• Oh. Now the major magazines want to write about The Wire — after the last season’s finished filming. [NYer]
• African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame? Who knew? [AHN]
• White supremacists and anti-racism activists faced had a face-off in Canada recently over a new voting law. [CBC]
• R.I.P. Big Moe.
• The 20 scariest anti-gay activists. Scarier still — most of them are surely anti-other things, too. [QT]
Famous for being an ex-husband, Jonathan Plummer has had the tide of public approval against him since he came out of the closet and his marriage to novelist Terry McMillan dissolved.
So when he decided to write a piece of “fiction” with some shocking similarities to his situation with his famous ex-wife, he should probably have expected some backlash.
I got some from Terry, herself, on Stereohyped a couple weeks ago, when I wrote a post about a bookstore banning Plummer’s Balancing Act.
I haven’t read the book or spoken to Plummer myself — Stereohyped’s gay blog-brother Queerty had that honor. See what Queerty has to say in this tell-all. Hint: it’s nothing good!
• Jay-Z wishes he looked like (a human version of) that. Beyonce should be glad she doesn’t. [C&D]
• Prodigy gets hit with a three and a half year sentence after pleading guilty to illegal weapons charges. Maybe his legal team needed more people. [AHH]
• Oddly sexy for a tire ad, but I’ll take it. []
• Samuel L. Jackson reps Star Wars until the day he dies. [SP]
• Why do all close male friends have to attract gay rumors? Omarion, though? I’m not sure… [QT]
Alicia Keys, who many people already suspect is a lesbian, actually thought that playing a lesbian in last year’s Smokin’ Aces was a refreshing change of pace from her girlish persona.
…The more I read, the more I got it. I was like, “Wow, there’s nothing people will expect from me less than this.” And that’s what I wanted when it came to the film. I don’t want to be the singing, piano-playing “girl role.” I want to be something that’s not who I am.
Clearly, Alicia subscribes to the Mariah Carey school of thought and doesn’t read what other people say about her.
[QT]
Blacks and Latinos who are also gay have hate coming at them from different angles, and, according to new research, this helps them to cope with prejudice better than their white counterparts.
“These findings suggest that black lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals have effective ways to cope with prejudice related to racism and homophobia” said Dr. Ilan H. Meyer, associate professor of clinical sociomedical sciences at the Mailman School and principal investigator of the study.
“The finding regarding younger cohorts of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals is consistent with social stress theories that predicted that the liberalization of social attitudes toward homosexuality over the past few decades can lead to a decline in stress and related mental disorders and suicide among lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals,” Meyer said in a news release.
Here’s where I get confused — the study, which polled 388 white, black, and Latino gays, says blacks and Latinos are more likely to have a history of suicide attempts. In general, though, it seems that blacks and Latinos had fewer mental disorders than whites, a finding that the researchers didn’t expect.
Pledges to tone down the violent homophobia in their lyrics haven’t stopped the belated backlash against Elephant Man and Sizzla from going full steam ahead. Apparently Canadians are putting their collective feet down, and a planned Toronto concert featuring the two artists has been canceled.
CONTINUED »
Tim Hardaway used to be best known for basketball, but most recently, his claim to fame is that he virulently, unapologetically hates gays? Or does he? Since the brouhaha over the homophobic comments he made in February, he seems to have made an honest effort to change.
“I just wanted to go in and get educated, that’s all. Get educated on what I said and why I said those things,” Hardaway said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’m working on understanding it now. I’m not really trying to make amends. I’ve been there trying to get help.”
Hardaway has declined many interview requests in recent months, saying he didn’t want to make his work with advocacy groups seem like a publicity stunt or a quick-fix to an image problem.
“I had no idea how much I hurt people,” said Hardaway, who spent most of his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat, and still makes his home in South Florida. “A lot of people.”
Hardaway has become a regular at the Yes Institute, an advocacy group for gay kids, and the activists there seem to think he really has turned over a new leaf. I believe him if they do.
[SI via QT]
Like a racist who justifies his ignorant comments by naming all of his black friends, Ja Rule has set out to downplay his previous homophobic remarks by explaining that he has the “homosexuals in [his] family” over for Christmas. See! How could he possibly dislike gays if he lets them in his house? At Christmas-time?
How would you react if one of your kids told you that he or she was gay?
That’s their own preference. I’m going to love them regardless. I have relatives that are homosexuals and, you know, they come over for Christmas, hang out. It’s something that starts with us. That’s why my album is named ‘The Mirror’ — because everybody has to look at themselves and take it upon themselves to educate. It’s my responsibility to educate my children — not the TV. I think a visual is more influential than audio, but that goes without being said. You know, that’s the world we live in and people are tight in the collar about a lot of issues. It is what it is.
Those gay relatives might be choosing a different house to celebrate the holidays at this December.
[QT]
• See, everyone’s a winner in the Kanye West/50 Cent battle! [GW]
• The Fort Lauderdale mayor’s attack on gays has also driven a wedge between the community’s blacks. [MH]
• We see whites with adopted black children frequently, if not all the time. But when it comes time for biological mothers of color to find families for their kids, its often hard to find black families to adopt. [NPR]
• Like most white people in the Jena Six protests, the white supremacists are so late to the game. Try to keep up, guys. [CT]
• With some exceptions, here’s proof that the anti-PC movement is in full swing. [LAT]
Jonathan Plummer, the man responsible for both the giving and the taking away of Terry McMillan’s infamous groove, has written the gay, gold-digging version of O.J.’s If I Did It, and booksellers are responding to it in a similar way — by banning it from their shelves.
At least one bookstore — Marcus Books in Oakland — has decided not to carry Plummer’s novel, Balancing Act, which is based on the man’s “discovery,” “during” his marriage to uber-author Terry McMillan, that he was in no way shape or form a straight man. Funny how that happens after you marry the millionaire novelist.
In a press release, Plummer’s manager has implied that stores blocking his novel are anti-gay. It’s probably more likely they’re pro-McMillan.
