Comedian/actress Margaret Cho has taken on accusations that she recently outed actor John Travolta by saying it's kind of "like outing Liberace," the Huffington Post reported. While performing her stand-up show in Australia three months ago, Cho made some comments about Travolta being "so gay—like Oscar Wilde gay." However, she later told Queerty, "You know, I would hope that he would be able to be himself. It's not even like I'm outing him, because it's so obvious."
Actor Andrew Garfield has revealed that he would like Peter Parker to be revealed as bisexual in the next Spider-Man movie, according to Digital Spy. The British actor—who will reprise the lead role in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man 2 next year—said that love interest Mary Jane could be re-imagined as a male character named AJ. He added, "Why can't we discover that Peter is exploring his sexuality? It's hardly even groundbreaking! So why can't he be gay? Why can't he be into boys?"
NBC has yanked the prank show Betty White's Off Their Rockers, the New York Daily News noted. The series focused on older people pranking younger ones while cameras caught the victims' reactions. When it debuted last year it snared 12 million viewers, but since then the audience shrank to 5.3 million for its second season.
Whitney Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, is officially engaged to Nick Gordon, but she really wants to emphasize that they are not related, according to the New York Post. "YES, we me nick are engaged," she posted on Facebook. "I'm tired of hearing people say 'eww your engaged to your brother or if Whitney was still alive would we be together or would she approve of this.'" Whitney Houston brought Gordon into her home when he was 12 and referred to him as her "son" before she died in February 2012.
Theater couple Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel, as well as Matthew Morrison, Tom Kitt, Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Megan Hilty will be part of a July 22 karaoke event in New York City to benefit A BroaderWay, according to Playbill.com . Menzel and Diggs created the A BroaderWay Foundation to offer arts-centered programs to girls from underserved communities. Whoopi Goldberg will host the event, which will allow audience members to select the songs that the performers will sing.
A star-studded one-night-only celebration of Tony winner Chita Rivera, who recently returned to Broadway in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, will be presented Oct. 7 at the August Wilson Theatre, Playbill.com noted. The event, which will mark Rivera's 80th birthday, is titled "Chita: A Legendary Celebration." Directed by Graciela Daniele with musical direction by Michael Croiter, the evening will be produced by and benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Rivera is a two-time Tony winner for The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Soft Skull Press will release Not Your Mother's Meatloaf: A Sex Education Comic Book Aug. 13, according to a press release. The book "brings together a selection of comics by various artists addressing sex and sexuality," including LGBTQ-related topics in the mix. See notyourmothersmeatloafbook.com .
Out singer Adam Lambert is joining the cast of the Fox show Glee next season, according to Billboard.com . "I am thrilled to announce that the super talented Adam Lambert is joining the cast of 'Glee' this fall," showrunner Ryan Murphy announced. Lambert becomes the latest American Idol alum to join the Fox musical; last season, "Idol" runner-up Jessica Sanchez played a diva singer on a rival glee club.
Actress Leah Remini (best known for playing Kevin James' wife on the CBS show The King of Queens) has reportedly quit Scientology after allegedly being subjected to "years of 'interrogations' and 'thought modifications'" after she questioned Scientology leader David Miscavige, according to the Huffington Post. Among famous Scientologists are Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
Big Brother host Julie Chen has spoken out about the anti-gay and racist remarks from two contestants, Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman, according to the L.A. Times. (Among other things, Gries told an Asian-American contestant to "go make some rice."). Chen said the anti-Asian slurs "hurt me the most. It took me back to the '70s when I was growing up in Queens, and when I was 7 years old, getting bullied with people pulling their eyes back." She added that all the comments were just "mean."
Speaking of Big Brother, Andy Herren—the show's only gay contestant—has had a charity started in his name for the Trevor Project, according to the Huffington Post. On the series, Herren has been victim to some of the anti-gay comments made by his fellow contestants. He isn't allowed to contact the outside world while appearing on the show so two of his friends, Chaundre White and Scott Goehring, have started Plan G, a fundraiser for the project. See https://www.myplang.com/g/viewCampaign/index/FandyLove.
Some have hailed the new Netflix series Orange Is the New Black has the greatest lesbian show ever, according to SheWired.com . The series, based on Piper Kerman's memoir of the same name, revolves around engaged Brooklynite Piper (Taylor Schilling), whose decade-old relationship with a lesbian drug-runner Alex (Laura Prepon) results in her arrest and yearlong detention in Litchfield, a federal prison. She leaves behind a fiance (Jason Biggs) and her upper-middle-class world for orange jumpsuits and prison culture.
Actress Olympia Dukakis is unhappy with the lack of distribution for Cloudburst, a lesbian road film in which she stars opposite Brenda Fricker, according to On Top Magazine. In the film, Dot (played by Fricker) and Stella (Dukakis) are an older lesbian couple who have been together 31 years and are living in Maine; on their way to marry in Canada, they pick up a young hitchhiker (Ryan Doucette). Dukakis said she felt "good" about recent marriage-equality wins, then added, "But I'll tell you what I don't feel good about: This film cannot get distribution in this country. Yeah, sit with that for a little bit. Sit with that!
The season 11 debut of the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men will add a lesbian character, On Top Magazine reported. The late Charlie Harper's (played by Charlie Sheen) long-lost daughter Jenny turns out to be gay. Jenny is 21 years old and is described as "sexy and gorgeous" as well as willing to use "her hotness when she needs to."
Lady Gaga has announced the release dates for her new single and the album Artpop, according to the L.A. Times. The name of the new track has yet to be announced, but it will come out Aug. 19, with the Artpop album and accompanying smartphone app pre-orders starting Sept. 1. The record will be released Nov. 11 as a physical and digital product, as well as through the "Artpop" app containing the release.
Cory Monteith, who played Finn on the Fox show Glee, was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room July 13—and the cause of death involved a mix of heroin and alcohol, according to TheWrap.com . He was 31. Monteith's body was discovered by staff members at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel after he missed his checkout time. "It should be noted that at this point there is no evidence to suggest Mr. Monteith's death was anything other than a most-tragic accident," the BC Coroners Service noted in a statement.
During a July 14 show at New York City's 54 Below, Glee actor Matthew Morrison dedicated a song to his late co-star, Cory Monteith, according to USMagazine.com . "Matt came out before the show started and said, 'We lost a great young man too soon,'" a source said. "He said Cory was a beautiful person." Morrison reportedly dedicated "What I Did for Love" from the Broadway classic A Chorus Line to Monteith.
Fashion Police host Joan Rivers said that she has yet to receive any notification from the Writers Guild about facing internal charges over her role in a dispute involving the E! Network show's writers, according to TheWrap.com . "Other than a press release, nothing has been filed by the WGA," Larry Thompson, Rivers' personal manager, said. "We have received no communication, notice or any paperwork from anyone at the union." The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) announced that its governing council voted to send charges filed against Rivers, a longtime member of WGAE, to a hearing before a three-person trial board.
Original American Idol judge Paula Abdul has said that an overhaul is "necessary" in order for the show to continue, Digital Spy noted. Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj have all departed the Fox series, and Per Blankens is replacing Nigel Lythgoe as the show's executive producer. "Change is necessary, change is good," the singer replied, adding, "I can't keep up with the rumors, I'll just be waiting on the couch, wondering who is going to be showing up on the judging panel."
During a concert, Beyonce called for a moment of silence for Trayvon Martin after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the death of the teenager, according to USA Today. The singer took a moment to honor Martin during her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour concert at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville; her show started about a half-hour after the verdict was delivered. After the moment of silence, she sang the chorus of "I Will Always Love You" before belting her hit "Halo."
Despite a dislocated shoulder suffered during the shooting of her latest music video, Mariah Carey went on with the show JUly 13, performing in Central Park with the New York Philharmonic, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The free show put on by Major League Baseball to tie-in with Tuesday's All-Star Game was a charity affair, with the organization donating $1 million to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Among the songs Carey sang were "Hero" and her newest single, "#Beautiful."
The View has added Jenny McCarthy to its panel, the ABC show announced days after its long-time co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck left, according to Deadline.com . After 17 appearances on the show, eight as a guest co-host, Barbara Walters confirmed speculation about McCarthy. McCarthy will start her gig Monday, Sept. 9.
HBO has renewed the hit show True Blood for a seventh season, according to a press release. The series follows waitress and part-faerie Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people's thoughts, vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard). Alan Ball (creator of the Emmy-winning HBO series Six Feet Under) created the show, which is based on the best-selling Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.
Actor Eric McCormack—who played gay attorney Will Truman in the NBC comedy Will & Grace—said the show help influence the marriage-equality debate, according to an On Top Magazine item. Last year, Vice President Joe Biden said the show broke down barriers. On HuffPost Live, McCormack said, "We weren't intending [for the show to influence the marriage debate]—we were just intending to be funny—but now it exists as this template for America for something that they would have never understood or gone near." Will & Grace ran 1998-2006.
Playbill.com posed a question to more than 80 theater actors: "If you could star in a Broadway revival of any play or musical, which show and role would you choose?" Betty Buckley said she'd like to play Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, Andrea Marcovicci responded with Coco Chanel in Coco, Matthew Risch said Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, Linda Thorson said Kristin in Apologia and Wilson Bridges said Edmund in Long Day's Journey into Night.
Adepero Oduye—who was seen in Lifetime's Steel Magnolias and the lesbian-themed film Pariah—has succeeded Condola Rashad in the Broadway production of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful, featuring Tony- and Emmy-winning stage and screen star Cicely Tyson, according to Playbill.com . Oduye will also be seen in the forthcoming film Twelve Years a Slave. The production also recently extended its limited engagement through Oct. 9.
Openly gay singer Clay Aiken will star in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Maine's Ogunquit Playhouse July 31-Aug. 25, according to Out.com . The former American Idol star made his Broadway debut in Spamalot, and he recently played Man in Chair in a May production of The Drowsy Chaperone at the North Carolina Theatre.
Lindsay Lohan has agreed to give her exclusive interview to Oprah Winfrey once she's out of rehab in August in a deal that may be worth as much as $2 million to the actress, according to the New York Daily News. Lohan, 27, agreed to do an interview and an eight-part reality series for Winfrey's OWN network, but the two parties reportedly took four months to settle on how much she should be paid. In addition to the pay, Winfrey reportedly is supplying Lohan with two personal assistants and a stylist.
For the first time, THIRTEEN's American Masters series profiles a sports figure—and that person is lesbian tennis icon Billie Jean King. American Masters: Billie Jean King premieres nationally Tuesday, Sept. 10, on PBS to commemorate the 40th anniversaries of the Billie Jean King v. Bobby Riggs "The Battle of the Sexes" match on Sept. 20, 1973, and her founding of the Women's Tennis Association on June 20 of that year. The documentary features new interviews with King, Serena & Venus Williams, Hillary Clinton, Sir Elton John, Gloria Steinem and others.
Hugh Jackman has revealed he is cutting back on his movie stunts after an accident on the set of his new superhero movie The Wolverine, the New York Post reported. The Australian star feared he had broken his neck during a scene in which his character swings out of a train carriage. Jackman's injuries weren't severe, but the incident was enough to scare his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, who made him reassess his stunt work.
Fashion designer Michael Kors is suing Costco Wholesale Corp, accusing the largest U.S. warehouse club retailer of running a "bait-and-switch" false advertising scheme, the New York Daily News. According to the complaint, Costco has never been an authorized retailer of Michael Kors handbags, yet it has recently run advertisements nationwide falsely suggesting that the handbags are available "starting at $99."
Oxygen has cancelled The Glee Project, ensuring the show won't return for a third season, TheWrap.com noted. Insiders say that Fox's "late" renewal of Glee didn't leave time for The Glee Project producers to turn around the series in time. Glee star's Cory Monteith's death did not influence Oxygen's decision to cancel the reality competition; it was decided several weeks ago.
