The Outing Of Marcia Cross
Kumar/w Harold
February 1st, from an anonymous poster who signed their name simply "Your
Friendly Spy at ABC":
All those who assumed it was one of the husbands that was going to come
out of the closet on [ABC's Desperate Housewives] (as promised by creator
Marc Cherry) are off-track. The gay character is actually going to be Bree's
son, the pot-smoking problem teen who was behind the wheel of the car that
put Carlos's mother into a coma earlier this season. Expect to see more of
him next season when all will be revealed re his sexuality, with Bree of
course worried that her overbearing nature is the cause of it.
In other Desperate Housewives news, another cast member is going to come
out of the closet in real life with the help of an upcoming cover of The
Advocate and a string of talk show appearances. Just in time for May sweeps.
Yes, I do know which cast member (it's the talk of the set thanks to the
fact said cast member wants to give The Advocate the exclusive - the editor
is a close friend of the star - before announcing it to the rest of the
media and so the coming out process is as complicated as the plans for a
war) but I will keep mom on who exactly it is other than to say that it won'
t be much of a surprise to those on DL. Oh, and the gay cast member will
also announce a relationship with the lead of another TV series.
The thread quickly became one of the more popular ones on the forum, as
posters quickly identified Marcia Cross as the lesbian Housewives star based
on a process of elimination (discarding those Housewives currently married,
like Felicity Huffman), clues like the Spy's use of the word "mom" in the "I
will keep mom on who exactly it is," (Cross plays Stepford mom Bree on
Housewives) and the fact that Marcia Cross (who came to fame in the 1990s as
Kimberly on Melrose Place) has been rumored to be a lesbian for years.
Then speculation turned to who Cross was in a relationship with, and further
hints by the ABC Spy that the woman was a brunette and a lead on a WB series
prompted speculation of women Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls), Lori Loughlin
and Merrin Dungey (Summerland), and even 23-year-old Jessica Pare (Jack and
Bobby)--with just as many posters arguing the WB clue was a red herring and
it was really Sex and the City's Kristin Davis.
Meanwhile, blogs like QueerDay.com began linking to the thread later in the
week, and by the weekend, it was the talk of the internet.
Then on Sunday, a few tabloids like The New York Daily News and UK-based The
Sun went public with the rumor--with headlines like "Housewives Star: 'I'm
Gay'"--and by Monday morning, more traditional news outlets had jumped on
the bandwagon. The LA-based TV show Good Morning Live mentioned it on their
Monday morning show:
"Well listen up everybody, there is word today that one of the characters
on Desperate Housewives will come out of the closet, and he's expected to be
joined by one of the stars coming out in real-life. So listen up. A source
says that Bree Van De Kamp's son, Andrew, will be revealed as a gay
character. He's the one who's been smoking pot and who ran down Gabrielle's
mother-in-law. Now the bigger rumor is that the actress who plays Bree,
Marcia Cross, is going to reveal that she's gay in real-life. Word is that
she's gonna be on the cover of The Advocate magazine and she's also going to
tour all the talk shows and talk about it. Now expect all of this to happen
around the time of May sweeps."
News anchor Heidi Collins had this to say on the CNN show American Morning:
And it is one of the hottest shows on television, but will it hook even
more viewers now with its latest plot twist? Reports that someone on ABC's
Desperate Housewives is about to come out of the closet on the show and in
real life. Word is the son of Marcia Cross, character Bree, will admit to be
being gay. The rumor mill is also swirling that Marcia Cross will come out
herself in the gay magazine The Advocate. The magazine says it has nothing
is planned. The plot thickens.
Monday night's broadcast of TV celebrity gossip show Inside Edition showed a
clip of the host asking the Desperate Housewives stars at the SAG awards
about a rumor that one of the cast members is going to come out of the
closet. They just laughed it off, and Doug Savant joked, "Not unless it's
Eva coming out of the closet with a new wardrobe."
E! Online's TV and gossip columnist Kristin was asked in her weekly chat on
Monday about the rumor that a cast member of Desperate Housewives was going
to come out, and she responded "I hadn't heard that, but I wouldn't be
surprised." Later, when the transcript of the chat was posted, her response
was changed to "I hadn't heard that, but I'm not outing anyone."
Internet and tabloid gossip about the personal life of stars is nothing new,
but this appears to be the first time that a rumor started solely by an
anonymous internet poster on a message board has become a "source" for
traditional news outlets.
News and entertainment shows on channels like CNN and NBC have increasingly
referenced or reported on internet gossip over the last few years, but
usually in vague terms. The fact that CNN's American Morning and Good
Morning Live actually named Cross, rather than simply raising the question
of whether someone on Desperate Housewives is coming out, is surprising. It
also lends credibility to the rumor, since their phalanx of lawyers would be
unlikely to allow them to name Cross on-air unless they had sources who
privately confirmed the information.
It's possible that Cross's publicists are behind the rumor in the first
place. Stars and their publicists have a long history of using the press to
"leak" information like this, and they're increasingly using the internet as
an even faster method of testing the potential impact of the information,
building buzz about their client, and keeping the client at arm's length
should the information prove too damaging.
Last year's Cynthia Nixon outing is a great example of this: Nixon's
revelation was almost old news by the time she spoke a word about it
directly.
On the other hand, virtually all subsequent coverage of the "news" about
Cross coming out stems from a single anonymous message board post--which
hardly gives the rumor a high degree of credibility.
This fact speaks to the larger lesson of this incident: regardless of
whether the gossip is true, there has clearly been a sea change in the way
news is made and reported in this country. Nothing highlights the way the
internet has changed the landscape of American pop culture more than when
anonymous message board posts have the ability to make or break news.
It also speaks to the increasingly vulnerability of closeted stars, since
anonymous message board posters are not bound by the same rules as
journalists, nor are they as willing to play by the publicists' rules.
Closeted celebrities, however, can take some comfort in the fact that there
have been rumors about various celebrities' sexuality for years, and most of
it never goes beyond gossip to become news. It only happened this time
because the gossip combined very detailed, specific information about an
impending event (not just the fact that Cross is gay, but that she's coming
out in May in The Advocate) involving a woman long rumored to be gay who
stars on the most popular show on television.
If Cross does come out, it will be a big win for lesbian visibility. But
regardless of her sexual orientation, this story is a testament to the
increasing role of the internet in journalism, and the increasing difficulty
public figures face in controlling information.
Update: Cross's publicists have finally responded by issuing a press release
stating that the rumors are "completely untrue" but Marcia is "very
supportive of the gay and lesbian community."
--
I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool-CCC
Kumar/w Harold
"Kumar/w Harold" <I Forgot My Cell Phone But We've Gone Too Far> wrote in
message news:5vOdncOC079...@giganews.com...
Smart Ape - Sick as a monkey
she wasn't gay.
--
--- "Damn dirty fleas..."
--- "Ever notice that at the start of a cartoon, Casper has no friends, and by the end, he has
some. Yet, in the next cartoon, he's friendless again? Therefore, I think Casper is a
soul-sucking-vampire-ghost."
--- Proud loser of TWO 2004 RSPW Poster Awards
--- Space (Animal) Hero #1 of the 1950's and 60's
Freezer
terrorists win.
> On today's 'Access Hollywood" (hey, I was in bed all day long),
> Cross was on the View today and said she wasn't gay.
I don't get it... How would a hot lesbian _hurt_ a show like "Desperate
Housewives"?
--
My name is:
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And my anti-drug is porn.
http://www.geocities.com/mysterysciencefreezer
(MSTings and other assorted brain droppings)
the Bede
news:11079934...@www.vif.com...
> On today's 'Access Hollywood" (hey, I was in bed all day long), Cross
> was on the View today and said she wasn't gay.
>