THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

American Horror Story is headed to the Big Apple, Entertainment Weekly noted. The 11th season of the Ryan Murphy-created series is titled AHS:NYC and is just weeks away from being released. "New Season. New City. New Fears," the show teased in a tweet. Previously, it was revealed that series veterans Zachary Quinto, Patti LuPone, Billie Lourd, Sandra Bernhard, and Isaac Powell would be returning for the new story, alongside franchise newcomers Joe Mantello and Charlie Carver. The new announcement adds franchise-familiar faces Leslie Grossman and Denis O'Hare to the cast, as well as newcomer Russell Tovey.

Beyonce—whose year-old partnership with Tiffany & Co. includes starring in its just-released ad campaign "Lose Yourself in Love"—released a film with the jewelry house for the finale song on Renaissance, "Summer Renaissance," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The black-and-white film was directed by Grammy winner Mark Romanek (the film One Hour Photo; videos of Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" as well as Madonna's "Bedtime Story"). Sampling Donna Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love," the film for "Summer Renaissance" has a Studio 54 vibe throughout, with Beyonce and several of the 90 dancers who surround her wearing signature Tiffany & Co. jewels.

In other Queen Bey-related news, she denied a claim that she didn't ask Right Said Fred to use their song "I'm Too Sexy" on her Renaissance track "Alien Superstar," according to Entertainment Weekly. The musical duo, consisting of brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass, called Beyonce "arrogant" in an interview with The Sun and alleged that she didn't seek permission. However, Beyonce's rep stated, "Permission was not only granted for its use, but [Right Said Fred] publicly spoke of their gratitude for being on the album." The statement noted that "no sound recording" from "I'm Too Sexy" was used within "Alien Superstar," but only the song's "composition"—and it provided evidence. Also, a week before the album's release on July 29, the band tweeted, "It's nice to get a writing credit on the new 'Beyonce' album."

A new report published in Scientific American showed that when a character in a video game is revealed to be gay, it can lead to fewer gamers using that character, Out noted. The report specifically focused on the gay Overwatch character Soldier: 76. In 2019, the Overwatch short story "Bastet" was released, and it revealed that Soldier: 76 is gay, having been in a relationship with a man named Vincent. While respondents mostly said that Soldier: 76's coming out didn't affect how they saw the character, some did report another reason for no longer playing as him: harassment.

Bob the Drag Queen will host a "Big, Black and Queer Night" for the Tony-winning Best Musical A Strange Loop on Thursday, Oct. 27, a press release noted. The actor, comic, podcast host and season eight winner of RuPaul's Drag Race will moderate a talkback following the show. The event, which offers a special welcome to Black and queer theatergoers, takes place during LGBT History Month to celebrate the Pulitzer Prize-winning show breaking new ground for Black and LGBTQ+ representation on Broadway.

An announcement made through a fictional joint press release from Hulu and Alexis Rose Communications announced that the show Schitt's Creek joined the streamer on Oct. 3, Collider noted. (Alexis Rose, played by Annie Murphy, is a character on the show.) Schitt's Creek is one of Netflix's most successful comedy properties and, though the series is not a Netflix original, it has seen widespread success on the platform. The series originally premiered on Canada's CBC in 2015 and ran through 2020. The award-winning series—helmed by out writer/actor Dan Levy—aired on Pop TV in the United States.

In a high-profile return to filmmaking for John Waters, Village Roadshow Pictures has optioned his new novel Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance, Deadline noted. Waters will write the script and direct. It will be Waters' first time behind the camera since 2004's A Dirty Shame.

Netflix's Elite is getting an Indian adaptation entitled Class—and fans are already swooning over the cast members (such as Chintan Rachh, Cyaawal Singh and Gurfateh Pirzada), Out Magazine noted. This new show is a direct adaptation of Elite, but certain characters and storylines may differ from the original series due to cultural differences. However, the trailer has already made it clear that Class will be queer-inclusive, just like Elite. Show director Ashim Ahluwalia said in a statement, "Young people can be highly emotional and impulsive, which makes for great dramatic conflict. Nobody remains unchanged and these layers in the narrative make it a wild, addictive watch."

In the Billboard charts, the Sam Smith/Kim Petras collaboration "Unholy" debuted at number three on the Hot 100 and number one on the Global 200, Out Magazine noted. Smith has previously had 19 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100, including six top 10 hits. His highest charting single is "Stay With Me," which peaked at number two and spent 54 weeks on the chart. This is Petras' first time in the top five—and in the Hot 100, for that matter.

Revry is back with another installment in its LGBTQ+ classic film screening series, Queer Classix, with an episode featuring the historic teen-sex gross-out comedy Another Gay Movie, according to a press release. The special—now available on Revry—revisits the queer cult classic in honor of the film's anniversary Director's Cut. Queer Classix: Another Gay Movie is hosted by comedian Percy Rustomji, who provides behind-the-scenes info and treats audiences to fun facts and comedic deep dives into the film, as well as never-before-seen interviews with the talent for the first time in over 15 years. A cast reunion/interview is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaKa8_QoDEU.

The 34th Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Fest (NewFest) will run Oct. 13-25 and will feature more than 130 movies and TV series in a hybrid format (in-person and virtual), per a press release. The opening-night film will be the Dustin Lance Black documentary Mama's Boy while All the Beauty and Bloodshed (a story about the internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin) will close the festival. See newfest.org/ .

Amy Ray (best known for being part of the iconic lesbian duo Indigo Girls) released a new animated video for her Top 20 Americana Radio single, "Joy Train," exclusively with Garden & Gun Magazine, according to a press release. The single appears on her 10th solo album, If It All Goes South, out now on Ray's own Daemon Records.

Christian Bale told GQ that fellow actor Leonardo DiCaprio gets first choice of his movie roles, according to ET Canada. Bale said, "It's not just me. Any role that anybody gets, it's only because he's passed on it beforehand. It doesn't matter what anyone tells you. It doesn't matter how friendly you are with the directors. … Literally, he gets to choose everything he does. And good for him, he's phenomenal." Bale—promoting his new film Amsterdam—also said, "I mean, I can't do what he does. I wouldn't want the exposure that he has, either."

Queer star JoJo Siwa opened up about her gay awakenings on TikTok, according to Out. According to Siwa, her catalysts involved Demi Lovato's song "Cool for the Summer," Jenna Dewan doing a Magic Mike routine on Lip Sync Battle and a date with a man. With the latter, Siwa said she realized "women are my gig."

Jared Leto is set to star in a film about the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, with Leto co-producing with Lagerfeld's House of Karl Lagerfeld, Deadline noted. The late fashion icon's trusted confidants—Pier Paolo Righi, Caroline Lebar and Sebastien Jondeau—will partner as executive producers of the film. The exact storyline remains confidential, although the film will cover the key relationships in Lagerfeld's life.

Written and directed by John Hughes, the comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles arrives on 4K Ultra HD for the first time ever on Nov. 22 from Paramount Home Entertainment, per a press release. Originally released on Nov. 25, 1987, Planes, Trains and Automobiles celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Starring comedy greats Steve Martin and John Candy, the s film has become a holiday classic.

Dolly Parton and Crystal Gayle—the sister of Loretta Lynn who launched her own country music career with the hit 1977 song "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue"—were among those paying tribute to Lynn, who passed away at age 90, Deadline noted. "So sorry to hear about my sister, friend Loretta," Parton wrote in a statement. "We've been like sisters all the years we've been in Nashville and she was a wonderful human being, wonderful talent, had millions of fans and I'm one of them. I miss her dearly as we all will. May she rest in peace." Tim McGraw, Barbara Mandrell, k.d. lang, LeAnn Rimes, Carole King, Kacey Musgraves and Kris Kristofferson were among others offering their tributes.

Reba McEntire is extending her Reba: Live In Concert tour following a string of sold-out stops on the fall leg, per a press release. McEntire announced 14 additional dates set for spring of 2023 featuring special guests Terri Clark and The Isaacs. The spring run will kick off March 9 in Jacksonville and will conclude at NYC's Madison Square Garden, marking McEntire's first time playing the iconic venue.

Brandy posted a tribute to her brother, Ray J, on social media after he shared a series of concerning posts about his mental health, per Page Six. "Need you bro @rayj," the singer/actress captioned a throwback picture of her and Ray J. He sparked worry when he posted and deleted videos of himself that appeared to reveal he was struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Sacheen Littlefeather—the Native American actress who took the Oscars stage in 1973 to decline Marlon Brando's award—has died at age 75, Deadline noted. Earlier this year, a documentary titled Sacheen: Breaking the Silence had Littlefeather revealing she was "blacklisted" by Hollywood following what she did. Among other things, she said in the movie that actor John Wayne "was in the wings [at the Oscars] and wanted to storm onto the stage and drag me off."

In her return to her Spotify podcast, Archetypes, Meghan Markle criticized movies such as Austin Powers, Kill Bill and the 1924 film Thief of Baghdad for the toxic stereotyping of Asian women, Deadline noted. "Movies like Austin Powers and Kill Bill—they presented these caricatures of women of Asian descent as oversexualized or aggressive," Markle said, referencing the hyper-sexualized characters Fook Yu and Fook Mi in Austin Powers in Goldmember and Lucy Liu's hyper-violent O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill.

In a brief note, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Church of Scientology's petition for to stop former members of the church from taking the group to court, Deadline noted. With That '70s Show star Masterson set to go on trial on Tuesday, Oct. 11, for multiple sexual assault charges, the church could now find itself facing more scrutiny in a revived suit from four women who have claimed they were put under surveillance by the organization, repeatedly harassed and had pets slaughtered after going to the LAPD with their claims against the actor.