It’s been 15 years since the last successful iteration of Charlie’s Angels, so Sony Pictures is thinking it’s time to call the angels back to action.
Last September, Deadline reported Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave, Black Panther) and Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga film franchise) were in preliminary talks for the film.
Sony has issued a statement saying casting is unconfirmed.
Elizabeth Banks is reportedly already signed on to direct and produce the film as well as take on the role of ‘Bosley.’ This would be the second film she’s helmed after directing Pitch Perfect 2 in 2015.
This week, PopSugar says Naomi Scott (Power Rangers), Stewart and Nyong’o are reportedly circling around the three leading roles.
The film has been slated for release June 7, 2019.
Lupita Nyong’o, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott
Since the 1970s, audiences have shown an appetite for strong, gorgeous, badass women on dangerous missions.
It was in the fall of 1976 that ABC launched the original Charlie’s Angels series that eventually ran for 5 seasons. Starring Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, the show was an instant success.
Over the course of the following seasons, actresses Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts replaced to varying degrees of success as Fawcett and Jackson departed.
Drew Barrymore spearheaded a successful reboot of the franchise as two feature films in 2000 and 2003, which also starred Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.
And in 2011, ABC revived the television series to tepid reviews, and canceled after only one season.
What do you think, readers? Is it time for a new incarnation of the iconic series?
Bonus: The website CharliesAngels.org has compiled a list of the ten gayest moments of the original series.
Some pretty stereotypical stuff – thankfully, gays have come a long way since those early years of TV ‘visibility.’
Donald Trump took to Twitter today to, yet again, lie and contort facts.
In his post, the Trumpster seems to be gloating that he “Just won lawsuit filed by the DNC and a bunch of Democrat crazies trying to claim the Trump Campaign (and others), colluded with Russia.”
“They haven’t figured out that this was an excuse for them losing the election,” he added.
Now, there was a court case filed against Trump, but that’s about the only nugget of truth in his tweet.
The case was not brought by the Democratic National Committee but by two DNC donors and a former staffer.
The trio allege that Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russian agents and WikiLeaks to publish emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee.
Trump didn’t ‘win’ the case, it was dismissed by federal Judge Ellen Huvelle on the grounds that, in her opinion, the case belonged not in federal court but in New York state courts where alleged meetings between campaign staffers and Russian agents are said to have taken place.
The judge pointedly wrote that her ruling was “not based on a finding that there was no collusion between defendants and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.”
Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World recently returned to the New York City stage via the Encores! Off-Center production where performances ran through June 30.
Colin Donnell, Solea Pfeiffer, Mykal Kilgore, and a luminous Shoshana Bean make up the quartet of vocal superstars tasked with singing Brown’s song cycle, originally produced off-Broadway in 1995.
The central theme of the show underscores the idea that even when everything seems stable and certain, there is “one moment” that can upend and change anyone’s life.
The original off-Broadway cast featured now-Tony Award winner Billy Porter, as well as Broadway veterans Brooks Ashmanskas, Andréa Burns, and Jessica Molaskey.
The Encores production featured direction by Kate Whoriskey. You can check out samples from “Stars and the Moon,” “I’m Not Afraid of Anything,” “I’d Give It All for You,” and many more below.
Back in the 90s, this was THE show that all the young theater kids wanted to sing from.
I have to include at least one song from the show.
While Billy Porter, now currently starring in the FX series Pose, was in the original off-Broadway cast of the show, his record label didn’t allow him to participate in the original cast recording.
Years later, in his fantastic one-man-show At The Corner of Broadway and Soul at the Public Theater, Porter revived his performance of “King of the World.”
Thankfully, Porter released a recording of that concert in full. Singing from some form of prison, either literal or metaphorical, a man demands that he be freed and returned to his rightful place as a leader of men.
Rep. Jim Jordan, a powerful Republican congressman from Ohio, has been accused of turning a blind-eye to sex abuse during his tenure as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University.
In April, the university began an investigation into allegations that Dr. Richard Strauss, who served as the team doctor, sexually abused team members from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s.
Strauss died in 2005.
Jordan, who served as assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State from 1986 to 1994, has publicly denied any knowledge of the abuse.
But his denials have been called out as lying by former members of the wrestling team.
Three former Ohio State wrestlers have come forward saying it was “common knowledge” that the doctor regularly showered with the athletes and touched them inappropriately during appointments. They say its impossible Jordan would not have known about the abuse. One player says he told Jordan about the abuse himself.
Former head coach Russ Hellickson, Jordan’s mentor, said in a recent video — made by Mike DiSabato, a former wrestler — that Hellickson had told Strauss that he was being too “hands on” with students.
DiSabato, whose allegations against Strauss prompted Ohio State to open its investigation, called Jordan a “liar.”
“I considered Jim Jordan a friend,” DiSabato said. “But at the end of the day, he is absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on.”
DiSabato said he reached out to Jordan this year, before going to the university, to tell Jordan that he planned to go public with his allegations. Jordan told him to “please leave me out of it,” DiSabato said. “He asked me not to get him involved.”
Another former wrestler, Dunyasha Yetts, told NBC News he informed Jordan himself about an awkward incident with the doctor in the mid-1990s.
“I remember I had a thumb injury and went into Strauss’ office and he started pulling down my wrestling shorts,” he said. “I’m like, what the f— are you doing? And I went out and told Russ and Jim what happened. I was not having it. They went in and talked to Strauss.”
According to Yetts, he and his teammates went to Jordan several times about Strauss.
“So it’s sad for me to hear that he’s denying knowing about Strauss,” he said. “I don’t know why he would, unless it’s a cover-up. Either you’re in on it, or you’re a liar.”
“Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State,” a spokesman for Jordan wrote in an email to NBC News.
After the NBC News story was published, Jordan’s rep added: “He has not been contacted by investigators about the matter but will assist them in any way they ask, because if what is alleged is true, the victims deserve a full investigation and justice.”
Another Ohio State wrestler, former UFC world champion Mark Coleman, has come forward telling the Wall Street Journal Jordan was aware of, but didn’t respond to, the allegations of sexual misconduct.
“There’s no way unless he’s got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State,” Coleman said in an interview Friday.
DiSabato, however, has forwarded to NBC News an email he sent Jordan on April 24 asking Jordan to “give your full attention to the information attached to this email.”
“We [are] watching you, “ wrote DiSabato. “You have the platform to cut through the double talk, placation and finger pointing.”
Jordan never responded.
Based on testimony from athletes in 15 varsity sports over the years, DiSabato estimates Strauss sexually assaulted and/or raped around 1,500/2,000 athletes at OSU from 1978 through 1998.
Jordan is a staunch ally of Donald Trump and is rumored to be a contender for Speaker of the House after Paul Ryan retires early next year.
Regarding the Ohio State scandal, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, “I believe him 100 percent.”
In a new interview, Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie casually comes out as pansexual.
At the same time, he’s announced his newly launched Highest Hopes Foundation, which aids non-profit organizations that advocate support for human rights.
GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) is the first recipient of the foundation receiving a generous $1 million donation to aid in the formation of gay/straight alliance clubs in high schools.
“Launching the Highest Hopes Foundation with GLSEN as our first cause feels natural to the DNA of P!ATD, I am beyond excited to see what we can do together,” says Urie.
“Some of the most inspiring leaders out there right now have come from GSAs. Working firsthand with GLSEN, student leaders everywhere, and all my fans, I want to make sure that every one of our future leaders out there has the support they need to form their own GSA and begin their work to make a better world.”
A post shared by Brendon Urie (@brendonurie) on Feb 2, 2016 at 4:37pm PST
A longtime LGBTQ ally, back in 2012 Urie got attention for tweeting, “Everyone’s a bit gay.”
Then in 2013, PrideSource asked if he still believed that everyone has some gay in them and he was clear: “I find myself being attracted to dudes all the time. I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s a beautiful man.’ There’s no shame in it; that’s how I feel. To stifle that would probably bring on stress and probably make somebody homophobic.”
He went on to say in the same interview that he would classify himself as straight but admitted to experimenting with homosexuality and bisexuality.
Speaking to PAPER Magazine today, Urie seems a bit more forthright about his view of sexuality:
“I’m married to a woman and I’m very much in love with her but I’m not opposed to a man because to me, I like a person. Yeah I guess you could qualify me as pansexual because I really don’t care. If a person is great, then a person is great. I just like good people, if your heart’s in the right place. I’m definitely attracted to men. It’s just people that I am attracted to.”
“I guess this is me coming out as pansexual,” he added.
Urie also admits that what he calls his “stage gay” behavior has made some folks uncomfortable in the past. In early concert tours, it seems he’d sidle upside his band’s guitar player and kiss him on the neck or mouth.
“I was like, I just want to kiss you bro,” says Urie. “I would hang out with friends and after five or six beers we’re just kind of like smooching on each other. People just get hammered and fool around.”
Following a recent ten-week stint on Broadway in the hit musical, Kinky Boots, Brendon rejoined his Panic! at the Disco bandmates for their latest release, Pray For The Wicked, which dropped June 22. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200.
Panic! at the Disco will also donate $1 to the Highest Hopes Foundation for every ticket purchased to the North American leg of their Pray for the Wicked tour.
The band heads out on the road this month with lesbian pop singer Hayley Kiyoko as the opening act.
I was cleaning out some files for The Randy Report and came across this documentary I shared some years back.
Filmmaker Blake Pruitt interviewed several NYC 20-something gay men to get their perspective on how gay men are perceived.
I don’t agree with many of the statements, but I also acknowledge that I’m a 54-year-old gay man who has been ‘out’ for 35 years. So I have no problem self-identifying as gay, and I also don’t “compete” in the gay community.
I noticed on the Vimeo page several commenters felt Nico was pretty clear about who he was, but the rest had some growing up to do.
What do you think? Do these guys have it right? Is their age a contributing factor to how they see the gay community?
Thoughts? I’m curious to see how others view the issue.
Mr. Trump announced the resignation in a tweet on Thursday in which he thanked Mr. Pruitt for an “outstanding job” and said the agency’s deputy, Andrew Wheeler, would take over as the acting administrator on Monday.
Mr. Pruitt had been hailed as a hero among conservatives for his zealous deregulation, but he could not overcome the stain of numerous ethics questions about his alleged spending abuses, first-class travel and cozy relationships with lobbyists. Earlier on Thursday, The New York Times reported on new questions about whether aides to Mr. Pruitt had deleted sensitive information about his meetings from his public schedule, potentially in violation of the law.
Mr. Pruitt also came under fire for enlisting aides to obtain special favors for him and his family, such as reaching out to the chief executive of Chick-fil-A, Dan T. Cathy, with the intent of helping Mr. Pruitt’s wife, Marlyn, open a franchise of the restaurant.
I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will…
…on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!
President Trump: “I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this.”
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 5, 2018
The best reaction, though, of the news comes from the mother who confronted Pruitt just days ago in a D.C. restaurant. After listing his many scandals, she asked him to resign before being forced out.
And today he did. So the mother took to Twitter with a new message figuring if it worked once, maybe…?
At least three suspected poachers who were apparently hunting for rhinos have been mauled to death and eaten by lions on a game reserve in South Africa, the owner said on Thursday. The men entered the Sibuya Game Reserve on the southeast coast armed with a high-powered rifle and an axe in the early hours of Monday and were found dismembered the following day.
“They strayed into a pride of lions – it’s a big pride so they didn’t have too much time,” reserve owner Nick Fox, 60, told AFP news agency. “We’re not sure how many there were – there’s not much left of them. There seems to be clothing for three people. I’ve not heard of it before in our area.” Police forensics officers were on the scene conducting tests on the remains of the victims, Mr Fox added.
The BBC reports that nine rhinos have been killed by poachers in Eastern Cape province, where the reserve is located, this year alone.
Over 7,000 have been killed in South Africa in the past decade.
Perhaps if the poachers hadn’t been trying to kill animals that never hurt them they’d be alive today.
According to The Washington Post, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Shumer has privately urged Donald Trump to nominate shunned federal Judge Merrick B. Garland to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
You’ll recall Garland was President Obama’s nominee in 2016 who was blocked from consideration by Senate Republicans.
Trump had called Schumer on Tuesday afternoon for a Supreme Court-centered conversation that lasted less than five minutes, according to a person familiar with the call. Schumer, the person said, pressed the president to name Garland to succeed Kennedy, arguing doing so would help unite the country.
Schumer also warned the president that nominating a jurist who would be hostile to Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a woman’s right to an abortion, and to Obama’s signature health-care law, would be “cataclysmic” and damage Trump’s legacy, the person added, requesting anonymity since they were not authorized to speak publicly.
“Perhaps the most consequential issues at stake in this Supreme Court vacancy are affordable health care and a woman’s freedom to make the most sensitive medical decisions about her body,” Schumer wrote in a New York Times op-ed earlier this week. “The views of President Trump’s next court nominee on these issues could well determine whether the Senate approves or rejects them.”
Garland still serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.
Coincidentally, that’s the same court as the current leading candidate on Trump’s list for the replacement spot on the high court, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Last week, Instinct reported that professional soccer player Collin Martin, of Minnesota United FC, came out as gay.
“Tonight my team, @mnufc , is having their Pride night. It’s an important night for me — I’ll be announcing that I am an openly gay player in Major League Soccer. #soccerforall,” wrote Martin just hours before Minnesota United hosts their Pride Night playing FC Dallas.
Tonight my team, @MNUFC , is having their Pride night. It’s an important night for me — I’ll be announcing that I am an openly gay player in Major League Soccer. #soccerforallpic.twitter.com/cOJQXfrBiv
Unfortunately, Martin didn’t get to play that night even though he had been on the field regularly for months.
Martin speculated that manager Adrian Heath might have been concerned Martin’s coming out could have been a distraction for the 23-year-old. “Maybe he thought I had a lot going on today,” he said. “Obviously, I want to play, but most importantly I just wanted us to win.”
But on Wednesday night, July 4, as Martin took to the field as an openly gay man for the very first time, he was greeted with a standing ovation as his name was announced. Fans in the stands were seen waving rainbow colored Minnesota United scarves.
A standing ovation as Collin Martin is announced. Goosebumps. #MINvTOR
It was a good night for Minnesota as Martin’s team triumphed over Toronto with a score of 4-3.
According to reports, after the game the entire Minnesota United crew of players and coaches congratulated Martin with high-fives and hugs.
After the final whistle, every #MNUFC player and coach drifted towards Martin for high-fives and hugs. Great to see the team supporting the midfielder.
Speaking to The Athletic, Martin offered a word of advice to closeted athletes considering coming out.
“Be proud of who you are,” he said. “Just know that after a couple more of us come out, it won’t even be a big deal at all.”
In coming out, Martin became only the second openly gay player in Major League Soccer after Robbie Rogers in 2013.
He is the only openly gay professional athlete currently playing in any of the five major pro sports (football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer) in the U.S.
