Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Billy Masters
by Billy Masters
2015-09-02

This article shared 11393 times since Wed Sep 2, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


"Black drag queen comes in and saves all the white folk ... that doesn't happen often!"—Billy Porter encapsulates the plot of Kinky Boots during his show at the Crown & Anchor in Provincetown.

Over this column's long history, the line between celebrity and porn has been blurred beyond recognition. While prostitution and porn are not necessarily the same thing, there is an indisputable connection. Last week, the offices of the largest gay escort website, Rentboy.com, were raided in New York City and seven employees were arrested.

But this raid wasn't solely carried out by the NYPD. The website was being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security. Huh? Is ISIS trying to infiltrate the US through hot male hookers? Was Bin Laden the Al-Qaeda equivalent of Heidi Fleiss? Maybe they're housing a sleeper cell! The official complaint was filed by special agent Susan Ruiz, and she spends an inordinate amount of time defining terms such as twink, scat, fisting, and out rate. Here's an example: "I have learned that a sling, also known as a 'sex sling', is a device that allows two people to have sex while one is suspended." If nothing else, we've surely enriched Ruiz's education.

There's all sorts of drama happening at the O'Donnell home. From what we can piece together, it all started in 1997. That was when Deanna Micoley put her 2-month-old daughter Kayla up for adoption. According to Deanna, she signed the consent documents while high on drugs and under pressure of her then-husband. She also alleges that the adoptive mother knew the condition she was in. That adoptive mother was Rosie O'Donnell, and Kayla soon became Chelsea O'Donnell. In the intervening years, Chelsea has been trying to find her biological parents. Somehow she got in touch with Deanna's father last November. Since then, Deanna and Chelsea/Kayla have been in contact via text and Facebook messages. Allegedly, O'Donnell tried to stop this communication and had some heated exchanges with Deanna. One text from Rosie says, "Get any lawyers u want. It was all legal. Like it or not. Now stop." When Deanna went public with the story, Rosie's publicist said that Rosie "encouraged and supported Chelsea's desire to communicate with her birth mother."

Fast forward to last month when Rosie revealed that Chelsea had been missing for a week with her service dog. On Aug. 18, Chelsea was found with 25-year-old Steven Sheerer, a man she allegedly met on Tinder and who has a record for heroin possession. According to reports, Sheerer sent Chelsea a nude photo of himself, and since she was only 17 at the time, he was charged with third-degree distribution of obscenity to a minor and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Six days after the police brought her home, Chelsea turned 18 and became a legal adult. Rosie's publicist made another statement: "Chelsea made a decision when she turned 18 that she wanted to go to her birth mother. That was her choice." But it wasn't quite so placid. We hear that Rosie refused to give Chelsea her birth certificate or Social Security card and threatened to cut her off financially if she left. And yet, off she went. Deanna drove from Wisconsin to pick up Chelsea/Kayla and told reporters, "Leave my daughter out of Rosie's stuff." To be continued...

Season 18 will likely go down in history as the least successful season of The View. All three of the newly-hired co-hosts vanished. For a while, it looked like Whoopi was going to be on the show all by herself. Then Raven-Symone was hired. Then Michelle Collins was hired. Then Candace Cameron Bure was hired. Then Paula Faris was hired. For those of you keeping count, that's five co-hosts—the most the show has ever had.

But Candace will also be filming the Full House reboot, and Paula hosts Good Morning America on the weekends. So they needed some fill-ins. Enter Stacy London, Ana Navarro, Molly Sims and Sherri Shepherd. Yes, Sherri Shepherd—one of the few co-hosts in the history of The View to actually leave of her own accord.

Then ABC announced that Joy Behar is back. Not only is she back—she's back as a permanent host. How did this happen? When planning for this revamped panel, the network asked both Sherri and Joy to return. Both entered into negotiations. The idea of this rotating slot appealed to Sherri, who still acts and does stand-up around the country. She was in. Joy was less than thrilled.

"They've come to me, and we couldn't make a deal," she said. "They wouldn't really negotiate well enough for me. And so I said, 'No, I'm not coming back.' I mean, if they were giving me a bigger role on the show, and giving me some power to actually make some changes and let them benefit from my expertise after being there for 16 years—but they're not going to do that, so why would I want to bang my head against the wall?" A big issue was the money—we hear Joy wanted $3 million for the part-time gig. The network balked, and Joy walked. Then Barbara Walters went to bat for Behar. Babs was disgusted with how the show has been run since her retirement, and insisted that Joy be rehired. But wait: There's more. Because the show will now be live on Fridays, Whoopi will take that day off—and guess who will be the moderator? Joy, that's who.

I'm already looking forward to Dancing with the Stars—or, as I like to call it, Dancing with a Bunch of Nobodies. So far, we have Chaka Khan huffing and puffing and sweating like a pig. Paula Deen might be a hoot. Then there's Nick Carter. If nothing else, he'll get back in shape—and there are few things in this world better than Nick Carter in shape. As to Bindi Irwin, really? She's a celebrity? Let's just hope her partner has a pet stingray.

When our tax dollars are being used to teach the feds about slings, it's definitely time to end yet another column. We had a little bit of everything to kick off our second decade—music, dance, murder, arrests, porn and escorts. And we LOLed the whole time. You can get even more kicks at www.BillyMasters.com, the site that will make you do more than laugh out loud. If you have a question for me, send it along to Billy@BillyMasters.com, and I promise to get back to you before Chaka asks Paula Deen to try her chocolate pie. Until next time, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.


This article shared 11393 times since Wed Sep 2, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Theater Review: Billy Elliot, The Musical
2024-02-19
Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall; Music: Elton John. At: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora Tickets: 630-896-6666 or Paramountaurora.com; $28-$79. Runs through March 24 Billy Elliot: The Musical may nearly be two decades old, but ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kelly Clarkson, Billy Porter and Luke Evans, 'All of Us,' 'Book of Mormon'
2024-01-05
Video below - At Kelly Clarkson's "Chemistry: An Intimate Evening" residency show in Las Vegas, two men got married with the help of the singer/talk-show host as a witness, EW.com noted. In an audience video from the show, fans ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: The tea that got spilled in 2023
2023-12-26
"No offense, but you look like Billy Masters." —I don't know which part of this quip from a stranger insulted me more—that he didn't realize I am Billy Masters, or he thought someone would take offense ...


Gay News

MOVIES Bill Oliver reflects on a queer couple's custody fight in 'Our Son'
2023-12-21
In the compelling, intimate movie Our Son (in theaters and available via streaming), Luke Evans and Billy Porter portray a married couple in which one of them decides to file for divorce. However, this is no ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Barry Manilow really was just interested in the articles
2023-12-19
"I wouldn't be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I'm never going to change my mind. They can just go you-know-what themselves." —Cher tells Kelly Clarkson her thoughts on being snubbed by ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ baseball executives announce cancer battles
2023-12-13
Openly gay Major League Baseball (MLB) executive Billy Bean announced he has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and that he needs a donor for a bone-marrow transplant, Gay City News noted. USA Today initially reported ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Fun messiness from the Ladies of the '80s
2023-12-12
"Everybody wants a bf like Timothée Chalamet...until it's time to change a tire." —Meghan McCain. OK, so she only retweeted it. But I'm filled with the spirit of giving. Alas, I suspect Timmy could only ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: The icing on the cake at a gender-reveal party
2023-12-05
"To hell with this place!"—George Santos's parting comments after being ejected from Congress. He also said that Congress "is full of felons galore." At least, that's what I think he said. With his lisp, it sounded ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: The Dolly Cowboy Cheerleaders
2023-11-28
Whoever intended to dumb down the citizens of America have done a FANTASTIC job. We are dumb as shit!"—Patti LuPone in an interview with broadcaster Tom Power prior to her touring show Don't Monkey with Broadway ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Billy Porter, queer novel, 'Tammy Faye,' queer DJ, Bella Ramsey
2023-11-24
Billy Porter released his long-awaited new album, Black Mona Lisa, via Island Records UK/Republic Records, and it's executive-produced by Justin Tranter, a press release noted. Porter said, "So many of the songs on my album have ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Was Kim Kardashian officiating your wedding worth it?
2023-11-20
I'd hoped to never again type the word "Jada" again. But this week, it's inevitable. It is being alleged that actor Duane Martin (don't feel bad—I had to look him up as well) slept with Will ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: The times Streisand failed to make a splash
2023-11-13
"Fame is a hollow trophy. No matter who you are, you can only eat one pastrami sandwich at a time."—Wise words from Barbra Streisand. You all know that Barbra Streisand's book is out. And I ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Barbra's bio hits stores...but don't rain on Cher's parade either
2023-11-07
"I will be forced to be in a position where I will have to openly say how I feel about the film and go against you, my mother and this film publicly."—Lisa Marie Presley's e-mail to director Sofia Coppola after reading ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Britney spills the tea
2023-10-31
"Brad Pitt, I think, in 'Troy'. That's a beautiful man. There's no denying it."—Jacob Elordi tells Jimmy Fallon his first celebrity crush. (If you can't place Jacob, you'll soon see him playing Elvis Presley in Sofia ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Madonna sets her watch to Diva Time
2023-10-23
"It is truly obscene what they're charging for tickets to 'Merrily We Roll Along' on Broadway. $500 to $800. PLUS—$40 a ticket 'handling charge.'"—Kevin Chamberlin voices his outrage at the price of Broadway tickets. Imag ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.