Crude comments about Whitney Houston's death have sparked changes at a Los Angeles radio station, according to the Chicago Tribune. KFI-AM radio personalities John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou caused outrage last month when they said of Houston's passing, "Really? Took this long?" Station officials said that the pair and key staff will undergo cultural sensitivity training.
Out reality-TV star and stylist Brad Goreski reveals an assortment of issues in his new memoir, Born to be Brad, according to the Daily Mail. Among other things, he talks about how he was bullied in his hometown of Port Perry, Ontario, because of his chubby build and bold dress sense. He also admits problems with drugs, including alcohol and cocaine. Goreski, 34, shot to fame as Rachel Zoe's assistant on the show The Rachel Zoe Project.
Amy Ray—known as half of Indigo Girls—has released the CD Lung of Love on her own Daemon Records imprint. Ray will be kicking off the first leg of her U.S. tour March 10 with a hometown Atlanta show and will include her first SxSW appearances in over a decade. The first single is entitled "Glow."
Actor Daniel von Bargen—known for roles on TV shows Seinfeld and Malcolm in the Middle as well as for several gay-related projects—was in critical condition in an Ohio hospital after apparently attempting suicide, Advocate.com reported. Von Bargen shot himself in the head at his suburban Cincinnati apartment. Von Bargen has portrayed Clyde Tolson, J. Edgar Hoover's purported lover, in the TV movie Citizen Cohn, about closeted gay conservative Roy Cohn; and was the jury foreman in the Tom Hanks/Denzel Washington movie Philadelphia.
Actress Pam Grier and Food Networks' Ted Allen and Daisy Martinez joined forces to show their support for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Philadelphia recently, according to a press release. The trio star in a new public service announcement for Dining Out For Life hosted by Subaru, an annual fundraiser bringing people and restaurants together to help AIDS organizations across the country with one day of dining out; this year, it will take place April 26. To find restaurants near you participating in Dining Out for Life, please visit www.DiningOutForLife.com .
The Vilcek Foundation announced $40,000 in grants to fund the production of Pit Stop, Malaysian-born and Austin-based filmmaker Yen Tan's third feature film, according to a press release. Pit Stop is a 90-minute narrative feature film that tells the parallel stories of two gay men (a construction foreman and a factory worker) in a small Texas town who realize they might be meant for each other. Pit Stop also received a $7,000 grant from Austin Film Society's 2011 Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund.
Legendary composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim is working on a musical with David Ives, the playwright known for Venus in Fur, All in the Timing and adaptations of classics, Playbill.com reported. Tony Award winner Sondheim, 81, has written "20 or 30 minutes" of the new piece. Among Sondheim's works are Into the Woods, Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music, Follies and Sunday in the Park With George.
Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth has announced dates for her first concert tour, which is scheduled to kick off May 9 in Seattle, according to Playbill.com . The entertainer—currently seen in the ABC series GCB—will perform songs from her latest CD, Some Lessons Learned, as well as songs from the Fox series Glee and the musical Wicked. Among her stops are Denver (May 18), Chicago (June 16) and Nashville (June 20); she'll finish in Broken Arrow, Okla., on June 24. See www.Kristin-Chenoweth.com .
In an interview with The Advocate, George Clooney (promoting a reading of Dustin Lance Black's Prop 8 play, 8) reaffirmed his commitment to marriage equality. When talking about friend Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie vowing to not marry until everyone can wed, Clooney said tongue-in-cheek, "Brad has also joked that he's not getting married until I can legally marry my partner." He also talked about rumors that he's gay ("My private life is private, and I'm very happy in it. Who does it hurt if someone thinks I'm gay? I'll be long dead and there will still be people who say I was gay. I don't give a shit.")
Brad Pitt joined the March 3 reading of the play 8, according to a press release. The reading included a huge cast of actors, including George Clooney, Martin Sheen, Christine Lahti, Matthew Morrison, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kevin Bacon and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Oscar winner Goldie Hawn has exited the HBO comedy pilot The Viagra Diaries, which would've been her first acting job in a decade, according to Deadline.com . Sex and the City creator/executive producer Darren Star was the mastermind behind the pilot, with Bridesmaids helmer Paul Feig directing it. The series is based on the book by Barbara Rose Brooker; it focuses on Claire, who deals with being single for the first time in 35 years.
British actor/comedian Matt Lucas thanked fans for their support but announced he would no longer have a Twitter account after someone posted a joke about the death of Lucas' ex-partner, according to Pink News. Lucas and Kevin McGee entered a civil partnership in 2006, but was dissolved two years later; McGee committed suicide in 2009. After seeing a joke about McGee, Lucas tweeted to the user (@oOfuscoOo, whose account is no longer active), "Shame on you."
Scrooge & Marley, a gay modern-day variation of A Christmas Carol, will be filmed in Chicago this May, according to a press release. Richard Knight Jr. and Peter Neville will direct the movie; Windy City Times Publisher Tracy Baim and David Strzepek will executive-produce. Several actors are tentatively tied to the project, including Megan Cavanagh (A League of Their Own) and Ronnie Kroell (Eating Out: Drama Camp and TV's Make Me a Supermodel).
Singer Rihanna has said she's a fan of Adele, but can't listen to the British singer's most recent album, 21, any longer, according to Digital Spy. Rihanna said that Adele "doesn't know the depth of my affection, just the surface. She has no idea." Regarding 21, Rihanna added, "The last album 21 just spoke to me so much. To the point where I had to stop listening to it [because] it was depressing me so much. You become so attached to the stories, it's really something you identify with."
Janet Jackson has officially said "no" to The X Factor, according to Digital Spy. The "Control" singer said that although she was considered to replace Nicole Scherzinger or Paula Abdul as a judge on the show, she couldn't fit it into her schedule. Jackson is resuming her "Number Ones Up Close and Personal Tour" and is involved in projects with film studio Lionsgate. However, a rep from Jackson's team said that talks never took place between the show and the singer.
Scarlett Johansson and James D'Arcy will portray Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins—the stars of Psycho—in the Fox Searchlight film Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Variety reported. Anthony Hopkins will portray Hitchcock while Helen Mirren will be his wife, Alma. Director Sacha Gervasi's picture follows Hitchcock and his struggles during the filmmaking of the horror classic.
Out actor Zachary Quinto will join Jessica Lange in the second season of Ryan Murphy's F/X series, American Horror Story, according to Deadline.com . Quinto did a four-episode arc on the show's first season. Like Lange, he will play a brand-new character next season, which is set in an East Coast institution.
Advocates of breast-feeding are praising Beyonce after she fed daughter Blue Ivy at New York City's Sant Ambroeus restaurant, ABC News reported. Experts said a superstar such as the "Irreplaceable" singer takes away the stigma of breast-feeding. "I think Beyonce has a huge impact on being able to re-normalize breastfeeding and give women confidence to do the same," said Emma Kwasnica, a childbirth and breast-feeding educator.
Gay-rights groups have criticized former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron after he called homosexuality "unnatural" and tabbed same-sex marriages "detrimental," US Magazine reported. Talking with Piers Morgan, Cameron said, "I think that it's…it's…it's unnatural. I think that it's…it's detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization." Gay rights group GLAAD called Cameron "more dated than his 1980s TV character."
MTV announced that Savage U—a new original series featuring columnist, author, and It Gets Better project co-creator Dan Savage—will premiere April 3 at 11 p.m. ET/PT, a press release stated. Savage U follows Savage and his producer, Lauren Hutchinson, as they travel to college campuses across the country, taking students' questions and offering a crash course on relationships, responsibility, sex, love and life. Among the places they visit are the University of Illinois at Chicago, Texas Tech University and Auburn University.
The most recent project of The L Word creator Ilene Chaiken, Quean, has been axed for being too similar to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise, according to a SheWired.com item. The pilot was supposed to "center on an edgy and independent Millennial hacker girl who teams up with an Oakland police detective to solve crimes." Warner Bros TV, which was going to produce the pilot, received a letter from Sony (which holds the rights to Tattoo) threatening a lawsuit over "alleged similarities" to the franchise.
Univision talk-show host Nancy Alvarez recently told AOL Latino that people are gay because of "mistakes made by their parents," according to Advocate.com . Alvarez was responding to singer Ricky Martin, who said people are born gay and are not converted to homosexuality, as heterosexuals are not "made straight." Alvarez, who calls herself a doctor and a sexologist, had previously said she was concerned about gay parents and how they might influence their children.
Speaking of Martin, he has condemned a brutal attack on a gay Chilean man, the Huffington Post reported. Daniel Zamudio, 24, was put in an induced coma while being treated for severe head trauma and a broken right leg after a beating. On Twitter, Martin posted, "No more hatred, no more discrimination. I hope that justice is done NOW. Lots of light to Daniel and his whole family."
