Vapid Vacancy
Who knew the hope for our world’s future would come from down under? After Australia called "tool of Satan" Britney Spears out for doing, essentially, nothing (can’t sing or dance, according to the Aussies) New Zealand got in on the act by attacking another of our precious, airhead “celebs,” Paris Hilton. A billboard company, advertising its available rental space, posted a photo of the heiress with the word Vacant under her face. Now that’s a little truth in advertising. Now if only some of this clear-headedness could start flowing north…
Blonde Chicks Rule!
In news of talented blondes, Carrie Underwood rocked as co-host (with cowboy-hatted Brad Paisley) at the Country Music Awards Wednesday night. The Oklahoma girl looked pretty glam in each of her 10 (!) outfits, though Jesus must have lost control of the wheel when he saw the American Idol winner give a whorehouse-inspired performance of her new hit “Cowboy Casanova.” And 19-year-old Taylor Swift swept the awards claiming wins for Album of the Year (Fearless), Music Video of the Year (“Love Story”), Female Vocalist of the Year (which is kind of odd, because for as talented as she is as a songwriter, her vocals aren’t her strongest asset -- though it appears she does indeed actually do the singing herself!) and the big one: Entertainer of the Year. She’s the youngest artist to ever claim that title. And she has Taylor Lautner. How do I get this girl’s life?
Miley Goes Gay
The only pop star who can likely understand just what Swift’s life is like these days is Miley Cyrus. And though she’s only 16 and making many “mistakes" that many 16-year-olds (boys and girls) might make, the girl that Timbaland tells Entertainment Weekly is going to be the next Justin Timberlake (saying, “She comes from that same musical background, where she’s just got it. Her voice is just there. The best way to put it is she’s special.”) might just want to keep in mind that she’s got a lotta gay boys and girls (tweens and otherwise) as fans. At a recent concert in Kentucky, it appears (the operative word here) that she substituted the word gay for games in her hit song “7 Things,” singing “You’re vain / you’re gay.” Now, this doesn’t mean she’s a raging homophobe. A lot of people (including some gays I know) use the word gay to mean lame. I’ve never understood that, but I also don’t find it necessarily offensive. She should, however, be aware how much power she has over young people. She’s like Spider-man. She has a lot of power, which means she has a lot of responsibility. So use your powers for good, gurl!
Life Beyond Palin and Playgirl
Porn may not be the highest achievement Levi Johnston is aiming for. While his Playgirl spread is set to infest the Internet next week, he’s told New York magazine that he’s thinking of pursuing a career in country music. With his days in rural Alaska, he’d at least know what he was singing about.
Another Golden Girl Gone?
Hot on the heels of the news that Rue McClanahan had to bow out of an event set to celebrate everything Rue last week due to heart surgery comes news that Betty White’s health is in trouble. At least on television. TVGuideMagazine.com reported that the erstwhile Rose Nylund’s days may by numbered on daytime soap The Bold & the Beautiful. Ann Douglas, mother to Susan Flannery’s matriarch Stephanie and Alley Mills’ daffy Pam, returns to L.A. next week for a few days and it just may be because her health is failing. Luckily, White’s pluckier than that: She’s set to be honored with the 2009 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
The Dallas Morning News amended a story about Out's parent company last week, after GLAAD called the reporter out on some problematic (and unstylish, even by the AP's standards) language usage. The original story called The Advocate and Out "alternative lifestyle magazines," but, as GLAAD's Rashad Robinson wrote in a letter to the editor the paper published Monday,"Out is a lifestyle magazine as are other lifestyle magazines like GQ or Marie Clare that mix news, features, fashion and celebrities. The Advocate is a news magazine."
Blah. This alreadycrappy day was made worse by a disheartening New York Post story about a local gay couple that was booted out of a cab for hugging last night, and then still more worse by the quality of the comments the story generated -- which range from hateful and illiterate to just plain hateful. Spending any time with the Post's peanut gallery -- never known for its progressive outlook or command of grammar -- will make you go hit the leftover Halloween candy way too hard. We suggest watching what the rest of the world was up to yesterday instead -- it may restore your faith in humanity.
> Following on the heels of Twitter-quitting trendsetters Miley Cyrus,Lily Allen, and the Love-Cobain family, gay British actor Stephen Fry last week caused a flutter after threatening to leave the site, after a follower called his tweets "boring." Like a real grownup, though, he rescinded the threat over the weekend: "Arrived in LA feeling very foolish. Wasn't the fault of the fellow who
called me 'boring', BTW. A mood thing. Sunshine will help. So sorry," he wrote.
> Obama has appointed Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour, among others, to the President’s Committee of the Arts and the Humanities.
86-year-old Republican WWII vet Phillip Spooner spoke before the Maine legislature last April in hopes of seeing the state legalize gay marriage. If his speech -- in which he states that he raised his four songs, three straight and one gay who all also served in the military, to be "hardworking, patriotic Americans" and recalls the time a woman at his polling place asked him if he believed in equality for gays and lesbians and he answered "What do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?" -- doesn't make you tear up, check to make sure your heart is still beating:
In May, Maine became the fifth U.S. state to legalize marriage. A referendum on the November 3 ballot will decide if marriage will stand in the state. Statistician Nate Silver currently sees the chances of gay marriage remaining legal at 5:2, but he emphasizes that it's voter turnout that will decide our fate. So if you're reading this, and you live in Maine, get your ass to the polls on November 3.
The outcry over UK tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail’s homophobic take on Boyzone member Stephen Gately’s death is not about ignorant journalism; it’s about the hate that drives the tabloid business.
A grim fact: the much-reviled Jan Moir column about the singer, who died last Saturday while vacationing with his partner in Majorca, was not a error by the paper, or an oversight, or a columnist gone
rogue. It was a deliberate, vicious piece of work meant to cast doubt on the
notion that gay men can ever be accepted by right-minded society -- right-minded
society as defined by excluding minorities and taking what’s left as the norm (as decided by the right wing gutter press).
The only flaw in The Daily Mail’s piece (as far as The Daily
Mail is affected anyway) was that
Moir’s writing was so bad that it made even the hate-inured readers of
Britain’s second-largest tabloid pause for a second, and then, with some
prodding from the less-read liberal media, admit that it was too much,
probably. Plus, the Brits love Boyzone, and once the surviving members gathered
round to tearfully sing a farewell for Stephen, the die was cast. But it was a
close thing, and remains so: there has been no apology as such, and no guilt.
Just a long wounded rambling justification and “clarification” from Moir that
admits nothing but complains of conspiracy and suggests martyrdom.
"Any complaint from the affected parties will naturally be given
precedence by the commission, in line with its normal procedures," the PCC stated, adding, "If, for whatever reason, those
individuals do not wish to make a complaint, the PCC will in any case
write to the Daily Mail for its response to the more general complaints
from the public before considering whether there are any issues under
the code to pursue." In this case those issues would involve "intrusion into grief, accuracy, discrimination and homophobia."
Today The Daily Mail ran a short piece detailing the response to Moir's op-ed as well as a commentary by Janet Street-Porter, who says she was "astonished to read" Moir's column and added, ""If Stephen and his partner went to a
nightclub and returned to their flat with another man, is it really any
of our business?" Street-Porter, who knew Gately, ultimately concludes, "Fact -- Stephen Gately died from natural causes, not from guilt."
In the meantime, the Guardian reports a gang of Jan Moirs have cropped up on Twitter -- including janmoir, Janmoir_UK, and our favorite of the bunch, realjanmoir, if only for his/her clever use of the word "real" to prove his/her authenticity -- and no one is quite sure which, if any, is the bona fide specimen.
Gately was found dead on Saturday afternoon near the resort Port Andratx on the Spanish island of Majorca following a night out with his partner Andrew Cowles. Though rumors of heavy drinking, drugging, and a possible threesome with another man have run rampant since the singer's death, authorities recently stated that Gately died of natural causes -- an acute pulmonary oedema (a build-up of fluid on the lungs).
In an unusual move, Moir responded to the criticism of her piece saying, "When I wrote that 'he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine,' I was referring to the drugs and the casual invitation to a stranger. Not to the fact of his homosexuality."
Unsatisfied with her statement, Marks & Spencer pulled their advertising from the webpage featuring Moir's column. Earlier today a Facebook page was set up urging users to lobby brands featured on the page, including Marks & Spencer, to pull their advertising and now all display advertising surrounding Moir's article has been removed from the Mail Online webpage.
"Marks
& Spencer does not tolerate any form of discrimination," said a
spokesman for the retailer. "We have asked the Daily Mail to move our
advertisement away from the article. This is a matter for the Daily
Mail." Nestle, which also had an ad on the page, remarked that Moir's comments went against the company's devotion to "mutual respect and tolerance." The company added, "Nestle has no influence on the editorial content of the publications in which it advertises. The views expressed in the article are from the author and are not shared by Nestle."
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