Cher: A recap

How the diva worked NYC Pride and the media to grab headlines


Cher speaks to fans at the Marquee Club in NYC. boyculture.com

Pop diva, Oscar Award-winning actress, music legend — and certainly PR savvy — Cher popped up everywhere over the past week.

With her recent single “Woman’s World” getting airplay and a new album, Closer to the Truth, due out in September, it’s no surprise she’s busy ramping up appearances and making headlines.

Faithful fans and New York Pride-goers went into a frenzy when it was announced that Cher would perform June 30 at the Dance on the Pier, the closing celebration for New York Pride weekend. But she had a few stops and headlines to make before that.

On June 27, she revealed in a video interview with Bravo’s Andy Cohen that Tom Cruise was among her top five lovers.

Later that night, as Pride festivities in New York were gaining steam, she made a surprise appearance at the Marquee Club. Arriving at the club around 1am, she watched from the balcony as drag queens impersonated her. Before heading out the door at 3am, she took to the microphone to give her loyal fans an emotional speech.

(You think anyone in the audience had a camera phone to shoot amateur video of the appearance?)

On June 30, at the Dance on the Pier, video cameras backstage picked up the 67-year-old’s performance but also teleprompters that included everything from song lyrics to stage directions telling her when to “fist pump.”

She wasn’t offstage from the Pier performance before social media was abuzz with accusations of lip-synching. After the show she tweeted, “Have Sung LIVE 4,50yrs! Have sung gazzilion concerts,All LIVE!Do sum of u have such a Tenuous Grasp on Reality, That u FREAK if I lip Sync” — still leaving the question of whether she sang live unanswered.

She sat down for an interview with The New York Times to talk about — what else? — being Cher.

 

And she was back onstage performing at Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.

Meanwhile, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper launched a preemptive strike against anyone who thinks Cher isn’t awesome. Cooper says she puts up with his creepy behaviour — including a very bad Cher impression he did in front of her on Cohen’s show.

With so many media headlines and her new album soon to drop, anxious fans are already wondering about two little words and one big question: come back?

On a new career adventure, I perform as a Stage Hypnotist (clubs, fundraisers, private shows, etc; www.BrandonTheHypnotist.com), as well as maintain a private practice in downtown Toronto as a Certified Consulting Hypnotist and Hypnotherapist (in short, I use hypnosis to help people overcome everyday problems.) Between August 1993 and January 2016, I worked with Pink Triangle Press (publisher of this website) as Publisher & Editor-in-chief and Director of Publishing. I joined PTP in August 1993 to establish the Ottawa operation and launch (then called) Capital Xtra, later rebranded to Xtra Ottawa. During my 22.5 year tenure with PTP, I lived and worked in Ottawa, Vancouver, and since 2001, Toronto. At some point, I served as Publisher & Editor-in-chief of every print product PTP published.

Read More About:
Music, TV & Film, Culture, News, Arts

Keep Reading

A still image of Anne, played by Amybeth McNulty, in braids and a coat, looking at another child in Anne with an E.

Why the adaptation ‘Anne with an E’ speaks to queers and misfits of all kinds

The modern interpretation of Anne of Green Gables reflected queer and gender-diverse people’s lives back at them 
Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Perez in Emilia Perez. Gascón wears black with colourful embroidery, has long hair, and a brown purse and delicate chain.

Trans cartel musical ‘Emilia Pérez’ takes maximalist aesthetic to the extreme

REVIEW: The film’s existence raises intriguing questions about appropriate subjects for the playful machinations of French auteurs
Dorothy Allison sits behind a microphone. She has long, light-coloured hair and wears glasses and a patterned button-up shirt.

5 things to know about Dorothy Allison

The lesbian feminist writer passed on Nov. 6

‘Solemates’ is a barefoot stroll through the history of our fetish for feet

Queer historian Adam Zmith’s newest book allows us to dip our toes into the past of a common, yet stigmatized, kink