metroweekly.com - 3 218 Showbiz News and Updates

I Love Lucy was kicking off its first season, super glue had just been invented, and there were 140,000 syphilis cases reported across the country.”By 2000, however, decades of public health advocacy and medical advancements, such as the use of antibiotics in early treatment, had cut down cases to just 32,000 per year.So, what happened? Why are the numbers worse now than they were 24 years ago?“In the United States, syphilis was close to elimination in the 1990s, so we know it’s possible to reverse this epidemic,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, stated.The CDC recently released its STI surveillance report for 2022, the most recent verified data set available.

Police in West Hollywood are searching for a man who assaulted another while man yelling anti-gay slurs. He is also believed to have assaulted other individuals in the area.The victim of the anti-gay assault, David Velasquez, told the WeHo Times that, on Sunday, March 17, he was coming back from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he had been treated earlier in the day for severe cold and flu symptoms.He stopped by the Pavilions in WeHo to pick up medication and was riding his personal scooter home when the altercation occurred.Velasquez noted that he was riding on the sidewalk to avoid being hit by potentially drunk drivers as he made his way through West Hollywood on a particularly raucous St.

Precinct’s Instagram account, along with a clearer picture of two men — taken from inside the bar — whose attire appears to match those of the men urinating.According to the Instagram post, the men then rounded the corner, where one of the managers spotted the drinks and tried to take them away. The larger of the two men “reacted by physically assaulting him, throwing him to the ground.”It remains unclear if the employee was injured during the altercation.“Precinct is a safe space for all; let’s have a good time.

declared the death of Nex Benedict a suicide, LGBTQ groups lamented the nonbinary teen’s death and demanded accountability from officials whom they allege allowed bullying to take place at the teenager’s high school.According to a summary report from the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office, Benedict died of “combined toxicity” caused by an interaction between diphenhydramine, also known as Benadryl, an anti-allergy medication, and fluoxetine, a drug used to treat depression that is more commonly known as Prozac.The medical examiner’s summary report does not indicate how the manner of death was determined to be a suicide, versus an accidental death, and does not include details as to what dosage of the respective drugs were in Benedict’s system at the time of their death.A spokesperson for the Medical Examiner’s Office did not respond to Metro Weekly‘s question about the dosage of each drug Benedict allegedly took that caused them to collapse at their home on February 8.The national LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD expressed skepticism concerning the medical examiner’s findings.“There is nothing in this one-page document to explain why the medical examiner checked a box.

The Don Lemon Show was set to start streaming on Monday, March 18, on the social media platform. Lemon said that he believed he had a good interaction with Musk, who apparently did not take kindly to the interview.“We had a good conversation,” Lemon wrote in a statement.

educational conference in Berlin in April.But soon after the picture was posted, Instagram censored it with a black message screen that forced users to click to view the image.“Sensitive Content,” the message screen read. “This photo may contain graphic or violent content… [or] images that some people might find upsetting.”Later, an error message appeared on the link to the picture, which could no longer be viewed at all.The image features a real-life couple, Sam and David, and their child Jude.

Editor’s Note: This in-depth interview with David Mixner, who passed away on Monday, March 11, 2024, at the age of 77, originally appeared in the issue of July 29, 2004. Photography by Todd Franson.“You want a soundbite?”David Mixner grins.“I’ll give you a soundbite. I’m a man who’s devoted forty years of his life — sometimes at great validation and sometimes at great pain — to the struggle for freedom and human rights.“You know, when I was a child growing up,” he continues, “we didn’t have television, but we got Life magazine.

county election results. Moving forward, any flag representing a political or social cause, such as breast cancer awareness, a specific religion, or a specific community — such as the LGBTQ community — will not be permitted to fly on city-owned flagpoles.There are exemptions for city, county, and state flags, the U.S.

Drive-Away Dolls, was unable to be released under its original moniker: “Drive-Away Dykes.”“It was something just for commercial reasons,” adds Tricia Cooke, who co-wrote the film with Coen and edited the finished product. “There are movie theaters that won’t release the movie with that title and the MPA [Motion Picture Association] kind of dictates what your title can be.

The Advocate. “He tagged the NYPD and requested for them to investigate me for not only sex crimes, but also [for me to] be met at the gallows.

Oppenheimer ended the evening as the top-winning movie. The biopic about the man who created the atomic bomb earned seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.Poor Things came next, with four trophies. The biggest honor that the film snagged was Best Actress, with Emma Stone beating out fellow favorite Lily Gladstone, nominated for Killers of the Flower Moon.The only other movie to collect more than one Oscar was Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest, which won Best International Feature and an extremely well-deserved Sound Design win.Three of the four acting categories went to first-time winners.

Eternal Sunshine.The set arrived on Friday, March 8, to positive reviews and intense streaming activity from fans eager to hear what one of the biggest pop artists on the planet had come up with.The full-length includes the superstar’s new single, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which could easily become another smash.“We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” is an electro-pop/synth-pop tune about a love gone awry, one that cannot be morphed into a friendship.It’s both energizing and perfect for the dance floor while also being restrained. Grande doesn’t belt her way through the cut.

TikTok video. He touted the platform as a place where readers could access books that might be at risk from censorship bans, offering up to 10 million different titles for sale.However, the platform quickly came under criticism from the LGBTQ community for including titles that espoused right-wing and anti-LGBTQ messages.

The Advocate. “He tagged the NYPD and requested for them to investigate me for not only sex crimes, but also [for me to] be met at the gallows.

Billie Eilish proved her talent and staying power at the 2024 Oscars when she walked away with the Best Original Song trophy. The singer-songwriter had won the prize in the past, and with a second honor to her credit, she’s made history.The superstar and her brother Finneas were named the champions in the Best Original Song category for their single “What Was I Made For?” from the movie Barbie.Eilish and Finneas now stand as the two youngest two-time Oscar winners in the almost-century-long history of the ceremony. Eilish is just 22 years old, while her brother is 26.Eilish and Finneas earned their first Oscar in 2021 for “No Time to Die,” the title song from the James Bond film of the same name.

Chef’s Kiss, his celebrated graphic novel, is an adorable piglet named Watson.Watson is an evolved being, essentially, with a palate beyond the ordinary, and he serves as the ultimate “taste-tester and head of quality control” for the restaurant in which Ben, the novel’s gay protagonist, is discovering his not-so-hidden talent for creating fabulous dishes.At the same time, Ben is also discovering his feelings for co-worker Liam, and the book spends a lot of time in “will-they, won’t-they?” territory as their romance gently simmers to a boil.“I wanted it to be a slow burn,” says the 38-year-old from his home in Massachusetts. He’s engulfed in a bright pink light, the glow from a neon sign hanging in his office.

Nex Benedict, a nonbinary 16-year-old who died the day after an altercation in the school’s bathroom.But a pro-LGBTQ alliance of hundreds of people showed up to counter-protest, outnumbering the church members and expressing support for the students at Owasso High School in Owasso, Oklahoma. The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, announced earlier this week that it intended to hold two “public preaching” events in Owasso on Wednesday, March 6 — one outside the school board headquarters, and the other outside Owasso High.According to a release from the group that misgenders Benedict, Westboro intended to protest the school due to its negligence in dealing with the 16-year-old, allowing her to identify as nonbinary without forcing her to accept her assigned sex at birth.The release slams Benedict’s family for having failed in raising them, and the staffers at Owasso High School, the local school board, and the city, saying that adults surrounding Benedict failed to intervene, and implying that God punished the lack of intervention with Benedict’s death.

The Washington Post, federal prosecutors allege Corado took at least $150,000 of the $1.3 million that Casa Ruby had received in emergency relief funds aimed at assisting small business owners and nonprofits in navigating difficult financial times during COVID-related shutdowns.Corado was arrested at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland, on March 6 after an “unexpected return” to the country, according to prosecutors.She faces federal charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, illegal monetary transactions, and failure to file a report of a foreign bank account.Following an initial appearance on March 6 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Corado was ordered held without bond pending a March 8 detention hearing.

vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, with Republican lawmakers later overriding the vetoes to pass the transgender restrictions into law.Robinson has routinely vilified members of the LGBTQ community, suggesting as recently as last month that transgender women should be arrested for using multi-user bathrooms or changing facilities that align with their gender identity.Criticizing those who complain about North Carolina’s restrictions on restroom use, Robinson said the state would not accommodate people who do not want to use spaces that align with their assigned sex at birth, saying such people should instead “find a corner outside somewhere to go.”Robinson has become known for his anti-gay diatribes and outspoken opposition to LGBTQ visibility and civil rights, calling LGBTQ people “filth,” comparing them to “maggots” and “cow dung,” claiming they’re turning the United States into a “hellhole,” and claiming that God “formed” him to fight LGBTQ visibility in society.

sweeping anti-transgender bill that also banned access to gender-affirming care for minors, use of gender-affirming pronouns in school environments, and “Don’t Say Gay”-style prohibitions on classroom content.

KABC that her son suffered a concussion and spent days in the intensive care unit with severe injuries, including internal bleeding and a punctured lung.“The doctor was telling me, ‘We didn’t know whether we were going to lose your son or not,'” Frankie said. “He had a tube going through his chest.

KYTV-TV that teachers who allow students to access LGBTQ literature or have LGBTQ-supportive signs or symbols in their classroom will also be subject to criminal charges for supporting social transition. “Teachers are there in the schools to teach the topics that they’re trained to teach and to help those children grow in knowledge,” he said.

partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for an online promotion last year.Mulvaney appeared in a TikTok video highlighting Bud Light’s “March Madness” promotion during the annual NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournament.She also appeared in an online ad where she sat in a bubble bath, clad in a bathing suit, sipping Bud Light.As part of that promotion, the company also sent Mulvaney a commemorative can with a picture of her face on the exterior, celebrating the first anniversary of her “Days of Girlhood” video series documenting her gender transition.The can did not go on sale to the public. Still, many conservatives and anti-transgender advocates took offense at what they saw as Mulvaney’s caricature of womanhood, as well as the idea of transgender visibility, and called for boycotts not only of Bud Light, but other products of Bud’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev.Anheuser-Busch InBev reported record revenues for 2023 but said its “full growth potential was constrained” by the decline of sales in the United States, where the boycott was the strongest.In total, organic revenue in North America decreased by $1.4 billion due to a decline in beer sales, reports CNN.As a result, Mexican beer Model Especial dethroned Bud Light as the United States’ top-selling beer.From May through February, Bud Light recovered only 1.2 percentage points of lost market share, CEO Michael Doukeris told investors on Thursday.

announced that his office charged 20-year-old Trey Samuel Fetzer in Franklin County Municipal Court with “ethnic intimidation” — more commonly known as a hate-crime charge — as well as misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct.“Vandalizing property and making homophobic remarks in an attempt to intimidate members of the LGBTQ+ community will not be tolerated in our city,” Klein said in a statement. “Columbus is diverse and tolerant, and we celebrate our LGBTQ+ community.

Tempestuous Elements at Arena Stage, Anna Cooper, principal at M Street, fought to teach Black students a classical curriculum at a time when revered educators like Booker T. Washington advocated instead for learning a trade.

True Detective: Night Country, she knew she had to find an actor who could embody strength, sorrow, and vulnerability.Previously the series had always cast two well-known movie stars opposite one another in the detective roles — Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrellson of season one, for instance — but López wanted to break the mold and cast someone who felt authentic for the role opposite star Jodie Foster.“I talked to my casting director, Francine Maisler, and I said, ‘Is there anyone that we can find that has the strength and the power?’ And as I was speaking, my computer went ‘ping.’ She had sent me a photograph of Kali, who was getting buzz because her movie had come out, Catch the Fair One. And just looking at her face and her body and her gravitas and presence and power, I was like, ‘Oh my God, that is Navarro.”López watched the 2021 movie that night, in which Reis portrays a former champion boxer who searches for her missing sister.

Columbia Daily Tribune.Under the language of the amended ordinance, law enforcement is expected either not to pursue charges, or deprioritize the enforcement of, any laws imposing criminal or civil penalties against individuals who seek out or assist others in obtaining gender-affirming care.This is in direct reference to Missouri’s law prohibiting minors from accessing such treatments, which Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed into law last year.That law also prohibits adult Medicaid recipients from having the cost of any transition-related procedures covered, meaning they must pay for such services out of pocket.Authorities are also encouraged to deprioritize arresting, detaining, or transferring individuals to other states for seeking out gender-affirming care for themselves or their children, in violation of their own state’s laws.Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has been dogged in his insistence that the ban on health care for transgender minors be enforced, even demanding that local police, especially in Kansas City and St.

press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Denis Villeneuve’s stunningly realized film adaptations of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi saga Dune take an epic leap forward in Dune: Part Two, the sequel to the Oscar-winning first film starring Timothée Chalamet as possible Chosen One, Paul Atreides.Last seen at the end of Dune trekking into the desert like a twink Lawrence of Arabia, Paul is still a refugee on the desert planet Arrakis. Following the massacre of his father and the House of Atreides by savage Harkonnen forces, he’s hiding among the native Fremen, plotting to avenge his House, while also evading death or capture by his clan’s universe of enemies, including ruler of all, Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken).The first film felt mostly like a long-winded setup for a protagonist who took little action.

My Little Pony franchise, deeming it a hotbed of “LGBT propaganda.”The impetus for the raid appears to be objections to furries — a minority sub-culture of primarily adults, some of whom may identify as LGBTQ, with an interest in roleplaying and dressing up as anthropomorphic non-human animal characters — who may have been present at the conference, known as “Mi Amore Fest.”Furries have commonly been associated with “deviant” expressions of sexuality. They are often accused of trying to entice or indoctrinate children into embracing “non-traditional lifestyles,” as Russian politicians often refer to LGBTQ identity.Other objections seem to be related to the character Rainbow Dash, a pony with a rainbow-colored mane who is one of the chief protagonists of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series, as well as the presence of characters — both male and female — with gender-nonconforming character traits in various iterations of the My Little Pony cartoon series, which first aired in 1986.Organizers of “Mi Amore Fest” had changed depictions of Rainbow Dash to include the colors of the Russian national flag.Still, Russian authorities appear to believe that the series is sending subtle messages to viewers about support for LGBTQ causes.“Eric Myval,” who appears to be a furry, anime, and cartoon enthusiast based on their social media channels, wrote a series of posts on Telegram informing followers about the raid in real-time.“Apparently, you won’t be able to get to the fest anymore,” Myval wrote.

The Associated Press. Desperate to keep the affair secret, Ritter lured Doe to a remote area outside of Allendale on August 4, 2019, shooting her three times in the head with a .22 caliber handgun.

TheWrap, the 57-year-old Lemon has agreed to a separation deal for approximately $24.5 million, the equivalent he would have earned for serving out the remainder of his final contract, which was set to expire three-and-a-half years after he was pulled from the airwaves.In April 2023, Lemon, who was featured on Metro Weekly’s coverin 2016, announced on X that he had learned from his agent — and not from the network, for which he had worked for 17 years — that he had been terminated. He said he was never given any indication that the network was considering letting him go.

guilty of threatening to kill former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), according to the U.S.

declared an “extremist organization” by the Russian Supreme Court.As reported by The Telegraph, security officers entered the party, held at Typography, a club in Tula, 100 miles south of Moscow. They then dragged “feminine-looking” men out into the snow before beating them, based on information from the Russian human rights organization OVD-Info.

Hail, Caesar!, the Coens’ last proper comedy. After that, they made the Western anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, then went their separate ways.Joel went full Shakespeare in 2021 with The Tragedy of Macbeth, an expressionistic exercise that was never quite more than the sum of its parts, while his brother took a hiatus from narrative filmmaking.

Private Jones poses a thrilling musical adventure in story and in form.The company’s first world-premiere musical since the pandemic, produced in association with Goodspeed Musicals, shrewdly deploys sign language, practical sound effects, and silence, along with Pailet’s compelling score, to shape the world of Private Gomer Jones, a deaf Welsh sniper in World War I.Inspired by a real-life WWI marksman who was deaf since infancy, Private Jones comes firing to life in Johnny Link’s feisty take on the role.Gomer, who loses his hearing as a child, is gutsy enough at 16 to fake his way past British Army recruitment officers so he can join up and fight alongside his fellow Borderers from Breconshire.Backed by the production’s robust ensemble, he sings, bursting with hope, in “The South Wales Borderers” of answering the nation’s call. Moments later, innocence still guides him, as Gomer and company march through “Part of the Sound,” his vow to not simply soldier in step, but truly prove his value in combat.Link ably captures Gomer’s boyish voice and outlook, and evolves the character in his dark, humbling descent into the trenches of war, though it’s not the performer’s singing that carries the characterization.Distinctly pleasing voices do surround him — notably, David Aron Damane, lending his deep baritone to Gomer’s father and other roles, and Leanne Antonio as Army nurse Gwenolyn, leading the transporting ballad “Every Soul’s a Soul.”Later reprised as “Every Soldier,” the intoxicating melody ripples like water, floating Gwenolyn’s simple wisdom, that every soul is a soul.