‘Drag Race,’ ‘Empire’, and ‘Grace and Frankie’ return, plus More TV this week

‘Drag Race,’ ‘Empire’, and ‘Grace and Frankie’ return, plus More TV this week

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9

Check out our weekly guide to TV this week, and make sure you’re catching the big premieres, crucial episodes and the stuff you won’t admit you watch when no one’s looking.

Taraji P. Henson may have helped put a man in space in Hidden Figures, but can she defend her place in the Lyon family? Find out when Empire returns Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fox.

Two-thirds of 9 to 5 punch back in when Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda return as the titular leads in Netflix’s Grace and Frankie Friday.

It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for: The season nine premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern on VH1. Get ready to gag for Gaga when the ultimate guest judge makes her Drag Race debut.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent many a boozy brunch debating with my fellow gay men about which Disney flick is better: Frozen or Tangled. Fans of the latter may want to queue up their DVRs for the premiere of Disney Channel’s Tangled: The Series, giving Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) another go. Catch the premiere Friday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. (It’s just the hairography you need to prep for Drag Race.)

Take a break from the face-scratching, weave-snatching of The Real Housewives Feud: Bette and Joan to soak in the wonder of the world around us. Planet Earth II concludes Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern on BBC America.

What are you watching this week on TV?

The post ‘Drag Race,’ ‘Empire’, and ‘Grace and Frankie’ return, plus More TV this week appeared first on Towleroad.


‘Drag Race,’ ‘Empire’, and ‘Grace and Frankie’ return, plus More TV this week

“Jerry McGuire’s” Jonathan Lipnicki was bullied by homophobes, but look who’s laughing now

“Jerry McGuire’s” Jonathan Lipnicki was bullied by homophobes, but look who’s laughing now

Former child actor Jonathan Lipnicki became a universal symbol of cuteness in Jerry Maguire and Stuart Little, but the now 26-year-old actor and Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt has revealed he was often the target of bullying in his younger years.

In a candid Instagram post, Lipnicki opened up about his “lifelong battle with anxiety and depression.”

“As a kid/teen I was made fun of relentlessly by some people who are now even my friends on FB,” he wrote in the post. “I was told I was a has-been and would never book a job again.”

“I didn’t go a day without being called some form of gay slur, or a hateful slur pretty much every day of middle school,” he’s also shared.

Here it is in full:

The post (as you can see above) attracted lots of attention, which Lipnicki addressed in a follow-up:

Here goes nothing ???????

A post shared by Jonathan Lipnicki (@jonathanlipnicki) on

We commend him for sharing his story, and for reminding us that success doesn’t happen in a vacuum — it’s built upon failure and setback.

And speaking of success, we can’t imagine he has to worry about too much bullying these days:

Another awesome shot from #dembanger ????????

A post shared by Jonathan Lipnicki (@jonathanlipnicki) on

Shooting #dembanger?????????????????????#film #makingmovies #yesitsabathroomscene

A post shared by Jonathan Lipnicki (@jonathanlipnicki) on

Typical Tuesday #dembanger ??

A post shared by Jonathan Lipnicki (@jonathanlipnicki) on

You can catch Lipnicki soon in the film Pitching Tents. “I’m out to prove anyone wrong that’s ever doubted me,” he says. “I love work and I love the art of it. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go and say, ’Look at me now. I’m happy. I’m creating my art and you can’t stop me.’”

Related video:

www.queerty.com/jerry-mcguires-jonathan-lipnicki-bullied-homophobes-look-whos-laughing-now-20170320?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Sean Spicer Claims Paul Manafort, Who Was Campaign Manager for 5 Months, Had ‘Limited Role’ in Campaign: WATCH

Sean Spicer Claims Paul Manafort, Who Was Campaign Manager for 5 Months, Had ‘Limited Role’ in Campaign: WATCH

Paul Manafort Sean Spicer

Sean Spicer made the astonishing claim today that former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort had a “limited role” in the Trump campaign.

RELATED: Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Resigns

Said Spicer while being grilled about the FBI investigation intro the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia:

“There is a point at which you continue to search for something that everybody has been briefed has not seen or found. I think it is fine to look into it but at the end of the day, they’re going to come to the same conclusion everybody else has had. I heard some names floated around before, that were hangers-on around the campaign. I think at some point, people that got thrown around at the beginning of this hearing, some of those names, the greatest amount of interaction they have had was a cease and desist letters sent to them. The greatest interaction they had with the campaign was the campaign sending them a series of cease and desist letters.”

Spicer then characterized Manafort, who ran Trump’s campaign for five full months, as one of those hangers-on:

“I think that when you read a lot of this activity about associates, there is a fine line between people who want to be part of something that they never had an official role and in people who actually played a role in the campaign or transition. Obviously there has been some discussion of Paul Manafort, who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time.”

Watch:

Manafort released a statement after today’s hearing, saying, “the suggestion that I ever worked in concert with anyone to release hacked emails or sought to undermine the interests of the United States is false.”

Full statement:

Fmr. Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort releases statement following House Intel Committee hearing on possible Trump team-Russia ties. pic.twitter.com/zDLuBt739S

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 20, 2017

The post Sean Spicer Claims Paul Manafort, Who Was Campaign Manager for 5 Months, Had ‘Limited Role’ in Campaign: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.


Sean Spicer Claims Paul Manafort, Who Was Campaign Manager for 5 Months, Had ‘Limited Role’ in Campaign: WATCH

This is why you should never drink wine and run on a treadmill at the same time

This is why you should never drink wine and run on a treadmill at the same time

She may have been making its rounds online for a while now, but this woman and her treadmill got some new life over the weekend, and we feel obliged to point you towards it all.

Basically, after enjoying a few glasses (bottles?) of vino with her girlfriend, this lovely British visionary decided to cap off her evening with a quick run on the treadmill. Apparently, she wanted to burn some of those empty calories she had just spent the afternoon consuming.

You can pretty much guess what happens next.

Check out the video below. And, kids, please don’t try this at home!

Related: This song was written so that no human could sing it. Well, this human just NAILED it.

www.queerty.com/never-drink-wine-run-treadmill-time-20170320?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Filmmakers React to Sudden Death of ‘Tickled’ Subject David D’Amato

Filmmakers React to Sudden Death of ‘Tickled’ Subject David D’Amato

tickled

The filmmakers of the HBO documentary Tickled responded over the weekend to the abrupt death of the movie’s main subject, elusive producer-fetishist David D’Amato.

D’Amato died suddenly on March 13.

Indiewire reports:

D’Amato gained notoriety as the elusive subject of Farrier and Reeve’s investigation into and the subsequent documentary on Jane O’Brien Media, a company that produces “competitive tickling” fetish videos featuring young, athletic male participants. The duo alleges that D’Amato ran and funded the company, which allegedly intimidated the subjects of the videos if they did not comply with specific demands. D’Amato denied that he was affiliated with the company, but a slew of documents revealed during the investigations appear to tie him directly to the business.

RELATED: ‘Tickled’ Filmmaker Discusses How His Twisted Doc Is Like Trump, Scientology and Gay-For-Pay Adult Films: INTERVIEW

The Tickled filmmakers released a statement:

We are incredibly sad to learn that David P D’Amato, the subject of Tickled, has passed away. We don’t know any specific details about his death at this time.

David D’Amato has been a part of our lives for around three years now – a very unusual three years – and despite the various lawsuits he brought against us, this news is something that brings us no joy, and has hit us pretty hard.

We mostly knew David through talking to those he had interacted with online over the last 20 years, and people that he had been close to.

We only met him twice; Once in Garden City, and another time when he turned up to a screening of the documentary in

Los Angeles. We met a man who came out swinging, so to speak – threatening more lawsuits, while at the same time commenting that he enjoyed certain elements of the film. It seems to us that underneath it all, he did have a certain sense of humor.

It is also clear that he had certain troubles, and those are troubles that we hoped he would come to terms with at some point.

While making Tickled we always thought it was important to portray David D’Amato not just as an online bully, but as a person. That is why the closing minutes of Tickled are so important to us – an insight into D’Amato, the person. Ultimately we’ll never know all the things that made David the man he was. Like all of us, he was complex and complicated.

So we ask you to keep in mind that while David appears to have lived a fairly solitary life, he did have friends and family members. We ask that in comments online, and out there in the real world, you treat this information, and this man’s passing, with respect.

David Farrier & Dylan Reeve

Towleroad’s Bobby Hankinson spoke with Farrier about the film earlier this year. Read that interview HERE.

Watch D’Amato confront the filmmakers at the film’s premiere:

 

Top image: A scene from Tickled.

The post Filmmakers React to Sudden Death of ‘Tickled’ Subject David D’Amato appeared first on Towleroad.


Filmmakers React to Sudden Death of ‘Tickled’ Subject David D’Amato