GLAAD Awards: April 2008 Archives

It was great to see Tuc Watkins after the awards show and to find out that his character on "Desperate Housewives" will be participating in a commitment ceremony in the season finale with partner Lee (Kevin Rahm).

Tuc Watkins has handsome leading man looks for sure. But he is also a terrific comedic actor who really has a way with a line. My all-time favorite was from an episode of "Brothers & Sisters" when gay TV exec character checked out a hot computer tech guy and said, "Hellllo lunch!" That was a Tuc adlib.

Gregg Plitt, one of the trainers this season on Bravo's "Workout," has stunning eyes in person. They look a little startling here but trust me, thjey are gorgeous - as is he.

Me and my handsome pal, Jim Key. He looks like a movie star but he's really head of communications for the LA Gay and Lesbian Center.

Jim and I with the charming Billy Baldwin of ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money." I feel kinda short standing next to these very tall dudes...

...but that's nothing compared to standing next to John Amaechi. I could be a munchkin from "the Wizard of Oz." I'm standing with John, the former NBA player and author of the great book "Between the Lines," and the terrifically talented actor Wilson Cruz. My new interview with Wilson will be posted in the coming days.

I chatted up "Grey's Anatomy" star T.R. Knight Saturday night at the GLAAD Media Awards in Hollywood and wondered how much his life has change since a year ago when he was given one of the most heart-felt standing ovations in the history of the event.

"That was embarrassing," T.R. said.

But it shouldn't have been. People, myself included, we applauding him for his grace under fire. For matter-of-factly coming out after former co-star Isaiah Washington used the f-bomb, referring to T.R., during an on-set squirmish with Patrick Dempsey.

So how has his life changed since a year ago?

"In many ways that I'm still trying to figure out I guess," T.R. said. "The obvious change is I'm seeing somebody now, that's different from last year."

He was referring to boyfriend Mark Cornelsen who was standing patiently nearby as T.R. did press before the awards. There have been lots of photos of the couple popping up on various sites and I wondered if this was a pain in the neck: "Most of the time you're not aware that people are taking photos when they do unless they're obvious and being very stinky about it."

A few pesky photogs aree nothing though compared to the good that has come of his higher profile as an openly gay television star: "I've been lucky to have been invited to lend my voice in support of organizations that I believe in and IK look forward to doing that more. I want to concentrate on helping illicit change. I look outward a lot more."

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SHORTEST SPEECH: Janet Jackson was clearly moved and emotional by the reception she got from the crowd at the Kodak Theatre Saturday night but she wasn't rendered speechless - just speech-lite.

"Thank you so much ... I love you too," she said at the beginning of her brief remarks. "I am really humbled that GLAAD would honor me in such a way tonight. I hope I can always walk worthy of this award that I hold in my hand and in my heart."

Then, she was finished! That was it!

Some folks grumbled but most agreed that they enjoyed Janet's brevity to the longer speech given last year by Jennifer Aniston - a choice that still had people scratching their heads a year later.

BIGGEST LAUGH: Kathy Griffin brought her 87-year-old mother - who most in the audience know from her appearances on "My Life on the D-List" - onto the stage for a cute little mother-daughter Q&A. Kathy joked that her mother says: "Why can't you be clean like Ellen (DeGeneres)? Ellen doesn't have to swear. Ellen's nice."

Then the fun began with Kathy asking her mother a series of questions. No matter what her mother said, it was funny because of the way she would say it. The final question was this: "Who's the gayest person in the room tonight?" Mrs. Griffin scanned the room and answered: "Ryan Seacrest?"

Brought. The. House. Down.

BEST LINE IN AN ACCEPTANCE SPEECH: "Ugly Betty" creator Silvio Horta, whose show won Outstanding Comedy Series: "I wanted to make a show with Latino characters, African Americans and gay characters. Those pesky network execs had me add some straight white people too."

SWEETEST LINE BY A PRESENTER: Billy Baldwin walked out with his gorgeous "Dirty Sexy Money" love interest, transgender actress Candis Cayne and said: "So, whaddaya think? Do I know how to pick a love interest or what?" Billy then went on to point out that Candis is the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender role on network television. Added Candis: "I really feel like the luckiest girl in the world."

MOST SHAMELESS PLEA FOR WORK: Actor Leslie Jordan, who just wrapped filming on Logo's "Sordid Lives" series, walked out to present with Garry Marshall and said: "I've been through 12 miles of bad road. My HBO series has been kicked to the curb and I'm not working." He then suggested himself for Julie Andrews royal role in the "Princess Diaries" movies if a third one is ever made: "We could change the character to an evil little queen." (NOTE: HBO paid for production of the Linda Bloodworth-Thomason series "12 Miles of Bad Road" then inexplicably decided not to air it. I have the episodes and plan to watch them and post a review)

COOLEST TRIBUTE: Presenter Sharon Stone said of honoree Rufus Wainwright: "Rufus is actually so out that he's never even seen the inside of a closet!"

MY FAVORITE LINE: Rufus Wainwright in his acceptance speech: "An artist's decision to live an authentic life should go hand-in-hand with success."

Next to the Oscars, the GLAAD Awards are probably my favorite kudofest to cover all damned year. It's just so GAY and fun. Everyone there is either gay or gay-friendly. Well, I guess it really isn't very different from the Academy Awards!

I arrived at the Kodak Theatre just after 4 p.m. to make sure I got checked in and situated on the red carpet. I had both a press credential and a VIP ticket for the cocktail party, the show itself and the gala dinner following the show. Last year, I wandered back and forth from the red carpet to the cocktail party but this year, things were roped off in a very imposing way. But I spotted these bottles of some kind of vitamin water at the bar and decided to grab one. I stupidly asked the guard near me if that was cool with him. Of course it wasn't! It may have been 10 feet from us but he was not gonna let me fetch a drink despite my ticket. I remarked that it is better to say sorry than ask permission and got a fellow journalist - Japhy Grant - to toss me a bottle. He was standing in this forbidden area with Logo's Jason Belini and Itay Hod. They didn't ask permission. Smart guys.

As stars began to appear, I noticed a strange phenomenon: red carpet squatters! Some woman with booze on her breath and slurring her words planted herself next to me and said she was friends with one of the sponsors and was taking photos. I held my tongue until she interrupted my interview with Kathy Griffin. After Kathy left, I turned to her and said, "You have got to move before I turn you in." Booze breath disappeared quick! Then there was the woman on my left who said she was from KCBS/KCAL. She had a generic mic and was shooting her own video. i know there have been budget cuts but pul-eeze. She didn't interrupt my interviews so I let her stay.

The frustrating thing about red carpets is unless you are one of the first 5-6 outlets in the line, the handlers try to limit you to one or two questions before they pull the star. So you have to really try and keep the star engaged and just ignore the handler who is making that sign across their neck that means "cut it off!"

I'll be sharing the interviews throughout the week but here is a rundown of who I gabbed with and my impressions: Janet Jackson (Speak up! Can't hear ya!), Tom Ford (Hello, gorgeous!), Jackie Warner of Bravo's "Workout" (absolutely awesome and inspiring), TR Knight (Can I see your boyfriend's ID?), Christopher Gorham (having a very good hair day and a very cute face day), Lesie Jordan (A delight!), Jeff Lewis of Bravo's "Flipping Out" (just like he is on television!), Maeve Quinlan who plays the mother of a gay teen on "South of Nowhere" (Could every actress please be this articulate and thoughtful?), Billy Baldwin (You really are the cutest Baldwin brother!), Ron Rifkin of "Ugly Betty" (Do you really want to be giving this interview? You look like you'd rather have needles in your eyes), Sofia Vergara (my new girl crush!), Rufus Wainwright (fabulous in so many ways), Andrea James and Calpernia Adams (Gorgeous gals!) and Jennifer Beals (Why are you so damned serious all the time!).

By the time the show started, I was happy to be able to sit down! I sat next to a cute writer-actor named Troy who I gabbed with before the show and felt really stupid when I complained about how high up our seats were. Mine was a complimentary seat. His cost $450.

Gulp.

Will write about the show in a seperate post. So let's zip on ahead to the after-party.. First of all, I had not eaten since 10 a.m. and forgot to put a Clif bar or something in my bag which I usually do at awards shows. So by the time the show was at the half-way point, i started to imagine that everyone sitting in front of me was a drumstick and all the little people way down there on the stage were french fries!

So once the show ended, basically bolted for the escalator upstairs to the ballroom where there was suddenly a logjam. I ask a security guard what the hold-up is. He says they have not yet opened the doors to the dinner. Ugh. But I forget about my hunger when John Amaechi stepped out of an elevator near me (John, a former NBA player, is hard to miss!) and we exchanged hellos and a hug. Then the doors open and I head straight to my table, wolf down the salad that is already at my spot then go outside to briefly hunt for stars with my pal Jim Key (pictured w/me, above). We see Billy Baldwin and get a picture snapped with this tall drink of water. I head back in and the entree is waiting for me (I had asked the waiter to [place it there even if I wasn't back at my seat). It was chicken and some kind of potsticker things. I ate it fast, made minimal chit chat, plowed through the gift bag then headed back out. Worked the room and saw Wilson Cruz who I adore and got a picture with he and Mr. Amaechi and remarked that I was in the middle of an interesting sandwich. (Is that naughty? I didn't mean it that way, honest!)

But it was best running into Tuc Watkins, the handsome actor who plays one-half of the gay couple on "Desperate Housewives," has played the scheming David Vickers on "One Life to Live" on and off for more than 10 years, and played a gay TV exec on one of my favorite all-time shows: "Beggars and Choosers." As I walked up, he said, "Greg, right?" I figured he got a copy of the column I wrote on him last fall. He never got it but said, "I remember talking to you because you ask really insightful questions. I remember it was a really good interview."

I loved the compliment for sure but wanted some scoop: What about this gay commitment ceremony on the season finale. Tuc said they are just beginning to work on it and seemed unsure of just how much he could say about. Just then Marc Cherry, his boss on the show, walked up and I moved on to let them chat. Good thing Marc had earlier provided me with some info.

That was about it. Saw lots of friends and fellow journalists but I don't want to bore you with all that! I know you just want the glitz, the glamour and the celeb dish!

-- Thanks to photographer extraordinaire Brian Putman for the pics!

The GLAAD Media Awards were a pretty star-studded affair but there was no star who burned brighter than the event's big honoree Janet Jackson who got the night's only standing ovation.

She only did a few non-televised red carpet interviews and, somehow, one of them was with me. So it was quite surreal experience to be talking to her then to suddenly be surrounded by, literally, dozens of tape recorders and microphones of other reporters horning in on our chat.

Janet just kept talking like it happens all the time, which I'm sure it does! I wanted to know how she felt about being honored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation with its Vanguard Award for her influence in increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS and LGBT equality in the mainstream media.

"I love it," Janet said. "I never expected it in a million years so when I heard they wanted to honor me, I was really taken aback. It's just for the work that I've done with AIDS and acknowledging the gay and lesbian community through my music and so on. I'm just very appreciative."

Janet, whose chart-topping single "Together Again" was a tribute to the close friends she lost to AIDS, said she grew up in a very gay-friendly household.

"Even when I was younger, when I was growing up, my mother was very religious but there were a lot of kids who were dancers that she brought into the home and now that I think about it, think back, they were gay. They all called her mother and she treated every one of them like they were her children. And that's where it kind of started I suppose and I've been around the community all my life."

Janet's award was presented Saturday night inside a sold-out Kodak Theater in Hollywood by Ellen DeGeneres. Other stars in attendance included Billy Baldwin, Wilson Cruz, Jennifer Beals, Cindy Crawford, Sharon Stone, Christopher Gorham, Sally Field, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Leslie Jordan, Becki Newton, Michael Urie and Candis Cayne, among others.

More reports from the GLAAD Awards to come over the next several days!