Carson Daly apologizes after offensive, gay-stereotype comments

By now, I think most people have heard about the JetBlue pilot who had a massive freakout/panic attack during a Tuesday flight. His copilot locked him out of the cockpit and the passengers on the plane had to physically restrain the dude, who has now been charged with a series of felonies. It was a scary story, and it’s been a hot topic on the news shows and radio shows. Carson Daly decided to discuss it yesterday on his radio show. And he decided to talk about how “with his luck” he would have gotten stuck on a plane with a bunch of gay dudes who wouldn’t have been able to take down a crazed pilot: “With my luck, it would be like … ‘this is the flight going to Pride in San Francisco I mean, that would be my colleagues… [affecting stereotypical lisp] ‘Uh, we’re headed down to Vegas for the floral convention.’” So, Carson is a homophobe?

Yeah. That wasn’t funny. Or politically correct. Or actually correct. Hours after every gay media outlet ran “WTF Carson?” stories, Daly tweeted, “This morning on my radio show I attempted to make fun of myself & offended others by mistake. I sincerely apologize.” Then he made an official statement to GLAAD:

“We live in a time where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals find courage every day to overcome adversity, stand up to bullying and find equality. I’m truly saddened that my words today suggested otherwise,” Daly said.

“I’ve long been a supporter of Gay and Lesbian rights, and I’m saddened that my comments, however unintentional, offended anyone, specifically members of the LGBT community. The fact that I have hurt anyone is devastating,” he continued. “I’m not that guy. I’m proud to be an ally of the LGBT community and will continue to fight with them.”

[From Us Weekly]

Do you accept his apology? I kind of do. He should kiss more ass, totally, but let’s be honest: this is Carson Daly saying something dumb and mildly offensive. This is not, like, Mel Gibson or Tracy Morgan going off on some insane tangent about violently attacking gay people.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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40 Responses to “Carson Daly apologizes after offensive, gay-stereotype comments”

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  1. Jayna says:

    What an idiot. I heard his whole spiel. It really came off condescending, that gays aren’t brave. Gay people are in the military, are our police officers, firefighters, on and on. Sadly, some things really never change, do they?

  2. Jazzmin says:

    He was trying to be funny at the expense of the gay community and failed. He apologized, now is time to move on.

    • Zelda says:

      No. I think it should be talked about. People who have never thought of this issue in this light before could learn something.

      Also, Carson Daly could totally get banned from showbiz.

      Win-win.

      • marlee says:

        What issue? Gay-bashing? Homophobia? Come on, that’s not an issue in the dark, it is everywhere. I agree that it is wrong, but let’s not pretend that this isn’t an issue that comes up constantly.

        I don’t think Carson getting banned from showbiz is a “win.” All speech is protected under the first amendment, even speech you/I don’t personally agree with. If people are offended by this even after the apology, just don’t listen to his show anymore. The end.

      • Zelda says:

        I don’t want him banned because of what he said. He has just annoyed me since the mid-90s. That was a joke.

        But the “issue” here is the stereotype that all gay men are effeminate. It is absolutely harmful (see my comment below), but many people–gay supporters often–still cling to this one.

  3. Dibba says:

    irrelevant douche

  4. Zelda says:

    And somewhere, some man was reinforced in his belief that people will think he’s a sissy if he comes out as gay.

    Nice work, you has-been dumbass. I hope a gay dude beats you up soon.

    Also–there’s an interesting story about the mother of a passenger on the 9-11 flight that took out the pilot. He was gay, and her response to Daly is really well-put and spot-on.

    • Jayna says:

      It is a beautiful letter from the mom and so on point.

    • bluhare says:

      A few years ago, I was channel surfing and ended up watching a documentary on a no name channel about the World Gay Rugby Championship. It focused on the two teams who made the finals — one from San Francisco and one from Australia, I think. Anyway, it was a great documentary and I ended up crying through most of it. The tournament is named after Mark Bingham (whose mom wrote the letter on TMZ) who was was on the flight that went down in Pennsylvania on 9/11, and was one of the people who stormed the cockpit.

      So for Daly to make that statement without knowing who participated in arguably the most well known air disaster in history, well it was ignorant at best.**

      **EDIT: Re “ignorant at best”. Well, he was engaged to Tara Reid, right?

  5. Neelyo says:

    I think the headline should read, ‘Carson Daly Makes Grab for Relevancy with Tasteless Failed Attempt at Humor!’.

  6. lucy2 says:

    What a dipshit. I fail to see how that was “making fun of himself” but at least he was quick to apologize.

    • Izzy says:

      He may have apologized quickly, but not on the radio… if he had no problem saying those ridiculous things on air, then he should grow a pair and be man enough to apologize on air. His remarks are particularly idiotic when you consider Mark Bingham – a gay man who helped take down Flight 93 in order to prevent its hijackers from reaching their target.

  7. backwards says:

    I’m sick of people making comments like this then coming out and saying ‘I’ve long been a supporter of Gay and Lesbian rights” blah blah blah

    DON’T DO IT!

  8. flourpot says:

    I don’t care how much ass he kissed, he’s no friend of the LGBT community with that coming out of his mouth. His comments stated that gay men are weak, talk with a lisp and need to ask for help. That was a completely off the cuff comment on his part that suggests he’s either A. in the closet/denial or B. thinks gays are ridiculous. Loss of respect: Lots.

  9. Jason says:

    I love how he says: “I’m not that guy. I’m proud to be an ally of the LGBT community and will continue to fight with them.”

    If that was the case, then he never would have made those comments in the first place.

    As a gay man, I don’t accept his apology whatsoever. He’s a washed up has-been and a pathetic excuse for a “man.”

    • Str8Shooter says:

      Right there with you, Jason. As a gay man, I find his comments offensive and in no way shape or form do I think he didn’t mean that. He is only retracting them cuz he saw what happened with that other loudmouth d-bag Rush Limbaugh.

      And sorry, Kaiser, I strongly disagree that his comments were ‘mildly offensive.’ There is enough gay-bashing (literally and figuratively) going on every day that we don’t need some washed-up moron driving the stereotypes home.

      Tell me this: if he had made racial comments, would you also say those were ‘mildly offensive’?

    • Ron says:

      Another resident gay here. The thing I find the most amusing about this is stereotype that gay men are wimps. Really? I was at a gay bar a number of years ago and dispatched a straight guy who was giving a gay youngster a hard time. Said “straight man” was clocked and out the door. I do not condone this kind of behavior, but bitch started it and I finished it for him. I am a big guy and no one ever fu*ks with me, and I most certainly would take someone down on a plane if i had to.

  10. Faye says:

    This “joke” was dumb on so many levels. How is he even still relevant? I associate him with the group of people who were prominent in the 90’s and then sort of petered out. Like that chaos theory guy from Jurassic Park. He was in like every movie in the 90’s. Does he do stuff now? that’s what I thought of Carson Daly until today when I read this story. And no disrespect to chaos theory guy from Jurassic Park, he made 90’s movies awesome. If he still does stuff I’d actually like to know.

    • Jayna says:

      He has a radio show. He is host of The Voice. And he has a late night TV show on NBC, I think it is, that I enjoy where he interviews singers/musicians, many indie or not well-known and showcases them performing. I love that show because it really is about music and great conversations with the artists, not canned questions.

  11. nikzilla37 says:

    His statement wasn’t even funny.

  12. Beth says:

    Isn’t Carson gay?

  13. ol cranky says:

    It was such an assy, unfunny and unnecessary comment, I don’t understand why he thought it would be funny. His stupid statement actually bugs me more than Rick Santorum’s stupid “You’re not gonna use the pink ball. We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera,” comment to a kid in Wisconsin bowling alley the other day

  14. Newtsgal says:

    Safe to stay Carson hasn’t been in a gay bar, when a couple of b*tches start going at it….it gets UG-LY!

  15. I Run New York says:

    WOW People love to make something out of nothing.

  16. Agnes says:

    wtf. douche.

  17. atorontogal says:

    I don’t understand people who make these comments then say ooops I’m sorry I didn’t mean any offense. Meanwhile the “joke” was heard by a lot of people who will repeat it, think it’s funny, and /or believe it. These kind of comments are harmful to those young people who are afraid to come out. How many steps backwards must we keep taking? Why do we give idiots like this a public platform to say such idiotic things? A joke? Move on? I think not that will only enable this stupid kind of vitriol to continue!

  18. SFRowGuy says:

    Fail. #^2

  19. Str8Shooter says:

    Oh well, if he talks to Perez Hilton everyday, then surely he’s a stand-up guy!

    Perez Hilton is a publicity whore who would sell his mother for a sound byte.

    Not to mention he IS a walking stereotype.

    • Zelda says:

      He also totally has black friends. So when he tells a “black men are all gang members joke” give him a break on that, too.

  20. Zelda says:

    Yeah. Just get over it. Because that’s how dialogue and understanding come about. By ignoring the issues.

    You can’t just “agree to disagree” about treating people with respect.

    He quite possibly did not consider it to be an offensive stereotype. But he sure knows now, and so do a lot of people tuning into the story. A small step in the right direction, I think.

  21. yoyo says:

    I don’t understand these celebrity retractions and why they are accepted.

    Even if his view is offensive I would mcuh rather have them stond by their opinions, seriously if they didn’t think it they would not have said it, and that kind of opinion doesn’t change in 24hrs!!

    To put it simply I much prefer a Kirk Cameron to a Carson Daily because Kirk is as least steady in his convictions, does not put out fake apologies to calm the masses and takes his lumps like a man for being a douche. Good on you Kirk!

    People don’t have to like everyone and everything in the world. People going around holier than though pretending they have zero prejudides is to me way more vile and dangerous than knowing what people REALLY think. At least, when you know what someone REALLY thinks one can make an informed decision as to who you support whether it be with your money, viewership, friendship, business or whatever.

    We CAN agree to disagree.

    Down with PCness, Yes to courtesy. The 2 are NOT the same!

  22. lileneboheme says:

    He is so full of it…notice that he did not actually apologize for saying what he said, he basically said I’m sorry if it unintentionally offended you which is a bs “apology” if you can even call it that.

    His career is about to officially be over soon, what a joke.

  23. Hikkilove says:

    So a teenager calling someone gay is awful and his apology should not be accepted, but a grown man clearly steryotyping gay people is easily forgiven? Gee kind a biased no?