Author: Randy Slovacek

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Profile: 60 Minutes Australia Talks To Olivia Newton-John

I have to share this beautiful profile of international pop star Olivia Newton-John from 60 Minutes Australia.

As regular readers know, my husband Michael is an entertainment publicist and has represented Olivia for some 20 years. He was the driving force in making this interview happen.

When I went through my own cancer journey in 2009, Olivia was my own private guardian angel, checking in on me often and always there with the perfect perspective.

The Australian news magazine devoted its entire hour-long program to chatting with Olivia, her husband John Easterling and daughter Chloe Lattanzi, on the progress and impact of the pop star’s third bout with cancer.

Knowing Olivia, I love that the segment captures exactly who she is – a lovely human being and a great artist who continues to inspire us all.

From the clip description: “One of the most remarkable interviews of the year: how the devotion of a loving family, and an unconventional treatment, is helping Olivia face up to the greatest challenge of her life, including a rare and raw insight from her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi. Powerful, emotional, and a reminder of the important things in life, it’s Olivia Newton-John as you’ve never seen her before.”

After the show aired, longtime friend Hugh Jackman, recorded and posted this message to Olivia from the stage of his current concert tour in mid-performance.

Just one more example of what Olivia means to, not only Australia, but the world.

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Mike Pence: “Spend More Time On Your Knees Than On The Internet”

Vice President Mike Pence

The gay blogosphere is giggling over some advice Vice President Mike Pence gave conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom today.

Via the Washington Times – bolding is mine:

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday he was surprised by media criticism of his wife’s decision to teach art at a school with devout Christian beliefs, and said he’s gotten lots of practice in forgiving his critics.

He was speaking to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian religious liberty organization, and ADF CEO Michael Farris asked him for advice on how to handle attacks on his faith and beliefs.

Mr. Pence said that as a politician he faces a lot of attacks, and had several pieces of advice. “No. 1 is, spend more time on your knees than on the internet,” he said. He also added: “Forgiveness is a great gift.”

Very, very good advice, Mr. Pence.

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Univision To Premiere Its First Series To Feature Gay Couple As Lead Characters

Univision announces the premiere of “El Corazón Nunca Se Equivoca” (The Heart Is Never Wrong), the first Spanish-language U.S. broadcast television series featuring a same-sex couple as the leading characters.

Univision announces the premiere of “El Corazón Nunca Se Equivoca” (The Heart Is Never Wrong), the first Spanish-language U.S. broadcast television series featuring a same-sex couple as the leading characters.

The coming of age series is a spinoff of Juan Osorio’s popular telenovela “Mi Marido Tiene Más Familia” (My Husband Has More Family) and follows the fan-favorite love story of Aristoteles and Cuauhtémoc (Temo), better known as their couple name “Aristemo.” 

Loyal fans flooded social media in support of the spinoff, with the #Aristemo trending worldwide on Twitter and Instagram. 
Many viewers express that the young couple has inspired them to embrace their identity with a sense of confidence, happiness, and encouragement.

In “El Corazón Nunca Se Equivoca,” the storyline centers around the young couple as they move to Mexico City to attend college. 

Aristótles, played byEmilio Osorio, is ready to begin his music career and his communication studies, while balancing his influencer status and his personal relationship. 
Temo, played by Joaquin Bondoni, wants to be a politician despite the prejudice that he might encounter. 
Their love will be put to the test as they create new friendships and overcome the challenges of being gay in Mexican society.

Praised for their positive LGBTQ+ portrayal, the duo has received a GLAAD Media award and an E! Online’s “TV’s Top Couple” award.

The new series will premiere on Tuesday, August 13, at 9 p.m. ET/PT 8 p.m. CT.

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Disney Channel Star Joshua Rush Comes Out

Joshua Rush, who played the gay teen ‘Cyrus Goodman’ on the Disney Channel series Andi Mack, just came out as bisexual on his Twitter account Tuesday.
Actor Joshua Rush (image via Instagram)

Joshua Rush, who played the gay teen ‘Cyrus Goodman’ on the Disney Channel series Andi Mack, just came out as bisexual on his Twitter account Tuesday.

Rush gained national attention when his Andi Mack character came out in 2017 becoming the first openly gay Disney Channel character.

In last month’s series finale, his character was revealed to be part of the first gay couple on a Disney series.

Now that the series has wrapped, Rush appears to have had one more ‘coming out’ to do.

On Twitter, the 17-year-old wrote, “First to respond to this tweet is bi.” He quickly followed that with his own response, “First! I win! It’s me. I’m bi.”

He added there were “a few things” he wanted to share with his fans.

The actor told his fans he thought it ‘ironic’ that his TV character’s coming out could send a message of empowerment to young LGBTQs, but until today he hadn’t found the courage to come out himself.

In fact, he says it’s his fans reaction to Cyrus’s journey that inspired him today.

Sharing that he had a close friend come out to him in fifth grade, Rush admitted he “suffered with some level” of his own “internalized homophobia” while playing a gay character on TV.

His solution at the time? “I stuffed the existential crisis of talking about my sexual orientation into a box in my mind for years,” he wrote, adding, “Today, I release it into the world.”

Noting that sexual orientation doesn’t make up “all” of his identity, Rush pointed to bi erasure and the challenges that trans women of color face every day as more pressing issues than his sexual identity.

He asked folks to donate to GLAAD (which promotes positive messaging for LGBTQs in the media) because his Disney Channel series “wouldn’t have existed in the form that it did without them.”

He also gave a shoutout to The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention to LGBTQ young people, before closing the thread with, “Thank you to you for giving me the courage to know who I am and tell you this today. Happy 20biteen!”

While he hadn’t come out yet, it was just a few weeks ago that Rush shared a photo on Instagram after attending his first Pride event.

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Hannity Wants Armed Guards Surrounding Schools & Shopping Malls

Fox News pundit Sean Hannity says the answer to gun violence is to have retired police, secret service or military service members surround schools and shopping malls.
Fox News pundit Sean Hannity

Fox News pundit Sean Hannity says the answer to gun violence is to have retired police, secret service or military service members surround schools and shopping malls.

“I’d like to see the perimeter of every school in America surrounded, secured by retired police — which you are — retired Secret Service — which you are — military, and I want guys to donate 15 hours,” Hannity told guest Dan Bongino last night. “I think we could cover every school, every hour, every day. Add a metal detector, and I think we’re going to have safer schools.

“Have one armed guard on every floor of every school, all over every mall, the perimeter, and inside every hall of every mall,” he explained. “Now, that gives us an instant response opportunity that we normally wouldn’t have.”

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Teen Homophobe Threatens YouTube After Being Booted From Video Site

Soph (screen capture)

A 14-year-old California girl who goes by the name “Soph” had her YouTube account terminated after posting an anti-LGBTQ video on July 31.

The high school freshman had amassed a following of over 800,000 subscribers via anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ commentaries before YouTube removed her account.

In the video that finally got her booted from the streaming video site, titled “Pride and Prejudice,” she mocked LGBTQ people for celebrating Pride Month.

“Unfortunately, as you know, last month was Pride, which meant we all had to endure 30-days of AIDS-carrying pedophile victims patting themselves on their backs for their lifestyles,” said Soph in the video. “I had an especially hard time considering that I live in California where there was a puddle of diseased load waiting for me whenever I dared to step out of my house.”

She went on to tell her audience that LGBTQ people criticize her and call her homophobic as a way to “detract attention away from the rates of STDs and pederasty involving homosexuals.”

The teen apparently laughs all of this off as ‘edgy internet humor.’

Soph also calls Pride a “fudge-packing fest” and tells followers to “make sure to blame me in your manifestos.” The word ‘manifesto’ refers to a kind of document left behind on far-right websites by people like the shooter behind the deadly Christchurch attack in March and the shooter accused of the recent El Paso shooting.

The account was canceled after the teen racked up three Community Guideline violations within 90 days. The Pride-bashing video violated YouTube’s hate speech guidelines.

After YouTube removed the channel, Soph tweeted a photo holding what appeared to be an assault rifle captioned, “YouTube headquarters here I come.”

The tweet was quickly removed. Then the teen wrote, “Gun tweet obviously a joke,” and seemed to ask for payments to her Bitcoin accounts.

This wasn’t Soph’s first ‘joke’ regarding violence and YouTube. In May, she threatened to murder YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki after her account was temporarily suspended and demonetized.

In a video directly addressing the YouTube executive, Soph said, “Susan, I’ve known your address since last summer. I’ve got a Luger and mitochondrial disease. I don’t care if I live. Why should I care if you live or your children? I just called an Uber. You’ve got about seven minutes to draft up a will. … I’m coming for you, and it ain’t gonna be pretty.”

Folks, this is YouTube in 2019.

(source)

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Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Toni Morrison Passes Away At 88

Toni Morrison (image via Flickr/John Matthew Smith)

From the New York Times:

Toni Morrison, the 1993 Nobel laureate in literature, whose work explored black identity in America and in particular the experience of black women, died on Monday in the Bronx. She was 88.

Her death, at Montefiore Medical Center, was announced by her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. A spokeswoman said the cause was complications of pneumonia. Ms. Morrison lived in Grand View-on-Hudson, N.Y.

The first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Ms. Morrison was the author of 11 novels as well as children’s books and essay collections. Among them were celebrated works like “Song of Solomon,” which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977, and “Beloved,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

Ms. Morrison was one of the rare American authors whose books were both critical and commercial successes. Her novels appeared regularly on The New York Times best-seller list, were featured multiple times on Oprah Winfrey’s television book club and were the subject of myriad critical studies. A longtime faculty member at Princeton, Ms. Morrison lectured widely and was seen often on television.

“If you can only be tall because someone is on their knees, then you have a serious problem.”

“If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

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Podcast: Chatting With Writer/Performer/Podcast Host Dennis Hensley

Chatting with the super-fun writer, performer, celebrity journalist and podcast host Dennis Hensley.

I’ve known Dennis for years. He’s the guy you always want to sit next to at a party because he’s not only smart but always ready with an authentically clever line.

Dennis is a master of so many fields. From his popular podcast, ‘Dennis Anyone?’ (www.dennishensley.com) to his very cool ‘Lifecast’ project where he interviews people and creates a podcast about their life – ergo, a ‘Lifecast.’ (www.getalifecast.com)

There are his many TV appearances on shows like Logo’s “Gay For Play” game show starring RuPaul, “Fashion Police,” and “The Big Gay Sketch Show.”

He’s a frequent guest host on Sirius XM and the author of several novels. And he recently developed a new party game called “You Don’t Know My Life” with Jeb Havens. (www.YouDontKnowMyLife.com)

We have wanted to interview each other for a long time, and so finally, here we are.

This episode turned into a ‘battle of the interviewers’ as we both kept trying to ask the other questions about their lives and projects.

I really had fun here.

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News Round-Up: August 5, 2019

Terron Beckham (via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: Terron Beckham (above), the ridiculously jacked cousin of the Cleveland Browns’ Odell Beckham Jr., shows off some gym humor along with his ‘big-is-best’ everything else. #thosecalves

• OUT: A new study shows some men may be reticent to recycle because it might be perceived as ‘feminine.’

• Variety: At her Madison Square Gardens concert over the weekend, Barbra Streisand offered up a tweaked version of “Send in the Clowns” that trolled the current clown in the Oval Office.

• Twitter: A police officer busts some moves to Steps’ 2017 hit “Scared Of The Dark” while attending Brighton Pride in the UK. The clip went viral after his police department shared the clip on social media.

• Red Flag Bill: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is collaborating on a “red flag” bill with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that would start a federal grant program to help encourage states to create “‘red flag’ protection order” laws, which are meant to make it easier for law enforcement to identify mentally ill people who should be banned from purchasing guns.

• NY Magazine: A new profile on Ivanka Trump quotes a friend who says the Trumpette, “Has no idea she’s privileged. She genuinely thinks she’s earned everything she has. She goes on and on all the time about how hard she works.”

• Out Music: Make-up artist Deney Adam (whose work has been seen in Vogue, NY Times, Interview) puts down his brushes to drop his wild and wooly new track and music video, “Heartdrop.”

The visual, directed by the fab Mike Ruiz, is a fast and furious, animalistic affair featuring a nearly naked Deney locked inside a glass case.

“I wanted to convey that feeling of being trapped in a situation; when just at the moment that you think you are finally free from it, you find yourself right back where you started,” says Deney.

Musically, the track continually switches gears resulting in a visceral, heart-pounding (or should that be ‘heart-dropping?’) ride. Hit play below.

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Out Music: Kyle Motsinger “Love On Each Other”

Out singer/songwriter Kyle Motsinger just released his latest single, "Love On Each Other," in advance of his upcoming album to be released this winter.

Out singer/songwriter Kyle Motsinger just released his latest single, a groovy, bouncy bop titled “Love On Each Other,” in advance of his upcoming album to be released this winter.

Working with producer and collaborator Corey Tut, the track features big disco beats and slinky 70s strings making for an upbeat affair – which was Motsinger’s goal.

The artist says current headlines of “crowds chanting against immigrants” and “transgender people being murdered in the streets” inspired him to counter that with some positivity.

“It’s a sneak peek of the more upbeat sound I’m cultivating for my Sophomore album that will be released this winter,” says Motsinger. “I hope everyone takes away from the song that we have the power to change the world if we open our hearts and ‘Love on Each Other!’”

You can currently find the track on Amazon and Spotify.

Check it out below.