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New Trailer For ‘Downton Abbey’ Reveals Royal Visit & Gay Romance

Robert James-Collier as “Thomas Barrow” in Downton Abbey

The first full trailer for the upcoming Downton Abbey movie is here, and it features some same-sex lip lock action.

Last December, director Michael Engler told Entertainment Weekly that the film’s storyline would focus on an “event.”

“Life is settling into these new realities when this event happens at Downton that brings everyone together, “ Engler shared with EW. “The story line has expanded the scale of it. It takes the things you love about Downton – the romance, the intrigue, the pageantry – and makes it bigger.”

In the new trailer, it’s revealed that Lord and Lady Grantham (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern) receive news of a royal visitation to Downton Abbey by none other than the king and queen of England.

The estate whirls into action preparing for the occasion, but Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) feels the need to call in the heavy artillery. So, she reaches out to retired butler Carson for help.

Of course, Carson could never say ‘no’ to Mary. “I’ll be there in the morning.”

Midway through the new trailer, it appears that sometime-villain and butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier) has found himself a boyfriend as we glimpse him strolling with, and then kissing, a handsome young man.

Thomas gets a boyfriend?

And, of course, it wouldn’t be Downton Abbeywithout some witty repartee from the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith).

Over its 6 seasons, the series won 3 Golden Globe Awards and 15 Primetime Emmy Awards (69 Emmy nods in total), making Downton Abbeythe most nominated non-US television show in the history of the Emmys.

The movie lands in theaters on September 12 internationally, and in the U.S. on September 20.

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Committee Chair To Don McGahn: “Our Subpoenas Are Not Optional”

Former White House lawyer Don McGahn chose to defy a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning.

While the House reps showed up, Chairman Jerrold Nadler was irritated upon seeing an empty chair instead of McGahn.

In a statement, Nadler told the chamber, “Our subpoenas are not optional,” and declared that “this committee will hear McGahn’s testimony, even if we have to go to court to secure it.”

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Alabama Public Television Bans Gay Wedding Episode Of Long-Running ‘Arthur’

Alabama Public Television (APT) decided the same-sex wedding was too much for its intended audience to handle, and refused to air the episode. Instead, APT chose to air a re-run.
Mr. Ratburn and Patrick head down the aisle (image via PBS)

The long-running PBS children’s show, Arthur, opened its 22nd season last week with an episode featuring one of the animated characters marrying to his male partner.

In an episode titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,” it turns out that Arthur’s stern yet forgiving 3rd grade teacher is gay, and marries his boyfriend, Patrick.

The storyline was celebrated by LGBTQ advocacy groups like GLAAD:

While the episode doesn’t mention the word “gay” or “homosexual,” I did wonder if some folks might be offended or raise their homophobic voices in opposition to two animated characters finding happiness together.

Yep. And some of those folks are in Alabama.

Alabama Public Television (APT) decided the same-sex wedding was too much for its intended audience to handle, and refused to air the episode. Instead, APT chose to air a re-run.

Yes, this is the same Alabama where public lawmakers just passed a law which will require a 13-year-old rape victim to carry a possible child to term.

Mike McKenzie, the director of programming at APT, confirmed to NBC News that upon receiving an alert from PBS in mid-April about “possible concerns about the content of the program,” APT felt it was best to omit the episode from their schedule.

“Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate, and inspire,” Mike McKenzie, director of programming at APT, said in a statement.

“More importantly—although we strongly encourage parents to watch television with their children and talk about what they have learned afterwards—parents trust that their children can watch APT without their supervision,” continued McKenzie. “We also know that children who are younger than the ‘target’ audience for Arthur also watch the program.”

“The vast majority of parents will not have heard about the content, whether they agree with it or not,” added McKenzie. “Because of this, we felt it would be a violation of trust to broadcast the episode.”

(image via PBS)

Interestingly, one parent heard about the LGBTQ-inclusive episode and recorded the show with plans to watch with her 9-year-old daughter. But Misty Souder told AL.com that she was disappointed to only find a re-run on her DVR.

Souder says she contacted APT about the censorship, and used the experience as a teaching moment for her daughter about the importance of standing up for others.

“I just want her to be aware,” Souder explained to AL.com. “There’s too much going on not to stand up for stuff, even if it’s Arthur. I never thought I’d be going to battle for a gay rat wedding, but here we are.”

This isn’t APT’s first time to censor PBS’s Arthur.

In a 2005 episode, a bunny character named Buster visited a girl who was revealed to have two mothers.

Yep – APT pulled that installment, too.

According to AL.com, then-executive director of APT Allan Pizzato explained, “Our feeling is that we basically have a trust with parents about our programming.”

“This program doesn’t fit into that,” he added.

Watch the full episode featuring Mr. Ratburn’s wedding HERE.

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Podcast: Equality Act, Gay Panic Defense Banned, Rocketman Premieres At Cannes

In this week’s podcast: • The Equality Act passes in the House of Representatives • Nevada bans the gay panic defense • An Australian rugby player loses his $4 million contract thanks to homophobic social media posts • FX's groundbreaking series POSE honored at the Peabody Awards • The Elton John ‘musical fantasy biopic’ Rocketman premieres at the Cannes Film Festival All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

In this week’s podcast:

• The Equality Act passes in the House of Representatives

• Nevada bans the gay panic defense

• An Australian rugby player loses his $4 million contract thanks to homophobic social media posts

• FX’s groundbreaking series POSE honored at the Peabody Awards

• The Elton John ‘musical fantasy biopic’ Rocketman premieres at the Cannes Film Festival

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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News Round-Up: May 20, 2019

Bruno Tarchetti (via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Personal trainer and InstaHunk Bruno Tarchetti is today’s Monday Man Crush. #furrygoodness

• Twenty-three year-old Muhlaysia Booker, a Black transgender woman who was beaten in front of several bystanders last month, was fatally shot in Dallas on May 18. She is the 4th transgender person to be killed in the U.S. in 2019.

• Alabama Public Television refused to air an episode of the animated children’s show, Arthur, which featured the character ‘Mr. Ratburn’ marrying his male partner, Patrick.

• FX’s groundbreaking series Pose was honored over the weekend with a Peabody Award, which recognizes “when storytelling is done well; when stories matter.”

• Cathay Pacific Airline has a new ad campaign that’s LGBTQ-inclusive.

• Thousands marched through Belfast in Northern Ireland demanding marriage equality. Northern Ireland is the only region in the United Kingdom which has not legalized same-sex marriage.

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Federal Judge Upholds Congressional Subpoena For Trump Financial Records

Donald Trump 

A federal judge ruled today that Congress has the right to subpoena Donald Trump’s financial records from accounting firm Mazars USA.

Via Politico:

U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling delivers a striking blow to the president’s efforts to resist Democratic investigations, and is certain to give Democrats further legal basis to investigate Trump, his finances, and his presidential campaign.

In addition to upholding the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena to accounting firm Mazars USA for eight years of Trump’s financial records, Mehta took the extra step of denying the president’s request for a stay pending appeal.

Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s personal attorneys, said: “We will be filing a timely notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Speaking with reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump called Mehta’s ruling “ridiculous” and “totally wrong.”

The subpoena is part of an investigation into whether Trump committed crimes related to his finances before becoming president.

The House Oversight Committee is looking to corroborate statements made by Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, regarding Trump artificially inflating and deflating the values of his assets to suit his personal financial benefit.

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Calvin Klein Apologizes For Queer-Baiting Ad

A new ad spot by Calvin Klein has resulted in a backlash, forcing the fashion brand to issue an apology to the LGBTQ community.
Bella Hadid (L) and Lil Miquela (R)

A new ad spot by Calvin Klein has resulted in a backlash, forcing the fashion brand to issue an apology to the LGBTQ community.

The video ad featured model Bella Hadid kissing robot model Lil Miquela. Miquela is a CGI with more than one million followers on Instagram.

Some called the ad queer-baiting, using a same-sex kiss to promote the brand.

Calvin Klein issued this statement:

“The concept of our latest #MYCALVINS campaign is to promote freedom of expression for a wide range of identities, including a spectrum of gender and sexual identities. This specific campaign was created to challenge conventional norms and stereotypes in advertising. In this particular video, we explored the blurred lines between reality and imagination

“We understand and acknowledge how featuring someone who identifies as heterosexual in a same-sex kiss could be perceived a queerbaiting. As a company with a longstanding tradition of advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, it was certainly not our intention to misrepresent the LGTBQ+ community. We sincerely regret any offense we caused.”

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Boy George Storms Off The Set Of ‘The Voice Australia’

Boy George stormed off the set of The Voice Australia after a contestant answered a question by the pop star.
Boy George

During the blind auditions for the Australian edition of The Voice, Boy George inquired if a contestant played guitar.

The young singer replied he can play guitar, but “no one really cares if I play guitar.”

The comment caught BG a bit sideways as moments later, the pop star stormed off the set.

When a producer ran after him, the singer yelled back, “Don’t follow me – I’m annoyed.”

The look on the face of the young singer, who clearly didn’t mean to offend anyone, was painful.

Watch below.

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Confident Pete Buttigieg Makes Strong Showing During Fox News Town Hall

Openly gay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg had an impressive showing Sunday night as he answered questions at a Fox News town hall event hosted by anchor Chris Wallace.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Openly gay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg had an impressive showing Sunday night as he answered questions at a Fox News town hall event hosted by anchor Chris Wallace.

While most Democratic candidates aren’t heading over to the conservative cable news outlet for coverage, Buttigieg defended the appearance. “If we don’t show up, the conservative media will tell our side of the story for us,” he told Wallace.

The 37-year-old mayor is the third Democratic contender to show up to a Fox News event. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) participated in a Q&A for the conservative cable news outlet in April, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) appeared at a network town hall earlier in May.

Last week, however, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) declined an invitation from Fox News to appear at a similar event.

“A lot of folks in my party were critical of me even doing this with Fox News,” Buttigieg told Wallace. “And I get where that’s coming from, especially when you see what goes on with some of the opinion hosts on this network.”

“I mean, when you got Tucker Carlson saying that immigrants make American dirty; when you got Laura Ingraham comparing detention centers with children in cages to summer camps—summer camps—then, there is a reason why anyone has to swallow hard and think twice before participating in this media ecosystem,” he continued.

“But, I also believe that even though some of those hosts are not always there in good faith, I think a lot of people tune into this network who do it in good faith,” he concluded.

Across a wide variety of topics, Buttigieg answered questions without pause or having to qualify his responses.

In the aftermath of Alabama’s newly-passed ban on abortion, Wallace asked Buttigieg his thoughts on the legislation. Buttigieg answered that he trusts “women to draw the line.”

“I trust women to draw the line when it is their own body,” he said. “I believe that the right of a woman to make her own decisions about her own reproductive health and her own body is a national right, I believe it is an American freedom.”

The decision to have an abortion “is not going to be made any better, medically or morally, because the government is dictating how that decision should be made,” he added.

Asked how he felt he would handle attacks and tweets from Donald Trump in a general election, Buttigieg replied, “The tweets are…I don’t care.”

The answer spurred a big round of applause from the audience attending the event in Claremont, New Hampshire.

Buttigieg did note that it was “hard for anyone to look away” when the Trumpster tweets, but qualified that saying “it is the nature of grotesque things that you can’t look away.”

At the end of the hour-long town hall, Buttigieg was given a chance to address the audience directly. His appeal was met with a standing ovation, surprising Wallace.

The Hill reports the town hall event drew 1.1 million viewers.

The appearance clearly got under the president’s skin as Trump criticized his favorite network via Twitter.

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Trump Breaks With Base, Calls For Rape/Incest Exceptions To Abortion

In the aftermath of the passage of recent abortion bans in Missouri and Alabama, Donald Trump has uncharacteristically broken with his base calling for exceptions in cases of rape, incest and the health of the mother.
Donald Trump

Donald Trump has uncharacteristically broken with his base calling for exceptions in cases of rape, incest and the health of the mother.

Over the weekend, Trump tweeted, “As most people know, and for those who would like to know, I am strongly Pro-Life, with the three exceptions – Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother – the same position taken by Ronald Reagan.”

He went on to trumpet his 105 conservative judges he’s appointed in his two years in office and called for sticking together warning that “all of our hard fought gains for Life can, and will, rapidly disappear.”

His comments follows Alabama’s recent passage of a near-total abortion ban, becoming the nation’s most restrictive law on the procedure. Unlike other states which restrict abortion, Alabama’s new law makes for no exception in cases involving rape or incest.

The Twitterverse also chimed in: