Arts & Entertainment
Hockey announcer calls gay couple’s kiss-cam ‘disgusting’ on air
the P.A. apologized for comments made during the game
(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)
A U.K. hockey announcer is apologizing after humiliating a gay couple who participated during the game’s kiss-cam, The Star reports.
The moment occurred during a hockey match between the Sheffield Steelers and Cardiff Devils. Hockey announcer David Simms was giving commentary during the game’s kiss-cam which was trying to find a couple to win tickets for the Challenge Cup.
When the cam landed on the gay couple Simms said, “That’s disgusting. Security, get rid of them.”
Simms took to social media to say the comment was a joke and he meant no offense. Not everyone was willing to accept the apology.
@Simmsey “I genuinely meant no offense” is not an apology. How about “I realise what I said was unacceptable and apologise unreservedly”.
— Mags (@ViciousValkyrie) March 6, 2017
Surely it’s now time for @officialEIHL to kick the racist homophobe David Simms out. Please do the decent thing. No place for either today!
— Craig Forman (@FormanCraig) March 4, 2017
Simms later went on to make an apology statement to The Star.
“I am not homophobic, you have known me long enough. I haven’t got a bad bone in my body,” Simms told The Star. “If the comments made upset or offended anybody then of course I apologize completely.”
“Maybe I live in a different world, I can’t really see the offense I have caused. But if people have been offended…people who know me know I don’t like to offend. And I am truly sorry if I did do,” Simms continued.
The Sheffield Steelers also made a statement defending Simms and insisting that the joke was not meant to offend the LGBT community.
“The club would like to put on record our sincere apology to any fans or members of the LGBT community who were offended by comments made by David Simms during the game on Saturday 4th March,” the statement reads. “In no way did Mr. Simms intend what was said in a derogatory or offensive way. David Simms has personally apologized to fans on social media, the club, the EIHL and has been in touch with LGBT direct.”
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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