Ha! sounds like the appropriate response.

Just a question, but what if a straight actor did a similar spot which ended with a promise that one day, when she least expected, he was going to have sex with Ellen DeGeneres (or some other self admitted lesbian)?

I personally see the humor in this, but wonder how it would be received if the same words were used but the sexual orientations were reversed.

YAJ-

As long as Ellen or some other lesbian said she is heterophobic, I think it would be well received as an appropriate and hilarious response.

Brian,

I don't think you quite get the point. Hardaway exercised his free speech rights (I don't know who he is or what he said, but I can get it from context). The response was to threaten him with assault (legally defined as an unwanted touching) or sexual assault (what we used to call rape). I realize that this is all done as a joke, but the punchline of the joke is essentially "you will be raped".

YAJ-

My post was in response to this line:

I personally see the humor in this, but wonder how it would be received if the same words were used but the sexual orientations were reversed.

Whether or not jokingly threatening rape is an appropriate response is not relevant to this particular line of your post. The line was about the response of the public. The reason people aren't up in arms over Takei's comments is because of the perception that Hardaway deserved it. The point of my post was that the public's response to the reverse would be the same IF the perception was that the lesbian deserved it.

I had to look through the video again to be sure and I think its a stretch to claim that the punchline is "you will be raped." Takei said, "some day when you least expect it I will have sex with you." while statement in itself doesn't preclude rape, it could include other scenario's as well.

There are a number of factors that would determine where the opposite would be found funny or offensive or funny by the public. Jimmy Kimmel claiming to have surprise sex with Rosie would probably be found funny (well maybe disgusting). Iron Mike Tyson claiming to want to have sex with Ellen probably wouldn't sit that well.

Also a factor is Takei was parodying an irrational fear that many homophobes have about gay people (that is, that gay men are constantly trying to molest or seduce straight men).

For some reason, I think George is going to be remembered more for his humour than Star Trek. Just sayin...

Also a factor is Takei was parodying an irrational fear that many homophobes have about gay people (that is, that gay men are constantly trying to molest or seduce straight men).

This is the point.

Maniakes; Takei's commentary works because it treats a controversial subject with humor,which anyone could understand, instead of constant whining and stupid "made-up" words, like "homophobia" which are meant only to insult and and obfuscate!

I used to think that the word "homphobia" was a misnomer. However, there are people who actually are afraid of homosexuals or are irrationally concerned that their children will become gay if they don't play with the right toys or if you dress your boys in pastels (I kid thee not: I have heard otherwise well-educated persons in their thirties say such things). And then there are people like Hardaway who called himself a homophobe and who clearly has an irrational reaction to gays.

As such, the word has more salience than some may think, although I do think that the word is often mis-applied to people who simply have moral objections (to object to homosexuality is not to be afraid of it).

The bottom line in terms of the humor, it isn't like Hardaway, a relatively young man and a former athlete really has anything to fear from George Takei, a man who will be 70 in April. As such all the "rape" talk about is rather silly.