Ellen DeGeneres Receives Mark Twain Prize

The Huffington Post reports:

Some of the nation’s top comedians hailed Ellen DeGeneres as a trailblazer Monday night as she received the nation’s highest humor prize.
The Kennedy Center is awarding DeGeneres the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The show will be broadcast Oct. 30 on PBS stations.
“Thanks to everyone at PBS. I am so happy to be part of your farewell season,” DeGeneres joked in accepting the prize and taking a jab at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s plans to stop funding public broadcasting.
On the red carpet before the show, DeGeneres said she doesn’t see herself as political with her comedy, though, even though she’s been a trailblazer.
“I just want to make people happy and make people laugh,” she said.
DeGeneres, 54, began her career as a comedy club emcee in her native New Orleans. After a performance on Johnny Carson’s show in 1986, he invited her over to his desk to chat. She was the first female comedian to receive that invitation from Carson.
Turning to acting, DeGeneres landed sitcoms on Fox and ABC, eventually starring in “Ellen” from 1994 to 1998. She broke new ground and a taboo in 1997 when she came out publicly as a lesbian and her TV persona then became the first lead character on prime-time TV to reveal she was gay. A record 46 million viewers watched the episode.
Coming out on TV 15 years ago feels like another life, she said Monday night before the show.
“I did it because it was the right thing for me to do,” DeGeneres said. “It was the right thing for me to do to not live with shame. I happened to help a lot of people, and it happened to create a ruckus.”
Jimmy Kimmel called it a milestone.
“For a lot of people, Ellen is their only homosexual friend,” he said. “She’s there in their living room every single day.”
On stage, he said DeGeneres was his inspiration.
“Because of Ellen, in 1998, I mustered the strength to come out of the closet – despite the fact that I’m not gay,” he joked. “Thanks to Ellen, vests aren’t just for magicians anymore.”
Sean Hayes said DeGeneres made his former show, “Will and Grace,” possible. He said her “fearlessness” was her biggest contribution and that she changed America.
“We didn’t have a voice, until there was you,” he said before breaking into a rendition of “Till There was You.”
“Glee” star Jane Lynch said DeGeneres “took one for the team.”
“She’s the one who went in there with a machete” and cleared the way for other shows with gay characters such as “Glee,” she said. “Look where she is today.”
Kristin Chenoweth said DeGeneres has always remained kind.
“She’s not a mean girl comic,” she said.
When DeGeneres first heard she was receiving the same honor that Bill Cosby, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell won in recent years, she joked, “Why didn’t I get this sooner?”
After DeGeneres came out on TV in 1997, the show began to tank and was canceled a year later. The feeling of rejection was enough to send DeGeneres into a depression. Still, “Ellen” paved the way for future shows to feature gay characters, from “Will and Grace” to “Modern Family.”
DeGeneres came back with a CBS sitcom, movie roles and even a stint as an “American Idol” judge. Forbes magazine has ranked her as the 47th most-powerful woman in the world and estimated her earnings at $53 million last year.
Her hit talk show that debuted in 2003 is now in its 10th season. Among other achievements, that’s where she eventually persuaded President Barack Obama to dance.
“She’s brilliantly shined a light on society, and that’s what Mark Twain did,” said Cappy McGarr, an executive producer for the Mark Twain Prize show, when the award was announced.
The prize honors comedians in Mark Twain’s tradition of satire and social commentary. Past winners include Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin and Whoopi Goldberg.
John Leguizamo saluted DeGeneres and PBS for planning to air the show.
“How about that? A gay woman on PBS – with public money and the Kennedys,” he said. “It’s like the tea party’s worst nightmare.”

I’m excited to be winning the Mark Twain Award in DC! I’m gonna go get ready, as soon as I finish whitewashing this fence for Jimmy Kimmel.

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) October 22, 2012

Kennedy Center Honors Meryl Streep

Kennedy Center Honors Barbara Cook

Uganda: Gay Activist To Receive RFK Human Rights Award

The Advocate reports:

Frank Mugisha, a gay rights activist in Uganda, will receive the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, marking the first time the honor will be bestowed on someone working for LGBT rights. 

The Associated Press reports that Mugisha will receive the award named for the late U.S. attorney general and senator from New York during a ceremony Thursday on Capitol Hill. Ethel Kennedy, his widow, will present the award to Mugisha with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. 

“It gives me more courage to continue doing the work I’m doing,” Mugisha told the AP about the award, which comes with a $30,000 stipend and six year partnership with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. “It sends out a message, not only to my country but to other countries that criminalize homosexuality.”

Mugisha, 29, serves as executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and is one of the few openly LGBT activists in Uganda. The work is exceedingly dangerous in the East African nation where parliament has been considering a bill that would impose harsh prison sentences and in some cases death on gay people. 

In his work, Mugisha has focused on the link between American evangelicals and the legislation. Parliament considered the bill and violence against LGBT people increased after religious activists from the United States visited Uganda in 2009 and held a conference about “rehabilitiation” for gays.

“I think they are responsible for the bill,” Mugisha told the AP. “They held a seminar and openly told Ugandans that they needed to tighten their laws on homosexuality and told Ugandans that homosexuals can be healed.”

Scott Lively, the Massachusetts-based preacher from Abiding Truth Ministries accused by Mugisha of introducing the ideas, told the AP that he thinks imprisonment and the death penalty are too harsh, but he does not oppose the criminalization of gay people. He said he advised the Ugandan government to focus on “rehabilitation” and not punishment.

Dear Gentlepersons,

I have the good fortune to count among my friends an extraordinary man, a man whose talents have touched so many hearts and whose heart has touched so many lives. That man is Barry Manilow.

One of the greatest names in popular music, this prolific singer-songwriter-performer has created the soundtrack for our lives. Ever since he first took the stage in the 1970, he has proved himself to be an unstoppable showman, a true musical genius who cranks out hits at a dizzying pace. His songs are as well known as Beatles tunes, and its impossible not to sing along. I’m truly a fan.

And then there’s his work as a humanitarian: Barry is tireless in pursuit of his charitable endeavors, which include raising funds and awareness for The Prince’s Trust, United Way, The Starlight Foundation, The Foundation Fighting Blindness, and for many HIV-AIDS organizations, for which he holds a special place in my heart. I will always remember back to the early days of my fundraising work, when the stigma of AIDS was so great. I was seeking talent to perform at our first benefit event, and was receiving nothing but rejections—until Barry alone had the courage to come forward and say “yes”.

Barry has established The Manilow Fund For Health And Hope, which supports education, health and care efforts locally, and the Manilow Music Project, which supports musical equipment to local schools whose art programs have been eliminated. It is Barry’s feverent belief that music changes lives: I know he’s changed mine with his enormous talent.

I can think of no one more deserving of a Kennedy Center Honor than Barry Manilow, and hope you will accept this letter of nomination and support. Thank you in advance for your kind consideration.

Sincerely,

Fey’s Swipe at Palin Cut From PBS

The Advocate reports:

A joke was cut from the broadcast of last week’s Mark Twain Awards, in which writer-producer-actress Tina Fey received comedy’s top honor.”The success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women,” Fey originally said in her acceptance speech, “except, of course, those who will end up paying for their own rape kits and stuff, but for everybody else, it’s a win-win. Unless you’re a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years.”PBS, which broadcast the annual event, said it cut that part of her speech because the ceremony ran long, according to Time.

kateoplis:

Tina Fey will accept the Mark Twain Prize for American humor at the Kennedy Center tonight. Mosaic portrait by Jason Mecier from the Washington Post.

Well deserved. Congrats!