Comedian Billy Eichner took to Twitter to complain that he wasn’t included on Entertainment Weekly’s illustrated cover for their June pride issue. Eichner is best known for his Billy On The Street show where he chases tourists around Times Square to ask them silly questions.
He took particular umbrage that Rock Hudson, the actor who came out shortly before dying from AIDS, was included while he wasn’t. Gay Twitter being what it is, finally laughed at something Eichner said.
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“We had big dreams [for the Pride issue],” editor JD Heyman wrote about the cover. “To bring Pride festivities home to an audience an unable to participate in big parades and parties, and to pay homage to Hollywood’s LGBTQ storytellers — past, present, and future.”
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“But marking the month with some big, elaborate, social distance shattering photo shoot was definitely out. So, we teamed with London-based illustrator Jack Hughes to create a totally different kind of EW cover — one that pays tribute to the central role LGBTQ artists have had in Hollywood from its very beginnings.”
“With painstaking attention to detail, he juxtaposed legends of the past with stars of today and a rising new generation of talent,” Heyman continued.
“The result? The kind of bash we’d all dream of going to: with Rock Hudson rubbing elbows with Ellen DeGeneres, Marlene Deitrich cutting a rug with Cynthia Nixon, Freddie Mercury warmly greeting Janelle Monáe, and Ryan Murphy showing up wearing Liberace’s cape.”
“As someone who’s been out since I first started almost 20 years ago, it is an honor to be on this cover,” he tweeted. “oh wait I’m sorry that is a dead closeted person I’m so sorry”
“I thought you were going to get emotional about how far the industry has come,” Jason Lange responded. “Never change Billy.”
Comedian Wanda Skyes, a lesbian comic infinitely more funny and popular than Eichner, responded with a laughing emoji.
Max Power deftly pointed out that Eichner’s pity party was rather selfish.
“Start a club with: Neil Patrick Harris, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes, Sean Hayes, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, Sarah Paulson, Sara Gilbert, Nathan Lane and Portia De Rossi,” they tweeted.
But user RachelEfff had the best reply possible, sending Eichner a photoshopped version of the cover with him inserted in the corner with a petulant look on his face.
The cover features (from left to right starting in the back): Janelle Monáe, Freddie Mercury, Kate McKinnon, Ricky Martin, John Waters, Dan Levy; Middle row, from left: Ellen DeGeneres, Rock Hudson, Laverne Cox, Lily Tomlin, Kristen Stewart, Lil Nas X, George Takei, Ryan Murphy, Cynthia Nixon, Marlene Dietrich; Bottom row, from left: RuPaul, Elton John.
As someone who’s been out since I first started almost 20 years ago, it is an honor to be on this cover oh wait I’m sorry that is a dead closeted person I’m so sorry https://t.co/cuqfYD8Mxz
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) May 13, 2020
Here Billy, I added you to it BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT!!! pic.twitter.com/mG7guvbiK1
— Rachael (@RachaelEfff) May 14, 2020
I thought you were going to get emotional about how far the industry has come. Never change Billy. pic.twitter.com/roVs8qe29d
— Jason Lange (@JasonRLange) May 13, 2020
😂
— Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) May 14, 2020
Start a club with: Neil Patrick Harris, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes, Sean Hayes, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, Sarah Paulson, Sara Gilbert, Nathan Lane and Portia De Rossi
— Max Power (@MaxPowerZip) May 13, 2020