Google's Super Bowl Gets Gay Twist

Here's a take on Google's now-famous Super Bowl ad about Paris, but from the perspective of a gay man. Nice ending.

Super Bowl Breaks MASH's Record

Viewership of Sunday's Super Bowl broke the all-time record set by the 1983 series finale of M*A*S*H.

A classic television show just lost its two-decade grip on top of television's all-time viewership heap. Blame it all on the Super Bowl. Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV on CBS drew an average audience of 106.5 million viewers, breaking the record set by the television show "M-A-S-H" after a 26-year domination, making the game the most watched television broadcast in American history. The New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts reportedly topped the "M-A-S-H" series finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" that drew 105.97 million viewers in 1983. Sunday's Bowl also eclipsed Super Bowl XVI in 1982, as 49.1 percent of households (40,020,000) tuned in to watch San Francisco defeat Cincinnati according to the Neilson Company.

Analysts says several factors worked in favor of this year's game. There was keen national interest in New Orlean's first appearance. Also, the combination of a poor economy and an east coast snowstorm kept folks at home and out of bars, where their viewership would not be recorded by Nielsen.

Queen Latifah Sings At The Super Bowl

It was kind of interesting that a semi-out lesbian was chosen to open the nation's largest sporting event by singing America The Beautiful. No reaction from the right so far, as far as I can find.

Super Bowl Commercial Round-Up

Here's a few of the more noteworthy ads from last night's Super Bowl, starting with the strange "effeminate gay slap" clip from Motorola. Huh? I especially liked the Vizio "stars of the internet clip" with Beyonce, although you have to pay attention to catch all the references. And of course I included the tribute to Auto-Tune and the parody of Lost.

Photo Of The Day - Gay Rights Supporter Scott Fujita Celebrates His Super Bowl Win

A Super Bowl Classic

This is the unedited version of the classic Men On Film skit from the 1992 Super Bowl episode of In Living Color. Two jokes were censored out of the skit in repeat airings. One referred to the Richard Gere/gerbil urban legend, the other implied that Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis a closet case. "You can run, but you can't hide from your true self, Miss Lewis."

Raging Grannies!

Is there anything funnier than a potty-mouthed old lady?

(Tipped by JMG reader Danielle)

Focus On The Family Buys Second Tebow Super Bowl Commercial

CBS has sold a second anti-abortion ad to Focus On The Family. This one, also featuring the Tebows, will be aired during the pre-game show.

News of the second ad comes just days after, anticipating the Tebow ad, Planned Parenthood posted an online ad featuring Olympian Al Joyner and former NFL player Sean James defending abortion rights. Interest groups including the National Organization for Women have asked CBS to drop the Tebow ad. Although Focus on the Family won't reveal its ads' details, CEO Jim Daly says the original ad was rejected by CBS. In it, Pam Tebow, who was advised by a doctor to have an abortion for medical reasons when pregnant with her son, said, "Both of our lives were at risk." "They felt that was too much," he says. "So we dropped the line. We didn't fight them." The word "abortion" is never used. The ad is "an open discussion on the sanctity of human life — not just the issue of abortion," Daly says. It was made for less than $100,000 with "a bit of humor in it — in fitting with the Super Bowl theme."

Via Towleroad, here's an amusing Tebow response ad made by Jimmy Kimmel's team.

A Reason To Care About The Super Bowl

If you've got no other reason to care about who wins this weekend's Super Bowl, here's a pretty good one.

On Sunday, Scott Fujita will reach the pinnacle of his football career, playing linebacker for the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl. Fujita describes it as “this small moment in time where you have a platform to do some good things.’’ Last fall, that included speaking out in support of gay rights, a rare step in a professional sporting culture that often turns social stances into landmines. Fujita, who is married, the father of twin daughters, and straight, pushes against the rising trend in sports to remain mum on cultural and political touchstones. His boldness, shaped by his unusual upbringing, makes him an uncommon and effective advocate for what he believes in. “People asked me a question and I gave my opinion,’’ Fujita said. “People say, ‘That’s so courageous of you.’ To me, it’s not that courageous to have an opinion, especially if you wholeheartedly think it’s the right thing. For me, standing up for equal rights is the right thing to do.’’

Freepers and others are ripping Fujita apart on wingnut blogs, saying that he was brainwashed by his UC Berkeley education.

Clothing Drive

As we all heave a sigh of relief that the stupendously awful (and totally fake) ManCrunch ad won't air during the Super Bowl, we must also wryly observe that something like this Budweiser ad would be warmly received.

BroHarmony.com

The National Lampoon guys are quick with a parody of the gay dating site Super Bowl ad nonsensery. "If Jesus had BroHarmony, he'd probably still been alive because Judas would've been screened out....that's how good it is."

(Via - Queerty)

Mrs. Tebow's Big Lie Of Omission

For weeks now, we've been inundated with Christianist propaganda about how Tim Tebow's mother made the Godly moral choice not to abort her son. Only now it turns out that the Tebows were living in the Philippines during her pregnancy. The Philippines, where abortion was and is illegal. Gloria Allred is on the case.

In her exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com Allred slams the ad and CBS's decision to air it, pointing out factual inconsistencies with Pam's story. One glaring one is the fact that the act of abortion is totally illegal in the majority Catholic country of the Philippines - under all circumstances including rape and incest, and even without a provision in the circumstance that the mother's life is in danger. The law has been in effect since 1930. Allred says she believes it an impossible scenario to believe that Philippino doctors would of ever suggested abortion as a viable option for Tebow in the first place. And when you learn that physicians and midwives who perform abortions in the Philippines face six years in prison, and may have their licenses suspended or revoked, and that women who receive abortions - no matter the reason - may be punished with imprisonment for two to six years, it's easy to see why.

Allred is threatening to sue CBS for false advertising, should the ad still run.

CBS Rejects Mancrunch Super Bowl Ad

Entertainment Weekly reports that CBS has officially rejected the ad from gay dating website Mancrunch. Yesterday I posted the ad, whose low production values led many to suspect that the entire project was a prank on CBS.

CBS has decided it will not air an advertisement from gay dating website ManCrunch.com during Feb. 7’s Super Bowl XLIV, EW has confirmed. The ad depicts two football-watching men sharing a passionate kiss after their hands touch while reaching into a bowl of potato chips. “After reviewing the ad — which is entirely commercial in nature — our Standards and Practices department decided not to accept this particular spot,” a network rep said in a statement. “As always, we are open to working with the client on alternative submissions.” A rep for ManCrunch.com also confirmed the rejection and called the refusal to air the spot hypocritical. “We are totally of the opinion the ad was rejected due to the homosexual content,” spokeswoman Elissa Buchter said. She added, “The creative is PG-rated and doesn’t feature any tongue or overt sexuality.”

Go Daddy's Rejected Super Bowl Ad

Domain seller Go Daddy will have at least two commercials during this year's Super Bowl. According to the company, CBS rejected the below ad, which features an effeminate former football player turned fashion designer. Apparently CBS is worried about offending gay viewers. Worried about offending millions of pro-choices Americans, not so much.

LEAKED! Focus On The Family & Tim Tebow's Super Bowl Abortion Ad

(Via - Truth Wins Out)

CBS Considers Gay Ad For Super Bowl

All the blowback over Focus On The Family's anti-abortion Super Bowl ad may be having an effect at CBS, who is said to be considering accepting an ad from a gay dating site. Or at least, they are pretending to consider it.

The 30-second spot shows two men excitedly watching the game, before their hands brush as they both reach into a bowl of chips. Suddenly, the two begin making out, much to the shock of a guy sitting close by. According to a rep for the dating site, which operates under the slogan “Where Many Many Many Men Come Out to Play,” the ad was submitted on Monday, January 18th. When the site followed up on the status of the ad on Friday, January 22nd, they were told by CBS that “the spot hadn’t been officially approved yet" by network standards, and that "all the Super Bowl spots were sold out.” “ManCrunch requested the spot get reviewed anyway just in case another advertiser drops out and a spot becomes available, as often happens, and CBS agreed,” added the site’s rep.

ManCrunch officials said they believe CBS has no intention of airing a commercial for their gay dating service, "but do not want to officially ‘reject’ the spot out of fear there may be a backlash from gay advocacy groups.” However, a representative from the network told Pop Tarts that advertising spots were still open, and was unsure where that comment originated. “The ad is still under review, the process takes a little while,” a rep from CBS said. “We still have a lot of ads we have yet to review.”

I'd never heard of Mancrunch before this.

UPDATE: Here's the clip. It's not particularly offensive, not particularly inventive. The production values don't really scream "We have $2.5M to spend on the Super Bowl" either.

Tim Tebow Aborts His Shirt

I totally had to steal the above headline from TMZ. The actual story here is that women's rights groups have joined the call for CBS to cancel the planned Super Bowl anti-abortion ad from Tebow and Focus On The Family.

A national coalition of women's groups called on CBS on Monday to scrap its plan to broadcast an ad during the Super Bowl featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, which critics say is likely to convey an anti-abortion message. ''An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year -- an event designed to bring Americans together,'' said Jehmu Greene, president of the New York-based Women's Media Center. The center was coordinating the protest with backing from the National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority and other groups. CBS said it has approved the script for the 30-second ad and has given no indication that the protest would have an impact. A network spokesman, Dana McClintock, said CBS would ensure that any issue-oriented ad was ''appropriate for air.''

Focus On The Family is thought to be paying about $2.5M for the 30-second spot, money they claim came from "a few generous friends" and not from the general fund of the cash-strapped organization, which laid off hundreds of hater drones in late 2009.

CBS's Super Bowl Commercials Policy: Anti-Abortion - Yes, Pro-Gay - No

Last week we learned that CBS will be running an anti-abortion ad from Focus On The Family during the Super Bowl, despite having rejected an ad several years ago from the pro-gay United Church of Christ, telling them that the network doesn't won't accept an ad that "touches on and/or takes a position on one side of a current controversial issue of public importance." Abortion isn't controversial? A complaint campaign against CBS has been launched on Facebook. Here's the rejected UCC ad.

Focus On The Family Buys Super Bowl Ad

Focus On The Family has purchased ad time during next month's Super Bowl, when University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother will shill for the hate group. Tebow is known for placing Bible verses into the black stripes under his eyes during games. (He's home schooled!) It's expected that the Tebows will give a personal message against abortion in the ad. A 30-second spot will cost at least $2.5M, a curious expenditure for the cash-strapped FOTF, who laid off more than 275 employees in the last year. A spokesman claims the money is coming from ad-specific donations, not the general fund.