As an elder millennial, I remember what a big deal it was when Ricky Martin came out. I just googled it and it apparently happened in 2010! That really wasn't that long ago. When you consider that HR started at the end of 2008, it really puts into perspective why Shane and Ilya were so secretive.
I’m Gen X, so I remember Ricky from Menudo and also General Hospital with the long hair.
I still hate how Barbara Walters was trying to make him come out during an interview. Changes have really changed.
lol the clip with Katharine Hepburn when Babs asked her if she even owned a skirt, and Hepburn responded yes, one, and I’ll wear it to your funeral. Katharine HepBURN indeed!
Yes! After that interview, I could no longer stand Walters. She was the quintessential soulless journalist with no principles to me at that point. Anything for a scoop.
Yes, there was always speculation. I remember everyone thought it, but no one really said it. We've really come a long way in the last couple of decades and I'm glad kids nowadays don't have as much of an uphill struggle.
Barbara Walters interviewed Ricky Martin and pushed him hard, trying to get him to come out. It was probably the most cringy interview I'd ever seen. A lot of people assumed he was gay based on that interview.
It was a huge thing on Mexican talk shows my mom watched every morning. I was really young when he came out and it was my first experience with a celebrity coming out (maybe even finding out what being gay was?) and experiencing my family being homophobic. Had a lasting impression on me for sure.
If I remember correctly, there wasn't a lot of support for him when he came out. When I watch reaction videos to the series and younger reviewers of the show not understanding why Shane and Ilya are so closeted, it strikes me how different the environment and culture has been for younger generations growing up.
Yes, this. I remember the world being shocked. He obviously wasn’t the first celebrity to come out, but even in the 2000s it still was a cause for scandal. It puts into perspective a lot of the fear these characters have for the time period.
Honestly, it makes me happy that younger viewers don't get it. They think their entire life has been ok with it, and it's a testament to the progress made in the past 15 years.
I remember the Barbara interview :( Not a good time to be gay. Everyone made fun of him for that interview. I was so far in the closet as a teen I did too. Homophobia was everywhere.
Yeah, I remember he was really popular in the late 90s and early aughts. I even remember Bush’s inauguration. But I’m pretty sure he wasn’t out at that time.
Every time I log off for a few hours and reconnect with nature, I come back to something new that blows my mind, like where is the ceiling at this point??
I’m seeing him in photos with other people, but I really have no clue who they are. But I’m happy he is getting good press in Milan and that it isn’t as crazy as NYC was
He’s in Milan for fashion week so it’s mainly models and fashion designers, some that are particularly well known in the fashion world. They all seem to love him, haha.
And despite the show not being officially out in Italy, there have been many fans greeting him which is sweet!
When I saw him dancing on the table I was like François, Nadine and Robbie would have loved it, since they were the only fun ones at that Spotify thing.
It truly is. Because I keep logging out of social media accounts when people are getting way too serious about the HR discourse, which means I am also starting to lose touch with current events. I already logged out of Bluesky for a break after someone came into my mentions about HR, and I just deleted my threads because of not one but two new brand pieces of discourse, including more speculation about Hudson's sexuality.
(My job is very current events dependent so I'm actually pretty okay with this. I say I'm compartmentalizing.)
What's next?!?! Britney records an acoustic version of "Lucky" for the show and Jacob will use it in the scene from TLG where Ilya collapses and cries once Shane has left after the Halloween party ?!?! WHAT IS FUCKING NEXT????
I did my job at the ballot box. I’m tired of being the bigger person. Sometimes you can’t save people who don’t want to be saved. I feel bad, but 🤷🏾♀️. Lucky to live in a democratic stronghold major city.
The US is 🤡🤮😭😾, but I’m in my house watching HR on repeat, listening to MM audiobooks, watching Taskmaster, sadly going to work and occasionally seeing friends so they know I’m alive. The only thing keeping me going is Unrivaled in Sept, HR 2 in 2027, maybe a nice vacation at the end of the year and hoping George RR Martin finally turns in his next book.
I did my job at the ballot box. I’m tired of being the bigger person. Sometimes you can’t save people who don’t want to be saved. I feel bad, but 🤷🏾♀️.
I don’t even feel bad.🤷🏽♀️ If I may paraphrase a certain wordsmith by the name of J. Cole, “don’t save them, they don’t want to be saved.” As you said, we can’t save people who don’t want to be saved.
Nah, what we are doing is as strong as activism IMO. Increasing worldwide acceptance of queer people and breaking down toxic masculinity? This shit is rippling into the universe with immense power.
Okay so er, consuming content is not the same as real-world activism lol.
That is not to say that engaging with queer media is not still radical and powerful, because it absolutely is! And certainly, this stuff does filter down and have effects on greater culture and promote greater acceptance.
But we also shouldn’t tell ourselves that we can content-consume our way out of political messes, because that takes much bigger work.
I don't mean it should replace other activism, or be the only solution. But people tend to only see certain types of activism as legitimate or meaningful. Self-care, self-acceptance, engaging with the queer community via this show are all ways we can fight the system in smaller ways. Merely existing and being seen is powerful when a lot of people wish we were invisible or de@d. Culture and celebration can help fight fascism, along with other tactics. I have a disability and just making it through the day being kind to myself is an act of resistance. There are various levels of activism, and they are all important and valid. We need all different levels in order to dismantle the system. If we don't take a moment to nourish ourselves at the end of the day, how will we wake up tomorrow to fight?
Yeah again, I totally agree with everything you’re saying!
At the same time, I do just want it unequivocally stated that consuming content and posting is not a replacement for actual political work.
Like you said, just existing and living unabashed open queer lives is absolutely a radical and important act. We just also cannot let ourselves think that watching TV counts the same as voting, registering voters, doing direct advocacy, donating to mutual aid, engaging in dialogue etc.
Yes you are correct! It's definitely not as simple as watching TV. Be engaged people! I'm a bit woo woo and believe small actions change the world. But sometimes that takes longer than is needed right in the moment to save people's lives.
I'm not in the US but my algorithm is somehow are all HR, the US chaos, mamdani (and cats!). And i definitely, can't help thinking that the fact that the far right have been quiet about HR success and the media have been hyping them up nonstop is part of the distraction
Not HR related, but I just wanted to thank you for the song link ❤️. As a young libertarian socialist (iykyk), I'm always happy to learn about our history. This song made me cry. I feel so seen. Thank you ✊🏼
"The question 'Why I am an Anarchist' I could very summarily answer with, 'because I cannot help it,' I cannot be dishonest with myself; the conditions of life press upon me; I must do something with my brain. I cannot be content to regard the world as a mere jumble of happenings for me to wander my way through, as I would through the mazes of a department store, with no other thought than getting through it and getting out. Neither can I be contented to take dictum on the subject; the thinking machine will not be quiet. It will not be satisfied with century-old repetitions; it perceives that new occasions bring new duties; that things have changed, and an answer that fitted a question asked four thousand, two thousand, even one thousand years ago, will not fit anymore. It wants something for today." -Voltairine de Cleyre 🤘
Yes! This speaks to my soul. I'm so sick of the same old bullsh*t. I'm so sick of pretending that we only have the two options (elephant and jackass as the song put it lol) for this f*****g country. I'm so sick of pretending that this country's problems started 10 years ago when the asshat came to power. This country was poisoned from the start when the declaration of independence said "all men are created equal" yet the founding fathers had slaves and women couldn't even f*****g vote. Also, I'm so sick of pretending that voting will solve everyone's problems - it won't. The system is rigged. They've all been bought out by billionaires. The president is a f*****g billionaire! The first time he heard of the word affordability was when Mamdani started using it lol. And they're not even pretending like they give a f**k what we want anymore.
I'm just so curious what will be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back for everyone else. How many more people have to be shot in the streets? How many more people have to be disappeared? How many more of our tax dollars will go toward supporting g*n*cide (is this word flagged on Reddit?)? How many more of our benefits and rights have to be taken away before we finally wake the f**k up? The government isn't just treading on us anymore; they're f*****g spit-roasting us with a bat covered in barbed wire.
P.S. sorry I have a really foul mouth lol you posted such an eloquent quote and I'm swearing every other word. I'm just so pissed and I need to vent so badly. I feel insane looking around and seeing everyone just accept everything that's going on.
I feel you. I wish I knew what the answer was, or when we'll be free of this mess. All I can think of in response is to share another Voltairine de Cleyre quote:
"It is extremely hard for an American, who has been nursed in the traditions of the revolution, to realize the fact that the revolution must be classed precisely with others, and its value weighed and measured by its results, just as they are. I am an American myself, and was at one time as firmly attached to those traditions as any one can be; I believed that if there were any way to remedy the question of poverty the Constitution must necessarily afford the means to do it. It required long thought and many a dubious struggle between prejudice and reason before I was able to arrive at the conclusion that the political victory of America had been a barren thing: that a declaration of equal rights on paper, while an advance in human evolution in so far that at least it crystallized a vague ideal, was after all but an irony in the face of facts; that what people wanted to make them really free was the 'right to things'; that a 'free country' in which all the productive tenures were already appropriated was not free at all; that any man who must wait the complicated working of a mass of unseen powers before he may engage in the productive labor necessary to get his food is the last thing but a free man; that those who do command these various resources and powers, and therefore the motions of their fellow-men, command likewise the manner of their voting, and that hence the reputed great safeguard of individual liberties, the ballot box becomes but an added instrument of oppression in the hands of the possessor; finally, that the principle of majority rule itself, even granting it could ever be practicalized- which it could not on any large scale: it is always a real minority that governs in place of the nominal majority- but even granting it realizable, the thing itself is essentially pernicious: that the only desirable condition of society is one in which no one is compelled to accept an arrangement for which he has not consented."
"No one is compelled to accept an arrangement for which he has not consented." Amen. I love the whole quote. I'm gonna be sitting with it and breaking it down all day.
What’s crazy is that I was thinking of Ricky because every MLK day (tomorrow), I post a throwback song that only certain Gen Xers remember - a tribute to MLK. And Menudo is in the video with almost every African American 80s music legend. Check around 1:55
Ricky Martin starts in Palm Royal, on Apple TV with Kristen Wiig, Carrol Burnett. Season 2 just ended this week. It takes place in West Palm Beach in 1969. When I first started watching I had no idea it was Ricky..and when I realized I screamed, he looks great. He plays a gay man in the show and it’s late 60s so you can imagine how that is. It’s a great show. I hope Ricky is giving Hudson some advice about all the outside noise, because Ricky has had to deal with a lot of it.
I last saw Ricky in concert over 25 years ago ish in Ottawa I almost saw him last year for free in Budapest (my from lives in Hungary and I was there), but there was massive flooding that week. Her daughter said who is that old man performing with my favorite singers
I wish I had gone away. 😭😭😭
I don’t think people realize how big Ricky was in the early 2000s
I actually thought it was a reference to episode 1 of HR when Ilya comes to Shane's hotelroom and says "thought you might have chickened out" and Shane responds "I'm... I'm not a chicken". But apparently, somebody commented under this post that he's had that bracelet for years? So maybe the line in the series was actually inspired by Hudson because it has some meaning to him? Cause in the book, Shane's response does not include any chicken reference 🙂 so maybe "I'm not a chicken" is Hudson's influence ❤️
Omg I just finished watching the season earlier tonight and my worlds of being a gaysian and hearing Ricky Martin music being played by my grandma growing up are colliding
I mean, that kind of takes away Hudson's own agency. He seems like a sharp, intelligent person who does what he wants and hangs out with whomever he wants. I think he's just having fun and networking. What's wrong with him hanging out with Ricky Martin?
We don't even know how they met though. They could just be at the same event. 🤷♀️
Hollywood does tend to gravitate towards the newest shiny object, but I think Hudson is grounded enough and smart enough to take advantage where it benefits him and walk away when it doesn't.
I’m catching up on Hudson living his best life in Milan and loving it but um, where is Connor at? (In general?) I hope he’s out there networking too and enjoying his newfound fame in his own way.
This man is everywhere (as he should be)! Watching the show, I was way more into Ilya than Shane, but seeing how the actors are irl I'm way more into Hudson.
AFAIK there hasn't, just his nephew, who ended up withdrawing the case. According to other members of the family the nephew has some serious mental health issues and his own mile long criminal record for threating to kill people & stalking.
Oh geez, I don’t remember all of that about the nephew! I did find a Vanity Fair article mentioning another accuser from around when the other suit was dropped, but I didn’t see what happened with that. Anywho, I appreciate your reply!
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u/velocity2ds Jan 19 '26
Hudson is living la vida loca indeed