A Utah NBC Affiliate Won’t Run ‘The New Normal’ Because Gay People

“We invite Jeff Simpson to sit down with GLAAD and local LGBT families. We know that if he would, he would see that not only are our families normal, but by citing ‘crude and rude’ content and refusing to affirm LGBT families, KSL and Mr. Simpson are sending a dangerous message to Utah. They should make that right.

Utah, bastion of Mormonism and tolerance, is home to KSL, the single NBC affiliate refusing to air upcoming comedy The New Normal. The show centers on a gay couple conceiving via a surrogate, and the wackiness that naturally surrounds such endeavors. And clearly, that will not stand. Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, justified the exclusion by saying that “For our brand, this program simply feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time.” Of course, all the rape-and-murder-filled Law and Order franchise is fine. Naturally, this didn’t sit well with GLAD, who released a statement that said in part:At the end of the day, it’s a shitty thing but not the end of the world. Utah is a small market filled with the sorts of conservative viewers who probably agree that the show is inappropriate, and folks who do want to watch the show can do so online via Hulu and other such sites. But still: it is 2012, and a show about gay people is being kept off the air just because it treats gay people as human beings and not as punchlines. One has to think that this sort of nonsense is on its last legs.

A Utah NBC Affiliate Won’t Run ‘The New Normal’ […]