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Contents

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Volume 29 Issue 33

OPERATIC SPIRIT

Silen Wellington and Walken Schweigert infused their queer-themed opera with melody, attitude, and magic. By André Hereford

QUEEN OF MISS UNIVERSE

Meet Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip, the new owner of Miss Universe. She’s a billionaire. A mother of two. And transgender. Interview by Randy Shulman

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CRASH AND BURN

Black Butta, RuPaul’s fifteenth studio album, struggles to argue for its own existence. By Sean Maunier

SPOTLIGHT: SKINAMARINK p.11 OUT ON THE TOWN p.15 KEVIN MCCARTHY ELECTED HOUSE SPEAKER p.29 MAN CLAIMS MATT SCHLAPP SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HIM p.30 STRIKE UP THE BAN p.33 CARL NASSIB’S OLYMPIC SWIMMER BOYFRIEND p.35 THE YEAR IN COVERS p.36 TV: NETFLIX’S BREAK POINT p.49 LAST WORD p.55 Washington, D.C.’s Best LGBTQ Magazine for 28 Years Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editors André Hereford, Rhuaridh Marr, Sean Maunier, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrators David Amoroso, Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Hugh McIntyre, Ryan Spahn, Justin Walton, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Patron Saint Luz Marina Zuluaga (Colombia), Miss Universe 1958 Cover Photography Courtesy Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip During the pandemic please send all mail to: Metro Weekly PO Box 11559 - Washington, D.C. 20008 • 202-527-9624 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

© 2023 Jansi LLC. 4

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Spotlight

American Opera Initiative - L-R Kimberly Reed, Cecelia Raker, Jens Ibsen, Walken Schweigert, Carlos Simon, Silen Wellington, B.E. Boykin, Jarrod Lee, Kelley Rourke

Operatic Spirit

CAITLIN OLDHAM

Silen Wellington and Walken Schweigert infused their queer-themed opera with melody, attitude, and magic. By André Hereford

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HE SEARCH FOR EXCITING CREative voices in contemporary opera commences at the Kennedy Center, with WNO’s presentation of three world-premiere one-act operas conceived as part of its American Opera Initiative (AOI).

Marking its banner tenth year of showcasing fresh talent in the field, AOI assembled a noteworthy class of composer-librettist teams — B.E. Boykin and Jarrod Lee, Jens Ibsen and Cecelia Raker, and Silen Wellington and Walken Schweigert — who spent the past year collaborating JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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with distinguished mentors to create, respectively, Oshun, Bubbie and the Demon, and What the Spirits Show. The trio of 20-minute operas will debut in a concert staged by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zembello, and performed by world-class singers from the Cafritz Young Artists program and a chamber orchestra of WNO Orchestra members, led by WNO principal conductor Evan Rogister. Setting to sweeping music the stories of a shape-shifting teenage artist, a Jewish grandma battling actual demons, and an Orisha on an odyssey of redemption, the 20-minute operas push past the bounds of traditional themes and musical styles. And What the Spirits Show collaborators Wellington and Schweigert wouldn’t want it any other way. “[Opera] is a form that encourages extremes, which I really love,” says Schweigert. “Like extremes of emotion, extremes of plot, extremes of fantasy. So much can happen in the world because the fabric of the world is made with music. I just find that really exciting.” Composer Wellington is also drawn to opera’s extremes. “It's an absurd art form,” they say. “And I think there's a creativity and an opportunity in that to be more experimental than the audience for musical theater might expect musical theater to be, or the audience for a traditional contemporary classical music concert might expect ‘classical music’ to be.” What the Spirits Show opts for extreme fantasy in its magical realist tale of teenage artist Calumus, who expresses “their true spirit by bending into different forms,” in defiance of a tyrant who outlaws such magic. A bold tale of transformation, the work speaks profoundly to the goals of queer artists Wellington and Schweigert, who were responding to real-life elements of LGBTQ hate and discrimination. “Around this time last year,...Governor Greg Abbott of Texas wrote a letter asking the Depart-

ment of Family and Protective Services to [investigate] parents who are providing or assisting gender-affirming care for their kids, [and that] be considered child abuse and that kids be taken away,” Schweigert recalls. “We wanted to tell a story of, ‘Okay, what would this actually look like if this were happening?’ I know for me, having not had supportive parents when I came out as trans, the idea that one could come out, have supportive parents, and then have the state tear those people away from each other was just totally heartbreaking.” In the midst of a seeming storm of anti-trans legislation proposed or enacted in other states, the team felt inspired. “Even as I was writing the libretto,” says Schweigert, “I was getting emails from friends, and friends of friends in Texas, who were like, ‘We're thinking of moving to Minnesota.’ People were feeling that they needed to leave their homes, because of this. So it was something that hit very close to home.” Both Schweigert and Wellington agreed that not only was this a story they wanted to tell, it also felt like a story they wanted to tell at the Kennedy Center. “Another thing that I was thinking about, and that Silen and I talked about was, ‘With this platform of the Kennedy Center, what is the story that we want to tell?’ This seemed like a powerful one.” Calumus’ shape-shifting journey provided a rich context for exploring queer spirituality, says Wellington. “At the core, my experience of being trans does feel really spiritual, and finding ways to express that in art has been a big interest of mine,” they say. “A major theme in the opera is exploring this divinity of trans people,” they continue. “And personally, I feel like I've found a place of selflove and self-acceptance in my trans identity. Now I'm seeking to translate that part of it that feels really beyond words.”

American Opera Initiative: Three 20-Minute Operas will be performed one-night only, Saturday, Jan. 21, with performances at 7 and 9 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $19 to $45. Call 202-467-4600, or visit www.kennedy-center.org. 8

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Spotlight: Film

Nightmare Alley

Kyle Edward Ball’s viral horror sensation Skinamarink delves into the things that fuel our worst nightmares. By André Hereford

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NSIDE THE QUIET SUBURBAN HOME, and single location, of writer-director Kyle Edward Ball’s enthralling horror film Skinamarink, young siblings Kevin (Lucas Paul) and Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetrault) are lovingly put to bed by their dad (Ross Paul). They later wake up in the middle of the night to find he’s vanished. The two children are alone. Or so it seems. They also find the pitch-dark house’s doors and windows aren’t where they’re supposed to be, and, more alarmingly, after a bit of time, that some presence lurks inside the house with them. A childhood nightmare shot in grainy, lo-fi ’70s style, the film comes, appropriately enough, from a filmmaker uncommonly devoted to translating chilling dreamscapes into onscreen horror. “In my mid-twenties, I started a YouTube channel called Bitesized Nightmares, where people would comment nightmares and I would recreate them,” says Ball. Through creating those video shorts, he honed his strengths and learned his weaknesses as a filmmaker.

“I also developed this style of kind of implying instead of showing,” he says. Recreating strangers’ nightmares, Ball found his own artistic voice, influenced by directors from Stanley Kubrick to experimental-film godfather Stan Brakhage and cinema rebel John Waters. “Kind of by accident, I learned what scared people, because it's their nightmares,” he adds, explaining how comments on the channel offered a wide-open window into other people’s fears, as well as insights into his own. “The weird thing about nightmares is they are things that we create and things that we don't create, because you have it unconsciously,” Ball says. “So a nightmare is something that your mind comes up with, but you don't intentionally think of. It's your body and brain and psyche saying, ‘This is what scares you.’ And through the channel, I learned what other people’s psyches are saying, ‘This is what scares you.’ Over time, I had unintentionally stumbled upon a unique psychological study that I wasn't JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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even trying to do.” Fueled by nightmare visions, Ball completed his first feature film Skinamarink, which premiered in July 2022 at Montréal’s Fantasia Film Festival, and instantly caused a stir. The movie screened virtually at a different festival soon after, and was pirated, then shared online, where the shocker that Vice Magazine called “the most terrifying film of the year” became a viral sensation. It was a double-edged sword for Ball. “Within 24 hours of it going live on the online festival,” says the director, “I was searching Twitter for Skinamarink — egotistical, I know — but I saw that some Twitter account had a long list of ‘Here's all the movies that were pirated today. Here's an illegal link of where you can watch it.’ So I panicked.” Ball emailed the film festival, which immediately took everything down. “And then over time, the movie kept getting shared heavily and blowing up more and more and more. I was afraid at first, because I thought

it might put the Shudder deal that we had signed a few months before this in question.” To Shudder’s credit, the company’s execs quickly signaled their continuing support of the film, telling Ball not to “freak out” about the leak — which actually might have burnished the film’s growing reputation. Still, Ball is keen to ensure that the same fate doesn’t befall his next film — definitely a horror movie, definitely experimental, he reveals — or anyone else’s. “There's any number of great movies that aren't like Skinamarink, and don't have kind of an amazing guerrilla marketing community built into the movie. There are other movies where they might not be as lucky as Skinamarink, right? So be careful out there,” he warns. “In a nutshell, I wasn't happy that it got pirated, obviously, but I'm very happy that people love the movie, and have responded to the movie. I can't wait to see, when it plays in the theater, it find a whole new audience again.”

Skinamarink is playing in select theaters for one week only, from Jan. 13 to 19, including the AMC Georgetown and the AFI Silver in Silver Spring, Md. Visit www.fandango.com. It will be available for streaming starting Feb. 2, exclusively on Shudder. Visit www.shudder.com. 12

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Out on the Town By Doug Rule

COURTESY LA DOLCE VITA

La Dolce Vita

WINTER RESTAURANT WEEK Since the start of the pandemic, the popular Restaurant Week promotion, organized twice each year by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, has averaged just over 200 restaurants from around the region participating in the program. This year? A whopping 273 dining establishments have signed up for Winter Restaurant Week, which kicks off on Monday, Jan. 16, and runs through Sunday, Jan. 22. Participating restaurants offer multi-course brunch and lunch options for $25 per person (not including tax, tip, or service fees) and multi-course dinner menus priced at either $40 or $55 per person, based on the restaurant’s average price points for on-premise dining. An increasing number of participants have added the popular pandemic-born option of RWTo-Go dinner meals, carryout selections priced at either $70 or $100 for two, $140 or $200 for four. Still more establishments add cocktail pair-

ings to the promotional mix “Restaurant Week was created as an economic driver, encouraging loyal diners, newcomers, and visitors to our area to support our restaurants during a slower time for the industry,” says Shawn Townsend, the association’s newly hired president and CEO. “It has since evolved into a turnkey promotion offering something for everyone with expanded offerings, different ways to dine out or stay in, and the addition of creative beverage pairings.” As ever, the diverse and dispersed roster of restaurants participating in the Winter 2023 cycle runs the gamut from fast-casual spots to fine-dining destinations, including 25 establishments new to the program. Newcomers include the 14th Street location of Mi Vida, Shaw’s cozy Italian spot Quattro Osteria, the modern brasserie Le Clou on the edge of NoMa, Jackie American Bistro, the finer offshoot of Dacha Beer Garden located in Navy Yard, three locations of Wiseguy Pizza, two new VirJANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Nama Ko

ginia outposts of the deservedly expanding Big Buns Damn Good Burgers chain, Penn Quarter’s fried chicken eatery Yardbird, and the longtime Woodley Park fine-dining fixture New Heights. The list of participating restaurants also includes China Chilcano by José Andrés, Crazy Aunt Helen’s on Capitol Hill, 17th Street’s Floriana, Gatsby in the Navy Yard, Alexandria’s Bastille Brasserie and Evening Star Cafe, Belga Cafe in Barrack’s Row, 14th Street’s Birch & Barley, the Ivy City Smokehouse, Kaliwa on the Wharf, Lyle’s in Dupont Circle, Perry’s Restaurant in Adams Morgan, Pisco y Nazca Ceviche Gastrobar 16

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Big Buns

The Rub

in Dupont, Shilling Canning Company in Navy Yard, and Taqueria Xochi on U Street. Not to mention the litany with multiple entries, from the many dual outposts (two All-Purpose Pizzerias, Ambars, Cheestiques, Rusticos, Salt Lines) to those with three (North Italias, Sfoglinas) and four (Morton’s The Steakhouses, Founding Farmers), to the Matchbox chain’s 10 area locations. Winter Restaurant Week is Monday, Jan. 16, through Sunday, Jan. 22. Visit www.rwdmv.com for a list and searchable database of participating restaurants.

PHOTOS COURTESY RESTAURANT WEEK

Destino

CHARLES ROSS: ONE-MAN SHOW PARODIES AVENGERS, STRANGER THINGS, LORD OF THE RINGS Dubbed the “Master of the One-Man Show,” the pop culture-savvy Canadian performer Charles Ross has made a name for himself around the world through his special brand of irreverent and succinct performed parodies of a growing roster of popular entertainment franchises. “When I started doing this, it was just sort of for shits and giggles,” Ross told Metro Weekly in January of 2020. “I didn’t really think it would work.” The struggling actor struck entertainment gold more than two decades ago with his OneMan Star Wars Trilogy, an homage that condensed the original films into a 90-minute comedic reenactment. Ross played every character, re-created the effects, performed the music, and fought both sides of the battles in the piece, which even earned him an official endorsement by Lucasfilm. Since then he’s gone on to create CliffsNote-esque theatrical shows based on everything from The Dark Knight to Pride and Prejudice. Next weekend, Ross will stop by Frederick, 18

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Maryland, for what will be, effectively, Charles Ross Weekend. He’ll perform three of his more recent one-man shows at New Spire Arts presented by the Weinberg Center. Saturday, Jan. 21, sees him perform his parodic One-Man Avengers and One-Man Stranger Things at 3 and 8 p.m., respectively. In addition to poking fun at the story itself, Ross characterizes his parody of Stranger Things as one allowing the 47-year-old “to immerse myself into the music, and enjoy being in the early ’80s again. All the references, all the movies that were out, the music that’s even in the show, those are things from when I was a kid.” The weekend concludes on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 3 p.m., with his One-Man Lord of the Rings. When Ross performed that in a production at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company a dozen years ago, Metro Weekly’s then theater critic Tom Avila praised Ross for his “hardworking horseplay [involving] playing every character and teasing a surprising amount of the music from the Peter Jackson film trilogy,” concluding his review by noting that he “sprinkles his show with enough pop culture references and side-jokes to keep the non-comic con crowd entertained. But if you do count a Lord of the Rings fanatic in your circle of friends and family, do them a favor: Get them to the geek.” New Spire Arts is at 15 W. Patrick St. in Frederick. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door for each show. Visit www.weinbergcenter.org or call 301-600-2828. BILLY & GEORGE AVANT BARD THEATRE Mere hours before leading the Continental Army in the 1776 Christmas Day defeat of Hessian soldiers in Trenton, New Jersey, General George Washington is discussing and arguing concepts of freedom, war, and love with his closest companion, the enslaved man William “Billy” Lee. A new play by Ken Jones and Daryl L. Harris, both theater professors at Northern Kentucky University, Billy & George focuses on the relationship between the two titular men, and in so doing puts a rare spotlight on Lee, the unexpected confidante who influenced Washington’s perspective on peace, freedom, and independence. The play is now gearing up for its world-pre-

miere at Avant Bard Theatre. “Ken and Daryl’s remarkable play provides us with a thought-provoking look at a key moment in our country’s history via the relationship between our first president, George Washington, and his slave, William ‘Billy’ Lee,” says the show’s director, DeMone Seraphin. “My sincere hope is that this journey back will propel us forward into our greater selves, so that yesterday’s missteps don’t remain tomorrow’s pitfalls.” With its nuanced portrait of an interaction and a relationship overlooked by history that nonetheless offers insightful contemporary relevance, Billy & George follows in the tradition of Sankofa, according to Seraphin, who explains that the literal translation of the word and symbol from the JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Seraphin

Akan tribe in Ghana is, “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.... The symbol Sankofa embodies the Akan people’s quest for knowledge based on critical examination, and intelligent and patient investigation.” “In writing the play,” Jones says, “Daryl and I wanted to give Billy Lee a voice, a sound, a body, and to make sure that the soul of the man, joined with George's, [is] still fighting for freedom, for love, and for life.” Billy & George is a notable work from many angles, including from the perspective of the show’s producer. Just two years ago, Avant Bard Theatre was close to shutting down due to the double-whammy of struggling through the pandemic and the November 2020 death of then-Artistic Director Tom Prewitt. The company survived because a group of independent artists teamed up for an organizational restructuring in which five “producing partners” collectively lead the company rather than just one artistic director. The new season 20

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Raquis Dajuan Petree plays Billy

reflects the company’s bold new leadership and style, with Billy & George followed by provocative modern-day reimaginings of two classic tales, one focused on ancient Rome’s most famous ruler, the other the Greek god of wine, pleasure, and revelry. First up in March is a new Julius Caesar, in which “an ensemble of nine actors dismantle this traditional story to explain how leadership is not defined by Caesar’s ambition or Brutus’s and Anthony’s famous funeral speeches, but by the shifting personalities and demands of the citizenry.” Set in a post-2016 America, the reimagining, helmed by Kathleen Akerley, asks, “Is consensus even possible?” In May, the season wraps up with Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George’s Hurricane Diane, a climate change-centered wild comedy in which the god Dionysus is transformed as Diane, a lesbian permaculture gardener from Vermont with supernatural abilities and a “secret mission to seduce mortal followers and restore the earth

to its natural state” — starting with four housewives in suburban New Jersey. Billy & George runs from Jan. 19 to Feb. 11. At the Gunston Arts Center, 2700 South Lang St.,

Broder

CATALYST NEW PLAY FESTIVAL MOSAIC THEATER A new festival kicks off the new year with three new plays in various stages of development from a relatively new crop of artists. All that newness is the focus of Mosaic Theater’s Catalyst New Play Festival, offering workshop productions and readings as well as post-show conversations and panel discussions, taking place the third weekend in January. “New plays have been the core of my artistic life and the foundation of Mosaic Theater since our inception,” says the company’s Artistic Director Reginald Douglas. “This inaugural weekend of events celebrates that shared commitment by welcoming local and national talent to Mosaic to collaborate in the creation of exciting new work that is diverse in form, full of curiosity, and wonderfully still in the development process.” 22

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in Arlington, Va. Tickets are $40, or pay-whatyou-can for preview performances and Saturday matinees. Visit www.avantbard.org or call 703418-4808.

Duffy

The focal point of the festival is Max and Willy’s Last Laugh, a new musical in development from Jake Broder and Conor Duffy, two prolific award-winning L.A.-based creatives working in local theater and Broadway as well as television. The duo’s focus here is on German Jewish performers and collaborators Max Ehrlich and Willy Rosen, two largely forgotten cabaret stars and entertainers from 1930s-era Berlin. After the two were captured by the Nazis in 1942, they started creating and performing weekly shows for their fellow prisoners and captors at the Westerbork Transit Camp — designed as escapist, spirit-lifting entertainment that also bought them more time before their inevitable and eventual deportation to Auschwitz. Directed by Tony Award nominee Sheryl Kaller (Next Fall, Mothers and Sons) with music direction by Emmy- and Grammy-winning

conductor and composer John McDaniel (band leader on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, supervising music director of Annie Get Your Gun and Boy George’s Taboo), Max and Willy’s Last Laugh incorporates the actual comedy sketches, songs, and jokes from these original, and literal, “Funny or Die” shows. The workshop presentation features Broadway veterans Jason Graae and David Turner as Max and Willy, with support from a six-member band, and post-show conversations featuring scholars from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (1/19, 1/20, at 7 p.m., Cafritz Hall at the Edlavitch DCJCC, 1529 16th St. NW; Tickets are $15). The festival also features free readings of new works by two local theater artists. The trans performance artist, choreographer, and Helen Hayes Award-winning playwright Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi serves up Between/Time: A Baltimore Cycle Play, directed by Danielle Drakes, centering on the love blossoming between an artist and a CEO in Baltimore during a global pandemic that ultimately asks, “What is one’s responsibility in

fixing a world that those who came before tried to break?” (1/22, at 7 p.m., Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE). Meanwhile, Annalis Dias offers The Invention of Seeds, a multidisciplinary work of puppetry, sculpture, and theater, with direction by Natsu Onoda Power, and focused on the battle between small farmers and giant seed corporations (1/21, at 7 p.m., Atlas). Additionally, there’s the free panel discussion “Artists-in-Conversation: Reflections on Craft and Creativity” with local women playwrights Allyson Currin, Tuyet Thi Pham, and Nikkole Salter (1/22, at 3 p.m., Atlas). All that plus a free reading of the winning entries in Mosaic’s annual High School Playwriting Contest, including the 1st Place winner loving u is complicated. A one woman breakdown by Moyo Ifafore of Duke Ellington School of the Arts (1/21, at 2 p.m.; DC Public Library’s Petworth Neighborhood Library Branch, 4200 Kansas Ave. NW). Visit www.mosaictheater.org or call 202-3997993.

VERDI’S FALSTAFF MARYLAND LYRIC OPERA With its current “Season of Verdi,” the Maryland Lyric Opera is chiefly celebrating one of the world’s greatest and most popular opera composers, and more specifically, Giuseppe Verdi’s most accessible operas, including all three based on plays by William Shakespeare. With that particular focus in this particular year, the company is also indirectly nodding to the 400th anniversary of what is heralded as “one of the great wonders of the literary world,” and also “the book that gave us Shakespeare,” The First Folio. Posthumously published as Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies in November of 1623, or seven years after the Bard’s death, the anthology was the first printed collection of Shakespeare’s plays, 36 of them in all. “Without this achievement, we would have lost half of his dramatic work,” reads a post to Folio400, a website created to celebrate the 400th anniversary. Macbeth, Julius Caesar,

Delavan

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Major

Colaneri

Twelfth Night, and The Tempest are among those the world might never have known were it not for the First Folio. Macbeth kicked off the Maryland Lyric Opera Company’s season last September, and Othello will end Verdi’s Shakespeare trilogy in March. But right now, MDLO readies the season’s third production of Verdi and second inspired by Shakespeare, Falstaff. His final masterpiece is “more than just the composer’s successful ‘comic’ opera,” as the official press release puts it, “it is also a profound meditation on humanity from an artist reflecting back on his life and career.” With a slight twist on a famous Shakespearean adage, Verdi brings Shakespeare’s richly drawn characters from The Merry Wives of Windsor to vivid life in a tale, set to sublime music, offering the cheeky reminder that “all the world’s…a joke.” Joseph Colaneri of the Glimmerglass Festival conducts the MDLO Orchestra in a production

featuring visuals by David Gately, projections by Sarah Tundermann, and lighting by Stuart Duke. Playing the title character of Sir John Falstaff, Mark Delavan leads an all-star cast also including Mary Feminear, Rachel Blaustein, Allegra De Vita, and Catherine Martin as the work’s unforgettable women. Brian Major co-stars as Ford and the support cast includes legendary bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Pistola. “Falstaff can be riotously funny, deeply moving, and irresistibly profound. I can’t wait for our audiences to rediscover all the layers of this fascinating masterwork,” says MDLO Founder and Artistic Director Brad Clark. Performed in Italian with projected English supertitles. Friday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 22, at 2 p.m. The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md. Tickets are $59 to $150, or $10 for patrons with proper student ID. Visit www.MDLO.org or call 301-581-5100.

THE READING ROOM PLAY FESTIVAL FOLGER THEATRE In addition to the 400th anniversary of the First Folio, this fall also serves as an occasion for celebration at the Folger Shakespeare Library, as the

institution returns to its historic building after an extensive, multi-year renovation. Exact dates have not yet been announced for the reopening, and the Folger Theatre has also not yet announced its next season of programming start-

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Work

Gunderson

ing in the fall. Presumably the fall slate at Folger will include activities celebrating the November anniversary of the First Folio, given that the library bills itself as “home to the world’s largest collection of First Folios” — counting 82 of the 235 known copies to have survived out of a total of 750 originally published. The remainder of the Folger Theatre’s current season, however, focuses on presenting a slate of new works, all inspired in some form or fashion by the Bard — including one commissioned by Folger specifically to commemorate the First Folio’s 400th anniversary. This play, Our Verse in Time to Come, is being created by Malik Work and Karen Ann Daniels, the library’s director of programming and the theatre’s artistic director, and will be given a world-premiere run that’ll end the season in late March. Meanwhile, a sneak peek into the work will be offered next weekend at one of four new works in development presented as part of the “Reading Room.” The lineup for this festival of staged readings, in chronological order, starts with a “radical bilingual reimagining” of Hamlet by Reynaldo Piniella and Emily Lyon in which the title character is a Black, Latinx prince in present-day New York City (1/19, at 7:30 p.m.). It’s followed by Our Verse in Time to Come, a

Shakespeare-inspired work that centers on an aging emcee diagnosed with early-onset dementia who is trying to reconnect with his estranged children before it’s too late (1/20, at 7:30 p.m.). Next is Julius X, an intermixing of the lives of Caesar and Malcom X as part of a re-envisioning of Julius Caesar with a new perspective that also weaves in African mythology and performance poetry from journalist and writer Al Letson of NPR’s Reveal show and podcast (1/21, 2 p.m.). And finally, A Room in the Castle by Lauren Gunderson (The Book of Will) and directed by transgender theater artist and writer Eddie DeHais rebrands the stories of the women of Hamlet into “a mediation on women helping women, what mothering a madman could mean, and what responsibility generations of feminists have to one another” (1/21, 7:30 p.m.). All readings and post-reading conversations with the playwrights, directors, and scholars will take place at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, 212 E. Capitol St. NE. A pass is $25 for all four readings or $50 for an All-Access Pass including all special events. The Reading Room festival will be immediately followed by a panel discussion exploring the ways in which Shakespeare’s works can serve as springboards for new expression by new creJANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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ators, plus three teaching workshops inviting aspiring artists to create their own personal works with mentoring by teaching artists who are experts and practitioners in the field. The “Works in Progress” programming series launches Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m., with the “Shakespeare as a Starting Point” panel discussion featuring poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis, musician and songwriter Erin Frisby, playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings, and poet Kim Roberts. The week concludes with a different artistic workshop each day, one focused on Playwriting

led by Caleen Sinnette Jennings (1/25, or virtually over Zoom 1/26), another on Poetry with Teri Ellen Cross Davis and Kim Roberts serving as instructors (1/27, or virtually 1/25), and finally Songwriting led by Erin Frisby (1/26, or 1/27 virtually.). The series culminates with an in-person presentation of the pieces developed through the workshops on Sunday, Jan. 29. All events start at 6:30 p.m., with in-person gatherings at the Hill Center, 921 Penn. Ave. SE. Registration is $50. Visit www.folger.edu or call 202-544-7077.

case. Hosted by the showcase’s producer Christian Hunt and dubbed a “one-of-akind experience,” it sounds absurd even before you learn of its over-the-top, maximalist full title — The Comedy Karaoke Trivia Funtime Show. The funtime proceedings start off with three rounds of trivia played by groups of six to eight people competing for prizes and bragging rights, while the night officially ends with the top three teams in the trivia standings nominating one player to perform a karaoke battle. The karaoke winner is determined by the audience. Serving as a bridge between the trivia rounds and the karaoke battle is “a world-class stand-up comedy performance.” When it’s all answered and sung and done, the evening ends in the chaos of more (and presumably more drunken) karaoke, performed by anyone and everyone who signs up. Whether attending with friends or flying solo, organizers stress, “Every attendee can participate! Or you can simply come to enjoy the festivities.” Held once a month at Arlington’s HighFleitman line RxR, the first three funtime shows of 2023 are set for Saturday, Jan. 21, Saturday, Feb. COMEDY KARAOKE TRIVIA 4, and Saturday, March 4, starting at 7:30 p.m. CAPITAL CITY SHOWCASE Are you a fan of performing karaoke — and also The show’s lineup of area comedians includes playing trivia? What if you could do both — not headliners Dana Fleitman in January, Damo at the same time, but in the same night, as part Hicks in February, and Josh Kuderna in March. Highline RxR, 2144 Crystal City Dr., Arlingof the same competitive program? All that plus ton. Tickets are $15 per person, or $10 each per stand-up comedy from a professional comedian is on the menu at every session of Comedy Kara- group reservation of six to eight people. Visit oke Trivia presented by The Capital City Show- www.capitalcityshowcase.com. 26

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Kevin McCarthy Elected House Speaker

OFFICE OF THE HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER

The new House Speaker has a history of opposing bills that seek to enumerate or expand LGBTQ rights. By John Riley

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N THE EVENING OF FRIDAY, JANUary 6, California Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after a week of 13 votes in which he failed to gain the support of a majority of members of the lower House. Dissident Republicans who initially rebelled against McCarthy appeared to initially oppose his bid for the speakership based on his coziness with the Washington establishment and

his initial resistance to a set of rule changes, including a provision that would allow a single House member to put forth a “motion to vacate” that would effectively depose the current speaker and trigger a new round of voting for a new House Speaker. Initially, McCarthy lost 19, and later 20, votes from far-right Republicans associated with the House Freedom Caucus, who had demanded certain concessions. On the 12th ballot for speaker, held earlier on Friday, McCarthy made enough JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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theFeed concessions needed to flip 14 votes, and then gained a 15th on the 13th ballot. Besides the motion to vacate, some of the concessions McCarthy reportedly made were that a super PAC aligned with the Republican Leader would not back candidates in open Republican primaries in safe seats, thereby giving more conservative candidates an edge; that the House would hold votes on a balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, and border security; that any attempt to raise the nation’s debt ceiling would be paired with spending cuts; that 12 different appropriations bills will be voted on individually; and that members of the Freedom Caucus will be guaranteed additional representation on committees, including the House Rules Committee. On Friday evening, on the 14th ballot, McCarthy fell just one vote short of the speakership. On the 15th, he finally gained it, due in part to six anti-McCarthy Republicans — U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.) and Matthew Rosendale (Mont.) — voting “present,” thereby reducing McCarthy’s required number of votes from 218 to 215. McCarthy’s final total was 216 votes, to 212 for Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.).

McCarthy, who has served in the House for the past 16 years, has a long record of voting against or vocally opposing pro-LGBTQ measures, opposing measures like the recently passed Respect for Marriage Act, the Equality Act, a comprehensive LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill that was approved by a Democratic-led House last year, and the Do No Harm Act, a bill that would guarantee that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act cannot be used to permit discrimination under the guise of “religious liberty” against various groups, including the LGBTQ community. As such — especially given McCarthy’s concessions on committee structure — it is likely that any pro-LGBTQ legislation will be bottled up in committee and will not receive a floor vote. Questions also abound about whether McCarthy, as speaker, will throw his support behind — and pressure members to vote for — bills favored by conservatives, such as a “Women’s Bill of Rights,” a resolution that would define rights specifically for cisgender females and would enumerate that transgender females would be barred from single-sex spaces; or the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” a bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that would punish doctors who prescribe gender-affirming health care treatments to transgender youth.

Man Claims Matt Schlapp Sexually Assaulted Him

The CPAC Chairman is accused of groping a Herschel Walker staffer, who was acting as his chauffeur. By John Riley

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STAFFER FOR HERSCHEL WALKER’S failed U.S. Senate campaign has alleged that the longtime Republican activist Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union and lead organizer of its Conservative Political Action Conference, groped and fondled his crotch in his car after buying him drinks at two different Atlanta bars.

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According to The Daily Beast, the staffer claims Schlapp, who had traveled to Georgia for a Walker campaign event, repeatedly intruded into his personal space at the bars, making “sustained and unwanted and unsolicited” sexual contact with him. The staffer — whose name was not published in order to protect him from retaliation — said

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GAGE SKIDMORE

Schlapp

Schlapp claimed to want to discuss the staffer’s professional future. The staffer felt uncomfortable by the attention visited on him by Schlapp, but was also aware of the “power dynamic” between him and Schlapp, who is one of the more influential figures in national conservative politics, and did not want to call attention to the behavior in front of others. “It was a public space, and I was thinking that he got the hint. I did not want to embarrass him,” he said. “But it escalated.” The staffer, who is in his late 30s and has promised to come forward publicly if Schlapp denies his allegations, said that while driving Schlapp back to his hotel, Schlapp put his hand on the staffer’s leg, then reached over and “fondled” his crotch at length while he was frozen in shock. When they arrived at the hotel, the staffer claimed Schlapp invited him to his room. The staffer said he declined and left “as quickly as I could.”

When he returned home that evening, he received a call from Schlapp shortly after midnight, according to phone records he shared with The Daily Beast. Schlapp called to confirm that the staffer would chauffeur him to an event in Macon the next day. After confirming he would drive him and hanging up, the staffer said he “broke down.” The staffer recorded a series of tearful video accounts detailing the evening, which he shared with The Daily Beast and two other people close to him, including his wife. “What is wrong with me? This is okay to happen?” he said in one of the videos. “I don’t know what I did. It’s very sad that this is okay.” In another video, the staffer recounted the evening’s events, alleging that Schlapp had groped him “in a sustained and unsolicited and unwanted manner.” “Matt Schlapp of the CPAC grabbed my junk JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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theFeed and pummeled it at length, and I’m sitting there thinking what the hell is going on, that this person is literally doing this to me,” the staffer reportedly says in the video. “From the bar to the Hilton Garden Inn, he has his hands on me. And I feel so fucking dirty. I feel so fucking dirty. “I’m supposed to pick this motherfucker up in the morning and just pretend like nothing happened. This is what I’m dealing with,” he added. “This is what I got to do.” The staffer said he informed the Walker campaign of the incident the following morning. According to phone records and messages reviewed by The Daily Beast, the following morning, Schlapp sent the staffer a text at 7:26 a.m. saying, “I’m in the lobby.” A minute later, the staffer called his supervisor, and then a senior campaign official. The staffer said the senior official was “immediately horrified” and pulled him off the driving duty, instructing him to tell Schlapp in writing that he’d made him uncomfortable. “I did want to say I was uncomfortable with what happened last night. The campaign does have a driver who is available to get you to Macon and back to the airport,” the staffer said in a text to Schlapp, providing him with the name and phone number of the new driver. “Pls give me a call,” Schlapp replied. “Thx.” Schlapp then called the staffer three times over the next 20 minutes. When the staffer did not answer or return the calls, Schlapp texted him at 12:12 p.m., writing, “If you could see it in your heart to call me at the end of the day, I would appreciate it. If not I wish you luck on the campaign and hope you keep up the good work.” When approached by The Daily Beast about the allegations, Schlapp’s attorney, Charlie Spies, denied them, and attacked the online news site for reporting on the staffer’s claims. “This appears to be now the twelfth Daily Beast piece with personal attacks on Matt Schlapp and his family. The attack is false and Mr. Schlapp denies any improper behavior,” Spies said. “We are evaluating legal options for response.” The staffer said he has not had any communication with Schlapp since the final text. He noted that the Walker campaign had provided him 32

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“nothing but support,” saying he never felt pressure and was given “complete autonomy” over how to move forward. The campaign offered him the option of legal and therapeutic support, as well as pressing charges. But he ultimately declined to take legal action at the time, claiming that he was concerned that speaking out against Schlapp could carry professional consequences and endanger his future career options in conservative politics. He also worried that going public at the time would simply aggravate the “circus of scandals” surrounding Walker’s campaign, including allegations that Walker paid for a girlfriend’s abortion after she got pregnant. A senior Walker campaign official confirmed the details of the campaign’s involvement, but said the campaign had no further contact with Schlapp after the incident. The official said they did not believe that Schlapp took up their offer for the private drive. The driver told The Daily Beast that he did not recall Schlapp, and could find no record of any passenger with that name in his client logs. Schlapp has been married to conservative commentator and consultant Mercedes Schlapp, the former White House director of public communications during the Trump administration, since 2002. He previously floated the idea of running for an open U.S. Senate race in Kansas in 2020, but ultimately decided against mounting such a campaign. Both Schlapp and his wife have expressed opposition to LGBTQ rights, especially same-sex marriage, and have sought to paint Christians as a victimized class of people who are under attack from socially liberal policies pushed by the Left and the Biden administration They have advocated for so-called “religious freedom” legislation that would provide exemptions for people who wish to refuse goods and services to others based on the seller’s personal objections to same-sex marriage or homosexuality. In his role as chairman of the American Conservative Union, Schlapp oversees the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering of conservative activists and politicians

theFeed who come together to discuss political organizing tactics, messaging, and attend workshops focusing on various aspects of the conservative movement. Schlapp, a devout Catholic, has also previously been criticized by some on the far right

for allowing the gay political group Log Cabin Republicans to sponsor CPAC, saying that gays are welcome to attend the conference, but their presence does not mean the ACU or the broader conservative movement are compromising their stances on social issues.

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Strike Up the Ban

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A Florida county bans award-winning book on gay penguins, citing the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

COUNTY IN FLORIDA HAS BANNED three children’s books, including one about two gay male penguins who adopt an egg, claiming that the books run afoul of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. Lake County Schools has banned And Tango

Makes Three, an award-winning children’s book based on the true story of two gay male Central Park Zoo penguins who adopted an egg and raised the baby penguin hatched from it as their own. The school system has also banned A Day with JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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theFeed Marlon Bundo, a story about a rabbit — the pet of former Vice President Pence — who falls in love with another male rabbit, and In Our Mothers’ House, a book about a family being headed by a lesbian couple, according to Popular Information. The justification for removing the three books from library shelves was that the books contain content prohibited by Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law — dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law — which prohibits “classroom instruction” in sexual orientation or gender identity, or “sexual instruction” in grades K-3, and requires that any material broaching those topics in older grades be “age appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate.” None of the books have content that would be considered sexual, but administrators have defended the decision, arguing that any information about the LGBTQ community, including books with LGBTQ characters, is inappropriate for elementary school students. Other counties have also barred LGBTQthemed books from circulation, citing the “Don’t Say Gay” law. In Seminole County, the school district has yanked three books involving gender-nonconforming characters — Jacob’s New Dress, 10,000 Dresses, and I Am Jazz — from the shelves for content not deemed “appropriate” for grades K-3. The books will now only be available to 4th and 5th graders if a parent explicitly grants permission for their child to read the books, and appears in person to pick the books up from the principal’s office. Similar bans on books containing LGBTQ characters have been removed from the shelves in Manatee County, just south of Tampa, citing the Parental Rights in Education Act. The law is currently being challenged in federal court, with the state arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs have no standing. But those behind the lawsuit claim that the law is vague in terms of the specific conduct it prevents, is arbitrarily enforced, and is unconstitutional, violating students’ and teachers’ free speech rights and right to equal protection under the law as administrators and teachers proactively engage in various types of censorship to avoid running afoul of the law. 34

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The Florida Department of Education is currently in the process of developing guidance on how the law should be enforced, and has developed training for librarians on determining which books are appropriate for inclusion in school libraries. According to documents unearthed by Popular Information, the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is encouraging librarians to adopt an expansive interpretation of the law’s provisions. For example, the training does not inform librarians that the “Don’t Say Gay” law applies only to classroom instruction, and not to library books, instead advising librarians that “[t]here is some overlap between the selection criteria for instructional and library materials.” The training also claims that library books and instructional materials cannot include “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination.” The training encourages librarians to remove books with LGBTQ themes from elementary school libraries, and instructs them to “err on the side of caution” when making decisions about which books to pull from the shelves. It tells librarians to consider “whether you as an adult would be comfortable reading [aloud] the material in person in a public meeting.” While that last piece of advice is not rooted in the Florida law or federal law, such an interpretation has been embraced by right-wing organizations that have demanded similar bans of LGBTQ-themed books in their local school libraries. The “read aloud” provision appears to be a reference to young adult books like Gender Queer and Lawn Boy, among others, that contain descriptions of sexual activity that social conservatives have deemed to be “pornographic.” In some school systems, such books have been removed from library shelves. But in other districts, the books have been returned to the shelves after committees of parents and teachers have determined that the passages containing sexual content — which parents have read aloud at school board meetings, often out of context — are incidental to the overall plot of the story, and that the books do not exist just to satisfy prurient interests.

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Carl Nassib’s Olympic Swimmer Boyfriend

The couple posts photo on Instagram, showing swimmer Søren Dahl wearing a Nassib’s NFL jersey. By John Riley

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INSTAGRAM

ARL NASSIB, THE FIRST NFL PLAYER to make a 53-man regular-season roster as an out gay man, has confirmed he is in a relationship with Danish Olympic swimmer Søren Dahl. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker and edge rusher shared a photo of himself on Instagram with his arm around Dahl, writing: “Kicking off 2023 with my man and a trip to the playoffs.” Dahl is wearing a Nassib jersey in the photo. Nassib, who was let go by the Las Vegas Raiders last year in order to allow the team to save about $8 million in order to avoid exceeding the salary cap, signed with the Buccaneers in August, just prior to the 2022-2023 season, on a $1.035 million contract, with a $152,500 signing bonus. Due to the Bucs winning the NFC South division, they are now headed to the playoffs, facing off against the Dallas Cowboys in the first round. Speculation over Nassib’s dating life has increased over the past year, ever since Nassib began posting photos of him with Dahl on his social media. Fans identified Dahl as a former

Danish Olympian, who competed in the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Toward the end of the year, Dahl posted a photo on Instagram showing the couple together, with the caption: “Weekend 11/10,” accompanied by a heart emoji. Nassib later reposted the story, appearing to signal that the two were romantically involved. In June 2021, Nassib came out as gay via an Instagram reel, saying he’d been meaning to come out but finally felt comfortable doing so. “I really have the best life,” he said at the time. “I’ve got the best family, friends and job a guy could ask for. I’m a pretty private person, so I hope you guys know I’m not doing this for attention, but I think representation matters.” He also donated $100,000 to The Trevor Project, the nation’s top suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth, saying he wated to “cultivate a culture that’s accepting and compassionate” for those struggling with their identity. That donation was subsequently matched by the NFL, and, eventually, by the Raiders as well.

Got a tip for us? Write [email protected]. JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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The Covers of 2022 Click Here to Read the Issues

Queen of Miss Universe Meet Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip, the new owner of Miss Universe. She’s a billionaire. A mother of two. And transgender. Interview by Randy Shulman

“I don’t call Miss Universe a beauty pageant anymore,” says Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip. “I call it a women’s empowerment competition.” A 43-year-old billionaire, based in Thailand, Jakapong Jakrajutatip is the new — and sole — owner of The Miss Universe Organization, which, in addition to the Miss Universe pageant, also operates Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. Her company, JKN Global Group, one of Asia’s largest content management services, purchased the pageant in October 2022 from Endeavor, who, in turn, had bought it from Donald Trump, the owner for well over a decade. The irony here is truly sweet, given the former President’s horrific, bigoted rants against the transgender community, particularly in his rallies. Why? Because Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip is transgender. To say that the pageant, which Jakapong Jakrajutatip wants to see literally transformed into an enterprise for women’s empowerment, is in good hands is an understatement. And still, the road ahead for the new owner is a long one,

as she works to reshape the perception of the brand, which has, for several years, been a target of criticism and derision. One of her most significant sweeping changes has been to eliminate adjunct prizes for the most photogenic and best swimwear. She has, instead, introduced the concept of a “cape,” a hand-crafted artistic representation by each contestant that captures an aspect of their host nation’s society and culture. “They represent the country through the painting on a cape when they come out,” Jakapong Jakrajutatip says. “They will represent their own country by painting the pictures. They can paint by themselves or they can have national artists paint for them. And they represent a country in that cape. It’s going to be more cultural, more beautiful, more classy. I think people will appreciate the change.” The 71st annual pageant, broadcast live from JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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New Orleans on Saturday, January 14, for free on ROKU (and available for streaming on Roku for a time after the pageant), will feature a headline performance by the gay, gender-nonconforming diva Big Freedia, who will also serve on the final judging panel. During a Zoom interview, Jakapong Jakrajutatip, sporting a plush, white dressing gown, her own stunning beauty positively glowing, is relaxed and forthcoming. A single question evokes an almost nonstop response that takes its own unique trajectory through her history, her feelings, and her innermost thought processes. She constantly loops back to her personal mantra of empowerment and transformation, seeing herself as a model for all women — and transgender women, in particular. She embraces the idea that success in an often hostile, male-dominated world is achievable if one removes the negative mindset and focuses instead on positivity. She is noticeably alarmed by the rise in anti-transgender rhetoric and lawmaking in the United States in recent years. “I thought that you are the number one superpower in the world,” she says, raising her hands in a “what the hell” manner. “So I’m very surprised that you still have the ongoing bullying or anti-trans [sentiment]. I’m very surprised. I thought that you are the country that we can look up to. So my question is why is it happening in the United States, when you have to be the role model country to the rest of the world.” She notes, by contrast, that Thailand is not transphobic and that “we really celebrate trans people,” singling out trans men in particular. “They want me to become the prime minister,” she says. “They have the vote. They want me to become the first trans woman prime minister in Thailand, which means in the world.” But is politics an arena Jakapong Jakrajutatip is keen to enter? “I will do anything for my own country, but I don’t like politics,” she says. “I don’t like to play dirty games because I’m a very positive-mindset person. So I don’t want to [be around] negative mindset people.” She smiles coyly. “But maybe. Let’s see, let’s see.” 40

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METRO WEEKLY: I’d like to start with your personal history. ANNE JAKAPONG JAKRAJUTATIP: Well, I’m a trans woman. When I was five years old, I knew straight away that I was a girl who was trapped in the wrong body. I tried to overcome the obstacles, and I got bullied a lot. I got sexually harassed by my own teacher. It was a very tough time. I grew up in Thailand, which we still call Third World, and at that time, they did not embrace the differences. So I lead a double life. In school, I was one thing. Come back home, for family, I needed to be a boy in front of my mom and dad. They had little computer shop. Never had a golden spoon in my mouth. The only thing that I needed to do was to convince people that we are intelligent enough, we are smart, and can be successful. So I determined to be the best version of myself by being someone that people could recognize in the school. After I got sexually harassed by my own teacher, I gained my own strength that I needed to empower myself to become a public speaker. I saw an article in one of the largest newspapers in Thailand, and I read about Oprah Winfrey. At that time, 35 years ago, it was about her being raped. And she became so successful, became a number one talk show host. I thought to myself, “I want to be her, then.” Because I cannot fight. I cannot [play] football. I cannot do anything like other young men can do. So I became the captain of the school [debate team]. Amazing, right? Went to the debate show on national TV, and we won the championship that year. After that, I quit school. MW: How old were you at the time? ANNE: Sixteen years old. I quit school because I thought, “I really have to be better and become more successful.” I think outside the box. I went to Sydney to study English and also political science. My major was international relations. Came back home at the age of 21 and [worked in the] home video business with my mom and dad. I thought, “This is not the business anymore. We sell the content. The content is actually the actual business inside a home video shop.” I mean,

VHS, that is of a time, yeah? You used to have Blockbusters. Right now, no more. I came to [understand] that content is actually the real business, the core competence of the business. Therefore, I became a global content distributor company. I set up a company of my own. My mom and dad at that time were divorced. So I did a business of my own until the age of 36. I told my mom that I became successful in my own right. I had money and I just needed to become myself. So I said to her, “I needed to become myself, really, Mom. I’m a woman. And you’ve known it from when I was young. It’s the

ANNE: You know it straight away — “This is not a body that I belong [in].” I liked to put makeup on. I liked to try high heels. I loved playing with my younger sister and I actually tried on her dresses. [Laughs.] And I appreciate the beauty in front of me. When women dress in a gown, wear good makeup, beautiful makeup, I love them all. So it’s me, actually. And I love straight men. MW: Did you say you love straight men? ANNE: Yeah. I was never gay. Never. When I was young, people, at that time, in Thailand, didn’t know about the definition of being a trans woman or trans man. They assumed everyone to be queer, therefore they call gay. That’s all. But I thought to

“When I was five years old, I knew straight away that I was a girl who was trapped in the wrong body. I tried to overcome the obstacles, and I got bullied a lot. I got sexually harassed by my own teacher. It was a very tough time.” elephant in the room. We never talk about it. Right now, I just want to confront you. This particular issue has to be revealed.” MW: How did she react? ANNE: She couldn’t accept it. Then, I went to my dad, and he said, “Are you sure?” “Yes,” I said, “Super sure. I just kept it in the closet for a long time because I didn’t want to disappoint you, and I paid so much attention to being successful, and how to convince all the people around me in society that I have a brain. So, now, let me become myself.” This is part of the culture in Thailand and in Asian countries actually — we respect parents, and we have gratitude over them. I could have chosen not to tell them and lived my own life, but I chose to care about them. At that time, I was like 36 already, you know? MW: It was time. ANNE: Yeah. It was just too long. MW: I want to go back a little bit. Do you recall what it was in you that made you know at age five that “This is not who I’m supposed to be?”

myself that “No, I’m not, because I love straight men.” I cannot have sex with gay men. So I came to the full [realization] that I’m a girl, actually, but trapped in the wrong body. Later on, I learned a word in Sydney — “Oh, this is called a ‘trans woman.’” I worked in a petrol station at that time. I had long hair. I started to do makeup, I started to put on high heels. I had a great time in Sydney. I had a great time being myself. I had to come back to Thailand to work in the family business, so you know what? I lead a double life again. I cut my hair short and started to do business and focused on success by representing myself as a man until the age of 36. I could not bear that anymore. MW: How difficult was that for you emotionally? ANNE: Difficult. But you know what? I turned pain into power. I was born as a trans woman, and it meant to be actually for you to learn, to live life, to lead and to teach, and also to inspire other people later on how to transform themselves, overcome obstacles, and make the sucJANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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cess for your own. If you want to be successful, you need to move up. You need to keep on going, keep moving. Being a trans woman and not being accepted by society, you needed to survive. I’m talking about me, about myself. So it was painful that people could not embrace me, but you have to learn once again that everything is possible when you believe in yourself. I did everything that I could do. At 36, I ran away from home — I used to stay with my parents. I just said, “This is enough, I need to be myself.” I came out two years later, at the age of 38. I listed my company into the stock

transforming or keep changing or keep improving is always in it. You have to convince other people that they are wrong if they put you down. Never let anyone put you down or bring you down. This is the manifestation of your life, and you can be better by not listening to them. You don’t care about what they say. You really have to focus on yourself. This is the message I want to tell all the people. When I became the first trans woman billionaire of Asia at the age of 38, one month later, I flew to the United States. I came to Los Angeles, actually, and I did what we call a sperm bank. So

“When I was young, people, at that time, in Thailand, didn’t know about the definition of being a trans woman or trans man. They assumed everyone to be gay. But I thought to myself that ‘No, I’m not [gay], because I love straight men.’” market and I became the first trans woman billionaire of Asia. Forbes magazine listed me as the richest trans woman in Asia. I did speak out a lot for the trans community so that we can be successful once again. We can choose our life, we can be whoever we want to be. That is the message that I would love to send across the whole world — don’t give up. You just really have to love yourself, value yourself, and connect the dots of what God tried to tell you. You have to embrace life lessons. Become tougher in life, keep learning every day, turn pain into power, as I told you before, and make yourself become stronger, gain your own strengths. Look up to someone that you always want to be. In my case, I looked up to Oprah Winfrey all the time, and I said to myself that everything is possible when you believe in yourself. I just want to emphasize this. Being trans, you are gifted. You are special. People say we are different. No. We are special — special in the way that we need to learn how to transform our lives. We are born with the word transformation, and

I put my sperm in the bank at that time, and a doctor did surrogacy for me. He used my sperm to inject into surrogate women. Two of them. I got my first son, his name is Andrew, which was my name before. After I had him, I transferred my name — Andrew — to him, and called myself Anne. The second one is a daughter, Angelica. Just turned three years old on the 3rd of January. So both of them, they’re half-Thai, half-American, and they’re both American citizens. When I finished my sperm bank process, I came back to Thailand. I went back to my hometown, and I started to take the first hormone pills ever in my life. I had never taken it before that time. Why? Because I thought to myself at the time that I always wanted to become a mother, but I don’t have a womb. Basically, I need to keep my sperm as healthy as possible. I did not jeopardize any part of my body, so I just dressed up as a woman at that time, but I never took hormones. I took the hormone, the first pill after I made sure that my son will be born. Six months after I took the hormone, I had a gender reassignment JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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straight away. MW: I need to ask: has your mother come around? ANNE: Yes. After I became a billionaire and I did not talk to my mom for three years, I went to apologize to her, and said, “Can you please accept me?” She cried and said, “Please accept my apology instead. I knew you from the media. You gave so many interviews about your life, and are just so inspiring to other people right now. Right now, you became so successful in business, and also you became the mother of two.” 44

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My mother was the one who sent me into the operating room. And she said, “All my life, I never regret anything more than saying no to you at that time. And I just would love to apologize to you one more time, would love to have your forgiveness, and I’m with you today because I know that it’s your special day. You’ve been waiting for this day for your whole life. For your entire life, you would love to become a woman. You are 39 years old now and I’m your mom. I will take you into the operating room and I’m going to be so proud the next day when you wake up. I’m going

to be the first person that you can proudly tell, ‘I’m a woman.’ I’m going to be with you.” I got a photo with her in the operating room. And the next morning, yes, I saw her holding my hand, and I became a woman by September 1st, 2018. MW: Let’s move to Miss Universe. This was once owned by Donald Trump, who has made notoriously transphobic remarks, especially in recent years. What made you decide, “I want to buy Miss Universe?” ANNE: I have my own personal mission. I would love to use my personality to serve the true calling of my soul. I really feel like everyone should know their own life purpose. I was born as a

ANNE: Because that is my next level. I wanted to have a global women’s empowerment platform. I wanted the platform not just in Thailand — I have everything in my life already in Thailand. I don’t need to work. I just can enjoy myself, enjoy my life. But I’m workaholic and I just really am grateful every day that I was born as a trans woman. This is important. A lot of them, they just blame themselves, blame society, keep being negative on themselves. No. You have to be positive. You are special. So I thought to myself that I came this far. If I don’t give anything back to the world, it means nothing, my life will be useless. That’s why I thought like, okay, I needed to have the platform on the global stage. What should be the most suit-

“My mother sent me into the operating room. And she said, ‘All my life, I never regret anything more than saying no to you at that time. I just would love to have your forgiveness. It’s your special day. You’ve been waiting for this for your whole life.’” trans woman. There must be some purpose when you connect the dots. So I learned to live my life, to teach, to lead, and to inspire people on how to transform. I own Peacock in Thailand, also CNBC and I own Home Shopping Network with Hyundai, the number one Korean company. So I have three channels in Thailand, plus I’m the biggest global content distributor in Thailand and Southeast Asia. I have output deals with BBC Discovery, National Geographic History Channel, Warner Brothers, Fox, Disney. Every one of them has been working with me for 20 years now. So, that is the origin of my success, and I have a platform where I can express myself. I can have the news every day about what my perspective is. So, I’m one of the most influential people in Thailand and that’s it. I have money, I have children, I’m a woman. I just have everything. Just like a lot of successful people, they think like, “What’s next?” MW: But why Miss Universe?

able for me as a trans woman to do so? MW: Hence, Miss Universe. ANNE: Actually, a lot of companies. Because I also own Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. I don’t see them as beauty competitions. I see them as a platform to raise up the voices of women and give them the stage to advocate for good — they can be a force for good. That’s why I thought this is the right timing for me — now or never. I’m the sole owner as of October 27, I think. I have been the owner for I think two and a half months. MW: This weekend’s event is your first pageant. How’s it going? ANNE: [Laughs.] Challenging. In two and a half months, I’ve learned a lot. So I respect Paula Shugart [president of the Miss Universe Organization]. I respect everyone that’s been working for more than twenty years now. In fact, they had been working with Mr. Trump for a long time and were all transferred under me. They are like the best class. They are very good. So I listen to JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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them, I respect what they do. Actually, I’m not the boss, even though I pay the salary, I never thought like that. I stayed humble and said, “Paula and the team, everyone, you have anything to teach me, to tell me, just guide me. I need to learn from you guys.” Because my personal mission here is that I just would love to have the global women’s empowerment platform, that’s all. And I did accept the policy of having married women, trans women, and also pregnant women to be able to come into the competition, because I do believe in social inclusion. Therefore I would love to encourage all women to have the privilege of having the same qualification to be able to come into the competition. Whether they win or not — that’s up to the judges — but I just allow them in. So that is the first part, my contribution. I would love to include everyone, for all women to be able to perform on the stage and talk about what they think, how they want to advocate a particular campaign, or the changes that they would love to do or contribute to the whole world. So it’s a learning process for me, but it’s never been difficult. As long as you have the determination and you have to believe in yourself that you can do it. I’m so positive that this one is going to be the global stage for women — the voice of women right now, it’s time for women to shine. We encourage all the [contestants] to become the best version of themself to express themselves. MW: It sounds like you’re trying to transform the perception of the beauty pageant industry. ANNE: We never objectify women for Miss Universe. I cannot answer on behalf of other beauty pageant competitions — there are many beauty competitions that do it the way that they do. We have what we call the same content, but a different kind of context. I encourage women to be leaders.

This year, I introduced the mindset of “transformational leadership.” I would love to have them as leaders, to be iconic women of their own countries. When they go home, right after the competition, they can become the inspiration that people — and I mean the whole nation that they represent — can look up to. MW: Somebody is going to be crowned a winner. What, to you, defines a Miss Universe winner? ANNE: Transformational leadership. She must have it. I would love to see leadership in women, particularly the winner. The winner must be able to become the iconic woman that the whole world can look up to. She must become the inspiration. MW: This is probably an unfair question, but is there a country you’d secretly like to see win? ANNE: No, I don’t have that kind of power — and I don’t want to have that kind of power. MW: I don’t mean that. I mean, is there a country that you secretly hope will be the winner? ANNE: No, I wish them all the best. I don’t have favoritism, really, to be honest. I look at them as sisters, all of them, and I wish them all the best. Yesterday I met them, and I talked to them, took photos with them, and it was a happy time. Whoever makes the preparation in terms of answering the questions well — the interview is tough this year — and has leadership charisma, I think that person will win. MW: So my final question is: if you were competing in Miss Universe, do you think you could win? ANNE: Myself? MW: Yes. ANNE: [Laughs.] I’m too old. No, no, no! I would rather mentor them. Competing is not what I’m looking for. I let them shine on the stage to be iconic women. And that is my service to the world — to make the platform for all women be confidently beautiful and beautifully confident.

The Miss Universe Pageant streams live, for free, on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. on ROKU. It will be available on demand for free after the live pageant as well. The show will also be simulcast in Spanish on Telemundo. Visit www.therokuchannel.com or www.telemundo.com. To learn more about the Miss Universe Organization, visit www.missuniverse.com. 46

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Television

Kyrgios

Court and Spark

Despite major blind spots, Netflix’s pro tennis docuseries Break Point engages, giving a candid look at players’ lives on tour. By André Hereford

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HE NEXT GENERATION OF MEN’S and women’s pro tennis champions has arrived, according to Break Point (HHHHH), Netflix’s slick, behind-the-scenes look at life on the rambling, relentless, international roadshow of a single season in the sport. As the series makes clear from its first of ten episodes, however, aspiring champions on the men’s side will still need to conquer enduring legends Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in order to lift the sport’s most coveted trophies. That first episode, “Maverick,” covers the first major tournament of 2022, the Australian Open in Melbourne, where Serbian superstar Djokovic infamously did not play due to issues with his visa and (anti-)vaccination status. Relegating that overheated brouhaha to a tidy montage in episode two, the series producers instead focus “Maverick” on the tournament’s homegrown lightning rod for controversy, Australian Nick Kyrgios, the current bad boy of tennis.

Kyrgios suffices as the biggest name, if not the highest ranked or most accomplished, among the players featured as subjects on the show. He and Top 20 mainstays Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Paula Badosa, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Maria Sakkari, Matteo Berrettini, Ons Jabeur, Casper Ruud, and Félix Auger-Aliassime are followed by camera crews on and off the court, win or lose. Interspersed between player profiles and match highlights, tennis idols like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andy Roddick, and Maria Sharapova add no-nonsense color commentary on the main cast’s careers and prospects. A tightly edited combo of on-court competition, offcourt coverage, intimate interviews, news and archival footage, and the mostly 20-something players’ social media, the show approximates the player’s-eye view of working practically every day to be by some measure better than the day before. “Maverick” stakes a solid case for why Kyrgios — perpetually clad in NBA team swag, accomJANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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panied by his manager, trainer, and girlfriend — stands apart, attracting the adoration of fans with his deft on-court moves, while inciting the wrath of detractors with his snide, racquet-smashing outbursts. The mercurial talent argues his own case repeatedly, insisting he’s one of the genuine, larger-than-life entertainers on the tour, and, while his antics can be juvenile and obnoxious, he’s also not wrong. His star quality outshines more reserved or less captivating peers, both at his day job and in this series. The episode hits a winner with the sequence where Kyrgios surprises himself, and everyone in his circle, by making a historic run in the Men’s Doubles competition alongside fellow Aussie singles pro and best mate Thanasi Kokkinakis. Subsequent episodes (five were available to critics for review) center, respectively, on the endearing couple dynamics between former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini and Top 40 women’s player Ajla Tomljanovic (the show’s low-key secret weapon), and the personal and professional struggles of Greek #1 Sakkari, Spanish #1 Badosa, and Tunisian #1 Jabeur, the highest-ranked African and Arab player in history. It happens that every one of these players had a momentous 2022 season, and the season on the whole produced some unforgettable moments. Unfortunately, many of the most sensational events and star appearances — like Tomljanovic

facing Serena Williams at the U.S. Open — won’t turn up until Break Point’s final five episodes drop in June, uncovering the eventful latter half of this tennis season. The series’ first half wraps with “King of Clay,” certainly the show’s most enthralling, as it rightly hypes up the greatest challenge in tennis: attempting to keep a French Open championship out of the hands of Fritz Rafael Nadal, the player who’s lost at this tournament only three times and had won it 13 times previously. Not often does this show provoke outright laughter, but the sight of Rafa’s wide-eyed opponents trying desperately to maintain their pre-match concentration in the stadium tunnel as he revs up with intense lunges and sprints right behind them is hilarious. But for all Break Point captures, the series misses a lot. The laser focus on these specific players and their day-to-day can be fascinating, but it leads to a packaged, episodic feel that loses the serial ebb and flow of what fans call Tennis Nation. As in any pro sport, every season is a sprawling epic of continuing stories, not just the sum of a certain number of episodes. The show skips over important tournaments, and the bombshell retirement of then-world #1 Ashleigh Barty, with nary a mention of how the results of those omitted events might reverberate in all the tournaments that follow. Break Point does provide humanizing insight into the lives of these elite pro athletes, how they train and travel (nonstop), how they post, Tok, and tweet (also nonstop), how they vibe at home or from hotel to hotel (like slobs, in most cases, apparently), and what keeps them fighting day after day to win matches. But it might take until the entire season plays out before we see if Break Point compiled these profiles into a satisfying bigger picture, or just a collection of cool individual portraits.

Episodes 1-5 of Break Point are available for streaming on Netflix. Visit www.netflix.com. 50

JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Music

Crash and Burn

Black Butta, RuPaul’s fifteenth studio album, struggles to argue for its own existence. By Sean Maunier

COURTESY WORLD OF WONDER & ALBERT SANCHEZ

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HERE WAS A TIME IN THE NOTtoo-distant past when RuPaul’s recording career felt like it existed in a different world. RuPaul the singer and RuPaul the reality show host did occasionally collide, near the end of a Drag Race season when contestants are routinely challenged to come up with a music video to one of his singles, or when he would cheekily nod towards the show in a track. But mostly, his records were their own thing. They were always some level of kitschy and schlocky, but this was never necessarily a bad thing, and even when it was, Ru felt like he was in on the

joke and having fun with it as he turned out guilty pleasure bangers. Ever since American, arguably his musical high-water mark, the distinction between those two RuPauls has increasingly collapsed as his records have become more self-referential and Drag Race comes up with more and more reasons to work his music into the format of his show. As things chug along faster and faster, RuPaul seems to be forgetting the things that made his music fun in the first place. Black Butta (HHHH) is the latest victim of that unfortunate side effect of the reality fame machine. JANUARY 12, 2023 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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It’s not even that RuPaul’s music has gotten worse, necessarily. The elements featured in his better work are mostly still there, and if anything, his return to a pretty basic brand of dance music is an improvement over his ill-advised foray into hyperpop on MAMARU. What’s missing, though, is the sense that RuPaul is having any fun here at all. On the deadeyed “Suga Daddy,” he somehow fails to breathe life into a song about being a materialistic brat. His “I made it” song, “Pink Limousine,” should be more fun than it is, but comes off as both pandering and overly self-serious at the same time. Calling attention to the shallowness of a RuPaul record might sound like missing the point, but in the absence of a sense of fun or purpose, the lack of depth suddenly feels galling in a way it might not have in the past. The album’s shallow content farm ethos might have been more forgivable if its references weren’t so lukewarm, but it constantly feels

two steps behind the pop culture churn. The opening track “A.S.M.R. Boyfriend” comes across like a throwback to a trend that got beaten to death years ago. The most brazen example might be the inclusion of the holiday-themed “Show Me That You Festive.” The track begins, “I’m a November baby/ but I prefer December, baby,” and goes downhill from there along similar lines as Ru rattles off a laundry list of festive clichés. It would have stood out as a forgettable clunker even on a holiday album, but its inclusion on an album released almost two weeks after Christmas feels oddly sloppy. It is late, sure, but less in a Christmas-in-July sort of way and more like a holiday card sent with a January 3rd postmark. A handful of redeeming moments save Black Butta from being an outright mess. The rousing pop anthem “Courage To Love” has Ru put on the self-help-y therapist hat that will be more than familiar to Drag Race viewers. Sure, the beats are repetitive and the song drags on longer than it needs to, but achieving a track catchy and inoffensive that you can dance to feels like coming up for air. It may be that RuPaul’s recording has become a victim of his own success. As his pet franchise has expanded and spawned ever more local and global spin-offs, the adjacent ecosystems of music, podcasts, and merch has had to keep up with that pace to its own detriment. It is hard to say who Black Butta is for if not to pad the challenges of Drag Race seasons to come, but whether or not you ever enjoyed RuPaul’s music, it will make you yearn for a past version of the Supermodel of the World who took himself less seriously.

Black Butta is available to stream and purchase. 52

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LastWord. People say the queerest things

“One minute, you’re making mint tea at home, the next you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization.” —JERROD CARMICHAEL, during his opening monologue as host of the 2023 Golden Globes, in one of many swipes at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, for its scandals involving lack of diversity. “I’ll tell you why I’m here,” the gay comic said, “I’m here ’cause I’m Black.”

“My mission was to take the invisible, the unloved, and make them the heroes I longed to see but never did in pop culture.” —RYAN MURPHY, gay creator of Pose, Glee, and countless LGBTQ-inclusive hits, accepting the Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes. In a beautiful, generous speech, singled out several LGBTQ actors who had starred in his shows, including Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Matt Bomer, Billy Porter, Niecy Nash-Betts, and Jeremy Pope.

“ I don’t know if you’re clapping because you like the dress, or because I’m here, or because I’m gay now, but I’ll take it!” —NIECY NASH-BETTS to an appreciative crowd before presenting at the Golden Globes. Nash-Betts was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her work in Dahmer, but lost to White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge.

“Santos, we have a complaint for you.” —Representative DANIEL GOLDMAN (D-NY) to newly-seated congressman George Santos (R-NY). Goldman and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) ‘are demanding Santos be investigated by the House Ethics Committee for “[misleading] voters in his district about his ethnicity, his religion, his education, and his employment and professional history, among other things.”

“

In 2015 I overheard them frequently discussing whether or not I’d ever marry. Whether or not I was happy.

Whether or not I might be gay.”

—PRINCE HARRY, in his new autobiography Spare , in which he overshares far too many details about his life. The book broke all sales records in the U.K. on its publication day.

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