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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / LGBTQ Rights / Gay Rights are Human Rights / Wow- Nick Denton Really Is an Asshole

Wow- Nick Denton Really Is an Asshole

by John Cole|  July 2, 20128:48 pm| 49 Comments

This post is in: Gay Rights are Human Rights, Assholes

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Here’s Denton whining about the manner by which Anderson Cooper came out:

It’s awesome that the calculation has changed this much: that it’s now more embarrassing to remain in the closet than it is to come out.

But here’s one quibble. The method of revelation was so obviously designed to minimize the story. It’s part of the Independence Day news dump, along with the Cruise-Holmes separation, timed to be overwhelmed by fireworks and the smell of barbeque.

If Anderson Cooper is going to compromise his personal privacy for “visibility”, this is a particularly hesitant way to go about it.

Here’s what I don’t understand. The choreographed publication of a private letter from Anderson to Andrew Sullivan has so much in common with Obama’s mealy-mouthed statement of personal belief on afternoon TV: both are missed opportunities.

Hey Nick- it’s none of your fucking business when or how any gay person comes out of the closet. Earlier today, OTB’s headline on this issue was “Anderson Cooper Is Gay, Almost Nobody Cares, And That’s A Good Thing.”

Nick Denton. Almost a nobody, but a jerk nonetheless.

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Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    July 2, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    If he doesn’t come out on his show while dressed as Carmen Miranda, it doesn’t count.

  2. 2.

    Phil Perspective

    July 2, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    Did anyone really need this as proof Denton is an asshole? I think most of us knew that years ago, just like most CNN viewers knew that Cooper was gay years ago.

  3. 3.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 2, 2012 at 8:54 pm

    Does anybody actually give a shit about anyone’s sexuality any more?

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    July 2, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    Who the fuck is Nick Denton, and why should I care?

  5. 5.

    Wag

    July 2, 2012 at 9:00 pm

    Who the fuck is Nick Denton and why should I care that AC isn’t pure enough for him?

  6. 6.

    Culture of Truth

    July 2, 2012 at 9:01 pm

    Obama didn’t get gay married during the Super Bowl! So disappointing!

  7. 7.

    Threadkiller

    July 2, 2012 at 9:04 pm

    Christ, what an asshole.

    The only valid complaint is that he came out via Sully.

  8. 8.

    MikeJ

    July 2, 2012 at 9:04 pm

    @Yutsano: The doyen of Gawker et al. Everybody who has ever worked for him thinks he’s an asshole. I was able to learn it merely through reading him.

  9. 9.

    Phoenix Woman

    July 2, 2012 at 9:08 pm

    Hear, hear, John!

    AC knew we all knew anyway, so this was just a matter of saying “Okay, I’m gay” so we could all go on to other things.

  10. 10.

    jayjaybear

    July 2, 2012 at 9:09 pm

    Well, duh…Gawker’s whole raison d’etre is public scandal and gossip. If people come out QUIETLY, where does that leave the vultures?

  11. 11.

    scav

    July 2, 2012 at 9:15 pm

    How dare any iota of the universally obvious and trivial escape the clutches and specifications of his media empire!

  12. 12.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    July 2, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    This is not a news flash. Of course neither was the coming out of Anderson Cooper.

  13. 13.

    cathyx

    July 2, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    I don’t blame a gay person to not want to come out, or be hesitant. It’s not like it’s totally excepted everywhere.

  14. 14.

    JPL

    July 2, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    When I first saw the clip, it was well duh.. Anderson was cool though. He came out so no one would thing he was hiding it, which no one did. He also traveled in countries where being gay meant that you were endangering your life. Good for him and good for him when he did admit it.

  15. 15.

    Michael Demmons

    July 2, 2012 at 9:26 pm

    Also, Anderson Cooper HAS NEVER BEEN IN THE CLOSET!

    He’s always been out. Just because he didn’t pick up the fucking phone and personally call YOU doesn’t mean he was in the closet.

  16. 16.

    gnomedad

    July 2, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    “Anderson Cooper Is Gay Nick Denton Doesn’t Like How Anderson Cooper Came Out, Almost Nobody Cares, And That’s A Good Thing.”

    Alternative headline.

  17. 17.

    maven

    July 2, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    Who is Nick Denton?

    Gawker?

    never mind…….

  18. 18.

    Southern Beale

    July 2, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Well, the lame “teabagging” jokes from the Breitbart crowd are a million times worse.

  19. 19.

    Marcellus Shale, Public Dick

    July 2, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    nick denton rues every loss of sneery insiderish information, no matter how dated.

  20. 20.

    Fwiffo

    July 2, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    Jesus Christ, he co-hosts New Year’s Eve with Kathy Griffin. How can people possibly care enough to criticize the timing of a complete lack of surprise.

  21. 21.

    Jason

    July 2, 2012 at 9:55 pm

    I do think Anderson has been downplaying the story. In fact, he’s not so much come out of the closet as he has been easing himself gently out of it over several years. I’ve been all “just get it over with already, Anderson” for some time. But then Anderson made a point that I hadn’t really thought of — Cooper still goes overseas on assignment sometimes, and it’s problematic being an out gay man and getting through customs in a place like Syria, for example. That’s a really good excuse for downplaying it, when you think about it.

  22. 22.

    Anoniminous

    July 2, 2012 at 10:02 pm

    Let’s see …

    1. Global financial meltdown
    2. Global recession heading into depression
    3. Global Warming
    4. 20% (16 million, more or less) of US children go hungry
    5. 58.5% of all Americans will spend at least one year below the poverty level.

    and on and on and on and on ………………..

    arranged on the list the fact Anderson Cooper is gay ranks right around 17,436,634,751,727th.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 2, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    @Fwiffo:

    Heh. I just realized I’ve been conflating Kathy Griffin and Kathy Lee Gifford for years and years.

    I guess I should read Gawker more attentively.

  24. 24.

    Diana

    July 2, 2012 at 10:08 pm

    I thought he came out because he works for CNN, and CNN just put egg all over their face re the ACA. So Cooper came out now to rope back the people who’d stop watching because CNN can’t do news, but who might go back to watching “because we’re your kind of people.”

    yeah, it’s lame, but look at the timing people.

  25. 25.

    Lolcat Liberation Front

    July 2, 2012 at 10:24 pm

    @Diana: I think this is what’s called, “being too cynical for your own good”. I mean, yeah, maybe his coming out is all part of some bizarre plot to resurrect CNN’s credibility, or maybe as Nick Denton says he’s deliberately buried it under a bunch of 4th of July and Tom-Katie-split stuff. But maybe the simplest explanation is the correct one: Cooper just got fed up of not being out (although, it’s not like he was exactly “in” the closet either) and decided to publicly confirm what everybody knew anyways. And honestly, if he had to play by your and Nick Denton’s rules, and wait until a time when a celebrity couple hadn’t just broken up and CNN hadn’t just done something stupid and embarrassing… well, that time would never come, would it?

  26. 26.

    Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)

    July 2, 2012 at 10:24 pm

    So who the hell is this guy, anyway? Nick Denton? I’ve never heard of him. Not that that means much; there are all kinds of random assholes I’ve never heard of… But, well, I don’t know. Unless this guy is some big, important gay-rights dude, then why the hell should anybody else care what he thinks about this? I wish random nobodies–and I include myself here–would spend less time wanking off about shit that pisses them off. Unless they’re pissed off by something a Republican did. Then, by all means, scream about it.

  27. 27.

    Spatula

    July 2, 2012 at 10:25 pm

    I disagree, Cole. The personal is totally political, especially regarding this subject at this point in history, and doubly especially for someone in Anderson Cooper’s position in the public eye.

    HOW and WHY and WHEN he came out is completely on the table as a matter for public discussion, as it should be.

    Just as Denton says, the highly choreographed manner in which he did the deed, through the loathsome Sully no less, contradicts any claim from AC’s camp that this is of no concern. If so, then why bother with such detailed planning?

    I’m gay and AC’s cowardice in remaining in the absurd glass closet he was in has long been a subject of mockery in the gay community.

    Plus, also, and too: He probably has a book about to launch.

  28. 28.

    Lolcat Liberation Front

    July 2, 2012 at 10:35 pm

    Also, from where I’m sitting on the other side of the world, the fact that the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes thing is big enough news that it apparently overshadows everything else? America, that’s the kind of thing the rest of the world likes to point and laugh at you for. But maybe it’s only a big deal for Gawker, or Denton himself. I certainly hope so.

  29. 29.

    Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)

    July 2, 2012 at 10:38 pm

    And here’s something else that strikes me as weird: So this guy thinks Cooper waited until he thought nobody would be listening to do this so he could “minimize the story”? That doesn’t even make any sense.

    If this were some junior congressman nobody’s ever heard of, and he’s scared somebody’s about to out him, this might make some sense. Wait until you don’t think too many people will be watching the news, and leak the story before somebody else does. Since he’s a nobody, he might just ride it out. Not too many people would be talking about it in a week.

    Now, I’m not saying this would work, but I can see how somebody might be desperate enough to hope it would, or even to believe it would. But Anderson Cooper? What the hell? This guy is on television every damned night. I mean, well, yeah, I know he isn’t as well known as, say, President Obama, but surely he wouldn’t think this is something everybody would just forget. And, besides, he works in the news. He knows how it works, how hard it would be for somebody like him to keep this quiet, even if he let it be known when everybody’s thinking only about barbecues and blowing their fingers off.

    I know I’m giving this doofus far more thought than he warrants, but, as I said, it seemed weird to me…

  30. 30.

    cmm

    July 2, 2012 at 10:43 pm

    While I dislike the Sullivan route of the coming out, I am sympathetic to what AC actually said. He has obviously given it a lot of thought and wrestled with the why and why not multiple times over the years. He never seemed to particularly been hiding it, just not talking about it. It’s not like he was pretending to date/romance women, and the tabs have been printing GAY SHOCKER!!! Pics of him walking around NYC with his partner for years. As I understand it he has been with his current partner for a long time. Maybe he is about to have a big gay wedding?

    Anyway I am also gay and disagree with the critiques of everyone else’s choice of time and place to come out. A person should come out when ever they feel like it is time to. Our job is to open our arms and say, feels good, doesn’t it? Welcome!

    The exception being all the ones who actively worked against gay rights and gay people before they came out. Fuck those fucking fucks.

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 2, 2012 at 10:48 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    No one mature should give a shit about it.

    However, the entire right wing is made up of screaming three year olds now.

    Put the lot of them in the corner, then send them to bed without their supper.

  32. 32.

    4tehlulz

    July 2, 2012 at 10:56 pm

    Nick’s mad because he can’t out Anderson when he gets an exclusive.

  33. 33.

    4tehlulz

    July 2, 2012 at 10:57 pm

    …like he did to Robin Roberts.

  34. 34.

    Egg Berry

    July 2, 2012 at 10:58 pm

    This is the man who started Fleshbot (which is exactly as NSFW as it sounds) as his 3rd title, but never advertised it on any of Gawker Media’s other sites or press materials. He’s always been an asshole.

  35. 35.

    Len

    July 2, 2012 at 11:13 pm

    I do not understand how this is news to anybody. I’ve known about Anderson for years. Surely I’m not the only one?

  36. 36.

    pk

    July 2, 2012 at 11:21 pm

    I have only one question. Is the US really lacking in homegrown jackass “journalists” that they have to import them from Britain now?

  37. 37.

    Spatula

    July 2, 2012 at 11:22 pm

    @Egg Berry:

    What do you have against Fleshbot?

  38. 38.

    Heirn

    July 3, 2012 at 12:55 am

    Good for AC, I don’t care who he loves. Denton is an ass.

  39. 39.

    daveNYC

    July 3, 2012 at 1:06 am

    @Spatula: People barely care that AC is gay, but somehow we should care about how he announced that he is gay? Good luck with that.

  40. 40.

    thalarctos

    July 3, 2012 at 3:38 am

    I haven’t been this surprised since George Takei came out.

    Good on AC, anyway.

  41. 41.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    July 3, 2012 at 4:59 am

    I guess coming out doesn’t count unless it looks like this.

  42. 42.

    ned

    July 3, 2012 at 6:55 am

    @Phoenician in a time of Romans: Or this.

  43. 43.

    brantl

    July 3, 2012 at 7:28 am

    @Baud: FTW! That’s perfect! That should be an SNL bit! It would be fantastic!

  44. 44.

    Gopher2b

    July 3, 2012 at 8:36 am

    In his email, he says his family, friends and other people he cares about have always known he’s gay. I wouldn’t say he was in the closet.

  45. 45.

    Rob

    July 3, 2012 at 10:13 am

    Translation: Cooper didn’t come out fabulously enough. Where are the promos? The Go-go dancers? The rainbow flags? Kathy Griffin wasn’t even mentioned. You call that coming out?

  46. 46.

    rael

    July 3, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    Katie Holmes’ 5-year contract as hetero-cover with Tom Cruise has ended, just like Nichole Kidman’s before her. Hey Tom! If Anderson can so can you!!

  47. 47.

    Spatula

    July 3, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    @daveNYC:

    “People barely care that AC is gay, but somehow we should care about how he announced that he is gay? Good luck with that.”

    Who’s “we?”

    Whether you individually care or not concerns me not at all. I wrote about why it already matters a great deal, whether you wish to pretend otherwise or not.

  48. 48.

    twiffer

    July 3, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    count me among those who thought he was already out.

  49. 49.

    cpinva

    July 3, 2012 at 5:42 pm

    anderson cooper is gay (color me stunned!). i don’t care. who really cares whether or not i care, and why should they?

    ok, true confession: i really don’t much care if anyone is gay or not-gay, especially not someone i am hugely unlikely to meet in my lifetime. not being harsh, just, well…………….i don’t care.

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