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Grindr Hookup Gone Wrong Ends In Murder & Mutilation Charges

Kevin Bacon (image via Facebook)
Mark Latunski, 50, has been charged with one count of murder and one count of mutilation of the body of his alleged victim in a Grindr hookup gone terribly wrong. MLive.com reports that Kevin Bacon (not the actor), 25, of Swartz Creek, Michigan, told his housemate, Michelle Myers, he was meeting a man he’d met on the dating app around 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Bacon then texted Myers at 6:12 p.m. saying he would be out for a while and wasn’t sure when he’d be home. According to Myers, he indicated he was “having fun.” But when the 25-year-old hairstylist was a no-show at his family’s Christmas breakfast, they became concerned. Police eventually found Bacon’s car in a parking lot where a bag containing his phone, clothes, and wallet was discovered. Missing from the scene were his car keys. According to MLive.com, the young man’s body was found on December 28 at Latunski’s home in Shiawassee County’s Bennington Township, 25 miles west of Flint. Police were led to the suspect’s home after some Facebook posts about the home in question were relayed to the Clayton Township Police Department, according to Kevin Bacon’s dad, Karl Bacon. The medical examiner determined Bacon died sometime between late Christmas Eve and early Christmas Day. If found guilty, Latunski faces life in prison.
Mark Latunski (mug shot)
Bacon’s parents, Karl and Pamela Bacon, said at a press conference they didn’t know if their son had any previous contact with Latunski. But the father took issue with the folks at Grindr telling the press “They didn’t give us any info during the initial investigation.” Calling the people in charge at the dating app “rather uncooperative,” the father said,  “There’s no regulation of law on how they operate and how accountable they are to people’s activities on their apps.” “That was our biggest obstacle in this investigation,” said Karl Bacon. “We did not know where he was going and who he was meeting with. If he had relayed that information early on, it may not have been avoided, but it could have been accelerated a lot quicker if we knew who and where.” For its part,  a spokesperson for Grindr issued a statement which read: “We at Grindr are heartbroken to hear about this terrible tragedy, and share our condolences with Mr. Bacon’s family and friends. While for privacy reasons we do not offer public comment on individual user accounts, we remain fully committed to working with law enforcement in the event of any investigation.” The victim’s namesake – Kevin Bacon, the actor – expressed his own condolences on social media writing, “For obvious reasons I’m thinking this morning about the friends and Family of this young person Kevin Bacon. His life was taken from him much too soon. His love was hair dressing. I bet he would have done a great job on this mess on my head. RIP KB.”

This tragic incident, in the wake of previous reports of dating apps being used to lure gay men into dangerous situations, brings to bear the important topic of safety when meeting strangers on such apps. Grindr recently announced new features to protect users’ safety, but are they enough? Some years ago,  a friend told me he always left the web page of a dating website he used open on his laptop when he’d meet up with someone new. His intention was if he went missing people would find the info on his computer. Readers – do you take any specific measures when using dating apps? Tell friends where or who you are meeting? Does anyone have advice on how to help in these situations? Tell us in the comments section. (source: MLive.com)

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Celebratory Sky Lanterns Cause Zoo Fire Killing More Than 30 Animals

(screen capture)
Truly tragic. Sky lanterns released to celebrate the new year are believed to be the cause of a zoo fire that killed at least 30 animals at the Krefeld Zoo in Germany. The AP reports:

A fire raced through a zoo in western Germany in the first few minutes of the new year, killing more than 30 animals, including apes, monkeys, bats and birds, authorities said. Police said paper sky lanterns launched nearby to celebrate the arrival of 2020 were probably to blame.

Several witnesses saw cylindrical paper lanterns with little fires inside flying in the night sky shortly after midnight Wednesday near the Krefeld Zoo, Gerd Hoppmann, the city’s head of criminal police, told reporters.

“People reported seeing those sky lanterns flying at low altitude near the zoo and then it started burning,” Hoppmann said.

The zoo near the Dutch border said its entire ape house burned down and more than 30 animals — including five orangutans, two gorillas, a chimpanzee, and several monkeys — were killed, as well as fruit bats and birds.

Only two chimpanzees were able to be rescued from the flames by firefighters. They suffered burns but are in stable condition, zoo director Wolfgang Dressen said.

 

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Lily Tomlin Officiates Kathy Griffin’s New Year’s Eve Wedding

L-R Kathy Griffin, Lily Tomlin, Randy Bick (screen capture)
Kathy Griffin can look back at 2019 with a smile. And a ring. A wedding ring. On top of releasing her documentary, A Hell of a Story, which chronicled her experiences after sharing her infamous Trump decapitation photo in 2017, she also scored with her latest comedy show, Laugh Your Head Off. And in the last seconds of the year married her longtime boo, Randy Bick, in a New Year’s Eve ceremony officiated by none other than Lily Tomlin. Girl, you ain’t no D-List if Lily Tomlin is presiding over your nuptials. “What was supposed to be a shallow, ‘toot it and boot it’ one-night stand has grown and flourished into something far more meaningful,” says Tomlin at the beginning of the ceremony. “They stayed together. Then they couldn’t stay away from one another.” And they say romance is dead… Griffin shared in a follow-up tweet that her attire for the wedding was the dress she wore on her first date with Bick. “This was our first formal date in September 2011!” she wrote. “We are in the back of a limo provided by the one only @GloriaEstefan because her team arranged for me to surprise her as a back up ‘dancer’ when she performed at the Alma awards!” “I asked Randy to pick out whichever one of my long dresses was his favorite for any reason. He picked out this dress and showed me this photo. Romance is hotttt again.”

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Kansas Cop Faked Story Of McDonald’s Coffee Labeled “F**king Pig”

A police officer in Kansas has admitted he fabricated the story of a McDonald’s employee writing “f**king pig” on his coffee cup. Via KTLA:

A Kansas police officer who initially claimed McDonald’s employees wrote “F—–g pig” on his cup has resigned, the city’s police chief said.

“In (our) investigation we have found that McDonald’s and its employees did not have anything whatsoever to do with this incident, this was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed with our agency,” Herington Police Department Chief Brian Hornaday said in a news conference Monday.

The incident, the chief said, has been an “obvious violation of … public trust.”

“Our job is solely to do this job with the utmost integrity because if you can’t trust the cops, who can you trust,” he said.

After McDonald’s conducted its own investigation, the owner and operator of the Junction City franchise said in a statement the fast-food chain was “glad that the evidence confirmed our evaluation that McDonald’s and our crew members were absolutely not involved.”

The now-fired police officer had been with the department for just two months. After the officer texted the photo of the coffee cup to Hornaday on Saturday, the police chief posted it on his personal Facebook account, which clearly became embarrassing after discovering the story was faked.

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Podcast: Celebrating LGBTQs In 2019 And The 20-Teens

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' As we head into the roaring 20s, I wanted to take a look back at 2019 and the 20-teens to acknowledge the accomplishments, visibility and fierceness that the LGBTQ community has achieved so far in terms of politics, television, movies and pop culture. Hit play as I acknowledge out athletes, representation in film and TV, and legislative achievements by the LGBTQ community.

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Florida Lawyer Suspended Over Social Media Attacks “YOU SICK QUEERS!”

Suspended attorney/failed judicial candidate Don McBath (image via Facebook)
A pro-Trump lawyer (and failed judicial candidate) in Florida has been disciplined by his state’s Supreme Court for homophobic and anti-Muslim comments made on social media. Retired Pasco Country attorney Donald McBath was suspended from practicing law for 91 days after the Florida Bar reviewed several disparaging remarks on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. He was also fined $1,380 for failing “to maintain the dignity appropriate to judicial office and act in a manner that is consistent with impartiality, integrity, and independence of the judiciary,” reports the Tampa Bay Times. Regarding LGBTQ people, McBath tweeted on February 25 this year, “Homosexuality is condemned by Jesus and if the homosexual continues committing that sin of sodomy, his soul faces ETERNAL damnation! Abstain, if you really have that mental illness. It’s not love.” He used big capital letters, so he really must have meant it… In January, he took issue with drag queen story hours in the Sunshine state writing, “YOU SICK QUEERS, leave our innocent children alone.” Taking issue with Muslim people, he tweeted on February 26, 2017, “Never trust a Muslim.” The next month, he fired off, “Muslims are deranged!” In the disciplinary report, the Florida Bar also took note of McBath’s Twitter bio which read (before it was suspended): “100% Trump supporter #MAGA; #KAG; proud DEPLORABLE; Pro-God; Christian; Pro-Life; Pro-Gun; Anti-Sharia; Constitutional Conservative; Former Major US Army.” During his candidacy for judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit last year (which he lost in the primary by 16+ points), he owned up to the comments but told the Tampa Bay Times his social media remarks wouldn’t prevent him from treating LGBTQ or Muslim people fairly if they appeared in his courtroom. Riiiiight… This isn’t McBath’s first trip to the disciplinary rodeo as an attorney. In 1997, he was admonished for not competently representing a client. In 2002, he was publicly reprimanded for trust account violations. He was suspended for 21 days in 2007 for filing frivolous paperwork in a divorce case, and in 2014 he was admonished for threatening an opposing party in a cease and desist letter. (source: Tampa Bay Times)

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New Boo Sent His Nudes To A Lot Of Guys – Does It Bother You?

As the world grows bigger and bigger thanks to the internet, parts of our lives make their way out onto the interwebs. The ‘Dear Prudence’ advice column over at Slate received a question about how to handle the news that a new-ish boyfriend has shared his naked pics (and video) with what seemed like too many guys in the past. The writer (male, 22) says he’s been dating his boo (male, 24) for five months and the bf recently shared that he’d sent his naked self to over 100 guys over the past few years before the couple got serious. The bf says he’s since deleted the pics he received over the years and isn’t sharing pics anymore. But the writer still finds the news unsettling as it bothers him that “1) so many people have seen such a sensitive part of him; 2) if he sent it to that many people, odds are that there is some content of him online and still in the hands of many people; and 3) these people still follow him on social media, know who I am from his posts, and know that we are together.” Apparently, sending nude pics is a foreign dynamic for the advice seeker and doesn’t understand why his now-steady “would want to do that to so many, even when single.” Scrolling on Twitter recently, the questioner saw a nude photo on Twitter, and it somehow came up that his boyfriend had exchanged pics with that guy. Color the 22yo officially freaked out. The writer wonders how he can stay in the relationship without “being miserable and thinking about how many people his steady has sent nudes to?” ‘Prudence’ gets down to brass tacks in her response: “Before you and your boyfriend got serious, he was a single adult who enjoyed sharing photos of his body with other adults.” Prudie acknowledges that new relationships can open up “fears and insecurities” for folks but reminds the young man that no one did anything wrong. In that the number of people who have seen the boyfriend naked seems to bother the young man, Prudence asks, “What number of people that have seen him naked would have made you feel comfortable? What’s the correct number of people he should have sent nudes to?” The final words of wisdom from Prudie encourage the young gay to communicate with his bf about his fears as well as finding “a way to let go of your desire to control his past.” When I first met my husband many years ago, he shared some of his sexual history with me and it turned out he’d had much more experience than I. I remember it kind of gave me pause at the time. I wondered if I might be too ‘vanilla’ or not adventurous/experienced enough for him. This was back in the 1990s and I got over my concerns. Twenty-five years later, we’re very secure in our relationship, but I remember feeling those insecurities. Today, with all our new-fangled technology and dating apps, sharing pics among gay men seems de rigueur. What do you think, readers? Would it bother you to find out over 100 men had seen your guy naked? Or is this to be expected today? Let me know in the comment section. (image via Depositphotos)

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Hypocrisy: Homophobic WWE Wrestler Lars Sullivan Has A Gay Porn Past

WWE wrestler Lars Sullivan back in his RandyBlue days and today (images via Wikipedia)
It seems the year 2019 just wouldn’t end without one more example of homophobic hypocrisy. WWE wrestler Lars Sullivan (real name Dylan Miley) has had a heck of a year after a slew of sexist, racist and homophobic comments he made on Bodybuilding.com message boards some years ago came to light. In June, he suffered a knee injury taking him out of the ring for an estimated 6-9 months. And now, some sharp-eyed Reddit users have discovered Sullivan also used to do gay porn under the pseudonym ‘Mitch Bennett.’  A profile was found on RandyBlue.com for the performer listing two photos and two videos, and it certainly looks like Sullivan. This Twitter user found the introductory moments of “Mitch” in action.

There’s a bit more of where that scene led here (NSFW) that doesn’t get too down and dirty. It won’t surprise you that Sullivan’s Twitter account has since been deleted. All of this follows the wrestler’s very tumultuous months after his internet troll comments came back to haunt him. According to Sports Illustrated, several years ago Sullivan posted offensive comments under two usernames (“ElPerfecto” and “Disenfranchised”) but using a photo of himself. The comments, made between 2007 and 2013, included sexist remarks about WWE executive Stephanie McMahon, racist comments regarding another user, and homophobic insults about NFL quarterback Phillip Rivers.  Here’s just a sample of what the homophobic remarks were like: “Philip Rivers = Crybaby b*tch and is extremely gay. Most of California, especially sothern cal, is gay. Fits well. Hell ‘Philip’ is a gay name in itself!@” Turns out he had disparaging thoughts regarding Hispanics, Muslims and other wrestlers as well. He also once shared that “there is a grey area when it comes to the definition of rape.” Sullivan was fined $100,000 by the WWE based on breaking a morality clause in his contract, and issued an apology. “There is no excuse for the inappropriate remarks that I made years ago,” said Sullivan in a statement released by the WWE. “They do not reflect my personal beliefs nor who I am today, and I apologize to anyone I offended.” And now, his gay porn past comes back into focus. “The guilty dog barks the loudest.” Just to be clear – there’s nothing wrong with being gay; there’s nothing wrong with doing gay porn; but I do have a problem with folks making homophobic comments to sooth their own self-loathing when they’ve taken money earned from the gay community. (Source: Sports Illustrated, RingsideNews)

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News Round-Up: December 30, 2019

Steve_in_la (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: For some #ManCrushMonday action, I’m checking in with woofy Steve_in_la (above) who’s on the most fab European holiday trip. Check him out in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. I don’t know who’s more gorgeous – Steve or the Palace… 🙂 • CBS News: Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia fired a group of recently graduated corrections officers Monday after they made a gesture resembling a Nazi salute in their class photo. Justice also fired a staffer at the state’s corrections officer academy and suspended four instructors without pay for failing to report the picture. In a statement, Justice said, “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on my watch in any agency of State government.” • Washington Post: Over the course of his presidency, Trump has visited a Trump-owned or branded property on three out of every 10 days. Slightly more: Of the 1,075 days on which he has been president, he has visited Mar-a-Lago or a Trump Something-or-other on 331 of them, 31 percent of the time. Note – At a rally on Aug. 8, 2016, Trump assured the audience that, “because I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go play golf.” • Politico: Peter Strzok, the former FBI agent who launched the bureau’s Russia probe in 2016 and was fired two years later for sending text messages critical of Donald Trump, has alleged in a new court filing challenging his dismissal that the FBI and Justice Department violated his rights to free speech and privacy. • Gallup: Barack Obama and Donald Trump tied this year as the most admired man. It is Obama’s 12th time in the top spot versus the first for Trump. Michelle Obama is the most admired woman for the second year in a row. • NewNowNext: After returning to the West End production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, drag star Bianca Del Rio was not having a woman in the audience who filmed the first act of the musical on her phone, which was noticed by the cast of the show, including Bianca. “Dear blonde bitch with glasses, Thanks for distracting the ENTIRE CAST and SEVERAL PEOPLE AROUND YOU as you filmed during all of ACT ONE with your phone in your hand. This is not a concert, theme park or even a cruise ship… it’s THE THEATRE! RESPECT IT!”

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Study: Gay & Bisexual Couples Owned By Dogs Have Stronger Relationships

Yes, you could say we are ‘dog people’
A new study by pet-sitting company Rover.com found gay and bisexual couples say their relationships are stronger as a result of adopting dogs.

• 56% said having a dog meant that they spent more time together

• Those gay/bi couples also see dog ownership as a greater commitment to their other half than setting up a joint bank account

• 21% of gay and bi couples were more likely to have a “pet-nup” in place versus just 12% of straight couples

Over a third of all respondents – gay or straight – said they would not date anyone who was not a self-confessed “dog person.” True dat. There were also a few downsides noted to having a dog:

• 17% of couples said they had less sex because their dog now shares the bed with them

• A third said they leave the house separately so there’s always someone home to take care of their pup