Pop Culture Fix: Evan Rachel Wood’s Madonna Is a Hit With Weird Al Fans at TIFF
I have decided to make the annual switch from iced coffee to hot coffee, even though it’s less gay, because I’m trying to coax fall into really getting here. In the meantime, I made you a Pop Culture Fix while wearing a hoodie and sitting directly in front of the air conditioner.
+ Danielle Radcliffe’s Weird Al biopic apparently received nonstop cheers and laughter at the Toronto International Film festival, which is of interest to this Pop Culture Fix because Evan Rachel Wood plays Madonna “on a lot of cocaine” in it. Wood told reporters at TIFF: “She’s very conniving and completely just using Weird Al, and everything she does is a pathological lie to get ahead in her career. So it was basically taking the genius that is Madonna and turning her into a sociopath that ends up running a drug cartel.” Okay then! The reviews have actually been pretty great for this thing, with IndieWire calling Wood’s performance “a fun gum-snapping vixen role” and Radcliffe saying she gave “a thousand percent” and was “fucking game” for anything. Am I going to have to watch it now?
+ Something gay’s gonna happen on Disney+’s Big Shot this season!
+ 66 thoughts Emma Specter had rewatching The Kids Are All Right.
+ Beanie Feldstein signs on for Ethan Coen’s new solo project. Related-ish: A complete timeline of the Lea Michele-Beanie Feldstein-Funny Girl casting controversy.
+ The six best podcasts for queer gamers.
+ Prime Video has cancelled Paper Girls FOR NO REASON.
+ Queen Sugar is the most luxurious show on television.
+ Queer Christian artist Semler wants to attend the Dove Awards as somebody’s plus-one.
+ EORTV’s web series I Love Us 2 will show the first lesbian wedding sequence on-screen in India.
+ It’s winter at Essex in first-look photos from Sex Lives of College Girls season two.
+ Sara Quin is so excited to be a parent!
+ Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe defined the concept of a gay sports power couple.
+ I spy Janelle Monae finally in the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery teaser trailer.
Aaaand here it is! The first teaser trailer for the follow up to Knives Out, GLASS ONION! I promise no spoilers, but if you want to come in totally cold, last chance to keep scrolling… #GlassOnion pic.twitter.com/KsX123wz3M
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) September 8, 2022
+ Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin will be back for a second season, hopefully with ONE HUNDRED PERCENT LESS FUCKING EZRIA.
+ Looks like Ginger Gonzaga and Tatiana Maslany improvised that “hetero life is grim” line in She-Hulk last week??? Gonzaga says her character is bisexual, though!
+ Los Espookys’ cast dish on an even spookier and queerer season two.
+ Meet the queer voices taking the Canadian Country Music Awards by storm.
+ Tender mercies: Handmaid’s Tale has been renewed for one more season only.
Pop Culture Fix: Cate Blanchett Is NOT Making Lesbian Propaganda!
Feature image photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon
Why is it literally impossible to know what day of the week it is during a four-day work-week? I woke up thinking it was Saturday and only figured out its Wednesday when I saw all the Pop Culture Fix links I’d saved pop up in Slack this morning. I still made weekend biscuits for breakfast though!
+ Cate Blanchett’s new Bossy Lesbian Mommi movie, TAR, has people in raptures in Venice. The Oscar buzz has already started. However, she is talking some nonsense about her queer roles. (What is in the water in Venice right now, seriously?) She told reporters she’s glad to be making all these powerful lesbian movies, but she is not interested in “agitprop.” She just wants to make movies and if there’s a lot of women in them, hey, nice! And if it turns people gay, that’s fine too. But that’s not the goal! The movies aren’t political! We make them political! Art exists in a vacuum. Or something. I don’t buy it. You don’t make Carol, TAR, Ocean’s 8, and go on a press tour where you spend the whole time in Sarah Paulson’s lap if you want to be a boring straight woman who deliberately misunderstands feminism. She’s saying this because of Carol’s Oscars snub and you shannot convince me otherwise. Related: Why this year’s Venice Film Festival is queerest one yet.
+ How communities came together to bring the ‘heartwork’ of queer love story This Place to life. And! More on This Place at Variety.
+ Sue Bird’s legendary WNBA career came to an end last night. The crowd gave her a standing ovation, even after she left the court. Mike Voepel gave a beautiful summary of what she has meant to this league and women’s sports all over the world.
The gift of time: A Sue Bird appreciation thread. How fortunate basketball followers are to have had the time we did watching @S10Bird play. The @WNBA launched in 1997, the summer before her senior year of high school, so it came along at the perfect time. …
— Michael Voepel (@MAVoepel) September 7, 2022
+ May I interest you in the trailer for Trace Lysette’s new film, MONICA? Plus! More on MONICA at The Hollywood Reporter.
+ Laverne Cox has joined Norman Lear’s new comedy, Clean Slate.
+ All American is back on October 10th, and here’s your first look!
+ Well and here’s the behind-the-scenes look you’ve been waiting for from last week’s She-Hulk post-credits scene.
🥵THE GREATEST BTS PICS OF A MARVEL SHOW DON'T EXI- pic.twitter.com/uByeWOGMDy
— ❤️ Jameela Jamil ❤️ She/Her ❤️ (@jameelajamil) September 4, 2022
+ The final season of Derry Girls is coming to Netflix (finally!) on October 7th.
+ Queen Sugar ends on its own terms.
+ The US Open has had me in tears like five times already, but I did love seeing Billie Jean King hanging out with Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider.
+ Natalie says they’re marketing Viola Davis’ The Woman King directly to us, and friend, she is not wrong. Viola Davis and Gina Prince-Bythewood chatted with THR about beating the shit out of men, the million battles it took to get the film made, and Davis’ journey to reinvent herself. This is some straight up Maya Angelou “Phenomenal Woman” stuff: “I’m in a period of redefining myself for myself,” Davis says. “My Blackness, my womanhood, my nose, my lips. I reject everything anyone ever said about me. And I didn’t know that I had the power to do that.” And here’s Viola gettin’ SHREDDED.
+ Horizon Zero Dawn has added Pride facepaint for Aloy! You can get it in all the major settlements, and it looks really good!
+ Peppa Pig adds its first lesbian moms to the show.
+ Rap Sh!t’s Jonica Booth on season one and becoming a celebrity.
+ The very, very queer history of Lord of the Rings. (ANOTHER CATE BLANCHETT SUITUATION!)
+ A lost chapter of queer history comes to life in Casa Susanna.
+ Harley Quinn’s new showrunner sets her sights on season four.
+ Hayley Kiyoko will guest star on Apple TV+’s Life By Ella.
+ Marvel teases multiversal adventure for its newest queer couple.
Pop Culture Fix: Tessa Thompson Is Heading Back to Space in Sci-Fi Thriller “Ash”
Feature image photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
Last night I dreamed that Natalie and I went hunting for Pokemon. We were sneaking through the tall grass and riding out bikes through the open fields. In my dream, I was like, “Natalie, you don’t even like fantasy!” And she was like, “But I love playing ball with you.” A perfect dream, and here is a perfect Pop Culture Fix.
+ Tessa Thompson is heading back to space in the sci-fi thriller Ash. She’ll PRESUMABLY be playing a human space explorer who has to interact potentially nefarious super-human beings. When she wakes up on a distant planet to find that the whole crew of her space station has been murdered, she’s got to figure out if she can rely the guy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who’s been sent to rescue her. He doesn’t trust her! She doesn’t him! One of them probably will be an alien! Maybe both! According to Deadline, “the Grammy-winning musician and filmmaker Flying Lotus — otherwise known as Steven Ellison — will direct as his sophomore feature.” Whatever happens, I hope they give her a laser gun! Or a lightsaber!
+ Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney will star in the new short film Mars.
+ Black Film Archive wants to fill your streaming gaps.
+ Here’s a sneak peek at Alice and Sumi’s storyline on this week’s Good Trouble.
+ And speaking of Good Trouble, Sherry Cola will star in Randall Parks’ directorial debut.
+ Batgirl’s Ivory Aquino implores Warner Bros. Discovery to release the damn movie!!!!!!!!
+ Looking to support trans art? Check out this project created by and starring trans actors. “A playful, sexy romance-drama by trans people of colour about a trans man overcoming heartbreak” It’s SO close to its goal!
+ Here’s how fans reacted to Married at First Sight UK’s first lesbian couple.
+ Here’s everything we know so far about Dead to Me season three.
+ The queer horror of Dracula.
+ Behind the scenes of South Korea’s first LGBTQ reality shows.
+ Barbie Ferreira will star alongside Ariana DeBose in the upcoming thriller House of Spoils.
+ Megan Thee Stallion will appear in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
+ Freeform’s new docu-reality series looks gay and Rent-y.
https://youtu.be/1PLixrUMgAU
+ Variety’s list of worst series finales of all time might appeal to you!
Pop Culture Fix: Cate Blanchett Is a Lesbian Mommi With Control Issues in “Tár” Trailer
I cooked up a Pop Culture Fix for you this morning; have it with a cinnamon role, maybe!
+ Well, Cate “Carol” Blanchett is gay again in Focus Features’ TÁR, a timey-wimey looking biopic about Lydia Tár, “widely considered one of the greatest living composer/conductors and first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra.” If you’re into bossy Mommis and psychological dramas, this one’s for you. “You cannot start without me. I start the clock,” Blanchett voices over at the beginning of the trailer, which seems like a metaphor at first, but then it seems like maybe she actually is trying to control everything on earth, including time itself? There’s also plenty of time for tuxes and lesbian smooches, don’t you worry about that. The film’s score is by Hildur Gudnadóttir, the first woman to win an Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe for Best Original Score.
+ The Umbrella Academy has been renewed for a fourth and final season.
+ The best looks from queer celebs on last night’s VMAs red carpet.
+ Candace Parker’s performance in yesterday’s Sky/Sun playoff matchup was unreal. She broke ANOTHER WNBA record. She also said, last week, that her daughter was ultimately the reason she came out. She didn’t want her to think she was ashamed of her or their family.
+ Brigette Lundy-Paine will star in the new A24 horror film, I Saw the TV Glow.
+ There’s never been more queer representation — so why don’t we love it?
+ There’s a queer couple on the new season of The Amazing Race: Aastha Lal (33, VP of Operations) and Nina Duong (34, Director Business Dev) from Marina del Ray!
+ Love Island USA star Courtney Boerner gets candid about her bisexuality.
+ Another bleak trailer for another season of The Handmaid’s Tale.
+ Here’s Jamie Clayton as Pinhead in the new Hellraiser.
+ Can I interest you in some first-look images of Janelle Monáe in the new Knives Out?
+ The Storm shocked the Aces in the first round of the WNBA Seminfinals yesterday, and Sue Bird had a quick pregame message. She also became the all-time assist leader in WNBA playoff history yesterday.
“You can still get an abortion in all 50 states”@S10Bird #TakeCover pic.twitter.com/LmPvk5nn19
— WillieGRamireZ (@WillieGRamirez) August 28, 2022
Pop Culture Fix: Julianna Margulies Will Keep “The Morning Show” Gay in Season 3
This morning I saw some pigeons eating falafel and now I am eating falafel. Not the pigeon’s falafel, I got my own. Not to brag, but the pigeons didn’t even have any sauce for their falafel and I mixed the white sauce and the hot sauce together on mine. Anyhoodle — hootle — here’s your midweek Pop Culture Fix!
+ Julianna Margulies will be back on The Morning Show in season three to continue her gal palship with Reese Witherspoon and her enemyship with Jennifer Aniston! This is good news for me, a person who inexplicably loves this show, despite the fact that Reese Witherspoon is the least convincing straight person playing gay I have ever seen in my entire life. I just love Laura and Bradley’s bananas dynamic, which is way more Mommy than Mommi, and also I love that billion Emmy award-winning actress Julianna Margulies has inspired such dialogue as “You put the L in LGBTQ” and “I’m not fucking repressed!!!” I truly cannot wait for this beautifully lit garbage to return to my teevee!
Update: More exciting TMS news! Nicole Beharie has joined the cast as a new anchor!
+ A Million Little Things will end with season five.
+ The Independent Spirit Awards will be moving to gender-neutral acting categories.
+ Dove Cameron reimagines a post-Roe world with “Breakfast.”
+ No, you are not being queerbaited by Harry Styles.
+ The third season of Never Have I Ever tells a wildly relatable queer story.
+ Seattle live dating show The Queer Agenda is the result of a real-life love story. (This lede: “Queer people fall in love, too.”)
+ How early-2000s pop culture changed sex.
+ Demi Lovato’s rock side has always been there.
+ After She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, read these five comics.
+ How Euphoria captured the soundscape of Rue’s breakdown.
+ “Raise your hand if you fucked the devil.” Aubrey Plaza’s new dark comedy/animated series about being the mother of the antichrist is here!
+ Finally, some footage from The Last of Us TV series.
+ How What We Do In The Shadows taps into the inherent queerness of vampires.
Pop Culture Fix: Aubrey Plaza Is Giving “A League of Their Own” on “Celebrity Sluggers”
Ding-dong! Here’s your Monday Pop Culture Fix, delivered pipin’ hot to your front door!
+ Aubrey Plaza must be feeling that A League of Their Own mania too. She was on Celebrity Sluggers last week. If I could offer just one bit of feedback: Lay off the high ones, Plaza! And speaking of your 2021 Holigay Heartthrob, her Happiest Season “jilted romance” led to Alison Brie being cast in her latest film, Spin Me Round. Writer-director Jeff Baena told IndieWired: “I know, especially after Happiest Season when people were vying for Aubrey and Kristen Stewart’s character to be together, that was definitely in our minds when we were writing this because Alison was also in that movie.” Sit tight, a review is on the way!
+ Lee Rodriguez on Never Have I Ever and what makes Fabiola a queer icon.
+ How the wild queer history of 1940s Moose Jaw inspired Kelly McCormack in A League of Their Own.
+ 12 films that chart the history of new queer cinema.
+ The jagged life of Anne Heche.
+ Big thanks to the Autostraddle A+ member who hit up our A+ Inbox to let us know queer contestant Barclay Stockett is back on American Ninja Warrior.
+ Hayley Kiyoko says every young role was foreshadowing her future self.
+ Thor: Love and Thunder will be available to stream on Disney+ on September 8th.
+ Drew interviewed Anaïs in Love director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet.
+ Sue Bird becomes oldest player to record a WNBA playoff double-double.
+ And finally: A League of Their Own is a home run with queer viewers, featuring special guest Riese Bernard!
Pop Culture Fix: Queen Latifah Goes Full Mad Max in “End of the Road” Trailer
How many times have you watched A League of Their Own so far? I’ve watched it 1.9 times. I can’t watch the finale again because crying gives me a migraine and I don’t have a Sumatriptan to spare. American healthcare, now robbing me of queer joy! But hey, I have some tearless queer joy to share in this midweek Pop Culture Fix.
+ The trailer for Queen Latifah’s new Netflix thriller, End of the Road, dropped yesterday and holy cats it is intense. There’s some real Max Max / Set It Off / Fast & Furious vibes out here in this desert! God, she really can do anything! 52 year old female fronted action movie? Only Queen Latifah gets that made! Essence has more on the film, which is directed by Millicent Shelton, the first Black woman to receive an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for her work on 30 Rock.
+ Tessa Thompson did Buzzfeed’s Puppy Interview and it’s as completely adorable as you’re imagining.
+ Meet the new Addams Family from Tim Burton’s Wednesday.
+ The 100 best movies of the 90s. (Wow, our TV Team had a lot of feelings about this one.)
+ Broadcaster Megan Mitchell on why she’s out and proud on TikTok.
+ Netflix cancelling First Kill exposes a major problem in streaming.
+ P-Valley is showing Black gay sex beyond any stereotype.
+ Abbi Jacobson fires back at A League of Their Own’s diversity haters.
+ The Never Have I Ever cast pitched their dream narrators to Vulture (including Tessa Thompson).
+ Ellia Green becomes the first trans male Olympian in heartfelt coming out video.
+ Who are TV’s most datable LGBTQ characters.
+ Six times Harley Quinn was a better Robin than Robin. (This is especially hilarious if you’re watching Harley Quinn season three on HBO Max and its characterization of Nightwing.)
+ Why do wigs on TV look so awful? (Somehow Reese Witherspoon’s Morning Show season one brown wig didn’t make this article.)
+ The Cut’s profile on Amandla Stenberg is so great. It’s simply called Amandla, Amandla, Amandla.
+ Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin break down the series’ horror movie homages.
+ Nope is a resounding yes at the UK box office.
+ Demi Lovato knows all the highs and whoas of punk rock.
+ 10 key players to watch in 2022 WNBA playoffs (basically all gay players).
Pop Culture Fix: “A League of Their Own” Is Already Peeping Second Season
How was your weekend binging A League of Their Own, friends? So good, I hope! I made you a Pop Culture Fix while watching it all through for a second time!
+ A League of Their Own is already eyeballing a season two. The producers chatted to Variety about a potential mid-spring production start for Prime Video’s GAYEST SHOW EVER. Amazon hasn’t yet announced a season two, but the show has topped the Prime viewers chart since it debuted on Friday, and EP Will Graham told reporters at the Television Critics Association panel last week: “We’ve already started writing and bringing the story for Season 2. Our hope is to shoot in like, mid-spring. And we’ll see how that works out with everything coming to this a lot. You know, this is our launch day. We’ve all been working on this show for such a long time. And we get to now have this moment of seeing how it connects with the world and everything else comes after from there. But we’re just so happy to be proud to be in this moment and be telling these stories and we can’t wait to go back and do more.” Neither can we, Will Graham! Neither can we!
+ The Sandman is better for keeping the original “disturbing lesbian plot.”
+ Netflix has a problem with cancelling lesbian shows and we need to talk about it.
+ Anaïs in Love is the lesbian Frances Ha.
+ Queer creators win big at Gen Con’s 2022 Ennie awards.
+ Samantha Paige Rosen over at Electric Literature: Everyone has moved on and I’m still thinking about Miranda’s coming out scene.
+ The Wilds and 9 other LGBTQ+ shows cancelled way too soon.
+ Tatiana Maslany is returning to AMC for a six-episode “all-girls boarding school thriller.” 👀
+ Hayley Kiyoko on Florida’s Don’t Say Gay bill and her new Panorama album.
+ Amandla Stenberg dropped by The Daily Show to discuss her horror comedy Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.
+ Abbi Jacobson and Chanté Adams are on the cover of this month’s The Advocate.
+ Aubrey Plaza has no qualms with Edgar Wright’s Tomb Raider fan casting.
53-Year Old Actor Anne Heche Is Dead
A week after being hospitalized for critical injuries resulting from a car crash, Anne Heche has died. In a statement to The Los Angeles Times on Friday, her eldest son, Homer Laffoon, confirmed her death:
“My brother Atlas and I lost our Mom. After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness. Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom.
Over those six days, thousands of friends, family, and fans made their hearts known to me. I am grateful for their love, as I am for the support of my Dad, Coley, and my stepmom Alexi who continue to be my rock during this time. Rest In Peace Mom, I love you, Homer.”
On the morning of August 5, Heche crashed her blue Mini-Cooper into a garage at a Mar Vista apartment complex, drove away from that crash, and then drove her car into a house, which immediately caught fire. It took over an hour for 59 firefighters to extinguish the fire, which destroyed the house and left its tenant Lynne Mishele with minor injuries, and to extract a severely burned Heche from her vehicle. (There is currently a GoFundMe running for Lynne Mishele.) Although Heche was able to speak in the immediate aftermath of the accident, she quickly fell unconscious and slipped into a coma, having suffered an anoxic brain injury from which she was not expected to recover. She remained on life support this week as doctors evaluated the suitability of her organs for donation. Preliminary blood testing “revealed the presence of drugs” and video taken before the crash suggested that she was “under the influence.” More comprehensive toxicology tests are underway.
An hour before the crash, she bought a red wig from a hair shop in Venice. Salon owner Richard Glass said she was “very pleasant” and did not seem to be intoxicated.
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 09: Anne Heche and Ami Goodheart attend the 24th CDGA (Costume Designers Guild Awards on March 09, 2022 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic)
Heche began her acting career in the early 1990s, working in soap operas before breakout roles in the indie film Walking & Talking, gangster drama Donnie Brasco, political satire Wag the Dog, the horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Gus Van Sant’s Psycho remake. She has worked consistently since, and her extensive resume also includes roles in TV shows like Ally McBeal, Men in Trees, All Rise and Hung, and acclaimed performances in Catfight (2016) and My Friend Dahmer (2017).
In 1997, Anne Heche met Ellen DeGeneres at a Vanity Fair Oscar Party and subsequently fell in love, their relationship, coinciding with Ellen’s legendary coming out that temporarily tanked her career and Anne’s, whose ability to convincingly play a straight woman in a romance with Harrison Ford in Six Days, Seven Nights, was a hot topic of conversation. In 2000, DeGeneres and Heche worked together on If These Walls Could Talk 2, with Heche directing the segment that starred DeGeneres and Sharon Stone as a lesbian couple attempting to get pregnant. The HBO film, which focused on queer stories in three different time periods, was a sequel to the original If These Walls Could Talk, which focused on the issue of abortion in three different time periods and starred Heche in the 1996 segment with Cher and Jada Pinkett Smith.
This made Heche one of the first femme mainstream actresses to come out, ever, a decision she made without hesitation due to her childhood experiences with shame and secrecy.
Her father, who died of complications from HIV/AIDS when Heche was 13, was closeted and reportedly abused his son Nathan and sexually abused Heche. Following her husband’s death, Heche’s mother became a Christian Therapist and motivational speaker who worked with Focus on the Family to promote gay conversion therapy. Heche and her mother have been estranged since Heche wrote about the abuse in her 2001 memoir, Call Me Crazy. In a 1998 interview, Heche said her father being closeted and an abuser “destroyed his happiness and our family. But it did teach me to tell the truth. Nothing else is worth anything.” Three months after her father’s death, her 18-year-old brother Nathan died after crashing his car into a tree. Heche believed the accident was a suicide. (Heche’s sister Cynthia died in infancy of a heart defect and her estranged sister Susan died of brain cancer in 2006.)
“Ellen represented everything that my father never was,” Heche told ABC News in 2001. “She was free. She owned her sexuality. I had connected everything with my father and my abuse to the fact that he was not allowed to be the homosexual that he was. So here I met a dream, a person, who was changing the world with her openness about her sexuality and embracing it in herself. And that, to me, was stunning.”
Julie Cypher, Melissa Etheridge, Anne Heche, and Ellen DeGeneres (Photo by Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Anne Heche has spoken openly about her mental health struggles, many of which stem from her childhood trauma and include an alter-ego she created to separate herself from her psychic pain. “I was a perfect hider. I was raised to hide,” she told Larry King after the publication of her 2001 memoir, Call Me Crazy. “I was raised to pretend. I was raised to always tell everybody that everything was fine, and even though I was in therapy for years I never told anybody that I had another personality. I never told anybody that I heard voices and spoke to God. I never told anybody any of it.”
Heche and DeGeneres broke up in 2000. Although they were not legally married due to that not being possible at the time, she said of it later, “my relationship with Ellen is no less significant as a marriage than my relationship to Coley.” Coleman “Coley” Laffoon, was a cameraman for Ellen’s tour who Heche dated after her relationship with DeGeneres. Heche and Laffoon had a son in 2002 and separated in 2007. Heche also had a son with her Men in Trees co-star James Tupper in 2009, before their separation in 2018. This year, it was rumored that she was in a relationship with costume designer Ami Goodheart.
Heche currently has a number of projects in production, including the TV show The Idol with Hari Nef and Troye Sivan and the film Full Ride with Deront Mulroney. She has also been co-hosting a podcast with Heather Duffy, “Better Together with Anne & Heather,” which is dedicated to “celebrating friendship” and the belief that “we can create more joy in the world by sharing our stories, stumbles, and triumphs.”
She is survived by her two sons.
feature image by Jesse Grant/Getty Images
Pop Culture Fix: Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes Get Gay Vengeance in “Do Revenge”
I think I can best explain this week by telling you that Stacy and I haven’t had to run the dishwasher one single time because we’ve eaten exclusively out of pizza boxes and Thai takeout containers. Today: A vegetable! I swear an oath upon it! In the meantime, I made you a Pop Culture Fix!
+ Okay Carmen says this new Netflix film, Do Revenge, is about to become her entire personality, and maybe that’s true for you too. It’s Heathers meets Mean Girls meets But I’m a Cheerleader meets Strangers on a Train (Patricia Highsmith’s most famous non-Price of Salt novel). Here’s the official synopsis:
“Drea (Camila Mendes) is at the peak of her high school powers as the Alpha it-girl on campus when her entire life goes up in flames after her sex tape gets leaked to the whole school, seemingly by her boyfriend and king of the school, Max (Austin Abrams). Eleanor (Maya Hawke) is an awkward new transfer student who is angered to find out that she now has to go to school with her old bully, Carissa (Ava Capri) who started a nasty rumor about her in summer camp when they were 13. After a clandestine run-in at tennis camp, Drea and Eleanor form an unlikely and secret friendship to get revenge on each other’s tormentors.”
If I had to guess, I’d say there’s also a list of queer revenge films coming your way soon!
+ Queer For Fear’s Kimberly Peirce on why LGBTQ people respond so strongly to the horror genre.
+ Before it was cool or safe, Olivia Newton-John was a queer icon and ally.
+ All about Holy Wound a Malayalam film On lesbian love.
+ Sorry D&D, Thirsty Sword Lesbians is the best tabletop game now.
+ Netflix has cancelled it’s queer superhero show, Q-Force, which is good because it was terrible and if they’d kept that and slashed First Kill, I would have had a(n even bigger) fit.
+ Will House of Dragons give us the queer lead they denied us in Game of Thrones.
+ Why the new A League of Their Own embraces the AAGPBL’s untold queer culture.
+ Brandi Carlile to launch a new LGBTQ+ music show, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, on SiriusXM.
+ Chyler Leigh has joined the new Hallmark series, The Way Home.
+ Shelli says we’re all fired for not telling her there’s a new Wednesday Addams show. 😂
Pop Culture Fix: Sue Bird Smooches Megan Rapinoe, Shouts Out Seattle Gay Bar in Final Home Game
Feature image Steph Chambers/Getty Images
I have spent three hours of my Monday morning with Spectrum — send help! Or brownies! I managed to make you a Pop Culture Fix with my hot spot!
+ Yesterday was Sue Bird’s final regular season home game. The WNBA legend and world famous lesbian couldn’t pull out a win against the Aces, but the crowd was a record-setting sell out that cheered her every move and sat in rapt attention as she gave an impromptu speech after the game. She thanked the fans, the city, all her 21 years of teammates and coaches — and also Seattle’s gay bar, Wildrose! She said it took her a while to figure out who she is, but once she did, the fans just kept on supporting her. It was actually really moving seeing 18,000+ people cheering on her gayness when she called it out like that. Megan Rapinoe was also there, of course, and sideline reporter Holly Rowe broke down in tears after their post-game conversation. Here’s the full speech.
And here’s Sue and Megan smoochin’ in the tunnel before the game. What a career, what a legacy, what gayness!
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
+ Amandla Stenberg is the queer Gen Z scream queen of our dreams.
+ Ecuadorian queer drama Ñusta builds Latin American production partnerships.
+ Dead End: Paranormal Park explores theme parks as queer getaways.
+ Related: Dead End: Paranormal Park‘s Zach Barack on what it means to be a trans lead.
+ The #SaveGentlemanJack campaign had a flash mob outside Shibden Hall and the Yorkshire Post covered it! If real life Anne Lister could see this, she would be over the moon!
+ Paper Girls‘ LGBTQ+ story succeeds where Stranger Things fails.
+ Oh, you want more gay WNBA news? No problem! This weekend, Candace Parker became the only player in WNBA history to reach 6,000+ points, 3,000+ rebounds, 1,000+ assists, and 600+ blocks!
+ Limited Edition HOCUS POCUS CEREAL will appear in stores this month!
+ Ashly Burch’s contribution to LGBTQ+ representation.
+ The first gay Doctor promises a new queer era of Doctor Who.
+ A Cats reimagining sets the musical in the queer ballroom scene (which, frankly, makes this musical finally make sense)!
+ Leslie Grace spoke out about her Batgirl movie getting cancelled.
+ RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Shea Couleé has joined the cast of Marvel’s Ironheart.
+ Lightyear won’t be making it to the Middle East on Disney+ due to the gay kiss.
+ Lady Gaga is going to be in Joker: Folie À Deux apparently?
+ And finally some not gay but also very gay news: Beyoncé and Madonna joined forces for a The Queen’s Remix, which blends “Break My Soul” with “Vogue” — and it’s now on streaming platforms.
Pop Culture Fix: Netflix Murders “First Kill,” DC Slashes “Batgirl”
Well no point in delaying it. Hold still and let me RIP OFF THE BAND-AID of yesterday’s TV and film baloney in your mid-week Pop Culture Fix.
+ Well, yesterday was a real axe-murdery pop culture news day. Netflix announced it’s cancelling First Kill. DC announced it’s not even going to release Batgirl, not even on streaming, even though they literally own their own platform. Justin Kroll of Deadline said a rival studio exec called the Batgirl thing “some unprecedented shit.” Warner Brothers, you’ll remember, has also cancelled Naomi and Batwoman. That sure is a lot of Black actress-fronted superhero properties, huh? We’re also losing trans hero/Batgirl’s BFF Alysia Yeoh, who would have been the first trans character in a major superhero movie. Batgirl was literally in the final stages of editing! First Kill was an undisputed ratings success! Un-fucking-real. (We’ve also lost The Wilds and Legends of Tomorrow between seasons, don’t forget.) I thought maybe I’d be less furious about this after I slept on it, but nope!
+ The CW has renewed Good Trouble for a fifth season.
+ Hari Nef will portray Candy Darling in a biopic from Transparent writer Stephanie Kornick.
+ New She-Hulk clip is looking good!
Clearly nailing it 💪💅
Check out this brand new clip from #SheHulk: Attorney At Law, an Original series from Marvel Studios on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/dOskCOyFYN
— Marvel Studios* (@MarvelStudios) August 1, 2022
+ Hayley Kiyoko reads thirst tweets.
+ A night out with King Princess.
+ D’Arcy Carden on her queer A League of Their Own bombshell.
+ Hypochondriac filmmaker Addison Heimann on why everything should be queer.
+ Carmen Sandiego should have made me realize I’m bisexual.
+ Nope’s costume designer explains those band T-shirts.
+ House of Dragons exec producer says there will be no on-screen sexual violence. (We’re not sure if the show will have queer characters, but we do know nonbinary actor Emma D’Arcy is a star!)
+ Zoe Saldaña talks about Nichelle Nichols and playing Uhura in the new Star Trek movies.
+ HBO’s The White Lotus will be back in October, hopefully with maintext queer gals this time!
Pop Culture Fix: Ashley Benson’s Back to Getting Slashed in the Woods in “18 & Over”
Hey England, congrats to you and your footballers! What a game! What a tournament! This Pop Culture Fix isn’t nearly as exciting as UEFA European Women’s Championship, but it’s got some good stuff in it anyway!
+ Well here’s a familiar sight: Ashley Benson getting repeatedly murdered in the woods by a hooded and masked stalker. Only this time it also stars Sky Ferreira, Luis Guzman, Winnie Harlow, A$AP Nast, Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson — and is being billed as a “sexy pandemic slasher.” Sometimes you poke the bear, and other times the bear pokes you, you know?
+ Harley Quinn‘s creative team says Harley and Ivy are never, ever, ever breaking up. They’re the opposite of a Taylor Swift song, okay? As long as they’re in charge of the show, that relationship is here to stay. FORRREEEVVVEEERRR.
+ I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Nichelle Nichols passed away yesterday. There is truly no way to overstate her eternal legacy, her impact on sci-fi, on television, and on pop culture as a whole. She also transformed NASA. And gave us Whoopi Goldberg, among, I’m sure, countless other beloved Black entertainers! This write-up has one of my favorite stories about her career; it’s about how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. convinced her not to quit Star Trek.
I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 31, 2022
One of my most treasured photos – Godspeed to Nichelle Nichols, champion, warrior and tremendous actor. Her kindness and bravery lit the path for many. May she forever dwell among the stars. #RIPNichelle #Uhura pic.twitter.com/nFXHif8HEC
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) July 31, 2022
https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/1553821148483407872
Rest well, Lieutenant. May we meet again beyond the stars.
+ Krysten Ritter is your new Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black: Echoes. She’ll also serve as Executive Producer. According to the official BBC America synopsis, Echoes “follows a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal.”
+ I’ll never be over how excellent and extremely gay Mitchells vs. The Machines was, so if SlashFilm wants to do a deep dive on the formation of Katie’s queer identity here in 2022, well, I am all for it!
+ They/Them wrestles with its own queer horror identity crisis. (A reader mentioned in the last Pop Culture Fix that They/Them was so disturbing, they walked out, and they noticed other people did as well. Just a heads up!)
+ Ashley Greene on Twilight, pregnancy, and becoming a gay icon.
+ Miriam Margolyes attends her first Pride at 81.
+ Lesbian wrestler Mercedes Martinez changed the sport forever.
+ Never Have I Ever season three trailer drop!
healthy relationship? debatable. intrusive thoughts? sounds about right. devi and the gang are back, tune in on august 12! ✨ pic.twitter.com/0LuSy8GpYp
— Con Todo (@contodonetflix) July 27, 2022
+ P-Valley is TV’s best depiction of Covid.
+ Niecy Nash has closed a first look deal with eOne. “Under the multi-year deal, Nash will develop and exec produce scripted and unscripted television content for broadcast, cable, and streaming.”
+ How Glee and Pitch Perfect paved the way for Jewish music tradition.
+ A whole new world? Disney after Don’t Say Gay.
+ Kristen Stewart’s Irma Vep appearance isn’t quite what you expect.
+ Did you know Billboard keeps a running list of best-selling Disney songs?!?! Some of the top ones are actually surprising!
Pop Culture Fix: Marvel’s Gonna Play Us Again With Michaela Coel’s (Queer) Aneka in “Wakanda Forever,” Huh?
Okay well y’all have absolutely convinced me to buy an air fryer. I’m gonna order it today! But first: Your mid-week Pop Culture Fix.
+ Okay so buckle up. Marvel’s about to play us again and I’m going to eat it up anyway. Michaela Coel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever character is, officially, Aneka. In the comics, she’s T’Challa’s choice for Dora Milaje combat instructor. I don’t want to spoil too much, but Aneka and Ayo (played by Florence Kasumba in the films) are in a queer relationship and they make some really complicated but understandable decisions that put them at odds with the rest of the Dora Milaje. Like big time at odds. There was a rumored flirtation between Ayo and Okoye (played by Danai Gurira) that was apparently cut from the first film. So, of course, now everyone’s wondering if Aneka and Ayo are going to have their day in Wakanda Forever, especially because the armor Aneka is wearing in the trailer is the armor from the comic books that she gets when she goes against the Dora Milaje’s wishes. Marvel’s history with LGBTQ characters says no, no gay — but my heart always says yes, yes gay. I guess we’ll see which one wins this time!
+ The full trailer for A League of Their Own is here and I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you this but this show is SO GAY y’all.
+ Why queer rep is exploding in video games.
+ Tessa Thomson’s terrifying turn is elevating Westworld’s entire fourth season.
+ How They/Them is changing horror for queer people.
+ Dragon Ball Z‘s forthcoming horror game finally confirms Frieza is bi. Isaiah Colbert
actually makes an amazing case for this theory. “As shown in the trailer, smoke bombs, flying drones, Tien’s solar flare technique, and even the dragon balls are fair game as a means to escape Raiders. But the most bizarre escape tactic goes to Dragon Ball-era Bulma’s bold attempt to flirt with a Second Form Frieza—and it works,” for starters.
+ Queer artists nominated for this year’s MTV VMAs.
+ Shudder’s Queer for Fear looks thoughtful and wildly entertaining.
+ Sarah Paulson has signed on for the new horror thriller, Dust. For someone who doesn’t like to be scared, she sure does do a lot of scary movies and TV shows. I think I blame Ellen for this?
+ Chucky is back with a season two trailer full of gory queer fun.
+ Big Joanie celebrate queer romance in “In My Arms” video.
+ Ten things Heartstopper gets very right about queer teenage relationships.
+ Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball is queer euphoria.
+ Keke Palmer’s whole career has been leading up to NOPE.
+ Queer WNBA superstar Chelsea Gray was last night’s Commissioner’s Cup MVP! Kelsey Plum: “She’s the MVP tonight, but she has been leading our team the whole season … She doesn’t get the love and credit she deserves, and I’m really, really glad that people saw that tonight.”
+ Kate McKinnon debated leaving SNL for years.
+ Niecy Nash-Betts teases what’s coming in her Rookie spin-off.
+ Anonymous VFX artist discusses anxiety attacks and absurdly long hours on Marvel movies.
Pop Culture Fix: Real Life “A League of Their Own” Pitcher Says Most Players Were Gay, Obviously
Do y’all think I should invest in an air fryer? Every recipe I look up these days is air fryer this and air fryer that. Feels like it’s time? Also it’s time for your MONDAY POP CULTURE FIX!
+ Frameline’s A League of Their Own screening featured pitcher Maybelle Blair saying that “out of 650 [players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League], I bet you 400 was gay.” That’s over 60% and based on the fact that over half the girls from my little league softball team are now gay, I’d say that sounds just about right.
+ San Diego Comic-Con returned to form last week, this time as a for sure SuperSpreader event, but hey! There were lots of cool reveals! The hands down best part of the whole week was the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer drop which came as part of the Black Panther panel. The Abbott Elementary team did a virtual panel while also raising money for Scholastic Wishlists. (Quinta Brunson trying to get a Wakanda Forever screener was my favorite collision of these events.) Danai Gurira showed up for The Walking Dead panel and announced a limited series for Rick and Michonne. For All Mankind announced that they’d be returning for another season. Also, Wheel of Time! Nickelodeon announced that the first feature film from Avatar Studios will focus on Avatar Aang and his friends. Sarah Michelle Gellar is joining the Teen Wolf revival (in which Allison is alive???). And, finally, the full trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
+ Ruby Rose is starring in a new heist film called Stowaway.
+ This NYT profile on Keke Palmer is your must-read for the week. It is SO good.
+ Joni Mitchell sang “A Case of You” with Brandi Carlile at the Newport Folk Festival.
+ This sure does seem right up your alley!
✔️ Messy group chats
✔️ Gurkha swords
✔️ Zucchini bread
✔️ Champagne for days
✔️ Literal murder
✔️ New @Charli_xcx trackWatch the new #BodiesBodiesBodies trailer. Only in theaters this August 🔪 pic.twitter.com/BYIiDIvE0Y
— A24 (@A24) July 12, 2022
+ Lili Reinhart’s new Netflix movie, Look Both Ways, has a trailer. Natalie says it’s not the bisexual rom-com she was hoping for based on Lili Reinhart and also the movie name — but it still looks pretty cute!
+ But wait! There’s even MORE TRAILERS! Peacock’s here with They/Them, which appears to be a conversion camp horror show.
+ Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke’s new Netflix movie, Do Revenge, looks VERY GAY.
Don’t get mad. Get plotting.
Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke star in Do Revenge, a delicious dark comedy co-written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson — FIRST LOOK: pic.twitter.com/lI7w3Vv5Vz
— Netflix (@netflix) July 20, 2022
+ New mural of Brittney Griner and other wrongful detainees has Washington Mystics’ fingerprints on it.
+ Hey well here’s a headline: Stranger Things star Maya Hawke has an orgy in the forest and gets caught by police in a new music video.
Pop Culture Fix: Jodie Comer’s New TV Series Sounds Very Gay and Killing Eve-y
I hope you’re staying hydrated out there, friends! Here’s a Pop Culture Fix to satiate your accompanying thirst!
+ Back in March, news broke that Jodie Comer — known to you as Villanelle from Killing Eve, and known to me as my wife’s other wife — will star in an adaptation of Jen Beagin’s forthcoming novel, Big Swiss. Well, new details about Big Swiss keep dripping out of the publishing faucet and this thing sure does seem both gay and Killing Eve-y! From Simon and Schuster:
Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house, built in 1737, is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss, since she’s tall, stoic, and originally from Switzerland. Greta is fascinated by Big Swiss’s refreshing attitude toward trauma. They both have dark histories, but Big Swiss chooses to remain unattached to her suffering while Greta continues to be tortured by her past… When they accidentally meet in real life, an explosive affair ensues.
Comer plays Big Swiss. Some excerpts from the novel are making their way around Twitter, but I’m not exactly sure how they were, um, obtained, so I won’t link them — but I will say they didn’t do anything to dispel gay premonitions!
+ Wee-ooh! Wee-ooh! Harley Quinn red band trailer alert!
🔥 RED BAND TRAILER 🔥
Let’s get f*%&ing raunchy July 28th when #HarleyQuinnS3 premieres on @HBOMax! pic.twitter.com/FqO3SuzGi3
— Harley Quinn (@dcharleyquinn) July 18, 2022
+ Lily Singh has inked a first look deal with Blink49 Studios and Bell Media.
+ More Black women are creating TV shows. These creators credit each other, not Hollywood.
+ The trailer for Kevin Can Fuck Himself’s second season is here! This was one of those shows that I had no intention of watching, but ended up falling in love with, and I can’t wait to see if Kevin gets destroyed by his wife and her best friend/girlfriend this season!
+ Christina Ricci and Gaby Hoffmann are plotting a Now and Then reunion on Yellowjackets!!!!
+ Top Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina comes out as gay. She fears she won’t be able to return home now.
+ How lesbian singer Norma Tanega took Hollywood by storm.
+ Powerpuff Girls is giving that reboot another go.
+ Real cats are obsessed with Stray and this Twitter account proves it.
+ Legendary Filipina actor Gina Pareno comes out as queer.
+ MUNA is here for a hot, mildly anxious Queer Girl Summer.
+ Ms. Marvel‘s directors discuss that SPOILER reference and that SPOILER post-credits scene. SPOILERS! I SAID SPOILERS! Ms. Marvel was even better than I hoped it would be, and my dreams were sky high. I’ve already watched the whole thing twice and I know I’ll turn around and watch it again a third time very soon. It’s easily the best thing on Disney+ this year, and I’m not the only one who thinks so!
+ Lightyear is coming to Disney+ on August 3rd!
+ Tegan and Sara on how they’ve lasted 25 years.
+ Keke Palmer’s Most Searched Questions is the best thing you’ll see today. Trust me.
Pop Culture Fix: JoJo Siwa Unleashes Her Inner Softball Dyke at the MLB All-Star Game
Feature image by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
One of my favorite things about having any kind of weather in New York City is how everyone acts like they’ve never experienced weather before. Like, “Is that THUNDER?” was trending on Twitter this morning at 5:30 am because it was storming here. You bean brains know it’s thunder! It’s still thunder even in New York City! It never fails to delight me. A special thank you to Valerie Anne for lovingly curating last week’s Pop Culture Fixes in my absence. She is just the best.
+ So I don’t know a whole lot about JoJo Siwa besides the fact that she did Disney, is gay, and has an absolute passion for life that I am drawn to like Chester to Cheetos. But then! This weekend! She played in the MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game and I felt a kinship with her that I rarely experience with celebrities. In her first at-bat, she stepped up to the plate against Quavo, and with perfect form, sent an absolute zinger flying over the head of the left fielder. And my god, her face when she took off running. She wanted that inside-the-park homer so bad. She was gritting her teeth, arms flying, alternative lifestyle haircut whizzing behind her like a kite. She held up at third for a quick sec, and then decided “no fuck it” and turned that corner with the force of a lesbian tornado. SHE PUSHED THE BASE COACH OUT OF HER WAY. And then she slid on home — safe! What a glorious dyke!
https://twitter.com/mrmatthewcfb/status/1548508060594843653?s=12&t=8XVhVlZdQCddN_iEY5jR4Q&utm_source=pocket_mylist
+ She’s so proud! 🥺
+ Check out the Black American Sign Language representation in Craig of the Creek. This is huge and I cannot wait to watch and — once again — cartoons doing actual diversity storytelling better than anyone.
+ The Daily Beast would like to speak further on that Kim Cattrall lesbian sex scene on Queer as Folk.
+ The BBC is considering finding a new co-production partner to continue making Gentleman Jack.
+ Yasmin Finney confirms her Doctor Who character will be trans.
+ The Handmaid’s Tale looking bleak as ever in season five!
+ The Danish drama Borgen lets girlbosses fail — and that’s a good thing.
+ Ms. Marvel has guts: How Disney+’s superhero explored family trauma and India’s Partition.
+ San Diego Comic-Con 2022: all the best panels, trailers, and news to watch out for. “San Diego Comic-Con’s back with a vengeance” is the tagline, and Covid sure will be too when it’s all said and done! (That’s just me; that’s not part of the story.)
+ And here’s an adorable first clip of Billy Porter’s upcoming rom-com, Anything’s Possible.
Pop Culture Fix: Trans Superhero Dreamer Flies From Screen to Page
Hello, Valerie here again, which is great because I get to yell about DREAMER!! And also other exciting gay things in this here mid-week Pop Culture Fix.
+ Nicole Maines co-wrote Superman: Son of Kal-El #13, which officially introduced Nia Nal aka Dreamer into the DC comic-verse!! While Nia’s eventual descendant, Nura Nal aka Dream Girl, was already canon in the comics, Nia was created for the show Supergirl and was originated by Nicole Maines herself. Credited as the first trans superhero on TV, Nia was a funny, youthful, quirky woman who mirrored Kara Danvers’ early journey in learning to be Supergirl, but Nia had Supergirl and the Super Friends to guide her. Also I’m pretty sure Dreamer was canonically the most powerful person in the CWDCTV-verse. Just saying.
I’m excited to check out Dreamer’s intro in the comics, and I’m extra thrilled that Nicole Maines had a part in it, because I know this beloved character is being well cared for in her hands.
Up up and away to other news!
+ Queen Sugar has cast Naomi’s Kaci Walfall in its final season. Also Regan Gomez is returning as Nova’s on-again-off-again girlfriend Chantal and Tracie Thoms will appear as Nova’s high school girlfriend, now an adult, continuing to be the single one (1) outlier in the data for the Rule of Three. (aka if you play queer 3x you’re assumed queer unless expressly stated otherwise.)
+ Queer horror movie Bodies, Bodies, Bodies dropped another trailer and I, for one, am thrilled.
+ American Horror Stories (the anthology) dropped its Season 2 trailer.
+ Fletcher is releasing new music and also spilling tea all over the wide queer internet by name-dropping her ex-girlfriend’s new girlfriend in her latest song. (And we’ve got some more details that: Fletcher’s Song About Becky With The Good Vintage T-Shirt, Explained)
+ Julie Plec (creator of the increasingly gay Vampire Diaries universe) is making a bunch of new shows, including an adaptation of This Savage Song by gay author Victoria Schwab who is also the writer/creator of First Kill.
+ And last but not least, not to be an ouroboros, but there has been a lot of buzz about the Emmy nominations and Riese has plucked out all the queer noms for you and I found that really helpful.
How Gay Is It? A Handy Visual Guide For Straights
Straight actors keep describing their projects as “very gay,” when they are, in fact, very not. Recently, for example, Natalie Portman did this when talking about Thor: Love and Thunder, a movie that didn’t even give Valkyrie a girlfriend! Maybe straight people don’t know how to answer this question because they don’t understand the scale of gayness? And so I have made a handy visual guide to help straights answer the question: How Gay Is It? Feel free to distribute to all your straight companions.
Pop Culture Fix: “Gentleman Jack” Is Cancelled, Music Is No Longer Jaunty
Hello, ’tis I, Valerie Anne, taking over the Pop Culture Fix this week! But like… in a fun substitute teacher kind of way, not in a rude “coworker talking over me when I was supposed to be the one leading this meeting” kind of way.
+ Gentleman Jack was canceled by HBO. [decidedly-not-jaunty music] Sadly, no more Anne and Ann shenanigans, no more pig murders, no more sunken pits. And, most devestatingly, no more Heather Hogan recaps of the show. *Theoretically* the BBC could still save Gentleman Jack? (“It’s not illegal!”) So maybe hold onto your top hats a little longer…
+ Only Murders in the Building has been renewed for a third season, and considering that usually is the opposite what happens in the wake of introducing main character queerness, I am delighted by this news.
+ Unfortunately, known racist Lea Michele will be replacing queer cutie Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl on Broadway
+ I don’t know if Florence Pugh is queer but I’m including this here and if I need a good reason it’s because Aubrey Plaza approved in the comments, but Florence Pugh wrote a great caption about her see-through dress on Instagram.
What’s funny is the only context I saw people talking about it was my queer friends and I sharing it around like “holy shit look how stunning she looks” and not one single critique was given…
+ And speaking of Aubrey Plaza, here’s a trailer for her upcoming movie, Emily the Criminal
+ Reservation Dogs dropped a Season 2 trailer.
+ Zendaya told Vogue Italia that she was supposed to direct an episode of Euphoria last season but time didn’t allow it, so she hopes to direct an episode next season
+ One idea I have is that Seth MacFarlane just…stop but maybe that’s just me and you WANT to read his thoughts on continuing to write trans storylines in The Orville despite having majorly fucked it up in the past.
+ Harley Quinn dropped another, longer trailer for Season 3, this one opening with Harley saying, “Hello ladies, gentlemen, theys and gays,” and I will never get tired of hearing Harley call Poison Ivy her girlfriend.