What does it say about a society when the victim of the world's most infamous televised beating finds his best forum for discussing it on Celebrity Rehab? And what does it say, in the wake of Prop 8, when someone who could easily hate the entire world makes what I think might be one of the most open declarations about gays I've seen in a while. Even "No on Prop 8" ads barely mentioned gay people...
Well, I'm not sure what it says about our society, but watching Rodney King open up to Dr. Drew about that fateful night 17 years ago is deeply moving and sadly overdue. Some will argue that King was never an "innocent" but I think we can all agree that he never deserved an ounce of what he got, and his future was basically set in stone from that point on. How does one live with not only the experience, but the ensuing lack of justice and anarchy that followed? That's a huge burden for one battered soul to carry, and as we learn on Celebrity Rehab, King has been barely getting by.
But amazingly, King is not a bitter man, and when he goes out of his way to mention how the gays in L.A. who were out marching in support of gay rights "turned their signs around" to march for him, he is clearly still touched by that. As he says, "gays bring flavor to the world; they're some real people". It's powerful, it's funny and it actually makes you feel pretty good about being gay - which we could all use right about now. (And is Tawny Kitean turned on or just completely stymied? You make the call.)
