CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said that Donald Trump was like “an obese turtle on its back flailing in the hot Sun” after the 45th President of the US threatened legal action over the hotly contested Presidential election.
The comment came after the 45th held a press conference at the White House to claim that the Democrats were stealing the election with voter fraud, a claim that has not been proved.
As it currently stands the Democrats and former Vice President, Joe Biden are ahead, with 264 electoral college votes, while Trump has 214. The next President of the US must have 270 votes to claim overall victory.
There are still five states yet to declare.
“Sad and it is truly pathetic”
After the press conference, Cooper said, “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this from the president of the United States and I think, as Jake [Tapper] said, it’s sad and it is truly pathetic and, of course, it’ll go through the courts, but you’ll notice the president did not have any evidence presented at all, nothing, no real actual evidence of any kind of fraud”.
“That is the president of the United States, that is the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot Sun realising his time is over.
“But he just hasn’t accepted it and he wants to take everyone down with him, including this country.”
Sometimes it can feel like the world’s media is fixated on the achievements of the under 20s. The careers of those who are beyond the age of 25 don’t seem relevant, well we disagree.
Here are 10 gay and bisexual men whose careers totally bloomed after the age of 40, although some of them were already doing well before that!
Okay so RuPaul was already a star in his twenties, but, during the late 90s and 00s Ru’s career somewhat stalled. However the resurgence of Drag and more importantly, the part that Ru’s show Drag Race has played in giving drag its second wind puts Ru back on top.
Anderson Cooper, News Anchor and Reporter
Although Anderson has always been successful, thanks to his family line, (he’s an heir to the Vanderbilt empire) it wasn’t until he became the news anchor at CNN in 2003 that his star stock took off and he’s become steadily more and more successful since then. He’s now one of the most recognisable faces of news TV.
Bianca Del Rio, Drag Queen
CREDIT: kathclick / Bigstock
Bianca Del Rio / Roy Haylock was actually in his late 30s when his appearance and winning of RuPaul’s Drag Race made him a household name. Since turning 40 Roy and Bianca have been travelling the world performing in countless venues – Bianca even has her very own comedy feature-length movie, Hurricane Bianca.
We tread carefully here, as Giorgio hasn’t come out officially as gay or bisexual, but an interview in Vanity Fair in 2000 shed some light on his sexuality, when he said, “I have had women in my life. And sometimes men”.
Giorgio’s star was late rising. He showcased his first collection in 1975, when he was 41. Giorgio topped our richest list in 2015.
It wasn’t until the 80s that Calvin Klein clothing and the man himself became the fashion king that he is today, after all his company changed the way the world viewed underwear, anyone who has seen those Mark Walberg underwear pictures will know what we’re talking about. Although Calvin had success in his formative years, he was well into his 40s when it was arguably his underwear ranges and fragrances that turned his successes around.
Tim Cook became a household name when he took over the top job at Apple and he was into his 50s. He came out as gay in October 2014, becoming one of the most successful out CEOs in history.
Cyril Nri, Actor
CREDIT: Ben Blackall / Channel 4
Star of Channel 4’s Cucumber in 2015, Cyril, 54, starred in The Bill from 2002 until 2006. His career went astronomical again when he starred in Russell T Davies’ Cucumber making him a household name in the UK. SPOILER: His graphic murder in the show became one of the most talked about moments in queer TV history.
Harvey was known as one of life’s drifters, that is until he decided to go into politics in his mid-40s. Although only in the political arena for a few years before his murder at the age of 48, Harvey’s contribution to the LGBT movement has long been heralded as significant.
Dan Bucatinsky, Actor & TV Producer
In 2005 Dan helped bring The Comeback starring Lisa Kudrow to the world, cementing his position as a go-to producer in television. In 2013 he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his involvement in the hit TV drama Scandal.
Nick Denton Former (Gawker) Editor and Media Owner
Nick Denton, 49, was the founder of Gawker, which was one of the most powerful blog collectives on earth. In 2007 when he was 40 he entered the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of £140m. However, in 2016 Gawker ran into legal troubles and closed.
Errm, we’re not sure that’s how virginity works Andy.
TV hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, who have been friends for “decades” were playing a game 1-2 AC on Andy’s show, Watch What Happens Live! when the question of Andy’s virginity came up. While Anderson guessed that his BBF Andy lost it when he was 34 – Andy revealed that the answer was “I’m a Gold Star, I’ve never done it with a girl…”
A confused Anderson, questioned Andy, saying, “but virginity isn’t…”
We’ve not heard the expression “gold star” before, but we have heard of a “platinum gay”.
The pair were also asked if they had dated, to which they answered never and that it’d be too weird!
What do you think? – are you still a virgin if you’ve never had sex with someone of the opposite sex?
Between them, the top 25 gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans celebrities we could find on Twitter have access to the eyes of up to 132,000,000 people.
They range from a news anchor to YouTube stars, singers to actors. The average age of these stars is 46 years old, YouTuber Troye Sivan being the youngest at 20 and George Takei being the oldest at 78. Some have made their celebrity status through reality TV, like Adam Lambert (American Idol) and some have played the long fame game, like singer Ricky Martin and actor Neil Patrick Harris.
To make it on to this list celebrities needed to have at least one million followers. Trans stars are vastly under represented in the media and therefore may contribute to the fact that only one trans person had enough followers to qualify.
Zachary Quinto came to fame during the Heroes TV show created by Tim Kring. He’s since gone on to star as Spock in the latest series of Star Trek films.
24) Rylan Clark-Neal, Presenter, 1.34 Million @Rylan
CREDIT: Channel 5
Rylan made his name during X Factor UK – and quickly became a reality TV favourite after he was snapped up by Celebrity Big Brother producers who put him to the house. Despite only becoming recently famous at that point he won that series of CBB. He now presents Big Brother’s Bit On The Side.
Ellen Page is a Canadian actor who came out in February 2014 during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s Time To Thrive conference. She stars in the X Men series of films.
22) Samantha Ronson, DJ and Producer, 1.51 million, @SamanthaRonson
Sometimes it can feel like the world’s media is fixated on the achievements of the under 20s. The careers of those who are beyond the age of 25 don’t seem relevant, well we disagree.
Here’s 10 gay and bisexual men whose careers took off after the age of 40, although some of them were already doing well before that!
RuPaul
TV star, Drag Queen and Recording Artist
Okay so RuPaul was already a star in his twenties, but, during the late 90s and 00s Ru’s career somewhat stalled. However the resurgence of Drag and more importantly, the part that Ru’s show Drag Race has played in giving drag its second wind puts Ru back on top.
Anderson Cooper
News Anchor and Reporter
Although Anderson has always been successful, thanks to his family, it wasn’t until he became the news anchor at CNN in 2003 that his star stock took off and he’s become steadily more and more successful since then. He’s now one of the most recognisable faces of news TV.
Bianca Del Rio
Drag Queen
Bianca Del Rio / Roy Haylock was actually in his late 30s when his appearance and winning of RuPaul’s Drag Race made him a household name. Since turning 40 Roy and Bianca have been travelling the world performing in countless venues – he even has a film coming out…
Giorgio Armani
Fashion Designer
We tread carefully here, as Giorgio hasn’t come out officially as gay or bisexual, but an interview in Vanity Fair in 2000 shed some light on his sexuality, when he said, “I have had women in my life. And sometimes men”. Giorgio’s star was late rising. He showcased his first collected in 1975, when he was 41. Giorgio topped our 2015 Richest list.
Embed from Getty Images
Calvin Klein
Fashion designer
Fashion DesignerIt wasn’t until the 80s that Calvin Klein clothing and the man himself became the fashion king that it is today, after his company changed the way the world viewed underwear. Although Calvin had success in his formative years, he was well into his 40s when it was arguably his underwear ranges and fragrances that turned his successes around.
Tim Cook became a household name when he took over the top job at Apple and he was into his 50s. He came out as gay in October 2014, becoming one of the most successful out CEOs in history.
Cyril Nri
Actor
Star of Channel 4’s Cucumber in 2015, Cyril, 54, starred in The Bill from 2002 until 2006. His career went astronomical again when he starred in Russell T Davies’ Cucumber making him a household name in the UK. His graphic murder in the showcase became one of the most talked about moments in queer TV history.
Harvey Milk
Politician
Harvey was known as one of life’s drifters, that is until he decided to go into politics in his mid 40s. Although only in the political arena for a few years, before his murder at the age of 48, Harvey’s contribution to the LGBT movement has long been heralded as significant.
Dan Bucatinsky (The Comeback)
TV Producer and Actor
In 2005 Dan helped bring The Comeback starring Lisa Kudrow to the world, cementing his position as a go to producer in television. In 2013 he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his involvement in the hit TV drama Scandal.
Nick Denton, 49, is the founder of Gawker, one of the most powerful blog collectives on earth. In 2007 when he was 40 he entered the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of £140m.
Today in gay history, Anderson Cooper was born in 1967.
Anderson Cooper, 47, was born this day in 1967, with an estimated fortune of $100m Anderson Cooper is the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt.
He has been dating his partner since 2009. He came out as gay in July 2012 saying,
“I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It’s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true. …
“The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud”.
