The Reluctant Whore

Keith Olbermann’s reference to Anderson Cooper in New York Magazine might just have summed up the reasons behind Anderson Cooper’s refusal to come out better than anyone has so far – including Michael Musto who has articulately written about Cooper’s insistent, on-his-own-terms closeted state on several occasions. Olbermann was quoted in New York Magazine as saying, among other things:

"Don’t tell me you don’t want to talk about personal life when you wrote a book about your father’s death and your brother’s death. You can’t move this big mass of personal stuff out for public display, then people ask questions and you say, 'Oh, no, I didn’t say there was going to be any questions.

And then

Your shtick is your personal life."


Which more or less sums it up.

The last memorable thing Cooper actually did, that is, apart from his numerous stunning appearances at Equinox gym in Greenwich Village and his numerous canoodling dinners with men in Chelsea, was actually his crescendoing moment on CNN during the Katrina disaster. His championing of the plight of the victims of the hurricane and his intolerance for self congratulatory politicians was actually resonant, not only because Cooper was there, he’s hot and he cried and shouted with conviction. It was also the first time the country really chose to or could face the utter failure of the Bush administration and as such, seemed to be a turning point for the nation. Cooper was, when you get down to it, part of a catalyst and he rode that to his own show on CNN. His work isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not THAT involving. When he couldn’t seem to sustain a top rating position and started to slip in the ratings, he plod back on down to New Orleans to keep ownership of the issue and to harp back to his glory moment in the sun.

Now, his refusal to come out of the closet despite his utter disclosure of every other aspect of his life, not to mention his bold personal life behaviour that screams gay, seems to actually make sense. Sure there’s pressure from CNN to not come out; sure it’s hard when more than half the country thinks being gay is immoral but in reality – maybe the speculation surrounding his sexuality is what keeps people interested. He’s on the cover of Out Magazine this month entirely because of his refusal to come out in public. His mysterious, yet bleedingly obvious personal life may, in fact, be one of the primary things keeping him relevant. Maybe it all balances out for Anderson though; his closeted state balances the whole Anderson Cooper concept enough for a rumour to surface that he’s been offered 50 million dollars over 5 years to continue. It could just be a way for the Post to say, “CNN must love to reward underachievers” because he’s a direct competitor to Fox but somehow it seems like CNN is constructing a mainstream figure for the long term in Anderson and that means exiting the closet might never be an option. [source] [source]