J.K. Rowling sent a letter "from Dumbledore" to 15-year-old Cassidy Stay, the sole survivor of last month's tragic Texas shooting. Stay's entire family was murdered in the attack—she survived by playing dead and kept more people from being shot by calling 911. Rowling likely reached out to her because she quoted Harry Potter at her family's public memorial.
That Daniel Radcliffe has been thrilling horny Potterites on both sides of the Atlantic in a revival of the play Equus featuring full-frontal (and backal) nudity is hardly news. But until now, there have been no satisfying audience photos or video of his Golden Snitch. Perhaps it was some unspoken code of honor between wizard and $130-a-seat theatergoer, as if to say, "We'll pay for the privilege—and it is a privilege, young Harry—but we'll also keep it just between us." Well, the code has been broken, as OMG Blog has obtained video footage recently recorded by a front-row Broadway patron. We pass this along not out of licentiousness, but rather in hopes that it will goose ticket sales for the production, which has seen a 10% drop. See how selfless we are? Now, enough preamble—on with the NSFW show!
The image of the male conjurer has always been steeped so heavily in an aura of lady-loving machismo—from David Copperfield's babe-netting trapdoor audience seating to the Pam-Anderson-bazoom-levitating prestidigitation of Hans Klok—that when J.K. Rowling revealed Prof. Albus Dumbledore to enjoy the, ahem, company of other wizards, even those of us with the most finely attuned Gay-Wizardar failed to see it coming.
The Leaky Cauldron posted photos of the first public sighting of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore as an outed wizard, snapped by a group of muggle bystanders taking in a location shooting of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the small English village of Lacock. The autograph-seeking youngsters appeared to feel no differently about the conjuring great now that his proclivities have been made public. On the contrary—more than one delighted child's voice was heard to have cried out, "When I grow up, I want to be a powerful gay wizard, just like you!" which drew appreciative chuckles from the larger-than-life figure wearing an Invisibility Beard-Cloak.
Paul Croft, a working-class bloke from Nottingham, had a giant tattoo of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore etched on his back—a gesture meant to surprise and delight his five Potter-obsessed children. We think it's safe to say that of the many dangers Croft tried to anticipate in subjecting himself to the painful and permanent procedure, the after-the-fact outing of the character by the author at a public lecture in New York City was not one of them:
As if there's any other story on everybody's minds:
· Never has so fabulous a T-shirt design been made available so quickly after a zeitgeist-hijacking story first breaks. You go, gay wizard!
· We're not saying the signs were completely obvious, but a little effort could have easily unscrambled "Albus Dumbledore" to read "Male bods rule, bud!"
· Let the Other Fictional Gay Characters list-making begin: New York fingers Fozzie Bear and Lando Calrissian (as if), while Radar gets a vibe from fudge-tunnel-voyaging Willy Wonka.
· He's here. He's queer. Yet some of us are having a hell of a time getting used to it.
· And finally, the requisite Gay Dumbledore Halloween costume. Oh wait—that's Pimp James Lipton. Never mind.
