Celebrity News

Queer nominees leave empty handed from disastrous Golden Globes

On the road toward a very ‘straight and narrow’ Oscar night?

Published

6 months ago

January 9, 2024

Matt Bomer was one of a few queer nominees but lost the Golden Globe. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

By now, even if you didn’t watch them, you probably already know that Sunday night’s presentation of the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards was pretty much a debacle.

From its tense first few minutes, when host Jo Koy (seriously, how many people had to say “no” to the job before they got to Jo Koy?) took his opening monologue rapidly past “irreverent” to “disrespectful” as his audience squirmed uncomfortably, it was clear that the evening’s attempt at a free-wheeling but good-natured roast of Hollywood disguised as an awards show was not going to go as planned. Koy’s efforts at snark were met with palpable hostility from the celebrity crowd, most of whom looked like they would rather be anywhere else but in the audience at the Beverly Hilton, and things just got worse from there.

We could go on about the lackluster, often tone-deaf writing, or the poorly conceived “stunt pairings” of stars as presenters, or the general sloppiness that made the show feel precarious from beginning to end, but fortunately, there’s no need for us to relive all that here. The reason you’re reading this (since this is the Blade, after all) is to find out about the “queer take” on the Golden Globes; unfortunately, the only one we can offer is that there really was no queer take on the Golden Globes.

Going into the ceremony, which, as always with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual awards show, bestowed the organization’s honors for both film and television, there were only a handful of out queer acting nominees. Two of these competed in a single category (Best Male Actor in a Motion Picture Drama): Colman Domingo, nominated for his star turn in the title role of “Rustin,” and Andrew Scott, who was up for his widely acclaimed performance in Andrew Haigh’s ethereal gay ghost story, “All of Us Strangers.” Both lost the award to Cillian Murphy, the star of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”

The other out nominee in the film acting categories, previous four-time Golden Globe winner Jodie Foster, was competing as Best Supporting Female Actor in Any Motion Picture for her performance in the Netflix biopic “Nyad,” but she lost to Da’Vine Joy Randolph of Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.”

On the TV side, out gay performer Matt Bomer, nominated as Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie for Showtime’s queer historical romance “Fellow Travelers,” lost to Steven Yuen in the Netflix smash, “Beef.” Natasha Lyonne – who identifies as straight but has always been open about her bisexual attractions – was up for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series as the star of “Poker Face.” That award went instead to Ayo Edebiri of “The Bear.”

It’s true that Billie Eilish – who was nominated alongside brother Finneas O’Connell for co-writing Best Original Song nominee “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” an award that they went on to win – has identified publicly as being attracted to both males and females, something she recently reasserted in a Variety interview (before following up with an Instagram post commenting that “literally who cares” about her sexuality), so at least there was one winner from the queer community during the evening.

As for the movies and shows themselves, several of the nominated titles included queer characters and themes, with Best Picture nominees “Maestro” (about bisexual composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein) and “May December” (from pioneering “New Queer Cinema” filmmaker Todd Haynes) as the most obvious examples. Both films received multiple nods; neither walked away with a single win. In the TV division, several queer-oriented shows, from “Fellow Travelers” to “The Last of Us” to “Ted Lasso,” lost in their respective categories, and “Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer,” the out lesbian comedian’s Netflix special nominated for the newly added Best Standup Performance category, lost to former Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais’ “Ricky Gervais: Apocalypse.”

There were few queer moments of note, in fact, during the event, though the presence of trans “Euphoria” star Hunter Schaefer onstage as a presenter was a welcome nod to inclusion. A more positive spin can be found by acknowledging the show of diversity – an issue around which the Golden Globes has long been deservedly criticized – among the winners. Several acting wins went to Black performers (Randolph, Edebiri) and performers of Asian descent (Yuen and “Beef” co-star Ali Wong), while Lily Gladstone became the first indigenous American performer to win a Golden Globe as Best Leading Female Actor (Motion Picture Drama) for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” (Note: Gladstone has identified as “middle-gendered” in subsequent interviews and uses she/they pronouns.) We can only be thrilled for these well-deserved wins.

Still, if the Golden Globes are – as they’ve long been considered – the official “kick-off” of Awards Season and an important (if not always accurate) indicator of the likeliest big contenders at the subsequent (and more prestigious) ceremonies to follow over the next few weeks, it looks like we might be on the road toward very “straight and narrow” Oscar night.

The complete list of nominees and winners can be found at the Golden Globes website.

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Celebrity News

Adele shuts down ‘Pride sucks’ heckler at Las Vegas show

British singer is a long-time LGBTQ ally

Published

1 month ago

June 2, 2024

Brody Levesque

Adele (Screen capture via "I Drink Wine" music video on YouTube)

British pop megastar and longtime LGBTQ ally Adele reacted to a member of the audience who repeatedly yelled “Pride Sucks” in between songs during her show Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Adele, who is continuing her iconic residency, Weekends with Adele, at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, has been a strong LGBTQ supporter. Last year, she celebrated Pride Month during her Las Vegas residency wearing a black dress with a rainbow flag train and Pride-themed confetti.

Sitting down on the piano bench next to her pianist bantering with the audience which is routine, the singer eviscerated the unseen audience member:

“Did you come to my fucking show to say Pride sucks? Are you fucking stupid?” Adele angrily said reacting. “Don’t be so fucking ridiculous. If you have nothing nice to say, shut up, alright?”

The incident, which was caught on cell phone footage and posted to X, has since gone viral:

Adele goes off on audience member who yelled “Pride sucks” at her concert tonight:

“Did you come to my f*cking show and just say that Pride sucks? Are you f*cking stupid? Don’t be so f*cking ridiculous. If you have nothing nice to say, shut up, alright?” pic.twitter.com/M3yl2mdzLV
— Pop Base (@PopBase) June 2, 2024

Adele did not hold back when an audience member yelled “Pride sucks!” during her Las Vegas residency on Saturday night.

“Did you come to my f—ing show and just say that Pride sucks?" the singer said. "Are you f—ing stupid?" https://t.co/tDbvFCJRcT
— Variety (@Variety) June 2, 2024

“Happy Pride… not to you though” (points to the man who yelled Pride sucks). 😭#WeekendsWithAdele
pic.twitter.com/Jl0dqymy40
— Adele Daily (@adeledailynet) June 2, 2024

Celebrity News

Actor Richard Dreyfuss mocks transgender people in misogynistic rant

‘Jaws’ star appeared at suburban Boston theater

Published

1 month ago

May 28, 2024

Brody Levesque

Richard Dreyfuss walked onto the stage wearing a blue floral pattern house dress, pausing to turn away from the audience and shake his hips suggestively, actions that were caught on multiple mobile phone video footage posted online. (YouTube screenshot)

Patrons at The Cabot theater in the suburban Boston town of Beverly were all set to celebrate the 49th anniversary viewing of the classic 1975 Steven Spielberg horror film “Jaws,” along with a question and answer with one of the film’s stars actor Richard Dreyfuss, when from the minute Dreyfuss appeared on stage, the event derailed.

Dreyfuss walked onto the stage wearing a blue floral pattern house dress, pausing to turn away from the audience and shake his hips suggestively, actions that were caught on multiple mobile phone video footage posted online. Then two stage hands appeared and tore the dress off the actor who then took his seat opposite the event’s moderator.

According to Variety and the Boston Globe’s reporting, Dreyfuss ranted about subjects reported to include transgender people, Barbra Streisand, the #MeToo movement, and women in general. As attendee Diane Wolfe described it to the Boston Globe, “[Dreyfuss] said that the parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds.”

*Facebook/social media advertisement for the ‘Jaws’ screening by The Cabot.*

A number of members of the audience took offense and left the venue. On The Cabot’s Facebook page one attendee wrote: “This was disgusting. How could The Cabot not have vetted his act better. Apparently (I found out too late), he has a reputation for spewing this kind of racist, homophobic, misogynistic bull crap.”

The Cabot has since limited commenting on its page.

The Cabot Executive Director J. Casey Soward on Sunday apologized in a statement that read:

“We regret that an event that was meant to be a conversation to celebrate an iconic movie instead became a platform for political views. We take full responsibility for the oversight in not anticipating the direction of the conversation and for the discomfort it caused to many patrons,” Soward said. “We are in active dialogue with our patrons about their experience and are committed to learning from this event how to better enact our mission of entertaining, educating and inspiring our community.”

WBSM News Talk Sports Radio in New Bedford–Fall River reported that The Cabot also sent an email, that the station had been forwarded, to those who purchased tickets apologizing.

“Dear Cabot Patrons,

I am writing to address an important matter concerning last night’s event with Richard Dreyfuss at The Cabot.

We deeply regret that Mr. Dreyfuss’s comments during the event were not in line with the values of inclusivity and respect that we uphold at The Cabot. We understand that his remarks were distressing and offensive to many of our community members, and for that, we sincerely apologize.

At The Cabot, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of our community. The views expressed by Mr. Dreyfuss do not reflect our beliefs, and we do not endorse them in any way.

We take full responsibility for the oversight in not anticipating the direction of the conversation and for any discomfort it caused.

We are taking immediate steps to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. This includes more rigorous vetting of our event participants and more proactive communication strategies to keep our audience informed.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support of The Cabot.

We value your feedback and are dedicated to learning from this experience to better serve our community.”

The actor has a lengthy record of anti-trans remarks and bigotry. He has directed transphobic rants about trans youth affirming their gender and has taken aim at the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences calling out the Academy’s diversity efforts in a 2023 PBS’ Firing Line broadcast saying that the Academy’s focus on diversity “makes me vomit.”

“We’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt,” he also said. “We don’t know how to stand up and bop the bully in the face.”

Deadline reported that Dreyfuss apparently made similar comments at a Friday night “Jaws” screening at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, N.H. “I live in Mass, but The Cabot showing was all booked so I saw him in N.H. on May 24,” a Facebook commenter wrote. “He made anti-gay remarks that night too.”

The actor has not responded to requests by multiple media outlets for comment.