The Desperate Housewives are getting a gay neighbor next season. Two of them, in fact.
The ABC series' gay creator, Marc Cherry, confirms a queer couple will be moving into the struggling soap. While the actors have yet to be named, Cherry says the gays, who are moving into Alfre Woodard's old digs, will butt heads with Teri Hatcher's character, Susan. Cherry tells AfterElton:
We're going to have the first male desperate housewives. They will move into the old Applewhite house and one of the gay men will just have a fractious, hateful relationship with Teri Hatcher.
…
I just decided to have them move onto the street and have as many issues as any other couple. And Susan wants to be so politically correct and show how open-minded she is and she puts her foot in her mouth instantly and it goes downhill from there. I'm basing it a little bit on my relationship with my neighbors.
Though Cherry's not leaking any of the juicy details, he promises the show's other gay character - Marcia Cross' evil son, Andrew, played by Shawn Pyfrom - will be back to his old tricks this season.
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• Victoria Beckham's self-referential Victoria Beckham: Coming To America airs tonight on NBC. And apparently it's really, really boring. The Spice Girls' feud with Eddie Murphy, however, is not - boring, that is. Okay, it's a little boring.
• Meanwhile, NBC took pity on ABC-lashing Isaiah Washington and offered him a spot on The Bionic Woman. Of the deal, Washington remarks, I am grateful and honored by NBC's belief in me, and I am looking forward to getting back to work." Enjoy your second chance, Washington, and don't fuck it up.
• In somewhat related news, Black Entertainment Television has been getting flack for it's new show, Hot Ghetto Mess. The Viacom-owned network says stereotypical, unflattering images of black people will spur "self-reflection". We can't help but wonder if gays need one, too. Oh, wait, we forgot about William Sledd and his new web show.
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Isaiah Washington's big mouth's flapping again. The former Grey's Anatomy star sat down with Houston Chronicle to clear up that entire faggot-flinging incident.
As we all know, Washington got canned months after calling TR Knight a faggot, doing a GLAAD PSA and going to bigot rehab. Despite all this, ABC decided not to renew the actor's contract for its hit medical drama.
Now, hot on the heels of Jasmyne Cannick's controversial petition, Washington's saying ABC fired the wrong guy. It's TR Knight that should have been sacked, says Washington.
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Not all the gays are hating on faggot-flinging Isaiah Washington.
Sappho-journo Jasmyn Cannick - one of the leading voice in the fight against Shirley Q. Liquor - started a petition to save the former Grey's Anatomy star, seen here receiving an NAACP Image award.
According to Cannick, Washington's firing smacks of racism. And she wants ABC to right their wrongs.
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Isaiah Washington's finally out of hiding after being fired from Grey's Anatomy. The unemployed actor sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss the scandalous situation and offer his side of the story.
When asked whether or not he considers his public booting "fair", Washington remarked:
I don't know if it's a question of "fair." I'm saddened by the outcome. I did everything that the producers and the network asked me to do. I came back under great duress and stress, and thought I was doing the job I was hired to do. I thought that was going to speak for my future at Grey's, but apparently that wasn't the same vision that the network and studio had for me.
This topic came up at the Queerty offices just yesterday. While we can't say whether we believe Washington sincerely believes his GLAAD garbage, ABC and Grey's producers really fucked him over.
Yeah, yeah, we know he called TR Knight a faggot, but, as Washington tells EW, he did everything execs asked of him, put up with months of media harassment and attempted to make amends. If they were going to fire him, they should have done it after the Golden Globes debacle, where he lied about his infamous faggot-flinging. Instead, producers made him into a puppet, paraded him around the media and then tossed him aside. That ain't fresh.
ABC's loss may be NBC's gain. Fox reports that NBC executive Ben Silverman's jonesing for some Rosie O'Donnell action:
New programming chief Ben Silverman is telling friends he will do anything to get O'Donnell onto the network, and not just in daytime. Silverman is talking to O'Donnell about hosting a prime-time game show he has up his sleeve as well as a daytime hour a la The View.
A full hour of Rosie? Haven't they tried that before?
Meanwhile, in other Rosie news, the box loving chatter box has joined forces with online gaming site Pogo to help raise money for her Rosie's For All Kids Foundation.
Participants are asked complete a set of game goals. For each successful target reached, Pogo will donate some dough - up to $15,000! So, head on over to Pogo and play a little. But hurry! The team-up terminates on Saturday.
Read Rosie's "poetic" press statement, after the jump.
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The rivalry between NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America has reached a new low. NBC staffers have been coping with GMA's recent ratings leap by giving it a new nickname: Gay-MA. How clever!
Page Six reports:
Childish staffers at the Today show have been reduced to homophobic name-calling about their rivals at Good Morning America - Diane Sawyer, Chris Cuomo, Robin Roberts and Sam Champion. A network source says, "Today staffers, from top to bottom, executives to interns, refer to GMA' as 'Gay-MA' " and snicker about the hosts. GMA has been gaining in the ratings on No. 1 Today and cut its lead in half. For their part, the GMA folks are said to refer to Today as "Yesterday."
Sounds to us like GMA's a bit more grown up. Not grown up enough to turn the other cheek, but at least their not-so-loving nickname doesn't draw on school yard taunts.
The NAACP may have forgotten Isaiah Washington's faggot flinging ways, but ABC execs have a long memory. An anonymous tipster tells Page Six that Washington's anti-gay epithet has cost the Grey's Anatomy star a bit of a bonus:
All the actors are in the midst of contract renegotiations. But ABC is using Isaiah's recent troubles to keep from paying him more… Isaiah knows it is his fault that he may not get the fat raise he was going to get. ABC doesn't have to give him anything - he is under contract for seven years - and this is going to cost him millions. It's just a bitter pill he is going to have to swallow.
We've got one thing to say: good.
We always knew gays have a lot of power, but a new study suggests we may have more political power than anyone imagine. Our sort-of friends over at ABC report:
The size of the "out" gay electorate is higher than the national average in some of the most closely watched congressional races." The study strongly implies that by "outing" themselves, gay couples are more likely to become politically active.
Of course, they're quick to point out that just because someone likes a little cock, doesn't mean they'll vote for the more liberal candidate. Gee, thanks ABC, we had no idea that gays don't have a singular opinon.
Another interesting tidbit from the article also says that the number of gay couples has increased by 30% over the past five years, "The increase is five times the rate of growth in the U.S. population, according to the study."
Yikes, maybe conservatives are right. Maybe gays really are taking over the world. We doubt it, but this will definitely give them some fuel for their homo-hating fire.
As promised this morning, we had another chat with J. Jennings Moss, the reporter whose Foley piece was unceremoniously yanked from the ABC website. Due to some technical complications, we emailed him a few questions. In our previous exchange, Moss kept his lips sealed over why ABC pulled the piece, and when asked if he’d given it any further thought, he told us to call ABC News ourselves. So, we did just that. We left a message and, as of yet, no one’s gotten back to us. Bastards.
Considering Foley’s explicit chats with minors, we asked Moss whether or not he thought Foley should go to jail, to which Moss – who guards his journalistic integrity like a pro – replied:
Foley certainly has opened himself up to being the subject of a criminal investigation and possible prosecution. Given the politial climate, I'm sure whoever prosecutes this case will go after him in very public and forceful way. There's a good chance Foley will see jail time. Foley certainly has opened himself up to being the subject of a criminal investigation and possible prosecution. There's a good chance Foley will see jail time.
There’s no doubt in our minds that the potential prosecution will play out in all forms of media, but we can’t help but wonder whether or not his taste for young men will help bolster right-wing myths linking homosexuality and pedophilia. On this, Moss reflects our thinking, writing, “I wouldn’t be surprised to see strict social conservatives try to make that link in this context.”
It seems to us, however, that if said conservatives were to make such an argument, they’d be shooting themselves in the foot not once, but twice. First there’s the matter of Foley’s alleged molestation at the hands of clergyman: a touchy subject for conservatives who call rightist religious congregations their power base. Then there’s also the issue that, no matter what Bill O’Reilly wants you to believe, Foley’s a registered Republican. Sure, he was more moderate than right leaning, but he still worked for the party to which most social conservatives belong. Sticky doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Airing Foley’s dirty laundry also raises the issue of outing public figures. We asked Moss to elaborate on his thoughts on whether public figures have a right to privacy. Echoing a sentiment that’s raged since even before the great marriage debate, Moss says:
Politicians and people in the public spotlight do have a right to a degree of privacy about their lives. But when lawmakers start getting into the business of defining marriage and family, then their own personal definition family is fair game.
While some homo-journos took aim at Foley for his stance on gay marriage, it seems now that people will never be able to speak of him again without referencing his homosexuality. (God know we won’t.) We asked Moss to expand on last night’s comments regarding the media and homosexuality, to which he replied:
When it comes right down to it, a lot of people don't like to talk about homosexuality. You see it all the time, from the family member who won't ask you who you're dating because they know you're gay and really don't want to be made uncomfortable by the answer.
While we agree that a lot of people don’t want to talk about homosexuality, we’re not exactly sure if one can equate a closeted individual to the mainstream media. We tend to lean more toward Moss’ previous reply, “…reporters think that when you talk about homosexuality you talk about sex…” And, you know, when people think about gay men, they think about how they have butt sex, and when they think of butt sex, they think of poop, and then they think, “Gross, people put their dicks in their? Let’s not talk about it.”
If ABC ever gets back to us, we'll let you know. But, we're not holding our breath.
Related: ABC.com Pulls Foley Story
• Heatherette or Catholic? Either way, these outfits are flaming. [Proceed At Your Own Risk]
• Madonna and Britney have been caught talking on film. Of course World of Wonder found this. [WOW Report]
• Officials in Ocean County, New Jersey have had a change of heart. Laurel Hester, the policewoman dying of cancer, can leave her pension benefits to her partner, Stacie Andree. [The Big Gay Picture]
• People have been talking about how gay the Golden Globes were. They were, but not because of the movies. Did you catch Isaac Mizrahi? He's coming back for the Oscars. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
• General Hospital is dealing with the coming out of one of its characters with tremendous respect. They’ve even teamed up with GLAAD. [ABC News]
