Why Bruce Jenner’s Interview Could Be a Watershed Moment
Why Bruce Jenner’s Interview Could Be a Watershed Moment
3 minute read
Bruce Jenner attends the 13th annual Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational gala at the ARIA Resort & Casino at CityCenter on April 4, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV.Ethan Miller—Getty Images
Bruce Jenner, the Olympic gold medalist and Keeping Up With the Kardashians TV personality, has been the subject of intense media scrutiny lately, thanks to a rumored gender transition. Jenner’s body, and the manner in which he styles it, were long the province of Internet comment sections before mainstream outlets picked up the story. On Friday night, ABC will provide a welcome conclusive answer, one way or the other, on the question of Jenner’s story, and the network has done an admirable job of presenting the news with good taste.
If ABC does indeed have the story of Jenner announcing a gender transition, it’s completely understandable that it wouldn’t want to scoop itself with an errant commercial that says too much. And so it is that the promotions for Diane Sawyer’s interview with Jenner have operated with an abundance of caution. In one recent ad for the Jenner/Sawyer special, we see Jenner saying fairly simple statements that could mean anything. On family: “Those are the only ones I’m concerned with.”
But that caution in avoiding giving away the revelation (or lack of it) that would make viewers tune in is also tasteful, and better yet, fair. A person’s coming-out may not be ideally framed on a two-hour news special, but it would certainly be decontextualized and ill-used in a 30-second promo. If, indeed, Jenner is coming out as transgender on ABC’s air, the outlet he chose has done him a service by allowing him to tell his story, in full, to the audience, without preceding “spoilers.”
And it’s doing the transgender community a service, too, by advertising the Jenner interview as it has, broadcasting to a wide audience in a nondescript manner. For readers of tabloids or gossip blogs, the non-revelations of the Jenner promos are being read as tantalizing teasers: If Jenner comes out as transgender, those viewers brought in by ABC’s say-nothing approach will be exposed to the personal story of what could be the most famous transgender person in recent history. A network that could well have sensationalized the news has, to a surprising and fair degree, toned down the provocation. Whatever happens Friday night can and will speak for itself.
At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Bruce Jenner won the gold medal in the decathlon, setting the world record at 8,616 points.Getty ImagesJenner became a national hero following his Olympic win and was later inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986.Tony Duffy—Getty ImagesJenner became an NBC Sportscaster in the late 1970s following his Olympic performance in Montreal.NBC/Getty ImagesJenner married actress Linda Thompson, above, on Jan. 5, 1981, following his divorce with Chrystie Crownover.Getty ImagesJenner was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. In October of 1985, he received the Outstanding Learning Disabled Achiever Award from then-First Lady Nancy Reagan alongside stars such as Cher and Tom Cruise.Getty ImagesJenner was a successful race car driver in the 1980s, though in a 2013 interview he said, "I was a lot more badass runner than I was a driver.”Ann Clifford—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesIn 1991, Jenner married Kris Jenner, previously Kris Kardashian, just one month after she finalized her divorce from Robert Kardashian. The two had dated for only five months.Maureen Donaldson—Getty ImagesTheir marriage merged two already large families, evident here in this 1991 portrait.Donaldson Collection/Getty ImagesAfter his sports career, Jenner, seen here at a celebrity golf event in 1993, had a number of small acting jobs and television appearances.Stephen Dunn—Getty ImagesThe family poses at an event in 1995, the year Jenner and Kris welcomed the first of their two children together, Kendall Jenner.Ron Galella—WireImageKylie Jenner was born two years later in 1997. The girls can be seen here on the red carpet in 2000, long before they covered magazines and appeared on TIME's Most Influential Teens list.Scott Nelson—AFP/Getty ImagesJenner, seen here in 2005, would re-enter the spotlight thanks to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which first premiered in 2007.Steve Granitz—WireImageJenner spoofed his reality-star fame with a commercial for Tropicana Juicy Rewards in 2010.APJenner and Kris, here at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2011, announced their separation in 2013. She filed for divorce the following year.Kevin Winter—Getty ImagesJenner poses with a box of Wheaties in 2012. He appeared on the front of the box first in 1977 after his Olympic gold-medal win, then in 2012 when Wheaties rolled out a retro series.Noel Vasquez—Getty ImagesJenner appears with two of his sons, TV personality Brody Jenner and musician Brandon Jenner, who records with his wife as Brandon & Leah, at an April 2013 release party.Chelsea Lauren—WireImageJenner walks with step-daughter Kim Kardashian in October of 2014 — about five months after rapper Kanye West became his son-in-law.Bauer-Griffin—GC ImagesCaitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, appeared as a woman for the first time on the cover of Vanity Fair's June 2015 issue, photographed by Annie Leibovitz.Annie Leibovitz—Vanity FairCaitlyn Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe Courage Award onstage during The 2015 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater on July 15, 2015 in Los Angeles.Kevin Winter—Getty Images
