Pop Culture Fix: Reneé Rapp and Coco Jones New Year’s Performance Is Living in My Head Rent Free

Reneé Rapp and other Queer Artists Helped Ring in 2024 on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve

In case you missed it, queer artists like Reneé Rapp, Janelle Monáe, and Cardi B performed at ABC’s yearly New Year’s Eve celebration, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, at the NYC, LA, and Miami outposts of the event.

Watching Reneé Rapp’s rise from Broadway darling to Sex Lives of College Girls breakout star to mainstream baddy has been truly a wonder to behold. Especially since she is so loud and proud about being bisexual, and brings it up herself in many an interview, it’s refreshing to see her gain so much momentum. We obviously have a long way to go as far as equal rights, but it’s exciting to see someone so young and talented not shy away from her sexuality or try to be coy about it or just avoiding talking about it altogether. Of course, it’s totally valid to want your private life private and not want to talk about your sexuality publicly, especially when you’re an artist or performer who would rather your interviews be about your craft. But in this day and age, we need both. We need people who say enough that it’s known and then don’t let that be the center of the conversation, but we also need people who are willing to shout it for the rooftops. So I’m grateful to Reneé Rapp for being so very herself in every way.

In general, I think it’s great that out performers are featured in such a highly consumed show like Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, a show that honestly is probably mostly watched by older generations who might not otherwise be exposed to queer artists. There were a lot of strange things happening on the show (I’m at my parents’ house and we watched it, and it was a bit of a mess), but highlighting queer performers? I’ll call that a win. All in all not a bad way to kick off 2024.

renee rapp and coco jones singing Tummy Hurts on New Year's Rockin Eve


+ Hollywood film studios lied about being dedicated to hiring more women and people of color, and I’m sure everyone is shocked

+ Jodie Foster is apparently killing it (but hopefully not killing people) in the new season of True Detective

+ Lesbian fitness trainer Jillian Michaels wishes celebs would quit taking drugs to lose weight and honestly same

+ I’m sure you’ve heard this by now but it’s too cute not to share again: Mae Martin is dating Survivor star Parvati Shallow

+ Gaytimes wants you to know about these queer musical artists going into 2024

+ Noted bisexual Kate Siegel discusses the recasting of Roderick in The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher: c as Camille with her two assistants standing behind her

No I didn’t need an excuse to post a picture of Camille Usher but I’ll take one anyway.

+ The movie Rebel Moon had a nonbinary actor in it but was otherwise quite awful (in my humble opinion) and Screenrant remains hopeful for sci-fi in 2024 somehow

+ Gay actress Marsha Warfield will return as Roz in the Night Court reboot

+ And why not give this post beautiful bisexual bookends by showing you Reneé Rapp in one last Mean Girls: The Movie: The Musical: The Movie trailer before next week’s premiere

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Valerie Anne

Just a TV-loving, Twitter-addicted nerd who loves reading, watching, and writing about stories. One part Kara Danvers, two parts Waverly Earp, a dash of Cosima and an extra helping of my own brand of weirdo.

Valerie has written 582 articles for us.

3 Comments

  1. Thanks for the heads up about the queer artists on ABC’s new years. Some years I switch between CNN and ABC but this year Anderson and Andy were less cringey than usual, with some genuinely sweet moments, so we stayed with CNN (until we went to bed at like 10:30 central time).

Contribute to the conversation...

Yay! You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated by the guidelines laid out in our comment policy. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation and thanks for stopping by!