Whenever we discuss a closeted celebrity, some of you moan about how that star is already kind of out or that their personal life is their private business.
Fine, whatever.
But what if that celebrity is widely rumored to be gay, has their picture taken at gay clubs, gets paid to perform at gay Pride—calls the audience “my people” from the stage—and then later denies having ever come out.
Are we allowed to bitch then?
How about we take this to the next level?
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That’s what Queen Latifah did in a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly, where she claims she never said anything to the crowd at Long Beach Pride to indicate she was a lady lover: “That definitely wasn’t the case. I’ve never dealt with the question of my personal life in public. It’s just not gonna happen.”
But then why did you call the assembled queers “my people”?
“I know that the most important thing and the only thing I have to give is love. When people are going through hatred and bullying, the biggest thing to fight that is love. So that’s all I encouraged my audience to do that night: to share their light and share their love. Period.”
Oh, you can bag that horseshit and sell it as fertilizer at Home Depot. We’re not saying Latifah has to come out—we’re not saying any celebrity has to come out. But if you’re gonna be in the closet you don’t get to enjoy the perks. And you shouldn’t be taking checks from us.
Of course, Queen Latifah has been taking checks from the gay community since the beginning. “My first show that paid more than $10,000 was in a gay club on New Year’s Eve in San Francisco,” she tells EW. “Tupac [Shakur] happened to be in town, so he came to kick it with me. This was the early ’90s. And the boys were like, ‘Take your shirt off, Tupac!’ He wasn’t doing that. But we had a blast in there.”
Hey, so long as we can entertain you!
You might be wondering why the Queen was generating all this buzz in the first place. She had to have known tongues would be wagging about her appearance and onstage comments. Could it be she’s trying to generate some heat for the upcoming remake of Steel Magnolias she’s doing for Lifetime Television?
Yes, that’s right—Latifah’s not just co-opting the gays, she’s co-opting one of the most beloved queer flicks of all time!
Lefty
“Oh, you can bag that horseshit and sell it as fertilizer at Home Depot.”
Lol.
w.e.
I’m tired of this game, and I don’t care about her.
KV
…and she was never obligated to because whatever she’s doing with her personal life is her business. I find it so ironic how so many gay people were up in arms and wanted Dharun Ravi deported for outing Tyler Clementi, but yet those same gay people feel they have the right to drag others–who they simply suspect of being gay–out of “the closet”. Is it just that you have to be gay to pry into the personal lives of other supposedly gay people? What’s the difference?
David Ehrenstein
No one “simply suspects” Dana Owens
http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2012/06/02/when-youre-good-to-dana/
Her closetiness is one thing. But when she takes our money and headlines at “Long Beach Pride” it’s quite another.
Maybe they should have changed it to “Long Beach Shame” Then hiring Dana would have made sense.
KV
@David Ehrenstein: Well she was hired by gay promoters, and gay fans paid to see her just like Robyn & Mary J. Blige (White Party), Beyonce (Roxy), Christina Milian (G-A-Y, ATL Pride), et cetera. None of those acts had to declare their heterosexuality to sign the contract, perform and get paid (with “our money”). So are we only treating people we assume to be gay differently? Funny because we’d protest if a heterosexual person set different standards for a gay person simply for being gay. Quickly seeing there’s no shortage of hypocrisy in this community! I swear I can’t understand why gays and Bible-thumpers don’t get along better sometimes.
Ashton C
Well I feel she owes it to no one to come out, and on the same token, we owe her nothing when she finally falls by the showbiz sideline and decides to come out to revive her “career”.
STR8
@KV: You sir are one of the few people here with common sense. I agree with your last sentence gay people(the ones on this site) and bible-thumpers should be best pals, both have no problem with hypocrisy or bigotry and both are delusional as fuck.
David Ehrenstein
@STR8: “Common Sense” = Staying in the clsoet and defending it with your last self-loathing breath.
M
@KV: @STR8:
That comparison is not fair and you know it.
Latifah is headlining a PRIDE event…did you forget what PRIDE is?
Latifah won’t even acknowledge her girlfriend, let alone acknowledge her lesbianism.
mike128
just lost all respect for queen latifah.
me and tupac made a lot of money performing for the gay community. but he’s not going to take his shirt off and im never going to admit im a lesbian!
what bullshit.
FunMe
Basically she’s saying she’ll stay in the closet because $$$$ is more important to her than her own true happiness. Really, if she wanted to continue her secret (which all of Hollywood knows about), then she should have never set foot in ANY gay pride event.
What she Dana has done with her bad peddling is simply lose respect. Moreover, she has put more attention to herself that she IS gay and continues to hide. Whatever.
1equalityUSA
This is what I learned about Queens this week:
“Royal Protocol dictates that it is best for Her Majesty to remain a neutral figure in British and Commonwealth life, so the people – all of them, can have a symbol of their nation that everyone can hold on to. Her job is to keep peace, stability and unity. Doing or saying anything that shows the slightest of opinion about anything is discouraged. So obviously controversial issues such as LGBT Rights, would most definitely be out of the question.”
Queen Latifah is just following protocol.
Shannon1981
Oh good grief, Queen Latifah. I reeeaallllyyy want to know how that was not a coming out party. You called us your people, but now we’re not? Come on.
KV
@M: Who says her family and friends don’t know (if she is in fact a lesbian)? Just because she hasn’t issued a press release about her personal life doesn’t mean she hasn’t told the people close to her. And who exactly is the authority on who’s out enough to be considered out? You and Einstein? Do you think all the people that show up to pride festivals and club events are out to everyone they know? Is that a new requirement? Is there an “out card” you have to show with your ID to get in now? Live and let live. Some of you queens really need to get some business of your own so you can stop obsessing over the personal affairs of others. Gay celebrities (out or not out) don’t owe any of you anything.
KV
@STR8: Exactly, it seems like gays, Bible-thumpers and republicans should all be getting along famously. They can bond off all the hypocrisy! I just don’t get it.
h8ers2theleft
This is absolute BULLSHIT. Not Queen Latifah, THIS ARTICLE. Have we absorbed so much hate that we can’t find better outlets for it? Oh, oh wait, I get we, we only accept support FROM GAYS now. So straight people, ostracized christians, and celebrities who, yes, get paid for their time and influence, don’t bother. Apparently, we got this and no longer care for you to have our backs. Thanks, but no thanks.
Oh, and this just in, as a black homosexual, I say, “my people” all the goddamn time, you know why? Cause regardless of who I’m talking to, you are MY PEOPLE. We are human beings. We make up humanity. So unless you stepped outside the human race for bit, then I guess I wasn’t talking to you.
When we start bad-mouthing people who support us, uh, maybe it’s time to take a step back and check to see if you’re actually interested in progress, or just waging a war. Pick one. Let’s not turn our allies (gay, straight, christian or whatever) into ammunition that’s going to come back and hit, guess who, US.
Everybody out they damn minds…shit.