Daily Archives: June 6, 2015
'Gilmore Girls' Michel Wasn't Necessarily Gay, But Sookie Was Supposed To Be
'Gilmore Girls' Michel Wasn't Necessarily Gay, But Sookie Was Supposed To Be
The question of Michel’s sexuality on “Gilmore Girls” is perhaps best summed up by this fan page asking if he is “gay or just French.” The show’s creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, spoke with The Huffington Post at ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas, Friday and gave us what may be the closest thing we’ll ever have to a definitive answer.
“We all know men who seem creative, who have wives and children,” she said, giggling. “So we never actually pursue it one way or the other and sort of let it lie.”
“We left it ambiguous and I think that was a choice,” said Yanic Truesdale, who played Michel. “I actually never asked Amy! … I’ve never asked, swear on my mother’s head.”
As Sherman-Palladino noted, early on in the series Michel makes a few comments insinuating he is straight. “We sort of went on record saying he was into women, because we put it in the script once,” she said, “but things can change or shift.”
Truesdale remembered that people speculated his character was in love with Lorelai, though his sexuality was never really part of Michel’s character. “They couldn’t figure it out and Amy liked that,” he said. “That’s why she made it like, ‘Oh, he loves Celine Dion.’ But he’s French. French guys are more feminine. French guys are more sophisticated… If you go to Paris, it’s like, ‘Oh my god, is he gay?'”
Sherman-Palladino did, however, explicitly think of other Stars Hollow residents as gay. “We had characters in the town that we thought of as gay,” she said, refusing to reveal who. “And we just thought of them as characters.”
When the show started in 2000, LGBT characters were few and far between (read: mostly limited to Showtime’s “Queer As Folk”). Sherman-Palladino actually intended Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) to be gay, but executives wouldn’t approve.
“Things were different back then,” Sherman-Palladino said. “The networks were very different in how permissive they would allow you to be. So, Sookie was originally supposed to be gay, but that was a non-starter at that time.”
Although she has said the show couldn’t exist today, if it had started a bit later, things might have been different.
“It changed so quickly,” she said. “By the time ‘Gilmore’ had been on a year or two, that shit was starting to drop right and left. But by that point, Sookie was in a relationship. It was really right at the cusp of when things were starting to turn. You know, today everyone would be gay. Lorelai would be gay!”
Lauren Duca is currently covering the ATX Television Festival for The Huffington Post. Follow her on Twitter @laurenduca and expect much more to come!
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Star
Nebraska's Antigay Governor to Attend Lesbian Sister's Wedding
Nebraska's Antigay Governor to Attend Lesbian Sister's Wedding
Sure, Gov. Pete Ricketts ‘disagrees’ with his sister’s advocacy for LGBT equality. But that isn’t stopping him from attending her wedding today in Chicago.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/politics/2015/06/06/nebraskas-antigay-governor-attend-lesbian-sisters-wedding
Gay Iconography: Whitney Houston's Legendary Hits
Gay Iconography: Whitney Houston's Legendary Hits
I could fill an entire post merely listing out all of Whitney Houston’s accomplishments: the nearly 200 million records sold worldwide, the number one hits, the Grammy Awards. But that’s not nearly all of Whitney’s story. She was unquestionably a superstar, a woman who broke records and boundaries, riveted tabloid writers and left one of the most memorable, powerful voices etched into history.
Like some of the other large looming gay icons, (Liza, Judy, Marilyn), part of Houston’s enduring legacy is her struggles. The R&B legend battled with addiction, which eventually led to her demise. If her triumphs and trials weren’t enough to endear her to legions of gay fans, her pop earworms and tremendous ballads certainly captivated attention. It’s a career architected in large part by bisexual music mogul Clive Davis. (Before her explosive 1985 debut, she also sang on an album for gay artist Paul Jabara.)
Those aren’t her only connections to the LGBT community. Houston was plagued with rumors she was a lesbian, which she vehemently denied to Out Magazine in 2000. She explained, “If I was gay, I would be proud to tell you, ‘cause I ain’t that kind of girl to say, ‘Naw, that ain’t me.’ The thing that hurt me the most was that they tried to pin something on me that I was not. My mother raised me to never, ever be ashamed of what I am. But I’m not a lesbian, darling. I’m not.”
While her career deteriorated as her addiction worsened, the songs she’s left behind continue to loom large over audiences, gay, straight and otherwise. Get down with some of our favorite Houston hits, AFTER THE JUMP …
Though she already had one number one single under her belt (“Saving All My Love For You”) it was her next number one, “How Will I Know,” and third single from her debut album, that would really make her a U.S. phenomenon. At a time when MTV still struggled to showcase artists of color, Whitney broke out into heavy rotation on the network. The catchy tune persists, receiving an excellent mash-up with Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” in 2012.
The impact of Whitney’s bombastic balladry inspired singers for decades. Everyone from Mariah Carey to Celine Dion, Beyoncé to Jennifer Hudson name her as an influence. It’s difficult to turn on any season of a singing competition and not hear a contestant try to imitate the signature style of one of R&B’s most distinctively powerful voices. A particularly popular choice of song is “The Greatest Love of All,” a song that on its surface is so schmaltzy, but in Houston’s hands, it had the power to knock over cities.
Whitney’s second album, Whitney, was another strong showing, full of what would become pop classics. There was “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” and, of course, the bubblegum pop of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Those tracks, along with “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” would make Houston the first woman to score four number-one singles from a single album.
Of course, no discussion of Whitney could overlook “I Will Always Love You.” The Dolly Parton-penned tune was a massive hit for Houston, acting as the lead single to the soundtrack of The Bodyguard, in which she starred opposite Kevin Costner. The 1992 track sold 20 million copies, and remains the best-selling single by a female solo artist.
Before addiction, exhaustion and the toll of fame wore on Houston, she dropped her critically-acclaimed album My Love Is Your Love in 1998. Though the years leading up to her untimely death saw her voice lose its power and clarity, and her personal troubles often eclipsed her musical output, one of the album’s dance hits “It’s Not Right But It’s OK” can still be heard in clubs today.
Do you still love Whitney?
Bobby Hankinson
www.towleroad.com/2015/06/gay-iconography-whitney-houstons-legendary-hits.html
Why 'Empire' Uses The F-Word But Not The N-Word
Why 'Empire' Uses The F-Word But Not The N-Word
There has been some discussion around the slurs used on “Empire.” At a panel at the ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas, Saturday, the TV drama’s co-creator Danny Strong talked about forbidden language on network TV, explaining why writers avoided a racial epithet for black people but used one for gay men.
Terrence Howard, the show’s star, had come out saying using the former is needed to make the show more authentic. “I’m mad that we don’t say n– in the show,” he told Entertainment Weekly in February. “Why is TV showing something different from the reality of the world? Why is there a thing called censorship that stop people from hearing everyday talk? We use n– every day. It’s become part of a conversation—why aren’t we using it in the show?”
Strong insisted that was not necessary. “It’s not a documentary about hip-hop,” he said Saturday, addressing Howard’s comments. “It’s a soap opera that takes place in the hip-hop world.”
Toward the end of the panel, an audience member asked Strong why he felt comfortable using a particular gay slur, if the N-word was off-limits in the writer’s room. In the scene in question, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) shouts at Lucious (Terrence Howard). “I want to show you a f– really can run this company,” she says, referencing their gay son Jamal (Jussie Smollett) taking control of the company.
“That was really important to [co-creator] Lee [Daniels], in particular, who is gay,” Strong said. “The idea is that she is throwing his homophobia back in his face… So to use one of the most offensive slurs is a powerful way to do that.”
Lauren Duca is currently covering the ATX Television Festival for The Huffington Post. Follow her on Twitter @laurenduca and expect much more to come!
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/06/empire-f-word_n_7525272.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices
Queer Classic Querelle Will Screen At Frameline For Fassbinder’s 70th
Queer Classic Querelle Will Screen At Frameline For Fassbinder’s 70th
Frameline39: the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival will kick off in a few weeks at the city’s glorious Castro Theatre showcasing hundreds of new LGBT films along with one very special vintage presentation: a screening of the 1983 gay classic, Querelle. In honor of what would have been director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 70th birthday the festival is also premiering a new documentary portrait of the famously challenging gay German filmmaker, Fassbinder: To Love Without Demands.
Fassbinder’s swan song adaptation of the Genet novel, Querelle is also notable for generating an excellent array of great movie posters. The U.S. campaign for the film settles for a simple hunky shot of star Brad Davis leaning against a wall, with a lot of boring text about how this is “Fassbinder’s last and most controversial film.” The French have him leaning against something much more interesting (also gotta love the special Andy Warhol version – below).
Jenni
Nebraska's Anti-gay Gov. Pete Ricketts to Attend Gay Sister's Wedding
Nebraska's Anti-gay Gov. Pete Ricketts to Attend Gay Sister's Wedding
Add Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts to the list of Republicans who are icked out by the idea of gay marriage but don’t mind attending one (hey, who can say no to free cake am I right?)
The Omaha World-Herald reports:
Gov. Pete Ricketts is fitting in a family wedding in Chicago today before leaving on a trade mission.
Ricketts will attend the wedding of his sister, Laura Ricketts. She is marrying Brooke Skinner, a brand strategist for Twitter.
Laura Ricketts was one of the leaders in the gay-rights movement in Chicago and was active in pushing for the legalization of gay marriage in Illinois, which took effect last year.
Ricketts opposes gay rights, saying in 2013 “My sister is gay. I love her, but I disagree with her on this issue.” He’s also the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs and gets upset when the team sponsor’s pride parades in Chicago.
Kyler Geoffroy
www.towleroad.com/2015/06/nebraskas-anti-gay-gov-pete-ricketts-to-attend-gay-sisters-wedding.html
Changes are Coming to Towleroad!
Changes are Coming to Towleroad!
Here is our new logo. Hope you love it!
We’re (finally) launching our full site redesign this week, and couldn’t be more thrilled. The only reason this site is still around 12 years later is your support…and we need it even more now as it gets harder and harder to maintain an independent site online.
Let us know who you are and what you like about Towleroad below in the comments (and yes, improved moderation of comments is a big leap forward with the new design and platform).
Your support is the only way we’re able to keep publishing. If you haven’t already, please ‘Like’ our page on Facebook to keep up with our content and our changes.
Thanks for continuing with us on this journey!
Andy Towle, Michael Goff, and the Towleroad staff
Andy Towle
Kylie Jenner Defends Caitlyn Jenner After Chris Brown Posts Transphobic Instagram
Kylie Jenner Defends Caitlyn Jenner After Chris Brown Posts Transphobic Instagram
While many celebrities have been vocal in their support of Caitlyn Jenner following her debut on Vanity Fair’s July cover, unfortunately, some have not. And Jenner’s daughter Kylie Jenner is not going to take the insults lying down.
After Chris Brown reposted a transphobic meme that referred to Caitlyn Jenner on his Instagram account Friday, the 17-year-old “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star reportedly commented on the post, writing, “Not very nice to say about your friends dad.” Brown’s post has since been deleted, but Kylie Jenner’s tweet Friday seemingly alludes to the incident:
State what you want about the world without bashing others. Leave a positive impact
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) June 5, 2015
Kylie Jenner and Chris Brown have been spotted hanging out together on various occasions. Jenner has shared photos of herself with Brown on her Instagram account, and the Jenner sisters participated in a charity kickball game with the “Forever” singer in July 2014.
The Huffington Post has reached out to Jenner and Brown’s reps for comment and will update this post if one comes through.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.