What’s Under The Rainbow?
No Me Digas. Op-Ed: Keith Price
Cancel Culture is alive and well. Ask folks like Louis CK, Kevin Hart, and many other notables. They are having their entire careers erased or interrupted because of certain actions or their commentary on Twitter. However, it seems that the LGBTQ+ community is having a hard time with this one because Randy Rainbow has become a bit of a household name. Yes, I said two time Emmy© Award nominee, Randy Rainbow.
It has come to all of our attention that Mr. Rainbow in his past has a trail of tweets that have been dipped in a bowl of racism and transphobia. Not to be the one to kick up the dust, but, interestingly, many of my white LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters are sitting silently like Republican Senators on this matter. Luckily for him, there have been no sweeping moves to boycott, and still very little discussion on how as a community we deal with this issue of internal racism and transphobia. It seems that perhaps the A-Gays are hoping that no one makes too big a deal of it because it does shatter images of the all-loving LGBTQ+ community, especially in the age of the Black Lives Matter movement. Considering how his satires are zeroing in on this administration in the most pointed and campy way, it is believable that he might have been targeted by forces wanting to silence his growing oppositional platform. As much as I want to get behind the entire conservative conspiracy of it all, we must admit that if there was nothing there, to begin with, then who was behind it wouldn’t matter.
Before I rant a little, I will first go on record as saying that I have thoroughly laughed and enjoyed his parodies, many of which I have shared on my social media. I will also admit that I have had the fortune of meeting and briefly interviewing him. He is as much campy fun as you would expect, and honestly, who is going to show out with me on a press line? Having only really “discovered” him in his present form within the last few years, like many of us, I did not follow him on Twitter and then began a 10-year scroll of his past tweets.
Maybe, if he remembered those tweets as his rise began and eliminated them sooner, then we would not be so SHOCKED by their discovery and their disappearance from his current timeline.
Sadly, a “truth-telling” screen capture is not anyone’s friend.
My mind and eyes could not believe the words that I was reading. I never would have thought that they came from the same person that I met on the press line of a theater gala. Had I known about those tweets, perhaps our press line moment would have been more interesting? I cannot believe that those racial and transphobic stabs at humor came from the same guy who has me singing odes to our current vice-presidential candidate, drooling over Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his hot brother, and living for his sass against our current administration. However unbelievable, it is true. What do we do now? He has since apologized.
“Twitter has recently reminded me about 10 years ago, in my maiden quest to be funny, I tweeted some jokes that were completely offensive and insensitive to look back on them now, especially with no context or nuance and through the prism of where we are in 2020 with racial inequality and the fight for social justice, which I’m proudly a part of,” he begins. “In light of issues that are now at the forefront, which I’m passionate about and have spoken up about over the years, these tweets just sound racist and awful. I’m embarrassed by them. They make me sick to my stomach, in fact, and I deeply apologize to anyone I offended.”- Randy Rainbow
As a comedian myself, I did not find the tweets that funny. Admittedly, we have different styles, and comedy is subjective. Many of them do show that white, gay privilege may not be the angle for a new comedy bit. He is now sorrowful, shocked, and horrified by them, but some would argue that just might be because the tweets have been revealed. The question remains, how does he answer for his past and still have a chance at maintaining his current status in the industry? Let’s face it. He is a popular white gay man, and fortune favors most of them, especially in the media. Extra points are definitely given if they are super good looking by certain standards, like former Rep. Aaron Schock, and forgiveness comes more quickly.
I noticed that during the Jussie Smollet madness, there was a lot of outrage that came from my white LGBT brothers and sisters, especially the A-Gays. A lot of vitriol was thrown his way, and I am not going to say that I was short on words for Ms. Jussie, because, besides the stupidity of it all, his alleged behavior potentially places all of us in peril. I can understand as a community why that needed to be addressed. Oddly enough, the usual angry A-Gays are silent. How is it that they were ready to cancel Jussie Smollet, but seem to have no deep opinion at all about Randy Rainbow? Are you really gonna make me say it again?
As infuriating as this situation is, I see this as an opportunity to talk about something as a community that we do not like to admit. Within our beloved kumbaya LGBT+ world, there is a lot of racism, misogyny, ageism, self-hatred, etc. The LGBT+ population is a subset of our overall population. Therefore, the same issues that plague our greater population are happening within our alphabet rainbow population, as well.
I read those racist sounding tweets, and they sadden me. I was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Texas, and in my lifetime, I’ve been called a “nigger” twice to my face with racial intensity by white GAY men. Yes, I said white gay men. As a comedian, I found a way to address it ( above starting at 7:22).
I am sure that I was called by that name by straight white people when I left rooms but not to my face. I have met some racist people and had no clue. The mother of one of my best childhood friends was a true racist. It was only in a recent conversation with him, and he revealed that he comes from a family of educated racists. I was shocked because his mother never revealed her contempt for me was based on race. Considering it was Texas in the ’70s and ’80s, I thank God that he and I are still great friends.
Now Trans issues are being recognized sadly because of the deaths of so many of our Trans brothers and sisters. When I reread Randy’s random Tweets from 10 years ago, I wondered how different life would be for our Trans brothers and sisters today. If we, as LGB, had given T more support instead of making them butts of tasteless jokes and hanging them out to dry legislatively, then we could have maybe saved more lives. Although he is not responsible for all the ills within the community, you can see how those tweets contributed to what was already a terrible time for certain members of our community. We have to thank shows like POSE and ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, for creating platforms that have shed more light on who Trans people are, and what are some of the major battles facing them.
I can tell you that some of my black and brown friends have made it VERY clear how they feel about Randy. They might have tweeted them. I cannot repeat what they said to me in confidence, but please know the words were “Grade A Prime”, hunty. Although his star is somewhat tarnished, I am almost sure that Randy will be forgiven. If there are upcoming red carpets for him, then he better have some answers beyond the “errant behavior” of a new comedian. He might also want to avail himself to some panels on LGBTQ+ race relations and transphobic causes. Perhaps, he can answer directly to the communities to which he offended, instead of a blanket apology to the press. He might just lay low for a while. Whatever he decides to do, it is still up to all of US to continue the dialogue and to understand each other better.
