I’ve been reading about the dust-up over comments made by current Bachelor star Juan Pablo Galavis about a potential gay bachelor on the show.
Whether people believe that his comments about gays being perverts are true or you believe his apology, that he used the wrong words and really just meant that “that gay people are more affectionate and intense and for a segment of the TV audience this would be too racy to accept” is irrelevant. He did get one thing right. TV audiences would not accept it, even if gay marriages were legal and happening in all 50 states + DC, along with all the usual traditional marriage.
I hear a lot about gay issues, about acceptance and tolerance, about marriage equality, about love and relationships and commitment. It’s one thing for most people to talk about it in the abstract. It’s another entirely when it shows up on their TV in HD.
So. Here are the reasons why I believe we’ll never have a gay bachelor:
5. Advertisers. TV shows have to draw advertising dollars to stay on the air. Advertisers have to draw customers to make money. And while a boycott threat by One Million Moms might get the advertiser a few days of free publicity and some face time on the Morning Shows and Buzzfeed, supporting (and thereby passively condoning) something as controversial as gay dating, and possibly marriage, could spell brand suicide. Even if the company were already known, in some circles, to be GLBT-friendly, would thye be willing to put this on a larger platform? People might tune into an episode to see the novelty, but will they stick around? Is the potential monetary gain for both the network and the brand enough to outweigh the risk of being associated with this sort of controversy? I vote no.
4. Protests. A gay bachelor would guarantee protests from all sides. Let’s move past the usual suspects. We know who will generally protest. But… too many gay stereotypes and people will protest. If everyone is young/hot/fit, ditto for not being body-inclusive. Edit to make this guy or that guy the hero or the villain and people will complain about unfair representation. ABC is stuck. Do you think they want to spend their time and money defending their decisions
3.