Here’s a midweek Pop Culture Fix for you, friends!
+ Okay this is awesome: The Sims 4 has added some new trans-inclusive updates, including binders, top surgery scars, and more. Plus! “There are also medical wearables, such as glucose monitors and hearing aids, which makes The Sims 4 all more inclusive for the disability community as well.” This is a HUGE deal, and right on time. Trans gamers need a damn break!
A base game update is here with new content including medical wearables, binders, shapewear, a light switch & more including bug fixes & console gameplay improvements 🥳💚
Read more about today’s update in the latest patch notes! https://t.co/4c4vZdfWBY pic.twitter.com/GYbQYijIIm
— The Sims (@TheSims) January 31, 2023
+ Our own Valerie Anne and Nic chatted with CNN about that The Last of Us super gay episode. (Also! You can read their recap right here!)
+ Related: The Last of Us and The Haunting of Bly Manor find queer normalcy in the face of imminent doom.
+ Hulu has cancelled Reboot BOOOOOOO!!!!!!
+ MCU’s first trans actor Zoe Terakes talks making history at Marvel.
+ If Sam Smith were a thin, cis woman, no one would have given their new music video a second thought.
+ Well! WNBA Free Agency Day is here at last, and things are already bananas! Candace Parker signed with the Aces over the weekend. Courtney Vandersloot announced she’s leaving the Sky just last night. And AD Durr has signed again with Atlanta. UPDATE: Breanna Stewart is coming to New York. OH MAN!
"There's a lot teams I've been on that have looked great on paper but you gotta do the work."@Candace_Parker breaks down her decision on joining the Aces https://t.co/hfwrnRmh3H
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 31, 2023
Feature image photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Grey Goose
I don’t want to brag (yes, I do) but I got both my personal and professional email inboxes down to zero this morning. Did I do a slapdash job because I knew my therapist was going to ask me about it? MAYBE. But is it done? IT SURE IS! Let’s Pop Culture Fix to celebrate.
+ Kehlani stopped by Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, which is a thing that exists apparently, to talk about being a lesbian and how her therapist helped her realize what an awesome thing that is. “I don’t have any relationships with men anymore,” Kehlani said. “I’ve been out as a lesbian for two years. I, quite frankly, thought maybe I was just like broken, then my therapist was like, ‘How do you feel about women?’ I was like ‘If a girl looks at me, I’m gonna melt.’ But I could not say those things about men. She was like ‘You ever thought that maybe you’re just gay?’…I was like ‘Yeah, you’re right actually, probably.'”
+ Hem hem.
.@Kehlani loves women's hoops 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5ehg8A332V
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 23, 2023
+ May I interest you in the trailer for the final season of Star Trek: Picard?
+ 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way season four will feature a trans guy and a sapphic couple.
+ It’s not just the Oscars that fail Black women. It’s the entire awards ecosystem. Related: The Oscars shutting out The Woman King is a disgrace. I AGREE.
+ The Last of Us is getting a second season. I would say, “No surprise there” — but, honestly, the way streaming platforms keep doing queer shows, I’m simply relieved!
+ Niecy Nash-Betts has joined Ava DuVernay’s Caste.
+ Top Chef season 20 will be a WORLD ALL-STARS in London. Natalie says it’s not gay enough, and I fear she’s right! We’ve been so spoiled these last few season, and Dan Levy’s The Big Brunch made me forget straight people even exist in the kitchen.
+ Critical Role and Amazon are following up The Legend of Vox Machina with an animated series about The Mighty Nein! The very queer Mighty Nein!
+ Melanie Field has joined Darren Aronofsky’s The Answers, which makes me very happy for her, but also very worried about what this means for another season of A League of Their Own.
+ ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
we’re getting the gang back together! watch the trailer for #PartyDown, premiering February 24 on STARZ. https://t.co/OYJxBIXe3K
— 🎀 Party Down 🎀 (@PartyDownSTARZ) January 26, 2023
+ 13 queer-coded villains from our childhood.
+ Our favorite amphibious queer icons — Frog and Toad — are getting their own TV series.
+ Sam Smith talks Gloria, self-love and why queer joy can feel radical.
Welcome to your mid-week Pop Culture Fix! I hope you’re staying cozy!
+ Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day is not something I knew we were getting, and not something I knew we needed, but now that I have seen the trailer I CANNOT WAIT! Entertainment Weekly describes it thus: “Is it possible to have sex so good you send a whole city into pandemonium? That’s what Harley and Ivy are about to find out in Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special.” Sold!
Roses are red, Ivy is green, this Valentine’s Day get ready for something truly obscene 🥰
Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special premieres February 9 on @HBOMax. #HarlivyDay #HarleyQuinnVDay pic.twitter.com/ZdYv6N84Ia
— Harley Quinn (@dcharleyquinn) January 23, 2023
+ Tár is coming to Peacock on Friday, so you can finally stream it and have some feelings!
+ Anne Heche opens up about Ellen DeGeneres, Harvey Weinstein and Alec Baldwin in posthumous memoir.
+ How The Sims helped me explore my bisexuality and understand my autism.
+ Miley Cyrus just earned her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 debut in 17 years.
+ How Tumblr turned Columbo into a queer icon.
+ The Last of Us is breaking HBO’s viewership records.
+ “Kitara, you stay. George Santos, sashay away.” Wanda Sykes weighs in on George Santos’ drag persona. I guess this sociopath (Santos, not Wanda Sykes) is also in a fight with Trixie Mattel?
+ The Indigo Girls were surprised they made a documentary. (You can read Drew’s review of the Sundance film right here!)
Feature image photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
Hello and welcome to Sundance Week! Drew and Shelli are coming at you with so many amazing reviews! While you wait, please enjoy your Monday Pop Culture Fix.
+ Reneé Rapp on Mean Girls, TikTok Romance, and her music career. I love the answer to “Which artists are you most inspired by?” She says Kacey Musgraves, of course. And then: “To be honest, my pitch when I wanted to get signed to Interscope was: ‘I want to be bisexual Justin Bieber.’ So I’m trying to do that, but in a younger era — his ‘R&Bieber’ era, but a little more girly. I’m really just taking it from a lot of shit and trying to make my own little lane in it. Somebody who did that so well is Billie Eilish. She took the things that she loves — alternative music, pop music, and hip hop — and was like, ‘I’m creating my own lane.’ That is exactly what I want to do.” I’ll be your Belieber, Reneé Rapp!
+ Good Trouble‘s Sherry Cola is at Sundance promoting her new film, Shortcomings. She’s also from Monterey Park, California, so she’s grieving the heartbreaking mass shooting over the weekend, and speaking to reporters about that as well.
“I definitely cried myself to sleep, to be honest, because this is Monterey Park, California, like where I grew up, the 626, San Gabriel Valley,” Cola said. “This is where my Buddhist temple is, you know? Like all my friends I grew up with they were born in Monterey Park. It’s this hometown that I’m so proud to call my hometown.”
+ The highs and lows of That ’90s Show‘s queer representation.
+ Aubrey Plaza gave SNL permission to get weird. It’s actually been so long since I watched a full episode of SNL! I don’t even know which skit to choose! I’ll go with Parks and Rec.
+ Inside the Jojo Siwa Zoomer Lesbian Summit at Erewhon Market. (This is technically Vapid Fluff, but I’m including it here ’cause it made me laugh and also feel like I am 300 years old!)
+ Also technically Vapid Fluff, over at Vogue, I Want What They Have: Niecy Nash-Betts and Jessica Betts.
+ Peacock has axed Vampire Academy.
+ M3GAN 2.0? Yep, she’ll be here in 2025.
+ The Comedies That Understand What Peak Scammer TV Does Not. “Abbott Elementary and Minx both follow ambitious women leaders who don’t subscribe to the girlboss myth.”
+ The cast of The Drop open up about their hilarious, queer film. (And you can read Kayla’s review right here!)
+ And finally, this dang cutie on the set of The Morning Show.
My cat Socks is in a cone today due to getting one of our other cat’s claws stuck in his butt! He’s glaring at me and telepathically asking me to ask you to come get this cone off his head! While you’re contemplating that black ops operation, please enjoy your mid-week Pop Culture Fix.
+ Aubrey Plaza’s Saturday Night Live audition was too strange to get her cast. This Aubrey Plaza press blitz for Emily the Criminal is a hoot. Last night she talked to Fallon about how she tried out for the show a million years ago but didn’t make it to the Lorne Michaels try out. It worked out for the best, of course, and Parks and Rec launched her into the stratosphere, but I wouldn’t mind seeing her Sexy Disaster News Reporter character when she takes over the show later this month.
Update: It’s shaping up to be a good episode!!!
Aubrey Plaza, impression queen pic.twitter.com/DFZYMWp8IO
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) January 18, 2023
+ One of Valerie Anne’s favorite parts of this season of Ginny & Georgia was the performance of Marriage Is a Dungeon — and here is TV Line’s look behind the scenes of the theatrical hit.
+ This isn’t gay but it’s very cool and is of interest to many gays: Sarah Michelle Gellar’s profile in The Hollywood Reporter is her being as candid as she’s ever been about her time on Buffy. She won’t even say Whedon’s name in the interview and GOOD FOR HER.
+ Supergirl’s Dreamer has a comic book on the way and it looks awesome.
+ A rundown of all the LGBTQ+ shows Netflix cancelled after only a few seasons.
+ Tár Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir believes the movie’s ending was a positive one. (Hey! It’s a nice link about Tár!)
+ Brittney Griner appears at Phoenix MLK Day march. (So many smiles in this video!!!)
+ How The Last of Us turned its terrible outbreak day into a “period piece.” And speaking of The Last of Us, it was HBO’s second biggest debut in a decade.
+ This year’s GLAAD Media Awards include lots of your faves.
Feature image photo Michael Kovac/Getty Images + Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Thank you all for your concern after I bought that smoky coffee last week! I’m back to my regular coffee now and feeling delightfully warm and caffeinated! I hope this Pop Culture Fix makes you feel the same way!
+ Janelle Monáe was honored with the SeeHer Award at last night’s Critics Choice Awards. They gave an amazing speech that included a nod to their queer identity. “To anyone out there like me watching right now, I just want you to know that I see you — but I challenge you to see you,” they said. In addition to Janelle, there was other queerness and queer-ish-ness. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery won Best Ensemble Acting and Best Comedy. Cate Blanchett won for Tár. Zendaya won for Euphoria. Abbott Elementary won for Best TV Comedy. Niecy Nash-Betts won for Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. And Harley Quinn won for Best Animated Series. Natalie says Jessica Betts also won because she came and went home with:
Niecy Nash is absolutely gorgeous in custom Jason Wu for the #CriticsChoiceAwards 💕 pic.twitter.com/mL3wsvPPAU
— MEFeater Magazine (@mefeater) January 15, 2023
+ Gotham Knights is coming to the CW on March 14th.
+ Riverdale and Nancy Drew are gearing up for their final seasons.
+ What the lesbian best friend trope leaves out.
+ Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls looks too dang cute!
+ M3GAN was factory made to be an LGBTQ+ cult icon.
+ Paramount+ has renewed Criminal Minds: Evolution. Syfy and USA have renewed Chucky.
+ Aftersun writer-director Charlotte Wells on the ambiguity of her personal film.
+ Michaela Jaé Rodriguez will star in a new film called Wildfire. The summary from THR: “A [person who is] mute from an abusive home, Lu slyly tricks Merribelle, a hardworking trans woman, into kidnapping her — sparking a beautifully unexpected bond with a devastating expiration date.”
+ Please enjoy these queer vibes between Kiersey Clemons and Alison Brie in the tailer for Somebody I Used to Know.
+ Christina Grace spotted Julianna Margulies back on the set of The Morning Show. GAY!
+ Seimone Augustus had a HUGE weekend at her alma mater, LSU. They unveiled a statue of her on campus! The crowd was enormous! (Just ignore Kim Mulkey in this photo, I know I will.)
Congratulations to @seimoneaugustus on her statue 👏
A @LSUwbkb and #WNBA legend forever enshrined 🧡 pic.twitter.com/EF050p6pQd
— WNBA (@WNBA) January 15, 2023
+ And finally, Candace Parker on Celebrity Jeopardy is everything you’ve ever wanted.
It’s Wednesday! Homemade spicy chicken soup day in my house! Enjoy this Pop Culture Fix while it simmers, and then come on over for a bowl!
+ Marin Alsop, the Chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and a MacArthur Genius Award composer who was mentioned in Tár, said the film offended her “as a woman, as a conductor, as a lesbian.” She went on to tell the UK’s Sunday Times: “To have an opportunity to portray a woman in that role and to make her an abuser for me that was heartbreaking. I think all women and all feminists should be bothered by that kind of depiction because it’s not really about women conductors, is it? It’s about women as leaders in our society. There are so many men actual, documented men this film could have been based on but, instead, it puts a woman in the role but gives her all the attributes of those men. That feels anti-woman.”
+ Here’s a full list of Golden Globe winners, which includes Cate Blanchett for Tár — and also! Angela Basset for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever! Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once! Zendaya for Euphoria! Jennifer Coolidge for White Lotus! Quinta Brunson for Abbott Elementary! And Abbott Elementary full stop!
+ Don’t worry, Out magazine’s got all the red carpet looks from your LGBTQ faves. Oh! And Them does too.
+ Yellowstone breakout Lilli Kay on Clara’s future and that queer kiss.
+ Here’s the trailer for How I Met Your Father season two.
+ Willow‘s world creates a perfect place for queerness to thrive.
+ Oh and by the way! Michelle Yeoh’s Star Trek: Discovery spinoff is still in the works at Paramount+. (Paramount+ has also ordered a D&D live-action series, to which I say, again, WATCH WILLOW.)
+ Wait — is coming out fun now, for celebrities? ‘
+ Rutina Wesley is playing Maria in The Last of Us. Here’s the first look photo!
+ Grease: The Rise of the Pink Ladies? YES PLEASE.
https://youtu.be/YTMkaP_kJCY
Another Monday is upon us and so is another Pop Culture Fix! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I accidentally bought the coffee that tastes like licking the inside of a fireplace so I’m off the grocery story to purchase some drinkable caffeine.
+ Okay our entire TV Team is full of brilliant detectives, but NO ONE has the skill of spotting a nanosecond sapphic kiss, in the dark, in the rain, in a frenetically edited trailer like Natalie. Her newest find? Gabrielle Union smooching another woman in the rain in the trailer for Apple TV+’s new Octavia Spencer series, Truth Be Told. The show’s about a podcaster who investigates the crimes she podcasts, and frankly there’s no one better than Octavia Spencer to play a modern day Jessica Fletcher. Gabrielle Union in her second queer role is the icing on top of the cake!
+ Let’s talk about why Velma from ‘Scooby-Doo’ is the coolest lesbian ever.
+ I don’t know why this made me laugh so hard, but Katie Rife’s review of M3gan at RogerEbert.com called the internet’s new favorite doll, “a spectacle of a title character, a four-foot-tall cyborg with big doe eyes, a ratty wig, and the wardrobe of a closeted lesbian headmistress in a ’50s melodrama.” Anyway there’s like 50 articles published today about how queers made M3gan an icon. I like this one by Alex Abad-Santos at Vox.
+ MovieWeb’s still jonesing for that Xena reboot. (Instead, I say: WATCH WILLOW!)
+ Brandi Carlile is playing at newly elected Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s inaugural party this week. Queer ladies sticking together, singing and governing the way the goddesses intended!
+ AAAAAHHHHH!!! (Also be careful of Owl House spoilers; iTunes Canada accidentally leaked the episode early.)
The Owl House returns January 21st for the second special episode of season 3:
"For the Future" 💫🌘💀 pic.twitter.com/8y0LQEvPUc— Dana Terrace (@DanaTerrace) January 5, 2023
+ Cannes darling / Pakistan’s first film to make the Academy longlist for Best International Feature, Joyland, has landed a US distributor. Drew wrote about Joyland in her TIFF wrap-up last year.
+ Syfy has cancelled Astrid & Lily Save the World, to which I say: BOOOOOOO!!!!
+ Joining queer gals Megan Thee Stallion and Keke Palmer, who have already hosted SNL this year, Aubrey Plaza is all set for her first headlining gig on the show on January 21st.
+ Another trailer of great interest to you is Natasha Lyonne’s Poker Face. Riese has seen the first several episodes and she says there’s lots of gayness orbiting Lyonne’s character!
+ See first look at Wanda Sykes in History of the World Part II.
Happy Pop Culture Fix Day, friends! Here’s some TV and film news to get you through the rest of your week!
+ This is so funny to me. That Yellowstone lesbian kiss that had conservatives losing their entire minds? Lilli Kay, the actress was kissing her real-life partner who is nonbinary. “It was very funny because I did not expect anyone to even really catch it. And then people were like, lesbians on the range! It was very, very funny. But it was a fun little evening. We got to listen to some really good music and hang out and quietly make out in the background. Lesbians on the ranch!”
+ Super Lesbian Animal RPG is a big hit with the target audience (which just might be you, actually!)
+ Miley Cyrus is finally dressing like a rich, bisexual divorcée.
+ The 10 biggest LGBTQ music moments of 2022: Lil Nas X, Dove Cameron, Elton John, and more.
+ Why Rosie O’Donnell turned down her invite to the The View’s Barbara Walters tribute show.
+ Is High School Musical: The Musical: The Series the most proudly sapphic show on TV?
+ Wednesday season two may be leaving Netflix.
+ Scare Package II is a joyful, splattery celebration of queer horror.
+ THIS LINK GOES TO REDDIT! New stills from the next (penultimate??) mega-episode of The Owl House.
+ Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn’t want to do a Buffy revival, stop asking.
+ How Tár cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister gave the camera an “observational attitude.”
+ What you need to remember about Ginny and Georgia ahead of season two.
Feature image photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Happy New Year, my friends! We’re kicking it off with food poisoning in my house, which, in my optimistic opinion isn’t a terrible way to start 2023. Nowhere to go but up! Here’s your first Pop Culture Fix of the year.
+ Well someone’s setting some intentions heading into 2023: Megan Fox says she’s currently seeking a girlfriend. According to Cosmo, according to Megan Fox’s IG, the “bicon for the ages and her most recent IG post seem to be making reference to [her bisexuality]. Specifically, she shared a carousel showing selfies and a short boomerang of herself in a car, wearing a fluffy hat and a strappy top. She then captioned the post with ‘Currently seeking a girlfriend. Please submit applications in the DMs’ – prompting thirsty fans to go wild.” I hope you find an awesome one, Megan Fox! I hope everyone reading this finds what they’re looking for this year!
+ Yellowstone actress Lilli Kay talks about playing Dutton’s confidante and “a lesbian on the range.” (Yellowstone will be back in the summer of 2023.)
+ Why The Last of Us Part 2 still has major impact.
+ A sweet deleted scene from Heartstopper’s first season.
+ “I have gotten a few direct requests from women, which is exciting.” Emily Ratajowski discusses her dating app journey.
+ 5 of the most anticipated queer albums of 2023.
+ Somebody Somewhere and the value of small-town queer representation.
+ Sort Of creator and Star Bilal Baig on the beautiful blurriness of queer love.
+ Why Morticia and Wednesday Addams are the underrated feminists we need.
+ Janelle Monáe and Edward Norton on their complex roles in Glass Onion.
Happy last Pop Culture Fix of 2022, friends! Thank you for coming with me on this journey of vapid delight this year! See you in 2023!
+ 5 Arrowverse stars who can make the leap to James Gunn’s DCU Nicole Maines and Javicia Leslie made the list, which I absolutely agree with both in terms of acting and their characters. I am going to be BEYOND frustrated if DC just hands the Batwoman mantle back to Kate Kane. Both Kate and Ryan Wilder are such revolutionary characters who still have so much story to tell. And Dreamer? Well, she’s just getting started!
+ How the Mythic Quest ladies became best friends, on- and off-screen.
+ Well here’s some great news for big babies like me! HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation will scale back the graphic violence!
+ Gossip was the saving grace of 2022.
+ How I Wanna Dance With Somebody recreated Whitney Houston’s famous Super Bowl performance.
+ Vulture’s list of TV’s Weepiest Moments of 2022 has some familiar queer stories.
+ In 2022, cozy games went from niche to video game fixture.
+ Wednesday‘s creators say they’re open to a relationship between Wednesday and Enid because “sometimes characters reveal themselves.” But also they keep saying “friendship” over and over in a way that makes that not seem true?
+ 10 beautiful LGBTQ+ TV weddings. :)
+ Beth Ditto chats about her time playing lesbian country music icon Gigi Roman on Monarch.
+ Do yourself a favor and pull up Reneé Rapp’s EP, Everything to Everyone.
+ 50 queer and trans pop culture moments that defined 2022.
+ How Blackpink’s tour unleashed a wave of queer yearning.
+ In Brooklyn, Homer’s Odyssey is reimagined as a queer audio series.
+ New original queer musical, Shooting Star, adds four more performances in January.
+ Collider’s Best TV Duos of 2022 has some gay faves (and a very bizarre choice for Hacks???)
Feature image by Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
This is one of my favorite weeks of the year! Time loses all meaning and we all exist in a kind of holigay haze until the New Year! I hope you get some time to rest and recharge. Here’s a Pop Culture Fix for your Monday.
+ Right after we all closed our laptops for Christmas weekend, the jury in the trial of Tory Lanez found him guilty of the July 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion in the Hollywood Hills. Autostraddle Editor in Chief Carmen Phillips ran down the details of the trial in her Also.Also.Also column last week. The jury convicted him on all three charges: assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharge of a firearm with gross negligence. After the verdict, NPR’s Louder Than A Riot senior producer Gabby Bulgarelli and It’s Been a Minute host Brittany Luse got together to talk about why, when Lanez was guilty, did it always seem like Meg was on trial. It’s been a common and important refrain throughout the trial, especially in the toxic tub of endless misogynoir on social media. Luse, who, also reported from inside the courtroom, weighed in on what the verdict could mean for Black women going forward. To quote Carmen: “Love to Megan thee Stallion, now and forever.”
+ Collider says Generation Q Shane has changed for the better (For good? Like some kind of Elphaba?)
+ Please enjoy this first look at Lauren Ambrose as adult Van on Yellowjackets season two. You can also peep a Yellowjackets Yule log with season two Easter eggs.
+ Record-breaking LPGA lesbian golfer Kathy Whitworth has passed away at 83.
+ The NYT has caught wind of the theory that Louisa May Alcott was trans.
+ Which reminds me of my favorite tweet of December. (Favorite non-cat tweet.)
you gotta hand it to greta gerwig for simply refusing to make films about regular-sized women pic.twitter.com/zKJMS8sZ4m
— father john musty (@aljashamus) December 18, 2022
+ The Los Angeles Times has an inside look at that kiss scene between Jade and Kit on last week’s Willow. But they don’t know everything! They don’t know I’ve watched it eleventy times!
+ Jodie Foster is serving big lesbian energy in the first look at True Detective season four. ‘
+ I didn’t realize how much I needed representation until The Owl House.
+ I love this! Lashana Lynch on discovering Miss Honey is a queer icon after signing on to play her in Matilda the Musical. That’s two queer icons she’s accidentally played now! The other one, of course, being Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel.
Hey I hope Santa is good to you this weekend! I’ll see you next week and we can talk about our new toys! Until then, here’s your Pop Culture Fix!
+ I realize that hating TÁR has put me at odds with like 98% of the gay community (which is extra funny because loving Carol has also put me at odds with so many gays this year for some reason??). But hey! Good news for all you TÁRheads out there: Todd Fields’ cinematic universe is expanding. The Fundraiser, a new short that expands the TÁR universe, will screen at Berlinale 2023. According to the film festival’s announcement, “We are very happy that Todd Field along with Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir have accepted our proposal to share some of the secrets of their work in a public talk at Berlinale Talents. We are also delighted to be premiering a new short that expands the TÁR universe, The Fundraiser, that will screen alongside their talk.” If I wanted to watch a rich white lady scam people for money, I’d just rewatch The Droupout, but okay!
+ In preparation for the new Whitney Houston biopic: 15 powerful, essential Whitney Houston songs (that aren’t “I Will Always Love You”). Also: Whitney Houston’s queer story was so important for actor Naomi Ackie in the film.
+ The White Lotus’ queer rep is messy and oh so glorious.
+ Mindy Kaling’s Velma will land on HBO Max on January 12th.
+ How House of the Dragon built a bold, queer (??) female gaze.
+ 7 mindlessly fun queer films to help you switch off your brain.
+ Bachelor In Paradise alum Kristian Haggerty is engaged to her girlfriend.
+ Margaret Cho chatted to GLAAD about her new tour Live and Livid.
+ 11 LGBTQ nepo babies we’re proud to call family.
+ Amy Grant will host her lesbian niece’s wedding. Christians are, obviously, breaking down about this all over the Jesus Internet.
Feature image photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Y’all I got my wife the most fun stocking stuffer for Christmas this year. She gets her best writing ideas in the shower so I bought her some WATERPROOF notepads and pens like what park rangers use in all-weather so she can make notes when she’s showering! Anyhoodle, happy holigays and here’s your first Pop Culture Fix of the week.
+ On Instagram, Brittney Griner posted the sweetest photos of her homecoming with her wife, Cherelle, and also the news that she absolutely plans to play this WNBA season. She thanked Cherelle and all of the activists and lawyers who worked to get her home from her wrongful imprisonment in Russia, and closed with: “I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.” Sending you all our love always, BG, and we can’t wait to see you back on the court!
+ One single piece of good news from HBO in 2022: They’ve renewed Sort Of.
+ Update! Two pieces (only!) of good news from HBO in 2022: The Sex Lives of College Girls has also been renewed.
+ Also renewed? Yellowjackets for a third season already!
+ Apple TV+ has ordered a Mythic Quest spinoff from Ashly Burch.
+ The CW will launch Gotham Knights on March 14th.
+ Here’s the red band trailer for The Legend of Vox Machina season two.
+ Why no singer has replaced Lady Gaga.
+ How The White Lotus breaks all the norms of straight sex culture.
+ The golden age of the streaming wars has ended.
+ Aisha Dee is heading back to TV in Fox’s Accused.
+ And here’s Jasmin Savoy Brown and Jenna Ortega in the Scream 6 teaser trailer.
Here’s one (1) mid-week Pop Culture Fix for you, my friends! And happy More Good Today Day to all who celebrate!
+ Well, Netflix has done it again! They’ve murdered another queer show! This time, LGBTQ fandom’s most beloved 2022 series, Warrior Nun. Showrunner Simon Barry posted the news on Twitter yesterday afternoon, saying: “I’ve just found out that Netflix will not be renewing #WarriorNun – my sincere appreciation to all the fans who worked so hard to bring awareness to this series, and for the love you showed me, the cast and the whole production team. It was a privilege to be a part of this.” I’ve honestly lost count of how many queer shows and POC-led shows Netflix has cancelled this year, but it has been a lot. If Amazon doesn’t renew A League Of Their Own soon, I’m going to riot! –
+ Party Down is coming back to Starz with the original cast, including Jane Lynch.
+ Why are Christmas movie miracles never miracles at all?
+ Well here’s some weird news. How I Met Your Father will be back for a second season??
+ Nicole Maines is coming back as Dreamer for the final season of The Flash.
+ Wondering what you’ll be doing between Christmas break and the New Year? I’ll go ahead and tell you: Watching the new season of The Circle.
+ Frameline has announced its 2023 Voices Short Program Selections, one of which is: “Grindr Baby, from helmer Gaby Dunn, follows a non-monogamous queer couple grappling with a pregnancy test after one of them has a one-night stand.”
+ HBO Max is pulling more things off the streaming service, including Westworld?? This is one of the most unhinged things I have ever seen. HBO Max has also cancelled Minx.
+ Drag Race season 15 lands on January 6th.
+ Ginny and Georgia season two trailer, yes yes!
+ Aubrey Plaza explored Italy while “tripping balls” with Meghann Fahy during White Lotus filming.
+ Good lord, Ryan Murphy is still fighting to get Netflix to put the LGBTQ tag back on Dahmer.
Feature image photos by: David Livingston/Getty Images // Amy Sussman/Getty Images // Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Happy holigays, friends! Here’s a Monday Pop Culture Fix for you!
+ Nominations for the Golden Globes rolled out this morning, and there were a basketfull of queers amongst them. Everything Everywhere All At Once, which stars Stephanie Hsu as queer teen Joy Wang. received the second most nods. Tár, of course, pulled down three nominations, including Cate Blanchett for Best Actress. Emma D’Arcy was nominated for House of the Dragon. Selena Gomez, who plays a queer character in Only Murders in the Building, was nominated for Best Actress. Niecy Nash received a Best Actress nom for her work in Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer. Aubrey Plaza was nominated for White Lotus. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which stars Janelle Monae, was nominated for Best Comedy or Musical. Hannah Einbender and Hacks snagged three nominations. Lady Gaga is up for Best Song for something that she sang about Top Gun. And Viola Davis is nominated for The Woman King, which isn’t gay, but I am and she’s my favorite, and so.
+ The best LGBTQ+ Christmas movies, according to Vulture!
+ Also over at Vulture, from Frankie de la Cretaz: Carol is not the romance of your memes.
+ I, a humble pagan, am over the moon for Hades II. Bring on another bisexual chthonic baddie!
+ Reneé Rapp, Jaquel Spivey, and Auli’i Cravalho lead the Mean Girls movie musical cast.
+ And speaking of Reneé Rapp.
I’d fall for you in real life too pic.twitter.com/J1cMtB9Z5K
— RMJ (@reneerapp) December 8, 2022
+ American Horror Story: NYC’s Clara McGregor on her TV debut with Ryan Murphy.
+ TikTok has found Love Actually’s deleted lesbian scenes.
+ Bisexual Bachelor in Paradise’s Demi Burnett says she’s ready to be The Bachelorette.
+ Okay truly you’ve gotta read this piece on Brittney Griner picking up a basketball for the first time since being wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. The whole thing is so wonderful. I’ve read it like ten times and I cannot stop smiling about it.
As Cherelle Griner, Colas and U.S. officials awaited the flight in a large airplane hangar, they began to look for a spot where Cherelle could wait for Brittney without their reunion being seen by news cameras outside the base. Someone noticed a black “X” taped to a perfect spot on the floor, and Cherelle stood there as she waited. After the plane carrying Brittney landed and taxied to a rest, a medical team and a psychologist boarded, spent about five minutes with her, and then Griner exited the plane, walked into the hangar and embraced her wife for the first time in almost 10 months, Colas said. Military and government personnel stood about 20 yards away as the women shared an extended embrace. The two then adjourned to a “family room” that was pre-stocked with some of Griner’s favorite snacks: Reese’s peanut butter cups, Cheetos and Dr. Pepper.
+ Aubrey Plaza’s top ten Criterion films.
+ Rebel Wilson’s first dramatic role delivered first kiss with a woman months before coming out.
+ Brandi Carlile on this week’s SNL is just pure joy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpNqR-ff_TQ&feature=youtu.be
+ No surprises here, but I do hope Beth Ditto will put out a country album: Fox has cancelled Monarch after one season.
+ IFC Films buys Andrea Pallaoro’s Venice Competition title Monica, starring Trace Lysette.
Hello and happy Abbott Elementary Christmas Episode Day! Here’s a Pop Culture Fix for you while you wait!
https://twitter.com/BisHilarious/status/1598204869290381312
+ Margot Robbie wants to bring Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn’s romance to the big screen. I also want that! Robie told Comic Book: “I have been pushing for that for years. I cannot tell you how hard I’ve been pushing for that. I want it too,” Robbie said of a live-action romance between Harley and Ivy. When asked if she had any actors in mind to play her romantic opposite, she added, “Honestly, when I pictured, I always picture like Poison Ivy in the comics. I don’t really actually picture an actress doing it, but I agree, that would be so good.”
+ Jenna Ortega ships Wednesday and Enid too! I also want that! She told PRIDE, “In a perfect world, Wednesday and Enid would have been a thing.”
+ HBO has cancelled Legendary after three seasons.
+ The Flash will be back on February 8th, which we are excited for because Javicia Leslie’s gonna be on at some point! She’s playing Red Death and also I don’t know why Collider chose a photo of her in Kate Kane’s costume and not Ryan Wilder’s costume!
+ Willow’s queer romance “never received any resistance,” says series creator Jonathan Kasdan. (Nic will be writing about this for you so soon!)
+ Cara Delevingne had no concept of term ‘queer’ growing up.
+ The top 12 ships on Tumblr this year were all queer OBVIOUSLY.
+ The Sex Lives of College Girl breaks the myth about lesbian sex.
Happy mid-week, my friends! I hope you’re feeling cozy today! Here’s your Wednesday Pop Culture Fix!
+ This does not look particularly queer, but I thought you might like to know about Suranne “Gentleman Jack” Jones’ new Scrooge-y Christmas movie called Carole. I’m going to watch this back-to-back with Cate Blanchett’s Carol and decide, once and for all, who’s the best Christmas Carol(e).
+ MovieWeb has ranked the best LGBTQ+ holiday movies.
+ At Glamour: The Sex Lives of College Girls‘ Renée Rapp on break-up songs, queer identity and the patriarchy.
+ Jenna Ortega on why Wednesday Addams is a gay icon.
+ Angel McCoughtry is NOT retiring from the WNBA, thank you very much.
+ At NYT: Adeem Bingham has wrestled for decades with their identity as a Southern, Christian, queer songwriter. Can modern country music make space for them and their experiences?
+ Jimminy Forking Crackers! Helena Bonham Carter is out here defending JK Rowling AND Johnny Depp.
+ Lindsay Lohan’s comeback continues, and she’s bringing rom-coms with her.
+ At IndieWire: Chloë Grace Moretz talks about older men infantilizing her on set: “Having to even advocate to an older man on behalf of your 14, 15, 16-year-old self is a really, really crazy kind of mind fuck.”
+ AT AV Club: Janelle Monáe on Glass Onion, Grace Jones, and “forecasting what the culture needs.”
+ At Variety: Strange World crew on the film’s Jules Verne nod, the environment and queer representation.
+ Is Aubrey Plaza’s blonde era part of an elaborate prank?
+ Well this new queer Rebel Wilson movie, The Almond and the Seahorse, looks depressing and lovely! It’s about two couples who live with one partner who has anterograde amnesia. Wilson told People: “When I started acting over two decades ago, I started as a serious actress. So I really wanted to be the next Dame Judi Dench and was performing on stage doing classics like Shakespeare and Marlowe. It was only in 2003 when I won a scholarship from Nicole Kidman that I got to ‘specialize’ in comedy and went to comedy school in New York. So to now do The Almond and the Seahorse felt like a return to what I was doing right at the start of my career. I know it’s very different to the glossy Hollywood comedies I’ve been doing in the past decade, but I had to dust off my serious acting chops for this role and I’m so proud of the film and the performances in it!”
Feature image photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images for BFI
Well good holigay Monday to you, my friends! Here is your first Pop Culture Fix of the week!
+ Aubrey Plaza covers GQ this week in a brilliant and hilarious profile, with some seriously sexy photos. There’s stories of intense pranks in there, counter pranks, fake pranks, and lots of info about Plaza’s upcoming projects. “The ‘she’s so weird; narrative that has followed Aubrey Plaza around for most of her career often feels like a cliché. She’s inscrutable and brunette–is the industry so devoid of imagination that this is the threshold for weird? But then she’ll say things like: ‘Adam was so innocent, like a baby bird. It was really sick, what I was doing to him. I got him to the brink of a psychological break.’ And she’s… kidding? It’s hard to tell.”
“Nowadays I’m really over it. I hate when people want to cast me in something and then say ‘we’re going to really tailor it for you.’ I want to be like, ‘please don’t.’” Aubrey Plaza opens up for #GQHYPE https://t.co/5cUyfDjbx6 pic.twitter.com/MhsFMPfn8n
— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) November 28, 2022
+ Warrior Nun has broken Netflix’s record for best audience scores as fans advocate for a third season.
+ What do you think of MovieWeb’s list of underrated lesbian TV shows?
+ The Ladies is a must-see short about lesbian life.
+ The L Word’s Jennifer Beals and Laurel Holloman reveal all on uniting Bette and Tina.
+ Natalie Morales talks season three of Dead To Me, Latinx representation, and her queer-awakening.
+ The Bad Sisters cast on the liberating joys of attempted murder.
+ Cara Delevingne tells BBC that “being queer felt fluid and free.”
+ How one line in Strange World shows Disney is finally getting queer representation right.
+ Everything we know about Netflix’s The Ultimatum: Queer Love.
+ We’re Here season three is like Queer Eye with teeth.
+ It sucks that The Children’s Hour‘s take on queerness is still relevant 60 years later.
I hope today is the last day you have to work this week, but if it’s not, I hope you take this nose boop from my cat Socks and carry it in your heart for good luck anyway. Here’s your last Pop Culture Fix before the holigay movies arrive!
+ Disney’s new animated film, Strange World, hits theaters today. There’s a gay teen in the movie, Ethan Clade, played by gay comedian Jaboukie Young-White. Everyone’s calling it Disney’s FIRST GAY CHARACTER, which is weird because Disney’s first gay characters were those moms on Good Luck, Charlie back in 2014. And then of course there’s The Owl House, where basically everyone’s gay. LeFou was gay in the live-action Beauty and the Beast remake in 2017. Who else? Valkyrie. Loki. America Chavez’s moms. Hawthorne and her wife in Lightyear; their little peck on the lips caused multiple entire countries to meltdown. Those lesbians in Finding Dory. Lena Waithe as an alien cyclops cop in Onward. Anyway, it would be so cool if Disney actually wrote real stories for their first queer feature film characters going forward. Fingers crossed Ethan Clyde’s gayness is actually noticeable to everyone who watches the movie, and not just us gays digging around on the ground for crumbs like some feral possums.
+ Who is this being profiled in the New York Times? Oh, that’s right: It’s Brittani Nichols.
+ Did you hear the excellent news that Amy Schneider won Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions???’
+ Elton John called JoJo Siwa after she came out: “I was like: ‘Who the heck is calling me from the UK?’ So I answer it, cause you know at the same time I’m a teenager. [And John said] ‘Hello JoJo, darling. This is Elton.’ And I was like: ‘Mom, get the camera out. It’s Elton John.’”
+ PayPal is blocking payments for Queer Cinema for Palestine Film Festival.
+ “When I talk about all of the things that I’ve gone through as a trans person, and as a queer person, and as an underground D.J., to be able to occupy these spaces with these artists, it’s still mind-blowing for me.” Honey Dijon steps up from dance music’s underground.
+ This documentary explores the untold stories of trans healthcare.
+ Everything Everywhere All at Once leads the Independent Spirit Awards nominations. Lots of Tár too, of course. A little Aubrey Plaza. You know, the general indie darlings.
+ The Rookie: Feds is a smashing ratings success, for one reason: Niecy Nash, baby.
+ I love this People write-up about Queen Latifah’s speech at The Grio Awards this weekend. “I didn’t know I was a girl, initially, I had to be told that. That had to be explained to me…. ‘Cause I was running around with my T-shirt off like the boys … I wanted to play the sports and all these things had to be explained to me because I was free… and so my whole life would feel like I’ve been trying to maintain my freedom to be me.”
+ RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon joins Chicago on Broadway.
+ T’Nia Miller and showrunner Lisa Joy talk about queer rep on The Peripheral.
+ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is spawning a new generation of Black girl nerds.
+ Criminal Minds: Evolution breathes new life into a franchise.
+ I’d love to hear your own personal opinion about Harper’s Bazar’s list of best lesbian movies on Netflix.
+ How The L Word: Generation Q remade its queer community hub.