Ree Wherspoon Slat Actors Who Won’t Play Gay Characters – KschMix

Wherspoon, the pany’s founr and CEO, is a succsful entertament journalist, a proud gay person of lor, and a media nsumer himself. Havg served as an entertament rrponnt for CNN, Fandango, and Entertament Edor for theGr, Wherspoon is now divg to the world of tech. To build an app that will gui the nsumer fdg ntent that’s right for them while also creatg a muny around the media we take . * chris witherspoon gay *

Stream Is My F*ck Buddy’s Roommate Off Lims? Ft. Chris Wherspoon by Everyone's Gay on sktop and mobile. Play over 320 ln tracks for ee on SoundCloud. * chris witherspoon gay *

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Ree Wherspoon thks actors who refe to play gay rol need to "lighten up". Durg an terview wh PriSource, the actrs - who is currently promotg  Hot Pursu - sists is the job of actors to "transform" and be "malleable" and bee many different characters. I thk gay people are… * chris witherspoon gay *

Durg a time when the entertament dtry is reckong wh a panmic and s own racial improprieti, a Black queer journalist has an app for that. Wh PopViewers, Chris Wherspoon tends to give everyday people an opportuny to exprs vio reactns and ments to what they are watchg real time. Currently available on Apple iOS, the app is strivg to do what Wherspoon has done his entire reer: pass the mic back to a diverse muny of ‘Real Hoewiv’ and Bravo Stars Sound Off on Racism and All Liv Matter: It’s ‘Insultg’ “I created PopViewers, not only based on a trend I saw, but also bee I genuely want to mocratize how we talk about ntent for my own sake—as a member and advote of the muni,” Wherspoon told The Daily Beast. “While many succsful tech platforms are marketg to people of lor, we want to go many steps beyond this wh PopViewers. We want to emboln their voice to empower change.”Wherspoon, 38, says his self-termatn to enact such change me om his upbrgg. The Warren, Oh, native me om humble begngs, growg up wh a mother who worked a bunch of different jobs orr to keep a roof over their heads. His father, who was the Natnal Guard, grew up pickg tton on a farm his fay owned Sumpter, South Carola. There were tim when Wherspoon says his fay experienced homelsns, havg to abptly relote multiple tim before he fished high school.“I unt my tough childhood as a blsg,” Wherspoon said of the rilience he gaed om such experienc. “It tght me about life, visng, and envisng exactly who I want to be the future. It’s wh that toolset that I’ve bee very rilient as a founr and CEO.”The transn om beg a small town kid who dreamed of a media reer after once buyg a floor mol TV for $10 at a yard sale to eventually landg a gig at The Today Show me very fast. In 2004, durg his senr year llege, Wherspoon terned at Good Morng Ameri, where he got to work closely wh heavyweights like Diane Sawyer and Rob Roberts every morng the stud. He quickly land a spot the prtig NBC Page Program, where he got to b shoulrs wh the lik of Matt Ler, Katie Couric, Ann Curry, and Al Roker.“Katie Couric would ll me by name every morng,” Wherspoon said of the experience. “When I saw and met all the big stars that were on the show that whout makp on, I disvered that they were jt like me and the folks I grew up wh back home Oh. Some of them even had blemish, they were real people.”Wherspoon went om the page program to landg a job as an executive assistant to then-CEO of NBC Universal, Jeff Zucker. Wh mentorship om Zucker, he me to unrstand the importance of diversy and reprentatn rporate media.“It wasn’t lost on me that I was probably one of the few Black fac that were on the executive floor throughout the day that wasn’t wearg a uniform and rryg a tray, or a secury guard,” Wherspoon said on “wearg nice drs-up cloth” and workg close proximy to a media powerhoe. “Jeff Zucker saw me for who I was, and let me the room. He left me near the door, he would let me shake the hands of every sgle person that he had a meetg wh. He showed me what is to have big ias, to execute them, to w and to sometim lose, but to get back the game and to keep playg the game and to keep dreamg big ias.”After years of eventually servg as an entertament analyst for CNN, a rrponnt for Fandango, entertament edor for theGr, and now as a regular ntributor on the Wendy Williams Show, Wherspoon has wnsed hurdl an dtry that still hasn’t fully addrsed s diversy wo. The recent awakengs Hollywood (OsrsSoWhe, TimUp, and the latt racial uprisgs) have spired his drive to do more than jt reprent on the red rpet, but actively ntribute to nontg stutnal problems that he believ still has yet to ex stage right.“I often thk about the next step diversy—after havg worked for a whe CEO at an entertament pany—that we need to see change at the top,” Wherspoon said. “We also need to see diversy and cln reflected the crews and the folks behd the scen.”Wherspoon wants the media dtry to do more “ventory and asssment” ternally on their hirg numbers, believg there mt be “a rolve there first before we n see a major change.” But he also suggts that race shouldn’t be the only thg foced on, but issu surroundg sexual orientatn and genr inty as well.“When to homophobia and transphobia the dtry, I thk that we have a very long way to go,” Wherspoon argu. “But we're makg progrs, glacially sometim. For example, wh the diversy problems surroundg the recent LGBTQ holiday movi, ’s yet another remr that we mt have stori that are beg greenl by , that are for .”And yet, Wherspoon has realized throughout his reer that such reprentatn alone isn’t always enough. While Wherspoon scrib workg as an entertament analyst for CNN as a “great experience,” he still adms somethg wasn’t que right workg there spe beg a Black queer profsnal placed a highly sired posn.“If I’m beg hont, I wasn't absolutely myself that role,” Wherspoon now ntemplat years later. “I thk workg wh a big pany like CNN, be easy to see a big brand and thk, ‘Oh, here's how I n f this mold. Here's how I n be this type of person that reprents this brand of CNN.’”“I have tly loved workg as an entertament rrponnt, but through all I have regnized that reprentatn at the cisn table is still a major issue,” Wherspoon said. “For example, pre-panmic I attend advance screengs for new movi and TV shows. I would look around and quickly see that I was one of the only people of lor the crowd screeng rooms. The fact is that the majory of the crics and cisn-makers that work for the major media publitns and news outlets still don’t aquately reflect the nsumers they are supposed to reprent.”Such experienc are what motivated Wherspoon to ensure that PopViewers was an opportuny for those who often don’t get a wi entertament platform to share their opns to be able to. On the app, anyone, om any background, n share their views on the untls film or televisn show optns hosts. While mostly whe men still domate the cultural cric arena, the app serv as another remr that diverse voic the field exist and are sperately need to unter the current narrative.“When I talk about whether or not folks should go see a movie or watch a TV show, I fd myself referencg data om Nielsen ratgs or cric aggregate sr, or what’s been nomated for an Emmy, Osr, or Goln Globe,” Wherspoon said. “But cric aggregat and award shows don’t always get right; they don’t aquately reflect the diversy and nuance of the dience that’s actually watchg. I tly believe that heedg the voic of the people n fundamentally shift our perceptn of each other, lead to better ntent, and to a better world.”And while such a lofty project is worth s weight, gettg off the ground hasn’t e que easy for the late-thirti founr who’s had to navigate both racism and homophobia throughout the media dtry—while facg new challeng the tech world.“I was often the only Black person—and fely the only Black gay person—who got a seat... I regnize now how I censored myself and my opns for fear that my te voice would st me my spot,” Wherspoon said on such earlier experienc his reer. “To secure my posn, I adopted the practice of -swchg, where I would shrk certa parts of how I show up to reflect what I believed to be a more mercially acceptable versn of me as an entertament journalist.”Now wh the tech muny, velopment surroundg his app has entered a new round of fundg. His new fundraisg goal is to raise $5 ln, which Wherspoon believ will get PopViewers to the sle his team has md. But as a Black gay founr, he argu that he still don’t “f the mold for the type of founr” that has proven to be the most succsful tech.“I'm not whe, I didn't go to Harvard, and I don't wear hoodi,” Wherspoon says about the obstacl ont of him Silin Valley. “Like s close , imposter syndrome, reprentatn syndrome is also a real feelg that I have to overe on a daily basis. There is an add prsure to make this work and to h a home n bee I want to open doors for other black and queer people and their brilliant ias this dtry.”Much of Wherspoon’s drive om fatherhood. As a dad to his small son named Andrés, who he had via his lbian bt iend servg as a surrogate and -parent, Wherspoon nsirs him “the maniftatn of my biggt dream” of beg a father.“I want him to look to the media to fd a posive reprentatn of himself, and others like him, and others not like him,” Wherspoon said of what he sir for his son. “He serv more than jt one optn.”Today, Wherspoon says he n now “relish” the fact that he’s buildg a muny at PopViewers that allows the dience to bee the crics. His “no gatekeepers, no tablishment, no excln,” mantra on the job has spired him to create the kd of creative safe space he’s wanted his entire reer.“The bt part of this is that I get to brg the totaly of who I am as a Black gay man to the table while leadg my team on this missn,” Wherspoon said. “I hope we n change the system so that others will feel fortable brgg their full, thentic selv to the spac our dtry.”Such goals are what spir him to make PopViewers not jt another trendy app, but a multi-platform experience that ntu to foster and advote for diverse voic. Wherspoon says a valuable lson tght to him om an elr at Sunday school his childhood puts the hop and dreams he has for this new enavor to full perspective.“In 1999, a lady at my church said to me, ‘If you don't see the example, be the example,’” Wherspoon relled. “I hope to be the example, a Black gay man the tech dtry and the entertament tech space who remas te to his thentic self. I know that I’m an outlier, and I want to be able to open doors and make room for others like me to be this space. There are so many people eager to create tech platforms and that gets me exced.”Read more at The Daily our top stori your box every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Insi go eper on the stori that matter to you. Learn more. * chris witherspoon gay *