A synopsis of the past week’s news… Secret lesbian parties revealed + Chelsea Chelsea No No.
A self-confessed Bravo-addict, I will say I do love me some Andy Cohen – but the key word here is “some.” This past week the adorable host of Watch What Happens Live and the man behind the Housewives took his live late night talk show to five nights a week and despite my respect for the little guy (and his fashion sense), the overload has caused me to cancel the recording from my DVR. As luck would have it though, just when I decided I couldn’t handle that much clubhouse, Rosie O’Donnell decided to stop by and talk about secret underground Hollywood parties of yesteryear! Thank goodness for online clip access.
Discussing everything from Kristy McNichol’s recent coming out to sharing an in-the-closet bond with Ellen, Rosie filled us in on what it was like for some of Hollywood’s most powerful and well known lesbians before they were all out and proud. “When we were young there were lots of kind of big, secret lesbian parties when nobody was out,” Rosie explained. “It would be like Melissa Etheridge would throw a party and K.D. [Lang] would be there, and I would be there, and Ellen would be there.” Sounds pretty fabulous – now our Hollywood lesbian parties consist of creamed corn wrestling and on-camera strap-on sex… I’m sure those that came before us are very proud.
And moving on to another late night talk show that should have stayed right where it was, I have to comment on the premiere of Chelsea Handler’s new NBC comedy, Are You There, Chelsea? I adore Chelsea Handler, but what the hell is up with NBC taking good strong female comedians and destroying them with terrible, formulaic sitcoms? The show, starring Laura Prepon as Handler and Handler as her older sister (yes, bad idea from the start), is almost as bad as its Wednesday night buddy show (and last season’s most hated new series) Whitney. I used to like Whitney Cummings, I think, and now I despise her. Please, NBC, don’t take Chelsea away too. USA Today, far more qualified than I at reviewing, well, anything, called it a “punishingly awful sitcom” that “may drive viewers to drink.” I have not doubt that Handler herself, who is as harsh a critic as they come, hates this show. Let’s just hope she makes it out with minimal damage to her thriving career. Also, just for my own piece of mind on this, can someone please tell me when the last really good laugh-track, “filmed live in front of a studio audience” sitcom was? I did the WB VIP Studio Tour and the employees literally keep the Friends set active as a shrine… it’s telling.
Taking my distaste for the basic sitcom to action, now having the power to do so as a voting member of the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA), I hope my picks win in this year’s Dorian Awards, which will be announced later today. GALECA consists of 50 critics, entertainment journalists, and pop culture writers and nominations for the 2012 Dorian Awards were announced on Tuesday. For more on the categories and nominees visit http://www.galeca.com/.
And, as it the beginning of awards season in Hollywood, the Golden Globes aired last night and were actually pretty entertaining. Highlights of the night for our community came in the form of Meryl Streep giving props to Pariah’s Adepero Oduye when accepting her award for best actress in a Motion Picture Drama and Ricky Gervais pretty much outing Jodie Foster with this joke: “And I must not mention Mel Gibson this year. Not his private life, his politics, his recent films or especially not Jodie Foster’s Beaver. I haven’t seen it myself. I’ve spoken to a lot of guys – they haven’t seen it either but that doesn’t mean it’s not good.” To that, Foster gave this response, which is kind of terrific:
One final bit of news out of the entertainment world this past week, Odd Future’s Syd the Kyd made some headlines after her controversial interview with LA Weekly in which she discussed her sexuality and “what it’s like being in a group that uses ‘faggot’ so much.” Promoting the digital release of Purple Naked Ladies, the debut album from the Internet, an Odd Future subgroup featuring Syd the Kyd (born Sydney Bennett) and Matt Martians, the talented 19-year-old bravely commented on the lack of out-of-
the-closet gay urban artists, stating: “There’s Alicia Keys, who’s married to Swizz Beatz – we know that shit ain’t real. You got Queen Latifah kissing Common in movies. Missy Elliott saying she don’t wanna hang with bitches. You know she loves her some bitches.” She also went on to say that she doesn’t know if she could “kick it” with a group of lesbians and that most people don’t know about the Riot Grrl movement. I recommend checking out the interview and the interview excerpts to get better acquainted with this rising star because, like it or not, she just might become the most well known out gay artist in hip-hop.
Moving on to newsier news, The Union Township School Board has filed tenure charges against Viki Knox, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger via the HRC. Knox is the anti-LGBT teacher in New Jersey who last fall posted a homophobic rant on her public Facebook wall. The tenure charges set in motion the process necessary to fire Knox. To quote the a-hole herself – when she was blasting the repeal of DADT – yes, jerk, “the end is near.”
Over in Minnesota, Democrat Susan Allen became the first Native American lesbian to serve on a state legislature when she won 55 percent of the vote in her Minneapolis district last week. Victory Fund officials, who endorsed Allen throughout her campaign, praised her victory: “We’re thrilled for Susan and the remarkable progress her victory represents,” said Tiffany Muller, Victory Fund’s vice president for political operations. “This is our first win of 2012, and it’s a fantastic way to start off what will be a very exciting year for LGBT candidates.”
In cookie news, Girl Scout sales season is upon is and I bring this up because of the California teen trying to incite a boycott against the cookies due to the Scouts’ Transgender-Inclusive Policy. Back story, from GLAAD: “In October of 2011, 7-year-old Bobby Montoya, a transgender girl, asked to join the Girl Scouts of Colorado. After initially being rejected, Bobby was welcomed by the chapter who issued a statement saying, ‘Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.’” So one hateful teen who wasn’t happy with that started a cookie boycott, leading me to search for information to share with all of you on how to get access to cookies, to fight this nonsense, and how cute is this? You can punch your zip code into this site and get a live countdown to cookie sales in your area with a list of locations where Scouts will be selling. There is also an app for that. As I write this I am 5 days 11 hours 29 minutes and 36 seconds away from some Samoas.
And finally, some other quick items worth mentioning this week: A new Dutch study has confirmed that the quality of life among teens raised by lesbian parents did not differ from that of a matched group of adolescents who grew up in heterosexual parent families; lesbians Mollie Thomas and Jenelle Hutcherson didn’t win the Miss California USA pageant; and Tel Aviv was just voted the “Best City of the Year” in the annual “Best of GayCities” member voting contest. Other winners include more obvious choices like New York City (“Best Nightlife”), San Francisco (“Best Pride”), Provincetown (“Best Resort Town”) and Paris (“Best Food”). Get the full results at http://www.gaycities.com/best-of-2011/leaderboard/.
That’s all from me this week. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
