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WATCH: Is This Banned Carol TV Spot Too Lesbian Sexy for ABC?
ABC execs won't air this Carol spot unless Cate and Rooney cover up.
Carol, the stunning film (nominated for six Oscars), which stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as women in love circa 1952, is apparently too hot for ABC. Execs at ABC, the network that airs super racy scenes on shows like How To Get Away with Murder, told Carol’s studio, the Weinstein Company, to cover up Cate and Rooney in a new TV spot or it would not be aired. ABC execs told Weinstein they would only air the spot if the studio "provides more coverage on both,” according to a press release from the Weinstein Company.
Anyone who’s seen Todd Haynes’ Carol knows, while it teems with desire, it’s hardly on par with Blue Is the Warmest Color when it comes to sexy times, although there is a beautiful, and necessary-to-the-plot, love scene.
The new Carol spot focuses on the culmination of the physical relationship between Carol (Cate) and Therese (Rooney) a bit more than prior ads have, but it appears that ABC execs are just plain squeamish about women’s bodies touching – and this from the network that offered up some groundbreaking queer storylines and love scenes between women on Grey’s Anatomy.
Perhaps ABC is better with blood and guts and Leonardo DiCaprio being mauled in the mud by a bear in The Revenant? Or Possibly ABC execs would prefer to air straight white men behaving badly during the financial collapse of 2008 in The Big Short?
Watch the banned spot below. Do you think it’s too racy for ABC primetime?
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Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
