The Advocate Article (I am sorry about the little A thingies, they happen to show up by accident.)
Here's a little preview, sorry I couldn't get the whole article.
"THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST"
The Real World?anny talks about life in the public eye and dating a man in the military in the age of ??sk, don?ell.??t;br>By Jon Barrett
From The Advocate, July 18, 2000
Twenty-two-year-old Danny has a secret. And it?ot the one he shared with his parents just before he moved to New Orleans last winter. By now, more than five weeks into MTV?atest incarnation of The Real World, everybody knows Danny is gay. Today, Danny?ealing with an entirely different secret: his boyfriend, Paul.
Paul is in the military. And like most service members who want to keep their jobs, he?n the closet. Neither his parents nor other family members?? even his best friends??w he is gay.
But because of Danny?articipation in the 20-something soap opera (in which seven strangers live together and have their lives chronicled for five months), he and Paul have been thrust into the battle over the military?don?sk, don?ell??licy.
That?here things get tricky for Danny (who asked that his and Paul?ast names not be used). Just when MTV is making him one of the most recognizable gay faces among those in their teens and 20s, his very notoriety threatens the anonymity and the livelihood of the person he cares for most.
?re were two reasons I wanted to do the show,??nny says. ?st, I wanted to get out of Atlanta.??had just graduated from [the University of Georgia], and I didn?now what the hell I was doing with life.??d second, he says, ?ng on the show was a chance to, hopefully, dispel stereotypes and show the public??t there are so many different types of gay people.??t;br>
But when Danny met Paul in Atlanta less than two weeks before taping was set to begin in New Orleans, the unfolding of their innocent love story became much more than that. The two realized that if Paul were to visit Danny in New Orleans, he would inevitably end up on the program??obvious violation of the military policy, which allows gay people to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation hidden from everyone.
?thought we were going to have to go for five months and not see each other,??nny says. ? then two weeks into the project [Paul] was like, ? coming.?
The twist surprised the show?roducers almost as much as it did the new lovers themselves. ?n we cast Danny he didn?ave a boyfriend in the military,??ys Real World cocreator Jonathan Murray. ?was actually high on some other guy.??t after only a few weeks into the show, Danny and Paul ?n?now if they could survive being apart,??rray says. So ?agreed to not show Paul?ace or give away any distinguishing characteristics.??t;br>
Thus Paul?mage is blurred on-screen (almost as if he were on Cops rather than The Real World), ?ave to be very careful what I reveal about him,??nny says of the time he first showed pictures of Paul to his housemates. ?ould ruin his career, his life.??t;br>
But while Danny?nd Paul?articipation in the show has introduced millions to an issue many gay people consider one of the biggest obstacles in the struggle for equality??s in the military??er five months in front of the camera, Danny just wants to focus on their relationship??private. ?ould like to speak out [against ??sk? says Danny, who eventually wants to start his own youth-oriented travel business. ? the more I would bother with that, the more I would piss the military off and give them a reason to find out [Paul?identity. That?he last thing I want to happen.??t;br>
For the full story??luding an exclusive interview with Paul??k up the July 18 issue of The Advocate, now on sale.
THE TV GUIDE ARTICLE
It? typically hot and sultry day in late May along the broad, tree-lined avenues of New Orleans?istoric Garden District. And even though there is air-conditioning inside the enormous Greek Revival mansion called the Belfort, where seven strangers have been living together for five months for MTV?nduring hit, The Real World (Tuesdays, 10 pm/ET), the atmosphere is distinctly heated.
?ie walks in, and I think, ?s guy is totally gorgeous and unattainable,?ays Melissa, 23, who sits bare-legged on an upstairs bed in a teeny tank top and microskirt. She is recalling the day in January when she met one of her new housemates, handsome, square-jawed Jamie. ?as just lusting after him.??t;br>
Downstairs in the living room, 20-year-old Julie, a devout Mormon who attends Brigham Young University, can barely keep her eyes off Matt, who is playing pool across the hall. It is the cast?ast day in the house, and she?ot sure when she?see Matt, her first great?? unrequited??e, again. ?m nuts about Matt,??e sighs. ?on?hink I?meet someone like him again. I think my heartache will be very dramatic.??t;br>
It better be. As The Real World begins its ninth season, the show follows one of the most buzzed-about years in its history??ast that sexed and boozed its way through five top-rated months in Hawaii. But it also faces a slew of brand-new ?v??ke competition, such as ABC?aking the Band, Fox?merican High and CBS?mash Survivor as well as the upcoming Big Brother.
Can this year?ast deliver? In the Belfort house there are two deeply religious virgins (Matt, Julie), one scholarly, bodybuilding musician (David) who says he had sex with countless women in New Orleans, a gay man (Danny) whose boyfriend?ace cannot be shown on-camera, a boy-crazy woman (Melissa) who ends up celibate for all five months, a budding Internet tycoon (Jamie) and a golden girl who has a knack for getting everything she wants (Kelley).
Everyone seems to get along with one another except David, the stud, whom the entire cast, led by Jamie, confronts at the end of the season. ?t whole conquering-women thing went to his head,??lissa complains. ?-camera he was constantly asking, ?n are we going to go on a date??d I?ike, Eeuuuwww.?lt;br>
In addition to their Big Easy escapades, the cast produces and stars in their own weekly live show-within-a-show called The Real 7 on New Orleans public-access television. Oh, and the gang also goes on a 10-day trek to South Africa, where Matt describes Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 19 years, as ?ally rad.??t;br>
None of the cast sleeps with a fellow housemate but, as 22-year-old Danny says, ?s house had a lot of sexual energy.??lt;br>
Sometimes the best place for that energy was outside the house, as when Melissa dances topless in a bar in the French Quarter, at one point covering her breasts with dollar bills given to her by patrons. David confesses he has a fantasy of stripping onstage, then decides to fulfill it.
All things considered, this Real World leaves its creators and coexecutive producers, Mary Ellis-Bunim and Jonathan Murray, confident that they?still ahead of the pack. ?re not worried,??ys Murray, who also coproduces Making the Band with Bunim. ?were the first, and we?still the best.??t;br> NEW WORLD
Being the best often comes from the quirky alchemy among the Real World cast members, like last year?oller-coaster romance between drama queen Amaya and Colin Mortensen, who costars in NBC?ummer series M.Y.O.B. It?ven better when the cast includes an obnoxious person who clashes with someone sympathetic. Think back to the series?an Francisco season, its third, when troublemaking Puck taunted AIDS educator Pedro. (Puck was thrown out of the house and Pedro died of AIDS shortly after the season?nd.)
And despite the rigorous screening of the more than 35,000 applicants for each season?ast, the most compelling stuff on The Real World often surprises the producers.
Murray and Bunim were caught off guard last year by Ruthie, who did not realize she had a serious drinking problem until the show was under way. ?hink that was our own na?t?bout college campuses,??rray says. ? said she liked to party, and her friends said she liked to party. When we had the intervention, her friends came from Rutgers, and they were still playing it down. We?become more vigilant.??t;br>
The producers got a shock this year, too??n Danny began a romance with Paul, an officer in the military, shortly before production started. ?literally found out about Paul when Danny was telling his roommates during filming,??rray says. ?thought, ? are we going to deal with this if Paul wants to visit?? don?ant to ruin his career because of the government?don?sk, don?ell?licy.??t;br>
Their solution was to blur Paul?ace when he came to see Danny. ?bugs me,??nny says. ?re? scene where we?kissing in the hot tub, but it?ust a blur. It?nnoying and not fair that it has to be that way.
If his face were shown, he?e thrown out.??t;br>
So far Paul hasn?een dishonorably discharged. And nobody bailed from the house, the way Justin did in Hawaii last year, even though Melissa says she almost packed her bags and hit the road. ?n I said, ?issa, it?nly five months, you can do it.?went through hell on this show to get where I am today. A lot of us did, but we made it.??Dana Kennedy is an entertainment reporter for MSNBC.
JUNE 24 - 30, 2000
CHEERS & JEERS
ROUSH REVIEW:
Reality TV Roundup
ROBINS REPORT:
Is Barbara Walters Leaving ABC?
NEW WORLD
Article from ETC magazine on Danny. Quotes from Danny and Jon Murray. No great revelations but if anyone's interested article appears below.
ETC is a free magazine you can pick up at most gay bars in the Southeast. It's mostly Atlanta oriented but there are ads for bars/events all over the south. Their site is etcmag.com and the article was written by Lawrence Ferber.
------------------------------Courtsey of Tab Tab
Danny isn't the first openly gay cast member to appear on MTV's nine-year-old real-life soap opera series, "The Real World." Nor is he the first to kiss another man on screen. However, he is the first to kiss a blurred one. "That totally kills the moment," Danny says laughing, a small town Georgia twang informing his masculine register. "Oh, that's so romantic. He's making out with a blur."
Truth is, Danny's really making out with his boyfriend, Paul, whose identity was concealed in post-production so as not to endanger his military career or break up the happy couple. "We didn't want to deny Danny the opportunity to have Paul visit," explains "The Real World" openly gay executive producer Jon Murray. "Plus, it's an interesting story. People will talk about it, and maybe the military policy will evolve, because we're showing it up in the face of young people."
Hot on the heels of last season's hot Hawaii adventure - that featured bisexual lush Ruthie and queer bleached-boy Justin - this year takes place in even spicier New Orleans with what Murray feels is one of the series' most likeable casts ever. In addition to University of Georgia graduate Danny, there's Matt, a stylish creative critter and Georgia Tech junior; Julie, a sheltered Mormon; Melissa, a short but saucy slice of half-black, half-Filipino energy; David, a muscular musician with sex appeal for days; Kelley, a strong-willed beauty; and Jamie, a good-looking, well-off Cornell graduate.
Together, the gang produced their own cable access program, experienced Mardi Gras, attended a dinner party at a famous author's home, went on a swamp tour through the alligator-infested bayou, savored the thrills of stripping at a Bouron Street club and found more than a beignet's worth of romace. Danny professes that his housemates - shacked up in a chi-chi Greek revival mansion in the historic garden District - were welcoming from the moment he stepped inside. In fact, he even suspected that other "family" members might have been in his midst. "Honestly, when I walked into the house I didn't think Matt was a queen," Danny admits, "but I thought, 'Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to be the token gay!' Supposedly he's straight, though."
For the most part, Danny's housemates seemed to have little trouble adjusting to a gay roommie. At most, Jamie exhibited occasional tinges of discomfort toward Danny - as evident in the premiere episode. "The things with Jamie is he totally wants to pretend he's cool with it, because his deal is he wants to be seen as being very PC, like the PC business world," Danny opines. "But I know he's not."
"There was one time where me and Kelley, we're lying in bed, we'd been drinking or whatever, just kinda hanging out and being silly, and he made this commen like, 'Oooh, I don't wanna get too close to that.' What is that supposed to mean? Little things like that from time to time would show me he is not cool with it and should really stop pretending. It was really funny to watch the first episode - the reality is shown."
"He really is a wonderfully likeable guy," chimes Murray of Danny, "and he has one of the most winning smiles I've ever seen."
"What I love is each year the gay or lesbian people have been very different from each other, and i thik it's important that the audience see that not every gay person is the same as another. Danny is very different from Justin, who's different from dan, who's different from Pedro, who's different from Norm."
As Danny made it through the casting hurdles ("They made me take my shirt off and flex my biceps and dance"), a season in New Orleans became a serious consideration. "I wanted to escape from Atlanta and my life there," he admits. "I was not happy. And coming on here my main point was wanting to be a good role model for young gay people and dispel stereotypes as well."
When Danny finally discussed the show with his parents they were "super stoked about it, telling everybody in town." And as for Danny's being openly gay, it was never considered an issue - maily because they didn't know.
"We actually insisted that Danny would have to talk to his parents before he came onthe show," explains Murray, who says a significant number of Real World rejects wrongly plot to use the show as a dramatic coming out device. "He wanted to come out, and quite frankly, I think he was looking for an excuse to finally make himself do it. This was the oportunity."
So on Christmas Eve, three weeks before touchdown in New Orleans, Danny came clean and , shortly thereafter, met Paul. "His parents were cool people," Murray says. "His father, who's still a little awkward about this whole sexuality thing, came here, and he's in the show. Not only that, but Paul is here and they meet Paul for the first time in front of out cameras."
Getting back to Paul, Murray confesses, "When we cast Danny, he hadn't even met Paul yet. When Danny walked into the house and started unpacking and put this picture on the mantle of this guy in military fatigues, we were like 'What?'"
"Originally, we had this crazy idea that we could make it through five months and not see each other," danny recalls. "But obviously within two weeks he was already down here. I wasn't expecting that and didn't know if they would be willing to protect his identity, and obviously if they weren't, he wouldn't come over.
"But the producers and directors were pretty cool, and we worked out a special waiver agreement that they would blur out his face and protect his identity. After that he felt a little comfortable about coming in but never really could stand it. We'd spend our nights in hotels and such."
Of course, there were no concerns about being out in New Orleans, a city that Danny reports was "pretty damned gay. You go down to Bourbon Street - which by the way is the armpit of America - and there's a gay section, and there are 'family' everywhere I go." During Mardi Gras he accrued a fair share of beads ("but not for being naughty"). And thankd to the sometimes debauched but always colorful atmosphere and fellow housemates, all cast members came away from the experience more open-minded and well-rounded. "Julie saw her first penis here at Mardi Gras," danny says of his previously sheltered housemate, who'd once stated she found homosexuality disgusting in the sho's casting special. "I can definitely speak for her that she has completely turned around 180. She's so cool with it now, it's not even funny."
But while Danny admits being a Real Worlder "was good, and i would definitely do it again," he's more than ready to board the plane back home and get back to the REAL real world, where beaus aren't blurred. "Oh, yeah, you don't understand. I've been counting down the days for a while now." he admits. "Paul's picking me up at the airport and we're going on a little road trip."
Contributed by Erica Courtsey of redandblack.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
University graduate Danny Roberts of Atlanta was chosen to be one of the seven cast members for the new season of MTV's "The Real World."
Special | The Red & Black
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UGA grad receives call to get 'Real'
By PAUL FULTON Jr.
The Red & Black
Two weeks ago, producers of MTV's "The Real World" called University graduate Danny Roberts of Atlanta to tell him he was selected as one of the seven cast members for the new season.
"I jumped on my desk and started screaming," Roberts said about being notified at work. "And that was it. I just left my job."
More than 35,000 people auditioned for the show.
Roberts said he first interviewed for the show in Atlanta and he didn't "have a clue what it was going to be like."
Interviewers selected seven strangers from the crowd to sit down at a table to answer "really personal questions," he said.
"It's a chance for them to see you argue it out with strangers," Roberts said. "And they're all sexual questions. One of the first questions they asked was how we felt about masturbation."
Roberts said the interviewers told the groups that individuals would be notified within a week by telephone if they were to proceed to the next
round.
But one person pulled Roberts aside and told him that he had made it to the next phase of the interview process.
Each of the next four interviews were conducted by telephone and lasted more than an hour and a half. There was a camera in the room with Roberts during each interview.
"They want to know everything about you," he said. "Anything personal you can imagine."
Roberts performed well enough on the telephone interviews to proceed to the next round -- a meeting with two of the show's producers at an Atlanta hotel in a room equipped with lights, microphones and cameras.
"It was my first experience with all that, and it was kind of nerve-wracking," Roberts said. "The interview was a little more intense
|
