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Betty White Outs Rock Hudson and Cary Grant
By Sarah BeallJune 17th, 2010, 4:30 pmComments (13)
Sometimes old people say the darndest things! Like earlier this week, when the beloved Betty White appeared on your favorite liberal "every-mom," Joy Behar's show, and let it slip that Cary Grant and Rock Hudson, um, batted for the same team. Which, for a lot of people, probably wasn't a huge shock, but still, she backtracked when the ever-subtle Behar asked her point-blank if Grant was gay.
Now, you might be thinking "What's the big deal? Old people accidentally let stuff slip on TV all the time. Look at Helen Thomas, for Chrissake," but we find this interesting. Because her race to play dumb about Grant's sexuality reflects a kind of respect for privacy that celebrity-gossip driven world has basically forgotten about. It wasn't that people weren't aware that Hudson and a handful of other Hollywood hearthrobs were gay. It was just that - maybe out of fear of being dubbed un-hirable homos or even just a sense that who they did the nasty with wasn't anybody's business but their own - they chose to quietly do who they wanted.
While in part, we agree with the privacy part, this whole "what happens in gay Vegas, stays in gay Vegas" attitude toward homosexuality has its drawbacks. It sucks to out someone who's not ready to march down 5th Avenue wearing ass-less chaps, but it's worse to stay closeted. Especially if what you're going to do while you're in there is douchily vote down gay-rights legislation, or parade around Europe preaching to the rent boy you've hired to "carry your luggage."
Commentarium (13 Comments)
i'd definitely let betty white carry my luggage!
Ass-less chaps forever!
Amen!
On a documentary about Cary Grant, one of his ex-wives said of those rumors "I never believed he was gay because of how we spent so much time fucking". Now the source of the stories was the fact that during several spells between marriages Grant shared a beach house with Gary Cooper. According to the same ex-wife, David Niven and Errol Flynn used to have booze delivered to their place by the truck load, while Grant and Cooper got through truck loads of pussy. I don't remember the lady's name, but I loved the way she talked!
I don't know if it's always "worse to stay closeted." Maybe Rock and Cary, if they are gay, don't come out because they don't want the inevitable media storm. Maybe they're out to the people who they care about most and they don't give a fuck if the rest of the world knows about their sexual orientation.
It sucks when gay celebrities stay closeted for a long time because a lot of gay youths would have been helped by a gay celebrity, but this doesn't mean it's bad or wrong for the celebrity to have stayed in the closet. Americans expect anyone connected to a movement to devote virtually every decision they make to the movement. That's part of why pro-lifers loved Sarah Palin so much for keeping Trig, and it's party of why some pro-gay activists frowned on Ricky Martin, Sean Hayes, etc. for not coming out sooner.
This is starting to become a rant, so I'll rap it up. Basically, it's important to support and believe in something, but it's just as important to take a step back and evaluate what decisions mean for you as an individual, not just for the cause. We should be careful not to criticize those who choose themselves over their cause.
@Me: totally agree. I think the author was trying to talk about politicians whose privately gay lifestyle becomes questionable when they continually vote against gay rights. In this way, staying in the closet can be hypocritical.
@Me: They've both been dead for 20+ years. Likely they avoided coming out because coming out in 1950s/60s Hollywood would have caused a media shit storm/career death unlike any we could imagine by today's standards.
GeeBee, you're mistaken. Grant's housemate was Randolph Scott, not Gary Cooper.
The ex-wife who said that was Betsy Drake. I love that a woman her age has no compunction about saying "fucking" in public, let alone to PBS cameras. She must be a pip. However, her argument is disingenuous. She knows well that the rumors were not that Cary was gay but that he was bi. His affection for and connection to his five wives has rarely been questioned.
Ha ha, I like how Meh and mer responded to my comments. I think there's also a me (lower case m) running around the comments somewhere. Anyway, I did not realize that Rock Hudson and Cary Grant were dead, though that does explain why I didn't know who they were.
@Me: You didn't know who they were? wow, and I thought I was ill-informed on movies. Go rent/download/netflix "North by Northwest" now.
Not that anyone's going to notice this comment so late, but yes it was Randolph Scott. I always get him and Cooper confused. They were pretty similar looking (especially in their youth) and acted in a lot of similar parts too.
They were nice gentlemen -leave them alone do not judge them - you didnt walk in their shoes -live and let live
Now you say something