RuPaul is back on social media (screen capture via SNL) Back in July, RuPaul quietly and inexplicably erased all posts from his Instagram and Twitter accounts. He even temporarily deactivated his Twitter. Was it the coronavirus pandemic? Social unrest across the country after the killing of George Floyd? It’s not like Ru went into hiding. We’ve seen the drag star hosting his show and making a virtual appearance during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards to accept his 5th trophy for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program At the time, no one seemed to know what or why the Supermodel of the World retreated from social media. But now we know what brought him back to the Gram of Insta and Twitterverse. Wednesday night, Mama Ru reactivated Twitter to post a photo of international pop star Dame Olivia Newton-John along with the caption, “Olivia Newton-John has started a new foundation to find kinder ways to treat, prevent & cure all cancers, with a strong focus on plant medicine. Follow & support @onjfoundation #beyondcancer @therealonj#onjfoundation onjfoundation.org.” RuPaul also shared the message on Instagram.
The messages came just a day after Olivia announced the launch of the Olivia Newton-John Foundation which will “fund the discovery of kinder therapies and advocate for more effective ways to prevent, treat and cure all cancers.” Olivia, who shared in recent years her breast cancer from 1992 had reoccurred, has said in interviews she’s interested in helping explore the science behind more plant-based medicine. As fans of both stars know, Ru and Olivia have been friends for a long time. Last fall, RuPaul attended Olivia’s charity auction at Julien’s where the Grease star put her famous black leather jacket and pants from the movie’s finale on the bidding block and garnered over $500,000 for charity. Dame Olivia Newton-John and RuPaul at Julien’s AuctionsDame Olivia Newton-John and RuPaul at the Flamingo Las Vegas (photo: Denise Truscello) Ru also traveled to attend the “Physical” singer’s opening night of her Las Vegas residency. And of course, ONJ has been a guest on The RuPaul Show, the web series RuPaul Drives…, and a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Here’s hoping this is just the beginning of RuPaul’s return to social media.
Channing Tatum (via Instagram) Some news stories you might have missed: • The Advocate: Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, gives a fascinating and personal account of what it was like to be on the campaign trail with the first openly gay presidential candidate of a major party. Chasten releases his memoir, I Have Something To Tell You, today. • New York Times: The Democratic National Party has announced presidential candidate Joe Biden will visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, “as soon as possible,” but wants to defer to local officials, including Governor Tony Evers, who had asked Donald Trump to cancel or delay his visit to allow the city time “to heal.” • BosGuy: Celebrating the release of the 2021 Men in Kilts calendar! Squeeee!!! • Politico: Twitter said Monday it will begin displaying warning labels on shared posts that contain misleading or doctored videos after facing complaints that it failed to do enough to limit the spread of deceptive clips targeting Joe Biden’s campaign. • CNN: Channing Tatum (top photo) is releasing his first children’s book, “The One and Only Sparkella,” dedicated to his 6-year-old daughter, Everly. The actor says he’s spent much of quarantine with his daughter finding his ‘inner child.’ The book is centered around a young girl named Ella, who likes sparkly things and gets teased at school for wearing disco ball shoes. But her father teaches her lessons about expressing herself and loving herself.
Former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley Former ambassador to the United Nations, former governor of South Carolina and rumored 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley tried to drag a popcorn company on Twitter for being late on deliveries. It didn’t go well. Especially in light of Donald Trump’s toadie Louis DeJoy now in charge of the United States Postal Service whose new policies are slowing mail delivery down across the nation.
Ok @PopcornFactory two messed up birthday orders missed delivery dates with no explanation. First time I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Second one tells me not to buy from you again. #DisappointedNephew
A former R Gov & UN Amb. Nikki Haley who preaches in these troubling time we must give small businesses that extra consideration attacks a small popcorn private biz with 4,000 followers with her 600K-plus followers over a delivery as GOP sabotage USPS to put out of biz. 🙄
If they ship by USPS I'll give you three guesses why they didn't arrive on time and the answer is Louis DeJoy.
— Leadership Vacuum LLC: We Really Suck! (@agitpoop) August 10, 2020
You're blaming Popcorn Factory for shipping delays? It appears they use the USPS, which is currently being dismantled by the GOP. Being ravaged by a pandemic doesn't help either. Nice try. pic.twitter.com/Te1o7wcmpn
Maybe stop Trump from defunding the USPS. Millions of businesses, Veterans, & tens of millions of rural Americans need the USPS to live. https://t.co/QU5oOGbekZ
Zac Efron (screen capture via Netflix) Netflix has a hit on its hands with the new series Down to Earth with a bearded and buff Zac Efron. The travelogue follows Efron as he hip-hops around a pre-COVID-19 world exploring climate-friendly, sustainable living habits. “In this travel show, actor Zac Efron journeys around the world with wellness expert Darin Olien in search of healthy, sustainable ways to live,” Netflix writes of the new show. From eating bread baked in a volcano in Iceland, to experiencing the rarest water in the world, our host shares his furry goodness adventures from around the world and much more. Here’s the trailer. I think you’ll get my drift in just a minute.
In this episode of ‘Gays Gone Wild,’ “Fire Island” was trending on Twitter today after several social media posts went viral featuring tons of shirtless gays at shoulder-to-shoulder parties at the gay summer mecca, Fire Island. No masks, no social distancing. Journalist Chris Weidner curated the following posts and reports via Twitter. Among the ‘Covidiots’ is an apparent 23-year-old Giancarlo Kristian Albanese, currency analyst at EverythingFx. It looksl like he was planning on returning to his parents house (where he lives) in White Plains, NY. Except – his mother reportedly if undergoing chemotherapy, and his brother commented on Giancarlo’s post saying he is now unwelcome at home.
I found her Facebook. It’s true that she has cancer. She also seems like a wonderful person. He must be seriously mentally disturbed to be this unhinged. I feel bad for his family.
Hannon later posted an ‘apology’ video which seemed to twist and turn itself in knots. On one hand, he said he never actually tested positive for COVID-19, but he believed he had experienced it. BUT – even though he took a test for the virus, he still headed out to Fire Island to frolic in the sun amid the gays. He ‘apologized’ for the ‘misrepresentation’ of his COVID story and that his video rant was never meant to be posted to his account as it was just ‘bad humor’ intended to be shared among friends. He also denounced so-called ‘cancel culture’ for how his own posts on social media came back to bite him in the ass. First of all, pal, stop posting every second of your life on social media if you don’t want to deal with the ramifications. You’re not that cool. Second, we can’t cancel what hasn’t happened. I’d never heard of Hannon before today. The idea of ‘cancel culture’ is to ‘cancel’ prominent individuals who have abused public trust in having a following. Dude, you ain’t that famous…
Twitter was NOT havin it:
we’re gonna be in quarantine forever because you expired milk ass f words can’t not wear your ~brand new speedo~ to fire island for one goddamn year pic.twitter.com/b5ktvC0LQq
— All Black Lives Matter. (@samkalidi) July 5, 2020
it’s sending me into a fucking rage seeing videos of all the gays at fire island who decided the pandemic is over because they couldn’t wait a year to wear their tacky speedos and do ghb. if any of you were there please block me, you’re an embarrassment
If you went to Fire Island this weekend do us all in NYC/Long Island a favor and extend your Fire Island stay for an extra two weeks. Stay where you are. Parties are fun, but this shit was fucking stupid. Quarantine your ass like our lives depend on it.
You’d think we gay men would have learned from the last pandemic that brought our community to its knees (HIV) and that we’re still reeling from. We criticize Trumpists for denying science and then turn around and do this. Embarrassing.
RuPaul (screen capture) Where in the virtual world has RuPaul gone? Fans noticed on Thursday, the 6-time Emmy Award winner had deactivated his Twitter account (“This account doesn’t exist”) and removed all posts on his Instagram account (“No posts yet”). Just gone. Poof. Shantay-ed away. The move has left many fans feeling confused, with one user tweeting: “Can someone please check on @RuPaul. Mother deleted everything on her Instagram.”
Can someone please check on @RuPaul. Mother deleted everything on her Instagram.
“Why did RuPaul just totally decimate his entire Instagram tho — what is happening?” tweeted another fan. One fan, referencing the recent reports that Ru seemingly admitted to allowing fracking on his Wyoming/South Dakota property, responded asking “Did the oil wells dry up in Wyoming??”
Another posited that the world’s most successful drag queen had been hacked, posting a recorded video showing posts disappearing from Instagram one by one. The fan wrote, “@RuPaul someone is hacking your Instagram and deleting your photos.”
Multiple outlets, including The Randy Report, have reached out to RuPaul’s reps about the deletions but received no comment. Page Six points out that Season 10 Drag Race alum Kameron Michaels also wiped his Instagram account on the same day. But early this morning, Michaels posted a note on the Gram of Insta saying he is ‘fine.’
“There is no stunt. No scandal. No big reveal,” wrote Michaels. “Without going into all the whiney details about my own personal issues, I simply want to start over.” Michaels went on to say he cringed at many of his past posts because he began to tie his self-worth in reality “to that of my online content and I’m erasing that toxic behavior.” He added, “As far as someone else doing the same thing I did, weirdly on the very same day…I have mo idea why they or their team erased their content.” Another coincidence – or not? – the timing of RuPaul’s deletions happened the same day as the debut of Canada’s Drag Race, the 4th iteration of the popular reality series. While Mama Ru’s personal social media pages have been deleted or deactivated, for now, the official RuPaul’s Drag RaceInstagram account remains active, although the most recent post was from June 12. The 5th Season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars is currently airing on VH1.
Joe Blizzard (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Joe Blizzard (above) is back in the gym, offering up selfies. Don’t mind if I do… 🙂 Follow him on Instagram here. • Mr. Man: The world’s leading online library of male nude scenes in film has revealed its ‘Hottest Gay TV Scenes of All Time.’ The diverse list features several men of color like Billy Porter and Omid Abtahi, an actor with cerebral palsy, and some of Hollywood’s top stars who have dared to portray gay sex on the small screen. • Gay Star News: Puerto Rico’s governor has signed a new Civil Code that leaves out LGBT+ protections despite a rise in LGBT+ murders. The new Civil Code makes no mention of protection from hate speech or discrimination in employment, goods and services. Governor Wanda Vázquez has already received backlash for her response to the killing of at least 10 LGBTQ Puerto Ricans in 2019 and 2020. • Poz: During a study researching a vaccine for HIV, scientists found that soon after taking the participants off antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for a period of close monitoring, the virus rapidly rebounded in their semen. The discovery raises concerns that men who participate in such trials while taking a break in their usual HIV meds are at risk of transmitting the virus through sex. • Roll Call: After the recent dust-up between Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Donald Trump over protests in the DC area, House Democrats plan to bring up a vote on statehood for the District. Expect it to pass in the House, but Senate Republicans will never let it happen. DC voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, and statehood would give the Dems two more Senators plus a voting member of the House. • Twitter: Social media star Sarah Cooper’s latest lip-dub of Donald Trump takes on ‘How to lobster.’ If you don’t follow her yet, you really should. Funny, funny stuff.
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain) Over the past three years, Donald Trump’s Twitter habit has put the social media platform in the uncomfortable position of balancing First Amendment rights of expression (by Trump) versus his endless stream of fact-free statements causing the spread of disinformation. For instance, over the past week Trump has tweeted unfounded accusations that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was somehow involved in the death of a former intern. Even the spouse of the deceased aide publicly begged the CEO of Twitter to remove the tweets but to no avail. Today, for the first time, Twitter applied a fact-checking label to some of Trump’s tweets claiming mail-in ballots would lead to overwhelming voter fraud. The label, which reads “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” links to news reports about the Donald’s unsubstantiated claims. A spokesperson for Twitter, Katie Rosborough, told the Washington Post the tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.”
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Just gone. Poof. Shantay-ed away. The move has left many fans feeling confused, with one user 
