UPDATE, 3/25: Avenue Q creator Jeff Whitty goes Round Two with Leno.Jay Leno left viewers of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and guest Ryan Phillippe scratching their heads on Wednesday, March 19, when he tried to goad Phillippe into turning to the camera and giving his “gayest look.”
The unfortunate request came because Phillippe, on the show to promote his new film Stop-Loss, got his acting break playing a gay character on the daytime soap One Life to Live. The role was daytime’s first gay teen character and put the actor on the map. But instead of applauding the groundbreaking storyline, Leno instead began to riff on the sexuality of the character, asking Phillippe to reenact his work on the soap by giving his “gayest look” to the camera. Phillippe tried to laugh it off, deflecting the jokes with integrity, but Leno persisted, ribbing him about appearing nude in an Armani ad directed by out photographer David LaChappelle. Visibly upset, the actor stood up and half-jokingly threatened to leave but stayed for the rest of the interview.
View the interview here:
Leno has long walked the fine line between providing LGBT visibility while offering up gay jabs and punch lines. With Leno’s latest rant, we would start counting down the days until he’s replaced by Conan O’Brien -- if only we could be certain that O’Brien’s frat boy humor would be an improvement.
Write Leno Here
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