The intellectualization of Michael Jackson as icon starts in earnest today with The New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als' queer theory read on his career in The New York Review of Books. The only problem is, Jackson wasn't gay.

Oooh, snap. The Tony Awards, given out to the "best" Broadway ballyhoo of the year, are often accepted by Theatahhh people as a silly but necessary (for business) annoyance. People shrug them off, maybe even have a little fun with them. But not The New Yorker, mercy no. In a little Q&A on the magazine's website about Sunday night's awards show, chief NYer theatre critics Hilton Als and John Lahr are gratuitously bitchy and snobbish as they pick apart the Tonys and the past Broadway season. "I have not seen 'The Lion King.' I don't do black folklore. And I'm black," says Als for no particular reason. The two, with Als being the wickedest, then bitch on for eight more questions. Some more highlights are after the jump.