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CBS’ Big Brother airs racist/homophobic comments by contestants

Yesterday I reported that Big Brother contestants Aaryn Gries, a 22-year-old Texas college student and GinaMarie Zimmerman, a 32-year-old New York pageant coordinator, have both been fired from their respective jobs outside of the game after a conversation between the two of them on the unaired ‘live feeds’, laced with racist and homophobic slurs, made its way to the web.

On last night’s episode, CBS finally aired a segment of some of the racist and homophobic remarks made by Gries in what many are hoping is the beginning of a trend to expose the real-life views of some of the show’s players. Above is a compilation of the icky comments made thus far on this season pulled from the live internet feeds. The homophobia begins around 7:00.

Among Gries’ comments are her comments about the gay contestant Andy: “no one’s going to vote for whoever that queer puts up.”

Gries also comments about an Asian contestant, Helen: “go make some rice.”…”I probably look like a squinty Asian right now….Why you no have boyfriend? It’s because you don’t want long nail!”

The segment also includes a snippet from Zimmerman: “Candice is already on the dark side because she’s already dark.”

Another contestant, Spencer Clawson, a conductor for Union Pacific railroad, is now facing real-world consequences for his homophobic and pro-Hitler remarks on the show, TMZ reports:

Clawson has been captured on “BB” cams calling one houseguest “Kermit the F**” and praising Hitler as a gifted speaker.

Clawson serves as a railroad conductor for Union Pacific, who released a statement on their website saying, “The values represented by Spencer Clawson’s comments during the Big Brother show do not at all align with Union Pacific’s values.”

They continued, “Mr. Clawson is on unpaid leave of absence while participating on Big Brother. Union Pacific does not condone his comments.”

They ended their statement by saying they are “acting in accordance with Collective Bargaining Agreement terms regarding Mr. Clawson” … which sounds like they are setting the stage to fire his ass first chance they get.

According to Tumblr users chronicling the dialogue on the live feeds, Spencer has also said about gay contestant Andy: “Of all the hate crimes that happen in the US, why couldn’t one happen to that guy?”

(from Towleroad)

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George W. Bush on gay marriage today

Former President George W. Bush gave an interview to ABC News and ducked the subject of same-sex marriage when asked if he’d “evolved” on the issue.

There did seem to be some softening in his position though, if you read between the lines. The former President did say, “It’s very important for people not to be overly critical of someone else until you examine your own heart.”

Here’s a transcript:

JONATHAN KARL: I saw a journalist in Zambia asked you about gay marriage, and whether it is compatible with Christian values. And you had an interesting response. You said, “I shouldn’t be taking a speck out of someone else’s eye when I have a log in my own.”

GEORGE W. BUSH: I meant that I wasn’t going to answer the question then, and I’m not going to answer it now in terms of the political question. I just don’t want to wade back in the debate. I’m out of politics. But I meant it’s very important for people not to be overly critical of someone else until you’ve examined your own heart.

JONATHAN KARL: Have your views on this evolved at all?

GEORGE W. BUSH: Jonathan, you didn’t hear my answer. (LAUGH) I’m not gonna wade back into those kinds of issues. I’m out of politics. The only way I can really make news is either criticize the President, which I don’t want to do, criticize my own party, or wade in on a controversial issue.

You’ll recall Bush won his second term by taking advantage of excitement about 2004 ballot measures to ban same sex marriage in Ohio recently hinted that his views may now be softening. Plus, during his presidency, Bush supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

In her 2010 memoir Spoken From The Heart, Laura Bush described how she urged her husband not to make gay marriage a significant issue in 2004.

(via Raw Story)

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NSA-leaker Edward Snowden offered asylum IF he can reach the countries

The presidents of Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden IF he can find a way out of Moscow, Russia, where he’s been holed up in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport for nearly two weeks.

The Foreign Minister of Venezuela has said Snowden has until Monday to accept their offer.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega made a similar offer during a speech in Managua, saying Nicaragua would be willing to grant asylum to the NSA leaker “if circumstances allow it.” He said the Nicaraguan embassy in Moscow is currently reviewing Snowden’s request. ”We have the sovereign right to help a person who felt remorse after finding out how the United States was using technology to spy on the whole world, and especially its European allies,” Ortega said.

Snowden is currently stuck in the transit area of Moscow’s airport with no way to enter Russia, and no valid U.S. passport for travel.

The Guardian reported that a member of Russia’s parliament said Sunday in a tweet that Venezuela could be Snowden’s last chance for asylum. If he does accept Maduro’s offer, he will have to find a way to travel to Caracas without a valid passport and without traveling through the airspace of America or its allies.

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CBS’ Big Brother contestants making lots of racist/homophobic comments this season

Aaryn Gries — currently on CBS’ “Big Brother” — has been dropped by her modeling agency after using racist and homophobic comments in the BB house.

Gries has been under fire for referring to a gay house guest as a “queer,” for telling an Asian-American houseguest to “shut up and go and make some rice,” and for saying just ugly racist comments about black people.

Referring to a black contestant, Aaryn said “Be careful what you say in the dark, you might not be able to see that b*tch.”

Well, it turns out Gries is a model and her agency in Austin, Texas, has decided they’ve seen enough of Gries’ ugly side. The agency has announced their decision to drop Aaryn from the agency because of her lack of inner beauty.

“Aaryn, season 15 cast member of Big Brother, revealed prejudices and other beliefs that we (Zephyr Talent) do not condone.”

Zephyr continues, ” We certainly find the statements made by Aaryn on the live Internet feed to be offensive. Upon much consideration, we have decided to release Aaryn from her contract with Zephyr Talent.”

(source)

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Straight dad’s letter to 4 year-old son goes viral

In all the hoopla about the recent marriage equality rulings from SCOTUS, the “bigness” of the decisions has really been the focus for the public.

But many people have stopped and related to the importance of what’s “just happened” on very personal levels.

A straight father has written a letter to his 4 year old son about where we are now and how it will be perceived in years to come. Very touching. Here’s just an excerpt:

Maybe you’ll read about today’s decision in a history book and it’ll sound like a long time ago, the Dark Ages, when certain couples could marry and certain couples could not. You’ll feel comfortable pursuing whatever kind of partnership interests you, no matter the person’s gender, or color, or race, or class, or belief system, or whatever, and live in a country in which you can join in the legal state of matrimony with that lucky person.

I hope that by then American society will have a better understanding of what I saw all so plainly today. That if you prick our skin, the same red blood flows through all of our veins. These differences in appearance and behavior and belief in many ways are trivial, surface. How you treat other people, your stewardship of our planet and society and yourself as a functioning, contributing human on Earth, matters so much more than who you’d like to date, have sex with, or marry. As Kurt Vonnegut so succinctly put it, “You’ve got to be kind.”

Other than that? Have fun, kid. And while this marriage thing sure ain’t easy – in fact, I don’t wish it on anyone who doesn’t feel ready, 100% sure they want to make their commitment into a socially recognized, legal bond – I’m happy knowing that if, one day, you think you’re ready to take the plunge, you can do it with whomever the hell you want. And I’ll be right there (unless you decide to elope like your mom and me decided, which is totally cool too), cheering you on and wishing you well, no matter whose hand you’re holding when you say “I do.”

You can read the whole letter – that has gone viral in just days – by clicking here.

I love great dads.

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Longtime Las Vegas headliner Frank Marino gets engaged LIVE onstage

This past Tuesday, the Las Vegas Strip saw a big, fabulous, gay marriage proposal in front of an audience of hundreds when ‘Divas Las Vegas’ performer Frank Marino received a wedding proposal from his BF of almost 20 years, Alex Schechter, the vice president of SPI Entertainment.

After a little “negotiating” on the percentages, Frank said ‘yes.’

Congratulations to the happy couple!  

I love marriage proposals 🙂