I don’t know who runs the Twitter account for Netflix, but I laughed out loud over this post.
For those who may not know, Blown Away is the new series on Netflix featuring ten contestants in a glass blowing competition. The ultimate winner is crowned “Best in Blow.”
Netflix tweeted this short video today delving into the importance of a “glory hole,” which we all know is a furnace where the glass blowers reheat their glass.
As you can see in the clip, glory holes come up a lot in the show.
“So, when I got in the glory hole…” “We get assigned a glory hole…” “But we had spent too much time outside the glory hole…” “It got too big to go back into the glory hole…”
After three recent mass shootings, I can laugh at some gay-centric humor, ok? LOL
Organizer’s of the so-called ‘Straight Pride Parade’ scheduled for August 31 in Boston, got all butt-hurt after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from streaming giant Netflix informing them to remove their logo from the organizer’s website as a “prospective sponsor.”
The organizers, operating under the name ‘Super Happy Fun America,’ included Netflix along with dozens of other major corporations on their website.
Journalist Ford Fischer was first to tweet the letter written by Netflix to the organization informing them they were infringing on trademark and other intellectual property.
“Super Happy Fun America” – the organizers of the Boston “Straight Pride Parade” have apparently received a cease and desist letter from Netflix over apparently claiming that Netflix supports them.
The group says Netflix “is a heterophobic company steeped in hatred and bigotry.” pic.twitter.com/eIIsoTsBBd
“You are using the Netflix logo to promote your event, which despite its name is about hate–-not pride,” read the letter from Netflix’s legal team. “That’s gross and deeply hurtful, but it’s also deceptive misinformation and infringes our legal rights. Netflix has nothing to do with your organization or event. Indeed, it’s telling that you feel the need to lie to gain legitimacy.”
Saying that the streaming giant is “unafraid of bullies,” Netflix closed with, “Our legal department is here, it’s queer, and it’s telling you to steer clear.”
BOOM! Suh-nap!
‘Straight Pride Parade’ organizers posted on their website that they had reached out to Netflix “with an offer to sponsor” their event “based on their reputation as a progressive and forward-looking company.”
The organizers added they believed that Netflix “would jump at the opportunity to become involved” in what they describe as a “young civil rights movement.”
“Sadly, we have learned that Netflix is a heterophobic company steeped in hatred and bigotry,” continued Super Happy Fun America. “They not only rejected our offer but threatened us with litigation if we did not stop using their name and logo, which is perfectly legal for editorial or informational purposes.”
“Obviously, Netflix has no qualms about using their position of power to threaten marginalized groups who are exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” added the organizers. “It appears that their legal department is staffed by gay supremacists who are so accustomed to privilege that our goal of equality for straights feels like oppression to them.”
“In fact, it is Netflix that is acting like a bully,” they wrote in conclusion. “We have every right to inform the public about our attempts to gain sponsors for our parade and their hate will not stop us.”
Speaking of hate, The Independent has previously reported that the ‘Straight Pride Parade’ organizers have been “heavily linked with far-right movements and nationalist protests.”
Netflix isn’t the only company calling the ‘Straight Pride’ folks out.
Bank of America has also reached out informing Super Happy Fun America to “remove Bank of America name and logo from all of your organization’s print and online materials.”
• InstaHunks: Steve Raider and Ocan Jan (above) barely fit in the same photo. #TheresTheBeef
• CBS News: The House voted 230-198 to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for obstructing a probe into the administration’s failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
• Twitter: A gay teen, Brandon Austin, slayed the inter webs with his graduation ‘death drop’ on Twitter, which has now been ‘Liked’ over 230,000 times.
— Brandon Austin (Sophia Stardust) (@sophia_stardust) July 12, 2019
• NBC News: A Florida man is in custody for allegedly using a pair of scissors to cut off the penis of a man he suspected of sleeping with his wife, according to a police report.
• Axios: The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) projects the federal deficit will surpass $1 trillion this year, the first time the U.S. deficit has surpassed the $1 trillion level since the 4-year period following the Great Recession. In 2016, Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to wipe out the deficit and also the entire federal debt, which has surpassed $22 trillion.
• Netflix: The streaming giant gave a giant slap to the folks at the upcoming ‘Straight Pride’ event for using their logo and claiming Netflix was a ‘possible’ sponsor. In their cease and desist letter, the legal team for Netflix wrote, “Our legal department is here, its queer, and its telling you to steer clear.”
• Out Music: Carly Rae Jepsen teamed up with Jordan Alexander and Bud Light for a performance of the ‘Pride Remix’ of her single “Feels Right” at Toronto Pride. The single is from her fourth album, Dedicated, out now.
Juan Pablo Di Pace, one of the stars of Netflix’s Fuller House, recently came out as gay during a TedX event in the Netherlands.
Di Pace (Mamma Mia!, AD The Bible Continues, Dallas and Camp) spoke to the audience about growing up in Argentina and how, as a small boy, he realized he enjoyed playing with girls instead of boys.
Until one day, he heard a word for the first time in first grade.
“It started like thunder that got closer and louder to me as it exploded like egg in my face: maricón or f*gg*t.”
He admits he didn’t really know the word, but it came to represent a big part of his own internal dialogue.
Describing his younger self as “this sad kid who suffered,” Di Pace shares he found solace in learning to sketch and draw because “it was the only thing my bullies could not fight against.”
He soon came to regard drawing as his ‘super power,’ because it helped create some sense of respect or acceptance from his bullies. And he loved it.
“I wanted more,” he told the crowd. “I became an addict of acceptance.”
So, as puberty hit him and his school mates, he decided to use his drawing skills to create animated cartoon porn. And again, he found acceptance.
“Acceptance was my fuel, and when that is the case, like an addict, you do whatever it takes to get a fix,” he said.
“In order to please others – what do you do?” he asked the crowd. “You change.”
“I figured, if I changed my f*gg*t self, I could be in,” Di Pace admitted. “I hated that word so much I spent years perfecting myself to become a very convincing little actor.”
A post shared by Juan Pablo Di Pace (@juanpablodipace) on May 3, 2019 at 4:16pm PDT
In a stroke of luck, he scored a two-year scholarship to the United World College in Italy, where he was able to “befriend other ‘freaks’ like me – it was beautiful!”
It was there that he first stepped on a stage. Singing the opening notes of “Summer Lovin’” from GREASE, he had an epiphany (“It felt amazing!”) becoming an addict of something new: Applause.
That addiction would take him to London where he would begin his professional performing career, first as a dancer (which included an early gig as a naked extra in an opera) and then later as an actor.
It wasn’t until he was offered “the role of a lifetime – Jesus Christ,” in the TV series AD The Bible Continues, that he finally came to terms with his sexuality.
“So, there I am, hanging on the cross…in Morocco…and I look up at the sky, and I think, ‘You could still strike me down with lightning. Are you sure you want me to play your son? Me?’”
He waited for a response. But, instead he experienced “an overwhelming feeling of love and acceptance and freedom that I could never even put into words.”
“A message from God?,” he thought. “Maybe.”
“Words are like universes, and we are magicians who can create universes with them,” he added. “When you’re aware that you’re screwing up your own movie, change it.”
Since 2016, Di Pace has played the role of ‘Fernando’ in the Netflix reboot of Full House.
The farewell season of Fuller House will be released this fall.
• Nick Jonas is giving you seriously ‘daddy’ grown-up goodness in this promo pic introducing his character “Bruno Gaido” from his upcoming movie, Midway, due out November 8. #Dang
• A gay couple were the target of homophobic insults before being spat on, clawed and physically attacked in an unprovoked attack in Essex in southeast England.
• Alphonso David has been named the next president of the Human Rights Campaign. He is the first civil rights lawyer and the first person of color to lead the LGBTQ advocacy organization.
BREAKING: Alphonso David has been named the next president of the Human Rights Campaign! David will be the first civil rights lawyer and the first person of color to lead @HRC. #AlphonsoDavidpic.twitter.com/GgiFQBtUVP
• Prince William says it would be “absolutely fine” if one of his children came out as gay.
• Deadline reports that Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, along with James Corden, Andrew Rannells, and Keegan-Michael Key, have all been tapped by Ryan Murphy for the Netflix adaptation of the LGBTQ-themed Broadway musical, The Prom.
• As WorldPride gets underway in New York City today, just a reminder of how a leader CAN relate to his LGBTQ constituents. Folks, I give you Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Toronto’s Pride event this past weekend.
More than 30 years after it was published, Armistead Maupin’s Letter To Mama is still so powerful that Laura Linney, Ellen Page, and their Tales Of The City co-stars can barely get through reading it without crying.
Such an incredibly talented cast. Watch how Olympia Dukakis takes in each line before connecting with the camera with devastating honesty.
If you haven’t watched the new Netflix revival of Tales of the City, you really must.
• Instagram: Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy and company share: “Tired, sore and sunburnt… Welcome to Whine Country!” Team Worthy reached the mid-point of this year’s AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. #AllForAGoodCause
• NBC News: A Texas school board unanimously voted to fire a teacher who tried to report undocumented students in her school district to President Donald Trump through a series of public tweets — that she thought were private messages to the president.
• NY Times: The leader of La Luz del Mundo, a church headquartered in Mexico that claims to have more than one million followers worldwide, was charged Tuesday in Los Angeles with more than a dozen sex crimes, including allegations that he forced children to have sex and made them pose naked for photos.
• The Guardian: The White House paid nearly $1 million to rent four limos during Donald Trump’s two-day trip to Ireland. Four limos, two days. Seriously.
• The Sun: Pop star George Michael left nothing in his will to his past lovers, Kenny Goss and Fadi Fawaz. His estate’s estimated worth is $98 million.
• Gay Star News: Sir Ian McKellen has launched a new program, Pride In Ageing, that will work to end the inequalities faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people over 50 in Greater Manchester and ensure that they have access to inclusive housing and care later in life.
• Netflix, which has nearly doubled the number of LGBTQ characters in their shows and movies over the last 12 months, has launched a collection of queer stories on the streaming service.
The streaming giant also launched a brand new Instagram page @Prism today, to spotlight queer stories, characters and talent.
“Love is the most strong and powerful feeling and I think the LGBTQ+ community has got that locked down.”
Super producer/director Ryan Murphy announced today he will produce the acclaimed Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band for Netflix as a ‘movie event.’
Last summer, THE BOYS IN THE BAND were on Broadway, breaking house records at The Booth. THIS summer, The Boys In the Band will be filming a Netflix movie event.
The incomparable Joe Mantello, who directed the Broadway revival, will direct the film adaptation.
The Broadway cast of BOYS was so important to me, and as equally groundbreaking as Mart Crowley’s seminal work. Everyone in the cast was out and proud…and feeling so blessed to mark the 50th anniversary of Mart’s landmark play.
The entire Broadway cast will reprise their roles in the film.
I can’t wait to be on set with Joe and Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Matt Bomer, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesus, Tuc Watkins, Michael Benjamin Washington and Brian Hutchison.
I will be producing the film with David Stone and Ned Martel.
Look for THE BOYS on Netflix in 2020.
The cast of the Broadway revival of ‘The Boys in the Band’
Last week, I reported that Murphy will also produce a ‘movie event’ adaptation of Broadway’s The Prom for Netflix. That project, like Boys in the Band, is LGBTQ-themed.
It all makes me uber-happy. More Broadway, more gay… more, more, more!
Ryan O’Connell’s unconventional comedy series is based on his own experiences as a gay man with cerebral palsy navigating sex and a career in TV. He not only stars in the series, but also serves as writer and executive producer.
Critics are loving the depiction of a physically challenged gay man through O’Connell’s lens. In one episode, he is convinced by a friend to hire a sex worker in order to lose his virginity. Instead of being ‘tragic,’ the sequence moves from awkward, to touching and eventually to a sweet, sexy resolution.
O’Connell recent told NBC News he’s still in “shock” the series happened.
“It feels very surreal, because I didn’t think that any of this could be possible,” he said. “I’ve been working in Hollywood for six years now, and I know that even the best ideas, even the best shows, with the best talent attached, the odds of one actually getting shot and made and released is very medium rare.”
Now available on Netflix.
Sauvage / Wild
Leo is 22 and sells his body on the street for a bit of cash. The men come and go, and he stays right here — longing for love. He doesn’t know what the future will bring. He hits the road. His heart is pounding.
Felix Maritaud plays Leo, a French hustler who’s a beguiling homo-goulash of low self-esteem and empathy, who falls in love with gay-for-pay Ahd (Eric Bernard), who doles out tenderness, disgust, and violence in equal doses.
“A powerful portrait of a gay male prostitute in free fall” – Guy Lodge, Variety
Official synopsis: “On the 10th anniversary of his dad’s death, Joris still tries to come to terms with his father s absence when he meets the free-spirited Yad, who returns back home to his family after living on his own. Although very different, there is an instant spark between the two and they want to be more than just friends , but both have issues with their mothers that threaten to jeopardize their relationship.”
Cindy Lou Peeples at Frameline wrote, “Refreshingly, the family conflict in this romantic comedy is not that Joris and Yad are gay, but that they are defying family expectations in other ways and must make a new set of choices about how to be themselves.”
Ryan Murphy will bring Broadway musical The Prom to Netflix
Hollywood super-producer/director Ryan Murphy (Pose, American Horror Story, GLEE) has announced he’s bringing another queer story to the small screen.
Murphy announced on his Instagram Wednesday that he will turn the new Broadway musical,The Prom, into a Netflix “movie event.”
“THE PROM is one of the most uplifting, heartfelt and special musicals I have ever seen on Broadway,” wrote Murphy. “It’s truly an original that celebrates the underdog and says in a loving spectacular way that LGBTQ rights are human rights.”
Citing a “special connection” to the piece due to the location of the musical, Indiana, which happens to be where Murphy hails from, he told his followers, “I’m thrilled to announce I’m turning it into a MOVIE EVENT for Netflix.”
A post shared by Ryan Murphy (@mrrpmurphy) on Apr 9, 2019 at 5:32pm PDT
In adapting the material for TV, the 6-time Emmy Award winner shared that the Broadway creative team – including Tony Award winning director/choreographer Casey Nickolaw – will come along for the ride, as well as the stage producers.
The show, which follows the story of a high school student in a small Indiana town who is banned from bringing her girlfriend to the prom, opened at the Longacre Theater on Broadway last fall to rave reviews.
“So full of happiness you think your heart is about to burst!” – Variety
