Tuesday, February 28, 2012

'Glee' Suicide Episode Gives The Trevor Project A Spike In Web Traffic, Phone Calls




Last week's controversial winter finale episode of "Glee" may have shocked fans, but one lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth advocacy group has seen a number of benefits as a result.

As Entertainment Weekly is reporting, The Trevor Project saw their web traffic spike and their phone calls triple after the episode, which depicted former bully Dave Karofsky (played by Max Adler), attempting suicide -- to the tune of Young the Giant's "Cough Syrup" -- after being outed as gay to his classmates.

"What was great about the show is that they worked in conjunction with us so we knew in advance that there was going to in all likelihood be an increase in volume," Trevor Project co-founder Peggy Rajski tells EW. “What happened was the volume went up about 300 percent, but we were ready."

Adding extra punch, of course, was "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe's public service announcement, which also aired during the "Glee" time slot. "On average, our site probably attracts about an average of 1,500 visits a day,” Rajski said. “Tuesday we got 10,000. There’s the power of network TV.”

For his part, Adler praised the decision to bring back his character in such a poignant way. "It was a complete rainbow of emotions when I read it," the 26-year-old actor told the Hollywood Reporter. "There's excitement of being able to send a message like this into the world when people really need it and need to be spoken to honestly. It comes with the fear of representing it honestly and accurately."

Learn more about The Trevor Project here.


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