AfterElton Briefs: "Low Carb Qeers," "A Little Respect" Redux, Gaga Unveiled, and More!

Alan Cumming on the cover of the next Next

• Monday, January 24th is going to be huge for fans of RuPaul's Drag Race. Tune into Logo (our parent company) at 8 PM EST for the show's first-ever casting special, followed by a 90-minute season opener at 9 PM EST, and then a new season of Untucked returns to the runway at 10:30 PM EST.

• Guest judges this season include Lily Tomlin, Vanessa Williams, Johnny Weir, Margaret Cho, Sharon Osbourne, Mike Ruiz, and Susan Powter. I admit i squealed a bit when I saw that last name. Susan Powter! The "Stop the Insanity" lady from the 90's who rocked her Annie Lennox-circa "Missionary Man" look. She disappeared for a while, but came back (and came out) a few years ago.

• This was inevitable. That terrorist collective is planning to picket the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards.

• Erasure has just released a new version of "A Little Respect" recorded with youth chorus students from the Harvey MIlk School. Proceeds from the track will benefit The Hetrick-Martin Institute and True Colors Fund.

• New Zealand beer company Moa is apologizing for a T-shirt t campaign which "suggests" low carb beer drinkers are gay. The t-shirts read "Low Carb Beers," with a pink 'Q' superimposed over the letter 'B' making it "Qeers." Surprisingly, the marketing manager admitted that the campaign is saying that anyone who drinks low carb beer must be queer, but they are "bothered" that it might offend people. A Faceplace backlash ensued, which included this gem from someone fabulously named Bones O'Connor: "Hey! F**k you, MOA! How dare you leave the U out of QUEER." On a side note, I'm changing my name to Bones O'Connor.

• TV Guide Canada has apologized to Ed O'Neill for misquoting his statement about Jane Lynch not deserving her Emmy. They released the full quote he made, in which he basically still says she shouldn't have won, only a bit nicer.

• I admit I don't know much about Polari, the slang language once used by some British gays when homosexuality was illegal, but I didn't realize it was on the endangered language list.

• Yet another reason not to donate to The Salvation Army. According to this article, they refuse to distribute donated Harry Potter and Twilight toys. Not only that, but instead of giving those toys to other charities, they throw them away.

• Unbelievable. A man in Utah lives directly behind an elementary school and decided to use his backyard to send this message to the kids and teachers: "Stop Gay Suicide." You can guess what happened next. Below you can see a news report on the school's reaction, which boils down to "suicide is not discussed in elementary school."

• As you've no doubt heard, the Senate has rejected the Defense Dept. appropriations bill containing a measure approving repeal of DADT policy by a vote of 57-40, but according to this tweet, it may not be over. We'll see.

• Remember that whole "Arsenic Life Form That I thought Was Going To Become The Blob" commotion from last week? Some scientists are calling b.s. on the whole thing.

• The Lady Gaga wax figures were unveiled at Madame Tussaud's around the world this morning. Some likenesses are better than others.

• Below you can see a fascinating look at how Gaga was created. Well, the wax Gaga.

• Below you can see the first promo for the Spike TV Video Game Awards airing this Saturday at 8 PM EST, with host Neil Patrick Harris.

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