Glee actress Jane Lynch compares Sue Sylvester to Michele Bachmann

Actress Jane Lynch performs onstage at the 9th Annual TV Land Awards at the Javits Center on April 10, 2011, in New York.

/ Getty Images

In a recent televised exchange with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, comedian and recent Emmy host Jane Lynch said her bigoted Glee character reminded her of Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann.

During his Tuesday evening show, O'Donnell played a Web video clip of Lynch's character, cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, an intolerant bully who picks on gay and minority students at a fictional high school with a diverse glee club. Sylvester complains about "sneaky gays" and her increasing difficulty in identifying them.

"You know what I've had it up to here with? Sneaky gays," the character says. "Gone are the days of Oscar Wilde, Liberace, homosexuals so flaming they could be seen from space. Why, nowadays, sneaky gays are everywhere -- at the church, at the mall, picking up their meticulously dressed, fastidious children from day care. Why, you could be sitting next to a sneaky gay right now and you'd never even know it."

O'Donnell suggested to Lynch that such remarks might be something Bachmann would say.

"What you are doing there is, it's what Michele Bachmann wants to say," O'Donnell told Lynch. She replied, "Would say, yes." Lynch continued, "It actually makes it less funny because it's actually very, very real. There are people who think that. And I guess (Glee's creators) want to kind of put it out there in the light of day and say this is what people think."

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The Minnesota congresswoman's campaign did not respond to requests for comment from National Journal and CBS News.

Bachmann, a social conservative and self-described born-again Christian, opposes the gay community on most issues, including the movement to allow homosexuals to marry and to receive spousal health benefits. Lynch is openly gay.

Glee, a show on the Fox network, has previously been accused of having a "gay agenda." Among the critics is former Saturday Night Live comedian Victoria Jackson, who has spoken out against the show on her WorldNetDaily blog. "Besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians -- !" Jackson wrote. "I wonder what their agenda is? Hey, producers of Glee, what's your agenda? One-way tolerance?"

[JenK88]

This is the start of a media campaign against another republican woman. The same thing happened to Sarah Palin. This is not news, it has nothing to do with Michelle. This is blog material; the opinion of a person with an ax to grind, yet it is being hailed as news. Most likely Tina Fey or someone will start mimicking her and more people will have seen the mimic than the real thing, and worse yet not be able to tell which is which. It really is telling how feminists and the left do not actually stand for women, they stand for their agenda. As soon as a woman thinks for herself and becomes sucessful on her own the (feminist,leftist) pack turns on her and devours her.

[Fatesrider]

You gotta love the term "agenda", as if it's some sneaky, under-handed, awful thing to be inflicted on an unwilling populace.

Here's the "Gay Agenda"

- To be able to legally do without discrimination what everyone else legally does without discrimination.

Oh my god. What nerve these people have! Demanding their constitutional rights in a land where everyone is supposed to have them, but others want them to go away because they think mythologies tell them to hate the homosexual.

Every time I hear "promoting a gay agenda", this is what I know they want. And I say that anyone demanding otherwise for the LGBT crowd is unAmerican and hates what this country stands for.

[addict42]

Victoria Jackson will do and say anything to try to get publicity, poor thing probably falls into the poverty category now.

[afmcalax]

If liberals did not constantly fight the bigotry and ignorance of conservatives, slavery would still be practiced in the South, Jim Crow laws would still be enforced, interracial marriages would still be banned in many states, women would still be property and not able to vote, and neither blacks nor women would be serving in the military. Women would have less opportunities for higher education and in the work force. Liberals have a long and proud record of bringing intelligence and resolution to conservative prejudice. Gay rights will be the next conservative bigotry to fall. Hopefully liberals will retake religions from the conservative zealots and bring sanity back from those that have demeaned religion for their own hate and profit.

[SMB-IL]

I'm pretty sure afmcalax meant retake religion back from conservative zealots since that's what they wrote in their post. Nice try at deflection, though -- LOTS of words!

[addict42]

To pksd: God did NOT write the Bible and the modern interruptions come from massive amounts of translations written in languages I'm sure you've never heard of. The Bible was written by men who were "inspired" so God was their muse so to speak.

[BBould]

CBS quit the politics business, your shows don't need that to entertain. You'll lose more viewers by playing this game!

[hsinco-2009]

"Besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians -- !" Jackson wrote.

Too easy!

[roblearns]

I'm going to have to connect the dots for some of you. If someone is a bigot that hates gays - you know that because they use derogative terms about them, they advocate violence against them - those are signs of bigotry.

If someone is a bible literalist - they will say the act of being gay is a sin - but the person is a child of God. That the person needs to be 'saved' and 'healed' - a sign of being a bible literalist is setting up a clinic to 'heal the gay.'

Are you figuring out the difference yet? No? No, you can't because you are a moron. But, listen, moron, there is a subtle difference.

The difference is important because stamping out 'bigotry' doesn't do much if the problem wasn't bigotry. Now stamping out faith - faith in the bible - that would change the dynamic here just CRAZY amounts.

Why, without faith in the bible, nobody would be building a clinic to help them with their sins - don't you think?

Nah, you don't think. OK< I'm done trying.

[formrusmcsgt]

A distinction without a difference.......

If you support discrimination against others, you're a bigot, by definition.

Makes no dif whatsoever if it's internally genersted or learned from someone else.

The result is the same.

[hsinco-2009]

I have zero faith in the Bible!

Absolutely none!

[roblearns]

If you are going to call someone a bigot maybe you should learn whether they are or not?

The religious people - I don't defend them, they aren't coming from a position of bigotry, however.
They are coming from a position of trying to take literally what it says in the bible - and it says being gay is a sin.

So - the fact is you are trying to attack their 'bigotry' but you really have to attack their faith in the bible.

You don't want to do that, so you conveniently believe something else. LOL - these convenient beliefs are not something that only religious people are prone to.

The truth is - even if you want to allow people their faith traditions - some faith traditions say being gay is a sin. So deal with the truth - and go after the truth, and try to change the truth.

Michelle Bachman may be an idiot - I think she doesn't sound all that smart - she may believe being gay is a sin. But what she is - is a person who believes the bible.

I know, you can't grok what I'm saying - maybe you are an idiot too, that's also a reasonable assumption.

[afmcalax]

I wish journalists would stop using terms born again Christian, pro-life, and pro-family because the people that profess to be these type of people are usually the furthest from its true beliefs. Unless Jesus was a man of hatred, judgement, and bigotry Republicans stating they are infact Christians. born-again or otherwise, is heresy. If Jesus came down tomorrow in a VW Beetle to collect all these Republican Christians, his Beetle would return still empty. Pro-life is really at best pro-fetus, but I think it is more to continie to oppress and make woman submissive to men. Name one pro-family piece of legislation these so-called Republican christians have brought forth. Fair wages, health care, sick leave, vacations, tuition relief ... not one thing. Journalists need to label these polticians for what they are; not what they want to be labeled as.

[kiljare]

See what you did there "usually"? That means you are generalizing everyone into a single category. Well in my experience gay people are usually effeminate and obnoxious? See what i did there? Just becaue someone believes what you are doing is wrong, does not make them a bigot. You think christians are narrow minded and racist. Well i'd say that makes you a bigot AND a hypocrite.

[royalstar05]

Bachmann is an idiot. She will be out of the presidential race soon. Its a two person race, Perry and Romney.