Queer, Oscar-winning performer/actor Ariana DeBose became one of three people who have joined the American Film Institute's board of trustees, The Hollywood Reporter noted. (The other two are Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chair/CEO Pamela Abdy and trial lawyer Wylie A. Aitken.) Some of the people already on the board include SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher; actors Halle Berry and Michael B. Jordan; filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Ava DuVernay; showrunner Shonda Rhimes; and agents Bryan Lourd (also part of the LGBTQ+ community) and Chris Silbermann.
Los Angeles-based nonprofit Outfest presented White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with its inaugural Outfest Achievement Award for Press and Media, per a press release. This inaugural Achievement Award for Press and Media is the organization's highest honor and celebrates the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the media. Jean-Pierre is the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as press secretary. She was previously the deputy press secretary during 2020-22; before that, she was the chief of staff for then-U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris during the 2020 presidential campaign. Outfest Los Angeles ran July 13-23.
The Twenty-Fifth Annual Gay Days at Disneyland are set to take place Sept. 22-24—and the entertainment lineup has been announced, a press release noted. Performers will include RuPaul's Drag Race stars Symone, Gigi Goode, Crystal Methyd, Alexis Michelle, Lady Camden and Daya Betty, with Zach Zimmerman and Varla Jean Merman. Other highlights of the weekend will include the Gay Days Welcome Center (located inside the Trillium Room of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel), screenings of ABC pilots and mixers. See www.GayDaysAnaheim.com .
SPOILER: After a competition that involved several alliances, a queen quitting the show, the first-ever finale with only a top two and the brand-new Fame Games twist, Jimbo won RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8, edging Kandy Muse, Out reported. Jimbo (who won four maxi challenges) has become the first queen from an international season to enter the Drag Race Hall of Fame, joining Chad Michaels, Alaska, Trixie Mattel, Monét X Change, Trinity The Tuck, Shea Coulee and Kylie Sonique Love.
RuPaul's Drag Race season 11 winner and All Stars 7 contestant Yvie Oddly is now married, Out noted. The drag artist shared a carousel of pictures and videos from earlier this month, when they tied the knot with now-husband Doug Illsley. "Last week I got married to some guy I met on Grindr," Oddly wrote.
And RuPaul's Drag Race/American Idol alum Adore Delano has come out as trans, Out noted. "There's been a lot of talk about my body and questions about my gender going around the internet and in my comment sections and stuff," Delano said in a video posted to Instagram. "So yeah, I wanted to let everyone know that I am transitioning. It's made me probably the happiest I've ever been in my adult life." Among other things, Delano also said that after coming out as bisexual the day before her 13th birthday (and later as gay), Delano "lived life as a girl all of my high school life."
Keke Palmer has opened up about her sexuality, saying she recently decided to "explore her life" and start living as a free spirit, according to Page Six. Appearing on "The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda," Palmer (who played a lesbian character in the Jordan Peele movie Nope) said she spent years repressing her sexuality before finally being experimental.
Emmy-winning actor Sarah Paulson will return to Broadway this fall for the first time in 13 years when she stars in the Second Stage Theater production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' dramedy Appropriate, according to Deadline. The production—part of Second Stage's 45th anniversary season—will begin previews Tuesday, Nov. 28 at Second Stage's Hayes Theater, with an official opening on Monday, Dec. 18. The playwright is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner; Lila Neugebauer will direct.
One of the prime records Barbie broke was the best domestic start for a movie helmed by a female director (Greta Gerwig, in this case), at $162 million, Deadline noted. Also, at an estimated $337 million in global revenue, Barbie is the second best start for a movie from a female after Captain Marvel, which garnered $456.7 million.
And speaking of Barbie, Greta Gerwig said other people were approached to be in the film, according to Out. They included actors Saoirse Ronan, Bowen Yang, Timothee Chalamet, Dan Levy, Ben Platt and Jonathan Groff. (Michael Cera ended up with Groff's part of Allan, who can fit into all of Ken's clothes.)
Queer model/actress Cara Delevingne recently talked about her sobriety journey with Elle UK, per Extra. In part, she said, "It's been worth every second. I just don't know what it would take for me to give it up. I am stable. I'm calmer," adding, "For a long time, I felt like I was hiding a lot from people who looked up to me. I finally feel as though I can be free and myself, fully." In June, Delevingne posted about attending British music festival Glastonbury sober for the first time in 15 years.
Actor Wilson Cruz (Star Trek: Discovery; My So-Called Life) told Variety that, like many queer teens, high school was a difficult time for him, according to Out. "I don't even know what it was like not to be bullied," he said. "I was called fag every day. It got to the point where I didn't even hear it anymore." Cruz added, "The only way I got through school was with my best friends—the other four gays kids I knew at school. … They saved my life." It's because of those memories that Cruz got involved with GLSEN, an organization that works to make schools safer for LGBTQ+ students and teachers; he now chairs the board.
The 1975's Matty Healy criticized Malaysia's anti-LGBTQ+ law that punishes homosexuality with up to 20 years in prison during a concert during the Good Vibes Festival in the capital of Kuala Lumpur, The Advocate noted. During the band's performance, Healy gave a profanity-filled speech to the crowd about the law—and kissed male bandmate Ross MacDonald. Festival organizers then cancelled the rest of the event. The band left the stage 30 minutes into their set, with Healy telling the crowd, "Alright… We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur—see you later." The band ended up being barred from Malaysia.
Music icon Cher revealed that she's launching her very own ice cream brand: Cherlato, Today noted. An Instagram video, set to her hit song "Believe," displays a groovy vehicle painted in neon pink, orange and yellow paint. "Yep, This Is Real…. I'm Launching My Gelato….Watch Out LA!!" she captioned the post. Some fans had punny reactions—including one person who suggested the flavor "Churn Back Time."
LA-based comic book publisher Sumerian is preparing a comic-book series based on the 2000 horror classic American Psycho, which stars Christian Bale as iconic madman Patrick Bateman, per Deadline. The four-issue comic-book series, publishing later this year, will have a dual narrative, one showing a different perspective of Bateman's killing spree. The thriller series features "an all-new psychopath as social media obsessed millennial, Charlie (Charlene) Carruthers, goes on a downward spiral filled with violence." Interestingly, a real-life Charlene Carruthers is a Black queer feminist activist and author but, so far, the names seem to be coincidental.
Another 2023 theatrical release will be moved because of the SAG-AFTRA strike as MGM is pushing the Zendaya-starring, Luca Guadagnino-directed R-rated tennis romance Challengers to April 26, 2024, Deadline reported. The film was scheduled to open stateside on Sept. 15, working off the heat of its Venice Film Festival opening-night premiere.
Season two of the animated superhero series Invincible has a premiere date on Amazon's Prime Video, Variety noted. The show will debut the first four episodes of the eight-episode season on Nov. 3, while the second half of the season will premiere in early 2024. The voice cast includes Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, Zazie Beetz, Grey DeLisle, Chris Diamantopoulos, Walton Goggins, Gillian Jacobs, Jason Mantzoukas, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Kevin Michael Richardson, Seth Rogen and J.K. Simmons.
Entertainment company Madison Wells Live, LaChanze and Taraji P. Henson have joined the producing team of Manhattan Theatre Club's Jaja's African Hair Braiding, which is headed to Broadway this fall at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, per Deadline. The play is set at a hair braiding salon in Harlem where a lively and eclectic group of West African immigrant hair braiders create "masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women." According to the synopsis, "During one sweltering summer day, love will blossom, dreams will flourish and secrets will be revealed."
Las Vegas Aces forward (and former Chicago Sky player) Candace Parker underwent successful surgery on a fracture in her left foot, per The Chicago Tribune. Parker has been playing on a fracture all season; however, after consulting with doctors, the only option for her to be healthy again and avoid further injury was to have surgery. There's no timetable on Parker's return.
Also regarding the Aces, guard Riquna Williams was arrested on domestic-battery charges, per ESPN. Williams faces five felony charges, including multiple counts of domestic battery by strangulation, coercion with the threat or use of physical force, and assault with use of a weapon, according to court records. Williams was released from jail without bail less than a day after her arrest, but said she can have no contact with her alleged victim and must comply with alcohol monitoring pending another court appearance on Aug. 2. Williams had previously been suspended 10 games by the WNBA in 2019 while a member of the Los Angeles Sparks after a domestic-violence incident in Florida involving her then-ex-girlfriend that led to Williams' arrest on felony charges.
The late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is set to be the subject of a new feature documentary, King Pleasure, according to Deadline. The estate of the legendary artist (who was a friend of Andy Warhol) is on board the project and has granted full access to archival material and original works of art, and the film will include never-before-seen home movies, notebooks, photographs, animation and interviews. Basquiat—whose untitled painting of a black skull with red and yellow rivulets sold for over $110M in 2017—was in the news last year after the Orlando Museum of Art unveiled 25 paintings that were later found to be fake.
Actor Jamie Foxx (who had been recuperating in Chicago) gave fans an update on his recovery in his first official video since his April hospitalization for what his daughter Corrine Foxx described at the time as "medical complication," Deadline noted. Foxx did not reveal the nature of the complication but said, "I did go to hell and back." He added, "I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, a television show. I just didn't want you to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was going to make it through."
Grammy-winning R&B star Monica (best known for "The Boy Is Mine," her duet with Brandy) said she was okay after jumping into the audience during a live concert to help a woman who had been hit by a man. In videos posted on social media, the singer yelled "Don't you hit her like that" after seeing a male punch a woman. She asked security to remove the man and apologized to the audience for the drama.
In a new campaign for PETA, LGBTQ+ actor Alan Cumming posed with nothing but a single leaf of romaine lettuce covering his anatomy in what People said is his very first nude photoshoot, Out noted. PETA also released a behind-the-scenes video featuring an interview with Cumming talking about his veganism and the photo shoot. Cumming joked, "The reason I became vegan is because Mike Tyson is a vegan. And I thought, 'If Mike Tyson can do it, surely I can.'"
Queerty noted that several LGBTQ+ stars are available on Cameo (to deliver video messages) for under $100 each. Some of them include Cheyenne Jackson, Jai Rodriguez, RuPaul's Drag Race Pit Crew's Bruno Alcantara, actor Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), former Daily Show correspondent Brian Unger and actor Jonathan Bennett.
The act Jonas Brothers will take THE TOUR global, adding 27 shows across Europe, Australia and New Zealand, per a press release. The new leg marks their first time performing in several spots, including Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic and Norway, among others. Also, the act added 26 shows to its North America slate.
Jason Aldean quietly trimmed a portion of his controversial music video for "Try That in a Small Town"—and one of the pieces he ditched is from a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest, according to TMZ. The BLM rally was projected on a Tennessee courthouse where a Black teenager was lynched in 1927. Aldean has received major backlash over the song (which has gone to the top of the charts in the wake of the publicity/notoriety) after folks accused him of going after the BLM movement.
Partnering with gelato artisan Gianpaolo Grazioli (Giapo), music icon Cher just launched Cherlato——a new mobile gelato truck that just debuted on the streets of Los Angeles, per a press release. An Instagram video, set to her hit song "Believe," displays a groovy vehicle painted in neon pink, orange and yellow paint, Today noted. "Yep, This Is Real…. I'm Launching My Gelato….Watch Out LA!!" she captioned the post. Some fans had punny reactions—including one person who suggested the flavor "Churn Back Time."
On a recent episode of The Kardashians, Kylie Jenner finally admitted to getting plastic surgery on her breasts after years of denying she'd had the operation(s)—and she's not exactly thrilled with the results, per Page Six. "I got my breasts done before Stormi … not thinking I would have a child when I was 20," the Kylie Cosmetics founder said in a confessional on the Hulu show. The reversal came after years of denial from Jenner, who told fans on Twitter in 2016 that her increased breast size was due to "that time of the month" as well as the Victoria's Secret Bombshell push-up bra she wore.
There has reportedly been shock, disbelief, disappointment and anger among cast and crew following the outcome of an internal investigation into misconduct allegations against longtime Days of Our Lives director/co-executive producer Albert Alarr, Deadline noted. According to people who have observed Alarr's behavior since he joined the soap, issues had been present for years but escalated after he was named co-executive producer in 2015. In the position of power, Alarr has allegedly been abusive, making people feel uncomfortable and humiliated.
Real Housewives of New York City alum Bethenny Frankel was "furious" with TJ Maxx for selling her counterfeit Manolo Blahnik shoes for $869, per Page Six. Frankel revealed that fashion blogger Jack Savoie informed her that pink Manolo Blahnik heels she purchased from TJ Maxx were fake because they were missing a sueded sole and the logo was wrong. "Never did I think that there could be a fake product in there," Frankel told her more than 3 million followers. "It just never occurred to me. It's a public company— I own the stock."
Beyonce's mother, Tina Knowles, has filed for divorce from her second husband, Richard Lawson, citing "irreconcilable differences," Page Six noted. The businesswoman is not asking the court to grant her or her soon-to-be ex-husband any spousal support. They have been married for eight years.
