It’s a hot gay summer. As temperatures are soaring across much of North America this week, I’m endlessly grateful for the cool balm of pop culture, whether it’s the gentle breeze of a surprise Joni Mitchell concert or the crisp cooling of San Diego Comic Con news.
Every week in “The Buzz” we keep you up to date with the hottest of the hot when it comes to LGBTQ2S+ movies, music, celebrities and more.
Here’s what you missed this week in queer and trans pop culture.
→ Like many people, I know a certain TikTok account is really taking off when my mom talks about it. While visiting my parents this week, my mom asked if I’d seen Emmanuel the emu, and, because I’m on the internet 24-7, of course I had.
For the uninitiated, Emmanuel (and owner Taylor Blake, aka @knucklebumpfarms on TikTok), have gone viral this week for their videos where the emu photo-bombs Blake’s apparent well-meaning attempts to create content on her small hobby farm.
But not only had I seen Emmanuel and Blake all over the internet (and read about Blake’s pretty “yikes” history with racism and cultural appropriation), like all good queers I could trace Blake’s relations to plenty of other problematic famous folks. Because if there’s one thing us gays love, it’s web-plotting out various interpersonal relationships.
An article in Autostraddle last week broke down the very lesbian connections between Blake and The Bachelor franchise, namely that Blake is dating Kristian Haggerty, one half of The Bachelor In Paradise’s first queer couple.
“I am a semi-recent convert to the heterosexual horrors of the psychological torture show Bachelor in Paradise, and I remember Kristian and her then-girlfriend Demi Burnett as having been a delight to watch,” Autostraddle writer Stef Schwartz wrote. “While being defined by one’s relationship from several years ago is a personal worst nightmare of mine, this was still a pleasant surprise!”
But the line runs even deeper, if you’re willing to go full “Alice’s chart on The L Word” on it. That’s because Burnett, Haggerty’s ex, first rose to fame as a contestant on the flagship edition of The Bachelor in 2019. And the Bachelor that Burnett was vying for the affections of? One now infamous fence-jumper and openly gay Netflix reality star, Colton Underwood (who, like Blake, definitely has a not-so-stellar history).
Straight Bachelor fans have been tracing the various relationships of Bachelor Nation for years, and frankly I’m grateful that this viral emu TikToker has given us gays a chance to join in on the fun. Now we just need to get Cara Delevigne involved and the chart will really open up.
→ RuPaul had some choice words for Texas senator Ted Cruz and his crusade against marriage equality this weekend while guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live!
→ As part of a TikTok challenge this week, JoJo Siwa said that Zendaya is her celebrity crush, and honestly, same.
Siwa also shaded Full House’s Candace Cameron Bure, calling her the “rudest,” said Miley Cyrus was the “nicest” and that Elton John was the “coolest.”
→ Sapphic country queen Brandi Carlile helped facilitate one of the most joyous musical happenings of the decade this weekend when she brought folk legend Joni Mitchell on stage for a surprise full concert at the Newport Folk Festival.
Mitchell has not performed a full set publicly in over two decades, but Carlile ceded her time to make it happen, joining the legend on stage while she sang classics including “A Case of You” and “Both Sides Now.”
Until this year, Mitchell hadn’t performed at all publicly since 2013. The Canadian singer suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 and has largely kept out of the public eye. But twice now in 2022, Carlile has sung backup for her and facilitated her return to the stage, a nod of respect for her elder. The pair have long been friends, with Carlile speaking repeatedly about the importance of honouring Mitchell’s impact.
“Joni hasn’t always felt the appreciation that exists amongst humanity for her,” Carlile told CBS on Monday following the performance. “And I wanted her to feel that.”
→ The first trailer for the perfectly named slasher movie They/Them (and yes, it is in fact “they slash them”) is here and it honestly looks like a mess, but a fun mess.
→ Elsewhere in queer horror, there’s also a new trailer for Bodies, Bodies, Bodies featuring a new Charli XCX track.
→ Horror queen and late-in-life queer icon Elvira (aka Cassandra Peterson) threw some truly impressive shade at problematic TikTok bro Christian Walker, son of Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Herschel Walker, in a meme on Twitter this week.
Responding to the popular meme asking people to choose a table with various characters, Peterson said her table would only have Mariah Carey and her, thank you very much.
→ YouTuber Nikkie de Jager (aka Nikkie Tutorials) is the first trans woman to be on the cover The Knot wedding magazine, where the beauty guru talks about coming out, amassing nearly 14 million subscribers and her own upcoming nuptials.
→ Everyone’s favourite non-binary icon Chucky is back in the new trailer for Season 2 of the Chucky TV series.
→ And elsewhere in trailers, the latest for the A League of their Own reboot dropped and it’s looking to be pretty dang gay!
→ Michaela Coel will play a queer character in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While the production’s full details are still under wraps, Coel will play Aneka, a member of the female warrior group the Dora Milaje. In the comics, she has a relationship with Ayo, another Dora Milaje member (played by Florence Kasumba in the films).
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