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Controversial gay animation series hits UK
Rick and Steve
Lego-style stereotypes have divided the LGBT community in the US
"Despite its willful stereotyping of gay characters Rick and Steve proved to be an instant success with gay audiences"
They look like a cross between Lego and Playpeople but instead of nurses and firemen they are variously "twinks", predatory gay men, lesbians who refuse to learn the gender of their own baby and gay porn stars all living in the fictional "gay ghetto" of West Lahunga Beach. And they're coming to E4 this autumn!
American stop-motion series Rick and Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World debuted last year on LGBT network Logo and, despite its willful stereotyping of gay characters proved to be an instant success with gay audiences. Episodes told of a woman who makes her 17th suicide attempt when her 17th boyfriend comes out, another who became pregnant after accidentally splashing sperm on herself and a baby whose first word turns out to be "bush".
And the characters themselves are likely to stop British viewers in their tracks, including as they do an ageing HIV-positive man paralysed "from the left testicle down" voiced by Scottish actor Alan Cumming, a "bull dyke" who cannot help herself hurling abuse at gay men and a "lipstick lesbian" who is always mistaken for a boy. Guest voices are provided by the likes of comedienne Margaret Cho and Judy Garland's "other" daughter, Lorna Luft. A second series of the show is already in production.
