♪ (instrumental music) ♪
♪ (punk rock music) ♪
(indistinct conversation)
Oh, look. It's TMZ.
Is he stalking him?
Who are they following?
(paparazzi) I like the shorts though, bro. They are pretty sexy.
(scoffs)
TMZ is horrible.
They make everyone look so bad.
This has nothing to do with this,
but I am subscribed to TMZ and I really like them.
That's obnoxious.
Is that Jonah Hill? Okay.
I haven't seen this yet.
(paparazzi) Have a good day. Enjoy.
- (Jonah) Suck my dick, you faggot! - (paparazzi) Oh!
- (Jonah) Suck my dick, you faggot! - Oh!
(Jonah) Suck my dick, you faggot.
(laughs)
- (Jonah) Suck my dick, you faggot. - (paparazzi) Oh, a real bully!
Well, that was insane.
(Jimmy Fallon) Welcome back to our show.
I appreciate you being here.
- We always like you as a guest. - Him?!
(Jonah) I'm-I'm-I'm thrilled to be here.
I'd actually like to address something, if that's okay, to your audience.
This weekend I was out with some friends
and there was a paparazzi guy and he was antagonizing me.
That was him!
(Jonah) Calling me names, attacking me personally,
my family personally...
If someone kept bothering you, I'm sure you're gonna
turn around and cuss 'em out.
(Jonah) In response, I wanted to hurt him back
and I said the most hurtful word that I could think of at that moment.
You know, I didn't mean it in a homophobic way.
And, uh...
I can tell he genuinely feels bad about it though.
(Jonah) I think that...
- Sorry, I think that-- - Oh, he's starting to cry.
Don't cry.
(Jonah) You know, how you mean things doesn't matter.
Words have weight and meaning.
No one deserves to say or hear words like that.
I've been a supporter of the LGBTQ community my entire life
and I completely let the members of that community
and everybody else down when I used a word like that this weekend.
And I genuinely am deeply sorry to anyone who's
ever been affected by that term in their life.
- I don't deserve or expect-- - I have so many mixed feeling about this.
(Jonah) What I ask is that, at home, if you're watching this,
and you're a young person especially...
People seem to think that celebrities aren't also people.
(Jonah) Use me as an example of what not to do.
Oh, okay.
(Jonah) And don't respond with hatred or anger
because you're just adding more ugliness to the world
and, again, I'm just so sorry.
Good celebrity. Good celebrity.
I was like, "Yeah, you tell the paparazzi off!"
But I didn't think he said-- I thought he said,
"Suck my dick, you [bleep]!"
I was like, "Oh. Awesome." I didn't catch the other one.
That was really responsible.
I'm actually surprised. I didn't think he was gonna do that.
♪ (punk rock music) ♪
(Finebros) Did watching this make you start thinking
about things in your personal life?
No. (laughs)
- Most definitely. - Yes.
Oh, most definitely yes.
I was raised in a household where, right off the bat,
I knew that words that have homophobic meanings to them
aren't acceptable to use in a derogatory or hurtful manner.
I've been affected by words like that, more in a racist way.
It makes me think about what the things I have said in the past
towards certain people and not meaning it in any specific way,
just in the light of the rage I was saying it.
(Finebros) So do you personally feel that he needed
- to apologize because he said this? - No.
The guy wouldn't have left if he would've said,
"Oh, please, leave me alone."
I don't see it as a huge deal.
I mean, it's someone responding from being hurt.
No! Like, "Suck my dick, faggot!"
Everyone says that.
It's definitely offensive to the LGBT community.
I think he did need to apologize for it.
If he said a word like [bleep], for example,
I feel like that can be just as offensive, though.
But he wouldn't have to apologize for that because
that doesn't refer to a specific group of people.
I think it was really responsible of him to publicly apologize.
And he didn't just tweet about it.
Like, "(condescendingly) Sorry for that thing I said."
I think he was being pretty sincere.
I still don't think-- I think if you say something,
whether you're angry or not, it still means something in you somewhere.
So, like, maybe not those specific words, but he's still meant some type of harm.
(Finebros) How common would you say that words like Jonah used,
or even a simpler phrase of calling someone or something "gay"
- is used negatively today? - All the time.
Way too much.
That donut right there?
That's not gay. It's a donut.
It has sprinkles on it. That doesn't make it gay.
It happens all over school and stuff like that.
People get bullied over words like that.
That word shouldn't be used whatsoever.
It's never used in a good way unless someone says, "I'm gay."
No one goes, "I'm a faggot."
Over time, that word just changed its meaning over and over and over
and now it just means bad, basically.
It's all about connotation-- what you mean behind the words.
'Cause the words themselves, no word can ever do anything
in the world to hurt you.
It's the meaning behind the word that's gonna hurt you.
(Finebros) And what are your thoughts of even how
it's not even just used as an insult to a person,
it's used as an adjective for something that is lame or stupid?
That's even worse.
Why can't you use a more mature word then?
Like, raise your vocabulary.
But, then again, I say, "That's gay."
But I'm not meaning it towards gay people.
I'm not innocent. I've said it.
In a lame way, I'm like, "Wow, man, your computer's so gay. Whatever."
"Oh, man, that kill was so gay in Call of Duty."
Looking back on it, I'm like, "Wow, I'm a horrible person."
That's not okay to say.
We all know how people are and you can't just get them to change.
Sure, how about we just tell everyone don't use that word anymore.
But it's not gonna happen.
We all know that.
There are people out there that don't even know that it's an insult,
but they're just saying it because they hear other people saying it.
I remember when I was little,
and I didn't even know what the word meant,
but I was still using it in a negative way.
I thought it meant "stupid".
I didn't know it meant anything towards the homo-area.
I just always thought gay = stupid.
And then when I learned what it means,
I completely stopped using the word.
Like, that word exited my vocabulary entirely.
(Finebros) Have you been called some of those things before?
I think everybody has.
All the time by my friends,
but we don't take it seriously towards each other.
Yeah, it happens.
Especially on the football field. That happens a lot.
That's bad.
Of course. Have you met me? I'm so feminine.
It used to hurt, but I don't care anymore
because some people are going to mean,
but so many more people are going to be nice
that it outweighs the bad.
My best friend and I get that all the time.
"Oh, you're lesbians?"
I love her on a friendship level, but I hate that I have to define
it that way.
"I love her, but on a friendship level."
People think of it as such a bad thing or such a completely
"Oh my god, you're this thing!"
that people have to be scared to be that,
scared to be themselves because they can't be
what they are without getting ridiculed.
When I was in elementary school, I was very, very outgoing
and very loud and expressive and fun.
When I was in high school and middle school,
people would always call me that or they would say things
like that because I can be very feminine, I guess.
Like, the way I talk, the way I talk with my hands a lot.
Everyone's like, "Oh my god, that's such a gay thing to do."
I came from this really happy, fun kid.
I became so insecure, I felt like everyone was judging
every single move I was making.
People think saying something like, "That's so gay"
is such a simple thing, but even though it's so simple
it can cause such a complex and complicated effect on people.
And I think people need to take that into account more.
(Finebros) A lot of people call using words like that
to be something that's homophobic.
Do you consider it that way?
I don't think it's homophobic because to be homophobic,
you have to hate gay people.
And if you use that word and you don't hate gay people,
then it's not homophobic.
Just because I use certain words doesn't mean I'm homophobic.
If you're using words like that, it's that you don't even care
about these people.
You don't care about the people that have been through these hard times,
been through this ridicule because they are gay.
You're using it like you're against them,
like you don't even care.
(Finebros) Can you talk about the idea, though,
that no one uses phrases like, "Oh man, you're so straight"
or "He's so hetero" as a negative, but yet feel it's okay
to use words like "gay" to be negative, but not the other way around.
Well, 'cause straight and hetero--
people consider them normal.
So that's why when people use the word...
Ah! That's a hard question! We're getting deep.
If you get down to the root of it all,
it's really kind of a messed up thing
that we used the words "gay", "faggot", as negative words
when, on the other side, where "straight" and "hetero"
is really not a bad thing at all.
(Finebros) Do you feel that it's okay to use these derogatory phrases
in certain settings if you don't mean it in a way
that is being negative?
If it's not to hurt somebody and it's just to, let's say,
your slang for describing something or saying something,
then I don't see the problem with it.
When it comes to race, it shouldn't be done like that either.
Religion, shouldn't be done like that.
But I mean, people do it. Comedians do it.
I've made jokes about it. I've been that guy.
But, I mean, I'm also THAT, so I can do it.
But, I mean, that also, me saying that--
I sound stupid because that shouldn't give me the excuse
to say it, but I do it anyway.
In the grand scheme of things, it's really-- I shouldn't be using
those words any more.
How does that poor kid who just wants to be himself,
but can't, or wants to be herself, but she can't--
how do they feel?
How do they know you're joking?
Like, "Oh, go kill yourself. Kidding!"
It's not a joke.
(Finebros) Any final thoughts about words that also can represent
people being used as an insult.
Is it ever okay?
It's never okay.
I'm not your dad.
I'm not gonna say, "Don't do that, guys!"
You can say whatever the heck you want with your friends around.
Just be aware who's actually around you.
Words are words and we do have to be careful
what we say, and we have to watch what we say,
but, then again, we also wanna relax and say whatever we want.
There's definitely a fine line between when it's okay and when it's not.
I am hoping that one day we can just stop caring
about what words mean and what words weight is.
Everyone is the same person.
It just kind of like opened my eyes a little bit.
I think that is something we should just not do.
Everyone should just be other-oriented all the time
and just think of others.
- Y-Yeah. - (Finebros) Yeah.
Peace and love, guys.
(silence)