Lainie Kazan’s ‘Oy Vey’ Moment
Filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Oy Vey, My Son Is Gay,” slated to be released this fall, offers the exact story line that the title suggests: overbearing Jewish mother from Long Island (Lainie Kazan) hurls eligible Jewish bachelorettes at her nice, but (no-so-secretly) gay son, Nelson (John Lloyd Young). But Nelson is already in a relationship — with his live-in boyfriend, Angelo (Jai Rodriguez of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”).
The movie features a slew of other notable names, like Carmen Electra, who takes on the role of playmate neighbor and Nelson’s would-be girlfriend, and “The Sopranos” Vincent Pastore, who gives us what he does best — the Italian dad; in this film, he plays the macho father of Nelson’s boyfriend.
The film explores how both sets of parents’ grapple with their sons’ sexuality, and the sometimes-uncomfortable communal responses that it invokes. The trailer is below:
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

