Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester was spotted having dinner with a "hot male companion" at Lunetta on Broadway, according to Page Six. That's true, as far as it goes, but the report in the Post gossip column left out a few key facts: first, the actress' companion, Chris Rovzar, was a New York reporter working on the magazine cover story on the buzzed-about CW show; the delicate Rovzar, who used to date Patrick Healy of the New York Times, is gay, transparently gay; and the item was phoned in by a publicist for the show, as Rovzar revealed in the article.

[Blake Lively, star of "Gossip Girl" (returning tonight, muthafuckas!), filming in New York over the weekend; image via Splash]

New York magazine did a cover story/listicle on the importance of Gossip Girl, and this comment is fairly typical of the reader reaction: "I love this article so much. Im 15 and completely obsessed with this show. I have been counting the days till its return for so long." It is indeed a fun article! It's written by admitted fans who once "played hooky from work for an hour and skip-walked all the way from our offices in far west Soho to the East Village to catch a scene of the show being filmed." And it's designed to convert people like, uh, me, who maybe kind-of have never seen the show or whatever. ANYWAY, moving right along, here are some reasons to love Gossip Girl, from New York's love letter to the show:

Poor Chace Crawford. The Gossip Girl actor has been dragged through the rumor mill by his beautiful floppy hair of late, mostly because certain bloggers have accused him of having boy sex with JC Chasez. Now, he might actually be gay, or he may just be a pretty straight man. Either way, the rumors have firmly affixed themselves on his public persona, like a pink sparkly remora fish, and weak statements about what he looks for in a girl will not shake them off. So what's a possible breeder to do? Well, follow the lead of a Sex and the City character, of course.

One must be "upscale" to be an extra on Gossip Girl, at least according to a recent Craigslist casting call. Also: ladies, please wear "cocktail dresses in black or gem tones" for this fancy "elite rehersal [sic] dinner party." Upscale! Just like John Fitzgerald Page. Who is a professional extra! Oh please oh please oh please let him show up on an episode of Gossip Girl, then the universe could finally wink out of existence and we could all live for happy, restful eternities in the ethereal void.

As we've been told time and time again, life often imitates art. And while we'd refrain from calling Gossip Girl "art," Leighton Meester has allegedly been using her on-screen character's controlling and manipulative tendencies behind the scenes as well. Nan Zhang, who played suspected Gossip Girl scribe Jenny, has disappeared from the New York set. Though creator Josh Schwartz is blaming the sole minority character's displacement on Zhang's ridiculous decision to focus on school, those on set are pointing their fingers in Meester's direction:

GoldenFiddle is excited and scandalized, just like you all should be. That's Nate and Serena! OMFG is right. Click through for larger (fake, right?) poster.

Do you remember the two conspicuously silent token minorities on Gossip Girl? One is Asian, the other is black, and they say nothing. Sometimes the black girl will give funny looks or the Asian girl will giggle at her cell phone (as is expected of all Asian girls), but that's about it. Well now one of them has left and there are conspiracies afoot. Nan Zhang, who plays the oddly-named Kati Farkas, recently left the show abruptly, reportedly because she enrolled at Brown University during the writer's strike, and failed to tell anyone . Good for her! (Though, Providence! Sorry!) Buttttt, people on the set are whispering that there was a more sinister reason for her sudden departure.

[Taylor Momsen (center) and company on the Gossip Girl set today; image via INF]

An unnamed production assistant on the show Gossip Girl attempted to take it to the next level with one of the show's stars, Leighton Meester. After weeks of thinking he was picking up a vibe from Meester (and fueled by the drunken logic of friends over the weekend), the P.A. asked Meester if she'd like to share a Coke with him. Meester smiled and politely said that she'd like to, but she had to go over her lines for the next scene. As the dejected P.A. walked away, a near by teamster scoffed, "If you're gonna try to pull anybody, pull an extra, you big dummy. When you're Mister Big Time Movie Producer, then you go for the star."

[Gossip Girl, one of the whitest shows on TV, cast member Blake Lively leaving the show's New York set; image via Splash]

"Acting is all about a kind of self-expression. When you take on different roles and become different characters, you have to draw upon your own experiences ... On Gossip Girl, Jenny is just coming into her own. She's the sweet, nice, shy kid. In Paranoid Park, Jennifer is the popular girl... It was such a change for me." - Gossip Girl actress Taylor Momsen, who is 14 years old, in a recent Paper magazine interview. Click through for larger image.

["Gossip Girl" stars Jessica Szohr and Blake Lively on the New York set yesterday; image via INF. And yes, I know I am a dork.]

On the soon-returning (falls over in odd mix of joy and misery) Gossip Girl, Jenny Humphrey will have a new love interest. From a different school. The young chippy will take up with a character played by Jesse Swenson (pictured, click for larger), an actor previously seen playing that gay kid in your English class. The character will attend a rival (lots of slapping wars and maid kidnapping!) tony New York City prep school, which will cause some trouble for rising social bee Jenny. No word yet on whether Chace Crawford has humped him silly yet, but we'll let you know as soon as we picture it in our heads. [NYP] Photo via INF

["Gossip Girl" newcomer Michelle Trachtenberg seen leaving the Waverly Inn with fashion designer Marc Jacobs on Saturday night; image via Splash]

[Michelle Trachtenberg, the actress sent to destroy "Gossip Girl," filming in New York today; image via INF]

Yesterday we pondered a deep and important question: Which dude on Gossip Girl is the geigh one? We took a poll and a resounding 62% of you believe it to be Eric van der Woodsen, the twinky little brother of sexpot moon goddess Serena. This is very likely. It's already been rumored that Eric is in fact the Gossip Girl, which would make him pretty darn gay (and the possessor of a remarkable Kristen Bell impersonation.) Plus, in the past he had some kind of crazy wrist-cutty freakout and, as we all know, gay people are wild and unstable. Yeah he's had little moments with busty Jenny Humphrey, but the writers are probably just laying the groundwork for a haggish friendship. 20% of you think it's Chuck Bass, the scheming trout-faced rake who was a bit gay in the books. Plus the Daily News posits that Ed Westwick, who plays Chuck might be a homo with fellow actor Chace Crawford. (Nah, they're "just mates" who live together, Westwick says. Heh. Mates.) I'd be satisfied with any outcome, just as long it's not Al Borland (which means I disagree with twenty-nine of you). Definitive proof of Eric van der Woodsen's gayness after the jump. Look closely!

Chace Crawford, the Gossip Girl star so pretty that one bat of his lashes is enough to instantly knock crowds of his tweenage fanbase clear unconscious, has been linked quite a bit lately to former NSYNC member JC Chasez. Not even a suspiciously timed and worded Page Six item describing the actor as being "surrounded by women" seemed to quell the rumors regarding these frequent bunk buddies. Now, via cameraphone-equipped operative, we bring you this latest addition to the Defamer Citizen Paparazzi files. It's an eyewitness account of what Chase and J.C. (can we just give them a celebrity couple's name already? Chésee it is!) were up to over this unseasonably warm L.A. weekend:

[Taylor Momsen filming "Gossip Girl" in New York today; image via INF]

On his TV Guide blog, Michael Ausiello whispers that a source close to the CW show Gossip Girl (only watched by me) tells him that one of the male characters will soon reveal himself to be a gay person (also known as "coming out of the closet," or, "who the hell really cares"). "The aftershocks will be felt on both sides of the East River", says his source!! Ohh. Marginally interesting intrigue. We really don't think that it will be Nate, because that would just be too cruel to the gurgling tweenyboppers who lust after actor Chace Crawford. But there are a few other characters who are already questionably gay on this unquestionably gay television show. So who do you think it will be? A fun, it's-the-Monday-after-Easter poll after the jump.