Andy DehnartTwo seasons ago, when he first appeared on Big Brother, Jeff Shroeder used gay slurs in a fight with another houseguest. Last night, Jeff called being gay “perverted” and angrily ranted about how it was unacceptable to have a gay man running a school for kids.
The conversation was actually about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s 2007 admission that she “always thought of Dumbledore as gay,” although the character’s sexual orientation was never directly addressed in the books. At the time, the webmaster of Harry Potter fan site The Leaky Cauldron told the AP that, “By dubbing someone so respected, so talented and so kind, as someone who just happens to be also homosexual, she’s reinforcing the idea that a person’s gayness is not something of which they should be ashamed.”
But Jeff had the opposite reaction. After asking, “Who’s Dumbledore?” Jeff said, “That’d be perverted.” He asked Kalia, “How was he made to be gay, though? He doesn’t have any gay tendencies. Besides, ‘Hey, Harry, let me feel your balls.'”
Kalia said, “Maybe that’s just for people like you who think that stereotypes around gay people…”
Jeff replied, in a louder and angrier tone, “What do you mean stereotypes around gay people? He’s in a school of little kids; you don’t want make that guy gay.”
Kalia asked, “Why?” and Jeff, in disbelief, replied, “What do you mean, why?
“Gay men can’t work with little kids?” Kalia responded.
“I don’t think it’s the right thing to have a little kids’ book, and have the headmaster that you’re locked away in a magical land be gay. I don’t think that’s the right thing to do,” Jeff said. “I can see your PC view, but I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”
Kalia continued to protest, and Jeff yelled at her, “You know exactly what I’m saying; don’t make it seem like you’re doing the right thing by saying that it’s not. You’re going to let a story book, where they go to fantasy camp, and it’s all little kids without their parents and the guy is gay.”
“Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with him,” Kalia said.
“Get the fuck out of here, don’t start with that fucking shit,” Jeff said. “Don’t tell me the right answer for fucking TV, when you don’t think it’s the right answer.”
Kalia then said, “I’m not. You know why? Because my little sister’s gay.”
“I don’t give a fuck if your little sister’s gay. Think about what it is,” Jeff said.
“But I don’t understand. I truly don’t understand,” Kalia replied, and before changing the subject to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Jeff said, “You truly don’t understand? Well, I don’t understand either.”
It’s fascinating to me how completely dumb Jeff sounds in this conversation, and not just because of his complete and pathetic ignorance. But when he gets angry he makes little sense and says things (“story book,” “fantasy camp”) that him sound like an even bigger idiot. He did a good job of making himself look like an asshole, and at least Kalia was there to challenge him, even if her argument had no impact on his tiny brain.
I’m curious if those who are charmed by Jeff and defended his last homophobic rant will have the same response to this conversation, which makes his feelings about gay people very clear.
Here’s the conversation from the live feeds:
(Update: RealNetworks made a copyright claim to remove the video from YouTube, which is highly annoying since that is a newsworthy clip and clearly an example of fair use, but via Rickey, the video is online elsewhere, so it’s back.)