22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards Including Ricky Martin's Speech, Plus Partially Clothed Vikings

All photos credit: Getty Images

30 Rock, True Blood, Russell Simmons and Ricky Martin were just a few of the honorees at the 22nd annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York on Saturday. (Note: this is the first of GLAAD's three annual events. The second will be held in Los Angeles in April, and the third in San Francisco in May.)

This weekend's NYC shindig was presented by ROKK Vodka, which also sponsored a private reception and an after party. Plus, no doubt the next morning's hangover.

The Excellence in Media Award was presented to hip hop artist Russell Simmons for his activism in repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and for his strong support of marriage equality.

Ricky Martin received the Vito Russo Award and gave this acceptance speech:

True Blood was honored for outstanding drama series. Actor Denis O'Hare accepted on behalf of the show. Meanwhile, Tina Fey accepted 30 Rock's award for outstanding individual episode in a series without a regular LGBT character.

Anderson Cooper 360 was recognized for outstanding TV journalism for its reporting on gay teen suicides.

On the pages that follow we've got photos of the star studded affair. If you are wondering why so many celebrities are posing with beefy, half-clothed Norsemen: those guys are the sponsor's mascot, The Rokk Vodka Vikings.

Chris March and the ROKK Vodka Vikings

Denis O'Hare

AfterElton: I have to ask, I know your lips are probably sealed, but can you give us any spoilers about True Blood's next season? You're in the concrete, but you're alive ...
Denis O'Hare: I am alive!

AE:  So any chance we'll see you in Season 4?
DO: Let's put it this way: they probably finish shooting in June … and it's only March. So … you never know.

AE:  Cryptic! Now, how did you feel playing a character like Russell, who was this big bad vampire uber-villain, but he also had such a soft spot, a tender side, for his husband Talbot. Even though he's the villain, you felt for him when Talbot died.
DO: I know! I love that.

AE:  Was it difficult to find that balance?
DO: No, the writing is so good on True Blood, in that they always give you more than one thing – you never play just one thing. And the character are complex enough that everyone's ambiguous. You know? How do you really feel about Bill? How do you feel about Sookie? Or Tara? Everyone's got good and bad points, everyone behaves irrationally and emotionally. So I love that with this vampire and with his boyfriend Talbot we get a different flavor. We saw a domestic life, we saw a real relationship, a real gay relationship, a gay marriage, which I thought was fantastic.

AE:  You just closed a play on Broadway. Any theatrical project in your future?
DO: I'm gonna do a play next spring, called An Iliad, at the New York theater workshop. It's a play that I've co-written with Lisa Peterson, and it's about an hour and a half, kind of our version of The Iliad.