"What? Really?"—Renée Zellweger's reaction to learning she's a gay icon. Ironically, I had the same reaction when I heard this news! Renée added, "A great deal of my closest friends are gay people"—not to mention several of her exes.
In the years I've been writing this column, I've noticed scandals rarely happen in the summer. I dunno why—maybe it's the heat. Perhaps since it's been a particularly cool ( and rainy ) June, we're getting more dish than usual. Seems to me something is happening daily. Don't get me wrong—something is happening every day of the year. But I can't be bothered with most things. Call me old-fashioned, but I like a good, juicy sex scandal.
It has been nearly three years since Kevin Spacey allegedly groped an 18-year-old busboy at the Club Car club in Nantucket. When Will Little texted his girlfriend during the evening, she responded, "Are you kidding? Sounds like he's hitting on you." Will said, "I'm not gay—but I think Spacey is." I'm curious—why does he need to tell his girlfriend "I'm not gay"? Will added, "He's grabbed my [BLANK] 8 times." And I think we all know what [BLANK] is! The question is—how long are you staying with a person grabbing your [BLANK]? Your choices are: a ) long enough for him to grab you eight times, b ) as long as he keeps buying the drinks or c ) I'm not gay.
Let me make something perfectly clear—I believe Will's story in terms of Spacey. My first question is: Why did Will stay? Another question was brought up to me on NECN's "The Take": Why were the bartenders serving a fellow employee who they knew was not of age? Some of these could be answered with Will's cellphone. Spacey's attorney argues that the timeline of the messages as well as the content are crucial, pointing out the text messages do not "indicate the interaction was unwelcomed."
It's also been reported that Will's mom may have redacted some content that didn't paint her son in a positive light. The judge ordered that the phone be turned over to Spacey's team for examination by July 8. So far, they have not complied. Why not? Will's father says he has no recollection of ever receiving the phone back from the police. The family's attorney claims that they have "searched all the places where such a phone may have been stored. They have not found the phone." The judge has ordered Mr. Little to appear in court if the phone doesn't turn up. Something smells rotten in Nantucket.
Then there's Nicholas Sparks—author of those dreadfully saccharine and syrupy stories where straight white people fall in love after overcoming horrific obstacles. Last week, Broadway producers announced that they were doing a reading of a new musical based on The Notebook. This has the potential of being a huge moneymaker for the author. But not so fast. The very next day, the former headmaster of the Christian school Sparks founded claimed that the author tried to ban LGBT clubs and protests.
In fact, the former headmaster is suing Sparks, stating that he "unapologetically marginalized, bullied, and harassed members of the school community whose religious views and/or identities did not conform to their religiously driven, bigoted preconceptions." What would one expect from Epiphany School? ( Yes, that's the name of the school. ) And Sparks did found it, so it's his way or the highway ( likely not the highway to heaven ). In an email, Sparks accused the headmaster of having "an agenda that strives to make homosexuality open and accepted." Lest you think his vitriol was limited to the gays, Nick also said the school had few minority students because they were "too poor and can't do the academic work."
Once this story went public, Sparks did some fancy footwork via Twitter: "As someone who has spent the better part of my life as a writer who understands the power of words, I regret and apologize that mine have potentially hurt young people and members of the LGBTQ community, including my friends and colleagues in that community." Being Sparks, he goes on and on, but you get the gist. In fact, the only thing he didn't address was the racist accusations. Anyhoo, the producers of the musical were satisfied, and said ( in part ), "We are encouraged that Mr. Sparks has made a strong statement of support of the LGBTQ+ community today." And, on with the show.
Sir Ian McKellen is bringing his latest one-man show to Broadway. "Ian McKellen On Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others ... And You!" will play the Hudson Theatre on November 5th as a one-night-only benefit for Only Make Believe—a charity which puts on interactive shows for kids in hospitals and care facilities in the United States. On the other side of the spectrum, McKellen started a new UK organization: Pride in Aging. It will help LGBTQ people over 50 who need help in social services and health care. I know which one of these resonates with me.
Every year, Broadway Bares raises money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and stars some of the hottest bodies in the Tri-State Area. This year's 29th installment was subtitled "Take Off" and focused on world travel. Once again, the show topped itself—I topped myself once, but that's another story—and brought in $2,006,192!
Our "Ask Billy" question comes from Chet in Detroit: "I'm totally in love with Conner Bobay—he's my ultimate twink. I hear he's been naked on his website. Do you have any photos or videos?"
Thanks to my fans, I learned something. Apparently Conner Bobay is one of those social-media stars who sings, blogs and poses in underwear. Once I saw he has an OnlyFans site, I knew he had to also be peddling nudes ( not that there's anything wrong with that ). Sure enough, last week there was a dick-slip. Upon further investigating, I seem to have found several other sizeable additions to the collection. Check them out on BillyMasters.com .
When Conner is grabbing his own [BLANK], it's definitely time to end another column. Have you noticed our nude subjects keep getting younger and younger? But you won't find any underaged boys on BillyMasters.com—the site that doesn't interest Kevin Spacey! If you have a question, send it along to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before Will Little and his girlfriend appear in the musical version of The Notebook! So, until next time, remember: One man's filth is another man's bible.
