The Gay Porn Boxer And "Journalism"

When these stories first appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News a few weeks ago, I said I had to discuss them here. Well, I procrastinated again, so here we go now.

I laughed at the first one and cringed (and laughed) at the second. The first one reported a tale told by a one-time local boxer, Yusaf Mack, who said he was offered money via a Facebook message to do a porn scene in New York. Desperate for money, he accepted the offer and showed up at an address in the Bronx during the summer. He claimed there were naked women walking around. When the time came to start the scene, he said he needed a drink and someone gave him a shot of vodka and a pill. He claimed the next thing he could remember, he was on a train at 30th Street Station being awakened. He didn't remember getting on a train but did find $4,500.00 in a pocket.

Cut to October, when he says people were acting strangely around him, and finally someone told him about a clip online in which he was in a threesome with two men -- no women in sight. He denied it until he got a look at it. He said he had no memory of anything between the time he downed the shot and pill and when he woke up on the train. He aggressively said he was straight: "My whole life, I've been what they call a whoremonger. I love females...the only time I touch a man is when I'm in the ring fighting." He has ten kids and was engaged to a woman.

A week later, after the story went viral, the porn company denied drugging him and reports began to surface about there being possibly more than one scene with Mack and other men, he admitted he lied. He's gay, or bi, or something (his story changed a time or two just in the course of the followup interview), he admitted doing the scene because he was unemployed and need the money to help his ten kids and three grandkids. His fiancee reacted by leaving him. But hey, he got some assistance from one Anthony Cherry, who contacted Mack via Instagram and offered to represent him for free.

The article says Cherry is "a Los Angeles-based hairstylist/crisis public-relations manager" -- so hey, when he's done with Yusaf's PR he can work on the do!

Okay, it seemed fairly likely from the beginning that he wasn't telling the truth. That turned out to be the case. But what is more sad is the tone of the original article. The writer, Jenice Armstrong, seemed to go out of her way to help make the story seem plausible, using a gee-whiz tone that, I believe, belies her own experience as a writer. This portion, in particular, got to me:

But bizarre things can happen when you mix drugs, alcohol and illicit sex. I did some poking around online yesterday and someone pointed me in the direction of GHB (gamma-Hydroxybutyrate), a/k/a Liquid Ecstasy or Georgia Home Boy, a colorless and tasteless so-called party drug that has been known to lower users' inhibitions and also leave them with severe memory loss.

Could someone have slipped it or something similar into Mack's drink? I asked an expert if it was at all possible for him to do something out of character sexually and then forget it.

Of course, the expert said it was certainly possible. But we knew that already, didn't we? How many stories have we heard in the media about date rape? About sexual assaults where drugs and alcohol were involved? How many stories have we heard about women at parties or in bars having their drinks "roofied" by men they met? How many articles has Armstrong herself written about such stories? Hell, just in the last year she's written about Bill Cosby's attacks on women, hasn't she?

Her website says she has over two decades of journalism experience! And here she says she had to go online after hearing Mack's tale to learn about GHB? Come on.

I don't know what her agenda was in writing the story, but she ended up getting burned. Of course, a good portion of what she writes about is celebrity fluff, stories about clothes and hairstyles, local and national celebs, women's issues, African-American culture, and of course, she basically curates the annual Daily News Sexy Singles promotion. (Go search for my posts about that, why don't you?)

Journalism is so loosely defined nowadays.

WHAT THE HELL...Urban Outfitters

Really, Urban Outfitters? Trying to sell a "Vintage Kent State sweatshirt" with fake blood spatters and, after immediate outrage caused them to pull the product, claiming it was never intended to allude to the 1970 shootings by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State campus, killing four people? Seriously? One, trying to sell it to begin with? Two, thinking anyone would believe this bullshit denial? Three, $129.00?

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE FUCKING DOLLARS FOR A FUCKING SWEATSHIRT????

Urban Outfitters, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU????

WTHIWWY: Cee Lo Green

Cee Lo Green

Let me see if I understand what you're saying, Cee Lo Green. So if a man sexually assaults an unconscious woman it's not rape because if the woman isn't awake to say "no" that's the same as giving consent? Really? Is that what you're saying, Cee Lo? You seriously think you can drug a woman in order to have sex with her?

And now your "reality" show's been canceled; whether it was because you're a pig or because of lousy ratings is possibly subject to debate. (Hey, NBC, can we kick the pig off "The Voice" permanently as well?)

Cee Lo Green, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU???

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU???

UPDATE: I'm leaving this up because I'm still going to do this little feature. However, it seems that the Twitter account is fake, so...

That's a sentence I seem to be saying a lot lately. A few times I use it on Twitter or Facebook when someone does or says something so idiotic, so mean-spirited, so egregious, that the question just has to be asked. I'm gonna start using this as a regular feature here so I can rant on some stuff.

So let's begin with the only people who aren't profoundly saddened by the death today of actor-comedian Robin Williams: right-wing conservative scum...well, one in particular...

This genius, from the 5th Congressional District in Arkansas, followed up 45 minutes later with a desperate, laughable attempt at deniability (without even doing something smart like, say, deleting the original tweet; I mean, really, nearly four hours have gone by and it's still up there?):

You know what they say: if you have to ask...wait, wrong line. Affordability doesn't really apply. But this does. You know what I say? Congressman Hankle, or should I say Hankle the Congressional Cankle, or maybe just plain old Rep. Jackass: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU??????

Comparison: ESPN vs. NFL

ESPN says Stephen A. Smith will not appear for a week on their TV show "First Take" or his radio show because of comments he made that implied some women provoke domestic violence. The comments were in the wake of the NFL suspending Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for two games for beating up his fiancee (now his wife).

So...knock out your woman and drag her unconscious body out of a hotel elevator? Miss two games.
Talk about it in a stupid manner? Miss ten "games."

I'm so glad the NFL and Roger Goodell have educated us on the correct levels of punishment for dastardly acts.





(These two clips should actually be connected into one, as they were part of the same scene. This won't be a problem in a few months.)

Bieber vs. Brown

I think we need to set up this cage match: Chris Brown and Justin Bieber: two "men" enter, one "man" leaves. Who's your money on? Check the videos at each of those TMZ links and decide for yourself. Bad language on both videos. Imagine little Justin Bieber dropping f-bombs. For shame!

Twitter Spammers Get Clever

So I just noticed I have a new follower on Twitter. According to her profile, "Sherry" lives in Wilmington, Delaware with her roomate Jen and two cats, Simon and Holden. One of her favorite movies is Walk the Line. And there's a link to find out more. Seems like a nice enough person; perhaps I'll follow back, I thought. But when you look at "Sherry's" profile, the tweets tell a different story...

Who's this Harold Shults, and why are all of Sherry's tweets actually retweets of this character?

By going to longurl.org you can copy and paste a shortened URL and find out where it leads, without clicking on it and putting your computer at risk for viruses and such. (Not that I'd have ever clicked on this one anyway, but this can be helpful for less obvious spammers.) Needless to say, "Sherry's" link leads to an adult dating website.

A thought just occurred to me: why isn't there more of this on Facebook? It's easy enough to set up fake profiles, I would think.

Jackson Family Horror Show

The stuff that's going on with this story over the last few days is just sad. These siblings trying to get control of Michael Jackson's estate away from his mother, trying to make a grab for money at the expense of Michael's children, clearly have no shame. These poor kids are going to have enough trouble living a relatively normal life as it is, let alone having these "adults" fighting over their future.

And what really bothers me is that Janet is involved. I can see losers like Jermaine and Randy being involved, but Janet? She used to be the one who, in her days when she sang about being in "Control," seemed to be almost normal. I wonder what her financial situation is like now? She hasn't had much of a career in quite a few years. Has she squandered her fortune? Or is she just plain greedy?

A Thought On Adam Lambert

So by now you heard about Adam Lambert and his boyfriend being briefly arrested in Finland after a drunken brawl in a gay bar last week. While I am a fan of Lambert's music, and I liked how he handled the coming-out issue during and just after his "American Idol" days, and I was on his side when people (and TV networks) flipped out after his American Music Awards performance a couple of years ago, I find that I like him as a person less and less.

He seems to be rather arrogant, which isn't a big deal in itself. But when you're a celebrity, and you date another celebrity, and he happens to be a TV "reality" show star (in this case, the Finnish version of "Big Brother"), and you get drunk and get into a big fight, you can't complain about the media being interested in you, and you really shouldn't say that the media exaggerates...

...especially when at least one person has said she was accidentally punched while trying to break up the fight. After I read the tweet shown above I stopped following Adam Lambert on Twitter. Like I said, I'm still a fan of his music, and I'm looking forward to his second album. But his huge ego, combined with his whining about the media, is more than I can handle.

Eagles Getting What They Deserve

My tweet right after yesterday's latest Eagles debacle was quoted in the weekly NFL wrapup on the Outsports Jock Talk Blog. In case you missed it: "I'll keep saying this til someone listens: Eagles' woes due to bad karma for not addressing DeSean's anti-gay slur."

Obviously there's no scientific proof of this, but it's as good a reason as any. DeSean Jackson called somebody a "gay-ass faggot" on Sirius/XM radio during the summer, while the NFL lockout was still on, offered only a half-assed phony "apology" afterwards, and neither the league nor the Eagles took any action in response -- even after the lockout ended and teams were free to talk to their players again. (I hope you're not tired of reading my posts about it.) Sure, there are lots of problems, but there have been a few bad bounces as well, so why couldn't it be bad karma?

The much-hyped "Dream Team" is floundering. The only sure thing right now on offense is LeSean McCoy, and too often the Eagles don't get him the ball often enough. Michael Vick is struggling (and now has two broken ribs) and the offense is at times fine and other times pitiful. The defense is kind of a mess, especially in the fourth quarter of games. FIVE games lost after having the lead in the 4th quarter is shameful. Andy Reid is his usual arrogant-while-saying-nothing self (although he's somehow 6-for-7 in coach's challenges). And Jackson was suspended for the game yesterday for missing a meeting Saturday because he overslept.

There were reports that Jackson, unhappy with his lack of a contract extension, actually missed/was late for multiple meetings during the week and other players were also late. If that's true, then Reid has lost control of the team. Suspending Jackson might be seen as a good disciplinary reaction but I can't help but wonder what the Eagles would have done if their opponent yesterday had been, say, the New York Giants instead of the Arizona Cardinals. Would Jackson have been out for the game, or maybe just the first quarter?

The Eagles are now 3-6 and it would take a miracle for them to make the playoffs now. And, sad to say, I'm kind of happy about it. I was laughing at their follies a few times yesterday. I don't root for the Eagles to win or lose right now, but I can sure enjoy their troubles since they refused to address DeSean's comment during the summer. You might think that makes me a bad fan, but we'll have to disagree on that one. I'm just on hiatus until...well, I don't know. The media ignored the DeSean story except for a perfunctory report immediately after the story was broken and, even with his current T.O.-like behavior, shows no signs of mentioning it now. There's no pressure on the Eagles to do a thing. So I don't know when my stance will change.

A Little More On Outfest

My experience at this year's Outfest was different from last year in some ways. For one, I didn't see Kendra Wilkinson or any other "reality" TV "stars," which also meant that I didn't make it to national television. That didn't bother me. What did bother me a little is that the protestors who always show up at these things, while still small in number, were louder.

At least three of them, on different streets, had portable PA systems and were going on almost non-stop harassing passersby with their hatemongering. I say "almost" because there was one brief moment when someone yanked the microphone cord out, silencing the bigot. The guy who did this was immediately pounced upon by the waiting police.

I realize that these religious freaks have their rights, since the festival was out on the public streets, and I know that police have to do their jobs to keep the peace. But this sight really sickened me. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion really sucks sometimes. (Programming note: I still need to write about those "Occupy ____" people soon.) I wish there were a way to discourage these people from showing up at all. I use this analogy often: they're dinosaurs, stuck in tar pits, and soon to be extinct. I just wish the process could speed up a little. And I still think the rest of us ought to show up at their events now and then and enjoy our same freedoms.

Time For DeSean Discipline, Eagles And NFL.

Memo to the National Football League and the Philadelphia Eagles: I haven't forgotten.

Last month, when NightlifeGay.com took the Eagles and the NFL to task for not responding after DeSean Jackson's "gay-ass faggot" radio interview, I pointed out that the league was still in a lockout and that neither the team nor the Eagles could do a thing until the labor situation was resolved.

As you know, shortly after that the lockout ended. There is labor peace in the NFL. Players have reported to training camps.

DeSean Jackson, however, was a no-show at first.

Mr. Ignorant (Note: some NSFW language)

I had a little run-in on the subway today.

After softball practice I made my way to the Temple campus and hung out for a while with my friend Kurt and a friend of his. After we parted ways, I took the subway back into Center City to make my way home. It was a bit crowded, being a Saturday afternoon and with some people beginning to make their way to the 4 p.m. Phillies game, so I didn't get a seat. I was standing near the door, then moved away from it a bit when we got to the next station and more people were about to get on. Suddenly I felt my backpack being shoved into me. I turned around and the angry black man standing there began yelling. The conversation, such as it was, went like this:

"MOVE YOUR FUCKING BACKPACK."
"Oh, sorry -- "
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU, JUST MOVE YOUR BACKPACK."
"Did it brush into you?"
"YEAH. MOVE YOUR FUCKING BACKPACK"
"I'm sor--"
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK, JUST MOVE YOUR FUCKING BACKPACK."

At that point I just moved away. I wanted to tell him he needed to learn to accept an apology but I knew if I said anything more, the situation would escalate.

First of all, if my backpack brushed against him I didn't feel it. Normally, the backpack is up against my back and if it bumps into something I feel it. I felt nothing until he shoved it.

Secondly, this is why racism will continue to exist in this country for a long, long time. This asshole was so rude and ignorant that if it had been someone else instead of me, either there would have been a fight and a bunch of n-words dropped, or even if that didn't happen, the other person would have basically confirmed to himself all of his bigoted views. Sure, we've made plenty of progress, but as long as people act like this, those who are prejudiced will not change their minds.

While I do sort of believe in good karma -- if you're a good person and are good to others, I like to think you'll get good karma back from the universe -- I have no problem wishing ill of nasty, hateful trolls. So this is my message for Mr. Ignorant from the subway: you are a fucking miserable, rude, obnoxious, ignorant and possibly racist piece of garbage. You're scum. You're a waste of DNA. If you die tomorrow, the world will be a better place.

Oh, and for fuck's sake, before you die, PULL UP YOUR PANTS! YOU'RE NOT A TEENAGER AND NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR DULL GRAY UNDERWEAR!

Three Annoying People

Some comments on three people who are in the news today, at least locally, and for wildly different reasons. This is like that Keith Olbermann "Worst Person in the World" segment, back in the days when he was on television.

Annoying: Phillies pitcher Ryan Madson's wife Sarah doesn't like fans...

“I hate the fans. It is bad enough that they bother us during the season, but they will not leave us alone in December when we go out to eat. We stayed here during the off season last year, but we will be going to California this year. There must be something particularly bad about Phillies fans because all the players leave in the off season.”

I really don't want to unload on her much, especially since the comments came during an event she and her husband cohosted to raise funds for MANNA. And I don't like the idea of fans interrupting famous people at dinner. Wait until before or after, but not while they're eating. But it's her husband's success that helped the Phils ascend to the top, which raised fan interest even more, which led to all of those sold-out games at Citizens Bank Park, which gave the Phillies the revenue to pay Ryan Madson $12 million in a three-year deal that ends this season. (And whether players live here in the offseason means nothing, by the way.)

Annoying-er: Kobe Bryant called a referee a "fucking faggot" during the game last night.

Raising Hell On Facebook

Maybe it's me, but there are times when I think that most people are idiots. This is one of those times.

The first time I logged into Facebook today was from my cell phone while I was out. The screen said I had a message from someone whose name did not ring a bell. When I clicked to read it, I saw a list of message recipients that seemed endless. It's bad enough on a regular monitor (see screen captures after the jump), let alone this list, one name at a time, on my cell phone's small rectangular screen.

When I finally got down to the bottom, there were a series of replies -- on Facebook, you see all the replies to a message because you can't just reply to one person on the list. You have to reply to them all. The message originated, as it turned out, from the Phoenix Hellraisers flag football team, promoting...something. I've forgotten what. Whoever runs the team's Facebook sent it to every one of their FB friends, including me. (I know people who either are or were part of the team.) Right now they have 2,208 friends. A few minutes ago it was 2,210. I also unfriended them earlier in the evening.

Unfortunately, the replies keep coming. The "conversation" has gone basically like this from almost the beginning, and similar replies (including some duplicates) just keep coming...

Remove me too!

Remove me from this, please! Thank you...

Remove me as well

Omg. I have kept quiet all day, but enough is enough. Faggots!!!! Shut the f--- up!!!!!

Lol

The only way to make it is to stop replying... so STOP REPLYING!

So stop!!! Dyke!!

Stop

STOP!

STOP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is this

And on and on and on...

You can delete it from your list of messages, but it just keeps coming back whenever another person replies. I'm not sure if the original sender can delete it (which would stop any further replies) or not. You can report it as spam, for what good that would do.

It amazes me that someone would be stupid enough to rile up all of their friends this way. I rarely send messages through Facebook. If I do, it's only because it's to one friend, or a few, and it doesn't need to be broadcast on my Wall. Then again, I'm not an idiot. (Well, not usually.)

People Are Strange

A couple of odd things to discuss -- one in real life and one online. To be precise, the subject of this first story isn't so much as strange as he is sneaky.

I was walking to the corner of Frankford and Morrell Avenues this afternoon to catch a bus. I noticed a young guy -- I'd say in his 20's -- standing there and, as cars pulled up at the red light, went over to the cars to say something. As I arrived at the corner I could hear him, and then he saw me and asked me the same thing he was asking the people in their cars: "Can you spare some change so I can get on the bus?"

"No, sorry," I replied. My judgment was that he seemed a little drunk or high. It was odd because it was mid-afternoon, he didn't look like a typical homeless person asking for money, and my part of the city isn't an area where homeless people congregate. I also noticed earbuds in his ears -- either attached to a cell phone or mp3 player. For a couple of minutes he continued to ask drivers (incluiding a couple who pulled into the gas station on the same corner) for change. Then, finally, success. A driver handed him at least one dollar. Since it was folded I couldn't tell if there was more than one. He then pulled out his phone and began to make a call.  Clearly he wasn't homeless.

Right after that the bus arrived. He got on before I did, and put his fare into the fare box: a single coin. In other words, a bus token! He didn't need any money for the bus after all. What a scam. I was tempted to ask him about it, but I figured I'd like to live a little longer.

CBS Encouraging Bad Behavior? Or Desperate?

Another blog item at EW.com caught my eye today. It seems that a doofus jumped over a fence today during the CBS "Early Show" and did a shout out to Coney Island while putting his arm around co-host Harry Smith. Why is this interesting?

During football and baseball games, if an idiot runs onto the field, usually the TV cameras cut away, not showing the intruder because they don't want to encourage others to try and get their moment in the spotlight the same way. Unfortunately, that leaves only poor-quality video when something special occurs. CBS has, according to the blog, put the video of today's interruption on their website and YouTube.

You think, "Okay, CBS desperately wants people to watch their morning show. The ratings have always been terrible during the morning. So even if other dimwits now hop the fence and manhandle the hosts, at least people will watch."

But then the blog mentions an "Early Show" overhaul that begins next week -- which means even if someone sees that clip and thinks, "Wow, I like how those hosts handled that! I think I'll start watching this show!" -- as improbable as that is -- on Monday there will be all new hosts! So why bother putting the clip online?

(The image above, by the way, is apparently how the CBS logo looked in 1966. I kinda like it.)

These Two Need To Have Hate Sex, STAT!

From Entertainment Weekly's Music Mix blog:

"Chris Brown launched into a profanity-laced Twitter feud for several hours today with former B2K member De’Mario Thornton — a.k.a. Raz-B — in which both Brown and Thornton employed homophobic slurs and taunts."

So, it's a battle between one practically-a-has-been and one never-really-was. Sigh. The article goes on:

"The exchange began after Thornton tweeted, using the Twitter handles for, respectively, Eric Benet, Brown, Halle Berry, and Rihanna, “I’m just sittin here Thinking how can n—-s like @ebenet & @ChrisBrown disrespect women as Intelligent as @HalleBerry11 [and] @Rihanna.” Brown quickly tweeted in response, “@razb2k, n—- you want attention! Grow up n—-!!! D— in da booty a– lil boy,” and followed up with several tweets taunting Thornton over his accusations that he was molested by his ex-manager and one of his former group mates. Thornton replied by accusing Brown of being on the down-low (i.e. in the closet)."

It finishes with: "By the end, both Brown and Thornton had apologized for using homophobic slurs and appeared to have moved on to tweet another day. It was all a masterful display of debate at its finest." These are what the EW.com writer linked to as their apologies:

Of course, one of these isn't really an apology, is it? Also, as you can see below, after these apologies the "war" actually continues, so the EW.com writer is even more mistaken...

Stupid people behaving stupidly. That's life. But really, shouldn't they get rid of all that sexual tension once and for all? I think it might go somewhat like this...feel free to skip to the last two minutes of this...

Why Deny Vick's Kids A Puppy?

On Twitter yesterday I posed this question: do you believe in punishing children for the sins of their parents? It may have seemed to come out of the blue, without any context. It was my thought after reading reactions to a comment by Michael Vick in an interview that he would like to own a dog again someday. "I would love to get another dog in the future," he said. "I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love, and my passion for animals." This brought out yet another barrage of hatred directed at Vick, with comments not unlike the "sub-human" comment I talked about in my last Vick post.

Some of the responses this time compared it to a child molester being allowed to have access to kids. I'm sorry, but I think there's a difference between an adult who sexually abuses children and someone running a dogfighting ring, even taking into account that he killed some of the dogs. I abhor anything related to dogfighting, but child sexual abuse is much, much worse.

The fact of the matter is that Vick is not allowed to own an animal while he's still on probation, so for now the point is moot. But what about after that? If he continues on the straight and narrow, if he continues to demonstrate that he's learned his lesson, if he continues to speak out against abuse of animals, is there really a risk if he makes his children's wishes come true and brings them home a puppy one day?

In the recent Sports Illustrated cover story, it mentions that fact, that at least one of his daughters wants a dog and isn't happy that she can't have one. If some people had their way, that little girl would be, in effect, punished for her father's misdeeds.

Now I REALLY Have The Christmas Spirit!

Santa, on the other hand, has had some Christmas spirits...



I haven't laughed this hard in a while!