After fielding much acclaim for his portrayal of Liberace in Behind the Candelabra, Michael Douglas has won a 2014 SAG Award for Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. But, once again, Douglas is poised to field plenty of criticism following his win, having delivered yet another offensive acceptance speech poking fun at homosexuality. Whereas Jared Leto used the 2014 SAGs to undo an ill-received speech, Douglas used the ceremony to add to his growing list of offensive comments this awards season.
Douglas' speech seemed standard at first — there was not one wink at Liberace's sexuality in its opening lines. But after Douglas thanked his costar, Matt Damon, things went downhill fast:
As you know this has become a little bittersweet, because my partner-in-crime, who in earlier awards I've spoke about you know, who's on top, who's on bottom, two-handers, but Matt I wanna be serious right now. I know we've gone head-to-head, but the truth is, and you know it, I am not here without Matt Damon.
Yep, you heard that right: "head to head." Har har?
It's unfortunate — following the comment, Douglas delivered a genuine thank you to Damon for sticking around when the movie was delayed due to Douglas's battle with cancer, but it couldn't make up for his upsetting introduction to the sentiment. Turns out, the only thing behind the candelabra is a truly ugly sentiment about the gay community.
