Hi friends,
I’m currently looking for clips of (closeted) lesbian and bisexual celebrities in interview during which the (typically male) interviewer commits some sort of microaggression against the interviewee, be it talking about the topic of lesbianism too long for comfort or asking the interviewee if she is dating, has a boyfriend (hi compulsory heterosexuality), et cetera.
I’m compiling these clips for a videography project so if you know of an interview with your favorite queer celebrity that fits the description, please submit it to me. There are tons of these from the mid-90s to mid 00s and mostly from late night television, but I do not have a particular date after which the clips become irrelevant. There are some of Chely Wright which are as recent as 2007, and I’m pretty sure there are some with Rosie O’Donnell that date as far back as 1988. The trick is finding them.
So much of my focus on this specific area has to do with the interviewee’s expression upon being unexpectedly asked something intrusive—they fidget, blanch or flush, and avert the interviewee’s gaze. In retrospect, these moments are terrifying to watch because you quickly realize that the line between in-ness and outness is the difference between securing roles and being blacklisted.
History! Recent, but important.
