I Ain't One To Gossip But ...

It appears that America’s Got Talent host, Terry Crews, has finally decided to make a statement about the ALLEGED racial and sexist goings on at the show; the ALLEGATIONS were that judge Gabrielle was fired from the show because her hairstyles were, ahem, “too black,” and because she complained about Jay Leno telling a joke about Koreans eating dogs.

And now Terry, after being called out by Gabrielle and others for saying nothing for months has burped up some rubbish about diversity on the show:

“That was never my experience on America’s Got Talent. In fact, it was the most diverse place I have ever been in my 20 years of entertainment. The top 10 acts were Asian, women, older, younger, Black, White. It was everything in the gamut … I can’t speak for sexism because I am not a woman, but I can speak on behalf of any racism comments.”

I guess Terry Crews forgot how Gabrielle Union came to his defense when people mocked him over his ALLEGATIONS of sexual assault; but Gabrielle remembers, and she’s dragging Crews because none of the ALLEGATIONS she made has ever been disputed by NBC:

“Why anyone would gleefully get up on TV and tell lies that NO ONE disputed [the story] … Can someone please ask [about] what happens to all that diversity folks are talking about BEHIND THE SCENES. Like ... where the hell is all that diversity in the production though … ? In the decision-making ranks who control the fate of the diversity in front of the camera? The policing, criticism, and all other forms of bullshit ass commentary about our hair... KEEP FIGHTING!!! They truly believe if you stay quiet, they've won. Don't be quiet. Do not let this stand.”

After getting called out as a liar, one might think Crews would close his mouth, but instead he spewed some real nonsense:

“I’m a hog.

You’re a chicken.

Just ‘cuz you gave me eggs—

Don’t mean I owe you bacon.”

- Ancient Flint Michigan proverb”

And when People were all WTF, Crews said he meant Gabrielle Union and every single woman who tries to educate him on facts over bull shiz. And, in doing so, Crews said his mom, sister, and daughters can also eff off because the only woman he has to please is his wife, who may, or may not be, a can of Red Bull:

“There is only one woman one earth I have to please. Her name is Rebecca. Not my mother, my sister, my daughters or co-workers. I will let their husbands/ boyfriends/ partners take care of them. Rebecca gives me WINGS.”

So, basically Terry Crews is saying that any woman who faces some kind of workplace discrimination or sexual harassment can just pound sand because he doesn’t care and it’s not his business.

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In keeping up with his brand of krap, Mister Kim Kardastrophe, AKA Kanye Kardastrophe, says if a movie is ever made of his life, he wants a white guy to play him; and the white guy is Danny McBride.

Talk about Hollywood Whitewashing. I mean, according to The Root, Kanye and Danny had an actual conversation about this shiz and Danny says:

“Kanye asked me to play him in a movie of his life. That was a pretty stunning phone call to get. I don’t know why he wanted me to do it. Maybe that sense of ego I’m able to portray? I have no clue.”

I think Kanye meant Danny Glover instead of Danny McBride; or else, Kanye is just nuts.

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It’s been three years since Michael Strahan, after taking the job as Kelly Ripa’s co-host, bounced from the show for greener—and by greener, I mean more coins—pastures at Good Morning America. Kelly was mad at the situation because neither ABC nor Michael told her he was leaving until a minute before the world found out. The world is angry because Kelly’s new co-host is Ryan Seacrest, that slice of talking White Bread.

Now, to be fair, both Kelly and Michael are doing just fine now, but in terms of liking one another, or being at peace with one another, yeah, that’s not happening. And Strahan seems to be the one stirring the pot, telling the New York Times:

“I didn’t wake up and say, ‘I want a job at GMA.’ I was asked to do it by the people who run the network. It was really not a choice. It was a request. But it was treated as if I was the guy who walked in and said, ‘I’m leaving.’ That part was totally misconstrued, mishandled in every way. People who should have handled it better have all apologized, but a lot of the damage had already been done. For me, it was like: Move on. Success is the best thing. Just keep on moving.”

Huh. Yeah, Michael, ABC is the Corleone Family of morning television and told you to bolt. You were offered the job, saw dollar signs, and packed your bags. And as proof, Strahan will now throw Kelly under the bus:

“One thing I tried to do is have a meeting every few weeks with her. We met a few times, and that was fine. But then eventually she said she didn’t need to meet. Can’t force somebody to do something they don’t want to do.”

Yeah, like you can’t force someone to honor their commitment and stay in the job they accepted a half minute earlier because there’s more coins at GMA.

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It appears that College Admissions Scam artists Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli are selling their Bel Air mansion.

I wonder why? I mean, either they need to money to pay for lawyers, or they already see themselves living in another Big House.

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Note to anyone planning on nominating Taylor Swift for any kind of award: if she’s not winning, she’s not coming.

And it must be true because Page Six says so. They say Swifty stayed away from this year’s Grammys because she wasn’t going to win anything. You see, Swifty don’t sit in the crowd without getting a statue.

Days before the Grammys, it was reported that Swift was going to perform The Man during the show but cancelled at the last minute over the controversy between the Recording Academy and their ex-CEO Deborah Dugan, who claims the awards are rigged. 

And Page Six is saying that in order to get Swifty there, she needed a guarantee that when the nominations were called, she’d be able to play she “aw, shucks, who me, gee whiz” face before taking to the stage for her award. Taylor, ALLEGEDLY, wanted to win Song of the Year award because, of her TEN Grammys, she doesn’t have that one yet. But since she couldn’t be guaranteed a win, Swifty strayed home and played with her cats.

However, Taylor’s people say these are lie:

“I am on the record: These statements by anonymous, unidentified ‘sources’ are absolutely 100 percent false and laughable. She just didn’t go to the Grammys. You guys need to calm down.”

See what they did there, though? They actually quoted a Swifty song in their statement. Makes me believe the story is true.

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Now, this might make Taylor happy, though there’s no statuette to go with it.

The Razzies are coming up and it’s a shoe in that Cats will be leading the pack, but … this week Cats was honored … honored … by PETA for not using actual cats in the film.

For the third year in a row, PETA has handed out their Oscat Awards to filmmakers and performers who showed “compassion” to animals and since Cats has no cats, they win!

I think this shows that PETA has no idea what’s best for animals. All Cats did was make actual cats look bad.

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Starting Off The Week With A Giggle And A 'WTF?'

I like PETA, I do. I mean, what’s not to like: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. A person who doesn’t like PETA has got to be nuts, though there are time when PETA itself gets a little crazy.

British nature photographer David Slater went to Sulawesi in 2011 and created a book called "Wildlife Personalities" with the pictures taken on that trip, and that’s where PETA is pissy.

See, while taking photos Slater left a camera on the ground and a macaque monkey took a series of selfies that are, well, fabulous. Selfies that prove this macaque is the Selfie King and every single person on the planet needs to stop taking selfies right now because, in the words of The [t]Rump, ‘You’re a loser.’

But, and this is the WTF I referred to up top, a novel lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco by PETA saying the court should issue an order allowing PETA to administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of the monkey, which it identified as 6-year-old Naruto, and other crested macaques living in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Yes PETA is claiming that since the monkey took the selfies that PETA should become the administrator of the income generated by the selling of the selfies—they appeared in Slater’s book, and at many online sources—so they can care for the monkey and others.

Seriously; PETA maintains that no one owns the copyright to the images because they were taken by an animal, not a person.

Again, seriously. And they have a leg to stand on because last year, the U.S. Copyright Office issued an updated compendium of its policies, including a section stipulating that it would register copyrights only for works produced by human beings. It specified that works produced by animals, whether a photo taken by a monkey or a mural painted by an elephant, would not qualify.

And so PETA struck, and used Slater’s own account of his interaction with Naruto against him stating that Naruto "authored the monkey selfies by his own independent, autonomous actions in examining and manipulating Slater's unattended camera."

Slater, for his part, believes the British copyright obtained for the photos by his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd., should be honored worldwide. And he has offered to sell copies of one of the "monkey selfies" and will donate $1.70 per order to a conservation project dedicated to protecting Sulawesi's macaques. But he also wants some of the money from the sales for his daughter:

"I sincerely wish my 5-year-old daughter to be able to be proud of her father and inherit my copyrights so that she can make my work into an asset and inheritance and go to university. I have very little else to offer her."

Seriously, PETA, aren’t there bigger fish to fry? Perhaps a lawsuit, or even a request, that Slater donate some of the proceeds from his book to a conservation project in Sulawesi might have made you look better and less like a monkey with a camera.

And again, selfies addicts of the world: when a monkey takes the Best Selfie Ever it’s time for y’all to stop.

HuffingtonPost

Random Musings

So, Carlos’ birthday was Monday. I took him out for a celebratory dinner over the weekend at one of our favorite places, but Monday was the actual day so I planned to have his giftage for him that day.

Sadly, though I’d wanted to wake up early and have the present on the breakfast table for him, I slept a bit too long, and decided I’d give him his gift after work that night. That didn’t stop him from looking around for a gift or a card, or even an acknowledgment of his birthday; but here was none because I’m mean, or sneaky.

Another plus, was that I had the day off from work so I could bake him a birthday cake—the boy does love his cakes.

So, that I did; I baked a lovely Carrot Cake and wrapped his gifts, but then I realized he had to go to a meeting that night and would only be home a half-hour or so after work, jest enough time to grab a bite, so I decided to hold the cake and gist until he came home for the night.

Poor thing. The look on his face; he looked in the kitchen for a gift; he looked in the living room; he checked the fridge for a cake — which I had removed and set in the guest bedroom bathroom, out of sight.

I’m mean, or sneaky, like that.

And so, when he finally got home a little after 9PM I had his cake and gifts out on the kitchen island and he lit up like the gayest Christmas tree ever.

I might be mean, or sneaky, or whatever, but the look on his face was worth it.

Oh, and he liked the cake, too.

A new Tumblr was created by University of Virginia students asking for photographs illustrating "diversity" and this is one from the UVA swim team:

Hmm, you can’t spot the gay guys?

Interesting. I guess it really doesn’t make a difference.

Last month, Honey Maid graham crackers launched a new ad campaign called "This Is Wholesome" that highlighted all kinds of families, including an interracial couple, a single dad, and a gay couple.

Naturally, it spurred the bigots and homophobes to call for a boycott; the ironically, and incorrectly, named One Million Moms said Honey Maid and its parent company, Nabisco, "should be ashamed of themselves" for their "attempt to normalize sin."

And Twitter went crazy with folks saying they were disgusted by Honey Maid, and sickened by Honey Maid, and would never ever buy Honey Maid Graham Crackers again!

:::foot stomp head snap:::

But instead of bending to the haters, Honey Maid took the hate and turned it into something positive:

Love; sometimes it’s a big F-U to hate.

Speaking of bigotry and homophobia, the Hawaii Catholic schools office, which supervises three dozen Roman Catholic private schools in the state, approved a new contract that says teachers can be fired if they engage in homosexual activity or marry someone of the same sex; they can also be fired if they’ve had an abortion, used in vitro fertilization or live in "unmarried cohabitation."

Way to stay current. But it’s the Catholics so what do you expect?

And, not to be outdone by those showy Catholics, a top Mormon official — Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve … which sounds oddly Harry Potter-ish — reiterated the church’s longstanding opposition to same-sex marriage:

"While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not. He designated the purpose of marriage to go far beyond the personal satisfaction and fulfillment of adults, to more importantly, advancing the ideal setting for children to be born, reared and nurtured."

Funny, though, the Mormons who once espoused polygamy, don’t seem to get the irony in their statement about redefining marriage.

But it’s the Mormons so what do you expect?

One of my favorite shows, Being Human, ended its run this week. I never got into the Brit version upon which it was based and that may have been because it didn’t star one Sam Witwer.

A hot vampire if there ever was one. :::sniff::: Hopefully Sam gets a new TV gig where he can be hot and shirtless.

Just sayin'.

Congratulations to designer Tom Ford who just married Richard Buckley, his partner of twenty-seven years.

The march down the aisle goes on …

An old feature on this here bloggy thing was the ISBL Guest Comment of the Week.

I would scour the comments each week and then pick one that made me laugh, made me think, or even pissed me off, and post it again.

But that was a lot of work each week and so it petered out. However, this week, I found one comment -- on the Sister Laurel post -- that made me laugh out loud, and so I'll present the ISBL OGCotW to ♫Musique♫ for this:

Congrats, and maybe this will return to the blog every once in a while.

And TV. Wow, in the spring it sucks.

Resurrection is dead to me; I no longer believe in Believe; Da Vinci’s Demons have been offed on my TV.

Justified, starring the oh-so-hot Timothy Olyphant — ended its season this week and I’m already slipped into withdrawal issues, but next week, in its place, is a TV version, or reboot, or sequel, to Fargo. Could be crazy, could be crazy fun.

And speaking of crazy fun, Nurse Jackie returns this Sunday.

I guess it’s a good thing I cleaned up some recording space on the DVR?

Two Ru’s for the price of one! Woo-hoo-Ru.

This week’s first episode challenged the girls to pair up and create a commercial for RuPaul's Glamazon makeup line. And since this is TV and nothing’s real, those girls that didn’t care for one another were unexpectedly paired together!

Drag queen say what?

BenDeLaCreme was teamed with bitchy Darienne Lake; BFFs—at least on TV—Laganja and Adore Delano were a pair, Joslyn Fox and her idol Courtney Act, and Bitchy Bianca and Try Harder Trinity.

Ben and Darienne were not funny, and missed the mark in their ad, making it more about plastic surgery. Laganja and Adore sailed to a win on Adore’s semi-talented performance. Joslyn and Courtney channeled their inner real Housewives of Blahs-ville, while Trinity and Bianca were quite funny, and Trinity really stepped up her game.

Ben and Darienne are up for elimination and while I rooted for some Ben, Darienne knocked her out of the lip-sync. Luckily, though, Ru kept both girls to die another day.

Episode Two: The Drag Queens of Comedy! I loves me some funny, and I loves me some funny drag queens. Unfortunately, this season, there wasn’t a lot of funny on the stage and it was no contest as to who won the challenge:

Bianca Del Rio was high-larious! Seriously, I had DVRd the episode and watched it with Carlos and replayed it a few times because we were laughing so hard  her jokes. And she rocked the Runway Challenge in her Black-and-White Ball Gown. I may a new favorite.

Trinity K. Bonet was a true surprise. I was growing so tired of her defeatist attitude each and every week, and it looked to continue on the comedy stage. But she really brought the funny—and really brought the crowd back to life after the disastrous performance that came before her. I hope her streak continues because she’s starting to grow on me.

Darienne is hilarious, if a bit bitchy, only not this week. She’s a riot in her confessionals but onstage she was just so-so. And it doesn’t help that I just plain don’t like her. She’s like the Mean girl of the group, nice, or at least pretending to be nice, to your face, then all kinds of backstabbity behind your back.

BenDeLaCreme. What’s happening to you? I would have thought you’d have rocked the funny but it just flopped. She literally told a joke, and then ran to the next; wait for the laugh, girl. Or wait for the heckler to shout, “Tell a joke” and then get offstage. And, while I loved her Black-and-White gown, Michelle says all she gets from DeLa is costumes and she wants to know the queen. She bettah brang it next week, or she’ll be lipsticking the mirror on her way out.

Adore Delano, after the win last episode, fell flat. I love a curse word almost better than anyone but just stringing together f-bombs doesn’t a comedian make. Her Black-and-White look was better than previous, perhaps because this week she went mini-skirt so there would be no digs about gown length.

Courtney Act. I’m over you. Your Black-and-White look was cool, but your comedy wasn’t comedy. You sang a song, and not even a real funny song. Plus, you’re still doing pretty and only pretty. Maybe Bianca really does need to help you pack your bags?

Joslyn Fox started off strong with an ADD joke and then :::crickets::: And her runway look was like a Black-and-White version of what she wore last week that the judges trashed. Does she just own one piece of drag in every color? Still, her lip-sync was spot on, and the accidental matching drop-split with Laganja was a true highlight.

Laganja, Laganja, Laganja. Adios mama, oh-krrrrr? You should’a gone home before now because you’re just a poser. That whole sitting under the table thing? It’s what a six-year-old does to get attention, mama. Your comedy, mama? Not funny, mama. You’re lip-sync sunk, mama. You were terrible, mama. Oh-krrrrr.

What did YOU think?

When Obamacare compelled businesses to include emergency contraception in their employee health care plans, Hobby Lobby, a national chain of craft stores, was not having it and fought the law all the way to the Supreme Court. The contraception mandate, they said, forced them to violate their religious beliefs.

Funny though, because while tit foot stomped at SCOTUS, Hobby Lobby was spending millions of dollars on an employee retirement plan that invested in Teva Pharmaceutical , the manufacturers of the exact same contraceptive products — Plan B and Para Gard — that the firm's owners cited in their lawsuit.

So, they were making money off of the contraceptive they were fighting to have removed from their ACA plan; hypocrite say what?

So, recently in New Jersey, some comedians held a roast for former New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne and current New Jersey governor, liar, and bully, Chris Christie attended.

Well, some of the comedians took their shots at Christie over BridgeGate, and among those was Joy Behar:

“When I first heard that he was accused of blocking off three lanes on the bridge, I said, ‘What the hell is he doing, standing in the middle of the bridge?”

Chuckle worthy. But after a few more Christie jokes, the big man stood up, interrupted her, and said, “This is a Byrne roast.”

When he tried to grab her notes, the audience laughed awkwardly.

“Stop bullying me,” Behar said as he sat down, to which said something and Behar shot back:

 “Why don’t you get up here at the microphone instead of being such a coward?”

Christie stood up, walked to the lectern and said, “At least I don’t get paid for this.”

Then he sat down, giving Behar the last word; big mistake … huge.

“I really don’t know about the Presidency. Let me put it to you this way, in a way that you’d appreciate: You’re toast.”

Snap.

Look, I get PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but sometimes I think they should sit down and rethink their agenda.

It now appears that PETA  is looking to turn the $295,000 2,170-square-foot, mid-century modern private home into a vegan restaurant called “Eat for Life: Home Cooking.”

Oh, and the home they wish to use once belonged to Jeffrey Dahmer, and is the same home where the serial rapist, torturer and cannibal killed, dismembered and buried 19-year-old Steven Hicks.

PETA says:

 “We are always looking forward to ways to draw attention to the violence inherent in the production of meat, eggs and milk — which involve processes that would shock all but the most hard-hearted person. Dahmer’s old house gives us a way to evoke sympathy for these victims and to suggest that a life-affirming diet can change everything.”

It appears, thankfully, that the house is not zoned for commercial use, so maybe this is just a PETA publicity stunt.

In the poorest of taste.

I Didn't Say It........

LeAnn Rimes, on how she and Eddie Cibrian, who began an affair with one another while both still married to other people, are not homewreckers:

"I take responsibility for everything I've done. I hate that people got hurt. But I don't regret the outcome. It was very emotionally driven. I never once thought what I was doing was OK. I was out of balance. My marriage was out of balance. There was something missing.
"The hardest thing to hear is someone call either of us a home wrecker because we didn't walk into a perfectly happy marriage and ruin it. I don't know what the future holds, but I know it holds Eddie. I'm really happy. I've moved on, and I hope there can be some forgiveness and acceptance."

Hawaii Congressman Charles Djou, on why he was one of five House GOP members to vote in favor repealing DADT:
"I have seen too many instances as an army reservist, soldiers would sign up for a re-enlistment bonus. Get this gigantic sum from the American taxpayer. And then as soon as the unit gets called up to mobilize to Iraq and Afghanistan, they suddenly claim they are gay, with no prior indication of that whatsoever. Get the discharge and keep the bonus. That’s wrong, that’s unfair and that’s why this policy should be changed."

California state Senator Roy Ashburn, on why, as a deeply closeted gay man, he often voted any gay rights legislation:

"My practice in my entire political career when it came to gay issues was to prevent any kind of spotlight from being shined my way, because I was in hiding. So casting any kind of vote might, could in some way, lead to my secret being revealed. That was terrifying to me. It was paralyzing. So I cast some votes that have denied gay people of their basic, equal treatment under the law, and I'm not proud of it. I'm not going to do that again."

Eugene Delgaudio, head of the Christianist group Public Advocate Of The U.S., on the Student Non-Discrimination Act:

"Our children...They’ve been the Radical Homosexuals’ target all along. Now they’re finally going after what they’ve always wanted. Just a few weeks ago, radicals in Congress led by openly homosexual Representative Jared Polis introduced H.R. 4530....a bill to turn America’s schools into indoctrination centers, its classrooms into social laboratories, its playgrounds into homosexual breeding grounds.

"Of course, they’ve disguised the bill’s wicked nature behind the innocent name 'The Student Non-Discrimination Act.' Sound harmless, right? Well, that’s key to their scheme. Honestly, I can hardly imagine a law more harmful. More appropriately, this bill should be called 'The Homosexual Classrooms Act.'

"You see, The Homosexual Classrooms Act was introduced quietly, and some insiders say Nancy Pelosi wants to 'fast-track' it before there is a public outcry. There’s even talk of burying it inside the must-pass Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as “No Child Left Behind” Reauthorization. If they succeed, they’ll only ensure that No Child is Left Uncorrupted by the poisonous influence of the Homosexual Agenda."

Kristen Stewart, on fame and how being photographed is just like being raped:
"It's so… The photos are so....I feel like I'm looking at someone being raped. A lot of the time I can't handle it. I never expected that this would be my life. What you don't see are the cameras shoved in my face and the bizarre intrusive questions being asked, or the people falling over themselves, screaming and taunting to get a reaction. All you see is an actor or a celebrity lit up but a flash. Your little persona is made up of all the places that people have seen you and what has been said about you. And usually the places that I am are so overwhelming in the moment and fleeting for me - like one second where I've said something stupid, that's me, forever."

UFC fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, on acting--he's playing the role created by Mr. T. in the movie remake of The A Team:

"Acting is kind of gay. It makes you soft. You got all these people combing your hair and putting a coat over your shoulders when you're cold. I don't want a coat over my shoulders! I'm a tough-ass [individual]! Vancouver strikes me as a San Francisco-kind of place. And I don't want [individuals] getting ideas about me. I feel in my heart I'm the toughest [individual] on the planet. And I don't want nothing changing my train of thought."

PETA, on the news that Brooke Shields went to Denmark last March to design a mink coat:
"When I was a little girl, I dreamed about growing up to be a rock star. Or maybe a veterinarian. Or a roller derby queen. I didn't dream about anally electrocuting animals on fur farms, but apparently Brooke Shields did…We understand that when some actors' careers begin to fade, they'll do just about anything to stay in the limelight, including appearing in eyelash-growing commercials and starring in short-lived TV shows. But Brooke, did you really want the world to remember you as a 'fur pimp' who stares agog at rows of animal skins?"