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Oscars Announces New Diversity Criteria For Best Picture Consideration

The Academy Awards has announced new criteria regarding diversity and inclusion for films that wish to be considered in the Best Picture category In an attempt to address “underrepresented groups,” producers will need to hire more LGBTQ+ people, women, folks of color, and those with disabilities. Per the new guidelines, films that want to be considered for Best Picture will have to submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form showing they have met at least two of the four standards laid out by the Academy. The four standards are as follows (via Queerty):

Standard A: The movie must have a lead or “significant” supporting actor from an “underrepresented racial or ethnic group,” or 30% of the more minor roles must come from under-represented groups (women, certain racial or ethnic groups, LGBTQ, disabled). Alternatively, the main storyline may be focussed on under-represented groups.

Standard B: At least two of the creative heads among the crew – director, casting director, costumer designer, etc – are from underrepresented groups (again, women, racial or ethnic groups, LGBTQ or disabled). Alternatively, at least six of the crew are from under-represented racial groups, or 30% of the crew come from under-represented groups.

Standard C: “The film’s distribution or financing company has paid apprenticeships or internships”, from the underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ and certain ethnic groups, as well as offering training opportunities and skills development for individuals from these groups.

Standard D: The final standard concerns the marketing and distribution departments of movies, saying, “The studio and/or film company has multiple in-house senior executives from” the aforementioned groups (women, certain ethnic groups, LGBTQ and/or disabled).

It all sounds good, but in truth, a film can easily meet standards C and D by having, for example, women on the publicity team, or queer staffers/assistants on the costume crew. Currently, the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 25, 2021.

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Nevada: Trump Rallies Canceled Due To Coronavirus Restrictions

Donald Trump

Donald Trump during a White House press briefing (public domain)
After announcing two Nevada campaign rallies planned for this weekend, the Trump campaign has canceled the events due to current limitations on public gatherings imposed by Gov. Steve Sisolak since the spring in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. One event was scheduled for Saturday at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport and the other on Sunday at McCarran International Airport. Since late May, Nevada has limited the size of public gatherings to 50 people. Sisolak’s office on Wednesday issued a statement saying it was not involved in the cancellations. “The Governor’s Office had no involvement or communication with the event organizers or potential hosts regarding the proposed campaign events advertised by the Trump campaign. “Current statewide emergency directives include mandatory face coverings, limitations on public and private gatherings to no more than 50 people, and other measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The Nevada-specific White House recommendations have consistently included recommendations to limit the size of gatherings for weeks now.” Even though the governor’s restrictions have been in place for months, the Trump campaign announced Nevada visits on Tuesday. The campaign publicly whined that this is all an attempt to censor the Donald. “Democrats are trying to keep President Trump from speaking to voters because they know the enthusiasm behind his re-election campaign cannot be matched by Joe Biden — a historically weak candidate controlled by the radical left who could hold a campaign event in a broom closet,” read a statement issued by Tim Murtaugh, communications director of the president’s re-election campaign. Meanwhile, the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority said the rally would have violated the lease agreements that private tenants signed with the authority. “This has nothing to do with politics. The letter (to tenants) we sent is about directives and safety and not political campaigns,” Daren Griffin, president/CEO of the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We would hold our tenants to the same standard whether it was a Democratic or Republican rally or any other type of gathering. We are complying with the Governor’s directive and Washoe County’s recommendation during a pandemic.” “The fact that Donald Trump was even considering holding these unsafe events in the midst of a global pandemic is just the latest example of his poor judgment and complete disregard for Nevadans’ public health and safety,” said Madison Mundy, spokeswoman for the Nevada State Democratic Party. Poll crunching website FiveThirtyEight reports Biden currently leading Trump by an average of 6.5 percentage points in Nevada. (source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

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Whistleblower: Top DHS Officials Told Analysts To Downplay White Supremacists & Russian Interference

L-R Donald Trump, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf (photo: Flickr/WhiteHouse)
A whistleblower alleges that top officials in the Department of Homeland Security instructed analysts to modify intelligence assessments to ensure they matched up with misleading public comments from Trump about Antifa and “anarchist” groups. From the New York Times:

Top officials with the Department of Homeland Security directed agency analysts to downplay the threat of violent white supremacy and of Russian election interference, according to a whistle-blower complaint filed by a top intelligence official with the department.

Brian Murphy, the former head of the intelligence branch of the Homeland Security Department, said in a whistle-blower complaint filed on Tuesday that he was directed by Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the department, to stop producing assessments on Russian interference.

The department’s second highest-ranked official, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, also ordered him to modify intelligence assessments to make the threat of white supremacy “appear less severe” and include information on violent “left-wing” groups, according to the complaint, which was released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee.

Trump has regularly downplayed the threat of white supremacist violence during his time in office, including his infamous remarks that there were some “fine people” among the extremists who instigated violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Murphy previously oversaw the intelligence division at DHS but was reassigned in August. He says the personnel change was retaliation for after he compiled intelligence reports on journalists and protesters in Portland, Oregon. He’s asking the inspector general to investigate.

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Recorded Interviews Show Trump Deliberately Misled Americans About COVID-19

(cover image via Amazon)
Bob Woodward, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose reporting on the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon, has released excerpts from his upcoming book, Rage, which includes on-the-record interviews (there’s tape!) with Donald Trump from early December 2019 to July 2020. Woodward interviewed Trump 18 times on a wide range of topics. The interviews were recorded by Woodward with Trump’s permission, and CNN has obtained copies of some of the audiotapes. From CNN:

“This is deadly stuff,” Trump told Woodward on February 7.

In a series of interviews with Woodward, Trump revealed that he had a surprising level of detail about the threat of the virus earlier than previously known. “Pretty amazing,” Trump told Woodward, adding that the coronavirus was maybe five times “more deadly” than the flu.

Trump’s admissions are in stark contrast to his frequent public comments at the time insisting that the virus was “going to disappear” and “all work out fine.”

The book, using Trump’s own words, depicts a President who has betrayed the public trust and the most fundamental responsibilities of his office. In “Rage,” Trump says the job of a president is “to keep our country safe.” But in early February, Trump told Woodward he knew how deadly the virus was, and in March, admitted he kept that knowledge hidden from the public.

“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, even as he had declared a national emergency over the virus days earlier. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

(screen captures via CNN)
Instead, Trump’s decisions allowed many Americans to doubt the severity of the virus and nearly 200,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. Even earlier, on January 28 the discussion turned to the coronavirus outbreak in China during a national security briefing with Trump. “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency,” national security adviser Robert O’Brien told Trump. “This is going to be the roughest thing you face.” The new book also includes some tough opinions from many of Trump’s former top national security officials on his presidency. Former Defense Secretary James Mattis is quoted as calling Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” to be commander in chief. Former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said he “continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that Putin had something on Trump.” Woodward writes that Coats felt, “How else to explain the president’s behavior? Coats could see no other explanation.” You can hear some of Trump’s chat with Woodward in the tweet below, and much more on CNN here.

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News Round-Up: September 8, 2020

(via Instagram/GusKenworthy)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy (above) shared some fun pics from the desert this Labor Day weekend complete with shirtless black tutu snap. “This year’s Burning Man was canceled but it didn’t stop us from getting weird in the desert.” • Pink News: Russian ‘Cossack soldiers’ prowled the streets of the Russian city of Yekaterinburg during Pride week attempting to hunt down LGBTQ people. They wound up targeting straight people they thought looked queer. • Stat News: A large, Phase 3 study testing a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford at dozens of sites across the U.S. has been put on hold due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the United Kingdom. • New Music: Grammy nominee Tayla Parx’s playful new music video, “Dance Alone,” has soulful sass and groove to spare. “We’re all stuck inside while coping with being away from loved ones more than usual,” says the native Texan. “We need human connection, but at least when you’re home dancing in your pajamas while blasting your favorite song, you feel a little less alone. You have the music to keep you company.”

• Instinct Magazine: Chasten Buttigieg, husband to former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, shares in his new book I Have Something To Tell You, that he ran away from home as a teen thinking he would only be a disappointment to his parents due to being gay. ” I was so convinced by everything that I had learned for 18 years that I would be a disappointment and the society I grew up in told me that I was twisted and broken.” • Washington Post: Broadway alone accounts for more tickets sold each year than for all of the metropolitan area’s professional sports teams, and the industry pumps on the order of $13 billion annually into the city economy. Check out this thoughtful exploration of what will be involved, and what it will take, to bring Broadway back to life post-pandemic. • The Advocate: A New Jersey man faces both federal and state charges – including malicious use of explosives, unlawful possession of two destructive devices, and unlawful possession of a short-barreled rifle – in connection with an explosion at a gym owned by a female couple. Some in the local LGBTQ+ community suspect it was a hate crime. • InstaHunks II: A few more photos from Gus Kenworthy’s faux Burning Man desert fun…

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Trump Mocks Biden, Reporters For Wearing Face Masks

Donald Trump wearing a face mask

Donald Trump wearing a face mask
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse)
“I’ve never seen a man that liked a mask more.” Watch Donald Trump recently mocked Joe Biden and reporters for wearing face masks in public, even though the CDC’s current COVID-19 public health guidelines say wearing masks can save lives. Watch below from NowThis News.

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LGBTQ Entertainment Critics Honor The Best (And Campiest) In TV

Hugh Jackman, Janelle Monáe, Regina King, Billy Porter, Laverne Cox, Dan Levy, and political satirist John Oliver are among the slew of actors, comics, and performers lending cheer to GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ inaugural Dorians TV Toast 2020 on Revry, airing Sunday, September 13th on the first LGBTQ+ global streaming network Revry. Disclaimer – yours truly is a voting member of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics The two-hour star-studded virtual event, hosted by entertainer and talk show host Karel, will reveal the stars and TV shows the LGBTQ+ organization’s 270 members deemed the best, most visually stunning, and campiest of the past TV season. In addition to raising a glass to the honorees—many of whom will appear via virtual acceptance videos—GALECA members discuss the nominees’ merits and even controversies (Randy Rainbow and Tiger King don’t get off lightly). Actor/producer/co-creator Dan Levy’s riches-to-rags comedy Schitt’s Creek leads the pack with seven nominations, while Hollywood whiz Ryan Murphy’s ambitious, star-studded reimagining of Tinseltown’s early days  – Hollywood – sashays down the red carpet with six nods. HBO’s TV movie Bad Education and daring miniseries Watchmen each have four Dorian nominations, with the respective stars, Jackman and King, earning best performance nominations. Singer and actress Monáe, now seen in the centuries-spanning horror film Antebellum, and Porter share a nomination for TV Musical Performance of the Year for their vibrant opening number in this year’s Academy Awards telecast. For a full list of nominees, spanning 14 categories, head over to DoriansToast.com. You can check out a quick highlights reel from the 2020 Dorian Film Toast, including appearances by Antonio Banderas and Olivia Wilde, below.

Just a few of the presenters for the TV Dorians are: Drag icon Shangela; out news anchor Thomas Roberts; GLEE star Alex Newell; RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars champ Chad Michaels; actress-comedian Margaret Cho; veteran talk radio host Stephanie Miller; legendary saxophonist Dave Koz; actress/singer Lea DeLaria; and iconic comic Bruce Vilanch. The Society’s Dorian Awards, which in the past have gone to both film and television titles combined, announced the nominees for its first separate Dorian TV Awards on June 30. The Dorians are awarded to both general and LGBTQ content, reminding bigots, bullies and at-risk youth that the world looks to the Q eye for leads on great entertainment. “With September being Suicide Prevention Month and next month being LGBTQ History Month, this is a lovely and loving time to celebrate not just great television, but also how ‘rainbow’ journalists have boosted Hollywood from day one,” said John Griffiths, GALECA.org’s Executive Director and Founder. The show will air Sunday, Sept. 13 at 8pm EST, 5pm PST for free on Revry, the LGBTQ+ streaming network, available globally at watch.revry.tv.

Celebrities set to appear: Hugh Jackman Regina King Rafael Casal Margaret Cho Laverne Cox Lea DeLaria Harvey Guillén Dave Koz Dan Levy Damon Lindelof Chad Michaels Stephanie Miller Annie Murphy Michael Musto Alex Newell John Oliver Janell Monáe Billy Porter Shangela Thomas Roberts Fiona Shaw Josh Thomas Jane Velez-Mitchell Bruce Vilanch Kate Rose Wilburn GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards, a nonprofit professional organization, was founded in 2009. Today, GALECA consists of 270 active critics and journalists who write on entertainment for major and distinctly unique media outlets in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. Visit GALECA.org for more info, and follow us @DorianAwards on Twitter and Facebook, and @Dorian_Awards on Instagram. 

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Daily Dance: InstaHunk Dr. Gerald Fitzgerald

Dr. Curtis Fitzgerald throws down some salsa dancing

Dr. Curtis Fitzgerald throws down some salsa dancing
(screen captures via Instagram)
As we all head back to work after the holiday weekend, let’s remember to take a minute to dance every now and then. Check out InstaHunk Dr. Curtis Fitzgerald serve up a little salsa as some sassy inspiration. This guy can hit it.

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Georgia: 1,000 Double-Voted In State Primary

(image: Element5 Digital/Pexels)
Georgia’s Secretary of State says 1,000 Georgians voted twice in the June 9 primary, although the double-voting didn’t change the outcome of any races. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday that 1,000 Georgians voted twice in the state’s June 9 primary, a felony that he said will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

These voters returned absentee ballots and then also showed up to vote on election day June 9, Raffensperger said. County election officials are able to stop double-voting most of the time, but they weren’t able to catch everyone.

“A double voter knows exactly what they’re doing, diluting the votes of each and every voter that follows the law,” Raffensperger said during a press conference at the state Capitol. “Those that make the choice to game the system are breaking the law. And as secretary of state, I will not tolerate it.”

Of those, 1,000 voters had returned their absentee ballots to county election offices, and poll workers also allowed them to vote in-person.

In the report, Raffensperger doesn’t note the party affiliation of the double-voters.

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News Round-Up: September 7, 2020

Nicholas Budd lays by the pool in Mykonos

(image via Instagram/Nicholasc_Budd)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: In the wake of Jerry Falwell Jr’s fall from grace thanks to a certain ‘pool boy,’ the hashtag #poolboy has been trending on Instagram like the above pic from UK personal trainer Nicholas Budd. #dang • The Guardian: A new study shows that sports teams that hold Pride Nights and Pride games see a nearly 40% decrease in homophobic language by their players than those in teams that have not held official Pride Nights. • Men’s Health: This guy made a video of more than 120 guys who look better bald showing before and after pics proving you can go bald like a boss. According to Harry James, the host of the YouTube channel, each of these before and after pictures “marks incredible turning points in all of these people’s lives.”

• Instinct Magazine: Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has joined Joe Biden’s transition team. The transition team would help with government appointments and actions during the switchover between administrations were Biden to win the presidency. • Outsports: After literally coming out of a closet in his coming out video last fall, college football player Jaden Vazquez is now helping LGBTQ athletes by co-leading a new Fordham University student-athlete-support group. • Pink News: A man in Perth, Australia, has been jailed for five years after he failed to disclose that he was living with HIV to four sexual partners – all of whom later tested positive for the virus. The 30-year-old, who has not been named to protect the identities of his victims, told the four men that he did not have HIV before having condomless sex with them when he was actually diagnosed with HIV in 2012. • InstaHunks II: Just a couple more #poolboys from the Gram of Insta as we close out Labor Day…