The offensive Rockwell Billiards ad with the slogan "A Cue to Die For" has been yanked after pressure from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
The product bore the name of "The Sopranos" star Joseph R. Gannascoli, whose fictional gay character was beaten to death and sodomized by a pool cue.
While Gannascoli has not issued an official statement, the actor was described as “apologetic” by The Miami Herald on Tuesday when he told a reporter, “I had no idea [the pool cue] would create this sort of uproar...I’m a great supporter of the gay community.”
Says GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano: “While the violence against the character of Vito on The Sopranos was fictional, many members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community have fallen victim to brutal anti-gay attacks. Rockwell Billiards has done the right thing by no longer selling a product which many deemed offensive and insensitive.”