HOLLYWOOD – Spotify released its top songs, artists, podcasts and listening trends of 2023. While the podcast top 25 with its politics, conspiracy and other themes were decidedly non-queer, the music trends celebrated artists who are gender and sexual orientation fluid, and/or queer friendly.

The top artists globally were led by three artists who have embraced the LGBTQ community: Taylor Swift (hello, anyone surprised this lady is on top?), Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. At #8 in the list is presumed bisexual artist SZA. SZA, after speculation she was into women teased “It’s not wrong lol.”  

The top songs globally are led by four artists who exude fluidity. Leading that pack is Miley Cyrus (“Flowers”). “”My whole life, I didn’t understand my own gender and my own sexuality. I always hated the word ‘bisexual,’ because that’s even putting me in a box. I don’t ever think about someone being a boy or someone being a girl. My eyes started opening in the fifth or sixth grade. My first relationship in my life was with a chick. Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more,” she has said.

The second most played song (“Kill Bill”) artist is SZA, who, as mentioned, has teased her fluidity as well.  Next on the list are Harry Styles and Jung Kook. Styles has felt no need to define himself calling it “outdated” to do so, saying, “It doesn’t matter, and it’s about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you’re checking.” While unconfirmed gay rumors swirl around Jung Kook, he too seems label adverse. When asked about what defines great fashion, he replied, “Wearing anything you like, regardless of gender.”

Appearing at #8 in the top songs list, Selena Gomez, is another artist whose sexual orientation fluidity has kept fans guessing.

Bad Bunny, on Spotify’s top artist list (#2) and is #1 on the top albums list (“Un Verano Sin Ti”) is a proponent of Kook’s gender fluid assertion. “Everybody has to feel comfortable with what they are and how they feel. Like, what defines a man, what defines being masculine, what defines being feminine? I really can’t give clothes gender. To me, a dress is a dress. If I wear a dress, would it stop being a woman’s dress? Or vice versa? Like, no. It’s a dress, and that’s it. It’s not a man’s, it’s not a woman’s. It’s a dress.”

Probably to no one’s surprise, the Spotify lists reflect the attitude of the youngest LGBTQ activists. Nothing is necessarily out-and-out “gay”, and while there does seem to be a bit of closeting, albeit with gender non-specific clothing, fluidity seems to be queering of the day. In the end, the artists are all very much LGBTQ affirming. Just as they do not have an appetite to discuss who is sleeping with whom, we too should just give a big “who cares?”

Here are the key lists:

Top 10 Artists

1. Taylor Swift
2. Bad Bunny
3. The Weeknd
4. Drake
5. Peso Pluma
6. Feid
7. Travis Scott
8. SZA
9. KAROL G
10. Lana Del Rey

Top 10 Songs Globally

1. Flowers- Myley Cyrus
2. Kill Bill- SZA
3. As It Was- Harry Styles
4. Seven (feat. Latto)- Jung Kook
5. Ella Baila Sola- Eslabon Armado & Peso Pluma
6. Cruel Summer- Taylor Swift
7. Creepin- Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage
8. Calm Down- Rema & Selena Gomez
9. Shakira Bzrp Music Sessions Vol 53- Bizarrap and Shakira
10. Anti-Hero- Taylor Swift

Top Albums Globally

1. Un Verano Sin Ti- Bad Bunny
2. Midnight- Taylor Swift
3. SOS- SZA
4. Starboy- The Weeknd
5. MANANA SERA BONITO- KAROL G
6. One Thing at a Time- Mroagan Wallen
7. Lover- Taylor Swift
8. Heroes & Villains- Metro Boomin
9. GENESIS- Peso Pluma
10. Harry’s House- Harry Styles

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Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.

He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including The Los Angeles Blade, The Washington Blade, Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.

He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.

He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] 

HOLLYWOOD – Most of the descriptions of the new Hulu show Living for the Dead throw it up for comparison against the classic Queer Eye shows.

There was Queer Eye OG, and the current Queer Eye. Does this new show, which comes from the same producers, constitute the third?  Five queer people descending on straight people in need, brandishing their talents and expertise to save the day. That fits. Except the recipients of the queer makeovers in this case, are all dead.

Queer Eye is not Living’s true legacy.  It’s true legacy is:

Scooby Doo.

Like Scooby Doo, Living is a frolicking adventure by a ragtag team, out to find ghosts. Instead of the Mystery Machine van, Living for the Dead’s fab five traverse the country in a beat up RV. The cast seems to be more like the love children of Shaggy and Velma than they do the offspring of Ted Allen and Carson Kressley. Here is how they matchup: blond sweet-faced Fred is now blond sweet-faced Logan Taylor, a medium from Tennessee. Daphne is now enchanting witch Juju, who fellow castmate Roz Hernandez calls “a work of art.” Shaggy has gender-bended into the fair, hippie-like, but gorgeous Alex May, the techie ghost hunter of the group. Velma also has gender-bended into the cute intellectual “uncle” Ken Boggle. Bearded with a snazzy bowler hat, Ken is never caught without his Velma-like glasses as he analyzes every ghostly situation.

In the center of this mele, is the fabulous Roz Hernandez, trans woman, drag queen. While Roz certainly dresses like a Daphne, her true spirit animal is something very different. “I’m the scaredy cat of the group,” she confesses.

Yes, Roz is Living’s  version of Scooby Doo. 

They each brought down-to-earth fear into the equation in hilarious ways. “One of my biggest fears is sleeping in haunted locations,” Roz states boldly. Where Scooby thrived on Scooby-snacks, Roz shoves donuts into her mouth as she panics. When the team bellied up to the check in desk at the haunted Copper Palace Hotel, Roz told the proprietress, “Don’t put me in a haunted room. I can’t sleep with ghosts around.”

“Oh honey,” the woman replied. “You ain’t getting no sleep tonight.”  And she didn’t.

Skeptics abound as the team bounces from haunted hotels, deserted mansions, ghostly strip clubs and horrific sanitariums. The theory in each location is that the team will find out the story of the ghosts, and institute a rectification, bringing peace to the ghosts, and a now habitable location for the living who have to deal with them.

At that point, the show does make an attempt to be Queer Eye for the Dead Guy. Whether they succeed or not, is up to the belief system of the viewer and how much spiritualist dogma sits. Most of the cast come from traditionally religious backgrounds and now have “deeply held beliefs”, but in very non-traditional things. 

Juju is a witch and psychic who professes to be a veteran of sexual relationship with a ghost. Whether you choose to believe her or not, her charismatic strength is impressive.

Alex specializes in the paranormal with a specialty in technology. Her family was very open-minded, with several mediums in the clan. She sees herself as a “failed medium”. Instead of psychic pursuits, she became attracted to the energy devices that could detect, and communicate with paranormal entities.

To Alex, the devices were logical and made sense.  She collects creepy dolls and happily lives in a haunted apartment with two ghosts. The apartment’s activity was so intimidating that the previous tenant had run out in the middle of the night and broke their lease. Alex sees herself as half skeptic, half believer, and so she has to put herself in the situations fully to experience its realness. “I am looking for undisputable proof. In that moment, my desire, is to capture it. My fear is really counteracted by curiosity.”

Ken and Logan are both southern boys with spiritualist grandmothers. Both are psychics, but Ken’s strong medium is Tarot cards. He is vehemently passionate about the show, he states, “I am God’s pickiest human when it comes to TV. I am a southern dramatic queen…  Living for the Dead is not paranormal television, it is an 8-part mini-series. Five friends in a tripped out, crazy RV that are going into situations to help the living by healing the dead. … I’ve never seen anything so beautiful, I have never seen anything so in touch. I’ve never seen any paranormal television show that has contributed to the conversation about what happens in life after death as we have with our show … It is dripping with reality, It is dripping with heart, and real horror moments.”

Logan has the most seriously vulnerable moments in the series. A homophobic ghost berates him in Las Vegas, and in another episode, he becomes possessed. It is his victimization at the hands of humans in his life that is the most heart-wrenching, however. While his small town was not thrilled about him being gay, his psychic abilities made him a scandal. He tells the tales of numerous ministers giving sermons rebuking him. 

Christina Cauterucci of Slate’s Outward podcast went particularly mean-girl on his confessional. She stated coldly, “I also am imagining people watching it and thinking, yeah, ‘they’re right… being queer is just like having a paranormal gift, I don’t want a straight person to watch this and come away thinking that all queer people feel this way.”

While her podcast co-host Bryan Lowder showered the show with love, “This is my favorite show that I’ve seen in ages”, Cauterucci accused the show of “pulling the wool over our eyes” and faking the ghostly effects caught on camera.

Roz Hernandez would shoot that down in a second. “This stuff is REAL y’all. And I’m skeptical!” she screams. Her frustration was over all the stuff that the camera didn’t capture. “These damn ghosts would do the wildest things …when we were off camera, or the camera was not on me!”

Roz truly is the epicenter of the show. She brings authenticity both from being authentically scared, but also hilariously skeptical. She also displayed an empathy for the ghosts that is not ever expressed on paranormal shows. She gives attitude ON  BEHALF of the ghosts, and doesn’t really get why ghosts would even cooperate with the hunters. “If I was a ghost and they were bossing me around, I’d be like, damn bitch, you don’t pay my bills, why do you get to tell me what to do?”

Probably the best Roz moment was in the Las Vegas strip club. Roz was sitting by a quiet ghost-box communicator.  She was bemoaning that all the other team members were around the club, each tussling with a ghost, and yet there she sat, alone, un-haunted. “Is it because you don’t like my hair?” she shouts. The ghost box immediately responded with a resounding “Yes.”  Bitch! (And the look on Roz’s face…priceless.) 

Roz is the major cheerleader for the rest of the group. She hosts a weekly Ghosted podcast and has brought on each member, one by one. “Don’t tell the others, but you… you’re my favorite…” she whispers on air to each of them.

The show mostly succeeds in the “problems” rather than the solutions. The ghost phenomena is intriguing and the stories of the dead are touching. A closeted ghost drag queen, a ghost homophobe, and a ghost family that featured a controlling dad and his gay son, are some of the spirit highlights.

While no ghost is given new abodes, new cooking skills and a spiffy new look, the queer eye of the ghost hunters is still engaging, bonding and more than a little spooky.

The fab five are each interesting characters, and whether you believe in what they professed or not, each is fascinating to watch and for whom to grow affection.

So as we party hardy this Halloween, and in its aftermath, this streamer is a worthwhile guilty pleasure.

Oh. And Roz. If you are listening….  You are my favorite.

Don’t tell the others.

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Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.

He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including The Los Angeles Blade, The Washington Blade, Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.

He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.

He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] 

CULVER CITY, Calif. – Renewal of the show should have been a no-brainer. Amazon Prime Video does not release numbers, but for anyone observing, A League of Their Own, the re-imagining of the 1992 Penny Marshall classic, was a monster hit with a broad audience.

It was in the Nielsen Top 10 for three weeks, was the top show on Amazon for a month and in the top five for six. It had a 94% critic rating and 87% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

It had the added distinction of getting top honors from key LGBTQ watchdog organizations GLAAD and HRC for its outstanding representation of lesbian, bisexual and other LGBTQ people. It won NAACP Image Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and awards from the Critics Choice Association and the National Council of La Raza.

It created a vast hungry audience wanting more.

Who would be SO completely idiotic to not want to continue on with a much anticipated, much demanded Season 2?

Amazon Prime Video, that’s who.

After first agreeing to a shortened season 2 in April, the streamer cancelled the idea completely last week, blaming the “ongoing strikes.” It is a claim of which the series star and co-creator Abbi Jacobson said, “To blame this cancellation on the strike, (which is an essential fight for fair wages, protections and working conditions, etc…) is bullshit and cowardly.”

Will Graham, the other co-creator, held court on X (formerly Twitter), and shared his thoughts at length. First, he put the cancellation within the context of the current state of the nation and the challenges for LGBTQ people, “I see the pain and anger and worry out there, which for the LGBTQIA+ fans of the show is, of course, compounded by what’s happening across the country right now.”

He then wrote eloquently expressing the production team’s desire for the public to get “all the seasons of this show we want to give you.”

While fans were watching and loving A League of Their Own, Graham was apparently watching them. “I’ve never experienced a response to a show that’s as deep, personal, creative and meaningful as what the fans have done with League. When we were making the season 1, we all wondered and worried about whether people would accept it on its own terms next to the film,” he wrote. “They have, and you did that, and so much more. You lit up the internet on your first watch throughs of the show, when you realized where it was going (and made all of us laugh in the process). You wrote enough fan fiction for 100 novels and created an outpouring of art and creativity that could fill its own museum — I’ve truly never seen anything like it. You lifted up a 95-year-old who had just come out of the closet and made her into a celebrity who gets recognized wherever she goes. Every time any member of the cast appears at anything, you turn it into a convention… You dressed as the characters and made our characters into one of the biggest Halloween costumes of last year. You came out, you changed pronouns, you started living more openly, you gave sermons in church about the show, you opened bars, and you got a truly mind-boggling number of tattoos that say ‘to the five’ and ‘rob the bank.’ But most importantly, you made a community, you found each other and found joy, which of course is what the show is about. In many more ways than I would ever have let myself imagine while we were making it, you literally bring the show to life every day.”

Graham also expressed fear that the cancellation, which many might see as homophobia and cancellation of the LGBTQ audience itself, would dampen the pride of the community.

“As we gain strength, the predictable backlash forces are trying their hardest to get us to go back underground,” he points out. “In case anyone needs to hear it: You are not small, niche, modest, off-putting or marginal, and neither are your stories. You are multitudes, you are building, and your stories are universal. You are the most rapidly growing audience and consumer group in this country. You are powerful. You are the future, and the people who don’t recognize your importance now will feel be clamoring to catch up in a few years… you are the main characters. Be proud.”

While Graham promises commitment if the production team finds a way to do Season 2 somewhere, somehow: “If we have an avenue to do it well, we will continue the show, and I love seeing the noise you’re making in support of that. The noise matters!”

On the other hand, should this be the end of A League of Their Own, Graham draws a lesson with a parallel to a scene from the series itself, “What you are is bigger than this show. It’s the story of our community, that comes to us through the hidden history that League shows just one small part of: The bars got raided and shut down. But the people didn’t go anywhere, and they opened a new bar, and out of those spaces came music, cinema, dance, culture — What we now see as mainstream was birthed from the spaces our predecessors were forced to hide in. They made joy there. That’s what you are: In coming together, you are the start of something new, the seeds of a joy we desperately need, the beat of the music that people will dance to in a better future.”

So, as the audience that celebrated the LGBTQ  perfection of A League of Their Own, grieves its untimely passing, we can take a lesson from the ghosts of its characters who haunt us with their truths. As the character Carson Shaw points out, “We’re not here to be perfect. We are here to be brave.”

The character Max Chapman is even more to the point: 

“Baseball is a metaphor for life. You’re gonna get hit, but you gotta keep getting back up.”

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Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.

He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including The Los Angeles Blade, The Washington Blade, Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.

He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.

He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] .

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – In a statement released Tuesday by YouTube on the company’s blog, Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at YouTube, Dr. Garth Graham, joined by the company’s Vice President, Global Head of Trust & Safety Matt Halprin, announced that the platform was taking action to update its medical misinformation policies.

In the blog post the authors noted that; “moving forward, YouTube will streamline dozens of our existing medical misinformation guidelines to fall under three categories – Prevention, Treatment, and Denial.”

YouTube will also take action against videos that discourage people from seeking professional medical treatment as it sets out its health policies going forward. These policies will apply to specific health conditions, treatments, and substances where content contradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Graham and Halprin noted.

Here’s what the framework of the new policies and guidelines will look like:

• Prevention misinformation: We will remove content that contradicts health authority guidance on the prevention and transmission of specific health conditions, and on the safety and efficacy of approved vaccines. For example, this encompasses content that promotes a harmful substance for disease prevention.
• Treatment misinformation: We will remove content that contradicts health authority guidance on treatments for specific health conditions, including promoting specific harmful substances or practices. Examples include content that encourages unproven remedies in place of seeking medical attention for specific conditions, like promoting caesium chloride as a treatment for cancer.
• Denial misinformation: We will remove content that disputes the existence of specific health conditions. This covers content that denies people have died from COVID-19.

Regarding cancer treatment misinformation and its removal Graham and Halprin wrote:

When cancer patients and their loved ones are faced with a diagnosis, they often turn to online spaces to research symptoms, learn about treatment journeys, and find community. Our mission is to make sure that when they turn to YouTube, they can easily find high-quality content from credible health sources.

In applying our updated approach, cancer treatment misinformation fits the framework – the public health risk is high as cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, there is stable consensus about safe cancer treatments from local and global health authorities, and it’s a topic that’s prone to misinformation.

Starting today and ramping up in the coming weeks, we will begin removing content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective, or content that discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment.

This includes content that promotes unproven treatments in place of approved care or as a guaranteed cure, and treatments that have been specifically deemed harmful by health authorities. For instance, a video that claims “garlic cures cancer,” or “take vitamin C instead of radiation therapy” would be removed.

The two executives also made a point to acknowledge that there were potential concessions:

Debate and discussion are critical to the advancement of science and medicine. We always carefully take into account context when enforcing our policies, and allow content that provides educational, documentary, scientific and artistic (EDSA) context.

One element we consider is public interest. This means that we may allow content that is sufficiently in the public interest to remain on YouTube, even if it otherwise violates our policies – for example, a video of a public hearing or comments made by national political candidates on the campaign trail that disputes health authority guidance, or graphic footage from active warzones or humanitarian crises.

We may also make exceptions for personal testimonies or content that discusses the results of a specific medical study. Adding context to a video doesn’t guarantee that it’ll be allowed to remain, and we may also age-gate some content or surface an information panel underneath these videos to provide additional context for viewers.

Today’s move by the streaming platform on cancer and other medical misinformation is a continuation of practices put into place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

YouTube addressed similar issues when in September of 2021 when the video streaming platform announced that expanded its ban on vaccine misinformation. The company said that all false information about approved vaccines will be removed from its platform.

That action came three months after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called out tech companies for their role in hosting misinformation and urged companies to take a number of actions, including sharing data with researchers.

A related COVID-19 misinformation study by the Institute for Media and Communications Management, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland demonstrated a positive link between political polarization and the resistance to COVID-19 prevention measures. At the same time, political polarization has also been associated with the spread of misinformation.

Researchers found that the level of misinformation in YouTube comment sections increased during the pandemic, that fake comments attract statistically more likes, and that the ratio of fake comments increased by 0.4% per month.

These findings suggest that once introduced into an online discussion, misinformation potentially leads to an escalating spiral of misinformation comments, which undermines public policy.

LONDON – Nick and Charlie navigate their new relationship; Tara and Darcy face unforeseen challenges and Tao and Elle work out if they can ever be more than just friends. With exams on the horizon, a school trip to Paris and a prom to plan, the gang has a lot to juggle as they journey through the next stages of life, love and friendship.

Heartstopper: Season 2 | Official Trailer | Netflix:

See-Saw Films & Netflix present Heartstopper Season Two

Written and Created by: Alice Oseman

Director: Euros Lyn

Executive Producers: Patrick Walters, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Alice Oseman, Euros Lyn

Cast: Kit Connor, Joe Locke, Yasmin Finney, William Gao, Corinna Brown, Kizzy Edgell, Sebastian Croft, Tobie Donovan, Rhea Norwood, Jenny Walser, Cormac Hyde-Corrin and Olivia Colman

LONDON – See-Saw Films and Netflix announced Saturday, coinciding with the annual London Pride parade, that the second season of the runaway hit series Heartstopper will premiere on August 3.

Based on the graphic novels by award-winning author, illustrator, screenwriter, and series creator Alice Oseman, in season two Nick and Charlie navigate their new relationship, Tara and Darcy face unforeseen challenges and Tao and Elle work out if they can ever be more than just friends. With exams on the horizon, a school trip to Paris and a prom to plan, the gang has a lot to juggle as they journey through the next stages of life, love and friendship.

Heartstopper: Season 2 | Official Teaser | Netflix:

HOLLYWOOD – When the NYPD raided the Stonewall back in 1969, we all now know, it was the queens and trans folks who stamped down their high heels first to fight back. 54 years later, they are doing it again.

As anti-trans and anti-drag fascism intoxicates a growingly more unrecognizable Republican party, drag queens and their fans are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. There are 467 bills being championed by GOP legislators in state governments vilifying and harming the LGBTQ community.

“This proposed legislation is a direct attempt to force the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly transgender and non-binary individuals, back into the closet, and the number of bills is growing exponentially by the week. Many of these bills, if passed, will prove deadly for trans youth across the country. As anti-trans rhetoric continues to spread, it’s no coincidence that according to the 2019 annual FBI Hate Crime Statistics report, nearly 1-in-5 of any type of hate crime is motivated by Anti-LGBTQIA+ bias,” states the Drag Isn’t Dangerous website.

“The nerve of these disingenuous politicians is unfathomable. The number one killer of children is guns and these NRA pawns deflect it with a completely fabricated problem that puts the drag community in danger. The hypocrisy is astounding,” states comedienne Sarah Siverman.

Hairspray director Adam Shankman agrees.

“Freedom of expression is guaranteed and enshrined in our constitution’s First Amendment. Drag is nothing but artistic and personal expression and drag artists are simply that: ARTISTS. Drag has always been about entertainment and joy, and has always celebrated this most important of our freedoms. For centuries drag artists have dressed up, told stories, sang, danced, made us laugh, wince, or cry depending on the moment. Drag artists are not dangerous. Frankly, the only thing dangerous about drag is walking in 8 inch heels. That and being hunted by cowardly bigots looking for more young minds to groom into their own cultures of fear and intolerance. Our community has been through this before and every time they come for us, we grow stronger. We will fight and we will prevail, wigs, nails and lashes in place, and like Ginger Rogers did, ‘backwards and in heels’!”

First up in that endeavor—time to raise some cash. For $20 plus tax you can tune into the streaming telethon this Sunday, May 7^th at 4 PM Pacific. If you are in Los Angeles, you have the option to see the telethon at Stache West Hollywood and Kitchen 24. Other cities have live watch parties as well, including New York at VERS NYC, El Paso, TX at Touch Bar, Milwaukee, WI at This Is It, and in Seattle, WA at Flying Lion Brewery.

The show will be hosted by some of the biggest names in drag and the world’s most spectacular celebrities. There will be live and pre-recorded exclusive performances, as well as cameos, by drag stars, Oscar winners, music superstars, Broadway’s best, comedians, and more. There will also be a live celebrity phone bank accepting donations.

The full roster at press time includes: Ada Vox, Adam Lambert, Adam Shankman, Alaska, Ali Wong, Amber Tamblyn, Amy Redford, Ashley Fink, BeBe Zahara Benet, Billy Eichner, Blair Erskine, Blu Hydrangea, Bob The Drag Queen, The Boulet Brothers, Brandon Stansell, Bridget Everett, Charlize Theron, Cheri Oteri, Chris Wood, Danielle Cabral, David Cross, Darcy & Jer, Darienne Lake, Desmond Is Amazing, Devon Green & Ned Douglas, Elizabeth Banks, Ella Vaday, Elektra Fence, Emma Hunton, Eureka O’Hara, Frankie Grande, Ginger Minj, Glass Battles, Henry Platt, Heidi N Closet, Idina Menzel, IMHO (Alexis P Bevels & Darby Lynn Cartwright), Isaac Mizrahi,Jack Falahee, Jackie Beat, Jasmine Kennedie, Jai Rodriguez, Jane Castor (Mayor of Tampa, FL), JAX, Jen Kober, Jesse Eisenberg, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jiggly Caliente, Jinkx Monsoon, Joey McIntyre, Jujubee, Justin Martindale, Katya, Kelly Mantle, Kelly Osbourne, Kerri Colby,  Kitty Scott-Claus, Lala Ri, Laganja Estranja, Lance Bass, Leadr, Leland, Leslie Jones, Loni Love, Love Bailey, Manila Luzon, Marcia Gay Harden, Margaret Cho, Max Harwood, Melissa McCarthy, Mercy Collazo, Michelle Visage, Militia Scunt, Miz Cracker, Monét X Change, Nika King, Nina West, Orville Peck, Peppermint, Salina EsTitties, Sarah, Hyland, Sarah Silverman, Scott Hoying, Sherry Vine, SNG, Stephen Trask, Sutton Stracke, Tammie Brown, Tolliver, Tom Kitt, Trinity the Tuck, Trixie Mattel, TS Madison, Vanity Milan, Whitney Cummings, Wilson Cruz, VINCINT, Zee Machine with more names to be announced.

The event will also launch a new charity single, aptly titled, Drag Isn’t Dangerous featuring Jayelle and Ocean Kelly (Bob The Drag Queen) written by Ashley Gordon (Alaska, Trixie Mattel), Drew Louis and Ocean Kelly and produced by Drew Louis. After its premiere, you can purchase the single on all the major streaming services.

Go here for tickets and then receive your email with the telethon link: https://www.moment.co/dangerous/dragisntdangerous-drag-isnt-dangerous-live

May 7^th at 4pm Pacific

Ticket sales and donations for the telethon have already surpassed $100K since the event was first announced. All net proceeds from the event will be divided among approved charities that support LGBTQIA+ causes and drag performers in need, especially in states where they face discrimination and bans. None of the performers or organizers are taking fees for their work on the campaign. All donations are tax deductible and 501c3 verification will be available on request. 

After tucking, corseting and strolling a runway in tiny stilettos, do they really think a few pesky old Republicans can get us down? They have not even begun to see our “well regulated militia” yet… but you can, Sunday at 4pm. Be there.

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Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.

He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including The Los Angeles Blade, The Washington Blade, Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.

He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.

He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] .

LONDON – British-Australian film and television production company See-Saw Films, founded in 2008 by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, and Netflix announced Monday that the new season of hugely popular LGBTQ+ coming-of-age series Heartstopper will be back on August 3.

Based on Alice Oseman’s beloved graphic novel series of the same name, Season Two sees Nick and Charlie navigate their new relationship; Tara and Darcy face unforeseen challenges and Tao and Elle work out if they can ever be more than just friends. With exams on the horizon, a school trip to Paris and a prom to plan, the gang has a lot to juggle as they journey through the next stages of life, love and friendship.

While details surrounding the new season are kept as hush-hush as Fisayo Akinade’s (Mr. Ajayi) art skills, fans can get a taste of what’s to come by reading Alice Oseman’s beloved graphic novel series — especially Volume 3.

“Season 2 is based on Volume 3,” Oseman told — the official Netflix site, on the set of Heartstopper. “So we had a good foundation. But there’s not enough in the book to take a whole season of TV, so there had to be a lot of creation of new stuff.”

Newly minted boyfriends Charlie and Nick are ready to explore their relationship further in Season 2. “Charlie goes on more of a journey this season. His story’s a bit more mature,” says Locke.

The rest of the Season 1 squad will also be back to brush up against even more Heartstopper moments of queer joy and discovery, including Finney, Gao, Brown, Edgell, Sebastian Croft (Ben), Tobie Donovan (Isaac), Rhea Norwood (Imogen), Cormac Hyde-Corrin (Harry) and Jenny Walser (Tori).

Akinade, Chetna Pandya (Coach Singh), Alan Turkington (Mr. Lange) and Olivia Colman (as Nick’s mum, Sarah) will also return as the adults shepherding these young teens toward who they’re meant to be.

Reflecting on the cast dynamic, executive producer Patrick Walters told Tudum on set that “it’s really gorgeous because they’re such a bonded gang in the comic and in the scripts that [Alice] wrote. And then you have these actors who are also equally bonded and love each other so much. It’s an energy of friendship on set, whenever the actors are there and a whole big gang. It’s really nice.”

There are plenty of fresh faces that will be joining the Heartstopper cast for Season 2 as well, including Leila Khan as Higgs student Sahar Zahid and Nima Taleghani as Truham teacher Mr. Farouk. Both of them pop up in the behind-the-scenes video above. Bradley Riches (who played a Truham student in Season 1) will also return as James McEwan. We’ll meet more of Nick’s family in Season 2, including Jack Barton as Nick’s older brother, David, and Thibault de Montalembert as Nick’s father, Stephane. Bel Priestley as Naomi and Ash Self as Felix will both play new friends of Elle.

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Heartstopper:

• Series 1 has a 100% Critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is ‘certified fresh’ [Source: Rotten Tomatoes]
• It reached the Netflix Top Ten list in 54 countries [Source: Netflix Top 10]
• The Heartstopper graphic novel series has sold over 8 million copies, been published in 35 countries worldwide and featured in the international bestseller charts, achieving #1 spots on both The Sunday Times and The New York Times bestseller lists 

Heartstopper Season 2

• Premiere date: 3rd August
• Episodes: 8
• Production Company: See-Saw Films
• Written and Created by: Alice Oseman
• Director: Euros Lyn
• Executive Producers: Patrick Walters, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Alice Oseman, Euros Lyn
• Cast: Kit Connor, Joe Locke, Yasmin Finney, William Gao, Corinna Brown, Kizzy Edgell, Sebastian Croft, Tobie Donovan, Rhea Norwood, Jenny Walser, Cormac Hyde-Corrin and Olivia Colman

LOS ANGELES – The political and media worlds were jolted Monday by news that Fox News host and pundit Tucker Carlson and the network had abruptly parted ways followed by news from Atlanta within an hour that CNN had terminated morning anchor Don Lemon.

Both men had stirred controversy within the ranks of their respective networks in recent months with on-air comments and behind the camera drama as described by insiders at both Fox and CNN to the Blade.

Word of Carlson’s departure came in a statement from the network early Monday:

“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21^st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.”

Co-anchor of “CNN This Morning,” Lemon’s termination was announced on Twitter by Lemon himself:

” I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned> After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run. They are the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best.”

CNN CEO Chris Licht said that the network and Lemon have “parted ways,” according to a memo posted on CNN’s official communications Twitter account.

“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” the statement said. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”

Carlson joined Fox News as a contributor in 2009 and served as a co-host of “Fox and Friends Weekend’ from 2012 to 2016.  His show Tucker Carlson Tonight aired in 2016 and a year later moved into the primetime 8 p.m. slot in April of 2017.

Carlson has had a lengthy history of inflammatory commentary during his tenure at Fox. He has targeted minority groups as noted by Washington D.C. progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America. The groups’ researchers Madeline Peltz and  Nikki McCann RamIirez noted:

Since the early days of his tenure as a Fox prime-time host, Tucker Carlson’s unabashed championing of white grievances earned him the accolades of neo-Nazis, who praised him as a “one man gas chamber” and complimented the way he “lampshad[ed] Jews on national television.” While Carlson claims to have nothing in common with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, he constantly echoes their talking points on his show and was very reluctant to condemn white supremacists following their deadly 2017 demonstration in Charlottesville, VA. In fact, Carlson’s racist roots can be traced back more than a decade.

For the American LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender people, Carlson has led a relentless campaign mocking and denigrating trans people. In a late December 2022 episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, he hosted Libs of TikTok owner Chaya Raichik, who labeled LGBTQ+ people as: “They’re bad people. They’re evil people. And they want to groom kids. They’re recruiting.” 

Raichik’s Twitter account has spewed anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech with special emphasis on singling out American transgender youth, attacking healthcare professionals who provide gender affirming care including Children’s Hospitals in Boston, Nashville and Washington D.C. which has led her over 1 million followers to pummel those medical facilities with hate filled online abuse and escalating to criminal acts including bomb threats and death threats against doctors.

During that interview Carlson nodded sympathetically as he embraced Raichik’s extremism.

During the August 22, 2022, edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson, while interviewing former Russia Today and current Rebel News reporter Jeremy Loffredo about his story regarding Amish farmer named Amos Miller, who has legal problems with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration over food safety concerns, at one point blurted out: “Maybe if he promises to put more chemicals in the milk to turn kids trans, they’ll lay off.”

Carlson has long targeted President Joe Biden, his family, and members of the president’s administration. During the May 10, 2022, edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, he mocked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is an openly Black lesbian:

“Karine Jean-Pierre is our first out LGBTQ+ White House Press Secretary and that’s all you need to know. It’s a good thing, shut up and celebrate. That’s why she got the job. She’s in the right group and so the Biden administration, which thinks exclusively in terms of groups and never in terms of individuals because individuals are messy and inconvenient, the group is all that matters. […] Not only is she a member of the out LGBTQ+ community, she’s also, critically, the product of a private school and an Ivy League college and yet still oppressed somehow. She is furious at America despite her ample privilege and enraged by its racist systems of oppression. And she’s happy to tell you about it.”

On the political front, Carlson’s embrace of the far-right extremist elements had led to disagreements and heated internal debate a Fox News source told the Blade on Monday. Adding to the controversy and in turn exacerbated by the massive $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in the lawsuit filed against Fox in March 2021 over defamatory comments, including a Jan. 26, 2021, episode of Carlson’s show featuring MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, was Carlson’s role.

CBS News notes that Carlson has been a fixture of cable news for decades, hosting shows on CNN, MSNBC and PBS before he joined Fox News. He also co-founded the conservative website The Daily Caller, which launched in 2010. Carlson stepped down from day-to-day oversight of the website after landing his show on Fox News and sold his stake in the outlet in 2020.

Monday’s termination of Don Lemon by cable news giant CNN comes after NBC News reported that media industry news and entertainment outlet Variety published a story earlier this month on allegations that he mistreated his female colleagues over the course of his career there. And earlier this year, he faced backlash over widely criticized comments he made on-air.

Lemon has been with CNN since 2006, joining the network after anchoring at NBC Chicago and working as a correspondent for NBC News, the “TODAY” show and “NBC Nightly News.”

Lemon had come out as an openly gay African-American news anchor 12 years ago in 2011 telling The Washington Blade in a May 2011 interview:

“I have to tell you I can’t even put it in those terms. I mean, it goes way over a scale of one to 10, honestly. And it goes way over incredible. I mean I just feel like a new person.” 

Lemon also faced hate and anti-gay extremism, at one point during the Trump era filed a police report with the New York Police Department for “aggravated harassment” after receiving death threats on Twitter.

The anchor, who is partnered to fiancé, Tim Malone, a real estate agent, had heated arguments with network staff after his negative treatment of CNN This Morning co-star Kaitlan Collins was discussed within the company.

NBC News noted Lemon also came under fire in February during a segment on “CNN This Morning” in which he remarked that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was no longer in her “prime.” The comment was made while discussing a suggestion by Haley that candidates over the age of 75 should be subjected to mental competency exams.

“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s and maybe her 40s.”

When pushed by co-anchor Poppy Harlow, Lemon told her not to “shoot the messenger.”

At the time of the Variety article, a spokesperson for Lemon said in a statement to NBC News following the report that it was “amazing and disappointing that Variety would be so reckless.”

“The story, which is riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence, is entirely based on unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip,” the statement said.

ORLANDO – What’s billed as “The Final Season” of Star Trek Picard is now streaming on Paramount+, to the delight of fans of the 56-year-old franchise, especially those who grew up watching The Next Generation, or TNG, television series and films. 

Helmed by executive producer Terry Matalas, employing a Vulcan mindmeld that combines infinite fan service with diverse, mature and all-too human characters, along with intriguing sci-fi plotlines, this third season of the series is a love letter to all Star Trek fans. It’s more of a ten-part feature film, reuniting the major characters of the TV series that launched in 1987, who last teamed-up in 2002 for a flop of a final film, Star Trek Nemesis.  

CBS and Paramount+ recently invited a select number of journalists to a virtual junket with actors Sir Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Jeri Ryan, Michael Dorn, Michelle Hurd and the new member of the cast, Todd Stashwick, as well as showrunner Matalas.

In our interviews, McFadden revealed her thoughts about a TNG episode written by gay writer/director Michael Horvat, that she said LGBTQ+ fans often ask about. Ryan and Hurd addressed questions about the lesbian relationship their characters revealed previously on Picard. Matalas spoke about what he thinks would be the best way to introduce a regular transgender character in Star Trek.

And there’s more, plus a few spoilers about the first six parts, so be warned before you watch!

STAR TREK PICARD Season 3 Stars and showrunner chat with Melody Maia Monet and Dawn Ennis