George Takei Calls Out Anti-Gay School Board Member
Part of a series on It Gets Better Project. [View Related Entries]
About
Audio (mp3 link): "You Are, A Douchebag!"
George Takei Calls Out Anti-Gay Arkansas School Board Member is a viral video featuring a public service announcement message by George Takei, a Japanese American actor best known for his supporting role as "Hikaru Sulu" in the sci-fi TV series Star Trek and political activism in advocacy of Gay rights. The message is specifically addressed to Clint McCance, a Arkansas School Board member who posted a series of highly homophobic comments on his Facebook page in response to recent the school-wide LGBT rights campaign.
His statements were met with tons of protests elsewhere, some wanting him to be removed from the board through online petitions. Following public outcries, McCance resigned from his position as the vice president of Midland School District on November 8th, 2010.
Origin
Background
Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman, was secretly observed in the privacy of his dorm room engaged in male-male intimacy by individuals via the internet who watched a video stream originating from a webcam surreptitiously enabled by Dharun Ravi, his dormmate and fellow student. Clementi, who was not previoiusly 'out' about his sexuality later learned of what transpired and subsequently committed suicide by leaping to his death off of the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey. Once word about these events became publicly known, a massive public outcry took hold over what happened helping to strengthen the then nascent campaign/movement against anti-gay bullying called, "It Gets Better", which tells youthful LGBT individuals that life gets better beyond the frequently tortured early years of living as an LGBT person.
After "It Gets Better" dedicated a day to remembering those who have committed suicide over anti-gay bullying by wearing purple, an Arkansas School Board member, Clint McCance posted an angry, hate-filled facebook rant speaking against it. In his rant, he stated that he was "glad that they give each other AIDS and die" he also stated that he would disown his children if they were gay and that he would only wear purple on that day "if they (homosexuals) all commit suicide."
George Takei PSA: "You Are, a Douchebag"
On November 1, 2010, George Takei, who was working with "It Gets Better" campaign, posted a video on youtube criticizing Clint McCance as a person and an educator and calling him "a douchebag". The hilarious nature of the video made it subject to parody and sampling. Two days after the video was posted, the first parody of Takei's video was made, editing his face and lines into Isiah Mustafah's popular Old Spice commercial.
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Related Video: Jimmy Kimmel Live
The production theme of Takei's "Douchebag" video had its roots in another, more light-hearted video featuring him released in 2007 on the television program Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The previous video stemmed from another gay/homophobia scandal surrounding homophobic statements made by former NBA all-star basketball player, Tim Hardaway:
Parodies and Forum Videos
Self-Mashup
Star Wars Parody
THE DOUCHEBASS featuring George Takei
Musical Interpretations
Original song, "Don't Listen to the Douchebags, Listen to George Takei":
19 / You Are, A Douchebag! Mashup:
George Takei opines homophobic school teachers:
DOMO ARIGATO DOUCHEBAG (Jump to 2:07 for Takei)
WRAPPED UP LIKE A DOUCHEBAG – featuring George Takei
Audio
Clips
From www.michaelhanscom.com:
douchebag-short.mp3
douchebag-medium.mp3
douchebag-full.mp3
