On Lady Gaga: This is one of those topics that I call “gay untouchable,” meaning I haven’t seen the film yet and yet I’m afraid to say that. If I do see it and I have one criticism, I’m afraid to say it. Like as an ally I believe there is a law that I have to love this movie. And as a gay man sight unseen I already want it to win Best Picture. Based on the commercial, that there’s even a moment when Lady Gaga acts like she’s not sure if she’s a good singer – that’s why she should win the Academy Awards. I’ve met Lady Gaga. She gave me eggs. I went to see Tony Bennett and Gaga and I had never met Lady Gaga before and I was like, “What? How did these two gay guys never meet?” So I got in touch with her team and said, “Can I come back stage and say hi?” and it was really sweet. She had brought a present for me and then she brought a present for Tony as if she wasn’t seeing him every night that year. It was this beautiful wrapped box of eggs, and she gives me a box of eggs and I’m super excited because I can’t help it. And Tony’s like, “What are these?” And I’m trying to explain to Tony, “Oh my god, you got eggs from Lady Gaga – is this epic or what?” And he’s like, “What, toots? I just did 17 duets with her; can I get more than eggs?” I, of course, was very excited and I made a Gaga omelette.
On Anderson Cooper: In my experience with him he’s, like, not the kind of guy that would pick up the phone. He’s like (CNN president) Jeff Zucker; those two don’t roll like that (laughs). They are powerful white men, one gay, one straight. But at the end of the day I’m still a woman and I’m still a click down, a rung down on the ladder compared to a man, gay, straight, white or of color. But you know me, I’m still trying to get up that ladder one broken rung at a time, dammit.
On Cher: “I can tell you the day of the Trump photo when the world caved in, Cher made me laugh so hard because she texted one line: (impersonates Cher) “You wanted to be famous, bitch!”
On Taylor Swift: I’m now pro-Swiftie. Hear me out, hear me out. By the way, I don’t mean as a singer – she’s not a very good singer. But, like, whatever. Nobody sings anymore. But there are two reasons I am pro-Swiftie. No. 1: I think it’s so cool that when that asshole DJ grabbed her ass in the photo she went to a Colorado courtroom with almost no press and sat there for four days and won that case for women everywhere. Having done meet-and-greets for decades, and I know I’m Granny and she’s Taylor Swift, but guys do that – guys grab my ass and guys grab my tits because they think it’s funny. You know what, props to her – and really big props because I think that because she has country roots she will pay a price. I love that she’s got more people to register (to vote). But as someone who has paid prices, yeah, she’s probably getting a lot of country hate right now.
On Madonna: You young baby-gays stay away from her! Don’t you dare judge. She’s fucking 60 and let me tell you: Hollywood has been trying to age me out of the system since I was 40. They’ve been trying to put me out to pasture and I refuse to moo. Madonna has done so much for the community and, honestly, for women as well, and also she’s legit talented. She really did turn into a beauty icon as well. They gave her shit about being “chubby” so then she got anorexic and muscly and then it was never enough and now she’s like a fucking Olympic athlete at 60. Having been told 1,000 times how ugly and old I am, it probably just fucking got to her and she thought, “All right, I’ll get some fillers.” And, yes, I personally would prefer she’d tone it down with the fillers, but I’m gonna give her a pass. She gets what I call the “Liza Pass.”
Today is this handsome, bearded man’s 38th birthday.
He’s New York Mets outfielder Jose Bautista who was named to four straight American League All-Star teams from 2010 to 2013 while playing for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He broke George Bell’s Blue Jays single-season home-run record in 2010 when he knocked 54 out of the park and led the major leagues in home runs in 2010 and 2011.
To mark the occasion, I’m re-posting an interview Martina did at the 2015 Australian Open with one of my big crushes, retired Australian tennis star Todd Woodbridge who is still such a cutie patootie.
Todd asked Martina what her most legendary achievement outside of her tennis wins is and I absolutely love her answer: “My being out as a gay woman. I came out as an atlete when I was at the height of my career in 1981 – way before it was an okay thing to do. I (was) criticized for it then, I was an outcast. And now, I’m lauded for it. So it’s kind of funny how things have come full circle.”
She added: ” … By being out, I have helped a lot of people deal with their sexual orientation and I’ve gotten letters over the years from men and women saying I saved their life – literally. They were ready to call it a day because they thought they were the only one out there. Then they saw me on TV or read an article. This is from the days when the word homosexuality was hardly ever mentioned and when it was it was in a negative way.”
“That is something I didn’t think I was doing, I didn’t know I was doing but that’s pretty special.”
Folks, this lady is a hero.
On a personal note, when I was growing up in the 80s and thought being gay was the worst thing in the world and something I could never tell anyone about, there was Martina living out and proud and letting us all know that it was possible. Not only was she out but also was the world’s number one tennis player. The lesson was that you can be true to yourself and thrive in every way.
You’ll have to excuse me for being a little preoccupied with Zac Efron today.
It is the talented actor’s 31st birthday!
He’s come a long way from his huge start in the High School Musical series. He has since he also starred in the musical film Hairspray and the comedy 17 Again as well as The Lucky One, The Paperboy, Neighbors, Dirty Grandpa, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. The Disaster Artist, Baywatch and The Greatest Showman.
He’s shown he can do drama, comedy and musicals and no doubt will continue to entertain us in all kinds of ways in the years to come!
Harvey Fierstein, Edna in the Broadway musical Hairspray, said on Watch What Happens Live this week that he has never seen the film version – including John Travolta’s performance as Edna.
Since I don’t think I’ve ever seen an episode of NBC’s Chicago Fire, I wasn’t familiar with Charlie Barnett.
But he has leaped onto my radar this week after the announcement that he will play the much-younger boyfriend of Michael “Mouse” Toliver in the upcoming Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City on Netflix. Tolliver is being played by Looking alum Murray Bartlett.
The 30-year-old actor, a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School, played firefighter/paramedic Peter Mills from 2012-15. He then was a cast member on the ABC series Secrets and Lies and most recently starred in the TV series Valor.
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In the memoir, “She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy,” Jill Soloway, creator of the award-winning show “Transparent,” writes of a journey to identify as “non-binary” – meaning neither female nor male, and referring to oneself using the pronoun “they” instead of “she” or “he.”
We are so amazed at the longevity at Cher, 72 and Barbra Streisand, 76 who both released new albums this fall.
Well, they are just kids compared to amazing Angela Lansbury.
Miss Lansbury, the winner of a record-tying five Tony Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, an Olivier Award, has had an A-list career that has spanned seven decades. She turns 93 today and is still going strong.
She was signed on at MGM way back in 1942 and soon after earned Oscar nominations for Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). Her third Oscar nod came for 1962′s The Manchurian Candidate. She finally received an Honorary Oscar for her career in films which also includes National Velvet, The Harvey Girls, State of the Union, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Death on the Nile and The Mirror Crack’d.
She would later go on to star for 12 seasons as Jessica Fletcher on CBS’s Murder She Wrote and be nominated for a total of 18 Emmy Awards for that and other television work. Where is her Lifetime Achievement Emmy television academy? It’s certainly deserved.
While Lansbury never won a competitive Oscar or the Emmy, she was showered with Tonys winning for her Broadway roles in Gypsy, Mame, Dear World, Sweeney Todd and Blythe Spirit. She was also nominated in recent years for the play Deuce and the musical A Little Night Music.
In 2012, Miss Lansbury starred in the Broadway revival of the Gore Vidal play The Best Man and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. In 2014, she starred with James Earl Jones in an Australian tour of Driving Miss Daisy and more recently appeared in a national tour of Blithe Spirit.
She is one for the ages.
Below is a wonderful interview she did a few years ago with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, four of her five Tony wins, the American Theatre Wing Gala honoring Lansbury, and her 2015 Olivier Award win for Blithe Spirit.
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Celebrity interviewer extraordinaire Chris Azzopardi caught up with Kathy Griffin for PrideSource. I’m going to step around Trump photo controversy and just run an excerpt focusing on what Kathy had to say about some of her fellow celebs. Go to PrideSource to read all of A Star Is Reborn: Kathy Griffin Talks Trump (Obviously) – But Also, Gaga, Aretha and Cher.
On Cher: “I can tell you the day of the Trump photo when the world caved in, Cher made me laugh so hard because she texted one line: (impersonates Cher) “You wanted to be famous, bitch!”
Rupert Everett warns of a future with “Ivanka Trump put into the White House” 
Today is this handsome, bearded man’s 38th birthday. 
Dumbledore IS explicitly gay in new ‘Fantastic Beasts’, says out star Ezra Miller
The marvelous Martina Navratilova turns 62 today.
You’ll have to excuse me for being a little preoccupied with Zac Efron today.
Netflix’s Tales of the City Fills Out Cast 
Since I don’t think I’ve ever seen an episode of NBC’s Chicago Fire, I wasn’t familiar with Charlie Barnett.
Lady Gaga confirms she’s engaged 
We are so amazed at the longevity at Cher, 72 and Barbra Streisand, 76 who both released new albums this fall.
