Rex Reed: A career of offensiveness

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 23:02:00 +0000

Long-time film critic Rex Reed -- who incidentally acted in one of the worst films ever made, the 1970 adaptation of Gore Vidal's novel "Myra Breckinridge" -- is making headlines today for his particularly offensive review of "Identity Thief," in which he called comedian Melissa McCarthy "humongous," "tractor-sized," and a "female hippo." He continued to focus on nothing but her weight, trivializing her fame to the point of calling the "Bridesmaids" star "a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success."

As support for McCarthy poured in via Twitter and comments, Gawker's Rich Juzwiak called Reed's description "uncivil and the product of an intolerant mindset"; critic Christopher Campbell tweeted: "Seriously, there are too many writers losing their jobs (and those of us who can't get good ones) for Rex Reed to get away with that junk"; Chad Lowe called the comments "vile and unnacceptable," asking for the Observer to fire Reed.

Newspaper hides its trans hate

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:48:00 +0000

On Sunday, the London-based newspaper the Observer published a truly vile, transphobic column by outspoken journalist Julie Burchill. And then, in the face of a storm of controversy, it made the whole situation worse: It took down the piece.

The 53-year-old Burchill is famed for her brash, confrontational style. If you're unfamiliar with her work, imagine a less pleasant Glenn Beck. It must be exhausting having one's professional reputation based on a propensity for fit-pitching. So imagine the dander Burchill had to work up to file a column that would far exceed the controversy her friend Suzanne Moore stirred when she wrote flippantly that contemporary women are angry at "not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual." So intense had the response to the piece been that Moore felt compelled to quit Twitter, citing a stream of "threatening, ignorant and nasty" responses, saying, "I am sorry to those that I misrepresented." It was quite a turnaround from the way she'd, not long before, complained about detractors who think they can "cut their dicks off and be more feminist than me."

Salon.com > The Observer

Rex Reed: A career of offensiveness

Newspaper hides its trans hate