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
(screen capture via HBO) Some news stories you might have missed: • NPR: A new survey from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows more than a third of Americans (35%) say they won’t get vaccinated when a vaccine comes available; 60% say they will. The poll also indicates former Vice President Joe Biden now leads Donald Trump 53% to 42%, up from an 8-point advantage at the end of June. • Instinct Magazine: From the director of Call Me By Your Name, HBO announces We Are Who We Are (screen cap above), premiering September 14, a new coming-of-age story about two American teenagers who live on an American military base with their parents in Italy.
• Billings Gazette: Kanye West’s sad, inconsequential bid for the White House is being funded/directed by the Trump campaign to siphon off Black votes from Joe Biden. “You want to help Trump?” one of the organizers called out. “We’re trying to take votes away from creepy Uncle Joe.” • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in local LGBTQ publications like Get Out!’s latest issue encouraging folks to ‘Flex Your Vote.’ (via GetOut!) • Variety: AMC Theatres, for one day only, will offer tickets to select movies for only 15 cents, roughly the equivalent of what it cost to watch a movie in 1920. That’s the year that the company’s founders began operations in Kansas City, Missouri. Note – the offer will be for legacy titles such as “Black Panther” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” • Twitter: Out Teen Wolf/Arrow star Colton Haynes has put in his bid to play the super-hero Iceman in the upcoming reboot of the X-Men movie franchise after hearing rumors Shia LeBeouf was being vetted for the role. Haynes shared a gif of the mutant hero with an emoji of a young guy raising his hand. I totally see Haynes in the role.
Men’s saunas may make a comeback in San Francisco Some news items you might have missed: • Gay Star News: San Francisco may finally see gay bathhouses return thanks to the city relaxing rules it brought in at the height of the AIDS crisis. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the city’s governing council, voted unanimously on Tuesday to remove the restrictions on saunas in hopes that the businesses will now ‘reopen as part of the city’s COVID-19 economic recovery’. • Meidas Touch: A Democratic super PAC is launching an anti-President Trump ad that uses former President Reagan’s comments in a 1980 presidential debate when he was challenging then-President Carter. The ad is set to air exclusively on Fox News over the course of the next week and features Reagan’s famous debate moment when he asked the country if it was “better off” than it was four years ago.
• Queerty: Actresses Indya Moore and Angelica Ross, of FX’s Pose, have criticized the Emmy Nominations, just one day after their announcement. The two transgender actresses attacked the Television Academy for ignoring the trans performers on the show, and lashed out at the show’s network, FX, for a lack of promotion. • KIT212: Kenneth helps us all over Hump Day with his latest installment of ‘Wrestle Wednesday’ (below). • Boy Culture: When the man who wrote Encyclopedia Madonnica 20: Madonna from A to Z, literally THE BOOK on Madonna, calls the international superstar out over COID-19 batshittery, you know it’s serious. • The Gaily Grind: Four plainclothes NYC police officers were caught on video jumping out of an unmarked grey Kia minivan in broad daylight, snatching an 18-year-old transgender protester off the street, wrestling her to the ground, and throwing her into the vehicle before speeding away from the intersection.
NYC is taking after Portland – a trans femme protestor was pulled into an unmarked van at the Abolition Park protest – this was at 2nd Ave and 25th Street pic.twitter.com/1PDhSYuK9h
Broadway star Norm Lewis Some news items you might have missed: • What To Watch This Weekend: I’ll definitely be watching Tony Award nominee and all-around super-talent Norm Lewis in concert with SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. Broadway audiences know the oh-so-handsome Lewis from his performances in Phantom of the Opera, Once on This Island, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago and more. Continue reading “News Round-Up: July 17, 2020”
Snoopy the wonder dog Some news items you might have missed: • Snoop Watch: Our new 14-year-old beagle rescue, Snoopy, is doing great (above). After having some tumors removed last week, he got some stitches out today. Plus, he had an adventure at PetSmart on the way home, so he’s a bit tuckered out. But awesome 🙂 • The Advocate: Have you heard the one about Brazil’s virulently homophobic president who was so resistant to wear a face mask during the coronavirus pandemic he told aides, “Masks are for fa**ots?” Oh, and then he tested positive for COVID-19. #LifeComesAtYouFast • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the best of local LGBTQ rags including this week’s Music Issue of California-based Gloss Magazine: • Instinct Magazine: Chicago’s LGBTQ neighborhood, currently known as ‘Boystown,’ may get a new genderless moniker if a Change.org petition has its way. • Baltimore Sun: Packed elevators, crowded committee rooms, and legislators sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the House and Senate floor. All without a mask in sight. Those were common scenes at the Mississippi Capitol in June and now at least 26 lawmakers have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in the biggest known outbreak in any state legislature in the nation. • Las Vegas: I’m so glad someone posted this video to YouTube so I can share it without linking to this idiot woman’s Facebook. ‘Las Vegas Karen’ and her friend came to my town, Las Vegas, and were gobsmacked to learn they have to wear masks around people. She refused and began Facebook Live streaming her exit where she declares face masks are worse than coronavirus and Dr. Anthony Fauci recently said they are ‘symbolic’ and don’t do anything useful (he didn’t say that). With security guards trying to escort them out, they protest how their constitutional rights are being violated (they aren’t) and how it’s illegal to require masks in casinos and restaurants (it’s not). Have you ever heard “No shirt, no shoes, no service?” Miss Karen, there’s no constitutional right to gamble in a casino…ok?
Gustavo Naspolini (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Gustavo Naspolini (above) knows how to find his ‘post-beach/sunset light’ on the Rehoboth boardwalk. • Pink News: The Netherlands’ House of Representatives voted 124 to 26 in favor of a measure to amend the country’s constitution to add explicit protections based on sexual orientation. The measure now heads to the 75-seat upper chamber of the country’s Parliament. In 2001, the Netherlands was the first nation in the world to legalize marriage equality. • Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro, the virulently anti-LGBTQ leader of the South American country who recently tested positive for COVID-19, told aides and visitors to his office that “Wearing masks is a faggot thing.” • WHJL: Sonya Holt, the homophobic Tennessee resident who became a viral sensation after footage of her harassing a Black Lives Matter protester went viral, has lost her job over her hideous behavior. Among other things, video captured Holt telling a protester, “You’re a gay homosexual piece of crap who’s going to burn in hell.” • The Advocate: In a decision that has broad implications for LGBTQ+ workers, the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday ruled that federal anti-discrimination laws do not apply to teachers at church-sponsored schools if instruction in religion is part of their jobs. In recent years, there have been many teachers and other church employees fired for being LGBTQ+, often because they had married a same-sex partner. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Check out this deft parody of the now-infamous Corey Hannon, who took to the beaches of Fire Island this past weekend believing he had COVID-19. In a follow-up tweet, Chase shared that many of his followers on Twitter didn’t get the ‘parody’ part. LOL
Joel Green (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Wise words of the day from fitness guy Joel Green (above) – “It’s not about your reflection, it’s what you see beyond it.” #DreamBigger • Washington Blade: Sara Hegazy, 30, an LGBTQ rights activist from Egypt who was arrested for raising a rainbow flag during a 2017 concert in Cairo died by suicide on Sunday at her home in Canada. She was reportedly tortured for months in prison before an Egyptian court ordered her release on bail in January 2018. • KIT212: Kenneth’s weekly ‘Wrestle Wednesday’ (below) is really worth the click 🙂 (via kenneth-in-the-212) • CNN: Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was pushed to the ground by two Buffalo, New York police officers earlier this month, has a fractured skull and is still unable to walk, his lawyer said in a statement provided to CNN. Gugino’s attorney passed along a message from the senior protester: “I think it’s very unnecessary to focus on me. There are plenty of other things to think about besides me.” • NY Daily News: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has issued an order requiring all lawmakers to wear masks in committee hearings after Rep. Tom Rice (R-South Carolina) announced he and several family members have contracted the COVID-19 virus. Rice has refused to wear a mask at House meetings. Pelosi has ordered the Sargeant at Arms to deny entry by any violators. • OMG Blog: RuPaul is so good at ‘Family Feud’ he doesn’t even need to hear the question! Watch below.
Guillaume Cizeron (above right – via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • Out: Olympic medal-winning ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron (above) has come out publicly as gay. Though the athlete, who won a silver medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics never considered himself in the closet prior, having spoken openly to family and his friends about his sexuality, he acknowledges that a new interview in the French-language magazine Tetu is his first time speaking publicly. • TikTok: A teen in North Carolina came out to her mom by making some cupcakes that said “I like girls” and recorded herself surprising her mom with them. The TikTok sharing the moment has more than 3 million views. • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in local gay rags like this month’s issue of DNA Magazine featuring Nick Bracks (below) chatting on his new role as a mental health advocate. Nick Bracks covers the new issue of DNA Magazine • The Advocate: Tony McDade, a Black transgender man, was shot to death by a police officer Wednesday morning in Tallahassee, Fla. McDade, 38, was accused of having fatally stabbed another man just minutes before his own death. • New Music: Lady Gaga released her highly anticipated sixth studio album Chromatica via Interscope Records, which has already debuted at #1 on the iTunes charts in 57 countries. Gaga has previously released duets with Ariana Grande (“Rain On Me” – the biggest Spotify debut of 2020 reaching #1 on the Global and US Spotify charts) and with Blackpink (“Sour Candy” – #1 on iTunes in 53 countries) from the collection. Check out the banging dance collaboration “Sine From Above” with international superstar Elton John below.
• The Hill: Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States is “terminating” its relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) over its response to the novel coronavirus, following through on a threat issued earlier this month. Trump accused the WHO of being under China’s “total control” and of failing to make reforms requested by his administration. The president said he would “redirect” funds promised to the WHO to assist other global health needs. • TechCrunch: SpaceX had just conducted yet another static fire test of the Raptor engine in its Starship SN4 prototype launch vehicle on Friday when the test vehicle exploded on the test stand in Boca Chica, Texas. This was the fourth static fire test of this engine on this prototype, so it’s unclear what went wrong vs. other static fire attempts.
(via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Alexis (above) made me laugh with his observation, “I used to smile in all my mirror selfies…. now I just have to raise my eyebrows.” Life in the pandemic era LOL. Follow him here. • EW: VH1 will broadcast the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race on Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, in what will be its most technically challenging finale yet. The episode will feature the remaining queens competing in a revolutionary lip-sync for the crown and a $10,000 prize. • MetroWeekly: NYC Pride has announced a 50th-anniversary broadcast special on Sunday, June 28, featuring Dan Levy, Janelle Monáe, Billy Porter, and a host of other celebrities and LGBTQ activists. The special replaces the annual Pride March, which was canceled last month due to COVID-19. • KIT212: Kenneth’s round-up of the what’s what in local LGBTQ publications includes BTL’s cover story on Broadway icon Patti LuPone. • NY Post: A new study found men are less likely to wear face masks because they’re ‘not cool’ and ‘a sign of weakness.’ Ironically, men appear to be more severely impacted by the virus. In places such as China, Italy, Spain, and New York City, men have died from COVID-19 at far higher rates than women did. • South China Morning Post: Researchers at the University of Hong Kong, led by Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, recently found that blood plasma from coronavirus survivors could kill 99 percent of the virus in patients still fighting Covid-19 because they contain the necessary antibodies to fight the infection. • New Music: Seven-time Grammy Award-winner Toni Braxton is ready to kick off the summer vibes with her sizzling new track “Dance,” remixed by legendary dance producer Dave Audé. “Instead of being sad about a relationship not working out,” Toni Braxton explains, “you decide to dance your troubles away in the club or alone at home. It’s just about moving forward from a negative situation, whether that’s a relationship, your job or something else holding you back.” The remix for “Dance” comes on the heels of her recently released single “Do It,” which scored the highest radio chart debut of her solo career with record-breaking adds on impact, and is currently closing in on Top 10 at Urban AC.
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