There was a time when it meant something to be racist against Italians. These days, no one bats an eye if you make an "A-pizza pie!" joke. Except this Italian-American organization has drawn the line at MTV's Jersey Shore.
Today we have news about unexpected rising stars, videogames turned movies, and gay people on TV. There are no gay people on TV!
After comments about Ryan Phillippe's role as a gay teen on One Life to Live earned Jay Leno more attention than any picket line-crossing or old car-driving ever could, the late night host has issued an apology. In a statement released to People, Leno takes the classic "I'm sorry you misunderstood me" route, saying:
As we predicted back in January, beautiful CNN anchor Anderson Cooper didn't show up for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards ceremony. He was nominated and won for a touching story on homeless gay teens. Broadcasting legend Barbara Walters did show up to receive what we are assuming was a lifetime achievement award for work as Roy Cohn's beard (or something).
Stop us if you think you've heard this one before: A Grey's Anatomy star, embroiled in a behind-the-scenes controversy that simply refuses—despite the best efforts of millions across the globe, holding aloft bottles of Coke and singing about TV-doctor harmony—to die, has taped an important message about tolerance for GLAAD. Only this time, it's not Isaiah "Bigger Than Jesus and Barack" Washington doing the talking, but his velvety nemesis, T.R. Knight.
With the dawning of a new TV season comes another cherished fall tradition: the Counting of the Gays, during which GLAAD tallies up the number of same-sex-having characters appearing regularly on the 2007-08 primetime schedule. In keeping with last year's distressing trends, the Gays continues to wane:
It was hard to really find fault with Jerry Lewis after he recently announced to Entertainment Tonight's cameras that Merv Griffin "deserved to die," seeing as the sentiment was fundamentally well-intentioned, and probably originated in the defunct part of his brain devoted to censoring statements about how deceased friends had it coming to them. But Lewis was clearly pushing his luck with this impromptu comic riff from his annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, in which the Cinderfella star made light of the various social challenges being met by a particular camera operator's son.
Embattled Grey's Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington may have appeared to have mostly recovered from his rageoholic ways as he gawked sweetly at swollen testicles on a recent episode (ABC's claiming it was the guy's head, but—paging Dr. McFreudy—we still see a pair of hairy cantaloupes), but apparently his gayhab work is not yet done:
Once again, the Defamer Correspondent for Anti-Defamatory Awards Shows managed to infiltrate the turreted pink fortress that is the L.A. edition of the annual GLAAD media awards (who says scouring Craigslist at the last minute for dateless and desperate velvet mafioso is a fruitless endeavor?), and brings us yet another exhaustive report from the awards banquet sometimes referred to as the "the Gay Gay Superbowl." We now deliver you to his capable hands:
The L.A. edition of GLAAD's annual media awards were held Saturday night, when the anti-defamation organization with the poorly camouflaged hard-on for Hollywood can finally indulge a year's worth of celebrity reacharound fantasies, honoring the wonderful visibility-related work being done by famous Gays and Gay-Friendlies of every letter-designated caste. A round-up:
· Recovering slur victim T.R. Knight opened the ceremonies, telling the gathered crowd, "I am angry at the inequality we face every day. I hope to turn my anger into action." He then encouraged the audience to "imagine that eclair in front of you is Isaiah Washington," and instructed them to attack the pastry accordingly with their dessert forks. [AfterElton]
· Knight later responded to reporters' questions about how things have been between him and gayhabbed co-star Isaiah Washington behind the scenes at Grey's Anatomy (which, ironically, took the outstanding individual episode award), Knight evasively replied, "I just focus on doing the work. That's my job; that's what I'm paid for; and I think that's enough." [AccessHollywood] [CBSNews.com]
The GLAAD media awards, presented tonight in New York, have come under fire this year for a controversial policy that excludes gay media outlets, such as gay-targeted cable networks like Logo and Here, in favor of "mainstream" ones—amazingly, even networks with a majority of gay-themed programming, like Bravo and ESPN. Their reasoning is that those general interest networks go further towards furthering the gay agenda recognizing positive portrayals of gays and lesbians in the media. Never at a shortage of an opinion on anything, blogging Bravo exec Andy Cohen—whose network, purely coincidentally, is up for three awards—sees no problem with the policy:
Apparently GLAAD—the self-appointed spokespeople of the swishy bacon, lettuce and tomato loving set run by the totally hot former mayor of America's other armpit, Tempe, Arizona—announced their "Media Awards" nominees at Sundance. It seems there were no Manhattan gays at Sundance, so none of us back in the real world ever heard about it in the intervening week since.
We attended the GLAAD Media Awards last night, which are designed to "recognize and honor mainstream media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community." It was a fun evening — mostly because of the free-flowing booze and the attractive boys — but it also left us feeling conflicted. How so?
If we may briefly steal your when-gays-meet-awards attention away from Brokeback's Oscar prospects for just a moment, we'd also like to note that GLAAD announced its 17th Annual Media Awards nominations today. We'd particularly like to direct your gaze to the "Outstanding TV Journalism — News Segment" category. For that one, the nominees are:
