Universal Pictures shares a look inside the upcoming Cats movie and announces that the first trailer will be released on Friday.
Cats stars James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson and introduces Royal Ballet principal dancer Francesca Hayward in her feature film debut.
Featuring a world-class cast of dancers under the guidance of Tony-winning choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton, In the Heights), the film reimagines the musical for a new generation with spectacular production design, state-of-the-art technology, and dance styles ranging from ballet to contemporary, hip-hop to jazz, street to tap.
A gay teen from The Gambia says his father sliced off his earlobe to ‘mark’ him as an abomination.
Nineteen-year-old Modou is currently living in The Netherlands seeking asylum having fled his west African home country where being gay is illegal.
Until October 2014, people found to have had consensual same-sex relations were sentenced to 14 years in prison. In 2014, the laws were made even more severe upping the punishment to a life prison sentence.
Modou told Gay Star News he was caught in bed with another boy when he was 15-years-old. The boy, out of fear for his own life, told his family Modou had attacked him.
Calling it “the biggest mistake” he ever made, Modou came out to his family thinking, “Maybe my family will accept me because I am their family. This is who I am.”
Instead, his family reported him to the local police in his western Gambia village.
Additionally, Modou says his father took him into a locked room and cut off his earlobe to ‘mark’ him as an abomination.
“It was the most painful thing in my life,” Modou told Gay Star News. “The worst thing is they didn’t take me to the hospital or give me medication. They just locked me inside a room as I tried to stop the bleeding.”
There is a history in The Gambia among certain ethnic groups of marking children, sometimes around the eyes or on the cheek, for the purpose of identification.
However, slicing off an earlobe is a practice used only on pedophiles and LGBTQ people.
Once marked, Modou says he thought he would have to spend his life at home, as a recluse.
“Everyone could see it – I could be beaten to death and I would not be missed,” says the 19-year-old.
The teen fled three years ago to the southern part of The Netherlands where he has an uncle. But Modou says he hasn’t shared his sexuality with his uncle because he is Muslim and being gay is not accepted.
He’s currently receiving legal help in applying for asylum, but lives each day in fear that he will be deported to his native country.
“I just want to finish school and live a free life.”
El Chapo, real name Joaquín Guzmán Loera, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a life spent sending tons of drugs into the United States and ordering the deaths of dozens of people.
The life sentence, mandated by law as a result of the severity of Mr. Guzmán’s crimes, was handed down in the Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where the kingpin was convicted last winter of drug, murder and money laundering charges after a sprawling three-month trial.
As some of the federal agents who had chased him for years looked on from the gallery, Judge Brian M. Cogan issued the life term and Mr. Guzmán, 62, was hauled away to prepare himself — pending an appeal — for spending the rest of his life behind bars.
Judge Cogan said the “overwhelming evil” of Mr. Guzmán’s crimes were apparent. Besides giving him a life sentence plus 30 years, he ordered the drug lord to pay $12.6 billion in restitution.
Prosecutor on Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman life sentence: “The long road that lead Chapo Guzman from the mountains of Sinaloa to the courthouse behind us today was paved by death, drugs and destruction. But it ended today with justice.” https://t.co/63fuSn1mL9pic.twitter.com/FgwryUlZQp— ABC News (@ABC) July 17, 2019
• InstaHunks: Zumanity star Wayne Skivington (above) shares, “Sometimes you just need an escape to gather your thoughts and fill your soul.”
• AL.com: According to Alabama Secretary of State and Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Merrill, the weekend country is losing its moral core because Americans are “preoccupied with homosexual activities” and “the wife swap shows” that are on television.
• Twitter: The anonymous “Gay Footballer” on Twitter says he plans to come out soon:
An update following my meeting with the club on Sunday. Thank you to all of you that have shown your support so far ❤ pic.twitter.com/yRZrgXG5e6
• TIME: The 25 most influential people on the internet.
• Mediaite: Republican operative Jason Miller, former communications chief for the Trump campaign and transition team, said he hired numerous prostitutes and visited “hand job” massage parlors as recently as a few months ago in a new videotaped deposition.
• New Music: Check out the latest single from Sofi Tukker, “Swing,” which the band describes as “an epic battle song.”
“It’s more like a chant than a song, really. It’s called ‘swing’ because we literally swing the song after Tuck says that. We collaborated with the Brazilian poet, Chacal, and the words are about words!! Like a lot of the things we do with Chacal, part of the meaning of it is just how nonsensical it is. It’s really about how delicious and delightful and also meaningless words ultimately are.”
With a career spanning four continents, out musician Katey Brooks continues her journey from intimate living rooms to dive bars to opulent concert halls to your digital catalogue with her single, “All of Me.”
Considering her back-catalogue incorporates soul, folk, blues and country, Brooks is difficult to categorize in terms of genre. Words like “organic” and “honest”come to mind as her music details her romantic turbulence and the struggle to come to terms with her sexuality.
Growing up in a cult, Brooks found refuge in music.
“It was a very chaotic upbringing, full of some pretty colourful and sometimes unsavoury, characters,” she shares. “But when I sang, I felt free and connected. For as long as I can remember, it’s been my way of getting what I need to say out.”
“All of Me” narrates calling someone out on their ambivalence.
“It was inspired by a personal situation with someone I was prepared to give my world to,” reveals the artist. “They proclaimed deep love, but then proceeded to behave in ways that were completely incongruent with that proclamation.”
Brooks has garnered acclaim from the likes of Billboard, Pride, The Advocate, Gay Times, After Ellen and Earmilk to name a few.
The New York Times reports that the House voted today 240-187 to condemn Donald Trump’s attacks on four progressive Democratic congresswomen as ‘racist.’
The House voted on Tuesday to condemn as racist President Trump’s attacks against four congresswomen of color, but only after the debate over the president’s language devolved into a bitterly partisan brawl that showcased deep rifts over race, ethnicity and political ideology in the age of Trump.
The measure passed nearly along party lines, 240-187, following one of the most polarizing exchanges on the House floor in recent memory. Only four Republicans and the House’s lone independent, Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, voted with all Democrats to condemn Mr. Trump.
“I know racism when I see it, I know racism when I feel it, and at the highest level of government, there’s no room for racism,” thundered Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, an icon of the civil rights movement who was nearly beaten to death in Alabama in 1965.
House Republicans, of course, defended the current occupant of the Oval Office.
Just four Republicans voted with the Democrats — Reps. Will Hurd (Tex.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Susan Brooks (Ind.) and Fred Upton (Mich.). Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), who quit the GOP earlier this month and now identifies as Independent, also voted for it.
WATCH: Complete remarks from @SpeakerPelosi — “These comments from the White House are disgraceful and disgusting and these comments are racist.” pic.twitter.com/EB99FmC18U
Republicans flipped out as Rep. Eric Swalwell ran through a list of racist Trump statements and positions on the House floor. pic.twitter.com/OFk1ySStpe
On a daily basis, Morning Consult is surveying over 5,000 registered voters across the United States on the 2020 presidential election.
Every Monday, MC shares the latest survey data, offering an in-depth guide to how the race for the Democratic nomination is shaping up.
The below are the results from Democratic primary voters nationwide.
The latest results are based on 16,504 survey interviews conducted between July 8-14, 2019.
As you can see, former Vice President Joe Biden continues to lead the pack with 32 percent support, with Sen. Bernie Sanders in second place at 19 percent.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) place third and fourth with 14 percent and 13 percent respectively.
And Mayor Pete Buttigieg rounds out the Top 5 at 5 percent.
I know, I know…it’s hard work but someone’s got to do it. Rettenmund ranked the first 40 in order, and then the other 185 adult performers are included and listed in alphabetical order.
As they say, “Just to be nominated is an honor…” Now, in all honesty, I’ll admit my knowledge of gay-porn performers is much more limited than Rettenmund, who earlier in his career worked as a gay-porn industry professional for publications like Torso, Honcho, Playguy and Mandate.
Ok, so I do know who Austin Wolf is… (via Instagram)
As Boy Culture points out, gay men didn’t have much back in the 1980s and 90s in terms of “societal instruction on what happens when two guys fall in love, or even lust.” So, gay porn was about the only source we had for figuring out how this all might work.
I remember some of these guys from videos my first boyfriend had back in the 1980s, but I’m not so good with names in terms of today’s adult performers.
But the internet loves lists, so I’ll share Rettenmund’s “Top 10” here, but you can click over to Boy Culture for the full Top 40 plus all of his honorary mentions.
As Rettenmund writes, “It’s not science, so please don’t flunk me.”
10. Lukas Ridgeston (b. 1974) 9. Brent Corrigan (Sean Paul Lockhart, b. 1986) 8. Austin Wilde (b. 1983) 7. Kevin Williams (b. 1965) 6. Chad Douglas (Martin R. Cox, 1957-1999/AIDS) 5. Jack Wrangler (John Robert Stillman, 1946-2009/emphysema) 4. Ryan Idol (Marc Anthony Donais, b. 1966) 3. Joey Stefano (Nicholas Anthony Iacona Jr., 1968-1994/O.D.) 2. Jeff Stryker (Charles Casper Peyton, b. 1962)
And Boy Culture’s number one adult entertainment star is…
A gay man in the UK was knocked unconscious and severely beaten requiring medical attention at a hospital.
Ryan Williams, of Preston, Lancashire, shared his story along with graphic photos of his injuries from the attack on social media.
“I never thought in my life that I would get beaten up for being GAY!,” wrote Williams on his Facebook page. “Wtf has this world actually come too, you’re all vile and disgusting!”
“I want people to understand that being gay isn’t a choice and I can’t help it,” he added. “I’m sorry that you can’t deal with it but hey ho no need to knock someone out because of it!
He closed his post writing, “I seriously can not believe that a homophonic attack happens! Which it does and it’s wrong! Stand strong and love yourself, this isn’t gonna stop me from being fabulous! Being gay is OK!”
Williams told The Mirror he and some friends were headed to McDonalds for a bite to eat after an evening out on July 13.
“There was a group of people nearby in the street and they started calling me and my friends gay,” explained the 22-year-old. “We went over and told them it’s not okay to say things like that.”
But as Williams walked away, he says he was hit in the back of the head and fell to the ground. Stunned from the attack, he was then kicked repeatedly in the face until he blacked out.
He was taken to Royal Preston Hospital where he was treated for injuries to his face.
Police told The Mirror they are treating the attack as a hate crime.
While taking questions from reporters on the White House driveway, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway flipped out a bit over questions regarding Donald Trump’s attacks on four congresswomen of color by asking a reporter about his ethnicity.
Andrew Feinberg, a White House reporter for Breakfast Media, asked Conway, “If the president was not telling these four congresswomen to return to their supposed countries of origin, to which countries was he referring?”
Conway responded asking, “What’s your ethnicity?”
“Why is that relevant?” replied Feinberg.
“Because I’m asking a question,” said Conway. “My ancestors are from Ireland and Italy.”
She then snapped, “A lot of us are sick and tired of this country – of America – coming last, to people who swore an oath of office.”
None of that relates to anything Feinberg was asking. Watch below.
