Netflix Renews “Queer Eye,” Starring Karamo Brown, for Ninth Season

Karamo Brown is keepin’ his Eye on the prize…

Netflix has renewed Queer Eye, starring the 43-year-old half-Cuban American television host, reality television personality, author, actor and activist, for a ninth season.

Karamo BrownThe ninth season will switch locations to Las Vegas after Season 8 will be once again set in New Orleans. Season 8 will premiere on January 24, 2024.

In addition to Brown, Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski and Tan France are expected to return for Season 9. Bobby Berk announced his departure from the series earlier in the day.

Queer Eye is produced by Scout Productions and ITV Entertainment.

Brown serves as the culture expert on Queer Eye.

He began hosting an eponymous talk show titled Karamo for NBCUniversal in September 2022.

HBO Max Renews Leiomy Maldonado’s “Legendary” for Third Season

There are more Legendary moments in Leiomy Maldonado’s future…

HBO has renewed its ballroom competition series Legendary, featuring the 34-year-old transgender Afro-Puerto Rican dancer, instructor, model, activist and ballroom dancer, for a third season.

Leiomy Maldonado

In addition to Maldonado, returning judges include Jameela JamilLaw Roach and Megan Thee Stallion. MC Dashaun Wesley will also return for the series, which hails from Queer Eye producer Scout Productions.

Legendary features a group of voguing houses, each featuring five performers and a leader called the house mother. The teams compete in a competition that documents a themed ball every episode from start to finish. Throughout each episode, we learn more about each house and their performers as they tell us their moving and inspirational backstories.

The first season was shot in New York and the second season featured LA houses. It’s not clear where season three will be shot.

Maldonado recently told Deadline that the series has brought newfound respect to the ballroom community, which has been the inspiration from everything from Madonna’s “Vogue” to Beyoncé.

“This show itself has shown a lot of people and gained a lot of respect for our community,” she said. “I feel like the ballroom community is prepared for competition and the competition they can bring to this show is something that you won’t see anywhere else.”

“We’ve only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to showcasing the beautiful world that is ballroom,” said Jennifer O’Connell, Executive Vice President, Non-Fiction and Live-Action Family Programming, HBO Max. “We are excited to work with our partners at Scout again to take this show to even greater heights in season three and continuing to shine a light on these compelling stories.”

“We are thrilled to return with our friends at HBO Max, as well as our iconic judges and MC Dashaun Wesley, for a third season,” added Rob Eric, Scout Productions’ Chief Creative Officer and executive producer. “We can’t wait for the next season’s talent to set the bar even higher as we continue to showcase the fabulous world of ballroom.”

Jai Rodriguez to Star in HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ Landmark Events Docuseries “Equal”

Jai Rodriguez has found his Equal

The 41-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor/musician and original culture guide on Queer Eye has joined the cast of HBO Max’s Equal, its upcoming four-part docuseries chronicling landmark events and the forgotten heroes of the LGBTQ+ movement.

Jai Rodriguez

The project hails from Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions, Jim Parsons and That’s Wonderful Productions, Scout Productions, Jon Jashni and Warner Horizon Unscripted Television.

In addition to Rodriguez, who’ll portray José Sarria, the first openly gay candidate for public office in the United States, the cast includes Samira Wiley, Cheyenne Jackson, Anthony Rapp, Sara Gilbert, Shannon Purser, Heather Matarazzo, Jamie Clayton, Isis King, Gale Harold.

They’ll allportray the LBGTQ+ visionaries in the docuseries that contains never-before-seen archival footage.

Part one of the docuseries explores the rise of early organizations, The Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis in Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively; part two stories chronicles the 20th century trans experience, bookended by the 1966 Compton Cafeteria riots in San Francisco; part three examines the contributions from the Black community on the growing LGBTQ+ civil rights movement; and part four ties in the decades long struggles with the culminated Stonewall uprising – the beginning of the Pride movement.

Stephen Kijak is the showrunner and director of episodes one, three and four alongside ground-breaking trans director Kimberly Reed, who directs episode two.

Here’s a full list with character descriptions:

Cheyenne Jackson as Dale Jennings. Dale was a gay rights activist, playwright and author. He was one of the founding members of the Mattachine Society in the early 1950s, one of the earliest gay rights groups in the United States. Following his entrapment and arrest on sex charges, Jennings fought the charges in a successful court cast which became a landmark moment for the movement. He was also one of the founders of One Magazine, the first pro-gay publication in the U.S.

Anthony Rapp as Harry Hay. Harry was the founder of The Mattachine Society. His manifesto, “The Call,” written feverishly one night in 1948 called for the protection and improvement of the rights of homosexuals and was the foundation on which the group was built.

Shannon Purser & Heather Matarazzo as Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon. Del & Phyllis were a lesbian couple (together for 56 years until Martin’s death in 2008) who founded the Daughters of Bilitis in San Francisco in 1955, the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States. They also published The Ladder, the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the US. Active in both gay and feminist politics their whole lives, they were the first same-sex couple to legally wed.

Sara Gilbert as J.M. From Cleveland. “JM” is an “anonymous reader” of The Ladder, representing the isolated lesbians of the 1950’s who found a lifeline in the pages of the magazine, but who were forced to live closeted lives for fear of losing jobs, friends and family.

Anne Ramsay as The FBI Agent: A composite character, the FBI kept active files on the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis – gay groups were often linked to communism and considered to be dangerous subversives.

Alexandra Grey as Lucy Hicks Anderson. Socialite, chef, and prohibition-era entrepreneur – and one of the first documented Black transgender persons in the USA — Lucy Hicks Anderson was one of the most prominent citizens of Oxnard, CA until 1945 when a syphilis outbreak at her brothel became her undoing, outing her to the community.

Theo Germaine as Jack Starr. Jack is a little-known character in the history of folks who probably would have self-identified as trans. He was a prominent local outcast at the turn of the century in Montana, in and out of jail and in and out of the local headlines for refusing to wear clothes that conformed to the gender assigned to Jack at birth. A Jack-of-all-trades and teller of tall tales, Jack Starr (aka Jacques Moret) is an enigmatic early figure who pushed the boundaries of gender expression.

Jamie Clayton as Christine Jorgensen. Widely known as the world’s first transgender celebrity, Christine became an internationally known figure following the publicity surrounding her gender confirmation surgery in the early 1950’s. She became a popular nightclub entertainer, author, and lecturer and used her celebrity to advance the cause of transgender rights.

Isis King as Alexis. “Alexis” is a composite character, the spirit of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in 1966, one of the first known instances of trans and queer folk rising up against police harassment – three years before the Stonewall Riots.

Samira Wiley as Lorraine Hannsberry. Author of the landmark play “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry was the first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. She was a radical and forceful voice within the Civil Rights Movement, who died far too young at age 34 of pancreatic cancer. While closeted during her lifetime, she wrote extensively under a variety of pseudonyms – in plays, stories and letters that discussed her lesbianism and the oppression of homosexuals in society.

Keiynan Lonsdale as Bayard Rustin. Bayard was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. He was a close mentor and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the chief architects of the March on Washington. Because of a 1953 arrest on sex charges his sexuality was often weaponized against him and the movement, but he remained a tireless advocate for social justice his entire life – and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barak Obama in 2013.

Jai Rodriguez as José Sarria. In 1961 José became the first openly gay candidate for public office in the United States, running for a seat on the SF Board of Supervisors 16 years before Harvey Milk. He is also remembered as a beloved and inspiring drag performer at SF’s Black Cat Bar, who raised the spirits and political consciousness of the bar’s gay male patrons with his rousing anthem “God Save Us Nelly Queens”! A lifelong advocate and activist, José founded the Imperial Court System, one of the oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the world.

Hailie Sahar as Sylvia Rivera. Sylvia was a Latina American gay liberation and transgender rights activist. Prominent as an activist and community worker in New York, Rivera, along with close friend Marsha P. Johnson, co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries in 1970, a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens, gay youth, and trans women. Whether true or a bit of self myth-making, Sylvia placed herself at the center of the Stonewall Riots – either way, her perspective on the riots and its aftermath are an indelible part of the oral history of Stonewall.

Scott Turner Schofield as Craig Rodwell. Craig was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop in 1967, the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors. A witness and participant in the Stonewall riots, he was one of the prime movers in the creation of the first New York City Pride demonstration.

Cole Doman as Mark Segal. Mark is an American journalist and prominent gay rights activist. He participated in the Stonewall riots and was one of the original founders of the Gay Liberation Front where he created its Gay Youth program.

Elizabeth Faith Ludlow as Stormé DeLarverie. Stormé was a gay civil rights icon and entertainer whose scuffle with police was, according to many eyewitnesses, the spark that ignited the Stonewall riots, spurring the crowd to action. She worked for much of her life as an MC, singer, bouncer, bodyguard and volunteer street patrol worker, the “guardian of lesbians in the Village.”

Gale Harold as Howard Smith. Howard was an Oscar-winning film director, producer, journalist, screenwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. At the peak of the historic Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969, he managed to get inside the now famous bar with his Village Voice reporter’s police credentials. He was the only journalist who reported about the siege from that dangerous vantage point.

Sam Pancake as Dick Leitsch. Dick was a prominent LGBTQ rights activist and president of the Mattachine Society in the 1960s. He is also known for being the first gay reporter to publish an account of the Stonewall Riots, which appeared in a special edition of the Mattachine Newsletter the day after he witnessed the first night of the riot.

Leiomy Maldonado to Serve as a Judge on HBO Max’s Voguing Competition Series “Legendary”

Leiomy Maldonado is legendary

The 32-year-old transgender Afro-Puerto Rican dancer, instructor, model, activist, and ballroom dancer, known as the “Wonder Woman of Vogue,” will serve as a judge on HBO Max’s upcoming voguing competition series Legendary

Leiomy Maldonado

The Good Place’sJameela Jamilwill serve as the host and a judge alongside Maldonado, Megan Thee Stallion and Law Roach. They’ll be joined by a weekly rotating guest judge, with commentary by DJ MikeQand Dashaun Wesley, who’ll emcee with Jamil.

In the 10-episode Legendary, from Scout Productions, divas will battle on voguing teams called “houses,” with the chance to win a cash prize in ballsy fashion and dance challenges to ultimately achieve “Legendary” status. 

Voguing is a competitive style of modern dance featuring over-the-top fashion and choreography based on poses struck by models on a catwalk. 

Legendary will feature 10 voguing “houses,” each comprised of five performers and a leader – the house “parent.” The teams rotate in a round-robin format, and each episode documents a themed ball from start to finish.

The competition show isset to launch on WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming service, which debuts in spring 2020.

Maldonado was a member of the dance troupe “Vogue Evolution,” which was featured on America’s Best Dance Crew. She has worked with artists like Willow Smith, Icona Pop, and CocoRosie. She’s also a choreographer for the ballroom scenes in FX’s Pose.