City of Toronto demands removal of Goon poster
By Alexandra Heilbron on February 23, 2012 | 31 Comments
On the day of the Toronto premiere of the much-anticipated hockey comedy Goon, the City of Toronto demanded the removal of one of the film’s outdoor posters. The poster, shown at left, features the writer and star of the film, Jay Baruchel, gesturing in a way that the city believes is inappropriate. Alliance Films, the movie’s distributor, was told that 38 posters across Toronto have been taken down. The cast of the film has been in Toronto for the last several days promoting the release and the film’s director, Michael Dowse commented, “I question whether this has to do with Jay’s tongue or his ability to burn Maple Leafs’ jerseys, neither of which are offensive in any way.” Goon opens on Friday.
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Have people gone insane? Toronto! ! This is not offensive, for crying out loud. 40 years ago maybe. But wake up. They say the f-word on ctv and cbc. Ctv showed the Sopranos. This? Are you kidding.
Have you o so holy no offensive people nothing better to do? And 1 complainer? Who, the pope!!!?
It looks stupid and offensive. End of story!
I love how they have to show us the offensive poster to let us know which poster is offensive.
Paradox.
I love how they have to show us the offensive poster to let us know which poster was taken down for being offensive.
Paradox.
yep neither this poster or burning maple leaf jerseys is offensive lol AGREED lmao
I think this poster is incredibly offensive especially when you know what that gesture implies! And besides what does that have anything to do with hockey? Totally uncalled for
WOW!!!! Get with the times Toronto, there are more offensive things out there than this!!
On another note, this movie was AWESOME!!!!
Get with the times???? Since when is accepting offensive gestures “getting with the times”???? honestly, people have lost their sense of dignity and rationale. this is offensive, especially to women, and those who do not see where the offensiveness is have been desensitized. its a shame that “getting with the times” has warped people’s perceptions and understanding.
Life is too short to be humourless and pious all the time.
And, quite frankly, the only thing offensive is how vile, undiscerning narcissists are allowed to speak up when they’re “offended” by things. If you don’t like something, don’t look at it. Shut your mouth rather than shooting it off like a solipsistic hick.
can leafs fans be any more butt hurt? BAAAWWW STOP ENJOYING THINGS
hey winnie cooper…what the heck happened to free speech? We should be allowd to speak out against things that offend us because THEY OFFEND US…without having to worry about people like u trying to shoot us down. And yuo call other people discerning narcissists.
There are way more offensive “things” walking the streets of TO as these posters are being taken down. I hate you Toronto.
I agree with those that find this offensive. Maybe they do use profanity on TV shows but I can chose to not watch those shows (which I don’t), these posters are out for the world to see. I can’t walk down the street with my eyes closed you morons! Especially in TO. Besides that, there are children seeing these posters. But maybe you think that it OK for them to see this kind of thing, “getting with the times” and all that. But I don’t. Idiot parents who think that, will likely be bailing their kid out of jail in a few years, if not already, while mine will still have morals.
@ Winnie …..talk about shooting your mouth off!! That’s exactly what you just did. Maybe you should follow your own advice and shut it.
Just Sayin’ 🙂
This is not offensive we are in a new age where there are many, many, many more things that are way more offensive than this poster. Get a life people. Things change with time, get use to it. Stop complaining about useless sh**
The poster is disrespectful to women. Since when did disrespecting women become “OK”?
When did T.O. become so full of prudes? Can’t do anything in this world without offending someone somewhere.
It will be offensive to some and not to others. But i dont really need my kids seeing that shit. They may see it and imitate it. Thats my only concern, otherwise grow up already. Its not like you havnt seen it before and it wont be the last time lol.
So let me get this straight… this is offensive and must be stopped… meanwhile Canadian soldiers have been party to killing hundreds of thousands in the middle east… and we should be proud of them?
Our value systems are so #$%^ed.
@JustaGirl – Yes, I Totally agree! What does it have to do with hockey?? And I’m a woman and it is offensive to me too!
@whatever – I also 100% agree with you. I could tell offensive things happening for a long time and many people not saying anything about them. I couldn’t express that any better than you. I was waiting for someone to express it like that. Thank you. I appreciate you commenting!
It sounds like my beloved Toronto is taking a page from the book of Ottawa. If that’s the case, I say, burn the book!
If I walk down the street or in a mall and I see a fat person wearing poorly fitted/chosen clothing, frankly, I believe it’s offensive and inappropriate. I shouldn’t have to see exposed blubber on land unless I’m watching a Greenpeace documentary.
So, in accordance with what other “prudes” have posted here, should we just have those people removed like the posters?
Grow up folks! The poster is for a movie which will be out-of-sight and out-of-mind in a couple of months. It’s not a permanent fixture like a statue or monument.
People are really F’D up. That is not offensive, it’s vulgar and shows no class/taste. Though at the same time it’s a form of human expression that can be viewed as comic or arousing. Do I have class? Sometimes yes and most of the time no. Do I have a sense of humor? Sometimes yes and most of the time no.
So, because there is an infinite amount of other bullshit far worse than this poster it has become okay for all of us to lower our standards and values on our behaviors as a society? What the F happened to having some sort of responsibility to the generations coming after us? F off yo, imo ofc.
@danielle, really? bailing out our kids from jail cuz we let them see things like that? oookay there.
as a parent, you teach ur kids right from wrong, appropriate from inappropriate, telling jokes and being serious.
if you teach ur kids right, things as simple as a movie poster will not affect them, plain and simple.
it’s hilarious how women find the act of cunninlingus offensive. am i on feminism.ca?
Yup it’s offensive. Should it be removed? No.
I bet that at least 90% of the population don’t even know what this means, so perhaps it’s just a clever publicity stunt people…
When I first saw this photo, I had no idea what was so offensive. I just thought that the guy needs some dental work since he has mal-aligned teeth and fangs that need to be filed down. Now that I have read lol’s comment, I now know what is implied.
Imagine all those horrible magazines with Gene Simmons sticking out his tongue back in the 80s should not have been sold. Any advertisement with the slightest vulgarity should be removed. Afterall, those with the dirtiest of minds will know and be offended while people like me who don’t “see” will just not give it a second thought.
IM OFFENDED THAT YOUR ALL OFFENDED.
REALLY THIS POSTER IS NOT OFFENSIVE AT ALL. PEOPLE LIKE TO COMPLAIN FOR THE SAKE OF COMPLAINING. WHAT JAY BARUCHEL IS DOING IN THIS POSTER IS EXACTLY WHAT HES DOING AND EVERYONE HAS DONE IT OR HAD IT DONE TO THEM AND ASK YOURSELF IN THE MOMENT…WERE YOU OFFENDED THEN?
All I can say is: ew
Stupid, yes. Offensive, no. Dont stop be-leafing. GO LEAFS GO!