Gay Artists

Via press release from NBC: “Hairspray Live!” features an all-star cast that includes Harvey Fierstein, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, Kristin Chenoweth, Martin Short, Derek Hough, Dove Cameron, Garrett Clayton, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Ephraim Sykes, exciting newcomer Maddie Baillio and special guest stars Billy Eichner, Sean Hayes, Andrea Martin and Rosie O’Donnell. “Hairspray Live!” will bring back the creative talents of …

Salon recaps: “Saturday Night Live” nailed the elegiac mood of the week last night when Kate McKinnon sidestepped any jokes about election night and Hillary Clinton’s loss. Dressed in her Clinton white pantsuit and wig, she sat down at the piano and played “Hallelujah” in memory of the great Leonard Cohen, who died earlier this week. Watch the performance and …

Variety reports: “Mr. Robot” star Rami Malek is attached to play Freddie Mercury in long-development biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” from GK Films with Bryan Singer in talks to direct. New Regency and Fox are coming aboard to co-produce the film with Graham King producing as well. Singer confirmed the news on Instagram with a photo of the group confirming his involvement …

The Mirror reports: Pete Burns has died unexpectedly of a heart attack, his manager has confirmed. The star rose to fame in the 80s appeared in Celebrity Big Brother 4. In a statement on Twitter, Pete’s manager wrote: “It is with the greatest sadness that we have to break the tragic news that our beloved Pete Burns of (Dead Or …

Spin Magazine reports: The Hillary Clinton campaign is now also notable for the reunion of Le Tigre. Because nothing is more punk than political endorsement, the trio has returned with “I’m With Her,” a pro-Clinton dance number that’s also their first new single in a decade. The four-minute jam features lyrics like, “She’s with us / We won’t stop” and …

Beefy bears, blasphemy, and a NIN-esque beat. What’s not to like? Radio.com reviews: Neon Trees’ singer Tyler Glenn is rather famously working through a crisis of faith on his upcoming solo debut Excommunication. The Mormon singer came out in 2014 and had hoped to find a way to blend his identity with his religion until the Church of Jesus Christ …

Two years ago gay pop artist Stephen Wrabel, who performs under his last name, scored a global smash thanks to a remix by Dutch EDM guru Afrojack, pushing Wrabel’s single Ten Feet Tall to 66 million views on YouTube. Last week Wrabel spoke to iHeartRadio about his new single: “It’s a very literal story, which is frightening. I wrote it …

Dark Horizons recaps: Protagonist and Helsinki Filmi have unveiled the first teaser trailer for Dome Karukoski’s anticipated biopic “Tom of Finland” about groundbreaking Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen who adopted the moniker ‘Tom of Finland’. The project is still being edited ahead of its release in February next year. A pioneering figure in late 20th century gay culture, Laaksonen (Pekka Strang) …

Over two million views overnight. Via Entertainment Weekly: Grammy-winning a cappella group Pentatonix delivered a special rendition of Dolly Parton’s hit “Jolene” with an added bonus: The Queen of Country herself. As shown in video posted to the group’s YouTube channel, Parton updated the iconic melody by claiming center stage for the performance, while Pentatonix sang back-up. “Singing with [Pentatonix] …

In 2011, Edward Albee said this: “A writer who happens to be gay or lesbian must be able to transcend self. I am not a gay writer. I am a writer who happens to be gay.” The New York Times reports: Edward Albee, widely considered the foremost American playwright of his generation, whose psychologically astute and piercing dramas explored the …

Last night RuPaul won the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. Yahoo News reports: Truth be told, the first-time nominee had reason to feel like an Emmy underdog, since he was representing RuPaul’s Drag Race, a fringe show about drag queens on Logo, a niche LGBT cable network. But Sunday, on night two of …

Atlanta’s Project Q reports: The legendary drag performer Lady Chablis – a fixture at Club One in Savannah and drag centerpiece of “Midnight in the Garden and Evil” – died on Thursday. The death of the iconic performer was announced by Club One, where Lady Chablis has performed since the club opened nearly 30 years ago. She died surrounded by …

You may not have known his name, but you’ve seen him in hundreds of movies and TV shows over the last 40 years. Via the New York Daily News: Actor Jon Polito, who was best known for his roles in Coen brother films like “The Big Lebowski,” “Miller’s Crossing” and “Barton Fink,” has died. He was 65. Film director John …

Broadway World reports: NBC’s Hairspray Live! will air Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and will originate from Los Angeles. The all-star cast includes Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad, Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Mabel, Martin Short as Wilbur Turnblad, Derek Hough as Corny Collins, Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton, Andrea Martin as Prudy Pingleton and Kristin Chenoweth as Velma …

BOOM. Toronto’s CP24 reports: The owner of a bar in the city’s gay village and former Deputy Premier George Smitherman have launched a class action lawsuit against a group of anti-gay activists who distributed hateful literature during Toronto’s annual pride parade earlier this summer. Cambridge LLP has filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of Christopher Hudspeth and George Smitherman. …

Early last month I introduced you to gay DJ, producer, and woofy bear HiFi Sean with his techno collaboration with B-52s frontman Fred Schneider, the video for which gave some of you a Kansas City Trucking Company vintage porn vibe. Today the former frontman for Britain’s Soup Dragons is back with a sparkling old school house number with vocals provided …

Last month Queen’s Brian May denounced Donald Trump for using We Are The Champions as his walk-on music, saying that that “permission to use the track was neither sought nor given.” May went to say that the band was “taking steps” to ensure that Trump was stopped. But pesky things like intellectual property laws are for the little people and …

Entertainment Weekly recaps: Juno co-stars Ellen Page and Allison Janney are teaming up to care for a baby yet again, but with fewer laughs this time around. The first trailer for the upcoming Netflix dramedy Tallulah sees a homeless young woman named Lu (Page) posing as a housekeeper and taking a baby away from negligent mother Carolyn (Tammy Blanchard) after …

From the Associated Press: Gathered around a keyboard in Los Angeles, conductor Ernesto Lima Parets stopped his singers and told them to try again. The five men who make up the gay Cuban choir Mano a Mano performed Gloria Estefan’s “Mi Tierra” (“My Homeland”) with perfect harmony. But he wanted them to feel it. “You must imagine what it means …

Gay Star News recaps: Ellen DeGeneres has marked Pride Month with a remarkable video highlighting moments with an array of LGBTI guests and allies. One of the most moving moments is when Orpah Winfrey says to a clearly touched Ellen: ‘Your true legacy, the real work that you’ve done on the planet, will be teaching people how to live authentically …