Donna Summer, the indisputable queen of disco, passed away this morning at age 63 after a lengthy battle with cancer, TMZ is reporting.
Sources close to Summer tell us the singer was trying to keep the extent of her illness under wraps. We spoke to someone who was with Summer a couple of weeks ago, who says she didn’t seem too bad.
In fact, we’re told she was focused on trying to finish up an album she had been working on.
Summer was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Dorchester, Massachusetts. A former chorus girl and back-up singer, she became a five-time Grammy winner—with legendary hits like “Last Dance,” “Dim All the Lights,” “On the Radio” “Love to Love You Baby” and “Bad Girls”—and the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart.
Though her music was popular with the gay community almost immediately, she faced backlash when a quote attributed to her in the mid-1980s claimed AIDS was a punishment from God. Summer denied making the comment, and in a letter to ACT UP in 1989, called the incident “a terrible misunderstanding.” “I was unknowingly protected by those around me from the bad press and hate letters…. If I have caused you pain, forgive me.”
We will miss you, Donna. Rest in peace.
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Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Chadboy
So Sad! Thanks for all the great music memories. “Melody of Love” will always have a special place in my heart.
Delius
Certainly not a friend to the gay community.
Her remarks about Aids, etc were really cruel and hurtful.
Goodbye Bigot!
stevoj
all our queens our leaving us! good-bye Donna, you will be missed
Adrian
Fuck, that sucks. She was one talented Diva. Here’s to your last dance Miss Summer!
May you have a blast up there in the fab disco in the sky.
Marie Cohn
Dim all the lights, sweet darlin’.
(One of the greatest voices in popular music; too bad she allowed herself to get wrapped around the axle with all the God talk, but then she wasn’t alone in that regard . . .)
kendoll
Used the Bible to blame immoral gays for AIDS and later apologized quoting Bible again trying to recover career from the disastrous outcome. Not a real apology, but bigots never do.
Bigots love to back up their hate with the Bible. And when that doesn’t work, announcing a trip to rehab is a close second.
Harold
She died from cancer as punishment from god?
Yep, just like AIDS victims died as punishment for their sins, I guess that she died of cancer as punishment, too.
Gotta love these sweet Christians!
JB
@Delius – she personally apologized for her remarks, numerous times, and admitted fault. not to mention they were made during a time when AIDS was completely misunderstood by pretty much everyone.
Harold
@JB: Opps, you’re’ right that makes all the suffering of the first crop of Aids deaths more palatable.
Actually, you’re wrong, she NEVER apologized for these statements…she said she never said them.
Get your story straight!
Charlie
People say the wrong thing sometimes and their opinions change over the years. Holding her responsible for a statement she made in the 80’s is a bit much – do we all have the same opinions we did more than two decades ago?
JB
@Harold: did it cross your mind that maybe she did, in fact, never say them? you are so sure, where is your evidence that it is nothing more than a rumor?
we do have her statement, which was published by The Advocate in 1985: “It’s very difficult for me to believe that this terrible misunderstanding continues. Since the very beginning of my career I have had tremendous support and friendship from the gay community. It is a source of great concern to me that anything I may have said has cast me as homophobic. All I can ask for is understanding, as I believe I have been misrepresented.”
show me the proof. until then, it’s nothing more than a nasty rumor.
PS – since you’re so inclined to believe rumors, here’s one for you: it’s RUMORED that the “Donna Summer AIDS story” was made-up by a reporter who hated her.
Urethra Franklin
Donna Summer was a staple in my music collection for 35 years in many formats; 8 track tape, 45’s, LP’s, cassette tapes, cd’s and mp3’s…She was in many ways a sountrack to my life in the 70’s and 80’s, and Thanks for all the dancing Ms. Summers….
ML
I’m devastated. Her music gave me so much joy as a teenager. RIP
Philip
A little bit of my ill-spent youth just died along with her. Thank you, Ms Summer for the memories.
Mark
I used to love that double album “Once Upon A Time”. It’s been forever since I’ve thought of it. RIP, nice lady.
Bill
It’s always amazed me that she was so homophobic especially since she was responsible for an entire generation of gay sex. Who in those days did not make love to a Donna Summer song?
Marty
Hey, haters : Go pick on Gloria Gaynor instead. *There’s* a thankless, remorseless homophobe Disco diva. Whatever Donna did say – or did NOT say – she spent the last decade [at least] atoning. She sold 100s of her paintings and gave all the monies to AIDS charities, and she asserted over and over – insisted – that she had never said what she was claimed to have said. Give her the benefit of the doubt – it’s not like she went on an anti-gay campaign and threw Bible verse at us like Gloria Gaynor and her ilk have done. More important, let those of us who adore Donna have a moment without the hatefulness and just let us miss her and reminisce about how much her *MUSIC* still means to us. She did not live the life of a hateful person, stop grabbing rumors and using them to be hateful yourself. Please.
spooge bob
i also remember hearing “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” fall out of her mouth sometime during the 90s. she definitely was not a friend of the gays.
ML
@Marty: Thanks Marty! Well said!
spooge bob
however, we all make mistakes … RIP
andrew
RIP DONNA
curt
She was anti gay? I thought the gay community loved her and it was returned…
Keke
I hope all our brothers that passed away during the early years of Aids.
Welcome her with open arms, and they all have one big amazing party for the arrival
Queen of disco. R.I.P Donna, thanks for 35 years of dancing my ass off, and singing like a fool.
Jinxed
WHAT A VOICE!!! Hitting Amazon for some Donna music.
Jessie
I was a dj back in the 70’s and all I can say is….well, you had to be there to really get how huge Donna Summer was. Nightlife aka gay life quite simply revolved each Donna Summer release, and they came fast and furious. I remember the debut of “Last Dance” at the Thank God It’s Friday party at Studio 54 as one of the most glamorous nights of my life. Her death deeply saddens me. That said, Miss Summer was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, made some disastrous career moves, and, in an effort to save herself (which she did) probably said some stupid things that were spoon-fed to her by dumb Christians. She did speak out against those statements, denying them and condemning them. If anyone remembers those days well, there was a somewhat vicious your-either-for-us-or-against-us Stalinist demeanor in the gay press. Very little wiggle room and certainly beyond the grasp of a woman struggling with a variety of problems. All is forgiven, Donna. Your music changed the world. You had to be there and I’m glad I was.
dvlaries
Love To Love You Baby/ Could It Me Magic/ Whispering Waves/ Try Me I Know We Can Make It/ Spring Affair/ Winter Melody/ I Feel Love/ Back In Love Again/ I Remember Yesterday/ I Love You/ Rumour Has It/ A Man Like You/ Happily Ever After/ Last Dance/ MacArthur Park/ Heaven Knows/ Hot Stuff/ Bad Girls/ Dim All The Lights/ On The Radio
*
… and that’s just the stuff that ran Nov. ’75 till the end of the decade. Packed with memories of the first half of my 20s 🙁 No matter what Summer did or didn’t say, I could never divorce them all from the reflections they trigger.
*
I’ve never read the exact quote(s) attributed to Summer, but I certainly remember the hellstorm that attached to her for them, but by that time dance/disco product was treated like yesterday’s embarrassment, and her Billboard consistency was nosediving, even before AIDS raised its head.
*
I’m not sure how much scorn or titrated (if any) forgiveness I’m supposed to have for Summer. But a little perspective: nothing she ever said in a interview, for instance, could ever equal the damage of Reagan’s purposed indifference in the 1980s, never even publicly addressing the matter of AIDS until it had killed more Americans (alone) than the Vietnam War. An uninformed, Bible-blindered utterance (or two or three) from an ultimately inconsequential pop star has to fall lower on the crime scale, than an elected leader with the clout and power to act quickly as possible to stop the spread of dreadful, suffering deaths. But chose not to because …ewww.
*
And those of us old enough know wherever Summer failed us, Elizabeth Taylor more than made up the slack.
Ty
@Marty:
Thank you. Sick of these queens who heard one rumor and clung to it like gospel.
Donna was one of the all time great divas, go listen to your pandering Gaga crap, I’ll stick to a real legend. Donna was up there with Babs and Aretha.
Ty
And why 30 years on are we still harping on an unprinted, unaired on television *rumor* when Whitney was accused of homophobic comments in her day too and yet when she died, all the gays went by her side in sadness, instead of “rot in hell to a bigot”. Sorry, Donna and Whitney are both all time divas and I love and miss both of them whether or not they made a comment. They were from a time when you needed talent to make it.
xixax
Well said Marty. Rest in peace Ms. LaDonna!
curt
Hey I found these quotes. Did my own research to see if she was homophobic
Question: You were one of the first artists to have an intense and noticeable gay following. At what point in your career did you realize you had this legion of gay fans?
Summer: From the beginning, my whole scene broke out in the gay clubs. I don’t know if I would have a career if it hadn’t been, in some ways, for the way ‘Love to Love You Baby’ started off and everybody jumped on it. It was really in the gay clubs the song took off – they really embraced that new sound. I have to give credit where credit is due.
Question: As a Christian, how do you reconcile your religious beliefs with your acceptance of the gay community?
Summer: I don’t think I have to reconcile them. I just accept people for who they are. The Bible says you got to love everybody; it doesn’t make any exceptions, so I don’t make any exceptions.
Question:What are your thoughts on gay marriage?
Summer: I don’t really have an opinion on it, to tell you the truth. I think people have to do what they feel they have to do. Not being gay myself, I don’t have the same frame of reference – do you know what I’m saying? I don’t know what it is to feel like you can never be married or any of that, because I am married, I have kids and I have all those things. It’s uncharted ground for me personally; I can’t even make a comment on it.
Question: How would you react to having a gay child?
Summer: I would love my child, there’s no question about it. Love is everything. You have to accept what’s real, and you have to be in truth. So you love people for who they are and for their good qualities. That’s the bottom line – and that’s how I was raised, by the way.
Marty
Thank you thank you thank you, CURT!!!!!!! =)
Ty
Thank you so much Curt!
I just wish so many people would get over this stupid fake RUMOR and remember Donna for her great music. She might not be as famous and won’t sell as many magazine covers, but IMO this is in the same magnatude I felt when MJ and Whitney died
Marie Cohn
“I can’t even make a comment on it.” Oh dear.
A truly enlightened, gay-affirmative person says these six words: “I support marriage equality for everyone.” See how easy could have been?
Marty
@ Marie Cohn – a truly “enlightened” person wouldn’t nitpick. Donna just died and you just can’t let up despite those of us who are mourning her loss. Truly “enlightened”, indeed.
Ty
@Marty:
Thank you. If you don’t like Donna, learn “if you don’t have nothing nice to say”. These young kids obsessed with their Britney and Gaga forget there’s a lot of us who feel the same way with Donna that they feel towards their icons. Show some respect!
Lane
I will miss Donna. Great singer. Amen.
slaughter
Oh Ms.Donna you will be truly missed. She was before my time but I remember my mama and grandmama spinning her records at family gatherings. Some gay people are such bitter souls and truthfully if I wasn’t gay I think I would hate gay people because some of you are ROTTEN to the core. Good day and good luck.
Delius
Donna Summer, Whitney Houston…etc…were not artists.
They didn’t write their songs and did not play instruments.
They were told what to do…that means told how to sing by producers (e.g. Moroder).
No talent other than a decent singing voice..which as you can see by watching American Idol, The Voice, etc is not a rare feat.
She owed everything to the gay community..yet when it mattered she tore the gays down.
She was in the same league as the Moral Majority with her “Aids is a punishment form God” routine.
No way should any of you old queens be creating a fable of her life when it was well known she was a bible thumping bigot.
Her later comments on gay acceptance were only made to try to salvage her reputation and finances.
Shame on you self hating gays for trying to turn her into a fair tale.
Robert
Who gives a crap if she loved gay people or not??? I am not gay and I dont care if she loved me or said bad things about heterosexuals…I loved her music…R.I.P Donna Summers and your music will live on forever!!!!!
Ty
@Delius:
Donna didn’t write her songs? Why not research your facts… Donna wrote the majority of her big hits. Yes, there’s a few like Last Dance and Hot Stuff she didn’t write.
And you’re still obsessed with heresy over one measly rumor she sued and won millions when someone attributed to her. Yes, she was Christian… not all Christians are bigots. Ever heard of Kristen Chenowith or Margaret Cho? Are they bigots too because of their religion?
You sound like that pretentious hipster bear douche who defriended me and several others on Facebook who then took the time to write to each of us that anyone who actually was upset over Whitney’s death was beneath him.
Clockwork
@Jessie:
Nice post
Marty
@Delius: Dude, you need to study up on Donna’s career. You’re wrong on so many counts.
It is not “self-hating” to assert that her music matters more than any – SUPPOSED – anti-gay rhetoric she may have or may NOT have spewed. What does it say about *you* that you accept on faith that she would be so hateful? What does it say about *you* that you assume she was insincere with later remarks? How are *you* so certain as to which remarks were more indicative of her true spirit? Just curious.
It is not “trying to turn her into a fair [sic] tale” to assert that she deserves to be mourned. What is it with you hateful people that you need to dance on the grave of somebody just because you disagree with something they SUPPOSEDLY said? Donna did not live a hateful life, if she had she could not have “salvaged her reputation and finances” successfully, not in this media age.
More to the point, though, who the F**K are *you* to tell *me* that I’m “self-hating”?????? That sort of projection says so much more about you than it ever could about anyone else. If anyone should be ashamed, it’s you for choosing to be hateful on a sad day for Donna fans.
Joey T
To those of you and the writer who support Donna SUmmer, FUCK YOU!!! She HATED the gay community!! She claimed that we deserved AIDS (It was a punishment from God). She is, was, and will ALWAYS be a piece of shit! ROT IN HELL, BIGOT!!
WillBFair
It’s a sad, sad day. Her music is in my heart and always will be. Rest In Peace.
jason
Donna Summer was the Queen. Madge and the others pale in comparison. Donna’s I Feel Love was made 36 years ago and yet it is still ahead of what is out there today.
jason
I think Donna was simply remarking on the fact that men were becoming extremely promiscuous in all-male environments. It was getting out of hand, and she was right.
kendoll
She gives the same God speak like many in her community, claiming to love gays but as many of them say, they will never condone it.
Dr Jeff
So many comments on this post with a polarity of views on Ms. Summers. Many of which grieved me greatly. To be candid, I don’t recall everything that she said, what others said she said, etc… So I won’t directly comment on that.
What I will say is that many folks commenting with pejorative labels are condemning her in the same way that they claim she did with regard to AIDS/HIV. What a vidictive world within which we live.
Ms. Summers – RIP, many love you for bringing a host of music to lighten our hearts, allow us to dance timeless dances, & smile with joy on our faces.
May those with bitterness & hatred in their hearts toward you find healing..
Alistair
People on here are actually agreeing with her sentiments that gays brought on AIDS themselves. I am aghast.
This woman was not a huge talent….but, then a lot of you guys would agree that Britney Spears is talent. Britney gets some cowriting credits to her name by writing ” You are my baby..wow, oh wow.” So, if you think that Summer is a songwriter then she’s certainly in the same vein as other manufactured artists.
Clearly, she is not a one off like someone like Kate Bush.
I was around in the 80’s during the height of Aids, and the hurtful things and attitudes, were really breathtaking. My twin brother, also gay died of Aids, his name was Oliver.
There were people who didn’t even want to be near you let alone tough you. And there was only one celebrity that went out of their way, and really changed the way people though of Aids patients, and that was Princess Diana. You can easily search YouTube and see how she actually touched a man dying of Aids, while at the same time Donna Summers told us it was God’s wrath, that we brought upon ourselves.
Shameful that some of you guys are defying reason and standing up for a bigot. Luckily, by reading all of the posts, you self-hating gay men are only a minority.
Cheers,
Alistair
Ty
@Joey T: No, fuck YOU.
You hate a woman because of one rumor from 30 years ago that was long proven false.
Sorry you only will support wenches like Lady Gaga who exploit gays for $$$$. You might think she does no wrong because of her love for the gay community, but that bitch is a nobody compared to the amazing music Donna did in her day. Gag-Gag is nothing but a copycat hack who uses the “I love the gays” thing because she knows it will help give her a loyal fanbase who’ll stick with her after the rest of the world moves on. Donna had a better voice than Gaga ever will and the music she made is classic. If you like a reductive whore like Gaga but hate Donna because of the fucking rumor, then no, fuck you!
Marty
@Alistair: Kate Bush can’t sing and her songs are boring. Donna’s voice and Donna’s songs will be around long after Kate. If you think Donna is equivalent to Britney [!!!] there is just no hope for you. Ha!
Princess Diana was not a pop star, comparing her to a pop star is apples and oranges.
Shameful that you are working on an assumption of accuracy to a RUMOR that has been as disputed as it has been asserted. Use the internet, it’s divided down the center as to those who insist that Donna said “it” and those who equally insist that she didn’t.
Donna was not a hateful person, her biography showcases that. You people act as if she was akin to Tony Perkins, out there campaigning against us and fueling the fires of hatred.
Even more shameful is that you’re another who throws around the phrase “self-hating gay men” as if it doesn’t also describe you. That phrase is offensive and hateful, you should be ashamed to be using it.
Further, what kind of person goes onto a board about an icon’s death and goes on about how undeserving they are of being mourned? If you’re not a fan, for whatever reason, why do you have to jump in and be as hateful toward Donna as you accuse her of being toward you/us/whoever? Healer, heal thyself!
Alistair
She died of LUNG Cancer.
She was a smoker…divine retribution.
If you smoke you’re begging for lung cancer.
She deserved it.
Hmmmmmm
Alistair
Let me correct post number 52…at least smoking is a CHOICE.
Being gay is not a choice, Miss Summers.
stevoj
hahahaha so according to a couple of you i’m a self-hating gay with no taste in music because i like Donna Summers… some people really need to grow up and let go of whatever bitterness they cling to
ya’ll are some sad. queens.
REG
Donna Summer made memories possible through her music- period. During an era
where “If you remember what you were doing, you really were not there at all.” Donna
conributed more to an era than, almost, any other person of her time.
David
Amen Marty and Curt!!!! For a community who is fighting for equal rights, frowns on bigotry and has for decades now dispelled rumors of how HIV/AIDS is contracted and spread, we sure do discrimnate and spread rumors along with the rest. Just reading some of the hateful comments here makes me sad at how many others will read them and see how hypocritcal we can be. We shoot ourselves in the foot all the time.
R.I.P. Donna Summer! Heaven just received another angel!
Doug
@Delius: I loved her music and think she had a great talent to make me love her music. I don’t believe she was a hater, and even if she
was ignorant about aids and gay people in the 80s she can be forgiven because she had tons of company back then!
Jeff
I was working at a fundraiser for AIDS several years ago and one of the auction items was a painting by Donna Summer. She donated 100% of the proceeds to our fundraiser. I met her at an art opening a few years after that and thanked her for her generosity for the cause. She was sincerely happy to be helping, and expressed her thanks to US for trying to do something. I never broached the subject of what she supposedly said, but I didn’t feel I needed to as she had been so generous. If she truly believed AIDS was a plague against gay people, and was truly a bigot, I cannot for the life of me see her donating money to AIDS charities, and being so genuinely kind to gay people.
Rob
May she rest in peace. I will miss her music.
John M.
I’m pretty tired of people assuming they know anything about my likes, dislikes, interests, disinterests, people I care about, people I don’t care about, or ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT ME because of who I am physically an emotionally attracted to.
I looked up this woman because I’d remembered seeing something about anti-gay comments in the past, claims which seem to be mostly unsubstantiated. Good enough. Moving along, or so I thought.
Until the ugly spectre of “gay cultural isomorphism” reared its ugly head. Get it through your skulls, folks. Maybe your sexual orientation is the primary factor in your self-identity, but it isn’t in mine, or in many, many other people. Stop saying things like “the gay community” as if sexual orientation defines who and what we like.
News flash – I can’t stand disco, I don’t give a damn about Donna Summer, as far as I’m concerned, “gay icon” is code for “someone please tell me what I’m supposed to like because I lack any personal identity”, I love college football, wear jeans and t-shirts, have absolutely ZERO patience with people who talk about “bears” or “otters” or “dirt dobbers” or whatever other meaningless, frivolous crap you isolated, ghettoized society-hating stereotypical poster-children-for-the-religious-right-who-uses-you-as-an-example-of-what-the-rest-of-us-are-like idiots are into today because you refuse to engage with anyone who isn’t a prancing queen just like you.
The woman is dead. Deal. It’s sad. Sorry for her family. Sorry for her friends. She didn’t actively campaign for gay rights, she just served as balm for a chunk of you who, years ago, decided to withdraw from society because, waaaaaaahhhh, some people were mean to you.
Deal. Move on. Stop making the rest of us look bad. If it weren’t for you prancing queens, we’d have had legalized gay marriage years ago.
Frank
Tell us how you really feel John. Please don’t hold back. It always funny listening to gays like you. Always going around bragging about how you’re not like other gay people, and thinking you’re somehow enlightened because you choose to blend in rest of society. I’m glad you like college football, wearing t-shirt and jeans, and not use gay terminology. Good for you. *slow clap* If that’s what gets you off then by all means have at it, nobody is stopping you. You ever heard of the phrase if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?
me2
——————————
Excerpts From
The Advocate (mid 80s)
Summer and Smoke
by Adam Block
“In 1980, after five years as a reigning voice of the disco scene, Summer began to take control of her own career. She sued her manager, left her record company, remarried and became a “born-again” Christian. In 1983, touring behind her comeback smash “She Works Hard For The Money,” Summer had graduated from the gay discos to suburban arenas. She was also making small talk between numbers. Gay fans followed her to the burbs, and if the shows struck them as careful and gutless, her remarks astonished and enraged many.
There were reports of Summer reminding the crowd, “It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” a line I thought belonged to Anita Bryant. She reportedly told gays in her audience, “I’ll pray for you tonight.” And when questioned about gay rights, she is reported to have responded, “I’ve seen the evil homosexuality come out of you people… AIDS is your sin,” finally closing, “Now don’t get me wrong; God loves you. But not the way you are now.”
Some fans were livid. An angry account appeared in the Village Voice. In England, DJ/producer Ian Levine banned her music from Heaven, the popular disco, and called for a total boycott in the British pop press. Summer and her management stonewalled the issue. The aforementioned gay exec proudly claims that he personally “got her to drop that idiotic ‘Adam and Steve’ crack.”
When outspoken gay/socialist trio Bronski Beat covered Summer’s “I Feel Love” on their debut LP, the issue resurfaced. My esteemed colleague John Bryant (Male Review) noted once that once Bronski Beat were told of her remarks, they responded in disgust, “Donna Summer is dead,” but continued to perform the song. The notion of gay men making the song their own didn’t cut much ice with Bryant, who thundered that Summer’s royalties from Bronski’s version “go to the right-wing Christian Hate Campaign through Summer’s donations and promotion.” Bryant was appalled to find that DJs ad L.A.’s popular gay discos Probe and Studio One refused to ban her discs. His requests for an interview with Summer went unanswered.
This spring, Lorne Michaels and the other organizers of an AIDS benefit in New York reportedly contacted David Geffen to see if his record company wanted to provide an act for the show. Summer reportedly volunteered but was rejected by organizers because of her by now infamous remarks. That rejection apparently shook Summer from her complacency.”
————-
(Queerty’s blocking reference links again, so you’ll have to look up the rest of the article yourself)
me2
The Advocate (mid 80s)
Summer and Smoke
by Adam Block
“In 1980, after five years as a reigning voice of the disco scene, Summer began to take control of her own career. She sued her manager, left her record company, remarried and became a “born-again” Christian. In 1983, touring behind her comeback smash “She Works Hard For The Money,” Summer had graduated from the gay discos to suburban arenas. She was also making small talk between numbers. Gay fans followed her to the burbs, and if the shows struck them as careful and gutless, her remarks astonished and enraged many.
There were reports of Summer reminding the crowd, “It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” a line I thought belonged to Anita Bryant. She reportedly told gays in her audience, “I’ll pray for you tonight.” And when questioned about gay rights, she is reported to have responded, “I’ve seen the evil homosexuality come out of you people… AIDS is your sin,” finally closing, “Now don’t get me wrong; God loves you. But not the way you are now.”
Some fans were livid. An angry account appeared in the Village Voice. In England, DJ/producer Ian Levine banned her music from Heaven, the popular disco, and called for a total boycott in the British pop press. Summer and her management stonewalled the issue. The aforementioned gay exec proudly claims that he personally “got her to drop that idiotic ‘Adam and Steve’ crack.”
http://www.donna-tribute.com/articles/80/advocate2.htm
Jeff
Her immersion in born-again Christianity in the mid-’80s also alienated some fans, as did her alleged statements about AIDS being a just punishment for homosexuality. She later denied those remarks, telling The Advocate in 1989,”I’ve lost a lot of friends who have died of AIDS… people who ran my first album, who were really close to me, beautiful guys … I never said, ‘If you are gay, God hates you. Come on. Be real. I don’t understand that. Anybody who really knows me knows I wouldn’t say that.”
Jeff
It makes me sad to read comments like John’s because they speak of such internalized homophobia. I have never necessarily ‘identified’ with many gay tropes, but why would you deny anyone the right to express themselves however they choose, just because it makes you uncomfortable? As for the statement that without ‘prancing queens’ we’d have had gay marriage by now? As someone who knows his gay history (how dare I?!) I can tell you that without a few pissed off drag queens we may not have had the gay cultural touchstone of the Stonewall riots. So before you bag on the many diverse people who make up the gay community (there I go again) consider the fact that this world is made up of a lot of different people. Gay/straight/bi/trans, you name it. Don’t put everyone down just because they’re not exactly like you, just because you can’t deal with the way you think society perceives you based on your sexual orientation.
David
AMEN JEFF…AMEN!!!
DouggSeven
Why do gay men need heterosexual female icons…or identify with entertainment figures? You know how hard, random, and rare it is to make it in that industry? For every medeocre star out there there’s about a thousand failed attempts by others – only a nut would enter this business.. If you ever met one of there so-called ‘dream searches’, you’d think they were mental patients. As for this Donna broad, she didn’t write much (at least not her hits), had nothing to do with producing, and was a religious nut. Hardly icon worthy.
David
“Aids is your sin” I seem to remember her telling a largely gay audience. She subsequently received pelters (coins, ect) thrown at her regularly. I maybe wrong, but I think that is what happened and her career went down steadily after that.
laiq qureshi
may her soul rest in peace, i dont if someone listens to her in pakistan, but i am for sure, she is a legend
!what the F**K!!!!
Give a queen a moment on the dance floor and that queen will forgive anything. STEREOTYPICAL TWATS!
!what the F**K!!!!
@stevoj: Bitch, at least we know where to draw a line that bigot f**k’s can’t cross!.Where as you invite the c**ts to drive right through you! WEAK and PITIFUL!
Daez
@Alistair: I am pretty sure barebacking is a choice, so… Yes, I have had sex unprotected, but if I get an STI, however painful it will be, I will still take the blame. Risky behavior sometimes leads to consequences. That does not mean we chose or deserved those consequences.
Funny how you mention that Lady Di is on YouTube, but fail to realize that Donna Summers is not on video saying anything bad about gays or AIDS.
Also, the only person with more number one dance hits than Summers is Madonna. She definitely was talented and led the disco scene of the 70s as well as inspiring countless stage performers for 40+ years.
Daez
@John M.: You are hilarious. What is even more hilarious is how much of a gay stereotype you really are. You are the distended macho man that blames all the other gays for all the ills in the world.
Let it be known, the religious right hates you just as much as it hates us, and no amount of, to use the terminology of bigots such as yourself, “straight-acting” will ever change that. However, try to show some respect for those that came before you. Just the fact that you can even be employed or own a home while still identifying as gay, or he’ll, even the fact that you are not sent to a mental ward for identifying as gay, is credited to those that “withdrew” into the 70s because people were “mean” to them.
Delius
On TMZ Donna Summer said that :Donna, who was a fervent practicing Christian, believed 9/11 was an attack on Christianity and in some metaphysical way Christians like her were targets. She somehow felt that her illness was a byproduct of the attack
Sound like familiar sentiment?
She totally did say that AIDS was a “gift” from God….this type of merde was right up homegirls alley.
She’s was a rancid pig.
Having fun with Hilter down in hell Ms. Summer?
robbieoros
@kendoll: interesting how u know so much on bigots and their lifestyles, habits etc…ur comments give me pause.
good grief, the lady died in ur own bigot world, can’t u just let it go? or in ur world of bigotry are u still under the impression your still perfect and without sin, flaw or conscience?
yikes
bruce
Well, if Donna was commenting on the promiscuity of men in all-men environments, she was spot-on. She has a fan in this gay man who grew up listening to her wonderful liberating tunes but who was never promiscuous with total strangers.
Don’t bash her simply because she was speaking the truth. Some of you are promiscuous pigs who don’t care if you’re getting infected.
jason
DouggSeven,
You make a fascinating point. I, too, am often shocked by gay men’s adoration of females who are basically straight or who pretend to be bisexual for the benefit of sleazy straight guys.
It’s as if gay men are still locked in this self-hate mode. They can’t love themselves and therefore they can’t love an out man. An out man exposes them for the self-shamed closet cases they are.
!what the F**K!!!!
@curt: AND……..!?????!!!!BACKTRACKING BITCH!It’s a shame there was no internet back then! Just trying to claw back her career .Some of us are old enough to remember Her STANCE on aids and some of us have principles and some of YOU are DROSS!
christopher di crapito
@Jessie: I was there too. It’s like several years worth of wonderful memories just flew away. Indeed, you had to be there.
Tackle
Some of these comments are just pitiful. Spewing such hate based upon comments that she may or may NOT have said some thiry yrs ago. I don’t know how important it is now, but since the gay community is small, I find it odd that no acatual witnesses or the persons she allegedly directed the comments to, have come forward. Granted that some may not be with us now, but I was around during the Disco era, I have yet to hear of first or second hand accounts by someone who was acatually there. Have not even from somone who knows someone who was an Ex boyfriend, sibling or friend who would have passed this information on about what Donna Summer said.
Secondly, if were gonna condem someone one to Hell about unkind remarks they allegdly made thirty yrs ago, most of us are going there also for things we said 1,3,5 10yrs ago. We all have made are bigoted remarks about someones, age, race, gender, education, body type Etc.
stevoj
@!what the F**K!!!!: lol your harsh words are hurting my feelings
so what have you done that constitutes “drawing a line?” ranting about a dead woman anonymously online is not an achievement at all
the worth you put in such frivolous things pales in comparison to Donna Summer’s music career and charity work
you haven’t done what she’s done. you can’t accomplish what she has and you never will
you are a sad. queen.
Michiel
@Keke: Completely agree!!
Michiel
Agree!!
Michiel
@curt: Thank you !!
Michiel
@Dr Jeff: i just could not agree more!
Michiel
@Daez: Agree!!
Ty
Ellen, Adam Lambert, Margaret Cho and Elton John have all made statements mourning her passing. Elton called her a friend and said she donated a lot to his AIDS charity.
I think those people and their power in the LGBT community matters more than a bunch of Glee watching queens who think Lady Gaga is the greatest thing ever.
Why didn’t Michael Jackson (who seemed more horrified when assumed gay than when assumed pedophile) or Whitney Houston (who like Donna suffered from many homophobic rumors) have to deal with this shit when they died? Donna’s legacy in music is as important as theirs. You wouldn’t have electronic music as we know it without her work with Moroder.
Those of you who hate Donna because of a 30 year old rumor, fuck off and go back to watching Glee.
kevininbuffalo
@John M.:
Actually John nailed it, these rancid queens round here can’t handle it.
And Rest in Peace Donna.
Erik
With Summer being past her prime when I was a kid, I only first heard about her alleged anti-gay comments yesterday. If she says she didn’t say them, I take her at her word. There doesn’t seem to be any audio or video to verify the allegations. She made great music. That’s what I will remember.
jason
A lot of you are vile, self-loathing queens who spread lies and rumors about people. You are no different from bitter old women, frankly. Life has passed you by and you haven’t got much to show for it except for a dog and maybe a house.
Osito
@jason: Correction…a cat and maybe a house…hehehe
R.I.P. Donna! Thanks for the contributions that enriched my life! Listening to I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro) right now…FIERCE!!!
jason
Donna Summer was the queen. There’ll never be another like her. She came along at a unique point in history and changed the course of music.
!what the F**K!!!!
@stevoj: You don’t know me from a hole in the side of a toilet cubicle …You triflin g,misguided, no taste,no knowledge ignoramus! Get ta F**K!
stevoj
@!what the F**K!!!!: why’d you compare yourself to a glory hole?
lol also you didn’t answer my question
gurl get it together… and did you google ignoramus, cuz i’m a little impressed you knew that word
Donna Summers=Homophobe
Yep, just like a lot of has-been attention-whores (Charlton Heston, Anita Bryant,Steven Baldwin, et al), when their star starts to fade they spread their legs looking for a new audience. Donna Summer’s need for validation, after the Disco craze was over, drove her back to her roots in the conservative Christian-Fascist cult.
After drowning her self-pity in booze and drugs, she then decided to go back to her homophobic Afro-American church origins. In order to re-qualify for cult membership she had to make it perfectly clear that homosex was taboo — no doubt, she also blamed “those sinners” for not butt-bumping to her formulae music anymore at the clubs. Just like Hollywood didn’t have a place anymore for the once liberal Charlton Heston who then sought out a new audience of crusty old farts who needed validation as much as he did — the NRA.
So sad that Summers followed that predictable pattern. So sad indeed. Maybe she could have still done the Dinner Theater variety show circuit in the Midwest or peddled her golden oldies (with Gospel music on the flip-side) on the Home Shopping Cable TV Networks.
Now, she’s singing lullabies to Jerry Falwell (and not to Adam and Steve) in the Great Beyond.
robbieoros
@Delius: ahhhh…donna wrote most of her music…a singer does not have an estate valued at 75 million dollars without residuals…its not possible unless they are truly an expert investor…
donna wrote most of her lyrics and melodies, she owned her biggest hits…
better to know what ur talking about before u post…
robbieoros
@Donna Summers=Homophobe:
i fail to see why u feel this was sad that she followed what she believed.
u and i follow what we believe…ahhh…help me out here, what makes u the GOD
of what is sad and what is good?
I submit you need to humble yourself and live the motto of the gay culture preaches
over over and over..TOLERANCE…and no, ur not the first gay guy to turn ur back on
TOLERANCE…its also part of the hate gays have for anyone else who walks down the path
of their different drummer..
please, grow up…
robbieoros
@Joey T: you have anger issues. u would be well served
working on ending this hatred u have for people who share a different view than your own.
i also submit once ur TOLERANT toward others, you will find your life is much happier than u currently are…WTF difference does it make to u or any of us what Donna Summer did and believed? NOTHING! is the correct answer.
She had a gift, she shared her gift and that was that…made lots of money like any one would want to if their a capitalist..and long live capitalism…and let it go.
her life did nothing to hamper yours…absolutely nothing.
the Tolerance you preach…you need to subscribe to your own teachings pal…for the last thing most gay guys lack is THE TOLERANCE the so desperately demand out of everyone else who is subscribing to a different lifestyle than our own…grow up buddy…ur hate is embarrassing to see in print..and due to the obvious fact that ur don’t have the common sense to be embarrassed for yourself, i will take on that chore and be highly embarrassed for you, for clearly u don’t have the common sense to be embarrassed for yourself.
!what the F**K!!!!
@stevoj: @stevoj: For someone who purports to have intelligence…I suggest you read the initial sentence-swirl it around that vacuous dance floor you call a brain…and you might realize that it was a diss- you mentally challenged dipshit!
Osito
Well the story went from Donna Summer dead at 63 and comments about her passing to intolerance and demonizing people. This is the same kind of garbage ya get when pastor Fred Phelps and some of his Westboro Baptist Church members show up. Gotta love democracy sometimes!
R.I.P. again Disco Diva! Thanks for your contributions to my life!
stevoj
@!what the F**K!!!!: wow, purport! you get two gold stars for that one… and you almost went a whole post without cursing
anyway you’ve failed to answer my question yet again but you continue to spout nonsense so i guess this will be my last response to you
by the way, the phrase “you don’t know me from… [blank]” draws a comparison to another person/place/thing to which you feel the person you’re speaking with also has a very little understanding of. why you chose a glory hole is a little telling
i think the phrase originated as something like “you don’t know me from Adam’s…” something or other i forget
lol i’m getting off task, and you need to stop being so bitter and malicious
Jhonathan
@Delius: Your comment is cruel and simplistic.
oscar fernandez
where is the proof that donna summer said these things? Does anyone have audio or video of her saying these things? if not then why are you relying on a rumor as if that’s just as good as you yourself witnessing donna summer actually saying these comments? for those that think rumor’s are facts well i’d hate to be in court with you as the judge because i wouldn’t get a fair trial. key word FAIR. Donna Summer was one of the greatest artists ever and also highly influential. Upon hearing I feel Love, famed producer Brian Eno stormed into the studio where Davie Bowie was and said “i’ve just heard the future of music” David Bwie later said “for the most part he was right” I feel love alone laid the roots for house, techno etc dance music. Truly groudbreaking and ahead of it’s time. Oh and Donna Summer wrote a ton of her music including the disco masterpiece Dim all the Lights.
She had a wonderful voice and was a fantastic performer.
When you have the audio and or video as REAL proof then get pissed. Until then consider that maybe she didn’t say it!
Osito
@oscar fernandez
That’s just it Oscar, there is no proof. All there is, is some posting of an unauthorized something or other page that was posted here by someone here but it wasn’t a page from some publication (magazine, newspaper article, etc). It was something I could’ve whipped up in a couple of minutes. In this age of easily accessible information you’d think people would research before making judgements. Also, you’d think those that champion the cause would’ve come out against her alleged statements. I mean how outspoken is Elton John no matter who it is and absolutely nothing negative said about her. Actually he lauds her contributions over the years to his foundation and we know he isn’t in it for the money and that’s just one example. However there is evidence of her trying to right the wrong thrust upon her and making her position clear…she never said what they claim, she’s had people she’s held dear die of AIDS, she has nothing but respect for the gay community, etc. Plus she’s contributed a bunch to the cause and despite what skeptics may think, I doubt that she did it to save face or to “stay relevant” as she would’ve been called out a long time ago by those in the industry who could’ve stonewalled her. Just so many things that don’t make sense in that whole mess of “what she said” that makes one scratch their head and wonder why one would even think of buying into it. Oh well, I guess the only logical answer by haters would be to say is that all the articles about her alleged disparaging remarks were deleted or somehow blocked by disco fascists from making it to the public.
Signed,
Disco Facist #900,000,001 :O)
Fairness Intact
@Osito: it’s true that people like Elton John and Ellen mourned the passing of the GREAT Donna Summer. I highly doubt they would mourn an enemy to the community and who better would know Donna Summer than people like Elton who had met and dealt with her personally rather than hearing rumors from the outside. i have to state one thing and everybody should be able to answer this. has anyone in your life ever said a lie about you perhaps to get back at you. has there ever been anythng said by someone that was misinterpreted by another? it happens all the time.