Mykki Blanco vs Britney Spears: Pop music’s theft of gay culture

From Madonna’s “Vogue” to Lady Gaga’s, well, everything she’s ever done, female pop stars are known for shamelessly taking inspiration from gay culture, bringing it to the mainstream and getting rich as a result.

Britney Spears’s latest single is titled “Work Bitch,” and queer hipster rapper Mykki Blanco is calling her out for plagiarizing the gay:

I agree with Mykki: the constant disembodiment of gay culture by straight female celebrities is reductive. It’s especially frustrating when gay artists like Mykki can’t break into the mainstream because their in-your-face homosexuality is alienating to some music listeners, yet every blonde bitch and her mother (hai, Mamadonna, hai) in pop music can take homo art and ideas, put it in pretty packaging and send it straight to the top of Billboard.

But the gays aren’t the only ones Brit’s ripping off these days — she’s giving some Elvis realness with the announcement of her two-year Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood. The show will be called Britney Spears: A Piece of Me and kicks off in December.

Keep Reading

Cover of the book "Unsafe"

‘Unsafe’ challenges us to handle anti-trans backlash differently

S. Lamble’s debut argues that punishment makes anti-trans activists double down on their hate
Michael Urie

Michael Urie’s big moment

The iconic gay actor talks “Oh, Mary!,” “Shrinking”—and 20 years of “Ugly Betty”

Transphobia is rotting women’s sports media

Sports media is perpetuating a problem that doesn’t actually exist
Snatch Game CDR All Stars

‘Canada’s Drag Race All Stars’ Episode 5 recap: Gauntlet, revisited

Some significant improvements to the C.U.N.T. Test challenge help make this a banger semifinal episode
Advertisement