Pop star Katy Perry, the straight singer who’s reached gay icon status with hits like “I Kissed a Girl” and “UR So Gay,” was also scheduled to appear on “Sesame Street” this season. “Honestly, the idea that anyone would interpret that way never crossed our minds.” “We’ve always reached out to a variety of actors and athletes and celebrities to appear on the show, and our programming has always appealed to adults as much as children,” she says. “Did Will.i.am just sing the next gay pride anthem on Sesame Street?” one commenter on asked.Įllen Lewis, Sesame Workshop’s vice president of Corporate Communications, said that “Sesame Street” is not consciously trying to appeal to gay viewers. Recently, the Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am appeared on the show to sing “What I Am,” a song about accepting who you really are, prompting much online debate about its underlying message. A parody of “True Blood” - the HBO vampire drama that features several gay characters and draws many gay fans - aired in September. Lesbian comedian Wanda Sykes appeared on the show in October, following in the tradition of openly gay guest stars such as Neil Patrick Harris, who played ( cough, cough) “the shoe fairy” a few seasons back. In its own subtle, perhaps unintentional way, the show’s latest season feels more LGBT-friendly than ever. Now some people are wondering: Is “Sesame Street” brought to you by the letters G-A-Y? “The people at Sesame Street are way too clever for their own good,” he wrote. Ed Kennedy of the gay pop culture site noted that the tweet came during a week when many cities were hosting Gay Pride celebrations. To some, it seemed as if “Sesame Street” was aiming sly in-jokes directly at them, right under the noses of unsuspecting straight viewers. Reading “mo” as slang for homosexual, gay bloggers rejoiced. “The only difference is mine is a little more ‘mo,’ a little less ‘hawk.’” T’s?” Bert asked, name-checking the original “A-Team” star.
( “Sesame Street” plans to air a parody of the movie in November.) “Ever notice how similar my hair is to Mr. On June 11, the mono-browed Muppet tweeted about the premiere of the recent “A-Team” remake. Sesame Workshop has always contended that they’re just friends who happen to live together and sleep side by side in well-tailored pajamas.Īnd yet, because of a comment on “Sesame Street’s” Twitter account, some are claiming that Bert is officially out of the closet. In their 31 years on “Sesame Street,” they’ve never marched in a Pride parade or plastered a rainbow sticker on Oscar the Grouch’s trash can. * You'll remember James Mason for his starring role opposite Judy Garland in " A Star Is Born." You likely don't know that James Mason, his wife Pamela and famed director Joseph Mankiewicz were involved in a three-way affair that was the talk of Hollywood in the 1950s.Bert and Ernie are not gay.
Mason, who resides in California, is currently pursuing a college degree in political science. He has completed work on his first film, What Happens Next (2011), which was screened to acclaim at recent gay/lesbian film festivals in Philadelphia and Miami. Mason participated in a roundtable discussion of LGBT youth on Dr. “For me, it’s about knowing every day that I’m doing my part to encourage other young gay people to be proud of who they are,” he says. James came out at 14, worked as a congressional page, filmed PSAs for marriage equality, has written civic-minded op-eds for Frontiers magazine and was the first openly gay student body president at his international high school on France’s Côte d’Azur. James Duke Mason (above left) with mom Belinda Carlisle and a friend. Among the first batch of entertainers to take the bait are up and coming actor Nicholas Downs, from the movie, " Is It Just Me?", and Mike C. In April 2011 he founded the Trailblazer Campaign, a YouTube project designed to encourage LGBT entertainers to come out of the closet. “I’m going to use my voice and power as a human being to change history, even if it’s in a small way,” says Mason. Instead of making headlines for disorderly behavior and drug arrests like many teens from show business families, Mason has loftier goals. In March 2011 he was voted into 's list of the top 50 gay/bisexual male celebrities in the world. In April 2010, The Advocate listed Mason as one of the most influential young LGBT Americans in its "Forty Under 40" issue. In May 2011, James was included in 's “Hot 100" list.
April 27, 1992) is the son of singer Belinda Carlisle (Go-Gos) and Morgan Mason (a politico turned film producer/agent), and the grandson of the great actor James Mason*, for whom he is named. I was reminded of this young man when I read yesterday that his mother had been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.