I Didn't Say It ...

Elton John, honoring Dr. Anthony Fauci on World AIDS Day for his early work on the global HIV/AIDS crisis and his effort to educate the public on the COVID-19 pandemic:

"What a wonderful and fitting way to mark World AIDS Day, by honoring one of the biggest champions in the history of the AIDS epidemic. "There are very few people on this planet who have dedicated themselves to a lifetime of service to save millions of lives like Dr. Fauci. His unwavering commitment to public health and innovation has transformed the approach to HIV, and it is his leadership and persistence that will ultimately help us overcome the Covid-19 pandemic."

Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, served as the National Institutes of Health's AIDS coordinator before becoming the first director of the NIH's Office of AIDS Research, where he served from 1988 to 1994. He faced protests and condemnation from activists in organizations like the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power [ACT UP] for his handling of the deadly disease as it claimed more than 100,000 lives in the United States, but he would go on to collaborate with activists on research and drug trial development.

Hero. Or Heroes. Elton John deserves heaps of praise for his work rising money for AIDS research.

photo

Elliot Page, formerly Ellen Page, announcing he is transgender and nonbinary:

“Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot. I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life. I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. I’ve been endlessly inspired by so many in the trans community. Thank you for your courage, your generosity and ceaselessly working to make this world a more inclusive and compassionate place. I will offer whatever support I can and continue to strive for a more loving and equal society. I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive. To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.”

Welcome out, Elliot. It’s a brave move, even in the 21^st century, to come out as trans. But here’s hoping visibility will erase the hate; here’s hoping your first steps pave the way for others to make that move.

Welcome out.

photo

Caroline Giuliani, offering her batshit crazy daddy, Rudy, some “self-care tips” … like how to care for an adopted dog … or taking on a hobby … after _____lost the election bigly:

“Avoid charcoal products or anything with artificial dyes, which may result in your face oozing as you make false claims of voter fraud in Philadelphia, for example.{And] breathe. As a devoted yogi and longtime breather, I recommend inhaling for two months—the length of time that Donald Trump once suggested the coronavirus would last—and exhaling for 16 years, the average length of a Supreme Court justice appointment. Please, just treat [the dog] better than Trump has treated his lapdogs: William Barr, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. [Try] knitting, Reiki, capoeira, even building imaginary walls—there are so many enriching possibilities. (Please note that whining, lying, and grabbing women by the pussy are not skills.) Call your friends and family. Connect with the people in your life who prioritize science, empathy and facts. Or at least stop ignoring your relatives who just want you to allow the democratic process to unfold unobstructed. (Artsy daughters are especially insightful.)”

Suh-nap

photo

Ryan Phillippe, actor, on how his Baptist parents shunned him for playing a gay teen shunned by his parents on One Life To Live:

“I thought my parents were going to disown me [for deciding to do Cruel Intentions]. I had grown up going to, like, Baptist school and Christian school. My first role ever coming out of the Christian school when I was a senior in high school, I played the first gay character on a soap opera—first gay teenager ever—and so I was shunned at that point. So, they were already out of the picture. I mean this was 1992, and I was playing a gay teenager and I was in a Christian school. They weren’t happy about it.”

Life imitating art. Even worse his parents didn’t want him to play gay and so they shunned him. I wonder what they might have done if Phillippe was actually gay.

photo

Melissa McCarthy, actress, apologizing for HBO Max’s $20,000 donation to Exodus Cry, an organization led by Benjamin Nolot, who is virulently anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice:

“It has come to our attention that our 20 Days of Kindness, which is something—a  kindness up that we started to kind of shine a light on 20 great charities—had one in there that, there’s no other way to say it, we blew it. We made a mistake, and we backed a charity that, upon proper vetting, stands for everything that we do not. So, I want to thank everyone, on social media who said, ‘What are you doing? Are you sure you want to back this?’ Because the answer was no we do not. We have pulled it. We are so incredibly grateful for you ringing the bell and helping us be better, We’re sorry for our mistake. Oh boy, are we sorry for it. [I] can’t believe that we missed it. And that’s it. And I just want to say that I hope it doesn’t ding the other charities because they’re really doing some amazing things, and 20 Days of Kindness Is really meant to shine the light on all of those wonderful charities. So, let the kindness continue… and thank you. Thanks for the help, we really needed it.”

The donation was made as part of a 20 Days of Kindness campaign to promote McCarthy’s new film Superintelligence. Nolot, who now claims his views have changed, has a history of inflammatory rhetoric towards homosexuals and abortion, and has referred to homosexuality as ‘an unspeakable offense to God’ and compared abortion to the Holocaust.

Thanks to Melissa McCarthy who, unlike Nolot, realized that when you know better, you do better.

photo

Braunwyn Windham-Burke, of the Real Housewives of Orange County, coming out as a lesbian:

“It’s been something that I think everyone’s kind of known has been coming, but I’m finally comfortable enough to say, I like women. I’m gay. I’m a member of the LGBTQI+ community. I’m a lesbian. It has taken me 42 years to say that, but I’m so proud of where I am right now. And I’m so happy where I am. To be able to be comfortable in my own skin after so long is just so nice. I love [my husband] Sean. I love him dearly, he is my person, he is my family. But I’m not attracted to men and I never have been. We are in unchartered territories. Sean and I are still married, I plan on staying married. We are not sleeping in the same bedroom right now, but we are in the same house. We are raising our kids together, he’s my best friend. He knows the girl I’m dating. I grew up in a time when, you know, my idea of what being a lesbian was you had short hair, you wore flannel. There’s a very masculine stereotype, so when I was younger I never really thought that I could be that. I knew I was attracted to women. I always have been. But I liked makeup and hair and I didn’t quite understand what to do with that.”

Windham-Burke has been married to her husband Sean Burke for more than 20 years, and they have seven children. She also revealed this season that she is an alcoholic..

After reading this I watched RHoC that night, and while, during that episode she had yet to come out, she did reveal that she had been living her life doing what others wanted of her, keeping quiet, not being true to herself. And now, at 42, she’s coming into her own.

Good for her. Welcome out, Braunwyn, and please accept as out gift from HOMO HQ the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven™ and a copy of the Gay Agenda.

It matters now when or how you do it, it only matters that you do it. Welcome out.

photo

I Ain't One To Gossip, But.....

Wow.
I mean, you know, if I saw a celebrity on the streets of Smallville, I'd whip out my trusty camera for a snapshot or two.

I mean, even if they were browsing through the antiques, or getting a soda at The Gate, I'd happily snap away.
But someone, and I ain't sayin' it was me, got a little too close to Jake Gyllenhaal when trying to photograph him.
Hell, they got a little too close to, um, Little Jake, too.
At the South by Southwest Film/Music festival this week, one fan got way too close for comfort to Jake Gyllenhaal. He actually took a picture of Jakey Gyllenhaal as he relieved himself, which made Jake all kinds of mad.
And scuffling mad, too.
When asked about the “rather heated scuffle in the theater bathroom last night" as a fan tried to take his picture, Jake laughed and said, “That’s true. I think it’s an appropriate space to keep privacy. I hope that people wouldn’t disagree with me on that.”
Jake’s rep says there was no scuffle, that Jake very politely asked me, er, the guy, to delete the picture from his camera, and I, um, he, did.
And, so while there is no photographic proof, yet, I will say this: "It's real, and it's spectacular."

Will male celebrities never learn?

Perhaps some of them, but not Ryan Phillippe, who will be ALLEGEDLY adding to his brood of two kids because his ex-girlfriend, whom he dated for all of a hot minute, is ALLEGEDLY got a bun in the oven.
According to PEOPLE--and they would know, wouldn't they--Phillippe's ex-girlfriend, actress Alexis Knapp, is pregnant and in her second trimester.
The couple dated on-and-off for a few months last year, and now there'll always be a reminder of the good times.
I usually get a souvenir to remind me of special times, not a baby.
But, that's just me.

Color me shocked.

I mean, I always thought you go on a TV show for six or eight weeks, date twenty or thirty people, have sex with five or so, then declare your love for two just as you propose to The One.
I mean, doesn't it work like that in real life?
It seems that mere moments after The Bachelor, Brad Womack, proposed to Emily Maynard on this weeks episode, millions of fans--hold up.....millions of fans? Really--were shocked to learn that the couple have already gone through a breakup.
Brad had declared that after being the Bachelor once and picking no one, that this time he was ready to settle down and date, marry, and impregnate a young woman on TV.
Now, it seems the dream has died.


Poor Babs.

One of her dreams was to star in a movie version, albeit another movie version, of Gypsy, that Broadway classic about show business and the quintessential stage mother.
That dream like the dream of Brad and Emily, has also died.
It seems that Gypsy playwright Arthur Laurents, along with co-creator Stephen Sondheim, have scrapped the entire project, leaving Babs heartbroken.
Laurents holds the rights to the 1959 Broadway musical and agreed that Barbra could play the role of Mama Rose, even telling the New York Post: "Barbra ... knows what she's doing. She has my approval." But now the 93-year-old Laurents has changed his mind after he spoke with the musical's lyricist Stephen Sondheim.
Sondheim ALLEGEDLY asked Laurents: "What is the point of" doing another movie. And now Laurents has said, "I don't want it now. I want it to stay alive. I think (Streisand) is disappointed. She wanted very much to do it. That would have been a good exit for her career. Tom Hooper wanted to direct it. I think he's wonderful."
All those wonderful people out of a job.
But Babs isn't said to be upset by the decision. She has ALLEGEDLY told friends that all she has to do is 'wait it out,' meaning that if Laurents were to die, she could buy the rights and do the film anyway.
Wow, waiting for someone to die just to get a job.
She should'a been Vice President.


There's a new show on NBC called The Voice, where they will take young unknowns, allow them to audition before four judges, then let them sing onstage in front of millions of people, who will vote for them, and make one of them the next American Ido....superstar.

Sounds like another show, eh?
Well, it isn't, so there!
This show has four judges, not three, and there called coaches, not judges. And The Voice producers say there show will be intent on building its contestants up, not “tearing them down” like some other competitions we know…"
Like, um, what?
The coaches for The Voice are Steven Tyler, er, I mean, Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine, Miss Jennifer Lopez, um, that would be Miss Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton; the host will be Ryan Seacrest-lite--if one could ever get lighter than Seacrest--Carson Daly.
See, it's nothing like American Idol.
In fact, it's so not AI that Christina Aguilera stopped mid-Cosmopolitan to say: “This isn’t about tearing people down. I want to bring these people up. The Voice really does stand for what it says. Instinctually, you can judge people based on the way they look. I love that fact we get to sit here with our backs turned away from these people and completely use just one sense to hear these voices. I’m not looking for vocal acrobatics, who has biggest range [of] high and low. I’m looking forward to getting moved.”
I'm looking forward to you getting help.


What won't people snort?
I mean, seriously. Coke, crack, comet, you name it. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards even admitted to snorting his late father's ashes, and now it seems that burnt remains are becoming the nasal substance of choice.

Enter Courtney Love.
According to author Neil Strauss, author of 'Everybody Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys Into Fame And Madness', the Hole singer considered snorting the ashes of her late husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
Strauss said, "She walked to a dresser, pulled open a drawer, and removed a square-shaped tin," Strauss said. "She removed the lid, revealing a plastic bag full of white ashes" and said to him, "Too bad you don't do coke. Otherwise I'd suggest taking a metal straw to it."
Strauss declined, because, well, snorting the ashes of a cremated rock star is not something one does every day, unless you're Courtney Love.
Or maybe Keith Richards.

You know, just yesterday I printed a quote by Jodie Foster, where she gushes with love about alcoholic-misogynist-anti-Semite-homophobic-girlfriend-batterer Mel Gibson.

Odd, then, that Melvin was conspicuously absent from the South by Southwest Film Festival premiere of the film he made with Foster, The Beaver. Now, it's true, he was a little tied up in LA pleading No Contest to hitting his girlfriend while she held their child, but still......
And though Jodie was singing his praises on the red carpet, it is ALLEGED that it was her idea to keep Gibson away from the film festival showing of their movie.
A source--and by source, I mean any one of Jodie's traveling lesbian entourage--says, "Having him attend was just going to be too big of a risk. He could have gotten booed on the red carpet before the film even began. Everyone including Jodie decided it would be better if Mel didn't attend."
it would be better if Gibson went to prison.