Repost: Black History Month: Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandridge, like Josephine Baker, was sex. Sexy. Black. Separately those two things are all good but put 'em all together and white America wasn't ready for her.

At age eight, Dorothy performed with her sister in a song-and-dance team called "The Wonder Children.” Getting that itch to perform, to be somebody, she left high school in 1930s to form the Dandridge Sisters trio with her sister Vivian, and Etta James. At the Cotton Club in Harlem, Dandridge—who had a mixed racial heritage—was confronted for the first time by the segregation and racism of the entertainment industry.

As a teenager, Dorothy began to appear in small roles in a number of films, including the Marx Brother’ A Day at the Races and Drums of the Congo. In 1945, she married Harold Nicholas, of the Nicholas Brothers dance team; she had performed with them in the 1941 Sonja Henie musical Sun Valley Serenade.

During their turbulent six-year marriage, Dandridge virtually retired from performing. A daughter, Harolyn, was born with severe brain damage in 1943 and, as Dorothy was unable to care for the child alone, she placed her daughter in foster care. It was a decision she would regret her whole life.

After Nicholas and Dandridge  divorced in 1951, Dorothy returned to the nightclub circuit, this time as a successful solo singer. After a stint at the Mocambo club in Hollywood with Desi Arnaz’s band and a sell-out 14-week engagement at La Vie en Rose, she became an international star, performing at glamorous venues in London, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, and New York.

And though Dorothy Dandridge was the star of the show, the headliner, the reason why white audiences filled nightclub after nightclub, she wasn't allowed to enter those clubs or hotels through the front door. She wasn't allowed use of the pools in those hotels—one story has it that Dandridge, furious at being segregated in a hotel making money off her talent, dipped her toe in the hotel pool, only to find out that the pool was later drained, cleaned and refilled with water; singing star Dorothy Dandridge rode freight elevators to her hotel room; she waited in the kitchen to go on. She wasn’t allowed to even have a drink at the very clubs in which she headlined.

Then Hollywood called again, offering Dandridge her first starring role in 1953’s Bright Road, playing an earnest and dedicated young schoolteacher opposite Harry Belafonte. But it was her next film that would make her a sensation.

As the lead in Carmen Jones, a 1954 film adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen, Dorothy once again costarred with costarred Belafonte. With her sultry looks and flirtatious style, Dorothy Dandridge became the first African-American to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Though many believed she deserved to win, Dandridge eventually lost the award to Grace Kelly, who won for The Country Girl.

After the phenomenal success of Carmen Jones, Dandridge appeared well on her way to becoming the first non-white actress to achieve the kind of superstardom that had accrued to contemporaries like Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner. She was a sex symbol, a Black American sex symbol to all audiences.

But racism was quite a power broker in Hollywood in those days, and in the years that followed Carmen Jones, Dandridge had trouble finding film roles to suit her talents. Black women were nannies and maids, supporting roles; they were not sexy, beautiful women.

Dorothy's only other great film was 1959’s Porgy and Bess, in which she played Bess opposite Sidney Poitier. Refusing to play a slave, she turned down the supporting role of Tuptim in The King and I—a role that might have helped her achieve the level of stardom she desired. There were rumors that she might play Billie Holliday in a film version of Lady Sings the Blues directed by Orson Welles, but it never panned out.

In the racially disharmonious 1950s, Hollywood filmmakers couldn't, or wouldn’t, create suitable roles for the light-skinned Dandridge. Soon, the only roles offered Dorothy were the subtly prejudiced visions of interracial romance. She appeared in several poorly received racially and sexually charged dramas, including Island in the Sun, again with Harry Belafonte, and Tamango, in which she played the mistress of the captain of a slave ship.

While making Carmen Jones, Dandridge became involved in a heated, secretive affair with the film's white director, Otto Preminger, who also directed Porgy and Bess. Dorothy hated the idea of keeping her romance with Preminger a secret; she knew no shame in whom she loved. But their interracial romance, as well as Dandridge's relationships with other white lovers, was frowned upon, not only by the white Hollywood establishment, but other African-American members of the filmmaking community.

In 1959, Dorothy married her second husband, Jack Denison. She lost the majority of her savings when his restaurant failed in 1962. Married to a penniless movie star wasn't Denison's idea of the good life, and he left her soon after.

As her film career and marriage failed, Dandridge began drinking heavily and taking antidepressants. The threat of bankruptcy and nagging problems with the IRS forced her to resume her nightclub career, but she found only a fraction of her former success. Relegated to second-rate lounges and stage productions, Dandridge's financial situation grew worse and worse. By 1963, she could no longer afford to pay for her daughter's 24-hour medical care, and Harolyn was placed in a state institution. Dandridge soon suffered a nervous breakdown.

On September 8, 1965, Dorothy Dandridge was found dead in her Hollywood home. it was called an apparent suicide from a drug overdose of prescription medication, but many believed Dandridge accidentally killed herself.

Dorothy Dandridge paved the way for sexy, beautiful Black women like Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Diahann Carroll, Halle Berry, Beyonce and more.

Who Should It Be? Who? Who?

Well, here we are, some fifteen later, and my favorite Bond, Daniel Craig, is hanging up the tuxedo—and, even sadder, the blue square cut bathing suit—after No Time To Die.

And so here we are again, asking that age old question, who will be the new 007.

I was hoping, so hoping, that it would have been Idris Elba, the first Black Bond and a hunk of burning spy, but alas even Idris thinks his time might have passed him by. Although, from what I've read, he might still be interested.

And there are some who say Tom Hardy should be Bond, but when I think of Hardy, I don’t think “Shaken, not stirred,” I think, “Garble Garble Garble.” I mean, if we’re being honest, Hardy is kind of a mush mouth. 

And what about that super man, Henry Cavill? Suave, debonair, handsome as hell, but … he’s Superman, he can’t be Bond, too.

So, who’s next? What about a female Bond, Jane Bond? If the producers really switch it up, which I doubt they will, here are some options:

Charlize Theron; she’s a bad ass, think Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, but even though she’s South African, she comes off as American and Bond needs to be English, or Scottish, or Irish, or Welsh.

Sorry Charlize.

Clare Foy; yes, she played Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, but she was also Lizbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But she was rough and tumble in that film, so she could pull off smooth killer spy?

Margot Robbie; I’m gonna say ‘No,’ because I get more Bond girl than I do Bond with Margot.

Thandie Newton; she played a cold-blooded killing machine in Westworld and has co-starred with Little Tommy Cruise in a Mission Impossible film, so she can manage the cool and calm and the action scenes, too. Plus, girl is sexy AF.

Emily Blunt; she played Mary Poppins, people. Let's be blunt: Poppins cannot be Bond.

Naomie Harris; well, she’s already in the franchise—Eve Moneypenny in Skyfall and Spectre—so it might not be a big stretch to say she’s the new Bond.

Good choice, some, but I don’t think the women have a shot. James Bond is a lot of things, but he’s all-man, all English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish or Australian, too, so no American or Canadian Bonds. And he needs to be young enough to continue the series for several years. I don’t wanna be thinking of my Bond with bad knees and arthritis.

So, let’s dish the guys:

Matt Smith, who was the first Prince Philip on The Crown and a former Dr. Who. Smith is debonair, clever, sexy and frightening, and, as I know from scenes from The Crown, he has an ass to die for. And sometimes a great ass is the greatest asset.

Alfred Enoch, from How To Get Away With Murder and the Harry Potter films. He’s a long shot, and some say too young to be Bond, but at thirty-two he is the same age as Sean Connery when he filmed Dr. No and we all know how good Connery was in the role. But Alfred doesn't come off sexy and cool; he's cute, like a puppy Bond

Richard Madden. He’s Scottish, he was Robb Stark on Game of Thrones and Prince Charming in 201s Cinderella, so he can be deadly and suave. And an extra plus is that Richard Madden, who has dated women, might have also been in a  relationship with a man, so Bond, Gay Bond? I could, um, get behind that.

Ben Barnes, who played Prince Caspian in the Narnia films and starred as a mischievous villain in Netflix’s Shadow and Bone. Barnes has that Bond twinkle and wink in his eye so maybe he could pull off the tux … if you get my meaning.

Oliver Jackson-Cohen. He’s got the charm and the good looks and the hot body for those swimsuit scenes I need from my Bond. And he stared in The Invisible Man and on Netflix shows like The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Now, whomever Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson choose as the next Bond, it will cause a lot of controversy. I still remember people freaking out over Daniel Craig being chosen in 2005 because he was :::gasp::: blond.

But, if I had my way, and even though he’s nearing fifty, I’d go Idris Elba. Please, And shaken, not stirred.

And if the powers that be really want to shake things up and cast a female lead as Bond, I am Team Thandie Newton all day long.

Huh, maybe have Idris and Thandie plays The Bonds?

Who do you think should take over the role next?

We're Gonna Need a Lot More Toaster Ovens

This week in Germany 185 actors staged a mass coming out in a public statement of visibility in order to inspire more diversity in the entertainment industry. In a statement the actors said:

“We’re here and there are a whole lot of us! We are actors who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, inter and non-binary, amongst many other things.

Until now, we haven’t been able to be open about our private lives without fearing professional consequences. All too often, many of us have been cautioned – be it by managers, casting agents, colleagues, producers, editors, directors, etc. – to keep quiet about our sexual orientations and gender identities to avoid jeopardizing our careers. We are putting an end to this – once and for all!

Until now, we’ve been told that if we revealed certain facets of our identities, namely our sexual and gender identities, we would suddenly lose the ability to portray certain characters and relationships. As if the knowledge of who we are in our private lives would somehow invalidate our ability to convincingly embody roles for the audience. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We are actors. We don’t have to be the characters we portray. We act as if – that is the very quintessence of our job. We play wives and fathers, lovers and politicians, heroes and creeps. And often enough, characters whose ideas we’d never agree with. That’s why we can play murderers without having murdered anyone. We can save lives without having studied medicine. We can play people with sexual identities different from the ones we live out.

And, by the way, this is something we’ve been doing for a very long time, the entire time, in fact, because it is the nature of our profession.”

Bravo to all those who stepped forward and came out, and let’s see this happen all over the world.

DW

Bruno Langley Says He Molested Four Women Because He Plays Gay On TV

Bruno Langley, the former star of an English program called Coronation Street is accused of molesting for women at a Manchester music event—though he was charged with just two counts of sexual assault—after a night of drunken debauchery.

But, to be clear, according to Bruno, it wasn’t the drink that made him do it, and it was the fact that maybe he’s a sexual predator, it’s because … wait for it, it’s so good … he was stressed out over playing the first gay character on his TV show.

Oh, yes, he did.

And Bruno Langley avoided jail after admitting both offences. Let’s try that again … he was accused of assaulting four women, he was charged with two counts of assault, he plead guilty to both counts and … no jail.

His lawyers told the court:

“Something happened that night, most possibly in relation to the character he was playing.”

No, he attacked and assaulted four women in his off time which has nothing to do with playing gay.

Instead of jail term, Langley must complete a 12-month community order and submit to a curfew … because sexual predators only attack after dark? He was also ordered to pay £250—about $336.00—to his two victims, and must sign the sex offenders' register for the next five years.

At trial, after his lawyer’s absurd assertion it had to do with playing gay, Langley apologized to his victims and revealed he is getting help for a drinking problem.  

He did not say if he was seeking help for his predilection toward molesting women and then blaming it on playing a gay character on TV.

The good news is that Langley’s conviction means Langley will probably not work in the TV industry again.

Good. Blame that on playing gay, asshat.

Daily Mail

Bette and Joan: How The Feud Started

After learning about Feud — the upcoming show about epic fights, a la Bette Davis and Joan Crawford — and after watching All About Eve for the umpteenth time, I thought I’d tell a couple of stories I’d read about Davis and Crawford from both Dark Victory: The Life Of Bette Davis by Ed Sikov and Not The Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford by Charlotte Chandler.

So ... how did the feud star you might ask? Over a man, of course, an actor named Franchot Tone.

Bette was starring alongside Franchot in the 1935 film Dangerous, a part for which she won her first Academy Award, and the two fell in, well, most likely, lust:

“I fell in love with Franchot, professionally and privately. Everything about him reflected his elegance, from his name to his manners.”

But then along came Joan; Crawford, at that time, was an MGM star, and also newly divorced and looking for husband number whatever. Legend has it that when she heard of the Davis-Tone affair, she invited Franchot to her house for dinner and greeted him in the nude. Now, whether or not that happened, Joan made sure Bette knew about their liaison.

”He was madly in love with her. They met each day for lunch … he would return to the [Dangerous] set, his face covered in lipstick … He was honored this great star was in love with him. I was jealous of course.”

Then Franchot and Joan proudly announced their engagement and married in New Jersey as soon as Dangerous wrapped. The marriage lasted three short years and fizzled just as Bette was winning her second Oscar for Jezebel.

Still, Bette wasn’t happy about Crawford stealing her beau; she took to calling Crawford a shallow “mannequin” with eyebrows like “African caterpillars” whilst she was a serious, theatre-trained performer. She also called into question Joan’s reputation for being easy to bed by most male Hollywood stars:

“She slept with every male star at MGM, except Lassie.”

Sounds mean, but Crawford was not any nicer.

“Poor Bette. She looks like she’s never had a happy day … or night … in her life.”

And the feud grew worse in 1943, when Crawford was fired from MGM and signed with Warner Bros, the home of, yes, Bette Davis. Two years later, Joan Crawford won an Academy Award for Mildred Pierce — a part Davis turned down which probably added fuel the fire.

But it wasn’t until 1962 that the feud came to a full boil when both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford signed up to appear on screen together for the first time in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, the story of two former film stars living a lonely existence in their Hollywood mansion.

Joan was married to the CEO of Pepsi Cola at that time and so she had Pepsi made available to the cast and crew every day; Bette, of course, was a Coca Cola girl, dontcha know, and so she had a Coke machine installed in her dressing room to dole out free bottles to the entire crew.

For the scene in which Bette drags Joan across the floor, Crawford decided to make the haul heavier by filling the pockets of her costume with rocks.

Baby Jane enjoyed rave reviews and widespread acclaim and Bette Davis was once again nominated for a Best Actress Oscar; Crawford was not. And Joan Crawford was not at all pleased about this turn of events. She called all the other Best Actress nominees and offered to accept their awards if they won and, strangely, all the other women agreed.

So, on Oscar night, Davis and Crawford were both seated and waiting for the announcement of Best Actress: Bette was sure she’d win but … Anne Bancroft won for the Miracle Worker and then, to Bette’s horror, Joan Crawford stepped forward to rapturous applause to accept on Bancroft’s behalf.

“I almost dropped dead! I was paralyzed with shock. To deliberately upstage me like that- her behavior was despicable.” — Bette Davis

But it wasn’t over, yet. Given the success of Baby Jane, Davis and Crawford were signed to do Whatever Happened to Cousin Charlotte. Yes, it was called that until Bette said she hated it and suggested  Hush … Hush Sweet Charlotte.

Neither woman was happy to work together again, so Bette demanded a higher paycheck than Crawford and Crawford doubled down by decreeing that her name be first above the title.

There were other differences; Crawford demanded she be treated like a movie star while Davis mingled with the cast and crew; Bette walked everywhere on the plantation location, while Joan was driven around the set in a golf cart. Joan left each day in a limousine with her maid while Bette hitched a ride back to the hotel with the crew.

What? You don’t remember Crawford in that film? Well, that’s because after working just four days on the production legend has it that Crawford chickened out of appearing alongside Davis again and checked herself into Cedars of Lebanon Hospital and refused to return to the set. She was eventually replaced by Olivia de Havilland.

Still, wouldn’t that have been something … in that film, it would have been Crawford’s turn to torment Davis’ character. Too bad she chickened out …

My Two Cents: Matt Damon Saying Actors [Gay Actors] Should Keep Their Sexuality Private

I like Matt Damon, I do, but lately it seems to me he’s gone off the rails in giving his opinion on something, diversity for example, and then walking it back when people question his thoughts.

It was just recently he was heavily criticized for interrupting black film producer Effie Brown to lecture her on diversity on his and Ben Affleck’s show Project Greenlight. He apologized for offending people, but refused to actually apologize for what he said.

“I am sorry that they offended some people, but, at the very least, I am happy that they started a conversation about diversity in Hollywood. That is an ongoing conversation that we all should be having.”

And now he’s talking gay actors, well, openly gay actors.

In a recent interview to promote his newest film, The Martian, Damon spent some time discussing his role as Liberace’s lover Scott Thorson in Behind The Candelabra, and he was asked whether he thought it was harder to be an openly gay actor in Hollywood.

“I don’t want to, like [imply] it’s some sort of disease — then it’s like I’m throwing my friends under the bus, but at the time, I remember thinking and saying, Rupert Everett was openly gay and this guy — more handsome than anybody, a classically trained actor — it’s tough to make the argument that he didn’t take a hit for being out.”

Um, okay, let’s stop for a second and talk Rupert Everett.

Yes, he did come out quite early — way back in 1989 — before it was “the thing” to do, and maybe he did take a hit for that. But the reasons, I think, that his career didn’t flourish as Damon suggests it should have, is because of the angry tone in his interviews after coming out, where he, too, said gay actors should stay closeted, that gay people shouldn’t get married, that gay people shouldn’t have children. And then there’s that whole issue of what he did to his face via plastic surgery. I think looking less like Rupert Everett hurt him in getting work.

I think Everett is the classic case of shooting oneself in the foot. Rather than come out as gay, and be defiantly gay, and an actor, he whined about it, and complained about being gay and LGBT issues and I think that kind of made him less desirable to film producers and less interesting to audiences; it wasn’t being gay, it was his opinions of being gay.

As we well know, there are a lot of openly LGBT actors who have successful careers both before and after coming out.  Ian McKellen — who came out before Rupert Everett back in 1988 and his career flourished. Neil Patrick Harris. Wentworth Miller. Ellen Page. Zachary Quinto. Ben Whishaw. John Barrowman. Chris Colfer. Sean Hayes. Sarah Paulson. Jodie Foster. Jim Parsons. Anna Paquin.  Laverne Cox. Matt Bomer. Ezra Miller. Jussie Smollett. Cheyenne Jackson. Cherry Jones. Maulik Pancholy. Jane Lynch. Alan Cumming. Matt Dallas. Sean Maher. John Glover. Maria Bello. David Hyde Pierce. George Takei. Sandra Bernhard. Jonathan Groff. Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Cynthia Nixon, Wanda Sykes. Nathan Lane. Alec Mapa. Sara Gilbert. T.R. Knight. Guillermo Díaz. Russell Tovey. Andrew Rannells. Rosie O’Donnell. Victor Garber. Portia DeRossi.

That’s just some actors and actresses who’ve come out as gay and yet still continue to work in their chosen fields; and this doesn’t include singers like Adam Lambert or Chely Wright or Elton John, or athletes like Johnny Weir or Michael Sam, Orlando Cruz, or Martina Navratilova., or politicians like Tammy Baldwin, Brian Simms, Jared Polis, Barney Frank, or Mark Pocan.

Damon then went on to suggest that actors should be private about their sexuality in order to be more attractive to an audience.

“In terms of actors, I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period. And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.”

But how many photos are there of Matt Damon out in public with his wife? How does he justify the way so many straight celebrities trot out their wives and husbands and children all the time, but in the context of discussing openly gay actors he suggests they keep their private lives private?

I think maybe you should start first Matt, and leave your wife at home when you attend a premiere, and stop mentioning her in interviews because, you know, we don’t need to know anything about your sexuality. Except you keep telling us with every red carpet event.

And so naturally, because he has a movie to promote, Matt Damon is now trying to walk back his statements and recently appeared on Ellen to clarify his comments:

“I was talking about actors are more effective when you know less about their personal lives. And was talking about it in the context of when Ben and I first started and people wrote all these articles, when Good Will Hunting came out, that we were gay because it was two guys who wrote the script.

And feeling like oh, well we can’t even like then you have to address it and then it’s like well I’m not gonna throw my friends under the bus, who are gay, and act like it’s some kind of a disease. How do you even address it? So you’re always in these kind of weird things.

But in this day and age I said this thing to The Guardian and it got turned into… and I was just trying to say actors are more effective when they’re a mystery. Right? And somebody picked it up and said I said gay actors should get back in the closet. Which is like I mean it’s stupid, but it is painful when things get said that you don’t believe.

And then it gets represented that that’s what you believe. Because in the blogosphere there’s no real penalty for just taking the ball and running with it. Ya know what I mean? You’re just trying to click on your thing.”

I didn’t see a mention or question about the Ben and Matt Are Gay rumors in The Guardian piece, and I didn’t see an apology. All I saw was, once again, Matt Damon saying that actors “are more effective when they’re a mystery.” Only he doesn’t keep his sexuality a mystery, so again, is he just saying gay actors should keep silent?

And the irony that he’s telling Ellen DeGeneres that actors should keep their sexuality a mystery when she’s married to Portia DeRossi, an actress on Scandal, isn’t lost on me. I didn’t see him tell Ellen that she and Portia should be less open about their sexuality.

I think unless Matt Damon has walked in the shoes of a black filmmaker, or a gay actor, he doesn’t know whereof he speaks, and to suggest that someone’s sexual orientation, the gay kind, I mean, should be kept hidden, while his straight counterparts exhibit theirs ad nauseum, is ridiculous.

Sorry, Matt, I like you, I do; but you need to stop and think, and then perhaps say nothing.

Gar Star News
Towleroad

Emmy Fall-Out: Think Before You Tweet, Nancy Lee Grahn ... #WhoIsNancyLeeGrahn

This past Sunday night Viola Davis won an Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for How To Get Away With Murder making her the first African-American to ever win that particular award, and this is what she said:

“‘In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me, over that line. But I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line.’ That was Harriet Tubman in the 1800s.

And let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. So here’s to all the writers, the awesome people that are Ben Sherwood, Paul Lee, Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes, people who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black.

And to the Taraji P. Hensons, the Kerry Washingtons, the Halle Berrys, the Nicole Beharies, the Meagan Goods, to Gabrielle Union: Thank you for taking us over that line.

Thank you to the Television Academy. Thank you.”

What a moment for Viola Davis, for women of color, to be able to get that award; for young black actresses to see that they can be the lead in a television show and be recognized for their work. And for Viola to call out the industry, to ask that they create roles for women of color everywhere was an amazing thing to do.

Except … not everyone was happy with Viola Davis. Nancy Lee Grahn has been a soap opera actress, most notably appearing on General Hospital for some twenty years, and she had a lot to say, er, Tweet:

“I wish I loved #ViolaDavis Speech, but I thought she should have let @shondarhimes write it. #Emmys”

Oh, sorry Nancy. Sorry that Viola’s speech didn’t move you; sorry the words and the experiences of her nearly thirty year career, and the struggles she’s faced being a woman of color in Hollywood, weren’t up to your standards … soap opera standards. But she did go on:

“Im a fucking actress for 40 yrs. None of us get respect or opportunity we deserve. Emmys not venue 4 racial opportunity. ALL women belittled.”

And here’s the issue. It’s akin to the kerfuffle over the Black Lives Matter movement. Viola Davis wasn’t saying, at all, that it’s only women of color, who are discriminated against, who get no respect in Hollywood, she’s speaking her truth, her experience, what she’s seen, what she knows, and Nancy Lee Grahn cannot fathom that.

And then she went on to suggest that perhaps Viola Davis has not been discriminated against as a black woman in Hollywood:

“I think she's the bees knees but she's elite of TV performers. Brilliant as she is. She has never been discriminated against.”

Yes, Nancy Lee Grahn, a white woman, says she knows that Viola Davis has never felt the sting of discrimination because she’s a brilliant actress — well, she got that part right. But if Viola Davis is the “bee’s knees” as Grahn suggests, then why aren’t there all kinds of Viola, Davis projects out there? Why has it taken thirty years to recognize her talent?

Perhaps it’s because Viola is a dark-skinned woman of color, a subset of women of color, and she’s seen articles in print, and people quoted, saying that she isn’t beautiful or sexy or lead actress enough because her brown skin is a dark brown skin and not a light brown, more palatable to audiences, skin.

Nancy Lee Grahn has no idea what she’s talking about; she completely misheard what Davis said, and turned it into #AllActressesMatter.

“I never mean to diminish her accomplishment. I wish I could get her roles. She is a goddess. I want equality 4 ALL women, not just actors. … I apologize 2 anyone who I offended. I'm women advocate since I became one. After reading responses, I hear u and my tweet was badly phrased.”

Maybe then, Nancy Lee, until you learn to fully form sentences, or until you ask the writers at General Hospital to Tweet for you, you should think before you Tweet, and then, after thinking, and after it becomes clear that you have no idea what you’re talking about, maybe you should just keep quiet.

And the, again, she non-apologized:

“I apologize for my earlier tweets and now realize I need to check my own privilege. My intention was not to take this historic and important moment from Viola Davis or other women of color but I realize that my intention doesn’t matter here because that is what I ended up doing. I learned a lot tonight and I admit that there are still some things I don’t understand but I am trying to and will let this be a learning experience for me.”

Again, Nancy, think before you speak, or Tweet.

I understand that women have it tough in Hollywood, all women, but Viola Davis wasn't onstage speaking for all women; she was speaking of her own stories, her own struggles. And for you to denigrate that because she spoke her truth is just ridiculous.

Tweet source

Viola Davis

Nancy Lee Grahn

Well Well Well ... If It Isn't Leslie Jordan, Beverage-Hurling-LGBTQ-Superhero

Last week in West Hollywood there was a fracas at the Starbucks on Santa Monica Blvd when three young men began shouting antigay venom at the customers in line:

“You will die, f**king f**gots!”

Joseph Daniels, who was waiting in line at the time, wasn’t playing, so he walked over to the men and told them their behavior was “rude;” the manager also told the men to leave. But the three thugs, possibly questioning their own orientation, refused to leave and began calling everyone in the store “faggots” and that’s when it happened …

LGBT superhero, and diminutive actor, Leslie Jordan, AKA Beverly Leslie from TVs Will & Grace, stepped into it. Jordan, who stands just four feet, eleven inches tall, approached the three men and screamed:

“Get out of my house!”

Then he chased them from the coffee house, where the three idiots stood on the sidewalk shouting their homophobic epithets, and when one of the three lunged at Jordan, he tossed his coffee in the guy’s face.

The police were called, and they advised Jordan and the other patrons not to file charges against the homophobes, saying that if they did the men could accuse them of assault for throwing coffee at them.

But, let’s not it end there, let’s give Superhero, LGBTQ Superhero, Leslie Jordan, the last word:

“I was hoping to remain silent on the incident at Starbucks but somehow the story found legs and has made its way into the press. I feel I owe my friends an explanation:

Truth be told it was “sweet” iced tea, not coffee. I am a “sweet” mannered Southern boy who was taught not to start a fight. Nobody ever told me I could not end one. I refused to sit and watch these hate crimes continue. I guess our work for equality is not done yet!

I’m being hailed a hero which is all well and good but I lost my temper. My heroes in life always kept their cool.”

Oh, but you kept your cool, Leslie, and, by tossing a little sweet tea at a trio of asshats you helped them cool off, too.

Now, I do not condone violence, and I think throwing hot coffee on someone, no matter how much of an asshat they seem, is quite violent. But sweet tea? The worst thing that could happen is that thug get's hit in the face by something sticky and I imagine with his latent homosexual tendencies this wasn't the first, or the last time, someone shot something sticky at his face.

Just sayin'.

LGBTQ Nation 1
LGBTQ Nation 2

Is It Hot In Here ... Or Is It Charlie Hunnam?

Charlie Hunnam photographed on the set of a King Arthur reboot in England for Entertainment Weekly. Smoldering.