News Round-Up: June 7, 2019

(via Instagram/JoeBlizzard)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Joe Blizzard (above) has one lucky dog.

• Less than half of the 20+ presidential candidates mention LGBTQ rights on their campaign websites.

• Brad Pitt has demanded the organizers of the so-called 'Straight Pride Parade' in Boston to cease and desist using his name and likeness for their event.

• Christians surprise LGBTQ Pride parade marchers with signs apologizing for anti-LGBTQ views.

i cried so hard #RiseUpTogether pic.twitter.com/By0YonuARE

— frida kahloka (@merillravago) June 30, 2018

• Sad news from Philadelphia - Deputy Sheriff Dante Austin, the department’s LGBT liaison, was found dead in his office on Friday morning of what is thought to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

• Pride Flag flies over Wisconsin capitol for the first time; Republicans whine, "This is divisive."

• Carolyn Vaughn, a county commissioner in Texas, refused to sign a Pride Week proclamation honoring the lives lost in the Pulse nightclub shooting. "Just because you’re the LGBT—whatever it’s called, community, does not mean that I have to suck it up and support it.”

• And how about one more from InstaHunk Joe Blizzard as I send you all into the weekend :)

View this post on Instagram

Beach vibes ✌️🌴 🏖 . . . . . #beach #travel #sea #nature #summer #sun #photography #gaybear #beardedmen #instagood #tattoo #beautiful #vacation #florida #getoutdoors #landscape #beachlife #exploreandwonder #travelphotography #beard #photo #sexymen

A post shared by JOE BLIZZARD (@joeblizzard) on Jun 7, 2019 at 4:58am PDT

Web Series: Zach Galifianakis Interviews Brad Pitt on "Between Two Ferns"

10 million views in 3 days.

When we last saw Zach Galifinakis in his Emmy-winning web series, “Between Two Ferns,” he had President Obama in the hot seat.

Next up is Brad Pitt, who imagines he's there to talk about his new movie Fury, which Zach refers to as "furry."

And so it goes from there. The uncomfortability is fab.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Brad Pitt from Zach Galifianakis

Shirtless Brad Pitt in classic 80s Pringles commercial

Like many actors before hitting it big, Brad Pitt did his share of commercials in the 1980s.

Check out the baby-faced Brad as he hawks Pringles potato chips in this VERY 80s ad.

(h/t Towleroad)

Ellen's "Oscar selfie" LIVE

Click pic to enlarge

Taken live during the Oscar telecast, host Ellen DeGeneres took and tweeted this "selfie" with a few friends.

(those friend would include Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatun, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep and Lupita Nyong'o)

Update:  Poor Liza (in the blue), it just wasn't her night....

Brad Pitt donates $100K in support of marriage equality

Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to the Human Rights Campaign's marriage equality fund. They report via press release:

“Brad Pitt’s partnership with HRC in this closing week delivers vital resources into these campaigns and we’re proud to be working with him as we show that fundamental fairness will win at the ballot box,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.

“With his commitment, Brad joins HRC in a tremendous coalition of religious leaders, business leaders, labor groups, civil rights organizations and everyday, fair-minded Americans supporting marriage for gay and lesbian couples.”

“It's unbelievable to me that people's lives and relationships are literally being voted on in a matter of days,” said Pitt in an email today to HRC members and supporters. “If you're like me, you don't want to have to ask yourself on the day after the election, what else could I have done?”

Brad Pitt for Chanel No. 5 - "There You Are"

The first ad featuring Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt as the new spokesperson for Chanel No. 5 has just been unveiled:

The actor-cum-producer has stepped into a role previously filled by some of the world’s leading ladies, such as Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard and Audrey Tautou. Shot by Joe Wright – whose previous works include two Coco Mademoiselle commercials with actress Keira Knightley – this campaign has been shrouded in secrecy since it was announced earlier this year.

Jane Pitt, Brad Pitt's mother, opposes marriage equality

"I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon. Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama — a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage." - Jane Pitt, mother of Brad Pitt, in a letter published by the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader. Jane's son, Brad Pitt is a staunch supporter of LGBT rights.

NOTE: Many thought that the letter was a hoax, but the paper later posted a note confirming that Pitt's mom penned it: "To clear up earlier confusion, the News-Leader has verified the letter writer is the mother of actor Brad Pitt and local businessman Doug Pitt."

Paramount's 100th Anniversary in Vanity Fair Magazine

Cameron Diaz, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey, JR., Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta, Robert De Niro and Tom Cruise were among the movie superstars who gathered at Paramount Studios' fabled Lot 18 for an eye-popping 'class' photo to celebrate the film Mecca's 100th birthday.

Photographer Art Streiber shot the star-studded group snap for Vanity Fair.

The epic moment wasn't lost on Charlize Theron: "There are moments in your life where you find yourself in circumstances where you just have to pinch yourself. I got to rest my hand on Harrison Ford's shoulder, while Steven Spielberg was standing next to me - not too shabby."

In total 116 superstars and movie executives turned up for the once-in-a-lifetime shoot, photographed on the soundstage that housed the Star Trek TV and movie franchises.

Click on the pic to see a large view.

Dustin Lance Black's play "8" in L.A. with an all-star cast

"8"- Dustin Lance Black's play about the Prop 8 trial.

Featuring an all-star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Christine Lahti, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon and others, "8" is a play written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and directed by acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner. It is a powerful account of the case filed by the American Federation for Equal Rights (AFER ) in the U.S.

Brad Pitt will join all-star cast of "Prop 8"

The American Foundation for Equal Rights and Broadway Impact announced that the Brad Pitt will join the cast of the West Coast premiere reading of the Proposition 8 play, 8, which will be live-streamed via YouTube this Saturday, beginning at 7:45 p.m. Pacific.

The staged reading is an unprecedented account of the U.S. district court trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), the suit filed by AFER to overturn Prop. 8, which stripped same-sex couples in California of the fundamental freedom to marry.

Brad Pitt will star as Judge Vaughn R. Walker, the man who found Prop. 8 unconstitutional, joining an already star-studded cast that includes George Clooney, Kevin Bacon, Jane Lynch, John C. Reilly, Chris Colfer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cleve Jones, George Takei, The Simpsons’ Yeardley Smith, and many more.

The same-sex couples at the heart of the piece will be played by Christine Lahti and Jamie Lee Curtis (who will star as plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, a lesbian couple together for 11 years and the parents of four boys) and Glee’s Matthew Morrison and White Collar’s Matt Bomer (who will play plaintiffs Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, a gay couple together over 10 years).

The production — sponsored by Bryan Singer, director of The Usual Suspects and X-Men — takes place Saturday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, and proceeds will benefit the fight for marriage equality at the federal level. The free live stream of the event is unprecedented for a cast of this magnitude.
(source)

Brad Pitt in this week's Parade Magazine on marriage equality

Brad Pitt has some very supportive words for the LGBT community in this weeks Parade Magazine:

“What are you so afraid of? That’s my question. Gay people getting married? What is so scary about that? It’s complicated. You grow up in a religion like that and you try to pray the gay away. I feel sadness for people like that. This is where people start short-circuiting—instead of being brave and questioning their beliefs, they are afraid and feel that they have to defend them."

“I don’t mind a world with religion in it. There are some beautiful tenets within all religions. What I get hot about is when they start dictating how other people must live. People suffer because of it. They are spreading misery."

“Can you believe that we’re still fighting for equality in America? To be against marriage for everyone is utter discrimination. I feel strongly about that because if equality of marriage doesn’t happen now, the next generation will have to deal with it."

“It is an amazing thing that New York has finally gotten same-sex marriage. But the real problem is that the federal government hides behind states on this issue. It is blatant, ugly bigotry, and the federal government shouldn’t be doing that. You’re denying some Americans the right that all Americans have, to live their lives as they choose."

Brad Pitt Will Produce 'The Normal Heart' movie

The long-gestating film adaptation of 'The Normal Heart,' Larry Kramer’s blistering autobiographical play about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, is now closer to becoming a reality with superstar producer Brad Pitt on board, reports Variety. 

Pitt’s Plan B production company will coproduce the film with Ryan Murphy, who will also direct.

The film is expected to star Mark Ruffalo as Ned Weeks, the character author Larry Kramer based on himself, and Julia Roberts as Dr. Emma Brookner. No start date has been announced.

Brad Pitt applauds marriage equality in NY state

Brad Pitt, exclusively to PEOPLE, on the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in New York State.

"It is encouraging that New York has joined the movement to grant equal marriage rights to its citizens. But it is each American's Constitutional right to marry the person they love, no matter what state they inhabit. No state should decide who can marry and who cannot. Thanks to the tireless work of so many, someday soon this discrimination will end and every American will be able to enjoy their equal right to marriage."

The star and marriage-equality activist, 47, once said in an interview that he and Angelina Jolie would not get married until everyone had the same right.