Anyone identify this...?

[Jules]

Found this old (July 2002) post on a usenet gossip group. You have to scroll down a ways to find it. The poster's name is Tom Hens. I think he's misremembering or exaggerating a real incident. But anyone remember what he's basing it on?

What is ludicrous is, for instance, a gay performer appearing on talk shows willing to talk about the most inane details of his personal life, but treating the most important person in that life as a dirty little secret. I remember an appearance by David Hyde Pierce on the Tonight Show (years ago when it was intermittently available on TV here) where he spent minutes telling an anecdote about one of "his" dogs. Halfway through the story he slipped up and accidentally said "we" instead of "I" a couple of times -- since of course he wasn't thinking about "my dog" at all, but about "our dog". You could actually see him suddenly noticing that he'd misspoken, and he added something lame about "a friend who was there with me" to cover up his gaffe. How much more sad can you get than not being able to tell an insignificant little story about a pet without having to watch like a hawk over every effing PERSONAL PRONOUN?

Nothing is "demanded" of gay performers other than behaving like normal human beings, and not treating an important part of their lives in a way that not one single straight person would ever dream of doing.

[ironic maiden]

I don't remember that, but I did notice in the 2003 Letterman clip that he talked about his "friend" teaching him to water ski in North Carolina. Isn't Brian from there? I can imagine something happening like the poster described, whether he's exaggerating or not. DHP said "we" when talking about the dogs in 2004, though.

[lemur]

I hope it wasn't exactly as that poster described. Not mentioning your partner's name is one thing. Getting all flustered because you let slip you might have a partner is lame.

[louise]

It's usually Letterman who mentions the dogs. On the Tonight Show Jan 2000 interview, he plugs My Life as a Dog, Brian's book on Moose, and mentions rollerblading when visiting friends in North Carolina, but that's all. I expect they visit family in North Carolina.

He certainly said we when talking about the dogs on the 2004 Letterman interview.

I think this guy is exaggerating.

[jenniferemt3]

I think the author is just attacking David because he's jealous of David's success. David said himself they never lived a life of don't ask, don't tell. David just may not mention Brian much because maybe Brian doesn't want to be in the limelight like all these others celebrities spouse/partners are. He may want to stay out of the limelight so that people won't be invading his privacy and prying into his personnal life.

[Jules]

Yeah I think the guy's seen him on Letterman and has kind of embellished his memory of the 'we' incident inline with his expectation. You'd have to be a bit weird to be that sensitive to mentioning your partner wouldn't you.

[Chy]

Who does this guy think he is? So what it was a secret. Theirs A LOT of gay people out their, and you don't seem to be going nuts about that. He's gay like any other gay human being, but everyone has to take it so serious because he's a knownable guy. He's an actor, and people want to spread rumors and say mean stuff when it shouldn't be said. Plenty of people own dogs, and dogs are a real popular animal. Nearly everyone loves dogs. And he changed it to 'We' so what? Me and the dogs. I never really got what 'We' is post to mean but it drives me nuts. Who ever this guy is he needs a beating! David is a normal person like us, just does a job he loves to do and is famous for it. People need to stop dogging famous people. You don't see someone going to a person that's not famous and dogging them do ya? No, because their not famous. People need to lay off! Exspecially off David!

[theprozacfairy]

I tried to search for a transcript and the closest I found was a Letterman one where he referred to himself and the dogs as "we", but it was clear he meant the dogs not another person. I understand why the guy might be upset, but he's going about it the wrong way. He's attacking David when what he's upset about is the way society is. Gay people shouldn't have to feel they need to cover it up (or just not mention it in David's case, as he never really covered it up). And yes, it can be argued that the more LGBT celebrities come out, the more normal it'll be (though I'm not sure that's true). But that was David's choice. It would have just distracted from the story he was telling, anyway.

[ClarityParisTaylor]

Apr 24, 2008 5:13:28 GMT -5 Jules said:

Found this old (July 2002) post on a usenet gossip group. You have to scroll down a ways to find it. The poster's name is Tom Hens. I think he's misremembering or exaggerating a real incident. But anyone remember what he's basing it on?

What is ludicrous is, for instance, a gay performer appearing on talk shows willing to talk about the most inane details of his personal life, but treating the most important person in that life as a dirty little secret. I remember an appearance by David Hyde Pierce on the Tonight Show (years ago when it was intermittently available on TV here) where he spent minutes telling an anecdote about one of "his" dogs. Halfway through the story he slipped up and accidentally said "we" instead of "I" a couple of times -- since of course he wasn't thinking about "my dog" at all, but about "our dog". You could actually see him suddenly noticing that he'd misspoken, and he added something lame about "a friend who was there with me" to cover up his gaffe. How much more sad can you get than not being able to tell an insignificant little story about a pet without having to watch like a hawk over every effing PERSONAL PRONOUN?

Nothing is "demanded" of gay performers other than behaving like normal human beings, and not treating an important part of their lives in a way that not one single straight person would ever dream of doing.

Even if David was kind of "Hiding Brian" so what??? Its HIS life, not ours and Brian probably had a say in it too, if that is the case... People can be so nosey!