Category: News

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Sportscaster After Using Gay Slur On-Air: ‘I Have Never Used That Word Before In My Life’

Sportscaster Thom Brennaman (screen capture)
Last month, longtime sportscaster Thom Brennaman surprised Cincinnati Reds fans when he was caught on a hot mic using a gay slur. Coming out of a commercial break during the first game of a doubleheader between the Reds and Kansas City Royals on August 19, the play-by-play announcer was heard saying, “One of the f*g capitals of the world.” Social media lit up about the remark seemingly without Brennaman’s knowledge until two hours later when he addressed the debacle with an awkward apology, pausing mid mea culpa to call a home run. After his statement, he was replaced at the mic.

The 56-year-old expressed his remorse again in a lengthy letter the next day to the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirerwriting, “I hope the LGBTQ+ community, the Reds and their fans and the people of Cincinnati can find a way to think better of me.” “With all the humility I can muster, I ask for your forgiveness.” Brennaman has been indefinitely suspended by the Reds since then and last week was removed from Fox Sports’ NFL schedule – a gig he’s has since 1994. In the past weeks, he’s been on an apology tour of sorts reaching out to LGBTQ groups which, he tells the New York Post, have been forgiving. Addressing the incident and its fallout with the Post, Brennaman says he doesn’t even remember the context of his remark. “Everything happened so fast,” he told the Post. “And I’m watching literally everything fall apart at the seams while trying to announce a baseball game.” “I couldn’t even tell you what happened, where it came from. … Look, I said it is all that matters. The rest of it is irrelevant. I said it. And I own it. And I’m the one who has to live with it.” The veteran sportscaster added emphatically, “I have never used that word (before) in my life.” While some are willing to forgive and allow space for some sense of redemption, believing Brennaman had ‘never used that word’ is a bit of a stretch for a few folks. Ryan Messer, a leading LGBTQ activist in Cincinnati that Brennaman has reached out to, says “If he used it then, he used it before.” He adds, however, “if we don’t open the dialogue to help explain (the meaning behind the word), how do we learn and grow from it? And that’s where my whole perspective comes, and I’m willing to make sure he understands that, which is why he is coming to my house Saturday to meet my family, my husband, and four kids.” Messer has publicly called on the Reds to reinstate Brennaman. “Cincinnati wasn’t always the most welcoming city (for LBGT people),” says Messer, who helped lead an effort to repeal an anti-LGBTQ ordinance in the early 2000s. “I believe I can tell when someone is sincere and I heard that in (Brennaman’s) voice.” Brennaman also sat down with local gay newscaster Evan Millward, who believes “We should forgive, and we largely have forgiven.” “But you can’t just then sweep it under the rug and then place it into this whole societal cancel-culture thing,” Millward told the Post. “If we just shut people down, and tell them they’re trash and that they’re canceled, then we’re avoiding a difficult dialogue.” For his part, Brennaman told the Post, “If I get another chance, someone will be hiring a better person than the person who walked out the door that night on August 19.” What do you think, readers? Should it be one strike and you’re out? Or is there space to allow for redemption? (source: New York Post)

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News Round-Up: September 9, 2020

(image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Brogan (above) shares some #BigDogEnergy from Los Angeles with his bestie Astrid. • WeHo Times: Rage Nightclub, located in the heart of West Hollywood’s LGBT Rainbow District), has announced it will permanently close after 37 years. According to sources, the restaurant/bar and multi-level nightclub did not renew their lease which was up in November. Former employees also blame the COVID-19 pandemic and high rent as factors in its closure. • Gay Star News: Gay reality TV personality Joe Exotic (of Tiger King fame) has written to Donald Trump begging for a presidential pardon to get him out of jail. In January a court sentenced him to 22 years in prison over his plot to kill his rival Carol Baskin and for killing five tigers in his zoo.
Joe Exotic and friend (image via Netflix)
• Fox News: Former ‘pool boy’ Giancarlo Granda claims Jerry Falwell Jr. has been ‘relentlessly harassing’ him since the sex scandal broke that brought an end to Falwell’s tenure at Liberty University. Granda is now sharing text messages, emails and photos with that appear to back up his allegations and, at the very least, show the Falwells breaking Liberty’s code of conduct on multiple occasions. • NY Daily News: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today indoor dining will be allowed to resume in New York City restaurants beginning September 30. Capacity will be limited to 25%, tables must be six feet apart, patrons will be required to have temperature checks, there will be no walk-up bar service, and customers will be required to leave contact information. • Election 2020: Joe Biden called out Donald Trump for lying to the American people about knowing the true severity of the coronavirus health threat – “He knew how deadly it was,” said Biden. “It was much more deadly than the flu. He knew and purposely played it down. Worse, he lied to the American people. He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months. He had the information. He knew how dangerous it was. And while this deadly disease ripped through our nation, he failed to do his job on purpose! It was a life and death betrayal on the American people.”

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Oscars Announces New Diversity Criteria For Best Picture Consideration

The Academy Awards has announced new criteria regarding diversity and inclusion for films that wish to be considered in the Best Picture category In an attempt to address “underrepresented groups,” producers will need to hire more LGBTQ+ people, women, folks of color, and those with disabilities. Per the new guidelines, films that want to be considered for Best Picture will have to submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form showing they have met at least two of the four standards laid out by the Academy. The four standards are as follows (via Queerty):

Standard A: The movie must have a lead or “significant” supporting actor from an “underrepresented racial or ethnic group,” or 30% of the more minor roles must come from under-represented groups (women, certain racial or ethnic groups, LGBTQ, disabled). Alternatively, the main storyline may be focussed on under-represented groups.

Standard B: At least two of the creative heads among the crew – director, casting director, costumer designer, etc – are from underrepresented groups (again, women, racial or ethnic groups, LGBTQ or disabled). Alternatively, at least six of the crew are from under-represented racial groups, or 30% of the crew come from under-represented groups.

Standard C: “The film’s distribution or financing company has paid apprenticeships or internships”, from the underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ and certain ethnic groups, as well as offering training opportunities and skills development for individuals from these groups.

Standard D: The final standard concerns the marketing and distribution departments of movies, saying, “The studio and/or film company has multiple in-house senior executives from” the aforementioned groups (women, certain ethnic groups, LGBTQ and/or disabled).

It all sounds good, but in truth, a film can easily meet standards C and D by having, for example, women on the publicity team, or queer staffers/assistants on the costume crew. Currently, the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 25, 2021.

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Whistleblower: Top DHS Officials Told Analysts To Downplay White Supremacists & Russian Interference

L-R Donald Trump, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf (photo: Flickr/WhiteHouse)
A whistleblower alleges that top officials in the Department of Homeland Security instructed analysts to modify intelligence assessments to ensure they matched up with misleading public comments from Trump about Antifa and “anarchist” groups. From the New York Times:

Top officials with the Department of Homeland Security directed agency analysts to downplay the threat of violent white supremacy and of Russian election interference, according to a whistle-blower complaint filed by a top intelligence official with the department.

Brian Murphy, the former head of the intelligence branch of the Homeland Security Department, said in a whistle-blower complaint filed on Tuesday that he was directed by Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the department, to stop producing assessments on Russian interference.

The department’s second highest-ranked official, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, also ordered him to modify intelligence assessments to make the threat of white supremacy “appear less severe” and include information on violent “left-wing” groups, according to the complaint, which was released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee.

Trump has regularly downplayed the threat of white supremacist violence during his time in office, including his infamous remarks that there were some “fine people” among the extremists who instigated violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Murphy previously oversaw the intelligence division at DHS but was reassigned in August. He says the personnel change was retaliation for after he compiled intelligence reports on journalists and protesters in Portland, Oregon. He’s asking the inspector general to investigate.

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News Round-Up: September 8, 2020

(via Instagram/GusKenworthy)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy (above) shared some fun pics from the desert this Labor Day weekend complete with shirtless black tutu snap. “This year’s Burning Man was canceled but it didn’t stop us from getting weird in the desert.” • Pink News: Russian ‘Cossack soldiers’ prowled the streets of the Russian city of Yekaterinburg during Pride week attempting to hunt down LGBTQ people. They wound up targeting straight people they thought looked queer. • Stat News: A large, Phase 3 study testing a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford at dozens of sites across the U.S. has been put on hold due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the United Kingdom. • New Music: Grammy nominee Tayla Parx’s playful new music video, “Dance Alone,” has soulful sass and groove to spare. “We’re all stuck inside while coping with being away from loved ones more than usual,” says the native Texan. “We need human connection, but at least when you’re home dancing in your pajamas while blasting your favorite song, you feel a little less alone. You have the music to keep you company.”

• Instinct Magazine: Chasten Buttigieg, husband to former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, shares in his new book I Have Something To Tell You, that he ran away from home as a teen thinking he would only be a disappointment to his parents due to being gay. ” I was so convinced by everything that I had learned for 18 years that I would be a disappointment and the society I grew up in told me that I was twisted and broken.” • Washington Post: Broadway alone accounts for more tickets sold each year than for all of the metropolitan area’s professional sports teams, and the industry pumps on the order of $13 billion annually into the city economy. Check out this thoughtful exploration of what will be involved, and what it will take, to bring Broadway back to life post-pandemic. • The Advocate: A New Jersey man faces both federal and state charges – including malicious use of explosives, unlawful possession of two destructive devices, and unlawful possession of a short-barreled rifle – in connection with an explosion at a gym owned by a female couple. Some in the local LGBTQ+ community suspect it was a hate crime. • InstaHunks II: A few more photos from Gus Kenworthy’s faux Burning Man desert fun…

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Georgia: 1,000 Double-Voted In State Primary

(image: Element5 Digital/Pexels)
Georgia’s Secretary of State says 1,000 Georgians voted twice in the June 9 primary, although the double-voting didn’t change the outcome of any races. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday that 1,000 Georgians voted twice in the state’s June 9 primary, a felony that he said will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

These voters returned absentee ballots and then also showed up to vote on election day June 9, Raffensperger said. County election officials are able to stop double-voting most of the time, but they weren’t able to catch everyone.

“A double voter knows exactly what they’re doing, diluting the votes of each and every voter that follows the law,” Raffensperger said during a press conference at the state Capitol. “Those that make the choice to game the system are breaking the law. And as secretary of state, I will not tolerate it.”

Of those, 1,000 voters had returned their absentee ballots to county election offices, and poll workers also allowed them to vote in-person.

In the report, Raffensperger doesn’t note the party affiliation of the double-voters.

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News Round-Up: September 7, 2020

Nicholas Budd lays by the pool in Mykonos

(image via Instagram/Nicholasc_Budd)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: In the wake of Jerry Falwell Jr’s fall from grace thanks to a certain ‘pool boy,’ the hashtag #poolboy has been trending on Instagram like the above pic from UK personal trainer Nicholas Budd. #dang • The Guardian: A new study shows that sports teams that hold Pride Nights and Pride games see a nearly 40% decrease in homophobic language by their players than those in teams that have not held official Pride Nights. • Men’s Health: This guy made a video of more than 120 guys who look better bald showing before and after pics proving you can go bald like a boss. According to Harry James, the host of the YouTube channel, each of these before and after pictures “marks incredible turning points in all of these people’s lives.”

• Instinct Magazine: Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has joined Joe Biden’s transition team. The transition team would help with government appointments and actions during the switchover between administrations were Biden to win the presidency. • Outsports: After literally coming out of a closet in his coming out video last fall, college football player Jaden Vazquez is now helping LGBTQ athletes by co-leading a new Fordham University student-athlete-support group. • Pink News: A man in Perth, Australia, has been jailed for five years after he failed to disclose that he was living with HIV to four sexual partners – all of whom later tested positive for the virus. The 30-year-old, who has not been named to protect the identities of his victims, told the four men that he did not have HIV before having condomless sex with them when he was actually diagnosed with HIV in 2012. • InstaHunks II: Just a couple more #poolboys from the Gram of Insta as we close out Labor Day…

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Trump Orders Stop To ‘Divisive’ Racial Sensitivity Training

Donald Trump has ordered the White House Office of Management and Budget to end anti-racism training programs in federal agencies calling them “un-American” and “divisive.” From the Washington Post:

In the two-page memo, OMB Director Russell Vought says Trump has asked him to prevent federal agencies from spending millions in taxpayer dollars on these training sessions. Vought says OMB will instruct federal agencies to come up with a list of all contracts related to training sessions involving “white privilege” or “critical race theory,” and do everything possible within the law to cancel those contracts, the memo states.

The memo, released on Friday, also tells all federal agencies to identify and if possible cancel contracts that involve teaching that America is an “inherently racist or evil country.”

“The President has directed me to ensure that federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions,” the memo states.

Read more at the Washington Post.

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Fox News Confirms Key Details Of ‘Atlantic’ Report On Trump

Jennifer Griffin of Fox News Channel
Jennifer Griffin, National Security correspondent for Fox News (of all outlets), reports that two former senior Trump administration officials confirmed to her reporting by The Atlantic that Donald Trump disparaged veterans and did not want to drive to honor American war dead at Aisne-Marne Cemetery outside Paris. Y’all – Fox News is confirming the story. So, there you go. Watch her report below.

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News Round-Up: September 4, 2020

Gustavo Naspolini (via Instagram)
Some news stories you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Gustavo Naspolini (above) in Greece reminds me that I was SUPPOSED to be there right now on a cruise. #NoWorriesImOk • Washington Blade: Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence and who’s now the quisling face of the Trump campaign’s LGBTQ outreach, snapped at a reporter Friday at the White House briefing for asking him about the global initiative Grenell himself had led to decriminalize homosexuality. #SoMuchWinning • KIT212: Don’t miss Kenneth’s round-up of the latest from LGBTQ publications like DNA Magazine (below) currently serving up “The Sexiest Men Alive 2020” with Argentine model Leonel Ledesma.
(image via DNA Magazine)
• Boy Culture: Even the widow of Mr. Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood) can’t stand Donald Trump – “The fact [is] that I can’t believe anything he says, not even the simplest thing. This man is pathologically ill. Mentally ill.” • Associated Press: North Carolina began sending out more than 600,000 ballots to voters today — responding to a massive spike in requests that has played out across the country as voters look for a safer way to cast ballots during the pandemic. The 618,000 ballots requested in the initial wave in North Carolina were more than 16 times the number the state sent out at the same time four years ago. The requests came overwhelmingly from Democratic and independent voters. • The Hill: A key forecasting model – often cited by experts and used by the White House – has revised its prediction of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., now estimating a peak of 410,451 by January 1. • InstaHunks II: One more from Gustavo Naspolini in Greece. I’ll get there someday. In the meantime, I’ve got a pool and Chardonnay to keep me happy 🙂 #HappyLaborDayWeekend