The first deaf contestant on America's Next Top Model may be the first to come out as sexually fluid as well, Spectrum noted. Breakout model Nyle DiMarco was recently asked about his sexuality by a fan on Twitter and responded by letting the world know he is fluid. According to Everyday Feminism, the article DiMarco linked, "sexually fluid" is a term used by individuals who are bisexual, pansexual, queer or any identity that goes beyond simply "gay" or "straight."
Lance Bass has revealed he was victimized by a "pedophile" who touched him inappropriately during his days with the boy band NSYNC, according to Page Six. On The Meredith Vieira Show, Bass, 36, made the revelation while discussing Ashley Judd's recent claims that a Hollywood mogul sexually harassed her nearly two decades ago. The Sirius XM host didn't go into specifics about other possible victims, but indicated his NSYNC bandmates—who were together professionally 1995-2002—may have also been victimized.
The network known as ABC Family—home to such shows as The Fosters and Pretty Little Liars—is changing its name, TheWrap reported. The cable network announced that it will rebrand itself as Freeform, with the new name taking effect in January 2016. The rebranding is part of the network's effort, announced at its upfront presentation in April, to focus on viewers ages 14-34—a group it has dubbed "Becomers." The network's new logo and branding will be revealed prior to the January relaunch.
Speaking with Extra, John Travolta confirmed rumors of a possible Gypsy remake, helmed by Barbra Streisand, according to Out.com . "Well, yeah, I mean Barbra wanting to do Gypsy for years, and she's been developing it, and I think she always visualized Gaga as Louise and maybe me as Herbie," Travolta said, referring, respectively, to the title role and that of the manager. Streisand and Gypsy lyricist Stephen Sondheim have been battling it out for years over the rights to the classic musical based on burlesque legend Gypsy Rose Lee. However, librettist Arthur Laurents gave Streisand his blessing a month before dying in 2011.
Out gay actor Ben Whishaw has said there should be no debate about gay actors playing straight characters, and vice versa, The Hampshire Chronicle noted. Whishaw has portrayed characters of various sexual orientations on screen in the past, including gadget guru Q in James Bond film Skyfall, serial killer Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and English Romantic poet John Keats in Bright Star. The actor, in a civil partnership with Australian composer Mark Bradshaw, said, "The whole thing is a fiction; it's about imagination, it's play. I am baffled to why it's such a big thing."
Madonna and Prince partied together after her "Rebel Heart" concert in Minneapolis, Page Six noted. The singer and her dancers visited Prince's Paisley Park studios, where he put on an intimate show for just 33 fans. He performed 10 songs and appeared "awestruck by Madge," wrote Andrea Swensson on radio station The Current's blog. "After the sixth song of the set, Prince leaned down and whispered something back and forth with Madonna, and then hopped back up to his keyboards and simply said, 'Cool.'" Prince and Madonna collaborated in the late '80s on her Like a Prayer album, even recording "Love Song" together.
Actor Victor Garber ( TV's Alias and Eli Stone; the movie Argo ) recently tied the knot with longtime boyfriend Rainer Andreesen, The Huffington Post noted. Garber, who will next be seen on The CW series Legends of Tomorrow, acknowledged his 16-year relationship with Andreesen, an actor and model, in a 2013 interview with Greg In Hollywood writer Greg Hernandez.
Actress Cree Summer ( TV's A Different World ) recently tweeted a picture of her and fellow thespian Jenifer Lewis on Oct. 9 with the caption, "Today 20 years ago @JeniferLewis & I were the first [Black] LGBT couple on [TV]... #Courthouse ( reoccuring )." Courthouse is a drama television series that ran in 1995 on CBS that starred Patricia Wettig, Michael Lerner, Nia Peeples, Robin Givens; Lewis was a judge and Summer was a housekeeper.
YouTube star Trevor Moran, 17, has come out as gay, Billboard reported. The social-media star—who has nearly 1 million followers—actually first came out with a music video for his song "I Wanna Fly" when it was released Sept. 29, but on Oct. 9 verbalized his newly declared sexuality in a six-minute video in which he discusses it openly. Moran said he never felt like he was actually in the closet and that this was more him "clarifying" his sexuality. Still, he had a hard time saying the words "I'm gay" at first in the video, letting a relieved sigh out after he did.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its nominees for the 2016 induction ceremony, and the class ranges from hardcore hip-hop to industrial metal, disco to post-punk, classic rock to R&B, Radio.com noted. Nominees include Janet Jackson, The Smiths, N.W.A., Chicago, Nine Inch Nails, The Cars, Chaka Khan, Yes and The Spinners, among others. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2016 inductees will be announced in December, with the ceremony being held next April.
Janet Jackson has topped the Billboard 200 albums chart with her new album, Unbreakable, the magazine stated. It marks her seventh chart-topper and makes her just the third act ( alongside Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen ) to achieve number-one albums in each of the last four decades. Unbreakable is Jackson's first studio album since 2008's Discipline, which also debuted at the top. Jackson previously led the list with All For You ( 2001 ), The Velvet Rope ( 1997 ), janet. ( 1993 ), Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 ( 1989 ) and Control ( 1986 ).
In other Janet Jackson-related news, producer Seven Aurelius—who's worked with Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and Michael Jackson—is threatening to sue Jackson and her management after she reportedly denied ever working with him and said a collaboration he posted online was a hoax, Page Six reported. Aurelius has uploaded "S.E.X.L.I.N.E.S," a 2003 unmastered track he claims to have produced with Janet.
Andrew Rannells—the Tony Award-nominated star of The Book of Mormon on Broadway and a costar of HBO's Girls—will temporarily replace Jonathan Groff as King George III in Hamilton on Broadway, according to Page Six. Rannells, who replaced Neil Patrick Harris in the title role of the show Hedwig and the Angry Inch last summer, will step into Hamilton from Oct. 27-Nov. 29, with Groff returning Dec. 1. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton tells the true story of an orphan immigrant from the Caribbean who rises to the highest ranks of American society, told by a young African-American and Latino cast.
A new Frank Sinatra biography says there's no way Ronan Farrow could be the legendary crooner's son, as Mia Farrow has hinted, Page Six noted. Sinatra: The Chairman details how, at the time Ronan would have been conceived, the singer had undergone gastrointestinal surgery. Also, he had complained of suffering from impotence and was reportedly fitted with a "penile implant." Mia caused a storm by responding to Vanity Fair's 2013 question if Ronan could be Sinatra's biological child by simply saying, "Possibly." Ronan is the legal child of Woody Allen, but no DNA test has ever been done.
New York celebrity chef Matthew Tivy was arrested on charges of having sex with a minor and child pornography, People reported. The chef, who appeared on the Food Network's Chef Du Jour, allegedly had sex with a boy in a parking lot of a Bronx Best Buy before allegedly bragging about the experience online. FBI agents arrested the Cafe du Soleil owner, 53, at his Upper West Side apartment. Tivy allegedly swapped porn with other teenage boys and tried to recruit other men to have group sex with a boy from New Jersey.
Kanye West has said that he has faced discrimination in his career, but it's not because he's Black—it's because he's not gay, according to TV Guide. "I feel like I got discriminated in fashion for not being gay," West said to SHOWstudio about being in fashion. "In music, you definitely get discriminated in music if you are gay. It takes amazing talents to break down barriers. Everyone thought that when Frank Ocean dropped that it was going to be bad for his career. I feel like it's so cliché to speak about him as it relates to this subject, but there are people who broke the ground and he broke the ground.
The Nashville Grizzlies gay and inclusive rugby team has released its 2016 fundraising calendar, according to the squad. The team will host the Bingham Cup—the world championship of gay rugby—in Nashville in May 2016. Named after Mark Bingham, who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bingham Cup is the biggest tournament in the world for gay and inclusive teams, and this will be the first year it has been hosted in the South. See www.grizzliesrugby.org .
A recently released Campbell's Soup advertisement features a same-sex couple lovingly feeding their young child in the character voices of a few very beloved sci-fi characters, WTVM noted. The ad, entitled "Made for Real, Real Life," depicts two dads feeding their son soup in the voice of Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise. The commercial also features the Star Wars-labeled cans ahead of the highly-anticipated release of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens on Dec. 18. According to Ad Age, it's the 146-year-old brand's first major campaign push in five years.
Reality stars and real-life couple Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge ( known as the Fabulous Beekman Boys ) are back with a new project, The Huffington Post noted. They are taking their green mission to the newsstands with an all-new special interest publication, Beekman 1802 Almanac. The fall/winter issue—already out, courtesy of Meredith Corporation—is inspired by 19th-century almanac publications and will offer "fresh-from-the-farm" tips from the couple. The couple won the grand prize on TV's The Amazing Race in 2012.
Shahs of Sunset star Reza Farahan and Adam Neely got married ove rthe Oct. 3 weekend, US Weekly noted. The nuptials come after fans of the Bravo reality show watched Farahan call off the couple's wedding at the end of last season as the cast visited Thailand. Neely and Farahan met at the gym and began dating in 2012. They got engaged in Palm Springs in August 2014 after Farahan popped the question over dinner.
Actor Daniel Craig—who's portrayed the British spy James Bond for three films and will take on the suave, secretive playboy for a fourth time in the upcoming Spectre movie—told TimeOut London he'd rather commit suicide than take on Bond again, according to Time. "Now? I'd rather break this glass and slash my wrists," Craig said, when asked if he would do another Bond film. "No, not at the moment. Not at all. That's fine. I'm over it at the moment. We're done. All I want to do is move on." Craig did offer some wise words to his still-unnamed successor: "Don't be s—t. You've got to step up. People do not make movies like this any more. This is really rare now. So don't be s—t."
On Oct. 20, Audible will release the audiobook version of Lyme Light, a dark comedic off-beat memoir by Natalie London that Orange Is the New Black star Natasha Lyonne narrates, a press release stated. The book combines "disease-ridden delusions, falling in love, and early '90s television nostalgia."
Soap fans were shocked and upset to learn that the character of Will Horton was being killed off the daytime show Days of Our Lives, according to SoapShows.com . Will ( most recently portrayed by Guy Wilson, who succeeded Chandler Massey ) and fellow character Sonny ( Freddie Smith ) were the first gay men to marry in the world of soap operas.
Grammy-winning recording artist Alanis Morissette has launched her own podcast, a press release noted. Titled "Conversation with Alanis Morissette," the monthly podcast will feature conversations with a variety of revered authors, doctors, educators and therapists, covering a wide range of topics, including psychology, art, spirituality, design, health, well-being and relationships. For more information, visit www.alanis.com .
Demi Lovato has released the music video for "Confident," directed by Robert Rodriguez ( Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn ), and co-starring actress Michelle Rodriguez ( Fast and the Furious, Machete ) and actor Jeff Fahey ( TV's From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, Justified ), according to a press release. "Confident" is the second single ( and title song ) from Demi's upcoming fifth studio album, due out Oct. 16 from Hollywood Records/Island Records/Safehouse Records.
Rosie O'Donnell's daughter Chelsea gave the Daily Mail an unflattering interview about her mother, according to CBS News. Among other things, Chelsea claimed that she never ran away, but was kicked out by Rosie. The teen also said that Rosie's claims that she is mentally ill are not true, and discussed topics such as why Rosie left The View, her relationship with ex-wife Kelli Carpenter ( who Chelsea said she prefers ) and Rosie's alleged marijuana-related habits.
The View's Raven-Symone made it known that she will not hire somebody with an Africanized name, TheWrap noted. The revelation came following a discussion of a recent study that found Americans make racist assumptions based on names. She said, "I'm not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea. It's just not going to happen. I'm not going to hire you." She has since apologized, saying the statement was in "poor taste," Billboard noted.
As of next March, iconic men's magazine Playboy will no longer publish nude photo shoots of women, People noted. It will, however, still include photos of women in provocative poses. "That battle has been fought and won," Playboy CEO Scott Flanders told the New York Times of the magazine's revolutionary widespread publication of softcore pornography. "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passe at this juncture."
Lex Scott Davis will play singer Toni Braxton in the upcoming Lifetime biopic Un-Break My Heart, TheWrap reported. Davis has one television credit to her name: playing a waitress in an episode of TV Land's sitcom The Exes. Based on her 2014 memoir, Un-Break My Heart is an authorized biopic chronicling Braxton's divorce, financial difficulties and struggles with her son's autism. Braxton will executive-produce the movie and appear in the film, which begins production later this year.
CBS has canceled the Halle Berry sci-fi series Extant after two seasons, TheWrap reported. The Stephen Spielberg-produced sci-fi drama has suffered declining ratings since its debut last year. The network also announced that Berry will executive-produce Legalease, a new drama about a biracial lawyer from Chicago who follows a case to New Orleans, where she finds herself partnering with a white attorney.
