MAMBA GOSSIP

Chippendales come out the closet

It’s hard to believe that no member of the Chippendales bow-tie troupe of performers has ever beeen openly gay. Until now that is. Brandon Pereyda is the groundbreaking dancer who’s out and proud. The 23 year old has been featured in Instinct magazine’s February issue and graces the cover. He tells Editor Mike Wood that, “Chippendales guys are often pegged as being gay. And they’re not. And I think this will clear the slate. They’re all straight, but we would do anything for each other and that’s what I really love about working here. They don’t view my being gay as a negative thing at all.” You can catch Brandon perform in Las Vegas, should you ever happen to be in Sin City.

Colin Farrell to be gay brother’s best man

Irish actor Colin Farrell will forever be remember for playing the bisexual conqueror Alexander, but sadly his personal life appears to be tragically heterosexual (as evidenced by that NASTY sex video that did the rounds on the net a while ago). But that certainly hasn’t stopped him from being ultra-supportive of his older gay brother Eamon Farrell. In fact, according to the Mirror, he is set to be his bro’s best man at his wedding to boyfriend Steven Mannion. Apparently 35 year old Eamon proposed to his beau in New York last year and the couple will soon make it official in a civil partnership ceremony in the UK. You may be interested to now that Eamon also has a career in the arts; he’s a respected dance teacher who set up the National Performing Arts School in Dublin.

Shock News! Madonna makes loads of money!

We’ll avoid making any “Material Girl” references (oops, too late), but you may not be surprised to learn that superstar Madonna makes loads of money. In fact, according to Forbes magazine’s first ever “Cash Queens of Music” list, she was the top-earning female performer in 2006 / 2007 – raking in a very cool $72 million (around R500 million). That was thanks in part to her world tour and her deal designing outfits for H+M stores. Nice work if you can get it. That means she can easily afford her rumoured $10 000 monthly Kabbalah water bill. She was followed by Barbra Streisand who coined $60 million in second place. Others on the list include Celine Dion ($45 million), Shakira ($38 million) and Beyonce Knowles ($27 million).

On Britney

You may ask why we’ve not mentioned the Britney Spears saga for some time in this column. Well, that’s because here at Mamba Mansions we’ve taken a decision to no longer report on her increasingly desperate shenanigans on an ongoing basis. There’s a point at which celebrity culture becomes downright dangerous. We’ve reached that point with Britney. The singer’s emotional breakdown is being actively aided and abetted by the paparazzi. She is in essence being goaded into self-destructive behaviour by the media and a celebrity-crazed public. The reality is that, having apparently lost touch with reality, she could do real harm to herself or even her children. We won’t play a part in that. We’re happy to hear that she is now seeking treatment and wish her the best.

Crowd boos Diana Ross’ shyness

She may be a legend and a gay icon, but that didn’t stop a 40 000-strong audience from booing singer Diana Ross while she performed at the Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival recently. The reason? The ageing performer apparently instructed concert organisers to switch off the screens at the venue so that there would be no unflattering close-ups on display. The result? Much of the audience couldn’t see her on stage. In response, the crowd – who individually paid between $80 and $300 for a ticket – took to jeering and booing the songbird throughout her performance. The organisers weren’t too happy, later saying “The much anticipated performance of Diana Ross on Saturday proved somewhat disappointing to many patrons who expected a very interactive set. Miss Ross’ request to have a restricted display of her performance however, inconvenienced patrons who were left feeling distanced from the stage and her performance.” A diva till the end…

In and out the closet – Australian style…

Nathan Hudson, the lead singer of Australian band Faker has come out the closet. Yeah, we haven’t heard of them either, but it’s been a slow week. “My association with being gay was that it was bad and dark and not good for you. I had trouble finding people to look up to. I’m happy to talk about being gay for that kid in the suburbs who’s 15 and scared,” said the singer. This in contrast to his fellow countryman and music biz colleague Daniel Johns, who heads up the band Silverchair. Daniel recently split from his wife, singer Natalie Imbruglia, amid ever-mounting rumours about his sexuality. In response, the rocker chose to make it clear that he doesn’t do boys. “I’m not fucking gay,” he announced to the audience at Melbourne’s Big Day Out concert this week. Interestingly, he was wearing a lacy garter on stage. Those whacky Australians…

America Idol’s first (openly) gay contestant

American Idol has finally acknowledged a gay contestant. While the show has undoubtedly had gay contestants before, they’ve never really been presented openly as such during its seven seasons on air. This week however, the US show took a leap forward with the audition of one Leo Marlowe – in Omaha of all places. The singing star wanna-be blurted out to the judges, “My mom always said she raised the perfect homecoming queen. Too bad it wasn’t one of her daughters.” He was given the thumbs-up by Simon, who said he is “very good,” Randy and Paula (describing him as a “touchdown.”) Search on YouTube under his name to check out his performance.

Charlotte comes to town…

Sex And The City star Kristin Davis, who played the uptight Charlotte York, is in South Africa doing her bit for the Oxfam charity organisation, for whom she is a Global Ambassador. Soon to be seen in the upcoming highly anticipated Sex And The City movie, the actress will be meeting with Women’s rights groups and HIV/AIDS community organisations, such as the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and hospices. “Kristin’s visit to South Africa will continue her effort to gain a better understanding of the HIV/Aids situation in the country and its impact on women and the level of response,” said Oxfam. She was set to visit Soweto, Orange Farm and… err… Rustenburg. Send us a picture if you spot her!

Heath Ledger’s “drug video”

With Heath Ledger barely laid to rest by his family, a US television channel announced that it would show “shocking” video footage of Heath talking about smoking dope at a “drug-fuelled” Hollywood party. Excerpts from the amateur footage, in which Heath says “I used to smoke five joints a day for 20 years,” were shown to promote the full video’s screening on The Insider show, but the airing was cancelled at the last minute. This was following immense pressure from the Hollywood fraternity and Heath’s family. “Out of respect for Heath Ledger’s family, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider have decided not to run the Heath Ledger video which has been circulating in the world media,” said a statement.