I have to apologize. I was totally wrong about Tyler, the Creator. I got my knickers in a twist over his screaming "Faggot!" every few seconds, and I got so caught up I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I have to apologize to Other Music, who explained to me that Tyler's repeated use of the word "faggot" wasn’t condoning homophobia, but was "more of a reactionary cartoon depiction of the harsh realities of life."

I have to apologize to all the folks on GLAAD's blog who took exception to my criticism of Tyler, pointing out that rather than being homophobic he "write[s] from the perspective of these dark fictional characters," that I must be one of those "'older' folks who "most likely won’t get it," that I "should admit that there is an entire culture [I] don’t understand," and that the "only ones being intolerant" are the people who inhibit "artistic expression."

Finally their words broke through to me, and I saw the light. Today I'm just as pleased as punch to see another milestone in artistic expression as yet another African-American called somebody a "faggot."

Apparently Joakim Noah, the Chicago Bulls center, also likes to speak from the perspective of dark fictional characters, and, like "[y]ounger urban minded gays, lesbians, men and women" he "understands this is just language and culture." When he yelled "Fuck you, faggot!" at the crowd at yesterday's game, he was also cartoonishly depicting the harsh realities of life, just like Kobe Bryant did a couple weeks ago.

Needless to say, now that I've become enlightened, I'd like to shout "Bravo!" to Mr. Noah for his artistic expression. I am absolutely thrilled that African-Americans no longer hurl anti-gay slurs at us, but instead are adopting personas that celebrate urban language, make artistic statements by intentionally pushing buttons, and lampoon sexual orientation stereotypes by ironically using them.

And, maybe I'm being a cock-eyed optimist here, but I know the day is coming soon when all African-Americans will be culturally-aware artistes and none of us will be able to leave the house without somebody screaming "faggot" at us.