While filling in for Anderson Cooper on his talk show, Rosie O'Donnell talked about her long-running feud with talk-show host Kelly Ripa, according to the Daily Mail. The two had been feuding since O'Donnell suggested six years ago that Ripa has homophobic toward former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken. (When co-hosting with Ripa, Aiken held his hand over her mouth, prompting her to say she didn't know where his hands had been.) While most people had thought the pair had made up, the feud once again ignited when the woman were sat next to each at Madonna's concert Nov. 12. Now, O'Donnell says, "I just have got to let it go, just let it go because since my heart attack, let it go."
Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, USA Today reported. Clash, 52, had been accused by Pennsylvania man (identified as Sheldon Stephens) of having a sexual relationship when the man was 16. Later he recanted, claiming he was an adult at the time, and Sesame made plans for Clash to return to work. However, TMZ.com reported a second man has accused Clash of initiating a relationship 20 years ago, when the man was 15, and has now sued him for $5 million, claiming he had only recently become aware of "adverse psychological and emotional effects."
Reality-TV personality Jeff Lewis, the center of the Bravo show Flipping Out, is suing longtime assistant Jenni Pulos and her literary agents to stop a book she is writing, according to Gay Star News. Lewis has filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking an injunction against the unwritten book, which has thr title Hang in There, BabyWhat One of the World's Most Difficult Bosses Taught Me About Life, Work and Love. In reaction to the suit, Pulos tweeted, "Woke up this am, being sued by your boss is really putting on the Celebrity Cinderella Slipper. Bullies Aren't Cool."
Channing Tatum is the latest man to be named People magazine's sexiest man alive, EOnline.com reported. "My first thought was, 'Y'all are messing with me,'" the Magic Mike actor said. "I told [my wife] Jenna [Dewan-Tatum] after we'd been in the bathtub washing our dogs because they'd gotten skunked." Tatum, 32, is following in the steps of others such as Bradley Cooper, George Clooney and Brad Pitt in receiving the title.
Although Tatum snagged the title, out actor Matt Bomer (TV's White Collar) is also featured in the issue, Gay Star News noted. Bomer is featured alongside celebrities such as Richard Gere, Denzel Washington, Olympian Oscar Pistorius, Paul Rudd and others. Bomer, 35, came out publicly earlier this year while accepting am award; he and entertainment industry agent Simon Halls are raising three children together.
Courtney Stoddenthe 18-year-old woman married to 52-year-old actor Doug Hutchinsonwas set to make her live singing and pole-dancing debut at the West Hollywood gay bar The Abbey Nov. 21, but the bar cancelled the show, according to EOnline.com . "Her management approached the Abbey but ultimately she just wasn't a fit," a rep for the bar told E! News. However, Stodden's mom (Krista Keller) said, "It was too much for the Abbey to handle, too much press and controversy," while her reps said, "The reasons for the cancellation provided by SBE are a mystery to us and based on fear, in our opinion."
Anne Hathaway revealed in Vogue how she lost 25 pounds from her already slim frame for her role as Fantine the movie Les Miserables, Zap2It.com noted. Hathaway lost 10 pounds from a cleanse and another 15 over two weeks by going on a "near-starvation diet" where she only ate two thin squares of dried oatmeal paste a day. Les Miserables, with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, is slated to open in theaters Christmas Day.
Actress/activist Sheryl Lee Ralph (part of the original cast of Broadway's Dreamgirls; TV's Moesha) has announced the line-up for her DIVA Foundation's 22nd Annual HIV/AIDS benefit concert and 2012 World AIDS Day event, DIVAS Simply Singing, according to Eurweb.com . Among those performing are Oleta Adams ("Get Here"), Jenifer Lewis and R&B singer Faith Evans, as well as reality-TV stars Jamar Rogers (The Voice) and Prince Poppycock (America's Got Talent). The concert will take place on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, at Los Angeles' Club Nokia.
FX has picked up a third installment of the horror anthology franchise American Horror Story with a 13-episode order, according to Deadline.com . FX and AHS creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have been quiet about details concerning the next incarnation but announced that, like with American Horror Story and American Horror Story: Asylum, many of the actors, including star Jessica Lange, will return in different roles next year.
Iconic gay playwright Tony Kushner told out film critic Tom O'Neil that although he's aware of rumors that Abraham Lincoln was gay, he decided not to focus on them in the screenplay for his new film, Lincoln, according to Advocate.com . Kushner said Lincoln, in which Daniel Day-Lewis plays the president, is about a specific moment in timea moment that didn't allow much room for sexuality. However, Kushner did say there's some credence to the rumors about Lincoln's sexuality.
Actor Sir Ian McKellena co-founder of Stonewall, a British gay-rights organizationhas narrated a new video highlighting the plight of kids bullied because of their sexuality, according to Gay Star News. Speaking in the video, McKellen says, "Over half of lesbian, gay and bisexual students have experienced bullying in schools." He is also visiting schools around the country, adding, "Nothing in life is more important to me than helping gay young people realize there are better days ahead of them."
Speaking of McKellen, he has admitted he broke down in tears during filming for The Hobbit, in which he reprises his role as the wizard Gandalf, according to Gay Star News. He said he cried shooting scenes for the Lord of the Rings prequel because he was forced to act alone in front of a green scene. "Pretending you're with 13 other people when you're on your own, it stretches your technical ability to the absolute limits," McKellen said, adding, "I cried, actually. I cried. Then I said out loud, 'This is not why I became an actor.' Unfortunately, the microphone was on and the whole studio heard."
Salon.com has published a list of the movie industry's 11 most memorable LGBT villains. Among the characters listed are Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train (played by Robert Walker), Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs (played by Ted Levine), Catherine Trammell from Basic Instinct (Sharon Stone's role), Tom Ripley from The Talented Mr. Ripley (played by Matt Damon), Antonio in Law of Desire (Antonio Banderas' role) and Barbara Covett from Notes on a Scandal (played by Judi Dench), as well as others.
Bravo TV executive Andy Cohen came under fire for calling the members of the ban One Direction "twinks," according to Entertainmentwise.com . Talking about meeting the musicians on the Today show, Cohen said, "I barged right into a room of twinks: One Direction! Security was not exactly too tight, with all due respect." Cohen later tweeted, "Misused word earlier I just meant they're cute. #1D"
Grant Bowler, Lindsay Lohan's co-star in the upcoming TV movie Liz & Dickabout Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burtonsaid that Lohan's past makes her perfect for the role, Entertainmentwise.com reported. Talking about Taylor's and Lohan's background similarities, he told Confidential, "[Taylor had] been a star since she was a child and had none of those inhibitions. She must've seemed like a mythical creature to [Burton]. She didn't care what people thought. She had absolutely no regard for other people's opinions when they critiqued her."
Major League Soccer suspended Seattle Sounders player Marc Burch for three games after he used a homophobic slur against another player during a playoff match against Real Salt Lake, LGBTQ Nation noted. Burch was also fined an undisclosed amount, and he has to take diversity and sensitivity training. Burch apologized, stating, "I apologize for my horrific choice of words ... during our match. This is something that is inconsistent with my family values and because of that I am both disappointed and embarrassed by my level of poor judgment."
R&B singer Miguel ("Adorn") talked with The Fader about the public's misconception that he's gay, according to SingersRoom.com . The singer (real name: Miguel Jontel Pimentel) said, "My mother is a very eloquent woman, and my father is a teacher. Between the two, they raised me to speak a certain way. So the way I spoke, the way I dressed, all of that was like, 'Wow, wait a second. This isn't Black … Oh, then he must be gay.' Now, whether or not I've worn things that are questionableoh my godI look at pictures of shit I've worn, and you know what? I don't really blame anyone. I get it. But I was learning."
Singer Solange Knowles (Beyonce's sister) recently was the subject of a unique search at the airport when the TSA patted down her Afro to make sure nothing was hidden there, according to SingersRoom.com . Knowles tweeted, "Discrim-FRO-nation. My hair is not a storage drawer. Although, guess I could hide a joint up in here. *Blames "Romnesia" (my wig's name)."
CBS has canceled Partners, the sitcom that paired Michael Urie (TV's Ugly Betty) and David Krumholtz (TV's Numb3rs) as best friends who are, respectively, straight and gay, the New York Times reported. CBS placed the show at 8:30 p.m. ET on Mondays, essentially replacing the longtime hit Two and a Half Men, which was shifted to Thursdays to create a powerhouse block with the network's top-rated comedy hit, The Big Bang Theory. However, Partners failed to hold the audience from the 8 p.m. comedy How I Met Your Mother and blunted the growth of the 9 p.m. show, Two Broke Girls.
Las Vegas' Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (BGFA) will present "Warhol Out West" starting Feb. 8, 2013, according to a press release. Organized in partnership with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, this exhibition will focus on Warhol's depiction of all things Western. "Warhol Out West" will showcase 59 of the iconic artist's works, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, screenprints and wallpaper.
Broadway stars will perform in a benefit to aid communities affected by Hurricane Sandy Nov. 26 at the Gershwin Theatre, according to Playbill.com . City of Hope: Broadway Blows Back will feature David Hyde Pierce, Ashley Brown, Patrick Wilson, Julia Murney and many more performers. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is sponsoring the show, and all proceeds from the event will be donated to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City. See www.BroadwayBlowsBack.com .
Florence Welch, the lead singer of the British band Florence + the Machine, is planning to write a new stage musical, according to a Playbill.com item. Welch, who also writes the band's songs, will collaborate with her longtime friend, costume designer Sophie Hart-Walsh, who said, "We always used to write songs about our lives and sing them to each other. We always said we should make them into a musical."
Through Dec. 16, Paolo Andino (The Big Gay Sketch Show) will star in The Santaland Diaries at Los Angeles' Stella Adler Theatre, according to TheBlank.com . "Santaland" is a one-man play (from David Sedaris) about the author's experiences as an unemployed writer taking a job as an elf at Macy's. In Chicago, occasional Windy City Queercast co-host Mitchell Fain headlines Theater Wit's version Nov. 23-Dec. 30.
Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino recently filed a lawsuit against Devotion Spirits, a company he inked an endorsement deal with back in 2010, according to TMZ. According to the lawsuit, Sorrentino says he did his part and made the booze a success it is todaybut insists the company didn't hold up its end of the deal. He claims Devotion didn't give him a larger ownership of the company on its one-year anniversary, which the business allegedly promised.
Dance-pop recording artist Sir Ivan announced a pledge to donate $100,000 to The Trevor Project, a national organization providing crisis-intervention and suicide-prevention services to LGBTQ youth, according to a press release. Sir Ivan and The Peaceman Foundationa nonprofit he established in 2005, to battle hatred, violence and post-traumatic stress disorderwill make the donation. According to his website, Sir Ivan (who's in his 50s and whose real name is Ivan Wilzig) is the eldest son of Siggi B. Wilzig, an Auschwitz survivor, financier and philanthropist.
There will not be a third season of Boss, which stars Kelsey Grammer, on Starz, according to Deadline.com . However, there are discussions between the pay-cable network and Boss producer Lionsgate TV about possibly doing a two-hour movie that would wrap up the story of Chicago Mayor Tom Kane.
In recognition of Transgender Awareness Week and the Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20), the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) reviewed its archives of transgender images on television episodes over the past 10 years, according to a press release. Since 2002, GLAAD catalogued 102 episodes and non-recurring storylines of scripted television that contained transgender characters, and found that 54 percent of those were categorized as containing negative representations at the time of their airing. Among the shows that aired exploitive and negative representatives trans characters are CSI, The Cleveland Show and Nip/Tuck, GLAAD stated.