Boy Culture Links: Shooter at WHCD & All Trump Cares About Is His Ballroom, Cheryl Hines Left to Fend for Herself, Madonna aka 'Mutha' Thrills Gays at the Abbey, 'Michael' a B.O. Hit + MORE
APRIL 26, 2026
HUFFINGTON POST: A shooter, identified as 31-year-old teacher Cole Tomas Allen, sprinted past security at the White House Correspondents Dinner late Saturday before being captured by Secret Service. Mass confusion as government officials were whisked away (with Trump falling in the process). Calling himself a “Friendly Federal Assassin” in messages to family members immediately before the stunt, Allen is said to have had beef with the Trump Administration and “Washington, D.C., elites.”
So, of course the only logical response to this for Trump is to harp on needing that zillion-dollar ballroom, as if future POTUSes won’t be out in public at all.
FACEBOOK: Darkly funny watching RFK Jr. being whisked away to safety as his wife Cheryl Hines was literally abandoned.
NEW YORK TIMES: As is the norm now, Trump is dumping a ton of info about the shooter before any investigation is concluded, including that he allegedly had an anti-Trump manifesto. Which only proves that what he did was crazy, but that he was not totally nuts.
VARIETY: Michael is a hit, so I never again want to hear shit about still admiring the films of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski.
ABC7: “Don’t Say Gay” rules extended through 12th grade in Florida. Because yeah, just avoid reality.
YOUTUBE: Madonna made the “surprise” appearance at the Abbey that I was first to report would happen! Looking glam and dancing her ass off, she was there about 25-30 minutes and sang and danced along as DJ Stuart Price, her producer and collaborator, played club mixes of at least a few totally unheard songs from her July 3 album Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II.
Of particular note is one in which she offers an extended note while singing “freedom” that is likely “One Step Away.” There is also one entitled “Love Sensation” (not the Loleatta Holloway classic, but perhaps a wink at it) and perhaps another? She also got down to her tunes “I Feel So Free,” “Up Down Suite,” “Thief of Hearts” and “Hung Up.”
The moment she lifted her veil reminded me of when she revealed herself at the Roxy in NYC in 1998 as part of her Ray of Light launch:
INSTAGRAM: Eureka O’Hara did not have a good time last night, but makes clear it was no fault of Madonna’s:
OUT: Is “PrEP belly” a real thing?
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: An appreciation of late conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who died this week at 81.
DW.COM: A queer scandal that rocked the German Empire in the early 1900s.