Idolator

Damn, for a minute I thought that said Baby Dick at the bottom. This was funny as hell, but not in the Donald Fagen/Walter Becker "genuinely funny musicians" way. More in the, wow this guy is totally pathetic way.

Josh, I'm most disappointed since I kind of stood up for the guy. I mean, I didn't actually stand up for him, since I'm far from a fan of his crappy band, but I do empathize with people who have to duck flying bottles at their jobs. But, Josh, you're a complete clown. There's PC, and then there's decency - calling someone a fag in front of 50,000 people shows that you aren't much of a decent person, and you sure as hell aren't PC.

As you say Josh, it's not the words, it's the intent. Your intent was to humiliate a guy by calling him a fag and whatever other garbage you spewed. Your desperately misguided damage control isn't going to change the fact that you revealed your true character on stage that day. I doubt most of your fans will care. And hey, I learned your name which is a plus right?

To quote your favorite philosopher, Bill Hick's (sic's):

"Your denial is beneath you, and thanks to the use of hallucinogenic drugs, I see through you."

My opinion on the issue hasn't changed, but I do question the logic of this sort of public statement.

Well ok -- I'm going to stand up for Josh Homme since he's going to get taken to task here.

As soon as any public figure opens their mouth and says any word that is deemed offensive, even if that word is not intended the way it is perceived, a witch hunt begins. When considering whether someone is actually a homophobe for using a word like "fag" or "faggot", you really need to consider the source. Some sources I can understand the inference of homophobia from; not this one, no chance.

Calling Josh Homme homophobic is, in my well-informed personal opinion, akin to calling Bill O'Reilly a bleeding-heart liberal. I mean, what the fuck do you people want from rock stars? Do they all have to be able to do long division and recite Beowulf before they get a pass?

At what point did Josh Homme become famous enough that people in general were supposed to give a shit about things like this? If you like his band you probably expect something like this and are ok with it. If you don't care about Queens of the Stone Age, why do you care what their front man says on stage?

Or is the outrage coming from fans of "live music" who want to make sure that the name of musical performance isn't being sullied by assholes with less than accurate vocabularies? In any case I don't get it.

@loudersoft: loudersoft is Josh Homme! Burn him!

It really isn't that

Hey! What happened to my comment?

It really isn't that big of a deal. Intent is key though. He called the kid a faggot and threatened buggery in order to make the kid seem like less of a man, to emascualte him. Sounds like homophobia to me. No Homme.

I love when musicians get up about things people say on the internet.

What a bunch of faggots.

/gasoline

@GhostOfDuane: Aww baby, I'm already on fire just because you commented ;-)

@Silverfuture: Yeah I dunno. It's a YMMV situation.

Josh Homme totally wants to put fire on the Chichi Man.

Was it intentional to use a picture where he has flaming phallus in his mouth?

Whatevs, he let a homophobic insult out (not the same thing as actually having an issue with the gays) and got shit for it. My bet, next bottle thrower gets his tongue lashing cut off at "fuck you, asshole."

I thought Homme's original insult to the audience member was pretty bad ass, but he lost all cred by explaining himself to internet snarks.

"Am I a homophobe because I included a slang for gay..."

Slur for gay, idiot. Slur. Quite a difference.

"For years now I've known gay is not a choice..."

But if it were?

If it were, then you wouldn't patronize them with your "I have a lot of friends who wear pleather" horseshit?

Thanks for pitying the gays! They can't help it!

"I never said, nor suggested, that being gay is wrong, but apparently, based on your outrage to my flu-infused rant, you do!"

Crying about your cold again. Whiny, whiny dipshit. And you're explaining your rant away by blaiming it on your snotty nose? I thought you were contending that your rant was blameless? And if you are explaining it away via the cold, then why, on one of your live albums (according to the Onion--God knows I didn't even know you had live albums), do you call a heckler "a cocksmoker" at least twice and tell him to "eat a bag of dicks"? Seems to be a fixation of yours!

Nevermind that your sentence makes no sense. You're saying that I think being gay is wrong because you couldn't stop hollering "faggot" after someone at a concert threw something at you (something that happens everyday, in every city, without a similar reaction from the frontman in question)?

Idiot.

"I also told that young whipper snapper I'd have anal sex with him... how can I possibly reconcile these opposing viewpoints?"

No one's denying you seem a little conflicted.

"I never have been nor intend to be politically correct."

Indeed, the greatest crime of political correctness is that it allows every slob who can't stop shooting his mouth off to imagine that he's a rebel, a Lenny Bruce--or, in this case, Bill Hicks.

"To me, that PC world would suck more shit than the porta-potty truck at Glastonbury."

No one would ever ask that you think before you speak, Josh. We don't ask of you what might kill you.

Finally, for everyone who was so outraged that someone would throw a bottle (as we thought it was then) at poor Josh, from Josh's Wikipedia: "In 2004, Homme was involved in a scuffle with Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia at an L.A. club. Homme taunted Dahlia, poured beer on his head and ***struck him with the empty bottle***. Homme was ordered to remain at least 100 yards (100 m) away from Dahlia and the club, was sentenced to 3 years probation with community service, and was forced to enter a rehab program for 60 days."

So you're a drunk who likes to hit people with bottles, who calls people "faggot" when they throw bottles (or shoes!) at you, and who couldn't form an intrinsically logical sentence if your fading career depended on it.

Also, you dress like Count Chocula.

I'm finished.

@OliverTwist:

Oh. My. God.

For realz?

@Commonloon:

a) What's bad ass about gay slurs and homophobia again? This here is badass --

+ Watch video

This here is badass --

+ Watch video

Losing your mind, humiliating yourself in front of thousands, and assaulting a kid, not so badass.

b) Dude never had an ounce of cred in the first place.

You people are truly out of your minds. You haven't the slightest concept of how language works. You are thin skinned and somehow living disconnected from the real world at the same time. When you rip into someone you use the words that will best affect your target. In this case, to teach him a lesson. If you cant handle Josh's amusing temper flare up you are sad. And should likely avoid the rock scene all together. Or better yet cure yourself with a TurboNegro concert. They have enough faggots on stage that you may ACTUALLY get butt-fucked in front of your fiends. lighten up.

[redboy.com]

whatever. kyuss is still awesome.

Good god, get over it. "Oh no, Josh Homme said 'faggot' I'm gonna cry." Boo fucking hoo. Seriously, there are bigger things to worry about on this planet than whether or not Josh Homme is a homophobe. How about you worry about the actual homophobes out there who are actively oppressing homosexuals everyday...republicans...specifically moral majority Christian conservative republicans.

@GhostOfDuane: Wait...did you post those videos to stick up for Homme? Bill Hicks calling a woman a cunt and Josh Homme calling a dude a fag are both pretty funny to me, actually, but i'm not sure if that's where you were going with that.

I thought what Josh said originally was all pretty funny. Why anybody is taking his words so seriously is ridiculous.

I love his Mr Show reference at the end. Also, who cares what he said, like you've never said anything in anger that wasn't necessarily the brightest thing to commit to the moment? Everyone does it, he just happens to be under more of a microscope about it. No one's perfect. Sooooo stop crying.

@davehimself: "If you cant handle Josh's amusing temper flare up you are sad."

He's the one who can't handle it. He's talked himself into a pretzel. I'm enjoying it.

Incidentally, you write very stupidly. Study harder, kid. And bear in the mind that "the rock scene" consists of more than mid-90's FM burnouts.

If he made decent music, I probably wouldn't mind if he ate babies.

@OliverTwist:
As you await your Pulitzer, right?

Jesus. The internet. It ain't full of stars.

Don't be confused, just because I'm discussing the incident doesn't mean I give a fuck about Josh Homme or his shitty band. Fact is I hadn't heard of the guy until the video was posted. And I didn't have strong feelings on him either way until he saw our comments and got all riled up and stupid about it. And Bill Hicks calling a woman a cunt was only one small portion of his thorough and entertaining undressing of that heckler. The man went nuts, sure, but not Michael Richards or Josh Homme "bring shame to yourself and your family" nuts.

Really, is anyone here crying? Do any regulars around here actually care about this prick? Does anyone have the slightest clue what davehimself is talking about?

@OliverTwist: Oh, but he does make decent music; sometimes even good/great music. So....let him eat babies. Or call people fags.

@GhostOfDuane: Really? You're comparing him to Michael Richards? Also, you hadn't heard of him or his shitty band before this incident...so how'd you come to the shitty band conclusion?

I'm annoyed.

Wouldn't it be safe to assume that anyone who would be offended by what Josh Homme said (OliverTwist) is not the kind of person that would be at a QOTSA gig to begin with?

It seems pretty safe to assume that a QOTSA show is not going to be a PC sort of show. That being said, it also seems patently obvious that Josh Homme is probably not out by the bus after the set with steel toed Docs waiting to stomp some minorities. Maybe you think he chose his words poorly but I have a hard time believing anyone is uptight and humorless enough to believe that the whole thing was the tirade of an honest to goodness Grand Wizard.

Also, this argument is kind of retarded. But fun. In a retarded way.

@MayhemintheHood: What about "niggers"? Would you mind that? I expect you don't mind as long as you're not in the group being slurred.

But again, if he weren't obviously a moron, I'd say something along the lines of "clearly this is a complicated person, tense because isolated by his great talent, etc. Homme though is just an idiot who likes to talk about poo and sodomy, and make himself feel tough by carrying on about "fags."

As his fan, you should be delighted that he's getting some press for the first time in more than a decade.

@Plague: Compare the threads about this on Idolator to this one, for example: [stereogum.com]

My point: this is an unsually stupid conversation about this, full of "he said fag so what huh-huh" Beavis and Butthead-level remarks. The other online debates about it that I've seen aren't so full of people to whom it's news that you shouldn't holler "faggot" over and over again at a festival audience. They understand that actual gay people show up to such events, and it's better not to make them feel like they're Jews at the Nuremberg Rally.

Think I see why Denton let this one go.

@OliverTwist: I just think that unless this kid was actually homosexual, and Josh Homme somehow knew that and was using the word "fag" to make fun of his lifestyle and sexual preference, then it's just a random outburst of words that were meant to be funny more than anything.

I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of his, by the way, although I have enjoyed some QOTSA songs here and there over the years. The last press i've read about him, besides all of the articles about them every time a new album comes out, was probably right here on Idolator a few weeks ago. So maybe we have different definitions of the word "decade", as well as differing views on politically correct speech at rock festivals.

@OliverTwist:

I guess I'm confused as to why, if this discussion is so unbearably lowbrow and unintelligent as compared to those occurring at places like Stereogum (home of the annual Gummies: Indie Rock Hotties awards), you would even hang around for it. And not just hang around but, between this post and the original post, comment a dozen times. Surely Stereogum has something far less offensive and far more wholesome that you could be doing with your time.

We get it. You think that Josh Homme said something offensive and homophobic. You were offended because the slur that he used was directed at a minority group of which you are a member. Law of averages says that there were gay males in the audience. Have yet to see massive press conference demanding justice/apology/class action suit.

In other words: chillax. This is fun.

@OliverTwist:
Stereogum? And you aren't being sarcastic?
Too bad we will never know what Punk Planet has to say about it!

@OliverTwist: I'm not going to comment on the rest of this discussion because I need to give it more than a simple skim, but you do know that there's a lot of irony when you say "I can see why Nick Denton let this one go" while praising Stereogum, which is owned by the same company as Idolator now? You may want to recalibrate your insult-o-meter there, pal.

@Maura Johnston:

You certainly need to give this more than a simple skim. This is like a box of Lucky Charms that is 97% marshmallows. This is amazing. Thank you Idolator. Thank you Maura.

@avoncobra: Oh I will, don't you worry. (But you know, I actually prefer the cereal bits of Lucky Charms.)

@avoncobra: Summed up nicely.

@Maura Johnston:

Actually I was wondering how I could get reimbursed for wasting time and brain cells on all of this hullaballoo, but that's the internet's (and my) fault, not Idolator's.

The internet: it never stops being fascinatingly stupid!

The bottom line is that the QOTSA fanbase doesn't give a crap. They understand why he got pissed. Almost ANY artist who has someone throwing crap at them that could potentially mame them for life would resort to a similar diatribe. You can find tons of clips on YouTube if you don't believe me.

In retrospect I wish he had just gone ahead and buttfucked that kid on stage and gotten it over with. Then we could have a more lively discussion.

Look, there are a million names that you can call another person if they throw something at you (e.g. asshole, douchebag, fucker, etc). I'm a QOTSA fan, and I'm not particularly PC, but the outburst would have made me uncomfortable if I was there. Mostly because you shouldn't call things gay pejoratively and then follow it up with a "not that being gay is a bad thing." Oliver Twist (with whom I disagree on the appropriate comeuppance owed to people who throw things at shows) probably keeps posting because the logic's very basic.

If being gay is fine, why would you call someone a fag when you're angry?

I'm not some faint at heart, twee, SLR in the general admission area, scarf wearing, PC-policing softee. I don't think you have to be one to notice when someone's being sort of a dick.

@antistar2000: Are my fellow QOTSA fans complete idiots?

Ollie,
come on now.
Must I point out that making ludicrous, musically elitist statements about genres and intelligence is not very different than shouting ludicrous slurs at people whom you have no idea whether or not said slur applies to? Isn't that what it comes down to? When someone who hates an ethnic/religious/sexual orientation group belts a slur at them, isn't that their way of saying 'I'm better than you, you're a piece of shit?'

I kept quiet on the original post, as you went on and on about how you hated heavy music and all its fans for being idiots and so on. I could find as many asswads at a Magnetic Fields concert as a QOTSA show.

elitism is a form of bigotry.

I'm offended by your comments, sir. You are a metalphobe.

Homophobia is gay.

Here's the flaw. Some of the people here are completely divorced from reality. Anyone alive in this decade is well aware that the majority of time a straight male is calling someone a "faggot" its in derision of another straight male. With language being fluid, "faggot" and "gay" though regrettable in their original usages as negative adjectives, are pretty much almost separated from any attachments to homophobia or heterosexism, the latter being wholly more accurate.

Not that any of this is right, but shit, if you're too dumb to realize that Josh Homme doesn't have a vendetta against gays then maybe you're not the most learned or appropriate representative of the gay community on the Idolator comment boxes. People who espouse these knee-jerk emotional reactions on little things THAT THEY CAN'T POSSIBLY CHANGE (Seriously, do you think complaining on here means anything considering that the guy is not Mugabe? I don't see you starting a letter-writing campaign to Zimbabwe where men holding hands is a jailable offense for up to 10 years. Please.)

Also, has anyone on here considered that he called the kid a "faggot" because that sort of language would cut hasher than calling the kid something less intense? He was just trying to get at the kid, clearly.

And consider that he called the band "Queens of the Stone Age" as an affront to meatheads and homophobes who might come see his band.

The world is a tough place. Learn to pick your battles carefully and assess situations better before you yap on.

LOLWUT

Why is Anthony Michael Hall smoking in that picture

Much more self-lionising PC-bashing and Hick-invocation and I'd be convinced I was back in the mid 1990s giving a shit.

@avoncobra: "Have yet to see massive press conference demanding justice/apology/class action suit." No; instead you've seen Homme's statement in reaction to the (in your opinion nonexistent?) reaction to his outburst, though. And now you've read my criticism of his reaction. If you're asking me to stop posting, please, just be patient! Chillax!

"This is fun."

Some of us were pretty disgusted by the video. Glad you enjoyed it, though. Idolator comment threads will return to normal shortly.

@Maura Johnston: ..."but you do know that there's a lot of irony when you say "I can see why Nick Denton let this one go" while praising Stereogum, which is owned by the same company as Idolator now?"

I didn't praise Stereogum. I pointed out the obvious, which was that their comment thread on this was a lot less moronic than this one. The difference was night and day.

As for the Denton remark, I was simply trying to be nasty. I could have called you a "faggot," a "fat bitch," or something to that effect, but this seemed a little better.

"You may want to recalibrate your insult-o-meter there, pal."

You may want to note that you excused Homme in your post by describing his outburst as fever-fueled, when there's plenty of reliable record that he's done this plenty of times before. In fact, an actual journalist might have pieced together his history of such outburts (and the irony--while we're talking about ironies--of his assaulting the Dwarves' member with a bottle) in more or less the way that I've done in my insufferably pc, nearly-a-dozen-in-number commments.

Idolator chose to initially present the video as an example of Homme being tough and "hot-blooded." The body of the post was more varied than that, but those of us who found the video unnerving have as much business saying so as your team has continually saying "dude, chill," etc. As someone above said, at least we have logic on our side. I guess you have attitude on yours. I'm happy with my end of the deal.

@muhammadisnotabear: "People who espouse these knee-jerk emotional reactions on little things THAT THEY CAN'T POSSIBLY CHANGE"

You never finished your sentence. I may never sleep again.

I wasn't using the adjective "fever-fueled" as an "excuse," I was using it as a factual description. I'm actually pretty appalled by this whole incident, and I think the way I wrote about it reflects that.

And I don't think anyone who writes for the site has said "dude, chill" in regards to this once. I was merely pointing out an irony in your (weak) attempt at an insult.

@OliverTwist: While we're getting offended...do you really want to go and compare the rant of an under-the-weather rock star going off on a dumb kid to Jews and Nuremberg? You are way off base.

See: Godwin's Law

To go Charles Barkley on you all; Jose Homme is not a role model. He's a rock star. If you were offended, so be it. If you laughed, that's cool too. Let's all chillax (!!!) watch some Rob & Big or Ninja Warrior and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

@avoncobra: OMGZ! I haven't seen a marshmellow heavy box o' lucky charms in so long! I've found that you get those more often with the generic brands. I always wonder if some plant worker makes one of those bags thinking, "Man, some stoner is going to be psyched when he sees this!"

@ Oliver Twist:

Congratulations on your B- in internet snark. That should serve you well as you continue to be an ineffective, soft-skinned pansy with no sense of propriety or solid arguments.

Yes, I didn't finish my sentence. Doesn't really matter, although your skirting of the holes in your stance (multiple puns not intended) and focusing on my rushjob of a retort is telling.

Oh, and; LOL

This thing's got legs and it knows how to use 'em.

@OliverTwist:
sorry. you're still bullshit, and i call you out on it.
you're obviously personally offended by this and have made it your mission to conquer Josh Homme, while dodging the reality of it all, in that you are no better than he. suck it. and nice try in redirecting your weak argument vs. muhammadisnotabear. You're the idiot. shut the fuck up.