We’ve turned the corner into the holiday season, so last week Out There attended shows perfect for this time of year. On Saturday night we made a long overdue visit to Beach Blanket Babylon’s holiday edition, and earlier in the week, we were in the house for opening night of San Francisco Playhouse’s “Mary Poppins.”

Surely you know the BBB story by now. Snow White (sometimes called Snow Tires) searches the world for her Prince Charming, hot dudes available to young ladies being in short supply in San Francisco. Pop culture is sent up courtesy of musical riffs, outrageous caricatures, extravagant costumes and sky-high hats. As always, there are up-to-the-moment topical references galore, from Keebler elf Jeff Sessions still smarting from his ignominious end, to Vladimir Putin (“on the Ritz”), Kim Jong Un and other global villains. The Trump Crime Family gets a number, too, a la the Von Trapps; the Criminal-in-Chief remembers golden showers, while Melania reprises her famous Marie Antoinette line, “I really don’t care, do you?”

There’s Kanye, there’s Kim, there’s tired old Caitlyn Jenner, but the most current event of all is the holiday season, and the end-of-year BBB offers plenty of Xmas cheer, including Xmas King Louis, Mr. Peanut Santa, and a chorus line of Tap-Dancing Xmas Trees. The gigantic Yuletide Hat is a winter wonderland, complete with chugging toy train. The SF skyline hat now boasts a Salesforce tower, but it’s still the Transamerica pyramid that gets a rise out of all the excitement.

It’s been a while since OT visited BBB, and we’re happy to report the Old Girl still has it in her to amuse, delight and surprise, much like SF itself. Treat out-of-towners, family and loved ones for fail-safe holiday fun. “Steve Silver’s Beach Blanket Babylon Holiday Extravaganza” holds the Club Fugazi stage through Dec. 31. Tickets ($30-$155): www.beachblanketbabylon.com, (415) 421-4222, or at the box office, 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd., formerly Green St., SF.

Oh, Mary!

SF Playhouse’s “Mary Poppins” is a musical based both on the stories of openly bisexual author P.L. Travers and on the Walt Disney film she resisted and reviled. As artistic director Bill English points out in his program note, “The original Mary, like Ms. Travers, an immigrant from Australia, was from the underclass of London deplorables,” not posh like Julie Andrews’ version. The musical offers an intriguing and quite un-Disneylike critique of the English class structure. The heroes are lower-class sorceress Mary and the dirt-under-his-fingernails, working-class chimney sweep Bert. Upper-class banker Mr. Banks and out-of-touch Mrs. Banks need more than a spoonful of sugar to catch a clue on child-raising.

The show, with its typically-for-Playhouse elaborate set design and high production values, never fails to delight. Bay Area stage veteran El Beh makes for a formidable Mary, Wiley Naman Strasser is a spry and appealing Bert, and the entire cast, including two very game child actors, fill their characters with life and song. Special note must be made of trouper Katrina Lauren McGraw, who makes a meal out of two quite dissimilar parts: the nasty nanny Miss Andrew, always ready to inflict poisonous “Brimstone and Treacle” on misbehaving children; and the rumpled bag-lady Bird Woman, offering her cruddy parcels of crumbs for “tuppence a bag.” Exclaim the Banks children, “Oh, there’s that horrible woman Daddy warned us about!” But she, too, becomes a lower-class hero in this passion play.

So a most populist Mary Poppins and all sorts of fantastical San Francisco Beach Blanket characters await you this holiday season. Take the plunge and book some tickets! sfplayhouse.org

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Harvey Evans in 2017

Walter McBride/Getty Images

Harvey Evans, an actor, singer and dancer who had a knack for landing roles in the original Broadway productions of such classics as West Side Story, Follies, Hello, Dolly! and Gypsy, has died. He was 80.

Evans died Christmas Eve at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey, said Lawrence Leritz, a friend and Broadway actor, dancer, singer, producer and director. “He was dearly loved by the Broadway community. Very kind, embracing, funny and always had a smile on his face. I can never remember not being hugged by this loving man,” Leritz said.

Evans was rarely cast in leading Broadway roles but found a place in timeless shows. He starred opposite Angela Lansbury in Anyone Can Whistle and played Barnaby in Hello, Dolly! opposite Carol Channing, then Betty Grable and then Eve Arden.

“When I look back,” Evans told Playbill in 2007, “I think I’ve had some kind of angel on my shoulder, leading me toward the best shows of Broadway’s golden years. I didn’t pick and choose them — they just came around that way.”

Evans, who was born Harvey Hohnecker, grew up in Cincinnati and fell in love with musical theater after seeing a touring production of “Song of Norway.” “My entire childhood was spent waiting to graduate from high school so I could go to New York and be in a Broadway show,” he told Playbill.

Evans made it to New York in 1955 and would become friendly with choreographers Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins. Evans’ first musical as a dancer on Broadway was New Girl in Town, which starred Gwen Verdon and was choreographed by Fosse.

He changed his name while filming a small role in 1962’s Experiment in Terror directed by Blake Edwards and starring Glenn Ford and Lee Remick. He and fellow actress Taffy Paul decided to remake themselves — he became Evans and she became Stefanie Powers.

Evans also was cast by Fosse for Redhead, with Verdon, and the movie of The Pajama Game. Other highlights were starring on Broadway with Henry Fonda and Margaret Hamilton in a revival of Our Town in 1969 and being a standby for Jim Dale in Barnum in the early 1980s. He was a chimney sweep when Julie Andrews immortalized Mary Poppins on film in 1964.

“I’ve had my name above the title and I’ve had it way down low,” he told Playbill. “It doesn’t matter to me. It’s just wonderful to be part of this community.”

His later Broadway credits include the mid-1990s revival of Sunset Boulevard, The Scarlet Pimpernel and as an understudy in Oklahoma! in 2002. He also snagged a cameo in the film Enchanted with Amy Adams in 2007. He was on Broadway in the original West Side Story and later in the 1961 film version.

“Really hard to put into words what Harvey Evans meant to me,” said Tony Yazbeck on Twitter. “He was kindness personified. So funny and supportive. He came to every show I ever did and inspired me to keep going! A true triple threat who’s heart was as big as his incredible career.”

Bebe Neuwirth added: “One of the kindest, most delightful, loveliest gentlemen I’ve ever had the blessing to know.” Betty Buckley also sent her regards: “With so much love.”

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‘Rampant crime has become a regular part of life’: CNN reporter witnesses 3 thefts in 30 minutes at a San Francisco Walgreens — here’s why retailers say they’re fleeing the Bay Area

America’s most-robbed Walgreens was the victim of at least three thefts within 30 minutes in July, according to CNN Senior National Correspondent Kyung Lah — one of the latest examples of brazen crime at the location.

The thefts were witnessed during the filming of a televised report at the Walgreens in San Francisco’s Richmond neighborhood. According to Lah, Walgreens has identified this location as having the “highest theft rate” — hit more than a dozen times a day — of the pharmacy chain’s nearly 9,000 U.S. stores.

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Shoplifting had become so bad in the Bay Area store that staff resorted to securing certain items with padlocks and chains. But they were ordered by corporate to remove them “because of the negative messaging,” Lah said.

Still, many other products at this location, including ketchup and mustard, remain locked behind plastic casings.

Other stories across the city have also resorted to locking up more products like cosmetics, frozen food and even coffee.

San Francisco resident Richie Greenberg, who toured the Richmond Walgreens with Lah, described what he felt after previously seeing the chained-up items.

“This was bizarre, something I’d never seen before,” he said. “This is just more icing on the cake. Telling us that rampant crime has become a regular part of life.”

A retail exodus

Several retail giants — including Nordstrom, H&M, Marshall’s, Gap, Banana Republic, Anthropologie and Office Depot — have announced they’re pulling the plug on some San Francisco locations.

When Whole Foods announced in mid-April that it was temporarily closing its store at Trinity Place in the city’s Tenderloin District, a spokesperson for the grocer expressed concerns about “the safety of our team members” due to criminal activity near the store.

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These issues, while significant in San Francisco, are not isolated to the Bay Area.

According to a study by the National Retail Federation, organized retail crime and theft are growing in both scope and complexity across the U.S.

To combat this, Home Depot CEO Ted Decker announced in June that the home improvement company would be “investing in more security guards” to protect the safety of its employees and customers. This sadly follows the deaths of two Home Depot employees during theft incidents.

Concern for commercial real estate

Many cities have seen retail store closures in recent months. Insider recently reported that as many as 2,373 major retail stores are set to close this year across the U.S — not all down to crime, but some due to dwindling foot traffic in the age of online shopping and economic factors like rising interest rates.

These trends are causing headaches for commercial real estate investors, since they present more challenges for the already shaky and debt-ridden sector.

In particular, office real estate is under immense strain due to the rise in remote and hybrid work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Rising borrowing costs are also squeezing property owners and complicating real estate financing.

In recent months, high-profile investors — including Elon Musk — have sounded the alarm about a potential market crash.

Real estate investing expert Patrick Carroll said the commercial real estate market is tumbling toward a crash that could be as devastating as the 2008 crisis.

“The party’s over, unfortunately,” he said. “The office market’s going to be destroyed, hotels are going to be destroyed — it’s going to be ugly.”

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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News

From Katherine Donlevy

June 16, 2023 | 12:01 a.m

An ABC reporter admitted his bosses advised him not to perform live from downtown San Francisco on Wednesday because the area was “just too dangerous.”

Chief national correspondent Matt Gutman told viewers his crew had been instructed to film their 4am GMT segment of “Good Morning America” ​​in a different part of the city as they covered the shocking closure of Westfield Mall.

Although the mall — the latest in a string of Bay Area malls to close its doors — cited the drop in foot traffic as its reason for its closure, Gutman said the city’s rising crime rate could be to blame.

“The mayor notes that several crime indicators are actually flat or declining. But it’s worth noting that we’re not at Union Square or Westfield Mall this morning because we’ve been told it’s just too dangerous to be there at this time,” Gutman said.

Back in the studio, Michael Strahan said Gutman’s admission “says a lot.”

Matt Gutman, a reporter for ABC News, admitted he was advised not to perform live in downtown San Francisco for his feature Good Morning America due to rising crime. Fox News

San Francisco has seen a dramatic increase in violent crime and the ongoing fentanyl crisis over the past year.

According to police, robberies, arson, grand theft autos and homicides increased by over 5% in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Crime – which residents claim has turned the city into a “zombie apocalypse” – is largely responsible for the mass exodus of large corporations, including Old Navy and Nordstrom.

According to police, crime in San Francisco increased by over 5% in 2023 compared to the previous year.Fox News

A viral video from earlier this month showed that a whole section of the city’s commercial hub was completely deserted.

During the “GMA” segment, Gutman asked San Francisco Mayor London Breed if the city should be considered “dangerous,” but the Democrat explained that the news team was focused on the negative.

“Well, here’s the thing: San Francisco is a big city and it has challenges. But let’s go back a little. You’re talking about people leaving the city, but not people staying, expanding, and coming to San Francisco,” Breed said.

A number of Bay Area businesses have closed their doors due to rising violence in San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images

On the same day, Twitter CEO Elon Musk revealed that his employees “feel unsafe” when visiting the social media headquarters.

“[They’ve] The windows of their cars were smashed. Also, they received such a zero response from the police that they barely bother to report crimes because nothing is happening,” the billionaire tweeted.

However, crime rates could be far worse than statistics and reports suggest.

Car break-ins and thefts have plagued the city as employees in the area admitted they are afraid to come to work. Chin Hei Leung / SOPA Images / Sipa USA

“Crime is worse than the data shows,” San Francisco attorney general Charles Stimson told Fox News.

“People don’t report these crimes because if there’s a prosecutor who’s pro-criminal and doesn’t enforce the law, the cops aren’t going to go out and arrest someone if they know the case is undocumented.”

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Der Besitzer des Oasis-Nachtclubs D’Arcy Drollinger wird San Franciscos erster Drag-Preisträger sein. Ihre Amtszeit in der ersten Position der Welt fällt mit ihrer Arbeit an der Eröffnung eines Filmproduktionsstudios in der Stadt zusammen, in der sie ihren neuen Spielfilm drehen will.

Bürgermeister London Breed wird Drollinger am Donnerstagnachmittag im LGBT Community Centre offiziell als ersten Drag-Preisträger der Stadt vorstellen. Als Botschafter der Drag-Community und des LGBTQ-Nachtlebens wird Drollinger für die nächsten 18 Monate tätig sein.

„Es ist ziemlich großartig. Ich bin super stolz und aufgeregt, sozusagen mitzugestalten, was diese Rolle ist und was sie tut“, sagte Drollinger dem Bay Area Reporter während eines Telefoninterviews am 15. Mai, in dem er über seine Auswahl sprach. „Es weckt in mir einfach den Wunsch, noch fabelhafter zu sein und noch mehr zu glänzen.“

Vor zwei Wochen, bevor sie zu einer Reise nach Israel aufbrach, rief Breed Drollinger an, um ihr ihre Entscheidung mitzuteilen.

„Ich weiß, es ist ziemlich cool, einen Anruf vom Handy des Bürgermeisters zu bekommen“, sagte Drollinger, 54, der in San Francisco geboren wurde und sich im Alter von drei Jahren zum ersten Mal als die beliebte Nanny-Figur Mary Poppins verkleidete.

Es sei „sehr schwierig“ gewesen, sich seitdem gegenüber ihrer Familie und ihren Freunden, die sie um Updates darüber gebeten hätten, wer ausgewählt worden sei, „dumm stellen“ zu müssen, bemerkte Drollinger. Es war ihr verboten, öffentlich darüber zu sprechen, bis das Büro des Bürgermeisters die Nachricht am 18. Mai offiziell bekannt gab.

„Ich schwöre, es ist noch strenger, wer die neuen Teilnehmer bei ‚RuPaul’s Drag Race‘ sind“, scherzte Drollinger und bezog sich dabei auf den weltweit beliebten, im Fernsehen übertragenen Drag-Wettbewerb, der mittlerweile in zahlreichen Ländern ausgetragen wird.

Als Drag-Laureat erhält sie ein Honorar in Höhe von 55.000 US-Dollar, um die Kosten für Drollingers Ausübung ihrer Pflichten zu decken. Es ist der Rolle des Stadtdichters nachempfunden.

Breed hatte sich letztes Jahr die Finanzierung gesichert, und die Stadtbibliothek verwaltet sie, da sie auch das Poet-Laureate-Programm betreut. Das Büro des Bürgermeisters stellte Breed nicht für ein Interview mit der BAR zur Verfügung, in dem es um ihre Wahl von Drollinger ging.

In einer Erklärung sagte Breed: „Während die Drag-Kultur in anderen Teilen des Landes angegriffen wird, begrüßen und fördern wir in San Francisco die großartigen Drag-Darsteller, die durch ihre Kunst und ihr Engagement zur Geschichte unserer Stadt rund um Bürgerrechte und Gleichberechtigung beigetragen haben.“ Ich bin stolz darauf, in Programme zu investieren, die eine Plattform für Einzelpersonen schaffen, die wie D’Arcy der Nation und der Welt die Botschaft senden, dass unsere großartige Stadt ein Leuchtturm für Akzeptanz und Chancen für alle ist.“

Drollinger war einer von fünf Bewerbern für die Stelle, die dem Bürgermeister von einer Auswahlkommission empfohlen wurden, deren Aufgabe es war, alle 16 Bewerber zu prüfen. Sie mussten Vollzeitbewohner von San Francisco sein und mindestens 21 Jahre alt sein.

„Ich denke, es ist eine erstaunliche Wahl. D’Arcy ist ein Anführer unserer Drag-Community“, sagte Michael Nguyen, Mitglied des Auswahlkomitees, ein schwuler Anwalt, der unter seiner Drag-Persönlichkeit Juicy Liu auftritt. „Ich bin sehr gespannt, was als nächstes mit diesem neuen Drag-Preisträger passiert.“

San Francisco war die zweite Stadt in Kalifornien, die einen offiziellen Drag-Botschafter einführte. Im Jahr 2020 war West Hollywood die erste bekannte Stadt der Welt, die die Gründung eines Drag-Laureats genehmigte.

Der Auswahlprozess verzögerte sich jedoch, da die Stadtverwaltung ihre Position umgestaltete und mehr Mittel dafür beantragte. Es beinhaltet nun ein jährliches Honorar von 15.000 US-Dollar für Auftritte und eine jährliche Veranstaltung, die der Drag-Preisträger während seiner zweijährigen Amtszeit voraussichtlich ausrichten wird.

Die Kunst- und Kulturkommission der Stadt wird auf ihrer Sitzung am 25. Mai eine Person für die Position vorschlagen. Der Stadtrat von West Hollywood wird die Auswahl dann voraussichtlich auf seiner Sitzung am 26. Juni abschließen, wobei der erste Drag-Laureat vom 1. Juli bis 30. Juni 2025 im Amt sein wird.

„Wir planen immer noch eine persönliche Installationsveranstaltung für den ersten Drag Laureate am 16. Juli, dem Internationalen Drag Day“, sagte West Hollywood Arts Managerin Rebecca Ehemann diese Woche gegenüber der BAR.

Auf die Frage nach der Zusammenarbeit mit ihrem südkalifornischen Amtskollegen sagte Drollinger gegenüber der BAR, dass dies „eine Menge Spaß“ machen würde.

„Ich würde uns gerne einladen, vielleicht etwas für Kalifornien, wenn nicht sogar für die Nation, zu schaffen“, sagte Drollinger. „Aber wir könnten durchaus darüber nachdenken, größere Veranstaltungen zu organisieren, die über unsere Städte hinausgehen.“

Kulturelles Erbe

Wie die BAR bereits berichtet hat, wurde in San Franciscos bahnbrechender LGBTQ+-Kulturerbe-Strategie, die erstmals 2018 veröffentlicht wurde, vorgeschlagen, einen Botschafter für die örtliche Drag-Community zu haben. Aufgrund der COVID-Pandemie wird dies nun als eine Möglichkeit gesehen, das lokale Nachtleben und die Drag-Community anzukurbeln Künstler, deren Einnahmen in den letzten drei Jahren durch die globale Gesundheitskrise beeinträchtigt wurden.

Drollinger bemühte sich darum, sicherzustellen, dass ihr Club die erzwungenen Schließungen der Nachtclubs überstanden hatte, ebenso wie ihre Angestellten und die Drag-Künstler, die die Bühne von Oasis beehrten, und motivierte Drollinger, sich als Drag-Preisträgerin zu bewerben. Im Jahr 2020 begannen sie und ihr Team schnell damit, aufgezeichnete Shows online zu stellen und auch Möglichkeiten für Spenden anzubieten.

Dies führte dazu, dass sie den Abonnementdienst OasisTV einführten, um sich finanzielle Unterstützung zu sichern. Drollinger startete auch den Essenslieferdienst „Meals on Heels“, der Drag-Darsteller beschäftigte, die vor der Haustür der Leute ein Lied lippensynchron spielten.

„Es fühlte sich wirklich so an, als wäre mein Leben in den letzten drei Jahren sehr gewachsen, da ich die Pandemie überstanden habe und aus der Pandemie herausgekommen bin und so hart mit meiner Gemeinde und der Gemeinde von San Francisco insgesamt gearbeitet habe, dass es sich anfühlte, als hätte es etwas gebracht.“ “Für mich ist es sinnvoll, so etwas in Angriff zu nehmen”, sagte Drollinger. „Wissen Sie, als ich die Beschreibung dessen, wonach sie suchten und die Qualifikationen las, fühlte es sich in vielerlei Hinsicht so an, als würde es mich ansprechen. Das hätte ich vor der Pandemie vielleicht nicht gesagt.“

D’Arcy Drollinger tritt 2015 im Oasis auf. Foto: Steven Underhill

Botschafter des Nachtlebens
Als Drag-Preisträgerin von San Francisco wird von Drollinger erwartet, dass er an Gemeinschaftsveranstaltungen teilnimmt und diese moderiert und gleichzeitig als Botschafter für die LGBTQ-, Kunst-, Nachtleben- und Unterhaltungsgemeinschaften der Stadt fungiert. Eine ihrer ersten öffentlichen Veranstaltungen in dieser Rolle wird die Leitung des öffentlichen Gedenkens am 23. Mai für Heklina, ihre enge Freundin und ursprüngliche Miteigentümerin von Oasis bei der Eröffnung im Jahr 2015, als Co-Moderatorin sein.

Heklina, die Drag-Persönlichkeit von Stefan Grygelko, starb letzten Monat unerwartet, als sie mit ihrem Freund Peaches Christ (Joshua Grannell) auf Tournee in England war. Zusammen mit Schwester Roma von der philanthropischen Drag-Gruppe Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence werden Peaches Christ und Drollinger die Redner und Künstler vorstellen, die während der Abendveranstaltung im Castro Theatre auf der Bühne stehen.

Drollinger sagte der BAR, dass sie nicht mit Heklina über ihre Bewerbung als Drag Laureate gesprochen habe. Sie konzentrierten sich bei ihren Gesprächen mehr auf die Projekte, an denen jeder arbeitete, da Heklina nach Palm Springs gezogen war und ihre Anteile an Oasis verkauft hatte.

„Ich bin sicher, sie wäre sehr eifersüchtig“, witzelte Drollinger, als Heklina erfuhr, dass sie für die Stelle ausgewählt worden war. „Wissen Sie, die letzten sechs Wochen waren natürlich wirklich überwältigend, sowohl wegen des Verlusts von Heklina als auch wegen der Folgen, die das für die Gemeinschaft hinterlassen hat. Und es war auch intensiv, da ich gleichzeitig in diesen wunderschönen Raum einziehe, für den ich das Stipendium bekommen habe, und ich.“ Ich bekomme die Drag-Laureate-Position. Das ist alles fabelhaft, aber in gewissem Sinne bittersüß, und auch eine wirklich, wirklich, wirklich wichtige Erinnerung, den Menschen, die man liebt, Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken und jeden Tag in vollen Zügen zu leben und den Menschen um einen herum zu sagen, dass man sie liebt ihnen.”

Was den Zuschuss angeht, bezog sich Drollinger auf etwa 300.000 US-Dollar, die an die von ihr letztes Jahr gegründete gemeinnützige Kunstorganisation Oasis Arts gespendet wurden, um lokale LGBTQ-Künstler, Drag-Darsteller, Filmemacher und andere zu unterstützen. Der größte Teil der Finanzierung kam von der San Francisco Film Commission und der Kenneth Rainin Foundation.

Der Großteil des Geldes floss in die Renovierung einer großen Gewerbefläche im Viertel South of Market in der Fourth Street in Bryant. Es wird eine 5.000 Quadratmeter große Klangbühne haben, die lokale queere Filmemacher nutzen können.

Dort will Drollinger die Fortsetzung ihres Films „Shit & Champagne“ aus dem Jahr 2020 mit ihrer Stripper-Figur Champagne Horowitz Jones Dickerson White drehen. Der Bau der Fläche soll im Juli abgeschlossen sein.

„Wir schaffen ein voll funktionsfähiges Filmproduktionsstudio“, sagte Drollinger. „Da diese beiden erstaunlichen Organisationen an das glauben, was wir zu schaffen versuchen, konnten wir alles möglich machen und schnell etwas auf diesem tiefgreifenden Niveau schaffen.“

Nach Hause kommen nach SF
Es wird ein weiteres bleibendes Vermächtnis für Drollinger in der Stadt sein, in der sie bis zu ihrem siebten Lebensjahr zu Hause war, als ihre Familie nach Stockton, Kalifornien, zog. Anschließend zogen sie nach Apia, der Hauptstadt Samoas, weil ihre Mutter, eine Anthropologin, für einen Job in dem polynesischen Inselstaat eingestellt wurde.

1980, im Alter von 17 Jahren, zog Drollinger erneut nach Nevada City, Kalifornien, wo ihre Eltern an einem Quäker-Internat unterrichteten. Anfang der 1990er Jahre lebte sie wieder in San Francisco und arbeitete im Nachtclub 1015 Folsom.

Als RuPaul dort ihren Dance-Hit „Super Model“ aufführte, verkleidete sich Drollinger zu Ehren des besonderen Gastes erstmals als Drag Queen. Während ihr Aussehen eher an ein Clubkind erinnerte, erinnerte sich Drollinger, habe sie „so viel Spaß“ gehabt, dass sie sich immer wieder in Tracht gekleidet habe.

Sie schrieb und produzierte ihre eigenen vier Musicals in San Francisco. Drollinger wollte eine Karriere am Broadway anstreben und zog 1998 nach New York City.

Sie bekam einen Job bei der Produktionsfirma hinter „Hairspray“ und arbeitete an den Probeaufnahmen außerhalb der Stadt in Seattle. Nach der Premiere am Broadway bekam Drollinger einen Job als Assistent des Produktionsteams hinter dem Musical „The Producers“.

Über gemeinsame Freunde beauftragte RuPaul Drollinger mit der Choreografie für ihr Diva-Konzert im Jahr 2000 im Madison Square Garden. Drollingers letzter Broadway-Job war die Arbeit für den Kostümbildner William Ivey Long.

„Das war mein Auftritt am Broadway. Es war aufregend und sehr aufschlussreich“, erinnert sich Drollinger, der 2011 nach San Francisco zurückkehrte.

Ihr Drag-Name ist der Name, den ihre Eltern ihr gegeben haben. Da D’Arcy als geschlechtsneutraler Name fungiert, entschied sie sich, ihn sowohl privat als auch beruflich zu verwenden, obwohl sie zugab, dass „es etwas verwirrend wird“.

„Ich stehe jemandem wie Charles Busch näher, der auch Schriftsteller und Performer ist“, sagte Drollinger und bezog sich dabei auf die gefeierte Drag Queen und Dramatikerin, deren „The Confession of Lily Dare“ diesen Monat im New San Francisco seine regionale Premiere feiert Theaterzentrum des Konservatoriums.

Am 2. Juni wird Drollinger zusammen mit Breed auf dem Balkon des Bürgermeisters im Rathaus an der alljährlichen Hissung der Pride-Flagge anlässlich des Pride-Monats teilnehmen. Sie wird voraussichtlich auch am 13. SF Nightlife and Entertainment Summit teilnehmen, der am Montag, dem 5. Juni, stattfindet, und bereitet den ganzen Monat über bereits eine ganze Reihe von Partys und Auftritten im Oasis vor.

„Ich werde bei dieser Pride sehr beschäftigt sein“, sagte Drollinger und scherzte: „Ich werde mein Leben rund um die Uhr in Drag leben.“

Ihre Ernennung zur Drag-Preisträgerin erfolgt zu einer Zeit, in der republikanische Gesetzgeber in Bundesstaaten im ganzen Land die Durchführung von Drag-Veranstaltungen an öffentlichen Orten verbieten und Eltern dafür kritisieren, dass sie ihre Kinder zum Drag-Brunch mitnehmen oder Drag-Story-Stunden in Buchhandlungen und öffentlichen Bibliotheken besuchen. Auch Unternehmen, die Drag-Shows veranstalten, geraten in die Kritik und drohen mit dem Verlust ihrer Spirituosenlizenzen.

Drollinger sagte gegenüber der BAR, dass sie es „ziemlich tiefgreifend“ finde, zu wissen, dass die Beamten von San Francisco die Schaffung der Stelle nicht als Reaktion auf die gesetzgeberischen Angriffe auf Drag-Darsteller beschlossen hätten. Vielmehr betrachten sie die Drag-Community seit langem als einen wichtigen Teil der Kultur der Stadt, für dessen Schutz und Unterstützung es sich zu kämpfen lohnt.

„Das ist keine Reaktion darauf, sondern zeigt wirklich, wie sehr San Francisco die Drag-Community schätzt und sich um sie kümmert“, sagte Drollinger, dessen Motto „Drag rettet den Tag“ lautet.

Über den Grund, warum sie die zusätzliche Verantwortung als Drag-Preisträgerin übernehmen wollte, scherzte Drollinger: „Weil ich verrückt bin und ein Vielfraß nach Bestrafung.“

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The end of a standoff between landlords and tenants at an apartment building near Mission Dolores Park was heralded with a jubilant April 6 press conference announcing that a nonprofit organization had acquired the building — and allowed tenants to remain.

The Mission Economic Development Agency acquired the building at 3661 19th Street for $7.48 million under the city’s Small Sites Program, funded by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.

As the Bay Area Reporter reported back in 2021, the 12-unit rent-controlled complex was purchased by two limited companies in August 2018. Shortly after the purchase — despite alleged assurances from a previous owner — the LLCs began seeking evictions from the tenants through the Ellis Act.

The Ellis Act, enacted in 1985 by then-Governor George Deukmejian, is a state law that prevents local authorities from prohibiting evictions if the owner decides to go out of business as a landlord. It was one of the few forms of evictions allowed to continue during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the mayor’s housing office, MEDA has now bought the building through the city’s small construction program.

“MEDA officially purchased the site on January 27, 2023, ending a no-fault eviction under the Ellis Act that would have ousted longtime BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color]LGBTQ+ and seniors,” explained Anne Stanley, communications manager for the office. The building is now preserved as permanent, affordable housing and will be rehabilitated to address seismic, electrical, plumbing, elevator and roofing improvements.

According to a fact sheet from the Citywide Affordable Housing Loan Committee, the city has committed $9.9 million in permanent financing for the building, including acquisition and rehabilitation. The source of funding is general notes.

Jose Garcia, head of the conservation program at MEDA, said at the press conference: “We are proud to have worked with these residents and the community to make this possible.”

Eric Shaw, a gay black man who is the director of the MOHCD, told the BAR that “central to our office’s mission is investing in programs that support efforts to combat displacement and increase housing stability for all San Franciscos.”

“The takeover of 3661 19th Street ended an innocent Ellis Act eviction that would have evicted longtime San Francisco residents,” he said. “The 12-unit building now remains permanently affordable for current and future tenants.”

Tenant Paul Mooney – who played a key role in organizing his flatmates – celebrated the win.

“I’m happy to announce that we won!” said Mooney. “I moved to San Francisco as a gay man, looking for a community of my own, looking for a place to call home. I love it here: this wonderful, weird, crazy city and neighborhood. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else as magical as this place.”

Mooney’s persistence was applauded several times during the press conference — from diverting his morning walk so he could check in at MEDA’s offices to buying fake charcoal and having it delivered to the former landlords at their homes in Redwood City, like the BAR did at the time reported .

Mooney said it was proof “that you can beat the Ellis Act.

Steve Collier, a gay man and attorney for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said, “It was really a struggle on all fronts.” By pushing the previous landlords both in and out of the courtroom, Collier said the tenants were able to clear them make it make more financial sense for them to take a deal.

“Their whole business plan was to get the tenants out in three months,” Collier said at the news conference. “It’s crazy to think they can get away with it in San Francisco.”

“Not with Steve Collier,” interjected Rafael Mandelman, District 8’s gay supervisor. The building is in his district.

“It’s a great outcome for these tenants, and it’s also great that District 8 will have 12 more sustainable affordable units in a neighborhood that has experienced significant gentrification and displacement,” Mandelman told the BAR. “I am very grateful to the Mayor’s Office, MEDA, the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, community attorneys and the residents themselves for their perseverance.”

Mandelman said at the press conference that Districts 8 and 9 (the Mission) are the epicenter of no-fault evictions in the city.

“These are wonderful communities and the things that make them wonderful to live in make them wonderful for speculators,” the supervisor said.

“There’s a special place in heaven for lawyers in San Francisco, on the frontlines every day,” he added, thanking Collier for his 36-year commitment to fighting evictions.

The building’s current occupants are 60% LGBTQ, 50% Asian American/BIPOC, and half seniors, “a large majority.” [of] People with disabilities,” says a MEDA leaflet.

Larry Kuester, a gay man who has lived in the building for 33 years, the longest of any tenant according to MEDA, is just glad it’s over.

“It was extremely stressful,” he said. “I am very happy. This is the best news we could have received.”

The former owners of the property could not be reached for comment.

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San Francisco’s ban on taxpayer-funded travel to states with anti-LGBTQ laws and doing business with companies based there is coming to an end. It will certainly add momentum to state lawmakers’ push to also end California’s travel ban policy for such states.

As expected, the city board of directors voted 7-4 at its Tuesday meeting to repeal the policy known as 12X. First enacted in 2016 to cover states that have enacted laws restricting LGBTQ rights, it has been expanded to include states with restrictions on abortion access and voting.

It led to the 12X policy, which covered 30 states, almost two-thirds of the country. It also sparked a growing backlash, as critics argued it was ineffective at promoting the city’s liberal values ​​in other states.

Instead, they argued that 12X merely made city contracts more expensive because fewer companies could bid on them. Mayor London Breed signed an amendment to the law in late March that would allow construction companies across the 30 states to re-bid for public contracts in the city.

Regulators had voted 7-4 for the change, signaling that there was also support for scrapping 12X entirely. Rafael Mandelman, Supervisor of Gay District 8, wrote the relevant ordinance, with Supervisors Ahsha Safaí of District 11, Hillary Ronen of District 9, Catherine Stefani of District 2, and Board Chairman Aaron Peskin of District 3 signing on as co-sponsors.

Safaí drafted the ordinance that ended the ban on construction contracts. Gay District 6 supervisor Matt Dorsey also signed on as a co-sponsor of Mandelman’s ordinance.

The seventh vote of goodbye at the April 25 board meeting came from District 4 gay supervisor Joel Engardio, who also came on board as a co-sponsor. The board must pass it a second time at its May 2 meeting before sending it to Breed, who will shortly thereafter sign the 12X repeal into law.

When it came up before the regulators’ rules committee last week, Mandelman noted, “Some say it’s a white flag — I don’t.”

This week, Mandelman again emphasized that 12X is “not achieving the goal” it was supposed to and instead is “making our government less efficient.”

But District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton reiterated his concerns about the policy’s scrapping without having more study and analysis on how it will impact the local LGBTQ community and small business owners in the city.

“This could really backfire on our small businesses,” Walton said.

Supervisors Myrna Melgar of District 7, Dean Preston of District 5, and Connie Chan of District 1 agreed with Walton and voted to keep the 12X policy. Chan said she is trying to see how she can achieve “intent” on the travel and contract bans once they are lifted.

It comes as lawmakers in other states continue to pass anti-LGBTQ legislation this year. A major LGBTQ rights group in Florida has even issued a travel warning for the Sunshine State because lawmakers there are repealing the rights of LGBTQ people.

Nonetheless, a bill to end California’s travel ban policy for such states is making its way through the legislature. Pro-Lesbian Senate President Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) introduced Senate Bill 447 to repeal it and replace it with a marketing effort to support LGBTQ rights in conservative states. How much money will be made available for this or where the funding will come from has yet to be determined.

Although it is expected to pass the state Senate, it could face opposition in the assembly as the bill’s author, gay Rep. Evan Low (D-Cupertino), raises concerns about its repeal. Also not yet committed to supporting SB 447 is Congregational Member Matt Haney (D-San Francisco).

“I haven’t checked the bill yet. This is the first time I’ve heard of it,” Haney told the Bay Area Reporter during an April 21 phone interview.

The former San Francisco supervisor joined the board after the city’s “no-fly list” for anti-LGBTQ states was already in place. But he voted to extend the scope to include states that blocked access to abortion in 2019 and restricted voting rights in 2021.

“I think it was well intentioned,” Haney said of the city’s 12X policy. “But I think it makes perfect sense for the board to evaluate the policy and make appropriate changes to ensure we can keep contract costs down and whether it’s also having a real impact on reactionary politics across the country.”

A spokesman for Rep. Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who has served in Sacramento since 2012, did not respond to the BAR’s request if he supports Atkins legislation known as the BRIDGE Project, an acronym for Building and Reinforcing Inclusive, various , Gender Equality.

The city’s third representative in the Legislature, gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), wrote the city’s 12X policy while he was a member of the board of directors. He advocated full repeal in February and also supports SB 447.

“As attacks against LGBTQ people soar to the most extreme levels in generations, it is imperative that California strikes back. This bill provides a great opportunity to do that,” Wiener said earlier this month after exiting its first Senate committee.

Help keep the Bay Area Reporter going during these trying times. To support local, independent LGBTQ journalism, consider becoming a BAR member.

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Illustration by Carl Burton

For the impacted homeowners of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, the August 2022 announcement that they were one step closer to being made whole — with relief coming in the form of a $20.5 million settlement — was long past due.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall 17 years earlier, devastating their neighborhood. But that was just the opening chapter of their misfortune. Their homes had been rebuilt, only to give way to rot, mold and structural defects. Their 2018 class-action lawsuit seeking damages against their original benefactors, the Make It Right Foundation and its leading man, Brad Pitt, languished in Orleans Parish court for years as their properties decayed.

“This has been one long nightmare,” says Albert Matthews, noting that his 91-year-old mother, Marion Bryan, paid the initial deposit on her new house in 2008. He says the residence became so badly compromised that Make It Right built a second one, which also had serious problems. So too, he claims, did a third, constructed by the organization in 2014. Unlike many residents, who were forced to live in substandard conditions, Bryan has stayed with her son. “It’s been very stressful for all of us,” he says. “My mother, she’s never seen the end of the tunnel from Katrina.”

In the summer of 2022, Global Green USA — another charity with Hollywood connections and a track record of helping rebuild in the region — had announced it would step up to pay and administer the $20.5 million, imminently disbursing the funds. “Hopefully this agreement will allow everyone to look ahead to other opportunities to continue to strengthen this proud community in the future,” Pitt told TMZ, as media outlets spread the welcome news.

But The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the deal has since imploded amid recrimination. History has repeated in the Lower Ninth Ward — and yet another well-intentioned and highly publicized plan for these residents has resulted in failure.

According to previously unreported case files, soon after the pact was announced, Global Green attempted to renege, revealing that despite signing on to the court-approved agreement that stipulated all funding would be provided within 10 days, it never had the money to cover its commitment. Furthermore, the nonprofit, which wasn’t required to show the court it was financially sound, asserted it could not effectively fundraise because Pitt’s ex-wife Angelina Jolie had, in unrelated court proceedings, then recently accused the actor of abusing her and their children.

“I’ve never seen a situation like this, where there was a settlement that fell through because it was an insolvent party that proposed it,” marvels Louisiana State University law professor William R. Corbett, an expert in civil procedure.

Pitt’s team rejects any notion that the actor or his reputation are at all to blame for what’s transpired, contending that Global Green is solely responsible for making a promise it didn’t keep. “Brad had supported Global Green many years ago, so when they approached his team stating ‘$20.5M in funding’ had been secured by their ‘generous donors,’ there was interest in considering their proposal,” a Pitt spokesperson at Hiltzik Strategies responded to THR in a written statement. “Global Green represented themselves as having already obtained these funds and planned to use them toward resolving all claims in the ongoing lawsuit for the benefit of the homeowners.” The representative added, “It was incredibly surprising for the plaintiffs, the defendants and their counsel to learn that the funds Global Green claimed multiple times were secured had not in fact been committed or raised. It was equally disappointing to discover payment was not made, though the settlement agreement was specifically negotiated to ensure that litigation would continue without prejudice to any parties if the settlement were to fail.”

For his part, Global Green CEO Bill Bridge, who agreed to reply to THR‘s inquiries by email, portrayed his nonprofit as a pure-of-heart entity having been brought into “the snake pit” by a high-stakes, even higher-pressure settlement process that’s left it with mounting legal fees, under a contempt order and scrambling to obtain a court-ordered surety bond to cover the $20.5 million. (A surety is a guarantee of one party’s debt by another.) “Global Green was willing to make every effort to raise the funds, but when it wasn’t fast enough or to the level those parties required, Global Green became the scapegoat for what essentially has been the failure of the parties to resolve the matter,” he explained.

The plaintiffs’ attorney didn’t respond to requests for comment. Neither did counsel for Make It Right.

THR‘s further scrutiny of Global Green for this coverage points to additional overlooked red flags at the nonprofit, long a centerpiece of the entertainment industry’s philanthropic interest in environmentalism. These include declining financial contributions in recent years and questions concerning its governance protocols.

Matt Petersen, who led Global Green from 1994 to 2013, was a board member until 2017, and oversaw its New Orleans initiatives after Katrina, including work done in tandem with Pitt, is disappointed to hear of what’s occurred in the Make It Right matter. “I simply can’t understand why Global Green would make a hollow commitment to pay the settlement so Make It Right homeowners could repair their homes when Global Green didn’t have the resources to begin with,” says Petersen, who’s now president of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. “That is just reprehensible to leave those homeowners holding the bag and betrays the legacy of Global Green.”

New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward in 2006, post-Hurricane Katrina. Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation was formed to build new homes for impacted residents.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Make It Right, whose initial funding included bequests from the likes of the late film financier Steve Bing ($5 million) as well as American Idol ($10 million), began as the feel-good story of the post-Katrina era. Halo-headlined articles (“Brad Pitt’s Gifts,” “Brad the Builder in New Orleans”) described how the star — who along with his then-wife Jolie had adopted the city as his hometown, purchasing a French Quarter mansion — was leading an ambitious effort to erect a planned 150 environmentally sensitive, design-conscious houses in the stormwater-devastated Lower Ninth Ward, a largely working-class African American neighborhood that was a focus of Spike Lee’s 2006 documentary When the Levees Broke.

“I just saw what needed to be done,” Pitt told Architectural Digest in 2009, two years after Make It Right began, “and I said, ‘Why not?’ ” Pitt, who broke ground on the project alongside former President Bill Clinton, enlisted a roster of Pritzker Prize-winning architects, including Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and Thom Mayne.

The Make It Right initiative tapped star architects like Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and Thom Mayne to design more than 100 modern and sustainable houses in the Lower Ninth. Many were later beset by problems including structural defects and mold.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

In time, though, Make It Right’s beneficence encountered stark reality, both for the new homeowners — these weren’t gifts; the residents had taken out mortgages — as well as for Pitt. “We went into it incredibly naive,” he explained to New Orleans paper The Times-Picayune in 2015. “Just thinking we can build homes — how hard is that? — and not understanding forgivable loan structures and family financial counseling and getting the rights to lots and HUD grants and so on and so forth. So it’s been a big learning curve.”

By 2018, a class-action lawsuit against Make It Right and its heads alleged that many of the houses (109 had been built) were shoddily constructed with substandard materials, prompting rot, mold and structural damage, along with other issues ranging from faulty ventilation and electrical malfunctions to plumbing issues. Pitt asked the judge to absolve him from personal liability — to no avail.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Ron Austin, observed at the time that the nonprofit leaders’ aura of good intentions may have shielded them from more expeditious scrutiny. “I think they were able to get away with it because of who they were, because the residents were very grateful with Make It Right stepping in and showing interest in their community,” he said.

Outside of court, Make It Right essentially no longer exists. Its headquarters have been abandoned, phone numbers disconnected, website gone. The Orleans Parish Sheriff in recent years has reportedly seized multiple Make It Right-owned properties because of unpaid city fees.

Global Green USA — an affiliate of Green Cross International, the charity founded by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 whose worldwide mission framework includes aiding people affected by environmental catastrophes — also actively participated in the area’s hurricane recovery alongside Make It Right. This included developing a small number of its own eco-friendly homes in another part of the Lower Ninth Ward (which have not faced complaints about the quality of their construction), as well as helping to shape the green-energy policy of Louisiana’s public school system, working primarily with the state-run Recovery School District in New Orleans.

Pitt launched the Make It Right Foundation with the “150 Pink Houses” art project, which was meant to symbolize renewal, in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, on Dec. 3, 2007. The architecture firm GRAFT designed the art project, as well as two houses for Make It Right’s efforts.

Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Global Green itself has long cultivated Hollywood, leaning into the intersection of celebrity and sustainability. For years, it threw pre-Oscar fundraising bashes that were must-stops for the likes of Adrian Grenier, Ed Begley Jr. and Moby. The organization also assembled an A-list honorary board, which at various times included Leonardo DiCaprio, Norman Lear, Yoko Ono, Ted Turner and Robert Redford.

Recent years, though, have seen an apparent steady decline in the organization’s support and programming efforts. Gifts, grants and contributions dropped by more than 36 percent between 2017 and 2021, the latest available year of its IRS documentation. The nonprofit, which had previously outlined its accomplishments in detail, has by its own admission narrowed its services “significantly” during the same period. (It pointed to the pandemic’s government shutdowns and global travel restrictions as contributing to the drawdown. Bridge now adds that “there were changes in board leadership, funding, personnel, and a dramatic decrease in government funding during the Trump administration, which required the organization to narrow its work.”)

Three people familiar with Global Green’s operations at this time tell THR that the organization had trouble maintaining its existing donor base and difficulty securing new individual and institutional patrons. They also say that in two instances, private philanthropic foundations, Kresge and JPB, discontinued their relationships with the nonprofit when they discovered that restricted grants had been used for general operating expenses. The JPB Foundation didn’t return a request for comment. The Kresge Foundation said in a statement that its multiyear grant, awarded in 2017, “was terminated after the first year due to concerns about Global Green’s financial viability and governance practices at that time. Kresge awarded a new grant to The Greater New Orleans Foundation, which subsequently supported green-infrastructure education efforts formerly housed at Global Green.”

In 2020 and 2021, the most recent two years of Global Green’s IRS statements, the organization reported that its financials weren’t independently audited. (Its Louisiana-based tax preparer didn’t return a request for comment.) CharityWatch, a nonprofit monitor, considers this a red flag since an outside party hasn’t scrutinized whether its published numbers are accurate and internal controls are effective.

“The lack of an independent audit is not a minor detail,” explains CharityWatch executive director Laurie Styron. “Charities often omit a lot of unflattering information about themselves in their tax filings that can only be discovered by analyzing their audits,” she says. “For example, audits are required to include information about any legal issues a charity is having if they are likely to result in a material financial liability. If an audit doesn’t exist, then a lot of accountability and public disclosure is lost.”

The Make It Right initiative tapped star architects like Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and Thom Mayne to design more than 100 modern and sustainable houses in the Lower Ninth. Many were later beset by problems including structural defects and mold.

ROD LAMKEY JR/AFP/Getty Images

In August 2022, after a four-year legal battle, the judge in the class-action suit approved a settlement. The surprise was that Global Green had quietly swooped in to fund the $20.5 million bill. According to court papers, the nonprofit committed to resolving residents’ claims through its Community & Climate Action Center, based in Holy Cross, another hurricane-impacted neighborhood immediately adjoining the Lower Ninth Ward. “Global Green will promptly pay the funds,” Bridge wrote in April to Make It Right’s Board.

Pitt — who along with Make It Right and its insurers would be relieved by the settlement — told TMZ, “I am incredibly grateful for Global Green’s willingness to step up and provide this important support for the Lower Ninth families. We collaborated in the early days post-Katrina and we are very fortunate to have Global Green’s generous continuing commitment to help address the challenges around these homes and others in need.”

Yet the agreement quickly foundered when the judge’s appointed special masters (responsible for identifying potential claimants and discharging the terms of the settlement) observed that none of the promised funds had been transferred within the required 10-day deadline. Soon, Global Green’s attorney circulated a letter, taking issue with the special masters’ fees as well as the timeliness decree. “Given the long-term nature of this project, the reasonable approach would be for funds to be managed in tranches based on a schedule-as-needed,” the letter said, adding that “all concerned must account for reality.”

As it turned out, Global Green didn’t have the money; instead, it revealed it was in the process of attempting to raise it. Furthermore, it cast doubt on that possibility due to what it claimed was the PR fallout from Jolie’s allegations against Pitt of abusive behavior during their marriage, which first became public in August 2022 and which Pitt denies. “Global Green USA’s ability to continue to raise funds from individual donors, the corporate community, and foundations has recently encountered significant limitations given current unfavorable press towards Brad Pitt,” the nonprofit’s lawyer wrote, without explicitly referencing Jolie’s claims. “That unfavorable press is causing some corporate donors and individual supporters to be reluctant to participate.”

Pitt attended a private Global Green dinner held in Beverly Hills with members of its board as well as its donors in September. “It’s sad that Global Green would blame others for their own inability to raise the funds that they had already claimed were obtained,” Pitt’s spokesperson responds to THR, adding: “Global Green’s eagerness to associate with Brad and try to utilize him for their fundraising purposes remained consistent throughout last year — including, an unauthorized auction using Brad’s name announced via THR in early September, and the organization securing over $200k in donations from board members meeting Brad at a non-fundraising dinner in late September.” (Bridge says the funds are being applied to various settlement-related costs.)

In the litigation, Global Green’s counsel wrote that, given the Pitt dilemma, its board was now “working towards bringing on additional ‘brand partners’ (e.g., celebrities/influencers/sports figures) to help balance the public relations and press needed for this endeavor until Brad Pitt is beyond this current negative press.” These outreach efforts included Serena Williams. Her representatives tell THR she passed on the opportunity.

Brad Pitt with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a 2007 press conference before a meeting about the Make It Right home-building initiative.

Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images

Bridge approached Pitt’s team in February 2022 with an offer to help. What transpired between that overture and the judge-approved settlement in August is in dispute.

“I’m sure we could get funding and it would allow Pitt to clean up his reputation,” Bridge earlier emailed Mary Rickard, then Global Green’s senior project manager for New Orleans, referring to the tainted legacy of Make It Right and its impact on the star. (Bridge also forwarded Rickard a recently published academic’s analysis of Make It Right’s failures.) “Or — do you think it’s too much of a wild card?” He thought Global Green could turn its building in adjacent Holy Cross into a base of operations. Bridge later circulated a “Project Narrative” document, which outlined a plan to take “a phased approach to rebuilding” in partnership with Pitt “via dedicated press push and media exclusive opportunity.”

Rickard, herself a satisfied owner of one of the sustainable neighborhood dwellings that Global Green built years earlier, tells THR she was skeptical of the complexity and ambition of Bridge’s initiative from the outset, since at the time the water and light bills weren’t paid for the Holy Cross building and its tax bill was in arrears. (Bridge ascribes these issues to, respectively, pandemic-era complications and a clerical mix-up.) “He’s not very disciplined — but he’s always got a good story,” says Rickard, who left her position that April, by her account in frustration, after several months’ tenure.

Pitt’s business associates welcomed the idea of assistance from Global Green, in part because the star had a history of working on New Orleans efforts in tandem with the nonprofit’s previous CEO. In documentation obtained by THR, Bridge also repeatedly stated that he’d lined up support from major corporate partners for philanthropic work in the Lower Ninth Ward, eventually naming Wells Fargo, BlackRock, UBS and the Walmart Foundation in writing as “funders who have committed.” When contacted, none of these institutions affirmed they’d ever pledged money; Wells Fargo noted it hadn’t donated to Global Green since 2018 and “there were no conversations in 2022.”

For his part, Bridge now contends that “at no time did we indicate there was any guarantee or financial commitment at that stage of the conversation and that further due diligence, discussions and actions requiring Mr. Pitt’s involvement would be needed.” He says his nonprofit approached the other parties “in good faith” to “raise funds (over time) in support, but in a realistic and collaborative manner.”

That April, Bridge signed a letter to representatives for Make It Right and Pitt that Global Green had “secured $20,500,000 in funding from its generous donors” and stood ready to “resolve all claims in the lawsuit.” He tells THR the reason he used such emphatic language is that he was told by Pitt’s team that his previous draft of the letter was not strong enough: “We were presented with a red-lined version of our original letter reflecting more of a ‘guarantee’ related to the funds. We agreed to the red-lined version in blind faith that all parties would support each other to get to the end game.” Bridge now acknowledges the money wasn’t yet in hand, but claims others involved in the incipient discussions knew it: “Global Green repeatedly told Mr. Pitt’s associates that it would be unable to raise those funds as quickly as was being demanded by the defendants and plaintiffs in the settlement agreement, and we were essentially told not to worry about that element, which was just a formality to get the agreement signed so that the fundraising project could move forward.”

As for the judge-approved settlement, Bridge paints himself and his organization again as having walked a plank. “On multiple occasions I was personally reassured, as was our then-board chair, ‘not to worry’ about the terms and conditions of the actual agreement we were signing with the parties involved, and to ‘just sign it’ so we could start the process of raising money,” he says. “We did so reluctantly, but again in good faith with the assurance by the parties involved that we would not have to meet the 10-day condition in the agreement, to which we had objected.”

Pitt’s team flatly denies this. His spokesperson insists, “Counsel for both the plaintiffs and defendants followed up with extensive diligence over several months. A written settlement was created, signed by Global Green and approved by all parties including the Court, which required Global Green to pay the full $20.5 million within 10 business days of the agreement’s execution or otherwise risk being held in contempt of court.”

It’s unclear even to seasoned legal observers why nobody involved in the case — not the plaintiffs’ attorney, nor the defendants’ respective counselors and advisers, nor the judge, Richard Perque — compelled Global Green to show it could uphold its end of the deal at the outset by furnishing proof of funds. (Perque, who holds a temporary position, is fresh to the bench; when the preliminary approval for the settlement was filed with the court clerk, it was his second day on the job.) “It does seem naive,” says professor David Levine, a class action expert at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. “You wouldn’t do it for a $10,000 auto settlement.”

Lower Ninth resident Robert Green and his family outside of their Make It Right home in 2009, soon after construction was completed.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

According to court papers, from the time that Global Green made its pledge, numerous homeowners had been holding off on continuing to fix their properties until they could be inspected under the terms of the agreement, and had also been taking time off work to have affidavits executed so they could be reimbursed for money they’d already spent on repairs over the years. (More than 100 people attended a late-August meeting at which Bridge spoke.) “If Global Green does not fund the settlement, as it is contractually bound to do, these homeowners will suffer immeasurable stress, anxiety and other emotions which will be physically harmful to them,” argued Austin, the plaintiffs’ counsel, in a November filing.

Bridge, in his own direct written plea to the court afterward, claimed Global Green had entered “in good faith” into the agreement — even if “in hindsight, regrettably” this led to the signing of a “very restrictive” 10-day funding provision that was “untenable.” Still, he insisted that his organization had “made it clear from the beginning of its discussions that raising this large sum of money would require adequate time to identify and secure individual and corporate donors.” He added that Global Green’s board chair, Vered Nisim — by his characterization, centrally involved in deal negotiations — had submitted her resignation. Given what he termed her function “as the principal lead in the effort” to secure the agreed funding, it was not possible for the nonprofit to raise it now — especially “in such a short period of time.” (Nisim tells THR her role in the Make It Right settlement process was minimal.)

“Global Green never saw itself as a third party that intended to inherit the entire burden and risks associated with what has been eight years of litigation between the plaintiffs and defendants, but rather to operate as a good faith vehicle using our name, brand, and history in New Orleans to help raise the funds to end the dispute in the best interests of those residents who live, or have lived, in the Make It Right Foundation homes in New Orleans,” Bridge wrote. “That has been our sole objective from the beginning, but sadly we believe we have become the scapegoat of others as a result of miscommunication, misunderstandings, and perhaps admittedly some naivete on our part with all parties involved in this unfortunate matter.” When the judge asked these other parties to propose a solution, Pitt, like his fellow defendants, backed away. “Mr. Pitt lacks sufficient information to suggest a modified funding structure and takes no position on what, if any, modification to the funding structure should be approved at this time,” his attorney responded in December.

The judge soon ordered Global Green to work to secure $10 million in two months toward the settlement, with the court then reevaluating funding for the remaining $10.5 million. The nonprofit was also ordered to report on its funding efforts every 30 days. Per IRS filings, Global Green’s biggest donors in recent years had only given a few hundred thousand dollars.

On March 29, the judge signaled he’d lost confidence in Global Green’s intervention, allowing the homeowners’ class-action litigation against Pitt and Make It Right to again move forward. He also scheduled an Oct. 2 contempt hearing against Global Green.

Austin, the class-action plaintiffs’ attorney, had sent Lower Ninth Ward homeowners a letter earlier in March updating them on the settlement’s status. He observed it was Pitt’s team that vouched for Global Green in the first place and explained that the actor himself testified under oath during a recent case status conference that “he was essentially too busy to participate in any fundraising efforts to help fund the settlement.”

Pitt’s spokesperson — asserting the actor has personally donated more than $6 million to the Make It Right cause since its inception — responds, “Brad was never under any obligation to donate his own money, attend fundraisers or solicit contributions from donors,” and adds, “Brad has dedicated significant time and resources over the past 15 years to supporting residents of the Lower Ninth as they recover from Hurricane Katrina. We are hopeful that Global Green will find a way to honor their commitment before the contempt hearing in October, and that these homeowners can receive the support they need.”

For Linda Santi, owner of a problem-plagued, Gehry-designed Make It Right house, word of this latest fiasco is par for the course: “Am I surprised that it all went south? No. Am I surprised that things got convoluted, like some confederacy-of-dunces sequel? No. Am I disappointed? Yes.”

At press time, Bridge maintains that “the settlement is funded,” insisting an unidentified benefactor with purported “deep family ties” to New Orleans recently pledged to back a surety bond for $20.5 million the court ordered of Global Green in December. “We are in the final underwriting process,” he explains. Bridge adds that his organization plans to launch a GoFundMe campaign on April 22, Earth Day, to support the overall project of repair efforts. “Global Green remains committed to bringing to the table” donors to alleviate the Make It Right homeowner problems, he says, “with or without Mr. Pitt’s involvement.”

As the litigation begins again, with no end in sight, the Make It Right homeowners wait, doing their best to maintain their properties. Says another affected resident, Byron Jackson, “I really am not optimistic. It’s pretty sad that a lot of people have to be on these mortgages and these fucked-up houses.” He pauses a beat, then adds mordantly: “The American Dream, ya know?”

This story first appeared in the April 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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San Francisco regulators have pushed back a vote to lift San Francisco’s ban on city officials doing business with companies headquartered in states that have enacted anti-LGBTQ laws, abortion bans or restricted voting access in recent years. They did so despite objections from local minorities and LGBTQ entrepreneurs who fear it will have a negative impact on them.

Meanwhile, District 8 gay warden Rafael Mandelman on Tuesday introduced an ordinance to completely abandon the city’s policy of banning travel to and doing business in conservative states. He was joined as co-sponsors by Supervisors Catherine Stefani of District 2 and Hilary Ronen of District 9, and Board Chairperson Aaron Peskin, representing District 3.

“Removing 12X will increase bidding competition and reduce contract costs, saving San Francisco tens of millions or more each year. And it will better advance our social policy goals by allowing us to engage with the actual communities impacted by restrictive LGBTQ, abortion, voting and human rights policies,” Mandelman said in announcing the regulation. “I got it As I said before, the best pressure we can put on red states is to show that progressive San Francisco can be governed effectively.”

District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí had requested that the vote on his ordinance be postponed to the March 14 Board of Supervisors meeting to continue meeting with business leaders in the city. Last November, he introduced the ordinance to abolish the contracting ban.

But when the Regulators’ Rules Committee, of which Safaí is a part, finally raised the city policy overhaul known as 12X at its February 13 meeting, local business leaders complained that they had not been consulted on the matter. Safaí promised to meet with them to hear their concerns and asked for the continuation at Tuesday’s full board meeting to continue those discussions.

“We’ve had some of those talks, but I want to give space to continue those talks,” said Safaí, who voted to introduce the 12X policy when it was first proposed.

The 11 supervisors voted unanimously to allow progress, although District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar suggested that more time was needed to gather community input on the 12X policy change. It also includes a ban on most taxpayer-funded city breaks in the 30 states now covered by the directive, although the travel ban would not be affected by Safaí’s regulation.

“If we’re going to reform it, we have to do it wisely,” Melgar said, adding that she feared two weeks wasn’t “enough time to get the community involved.”

District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton reiterated his opposition to the proposal, which he originally made during the hearing before the Rules Committee, of which he is vice chair. A major objection made by Walton is that changing the 12X policy would result in rewards for large multinational corporations headquartered in states that have legislated against the values ​​that support San Francisco and its residents.

“In my opinion, this will only support the people who support these discriminatory laws,” Walton said.

The 12X Directive was first enacted in 2016 and initially included only those states that had previously passed laws that discriminated against their LGBTQ residents. In 2019, the policy was extended to states that restricted abortion and again in 2021 to states with election-busting laws. California also has a law that bans most taxpayer-funded travel to states that have passed anti-LGBTQ laws in the past eight years, but does not prohibit contracts with companies in those states.

With more than half the country now on San Francisco’s blacklist, critics argue it’s hampering city governments’ ability to find qualified contractors. They also insist it increases the cost of projects because companies that could make the work less expensive won’t bid for them at all if they’re in a banned state.

Critics of 12X, like District 6 gay supervisor Matt Dorsey, also claim that it has failed in its goal of convincing lawmakers in affected states to repeal the laws that put them on San Francisco’s ban list . According to a 16-page memo the city government’s office sent to regulators earlier this month, the implications of the 12X policy in other states are “not clear.”

It concluded that the 12X policy created “additional administrative burdens for city staff and vendors and unintended consequences for San Francisco citizens, such as: B. the restriction of enrichment and development opportunities”.

The memo came at the request of five supervisors who asked the city bureau to review the 12X policy last October. Among them was Mandelman, who supports updating the ban but had been working on his own ordinance for it.

“I don’t think the right way to make a change is to flip the bird and walk away,” he told the Bay Area Reporter, writing last week that supervisors are slowing down their decision-making process on the 12X should policy.

In a letter sent to the Rules Committee and shared with all supervisors, the San Francisco Latino Black Builders Association questioned whether there was any data showing that a change to the 12X policy was warranted. It asked supervisors to require city authorities to prove that work efficiency was reduced or costs increased as a result of the contract ban.

“We support the intent of the original regulation and the support it offers to LGBTQ communities across the country. We also approve of the idea of ​​supporting local and Californian businesses,” wrote Anne Cervantes, a founder and co-chair of the association.

But former District 8 gay supervisor Scott Wiener, now a senator, is urging current supervisors to repeal the entire 12X policy he originally wrote. It is no longer a sound public policy, he claims.

“When I penned 12X, we believed that a coalition of cities and states would form to create real consequences for states that enact these despicable, hateful laws,” Wiener said. “However, as it turns out, that coalition never formed and the full potential impact of those policies never materialized. Instead, San Francisco is now penalizing businesses in other states — including LGBTQ owners, women owners, and people of color. owned corporations — for the sins of their far-right governments. Additionally, the City of San Francisco employees are unable to fly to a large number of states for critical needs, whether collaborating on HIV prevention and treatment strategies or helping working together on critical transportation strategies, it is time to acknowledge that this policy has not worked and we must back down.”

UPDATED 2/28/23 to include the new regulation put in place to repeal the entire 12X policy.

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Australian entertainment reporter Craig Bennett lost a tooth in the middle of a live reporting segment on “Studio 10” earlier this week.

Talking with Sarah Harris and Tristan MacManus, Bennett previewed his coverage of Brad Pitt — regarding Pitt’s latest role in Apple’s Formula 1 film directed by Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) — and briefly launched into some news about Victoria Beckham before feeling one of his front teeth loosening in his mouth.

“Hang on,” he said. “I think my tooth is about to fall out.”

“Craigie, Craigie, are you ok? Did you bite into something?” Harris asked as Bennett pulled his tooth out.

Bennett looked down at his tooth before returning his gaze to the camera and smiling for everyone to see.

“We’ve lost a tooth people, it’s 8:33 and we’ve lost a tooth!” Harris said after she and MacManus laughed.

“Change the headlines!” MacManus said.

“Not something you see on telly every day, is it? Now I’m whistling as I speak,” Bennett joked.

Harris said he looked like “an adorable chimney sweep.” Then he tried to “pop” it back in unsuccessfully.

When asked the status later on in the segment, Bennett said he had wrapped his tooth in a tissue and called the dentist to schedule an appointment. He then joked about the new camera placement to avoid a close-up of his “hellish mouth.”

“I shall push on,” he said. “I’m unflappable.”

He then joked that there’s not a feather left at his age, but he is nevertheless ‘unflappable.’

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