L.A. Weekly has released its list of the 20 sexiest male musicians of all time, stating that these performers "make us sweat for more than just their looks." Among those on the list are Sufjan Stevens, Lenny Kravitz, Justin Timberlake, Morrissey, Buddy Holly, Tupac, Elvis Presley, Prince and Frank Sinatra—with David Bowie named as number one. There is also a list of five overrated male-musician sex symbols that names Gavin Rossdale, Sting, Jack White, Usher and John Mayer.
Actor/drag legend Charles Busch and actress Cynthia Nixon are among the performers slated to present a one-night-only benefit reading of Tom Eyen's Women Behind Bars May 7 at New York City's Acorn Theatre, Playbill.com noted. Others who will be reading include Rosie O'Donnell, Natasha Lyonne, Rosie Perez, Janeane Garofalo, Chloe Sevigny, Josh Hamilton and Jennifer Tilly, among others. (Busch will portray The Matron.) A send-up of the classic genre of 1950s women's-prison movies, Women Behind Bars premiered in New York in 1974.
Lesbian tennis icon Martina Navratilova was the first celebrity bounced from ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Two weeks of low scores were too much for the former Wimbledon champion and partner Tony Dovolani to overcome. "I'll miss Tony," Navratilova, 55, said, People.com reported. Dovolani said, "Not only is [Navratilova] a female icon, but she has probably the kindest heart I've ever met. So, I'm actually pretty destroyed right now." (Actor/singer Jack Wagner was the second to go, as announced April 3.)
First Lady Michelle Obama was on the April 3 and will be on the April 10 episodes of the NBC show The Biggest Loser, according to Newser.com . In the first episode, she will appear via video on the weight loss-competition show, inviting contestants to the White House. On the second, she will join them for a workout. It's all part of Obama's Let's Move initiative.
A set of intimate, never-seen-before photographs of a 27-year-old Marilyn Monroe are for sale after they were discovered at her late makeup artist's home, according to the New York Daily News. The impromptu shots show Monroe casually posing for the man behind the lens, Allan "Whitey" Synder. Synder, who did Monroe's makeup for 16 years, took the photographs in 1953 on the set of Niagara, one of the actress' first leading roles. Interested bidders can visit www.JuliensLive.com .
Outfest hosted FUSION: The Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival March 22-24, according to NoMoreDownLow.tv . Among the films shown was Patrik-Ian Polk's The Skinny; the Noah's Arc creator's new movie is about five Brown University students who get together for a gay pride weekend in New York City. Among other films that were shown were out director Joel Schumacher's 1976 film Car Wash and the 1999 lesbian classic Chutney Popcorn. Despite competition from the movie The Hunger Games, people reportedly attended the festival in record numbers.
Will the Daytime Emmys actually air on television this year? According to the New York Post, the TV academy announced that the awards ceremony will take place in Los Angeles June 23 at the Beverly Hilton (after two years in Las Vegas). However, a spokeswoman said "we are continuing to speak with various networks and social media sites" about finding a home for the event—meaning that it could stream online if a TV home isn't found. The show only had 5.4 million viewers last year.
In an interview with TV Line, out actor Matt Bomer said he had a great time on the TV show Glee playing the brother of gay character Blaine—and described kissing lesbian actress Jane Lynch as "fantastic," Advocate.com reported. Bomer will portray Cooper Anderson, and performs a mash-up of Duran Duran songs with Criss on the April 10 episode. Bomer also said he'd consider performing in a Broadway musical in the future.
Comedian Kate McKinnon could be the first lesbian cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, according to Advocate.com . McKinnon was part of the ensemble on Logo's Big Gay Sketch Show and was also in the web series Vag Magazine. McKinnon will reportedly debut on the April 7 show that Modern Family's Sofia Vergara is hosting.
Carson Daly, host of NBC's The Voice, has apologized for joking on his radio show that gay passengers wouldn't have been able to handle the JetBlue pilot who had a mental breakdown, according to the Chicago Tribune. "This morning on my radio show I attempted to make fun of myself & offended others by mistake. I sincerely apologized," Daly tweeted. A statement from Daly that was posted on GLAAD's website read, in part, "I'm saddened that my comments, however unintentional, offended anyone, specifically members of the LGBT community."
Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy, recently gave her first interview about the superstar's death to a New Jersey Fox affiliate, according to USA Today. In the interview—which took place at New Hope Baptist Church, where Whitney's funeral took place Feb. 18—Cissy said, "If I thought I could do something to bring her back, that's exactly what I'd do, but I know that's impossible." Whitney, 48, died Feb. 11; the singer's cause of death was found to be "drowning and effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use."
Rosie O'Donnell is putting her Miami home up for sale, the Miami Herald reported. She has listed her 11,000-square-foot Star Island estate for $19.5 million; she bought it in 1999 for $6.75 million. Recently, she sold her Chicago home for $2.5 million in the wake of her Oprah Winfrey Network talk show being cancelled.
ABC executives have decided that Madonna's ad for her new scent, Truth or Dare, needs to be censored, the Daily Mail reported. The 30-second ad shows the "Borderline" singer, 53, in a low-cut corset and fishnet stockings while writhing and singing, "I'm a bad girl." Among the content changes that have reportedly been requested are digitally altering the singer's bra to cover more of her chest, and also making her corset longer to cover more of her rear end.
In an interview with New York magazine, actress Candice Bergen, 65, revealed she suffered a minor stroke in 2006 that left her with some memory loss, according to the Daily Mail. Bergen, best known for the TV show Murphy Brown, said she only took two weeks off another series—Boston Legal—to recover. Bergen is making her Broadway debut in Gore Vidal's The Best Man.
Hours after a Los Angeles judge cautioned Lindsay Lohan to "stop nightclubbing and focus on" her work when she was released from supervised probation, the actress celebrated her freedom by throwing a party at a private penthouse at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont, the New York Post reported. On March 29, Lohan had her formal probation relating to a 2007 drunk-driving offense lifted. Alcohol was served; however, Lohan reportedly did not drink. She will appear in an upcoming episode of Glee and is the lead in the soon-to-be-filmed Lifetime movie Liz and Dick, about Elizabeth Taylor.
Victoria Beckham has stirred controversy by saying her figure represents the average woman's, the New York Daily News reported. In the May issue of Harper's Bazaar UK, the former Posh Spice appears in a 10-page photo spread, and said she wear her own creations to connect with her customers. She said, "We always joke that we have this fabulously gorgeous 17-year-old model who is six-foot-whatever and then I say 'OK, I'm going to put it on. I stand for the general public here.' It's how I work."
Nadya "Octomom" Suleman is back in the news after posing semi-nude on the cover of the British magazine Closer, according to the New York Daily News. On the cover, she is in flesh-colored underwear with her hands placed strategically over her breasts. She talked about her weight loss as well as her obsession with fitness, claiming to run 40 miles weekly as "stress relief."
Investigators reportedly found evidence of cocaine not far from the hotel tub where superstar singer Whitney Houston was found dead Feb. 11, according to TMZ.com .Oofficial documents show one of the items police recovered was "white, powdery remnants." Sources said the powder was tested, and it was cocaine. However, authorities are not investigating rumors that someone removed cocaine from the room, because they're reportedly convinced it wasn't removed.
Oprah Winfrey admitted on CBS This Morning she has made mistakes with her network, but vowed to succeed with a new plan, according to the Chicago Tribune. Winfrey recently laid off 30 employees after cancelling Rosie O'Donnell's talk show. Appearing on the CBS show co-hosted by best friend Gayle King, Winfrey said one of her top mistakes was "launching when we really were not ready to launch." However, Winfrey is now so committed to OWN's success that she will not be available to campaign for President Barack Obama in his re-election bid.
Australia's Channel Seven had been banned from interviewing Paris Hilton after asking the socialite a question about diminishing fame. According to the Daily Mail, reporter Edwina Bartholmew asked Hilton, "What about when you're not famous anymore—what are you going to do?" Hilton replied she would want to have children and a normal life—but her camp warned the station that it would be barred from future interviews if it aired the segment. After airing it, the station was banned, but Hilton later tweeted to Bartholmew that the interview didn't offend her.
Out film director Roland Emmerich is in talks to direct White House Down, an action drama, according to Deadline.com . Emmerich and his producing partner Harald Kloser will join Mythology Entertainment partners Bradley Fischer, playwright James Vanderbilt and Laeta Kalogridis to produce the film, which is about a paramilitary takeover of the White House. Emmerich has directed such movies as Independence Day, Godzilla, 2012 and Anonymous.
