Rumors flourished that Mrs. Ellen DeGeneres, aka Portia de Rossi, would become the first contestant on Dancing with the Stars to tango with a same-sex partner but she has turned down an offer, according to Rob Shuter at Popeater.
Israel’s version of the juggernaut series in which celebrities get schooled in the ways of the terpsichorean recently featured a lesbian newscaster dancing with another woman. But apparently America is just not ready. Not that Portia was ever a sure thing, but an ABC insider told Popeater, "She was the only star that could have pulled this off without completely offending the program's conservative viewers."
You mean the same conservative viewers who helped pad the election results – the likes of which have not been seen since hanging chads and the 2,000 election – hurtling the lead-footed Bristol Palin to the finale?
DWTS viewers bristled at the first show of anything remotely openly gay or in support of gays when Margaret Cho shimmied in her rainbow dress and made an impassioned plea to stop LGBT bullying on this past season. And for her efforts, DWTS fans sent Cho – a more spirited and watchable dancer than Palin by a long shot – home that week.
So good for Portia for saying no. Let the conservatives have their little reality show that panders to the social mores of 1944. We’ll always have Top Chef, Project Runway and every other Bravo show.
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