Celebrity News
Tom Daley receives OBE at Windsor Castle
Olympic gold medalist honored for diving, LGBTQ rights

British Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley was honored at Windsor Castle Tuesday, as Prince Charles, standing in for Queen Elizabeth, bestowed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on the 28 year-old champion diver.
In the citation Daley was lauded for his services to British diving, as well as in recognition of his charity work and his global advocacy of LGBTQ rights.
Daley was accompanied to the ceremony by his 48-year-old American husband, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.
As an Olympian diver Daley first represented Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as a young teenager of 14. A participant and a long time presence on the British diving team, Daley won his first gold medal at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the men’s synchronized 10m platform event.
In his speech accepting the 2021 Attitude Magazine Foundation’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Sport Award, Daley took aim at 10 countries that have death penalties for people who are LGBTQ.
Daley told the audience at the Roundhouse Theatre in London that the Olympic Games should ban those nations.
“These past Olympic Games there were more out LGBT athletes than at any of the previous Olympics combined, which is a great step forward,” Daley said. “Yet there are still 10 countries that punish being gay with death that were still allowed to compete at the Olympic Games.”
The Olympian champion diver went on to tell those in the audience at the Jaguar Motorcars co-sponsored event he was going to make it his mission to effect change.
“I want to make it my mission before the Paris Olympics in 2024 to make it so that the countries that criminalize and make it punishable by death for LGBT people are not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games,” Daley said.
He then pointed out that those same countries shouldn’t be able to host Olympic games either- then he called out the homophobic atmosphere in Qatar;
“The World Cup in Qatar had extreme rules against LGBT people and women and I think it should not be allowed for a sporting event to host in a country that criminalizes against basic human rights,” he said.
He and his husband are parents to son Robbie, who they welcomed via a surrogate in 2018 and the couple resides in London.
Congratulations to everyone who received Honors today at Windsor Castle! 👏 🥇🌈 Another medal for Daley! Gold medal-winning and four-time Olympian diver @TomDaley1994 was presented with an OBE for services to Diving and support for LGBTQ+ rights. pic.twitter.com/uN3eIPfLC7
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) July 12, 2022
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Celebrity News
Is Karla Sofía Gascón’s apology too little, too late?
Netflix has removed transgender actress from Oscars campaign

The latest in the scandal involving “Emilia Peréz”’s trans star and Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón is Netflix deciding to part ways with her even after her public apology and statement regarding not withdrawing from the nomination.
“I have been labeled a racist and I need to be clear that I am not. I feel like I’ve been judged, sentenced, crucified, and stoned without a fair trial and without an option to defend myself,” said Gascón in an interview with CNN en Español.
According to Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has cut Gascón out of the campaign for the Oscars. This move comes even after Gascón issued an apology through a statement on her social media and in an interview with CNN en Español. On Thursday she was set to be seated with co-star Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and the film’s writer-director, Jacques Audiard for the AFI Awards luncheon — a gathering at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. On Friday, she was set to attend the Critics Choice Awards. On Saturday, she was set to serve as presenter at the Producers Guild Awards, which happen to be going on at the same time as the Directors Guild Awards. According to THR, she will not be attending the events.
The Spaniard actress found herself at the center of controversy surrounding the Netflix original being nominated for 13 Oscars after freelance culture writer Sarah Hagi uncovered the actress’s stream of consciousness on display on X, formerly Twitter. Hagi found tweets from as far back as 2020, revealing Gascón’s views on Muslims, George Floyd, China, and vaccines.
In her hour-long interview with CNN en Español, she defended her position on the issue stating that she feels that she was unfairly targeted, while not being given the opportunity to defend the position she stood behind while writing those tweets.
She goes on to say that she “supports the Black Lives Matter movement obviously” and that the tweets about George Floyd “were taken out of context.” In the interview, she goes on to say she was highlighting the hypocrisy of humanity in that moment in history. According to Gascón, what she noticed during that time was that only after Floyd’s death did people care about him, but prior to his death, they did not help him or care about his struggles.
“I do not identify with any political party and I have my own opinions about issues that might have been one thing in the past, but have now shifted because I have learned many things about respect, love and with the spiritual practice of Buddhism,” said Gascón.
In the interview, she also pulls the “I have a friend who’s Black, so I’m not racist,” card by saying she has a very close family friend who is Muslim, in response to the line of questioning about her being Islamophobic and only through very heavy discussions with her, has Gascón truly come to understand the implications of her words against the culture and religion, as well as the differences between the cultures.
“Emilia Peréz” was already facing an upward battle to gain popularity, as it was a French production about México. Audiences criticized the film for various reasons and yet, it was still nominated for Best Picture, Critics Choice Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Directing, and many others.
Gascón deleted her X account shortly after the tweets were discovered and is now facing the cold shoulder from Netflix. Variety and THR, reported that the streaming giant is no longer directly communicating with Gascón – only through representatives.
Whether or not this is a witch hunt for a trans actress at the height of her career, Gascón now has first-hand experience in dealing with what it means to misuse a platform by sharing her views on issues she said herself, she did not understand.
Celebrity News
Ricky Martin to headline World AIDS Day concert in Miami
AIDS Healthcare Foundation event to take place on Dec. 2

Ricky Martin on Dec. 2 will headline the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s annual World AIDS Day Concert.
The event will take place at the Watsco Center at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.
Every year, the AHF, the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, hosts its World AIDS Day Concert to honor those lost to HIV/AIDS, and bring attention to the global fight against HIV/AIDS. The organization will host the concert one day after World AIDS Day, which takes place on Dec. 1.
Ricky Martin — known globally as the “King of Latin Pop” — has long used his stardom to shed light on issues, having used his platform to advocate for and bring awareness to HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, and LGBTQ rights. The Puerto Rico native came out as gay in 2010.
“Ricky has shown a deep commitment to breaking stigma, educating youth, and empowering communities to take action,” the AHF said on a post on Instagram.
The event will also feature a performance by DJ Spinderella, a DJ and rapper, and the AHF Lifetime Achievement award will be presented to Dr. Julio Frenk, the University of Miami’s outgoing president and chancellor-designate for UCLA.
In the past, performers from Janet Jackson to Diana Ross to Mariah Carey have taken the stage at World AIDS Day events. Last year, the AHF presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to actor and activist Blair Underwood.
The concert is taking place in Miami, which has been at the center of the HIV epidemic.
A 2019 study found Miami had the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. Southern states in general continue to be disproportionately impacted by an increase in new diagnoses.
“This concert isn’t just a celebration of lives saved and advances in treatment, it’s a call to action,” AHF said in a statement. “Together, we can raise awareness and support those affected by HIV/AIDS in Miami and beyond.”
Celebrity News
Illinois Supreme Court overturns Jussie Smollett’s conviction in hate crime hoax
Ruling cites due process violation, did not address actor’s guilt

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges that he staged and lied to the police about being the victim of a homophobic and racist hate crime in 2019.
The court ruled the actor should not have been prosecuted again after he had already reached a deal with prosecutors to resolve the case.
However, the ruling did not address whether Smollett was innocent of staging the hate crime, as he has continued to claim, overturning the conviction on the grounds that the second prosecution was a due process violation.
“We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s 5-0 opinion, referring to the initial deal Smollett had reached. “Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied.”
In 2019, the “Empire” star claimed he had been physically attacked by two men in a homophobic and racist hate crime. He told Chicago police that they had put a noose around his neck, yelled slurs, and told him that he was in “MAGA country” during the attack.
He initially received an outpouring of support, particularly from the LGBTQ and Black communities. But police soon charged him with filing a false report, alleging he had staged the attack as part of a hoax.
Prosecutors controversially dismissed the initial charges in exchange for community service and the forfeiture of his $10,000 bond. After public outcry, a special prosecutor recharged Smollett with the same offenses in 2020.
The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday found this second prosecution violated the deal initially reached by the state, as well as Smollett’s due process rights.
In 2021, a Cook County jury found Smollett guilty on the charges the special prosecutor had brought against him, and he was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation, along with a $120,000 restitution payment to the city of Chicago for the overtime costs incurred by police investigating his initial hate crime claim.
He only served six days in jail before he was released upon appealing his case. An Illinois Appellate Court upheld his guilty verdict last year, after which he appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.
In a Washington Blade interview in September, Smollett addressed his conviction, denying that he had staged the attack.
“I know what happened and soon you all will too,” he told the Blade.
Asked to address the concern among some in the LGBTQ community that his case would discredit victims of hate crimes and make it more difficult to report future such crimes, he responded, “If someone reported a crime and it wasn’t the truth, that would actually make it more difficult [to report future crimes], but I didn’t. Any belief that they have about the person that I’ve been played out to be, sure, but that person is not me, never has been. So I stand with my community. I love my community and I protect and defend my community until I’m bloody in my fist.”
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