Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jason Mewes, ... | GAY BANTER ''Strike Back'''s off-color jokes have raised the ire of GLAAD
Image credit: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: Tracy Bennett
GAY BANTER ''Strike Back'''s off-color jokes have raised the ire of GLAAD

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GLAAD, Don't Get Mad

Plus, Bruce Campbell wraps ''Bubba Ho-tep''

STRIKE OUT Gay and lesbian anti-defamation organization GLAAD is most un-glad about director Kevin Smith's latest endeavor, ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.'' The third in the less-than-dynamic duo's film capers, ''Back'''s gay ''jokes'' have prompted GLAAD's media director Scott Seomin to profess, ''I've never seen something so horrific.''

Seomin has asked for -- and will receive -- a $10,000 check from Smith made out to the Matthew Shepard foundation. The director has also agreed to include a reference to GLAAD's cause and the outfit's phone number in the end credits. But Smith, whose 1997's ''Chasing Amy'' starred Ben Affleck as a man in love with a lesbian, says that by floating gay jokes and raising questions about Jay's sexual orientation, he was merely trying to ''preach tolerance by hiding it in humor. Am I going to lead the unenlightened to the promised land, and have male [audience members] running around sucking d---? No. But [maybe] a few will walk around more comfortable... I can't be held responsible for how stupid some people are.''

Seomin is hoping Dimension, which is releasing ''Back'' Aug. 22, will be responsible; he's meeting with the studio this week and asking them to donate $200,000 to the Shepard foundation, dedicated to eradicating homophobically motivated hate crimes. Says a Dimension spokesperson, ''GLAAD is an organization this company has had a very close relationship with. We're certainly going to address the issue.''

KING OF CAMP One guy with a sure sense of humor is Bruce Campbell (''Dawn of the Dead''), who recently wrote his autobiography, ''If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor.'' Campbell, who will appear in Jim Carrey's ''The Majestic,'' just wrapped ''Bubba Ho-tep,'' written and directed by Don Coscarelli (''Phantasm''), which Campbell calls ''the freakiest script I've ever read.'' We believe him: Campbell plays a retirement home inhabitant who believes he's Elvis Presley, opposite Ossie Davis as an old fogey who thinks he's JFK; the two team up to battle invading mummies (Yes. Mummies). Campbell makes no apologies for his, um, taste, saying, ''Shakespeare's too hard. I can't understand it, I need subtitles when I see it, and I'm man enough to admit it.''

Originally posted Aug 03, 2001

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