Home / 2017 / January / Blind Item #6
September 22, 2016
There
is an almost network show that has been on forever. The lead actor on the show
was out to dinner with some members of his church. Apparently the discussion
was mainly about the upcoming election and if there was any hope of getting rid
of gay marriages. The actor then went on a rant about how he is sick of
questions about whether his character is gay and that he would never be
supportive of his character being gay because our actor does not want kids to
think being gay is normal. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but the
fandom is basically based on this, so probably not something they wanted to
hear.
Reveal: Jensen Ackles / Supernatural
Aaaah, and let the fandom angst ensue. But in this case, the blind really doesn't match up with the "revealed" celebrity's behavior for the past several years. September 2014 brought an end to the working relationship between Jensen and William Morris Agency and he signed with Gersh. The Destiel/Cockles pulse was waning to a feather rate until 2015, when the divining rod pulled a strong 180 in the opposite direction and what has become known as the "Sunset" pictures happened.
The "Sunset" pictures (with Jared absent and "unavailable") began a trend which continues today at a baffling teeter-totter rate - back and forth, back and forth; J2 Tough Mudder and date night pics one weekend, Cockles boat ride and You Are Not Alone campaign bathroom videos the next:
The back and forth from 2015 to 2016 has been dizzying. J2 fans are just trying to....
Without going into the possible reasons why, what seems to be pretty clear in the past two years is that Jensen does not have any problem performing his part for the Cockles/Destiel fandom, which has been a sharp contrast to previous years. Basically, the talk (the Enty Lawyer blind) does not match the walk (Jensen's actions).
So, the next question would be why the blind, if its single goal was simply about his heterosexuality? And, what was the immediate reaction from fans? One barometer site to go to for answers is Spn_Gos, whether or not you agree or disagree, believe or side-eye some of the opinions expressed on the blog.
If you try to go back to the thread discussion where the "Reveal" was posted on Spn_Gos live journal community, it appears to me that it's like jumping into a book halfway through. The discussion starts with the Moderator making a statement in reference to comments which you can no longer see:
Just as it was the first time this was brought to this site, I am pulling this thread for the following reasons:
1. It does NOT lead to any discussion whatsoever, but just lead to name calling from all sides.
2. As, I mentioned before, CDAN is not a reliable source as stated by the man who runs the site.
If you want to discuss this topic, please do it elsewhere.
1. It does NOT lead to any discussion whatsoever, but just lead to name calling from all sides.
2. As, I mentioned before, CDAN is not a reliable source as stated by the man who runs the site.
If you want to discuss this topic, please do it elsewhere.
And the few comments which follow are...frozen. Gone are the comments which had started the discussion which were speculating about whether the reveal could really be true or not and then were met with accusations that Cockles/Destiel fans were no doubt responsible. Even though Enty Lawyer has been proven wrong in the past and "plays the Hollywood game" to a certain extent just like about any other gossip writer (possibly with the exception of Michael K), is he really going to take a "tip" from an anonymous civilian claiming to attend Jensen's church?
via GIPHY
Because this blind is not the first time Jensen Ackles has been accused of being homophobic, the Cockles/Destiel segment of the Supernatural fandom seems an unlikely source of the blind tip. Jensen has been the subject of strong "homophobic" claims dating back to at least 2013 when a fan was rebuffed at a New Jersey Supernatural convention for bringing up the subject of subtext on the show in the sexuality of the character Jensen plays, Dean Winchester. His conservative upbringing is also well known by fans, but just like the "homophobic" accusations, claims of his being a Republican and this, that and the other have not been backed up with solid evidence.
How about looking at the timing of this blind? The blind was originally posted September 22, 2016, a little over a month after the announcement was made on August 10 that twins were on the way for the Ackles. One would think the blind wouldn't be necessary to sell the Ackles marriage and family situation, but with speculation on Spn_Gos that a surrogate was being used, PR probably felt some reinforcement of Jensen's 'straightness' was in order. Particularly, since there were a lack of believable pictures throughout the "pregnancy". Never mind that there were hardly any photos at all.
The timing of the Blind Item reveal during New Year's weekend was not odd, in fact the practice of posting reveals over holidays is a common practice with Enty Lawyer. However, since production on Supernatural ended in mid-December, Jensen has not been photo'd "out and about," except one time during the holiday break. Jared has been portrayed as flying off to Hawaii allegedly with his whole family, but no "pregnant" pic of Genevieve in sight. Conclusion: She wasn't there. LOL! Later, there was an odd grainy photo of the beard with the youngest son posted on twitter. But, as you can see her expectant state is still up for debate.
— Genevieve Padalecki (@realGpad) January 4, 2017Here we are in January, 2017, and it looks like closeted Hollywood is still alive and kicking even though strategies and tactics are becoming more and more obvious to the general public. Gay celebrities not only have to stunt about with beards pretending to be pregnant, but they need to be characterized as expressing homophobic slurs themselves, usually planted via social media by interns who have access to celebrity account passwords, or through agency-approved Blind Item reveals like this one.
In other words, one of PR's favorite tools is to characterize closeted celebrities as being hostile toward the LGBT community. Examples being Louis Tomlinson's, Bullshit 1.0 and Bullshit 2.0 "tweets", Liam Payne's tweeted "admiration" of Willie Robertson (of Duck Dynasty fame) and his "family values", and brother Jep Robertson and his wife's close friendships with the Padalecki and Ackles' families. Then, most recently, we have Jake Gyllenhaal attending tonight's Golden Globes Award ceremony and being seated at the same table with known equal opportunity discriminator and homophobe, Mel Gibson.
Hollywood publicity teams need to know that social media operates on a two-way street. Fandoms today do not accept this kind of intolerant, hate-filled projection of beliefs and behaviors onto their favorite celebrities. Diversity, multiculturalism and most of all inclusion is what fans respect and support. It's one thing to choose to live one's life in the closet. Another to embrace hate and promote narrow-minded bigotry. The end date of this public relations tactic has long expired. Welcome to the 21st century, everyone.
collaborators: Prairie Girl and Methodical Muser
pic source: giphy, popsugar, aminoapps, Facebook
our playlist: Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players
Tell Mama - Etta James
Hollywood publicity teams need to know that social media operates on a two-way street. Fandoms today do not accept this kind of intolerant, hate-filled projection of beliefs and behaviors onto their favorite celebrities. Diversity, multiculturalism and most of all inclusion is what fans respect and support. It's one thing to choose to live one's life in the closet. Another to embrace hate and promote narrow-minded bigotry. The end date of this public relations tactic has long expired. Welcome to the 21st century, everyone.
collaborators: Prairie Girl and Methodical Muser
pic source: giphy, popsugar, aminoapps, Facebook
our playlist: Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players
Tell Mama - Etta James
MOD NOTE Blind Item - Jensen