"President Obama, if you're doing everyone—do us."—Barbara Walters makes an on-air plea for Barack to return as a guest on The View. As long as I'm not gonna have to watch him do her on that sofa.
"Celebrating Bea Arthur" took place last week at Broadway's Majestic Theatre. The event was hosted by Angela Lansbury, Bea's "Mame" co-star. Angie opened the tribute by singing "The Man in the Moon," Arthur's big number from the show. The tribute ran the gamut from touching stories to outrageous tales. Needless to say, we gravitated more towards the outrageous. For instance, her onscreen daughter from "Maude," Adrienne Barbeau, ran into Bea at a play in a tiny theatre in Santa Monica. During intermission, Arthur bellowed, "Adrienne, this is the worst piece of shit I've ever seen! I'd leave, but everyone in it is a friend of mine." Thank you for being a friend. One of her "Golden Girl" co-stars added a bon mot to the legendary clash between Arthur and Betty White. Rue McClanahan brought her husband to Bea's one-woman show on Broadway. After the show, Rue introduced them. Arthur exclaimed, "Rue, I love. Betty's a cunt!" God love her!
Elsewhere on Broadway, Hugh Jackman stopped the show—literally. Gay porn legend Will Clark and his boyfriend director, Roland Tec, went to last Sunday's matinee performance of "A Steady Rain" starring Jackman and Daniel Craig. Shortly after the play began, a tardy audience member was loudly arguing with an usher. As is policy on Broadway, latecomers are not seated until the intermission. And since this play is one act long, the late lady was out of luck—and she wasn't happy about it. She went on and on, despite the entire audience shushing her. Eventually, Jackman looked out into the theatre and said, "Excuse me, but you know I can hear you up here. Are you finished? If you have a story you think is more interesting, by all means, we can wait." The result was twofold—the audience applauded and, because the show temporarily stopped, the usher sat the lady. And you know how much fun it is to sit in a theatre where everyone hates you ... a win-win.
Last week, The View did some fancy footwork rescheduling guest co-hosts. Kate Gosselin was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, and LaToya Jackson was booked for Wednesday and Friday. The View heavily promoted the fact that LaToya would be co-hosting when Kathy Griffin was a guest on Friday. Then, less than 24 hours before taping, LaToya was rescheduled to Thursday and Kate sat in on Friday. Why? We've heard there were two reasons. First, LaToya has already been part of Kathy's act and wasn't so eager to give the redhead more ammunition. Second, since Griffin did that scathing video parody of Gosselin that went viral, the powers-that-be at The View thought it might be fun to throw them together and see what happened. Kinda like "Thunderdome"—two women go in, one comes out. Since this is being written before her appearance, we don't know exactly what went down. But I'm sure we'll post it on BillyMasters.com .
Since her brother's death, LaToya has been promoting herself like crazy. But let's give some credit where credit's due. Unlike Jermaine, who is simply trying to jumpstart a non-existent career, LaToya is channeling her self-promotion into fundraising for AIDS Project Los Angeles. She told Barbara Walters that all proceeds from her single "Home" would be donated to a charity Michael felt strongly about—APLA. I'm not aware of a Michael/APLA connection, but it's a nice gesture. And it doesn't stop there. LaToya has partnered with the tres trendy "Millions of Milkshakes" in the heart of West Hollywood. Proceeds from the "LaToya Jackson Milkshake" will also be donated to APLA. She'll even be serving up shakes on WeHo's biggest night of the year—Halloween! "I'm very excited for this promotion and hope we can raise a million dollars for APLA." That's a lot of milkshakes!
I know many of you are still mourning last year's decision by Mario Lopez to no longer do shirtless photo shoots. Maybe not staged photos, but that didn't stop our friends the paparazzi from snapping him emerging from the water after last week's Nautica Malibu Triathlon. Mario looked pretty damn hot with his wetsuit rolled dangerously down to his pubes. Pics will inevitably turn up on BillyMasters.com .
But why stop there? In the upcoming season of Nip/Tuck, Mario returns as a competing doctor with an almost flawless physique. In one scene, Mario is clad in high heels, fishnet stockings, garter belt, leather corset, and fingerless long-sleeved gloves! Ironically enough, on those rare nights when I dream about Mario Lopez, that's exactly what he's wearing. You can see the whole package on BillyMasters.com .
Judging by the "Ask Billy" questions this week, my fans are a bunch of "Gleeks"—in other words, they love Glee. In particular, they're hot for two guys on the show. Everyone wants to know if either Matthew Morrison or Mark Salling are gay, and want shirtless pics pronto.
As many of you know, Matty Morrison has been a friend of mine since he originated the role of "Link" in "Hairspray" on Broadway. He's not gay, but he's very gay-friendly. Not only does he regularly do "Broadway Bares," the annual BC/EFA nudie fundraiser ( and he looks really good stripped down—as we'll show you on BillyMasters.com ) , he also actively courts the gay community. When asked by a Web site what he'd do to rank higher in popularity with gay fans, he said, "I'm an actor/singer/dancer, nominated for a Tony award, love, love, love the gay community, and I will offer sexual favors for anyone who votes for me." I'll vote twice!
As to Mark Salling, I don't know a thing about him first hand. One of my proofreaders swears Salling sounded gay in an interview, but surely I need something more concrete than that! While I do some digging, I will share some mega hot shirtless pics of him. And, wait ... is that a nipple ring I see? And a cock ring? Well, one of the two...
When we're breaking news like gay boys possibly being in the glee club, it's definitely time to end yet another column. Since we ran very long this week, let me just make a promise—next week, my exclusive Emmys wrap-up. Until then, check out www.BillyMasters.com for the most sizzling gossip around. If you've got a question, drop a note to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before I write another item about LaToya! So, until next time, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.
