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NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
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Steverino Begins
01/28/09

In reply to NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
Damn tipsters.
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LucyRed
01/28/09

In reply to NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
What on earth is that picture? Is that a real woman or is that a mannequin? Between the fatty lip and the shelf of a chest... GOOD LAWD!
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rosasparks
01/28/09

@LucyRed: Google Amanda Lapore. She's the muse of David la Chappelle (sp?). I met her once and she was as sweet as can be.
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JinxyMcDeath
01/28/09

@LucyRed: I guess I'm not fazed by how other people wish to appear...because I guess it's not for me to judge. Also, it's all subjective. And I don't think she would appreciate your comment...
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rosasparks
01/28/09

In reply to NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
I have no way of knowing whether or not the NYT really outed Mr. Wu or not, but more importantly, is there evidence that Wu is genuinely upset that his family found out?

If I missed that part, I apologize.
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rosasparks
01/28/09

@rosasparks: And what I mean is, even though he's supposedly said he had awkward conversations with family, but I read that differently than actual distress and freaking out.

Esp. given I don't know if this aforementioned 'tipster' is reliable.
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sarah.of.a.lesser.god (aka Mrs. BrutallyHonestHobbit)
01/28/09

In reply to NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
And somewhere, the GOP is pissed off that "Michelle Goes Gay" didn't mean something else that they could treat as scandalicious.
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
01/28/09

@sarah.of.a.lesser.god (now with more ovumlord!): I fully expect a two hour block of Fox News will be analyzing this shocking gay Michelle Obama issue and how the terrorists will smite us because of it.
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pandorasmittens
01/28/09

@sarah.of.a.lesser.god (now with more ovumlord!): Give them time. They can always fall on the standard conclusion that Michelle Obama supported the trade of a gay man, which means others may become encouraged to "choose homosexuality"-eventually causing God to smite us all, condemning us to an eternity in hell where the bra barrels burn like raging wildfires and the men remain bonerless.
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nnnnnnn'
01/28/09

In reply to NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
Dude. His relatives are stupid if they didn't figure out he was gay after an interview with the fucking Advocate.
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JerseyGrrrl
01/28/09

@ManhattanManHatin': Well don't jump to conclusions. Wasn't James Franco on the cover of Advocate? Or was it Out? And he's straight as an arrow, right? ;)
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sarah.of.a.lesser.god (aka Mrs. BrutallyHonestHobbit)
01/28/09

@JerseyGrrrl: James Franco had better be straight as an arrow because I am going to find him and get him pregnant with my babies! Such as.
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PrettyNotPretty
01/28/09

@ManhattanManHatin': Yeah, but like this post says, his Taiwanese relatives probably aren't reading The Advocate, or around anyone who is that would tell them. I've been to Taiwan, and I had trouble finding even a local newspaper when I was outside of Taipei.
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J.D.Regent
01/28/09

@sarah.of.a.lesser.god (now with more ovumlord!): you know, I'm really getting sick of you threatening to knock up all my boyfriends -- James Franco AND Viggo? Watch your back, breeder.
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Seeräuber Jenny
01/28/09

@PrettyNotPretty:

Exactly. Or if they'd heard about it, they have thought, How nice that there's an article about Jason in that nice newspaper for lawyers.

So were we all played by the tipster, who was trying to pitch Wu?
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labeled
01/28/09

In reply to NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
Or: "No such thing as bad publicity."
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AuntieBee
01/28/09

@labeled: Oh snap, you are probably right. The only bit making me feel iffy is that he was certainly getting publicity after having designed THE DRESS that everyone (including us) was talking about for MONTHS.
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JinxyMcDeath
01/28/09

In reply to NY Times Says It Had Designer's Permission To Discuss His Partner
His Taiwanese relatives need to get over it. All this hullabaloo (I've always wanted to say that) over the feelings of ignorant extended family members.
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CharlotteTrampling
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
Nobody will read this because it is late: I'm sure it has been ages that the NYT fashion desk has thought to be discreet about Fashion Designers' sexual orientation, last time was when? 50s?

It's just an honest mistake with honest consequenses. This sucks for Jason. But it probably would have come up at some point in life when all the family busybodies keep telling him to get married. Now they will get over it, or not.

Sigh, that said, when Ms. Trampling was growing up in _____ East Asian Country____, she had friends who were kicked out of their houses at really young ages, 15 / 16 ish for being gay. So where did they go? To the gay clubs of course! To find someone to go home with.

Ms Trampling's own sister was told by her father that it was fine to be gay as long as noone found out. My friend's Cypriot father said the same. I think bitch and moan alot but to be a woman or gay outside of North America and Western Europe is really something to bitch and moan about

Come on Chinese people, get over it. You make me so ashamed sometimes.
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ellaesther
01/27/09

@CharlotteTrampling: I'm still working on a really annoying project and avoiding it by toggling back and forth between my document and the threads that caught my eye earlier today on the Jezebel. So I read this! And I think you're right. We are right to bitch and moan about the injustices we suffer in North America and Western Europe, but it would be wise to occasionally remember that others suffer far worse.
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ElleS'appelleElsa
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
Dan Savage gave a response to you ladies:

[slog.thestranger.com]
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ellaesther
01/27/09

@elsapel: Well, for reasons that I don't entirely understand, many of the ladies here seem to thoroughly dislike Mr. Savage. So, this will all just fit in nicely with the on-going unpleasantries! I like him a lot, myself. Smart and funny and good with the English? I like him.
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samethingwedoeverynightpinky
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
On a lighter note, here is what appalls me about this story: He lives in New York, and he was ordering dominoes?! That's pizza blasphemy. I always wonder who it was keeping pizza hut and dominoes in business in NYC, with all the yummy coerner pizza places. Never suspected it was fashion designers.
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sybann
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
Here's the deal: when NYT or any paper/media outlet whathaveyou starts referencing all individuals as "heterosexual but single Sybann," for example, THEN and only then do they have an excuse for bringing up someone's sexuality. IT AIN'T NOBODY'S BIDNESS if he do.
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samethingwedoeverynightpinky
01/27/09

@sybann: But the NYT does regularly bring up straight men's wives or girlfriends, especially in a human interest peice, where the wife or girlfriend works for the business being profiled and is present during the interview. It's not like they were all JASON WU GAY DESGINER, they said that right before Michelle wore the gown and he was put in the spotlight, he was having a quiet evening with his boyfriend, who works for the company. I honestly think if he were straight, they would have written the same setence, replacing boyfriend with girlfriend.
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sybann
01/27/09

@samethingwedoeverynightpinky: As long as people are beaten and killed for their sexual orientation, referencing it without express permission is irresposible and indefensible. Not to mention irrelevant. You will not convince me otherwise.
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samethingwedoeverynightpinky
01/27/09

@sybann: I understand where you're coming from, but this is not like a report on the business for consumer reports, it's a human interest story. 90% of what appears in a style profile about an artist/businesperson/whoever is "irrelevant," to whatever they're in the spotlight for, because the point is to get to know them better and find out who the person behind the event/artwork/business is. A lot of gay men in new york would be increedibly offended if the times interviewed them with their boyfriend present, and then completely erased the boyfriend from the profile, or when describing where they were when they got the big news (and it would be lousy journalism not to give us some inclination of how he found out and felt when he found out) took the initiative to change "boyfriend," to "friend," or if they gushed about Milk when meeting with one of the film's stars, and the paper made no mention of it. It would seem, to a lot of queer people like an erasure of a huge portion of their lives and identity, when so many people fought and died so that they wouldn't have to be forcibly closeted. If Jason Wu introduced someone to a reporter as his boyfriend, said he had spent the evening of the inauguration with him, and gushed about how much Milk, a movie that puts forward being out as a necessary political stance, meant to him personally, and had previously been profiled by the advocate, no reporter would think he wanted to keep his sexuality under wraps, unless explicitly told otherwise. Only a reporter who believed homosexuality was controversial or immoral would leave out such huge parts of the story without being asked.
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Steverino Begins
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
I think either consciously or subconsciously he didn't care what the Times printed. He was probably feeling very confident in that moment, and something in him said, "You know what, fuck it. This is my boyfriend."

Sure, there's some fallout now, but he effectively wanted to come out on some level. And it could be a LOT worse and more awkward than these circumstances. Having a private sitdown with everyone in your life can be exhausting. I know from experience, having done both the personal sitdowns and the mass group announcements, and the mass emails over a span of 4 years (in retrospect, I should have just rented a bus and done a cross-country tour). In his case, it's all in one shot, like a Band-Aid. I'm jealous.
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hello.kitty
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
??????

Why all the 'no sympathy for this dude' attitude here? Maybe we all need to return to the kitten live feed to pump up our hearts.
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samethingwedoeverynightpinky
01/27/09

@hello.kitty: I don't think most people are entirely unsympathetic, I just think a lot of us are bristling at the suggestion that the paper did something wrong, by mentioning what seem to most of us to be normal human interest details. (He was with his boyfriend when he got the news, he was working with one of the stars of Milk and gushed over how much he loved the movie, whereas she was busy gushing over him.) It's sad that those normal details could cause anyone trouble, but I don't think that's the Times' fault, it's the fault of whoever takes issue with it. It's also, unfortunately, a fact of life if you're going to try to be sort of closeted and in the public eye, which makes it odd to think that Wu wouldn't have considered the implications of the article before being that open, and not asked the reporter to leave out any mention of his sexuality, if he anticipated it being an issue. His lack of anticipation (if in fact, the tip is accurate and he's upset) doesn't mean he's to blame for other people's homophobia, but it does seem odd.
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Notes from the underwhelmed
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
I honestly think it's a good thing that the reporter thought his sexuality was such a non-issue that it could be casually mentioned like that.
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sybann
01/27/09

In reply to Did Obama Designer Jason Wu Inadvertently Out Himself In The Times?
NYT - bad form! A person's sexuality is only relevant to someone in his/her bed. Smack you on the schnozzle with a rolled up anachronism. *WHAPPITY*
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