HERE’S WHY WITH KEVIN ORTEGA-ROJAS: The company equalpride (they pretentiously embrace an all-lowercase name), which is currently the country’s biggest LGBTQ+ media conglomerate (Out, Advocate, Them, Pride.com), just added a frothy-mouthed MAGA loon in the form of Jay Katari to its team. Not a shocker; other ostensibly queer orgs like amfAR have been quietly sliding to the right.
GR8ERDAYS: Bob Mackie, king of the nude-illusion gown, dies at 87. The iconic collaborations of which he was a part were endless, from sketching the daring gown Marilyn Monroe wore when serenading JFK in 1962 to his work with Diana Ross, Mitzi Gaynor, Cher, Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter and — especially — Carol Burnett.
THE ADVOCATE: The newsroom is pushing back against Katari. Looks like equalpride’s CEO Mark Berryhill spoke too soon when he went to the mat for Katari, saying he had “full confidence” in him.
GQ: I’m not a huge Tom Cruise supporter and he’s never been my type, but it’s always worth noting when sexagenarians flash treasure trail on national magazine covers.
CNN: Sen. Mitch McConnell, 84, left — or rather, was removed from — his home in his long-promised Senate return today following a fall or stroke or who knows. He seemed completely out of it, and yet Republicans will still tell you Biden was wrong not to have resigned while in office. The same Biden who is still running around making personal appearances while dying of cancer.
EXTRATV: I thought lovely Mariska Hargitay sucked eggs as an Emmys host; likability can only go so far. The show had other disappointments (Lisa Kudrow deserved a statuette for The Comeback), but its In Memoriam was utterly devastating, and I was thrilled by the Charlie’s Angels reunion. It was particularly nice how the ladies spent most of their time remembering Farrah Fawcett. (Poor Tanya Roberts is also dead, and poorer Shelley Hack is alive and never mentioned!)
I still haven’t gotten over this last major Angels Emmys reunion, which was — shockingly — 20 years ago:
PEOPLE: With their eighth (!) Emmys, Allison Janney and Jean Smart tied Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the winningest actors of all time. Among men, Ed Asner leads, with seven.
VINEYARD THEATRE: Inspired by the true story of Joan Jett Blakk, the first and so far only Black drag queen candidate for U.S. president, MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT stars Wayne Brady.
NEW YORK TIMES: A book seeks to preserve the names of all the elites who caved to Trump — for posterity.
KENNETH IN THE (212): A bunch of sexy tennis spectators.
OUTSPORTS: Gay judo champ defeats straight opponent — only to be assaulted by him afterward. He wound up with a broken jaw.
INSTAGRAM: Macklemore responds to being dropped from the Ed Sheeran tour over his remarks about Israel and Palestine:
I will never understand how the LGBTQ community has embraced a party that has so utterly and without regard to our life and the lives of others with such wanton abandonment.
I want to read Profiles in Cowardice. Good to have documentation of all who have failed us so badly.
What is it with Emmy voters and their stubborn need to fete the same actors over and over and over. I guess Jean Smart (who's great, don't get me wrong) can throw her latest Emmy on the pile. Lisa Kudrow deserved some hardware for her brilliance on The Comeback!
Macklemore is a cool guy. Don't have much respect for Ed Sheeran. Another profile in Cowardice.