Pop Culture Fix: Diablo Cody Better Not Be Joking About a “Jennifer’s Body” Sequel!
Diablo Cody Teases a Jennifer’s Body Sequel
Just the very idea of a Jennifer’s Body sequel has me foaming at the mouth.
I only had one foot out of the closet door when Jennifer’s Body came out, and in 2009 it was cool to hate Megan Fox for no reason, so I had to pretend I didn’t feel Some Type of Way about the Jennifer/Needy relationship. But I watched it again last year, as a gay adult with my gay adult friends, and I was able to fully enjoy this cult classic for the masterpiece it is. Not only is it pure camp (name more iconic dialogue than: “You’re killing people,” “No, I’m killing boys”) but it also really taps into the experience of teen girls (and/or people who thought they were or were perceived as teen girls.) I could write an entire thesis on this movie but I won’t, instead I will say this: we are in an era of remakes, and I don’t want that. The first movie is perfect just the way it is, it (perhaps sadly) doesn’t need to be modernized in theme, just maybe in some select language.
But a sequel, a follow-up, a similar movie from the same creators? Yes, please. It’s like how in Scream sequels, it’s the same thing happening to different people with different twists, but the same general lore and vibe. THAT is a movie I want to see. And this time, it can be even gayer.
But Wait, There’s More (Pop Culture News)
+ The MCU lost Ayo Edebiri for their upcoming project Thunderbolts, which is sad for us since we now won’t get Ayo + Florence Pugh banter. She is being replaced by Geraldine Viswanathan, someone who has previously played queer but does not seem to have any proof of queerness on the very surface of the internet where I briefly checked
+ Ella Hunt will play SNL alum Gilda Radner in upcoming movie
+ In case you went to a cabin in the woods this weekend and missed it, there’s some Nicki Minaj/Megan Thee Stallion feud going on
+ People are not loving Miller’s Girl, which I only tell you because it’s possible Gideon Adlan plays queer in this movie and may or may not kiss Jenna Ortega? This is a rumor that TikTok started, anyway. In one review Adlan’s character was referred to as a “provocatively dressed lesbian” but in that same sentence describes her as throwing herself at a man so everything is unclear at this time.
+ Mean Girls is still doing pretty well at the box office
+ Ice Spice and Victoria Monét, among others, are going to be honored at the Billboard Women in Music Awards
+ Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Morning Show, and more will be at Paleyfest
+ If you heard Reneé Rapp mention the Lesbian Masterdoc and you weren’t a tumblr gay, you may have had questions, look no further (You didn’t think I’d make it through an entire Pop Culture Fix without mentioning Miss Rapp did you?)
+ Ashley Benson is pregnant…I feel like there’s a sex bench joke in there but I’ll let it slide out of respect for the mother-to-be
Pop Culture Fix: Every Divorced Lesbian Needs Friends Like Ali Krieger’s Teammates
Ali Krieger Is Healing From Breakup With Ashlyn Harris, Ready for Next Chapter
(Photo by Joe Maher – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
In a cover story with SELF magazine, Ali Krieger talked about her volatile year, her retirement and of course her high-profile divorce from Ashlyn Harris. She told Self Magazine that she was training when the news about her divorce broke, but that she got through it with the support of her teammates: “My entire team came over for a dance party the night the news broke. And I will never forget that moment. I found out at training. I was on the field. And I came off the field, in the locker room, and I was obviously devastated.”
After cancelling her press conference and fitting, Krieger went home — and one by one, all her teammates came over to be with her, because they are real ones!! She told Self: “Until 2 in the morning, we were there, just hanging out, dancing, putting music on YouTube. We were sitting in the playroom, in my kitchen; we were dancing and hanging out, and they were all bringing wine and flowers, and just…themselves. They didn’t even think twice. They didn’t have to ask; they just showed up.”
Ali also talked about the work she was doing on herself, in therapy, and processing after meeting “the most broken version” of herself this year. When asked what she wants her life to look like in five years, she spoke of wanting happy and healthy kids, the opportunity to travel around the world, loving her job and being “so in love and in a new relationship.” Above all though, she hopes to be “fully healed from this past year in some way, shape or form.”
She sees that healing as a necessary part of this transitional period of her life, so she can be “ready and open” for the next relationship and prepared to give her full self. “I’m so ready for the new year, and just propelling myself forward into that,” she told Self. “And then I’ll be open, really fully open, to what’s next.”
Other Queer Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ Anatomy of a Fail: Inside France’s Dysfunctional Oscar Committee: “France is known for separating the art from the artist in the name of freedom of expression, but it appears that Triet wasn’t granted that privilege. Her politically-charged speech at Cannes when she received the Palme d’Or ruffled feathers in high places and was seen as the epitome of rudeness.”
+ La Brea Boss, Star Talk New Step in Izzy’s Final-Season Journey: ‘It’s an Opportunity for Her to Shine: Is this show still bad? I remember it being very bad.
+ Award-Winning Children’s Magazine “Kazoo” Features Queer Experts
+ Cancelled ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Reboot Would’ve (Finally) Made Miranda Queer: This sounds like it could’v really been something.
+ Tessa Thompson’s Viva Maude Inks First-Look Film Pact With Amazon MGM Studios
+ Don’t forget to keep up with Drew’s coverage of Sundance here!
Pop Culture Fix: Renée Rapp Identifies as a Lesbian Now!
Reneé Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion Performed Together on Saturday Night Live, and Reneé Rapp Identifies as a Lesbian Now
I am here today because I am gay. Like this gay lighting. (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)
Okay I know I only recently started doing Monday Pop Culture Fixes and I know that a disproportionate amount of them have been about Reneé Rapp but IN MY DEFENSE she stays being iconic.
This weekend, Reneé Rapp was the musical guest on SNL and with her she brought many joys. For one, she was introduced by the original Regina George, Rachel McAdams. When I tell you I screamed. Then, she brought out Megan Thee Stallion to perform their new song (from the Mean Girls soundtrack), “Not My Fault.”
She also was in a skit where she played a lesbian intern who was doing the internship as part of her court-mandated media training, a nod to the comments that she’s been delightfully unhinged in her interviews.
Also Reneé Rapp identifies as a lesbian now! She was sort of soft launching this information over the course of the Mean Girls press tour in various interviews, but she explicitly talked about it on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM radio show recently. And also in this very hilariously captioned instagram story:
Where’s the lie?
The bisexual to lesbian pipeline is real, even though not everyone takes it. Not all bisexuals will later ID as lesbians and not all lesbians thought they were bisexual at one point, but some of us need that stepping stone and that’s okay. Some of us tried really hard to like boys to the point we convinced ourselves we were bi. And then some of us grew up and realized that feeling was just external pressure and we realized that actually we were just hella gay. (It’s me, I’m some of us.) So what we’re not going to do is be biphobic in our reaction to this news. We’re just going to adapt our language and move on with our lives. And keep lazily flipping our imaginary microphones to our imaginary audiences when reenacting her legendary performance of Poison Poison.
Non-Rapp-Related News:
+ Aubrey Plaza is gonna make you cry and you’re gonna like it
+ Kristen Stewart is going to make you squirm and I’m not sure if you’re gonna like it
+ Melissa Berrara and Indya Moore join hundreds in a Pro-Palestinian protest at Sundance
+ Mean Girls are tops… at the box office
+ D.E.B.S. is apparently 20 years old which makes me ancient but I’m always down to talk about that perfect film and Paste Magazine seems to agree
+ Gillian Anderson is going to be in Tron 3 and I guess this means I have to watch the second one
+ This isn’t necessarily gay news as it is news that gays might be interested in: Netflix picked up Sundance thriller featuring Alycia Debnam-Carey (are you keeping up with Autostraddle’s daily Sundance coverage?)
+ The Marvels will be available to stream on Disney+ on February 7th
+ Film Forum is having something called Sapph-O-Rama, and I love that name, no notes
+ And here are some sapphic fantasy books for you to curl up with!
Pop Culture Fix: 2024 GLAAD Award Noms Include “Bottoms,” “Nyad” and of Course, “The Ultimatum: Queer Love”
GLAAD Announces Nominees for the 2024 GLAAD Awards
This morning GLAAD announced the nominees for the 2024 GLAAD awards which honor excellence in “LGBTQ visibility and representation across all media, from film, television, music, journalism, publishing and more.” This year’s nominees include a lot of movies and television programs we loved, such as Bottoms, Blue Jean, How to Blow Up a Pipeline and Nyad. Notably absent from the nominated films is the widely celebrated Anatomy of a Fall, which has a bisexual protagonist, and notably absent from the top albums is my personal favorite album of 2023, Joy Oladokun’s “Proof of Life”!
Here are the GLAAD Award nominees:
Outstanding Film – Wide Theatrical Release
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Pictures)
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)
Anyone But You (Columbia Pictures)
The Blackening (Lionsgate Films)
Bottoms (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
It’s a Wonderful Knife (RLJE Films)
Knock at the Cabin (Universal Pictures)
Moving On (Roadside Attractions)
Shortcomings (Sony Pictures Classics)
Outstanding Film – Limited Theatrical Release
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Blue Fox Entertainment)
The Blue Caftan (Strand Releasing)
Blue Jean (Magnolia Pictures)
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Neon)
Joyland (Oscilloscope)
L’immensità (Music Box Films)
Monica (IFC Films)
Our Son (Vertical Entertainment)
Passages (Mubi)
Summoning Sylvia (The Horror Collective)
Outstanding Film – Streaming Or TV
Cassandro (Amazon Prime Video)
Christmas on Cherry Lane (Hallmark Channel)
Friends & Family Christmas (Hallmark)
Frybread Face and Me (Array Releasing)
Nuovo Olimpo (Netflix)
Nyad (Netflix)
Red, White, and Royal Blue (Amazon Prime Video)
Runs in the Family (Indigenous Film Distribution)
Rustin (Netflix)
You’re Not Supposed To Be Here (Lifetime Television)
Outstanding Documentary
Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later (MTV Documentary Films)
Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (Netflix)
Every Body (Focus Features)
Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures)
Little Richard: I Am Everything (Magnolia Pictures)
Orlando, My Political Biography (Janus Films)
Rainbow Rishta (Amazon Prime Video)
Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed (HBO
Documentary Films)
The Stroll (HBO)
“UYRA – The Rising Forest” POV (PBS)
Outstanding New Series
The Buccaneers (Apple TV+)
Class (Netflix)
Culprits (Hulu)
Deadloch (Amazon Prime Video)
Everything Now (Netflix)
Found (NBC)
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+)
The Last of Us (HBO)
The Other Black Girl (Hulu)
Tore (Netflix)
Outstanding Drama Series
9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox)
The Chi (Showtime)
Chucky (SyFy/USA Network)
Doctor Who (Disney+)
Good Trouble (Freeform)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Quantum Leap (NBC)
Riverdale (The CW)
Station 19 (ABC)
Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Outstanding Comedy Series
And Just Like That… (Max)
Good Omens (Amazon Prime Video)
Harlem (Prime Video)
Harley Quinn (Max)
Our Flag Means Death (Max)
Sex Education (Netflix)
Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
What We Do In The Shadows (FX)
With Love (Amazon Prime Video)
Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
Black Cake (Hulu)
Bodies (Netflix)
The Confessions of Frannie Langton (Britbox)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
Fellow Travelers (Showtime)
The Full Monty (FX on Hulu)
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Amazon Prime Video)
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Netflix)
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix)
Transatlantic (Netflix)
Outstanding Reality Program
Bargain Block (HGTV)
Family Karma (Bravo)
I Am Jazz (TLC)
Living for the Dead (Hulu)
Queer Eye (Netflix)
Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo)
Selling Sunset (Netflix)
Swiping America (Max)
TRANSworld Atlanta (Tubi)
The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Netflix)
Outstanding Reality Competition Program
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula (Shudder/AMC+)
The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (MTV)
Drag Me to Dinner (Hulu)
Love Trip: Paris (Freeform)
My Kind of Country (Apple TV+)
Next in Fashion (Netflix)
Project Runway (Bravo)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
Survivor (CBS)
The Voice (NBC)
Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Live Action
Heartstopper (Netflix)
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)
Jane (AppleTV+)
Power Rangers Cosmic Fury (Netflix)
XO, Kitty (Netflix)
Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Animated
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (Max)
Craig Of The Creek (Cartoon Network)
The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
The Ghost and Molly McGee (Disney Channel)
Hailey’s On It! (Disney Channel)
The Loud House (Nickelodeon)
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Disney Channel)
Nimona (Netflix)
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (Disney+)
Transformers: EarthSpark (Paramount+)
Outstanding Music Artist
Billy Porter, Black Mona Lisa (Island UK/Republic Records)
boygenius, The Record (Interscope)
Brandy Clark (Brandy Clark)
Janelle Monae, The Age of Pleasure (Atlantic Records)
Kim Petras, Feed the Beast & Problematique (Amigo/Republic Records)
Miley Cyrus, Endless Summer Vacation (Columbia Records)
Renee Rapp, Snow Angel (Interscope)
Sam Smith, Gloria (Capitol Records)
Troye Sivan, Something to Give Each Other (EMI Australia/Capitol Records)
Victoria Monet, JAGUAR II (Lovett Music/RCA Records)
Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist
Chappell Roan (Atlantic Records/Island Records)
David Archuleta (Archie Music)
Fancy Hagood (Fancy Hagood Enterprises)
G FLIP (Future Classic)
Ice Spice (10K Projects/Capitol Records)
Iniko (Columbia Records)
Jade LeMac (Artista Records)
The Scarlet Opera (Perta/Silent Records)
Slayyyter (FADER Label)
UMI (Keep Cool/RCA)
Outstanding Broadway Production
Fat Ham, by James Ijames
How to Dance in Ohio, by Jacob Yandura and Rebekah Greer Melocik
Melissa Etheridge: My Window, by Melissa Etheridge
Once Upon A One More Time, by Jon Hartmere
The Sign in Sydney Brustein’s Window, by Lorraine Hansberry
You can read the full list of GLAAD Award nominees, including nominees for podcasts, graphic novels, children’s programming, and all the journalism they nominated instead of ours, on the GLAAD Awards website.
Other Queer Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ The trailer for the second season of Vigil, starring Surrane Jones and Rose Leslie as lesbians in Scotland who are investigating “multiple unexplained fatalities at a Scottish military facility,” dropped this afternoon in anticipation of its debut on Peacock February 14th. In Season One, DCI Amy Silva (Jones) and DI Kirsten Longacre (Leslie) were separated because Silva had to investigate a thing on a submarine. This season, they are investigating a thing together!
+ Mean Girls Star Auli’i Cravalho on Making Janis Outwardly Queer, 20 Years Later: “When people call Janis a “pyro lez,” that just means that you’re calling her a hot lesbian! Slay.”
+ 1000-Lb. Sisters’ Tammy Slaton Says She’s ‘Like a Lesbian’ After Husband’s Death: ‘I Stopped Messing with Guys’: “I’m not trans. I’m just a supporter of everybody. I was saying I was pansexual but I kinda stopped messing with guys after my husband passed. So, I’m like a lesbian.”
+ Right-wingers are raging because this dating app advert featured one lesbian couple
+ World cup champion Jenni Hermoso has opened up about her sexuality, confessing it was ‘taboo’ growing up lesbian in Spain
+ “I’m With the GSA”: Ally Beardsley On Fantasy High Junior Year & Chaotic Lesbian Representation: It took me a long time to figure out that this article is about a video game (it is, right?)
+ Teletubbies actors now – lesbian sex scene, tragic death and Sun Baby becomes a mum: “After the show ended, Pui raised a few eyebrows by taking part in lesbian sex scenes during Channel 4 show Metrosexuality. “Yes, I was Po, but I am an actress, and the role looked interesting. I didn’t take the lesbian role to be deliberately controversial.”
+ Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls Is An LGBT Movie That Isn’t About ‘The Pain Of Being Gay’: We’ve written before about this upcoming movie, but one piece of new information in this article is that Tricia Cooke, who co-wrote the film with her husband Ethan Coen, “has identified as a lesbian since her teenage years, the pair describing their 30-year marriage as “unconventional.”
+ The third season of Yellowjackets won’t debut until 2025 which means we have a full year to convince Paramount+Showtime to advertise their program on our website
Pop Culture Fix: Reneé Rapp Is Being Biconic on the Mean Girls Press Tour
Bisexual Icon Reneé Rapp is Making Waves by Being Hilarious on the Mean Girls Press Tour
Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images
If your social media algorithms are anything like mine, Noted Bisexual Reneé Rapp is really having a moment. She is the highlight of every Mean Girls interview, she is providing hilarious sound bites and meme-able moments on all the talk shows she graces, and she is just being a goddamn delight at every turn.
What I love about her interviews is her unapologetic queerness. Whether she’s joking about Regina George being a lesbian, flirting with her costars, or just doing that thing she does with her eyebrows, she’s not letting anyone forget she’s bisexual, and I love that for her, and for us. She’s the kind of celebrity that would have helped me out of the closet a lot sooner if I had known her as a teenager, and I am so happy for the teens who have her today. When Stephen Colbert asked her if she had anything to say to her Regina George predecessor Rachel McAdams, she said simply, “Date me?” and I think that’s beautiful.
Some people don’t like her just saying whatever she wants in these interviews, but what’s clear to me is that she’s having fun. It’s so much more enjoyable to watch someone make their own enjoyment during what has to be an exhausting press tour and be entertaining as hell instead of just giving the same boiler-plate answers every time. People accuse her of not having “media training” but I disagree. I think Reneé knows exactly what she’s doing. While I’m sure this isn’t 100% of Reneé, I believe this celebrity persona is a genuine part of her, and I admire her for being so bold and funny and flirty and earnest.
Unrelated but my favorite moment that has come across my TikTok in the past few days was a clip from this Variety interview with the cast of Mean Girls where Auli’i Cravalho was showing off her double jointed arm and used Reneé’s knee to do so. The face journey Reneé goes on had me laughing for a long time.
Now on to Act II
+ Related, Mean Girls is doing well at the Box Office and also in my heart (I loved the movie despite them doing “Stupid with Love” dirty and have already seen it twice don’t @ me if you didn’t like it)
+ Ariana DeBose also didn’t think the Critic’s Choice joke about her “thinking” she’s a singer was funny
+ The Emmys are tonight and more queer wins could be in our future
+ The Last of Us has cast the queer character Dina for season two
+ A new Fear Street movie is coming, here’s hoping The Prom Queen is as queer as the first Fear Street trilogy
+ Harley Quinn is going on Spring Break with a special DC comics release
+ The last first trailer for Station 19 is here…fingers crossed for a Maya/Carina happy ending!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhW73DYAhn8&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=ABC
+ Queer artist Apolonia Sokol talks Frida Kahlo and upcoming documentary
+ Queer actor Aisha Dee is in an Australian miniseries that is now on Hulu called Safe Home that looks deeply unsettling (pos)
+ Billie Eilish gave more than just the theme song to the new season of True Detective
+ Queer actor Arienne Mandi (who you probably know from The L Word: Generation Q) has been cast in season two of The Night Agent
+ And if you want a laugh, this headline reads “Beyond gay – 40 celebrities you didn’t know were LGBT” then proceeds to list the most famously queer people in the universe — but hey, maybe there’s someone on this list you didn’t know about
Pop Culture Fix: Here’s A Gay Rundown of the SAG Nominees
Barbie, The Last of Us, and More Queer Faves Get Nominated for the 2024 SAG Awards
Photo by Frazer Harrison/FilmMagic vis Getty Images
The Golden Globes are over, but awards season persists, and today’s award show news is that the SAG Awards nominations are out. It doesn’t look too different than the Golden Globes nominations, but with a few fun categories like ensemble and cast awards.
Here are the nominations of note for you, gentlereader, who came here looking to find out who all’s gay here.
Of course, we have the Barbie cast recognized in most categories, along with the cast of The Color Purple, and Lily Gladstone for their role in Killers of the Flower Moon. Jodie Foster is nominated for her role in NYAD, Bella Ramsey for their role in The Last of Us, and Ayo Edebiri for her role in The Bear.
Then we also have queer people popping up in the lists of casts and ensembles, for example, Cynthia Nixon for being part of The Gilded Age and Tig Notaro for The Morning Show. And some shows that feature queer storylines and/or have queer creators behind the scenes, like The Morning Show, Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in the Building, and Ted Lasso.
I feel like not too long ago, shows with queer representation would be passed over, so to see so many shows we know and love on these lists is really heartening. I especially feel that way about The Last of Us, because too often sci-fi shows aren’t taken seriously and since they don’t have their own category in most awards that aren’t the Autostraddle TV Awards, they often get overlooked despite the fact that, statistically, sci-fi shows are often more likely to have queer characters. Here’s hoping all the future award shows are jam-packed with queerness. (And that someday we have an entire third category for Best Nonbinary Actor/Supporting Actor so our no-binary actors don’t have to choose which category to submit themselves for, or to choose to abstain altogether like Liv Hewson has spoken about doing in the past.)
More News Before They Play Me Off Stage
+ Just a little more award news: Lily Gladstone’s former classmates once voted them “most likely to win an Oscar” and I just think that’s cute
+ In a deleted scene for The Marvels,Valkyrie calls Carol and calls her “My Captain” and also makes a strap-on joke. Also not for nothing but her reaction to thinking Kamala was her wife was just that she wasn’t informed or invited confirms Carol’s queerness in my eyes. The whole thing is very flirty and gay.
Also Kamala’s reaction to potentially marrying Captain Marvel wasn’t exactly… straight. And she doesn’t say “I’m straight” in response, she says, “I’m single.” ANYWAY everything is gay and nothing hurts.
+ Speaking of Marvel, I consider myself fairly up on Marvel news, but somehow I totally missed that a Madame Web movie is happening. Maybe because it’s Sony Marvel vs official MCU? Anyway, I’m cautiously optimistic about it, and there is officially a trailer for it! I don’t know if any of the characters will be queer, but Mattie Franklin aka Spider-Girl is played by non-binary Kenyan actor Celeste O’Connor, so that’s exciting.
+ And one last bit of MCU news: they canonized the old Marvel Netflix shows like Jessica Jones, which means queer characters like Jeri Hogarth can be added to the alarmingly short queer MCU roster
+ Reneé Rapp, Megan Thee Stallion, Auli’i Carvalho and the rest of the cast got shiny for the Mean Girls premiere this week
+ Jodie Foster describes her role in True Detective as an “Alaska Karen” which made me laugh even though I’m in a fight with Jodie Foster, that she doesn’t know about, for calling Gen Z annoying to work with
+ Queer actress Jameela Jamil, queer fan favorite D’Arcy Carden, and someone who is not queer as far as I know but who I, a queer person, love deeply Renee Elise Goldsberry will lend their voices to an animated revival of Clone High
+ Wynonna Earp writers Noelle Carbone and Alexandra Zarowny are part of the team bringing us a new Canadian show called Wild Cards, which also stars Toni Topaz herself, Vanessa Morgan
+ And if you’re looking for some queer books to read this year, why not start off with this handy list
Pop Culture Fix: Here’s All the 2024 Golden Globes Gay Goings-on
LGBTQ+ Stars Showed Up and Won in Style at the 2024 Golden Globes
Photo Credit: Billie Eilish and Ayo Edelbi by Rich Polk/Golden Globes 2024/Getty Images, Lily Gladstone via CBS
Awards shows have a history of letting marginalized communities down, and also me personally because my taste in movies is notably different than the voting pool of these shows, but this year’s Golden Globes gave us (at least) three queer winners of our collective interest:
- Lily Gladstone won Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama for their role in Killers of the Flower Moon
- Ayo Edebiri won Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy for her role in The Bear
- Billie Eilish won Best Original Song, Motion Picture for “What Was I Made For?”, from Barbie
- Anatomy of the Fall (which has a bisexual protagonist) won Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language, and Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
So I guess this year my tastes did align more with the Golden Globes voters because I do love Lily Gladstone, did enjoy The Bear, and “What Was I Made For” was at the top of my Spotify wrapped last year. That said, if it were up to me, both Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig would have won for Barbie, too, because that movie is so fun and unique and beautiful and queer and lovely (and pink!) and it didn’t deserve to be overlooked in various categories, given a seemingly made-up category for “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement,” and targeted in one of the host’s many unfunny jokes of the evening. But that’s just my opinion.
Other gay happenings last night include but are not limited to:
Gillian Anderson’s dress had vulvas on it and people have big feelings about it.
https://twitter.com/fiImgal/status/1744140018245923035
Bella Ramsey looked dapper as heck and gave some cute kiddos some advice about how to survive an apocalypse.
And also Jodie Foster was there (she presented and was nominated for her role in Nyad).
In Other News
+ The Ariana Debose-lead (therefore queer-lead) animated movie Wish is doing great at the box office
+ You can listen to Reneé Rapp’s movie version of “World Burn” ahead of the Mean Girls’ release later this week (even though I won’t because I want to experience it for the first time in larger than life surround sound thank you very much)
+ The Arcane Season 2 teaser is here and I am so ready to dive back into that world
+ Peacemaker Season 2 will be officially part of the DCU and hopefully feature more of the lesbian character Leota Adebayo (played by Danielle Brooks)
+ Stranger Things Season 5 has started filming, and Maya Hawke smiles out from the cast photo, ready to step back into disaster lesbian Robin Buckley
She’s not sitting close enough to Natalia Dyer for my Robin/Nancy shipping heart but I’ll allow it.
+ Maybe you’ve already heard but in case you haven’t, shows with queer characters like Station 19, Umbrella Academy, La Brea, Hightown and Good Trouble are ending this year
+ And last but not least, Cosmo wants you to read these books about polyamory and ethical non-monogamy
Pop Culture Fix: Reneé Rapp and Coco Jones New Year’s Performance Is Living in My Head Rent Free
Reneé Rapp and other Queer Artists Helped Ring in 2024 on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp_4KrENPu4&ab_channel=CocoJonesSource%28FanAccount%29
In case you missed it, queer artists like Reneé Rapp, Janelle Monáe, and Cardi B performed at ABC’s yearly New Year’s Eve celebration, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, at the NYC, LA, and Miami outposts of the event.
Watching Reneé Rapp’s rise from Broadway darling to Sex Lives of College Girls breakout star to mainstream baddy has been truly a wonder to behold. Especially since she is so loud and proud about being bisexual, and brings it up herself in many an interview, it’s refreshing to see her gain so much momentum. We obviously have a long way to go as far as equal rights, but it’s exciting to see someone so young and talented not shy away from her sexuality or try to be coy about it or just avoiding talking about it altogether. Of course, it’s totally valid to want your private life private and not want to talk about your sexuality publicly, especially when you’re an artist or performer who would rather your interviews be about your craft. But in this day and age, we need both. We need people who say enough that it’s known and then don’t let that be the center of the conversation, but we also need people who are willing to shout it for the rooftops. So I’m grateful to Reneé Rapp for being so very herself in every way.
In general, I think it’s great that out performers are featured in such a highly consumed show like Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, a show that honestly is probably mostly watched by older generations who might not otherwise be exposed to queer artists. There were a lot of strange things happening on the show (I’m at my parents’ house and we watched it, and it was a bit of a mess), but highlighting queer performers? I’ll call that a win. All in all not a bad way to kick off 2024.
+ Hollywood film studios lied about being dedicated to hiring more women and people of color, and I’m sure everyone is shocked
+ Jodie Foster is apparently killing it (but hopefully not killing people) in the new season of True Detective
+ Lesbian fitness trainer Jillian Michaels wishes celebs would quit taking drugs to lose weight and honestly same
+ I’m sure you’ve heard this by now but it’s too cute not to share again: Mae Martin is dating Survivor star Parvati Shallow
+ Gaytimes wants you to know about these queer musical artists going into 2024
+ Noted bisexual Kate Siegel discusses the recasting of Roderick in The Fall of the House of Usher
No I didn’t need an excuse to post a picture of Camille Usher but I’ll take one anyway.
+ The movie Rebel Moon had a nonbinary actor in it but was otherwise quite awful (in my humble opinion) and Screenrant remains hopeful for sci-fi in 2024 somehow
+ Gay actress Marsha Warfield will return as Roz in the Night Court reboot
+ And why not give this post beautiful bisexual bookends by showing you Reneé Rapp in one last Mean Girls: The Movie: The Musical: The Movie trailer before next week’s premiere
Pop Culture Fix: Boygenius Covers Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” And It’s Swoonworthy
feature image of Boygeinus by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images
Queer Supergroup Boygenius Covers Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” And It’s Swoonworthy
If your timeline is anything like my timeline, it is full of boygenius. I don’t even listen to them that often (though I do enjoy them when I do), but I have seen performances from various concerts and interviews, and I feel intimately familiar with their personality quirks, because no matter which social media app I open, my friends are joyously sharing clips and videos, and I can’t help but be charmed by them.
In case your algorithm isn’t as generous with boygenius clips as mine, a quick recap: boygenius is an indie/folk rock supergroup made up of solo artists, all of whom are under the big beautiful rainbow LGBTQ+ umbrella: Julien Baker identifies as a lesbian, Phoebe Bridgers as bisexual, and Lucy Dacus as queer or pansexual.
Whether or not you care for their music, it’s hard to deny that they’re blowing up, and since they are unapologetically queer, it’s really nice to see. Even though we’re no longer at the point where coming out will necessarily tank someone’s career automatically, it’s still a risk; Billie Eilish lost thousands of followers when she started speaking more publicly about being queer. So even though it seems to come so naturally to them, it’s no small thing, in my opinion.
This week, boygenius covered Shania Twain’s You’re Still The One, and Shania herself approves, as do, it seems, all the sad gays on my timeline. If you’re subscribed to Rolling Stone you could read even more than I can about it.
Watch these charmers put their own spin on the country classic here:
And in case you were curious, the country queen herself tweeted her reaction, saying it’s “so fucking cool” complete with an emoji whose eyes are filled with happy tears.
So fucking cool 🥹 dying@xboygeniusx @BBCR1 https://t.co/CtSyO8UUrW
— Shania Twain 💎💎💎 (@ShaniaTwain) December 19, 2023
While it’s unclear if boygenius will be making another album together in the near future, I think its safe to say that these three aren’t going anywhere any time soon.
More Queer News for Your Noggin
+ Sarah Paulson is “vicious and dynamic” in “Appropriate” on Broadway
+ Kesha is officially free of Dr. Luke, legally, and is going her own way
+ Season 6 will be the last for What We Do In the Shadows, the comedy with coffins full of pansexual vamps
+ The bad news: A cop went into a Massachusetts school looking for the book Gender Queer (ACAB)
+ The good news: A school in Maine voted to keep the book Gender Queer in its library despite one (1) parent’s protest
+ A drag-themed revenge thriller is on its way (beware this review is pretty spoilery)
+ We might get to see the queer Joker parody movie after all
+ Trixie Mattell will return as host of recap show The Pit Stop
+ Listen up, sports fans: Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are hosting an NBA alt-cast on Christmas
Pop Culture Fix: Kate McKinnon and Billie Eilish Gay Up SNL (Meow! We Love to See It)
Kate McKinnon and Billie Eilish Bring Big Gay Energy To Saturday Night Live’s Holiday Episode
The cat puns are also purr-fect.
SNL had a doubly gay billing this past weekend: the host was ex-cast member and gay icon Kate McKinnon and the musical guest was recently publicly out Billie Eilish. Kate brought in old pals Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph, doing an Abba bit that had me in hysterics as they struggled to keep from breaking. She also sprinkled little bits of gayness all over the place, one of her characters casually mentioning a wife, etc. Billie sang two songs, my personal most-played song on my Spotify Wrapped “What I Was Made For” from the Barbie movie and a soulful rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” (Make the Yuletide gay, amiright?)
Kate and Billie joined queer forces to rekindle one of McKinnon’s classic bits as they donned curly wigs to be the lesbian employees of a cat rescue called Whiskers R We. They share a lot in common, including their favorite movie (Tar), and celeb crush (Mariska Hargitay.)
You can watch it now and be as delighted as I was:
One of the digital shorts of this episode was also quite gay, starring Kate and Billie, but also Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and gay former SNL writer (and current Girls 5 Eva standout star) Paula Pell. In this short, they sing an adorably hilarious song about running a tampon farm. It’s a gay ol’ time.
More Queer News For You:
+ Ali Liebert and Humberly González starred in the gay Hallmark Christmas movie Friends and Family Christmas that aired last night, and it was a sweet addition to the still-to-small pile of queer holiday movies. The bar is low but this one exceeded it, in my opinion.
THANK YOU! From the bottom of my lil queer heart for watching & loving our movie!!! It means the world to me that you feel seen. #RepresentationMatters 🌈#FriendsAndFamilyChristmas @hallmarkchannel pic.twitter.com/ObiLLPi3Uf
— officially ali liebert (@AliLiebert) December 18, 2023
+ Demi Lovato is engaged to a man who goes by the nickname Jutes, and they seem really happy. And after everything Demi has been through, I genuinely wish them nothing but joy and happiness.
+ The online project Queer Liberation Library is fighting against queer book bans
+ V.E. Schwab reflected on the limited queerness of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
+ Author Michelle Tea, credited with starting Drag Queen Story Hour, is starting an independent publishing arm called Dopamine
+ There are some gay goings-on over on General Hospital between Kristina and Blaze
+ Bi, Black author Bethany Baptiste weighs in on the Cait Corrain review bomb Goodreads scandal and how it’s linked to racism in publishing
+ This year’s Miss France pageant winner has short hair and a supposedly “androgynous” look and people are big mad about it which sounds like homophobia to meeeee
Pop Culture Fix: Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian Look Hot In Bodybuilding Movie Described As “Pain & Gain For Indie Lesbians”
Kristen Stewart’s Lesbian Bodybuilder Movie “Love Lies Bleeding” Releases First Look, Will Debut at Sundance
Kristen Stewart’s hotly anticipated (by us) A24 movie Love Lies Bleeding has released a first look image. Kristen Stewart plays the love interest of a lesbian bodybuilder (played by queer actor Katy M. O’Brian, an actor who also does stunt work and is swole year-round). Co-written by Rose Glass and Weronika Tofilska, and directed by Glass, Love Lies Bleeding was shot last summer and screened this past spring in New York City. According to World of Reel, the audience had intense reactions to the movie at the spring screening:
Test screened in NYC tonight. Audience was having visceral reactions to the gore, blood and puking throughout. Has a strange ending that will make this a love it or hate it type movie. “Pain & Gain” for indie lesbians. Ed Harris is great and Katy O’Brian as well.
World of Reel also wrote that the film is “said to be about an aspiring bisexual bodybuilder in the late 1980s who moves to a small rural Nevada town from Oklahoma and falls madly in love with Kristen Stewart’s character who works at the local gym.” Kristen Stewart’s character is the daughter of the bodybuilder’s new boss, and she introduces the bodybuilder to the world of steroids! According to IMDB, Jenna Malone is also involved in this film somehow and it is about “A romance fueled by ego, desire and the American Dream.”
Katy O’Brian’s wife, Kylie, posted the first look images on her own instagram feed and described the grueling process Katy went through filming the movies, which included 12-16 hour days followed by three hours of lifting/cardio every night, and getting surgery for a Chrons scar just before reshoots. She gushed:
She absolutely devours this role, it is breathtaking. It is the performance of her life. The first day I arrived in New Mexico, she showed me something she was working on for a scene and I broke down crying it was so beautiful.
There’s no set date for release, but it will make its world premiere at Sundance 2024.
Other Queer Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ Netflix released a bunch of its viewing data from January – June 2023, but honestly it’s difficult to draw any real conclusions about cancelled gay content from it without seeing monthly or comparative data — like we’d have to see the numbers for First Kill’s first six months of life to have a genuine grip on its performance. Glamorous, which was very gay and pretty bad, logged 36.6 million hours of viewing, thus earning it the 490th spot on this list of 17k shows, but it was released eight days before the report’s data is cut off, so hard to know how it fared going forward. Regardless, it was cancelled.
Hours of watching, as a metric, obviously favors television over films. That said, I am truly sorry that so many people watched the Jonah Hill / Lauren London comedy You People (I am one of those people) (it has a small lesbian character) — You People comes in at #35, with 181.8 million logged hours. Another Netflix original with a minor lesbian character, Your Place or Mine, is at #43 with 163 million hours.
Most of the queer-inclusive shows released during this time period have great numbers: XO Kitty (released mid-May), Ginny & Georgia, BEEF, Shadow & Bone,The Diplomat, Never Have I Ever, Welcome to Eden, Perfect Match, etc. However, Welcome to Eden has been cancelled, so!
+ TOMMY DORFMAN IS DIRECTING THE ADAPTATION OF MARIKO TAMAKI’S GRAPHIC NOVEL LAURA DEAN KEEPS BREAKING UP WITH ME
+ Romy’s “She’s On My Mind” music video is queer as fuck and stars Maisie Williams.
+ The Critic’s Choice Awards Nominees were announced today — Bottoms was nominated for Best Comedy, and Nimona for Best Animated Film! As in the Golden Globes, Anatomy of a Fall is up for Best Foreign Film and Jodie Foster for Nyad.
+ Sophia Bush discussed her divorce from Grant Hughes on a podcast, and also was at Art Basel with Ashlyn Harris last week.
+ Bella Ramsey creating ‘scary’ film they’ve been writing since the age of 14: Ramsay has been working on a feature film centered on mental health, specifically a girl with an eating disorder. They say the story is done in “an interesting, slightly spooky way.”
Pop Culture Fix: Your Guide to the 2024 Golden Globe Nominations (But Just the Gay Parts)
Your Guide to the 2024 Golden Globe Nominations (But Just the Gay Parts)
Jodie Foster and Anette Bening in Nyad, both are nominated for 2024 Golden Globes.
The 2024 Golden Globe nominations are upon us and, because I am who I am, I have the deep urge to tell you everything that is even remotely gay. Luckily, I share that same obsession with many Autostraddle editors!! (Y’all, there was a color coded google doc and everything!)
So with no further adieu, here are all the 2024 Golden Globe Nominations that are lesbian, bisexual, gay, queer, and/or trans related:
Gay Related 2024 Golden Globe Movie Nominations
- “Maestro” (Netflix) and “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon) are both nominated for Best Motion Picture, Drama. “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon) is also nominated for Best Picture in a Non-English Language.
- “Barbie” (Warner Bros.) is nominated for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy (for the purposes of this list, Barbie is a gay film. Argue with someone else). “May December” (Netflix), directed by gay filmmaker Todd Haynes, is also nominated in this category as well.
- Bradley Cooper and Greta Gerwig are nominated for Best Director of a Motion Picture for “Maestro” and “Barbie,” respectively.
- “Barbie” (Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach) and “Anatomy of a Fall” (Justine Triet, Arthur Harari) are both nominated for Best Screenplay.
- Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) and Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”) are gay actors both nominated for playing gay roles in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama category. Barry Keoghan is also nominated in this category for “Saltburn.”
- Lily Gladstone is a queer actor nominated in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama category for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Sandra Hüller and Anette Bening are also nominated in this category for “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Nyad,” respectively.
- Fantasia Barrino is nominated in Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy for “The Color Purple.”
- Lesbian icon Jodie Foster is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for “Nyad.”
- Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” is nominated for Best Song.
Gay Related 2024 Golden Globe TV Nominations
- “The Last of Us” (HBO) and “The Morning Show” (Apple TV+) are both nominated for Best Television Series, Drama. (Netflix’s “The Diplomat” is also nominated and has a small, but notable, nonbinary role within it.)
- “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+), “Abbott Elementary” (ABC), and “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu) are all nominated for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy.
- Nonbinary actor Bella Ramsey is nominated in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama category for “The Last of Us”
- Selena Gomez is nominated for Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy for “Only Murders in the Building.”
- “Beef” (Netflix), “Daisy Jones & the Six” (Prime Video), and “Fellow Travelers” (Showtime) are all nominated for Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television.
- Matt Bomer is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series for “Fellow Travelers.”
- Rachel Weisz is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series for “Dead Ringers.”
- And finally, Black lesbian legend Wanda Sykes is nominated in the Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy category for “Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer.”
Here’s some other related Golden Globe fun facts and thoughts to consider:
- Greta Gerwig Receives Her First Best Director Golden Globe Nomination for ‘Barbie.’ “In years past, she was notably snubbed for ‘Lady Bird’ and ‘Little Women.'” And as a card-carrying member of the Greta Gerwig Hive (she don’t miss), let me just say this: She deserves!
- With her nomination for Best Supporting Actress for “Only Murders in the Building,” Meryl Streep Breaks Her Own Golden Globes Record
- Amy Schumer’s nomination for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy Special did remind me of this recent op-ed published in Newsweek: Amy Schumer Is Getting Canceled (the answer was then and remains now, “No.” It seems speaking out in favor of a ceasefire is the quickest way to lose work, but no signs speak to the opposite.)
- 7 of the Biggest LGBTQ+ Golden Globes Snubs of 2024. Justice for Trace Lysette, specifically!!
This is not gay related at all, but if you haven’t seen Past Lives, it was thus far one of my favorite movie watching experience last year, which is most certainly reflected back in these nominations and you should see it!
Other Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ Brittney Griner Strikes Partnership to Tell Her Story Via ESPN, ABC News, Scripted Series. “The inspirational WNBA All-Star, who was arrested and held in Russia in 2022 and sentenced to nine years in prison, will give Disney the exclusive rights to share her story via a documentary feature from ESPN Films, the development of a scripted series through ABC Signature and an exclusive interview with ABC News anchor Robin Roberts.” It’s definitely of note to me that Robin Roberts was also the first reporter that Cherelle spoke to when BG was detained. As always, I only want for Cherelle and Brittney Griner’s happiness.
+ ‘Station 19’ To End With Season 7 at ABC. It’s been well documented at this point that Station 19 was having some behind-the-scenes workplace complications, including some that involved bringing in a DEI specialist for the writers room, so I suppose this shouldn’t feel like a shocker? And yet, here I am! SHOCKED! I’m pretty sure Station 19 was ABC’s number two rated show for adults last year? I did not expect it to end a shortened 10-episode season (it’s shortened, of course, because of the strikes, and we can add this to the list of things that were taken from us because studios didn’t know how to pay their laborers their fair worth!).
+ Cardi B Confirms Split From Husband Offset: ‘I’ve Been Single for a Minute Now.’ All I’m saying is Cardi is single, to the best of my knowledge Megan Thee Stallion is single, and if Santa’s listening, I’ve been a good girl this year…
+ The Black List Unveils Hollywood’s Favorite Unproduced Scripts of 2023
+ Over 150 players at the 2023 Women’s World Cup received targeted abuse on social media, according to a recent FIFA report the USWNT received the brunt of it.
+ This made me laugh! Meryl Streep’s ‘Devil Wears Prada’ Casting Got Pushback, Producer Was Told: ‘Are You Out of Your Mind? She’s Never Been Funny a Day in Her Life’
+ Watch Julia Stiles Recreate Her Save the Last Dance Routine With Chloe Fineman on SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jgHKLcBRmU
+ Eileen’s Subtle Book-to-Movie Differences Turn Its Queer Subtext Into Text (That said! Drew still wasn’t a fan though.)
+ Doctor Who Fans Have Not Seen the Last of Yasmin Finney’s Controversial Trans Character, EP Says (A note from me, I dislike the use of “controversial” here) — OK! This has led to a lot of confusion on the Autostraddle Editor Team, because we are all very hype for the new Dr. Who but also novices. I went around reading at least 3-4 different sources, but still can’t quite put together when the new Dr. Who comes out, so that we can cover it for y’all! Who wants to help me out in the comments? The best I can tell, a 60th anniversary special just aired, and that is what has introduced transphobes on the internet to Yasmin’s new character? But the new season and new Doctor (Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa) doesn’t officially kick off until the Christmas special later this month? Is that right?
+ Related to the above and also of my interest: I’d Like To Thank ‘Doctor Who’ for Recognizing One of the Spice Girls’ Best Songs
+ A ‘Renaissance of Gay Literature’ Marks a Turning Point for Publishing. “Exclusive data and industry experts — including publishers, booksellers and BookTok influencers — shed light on the yearslong surge in LGBTQ fiction sales.”
+ The Best Latine Movies of 2023
+ 2023’s Rookie Housewives, Ranked. I didn’t click through because I was scared to see where they placed Jena Lyons. Someone let me know.
Pop Culture Fix: TV Legend Norman Lear Has Died, May His Memory Be a Blessing
TV Legend Norman Lear Has Died, May His Memory Be a Blessing
At 101 years old, television writer and producer Norman Lear passed away yesterday in his home. I wouldn’t know how to parcel into words the impact of one singular man on the trajectory of television over the last more than 50 years, but put simply — no one did it like Norman Lear. From All in the Family, to The Jeffersons, to Maude, and of course One Day at a Time (along with its beloved by queer audiences reboot), Lear took his charge to bring the tough conversations happening in American homes and showcase them in their fully messy humanity across our TVs — somehow keeping their honesty without ever losing their humor. Sometimes their humor was in the honesty at all, if we’re being honest.
And of course, Lear who was Jewish and also a World War II veteran, lived a full long life (101 years is no joke!) — but it’s impossible not to feel a hole left by his presence today. If you have time this evening, All the Major Broadcast Networks Are Coming Together to Honor Norman Lear — CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and the CW are all planning to join together to air a simulcast on-air memorial card in Norman Lear’s honor tonight at 8pm ET and PT.
For further reading on a great man, I cannot recommend enough Norman Lear’s Truth: He Depicted the American Experiment, One Family at a Time by Kathryn VanArendonk for Vulture. And this roundup, also from Vulture, is particularly great: The Industry Pays Tribute to Norman Lear
Other Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
For my film nerds! Max Gets Access to the A24 Vault
And my lovers of camp! Drag Race Is Returning to 90-Minute Glory for Season 16
Anne Hathaway Remembers Meryl Streep’s Improvisation on the Devil Wears Prada
The View Star Alyssa Farah Griffin Says She’s on Spectrum of Sexuality, ‘Would Date a Woman’. And you know what? Good for her!
Anne Hathaway Worried She’d Gone “Too Far” in Eileen (I cannot wait to see this movie)
Trace Lysette on Independent Spirit Award Nomination: ‘You’ve Got to Dream’
Speaking of iconic awardees, I am still not over Queen Latifah’s looks for her Kennedy Center Honors (a reminder that she’s the first woman rapper to receive be a Kennedy Center honoree, we simply love making history!)
And finally, this one made me laugh: Santas, Ranked
Pop Culture Fix: Everybody Start Manifesting Now for “Cruel Intentions” TV Show To Radiate Bisexual Energy
“Cruel Intentions” Announces Final Cast, Confirms Series Order on Prime Video
After two years in development and a lot of cast change-ups and a strike-delayed filming schedule, the final cast and full series order has been announced for the Cruel Intentions TV show, based on the iconic ’90s movie in which Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair kissed on the grass and I gasped in my seat at the shopping mall movie theater in Northern Michigan where I saw the film on opening weekend.
First Kill’s Sarah Catherine Hook will star as Caroline Merteuil, “the queen of everything – or at least the queen of Delta Phi,” and Sara Silva plays her right hand, CeCe. I think that Savannah Lee Smith (“Gossip Girl”) will be playing the role of “Annie, a model student, respectable young woman and daughter of the Vice President of the U.S.”
Sarah Catherine Hook practicing for the Cruel Intentions TV show
Other stars include Khobe Clarke (“Firefly Lane,” “Yellowjackets”), John Harlan Kim (“The Last Thing He Told Me,” “9-1-1”), Brooke Lena Johnson (“You”), and Sean Patrick Thomas (“Till”). Claire Forlani will be playing a recurring role, replacing the previously cast Laura Benanti.
The show was set to begin filming in June in Toronto, but was delayed by the Actors’ Strike, and is now returning to Toronto in late January.
The new show is described to take place “at an elite Washington, D.C. college, where two ruthless step-siblings will do anything to stay on top of the cutthroat social hierarchy.” Furthermore: “After a brutal hazing incident threatens the entire Panhellenic system at their school, they’ll do whatever is necessary to preserve their power and reputation, even if that means seducing the daughter of the vice president of the United States.”
Sarah Goodman and Rachel Fisher, who signed on to the project in 2021, remain at the helm. Goodman also wrote and executive produced I Know What You Did Last Summer for Prime Video, which was very queer and although I personally enjoyed it, most people did not!
The original Cruel Intentions, inspired by Les Liaisons dangereuses, has a special place in the heart of the queer community — Demi Lovato said it made her realize she was queer, and many have argued it was queerer than it seemed while others have noted that the film punished people for homosexuality. I personally just happened to adore it, so!
An 2016 attempt at creating a television series based on the film, which did include Sarah Michelle Gellar in its cast, does have an unaired pilot that has made it into the public eye. Twitter was especially excited about a clip in which Sarah Michelle Gellar seduces Carmen (Nathalie Kelley).
Our hope is that the 2023 edition of this project will deliver similar bisexual energy or just queer stuff in general. It has to right??
(Also, SMG perhaps has cruel Queer Intentions Fan Art in her home.)
Other Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ XYZ Films has acquired U.S. and Australia/NZ rights to distribute D.W. Waterson’s cheerleading drama Backspot, which Drew named as one of the Best Queer Sports Movies of all time. It’s a very queer production, starring Devery Jacobs and Evan Rachel Wood and produced by Elliot Page. “This is an excellent film about a young athlete his is an excellent film about a young athlete pushing her body, her mind and her personal life to the limits” writes Drew, “and should be in any future conversations of the best queer sports movies.”
+ Da Brat talks to Out Magazine about beating the odds by having a baby at the age of 49 after fibroids and polyps surgery and a miscarriage.
+ ‘If You Don’t Leave Blood On The Track, Why Even Do It?’ Tegan and Sara Quin Open Up
+ Marvel’s Most Iconic Queer Couple Just Made History (Changing X-Men Lore Forever)
+ Suranne Jones promises her fans: “My next few characters aren’t lesbians, but I’ll be back with more’”
+ Ariana DeBose is an astronaut at war in trailer for space-set thriller I.S.S.
+ Saltburn will debut on Prime Video before Christmas
Pop Culture Fix: Kate McKinnon Returning to SNL To Make the Yuletide Gay With Billie Eilish
Kate McKinnon and Billie Eilish Will Have a Very Gay Saturday Night Live Christmas On December 16th
Billie Eilish Episode 1813 — Pictured: (l-r) Host Billie Eilish as Leslie D., Kate McKinnon, Ego Nwodim, and Kenan Thompson during the Santa Song sketch on Saturday, December 11, 2021 (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Kate McKinnon is returning to Saturday Night Live to host its December 16th episode with musical guest Billie Eilish, which will be the second time Billie is the musical guest for a Christmas episode of SNL and therefore the second time the twosome will be appearing together in the same Christmas episode! But a lot has changed since the 2021 Christmas episode — now Billie has revealed that she is gay and tired and also both Kate and Billie were involved in the Barbie movie. This feels like an opportunity for some kind of Gay Christmas Barbie skit, just an idea!
The December 16th episode will be Kate McKinnon’s hosting debut after leaving the show in 2022 — during her time on the program she delighted the fuck out of us on a regular basis and also was nominated for ten Emmys and won two. She’s also had very memorable turns on holiday episodes of Saturday Night Live, including Do It On My Twin Bed, HomeGoods, The Christmas Candle and, of course, Back Home Ballers.
Feature image by Rosalind OConnor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
More Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ Netflix has dropped the trailer for “Under Pressure,” a documentary about the United States’ Women’s Soccer team’s quest for a third World Cup title. This documentary was constructed very quickly?!
+ + Bella Ramsey spoke to Pink News about their excitement for a lesbian romance between Ellie and newcomer Dina in Season Two of “Last of Us.” Furthermore, on this very day they were named as one of the BAFTA Breakthrough Award recipients for their performance as Ellie in the first season of HBO’s Last of Us, based on the bestselling video game.
+ Why are trailers for musicals hiding the fact that they are musicals?
+ Every LGBTQ+ contestant in The Squid Game: The Challenge
+ Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus Lead Spotify Wrapped 2023
+ “An Unexpected Christmas” tops Variety’s list of the best Hallmark Christmas movies, suggesting that viewers “come for the sweet pretend-we’re-still-together-for-my-parents storyline; stay for the most natural chemistry yet.” Variety doesn’t mention this, but there is an unexpected lesbian in an Unexpected Christmas.
+ ‘Mean Girls’ Pop-Up Dining Experience to Debut in Los Angeles and New York
+ OUTtv will debut “Looking For a Third” with reality TV star Tiffany ‘New York’ Pollard: Tiffany Pollard is hosting a show that will begin with one gay couple and one lesbian couple looking for a third.
Pop Culture Fix: Maybe This Time We’ll Be Lucky, Maybe This Time “The Color Purple” Will Be Gay
“The Color Purple” Screenwriter Says He Wanted to Spotlight Celie and Shug’s Gay Storyline
The 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker’s bestselling lesbian novel The Color Purple was, like so many films, suspiciously void of any overtly gay content. The Broadway musical includes a love song between Celie and Shug, “What About Love?”, but many productions found a way to downplay the romantic aspect of that love.
So we are all, as a community, very hopeful that the new Color Purple musical film, debuting this holiday season in a theater near you, will in fact address the romantic love between Shug and Celie. At a special screening, screenwriter Marcus Gardley was asked about how he planned to address their relationship in the film, and according to Queerty, he had a pretty promising response:
“The romantic aspect between Celie and button pushing blues singer Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) “was very important,” added Gardley. “That’s part of the reason I got the job. My pitch led off with, ‘This is a love story between two women’. It was the most important thing to Alice Walker. In the original film, there was not enough of the romantic love between Celie and Shug. I wanted the love story to be prominent and didn’t want to brush over that these two women are in love.”
Here’s hoping!
Other Queer Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ 20 of 2023’s LGBTQ-Inclusive Early Readers, Chapter Books, and Early Middle Grade Titles
+ Queer Stars Dazzle at Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” Film World Premiere
+ Margot Robbie doesn’t see the need for a Barbie sequel: ‘We put everything into this one’ — weird because I personally do see the need!
+ Doctor Who fans applaud ‘progressive’ trans storyline for Yasmin Finney’s Rose: ‘We love to see it’
+ It’s a Wonderful Knife is queer as hell Christmas horror packed with cleavers and clever twists
+ The Soul Train Awards Renamed a Gendered Award to Honor Janelle Monáe
Pop Culture Fix: Prime Video Really Went For It By Cancelling Three Queer Shows In One Day
Prime Video Cancels Three More Queer Shows
“With Love” (Kevin Estrada / Prime Video)
Prime Video is continuing its cancellation spree with a few shows we’re familiar with around here because a lot of the shows they cancel are gay! The service has chosen to axe The Horror of Dolores Roach, With Love, and Harlan Coben’s Shelter.
Justina Machado (One Day at a Time) starred as a “chaotic bisexual cannibal” in The Horror of Dolores Roach. It was produced by Blumhouse Television, Spotify, Amazon Studios and also Gloria Calderón Kellett (One Day at a Time) ‘s production studio Glonation.
Glonation was also behind With Love, a series for which Calderón Kellett served as showrunner. With Love followed the Diaz family across various holidays throughout the year as they looked for love. Trans actress Isis King starred as Sol Perez, the Diaz siblings’ cousin and a trans non-binary oncologist. Her boyfriend Miles had a nonbinary child, Charlie, played by Birdie Silverstein. Charlie’s mother was played by SIlverstein’s real-life actual mother, Busy Phillips. There was also a gay male couple in the Diaz family. It was a vey gay show!
Harlan Coben’s Shelter, which was a very compelling watch while also being sort of objectively bad, was also cancelled. Shelter was notable to me personally for having queer rep in two separate storylines — both Mickey Bolitar (Jaden Michael)’s aunt (Constance Zimmer) and one of his new best friends (played by queer actor Abby Corrigan ) were queer.
It is once again a sad day for gay people who like television. (me)
Other Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ Who Is Stormé DeLarverie In Fellow Travelers? Real-Life Performer & Stonewall Activist Explained
+ Watch Sarah Paulson Gush About Her Wise and Witty Girlfriend, Holland Taylor: “I am thrilled, and I feel very lucky to be with a person who is smarter, wiser, wittier than I, and that just makes my life better in every possible way and helps me want to be a better person and a fully realized person. She just also makes me feel seen, which I think is the most important gift you can give to any person.”
+ Reneé Rapp Talks About Her Crush On Justin Bieber—and His “Lesbian” Look, “Which Is Hot”
+ From bottoming royals to lesbian dime novels: 15 queer book-to-film adaptations
+ A parody musical of ‘Saw’ brings to life a long overdue queer love story
+ Kristen Stewart and Catherine Hardwicke crashed Robert Pattinson’s 37th birthday party this year
Pop Culture Fix: “The Marvels” Allegedly Cut a Scene Confirming Valkyrie and Captain Marvel’s Lesbian Relationship, As The MCU Is Wont To Do
“The Marvels” Maybe Cut a Lesbian Scene… Again
Allegedly, a scene confirming what felt to many queer viewers like an implied lesbian relationship between Captain Marvel and Valkyrie was cut from The Marvels. In this scene, it was apparently expressed that “Captain Marvel and Valkyrie had a past relationship because one of them says to the other, “we work better as friends.”
For what it’s worth, our in-house Marvel expert, Dr. Carmen Phillips says she actually prefers the final cut of The Marvels to the possibility of seeing this scene that got cut.
“I’d prefer to think of them as continued friends with benefits,” she told me directly and exclusively. “If they told me Valkyrie and Carol dated and broke up OFF SCREEN, after Valkyrie’s first girlfriend also died OFF SCREEN — I would’ve had an aneurysm. I do want confirmation, but that would’ve been a painful choice to do it.”
This is a fairly routine set of circumstances for a Marvel movie release at this point. BothThor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder failed to acknowledge Valkyrie’s bisexuality sufficiently (it was cut altogether from Ragnarok, and poorly handled in Love and Thunder). Wakanda Forever also cut a kiss on the lips between Ayo and Aneka — instead the film just showed a forehead kiss. A queer scene was also rumored to have been cut from the first Black Panther film. The arc of the marvel universe is long, but maybe eventually one day it’ll bend towards queerness.
Other Queer Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ Josie Totah talks to Vulture about playing an 1800s lesbian in The Buccaneers: “I’m obviously a queer person, so I’m glad they chose someone who’s in the community and to do it right, and hopefully we did.”
Did you get any ideas into this show?
I did. There was one point where … I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s the penultimate scene for my character that I got to write, based off …we’d gone back and forth because this character is obviously queer and they really wanted it to be a story of a girl who was not traumatized. I thought that was cool because a lot of period pieces and representation in general of queer people has to do with trauma, but I also wanted it to feel authentic and that we weren’t ignoring the sociopolitical climate of being gay. You’re not just like “I like girls!” and someone’s like “Yeah, you do!”
+ How Chrishell Stause Queered Selling Sunset
+ Bilal Baig Says Goodbye to CBC’s Sort Of
+ “Rustin” Creates Flat Simplicity out of Complex Black Gay History
+ Hunter Schafer tells Jimmy Fallon that she’s been preparing for her Hunger Games role all her life!
Pop Culture Fix: Lesbian Road Trip Movie “Drive-Away Dolls” Trailer Is Finally Here After 15 Years In Development
Lesbian Road Trip Comedy “Drive-Away Dolls” Drops First Trailer
Drive-Away Dolls follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an “uninhibited free spirit” distraught over a recent breakup, and her best friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), who’s just uptight in general and could use a little adventure, as they set off together on an impulsive road trip to Tallahassee, delivering a car for a “car drop service.” But then! Things go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals who have stored criminal objects in said car. Queer actor Beanie Feldstein is also in the film and local favorite Pedro Pascal will apparently make an appearance of some kind.
What’s interesting is that this project has been in development for a really long time! Coen originally pitched this film idea to Allison Anders while enjoying a Christmas together in San Francisco in the early 2000s. The movie was announced in 2007 — then titled Drive-Away Dykes — and Anders was on board to direct. Anders is a bit of a legend — she directed Gas Food Lodging and Mi Vida Loca as well as eps of Sex and the City and The L Word. Coen was going for a tone akin to early 1970s exploitation romance films he saw as a kid. The tagline was “Women on the road. All kinds of action.” Stars attached to the project over the years include Selma Blair, Holly Hunter, Christina Applegate, and Chloë Sevigny. This was the original plot:
When Marion, a skirt-chasing party girl, gets kicked out after her cop girlfriend finds her in bed with another woman, she convinces her buttoned-down friend Jamie to let her come along on a get-away-for-a-few-days drive-away car assignment from Philadelphia to Miami. Packed along for the ride are Jamie’s crush on Marion, Marion’s unrelenting desire to cruise every lesbian bar on the eastern seaboard, and — since this is Coen territory — a severed head in a hatbox, a mystery briefcase full of plaster phalluses, a melange of angry pursuers, an evil senator, a bitter ex-girlfriend and loads of hot boyless sex.
Anders told The Los Angeles Times in 2007 that she was “particularly eager to film sequences like the girls’ encounter with a women’s soccer team at a basement party.” She promised the film would be bold, smart, brave and funny. The Coen brothers wrote the script together — their first — as a “spare time kind of thing” around other projects. It’s unclear what happened between the 2007 false start and the film’s more genuine launch in 2022.
The new script has been co-written by Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke, and the film being set in 1999 is “the final remnant of the project’s original intent.” In 2022, it was reported that the film was indeed somehow still happening, but now Coen was directing, instead of Anders. Coen said of his inability to get the project moving in the 2000s: “I think 20 years ago, we could’ve gotten an important lesbian movie made. But this is an unimportant lesbian movie. That just didn’t compute then.”
It was originally slated to debut in September 2023, which has now been postponed to February 2024.
Other Pop Culture Stories for your day:
+ Sue Bird welcomes Megan Rapinoe to retirement: ‘I’ve been waiting for you’
+ Taylor Swift’s Queer Fans Want to Liberate Her: Danny Lavery looks at “Gaylors” in a new episode of Slate’s Outward podcast
+ JoJo Siwa Breaks Down in Tears Over Insecurities and Hair Loss Comments: “Everything gets judged. You know, people told me I have a receding hairline, they don’t know that I have a stress rash and that’s why I’m balding right here. A 12-year-old shouldn’t have a stress rash on their head that makes them bald, but I did.”
+ USWNT Picks Emma Hayes as New Head Coach, Making Her World’s Highest-Paid Female Coach but Sam Kerr and Matildas are caught in fallout as Emma Hayes confirmed as US women’s coach
+ Big Brother final will consist solely of queer men and women for first time!
+ ‘Shadow And Bone’, ‘Glamorous’ & ‘Agent Elvis’ Among 5 Series Canceled By Netflix Amid Strike Impact: Glamorous was very gay but it was also kind of bad, so I have mixed feelings
+ How ‘Gen V’ Showrunners Keep Outrageous Stories Grounded in Reality
+ How the animated ‘Nimona’ broke LGBTQ+ barriers and survived to tell the tale
Pop Culture Fix: Brandi Carlile Wants a Lesbian “Golden Girls” (We Deserve)
Brandi Carlile Wants a Lesbian “Golden Girls” (We Deserve)
Photo by Alberto Rodriguez/Variety via Getty Images
Brandi Carlile received the Icon of the Year award at this year’s Out 100 and while accepting her award, she reflected on a conversation that she’d had recently with soccer legend Abby Wambach and her wife, author Glennon Doyle (I know it’s obvious, but I’m always tickled when the famous lesbians hang out together). In this conversation, she realized that she developed a belief that she would die young. Why? Because there is so little representation of queer elders:
“We don’t have a lesbian Golden Girls, you know what I mean? And I thought about the annals of LGBTQIA+ history and the fact that so few of us are represented in domesticity, in family, and the aged state, and I thought about the fact that the way we identify ourselves is so interwoven into Western pop culture that if we don’t see an old version of us, we don’t think we will love a long life and that’s why nights like tonight make so much of an impact on our family and our community.”
It’s also something that I’ve heard a lot of queer people think about! My favorite reflection aging as a queer person actually came from Roxane Gay a few years ago for her Audacity newsletter. So often when we talk about “representation matters” we aren’t thinking about the nuances of, how many of us have internalized that queerness is for youth? How many examples have any of us seen of queer people getting to age and grow? In community? In love?
Brand Carlilei’s thoughts on this particularly hit home for me because when I was a “baby gay” (and hell, even now) I’d imagine getting married to her “The Story,” a song that also pays tribute to the “lines across my face” and the stories that they tell of the roads we’ve crossed.
Carlile wrapped her speech by going back once again to themes of queer people aging and the circle of life: “To think that I was cutting out pictures of lesbians in power suits as a kid and that I might be that lesbian today in a power suit that some little girl might cut a picture out of me and hang me on her wall and give me a kiss before she goes to sleep”… WHO IS CUTTING ONIONS IN HERE!?!?
Very seriously, congrats to Brandi. And more cheesecake for us all!
Other Queer Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:
+ Billie Eilish Is “Gay & Tired,” Also “Physically Attracted to Women”
+ And on the topic of music, here’s all the gay Grammy nominees in case you missed them.
+ This feels extremely up your alley: Meg Stalter Remixes ‘Silk Chiffon’ for Her MUNA Audition
+ Did you seeTthe Marvels this weekend? If so, may I present you with How The Marvels director Nia DaCosta literally herded cats and also Brie Larson reveals the reality of playing a flying superhero: ‘An eternal wedgie’ 😂 (also if you missed it, here’s more The Marvels coverage from your friendly neighborhood Autostraddle: I’ll Spend This Entire Weekend Thinking About That One Scene From “The Marvels”)
+ “Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit “Fast Car” continues to collect achievements over three decades after its release. This time, the Country Music Awards crowned the single as Song of the Year on November 8, thanks to Luke Combs’s chart-topping cover.” — Tracy Chapman, You Will Always Be Famous by Zoe Guy for Vulture (congrats to a legend on another win!!)
+ I saw this news over the weekend and even though I despise The Breakfast Club (the radio show where he gave this interview), I adore Black parents loving on their trans kids!!!!! Happy for Marlon and for Kai! Marlon Wayans Supports His Trans Child With ‘Unconditional Love & Acceptance’ (I want you to know going in that Marlon doesn’t 100% nail Kai’s pronouns, but he acknowledges that and models changing in real time. Overall good stuff here.)
+ This is a kind of “inside baseball” about Oscar campaigns that I nerd out for. If it interests you as well Which Oscar Contenders Got the Biggest Boost From the End of the Strike? (Wanna know the answer, here’s a hint: life in plastic it’s fantastic)
+ Speaking of which! Here are All the Shows Returning After the Writers’ and SAG Strikes
+ We Need to Talk About The Morning Show’s Complicated Relationship With Queerness (I did not enjoy The Morning Show’s season three finale, but I did enjoy reading this!)
+ ‘Arcane’: Netflix Sets Season 2 Premiere In 2024
+ ‘The Rookie: Feds’ Canceled at ABC
+ Call it Editor’s Privilege, but if it’s one thing I’m gonna do, it’s remind you to get your tickets for the Beyoncé Movie.