Brava to Erica Grimaldo and the crew at Q Vegas for insisting on asking Hans Klok about his sexual orientation, which produced the news-breaking cover story in which he comes out. And shame on the handlers who forced him into the closet and a pretend romance with Pamela Anderson. (Note: You have to download the PDF of the issue to read the story.)I'm going to opine in depth on this in my Weekly column next week, so I'll hold off until then. But this is a fascinating textbook case of too many cooks in the kitchen. Had Hans Klok burst into town as an openly gay headliner and Pam had played the campy fag hag that she is, the entire tone of the media surrounding him would've been different and a certain loyalty would've been earned about an important constituency.
Not, of course, that it would've saved a bad show. But when you read Erica's story and realize what kind of foolishness went on surrounding this matter, you'll realize that someone didn't get the memo that out gay performers are IN. Sheesh.
5 comments:
Hans has made no secret of his sexual orientation, and he is GREAT to all his fans. It's a shame he doesn't have a great partner like Siegfried had Roy to perform with -- if he did he could be a big success here on the Strip.
Umm, in the piece in Q Vegas, he admits he lied to Howard Stern and was pressured to stay in the closet in America by his handlers. So I guess he DID make a secret of it.
2 things strike me here…..
First off, from the article its clear Hans was “out” in Europe. This isn’t the 80’s where Europe may as well have been on another planet as most Americans thought back then, no Vegas Journalist thought to expose this little secret beforehand?
Secondly I will be interested to hear Steve’s comments on Hans final quote in that article about the Vegas Scene, somebody hasn’t been around his adopted hometown too much.
In any event his “dream” as the new S & R is done, the only thing he can hope for is some second string slot now, unless he can manage a four wall that just takes off… and that’s being optimistic.
William - it's a fair question about nobody reporting that he was out in Amsterdam and I'll ponder that for my column. But a couple of things strike me here. One, Hans Klok isn't a big enough star for the national entertainment media to actually care if he lied to Howard Stern about such a thing. Two, we can't really be expected to read foreign-language press as a matter of course. And three, I did all but call him gay in the piece about him and siegfried & roy and that was about as close to outing as most anyone in the media is willing to get. It's a good question, though, and one I need to address.
Awesome!!!! Now he needs to use beefy guys in his act, like Sophie Edelstein does. He should put a Chippendales guy in that tube and saw him into 5 pieces like he did Pam. That'd be real equality.
Now let's wait patiently while Darren Romeo comes out. (He was the "protege" of Siegfried and Roy, whose romance ended soon afterwards.)
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