The Office has been one of my favorite shows since seventh grade with its quirky and comical characters, interesting office side quests, and most importantly the Jam (Jim and Pam) romance. Though, it is no secret that this show contains a myriad of jokes and behaviors that are considered very inappropriate in today’s day and age. From watching it as a seventh grader compared to watching it within the recent years, I have gained a greater understanding of just what these jokes mean in relation to our society’s attitudes towards the LGBTQ community, sexuality, and gender.
Airing in 2006, The Office centers around Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and follows the lives, romances, and drama of the office’s members. Running the office is manager Michael Scott who is typically seen as the antagonist in instigating office drama with the support of his second in command, Dwight Schrute. The show is a comedy-based mockery of what an everyday office setting might resemble.
This picture represents the members of the office in The Office.
An episode in the series that exemplifies these inappropriate behaviors is Season Three, Episode One: “Gay Witch Hunt”. At the end of the episode prior to this, Michael Scott calls his accountant Oscar Nunez “faggy” in response to Oscar claiming he liked Shakespeare in Love more than Die Hard. When Toby Flenderson, the office’s human resources representative, questions Michael as to why he chose to use that word instead of calling Oscar lame, Michael replies by saying, “That’s what ‘faggy’ means!” There is a parallel between this statement and the information that is presented in Meg-John Barker’s Queer: A Graphic History, where she explains that in the 16th century English-speaking countries used “queer” to refer to “something strange or illegitimate” (Barker, 2016). The difference between using the F-slur or “queer” as an insult today versus hundreds of years ago is simply that humans know better. Society has been called out by the gay community for using these terms and it is time that we respect this simple request and stop promoting them in TV shows as a means of humor.
Even though Michael likely meant no harm in calling Oscar by this term, what he didn’t realize was that Oscar was in fact a gay man. Despite Michaels ignorance, there is no instance in which it would be ok to call anyone this word in a TV show, and especially not in reality. In an attempt to make Oscar feel less targeted, Michael goes on to defend himself by claiming that he had been calling people “faggy” since the second grade and then offers to take Oscar out for a beer to discuss how one “does that” to another guy. To Michael this may be a seemingly nice gesture but to one receiving this kind of offer it would seem violating and strange. No one, if not very few people, want to discuss their sexual lives and practices with someone. Definitely not with someone who just insulted your sexual orientation.
It isn’t just the previous instance in which an assumption about the gay community is made in this episode. When Michael inquires Dwight Schrute, his assistant manager, about whether Oscar appears to look gay, Dwight responds with, “Absolutely not…Well, he’s not dressed in women’s clothes, so…” The assumption behind this comment is extremely wrong and old-fashioned. Gay men do not need to dress like women to express their sexuality, and the same concept applies to gay women. It isn’t one’s choice of clothes, hairstyles, makeup, etc. that define their sexuality or sexual orientation. Though, it is something that is still widely assumed in today’s society when in reality people should be able to dress however they like without the worry of being misgendered or sexualized.
In another attempt to make amends to Oscar for outing him to the entire office, Michael calls a mandatory meeting. Michael seats Oscar in the center of the table with everyone surrounding him and says to Oscar, “Take this opportunity to officially come out to everybody here. However you want to do it. Go ahead. Stand up. I’m doing this for you.” Rewatching this I found it extremely annoying how Michael not only makes Oscar stand up to be re-outed in front of his co-workers, but the fact that he also claims how he was doing it “for him”. Coming out is something that should not be forced upon a person, especially not in an environment where they do not feel comfortable doing so or they are subject to judgement from peers. Though I personally do not have the ability to speak on what it means to come out, from what I can interpret it is something that is extremely special and freeing for a person who has been hiding their true identity.
To top it all off, as the finale to Michael’s attempt in making Oscar feel welcomed as a gay office member, he forcibly kisses him as a way of expressing how he accepts Oscar’s “gayness”. If one didn’t think all of Michael’s previous actions were bad, they most certainly would now. Michael didn’t just violate Oscar’s personal space, he also kissed Oscar without receiving consent. It shouldn’t take having to forcibly kiss a person to show them you accept their sexuality or gender, rather, one could simply treat the person as they would to any.
Image of Michael forcibly kissing Oscar. (Video link: https://youtu.be/UOGenYI3cs4)
After dissecting this singular episode, it has become exceedingly obvious that several of the characters in The Office are tremendously ignorant and have incorrect assumptions or attitudes towards the LGBTQ community, gender, and sexuality. This TV show is just one example of how producers in the early 21st century created humor by writing scripted jokes that aimed to mock the gay community or minorities. In 2024 there are certainly less instances in which TV shows exhibit this kind of behavior, but “a few” is not good enough when it can and should stop all together.