The trailer for Vince Vaughn’s upcoming film The Dilemma initially featured a pretty lame scene at the beginning in which Vaughn’s character joked that electric cars are “gay.” The trailer came out right before the highly talked-about series of gay teen suicides, after which more press outlets covered the issue of bullying. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper spoke out against that trailer specifically, saying that “we’ve got to do something to make those words unacceptable cause those words are hurting kids.” As a result, Universal pulled that trailer and put out a new one along with a statement that they were sensitive to the issue. Gay advocacy group GLAAD said they’d contacted Universal immediately after the trailer came out but received no response. They’ve had a campaign for some time urging people to stop using gay as a put down. Now that the scene has been cut from the trailer (but is still playing in some theaters due to logistical issues) people are wondering whether if it will also be cut from the film, due out in January, 2011. The star of the movie wants it to air as-is, though. Vince Vaughn has issued a statement weighing in on the controversy.

Vince Vaughn doesn’t think The Dilemma has much of a problem.

Responding to the controversy over his character calling an electric car “gay,” a clip that originally made it into the comedy’s theatrical trailer, Vaughn has come down on the side of leaving the scene intact.

“Let me add my voice of support to the people outraged by the bullying and persecution of people for their differences, whatever those differences may be,” the sometimes-boorish, sometimes-cuddly actor said in a statement Thursday.

“Comedy and joking about our differences breaks tension and brings us together. Drawing divided lines over what we can and cannot joke about does exactly that; it divides us. Most importantly, where does it stop.”

[From E! Online]

That was very well put. I still don’t agree with him, but I appreciate the way that he made his point despite his poor slippery slope argument. There’s also something to be said for the fact that he’s giving his opinion amid all this controversy. Personally, I cannot fault him for having a different opinion and I respect the way he phrased his statement.

However, I still maintain that associating the word “gay” with “lame” gives the impression that being gay is somehow inadequate. This can be particularly damaging to gay young people who are struggling with their identity. Kids are going to talk smack and bully each other, but adults and movie stars can set a much better example than that. If all they can come up with to introduce us to their movie is a bit in which they use “gay” as a putdown then that’s truly lame. That scene should be cut from the movie, just like it was cut from the trailer.

Here are some PSAs to try and stop the use of “that’s gay” as a putdown. Why don’t we start saying “that’s so Vince Vaughn”? You wouldn’t even have to explain it to anyone, you know?