The Best Pride Month Content So Far, From the Funny to the Cringe

We're finding ways to laugh (a good laugh; a cathartic laugh; a look-at-these-idiot-bigots laugh) at all the pride content we're getting this month.

Entertainment
Photo: Getty Images/Screenshot

This year’s Pride month comes in the midst of an absolutely brutal and dangerous attack on the LGBTQIA+ community. The right’s unfounded moral panic of the year has focused in on trans youth and the “gay agenda” “forcing” children to come out or transition or whatever they deem sinfully devious. I imagine in their perfect hetero-cis world, cis-boys will be required to play full-contact football or work in coal mines, and cis-girls must enter kiddie beauty pageants before they have their adult teeth.

Conservatives have criminalized drag performances, cut off people from life-saving gender-affirming care, and outlawed books that celebrate lives outside of the white picket fence they’re shooting Bud Light beer cans inside of. Speaking of, corporations like Bud Light and Target have cowered to the demands of close-minded bigots who’ve called to boycott them for supporting LGBTQIA+ creators and lifestyles. It’s pathetic and it’s also frightening.

As a bisexual, it’s my God-given right to contain contradicting multitudes, and I’m choosing to temporarily focus on the funny and humorous side of Pride month this year instead of the horrors. This is an ongoing collection of what’s making me laugh—be it absolutely misguided corporate branding, delightfully earnest pride posts from the LGBTVIPs I follow on Instagram, or vaguely queer content that makes me tilt my head and say, “Sure, that counts!” Some of these are “I love it!” laughs while others are, “You’re so stupid, you stupid, evil company!” laughs. This pride month I’m respecting all reasons for laughing, laughing, laughing, which first brings us to....

“Live Laugh Lesbian”

“Live Laugh Lesbian”
Screenshot: Target (Fair Use)

Before Target stupidly removed much of their Pride collection from stores after backlash from some of their customer base, this shirt—which reads “Live, Laugh, Lesbian”—had about an 80% chance of landing in my online cart. Technically this shirt is still for sale, and I won’t begrudge anyone who must buy it for their own mental well-being.

MTV’s Comment on Chrishelle Stause’s Instagram

MTV’s Comment on Chrishelle Stause’s Instagram
Screenshot:

California real estate’s most esteemed queer, Chrishelle Stause, posted an innocuous and lovely celebratory pride photo, dressed like Pride Barbie,
with a wonderful “Happy #PrideMonth” caption. But what I’m choosing to focus on is MTV’s comment on the post: “happy pride my love.”

First of all, why are they writing in all lowercase like a crush of mine on track to derail my life? Second, I don’t believe the brand and the Selling Sunset star have any business relationship. Third, why does she get such an intimate greeting from them? “my love”—I’m laughing!

Samantha Jones’ Ressurection

Kim Cattrall shocked the nation this week with the announcement that she will be briefly reprising her role as Samantha Jones—the realest woman in New York City—in the season 2 finale of And Just Like That..., which premieres June 22. It was reported that she filmed her scenes with no other cast members or the showrunner present. True powerful diva behavior.

Talk about a woman who not only knows her worth (what I would do to know how much she got paid to return) but also knows her fanbase. “Happy pride,” she captioned the post announcing her return. Happy Pride indeed, Samantha Jones and Kim Cattrall.

Philadelphia 76ers Instagram Drama

Philadelphia 76ers Instagram Drama
Screenshot:

It’s time we call out corporations and brands for their half-assed commitment to supporting their LGBTQIA+ consumers and fans. If the Philadelphia 76ers actually cared about their fans, they wouldn’t get knocked out of the NBA finals every year in May, before Pride Month even starts. (This year, they lost to the Boston Celtics 88-112 in the second round of the playoffs on May 14. Terrible.) When the team shared their Pride Month post, their fans were quick to let them know!!!

JoJo Siwa

I am genuinely so happy for JoJo Siwa and the lesbian drama of her’s that I’m constantly consumed by. However, I’m not convinced this isn’t an AI-generated photo. Someone somewhere typed in “lesbian Lisa Frank M3gan” and this is what we got. Do not look directly into JoJo’s eyes or you will be transported into her technicolor dreamworld. Or do; that sounds sort of fun. I think it’s important there’s at least one celebrity pride post that sort of takes me into the uncanny valley each year.

Idina Menzel’s “MOVE”

More mediocre gay art, please! Idina Menzel has released an easily forgettable queer anthem that is not written in her iconic register. I do implore you to watch the video, which features a lot of wigs and boosts the camp-o-meter rating of this song by a lot.

Plus she wrote in her boilerplate pride Instagram caption that she had the “greatest time shooting” the video. OK! Love to hear that!

Baseball

Unlike the 76'ers who aren’t committing to Pride Month due to their lack of basketball abilities, the entirety of Major League Baseball is bailing on the concept of love and unity because a handful of loud bigots with nothing better to do than complain on Facebook during the work day bullied them. It only took one day and they changed their batter silhouette against a rainbow pride flag profile picture back to just a normal boring baseball guy. In this case, I am laughing because they are LOSERS!

Animated Britney Spears Pride Message

The original Britney Spears video this is based on is from 2020 but this year artist Laura Collins commemorated it by making a colored pencil animation of the supportive yet confusing message. This artwork only further cements Britney in the queer canon.

Pride Crispy

Sure, I love that Noodles & Company—a fast-casual establishment I frequented a lot as a 17-year-old—is celebrating pride. I also absolutely think that they can manage more than the $30,000 donation they mention in their caption but whatever. My main issue is that I can’t help but have some notes on the name of their rainbow rice crispy treat: Pride Crispy. It just feels like it could have gone through one more round of pitches and landed on something a bit more evocative or fun. Feels about as half-assed as $30,000.

Niecy Nash Having the Time of Her Life

Niecy Nash told USA Today in an interview this week about Pride, “I don’t even know what I was doing over there with them straights. It wasn’t no fun over there. I’m having the time of my life over here.”

There’s a hilarious and honest queen for ya. Bless her and her wife Jessica Betts.

 
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