Out actor/reality-TV star Nyle DiMarco (who happens to be deaf) and Davis Guggenheim are the co-directors of the new film Deaf President Now!, a press release noted. The movie recounts the eight days of historic protests held at Gallaudet University in 1988 after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several very qualified deaf candidates. After a week of rallies, boycotts and protests, the Gallaudet students triumph as the hearing president resigns and dean Dr. I. King Jordan becomes the university’s first deaf president. The film will debut on Apple TV+ on May 16.
GLAAD hosted its 4th Annual #GLAADHonors event—a celebration of LGBTQ Black & Brown leaders in entertainment, advocacy, journalism and GLAAD Awards nominees at The Fonda Theater in Los Angeles ahead of the 36th Annual GLAAD Media Awards that will stream exclusively on Hulu April 12, per a media release. The evening was hosted by Access Hollywood co-anchor Scott Evans and award-winning writer/journalist Shar Jossell. The night featured live performances by Jessica Betts, JeRonelle and drag superstar Luxx Noir London presented by Hyundai Motor America, while DJ Dar Jar provided the beats. Special guests included Zerina Akers, Nicco Annan, Niecy Nash-Betts, Golden Brooks, Bryan Terrell Clark, Wilson Cruz, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Ts Madison, Greg Mathis Jr., Isis King, Marco Reese Maldonado, Amber Riley, Brian Michael Smith and more.
After more than 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival is leaving Park City, Utah, for a new and lucrative home in Boulder, Colorado, Deadline reported. Acting Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso told the outlet, “Knowing that we can be in a town that has 100,000 people means that it has more venues, more spaces, and more opportunities in how we can be expansive of the festival moving forward.” Openly gay Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued a welcome, saying, “Here in our state we celebrate the arts and film industry as a key economic driver, job creator, and important contributor to our thriving culture. Now, with the addition of the iconic Sundance Film Festival, we can expect even more jobs, a huge benefit for our small businesses including stores and restaurants.”
It’s been 20 years since original American Idol finalist Jim Verraros released his initial album, Rollercoaster, a press release noted. Verraros made history twice during his stint on reality television: Not only was he the first gay man to compete on Idol, but he was also the nation’s first vocalist to unveil their debut album while publicly acknowledging his sexuality. Rollercoaster was released on April 26, 2005 by Koch Records—now MNRK Music Group, the home of Snoop Dogg, Kittie and KeKe Palmer. The release is part of a push to have people stream the album on April 26—and he’s releasing his first EP since 2011.
FILM SPOILER: “This silence surrounding intersex lives, mirrors the secrecy in places of power—like the Vatican,” wrote intersex filmmaker Pidgeon Pagonis in an online magazine essay discussing the queer themes of the Oscar-winning film Conclave, according to New Ways Ministry. In a climactic moment of the film, the newly elected pope, Cardinal Benítez, reveals being intersex. Pagonis stated, “It’s wild how something as natural and prevalent as intersex people—roughly 2% of the population is born intersex each year—is still kept so hush-hush that it elicits audible gasps in the cinema.”
Queer actor Justice Smith (Jurassic World movies; I Saw the TV Glow) will return to the stage this Spring as part of the upcoming off-Broadway play Creditors, Queerty noted. The production is set to run May 10-June 18 at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. The play follows the story of a painter named Adi and wife Takela as they navigate a complex encounter with an intriguing man named Gustav; joining Smith will be Liev Schreiber and Maggie Siff. The play is part of a duo of productions that will show at the theater under actor Hugh Jackman and producer Sonia Friedman’s new theatrical partnership, Together.
Lady Gaga has continued to be an outspoken ally of the LGBTQ+ community, LGBTQ Nation noted. When the “Abracadabra” singer took the stage to accept the Innovator Award at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 17, she thanked her fans—her “Little Monsters”—and, particularly, the queer community. On the March 8 episode of the New York Times’ The Interview podcast, host David Marchese noted that Gaga was the only artist to use the Grammys stage to say something explicitly in support of trans rights. (She mentioned trans people while accepting the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Die with a Smile,” her duet with Bruno Mars.)
However, the “Little Monsters” are revolting over tour ticket prices, per The Daily Beast. One fan posted a picture of the ticket prices for Gaga’s Aug. 23 Madison Square Garden performance in New York, and they were already up to $1,770—without fees. Ticketmaster told The Daily Beast in a statement: “Ticketmaster does not have surge pricing or dynamic algorithms to adjust ticket prices. Tickets were priced in advance of the sale and set at the individual seat level.” In 2023, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour tickets could reach anywhere from $11,000 to $22,500.
Liza Minnelli is finally set to appear on RuPaul’s Drag Race, according to Variety. RuPaul will present Minnelli with the show’s Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award on April 18 during the season 17 finale, and she will be on the show’s main stage to accept. The award recognizes people who have made a significant impact on the worlds of drag and fashion.
Rock ’n roll legend Patti Smith and many of her fellow luminaries gathered for an evening that was billed as “People Have The Power: Celebrating The Music of Patti Smith,” Stereogum noted. The show featuredSmith covers from friends and admirers like Michael Stipe, Karen O, Matt Berninger, Jesse Malin, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Kim Gordon, among many others. Smith collaborator Bruce Springsteen was added shortly before the show, and Maggie Rogers served as a last-minute fill-in for Chrissie Hynde. Springsteen stepped onstage near the end of the show, and he covered Smith’s biggest hit, 1977’s “Because The Night.” Smith and Springsteen wrote that song together.
Trans director/producer Lilly Wachowski is one of the executive producers of Cassie Workman Is Witchy AF, a press release noted. Cassie Workman is Witchy AF is an adult comedic documentary series that explores the history and philosophy of occultism and magic, starring the award-winning Australian comedian, writer, musician and actor of the same name. Using puppetry created by Direct Message and practical SFX make-up from Monster in My Closet (Smile 2; Hocus Pocus), the show is set in a fictional occult bookstore owned by Workman, the series’ creator and host.
On Facebook, legendary singer Johnny Mathis announced his retirement from live performance at age 89, due to “age and memory issues, which have accelerated,” Variety noted. Mathis plans to still honor a handful of upcoming dates, with his final concert now being scheduled for May 18 at the Bergan Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Mathis has been one of the most enduring of all concert performers still on the road, having been an actively touring artist since he released his self-titled debut album in 1956.
AXS Film Fund, in partnership with Bertha Foundation, announced its latest round of AXS Film Fund film grantees from the 2024 application period, who will be supported in their endeavors to tell stories, make films and create content. Grantees—who are documentary filmmakers and non-fiction new media creators living with disabilities from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds—will receive funding of up to $10,000 per project. To date, AXS Film Fund has supported 23 projects with grants totaling more than $200,000. The newest call for applications will open on Monday, June 2.
The movie Wicked continues to be very popular, Deadline noted. The movie amassed 882 million minutes viewed in Nielsen’s preliminary streaming chart for the period of March 17-23—making it not only the No. 1 movie across all streamers for the frame, but also Peacock‘s biggest Pay 1 film ever for a title in its first seven days. It marks the second time a Peacock Pay 1 film has debuted on the top of the Nielsen streaming chart, with the previous champ being Universal’s Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer during the week of Feb. 12, 2024.
Talking with Entertainment Weekly, model Isis King talked about being the first trans contestant on America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) back in 2008, per Queerty. In part, she stated, “I’m forever grateful for the impact my presence as an open trans woman had on the contestants and the audience. It pulled the curtain back on a topic that should not have been as ‘controversial’ as it was. Was ANTM perfect? No. Would I have had the same success story without bearing my heart for the world to see, hoping the opportunity redirected me from poverty, and allowed me to travel the world following my dreams as an actress, model, and artist? Probably not.”
Tom of Finland Foundation is presenting Underworld, a new exhibition of work by current artists-in-residence Rachel Britton and Orpheus, per a release. While their artistic styles are different—Britton making vibrant digital photographic collages and Orpheus creating traditional oil paintings in the style of European painters of the 17th century—they both share a fascination with the dark and visceral underbelly of contemporary queer sexuality. Their works will be on view April 17-28 in Los Angeles.
Out actor Billy Eichner (Bros) has joined the cast of an untitled comedy from writer/director Nicholas Stoller for Amazon MGM Studios, alongside previously announced stars Will Ferrell, Zac Efron, Regina Hall and Jimmy Tatro, Deadline noted. The comedy follows a young convict just out of prison (Efron) who takes a reality-TV courtroom hostage, blaming the megalomaniac TV judge (Ferrell) for a past ruling that the convict feels ruined his life; Eichner will play the bailiff to Ferrell’s judge. Eichner just wrapped a two-episode arc on the Ryan Murphy show The Beauty, starring Evan Peters.
In his new memoir Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over, Michael Caine remembers Beyoncé telling him she dreamed of winning an Academy Award while on the set of 2002’s Austin Powers in Goldmember, per EW. Caine said that the superstar said it without “a trace of arrogance—just clarity.” And the longtime actor believes she will win one: “I’m sure she’ll win an Oscar eventually. She’s already won a bunch of Grammys!” Beyoncé received her first Oscar nomination in 2022 for Best Original Song for “Be Alive,” from the King Richard soundtrack.
The highly anticipated prestige drama After the Hunt was part of CinemaCon, delivering a first look at the Julia Roberts-Luca Guadagnino film collaboration, Variety noted. In a movie that deals with the #MeToo scandal, Roberts stars as a college professor who “finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil (queer The Bear actress Ayo Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Andrew Garfield),” according to a synopsis. As she grapples with an ugly situation, “a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.” Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloe Sevigny co-star.
Multi Grammy-nominated musician Ryan Shaw and pianist/composer/arranger Ray Angry (The Roots) have collaborated on the work Off Broadway—a new studio album featuring R&B, soul, jazz, rock, reggae, house and classical-inspired takes on classic Broadway hits, per a press release. With material spanning more than 70 years, Off Broadway is due out on May 2 from Eusonia Records/FORM Records/Mister Goldfinger Music Group/Center Stage Records; it is produced by Grammy winner Scott Jacoby.
Kelly Clarkson supposedly wants to leave her talk show because of the grueling schedule—but NBC is desperate to keep her happy and have her stay, according to Page Six. “Kelly’s number one priority is her children, and they always will be,” said an industry insider of the star, who originally hails from Texas. “The show is grueling. It’s a whole lot of work, and I hear that Kelly would like to spend more time down South.” Guest hosts such as Andy Cohen, Simu Liu and Kal Penn stepped in for Clarkson during a recent unexplained absence before she returned on March 18; Penn hosted again on April 1.
White Lotus composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer told The New York Times that season three of the HBO show will be his last because of creative differences with series creator Mike White, per Deadline. Tapia de Veer—who has won three Emms for his work on the hit show—said that he disagreed with White’s ideas for the show’s music from the start. White, he said, wanted something more akin to “background music” one might hear “in Ibiza, in some clubby place with a chill, sexy vibe” for season one. When the theme tune changed for season three, Tapia de Veer said he received calls from TMZ and other media outlets because people were “furious” about the change.
And out gay White Lotus star Murray Bartlett has returned to his native Australia to film Place to Be with Pamela Anderson and Ellyn Burstyn, per Variety. Bartlett plays Ron—Anderson’s hapless brother—with the siblings plotting to re-home their mother Brooke (Burstyn) and access their late artist father’s inheritance. The drama, written by award-winning screenwriter Kata Wéber, follows the unlikely friendship between no-nonsense Brooke and discombobulated divorcee Nelson (Taika Waititi) as they travel from Chicago to New York to return a lost racing pigeon.
Tamron Hall—the nationally syndicated Emmy-winning daytime talk show and Disney’s second-longest-running syndicated talk show—celebrated its 1,000th episode, a press release noted. Emmy-winning Good Morning Anchor co-anchor Robin Roberts brought Hall to tears in an emotional start to the celebration, while other surprises included the Soulful Sound Choir performing an a cappella rendition of Hall’s favorite motivational song, “Eye of The Tiger”; Hall surprising a 13-year-old girl and her family with a trip to Disney World after she raised more than $200,000 to support other kids through a lemonade stand; and New York Liberty mascot Ellie the Elephant delivering a dance performance from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Yolanda Saldivar—the woman convicted of killing Tejano music legend Selena Quintanilla-Perez (simply known as Selena) in 1995—was denied parole after spending decades behind bars, the AP noted. Saldívar is serving a life sentence at the Patrick L. O’Daniel prison unit in Gatesville, Texas. A three-member panel of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to not release her. The panel said her case will be eligible to be reviewed again for parole in 2030. Saldívar founded Selena’s fan club and had been the manager of the singer’s clothing boutiques, Selena Etc., until she was fired in early March 1995 after money was discovered missing.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has teamed with Peace Collective and Barbie to create an exclusive collection that celebrates the power of women in sport, according to a news release. The Barbie by Peace Collective x PWHL collection features items such as letterman’s jackets, sweaters and caps. The league is also promoting items such as the book Rosie the Hockey Player: The History of Women’s Hockey.
As the season-two premiere of HBO’s Emmy-winning original drama series The Last of Us approaches, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment invites fans to immerse themselves in an exploration of varying apocalyptic/dystopian worlds with the “Destination Dystopia” promotion, per a press release. The promotion—including productions such as the series Westworld and the film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga—runs now through May 12. The titles can be shopped on Amazon and FanFlix.
In a wild interview with DJ Akademiks, Kanye West not only criticized Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z—but he also said he never wanted kids with Kim Kardashian, HipHopDX noted. Wearing a black Ku Klux Klan outfit, West also took shots at previously close collaborators like Pusha T, Ty Dolla $ign and John Legend. The Chicago native further ruffled feathers by defending Diddy and R. Kelly, who have both been accused of sex crimes.