Arts & Entertainment
Melissa Harris-Perry says she attended WHCD to support LGBT media and Washington Blade
Elle Editor-at-Large brings awareness to social injustice
Afterparty pic.twitter.com/LwFpoKIOv8
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) May 1, 2016
Melissa Harris-Perry penned an essay for Elle saying her decision to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was because she was invited as a guest of the Washington Blade and wanted to stand in support of LGBT media.
The Elle Editor-at-Large says she had skipped the event in the past because of its “interpersonal coziness between policy makers and the journalists who purportedly hold them accountable.” However, this year her desire to bring awareness to LGBT media struggles brought her to sit at the Blade’s table.
Harris-Perry writes in her essay she considers her support for the LGBT community to run deeper than just an ally.
“Just as the idea of a fancy White House Correspondents’s Association Dinner makes me uncomfortable, so too does the designation of ally. I am a cis, straight woman who lives and votes in North Carolina. I am not an ally; I am already fully invested,” Harris-Perry writes.
“I am a citizen, a neighbor, an aunt, a sister, a mother, a friend, a teacher, an employer. I have a fundamental responsibility to help dismantle inequality; if I don’t I am actively participating in perpetuating it. And as a black woman I am vulnerable to these interlocking systems of oppression, so the work is not altruistic,” Harris-Perry continued.
Harris-Perry is no stranger to media oppression. In February, she left her own MSNBC show “Melissa Harris-Perry” over a dispute with the network for covering issues of racism instead of presidential election coverage. WHCD Host Larry Wilmore commented on Harris-Perry’s departure in his monologue saying MSNBC “now stands for ‘Missing a Significant Number of Black Correspondents.”
Harris-Perry mentions the Blade’s struggle to achieve the same respect as other media outlets. Receiving its first press credentials during the Reagan Administration, the publication was never called on for questioning through George W. Bush’s first term. After Bush’s reelection, the Blade’s press credentials were withdrawn.
After a long delay, the Blade received press credentials after President Obama’s reelection in 2012 and joined the White House Press Pool in 2013.
“There is another point to be made by the five people representing The Washington Blade on Saturday night ― the sheer progress of LGBT media having five tickets to the dinner,” Harris-Perry writes.
Harris-Perry says Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff explained to her, “It’s been a long, slow haul. Believe it or not, having five tickets for the dinner is a pretty big deal for LGBT media.”
“In the end, the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is a slightly inappropriate, fancy meal in a big ballroom one night a year. It is not the engine of accountability for democracy. But it is one symbol of inclusion. It is a tent that is either big enough for everyone or not. It is the table to which people are invited or from which people are shoved away,” Harris-Perry continues.
“So I put on my good shoes, took Kevin’s arm, and stood proudly at all those complicated, messy intersections of identity and democracy because sometimes, you just have to go to the power party,” Harris-Perry writes.
Celebrity News
My evening with Madonna
Gay icon headlined the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key will be on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10. They will be covering World Pride in Amsterdam.
AMSTERDAM — Madonna and 6,000 of her closest friends celebrated World Pride at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall early Sunday morning. I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
Madonna last Wednesday nearly broke the internet when she said on social media in Dutch that “I got somethin’ I wanna talk about,” referring to an opening line in “Danceteria,” one of the tracks on her “Confessions II” album that has received rave reviews since its July 2 release. The track has been on near constant replay on my playlist since I first heard it.
— Madonna (@Madonna) July 28, 2026
MISTR — a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term care that has organized Madonna’s Club Confessions shows in the U.S. and the U.K. — later confirmed the rampant speculation. I woke up on July 30 to an email in my inbox from MISTR and the World Pride Music Festival PR team that said I was on the press list.
Madonna was indeed going to headline the World Pride Music Festival that Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced, and I was going to be there. OMFG!!!!
The gay icon had one more surprise in store.
The Dutch internet on Saturday once again broke over speculation that Kylie Minogue was going to appear alongside Madonna. I was getting ready to leave our hotel in Amsterdam on Saturday night when I saw a video of the two of them together.
“Madonna is now teasing Kylie Minogue on her social media … she may be one of her ‘special guests’ tonight,” I wrote in a text to Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff at 8:46 p.m.
“Have fun! This is turning into the gayest concert ever,” he responded.
I arrived at AFAS Live shortly before 11 p.m. My press contact walked me and two other Dutch journalists into the venue’s cavernous main room known as the Black Box. We made small talk for a few minutes before I started to walk around and listen to Josh Harrison who was on the decks.
Madonna was scheduled to take the stage at 1:30 a.m., but she is known for being late — she is Madonna and she does what she wants. Hayla, a British singer, and Bebe Rexha are among those who performed ahead of Madonna. Thousands of sweaty men — including a group of Australians next to me who were eagerly awaiting Kylie’s anticipated appearance — packed the Black Box and were dancing, anticipating what was to come.
MISTR CEO Tristan Schukraft at one point came on stage and declared Madonna was indeed in the building. The moment for which we were all eagerly waiting finally came shortly before 2:30 a.m.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage.
Stuart Price, who produced her “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album in 2005, manned the decks during Madonna’s set.
She opened it with “I Feel So Free” from “Confessions II.” Madonna then sang “Bring Your Love” and “Danceteria” to which this reporter — and everyone else — sang along.
Madonna then teased a surprise before she began to perform “Love Sensation.” Kylie soon appeared on stage. It was nearly too much for my fellow partygoers from Australia. It was indeed the gayest concert ever!
Madonna and Kylie performed “Love Sensation” together. They then sang “Hung Up” and “Sorry” from “Confessions on a Dance Floor” to round out the set that ended shortly after 3 a.m.
Madonna and I share the same birthday — Aug. 16 — and I would like to think she and Kylie gave me an early birthday present. In all seriousness though, it was an amazing night for me and for everyone else who was fortunate enough to be there.
“On the dance floor I feel so free,” says Madonna in the opening of “I Feel So Free.”
For those few precious hours at AFAS Live I did not think about the Trump-Vance administration and the myriad ways it is destroying the U.S. I did not think about the National Guard troops deployed to D.C. I did not think about the pointless wars that continue to ravage Ukraine and other countries around the world. I simply lost myself on the dance floor and celebrated an icon who has always stood with my community.
Thank you, Madonna.
The Petal Release Party and Drag Show was held at Spark Social on Friday, July 31. Performers included Tiara-Missou, Labianna and Darcy de la Cuadra.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Celebrity News
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon
AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.
The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.
Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.
Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”
Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.
Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.
Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.
“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”
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