Universal Studios Criticized For Offensive ‘Gay’ Superman Show [Video]

Universal Studios has sparked some controversy over a segment of their Halloween themed “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure” show, which includes a “gay” Superman character.

According to Vice, the live action show for Universal Studios Hollywood’s “Halloween Horror Nights” features the characters of Bill and Ted who must kill a group of witches so that they can return home. Aside from over-zealous Wicca practitioners, they’re not really offending anyone there.

The offensive turn comes when the DC Comics character Superman is introduced. He shows up to help Bill and Ted, but turns “gay” (and useless) after one of the witches drops some fairy dust on him.

Suddenly, the actor portraying Superman becomes effeminate, adopts and limp wrist, and speaks with a lisp. He also pics up a new catchphrase: “Fabulous!”

Superman also removes his tights, leaving the red outer-underwear and the cape. He then prances around, blows kisses, and slaps Ted on the derriere. The Huffington Post notes that the stereotype-enforcing performance both “grosses out” the Bill and Ted performers and produces raucous laughter from the audience.

The coup d’etat comes when Superman’s “arch-enemy” General Zod shows up and demands that the Man of Steel fall to his knees. Superman does so happily, misreading the situation as an invitation for oral sex. “Finally!” he shouts.

There’s also an actor playing Star Trek’s George Takei, who is gay. Faux-Takei hits on Superman and lures him offstage with the promise of sex, saying “Time to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

This is all pretty strange since Universal Studios Hollywood has a storied history of being very LGBT-friendly, even before it was cool. To wit, the park has hosted an annual “Gay Day and Night” event during Los Angeles Pride.

Besides the apparent gay-insensitivity, Universal Studios Hollywood should account for another grave sin from where we’re sitting: That of over-stuffing of topical pop culture references. The show sounds like a mess, even for Bill and Ted, with references to:

• Kim Jong-un
• Kristen Stewart
• Sharknado
• The Wizard of Oz
• Cory Monteith’s death
• The Harlem Shake
• Paula Deen
• North “Nori” West
• The government shutdown
• Macklemore
• Ben Affleck
• Much, much more

Indeed, the show was so packed and confusing that Vice‘s Jamie Lee Curtis Taete summed up thusly:

“The play is about Bill and Ted going on some kind of pantomime-y Halloween adventure. Along the way, lots of jokes are made about things that have happened in pop culture over the preceding year.”

“I use the term “jokes” loosely here. As they are, generally, terrible, and follow the same formula: Pop cultural reference + pop cultural reference + a reference to sex = LOL!”

You can watch a clip of Universal Studios Hollywood’s “Halloween Horror Nights” Bill and Ted show below, and let us know what you think: