L-R Jim Parsons and Matt Bomer in ‘The Boys in the Band’ (image via Netflix) Some news items you might have missed: • EW: Netflix has released the first look photos (above) of the upcoming movie version of the acclaimed Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band set to premiere September 30. The cast of the Tony Award-winning production is reuniting for the film including The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, The Sinner’s Matt Bomer, NOS4A2’s Zachary Quinto, Black Monday’s Andrew Rannells and Tuc Watkins, Teen Wolf’s Charlie Carver, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Michael Benjamin Washington. • Washington Blade: The State Department has stubbornly appealed a federal judge’s ruling that said it must recognize the U.S. citizenship of a gay Maryland couple’s daughter who was born in Canada via surrogate. Section 301(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that states “a baby born abroad to married parents is a U.S. citizen at birth when both parents are U.S. citizens and one of them has resided in the United States at any point prior to the baby’s birth.” Both parents are citizens, both had resided in the U.S. • Vice: A member of a Facebook group dedicated to taking pictures of loaded weapons pointed at their d*cks finally shot himself in the balls, according to photos and video he posted on social media. The apparent point of the private group Facebook group “Loaded Guns Pointed at [B]enis” is to somehow ‘trigger the libs.’ I’m not sure how shooting your own junk ‘owns the libs,’ but you do you, boo.
Now these MAGA dolts are pointing guns at their dicks with the safeties off and their fingers on the trigger to own the libs. I fucking hate it here. pic.twitter.com/O1vVUldLn5
• Journal Sentinel: Vandals burned a Joe Biden yard sign, a Pride flag and an American flag at a home in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. “I think it was (a) hate crime ‘cuz someone started the pride flag on fire,” the owner said. “We felt targeted.” • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s round-up of the latest in local LGBTQ publications. • Washington Post: Trump’s latest attempt to shield his tax records from the Manhattan district attorney was rejected Thursday by a federal judge, who said Trump’s legal team failed to show the subpoena was issued “in bad faith.” • CNN: Anderson Cooper spoke with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell about his campaign for an herbal “cure” for COVID-19 called oleandrin based on the oleander plant. Lindell has no background in medicine or science, but he does donate big bucks to the GOP and is a member of Donald Trump’s inner circle. Oh, and Lindell was added to the board of (and received a financial stake in) Phoenix Biotechnology, which produces the supplement. Trump is now touting the supplement as well.
Anderson Cooper tears into the MyPillow guy for pushing unproven coronavirus therapeutic as a “miracle” cure:
“You have no medical background. You are not a scientist… You are now on the board and going to make money… How are you different than a snake oil salesman?” pic.twitter.com/6cQIn1FYpA — Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 18, 2020
Paulo Batista (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy transgender bodybuilder Paulo Batista (above) is literally pumped to be back in the gym: “One of my first days back to a gym in a while! It felt great to get a real pump and sweat in!” • Buzzfeed News: Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling doubled down on her recent anti-transgender comments, releasing an extensive statement about her fears of “current trans activism,” which recycles dangerous anti-trans stereotypes and cliches. #DeeplyDisappointing • People: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper opens up about being a dad to adorable baby Wyatt. “This is a dream come true,” the veteran journalist says of parenthood. • Pride Month TV: The acclaimed documentary, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, celebrates one of the icons of the gay rights movement, and the self-described “street queen” of NY’s gay ghetto in the 1960s. When Johnson’s body was found in the Hudson River in 1992, police called it a suicide and didn’t investigate. David France’s film seeks to uncover the truth of her death while celebrating her legacy. Streaming now on Netflix.
• The Hill: The final testing stage for a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by Moderna is set to begin in July. John Mascola, the director of the vaccine research center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Wall Street Journal the trials will involve about 30,000 people at more than 50 sites, which will mostly be within the U.S. • Washington Post: Last week, the hashtag #LadyGraham exploded on social media in response to allegations made on Twitter by gay adult-film star Sean Harding against Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina. The hashtag purportedly refers to Graham’s nickname among male sex workers. What followed has been a mixed bag of political commentary, wanton speculation and downright trolling. • Politico: The Trump administration is preparing to open the door to oil and gas drilling off Florida’s coast — but will wait until after the November election to avoid blowback in a swing state whose waters both parties have long considered sacrosanct, according to four people familiar with the plan. • Out Music: Acclaimed out singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright drops his latest music video, “You Ain’t Big,” from his upcoming album Unfollow the Rules. “I originally wrote the song “You Ain’t Big” about the strange fact that in the music business worldwide until recently (our estimation has fallen considerably) no matter how well you’ve done anywhere else, if you couldn’t make it in the heartland of the US you weren’t really considered a true star,” shares Wainwright. “Think Little Richard, Elvis, the Beatles, and Julio Iglesias.” “Its vintage sound harkens back to the classical American country music sound of the 40s and 50s and with the help of opposing images in the video of how different life was for white people compared to black people in the 1950’s, as it has sadly remained,” adds the two-time Juno Award winner. “I think it rings appropriate for this time and professes a certain truth.”
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper (via Instagram) Out CNN anchor Anderson Cooper Zoomed into Howard Sterns’ radio show this week to chat on the news of Cooper’s new son, Wyatt, who was born on April 27. Along with the ‘proud dad’ announcement, Cooper has publicly shared that his ex-boyfriend, Benjamin Maisani, will co-parent Wyatt. Since the couple broke up over two years ago, the news surprised some folks. So, Howard went right to it asking: “Don’t you want a clean break from this guy?” Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisani (via Instagram) Cooper’s response was both moving and disarmingly candid. “I don’t really have a family, so my friends become my family,” said the 52-year-old journalist. “And this is somebody that I was involved with for 10 years. He’s a great guy.” “We didn’t work out as a couple, but when I was a little kid, it was just my mom and my brother,” he continued. “But it was my mom and she was not the most parental person.”
Cooper’s mother was acclaimed artist, fashion designer and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, who passed away last summer at the age of 95. His father, Wyatt Emory Cooper, died in 1978 when Anderson was just 10-years-old. His brother, Carter, died after committing suicide ten years later in 1988. “I wish some adult, after my dad died, had stepped in, and just been like, you know what? I’ll take you to a ball game, or let’s go out to lunch every now and then, and let’s just talk,” he shared. “No one ever did that.” “And so I thought, if something happens to me – or even if something doesn’t happen to me –if more people love my son and are in his life, I’m all for that,” he said. “My ex is a great guy and it’s good to have two parents if you can.” Considering the two-parent status, Sterns asked, “Are you both going to be ‘dad?’” “Well, my ex is French, his name is Benjamin, so he’s going to speak to him in French and he’s going to be like, ‘papa,’” explained Cooper. “And I think I’ll be ‘dad’ or ‘daddy.’” “He’s already speaking French to him, I have no idea what he’s saying,” he added before joking, “He could be turning the kid against me, I don’t know.” I’ll say I completely understand Anderson’s thinking, and he knows he can trust Benjamin. Good on him.
In this week’s headlines: • Brazil changes course on regulations that limit gay and bisexual me from donating blood • A gay couple in Tulsa speaks out after a neighbor posts anti-LGBTQ signs his front yard • Germany bans so-called ‘conversion therapy’ for minors • Out CNN anchor Anderson Cooper announces he’s become a dad • Two ground-breaking stars in their respective fields – rock and roll pioneer Little Richard and magician Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy – pass away All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
Michael Brown (screen capture via YouTube) Anti-LGBTQ activist Michael Brown scolds Anderson Cooper for having a child in an op-ed on CharismaNews.
Dear Anderson,
Isn’t it an amazing feeling to be a father? To know that the precious little baby that you hold in your arms is, in a real sense, your own flesh and blood? That in a unique way, he carries part of you in his very life and soul? Yet when I saw the announcement of his birth, I felt sadness more than happiness. Sadness for him and for you.
Anderson, a boy deserves his mother, yet if I understand your plan correctly, your son will not be raised together by her and by you. That’s what saddens me the most.
To be clear, I don’t believe that you simply chose to be gay one day. I don’t believe that any more than I “chose” to be straight.
And I don’t mean that you won’t try to be an amazing dad. And a devoted dad. And a caring dad.
[snip]
In many ways, you are a private person, and I’m not trying to intrude in your life. And you may simply write me off as a hateful gay basher.
But it is love that compels me to write. What is best for Wyatt Morgan Cooper?
Brown has a longtime antagonistic history with the LGBTQ community. From railing at Netflix because the streaming company wouldn’t let a so-called ‘straight pride’ organization use their logo for advertising, to calming evangelicals that Donald Trump still hates gays even though he tweeted about Pride Month, to leading a hate march during Charlotte, North Carolina’s Pride Parade. So, yeah, I’m definitely writing him off as “a hateful gay basher.” Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck… (h/t JoeMyGod)
CNN’s Anderson Cooper welcomes his son Wyatt Morgan Cooper to the world (images via Instagram) CNN anchor Anderson Cooper shared with his audience at the end of his show last night that he became a dad Monday night. “I’m a dad” he proudly said. “I have a son and I want you to meet him.” In an Instagram post featuring Wyatt Morgan Cooper, Anderson wrote, “I want to share with you some joyful news. On Monday, I became a father. This is Wyatt Cooper. He is three days old. He is named after my father, who died when I was ten. I hope I can be as good a dad as he was.” Cooper goes on to share that Wyatt’s middle name is Morgan, which he chose because he recently found a list his parents made 52 years ago when thinking up names for Anderson. “Wyatt Morgan Cooper. My son. He was 7.2 lbs at birth, and he is sweet, and soft, and healthy and I am beyond happy.” He adds that, growing up knowing he was gay, he “never thought it would be possible to have a child, and I’m grateful for all those who have paved the way, and for the doctors and nurses and everyone involved in my son’s birth.” Anderson also thanked the surrogate who carried Wyatt and watched over him during those months. “I do wish my mom and dad and my brother, Carter, were alive to meet Wyatt, but I like to believe they can see him,” Anderson said in closing. “I imagine them all together, arms around each other, smiling and laughing, happy to know that their love is alive in me and in Wyatt, and that our family continues.” Congratulations to Anderson and his entire family as they welcome Wyatt to the world.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman speaks to CNN’s Anderson Cooper (screen capture) News watchers were glued to their screens this afternoon as Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper regarding opening up the city’s businesses in spite of the ongoing coronavirus threat. From CNN:
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman on Wednesday repeatedly called for the city’s businesses to reopen while refusing to provide any social distancing guidelines on how to do so safely.
“I am not a private owner. That’s the competition in this country. The free enterprise and to be able to make sure that what you offer the public meets the needs of the public,” Goodman, an independent, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
“Right now, we’re in a crisis health-wise, and so for a restaurant to be open or a small boutique to be open, they better figure it out. That’s their job. That’s not the mayor’s job.”
On Tuesday, during an interview with MSNBC’s Katy Tur, Goodman said, “What I assume is that everybody is a coronavirus carrier — that 100% of our population is asymptomatic, but a carrier. My whole opinion is: get our people back to work.” Goodman added, ”Assume everybody is a carrier. And then you start from an even slate. And tell the people what to do. And let the businesses open and competition will destroy that business if, in fact, they become evident that they have disease, they’re closed down. It’s that simple.”
Mayor Goodman, pushing to reopen Las Vegas, says the city has survived diseases such as E. coli and bird flu.@KatyTurNBC: "Those were not as contagious." Goodman: “We’ll find out the facts afterwards." Tur: "Those are the facts; we have a death toll that proves it." pic.twitter.com/8iN0EqExJ0
The problem with that approach is, of course, it can take weeks for it to become evident a restaurant or casino has become an epicenter for the disease. Cooper and Goodman spoke for a lengthy 15 minutes that seemed to ricochet from angle to angle. Nearly halfway through the segment, Cooper attempted to explain how businesses in China are rearranging seating to try and tamp down infections, but as he brought up a graphic of a seating arrangement, Goodman replied, “This isn’t China, this is Las Vegas.” Cooper could only offer up, “Wow, that’s really ignorant.”
Anderson Cooper: You're talking about encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to come to Las Vegas … smoking, drinking, touching slot machines, breathing circulated air, doesn't that sound like a virus petri dish?!
Cooper: Chinese researchers have shown how this virus spreads
Mayor: You are tough. This isn't China, this is Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cooper: Wow, OK, that's really ignorant. That's an ignorant, ignorant statement. That's a restaurant, yes in China, but they are human beings too. pic.twitter.com/w1Ec00jsIl
Las Vegas Mayor offers city as "control group", "we offer to be a control group" to see how many people die without social distancing. pic.twitter.com/NESE2hActE
BRAVO to Anderson Cooper for exposing the selfish, ignorant stupidity of Las Vegas Mayor Goodman, who somehow thinks it's OK to expose visitors and citizens to virtual petri dishes by reopening too early.
“We’ve had viruses for years” — Las Vegas mayor Goodman is completely oblivious to the reality that coronavirus is mainly a public health crisis & not just a business problem. It’s amazing people like this get elected to positions of great responsibility. pic.twitter.com/KdA0s21Bey
Las Vegas Mayor says time to reopen the city, let private businesses compete for which business can drive the least viral spread. pic.twitter.com/E00wH6Yv74
The Mayor of Las Vegas @mayoroflasvegas didn't do herself any favors with that interview with Anderson Cooper. Ma'am, you can't call for opening casinos and hotels without a plan to keep your citizens safe. Their safety is your job. pic.twitter.com/B69XPRqzTA
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman is on CNN calling for people to flock there. Anderson Cooper asks: What about social distancing? Goodman: Casinos will figure that out. Cooper: Won't tourists spread the virus? Goodman: People know when they're sick. (Um, asymptomatic carriers)
Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman, who has been openly advocating for Vegas casinos and hotels to completely open up, literally tells Anderson Cooper she has no responsibility to figure out how to do it safely.
This is seriously must-see TV. CNN’s Anderson Cooper spars with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who calls himself a “political prisoner” days after being pardoned by President Trump. Normally, I try and condense the news here on The Randy Report, so I don’t post 11-minute videos very often. But this is quite something. Blagojevich’s sentence was commuted earlier this week by Trump after the Democrat (and former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant) had served eight years of a 14-year sentence for pay-for-play crimes. You may recall the former governor was caught on tape admitting he planned to ‘sell’ President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. At one point in last night’s interview, Blagojevich states he wants to work on reforming the criminal justice system. Cooper found that to be laughable. “It’s a little ironic, and frankly a little sad and pathetic and hypocritical, you talking about getting a commutation of a sentence, which is within the president’s right, but you ignored a whole hell of a lot of other people who were hoping you might give them clemency when you actually mattered,” said Cooper. At the end of the fiery interview, here’s Cooper’s summation:
“Look, I have no problem with you getting out. The president can commute whoever he wants. I just think you’re besmirching prosecutors who actually are no longer in government.
“But prosecutors are important in our system and you are going after the very basis of our justice system. Part of the thing is you got out – you do have an obligation to at least admit what you did wrong and you refuse to do that and you’re creating a whole new alternate universe of facts.“And that may be big in politics today, but it’s still frankly just bullshit.”
Ellen DeGeneres (screen capture) Apple TV+ will debut a powerful, new five-part documentary-series titled Visible: Out On Television on February 14 that will explore how the LGBTQ movement made its way onto the television landscape. Executive produced by out actors Wanda Sykes and Wilson Cruz, the docu-series will feature archival footage as well as interviews with prominent players from the screen and LGBTQ movement. Each hour-long episode will focus on a specific theme such as coming out in Hollywood, homophobia, invisibility and the evolution of LGBTQ characters on TV. Wilson Cruz, Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Cohen Narrated by Neil Patrick Harris, Lena Waithe, Janet Mock, Margaret Cho, and Asia Kate Dillon, Visible: Out On Television will also feature interviews with out actors and television personalities including Ellen DeGeneres, Anderson Cooper, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Billy Porter, Rachel Maddow, Don Lemon, Andy Cohen and more.
The trailer opens with DeGeneres explaining how she wanted to come out on her 1990s sitcom and the effect that had on so many lives: “It became bigger than any of us ever anticipated.” “The earliest representations were always people to be mocked,” recalls Cooper. Andy Cohen adds, “The truth is there was no LGBT presence on TV that I can remember.” On the importance of seeing LGBTQ people on TV, iconic talk show queen Oprah Winfrey drops, “When you see images that are reflective of your own life, it is a reminder that your own life matters.” And Lena Waithe shares this compelling epiphany, “I didn’t realize that I was the revolution that I was waiting for.” Boom. Visible: Out On Television premieres February 14 on Apple TV+.
SNL alum Cheri Oteri as ‘Barbrsa Walters’ on NYE While it was fun to see SNL alum Cheri Oteri revive to her ‘Barbara Walters’ persona for New Year’s Eve, it was even more hysterical watching Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper laugh uncontrollably during the clip.
