A TOTALLY SERIOUS, IN-DEPTH LOOK AT ABSOLUTELY ALL THE NEWS THIS WEEK
A clown takes on gay marriage, an Aussie rugby player is honored gay men find him hot, Bozo the Clown on gay marriage and #FAIL of the Week!
Our friends over at Outsports.com just published an interview with Aussie rugby player David Williams. He's the smokin' hot athlete who won their King of the Hardwood contest (sorta like our Hot 100 voting, but only for athletes). Upon hearing he won, Williams said he's honored to have so many gay fans and would have no problems at all with a gay teammate. As is so often the case with hotness, hot isn't just about looks! Although in Williams' case, he's hot enough to get asked to pose nekkid for charity.
This past week, two writers from two very different publications took on the topic of same-sex marriage. Frank Rich of The NewYork Times used the rise of Adam Lambert to make the case that it's not the far right stopping progress on same-sex marriage and the repeal of Don't Ask/Don't Tell, but rather the lack of willingness on the part of Democrats to confront the issue. (Interesting, but ultimately I disagree.)
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the thrice divorced Sam Schulman wrote an insane piece for The Weekly Standard explaining that his opposition to gay marriage has nothing to do with anti-gay bigotry or biblical justifications. Rather, it's about "protecting women", defining the kinship system, making sure heterosexual sex isn't illicit and marking the passage from adult to child. As a writer says over at DailyKos, it reads as if it came from the 1950s. If very many straight men really think like this, I pity all of our straight female readers!
Last week when I mentioned the Wayans Brothers had released Dance Flick, their latest "spoof" movie, I noted that it would likely have some gay jokes. Sure enough, the movie includes a take-off on the song "Fame" called "Flame" that is a coming out anthem for the movie's "Zac Efron" character. That could be cute, alas, the reviews are absolutely horrendous.
In happier movie news, 20-year-old Canadian Xavier Dolan found himself unexpectedly clutching a handful of awards from Cannes for his first feature I Killed My Mother (J'ai tue ma mere) which won the Art Cinema Award, the SACD Prize for best French-language film, and the the Regards Jeunes 2009 Prize during the Cannes Directors' Fortnight. The film — about a 16-year-old boy just discovering his sexuality and his annoying mother — was one of the most talked about and was greeted with a standing O by audiences. Kudos to Dolan and I look forward to watching!
This week Rod 2.0 blogged about a new music video by Pretty Ricky's lead singer Spectacular in which the singer bumps and grinds wearing only a pair of briefs. Oh, and he also challenged Bow Wow and Chris Brown to a dance-off. Rod reports fans who caught the video on black gossip blogs were not happy with Spectacular's gay-ish antics. But don't worry says, Spectacular as the vid is for ladies only and adds "No homo."
Gay folks across the country got their peeve on this week as the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8 which stripped gay Californians of the right to marry (although the 18,000 cuples who did get married are still married). Protests erupted across the state as the GLBT community vented their frustration over the decision.
While I totally get the anger and think Prop 8 is morally repugnant, I ultimately think the court did the right thing for our cause. I think the next time the state votes, same-sex marriage will pass easily and, since it will have been the will of the people, no one can argue with it. Well, no one not insane.
Yes, I'm talking to you National Organization of Marriage.
File this one under WTF was he thinking since this is one gay performer who really needs the gays at this point. I'm speaking of Clay Aiken and in case you missed it, last week the Season 2 American Idol runner-up trashed current American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert just before Lambert's loss to Kris Allen. While admitting he hadn't even watched an entire episode, Aiken saw enough to comment that Lambert made his ears bleed and was "contrived, awful and slightly frightening."
Cue the apology as Monday, Aiken said he hadn't meant he'd really bled from his ears and blamed the blogosphere for making such a big deal out of what he posted on his ... blog. Next stop for Clay? I'm a (Not Very Bright) Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here! followed by a line of muzzles on QVC. Meanwhile, Lambert shrewdly pointed out that Aiken got what he wanted: headlines.
With this week's column, I'm introducing a #FAIL of the Week to be awarded to some "worthy" recipient. Note, since the BGWE is a humor column (supposedly!), I'm not going to actually pick something big and serious such as Prop 8, but am instead going to single out something more obscure.
And this week's award goes to Entertainment Weekly PopWatch blogger Annie Barrett for her post Nigel Lythgoe is sorry you think he hates the gays. Barrett's analysis had all the depth of a water molecule, including noting that Lythgoe's comments weren't "overtly homophobic" and that he's just a "ballroom traditionalist who didn't like the performance."
Um, actually, Annie, he said the dancing itself was fine. It was the gender he couldn't get past and even suggested the guys try dancing with girls as they might even like it. Maybe you can see how that is a touch overtly homophobic? Barrett also helpfully suggested viewers who don't like Lythgoe just fastword through his portions.
And like every other traditional journalist, Barrett missed the entire story of how Fox edited the whole segment to be as homohobic as possible.
So congratulations, Annie Barrett for getting our first #FAIL of the Week award!
Editor's update: Two hours after the BGWE went live, Annie tweeted about the "award":
Next page! Where are Tom Brady and Kurt Warner going together?
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