No Filter: Oh My God Danielle Brooks
Welcome back to No Filter, in which we unpack the week’s celebrity social media like a pack of hyenas tearing apart a zebra. All week long, famous people post flattering photographs of themselves in vivid Valencia, and we collect said images and pore over them as though we were meaningfully involved in said celebrities’ lives. It’s extremely fulfilling. Let’s hop to it!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCnobJ0pqK2/
I cannot handle Danielle Brooks right now and hereby award her this week’s coveted Crush of the Week Award.
Sarah Paulson maybe got a trim, maybe got an alternative lifestyle haircut, maybe is a total weirdo who walks around hair salons and steals the discarded clippings off the floor (Update: she got a cute trim, not the Marcia Clark Makeover Special).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCmgYu9xx_s/
For #squawkgoals, Carrie Brownstein gets a gold star this week.
Samira you are actually killing me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCjanTGi4Js/
This might be one of the gayest photos I have ever posted in this entire column, which is saying a lot. Thanks, Kaki King!
Ran into this little lady the other day! @KREAYSHAWN pic.twitter.com/IoxR1iumf9
— Danny Trejo (@officialDannyT) March 8, 2016
When Danny Trejo brags about meeting YOU, you’ve really made it, kid. Someone please tell me Kreayshawn will be in the next Machete movie.
As a longtime America’s Next Top Model fan I’m personally pretty excited to see Isis King, but everybody’s look is on point here.
Just thought you might need to look at Jiz Lee and their trainer’s biceps today. Jiz Lee goes to a queer gym?!?! This is almost inspiring me to exercise.
What would you do if you saw Camila Grey leaning against a wall, casually twirling her chapstick?
Join us next week, when hopefully we’ll find out what’s going on with Sarah Paulson’s hair, among other pressing issues.
No Filter: Amber Rose Slut Walks Right Into My Heart
Welcome back to No Filter, a weekly examination of the inner workings of Cara Delevingne’s mind. What does she think about? What does she talk about? What does she eat for lunch? Does she get the same salad I like, with the chickpeas and the kalamata olives? This week a lot of celebrities were making big moves on the ol’ Instagram machine. Let’s take a look!
Is this still cute? Yep, still cute. I haven’t watched this 90 times in a row or anything.
Two very cute queer musicians released very good albums and everybody here is excited about them and they look excited too!
https://instagram.com/p/8ZDxC2Eq-v/
Amber Rose is the hero of the week and Carmen feels some feelings about it.
Camila Grey and Kate Moennig went to Chile so uh, look out for them in a park near you.
Ellen Page and Samantha Thomas hung out with Joe Biden. I searched through all of their posts about each other from the last week and can’t find a single comment from that one guy who keeps explaining all the ways their relationship can’t be for real. Did he finally give up? I kinda miss him.
https://instagram.com/p/7-wiS1MU3S/
WELL EXCUUUUUSE ME.
https://instagram.com/p/8V9I5smFXh/
I just feel like this video of Sara’s cat is a metaphor for my whole week, you know?
Hey look, it’s Cara Delevingne riding off into the sunset… with you.
https://instagram.com/p/8bp-kBiy-v/
In my early 20s I once took a very drunk photo with Amanda Lepore at some club on my birthday and looked like an insane mess. Hari Nef just looks sultry and mysterious. Amanda Lepore looks exactly the same.
Join us next week, when Samira Wiley and Cara Delevingne will probably drag race. My money’s on the horse.
No Filter Is On A Dinner Date With Samira Wiley And Carrie Brownstein’s Entire Coven
Welcome back to No Filter, where we collect examples of celebrity Instagram accounts in order to fill a hole deep within our souls. This weekend, I was treated to a very long car ride with a relative stranger who mentioned several times how shallow and stupid celebrity culture is and how proud she is that she doesn’t follow anything about it. Congratulations to that person, who is a liar and who is probably reading this column right now. Anyway, let’s talk about Instagram!
Camila Grey and Kate Moennig just woke up in what is apparently my dream house. After a cup of coffee, they’re probably headed out to play badminton in the park.
This adorable scamp.
Nothin’ worse than losing your tot, especially if said tot is Jenny Owen Youngs.
https://instagram.com/p/6_fJ7QGFWE/
Sara Quin posted a bunch of pictures of her cats this week but I thought I might switch it up and post a picture of her with Tegan instead, eating this giant pile of bread, animals and breaded animals.
Jasika Nicole and Brittani Nichols are hard at work on a thing! What is this thing?!? Surely we will learn in due time.
I can’t wait to see this movie and cry forever!
https://instagram.com/p/66GGnRLmnM/
Nobody loves a selfie quite like Angel Haze. My feed has become a lot less interesting since Ireland presumably took over custody of their dog.
https://instagram.com/p/7E99YSxx5l/
Carrie’s been posting pictures of herself hanging out with Kim Gordon, Amy Poehler and Aimee Mann for years and every single time she does, my whole body trembles with FOMO. I ache to eavesdrop on their brunch conversations.
https://instagram.com/p/7GXpfGRA2Z/
Surprise videos are the worst.
Maybe I printed out a lifesize version of this picture and eat dinner in front of it every night, while having imaginary conversations with my best friend Samira Wiley? Who’s to say? You can’t prove anything.
Join us next week, when my best friend Samira Wiley and I enjoy a lovely stir fry.
Uh Huh Her’s Camila Grey: The Autostraddle Interview
After our recent doozy of a news week, you are most likely asking yourself: hey Autostraddle, it’s been 72 hours, where’s my Uh Huh Her status update? Well, have we got a good one for you! A one-on-one with Camila Grey, who gives us the Behind the Music treatment on UHH’s brand new record, Nocturnes, finally out October 11th.
For the uninitiated, here’s the quick and dirty on UHH: they are an electropop duo consisting of Camila (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar, producer) and our very own Alice Pieszecki, Miss Leisha Hailey (backup vocals, bass, keyboards). They released one really awesome full length album, Common Reaction, back in 2008 and a follow-up EP, Black and Blue, this Spring.
Prior to UHH, Cam was a member of the lo-fi rock band Mellowdrone and also played bass and keyboards for Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes and Kelly Osbourne. Oh, and she most recently did this little thing globetrotting with Adam Lambert as his keyboard player during the worldwide Glam Nation Tour. No big deal.
The girls are about to embark on the Keep A Breast Tour (aiming to educate women on breast cancer awareness and prevention) hitting all major cities in the US starting October 8th. They’ll probs make out on stage, so you should definitely go.
Listen to “Another Case”
What’s been the biggest evolution from Common Reaction to Black and Blue to Nocturnes?
This record has an anthemic rock sound, cause I was listening to a lot of Pink Floyd… I’m obsessed with The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon. I’m really into 70s rock, like [the psychedelic, experimental band] Can, Bowie, etc. I would say that Black and Blue was very electronic based, it was electronic influenced and made within a week and a half, two weeks. It was very like stream of consciousness while Nocturnes is very thought out, planned, and done in a studio with live musicians. It’s fancy but also done very organically while Black and Blue was just very electronic. Nocturnes is extremely layered, lush, just a deep rock record. When we made Common Reaction in 2007 we were really just getting to know one another. We met, decided to form the band, three months later had a record deal and three months after that we had Common Reaction out and thrown out on tour. It was just happening so fast! This time around we really took our time and thought everything out carefully.
You said Nocturnes was inspired by darkness… how did this manifest in the lyrics/music?
Yea, it was inspired by literal darkness… I would work until all hours of the night, just because that’s kind of when I wake up, when most people are sleeping. And, darkness also in the sense of… I had been going through personal turmoil with my relationship, and we left our label and fired our manager and we just left alone and dark and sad… There were a lot of break-ups, in that sense, happening between the two of us and the company we were dealing with. And, then I went on the road with Adam [Lambert] and spent a month in the dark in Sweden and northern Europe cause it was during the winter. I literally spent like 26 days with no sunlight in northern Europe… I’d never done that before and I was writing lyrics during that time and thinking about what that all meant… So, it was a mixture of a lot of things. It was kind of a dark year. I also want to say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, so, while it’s lyrically dark, the music is super hopeful. Which I think we do all the time: dark meets light; light meets dark. You can’t have one without the other.
Why did you leave your record label?
Well, without giving away all the details it had to do with the politics and bureaucracy of our record company and we wound up being dropped and then we decided to leave everything – our managers and go off on our own as independent artists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGNVpoy6Z5M
Did it have to do with being in out band, or the direction of the music?
…I’ll just say it had to do with the record company [laughs].
And you were left with the responsibility of financing the record production on your own…
Yeah, which was really scary because we came from Nettwerk where we had like a $200,000 budget which was amazing since we didn’t even know if we’d ever be signed when we first started and all of a sudden 5 months later we had this huge budget. So, when we left we had some money left over but not a lot so we wound up holding an auction on E-Bay and sold all kinds of stuff so our fans could help us raise the money we needed to finish mixing the record. We sold guitars, we made art, redesigned vinyl covers and stuff. All kinds of things to raise the money for the final mix of the record. I actually love that we’re self-releasing because now we get to have a hand in everything we do which is exciting but it takes a long time. We felt so bad that it was taking forever to come out that we made the EP (Black & Blue) to sell at shows until this record was ready to finally come out.
How much did the record end up costing?
You know what, in the end it cost $20,000 which is basically unheard of, especially coming from that $200,000 budget on Common Reaction. And, I can honestly tell you that the record sounds just as good, if not better. Seriously, you guys can judge for yourselves when you finally get to listen to the record.
A while back you tweeted about possibly changing the name of the band. why did you want to change it and why did you ultimately keep it?
I get so frustrated with the name because I probably have to repeat it 4 or 5 times every time I am talking to someone about the band. It’s just so hard to understand, ugh I fucking hate the name so much! So, we really wanted to change it but it’s really too late now. It would basically be undoing all of our work over the past few years getting people to know who we are and making a name for ourselves. I just keep referring to us as UHH and I really hope that catches on, like CSS [laughs]. It’s just gotta be UHH from now on.
I know it was inspired from the PJ Harvey album title, “Uh Huh Her,” but what’s the deal there? Were you guys really high one night, joking around and it stuck?
[laughs] I’ll never say… It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time in the middle of the night. Like, you drink a 6 pack and everything seems like a good idea at the time and then you’re like, “wait, what?! That’s an awful idea.” But it’s too late now.
Who else do you like to listen to?
I like a lot of old stuff, like Zeppelin, Bowie, The Fall, Bjork, The Eurythmics, Depeche Mode… and then newer stuff like… Ladyhawke is brilliant, Cut Copy…
Does it frustrate you that a lot of people come to the shows to see Alice Pieszecki?
Yes! It’s so annoying, seriously! A lot of girls in the audience will actually scream “Alice!” and I’m just like “Come on, really. Come on.” It’s a little frustrating because I want all the L Word fans to really get into our music and hopefully they eventually do throughout the show or if they listen to our records. But yeah, that absolutely happens and I gotta win them over.
Does Leisha sing lead at all on the new record?
Yes, she sings lead on one song, “Debris” which she wrote by herself, and I produced.
What is the most personal song on Nocturnes?
Hmm, probably “Wake to Sleep,” which I wrote… it’s funny because people will assume it’s like this intense, serious song but it’s just literally about our experience writing and recording the record. As soon as the sun goes down I’m like, okay, let’s throw some candles on and go write or produce, whatever it is. Basically, Leisha has this thing where she has to leave the studio at 5PM every day and go home. And that’s just when I’m getting started and get all inspired by the night, etc. So it’s always me asking her to stay later but she always has to leave and go home [laughs].. Leisha’s very different. She’s very light-hearted, and bright and happy-go-lucky and she’ll write during the daytime but, for me… I’m inspired by the night.
Do you write the music and lyrics together or each song written entirely by one person?
When we first started we had this thing where we felt we had to write everything together. Now, we definitely still write some stuff together but there are also songs that I write entirely on my own or she writes entirely on her own. Like, I wrote “Human Nature” and “Wake to Sleep” and “Darkness Is” entirely alone and Leisha wrote “Debris” entirely on her own. The rest we collaborated on.
You guys appear to spend 24/7 together.. ever feel like a married couple?
Yes! Oh my god, we totally are. We write and record together, we do press together, we travel together on tour. And now that we don’t have the backing of the label everything is in our hands with regard to promotion and actually selling the record so the company is truly in our own hands.
What’s the craziest thing you witnessed on the Glam Nation Tour with Adam Lambert?
Oh my god. Do you have two weeks? What didn’t I see?! Probably the funniest thing from that tour was this thing Adam coined called “tongue diving” where he’d be on stage and pick out a cute guy or girl int he crowd, and start making out with them. That whole tour was crazy and so fun and it was just an amazing year. I was on the road with him for a year. I don’t think people realize how hilarious Adam Lambert is. Like, I think people see him as this serious, brooding musician but in reality, he could be a comedian – for real. We’d be in a different city in the US and Europe every day and we just had so much fun. I’m working with him now on his new record – I wrote one song and I’m producing another. I just love him – he’s like a brother to me, really.
What can you tell us about Adam’s new album?
Well, I wrote this song I love called “Dreamer” a few years ago and had been looking for a huge, powerful voice to sing it. Originally Christina Aguilera was supposed to sing it, but that didn’t happen so when I started thinking of songs for Adam it was just like “of course!” It’s perfect for him. I co-produced it with Brad Thomas Ackley who worked on Black & Blue and Nocturnes with us and and, even if it doesn’t make his final album I’m just like, oh my god! To have someone with that caliber voice and hear them do little tricks on on a song you wrote.. I REALLY hope it makes his album, it just sounds so amazing. He’s working with these big, huge producers like Pharrell, and then it’s like… us [laughing].
Did you watch The Real L Word?
You know, I don’t want to bash it, but I cannot watch that show. It’s upsetting to me. [laughing].
Which did you find to be the more accurate portrayal of lesbians – The L Word or The Real L Word?
To be totally honest, I only watched the first season of the actual L Word show and then I stopped watching it, so… I really have no idea. I’d imagine The Real L Word? I know Tracy Ryerson and she’s amazing and I think she was accurately portrayed, so I’d have to go with the reality show.
What’s the sweetest thing a girl has done for you?
Hmmm…flown me to Hawaii just to chill.
So, do you remember the fan video contest you held back in 2008 and these three girls went to SXSW and made this really funny video and won?
Yes!
So, the hilarious blonde girl in the video is Riese, the creator and editor-in-chief of Autostraddle!
Oh my god, that video was great! I remember it! So funny.
Wanda Sykes Talks to Ellen About Breast Cancer, Leisha & Cam Animated (Rough Week for Celesbians)
UH HUH HER / THE TALK:
The Leisha Hailey / Camila Grey Southwest situation has graduated from Internet sensation to television roundtable discussion. Conan joked about the incident in his monologue last night and Sara Gilbert (resident lesbian over at The Talk) threw in a personal message from Leisha since they are tight IRL. The Hollywood Lesbian Scene is even smaller (and more incestuous) than your own posse, FYI.
Meanwhile, for those following kissing-gate, Southwest is now saying Leisha & Cam were thrown off the flight for cursing, not making out:
“Additional reports from our Employees and Customers onboard flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers. At least one family who was offended by the loud profanity moved to another area of the cabin. Although we have reports of what Customers characterize as an excessive public display of affection, ultimately their aggressive reaction led to their removal from the aircraft. We do not tolerate discrimination against anyone for any reason. In this situation, their removal was directly and solely related to the escalated conversation that developed onboard the aircraft.“
To recap, please enjoy some Taiwanese anime of the incident in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 72 hours:
WANDA SYKES:
During an appearance on Ellen this week, she revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in February and underwent a double mastectomy, saying she didn’t want to take any chances of a recurrence. She tells Ellen that her original intention was to go in for breast reduction surgery and when routine pathology tests were done on the tissue removed during breast reduction surgery, cancer was found.
“I was very, very lucky because DCIS is basically stage zero cancer. But cancer is cancer. I had the choice of, you can go back every three months and get it checked. Have a mammogram, MRI every three months just to see what it’s doing. But I’m not good at keeping on top of stuff. I’m sure I’m overdue for an oil change and a teeth cleaning already. I have a lot of breast cancer history on my mother’s side of the family, which I didn’t know about.“
Despite her avid support for breast cancer awareness and fundraising, she added that she wasn’t sure about opening up about her struggle because she didn’t want to become a “poster girl” for the cause:
“How many things could I have? I’m black, then lesbian… I can’t be the poster child for everything! At least with the LGBT issues we get a parade, we get a float, it’s a party. I was real hesitant about doing this because, I hate walking. I got a lot of walks coming up!”
ELLEN:
Ellen called paramedics to her studio on Monday after feeling “tightness and heaviness” in her chest Sunday night. She recounts the incident and reassures everyone that she is doing just fine:
ROSIE O’DONNELL:
Has everyone season-passed the brand spankin’ new Rosie Show on OWN yet? Well, get on it because it starts Monday, October 10th! To coincide with the launch of the new show, she has debuted her brand new girlfriend (whom she met at Starbucks several months ago) at the Rosie Theater Kids Gala. I wonder if Tracy Kachtick Anders and her 6 kids are still living in the guest house?
THE PLAYBOY CLUB:
Sean Maher (aka Dr. Simon Tam on Firefly) plays one of the closeted founding members of the Mattachine Society (one of the first gay rights groups in the country) on The Playboy Club and has just become the second out actor on the NBC series. He shares tales of his closeted Hollywood life with Entertainment Weekly and is super excited that “this is my coming out ball. I’ve been dying to do this.” He tells EW that although he was lucky enough to be a working Hollywood actor, he felt immense pressure from publicists to stay closeted:
“…So that sort of started the idea of, okay, well, I’m working a lot, I guess I’ll just keep that gay part of my life on the back burner for now. I went so far as to sleep with women a couple times. It was a very confusing time for me. It was so exhausting, and I was so miserable. I didn’t really have any life other than work and this facade I was putting on. So I kept my friends from college [where he was out] separate from my work friends, and that was very confusing. I just kept going on and on painting this picture of somebody I wasn’t. I didn’t have time for a personal relationship anyway. And you just don’t realize that it’s eating away at your soul.”
Sean also has two adopted children with his partner of nine years.
Southwest Refugees Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey are Making a Statement
Yesterday we told you about Leisha Hailey and her girlfriend getting kicked off a Southwest flight for kissing. At the time, partially because it said so in The L.A. Times (“Hailey and fashion designer Nina Garduno have been a couple since 2006”) and also because one of our editors was interviewing Cam when this whole thing first showed up on twitter, we thought the “girlfriend” was Nina Garduno. But it turns out we were wrong about it being Nina which must mean that Camila and Leisha didn’t tweet as it happened but rather tweeted several hours/days after their flight from El Paso to Los Angeles.
Now that it’s out there, I do vaguely recall being told that Nina and Clea were old news and Cam and Leisha were new news, but I must have filed that in the recesses of my brain which contain information such as “how to spell Pieszecki.”
We apologize for the mix-up. Hopefully this misinformation did not cause any of you to die in a fire. It was Leisha and Cam on the plane. If it helps, the bigger bananahead in this situation is us, obviously.
The reason we’re writing this is because today Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey released a statement to the press about yesterday’s incident using Shane’s least favorite word, “we.” Here that is:
Camila Grey and Leisha Hailey statement
We have always promoted tolerance, openness and equality both as a band and as individuals. We both come from loving homes where our parents not only love and accept us, but are also proud of who we are. We believe everyone has the right to live openly in this society as equals. In no way were our actions on Southwest Airlines excessive, inappropriate or vulgar.
We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss. We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple. We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done. We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant after being told it was a “family airline.” We were never told the reason the flight attendant approached us, we were only scolded that we “needed to be aware that Southwest Airlines was a family oriented airline.”
No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud. You can’t whisper hate. We ask this airline to teach their employees to not discriminate against any couple, ever, regardless of their own beliefs. We want to live in a society where if your loved one leans over to give you an innocent kiss on an airplane it’s not labeled as “excessive or not family oriented” by a corporation and it’s employees.
We find it very disturbing that the same airline who lauds itself as being LGBT friendly has twisted an upsetting incident that happened into our behavior being “too excessive.” The above is not an apology and we are in the process of filing a formal complaint with the airline. We hope that when all is said and done a greater tolerance without prejudice will evolve.
It’s worth mentioning that this incident officially outed the two bandmates as a couple, which is something in and of itself. As far as I know, Cam has stayed pretty tight-lipped about her sexuality and relationships throughout the band’s terrific rise to fame and stardom. (Correct me if I’m wrong — despite being UHH’s number one fan for about two years I haven’t been keeping up as well lately.) It’s nice to see that when controversy arrives, they put activism before privacy. I hope that inspires other stars to do the same.
In conclusion, I’d like to quote my girlfriend who said “whoever [the flight attendant who kicked them off] was, she picked the wrong lesbian to throw off an airplane” and point out that anyone who can say no to this face is f*cked in the head:
Southwest Kicks Leisha Hailey Off Plane For Kissing Her Girlfriend, Starts Internet Sh*tstorm
Today, the fine employees of Southwest Airlines were gifted with a sight L Word Megafans would’ve paid money to see — The L Word‘s Leisha Hailey kissing her [this is unclear at this point, but she was definitely female.]
However, instead of taking photos with their cell-phones and uploading them to The L Word Wiki like any reasonable person would’ve done, Southwest reacted by kicking them off the airplane! Subsequently, Leisha took to twitter and called for a boycott of Southwest. Presently twitter is blowing up with support for a Southwest boycott.
Leisha tweeted about the incident from her own twitter handle as well as the account of the band she’s in with Camilla Grey, Uh Huh Her.
The full transcript of the tweets from Leisha’s personal account:
Leisha Hailey: “I have been discriminated against by @SouthwestAir. Flight attendent said that it was a “family” airline and kissing was not okay. This is an outrage. I demand a public apology by @Southwest Air and a refund. Hate is not a family value. I will never fly this airline again. We were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue. @SouthwestAir endorses homophobic employees. No one made her accountable. Since when is showing affection towards someone you love illegal? I want to know what Southwest Airlines considers a ‘family.’ I know plenty of wonderful same-sex families I would like to introduce them to. Boycott @SouthwestAIr if you are gay. They don’t like us.”
From @UhHuhHerMusic:
“So we’ve joined the ranks alongside @BJAofficial and @ThatKevinSmith for being kicked off an @SouthwestAir flight, this time for being gay. @SouthwestAir maybe you guys should put up a big sign that lists what you don’t tolerate before we spend our money on your horrible service. We didn’t know intolerance and discrimination for slouchy pants, being overweight and being gay was part of your family values.”
click to enlarge
Billie Joe Armstrong was booted off his Southwest flight for wearing saggy pants and Kevin Smith for being allegedly too large for one seat.
A Southwest rep replied to her tweet with “”I’m so sorry! Can you please follow/DM [direct message] me more details so we can get to the bottom of this? Thanks!”
Then around 1pm Leisha tweeted again, letting Southwest know that she had video and audio recordings of the event.
Southwest Airlines just released the following statement:
Statement Regarding Southwest Airlines Customers Removed from Flight 2274
Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight. We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectations.
Uh Huh Her responded, via twitter:
“I didn’t realize a small peck on the lips is regarded as excessive and never once did your stewardess mention other passengers.”
This is a sticky and complicated situation and it’s definitely not an unfamiliar one — sure, a company can claim it was the affection itself that got Person A&B kicked out of the mall/restaurant/airplane — but would they have even noticed if it’d been a straight couple? I wonder if whomever booted Leisha could honestly say that they would’ve taken the same action against, say, two 65-year-old straight white people.
Our gay boyfriend Adam Lambert expressed his disappointment with the situation and support for Leisha on twitter. Leisha’s bandmate Camilla Grey toured with Lambert last year, and, in response to people questioning Lambert’s understanding of the story, he affirmed that he’d spoken to Cam and knew everything. And this is how he feels about it (after all, if anyone knows about the kissing double-standard, it’s Adam!)
Even Shane tweeted her support:
Glaad tweeted that they have been made aware of the incident and are continuing to “work on this issue.”
It’s ultimately unlikely that any of this is coming from the top. Southwest is the official airline of GLAAD and sponsors many of its ceremonies and initiatives, such as the Media Awards in Advertising, and the company earned a 95 on The HRC Equality Index for LGBT-related corporate responsibility. Southwest even has an entire area of its website dedicated to its involvement with the GLBT community — by all popular accounts, at a corporate level Southwest really loves gay people.
But who is empowering employees to make value judgments about their customers? Why is Southwest defending their flight attendant’s actions when it so values diversity and GLBT outreach?
This was funny timing, firstly because our Entertainment Editor Jess was interviewing Camilla Grey as this whole thing went down and secondly because my girlfriend and I flew Southwest last weekend to Shedonism in Las Vegas. I think most of our flight attendants were gay, sidenote. Nevertheless we did what I do any time I’m stuck in a inescapable enclosed space with a bunch of strangers: we tried to avoid engaging in any activities potentially characterized as “physical affection.” Sometimes I try to make it a game, like we’re secret agents and the conspiracy is our relationship. Because if it’s not a game, it must be real life, and nobody wants a real life where I have to censor my movements just to avoid the 5% chance of potential backlash. While self-policing, I always say things like, “I know I’m just being paranoid” and so when shit like this happens, it’s really disappointing to find out that my irrational paranoias weren’t so irrational after all.
Adam Lambert Snags UHH’s Camila Grey for Magical Gay Mystery Tour
CAMILA GREY/ADAM LAMBERT:
Camila Grey is officially the luckiest lesbian in the world. She’s (as far as we know) dating Clea Duvall, she’s in a band with Our Lover Leisha Hailey (Uh Huh…Her?) and they make lovely music, she’s able to play songs beautifully despite her bangs always being in her eyes, she’s very pretty, and NOW SHE’S GONNA BE OUR BOYFRIEND ADAM LAMBERT’S KEYBOARDIST. Uh Huh Her broke the big news on Twitter:
She says to watch out for tour dates! I hope they find a way to synch up Camila’s druggie acid-dance of hippie darkness with Adam’s glammy sex-dance of screaming darkness, because that would be one hell of a show.
This seals the deal: Adam Lambert is officially a lesbian phenom. Also: this is going to be the gayest band since The Village People! I JK, I JK! I know there’ll be only 2-3 gays in the band, obvs they can’t hold a candle to The Villlage People.
I mean… we know that Tommy Joe Ratliff the bassist is like “straight” or whatever, but like, if Adam Lambert tongue-kissed me, I would probs become a gay man. That’s all I’m gonna say about that except this one more thing; Adam’s nickname for Tommy is “glitterbaby.” Just saying! Maybe Adam & Cam can go gay clubbing today and make us funny vlogs about it!
Here’s the band — and Adam Official has serious deets —
Adam’s drummer Longineu Parsons (married, straight) was actually the drummer for emo-punk band Yellowcard. Monte Pittman is also married & straight. Lisa Harrington (formerly of The Smashing Pumpkins — she currently keyboards for Ke$ha) must be who Camila is replacing? Shortly before that photo up there was taken she got her head caught in a fishing net so that might be why.
No but seriously if she is keyboarding for Ke$ha she’s probs pretty busy right now.
Here’s one of our fave head/explosion pictures, just for funsies! There’s Cam! On the far left!
And from our photoblogger Robin’s fab photoshoot with Uh Huh Her:
In other Adam Lambert news, he’s had a lot of feelings lately, like that he loves Johnny Weir: “I’m glad he’s a trailblazer. He’s comfortable in his own skin, clearly. And he’s expressing himself. I think that’s what art’s all about.”
Furthemore, Adam will be performing on American Idol though the date has not been booked yet. He performed for a sold-out crowd of 3,500 people in his first big solo show last night:
A select group of 600 fans adorned with glitter, black eyeliner and Goth- style outfits packed a two-hour pre-concert party, which was put on by the casino when Lambert fans began talking online about meeting up before the show.
This will come as a surprise, I’m sure, but according to this interview with News of the World, Adam Lambert has done drugs before! Of course he does not now, because That Would Be Bad, but he says “There are certain drugs out there that are really fun and recreational and can mean a good time. I’m not an advocate for drugs but it is all rock and roll and we are all adults.” If you read his interview with Rolling Stone twelve times, you already knew that he was sorta tripping at Burning Man when he decided to do Idol. See this is why ADAM IS REAL AND WE LOVE HIM. (@ohnotheydidnt)
GAY MARDI GRAS:
Gay Mardi Gras rocked Australia this weekend with tens/hundreds (depends where you look) of thousands of people coming out to celebrate tolerance and to release the anger & frustration they have towards the Australian Senate which killed a gay marriage bill mere days ago!
The 33rd Annual Mardi Gras Parade, themed “History of the World” featured more than 9,500 people and 125 floats, was lead by Transgender Model Amanda Lepore. Rumor has it that Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland and George Michael were in the crowd.
POTTER:
Daniel Radcliffe has agreed to be the “voice of a gay suicide prevention charity.” He says “”I’ve always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it. The fact that I’m straight shows that straight people care a lot about this as well.” He did not mention anything about making out with Draco Malfoy, which was weird, but whatever. Also, here is a picture of him where he looks like a robot. (@newsoftheworld)
GAY BOWEL SYNDROME:
By itself, the fact that Tea Partier and Republican congressional candidate Barb Davis White announced that “Rosa Parks did not move to the front of the bus to support sodomy.” is not that funny. But when you read on and find out that in the same speech she said gay marriage should not exist because “gays and lesbians have higher rates of STDs than anyone else in the world, including gay bowel syndrome, it does get kind of funny, yeah. Maybe she can take something for that. (@pamshouseblend)
CHRIS ROCK:
We like Chris Rock! He is funny and also smart. So we were excited to find that he appeared on Bill Maher’s show for a surprise discussion on healthcare! “Rock… [compared] the Republicans’ opposition to the health care reform to buying a first class ticket on an airplane and sitting next to someone to who got a free upgrade from coach. “Republicans are like, ‘How the hell you gonna sit next to me and you didn’t buy the seat?'” Watch the full video here.(@huffpo)
SAD:
You guys! Look at this thing we found! Sad Magazine is a publication out of Vancouver, BC that looks really awesome, and we’re kind of in love with it. Maybe because they kind of sound a lot like us, in a way? “Sad Magazine was going to be a place where we could publish work we were truly proud of — the kind of stuff we couldn’t pitch to our editors or clients because they just wouldn’t get it.” They’re nonprofit and entirely volunteer-run, and they’re accepting submission from everyone from writers to graphic artists to stylists. Make it happen!
NICKI MINAJ:
Remy Ma is protesting too much: “She told the Jenny Boom Boom show, “I’m not gay, how would I have sex (with) Nicki Minaj ? No, I never had sex with Nicki, anybody. I’ve never done girls ever in my life and I never would. Actually, that video came out years ago. I was home ; actually, when it first surfaced, and I don’t know who that is. I don’t even know what the logic was behind that.”
RECOVERY:
There are a million articles about young anorexic girls on the internet, and it’s nice to finally read one about the other side. Constance Barter almost starved herself to death at 14, but now at 17 she says “My main hope is to provide hope and inspiration to other young sufferers,” she says. “And to show it is possible to make a full recovery. I have a very strong belief that I will never return to anorexia… My life is so much more fun and free without it.” (@guardian)
SUSAN MILLER:
Anyone But Me’s Susan Miller is going to be on The Stupid Cancer Show TOMORROW, March 1, at 9 PM EST. Tune in for “Sex and the C Word – I’ve Had Them Both!”
LILO:
Remember when everyone was all “Why wasn’t Lindsay invited to the Fashion Week show, she must be so sad?” Well f*ck all y’all, because she was at the Milan Fashion Week Womenswear Autumn/Winter 2010 festivities on Saturday night and she looked bangin’. (@ohnotheydidnt)
Dinah’s ’09 Talent: Robin’s Up Close & Personal with Uh Huh Her, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry
Although I didn’t personally have the pleasure of spending the first week of April hanging out poolside with all the celesbians in Palm Springs, I have had the pleasure of photographing many of the artists who rocked the Dinah Shore Crowd this year and I thought I’d share some with you! (more…)