Pro athletes go to extremes to avoid anything gay. Well, except for Vince Young, the Tennessee Titans QB who likes to dance shirtless with other guys while clubbing.
But now it seems he can brush off his man-on-man indiscretions by uttering this simple phrase: no homo. It’s all the rage in the NFL, according to Deadspin.
LenDale White says to Vince Young: “Vince, you’ve got great nips. No homo.”
Did you catch the subtle twist there? LenDale has said something that on any other day might be considered gay, but, and this is key, he’s inoculated his heterosexuality by appending, no homo at the end. No homo also works at the front of the phrase but then it’s much less enjoyable because the other party has been keyed into the homosexuality of the statement that’s to follow. Hence, “No homo. Vince you’ve got great nips.” No dice there.
Comedian Will Hatcher also breaks it down in this video.
To help, imagine a conversation like this between Young and Troy Aikman: “Troy, dude, your moves are as smooth as Johnny Weir on ice. No homo.” Maybe that’s a bad example given that all three are, well… No homo. –Matt Hennie
Matt Hennie blogs on Atlanta’s sports scene at Gaytlsports.com.
on Jul 7th, 2008 at 3:42 PM
This is one of those times that calls for Seinfeldian paraphrasing: “It doesn’t offend me as a homosexual; it offends me as a comedian.”
People have been using (no homo) for years now…I imagine this has been a big part of the professional locker room for quite some time. I’m not sure how Deadspin’s late-to-the-party post made this news today, but I’ve read it in every corner of the Internet in the subsequent hours since. This is like when CNN picked up the lesbians kissing at the Mariners game 11 days after the story broke locally and all of a sudden everyone posted about it on blogs and message boards and talk radio.
Sorry. I just dislike news tardiness.
on Jul 8th, 2008 at 4:26 AM
Hoo hoo hoo Robin, I invented saying “no homo” right after damn near outing myself. Tell ‘em, Vince. Hoo hoo hoo.
Got to go… I have an appointment to meet an elderly gentleman for an extended game of Monster Rain.
on Jul 8th, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Must be a slow day…this pic is old news.