LGBTQ news and entertainment
Randy Rainbow scores another big “interview” – this one with “First Lady,” Ivanka Trump.
Watch below as Randy asks Ivanka why she can’t seem to help her father with a better shade of make-up, women’s rights, gay advocacy, or if she at least considers herself “complicit” in the debacle that is the Trump administration.
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| Gov. Robert Bentley and alleged mistress Rebekah Mason |
According to reports, anti-LGBT Republican Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is widely expected to resign due to four possible felony charges related to his unsuccessful attempts to hide his long-time affair with former aide Rebekah Mason.
The cheating itself is bad enough, but the man is also clearly an idiot.
It turns out his wife was able to follow practically the entire affair via text messages because his phone was synced with the iPad he gave his wife. The messages played out in real-time in front of her.
From TalkingPointsMemo:
Unbeknownst to the governor and Mason, the frequent romantic texts they exchanged were all visible to Dianne Bentley. The governor’s state-issued cell phone’s cloud was linked to his state-issued iPad, which he had gifted to his then-wife, allowing her to watch the rumored affair unfold in real time.
“I’m so in love with you,” Bentley wrote to Mason in one text, along with two heart-eye emojis. “We are pitiful.”
“Poor Robert. Poor Rebekah,” he added.
“Yes… Bless our hearts… And other parts,” Mason wrote back.
“Magnetic,” Bentley replied.
The device oversight was only one of Bentley’s errors.
In spring 2014, he mistakenly sent a text to his wife reading, “I love you Rebekah,” along with an emoji of a red rose.
This is the same man who, before SCOTUS’ Obergefell ruling in 2015, filed an amicus brief which stated marriage between two people of the same sex was “demeaning” to democracy.
Because he clearly has so much respect for the institution of marriage, huh?
United Airlines’ CEO Oscar Munoz posted this message in regards to the terrible treatment of a physician who was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight in Chicago last night.
“This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened.”
United CEO response to United Express Flight 3411. pic.twitter.com/rF5gNIvVd0— United (@united) April 10, 2017
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| Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov |
The Washington Post reports that there is a full-on war on gays in Chechnya with over 100 men already
Ramzan Kadyrov is unlike any other provincial leader in Russia. He rules the republic of Chechnya with brute force and enjoys the indulgence of President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Mr. Kadyrov keeps order in Chechnya, and Mr. Putin keeps out of his way. Now this deal has apparently led to barbaric treatment of gay men in the traditionally conservative Muslim society.
The crusading newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a startling article April 1 that reported Mr. Kadyrov’s armed thugs were detaining and executing gay men, with more than 100 men already seized, three of them known to be dead and many others possibly murdered in extrajudicial “honor” killings. A respected human rights expert, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Russia project coordinator for the International Crisis Group, told the New York Times and the Guardian that she had been receiving similar reports.
According to the Novaya Gazeta report, the sweep began when a Moscow gay rights group began filing requests for demonstrations in Russia’s provincial cities. Although the group had not focused on the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region, including Chechnya, the petitions galvanized a local drive to round up gay men. “In Chechnya, the command was given for a ‘prophylactic sweep’ and it went as far as real murders,” Novaya Gazeta reported, saying the authorities searched for closeted gay men partly by posing as men seeking dates on social media websites. The newspaper also noted that none of the men detained had been open about their homosexuality in a society where it is still strictly taboo.
Mr. Kadyrov’s spokesman brushed off the report, saying no one in the republic is homosexual. “You cannot arrest or repress people who just don’t exist in the republic,” Alvi Karimov said to Interfax. “If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them since their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return.”
The Daily Mail offers further details, reporting that a concentration camp has been set up in Chechnya, and gay men are being tortured with electricity and being beaten, sometimes to death.
The beatings are apparently meant to coerce the names of other gay men from the prisoners.
Tanya Lokshina, from Human Rights Watch in Moscow, said: ‘For several weeks now, a brutal campaign against LGBT people has been sweeping through Chechnya.
‘These days, very few people in Chechnya dare speak to human rights monitors or journalists even anonymously because the climate of fear is overwhelming and people have been largely intimidated into silence.
‘Filing an official complaint against local security officials is extremely dangerous, as retaliation by local authorities is practically inevitable.
‘It is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to “honour killings” by their own relatives for tarnishing family honour.’
An interesting twist in this story is the rumor that Kadyrov could be a closeted gay man.
LGBT activist Aaron Baldwin shared several pics of Kadyrov with various men on Facebook, including this one of Timati, or Mr. BlackStar as he calls himself. The rapper and producer is rumoured to be Kadyrov’s lover.
This pic is reportedly from Timati’s Instagram, deleted soon after. The rapper is purported to be in Kadyrov’s bed on his private jet.
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| Caitlyn Jenner |
RadarOnline writes today that in January of this year Caitlyn Jenner underwent sex reassignment surgery.
I’m not one to focus on the idea of anatomy when it comes to trans folks personal issues. But, in that Jenner wanted to address the topic and end any conjecture, I think it was totally her business to do so.
In the reality star’s new memoir, The Secrets of My Life, she claims she had the “Final Surgery” in January 2017, nearly two years after she publicly announced her identity as a trans woman in an explosive interview with Diane Sawyer.
“The surgery was a success, and I feel not only wonderful but liberated,” she writes in the new memoir, out April 25.
The 67-year-old former Olympic gold medalist claims she came clean so fans will stop asking about her nether regions.
“I am telling you because I believe in candor,” she explains. “So all of you can stop staring. You want to know, so now you know. Which is why this is the first time, and the last time, I will ever speak of it.”
That said, everyone should be aware that you should never ask a trans person about the subject. It’s intensely personal, and rude.
The first trailer for Thor: Ragnarok finds the Asgardian warrior in a whole lotta trouble.
Not only does new villain, Cate Blanchett, look pretty formidable, but Thor eventually finds himself in a gladiator battle with fellow Avenger, the Hulk.
In addition to a jacked-to-the-max Chris Hemsworth and the aforementioned Blanchett, the flick features Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, and Jeff Goldblum.
Watch the trailer below. No release date for the film as yet.
Out musician Wrabel shares his newest music video, “Bloodstain,” calling the track metaphorically autobiographical.
Been in and out of love since I was nineteen,
Opening my heart has left a bloodstain.
And I don’t know how to make a man stay,
Maybe I been putting my heart out in the wrong way…
“In relationships, I tend to be silent when I need to talk the most,” Wrabel recently told OUT. “I push people away when I need them the most. I break my own heart to save another’s, but I would rather love truly, wholly and completely, and hurt, than not love at all.”
Via press release:
Wrabel calls it his favorite feeling in the world: that moment just before a song comes into being. “When the Rubik’s Cube of the song hasn’t quite clicked, and it’s about to,” he says. “You can feel it —everything turning to lock this thing in.” It’s a feeling he’s chased for years, since he began writing songs as a teenager. Songs of his —like “Ten Feet Tall,” recorded by Afrojack—have been heard by millions of people around the world. But that feeling of fresh discovery remains.
Wrabel specializes in music that telescopes small moments into songs with big impact. On tracks like “11 Blocks” the drums may get huge, but the feelings are deeply personal. This is pop music rooted in the singer-songwriter tradition, and it all starts with Wrabel sitting at a piano, fighting for self-expression and survival.
I’ve featured Wrabel’s music in the past on The Randy Report here and here.
The track is available on all digital download vendors. Watch the video below.
Huge problem for United Airlines this morning as this story is quickly going viral.
After overbooking a flight from Chicago to Louisville last night, the airline began offering bribes to make room for four standby crew members to take the flight.
In any case, after offering $400 to get off the flight, United upped the ante to $800. But no one was biting.
United then apparently chose four passengers at random and told them they would have to leave the place. A couple was told first, and they deplaned.
But a man who identified himself as a doctor said he wouldn’t leave as he had patients to see the next morning. The United crew then called law enforcement. As the man informed the officers he was calling his lawyer, the officers forcibly removed the man. And I mean, FORCIBLY.
“Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked,” a United Airlines spokesperson told the Courier-Journal. “After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.”
“We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities,” the spokesperson said.
To be honest, United could have paid the guy $1 million and been better off than they are today considering the hideous press they are getting.
For those interested, Yahoo Finance breaks down how this may very well be perfectly legal:
In plain language under Rule 25—on page 35 if you print it out—the agreement says exactly what happens if the flight is oversold. “If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily,” the language reads. (Of course, the deplaned man was not denied boarding, he was already boarded.)
The language continues however, shining light on how these “other Passengers” are chosen. It’s not random, it’s “in accordance with UA’s boarding priority.” That means that if you have a higher fare class, have a complex itinerary, have status (e.g. gold or platinum), have checked in early, or are a frequent flier, you are less likely to be asked to take the next flight. Even if it’s just a frequent flier card that you never use, it might save you from being forcibly dragged off a plane.
Audra D. Bridges posted a video to Facebook with this message:
“We are on this flight,” Bridges wrote. “United airlines overbooked the flight. They randomly selected people to kick off so their standby crew could have a seat. This man is a doctor and has to be at the hospital in the morning. He did not want to get off. We are all shaky and so disgusted.”
@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here’s how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW— Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017
At one point, the man found his way back onboard, racing to the back of the plane:
@united @CNN @FoxNews @WHAS11 Man forcibly removed from plane somehow gets back on still bloody from being removed pic.twitter.com/njS3nC0pDl— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 10, 2017
Who wants to hear me talk on this week’s headlines?
• NBC, having already given the green light to the Will & Grace reboot, wants even more
• I’ve got a favorite on this season’s The Amazing Race, and I bet you will, too
• New Mexico says “no” to so-called ex-gay therapy
• Nebraska finally scrubs it’s anti-LGBT adoption stance
• International supermodel and actor Tyson Beckford talks with me about his residency in Las Vegas as the Celebrity Guest Host for the world famous Chippendales.
All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report. Hit the play button below 🙂
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| (via Instagram – photo by Taylor Miller) |