ELLEN & KATIE COURIC: Katie Couric sat down with Ellen for an in depth interview where they discussed gay rights, the positive energy Ellen aims to build on her show, the importance of loving every living thing, how deceptive advertising skewed the Prop 8 vote (“How are they gonna teach gay marriage in school, they don’t even teach math in school!”), how she made bad choices as a young person out of insecurity, being a vegan and the upcoming season of American Idol. It’s a really terrific interview.
Pull up a chair, seriously:
One of the best stories Ellen tells is about a girl who visited the show, she was about 14 and had cancer, and she came in with her mother, who was so excited to meet Ellen, was a huge fan and asked if Portia was there, etc. When she left the room, “the girl told me that I helped her come out to all of her friends, and I said what about your Mom and she said oh god no, I couldn’t, she always tells me that i look too much like a dyke. That was scary to me. That her Mom likes me, she had just asked me about Portia, she’s such a big fan, and still she can tell her daughter that she looks too much like a dyke.”
It’s nice to see a long uncut un-edited interview, it’s been a while! Ellen’s such a peaceful human, probs one of our favorite humans of all time, with her zendo wisdom like, “Lets take, for example, someone who is antigay – someone who despises homosexuals… who I am. I have to remind myself, ‘If I hate that person, if I judge that person, I’m the same as them.”
ADAM LAMBERT: Adam Lambert has arrived in the UK:
Adam Lambert is a new kind of star who on first glance resembles exactly an old one. Onstage he lurches like Mick Jagger, glitter-slick face like David Bowie, with a belting Robert Plant yelp, yet the larger-than-life Lambert is being touted as the yang to the yin of Lady Gaga. He is also, importantly, the first openly gay mainstream pop artist to launch a career on a major label in America.
It’s so refreshing to read about our boyfriend from a UK perspective! It’s almost like he’s brand-new again. Sidenote I was listening to For Your Entertainment today on my ipod per ushe and today I felt I like it now more than I have ever liked it. I am at my peak of love for this album. Maybe it’s ’cause I’ve been thinking too much about Taylor Swift and how she sounds like ‘kissing in the rain’ & stasis & doodling but when Adam sings I really do feel it in my ears. He really makes my ears have feelings.
More from the end of the article/interview:
Even so he’s keen to clear up any remaining misapprehensions about himself. “It’s not a character I’m hiding behind,” he says. “I’m vain and I like looking hot and pretty. But I’m not that confident. I used to be scared to take risks and I was scared of rejection.” These days, 500,000 records sold, and counting, might help with that.
(@timesonlineuk)
GOLDFRAPP: Goldfrapp is readying their new album, Head First, due March 9 and were apparently inspired by Abba and ELO. Apparently, the hooks on Head First are the group’s most optimistic and immediate to date. Alison equates a new positive outlook due to a series of life decisions that she won’t elaborate upon, but sums up with, “Yeah, I got happy.” In related news, Alison Goldfrapp is dating a woman now… do the math. (@rollingstone)
TEGAN & SARA: On change and what does peace mean and hunting and gathering and giving peace a chance etc.
LINDSAY LOHAN: I thought it was a parody at first but it turns out that it is actually defo not a parody. I will be tuning in, dead serious. Nicey Nash is a comedian though right? What if Lindsay Lohan really is a hoarder: “The private pain she shares for the first time ever… and is Lindsay a secret celebrity hoarder?” (@theinsider)
Speaking of La Lohan, someone made up some shit about her and someone else asked her if it was true and guess what, we’re all good now! Basically she was photographed with prescription drugs in her bag and The Daily Mail announced “The image of the tablets inside the bag – nestled among her lipstick, hairbrush and wallet – has raised fears the star may be slipping back to her old ways,” which is LAME to begin with, b/c I mean who doesn’t have something in a prescription drug bottle around amirite? Anyhow, she explained:
“They are trazodone.” And while the pills have various usages, Lohan explained to Gossip Cop that they were prescribed as “a non-narcotic sleeping aid for when I travel. They’ve been prescribed to me since I was in rehab!”
A’ight. Also I used to take trazodone, that shit gives you crazy dry mouth. Just saying in case you kids want to follow in her footsteps, I’d recommend you bring several bottles of water with you onto the airplane. (@ontd)
TRANS TV: This post is offensive on more levels than I can count. For starters it begins with a gay panick story, transitioning into, “this is happening more and more frequently as gender assignment surgery fees become more affordable and trannies venture out of the gay community and into the popular heterosexual nightclubs where they hope to land unsuspecting football players like Eric Green and rappers like Bow Wow.” WHEN “TRANNIES” ATTACK! HIDE YOUR CHILDREN!
Then the article announces:
A production company called Red Label Group is shopping around a new reality show called “Boss Ladies” featuring 5 trannies who hope to open up a boutique featuring their unique fashions. The cast includes rapper Bow Wow’s friend Nadia (pictured top and 2nd from left above) who frequents the mostly straight Atlanta nightspots looking for ballers. The thinking is: she’s got bills to pay too. And since the ballers won’t come to the gay clubs, she’ll go to the ballers playground.
There’s nothing wrong with being transgendered. It is the dishonesty, the unspoken truth, and the deception surrounding them that is wrong.
Life isn’t The Crying Game, Sandra. For Chrissake. Also though I’m confused about the concept of this show. (@sandrarose)
JIM CARREY / EWAN MCGREGOR: They play a gay couple in I Love You, Philip Morris and were making out for some event in Paris this week. Hot or not? (@queerty)
BROADWAY: Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, have joined the producing team for Next Fall, a play about the ups and downs of a gay relationship set to transfer to Broadway this season. (@advocate)
GAGA: Lady Gaga got a fresh new tattoo branding “Little Monsters” on her arm and tweeted:
“look what i did last night. little monsters forever, on the arm that holds my mic. xx”
GAY & STRAIGHT ACTORS: “If you’re known as a straight guy, playing a gay role, you get rewarded for that. If you’re a gay man and you want to play a straight role, you don’t get cast — and if a gay man wants to play a gay role now, you don’t get cast. I think it needs to be addressed, and I feel complicit in the problem. I don’t mean to be. I think we should all be allowed to play whoever — but I think there are still some invisible boundaries which are still uncrossable.” –Colin Firth, nominated for Best Actor for playing gay in A Single Man (@huffpo)
Awww Colin Firth is sooo cute you guys! No homo.
No hetero?
That made me laugh. ‘No hetero’ I hate when ppl, mainly, guys say a comment and then follow it with no homo. Its like I didn’t go there but you did. So you are gay? on the inside?
guys colin firth is so f*cking classy
I have so much love for Colin Firth. SO MUCH.
I think Sara is right that one pathway to peace is getting everyone basic human rights… but that level of equity, sadly, doesn’t seem to fit very well with today’s world (as little as the “give peace a chance” stuff). I have a certain optimism, though, that human beings are evolving towards a point where all of us accept equity as a value of humanity and society, but it’s going to take a while, I think.
Smaller communities – back in the hunter-gatherer days – were actually far more equitable because people felt accountable to their communities (if they took advantage, they’d be asked to leave – one person could never gain that much power). At some point, I think we’ll all develop a sense of accountability to the human community. I think most of us here on Autostraddle, for instance, are chipping in to that slow progression of societal change.
Also, who the eff is Sandra Rose. Dishonesty of transgendered people? what?!
I too would like to stab her in the neck with a pen.
Maybe you should work on your rage issues. Her kid is probably a 20 footer.
Yeah. Sorry Ellen, I love you and your zen wisdom, but I’m all for judging raging homophobes and transphobes. So suck it, Sandra Rose.
Alison Goldfrapp going out with a woman and I did not know about this for over a month?!
Not sure I like the sound of the new album taking a happier turn, I absolutely adored the slightly dark, occasionally introspective and innuendo-laden Black Cherry.
Supernature was my fave. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE8zBOsLU-w
Hmm, I think there’s only so much electro-glam I can take on one record. My main issue was that “Ooh la la” was played EVERYWHERE and for me it always felt like a paler version of Strict Machine.
what’s a “celebrity hoarder” ??? does lilo have a bunch of celebs stashed away in her house? IS THAT WHAT HAPPENED TO NEVE CAMPBELL!??!
I thought the same thing! Like a pet hoarder but with celebrities?
Carly, you’re comment just for realz made my day!
That would explain her obsession with SamRo. She wants her for her collection!
I love Adam but that photo of him is terrible. His head looks shopped onto his body.
I’m disappointed they chose FYE as the leading single for Adam. Music Again and Soaked would have been a much wiser choice over here. I can’t see FYE doing well at all.
I love Soaked!
ellen’s hair is so f*cking hot. also, sarah palmer : ELLEN WATCHES DEXTER & HOARDERS! she’s just like us!
lilo’s hat in that picture = want
THIS COMMENT APPEARS TO BE VERY SUPERFICIAL BUT IT’S NOT.
Ellen’s hair IS hot! I was talking about the other day. She is already adorkable but then she had that hair that looked like a lesbian soccer mom married to a man. Eek! But this hair is good, this is hot..
So… any transperson, even one who has fully transitioned and is legally their new sex, is supposed to announce themselves everywhere they go?! That Sandra Rose should have to announce herself as a misinformed bigot wherever she goes. I don’t want to accidentally start talking to her somewhere, assuming she is a reasonable human being based on how she looks. The horror.
I totally don’t get anti-LGBTQ peeps. One moment they’re all like, “You faggots need to stop flaunting your sexuality!” and then the next, “OK, trannies, wear this ID sign around your neck.” Bigots! What will they think of next?!
The documentary “Earthlings” Ellen mentioned is great- if anyone wants to see it you can watch it here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/earthlings/ It’s a great film.
Thanks for the link! I’m definitely going to watch it…even though I’m really kind of scared. I loved the flow of the interview, both seemed really chill.
Also, Ellen makes me want to be a better person. Such as, how I do I get to be that hot at 50?
I’m really lucky in that my dad’s reaction to my coming out was, in order: telling me it was not bad news (his wife told me it wasn’t even news, getting his feelings hurt because I had hidden it from him for so long, and then buying me a purple plaid shirt and a cupcake.
I can’t even fathom him telling me I looked like too much of a dyke.
You mention your dad a lot and I kind of want him to be my old guy friend who I drink and play darts with. Not that my dad isn’t grand, but he works all the time. And I assume you take after him a fair amount so you should probably come along too and try not to judge my total lack of darts skillz. I’ll buy the first round. Deal?
My dad is like my BFF. He’s pretty much the coolest man in existence, not going to lie. I think we should totally play darts, which I am also terrible at, but I will totally take your ass in poker!
oooh you are ON! (assuming we bet in Skittles… ’cause I don’t have real monies)
I will take your skittles from you until you weep of sugar deprivation. I will win your children’s skittles!
hopes “I WILL WIN YOUR CHILDREN’S SKITTLES” is quickly made into a t-shirt / meme
Oh, I would totally buy that shirt.
BRING IT. But don’t count on *me* suffering deprivation. You will end up begging me to share my rainbow.
Baby, we’re not playing strip poker, but do I have to beg? :P
Strip poker with your Dad would def. be weird, I don’t care how well you get along.
And no you wouldn’t- I’m a gracious winner. :)
I’m pretty sure Dad’s open acceptance of my gaytopia stops right at the point where I and another chick are getting naked in the kitchen together. This isn’t the L word, people! Grease burns!
Haa “Grease burns!” that sounds like some kind of lesbian public service announcement series. “Unlike on the L-Word, in real life ______________ will fuck things up real fast. And just like on the L-Word, ___________________ will fuck things up real fast too!” The educational points you could create filling in those two blanks are endless.
Tegan and Sara looked really pretty in that interview, like hot. I usu. don;t see them as hot, cute and adorable, but not really hot.
I love how Sara can be serious, enlightened and introspective like you are talking to Maya Angelou…. then she turns around and hits you with a needle in the bum to remind you she is SKQ. And she is amazing.
I want ellen to be my mom sooo bad.
I want ellen to be my anything.
Ellen and Adam will change things and we just need to follow their lead. Mother Nature has made her choice and she likes the mix of gay and straight so why does anyone want to argue with Mother Nature? She obviously knows what she’s doing because she’s been around far longer than any of us Homo sapiens have been her. And anyway, someone came up with the name “Homo” for us all so, I’d say that is a really good reason not to judge anyone cause we are all “Homo sapines” anyway! N’est-ce pas?
Ugh, Sara do not get me started on U.S. health care. This is why I’m moving to London/Canada/France. I mean London is first as of right now because I know this girl there. I mean you need to see her: http://i45.tinypic.com/14mxlw7.jpg (Yeah, take that, Ericka.) And I don’t know if they have same-sex marriage in France? Anyway, Sara, we’ll talk more about this over tea.
wait. so did anyone watch The Insider to find out if LiLo is a hoarder???
did you? i would like to find this video! she’s not a hoarder, but i wouldn’t mind knowing about all of her secrets and feelings.