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CNN's Roland Martin Finds Beckham Homoerotic, GLAAD Mad
By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 6, 2012
Modified Feb 6, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 6, 2012
Modified Feb 6, 2012
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Though we found last night's Super Bowl ads pretty tame, at least one of them has managed to cause a bit of controversy. Damn you, David Beckham for causing heterosexual men to question their sexuality! Because of Mr. Posh Spice's H&M ad, GLAAD is now calling on CNN to fire commentator Roland Martin.
At issue is this ad featuring Beckham's body from many, many angles:
As the black and white ad aired, Martin put out this tweet that he is probably now regretting:

As you might imagine, Martin's "smack the ish out of him" sentiments were almost instantly picked up by GLAAD, which tweeted back, "@rolandsmartin Advocates of gay bashing have no place at @CNN #SuperBowl #LGBT" Martin has since been on the defensive ("@glaad @CNN well you're clearly out of touch and clueless with what I tweeted. Way to assume, but you're way off base."), saying repeatedly that the tweet was a joke about soccer players and not about men finding other men attractive. But GLAAD isn't buying it.
In a statement the group argues that, "Martin has a history of anti-LGBT views. GLAAD is calling on him to be fired, joining many other LGBT activists and bloggers." Specifically they call out Martin for his defense of Tracy Morgan when he was under fire for an incredibly homophobic stand-up routine.
While Martin defends himself on Twitter, CNN isn't talking. And we're left wondering why all the fuss when Beckham doesn't even look half as good as he normally does in that ad (which, still better than we look with our clothes off!)...
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homophobia
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Garth Johnston
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