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Taylor Swift Gets Political By Writing a Letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander About LGBTQ+ Rights


A new era of Taylor Swift is upon us—and we’re not just talking about her highly anticipated seventh album, which fans think will be titled Lover. The singer is also showing off a new publicly political side. Criticized by some for not speaking out enough during the 2016 election, Swift has more recently begun using her massive platform to let fans know where she stands on issues that are important to her.

The first signs of this new Swift emerged ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, when she endorsed the Democratic nominees from Tennessee for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. In her Instagram post containing the endorsement, she mentioned her strong belief in LGBTQ+ rights—and now she’s taking that message a step further by posting a letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican representing her home state of Tennessee. The letter urges Alexander to support the Equality Act, which would “protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their workplace, in their homes and in schools.”

“?HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!? While we have so much to celebrate, we also have a great distance to go before everyone in this country is truly treated equally. In excellent recent news, the House has passed the Equality Act, which would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their places of work, homes, schools, and other public accommodations,” Swift wrote in an Instagram caption for the image of the letter. “The next step is that the bill will go before the Senate. I’ve decided to kick off Pride Month by writing a letter to one of my senators to explain how strongly I feel that the Equality Act should be passed.”

In the letter, Swift first thanked Alexander for co-sponsoring a bill that celebrates the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote before going on to criticize the “Slate of Hate” in Tennessee and warning that discriminatory practices could continue to scare off large companies like Amazon, who won’t want to do business in the state. She also called discrimination against people based on “who they love” or “how they identify” as “un-American and cruel.”

Swift also called out the Trump administration directly. “I personally reject the President’s stance that his administration ‘supports equal treatment of all’ but that the Equality Act ‘in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.’ No,” she wrote. “One cannot take the position that one supports a community while condemning it in the next breath as going against ‘conscience’ or ‘parental rights.’ That statement implies that there is something wrong with being anything other than heterosexual and cisgender, which is an incredibly harmful message to send to a nation full of healthy and loving families with same-sex, non binary or transgender parents, sons or daughters.”

Along with urging her followers to write letters to their own senators, Swift also created a petition with Change.org for people to express their support of the Equality Act. “While there’s no information yet as to when the Equality Act will go before the Senate for a vote, we do know this: Politicians need votes to stay in office,” she wrote. “Votes come from the people. Pressure from massive amounts of people is a major way to push politicians towards positive change.”

The petition (which you can sign here) is already nearing 50,000 signatures, and fans are expressing their gratitude to Swift for speaking out. “Thank you, Taylor, for speaking up for families like mine, and all other members of the LGBTQ family. Love from Mississippi,” one commenter wrote. Another said, “So proud that someone I’ve admired for so long is taking such a strong stance to protect the rights of LGBTQ individuals. Thank you Taylor and everyone else for fighting for the LGBTQ community!”



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Connie Chung Reveals She Was Sexually Assaulted in a Letter to Christine Blasey Ford


In a powerful op-ed in the Washington Post framed as a letter to Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford, journalist Connie Chung reveals that she is a victim of sexual assault.

“I, too, was sexually assaulted — not 36 years ago but about 50 years ago,” Chung writes. “I have kept my dirty little secret to myself. Silence for five decades.”

She says the abuser was her family’s trusted doctor—the man who had delivered her as a baby in 1946. Much like Ford’s recollection before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the exact time and date may not be clear in her memory, but Chung writes with certainty about who assaulted her.

“It was the 1960s. I was in college. The sexual revolution was in full swing. The exact date and year are fuzzy. But details of the event are vivid — forever seared in my memory. Am I sure who did it? Oh yes, 100 percent.”

Similarly, Ford told the committee of her certainty about Kavanaugh when asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) how she was sure it was him. “The same way that I’m sure that I’m talking to you right now,” Ford said.

The details Chung describes in the piece are painful to read (and may be triggering to some). She visited her doctor to secure birth control and found herself on his examination table awaiting her first gynecological exam.

“While I stared at the ceiling, his right index finger massaged my clitoris. With his right middle finger inserted in my vagina, he moved both fingers rhythmically. He coached me verbally in a soft voice, ‘Just breathe. Ah-ah,’ mimicking the sound of soft breathing. ‘You’re doing fine,’ he assured me. Suddenly, to my shock, I had an orgasm for the first time in my life. My body jerked several times. Then he leaned over, kissed me, a peck on my lips, and slipped behind the curtain to his office area. I don’t remember saying anything to him. I could not even look at him. I quickly dressed and drove home.”

Chung thinks she may have told one of her sisters, but did not tell her parents or report the doctor to authorities. “It never crossed my mind to protect other women. Please understand, I was actually embarrassed about my sexual naiveté,” she writes. “I was in my 20s and knew nothing about sex. All I wanted to do was bury the incident in my mind and protect my family.”

In another heartbreaking detail (and an added layer to why some women don’t report assault), she says that her mother could neither read nor write in English—and she could not drive. (Her parents immigrated from China the year before she was born.) So that she did not have to return to the doctor’s office, Chung told her mother he lived too far away. She eventually told her husband, but doesn’t recall exactly when.

Like Ford, she says she is “terrified” about making this public revelation. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Can you?” she asks. “If you can’t, I understand. I am frightened, I am scared, I can’t even cry.”

“I wish I could forget this truthful event, but I cannot because it is the truth. I am writing to you because I know that exact dates, exact years are insignificant. We remember exactly what happened to us and who did it to us. We remember the truth forever. Bravo, Christine, for telling the truth.”

Bravo, to you both.

MORE: Watch Donald Trump Publicly Mock Christine Blasey Ford at Mississippi Rally



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This Open Letter Demanding Equal Pay in Hollywood Has More Than 3,000 Signatures


The wage gap in Hollywood has been an especially hot topic in recent months, with high-profile stars like Claire Foy and Ellen Pompeo revealing that they hadn’t received equal pay to their male counterparts—and demanding change. Now, there’s a budding movement—one carrying the support of many high-profile actors and directors—to address the wage gap between the men and women who work behind the scenes.

More than 3,000 Hollywood figures have signed an open letter that denounces “egregious” wage inequalities between men and women holding jobs in production, such as script supervisors, production coordinators, and art department coordinators. Many familiar names have put their signatures on the letter so far, including A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay, This Is Us actress Chrissy Metz, and Book Club actress Jane Fonda.

The letter was written after a recent study by Working Ideal for IATSE Local 871 (a union with members who “keep Hollywood running”) revealed that women in crew or production positions receive significantly less pay than men in similar positions.

According to the study, women in craft roles are “paid hundreds or even thousands of dollars per week less than counterparts in comparable male-dominated crafts, even though California’s Fair Pay Act generally requires equal pay for men and women performing substantially similar work and federal law bars gender discrimination in pay.” The findings have the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Women in Film organization, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“It is time for real change. It is no longer acceptable for employees in traditionally female-dominated classifications – like Art Department Coordinators and Assistant Production Coordinators – to be stuck with low wages that oftentimes make it difficult to make ends meet, especially in expensive cities like Los Angeles,” the letter reads. “Nor is it acceptable that – despite the recent changes in state law aimed at closing the wage gap – women (and men) employed in other historically female crafts earn significantly less than their predominantly male counterparts, such as 2nd Second Assistant Directors, while performing substantially similar work.”

The numbers back up these claims: According to the study, women working in positions like a script supervisors earned a weekly rate of of $2,573 in 2016, while men in an equivalent first assistant director position earned $4,465. (The two positions have different responsibilities but are on roughly the same level in the industry.)

The letter references the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements as catalysts to extend equal pay from marquee names to every member of a film’s set.

“In the current age of #MeToo and the launching of Time’s Up we have seen that some production companies have moved to correct gender-based wage inequality for actors working on the same projects, but there has not been any similar effort made to address wage gaps for those working behind the scenes,” the letter continues. “With your help we can demonstrate that this issue has the support of our fellow industry members and the viewing audience at large.”

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Crazy Rich Asians Is the Love Letter to My People I Never Had a Chance to Write


The first time I got to write a featured role for an Asian character was on a one-hour network TV drama. I was a staff writer and my showrunner told me he had an idea for my episode. “It’s about two sisters. Two HOT sisters. And they’re Asian. Like the Hilton sisters, but Asian.”

I’d like to say I was secure enough in myself and my views on cultural representation to tell him to stick it up the hole he was pulling these ideas from, but I didn’t. I was just psyched I had a job. Also, this was before Twitter, chronic wokeness, and #MeToo. Instead, I opened my notebook, licked my pen (figuratively), and asked, “So what are these two hot Asian sisters doing?” My showrunner shrugged. “They’re running around for two acts being hot.” I dutifully scribbled “Asians Being Hot” in my notebook.

That was just the beginning. That same showrunner also wanted me to feature Chinese triads, have them use Japanese throwing stars, and get into a kung-fu fight with our (white) lead. To not feel like I was totally selling out my race and culture, I tried to own it. Subvert expectations. I had the badass triads selling imitation handbags. (OK, that was more a dive into different stereotype.) I tried replacing the throwing star with another less culturally on-the-nose weapon: guns! And I tried to not have a scene between our other (also white) lead and his Chinese contact at a roast duck restaurant. I tried, but I failed. If you find this distasteful, it’s worth noting the episode did great with a 3.0 rating in the demo, which is astronomical for today’s standards. America did not share your squeamishness for racial stereotypes.

Adele Lim at the ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ premiere

That was over 10 years ago, and the shows I’ve worked on since have not come close to that level of doofy obliviousness. (Also, now that I’m more established in my career, I don’t put up with that nonsense.) But there are other issues I’ve faced in depicting my culture—or, more accurately, not depicting it. Of the dozen or so shows I’ve written on, none of them had an Asian lead. Only one had an Asian character in their main cast. And the few instances where I’d write a strong, sexually appealing Asian male guest character, I’d face pushback from the showrunner or casting. “Can he be Latino? Or African American?” was usually the first response, as if one minority was interchangeable for another. Casting would claim the talent pool wasn’t there, but I realized if I was an annoying enough jerk about it, they’d eventually find me the right actor.

So when director Jon Chu—who I’d worked with before, we sold a TV pilot together—asked if I’d be interested in working on the screenplay adaptation for Crazy Rich Asians (with co-screenwriter Peter Chiarelli), based on a book by Kevin Kwan featuring all Asian characters, my reply was not so much “yes” as it was “OH MY GOD. YES, PLEASE! WHEN CAN I START?!” It didn’t matter that I didn’t have the time (I was a full-time writer and producer on another TV show), had no idea how much or little money it would be, and I’d never written a movie before. I just knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and that I was going to make it work.

My rabid enthusiasm for the book went beyond the fact its entire galaxy of amazing characters was Asian. Jon didn’t know it, but I grew up in Southeast Asia in the same overseas Chinese community and culture the book is set in. (Alright, not the exact same culture—we were middle class. I like to say my family isn’t rich, but plenty crazy.)

In a world where the majority of lead characters is male and white and you’re not, that’s a constant challenge.

I came to the States at 18 for college and hustled for years before landing my first TV writing job in Los Angeles. I feel blessed and fortunate for the career I’ve had, but I’ve often felt that there was a level I wasn’t hitting in my work. “Write what you know” is the platitude most often leveled at writers. But in a world where the majority of lead characters is male and white and you’re not, that’s a constant challenge. I had to work doubly hard to make sure their lines sound authentic (enough) or to have a handle on their drives and motivations. And if I did pull from my own experiences, I had to translate them through a fractured prism to make them applicable to a white guy with a strong jawline.

With Crazy Rich Asians, I had to do none of that. I felt these characters in my bones—they looked and acted like my family members or people I knew. Their voices were ones I grew up with. Their vices, predilections, and obsession with food and luxury handbags were details etched in my DNA. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is one that isn’t in the book—we had to compress plot points to squeeze it into a two-hour movie—and that’s a scene of Rachel, the protagonist, playing Mahjong with Eleanor, her boyfriend’s mother.

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It was inspired by the countless hours my family has spent around the Mahjong table, telling stories, working out family issues, and trash-talking the living fuck out of each other. It sounds narcissistic, but I cry every time I watch that scene. Not because of the Mahjong, but because it’s a love letter to my world and my people. One I never had a chance to write before.

Jon Chu has said that he wants our movie to be a movement. And I hope it is, or at least the beginning of an age where we give voice to all people whose stories have yet to be told. Where minorities and women in this country get to be equally celebrated in movies and TV. Having had a taste of it, I know there’s no going back. Kiss my ass, Asian Hilton sisters.

Crazy Rich Asians is in theaters now.

Photos: Warner Bros./Everett Collection, Getty Images



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Natasha Lyonne Writes a Love Letter to Rosie O'Donnell


In a world short on joy, humor can be a unifier and a survival tool. In that spirit, we bring you our Comedy Issue, a monthlong celebration of funny (and fearless) women and the enduring power of a good laugh. Here Orange Is the New Black star Natasha Lyonne salutes the woman who made her see the value in being wholly authentic.

I first met Rosie when we worked together on a Nora and Delia Ephron play called Love, Loss, and What I Wore in 2008. Rosie had this one monologue called, “The Purse,” which Nora had written about giving up Hermès bags, and the absurdity of them. This was an eight-page monologue, and Rosie was literally able to take the audience in the palm of her hand and take them on a ride during it. The way she was able to lift and drop the volume of the audience’s laughter, it just became a piece of music. Working with Rosie, Nora, Delia, and Samantha Bee on that production taught me that there’s space for all of us. Between working on the play and doing Orange Is the New Black, I totally changed my tomboy perspective, and gained an appreciation for sharing the stage with other women.

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During the play I was coming out of a drug addicted time in my life, but Nora and Rosie adopted me into the fold, and it really healed me as a human being. Now Rosie and I are this odd couple, and we go to Broadway plays. She loves them; I loathe them. My god! Some of the productions I’ve had to sit through. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to me, but I look over and Rosie’s like, “C’mon, Tashy, that was amazing!” Then we go to Sardi’s and grab dinner.

What’s so wild about Rosie is that she’s such a subversive figure who was able to become mainstream. Recently, I rewatched an Ellen DeGeneres appearance on Rosie’s show, and they’re doing what they called the “Lebanese sketch.” It’s psychedelic! It was 1996, and they’re just dancing around being gay. Or watching her stuff in comedy clubs. It’s fucking epic, because she’s in a pantsuit with a curly shag, looking like a cross between David Lee Roth and Pat Benatar. And this was during an era when guys like Andrew Dice Clay were big, and she’s doing a Goodfellas shtick. What other woman was speaking that language?

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Rosie’s such an important figure for women. I’ll never forget introducing Aubrey Plaza to her. I was having dinner with Rosie and texting with Aubrey and I was like, “Why don’t you come over?” She came right over, and I’ve never seen Aubrey so starstruck. She’s such a weirdo and a cool cucumber, but it was almost like seeing Santa Claus—that someone who’s so iconic could be real. But that’s the beauty of someone like Rosie. She’s able to communicate, from a distance, to other young girls that it’s OK to be themselves. That’s a strength she’s personally given me.

Natasha Lyonne costars in Orange Is the New Black, which returns to Netflix this month. Rosie O’Donnell costars on Showtime’s SMILF.



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Rachel Bloom Writes a Love Letter to Carol Burnett


In a world short on joy, humor can be a unifier and a survival tool. In that spirit, we bring you our Comedy Issue, a month-long celebration of funny (and fearless) women and the enduring power of a good laugh. Here Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star Rachel Bloom salutes the woman who made her see the value in being herself onstage.

As I sat back down at my seat in the Beverly Hilton after winning the Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a television series in 2016, I did what any millennial with a touch of ADHD would do: I checked my email. And the first thing that popped up was a message from Carol Burnett congratulating me. Not to sound ungrateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press, but that moment was my real Golden Globe.

A month or two earlier our mutual friend (and my Crazy Ex-Girlfriend costar) Donna Lynne Champlin told me Carol had asked for my email address. My response to her was, “OF COURSE YOU CAN GIVE CAROL FUCKING BURNETT MY EMAIL ADDRESS. GIVE HER MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER AND MY LIVER TOO.” It was laughable that Carol felt she needed permission to email me. But when I finally got to meet her, I realized that, in a wonderful way, her fame still hasn’t quite sunk in. Carol Burnett doesn’t know that she’s Carol Burnett.

She was the first comedic actor whose essence I couldn’t put into words—all I knew was that I couldn’t stop watching her. When I performed my own rendition of “Little Girls” from Annie for my eighth-grade talent show, the director told me not to copy her mannerisms. (Not because I couldn’t try—of course I did—but because she is a performer who is un-copy-able.)

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I read Carol’s memoir One More Time during an eight-hour bus ride in 2009 and was struck by the fact that, like me, she had trouble booking acting gigs during her first year living in New York City. She put together her own musical showcase with women in her boarding house and got discovered singing the original song “I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles,” which reminded me of a song about an older gentleman that I had written called “F*ck Me, Ray Bradbury.” I had forgotten about it until I read Carol’s book. That song became a music video that got me my agent.

I realize now that this is a lot about me. Forgive me, but that’s the only way I know how to gush over an icon who has done as much for female comics as she has. If Carol hadn’t ignored the head of CBS when he said that variety was a “man’s game” in the sixties, she wouldn’t have made it possible for me—and all of my female creator-­performers in TV—to do what we do. She may not ever know that she’s Carol Burnett, but at least now she knows how much I love her. ­

St. John blazer, turtleneck, skirt, $495; Jimmy Choo pumps, $650. Ulla Johnson dress; Ventrone Chronicles earrings, $45; M. Gemi pumps, $248. Crap Eyewear sunglasses, $79 each.

Read on for Glamour west coast editor Jessica Radloff’s interview with Carol Burnett:

GLAMOUR: Talk to me about the importance of mentoring talent like Rachel Bloom.

CB: I don’t think about it as mentoring. I just think about it as I’m a fan of hers. We’re friends. I watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Donna Lynne [Champlin], who is on the show, played me on Broadway in a play [Hollywood Arms] that my daughter and I wrote about my growing up with my grandmother and my mother. So I was watching it to see Donna Lynne and I got hooked on the show.

GLAMOUR: Did you have anyone who was instrumental to your own success?

CB: Lucille Ball. But she never considered herself a mentor. We were buddies. She was 22 years older than I, and she hired me on her show. Not I Love Lucy, but the later incarnations of that, so I was able to work with her. Then when I got my show, she came on as a guest, so it wasn’t like the years between us mattered. We were friends. And that’s what I consider Rachel.

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GLAMOUR: What qualities do you love about Rachel?

CB: Aside from all the music stuff, which of course I love, she’s a very talented actress. So to see what she comes up with—the lyrics and the music—is just overwhelming. And then to see her in some of the more serious scenes, she’s the whole ball of wax. Early on [in my career], I remember thinking, I want to be able to say things funny so that you can put a spin on a line and get a laugh. Because sometimes if you read it on the page it doesn’t translate as being funny. Rachel does that; she says things funny. And that’s what I admire.

GLAMOUR: Going back to the days of The Carol Burnett Show, what’s changed in comedy and what hasn’t?

CB: Funny is funny. I dare anybody to look at the dentist sketch with Tim [Conway] and Harvey [Korman] and not totally crack up today. And that’s 45 years old. So that can remain the same. What has happened I think, and I’m kind of sad about it, is that people on television want to be edgy. Sometimes a bit too much. And I’m not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but I find that some of the sitcoms today feel like they’re written by a bunch of high school boys in a locker room. They’re not clever. Look at All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart, Cheers…they were clever, funny, and classy. There are very few today that have that. So that’s what I’m sad about.

GLAMOUR: Were you told you were funny growing up?

CB: I wasn’t. But I never tried to be funny, so naturally I wasn’t told that. I was a very quiet student, a complete nerd in high school. I was editor of the high school paper, and a good student, so it was kind of a shock when all of the sudden I started [theater] at UCLA because I had no idea that I would ever wind up like this. At all. There should be no hurry to decide [what you want to do in life]. Let it happen.

Rachel Bloom is the cocreator and star of CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Watch Carol Burnett now in Netflix’s A Little Help With Carol Burnett.



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