Boisclair on Brokeback sketch: 'Je ne regrette rien'
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 | 10:50 PM ET
CBC News
Parti Québécois Leader André Boisclair, who is openly gay, is taking heat for his role in a comedy sketch that parodies Brokeback Mountain with caricatures of Stephen Harper and George W. Bush.
The sketch satirizes a tent scene in Ang Lee's gay cowboy epic by pasting photos of the Canadian prime minister and U.S. president on two naked bodies, shown from the waist up.
The computer-animated caricatures frolic with the help of strategically placed whipped cream and maraschino cherries, to the sound of a cheesy '70s porn soundtrack.
Boisclair interrupts their romp when he sticks his head inside the tent and proclaims: "Quebec will never get into that."
The line is a double-entendre — not only is Boisclair gay, but Quebec won't get into bed with Canada and the U.S.
The PQ leader now admits he didn't know what the sketch would look like when he agreed to take part in it. "I like humour, myself. And it can be a way to carry a message. The truth is, it wasn't intended for the news bulletin," Boisclair said.
The sketch was shot for the Quebec program Les justiciers masqués, a popular satire broadcast on music channel Musimax.
The stunt shows a lack of judgment, said Liberal Environment Minister Claude Béchard. "I just want to be sure that all the Quebecers will see us as serious people. I'm not sure it's a good choice. But he will have to explain that."
Other PQ members shrugged off the sketch and said it's not meant to be taken literally — or seriously.
"I think it was for fun," said François Legault, the PQ finance critic.
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