GLAAD HONOREES KACEY MUSGRAVES AND MICHAELA JAÉ RODRIGUEZ TO BE JOINED BY JEAN SMART,  HANNAH EINBINDER, CARL CLEMONS-HOPKINS, PAUL W. DOWNS, POPPY LIU, MARK INDELICATO, JOHNNY SIBILLY AND MORE FOR THE 33RD ANNUAL GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS IN LOS ANGELES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contacts:
Anthony Allen Ramos
Vice President, Communications & Talent, GLAAD
aramos@glaad.org

Andy Gelb / Julia Rossen – SLATE PR
andy@slate-pr.com / juliar@slate-pr.com

GLAAD HONOREES KACEY MUSGRAVES AND MICHAELA JAÉ RODRIGUEZ TO BE JOINED BY JEAN SMART,  HANNAH EINBINDER, CARL CLEMONS-HOPKINS, PAUL W. DOWNS, POPPY LIU, MARK INDELICATO, JOHNNY SIBILLY, 
MIRA SORVINO, TROYE SIVAN, PARIS JACKSON, CHLOE ZHAO, MICHAEL URIE, JAZZ JENNINGS, LISA RINNA, DELILAH BELLE HAMLIN, ISIS KING, GIGI GORGEOUS GETTY,
JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, PEPPERMINT, JONATHAN BENNETT
AND MORE FOR THE 33^RD ANNUAL GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS IN LOS ANGELES

GLAAD MEDIA AWARD OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST NOMINEE JAKE WESLEY ROGERS TO OPEN THE SHOW;
QUEER EYE’S BOBBY BERK TO PERFORM AT OFFICIAL AFTER PARTY

BOB THE DRAG QUEEN, EUREKA O’HARA, AND D.J. “SHANGELA” PIERCE FROM EMMY NOMINATED HBO SERIES WE’RE HERE TO HOST THE CEREMONY WITH PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDING JOJO SIWA, ANDREW GARFIELD, AMY SCHNEIDER, NICO SANTOS, RONEN RUBINSTEIN, RAFAEL SILVA AND MORE  

Los Angeles, CA – Wednesday, March 24, 2022 – GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, today announced that ALOK Vaid-Menon, Alycia Pascual-Peña (Saved By The Bell), Belmont Cameli (Saved By The Bell), Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Hacks), Chloe Zhao, (Eternals), Delilah Belle Hamlin, Dexter Darden (Saved By The Bell), Frankie Grande, Gigi Gorgeous Getty, Haaz Sleiman (Eternals), Hannah Einbinder (Hacks), Haskiri Velazquez (Saved By The Bell), Isis King (With Love), Jake Borelli, (Grey’s Anatomy), Javicia Leslie (Batwoman), Jazz Jennings (I Am Jazz), Jean Smart (Hacks), Jenna Johnson (Dancing with the Stars), Jonathan Bennett (The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls), John Cameron Mitchell (JOE vs CAROLE), Johnny Sibilly (Hacks), Josie Totah (Saved By The Bell), Law Roach (Legendary), Leo Sheng (The L Word: Generation Q), Lisa Rinna (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Mark Indelicato (Hacks), Michael Urie (Single All the Way), Mitchell Hoog (Saved By The Bell), Mira Sorvino (Shinving Vale), Nicole Maines (Supergirl), Nicky Champa & Pierre Boo (Tik Tok), Paris Jackson, Paul W. Downs (Hacks), Peppermint (Call Me Mother), Poppy Liu (Hacks), Troye Sivan, Val Chmerkovskiy (Dancing with the Stars) have joined the lineup for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, April 2, 2022. Singer/songwriter Jake Wesley Rogers will open the ceremony with a special performance and Bobby Berk (Queer Eye) will perform at the official after party.

As previously announced, hosts and series producers of the Emmy-nominated HBO series We’re Here, Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and D.J. “Shangela” Pierce, will host the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles which will honor Kacey Musgraves with the Vanguard Award, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award.

Other previously announced special guests for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Award in Los Angeles will include Andrew Garfield, JoJo Siwa, Jeopardy! Champion Amy Schneider, Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets, Scream), Liv Hewson (Yellowjackets, Bombshell), Meredith Marks (The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City), Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva (9-1-1-: Lone Star), Nico Santos (Superstore, Crazy Rich Asians), writer and comedian Zeke Smith, and cast members of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Hyundai, and Ketel One Family Made Vodka. Delta Air Lines is a Major Sponsor of the events, Sony Music Group is an Official Sponsor, and Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo is a Titanium Sponsor.

The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues. Since its inception in 1990, the GLAAD Media Awards have grown to be the most visible annual LGBTQ awards show in the world, sending powerful messages of acceptance to audiences globally.

To apply for credentials please complete the application which can be found HERE by Wednesday March 30^th.

About Kacey Musgraves’ Vanguard Award

“From speaking out against anti-LGBTQ legislation in her home state of Texas, to raising awareness about bullying affecting LGBTQ youth, to uplifting the work of LGBTQ artists, Kacey continues to raise the bar for what it means to be an authentic ally and to inspire her fans to do the same,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.

Kacey Musgraves has used her platform to loudly speak out in support of the LGBTQ community and advance conversations about LGBTQ acceptance in country music. Most recently, Musgraves joined GLAAD and Equality Texas to raise awareness around anti-LGBTQ bills proposed in the Texas state legislature.

In 2013, Musgraves recorded and co-wrote the single “Follow Your Arrow,” which features the lyrics “make lots of noise, kiss lots of boys, or kiss lots of girls if that’s what you’re into … just follow your arrow wherever it points.” In an interview with Rolling Stone, Musgraves noted that despite her label telling her that she would “go down in flames” for releasing it as a single on country radio, she fought to do so anyways because the message was important to her. “Follow Your Arrow” has since been widely recognized as a LGBTQ anthem. Musgraves performed the song at the 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York in 2014, becoming the first ever country artist to perform at the ceremony.

Since then, Musgraves has continued to advocate for the LGBTQ community through her music. Her music video for “Rainbow,” a song off her 2018 Grammy-award winning album Golden Hour, featured a visibly queer young man enduring parental conflict at home due to his sexuality. The Advocate called the music video an “ode to queer youth.” Throughout her career, Musgraves has collaborated with multiple LGBTQ artists, most notably Troye Sivan, with whom she has released two tracks, “Glittery” and “Easy,” and MUNA and King Princess, who joined Musgraves for her 2022 star-crossed: unveiled tour. star-crossed: the film, which she released in conjunction with the 2021 album, features multiple LGBTQ artists and iconography, including RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 winner Symone, Hacks comedian Meg Stalter and music artist Princess Nokia.

Outside of her music, Musgraves has publicly voiced her support for LGBTQ rights and equality and spoke out against anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. In 2017, Musgraves authored a love letter to the LGBTQ community on behalf of Billboard’s Pride Month campaign. In the letter, she writes: “To my friends in the LGBTQ community: thank you. While the career stuff is great, it’s fleeting. You changed me as a human.” On the lack of LGBTQ acceptance in country music, Musgraves stated, at the time: “That has always really pissed me off. Because I love the genre so much, I felt, ‘Well fine, maybe I’ll just have an all-gay audience.’” Musgraves also appeared as a guest judge on season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and later invited the winners of the season – Monét X Change and Trinity the Tuck – to join her onstage for her disco-country hit “High Horse” during the Los Angeles stop of her Oh, What a World Tour.  In 2019, in honor of GLAAD’s annual Spirit Day, the world’s largest LGBTQ anti-bullying campaign, Musgraves partnered with GLAAD on a contest to give fans a chance to win VIP tickets to her concert and meet her backstage, which also helped to raise funds for the organization.

About Michaela Jaé Rodriguez’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award

“Michaela Jaé Rodriguez is an undeniable talent who is changing the way audiences understand trans people while breaking down barriers for the trans community and LGBTQ people of color within the entertainment industry,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “Her performance as Blanca on Pose was one of the most important and impactful roles in the history of LGBTQ representation on television, and she continues to spearhead the future of trans visibility and inclusion in entertainment through her talent on screen, in music, and as a passionate activist.”

The Stephen F. Kolzak Award is presented to a LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting LGBTQ acceptance. The award is named after a legendary casting director, who devoted his life to raising awareness in the entertainment industry about the discrimination faced by LGBTQ people as well as people living with HIV. Previous Stephen F. Kolzak honorees include Laverne Cox, Jim Parsons, Wanda Sykes, Troye Sivan, Ruby Rose, Chaz Bono, Stephen Warren, Melissa Etheridge, and Sir Ian McKellen.

Rodriguez rose to fame with her critically acclaimed performance as Blanca Evangelista in FX’s Pose. Her portrayal as the young house mother living with HIV earned her a Golden Globe win and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role, making her the first trans woman to earn a win in the entire history of the Golden Globes and the first trans woman to earn an Emmy nomination in a lead or supporting acting category. Rodriguez is also the first openly transgender woman to win Best Actress – Television at the NAACP Imagen Awards. Before appearing on Pose, Rodriguez worked primarily in theater, appearing in Off-Broadway productions at the New Ohio Theatre, New World Stages, and Encores! Off Center.

Rodriguez’s career-defining, history-making turn as Blanca has only opened more doors for herself, as well as other trans actors, within the industry. In 2019, Rodriguez appeared in Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey at Pasadena Playhouse, marking the first time a trans woman appeared as the role in a major production. That same year, Rodriguez became the first Latinx trans woman to partner with Olay Body for a skincare campaign, and the year prior, she received the 2018 Trailblazer Hispanic Heritage Award for her work in Pose. In 2021, The Advocate named Rodriguez its Person of the Year, an announcement that came as she was preparing to appear as Carolyn in Netflix’s tick…tick…BOOM!, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Next, Rodriguez will be starring alongside Maya Rudolph in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Loot.

In addition to her work as an actress and activist, Rodriguez is also breaking ground as a singer. Rodriguez hopes to expand on trans representation in the music industry as a versatile genre-bending artist. “Something to Say,” the lead single off her upcoming EP, is a message of unity and love. Upon releasing the music video, Rodriguez shared that she hopes the track reminds everyone that “we are one!”

A Black and Latinx trans woman, who with her critical acclaim and visibility alone has moved the needle for acceptance, Rodriguez stands boldly in the many intersections of her identity. Alongside Pose cast members Indya Moore and Dominique Jackson, Rodriguez served as a grand marshall of the 2019 Pride March in New York City. Months later, Rodriguez used her platform to reach today’s youth, returning to her hometown of Newark and visiting a school to talk about identity, struggles she faced growing up, and the power in being an artist. She has used her voice to publicly support the Black Lives Matter movement, urging fans to join her in the movement and advocated that racial justice organizations also prioritize protection of Black trans lives. Rodriguez told Variety how being trans in and of itself is activism, stating: “I’m obviously fighting for my community simply because I’m trans, and I have to do that, and I do it because that’s my existence. I wake up in the morning, and that is my activism.” On her legacy, Rodriguez simply told Harper’s Bazaar: “Michaela Jaé is here to stay, and she’s here to make sure that we’re changing the world in all diasporas.”

About the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards

GLAAD announced 246 nominees in 30 categories for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Across categories, transgender and Black LGBTQ stories made a large impact, with nominees including Lil Nas X, West Side Story, Eternals, Pose, Sex Education, RuPaul’s Drag Race, We’re Here, Saved by the Bell, 9-1-1: Lone Star, Star Trek: Discovery, Batwoman, Changing the Game, I Am Jazz, Harlem, With Love, Twenties, BROCKHAMPTON, Mykki Blanco, among others. For a full list of nominees for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, click here.

The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies, which fund GLAAD’s work to accelerate LGBTQ acceptance, will be held in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, April 2, 2022 and in New York at the Hilton Midtown on Friday, May 6, 2022. GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis serves as Executive Producer of the GLAAD Media Awards, alongside GLAAD staff Rich Ferraro and Anthony Allen Ramos. Juana Guichardo and Jose Useche serve as Associate Producers and Wendy Shanker will serve as Headwriter.

The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Hyundai, and Ketel One Family Made Vodka. Delta Air Lines is a Major Sponsor of the events, Sony Music Group is an Official Sponsor, and Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo is a Titanium Sponsor.

To purchase tickets for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, please visit: www.glaad.org/mediaawards/tickets.

On socials please follow @GLAAD and #glaadawards

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About GLAAD:

GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and creates a world where everyone can live the life they love. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org or connect with GLAAD on Facebook and Twitter.