Hidden in Plain Sight — This One’s For You, Salvatore.
This week Clay Aiken came out of the closet. For those of you who don’t give a flying fig about pop culture, Mr. Aiken is an American Idol runner up who has gone on to a fair amount of success, greater success than that year’s winner, due to a huge female middle aged fan base. Claymates.
For most of us who do follow pop culture, the typical reaction was, “Um, yeah, in other news — water’s wet.” Most people solved that little mystery years ago, and bloggers have posted about it as a given for five years or so. The more “legit” media also asked him about it on a number of occasions.
Then there was the “Ripagate.” Aiken was filling in for Regis Philbin on Regis and Kelly. At one point he put his hand over Kelly’s mouth and she responded by saying that was a “no no” and she didn’t know where his hand had been. The next day on The View Rosie O’Donnell called Kelly’s response homophobic.
Even though Clay Aiken was not officially out. (more…)
