Bozell Column: Degrading 'Degrassi'
TMC
By Brent Bozell (Bio | Archive)
December 5, 2009 - 07:34 ET
On Sunday morning, November 22, Nickelodeon's cable channel Teen Nick
was running a series of promos during a rerun of its junior-high
sitcom "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide." Which of these ads
isn't quite like the others?
1. A promo for a themed "Attack of the Little Sisters Thanksgiving
Weekend," with reruns of child-friendly shows such as "Full House" and
"Drake and Josh."
2. An ad for dolls and talk-show microphones associated with the "i-
Carly" show on Nickelodeon.
3. A vulgar, smash-mouth, in-your-face promo savaging anyone who finds
fault with the homosexual lifestyle.
Surprisingly, promo number three was sandwiched between the other two
ads, taking the children watching Teen Nick from grade-school jokes
and toys to adult sex chatter and back again.
That teen drama is called "Degrassi: The Next Generation." Its attack
on "intolerance" is clear in the contentious promo. A teen actress
declares their new show's theme, staring into the camera: "Accept the
truth…or keep living the lie."
A conflicted, football-playing teen boy named Riley is having
homosexual yearnings, and he wants a cure. "I'll talk to a doctor,
whatever it takes." His girlfriend declares, "You can't cure
homosexuality." He replies desperately, "Yes, you can. It's like a
disease." Then he yells at her: "Too bad you can't cure Bitch!" The ad
closed with the sentence "It's about to get real."
In fact, "Degrassi: The Next Generation," the second phase of a long-
running Canadian teen soap opera, has been getting "real" for years,
deliberately pushing its gay agenda to youngsters. They’ve been
praised by the libertine left over the last few years for gay love
stories, gay kisses, and an episode last year with a gay character
considering male prostitution.
Until recently, it was a fairly obscure show on that Nickelodeon
spinoff channel called "The N." But in late September it was rebranded
and heavily promoted as "Teen Nick." There may be many hours of child-
friendly entertainment on the channel, but promotions clearly suggest
that the coolest, most "mature" sampling of the new brand is
"Degrassi."
The November 22 episode about "living the lie" was a culmination of
weeks of the Riley character exploding in rage and punching people
bloody in denial of the obvious, the biological "fact" that he is gay.
He’s a poster boy for hate: "I feel sorry for these freaks," he
sneers. It’s a didactic paint-by-numbers exercise in Afterschool
Special propaganda.
After punching a gay lifeguard on school grounds, he is ordered to the
principal’s office, where he is met by the student leader of the "LGBT
Alliance," who sternly instructs him "we have sensitivity training for
homophobia." He’s not interested.
The girl who is trying to date him and help him stop "living the lie"
scowls at him: "Is it better to be a gay-basher than a gay person, is
that it?" He replies: "Maybe it is." Later, he insists he can be
cured: "There’s a website and office." She says, "Wow, you really hate
yourself, don’t you?" Then comes the B-word exchange in the hallway.
She says she’ll never speak to him again.
The actual scene with the ex-gay therapist is quite brief, and
insulting. He insists that Riley requires "extensive behavioral
modification" at a cost of $100 an hour, for at least 20 sessions, and
Riley storms off, calling it an expensive "scam."
From there, the character becomes intoxicated at the pool hall after
failing to attract the ladies. In the bathroom, Riley finally breaks
down crying to the gay lifeguard he’d punched, and he admits (sighs of
relief all over the corporate suites at Nickelodeon) "I’m not
normal....I don’t want everybody to know." The lifeguard insists he
can come out of the closet whenever he felt ready, but he needed to
accept his orientation, since that "self-hating violent crap, how’s
that working for you?"
The plotline was so tidy – with traditional religious values
completely avoided – that the only thing it lacked was a public-
service announcement with a website and toll-free number for fighting
teenage homophobia.
The actor playing Riley, Argiris Karras, told the gay website
AfterElton.com that he hoped his character someday "will stand up and
be proud of who he is and hopefully find a man to comfort him and be
there for him. Like anyone, all Riley needs is love. I think his
friends and teammates will still be there for him and respect him just
as much."
So much for the "Nickelodeon" brand.