To say that Nick Jonas lives by a double standard is an understatement. His views on faith, family, sex and homosexuality are so convoluted it makes one’s head spin trying to comprehend them. One need only consider his latest project, a DirecTV show called “Kingdom,” to see just how far Nick has fallen from his time on Disney’s “Jonas,” show as a respectable role model for younger kids in regards to faith, purity and strong family ties.
The three Jonas brothers, Nick, Joe and Kevin, were a pop boy band which started in 2005 and starred in their own Disney Channel show “Jonas,” for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. The brothers were perhaps most well-known for their stance on virginity; donning purity rings as “promises to ourselves and to God that we’ll stay pure till marriage.” Focus on the Family’s movie review site, Plugged-In, called their show a “product of a more innocent time,” which taught “outrageously old-fashioned lessons based on how family members should treat one another.”
In comparison, “Kingdom,” premiering October 8, is a gritty, dark drama starring the former Jonas Brother, which promises to be filled with gratuitous sex, heroin use and heaps of graphic language (there are 14 F-bombs in the trailer, which is under three minutes.)
In a September 16 interview with HuffPost Live, Nick Jonas answered questions about his new role as an MMA fighter on the show and what made him choose to take on such a dark, edgy role. His response was that he, “wanted to progress to a more adult, intense role.”
Here’s a newsflash Nick, it is possible to grow up and take on mature roles that do not include nude and potentially gay, sex scenes – scenes that, as Nick implied in his Huffpost Live interview, were his own idea! He said that he approached the shows producers to say “hey, let’s do what we can to embrace this part of the audience,” aka the gay fan base, “because I love them.”
Besides, “they’re not real;” it’s all scripted and since it’s such an “important” part of the character’s journey he’ll do whatever is asked of him. What’s worse is he has no problem with his family and friends watching his sex scenes. He went so far as to say he’d watch the show with his brothers, parents and friends.
Jonas claimed his faith and values are still intact and that he’s had an “incredibly intense journey with faith and religion.” His “belief in God is still very strong and important” and that what matters most to him aside from said “relationship with God,” is that he “not judge and not be judged.”
Sorry Nick, but like the Disney Channel “Pop Tarts” who came before you, (Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus and Lindsey Lohan to name a few), you will and should be judged. And Disney should too, given its near-perfect batting average of turning out troubled, corrupted young stars.
