I am whatever YOU think I am until YOU get to KNOW me. This is true for everyone else too, of course.. so don't make assumptions about anyone or pass judgment; ask questions. You might just make a new friend.
Lil Nas X
loves a scandal, and his latest birthday photoshoot gives the gays everything
they want.
The
"Industry Baby" singer celebrated his 24th birthday on Sunday, which
just so happened to be Easter this year. He celebrated with an Instagram
photoshoot, captioned, "hbd thee batty boy".
The photo
shoot is for a fake magazine spread in Battyboy, which is a pejorative term for
gay men in Jamaican Patois and a parody of the iconic Playboy brand. On the
cover, X is glammed out in wigs and high heels while showing off his *ahem*
assets.
It's a direct
homage to Playboy's January 1986 Cover Girls cover. In the
following slides, a more masculine presenting X is almost salivating over the
spread while looking into an open magazine. If you look carefully, that cover
looks like X as well.
The posts have
over a million likes on Instagram and 100k on Twitter. Fans are obsessed with
the photos. "Idk something about this man," one female fan tweeted.
"I love the confidence. Love the style. Love the authenticity. Love the
not caring what others think. You confusing me idk if I want you, want to be
you, or want to hangout with you."
Lil Nas X got candid about dating during a recent segment
of Carpool Karaoke that’s way too fun to miss.
The “Montero”
singer joined host James Corden as they wheeled their way through the
streets of Los Angeles in the most recent installment of the series. After a
strong opening with “Old Town Road,” plus a quick run at an impromptu trumpet
duet, the conversation turned to Lil Nas’s romantic life.
“I’ve met
quite a few famous guys,” he said, acknowledging the time he’s spent on Raya,
an invite-only dating app that public figures sometimes use. “I think I’ve come
to know that I don’t like dating famous people.”
But Corden was
more interested in hearing more about exactly who Lil Nas has met on the app,
asking if it’s anyone who’s been on Carpool Karaoke.
“For sure,”
the rapper replied — though he, of course, remained mum on any further details.
The rest of
the ride included more karaoke before they made a detour for Lil Nas to make
his acting debut as a waiter on an upcoming episode of The Bold and the
Beautiful. We were treated to some of the behind-the-scenes as he and
Corden tried not to mess up the shooting schedule too badly, but the fast pace
of daytime turned out to be a formidable challenge.
Carpool
Karaoke rarely disappoints, and this pivot from the
standard format was a must-see for any Lil Nas fans. And you can catch his
episode of the CBS soap on April 19.
Who is
Montero?
Montero is Lil
Nas X's first name; Lil Nas X is just his stage name.
Lovecraft Country star
Jonathan Majors is a cover boy on the latest issue of Ebony Magazine, and the
photos went viral for... obvious reasons.
Majors just
appeared as Kang in the latest Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania movie
as well as opposite Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan in
the upcoming Creed III film, so he's clearly a hot ticket
right now. He's had a steady rise over the last few years that many would
consider odd for a leading Black man, even appearing as the young gay activist
Ken Jones inWhen We Rise.
"What I’m
trying to do with my work is show nothing is monolith," Majors told Ebony.
"Not Blackness, not maleness, not comic-book villains."
His photos
certainly reflect that, a soft and colorful palette juxtaposed to his
substantial muscles and presence.
But not
everyone loved the shoot, particularly some people who felt like Majors was
being "emasculated."
“Uh…..so I
guess I’m the only one who sees this cover as kinda effeminate???” one comment
read. "What happened to masculine hot straight men. Pathetic," said
another. Another person tweeted, "Sad your rag does this to men. No one
likes it."
That's
certainly not true. We like it! But some folks death grip on heteronormativity
and traditional masculine roles have them determined to be upset about it.
Also, they're clearly forgetting it's Ebony's Valentine's Day issue. And his
stylist Alexander-Julian Gibbson also said Majors' look was inspired by
basketball player Allen Iverson and the anime One Piece,
particularly the character Doflamingo.
Majors
responded to the drama on the Ant-Man red carpet. "It's
always good to make a ruckus."
Some folks are
just determined to have a bad time. We'll turn up the volume on Ebony's
behind-the-scenes footage over their whines.
Did Jonathan
Majors go to Yale?
Yes, Jonathan
Majors attended the Yale School of Drama and graduated with a Master of Fine
Arts degree in 2016.
Who is
Jonathan in Marvel movies?
Majors plays
Kang the Conqueror in the newest Marvel movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp:
Quantumania.
How old is
Jonathan Majors?
Majors was
born on September 7, 1989. He currently 33-years-old.
After a full
month of complaints about the shorter episode format on RuPaul's Drag
Race's fifteenth season, the Emmy-Award-winning competition series is
returning to its 90-minute format.
With the
announcement of Season 15 and the move to MTV, the series cut down the episodes
from 1.5-hour airtime to 1 with commercials. Ever since, both fans and the
queens have been complaining about the quickened pace of the show, chaotic
edit, and seconds-long runways. And they weren't afraid to let the network know
about their dissatisfaction. "We worked too hard and invested too much
money for a 45 min edit," contestant Salina EsTitties tweeted. "I say
this as a viewer and fan of the show. I just wanted to see more of the
gals."
Now, their prayers have been
answered. The series announced the news on social media. "Get ready,
racers," the official account tweeted.
Beginning
March 10, Drag Race officially returns to the hour-and-a-half
episode format.
But what does
that means for the Real Friends of WeHo, the controversial reality
series that many fans believed was the reason why episodes were shortened?
According to EW, "The channel also moved its new reality
show The Real Friends of WeHo to the hour immediately
following Drag Race, replacing the regular slot occupied by
companion show Untucked, which moved to 10 p.m. weekly as a
result."
An Oversight Board is urging
the platforms to be more trans and nonbinary inclusive.
Meta has been
urged to revamp community guidelines on nudity this week by an Oversight board
who believes the current rules are discriminatory to women, transgender, and
nonbinary folks.
The board
consists of 22 experts in technology and human rights law from around the world
who are unaffiliated with Meta leadership and yesterday, they released a joint
decision to challenge Instagram and Facebook's current rules.
According
to them, "the complaints were filed by a couple
who had posted photos to Instagram showing their bare chests with their nipples
covered to promote a fundraiser for top surgery. Meta moderators initially removed
both posts before eventually restoring them." The board says that the
initial removal of the posts point to "fundamental issues with Meta’s
policies,” notably the application's censorship of “female nipples” and a
clearer definition of them, specifically when it comes to breastfeeding.
The review
also cites a “high volume of public comments” from transgender, nonbinary
people, and even cisgender women, “who explained that they were personally
affected by enforcement errors.”
“This policy
is based on a binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female
bodies.” Board members felt the current societal definitions are "broader
than the stated rationale for the policy.”
“Such an
approach makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and
transgender people,” the Board wrote, “and requires reviewers to make rapid and
subjective assessments of sex and gender, which is not practical when
moderating content at scale.”
The board is
recommending to Meta, Facebook, and Instagram to revise the Adult Nudity and
Sexual Activity policies with “clear, objective, rights-respecting criteria”
that don't discriminate based on sex or gender and revisions of their “sexual
solicitation” policies that prevent sex workers from openly operating on the
platforms.
Meta
"welcomes the Oversight Board's decision" and is now in the process
of reviewing their policies in an attempt to "constantly evolve our
policies to help make our platforms safer for everyone.” They now have 60 days
to issue an official response to the Board’s decision.
While we remain hopeful, Meta
could decline the requests. Time will tell.
Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason
Gooding, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Courtney Cox, and Hayden Panettiere
return for the latest bloody round with Ghostface.
If there’s one
thing we know about slasher killers, it’s that you can’t keep a good one down.
So, of course, it’s no surprise that Ghostface is back for another terrifying
entry in the Scream franchise — but this time he’s left
Woodsboro and headed to the big city, promising that he’s “something different”
than what we’ve seen before.
The trailer
for Scream VI dropped this morning and sees the
young survivors of Scream (2022) looking to get a fresh start in New York
City, but their past just won’t let them go. Sam, who learned the dark secret
of her parentage in the last film, believes that the darkness inside her is
drawing the killer to her. Thankfully she has a group of friends and fellow
survivors that include Courtney Cox’s iconic Gale Weathers, and Scream
4 survivor Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) to help her in her
inevitable face-off with the masked killer. Also returning is our fave queer
know-it-all Mindy Meeks-Martin (played by out actor Jasmin Savoy-Brown), Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), and Chad
Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding).
Or is it killers?
The trailer seems to imply that Ghostface may have taken on some kind of
cult-like status and our band of intrepid survivors may be outnumbered this
time around. This Ghostface certainly mixes things up weapon-wise, as the
trailer shows a masked killer who typically prefers his trademark Buck 120
picking up a shotgun while stalking his victims in a bodega.
This new film
will also introduce some new characters played by Jack Champion, Henry Czerny,
Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and
Samara Weaving.
Who will
survive? Who among them will turn out to be Ghostface? Only time will tell.
Scream VI hits
theaters on March 10. Watch the trailer below.
Kid Flash will
appear on season nine of The Flash after all!
Keiynan Lonsdale is officially returning for the final
season of The Flash.
The actor,
best known for his roles in Love, Simon, The Divergent
Series: Insurgent, and My Fake Boyfriend, appeared as Kid Flash
/ Wally West in 45 episodes of The CW’s The Flash. He was a regular
character in seasons two and three of the series, and made recurring appearances in seasons four and five.
“We’re so
happy to reunite with the incredibly talented Keiynan Lonsdale as a part
of The Flash’s final season,” executive producer Eric Wallace
explained (via Deadline), “because Kid Flash isn’t just another
speedster – he’s a beloved part of our Team Flash family.”
The producer added, “So, as
soon as we knew he was coming back, we set out to create a special and
heartfelt story for his return. The result is a brilliant performance from
Keiynan that showcases a side of Wally West you’ve never seen before.”
When Lonsdale
joined The Flash, he made waves for being an out LGBTQ+ actor
appearing as a significant character on a superhero TV show. It was also
incredibly exciting given that Kid Flash is a beloved character within the DC Comics universe.
Though he was
not a part of seasons six through eight of the show, viewers are undoubtedly
excited for Lonsdale to appear in the final season of The Flash.
The CW’s The
Flash is going out with a bang – and bringing back Kid Flash to the
show makes it even more exciting!
The Flash season nine premieres February 8 on The CW.
What is
Keiynan Lonsdale's age?
Keiynan
Lonsdale is 31 years old.
Is Wally from
‘The Flash’ Nigerian?
On The
CW's The Flash, Wally West's father is Nigerian and his mother is
Australian.
Is Kid Flash
related to The Flash?
In the comic
books, Wally West a.k.a. Kid Flash is the nephew of Iris West. When Iris
marries Barry Allen (The Flash), Wally becomes Barry's nephew-in-law.
Black icons
reunite for this beloved franchise, and the new miniseries includes an LGBTQ+
arc.
Twenty-three
years after the beloved movie The Best Man premiered, Taye Diggs, Nia
Long, Sanaa Lathan, Regina Hall, Morris Chestnut, Melissa De Sousa, Harold
Perrineau, and Terrance Howard have reunited for a Peacock series, The
Best Man: The Final Chapters.
If you watched
the original two films, all the familial and friend drama is back and at full
force as the group prepares for the book Taye Diggs' character Harper wrote in
the original film, Unfinished Business, is getting turned into a movie. We
also meet LJ, the teenage child of Chesnut's character Lance Sullivan.
Light spoilers
ahead...
Toward the
beginning of the season, LJ comes out to Lance as nonbinary. Confusion ensues
as many of the friends in their 50s can't wrap their heads around the concept,
especially Lance. For the time the show spans, Lance refuses to use LJ's
preferred pronouns of they/them and the group heatedly debates how to refer to
LJ and how they should be referred to.
Lance, a
former professional football player still grieving the death of his wife and
clinging to his fame, is holding on tight to the masculine idea of who his
child should be, desperate for them to follow in their athletic footsteps, and
refuses to acknowledge LJ's nonbinary identity in any way. Eventually, their
headbutting reaches a boiling point and in episode 7, LJ runs away.
As LGBTQ+
youth have an upsetting history of homelessness and self-harm, Lance assumes
the worst and completely melts down the longer LJ's been gone. Lance visits his
departed wife's grave and finally realizes that he's "failing our
son." He asks God to "please help me understand LJ. Change me."
Finally, LJ is
found at an LGBTQ+ friendly church. Lance sits in the pew next to his child and
LJ emotionally shares their thoughts as they hold up a bible.
"The
first thing I learned in this book was that God loves me," they begin,
"except the real me wasn't welcome. If I'm not welcome in God's house or
my own house, where do I go?" LJ goes on to say that this church saved
their life. "How is it that God can love me unconditionally dad, but you
can't?"
Finally, it
breaks through to Lance, and his 180-degree turn is beautiful to witness.
Catch all this
drama and more on The Best Man: The Final Chapters, available
to stream now on Peacock. Watch the trailer below:
Episode five
of The White Lotus season two has broken the series' all-time
viewership records this past weekend after a shocking twist that ended with a
very gay bang!
Without
spoiling too much, an unexpected hookup at the end of the fifth episode of
season two left many fans speechless. Tanya, played by the iconic Jennifer
Coolidge, walked in on her assumed-to-be-millionaire friend Quentin getting
railed by his alleged "nephew," Jack.
Overall, a lot
of mystery still hangs in the air. Is Jack really Quentin's nephew or a hired escort with an
excellent cover? Will Tanya tell her assistant, who is in the midst of a
vacation fling with Jack? And are these rich gays really just hanging out with
Tanya, or do they have something more sinister in the works?
With only two
seasons, the Mike White series is becoming one of HBO's most successful – and
LGBTQ+ inclusive – programs. According to Variety, episode five of season two was watched 2.3
million times, more than any previous episode of the series.
Only two
episodes of The White Lotus season two are left, the next one
is titled "Abductions", so who knows what we'll witness next. Episode
one did promise the death of at least one of the characters,
so keep your fingers crossed that your favorite vacationer (Aubrey Plaza, I'm
looking at you!) makes it out alive!
Is White Lotus
disturbing?
While it deals
with adult themes of sex, drugs, and murder, we wouldn't quite call the show
disturbing. It's not especially violent or graphic, but it certainly features
mature themes and content.
What is so
great about White Lotus?
The show takes
a stinging look at privilege and class at luxury vacation spots around the
world, examining the lives of the wealthy people visiting fictional White Lotus
resorts alongside the working class people they use, abuse, and leave behind.
Also Jennifer Coolidge.
PRIDE chatted with Bob the Drag
Queen, Shangela, and Eureka about small-town heroes, villains, and the inherent
joy of glamour.
In season nine
of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Eureka O’Hara famously declared “stakes are high,
hearts are pounding, buttholes are clenched.” Beyond being utterly memeable,
that’s an accurate description of We’re Here’s heart-pounding and heartwarming season
three premiere episodes which saw its iconic queens Eureka, Shangela, and Bob the
Drag Queen, visiting Granbury, Texas — a place that didn’t want them there
and wasn’t afraid to let them know, sometimes with threats of violence.
The stakes
were indeed high, hearts were pounding, and well, you know the rest.
But if you
thought you saw it all in the episode, that was just the beginning, as Bob the
Drag Queen tells PRIDE. “There are a lot of times our teams felt very unsafe
being in this town because baby this may shock you but we’re actually not the
most flamboyant people on the We’re Here team. Queens and fairies and
dandelions are behind the scenes of We’re Here. And a lot of them felt really
uncomfortable,” he recalls. “There were signs around town that were like if
you’re a part of this show, don’t come in here. Signs right on the front of
businesses like if you’re a part of this We’re Here business don’t come in
here... it was scary.], sometimes it was genuinely terrifying.”
However, the
three of them (and their teams) didn’t let the intimidation stop them, because
the reality is thay not only is the show highly entertaining and moving. But
its stars are doing good work. Simply their presence in the face of bigotry,
defiant and bedecked in rhinestones has the power to change hearts and minds,
and its why even with the level of success they have achieved in their career,
they are still willing to be out there on the front line.
“It’s so
important for us to be a part of the show, and connecting with our drag kids
and filing stories. Because it matters,” Shangela tells PRIDE. “We hear this
whether it’s in messages, online comments, in conversations with people how
We’re Here is helping to connect them to experiences that they’ve had
themselves. You don’t have to be from a small town to enjoy this show to get
something from the show to let it make you feel something and... it’s creating
change and I hope progress for LGBTQ+ people.”
It’s the kind
of programming that Eureka would have appreciated growing up in Tennessee and
not really ever seeing themselves represented. “I would have loved to have seen
more of myself representing my community, not just earlier in life because I
think it would have helped me as a bigger person, but also as a queer
individual. And someone who was dealing with an environment in East Tennessee,
where not only was my peer community very negative and anti who I was
presenting, or who I was in general, or trying to tell me who I was,” they tell
PRIDE.
Bob agrees
that the impact of simply seeing a drag queen can be life-changing. “When I was
in college, I went and I saw a drag show, and it changed my life. Even if it
wasn’t in my town. I remember being an adult, I was an adult watching it on
television and I heard that RuPaul had a TV show. I was like ‘Rupaul is making
a TV show, this is remarkable.’ And I watched it in my life was literally
changed,” she recalls. “So imagine, if I actually seen them walking down Buena
Vista Blvd. in Columbus, Georgia. You can’t even imagine.”
Now in its
third season, the show has touched many lives — although a humble Eureka
struggles with being credited for doing so — and a lot has changed for the
queens and in the world since the show first premiered in 2020. “Season one was
we were just walking into the wind with our eyes closed in the thunderstorm,”
recalls Bob. “ Season two, we were doing a show in the middle of a pandemic.
And in season three, we have been on the tail end of a lot of political shifts,
not just because of the election cycle, but also because of the pandemic. But I
was still really excited to get back on the ground.”
Shangela
agrees that this season felt different because the world is so different than
when they started out. “There was a temperature change because our show is a
real-life docseries. And so the show reflects what’s happening in our country
right now,” he says. “There has been a shift in how people feel really, I
think, emboldened, supported in being negative. And having these just really
nasty hate speeches and dialogue and rhetoric, and our show felt that.”
While being a
successful drag queen means they are a position where they could avoid some of
this pain, it was important to Shangela to be there and bare witness. “The
important thing is to know that that’s what everyone so many people in the
LGBTQ+ community is feeling. So we gave a reflection of that, but also showed
how a lot of people are able to push through it, to overcome it and still
somehow build a sense of community in some of the most unlikely places.”
As dark as the
world may seem at times, the queens have a secret — well not so secret — weapon:
Glamour. Never underestimate the power of glam to effect change. “Glamour makes
people happy. People get really excited when they see glitz and glamour and
sparkle and joy and lashes and heels and sequins and rhinestones. Oh my! It
really brings people a lot of joy,” says Bob. “ It makes me happy, that’s why
I’m still doing it 14 years later That’s why I’m still torturing my body with
corsets and pumps.”
Once you
create that crack in people's walls, there is an opportunity for change, and
growth Eureka says is what season three of the show is ultimately all about.
“Growth is so important for our country, our queer community, also our allies
right now more than ever, growth for ally ship more than anything, I think that
you know, we highlight our allies a lot and this season, and how they affect
our growth politically, how they affect our voices being amplified,” they say.
But of course,
the truest message of season three is right there in the title. “No matter
where you are in the world, no matter what country, no matter what community.
We’re here. No matter where you stay it’s true. We’re here,” says Bob. “Queer
people are everywhere. We pop up all over the place. Just know that you’re not
here by yourself.”
We're Here
Season 3 | Official Trailer | HBO
Is there going
to be a season 3 of We’re Here?
Yes! It’s
currently airing on HBO.
How many
episodes were here season 2?
Season 2
featured 8 episodes.
Who created
We're Here?
We're Here was created by Stephen Warren and Johnnie Ingram, and is executive
produced by Warren, Ingram, Peter LoGreco, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman.
In 2018, the
beloved blogging website committed social suicide when it banned all nudity from the app, alienating itself from
the very horny user base that made it so massive in the first place. In just
three months, the site's monthly page views dipped from 521 million to 370
million, with many people abandoning the site completely.
With updated
community guidelines, the platform announced yesterday that it would once again
allow nudity, but not sexually explicit images.
"We now
welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr including
content depicting the human form," the new community guidelines read.
“Nudity and other kinds of adult material are generally welcome. We’re not here
to judge your art, we just ask that you add a Community Label to your mature
content so that people can choose to filter it out of their Dashboard if they
prefer,”
But don't expect the site to be
quite as explicit as it once was. Pornography, specifically, still won't be
allowed – though it's not clear how they will differentiate that from nudity.
According to The Verge, users can’t post links or ads to
“adult-oriented affiliate networks,” can't advertise “escort or erotic
services,” and can’t post content that “promotes pedophilia,” including
“sexually suggestive” content with images of children. These specifics will
keep Tumblr in good faith with payment processors and Apple’s App Store for iOS
devices.
The changes come
with the site's new owner: Tumblr was bought from Verizon in September by
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg.
Twitter is
reveling in the win as the bird app was just bought by Elon Musk. Incoming
changes are signaling some dramatic changes to Twitter's function and many users
are considering leaving it altogether. "He did it. Elon revived Tumblr.
Holy sh*t," one user wrote.
What does she know about the
upcoming visual album...
It's
been 2two years three months
since Beyoncé dropped her groundbreaking and insanely gay disco trap
album Renaissance, and we have not stopped streaming since!
Featuring
singles "Break My Soul" and "Cuff It", the album is a
glitzy celebration of queer culture that has inspired thousands of TikToks and
dance parties around the world – and is eliciting especially high praise from
Black LGBTQ+ communities. On August 12, Beyoncé shared a teaser with at least a
dozen different jaw-dropping looks that signified the coming of another visual
album. But ever since then... radio silence.
Fans have
noticed, and are desperate for the visuals. Just take a quick peak at
Beyoncé's Instagram comments or the Twitter hashtag and you'll see hundreds of
people clamoring, if not outright begging, for just a crumb of the forthcoming
videos. GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT BEYONCÉ, and I say that with the utmost
respect.
Even Drag
Race superstar and Beyhive member Shea Couleé has felt the heat, but going by the
now-deleted tweet, it looks like the All Stars 5 winner might
have some tea...
"I'm not
gonna say how I know this, but the visuals are coming," Coulee tweeted
cryptically. "So stop asking that lady for them. She's working overtime,
and she's about to deliver."
What does she
know? And how? It's unclear.
Real fans know
that Mrs. Carter keeps ironclad NDAs so while we'd like to believe Couleé might
appear in a music video (where she'd fit right in honestly!), we doubt she'd
have the courage to just... tweet it out. But if Couleé received some tea from someone working on the
project, it's highly likely they are queer which is certainly a good sign for
us! Or perhaps we'll be proved wrong and we'll see Couleé at Queen Bey's
right-hand side!
The
jaw-dropping new trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever sent Marvel fans into a
frenzy earlier this week, and now Michaela Coel is giving LGBTQ+ fans another
reason to cheer.
Coel, writer,
director, and star of the controversial yet beloved series I May
Destroy You is joining the cinematic universe as Aneka in the upcoming
film, a character who has a romantic relationship with a woman.
This
relationship lives in the Black Panther comics and was rumored to premiere in the 2018 film. Queer fans were
disappointed when it seemed like the moment was scrapped but now, our patience
has paid off!
According to
Coel’s stunning new Vogue feature, “Aneka is a captain and combat
instructor in the Dora Milaje, the fearless all-female crew of warriors who
protect the kingdom of Wakanda. As the story goes, she falls in love with her
warrior colleague Ayo, played by Florence Kasumba, and their forbidden affair
causes disruption in the ranks.”
Coel says
Aneka’s sexuality is what sold her on the role. “I thought: I like that, I want
to show that to Ghana.” The African country has antigay laws that are more than
just conservative, and Coel hopes that the story can combat some of the
homophobia. Right now, the parliament is trying to pass a bill that would
sentence people who identified as gay, and even their allies, to prison for
five years. Coel is well aware of the country’s politics and history: both of
her parents are Ghanaian.
“People say,
‘Oh, it’s fine, it’s just politics.’ But I don’t think it is just politics when
it affects how people get to live their daily lives,” she said. “That’s why it
felt important for me to step in and do that role because I know just by my
being Ghanaian, Ghanaians will come.”
Hopefully,
Aneka’s story and Coel’s portrayal can change some minds. It seems like
director Ryan Coogler thinks so. “Aneka, the character Michaela plays, is kind
of a rebel,” he told Vogue. “It made a lot of meta sense with
Michaela being someone who is pushing the industry forward and carving out her
own space.”
Black Panther:
Wakanda Forever premieres
November 11 in theaters. You can catch glimpses of Aneka in the latest trailer,
which you can watch below.
After winning
season 13, Symone had one of the most successful reigns in RuPaul’s Drag Race herstory.
Even after her reign has come to an end with the crowning of Willow Pill as the
winner of season 14, Symone continues to take drag further than ever into the
mainstream.
In the heels
of promoting her appearance in the new gay rom-com Bros, Symone has now also been
turned into an official Good Luck Trolls doll. During an interview with Nylon, Symone revealed that she underwent her Trollify
transformation as a partnership with NBCUniversal that included a donation to
Lucie’s Place, “an Arkansas-based nonprofit that provides LGBTQIA+ young adults
experiencing homelessness with resources from toiletries and clothing to
housing solutions including rental and utility assistance programs.”
Symone
described her special Trolls edition as “something everyone could see a piece
of themselves in. It’s a very joyous doll.”
In the
meantime, Forever 21 has also launched a new capsule collection
that includes a limited-edition crop tee directly inspired by Symone’s Trolls
doll. It seems like the ultimate fashion queen of Drag Race season 13 is
still managing to leave her mark in the world.
“Whatever you
want to do, you can,” Symone told the publication. “Nothing is out of reach for
you. Nothing is impossible for you, no matter where you come from, no matter
your circumstances... If you want to do it, and it makes you happy and you
ain’t hurting nobody, go for it. Because it’s there for you. You just gotta
want it. You just gotta work for it. You just gotta be brave enough to allow
yourself to have it.”
She will be the first drag
contestant on the U.S. iteration of the competition show.
Dancing with
the Stars is shaking things up a bit with the
new season, announcing this week that Shangela has joined the cast as the
reality show’s first ever drag queen contestant.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race alum will be partnered
with Gleb Savchenko for season 31 of the popular dance competition, and is more
than ready to prove her moves.
“I feel so
honored to be the first drag entertainer to compete on the show,” she wrote
on Instagram.
“It’s about darn time!!! So all y’all who’ve been in my corner all these years,
tell a friend!”
“Let’s go win
this Crown… I mean, Mirrorball!” she added.
Fans of the
drag queen were hyped for her over the announcement, and wasted no time yelling
as much across social media.
While Shangela
may be the first drag queen on the original U.S. iteration of Dancing
with the Stars, Australia beat us to the punch by including Courtney Act on their show in both 2019 and earlier
this year, for an All Stars edition.
Dancing with
the Stars, like many well-established reality shows,
has been slow to catch up to the inclusivity of modern times. It was just last
year that JoJo Siwa became the first female contestant to
compete with a female dance partner on the show. But seeing these steps
continue in the right direction rather than halt or wind it back is promising,
at least.
Season 31 will
also see Wayne Brady, Selma Blair, Jordin Sparks, Cheryl Ladd, Daniel Durant,
and Trevor Donovan join the cast, along with Jessie James Decker, bodybuilder
Joseph Baena, weatherman Sam Champion, TikTok influencer Charli D’Amelio and
her mother, Heidi, The Bachelorette’s Gabby Windey, Jersey
Shore’s Vinny Guadagnino, and The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s
Teresa Giudice.
Tune in on
Monday, September 19 to see Shangela shine!
Williams felt
the directors were too scared, so he took matters into his own hands.
Michael K.
Williams broke barriers play a gay, Black man on The Wire, and had
wrapped up another meaningful queer role in HBO’s Lovecraft Country shortly
before he died of a drug overdose in 2021. Now, his posthumous memoir is
revealing how he fought for his most iconic character’s queer scenes to be more
intimate and true-to-life.
Vulture obtained a lengthy excerpt from Scenes
From My Life, co-written by Jon Sternfeld, detailing how Williams got the
role as Omar Little in David Simon’s gritty Baltimore-based drama.
The actor detailed
his initial hesitance at playing a gay character (an identity Williams himself did not
share), chalking it up to “my upbringing, the community that raised me, and the
stubborn stereotypes of gay characters.”
But Omar
wasn’t any kind of stereotype, and Williams soon not only embraced the role but
says he was the one ultimately pushing for scenes between him and his boyfriend, Brandon (Michael Kevin Darnall) to be physically
intimate in the way heterosexual couples were readily allowed to be on TV.
“It seemed
like everyone was dancing around their intimacy issue. There was lots of
touching hair and rubbing lips and things like that,” he recalled. “I felt like
if we were going to do this, we should go all in. I think the directors were
scared, and I said to one of them, ‘You know gay people fuck, right?’”
Williams says
“the issue boiled over” for him after a point, so he approached Darnall and
suggested they take things into their own hands, adding a kiss into a scene
that didn’t explicitly call for it. He got Darnall to agree to bypass the
director and just go for it during rehearsal — and it worked.
“When I went
in and kissed Michael on the lips, everyone stopped what they were doing and
went slack-jawed. Twenty years ago, men — especially men of color — were
not kissing on television. I don’t mean it was rare; I mean it
did not happen,” he wrote.
Their bold
move convinced the director to film the scene with the kiss included, with
Williams (and Darnall) to thank.
Scenes from My
Life officially hit shelves last week and
is currently available to purchase for anyone hoping to learn more about the
late actor’s life and career in his own words.
The film is based on the
Agojie, the real all-female warrior unit that inspired the Dora Milaje in
Marvel’s Black Panther.
If you think
the Dora Milaje (aka the king’s guard) in Black Panther is amazing, get ready to meet the
real-life inspiration, the Agojie, in The Woman King. The film is a
historical epic inspired by the true story of the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of
the most powerful states in Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The film stars Viola Davis as General Nanisca, who is building a new
generation of all-female warriors to fight a new evil that has reached their
shores. That evil? White European Colonialism. In the trailer, we see that
threat arriving knowing all-too-well that they’re there to enslave Africa’s
people.
But led by
Nanisca, the Dahomey people are ready to fight back. “We have a weapon they’re
not prepared for,” King Ghezo (John Boyega) says in the trailer, referring to
the Agojie — and we see exactly what he means as the women first train and then
head into battle against the colonialist threat.
“You are
called to join the King’s Guard,” Nanisca tells her recruits as Beyonce’s ‘My
Power” plays in the background. “No kingdom in all of Africa shares this
privilege. Train hard, fight harder. We fear no one, and we fear no pain. I
offer you a choice: fight or we die.”
The film also
stars Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel), Sheila
Atim (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), and Thuso Mbedu (The
Underground Railroad) as members of the Agojie.
The Woman King premieres in theaters Sept. 16. Watch the trailer below.
Happy Pride,
Rebel! You’ve found your perfect princess!
Rebel Wilson
is joining the team!
The Pitch
Perfect star stunned fans Thursday morning when she came out to the
world by going public with her girlfriend, Ramona Agruma.
“I thought I
was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time
was a Disney Princess,” she wrote, hashtagging the photo #loveislove and
throwing in a rainbow and hearts for good measure.
Wilson had
previously told PEOPLE that she was in a relationship after
meeting someone through a set-up by a friend, but didn’t say who her new
romantic interest was or hint that it was a woman.
“I think going
through the process of finding more self-worth, I think that what you want in a
partner is elevated and so it’s great to have someone who feels like an equal
partner and be in a healthy relationship,” she said at the time.
Agruma’s
Instagram, which is private, lists her as the founder of Lemon Ve Limon, a Los
Angeles-based clothing brand. Not much else is known about their relationship
at this time, although Rebel’s friends and peers were eager to wish them well
after their announcement.
“Adore you
both so much!” wrote fellow Pitch Perfect star Kelley Jakle,
while TV host Carly Steel called them a “gorgeous couple & dynamic duo.”
Earlier this
month, Wilson wished fans a “Happy Pride” with a rainbow themed donut in front
of a double-headed horse statue bleeding rainbow.
In retrospect,
maybe we should have figured this out just a little bit sooner!
The talented and confident
29-year-old came out in the same Instagram post revealing she had been hired!
A newly hired
dancer just became the first openly transgender cheerleader for the NFL.
Justine
Lindsay took to Instagram last month to share some exciting news — she had
auditioned to join the TopCats, the cheerleading squad backing the Carolina
Panthers. In the same post, she also came out as trans.
It was a bold
move, considering the 29-year-old wasn’t even out to her closest friends. The
only people that knew were her family, and the people who reviewed her
application for the TopCats.
“My goal is to
create a team of individuals that are absolute fire on the field but are
incredible human beings in the locker room, good friends, good people, and at
the end of the day, you have to walk through the door first to get that spot,”
TopCats director Chandalae Lanouette told Buzzfeed.
Coming out at
such a pivotal time in her life was something Lindsay said scared her, but she
ultimately decided that “whatever reaction I get from everyone, it does not matter.”
A recent interview with Buzzfeed brought Lindsay
and the community some much-need visibility, but it also resulted in the usual
suspects of transphobic trolls wasting everyone’s time with their tired
harassment. Lindsay kept her cool with her claws retracted, though, as she
deftly and kindly shut them down. And the support from her friends, teammates,
and allies in the public seems stronger than ever.
Lindsay also
made a point to thank Lanouette in particular for “taking that leap of faith”
in hiring her and called joining the TopCats a “dream come true.”
While no
official record of NFL cheerleaders throughout time exists, this is believed to
be the first time an openly trans cheerleader has been hired for one of the
squads.
“This is big.
I think more people need to see this,” Lindsay said. “It’s not because I want
recognition. It’s just to shed light on what’s going on in the world.”
