Uncle Tom Award #2: So You Think You Can Dance

So You Think You Can Dance (2005-) is a dance-competition series that is too heterosexist for words: men and women paired together to replicate the myth of universal heterosexual desire and the erasure of gay people from the world, over and over, week after week.  Sometimes gay men, like Travis Wall, or men who look gay, participate in the brainwashing, whereupon homophobic host Nigel Lithgoe tries his best to turn them straight, saying things like "Isn't that a hot woman you're dancing with?  Aren't you lucky to be dancing with such a beautiful woman?"


Once they had two men, Mitchell Kiber and Misha Belfer performing -- for the shock value, introduced by the song "It's a Man's World":
It's a man's world,
But you're nothing -- nothing at all -- without a woman.

When the male couple performed, Mr. Homophobe told them point blank that they shouldn't be dancing together, that they should "dance" with women: "Who knows, you might like it!"

Very easy to see what he really meant: "Don't be gay, try sex with women.  Who knows, you might like it!"

Utterly disgusting.  And it's not only still on the air, it's popular!

In 2008, Nico Archambault won in the Canadian version, and became the resident choreographer in 2009-2010.  He has also performed in The American Music Awards, Starmania, and several music videos, and starred in two movies: Nureyev (2009), about the life of gay Russian dancer Rudolph Nureyev, and Sur le rythme (2011), about a female aspiring dancer who falls in love (he plays the romantic lead).

Nico is heterosexual, but growing up, he was often "accused" of being gay due to his interest in dance, so he suffered severe trauma.

How traumatic to be accused of something so horrible!

He has designed an anti-bullying t-shirt line called "Stand Up, Rise Above."

Rise above the taunts of the bullies who "accuse" you of being gay?

Hey, Nico, did you know there are kids in the world who are actually gay?

See also: It's a Man's World.