NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Elton John challenges new Russian anti-gay law

NEW YORK

Entertainer-songwriter Elton John is declaring his support of the Russian people, and he says they still accept him despite that country’s harsh new anti-gay law.

Passed last year, the so-called “gay propaganda” law bans promotion of “nontraditional sexual relations” to minors.

John said Wednesday that he visited Russia in December concerned that the new law would affect how he was treated as “an openly gay foreigner.” John, who will perform Feb. 1 at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, says he received a warm welcome.

But if foreign visitors are unaffected by the law, John says it has legitimized “vicious homophobia” against gay Russians.

John calls the legislation “deeply dangerous” to the gay and lesbian community, and “deeply divisive” to Russian society.

New Cosby sitcom in works?

NEW YORK

NBC is confirming that Bill Cosby is developing a possible new sitcom he would star in.

The deal brings the 76-year-old entertainer together with a writing staff to create a script for a comedy that casts Cosby as the patriarch of a multigenerational family.

An NBC spokesman said Wednesday that, as yet, there is no series order, nor even a deal to produce a pilot episode.

Cosby’s greatest TV triumph began at NBC three decades ago, when “The Cosby Show” launched in September 1984.

It ran for eight seasons.

Associated Press