The basketball player makes Jonathan Cheban's sexuality his business and it was downhill from there.
So, how does one know if someone is gay? E!’s Kourtney and Kim Take New York never really explains how Kris Humphries had come to believe that his gaydar is so fine-tuned that he can declare that wife Kim Kardashian’s friend, publicist Jonathan Cheban, is in fact homosexual. But, he firmly thinks that it’s true and really goes the distance to get Jonathan to come out on Sunday’s episode.
First, can we acknowledge that the line between what happens on reality shows and what makes headlines has become blurred. Reports surfaced months ago that Jonathan was suing Kris for using a gay slur against him during the shooting of the series. If Sunday’s episode is the one in question, then that either never happened or it was edited out. I’m leaning toward never happened, because I can’t imagine that E! would leave something as sensational as Kris using a homophobic slur against Kim’s best friend on the cutting room floor.
Second, how is it possible that Kim could call John her best friend and yet not know what his sexuality is? Kim could probably learn to show some interest in others’ lives. Just a hunch.
Now, back to Kris’s gaydar. Here’s what I was able to gather from the episode. If one doesn’t talk about women, openly parade their dates with women around their friends, likes a scented candle now and again, and exhibits a less in your face version of masculinity, then one is gay in Kris’s book. In the end, Jonathan told Kris that he was straight and he should have left it alone. Even if Jonathan is gay, Kris should have respected his right to choose his own timeframe in which to come out.
It wasn’t until Jonathan’s business partner, Simon Huck, told Kris and Kim about being horribly outted by a teacher before he was ready that Kris decided he should close his investigation down and apologize. The two man-hugged it out and it was squashed – so I thought.
What I found interesting was that everything seemed resolved by the end of the episode, but it’s clear that Jonathan is still holding some anger. He tweeted several times about the gay standoff and I’m assuming he’s referring to Kris when he tweeted “BULLY!” and “IGNORANT!” Judging from Kris’s actions in Sunday’s episode, I can’t say I disagree. For the record, I don’t believe that Kris is homophobic. Judgmental and self-righteous, yes, but I wouldn’t say he’s homophobic.
