Vince Vaughn offends

A trailer for Vince Vaughn’s new film comedy has been pulled from cinemas amid a row over using ‘gay’ as an insult.

The clip opens with his character calling electric cars ‘gay’ in a boardroom scene.

He adds that he doesn’t mean ‘homosexual, gay, but, you know, my parents are chaperoning the dance, gay,’ but this justification has not deterred critics.

Jarrett Barrios, president of America’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said: ‘The use of the word “gay” in this trailer as a slur is unnecessary and does nothing more than send a message of intolerance about our community to viewers.’

Universal Pictures issued a statement saying the trailer ‘was not intended to cause anyone discomfort’.

It has now been recut and a new version released online.

In a statement, GLAAD added: ‘Hopefully Universal Pictures and other film studios will start to think twice before having their performers (and major stars like Vince Vaughn in particular) try to wring a cheap laugh out of homophobic language.’

Here is the offending clip:

And here is the revised version:

Published: 11 Oct 2010