as of last night, nbc’s hit comedy the office has a recurring gay character. the season premiere episode, titled “the gay witch hunt,” was very tongue-in-cheek, and, as usual, extremely funny.
steve carell’s character, michael, offended office accountant oscar (pictured, right) when he said it was “faggy” of him to prefer shakespeare in love over die hard (haha!). check out this clip of the human resources guy (i think) telling michael that oscar is, indeed, homosexual. his response?
“i would have never called him that if i knew. you don’t call retarded people ‘retards.’ it’s bad taste. you call your friends retards when they’re acting retarded… and i consider oscar a friend.”
after outing him to the office, michael plants an awkward smooch on oscar in front of all his co-workers. y’know, as a show of support. it was hysterical…
i just started watching this show over the summer, so i’m still getting into it… but i think they handled this very well. they got the most laughs by making fools of those who can only identify gay people through stereotypes, which is commendable. i’ll definitely continue to tune in this season, especially to see what happens with oscar (and his “roommate,” gil) in the future.