Grindr has slapped back at an attempt by Eminem to use its brand.
It’s the social media story of the moment, the Dolly Parton challenge as it has become known, features four pictures of yourself in four different poses for four different platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder – however, GayTwitter TM has obviously swapped out Tinder for Grindr.
Entertainer Eminem thought he’d get in on the action and posted his challenge, asking his fans, “Did I get this right” but instead of Tinder he also used the world’s most popular gay hook up app, Grindr – inexplicably – as he’s not gay or bi – as far as we know.
Grindr took no time in responding with one of the most whithering clap backs we’ve seen in a long time.
In 2018 Eminem apologised for using the homophobic slur “faggot” toward the rapper Tyler The Creator, in his track “Fall”.
This isn’t the first time he’s used homophobia in his music, even going as far to explain his usage of the slurs to the Rolling Stone in 2013, as “… more like calling someone a bitch or a punk or asshole,”
Ah… next he’ll be telling us some of his best friends are gay…
Not all celebrities need a drink to have a good time! In fact, many of them have sworn off the booze for good and are living their best lives.
Frankie Grande
CREDIT: Channel 5/ Youtube
US reality TV star Frankie Grande recently celebrated a year and a half sober. He took to Instagram to celebrate the amazing milestone and released a colourful artwork featuring a picture of him smiling and the words, “sexy, sassy and strong” added.
He also took a moment to reach out to anyone who is struggling with depression or unmanageable or overwhelming feelings to offer the words of encouragement, that you don’t “have to drink and use over them…”
Bradley Traynor
If you’re outside the US, you might be more familiar with Brad’s former alter ego, drag queen Wanda Wisdom, the first-ever drag queen to host her own podcast. She made a big point at the start of every show to say that she was a “single, sober drag queen”. Nowadays, Brad is still sober but works as a presenter on the radio, MyTalk 1071.
RuPaul
Speaking to THEGAYUK in 2014, RuPaul told us, “Well you know I’ve been sober for 14 years. I feel incredible. If you wanna lead a life on this planet there’s an evolution a storyline, somethings get left behind. It’s like a rocket and a fuselage.
“To launch a rocket into space you need to use the fuselage but at some point, you leave Earth’s atmosphere and you don’t need that fuselage anymore and you realise its important to break it off, if you want to move further. My point is you have to be present enough to understand when it’s time to give certain things up, but you also need tools to know how to deal with being present, because sometimes being present is really f**ked up.
“Sometimes you get really bored, sometimes you have a lot of pain, a lot of loneliness, but you need the tools to deal with that otherwise you’re gonna be in a lot of pain”
The writer and creator of some of the best gay stories, like the film Beautiful Thing and Gimme Gimme Gimme, celebrated one year of sobriety in January 2020. Taking to Twitter he wrote,
The Aussie Olympian, Matthew Mitcham is sober and last year celebrated another year sober. He took to Instagram to say, “I also reached another recovery milestone, and I’ve never felt cleaner or serener”.
Zachary Quinto
(C) BIGSTOCK
The actor Zachary Quinto has just celebrated 3 years of sobriety on Instagram, writing, “III years sober today. I guess I wore the right jumper for the occasion. when I think about how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown and how much more I love myself,” he wrote in the caption. “I’m really blown away. very far from perfect – but perfectly flawed. and working every day to honor and realize my full potential.
“Three years ago I had lost a connection to gratitude almost entirely. today i am brimming with it. for this touchstone. for life’s abundance. for true friends. for support. for the sweet freedom of this journey. may it continue with compassion – curiosity – honesty and above all… LOVE.”
Elton John‘s fight against drugs, drink and eating disorders started in 1990. The music legend was propelled to get sober 28 years ago in 1990 in the wake of seeing how the AIDS scourge inflicted itself on the community. The Fix quotes, “Within six months I became sober, and clean, and have been for the last (28) years.”
Tyler may rap about liquor and meds, but apparently he’s totally sober, he said, “Not to drugs, I never spark it.”
Jake Hook
Songwriter and editor of this very magazine Jake Hook has spoken about the benefits of being sober, including the monetary and well-being benefits. He became sober in the summer of 2014. Speaking about the night before coming sober he wrote, “…one night, when I was alone and I started to drink by myself and after the first half a bottle of Malibu, or whatever it was I was drinking, a thought popped into my head. ‘What am I doing and why am I doing this?’ I wasn’t happy and jolly, I wasn’t being the life and soul of any parties and I certainly wasn’t looking, feeling or acting the sexy beast that I know myself to be! Looking into the mirror, I saw how miserable I had actually become”.
Kelly Osbourne shared a passionate post on Instagram in August 2018 celebrating one year of restraint. She said, “This past year has been one of the hardest years of my life and I feel it’s time share that with you guys,
“To cut a long story short things got really dark … The only way I knew how to function was to self medicate and go from project to project so I never had to focus on what was really going on with me.”
In September 2018, the artist tweeted about being eight years without drink.
“Eight years sober today,” she wrote on September 11, 2018. “I love you, keep going. You can do it.” During an appearance on The Late Late Show, the singer talked about her struggles. She said, “I was a singer already for like 10 or 11 years to mediocre success, and I was an alcoholic and a drug addict, and I sobered up and decided I didn’t want to be an artist any more, “I was starting to get a little bit famous and it was destabilizing in some ways…so I thought, ‘What doesn’t exist in pop music at the moment?’ and it was mystery.”
The superstar, Boy George, has caused controversy with trans and non-binary advocates after suggesting that preferred pronouns should be left out of the conversation.
Boy George has lit a match under the “preferred pronoun” conversation and is currently under fire for suggesting that pronouns should be “left at the door” to further compound the issue, he went on to call it a “modern form of attention seeking”
Fans of the 80’s hitmaker told the star that he should “respect people’s preferred pronouns” while some called the singer “transphobic” for his comment.
In response to a question about not using someone’s preferred pronouns, Boy George replied, “Thanks for that but I have eyes and can mostly describe what I see!”
Former Pink News journalist, Benjamin Butterworth responded, by tweeting, “Then we’ll stop calling you your attention-seeking identity “Boy George”, and use your real identity of George O’Dowd, convict who falsely imprisoned and beat a man with a metal chain.”
Ego Boost?
Others were quick to applaud the singer for his stance. One fan wrote, “Every venomous, deranged tweet I come across has a pronouned [sic] bio attached to it” while another added, “Pronouns are nothing more than ego boosters for people who use them”.
One user said using, “compelled pronouns was ridiculous”
The Non-Binary Sam Smith star took posted a topless picture saying that the sun was healing… and people are loving the positivity.
So 2020 hasn’t gotten off to a great start – with the threat of WWIII and the Australian Bush fires raging but some are finding comfort in Sam Smith’s timeline.
In a recent post, the star admitted that despite hiding their* body away from the sun, that it felt good to “have my top off on holiday
* Sam Smith uses they, them and their pronouns.
Holding what looked to be a cheeky cocktail in a bright pink glass the “How Do You Sleep” hitmaker posted a topless picture and captioned it, “Feels so good to have my top off on holiday. Spent all my life hiding my body from the sun. The last year my skin has been soaking in that LIGHT. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from feeling that kiss from above you beautiful humans”
Feels so good to have my top off on holiday. Spent all my life hiding my body from the sun. The last year my skin has been soaking in that LIGHT. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from feeling that kiss from above you beautiful humans 💫 pic.twitter.com/0MuOLellDA
In an interview the former Glee star said that people thinking that he’s gay doesn’t bother him, but it did at one point.
Matthew Morrison has revealed that it used to bother him if fans of his shows thought that he was gay, that is, until, he had a revelation.
In 2013 he put the record straight in an interview with the Huffington Post. When he was asked whether the public misconception about him being gay “bothered him” he replied, “I know my own truth. I’m in a great relationship with a woman.
“Maybe before it used to bother me. Then I was like, ‘This is so stupid that this bothers me. Some of my best friends in the world are gay, and if this is bothering me, then that means I have an issue with that.’
“Once I figured that out for myself, I thought, “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me.”
He then made it clear that he was an ally for the gay community and was “very proud” of his role in the community.
Of course, in 2019 these things really don’t or shouldn’t matter, but Matthew is married to a woman called Renee Puente. They were married in October 2014 on the island of Maui.
They had their first child together in 2017. In October Renee had a baby boy who they named Revel James Makai.
Yes, Matthew Morris is married to a woman called Renee Puente. Matthew and Renee got married in October 2014. The pair met at a celebrity party. Renee is a singer and model and comes from Hawaii. Before meeting Renee it is reported that he dated singer and actor Lea Michelle, who would go on to co-star with Matthew in the hit Fox show, Glee.
Matthew Morrison returns to BBC’s The Greatest Dancer in January 2020.
However, the song crowned number one contains a homophobic slur. Every year a debate rages about whether the song should have the word “f*ggot” bleeped or silenced when it is broadcast publicly.
The song beat out Mariah’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’ and WHAM!’s ‘Last Christmas’, it also managed to top Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas“, which took the fourth spot.
In 2007, BBC’s Radio 1 in the UK, censored the offending word, but soon reinstated it after a public backlash.
Sharron Davies is taking heat on social media after likening drag to blackface. The former athlete, taking to Twitter, asked if anyone else was fed up of drag shows before stating that drag was a “parody of a real woman” before likening it to the wholly unacceptable practice of blackface.
Her tweet quickly found Davies ratio’d as nearly 1600 people took to comment on the tweet, while the tweet received only 360 retweets.
The majority of the tweets were negative towards Davies’ comments, with many criticising her “stereotyping of women” and ‘narrow mindedness”.
The 57-year-old then reeled off a list of what “real women” do including, juggling kids, cooking wholesome food, doing the laundry and other house chores. She also included “holding down a job” dealing with period pains and “leaky boobs” from breastfeeding.
She finished her tweet by telling drag queens to stop with the stereotypes.
Michelle Visage, judge of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the only Drag show currently broadcasting on mainstream media in the UK (and even then it’s on the digital-only platform BBC 3) hit back at the MBE saying, “or you can see it for what drag actually is, a celebration and homage of all things feminine.
Drag Race UK superstar Baga Chipz has left no one wondering what she really feels about the US President, Donald Trump.
Taking to Twitter the Drag Race runner up tweeted “Bye, bye you orange bastard” in connection to the news that the 45th President of the United States had been impeached.
Baga’s fans were quick to agree with the queen, with one adding a simple “word” tweet while another quipped, “Yes good riddance”.
However, some her fans were more hesitant in celebrating the impeachment of Trump saying that because the Senate is controlled by Republicans, that he is likely to be acquitted.
One warned, “It now has to go through the senate – which is controlled by the Republicans- he’s going no where love” while another added, “No, he won’t be removed, but he now has that permanent scar on his presidency and once he leaves office, he can be prosecuted for his crimes. It doesn’t solve the problem, but it sets up a lovely future where he’s behind bars.”
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA.org) has chosen Olivia Wilde as its Wilde Artist of the Year for 2019, with a special tribute to the Booksmart filmmaker set for Sunday, February 2 at the national group’s 11th Dorian Awards Winners Toast in L.A. The accolade, named for GALECA’s “patron saint” Oscar Wilde, goes to “a truly groundbreaking force in film, theater and/or television.”
“Olivia’s inventive direction of Booksmart, with its vivid, heartbreaking and humanly funny depiction of teen lives—be they straight or gay—makes the movie a much-needed enlightened update to even the most beloved genre classics,” said GALECA Executive Director John Griffiths. “As an organization whose awards go to all of film and TV, not only LGBTQ-centric, we love how Olivia’s dedication to keeping all of Booksmart‘s characters’ emotions so affectingly real—amid the movie’s fresh and layered plot, no less—practically leaps off the screen. She’s too smart to ever let the cast—a diverse group that reflects actual high school campus experience for a change—slip into stereotypes. No wonder Booksmart’s become such a touchstone for Gen Z.”
Wilde’s ability to get “such moving, bold and even star-making performances” out of Booksmart’s stars Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein and Diana Silvers, “shows how wildly talented a director she is,” added GALECA President Diane Anderson-Minshall, Editorial Director of The Advocate magazine. “And the awkward first-love scenes were beyond evocative. All said, we’re thrilled to be able to raise a glass to the woman who directed one of the year’s best-reviewed films.”
In addition to earning raves for her first-time directorial effort, Wilde also scored excellent notices earlier this year for her brave and raw performance as Sadie, a victim of domestic abuse turned vigilante, in the independent film A Vigilante. She previously appeared in such films as director Spike Jonze’s Her, Ron Howard’s Rush and the indie hit Butter. Currently, she can be seen on screen alongside Sam Rockwell and Kathy Bates in director Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell. Away from acting, Wilde is a strong activist who works with major organizations in the push for women’s rights, voter rights, and education and health for the poor.
Past GALECA’s Dorian Award for Wilde Artist of the Year winners include the likes of Jordan Peele, Todd Haynes, Kate McKinnon, Jill Soloway and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Dorian Award nominations across 27 film and TV categories—including the group’s trademark Campy and Unsung honors—will be announced January 3, 2020. Winners aside from Olivia Wilde will be revealed January 8. The location of the 11th Dorian Awards Winners Toast, a light-hearted, champagne-flowing event, is TBA as well (previous Toast locations include The Beverly Hilton and Hollywood’s Paley restaurant).
RuPaul Drag Race UK superstar, Baga Chipz has been keeping good company – as she was recently spotted with some of the lads from the Naked Rugby Players calendar.
Casually hanging out with some of the lads from the Bristol Bisons, who semi stripped off for her, Baga held the calendar in hand and told viewers they’d feel “much betta” if they went and bought it – of course, proceeds from the calendar go to Balls To Cancer and the six inclusive rugby teams that took part in the calendar.
She even managed to get the Naked Rugby lads to say her world-famous catchphrase with her.
Baga came third in the first-ever Drag Race UK but became a firm favourite of fans of the show. She also managed to bag herself the catchphrase “Much Betta” cementing her as one of the most memorable queens ever to take part in the show.
After leaving the jungle, reality star Caitlyn Jenner could find her net worth increased to a whopping £112 million new research has found. Currently, she’s apparently worth £77 million.
An odds insights platform, which gives analysis on the latest odds on sports, TV and celebrity news, has compiled a list of the I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (I’m a Celeb) contestants who have gone on to earn the most post-show.
The list, created by at Whataretheodds.co.uk, has revealed that contestants of the hit ITV show can expect to see their net worth rise an average of 455%. Scarlett Moffat has benefited most as a result of her appearance in the sixteenth series of the show back in 2016 with a net worth increase of 1567%.
“Since the first season in 2002, I’m a Celeb has continued to increase in popularity, becoming one of the most-watched British TV shows of all time. There just seems to be something about watching celebrities in discomfort that captivates the nation!
“So, why do these celebs put themselves in this position for three weeks? Our research shows just how much of a positive impact appearing on the show has on a celeb’s career, even if, as in Scarlett’s case, it ends up being short-lived! Some contestants have gone on to do absolutely nothing since the show while others have completely transformed flagging careers. It will be interesting to see how the contestants fair after their stint in the jungle this year!”
