MTV apologizes to transgendered people for Jersey Shore, everyone else will have to wait

By Sean O'Neal  |  November 2, 2010 | 8:48pm
Aux Features TV

MTV has apologized for Jersey Shore. Or rather, MTV has apologized for Jersey Shore’s use of the word “tranny” during last Thursday’s reunion special, which GLAAD—who recently took issue with Glee for the same thing—called “one of the most blatant examples of transphobia seen on television” after the show re-aired a segment wherein Mike “The Situation” Inexplicablyimportantino was seen flirting with an androgynous club patron, whom his fellow passengers on their cursed crystal ship all claimed was a transgendered person. Only, you know, using that word.

According to an official statement from GLAAD, the reunion special then made things “much worse” by inserting shots of fellow cast member Ronnie in a dress and “footage of a large man in a bikini and a Halloween mask in an attempt to add more ‘humorous’ context.” Also, host Julissa Bermudez kicked off the segment by making fun of Ronnie wearing the dress and then asking, “Who was that tra**y?!  What was up with that?!” (GLAAD supplied the asterisks.) As a result of GLAAD's protest—who argues that use of the word "tranny" on shows like Glee, How I Met Your Mother, and even its popularizing on Project Runway is "is hurtful, dehumanizing and associated with violence, hatred and derision against transgender people"—MTV has promised to remove the segment from all future reruns.

 
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