There Aren't Enough Openly Gay or Jewish Actors in Hollywood So Bradley Cooper Plays Gayface and Jewface in Leonard Bernstein Movie

There Aren't Enough Openly Gay or Jewish Actors in Hollywood So Bradley Cooper Plays Gayface and Jewface in Leonard Bernstein Movie

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First, this is not a rant and it's not a complaint. I'm just sharing facts with readers. 

When I was a teen in the 7th grade in a small Catholic School in New Jersey, we had a music teacher who was absolutely freaked out over Leonard Bernstein. And rightly so. Even though I didn't appreciate it at the time Bernstein was a genius. 

On the third Tuesday of every month, this music teacher would take the entire 7th grade class to this dank little basement room in the Catholic School and we would watch films of Bernstein and his music. By that time I knew I was gay, my hormones were raging, and every guy I looked at gave me a thrill. I was not interested in music.

However, I had no idea that Bernstein was gay. I think if I had known I would have paid more attention to those movies. 

With that said, the public for the most part didn't know Bernstein was gay either. In fact, there's a new movie about his life and I've seen it being promoted on social media as a fearless love story with his wife, Felicia Montealegre.

And once again no mention of Bernstein being gay. For that matter, no mention of Cooper playing gayface again. But I did learn something even more interesting that I didn't know. Bernstein was Jewish, so that means that Cooper is playing Jewface, too. He also allegedly wore a prosthetic nose.  

This is from the Canadian Jewish News:

There’s no reason to believe that the decision to wear a fake nose is a deliberately antisemitic act. 

Here's more. 

I have no idea how they will handle the gay angle of the Bernstein story, but it's well known that he was gay and that after his wife died he had many gay lovers. There was even a long term relationship with a man. 

The West Side Story composer met and fell in love with a young Japanese fan on tour and their romance lasted until his death

Here's the rest of that.  There is even a photo of the young fan with Bernstein. 

So, to sum this up just based on the facts that are out there. Bradley Cooper acquired the rights to a story about a gay Jewish man. Cooper is playing the lead role...Bernstein...and while he plays Jewface he's wearing a prosthetic nose. He's also playing gayface, again, which he's done before. 

I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot more about this one. 

Here is another interesting article. The focus is completely on Cooper playing Jewface. No mention of gayface. 

Amazon Link 

 Uncertainty on Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no-nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”



What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”
In paperback or e-book. #gayromance #Wednesday

Altered Parts

The Wizard of Pride

 How to Be a Good Gay Bottom 

 Amazon

Bradley Cooper Plays Gay for Pay Again in Leonard Bernstein Movie, The Fearless Straight Bradley Cooper Recalls Gay Sex Scene, Ryan Field Books

 Bradley Cooper Plays Gay For Pay Again in Leonard Bernstein Movie

Why shouldn't straight actor, Bradley Cooper, play gayface again in a film? It's only "acting," so they tell me. 

After all, he's done it before and he didn't think twice about it. He even spoke about how he considers himself "fearless" for doing a gay sex scene. Seriously, fearless. 

Cooper spoke with The Advocate about the scene in 2009. Asked whether he had any reservations about the role, Cooper replied, "Maybe for 10 minutes I thought, Is this the first thing I should do? But I'm pretty fearless. The joy of acting is getting to do outlandish things or putting yourself in unusual situations. 

And it's not as if there are any openly gay older actors who could play the part of Bernstein. In fact, all the openly gay actors in Hollywood have so many excellent job offers they don't know what to choose. 

And of course, they did throw us a bone by letting Matt Bomer play second fiddle. And Matt Bomer is openly gay and I guess he doesn't think there's any cultural appropriation going on here. 

Bradley Cooper is fully transformed in the first look at his Netflix-backed biographical drama “Maestro,” which serves as his directorial follow-up to Oscar winner “A Star Is Born.” 

Here's the rest. Not one mention of the fact that Leonard Bernstein was a gay man married to a woman. But why should they mention something as insignificant as that? 

Maybe the fearless Bradley Cooper can play a famous black person next time. After all, they tell me, "it's only acting."

 Amazon link

  Ring My Bells

Amazon E-book or Paperback

The Wizard of Pride

The Straight Pride Parade

Don't Be Afraid of Virginia's Woolf




Once Upon a Castle by Ryan Field

A Different Kind of Southern Love Story




What readers are saying about "Uncertainty"

Amazon

"A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he'll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no-nonsense man, who's husband died last year. I enjoyed this story."



What readers said about "Altered Parts"
"Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina."
In paperback or e-book. #gayromance #Wednesday

Altered Parts

Bradley Cooper Nude Scenes; Erin Andrews Puts Rapper 50 Cents in His Place

(Update 6/4/13: When I wrote this post I didn't know anything about Cooper. Since then I've seen Silver Linings Playbook and I've come to admire his work. I've seen four of his other films. And though none compare to his performance in Silver Linings, I loved them all.)

We've been hearing so much about actor, Bradley Cooper, and the Oscars lately, I was curious about whether or not he'd ever done any nude scenes in films. In all honesty, I don't know much about him or his films and I've never been a huge fan. He's from the Philadelphia area and grew up in a Philly suburb not far from New Hope...Jenkintown...but I just never was drawn to any of his films.

But I'm always curious about the double standard in Hollywood with respect to women and men in nude scenes, especially with full frontal nudity. And male full frontal nudity is always the last place "they" will go.

I couldn't find anything about full frontal nudity for Bradley Cooper, but I did find this link to a nude scene he did once.

He also did a gay sex scene in the 2001 film, Wet Hot American Summer. Check out the link for photos.

"I remember saying," says Cooper, "'What if we wear tube socks, and I'll go up on the wall, and you'll come from behind me.' And I said in the scene, 'Say my name,' and Michael says, 'Ben!' And I say, 'No! Say my Christian name,' and he whispers, 'Benjamin,' and that's when I came."
But aside from nude scenes, there's been speculation about whether or not Cooper is gay in real life. Here's one link, here's another, and yet another.

This gay "rumor" bothers me on several different levels. One, if Bradley Cooper is gay and he's not ready to come out that's his business. Period. Two, whenever the press starts a rumor about whether or not an actor or actress is gay there's always a hidden meaning...as if there's something wrong with being gay. And that's what bothers me the most.


Erin Andrews Puts Rapper 50 in His Place

At the Daytona 500 this weekend, reporter Erin Andrews wound up in an odd situation with rapper, 50 Cents.

50 decided to show his appreciation for Andrews' work, and, well, Andrews didn't much dig it.

Not quite. It's more than just that. 50 Cents went to hug and kiss Andrews and she put an end to THAT fast. From the way it looked, I think he was ready to tongue kiss her. You can watch it on the video here. And you can see how aggressive and insulting 50 Cents was to this young woman.

This is the sort of thing we see all the time and no one ever complains about it. A woman is doing her job, and someone like 50 Cents comes along and sexually harrasses her. Would he have attempted to kiss Ryan Seacrest that way? Would he have attempted to kiss any male reporter that way? I highly doubt it.

Frankly, I wouldn't have been unhappy if Erin Andrews had hauled off and smacked him right in the face. Or, kicked him in the nuts. I'm so tired of seeing women treated this way. I'm also tired of the press making light of things like this.

As a side note, to give you more insight into 50 Cents, this is what 50 Cents tweeted when he arrived at the Daytona 500.

Earlier, 50 had surely raised the blood pressure of NASCAR officials when he arrived at Daytona and tweeted, "Damn I don't see no black people lol."

Now, that's the kind of racist remark I absolutely despise, too. As an author I know how powerful words like that can be and I don't take them for granted. We're all trying to put an end to that brand of racism. It's just not funny anymore.