Arts & Entertainment
Tituss Burgess slams Trump in ’45’ music video
Lyrics call the president ‘dumb as bricks’

Tituss Burgess has released a catchy political anthem blasting President Donald Trump.
“45,” featuring Daniel J. Watts, begins with a group of tuxedoed people with painted blue eyes over their eyelids dancing as if they are being controlled by a puppet master. Burgess and Watts are tied to pillars and trying to escape. Burgess can also be seen singing while in a straight jacket in a padded room.
“I’m so transfixed,” the “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” star sings. “He’s dumb as bricks. A magic show with no tricks.”
Burgess explained to Billboard that the song is a call to action.
“Our country is in a crisis,” Burgess says. “This man in power has put much of the U.S. under a sleeping spell that is slowly transforming into apathy from the rest of us. This song is a call to wake up and realize that this state we’re in can be changed and must be changed, as we the people are the hope and future of America.”
Watch below.
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.
