Editor’s note: This article contains profanity and graphic sexual language.
At the same time that NBC is filming an Ellen Degeneres-produced comedy [1] about “a single gay woman who expands her family with the help of her straight best friend,” ABC has it’s own gay sitcom in tow. But unlike the mild DeGeneres, ABC has bizarrely chosen vile sex columnist Dan Savage to be the subject of a sitcom in the Fall 2015 lineup. This is the same man who was promoting his annual pornography film festival “Hump!” [2] (Yes, you read that right) all last year.
That’s not everything you need to know about Savage. Besides hosting a podcast and writing a sex advice column for Portland’s alternative weekly, “The Stranger,” Savage is a militant gay activist who uses the column and Twitter [3]to bully and harass Christians and conservatives. He famously named the byproduct of anal sex [4] “Santorum,” because then-Senator Rick Santorum had made a comment Savage didn’t like. Further, he said he wished he could have “hate sex” with the former Senator:
“I sometimes think about fucking the shit out of Rick Santorum. Because I think he needs it...Like, let’s bone that Santorum boy. I’m up for whipping up some santorum in Santorum.” [5]
ABC probably won’t have those quotes in their promos for the show, which the Hollywood Reporter [1] describes thus:
The untitled Savage comedy is a single-camera semi-autobiographical entry based on the LGBT activist/boundary-pushing columnist's life. It centers on a picture-perfect family that is turned upside down when the youngest son comes out of the closet. What seems like the end of their idyllic life turns out to be the beginning of a bright new chapter when everyone stops pretending to be perfect and actually starts being real.
The choice of the sexually perverse provacateur for a sitcom is puzzling, to say the least, to some on the right. Eric Teetsel, Executive Director of the Manhattan Declaration had this to say to MRC Culture:
Time and time again Savage has lived up to his surname, bullying those whose opinions differ from his and wreaking havoc on the lives of those who heed his awful advice. I can't imagine why anyone would watch a show based on his life. It will further cement ABC as the fourth most-popular broadcast network in America.
J.P. Duffy, Senior Vice President of Communications at the Family Research Council agreed. ‘We’ve been trying to figure why ABC wants to pilot a show based on someone known for bullying Christian students and wishing death on Republicans," Duffy said. "Dan Savage harasses students all across America under the guise of ‘anti-bullying.’ Duffy pointed MRC Culture to a "greatest hits" video of Savage's pronouncements.
It’s true that Savage frequently bullies conservatives and Christians. He was famously invited to a high school to speak about bullying during his “It Gets Better” campaign, where he mocked Christianity and heckled students who walked out. When Pope Benedict announced his retirement in 2013, Savage lead his column with the headline [6]: “That Motherfucking Power-Hungry, Self-Aggrandized Bigot In the Stupid Fucking Hat Announces His Retirement.”
In 2012, he called GOProud, a gay conservative group, “Pathetic” “House faggots” [7] for endorsing Mitt Romney. Most recently, he called for Christian parents to be charged for murder [8] because their transgendered son committed suicide.
At the announcement from THR, the media have already begun reporting on the upcoming show, sans any concern for the contentious subject. The Huffington Post [9], The Chicago Tribune [10], The Examiner [11] and gay blogs have reported on the show and others are sure to follow. Savage is a favorite of such liberal publications as The New York Times [12] and The Washington Post. [13]
Since Savage is a producer of his own show, you can be sure he’ll have his own particularly offensive sense of humor embedded into the show. But will the media notice this time?
— Kristine Marsh is Staff Writer for MRC Culture at the Media Research Center. Follow Kristine Marsh on Twitter. [14]