Over the weekend, Universal hastily re-cut a trailer for the Ron Howard comedy "The Dilemma" after a joke delivered by Vince Vaughn became controversial.

The original trailer opens with Vaughn, in a corporate setting, telling a room full of people in suits, "Ladies and gentlemen, electric cars ... are gay. Not homosexual gay, but my-parents-are-chaperoning-the-dance gay."

CNN's Anderon Cooper told talk show host Ellen Degeneres he was alarmed when he saw the trailer: "I was shocked. Not only that they put that in a movie, but that they put that in the preview!"

It is kind of shocking that someone would say that about an electric car. USA Today's car blogger immediately puts to rest the idea that an electric car could, by any colloquial standard, qualify as "gay":

But, anyway, the issue is obviously not whether electric cars (or, for that matter, dances chaperoned by parents) are gay. They're not. Nor are they straight. The thing about electric cars, or any cars, or any machines I'm aware of, is they don't have sexual desires, unless maybe Google is working on something.

Cooper, who has been tearing it up lately, is objecting, of course, to the use of "gay" as a put-down in any situation. In comedy, context, and the constant dance between funny and offensive, is a delicate thing. As to this specific joke, Salon's Tracy Clark-Flory, for one, said its comedic effect renders it harmless.

Not sure I agree. Watching the original trailer, it's not really clear whether Vince Vaughn's use of "gay" is supposed to indicate that his character is, well, the sort of character Vince Vaughn usually plays, or if it's meant to be funny at face value. The former certainly seems closer to the truth than the latter, in any case.

The thing about the "40 Year Old Virgin" running gag is that those jokes actually are pretty funny, and they're delivered by characters we've been made to like. Which, in context, probably makes that sequence more offensive.

Vanity Fair's gay-car-blogger Brett Berk (who, by virtue of his job title, is probably the most authoritative voice on this specific controversy) disagrees that the context is harmless:

Globe and Mail columnist Lynn Crosbie makes the interesting argument that crude gay jokes are a key part of how society addresses close male relationships, especially in film:

The timing of all this is poignant, considering that the news lately has been full of disturbing stories about gay teens being bullied, some of whom have committed suicide. Strangely, this makes "The Dilemma," by all appearances a marginal dude-bro comedy, one of the most important films of the coming year, as Entertainment Weekly puts it.

Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times explains the problem this controversy creates, not just for films containing flippant "gay" jokes, but for free speech in general:

What do you think: Is the controversy overblown, or is Cooper right in being offended by the trailer? And beyond that, when, if ever, is it OK to describe something as "gay"?

E-mail Troy Reimink: treimink@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/troyreimink