I was immersed in the Supreme Court’s decision on health care
when Anderson Cooper upstaged Chief Justice John Roberts with the
announcement that he is gay. Pretty much everyone in America was as
stunned as I was. What a week. I recently learned that Truman
Capote was also gay. You just never can tell these days.
The New York Times story says that Cooper’s
“announcement makes him the most prominent openly gay journalist on
American television,” leading to a lot of speculation by viewers
about who the lesser known gays on TV news might be. I have my own
hunches and, thanks to Cooper coming out at last, I now feel at
liberty to reveal them:
Walter Cronkite was forced to remain in the closet lest it be
known that he was a transsexual who spent much of his time off
camera in women’s closets. He was famous for doing a female strip
tease at parties, but few realized that he also often dressed up
like Carmen Miranda for a night on the town. As for Chet Huntley
and David Brinkley — “Good night, David”…”Good night, Chet.” Need
I say more?
Rachel Maddow has made it not just OK but fashionable to be a
gay talk show host, so one wonders how long it will be until David
Letterman and Jay Leno finally fess up to their own sexual
identities. The pressure is now on for gays in positions of power
on TV to consider coming out, especially those with shows in
ratings trouble, as Brian Stelter
writes in the Times on Cooper’s announcement.
Look for Conan O’Brien, whose late night show is not doing too
well, to make a startling announcement shortly.
Stelter notes, “The daytime talk format seemingly demands hosts
to come forward with the personal details of their lives.” Ellen
DeGeneres broke TV’s “lesbo glass ceiling,” as TV industry insiders
call it, and it didn’t hurt her any, nor Rosie O’Donnell. Maddow is
adamant on the subject, telling the Times: “I do think that if
you’re gay you have a responsibility to come out,” which is sure to
help push gays out of the apparently crowded video closet. Are you
listening, Matt Lauer? Al Roker? Had only Ann Curry claimed she was
gay, she might still be the Today co-host.
A New York Times op-ed piece notes that
Entertainment Weekly discusses “the new art of coming out”
among stars on both coasts, presaging a flood of TV journalists
rushing to reveal their gayness. It is not unlikely that agencies
handling television journalists and talk show hosts are encouraging
their clients, whether gay or straight, to declare their sexual
leanings ASAP and increase their marketability.
CNN may well be a hotbed of gay anchors, according to whispers
around the water coolers at Fox News. Larry King, despite his many
marriages, could be latently gay, and his five ex-wives just an
elaborate cover-up to keep Larry’s real sex life from the public.
Ditto Piers Morgan, King’s flirty replacement, who so far has
declined to state his sexual preference. I have not yet heard any
rumors about Wolf Blitzer, so we will just have to wait for an
announcement from Wolf.
It now seems clear that Anderson Cooper is the Rosa Parks of gay
TV anchors.
