ZACHARY TRAVIS DIDN’T KNOW what American Idol was when he auditioned in 2005, because he had spent most of the past decade in a youth correctional facility. Inmates there weren’t allowed to watch television, he says, except on the day of the September 11 attacks. But Travis —who was first …
Read More »Shane Gillis Is Hosting SNL. It's a Controversial Choice
It’s been a strange few weeks for Saturday Night Live. Two weeks ago, during a night hosted by Madame Web actress Dakota Johnson, cast members Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman distanced themselves from Dave Chappelle when the transphobic comedian crashed SNL’s goodbye segment at show’s end. Then, last week, the …
Read More »How a Rabidly Anti-Gay Preacher Inspired a Sex-Positive Summer Jam
“If you buy her one margarita, she will spread her legs!” If you’re even a casual user of TikTok, you’ve probably heard this line before. It’s from a speech by Cynthia Smock, a campus evangelist who has spent 40 years touring southern US campuses to preach against drugs, alcohol, sexual …
Read More »Maren Morris Wants to 'Make DJ Gay Again' After Candace Cameron Bure's Anti-LGBTQ Comments
Maren Morris knows a thing or two about dragging people who make anti-LGBTQ comments. On Thursday, the country musician — who has long been a queer ally — commented on a viral post that broke down Bure’s recent homophobic comments, referencing fan theories about Bure’s Full House character DJ Tanner, …
Read More »He Wrote a Children's Book About a Magic Wig — and Got Pulled Into a Far Right Culture War
When Jonathan Hillman was growing up in rural Wisconsin, he says he frequently felt “small.” He was a boy in a family of dirt track racers who played with Barbies, who would pull his turtleneck up over his head to make a pretend wig when he was playing with the …
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