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9 May 2022

“Walt Disney is looking down & he’s not happy ok?
He said whatever happened to my beautiful Magic Kingdom?”
– While I am delighted Mr. Trump is communing with the late Walt Disney, I’d much rather hear an
excerpt from his chats with New York Attorney General Letitia James.

I recently attended a friend’s birthday party at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. En route, I read this headline: “Disney Heir Comes Out As Trans”. It came up when Roy P. Disney announced that the family would match up to $500K in donations toward the Human Rights Campaign. “Equality matters deeply to us. Especially because our child, Charlee, is transgender and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.” Charlee was born a biological female and is now a trans man. Charlee is the child of Roy P. Disney, who was the child of Roy E. Disney, whose father was Roy O. Disney, who co-founded the company with the better-known Disney, Walt. That makes Charlee and Walt…well, consult Ancestry.com for the exact relationship.

There’s more bad news for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. As you know, he eliminated Disney’s “Special District”. And, as I already told you, that requires paying off a $1B bond. Of course, he can’t raise state income tax – because there ain’t any. The only thing he can do is raise property taxes. Anticipating this, DeSantis has been slapped with a lawsuit from residents of counties in the WDW area who refuse to pick up the slack. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile in Hollywood, Dave Chappelle was performing at the Netfix Is A Joke comedy festival. He had a fabulous evening planned at the Hollywood Bowl when, out of nowhere, a man ran onstage with what looked like a gun. In actuality, it was a fake gun with a blade inside (which I say is still not a good thing). The person in question, 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, was swiftly downed by Chappelle and then escorted from the venue by police. Chris Rock happened to be backstage, heard about the incident, saw someone being arrested, and asked, “Was that Will Smith?” The LA County Prosecutor filed four misdemeanor counts but no felony charges, while Chappelle opted not to file any charges. As to Isaiah, he’s pled not guilty! About 17K witnesses might disagree.

Last week, Kim Cattrall was honored at Variety magazine’s Power of Women dinner and turned up with some surprising friends on the red carpet – Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell, costume designer Patricia Fields, and the series creator, Darren Star. What did they have in common? All three key people responsible for the success of SATC had nothing to do with And Just Like That…. In an interview with Ramin Setoodeh, Kim made some startling revelations. “The series is basically the third movie. That’s how creative it was.” One of the reasons she turned it down was because Samantha’s subplot was that she received dick pics from Miranda’s 14-year-old son, Brady! Cattrall has stayed busy with two series (How I Met Your Father, Queer As Folk) and a film (Sebastian Maniscalco’s About My Father).

Way back in 2017, the play Afterglow made quite a stir off-Broadway. It became a sensation and kept getting extended, breaking all kinds of records. The West Coast premiere at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre in Los Angeles will surely do just as well. This is a provocative play, with exceptional dialogue, and a cast that could hardly be bettered. It also sports a fantastic (and expensive-looking) set. For those of you interested in male nudity – well, there is definitely something for everyone. And you don’t have to wait long to see all. By getting the nudity out of the way from the top (so to speak), writer and director S. Asher Gelman allows us to focus on his provocative story of a gay couple on the brink of parenthood who happen to be in an open relationship – what could possibly go wrong? You get more details and tickets at AfterglowThePlay.com.

I was so taken with Afterglow, I invited the playwright/director Gelman to join me on Billy Masters LIVE along with his talented trio of LA stars – Noah Bridgestock, Nathan Mohebbi, and James Hayden Rodriguez. We might even have some alums from the NYC production join us. Tune in on Thursday, May 12^th at 3PM Eastern/Noon Pacific on our YouTube channel, Billy Masters TV, or on BillyMasters.com/TV.

On last week’s Billy Masters LIVE, we basically had a double episode. First up was Levi Kreis, currently headlining the national tour of Hadestown. The following day, I saw the show and it lived up to the hype. The production is extraordinary, the cast is fantastic, and the audience was electric! Sitting in that darkened theatre, watching the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, Hades and Persephone, I couldn’t help but think that people have seen these myths enacted onstage since ancient Greek times. I suddenly felt young and vibrant – not an easy task! Check out Hadestown in LA at the Ahmanson Theatre through May 29^th or anywhere on its national tour.

My other BML guest was the legendary illusionist Jimmy James. We spoke about his long career portraying Marilyn Monroe, and the documentary he’s working on. The Boy Who Was Marilyn needs to raise a modest amount via GoFundMe. Jimmy shared hilarious stories about the luminaries he’s worked with, including Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Phil Donahue, and even Liberace! You can see all the episodes on our YouTube channel.

One of the topics Jimmy James and I discussed was Kim Kardashian wearing the legendary Marilyn Monroe “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” gown to the Met Gala. Jimmy ultimately felt that Kardashian evoking Monroe was a good thing – it keeps her iconic status current for a new generation. Personally, I couldn’t help but wonder where were all those people who constantly complain about cultural appropriation. Who is more of an American cultural icon than Marilyn Monroe? Someone asked me why Kim didn’t complete the look with the same hairdo. Turns out, Kim’s intention was a top-to-bottom replica. Alas, after all the bleaching, let’s just say there was more hair on the carpet than on the drapes! Since she felt it would be inauthentic to wear a wig, she ended up Marilyn from the neck down and Brigitte Nielsen from the neck up.

History is being made at another Met – the Metropolitan Opera. Lucia Lucas has become the first openly trans singer to play a leading role with the company – although it should be noted that the role of Angelotti in Tosca is more of a cameo. Lucia was born male. She identifies as a trans woman, but plays male roles to match her baritone voice. While she was initially concerned about the issue, it turned out to be easier than she thought. “It was so much of a relief to come out that I decided acting on stage is easy when you don’t have to act in real life.”

While I typically hate reruns, Madison Cawthorn is the gift that keeps on giving – and, really, who knew that his gifts were even operable? That’s the topic of this week’s Ask Billy question, which comes from Mark in Boston: “I hear there is a video of Rep. Madison Cawthorn naked in bed thrusting his pelvis in some guy’s face, but I can’t find it anywhere. Can you?”

Of course! And it’s a curious bit of celluloid. Madison quite energetically thrusts himself on another guy, while the person filming (or perhaps a spectator) yells, “Stick it in his face.” Throw in an ocean breeze and some poppers, and it could be Provincetown! Madison says, “Years ago, in this video, I was being crass with a friend, trying to be funny. We were acting foolish, and joking. That’s it.” If that’s it, I’m sure he won’t mind you taking a gander on BillyMasters.com.

When what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, it’s definitely time to end yet another column. You know what I realized? Madison might be able to twerk. Not that I expect there’s much call for that in Congress…except at those drug-laden orgies he’s been invited to. For more of my musing, check out www.BillyMasters.com – the site where hips don’t lie. If you have a question, send it along to Billy@BillyMasters.com, and I promise to get back to you before Madison sexts Kim Cattrall – and she mistakes him for a 14-year-old boy! So, until next time, remember, one man’s filth is another man’s bible.

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