Bryan Adams canceled his concert in Mississippi in protest against what he called an “anti-L.G.B.T.” law, and Sharon Stone decided not to film there. In North Carolina no less than, Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, Pearl Jam and Ani DiFranco have already canceled shows in response to a law regulating transgender bathroom access.

The celeb response is drawing attention, but it’s the travel industry in each state that is more concerned about the everyday tourists who have already begun canceling trips or planning trips elsewhere.

In Georgia, widespread protest from corporate America, particularly the entertainment industry, proved crucial in killing its own religious freedom bill. On March 28, Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed House Bill 757 following opposition from studios like Disney and Marvel. The state, which is the third-most popular shooting location in the U.S., is home to major franchises like The Hunger Games, Iron Man and Ant-Man, all of which have been filmed in the state. Often called the “Hollywood of the South” or “Y’allywood,” Georgia’s film industry brought in a reported $5 billion last year.

But according to the New York Times, North Carolina and Mississippi’s tourism are suffering big time,

Both states have been hit by hotel cancellations from tourists who spend a combined tens of billions of dollars annually, and though the effect is difficult to quantify so early on, local hotels, tourist boards, industry associations and government officials fear that a boycott will continue to dampen business. Making matters tougher for the businesses, the Foreign Office in Britain has issued an advisory for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travelers going to the two states based on the laws.

The effect is already being felt in North Carolina, which last month passed a law that limits transgender people to using bathrooms that match the sex on their birth certificates. Tourism is a crucial driver of the economy in the state, the sixth most-visited in the country, where domestic travelers spent a record $21.3 billion in 2014, according to Visit North Carolina, the state’s tourist board.

In Charlotte, which has a large convention center, more than 20 conventions have either canceled or are no longer considering holding their event in the state, resulting in a loss so far of around $2.5 million, according to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.

Travel industry executives and officials in North Carolina and in Mississippi are attempting to counter the message that they say the legislation delivers. Mr. Hughes on April 12 introduced the Mississippi Economic Tourism and Recovery Act to the House, which would prevent businesses and individuals from discriminating against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Marriott International’s president and chief executive, Arne Sorenson, is one of several heads of hospitality companies who have signed an open letter to Gov. McCrory of North Carolina asking for the repeal of the bathroom law. That letter was written by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization, and Equality North Carolina, the state organization working to secure equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender North Carolinians.

The Mississippi travel industry is also expressing a welcoming attitude in dealing with the effects of the bill that was passed there on March 30. Linda G. Hornsby of the Mississippi Hotel and Lodging Association said:

“The first thing we did after the bill was passed was to put up a banner on our website that says, ‘Everyone Is Welcome Here,’ because that’s how we feel. This law is not what Mississippi is about.”

As they say, good luck with that. Change your laws to stop the hemorrhaging. Until then, boycott Mississippi and North Carolina.

(Photo, AP; via The New York Times)

The post #BoycottNCarolina #BoycottMississippi Both States Are Already Feeling the Pain in their Wallets appeared first on The WOW Report.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has just signed into law HB 1840, a bill that allows counselors, therapists, and mental health professionals to refuse service to LGBT people, atheists, divorced people, literally ANYONE, merely by claiming their “sincerely held religious beliefs” allow them to.

The counselor is supposed to refer the patient to another counselor, but given that one quarter of Tennessee residents live in rural areas, LGBTQ youth and teens who are vulnerable, and unable to travel without their parents, will be at higher risk of possible self-harm.

Chris Sanders, Executive Director of the Tennessee Equality Project said,

“After working with allies the entire legislative session, especially the American Counseling Association and many counselors in Tennessee, to defeat the HB1840, we had hoped for a veto. We know the Governor carefully considered his decision, but the reality we now face is that counselors will be able to discriminate against clients based on the counselor’s principles. We continue to worry particularly about rural LGBT people who may not have adequate resources for counseling in their communities.“

According to Buzzfeed, Gov. Haslam said in a statement

“I believe it is reasonable to allow these professionals to determine if and when an individual would be better served by another counselor better suited to meet his or her needs. The substance of this bill doesn’t address a group, issue or belief system. Rather, it allows counselors – just as we allow other professionals like doctors and lawyers – to refer a client to another counselor when the goals or behaviors would violate a sincerely held principle.”

Reese Withspoon posted this tweet last week. Others weighed in, as well. Let the backlash and boycotting begin.

(via NCRM)

The post New Tennessee Bill Allows Mental Health Professionals To Refuse Service TO LGBT People appeared first on The WOW Report.

The seventh annual Turner Classic Movies Film Festival, opens today in Los Angeles taking over several venues in Hollywood. A few of the movies at the festival provide a look at the time when homosexuality could not be spoken of, or a little later, when it could be spoken of, but only negatively. According to The Advocate, The Closet on Celluloid is a particularly interesting segment,

Tea and Sympathy (above), from 1956, is about a young man (John Kerr) bullied for being “sensitive” and the older woman (Deborah Kerr) who takes it upon herself to prove he’s not gay. Darryl Hickman, who played John Kerr’s roommate, will be in the house for the film, showing at 2 p.m. Friday at the Chinese Multiplex.

Private Property is a noirish 1960 entry, also involves a man trying to prove his heterosexuality, with Warren Oates and Corey Anderson as drifters who try to seduce a beautiful woman. It’s on at 5:15 p.m. Friday at the Chinese Multiplex. In a different vein is an earlier noir with supernatural touches, 1947’s Repeat Performance, with Joan Leslie, usually an ingenue, in a more serious role as an actress who kills her unfaithful husband (Louis Hayward) but wants the universe to grant her a do-over. Richard Basehart, in his film debut, has a supporting role as a maybe-gay poet. Catch it Friday at 10 p.m. at the Egyptian.

And 1954’s All That Heaven Allows features not a closeted character but a closeted star — Rock Hudson — in a tale that served as at least partial inspiration for out director Todd Haynes’s Far From Heaven. Hudson romances older woman Jane Wyman, despite her family’s disapproval, under the direction of Douglas Sirk. See it at 9:45 a.m. Sunday at the Chinese Multiplex, with indiefilmmaker Allison Anders providing commentary.

For more info, check out TCM’s lineup here.

(T/Y Tad; via The Advocate)

The post #LGBTQ: TCM’s 2016 Festival Features a Look Inside “The Closet on Celluloid” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Last weekend, Mario Licato met some friends for lunch, went to a friend’s apartment in Brooklyn for the afternoon and around 8PM he took the F train to go to the Lower East Side. He got off the train at Delancey Street and, well, he told Gothamist,

“I was walking up the stairs. I had my head down—there were people in front of me—just to make sure I wasn’t going to fall.

I didn’t even see the guy. I just see his fist coming towards me. It knocked me, and while I was falling down the stairs, all I hear was, ‘This is because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf!‘”

Licato lost consciousness when he landed at the bottom of the stairs, and when he came to his face was covered in blood, his glasses broken and a couple rushed to his aid and asked him,

“Did you know that guy?”

The couple, according to Licato, described the attacker as in his mid-20s, 6 foot to 6-foot-3, and muscular, kinda like a frat boy. Licato says he know the guy. The LaBeouf hater, as Licato says witnesses recounted, was running down the stairs when he punched Licato and kept going, then boarded a train.

“I was so confused. I was even more confused because I got up and I was like, am I crazy or did I hear him say, “This is because you look like Shia LaBeouf?“

And they were like,

“Nope. That’s exactly what he said as he was running away from you.“

The couple called 911 and helped Licato up the stairs to the sidewalk to wait for an ambulance. One arrived within minutes, but Licato says the emergency medical technicians who stepped out weren’t exactly comforting.
They got out of the car and the first EMT guy, while I’m gushing blood from my face, with my broken glasses, just says,

“Welcome to New York, buddy.“

My response was,

“Well, fuck you, I’m born and raised here. Are you kidding me? You’re standing in front of somebody who’s bleeding out of their face and that’s your first response?“

The EMTs checked him for a concussion and cops arrived, and Licato says they were helpful. And what about Licato’s resemblance to LaBeouf? Has he gotten that before?

“So many times. That’s why I knew I wasn’t that crazy. I got it three years ago. I’ve been stopped on the street before, at least 10 times in my life.

I wanna know what Shia LaBeouf did to him. What did Shia LaBeouf do to him that he punched somebody that looks like him? He must have did something so mean. Did he steal his girlfriend? Did he just see his last performance art piece?“

We’ll never know. But apparently Shia LaBeouf felt bad for the guy and left him a voicemail. Licito told Esquire,

“[Shia] left me a voicemail yesterday morning… it was a pretty long voicemail. He was like,

“Hey, this is Shia LaBeouf … I just read an article that you were punched in the face because you look like me?” And he was like, “Aw, man. That sucks. I’m so sorry. But I get it. It’s happened to me before.”

And then he was like, “I don’t know. I wish I was in New York. I’d come bring you soup.” He was just like, “This sucks. I don’t even know what to say. I’m sorry. People are just crazy. Just because you look like me?” I was obviously laughing the whole time. And then he was like, “Here’s my phone number. Don’t give it to anybody. Please, please, call me back. Call me back if you want to. We could chat. Let’s giggle over this. Maybe there’s a silver lining in all this. But call me back.” And then he was like, “And once again, this is Shia LaBeouf, the guy you got hit for looking like. And yeah, man, I’m sorry. I’m just really sorry.” And he was like “Keep your head up, G.” And that was it.”

See, it sucks to be Shia some days (or even look like him) but he’s not a bad guy.

(T/Y Tad; via Gothamist)

The post #NotFunny: Man Sucker-Punched In NYC “Because You Look Exactly Like Shia LaBeouf” appeared first on The WOW Report.

If you happen to be in the Manhattan area tonight, you might want to check out the book signing for wowlebrity Edward Mapplethorpe‘s One: Sons & Daughters in the Rare Book Room at the Strand Book Store. The recently released tome – A 20 YEAR PROJECT! – features the super-expressive faces of one-year-old children, as well as essays by Susan Orlean and Samantha Boardman (who will both be on hand as special guests!).

Details below!

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On this episode of Oh Pit Crew – Bryce and Jason discuss names for their – ahem – wieners THEN Miles & Jason play in a big bowl of fruit. I guess their mama’s never told them not to play with their food…

The post Oh Pit Crew: Fruit Bowl appeared first on The WOW Report.

Last night marked the beginning of a momentous event. Beyoncé‘s FORMATION WORLD TOUR began in Miami and an incredibly lucky audience got to witness the greatness live and in person. She performed the songs from her new album masterpiece LEMONADE for the first time on stage. So if you’re anything like me, you spent your entire night searching through Twitter for any photos and videos you can find, whether at the gym or cooking dinner at home or in the car or at the grocery store… or was that just me?

Anyway, this tweet pretty much sums up my general idea about what the concert must have been like in person:

When you finally enter the gates of heaven and God is standing right there pic.twitter.com/jJZJnnQDOb

— FORMATION WORLD TOUR (@formationtour16) April 28, 2016

Here are some more clips YOU CAN’T MISS:

Crazy/Bootylicious clip pic.twitter.com/muiE4QA9DC

— FORMATION WORLD TOUR (@formationtour16) April 28, 2016

#FormationWorldTour pic.twitter.com/JPb1bMc9qK

— Formation World Tour (@FormationWT) April 28, 2016

Amazing vid of #FLAWLESS pic.twitter.com/JjpfU7cgLh

— FORMATION WORLD TOUR (@formationtour16) April 28, 2016

BEY dancing to DADDY LESSONS pic.twitter.com/YvliapwNAO

— FORMATION WORLD TOUR (@formationtour16) April 28, 2016

#formation pic.twitter.com/JcpI7nGDya

— FORMATION WORLD TOUR (@formationtour16) April 28, 2016

#FormationWorldTour #Miami pic.twitter.com/AIkR3dThjM

— Formation World Tour (@FormationWT) April 28, 2016

WE’RE NOT WORTHY.

The post The First Night of Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour Looks Basically Like the Inside of Heaven appeared first on The WOW Report.

Tracks on RuPaul’s Drag Race: The Rusical:

1. The Diva Awards
2. Cover Girl
3. Bitch Ball
4. Bitch, I Am From Chicago! f/ Morgan & Mystique [Explicit]
5. Always Wear A Jewel
6. Too Many Daddies
7. Sugar Daddy f/Shangela, Mimi & Mariah
8. Jealous Of My Boogie
9. Pray & Slay
10. Glamazonian Airways Pt. 1 [Explicit]
11. Glamazon
12. Glamazonian Airways Pt. 2
13. Hot In Tuckahoe
14. Not RuPaul’s Best Friends Race! f/ LaShawn & Jiggly [Explicit]
15. Good vs. Evil
16. No, You’re Bulls**t f/ Sharon & Phi Phi [Explicit]
17. Sleepwalker
18. Next Up, Team Ivy Winters f/RuPaul
19. Sugar Babies
20. Rucapella (Bitch Perfect) {Album Only}
21. Why Are You Talking? f/Tyra & Tatianna
22. Eggs f/Ginger & Trixie
23. Cha Cha Heels f/Katya & Kennedy
24. Poo f/Violet, Pearl & Miss Fame [Explicit]
25. Shade: The Rusical f/Cast of Season 6 {Album Only}

The post Attention Squirrelfriends: RuPaul’s Drag Race – The Rusical, Volume 1 The Soundtrack of Your Liiiiiiiiiife Is Available NOW!!! appeared first on The WOW Report.

We don’t want to believe it but The National Enquirer is now saying that “Prince Died of AIDS” and had been preparing for his death “for a while.”

A devout Jehovah’s Witness, prince was diagnosed with the condition six months before his sudden death and his weight is said to have been just 80lbs. He is also alleged to have refused medical treatment, according to the National Enquirer‘s front page story, saying,

“God can cure me.“

According to the shocking story that is now making its way around the world,

“Doctors told Prince his blood count was unusually low and that his body temperature had dropped dangerously below the normal 98.6 degrees to 94 degrees. He was totally iron-deficient, very weak and often disoriented. He rarely ate and when he did, it all came right back up.

His face was yellowish, the skin on his neck was hanging off and the tips of fingers were a brownish-yellow.”

Prince was seen to be making runs to a local pharmacy shortly before his death to pick up treatment for what is believed to have been a painful and severe case of influenza. A source told the National Enquirer,

“We were all just shocked that he came in last night looking so beat. We said, ‘We are praying for you.”

He said, almost under his breath,

“‘Maybe if you prayed for me a year ago it’d be different right now.“

Then he waved and said thanks anyway.

It comes as sources close to the investigation into the circumstances of Prince’s death said he was in possession of prescription painkillers when he passed away. According to CNN and TMZ, the painkillers were found on Prince shortly after his death aged 57 at his home in Minneapolis.

The Enquirer has also claimed that Prince suffered from an addiction to Percoet, which he was using to try and dull his pain during the final stages of his life. L. Londell McMillan, who knew Prince for 25 years and at once point worked as his manager denies this and insists the singer did not have addiction issues.

The National Enquirer claims Prince was diagnosed with HIV back in the 1990s, but it developed into AIDS at the end of last year. A statement from Prince’s family and friend’s issued shortly after his death said it was caused by influenza, an illness which could prove fatal to an AIDS sufferer due to their weakened immune defences.

Representatives for Prince haven’t yet responded to the allegations. An autopsy is pending. (via Telegraph)

The post Did AIDS Really Kill Prince? appeared first on The WOW Report.

Alex Garcia
Carnie Wilson
Andre Agassi
Daniel Day-Lewis
Eve Plumb
Jay Cutler
Jerry Seinfeld
Kate Mulgrew
Leslie Jordan
Master P
Michelle Pfeiffer
Nora Dunn
Taylor Cole
Tyler Labine
Uma Thurman

The post April 29th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.

Landon Meier, is a Denver-based artist who makes masks for his company, Hyperflesh. He’s most famous for masks of babies’ faces, but has also produced scary replicas of Charlie Sheen, Peter Dinklage, and Bryan Cranston, among others. Meier unveiled his new political masks at the horror convention Monsterpalooza, held last weekend in Pasadena.

“I try to pick characters, people who’ll be fun to run around scaring people with… topical stuff and right now, with the political atmosphere, everyone is so polarized and angry. So I thought it would be fun to lampoon each one of them.”

Meier enlisted the help of his girlfriend, Ashley Teasdale (not the actress) to play Bernie Sanders and a wrestler friend Bo Cooper to play Donald Trump. He suited up as Hillary Clinton. (Pretty hot, Landon!)

“I made Bernie the sexy socialist hippie, made Trump a white trash dude, and made Hillary a… I don’t know… a male dominatrix, I guess.”

You can see these aren’t your party store Halloween masks as each piece takes months, of silicone casting, sculpting, detailed painting and hair piece work. Each mask costs around $4,500.

“That figure usually scares the shit out of most people but for people who have disposable income and appreciate good art, it’s OK.”

Monsterpalooza fans were pretty obsessed with these three,

“I literally couldn’t walk around because everyone was stopping to take a photo. There was nobody who just walked by. Everyone was just dumbfounded.”

No matter who you are voting for these are a creepy combo to love/hate. We have one question? Why no Ted Cruz, Landon? OK. We just imagined it and it really IS too terrifying. Nevermind.

(Photos, Carly Cooper; via BuzzFeed News)

The post #ElectionWeary?: Marvel at These Scary-Good Masks of Hillary, Donald & Bernie! appeared first on The WOW Report.

The legendary Barbra Streisand turned 74 just a few days ago and Randy Rainbow sat down to a rare (fake) interview with the Divine Ms. S herself. They cover EVERYTHING – from A to B and back again, and even do a little duet –sort of. Watch.

The post #PrettyFunnyGURL: Randy Rainbow Interviews (& Sings with) Barbra Streisand appeared first on The WOW Report.

In lady reporter Damiana Garcia’s 9-part thriller web series, things really come to a HEAD (as in, a head gets chopped off) in episodes 6 and 7! After spying on Shelby’s disturbing acting class, Steph, Mark and Charlie confront the sinister members of the Shelby Roberts Acting Studio, and the situation quickly escalates to a bloody free-for-all. Be sure to subscribe to the “Pretty Things” channel to not miss the final two episodes, coming soon!

The post Watch Now: “Cult! A Hollywood Story” Episodes 6 & 7 appeared first on The WOW Report.

April 29, 1917– Celeste Holm

I met her once. It was really rather a thrill because I am truly a fan and at the time I was a young, rather berserk, musical theatre fanatic. I was over the moon to meet the original Ado Annie from Oklahoma! (1943). As a film-savvy youthful gay man, my head was simply spinning to be meeting the real Karen, Margo Channing’s best friend in All About Eve (1950), one of my very favorite films.

The occasion of this meeting was upon my being received backstage by actor Betty Garrett after her one-woman show Betty Garrett & Other Songs at the Westwood Playhouse in LA in spring 1976. Garrett had been in my acquaintance for a couple of years, and we had recently been at a very informal outdoor dinner thrown by mutual friends. Garrett offered me her house seats the very next evening. I took her up on the offer. The show was splendid, sparkling and sentimental. Right before her big finish, but before the curtain call, Garrett looked into the house with her hands shielding her eyes from the spotlight and announced, while pointing out to the audience: “My dear friends Celeste & Stephen… I want to see you both in my dressing room in just a few minutes.” I turned to the person next to me, nudged them and whispered: “That’s me she is talking about!  I’m Stephen. I mean, I’m not Celeste.”

So, Academy Award winner and consummate character actor Celeste Home and little curly haired Stephen Rutledge hung out in the small dressing room while Garrett got out of costume and make up. Holm and I made small talk and loudly praised Garrett’s show. I heaped some praise on Holm’s stage performance in the musical Mame which I had seen her perform the title role in 1968.

Unbelievable to me now, I declined an offer from this pair of amazing stars from Hollywood’s Golden Era to move on to another party as a trio. Instead, I would opt to go to Studio One in West Hollywood. I was hoping that some hot guy would shove that little brown bottle under my nose, that would make me feel all sexy and really connected with the thumping music and that he might then take me home with him. I did meet a beefy redhead that evening. He took me back to his place in Venice Beach, used me for my considerable talents and then made me breakfast. I came to a fork in the road and I made the wrong decision. I could have partied away all evening with the woman who introduced the world to the showstopper I Can’t Say No, but instead I took the fork that might have got me forked.

Holm told me this story: She was nominated for an Oscar for a film she made with Miss Loretta Young, Come To The Stable, in which they both played nuns! Young had become quite pious after having given birth to Clark Gable‘s love child (talk about virgin birth, she adopts her own daughter) and she had announced to the cast and crew that there would no swearing or strong language on the set of the nun flick. Young had set up a penalty box for anyone who dared break her rules. If anyone slipped and used a “fuck” or a “shit”, they were required to place a dime in the box, with the money going to a Vatican charity after the film wrapped. Holm’s good friend Ethel Merman stopped by the set for a visit. Merman took a 10 dollar bill out of her purse and slipped it into the swearword box and for the whole cast and crew on the set to hear, stated:

“There you go Loretta. Now you can go fuck yourself”.

I related this story to a group of young people who I used to supervise here in Portland. Not a single one of them knew of Celeste Holm, Loretta Young, Ethel Merman, or All About Eve… even the gay ones. I hate getting old.

Holm also related:

“I walked onto the set of All About Eve on the first day and said: ‘Good Morning’ to Miss Bette Davis, and do you know her reply? She said: ‘Oh shit, good manners’. I never spoke to her again … ever.”

Holm earned her Academy Award as the knowing voice of tolerance in Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) and went on to a six-decade screen and stage career, frequently cast as the wistful or brittle sophisticate. Her film career flourished. She played a fellow psychiatric patient of Olivia de Havilland’s character in The Snake Pit (1948).

Holm’s most noted roles shared one quality: her characters rarely got the guy. As a smart magazine photographer in the musical High Society (1956), Holm was ignored by her reporter colleague, played by Frank Sinatra who was more interested in the society bride played by Grace Kelly. In The Tender Trap (1955) she marries at the end of the film, only because her 33 year old character felt she was too old and that she better settle or be alone forever. In A Letter To Three Wives (1949), the man she ran away with went back to his wife.

Brooklyn born Holm resided in her native NYC for most of her life. She married five times. She wed her fifth husband, opera singer Frank Basile, on April 29, 2004, her 87th birthday. He was 45 years younger. Sweet!

Holm made more than 100 films beginning in 1946, excellent in dramas, comedies and musicals. She outlived the entire cast of All About Eve, my favorite of her films. She continued to work in theatre and cabaret until her late 80s. Holm took her final curtain call in 2012, shortly after her 95th birthday, a life well lived.

The post #BornThisDay: Actor, Celeste Holm appeared first on The WOW Report.

A small town in Alabama is working on a law that would send you to jail for six months or fine you $500 for peeing in the “wrong” bathroom.

The ordinance says,

Citizens have a right to quite solicitude and to be secure from embarrassment and unwanted intrusion into their privacy… single sex public facilities are places of increased venerability and present the potential for crimes against individuals utilizing those facilities which may include, but not limited to, voyeurism, exhibitionism, molestation, and assault and battery.

Makes no sense. Why aren’t they worried about pervs using the SAME gender’s bathroom? And for the 10,000th time, trans women are women, so it’s NOT men in the women’s room.

All of this seems like nonsense, but laws like this DO pose a threat to LGBT people, not just trans people.

Nevertheless, the bill passed the city council unanimously, so if you’re trans and living in Alabama and want to raise a fuss, why not show up to the next city council meeting, follow someone into the bathroom, and demanding to see some ID? (via Queerty)

The post #LGBTQ: Alabama Town Will Fine You $500 or Give You 6 Months in Jail For Using the “Wrong” Restroom appeared first on The WOW Report.

Kelly Rowland wants to talk about her new gig with Claritin, not, I repeat, NOT gush about how wonderful and innovative Beyoncé‘s new visual album is.

During a satellite appearance on Chicago’s WGN Morning News, Rowland talked about a number of topics, like her BET show, Chasing Destiny, and her current music project.

Of course the hosts had other topics on their minds.

“Talking about music…” entertainment reporter Dean Richards began – and instantly you can see Kelly’s smile tighten. “All the talk this week has been about Beyoncé’s new album have you heard it yet?”

Watch as her smile turns into a Rictus grin.

“Have you had an opportunity to get some thoughts on the whole thing?”  he persists around the 2:10 mark.

“I sure have. It’s great. It’s absolutely great,” Rowland said, trying to appear cheerfully nonchalant.

“Really different though, right?” Richards pressed on. “Yes, really different,” Rowland agreed.

As soon as Richards started another question, Rowland began again. “But getting back to what I’m here to talk about, Claritin. I’m very excited to be teaming up with Claritin and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.”

And THAT’S how you shut down questions about “Lemonade.”

The post Dear Reporters: Kelly Rowland Is SO Over Your “Lemonade” Questions appeared first on The WOW Report.

Another show STOLEN from RuPaul’s Drag Race.

First LIP SYNCH FOR YOU LIFE became LIP SYNC BATTLE hosted by LL Cool J & Chrissy Teigan.

Yesterday, ABC announced SNATCH GAME, I mean MATCH GAME, is coming back to television this summer, hosted by Alec Baldwin (of all people).

What’s next?

THE LIBRARY IS OPEN hosted KELLY RIPA?

DRAG ON A DIME hosted by MARCUS LEMONIS?

ELEGANZA EXTRAVAGANZA hosted by BILLY BUSH and MARIO LOPEZ?

Get your own ideas, HETEROS!

The post So Match Game Is Coming Back to TV… What ELSE Can They Steal from RuPaul’s Drag Race? appeared first on The WOW Report.

It’s flashback Friday, so let’s revisit these fabulous 19th century photos showing men dressed in sweeping gowns, fluttering delicate fans, and showing off their cinched waists in whale-boned corsets.

From the website littlethings.com:

The pictures provide a rare glimpse of some of the most laughed at, and often reviled, members of Victorian society – female impersonators and drag queens.

We acknowledge that not every person in the photos below is a “drag queen,” and that there’s a big difference between a transgender person, a transvestite, and a drag queen: A transgender person is someone who does not identify with their assigned sex and would most likely not want to be referred to as a “drag queen.” A transvestite is a cisgender male who enjoys wearing women’s clothing. A drag queen tends to be someone who dresses in women’s clothing more so for performance or entertainment purposes.

 ‘We can’t tell you how most of the subjects in the following photos identify, but we can say with certainty that these people took a major risk by dressing this way during less tolerant times.’

Late 1800s: The etymology of the phrase “drag queen” is debatable, but many scholars believe that the phrase was coined in the 1800s as a reference to the hoop skirt. As seen in this photo, hoop skirts would “drag” along the ground.

Below. 1800s: Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton shocked Victorian London when they dared to leave their home as “Fanny and Stella.” They were the first men to openly walk through the streets in women’s clothing and shocked society so much that the police launched investigations that were normally reserved for extreme criminals.

Bearded drag queens – ALWAYS IN STYLE. 

Below. Lili Elbe was one of the first transgender women whose remarkable story features in Eddie Redmayne’s upcoming film The Danish Girl

Below. 1916: Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald performed in drag during a college performance of a musical he co-wrote.

1900s: Florin, pictured here, was a well renowned “female impersonator” in Paris, where there was also a flourishing drag scene.

Below. 1800s: This photo shows that drag was not always as taboo as it would eventually become.

Below. 1800s: This photo features a 19th-century student dressed in drag for pure amusement. You may think that he’d have been punished for such behavior, but this man went on to become a well-respected Estonian judge and held rank in the Livonian Knighthood.

1883: Drag was perfectly acceptable as a theatrical device. In fact, it was still more respectable for a man to play a woman in drag (such as these three Yale students) than for a woman to pursue a career as an actress.

1800s: Because no law specifically forbade “cross-dressing,” men found in women’s clothing were usually arrested for “the abominable crime of buggery” or for prostitution.

1800s: In the 1800s, the term “drag queen” becomes more specific, referring to any man who dresses as a woman in a theatrical and professional setting.

Below. 1800s: A man and woman in switched outfits. One can presume this was more for a lark than any other purpose.

Below: Brigham Young’s son, Brigham Morris Young, made a career in drag performing as Madam Pattrini. Supposedly, his falsetto was so convincing that many audiences did not know he was a man. It’s hard to believe early LDS audiences responded so positively to such a concept, but it was quite popular at the time.

1916: There is not much evidence of “drag kings,” but this photo does feature a woman in a gender-bending outfit, obviously poking fun at gender norms with her upturned pinky finger.

(via The Daily Mail)

The post #VintageBeauties: 42 Victorian Drag Queens (and One Hunky Drag King) appeared first on The WOW Report.

World of Wonder is all about the fitness in 2016. We started an exercise class every Thursday, had a 90-day weight loss challenge to begin the year, started a softball team called the Rough Cuts, and now we’re doing another 5 week weight loss challenge sponsored by nutraFX! The person with the highest percentage of weight loss wins a gift package from nutraFX, a Cryo treatment, and 3 private training sessions with Andrew Mitchell Fitness who is our trainer that comes to WOW on Thursdays! This week, our WOWlebrities collectively lost …

Congratulations to everyone who participated in losing 36 pounds as a group this week!

The post Week 1: World of Wonder’s 5 Week Weight Loss Challenge Sponsored by nutraFX appeared first on The WOW Report.

It’s a reboot of one of the world’s most beloved movies starring two of the world’s most beloved stars, Melissa McCarthy and Kristin Wiig – what’s not like? But the reaction to the new Ghostbusters trailer has been a resounding THUD. In fact, since its release early last month, it’s quickly garnered the distinction of being the MOST DISLIKED MOVIE TRAILER IN YOUTUBE HISTORY!

From Screencrush:

The Ghostbusters trailer currently has 507,610 dislikes on YouTube. To put that in perspective, the Fantastic Four trailer from last year has only 20,175 dislikes. The Ridiculous Six trailer, which has an impressive 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, has only 5,803 dislikes. Could Ghostbusters be that much worse than either of those two movies? It’s seems unlikely knowing what we know about both Fantastic Four and Ridiculous Six. What is actually happening is that a certain subset of people on the internet have an unhealthy fixation with hating on the Ghostbusters remake and are teaming up to downvote it into oblivion.

Consider some of the rest of the videos on this playlist, which ranks the Top 100 most “disliked” videos on YouTube (current as of April 16, 2016). With 507,610 thumbs down votes, the Ghostbusters trailer is the most disliked movie trailer in the history of YouTube and currently the only movie trailer that even cracks the Top 100. The only other movie-related videos on the list include two versions of “Let It Go” from Frozen.

Justin Bieber’s “Baby” (#1 on the list) has a whopping 6 million thumbs down votes, but that’s on 1.36 billion views for a 226:1 ratio of views to dislikes. Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video (#4 overall) has almost 1.5 million thumbs down on 2.5 billion views for a relatively high ratio of 1,666:1. The Ghostbusters trailer is remarkable in that it has 507,610 dislikes on just 28.7 million views. That’s a staggering 56:1, almost exactly four times the amount of dislikes per view of Bieber’s aforementioned most disliked video on all of YouTube. (By contrast, a trailer for a movie like Captain America: Civil War has a 5,237:1 ratio.) It’s not just that people dislike it, it’s that they’re disliking it at a highly disproportionate rate to other YouTube videos.

Even though, in reality, the trailer wasn’t that good, it’s odd that it would garner THIS many dislikes. As Screencrush points out, even when people don’t like a movie they don’t “dislike” it this much. The prevailing theory is that the thumbs down votes aren’t organic, they’re part of a coordinated attack on the film by people who are opposed to its very existence, and who are using bots to artificially drive up the “dislikes” on the trailer. When you factor in the culture of misogyny and toxicity on YouTube comments, it all starts to make sense.

The good news is that while there are over a half-million “dislikes” on the Ghostbusters trailer, there are still over 27 million people who watched the trailer who either officially liked it or had nothing negative to say about it. So while there may be a vocal minority trying to game the YouTube voting system to bring down a movie with a female cast, they are still the minority.

Sadly, the problem is that the trailer could reach 1 million dislikes by the time it opens in July, and by then the campaign to sabotage it just might have sunk any chances the movie had to succeed.

Watch the trailer below (but try to refrain from disliking it. For Melissa and Kristen’s sake.)

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