LGBTQ
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Dave Chappelle has spoken out about the backlash he’s received for his anti-trans commentary recently and how it made him feel.
In the latest episode of The Midnight Miracle podcast with Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli Tuesday (Jan. 24th), the stand-up comedian addressed the criticism he’s received for his remarks during his recent Netflix comedy specials (with The Closer drawing the most ire) targeting the trans community for hypocrisy.
“In a weird way, they had the intention of inciting violence against themselves for publicity,” he said.
Chappelle referenced the show that he did in Minneapolis, Minnesota last July as an example. Chappelle had to move the show from the First Avenue club to the Varsity Theater due to protests from staff members at First Avenue. The show was well received by the audience but was marred by protests outside of the venue.
“The trans [people] and their surrogates, always say that my jokes are somehow gonna be the root cause of some impending violence that they feel like is inevitable for my jokes,” he stated.
He continued: “But I gotta tell you, as abrasive as they were, the way they were protesting, throwing eggs at people, throwing barricades, cussing and screaming, [none of my fans] beat ‘em up. In fact, the people in the crowd would just say, ‘We love you. Like what are you talking about?’”
The 49-year-old then took aim at First Avenue’s handling of the situation, which included their issuing a statement of apology for booking him. “I was upset. I wasn’t mad that they canceled the show,” he said. “I was mad at the statement they released… You’re sorry? For booking me? What’s there to be sorry about is the position I was taking… I’m not even mad that they take issue with my work. Good, fine. Who cares? What I take issue with is the idea that because they don’t like it, I’m not allowed to say it.”
Chappelle elaborated further on that point, saying: “Everything seems absolute, and any opinion I respect is way more nuanced than these binary choices they keep putting in front of us. I don’t see the world in red or blue. Trying to silence a person like me, I don’t think it has anything to do with being loved. They want to be feared. ‘If you say this, then we will punish you.’”
The library is officially open! Congressman George Santos found himself in a war of words with none other than Trixie Mattel on Monday (Jan. 23).
The Twitter feud began when the embattled junior Congressman (and alleged Brazilian drag queen) took to social media to complain about being skewered on late-night TV by everyone from Jon Lovitz on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to Bowen Yang on Saturday Night Live.
“I have now been enshrined in late night TV history with all these impersonations, but they are all TERRIBLE so far,” he tweeted. “Jon Lovitz is supposed to be one of the greatest comedians of all time and that was embarrassing— for him not me! These comedians need to step their game up.”
The RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars 3 winner couldn’t resist hopping into the fray by replying, “Maybe the source material was weak.” Santos didn’t take kindly to the read, and decided to respond with some shade about Mattel’s Snatch Game impression of Mama Ru, writing, “Clearly you know all about weak acting skills” next to a gif of the moment.
“I am not an actor! I was young and I had fun at a festival!” Mattel responded, but Santos insisted on getting the last word by adding, “It’s all good! I won my race against the fan favorite too,” in reference to his 2022 campaign against Democrat Robert Zimmerman.
Santos’ knowledge of Drag Race culture seems worth raising at least one well-manicured eyebrow over, considering he’s been up in arms as of late denying allegations he used to perform under the drag name Kitara in Brazil. (As an openly gay Republican, he’s also been a vocal proponent of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which was signed into law by Ron DeSantis last year and inspired a rash of similar anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the country.)
Check out Mattel’s Twitter feud with Santos below.
I have now been enshrined in late night TV history with all these impersonations, but they are all TERRIBLE so far. Jon Lovitz is supposed to be one of the greatest comedians of all time and that was embarrassing— for him not me! These comedians need to step their game up.— George Santos (@Santos4Congress) January 23, 2023
It’s all good! I won my race against the fan favorite too. 💪🏼🇺🇸— George Santos (@Santos4Congress) January 24, 2023
An aunt and an ally. Amy Grant shut down trolls criticizing her decision to host her LGBTQ+ niece’s wedding on Monday (Jan. 16).
“I never chase any of those rabbits down the rabbit hole,” the Christian pop singer said to People of outcry from homophobic critics on social media. “I love my family, I love those brides. They’re wonderful, our family is better, and you should be able to be who you are with your family, and be loved by them.”
Grant also revealed that her niece’s nuptials took place at the very same place she and Vince Gill were married back in 2000. “I own a farm that I bought back in the ’90s and they were just looking for a beautiful place to get married,” she said. “So, she and Sam got married on the same hillside where Vince and I got married.”
“Honestly, from a faith perspective, I do always say, ‘Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: love God and love each other,’” Grant added in a Washington Post interview back in November to explain her perspective on balancing her well-documented faith with her support of the LGBTQ+ community. “I mean, hey — that’s pretty simple.”
This weekend, Grant — who received Kennedy Center Honors in 2022 — opened the long-awaited Los Angeles concert honoring A&M Records co-founder Jerry Moss, performing her now-classic 1991 ballad “I Will Remember You” before Peter Frampton, Rita Coolidge, David Foster, Herb Alpert, Dionne Warwick and Sting each took the stage.
More shots fired! JoJo Siwa made quite the accusation about her recent breakup with Avery Cyrus in a new TikTok on Tuesday.
Using a viral sound taken from the “My Brother My Brother and Me” YouTube channel, the former Dance Moms star revealed what she was really trying to say onscreen. “But I love you Why are you breaking up with me??!!!” she wrote before offering up two different options: “There’s someone else” and, uh, “You told one of my best friends that you were excited to be dating me bc you’re ‘growing your career and wanna get to the top’…”
By the end of the lip-synced clip, Siwa makes it clear that the reason for her split was, well, not a third party. She also added some dramatic context in the video’s caption, writing, “And when I said I just wanted to be friends so I didn’t lead you on after an unplanned hookup you wanted nothing to do with me because there was nothing to gain anymore.”
The TikTok comes just one day after the Nickelodeon star vented about the breakup in an Instagram Story posted by her mother, Jessalynn Siwa, in which she claimed she “got used…For views and for clout” by the TikToker during their three-month relationship. “I got tricked into being told I was loved and I got f—ing played,” she added.
Though she has yet to offer an opinion on the latest TikTok, Cyrus responded to Siwa’s Instagram accusations, saying she was “saddened and confused by the situation” in a statement to E! News.
Watch Siwa’s latest TikTok below.
JoJo Siwa reflected on her friendship with Elton John while attending the singer’s final U.S. tour date in Los Angeles on Sunday.
“I remember the first time I ever got to meet Elton was backstage at one of his concerts and I got to talk to him for 45 minutes,” she told E! News at L.A.’s famed Dodger Stadium. “I was only 15 and that conversation changed my life forever.”
Almost half a decade later, the 19-year-old got the surprise of a lifetime when Sir Elton called her after she publicly came out, saying, “”Hello JoJo, darling. This is Elton.’ And I was like, ‘Mom, get the camera out. It’s Elton John.’
“To see the way that the world accepted Elton John for who he was, Freddie Mercury for who he was,” Siwa continued, “All of those people who came before me in the gay community made me feel like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be OK. Those people are who they are, people know them and people love them.’”
Siwa hit the red carpet wearing a re-creation of the Rocket Man’s famous orange plumed costume with devil horns, and she wasn’t the only star who made an appearance during Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodgers Stadium, which streamed live on Disney+. Dua Lipa joined John for their 2021 Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” while Kiki Dee was on hand for “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and Brandi Carlile duetted with her pal on “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”
Sam Smith sat down with Michelle Visage on Tuesday (Nov. 22) for a wide-ranging discussion about their non-binary identity, the meaning behind the name of their new album and more.
“I think I’ve always been non-binary, I’ve always been queer. And I always felt that way,” the singer explained on Michelle Visage’s Rule Breakers. “And when I found the words, I can’t believe how late I found the words, like 25, 26, someone told me about this thing called non-binary and I thought, ‘This is a place where I can exist.’ And it was magical. Very, very stressful and scary, but the minute I found those words and found this community, my inner peace was just still for the first time in years. It was incredible.”
When Visage asked what advice they would give fans in the process of discovering their own identities, Smith spilled the tea on the inspiration behind their upcoming studio set Gloria, which is scheduled to be released Jan. 27 via Capitol Records.
“There’s a fighter voice in all of us and you’ve just got to look after that,” they said. “My album Gloria, I’ve called it Gloria because I’ve called that voice inside me Gloria. It’s like a voice in my head that just says, ‘You can do it’. And kids have just got to access that voice and feed it.”
Smith also teased the music’s focus on queer joy in their recent Billboard cover story in August, saying, “I think joy for me, and for a lot of queer people, is quite a dangerous place. We’re all masters of pain, and I think it’s actually a very courageous act to step into the queer joy of it all.”
Since then, Smith has landed their very first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, “Unholy” featuring Kim Petras, which will be featured on the album along with the previously released “Love Me More.”
Stream Smith’s episode of Michelle Visage’s Rule Breakers on the BBC.
Not making up any time soon. JoJo Siwa addressed her lingering drama with Candace Cameron Bure while attending Elton John‘s final U.S. tour date in L.A. on Sunday (Nov. 20).
“We have not [talked], and I don’t think we ever will again,” the Nickelodeon alum told People after calling the older actress out for her recent anti-LBGTQ+ comments involving her move from Hallmark to the Great American Family network.
“That’s what’s f—ed up,” Siwa continued. “You not liking gay marriage, do your thing girl. You being religious, do your thing girl. Of course, I would want everybody to do what they want to do. But to purposely exclude someone because of who they love, that’s sh—y.”
The latest beef between Siwa and Bure follows the one-time Dance Moms star referring to the latter as the “rudest celebrity [she’s] met” as part of a TikTok challenge last July. That revelation then turned into a public back-and-forth between the two, including a phone conversation that quickly devolved into a case of she said-she said.
At Sir Elton’s show, Siwa also reflected on how she’s come into her own as a prominent voice in the LGBTQ+ community. “As I’m getting older, I’m starting to realize what an impact I really do get to have,” she said. “I think that’s a really cool position to be in. I am being honest and maybe being a little disruptive to somebody’s life, but it’s what I believe in. And so to have good people stand behind you with it felt really nice.”
Dove Cameron visited Kelly Clarkson‘s talk show on Thursday (Nov. 17) to talk about her hit song “Boyfriend” and got quite the surprise from the American Idol champ in the process.
“(‘Boyfriend’) was such a huge part of me finding my own identity and embracing my queerness,” the Disney Channel alum told Clarkson during their interview. “And it makes me emotional every time I talk about it but, it was such a key to gate for me into stepping into myself wholly, in a way that I never knew if I was gonna be privileged enough to find those pieces of myself. And exist as that person, right?
“‘Cause that’s the fear,” she continued. “The fear is that you exist as yourself wholly and the world cracks open and everything ends, and all the lights go out. And when the song came out and I saw that people were emotionally connecting to it, I think I was really panicked for some reason, just ’cause I wasn’t expecting it. And then over time, it was like it melded into this gorgeous, like…something meaningful for me being something meaningful for others.”
After Cameron explained how she found the song’s success such a “beautiful surprise,” Clarkson revealed a surprise of her own, presenting the burgeoning pop star with the RIAA platinum certification for the track.
“I was so excited when we found out you were getting it, I was like, ‘I wanna give it to her!’” the host told a speechless and visibly emotional Cameron.
After a slow burn of nearly four months, “Boyfriend” ultimately peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100 in June just in time for Pride, giving Cameron the first top 20 hit of her career. Additionally, the slinky single rose to No. 4 on the Radio Songs chart dated June 11.
Watch Cameron’s adorable reaction to Clarkson’s platinum surprise below.
Lucky, lucky girl! Kim Petras took to social media on Monday (Oct. 24) to celebrate her hit single “Unholy” with Sam Smith reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
“NUMBER ONEEEE HOT 100! I’m so grateful,” the singer wrote before giving her collaborator a shout-out. “Sam I can’t thank you enough for riding with me for years at this point. I’m so honored to be a part of your first number one in the US which you should have 500 of at this point. I love you forever angel Sam.”
With the TikTok-fueled song’s gradual ascent through the chart’s top three spots over the course of just as many weeks, Petras and Smith become, respectively, the first openly trans and nonbinary artist in the history of the Hot 100 to have a No. 1 hit. “Unholy” also continues its four-week reign atop both of Billboard‘s Global tallies on the charts dated Oct. 29.
In an exclusive chat with Billboard when the song hit No. 2, Petras reflected on her status as a trans trailblazer in the music industry, saying, “I think I grew up in a more difficult time than now — 10 years ago, I could not have imagined how accepted my presence would be. … As long as the music is good and you’re really freaking good at what you do, you can make it. I’ve built this fanbase over the last five years, which is all kids that are like me; it’s my job to stand up for my community and my fans who have been there since the beginning.”
While “Unholy” marks the singer’s first entry on the Hot 100 after half a decade of releasing fan-favorite tracks like “I Don’t Want It at All,” “Can’t Do Better” and “Coconuts,” she’s currently gearing up for the release of her next solo single “If Jesus Was a Rockstar.”
Read Petras’ sweet post about achieving her first No. 1 below.
The Aldean family conflict with Maren Morris reached a new peak at Jason Aldean‘s concert Friday night (Oct. 14). While teasing the identity of his show’s surprise guest — who turned out to be Morgan Wallen — the “You Make It Easy” singer name-dropped Morris and paused as his Bridgestone Arena crowd in Nashville loudly booed.
“I thought, man, who could I call?” Aldean told his audience in fan-captured video, drawing out the suspense of his surprise guest. “I got some friends in town. I could call Luke Bryan. I could call Kane Brown. See if Kenny Chesney’s here and not at the beach.”
Then, he simply said the name of “The Middle” singer, before trailing off as his audience audibly jeered.
This follows an August social media disagreement between Morris and Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean. After Brittany made a transphobic joke on Instagram (“I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life,” she’d captioned a makeup video). She followed it up with an Instagram Stories statement in which she doubled down on her stance. “Advocating for the genital mutilation of children under the disguise of love and calling it ‘gender affirming care’ is one of the worst evils,” she posted. “I will always support my children and do what I can to protect their innocence.”
In a response to Cassadee Pope, who had tweeted her opposition to Brittany’s comments, Morris agreed with the singer and former Voice contestant. “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?” replied the “Make You Say” singer. “Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
In September, Morris opened up about why she feels so strongly about speaking out when it comes to social justice issues, even when her fellow country artists and fans of the genre oftentimes disagree with her — and do things like, say, boo the mention of her name at a concert.
“I try to rise above — not even bad behavior, but just expected behavior that has become normalized that is bad,” she told Apple Music Country’s Proud Radio with Hunter Kelly. “[My husband’s] like, ‘I hate that you always feel like you have to be the hall monitor of modern country music’s behaviors in and around race and homophobia, transphobia.’”
“I don’t need to feel like I have to always be that person that speaks up,” she continued. “I think I come across a lot louder than I actually am because everyone else is so quiet.”
Watch a fan video of Morris’ name getting booed at a Jason Aldean concert below: