(credit: Pepsi) File this under ‘Things that make you go hmm…’ From PEOPLE:
In the most unlikely collaboration since Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli, Peeps has partnered with Pepsi to create Marshmallow Cola, which comes in a three-pack of cute little 7.5-oz. cans.
Sadly, these won’t be available on grocery store shelves this year, but fans can enter the sweepstakes to win some by hashtagging “#HangingWithMyPEEPS” on their social media photos.
The cans come in blue, pink, and yellow, although there is no difference in flavor.
The peeps at PEOPLE got a first taste of the drink and do, indeed, confirm that it does taste like marshmallows. The powers that be describe the soda as “vaguely reminiscent of Lucky Charms.”
Broadway Backwards 2021 will take a hopeful, musical look toward life post-pandemic in its first virtual edition set to stream with a bevy of Broadway’s best at 8 pm Eastern on Tuesday, March 30. This year’s virtual edition of the popular theatre event will blend film and musical stage performances as an exploration of how isolation during this pandemic has particularly affected the LGBTQ community. That and a healthy dose of musical theater and star power are what you can expect. The videos here are just a few highlights from over the years at Broadway Backwards.
The show will feature Jay Armstrong Johnson as a New Yorker who dreams a fantastical, musical theater journey guided by Jenn Colella as a late night TV host. New performances will be merged with full numbers from past years to come together in a show that feels distinctly of the moment. The streaming event will feature a special opening number featuring divas Stephanie J. Block, Deborah Cox and Lea Salonga.
Plus, an all-star finale are almost too good to be true with Amy Adams, Debbie Allen, Matt Bomer, Glenn Close, Loretta Devine, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cheyenne Jackson, Eric McCormack, Ruthie Ann Miles, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Javier Muñoz, Kelli O’Hara, Karen Olivo, Jim Parsons, Bernadette Peters and many more. And then there will be special appearances by Chasten Buttigieg, Anderson Cooper, Ariana DeBose, Don Lemon, Debra Messing, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Robin Roberts, Tony Shalhoub and Ben Vereen?
Make sure you tune in (for free!) for an ultimate un-Zoom theatrical experience at 8 pm Eastern on Tuesday, March 30 at broadwaycares.org/backwards2021. It will be available on demand through 11:59 pm Saturday, April 3. Of course, donations to Broadway Cares are always welcome 🙂
Monica Cole of the hate group One Million Moms (btw, not ‘one million’) is mad a new ad spot from Pantene has the nerve to feature a transgender girl and her two moms.
Pantene just released an online commercial that has resulted in backlash from Christians and non-Christians alike. Sawyer, a transgender girl, and Sawyer’s two moms are featured in the latest Pantene ad, which glamorizes the LGBTQ lifestyle.
“Just be yourself and don’t let anybody tell you who you are” is one of the extremely misleading taglines from the new Pantene ad.
A feel-good nod to those who falsely believe gender can be chosen, the tagline sadly goes against the biblical truth that God created us and decided who we were before forming us in our mothers’ wombs.
The commercial is narrated almost entirely by one mom as the other mom quietly sits beside her, with a few added lines from Sawyer. But do not be deceived. Notice some of the misleading wording used within the ad to normalize the LGBTQ lifestyle.
Procter & Gamble, Pantene’s parent company, also owns several other lines of products that conservatives should avoid purchasing and supporting.
This ad is not the first time P&G has pushed the LGBTQ agenda in their commercials.
In fact, 1Million Moms has launched campaigns and voiced our concern in the past regarding P&G’s transgender Gillette ad for Father’s Day, as well as their lesbian Head & Shoulders ad for prom.
We wanted to let you know that, once again, P&G has decided to cater to homosexuals and their sinful lifestyle choice.
“Sinful lifestyle choice…”
Of course, these are the same folks who bitch and moan about ‘cancel culture’ in social media even as they literally send out messages like this to ‘cancel’ Proctor & Gamble. The haters had a similar hateful response a couple of years ago when Gillette ran a spot about a trans man learning to shave.
Major Biden in the Oval Office (image via White House) Look at what a good boy Major Biden is after spotting a tennis ball on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President Biden chats nearby. You may have heard Major had a bit of a ruff start at the White House when he got a bit aggressive with a Secret Service agent. But after going through some training back in Delaware for a few weeks, he returned with the president and First Lady Jill Biden to the White House this week. According to the president, the 3-year-old rescue was just startled by an unfamiliar person in his new home. “You turn a corner, and there’s two people you don’t know at all,” Biden told Good Morning America. “And he moves to protect.” Biden made it clear that Major didn’t bite or penetrate the skin in the incident. An American success story, Major is the first dog to go from rescue shelter to the White House.
Lil Nas X dropped his new music video, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” on the same day that his blockbuster hit “Old Town Road” became the most streamed single in the U.S. As the 21-year-old recording artist released the new video, he took a second to send a message to his 14-year-old self via Twitter. Addressed to “14-year-old Montero” (his legal name is Montero Lamar Hill), the artist wrote:
“I wrote a song with our name in it. It’s about a guy I met last summer. I know we promised to never come out publicly, I know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for so many other queer people to simply exist. You see, this is very scary for me, people will be angry, they will say I’m pushing an agenda. But the truth is, I am. The agenda to make people stay the fuck out of other people’s lives and stop dictating who they should be.”
In the music video, Nas appears in drag, shirtless, wearing knee-high boots and eventually giving a certain red-faced demon a lap dance. At this writing, the video has nearly 5 million views in less than a day. “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is now available on all download/streaming sites here.
It’s not news that the LGBTQ community’s relationship with the Catholic Church is complicated in so many ugly ways.
Still, the news that a group of Catholic bishops not only opposed but worked against legislation for a national suicide hotline that could help LGBTQ youth in crisis is stunning.
Last fall, Congress passed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act that requires the Federal Communications Commission to designate 988 as the universal telephone number for a national suicide prevention hotline.
Upon its passage, the Trevor Project called the legislation “the first explicitly LGBTQ-inclusive bill ever to pass Congress unanimously.”
But according to the National Catholic Reporter, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) actively lobbied against the legislation.
Why would anyone argue that an easy-to-reach suicide hotline is a bad thing?
The bishops’ beef with the bill was that it included “special funding for LGBTQ support.”
Noting that LGBTQ youth are “more than 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers,” a provision of the legislation calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to work towards increasing “competency in serving high-risk populations” like queer and transgender kids.
Even just that small measure was a bridge too far for the Catholic bishops.
How can Catholic bishops oppose suicide prevention? What would Jesus say? https://t.co/jlUxzA1qnl
Of course, this isn’t the first time the Catholic Church has worked against LGBTQ interests.
The bishops have opposed LGBTQ legislation going back to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which was proposed in every Congress since 1994. ENDA, a pre-cursor of sorts to today’s Equality Act currently working its way through Congress, would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace.
The bishops’ argument on ENDA was that the bill didn’t distinguish between “sexual inclination” and “sexual conduct.”
U.S. bishops also found conflict with the Violence Against Women Act because the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” were codified in the bill. In a 2013 statement about the legislation, the USCCB called that language “problematic.”
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the bishops not only stand against the passage of the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity categories to existing federal civil rights laws in just about every area of life.
They also oppose the conservative ‘compromise’ to the Equality Act known as the Fairness For All Act. Introduced by Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), that bill would outlaw LGBTQ discrimination but would still allow religious entities to refuse hiring queer people based on ‘religious beliefs.’
But even that is a ‘no go’ for the bishops.
Its worth noting, however, that the Church’s leadership is out of step with its followers regarding LGBTQ rights.
A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2019 showed support for same-sex marriage among U.S. Catholics had grown to an overwhelming majority of 61 percent.
‘Big Dan’ Rodimer? (screen captures) Things that make you go ‘hmm…’ After losing a House race for Nevada’s 3rd District in November, Dan Rodimer is now running in a special election for a U.S. House seat in Texas. Now, not only is this basic carpet-bagging, but Rodimer (a former professional wrestler) has done a complete 180 on his image hoping the folks in Texas don’t notice. During the race in Nevada, Rodimer ran campaign ads sitting on his couch with his wife and 5 children in a prim, proper environment wearing a nice polo shirt. But in his new ads for Texas’s 6th District, he’s morphed into a rough and tough rodeo character – ‘Big Dan’ Rodimer – complete with some kind of accent. I’m a Texas native myself and I don’t know what he thinks he sounds like. The House seat located in the Dallas area was left vacant after Rep. Ron Wright passed away due to COVID-19. It’s a competitive race as Donald Trump barely won the district in 2020 by 3 points, down from winning it in 2016 by 20 points. There are nearly a dozen candidates running in the May 1 special election including Wright’s wife. Take a look at the side-by-side Rodimers.
Joe Jonas (image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • Socialite Life: Joe Jonas (above), of the Jonas Brothers, has NOT been a gym slug during the pandemic. All props to him and his many abs on display in this selfie from Instagram. • Edge Media: Police officers in the virulently anti-LGBTQ country of Chechnya arrested 20 relatives of two gay brothers who had fled persecution in the Russian province. • Laughing Squid: The Melodica Bros created this truly beguiling and compelling cover version of the traditionally upbeat anthem “Y.M.C.A” by the Village People. This version features a change from major to minor, a slower tempo, and a quiet performance that included an acoustic guitar and a double bass. I love reinvention when well-done.
• The Advocate: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a bill into law today that will bar transgender student athletes from competing under their gender identity. In a statement, Hutchinson said that female athletes “should not have to compete in a sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women’s competition.” • CNN: The Republican-controlled Georgia legislature quickly passed a sweeping elections law that substantially reduces voter access. The Georgia bill would limit drop boxes, make giving food or drinks to a voter a crime, & grant state officials broad rights, including the ability to replace local election officials. • Variety: Late-night host and comedian Jay Leno has issued an apology for decades of jokes told over his career targeting Asian communities.
Jay Leno Apologizes for Decades of Jokes About Asians: ‘In My Heart I Knew It Was Wrong’ https://t.co/91t58CCxrY
Out singer/songwriter Parker Matthews in ‘What Happened to Us?’
Out singer/songwriter Parker Matthews latest single and music video, “What Happened To Us?,” totally speaks to so many of us when we think a relationship is a true ‘love connection’ but in reality it was fading and we didn’t even know.
While that sounds like a downer, the soundscape of the track is anything but.
With the opening guitar and bass matching a chill pop-synth groove, the song and video conjure up a bit of 80s retro vibe (thinking Phil Collins here) as Matthews and his crisp vocals take us on a night time drive through the dark land of ‘what ifs.’
Matthews shares, “This record reflects on a time when I could see a seemingly infatuating relationship fade away.”
“At first, it was like the rest of the world didn’t exist when we were together, spending long nights and countless hours just the two of us,” adds the handsome artist. “However, over time, that spark faded, he eventually lost interest, and we stopped talking altogether.
“Lost interest.” Trust and believe, we’ve been there, Parker.
“This song touches on the idea that people might say one thing but mean another, or just not deliver on their promises,” says Matthews. “I feel like the song’s fun, strong beat paired with its soulful lyrics helps listeners subconsciously identify those debilitating feelings of rejection, and I hope it helps them begin to heal, too.”
“What Happened To Us” is Parker’s first single release of 2021, debuting this new sound in advance of his upcoming EP No Regular Love, about falling in love, heartbreak, and how there is nothing normal about that special connection.
Broadway and TV veteran (and my longtime friend) Rachelle Rak chats with me about her new musical, “Electric Island.” p.s. my first-ever Instagram Live chat…! The musical follows and celebrates the real stories of women working on Broadway: those working hard to go from show to show and aren’t the recognized stars above the marquee.
Shining light on women of all ages, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, “Electric Island” illuminates how these performers have navigated the highs and lows of a life in the theater–on stage and off. The streaming event (below) features selections from the show and will be available for a few days after. Plus, the live stream will benefit the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, a program of The Actor’s Fund.
A quick run-down of Rachelle’s lengthy resume includes her many Broadway Credits: Fosse, Catch Me If You Can, The Look of Love, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Thou Shalt Not, Oklahoma!, and CATS. TV audiences know her from Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition and Dance Moms on Lifetime TV. During the pandemic, Sas (as she’s known among friends) launched her own dance conventions, Ignite Dance Live – which have now gone virtual. AND, she offers her own master classes – SasStorm.com – where studios around the country can book her one on one for their students. Every class she offers is a form of weather – because, as I say, she’s a force of nature. You can check out my in-depth chat with the indomitable Rachelle Rak from last fall on The Randy Report podcast here.
Addressed to “14-year-old Montero” (his legal name is Montero Lamar Hill), the artist wrote: 
