ldyjocelyn Posted February 10, 2020 Report Share Posted February 10, 2020 USA Today Clay Aiken on 2020 primary: Why I'm changing my vote from Joe Biden to Amy Klobuchar Clay Aiken on 2020 primary: Why I'm changing my vote from Joe Biden to Amy Klobuchar It was difficult for me to move my support from Joe Biden. But Amy Klobuchar is simply a better candidate for the 2020 race against Donald Trump. Clay Aiken Opinion contributor For 2020, for Democrats, for America, Amy Klobuchar is the answer. That may sound a bit surprising to hear from someone who has, before now, been publicly supportive of a different candidate in this year’s Democratic primary race. But, it is a position I now state with full confidence. In this year’s race for the White House, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the candidate we need. Let me be clear: I love Joe Biden. My support for Biden has been genuine. I remain grateful for the years of leadership and the scores of accomplishments that he has given to our country. My prior support for the former vice president in this year’s primary was based on my belief that he would be the candidate best suited to take on President Donald Trump in November. I have not been alone in feeling that way. However, as the voters in early states have begun to have their say, like so many of my fellow Democrats, I found myself grappling with the options and realized that the Democratic Party of 2020 is ready for a fresher voice. Klobuchar is that voice. The caucus in Iowa and the polls in New Hampshire have done less to winnow the field of primary candidates than in previous contests. They have, in fact, expanded it. Why? Because we all understand the gravity of the decision we must make this year. We must choose an effective messenger that not only speaks to our progressive ideals, but who also appeals to the many Americans who felt abandoned by us in 2016, including 9% of Obama voters, and voted for Trump. We must choose a candidate who can win back the voters we lost in 2016. In 2018, Klobuchar won 42 Minnesota counties carried by Trump on her way to a third consecutive statewide victory by a large margin. She is a proven winner. Many primary voters across the country are still undecided at this stage in the primary for a reason. In addition to wanting to nominate a candidate who we know can win, we want — no, need — a candidate who can back up his or her ideas with a track record of success in getting things done. In the Senate, Klobuchar led the fight to lower the costs of prescription drugs, expand voting rights and combat the opioid epidemic. She’s managed to pass more than 100 bills into law as lead Democrat — including more than 40 under the Trump administration — and been ranked one of the most effective members of Congress. Klobuchar has the track record of getting things done. To appeal to the many voters we need, we also need a candidate we can trust. We need a candidate who is honest and who is authentic. I, for one, am tired of candidates trying to dazzle me with meaningless platitudes or beat me over the head with poll-tested spin. I’m not so stupid that I can’t realize when a candidate doesn’t answer the question. I am not so forgetful that I don’t remember when they spit out the same talking points in every interview. The political world is littered with self important candidates who speak to us like… well… politicians. We need a candidate who, instead of speaking with scripted talking points, is straightforward, honest, and down to earth. Klobuchar is relatable. I cannot lie — it has been a tough decision for me to move my support from Biden to another candidate. He has been a constant in my political life. In fact, my first political contribution ever went to his presidential campaign in 2008. His selfless dedication to our country is something that can never be discounted. But 2020 is a different year than 2008. 2020 demands from us a candidate that can excite. Amy sees the potential in us. That is exciting. She restores my hope. As a voter who admires the many qualities that Biden might have brought to a general election race, I must judge every other possible candidate by that standard: a proven ability to deliver real results; a track record of appealing to all voters and winning in liberal, moderate and conservative districts alike; relatability; empathy; accomplishment. There is only one other candidate on the primary ballot that checks off all of those boxes. That candidate is Amy Klobuchar. Some columnists have claimed that the 2020 primary decision for Democrats is a choice between “revolution”, “rejuvenation” and “restoration” — between candidates who want change, candidates who want a fresh new messenger for our progressive ideals, and candidates who want to restore our national values and the empathy from that we’ve missed in our leaders in the past four years. I believe we don’t have to make a choice. There is one candidate who can deliver on all three of those. Amy is the answer. Clay Aiken is a singer, actor, and former Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 2nd congressional district. Follow him on Twitter: @clayaiken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldyjocelyn Posted March 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2020 insideradio.com New iHeart Podcast Puts Clay Aiken At Center Of Quest For Common Ground New iHeart Podcast Puts Clay Aiken At Center Of Quest For Common Ground. Mar 9, 2020 Updated 4 hrs ago Clay Aiken may be best known for his singing on “American Idol” but as he steps in front of the microphone, the one-time congressional candidate will showcase his other passion: politics. Aiken is hosting a new panel podcast for the iHeartPodcast Network called “How The Heck Are We Gonna Get Along.” It’s a sort of “Real Time” for the on-demand audio world. “I can't remember any point in my lifetime when we've been so divided as a country,” said Aiken. “We’ve withdrawn into our own respective ideological corners and folks are having a hard time being in the same room with each other, much less listening to each other. I think pundits, politicians and politicos want to fight and argue, but the general public is sick of the media spin and would like to see something actually get done.” The one-hour show, which is produced by Politicon and KMG Utopia Studios, will feature Aiken and an all-star panel from a variety of political positions talking out the big issues of the day in front of a studio audience. Panelists for the first episode include BlazeTV’s Lauren Chen, The Young Turks’ John Iadarola and NewsBusters Founder and Host of the “Theory of Change” podcast Matthew Sheffield who discuss, among other things, the coronavirus outbreak. Future episodes include guest panelists such as Touré, Rep. Ted Lieu, Joel Pollak, Jena Friedman, Rick Wilson, Sam Seder, Wayne Dupree, Joel Stein, and Antonia Okafor – who will answer questions from a live studio audience on the hot button issues of the day. Politicon co-founder Simon Sidi said the podcast had its birth as a panel at the first Politicon conference in 2015 that looked to find common ground on hot-button issues. “It's an important topic as there's certainly a lot of divisiveness to repair,” said Sidi. “Now in 2020, when politics feels more polarizing than ever, we're excited to unveil the concept as a podcast with a live studio audience asking the questions.” “What I'm excited about with this new show is the opportunity to not only put people with differing positions into a room together, but also make them face a live audience's questions,” said Aiken. “Where I come from, we might call it a "come to Jesus meeting" – and figure out how the heck are we gonna get along.” Aiken isn’t a political newcomer. He ran for a North Carolina congressional seat in 2014 on the Democratic ticket but lost in the general election to Republican Renee Ellmers by a 59% to 41% margin. The timing of the new podcast couldn’t be better with the 2020 campaign likely to drive a bigger wedge between conservatives and progressives in the coming months. “As election season heats up, there’s no better time for a show like this one,” said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartPodcast Network. “Similar to the popular Politicon panel, this series genuinely tries to bridge the gap between the extremes of American politics, with a little something for everyone, and a great, unique format with live audience participation.” New episodes of How The Heck Are We Gonna Get Along will be released Thursdays. The alliance between Politicon, KMG and iHeart began last fall when the trio announced they’d work together on the creation of podcasts, a live 24/7 audio channel and live audio coverage of the Nashville convention. “This is the next step in a fabulous partnership that brings Politicon, the most exciting, new multi-platform political brand to iHeartMedia, the largest audio platform in the United States,” said Gary Krantz, CEO of KMG in a statement. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of it.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldyjocelyn Posted March 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2020 thehill.com Clay Aiken podcast looks for political balance Clay Aiken podcast looks for political balance BY JUDY KURTZ - 03/25/20 12:00 PM EDT 17 © Courtesy of Politicon Clay Aiken is attempting to tackle a question that’s been plaguing Capitol Hill and the country for countless years: “How the heck are we gonna get along?” That partisan predicament is the title of the former House candidate and “American Idol” contestant’s new podcast, launched this month by Politicon and iHeartMedia. The goal, Aiken says, is to get people from all corners of the political map in one place. “There are very few examples of shows where people specifically from very differing backgrounds and viewpoints come together,” says Aiken. The original idea was to feature political guests from both sides of the aisle in front of a live studio audience. Once those plans got upended by the coronavirus, Aiken says the podcast is soliciting questions from listeners on social media. And the one-time House hopeful — he made an unsuccessful 2014 Democratic bid against then-Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) — tells ITK he’s “cynical” that Congress will finally work hand in hand, even to confront a pandemic. “I worry that we may simply be at a time where people are so polarized that even a national crisis makes it harder for politicians to be willing to work together,” Aiken says. The key to hopes of bipartisanship, according to the 41-year-old Aiken, is agreeing to disagree. “Everybody just immediately assumes that someone who disagrees with them is crazy and wrong,” says Aiken, who calls conservative “The View” co-host Meghan McCain one of his “best friends in the world.” During his 2014 bid, Aiken says he learned when meeting Republican talking heads who he “might’ve thought were crazy” that they actually “think I’m crazy, too. And I’m not.” “So if they can think I’m crazy, and I know I’m not, then there’s a good chance that I think they’re crazy and they’re not, too.” Some past and upcoming guests on Aiken’s podcast include Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), GOP strategist Rick Wilson, Adam Carolla, Touré and The Young Turks creator Cenk Uygur. So, what’s the answer to how we’ll all get along? “Honestly, the way to get people to get along is less about getting them to agree on anything and more about getting them to listen to folks they disagree with,” Aiken says. “We expect folks to change their opinion. We’re not satisfied unless someone admits that they’re wrong and agrees to believe the way we believe. And that’s not going to happen,” he adds. “I think the way we will eventually end up getting along, hopefully, is not getting everyone to agree on things, but instead getting everyone to recognize that folks aren’t evil just because they disagree with you.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
© Courtesy of Politicon Clay Aiken is attempting to tackle a question that’s been plaguing Capitol Hill and the country for countless years: “How the heck are we gonna get along?” That partisan predicament is the title of the former House candidate and “American Idol” contestant’s new podcast, launched this month by Politicon and iHeartMedia. The goal, Aiken says, is to get people from all corners of the political map in one place. “There are very few examples of shows where people specifically from very differing backgrounds and viewpoints come together,” says Aiken. The original idea was to feature political guests from both sides of the aisle in front of a live studio audience. Once those plans got upended by the coronavirus, Aiken says the podcast is soliciting questions from listeners on social media. And the one-time House hopeful — he made an unsuccessful 2014 Democratic bid against then-Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) — tells ITK he’s “cynical” that Congress will finally work hand in hand, even to confront a pandemic. “I worry that we may simply be at a time where people are so polarized that even a national crisis makes it harder for politicians to be willing to work together,” Aiken says. The key to hopes of bipartisanship, according to the 41-year-old Aiken, is agreeing to disagree. “Everybody just immediately assumes that someone who disagrees with them is crazy and wrong,” says Aiken, who calls conservative “The View” co-host Meghan McCain one of his “best friends in the world.” During his 2014 bid, Aiken says he learned when meeting Republican talking heads who he “might’ve thought were crazy” that they actually “think I’m crazy, too. And I’m not.” “So if they can think I’m crazy, and I know I’m not, then there’s a good chance that I think they’re crazy and they’re not, too.” Some past and upcoming guests on Aiken’s podcast include Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), GOP strategist Rick Wilson, Adam Carolla, Touré and The Young Turks creator Cenk Uygur. So, what’s the answer to how we’ll all get along? “Honestly, the way to get people to get along is less about getting them to agree on anything and more about getting them to listen to folks they disagree with,” Aiken says. “We expect folks to change their opinion. We’re not satisfied unless someone admits that they’re wrong and agrees to believe the way we believe. And that’s not going to happen,” he adds. “I think the way we will eventually end up getting along, hopefully, is not getting everyone to agree on things, but instead getting everyone to recognize that folks aren’t evil just because they disagree with you.”
ldyjocelyn Posted April 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 pittsburghclo.org The Drowsy Chaperone THE DROWSY CHAPERONE Jul 06, 2021 - Jul 11, 2021 Benedum Center Starring Clay Aiken When a die-hard theater fan plays his favorite cast album, the characters come to life in this hilarious musical farce. Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Original Score, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical, featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another. With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life and THE DROWSY CHAPERONE begins as the man in the chair looks on. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theater producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. Hailed by New York Magazine as "The Perfect Broadway Musical," THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is a masterful meta-musical, poking fun at all the tropes that characterize the musical theater genre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldyjocelyn Posted June 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2020 hollywoodreporter.com How I Came Out in Hollywood: A Decade-by-Decade Oral History Quote How I Came Out in Hollywood: A Decade-by-Decade Oral History LGBTQ icons including Wanda Sykes, Jim Parsons, Rosie O’Donnell, Anderson Cooper and more recall the fears, funny moments and ultimate triumphs of telling the industry (and the world) who they really are: "I was scared to death." For any LGBTQ person, there is no bigger game-changer than coming out. It's a rite of passage equal parts terrifying and liberating — and all the more so when you do it in the public eye. For its first Pride issue, THR turns to some of the most famous faces to have ever emerged from the Hollywood closet to learn what they were thinking before, during and after the biggest decision of their lives. Some came charging; others did it more tentatively. They span generations — the youngest, Josie Totah, is 18; the oldest, Richard Chamberlain, is 86. Their stories are vastly different, shaped as much by their own lives as the eras in which they came out. (What once required a People cover declaration can now be slipped into a tweet.) But what's common throughout is that each of these stories — some told here for the first time — made it that much easier for LGBTQ people keenly watching and listening to follow in their footsteps. THE BAD OLD DAYS: "IT JUST WASN'T AN OPTION" RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN, ACTOR, 86 Growing up in the '30s, '40s and '50s, being gay was not an option. It just wasn't. So one pretended to be not gay. One pretended to be a regular person. And I spent a great deal of my life pretending to be a regular person. ABC/Photofest; Inset: D Dipasupil/Getty Images Richard Chamberlain today (left) and with Rachel Ward in ABC’s The Thorn Birds 1983 miniseries: "Being a kind of romantic leading man, I thought being gay would be a disaster for me careerwise." RUPERT EVERETT, ACTOR, 61 At age 16 or 17, I hit the discos and the clubs. And this was the '70s, so it was the time of Studio 54, and it seemed in those clubs, underneath the glitter ball, that there was an incredibly liberal world. But graduating into a world like the cinema was completely different. It took me ages to understand that being gay wasn't quite acceptable there. CHAMBERLAIN Being a kind of romantic leading man, I thought being gay would be a disaster for me careerwise. And so I had not only this feeling that there was something wrong with me, which I got from the childhood experiences, but that it would have been the end of my acting career. ROBIN TYLER, COMEDIAN/ACTIVIST, 78 I read this article in 1959: "If you are a woman who loves another woman, what you are is a lesbian." It was by [early lesbian activists] Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. So because I read this one piece of literature, I came out. WANDA SYKES, COMEDIAN/ACTOR, 56 I knew that something was different back when I was in the second or third grade and I crushed on teachers. Then one of my older brother's girlfriends, I had a crush on her. I said something to her, and she was like, "Oh no, no, no, no, that's wrong, you don't think like that and don't say that again." I was like, "Oh, OK — so this is different." HARVEY FIERSTEIN, ACTOR/ PLAYWRIGHT, 65 When I was a little kid, I knew I was attracted to men. It never occurred to me to hide who I was. Walter McBride/Getty Images; Gary Gershoff/Getty Images Harvey Fierstein and Victor Garber CHAMBERLAIN I had a few dalliances. I tried to be very discreet about it. Nobody cautioned me against it, and I didn't talk about it. But the town has great gaydar. Within the business, it was not a big secret. But the press was very discreet back then — the fan magazines and all that. They didn't push it. TYLER My comedy duo Harrison and Tyler [with my late partner Patti Harrison] opened [the 1978 ABC comedy special] The Krofft Comedy Hour. Well, [singer and LGBTQ rights opponent] Anita Bryant was in the news at the time, and I did a line, "She even quit the church because the choir insisted on singing, 'Go Down Moses.' " The next day the national news says, "Avowed lesbian Robin Tyler takes on Anita Bryant." They couldn't call you a lesbian; they called you an "avowed lesbian." You had to sign in blood you were a lesbian. It was a big deal. After that, ABC did not pick up our [development] contract. *** THE '80s: "THERE WAS A REAL FEELING OF BEING OSTRACIZED" NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, ACTOR, 46 I lived in L.A. in the '70s and '80s, so West Hollywood was kind of the beacon of [gay life]. I was terrified of Club Rage and being seen there. I was terrified of Oil Can Harry's in the valley. Every time I'd drive by it, I was just perplexed and would never have stepped foot in there, but I wondered what was happening inside. FIERSTEIN When Torch Song Trilogy won the Tony for best play in 1983, my producer, John Glines, thanked his lover in his speech. The following year I was nominated again for writing La Cage aux Folles. A producer of the Tonys said, "And please no one repeat the embarrassment of last year." When I won, I got up and I thanked "my lover, Scott, for typing scripts and blah-blah-blah," which he really didn't do. But I had to thank him just to show them. VICTOR GARBER, ACTOR, 71 Ian McKellen and I had dinner one night, and it was just around the time he had come out [in 1988]. He told me I had to come out. And it really resonated with me. But I didn't have the courage to do it until I was older. FIERSTEIN I used to say if you want to know if somebody is gay, just look to see if there is a photograph of me with them — because if there is a photograph of me with them, they're not gay because people in the closet would not be photographed with me. Richard Chamberlain wouldn't go out on the street with me. Well I don't really know that's true. I didn't ask him out. But I had two dinners with Rock Hudson, and we did not go to the restaurant together. EVERETT At first, it all seemed rather effortless. But then things got harder. AIDS happened. So our profile from the late '70s to the early '80s changed radically. AIDS put the gay movement back a lot because people were terrified of us. And you suddenly got into scenarios where you go to people's houses and you see them washing your plates in a different sink. There was a real feeling of being ostracized. Inset: Cindy Ord/Getty Images Rupert Everett (inset) who co-starred with Madonna in The Next Best Thing (2000), says he felt typecast as the gay best friend. GARBER After playing Jesus in Godspell, the director, David Greene, said, "I'd like you to play Liberace [in 1988's Liberace: Behind the Music]." There were some people who thought it wasn't a good move [because Liberace had just died of AIDS], but I didn't care. There was no question that I was going to do it. But I didn't work in TV for years after that. *** THE '90s: "HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING GAY?" CYNTHIA NIXON, ACTOR/ACTIVIST, 54 I had always dated men. I had a boyfriend for 15 years. I remember on Sex and the City, we had an episode about bisexuality and "does bisexuality exist." They quizzed us all, and I was like, "Totally." The idea of being attracted to a woman or falling in love with a woman or having sex with a woman always seemed completely within the realm of possibility — it just had never happened to me. Taylor Hill/FilmMagic Cynthia Nixon (second from right) and family at the 2016 NYC Pride March, with, from left, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray and Al Sharpton. ANDY COHEN, TALK SHOW HOST/ PRODUCER, 51 I was at CBS News from 1990 to 2000. My first job was a desk assistant at the morning show, and my last job was senior producer of the morning show. All of the gay guys at CBS News — and there were plenty — they were mainly all closeted. I was one of the very few out gay men, or women, at CBS. CHAZ BONO, ACTOR, 51 My mom [Cher] had a hard time both times I came out to her. When I came out [as gay in 1995], she kind of had an explosion — and then it was pretty much over. It was less of a big deal for my dad [Sonny Bono]. But [coming out as trans in 2008] was much harder for her. It just took time. There was no religious reasons or disapproval or whatever; it was just this sense of loss. That eventually went away. ROSIE O'DONNELL, TALK SHOW HOST/COMEDIAN, 58 When I took the job [to host The Rosie O'Donnell Show], I told the executives at Warner Bros. that I was gay. It was a big meeting at a big corporate table with 20 seats on each side. I said, "Before you invest $5 million in me, I want you to know you're getting someone who's a lesbian in a time when being a lesbian could hurt your commerce." They all said, "Do you imagine you're going to come out?" I said, "I can't even imagine it." This was 1995 or '96, so nobody was out. Gary Gershoff/Getty Images "First you get the 'Hey, you're gay' award from one of the great gay groups. Then the next person comes out, you get to send them a 'Hey, you're gay' award." EVERETT There was no coming out for me, really. I never made a statement to anybody or anything. But when I did My Best Friend's Wedding in 1997 [playing the gay friend of Julia Roberts' character], it was a moment for me. I suddenly got tons of jobs and tons of offers, and it was extraordinary. The press was very interested and curious. But looking back, the trouble was that I couldn't do anything else. I wasn't asked about anything except for, "How does it feel being gay?" *** THE EARLY 2000s: "SCARED ENOUGH NOT TO TALK ABOUT IT" LANCE BASS, SINGER/PRODUCER, 41 At the height of NSYNC, I was scared shitless. The bigger we got, the more people are looking into your personal lives. I always knew I was gay. Five years old, I knew I was gay, but I also knew that it was something I'd have to hide the rest of my life because my Southern Baptist upbringing told me that. Michael Tran/FilmMagic "It was the first time I'd told a stranger, 'Yeah I'm gay.' I had the best vacation. When I got back, all the magazines started calling because the guy I was talking to in line was a reporter for The Washington Post." CLAY AIKEN, SINGER/ACTIVIST, 41 I think America knew I was gay before I did. I grew up in the South in an era when either you were out because you were very obviously gay or you were closeted. And I know I ain't nobody's lumberjack, but I wasn't quite as — whatever that is, you know? Photofest/ABC; Inset: John Sciulli/Getty Images Clay Aiken (left, with Ruben Studdard) was a finalist on American Idol season two: "A crewmember was the first guy I came out to." JIM PARSONS, ACTOR, 47 I was 33 when I started doing The Big Bang Theory [in 2007], and things started to become much higher-profile very quickly. So I wasn't some spring chicken. But I hadn't grown up even close to the era we are in now, as far as what it meant to tell somebody you were gay. I think it's undeniably different than it was 20 years ago. BASS I didn't want anyone to find out because I knew, especially in the year 2000, that if anyone found out that I was gay, NSYNC's career would be completely over, and these guys would hate me for the rest of my life. ANDERSON COOPER, JOURNALIST, 52 I certainly wish I had come out sooner for a variety of reasons. For me, the biggest coming-out was when I came out to my friends and my family back in high school, and to my mom right after college. But then the public coming-out was obviously another big step, which took me a long time to reconcile. ZACHARY QUINTO, ACTOR, 42 I came of age during that time when the prevailing thought was that an openly gay person couldn't have as successful or flourishing a career. I think I'm sort of one of the last generations for whom that's true. I was very much of the mind-set that I had to keep these two realities separate. PARSONS So I was scared. I wasn't scared about losing my job. And I wasn't scared to the point of denying my sexuality. But I was scared enough to make it my mission not to talk about it. I was scared enough to be nervous the first time I was even nominated for the Emmy. And I was scared that it might cause trouble, quote unquote, for our big television show. SYKES I was always viewed as a "gay ally." You know. "She's so supportive of the community." It wasn't until I started dating Alex [in 2006], who's my wife now, when I think my material became more personal and I started talking more about relationships and equality. BASS In the band, I told Joey [Fatone] first, but I didn't really have to tell him. He walked in on me [in 2004] with my boyfriend on my lap. Normal straight dudes don't sit on guys' laps as they're typing on the computer, so it was very obvious to him. COOPER I did read stories about me [not being out] on Gawker, and I felt it was always pretty snide. But I certainly heard the criticism and understood the arguments about it and intellectually understood it. I just felt like as a reporter, it just felt antithetical to what my job is supposed to be. MATT BOMER, ACTOR, 42 [Coming out] was very intimidating at the time because I'd already experienced some fallout in my career just by living openly. I do remember from certain [handlers] a certain sense of — not disappointment but like, "OK, let's see if this has any repercussions with jobs." BASS The guys are still so pissed that I wasn't able to tell them when we were still a group. One, they absolutely don't care about me being gay. The thing that pissed them off the most is they thought that we could've had so much more fun together at the height of NSYNC. I could've been my real self with them, and they wish they could've had that. AIKEN Coming to L.A. for American Idol [in 2003] was the first time I ever met anyone else who was gay who didn't come across as gay. I remember meeting some of these people who worked on the show, worked backstage and thinking, "Oh, wait, hell, he's gay? Shit, well, maybe I am too." BOMER I was the director's choice on what was called Superman: Flyby [in 2002]. Brett Ratner was directing it and J.J. Abrams had written the script. That went all the way to a screen test and a three-picture deal they'd put together. I don't think [Ratner] did know [that I was gay] when I auditioned. He must have known at some point. I don't think he cared — but that's not to say that there weren't people who did. Then the project slowly fell apart … CHAMBERLAIN I was about 69 years old [in 2003], and it was almost as if an angel walked into the room — there was, of course, no angel there, at least not visibly — and put her hand on my head and said, "You know something, Richard? This whole thing about the negative side of being gay is total bullshit." This wonderful holy being said, "It's the most benign fact about you." NIXON [Now-wife] Christine [Marinoni] and I were dating for a few weeks [in 2002], and we got a press inquiry about it. I had never had a publicist, so they got me to hire somebody who I will not name who has represented a number of LGBT people who never come out. They managed to kill the story. AIKEN A crewmember on Idol was the very first guy whom I ever came out to. I mean, I came out to him but mostly because I was kissing him. Then I came out to [third-place season two Idol finisher] Kimberley Locke one night. HARRIS This was at the height of the Perez Hilton gossip blog-centric era. Blind items. I had gone out of my way in interviews to be gender neutral in the way I would answer questions. If an interviewer would ask me where would you go on your perfect date, I would be gender-neutral intentionally so that I didn't feel like I was saying something that was not truthful. COOPER To me, the final straw really was the idea that there would be some kid out there or anybody out there who thought I was unhappy being gay or that I was somehow trying to hide it, which was not the case. AIKEN Literally 10 minutes after the American Idol finale, we go out to this press tent. Ruben [Studdard] gets the first question. The second question's for Clay. My fucking luck it was somebody from Out magazine, and the very first question I got on that stage was, "Clay, are you gay?" I remember just sort of ignoring it. But in that moment I realized, "Fuck — don't trust any of these reporters." HARRIS There was an interview [in 2006] that claimed that I was asked if I was gay and that my publicist had said that I was "not of that persuasion." That was the weird catalyst tipping point because that expression set Perez Hilton off. He was offended by that and then started posting about me and asking people to come forward with truths or stories. Then it became apparent that I needed to make some sort of decisive respectable move. NIXON Months started to pass, and we kept saying, "Well, what's the next stage of this?" And the publicist just kept saying, "Your private life is your own." So, basically, we fired him. Then I won the Emmy [in 2004], and people started asking more. By this time my manager kind of had figured things out better and she went to [publicist] Kelly Bush. I explained the whole situation, and she said, "Why don't we just confirm?" It was like somebody telling you there's a Santa Claus. BASS I went to Provincetown with some friends [in 2006]. I didn't know it was a predominantly gay town. I'm not wearing a hat or glasses or anything, and I'm sitting there at Crown & Anchor talking to a guy, waiting for the bathroom. He's like, "Wait, you're Lance, right?" "Yeah." He goes, "Wait, so you're gay?" It was the first time I'd told a stranger, "Yeah, I'm gay. " He was like, "Aw, that's so cool." I had the best weekend. When I got back from the vacation is when all the magazines started calling because the guy I was talking to in line was a reporter for The Washington Post. I knew that I needed to choose one outlet to tell my real story, so that's when we went with People. Literally, the day before the magazine hit the stands is when I was doing the photo shoot, doing the interview. It all happened within 48 hours of coming back from that vacation. Talk about a Band-Aid being ripped off very publicly. AIKEN There came a point around 2009 or 2010 where it stopped being that big a deal, but until then, it was. I mean, it was a huge deal when Lance Bass came out. He was brave as fuck for doing it. And I am not going to say I was brave, but that is the time when my publicist and my manager finally said to me, "You've got to do it now." My People cover came out [in 2008], and I did Good Morning America that morning. I was in Spamalot on Broadway at the time and was terrified I was going to get booed. But I didn't get booed. SYKES It was the national day of protest for Prop 8 [in 2008], and I was performing in Vegas that weekend, and we went to the rally in front of the LGBTQ Center. So I'm out in the crowd, and the speaker goes, "We have someone in the audience who's a strong ally of the community and I hate to put her on the spot …" And I'm looking around in the crowd thinking, "Is Drew Barrymore out here?" And then when she said, "Wanda Sykes, would you come up?" I was like, "Oh, oh me. OK — she thinks I'm an ally. No, I'm the community!" So I go up, and I just said what was in my heart, and next thing I know I get back to the hotel room and it was on the CNN scroll. *** THE 2010s: "I SORT OF JUST TOOK THE BACK DOOR OUT" QUINTO It was in 2010, actually, when I did Angels in America at the Signature Theatre in New York that I really started to look at the crossroads of my personal and professional and public selves. There were a spate of teenage suicides that year. A lot of young LGBT kids were killing themselves because of how seriously they were bullied. This was around the time that Dan Savage started the It Gets Better campaign. I actually made an It Gets Better video in 2010, before I came out. JILL SOLOWAY, FILMMAKER/SHOWRUNNER/ACTIVIST, 54 The first kind of big moment for me was when my parent came out, and I just felt a lot of walls crumbling around what I thought I had understood about myself. I'd always seen my life as kind of a feminist who was really angry. I wasn't even gay yet. I was just really bad at being straight. PARSONS I was doing an interview [in 2012] the summer after I had been in The Normal Heart on Broadway. I was doing Harvey in New York, and I was interviewed by Patrick Healy of The New York Times. I can't remember the exact question, but he asked about something to the effect of, "Was it more meaningful to be a part of The Normal Heart being gay?" I said yes. I remember leaving there going, well, I sort of just took the back door out, as it were. I remember thinking it was kind of poetically perfect. BOMER I was receiving an award from the amazing Diahann Carroll [in 2012] and just thanked my family in the speech. There were offers to do magazine covers and things like that, and that just didn't really interest me. I wanted there to be almost a lack of fanfare about it. I didn't think it was going to get the sort of play that it did. I didn't imagine that I would say "thank you" in an award ceremony in Palm Springs and that it would be on the CNN ticker. … They love to throw it on that CNN ticker, don't they? GARBER I did come out inadvertently. This happened in an interview in Pasadena. I think it was after the Golden Globes in 2013 after Argo. And this guy was interviewing me, and he said, "How long have you been together with [your husband] Rainer [Andreesen]?" And I said, "Oh, we've been together a number of years" and didn't really think about it. And Rainer was on a ski lift in Aspen and said he got like 40 texts and he nearly fell out of his chairlift. He said, "I guess you're outed now." COOPER I didn't really want to make it seem like I was doing this in any way for any kind of public attention. So I didn't want to be on the cover of a magazine — not that there's anything wrong with that. I respected Andrew Sullivan's website a lot. I thought it was very influential and just a really smart, interesting place. And [in 2012] I thought, "Oh, you know what? I'll do this." QUINTO There was a man named Jamey Rodemeyer who took his own life. And shortly after, it came to light that he had made an It Gets Better video just a few months previous. That was the moment of reconciliation in myself beyond which I couldn't any longer live this life of opportunity and creativity and freedom and success and not acknowledge, in a meaningful public way, my authentic self. It was 2011, and I was doing press for a film that I produced and starred in called Margin Call. And I just made the decision to come out publicly in an interview, in a profile they were doing of me in New York magazine. HARRIS It was pretty much no big deal. I'm not sure if I should be offended by that, as if no one cared, or whether it was such a great indicator that our society has shifted so much. There were no "God Hates Fags" signs on my front lawn. There were no people shouting things as I walked anywhere. It was just another piece of incidental information in the non-sort of lives of celebrity people. COOPER I didn't think coming out would change anything in my life because I felt like my life was already pretty out. But it really did. It changed things tremendously — just the sort of walking into a room and having that all on the table ahead of time. Which is something I didn't really look forward to. I mean, it's kind of a strange thing to walk into a room and have people know your sexual orientation and everything about you before you've even said anything. PARSONS It got picked up, and it was briefly a thing just as far as like there was some news to it or whatever, but it faded away pretty damn quickly and was kind of not a big deal. The big deal for me came in the weeks and months after that. Once it was out officially, I felt a sense of ownership over it, and that was very new to me, and I felt like a more participatory member of the community. That was and still is to varying degrees elating to me. SOLOWAY I met some nonbinary people on the set of Transparent [in 2015] who were neither "he" nor "she" — they were using "they" pronouns. Then I was on Fresh Air with Terry Gross [in 2017] and felt less like I had this urge to come out singing from the mountaintops and more like I wasn't being authentic if I didn't tell people that the "she/her" pronouns made me feel strange. This is actually what I feel like: That I'm neither and both and either and always changing. *** TODAY: "THE BRAVE STEP FORWARD" O'DONNELL First you get the "Hey, You're Gay" Award, and they give it to you in some form, whether it's GLSEN or one of the great gay groups. Then the next person comes out, and then you get to send them a "Hey, You're Gay" Award. NIXON I think the first award that I got was from GLAAD. It was such a big deal for me. But I remember I presented them with my speech ahead of time, and they came back with rewrites to my script. … I had a line in it where I said, "I've been straight and I've been gay — and gay is better." And they took the line out. I was like, "First of all, you can't take that out — that's a huge laugh line and that's a huge empowerment moment for this room." BASS I told the story how my close friends would always joke around and call me a "SAG," as in straight-acting gay. I got so much shit from that. Some very prominent LGBT people ripped me a new asshole in public. HARRIS I've learned that the queer community is very individual. What one group of people define as normal queer culture is very different from what another group of people may define as their version of normal queer culture. All I was able to do is make some sort of statement that was respectful of [husband] David [Burtka], that was respectful of the query, and then to keep on trucking. JOSIE TOTAH, ACTRESS, 18 I never had a coming out per se, to my family. Ever since I was 5 years old — or I guess as early as I can remember, I might have been 3 when I told my family that I felt that I was a girl — and so it wasn't, like me sitting anyone down and telling them. ANTONI POROWSKI, TV HOST, 36 I don't take any offense to being referred to as being gay, but that's not how I typically refer to myself. Because I've gone from men to women and back and forth again — even though I've dated men for the past nine years now. I've always kind of referred to myself as fluid. Phillip Faraone/FilmMagic "I don't take any offense to being referred to as being gay, but that's not how I typically refer to myself. Because I've gone from men to women and back and forth again — I've always kind of referred to myself as fluid." COHEN In terms of [LGBTQ] exposure, I think what's going on in Hollywood is great — every color of the rainbow is represented in scenes. In terms of people's reaction, we're in a moment in time where me and Anderson Cooper co-host New Year's Eve on CNN. We both have kids. This is wild. But I think in terms of people's attitudes, there's always room to grow. We have a vice president who believes in conversion therapy. POROWSKI Not once during the [Queer Eye] audition process [in 2017] did they ask me, like, "What was your relationship past like? Like, who you dated. Tell us about the guys. Were there any girls?" There was none of that mentioned at all. I remember some of the producers were really surprised after episode four of season one when I shared that I'd actually been with more women than men. They were all just kind of like, "Oh, wow, we didn't know that about you." TOTAH It wasn't until the day before I started my freshman year of college that I had posted an article — an essay that I had written for Time magazine basically telling the world that I had known and my friends and family had known my entire life. Just telling them, like, this is now. I'm transitioning and I'm going to take this leap. HARRIS [Coming out] wasn't simple for me, but I tried to represent myself well. I just think everyone needs to be proud of who they are. If you want to be super crazy, wonderfully flamboyant, wearing dresses to work and dancing in heels every day, you should. If your version of being gay in Hollywood means that you have a very personal, private life and you don't want your personal life to be a reflection of your professional life, you should. We need to practice tolerance as best as we can. PARSONS It makes me more sad and frustrated for anybody who is still in the closet or feels that they can't be free about who they are. I know firsthand that you can't know the strength that comes to your aid until you take the brave step forward. It's like that old quote, "Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldyjocelyn Posted June 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 newsobserver.com Raleigh’s Clay Aiken, host of a new politics podcast, talks monuments, singing and Trump Raleigh’s Clay Aiken, host of a new politics podcast, talks monuments, singing and Trump BY BROOKE CAIN JUNE 24, 2020 09:00 AM , UPDATED 54 MINUTES AGO Never say never, but running for political office — again — is not at the top of Clay Aiken’s to-do list. And least not anytime soon. That’s even though Aiken, who first gained fame as a runner-up on “American Idol” and then went on to star on Broadway and run for the U.S. House in NC’s 2nd Congressional District in 2014, has a new project that’s pretty politics-centric. Aiken is the host of a new Politicon podcast called “How the Heck Are We Gonna Get Along,” a sort of roundtable debate of political and current events topics. Politicon, not to be confused with Politico, started as a Comicon-style convention that melds the worlds of entertainment and politics. As someone who straddles those worlds, Aiken sat on panels at Politicon conventions for several years, and was approached by the creators (coincidentally, two former “American Idol” producers) to host the podcast. He says they knew he would not “demonize the people I disagree with.” “I grew up here and a lot of my family and I disagree and vote for different people, and I realize from that — and from running in a very red district a few years ago — that I can very adamantly disagree with people from a different party from me and also realize that they are not evil,” said the Raleigh native, a registered Democrat. “And I think that’s in short supply nowadays. They knew that I was willing to listen to Republicans and conservatives, and not think that they were evil.”Aiken said the podcast aims for conversation without excessive arguing, but admits they don’t always succeed at that. After a couple of recent episodes about George Floyd, a North Carolina native who died while in police custody in Minneapolis, things “got a little heated,” Aiken said, so they started having two guests instead of four. For now, they alternate with progressives for one episode and then conservatives the next. “We do our best not to choose guests who are dyed in the wool and refuse to listen to the other side,” Aiken said. “The goal is to have a conversation where people listen to each other.” LOSING FANS OVER POLITICS That inability to listen to those from the other side, or to demonize those from a different party, is something Aiken has experienced firsthand. When he ran for office against former U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers in 2014, Aiken knew he would probably lose a lot of fans, even some diehard “Claymates” (a term that was given to his most devoted fans, but a term many of them do not care for). “One of the things that made me hesitate to run for office was I believed-slash-knew that as soon as I put a ‘D’ behind my name, I was going to have people just not like me anymore. Period,” Aiken said. “I said, ‘if you’re going to go into this, you have to be willing to never sing again.’” Aiken recounted being in an airport in Atlanta around that time and encountering a former fan working in the Delta Club. “The lady at the desk said, “Oh my God, Clay Aiken! I used to love you! I can’t anymore, because you’re a Democrat.’ “She was sweet, and we had a conversation, but she was dead serious,” he said. One of the more interesting aspects of Aiken’s 2014 political bid was that much of it was chronicled by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmakers for a series that aired on Esquire Network (now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video). In “The Runner-Up,” Aiken lets f-bombs fly, is frank about his insecurities and frustrations as a first-time candidate, and makes several unfortunate jokes about the age and appearance of his opponent, the 71-year-old Keith Crisco. (Crisco died suddenly less than a week after Aiken defeated him in the primary election.) At the time, Aiken said he agreed to participate in the documentary because it was an “opportunity to bring transparency to an electoral process in desperate need of more openness.” Now, the four-episode docuseries — even talking about it — makes Aiken uncomfortable. He said he hasn’t even watched the whole thing. “I watched most of the first three. I didn’t watch the last one — I know how it ends,” he says of his loss to Ellmers. “The first one was disturbing because of Keith’s death, because that was hard to watch. The second one was innocuous. The third one, though, disturbed me to the point that I couldn’t watch the fourth one. … I watched myself in the third episode and thought, I’m not happy with myself. I was very upset. I mean, I still think about that — even thinking about it now I get a little upset with myself.” The part of the episode that bothers Aiken comes during a panel in Sanford, right after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had invalidated Amendment One in North Carolina, making same-sex marriage legal in the state. Aiken, who is gay, was asked how he felt about same-sex marriage being legalized. “The answer that I gave just makes me want to throw up,” he said. “I tried to thread the needle. I tried to say something like, ‘Well, it hasn’t really been decided, we’ll wait for the Supreme Court to decide it, then we’ll see then.’ “When I watched it I thought, ‘Who the hell was I kidding?’ This is the type of politics I hate, and I did it myself. Everyone knows that I’m gay, why would I say anything other than, ‘Yeah, I’m thrilled that it’s legal now, it should be legal — but that’s not why I’m running.” Aiken thinks in the moment he was trying not to offend certain voters, but added, “Those people were not going to vote for me anyway, and all I did was make them roll their eyes and say, ‘Well, he’s full of (it).’” Aiken says when he speaks now, he may be moderate on many issues, but he doesn’t answer questions with “half-assery.” TAKING DOWN MONUMENTS ‘DOESN’T FIX THE PROBLEM’ There was no equivocating when Aiken talked about recent upheaval across the country and right here in his hometown, where he currently lives with his 11-year-old son. He is pleased about the Confederate monuments coming down, but feels it’s a symbolic gesture that doesn’t really fix anything. “Do I think that the Confederate monuments should have come down? Hell yeah. We don’t need that in this state,” he said. “It’s not something to honor, but I worry that we focus on that at the expense of actually getting real things done.” He seems particularly irritated by what he sees as the lack of equity in Wake County Schools, which recently changed the name of Daniels Middle School, named for Josephus Daniels, a white supremacist who started The News & Observer, to Oberlin Middle School. (The Daniels family also removed a statue of the paper’s founder from a downtown Raleigh park, and N.C. State removed his name from a building on its campus.) Aiken considers the name change an “empty gesture.” “I went to Daniels. I can’t call it anything but Daniels because I went to Daniels,” he said. “And I never knew anything about Josephus Daniels ... except for that he was the Secretary of the Navy and that he had started the paper. I don’t think anybody else who went there knew that either. “And I can understand the reason people don’t want his name on it. But I am loathe to give the school board any credit for being ‘woke’ and getting rid of systemic racism by changing the name on a school because they may have changed the name on a school but tell me what you’re doing about the number of black kids who are misdiagnosed as ‘Special Ed’ in Wake County and put in behavior classes just because they’re black kids. I mean, the number of black boys who get put in Special Ed is astronomical and upsetting. “And the fact that Baileywick Elementary is 75% Latino and free and reduced lunch, and four miles away Pleasant Union is 7% free and reduced lunch, and the test scores are completely disparate.” “I guess my point is, that’s a band-aid, and taking down Confederate monuments is important, but I’m really not thrilled about cheering for that when that doesn’t fix the problem. Taking Aunt Jemima’s name off a box of pancake mix may feel good, but it doesn’t solve the problem and it allows people to say they are making changes when they’re really not.” TRUMP AS A ‘COUNTER-PUNCHER’ Aiken has also made headlines in recent years for his comments about President Donald Trump. Aiken was a contestant on the NBC reality show “Celebrity Apprentice,” in which Trump (and Trump employees) tasked celebrities with various money-raising ventures in the name of charity. (Aiken raised money for a charity he co-founded, the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, later renamed the National Inclusion Project.) The show became well-known for boardroom scenes in which Trump “fired” contestants who had not performed well that week. Aiken, who lost out to Arsenio Hall in the Season 5 finale, told The News & Observer in 2017 that Trump didn’t actually decide who got fired on the show. The show’s producers would tell Trump what to say or do using a telelprompter on his desk disguised as a phone, Aiken said. When asked about Trump now, Aiken insists the person he was exposed to then is not the same person he sees as president. “It’s painful for me to say I liked him in 2011 or 2012, because I did,” Aiken said. Aiken said Trump never acted “mean” while filming the show. “He would go over and beyond to try to make people like him,” Aiken said. “But he’s a counter-puncher. I think the reason he comes across as a bully now is that in his mind he has been hit so many times that he sees everything as a counter-punch.” Aiken believes Trump simply lacks the maturity to let criticisms roll off his back. “I disagreed with George W. Bush on a lot of things and he got attacked by the press a lot and was lambasted on ‘Saturday Night Live’ a lot. But you know what he didn’t do, because he was a grown-up? Because he was the president of the United States? He didn’t respond in kind.” As far as the non-disclosure agreements many around Trump are reported to have to sign, including those who worked on “Celebrity Apprentice,” Aiken isn’t exactly sure now what he signed. “I think there was some language in the show contract … I should look it up. I’ve broken it, whatever it was.” THERE’S STILL THE MUSICAL ITCH TO SCRATCH Before “Celebrity Apprentice,” before running for office, before the podcast, Aiken enjoyed tremendous success as a musician and performer. After finishing in second place on Season 2 of the Fox singing competition show “American Idol,” his album “Measure of a Man” (2003) went multi-platinum. He released six more albums after that, selling more than 5 million albums total, and is considered the fourth-highest-selling “American Idol” contestant ever. In 2008, Aiken performed on Broadway in the musical “Spamalot.” In 2018, he teamed with Ruben Studdard, the man who beat him on “Idol” in 2003, for the “Ruben & Clay’s First Annual Family Fun Pageant Spectacular Reunion Christmas Show” on Broadway. The two have remained friends since their time on “Idol.” Aiken said he and Studdard had planned to take their Christmas show on tour this year, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, “clearly the world has decided against that. Maybe next year.” He’s scheduled to perform in the Pittsburgh CLO production of “The Drowsy Chaperone” next year, but about that, “who knows,” he said. (He performed in a Pittsburgh CLO production of “Grease” last year.) As far as a performing career, “I do things here and there,” Aiken said. “I have no strong desire to go back to recording,” he said. “At almost 42, you don’t see people my age on pop radio. It would be naive for me to assume that I was going to have some sort of pop hit like in 2003. I don’t have a desire to do that, but I still have an itch I have to scratch every once in awhile, so I perform when I have an itch.” Aiken says he has no specific plans, no left-undone passion projects to complete. He just tries to stay open to opportunities when they come up — in whatever realm. “If what comes my way is something in the political sphere or in the talking-about-political-stuff sphere, then I’m open to it,” he said. “And if what comes my way is someone saying, ‘Hey, we want you to do an album with Ruben for Christmas,’ then I’ll do it. “I’m very satisfied with what I’ve done and I’m satisfied with where I am,” Aiken said. “And I am fortunate enough to be able to ‘let go and let God’ right now.” You can subscribe and listen to the podcast “How the Heck Are We Gonna Get Along” wherever you listen podcasts (via Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, etc.) or stream from the Politicon website: politicon.com/podcast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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