Comic, writer and former late-night host Amber Ruffin decided we all deserved to close out Pride Month in style, posting on instagram a photograph of herself in a QUEER QUEER QUEER t-shirt with the caption, “In what will come as a shock to exactly zero people, I’m using the last day of PRIDE to come out! Be proud of who you are, little babies! I know I am! And I can’t wait to be discriminated against for a new reason!!”
Tan France, who honestly is becoming the king of gays complimeting other gays for coming out, responded with enthusiasm, “Yay!! Happy Pride, love!! I hope you feel so loved and supported! ❤️”
Sophia Bush noted another new addition to Team Gay: “Welcome home Amber!! Our team just keeps getting hotter and smarter!! Happy Pride, dear one 💞”
Cynthia Erivo wrote: “Welcome baby love!! bathrooms are to the left, refreshments to the right, grab a chair. The DJ takes requests.❤️”
Lena Waithe, Jessica Betts (musician married to Niecy Nash), Ashley Nicole Black, Phoebe Robinson, ER Fightmaster, D’Arcy Carden and many more celebrities chimed in with words of love and support.
Ruffin is a dynamic and ground-breaking force in the wide world of comedy writing and acting — she became the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States when she began writing for Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2014, where she and her (gay) writing partner Jenny Hagel (who she met while performing with The Second City in Denver and Chicago) would appear onscreen with Seth for the segment “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell,” which is our favorite Seth Meyers segment obviously. She wrote for the deeply beloved first season of A Black Lady Sketch Show and Comedy Central’s Detroiters. She hosted her very own talk show, The Amber Ruffin Show, on Peacock from 2020 through 2023, which was nominated for Awards including Emmys, TCAs, Critics Choice and GLAAD. She won a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for co-writing the adaptation of Some Like It Hot with Matthew López. She’s written two books with her sister, Lacey Lamar, the New York Times Bestseller You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism and The World Record Book of Racist Stories.
But Ruffin began her career on the stage, doing improv, community theatre and school plays in her hometown of Omaha, and she was recently tapped to write the revised book for The Wiz‘s return to Broadway in April.
Ruffin had married Dutch artist Jan Schiltmeijer in 2010, and they divorced in 2023.
We can’t wait to include everything she does in everything we do going forward.
Happy Pride, everyone!