Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Ellen DeGeneres Gives Scholarship to Small Town Teen Whose Prom was Cancelled in Homophobic Fracas

For those of you in other countries who don't know what a prom is, perhaps a little explaining is in order. Prom is a formal dance that you attend at the end of your senior (and sometimes junior) year in high school. For many American girls,  it's one of two times in their life that they'll get to wear formal attire (the other being their wedding) so it's a pretty big deal. A lot of time and money is spent figuring out what to wear, making appointments to get your hair and makeup done, booking a limo, finding a date, and making reservations at a fancy restaurant. For most high school students, it's one of those seminal (pun intended) coming of age rituals. So, when Mississippi teen Constance McMillen's prom was cancelled because she planned to wear a tuxedo and take another girl as her date, believe me when I say it was a big freakin deal. The school board in this bassackward district has a ban on bringing same sex dates to the prom, and apparently also forbids women to wear pants because they didn't just deny McMillan's request to bring a female date, they also told her should couldn't wear a tuxedo. The school board says that it cancelled the prom because the controversy surrounding the situation was distracting McMillen's fellow students from their education. I choked a little bit on that massive turd of bullshit when I wrote it; did you choke a little when you read it? In response to the cancellation, parents of other students organized a private prom at a furniture mart in nearby Tupleo. The prom is "invitation only", and of course, Constance hasn't been invited. In one discussion on an internet forum, a poster who identified himself as a junior from the high school in question stated that "Constance and her gay-activist friends will not be attending [the private dance]. They can go have their own prom because we certainly do not want any of them there." At the center of this massive shit storm of stupidity and homophobia is a normal, 18 year old girl. Although it appears that many of her peers and the residents of her hometown aren't supporting her, the national opinion is much more divided, with many people, like talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, expressing their concern for her situation and admiration for her courage in standing up to the school district. Ellen invited McMillen to be a guest on her show, where she presented her with a $30,000 scholarship and offered her a summer internship in New York. Several organizations have offered to provide an alternative prom for the students in the district. But McMillen is fighting for the legitimacy of being able to attend the real prom, sanctioned by the high school, adding, "I just want to go and be able to be myself, go to the prom that I was supposed to have since I've never known what prom was." Maybe it's because I'm on the rag today, but this story actually brought me to tears. I don't type that easily because I like to pretend I'm a hardass who never cries about anything. I pull my hoodie around my face if I ever bawl at a sad movie and punch anyone who says anything about the water on my cheeks. But this literally made me cry. When I went to prom, I took a last minute date, bought a budget dress from T.J. Maxx, and got my sister to do my hair and makeup for me. The school district wasn't involved in picking out my outfit or approving my date, and it would have been some insane, 1984 "big brother" bullshit if they had tried. But then, I'm straight, and my date was a boy. It's just so damn frustrating. She's just a girl who wants to go her prom;  to wear an outfit she picked out after hours of agonizing and trying on different things. A girl who wants take that date that she finally worked up the nerve to ask. A girl who wants to slow dance awkwardly while she figures out exactly where she can rest her hands without offending her date or looking too clumsy. Prom is a collection of annoying, awkward, hilarious, exciting experiences that comprise a ubiquitous  rite of passage for every American teenager. She has a right to make those memories- as do all the the other students in her class-- and it saddens me greatly that because of the intractable self-righteousness of a school board who seems to have forgotten, or chosen to ignore, every American's right to liberty, they won't get to have those experiences or make those memories. /> For those of you in other countries who don't know what a prom is, perhaps a little explaining is in order. Prom is a formal dance that you attend at the end of your senior (and sometimes junior) year in high school. For many American girls,  it's one of two times in their life that they'll get to wear formal attire (the other being their wedding) so it's a pretty big deal. A lot of time and money is spent figuring out what to wear, making appointments to get your hair and makeup done, book...

Michael Vartan Gets Engaged, Officially Puts an End to My ‘Alias’ Fandom

I used to love Alias. The first 2 seasons, I was all about it-- from the moment double agent Sydney Bristow showed up in the lobby of the CIA wearing that raver wig and looking beat all to hell, till they pulled that crappy 2 year time lapse thing at the end of the second season and things started to get all weird and shitty. That show was amazing, because it was the first time I can remember a female lead in a modern action series that wasn't just two dimensional (or should I say, 32-DDi...

The Dude Abides

This post is supposed to be about giving the gents some fashion love after three articles of women's Oscar fashion, but I'm distracted right now by the fact that Jeff Bridges just won an Oscar. I think his win may be the only time I've ever actually cheered out loud for one of these awards ceremonies like I was watching a sporting event. On to the fashion crap. Pretty much every man ever wears the same thing to the Oscars- black tuxedo with some variation of tie and shoes. There's not a l...

The Oscars – The Dresses (Part III)

I happen to adore Elizabeth Banks' elegant grey dress (above). It should be noted, however, that the opinions expressed in this article and the two previous ones are not necessarily the opinions of Evilbeet.com. Sasha's take on the gown? "Love Eilzabeth Banks. Haaaate her dress." Nicole Richie wore a beaded snuggie that showed off her back tatoos and Jennifer Lopez showed up wrapped in a mattress pad. I wonder if she and Amanda Seyfried had it out backstage; they're pretty much wearing mirr...

The Oscars – The Dresses (Part II)

Things get a little dicey in this batch. Vera Farmiga (above) may have had the worst dress of the night. The giant maroon doilies sewn together look like the fabric embodiment of this site's namesake (an evil beet) ingested someone's grandmother. Zoe Saldana wasn't faring much better. She either crawled inside one of last month's Mardi Gras floats or got in a fight with an ostrich in a Peeps factory... and lost. Anna Kedrick's gown was an utterly gorgeous concoction of flowing, diaphano...

The Oscars – The Dresses (Part I)

During the red carpet foolishness known as ABC's pre-Oscars warm-up show, one of the actresses -- I think it was Meryl Streep- said that she loves coming to the Oscars because she gets to see all her friends dressed up. I have to agree. I giggle a little bit every time I see Jeff Bridges in a tuxedo because it's like seeing my stoner hippie father at a wedding. It was a classy affair at the Oscars tonight. Charlize Theron,  Kate Winslet, and Cameron Diaz were particularly stunning (as usu...

Alice in Wonderland Smashes Box Office Records

I didn't see Alice in Wonderland this weekend, and I'll probably wait until it comes out on video. But it seems that wasn't the norm; the rest of you went out to the theater this weekend and gave the film the biggest March opening ever at $112 million for the weekend. That smashes the record set by 300 in 2007. I've seen every other Tim Burton movie that has come out in the last 10 years, so in a way, I've already seen Alice in Wonderland. My friend described it as  taking all the parts of ...

Sandra Bullock Wins Worst Actress

Though she's up for best actress tonight at the Oscars, Bullock has already taken home an award this weekend. Last night, she showed up in person to accept two Razzies, the annual awards given out to the worst of the worst in film for the year. Bullock won worst actress for her work in the flop All about Steve, and shared an award for worst c0uple with her costar Bradley Cooper. There aren't a lot of Academy Award nominated actresses who would have the good humor to show up in person a...

Ke$ha Wears Her Placenta around Her Neck

Her 5 minutes aren't even up yet and I'm already so tired of this Ke$ha chick. In a recent interview, she told a reporter she was "into energy." Not sure what the hell that is supposed to mean, but apparently it means wearing things squirted out of your mom's vagina around your neck. "I recently went to see a past-life regressionist, who is also a psychic. I wear my placenta around my neck every day, because it's supposed to give you second sight. I feel like I've had many lifetimes bef...

Amanda Seyfried has a Minge on Her Foot

And now it's time for a lesson in cross-cultural cursing. minge [m?nd?] n Brit taboo slang 1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Anatomy) the female genitals 2. women collectively considered as sexual objects Amanda Seyfried revealed that she and fellow Mama Mia! costar Rachel McDowell each got the word tattoed onto one of their feet because Colin Firth used to say it on set to make them laugh. Seyfried added that she was "never really... a fan of tattoos but wanted to see...
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