Morning Meme: Joe Manganiello Ready To Drop Trou For "Magic Mike," Brad Pitt Producing "The Normal Heart," and Meet Steve Jones

Joe Manganiello says that he has no problem dropping trou for his role in Magic Mike, since he's been doing it on True Blood already, though he doesn't know if his costars are ready. But what really makes him giggle is that as a classically trained actor, stardom rides on his bare bottom. "The fact that I've said yes to a part named Big Dick Richie is hilarious to me. When I first started acting it was Merchant of Venice and all of these Ibsen plays and turn-of-the-century drama, so the fact that I went through all of that training and now I'm known because I flash my butt on screen, that's hysterical."

GLAAD has released their Amplifier Awards for Advertising, and the Google Chrome ad that ran during Glee for It Gets Better won the mainstream television category. My personal favorite is the Met Life print ad, but I'm a total sucker for anything with Snoopy.

Boxer Oscar De La Hoya has finally admitted those pictures of him in fishnets and women's underwear are real, blaming them on a cocaine and alcohol problem he's since conquered.

Does hosting a GOP presidential debate with Fox News violate Google's motto of "Do no evil?"

Brad Pitt's Plan B is going to produce Ryan Murphy's big screen adaptation of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart. With all those names behind it, it seems like this project may finally get off the ground.

It appears that the National Organization for Marriage came up short in its $100,000 social media challenge. Back in June they claimed a wealthy donor would give them $1 for every Facebook like or Twitter follow. That ended August 31, and how much did they raise? $1,229!

More than 16 years ago, sportswriter Skip Bayless spread a rumor that Troy Aikman was gay. It hardly hurt Aikman's career, as he won the Super Bowl, made a ton of money, and  became a top sportscaster himself. So it's all water under the bridge after all these years, right? Wrong! “I will tell you this. I’ve not seen — I’ve not physically seen Skip Bayless since that time. That was in ’95. And I still kind of wonder what I might do to him when I do see him.”

Florida pastor Mike Stahl thinks that there should be a national registry of atheists, just like there is for sex offenders.  "I mean , in the City of Miramar, Florida, where I live, the population is approx. 109,000. My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 are ADMITTED atheists! Perhaps we may actually know some. In which case we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism. Or perhaps they are radical atheists, whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh’s, in that case, if they are business owners, we would encourage all our Christian friends, as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be “feeding” Satan.

Senior campaign advisor to Senator Scott Brown (and Mitt Romney) Eric Fehrnstrom has admitted that an offensive Twitter account used to mock the It Gets Better Project was just him. He's proud of it, in fact. “Sometimes we take our politics too seriously and this was my way of lightening things up,” Fehrnstrom told the Globe. “As they say in politics, if you can’t stand the tweet, get out of the kitchen.” This isn't politics, you asshat, this is children killing themselves. You. Are. A. Monster.

Kal Penn's upcoming NBC comedy will be set at the United Nations, with Penn as an assistant to the U.S. ambassador.

The Brandon McInerey trial has resulted in a hung jury, proving that the gay panic defense is alive and well.  In all honesty, this case has been bungled in so many ways I'm not at all surprised.

Starz is not renewing their streaming deal with Netflix beyond February, which will cut back on the original programming, plus the movie selection. Reports say Netflix offered a 10x bump over the prior deal, but Starz took the HBO route that it wasn't about the money, it was that Netflix subscriptions were too cheap, and that devalued their original content.

Glee's Heather Morris is stirring controversy with a new photoshoot from Tyler Shields that depicts her in a domestic situation with a black eye. Shields says they were just posing some real questions, and anyone viewing the entire shoot can see Morris is not a helpless victim. Glee actresses just can't stay away from controversial pictures, can they?

The Family Research Council is suing the federal government to find out the logic behind their decision not to defend DOMA in court.

Anti-gay Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been caught on a wiretap (he's under multiple criminal investigations) saying he's leaving the country anyhow. Actually, he said much worse. "They can put listening devices where they like. They can tap my telephone calls. I don't give a f*ck. I ... In a few months, I'm getting out to mind my own f*cking business, from somewhere else, and so I'm leaving this shi*ty country of which I'm sickened." Maybe the tourism board can use that as their new slogan?

In Chaz Bono news today, Chelsea Handler took some nasty anti-trans shots at Chaz on her show. Remind me why people call her an ally again? At least Dancing With the Stars executive producer Conrad Green said the show didn't have a gay agenda. "We don't have an agenda of any sorts. I think of the 120 celebrities we've put on the show, we've had, I think now, three transgender or gay contestants. If that's a homosexual agenda, we're not doing very well at it."