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Ben Affleck On ‘Justice League?’ His Camp Says No

Mike Fleming

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I’ve been reading a lot of stuff lately that has been of questionable substance, and I’m calling bullshit on this big Variety scoop today that implies Warner Bros will get Ben Affleck as director of its Justice League film. This is a story I checked out days ago, and didn’t run when Affleck’s reps stated that it was not going to happen with him. Now, it makes sense that Warner Bros would offer Affleck the project. Chris Nolan is top man over there, but after three Batfilms and after producing the Superman reboot Man of Steel, he’s gotten spandex-clad protagonists out of his system. After Nolan, the studio then offers everything else to Harry Potter director David Yates (who is now keen on Tarzan) and Affleck, who has become a major director with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and the upcoming Argo. Just because the studio wants Affleck doesn’t mean he will do the movie, and several sources tell me he might take a meeting, but that’s it.

After putting his acting career in the dumper with questionable choices like Gigli, Affleck admirably scripted a second act for himself with his writing and directing skills, and did it by taking on unexpected, thoughtful films. His reps clearly denied he would take this, and why would he want to direct a Justice League movie, unless he himself had figured out a way to make one that would compare favorably with Joss Whedon’s billion dollar Marvel smash The Avengers? I don’t see it. As my old agent/manager pal Michael Black used to say sometimes when I came at him breathlessly with an important but dubious package involving one of his clients, “Don’t dress for that premiere, darling.”

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/ben-affleck-on-justice-league-his-camp-says-no/

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NBC Buys ‘Freakonomics’-Inspired Drama Procedural Produced By Kelsey Grammer

Nellie Andreeva

NBC has bought Pariah, a drama project from Lionsgate Television and Kelsey Grammer’s Grammnet Prods. Written by Kevin Fox (The Negotiator, Law & Order: SVU), the police procedural features characters inspired by the economic theory ‘Freakonomics’ made popular by authors/economists Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner. In Pariah, the Mayor of San Diego appoints a rogue academic with no law enforcement background to run a task force using Freakonomics-inspired alternative methods of policing. This causes an uproar within the police department as the morally conflicted, conspiracy-minded academic solves crimes by conducting his controversial experiments on citizens of the city. Grammer and Grammnet’s Stella Stolper and Brian Sher will executive produce, with Levitt and Dubner attached as producers. The project extends Grammnet’s relationship with Lionsgate — the two companies also co-produce the Grammer-starring Starz drama Boss. Grammnet, whose head of development Brian Taylor has spearheaded Pariah, and Levitt & Dubner are repped by WME. Fox is with Gersh.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/nbc-buys-freakonomics-inspired-drama-procedural-produced-by-kelsey-grammer/

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Harvey Weinstein, Aaron Sorkin & Anne Hathaway Co-Hosting Obama Fundraiser Tonight

Hollywood heavyweights and their money will once again be out in force for President Barack Obama today. This time it’s a $35,800 a ticket fundraiser at Harvey Weinstein’s oceanfront 8,900 square-foot Westport, Connecticut house. Obama wii be in attendance. A major donar to Obama’s reelection, Weinstein is co-hosting the intimate dinner tonight for 50 guests along with The Dark Knight Rises’ Anne Hathaway, Paul Newman’s widow Joanne Woodward and Araon Sorkin, creator of HBO’s The Newsroom and NBC’s The West Wing, according to the Hartford Courant.

RELATED: Harvey Weinstein Guest-Hosting CNN’s ‘Piers Morgan’ With Bill Clinton: Live-Blog

Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was originally reported to be co-hosting tonight’s dinner as well but it is unclear now if she still is or even if she will be there. The White House says Obama is expected to speak to the guests at Weinstein’s house at around 5:30 PM, after attending another campaign event in Stamford, Conn. earlier in the day. The last time Obama was in that part of the country for some Hollywood cash was on June 14 for a similar swanky fundraiser at Sarah Jessica Parker’s house in New York City’s West Village. That event was co-hosted by the Sex In The City star and Vogue’s Wintour. Tickets that night were $40,000 per person. Obama has had some more marquee Hollywood financial help since then. On June 29, it was announced that George Clooney would appear at an Americans Abroad dinner for Obama in Geneva on August 29. Earlier in the year, Clooney had raised a record-breaking $15 million for the Obama campaign with a dinner at his LA home with the President on May 10. Also on June 29, there was a Gen44 fundraiser for Obama, who was not in attendance, at Soho House here in LA. That event featured Young Hollywood types such as Jared Leto and Olivia Wilde and not-so-young Hollywood types such as David Fincher and Peter Frampton plus many more. Anne Hathaway’s participation in today’s event isn’t the first time a Dark Knight Rises actor got behind Obama. On July 19, it was revealed that Morgan Freeman had donated $1 million to the pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action. The Dark Knight Rises star’s donation matched one made to the same Super PAC by Bill Maher in February. Obama is expected to raise around $2.5 million today at the Weinstein event and the Stamford event. That one day haul will beat the $2.22 million the incumbent has raised in Connecticut so far this year. The money raised Monday is to be shared by the Obama Victory Fund and the Democratic National Committee. Obama’s Republican rival Mitt Romney, who received a Hollywood endorsement of his own from Clint Eastwood this weekend, has raised $4.78 million in the state, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. After leaving the fundraiser at Weinstein’s tonight, the President is scheduled to be heading back to the White House via NYC’s JFK Airport around 7:05 PM.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/barack-obama-harvey-weinstein-aaron-sorkin-anne-hathaway-the-dark-knight-rises-hollywood-fundraiser-mitt-romney-clint-eastwood/

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NBC Sports Boss Says Summer Olympics Edit Of Women’s Gymnastic’s Fall Was ‘In Interests of Time’

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NBC says they hear the criticism of their XXX Summer Olympics coverage. “Some of it is fair, and we are listening, said NBC Sport’s Mark Lazarus today. “We knew it wasn’t going to be perfect,” added the Group Chairman. Asked about NBC editing out the fall of Russia’s Ksenia Afanasyeva in Tuesday’s gymnastics event to create suspense for a U.S. team Gold win, Lazaus said it was cut “in the interests of time”. He added that “it was immaterial to the outcome” of the U.S. team’s Gold win. “All of the drama was about the US performance, not what the Russians did or did not achieve, said Lazarus. “It did nothing to alter the suspense”. In a conference call from London, Lazarus and NBC Research’s Alan Wurtzel sought to address the criticism that the network has received for its tape delay of the XXX Summer Olympics from London, most noticeably the Opening Games on July 27. Noting time zone difference and other limitations, the NBC Sports boss said “our preference is to do things live”. Lazarus added that he hopes the 2016 Olympics Opening Ceremony from Rio will be live.” Lazarus also said that it was a “regretful” moment when a promo was shown on the East Coast of Missy Franklin winning a gold medal before the race was actually broadcast in the States and the network has installed a back-up system to ensure such a mistake doesn’t happen again. “We will continue to innovate our coverage”, Lazarus noted later “There is no way for us to show all live action in the US in primetime,” he said. “With so many simultaneous events going on, you cannot physically show everything live”, added the Group Chairman. “The ratings are strong and our business partners are pleased”, said Lazarus, reiterating that NBC will break even on the Games and predicting they might even make “a little bit of money.” NBC are “over delivering in all areas” on air, online and social media, Lazarus also noted. During its first days, the London Olympics have consistently beaten the 2008 Beijing Games in the ratings. The Olympics from the UK drawing over 35.8 million viewers on the opening weekend, making it the most watched Summer Games opening weekend ever. Wurtzel predicted that the London Games could well end up being in the Top 5 most watched TV events ever.

Related: NBC Edited Out Women’s Gymnastics Fall To Create Fake Gold Medal Suspense
NBC ‘Today’ Promo On Missy Franklin Spoils Net’s Coverage Of Swimming Win
No Fury Like Live Olympics Viewers Scorned
NBC Hammered Back Home For Not Airing Live From London

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/nbc-sports-summer-olympics-coverage-criticism-gymnastics-misssy-franklin/

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HBO And Scott Rudin End Their Deal

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EXCLUSIVE: I love meta-producer Scott Rudin because he always makes news. (And gives Scott Rudineveryone around him heart palpitations every time I call.) So here’s the latest: HBO and Rudin have ended their exclusive deal. Rudin’s reps tell me the reason is so that Scott can have “more flexibility” during his first foray into television. ”You know how full they are. He wants to sell elsewhere.” But another source emails me this, which Rudin’s camp strenuously denies: “HBO is so tired of Scott Rudin’s antics that they terminated his overall deal yesterday.” The end follows such Rudin dissapointments as HBO in May deciding not to go forward with the Noah Baumbach/Rudin pilot The Corrections. Based on Jonathan Franzen’s acclaimed book, it boasted one of most star-studded casts ever assembled on television: Chris Cooper, Dianne Wiest, Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans and Greta Gerwig. Attempting to bring Franzen’s book to the screen — something that had been tried unsuccessfully on the feature side for a decade — was considered a big swing. Word is HBO brass liked the performances but the decision came down to adapting the book’s challenging narrative. Needless to say, Rudin was not pleased.

At this point it’s unclear how the severed deal will affect all of Rudin’s HBO projects, so many I can’t even keep them all straight. Of course there’s Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom now going into its second season, Ben Stiller’s comedy pilot All Talk which he’s directing and producing and acting in, writer-comedian Harris Wittels’s comedy, first-time filmmaking duo Lisanne Pajot’s and James Swirsky’s Sundance documentary Indie Game which Rudin was developing as a fictional half-hour comedy series. And probably scores more.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/hbo-and-scott-rudin-end-their-deal/

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‘The Hobbit’ Going For A Trilogy? Say It Isn’t So!

Mike Fleming

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Peter Jackson first mentioned at Comic-Con two weeks ago that he was toying with what to do with all the extra footage he has shot for a two film adaptation of The Hobbit. Now, reports are hot and heavy that he’s actually going to turn his two films into a trilogy. When I spoke with Peter Jackson about The Hobbit in San Diego, he was very excited about the 125 pages of notes in an appendices that JRR Tolkien wrote and included in the final The Lord of the Rings novel Return of the King. I’m told now that the possibility is perhaps better than it was then that this might happen, but that it is by no means a certainty. There are internal discussions, and I have to say, they make me wince. There wasn’t a wasted second in LOTR, with the films building to a satisfying, nearly $1.2 billion worldwide gross and Oscar-winning conclusion. I read The Hobbit numerous times and I don’t think that Bilbo Baggins has three films in him.

Jackson told me that the notes written by Tolkien presaged his intention to update The Hobbit and give it more of the weight of Lord Of The Rings. Here’s what he said:

“That goes back to JRR Tolkien writing The Hobbit first, for children, and only after did he develop his mythology much more over the 16 or 17 years later when The Lord of the Rings came out, which is way more epic and mythic and serious. What people have to realize is we’ve adapted The Hobbit, plus taken this additional 125 pages of notes, that’s what you’d call them. Because Tolkien himself was planning the rewrite The Hobbit after The Lord of the Rings, to make it speak to the story of The Lord of the Rings much more. In the novel, Gandalf disappears for various patches of time. In 1936, when Tolkien was writing that book, he didn’t have a clue what Gandalf was doing. But later on, when he did The Lord of the Rings and he’d hit on this whole epic story, he was going to go back and revise The Hobbit and he wrote all these notes about how Gandalf disappears and was really investigating the possible return of Sauron, the villain from The Lord of the Rings. Sauron doesn’t appear at all in The Hobbit. Tolkien was retrospectively fitting The Hobbit to embrace that mythology. He never wrote that book, but there are 125 pages of notes published at the back of Return of the King in one of the later editions. It was called The Appendices, and they are essentially his expanded Hobbit notes. So we had the rights to those as well and were allowed to use them.” Said Jackson: “We haven’t just adapted The Hobbit; we’ve adapted that book plus great chunks of his appendices and woven it all together. The movie explains where Gandalf goes; the book never does. We’ve explained it using Tolkien’s own notes. That helped inform the tone of the movie, because it allowed us to pull in material he wrote in The Lord of the Rings era and incorporate it with The Hobbit.”

The prospect of The Hobbit being turned into a trilogy would be welcome to New Line and financier Warner Bros and MGM. The actors would get an extra payday, and have a lot of leverage. And after Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn split into two films and The Hunger Games announced its intention to do the same and tell a three-book tale in four films, it seems logical. But the fact is, Jackson has already turned a single book into two films here; can he squeeze out a third without boring his fans?

I don’t think anybody would say that the last Twilight Saga benefited creatively by splitting one absorbing tale into two films. Watching Bella give birth to her vampire child was excruciating, it went on and on and on. Werewolves fought vampires, none of them got hurt. Bella grew emaciated, turned skeleton skinny, then died and came back to life. Edward and Jacob stood around, brooding. All of this happened halfway through the last book by Stephenie Meyer, and readers got to see a cool ending with those creepy vampire characters played by Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning. That doesn’t come until the finale. But the movie grossed over $700 million worldwide!

I’d like to think that Jackson would be immune to a blatant cash grab. But let’s face it: in Hollywood, at the end of the day, it’s always about squeezing out the most money possible, knowing fans will endure whatever slop gets served to them if they are addicted to the earlier films. You can see evidence of that in the last three Star Wars movies, which are now being served up again in glorious 3D. Let’s hope Jackson doesn’t spoil the return to Middle Earth. Lord of the Rings was a groundbreaking trilogy because it was fueled by three fully realized books by Tolkien. Jackson has already cut one book and a set of Tolkien notes into a double feature. As a fan of LOTR, I’m concerned.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/the-hobbit-going-for-a-trilogy-its-possible/

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It’s Over! DirecTV & Viacom Reach Carriage Agreement, Viacom Nets Restored

Nellie Andreeva

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All 26 Viacom Networks, Including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, CMT, Logo, Spike, TV Land, MTV2, VH1, VH1 Classic, Palladia, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, TeenNick, Tr3s and Centric, to Return to DIRECTV Immediately

NEW YORK, July 20, 2012 – Viacom today announced that the company has reached a long-term agreement to renew carriage with DIRECTV.

All 26 Viacom networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, CMT, Logo, Spike, TV Land, MTV2, VH1, VH1 Classic, Palladia, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, TeenNick, Tr3s and Centric, will return to DIRECTV’s channel lineup immediately.  As part of the overall carriage agreement, DIRECTV has an option to add the EPIX service to its entertainment offerings.

Viacom is extremely pleased to bring its programming back to DIRECTV subscribers, and thanks everyone affected by the disruption for their patience and understanding during this challenging period.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/its-over-directv-viacom-reach-carriage-agreement-viacom-nets-restored/

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YouTube News Viewers Flock To Natural Disasters And Political Upheaval: Study

Last year’s tsunami in Japan, the elections in Russia, and turmoil in the Middle East were the most popular topics for news watchers on YouTube in the 15 months that ended in March, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. The group says that the Google-owned platform is beginning to become a major news source; in one third of the months in the study users searched for news terms more than anything else including entertainment. “The data reveal that a complex, symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube, a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic ‘dialogue’ many observers predicted would become the new journalism online,” Pew says. But it warns that videos often can’t be verified, or are copyrighted and used without permission, which ”creates the potential for news to be manufactured, or even falsified, without giving audiences much ability to know who produced it or how to verify it.” Pew says that personalities don’t necessarily drive interest in news: At least 65% of the most-watched news clips didn’t feature an individual.

Although the length of YouTube news videos varies, the median length of the most-watched ones was 2 minutes and 1 second — far longer than local TV news, where stories average 41 seconds, but less than the network evening newscasts where they average 2 minutes and 23 seconds. By and large audiences look for the same kinds of stories online that they see on TV, led by disasters. But Pew adds that protests — the second most popular topic on YouTube — were not as closely tracked on network newscasts. What’s more, “four subjects that might be described as less strictly visual—foreign affairs, economics, health and business—were all subjects that received more coverage on the evening programs than they did attention on YouTube.”

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/youtube-news-viewers-flock-to-natural-disasters-and-political-upheaval-study/

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Obama Enlists Young & Not So Young Hollywood For Latest LA Fundraiser

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President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign today got yet more Hollywood fundraising help. Young stars like Jared Leto, Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki and Oliva Wilde have joined with a few more established figures like David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky and Peter Frampton for what is being called a “Gen44″ fundraiser on June 29 here in LA. This will be the fifth time the Obama campaign has reached into Hollywood’s starpower pockets since raising a record-breaking $15 million at George Clooney’s house on May 10.

Leto chairs the Gen44 host committee with Galecki, Wilde, Fincher, Aronofsky, Frampton, Maria Bello, Zach Braff, former Friday Night Lights star Connie Britton, Sophia Bush, The Game author Neil Strauss, and Jim Toth among those on board. Several of the committee members, like Leto and Braff, met quietly with the President the last time he was in LA fundraising on June 7.

The campaign announcement today made no mention if President Obama, the First Lady or anyone else from the administration would be there or even where there actually was. All that is known is that the event is at 9 PM on June 29 in LA and that tickets are $500 each for attendees and $2,500 each for Host Committee members like Leto and Galecki. That’s considerably cheaper than the $40,000 a ticket intimate dinner at Clooney’s house last month. It is also cheaper than the $40,000 per couple tickets for the June 6 event at Glee creator Ryan Murphy’s Beverly Hills home or the June 14 dinner at Sarah Jessica Parker’s New York brownstone. Ticket prices for the June 29 Gen44 fundraiser are also less than the $1,250 it cost to attend the LGBT Leadership Council Gala at the Beverly Wilshire on June 7 and far less than the $10,000 a ticket it cost to go to the Mariah Carey hosted gala at the Plaza Hotel in New York on June 14. There is no word if there will be a small donor lotto at the June 29 event like there was at the Clooney and Parker dinners.

With donations from Wall Street to Obama substantially down from what they were in 2008 and the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, expect a lot more Hollywood fundraising from the incumbent this election. Speaking on background to a gathering of Washington, D.C.-based reporters, Obama officials predicted a $1 billion combined anti-Obama effort from Republican super PACs, nonprofit entities and the Romney campaign itself. The presumptive Republican nominee alone, they predicted, would raise more than $100 million in June — a sum that would be both historic and demoralizing to Democrats, who went into the 2012 election expecting the president to retain his 2008 fundraising advantages.

The full Gen44 host committee is Jared Leto, Johnny Galecki, Olivia Wilde, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, Peter Frampton, Steve Aoki, Donovan Leitch, Allan Loeb, Samantha Millman, Maggie Q, Maria Bello, Zach Braff, Pete Wentz, Connie Britton, David Morin, Jason Weinberg, Beau Flynn, Jodi Gomes, Chris Hanley, Eric Ortner, Catherine Park Jason Putorti, Jordan Brown, Sophia Bush, Maegan Carberry, Pankit Doshi, Chris Kantrowitz Todd Hawkins, Zachary Quinto, Ian, Somerhalder, Neil Strauss, Jim Toth, Kenna, Marc Webb and Pat Magnarella.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/obama-enlists-young-not-so-young-hollywood-for-latest-la-fundraiser/

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Obama Enters LGBT Gala To Chants Of “Four More Years”

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Refresh for updates …2nd UPDATE: 7:40 PM - President Obama arrived at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for the LGBT Leadership Council gala to big applause and chants of “four more years!” The first President to openly support same-sex marriage, Obama was scheduled to start speaking to the crowd of several hundred at around 7:15 PM. Cher has been sighted in the room.

UPDATE: 4:43 PM Air Force One has landed at LAX. Obama is in Marine One and heading over towards Beverly Hills where he will drive to his first event of the night at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Street closures on Santa Monica Blvd, Century City and Beverly Hills have now gone into effect.

PREVIOUS: President Barack Obama is coming back to LA today for some more Hollywood campaign cash. Less than a month after raising a record raising a record breaking $15 million at George Clooney’s house in a fundraising dinner, Obama is back tonight for the LGBT Gala and a $40,000 per-couple intimate dinner at Glee creator Ryan Murphy’s house. Air Force One is expected to arrive at LAX at around 4:20 PM from campaign events in San Francisco earlier today.  That means snarled traffic for Westsiders as the Secret Service and the police close down streets both tonight, until around 10 PM, and Thursday morning. The first event of the evening for Obama is the LGBT Leadership Council Gala. The gala was originally scheduled for the SLS Beverly Hills Hotel but was moved to the larger Beverly Wilshire Hotel due to a surge in demand after Obama announced his support of same-sex marriage on May 9. Obama is scheduled to speak at the $1,250 per-person event at 7:15 PM. Ellen DeGeneres is hosting with Glee’s Darren Criss, replacing a sick Pink, providing the tunes for the audience of about 600. After that the President will drive on over to Ryan Murphy and his fiancé David Miller’s Beverly Hills home. Like the Clooney event on May 10, the dinner at the Gleecreator’s house is smallish. About 70 people are expected to be in attendance. Couples paid $40,000 for their tickets and single guests paid $25,000. Obama is expected to speak at the dinner at around 8:55 PM. The President will be playing to a very different audience on TV tonight. Both Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney will both be appearing in videos segments on the CMT Music Awards. The President has another LA fundraiser early Thursday morning at the View Park home of developer Charles Quarles and his wife. Tickets for that event are $2,500. All the money the President raises during his time in LA goes to the Obama Victory Fund. Obama will leave LA for more events in Las Vegas in the later part of Thursday morning.

Not that there isn’t more glitz money in Obama’s near future. The President and the First Lady will be in NYC on June 14 for a fundraiser at Sarah Jessica Parker’s house co-hosted by the Sex and The City actress and Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Like the May 10 dinner at George Clooney’s house, the Parker/Wintour event will include a raffle for donors who give $3 to the campaign to win two tickets to attend. No word on how much the face value price of the tickets to Parker’s house are or how many people are expected. Obama was in the Big Apple earlier this week fundraising with former President Bill Clinton and Jon Bon Jovi by his side.

 

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/obama-back-in-la-for-donor-dinner-with-glee%e2%80%99s-ryan-murphy-lgbt-gala/