LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items you might find interesting: • Metro Weekly: A Missouri appeals court ruled that a transgender man is entitled to more than $4 million in damages for discrimination after being barred from the boys’ locker room when he was enrolled in public school over a decade ago. Continue reading “$4 Million Ruling For Trans Man Barred From Locker Room + More News”
L-R Amber Laign and Robin Roberts (screen capture)
Some news items you might have missed: • Axios: August 27 is the second annual National Cinema Day in the U.S. Tickets for all showtimes at more than 3,000 movie theaters “will be no more than $4.” Continue reading “See A Movie For $4 On National Cinema Day + More News”
In this episode of The Randy Report podcast – The lies and embellishments of out Rep. George (Anthony Devolder) Santos (R-NY). Plus… Continue reading “Podcast: Lies & Embellishments Of George Santos + More News”
Todrick Hall
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| Billy Porter on the red carpet at this year’s Academy Awards |
Billy Porter on his red carpet-stopping tuxedo dress: “Now I’m in a space where, being on Pose, I’m invited to red carpets and I have something to say through clothes. My goal is to be a walking piece of political art every time I show up. To challenge expectations. What is masculinity? What does that mean?”
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| GMA’s Robin Roberts interviews Empire star Jussie Smollett |
GMA journalist Robin Roberts on her interview with Jussie Smollett: “I’m a black gay woman, he’s a black gay man. He’s saying that there’s a hate crime, so if I’m too hard, then my LGBT community is going to say, ‘You don’t believe a brother,’ if I’m too light on him, it’s like, ‘Oh, because you are in the community, you’re giving him a pass.’ It was a no-win situation for me.”
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| Ivanka Trump |
Ivanka Trump joked recently about how hard it is to be her: “The press seems to think it’s ironic that I, born of great privilege, think people want to work for what they are given. As if being Donald Trump’s daughter isn’t the hardest job in the world.”
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| Cynthia Nixon |
Sex in the City star Cynthia Nixon on Vice President Mike Pence: “The fact that Pence does vile, hateful things while well-coiffed and calm doesn’t make him decent; it makes him insidious and dangerous. Respecting each other’s rights and humanity is what makes us civilized — not keeping a civil tone while doing the opposite.”
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| ‘Empire’ star Jussie Smollett speaks to GMA about alleged gay bashing |
In his first interview since he told police he had been the victim of a late night attack in Chicago, actor/singer Jussie Smollett says he’s disappointed some doubt his story.
“I have to acknowledge the lies, and the hate,” the Empire star told Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts. “And it feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me much more – a lot more.”
“And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now,” he added.
Police continue to investigate the suspected hate crime that Smollett says happened on January 29 around 2 a.m. as he left a Subway restaurant.
The 36-year-old actor says two men yelled homophobic and racial slurs to get his attention, then put a noose made out of white rope around his neck, poured a liquid on him Smollett says was bleach, and then beat him. Smollett says the men yelled, “This is MAGA country” during the attack.
He was later treated for bruised ribs and injuries to his clavicle bone at a hospital.
Smollett says he thought if he told the truth, then, “That’s it – that’s the truth.” But, then as he began to hear doubters, he came to feel, ”Oh, it’s not necessarily that you don’t believe that this is the truth, you don’t even want to see the truth.”
“For me, the main thing was the idea that I somehow switched up my story, you know? And that somehow maybe I added a little extra trinket, you know, of the MAGA thing,” Smollett told Roberts. “I didn’t need to add anything like that. They called me a fag, they called me a n*gg*r. There’s no which way you cut it. I don’t need some MAGA hat as the cherry on top of some racist sundae.”
He explains he didn’t immediately call the police out of a sense of pride, saying, “We live in a society where, as a gay man, you are considered – somehow – to be weak, and I’m not weak. And we, as a people, are not weak.”
When asked why he thought he was targeted, Smollett surmises it’s because, “I come really really hard against 45. I come really really hard against his administration.”
Smollett says he believes the image of two people found on surveillance cameras by the police are his attackers, saying “I don’t have any doubt in my mind that that’s them – never did.”
And moving forward, he says he “will never be the man that this did not happen to. I am forever changed.”
And Smollett has a message for the LGBTQ community. “I want a little gay boy, who might watch this to see that I fought back.”
“Learn to fight; learn to be a fighter,” he continued. “I’m not advocating violence, at all. If you are going to die, fight until you do. Cause if you don’t fight, you have no chance.”
Shortly after Smollett’s interview aired, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that authorities have found the persons of interest captured on surveillance cameras around the time of the alleged attack and they are being questioned.
Guglielmi emphasized the two are “not considered suspects at this time as they are currently being questioned by detectives.”
He added, “We remain in communication with the alleged victim.”
Important for media reporting: The people of interest are alleged to be in the area where a crime was reported. They are not considered suspects at this time as they are currently being questioned by detectives. We remain in communication with the alleged victim. pic.twitter.com/JuH1kYRTYV— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 14, 2019
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| Omarosa Manigault Newman |
Yesterday I reported on the firing of reality TV personality Omarosa Manigault Newman from her position in the Trump administration.
Today, Omarosa made the rounds of news shows denying the reports she was forcibly removed from the White House grounds. As usual with the former TV villainess, there’s more and more drama surrounding her even as she exits.
But the best part of the Omarosa departure was a short comment this morning on Good Morning America.
At the end of the segment wherein Omarosa tried to preface some future media attention saying she has “quite the story to tell,” Robin Roberts threw some serious shade with a subtle “Bye, Felecia.”
Delicious.
Watch below.
Robin Roberts with a parting message for Omarosa 👀 #ByeFelicia pic.twitter.com/iTQM5LI8B4— UPROXX (@UPROXX) December 14, 2017
Good Morning America host Robin Roberts in an interview with Good Housekeeping on coming out:
“Shortly after I posted about my relationship with Amber on Facebook last year, I showed a picture of us with my niece — who’d gotten married in Baton Rouge, LA — on GMA. It was like a beautiful family picture. I was so moved that people got it and said, ‘You’re happy.’ Others, though, were asking, ‘Why didn’t you say something about her before? Why are you only recognizing her now?’
“News flash: Some people like their anonymity. This is what’s right for me. Love is love, and I’m grateful to have that.
“Sometimes there’s a stigma attached to how people view you if you’re living a certain way. But I don’t care — you gotta live your life. You gotta find what happiness is and what it means for you, and you can’t get caught up in what someone is saying about you on Twitter. You don’t go through a year like I did to not be happy and not make your own choices.”
This morning, Robin Roberts spoke about coming out over the holidays and her girl friend Amber, telling her GMA co-hosts:
“I have never been happier or healthier than I am right now and my year-end post was just full of gratitude and just telling everyone all that I’m grateful for, including my girlfriend Amber who really loved me through a difficult year.”