Probabbly gonna get flamed for this but who cares....(Might be reading too much into this but it's a actually a serious question, what do you all think?)

Watching the Canal+ performance I noticed a small hand gesture by Prince after the ''Am I straight or Gay?" line which I found awkward, childish and stereotypical. We know about P's less-then-enthusiastic attitude towards homosexuality but I found the feminine handgesture he made to describe homosexuality old-fashioned and stereotypical. Quite ironic that he's doing such a thing during Controversy, a song that was written to avoid , and even to break, such stereotypical thinking.

eelco said:

Controversial gesture during "Controversy"? Was it appropriate for that song? Surely you don't want him to be Politically Correct during that track. Prince is a lot of things but one thing he certainly isn't is a homophobe. "less-then-enthusiastic attitude towards homosexuality" (sic), is there a history of homophobic statements and activity? Not sure about that. However, I DID notice that particular gesture and thought... hmmm that's new.

It wasn't the usual "limp-wrist" gesture, but an off-putting gesture none-the-less. Yes it was inappropriate in my opinion.

Browzer said:

Wanna bet?

yeah but lets be honest, most gays are very feminate lol. they all do that camp hand thing lol

squirrelgrease said:

Gladly bet with you but on what?

Browzer said:

I DON'T think it was appropriate. It's not so much that I want P to be politically correct; I'd like him to be MORE politically incorrect. But politicaly incorrectness covers BOTH bases: too conservative and too liberal, depending on who you'd ask to describe it. I am a liberal and I considered this gesture rude. As I said in my original post, the thing which upset me most was the contradiction with the the original message of the song

Prince's less-then-enthusiastic (notice the political correctness there...) attitude has been well documented over time. There's the incident of Wendy and Lisa having to denounce their homeoexuality before the rumored Revolution revival, There's the sudden appearance of Bambi during the Nude-Tour , Just a few days after Lois Lane's first guest appearence (One of their two lead singers is a Vanity-look-alike lesbian). JW's are also not exactly known for their love for homosexuality either.
[Edited 10/15/09 0:44am]

squirrelgrease said:

well, let's say it's a new arrangement for the limp-wrist. It's something more than the off-putting gesture...
[Edited 10/15/09 0:45am]

Browzer said:

That's some bullshit, don't be blind to it. In the last 10 years his attitude to his gay fanbase, and gays in general, have greatly changed to the negative.

ernestsewell said:

I don't believe that at all ernest.

I immediately cringed when I saw the hand gesture. It was very immature, narrow-minded, stereotypical, and flat out STUPID of him. If anyone ever did a spoof of him in black face, we'd never hear the end of it.

BEING GAY IS NOT A PUNCHLINE! It's not "gay" when your car fucks up. It's not "gay" because you have to work late. "Gay" is not interchangeable with "stupid", or "silly" or "retarded"; no more than nig*er is for "lazy" or "uneducated". It's certainly not a dumbass, 30 year old hand gesture used by a 50-something allegedly enlightened black man in 2009. He's a fool.

But then again coming from someone who did something like The Rainbow Children, I'm not too surprised. (And how ironic that rainbow gradients are used in gay culture and iconography.)

luv4u said:

That's fine. We're sure to differ on things, but I believe it.

Was the hand gesture intentional?

Made me think of this line just now:

" he's gay used to mean he's happy, nowadays happy ain't alllowed " Feels like a prophecy now.... SADLY

luv4u said:

It was quite outspoken and too big to be unintentional.

Browzer said:

This has been discussed ad-nauseam, but there was the pre-hype Lotusflow3r interview that Prince did where he unfavorably viewed homosexuality. Then there's the whole "Wendy & Lisa should denounce their lifestyle" story, which you can believe if you want to.

luv4u said:

I think eelco was right when they said it was too "big" and noticeable to be an accident. He didn't have to take his hand off the guitar neck, or anything else to do it, but he did. Quite intentional. I still loved the show overall, except his homophobic tick.

eelco said:

Then he should apologize

ernestsewell said:

I could be wrong but "bullshit?"

It's a similar 'hand gesture' that Cat did on the Lovesexy tour. Everytime I've seen him perform 'Controversy' he's done that.

luv4u said:

Absolutely. But did it mean what it looked like it meant? Who really knows but Prince? I'm inclined to take offense, but I can also give him the benefit of the doubt.

squirrelgrease said:

Might be so that. knowing his less-then-enthusiastic attitude , some of us are more-sensitive on this issue but STILL it's at the very least very childish.

BTW good to see that some serious discussion is still possible on the org, like that!

I'm quoting 90% of my non-prince listening friends and probably a lot of the general public:

Prince looks gay, he dresses gay, he walks gay, he dances gay, he sings gay in his falsetto.

And yet he's a gay basher... not doing a good job in getting out his message then is he.

Browzer said:

The word gay is so mis-used. Possibly a current "slang" word?. The other day I heard someone say in a store "that's so gay"

Browzer said:

Trying to get your point in relation to the topic but sorry....

eelco said:

Tried to say (probably lacklusterly) that some say that he is a gaybasher and yet others are saying that he is openly gay.

Browzer said:

ok, well, ok. There's the same sentiment again. Somehow, over time, gay appears to have become more of a common insult again. I'm not going along with it.

Does that mean however that BECAUSE he's wearing these clothes and so on he's less crdible as a gaybasher and should therefore be given more freedom to do so? If that were true I'll put on a white rope and denounce the pope as being a pedophile

YES, i do have a day off and a cold
[Edited 10/15/09 1:52am]

RumAndRaisin said:

Just like young people from England are all retarded nitwits in football shirts whose only skill is burping after 20 beers in 10 minutes? yeah , I get your point :-p

RumAndRaisin said:

yes im gay but not a feminate...but what u say is very true...infact 90% are camp and do that limp wrist hand gesture ...so maybe it was princes way of breaking the ice and saying hi with a wave theyd all understand and appreciate more
[Edited 10/15/09 2:11am]

ernestsewell said:

I think that's got more to do with the bitching, not sexual preferance !

Gay "Guy's" not so much women do bitch the hell out of somethings...

Please do not tell me that Prince does not have a Negative Gay/Straight Fan base and Press Media ...

He's a rebal so he rebels .....he don't care if your black/white/pink/blue/gay...whatever ...he's travelled the world and yes he been pis**d on by all types....

JUST FEEL BETTER, FEEL GOOD, FEEL WONDERFUL
.....EYE DON’T KNOW WHAT U THOUGHT
WHEN U SPIT IN MY FACE
BUT THIS DIMENSION AIN’T THE TIME
OR THE PLACE.....