It's a must read, even for people who don't watch "Idol," making the lively--but largely unfounded--case that DeGeneres is using America's top-rated television show to trumpet her sexuality:
Even her private life is a thriving enterprise, served up as an affirmation of gay marriage set in a Harlequin romance frame. Ms. DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi showed their gauzy wedding video on “Oprah” last year as part of a major campaign for gay true love and happiness. Now Ms. DeGeneres is bringing all of that with her on America’s most conventional reality show.
So what is that argument based on? Not much, it appears. Stanley leads her essay with an anecdote about one time DeGeneres did make a genuinely overt reference to her sexual preference--a soft, winking joke about why she doesn't feel hot and heavy for a heartthrob contestant--then Stanley overreaches searching for other supporting examples:
Ms. DeGeneres makes a point of complimenting even bad singers for their clothes or appearance, which also gives her a quick way to remind audiences that she is a lesbian. Addressing Katie Stevens, who performed “Wild Horses” in a 1950s-style floral party dress, Ms. DeGeneres said, “Well, first of all, I almost wore that.” When Aaron Kelly, 16, the youngest contestant, appeared onstage with his hair moussed into a choppy Tintin thatch, she said, “Are you trying to do your hair like mine now?”
It seems like a stretch to suggest that either of those simple jokes about the sartorial juxtaposition of a teenager and a 52-year-old woman was intended to evoke DeGeneres' sexuality, though not nearly as much of a stretch as saying DeGeneres "finds a way to remind audiences of her sexual status on almost every episode of 'American Idol,'" as Stanley claims. With the one memorable exception of that one joke that one time, DeGeneres' sexuality has been a non-issue for "Idol," yet Stanley writes of DeGeneres like she's turned America's non-political singing competition into a season of "Will and Grace."
