On April 7, 2015, Clay Aiken was a guest on HuffPost Live, a streaming program that is a part of the HuffPost universe.
HuffPost Live broadcasts live-streams original programming 5 days a week beginning at 10 am ET. On the week-ends and late at night, they show highlights.
New York City is the home of the HuffPost Live studios. According to their website:
HuffPost Live doesn’t have shows in the traditional sense. Our programming is built around segments spotlighting the biggest, hottest, most engaging stories HuffPost is covering at any given moment and using them as the jumping-off points for conversations, commentary, and comedy. These segments are as long — or as short — as they need to be. We aren’t limited by the usual time constraints of TV.
Clay Aiken Doesn’t Mind If He’s The ‘Universal Punchline For Everything Gay’
Pointing to the number of tongue-in-cheek jokes that “Family Guy” and friend Kathy Griffin have had at his expense, Aiken said he let most of the humor roll off his back. Nonetheless, he said he was concerned about its impact on young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adults who are coming to terms with their sexuality.
“It doesn’t hurt me, it’s not me that is affected by it,” Aiken, 36, said. “I don’t worry about the person who just got picked on, I worry about [LGBT] kids.”
I would bet that this headline and information was used in at least 30 different articles and sites.
Have you seen the following pictures from the HuffPost Live interview?
On April 9th, Next Magazine wrote an article about Clay’s visit to HuffPost Live.
Clay Aiken’s OK Being “Universal Punchline for Everything Gay”
Clay Aiken knows you make fun of him—and you should probably feel a little shitty about it.
Making the rounds to promote The Runner-Up, Esquire Network’s documentary series about his North Carolina congressional campaign, the American Idol alum recently opened up about being the butt of gay jokes in an interview with HuffPost Live.
“You watch a stand-up show or Family Guy or something, and I can tell when the gay joke’s coming,” Aiken says. “And I just think, Oh, God, don’t say my name… and then they’ll say ‘Clay Aiken,’ and I’ll think, Oh, shit! Somehow I became the universal punchline for everything gay.”
He’s surprisingly cool about it—he’s friends with Kathy Griffin, after all—but he is concerned about the message that those gags may send to LGBT youth. “It doesn’t hurt me, it’s not me that is affected by it,” he says. “What does that make that 15-year-old in Indiana feel like?”
Next Magazine has the video of the entire HuffPost Live show. You can see it at NEXT This particular video cannot be embedded in this blog, but I do hope you will click and watch the video. It is an excellent conversation.
Which one of the pictures is your favorite?
