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

Queer actress Cynthia Erivo has joined the producing team of Fat Ham as the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy heads to Broadway, Variety noted. Written by James Ijames and directed by Saheem Ali, the reinvention of William Shakespeare's Hamlet centers on queer Southern college student Juicy (played by Marcel Spears), who, according to the official synopsis, is "already grappling with some serious questions of identity when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder." However, "revenge doesn't come easy to Juicy, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man in search of his own happiness and liberation. From an uproarious family cookout emerges a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy."

David Bowie fans will get an unprecedented look into his life, work and legacy after the V&A museum acquired the star's extensive archive that includes more than 80,000 letters, lyrics, photos, stage designs, music awards and costumes, the BBC noted. It also features several instruments owned by the musician, including the Stylophone he played on his 1969 single "Space Oddity." The archive—which will include items such as Bowie's Ziggy Stardust costumes, designed by Freddie Burretti in 1972; and handwritten lyrics for songs such as "Fame"—will go on display in 2025 in a newly created east London venue.

According to Outsports, Baylor and Oral Roberts universities topped all the other March Madness schools when it comes to homophobia. A private conservative Baptist university in Texas, Baylor's official school policy describes marriage as a union between a man and a woman; moreover, Brittney Griner has said that her former coach, Kim Mulkey (who's now at LSU), barred her from publicizing her sexual orientation. Oklahoma's Oral Roberts, named after the late televangelist, has an honor code that bans same-sex relations. Like other religious institutions, Oral Roberts gets to skirt certain Title IX requirements.

The racy '90s movie Wild Things almost had a sex scene involving Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon, Out noted, citing Yahoo! In an interview celebrating the 25th anniversary of the movie's release, director John McNaughton said that when he read the screenplay from Stephen Peters, it featured a steamy shower makeout scene between the film's two male leads, "but we couldn't do it." McNaughton said that one of the actors (he didn't specify which, although it turned out it was Dillon) made it clear that he did not want to film a kissing scene with another man.

Also regarding Kevin Bacon, he spoke out against the recent anti-drag bills being introduced in states following the recent "Wigloose" Rusical performed on season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race, according to Out. The actor wrote in an Instagram story, "Big shoutout to [RuPaul's Drag Race's] "Wigloose: The Rusical" (and props to Heaven Bacon [Loosey LaDuca]). With all the recent anti-drag bills, this came at just the right time. Drag is an art and drag is a right."

The comedy special Mae Martin: SAP—filmed last December at the Vogue Theater in Vancouver and directed by Abbi Jacobson—will premiere on Netflix on March 28, per a media release. This is the LGBTQ+ comedian's hour-long Netflix stand-up debut. They previously made their Netflix comedy special debut with a half-hour set in COMEDIANS of the world in 2019. Martin created and starred in the award-winning series Feel Good and also performed in the Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration special—the largest-ever gathering of LGBTQ+ comics recorded at Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival earlier this year. The trailer is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rzu8swl0cg.

Monica—a movie starring trans actress Trace Lysette as a woman who returns home after a long absence to confront the wounds of her past—will debut in theaters on May 12, an IFC Films press release stated. According to the release, the plot is as follows: "Reconnecting with her mother (Patricia Clarkson) and the rest of her family for the first time since leaving as a teenager, Monica (Lysette) embarks on a path of healing and acceptance." Andrea Pallaoro directed the film, which officially debuted at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.

UFC fighter Jeff Molina announced that he is bisexual after an intimate video of him with another man leaked on social media, CNN noted. "Not the way I wanted to do this but the chance to do it when I was ready was taken away from me. I've tried to keep my dating life private from social media," he tweeted. Molina also criticized the individual who posted the video, stating, "To the awful disturbed person that decided to post this … I hope it was worth it." Last year, Molina said he thought people should be "more open-minded" after receiving backlash for wearing shorts with his name in a rainbow-hued font during Pride Month, per Insider.

Dolly Parton is releasing a new book about her style entitled Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, Extra noted. The "Jolene" singer will share behind-the-scenes stories from her long career and photos of her most iconic looks from the 1960s until now. (The book is the second in a trilogy, after the release of her 2020 best-seller Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.) Parton also collaborated with James Patterson on the novel Run, Rose, Run, about a young singer-songwriter. The book debuted in 2022 along with a companion album; she will also star in a movie adaptation of the story.

Courtney Love criticized the lack of female artists in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—as well as the lack of women on the institution's nomination board and voting body—in a scathing op-ed she wrote in the Guardian, according to Yahoo! News. Love, who's eligible for Hall consideration, noted that only 8.48% of all the inductees are women, adding that "the Rock Hall voters, among them musicians and industry elites, are 90% male."

LGBTQ+ French actor Arnaud Valois (BPM) has been cast as queer fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in the upcoming Disney+ series Kaiser Karl, GCN reported. The six-part production chronicles the rise of another notorious queer name in fashion, Karl Lagerfeld—who was both a friend and rival of Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Berge. Lagerfeld, played by All Quiet on the Western Front's Daniel Bruhl, is expected to be the central character.

Out Emmy-winning actress/comedian Kate McKinnon is set to star in Searchlight's In the Blink of an Eye, per Deadline. The film follows three storylines, spanning thousands of years, intersecting and reflecting on hope, connection and the circle of life. McKinnon is coming off ending her run on Saturday Night Live, which recently ended but not before she took home multiple Emmys.

BAFTA-nominated Mike Faist (West Side Story) and Oscar-nominated actor Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) will star in a London stage adaptation of Annie Proulx's best-selling novel Brokeback Mountain, Deadline reported. The story of two lonesome cowboys who fall in love in the big, wide open spaces of Wyoming touched a chord with those who read the story and caught the movie (which starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal). The production is described as a play with music and will run at the Sohoplace Theatre in the West End for a 12-week season starting May 10.

Showtime will not renew The L Word: Generation Q for a fourth season—but the franchise may continue on the network, according to Deadline. The L Word: New York (working title), a reboot of the original series, is in development with the 2004 series' creator Ilene Chaiken reportedly expected to be involved in some capacity. The L Word New York reboot joins recently announced offshoots of two other signature Showtime series: Billions and Dexter.

Out actor Neil Patrick Harris will be returning to Hulu's How I Met Your Father for the series' upcoming season-two midseason finale, Deadline noted. Harris made a surprise return as his How I Met Your Mother character Barney Stinson in the second-season premiere of the spinoff series. The two-episode midseason finale will stream on Hulu on March 28.

Dave Koz & Friends will return in 2023 with a new incarnation of the Summer Horns tour that will find the openly gay chart-topping saxophonist teaming with two other sax greats: Candy Dulfer and Eric Darius, a press release noted. The Summer Horns 2023 tour (which will include vocalist Maysa at certain stops) will kick off on June 30 at The Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida, and will conclude at the Thornton Winery In Temecula, California.

Marvel Studios has lost its only out lesbian executive as Victoria Alonso has left the company, Out noted. (No official reason was given for the departure.) Alonso first joined Marvel Studios in 2006 as chief of visual effects and post-production, and was a co-producer on Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. On Avengers in 2012, she got her first executive-producer credit and has received it on each subsequent release from the studio. In 2021, she was promoted to president of physical and post-production, visual effects and animation production.

The Tony-winning musical Hadestown celebrated playing 1,000 performances at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre (and the forthcoming arrival of spring) on March 19 with a surprise appearance by songwriter Anais Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin, Playbill noted. Mitchell and Tony winner Lillias White, who now stars as Hermes, led the audience in a performance of the song "I Can See Clearly Now." As the audience subsequently departed the venue, the cast took to the Kerr's fire escape and threw flowers to fans.

Dekkoo.com—a subscription streaming service dedicated to gay men—will launch its new original series, Marriage of Inconvenience, on April 6, per a press release. The romantic comedy follows two strangers who enter a witness-protection program and must pretend to be happily married in order to hide their identities from the people who want them dead.

Tyra Banks will no longer host Dancing with the Stars on Disney+, Deadline noted, with TMZ initially reporting. Banks first joined the show in season 29 on ABC to take over for the departing Tom Bergeron—but has since garnered mixed results. Last season, DWTS paired Banks with season 19 champion Alfonso Ribeiro.

Julianne Hough will join Dancing with the Stars as a co-host while Alfonso Ribeiro has been promoted to emcee of the franchise in its 32nd season, Deadline noted. Hough will assume Ribeiro's previous role on DWTS, which is to interview the dancers after their performances in the Celebraquarium, or Sky Box. The news comes after Tyra Banks revealed last week that she is leaving the competition show that she joined in Season 29, when she took over for the departing host Tom Bergeron. Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough will be the show's judges.

Recently retired NFL great Tom Brady has acquired an ownership stake in the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, CNN noted. "I am very excited to be part of the Las Vegas Aces organization," said Brady in a statement. "I have always been a huge fan of women's sports, and I admire the work that the Aces' players, staff, and the WNBA continue to do to grow the sport and empower future generations of athletes." The Aces are the defending WNBA champions.

Euphoria co-star Jacob Elordi recently obtained a temporary restraining order against Robert Dennis Furo in Los Angeles Superior Court, Geo News noted, citing TMZ. Elordi said in the document, "In February, Furo left items including a note, a rose bouquet, candies and pastries over multiple visits to his home in Hollywood, California." Elordi also told the court that Furo has a "criminal history, as he was accused in 2007" of breaking into the home of actor Nicolas Cage.

Diana Ross brought glamour to Allen Media Group founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen's annual gala at the Beverly Wilshire to benefit Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Variety noted. The host, standing beside his family, welcomed celebrities such as Smokey Robinson, Vivica A. Fox and Garcelle Beauvais. Ross' crowd-pleasing numbers included "I'm Coming Out," "Love Hangover" and "Ease on Down the Road."

Actors Oscar Isaac (Dune) and Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge; The Amazing Spider-Man films) are eyeing roles in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, per Digital Spy. The Wrap reported that preparation is underway on the movie, with Netflix set to finance and distribute, while rising star Mia Goth (Pearl; X) is also attached. The Oscar-winning director previously told BBC Radio, "Frankenstein is my lifelong dream—one of the primal books in my life, one of the primal monsters in my own mythology. I'm hoping I get to do that very, very much."

The wait for rap group De La Soul's early catalog to reach digital retail and streaming services yields big results for the group on the newest round of Billboard charts, the publication noted. After years of internal label conflicts and issues with sampling clearances, the trio's first six studio albums became available across digital retail and streamers on March 3. In the tracking week of March 3-9, the De La Soul catalog registered 12.5 million official on-demand U.S. song streams in the week ending March 9 and sold 28,000 albums (both digital download and physical copies combined), according to Luminate.

Legendary British singer Rod Stewart said he canceled his concert with Cyndi Lauper and Jon Stevens in Australia due to a "viral infection," Page Six noted. On Instagram, he added, "I'm only human and sometimes get sick just like you do. My greatest joy is performing for you, so I'm doing everything I can to get on the mend and back on stage!"

Abbott Elementary co-star Sheryl Lee Ralph discussed many unknown aspects of her personal life and work in Hollywood as she promoted her newest book, DIVA 2.0: 12 Life Lessons From Me For You—including when a famous TV judge (not Judge Greg Mathis, Ralph added) sexually assaulted her, according to The Jasmine Brand. In part, she said on Way Up with Angela Yee, "He sat down at the table across from me. He did not remember any of this, but I had to let him know what he did that night. … He was right there, I had to confront him about it." Ralph also stated that network executives asked her not to report the incident. She also advised other women in similar situations, "Speak up; tell your truth. Do not carry the burden of that pain—especially if it's something you feel you cannot work through."

The Bachelor contestant Greer Blitzer apologized for defending blackface, according to Variety. In her old tweets, Blitzer defended a high school student for wearing blackface, allegedly tweeting in 2016, "The students involved didn't even know what blackface was so my point exactly. It wasn't an intentional racist act." On The Bachelor, she told host Jesse Palmer, "This acquaintance of mine that I knew performing blackface was racist, me defending it was racist, my ignorance was racist and I'm just so ashamed. I'm just deeply sorry that I hurt the Black community."

Actress Amanda Bynes was reportedly placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold after being found walking around naked in downtown Los Angeles before she was taken to a police station, according to Extra, citing TMZ. According to the outlet, Bynes was able to flag down a car, telling the driver that she had just experienced a psychotic episode; she then called 911. In 2013, Bynes was placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold for two weeks; her parents were then granted a temporary conservatorship. Bynes' most recent conservatorship ended almost a year ago but her parents are not reportedly considering one this time, per TMZ.

Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland has been cleared of domestic-violence charges, per The Hollywood Reporter. Calling the development "justice," Roiland said in a statement, "I have always known that these claims were false—and I never had any doubt that this day would come." In the weeks after the 2020 charges were first revealed in an NBC News article just this past January, Adult Swim (which distributes Rick and Morty) and Hulu (distributor of Solar Opposites, which Roiland co-created; and Koala Man, which he executive produced) severed ties with Roiland.