THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Broadway stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry will announce the 2024 Tony nominations April 30, beginning with a selection of categories on CBS Mornings, Playbill noted. Winners will be named at the 77th Annual Tony Awards, set for June 16 at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater. Stage and screen star Ariana DeBose will be back for the third consecutive year to host the festivities, which will be broadcast worldwide.

Oscar-winning actor Jodie Foster marked her 10th wedding anniversary to her wife, director Alexandra Hedison, by leaving her hand and footprints in cement outside Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theatre, The Los Angeles Blade noted. Another Oscar winner, Jamie Lee Curtis (who's also a longtime friend), and Turner Classic Movies host Benjamin Mankiewicz emceed the ceremony. "'The person that I have to thank the most, really, is my wife Alex, who I cannot believe was so generous to give up our 10-year anniversary day to come and do this with me," said Foster, adding, "This is my life." Foster, 61, is the second person to win multiple Oscars before turning 30.

Ncuti Gatwa—an LGBTQ+ Rwandan immigrant to the UK who was the first Black Doctor Who—definitely made his thoughts known in an interview with the magazine Attitude for its May/June issue, Deadline noted. Among other things, Asked about backlash on his assuming the role of Doctor Who, he said that it's all part of a shift: "You see people kind of malfunctioning because things are changing." When asked about the UK's struggle with gender diversity and trans+ issues, Gatwa responded, "Everything trickles down from the top, and when you see politicians openly attacking marginalized communities, when you see our politicians openly attacking trans people, it makes it OK for everyone else. And it is scary to see that we've got to a point where it is fine to attack vulnerable people because that's essentially what's happening."

The newest installment in the Jurassic World franchise is not slated to bring back Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, or the original trilogy's Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill—but out actor Jonathan Bailey (Fellow Travelers) is in talks to be in it, per Instinct Magazine. Bailey has strong ties with Universal, as he is also set to appear in the studio's highly anticipated adaptation of Wicked. Bailey's performance in Fellow Travelers opposite Matt Bomer garnered critical acclaim, earning him a Critics Choice Award.

GLAAD announced that that EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson will receive GLAAD's Excellence in Media Award while groundbreaking country artist Orville Peck will receive the Vito Russo Award at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York, which Emmy-winning television host/producer Ross Mathews will emcee the May 11 event, per a press release. Previous Excellence in Media Award honorees include Maren Morris, Judith Light, Ava DuVernay, Patti LaBelle, Debra Messing, Tyra Banks, Julianne Moore, Barbara Walters. Diane Sawyer and others. Past Vito Russo honorees include Wilson Cruz, Billy Porter, Anderson Cooper, Ricky Martin, Andy Cohen, RuPaul, Cynthia Nixon, Samira Wiley and George Takei, among others.

The Oscars now have stricter rules for theatrical distribution for the March 2025 awards, The Wrap reported. The new rules—passed and initially announced last year—will require a film to have a one-week qualifying run in six different metropolitan areas: Los Angeles County, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth, and drive-in theaters will no longer count to qualify films. In addition, films with the potential to compete in the Best Picture category must have an extended run of seven days (consecutive or nonconsecutive) in 10 of the top 50 U.S. markets, with those runs taking place no less than 45 days after their initial 2024 release.

The Hulu limited series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld will debut June 7, per a press release. The plot is described as follows: "In 1972, Karl Lagerfeld (Daniel Bruhl) is 38 and not yet wearing his famous ponytail. He is a ready-to-wear designer, unknown to the general public. While he meets and falls in love with the sultry Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin), an ambitious and troubling young dandy, the most mysterious of fashion designers dares to take on his friend (and rival) Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois), a genius of haute couture backed by the redoubtable businessman Pierre Bergé (Alex Lutz)."

Megan Thee Stallion's former personal cameraman, Emilio Garcia, is taking her and Roc Nation to court for allegedly creating an "intolerable" and "hostile abusive work environment," Deadline noted. Garcia is accusing Megan Pete (the rapper/actress' real name), her own company, her Hot Girl Touring and the Jay-Z founded entertainment platform of underpaying him, misclassifying him and causing "severe emotional distress and anxiety" due to overwork almost since the moment he started working for the "Plan" B singer in July 2018. At one point in the lawsuit, Garcia said that Pete and another woman were having sex right beside him in a moving vehicle; he said he was "embarrassed, mortified and offended throughout the whole ordeal."

LGBTQ+ actors Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang will star in Bleecker Street and Shivhans Pictures' remake of Ang Lee's 1993 romantic comedy The Wedding Banquet, from director Andrew Ahn, per Variety. Kelly Marie Tran, Oscar winner Yuh-jung Youn and Joan Chen are also attached to star. The film, which starts filming in May in Vancouver, follows what happens when Min's boyfriend, Chris, rejects his marriage proposal. Min convinces his best friend, Angela, to marry him instead, paying for her partner Liz's IVF treatments in exchange for his green card. However, things unravel when Min's grandmother makes a surprise trip from Seoul to throw the couple a Korean wedding banquet.

Non-binary actor Bella Ramsey (HBO's The Last of Us) will co-star with Louis Partridge and Ruby Stokes in the film Sunny Dancer, the sophomore feature from George Jaques, Variety noted. The movie follows Ivy (Ramsey), a teenager in remission from cancer, whose gloriously outspoken mum and well-intentioned dad insist she attend Children Run Free Camp, a summer retreat for young adults affected by cancer. Embankment Films is handling global pre-sales of the film, which it says showcases the "best of new British talent."

SPOILER ALERT: Season 16 of MTV reality series RuPaul's Drag Race has ended and America's Next Drag Superstar has been crowned, per Deadline. Nymphia Wind beat runners-up Sapphira Cristal and Plane Jane for the title. Wind—who performed an acrobatic final lip sync to Kylie Minogue's "Padam Padam"—is the first queen from Taiwan to take the title, and the third Asian/Pacific Islander winner since season 3 champ Raja and season 15 title-holder Sasha Colby. It also turned out that Wind's win was the highest rated episode in 13 years, Deadline noted in a separate article.

On another "Drag Race"-related note, the eight contestants for season nine of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars have been revealed, Out noted. A release noted that the contestants will be "competing to win a supersized donation of $200,000, provided by The Palette Fund, for a charity of their choosing"—the first time the queens will compete for charity. Some of the contestants include Angeria Paris VanMicheals (competing for the National Black Justice Collective), Gottmik (Trans Lifeline), Nina West (The Trevor Project) and Vanessa Vanjie (ASPCA). The season will debut with two episodes on Friday, May, 17.

The Spice Girls gave an impromptu performance at member Victoria Beckham's 50th birthday party, Yahoo! noted. Beckham rejoined her former bandmates Geri Halliwell-Turner, Emma Bunton, Melanie "Mel C" Chisholm, Melanie "Mel B" Brown to perform the dance routine to their 1997 single "Stop" in front of party guests. "Best night ever! Happy Birthday to me! I love you all so much! #SpiceUpYourLife," Beckham wrote in her social-media caption.

And speaking of that party, Tom Cruise "absolutely dumbfounded" guests by break-dancing and doing splits while wearing a classic black tuxedo with a bow tie and shiny black shoes, Page Six noted, citing the Daily Mail. Cruise—who has known Victoria and her husband, David Beckham, for nearly two decades—has been living in the UK while filming Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two, which is expected to hit theaters next year.

And in another Beckham-related matter, David Beckham filed a lawsuit against F45 Training—which actor Mark Wahlberg is a part owner of—claiming the company failed to pay him as the brand's global ambassador, Today noted. Beckham's company DB Ventures (DBVL) actually filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Central California in April 2023. Beckham entered into a five-year agreement with F45 Training, an Australian-based fitness company, in 2020 to help the brand grow ahead of its initial public offering, according to an amended complaint.

In a wide-ranging new interview with Rolling Stone, Billie Eilish opened up about everything from her forthcoming new album to her sexuality, the website them noted. Earlier this month, the singer announced that she would be releasing her third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, on May 17. When Rolling Stone asked her what she does to decompress, she responded, "sex," which she said is "literally, my favorite topic." At Coachella this year, Eilish teased a snippet of the song "Lunch," which is an ode to going down on a woman.

Queer singer/songwriter Joy Oladokun officially shared her new single "questions, chaos, & faith" on all streaming platforms via Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records, per a press release. Oladokun first unveiled the song on Instagram Reels. Recently, she contributed "I Wished On The Moon" for Jack Antonoff's Official Soundtrack for The New Look on Apple TV+.

The queer revenge thriller Femme—starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay—will be available on digital platforms on April 30, per a press release. The plot is described thusly: "With his performances as Aphrodite Banks, Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) has a place among London's celebrated drag artists. One night after a show, he steps out to get some cigarettes and is brutally attacked by a man (George MacKay), out with a gang of his friends. … Months later, he recognizes his attacker by chance in a gay sauna. Without make-up and wrapped only in a towel, Jules is able to approach the other man incognito and find out who he is. He begins an affair with the closeted Preston, with a plan to take his revenge." Femme has won three British Independent Film Awards. The trailer is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAWWRga6KFU.

Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. died of a lung condition, according to his death certificate that TMZ obtained, Deadline noted. The actor died in Santa Monica on March 29 at age 87. According to the report, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the main cause of death, with heart failure and atrial fibrillation being contributing factors.

Kim Kardashian lost more than 100,000 followers (and counting) since Taylor Swift dropped her diss track from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, according to Page Six. However, Kardashian still has more than 363 million followers. The song "thanK you aIMee," released in the second drop of Swift's "secret double album," is about a "bronze, spray-tanned" high school bully. Kardashian and Swift have been feuding since 2016.

And speaking of "Tortured Poets," the album has become the biggest one of Taylor Swift's career, per a press release. Swift's 11th full-length studio album became the #1 album of 2024 in less than 48 hours after release across both consumption and pure sales in the United States; became the biggest streaming debut in Spotify and Amazon Music histories; and became the fastest album to 1 billion streams in Spotify history.

Max announced that the wrestling drama The Iron Claw, from Cannes and Sundance prize-winning filmmaker Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene), will begin streaming exclusively on the platform through its output deal with distributor A24 on May 10, per Deadline. Based on a true story, The Iron Claw follows the rise and fall of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who made a huge impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day. The movie stars Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Holt McCallany, Maura Tierney and Lily James.

New wave and alternative pop acts Howard Jones and ABC will be hitting stages across North America this summer with special guest Haircut 100, a press release announced. Jones has had hits like "Things Can Only Get Better," "Life In One Day," "No One Is To Blame," and "Like To Get To Know You Well"; ABC climbed the charts with songs like "Poison Arrow, "The Look Of Love," "How To Be A Millionaire," "Be Near Me" and "When Smokey Sings." Some of the stops during the August/September trek will include Las Vegas; Columbus, Ohio; Niagara Falls, Ontario; and Port Chester, New York.

The last NBC drama series whose fate had not been determined, Law & Order: Organized Crime (starring Chris Meloni), is finalizing a deal for a 10-episode season-five renewal—with the show moving to Peacock, Deadline reported. The move gives the NBCUniversal streamer an original Dick Wolf drama series to go with the Wolf library and next-day runs of the company's remaining NBC series Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU.

Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes have reportedly boarded 28 Years Later—a trilogy sequel to the original 28 Days Later, Deadline noted. While plot details are vague, the original 28 Days Later in 2002 centered on a bicycle courier (played by Cillian Murphy) who wakes from a coma to discover the world had been overrun with zombies following the outbreak of a virus. There was then the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later.

Roku is expanding its original food and home content through investments into its The Great American Baking Show and Honest Renovations franchises, with an early season-three renewal for "Baking Show" and new seasonal specials ordered for both series, per Variety. Hosted by Casey Wilson (who took over for Ellie Kemper after the first season) and Zach Cherry in the tent made famous in The Great British Bake-Off, The Great American Baking Show features iconic judges Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith. "Baking Show" will also have upcoming "Celebrity," "Big Game" and "Sweet Summer" specials.

Jennifer Aniston and her Echo Films partner, Kristin Hahn, are producing a 9 to 5 reimagining for 20th Century Studios, Variety reported. The original 9 to 5 follows three female office colleagues who decide to exact revenge on their sexist, egotistical boss. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Dabney Coleman starred in the 1980 office satire.

Prime Video released first-look images from My Lady Jane—the quick-witted romantic new series set in an alt-fantasy Tudor world, a press release noted. Also, the series will premiere exclusively on Prime Video on Thursday, June 27, in more than 240 countries and territories around the world. The series stars Emily Bader as Jane Grey, as well as Edward Bluemel, Jordan Peters, Dominic Cooper, Jim Broadbent and others.

Nineties rock band Everclear—led by vocalist, guitarist and founder Art Alexakis—announced a fall headlining tour featuring special guests Marcy Playground and Jimmie's Chicken Shack, per a press release. The 30+ date outing launches Sept. 13 in San Francisco before stopping in such cities as Los Angeles; Emporia, Kansas; Denver; East Moline, Illinois; and Birmingham, Alabama before wrapping it up Nov. 2 in Porterville, California. Since forming in 1992, Everclear has enjoyed a lengthy career spanning 11 studio releases, including four that have been certified gold or platinum; also, the band has had 12 Top 40 singles on mainstream rock, alternative and adult Top 40 radio, including "Santa Monica," "Father of Mine," "I Will Buy You A New Life," "Wonderful" and "Everything To Everyone."

Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter and his late brother Aaron Carter—and the controversies and accusations involving them—will be the subjects of a high-profile documentary series on Investigation Discovery, Variety noted. Coming off the tremendous success of the recent Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, ID and sister streamer Max will jointly run the four-part docuseries Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter over May 27-28. In particular, the series will investigate the accusations of sexual assault against Nick Carter by three women, and will also dive into younger brother Aaron Carter's struggles with mental health and substance abuse, leading to his death in 2022.

Harvey Weinstein's 2020 convictions in New York State for rape and sexual assault have been overturned, People noted. Weinstein, 72, was charged after being accused of forcibly performing oral sex on a woman in 2006 and raping another women in 2013, PBS reported. It is unclear at this time if Weinstein will face another trial in connection with these charges, but the disgraced ex-producer will remain behind bars because of his 2022 convictions for sex crimes charges in California, although those could be appealed as well.

Luxury handbag company Gzuniga Ltd., founder Nancy Teresa Gonzalez de Barberi and Gonzalez's associate Mauricio Giraldo were sentenced to prison for illegally importing merchandise from Colombia to the United States that was made from protected wildlife (caiman and python), per a Department of Justice press release. Gzuniga was ordered to forfeit all handbags and other previously seized product, banned for three years from any activities involving commercial trade in wildlife and sentenced to serve three years of probation. Gonzalez was sentenced to 18 months in prison with credit for time served, a supervised release of three years and the payment of a special assessment; Giraldo was sentenced to time served (approximately 22 months based on incarceration in Colombia and the United States since his extradition), a year of supervised release and the payment of a special assessment.