July 25, 2003
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
11
eveningsout
Angelina Jolie comes out as bisexual
by John Graves
Lara Croft Tomb Raider star Angelina Jolie, who rose to star status after her role as the late lesbian supermodel Gia Carangi in the cable film Gia, was asked directly about her sexual orientation when she was interviewed by Barbara Walters on 20/20 July 11. When Walters asked Jolie if she were bisexual, Jolie unflinchingly confirmed her attraction to both men and women and her affair with lesbian actress and model Jenny Shimitzu.
“I was surprised when I suddenly found myself having these feelings for a woman that I always had for men, but for a woman— wanting to kiss her and touch her," said Jolie, who just went through a much publicized breakup with husband Billy Bob Thornton. Her affair with Shmitzu got started when they co-starred in Foxifire, a coming-of-age film about a group of teenage girls who unite under Jolie's leadership to take a stand against the almost constant sexual harassment by some of their town's teen male population.
Jolie also made it quite clear to Walters
ture and decorating combine their talents to perform a makeover for a hopelessly stylechallenged straight man, has opened to rave reviews and top ratings.
According to Reuters and Bravo, Queer Eye set new ratings records for NBC's cable channel among total viewers, household ratings and especially among viewers aged 18 to 49, favored by advertisers, and the more mature 25 to 54 year old viewing group.
Bravo, citing Nielsen Media Research data, says the show averaged 1.64 million viewers when it debuted July 15, making Bravo the second-highest ad-supported cable network during the hour the show aired.
Although Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales complained about how the show played up gay stereotypes, USA Today's Robert Bianco said it "makes no claims that these five men represent the sum total of gay experience."
More importantly, I think, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy shows straight men interacting very comfortably with gay men rather than defensively making comments about how really heterosexual they are.
that she was still quite open to a relationship 'Betrayed' by a dating show
with another woman if she should happen to meet the right one.
When Jolie was asked the same questions on Fox's syndicated talk show Good Day Live the next week, however, the signal was mysteriously cut. Although Jolie's representatives claim the incident was due to a technical glitch, representatives of Good Day Live said that they had been warned beforehand not to ask Jolie any personal questions.
USA Today says journalists were told not to ask any questions covered by Walters when they interviewed Jolie during a weekend press tour to promote her latest film, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.
Who can play lesbian, and who can't
Talking about her role in Showtime's upcoming lesbian dramatic series The L Word, actress Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) told the Television Critics Association, "One of the most important things for me was the fact that it could be so impactful and that it could be so helpful in terms of breaking down stereotypes. Somebody might tune to the show for one reason, and then come away having learned something that they had never considered."
"What becomes interesting is to think about how easy it is for a heterosexual actress or actor to play someone who is homosexual, how that's somehow permissible," Beals added, "but for a homosexual to be out and portray a homosexual character it becomes sort of much more problematic for an audience to accept. As a species, we're so fixated and curious about this mystery of sexuality."
Beals, who was questioned about her own sexual orientation when she took on the role, describes herself as a “bi-racial heterosexual woman," according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Look for The L Word, which also stars Pam Grier and Mia Kirshner, to debut on Showtime sometime in January.
Being 'inned' by the tabloids
Sex and the City co-star Kim Catrall told People magazine that, since her divorce from husband Mark Levinson, the men she is seen with are often fodder for the gossip columns. Although Catrall said she doesn't mind the gossip, she continued, "My gay friends are photographed with me, and then people think they're heterosexual. It's not very good for them."
Gotta be a guy
Pamela Anderson commented on rumors of her sexual orientation
"Why am I always accused of being a lesbian" Doesn't bother me, but it's gotta be guy who keeps writing the lesbian rumors. Live and let live, for goodness sake,” she told Us Weekly.
Queer eye for top ratings
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Bravo's new reality show in which cach week, five gay experts on fashion, grooming, food cul-
Bravo's other gay-themed reality show, Boy Meets Boy, is a dating show in which a gay man must choose a date from a whole group of eligible males with the twist that some of the prospective dates are actually straight. It doesn't premiere until July 29 but Newsweek reports the show has already generated a bit of controversy.
The heterosexual suitors can win $25,000 if they get picked by the unknowing gay lead. If he picks a gay man, he wins the money.
Boy Meets Boy's openly gay executive producer Douglas Ross said he "wanted to test boundaries between gay and straight, and create a world where the straight people were in the closet." But the lead contestant, James, a California human-resources executive, was also upset about the straight twist to the show.
"I felt betrayed," said James, who wasn't told about it until the potential dates were narrowed down to three. "They told me they put the twist in there because they wanted straight people to watch. I said to them, 'Well, you've played gay people as entertainment for straight people. Of course they're going to watch.'"
Cult TV hit moves to film
Also debuting this month, actor Thomas Lennon costars as gay police Lt. Jim Dangle on Reno 911, a new comedy spoof of reality cop shows airing on Comedy Central Wednesdays at 10:30 pm. Speaking of Comedy Central, Entertainment Weekly reports that Amy Sedaris-sister of gay author David Sedaris-Paul Dinello and Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert have secured a deal to adapt their Comedy Central cult hit Strangers With Candy to the big screen.
Strangers With Candy features Sedaris as
a forty-something, bisexual, ex-con "user and abuser" who has returned to high school to finish her education with Colbert and Dinello playing two of her teachers who are involved in a not very clandestine gay relationship.
Some of my best friends are...
The Australian newspaper the Sunday Herald Sun reports former French sex symbol actress Brigitte Bardot, who was quoted in a recent book as saying that Muslim immigration, modem art, trash TV, and gay culture were the causes of France's descent into decadence, defended herself by claiming that some of her best friends were gay.
In a letter to the gay magazine Tribumove Bardot claimed. "Apart from my husband who maybe will cross over one day as well! I am entirely surrounded by homos For years, they have been my support, my frena my adopted children, my confidants.” Ads feature gay former NFL player
Former Green Bay defensive tackle Esera Tuaolo, who came out of the closet on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, is appear-
Esera Tuaolo
JEFF LOFTIS
ing in ads for the Chili's restaurant chain. In the ads, designed to reach mainstream audiences, Tuaolo, who grew up in Hawaii, is seen playing his ukulele and singing.
Tuaolo is no
stranger to singing before an audience, as
he regularly sang pre-game national anthems when he played in the NFL and sang on two CDs that were marketed by the NFL. Since his pro football days, Tuaolo has also performed in eight musicals or plays in Minneapolis, where he lives with his partner and adopted 3-year-old twins.
"They didn't give me the spot because I'm gay, the 35-year-old Tuaolo told USA Today.
"They thought I was talented. But it's a huge statement they put me in there."
Eric Webber of Chili's Austin, Texas ad agency GSD&M said, "We didn't set out to make a statement."
Tuaolo auditioned and was hired before Chili's or its agency knew about his sexual orientation, but when they found out, Tuaolo said, "They had no problem. It's a beautiful thing.”
Chili's spokesperson Louis Adams noted that some people recognized Tuaolo when the ad was tested in focus groups and said the company is getting "mostly favorable" calls from consumers who've recognized him. ✓
John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Saturdays at 9:30 am, and at www.wruw.org. See what's coming on TV in the Couch Potato Report, under "Entertainment" at www.lgcsc.org. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute to this column.
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