‘Strictly Come Dancing’: Alexandra Burke Slams ‘Sad’ Media Reports That Have Plagued Her Time On Show
Alexandra Burke has slammed “sad” media claims she has been hit with during her time on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

The former ‘X Factor’ winner has been at the centre of various reports over the last 10 weeks, including rumours of a feud with fellow contestant Debbie McGee and claims she and partner Gorka Marquez don’t get on behind the scenes.

She admitted to being upset by suggestions she shouts at Gorka during rehearsals as those reports stemmed from a joke they both shared.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Alexandra said: “We got really upset about that as it came from the Pride of Britain and we shared something from the training room when we were having a joke and a laugh and they took it out of context. Then it’s like, ‘I’m never letting you in again’.

“It was really sad, because it made me look like a horrible person.

 “I’m telling you, every single [report] isn’t true. It’s laughable.”

Gorka agreed, adding: “The only time she screams is when she’s dancing and she goes ‘Wooooo!’.”

Speaking about the so-called feud she had with Debbie, which they had already denied on Twitter, Alexandra continued: “Debbie and I were doing an interview not too long ago, just before it came out that we had a feud. When it came out, I was like ‘Are you serious? What?!’. I don’t even know where it comes from.

“It’s just a shame really because, like at Blackpool, people see us having fun and having a great time, but people don’t want to write that stuff.”

Preempting some possible future headlines, Gorka also issued a warning to people not to speculate about his and Alexandra’s relationship after seeing their intimate Rumba routine on Saturday (15 November) night.

“The dance is very romantic and intimate and there’s a lot of chemistry, but it’s just dancing – don’t make it into something,” he said. “It is nothing. It’s only for the dance.”

Of the routine, Alexandra said it was “surreal” to be dancing to one of Beyoncé‘s songs, having duetted with her on a version of ‘Listen’ during ‘The X Factor’ final in 2008.

She said: “I originally asked to do the Rumba to ‘Listen’ and we couldn’t do it for reasons I can’t say, and it’s a good reason.

“It’s a massive moment for me to have sung with her and now dance to her. I don’t think people will realise how surreal that is for me to feel.

“Sometimes I have to pinch myself.”

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ airs on Saturday and Sunday on BBC One.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/strictly-come-dancing-alexandra-burke-gorka-marquez-debbie-mcgee-feud_uk_5a19b947e4b0cee6c0500126

Meet the mindbogglingly beautiful Matt Law, clothing-adverse model
Time to get intimately acquainted with the Instagram sensation.

www.queerty.com/meet-mindbogglingly-beautiful-matt-law-clothing-adverse-model-20171125?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Vatican Finds Evidence of Gay Sex Among Seminarians But Denies Allegations of Pedophilia

Following allegations of the sexual abuse of underage seminarians at a Vatican-run seminary, an investigation has found evidence of gay sex between boys of the same age but no instances of pedophilia.

On November 18, it was announced that the Vatican was looking into a report published in Gianluigi Nuzzi’s new book Original Sin.

In 2012, Nuzzi released a book called His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Pope Benedict XVI, which examined fiscal impropriety and allegations of sexual abuse in the Vatican.

RELATED: Vatican Police Break Up Gay Orgy at High-Ranking Cardinal’s Apartment

In Original Sin, Nuzzi alleges there has been homosexual sex abuse in the Vatican’s St. Pius X pre-seminary for middle and high schoolers. He claims that  a seminarian was raped by his roommate. Despite complaints to school authorities, nothing was done about the abuse. The alleged rapist is reportedly now a priest in Northern Italy.

Nuzzi further claims that church authorities were informed about the abuse in 2013 but denied it had happened.

According to ANSA, the Vatican said that a 2013 investigation “relating to previous years and which allegedly involved boys of the same age” did not “find adequate conformation”.

Following the latest allegations, a new Vatican probe “to shed full light on what happened” found no evidence of sexual abuse.

(St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Diliff is licensed under CC-by-3.0)

The post Vatican Finds Evidence of Gay Sex Among Seminarians But Denies Allegations of Pedophilia appeared first on Towleroad.

Vatican Finds Evidence of Gay Sex Among Seminarians But Denies Allegations of Pedophilia

‘Strictly Come Dancing’: Davood Ghadami Rubbishes Claims Suggestive Judges’ Comments Are Sexual Harassment
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star Davood Ghadami has rubbished claims some of the judges’ comments directed at him are akin to sexual harassment.

Earlier this week, HuffPost UK blogger Jay McCarthy penned a post suggesting some things the panel said to him following his Paso Doble last week were “unacceptable”.

After Bruno Tonioli made reference to his sheer shirt that showed off his toned physique, Jay claimed that if similar comments were made to a woman it would equate to harassment and called for more equality on the matter.

However, Davood has admitted he was not bothered about the comments, choosing to take them as a compliment.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, he said: “For me, if I’m going to go out there and do a Paso and show myself a little bit, then I may expect that to be part of the performance.

“I certainly don’t take it as any kind of harassment or take it personally, unless someone was to say, ‘You shouldn’t be doing that,’ or ‘You should be doing that more’, then I think it would be an issue because it would cloud their judgement. As long as it isn’t clouding anyone’s judgement then I don’t mind.

“I think I have to take it as a compliment and a nice thing that they’ve seen that, especially with a Paso, which is a strong dance, it’s important to show certain aspects of strength.

“The Paso used to be that they would show even more than that, so I was actually covered more. It was nice that it was noticed and I didn’t ask for anything extra, so I took it as a genuine compliment.”

Davood – best known as ‘EastEnders’ market trader Kush Kazemi – also addressed some other controversial comments Bruno made to him and parter Nadia Bychkova earlier in the series.

Bruno came in for criticism from professional dancer Brendan Cole when he said Davood and Nadiya’s jive was “a race to the bedroom” – a remark Brendan claimed was disrespectful to both their real-life partners.

And while Brendan clearly had a problem with it, Davood didn’t seem to, admitting he “enjoys” Bruno’s eccentricity.

“I certainly didn’t take any offence to anything he said,” Davood told us. “He was talking about the performance, which was based around two geeks meeting in a library and falling for each other, and that is what we went with.

“In one sense, he wasn’t far wrong in his commentary of that and our story, so that wasn’t a problem for us.

He continued: “Very often when you’re up there, you can’t hear what they’re saying anyway. It was only after I heard it.

“What is lovely about it here is that we all have each other’s backs and there’s lots of camaraderie here. So I’m sure if Brendan felt a certain way, it’s good that he raised it, but I think it’s about how you read it. I don’t think he meant it in a personal way. ”

He added: “I guess I’m lucky that if it was misunderstood, my family would know and my kids are very young so they wouldn’t understand what that meant. I think Bruno’s got to carry on doing what he’s doing, if I’m honest.”

Davood has become one of the dark horses of this year’s competition, rising through the ranks over the last few weeks, and now admits to considering trading in his role in ‘EastEnders’ for something more theatrical.

“I’m very happy at ‘EastEnders’ at the moment, but I certainly do enjoy, and have missed, that feeling of being on stage in front of a live audience,” he said. “That’s one of the lovely things you get to do on ‘Strictly’.

“Doing it as a dancer is obviously not something I expected, but it does bring something out in you. There’s a few moments in this show where you realise, ‘Ah, I love doing this’, and there’s a real warmth in that studio and performing, but we’ll see.

“I’m very much wrapped up in this bubble at the moment, but you never know what’s coming,” he added.

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ airs on Saturday and Sunday on BBC One.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/strictly-come-dancing-davood-ghadami-sexual-harassment_uk_5a19b04ae4b0d4906caf14f4

Why does Macklemore own a painting featuring Justin Bieber without clothes?
It’s revealing… but is it art?

www.queerty.com/macklemore-painting-featuring-justin-bieber-without-clothes-20171125?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

This Year, Reclaim The Night Is More Significant Than Ever

Please don’t ask me, “what about male victims”, Okay? Let’s get it out the way now, yes men are victims of rape and domestic abuse and absolutely need to be treated with dignity and respect and have access to specialist services and an effective criminal justice system.

But we are looking at repeated incidences of domestic abuse, we are taking into account coercive control and not just physical violence – itself a mechanism of control – and we understand the women whose violence towards men is in retaliation sometimes after years of abuse.  This is gender-based violence.

And the thing is, that every time you ask that, “what about male victims?” it has the same effect as “are you sure it was rape?” or “what’s your sexual history?” or “but where do we draw the line?” It serves to question and undermine the huge courage it takes for any woman to speak up about her experiences of male violence and name it as part of a bigger problem: Me too.

Because what you do is individualise each woman’s experience and label the perpetrators as monsters and aberrations; outliers of our society’s expectations of men. And when you do that not only do you separate women from any sense of solidarity with other women, pointing the finger at her because she was unable to judge the situation correctly or make herself safe or she gave the wrong signals. Not only do you do that to women, but you also give up on men and boys.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying perpetrators shouldn’t face retribution and let’s face it; our criminal justice system is woefully inadequate for the brave minority of women who turn to it. But if we keep trying to brush sexual harassment and violence under the carpet by labelling individual men as the problem, we pretend that our expectations of men and boys are very different to the reality.

All over the country over the next few days, people are reclaiming the night; 40 years after women were told to stay home to stay safe

If you grow up with anger as the only acceptable emotion to show, that when you cry you’re told to be brave and run along, or worse, that you’re being a “girl” or you’re “gay”. That you should play with lego and soldiers not dolls, and that playing games where you care about a doll are stupid compared to a game where you kill baddies.  And in the same world women and girls exist for your pleasure in pornography, they are your juniors in the workplace, they will do the majority of unpaid child care and care for relatives, where famous football players and film stars can rape or be violent with impunity, and in the locker room other men joke about who they’d like to…This is what we need to talk about, not which ones are the bad men.   

What has been so moving and encouraging about #MeToo, #YoTambien and #BalanceTonPorc, and the continuation of women coming forward to name their experiences and the perpetrators, is that when the world tried to blame individual men and make it go away, we kept saying wait, there’s more. And there’s more. And there’s more. It hasn’t been easy to listen to, and to every woman that said “me too”, to every woman that came forward to name her perpetrator – thank you. And to the great many others who couldn’t, who didn’t want to, and who couldn’t tell if it even was a…

We are with you. 

I hope this is a sea change in how institutions and workplaces handle sexism and sexual harassment and violence. I hope men in senior positions to women and girls think twice before taking advantage of their positions of power. And I hope we don’t stop this conversation.

All over the country over the next few days, people are reclaiming the night; 40 years after women were told to stay home to stay safe. The London march is women-only. I cannot describe to you the feeling of marching alongside a thousand women at night, taking over the streets of central London. The noise, the defiance, the joy and the noise! Yes, there are divisions between us as women; areas of disagreement and power imbalances between us that we need to keep talking and listening about. Tonight we reach for solidarity with each other across those divisions, without denying them. And we say to every woman – we are with you. Shout it with me, “Women, united, will never be defeated”.

Reclaim the Night takes place Saturday 25 November, marking the International Day for the Eliminiation of Violence Against Women.

For more information on Reclaim the Night, including a list of timings, sister marches and speakers, click here

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/reclaim-the-night_uk_5a1981bbe4b0d4906caf0a6f

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ Pro Aljaž Škorjanec Backs Calls For Same-Sex Couples
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ professional Aljaž Škorjanec has backed calls for same-sex couples to be introduced on the show.

The dancer has said he would be open to dancing with a male celebrity and hopes to still be on the show if and when the changes are made.

The BBC has been under increasing pressure to allow same-sex couples to compete, with a number of the ‘Strictly’ team also speaking out about the matter.

Aljaž is the latest star to do so, telling HuffPost UK: “I’ve never actually spoken about it that much, but I’m always going to come in and do the best job I can. It doesn’t matter who it is or what sex they are.

He continued: ″‘Strictly’ has been so successful because it has been the same for the last 14 years and the formula hasn’t changed, so we all trust the producers 100%.

“It’s one of the few shows on television that is done with a positive thought behind it. If they do decide to go down that road, it will be with the most positive intention, so we will follow their lead.

“Hopefully we will be there when it does happen.”

Aljaž’s current partner, former ‘Emmerdale’ star Gemma Atkinson, also added her voice to the debate, but her opinion slightly differed.

She said: “I’m not a pro dancer, but for ‘Strictly’ to get any better, I don’t think that needs to happen – people know it’s 2017 and know people are in same-sex marriages and partnerships.

“I think putting two people on the dancefloor of the same sex will wake people up any more. If it does, then there’s a problem. We should be open to that anyway.”

Earlier this year ‘Strictly’ bosses issued a statement claiming there were “no plans” to deviate from the “traditional format of mixed-sex couples” in the immediate future.

It has been a topic of conversation among the stars of the show, with fellow professional Anton Du Beke previously shared his concerns about how having same-sex couples would affect the scoring, but judge Craig Revel Horwood has called for them to be introduced.

During the interview, Gemma also addressed press coverage about her personal life, amid rumours of a romance with professional dancer Gorka Marquez.

While no mention of any relationship was made, she admitted she has been avoiding reading about herself in the papers.

“I don’t find [media attention] distracting because, without sounding horrible, we don’t pay attention. Everyone in this group knows what’s going on and we know we have a job to do. Anything outside of that and our control,” she explained.

“We said from day one, every time we do a dance, some people will love it, some people will hate it. Every interview, some people will get it, others won’t. We have to have our blinkers on to everything except the dance.”

Aljaž added: “If you are in the competition and you are rehearsing as much as you can, the last thing you have time to do is read about it. If you have time for it, you’re not rehearsing enough.”

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ continues on Saturday at 6.50pm on BBC One.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/strictly-come-dancing-aljaz-skorjanec-same-sex-couples_uk_5a195f11e4b0649480749cb1