie and say that Ricky Martin mentioned singer Alejandra Guzmán by name as a woman who drove him wild in his past (the singer has been careful not to name any names from his past in his many recent interviews as well as his recently released autobiography).

In addition, at the end, they call him the perfect "paladin" to promote the "homosexual agenda" and that, in his concerts, he always promotes homosexuality by shouting "Long live la vida loca!".

Pornographic, indecent or obscene.  I swear that's what they say!  Good luck with that! What I saw was a man who was finally ready to stop lying and to come to terms with his truth, a man who was as proud of raising his children as anyone else out there and a man who, in some ways, continues to hold most of his private life private, even bristling at some of the questions that Maria Elena Salinas asked about his romantic life.  Pornographic, indecent or obscene, it wasn't, unless the feed I watched was missing scenes from the version these homobigots saw.

I shudder to think what they will read into the title of Ricky Martin's new album "Musica, Alma, Sexo" which seems like a title ripped off from - err - I mean, a take on Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" album title than anything else.

And then, a conundrum: This being Thursday and the religious homobigot protest being Saturday, I realize that writing about it on this blog might end up bringing it more attention than they even deserve.  So, perhaps for the first time since I began writing this blog, I've decided not to point out or link up to any of the original sources until the protest is all said an done. I don't want to give them more credit than they should have when their intent is to spread homophobia in my community.

I could post the homobigots' televised call for a Ricky Martin protest - which is out there. Instead, I'll leave you with this live Spanish-language version of his beautiful new single "Lo Mejor de Mi Vida Eres Tu" from his upcoming album...



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2 comments:

Karlo said...

Mentes absurdas y retrogradas que nos frenan el caminar hacia un mundo mejor. YO, honestamente les digo, !vayanse a la porra, ustedes bajan mi calidad de vida, el de mi vecindario, el de mi pais. Vayanse a la porra! bah!

Karl said...

Teenagers develop their sexual identity between 7 and 8 pm? What do they do the rest of the day? They must not be that obsessed with sex.