Bonus! A Seinfeld Mystery, and Why All High-Fives are Gay
Added 2022-06-26 17:00:05 +0000 UTCHey folks! Hope you're holding up ok, it's been a tough couple of days.
This is Pride weekend in Seattle, and I've been wandering around through the noise & chaos & parties & protests -- all of which started, as I'm sure you know, as a furious riot at injustice, and continues to be an annual reminder that none of us is in any of this alone. With this week's bonus video, I want to bring you some stuff that'll hopefully cheer you up and also provide a little inspiration for the fury and focus to come. I've got some great clips sent in by viewers like you (thank you for those!) and also the story of the gay man who invented the high-five. Also: A bit of a mystery around Seinfeld's famous episode "The Outing." And we'll wrap things up with a very special message to some very awful people.
- Backup link if the embed's not working:
https://youtu.be/JztXVTKILQc - Eric Stonestreet's ER appearance (it's a bit gory!): https://youtu.be/zmsHTO1kGHU
- Edith is spooked by two kissing hippies: https://youtu.be/-F3ufCscitA
- The $1.98 Beauty Show (which I'll be talking about next week): https://youtu.be/fF7yrbl_X6E
- The full Lily Allen and Olivia Rodrigo song dedicated to the US Supreme Court at Glastonbury: https://youtu.be/Fpc40dmPlVM
Comments
Thanks, Justin. I was surprised about LaSorda's apolgy and admission of his son's identity and cause of death. I had read that it never happened, so that is good to know. I read the article in your link - I really enjoyed it. I was happy to see that it mentioned Dusty Baker so positively. Baker is an extraordinarily fine man. He was a team mate and good friend of Glenn Burke. He is often credited with inventing the 'high five' because he was the first man photographed doing it, but he himself would tell you that it was his good friend Glenn who had done it first, a couple of months earlier.
Dan Maloney
2022-07-09 14:39:16 +0000 UTCJust read through Peter Richmond's extraordinary article on TL Jr. based on this comment. An absolutely fascinating life, many thanks for your comment. As a additional post-script, I found this interesting article by a writer who knew Jr. and also saw Lasorda, at a charity event, many years later acknowledge his son's homosexuality and even apologized for his homophobia: https://www.losangelesblade.com/2021/01/08/la-dodgers-legend-tommy-lasorda-dies-left-a-messy-legacy/.
Justin
2022-07-03 23:34:05 +0000 UTCYou are absolutely right - thanks. I am not good with team sports names (I usually get the city right, but ot the sport). I think the cause (besides cluelessness) might be that it didn't seem in my memory that it was such a brief name as the As, but then the As were commonly referred to as the Athletics. Still, no excuse!
Dan Maloney
2022-06-27 11:33:00 +0000 UTCMy city, Ogden Ut, celebrates Pride in August... we're stubborn that way, also then no one has to choose between local and Salt Lake City celebrations. I love your opening shot. Thanks!
Kris Olsen
2022-06-27 01:27:56 +0000 UTCLevarachi sued two different paper for saying he was gay and won both times. That's the world 🌎 we live in
Leotha Boyd
2022-06-27 01:21:45 +0000 UTCMatt, in response to your request for stories about celebrities who sued when they were rumoured to be gay, Tom Selleck comes to mind. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-04-me-2434-story.html
Alexandra Amor
2022-06-26 23:15:53 +0000 UTCFascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing! (PS do you mean the Oakland As, not the Raiders, since he was a baseball player?)
Alexandra Amor
2022-06-26 23:13:19 +0000 UTCI am so glad you brought up Glenn Burke. By all accounts he was a wonderful charismatic man. He never hid that he was gay - all his team mates knew. He was considered by some to be the glue that held the team together; his joi de vivre and comic antics attracted the other players. He played for the LA Dodgers and the team manager, Tommy Lasorda got rid of him by trading him to Oakland because he was a good friend of Tommy's son who was a rather flamboyant gay man; Tommy blamed all his son's behavior on Glenn. To his last breath Tommy denied that his son was gay and that he died from AIDS. (He was and he did). The manager of the Raiders at the time was Billy Martin who treated him shamefully and got rid of him ASAP. It is rumored that Billy introduced him to his new teammates by saying his name and adding, "He's a fag". Glenn left MLB and was then instrumental in founding a gay baseball league. He played for his favorite SF bar (mine, too) the Pendulum. While he played for them , the Pendulum's team dominated the league. His final years were tragic and sad. I used to be indifferent to Lasorda and I kind of got a kick out of Billy Martin, but since I learned of their treatment of this amazing man, I feel nothing but contempt for both of them.
Dan Maloney
2022-06-26 21:34:19 +0000 UTCRobert Craig "Evel" Knievel credited his daredevil styling to Liberace and if I recall the quote correctly that "flying" part of his show. I feel like there is audio of an interview with him talking about seeing Liberace for the first time.
Darren Simon
2022-06-26 21:09:29 +0000 UTCThe spirit of Rip Taylor sensed the attention and he moved your hand!
Mike Dean
2022-06-26 20:47:57 +0000 UTCI think I remember that Seinfeld
Ryan Mohr
2022-06-26 19:43:26 +0000 UTCHappy Pride, Matt! I almost made it up to CH Pride yesterday... might have made the effort if I knew you were there! I literally live 4 blocks away but then I remembered I need to cement my reputation as a stay-at-home gay. 🤣 That and the heat... but I've got the parade livestream going and watching your video. Happy Pride, y'all! 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Erica Gamet
2022-06-26 19:41:21 +0000 UTCI love your screen handle-
Mo Vetta
2022-06-26 19:03:26 +0000 UTCOh haha I was going to talk about that one next week but it slipped into the text a little early!
Matt Baume
2022-06-26 18:54:04 +0000 UTCDid you link to the $1.98 Beauty Show by mistake, or is that a little Easter egg?
Mike Dean
2022-06-26 18:09:36 +0000 UTCGlenn Burke absolutely invented the high five, I will not be taking questions at this time
Steely Dan Rather
2022-06-26 17:13:18 +0000 UTC
