Billy Eichner Drags Clarence Thomas and ‘All the Homophobes on the Supreme Court’ at 2022 VMAs

Ooooh, Billy Eichner just @’d the Supreme Court. While presenting an award at the 2022 VMAs on Sunday night, Eichner took the opportunity to promote his upcoming film Bros — the gay rom-com he wrote and stars in — by namedropping Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and advocating for more gay love onscreen.

“We need to show all the homophobes like Clarence Thomas and all the homophobes on the supreme court that we want gay love stories,” Eichner said. “And we support LGBTQ people. And we are not letting them drag us back into the last century because they are in the past, and Bros is the future. Are you with me, VMAs?”

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During his speech, Eichner also celebrated the fact that the film’s cast is completely made up of queer people. Shortly after, Dove Cameron took home the award for best new artist and thanked fans for bringing a queer song to the top of radio charts.

Eichner spoke to Rolling Stone last month about the film and the impact he hopes it has on viewers.

“I’m in my forties, and I look around at movies in general — about straight people, about gay people, especially comedies — and say, “Where are the adults? What happened to the adults?” [Laughs.] I grew up with those great James L. Brooks movies and Nora Ephron movies and Woody Allen movies,” he said. “Those movies have disappeared entirely. I at least wanted to hold [Bros] to a higher standard than what’s passing for rom-coms these days.”

He added, “But as much as I love all those movies – Broadcast News, Moonstruck, Annie Hall, Tootsie – LGBTQ people are literally completely ignored and erased in those worlds. We weren’t even the best friend!”

Bros is out Sept. 30.

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