Before Stephen Colbert was officially named as the replacement for David Letterman, CBS CEO Les Moonves called in Neil Patrick Harris for a meeting in a room off his office, Harris told Howard Stern, according to ABC News. But Harris, 40, was not interested when he said Moonves asked whether he'd be interested in taking over for Letterman—and he also didn't want The Late Late Show, which Craig Ferguson is vacating. Instead, Harris said he pitched a variety show, which he hopes CBS will pick up one day. That, he said, better speaks to his skill set and interests.
Speaking of Neil Patrick Harris, he won the Distinguished Performance award at the 80th Annual Drama League Awards May 16 for his lead role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Playbill noted. Also, Hedwig won for Distinguished Revival of a Musical, The Glass Menagerie won for Distinguished Revival of a Play, All the Way was named Distinguished Play and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder was honored as Distinguished Production of a Musical. Jesse Tyler Ferguson hosted the luncheon ceremony.
Whoopi Goldberg tackled long-standing rumors about her sexuality in a new interview with PrideSource, according to The Huffington Post. "You've never seen me with a woman," Goldberg—who played lesbian characters in Boys on the Side and The Color Purple—said. "Nah, I'm straight, but what does it mean? What does it really mean?" The 58-year-old comedian/talk-show host also took time to acknowledge her LGBT fan base: "Black folks didn't want me. Nobody wanted me. But I've always been claimed by the gay community. Always."
Less than two weeks after reuniting for the second time since announcing their divorce in March, troubled couple Johnny Weir and Victor Voronov were involved in a physical altercation at their New Jersey home, Page Six reported. The fight reportedly began after Weir discovered texts "badmouthing" him on Voronov's phone. The former Olympic figure skater, 29, then unleashed a scratching frenzy on his husband, 30, leaving marks on his knees, hand and wrist. Voronov reported the crime to police, but declined to file for an emergency restraining order.
Channing Tatum promises that the sequel to Magic Mike will pack even more heat than the original, The Wrap noted. Tatum told GQ magazine that Magic Mike XXL ( as it's rumored to be titled ) is set at a series of stripper conventions inspired by ones he worked at during his own dancing career. One element that the sequel will be missing is Steven Soderbergh in the director's chair—although the "retired" filmmaker will still have a strong hand in the production.
The official winner of "RuPaul's Drag Race" season six is ... Bianca Del Rio, according to The Huffington Post. Del Rio edged Courtney Act and Adore Delano in the final to walk away with the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar" and $100,000. Contestant BenDeLaCreme was awarded the title of "Miss Congeniality" through an online fan vote; the likes of Ivy Winters and Latrice Royale previously won that title.
Rocker Linda Perry once again spearheaded "An Evening With Women"—one of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center's two biggest annual fundraisers—and raised more than $600,000 for the organization, Gay Star News reported. The event was at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where such stars as Perry's wife Sara Gilbert and celebs including Sia, Natasha Bedingfield, Michelle Rodriguez and Joely Fisher chowed on vegan food, bid on big-ticket live auction items and enjoyed a live concert. In addition to the reunion of Perry's band 4 Non Blondes, there was music and comedy from Margaret Cho.
Actress Melissa McCarthy has said she's dated her fair share of gay men, according to GossipCop.com . Asked by The Advocate if she's ever been romantic with someone who turned out to be gay, the Bridesmaids actress replied, "Just one? There were so many. In my early 20s I was like the last stop before a guy said, 'Yep, it's official: I'm gay.'" She added, "All of my friends were gay. In high school we started going to downtown Chicago clubs like Berlin, one of the best gay bars ever."
Melrose Place actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer is refusing to settle the on-going legal battle related to her role in a drunk-driving crash that killed a New Jersey woman, claiming the victim's family is demanding too much money, according to Radar Online. Locane-Bovenizer was sentenced to three years in prison convicted in November 2012 in connection with her vehicular homicide conviction from the June 27, 2010 crash, when her SUV crashed into a Mercury Milan. Helene Seeman, the passenger in the Milan, was killed in the crash; her husband, Fred, who was driving, was critically injured.
Actress Valerie Harper is fighting back against a New York playwright who claims she ruined his play by withholding her brain-cancer diagnosis, according to Radar Online. Matthew Lombardo wants $2 million, but Harper insists she had no idea just how sick she really was, and believed her cancer was in remission, having had successfully undergone surgery for a small lesion on her lung in 2009. Lombardo has accused the former Mary Tyler Moore Show actress, 74, of keeping her illness a secret, leaving his production without a star when she unexpectedly dropped out the 2013 national tour of his play Looped.
A New York hotel identified and fired the person who recorded security-camera footage that appeared to show Solange Knowles, Beyonce's sister, attacking Jay-Z on May 5, NBC News reported. In a statement released to NBC News, the hotel said the individual who was terminated was "responsible for breaching the security policies of the hotel and recording the confidential CCTV video released by TMZ." The incident took place in an elevator at the Standard Hotel following an after-party for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala in New York City.
For the first time on television, all 11 past and present co-hosts of ABC's The View came together to bid farewell to Barbara Walters, The Wrap reported. Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O'Donnell shared the stage for the first time since their highly publicized fight in 2007. "Please welcome back—I love them all! Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos, Joy Behar, Lisa Ling, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O'Donnell!" Walters announced as they joined the current cast ( Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy ).
OWN, Oprah Winfrey's network, has decided to postpone filming of its reality series on Michael Sam, the first openly gay NFL player, just days after his new prospective St. Louis Rams teammates expressed concern about the project, according to The Wrap. "After careful consideration and discussion with the St. Louis Rams, 'The Untitled Michael Sam Project' has been postponed, allowing Michael the best opportunity to achieve his dream of making the team," OWN President Erik Logan said in a statement. The decision was reached after a meeting between the network and the Rams organization.
Speaking of Sam, a Dallas TV station's talk show went off the rails when the conversation turned toward him kissing his partner during the NFL draft, Boston.com noted. On the show The Broadcast ( a knockoff of The View ), host Amy Kushnir stood up, declared she was "gonna go to Midland" and stomped off the set. Kushnir later told Fox host Megyn Kelly that she still believd it was inappropriate tfor ESPN to show the kiss and called it "over the top," according to RumorFix.com .
Glenn Close, absent from Broadway since 2003, will return in the fall for an 18-week run opposite John Lithgow in a revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, according to Deadline.com . The all-star cast includes Lindsay Duncan, Bob Balaban, Clare Higgins and Martha Plimpton. Pam MacKinnon, Tony winner for her engrossing revival of Albee's Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, is set to direct the Scott Rudin production. The show will run at the the Shubert's Golden Theatre beginning Oct. 20, with opening night set for Nov. 20.
The central hub for the 2014 Gay Games presented by the Cleveland Foundation has announced its entertainment line-up, according to a press release. DJ Joe Gauthreaux, DJ Saint and DJ Glisten; JD Samson and MEN; and Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic are among those performing at Festival Village. Drag queen, actor, comedian and recording artist Pandora Boxx—best known as a contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race—will be the celebrity hostess Aug. 10-15. Gay Games 9 will run Aug. 9-16.
The Viacom-owned cable network is teaming with Tyra Banks for docuseries TransAmerica, The Hollywood Reporter reported. The eight-episode docuseries will chronicle a group of Chicago women united by the shared experience of being transgender. The series is described as an earnest look at a group of millennial women who happen to be transgender as they live, love and build their careers. Model/activist Carmen Carrera will lead the five women in the hourlong series slated to bow in late 2014 or early 2015.
Former Disney executive David Neuman's attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss Michael Egan's sexual-abuse lawsuit against him, according to The Wrap. Court documents say that during a previous 2003 testimony, Egan said that Neuman did not have inappropriate sexual contact with him. Egan filed a lawsuit against X-Men director Bryan Singer on April 15 alleging Singer sexually assaulted Egan on two occasions in Hawaii, as well as accused the director of being part of a Hollywood sex ring that traded in underage boys.
It was on the stages of Chicago's gay clubs that Jennifer Hudson received her earliest training as a performer—and next month Hudson returns to the Boystown stage as headliner for the 2014 Pride Fest, Windy City Times reported. "I used to go out to the gay clubs when I was a kid," revealed Hudson in an interview with V magazine published earlier this year. "We were 16 or 17 and my best friend would pretend to be my manager." Among the other Pride Fest performers are Mya, Thelma Houston, Betty Who, Girlband, Glee's Alex Newell and Kathy Sledge ( of Sister Sledge ).
Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted into the National Football League by the St. Louis Rams, will be the subject of documentary that will air on the Oprah Winfrey Network, the Wall Street Journal reported. The documentary is expected to take a "deeply, personal and up-close" look at the life of Sam after the football player made history when he was selected in the seventh round of the NFL draft. However, according to ESPN.com, Sam did not tell the Rams about the documentary, and at least one St. Louis player believes the documentary could end up being a distraction.
At the Cannes Film Festival—where a handful of films have been widely derided, Grace of Monaco and That Lovely Girl among them—Atom Egoyan's The Captive may now hold a real distinction: It could be the first of this year's Cannes films to be greeted with outright boos, The Wrap noted. In the film, Ryan Reynolds plays an anguished father whose daughter has been missing for eight years, ever since he left her in the car while stopping to buy a pie after skating practice. A24 announced that it had purchased U.S. distribution rights to the film.
ABC has assembled the talent for its singing competition Rising Star, according to Deadline. Joining country singer Brad Paisley on the judging panel are pop star Kesha and hip-hop artist/actor Ludacris. Singer Josh Groban, who has done guest appearances on several scripted series, will serve as host. Premiering June 22, Rising Star is a live talent show that incorporates real-time voting by viewers via an app.
Lapham's Quarterly will present its annual "Decades Ball" June 2 at New York City's Gotham Hall, according to Playbill. The line-up includes Tony winner Glenn Close and Jonathan Groff singing selections from Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, and Maggie Gyllenhaal reading excerpts from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Along with Close, Groff and Gyllenhaal, Tony winner Michael Cerveris will read excerpts from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days and Taylor Mac will sing temperance hymns.
Out actor and Grey's Anatomy alum T.R. Knight will star opposite Mena Suvari in Amazon Studios' drama pilot Hysteria, according to a Playbill item. The project centers on Dr. Logan Harlow ( Suvari ), a bright but socially awkward neurologist-psychiatrist who travels to her hometown of Austin, Texas, to investigate a mysterious epidemic among high school girls that might be spreading through technology. Knight will play Logan's brother, Carter James Harlow, who's been on death row since he was 19 years old and is two months away from execution.
At an event for her animal-rights charity, actress Pamela Anderson revealed a history of sexual abuse, according to CNN. She recounted being molested between the ages of 6 and 10 "by my female babysitter," and then being raped when she was 12 by the 25-year-old brother of a "friend's boyfriend." "Needless to say, I had a hard time trusting humans," Anderson said. "I just wanted off this earth."
Entrepreneur Victor Drai has announced the opening of Liaison: the first-ever gay nightclub at a Las Vegas casino, according to a press release. Located at Bally's, Liaison will open this summer in the space that Drai's famed After Hours nightclub currently occupies. Liaison will be a seven-night-a-week experience featuring an eclectic mix of hip hop, rap, top 40 and a drag night.
Transgender artists Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst are transitioning in opposite directions and have captured their individual transformations in the "Relationship" series, a collection of photographs on exhibit as part of Biennial 2014 at Manhattan's Whitney Museum of American Art through May 25, according to ABC News. The photo series is an intimate diary of the couple's love affair and their gender identity transitions—Drucker from male to female and Ernst from female to male. The photos span five years of their relationship from 2008 to 2013.
Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming has a brand new nightlife gig in New York City, according to The Huffington Post. Starting May 1, Cumming joined DJ Paisley Dalton, Leo Gugu, Ruby Roo and photographer Brett Lindell for the senior and final year of "My Chiffon Is Wet," a performance staple on Thursdays in Manhattan nightlife. Former guests and hosts at "My Chiffon Is Wet"—which takes place at the club Eastern Bloc—include David LaChapelle, Michael Musto, Zachary Quinto, Jinx Monsoon, Andy Cohen, Amanda Lepore and Dita Von Teese, to name a few.
Paris Hilton is involved in a legal battle with a shoe company, according to the New York Daily News. The hotel heiress sued Antebi Footwear Group in Manhattan Federal Court last month, saying the company owes her more than $1 million in unpaid royalties for her signature shoe line. However, the company has hit back, seeking a $2 million royalty refund and additional damages.
Chicago's 2014 summer theater scene includes the world premiere of Sting's new musical The Last Ship; a production of Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth starring Michael Cera and Kieran Culkin at Steppenwolf; and more work from The Second City improv group, according to Playbill. Among some of the upcoming productions are American Theatre Company's Hair, Bailiwick Chicago's Carrie: The Musical and Steppenwolf Theatre Company's world premiere of The Qualms.
Tony Award nominee Valerie Harper, who withdrew from the national tour of the Matthew Lombardo play Looped following her cancer diagnosis—causing a legal battle with the playwright and producers of the production—has reached a settlement, Playbill noted. Court documents show that the lawsuit has been dismissed and that Lombardo has to pay Harper's attorney approximately $50,000. Harper and her husband Tony Cacciotti, a producer on the Broadway production of Looped, initially filed suit against Lombardo, claiming the playwright failed to pay the remainder of her contract when she took medical leave from the production. Lombardo and other producers countersued.
Singer Anita Baker ( "Sweet Love" ) has countersued a company that says it hasn't been paid for work done on her Detroit-area home, The New York Daily News reported. Baker's attorney says lawyers for Ray A. Smith Painting & Decorating "intended to put her in as embarrassing a light as possible." The 2011 lawsuit against Baker led to a warrant for her arrest, but the warrant was recently dismissed.
Broadway producer Jeffrey Richards, who is having a terrible spring, announced that The Realistic Joneses—starring Toni Collette, Marisa Tomei, Michael C. Hall and Tracy Letts—will end its Broadway run July 6, according to Deadline. Richards is also the lead producer of The Bridges of Madison County, the Jason Robert Brown/Marsha Norman musical that closed recently at a loss of $8.5 million.
"Same Love" rapper Macklemore ( real name: Ben Haggerty ) recently appeared on stage wearing a wig, beard and prosthetic nose—leading some to view the get-up as anti-Semitic, The New York Daily News noted. The 30-year-old emcee released a statement defending himself against the critics, and apologizing to those he offended; he said he threw the costume together so he could come to his show in disguise and surprise the audience—and felt that his look was "ambiguous." Actor Seth Rogen had initally tweeted, "@macklemore, first you trick people into thinking you're a rapper, now you trick them into thinking you're Jewish?"
