Reichen Lehmkuhl Is Concerned About How the Media Portrays Gays. So He’s Joining Logo’s Trashy Kept Show?
Because there’s no way Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, or anyone of that fame caliber, were going to sign on to LOGO’s gay Housewives show, the next biggest whale they could find would have to be a Reichen Lehmkuhl type. Oh, Reichen is joining the show?
He and producers are thisclose to striking a deal apparently, says Brian Moylan, and boyfriend Rodiney Santiago would come along for the reality ride.
The reality star, who won The Amazing Race‘s Season 4 with then-partner Chip Arndt, shot to Gay Fame levels when he dated Lance Bass during Lance’s coming out phase. But RL’s career actually centered around his pilot instructing and modeling; he continues working both jobs today. Add “professional reality TV star” to that CV.
Here’s Riechen at the GLAAD Media Awards in NYC, talking about how, in the media, gays are often portrayed in ways they don’t like, and “it’s important for us to have a forum for us to speak out and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t how we want to be portrayed, and this isn’t who we are, and this isn’t how we want to be portrayed as tolerating others treating us this way.’”
Well, LOGO’s show about NYC gays (Reichen is based in Palm Springs) running around town being fabulous will certainly be a great portrayal of gays!
I don’t see the point of the article. Just because he notes the importance of making sure gays are portrayed how they wish to be doesn’t mean he has to want the same portrayal as the next gay person. Maybe he’s okay with being portrayed a certain way that another person might not be. For example, some gays might want to be portrayed as “fah-bu-lous” jet-setters, where others might wish to be portrayed as diva bitch fashionistos, + still others everyday familymen/women. To each his own.
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@fredo777: Reichen is trying to say: “I think my lifestyle is superior to other people and I deserve to be the ‘poster boy’ of gay community”. The problem is like you say, people want to be in a different way and it’s hard to see subjectively which way is better than others. But, being a simple pretty fame-whore and dating around H-town is definitely not the best “lifestyle” we want to represent. Doing whatever show he wants, but he’d better shut his mouth and stop thinking so highly of himself.
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@Jeremy: Why is your personal opinion of the appropriate gay lifestyle to be considered the “best”? Reichen has a lot going for him, other than being pretty, + as mentioned in this very article, he has done more than just reality TV in his career. Besides that, instead of giving him shit for his “big break” as a reality contestant, how about some props for being part of a gay couple on an Emmy-winning show + actually winning? To be fair, it’s still a free country + Reichen doesn’t need to shut his mouth b/c his opinions differ from yours.
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So it seems this “reality” show already isn’t going to be real. From what I read it was supposed to be based on guys in NYC, but obviously guys in NYC aren’t so desperate to be on TV and be made fools of that they have to import the gays from the west coast.
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Logo constantly let’s me down. I hated the idea of this show when I heard about it, but I hate it even more now that Reichen is going to be on it. Aren’t there any other gays out there to give airtime to? Why does anyone care about a guy who for the past decade has trield to parlay a season on AMAZING RACE to becoming a bigger celeb. Go get a job!
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@Tonytime: why should he get a desk job if he can, as you put it, “parlay his season on amazing race” into stardom? methinks a lot of his naysayers are either jealous that they don’t have the same opportunities available to them or that you’re just not as resourceful as he is. if i had been on a reality show + gained some fame from it which i could use to sustain a longer entertainment career, you’re damn right i would do so. what you call fame-whoring, i call being smart + taking full advantage of an opportunity.
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and then he came out….and everyone was surprised….he was a media whore….
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Another delusional, self-absorbed, unable-to-deal-with-real-life, narcissist, attention-seeking maniac who thinks he is a spokesperson for the gay community. And, why exactly is that? What has he done other than try to prolong his fame, appear nude in some crappy TV show, date a hasbeen singer and now be on another idiotic fake “reality” TV show? Geez, what an embarrassment. I don’t know what’s worse: the cast of “Jersey Shore” or this clown.
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@fredo777:
Fredo, I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I am resourceful and smart too :) I make a very good salary, have two homes in 2 great cities, wonderful friends and family and I do it all on my own. I worked hard in school and in my career. I’m not jealous of Reichen. I don’t mind people getting the spotlight, but it should be justified. Reichen hasn’t done anything other than to jump from one reality show to the next and become a hollywood hanger on that sleeps with people to get ahead.
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In watching the clip above it is quite obvious that Reichen shouldn’t be a spokesperson for our community. When asked the simple question who are some of your gay idols/icons it was obvious he had no clue. This man has been promoting himself for years now as a gay face for our community but he can’t come up with names like Harvey Milk, Tony Kushner, John Waters, Larry Kramer, Billie Jean King or fellow service men like Dan Choi or Sgt. Leonard Matlovich in answering a simple question of who you look up to?
It’s obvious this guy is about the parties and the free gift bags and not a cause.
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@Tonytime: You might have everything in the world going for you, but I don’t think you know Reichen well enough to determine whether he has really slept with anyone to get ahead. To me, that’s all tabloid gossip + hearsay. At any rate, even if you aren’t jealous of him, that doesn’t mean that none of his detractors are. A lot of the complaints just sound like the standard haters throwing shade on someone in the public eye. As for whether he “deserves” the spotlight or not, I think a lot of the chorus members chanting “fame-whore” are of a different, older generation. This is, after all, a day + age where a kid can become a signed major recording artist as a result of building a fan base + promoting himself on Youtube or MySpace. Or a mere blogger can become a household name. The old definition of the bona fide “hollywood movie star” is outdated. We are now living in a Self-Made Star Age. Get with the times, people.
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@fredo777: Eh, before you raise a statutes in his honor, compare him with his former partner and teammate in the Amazing Race, Chip Arndt. He keeps a lower profile and seems to do so much more with his fame and winnings.
“Each year, Arndt conducts a golf clinic at the Advocate Golf Classic benefiting the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force NGLTF. His most recent charity initiative is a U$100,000 challenge benefiting nine HIV/AIDS service organizations through his participation in two AIDS ride and two AIDS walks in 2007. Using the social networking reach of a special MySpace page, he is soliciting donations from both individuals and groups.[1]
Chip was elected a PLEO Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention and was recently named one of Florida’s 27 electors representing the Electoral College. Herein he cast his vote on December 15 in Tallahassee, Florida for President Elect Obama and Vice President Elect Biden. Chip’s electorship was historic because he is the first openly gay man to cast an electoral vote in the state of Florida.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Arndt
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@delurker again: Yeah, I know about Chip, but this article isn’t exactly about him.
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@OhYeah: My priority is living my life on my own terms + I’m not in the habit of dissing others, like Reichen, for trying to live his own life to the fullest, whatever that means for him. Excluding those who use their lives to make laws that limit others’ freedoms, of course.
As for Reichen trying to make it in entertainment, if people are willing to give him the opportunities, I say: “If you like it, I love it.” More power to him.
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Reichen is based in Palm Springs?
Good God.