• America's Next Top Model & Dancing with the Stars champ Nyle DiMarco is asking Instagram "wyd (what you doing) on Valentines?" #MeMePickMe
• Will & Grace star Sean Hayes is set to receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award at the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on March 28. The Stephen F. Kolzak prize "is presented to a LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting LGBTQ acceptance."
• Movie star Chris Pratt got called out for attending an anti-gay church. So, of course, Ellen DeGeneres couldn't wait to invite him on her show tweeting, "Whatever @PrattPrattPratt is selling, I'm buying!"
• Donald Trump, the first president in modern times to not have a dog, says he would feel "a little phony" having a dog. With all the lies he tells on a daily basis, having a DOG would make him phony? I've always felt if someone doesn't like dogs, I probably wouldn't like them.
• Lots of folks come to together to make dance/pop bop, "So Close," a lively, infectious track.
With Swedish producers NOTD, German DJ Felix Jaehn and vocalist Georgia Ku onboard, plus California remixers Captain Cuts, the resulting collaboration makes for upbeat ear candy. That chorus definitely has some melodic, catchy DNA.
I like the music video, although the camera work gets a bit kinetic for me. Check it out.
Scott Icenogle and Sean Hayes (image via Simon & Schuster)
Will & Grace star Sean Hayes and his husband, composer Scott Icenogle, are thrilled when they get the call to be substitute teachers - of a kids’ ballet class.
The duo are instructed to put the young dancers through their paces in order to get ready for upcoming performances of the holiday classic, The Nutcracker.
But Sean and Scott soon decide that their mission is to share the true story of how the Sugar Plum Fairy got her wings, which just happens to be the subject of their new picture book, PLUM: How The Sugar Plum Fairy Got Her Wings.
It seems Hayes has loved The Nutcracker since he was just a little kid. He recently told Parade, “When I was a kid, I listened to that record over and over and over again.”
“I memorized every note of every instrument, from every song, in the entire ballet,” he adds. Hayes says the ballet’s story with interesting characters, like The Mouse King, was just too ‘trippy’ for him not to love.
So he and hubby Scott set about to create their vision of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s backstory. In their new book, Plum, a young orphan girl, is sent on an adventure to the Land of Sweets by a mysterious magician.
Overcoming obstacles along the way, young Plum eventually finds herself adopted. Not by a king and queen, but by two Kings, Patrick and Christopher.
Of course, the two funny men can’t just ‘release’ a book. There’s got to be a comedic way to share the news, so here’s the intro video for the new book:
Promoting the new children’s book on Good Morning America today, the couple shares that the book is just the latest collaboration between the married couple.
They also produce a popular YouTube channel titled, The Kitchen Sync, which has garnered over 2.4 million views and been seen by more than 250 million people around the world across social media platforms.
One the most popular is their take on the Barbra Streisand holiday track, “Jingle Bells,” which Hayes describes as “one of the funniest things because she sings it like she’s on cocaine.”
Not to disappoint, Hayes and Icenogle offer their newest Christmas lip-sync, costumes and all, for the Good Morning America audience, “I’m Getting Nothing For Christmas.”
Watch below.
And since it is officially the holiday season, let’s check out the full sugar-rush “Jingle Bells” lip-sync video from Sean and Scott:
You could say that's one of the ineffable messages of Pride Month.
And underscoring yet again the impact Will & Grace has had on LGBTs and allies alike, this one minute video gets to the center of what has made the show such an enduring success.
Humor with heart.
The newly-released mash-up from the iconic sitcom in honor of Pride Month reminds us why the Will & Grace reboot been an amazing revival for NBC and the LGBT community.
Take, for example, the clip from the latest season between Will and guest star Ben Platt:
Will: “My coming out was pretty typical - my mom cried, my dad drank…”
Ben: “I told my parents when I was 8. They both threw me a coming out party on the same weekend.”
Will: “That’s not a coming out story. How’s James Franco supposed to win an Oscar playing that???”
While it gets a good laugh, the brief scene combines comedy and light with a subject many experienced as painful.
The quick video tribute offers coming out moments from Will and Jack, as well as the infamous “television kiss” between the two dashing urbanites.
Eric McCormak (L) and Sean Hayes (R)
We’re also treated to moments of pride by parents on the show, something most of America had never seen before W&G.
And why? Because as Jack tells us, “That’s what we do in the community - we ‘gay it forward.’”
Because Pride Month isn't just about a party, or history, or a slogan.
“The minute you forget what we went through to get here, is the minute it could all be taken away.”
Will & Grace star Sean Hayes filled in for Ellen DeGeneres today as guest-host for her talk show.
Explaining her absence, Hayes shared, "She tripped and fell and is trapped under the weight of her own wallet." He then admitted, "I really don't know where she is. I assume Home Depot - that's where all the lesbians go...?"
Along the way, Hayes reminded the audience that, although he hasn’t hosted a ‘talk show’ before, he does have some experience to draw upon.
“I do know my way around a television stage - I’m on a little show called Will & Grace,” said the sitcom veteran.
“And before that, I was on another show - called Will & Grace.”
“I’ve also been on Broadway. Maybe you’ve heard of the award-winning musical, Hamilton? (Applause) I saw that, too.”
Hayes assured the ELLEN audience that he’s “not going to change” anything in the show, except for that dancing thing.
“I don’t have anything prepared,” says Hayes. “And these shoes aren’t even good for dancing.”
• Fitness model (and Randy Report favorite) Nick Sandell shares the news he's been signed by the legendary Wilhelmina Agency. Gee, can't imagine why... ;)
• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos won't commit to banning LGBTQ discrimination in private schools. Is anyone surprised? Show of hands? No? No? Me neither.
• As lawmakers in the Lone Star state continue to consider an anti-trans "bathroom bill," Texas-based Southwest Airlines gives some push-back by highlighting a transgender employee in new Pride Month video.
• Debra Messing & Sean Hayes together with GLAAD urge folks to join in the upcoming June 11th Pride Marches:
• Speaking of this weekend's Pride Marches, the organizers of D.C.’s annual Capital Pride parade and festival, plus the Equality March for Unity and Pride on Sunday, say the total number of people participating in D.C. could exceed several hundred thousand.
• Capturing the rebelliousness, the high camp, and the joy of the annual Invasion of the Pines, renowned photographer Susan Kravitz is releasing Mascara, Mirth & Mayhem, a collection of photos and interviews from over 30 years of the annual Fire Island event.
Will & Grace star Sean Hayes told the crowd at the Legacy Awards this past Sunday night, presented by Los Angeles LGBT film festival Outfest, that he has regrets about not coming out sooner.
“[The press release] said that I took the stereotypical gay sissy and made him human, lovable, flawed and real. While this may be true, I think you should’ve led with flawed because at the time, I was a young closeted actor having his first taste of a little success and unfortunately, in my mind, my lucky break was inextricably tied to me thinking that I had to stay in the closet in order to keep moving forward,” Hayes said, receiving his award from longtime friend Dax Shepard, who was equal parts genuine and hilarious. “Looking back at my choice to stay silent, I am ashamed and embarrassed. What was I thinking? As If any of you had any doubts. I mean, right, could a straight actor ever do this…?”
“When it comes to nights like tonight and honors like this, I’m consumed with what I didn’t do. I know I should’ve come out sooner and I’m sorry for that. Especially when I think about the possibility that I might have made a difference in someone’s life. I would probably be able to sleep a lot better than I do if I had acted sooner, but such is life. We learn our lessons only when we are ready.”
Former Will & Grace star Sean Hayes tells Playbill he wishes he had come out publicly during the run of the hit TV series.
“I got Will & Grace, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is different. I don’t know how to handle this. I’m not bright enough, I’m not quick enough, I don’t have the DNA to be a spokesperson for any kind of group of people.’”
“I had personal issues inside of myself that I regret.
“I regret not coming out sooner and helping more people, and I regret not coming out during the show.
"Everybody in the gay community knew I was gay, but it was this fight I had with the press because they want you to come out on their terms, and other gay people want you to come out on their terms, and if you don’t come out on their terms you’re just an asshole, and you’re wrong. Well, each individual human being has a lot of stuff that nobody knows about.
"Nobody knows what anybody else is going through at any point in their lives.”
Hayes eventually came out in 2010, four years after the end of Will & Grace.
He married his partner, Scott Icenogle, in 2014, and is currently starring on Broadway in the play An Act of God.
In a new interview with the LA Times, out actor Sean Hayes addresses some of the personal battles he fought being a closeted actor during his time on the LGBT inclusive TV series Will and Grace:
“I was so young. It made me go back in the closet [with the media] because I was so overwhelmed at 26 or 27. I didn't want the responsibility, I didn't know how to handle the responsibility of speaking for the gay community,” Hayes told the Los Angeles times.
“I always felt like I owed them a huge apology for coming out too late. Some people in the gay community were very upset with me for not coming out on their terms. They don't stop to think about what's going on in somebody's personal life, and the struggles that they're having. It was all very scary. We got death threats. It was a really rough time for me, but I was also having the time of my life.”
Hayes has a new series that's currently struggling with ratings and the critics. You have to wonder if this is a bit of outreach to the LGBT community coming a bit too late? And perhaps to help his struggling series?
Love Megan Hilty and very happy to read that she's already booked her post-SMASH gig on TV:
Hilty will re-team with Sean Hayes, who guest-starred on Smash, for his upcoming NBC comedy Sean Saves the World, according to TVLine.
On the show, Hayes stars as a dad who must figure out how to parent his 14-year-old daughter (Samantha Isler) while dealing with a temperamental new boss (Thomas Lennon) at work.
Hilty has been tapped to replace Lindsay Sloane as Liz, Sean's long-time loyal friend and co-worker.
Sean Hayes returns to NBC primetime this fall in "Sean Saves The World" as a single, gay dad trying to balance raising his daughter, cope with his mother (Linda Lavin) and his boss.
I enjoyed a lot of "Will & Grace" and Hayes was very good in the Broadway revival of PROMISES, PROMISES.
