Chuck D’s got his charges of Presley prejudice, and now Cybil’s joining the party. The actress recently joined the cast of Showtime’s The L Word, and Time Out New York took the opportunity to ask about her history with The King:
TONY: Many years ago, you dated Elvis Presley. How did you meet?Cybil Shepherd: [In a thick Southern accent] His people called me up, actually. It was before the fat Elvis, bless his heart! I definitely had a love affair with Elvis before the fat Elvis. I think it was ?73 or ?74. If you really want to know, I wrote a book called Cybill Disobedience, and you can get it on the Internet. The title of the chapter about Elvis is ?White Boys Don?t Eat.?
TONY: Oh my God. What did you do on those dates?
Cybil Shepherd: Ate chicken-fried steak, deep-fried peanut-butter-and-mayonnaise sandwiches. He had screenings every Wednesday night at this huge movie theater?private screenings with 50 of his closest friends. One of the movies we saw was Sunday Bloody Sunday. They started running the picture, and there was a scene between two gay men. Elvis said, ?Ew, gross. Turn off the movie!?
Man Brokeback would have broken him. And though Cybil has no lesbian experiences to draw upon for her character’s latent homosexuality, she did tell TONY, ?I kinda always wanted to have one, I just haven?t yet.” And she’s only 56. Ladies?
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saying “eww, gross” about watching 2 dudes in a love scene = hating gays?
that makes everyone who isn’t gay (with the exception of a few curious people), by definition, a hater of the gays.
she is a retarded old lady.
Odd that the man would endorse something as extreme as incest, but not homosexuality. Ever hear “Kissin’ Cousins?”
“I got a gal, she’s as cute as she can be!
She’s a distant cousin, but she’s not too distant with me!
We kiss all night, I squeeze her tight,
But we’re kissin’ cousins, that’s what makes it alright!”
So if I, by my nature, find it a little gross when two dudes start kissing, I’m a homophobe? Doesn’t it just make me straight?
carson “a little gross” is different than demanding a movie be shut off at the sight of two men kissing in a movie (which, in the 70s couldn’t have been that graphic). it makes you a homophobe.
“Homophobe” defines a person who is prejudiced against or fears homosexuals. Turning off a movie because a gay scene comes on doesn’t make him a homophobe, sorry. It just makes him grossed out by buttsex.
Unfortunate use of hyperbole in this headline. Gettin’ the kids all riled up.
Bah, people were still majorly uptight about homosexuals back in the 70′s – most gays were still hiding out in the safety of their closets – Elvis was probably just reacting to the shock factor, given the time. Whatever Cyb – you’ll have to reach further than this to keep the P.R. train rollin’ babe.
Gay people usually don’t freak out and call it gross to see opposite sex people kissing. You guys are defending behavior that is obviously homophobic. I mean, it’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened, nor does it warrant going around and telling your friend Elvis is a homophobe, but please. That was obviously homophobic and saying you think two guys kissing is gross is patently homophobic. No two ways about it. There are situations where it can be gross, but such a general statement like some of you are saying is pure homophobia. Weird for a progressive site like this.
Jesus Christ, Stereogum. Cybil Shepard and Elvis? Not even US Weekly or Ladies Home Journal would find this interesting. I am hugely and repeatedly disappointed in this blog. See ya.
yeah, it’s homophobic. If you’re straight in this world it means you have power. If you’re “grossed out” [even a little] by two guys kissing, it means you get to deem being gay as something that’s disgusting. So, in otherwords you get to use that power.
No, it isn’t the same as beating up a queer person but it’s the same kind of power. So, while you saying that, or Elvis doing that, may not be the biggest of deals it’s part of the same attitudes and behavior around power.
I can’t believe there are people commenting on this site who find same-sex kissing “gross.” And seriously, who are you? Do you find it gross when two girls or just men? Hmmmm. . .I wonder. I, as a straight woman, love watching two hot guys make out. I never caught Queer as Folk (no cable at the time), but to many of the straight girls I knew, it was like The L Word for most men.
Ian, let’s leave power dynamics in the postmodern dreck it belongs.
As a straight man (and worse! I’m over half-white!), does my lack of desire to see guys making out make me hate them? Does it make me want to deny them the legal rights afforded to me? Make me want to suppress their speech through artistic outlets?
No, it just means I’m not that big a fan of watching dudes make out.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
… Just to be clear …
We can still totally be revulsed by fat people then, right?
Like our PC friend Cybil?
Cool, cool …
I’ve read Cybill’s autobiography, funny read, shes a bit of a whore
unless you let a dude stick it in your butthole you are a raging homophobe.
it’s true.
She makes it very clear she did not date Elvis while he was fat, because that just would have completely degraded her in our eyes.
saying that does not just make you straight. it makes you at least extremely rude. if you feel that way, you can keep it to yourself, or talk about it to your friends or whatever. but exclaiming that surrounded by random people in that situation is at least rude.
and that kind of does make one homophobic. being straight means you don’t think it’s hot, that doesn’t mean it has to be disgusting. if one is not homophobic at all, they wouldn’t have that reaction. so all of you thinking that that just makes you straight should think a little harder.
Thanks for the Cybill coverage – she’s one funny bitch. Her book is a fun read – witty and, at some points, heartbreakingly honest.
I totally miss her old show about drunken menopausal women and their postmodern definitions of family.
Yes, I am being totally serious here…
As far as Elvis being homophobic…eh, who cares? A dead man, homophobic or otherwise, is still dead, no?
the phrase that should have been used in place of “homophobe” is “heterosexist.”
interesting that “postmodern power dynamics” gets labeled as trash because the point it makes is valid.
what if elvis made the comment about an interracial kiss?
it’s not worth getting worked up over but demanding a movie be turned off (that they were presumably enjoying), just because a couple of men are kissing, IS homophobic. if not outright homophobic, it’s at least immature. “ew, gross.” c’mon now
not that this makes cybil shepherd any less of a blowhard and elvis any less awesome
Cybill Shepherd is an asshole.
Elvis was a hero to most…;)
It’s simple. Homosexuals aren’t turned on by heterosexual kissing but they aren’t grossed out by it. Heterosexuals may not be turned on by homosexual kissing (depending on the sex doing the kissing, of course – were you grossed out by the Madonna/Britney kiss? I rest my case), but to find it gross is, well, problematic to say the very least. There’s a difference between “This does absolutely nothing for me” and “Ew, why do I have to see that?”
i changed the channel during the cowboy-love scenes in “Brokeback Mtn.” not homophobic but watching men make out isn’t enjoyable.
You’ve got to give it up to a women who not only plugas her book but also is into turning her career into a one-note, “Hey! Remember how I dated Elvis that one time?” thing. Way to pare down your resume, dear.
I should just let it go, but not today, na-uh.
1. Cybil calling on fat people? Not wise.
2. Watching gay people make out and then demand that a film be turned off? Homophobic in my book. Maybe I should add that I am in fact gay, but I for one do not find straight people kissing (or worse, LOL) disgusting at all. Same goes for two guys making out. I can take it in stride, and I would expect other people to be able to react similarly.
3. No, thanks.
cybil who?
I grew up down the street from CybillZilla. She can’t help being the whore she is and we must forgive her. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/screw-cybill-shepherd