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‘Queer Eye’ star Bobby Berk feuds with Meghan McCain over Green New Deal

The interior designer called out ‘The View’ panelist for ‘spreading lies’

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Bobby Berk. (Screenshot via YouTube)

“Queer Eye” star Bobby Berk went head to head with “The View” panelist Meghan McCain on Twitter over the Green New Deal, the progressive proposed legislation from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) which aims to tackle climate change and economic inequality.

On a recent episode of “The View,” McCain brought up Republican concerns with the Green New Deal to guest Washington governor and 2020 presidential candidate Jay Inslee (D).

McCain claimed that the Green New Deal “would cost $93 trillion or, to every person in this room, $600,000 for each of your households.”

“We’re talking about $51 trillion, the elimination of planes, the elimination of cows, a railway, no planes. I guess nobody can go to Hawaii anymore,” she added.

Inslee responded that McCain’s information is incorrect and cited President Donald Trump as the source for the incorrect information.

“Let’s get this straight: That is not what’s proposed in the Green New Deal,” Inslee told McCain.

Berk noticed the exchange and called out McCain for being “everything wrong with journalism.”

McCain responded: “I am NOT a journalist, it makes me sad and scared so many people confuse this. I am a conservative political commentator – I represent the most conservative point of view in the country, which is my job every day on The View.”

“Blatant lies are not a point of view honey! There are just a way to rile the base just like Trump does. I used to have a lot of respect for you and not lump you on with the likes of him, but you were literally repeating his lies and are becoming no better,” Berk shot back.

McCain replied that she was “pointing out the financial implications” of the deal. She signed off by saying she won’t be watching “Queer Eye” anymore.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Silver Pride

Rayceen Pendarvis serves as emcee

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Rayceen Pendarvis was the emcee of Silver Pride 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The 2025 Silver Pride Resource Fair and Tea Dance was held at the Eaton Hotel on Wednesday, May 21.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Out & About

Queer film festival comes to D.C.

DC/DOX to showcase LGBTQ documentaries made by LGBTQ filmmakers

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DC/DOX film festival will take place in D.C. on June 12.

DC/DOX will host a film festival beginning on Thursday, June 12, at the Regal Gallery Place, Eaton Cinema, and the U.S. Navy Memorial Burke Theatre. 

This festival will premier LGBTQ documentaries made by LGBTQ filmmakers. Each screening will be followed by in-person Q&As with the filmmakers. 

For more details, visit dcdoxfest.com

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Movies

Gay director on revealing the authentic Pee-wee Herman

New HBO doc positions Reubens as ‘groundbreaking’ performance artist

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The HBO Original two-part documentary ‘PEE-WEE AS HIMSELF,’ directed by Matt Wolf), debuts Friday, May 23 (8 p.m.-11:20 p.m. ET/PT) with both parts airing back-to-back on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.)

In the new HBO two-part documentary, “Pee-wee as Himself,” director Matt Wolf gives viewers a never-before-seen look into the personal life of Paul Reubens, the comedic actor behind the much loved television persona, Pee-wee Herman. 

Filmed before Reubens passed away in 2023 from cancer, Wolf and his creative team created the riveting documentary, interspersing several interviews, more than 1,000 hours of archival footage, and tens of thousands of personal photos.

Determined to set the record straight about what really happened, Reubens discussed his diverse influences, growing up in the circus town of Sarasota, Fla., and his avant-garde theater training at the California Institute of the Arts. 

Ruebens joined the Groundlings improv group, where he created the charismatic Pee-wee Herman. He played the quirky character during the Saturday morning show, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” and in numerous movies, like “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Big Top Pee-wee.” He also brought Pee-wee to Broadway, with “The Pee-wee Herman Show.”

To get an enigma such as Reubens to open up was no easy task for Wolf.

“I felt determined to get Paul to open up and to be his authentic self,” acknowledged Wolf at a recent press conference. “And I was being tested and I wanted to meet my match in a way so I didn’t feel frustrated or exhausted, I felt determined but I also, it was thrilling to go this deep. I’ve never been able, or I don’t know if I ever will, go this deep with another human being to interview them in an intimate way for over 40 hours.”

Wolf described the collaborative interview experience as a dream, “like we were in a bubble where time didn’t matter.” he also felt a deep connection to the material, having come of age watching “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to put words to it at the time, but I think it was my first encounter with art that I felt emotionally involved in,” noted Wolf.

“He continued: “I recognize that that show created a space for a certain kind of radical acceptance where creativity thrives. And as a gay filmmaker, I also recognize things like Pee-wee Herman marrying a bowl of fruit salad at a slumber party or dancing in high heels to the song, ‘Fever.’ That stuff spoke to me. So that was my connection to it.”

During the documentary, Reubens comes out as a gay man.

“Paul went into this process wanting to come out,” said Wolf. “That was a decision he had made. He was aware that I was a gay filmmaker and had made portraits of other gay artists. That was the work of mine he was attracted to, as I understood. And I wanted, as a younger person, to support him in that process, but he also was intensely sensitive that the film would overly emphasize that; or, focused entirely from the lens of sexuality when looking at his story.”

Their complicated dynamic had an aspect of “push and pull” between them. 

“I think that generational difference was both a source of connection and affinity and tension. And I do think that the level to which Paul discusses his relationships and intimacy and vulnerability and the poignant decision he made to go back into the closet. I do have to believe to some extent he shared that because of our connection.”   

Wolf hopes that the “Pee-wee as Himself” positions Reubens as one of the most “groundbreaking” performance artists of his generation who in a singular way broke through into mainstream pop culture.

“I know he transformed me. He transformed how I see the world and where I went as a creative person. And it’s so clear that I am not alone in that feeling. For me, it was fairly abstract. I couldn’t necessarily put words to it. I think people who grew up on Pee-wee or were big fans of Pee-wee, seeing the film, I hope, will help them tap into intangible and specific ways how transformative his work was for them. It really is a gift to revisit early seminal experiences you had and to see how they reverberate in you.” 

He added: “So, to me, this isn’t so much about saying Paul Reubens is a genius. I mean, that’s overly idealizing and I don’t like hero worship. It’s more about understanding why many of us have connected to his work and understanding where he lives within a legacy of performance art, television, and also, broader pop culture.”

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