Thomas Roberts, the former CNN anchor, had been playing house with his partner in Los Angeles since leaving Atlanta behind. But for the past year or so, in between guest hosting The View and releasing It Gets Better videos, he’s been clocking shifts at MSNBC. He’s been pretty good at it! And now he’s making things official: MSNBC announced it’s signed him to, like, a real job, where Roberts will continue hosting daytime hours while also filling in for primetimers like Olbermann when their kidneys leak or appendixes explode. Who says gays lack stability?
gigs
Thomas Roberts Will Continue Making MSNBC Sexy During The Day
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mikebuc
I predict a very bright future for Mr. Roberts.
jacknasty
That’s good news, he is one of the few newscasters that can be that good looking without coming across as only being hired for his looks.
Ian
@jacknasty: Agree with that statement, and it’s also great that unlike either Shepard Smith or Anderson Cooper, Mr. Roberts is completely and proudly out and can additionally be a role model of a successful gay man simply living his life to both adults and gay teens.
Tyler
@Ian: I couldn’t agree more.
It’s terribly important to me to know the sexual orientation of the person who is reading the news to me.
Please.
Daez
@Tyler: It might not be important to know their orientation, but having more gay role models and more highly visible gays doesn’t do anything short of helping the community advance.
Tyler
@Daez: You’re right on that point.
David Ehrenstein
It’s very important that the news be read to me by ONE FABULOUS BABE!
Jeffree
@David Ehrenstein:
What do you mean by “babe”?
That would seem to be venturing into territory veering on the Catholic priesthood. You, known in Spanish as “el Kapo” seem to be still living in the 198Os witht that term.
How quaint!
(But yes, TR is a cutester),
Mark
@Daez: You make a thought-provoking point.
Presuming that it’s valid, we would have been better served if some of my fellow fags had remained in the closet.
I think one of the great benefits of the “It Gets Better” campaign is that society gets to see so many achieving GLBTs talk about their past experiences and their present success. In the long run, it may turn out that this project does more on the role model-to-society front than it does in reacing out to suicidal adolescents.
Rich
Roberts is making a comeback! Much more appealing than the closeted anchor fired by CNN who went to Fox.
Scott
I’m not sure I follow the logic behind some of the comments.
Let’s see. It’s important for handsome white guys like Shepard Smith, Anderson Cooper, and Thomas Roberts who have good haircuts, know how to tie a tie, and use a subject and a predicate in the same lisp-free sentence to be out so that the public knows we’re not all decorators and hairdressers or alcoholic twinks who just stepped off a Pride float.
See, we have some normal ones, too.
Never mind, I think I do follow the logic. I just don’t agree with it. I suspect that some who want so desperately for guys like this to be “out and open” have their own subconscious issues with being gay themselves.
Pygar
Jesus! The comments on this site make me remember why I hang out with other gay men.
gregger
@Rich: which one of three?
gregger
@Scott: Scott, I think you’re off base. What has been posted before is that it’s important to see that we are everywhere and every type of person (including those self loathing closet cases like Ken Mehlman). I do feel that along with seeing flamboyant gay characters on Modern Family there are sedate characters like Brothers and Sisters and then have people like Rachel Maddow and Thomas Roberts, out, proud, and successful. That says a lot to the community and the next generations of children gay and straight.
Scott
@gregger: Damn. It’s hard to argue with what you say.
It’s just that sometimes when I hear about how important some people think it is that Anderson Cooper be “out” when he is already out to his personal friends and just about all of Manhattan as far as I can tell.
It makes me think of the late summer media ad campaign launched by the Mormons to “put a face” on Mormonism. If the people in Pittsburgh and Topeka see that Anderson Cooper is gay, that will somehow make being gay okay. I don’t need for Anderson Cooper to be out nationally to make it okay for me to be gay.
mk
@Ian: Roberts has admitted he lied about his orientation and bearded on his way up the news ladder so I wouldn’t really call him a career role model for out gay kids and adults. He was also dumb enough to post naked pics on manhunt to hook up with guys despite being in the conservative profession of TV news, already publicly known, and in a long term relationship with a partner.
He eventually acknowledged his orientation briefly after a boston newspaper outed him and he’d already risen to anchoring with CNN/Headline News. He didn’t so any interviews to discuss sexuality until he had nothing to lose since he was unemployed without job prospects after being let go even by tabloid infotainment show the Insider, and he never mentioned his orientation on air until later when he was hired by MSNBC that is aggressive about marketing itself as the liberal and pro-gay network.
He doesn’t really demonstrate where a completely honest or even as honest as glass closeted guy starting at the bottom can get to since he was lying while he got his start and established himself. Most of his decisions about what to expose when look designed to be as safe and career convenient as possible. I’m glad he’s out now, but he doesn’t really stand out that much to me from other TV news professionals when in comes to making efforts to play it safe and making strategic career decisions about what to say when related to orientation and personal matters.
Tim
@mk: Thanks for good, solid information.
Arosi
It is a pleasure to watch to watch the news by an anchor that is poise and collected. Congratulation on your selection