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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"All right, Vegeta. I'm going to be totally honest with you. This is sounding really gay... Not that there's anything wrong with that."''
|'''[[Camp Straight|Zarbon]]'''|''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]''}}
There are some shows that make it apparent that "queers ain't welcome around these parts", while other shows that scream "Gay is [[Ho Yay|O.K.]]". And then there are shows with this trope.
One is hard-pressed to find a show without at least some example of this trope, especially in comedy, because, after all, [[Dude, Not Funny|Gay jokes are funny]].
[[Not That There's Anything Wrong with That]] is what happens when homosexuality is painted in a negative light by words or actions from characters just to be portrayed as completely normal. Usually invoked as a weak saving throw and an attempt to prevent losing fans and coming across as a bigot.
This can be played [[Accidental Pun|straight]] as in: "Dude, I always thought you were gay... Not that there's anything wrong with that." or played for laughs when a rather [[Camp Gay|effeminate]] character proclaims to an obviously straight character "That's kind of gay...Not that there's anything wrong with that."
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This trope is used often for laughs by having a male character defend his sexuality while not coming off as homophobic. I.e. "I'm Not Gay!...Not that there's anything wrong with that".
This trope may not apply exclusively to homosexuality. It can be applied to any instance where People Group X are degraded only to have the writer or character make up for their intolerance with a weak defense, often immediately after the remark. Bonus points for also invoking [[Some of My Best Friends Are X]].
It is a frequent joke type found in British [[Cringe Comedy|Cringe Comedies]], where a character digs himself into this situation over the course of a short conversation, usually very efficiently.
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The opposite of this trope is [[And That Would Be Wrong]], where a character proposes something bad as if it were good, leading to a hasty retraction.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Providing the "almost" exception above: Mai says these exact words to Natsuki in ''[[
==
* The comic ''Cable and Deadpool'' has used this phrase in refrence to Nate and Wade merging their
▲* Providing the "almost" exception above: Mai says these exact words to Natsuki in ''[[Mai-HiME]]'''s [[Beach Episode]] after Natsuki denies that [[That Didn't Happen|anything happened]] between her and the [[Kendo Team Captain]] when they were caught in a [[Accidental Pervert|compromising position]]. Natsuki groans and tells Mai that she "[[Celibate Hero|doesn't have time for romance]]".
== Comedy ==▼
* Stephen Lynch, a singing stand-up comic, has a song called "If I Were Gay", about two old friends who get drunk, which leads to gay experimentation. The song goes back and forth between saying there's nothing wrong with being gay and refusing the drunken friend's advances.▼
* Comedian Demetri Martin explores this concept in a bit where he feels the need to add "Not Gay (but supportive!)" to his clothes featuring a rainbow, a well-known LGBT symbol.▼
{{quote|'''Demetri:''' I think it's unfair that one group just ''took'' refracted light. That's pretty greedy, gays!}}▼
* [[Rowan Atkinson]] has a sketch called "The Gay Christian" that is essentially this trope.▼
* [http://lashings.org Lashings of Ginger Beer] parody this trope in [http://youtu.be/08nGBOthqCs Are You Sure You're Straight?]▼
▲* The comic ''Cable and Deadpool'' has used this phrase in refrence to Nate and Wade merging their DNA -- a completely non-sexual situation, but [[Ho Yay|considering the relationship between the characters]]....
* Lampshaded in ''[[Ex Machina]]'', where Journal quotes the line after suggesting the public will suspect Mayor Hundred of being gay.
* Yorick from ''[[Y: The Last Man]]'' remembers to say this even when he's pretty much being tortured. And, you know, the last man on Earth....
* In the ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' series, Spider-Man is occasionally accused of being a mutant, to which he always responds, "I'm not a mutant!... Not that there's anything wrong with that."
== [[Fan Works]] ==▼
▲== Fan Works ==
▲* Parodied in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDdGnuwXUIw this] Marvel/DC episode.
* ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]''
** Zarbon, after being [[Mistaken for Gay]] by Vegeta, mistakes Vegeta for gay and says this word-for-word.
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** Note also that, among other uses, mutants in the [[Marvel Universe]] have been frequently used as a metaphor for homosexuality.
* This is subverted in the movie ''[[In and Out]]'', where the protagonist making these protestations {{spoiler|discovers he is indeed homosexual.}}
* Kirk, in the novelization of ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek the Motion Picture]]'', says something like this about himself and Spock. Except he is so ambiguous in what he says that it can actually be interpreted as [[Ho Yay|him confirming his gay/bi-ness just as easily.]] The relevant line is: "As for myself, though I have no moral or other objections to physical love in any of its many earthly, alien and mixed forms, I have always found my best gratification in that creature ''woman''." As many people have pointed out, "best" is a relative term, which would indicate that Kirk has, at some point, had sex with someone who ''isn't'' a woman. (See [http://www.alternateuniverses.com/judygran/footnote.txt here] for a breakdown of the whole quote.)▼
* In ''[[Bend It Like Beckham]]'', when Jules is explaining to her mother that she's not a lesbian, she ends it by saying there's nothing wrong with being a lesbian anyways. Her mother, who is in tears and had just thrown a fit over her "discovery", quickly composes herself and adamantly agrees.
* In the commentary for ''[[Val Lewton|The Seventh Victim]]'', film historian Steve Haberman discusses the [[Les Yay|lesbian undertones]] present in much of the movie, and ends with this trope.
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''[Cue Luces confused WTF-face, and Heck quickly excusing himself]'' }}
== [[Literature]] ==
▲* Kirk, in the novelization of ''[[Star Trek: The
* ''[[The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin]]'': Reggie's boss [[Licensed Sexist|CJ]] drags an employee into his office to ask whether he's gay due to having [[It Makes Sense in Context|the face of Beethoven embroidered on his underwear]]. The employee panics and insists that he's not, then backtracks and says there's nothing wrong and he has many gay friends, then realises [[Digging Yourself Deeper|what this implies]] and stutters to a stop. CJ insists that this is absolutely fine, but [[Bait and Switch|then suggests that maybe he'd be happier in a more appropriate career,]] [[Crosses the Line Twice|like hairdressing or interior design]]. After the colleague's continued protests, CJ finally believes that he's straight but points out that his underwear isn't really appropriate for one of his employees. [[Ho Yay|To demonstrate, he asks the resident]] [[Flamboyant Gay]] to remove his trousers and prove what kind of underwear a [[Comically Missing the Point|'staight man']] actually wears. {{spoiler|Answer: plain blue}}.▼
==
▲* [[The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin]]: Reggie's boss [[Licensed Sexist|CJ]] drags an employee into his office to ask whether he's gay due to having [[It Makes Sense in Context|the face of Beethoven embroidered on his underwear]]. The employee panics and insists that he's not, then backtracks and says there's nothing wrong and he has many gay friends, then realises [[Digging Yourself Deeper|what this implies]] and stutters to a stop. CJ insists that this is absolutely fine, but [[Bait and Switch|then suggests that maybe he'd be happier in a more appropriate career,]] [[Crosses the Line Twice|like hairdressing or interior design]]. After the colleague's continued protests, CJ finally believes that he's straight but points out that his underwear isn't really appropriate for one of his employees. [[Ho Yay|To demonstrate, he asks the resident]] [[Flamboyant Gay]] to remove his trousers and prove what kind of underwear a [[Comically Missing the Point|'staight man']] actually wears. {{spoiler|Answer: plain blue}}.
* [[Trope Namer|The quote in question]] comes from the ''[[Seinfeld]]'' episode "The Outing", where Jerry and George are mistaken for gay lovers. The origin of the quote came about because during the writing of the episode, the writers were afraid the script was coming across as homophobic, which was entirely the wrong impression that they wanted to give. Then somebody suddenly said, "well, it's not like there's anything wrong with that," and they realized that was it.
* ''[[The Office]]'' (American version):
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** "Brett you got it going on -- not in a gay way, just in a hey-mate-I-wanted-to-say-that-you're-looking-okay way!"
** "[[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?|Why can't a heterosexual guy tell a heterosexual guy that he thinks his booty is fly?]]"
* An early episode of ''[[Friends]]'' has Chandler nearly hooking up with another guy via coworker. This was slightly shocking to him, when he learned that most of his friends assumed he was gay.
* A ''[[Sex and the City]]'' episode also involved Miranda getting set up on a blind date with an actual lesbian woman named Sydney. Although she naturally had to turn her down and explain the situation, they ended up friends. Later in the episode Miranda pretended they were together to get her boss's notice. And ends up kissing the blind date in the elevator to check if she herself might be gay without knowing. Interestingly enough, the actress who plays Miranda is now, after being with men all her life and having two children, engaged to a woman.
* On ''[[30
** Given that just about every lesbian alive has had a massive crush on Stephanie March, who played Thomas, since she swaggered onto the ''Law & Order SVU'' set, it was the greatest moment in American television history. For lesbians.
* Sugar from ''[[Sugar Rush (TV)]]'' says these exact words to some customers when she's explaining that she's not gay... whilst manning the till in a lesbian sex shop...
* ''[[The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin]]''. One of the boss' toadies is [[Mistaken for Gay]] after overindulging at a party and does a desperate Not That There's Anything Wrong With That speech, going overboard with panic when he thinks his boss might be reading more into his use of the stock phrase "Some of my best friends are..." than he intends.
* The real estate agent in ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'' mistakenly thinks the two men she's selling the house to are gay. After mistakenly making a homophobic insult, she tries to furiously backpedal, culminating in her saying that she sees no problem with it, but would be unable to do it herself because "like [the two men], I just like dick too much".
* ''[[NCIS]]'':
** An episode shows McGee doing something stereotypically feminine (a running gag), and Ducky assuring him that "there is nothing homosexual about doing that. Er... ''not that there would be anything wrong with '''that''', either''."
** This phrase is used more often when Tony is talking about Gibbs working on his boat while getting drunk. Frequently said when Gibbs appears out of thin air after the initial comment.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''
** A running gag has the two main characters (who are brothers) being [[Mistaken for Gay]]. At least once, such as when they were pretending to buy a house together, the person making the mistake accidentally said something they thought could be misconstrued and backpedaled furiously. Worth noting, that during the house-buying incident, the boys eventually just gave up and went along with it.
** The show itself, which has faced accusations of homophobia due to this running gag has had a few of these moments, such as "outing" a pair of cosplayers going as Sam and Dean. That doubled as a [[Shout-Out|nod]] to the fandom, where the Sam×Dean pairing is immensely popular.
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'''CJ:''' That's right, because it's none of your business. }}
== [[Music]] ==
* [[Filk]] singer [[Tom Smith]] invokes the trope for humor value in his medley, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqLk86d02AA?t=184 "A Pirate Christmas"]. At one point he sings "I saw the Captain kissing Santa Claus, Down below the bulwark late last night..." then stops cold and flatly states, "Not that's there's anything wrong with that."
==
* This [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] moment: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNhGXWNA5E\ (description?)] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P5EFCuyyUc&NR=1\ (description?)]{{context}}
* HHH was doing a lot of this while calling Kurt Angle gay for [[Real Men Don't Cry|crying on the podium]] at the 1996 Olympics.
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==
▲* Stephen Lynch, a singing stand-up comic, has a song called "If I Were Gay", about two old friends who get drunk, which leads to gay experimentation. The song goes back and forth between saying there's nothing wrong with being gay and refusing the drunken friend's advances.
▲* Comedian Demetri Martin explores this concept in a bit where he feels the need to add "Not Gay (but supportive!)" to his clothes featuring a rainbow, a well-known LGBT symbol.
▲{{quote|'''Demetri:''' I think it's unfair that one group just ''took'' refracted light. That's pretty greedy, gays!}}
▲* [[Rowan Atkinson]] has a sketch called "The Gay Christian" that is essentially this trope.
▲* [http://lashings.org Lashings of Ginger Beer] parody this trope in [http://youtu.be/08nGBOthqCs "Are You Sure You're Straight?"]
== [[Theater]] ==
* The comedy musical ''[[Avenue Q]]''. The song "If You Were Gay" is sung by a character trying to convince his flatmate that there's nothing wrong with being gay, but is careful to repeatedly mention that he, himself, isn't gay.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* The online game ''[http://www.forumwarz.com/ Forumwarz]'' has a random E-Peen™ (a type of achievement) called "I'm Gay!" The description: [[Inverted Trope|Not That There's Anything Right With That!]]
* ''[[Monster Hunter]] Tri'' has a slightly odd version: one of the villagers will tell you that they've learned a "terrible secret"... they heard strange noises coming from your house one night, so they peeked through the door... and saw your [[Funny Animal|Felyne]] servant [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|dressed as a dog]], [[
* [[Word of God]] is that Benimaru from ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' is [[Camp Straight]]. Instead of a direct translation, the English version dances around the subject and adds in this statement just in case you didn't get it.
* The third ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' game has a rather sneaky variant.
{{quote|'''Maya:''' This place is so [[Innocent Innuendo|fruity]]!
'''Phoenix:''' That's not a bad thing. }}
* In ''[[Spore]]''{{'}}s Galactic Age, there's a greeting from another empire that goes something along the lines of "We were wondering where that handsome galactic explorer had gone to! Wait, I didn't mean it like that. Not that there's anything wrong with that."
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* When asked, Durkon Thundershield, Dwarven Cleric of Thor of ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' says that he "loves Thor with all [his] heart, in a heterosexual 'just buddies' kind of way, not that there's anything wrong with the alternative."
* [http://sabrina-online.com/strips/SabOnline465.GIF This] ''[[Sabrina Online]]'' strip.
* [[Hiimdaisy]]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20111110084643/http://hiimdaisy.livejournal.com/26484.html#cutid1 2nd Big Long] ''[[Persona 4]]'' comic:
{{quote|'''Kanji:''' What are you guys doing?
'''Yosuke:''' Watching you hang out with a dude!
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'''Yosuke:''' Yeah! I mean, if you like dudes.
'''Kanji:''' ''(mad)'' You guys sayin' I like '''dudes?''' }}
* This ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20160730132128/http://goodshipchronicles.com/comic.php?comicID=3 Goodship Chronicles]'' comic has the captain trying to hold
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' uses the exact phrase on several occasions.
** [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/031002 An example] about [[Furry Fandom]].
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** Justin had someone apologize to him for his own regular use of the word gay as an insult.
** Nanase (a lesbian herself) [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-03-02 says it] after saying its a relief that her little sister<ref>(who had been expressing an interest in lesbianism)</ref> is not likely a lesbian<ref>(but rather more likely just going through the [[Boys Have Cooties]] phase)</ref> then wonders if lesbians have to say it.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130803041739/http://blipcomic.com/45/ This] ''[[Blip]]'' strip.
{{quote|'''K:''' I met Liz through Hester. She's...''[[Dark Is Not Evil|dark]]''. She might be BI. Not that there's anything wrong with that.}}
* It was pretty much inevitable after [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=925 this] ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' comic, and we were [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=926 not disapointed]. Actually, we don't get confirmation that Kat didn't think there's anything wrong with that, but that might be the author [[Ship Sinking|bringing in the heavy torpedos]] against the [[Les Yay]] pairing of the two protagonists.
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsFfBB2W7IA&feature=related This] quote from the short film ''The Flying Car'' (starring Dante and Randal of ''[[Clerks]]''):
▲== Web Original ==
▲* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsFfBB2W7IA&feature=related This] quote from the short film ''The Flying Car'' (starring Dante and Randal of ''[[Clerks]]''):
{{quote|"Deal's off!"
"What are you, some kind of homophobe?"
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* From [[The Church of Blow]]'s viral hit ''Youtube is my life'':
{{quote|"Your video is gay. Therefore, you must also be gay because you made a gay video, and only a gay person would make a gay video. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay that's all right with me -- no! I just don't have the bigot mindset..."}}
* [[That Guy With The Glasses]] does this in his [https://web.archive.org/web/20130925164139/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/sketches/2950-the-joker-practicing-the-scar-story Joker sketch] for humour, as the Joker feels the need to specify that his "high school sweetheart Jamie" is a girl. As [[The Nostalgia Critic]], he gave a serious note of it when reviewing ''[[Masters of the Universe (film)|Masters of the Universe]]''.
* [[The Nostalgia Chick]] did it in her ''[[She
== [[Real Life]] ==
* In his autobiography ''Things Can Only Get Better'', comedy writer John O'Farrell recalls how, when he went on a door-to-door canvas for Labour, he was met with a old woman who demanded Labour do something about "the gays". O'Farrell responded with a spirited defence of homosexual rights, but was careful to finish with "And my girlfriend agrees with me."
* According to Producer Garry Marshall, ''[[The Odd Couple]]'''s opening sequence was written and produced that way to make sure everyone knew the roommates were not gay (per a request by the network). Jack Klugman once referred to it as "that cockamamie [silly, ridiculous] opening".
* [[Jeff Nimoy]] and [[Quinton Flynn]] were [[Mistaken for Gay]] due to walking into a yaoi film, not knowing that it was one at the time, so they decided to set the record [[A Worldwide Punomenon|straight]]. ''"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlCIe_A5dd4 No we're not saying there's anything wrong with that; just for this other team, we simply do not bat...]"''
* "Not Gay (but supportive!)" is sometimes expressed in [[Real Life]] as "Straight but Not Narrow"
** "I love Skittles, but I don't taste the rainbow" also works.
** The first time a politician at state or national level came out as homosexual in Germany was when there were rumors that a newspaper would report that one of the contestants for the office of Governor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, was gay. Instead he called a press conference and made the announcement himself, famously saying "I am gay, and that's perfectly fine". Nobody didn't really care and he ended up winning the election and was reelected for a second term. Since then, many public figures outside of the show business have come out with rarely causing any
* Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, who made an announcement that they weren't gay, but could understand why people would think they were, as the English language didn't have a word for [[Heterosexual Life Partners|that kind of bond between women]]. Mercilessly mocked by [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]], who hoped that it would inspire more not-gay people to make announcements like this. Hannity and Colmes still haven't.
* Averted with [[Johnny Galecki]]. He had a lot of gay accusations and, although he was straight and had a girlfriend, never answered or denied them. When an interviewer asked why, he responded, "I didn't feel a need to defend myself about something that's not offensive".
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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]
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