{"id":91541,"date":"2023-06-18T14:28:23","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T21:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=91541"},"modified":"2023-06-18T14:28:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T21:28:23","slug":"tonys-make-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2023\/06\/18\/tonys-make-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Tonys Make History"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Growing up, I was called the f-word more times than I can remember. 
\nAnd now, I\u2019m a faggot with a Tony<\/strong>!”<\/em><\/span>  
\n\u2013 <\/em>Michael Arden<\/strong> while accepting his Best Director of a Musical Tony<\/em> for Parade<\/em><\/strong>. 
\nBTW, the \u201cf-word\u201d was bleeped on TV.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With the never-ending writers\u2019 strike, everybody is wondering if ChatGPT<\/em> could replace humans.  As an experiment, I asked the AI software to write a column in the style of Billy Masters<\/strong>.  Here is how it began:<\/p>\n

\u201cLadies, gentlemen, and those of you who are still deciding what fabulous category you fall into\u2026\u201d  OK, let\u2019s stop right there \u2013 I would NEVER say that.  First off, I find it offensive.  Secondly, I rarely acknowledge my female readers this early in a column!  \u201cI\u2019m Billy Masters<\/strong>, and I\u2019ve got a mouthful of sass and heart full of glitter.\u201d  I am sorry to say, neither of those has ever been true.  I\u2019ve had a mouthful of lots of things, but I wouldn\u2019t call it sass.  As to glitter \u2013 I eschew anything that causes a mess!  \u201cNow, darlings, you know I\u2019m all about the latest tea, the hottest gossip, and the fiercest trends, but sometimes we\u2019ve got to take a moment to address the serious stuff.  And right now, there\u2019s something in the air, honey, and it ain\u2019t the scent of Chanel No. 5<\/em>.\u201d  While I appreciate the Chanel<\/strong> reference, I suspect it somehow has Billy Masters confused with Zsa Zsa Gabor<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"colorbar1\"<\/p>\n

The writers\u2019 strike didn\u2019t dampen the Tony Awards<\/em><\/strong>.  If anything, it showed that a lack of professional scribes streamline the ceremony.  From Ariana DeBose<\/strong>\u2019s opening, to the production numbers, to the heartfelt speeches, people interested in theatre were in for a treat.  For everyone else\u2026well, I believe there was a MacGyver<\/em><\/strong> rerun on Antenna TV<\/em>!  The Tonys<\/em> also managed to make history.  Alex Newell<\/strong> became the first openly nonbinary actor to win a Tony<\/em> \u2013 although it was in the category of Featured Actor in a Musical<\/em> for Shucked<\/em><\/strong>.  He was quickly joined by J. Harrison Ghee<\/strong>, who is also nonbinary, and won Leading Actor in a Musical<\/em> for Some Like It Hot<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Rounding things off, Sean Hayes<\/strong> won Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play<\/em> for his turn in Good Night, Oscar<\/em><\/strong>.  I hate to make it all about me, but this one kinda is.  In Sean Hayes\u2019 acceptance speech, he dedicated the award to his husband.  \u201cFirst of all, my husband, Scotty<\/strong> \u2013 it\u2019s Scotty, right?  I can never get it right.  You are my purpose, every single day of my life.\u201d  You may not know this, but when Ellen DeGeneres<\/strong> launched her daytime talk show, Sean\u2019s husband (then known as Scotty K) was her DJ.  Then, one day, Scotty was inexplicably gone and there was some black guy with an English accent in his place.  Since I wanted to know what was going on, I asked Scotty to be the DJ for MY very first live Billy Masters Show<\/em><\/strong>.  I\u2019m not saying I was there first, but I was there before Sean.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Growing up, I was called the f-word more times than I can remember.  And now, I\u2019m a faggot with a Tony!”   \u2013 Michael Arden while accepting his Best Director of a Musical Tony for Parade.  BTW, the \u201cf-word\u201d was bleeped on TV. With the never-ending writers\u2019 strike, everybody is wondering if ChatGPT could replace humans. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91550,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91541\/revisions\/91550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}