Popping culture: Canada & the UK have talented queers

I have a confession to make: I love television talent competitions.

Ot at least, the Got Talent series.

I mean, I loathe all of the Idol series and can’t even deal with the schaudenfreude that is the audition process, but in the case of *’s Got Talent, I do admit, I love to watch them. And yes, I do tear up on occasion.

But this is not about things that make one tear up. It is about things that make us smile.

Case in point: last week on Citytv’s Canada’s Got Talent, the boys from Boylesque TO performed a rather cheeky — I’m looking at you, Wrong Note Rusty — number for the judges (fast forward to the 35:50 mark to see what the boys were up to), including a little glimpse of some beautiful buttocks. The boys have made it through to the next round, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll pull out of their sleeves/tear-away pants/cummerbunds/jockstraps.

Meanwhile, across the pond, the original version of the show, Britain’s Got Talent, has also proved to be rather queer-friendly, with an audition by two male ballroom dancers.

I will admit that I am not a great fan of ballroom dancing. I don’t really get how it has become such a huge phenom, especially in the case of Dancing with the Stars. And the performance by these two gentlemen is rife with kitsch and schmaltz, as they dance to “You Raise Me Up” (I vomit a little in my mouth when I hear that song). But the fact that they can still make someone like Simon Cowell smile, even though you know he wants to roll his eyes at the camp-ness of it all (as did I, a little bit), is a testament to the earnestness they present. It’s not about how well they dance or the two of them being a “gay dancing duo.” It is an obvious and honest expression of hard work and dedication presented by two people who love each other. And for that, I will applaud them. Just don’t use that song again, please.

Journalist, writer, blogger, producer.

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