Arts & Entertainment

INTO apologizes for publishing ‘anti-queer’ Ariana Grande critique

The publication says it has cut ties with the writer

Published

8 years ago

December 5, 2018

Mariah Cooper

Ariana Grande in ‘thank u, next’ music video. (Screenshot via YouTube)

LGBT website INTO, which is owned by the app Grindr, has apologized for publishing a think-piece on Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next” music video which deemed the video “surprisingly anti-queer.”

“thank u, next” became a viral sensation with the biggest debut ever on YouTube. People were clicking to see the references to Grande’s exes and to watch nostalgic recreations of the popular rom-com flicks “13 Going on 30,” “Bring It On,” “Legally Blonde” and “Mean Girls.”

Writer and transgender activist Eli Erlick wasn’t impressed by the video. In an op-ed penned for INTO, Erlick claims that the story is ultimately an “anti-queer/transmisogynistic video.”

“Her music video failed to support the basic dignity of queer and trans people,” the story reads. “Laden with transmisogyny, anti-queer jokes, and blackface, the video follows Ariana’s white feminist awakening through a celebrity-laden nod to several cult classics.”

Erlick cites moments from the video to validate these points. In one scene, Erlick says that a man in drag was meant to mock transgender women. In another scene singer Troye Sivan says of Grande “I heard she’s a lesbian now and dating some chick called Aubrey. It’s fucking sick.” The quote is a homage to a similar scene from “Mean Girls.” Erlick believed that the line was homophobic.

The end scene with Kris Jenner yelling “Thank you, next, bitch” was also criticized as a call out to Caitlyn Jenner.

“She simply shouts ‘Thank you, next, bitch!’ while holding a camera — the final line of the music video. As ‘bitch’ is generally directed at women and ‘thank you, next’ is in reference to relationships, this is likely aimed at Caitlyn Jenner… Perhaps this is in reference to Caitlyn’s far-right politics. Perhaps it’s a jab at her trans identity. We can’t be sure unless Kris Jenner speaks out about the line,” Erlick writes.

The take was confusing for many people including Sivan.

This literally can’t be real I’m scream

— troye (@troyesivan) December 3, 2018

I’m sorry but this is the farthest reaching article I’ve read in my whole entire life. Like realllllly trying to make something from absolutely nothing. Wild ?

— TATIANNA (@TATIANNANOW) December 4, 2018

I’m sorry but claiming that Kris Jenner was referring to Caitlin Jenner when she said thank u, next is the biggggggest reach.

— CAnnedy Cane HOHOHO’Hara ??? (@annelizaohara) December 4, 2018

This article is completely absurd… and should be removed immediately… ???? @ArianaGrande is nothing but respectful to the LGBT community. And to try to save this writer’s take is awful.

— La Princesa de Chapultepec (@Ricardo_Peralta) December 4, 2018

After the negative backlash, INTO removed the author’s name from the op-ed saying that the author had received “numerous death threats.”

“While I could go into the HOW/WHY of why the piece missed the mark and should not have been published as is, what I am going to focus on is this: We as editors failed the writer by not working with her to ensure the piece met our standards,” INTO Editor-in-Chief Zach Stafford wrote in a post.“We have decided to remove the author’s name from this piece after the editorial team was alerted that a high number of death threats were being made against the writer as a result of the opinions presented in this piece,” reads the editor’s note.“These opinions never warrant violence, and when a writer’s own life could potentially be at stake, we must take necessary steps to ensure their safety.”

On Tuesday, Stafford posted another update that the publication had cut ties with the writer over “concerning allegations.”

“Given the seriousness of these allegations, I personally spoke with the writer and immediately launched an internal investigation,” Stafford writes. “INTO was not aware of these until Monday after publishing. And the writer will not be contributing to INTO for the time being.

Stafford did not specify what the allegations are.

The Ariana Grande story is still currently published on INTO’s website.

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Celebrity News

Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam

Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon

Published

10 hours ago

August 2, 2026

Michael K. Lavers

Kylie Minogue with Madonna at the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam on Aug. 2, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Cejlon Studio)

AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.

The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.

“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.

Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.

Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”

(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”

Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue)

Madonna 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.

Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.

“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”

Theater

Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth

First five shows a reminder that ‘pressure is a privilege’

Published

19 hours ago

August 2, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Reggie D. White (Photo by Ambe J. Williams)

Madly talented and preternaturally energetic, Reggie D. White, 38, is about to launch his first season as artistic director of D.C.’s boundary-pushing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

White brings a lot to the job. As actor, playwright, and director, his varied resume includes a 2019 Broadway acting debut in Matthew López’s Tony Award–winning play “The Inheritance,” his semi-autobiographic play “Fremont Ave.” that opened to acclaim last season at Arena Stage, and a number of exciting regional directing credits.

A longtime admirer of Woolly, the out theater-maker was selected from a pool of candidates before receiving the offer last November and starting work in January. His season of five world premieres kicks off with gay playwright Steve Yockey’s “Venus” (Sept. 9-Oct. 4), a darkly funny study of modern relationships told through two lesbians looking back on their first encounter.

White was introduced to Woolly Mammoth as a pre-law student at Cal State Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before he foresaw a life in the arts. “As part of a random theater history course, I was assigned to write a paper on a counterculture company called Woolly Mammoth,” he recalls “Strange name. I was like what the hell is that?”

Nineteen-year-old White was intrigued. Research acquainted him with Howard Shalwitz who co-founded Woolly in 1980, and the company’s commitment to living playwrights and new work. He also learned how theater could be used as a tool for difficult conversations and shape the way people thought about social issues by employing imagination and rigor.

“Never in a million years did young me envision that one day I’d be Woolly’s third artistic director in its 46-year history,” says White. “It’s kind of serendipitously insane.”

WASHINGTON BLADE: Was there a moment when the enormity of the job hit you?

REGGIE D. WHITE: After I’d signed my contract and finished all the paperwork, I got my keys and sat in the theater by myself in the dark and thought about what an incredible honor it is to be trusted with what happens in this beautiful space [in D.C.’s Penn Quarter]. I might have cried. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it’s real.

BLADE: Are you curating the upcoming 2026–2027 season?

WHITE: Yes, I am. It’s very rare that an incoming artistic director gets to program their first season, but I was lucky in terms of time. After being hired late last year, I asked Woolly’s managing director Kimberly E. Douglas, if she thought it would be crazy if I programmed the season. She warned me it would be hard.

I invoked tennis legend Billie Jean King’s maxim “pressure is a privilege” and got to work.

These plays [dubbed White’s “first five”] represent both the kind of theater that Woolly can do really well and speak directly to my voice as curator and how I want to contribute to the larger theatrical conversation in the DMV.

Getting here has meant a lot of late nights. But I knew the juice would be worth the squeeze.

BLADE: As a queer artistic director, what makes you unique?

WHITE: When I was playing in “Inheritance” on Broadway, after a performance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer came backstage to meet the cast. She spoke about how her lens on the world as a Puerto Rican woman shapes her decisions. Similarly, because I’m a queer Black man I see through a lens that shapes my work.

I know I’m not the only queer artistic director in town. For me, it influences how I make editorial decisions. Out of this season’s five plays there are explicitly queer characters in four [“Venus,” “Chanukkah Spectacular,” “Ten Grand,” and “Love I Awethu Further”] and I’m directing two [“Venus,” “Ten Grand”].

BLADE: Will we see familiar faces?

WHITE: Every show this season will feature a Woolly Mammoth company member in its cast. Our company also includes designers and directors who we’ll include. I’m invested in continuing to provide a showcase for their work.

BLADE: How do you think queer audiences will receive the season?

WHITE: Very well, I think. For queer people who’ve had to navigate the world subversively and solve problems in unique ways, I think it will be especially interesting. I find theater a potent place for questions.

Like all artistic directors. I’ll show up for the job in my own way. I’m just excited that I’ve been invited to bring the fullness of myself to the role.