Canadian Idol winner Theo Tams (press photo)***Re-upping this post as it didn’t seem to post correctly last night*** Some news items you might have missed: • OutSports: Brock Weston, a 25-year-old college hockey player from Marion University in Font du Lac, Wisconsin, came out to his hockey team and was surprised by the reaction. “People I thought would disown me or become even more cruel were among the first to voice their acceptance.” • NBC News: A top Health and Human Services official who said he was transferred from his post for pushing back on “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” felt pressured to rush access to chloroquine treatments for coronavirus after President Donald Trump had a conversation about it with a mega-rich donor • Out Music: Canadian singer/songwriter and pianist Theo Tams (above) drops his new video “The Last Song” which features the Canadian Idol winner as a character chameleon of sorts, all in the name of self-love and care. “The song represents the moment you realize your own self-worth,” says Tams. “It’s about recognizing you are enough and letting go of the past. Finally.”
• NY Times: The Trump administration is considering cutting back on sharing intelligence with partner countries that criminalize homosexuality as part of a push by the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, to prod those nations to change their laws. • OUT: On April 26, the Schitt’s Creek cast will join other Canadian celebrities in a commercial-free 90-minute special to support front-line workers fighting the global pandemic. Titled Stronger Together, Tous Ensembles, the display will feature musical artists like Michael Buble and Justin Bieber, as well as Cirque Du Soleil and Avril Lavigne. • SiriusXM: Host Jess Cagle speaks to Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes, and Debra Messing about the pride they feel over their “goofy sitcom” and its cultural impact. The final episode of the series airs tonight at 9 pm ET on NBC. The finale is followed by a retrospective, “A Will & Graceful Goodbye,” at 9:30 p.m.
Ansel Elgort (image via IMDB) Some news items you might have missed: • Entertainment Weekly: Actor Ansel Elgort (above) left the internet shook Tuesday night when he shared a revealing photo via social media with the caption, “OnlyFans LINK IN BIO.” Turns out the link actually directed his fans to a crowdfunding campaign “Brooklyn For Life!” to help feed those working on the frontlines at hospitals in Brooklyn, New York. • Radio.com: During an appearance on “I’m Listening: Stay Connected,” Walking Dead star Daniel Newman shared that, thanks to homophobia, sexuality played a deeply negative role in his life growing up as a gay man. He said he was told from childhood “that sex is private, you don’t talk about it, gay people are weird, it’s gonna ruin your career if you say anything. And on top of that, it’s nobody’s business, so just keep your mouth shut. So I felt the weight of that since I was a child.” • The Hill: Nineteen people who either voted in-person or worked at a polling location during Wisconsin’s state elections have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the state’s health department told The Hill. • SiriusXM: From Blythe Danner to Demi Lovato, the “Will & Grace” cast shares stories on guest stars during a virtual town hall with Jess Cagle.
• The Daily Beast: A company Trump personally championed — even as it’s under investigation by the Defense Department inspector general – has been awarded a $7.6 million contract to build “800 linear feet” bollard barrier—that slatted design Trump favors—for the wall in Yuma, Arizona. • Washington Post: Former vice president Joe Biden said he intends to name a panel of advisers by May 1 to help him select a running mate. He says that he wants the public to be able to see his pick as “capable of being president of the United States tomorrow.” • Texas Tribune: El Paso Mayor Dee Margo on Tuesday said city officials should probably consider suing President Trump’s campaign to recoup more than $500,000 in expenses incurred during a rally last year. The city spent about $470,000 on security and other costs for a Trump rally in South El Paso in February 2019. Thirteen other cities are also waiting on repayment from the Trump campaign. • Out Music: Randy Report favorite Tom Goss drops this fun, light-hearted new music video, “Dancing In My Room,” with Natalie Jane, Sam Renascent, and Max Emerson. “This infectious, feel-good video features people of all ages and backgrounds across 10 different countries and 5 continents — and reminds those struggling and in need of community that they are not alone,” says Goss. “The single is available in English, Spanish, and French with rap features in different languages from artists on different continents. All proceeds from “Danser dans ma chambre Dancing in My Room” will go to United Way Worldwide.
(via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Steve_in_LA (above) chilled with his bestie today. What a handsome dog…the canine is a looker, too. Follow Steve on Instagram here. • Instinct Magazine: World of Wonder Productions, in partnership with The Stonewall Inn, will present a live-stream concert on Thursday, April 23rd at 8PM ET/ 5 PT, hosted by Michelle Visage and Tyler Oakley with proceeds from the event to benefit LGBTQ+ nightlife industry professionals affected by COVID-19. Among those scheduled to appear are Alan Cumming, Betty Who, Greyson Chance, John Cameron Mitchell, Kim Petras, Lorna Luft, Peppermint, Rufus Wainwright, Shoshana Bean, Todrick Hall, Troye Sivan, VINCINT and a special performance by Cyndi Lauper. • NBC News: The crew for The Ellen DeGeneres Show is furious over lack of communication from the producers, a proposed pay cut during the coronavirus threat, and the hiring of a non-union tech company to help DeGeneres tape remotely from her home in California. • Advocate: According to a new independent poll from Levada Center almost one in five (18 percent) of Russians believe that LGBTQ people should be “eliminated,” while 32 percent of Russians believe that gays and lesbians should be “isolated from society.” And that’s actually an improvement from past surveys. • Pink News: A trans woman was stabbed 20 times and had her eye gouged out to ‘send a message’ to Colombia’s LGBT+ community, say local leaders. • Politico: The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Tuesday’s bipartisan report, from a panel chaired by North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, undercuts Trump’s years of efforts to portray allegations of Kremlin assistance to his campaign as a “hoax,” driven by Democrats and a “deep state” embedded within the government bureaucracy. • Out Music: LA-based indie artist Onsen releases the new song “Be There”, a track about the one that got away. Though the track is about lost love, it was written when the epiphany of desire occurred but before the letdown. As a result, it reflects on the relationship in a positive light.
Drew Straus, aka Onsen, gives his side of the story: “After playing it cool for too long, a person I liked had drifted away. ‘Be There’ is a confession, that I took them for granted and realized foolishly late that I’m on board and want to make it work.”
Joe Blizzard (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Joe Blizzard (above) proclaims he’s in “dad bod mode.” I think someone needs to explain the term “dad bod” to Joe cause that ain’t no “dad bod.” Follow him on the Gram of Insta here. #grrrr • Pink News: Piers Morgan apologized to Lady Gaga after her One World: Together At Home concert raised more than $127 million for the World Health Organization’s coronavirus relief efforts. The Good Morning Britain host was among those who dismissed Gaga’s involvement with the World Health Organization (WHO) when it was first announced in early April. • NY Times: From surgeon-quality personal protection to the home-stitched square and the bandit’s bandanna, New Yorkers pulled on a newly essential accessory and ventured into a landscape that changed yet again on Friday as masks became mandatory beginning last Friday. • LiarLiarPantsOnFire: I can’t watch the White House press briefings on the pandemic live anymore because Donald Trump’s lying and self-aggrandizement are too much for me to stomach. But this moment today with PBS Newshour’s Yamiche Alcindor takes the cake.
TRUMP: I took coronavirus very seriously
ALCINDOR: You held rallies in February and March TRUMP: I haven’t left the White House in months ALCINDOR: You held a rally in March TRUMP: Did I hold a rally? I’m sorry pic.twitter.com/MPDK8lZAeD — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 20, 2020
• The Gaily Grind: Anti-LGBT televangelist and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson linked the deadly COVID-19 pandemic to same-sex marriage on Monday because, of course. • The Tennessean: Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that his stay-at-home order will not be extended past April 30, and that some businesses around the state will begin reopening next week. A governor-appointed, 30-member economic recovery group is working towards some businesses reopening as early as Monday, April 27. Lee said this office has not yet determined what types of businesses will be targeted to reopen first next week. • The Advocate: Actor Leslie Jordan (Will & Grace) has become an Instagram sensation since adjourning to an Airbnb not far from his mother and sisters in Tennessee last month. The actor catapulted from about 80K Instagram followers to 3 million in the span of a month thanks to his homespun videos in which he exercises with a back scratcher, then uses it as a baton, does yoga (as only he could), and engages in “pillow talk” dishing about Hollywood luminaries.
Daniel Newman (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Walking Dead star Daniel Newman (above) asks that you please forgive his “messy room.” • NPR: Despite pleas from cities across the state, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has held out on issuing a statewide stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But an outbreak of COVID-19 at Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls, S.D., has infected nearly 450 workers and caused the number of cases in the city to grow so quickly that the mayor, Paul TenHaken, calls it an explosion. • KIT212: Kenneth’s ‘Wrestle Wednesdays’ (below) certainly help brighten Hump Day. Find all of his WW posts here. (via kenneth-in-the-212) • Axios: Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York said Wednesday he will be issuing an executive order requiring all New Yorkers to wear masks or face coverings in public situations in which social distancing is not possible. • Vox: Kentucky’s heavily Republican legislature voted Tuesday to require voters to show a government-issued photo ID, overriding Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto in the process. Meanwhile, all of the state’s offices that issue such IDs are….wait for it…closed. • NewNowNext: In the new film, Sublet, Michael (played John Benjamin Hickey), a New York Times travel writer, journeys to Tel Aviv after suffering a tragedy. The energy of the city, and his relationship with a younger man (played by Niv Nissim) who becomes his tour guide, brings him back to life. Director Eytan Fox shares a scene from the movie where Michael and Tomer meet on the beach in Tel Aviv after spending a few days together. “This sensual setting sparks real intimacy between them for the first time,” says Fox. “As these two men sit there, they open up to each other about matters of the heart—and soul.” The film was to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this year which, clearly, was canceled. No word on when the movie will be officially released but the scene below certainly sparks my interest.
InstaHunk Green.Joel Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Hunky Green.Joel (above) makes it black and white – he wants you to “Rise up and attack the day with enthusiasm!!” • Boy Culture: Matt Rettenmund pays tribute to Madonna on the 30th anniversary of the Blond Ambition Tour with lots of rare video clips from the record-setting production. • The Gaily Grind: Ireland’s prime minister, openly gay Leo Varadkar, will be returning to medical practice to work as a doctor as the country battles the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The prime minister left the medical profession in 2013 after working as a doctor for seven years. By 2017, he’d become the country’s youngest-ever prime minister. • Out Music: California native St. Panther recently released her debut single, “Infrastructure,” in advance of her upcoming album later this summer. The out hip-hop artist brings a 90s sensibility to a very ‘now’ soul sound. Drop the beat below.
• LA Times: Event production companies, that usually build tents, staging and facilities for tens of thousands of revelers at music, sports and dining events have seen hundreds of such events canceled. But they are now busy using their resources to help build temporary hospital stations to help accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic. • NY Times: A member of the crew of the coronavirus-infected USS Theodore Roosevelt died Monday of complications related to the disease, 11 days after the aircraft carrier’s captain was fired for pressing his concern that the Navy had done too little to safeguard his crew. Of the 4,860 crew members aboard the Roosevelt, 585 have tested positive for COVID-19. • NY Post: Bishop Gerald O. Glenn, the Pastor of New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Richmond who proudly defied coronavirus safety guidelines in order to hold church services, died from COVID-19 complications on Saturday. He told the congregation he’d keep preaching “unless I’m in jail or the hospital” because “people are healed” in his church. • Broadway Cares: The stream of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ benefit concert celebrating Disney on Broadway’s 25th anniversary will be rescheduled for Friday, April 17, 2020, at 7 PM ET after the American Federation of Musicians dropped its opposition to the stream. The online playback will raise money for Broadway Cares’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, which is helping everyone in the theater and performing arts community impacted by the pandemic.
Darren Young (image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: WWE superstar Darren Young (above) is styling in his new Pride face mask. “Powered by Pride and not built to be defeated by #Covid19#quarantinelife“ • Pink News: An anti-gay right-wing American pastor defied social distancing orders amid the coronavirus pandemic to host a live reenactment of Christ’s crucifixion starring his teenage son and daughter as Jesus and Mary. • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in local gay rags across the U.S. and the world like this week’s issue of Adelante Magazine featuring Carlos Arcos on the cover: Carlos Arcos covers Adelante Magazine (photo: Paul Culver) • CNN: Ammon Bundy, the rancher who led an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, said he plans on holding a huge Easter gathering despite stay-at-home orders implemented during the coronavirus pandemic. Bundy told CNN he wants to gather hundreds of people in Idaho saying he believes it’s his constitutional right to assemble, even as state and local officials urge people to socially distance to avoid spreading the virus further. • The Advocate: The marvelous Catherine O’Hara chats about the lessons her beloved Schitt’s Creek character, Moira Rose, learned after losing her fortune and how the series is more timely than ever. In the series finale earlier this week, Moira officiated her son David’s wedding to his fiancé, Patrick, clad in ecclesiastical pope garb as tears of joy ran down her face sending the moment deliciously over the top. Catherine O’Hara as ‘Moira Rose’ in the finale of Schitt’s Creek • Project Q Atlanta: The Dawson County Sheriff’s Office arrested nine men during a three-day sting using Grindr, charging them with a host of misdemeanors and felonies after aggressively pursuing at least one of the men on the hookup app. At least one of the men arrested is openly gay and is accused of offering drugs for sex to an undercover officer on Grindr. But screenshots of their conversation don’t support the allegations included in the man’s arrest warrant. • Cirque du Soleil: The over-the-top world-wide phenomenon that is Cirque due Soleil is offering a series of spectacular specials for you while we’re all #TogetherAtHome. This week’s one-hour special highlights performances from the Cirque productions of Alegria, KOOZA and KÀ! If you’ve never seen Cirque, I encourage you to sit back, hit the play button and make sure you watch in full-screen mode. Simply awe-inspiring.
Some news items you might have missed: • Broadway: Broadway choreographer Bob Avian (above), who worked alongside director/choreographer Michael Bennett on his greatest achievements (Follies, Company, A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls) has written a not-to-be-missed autobiography. Click here to find it on Amazon. • Washington Blade: Advocacy groups have sharply criticized a bill that would prevent transgender people in Hungary from legally changing their gender. Without the ability to legally change their gender marker, trans people face harsh workplace and healthcare discrimination can be accused of stealing when they use their credit cards, and questioned whenever they use their ID. • The Gaily Grind: President Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed that his daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump had “created 15 million jobs” before the economy imploded as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Ivanka has created 15 million jobs even though official estimates indicate the country had gained only 6.7 million jobs since 2017 before the recent economic collapse. • CNN: A new SSRS poll shows 43% say Donald Trump is doing everything he could to fight the outbreak, while 55% say he could be doing more. Trump’s overall approval rating in the polling stands at 44% approve to 51% disapprove. • WFSU: The Tallahassee City Council unanimously voted to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ for minors in the Florida city today. “The Trevor Project applauds the Tallahassee City Commission for taking bold action to protect LGBTQ young people from conversion therapy,” said The Trevor Project’s Sam Brinton in a statement. “This new ordinance will send a message to the LGBTQ youth of Tallahassee that they should be proud of who they are, and hopefully, it will inspire other localities in Florida to take similar action as well.” • RealClearPolitics: The news today that Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT-I) dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination comes a day after Wisconsin voters went to the polls. We won’t have tallies until next Monday, but perhaps Sanders got exit polling that mirrored recent polls showing former Vice President Joe Biden leading in the state by 28 points. • Raw Story: Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted about the television ratings that he’s been getting for his daily coronavirus press briefings at a time when deaths from the disease in the United States have surged past 13,000.
…the Fake News Media into not covering them, but that effort failed because the ratings are through the roof according to, of all sources, the Failing New York Times, “Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale” type numbers (& sadly, they get it $FREE). Trump Derangement Syndrome!
In this week’s podcast: • The FDA issues new guidelines regarding gay and bisexual men donating blood • A new report shows anti-LGBTQ hate groups are on the rise in the U.S. • Get ready to live-stream a global Pride celebration this June • Sean Hayes reflects on saying goodbye to Will & Gracea second time All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
(image via Instagram/Rick and the Griffopotamus) Checking in with the Hunks of Insta… First up, Rick and the Griffopotamus (above) prove there are benefits to working out at home. More working out – Joe Blizzard rode his bike this morning:
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