Blog.PinkNews.co.uk

Hugh Jackman gave up his dancing dreams over gay jibe

Hugh Jackman has announced that despite wanting to be a dancer when he was a child, he gave up his dreams after his older brother accused him of being gay.

The 40-year-old X-Men Origins: Wolverine star said in an interview with Time Out: "In another world, another life, probably growing up in another country, I might have been more of a dancer. In fact I was going down that road when I was about 12.

"I was encouraged to do that, and I remember my brother saying, 'Ah, you poof,' so I gave it up. I dropped it like a hot rock. I didn't have the guts of Billy Elliot at the time!

“I think was about 11 actually, I wasn’t even 100 per cent sure what it [poof] meant but I knew this wasn’t cool. Then later when I was about 18, I remember thinking this is just ridiculous; I enjoyed dancing.”

Jackman recently told Parade magazine: “I'd be happy to go and deny being gay, because I'm not.

"But by denying it, I'm saying there is something shameful about it, and there isn't anything shameful.”

Jodie Harsh launches online community for drag queens

Jodie Harsh celebrated the launch of the first online community for drag queens this weekend.

Ms Harsh, the self-proclaimed real Queen of England,  was considered an obvious choice to promote the website.

The site, www.my-queen.com is a space where drag queens and their friends can openly and safely express themselves online.

Users can create their own Queen avatar and interact with other queens on the site. Queens can also model and purchse the latest fashions in the online shops, try out the latest produce in the online deli, and compete and vote in fashion shoot outs with other users.

There is also a Rag Shop, where queens can buy and sell real-life clothing and accessories to other members.

Co-founder of My-Queen.com, Chris Evans explains: “Drag queens and their fans currently don’t have anywhere to go online to showcase their innate fashion sense and meet like-minded people.

We’re proud to launch the UK’s first official drag queen site, and we can’t wait to see those queens in action online. So move over Facebook and MySpace, the true Queen of the internet has now arrived!”

Another co-founder, Nicolas Jacquart, continues: “We also want to extend a big thank you to Jodie Harsh for performing at the launch party and really setting the tone for the site: fun, flirty and fabulous!”

BAFTA TV winners announced

Best actor
Stephen Dillane - The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (Channel 4)
Nominated
Jason Isaacs - The Curse of Steptoe (BBC Four)
Ken Stott - Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)
Ben Whishaw - Criminal Justice (BBC One)

Best actress
Anna Maxwell Martin - Poppy Shakespeare (Channel 4)
Nominated:
June Brown - EastEnders (BBC One)
Maxine Peake - Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)
Andrea Riseborough - Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (BBC Four)

Best entertainment performance
Harry Hill - Harry Hill's TV Burp (ITV1)
Nominated:
Stephen Fry - QI (BBC Two)
Anthony McPartlin & Declan Donnelly - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (ITV1)
Jonathan Ross - Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (BBC One)

Best comedy performance
David Mitchell - Peep Show (Channel 4)
Nominated:
Rob Brydon - Gavin and Stacey (BBC Three)
Sharon Horgan - Pulling (BBC Three)
Claire Skinner - Outnumbered (BBC One)

Best single drama
White Girl (BBC Two)
Nominated:
Einstein and Eddington (BBC Two)
Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)
The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (Channel 4)

Best drama serial
Criminal Justice (BBC One)
Nominated:
Dead Set (Channel 4)
The Devil's Whore (Channel 4)
House of Saddam (BBC Two)

Best drama series
Wallander (BBC One)
Nominated:
Doctor Who (BBC One)
Shameless (Channel 4)
Spooks (BBC One)

Best continuing drama
The Bill (ITV1)
Nominated:
Casualty (BBC One)
EastEnders (BBC One)
Emmerdale (ITV1)

Best factual series
Amazon with Bruce Parry (BBC Two)
Nominated:
Blood Sweat and T-Shirts (BBC Three)
The Family (Channel 4)
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (Sky One)

Best entertainment programme
The X Factor (ITV1)
Nominated:
The Friday/Sunday Night Project (Channel 4)
Harry Hill's TV Burp (ITV1)
QI (BBC One)

Best situation comedy
The IT Crowd (Channel 4)
Nominated:
The Inbetweeners (Channel 4)
Outnumbered (BBC One)
Peep Show (Channel 4)

Best comedy programme
Harry and Paul (BBC One)
Nominated:
The Peter Serafinowicz Show (BBC Two)
Star Stories (Channel 4)
That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC Two)

Best single documentary
Chosen (Channel 4)
Nominated:
A Boy Called Alex (Channel 4)
The Fallen (BBC Two)
Thriller in Manila (More 4)

Best feature
The Choir: Boys Don't Sing (BBC Two)
Nominated:
The Apprentice (BBC One)
Celebrity MasterChef (BBC One)
Top Gear (BBC Two)

Best international show
Mad Men (BBC Four)
Nominated:
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (More 4)
Dexter (ITV1)
The Wire (FX)

Best specialist factual
Life in Cold Blood (BBC One)
Nominated:
Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery (BBC Four)
Lost Land of the Jaguar (BBC One)
Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press: The Machine That Made Us (BBC Four)

Best current affairs
Saving Africa's Witch Children - Dispatches (Channel 4)
Nominated:
Mum Loves Drugs, Not Me - Dispatches (Channel 4)
Omagh: What the Police Were Never Told - Panorama (BBC One)
Ross Kemp: A Kenya Special (Sky One)

Best news coverage
News at Ten - Chinese Earthquake (ITV1)
Nominated:
Channel 4 News (Channel 4)
Sky News - Canoe Man (Sky News)
Sky News - Mumbai (Sky News)

Best sport
ITV1 F1: Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)
Nominated:
Cheltenham Gold Cup - Denman v Kauto Star (Channel 4)
Olympics 2008 (BBC One)
Wimbledon - The Men's Final (BBC One)

Best interactivity
Embarrassing Bodies Online (Channel 4)
Nominated:
Bryony Makes a Zombie Movie (BBC Three)
Merlin (BBC One)
Olympics 2008 (BBC One)

Audience award
Skins
Nominated:
The Apprentice
Coronation Street
Outnumbered
Wallander
The X Factor

Special Award
Jane Tranter

Bafta Fellowship
French and Saunders

Paul O'Grady demands £2 million for autobiography

The alter-ego of TV hostess Lilly Savage is to charge a fee of £2 million for the second installment of his autobiography.

O'Grady, who created the prime-time drag act, charged £1 million for the first installment of his life story.

At My Mother's Knee and Other Low Joints, released last year by Transworld, sold 600,000 copies and topped last year's non-fiction hardback list, the Daily Mirror reports.

Drag acts raise money for guide dogs

Newcastle's drag and gay community has successfully raised £5,000 for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the Evening Chronicle reports.

The Bank Pub organised drag cabaret shows, raffles and bingo nights in order to reach the target, with the all-male Adonis Cabaret show donating £1,000 to boost the final sum.

The money will pay for the two years of training that Angel, a 17-week-old Golden Labrador, needs before she can go to a blind owner.

The district fundraiser for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Claire Douglass, visited the pub with Angel. She said: “The people here have been absolutely amazing. Their friendship and their generosity have been overwhelming.”

The idea to raise the money came from one of the bar's resident drag DJs, Gary Short, 44. He started the campaign after a friend almost lost her sight to cancer.

He said: “So many people on the gay scene work for the gay scene, and money raised for charity stays within the community. I thought it would be lovely for the gay community to do something for everybody else.”

Lindsay Lohan refutes split rumours... again

Earlier this week, Lindsay Lohan addressed rumours that her over-publicised relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson was over: “Those rumours aren't true. We aren't broken up."

Let's hope the relationship is stronger than Lohan's grammar.

Hardly a day goes by without a new ‘story’ about LiLi and SamRo splitting up, beating up or allegedly shooting up.

This week, the latest accusation Lindsay's had to defend is that she's been flirtatiously texting “hunky DJs”, according to a source for The People.

Tabloids are constantly hyping stories of the couple's imminent split amid speculations over Lindsay having a male admirer.

The Daily Mirror, citing a “pal” as a source, claimed last year that Lindsay had her eye on effeminate Gossip Girl star Chase Crawford.

She was said to be texting him non-stop: “Although she may just be having a laugh and not have any serious amorous intentions, everyone reckons Sam will go mad when she finds out.”

The People circulated the rumour that Sam is nervous of this supposed eventuality: “Sam worries [Lindsay] wants to start dating guys again.”

It seems that tabloid hacks have an obscene desire for her to return to heterosexual Hollywood duties.

Yet, on top of Lindsay's myriad personal issues, we hazard a guess that any relationship could become a little intense when paparazzi stalk your every move and the public feels your private life is up for grabs.

London Pride looking for volunteers

London Pride 2009 is to take place on July 4^th and volunteers are being sought to help the festival run smoothly.

The theme has also been announced 'Come out and play'. Organisers will elaborate on this in the months to come.

The event looks set to be as big as ever, with the traditional parade kicking off at Baker Street at 1pm before making its way to Trafalgar Square, where there will be a great range of free entertainment for the hundreds of revelers set to descend upon central London.

The organisers are currently looking for volunteers to help out as stewards on the day and also for other pride events that would like to tie in with their event.

If you would like to get involved, more information is available at www.pridelondon.org

Miley the new Judy Garland?

The director of Hannah Montana: The Movie has compared the film's star, Miley Cyrus to screen legend Judy Garland.

Speaking of the first time he recognised the teenager's talent, Peter Chelsom said: “I was blown away. I just thought, you know there is no way this girl shouldn't be ranked with Shirley Temple or Judy Garland”

Some might worry about the state of the ruby slippers after all of that turning Judy must be doing in her grave.

However, Cyrus is certainly a hot contender for filling Garland's boots .

Lesbian photographer Annie Liebovitz bore the brunt of much criticism last year after taking photos of the youth wearing just a bedsheet and lipstick.

Miley's bosses at Disney were at the helm of the argument, stating that the photos, printed in Vanity Fair, were the result of “a situation [that] was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines”.

However, rebellious Cyrus has since gushed to the Daily Record that she would “love to work with Liebovitz again” and is even considering uprooting her life by moving to London to study photography at art school.

As for her chances of becoming as popular as gay icon Garland? “There's no place like home” is a starting point, we guess...