Published by Rob on August 17, 2007
in Celebs.
Kudos to The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Richmond for writing this candid column about the sadness of Merv Griffin spending his entire life in the closet.
But why has THR’s site taken down the piece? As I write this, there’s a link on theirhomepage that goes to an error message.
Grow some balls, Hollywood Reporter. Griffin’s homosexuality was at worst an open secret, and the piece is written with affection and respect.
The column is bold, not gossipy, and The Hollywood Reporter’s readers would do well to take its message to heart.
UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter link is up again, while columnist Nikki Finke is writing about how Griffin’s people made them take it down. So who knows?
Merv Griffin died a closeted homosexual [Hollywood Reporter via Reuters]
Please no more Rumer Willis coverage. It needs to stop. I realize that by posting this, I’m contributing to the problem, but typically, when an injustice is wreaked upon society, the worst thing you can do is stay silent about it, right?
Has Demi Moore learned so little from her own failed experiment in famewhore-ism? The woman works maybe one month out of the year and yet assures her place in the tabloids by hitching her fading star to her much-younger, kind-of-over husband.
So now Rumer’s appearing in an Anna Faris vehicle, and milking it as her official Hollywood coming-out party. She wants to be the new obnoxious celebutard you’d pay to see drawn and quartered on live television.
[And now for a sidebar: I’m sort of over Anna Faris. I always thought she was a talented diamond in the rough of some pretty bad movies, but you’d think that by now she’d have found a way to be in something of quality ever. Plus her guest shot on last week’s Entourage annoyed the Christ out of me, mostly because the other characters were treating her like she was Sandra fucking Bullock (you know there’s no way she lives in a house that big), and I hate that she pronounces her first name “ah-na.” If your name is spelled “Anna” rather than “Ana” and you’re pronouncing it “ah-na,” you suck. Period.]
Anyway, back to Rumer. It’s often been said that she is a living example of one of those Conan O’Brien worst-case-scenario if-they-mated gags. It’s true. It looks like they painted Demi’s features on Bruce’s giant head.
The fact that her parents are letting this unattractive, notoriously potty-mouthed 18-year-old forgo college and take baby steps into a career that is obviously doomed, one whose failure will be exhaustively chronicled in the press, is so depressing that it makes me cringe at the sight of her just a little bit less. But not much.
Rumer Willis is a ‘House Bunny’ [JustJared]
Marc Jacobs’ Out cover makes us throw up in our mouths a little. And wait till you hear him attribute his methface/facial wasting to …wait for it…diet and exercise. Plus this honey of a quote: “Right now I can’t even imagine being attracted to someone who isn’t in a healthy place on all levels.” So I guess if your much-younger boyfriend is an ex-hooker, it’s the “ex’ that counts. [Gawker]
How can you tell that the Writers’ Guild of America is preparing for a strike? Because A-listers start signing on to obviously wrong-headed projects just because they’re ready for a green light. Hence, Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Connelly have agreed to star in Ken Kwapis’ film adaptation of He’s Just Not That Into You. To be released in A.D. 2008. [Hollywood Reporter]
Stuart Townsend got kind of fat. We always new Charlize was the breadwinner in the relationship, we just didn’t realize it was this much bread. [Egotastic!]
So The View has settled on two new hosts to fill the wide swath of couch vacated by Star and Rosie, and - surprise! - it’s the two most obvious suspects, Sherri Shepherd and Whoopi Goldberg.
The estrofest’s ratings have taken a predictable slide since Rosie’s, uh, unanticipated departure, and if ABC’s hope is that this slate will turn the tide, I think they’re out of luck. Goldberg has failed on television again and again, from her talk show to her sitcom, and both she and Shepherd are too benign to create the cutthroat controversy that The View needs to thrive. I can’t see either bringing anything like Rosie’s obstinate honesty or Star’s epic self-absorption to the panel.
Since the show needed at least one African-American panelist, Mo’Nique or Wanda Sykes would have been edgier, funnier choices. And I still think Kathy Griffin would ultimately have been the best option to keep the show both live-wire funny and potentially controversial.
Oh, well. I guess it’s just one less reason to stay home on weekdays.
Whoopi, Sherri Shepherd to join ‘The View’ [MSNBC]
And of course, they’re mostly right. In compiling its list of the hottest 100 guys according to guys, AfterElton.com (or, rather, its readers) chose Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Evans and Daniel Craig as their top three - the gay equivalent to strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. From then, the list vacillates from the sublimely inspired (Paul Rudd at 21! Boo-yah!), to the ridiculously outdated (Gale Harold in fourth? MARY!), with plenty of obligatory We Had to Include Them ‘Cause They’re Out (Chad Allen, Wilson Cruz, Neil Patrick Harris, Jake Shears) and We Felt Like We Should Include Them Because They’re Nice Enough to Play Gay (Matthew Rhys, Billy Campbell).
The list is helpfully accompanied by mostly shirtless shots of said stars (most of which are quite old and familiar). There are some surprising appearances by people we had sort of forgotten existed (Taye Diggs, Jesse Bradford) and guys we didn’t think other gay guys liked (John Krasinski, Peter Sarsgaard). There are also some completely heinous choices that prove that some gay men overly emphasize bodies over faces (Channing Tatum, Brady Quinn) or simply have no taste at all (Adam Levine, Zach Braff).
I’m sad that I missed the chance to vote on this list. Had I known, I woulda been on it like Blow-han on Samantha Ronson’s ham wallet, trying to insure that Matt Damon’s ass received its own listing. Oh well. There’s always next year.
Hot 100 List [AfterElton]
If I hear one more thing about David and Victoria motherfucking Beckham - the U.K.’s crassest, most ferret-faced nouveau riche exports - I will hunt them down and suffocate them with one of Posh’s Joan Collins-style wide-brimmed hats. And this fashion victim twat has the nerve to call out Americans on our shitty style. She’s not wrong, but people who live in glass Juicy Couture sweats shouldn’t throw stones. Or something. [TMZ]
Revolta “addresses” those longstanding gay “rumors,” just in time for his big-screen drag debut. [NY Times]
Frathouse dudebro slash New NBC Honcho Ben Silverman announces his douchebaggery by hiring Isaiah Washington. The good news is that it’s for no less doomed a project than that Bionic Woman remake. [Variety]
It’s been a good week for the (sometimes literal) denuding of public figures’ homosexuality. Just as we’ve gotten our pulses back to normal in the wake of Perez Hilton’s ongoing coverage of the Wentworth Miller/Luke McFarlane* relationship, we have those yummy (NSFW) Shemar Moore** nude beach photos and the hilarious men’s room shenanigans of Rep. Bob Allen (from the appropriately wang-shaped state of Florida), a McCain campaign co-chair.
I love how Presidential elections always seem to precipitate the outing of sweaty Republican closet cases. More to come in ‘08, please!
*Would anyone know who Luke was if it weren’t for his high-profile boyfriends? He’s like the gay Angie Everhart.
**How gay is the picture of Shemar above? He looks like he’s about to guest star on a very special episode of Noah’s Arc.
Who wants to see Shemar Moore naked? [Perez Hilton]
Florida Rep. Bob Allen to discuss men’s room activities [Towleroad]
Well this is the worst Nonoriginal Female-Focused Ensemble Comedy film development news I’ve heard since the Women remake: Apparently HBO’s long-threatened Sex and the City movie is now a go, with deals in place for the lead actresses and a fall start date.
What, on earth, is left to say about these characters? Remember how shrill and one-note they had grown by the (completely idiotic) series finale? Remember how much you wanted to ring Carrie by the cameltoe and send her flying off that building after Kristen Johnston?
Sex and the City did a lot of damage to the straight-woman generation that came of age in the late nineties and early oughts. It’s the adult equivalent of Disney Princess birthday parties for seven-year-olds. Often playing as a propaganda tool for the Guilianification of New York, its reign of terror could be tied to the rise of the muffin top, celebutantes, faghaggery-as-status-symbol, the designer cupcake craze and various other crimes against humanity.
So unless Carrie’s brain rots from syphilis, Samantha struggles with bone loss, and Charlotte and Miranda start screwing each other (maybe the film’s release could be serendipitously tied in with Kristin Davis’ coming out of the closet), I’ll be seeing this movie sometime after I catch License to Wed 2.
Sex and the City heads to theaters [Variety]
I just discovered that my television had channels other than Bravo the other day. And I didn’t care. Do you remember how shitty Bravo was just five years ago? Using the word “comeback” would only be more appropriate describing a morning-after with Lance Bass.
And now there’s Hey Paula, what will perhaps be the newest hit for the little network that could. My TiVo is more set than Kelly Clarkson’s In-and-Out schedule.
What I think is great about Hey Paula is that you can totally tell from the promos that Ms. Abdul actually believes this show will prove she’s not crazy. They keep dropping in soundbites that are like, “Open your mind and judge for yourself,” as if the entire fucking world is going to call friends over, order pizza and sit around thinking, “Oh! How silly of me to think that she was fucked out of her mind. I didn’t see her take a single Closopine the entire 23 minute episode! She’s actually quite motivated.”
Meanwhile, the producers are making sure they don’t leave out the part where she, say, takes a piss in the salad bar at Whole Foods (because “what’s more organic than that?”) assuring that millions of gays will shake their heads, click their tongues, and think, “girl gonna make Anna Nicole blush. Pour me another sangria.”
Speaking of Anna Nicole, perhaps Bravo is already getting cold feet at the thought of documenting the unraveling of another female celebrity, because the show has yet to appear on Bravo’s website. However, a lovely YouTuber has collected all the promos.
I thought it would take a lot to feel the gaping void left in me when John Krasinski pulled out [of Thursday night television until next season] on me, but it seems like a little Abdul might do the trick.
Hey, Paula [Variety]
I had intended to take a PEN15 hiatus during the month of June, thanks to a combination work/travel clusterfuck, but this picture of Matt Damon surfing wrenched me out of my blogger coma.
Damon is a terrific actor, and I value his thoughtful and topical contributions to cinema (even if he’s starring in not one but two “part threes” this summer), but it needs to be said: The man’s ass alone deserves $10 million a picture. No wonder he’s surfing. That thing probably controls the tides.
Leave it to one of Hollywood’s few really obviously straight leading men to be packing that kind of junk in his trunk. If anyone cares, Ben Affleck is also featured in the linked photo set.
That’s probably all till July, but please email!
Matt Damon surfing [JustJared]
