Don’t Be Dumb at Brunch: A New ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Trailer, Cher Is Back, Katy Perry’s Unwanted Kiss
Happy Sunday! Hopefully you’re not too hungover from St Paddy’s Day! This week we bring you stories about pink dollars, an unwanted Katy Perry kiss and the return of the ultimate diva, Cher. Sounds like a night in Vegas, right? And our Whackjob of the Week is a doozy! Thanks for supporting our weekly column. Check out our podcast info below.
Here are the week’s 5 news stories that’ll keep you looking well-informed at brunch:
1. Gay Dollars!
For the first time ever there will be a financial credit union dedicated to serving the LGBTQ community. You will soon be able to say “hello” to Myles Meyers’ Superbia Financial. A financial industry veteran, he has tailor-made this credit union for LGBTQ people. Its members benefit through designed products and services, more favorable rates and grants that are made regularly to LGBTQ-supportive organizations.
Meyers also wants to help eradicate the risk of discrimination that LGBTQ people still encounter in the industry. Even though the LGBTQ population continues to live out and proud along with its $920 billion annual buying power, poverty still exists at all levels of the community. Superbia will reinvest its profit back into the credit union, which will mean better products and rates. Better yet, it will also donate up to 30% of its profits to LGBTQ organizations and causes. For more info on its New York kickoff event, go here.
2. An Unwelcome Katy Perry Kiss
If you watched the premiere of the American Idol reboot, you saw new judge Katy Perry give auditioning contestant Benjamin Glaze a surprise kiss on the lips that, apparently, was not welcomed.
Glaze told The New York Times that he wanted his “first kiss” to be special and that this surprise Katy Perry kiss made him “a tad bit uncomfortable.” (He added that he did not feel like he was sexually harassed.) Some on Twitter went ballistic, asking if Perry had learned anything from the #MeToo movement and contemplating what would have happened if it was a male judge who kissed a young girl.
3. Call Me By Your Name Redux
The Oscar-nominated Call Me By Your Name seemed to really strike a chord with the LGBTQ community this past year. Well, the team at Funny or Die has cut together a new trailer: “Call Me By Your Twins,” featuring clips from the Danny DeVito / Arnold Schwarzenegger late ’80s comedy Twins. It’s funny, just not sexy. If you’re just looking for a laugh to hear Michael Stuhlbarg’s incredible couch scene dialogue again, check out this trailer. We love it and laughed quite a bit.
4. The Cherilyn Sarkisian Lapiere Bono Allman Show
Well, she’s been on a farewell tour since the ’90s, but she ain’t going anywhere. Actually, she’s headed to the theater (or at least her story is). The exciting news is that Cher is gonna turn back time and collaborate with designer Bob Mackie for an upcoming musical based on her life! Soon — in June! — The Cher Show will come to Chicago’s Oriental Theatre, and if you believe in life after love you’d best get your seats now!
5. Our Whackjob of the Week: Leslie Gibson
File this in the “Are you effing kidding me?” category. It seems that keyboard courage and tweeting derogatory and discriminatory remarks has become the method of attack for Leslie Gibson, a Republican candidate for the Maine House of Representatives in Maine.
Leslie called Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez a “skinhead lesbian” and her classmate David Hogg a “bald-faced liar” via Twitter. Whackjob is the kindest word we can come up with for him. Running unopposed may have given Leslie some false sort of courage to oppress and ridicule these brave young survivors of a tragedy beyond any of our imaginations, but he would have gotten his butt kicked in the forthcoming election. (He dropped out of the race on Friday.) Maine can do way better than this guy. He also deleted his Twitter account after his awful tweets. Real smart.