Singer Elton John had some choice words for President Bush before his foundation’s gala. When asked to comment on the American president’s AIDS policy, John took aim at Bush’s anti-sex stance:
They’ve made a grave error in giving millions to abstinence programs. They don’t work. They were told in the beginning that it wouldn’t work. It’s a tragic waste of money. Please don’t listen to those idiots. God almighty.
Meanwhile, Anderson Cooper, who also appeared at the gala, explained that his “young gay friends” underestimate AIDS:
I talk to young gay friends in New York, and some of them seem to think the AIDS problem is a thing of the past. … The reality is that it’s getting worse, not better.
Yes, yes it is…
Leland Frances
Hi I’m Anderson Cooper and I can be at this fundraiser because AIDS is not a gay disease because, see, I’m not gay. Really, I’m not. Or am I? It’s just that sucking cock and taking it up the ass are private and I don’t talk about my private life. What? Except when I can make money by writing and talking and pimping stories about how many famous men poked my ugly mother, the pain of losing my father and all the details about my brother’s suicide. Please don’t hate me. Please don’t stop luving me. My trainer? Oh, he’s one of Reichen’s ex trainer-boyfriends. #32 I think. Talk about giving it to someone up the ass, you should hear the stories he tells! Yes, I care about AIDS. I was just telling a reporter about how some of my young gay friends don’t take it seriously. What? No, you can care about AIDS and have young gay friends and not be gay yourself. Have you read my book? What? Do I think self-esteem could play a role in them being sexually reckless and maybe if more publicly closeted gays they admire didn’t treat being gay like something they’re ashamed of that such kids wouldn’t believe what their parents and church and Giuliani and Romney are telling them about themselves? Hmmm. Here’s what I…sorry, that’s my phone. Gotta get this call. ‘Jodie? Hi doll! How’s it hangin’?’….”
Bryan
I am proud of both of them.
ProfessorVP
There were about a dozen comments here yesterday. What happened to the other ten?
BTW, “young gay friends” is Andyspeak for Latino tricks.
Dawster
well.. Anderson is known for liking the dark meat…
Dawster
Leland… thank you for proving my point from the previous post.
Professor, the post you are referring to is yesterday’s post, which has moved down the pipe.
WWH
Leland, you are very funny and pretty on point.
Redd
I’m with Bryan @ comment #2.
And AC is rumored not only to enjoy the company of men of color, but he supposedly like them fairly young as well. So he probably has quite a few young gay “friends”.
ProfessorVP
Dawson, that was pretty sneaky using same photo and confusing me. Okay, I made some good points on yesterday’s page with Andy in the middle.
Dawster
you did make some good points. i really understand your position and your thoughts. i can only say that i don’t think the same way….. that’s all.
and you have to go back to the mid-nineties when ABC was all about the gays and Anderson could do what he wanted whenever he wanted it.
with CNN battling so hard for the ratings in the genre it actually created… i know that’s hard too. i know that Wolf Blitzer loves the underage prostitutes and Lou Dobbs wants to take and AK-47 to the Mexican border. but this kind of activity is frowned upon (i think).
anchors have to be impeccable. i get that. no one is crying for Clive Davis, we’ve already forgotten about Sean Hayes who refused to come out JUST so that he could get an Emmy. and when someone is forced out… like Neil Patrick Harris or Lance Bass… people bitch because they were forced and didn’t come out on their own.
you will never be able to please everyone… ever.
ProfessorVP
Of course, to each his own. You have your idea of what’s out and I have mine. I think there is a reason why AC is never included on those cornball lists of out celebrities with the usual- Ellen, Rosie, Elton. He hasn’t, as Barney Fife impersonator John Edwards would say, “crossed that bridge yet.” I think, Daw, that you just would LIKE AC to be out. Yeah, and I would like Britney Spears to wear underwear. Doesn’t make it so.
Dawster
you’re right. i WOULD like AC to be (more) out. handling all the gay sensitive topics and having the drag-queen drop on new years eve is nice.
i’m still torn though. when it comes to the news, the anchors can’t be distracting. you have to look past them to the news story. anchors can’t be celebrities… they have to be clear and clean or else the news gets overshadowed.
i think that’s my hang up. or at least that’s what i think my hang up is after sleeping on it. lol.
ProfessorVP
Sorry, Daw, you are- in this instance anyway- a gullible rube. We know AC is the son of poor little rich girl Gloria Vanderbilt. We know about his ritzy East Side upbringing and brother’s suicide. To a lesser extent, his father Wyatt Cooper’s story is known. When I was a boy, we knew nothing about Huntley, Brinkley or Cronkite. All we knew about Peter Jennings was that he was Canadian. NBC’s nightly anchor is Brian Williams, and he is leading the pack. I know zero about him. We know PLENTY about Anderson Cooper because of a certain source: Anderson Cooper. He chooses to inform us of everything right down to his silver hair, which he likened to “premature ejaculation.” He chooses not to mention that one itsy-bitsy and teeny-weeny little insignificant part of his life: his homosexuality. Because that, you know, would be distracting. You are usually right on, Daw, but on this one thing, wake up and smell the frappucino. He has been the biggest promoter of his own celebrity, but then claims that his private life (that means sex life) would lessen his effectiveness as a reporter if made public. Quoth Joan Rivers: Grow up!
Nitesurf
No he DOESN’T have to mention that he’s gay if he chooses not to, no matter what he’s chosen to talk about in the past. There is NO requirement to say anything about his sexuality. People just DEMAND it because they expect everyone to have the exact same feelings and mindset about being gay as they do. So what if some of you feel he’s a closet case. It doesn’t matter in the least. He’s probably out to everyone who MEANS something to him and no amount of shouting and name calling by people on this board will have any affect on him or his life. Your perception of him and his motivations probably have NO resemblance to the reality of his life and his choices. You call him a coward, I call him ballsy for living exactly the way he wants with no explanations to ANYONE.
ProfessorVP
I never called him a coward. Why would I? I only said Andy likes to keep his income high.
That’s why he’ll blab about himself on any topic except his sexuality. This is an ancient mentality that keeps perpetuating an old, creaky situation: If you come out, you wreck your career. It’s the same with “If you support marriage equality, you’ll never get elected president.” Things need to change. This ain’t 1958.
Dawster
you DO think of him a coward. you’re also jealous as hell. you bitch at him, but you don’t realize what the reality is. if he were out and proud (like he was at ABC), he wouldn’t wreck his career, but he would shift focus to his dick and ass.
help the victims of Katrina? can’t… too busy wondering about your dick and ass.
live report from Utah where coal miners are trapped? can’t… too busy thinking about your dick and ass.
Anderson loves his job, but like every other news anchor over three networks (aside from Tucker Carlson) personal life MUST BE KEPT AT BAY. it’s so necessary or else the person overshadows the news… and trust me, the 24/hr news stations don’t need ANY more sensationalism. the other thing that you are forgetting… AC THE PERSON… who happens to be quite the prude. in atlanta, he immediately left a christmas party given by a CNN manager once because he heard a girl had coke and was doing it in the restroom. he refuses to be around such things.
i’m not being naive, i’ve taken in all the facts, combined with my own experiences, thought about it, and came up with my opinion. i know what you want. i know what i want. reality is different… and reality sucks sometimes.
deal with it. stop bitching. he’s not doing anything wrong. he’s making the best of a situation, and for that, people complain. they ASSUME it’s for one reason, or another… they assume to know the person. but reality has many many sides. put them together, and you sometimes get a very small space to move.
ProfessorVP
“they assume to know the person” sayeth Dawster.
But YOU know me intimately, from head to toe, especially parts south, dick and ass. Also, you know the extent of my charitable deeds or lack thereof. Hypocrite.
And listen, I’ve been fed up to here (I’m pointing at my neck) with CBS’s anchor Katie Couric’s life story. I don’t think her own gynecologist knows her better, that’s how much pr she’s put out. Only one who nearly comes close is Anderson Cooper about every detail of his life. Except one little thing.
The lame excuse for overshadowing news is something no one over the age of 12 should buy. Andy’s being gay compromises his story about a plane crash, a flood, the housing market crash, Iraq? You are a rube and a hypocrite. But likely a cute one!
Nitesurf
Anderson will be a hypocrite when he starts showing up at public events with women, something he’s never done.
He’s not likely to talk about his sexuality, but it’s pretty weird that people who are even vaguely familiar with him haven’t noticed that he’s 40 years old, single, rich, handsome and successful and yet has never been linked to ANY woman. People ought to be able to put two and two together even without an announcement by Anderson.
Dawster
T-H-O-M-A-S R-O-B-E-R-T-S.
Dawster
and katie couric’s colon was fascinating. oh… not “fascinating”… what’s the expression? CREEPY AS FUCK. but, on the Today show she had to be part of the story, as is the nature of bubbling, chatty, morning television.
evening news is presented in a suit and tie, not a tank top and board shorts. it’s presented without extra commentary or expression. else, we get Jon Stewart on The Daily Show or Pat Robertson in the 700 Club.
i may be old school, but the news desk is suppose to come with SOME dignity and decorum. FOX had shot that to hell, however.
ProfessorVP
Anderson qualifies as a hypocrite for saying, “I don’t want to be part of the story” as the reason for not never mentioning the fact that he is gay, when virtually everything about his life is broadcast more than Britney’s vag when exiting a limo. Wow, he doesn’t show up with a beard date.
A paragon of honesty, he sho’ is!
He is not causing global warming or cutting down the rainforest or sponsoring terrorism. He is just a greedy hypocrite, that’s all I’m calling him out on. He says things that even he doesn’t believe… but rubes do.
Nitesurf
Anderson stays neutral on most subjects. He never discusses his political beliefs either because he “doesn’t want to be part of the story”. I don’t consider him a hypocrite just because he doesn’t tell me or anyone else that he’s gay. Not showing up with a beard IS honest because he has always refused to appear to be something he isn’t. If he was so worried about being viewed as gay, he would’ve been bearding years ago.
ProfessorVP
FYI, the left-leaning political beliefs of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather were no secret. FoxNews is, in fact, an arm of the Repubican Party. We know the values of Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs at CNN. MSNBC employs Andrea Mitchell, the wife of the former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. We know that NPR swings left. Even CBS’s Katie Couric announced last week that America “was misled into war.”
Black reporters report about everything, including Jenna 6. Hispanic reporters report everything including illegal immigration. Asian reporters report everything including Chinese spying on the U.S. and poison-tainted exports.
Jewish reporters report on everything, including Israel.
The reason you want Andy to shut up about the one thing that he won’t talk about is more about you, Nite, than Andy. It is your sense of shame. That AC’s sexual orientation trumps everything else- that he loses his credibility when his dirty secret is revealed. That everyone else has nothing to fear, but a gay person needs to hide. Poor you.
Nitesurf
Anderson reports everything too, including gay issues, but is he obligated to announce he’s gay because of it?
No, it’s not about me at all. I’m not ashamed of anything and frankly I don’t believe he is either. He’s just not offering up what some people think he should, for the reasons they think he should. He may have his OWN reasons that have nothing to do with cowardice and I just believe each individual should have the freedom to make their own choices about their lives, regardless of how it might be viewed by others. I suppose we could go round and round on this forever, but there’s really no point. You have your opinion, I have mine, so I’m outta here and ready to see what Queerty will be offering up for this week.
ProfessorVP
Yeah, he’s got his own reason. It’s called keeping his income high. It’s money. Plain ol’ money. I’ve never said there was any other reason. I never once said he was ashamed, and I never said he feared anything but taking a pay cut. It’s money. Period.