Angela Bassett, Joe Biden, and Rihanna Walk Into a Club

By Garrett Schlichte  |  March 22, 2020 | 5:00pm
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Angela Bassett, Joe Biden, and Rihanna Walk Into a Club
Image: (Getty)

“Angela Bassett is here,” said DJ D-Nice just moments after I jumped on his live stream set around 9 p.m. Saturday night. It appeared Bassett and I had joined at about the same time. For a brief moment, he even paused the music for her, “Angela Bassett is in here partying with us right now. Angela, we love you!”

Not too long after that, Tracee Ellis Ross joined us, although I think she might have already been there before and was making a second lap. A classic club move. I didn’t stay too long, because I was in the middle of a virtual movie night with some friends, but I did take a small moment to stand up and dance with my eyes closed while the music played, imagining what it would actually be like to be in a club with Angela Bassett and Tracee Ellis Ross. The only thing I know for sure is that no matter what I wore I would somehow be tragically underdressed.

But, I guess, that is one of the beautiful things about what D-Nice was doing with his live-streamed set, bringing people together just for the sake of being together, with no pressure to get dressed up (although I would definitely consider it). Should it have not been virtual, his Instagram party, which came to be known as “Club Quarantine,” would have definitely had a guest list and a dress code.

Over 100k people were in Club Quarantine together at one point but luckily there was no line at the bar, mainly because the bar was an already half-gone bottle of Lambrusco sitting on my coffee table. I’d be interested to know what the bar looked like for a number of the other notable guests who partied in Club Quarantine last night, as they included Elizabeth Warren, Janet Jackson, Ludacris, Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Kelly Rowland, Missy Elliott, and Rihanna, among a lot of other people who, to be honest, I’d love to see in an actual club together.

Thankfully, if you missed out on last night’s party, D-Nice is doing it all over again today, starting at 3 p.m. PST. I might pull out a wig and put on some glitter for this one, just as a little treat to myself. After all, if I’m partying with Angela Bassett and Tracee Ellis Ross, it’s the least I can do. [Forbes]

It’s clear that going live on Instagram has become everyone’s favorite pastime as of late. It’s kind of like starting a podcast, but without putting in any of the work that actually goes into starting a podcast. Miley Cyrus, an early adopter of the medium during this season of social distancing, has been streaming her talk show Bright Minded for the last week and it’s been… interesting.

So far guests have included Dr. Amen, Demi Lovato, Amy Schumer, Rita Ora, and Jeremy Scott. In the most recent episode, which featured makeup tips from drag queens Trixie Mattel and Milk, Cyrus spoke with Hailey Bieber, who spent some time evangelizing on the ‘gram.

“I had some gay friends in school. That is the reason why I left my church is that they weren’t being accepted,” Cyrus said to Bieber, They were being sent to conversion therapies… I had a hard time with me finding my sexuality too.”

Bieber, for her part, had spent some time earlier explaining that for her, church was about finding community and that Cyrus was allowed to define her own relationship with God, which doesn’t necessarily have to be dictated by the church. Of course, while this is inarguably true, Bieber might want to check-in with Hillsong, the church she and her husband Justin are members of, who I have a feeling might disagree with the information she’s proselytizing with on the internet.

Hillsong is notoriously anti-LGBTQ, having encouraged its congregation to vote against marriage equality in Australia, and I would also imagine that while they’d be fine with Cyrus having a relationship with God, church teachings would insist it happen within the church. [Just Jared]

If you need a break from Club Quarantine today, Rosie O’Donnel is reviving her talk show to benefit The Actors Fund, and she’s bringing a bunch of her friends from Broadway along with her. They’ll go live at broadway.com and personally, I cannot wait to have my face belted off by Idina Menzel.