"I used to have this guy who came to my office for like a hundred dollars and it took an hour."—Anderson Cooper tells Kathy Griffin about his former barber. When Kathy quipped, "It sounds like a prostitute, but continue the story," Andy added, "Believe me, it would not take that long!"
Gay Pride Month is drawing to a close, and this year all our little gay celebrities were busy entertaining the masses. As you know, I've hosted many of these celebrations around the country. In my many years hosting L.A. Pride, it was very difficult to get certain people involved. Ellen DeGeneres—impossible. Even when her mom Betty was the grand marshal, no Ellen. Another was Melissa Etheridge. She refused to discuss it. In fact, she wouldn't even allow Tammy to participate—and we all know how that turned out. The unofficial word we got was that Etheridge felt that performing at gay pride would "cheapen her brand." So I was understandably surprised when I heard she headlined Pittsburgh Pride. Pittsburgh? No offense, but how did they get her? She was asked this question by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and here's what she said: "I have often been asked to come to this pride thing or that pride thing, but Pittsburgh was the first time that there was an actual offer of the kind of money I'm used to getting." I believe that's the same reason Miss Elton gave for singing at Rush's wedding.
Many people use these celebrations to draw attention to the many issues we as gay people still need to work toward. We ain't where we was, but we ain't where we ought to be. But we sure have come a long way in a short amount of time. You'll understand if I use as an example something ever-so-slightly tawdry. Back in 1992, Dirk Shafer was a Playgirl centerfold and later became their Man of the Year. During his "reign" (such as it was), he was very careful to maintain a hetero façade. I suppose he could have been dethroned and replaced by the male equivalent of Suzette Charles! He did eventually come out and produced Man of the Year, a mockumentary depicting his experience. And now, 20 years later, he's back in Playgirl—this time as a proud openly gay man. And he should be proud—to be able to look that good nude 20 years later is certainly an accomplishment. The issue won't be available for another month, but I'm sure something current will pop up on BillyMasters.com .
Every generation has its male-stripper movie. We had the beauteous Gregory Harrison in For Ladies Only. We had hunky Christopher Atkins in A Night in Heaven. And now we have a gaggle of guys in Magic Mike. But it doesn't arrive without some controversy. Channing Tatum has been accused of stealing some of the dancers' signature moves (known as the "hot seat"—variations of which have gone on since Salome) and even the storylines from the lives of two strippers he worked with—Thomas "Awesome" Austin and London Steele (names, I suspect, that don't appear on any birth certificates). Channing replied, "Look, there's nothing that's factual in this whole movie" and "Those guys have been trying to make money off of me since I got into this business." They ain't the only ones. Someone has leaked a few pics and vids of Chan in his stripper prime—including a rather embarrassing attempt at doing the "YMCA." Watching the video on BillyMasters.com will surely put to rest any gay rumors.
Cheyenne Jackson is awfully busy these days—which is doing wonders for his physique. To help promote his upcoming solo CD (available July 10), he's on the July cover of Attitude magazine—and the pics inside will certainly heat things up (of course, they're also on BillyMasters.com ). He'll also guest-star in the pilot episode of Mockingbird Lane, a reboot of The Munsters that will star Portia de Rossi, Jerry O'Connell and Eddie Izzard. As if that weren't enough, he's also joined the cast of the soon-to-be-filming Liberace flick for HBO. Who would he be playing? "I'm not allowed to say who I'm playing, but it's pretty exciting," he's said. Scott Bakula will play choreographer Bob Black, who introduced Lee to Scott Thornson. Rob Lowe will play Liberace's plastic surgeon.
It's been a few weeks, so why not give you a John Travolta update. Remember Fabian Zanzi? The Chilean Royal Caribbean room-service waiter who claims Travolta made sexual advances on him? Well, now he's giving us the dialogue—in case someone wants to make a movie eventually. According to Zanzi (who, I'm guessing, does not speak English as his first language), Travolta disrobed, showed his erect penis, flipped onto his stomach and said, "Take me. I will take care of you. Please." Well, at least he said "please"—although he might have gotten farther with a "por favor." Allegedly, Zanzi was offered $12K in hush money (an odd figure—maybe a thousand a month), which he declined. He's threatening to sue ... perhaps on Caso Cerrado (yes, another reference—because it's my favorite show).
Meanwhile, remember Robert Randolph? He's the guy who wrote all about Travolta's spa dalliances in You'll Never Spa in This Town Again. Anyway, he's also suing John for slander. He claims that Travolta and his attorney Marty Singer told publishers that he was a little crazy and had spent time in a mental institution. It should be noted that in Randolph's book and on his website, he freely discusses getting beaten up by another spa-goer and that he sustained "permanent brain damage." At least that explains why he went back!
And speaking of books, remember Doug Gotterba, the pilot who was allegedly Travolta's boyfriend for six years? Well, now he's writing a book! And he's got two co-writers ready to help him. I just hope everyone connected has a clean bill of mental health. But, frankly, I think anyone crazy enough to get involved with John Travolta really should have his head examined. Just my opinion.
When working for Travolta requires a confidentiality agreement and a competency test, it's time to end yet another column. We ran a tad long, so I barely have time to remind you to check out www.BillyMasters.com, the site that shows all. If you've got a question, just send it to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before Channing turns up in a revival of Gypsy. So, until next time, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.
