"I Love Being Naked," says Franklyn McClure, 20, Zooming from the porch of his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and wearing nothing but a pink pair of briefs and a whole lot of jewelry and lip gloss. "So that's why I didn't want to wear a shirt for this interview. Because that shit is who I am. One day when I'm on the red carpet, I'm going to be naked, girl."
McClure is in the midst of having gone viral, and he is trying to make the most of it. "God gave us one life, so make it iconic," he says. If somehow you missed this: Randy McNally, the 79-year-old Republican lieutenant governor of Tennessee, was revealed to have been commenting, using his public, verified Instagram account, on McClure's thirst-traps (handle: @franklynsuperstar). McClure grew up in Tennessee but moved to North Carolina two years ago, after McNally had already started messaging him online.
This is all newsworthy given the lengths to which the Tennessee GOP has gone of late to score points in the culture wars. The state introduced 26 anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year, the most in the country, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Two bills have already been passed into law: one criminalizing drag performances and another targeting gender-affirming medical care for trans youth. The drag bill, in particular, has attracted much attention in the past few weeks. While 14 states are considering such legislation, Tennessee is the first to make it the law. McNally supported the state's anti-drag bill, has opposed gay marriage, and voted to limit sports participation on the basis of sex assigned at birth. (In another hypocrisy sideshow, yearbook photos of Governor Bill Lee, in which he appears to be dressed as a cheerleader, have surfaced.)
Denne historien er fra March 13 - 26, 2023-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Denne historien er fra March 13 - 26, 2023-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
