National Examiner (December 24, 2012) takes its crack at the shopworn "Who's Gay Who's Not!" cover story, muddying the waters by placing Keanu Reeves (not out), Lily Tomlin (out) and David Hyde Pierce (out) under "New Stars Come Out!" (Lily's been out for many years, David's been out for several.)

The most interesting write-up involves Rush Limbaugh:

"The 61-year-old conservative radio host has been married four times—his latest wife, Kathryn, is only 35.

"But he's never had any children, and he's long been the subject of homosexual rumors.

"In 2006, he was snared in a bizarre sex scandal when customs officers at Palm Beach International Airport found a bottle of 29 sex-boosting Viagra pills in his luggage—with the prescription written out in another man's name! At that time, he was flying home from a visit to the Dominican Republic, dubbd the 'sex capital of the Caribbean,' famous for its many red-light districts where young boys and girls sell their bodies for sex...

"The whispers in chi-chi Palm Beach, Fla., where Limbaugh has a $40 million compound, are that currently, Kathryn spends a lot of 'quality time' in her own nearby condo, which was a wedding present from her groom."

Here are the rag's conclusions...

Forty-two-year-old Panda Ross was deemed "entertaining" and "charming" by Britney Spears, and everyone else on The X-Factor liked her, too...

Britney's facial expressions are like a fifth judge

I found Don Philip's audition segment on X-Factor really hard to watch. The singer, who once recorded a duet with Britney Spears (she says it was 10 years ago, but it was actually recorded close to 15 years ago and appeared on her 1998 album), came out on the show but FOX edited that part out entirely.

Instead, we heard Philip sing "Halo" (I thought nicely—nothing special, but not a disaster, and I disagree with Simon saying he has no voice) and get shot down firmly by all the judges. Fair enough that he didn't wow them, but then the audience CHEERED his "no" votes. Bizarre.

Click me to see why I'm funny

With thanks to Brad: The above, apparently real gif, speaks for itself. I wonder if her conservator gets to call in and override Britney's input? At least Britney is a bona fide star, one in possession of whatever the legendary X factor of her new gig's title is.

Thirty-four-year-old gay-acting straight man Steve Jones, who will be the Ryan Seacrest for Simon Cowell's U.S. version of X Factor, once made a black dildo from a mold taken of his own dick, wishes he could be as promiscuous as we all apparetnly are and plays a mean naked guitar.

While my guitar gently seeps

Madonna—represented using images from her music videos for "Vogue," "Die Another Day," "Frozen," "Music" and "Hung Up"—is featured at the end of a new X Factor ad, whose theme is that some people have an X factor while others do not.

The acts who have "it" are: Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Lady GaGa and The Pussycat Dolls. (Aren't the latter broken up?)

The show comes to the U.S. this fall. Perhaps Madonna will be attached to it in some way since her likeness is being used?

Ad after the jump...

Surprise, surprise, FOX's #1 star and multi-gazillionaire Simon Cowell HATES when stars lend their voices to causes (because 99% of the time it's liberal stars and liberal causes), but he just felt he had to speak up on behalf of the conservative Tories in the UK. He's big on "family values." Fits nicely with all the gay-baiting he's engaged in over the years. 

Of course, it's okay for Simon to be passionate about his country, but when stars like Eddie Izzard do it, it's just people sticking their noses where they're not wanted:

American Idol's Tim Urban boosters have resorted to sending bloggers caches of those shirtless photos of the guy that caused a nipple ripple a while back. "It's a singing competition," Simon would drone, but I disagree—plenty of the reasons past winners have won have had nothing to do with singing, such as compelling personal stories. Well, Tim's personal story is very compelling in that MAN, HE LOOKS GREAT WITHOUT MANY CLOTHES!

More after the jump, in case you never saw...

Somehow, Tom Murro's chance encounter with President Obama has turned him into a self-styled Celebrity Magnet. The latest bit of attractive material to stick to him is pushin'-70-year-old Raquel Welch, who recently plugged her book with Oprah and who looks about a quarter century younger than her years. It helps that she was born with impossibly high cheekbones—all her work works with her instead of against her.

Globe (December 14, 2009) has its ongoing "Who's Gay and Who's Not in Hollywood" feature. Here's the tally, according to them: