Music Video: Justin Utley Is The Action Hero We Need In ‘American Nightmare’

Justin Utley
Today I’m chatting with OUTMusic Award-winning singer/songwriter Justin Utley who just released his new music video and single, “American Nightmare,” where he plays a Jason Bourne-like action hero taking aim at conversion therapy and the current state of our union’s blind allegiance with political parties and religion. The single, which features an edgy rock-centric sound, is a different genre for the handsome singer who first rose to prominence in the country/pop/Americana realm. Justin explains, “This whole album has been about exploring edgier, darker themes that I’ve always wanted to take on but hadn’t because I was told to stay in my safe zone.” The music video is an adrenaline-driven roller-coaster ride; the track is a powerful rock anthem that perfectly frames Utley’s muscular vocals.

I first interviewed Justin back in 2012 when he had just won two OUTMusic Awards for his debut single, “Stand For Something.” He’s a highly sought-after performer who’s appeared on stages across North America and Europe. Along the way, he has shared the stage with top international acts including Dan Reynolds, Icona Pop, Tegan & Sara, Margaret Cho, and Billy Porter.

Justin Utley (photo: Ryan Bakerink)
In addition to taking stages by storm, Justin has also been an outspoken activist for the LGBTQ community working to outlaw so-called conversion therapy which seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through debunked pseudoscience. Thanks in great part to Justin’s efforts, his state of Utah became the 19th state to prohibit the harmful practice. Justin has appeared as a guest contributor on CNN, NPR, SiriusXM’s OutQ and MSNBC. He is a two-time recipient of the FBI’s “Inspiring Citizen of the Year” award, and “Artist of the Year” by SiriusXM’s OutQ Radio. This past fall, Justin Utley released his third studio album, Scars, a brutally honest, thought-provoking collection of songs. Hit the play button below and listen as I chat with the oh-so-talented Justin Utley.

News Round-Up: March 30, 2020

Ryan Worley of the Chippendales (photo: Noel Photo Studios)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Ryan Worley of the Chippendales (above) says he’s missing performing in the long-running Las Vegas production asking, “Who wants to save a horse?” #RideACowboy • The Advocate: According to a recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of anti-LGBTQ hate groups is continuing to rise. In 2018, there were 49 groups classified as an LGBTQ hate group. In 2019, that number increased 43 percent to 70 anti-LBTQ hate groups. • Entertainment Weekly: Andy Cohen will continue to host Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, coronavirus be damned. Bravo announced Monday that new episodes of the late-night talk show will begin airing Monday at 11 p.m. ET direct from Cohen’s New York City apartment via video chats with his guests. • NowThis: Watch the hilarious way sportscasters are passing the time while they’re out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic by calling play-by-play of daily tasks.

• NewNowNext: Singapore’s High Court has ruled against a challenge to the country’s law criminalizing gay sex, which punishes the act with up to two years in prison. Justice See Kee Oon rejected arguments against Section 377A of the penal code, which not only punishes men who have sex with other men, but also anyone who aids in or attempts to participate in, such an act.  Justice See argued the law “serves the purpose of safeguarding public morality by showing societal moral disapproval of male homosexual acts.” • Daily Beast: A new survey conducted by Ipsos provides some of the clearest evidence to date that the president’s attempts to paint a rosy picture about the coronavirus’ spread throughout the country are not resonating beyond a small segment of the populace with a small exception for those who say they’re getting their information from Fox News. • Buzzfeed: Click over for a collection of some of the best of gay Twitter including…

Italy: Violin Twins Go Viral Covering Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’

Here’s a feel-good moment for your Monday afternoon. These talented twins in Sicily have gone viral with their amazing rendition of Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ during a quarantine lockdown in Italy. Mirko and Valerio, shared the performance on YouTube, along with the caption (translated): “We thought we’d spend a bit of time with you all, from north to south. For us, music is a source of relief, and we hope you guys can use it too.” “‘Viva la Vida’ by Coldplay seemed like the perfect song for this Sunday, full of sunshine and hope.” Watch the viral violin twins’ performance below.

Trump Campaign Threatens TV Stations For Airing Anti-Trump Ad

Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has threatened TV stations they could lose their broadcast licenses for airing an ad criticizing how the Donald has handled the ongoing COVID-19 threat. From Bloomberg News:

President Donald Trump’s campaign, in a letter on Wednesday, told stations in five battleground states to stop showing the ad from Priorities USA, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Failure to remove the ad “could put your station’s license in jeopardy” before the Federal Communications Commission, the campaign said in the letter. “Your station has an obligation to cease and desist from airing it immediately to comply with FCC licensing requirements.”

The letter was sent to stations in presidential battleground/swing states – Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – which are considered vital to Trump’s reelection. The spot, from anti-Trump PAC Priorities USA, shows a graphic of the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. from January 20 to March 22. The audio uses sound bites of Trump downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus threat at the time. “The coronavirus,” Trump says at the beginning, “this is their new hoax.” This is the updated version of the spot released today:

NYC: Homocon Hosts ‘Corona Potluck’ Party During Health Crisis

(image via NY Post)
Gay conservative Lucian Wintrich, who founded ‘Twinks 4 Trump,’ decided the best way for him to cope with the ongoing coronavirus threat was to host a ‘Corona Potluck’ party at his home in New York City’s East Village. “They can’t diagnose us all,” declared Wintrich’s invitation for the March 14 shindig. “Don’t wash your hands. Bring your favorite dish!” The artwork for the invitation included a little boy covered with spots on his face. Note – at the time the invitation was sent the “can’t diagnose us all” part of the invite was true as there was a shortage of COVID-19 tests available. That’s still the case in some parts of the country. “The majority of folks I invited, if they got it, would recover fairly quickly and build up an immunity to the present form of COVID19,” Wintrich told the New York Post. “It was relatively inspired by the chickenpox parties that were all the rage in the 90s.” In the 1990s “chickenpox parties” were a trend among parents as a way to inoculate their children against the chickenpox virus later in life. The idea was to expose their kids to disease while young so they would develop natural immunity, but the practice fell out of favor once a vaccine was developed. Note – Medical experts haven’t confirmed if people develop an immunity to COVID-19 after recovering from the disease. It’s disconcerting that Wintrich says “the majority” of invited friends would recover quickly. So, he invited people who he felt might NOT recover quickly? Admitting the health threat is “serious to a degree,” Wintrich added, “I wouldn’t hang around folks over the age of 50 and risk infecting the more vulnerable.” It’s important to note that while seniors have been identified as being more ‘at risk’ from serious illness due to coronavirus, younger people are not considered ‘safe’ from infection. A 40-year-old attendee of the Winter Party festival in Miami earlier this month died in less than a week from complications due to coronavirus. After founding ’Twinks 4 Trump,’ Wintrich gained dubious notoriety for being briefly credentialed as a White House reporter for the alt-right blog Gateway Pundit. His boss, openly gay Jim Hoft, admitted he sent Wintrich to ask ridiculous questions and basically annoy the White House press corps.
L-R Jim Hoft, Lucien Wintrich (image via Gateway Pundit)
The Post spoke to two attendees of the party to get their perspective on the contrarian approach to the ongoing health threat. One attendee, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid repercussions from friends and co-workers, referenced World War II as part of his rationale for taking part in the event. “When Britain was being bombed by Nazi Germany during the blitz, they kept the f–king stores open. People went about their lives,” they told the Post. “We get a flu … and we shut everything down. … We have completely handed over our civil liberties … and anyone who wants to go out and live a normal life is semi-ostracized.” Brian Alacorn, 24, said he went to the party because “Lucian is my friend and he texted me.” “I thought I shouldn’t, because of the social distancing – but my friends were already outside and I just kinda went.” The event took place after all Broadway theaters had been shut down and the governor had declared a state of emergency. Just hours after the ‘potluck party’ ended the New York City Health Department issued guidelines telling people “even if you are not sick, stay home as much as you can: work from home, study from home and avoid all unnecessary interactions and events.” At this writing, there have been 790 coronavirus-related deaths in New York City alone. (source: New York Post)

Trump Extends Shutdown Guidelines Past ‘Aspirational’ Easter Target

Donald Trump announced an extension of his administration’s “15 days to slow the spread” shutdown guidelines for 30 more days as the reality of increasing coronavirus infections and deaths set in. Public health officials and governors had urged him to change course from lifting the shutdown on Easter Sunday. Via Axios:

The president set April 30 as the new deadline for the social distancing guidelines in a Sunday evening briefing from the White House.

Driving the news: With the original 15-day period that was announced March 16 about to end, officials around the country had been bracing for a premature call to return to normalcy from a president who’s been venting lately that the prescription for containing the virus could be worse than the impacts of the virus itself.

“We had an aspiration” of Easter, Trump said, but when he heard the numbers of potential deaths, he realized he couldn’t push a reopening of the economy as soon as he previously had foreshadowed.

Trump explained his turnaround by saying his government’s modeling shows the peak death rate will likely come in two weeks. He said that 2.2 million people could die if the government did nothing and the public didn’t do the social distancing. “Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won,” he said.

Twitter Shades David Geffen For Socially Tone-Deaf Instagram Post

The Twitterverse threw all kinds of shade at out billionaire David Geffen after he sent ‘stay safe’ regards from his $590 million yacht currently parked in the Caribbean. Wrote Geffen, “Sunset last night…isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I’m hoping everybody is staying safe.” Now, it’s very possible Geffen missed the mark by accident. That his post, with the world in the midst of a planetary crisis, went socially tone-deaf in a humble brag kind of way without meaning to. I mean, we all send out the photo-drone over the yacht to capture our truest sense of concern at sunset, yes? In fairness, Geffen does a lot of great things with his billions including funding several LGBTQ organizations as well as giving financial support to Los Angeles area health clinics, theaters, museums, and charities for the homeless. Let’s not lose sight of that. But folks on Twitter, who might be worried about having jobs when the pandemic comes to an end, weren’t having it. There have been over 10,000 responses to his post so far. See below. p.s. Geffen took his Insta private amid the f*ck ton of shade thrown his way.

Trump Brags On White House TV Ratings After Reviving Press Briefings

Donald Trump
Donald Trump took the time to copy and paste text from a New York Times report about the viewership of the White House daily press briefings since the onset of the COVID-19 threat. It took the Donald four tweets to fit in all the ratings numbers he is so proud of, and then he came back an hour later with yet another ‘ratings tweet.’ An unprecedented number of Americans are contracting a lethal virus and Trump’s takeaway is beating “Bachelor finale” ratings.

Terror Charges For Woman Who ‘Intentionally’ Coughed On $35K Worth Of Groceries

(image via Facebook)
A woman in Pennsylvania entered a Gerrity’s Supermarket on Wednesday afternoon this week and proceeded to intentionally cough on fresh produce, a small section of the bakery, meat case and grocery items, alleges the store’s co-owner Joe Fasula. Writing on the store chain’s Facebook page, Fasula says the woman is known “to be a chronic problem in the community.” “While there is little doubt this woman was doing it as a very twisted prank, we will not take any chances with the health and well-being of our customers,” writes Fasula. “We had no choice but to throw out all of the products she came in contact with. Working closely with the Hanover Township health inspector, we identified every area that she was in, we disposed of the product and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected everything.” Fasula adds, “Although we have not yet quantified the total loss, we estimate the value to be well over $35,000.” “The only silver lining to this travesty is that it gave us the unfortunate opportunity to test our protocols and demonstrate how seriously we take your safety,” said Fasula in closing. “At one point, we had over 15 employees involved in the disposal and clean up.” The Hill is now reporting the woman has been charged for making terrorist threats via her coughing stunt.

Margaret Cirko, 35, allegedly “intentionally contaminated” grocery items by coughing and spitting on them, claiming to be sick while attempting to steal a pack of beer, according to the Hanover Township Police Department.

The incident resulted in the store disposing of $35,000 worth of produce, meat, and other essential items. Cirko was sent to a mental health hospital to be evaluated after her arrest.

Cirko was charged with two felony counts of terroristic threats using a biological agent, one count of criminal mischief, and misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and attempted retail theft.

Dr. Anthony Fauci Talks Real Facts About COVID-19

So, if you want to ask the questions about coronavirus you really want answers to from a world-renowned infectious disease expert without an orange cheeto grandstanding, here’s your chance. Lilly Singh chats with Dr. Anthony Fauci on many of the misconceptions about the virus and knocks down a lot of myths about the ongoing threat. If you want the Cliff Notes version, basically: • Coronavirus is not the flu – it is 10x more lethal. Don’t believe those folks comparing it to the flu. • Coronavirus has a short amount of “hang time” in the air but is mainly transmitted via droplets sneezed or coughed into the air that land on you immediately. • The virus can live on surfaces for different periods of time, more so on metal and plastic, less so on clothing. Wipe down surfaces in your home with disinfectant. • Fauci says respiratory viruses, in general, survive better in cold, dry weather as opposed to hot, moist weather. Regarding coronavirus, scientists aren’t sure but Fauci has hope the warmer weather may help. • Face masks can help but aren’t a sure thing. Fauci estimates they help to the tune of 50% prevention. • There is no cure. There will be no vaccine for a year to a year and a half. There aren’t any drugs proven to help protect against coronavirus. • More men are being diagnosed than women, but no one knows why. Perhaps men have more underlying conditions than women…? • No evidence that Advil makes the virus worse. • Because of the size of the United States, there’s no way to tell how long before things go back to “normal.” Expect several weeks Watch Fauci and Singh chat below in more detail.

(h/t Boy Culture)