You’d think that with coaching, his non-profit and taking all those long showers, Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky would not have a lot of free time. Oh contraire! He is a ferocious movie-goer with quite specialized tastes. We sat down with him (actually, we sent our 11-year-old nephew so that he’d open up more) and asked him to name a few of his favorites… after all, he’s going to have a lot of free time soon to watch them all again!
With such classic selections as “The Basketball Diaries”, “Kids” and “Newsies” “My Own Private Idaho”, TLAGay.com’s Robbie O. introduced “What Would Sandusky Watch ? : Jerry Sandusky’s Favorite Films”, possibly not an Xmas godsend for patrons of all-male cinema. Leave it to the uncredited author of a post at Anarok.com, however, to take TLAGay’s pitch quite seriously (“Alleged child rapist Jerry Sandusky sells gay films to child rape fans on TLAGay.com”), asking, “if your target audience is gay men, why would you do this?”
Well, there’s this tiny chance that gay men — much like their straight pals — have this thing called a sense of humor. And just maybe, any reader with an ounce of common sense could tell straight away that a premise as goofy as Jerry Sandusky’s Desert Island DVD’s was neither a) sanctioned by the accused pederast, or b) actually promotes a cavalier attitude towards real crimes against children. So for the losing-one’s-shit-unnecessarily-roll-call we can add Deadspin’s Tim Burke, who not encourages his very tasteful, mature blog’s readership to harass Robbie O. (tellingly, Deadspin comments contributors recommend selections such”The Men Who Stare At Boys” and “Friday Night Mites”), but calls TLAGay’s brand of comedy, “the most fucking reprehensible news to come out of the Jerry Sandusky affair outside of the actual offenses Sandusky’s alleged to have committed.”
Look, I fully sympathize with any large commercial operation that struggles to generate heavy traffic on the day before Christmas, but this goes far beyond hysterical. More reprehensible than Penn State’s lack of urgency in dealing with the Sandusky situation? More reprehensible than the moronic, lemming-like actions of PSU students the night of Joe Paterno’s dismissal? More reprehensible than one of Sandusky’s accusers being bullied at school? Burke calls TLAGay’s Robbie O., “morally bankrupt”, which is a hell of a charge to level at someone who merely has a sensibility other than yours. Presumably, Burke would also consider any number of PSU coaches and administrators to be even worse human beings, but finding out requires wading thru dozens upon dozens of ambulance-chaser Deadspin posts (accidental TV f-bombs, cock shots, etc.). If Deadspin is going to be in the business of weighing in on morality, I have a couple of tiny suggestions FREE OF CHARGE ;
a) if Mr. O is indeed, a worse person than those who aided and enabled a child rapist, maybe you could help him get an internship at Fleshbot? Where better to learn firsthand what’s socially acceptable for a commercial enterprise and what isn’t?
b) put somebody in charge of the witch hunt other than the guy manning the sports blooper desk. (you’re welcome!)