KENNETH IN THE (212): The weeks’s LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+-related mags.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Adam McKay, who was behind some of the worst comedies — and the painful satire Don’t Look Up — now thinks white liberals are the worst of the worst. They’re more of a problem than Trump because … yada yada climate change … yada yada … they’re all the same.

CARCY MAGAZINE: Owen Lindberg is put to good use. And there’s video!

THE HUFFINGTON POST: How in the absolute fuck are we so far down into hell that Trump is about to get $1.7B to hand to January 6 insurrectionists? November, get in here!

NEW YORK TIMES: A Republican congressman has not been active since March and he’s canceled a May appearance. Where the fuck is Rep. Kean?

CHITA RIVERA AWARDS: Leslie Uggams will present Ann-Margret with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Chita Rivera Awards on May 18.

REDDIT: Taylor Lautner has endorsed Spencer Pratt. The L.A. mayoral election is truly exposing the worst among Hollywood’s elites and influencers (who, of course, MAGA has always believed are 100% leftist).

VARIETY: Nicki Minaj is deeply dumb, revealing she went full MAGA because she was miffed Gov. Newsom didn’t reply to her demand he meet with her over her home being swatted — and because she dislikes JAY-Z, who is tight with Obama. Yeah, real deep thinker here.

FRAMELINE.ORG: The Frameline line-up is here!

THE COLU.MN: A profile of German artist Marc Brandenburg. From the Q&A:

“My father was a Black GI and he certainly had his problems in the 1960s. At home, everything would eventually explode into violence. Those were formative experiences. I already used drawing to retreat completely into my own world. My mother finally divorced and then, in 1977, moved back to Berlin, with me and my two siblings.”

PEOPLE: Charles Barkley acknowledges that there are “a bunch of gay players” in the NBA.

GAYETY: All the queerest aspects of the 2026 Netflix Upfronts.

THE CUT: A Russian photographer has been jailed for gay fan fiction about K-Pop.

EXTRATV: Ryan Lochte looks quite different.

THE AP: FIFA has announced a first-ever Super Bowl-style halftime show with headliners Madonna, Shakira and BTS. Somehow, those world-class artists will all perform within the space of 11 minutes.

INSTAGRAM: Geena Davis reacts to her recent Madonna reunion:

YOUTUBE: Just in case you missed the dedicated post, check out my Mickey Squires Q&A! He’s a fountain of information about the gay sexual revolution, gay porn in the ‘70s and how to handle life’s greatest challenges:

The first full episode of my podcast — Boy Culture with Matthew Rettenmund — is finally here, and its star is Richard Bernstein.

Who?!

You may know him better as Colt legend Mickey Squires, the masc bottom of your dreams since the 1970s.

In his private life, Richard is a bubbly, personable theater queen, a warm and easy conversationalist and a 78-year-old man living a quiet life in Palm Springs. But his previous persona is never far away, with longtime fans still reaching out to express how important his sexualized image was to them in their youth.

And yes, he still signs autographs.

Check Out My First Q&A with Mickey & Richard HERE!

Now, Richard is getting a chance to do something very few other porn greats have ever gotten to do — tell his story. His whole story, from birth to present, including his porn glory and all the ups (love, the Castro in the ‘70s) and downs (substance abuse, HIV, loss).

Thanks to A.P. Pickle and Ryan White’s Mickey & Richard, a revealing doc having its North American premiere at Frameline in San Francisco on June 23, Richard is able to ruminate on his alter ego while lifting the curtain on his own reality. The result is a film that uses a man with a colorful, at times even outrageous, life to teach us lessons about ourselves as gay men. It is a deeply moving portrait, one that touches on all the sexy stuff while never short-changing the audience when it comes to exposing Richard’s humanity.

Please listen to/watch my podcast (embedded above or at Spotify), or read the slightly cut Q&A that follows:

Read more

CINEPHOBIA: Season 1 of Playing Around is streaming now ahead of a June 25 DVD release. The pitch:

“Fun, heartfelt, and steamy, Playing Around follows Germán Andrés (played by James Camargo de Alba in a breakout performance), who is 29, gay, works at a call center, lives with his mother, and has never had a stable partner. As he approaches 30, the pressure to ‘settle down’ pushes him to look for love before his birthday—preferably before turning 30 becomes a full-blown crisis. But in an age of polyamory, ghosting, and commitment phobia, finding the perfect match feels almost impossible.”

Check it out:

YOUTUBE: Trump doesn’t think about Americans’ financial situation AT ALL. So says he:

NEW YORK TIMES: Jason Collins, the first active NBA player to come out, has died of brain cancer at just 47.

NEW YORK TIMES: Jason Collins, the first active NBA player to come out, has died of brain cancer at just 47.

GR8ERDAYS: RIP Rex Reed, 87. What a bitch! What a writer!

FRAMELINE: Mickey & Richard, the doc about Colt legend Mickey Squires (aka Richard Bernstein) will have its North American premiere at Frameline in San Francisco on June 23.

LOS ANGELES TIMES: L.A. is not the U.S., and 2026 is not 2016. That said, reading that Mayor Bass seems to hope she can run against Spencer Pratt head to head because he would be so beatable gives me queasy Trump-Hillary flashbacks.

HUFFINGTON POST: Even Republicans realize funding a billion-dollar ballroom is a political loser.

INSTAGRAM: Not all boyfriends are created equal, but maybe he has bad breath.

ATTITUDE: A closeted Alec Guinness urged then-newbie Ian McKellen to avoid gay politics.

JOE.MY.GOD.: South Carolina Republicans have shied away from ditching the only Dem-held seat in the state — because they’re probably scared of the power of Rep. James Clyburn (D-South Carolina). Optics.

HUFFINGTON POST: Sally Field joked that her son, Sam Greisman, is gay because he spent so much time on the set of Steel Magnolias.

QUEERTY: Rami Malek stars in Ira Sachs’ new AIDS drama The Man I Love.

TWITTER: Lady Gaga embraces AI to plug new project.

VARIETY: Madonna is returning to the Tribeca Film Festival with a surprise short film called Confessions II, directed by TORSO. She’ll present it June 5 to a sold-out, fan-only audience in a chat moderated by Jimmy Fallon.

BROADWAY WORLD: Liza Minnelli belongs in prison. (Not really, but I doubt she signed a single, solitary book.)

AMERICAN IDOL: Clay Aiken’s comeback single “Rewind” — it’s a no for me, dawg:

HBO MAX: Paul W. Downs, the agent on Hacks, has always been a stealth hottie, and on the show’s latest episode, he’s showing off all his hours in the gym.

HUFFINGTON POST: The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is happily allowing Alabama to eliminate yet another Black-represented district.

NEW YORK TIMES: Virginia Democrats have no alternative but to try a Hail Mary pass — asking the right-wing Supreme Court to save the Virginia redistricting vote.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Jennifer Harmon, a Broadway actress and One Life to Live veteran, has died at 82.

PEOPLE: Rod Stewart calls Trump a “little rat bag” while speaking to King Charles.

INSTAGRAM: Miles Heizer demonstrates that not all vacations are created equal.

ERIN IN THE MORNING: NYU Langone is the first known medical facility to face a federal criminal subpoena over trans youth health care.

GOTHAMIST: O’Shae Sibley, a Brooklyn dancer, was “living his best life” before he was stabbed to death by a teenager. The tragic case is back in the news now that the alleged killer goes to trial.

GOTHAMIST: Massively important Keith Haring works, owned by his lifelong best friend Kermit Oswald, are hitting the auction block following being exhibited through the 13th at Sotheby’s.

YOUTUBE: Check out a couple of teasers for my next Boy Culture with Matthew Rettenmund podcast — full episode is on Spotify, YouTube and posted here on May 13:

YAHOO! SPORTS: WBNA star Caitlin Clark made the controversial choice to do a chummy walk-out alongside country superstar Morgan Wallen at his Lucas Oil Stadium show in Indianapolis Saturday night. Wallen remains famous for dropping the N-word on video in 2021. Clark did this appearance in spite of the fact that in 2023, she and Black opponent Angel Reese were pitted against each other in a racially charged incident — Clark and Reese each made identical “you can’t see me” hand gestures during play, with only Reese being singled out as “classless,” etc. Clark aligning with someone many view as racist or racist-coded only hammers home her MAGA vibe.

TWITTER: Spencer Pratt was balls-deep into Alex Jones — that alone should be disqualifying to hold any public office. Come on, L.A.:

STILL HERE HOLLYWOOD: Steve Kmetko talks with Mario Cantone for his indispensable podcast, talking about the time he was booked on The Tonight Show only to have the gig pulled by the talent booker, who found Mario’s act to have a “gay edge” he feared would make Carson uncomfortable:

PEOPLE: On May 21, Stephen Colbert’s final night, Jimmy Kimmel is going dark in solidarity.

NEW YORK TIMES: “A Single Infusion Could Suppress HIV for Years, Study Suggests.”

PONDERING POLITICS: Trump fell sound asleep during a presser. Again:

Better (or “worse”) video of him dozing.

TWITTER: Pete Davidson’s Charlie Kirk joke at Tony Hinchcliffe’s expense was harsh, but the one that pissed Hinchcliffe off was being called a “gay Nazi”:

JOE.MY.GOD.: Trump’s “renovation” of the reflecting pool — with a coat of garish, royal-blue paint on the base that destroys its character — will now cost $13M+.

MUUMUSE: The Peggy Gou remix of Madonna’s “I Feel So Free” is Divine-coded ecstasy that will give you a major (Bobby) O. It’s streaming from May 15.

INSTAGRAM: Joe Lynskey, who was pushed under a subway in NYC and survived, recently spoke at the LGBT Center in NYC about his experience:

PLAYGIRL: Sydney James Harcourt is showing off his big talent for Playgirl. VPL for days.

WASHINGTON POST: Ben Shapiro’s right-wing online empire is on the outs. He says it’s because he has refused to be as loony as the even further-right loons.

SLATE: I would not call Half Man “Heated Rivalry for sickos,” but it is a very, very uncomfortable show. It’s terrifying to watch, but also a must-watch.

WDSU: Cops in Slidell, Louisiana, have arrested two guys accused of luring a married man via Grindr. They kidnapped and threatened to kill the man unless he paid $15K. He’s now reluctant to come forward publicly due to his marriage.

LGBTQ NATION: In Indonesia, outing (correctly or incorrectly) political figures is a powerful tool to push everything even further into religious insanity.

EXTRATV: Dave Coulier reveals 45-lb. weight loss from cancer.

QUEER LOVE PROJECT: Claybourne Elder talks being a gay dad.

MODUS VIVENDI: This, er, Water Sports Line is certainly a head-turner.

THEM: Gay travel blogger speaks out from hantavirus-plagued cruise ship.

YAHOO! NEWS: In March, Munich’s first-ever gay mayor excitedly kissed his fiancé to celebrate his big win, and promptly went viral.

NEW YORK TIMES: I’m no political pollyanna, but even though Virginia’s Supreme Court deciding that Democrats must always play fair while Republicans are free to cheat is a setback — and a waste of $70M on a statewide vote the court has flushed — Democrats are still going to easily win back the House in November. Bookmark this post.

FACEBOOK: A meaningful win for Dems in Midland, Michigan.

HUFFINGTON POST: Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins gets moist talking about depriving needy people of food stamps.

OUT.COM: Linda Perry’s 4 Non Blondes song is the only reason that stupid Nicki Minaj song is popular, but she’s the anti-Minaj:

“The community has always been strong. We’ve been fighting for a very long time. We will continue to fight and we always come up. We always survive. We’re always the underdog that will prevail and be standing here. You know who won’t be? Trump.”

JOE.MY.GOD.: Larry Ellison reportedly offered to fire a slew of CNN reporters to appease the White House and push through Paramount’s deal to swallow Warner Bros Discovery.

POLITICO: Imagine coming out of retirement to try to save Susan Collins, of all people.

LGBTQ NATION: German man accused of ritualistically killing his gay roomie may spend the rest of his life in prison.

ADVOCATE: A federal judge has blocked a Trump plan to probe trans medicine groups, citing the Administration’s “extensive … animus.”

PEOPLE: A contestant won $240,000 in a single The Price Is Right game — must be the biggest check the show cut since Bob Barker went into senile puberty.

PINK NEWS: A gay man has been reunited with his husband 150 days after he was detained by ICE following a routine green card appointment.

PEOPLE: James Haspiel, a fan of Marilyn Monroe’s who became a confidante, is sharing his personal photos with People, which has Marilyn on its cover in honor of her 100th birth anniversary.

JOE.MY.GOD.: Tennessee has eradicated its lone Democratic seat, and one of its reps showed up to vote for this disenfranchisement wearing a TRUMP cape. (Spoiler alert: It’s a cult.)

GLAAD: Meta, YouTube and X sank in their GLAAD ratings in the realm of social media safety this year — new lows.

US WEEKLY: Actress Hayden Panettiere has come out as bisexual.

KINO LORBER: Coming to theaters June 17 is a restoration of the transgressive Brazilian film The Devil Queen (1974). The pitch:

“In the underworld of 1970s Rio de Janeiro, the feared ‘Devil’s Queen’ rules a drug cartel from the back room of a brothel. Draped in green eyeshadow and menace, she commands loyalty with a jackknife that serves equally for shaving legs and slitting throats. Her grip on power begins to falter as rival factions — favela gangsters, drag queens, and sex workers — turn on one another in a violent struggle to claim her throne, exposing a world where those excluded from bourgeois society fight for dominance on the margins.

“Directed by Antônio Carlos de Fontoura during Brazil’s military dictatorship, this lurid tale is loosely inspired by the legendary 1930s gangster João Francisco dos Santos. The film reimagines the figure in a 1970s setting as an early, provocative representation of queerness. As The Devil Queen, Milton Gonçalves delivers a striking performance that destabilizes rigid notions of masculinity, dissolving the binary of macho and queen into something volatile and unforgettable.”

I can’t find all the release info, but here is the info for Brooklyn.

YOUTUBE: If you’d like your IQ to rise by a few points, spend an hour or so watching Barbara Hershey speak about her films and about acting. This conversation is so intelligently and smoothly and organically moderated. (And then the very first fan question is about the dreadful TV movie The Flood.) There’s a quick question about a gay character in there, and the other gay content is Beaches, which is gay because, well, it’s Beaches.

CHARLIE BY MATTHEW ZINK: I’m not paid for this stuff, but wowza, Charlie is — like MV above — a bastion of beautiful models.

GOTHAMIST: NYC board votes to consider a Mayor Mamdani-driven rent freeze.

FACEBOOK: Ritch Colbert put this together for Californians ahead of the June 2 vote — early voting is underway:

HBO MAX: Are you watching DTF St. Louis on HBO Max? I wasn’t drawn in initially, but giving it a further watch I realized it’s a terrific, weird, dark comedy, sort of like Fargo.

One aspect of the show involves seeing images David Harbour’s character posed for when he was younger that appeared in Playgirl. The actor who is posing as Harbour’s younger self is Chase Wolfe … and he goes full monty, sans prosthetics.

Consider these snaps an enticement to watch the show.

JOE.MY.GOD.: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is admitting she has a tremor, but says it’s completely benign and not indicative of anything that might interfere with her job of helping to dismantle democracy in the U.S.

HUFFINGTON POST: A Michigan state rep who is transgender is being sued by a fellow Democratic contender for failing to use her dead name on her filing papers.

LOS ANGELES: First (and only?) L.A. mayoral debate pits idiot Spencer Pratt vs. two Dems, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and her completely unnecessary progressive challenger, Nithya Raman, whose late entry into the race only makes it possible for Trump Jr. Pratt to win. The L.A. Times claims Pratt did okay, Bass did okay and Raman whiffed.

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: The current Pope is so hard to read; he’s pro-gay, he’s anti-gay, he’s back to pro-gay: A new Vatican report criticizes conversion therapy.

KENNETH IN THE (212): The week’s LGBTQ+ and -adjacent mags.

NEW YORKER: Great novels of gay life.

QUEERTY: Mythical Hercules had actual gay sex. I missed that in the cartoon.

WIRED: There’s a gay Andrew Tate?

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Ted Turner dies at 87. I remember thinking he was a villain for championing the colorizing of black-and-white films and TV shows, but now I wish we could return to the time when that was our most pressing concern regarding media!

NEW YORK TIMES: A touching story about the final thoughts of a man with dementia.

MR. MAN: Via Mr. Man, your go-to for nude actors:

“People always want to know which actors are smuggling sausage, and where we can see ‘em naked. All questions will be answered with this handy guide of the celebs with the biggest penises! We haven’t exactly had the chance to measure any of these guys ourselves — sad face emoji — but we have a pretty damn good idea of what actors like Tom Mercier, Cooper Koch, Ben Affleck, and Michael Fassbender are working with thanks to their unreal frontal nude scenes.”

See the full scenes here

So sad to hear the news that playwright and performer Andy Halliday died in Palm Springs May 6. He was 73.

His sister Sue Cohen told friends on Facebook:

“I am very sad to tell you that Andy passed away last night from complications from Parkinsons disease. It has been a struggle for him these last few months not being able to use his hands to type and so unable to post his daily comments on Facebook or to write his plays. His communication with all meant the world to him. And I thank you all for the years of kindness and generous responses. It was a huge part of his life.”

Halliday moved to New York in the early ‘70s, where he did commercials and print ads and off-Broadway acting.

He became part of his best friend Charles Busch’s Theatre in Limbo troupe of eight, appearing in Busch’s iconic Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (1984), as well as Psycho Beach Party (1987), Pardon My Inquisition, or, Kiss the Blood off My Castanets (1986) and Theodora, She Bitch of Byzantium (1984).

He was especially proud of his Bad Seed-inspired Lotte in Busch’s The Lady in Question (1988), and was thrilled that the great Al Hirschfeld drew him because of it.

He wrote the plays Sex Slaves of the Lost Kingdom (1988) and I Can’t Stop Screaming (1991) before a period working day jobs (including a stint at Broadway Cares).

Halliday directed several shorts (2004-2012) and returned to theater with a performance in Devil Boys from Beyond (2010).

I was lucky enough to catch his play Nothing but Trash (2014), in which he also acted and which was a riot. It was followed by Up the Rabbit Hole (2017) and Those Musclebound Cowboys from Snakepit Gulch (2020).

His self-described swan song was the play Obsessed three years ago.

Andy told Outer-Stage in 2023 of that experience:

“I’m really proud to put my name on it. I’m turning 70, on stage, on March 31, and on our last show on April 22 it’s going to be my AA anniversary of 31 years. So it’s quite a way to bookend a life and a career. What a wonderful way to finish this very exciting career that’s been beyond my wildest dreams.”

He had a savage wit, and yet he was a kind, warm, self-effacing and sweetly funny guy. So sorry to all his loved ones and fans for this great loss.⚡️

THE GUARDIAN: Tom Hulme, a queer historian, has uncovered and documented what is called a “surprising” era of tolerance for queer people in Ireland … before the ‘50s and ‘60s.

TWITTER: Clown-show moment in the California gubernatorial debate between the Republicans.

KENNETH IN THE (212): Thick thies save lives.

HUFFINGTON POST: Dems kick ass in special election in Michigan.

NEW YORK TIMES: Ohio’s existential fork in the road is here — in November, they’ll elect either Vivek Ramaswamy, a MAGA tool, or Dr. Amy Acton, a Democratic healthcare specialist.

PEOPLE: Helena Bonham Carter didn’t get along creatively with Mike White — so Laura Dern will appear on Season 4 of The White Lotus instead.

WFLA: A Davenport, Florida, man was arrested for trying to beat the gay out of a 5-year-old kid.

BUY HERE: Happy 40th anniversary to Bronski Beat’s Truthdare Doubledare, which is getting several new physical editions as part of the celebration.

YAHOO!: Billy Eichner on how he and Colton Underwood feel about each other after he once joked Colton could be the first gay Bachelor. (And he already secretly was.)

THEM: The oldest Texas gay bar is strapped for cash — may need to close if an upcoming fundraiser fails to shake some dollars out of the LGBTQ+ trees.

NETFLIX: Coming May 20 to Netflix is the docuseries Kylie: Closer Than Ever Before, devoted to pop princess Kylie Minogue. It will be interesting to see how this fares in the U.S., where she had somewhat of a resurgence thanks to “Padam Padam.”

TRAILER REVEAL:

Insanely, that omnipresent song never even hit the U.S. Hot 100, which should tell you something about how these things are calculated.

TUMMY ACHE NATION: Barney Frank has entered hospice care, which is sad, but it’s also sad that — with his dying breaths — he is excoriating people on the left for trying too hard to help transgender people. He’s making sure he goes out with one final message: Do not overstep, stay in your lane and justice will come for you eventually, if you’re well-behaved. Such a defeatist message in a day and age when NYC has a Mayor Mamdani, and when progressives have shown tremendous strength in so many other local elections.

So, I think that’s why Bil Browning’s rest-in-piss column about Frank strikes me as so deserved. Bil adds that Frank once groped him (not at all surprising), but the core of his complaint is about Frank’s vindictiveness in the past, which ties in exactly to his choice to grant anti-progressive interviews in his final days.

To be fair, Frank does suggest to CNN he agrees with trans rights (not in so many words), and claims his advice is just about tackling broader issues, like income inequality, before focusing on trans and other issues, but it’s still a dispiriting swan song. He has so much fight to be granting an interview now, yet the interview is saying not to fight.

TMZ: RIP to Jonathan Tiersten, 60. He played cousin Ricky in the 1983 slasher classic Sleepaway Camp.

GR8ERDAYS: The full story on the restoration of the 1969 film Last Summer, which has some interesting gay angles.

PEOPLE: Giuliani was (is?) so sick he was given last rites before recovering somewhat.

EW.COM: The full list of Tony nominations reveals a raft of snubs, among them Lea Michele for Chess. June Squibb, at 96, sets a new record as oldest-ever acting nominee for her work in Marjorie Prime. Cats: The Jellicle Ball received many nods, but not for Chasity Moore as Grizabella. I personally disliked this show (though it is a step in the right direction from Cats!), and was underwhelmed by her “Memory,” so this does not shock me. I would’ve been more shocked had André De Shields been overlooked. (He was not.)

EXTRATV: Excellent gallery of Met Gala looks — including hits, misses and WTF.

VARIETY: Taraji P. Henson calls out celebs who attended the Bezos-funded Met Gala to begin with. She isn’t wrong, though I feel like these problematic billionaires are everywhere — what aspect of social media, or of life, can we boycott to effectively ice any of them out?

In spite of the involvement of the Bezoses, who bought their way in with $10M, the event attracted A-listers galore, including Madonna, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Stevie Nicks, Cher, Sabrina Carpenter, Katy Perry, the Heated Rivalry stars and many more.

INSTAGRAM: Madonna’s witchy Met Gala look was actually inspired by a figure of the Queen of Sheba in a painting by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington:

CAFTAN CHRONICLES: Porn actor turned postman Hawk McAllistar talks about getting sober, Dom/sub relationships and whether he’d hook up with a trans man.

JOE.MY.GOD.: Trump is trying to bribe Fetterman to switch parties.

YOUTUBE (SUBS APPRECIATED): Richard Thomas, 74 and looking 20 years younger, showed up for the first-ever screening of a restored Last Summer (1969) to talk about the highly regarded and almost lost classic. The film — coming to Blu-ray — is amazing and looks gorgeous, like languid Fire Island Super 8 vacation footage, and is shockingly raw and real. You have to check it out when it becomes widely available again:

Full story on my evening watching Last Summer is right here.

BROADWAY WORLD: Broadway’s storied Eugene O’Neill Theatre (230 W. 49th St.) — the home of The Book of Mormon since 2011 — is currently burning. The fire in the six-story building has been upgraded to a three-alarm blaze. You can see firefighters working on the building’s roof — and live flames — here.

HUFFINGTON POST: The Supreme Court restored access to an abortion pill by mail following a lower court’s shock decision to restrict it.

INSTAGRAM: Nicky Bell is apologizing for offhandedly using “bitch” when reading Dionne Warwick for sporting slippers on a red carpet.

PEOPLE: Jack Schlossberg, running for political office after years of cultivating an online presence, happily posed with his mom Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg with some bagels following a weekend encounter in which a lunatic dragged him for not being more anti-Israel. I’m not a fan of what Israel is doing and did in Gaza, but the contempt feels anti-Semitic when the same people are not asking random politicians to denounce not just Trumpism but the United States? Does the United States have a right to exist if Israel does not?

I don’t think Crackhead Barney should be someone we take seriously any more than Cat Turd should be.

I’m very critical of Israel’s sway over the U.S. and yes, you can feel that way without it being inherently anti-Semitic, but I feel that more and more, people are not caring so much about the “doesn’t have to be anti-Semitic” part.

Forever and ever, gay men have traded images purporting to be of naked celebs.

A number of the nudes and semi-nudes are totally real: there are legit naked images out there of Joe DiMaggio, George Maharis, Yul Brynner, Bruce Cabot and more.

Read more

FACEBOOK: Performer Mario Diaz is taking a stand when it comes to that anti-gay word, reclaiming it as his own. Where do you stand on the reclaiming of slurs?

HUFFINGTON POST: Remember when Bill Maher had a meet-up with Trump and declared him perfectly nice and reasonable? Yeah, that didn’t take.

POLITICO: Could Kamala Harris buying a home in Malibu indicate she isn’t going to run in 2028?

EXTRATV: Dannielynn Birkhead, the 19-year-old daughter of Larry Birkhead and the late Anna Nicole Smith, is looking very grown up and Goth-chic at this weekend’s Kentucky Derby and related events.

VARIETY: The Devil Wears Prada 2 raked in a fashionable $233M at the box office worldwide in its opening weekend.

INSTAGRAM: A new Madonna ad for Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II that is running before screenings of The Devil Wears Prada 2 is seemingly uses AI on a real-life encounter Madonna and Anna Wintour recently had at a fashion show:

NEW YORK TIMES: RIP Nicole Hollander, the creator of the brazenly feminist comic strip Sylvia, who died in April at 86.

TIMES UNION: Thirty Love author Tom Vellner opens up about his book, dubbed “Heated Rivalry for tennis.”

MODUS VIVENDI: The X Heart Swimwear Line from Modus Vivendi is being shown off to its best advantage in the company’s new Poolside campaign.

NBC NEWS: Some fucking appeals court has halted the mailing of a prominent abortion pill. Democrats vow not to let it stand.

SOCIALITE LIFE: A Season 2 of Overcompensating is on the way — and Benito Skinner can prove it.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The four stars who were almost in The Devil Wears Prada 2 but were not. Among them … Anna Wintour?! They had room for so many others but not Anna?!

THE WASHINGTON POST: Trump — who claims he needs a $500-million ballroom to avoid assassination — appeared at a wide-open rally to deliver a vulgar speech in which he handed the Dems yet another perfect campaign ad, mocking affordability:

THE RUMPUS: Yes, even books can make us gay.

STOP! THAT! TRAIN!: The official poster reveal for Stop! That! Train! — the Airplane!-like parody from Adam Shankman starring RuPaul — is here! This movie is only in theaters, June 12.

PRIDE SOURCE: “I Was a Gay Kid Dreaming of Anywhere Else. Then I Went There.”

THE PARENT CHAT: Tig Notaro, on a new podcast, breaks down that famous clip of her recounting the moment her quite-old kids suddenly realized she and her wife, their other mom, are gay.

OUT.COM: Henderson Pride’s president has been implicated in an assault on a go-go boy.

INSTAGRAM: I laughed at every single one.

ADVOCATE: Gay couple in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, discovers burning Pride flag in front of their home.

INSTAGRAM: Oof! Young Jon Hamm.

JOE.MY.GOD.: GameStop may buy eBay?!

THE BURG NEWS: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is getting a taste of The Boys in the Band.

MR. MAN: Via Mr. Man:

“Taron Egerton went as far as a man can go for his role in the buzzy Netflix thriller Apex, in which he stars opposite Charlize Theron as a serial killer in the Australian wilderness. Theron’s solo rock-climbing adventure is rudely interrupted when Egerton sets his sights on her as his next victim. Hot, right?

See the Hole Scene Here!

“Egerton’s psychopathic serial killer character throws caution to the wind by swinging into a river from a rope, fully naked. What the world might not know is that his actual hole is visible for a blink and you’ll miss it moment! One thing’s for certain. This movie looks like a hole lot of fun.”

TIME OUT LONDON: A new Banksy statue has appeared in London.

THE TIMES: Don’t miss Ben Kawaller’s hilariously written piece about traveling to South Korea with his gay brother (he’s gay, too, but his brother is “better at it”) for a torturous round of skincare.

THEM: AOC does not lie — we almost certainly have had a gay president. Or three.

HALSTONPLAY.COM: A new play about one of the greatest designers of all time — Mister Halston — is coming to Bay Street Theater )1 Long Wharf, Sag Harbor, NY) June 2-21 starring Matt McGrath.

U.S. GOV: The United States Department of Defense — renamed War — announces a deal with seven top AI firms.

THE DAMAGE REPORT: Scott Jennings BLEW UP at Adam Mockler on CNN over a debate about how the Iran quagmire is going. He seemed to feel Adam’s hand was in his face (it wasn’t):

PEOPLE: Leave it to the Trump Administration to mess up anything and everything — even the details. They’ve also happily allowed millions to lose health care coverage for lack of funds.

JOE.MY.GOD.: A House candidate — in Florida! — is taunting Trump and the DOJ with “8647” merch.

INSTAGRAM: Turning 78 today is eternally sexy Perry King.

YOUTUBE: Coming to a theater near you is Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, a doc about the most famous rock opera of all time:

KENNETH IN THE (212): People still have time to read?!

YOUTUBE: Lady Gaga & Doechii turn it out on “Runway,” a vogueing-inspired Devil Wears Prada 2 track:

YOUTUBE: Madonna’s new single — a duet with Sabrina Carpenter — is here. “Bring Your Love” is a ‘90s house-anthem confection, and as such it’s perfection:

OUT.COM: Joey Mills, Drake Von, Max Konnor and Boomer Banks are on board for the new series Ultimate Boys Trip.

TIKTOK: Beefy Otter, the content creator, is telling it like it is — stating that OnlyFans is dead. (For most people.)

DECIDER: Andy Cohen talked about his affair with Broadway’s Sydney James Harcourt and also said he dates men half his age all the time. But do people realize Sydney is not that much younger than Andy? Andy’s 57 and Sydney is an admittedly ageless-looking 50. Listen to Sydney talk about what each has described as a very passionate affair.

THE MAGNIFICENT OTHERS WITH BILLY CORGAN: A long, long talk with Freddy DeMann, the guy who managed both the King and Queen of Pop.

HUFFINGTON POST: Maine Gov. Janet Mills, the Democratic establishment’s preferred choice to take on Susan Collins in Maine, has suspended her primary campaign, citing a lack of financial resources. That means Graham Platner, who had outpolled her, will take on Collins. We have to win this one, and there is every indication we will.

Platner sez:

“This morning, Governor Janet Mills announced that she was suspending her campaign for U.S. Senate here in Maine.

“Janet Mills has dedicated her career to our beautiful state. We are all eternally grateful for her service to the state of Maine as Governor, and her lifelong career serving Mainers as Attorney General, as district attorney, and in the legislature.

“We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins. And her decision today reflects her commitment to that project. I look forward to working closely with her between now and November to do just that: To defeat Susan Collins and turn this seat blue.

“This race has never been about me or about any one person. It’s about a movement of working Mainers who are fed up with being robbed by billionaires and the politicians they own. It’s about working people who are taking back their power.

“We will defeat Susan Collins. We will go to Washington, and we will start tearing down the system that for far too long has forgotten and written off the people who make Maine and this country what it is.”

INSTAGRAM: Tragically, comic writer and actor Jimmy Fowlie has announced that his sister — who has been missing since at least December — is dead. The long search has indicated she was likely murdered, and that someone who was in possession of her phone hacked her accounts to create the illusion she was alive and asking for money.

KENNETH IN THE (212): Queer and -adjacent mags of the moment.

NEW YORK TIMES: Trump’s Iran quagmire has driven oil prices to a four-year high.

THE GUARDIAN: Don’t you dare call it that!

DRAMA DESK AWARDS: The nominations for the 2025-2026 Drama Desk Awards include big tallies for Beau: The Musical and Mexodus.

CHITA RIVERA AWARDS: The Chita Rivera Awards are coming May 18, and the nominees have been announced!

*****Broadway:

Outstanding Choreography: Christopher Gattelli (Schmigadoon!), Lorin Latarro (Chess), Ellenore Scott (Ragtime), Ellenore Scott (Titaníque), Ani Taj (The Rocky Horror Show), Omari Wiles & Arturo Lyons (Cats: The Jellicle Ball).

Outstanding Dancer: Jonathan Burke (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Baby Byrne (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Max Clayton (Schmigadoon!), Zachary Downer (Schmigadoon!), Sydney James Harcourt (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Dave Huesca (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Robert “Silk” Mason (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Isabelle McCalla (Schmigadoon!), Sarah Meahl (Chess), Constantine Rousouli (Titaníque), Layton Williams (Titaníque), Lyrica Woodruff (Schmigadoon!)

Outstanding Ensemble: Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Chess, Ragtime, Schmigadoon!, The Rocky Horror Show, Titaníque

*****Film & Documentary:

Outstanding Choreography in a Feature Film: Sergio Trujillo & Christopher Scott (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Anthony Talauega & Richard Talauega (Michael), Aakomon Jones (Sinners), Celia Rowlson-Hall (The Testament of Ann Lee), Christopher Scott (Wicked: For Good)

Outstanding Direction of a Dance Documentary: Steve Boettcher (Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration), Peter Schnall & Cyndee Readdean (Martha Graham Dance Company: We Are Our Time (Part I, “American Spirit” & Part II, “Athletes of God”), Cody Williams (Playing the Palace), Linus O’Brien (Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror), Dr. Monika Krajewska (Tango My Passion)

GAYETY: There was a 25th-anniversary screening of The Broken Hearts Club, with Billy Porter, Zach Braff, Mickey Liddell and director Greg Berlanti. Oddly, no Dean Cain …? I wonder why?

THE HUFFINGTON POST: The far-right Supreme Court, powered by three Trump picks, has finished the gutting of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. As Justice Kagan argues in her passionate dissent, this puts the U.S. back to the days of egregious and deliberate anti-Black gerrymandering and vote suppression.

JOE.MY.GOD.: Adjudicated rapist Trump still owes E. Jean Carroll $83M.

QUEERTY: Carl Wilson romps Lindsey Boylan in NYC race to fill gayborhood seat. Wilson had had the endorsement of Erik Bottcher, who left the seat, while Boylan had had the backing of Mayor Mamdani. Interestingly, Wilson is seen a a moderate compared to progressive Boylan — who also had the backing of Cynthia Nixon.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The New York Times picks the 30 greatest living U.S. songwriters.

PEOPLE: Peter Falk’s daughter Jacqueline Falk has died by suicide at 60. I remember years ago she and her sister Catherine were warring with his widow Shera Danese, alleging that she kept their dementia-stricken dad from them and didn’t even inform them when he died in 2011.

LGBTQ NATION: How to combat the wholesale banning of LGBTQ+ books.

SOCIALITE LIFE: American Pie babe Shannon Elizabeth, 52, made more than a million bucks in her first week on OnlyFans. And she isn’t even getting naked! Guys, should I …???

GR8ERDAYS: Eve! Eve! Eve! Check out my write-up and video from Eve Plumb’s Q&A plugging her new memoir, Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond.

KENNETH IN THE (212): Tennis players do the darn’dest things!

LE MONDE: On Senegal’s new anti-queer legislation.

DEAN BLUNDELL: Blundell provides a straightforward explanation of what gay supervillian Peter Thiel’s Palantir is really all about — and it’s terrifying. The company just released wha…

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SOCIALITE LIFE: Meet Sergei Adonis, who — with that name — had no choice but to become a sought-after personal trainer and Insta-stud.

DNA: The new DNA cover man, Vladimir La O Moran, wants you to know you can be “strong and confident, but also kind, respectful, and emotionally aware.” And stacked.

INSTAGRAM: Boy Culture — the original movie based on my novel — is now officially 20 years old.

60 MINUTES: I’m so skeptical of the intention of CBS with Bari Weiss anywhere near it, but Norah Roberts — while losing points for passively allowing Trump to berate her — scored points for asking him if he thought his latest would-be assassin’s manifesto was referring to him when it mentioned a pedophile rapist.

HUFFINGTON POST: I don’t think the WHCD shooting was staged, but Trump immediately pivoting to using it as a reason he needs his bazillion-dollar bunker, er, BALLROOM built is not helping dissuade people on the left and right from assuming it had to be.

LGBTQ NATION: Turning Point U.S.-Gay — a drag event mocking the Republican summit Turning Point USA — raised $25K for the ACLU. One of the most creative and spot-on drag queens based on a real person, Erika Qwerk, stole the show by giving it her very best … shot:

OUTSPORTS: I agree that in sports, reducing punishments for gay slurs is a bad look.

SLATE: A new book by William J. Mann (Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood) and a new podcast (Killer in the Code) have both concluded that a disturbed veteran named Marvin Margolis murdered Beth Short, L.A.’s Black Dahlia. The ‘40s murder — infamous for Short’s dismemberment — has absorbed true crime buffs since before true crime was a thing, and now Evan McGarvey for Slate is writing about what compels this sort of undying interest in death and how it relates to who the victim was — and whether we can ever know the truth for sure.

GOTHAMIST: Here in NYC, we’re deciding if the seat of Stonewall necessarily needs a queer rep, or if an ally is good enough. It’s a great problem to have, even if it’s a minor tiff between Mayor Mamdani (who has endorsed Lindsey Boylan) and some in the queer community (Erik Bottcher has endorsed Carl Wilson):

“Mamdani’s endorsement of Boylan drew criticism from some older gay activists, who said the mayor was ignoring the seat's history. For them, the district, where the modern gay rights movement began, carries a special meaning. What's more, if Wilson doesn't win, Manhattan will lose its only openly gay representative on the City Council.”

DENNIS, ANYONE?: Mike Maimone talks with Dennis Hensley about his memoir and album, both entitled Guess What? I Love You. They cover his brief but life-changing relationship with firebrand gay publicist Howard Bragman, who he met on Scruff and who died a year later from leukemia.

JOE.MY.GOD.: Israeli political party leaders team up to oust Netanyahu.

EW.COM: Even one of the guys who wrote “Dick in a Box” was uncomfortable around Kevin Spacey.

FACEBOOK: Darrell Sheets, the Storage Wars figure who took his own life, named his cyberbullies a month before he died. Another co-star has come forward to underscore this, and to question if it was suicide after all. (It was, but when people hack your accounts and assume your identity, trust me, it can make a non-suicidal person suicidal fast.)

PLANET HUGILL: Ten years after the LGBTQ+ mass murder at Pulse, the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida will premiere a new choral work in honor of the victims. Amor Eterno: A Requiem for Pulse by composer Saunder Choi is part of Invincible: A Pride Concert of Remembrance, Resilience, and Song at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 19.

WEHO TIMES: The gay dads targeted for online abuse by a MAGA influencer — one of whom wound up allegedly assaulting the provocateur — have raked in about $175K in supportive donations to help with the upcoming legal battle.

INSTAGRAM: Incroyable! Brigitte Auber turned 101 this weekend. She was the impish burglar in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, released 71 years ago. At the time, she was playing a character meant to be younger than Grace Kelly, even though she was older. (Kinda bonkers to realize Princess Grace could feasibly be alive today — she’d be 96.)

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: RIP Nedra Talley Ross, 80, who’d been the last surviving member of the Ronettes.