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Queer nominees leave empty handed from disastrous Golden Globes

On the road toward a very ‘straight and narrow’ Oscar night?

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Matt Bomer was one of a few queer nominees but lost the Golden Globe. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

By now, even if you didn’t watch them, you probably already know that Sunday night’s presentation of the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards was pretty much a debacle.

From its tense first few minutes, when host Jo Koy (seriously, how many people had to say “no” to the job before they got to Jo Koy?) took his opening monologue rapidly past “irreverent” to “disrespectful” as his audience squirmed uncomfortably, it was clear that the evening’s attempt at a free-wheeling but good-natured roast of Hollywood disguised as an awards show was not going to go as planned. Koy’s efforts at snark were met with palpable hostility from the celebrity crowd, most of whom looked like they would rather be anywhere else but in the audience at the Beverly Hilton, and things just got worse from there.

We could go on about the lackluster, often tone-deaf writing, or the poorly conceived “stunt pairings” of stars as presenters, or the general sloppiness that made the show feel precarious from beginning to end, but fortunately, there’s no need for us to relive all that here. The reason you’re reading this (since this is the Blade, after all) is to find out about the “queer take” on the Golden Globes; unfortunately, the only one we can offer is that there really was no queer take on the Golden Globes.

Going into the ceremony, which, as always with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual awards show, bestowed the organization’s honors for both film and television, there were only a handful of out queer acting nominees. Two of these competed in a single category (Best Male Actor in a Motion Picture Drama): Colman Domingo, nominated for his star turn in the title role of “Rustin,” and Andrew Scott, who was up for his widely acclaimed performance in Andrew Haigh’s ethereal gay ghost story, “All of Us Strangers.” Both lost the award to Cillian Murphy, the star of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”

The other out nominee in the film acting categories, previous four-time Golden Globe winner Jodie Foster, was competing as Best Supporting Female Actor in Any Motion Picture for her performance in the Netflix biopic “Nyad,” but she lost to Da’Vine Joy Randolph of Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.”

On the TV side, out gay performer Matt Bomer, nominated as Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie for Showtime’s queer historical romance “Fellow Travelers,” lost to Steven Yuen in the Netflix smash, “Beef.” Natasha Lyonne – who identifies as straight but has always been open about her bisexual attractions – was up for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series as the star of “Poker Face.” That award went instead to Ayo Edebiri of “The Bear.”

It’s true that Billie Eilish – who was nominated alongside brother Finneas O’Connell for co-writing Best Original Song nominee “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” an award that they went on to win – has identified publicly as being attracted to both males and females, something she recently reasserted in a Variety interview (before following up with an Instagram post commenting that “literally who cares” about her sexuality), so at least there was one winner from the queer community during the evening.

As for the movies and shows themselves, several of the nominated titles included queer characters and themes, with Best Picture nominees “Maestro” (about bisexual composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein) and “May December” (from pioneering “New Queer Cinema” filmmaker Todd Haynes) as the most obvious examples. Both films received multiple nods; neither walked away with a single win. In the TV division, several queer-oriented shows, from “Fellow Travelers” to “The Last of Us” to “Ted Lasso,” lost in their respective categories, and “Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer,” the out lesbian comedian’s Netflix special nominated for the newly added Best Standup Performance category, lost to former Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais’ “Ricky Gervais: Apocalypse.”

There were few queer moments of note, in fact, during the event, though the presence of trans “Euphoria” star Hunter Schaefer onstage as a presenter was a welcome nod to inclusion. A more positive spin can be found by acknowledging the show of diversity – an issue around which the Golden Globes has long been deservedly criticized – among the winners. Several acting wins went to Black performers (Randolph, Edebiri) and performers of Asian descent (Yuen and “Beef” co-star Ali Wong), while Lily Gladstone became the first indigenous American performer to win a Golden Globe as Best Leading Female Actor (Motion Picture Drama) for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” (Note: Gladstone has identified as “middle-gendered” in subsequent interviews and uses she/they pronouns.) We can only be thrilled for these well-deserved wins.

Still, if the Golden Globes are – as they’ve long been considered – the official “kick-off” of Awards Season and an important (if not always accurate) indicator of the likeliest big contenders at the subsequent (and more prestigious) ceremonies to follow over the next few weeks, it looks like we might be on the road toward very “straight and narrow” Oscar night.

The complete list of nominees and winners can be found at the Golden Globes website.

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Celebrity News

Madonna to perform at World Pride in Amsterdam

‘Confessions II’ album released earlier this month to rave reviews

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Madonna will perform at the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam on Aug. 1, 2026. (Photo courtesy of MISTR)

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 on Saturday will perform at World Pride in Amsterdam.

She is scheduled to appear alongside Stuart Price, Honey Dijon, and other “special guests” at the World Pride Music Festival at AFAS Live concert hall. The Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade will take place earlier on Saturday.

MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, is organizing Madonna’s performance.

Madonna on July 2 released her new album, “Confessions II,” to rave reviews.

She 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.

“Everyone here is a work of art,” says the World Pride Music Festival performance poster, referring to a line from “Danceteria” on “Confessions II.”

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Celebrity News

Silky Nutmeg Ganache talks sex and dating, gender, politics, weight loss journey

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ semifinalist grew up in Bible Belt

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Silky Nutmeg Ganache (Photo courtesy of Silky Nutmeg Ganache)

Uncloseted Media published this interview on July 7.

By SPENCER MACNAUGHTON, ISABEL STOKES, and BELLA SAYEGH | After appearing on the 11th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the first season of “Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World,” the sixth season of “RuPaul’s All Stars” and now the 11th season of “All Stars,” Silky Nutmeg Ganache, known by many as the Reverend, is undoubtedly a legend.

Born and raised in Moss Point, Miss., Ganache bears all in this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton.” She speaks about her relationship with gender, her 100-pound weight loss, what it’s like living as a queer person of color in a red state and why she’s calling on allies to stand up for the trans community.

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This John Waters interview has been edited for readability — but perhaps not human decency

Pope of Trash dishes on Trump, plane etiquette, last meal, and more

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John Waters in 2022. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

By WESLEY CASE | At 80 years old, John Waters is still the ideal dinner guest — incisively sharp, quick-witted and funny as hell.

The chic Baltimore native proved it again and again in a recent Zoom interview, calling from his summer home in Provincetown, Mass.

The occasion was the Blu-ray releases of two of his movies — the 1977 dark comedy “Desperate Living” and his enduring 1988 musical “Hairspray” — on June 23 by the Criterion Collection, which publishes restorations of films it deems culturally important. The Criterion stamp of approval has become the gold standard among cinephiles.

“It’s like getting an award,” said Waters, who wrote and directed both films.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

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