According to Out, Mean Girls co-star Jonathan Bennett shared an emotional video of husband Jaymes Vaughan eating for the first time after struggling with a condition that made it nearly impossible to eat without throwing up.
In part, Bennett said of Vaughan, “He got the procedure to [open] his throat, and this is his first meal after fixing what’s called a Schatzki ring. A Schatzki ring, also known as a lower esophageal ring, is a ring of tissue that forms at the lower end of the esophagus, near where it connects with the stomach. It can make eating incredibly difficult.” The video was met with an outpouring of support.
Director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) has a new film, After the Hunt, that is slated to be in theaters in New York and LA on Oct. 10, expanding Oct. 17, per a press release. The psychological drama, written by Nora Garrett, is about a college professor (played Julia Roberts) who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star student (queer actor Ayo Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of the professor’s colleagues (Andrew Garfield)—and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come into the light.
After finishing fifth at the recent U.S. Track and Field Championships, queer runner Yared Nuguse won the men’s 1,500 –meter contest in 3:33.41 at Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland on Aug. 16, according to Let’s Run. Nuguse has one path to the World Championships in Tokyo next month: He must win the Diamond League 1,500 final to earn an automatic bye to Worlds. After the Silesia win, he’s in fourth place—which practically guarantees his spot in the 10-man final in Zurich.
For this year’s 18th recipient of Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film, queer actor Cynthia Erivo has been announced as the honoree at a ceremony taking place on Thursday, Dec. 4, at a black-tie dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, per Deadline. This marks the fourth time the honor has been presented since the passing of the screen legend it was named after, and who often approved of those who were chosen for it. Already a Tony, Grammy and Emmy winner, Erivo will be aiming for EGOT status this coming season with her performance in Wicked : For Good—the second part of Universal’s adaptation of the Broadway smash musical Wicked, which earned Erivo her third Academy Award nomination (two of them for Best Actress).
LGBTQ+ Haitian-Canadian DJ Kaytranada has released his new album, Ain’t No Damn Way!, via RCA Records, per a press release. He surprised fans by announcing the album on social media on Aug. 11, releasing the full-length’s lead single, “Space Invader,” later that night. The release described the new album as “an intentional return to Kaytranada’s dance-music roots, iterating on the catalog he’s built as one of the genre’s leading innovators.” In October, Kaytranada and fellow electronic musician Justice will embark on their co-headline fall North American tour, presented by Live Nation.
LGBTQ+-inclusive, three-time Grammy-winning and Daytime Emmy-nominated vocal quintet Pentatonix announced its “Christmas in the City Tour,” a press release noted. The tour will kick off Nov. 8 in West Valley City, Utah at Maverik Center and roll through stops such as Kansas City, Missouri; Rosemont, Illinois; and Knoxville, Tennessee before concluding Dec. 21-22 in Fort Worth, Texas.
British actor Terence Stamp—who thrilled fans in Superman films and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert—died at age 87, Deadline noted. “He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come,” his family said, according to Reuters. Stamp’s performance as trans woman Bernadette Bassenger in Priscilla earned him nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA, and the film remains an LGBTQ+ classic.
A trailer for the HBO Max series Peacemaker has been unveiled—with star John Cena engaging in a bisexual orgy, per Out. In one scene, Adrian Chase, a.k.a. Vigilante (played by Freddie Stroma) walks into Peacemaker’s place and see what seems to be more than 10 naked bodies lying all around the place; it’s clear that Peacemaker just had an orgy with them, and Adrian feels annoyed that he wasn’t invited. Chas says, “I’m into sex because, like a lot of people, it’s an opportunity to bond with my best friend.” Season two premiered on Aug. 21.
Netflix’s upcoming eight-episode queer series Boots follows Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer) and best friend Ray McAffey (Liam Oh) navigating a tough and volatile environment in the Marine Corps in the 1990s, according to Out. Cameron happens to be closeted, and he goes on to join a “diverse group of recruits” who try to do their best while serving the Marines. Boots, which premieres Oct. 9, is a TV adaptation of The Pink Marine, a memoir written by former Marine Greg Cope White. The show is being marketed as a one-hour comedic drama with an “irreverent, off-beat take on the coming-of-age story.”
Emmy-nominated queer Severance actor Tramell Tillman is joining the cast of Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Variety reported. He’ll join Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Zendaya’s M.J. Jones-Watson, Jacob Batalon’s Ned Leeds, Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, among others. The fourth film in the Holland-led Spidey franchise is slated to debut in theaters on July 31, 2026.
Personal trainer/conservative commentator Jillian Michaels criticized the Netflix docuseries about the show she was on, The Biggest Loser, USA Today noted. Michaels posted on Instagram to slam claims from Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser, which aims to provide insight into the series that aired during 2004-16. Among other things, Michaels—who said that “caffeine was NEVER banned” on the show—stated that the show’s medical advisor, Dr. Robert Huzienga, “did approve caffeine pills on many seasons of ‘Biggest Loser.'” She also criticized fellow LGBTQ+ trainer Bob Harper (who appears in Fit for TV, while Michaels does not), raising new questions about her relationship with Harper after years of rumors of dissension. Michaels has threatened to sue the makers of the film, per The New York Daily News.
And Michaels was not the only celebrity criticizing Harper, as Rosie O’Donnell joined the fray while also verbally attacking Jay Leno, Yahoo! News Canada noted. “Jay Leno is a mean a–hole,” O’Donnell wrote on Instagram, citing a scene in Fit for TV highlighting Biggest Loser contestant Tracey Yukich’s appearance on the show that saw Leno reading fan-submitted death threats to his guest. As for Harper, O’Donnell wrote, “Ok now bob harper – can u not say IM SORRY – seriously- so hurtful- so cruel – come on bob.”
Gay show creator Michael Patrick King talked about the conclusion of his series with Sarah Jessica Parker, And Just Like That, per Variety. As for the option of ending the show now, he said, “The decision was not made at the beginning of the season. The third season was going gangbusters in the writing room. … When Susan Fales-Hill and I were writing the last episode, which is in the middle [of the season’s production], all of a sudden we came up with that moment for the end of the series and the season. ‘The woman realized she was not alone — she was on her own.’”
MTV has ordered an 18th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Paramount+ renewed RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars for season 11, Deadline noted. The news also came with the renewals of the companion series’ RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Untucked. Onya Nurve took the last Drag Race crown, snagging the grand prize of $200,000.
Conservative Christians are upset that the beauty product company Ulta did an ad with Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness, according to LGBTQ Nation. The activists claimed that Van Ness’ inclusion in the ad means that Ulta “is pushing an agenda of sexual confusion” and “portraying this perverted behavior as a normal occurrence.” On Instagram, Van Ness responded to a hater who told them, “This is what society normalized,” by saying that what’s been normalized in society is people losing rights and others imposing violent threats on the internet.
Racquel Chevremont—the art curator who starred on the most recent season of Real Housewives of New York—is suing artist/ex-fiancée Mickalene Thomas for $10 million, according to Them. The complaint—filed in the New York State Supreme Court on Aug. 8— claims that Thomas created a “hostile” and “abusive” working environment, sexually harassed Chevremont and withheld payment from Chevremont. The two women were together for 11 years before splitting in 2020; however, they still worked together until 2022. Thomas is one of the most well-known lesbian visual artists in the world and has highlighted Black women in her subject matter throughout her career.
Green Day—consisting of LGBTQ+ musician Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool— snagged the top spot on the Mediabase Alternative Chart with their latest anthem, “One Eyed Bastard,” a press release noted. The song is from the album Saviors; the band released the album Saviors (édition de luxe) back in the spring via Reprise Records.
Filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu will direct and co-adapt the classic Arthur Miller work Death of a Salesman with queer Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner, with Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer starring, Deadline noted. Wright will play the legendary role of Willy Loman while Spencer will portray Linda Loman. The 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning play first premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances.
The concert cruise Soulshine at Sea—which was slated to take place Nov. 4-8 from Miami to Cozumel, Mexico, and headlined by Michael Franti & Spearhead—has been cancelled in the wake of allegations of abuse by an unnamed artist on the lineup, Billboard noted. Performers including Dispatch, Maggie Rose, Hirie and Liz Vice pulled out after bisexual, differently abled musician Victoria Canal accused a “very powerful, decades older” man in the music industry of grooming and sexually abusing her when she was 19. “This is something I’ve never spoken about publicly and have been holding for [eight] years now—it has plagued my body, spirit, and mind, in subliminal and overt ways, for my entire 20s,” Canal wrote on Instagram.
The View co-host Ana Navarro has urged legendary disco/gospel singer Gloria Gaynor to not accept the Kennedy Center honor that President Donald Trump has bestowed upon her, Out noted. In her post, Navarro recalled meeting Gaynor at a concert in Miami, where the singer gave her a keychain that played “I Will Survive” at the press of a button. “Let’s just say, during [the] first Trump term, I pressed it ‘til it ran out of batteries,” Navarro wrote on Instagram. “[T]he woman is a goddess and deserves all the flowers that come her way. But I wish she wouldn’t accept an award from the hands of a man who has attacked the rights and history of women, people of color and LGBTQ. The gay community, in particular, helped turn her signature song into an anthem,” Navarro added. “Trump is a stain on the prestige and significance of the KCH. Don’t do it, Gloria!”
Naked Ambition— a new documentary chronicles life and work of pin-up-turned- photographer Bunny Yeager—will be released in theaters in NYC (Quad Cinema), LA (Leammle Noho) and Chicago (Music Box Theatre) on Sept. 12, per a press release. The release stated, “Bunny Yeager, once heralded as the world’s prettiest photographer, had a huge influence on 20th-century pop culture, though few people know her name. Whether by popularizing the bikini, helping discover Bettie Page, shaping the image of Playboy or inventing the selfie, Bunny was a trailblazer whose work bucked against conservative 1950s America and helped pave the way for the feminist movement and the sexual revolution.”
Jake Gyllenhaal and Kevin Costner have signed on to star in the Amazon MGM Studios dramedy Honeymoon with Harry, per Deadline. The film, based on the Bart Baker book, follows a man (Gyllenhaal) who decides to go on a honeymoon with his would-be father-in-law (Costner) after his fiancée dies two days before their wedding.
Everybody Scream—the sixth album from Florence + the Machine—is slated to be released (appropriately) on Oct. 31, a press release noted. The album’s title track has an accompanying video directed by Autumn de Wilde. Florence Welch wrote and produced the album over the past two years with a close-knit circle of collaborators including Mark Bowen of IDLES—who appears in the video for “Everybody Scream”—Aaron Dessner and Mitski.
Wendy Williams was out on the town following new updates on her dementia and aphasia diagnoses, per Page Six. Walking out of an SUV arm-in-arm with restaurateur Max Tucci, Williams told Page Six exclusively outside of Tucci that her attorneys were “highly upset” with reports surrounding her health. Earlier, People reported that Williams’ recent test results showed she has frontotemporal dementia and aphasia—which Williams had previously denied.
Actress Julia Fox declared “I’m pansexual,” in her recent cover story interview with Allure, per LGBTQ Nation. Fox (who dated Kanye West, or Ye, in 2022) added, “I could be attracted to anyone and anything. If it were just down to the physical, I’m more attracted to the female body.” In a 2022 interview with comedian Ziwe Fumudoh, Fox said she thought she had “a gay bone” that she needed to explore.
Research astronaut and payload specialist Kellie Gerardi was named the new “godmother” for The Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas cruise ship—after Diana Ross unexpectedly pulled out of the role, according to People. Gerardi was slated to attend the naming ceremony before the Star of the Seas’ showcase cruise departs Port Canaveral in Florida on Aug. 20. Ross, 81, was set to begin her Beautiful Love tour in the U.S. on Aug. 16 in Saratoga, California; some of the other stops will include St. Louis, NYC and Palm Springs.
Matt Armato and Beau Ciolino—the New Orleans couple behind the popular home lifestyle brand Probably This—have split after 12 years, per Instinct. In a TikTok breakup video that featured a fist bump, Ciolino said, “It’s been a privilege doing 12 years together as partners and for 10 years sharing that online with everyone. I think that there is so much love between us and really loving someone knows when to change the format of the relationship, and we’ve decided to just be best friends.” Despite the change in their relationship status, Ciolino reassured fans that they’re “doing okay.”
A Justin Bieber impersonator named Dylan Desclos tricked his way onto the stage of a Las Vegas nightclub after successfully duping the staff of the establishment as well as the DJ performing at the event, per Yahoo/RealityTea. However, his prank was soon exposed, with the club executives removing and banning him from the venue. A spokesperson for Wynn and XS Nightclub commented to TMZ, “After an elaborate and multi-step ruse by him and his advance team, a Justin Bieber impersonator was granted access to the XS stage. As soon as the error was recognized, he was removed from the resort and denied future entry.”