‘Hollywood Squares’ Goes Hip Hop: Why It Needs a Gay Panelist

By Matt Patches , Hollywood.com Staff | Friday, March 30, 2012

In the grand tradition of modernizing classic brands, MTV2 announced that they will revive the game show property Hollywood Squares with a 21st century spin. Hip Hop Squares will feature familiar names like DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Mac Miller, Machine Gun Kelly, Ghostface Killah, Nick Cannon while throwing in the occasional associated panelist, including Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley and Jackass/Wildboyzstar Bam Margera. Speaking to EW, MTV2’s programming chief Paul Ricci the goal was to “refresh an iconic format and create a fun, dynamic series that’s unpredictable, heavy on personality and much more ‘party’ than ‘game show’.”

That line-up carries serious weight, but there’s a missing piece of the puzzle that helped the show’s previous incarnations become milestones. Based on the released hip hop-centric panelists, there’s a complete lack of diversity — specifically on the sexual-orientation front. That may not seem like a big deal, but for all of the game show brand’s kitsch and silliness, Hollywood Squares pushed the envelope; in 1968, the original version anchored the show with Paul Lynde, who, while never revealing his personal sexual preferences, but retroactively became a gay figurehead. In the 1998 revival, comedian Bruce Vilanch was a permanent fixture, routinely cracking innuendo jokes that spoofed his sexuality. There’s no written rule that Hollywood Squares needs a gay cast member to function or be properly executed, but it’s boldly hosted them with little audience resistance and always for entertainment-driven reasons.

The hip hop industry is notoriously narrow and there history with the gay community has rough patches. Currently, there aren’t openly gay rappers working with mainstream labels. But Hip Hope Squares panelist Fat Joe believes there are plenty working in the industry. In a 2011 interview, the rapper told VladTV that he believed there was a large gay community in the hip-hop world — but that they weren’t coming out. “I think Iâ€ve done songs with gay rappers. Iâ€m pretty sure of that … I happen to think thereâ€s a gay mafia in hip-hop. Not rappers — editorial presidents of magazines, the PDs at radio stations, the people who give you awards at award shows … Theyâ€re in power … So why wouldnâ€t a guy come out and say, ‘Yo, Iâ€m gay†and get that type of love? ” Author Terrance Dean corroborates the idea in his 2008 book Hiding in Hip Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry — from Music to Hollywood. Gay hip hop artists exist — and may even be stars — but the industry pressure doesn’t allow them to be open.

Even if gay artists aren’t prominent in the big labels, they are working, and thriving, in the US. MC Big Freedia is breaking out in New Orleans, helping expand the Sissy Bounce genre out of its regional confines (he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this year), while Cazwell has gained notoriety through the True Color Tour and LOGO promotion — but you won’t find his music videos running in regular rotation on Viacom’s sister site MTV.

In a strange way, MTV2 has an opportunity with Hip Hop Squares. Bring in the audience that comes for Ghostface Killah, Nick Cannon and a handful of NFL stars then expose them to some wonderful gay talent. Based on the announced line-up, the show already sounds homogeneous. The rap world is dying for a breakout, an equality game changer that even the media seems unable to crack (The New York Times isprofiling MC Big Freedia and yet few have heard of him). The new Hollywood Squares needs its Paul Lynde, its Bruce Vilanch, its diversity. And there are plenty of choices.

Thanks to @JenniMiller and @gmorse for additional research.

Find Matt Patches directly on Twitter @misterpatches and remember to follow @Hollywood_com!

The post Why Hip Hop Squares Needs A Gay Panelist first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Judges include Bruce Vilanch (six-time Emmy Award winner/comedy writer, who made his Broadway debut inHairspray), Rachel Dratch (“Saturday Night Live”) and Carson Kressley (“Queer Eye,” “How To Look Good Naked,” “Carson-Nation”). This year’s contestants comprise Matt Anctil, La Cage aux Folles; Mikey Cusamano, Chicago; Ray Lee, Anything Goes;Brandon Rubendall, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; and James Tabeek, Mary Poppins. Conceived by Jeffery Self and directed by Ryan J. Davis, The Broadway Beauty Pageant is musically directed by Christopher Denny. The evening is produced by Wil Fisher, Ryan J. Davis, Jeffery Self and Matthew Oberstein.

Get tickets here.

The post Ali Forney Center’s Fifth Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant This Monday first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Premiering here—but why?
A New York-set comedy is coming straight from the festival circuit to Columbus
BY RICHARD ADES
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 3:32 PM EST

After appearing at film festivals around the world, a comedy called Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay! will have its first U.S. theatrical run in Central Ohio. It opens this weekend at AMCâ€s Lennox multiplex.

At first glance, itâ€s hard to figure out why.

The story about a gay man with an overbearing Jewish mother is set in Long Island, not Columbus. Its director, likewise, has no Ohio connection, being a native Russian who now lives in Los Angeles.

And although one cast member was educated at Ohio State, he has a relatively small role.

So whatâ€s the Columbus link? As it turns out, itâ€s Faina Neveleva, a friend of director Evgeny Afineevsky. Though Neveleva also was born in Russia, Afineevsky said she spent several years in Columbus beginning in 1996 or â€97.

“Columbus was like her second motherland,” said the heavily accented Afineevsky, speaking over the phone from L.A. “And later on, Lennox became her third motherland because she was spending most of her time watching movies there.”

Afineevsky said he met this fellow Russian émigré after she moved to Hollywood around 2002, and she convinced him Columbus was the place to open the comedy he was then struggling to film.

People here love to go to the movies, Neveleva reportedly told him, “because nothing else is happening.”

INFO: Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay! opens Friday at AMC Lennox Town Center 24, 777 Kinnear Road. The director, producer and cast member Bruce Vilanch are scheduled to attend this weekendâ€s screenings. For times, visit amctheatres.com/lennox/.

Presumably, Columbusâ€s gay-friendly reputation—and not just its alleged blahness—makes it a good place to launch Oy Vey!, the story of a gay manâ€s decision to come out of the closet despite his familyâ€s objections. Indeed, a largely gay and lesbian crowd greeted Afineevsky when he hosted a Dec. 9 screening here co-sponsored by Stonewall Columbus and the Columbus International Film + Video Festival.

However, Afineevsky said he shaped the film to appeal to a mainstream audience, not just gays. Thatâ€s been the thrust of his tweaks on the script he inherited from Menahem Golan, a former filmmaking cohort who works in Hollywood under the name Joseph Goldman.

“He started to write this script 27 years ago,” said Afineevsky, who, himself, is only 38. “In â€99, he gave me this script, and in 2002, we (went our separate ways).”

At about that time, another writer was working on the script and taking it along what Afineevsky called a “gay route.”

“I didnâ€t want that,” he said. “And in 2004, I, on my own, started to rewrite the script, trying to keep old-fashioned traditions…and using the old-fashioned stereotypes.”

Rather than centering on the gay man and his partner, the film focuses more on the manâ€s Jewish parents and their struggles to deal with their sonâ€s newly revealed identity. Briefly, it also visits the partnerâ€s Italian/Catholic parents, who have an equally tough time with their sonâ€s orientation.

In the process, it seeks laughs from ethnic stereotypes—particularly those represented by Lainie Kazan (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) as the domineering Jewish mother and Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos) as the tough Italian father.

While he was honing the script, Afineevsky began collecting a cast. Early recruits included OSU grad Bruce Vilanch, an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer and actor who was recruited to play the sex-obsessed Uncle Max.

“Bruce actually was supporting this movie since 2002, when I met him (through) Whoopi Goldberg,” he said.

Soon, Afineevsky was so entrenched in the project that he decided to direct the film himself, even though his previous directorial efforts were limited to the stage. To prepare, he took six months†worth of directing classes at UCLA.

“My teachers were impressed that I can easily adjust (to the film medium) and easily pass my energy to the actors,” he said.

One of those actors, Vilanch, will attend local screenings along with Afineevsky and his producer, Svetlana Anufrieva, when the film makes its improbable theatrical debut this weekend at Lennox.

Since the comedy has won numerous audience awards at international film festivals, Afineevsky hopes its Columbus premiere will be the springboard to successful runs across the country. For starters, he said, it could spread to local AMC multiplexes in Dublin and the Easton Town Center.

For this weekendâ€s showtimes, visit amctheatres.com/lennox/.

The post Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay! will have its first U.S. theatrical run in Central Ohio first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

The News & Observer

The post Gay and lesbian film festival (feat. Bruce Vilanch) greets its 15th year first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Screenwriters take note: Saturday is the deadline for Chicago‘s first Great Gay Screenplay Contest. (The judging panel includes Oscars joke writer Bruce Vilanch.) The winning scripts will receive staged readings in November as part of Reeling: The Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival. For more info go to pridefilmsandplays.com.

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