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Oh, it's on!

RuPaul and her team at Logo just released the trailer for the drag star's new show, RuPaul's Drag Race, which pits queens against each other in a battle to the death. Okay, not the death, but a battle to see who will be crowned America's best drag queen.

And, as in the show's announcement, RuPaul takes some jabs at Tyra Banks, declaring, "Step back girl! The queen has returned." And with the most flattering lighting possible.

Check it out, after the jump…

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RuPaul's back in the limelight. And she's bringing some friends. The drag legend has teamed with gay cable channel Logo to bring us RuPaul's Drag Race.

And, to prove her power, RuPaul offered these combative words:

Tell Tyra that the Queen has returned, and while you're at it have Heidi clear the runway. I'm going to pump some 'realness' into reality. To be a winner on this show the contestants need to be a fashion designer, an American Idol, and a top model all rolled up into one. And they definitely have to be smarter than a fifth grader.

Contestants will compete to, you guessed it, be crowned drag queen of the universe. Of course they've got all sorts of wacky names, like Artemis Chase and Bridge Diamond.

None beat our favorite drag name: Steamy Puddles, the name our editor adopted for a one-off college-era performance.


Our imaginary boyfriend, Matt Nasser suggested that we post RuPaul's "Back To My Roots" for today's Afternoon Aural. Considering Obama's desperate attempt to dig out of the Wright controversy, this just seems Wright - oh, we mean "right."


RuPaul Andre Charles returns to the silver screen in Starrbooty. The leggy drag star stars as supermodel/agency operative who goes undercover to save her niece from an organ thief.

• Head on over to Twerking to see all the cute boys (and girls) from last night's Queerty-sponsored, eastern bloc-housed, Svedka-soaked weekly party, Good Times.

• We're totally fucked: "People who have had more than five oral-sex partners in their lifetime are 250% more likely to have throat cancer than those who do not have oral sex, a new study suggests."

The New Yorker takes a stab at Banksy.

• Is soon-to-be former PM Tony Blair the world's first metrosexual politico? And will Queen Elizabeth name him "Lord Blair of Baghdad"?

Lord John Browne got fucked. With no vaseline…

Melanie Griffith versus Aging: no contest.

• Because the world needs Terminator 4.

• Baltimore city official on Rush Limbaugh billboard defacement: "It looks like they took globs of paint and threw it on his face. It looks great. It did my heart good."

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The Shirley Q. Liquor fallout just keeps on - er - falling…

Ms. Liquor and her creator, Charles Knipp, came under fire a few weeks ago after Jasmyne Cannick and GLAAD (among others) came out against the gay white man's straight black face. Now the editors over at The New York Blade have joined the fray.

Yeah, they're a little late, but you have to cut them a little slack - they are, after all, a weekly.

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• China debuts its first telephone hotline for lesbians looking for support — an especially grand move in a country that classified homosexuality as a "mental disorder" until 2001. [Reuters]

• When 2.5 million people show up for Brazil's gay pride in Sao Paulo, you know there;s going to be plenty of Lycra-clad muscle. [Made In Brazil]

RuPaul's new album Reworked hit music stores this week, but we haven't even gotten to the music yet; the cover art's distracting us. [RuPaul]

• Footballin' hottie Cristiano Ronaldo makes his World Cup debut — and his teammates aren't the only ones celebrating. [Towleroad]

• Celebrating Father's Day isn't just for heterosexual couples. [Miami Herald]

lady bunny

Lady Bunny is a drag legend, a NYC nightlife fixture, and one funny comedian. Recently Bunny caught up with Bradford Shellhammer to discuss her new DVD, Star Jones, and the perfect boyfriend. FYI, It's not that safe for work.

Hi Bunny. What made you decide to blog?
Well, the first reason was to keep people engaged with Ladybunny.net. No matter how fantastic your site is, ain't nobody gonna come back if you don't update it. Since I need a web designer to make major changes, the blog is a do-it-yourself way to keep my site current with everything from comments on current affairs to my schedule of appearances.

Before I had a blog, I forwarded sick shit to friends constantly. Now I just post it. Luckily, now fans of the blog send sick shit to me! And the launching of my website coincided with George Bush's reign of terror. Actually seeing the second World Trade Center (don't ask me what I was doing up at that hour!) shook me up, but instead of asking, "What do we do?" I thought, "What have we done to deserve this?". Bush's decision to retaliate against Iraq, a country with no WMDs and no connections with the perpetrators of 9/11, sparked my interest in politics–which mainly consists of slamming this administration. There's a lot of humor crap on my blog, too, but I've gotten a great response for the political rants. Which is fairly surprising, since most gays aren't very political these days. Face it, the ACT UP days, when getting involved was even seen as trendy/hot, are long gone. I wish there were more gays interested in things like rising HIV infections, but the tone of most gay rags is very shallow and hunk-oriented. Enjoy the hunks! Masturbate over them. But balance the hunks with issues, especially if they're issues like AIDS, which are killing us!

Name you favorite drag queen and why?
Dame Edna. She is so demented! And she's hetero! I actually like her out-of-drag characters just as much as her drag. She's a class A kook and has really taken it to a huge scale with TV specials, Broadway shows, Vanity Fair articles, etc. And when she met Joan Rivers she told her "You look fantastic. Please don't ever consider plastic surgery!"

The Pam Anderson Roast. What was that night like?
I had a blast hanging out with the celebs. Hell, with Tommy Lee next to me and Dennis Rod-man behind me, I was surrounded by about two feet of dick! Call me a sick freak, but I've always dreamt of one in each end! So it was hard for me to concentrate on the lines–the lines that Courtney was shoving up my nose! KIDDING! And I got to meet my idol, Charo! But ultimately, it was disappointing since they cut most of my lines. I had submitted jokes, which Comedy Central deemed too filthy. So they basically wrote me a script, which wasn't that funny, and I knew it. A few of the jokes they provided for me were about Comedy Central comedians who I had never heard of like Adam Carolla. And then they went on to let everyone else tell really filthy jokes! But all in all, it was better to be on it briefly than not at all–it was the highest Nielsen rated special in years. And it was a pretty fucking hilarious show! Pam was a great sport, and they really let Bea Arthur have it.

After the jump Bunny tells us her nastiest joke.

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Mr. Gisby's Totally Gay Pet Shop

Andrew Georgiou is the the mastermind behind the world's #1 gay comic strip: Mr. Gisby's Totally Gay Pet Shop. The Australian artist recently caught up with Bradford Shellhammer and answered some of Queerty's totally gay questions.

Who is Mr. Gisby and where did he come from?
Randall Seymour Gisby was born in Spain and vilified by a homophobic pit bull terrier at an early age. To cut a long story short, Mr. Gisby vowed to create a safe haven for all creatures great and small…and gay. So with the money he collected from the lawsuit against the pit bull, Mr. Gisby opened his gay animal haven, Mr. Gisby's Totally Gay Pet Shop.

Tell us about the strip.
The strip started three years ago as a series of bent scribbles and ideas I had for some twisted gay animals. The strip bases itself on one-liners using a variety of gay animals and gags, however there are also seven main characters who are reoccurring and the star players at the pet shop. These include a leather fetish gorilla, dominatrix chicken, bisexual echidna, a tranny-saurus, and a couple of other twisted creatures. Right now Mr. Gisby's Totally Gay Pet Shop appears in over 100 cities worldwide, so there are a lot of gay animal lovers out there, keeping the strip alive and growing. It's officially the biggest gay comic in print and very big in Europe in particular.

Can I be in the comic? I make a very gay and very cute cartoon.
Yes you can , so long as you sign a confidentiality clause and agree to play a bisexual / hermaphrodite anaconda with issues.

Where can we catch the strip in the US?
Currently in Qvegas magazine, Word magazine, TWN, Gaytimes, Windy City Times, and of course online at mrgisby.com.

After the jump Andrew talks about bedding models, his dream cast, and his favorite Pet Shop Boys album.

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so gay

You know we love The Straights as we illustrated in yesterday’s So Gay! list. You know whom we love more than straights? Drag queens and transgender folks. And they were everywhere this year. The top five moments in drag and trannies from 2005 is below.

5. Heatherette/Zaldy. Drag chic was all the rage in 2005 thanks to Richie Rich, Traver Raines, and Zaldy. Zaldy, a onetime runway model in drag, helped Gwen Stefani launch the LAMB line at Fashion Week. Heatherette and tranny-muse Amanda Lepore, brought club-kid fashion to the pages of People and the local Nordstrom making it OK to show your inner freak in the Midwest.

RuPaul doll

4. RuPaul. Thanks to Jonno, RuPaul started blogging way before blogging was cool. This year Ru continued that project but also got her hands in the dirty porn business, directing for Michael Lucas. But it was her doll line that really caught our eye. Finally, a doll for little gay boys! Perfect for teaching Barbie how to walk the runway.

3. Paris is Burning. More than a decade and a half since its theatrical release Jennie Livingston's classic film finally saw the light of day on DVD in 2005. Giving a face to the Harlem ball scene of the 1980s, the film has kept its power intact. Heartbreaking and empowering, it remains a must see for any gay person, fabulous or not.

2. Transamerica. Desperate Housewife Felicity Huffman plays a transsexual and receives a Golden Globe nod. The gays are all hailing Brokeback Mountain as the must-see gay film of the year. However, this little film deserves just as much attention. And Oscar may just take notice.

Our #1 drag queen of 2005 after the break!

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• “Focus on the Family has closed all its Wells Fargo accounts because the San Francisco bank contributed to a gay rights group that promised to use the funds to ‘fight … the anti-gay industry,’” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. We think maybe it's time to start doing business with Wells. Thanks Lara.

• Salon reveals that the right-wing Christian whack jobs will not protest Brokeback Mountain this weekend. Instead they are choosing to ignore it hoping not to contribute to the old adage that all PR is good PR.

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Michael Lucas on his penis and getting blown away by RuPaul in her new film: “I owe all my success to that big penis of mine, and without it, I am nothing but an aging retarded man from communist Russia.” He said it, not us!

• Made In Brazil has readers voting for Fotolog of the Year. Oh My God. Oh My God. Oh My God.

Two women are suing Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal, supermodel Heidi Klum and others, claiming the concept of Project Runway was theirs and that they presented the idea to Klum’s people in 2003. They must have missed the first season.

jackie beat

The week before her classic Christmas show comes back to NYC, drag legend Jackie Beat caught up with Bradford Shellhammer to talk about this year’s show, the drag queens she loves, and the one she absolutely hates.

So Jackie, what is in store for us this Christmas? What is the theme of the show?

Hmmm, I guess if there's any theme, other than "Gee, I sure would like to make TONS of money right about now!" it would have to be the usual warm and fuzzy stuff that seems to always come up around this time of year: binge drinking, illegal drug use, overeating, domestic violence. I'd like to think my annual holiday show is like a really hot but abusive bisexual Eastern European boyfriend. He's got that naturally beefy, moderately hairy body and works some super sexy blue-collar job like lifting things. He's gorgeous and the best sex you've ever had, but he slaps you around. You keep promising yourself you're not going back, but it's just too good so you put up with the abuse. Yeah, I think that describes my holiday show.

How is Hollywood treating you?

Great. I mean, what's not to love? The weather is beautiful, the boys are beautiful, and I’m beautiful! Well, if you stand back and squint. Now, turn your head a little. I'm just going to dim the lights a bit, okay? There! See? I'm beautiful! Seriously, having grown up in Arizona I feel more at home on the west coast. I have a huge 2 bedroom place with a big backyard and my two precious dogs and my Pontiac Grand Am and a closet that's bigger than my old New York apartment. Don't get me wrong, I adore NYC. But it's like heroin: It used to be my whole life, but now I've kicked my addiction to it and I only indulge occasionally and in moderation. You know, on special occasions like the American Idol finale or Columbus Day.

After the jump jackie tells how she lost all that weight and which drag queen she hates.

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On richly fertile land beside the Tigris River a short distance outside Baghdad sits Buhriz, Iraq. The city is currently under guerilla control, bearing testimony to the wisdom of spreading democracy through a shock and awe occupation. This past Friday, guerillas dressed as women carried out a deadly attack against a police checkpoint, killing six and wounding ten.

Ru

There is no word on whether any of the transvestite attackers were American turncoat gays serving under the hush-hush suspension of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Wire reports have left out the most important detail of the attack, namely, what the ladies were wearing. Queerty deplores this lack of attention to fashion detail, and encourages cross-dressing guerillas to, if nothing else, pick up the latest issue of Vogue.

The drag attack came just as major queens were getting their deserved measure of respect here in the homeland. While gay leaders fear a redneck backlash in reaction to the guerilla-girl assault, unconfirmed reports say that under stress, Lady Bunny pulled Hedda Lettuce’s wig clear off, and she got so upset that she had an accident on Sha-Boom-Boom’s bonbon. Gay male travelers and servicemen in Iraq are advised that just because it’s in a dress doesn’t mean it won’t have what you want underneath.

Margaret Cho returns to television with a Fox sit-com. Let's hope the netwok's execs are nothing like the weight Nazis over at her former TV home, ABC. If so, they may insist the already trim Cho dwindle down to the size of its malnourished star, Mischa "Skeleton" Barton.

A former homo male nurse is accused of offing several gay men, chopping them up, and then tossing the bits along a New Jersey freeway in little plastic baggies. And you say serial killers aren't creative nowadays.

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Fabian Basabe gets pissy if people say his old man is broke, but is totally okay with being labeled a queer. We just call him annoying as all hell.

RuPaul and Lady Bunny will be in WeHo this weekend for the Kimberly S CD release party at Factory. Work it.

• We don't think the new study that says gays love snapping up Volvos, Volkswagens, and BMW's makes us sound shallow and materialistic. It makes us sound stylish and materialistic.

• A Socialite's Life has pictures of the kind of love nest a syndicated daytime talk show and a role on Arrested Development get you in LA.

Judy Shepard's speech in Montana went off without a hitch yesterday. No protests, no hating, no explosives. And, get this, it was actually inspirational.

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RuPaul is writing a new movie "packed with lots of gratuitous sex and violence, and of course oodles of glamour." Throw in a trannie or two and we're there.

• Walgreens is sponsoring the upcoming Gay Games and that isn't sitting well with a certain group of Chicago area Christians. They're thinking of boycotting its stores. We didn't think Christian conservatives shopped anywhere other than Wal-Mart.

• The recent Asian quake has left thousands of Pakistani kids orphaned. Which means only one thing. Angelina Jolie has ordered her jet to turn around mid-air, and will be parachuting in to scoop up children momentarily.

Lady Bunny

Ok. So she may not have been the first drag queen with a blog. That was RuPaul. Actually, that was AKA Frank Green. But in the short time she has been blogging Lady Bunny has made up for lost time. Her blog is funnier than ours. Imagine that.

This year has been a big one for Bunny. And we know how much this queen loves big ones. She celebrated the 20th anniversary of her legendary creation Wigstock, appeared on the Pamela Anderson Roast, and started a column for Genre Magazine. Never once has she lost the dirty mouth and acerbic wit.

Check out her blog. It is part social commentary and part glimpse into the life of a transvestite comic. Be prepared to laugh. At her or with her. Your choice.



Queerty Team

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Japhy Grant

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David Hauslaib

Publisher
Jossip Initiatives

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