Originally published August 18, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified August 18, 2007 at 2:04 AM

Gay group foils pool-cue sale, not a hit with actor

Bumped off: "A Cue to Die For," marketed by actor Joseph Gannascoli, who played the gay character Vito Spatafore on HBO's "The Sopranos...

By Steve Rothaus

The Miami Herald

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"Sopranos" gay mobster

MIAMI — Bumped off: "A Cue to Die For," marketed by actor Joseph Gannascoli, who played the gay character Vito Spatafore on HBO's "The Sopranos."

HBO demanded Rockwell Billiards pull the pool stick after the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) condemned the name: Vito's fellow mobsters discover he is gay, beat him to death with pool cues and sodomize him with one.

"Rockwell Billiards has done the right thing by no longer selling a product which many deemed offensive and insensitive," GLAAD President Neil Giuliano said.

On Friday, Gannascoli had a few words for GLAAD.

"I'm taking it personal that this has come so far," he said. "I'm mad at GLAAD. M-A-A-D."

Gannascoli said GLAAD doesn't care about the abuse he's taken since playing Vito. "Sopranos" fans have called him names, he said, and he's been attacked in a nightclub.

"In my neighborhood! In Brooklyn! I defended it. I say it's a ... role, morons. It's in every walk of life. Get used to it."

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