I Didn't Say It ...

Billy Crystal, who played Jodie Dallas on 1970s Soap, the first openly gay character to regularly appear on network TV, on gays on TV today:

"I did it in front of a live audience, and there were times where I would say to [the actor who played his boyfriend], 'Bob, “I love you,' and the audience would laugh nervously, because, you know, it’s a long time ago, that I’d feel this anger. I wanted to stop the tape and go, 'What is your problem?' Because it made you sort of very self-conscious about what we were trying to do then. And now it’s just, I see it and I just hope people don’t abuse it and shove it in our face — well, that sounds terrible — to the point of it just feels like an everyday kind of thing."

I was kind of disheartened to hear this from Billy, because, as a young queerling, I wanted to see me on TV and I didn’t—at least not very often. And, if Billy has a problem with in-your-face homosexuality, does he have a problem with in-your-face heterosexuality?

UPDATE:  Crystal has clarified his statement:

"What I meant was that whenever sex or graphic nudity of any kind (gay or straight) is gratuitous to the plot or story it becomes a little too much for my taste."

Much better, Billy.

Frank Bruni, on The Gays being a threat to religion:

"I’ve been called many unpleasant things in my life, and I’ve deserved no small number of them. But I chafe at this latest label: A threat to your religious liberty. I don’t mean me alone. I mean me and my evidently menacing kind: men who have romantic relationships with other men and maybe want to marry them, and women in analogous situations. According to many of the Americans who still cast judgment on us, our 'I do' somehow tramples you, not merely running counter to your creed but running roughshod over it. That’s absurd. And the deference that many politicians show to such thinking is an example not of religion getting the protection it must but of religious people getting a pass that isn’t warranted. It’s an illustration of religion’s favored status in a country that’s still working out this separation-of-church-and-state business and hasn’t yet gotten it quite right."

Once again: word. Keep your religion out of marriage because it’s a civil right, not a religious one.

Shepard Smith, Fox "News" anchor, on the Supreme Court's decision to review the Sixth Circuit same-sex marriage cases:

"Not in every case, but in most cases, the same states which were fighting integration are fighting this as well. Those states which always seem to be behind the curve for reasons which are explainable and understandable."

Sad to say, but you can see it’s true just by looking at a map of marriage equality states versus non-equality states.

Sidenote: it’s lovely that South Carolina bucked that trend.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the most outspoken anti-gay Catholic activists, blaming women for the problems the church is facing:

“Apart from the priest, the sanctuary has become full of women...the activities in the parish and even the liturgy have been influenced by women and become so feminine in many places that men do not want to get involved. Men are often reluctant to become active in the church. The feminised environment and the lack of the church’s effort to engage men has led many men to simply opt out.”

Funny, though, I don’t hear of cases of women raping altar boys, so that sexual abuse problem that the Catholic Church has been fighting for decades is created and perpetuated and aided and abetted by men.

Maybe the Church should let women take over and clean up that mess.

Kevin Hart, while promoting his new film The Wedding Ringer, on turning down a role in Tropic Thunder because it was a gay character:

"Not because I have any ill will or disrespect, it's because I feel like I can't do that because I don't think I'm really going to dive into that role 100%. Because of the insecurities about myself trying to play that part. Like, would I think people are going to think while I'm trying to do this is going to stop me from playing that part the way that I'm supposed to."

So, what he’s saying is he can’t play gay because he’s afraid people will think he’s gay? Or because, maybe he’ll turn gay?

Siddown Kevin. You’re one annoying little man.

I Didn't Say It

Greg Berlanti, Arrow creator, on his relationship with soccer star Robbie Rogers:

“I’m absolutely crazy in love with him so I don’t think too much about all that stuff. I just try to live my life and I know he does too, like two people who are really happy and healthy and a relationship that we both feel really blessed about."

It’s really that simple, for any couple, gay or straight.

Bryan Cranston, accepting his Emmy for Breaking Bad, on how he came to acting:

“I would like to dedicate this award to all the Sneaky Petes of the world, who thought that settling for mediocrity was a good idea, because it was safe. Don’t do it. Take a chance. Take a risk. Find that passion. Rekindle it. Fall in love all over again. It’s really worth it.”

True words. Live a little; try something new.

Laverne Cox, on being harassed in the street for being gay or transgender … someone perceived as being different:

"I feel so often that our oppressors are in a lot of pain. When someone needs to call someone else out for who they are and make fun of them, it's because they don't feel comfortable with who they are. And so, if anyone ever has a problem with someone else, I ask you to look at yourselves first — what is it about you that you have a problem with?"

You gotta love her. 

People filled with so much hate have to be in pain, it just makes sense.

Michelangelo Signorile, on the news that Burger King might be moving to Canada to avoid US taxes:

“The fact that Burger King so publicly supports LGBT rights shouldn't matter. We should be past the point of being giddy over a nice wrapper. Corporations that dodge paying U.S. taxes while making billions from American consumers are wreaking havoc. We should all be sending a message to the fast-food giant that it is hurting America — gay America, straight America, all of America.”

American companies that try to dodge paying American taxes hurt all Americans, so when you hear of a company attempting this, let them know it’s unacceptable. And un-American.

Billy Crystal, on Robin Williams at the 2014 Emmy Awards:

"He made us laugh. Hard. Every time you saw him. On television and in movies, nightclubs, arenas, hospitals, homeless shelters, for our troops overseas and even in a dying girl's living room, to honor her last wish. He made us laugh.

"I spent many happy hours onstage with Robin. His brilliance was stunning; the relentless energy breathtaking. I felt like if I could throw a saddle on him and stay on for eight seconds, I was doing great.

"Robin, Whoopi, and I were in the broadcast booth on Comic Relief day at a New York Mets game with the great Tim McCarver. Robin knew nothing about baseball. I asked him who his favorite team was, and he said, 'The San Franciscos.'

"He was a little lost in the conversation, so I got an idea, turned to him and said, 'We have a Russian baseball player with us.' His eyes got all bright; his ears perked up. It was like he was a little dog that was inside all day and the master came and said, 'Hey, do you want to go for a walk?' I said, 'What's baseball like in Russia?' Without missing a beat, he said, 'We only have one team: The Reds.'

"The ball came screaming at us; we ducked down, it went screaming into the wall. The ball bounced back into Robin's hands. He yelled, 'I love America! I'm going to defect.'

"He could be funny anywhere. Often at my family functions, he would sit with my older immigrant relatives like he was one of the guys, and he would tell them about his journey from his little village in Poland to America. One uncle of mine said he came to America after World War II and hitchhiked. Robin said, 'I waited until there was a 747 and a kosher meal.'

"As genius as he was on stage, he was the greatest friend you could ever imagine: supportive, protective, loving. It's very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in our lives. For almost 40 years, he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy. But while some of the brightest of celestial bodies are actually extinct, their molten energy long since cooled, miraculously, because they float in the heavens so far away from us now, their beautiful light will shine on us forever. And the glow will be so bright, it will warm your heart and make your eyes glisten, and you'll think to yourselves: Robin Williams… what a concept."

What a concept indeed.

Random Musings

Santana is rapidly becoming the most interesting character on Glee, though I could watch Darren Criss just dance for an hour every week.


Bill O'Reilly is a loudmouth; A boorish, one-note, bullying loudmouth. So, I just love to see him get shutdown, especially when he's peddling one of the books he "wrote".
I giggled a couple of years back when i read about the soldiers in Afghanistan, who gleefully burned his book, Pinheads and Patriots. Now, to be fair, they didn't burn the book because they disagreed with O'Reilly, they burned it because O'Reilly says he steadfastly supports our troops, and yet instead of sending them things they could use, like, say, food or soap, he sends them copies of his book. How.Useful. [source]
And now, it's Ford's Theatre, not burning, but banning, his latest book, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever. Now, this isn't because O'Reilly is a douchenozzle, it's, as Rae Emerson, deputy superintendent of Ford's Theatre, "because of the lack of documentation and the factual errors within the publication."
Lack of documentation? Not a single footnote in O'Reilly's "history" book.
Factual error? Well, for one, the book talks of the many meetings Lincoln held in the Oval Office, even though the Oval Office did not exist until some 44 years after Lincoln's death.
Factual errors? O'Reilly wrote of generals U.S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, saying, "The two warriors will never meet again" when, in fact, Lee and Grant did meet again, in 1865, to discuss prisoners of war.
Oh, Billy Boy, who's the real pinhead? Um, yeah, it's you, because, if you;'re gonna write about history, you ought to have read about it first. [source]


Lotsa folks are grumbling about Billy Crystal replacing Eddie Murphy as host of the Oscars after Murphy stepped down. They're saying it's like a trip back in time.
I'm saying it's like a trip back to funny, and a really good show.


If the Bill O'Reilly story wasn't enough to make me laugh, this one did the trick.
There is a new building--well, it's a couple of years old--in the Bronx, that was funded by New York's Housing and Development Corporation, and backed by voracious homophobe, bigot, and anti-marriage equality politico, Ruben Diaz.
But, the LGBT community gets the last laugh, because this week Bronx Pride set up shop in what is now called the Ruben Diaz Gardens. A building named after a huge homophobe houses Bronx Pride.
Karma is a bitch, Rube. [source]


Top Chef: Texas.
Chris R. is hot, Beverly is wound too tight, Lindsay is tense, Sarah...I just don't like her...and Hugh Acheson's face is latex.
That's all.


Hermie Cain goin' all Rick Perry: "President Obama called for the removal of (Moammar) Gadhafi - just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing before I say yes I agree, or no I didn't agree. I do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason - nope, that's a different one....I got to go back and see, I've got all this stuff twirling around in my head."
Like sexual harassment charges?
Oops.