February 2007 Archives

Isaiah Washington has hired Howard Bragman and his successful PR company, Fifteen Minutes, to represent him. Bragman is openly gay and well-regarded and most recently helped in the launch of gay former NBA player John Amaechi's book, "Man in the Middle." I was in Bragman's offices last week to interview Amaechi and Howard popped his head in to say hello.
Perhaps he can be of some help to Washington whose remains on "Grey's Anatomy" but whose reputation has been badly tarnished by his use of the word "faggot" toward co-star T.R. Knight on the set of the show last fall then denied doing so in front of the international press backstage at the Golden Globe Awards.
Bragman's office confirmed in a statement to TMZ.com that Washington has signed on with the firm: "Our work with Isaiah is about his future—not the past. There is an important dialogue in our society about diversity that needs to happen, and Isaiah is uniquely positioned to be the catalyst for this."
Patrick Dempsey, involved in the on-set altercation that involved Washington's gay slur toward Knight, was asked recently on "Access Hollywood" if Washington had changed since going into therapy for his behavior.
"It's hard," Dempsey sighed. "I haven't spent enough time around to honestly know what's going on with him."
"I haven't spoken to him about it. You do have a feeling when you look at him that something is different and that he is working on things. You can't get away from the fact he's doing a great job on the show. He does beautiful work."
Interviewer Billy Bush referred to Washington as "an intense, passionate actor" to whch Dempsey replied:"He's very passionate about it. He allows himself to feel deeply and sometimes, that's very difficult to contain and control appropriately...I think good will come from this."

Time will tell...

I know that watching news specials at 10 p.m. on a weeknight is not everyone's idea of a fun time! But I watched Bob Woodruff's "To Iraq and Back" special last night on ABC and was first of all, so moved by the recovery of this newsman who nearly died from head wounds suffered in a road bomb blast that occured while he was working on a story in Iraq. The special made no attempt to sugar-coat his injuries and we saw incredible footage of his road back. The love of his wife and family, that's the real deal. We all want to be loved that well. His handsome face is still intact but with obvious scars and as a reporter, on this story, he showed depth and caring. The look in his eyes said it all when he questioned U.S. military and government officials about the ACTUAL number of injured Iraqi war veterans (a little over 200,000) which was intentionally being kept from the press and the American public. Woodroff humanized the numbers by visiting several of the injured and their families, many who are struggling to kind the kind of care and attention the anchorman got. It's a moving hour, not boring for a minute. Check it out online on ABC.com.
A clip of the Woodruff special was shown on this morning's episode of "The View" and boy, did it lead to some HEATED discussion. Rosie was on fire. She compared the government trying to keep the true numbers of those injured in Iraq with the government's ban on any photos of flag-draped coffins being published. This led to the followijg exchange between Rosie, Elizabeth Hasslebeck, and a very agitated Joy Behar:
Hasselbeck: "Rosie, I hear you. I agree with you. I'm saying I think the recall on those photos was just a reaction to the fact that people were using them as false propaganda."
O’Donnell: "It's not false propaganda when there are dead human beings inside those coffins."
Hasselbeck: "I'm not denying that."
O’Donnell: "Every other president has met the bodies and attended the funerals."
Hasselbeck: "He should be there."
O’Donnell: "Every other president has. This is the first president that has not."
Hasselbeck: "He should be there."
O’Donnell: "It is a disgrace. This administration is a disgrace."
[Cheers and applause]
O’Donnell: "It’s not democracy."
Behar: "That’s right. I agree with that. I don't want add fuel to the fire, but I don't know what it’s going to take for people to really wake up and understand that they are liars and they are murderers. I’m sorry."

I'm still disappointed that John Edwards is not supportive of the legalization of same-sex marriage - still can't wrap his head around it being a boy from the South. But he is for the abolishment of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which is the other major gay rights issue and blatant form of discrimination that has been allowed to continue in this country.
In response to the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a bill calling for the repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy Edwards released the following statement: "It is long past time to end the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy and to allow openly gay men and women to serve in the military. It is critical to our national security that we have the best people in our military. Gay men and women have continually served our country with honor and bravery, and we should honor their commitment and never turn away anyone who is willing to serve their country because of their sexual orientation. This is an issue of fundamental fairness – and our military ought to treat everyone fairly. I applaud Congressman Meehan on his important legislation."

Elizabeth Taylor has never been one to celebrate landmark birthday's in a quiet way...thank God! Her 40th b-day was a huge party in Budapest thrown by then-husband Richard Burton, the 50th a soiree in London when she was appearing onstage in "The Little Foxes" (ex-hubby Burton was a surprise guest), then the 60th was this star-studded mega event at Disneyland to celebrate the child in her. The 65th birthday was actually a two-hour ABC prime-time special! So the 75th birthday party Tuesday in Las Vegas at the Medici Cafe and Terrace at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas had a lot to live up to. Some 75 people were expected for a Mardi Gras-themed dinner of jambalaya, prime rib, collard greens, sweet potatoes and cake. Taylor, a Dame of the British Empire, smiled and batted her trademark violet eyes as photographers sang "Happy Birthday" to her, according to London's Daily Mail. Taylor's voice was soft as she chatted briefly with reporters, telling them her secret to making it to 75 was "just living a very healthy, clean life."
All four of Taylor's children were in attendance, as they always have been for their mom: Christopher Wilding, Michael Wilding (sons with second-husband Michael Wilding); Liza Todd (daughter with third-husband Michael Todd); and Maria Burton (daughter with fifth AND sixth husband Burton). With all the husbands, the Oscars, the movies, the scandals, the philanthropy, the business empires, Taylor has always been known as an exceptional mother. She doesn't talk on and on about her kids but in pictures over the years, the love has just always seemed to be there.
Among the star guests at the party were Taylor's business party in the "House of Taylor" jewelry line, Kathy Ireland. Taylor's designs were worn by some celebrities to the Academy Awards including "Entertainment Tonight" host Mary Hart. Magicians Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn were also among the guests.
But, here's the invitee I love the most: Debbie Reynolds (who came with daughter Carrie Fisher). Reynolds was married to singer Eddie Fisher in the late 1950s and maid of honor at Taylor's wedding to producer Mike Todd. When Todd was killed in a plane crash, Fisher left Reynolds soon after and took up with Taylor, who he eventually married. Then Taylor dumped Fisher for the love of her life, Burton.
It's all bygones now and Taylor and Reynolds even made fun of the situation in the TV movie "These Old Broads" (written by Carrie Fisher) about six years ago talking about that awful man "Freddie Hunter" that they were both married to.
"We've had a very unusual friendship," Reynolds said at the party."And it's lasted all these years."

I'm really annoyed with Mark Wahlberg right now. In the current issue of "Premiere" magazine, the Oscar-nominated star of "The Departed" talks about how he was given the script for "Brokeback Mountain." Apparently, it was just too much for a man who made a living off gay men lusting over his underwear-clad body:

"I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive - the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. I told Ang Lee, ‘I like you, you’re a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more…’ Thankfully, he didn’t. I didn’t rush to see Brokeback, it’s just not my deal… Obviously, it was done in taste - look how it was received."

Let me just say that I'm quite sure he would NEVER have gotten the role in "Brokeback Mountain" once Heath Ledger read for it because Ledger (pictured in a scene from the film)had the maturity, understanding and soul to inhabit the character of Ennis. Which performance do you remember more? Heath's or Phillip Seymmour Hoffman in "Capote" which won the Oscar? And which Wahlberg performance will you remember more? None yet, that's for sure.

For those of you in the LA area, the new issue of Frontiers Magazine is on the stands! Why am I so excited? It features my cover story on the stars of 'Boy Culture' that's why! And for those of you not in the area, I can't mail ya one but I can share it with you...enjoy!

THREE'S COMPANY: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE STARS OF THE SMART, SEXY NEW FILM 'BOY CULTURE'
By Greg Hernandez
Before they all arrived in Seattle to shoot Q. Allan Brocka’s new film, Boy Culture, Derek Magyar, Darryl Stephens and Jonathon Trent had never before crossed paths.
That could have been an obstacle since they had only 18 days to shoot a movie that required physical and emotional intimacy between the three leads. But the three actors bonded deeply as they got gym
memberships for daily workouts and lived together in the days before filming and all through the shoot.
“We were up in Seattle by ourselves. For the most part, it was the three of us,” says Stephens, best known for playing the title role in Noah’s Arc. “We had every opportunity to become real friends which I
think worked for the movie. All three are very different characters and have a genuine affection for each other.”
Boy Culture, which will be released in theaters March 23, tells the story of “X,” a wildly successful male escort played by Magyar whose life changes when he get entangled with his roommates (Stephens and Trent) as well as a reclusive elderly client named Gregory (portrayed by Patrick Bauchau).
“What drew me to the character was, at the core, he was somebody who is really afraid to love,” explains Magyar. “He’s kind of a tough guy, not the most chipper or sweetest. But underneath, he’s a great person who wants to be loved and accepted - that’s something we all want, gay or straight.”
Based on the critically-acclaimed novel by Matthew Rettenmund, the film goes beyond the drama that would likely arise when three available and very attractive men are sharing a home. Those attractions are explored but the film also focuses on the unlikely friendship the develops between X and Gregory.
Before Gregory will agree to sex with X, he tells an unsettling love story spanning fifty years and dares X to try something he hasn’t felt for years: emotion.
“It appealed to me more because I found that this had Gregory’s character was written in to expose X to real feelings and emotions,” Magyar says. “I would say that in the film itself, his roommates are his friends so to speak but Gregory becomes a close friend.”
He also found it especially gratifying to work with Bauchau who he says is “an incredible actor and great person and was very easy going with him. We just formed a friendship outside of work and it carried over into X and Gregory. It made it a very relaxing and comfortable environment.”
Stephens’ character Andrew and X are clearly attracted to each other but face a bumpy road toward getting close.
“Andrew is recently out of the closet and just moved to Seattle to get away from marriage engagement to a woman that didn’t pan out,” Stephens explains. “He is just coming into his sexuality and learning to deal with men on that level. When he met X, he was attracted to him but wasn’t sure about pursuing it. They sorta became friends but
it seems Andrew began to pursue other means of satiating his sexual appetite.”
Besides his own issues, it bothers Andrew that X is a male escort: “I think that was the big stumbling part of it. He likes X but doesn’t understand how he can share himself with people for money. He’s got a problem with that.”
Trent’s character is even more rudderless than his two older roommates and engages in self-destructive behavior involving drugs and sex.
“Joey is the child or the baby in the threesome,” says the young actor. “He’s this young kid who is very insecure and scared and lonely so he flaunts his sexuality to get what he wants. A lot of
people do that when they don’t know what else to go on. They use what they feel they have. For Joey, it was all about his sexuality. He’s charming in a slutty way.”
Stephens is confident the movie will connect with gay audiences given its popular reception at Outfest and other festivals. But he also this “film has great crossover potential. It has issues that cross race and cross age. Even though it’s essentially a gay love story, I think it will appeal to a broad audience.”
Magyar agrees.
“I think if you are looking for a story about love, being gay or straight, this is the movie to see,” he says. “It’s a drama with fun and humorous moments. It’s very real, something we can all relate to - that feeling of being afraid to love and putting up walls and barriers because we’re afraid of what it means to allow ourselves to feel certain things.
“I am very proud of the film.”

There are gay people in our military? Who knew?
Staff Sgt. Eric Alva is one of them abd was the first Marine seriously wounded in the war with Iraq, losing his leg serving his country. He comes out of the closet today, standing by Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass and a bipartisan congressional group at 11am as they introduce legislation calling for the repeal of the military's wrong-headed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Here is part of his story from ABC News via Towleroad.com:
"Alva...was a decorated staff sergeant who had served in Somalia and Japan. As troops began to push into Iraq, on March 21, 2003, Alva was leading 11 Marines among 75 or so sailors and Marines in a 50- to 55-vehicle convoy on its way from the desert in Kuwait to Basra, Iraq. It was a logistical convoy moving through the desert at night, lights out, night-vision goggles on. The sand was so kicked up it was nearly impossible for Alva to even keep track of the vehicle in front of him. At one of three stops along the way, Alva, who hadn't eaten for a full day, was heating up an MRE when he went to get something out of his Humvee. 'I took maybe a step or two,' Alva said, 'and that is when the explosion went off.' It was a land mine."
Alva was visited at Bethesda Naval Hospital by President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Rumsfeld, and Michael Jordan.
None of them knew he was gay.
Although he kept it a secret from his commanding officers over the years, Alva says plenty of soldiers knew he was gay and it was never a problem:
"I told tons of people. A lot of my friends, my buddies, my closest Marines, people I had served in combat with. Straight guys, married, with children and everything, three of them which I have become their sons' godfather now. Everybody was just respectful and was just like ordinary. 'That's it? That's your big news?' Being on the front lines and serving with the people who even actually knew that I was gay, you know, that was never a factor. We were there to do a job. We were [there] to do a mission. I don't think people would have a hard time with it because they know that the person right next to them is going to be there to protect them, in our terms, 'have their back.'"

We're toying with the idea of starting up a tennis blog at the Daily News but until that happens, you will have to indulge me on my tennis-related postings on the Out In Hollywood site! I felt I could not miss the opportunity to pay tribute to Roger Federer who, on Monday, rewrote the history books. By being the number one men's player for 161 consecutive weeks, Federer broke the 30-year-old record of 160 consecutive weeks set by Jimmy Connors. Federer told the LA Times that the first time he met Connors was when he was about 14 and Connors was in the Swiss star's hometown of Basel for a tournament and presented Federer an award for being the best junior in the town: "I walked on the court, had a picture taken...and then walked off again. I was so nervous. Whoever would have thought I would have broken the record?"
Federer is now gunning after another 30-year-old record: the 46 consecutive match wins set by Guillermo Vilas in 1977. Federer's streak is at 37 and he could break it at next month's Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. I'm planning to take in some of the matches and hope to see Federer play this year!

I just love the blog Oh La La Paris, they find THE best pics. Jason Lewis! Mark Wahlberg! And that's just for starters. All of these guys were at a Giorgio Armani pre-Oscar fashion show...

Wanted to share with you the cover of the new issue of The Advocate featuring John Amaechi who is profiled by editor Anne Stockwell. I wrote a sidebar that accompanies Anne's story covering the reaction of the league but my story was turned in before the Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway outburst. I can't find my story online to link for you yet but this is good motivation to go out and buy a copy of a great magazine!

You've been teased with bits and pieces over the past week but here is the profile on John Amaechi that I wrote for Sunday's LA Daily News sports section. It's kinda fun being on the front page of Sports for a change...makes me feel...I dunno.. kinda butch.
Ha! Anyway, here it is in its entirety:

Amaechi surprised by 'fuss' over his coming out
Former NBA player knew his book would garner some attention but the reaction from players continues to make headlines.
By Greg Hernandez
Staff writer
John Amaechi might exude calm when you meet him, but publication of his new memoir, "Man in the Middle," has caused a firestorm in the NBA, in which he spent five seasons as an active player and as a closeted gay man.
Amaechi said he knew his book would garner some attention since he would be the first NBA player -- active or retired -- to come out publicly. But reaction from players -- both positive and negative -- continues to make headlines, particularly those of former NBA star Tim Hardaway, who said, "I hate gay people," among other homophobic remarks.
"Everyone keeps telling me that I knew it was going to be this much fuss, and I absolutely did not," Amaechi said over lunch last week. "I thought it might be a couple of days of people saying, 'Oh, that's interesting.' But it became a massive story and a massive talking point. ... And it wasn't just because of Tim Hardaway, I think that was an aspect of it that kind of added onto it in week No. 3. But even in the first two weeks, people in areas where they never talked about gay stuff, all of a sudden started to. I think that was important as a beginning."
By acknowledging that he is a gay man, Amaechi, 35, has joined just a handful of retired male pro athletes in major team sports who had done so: football's Dave Kopay, Roy Simmons and Esera Tuaolo; as well as baseball's Billy Bean and the late Glenn Burke.
"Someone from a gay magazine spoke to me the other day and suggested that I was a bit cowardly, and that courage isn't a word he would use to describe what I'm doing. I would agree," Amaechi said. "It's about fortitude. Otherwise there would be more than five.
"Add up all the teams now -- football, hockey, baseball, basketball -- that's maybe 2,000 (players). Then multiply that by all the people who have ever played in the league over the last 20-30 years. Five people have come out in over three generations. This tells you it's not an easy thing to do. There's work to be done."
Jim Buzinski, co-founder of Outsports.com, calls Amaechi's coming out: "The biggest one to date. I think in part because of people like Billy Bean and Esera. Whenever it happens, it's almost bigger each time. In the age of blogs and a robust Internet, there are a lot more outlets to write about this. It's been bigger than I thought it would be because John hasn't been in the league for a few years. But certainly the story is not as big as if an active player were to come out."
While Amaechi's 290-page book covers his life as a gay man, it also is the story of an unlikely pro athlete from Manchester, England, who, just six years before he made his NBA debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers, had never even played basketball.
So how did he do it?
"I said I would," he said. "I have many, many flaws, but one of them is not that I don't do what I say. I do what I say I will. If there is a consistent theme throughout this book, it's about, essentially, some odd, quirky, isolated fat kid from a foreign country getting to the NBA and doing that in the space of six years.
"It's about the underdog, it's about improbable people achieving the most unlikely of things. That's how I work. I'm not interested in average, it bores me. Average is default. You have to work to be worse than average. It's supposed to be a fight, it's supposed to be hard."
Amaechi, who retired from pro basketball in 2003, first achieved stardom at Penn State. He then became one of the first Brits to play in the NBA when he signed with Cleveland.
Of his five full seasons in the NBA, he said his first season with Orlando remains his best memory.
"It's when I felt I was kicking people's (butts), and I felt like I belonged there," he said.
But after leaving Orlando, he clashed with Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, for whom he played for two seasons.
Amaechi believed Sloan to be homophobic, something the coach denied, and that was the major factor in the deterioration of their relationship. But looking back, Amaechi had only a few regrets about his pro career. The biggest one is not playing for the Lakers when he had the chance.
"I didn't take a contract to go to L.A. that I really wanted to take. I desperately wanted to play here. I turned down an awful lot of money but it was a decision based on my principles," he said. "I felt only this: Orlando was the only team that would take me on the year before. Now everybody wanted me, but Orlando had been the only one to take me on."
Still, he doesn't plan to take in any Lakers games when he's in Los Angeles to promote the book. But it's nothing personal. Amaechi doesn't follow the NBA or any other pro sports. He works as a psychologist, works extensively with young people, has a sports foundation and a consultant business. He also does extensive corporate speaking in the U.K. and the States.
Amaechi has taken on a new role as spokesman for the Coming Out Project for the Human Rights Campaign during his book tour, which has him promoting the importance of being out and living openly and honestly.
"I felt a great obligation to do this," he said. "I felt it was important. My thing with coming out is it's an individual, personal journey and that if you push people, force people, make them come out in a way that they're not comfortable with, you neither help them in their own personal life and development, nor do you create good, proactive people. They come out, and then they disappear. Believe me, after the last few weeks especially, I understand the weight of it."
In contrast to Hardaway, some players and coaches have been supportive. That includes Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, who told reporters: "My view is, I was always taught not to judge people. ... And I have said publicly that John Amaechi was my teammate. If people said stuff about (Amaechi), I would have to stick up for him and I wouldn't judge him. (Homophobia is) not what this league is about."
Said Amaechi: "To hear Shaquille O'Neal, a younger-generation active player say that, it's important. It's important because it inoculates against other hateful words."
Amaechi doesn't really know Hardaway, other than from the times he played against him, and said there never was any personal acrimony between the two. Amaechi said he felt "saddened" that Hardaway, who was banned by the NBA from participating during its All-Star weekend and has lost at least one endorsement deal, has tarnished his legacy. But he quickly added: "He is not suffering as much as some other people.
"There is the psychological and emotional damage that hearing that somebody hates you when you're 16 years old and unsure of yourself ... far outweighs losing a car wash (endorsement)," he said. "It is dwarfed by the damage the words have done. It's dwarfed. Add up the net income, the net loss of the young people if their path in life is affected by this. Forget the money. When you damage a child, you can't put a price on that. The same as when you elevate a child.
"You can't put a price on that. The magnitude is massive. ... He's been a lightning rod for some kid in Arkansas to blab his mouth about dropping the "f-bomb" left and right and anti-gay slurs in the team environment, not knowing that what he's doing is stabbing his teammate in the neck."
Although Doc Rivers, who was Amaechi's coach in Orlando, was the only NBA teammate or coach to personally contact him since the book's publication, Amaechi insisted he is not disappointed.
"It would be really naive to imagine that people would run to my side," he said. "Especially since running to my side at this point now, it's not just that you're running to my side, but you're running against another player. It's part of the problem: Straight allies are hard to come by because they risk being called gay, and right now there's not much worse than being called gay ... apart from being called a terrorist, apparently."

Between the Oscars and popping antibiotics like they were candy (I feel like Patty Duke in 'Valley of the Dolls'), I forgot to share with you all my Joan Rivers article which ran in the Daily News and our sister papers over the weekend...

Rivers armed, dangerous and ready for the red carpet
By Greg Hernandez, Staff Writer
If the Academy Awards show is about the little golden man, the walk into the Kodak Theatre is often about pleasing the woman with the sharp tongue.
Yes, Joan Rivers will again be patrolling the red carpet — and, as usual, she's armed and dangerous.
Along with daughter Melissa, Rivers has been the star attraction of TV Guide Channel's awards coverage since 2004, after spending nearly a decade doing fashion duty for E! The pair are on the red carpet each year at the Oscars, the Grammys, the Emmys and the Golden Globes, among other shows.
"I love the Golden Globes because it's a party," the 73-year-old comedian says. "Everyone will drink and have dinner, and the show is part of it. I love the Grammys because they are all so nice. The only one who had an attitude is that horrible Carrie Underwood. She's a great star — just ask her."
Dig, dig.
"The Oscars are the most formal and have the most riding on them, so the actors are the most tense. You save the best dress for the Oscars."
So here's some wit and wisdom from Madame Rivers about the Oscars — past and present.
Helen Mirren: "Boy has she done an about-face," says Rivers of the favorite for the best actress award. "When she first came, she was wearing boas and boots! She and I talked about it. She said, 'You said I looked so bad that I went to my friend Dolce & Gabbana.' "
Meryl Streep: Rivers says she also has high expectations for the 14-time nominee, nominated this year for her performance as a fashion magazine editor in "The Devil Wears Prada."
"Meryl Streep is going to look very beautiful," Rivers predicts. "She's into clothes suddenly. At the Golden Globes, she wore that Grecian gown and looked stunning."
She also expects nominees Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Hudson and Cate Blanchett to be dazzling tonight.
On guys who ignore Rivers' famed catchphrase, "Can we talk?"
"The worst ever is Tommy Lee Jones," she says. "It pains him to talk to you. So then don't talk. And Russell Crowe. I only wish the phone he threw (at a hotel clerk) was a boomerang."
Ready for her role on 'The Sopranos': Rivers grows irate when reminded of how she allegedly hurt the feelings of Edie Falco when she won her first Emmy for "The Sopranos" for dissing the actress' fashion choice.
"Edie Falco can drop dead! We never said anything — we looked back at the tapes — and yet she came out swinging."
Some stars who she freely admits to panning in the past are Demi Moore, the year she wore bicycle shorts ("a big winner"); Gwyneth Paltrow's pink gown, the year she won for "Shakespeare in Love" ("It was so badly fitted"); and when Cher showed up for a past winners segment "in a moron Titanic hat."
Of course, the all-time "hall of shame" winner is Bjork for her famous swan dress, which included an egg-shaped purse that the singer-actress placed on the red carpet for photographers.
What she wouldn't give for one drunken star: As much as she admires stars who show up expertly put together, she does miss the old days when fashion faux pas littered the red carpet like A-list roadkill.
"You pray somebody got high that morning and put the dress on backward," Rivers says, chuckling.
But if there are fewer disasters, the Rivers women have only themselves to blame.
"We've ruined the fun of someone totally walking out in something that is not very attractive," Joan admits. "I think we've created an industry of stylists — everyone has a stylist."
And mostly, they have friendly exchanges with Hollywood's A-list these days, including her red carpet favorites Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts and Charlize Theron.
"The bigger they are, the more relaxed they are," Rivers says.

Well now, I just think this is a heckuva good idea: Oscar-nominee Djimon Hounsou will be featured in the Fall 2007 Calvin Klein Underwear advertising campaign. The African-born, award-winning actor, whose muscular physique stood out in such films as "Amistad," "Gladiator," and most recently, "Blood Diamond," will be featured in a global print and outdoor campaign supporting the launch of the brand’s latest product line, Calvin Klein Steel.
The Fall 2007 campaign, which will be shot in late March or early April, will appear internationally in more than 20 countries, with print and outdoor media timed to coincide with September 2007 magazine issues. Hounsou is the ninth man to be featured in a Calvin Klein Underwear campaign and the first actor in over a decade. Other past Calvin Klein Underwear models have included fellow Oscar-nominee Mark Wahlberg.

Sunday night's Academy Awards may have been star-studded, but the greatest living movie star was not among them. Dame Elizabeth Taylor, three-time Academy Award recipent, perfume and jewelry mogel, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, tireless AIDS activist and many a gay man's best friend, is 75 years old today. What a life so far...

A few random snaps I wanted to share of Elton John and husband David Furnish at Elton's annual Oscar party which continues to raise millions for his AIDS foundation; Keifer Sutherland at Elton's party looking absolutely HOT, and Tom Cruise with Katie Holmes. Tom seems more humble these days doesn't he? I don't mean it snarky. He's not smiling so crazy big. I like it. I've always liked him as an actor and thought he was the best star around...until things just got too weird a few years back. I like how he's not hiding out, but keeping his head low a little more and focusing on moviemaking...

The Academy might have chosen "The Departed" as best picture last night, but "Little Miss Sunshine" was the prefered winner, according to the results of Logo's annual online Queer Year in Film poll. LGBT filmgoers also differed from the Academy voters in choosing Eddie Murphy for best supporting actor. He was upset by Alan Arkin who won for "Sunshine." 
Poll participants agreed with Academy voters on the winners for Best Director (Martin Scorsese), Lead Actor (Forest Whitaker), Lead Actress (Helen Mirren) and Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson).  
The poll had been online since mid-February and was released Monday morning. OK, so big deal, right? Well, here's the fun part: Logo also quizzed LGBT filmgoers about the entire year of 2006 in movies and here are their very wise choices:

* Favorite Comedy – The Devil Wears Prada
* Favorite Action Movie – Casino Royale
* Favorite Serious Drama – Children of Men
* Favorite Scary Movie/Thriller – Saw III
* Sexiest Movie – Shortbus
* Best Gay Indie Film – Adam & Steve
* Best Socially Aware Documentary – An Inconvenient Truth
* Favorite Animated Animal Movie – Happy Feet
* Favorite Guilty Pleasure – Another Gay Movie
* Favorite Gay Filmmaker – Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)

* Sexiest Male Movie Star – Daniel Craig (Casino Royale)
* Sexiest Female Movie Star – Michelle Rodriguez (Bloodrayne)
* Favorite Gay Movie Couple – Rachel & Luce (Imagine Me & You)
* Least Favorite Gay Movie Character – Sharon Stone’s bi killer, Basic Instinct 2
* What was the biggest Oscar snub this year? Dreamgirls, not nominated for Best Picture
* Fiercest Female Character – Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), The Devil Wears Prada
* Best Kiss – Borat and his friend’s rear end
* Character Most Likely to Inspire Drag Queens – Any of the women from Dreamgirls
* Most Lesbianish Non-Lesbian Film  - The Descent
* Biggest Disappointment – The DaVinci Code
* Best Action Movie with a Coincidentally Gay Storyline – V for Vendetta
* Character You Most Want to Get Drinks With – James Bond (Daniel Craig)
* Film Most Looking Forward to in 2007 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Gee, drinks with Daniel Craig? Sounds great! Oh look! Anderson Cooper (pictured w/Craig at the Vanity Fair party last night) already got to!. What does Anderson have that I don't have? Oh, that million dollar salary, that wonderful gray hair, those piercing blue eyes, that incredible camera presence...uh, OK, I'm really depressed now. I didn't even SEE Daniel Craig on the red carpet last night, he must've been one of the later arrivals. Maybe next year....

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I went to the doctor who informed me I have a sinus infection, not the flu. No wonder I wasn't getting any better! So, let me reflect on Oscar evening backstage. I sipped hot tea all night and hoped that Richard Roeper, sitting right next to me, wouldn't notice that I was a sicko. I must say, he was really a nice guy and I enjoyed chatting with him between awards. Richard was multi-tasking: co-hosting ABC7 pre-show and post-show, writing for the Chicago Sun Times AND for the Ebert & Roeper site. Gee, all I had to do was try and not cough up a phlegm ball up on anyone. Piece a cake.
Funny thing: People kept calling me! Friends. A buddy Scott calls and says, "Hey, we're on the road. Do you know what radio station is playing the Oscars?" I whispered: "DUDE, I'm BACKSTAGE right now, I can't talk!" (For some reason I still call my straight college friends DUDE). Then my friend Evan texts me to tell me he grew up with one of the winners and to ask him something but I don't read the text until the guy was already out of the interview room.
Anyway, both Richard Roeper and I lament that fact that our predictions of major categories will not be perfect since we both picked Eddie Murphy to win. Richard and I are likethis now. I wouldn't be surprised if we went out and grabbed a few beers after this is over....
I'm sitting across from Stacy Jenel Smith, who does Marilyn Beck's column with her. Just before the show starts, I tell Stacy about how 3 or 4 years ago, I was seated next to Beck at a screening of "The Four Feathers" on the lot of Paramount Pictures and midway through...I FELL ASLEEP! (I wasn't reviewing it!) So Stacy calls Marilyn up and asks her if she remembers. She does and puts her on the phone with me! We had a good laugh. I'm mortified, wondering what Richard thinks (kidding, he didn't seem to care).
So when Jennifer Hudson wins, it takes another hour or more before she arrives backstage because she had to sing with Beyonce and they were knockouts! When Jennifer did arrive, I stood to ask her a question and thought I'd remind her of how we sat together at the Oscar luncheon. She kinda looked at me blankly like, "Don't know ya." I guess I could have said: "You know, we chit chatted through the meal when you weren't texting your sister, I passed you the butter, I told you the quote on your T-shirt (an Academy gift) was from "Annie Hall" when you looked at it blankly, and told you that Mark's last name was Wahlberg. Remember me NOW?"
But, I digress. Asked her what it felt like to be only the third African American woman to win the supporting actress Oscar (and fourth overall). I had written a story on this but since Eddie Murphy lost, it seems my editors decided that just having TWO black actors win in one night wasn't so noteworthy anymore. After all, it already happened with Denzel and Halle.
While Celine Dion was singing on the screen and the backstage interview was the foreign film winner who is speaking in German. What is there to do? Gossip with Richard Roeper! He heard that after losing the best supporting actor race to Alan Arkin, Murphjy left! If that's the truth, it's not very gracious of Norbit. After all, remember 10 years ago when poor Lauren Bacall, as much as a front-runner for "The Mirror Has Two Faces" as Murphy was for "Dreamgirls," smiled bravely and clapped after Juliet Binoche won (this pains me to this day) then not only did Bacall stay through the whole show, she went to the Governor's Ball and danced with Kevin Spacey.
Al Gore and the team behind "An Inconvenient Truth" were just wrapping up their backstage Q&A session and were almost out of the room when Melissa Etheridge's name was called as winner of best original song "I Need to Wake Up" which she wrote for the movie. Gore tip-toed back into the press room to watch Etheridge accept the Oscar. He clapped wildly and smiled ear-to-ear. He clapped again when Etheridge said "caring about the Earth is not red or blue, we are all green."
Anyway, I think that Alan Arkin didn't seem as overjoyed as you would think he might. I'm sure he's damned happy but it did not seem to be an out of body experience. He's been around the block many times and is 70-plus but good grief, when Jessica Tandy, just shy of 80, won her Oscar, she held it up and said: 'I'm on cloud NINE!"
The real class act this year has been Helen Mirren. It could have been one of those situations where we would be sick of her since I've been there when she won the Emmy last fall for "Elizabeth I" then the Golden Globes and SAg Awards when she won for BOTH "Elizabeth I" and "The Queen." But ya know what? Helen Mirren is a highly intelligent, witty, sexy and hugely talented person and holds court backstage as good as anyone I've ever seen. She is in the moment, remembers people, is funny and relevant. She even told us what she'd been drinking: a vodka gimlet. I adore Helen Mirren. And Forrest Whitaker, such a class act. He was called away during the backstage interview to be photographed with Mirren, Hudson and Arkin but he insisted on coming back and picking up right where he left off. He's so much more animated backstage, not at all nervous like he gets on stage.
And finally, Martin Scorsese! Was there a happier man in the Kodak Theater? And was there anyone people were happier for? All the major winners were such feel-good stories and people who you could root for. I may have been operating well below-par with this sinus infection thing, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world...and didn't!

\

How embarrassing. I forget that I had committed to doing this Canadian radio show this morning with a cool guy named Shane Fox so when his producer calls, she totally wakes me up and when I get on the air, my voice comes out as a croak. I have this frog the size of Kermit and can't get rid of it the entire 20 minutes or so I'm on the air. But that didn't stop me from sharing my memories of Oscar night.
I'm gonna just get down to the silly, but yet important, stuff: When Jennifer Hudson walked by me, i told her she looked great and she did! How did i know that everyone was going to be saying that her wrap looked like a car fender? It looked good in person. But i look at the pics and yeah, car fender.
Leonardo DiCaprio was the most handsome man on the red carpet, in my opinion. His hair slicked back and a nice air about him, he is a real movie star and knows how to act like one and is the best actor of his generation. Nicole Kidman (pictured below w/Meryl Streep), wearing this red dress, was THE standout in my mind. She's like a model on the red carpet but also has this air of grace and dignity. Like DiCaprio, she excudes true movie star quality AND is one of the best actresses of her generation.I thought Jodie Foster looked dazzling as she always does whenever she decides to attend these events and when I asked her who she was rooting for for best director, she smiled and said, "Awww. Martin Scorsese." It was sweet the way she looked when she said it because you knew she had long been rooting for the man who directed her to her first Oscar nomination 30 years ago in "Taxi Driver."
I gabbed with the super handsome Mark McGrath of "Extra" who used to be a rock star with Sugar Ray. He's so nice! He said he's still learning all this Hollywood stuff but I think he's got it nailed. Chatted with Wolfgang Puck for a moment and was about to talk to Joan Rivers when some Academy official said I was not allowed to bve ON the red carpet and ushered me to this spot in the bleachers. Sheesh! Some people are so inflexible...So once at ther bleachers, it got hard to get interviews but I did get to see, up-close, those two cute guys from "Y Tu Mama Tambien," whose names I will have to insert later. One of them was in "Babel" and he's so much smaller than I ever imagined. I coulda put him in my pocket!
Will and Jada went by with their son and look so happy all the time. Jada Pinkett Smith is someone who I always want to see on the red carpet. The "Prada" girls, Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway, glided by me too and Emily I think was with Michael Buble who is, I think, her boyfriend. Also saw Dave Koz, looking so dapper, but was unable to get his attention through all the madness. And it IS madness. You'd think these people had never been to the Oscars before. Sheesh!
STILL TO COME: Greg's backstage recap....

I'll provide you with some kind of more complete wrap-up of the Academy Awards tomorrow. I'm glad to have made it through a long day while still under the weather. I'm gonna get out of my tux, make a cup of hot tea, and get some sleep. But wanted to share how proud I was of Ellen DeGeneres as the host. she reminded me of Johnny Carson, one of the most successful hosts of the show ever, in that she was pleasant and fun but didn't detract from the proceedings by trying to be too edgy etc. I love how she mingled with nominees in the audience and just was her fun self.
Good job Ellen!
And a big shout-out to Melissa Etheridge, winner for best original song who beat out three strong entries from "Dreamgirls." "This is the only naked man who will ever be in my bedroom," she said of her Oscar as she stood backstage taking questions. As one of the world's most famous lesbians, she was asked about thanking partner Tammy Lynn Michaels as her wife in her speech and giving her a big kiss before taking the stage.
"She was so important to me, especially with this project," she said of Michaels. "She said, 'Write what you feel.' She saved my life. I was kissing her because that's what you do when you win and Oscar, you kiss your loved one."
As far as anyone raising an eyebrow over such same-sex affection, Etheridge said: "I think the Oscars, it's like a gay holiday. So it's really meaningful that [host] Ellen [DeGeneres] or myself, there's no token gay here. It's a real mix here."

Hi all:
I'll be blogging live from the Academy Awards on Sunday on the Daily News On the Red Carpet site. I'll be on the red carpet initially then backstage bringing you little tidbits about whatever I see and hear. Should start posting around 3 p.m. and continue to throughout the ceremony...
Happy Oscars!

p.s. My predictions in the main categories: picture: Little Miss Sunshine, director: Martin Scorsese, actor: Forrest Whittaker; actress: Helen Mirren; supporting actor: Eddie Murphy; supporting actress: Jennifer Hudson.

OK, my profile on former NBA player John Amaechi, who publicly came out as a gay man in his new book "Man In The Middle," is scheduled to run in the sports section of the Los Angeles Daily News tomorrow (Sunday) so look for it on DailyNews.com.
Obviously, there was so much that John and I covered during our interview that it could not possibly make it into the article. He has this advice for anyone who is thinking about coming out: "Coming out is an individual journey. It’s not for other people to tell you. They can advise you but it’s not up to other people to tell you that you must do it. Find someone, one person that you can make a connection with who can help you. Find your voice, who can share your burden, who can be standing behind you
as support and then look from there. See how that emboldens you. If it’s your sister or your brother or your coach or your teamates or your parent or your guardian, see if telling that one person who you trust, see if that emboldens you to do more. That’s your journey.
It’s not for everybody, to scream from the rooftops. But I would say, it would be a joyous noise if people did."
To kids who mikght feel bad about themselves: "Just know that whatever might be said about you, there’s
nothing intrinsically dirty, evil, wrong about them. As hard as it is sometimes in the face of the comments and the words that come out - things that come from the pulpit sometimes and things that come from the gutter - try and steel themselves in the knowledge that only their choices will make them bad, not who they are intrinsically."
Well said!

I wish I could say it was to Out In Hollywood and the Los Angeles Daily News but Neil chose to speak to Entertainment Weekly writer Whitney Pastorek instead. Whatever. I'm still not sorry I bought that boxed set of season one of "How I Met Your Mother" and praised his performance in "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle."
"Someone once said that their life was an open book, but they just didn't want to read it out loud. Everyone at work knew who I was dating and I didn't try and pretend I wasn't the person I am."
Harris announced he is "a very content gay man" after comments credited to a former publicist [falsely Harris says] who had reportedly insisted the actor was not gay. Harris, who had never discussed his private life, clarified the matter in a statement and went on with his work and his life.
As happy as Harris is to be out, the magazine writes that he would be even happier to stop talking about it: "As much as I respect advocacy, I don't feel that my job description is 'advocate.' My job description is 'jester.'"
And jester he is as wild bachelor Barney on "Mother" and in the sequel and "White Castle." He says he plans to play Barney "as long as they'll have me."
The actor, a triumph on the Broadway stage in "Cabaret" and "Assassins" and in the L.A. production of "Rent," sees directing in his future and, he hopes, a role in a Christopher Guest movie: "That would be the career pinnacle."

The road comedy "Little Miss Sunshine," the gem of 2006, won the top prize at the Spirit Awards on Saturday night and is considered a serious best picture contender at Sunday's Academy Awards. I'm so glad to see that the co-directors, the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (pictured, right), won as well. The were nominated for the DGA prize but somehow passed over for an Oscar nod. But on Oscar morning, they gave interviews to reporters, including me, anyway. And they were funny and so happy for the other Oscar nods. Class acts. Screenwriter Michael Arndt took the Spirit for best first screenplay and Alan Arkin won for his supporting role as a junkie grandfather. Both are up for Oscars as is Abigial Breslin for supporting actress.
The top acting prizes went to Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling and newcomer Shareeka Epps for the drug drama "Half Nelson." Oscar-winner Frances McDormand won a Spirit for her supporting turn in the suburban saga "Friends With Money." (She was superb. Catching this little-seen movie is worth it just for McDormand alone). The screenplay Spirit went to Jason Reitman, the writer/director of the smoking satire "Thank You For Smoking."
"Little Miss Sunshine" and "Half Nelson" led the contenders with five nominations each.

Regular Out In Hollywood reader James F. Mills tips me off that on Tuesday's installment of the NBC soap "Passions," viewers will learn the identity of Chad Harris' secret lover! Here's the best part: it's a character already on the show. I don't watch "Passions" but those of you who do, how 'bout some guesses?
Chad (portrayed by dreamy Charles Divins), is the illegitimate heir to the soap’s rich family who just married his long-time sweetheart Whitney Russell. It was revealed earlier this month that Chad is having an affair with a man.
“Chad’s coming to grips with this side of him, the sexual need of his and what that means to him and what that means with his relationship with Whitney,” Divins tgells Mills in an interview for NotesFromHollywood.com. "Obviously he’s going through the different stages of denial. That’s what you’ll see as far as the story goes...The underlying drama of what’s going on is Chad’s denial and coping with it. We’re really trying to make sure that’s a really strong undercurrent to the main story.”
Even though Chad has been sneaking off to the no-tell motel for months, Divins says he only learned that Chad was on the down low four days before shooting the scenes revealing his paramour to be a man. “We get the script four days in advance of the shooting. I opened the script and read it and realized I was going to be on the down low.”
 The 31-year-old Dallas native is straight off-screen and sought advice from gay friends for this storyline.
 “I didn’t have a whole lot of time to go out and hang out and prepare. I made some phone calls to my gay friends and just kind of talked about it. How do you approach a character like this and as a straight guy how do I play a convincing gay character? And in the context of it being on "Passions," how do you make sure it being represented correctly and honestly? I’ve seen the Oprah episode with the down low. Especially in black culture, it’s something that’s known that happens. What it is is a comment on what happens in society.”
 

Jennifer Holliday originated the role of Effie in the first Broadway production of "Dreamgirls" 25 years ago and took home the Tony Award for it. She also won a Grammy then went on to a recording career of some success but has never returned to those early-career heights. On Sunday, for those who want to see and hear Oscar front-runner Jennifer Hudson's predecessor to the role, tune in to E! channel's Oscar pre-show (5 p.m. eastern, 2 p.m. pacific) when Holliday, from the rooftop of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, will sing "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)."
Prior to the film's debut, Holliday complained that she had not been invited to its premiere ("I think they thought to have success with this, they had to destroy my legacy") and also thinks it would have been nice if the filmmakers had offered her a cameo role in the film, as they did Loretta Devine, with whom Holliday starred in the original Broadway show.
"Chita Rivera was in [the feature film version] of "Chicago" and Ricki Lake is going to be in "Hairspray.'" Holliday tells USA Today. "There were plenty of little parts all of us could have played. I would have liked to have been Deena's mother."
Maybe if they had given her a small role, Holliday would have been more impressed with the film: "All I like about the movie is that it was made. Over 20 years they've been trying to make this and I think the movie lost the heart and soul of it."
She also gives something of a backhanded compliment to Hudson: "I'm proud of what Jennifer reprsents. Her Effie stands on its own. If I say her performance wasn't good, then I'm not not good because they were the same. She's going to win an Oscar and all three of us - Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Holliday and Effie - will be up there when she wins."
I'm thinking Florence Ballard, the Supreme on who Effie is so obviously based, might be up there on that stage too and Hudson has made so secret that it was Ballard who was her inspiration for the role.

I can't find the cover art yet but USA Today reports that Elton John has yet another greatest hits compilation set to hit stores March 27. The release of "Rocket Man" Number Ones" comes out just two days after Sir. Elton's 60th birthday and his record 60th performance at Madision Square Garden.
The new CD will include 13 chart-toppers from the singer's 35-year-recording career and will include so many uptempo gems and classic ballads: "Rocket Man," "Daniel," "Tiny Dancer," "Crocodile Rock," "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word," "Candle in the Wind 1997" (tribute to Diana, princess of Wales), and "Your Song." There also a few terrific duets: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (w/Kiki Dee) and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with George Michael.
I.Want. This. CD.!!!

Everyone is talking about Britney Spears.
"I'm glad she's seeking help now," Spears' old pal Lance Bass told Planet Gossip's Matt Donnelly at last night's Vanity Fair Amped party at Hollywood hot spot Boulevard3. "I'm very disappointed she dropped out [of rehab] twice. I'm pretty sure she's in to stay now."
Natalie Cole, who definitely knows a thing or two about rehab, also weighed in at the same event. She detailed her battle with substance abuse in her memoir, "Angels on My Shoulder."
"She needs a lot of love and a lot of counseling," said Cole, who conquered her substance abuse problems decades ago. "And her children! Obviously, the ability of her being a mother is very difficult. She needs her mother. I have to pray for her. I feel very bad."

It seems that Tim Hardway has more to worry about than running across the street whenever he sees a gay couple.TMZ is repoorting that Hardway is being sued for more than $750,000 for skipping out on his mortgage, as well as rent payments on a car wash that used to bear his name.
In the first suit, Washington Mutual Bank is alleging that Hardaway hasn't paid his mortgage since last September -- with a balance of $715,000 -- and is trying to foreclose on his house in Miami-Dade County, FL. (Hardaway used to play for the Miami Heat.) Meanwhile, Hardaway is also being sued for not paying more than $45,000 in back rent for his Miami-area car wash. The suit, filed in Circuit Court, charges that the business -- for which Hardaway is a guarantor on the lease -- hasn't paid rent in several months, dating back to last fall.
Curiously, the car wash's sign used to read, "Tim Hardaway Presents US 1 Finest Hand Car Wash." Following Hardaway's gay-hating radio tirade last week, the sign was changed to "Grand Luxe Auto Bathe."

Stopped by the Kodak Theater today to get my picture taken for Academy Awards press credentials. I'm dragging a bit from the flu still so didn't wander like I usually do but I'm told I missed Joan and Melissa Rivers by about an hour and that Mary Hart was the first person to get her pix taken this morning.
Anyway, I'll be blogging live from the Academy Awards on Sunday on the Daily News On the Red Carpet site. I'll be on the red carpet initially then backstage bringing you little tidbits about whatever I see and hear. Should start posting around 1 p.m. and continue to throughout the ceremony...

...also, this Saturday night (Feb. 25) I will appearing on KABC (790 -AM) radio's Mark Isler Show to talk about the Academy Awards. I'm told my segment begins about 10 p.m. and might last as much as an hour. This marks the third time in recent months that I've appeared with Mark and I am always happy to do so.

We all know that Kevin Walker on "Brothers & Sisters" really messed up a good thing when he didn't treat his adorably sweet boyfriend Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) right. I mean, he told Scotty to "shut up!" in front of the entire Walker family! Then he has a one-nighter with him on Valentine's Day to make his closeted soap stud boyfriend, Chad (Jason Lewsi) jealous.
All he succeeded in doing was losing Scotty forever! Anyway, our friends over at AfterElton.com have been posting of Luke McFarlane before he was Scotty: he played a solidier in the short-lived Iraqi war drama "Over There."Too bad the war has not been as short-lived as that show was!

In an interview for The New York Times Magazine this coming Sunday, financial guru and TV host Suze Orman gets on Deborah Solomon's case for not looking out for her own money, partly because "you are a woman." This inspires Solomon to ask Orman if she is married.
Orman says she "has a relationship with life," so Solomon presses her, and Suze then reveals that her "life partner" is Kathy Travis and, "We're going on seven years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I'm still a 55-year-old virgin."
Orman says they'd like to get married, and both "have millions of dollars in our name. It's killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa."
Pressed again, she says that estimates that she is worth $25 million are "pretty close."

When I saw Brian Austin Green several months back on the red carpet at the DVD release for "Beverly Hills 90210." he playfully smooched former co-star Jason Priestly for photogs. Now I realize he was just rehearsing! According to The Hollywoodwood Reporter, Green will play a gay man in a new comedy pilot from the creators of "Will & Grace." The untitled CBS project, from David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, is about two friends and writing partners, one straight and one gay (Green), and the women working with them (Jessica Capshaw, Vanessa Lengies). The project is loosely based on Kohan and Mutchnick's friendship.
Green proved he had terrific comic chops co-starring on ABC's comedy "Freddie." He was the funniest thing about that show, kinda like Barney on "How I Met Your Mother." Trivia: Did you know that Brian played Donna Mills son on "Knots Landing"? I did!

I've been home battling the flu the past day or so. But there have been bright spots, including this GQ cover of Christian Bale that was left on my doorstep by my postal person (guess it didn't fit into the mail slot). I did not discover it until this morning when I went out to grab the newspapers. There was Bale, on my doormat, staring at me. I do prefer him clean-shaven but, he looks just FINE with the facial hair. The issue (April 2007) is on stands now!

I love the tagline of the new movie "Gray Matters," opening in theaters today: "A romantic comedy about a brother, a sister, and the girl of their dreams." Gray (Heather Graham) and Sam (Tom Cavanagh) have the perfect relationship — as brother and sister. Close since childhood, now that they are adults they still live together and are each other's best friend.
The one thing that ends up coming between them is Charlie (Bridget Moynahan), Sam's new girlfriend who also ends up bringing out a different side of Gray that she never knew existed before — her lesbian side! Uh boy. Poor Sam. But when you are as cute as Tom Cavanagh (I've had a mad crush on him since "Ed'), you should be able to rebound just fine. Alan Cumming and Molly Shannon are also in the cast. The trailer looks really funny but critics have not been kind.

John Amaechi has opened up the debate over gays in pro sports with the publication of his book "Man in the Middle." I spoke with him this week about a wide range of topics for a forthcoming article but am giving the readers of Out In Hollywood another sneak peak.
John tells me that the real heroes are the athletes who have come out during their pro careers: "I think people like Martina [Navratilova] and Billie Jean King, they are brave beyond words whereas what I’m doing is just somethingpeople with good conscience should do when they are ready and able."
But he points out the lost endorsements for Navratilova and other out female athletes who have dominated their sport and might otherwise be darlings of Madison Avenue.
"Sheryl Swoops, the Michael Jordan of women’s basketball, and she’s sponsored by Olivia [Cruises]. This is not to demean Olivia but my God, the Michael Jordan women’s basketball should be front and center. She’s beautiful, she’s talented, she’s eloquent. So let’s not pretend it wouldn’t have any negative financial effects.
But it’s not just financial, it’s personal strength: "You need to be in a place of great resilence to do this, to perform on this knife edge just playing basketball but then to have all of these additional pressures of your responsbilities to the GLBT community, the responsibility to your team, to your teamates, to your owner, the fans. It’s massive walking onto the court and knowing that. When people call you the f-word, instead of that being just to emasculateyou, they actually mean they don’t like gay people."

It shows you what a gay athlete must endure: either stay in the closet with all the misery that entails, or come out and risk everything in order to be true to yourself. Gee, all Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway had to do during his career was go out and play basketball. Other than feeling compelled to cross the street whenever he sees a gay person, his life hadn't been all that bad in comparison.

There are those who may have Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway fatigue and simply never want to hear from him again. I don't blame you. But this interview he gave to ESPN allows the former NBA star to elaborate on his hateful comments about gay people a few weeks back following the release of John Amaechi's book. Some of the excerpts below do shed light onto the depths of his homophobia. He adds that the last few weeks have been "pure hell" for him:
"...it was just the wrong choice of words. It came out of my mouth real crude and real bad and real ugly. And people think that that's the way I feel. That I hate [gay people], and I don't. I don't condone what they do, but I don't hate them. But that's how it came out...I should have been smart about what I was saying and how I expressed my feelings because I offended a lot of folks. And not knowing the magnitude on how this all escalated. I mean, I offended my family, my friends, the NBA, the gay community, people I don't know, the [Miami] Heat organization. I realize that I offended a lot of people and caused a lot of friction on a touchy subject. And now it's my job to make it right."

Hardaway tells ESPN's Scoop Jackson: "I still don't accept their lifestyle. No."
And what does he do when he encounters a gay person on the streets of Miami?
"I just get away from it. I just walk away. I see it, I just go the other way, cross the street...When we was growing up Scoop, if we saw gay people or whatever, we ran across the street. We got away from them. Our parents, our friends, our families knew that that wasn't right. We didn't want to be around that and they definitely didn't want us kids around it. And it's not that they hated gay people, they just felt they it wasn't right. Let them do what they want to do. And that was my experience when I was growing up. Not acknowledging them. Now did something happen to me? No. But I did have a friend that something happened to him in a Catholic school, but that is another can of worms that it's not my place to open because it's not my life. But to answer your question, 'No.' Nothing happened to me. I just don't condone [being gay]. When I see gay people holding hands or kissing in the streets, I just don't think that's right."

OK, so that's his deal. That's a lot of people's deal and it makes me sick. But at least Hardaway now has to confront the fact that, like it or not, there are gay people all around him and he might just have to start dealing with it instead of crossing the street (WHAT is he afraid of? Does he realize the irony in that so many black men have shared how people cross the street when they walk by?)
"Maybe I could go to therapy, maybe someone can help me out with understanding [them], the sensitivity of the issue," he adds. "But as a person, my beliefs are my beliefs. I don't have to condone it and I don't have to be around it. But I don't have to hate it either...Right now, learning. Learning that gay people are really no different than a lot of other people. Learning that they work hard, they do things in the community, they are responsible for building parks, rec centers, providing safe environments for kids, just things I had never associated with them before. [This last week] has opened up my eyes to the gay population and what they do. I'm getting a lot of knowledge about them that I didn't have. Which is going to make me a better person. And if it doesn't, then I'm a damn fool."

So as of now, he's still a "damn fool" as far as I'm concerned...until proven otherwise.

"I Love Lucy" fans rejoice! Fox Home Entertainment is releasing the series of 13 hour-long "i Love Lucy" specials that aired from 1957 to 1960. These shows followed the successful six-year run of the half-hour "I Love Lucy" shows and have never before been released on DVD. I've seen all the episodes and I gotta say, they are not on par with the classic half-hour episodes. For one thing, and this is a big thing, the specials always featured a guest star and this took away from the wonderful chemistry of Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel. For example, in the "Lucy's Summer Vacation" episode, Fred and Ethel are nothing more than glorified extras while Lucy's hijinks are all with guest star Ida Lupino instead of best pal Ethel.
But there are a handful of shows from these later years that I do like, especially "The Celebrity Next Door" with Tahllulah Bankhead who is laugh-out-loud funny in her episode. It is funny and Bankhead is a riot.
Also like "Lucy Makes Room for Danny" with guest star Danny Thomas, "Milton Berle Hides Out At the Ricardos," and the last show ever, "Lucy Meets a Mustache" with guest stars Ernie Kovaks and Edie Adams. When Edie sings "That's All" at the Ricardos after dinner, the song takes on great poignency knowing that Lucy and Desi are divorcing and will never appear together on screemn again.
"I Love Lucy: Seasons 7,8 and 9" will be released on March 12. There is some rare footage on each disc that was trimmed from various episodes and just found recently but the best bonus feature is color footage taken by an audience member during the taping of the pilot episode in 1951. It the only chance we'll ever get to see exactly how red that hair really was!

Conservative columnist Michael Medved's article on the gay in the NBA discussion and Tim Hardaway's homophobic comments need no comment from me. I will simply let the man's words speak for themselves:: "Hardaway appropriately apologized for his harsh remarks, but many (if not most) Americans no doubt share his instinctive reluctance to share showers and locker rooms with open homosexuals. That reluctance also explains the controversial Defense Department policy that prevents out-of-the-closet gays from serving in the United States military."
"The much better analogy for discomfort at gay teammates involves the widespread (and generally accepted) idea that women and men shouldn’t share locker rooms. Making gay males unwelcome in the intimate circumstances of an NBA team makes just as much sense as making straight males unwelcome in the showers for a women’s team at the WNBA. Most female athletes would prefer not to shower together with men not because they hate males (though some of them no doubt do), but because they hope to avoid the tension, distraction and complication that prove inevitable when issues of sexual attraction (and even arousal) intrude into the arena of competitive sports.
Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn’t welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they’d welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women. I specify unattractive females because if a young lady is attractive (or, even better, downright “hot”) most guys, very much including the notorious love machines of the National Basketball Association, would probably welcome her joining their showers. The ill-favored, grossly overweight female is the right counterpart to a gay male because, like the homosexual, she causes discomfort due to the fact that attraction can only operate in one direction. She might well feel drawn to the straight guys with whom she’s grouped, while they feel downright repulsed at the very idea of sex with her."

Uh, OK.

We've been hearing all about Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) since the first episode of the first season of "Grey's Anatomy" when he and Meredith woke up in bed together. Then Dr. MxSteamy came along (Eric Dane) wearing nothing but a towel. Add to that the headline-grabbing controversy involving Isaiah Washington's gay slur hurled at T.R. Knight, and you don't have many people talking about former fashion model Justin Chambers, who plays Dr. Alex Karev on the show. I came across these pics recently and boy, is he cute!
What McNickname should be give him??

This is really cool:
A cast of six real transgender people will appear as a support group for a new character's recent coming-out as transgender on ABC's daytime soap "All My Children." In the episode to air March 9, Zoe, played by Jeffery Carlson, will visit a support group to help with her transition. Jennifer Boylan, a transgender author, was cast as the support group leader. During the support group scenes, the cast will speak unscripted dialogue about their experiences as transgender men and women.
In 2004 the show also received its third consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series Writing, its third Writers Guild Award, and its third GLAAD Media Award.

It was in 1973 that then-reigning Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in a battle of the sexes tennis match that proved, indeed, that a woman could beat a man. But it has taken 34 long years for Wimbledon, a tournament King won six times in singles, has come around to awarding equal prize money to women.

At a news conference today, All England Club chairman Tim Phillips announced that what negligible differences remained between the prize money awarded to men and to women at Wimbledon would be eliminated. Roger Federer received $1.170 million as last year’s men’s champion, while the women’s champion, Amelie Mauresmo received $1.117 million.
“I think when you’ve got men and women playing at the same tournament, it is ludicrous to have a difference in pay," the always outspoken John McEnroe told Britain's Daily Telegraph Thursday. "It would be setting an example to the rest of society in general to have equal prize-money. There’s probably no other sport, and very few professions in this world, where a woman can earn as much as a man. I’m a father of two boys and four girls, and I just think kids will see that and say, ‘Hey, look at that, that’s good, what they are doing at Wimbledon.’”
Wimbledon was the last holdout among the Grand Slam tennis tournaments in not awarding equal prize money to women across the board. The U.S. Open and Australian Open have paid equal prize money for years, and the French Open moved part-way to equality last year, making the prizes for the two singles champions the same.
Inequity still exists for the other women singles and doubles players in the draw.
In singles, the women play two-out-of-three sets while the men play three-out-of-five. But the women's game has often been more popular thanks to such superstars as Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and, of course, Billie Jean King (pictured during NYC's Fashion Week earlier this month).
When Wimbledon first opened the tournament to professional competition in 1968, Billie Jean took the women’s singles title — and precisely 37.5 percent of the prize money that was awarded the male champion, Rod Laver. Five years later, Ms. King would accept a challenge from former Wimbledon champion, aging tennis hustler and self-described male chauvinist, Bobby Riggs, who claimed that the female game would always be inferior to a man’s. Billie Jean won the match in three sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3.

As the first NBA player, retired or active, to publicly acknowledge that he is a gay man, John Amaechi has ignited a nationwide discussion about how an out male athlete might be received in pro sports - particularly in the NBA. I'm working on an upcoming profile on John, author of a thoughtful memoir"Man in the Middle," for the Daily News that will run in the coming days. But, as always, I wanted to give Out In Hollywood readers a little appetizer today with more morsels to come on Friday.
After an initial round of interviews in New York, Amaechi arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday morning and a few hours later, we were sharing a Chinese food lunch inside a conference room in the Beverly Hills offices of his publicist, Howard Bragman. He was only scheduled to be in town for the day before leaving for an
evening event in San Francisco then departing Thursday for Salt Lake City for interviews and book signings.
"Everyone keeps telling me that I knew it was going to be this much fuss and I absolutely did not," John says. "I thought it might be a couple of days of people saying, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ But it became a massive story and a massive talking point. And it wasn’t just because of Tim Hardaway, I think that was an aspect of it that kind of added onto it in week number three. But even in the first two weeks, people in areas where they never talked about gay stuff, all of a sudden started to. I think that was important as a beginning."
I knew that John had in other interviews, already addressed Tim Hardaway's "I hate gay people" and other homophobic comments. I wanted to know what he thought of the backlash Hardaway had suffered including being fired by the NBA and CBA and losing some endorsements.
"Perhaps I do feel saddened that his legacy is tarnished but he is not suffering as much as some other people. There is the psychological and emotional damage that hearing that somebody hates you when you’re 16 years old and unsure of yourself, far outweighs losing a car wash [endorsement]. It is dwarfed by the damage the words have done. It’s dwarfed. Add up the net income, the net loss of the young people if their path in life is affected by this. Forget the money. When you damage a child, you can’t put a price on that. The same as when you elevate a child. You can’t put a price on THAT. The magnitude is massive."
"I’ve gotten emails from kids from Japan, Australia, eastern and western Europe, all around America, talking about how his words have affected them, how some of them have quit their handball, basketball, hockey, football teams because he’s heightened the fear in them that when they’re discovered, that they will be hurt. So he’s been a lightning rod for some kid in Arkansas to blab his mouth about dropping the "f-bomb" left and right and anti-gay slurs in the team environment not knowing that what he’s doing is stabbing his teammate in the neck."
MORE FROM JOHN AMAECHI ON FRIDAY...

We may have gotten to know Chip Arndt when he teamed with then boyfriend Reichen to win the second season of "Amazing Race," but since then, the Miami resident has become politically active and is President of Freedom Democrats of Miami Dade. Here is a commentary he recently wrote for the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force on the comments retired NBA player Tim Hardaway had to say about gay people:

Tim Hardaway’s comments are indicative of the ongoing, insidious bigotry and deep-seated hatred that still permeates many parts of the United States of America, and not just toward GLBT people. Mr. Hardaway’s comments show us all that deep schisms exist among conceptions of what it means to be a citizen of America, a country that embraces all people from varying backgrounds and beliefs.

The most unfortunate aspect of Mr. Hardaway’s comments is who said them. Mr. Hardaway is a respected citizen and celebrity of Miami, a respected businessman, a five-time NBA All-Star. He makes money off of his appearances and celebrity name and owns two businesses in Miami. Furthermore, Mr. Hardaway has spoken at many schools and has been a role model and hero for many kids and young adults with his on-the-court grit and excellence. He now gives those same kids and young adults the power, excuse and platform, through his words and example, to practice bigotry and oppress a group of people who he chooses to “hate” (his own word).

At the very least, I am glad he was honest about his thoughts, which showed people and our leaders that great work still needs to be done to overcome learned prejudices in order to move our society to become a more open, loving and tolerant place that respects all people for who they are as American citizens and children of God, not denigrating them as pariahs to be cast out of our society.

The pics, squiggles and caption are from PerezHilton.com: "Spotted: hottie Neil Patrick Harris and his equally hot boyfriend, fellow actor David Burtka, at the UPRIGHT Cabaret show in West Hollywood this past Friday. So nice to see them out and about together!"

I agree that NPH and David Burtka are "hot" but coming from Perez, it rings somewhat hollow given his ferocious effort to force Harris out of the closet last fall after his former publicist insisted that Harris was not gay. The actor had never discussed his sexuality.

The openly-gay creator of "Desperate Housewives," Marc Cherry, has entered into an eight-figure deal with ABC that extends through 2011. This ensures the continuation of "Housewives" through at least seven seasons (the show is currently in its third year) as the network has also been quietly negotiating deals with key cast members for four more years as well.
"The studio and the network and I all feel it's best for me to stay glued to the set," he told Daily Variety. "I've got my ship and I'm gonna run it...I think that at the end of my deal, and after seven seasons, it will be a good time to call it quits. I don't want anyone else to run the show and I don't want us to fade away."
Post-"Housewives," Cherry told the trade paper that he plans to pack his bags and head to New York so he can write books for Broadway musicals.
\In related news: Marcia Cross became a mom on Tuesday, welcoming fraternal twin daughters, her rep confirmed to PEOPLE exclusively. The girls, Eden and Savannah, who were born at a Los Angeles hospital, are the first children for the "Desperate Housewives" actress, 44, and her stockbroker husband Tom Mahoney, 49, who married in June 2006. "Mother and babies are all doing well," says Cross's rep, Heidi Slan.
Cross had been on bed rest since January, but producers of her ABC hit brought production to her home for some scenes. Set designers painted Cross's bedroom the same color as her character Bree Van De Kamp's boudoir, and moved in furniture from the set. At the time, show creator Marc Cherry told PEOPLE that Cross was "bored out of her mind (in bed), so she said, 'Bring the camera here – I want to act.' "
She told PEOPLE in December that having babies later in life is "like a miracle ... I didn't think it would happen."

Maybe it was the sea air?
Yes, Rosie went there...she made fun of Donald Trump AGAIN and now we await Mr. Combover's response and see if the Rosie-Trump feud will be reignited.
So Rosie apparently had a few laughs at the Donald’s expense on Sunday, during the opening-night festivities of her latest R Family Vacations cruise to the Caribbean. A cruisegoer told Marc Malkin of E! Onlone's Planet Gossip that one of the musical numbers featured a Chorus Line-like ending, in which the entertainers hold up their headshots. However, the last photo was of Mr. Trump. "Rosie came out, looked at the guy and said, ‘You’re fired," the passenger said.
Then Rosie talked about how Trump told Larry King that he did not find her sexually attractive, cracking, "It was always my dream to give a balding billionaire a [rhymes with phoner]."
Don’t be surprised if O'Donnell’s latest Donald diatribe ends up on the Internet. Referring to the numerous people in the audience videotaping the show, she said, "Go ahead—put it on YouTube. I don’t care. I’m fine with it."

My personal hunch is Donald might not come ouit swinging like he did last time. I think he did some serious damage to his reputation and made it difficult to be taken seriously by being so thin-skinned and doing all that name calling. But, you never know...

I was trying to think of an excuse to post these new pictures of Ryan Reynolds and here is one: he has a beard now! So what do you think? Is Ryan hotter with a beard or without? Let's have a vote! Personally, I think it's a bit of a toss-up.

I love the three nominated songs from "Dreamgirls" but if they end up cancelling each other out, I would love to see Rock goddess Melissa Etheridge walk off with the Oscar for best song.
Etheridge was nominated for the anthem ''I Need to Wake Up'' from the global-warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" starring former veep Al Gore.
''That was part of my dream, being a rock star and all that stuff,'' she says on OutZone. ''And, 'Oooo, someday, I want to have Oscar: best song.' Of course that's out there. Never, when I was presented with this -- this was a slide show. I had no idea it was going to be a film and it was going to be that sort of thing.''
Turns out, it was Al Gore himself who asked Etheridge to write a song for the film, which she said was no easy task -- even for the Grammy-winning songstress.
''Because, what do I write? Help! What do we do? 'Give a hoot, don't pollute' or something?''' she recalls. ''And that got to be overwhelming to a point until, actually, (to) my partner, my wife, Tammy, I said, 'Help me. I am trying to find my way to write a song.' She says, 'Just do what you do. You write about what you feel. Tell people how you feel.'

The world's most famous metrosexual, David Beckham, has not even relocated to Los Angeles yet (where he will play soccer for the LA Galaxy) but his already sky-high profile is already going off the charts. Here is the cover image of the new issue of Details magazine as well as the Wheaties box on which he appears:
Here is a portion of the cover story:
--No one is as good at the art of celebrity as David Beckham. Being Americans, we find it hard to accept that one of ours is not at the top of this particular pyramid. But it’s true. Perhaps since Michael Jordan (perhaps since before Michael Jordan) no athlete has remained a bigger celebrity longer than David Beckham. His arrival in America merely guarantees that new audiences will debate the Beckham hair, the Beckham marriage (the flanker brand currently known as Victoria but formerly known as Posh Spice being the biggest winner in this whole situation), the Beckham style. They will see that the many aspects of celebrity culture we think of as quintessentially American, quintessentially now, have long been part of the Beckhams’ arsenal. --

It took much longer than anyone thought it would but "Dreamgirls," my favorite musical since "Grease," surpassed the $100 million in domestic grosses on Monday. The film, up for eight Oscars on Sunday, had $1.96 million in ticket sales over the four-day President's Day weekend and that was just enough to nudge it over this industry benchmark.
With Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson heavily favored to win in the supporting categories, my guess is the movie could enjoy a post-Oscar boost at the box office.

I just noticed this on USA Today's POP CANDY blog and had to share it even if it was released last week. If I hadn't seen it, chances are a lot of you had not either: Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger's gay kiss in 'Brokeback Mountain' was voted the best screen kiss of all time, according to an online poll conducted by DVD rental firm LOVEFiLM.com.

Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard's romantic scene in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' was voted second (I agree!), while Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's passionate kiss in 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' came third. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh took fourth place with their tender moment in 'Gone With The Wind'. The other same-sex kiss to rank high was Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair's lesbian clinch in 'Cruel Intentions' which claimed fifth position.

Here is the complete list:
1. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in 'Brokeback Mountain'
2. Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'
3. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith'
4. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in 'Gone With The Wind'
5. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair in 'Cruel Intentions'
6. Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in 'From Here To Eternity'
7. Al Pacino and John Cazale in 'Godfather'
8. Colin Firth and Renee Zellweger in 'Bridget Jones' Diary'
9. Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in 'Spiderman'
10. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray in 'Dirty Dancing'

What I wanna know is this: why didn't the kiss between Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Dr. in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" make the list? Just kidding. I just found it while surfing for "Brokeback" smooches and wanted to share:

I also thought it would be fun to also add some of the comments readers made after the list was published on PopCandy. Feel free to add your thoughts to the Out In Hollywood blog
Comments Added: Today 18:20
"I am a straight man. I would vote for 2 guys kissing if it were Tony Leung and Alain Delon. or maybe that guy from Taboo."
- jerry Added: Today 16:51
"I'm not a lesbian but i like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair in 'Cruel Intentions'. but I love Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray in 'Dirty Dancing' more... And hey, can I vote for "Killing me softly"? It was simply hhhooottt... :-) "
- jessie Added: Today 05:26
"I'm straight and I'd vote for it."
- also mike Added: Mon 21:05
"is this a gay poll? no straight man would ever vote 2 guys kissing ever!! no offense to the gay community"
- mike

I just love the title. In fact, I keep saying it over and over again - much to the utter annoyance of my colleagues here in the newsroom. The indie film, "Itty Bitty Titty Committee" made its World Premiere last week at the Berlin Film Festival. The Jamie Babbit-directed feature will screen three times at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Tx. beginning March 11.
"Itty" is the story of a girl’s blooming political consciousness and ascent or descent (depending on how you see it) into political extremism. Anna (MELONIE DIAZ) is a young apolitical receptionist at a plastic surgery clinic whom has recently broken up with her girlfriend and been rejected from college. Anna’s family is readying for her sister’s upcoming marriage, and Anna is feeling lost and miserable. One night, Anna meets Sadie (NICOLE VISCIUS), a radical feminist and member of a guerilla action group called Clits in Action (CIA). Intrigued by this flirtatious girl, Anna gets ensnared in the group, and eventually she surpasses her feminist mentor and leads the CIA to its most radical act. By the end of the film, Anna is truly empowered and is transformed into a womyn with a “y”. Stars Daniela Sea ("The L Word"), Melanie Mayron ("Thirtysomething"),Nicole Vicius ("Half Nelson") and Melonie Diaz ("Raising Victor Vargas") with a rocking soundtrack featuring Heavens to Betsy, Slaeter Kinney, Team Dresh, The Need, Slumber Party, Bikini Kill, Peaches and Le Tigre and other politically charged music.
Will keep you posted for any local LA.area screenings as they are announced...
Now say the title five times fast" Itty Bitty Titty Committee Itty Bitty Titty Committee Itty Bitty Titty Committee Itty Bitty Titty Committee Itty Bitty Titty Committee.
It's hard to stop!

AfterElton.com asked a panel of gay film experts to compile a list of the top 20 most groundbreaking gay movies. Any list like this is so subjective that it is sure to result in much debate. I, for example, would place "The Living End" and "Beautiful Thing" (pictured, right) much higher on the list and would place "Brokeback Mountain" at the very top of the list. Anywho....here is the complete list:

1. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
2. Teorema
3. Pink Flamingos
4. Brokeback Mountain
5. Paris is Burning
6. My Own Private Idaho
7. Fireworks
8. Tongues Untied
9. The complete works of Bruce LaBruce
10. Silverlake Life: The View From Here
11. Sunday Bloody Sunday
12. Law of Desire
13. Boys in the Band
14. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
15. Parting Glances
16. La Cage aux Folles
17. Beautiful Thing
18. The Living End
19. Victim
20. Querelle

The panel consisted of: Joseph J. Cook, program Director, Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival; Alonso Duralde, author of "101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men"; Jay Gilman, the obligatory film buff; GLAAD president Neil G. Giuliano; film critic Matthew Hays; Attitude magazine editor Adam Mattera; Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival artistic director Raymond Murray;The New York LGBT Film Festival Executive DirectorBasil Tsiokos; Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival director Xavier-Daniel.

The Oh La La blog posted these wonderful pics of Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Chad (Jason Lewis) kissing Sunday night on "Brothers & Sisters." I wrote yesterday that I think it was their best kiss yet. What do you think?

No wonder Tim Hardaway was suddenly so sorry for his "I hate gay people" rant last week. It has not only cost him his reputation, it is costing him jobs! Outsports.com reports that he has been fired from his role with the Continental Basketball Association.
Ricardo A. Richardson, president and CEO of the CBA, told Outsports late Monday night that Hardaway has been relieved of his duties as "Chief Basketball Operations advisor for Trinity Sports, which was scheduled to have a team in the CBA next season, [the] Miami Majesty." Hardaway was also the coach of the Majesty, which was formerly the Florida Pit Bulls of the American Basketball Association.
Hardaway's hate-filled diatribe came during a Feb. 14 radio interview with Dan Le Batard. Among other comments, Hardaway told Le Batard, "Well, you know I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States. So yeah, I don't like it.''
Hardaway made the comments in the midst of various appearances in Las Vegas on behalf of the NBA in the week leading up to the NBA's All-Star Weekend. Within hours of Hardaway's anti-gay comments, the NBA dismissed the former All-Star from his role with the Association, and Hardaway left Las Vegas the next day.
The day after Hardaway made his comments, Dennis Truax, Director of Basketball Operations for the CBA, made the following statement: “The CBA does not in any way condone or endorse the hateful comments made by Mr. Hardaway to ESPN yesterday. Mr. Hardaway’s comments were unfortunate, hateful and are not the views of the CBA or any of its member teams. It is our fervent belief that any person should be allowed to participate in our league, regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, political preference or sexual orientation, without fear of reprisal or discrimination. The CBA is an equal opportunity employer, and Mr. Hardaway’s comments have no effect or bearing on our position now or in the future. We do not share his views or support his position regarding Mr. [John] Amaechi and his recent personnel revelations.”

Hey, I was sick to death of Britney Spears even before she kissed Madonna okay? But this head-shaving fiasco seems to have made her front page news because she seems to be legitimately wacko! So, I share this funny post I saw on PerezHilton.com of a wigged-out Britney and Miss Carol Channing.

Diana Ross appeared on Bravo TV’s Inside The Actors Studio on Monday and with host James Lipton, reflected on the way life used to be. Although she is an Academy Award-nominated actress for "Lady Sings the Blues," Ross has made only five movies. And since this was a two-hour show, there was much discussion of her legendary music career.
Here are some excerpts:
ON HOW SHE GOT INVOLVED WITH THE PRIMETTES: "Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson, they wanted to put together a girls group and they came and asked my parents if I would sing with the Primettes. They heard I could sing and asked if I would sing with the group."
ON BECOMING THE SUPREMES: "They were trying to find names that were really catchy, they asked us to go away and come up with something other than the Primettes because they didn't think that had the right ring to it. Florence [Ballard] was the one who came back with the name The Supremes.
ON BERRY GORDY BEING A MENTOR: "He was the person who gave everyone inspirations. I wouldn't be here today if he didn't believe in me. Not only as a performer but also as an actress"
ON FINDING FAME AT A YOUNG AGE: "I don't think we ever tried to figure out how many records we were selling. It was just something you never really imagined was going to happen to your life."
ON BERRY GORDY'S PROFESSIONAL FOCUS ON DIANA ROSS: "As time went on it was expressed that it did put a strain on the group. At the time I didn't think that it did. I felt like we were all growing in different directions. I don't really know if it was Berry's focus on me, I think it was just time, it was part of growing."
ON LEAVING THE SUPREMES TO PERSUE HER SOLO CAREER: "It was like stepping into the darkness, not knowing really if it was the right thing to do or not."
ON PREPARING FOR THE ROLE OF BILLIE HOLIDAY IN "LADY SINGS THE BLUES": "I read a lot, I watched everything I could about Billie Holiday. No one taught me this. I had to learn this all on my own. All I listened to was Billie Holiday so it just became a part of me like osmosis or something."
ON HER CAREER TODAY: "The record industry is changing so much. They don't have time for veteran artists. And I guess that's the way it is, we are supposed to move over for the younger artists. But I think that until they drag me off the stage, I want to continue!"

I've seen Diana Ross in concert three times: 1989, 1991 and 1996 and had tickets in 2000 to see her aborted Supremes tour. Just came across the U.S. dates of her upcoming tour in support of her "I Love You" album. My complaint: where are the Los Angeles dates? Say what you will about Miss Ross, but it must be acknowledged that she gives a TERRIFIC concert.
Here are some of the dates:
APRIL 5, 2007: MASHUNTUCKET, CONNECTICUT (FOXWOODS CASINO)
APRIL 6, 2007: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK (MADISON SQUARE GARDEN)
APRIL 7, 2007: ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY (BORGATA HOTEL)
APRIL 9, 2007: RED BANK, NEW JERSEY (COUNT BASIE THEATER)
APRIL 11,12: NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO, CANADA (FALLSVIEW CASINO RESORT)
APRIL 13, 2007: MT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN (THE SOARING EAGLE CASINO & RESORT)
APRIL 14, 2007: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (CHICAGO THEATRE)
APRIL 16, 2007: AUBURN HILLS, MICHIGAN (PALACE AT AUBURN HILLS)
APRIL 19, 2007: GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS (NOKIA THEATRE)
APRIL 20, 2007: HIDALGO,TEXAS (DODGE ARENA)
APRIL 21, 2007: BEAUMONT, TEXAS (BEAUMONT CIVIC CENTER)
APRIL 22, 2007: MARKSVILLE, LOUISIANA (PARAGON CASINO)
APRIL 24, 2007: ORLANDO, FLORIDA (HARD ROCK LIVE)
APRIL 25, 2007: MELBOURNE, FLORIDA (KING CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS)
APRIL 26, 2007: CLEARWATER, FLORIDA (RUTH ECKERD HALL)
APRIL 30, 2007: HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA (HARD ROCK HOTEL)
After years mostly out of the performing spotlight, it's very cool to have Diana Ross back. In addition to the new CD and the tour, I want to point out a couple of other Ross-related items of interest: the new book "A Lifetime to Get Here" which provides a very favorable version of Ross' life and career. It's the the antithesis of some of the other books that have been written about her. And then there is a DVD of her performances with the Supremes which initially were her, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard before Cindy Birdsong replaced Ballard in 1967. It would be fun to watch "Dreamgirls" then go home and play then DVD to see how it was really done!

That John Barrowman is a naughty boy. At his wedding to Scott Gill a few months back, he lifted his kilt to prove to onje of his co-stars that he was wearing NOTHING underneath. And now the handsome actor, who has played bisexual Captain Jack Harkness in "Doctor Who" and the spin-off "Torchwood," gave an interview with the family magazine Dr. Who.
Barrowman felt the need to boast that his "winky" was "really too big," according to Sky.com, powered by Sky News. He went on to talk about "Torchwood" director Ashley Way, saying: "He's a real hotty. I like him. He has a nice bum" and also spoke of how he fancied former Doctor Who Christopher Ecclestone and "sexy" current star David Tennant. He even recalled a recent daydream where he woke up... "ahem, aroused," Sky.com wrote.
Some of the magazine's readers were outraged! One of them, Robert Mitchell from Brighton, said: "The magazine is called Doctor Who Magazine not Gay Times."
The editor of the mag, Clayton Hickman said: "We consider the magazine for older readers, but some of this content may have overstepped the mark. Apologies."
I dunno, except for the "winky" comments, the rest is pretty tame. Everyone should just calm down.

By this time, we pretty much know that there is no ratings backlash toward "Grey's Anatomy" resulting from ABC's decision to keep Isaiah Washington on the show after his homophobic remarks directed at co-star T.R. Knight. Still, it's pretty astonishing that ratings have actually been going UP. The show kept up its torrid pace durings sweeps, handily beating "CSI" head-to-head and giving ABC the win Thursday in the adults 18-49 demographic. "Anatomy" averaged 25.6 million in the adults 18-49, according to preliminary estimates released Friday by Nielsen Media Research. That continues its strong streak recently atop last week's 25.2 million viewers which was the highest demo ratings since the September premiere.

It's been two weeks of cliffhangers. Last week, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) falls into the ocean while trying to save a man's life. She is discovered by her true love Dr. McDreamy (Petrick Dempsey) but it might be too late. She looked dead at the end of Thursday's episode.
Now, I know the show is named after her and Meredith is a key character but I say kill her off! She gets on my nerves! I mean, when Valerie Harper was fired from her sitcom "Valerie" in the late 80s, CBS temporarily renamed the show "Valerie's Family" before settling on "The Hogan Family."
Let's say Meredith Grey does kick the bucket. What do you think the show should be called??
I'm thinking "McDreamy's Anatomy."

I know this is kind of a silly item, spotted in the New York Post, but I'm gonna post it anyway because it's been a little bit of a slow news day:
-- ANDERSON Cooper, one of New York's most eligible men, appeals to both genders. When a lunch date with the CNN anchor went on the block at the Puck Building the other night at the benefit for Bailey House, which helps AIDS victims, British bachelor Oliver Hicks bid aggressively and won the date for $21,000. Hicks, who shuttles between New York and Los Angeles, runs production company North Six. "The invitation allows him to bring a companion, but I have a feeling he will go solo," said one source. "Anderson is cute," said Hicks. --
Now for my two-cents: I agree that Anderson is cute. Very cute. And smart. But $21,000 for lunch with him??? I. Don't. Think. So.

Marking the teaming of two generations of openly gay pop artists, Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears dueted with Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant at a special charity gig in London on Sunday evening. Jake and Neil performed "Loves Comes Quickly" (from Pet Shop Boys' 1986 album "Please") that morphed into a gorgeous rendition of "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" from Scissor Sisters' debut album.
Proceeds go to Body and Soul which supports kids and their families that are living with HIV. The concert will raise funds for Body and Soul’s new center in London.
The photos were posted exclusively on the music blog Arjanwrites.com.

Brad Pitt has become more than an actor since his relationship with Angelina Jolie started: he's now a father of three and a human rights activist and allowed himself to look quite haggard in "Babel." But here's the thing. Brad Pitt is still a gorgeous man and this new layout in the March issue of Interview magazine proves it. Here are some pics for you to enjoy!

Poor Kevin. He's trying to blow off Chad becasue he's tired of being with a closet case soap stud. But at the end of Sunday night's episode of "Brothers & Sisters," Kevin (Matthew Rhys) once again succumbed to the charms of Chad (Jason Lewis) as they sealed things with a kiss. I will say this, Jason Jewis has gotten quite good at kissing a guy. He seems to actually like it now!
But my favorite part of the episode was earlier when Chad kept trying to make up with Kevin who suddenly has the good sense to distance himself from Chad who tells him: "Something's happening. I can't stop thinking about you. I was really happy waking up next to you."
Kevin: "You're an actor, you're acting. They teach you this kind of crap in acting school."
Then later, over dinner, Chad continues to lay it on thick: "Whatever journey I've been on, I think at age 34, I've finally found out what I want to do and where I want to go and who I want to go with."
Responds Kevin: 'This is a great restaurant, isn't it?"
Kevin then gets a call in the middle of the night from Chad's now ex-girlfriend, Michelle, who warns him that Chad "has done this before, it;s his thing. He's going to get real close and then be tortured then hook up with a girl...like me."
That brings us to the final scene at Kevin's apartment where Chad shows up because Kevin has not returned his last five phone calls.
Kevin: "Is this gonna be like 'Fatal Attraction"? How many Michelle's have there been? How many Kevins? You're built to seduce and run."
But Chad works his charms and Kevin lets him in. Before he kisses Chad, he says quietly: "I hate you."
Then they kiss.
Awe...

It was such a touching scene on "Desperate Housewives" last night. Poor Bree Van de Kamp (an obviously very pregnant Marcia Cross) wakes up in the hospital after falling from a ladder and there is her angelic son Andrew, comforting her and telling her it's going to be all rigjht.
This is the kid who, at the end of last season, she dumped on the side of a road! This is the scheming kid who blackmailed his mother, who let his boyfriend sleep over just to tick off Bree, and who, driving recklessly, ran over neighbor Carlos' mother with his car. He was so much FUN!
Andrew must have been such a blast for actor Shawn Pyfrom to play. Now, if he has any lines at all, he's a little angel...as if he's become something of a Stepford son! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. As his sister Danielle said in last night's episode: "I liked you better when you were a psychopath!"
Me too...
Some other thoughts on the latest installment of DH: this was really the "Dixie Carter Show" and the woman who played the lovely Julia Sugarbaker for so long on "Designing Women" showed us how evil and murderous a character she can be. In a flashback scene, her character of Gloria kills her son's mistress. He walks in on the bloody scene. She looks at him, holding a wrench and says very matter-of-fact: "It was self defense. What's done is done." As the two prepare to bury her, Gloria grabs a pair of pliers and starts yanking out her teeth: 'You don't want her to be identified by her dental records do you?" she asks her incredulous son. Fast-forward to the present: Gloria laces Bree's soup with sleeping pills then tries to drown her in the bath tub. When Andrew tries to stop her, she knocks him out with her cane. Son Orsen, hospitalized after falling off the roof of a hospital, finally bounds in to save Bree from his mother who then promptly has a stroke.
The final scene is of mother and son at the hospital when Orsen says to Gloria with barely contained glee: 'Good news mother. The doctor says your stroke has left you completely paralyzed."
It was just delicious!

Take this for what it's worth:
Former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway apologized again Sunday for his anti-gay remarks, telling a Miami television station that he "didn't mean" to say what he said in a South Florida radio interview last week. Hardaway, in an interview at his home with CBS affiliate WFOR, acknowledged he made a major mistake by saying "I hate gay people" when asked how he would react to having a gay teammate
."I don't hate gay people," Hardaway said. "I'm a good-hearted person. I interact with people all the time. ... I respect people. For me to say 'hate' was a bad word, and I didn't mean to use it."
Hardaway made the anti-gay comments Wednesday, a week after John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to reveal his homosexuality. Hardaway said he didn't believe gay players should share a locker room with heterosexual players, then added, "I don't like gay people, and I don't like to be around gay people."
Looks like he's had a complete turnaround...without even spending a single day in gayhab!

Amelie Mauresmo won a $1.3 million diamond-studded racket trophy Sunday, beating Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the final of the Diamond Games tournament. The victory spoiled Clijsters' farewell match before a frenetic home crowd of 14,500 at the Sports Palace. The 23-year-old Belgian has said she will retire at the end of the season.
Mauresmo, the most successful out lesbian on the tennis tour since Martina Navratolova, won the tournament for the third time in a row, enough to keep the 8.8-pound gold racket studded with 1,702 diamonds, which goes to the first three-time winner in any five-year span.
“I said all week I didn't think about it, but honestly I thought about it the whole week,” Mauresmo admitted to the crowd.
Clisters, as always, was a terrific sport: “There is no better champion than you. I admire you in so many ways.”
Clijsters cried when local crooners Clouseau serenaded her career, which included a U.S. Open title in 2005, a No. 1 ranking in 2003 and several Grand Slam near misses. Mauresmo has won her last five matches against Clijsters, including last year's Diamond Games final.

All of this Britney Spears madness has taken a scary turn. She seems to be having a very public nervous breakdown and you gotta hope she can get through all of this in one piece. Rosie O'Donnell wrote a poem about Britney on her blog that has some insightful things to say about young people and fame:

"brittney shaved her hair
out out damn spot

in the movie in my mind
she says yes
help me
and i do
somehow
we both connect - get through
she is saved

somehow so am i

the bottom for a celebrity
has too much cushion
money buys detachment
no responsibility

many moms -
of kids in ur sons class
want to shave their hair off
and get a tattoo

they dont because they cant
noone is there 2 watch the kids
what would the neighbors say

plus
the pta meeting
would be humiliating
on many levels

real life
can save u
sometimes
u have to - no choice

super rich 24 yr olds
who have spent half their lives
in the FAMOUS-SPHERE
mary kate and ashley
miss britt
same same same

i want them to come live with us
somehow
thinking there is healing here
it worked for me

u can carve out something real
there in pretend-ville
real life awaits
as perspective shifts

compassion aids healing"

It has been suggested to me that when I find it necessary to post some blog beefcake, there are other beautiful men in the world than Daniel Craig, Matthew McConaughey and Rafael Nadal. Well, I know that! And so, here is a Sunday brunch appetizer for you: Chrisitan Bale. He's an actor whose immense talent probably surpasses his dazzling good looks which were never better on display than in "American Psycho." One of his more recent films, "The Prestige," is out on DVD this Tuesday! It also stars Hugh Jackman so the hunk factor is off the charts. Here are a few random pics of Mr. Bale. Enjoy!

This is a movie that should not suffer one bit on the small screen. "The History Boys," which failed to make much of an impact at the box office as a feature film (it was a Tony Award-winning smash on Broadway), will be released on DVD on April 17. The movie stars the cast of the play and the DVD extras include two in-depth featurettes and commentary by director Nicholas Hynter and writer Alan Bennett.
This will most certainly be on my DVD shelf!

As a regular cast member of one of the most successful sci-fi franchises of all time, it's a bit surprising to hear 69-year-old George Takei (Capt. Sulu on the "Star Trek" TV series and feature films) consider NBC's "Heroes" the first time he has ever appeared on a hit show.
"'Heroes' is the highest-rated new show and that's something 'Star Trek' never had," the actor says in the current issue of Out magazine. "We did not find an audience until after we were cancelled."
On "Heroes," Takei plays the father of Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), the plucky Japanese office worker who happens to be able to bend the space-time continuum. He describes his character as "a powerful industrialist and one of the richest men in the world. My wealth is a surprise [to viewers] since my son, Hiro, was working in a cubicle as a little minion....There will be a revelation about why my character is this powerful, wealthy man and his son has these powers. There is much, much more to my character than meets the eye."
Turns out there was more to Takei than met the eye. He came out publicly as a gay man a few years ago and says it should have come as a surprise to no one: "I've been together with my partner, Brad Altman, for almost 20 years now, and certainly all of our friends already knew. What I hadn't done was talk to the press about it. And we felt it was time."  

They say diaminds are a girls best friend, right? Later today, out tennis star Amelie Mauresmo has a chance to win a diamond studded racket worth 1 million euros if she beats Kim Clisters in the final of the Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgiam.
It would be nice to see two-time defending champion Mauresmo become the first woman to ever win the unique trophy which is awarded for three title wins in five years. Amelie is currently ranked third in the world behind Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin but had a glorious run in 2006. Not only was she ranked number one for much of the year, she beat Henin in the finals of both Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
The final against Clisters is a rematch of 2006 title and will also be the 23-year-old Clijsters' last appearance on home soil following her decision to retire at the end of the season.
Says Mauresmo: "Every match I win, it's (the racket) starting to be a little bit more on my mind. But the final will be the toughest one to win."

"C.R.A.Z.Y." was one of the better films that screened at Outfest 2006 and it comes out on DVD on Tuesday! Buy it! At least rent it! It is so well-acted and engrossing.
It's really a story of two love affairs. A father's love for his five sons. And one gay son's love for his father, a love so strong it compels him to live a lie. (So many of us can relate to that!) That son is Zac Beaulieu (Marc-Andre Grondin) and he is desperate to fit in with his straight brothers. During his first 20 years, life takes Zac on a surprising and unexpected journey that ultimately leads him to accept his true nature. Even more importantly, his father learns to love him for who he really is.
"C.R.A.Z.Y." was directed and co-written by Jean-Marc Vallee. It won a slew of awards on the film festival circuit including the audience award for best feature film at the 2006 AFI Fest (it tied with "Tsotsi" which went on to win the Oscar last year for best foreign film) and also won best Canadian feature film at the Toronto International Filkm Festival.

It's not exactly "gayhab," which Isaiah Washington recently checked out of, but North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns has invited disgraced former NBA star Tim Hardaway to spend a day with him, his partner of 23 years and their adopted daughter.

A former player for the Miami Heat, Hardaway has ignited a firestorm for anti-gay remarks he made while discussing former player John Amaechi's new book in which he comes out as a gay man. Hardaway said, among other things, that "I hate gay people."
Mayor Burns says Hardaway has taken him up on his offer.
"We're just trying to show him that there are living, breathing people that just happen to be gay," says Burns, who is still working out details of the visit with Hardaway's representatives and expects they will make a joint announcement on Monday. The plan is for Hardaway to join Burns and his family for a routine weekday at the mayor's office and home - doing things like dropping off Burns' child at school, meeting with constituents and dinner with the family.
Post-outburst, the NBA canceled Hardaway's remaining appearances at this weekend's All-Star festivities in Las Vegas, and he lost at least two major endorsement deals.
"I don't expect (Hardaway) to be waving a peace flag anytime soon, even after this," Burns says. "But maybe he'll be less likely to say something bad about people if he knows them and understands a little more."

Before Jim McGreevey, there was Michael Huffington. We haven't heard much from this one-time U.S. congressman from California who used some of his millions to challenge Dianne Feinstein for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 1994. He lost, then he divorced wife Arianna, then came out of the closet. Losing was probably the best thing that ever happened to him - not feeling compelled to live a lie for the sake of political ambition.
When he was running for the Senate, I was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and was assigned to cover one of his campaign appearances in Newport Beach. One of my colleagues at the time, Eric Litchblau, was working on a seperate story involving Huffington and his hiring of an illegal nanny. Eric asked me to try and corner Huffington and get a comment. Easier said than done. He was surrounded by an entourage and being hustled into a limo after the event. But somehow, I wormed my way through, got right in his face and said something like: "Do you have comment on your hiring of an illegal nanny?" He was polite, but had no comment. I remembered that encounter when I found this photo (above) of Huffington at the Sundance Film Festival last month with GLAAD President Neil Guliano. He is an executive producer of "For the Bible Tells Me So," a documentary which premiered at the festival.
In 2006, Huffington became a director of It's My Party Too, a group founded by former N.J. Governor Christie Todd Whitman that advocates for the historic Republican principles of liberty, individual responsibility, and personal freedom. Huffington is also one of the producers of "Bi the Way," a documentary presently being filmed about bisexuality in America.
It seems both our lives have changed a lot. The only questions I yell to people these days are from the red carpet!

When actor Darryl Stephens and I chatted earlier this week, I mentioned that I had seen him in a small role on ABC's breakout hit "Ugly Betty" awhile back. It was one of those blink-and-you-might-miss-him appearances and nothing like his role on Logo's "Noah's Arc" where he is the title character.
But even having a small role on a network TV show had its perks: "I love 'Ugly Betty,' I love that show. It was great to be on that set, it was a great experience. It was also interesting to be a day player and have a trailer four times the size of mine on 'Noah's!'"
Stephens is one of the leads in "Boy Culture," out next month, will star in a "Noah's Arc" feature film, and had a fun part in the comedy "Another Gay Movie" last fall.

We know David Hasselhoff can sing and I understand he can dance OK too. He's doing both in the current Las Vegas production of "The Producers" at Bally's Paris Hotel. But one thing, I think, that David cannot do, is be an attractive woman! He makes Bea Arthur look positively girlish!
Anyway, I've decided that I much prefer Hasselhoff as a boy, especially all those years he ran around saving lives on "Baywatch." To remind us of those days and to try and mitigate the mental trauma of seeing him in drag, I offer you this vintage shot of David when he was the reigning king of the beach:

There has been some grumblings about how celebrities are replacing models on the covers of various national magazines. I say, hooray! Why not feature beautiful women who can do more than walk down a runway? Two of the best examples are two of the "it" girls of the moment: Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson who are currently gracing the covers of "Sports Illustrated" and "Vogue," respectively.
Both are riding high: Beyonce knocked "Listen" out of the park when she performed at last weekend's Grammy Awards and Jennifer is still the favorite to walk away with the Academy Award next Sunday for best supporting actress.
On top of all that, their wonderful movie, "Dreamgirls," is poised to cross the $100 million mark at the domestic box office sometime over the Presidents Day weekend!

Rosie O'Donnell told the girls on this morning's pre-taped edition of "The View" about meeting blogger Perez Hilton in Miami at a fundraiser party at Gloria Estefan's house. "I had never met him. I had seen his web site - actually Kathy Griffin is the one who told me about it...He's an out gay man who talks a lot about who's gay and who isn't."
Barbara Walters asked Rosie what she thought about Perez's practice of outing such celebrities as Lance Bass and Neil Patrick Harris as well as repeated mentions of Clay Aiken, Jodie Foster, Queen Latifah in recent months.
Responded Rosie: "He does that I think because he's 28 and grew up in a culture and time where there were gay people on television. Ten years ago, who was on?...He is the next generation of gay Americans where he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it and just assuming everyone should say it."
I was a bit surprised by Rosie's non-chalant feelings toward Perez's controversial outing practices. I wondered how she would have felt like 10 years ago, when her talk show was THE hottest thing on television, if a blogger had been on her that way. She deftly avoided the topic in those years with a mostly sunny and funny personality and crushes on Tom Cruise (before he got crazy). I loved Rosie then and I love her now but I think she might've wanted to seriously punch him out.
One cool thing though. Rosie says she did encourage Perez to "add the light" to his blog, more positive news. "Imagine how succcessful the blog would be," she said.
Joy Behar, ever the realist, said: "Nobody will want to read it! Everyone wants to read it when it's kind of dishy."

Alonso Duralde, who was one of my editors at The Advocate until he left the magazine last year, is the host of what sounds like a really cool event taking place Wednesday, Feb. 21 called "101 MUST-SEE MOVIES FOR GAY MEN."
Duralde has written a book by the same name and will discuss such things as: We know what makes THE BOYS IN THE BAND a gay movie. But why is MOMMIE DEAREST gay? Or FIGHT CLUB? Or JACKASS? Duralde provides a glimpse into how he crafted the list for his book. Through images and discussion, Duralde will demonstrate that a movie can be queer without having any specific homosexual content. Join Duralde as he discusses a broad range of favorites including BOOM!, SHOWGIRLS, VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, THE WOMEN, TONGUES UNTIED, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, MAHOGANY, SWOON, FEMALE TROUBLE, BOUND, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, and many more.
Ticket information: Outfest Members $7.00 with current Membership card
American Cinematheque Members: $7.00 (Egyptian Theatre screenings only)
Seniors 65+/Students $9.00
Non-Members/General Public $10.00
Outfest Major Donors: RSVP for two complimentary tickets to any Outfest Wednesdays screening at 213-480-7010 by 6:00pm the day prior to the screening.

The event starts at 7:30pm inside the Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian in Hollywood, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard. There wiill be POST RECEPTION SCREENING HOSTED BY: ABSOLUT.

I'm so THERE!

It looks like Melissa Etheridge is feeling better after a bought with the flu that caused her to miss the Grammys. The rock star andher wife, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, took their tiny twins, Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven out for a stroll on tony Montana Avenue in Santa Monica on Thursday.
The twins were born in October. Etheridge has two children with former partner Julie Cypher, who conceived with sperm provided by rock legend David Crosby. The identity of the sperm donor for the twins is not publicly known.

The San Francisco Chronicle spoke with John Amaechi by phone from London about being gay in the NBA. I must say, Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway has unwittingly done more to promote Amaechi's book than anything else! And, thankfully, Amaechi is the polor opposite of Hardaway: intelligent and thoughtful.
Here are some of his latest remarks:
On religious players in the NBA who oppose homosexuality: ""It's not my place to get in the way of someone's relationship with God, with their God. That is their belief. However, if what you are actually talking about is Biblical literalism, and if that's the case, then I expect people who spout vitriol about gay people to have the same ire as they regard players who have guns under their seats, who smoke marijuana, who commit adultery."

On NBA players' overall attitudes: "I think that like most aspects of diversity, there's what they call the normal curve. You have the majority in the middle, and you have what I consider the enlightened view at the top and then you have the unenlightened Neanderthals at the bottom. And so no, [a tolerant] Charles Barkley is probably not representative of the league as a whole, but certainly Tim Hardaway is no more representative of the league as a whole. Most are somewhere in between.

On the impact of Hardaway's comments: "I think that the truth of the levels of homophobia in society sometimes have to be highlighted by some kind of car crash, and that's what this is. He's stopped people from saying some of the things that I've heard, you know, "Shut up, because there's no issue. There's no need to talk about this, there's no problem. There's no homophobia.'' I find that ironic in the greatest extent in a country where in 33 states you could be fired for being gay."

On his expectations from straight NBA players: "One of the most important things throughout history that we know is that the furtherance of causes for minorities has been sponsored not only by the great efforts of the minorities themselves, but also by the fact that people from outside that minority group would stand shoulder to shoulder (with them). People who stood next to black people during emancipation, during the fight for equal rights were considered very progressive and bold and brave. ... The problem we have in the gay community is that people who stand next to them are considered gay. It makes them quiet."
"The sound of a thousand shoulders shrugging saying "Oh, it's not an issue'' is nothing. ... We have seen how loud and how far one man's statements have reverberated. You tell me which has been more powerful, a thousand people shrugging or the vitriol."

..like Instinct! That is the name of the new scent that the new Los Angeles Galaxy star has lent his very marketable name to. The word "Swoon!" is not part of the ad campaign but I got the image from the Pinkisthenewblog site which always does fun things with pictures.
Enjoy!

All of this ugliness involving a certain homophobic former NBA player has me in a bad mood. I need cheering up and if any of you do too, then I offer you these fun pictures that I came across the other day: actors Christopher Meloni and Lee Tergeson, who played lovers on the late, great prison drama "OZ." They appeared very close as they arrived at the 2000 GLAAD Awards then later, they seemed to be re-enacting some of their love scenes.

How nice to see these two terrific actors, who displayed such memorable on-screen chemistry, enjoying each other and not being at all uptight about playing gay on screen. Now, I want to know why Jake and Heath didn't behave this way at award shows last year! That might've added several millions to the gross of "Brokeback Mountain!"

Tim Hardaway has apologized again (yeah, I believe him) for saying "I hate gay people" among other shocking anti-gay remarks during a radio interview earlier this week. But, he's pretty much screwed now. The NBA has banished Hardaway from All-Star weekend in Las Vegas where he was already making a series of public appearances on behalf of the league.
Among Hardaway's hateful comments were this: "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
Hardaway left Vegas on Thursday.
"We removed him from representing us because we didn't think his comments were consistent with having anything to do with us," NBA Commisioner David Stern told reporters Thursday at the opening of a fan festival at a Las Vegas casino. Stern said he had not yet spoken with Hardaway but planned to.
Stern said a discussion about openly gay players could be part of future rookie orientation programs, but he doesn't see a need to address the league: "This is an issue overall that has fascinated America. It's not an NBA issue," Stern said, pointing to the ongoing debate over gay marriage at the state and federal levels. "This is a country that needs to talk about this issue. And, not surprisingly, they use sports as a catalyst to begin the dialogue."
Hmmmmm. Sounds like it IS an NBA issue, Mr. Stern.
Hardaway's comments came a week after John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to say he was gay. The disgraced former All-star and Olympian was attempting damage control on Thursday with a statement issued through his agent: "As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause. I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions...I especially apologize to my fans, friends and family in Miami and Chicago. I am committed to examining my feelings and will recognize, appreciate and respect the differences among people in our society. I regret any embarrassment I have caused the league on the eve of one of their greatest annual events."

Two major gay and lesbian groups have denounced Tim Hardaway's hateful homophobic remarks made this week.
Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation: "Hardaway's comments are vile, repulsive, and indicative of the climate of ignorance, hostility and prejudice that continues to pervade sports culture," "And by apologizing not for his bigotry, but rather for giving voice to it, he's reminding us that this ugly display is only the tip of a very large iceberg."

Said Matt Foreman, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: "Hardaway is a hero to thousands of young people. And that's what makes his comments so troubling. Sadly, his words simply put the pervasive homophobia in the NBA on the table."

Spoke this week with young actor Jonathan Trent. He plays the young but troubled Joey in "Boy Culture." He does a terrific job as one of the leads in the film which screened during Outfest last summer (on awards night) and is set for release March 23.
“Joey is the child or the baby in the threesome. He’s this young kid that is very insecure and scared and lonely so he flaunts his sexuality to get what he wants," Trent says. "A lot of people do that when they don’t know what else to go on. They use what they feel they have. For Joey, it was all about his sexuality. He’s charming in a slutty way.”
For the 22 year old straight actor, playing a gay man was not a big deal, he just wanted to get it right:“When I was in high school, a lot of people thought I was gay. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m not afraid to show my emotions. That gets misread. I could care less. It doesn’t really matter if I’m gay or straight. But taking on a gay role is a whole different thing. Joey is an over-the-top character, loud and big and full of energy. I knew that going into it. I didn’t want to be offending. That was the main worry, coming across as believable.”
Trent, who is now shooting an episode of CBS' "Cold Case," also appeared in a 2004 indie film "Smile" with a cast that included Linda Hamilton and Sean Astin. It was one of his first professional jobs after the acting bug bit: "In high school, a friend took a camera and made a story about a kid who’s color blind and I was the kid. That was around the time I started realizing it was something I wanted to do with my life."
During the 18-day location shoot of "Boy Culture," Trent bonded nicely with co-stars Darryl Stephens and Derek Magyar who he didn't know previously: “What was cool about that was we were up in Seattle and when you go out of state to work, you’re not with your friends or family. We spent a lot of time together, the three of us. They got us a gym membership and we hung out every day and bonded and it’s still really strong.”

You had to know this guy had too much personality not to get his own show at some point" "Queer Eye" fashion expert Carson Kressley to host the pilot of "How to Look Good Naked," the U.S, adaptation of a UK series.
I think Kressley didn't always dress so expert himself and some of the get-ups he put together for people could be kinda scary! But he really is funny, naturally funny. I wonder how funny he will be allowed to be on this new show which aims to transform people and help restore their self-esteem without the use of plastic surgery. Great idea! Too bad it's too late for the cat lady in NYC!
The pilot will air on cable network Lifetime in April with an option to produce an eight-part series later in the year.

My niece lives in Austin, TX so maybe she can be among the first to see Alan Cumming'[s latest directorial effort: "Suffering Man's Charity" which will make its world premiere opening night at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival at the Paramount Theater in Austin which runs March 9 - 17.
"Suffering Man’s Charity," written by Thomas Gallagher, stars Cumming, David Boreanaz, Henry Thomas, and one-time lesbian Anne Heche. What interests me the most is that Boreanaz, the former star of "Angel" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and current star of FOX's "Bones," plays a gay man in the film. He is one of the most handsome men in all of television and his track record for hit shows is quite impressive.
Here is the plot: John Vandermark (CUMMING) has taken in a struggling writer, Sebastian St. Germain (BOREANAZ) who overstays his welcome. When John discovers that Sebastian has simply been using him, he turns the tables on his young tenant in an effort to make him work off his rent debt. When Sebastian dies accidentally in the process, John tries to make it up to him by helping him get his book published posthumously. When the book is published, John can't help but take credit for the work of genius and Sebastian comes back to haunt him.
Sounds veeeeery interesting.

When the feature film "Boy Culture" hit theaters March 23, the leading man, Derek Magyar, will be sure to get your attention. He is uncommonly handsome and very buff and can really act. He's terrific in his role as a male escort named "X" who has given up on love. Magyar, who I interviewed for an article I will share in the coming weeks, tells me that he is straight in real life but grew close to his co-stars Darryl Stephens, Patrick Bauchau and Jonathon Trent.
“They are great, great actors and great people and we had a great time together,” Magyar says of his co-stars. “I think if you are looking for a story about love, being gay or straight, this is the movie to see. It’s a drama with fun and humorous moments. It’s very real, something we can all relate to."
“What drew me to the character was, at the core, he was somebody who is really afraid to love. That is something we can all relate to. That was my attaction to the character from the get-go. He’s kind of a tough guy, not the most chipper or sweetest. But underneath, he’s a great person who wants to be loved and accepted - that’s something we all want..."

Bridget, a female co-worker of mine (some may know her as the blogger GOP Vixen) mentioned to me that she and an other co-worker were scanning through Out In Hollywood the other day to count how many times I had posted pictures of Daniel Craig, as James Bond, wearing a speedo. She didn't mention a number, but, I know it's plenty. I maintain that each time, I have had a legitimate reason to do so - some news-related item to go with it. And that is the case again today.
At the British Academy Awards last weekend (known as the BAFTAs), UK.Gay.com reports that Johann Hari, a gay journalist for The Independent, apparently approached Craig and said, "Why didn't you wear your little blue speedos? Maybe you would have won then."
Craig was nominated for lead actor for his debut as Bond in "Casino Royale."

The hunky Bond star was unimpressed with this observation and called The Independent journalist a “f*cking fool”.
I'm not upset with Mr. Craig over this. He has always been known as a gay-friendly celeb, and has played gay(ish) and shared on-screen love scenes in films like "Love Is the Devil" (where he played Francis Bacon’s male lover) and "Infamous" (where he smooched Truman Capote, played by Toby Jones).
Briget and I have VERY different politics but we both agree: Mr. Craig really does look good in those speedos!

It looks like Grant Show was the only star to engage in any kind of significant same-sex kiss on the FX show "Dirt." Producer-star Courtney Cox has convinced real-life best friend Jennifer Aniston to appear on the season finale and much has been made of their having a same-sex kiss.
Sounds like more of a lame-sex kiss:
Says Cox to "Access Hollywood": "There is no tongue and it is really not a big deal to kiss...I am not saying, 'Don't tune in to watch Jennifer on the show,' because she is fantastic and you get to see us together again. But if you think it is just about a major make-out session, you will be disappointed."

When Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger got their four-month marraige annuled with the Oscar winner citing "Fraud," it resulted in widespread speculation that the country singer must be gay. In an interview with Anderson Cooper on Sunday's edition of "60 Minutes," Chesney addresses the rumors:
"The only fraud that was committed was me thinking that I knew what it was like ... that I really understood what it was like to be married, and I really didn't. We thought the least harmful (stated reason) was fraud because it (is) kind of broad … doesn't specify. And boy … we were wrong...It's not true (that I'm gay). Period. Maybe I should have come out and said no, I'm not (gay), but I didn't want to draw any more attention to it … I didn't have to prove to anybody that I wasn't (gay) … I didn't feel like I really did...Even though I'd sit here and say I wish we'd gotten divorced instead of all that annulment stuff and saved me a lot of public humiliation … I still don't have any regrets. I loved her, you know? And it was real."

Former NBA center John Amaechi, who disclosed last week he's gay, tells the AP today that the anti-gay comments by retired player Tim Hardaway "demonstrate the need to continue the conversation." Hardaway said on a radio show Wednesday that he hates gay people, then later apologized for his remarks.
"I don't need Tim's comments to realize there's a problem," Amaechi says. "People said that I should just shut up and go away - now they have to rethink that."
If he did find out that a teammate was gay, Hardaway said he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.
"Something has to give," Hardaway said. "If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that's upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate."
Responds Amaechi: "His words pollute the atmosphere. It creates an atmosphere that allows young gays and lesbians to be harassed in school, creates an atmosphere where in 33 states you can lose your job, and where anti-gay and lesbian issues are used for political gain. It's an atmosphere that hurts all of us, not just gay people."

John Amaechi's coming out of the closet continues to stir discussion and to expose the attitudes of both former and current players. Here is one of the most disturbing reactions to date from former NBA Miami Heat player Tim Hardaway in an interview with Dan Le Batard of 790 the Ticket when asked about how he would deal with someone like Amaechi on his team:
"First of all I wouldn't want him on my team. Second of all, if he was on my team I would really distance myself from him because I don't think that's right and I don't think he should be in the locker room while we're in the locker room." Le Batard pointed out that Hardaway was being "flatly homophobic" but that did not stop the bigotry from spewing out of his mouth:"Well, you know, I hate gay people. I let it be known, I don't like gay people. I don't like to be around gay people.Yeah, I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world, or in the United States. So, yeah, I don't like it."
Hardaway had been making public appearances for the NBA and was immediately dumped with the league saying: "It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours."
Hardaway, perhaps realizing that this is 2007, later apologized for his comments during an interview with Miami's WSVN. Said Hardaway: "Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that. That was my mistake."

BIG mistake, pal.

Bravo's tribute to Black History Month includes a special two hour premiere on Monday, Feb. 19 of "Inside the Actors Studio: Diana Ross." This is a not-to-be-missed television event! (I'm SO gay). According to the press release, Miss Ross will be performing a compilation of hit songs including "Baby Love" and "Do You Know Where You're Going To?" I'm sure she will also be singing a few tunes from her super new CD "I Love You."
I will be quite interested to hear what Ross (pictured, right, in 1975's "Mahogany") has to say to that suck-up James Lipton about her acting career which, in my opinion, has been a tragic missed opportunity. While all the hype is on Jennifer Hudson's Oscar hopes for her movie debut in "Dreamgirls," it should be noted that in 1972, Ross made an even more stunning movie debut in "Lady Sings the Blues" as jazz singer Billie Holliday. She was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress and deserved to win. But Liza Minnelli took home the Oscar that year for "Cabaret."
After that, the movie career was never as good. "Mahogany" is in every Diana Ross fan's collection (shut up Ted!) as is 1978's "The Wiz." I love "The Wiz" and thought she was terrific - especially when she sings "Home" at the end. But it's failure at the box office may have put her off movies for awhile and at this time, her solo recording career was its absolute peak.
Ross has never again acted again in a feature film. I think a 1994 television movie by the name of "Out of Darkness" that featured her as a woman with schizophrenia, showed us what we had been missing on the screen - a real natural ability as an actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for that role and I had hoped it would result in more acting parts.
She followed that up a few years later with another television movie, "Double Platinum," co-starring Brandy, and it was a real treat to see her act AND sing. And yet, nearly another decade has passed and no more movies are on the horizon. I think that, like Cher who has also made very few movies despite an actual Oscar win, Ross prefers to sing most of all.
If she wanted to leave us wanting more, she has succeeded!

I was among those who was ticked off by Jason Lewis' interview with "Extra" last month which seemed to have him a little greaked out over being "forced" to kiss the gorgeous Matthew Rhys as part of his role as a closeted soap opera star in "Brothers & Sisters." I mean hey, hire Robert Gant for the role. He's just as gorgeous, a better actor than Lewis in my opinion, and he doesn't mind kissing guys because he is open about being gay!
But, we still have most of the gay roles being played by straight men and we'll just have to live with that since gay men (most in the closet) are playing plenty of heterosexual roles in television and film! Wow, where was I going with all of this? Oh yeah, I wanted to write about seeing Lewis on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" this afternoon and he seemed nervous, but he came off better than in the "Extra" interview. He walked to the sound of Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" and was carrying roses for the lovely Ellen. He said to her: "You're like my Valentine now because I'm single." (Lewis and the gorgeous and talented Rosario Dawson broke up last fall).
Ellen showed a clip from last Sunday's "Brothers & Sisters" with Lewis and Rhys just getting out of bed and talking about their secret relationship. Says Rhys' Kevin Walker: "This is giving my ulcer an anxiety attack."

As you already know, the episode ends with Kevin sleeping with old flame Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) t make Lewis' Chad jealous. It works. Chad dumps Kevin over the phone then Scotty figures it all out andsays goodbye too. So Ellen asked Lewis about playing a gay character. He said his only "trepidation" was about the quality of the role. He says he likes where the writers have taken his storyline: "You've got people with real issues...being in a place where you don;t know yourself" and in the process, end up hurting a lot of people as you figure yourself out.
And what about that kissing a boy stuff?
"It was a new experience," he said. "I get nerves. I get nerves kissing a girl. It's your job."

I was just trading Elizabeth Taylor fat jokes on the phone with Joan Rivers! What a kick. When I was a kid, Joan would guest host for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" and at that time, in the late 70s, the gorgeous Miss Taylor had gotten quite heavy. Joan went to town with such jokes as: "She puts mayonaise on an asprin!" "When she goes to McDonald's the numbers change!" "She cut her finger and ketchup came out!" Then I reminded Joan of this one: "When she pierced her ears, gavy came out!" We all know that Taylor lost the weight and regained her great beauty and has gone on to become one of the world's great humanitarians. So, I mean no disrespect to this great star.
What a treat to interview Joan! This was as fun as trading lines from "Designing Women" several months ago with Diixie Carter. I love my job! So, I'm working on a pre-Oscar feature story on Joan who will once again be doing red carpet interviews for TV Guide channel. I'll link to it when it is published in the Daily News next week but did get some material from her exclusivey for Out In Hollywood readers.
Joan has always had a huge gay following, from the beginning when she was doing club dates in New York: "Why do the gays love me? The same reason they love Bette and Liza and Cher.I think they love women who are out there. It's the gay guys who are the funniest, brightest and most outrageous. Always, from the beginning, tney were the ones who came to see me in [Greenwich] Village."
One thing that leaves Joan disappointed is that Bravo decided not to pick up a pilot she did for what can best be described as a gay version of "The View" with Joan as moderator and gay men as the panelists.
"It's not going to happen," she says.
Her ideal panel would include Michael Muston, Jim McGreevey and Bravo exec (and blogger) Andy Cohen. She's still hopeful, however, that maybe LOGO will be interested.
I know I'd be watching!

This sounds like some kind of LGBT "Bg Brother" in the works which I think sounds promising. I mean, if the CBS "Big Brother" can't provide with more than one gay person per season, if that, then why not just do something like "The Great Gay Escape" set to air Fall 2007.
The new series is scheduled to tape this summer and will bring together 12 engaging strangers, spanning the diverse spectrum of the LGBT community, under one fabulous roof to live and work together for two months in one of the hottest gay vacation destinations.
I'm already HOOKED! What a great idea!
Executive Producer Mark Grove says: “We are seeking to cast gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, ages 21 – 40 from diverse ethnicities and backgrounds. Whether you’re a party boy, surfer girl, businessman, drag king, drag queen, fraternity guy, sorority girl, model, jock, ex-military, sporty-femme, femme fatale, or just plain curious, we’d love to see you at an audition. If you are looking for a unique adventure this summer or you just want to get away and be yourself, this show is for you.”
Open Auditions will be held in Los Angeles on February 16,17and 18; in Chicago on February 22 and 23; in Austin on February 24 and 25; in Miami on February 27 and 28; in New York on March 1 and 2 and finally, in Boston on March 3 and 4. For the most up-to-date audition information visit stilettocasting.com. If you cannot attend the open casting call, apply now at www.stilettocasting.com or call 310-967-7786.

I think Valentine's Day is kinda silly - especially in the years when I don't have a Valentine! This is one of those years but I understand that many of you will be making this a special romantic evening with candy and fowers and dinner etc. So if you are in the mood to settle in and watch a gay romance after dinner, allow me to recommend you see "Big Eden." It's an unlikely love story that ends on a very sweet note. It's about an artist named Henry (Arye Gross), who leaves New York for Big Eden, the picturesque Montana village where he grew up, to care for his ailing father.
Years earlier, Henry had left Big Eden because of an unrequited love. Upon seeing his recently divorced high-school buddy, Dean Stewart (Tim DeKay), Henry realizes that his feelings haven't changed. Dean, however, as far as anyone knows is not interested in guys. Though strange things do happen in Big Eden. Meanwhile, the local store owner, Pike Dexter (Eric Schweig), falls for the returning Henry.
It's a sweet film, and different from a lot of the more well-known gay titles out there. Here are some others I have seen and liked where love wins out in the end: "Beautiful Thing," "Maurice," "Come Undone," and "All Over The Guy."

"...make Chicken Piccata!"
Oh, I love it. The deliciously flamoyant Perry Pearl (played by Sam Harris) returned to the CBS sitcom "The Class" on Monday night and brightened up things considerably. The actress who plays the wife of the seems-so-gay-but-is-straight Perry has left the show but writers found a way to incorporate Perry into the Valentine's Day episode. He shows up to Nicole's house for an interior decorating job and gets snowed in along with Duncan who is Nicole's high school boyfriend and now contractor. Perry insists on making a Valentine's Day dinner. "This is my holiday," he said. "This and Thanksgiving and Christmas and the Academy Awards!" When Perry flounces out of the kitchen holding some Pears Flambe, he says: "At our house, it's not Valentine's Day unless there's something flaming!"
I had been wondering if Perry would end up coming out as gay but now I have no idea since Monday's episode indicated that he and his wife has a rather robust sex life: "We have a highly sexual relationship all the time - but throw in Cupid and some roses and it's SING OUT LOUISE!"
I was encouraged a bit that Kyle, whose boyfriend has been absent from the show since like, November, at least got to talk to him on the phone to acknowledge his existence: "Oh God, I miss you so much," he said.
So do we!

If you have checked out my blogroll on the right column of Out In Hollywood, one of the links is to Andy's Blog. Andy isn't just some dude like me who is gay and likes to write about entertainment; he's a gay who is gay and CREATES entertainment as the senior vice president of programming for the Bravo network that has brought us such gay-friendly shows as "Project Runway," "Top Design," and, of course, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." AfterElton.com posts a nice Q&A with Andy today which is recommended reading. I have excerpted the remarks he makes about Isaiah Washington and the whole "Grey's Anatomy" situation which I think are interesting:
"I would actually weirdly feel funny about firing him. I feel like firing him is really dangerous. I know a lot of gay people think that he should be fired. I think that he probably is being publicly being humiliated and he may never bounce back, and I think that he will never use the word again... I think that the guy needs therapy. And I think that if he is causing a work situation in which none of the other cast members can now make a productive show, then he should be fired. I think that if his cast members can forgive him and work with him and teach him why this is wrong and he shouldn't do this, then I think that's OK. I think if it becomes an untenable situation and no one can forgive him, then he should be gone."

I loved Rupert Everett when I saw him in "Another Country" all those years ago. Then again about a decade ago in "My Best Friend's Wedding" opposite Julia Roberts. I didn't even mind him in "The Next Best Thing" opposite Madonna. But then I saw him on "The View" a few weeks ago and he was so boooooring! He was plugging his memoir "Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins" and his segment was a snooze. And yet, I can't give up on him so I've just read a new interview with Rupert in Out magazine and found it to be far more interesting than his chat with the ladies of "The View."
ON FAME: "No one realizes how boring it is. You get an awards ceremony every four days. You take part in this ludicrous backslapping circus; I'd rather go to a back room and get j***** off. I'd love to have been cross-dressing with Garbo and having sex with everybody in 1930, but frankly, it's not that exciting now."
ON HIS MOVIE WITH MADONNA: "["The Next Best Thing"] cut my career dead. It was finished from then on. It was one thing being a gay success; it's totally another thing being a gay failure - it's unmarketable."
ON BEING OUT: "It's a difficult challenge. If you were trying to promote yourself as Anderson Cooper, are you gay first and foremost or are you Anderson Cooper? If he does agree to talk about it, well then you can't talk about anything else, and no one WANTS to talk about anything else, which is understandable."
ON GAY CULTURE: "Being gay is not an identity' that's the bottom line. It's a sideline. But through no one's fault and everybody's fault, it's become a subject for identity, so you run away from mainstream culture into a kind of offbeat culture, and then the offbeat culture becomes a little mainstream culture of its own - just as brutal, actually, as the culture you thought you were leaving behind."

It was good covering the Grammys for the first time in my life on Sunday but doing so meant I had to miss what has been one of my favorite award season events each year: The Writers Guild of America Awards. It's always such a cool event, unpretentious and filled with smart and talented people. A few years ago, my friend John and I sat at George Lopez's table with his wife only a few months before the whole kidney donation thing! That was the year Felicity Huffman bumped into John and made him spill his drink. At first, she was going to offer him one of her drink tickets then she decided that an apology was enough! WhatEVER.
But, I digress. This year's event was most noteworthy for the major screenplay awards which are often the best indicators for the Academy Awards. This year, "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Departed" took the top prizes. What I was not aware of until I read it on the AfterElton.com blog, is that "As The World Turns" won for Best Writing in a Daytime Serial. Tthe three episodes submitted for consideration all featured gay teen Luke (Van Hansis) and his coming out story. Luke continues to get screentime with an episode this week featuring him talking with his grandmother Lucinda about being out at school and how his teammates are treating him.
Good going!
Other WGA winners on Sunday: The writing teams of "The Sopranos" (TV drama), "The Office" (TV comedy) and "Ugly Betty" (best new TV series) as well as Amy Berg for her documentary "Deliver Us From Evil."

My deskmate, who shall remain nameless, has just mentioned that it has been several days since I have posted any beefcake on the blog. I personally think this is a cheap way to try and drive up hits. But, in the spirit of workplace harmony, I give you this shot of "Las Vegas" star Josh Duhamel!

He doesn't talk about his personal life but his professional life is fair game. This item was in Marylin Beck's column that I thought I'd share: "How I Met Your Mother" regular Neil Patrick Harris says his character, Barney, on the CBS sitcom is becoming an homage to the late John Ritter — who was also a master at physical comedy. "I've suddenly become Jack Tripper," says Harris, referring to Ritter's character on the '80s series, "Three's Company." "I begged them for pratfalls, and I'm getting them. We've got some really, strangely funny things coming up." Harris admits since the addition of the more physical comedy, "I took some headers … I bruised my legs up a lot recently because I couldn't move my legs in the episode we were doing, so I was doing wacky walk for a while." He adds, "I can hurt myself, but if I laugh at myself when I watch the DVD, then it's all right. It's all for the sake of comedy, and the bruises heal."

Was interviewed Darryl Stephens this morning for a freelance piece on his upcoming movie "Boy Culture" but wanted to ask him some "Noah's Arc" related questions for the readers of "Out In Hollywood."
The actor, who plays the title role in the popular LOGO drama, is looking forward to getting started on it but could offer any plot points: “it's been announced and we're all working on deals now. I have no idea where the story is going to go. They are picking up where the second season left off. The network is very excited about it. I'm honestly excited to see how they tell the story in the structure of a feature film.”
It will be Logo's first big-screen effort and is set for release in 2008. Currently in development, the film will leave the door open for sequels, additional television seasons and specials.
“I don't know how to anticipate the response," Stephens says. "At this point, hopefully it will be a treat for the fans. There will be enough new stuff and new characters and enough exciting situations taking place that fans will really be able to sink their teeth into."
"Noah’s Arc" premiered on Logo in October 2005, just months after the launch of the network and season two premiered in August 2006. The show follows the lives and loves of four African-American gay men looking for love and signs of intelligent life in Los Angeles: Noah (Darryl Stephens), Chance (Doug Spearman), Alex (Rodney Chester) and Ricky (Christian Vincent). Jensen Atwood plays Wade, Noah's on-again, off-again boyfriend.

It's interesting how one day you can be a retired journeyman NBA player who no one is talking about to becoming the center of a media storm and very public debate over whether or not a gay athlete should come out. That is what John Amaechi has accomplished in the five days since becoming the first NBA player to acknowledge his homosexuality.
Amaechi's memior, "Man in the Middle," will be released tomorrow and he tells the Associated Press that he has been deluged with phone calls and e-mails from friends and supporters. But Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who coached Amaechi in Orlando, has been the only one from the league to reach out to him.
''I've just been caught up in the whirlwind at the moment,'' says Amaechi, who hopes his coming-out would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse. He took a measured approach to NBA players' reactions: ''I think they illustrate the diversity of opinion. Some of them illustrate a great deal of naiveté and anoversimplification of the issue. And some of them don't speak with much thought at all. But there are some really well-spoken, provocative things that people have said that are positive. And they should be added to the conversation.''
Amaechi's also listened to some criticize him for coming out now, rather than when he was a player. ''I know that perhaps that would have been more impactful,'' he said, but added he was afraid to have his dream of playing in the NBA taken away: "I worked really hard to get where I was. I started playing basketball when I was 17 in a country that doesn't play basketball. I was a fat kid that sat in the corner of the library, and six years later I was starting for the Cleveland Cavaliers. I left my family, my mother, when she was very sick with cancer, to do this thing. I thought I deserved to have my full shot at being a part of the NBA.''
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had supportive words for Amaechi in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: ''When you do something that the whole world thinks is difficult and you stand up and just be who you are and take on that difficulty factor, you're an American hero no matter what. 'That's what the American spirit's all about, going against the grain and standing up for who you are, even if it's not a popular position.''

I will again be a guest on Now in LA's Marty Keegan's "Hollywood Babble On" show at 1 p.m. or so TODAY! Marty will mostly likely ask me about Sunday night's Grammy Awards but you never know where the conversation will go. It's always lots of fun for me and hopefully the audience. I hope some of you will tune in. You can even email comments and questions as we chat. Here is the link for you to listen in: : http://www.nowinla.com/

Gavin Newsom may not be the best boss (he had an affair with his campaign manager's WIFE!) and a bit of a lush (he's in out-patient alcohol treatment), but the San Francisco mayor will forever be a hero to the gay and lesbian community for givjng same-sex couples the right to be married in his city. He's like the anti-Mitt Romney. On Tuesday, Newsom received a hero's tribute from hundreds of same-sex couples and their supporters at a rally Monday to mark the three-year anniversary of the granting of marriage licenses to more than 4,000 gay and lesbian couples.The mayor smiled sheepishly as wave after wave of cheers and applause came from the crowd at City Hall and said: "It's rare in life that you could mean these words more: I really needed that."

The rally followed a news conference earlier in the day, at which Newsom told a throng of reporters gathered in his office that he is "more resolved than ever" on allowing same-sex couples to marry. "For me this is a long battle, but it is one that will be won inevitably," he said at the news conference. "It's only won through courage and constancy and works. You've got to continue to remind people what's at stake and not give up or deviate from your purpose."
The SF Gate newspaper wrote today that Newsom acknowledged "setbacks" in the fight for same-sex marriage as well. But he did not second-guess his decision to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples -- an action the California Supreme Court ultimately ruled he did not have legal authority to take.
"There's never a wrong time to do something right," Newsom said, adding that there has been progress in countries around the world -- Canada, Spain and South Africa all have legalized same-sex marriage -- since 2004.
Couples married in 2004 applauded Newsom on Monday, and a plaintiff in the California case called Newsom a "hero." "It was a tremendous act of leadership. ... I truly felt my government was doing something for me," John Lewis said at Monday's news conference. He and his partner of 20 years, Stuart Gaffney, married at City Hall in 2004, are both plaintiffs case.
Newsom also took a few shots at President Bush -- whose 2004 State of the Union address inspired him to authorize issuing the marriage licenses, he said -- and at Vice President Dick Cheney, who recently refused to answer questions on CNN about his lesbian daughter, who is pregnant, calling the questions "out of line."
"I think it's unfortunate that the vice president does not want to talk about the pending birth of his granddaughter when he was at the forefront of advancing efforts that I would argue not only discriminate against his daughter," but also his granddaughter."

I'm trying to watch all the major Academy Award nominees before the ceremony in less than two weeks! Saw "Babel" over the weekend and last night I took in "Notes on a Scandal." Judi Dench was just delicious! Last time I saw her on the big screen was as James Bond's boss M and she was so self-assured and attractive. In "Notes," she is CREEPY! A spinster lesbian shcoolteacher who falls in love with Cate Blanchett then blackmails her into being her "friend." Dench's character narrates the thing and I liked that aspect of the film a lot. You see it all from her warped perspective. She is crackers! Blanchett is terrific (although better in 'Babel" I think) and I think you will enjoy the heck outa this one. For anyone who might scoff at Judi Dench getting an Oscar nomination virtually every year it seems, she earns them! She certainly does this year.
Now I just have to find time to see "Letters from Iwo Jima," "Venus," "Little Children," "Volver" and "Pan's Labyrith" and my pre-Oscar research will be complete! I guess this means I'll have to take in "Norbut" AFTER the Oscars...

Well, we already know that Kathy Griffin will say basically anything that's on her mind. And good for her! AfterElton.com has a nice Q&A with her on their site today, so good that I want to give you a few excerpts to start off your morning. I'm just glad she doesn't talk about that ex-hubby of hers who "borrowed" her ATM card each day without permission!

On Isaiah Washington calling T.R. Knight the other F word: "I think it's hilarious that you can go to rehab for saying the F-word. I mean, what is it? A bunch of queens screaming at him? Saying, ''Oh, girl, no you didn't!" I just think that is funny. I mean, I think it is a good thing. You can't be calling someone a fag at work and stuff. Unless you're gay — in that case, have at it...I've only heard that Melissa Etheridge's wife [Tammy Lynn Michaels] sort of defended [him]. And, by the way, I read that in The Enquirer, so it's true! I guess she and Melissa are friends with him. I guess they've had him over for dinner with his kids or something, and she was like, 'Well, he never used that word around me.' I was like, 'Well, yeah, he's not gonna use it around you.' ...I will tell you this: I think when you're a serious actor on a big show like that [Grey's Anatomy], I think you do have to watch what you say. I think you will offend people and hurt people."

On gays in the military: "I think that Don't Ask, Don't Tell is an understatement. I think it's more like, "We find out you're gay, we kick your ass." And who the f--- do they think they are that they can be so picky? With the firing of the translators who speak Arabic when like 12 people in the military speak Arabic. I think things are going to change. I really do. I think whoever the next president is can't be as conservative. It's not even possible. The tide is going to turn. I certainly know gay people in the military. And you probably do, too. ... It's a tough thing, man. It's a very tough thing. The gays I know in the military truly love the military. And yet they feel kind of bitter they're forced to live a double life. Like these guys don't have enough f---ing stuff to worry about there in a war zone? I really admire the gays over there. I admire the women. I admire everybody! That's just got to be doubly tough! They're strong motherf---ers, those guys. They're badasses. I wouldn't want to mess with them."

On outing celebrities: I make fun of Clay [Aiken], and I call him "Gaykin" and stuff. But the truth is — and I say this every single show — I don't say Clay's gay. I don't have any proof. I don't have any pictures. I don't know if Clay should come out. Personally, I don't think he should come out. I mean if he's going to be Barry Manilow and his fan base is going to be women, have at it! I don't want to ruin someone's freakin' career! So, I really don't believe in that.
I think Perez [Hilton] has the right to print all the stuff that he prints. And God knows it's fun to read. We all have the right to think it's readable or not readable."

I've had fun watching some of John Barrowman's co-hosting of the E! pre-show and especially loved when he saw Jake Gyllenhaal follow Daniel Craig down the red carpet and said what any red-blooded gay man was thinking: "Jake Gyllenhaal and Daniel Craig behind us! Hot! Hot! I'll fight you for every one of them [He said to a female fashion expert]. OK, you have one, you have one, I'll have the other.

Here are a few clips. Click HERE to see John's back and forth with co-host Ruby Wax and HERE for a more lengthy clip of him commentating and just being energetic and adorable.

Enjoy!!

The BAFTAs had a major hunk factor on Saturday between presenter Jake Gyllenhaal (last year's supporting actor winner for 'Brokeback Mountain') and best actor nominee Daniel Craig, nominated for his studly performance in "Casino Royale" but losing to the amazing Forest Whitaker.
Among the other presenters at the BAFTA awards were the great Sir Ian McKellen who makes gay men everywhere proud. He is a serious actor of stage and screen and an absolute box office megastar with key roles in the "Lord of the Rings" and "X-Men" franchises as well as the 2006 mega-blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code."
With all these award shows, some of the major nominees are racking up some serious air miles! Dame Helen Mirren and Whitaker, winners of the BAFTA best actress and best actor prizes in London, were both present to accept after appearing at the Oscar nominees lunch in Beverly Hills five days earlier. A few days before the Oscar lunch, Mirren was back in London filming so she had to tape her appearance at the Director's Guild Awards where her husband, Taylor Hackford was being honored.
So that means Mirren was in LA for the Jan. 28 SAG Awards, then back to the UK for filming...back to LA for the Feb. 5 Oscar lunch then back to the UK for the Feb. 10 BAFTAs. Of course, she will return to LA for the Feb. 25 Academy Awards ceremony where she is the front-runner to win.
Whitaker's schedule was similar except for the extra trip to the UK for filming.
Helen Mirren is 61 years old! How does she did it?Mirren beat out a field identical to the Oscar nods: Dame Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Penelope Cruz (Volver), Kate Winslet (Little Children) and Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada).
Whitaker beat out Craig, Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed), Richard Griffiths (The History Boys) and Peter O'Toole (Venus) for the best actor prize.Anyhow, Jennifer Hudson was in LA for Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy bash on Saturday night where she performed. If she had been in London, she could have accepted her BAFTA Award for best supporting actress in person! She appeared as a presenter on last night's Grammys as well.

OK, so here's the deal. I don't like to speculate about the sexuality of famous people. I know it's tempting but you gotta draw the line somewhere. But if a famous person issues any kind of statement responding to speculation about the subject, it seems to me to be fair game.
That said, there are plenty of people wondering if former NSYNC band member JC Chasez was hitting on a guy last week. According to the New York Daily News, the following occured and I quote the paper's item verbatim: "JC Chasez seemed very interested in meeting a particularly handsome young gentleman during Fashion Week. Of course, the poor bastard had to pick a guy who was friends with a gossip columnist. "[His publicist] was like, 'JC is going to be at such and such a place later, and he'd love to hang out with you,' " sez the olive-skinned hunk, who declined to share his phone number. Chasez's rep says he does not recall that conversation taking place. "And if it did, it would just be to hang out in a group, because he's a cool guy, not like a setup," he explained. Snickers bar, anyone?"

Whatever the case is, he sure is CUTE!

Don't get me wrong, it was a GREAT show - one of the best in many years. But I ask you, what the HELL was Scarlett Johanson, who has never had a record in her brief life, doing presenting the BEST ALBUM award with Don Henley? What an insult to all the great artists and legends who were at the Grammys last night.
Why not have Joan Baez, who looked amazing and is a legend, present with Henley? That REALLY annoyed me. Apparently she is about to record an album. She asked Henley if he had any advice for her. He said: "No." And he seemed to mean it.
Then you had the strange presence of Al Gore presenting best ROCK album with Queen Latifah. I know he was initially scheduled to present with Mellisa Etheridge who wrote the song for his "An Inconvenient Truth" flick. But there was nothing really clever said to explain the former veep's presence.
And what about the trio who presented Best Country Album? Mandy Moore. OK, fine, she's a singer. LeAnn Rimes. Perfect. She's a singer AND does Country songs. so far so good. Rounding out the threesome? LUKE WILSON? What the? I like Luke Wilson, don't get me wrong. But he has no business presenting Grammys is all I'm saying.
And good God, what the heck was DAVID SPADE doing there? I know it's a CBS telecast. I know Spade has a new sitcom on CBS. But this man has officially started to bug me. He has to 1. Get a haircxut. 2. Get a new schtick.
In a similar gripe, two cast members from CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" sitcom, Alyson Hannigan and Corie Smulders introduced Gnarls Barkley. I don't get it. Were the producers sitting around thinking, "Hmmmmm. Who will introduce Gnarls Barkley? I got it! Alyson Hannigan! She's perfect! No one else will do!"
Similarly, Christina Ricci (hugh? she doesn't even have a CBS sitcom) and Samuel L. Jackson introducing the R&B segment featuring Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Chris Brown and an out-of-this-world Christina Aguilera.
I mean, if you're going to have actors presenting, at least have some who have recorded an album. I got one! William Shatner! Oh yeah, wrong network. His "Boston Legal" airs on ABC.

If there were any of you who were following my live blogging on the On the Red Carpet site last night, I lost all Internet connection backstage at the Grammys and was unable to blog during the lst 40 minutes or so of the show. It was excrutiating! But I cheered up when some of the bigger names began coming into our interview room. I am now officially all about Mary J. Blige. Love, love LOVE her! There was nothing really gay about the Grammys this year but Blige has that survivor thing going on that so many of us can identify with. "This has been an incredible night for me...it has been a personal breakthrough....You just strive to put your back up straight because you're sick of slumping." Great woman and amazing singer....
Tony Bennett, that ageless wonder, spent loads of time with us backstage talking about how he has always strived to make timeless music that would still be listenable 50 years from now. He! has certainly accomplished that. Tony is 80 years old, an amazing 80 years old, and talked about how finding something that you love in life and doing it, keeps you young. He is living proof. He is a living legend who now has 14 Grammys, the first won in the early 60s for "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."

And, of course, who isn't thrilled for The Dixie Chicks? For them to win five Grammys including album and record of the year was sweet vindication for the absolutely horrendous backlash they suffered through for daring to speak their minds in the United States of America. We waited an hour for them to come backstage and talk to us - which is partly why I'm so dead-tired today - and I left in frustration about 10:30 p.m. I said to my award show buddy Sandra Barrera: "I'm tired of waiting for the Pixie Stixs!" But here are some backstage comments from other artists on the Chicks win: John Mayer said "it was just almost an instant classic album...They were running from a lot of ghosts."

I also became a fan of Ludacris who last year, walked by me on the red carpet at the Oscars and I had no idea who he was. At the Grammys, he performed magically and backstage, he told us that he cut off his signature braids because he didn't want to turn 30 next year with cornrows. He also did not hild back when describing what winning a Grammy (his first) for "Release Therapy" meant to him: "Today is pretty much the best day of my life...no words can explain how great I feel right now."
Multiple winners The Red Hot Chili Peppers came backstage and were so friendly and fun. They were ready to take all the questions we had for them - and we had many - but this very annoying woman with an ugly gold lame coat and frazzled hair rushed them off the stage. This woman was a nightmare. I got to the press room about noon. By 1 p.m. she was on my nerves. By 2:30 p.m. I hated her. By the end of the night (10:30 p.m.), I was making a list of various ways to not exactly kill her, but maybe tie her up and stuff her in a closet so she could rethink her attitude...and her hairdo!
Anyway, one of the Chili Peppers, Chad Smith the drummer, made a face at her behind her back and she saw him. Busted! Most peeps would laugh it off, but gold coat lady was incensed. I was convulsing in laughter. It was so third-grade...and so funny! When Chad walked back into the press room earlier, he looked around and said: "You guys are stuck back here the whole time? Why? Why? Were you bad in college?"

This is cool! The Human Rights Campaign announced today that former NBA player John Amaechi will serve as a national spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's Coming Out Project, a program designed to help gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people come out and live openly.
Here! Here! What's been so great about Amaechi's coming out is all the discussion it has sparked within the NBA and the sports world. For every "It's cool as long as he doesn't direct it toward me" comment, there have also been thoughtful responses and words of support from players and coaches.
HRC President Joe Solmonese says of Amaechi: "John is making history this week, becoming the first NBA player to ever come out and talk about his life and experiences as an athlete and a gay man. In sharing his story, our great hope is that John will pave the way for more GLBT and straight athletes to openly support fairness and respect on and off the playing field."
Amaechi will promote the importance of being out and living openly and honestly while traveling around the country to promote his new autobiography "Man in the Middle." A new website at www.hrc.org/amaechi features Amaechi's biography, high-resolution photos, book excerpts, book club discussion questions and more.
Says Amaechi: "I believe very strongly in the responsibility of people with power and influence to be role models. Living more openly in the later years of my NBA career was one of the things that radically changed my life. It made me happier. I want to spread my influence in the same way that I was able to because I had a basketball in my hand. I hope now to have perhaps a different lectern to stand behind but with an equally important message."

This should be a kick. I've never covered the Grammys before but I'm giving it a go and am about to head out to Staples Center in a bit. Best part: no tuxedo required! This awards season, I've started to feel like an extra in "Happy Feet."
I'll be roaming around inside and outside of Staples Center and the Convention Center where they will be handing out awards starting in the early afternoon, well before the telecast starts on CBS. So click onto Dailynews.com starting around 1 p.m. or so and I'll be writing away on the On the Red Carpet blog LIVE!
A recap of the day will appear either late tonight or early tomorrow on Out In Hollywood...

"Brothers & Sisters" is back tonight with an original episode! I hope I'm back from the Grammys in time to watch it live. I do know a few things about the episode which includes the return of adorable Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) who Kevin runs into at a bar when he's with his soap opera star lover and his "girlfriend." Also, apparently Calista Flockhart and Rob Lowe, I mean Kitty and Sen. McAllister, will get romantic (who saw that coming? ha!) and Sally Field, I mean, Nora Walker, is set to get herself into some kind of trouble that I think involves jail. What is Gidget doing in jail for God's sake? Just kidding. I worship Sally Field and think she is doing some of the best work of her career in this gem of a role.

TV critic Robert Bianco of USA TODAY wrote a nice article in Friday's paper about my favorite show which I have loved from the beginning but others are now coming around. He calls is "TVs best family drama...
Few things in life can make you happier, or drive you crazier, than family. Overstuffed and a bit of a mad jumble it may be, but after a stumbling start, this talent-rich hour has coalesced into one of the season's most joyfully endearing and entertaining series."
Here is more of what he wrote:
"You can see the improved results of their combined efforts Sunday in a witty Valentine's Day episode dedicated to the vagaries of love, sex, and '60s nostalgia. As an added treat, it boasts an amusing guest shot by Margot Kidder as a friend who leads Field's Nora Walker down a garden path she quickly comes to regret.
Anyone who hasn't watched Brothers since its earlier outings may be surprised by how well the family gets along these days. The original mystery/tragedy (the death of the Walker patriarch and his pilfering of the family business's pension account) has been dumped, along with much of the angst it provoked.
Equally wise has been the rehabilitative work done on Flockhart's Kitty, who has left her job as a conservative talk-show star to work for a Republican senator (Lowe). It's a much better fit for Flockhart, who never seemed either flamboyant or aggressive enough for talk-show fame, and it has allowed the show to jettison most of its political diatribes. Brothers still explores the family's political divides, but it does so in a way that is far less argumentative and preachy.
Actually, Kitty herself kicks off Sunday's parade of Valentine's Day massacres, waking up in bed with her boss and immediately calling her sister, Sarah (Rachel Griffiths). As the family phone tree spreads, we find out that Kevin (Rhys), the gay brother, and Justin (Dave Annable), the troubled brother, have both made iffy choices. Best of all, Mom has made a choice that landed her in jail."

And while you're watching, note the matter-of-fact equivalency granted to Kevin's relationships. Neither neglected nor highlighted, they're treated with as much seriousness, or lack thereof, as any other."

Unless a post-gayhab Isaiah Washington pops off again (hey, you never know), it seems that it is back to business on "Grey's Anatomy." My guess is that we might see his role minimized ever-so-slightly from here on end but I base that on nothing but a hunch. At any rate, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the medical drama-soap opera had its highest demo rating since its September premiere carried ABC to a primetime win Thursday even as the premiere of "Survivor" came out ahead of ABC's "Ugly Betty" and NBC's sitcoms at 8 p.m. The demo win means most viewers between the ages of 18-49, the group advertisers most covet since, I guess, people 50 and over don't spend money? They've never seen my mother at the mall!
"Grey's Anatomy" averaged 24.9 million viewers and a 10.7 rating/25 share in adults 18-49; it was its highest rating in the demo since its premiere in September. That came in ahead of "CSI" (22.3 million, 6.8/16) at 9 p.m.
"Survivor" won at 8 p.m. with 15.9 million viewers and a 5.8/15; it was the lowest premiere ever for a "Survivor" and down 17% from last year's "Survivor: Panama" and down 11% from "Survivor: Island" in the fall. "Ugly Betty" (14.3 million, 4.7/12) wasn't any slouch either, riding high after its Golden Globes and SAG wins. It remained even with its demo performance last week, which was the highest rating since it premiered in September.

Kudos to NBC's "Law & Order" which inexplicably has been relegated to Friday nights. I inexplicably found myself at home on a Friday night so I watched the long-running drama which featured the murder of Jeff Cantwell, an aspiring gay actor who was an escort on the side. The actor was threatening to expose Rev. Sterling, a handsome young pastor (and big closet case) of a big church who was preaching the homosexuality is a sin.
The killer tried to make the death look like a suicide of a man who was tortured by his gayness. But as detectives started questioning his former lovers, they found that to be far from the truth: "He was the gayest man I ever met. Proud and strong," a handsome young banker who had dated Jeff for six months told detectives.
What I liked about the investigation scenes was that the detective simply did their jobs asking questions like, "He's a good looking young actor in New York. He wasn't seeing ANYONE?" There was no judgement, no uneasiness when asking potential witnesses about Jeff's personal life including romantic entanglements. I like the way it was handled so kudos there.
As for Rev. Sterling, he was the Ted Haggard type who preached on thing and did another. He was a real player with the guys while posing as a family man with his pretty wife by his side. Their church was big business. In the end, it wasn't Stering who killed Jeff, it was his wife who wanted to protect the lucrative church empire they had built.
What was most disturbing about the episode was just how plausible so much of the plot it was. Hopefully there won't be any murders like that depicted on "Law & Order" but it does call into question, bigtime, the motives of some of the people who run these big church empires.

Hugh Grant can sing? Who knew? I mean, if Paris Hilton can make a record I guess ANYBODY can but Hugh has a fine voice and in his new movie, "Music & Lyrics," he nails his part as an 80s ex-popstar (think Wham! and Hugh is the other dude). Went to an advance screening of the movie with my pal Mariel the other night and as we were walking out of the theater, we looked at each other and said almost at the same time: "I really liked that!" The 80s MTV video parodies were spot on and during the credits there is a funny pop-up video you won;t want to miss.
There's nothing gay about the movie - not that there's anything WRONG with that - but Hugh has played gay a few times ("Maurice" and "Our Sons") so he's got enough gay cred to be reviewed in "Out In Hollywood." To me, this was his most appealing performance since the wonderful "About A Boy" maybe four years ago.
And then there is Drew Barrymore. The adorable, cute, sweet and funny Drew. She is very good in the movie and she and Grant have enough chemistry to make it work although not at the level that Drew has with Adam Sandler ("The Wedding Singer" "50 First Dates") or that Hugh had with Julia Roberts in "Notting Hill."
In this film, Hugh plays a washed-up pop star who's been reduced to working the nostalgia circuit at county fairs and amusement parks. He gets a chance at a comeback when reigning diva Cora Corman invites him to write and record a duet with her, but there's a problem - Alex hasn't written a song in years, he's never written lyrics, and he has to come up with a hit in a matter of days. Enter Sophie Fisher (Barrymore), Alex's quirky plant lady, whose flair for words strikes a chord with the struggling songwriter.
They have their ups, their downs and it's all very enjoyable. A real comedy highlight is any scene with Kristin Johnsion in it. I never watched "3rd Rock From the Sun" but I'll never forget when she fell out of that window during season 6 of "Sex and the City."
The movie opens on Valentine's Day. I predict it will make tons of money.

I called my sister this afternoon to see if she had reached her road trip destination safely and the first thing she says to me is, "I just can't believe Anna Nicole died!" Later, I'm watching "Entertainment Tonight" and Mary Hart asks Vanssa Minillo if Grammy Award rehearsals were still going on as scheduled. (Like they would CANCEL them?) It's been fascinating to see how the death of this poor trainwreck of a woman (take note younger trainwrecks Britney, Paris, Lindsay) has literally taken over the media. The only other story the local news showed tonight was a "storm watch" feature.
I think maybe it's because even though Anna Nicole Smith was a trainwreck, she was our trainwreck and we always thought we'd have her around for entertainment. The death of her son Danny was obviously something she could not recover from. And if she wasn't the most stable person in the world, she probably did not get the best parenting. I've seen Anna Nicole's scary mother a few tmes on TV today (what. a. creep.) and she wants custody of the baby. Someone stop her! And now Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, a German prince of some kind, thinks he might be the baby's father. What utter madness. This is never going to end. The court battles, the headlines. It is unbelievable. But one thing that made me care even an iota about Anna Nicole was the obvious love she had for the son she lost and I think think that's why we care more than we thought we would.
It was such a big coincidence that if you were watching "The View" yesterday, you would have witnessed an eerie exhange about Anna Nicole between Rosie O'Donnell and the ladies who were talking about the Iraq war and how frivilous news was distracting from coverage of it:
Rosie O’Donnell: “Because it’s the art of distraction. You know, big things going on in the news and if I have to see Anna Nicole Smith one more time on television, that woman and her paternity test. And she can hardly even speak now. She’s like something and she can’t even speak. She's like uuuhhhhh, you know. It's a tragedy all around. Her son died. She has this little baby. There’s obviously some kind of medication or substance involved. I don't know.?
Elisabeth Hasselbeck: “That's an odd situation.?
O’Donnell: “Or not involved, even worse. But it's sort of like distracting, the art of distraction. They don't want you to think about the things that are real.? 
Joy Behar: “You’re right. That’s right.?
Hasselbeck: “Who doesn't??
O’Donnell: “I think our culture now.?
Hasselbeck: “You think the Republicans are putting Anna Nicole on the TV??
O’Donnell: “No.?
Hasselbeck: “I just wanted to check.?
Behar: “No. You can't blame the Republicans for everything.?
O’Donnell: “No.?
Hasselbeck: “We were there before. I just needed to take a test.?
O’Donnell: “‘Why not,’ said a man in the audience. Love you. I don't know who you are but I want to have lunch.?

Less than an hour later, Anna Nicole Smith was dead.

I haven't been keeping up with the FOX sitcom "The War at Home" but I sure am glad someone at AfterElton.com is as the sitcom continues to portray the journey of Kenny (Rami Malek) who was kicked out of his house after coming out to his parents and comes to live with the family of his best friend. The gruff family patriarch Dave (Michael Rappaport) would seem an unlilkely source of support for Kenny but he does what Kenny's parents, and any parent of a gay kid, should do: he parents him.
This week's episode had Kenny going out on a date and Dave has a talk with him about safer sex. He does so because wifeVicky (Anita Barone) , when realizes Kenny has a boyfriend, insists Dave talk with him about safe sex because she’d “…like to keep him from getting AIDS.�?
Dave starts off talking about how comic books come wrapped in plastic for their protection (hint, hint). Things proceeded to considerably more detail as Dave attempts to demonstrate how gay sex works with a very funny montage of hand gestures. He then explains that all men are animals so when you get two men together it’s different than regular sex “…where there is some girl there to say no to everything.�?
AfterElton reports that next week "Dave steps up to the plate when Kenny and his new boyfriend Dylan are told they can’t attend the school’s Sadie Hawkin’s dance. No doubt Dave will fumble and say some foolish things, but it will be in service of doing the right thing, and I, for one, can’t ask for much more than that."

I just spotted this lovely black and white picture of Ellen and Portia that appears in the issue of W Magazone that features a glam Ellen on the cover. Enjoy!

I was just lamenting a few days ago about how Perry Pearl, the gayest "straight' man on television, had disappeared from the CBS sitcom "The Class" along with Kyle's boyfriend. Well, Kyle's boyfriend is still MIA but Perry, played with much hilarity by Sam Harris. will be featured on Monday night's show. According to TellyNelly (see my blogroll for a link), while redecorating their spacious pad, Perry ends up stuck at Yonk and Nicole’s home and makes the most of the storm by cooking an elaborate meal for Duncan and Nicole.  Meanwhile, Kat and Kyle get stuck at Ethan's apartment.

You had to figure this was gonna happen. the "100 percent heterosexual" thing is just too ridiculous. I think Ted Haggard needs a lot more time to sort himself out...perhaps forever. I had hoped that he might emerge a wiser more authentic man from all of this, maybe have something real to say. Instead, it's just more of him being completely out of touch with himself and it is quite pathetic.

At last year's Academy Awards, while I was doing interviews on the red carpet, Wolfgang Puck came by with a tray of his mini chocolate Oscars. He gave me one. I ate it. It was gooooooood. He was showing us some of the food he would be serving to guests after the show at the Governor's Ball.
My ticket must have been lost in the mail. Because after the show, the closest I got to the Governors Ball was when I walked by the front doors of the shindig with a laptop computer bag slung over my shoulder. I was going direct from the interview room at the Kodak Theater to a bus shuttle parked on Orange Avenue that took me and other journalists back to the Arclight parking structure.
Real glamorous, huh?
So it is with great envy that I report some of what will happen at this year's bash as reported by my colleague, L.A. Daily News food editor Natalie Haughton, who got a preview this week. The ballroom will be divided into five pavilions and the food will consist of the main buffet, tray-passed appetizers, tapas, sushi and seafood stations - more varieties of food than ever - will be orchestrated for the 13th year by Puck.
Puck and his team will be serving 800 pounds of chicken, 1,200 pounds of lobster, 40 pounds of black truffles and 20 pounds of white truffles. They will be smoking 60 sides of salmon for the must-have traditional Smoked Salmon Oscars With French Farm-Raised Osetra Caviar.
The vent's pastery chef, Sherry Yard, is making 200 two-pound Valrhona organic bittersweet chocolate Oscar statuettes with 24-karat gold dust blown on them to decorate the platters. As is traditional, she's also preparing 3,000 smaller chocolate Oscars for guests to take home.
That's all enough to make me really bitter - especially since I will likely be having an In-N-Out Burger or something. Well, that sounds pretty darn good actually.
But I will miss the opportunity to see saxophonist Dave Koz as the featured entertainment. He's a perfect choice since he just released his new CD of movie theme and I am so proud to have an out and proud gay musician performing for the A-listers.
Dave is ready for his close-up...

I've had trouble finding these pics but blogger Kenneth In The( 212) did not. He thinks his fixtation with Reynolds is wrong. If it is, then I don't wanna be right! This man is hot! Hot! Hot!

It's obvious that Isaiah Washington dug a big enough hole for himself when, backstage at the Golden Globe Awards, he repeated the gay slur he had called T.R. Knight on the set of "Grey's Anatomy" months earlier. But who knows if the backlash against Washington, and his basically being forced to apologize and go to gayhab to keep his job, would have been as strong if not for Katherine Heigl? She is the only cast member (there are a dozen of them) to openly call Washington on the carpet and she did so that very night in a televisised interview saying "He needs to not talk in public. Period."
Heigl, who plays Dr. Izzie Stevens on the ABC series, appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and continued to speak candidly about the situation: "If it were ignored or just brushed under the rug, I would be angrier about it. But [Washington] is trying very hard. We're all trying very hard."
Heigl said that the cast usually got along well and that the set felt "like work as usual" now that Washington had returned.
"I, obviously, have been very verbal about all of this, but there isn't a lot going on right now," she said. "We're all hopeful. … It's a great group of people, and we work really well together. We work really hard, and it's unusual that we do get along as well as we do."
Ratings remain huge: last week's episode of "Grey's Anatomy" was its most watched since the season premiere back in September.

Former NBA player John Amaechi comes out in a soon-to-be-released autobiography "Man in the Middle," which chronicles his life in the NBA. He will come out publicly Sunday on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" show and has given his first gay press interview to The Advocate.

Here is some of the reaction from sports figures:
Martina Navratilova, perhaps the most famous openly gay athlete in the world, praised Amaechi's decision and said it's imperative for athletes to come out because of what she called an epidemic of suicides among young lesbians and gays. "'It's hugely important for the kids so they don't feel alone in the world. We're role models,'' she said. ''He will definitely help a lot of kids growing up to feel better about themselves.''

Orlando's Grant Hill, who said he didn't know Amaechi when he was with the Magic, also applauded the decision to go public. ''The fact that John has done this, maybe it will give others the comfort or confidence to come out as well, whether they are playing or retiring.''

NBA commissioner David Stern said a player's sexuality wasn't important. ''We have a very diverse league. The question at the NBA is always 'Have you got game?' That's it, end of inquiry,'' he said.

Injured Philadelphia Sixers forward Shavlik Randolph acknowledged it's a new situation. ''As long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine,'' Randolph said. ''As far as business-wise, I'm sure I could play with him. But I think it would create a little awkwardness in the locker room.''

''For real? He's gay for real?'' said Philadelphia center Steven Hunter. ''Nowadays it's proven that people can live double lives. I watch a lot of TV, so I see a lot of sick perverted stuff about married men running around with gay guys and all types of foolishness.'' Even so, Hunter said he would be fine with an openly gay teammate. ''As long as he don't make any advances toward me I'm fine with it,'' he said. ''As long as he came to play basketball like a man and conducted himself like a good person, I'd be fine with it.''

Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who coached Amaechi in Orlando: ''We're all insensitive at times. There's no taboo subject in the locker room,'' said where he said he had one of his strongest locker rooms. ''I think if he would have come out they would have got on him jokingly. ... And I actually think that when guys do come out, when that day happens, it will make it easier.''

Amaechi also writes that while playing in Utah, coach Jerry Sloan used antigay innuendo to describe him. Sloan said Wednesday that although his relationship with Amaechi was ''shaky'' because of the player's attitude, he didn't know Amaechi was gay. Sloan had no comment about Amaechi's contention that Sloan used antigay innuendo when referring to him. Amaechi said he found out about it in e-mails from friends in the Jazz front office.
Asked if knowing Amaechi was gay would have mattered, Sloan said: ''Oh yeah, it would have probably mattered. I don't know exactly, but I always have peoples' feelings at heart. People do what they want to do. I don't have a problem with that.''

Good afternoon! I'd love if more people posted comments to the various postings on the blog. Those of you who do add so much to the conversation. It's also nice to get e-mails from folks and I'm going to print a sampling of them every other week or so.
Enjoy!

Hi Greg, I recently found your Out in Hollywood site and so enjoyed reading it! I am a grandmother, a long time member of PFLAG, and a volunteer at our local gay and lesbian center (I am their 'token, straight grandmother').
Your blog was so interesting and full of really good information and insight. I loved the pictures! Also found out I can go to an ABC site and catch up on Brothers & Sisters (also one of my favorite shows). I missed the last episode, the one that introduced Kevin's new love interest, so I'll now go hunt it up. Kevin is such a thoroughly good and decent youngman, he is my favorite character, by far. Thank you for your efforts and you keep those typing fingers busy!
- Judy

Just found your blog... its a lot of fun to see the inside coverage from a fans POV, less than that of a jaded journalist. Good stuff.
- David Markland

You lose all credibility when you call a journeyman player like John Amaechi a NBA star. His best year he only averaged about 10 points a game and spent almost half his career in Europe.
- Ferd Berfel

Just wanted to say, as a regular reader of your site (I check it daily for the latest news), that I think what you do is really great! I read afterelton as well but it is always great to read your personal opinions as well even if you are
covering the same topic.
Please keep up the good work!!
- K

I just read your positive review of Diana Ross’ latest cd and wanted you to know that “To Be Loved’ was written by her long-time mentor, Berry Gordy, many years ago for Jackie Wilson. It was a hit for Jackie Wilson then. I read somewhere that Diana called Berry the night she completed recording it and played her new cover of the song over the phone for him.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2007!
Sincerely,
- Paul Cesario

Your article [In Today's Hollywood, More Gays Out of the Closet] was very good and while I believe all should be who they are in the open do you honestly believe that they had to step up and say we are gay we knew Harris,Ellen and ect were the same as we knew Hanks,Howard ect weren't---Bless them all and as long as decent,good citizens---WHO CARES----- Keep up the good writing and I don't care about your sexual preference.
-- M.Ballardo

Interesting article, very well-researched and informative. While you mentioned Rosie O'Donnell, you didn't address the point of what her high-profile feud with Donald Trump could mean to gay, and especially lesbian, television personalities. I fear it could be a big setback, especially if Trump wins.
- NF

Hi,I disagree with you about the Kennedy Center Honors performances. I was at the gala on dec 3rd and by all accounts and those sitting next to me Shania Twain gave a flawless and heartfelt version of ,'coat of many colors". Shania's beautiful tone and voice gave meaning to the song. she didn't over sing and put the focus on the song. I saw Dolly and Shania each have tears in their eyes afterwards.
And every message board I have been and even Dolly fans are praising Shania's great performance. she brought beauty,class and talent to the show. You obviously have something against Shania. Maybe it is that she is gorgeous,talented,filthly rich and a music icon herself and she refused you an interview years ago. Buy a hearing aid next time.
- Samuel Potter

I noticed at how your review of the Kennedy Center Honors you went out of you way to trash Shania by saying she did a just OKay performance. You are typical of all jealous people of Shania. Shania has more talent in her pinky than all the others combined, she can sing any style and thats why she is an icon worldwide and the best selling country female of alltime. In fact Dolly says Shania's version of Coat of Many Colors is the best she has ever heard. Shania grew up singing it as kid in run down bars so with all due respect Shania's performance was the most heart felt and best of the night according to many.
Shania has many jealous critics because she turns down interviews and is private and is such a massive success but the truth she has a great voice and can sing any style and her version of COAT OF MANY colors is just fantastic. I know you will say that it is just your opinioin but the truth is that people like you like to bash Shania nomatter what she does or sings. Shania is a true talented megastar who knows how to sing a country or pop song and do a great job of it. So maybe open up your ears and learn what good singing is.
- Shania fan

Greg,
Hi!I came across your article in the advocate.com about gay bloggers and I started going through yours. Great article and nice layout. take care and keep up the good writing.

- Cary

Dear Greg,
Thanks so much for your recent reports on the DGA and the Oscar luncheon - I especially enjoyed reading your
account because Leonardo DiCaprio has for a long time been my favorite actor. I wish there was a video clip
somewhere so I could see the speech he gave in introducting Scorsese. Again, thanks for letting us readers have a glimpse into events that we wouldn't otherwise have had the details that you provided on. My peer Leo fans on this
message board were also very pleased to read about them through your blog.
- Courtney

Just read this terrific Q&A with two-time Tony winner Cherry Jones on the AfterEllen.com site. Jones, an out actress, has long been one of Broadway's most-lauded performers, but she has also long been a celebrity lesbian to be proud of. When she accepted her first Tony Award in 1995 for Best Actress (she played the role of Catherine Sloper in "The Heiress"), she publicly thanked her female partner in her acceptance speech.

In June 2005, Jones took home a second Tony for her leading role in Doubt, which is now touring nationally. The night she received her Tony for "Doubt," Jones was accompanied by her current girlfriend, Sarah Paulson ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"), and the two have often been seen together at industry events.

Click HERE to read the full interview. As an appetizer, here are a few of the questions and answers.
AE: Finally, as an out actress, how do you see your role in the LGBT community?
CJ: Just to live my life openly and freely and with joy and thanksgiving, I reckon. [Laughs.] Just be.

AfterEllen.com: You are touring in the play Doubt, for which you received much acclaim and a Tony Award. You must feel very strongly about the play and the role to continue performing it.
Cherry Jones: I'm right at about 555 performances already of this play. [Laughs.] We started at the Manhattan Theater Club, and then Broadway, and the tour began in September in Los Angeles. We're not even halfway through with it yet. And the extraordinary thing about this play and this role is that I never get tired of it. Maybe there's something wrong with me [and] I'm just incredibly obsessive/compulsive. I think most stage actors are, or have to be a little bit. I was just talking to my fellow cast members about this the other night. Because of what we get back from the audience, it is the most rewarding experience any actor will almost ever have in the theater.

The first time I laid eyes on CNN Headline News anchor Thomas Roberts, it wasn't on a television screen. It was poolside at the Lowes Hotel in Miami Beach. I was reading my New York Times and trying to get a little sun between sessions at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association connvention last September. I just looked over and thought, "That guy is HOT!" As handsome as he appears on television, he's even better looking poolside in swimming trunks.
But I digress.
The next day, I was among the people sitting in on a panel of newscasters who were discussing being a gay on-air personality. The guy from the pool, Thomas Roberts, was on that panel. He was very articulate and honest and we were all v ery impressed. He was out at CNN but this panel, attended by dozens of journalists, made news because many of us went back and posted blog items about it (see related posts below).
At the time of the convention, Roberts had the plum slot of anchoring an afternoon broadcast. I wanted to interview him for The Advocate and we traded emails after the convention. In the end, CNN nixed it. The afternoon broadcast was cancelled soon after (apparently not due to Roberts' public disclosure) and he has not been as high profile since. The terrific Website GayBeacon.com points out this week that if you want to see this handsome and appealing anchor, you must do so in the wee hours or on weekends.
I wonder what gives...
Related Posts:
CNN Anchor Thomas Roberts Speaks Out Against Priest
Gay CNN Anchor Thomas Roberts Clears the Air
Out on the airwaves

I'm still on a high from Monday's Oscar luncheon so everything else seems to pale in comparison. But I did have a really nice time at another luncheon this afternoon in the very same location: the ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel, site of the 44th Annual Publicists Guild Awards. I didn't bring a camera and can't find any pics online yet so these images will have to do for now :) Sorry!
When I walked into the lobby, the first celebrity I saw was Victoria Princxipal who, trust me, is stunning. She had on a knee-length black dress and black boots and was the most beautiful woman in the room. I later said hello to her and she lit up when I told her that her line of beauty products really does work...she is proof!
Jimmy Kimmel was a RIOT as the emcee, acting as though he really didn't want to be there ("I'm not getting sh*t for this!"), nor did anyone else. He said one absent winner "killed himself rather than be here..I wish I was kidding." In discussing the role of a Hollywood publicist, Kimmel said: "Some celebrities are better than others. Some open schools in Africa, others open their legs for photographers when arriving at the Roosevelt Hotel." Then he mentions Isaiah Washington who he said "got checked into GayAA and now it's like [uttering gay slur at co-star T.R. Knight] never happened."
The studios traditionally invite various journalists to the event as their guest and this year, my invitation came from Sony Pictures Entertainment which was being honored for its insanely phenomenal year at the box office in 2006 with 14 number one movies and worldwide grosses of $3.3 billion. I sat with the studio's publicity team along with a reporter from USA Today at a table that was right next to that of honoree Bob Barker, two tables away from award presenter George Lucas, and very near where Julia Louis-Dreyfuss was sitting. It's been an excellent week for me as far as lunches go.
Other stars at this lunch who acted as presenters included a VERY curly-haird Will Ferrell whose hair is as big as the wig Jan Brady wore in "the Brady Bunch Movie." But he was friggen hilarious as he presented the showman of the year award to Sony studio heads Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal.
Ferrell took the stage pretending to be in awe of the ocassion: "Oh my God! I'm so nervous! Growing up as a young man in Orange County, every year around this time my family, my family would drive up and try and get into the Publicists Guild Awards...to actually be here right now, I hope I don't throw up!"

The lunch really was a lot of fun. Everyone was so funny. Bob Barker got a lifetime achievement award at the top of the show because he had to hurry and get to CBS studios to tape his 6,550th episode of "The Price is Right." He bounded to the stage (yes, this 83-year-old BOUNDED) after a hilarious clip reel that showcased all the crazy contenstants on ths show over the years (Barker: "Can you understand why I drink at night?") and the clips also featured the hilarious scene of him kicking the crap out of Adam Sandler on a golf course in "Happy Gilmore." Said Barker: "That picture actually did quite well at the box office. They were going to make a sequel, 'Happy Gilmore 2,' but Adam's doctor said he couldn't take another beating like that from me."
And then there was Sarah Silverman who is a scream. That girl is a hoot! She told us that as a last-minute replacement to present, she'd have to improvise. She started off by thanking "Jimmy Kimmel for last night...and Bob Barker too."
She was presenting the coveted Les Mason Award which goes to a publicist judged best by their peers. She called it the Les "big balls" Mason award. "I think that's a compliment,' Silverman said. "I'm a ball man." She then announced the name the winner, Alan Neirob, as Alan "big balls" Neirob, who when he took the stagfe described the job of a publicist this way: "When it doesn't work, we get shit on. When it does well, they (executives) did a helluva job!"
Victoria Principal sat next to Neirob at the lunch. She was his first client...and remains so to this day.

I try and ignore Britney Spears. It's tough because her ridiculous exploits are plastered everywhere. So just for today, I'm going to do an item on this trainwreck. She's on the cover of the new issue of In Touch Magazine which is pretty much like every other week. But this week, apparently she's a lesbian! We haven't heard that one before! First she kisses Madonna, then she forgets to weart underwear in public, and now...she's a lesbian! The magazine reports that "insiders tell In Touch exclusively that the mother of two has been living a secret life of wild sex long before her marriage ended. Rap music producer Omar “Iceman�? Sharif, who is a friend of Kevin’s, tells In Touch, “Britney was into threesomes and girls.�? He says Britney would often invite a bunch of girlfriends over to the couple’s house to party.
And Britney and her brief BFF Paris Hilton make a cover they have never been on before: Newsweek! Only this is not frivilous and tedious coverage of their various comings and going from nightclub to nightclub. It's a look at what terrible role models they are for young girls.
OK, that all being said, I'm going to go back to ignoring Britney. As for Paris, she still has not explained her behavior caught of tape using gay and racial slurs. I know the Snickers bar controversy put her on the back-burner for a day or two but I think this girl should try and come up with a complete sentence and apologize not just for the slurs, but for being so darn shallow.

One of my co-workers, a straight female, complained to me this afternoon that there hasn't been enough beefcake on the blog in recent days. So what better than to provide this one of Matthew McConaughey surfing in Australia where he is filming a movie with Kate Hudson. I snagged this off the PinkIstheNewBlog.com site which has its own way with words...

Out In Hollywood's 2006 "Man of the Year" Chad Allen was intervierwed by Newsweek's Samantha Henig for the magazine's Web site about his new movie "Save Me" and about being in last year's "End of the Spear."
Here are some excerpts:
When the openly gay Allen was cast as a Christian missionary in “End of the Spear,�? a 2005 movie produced by an evangelical film company, members of the religious right fumed about the choice. But he has received a warmer response from evangelical Christians to his new film, “Save Me,�? in which he plays Mark, a drug-addicted, promiscuous gay man who is sent by his disapproving brother to “Genesis House,�? a live-in therapy program that aims to “cure�? gay men of their “brokenness,�? through Christianity. Mark does find God at Genesis House, but he also finds love. The film, which was recently shown at the Sundance Film Festival but does not yet have a distributor, tackles the controversial practice of “ex-gay�? ministries. It chronicles Mark’s struggle to reconcile his newfound belief that living in the Lord’s image means being heterosexual, with his romantic feelings for Scott, a fellow Genesis House resident, played by Robert Gant of “Queer as Folk.�?
Allen speaks about what he learned from the uproar over “End of the Spear,�? the reaction to his latest film, and his own quest to reconcile his religious faith with his sexual orientation.
NEWSWEEK: When “End of the Spear�? came out, you got a lot of heat from evangelical Christians for being a gay actor playing a Christian missionary. Was your decision to do “Save Me�? at all a reaction to that?
ALLEN:: No, we were already working on “Save Me�? then. But honestly, without the reactions to “End of the Spear�? and how that changed the way I look at this entire issue and who I am, I couldn’t have participated in “Save Me�? the way that I did. When I went to make “End of the Spear,�? I expected to meet a group of hateful, bigoted, at-best ignorant individuals, and I didn’t. I met a group of smart, God-loving, God-following individuals, who were doing what they thought was the most loving thing to do, when they suggested to me that God wanted me to be different. That really affected me. I went back to work on “Save Me,�? and I remember sitting around with the rest of the producers and saying definitively, “We have to make a movie that shows evangelical Christians as smart and loving. We just need to have a conversation about love.�?
NEWSWEEK: It didn’t offend you to be told that God wants you to be someone you’re not?
ALLEN: t didn’t offend me. But I knew that it was incorrect, in so far as I knew that wasn’t what God was revealing in my own heart. I firmly believe in the importance of having this conversation about God and gay. I think that “End of the Spear�? opened up that conversation, and “Save Me�? is the perfect follow-up to it.

NEWSWEEK: How did “End of the Spear�? open the conversation?
ALLEN: There was a firestorm about my being involved, and what we got a lot of at first was the hateful, judging, scared reaction. But what followed for me was more truthful: I got hundreds, if not thousands, of e-mails and letters and messages from Christians who were saying things like, “This has opened my eyes.�? In fact, the filmmakers said to me, “We didn’t know what was going on, we just didn’t know what was happening to people like you in the name of Jesus Christ, and we’re so sorry.�?

NEWSWEEK: How would you describe the reaction so far from the evangelical Christian community to “Save Me,�? which recently premiered at Sundance?
ALLEN: While I’m sure that reactions were mixed, a vast majority of those that I spoke to came up to me not only loving the film but so excited about how they can use this film to further this conversation within their own communities.

NEWSWEEK: Are you surprised that they seem to have embraced you this time around?
ALLEN: I’m shocked. I wish I had a little more faith—part of me is still slightly hesitant since the movie hasn’t gone out to a very wide audience, but I have been blown away by the reaction. I expected to have to work much harder to get people, especially conservative Christians, to see this film and understand what it is that I wanted to say with it and what all of the producers wanted to say.

NEWSWEEK: Your character in “Save Me�? struggles to reconcile his Christian beliefs with his homosexual desires. Which parts of that struggle ring true to you?
ALLEN: Pretty much all of it. It wasn’t like I set out to tell my story, but where the script ended up is a struggle that I relate to almost in its entirety. My character starts out finding himself loveless and godless. I went through that. There was a time in life when I was absolutely desperate and addicted and void of love. My character’s entire process of finding God and finding love, while truncated, is truthful for me. That’s what it looked like, except mine was over the course of six and a half years, not two hours.

NEWSWEEK: What do you say to believers, like those portrayed in the movie, who use the Bible to condemn homosexuality?
ALLEN: My understanding of those seven Biblical passages that supposedly speak about homosexuality is that none of them speak about homosexuality as we understand it today, in a loving, committed relationship. They speak about pedophilia, they speak about rape, they speak about violence, but they don’t speak about this.

I should know better than to watch "The View" without a notepad nearby. So I'm checking out the hot topics portion of the show and suddenly the conversation turns to Ted Haggard miraculously being cured of his gay urges or whatever. So I start taking notes on a Chinese takeout menu.
The discussion progresses and Rosie tells Barbra, Joy and Elizabeth that she believes that sexuality is on a spectrum and that very few people are 100 percent homosexual or 100 percent heterosexual. Rosie then shared that when she was in her late 20s, she had a heterosexual relationship lived with a man who she lived with for two years. She recalled how fun it was to do simple things like go to the grocery store and be able to tell the checker that she was buying food for a party she and her boyfriend were having. But after awhile Rosie says "I realized it wasn't really for me. I think most people are on a continuim."
When discussing the Haggard transformation, Rosie said: "I don't think you can pray gay away. I haven't been able to in my 44 years!"
Barbara Walters was incredulous over Haggard's claim: "He went for a whole three weeks for treatment..and Jesus put him back together again." Walters then wondered if the treatment was similar to when parents are trying to prevent their kids from smoking so they let them smoke all they want until they are sick of it, or drink all they want until they don't want to drink any more.
"I want to know WHAT they did in those three weeks," Barbara said, getting a big laugh. Ever the class act, she added: "We wish him well."
Joy Behar, bless her heart, had a few things to say on the topic. She confessed that she had never had a lesbian encounter since playing doctor when she was five with a girl named Daisy: "I was the doctor," she said. Behar added this anecdote: "I know a guy who once said, 'I'm bisexual. I like gay men and straight men!'"
As the discussion wrapped up, Rosie pointed out that the reason so many people feel the pressure to hide is because of preachers like Haggard while Joy points out that families also need to be more open and supportive: "The parents need to ask the child, 'Listen, are you gay?' ...If you have the impulse, you should follow your heart - that's why the priesthood is such a mess right now."
Added Rosie: "We're all human and we're all capable of loving each and the body parts are irrelevant."

Tonight's episode of Bravo's new Top Design competition offers a rare moment for reality TV: A cast member discloses that he is HIV-positive, USA Today reports. John Gray, whose temper-filled outbursts caused friction among the competing interior designers on Top Design's debut last week, reveals his anger was fueled by medication used in his treatment.
"I just want everyone to know I'm HIV-positive," Gray tells his fellow contestants. "I'm not making excuses or apologies."
The burly Gray's macho posturing and outbursts may have sparked tension last week on the show, which was Bravo's highest-rated series premiere ever at 1.8 million viewers. But his comments tonight barely cause a reality-show ripple among the group, who share a dorm-style hotel for 10 weeks.
"Everyone was shocked by John's behavior the first few days," says rival Carisa-Perez Fuentes, 26.
After his disclosure, "there was some heightened understanding of his behavior. Relationships changed for the better. And he mellowed out."
Gray, 40, was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1993. (Those who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, don't necessarily have the disease.)
"I don't want to be the new face for HIV or be on the cover of Out," Gray says. "I felt the cast was entitled to an explanation for my behavior."
He explains that his anger was fueled by testosterone taken to counteract lower levels induced by HIV. His dosage was boosted 400 percent just before the show started because he wasn't sure how long he'd be away from home. "After the first episode, I asked myself why I was so angry, and it was a light-bulb moment."

Yes, that's recently cured homosexual Ted Haggard, the former evangelical minister who this week declared that after three weeks of counseling, he is now "100 percent heterosexual." That statement is almost as funny as this parody of the Snickers bar ad. Almost. It's more sad that funny. This is from DailyKoz.com via Towleroad.com and, of course, Haggard is photo shopped into the photo!

Haggard Disappointed over Public Response to Snickers Super Bowl AD
by Dood Abides
Phoenix, AZ (UPSI) - Newly declared heterosexual Ted Haggard came forward today to register his displeasure with the American public over condemnation of a recent Snickers Super Bowl ad in which he appeared. Mars Inc. was caught off guard by a tidal wave of public anger over the commercial which depicts an accidental kiss between two males. The company immediately pulled the ad campaign after overwhelming complaints that it was anti-gay. Haggard took issue with the public outcry, stating that he felt his performance reflected a natural, humorous and "completely heterosexual" situational response.

The Snickers ad was one of a number of recent attempts by the disgraced pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado to parlay his celebrity and notoriety. Most recently Haggard had been a spokesmodel for an Australian brand of underwear called the Wonderjock. Haggard, a staunch anti-gay Christian, was forced out of his 22 year position as founding pastor of the 14,000 member mega-church after revelations that he had been involved in a three-year sexual relationship with a male escort from Denver.

Haggard recently declared himself completely and totally heterosexual after an intensive three-week spiritual retreat in Phoenix, and continues to receive ongoing Christian counseling. In an e-mail to friends, Haggard stated that he was now considering a career in psychology in order to combat the profession's progressive attitudes towards homosexuality from within and conform it to the teachings of the Bible and the example of Jesus.
"I really enjoyed doing the Snickers commercial," stated Haggard. "There is a sense of camaraderie, I suppose, that develops between actors in that kind of situation. There were a lot of takes, and a lot of candy bars in order to get the scene just right. It's a scientific fact that chocolate has chemical compounds that are similar to methamphetamine and stimulate sexual feelings, so it was a little tough on me. I'm just really disappointed with the American public that there is such intolerance for heterosexual feelings."

A spokesman for Mars Inc. stated that the Haggard/Snickers ad campaign had been pulled completely and would not return. He stated that the failed ad had in actuality been a positive learning experience for the corporation and that they had no idea of the extent to which their candies and other products were utilized by the gay and lesbian community. Plans were underway to revamp some older products and aggressively target this newly discovered market. The spokesman stated that the public could look for a new "Brokeback Mounds" bar in the near future, which promised to turn coconut haters into coconut lovers.

The magnificant Melissa Ethridge, so vibrant and beautiful, said at Monday's Oscar lunch that being nominated for an Academy Award is a lot different than being up for a Grammy. Melissa, nominated for best song for her "I Need to Wake Up" from the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," tells Marilyn Beck's column that "being an Oscar nominee is a hundred times more intense. It's old school. They have rules and they do things by the rules. The Grammys are more laid back."
From what I could see at the luncheon, Melissa seemed quite at ease in the company of her fellow nominees and was a popular figure in the room. It could be that she just has so much more experience at the Grammys. She's won two and been nominated a total of 14 times.
Melissa, who has a new studio album out by the end of 2007, tells Beck's column that she would not hesitate to do another song for a film: "If the right projects come along."

At last, an NBA player is coming out of the closet. Great! The sports world and American society needs it, even if the olayer is retired. The player is John Amaechi, a former player with the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic, and he is the first NBA player to come out as gay, according to Outsports.com, which broke the story wide open Monday.
Amaechi will announce publicly for the first time that he is gay on an episode of ESPN's "Outside The Lines" to air Feb. 13. His book, published by ESPN Books, "Man In The Middle," chronicles his NBA career and directly addresses the travails of being a closeted professional athlete. It will be released the following week.

Outsports has been tracking this story for the last year, as quiet rumblings in private conversations started to surface, and had agreed to embargo a story until just prior to his first TV appearance. However, speculation that Amaechi was coming out has become heavy in the past few days, with his publicist, Howard Bragman, dropping hints at a Super Bowl week party in Miami about an NBA player coming out. The publicist had previously handled the coming out of NFL player Esera Tuaolo, golfer Rosie Jones and WNBA superstar Sheryl Swoopes.

Outsports acquired a copy of Amaechi's book last week. They report that Arnaechi writes of his first sexual experience in the United States, and how the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake City, controlled by the Latter Day Saints, was an odd backdrop for what felt like his coming out party. He also acknowledges that those in gay clubs like New York's Splash and Los Angeles' Abbey who have claimed in the past to have spotted him there while he was with the Jazz may, in fact, have done so.
"By the end of my second Utah season, I was practically daring reporters to take the bait and out me," he writes. "But it never happened. My sexuality, I felt, had become an open secret, which was fine by me. I'd left enough open to interpretation that suspicions were gaining momentum."
On the court, Amaechi played in 301 games over five seasons, ending in 2003 with the Utah Jazz. His best seasons were in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 when he started 89 games for the Orlando Magic. His career high for points came in a 2000 game against Denver, when he scored 31.

Monday's Oscar nominees luncheon was unbelievably fun and I'm glad I brought a camera. I tried to get a picture of, or with anyone I chatted with and am glad to have figured out how to download the pics for the blog. To read my account of the luncheon, see My Lunch with DiCaprio, Hudson and Wahlberg and Oscar nominees lunch: the stars arrive. There will be photo galleries of past events posted in the coming weeks and days and hopefully, more from future events. I've been bringing you my words these past seven months, now I'm going to bring you more of my pistures too. Enjoy!

I like the watchdog role that bloggers like AfterElton.com, Towleroad.com and Americablog.com and groups including GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and the Matthew Shepard Foundation have taken this week in the Snickers bar controversy.
They spoke up and pointed out the homophobia in a commercial showing two guys who freak out after accidentally kissing after eating from seperate ends of the same candy bar. They decide to "do something manly" after the kiss and begin ripping hair out of their chests.
The commercial, which debuted during the Super Bowl, was yanked from the air Tuesday. But even more offensive were the alternative endings shown on Afterthekiss.com, a since-pulled website that has four different endings for the commercial including a violent ending where instead of hair chest pulliing, one mechanic hits the other on the head with a wrench. The Web site also showed reaction from grossed-out NFL players.
Mars Inc. spokeswoman Alice Nathanson said Tuesday: "We know that humor is highly subjective and we understand that some consumers have found the commercial offensive. Clearly that was not our intent. We do not plan to continue the ad on television or on our Web site."
Judy Shepard, who son was brutally murdered in a hate crime, said: “I am outraged that Mars, the NFL and these players would promote such an anti-gay message. This campaign encourages the same type of hate that led to the death of my son Matthew. It essentially gives ‘permission’ to our society to verbally or physically harass individuals who are gay, lesbian or bisexual,�? said Shepard, Executive Director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. “
She added: "In particular, I am dismayed that these players, who are role models to our young people, would participate in perpetuating such discrimination and prejudice.�?
Neil Giuliano, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said “Mars, Inc., needs to... hold those within the company and at its ad agency publicly accountable for promoting anti-gay prejudice and violence. We want to sit down with both Mars and the NFL to address our concerns and give them an opportunity to raise public awareness about the destructive impact of these kinds of anti-gay images and comments.�?

Well, it seems that the whole LeeLee Sobieski wardrobe malfunction episode at Saturday night's Directors Guild of America Awards has helped to drive up traffic for Out In Hollywood, which described the incident in detail in the post "The DGAs: from Scorsese's win to Sobieski's wardrobe malfunction."
I thought it would be fun to share a snapshot of the lovely LeeLee and my pal James, who was in town over the weekend and who I took to the event. James, who cover politics in Ohio, is wondering if ALL Hollywood events are this exciting...
p.s. This photo was taken after the wardrobe malfunction onstage. But even in place, the dress looks pretty dangerous!

When I used to watch "Melrose Place" in the 90s, I always kinda wanted to see Jake (Grant Show) get it on with Billy (Andrew Shue). Since the only gay guy on that show was Matt (Doug Savant), this obviously never happened. But this fantasy is, in a way, coming true on then FX show "Dirt" where Show is playing a closeted movie star having an affair with the brother of a tabloid editor played by Courtney Cox.

Judging from these steamy pictures (and there is another one I deemed too graphic to post), I gotta say, both actors are NOT holding back. They accepted gay roles and are being quite physical with each other as gay men are. It's a long ways from the days when Matrt on "Melrose" used to say goodnight to his dates with...A HUG!
Enjoy these pics from "Dirt," I know I did! They make the upcoming Courtney Coxz-Jennifer Aniston kiss seem pretty irrelevant.

Last season, the wonderful teenage sociopath Andrew Van de Camp (Shawn Pyfrom) had lots to do on "Desperate Housewives" including blackmailing his mother Bree. Andrew also spent some time with his boyfriend locking lips and more.
Those were the days...
This season, Andrew has been reduced to glorified extra. In the last original episode, I think he literally had maybe one line. He was sitting on the sofa eating chips and tells his mother that his stepfather had gone across the street. Couldn't Andrew have been sitting on that sofa with his boyfriend? I am stunned by his being put on the back burner this way and very disappointed given that the show's creator, Marc Cherry, is a gay man who took great pride in revealing that Andrew is gay after the show had become a blockbuster. This way Cherry did not have to run it by the network and face possibly interference.
But given that the network is ABC, and that a show on that network, "Brothers & Sisters," has the most fully-realized gay character in all of television (Kevin Walker played by Matthew Rhys), I doubt it would be much of a problem.
Then we have the CBS sitcom "The Class" which I still like but liked a lot more when the gay character on the show, Kyle (played by Sean Maguire) was actually in scenes with his boyfriend. The boyfriend has been absent for several episodes as Kyle becomes closer pals with the straight Ethan (Jason Ritter). Also absent from the show has been openly gay actor Sam Harris who was showcased each week as Perry Pearl, the gayest straight man ever. Some people had trouble with Harris' character who seemed so obviously gay to everyone but himself and his high-strung wife. But I personally thought Harris was hilarious in the role.
And perhaps most disappointing of all is what happened this season on NBC's 'Heroes." I don't watch the show but followed a controversy that was well-reported on AfterElton.com. The character of Zach, best friend of the regenerating cheerleader Claire, was originally gay but was quietly changed.
Show creator Tim Kring has said in an interview before the show's debut that Zach, played by Thomas Dekkar, is gay. AfterElton said that Dekkar's management insisted the character of Zach not be gay. Kring later told the Web site that indeed, the character was changed from gay to straight but said the change occurred only because of the needs of the story.
"I am very sorry this has caused concern for the readers of your website. It was certainly not our intention to confuse the issue of Zach's character being gay," Kring wrote in an e-mail. "We have too much respect for our audience to do that intentionally. However, it has simply become too complicated behind the scenes to push this issue further with this particular character. We apologize for misleading the audience, and wish that we could have handled things better on our end. But making a TV show is often a very imprecise business."
When these gay characters fade from prominence and instead we get homophobic ad campaigns for Snickers bars during the Super Bowl, it is concerning and a reminder of how far gays still have to go on network television.
For now, Kevin Walker is carrying the flag for all of us.

When you have a girlfriend as glamorous as Portia de Rossi, it would be hard to stand out anyway. Ellen DeGeneres doesn't really try but she does put effort into her look and wouldn't mind a fashion question or two thrown her way next time she and her love are making their way past the press.
Ellen talks about this and other topics relating to her upcoming stint hosting the Oscars in the new issue of W Magazine and she look downright glam in on the cover!
Here is a morsel:"Whenever Portia and I are on the red carpet, they’re yelling out for her to tell them what she’s wearing. But nobody cares [about what I’m wearing] because I have a suit on, even if it’s a Gucci suit. That to me is frustrating, because I put effort into getting ready too. But I guess it’s not as important, and I’m not as dressed up somehow. I also feel myself more of a person than a gender. When people show me clothing that seems very, very feminine, it’s hard for me to embrace that, because it just doesn’t feel like me.... It was fun [for the shoot] having somebody do that to my hair, and do that makeup. But would I want to do that every single day? No."

Craig was named best actor for "Casino Royale," his debut outing as James Bond at the Evening Standard British Film Award's in London. Craig, who has won both critical praise and box office favor as the first blond Bond, is also up for the best-actor prize at next week's British Academy Film Awards.
Gee, I just couldn't find a photos online of Craig at the awards ceremony (okay, I didn't look very hard) so here is an image of just some random scene from "Casino Royale." Ha! I think I've posted a variation of this shot maybe a dozen times in the last 4-5 months. It's a good one, huh?
Craig will be hoping to follow it up next week with a Bafta, where he is up against the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Peter O'Toole. Helen Mirren, who is an Academy Awards favorite for her turn as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen," lost the best actress prize to Judi Dench, awarded for her portrayal of a predatory lesbian schoolteacher in "Notes on a Scandal."

I'm not gonna lie, the only part of the Super Bowl I was even remotely interested in was the half-time show and