Thread by @greenfieldjohn

It's wild that for the past 24+ hours right-wing columnist @John_Kass's pinned tweet has been one throwing shade on me via a quote from Irish writer and gay icon #OscarWilde.

While I appreciate the exposure, here's why Kass should probably keep Wilde's name out of his mouth.

Here's the Kass tweet, still pinned to the top of his Twitter profile two days after I first critiqued his glowing eulogy for Rush Limbaugh, the radio host who was notorious for his hateful comments about LGBTQ people, and just about every other marginalized group.

This is my tweet that started this latest exchange, noting that, rather than taking a clear-eyed look at Rush Limbaugh's legacy, including his outspoken homophobia, Kass's eulogy was nearly all hagiography.

https://twitter.com/greenfieldjohn/status/1362442819894472710

After Limbaugh's death, many have pointed out that in the '90s he did a recurring radio segment called "AIDS Update" where he mocked the deaths of gay people while playing songs like “Kiss Him Goodbye,” and “I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again."
snopes.com/fact-check/rus…

Limbaugh later renounced the segment, calling it one of the “most regretful things I’ve ever done” acknowledging he was guilty of “making fun of people who were dying long, painful and excruciating deaths... It was a totally irresponsible thing to do.”
nytimes.com/1990/12/16/mag…

Even so, that wasn't the end of Limbaugh's ridiculing of LGBT people, which continued up to his death. Eg, he also had a "Barney Frank Update" segment that mocked the gay congressman, featuring the song “My Boy Lollipop,” punctuated with slurping sounds.
newspapers.com/clip/71311697/…

Limbaugh also promoted the notion that gay men practice an unspeakable, fictional sex practice. In addition, he once reportedly said that "Gays deserved their fate of dying from AIDS."

Here's a full recap of Limbaugh's history of homophobic statements.
mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/…

And, again, it's not like Limbaugh's attitudes towards gay people evolved much as society changed. As recently as last year he repeatedly made fun of Pete Buttigieg for kissing his husband in public, arguing Pete would look effeminate in debates against "Mr. Man Donald Trump."

So given Limbaugh's long history of mocking and slandering gay people, it's pretty ironic that John Kass should quote Oscar Wilde in a Twitter exchange about Kass's eulogy for Limbaugh. Wilde was imprisoned for 2 years and basically driven to his death for the crime of being gay.

Fun side note about Wilde: While passing through Chicago in 1882 on a lecture tour, he dissed our ornate Water Tower, as "a castellated monstrosity with pepper-boxes stuck all over it," later adding, "Your city looks positively too dreary to me."
oscarwildeinamerica.org/features/chica…

In 1895 Wilde was convicted of "gross indecency" for consensual gay sex and imprisoned for 2 years. The harsh conditions and poor diet in prison took their toll on his health, and he died from meningitis 3 later while living impoverished in exile.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wil…

So it was a questionable choice for Kass to quote Wilde, a persecuted gay person, as part of a conversation about Kass's eulogy for Limbaugh, who persecuted gay people.

It's also worth noting that Kass's own record on LGBT issues is not great. While he has repeatedly stated that he's not personally homophobic, he's also made multiple "please spare a thought for those who think being gay is wrong" arguments.

For example, there's this gem of Kass column from 2013, not long before same-sex marriage was legalized in the U.S., worrying about whether the non-homophobic majority will be tolerant of citizens who are intolerant of gay people.
chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-20…

And, like Limbaugh, even after gay marriage has become mainstream, Kass's attitudes haven't changed that much. In a podcast this month, Kass argued that Biden's promotion of LGBT rights abroad is insensitive to cultural diversity, i.e. homophobia, and "smacks of the crusader."

For these reasons John Kass quoting Oscar Wilde, a gay man whose life was cut short by homophobia, was wildly tone-deaf. I expect he'll unpin his tweet shortly but, whatever, I'm happy to get additional followers.

End of thread. Chicagoans, enjoy the snow today before it melts.