Lance Bass Will Be Dancing With the Stars

-- Brian Juergens from AfterElton.com

 

Tom Bergeron appeared on Good Morning America today to announce the final cast for Season 7 of Dancing With the Stars, joking that he had been "drinking all night" in preparation for the big announcement.

And as had previously been rumored, gay pop star Lance Bass is among the dancers for this season, making him the first openly gay man to compete. Whether the show will push the envelope further by pairing him with a male partner remains to be seen (he is currently paired up with a new female dancer, Lacey Schwimmer, but who knows what they might pull as the competition advances).

 

Here's the full list:

 

Lance Bass
Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito
Team USA beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor
Former "World's Fastest Man" Maurice Greene
Grammy-winning recording artist Toni Braxton
Kim Kardashian
Hannah Montana's Cody Linley
Oscar and Emmy winner Cloris Leachman
TV vet Ted McGinley
Brooke Burke (Wild On, Rock Star)
Comedian Jeff Ross
Recently retired Super Bowl champion Warren Sapp
All My Children Emmy winner Susan Lucci

 

There are 13 contestants, an odd number for the first time. And 7 of them are men. This season also features the oldest competitor ever (Cloris Leachman) and the youngest ever (Cody Linley). Stars premieres on ABC September 22nd.

 

Comments

[K]

I personally hate the idea of Lance Bass dancing on the show with another man. What are they trying to say about gay men? This is not the premise of the show. I am gay and find this insulting. Are they saying that gay men can't dance as well with women or are they using the "gay" card to create hype at the expense of us? If being gay is supposed to be "no big deal" on TV anymore then why do they go out of their way to make it one?

[S]

I like the idea of Lance dancing on the show with another man but I think the other pairs should be same sex as well. That would be comparing apples to apples. And top prize would go to both the top male couple and top female couple.

[junior]

I am so disappointed that no one used the "Lancing with the Stars" headline! Oh well.

As for the man-on-man dancing thing, I think that paired dancing for hundreds of years has been a form of courtship and seduction, if you will, for men and women. So it isn't odd to say that a gay man would maybe want to do the Tango, an extremely seductive dance for example, with another man as gay men are sexually attracted to other men. Riiight? I did get that part right.

I think the question comes into whether he would be able to be judged accurately along with the other people on the show (who I disagree, shouldn't have to do same-sex pairs also, it's 2008, you should be able to dance with whom you want). End of Rant.

[Dani]

I think its pretty silly that he's dancing with another man. Is he going to wear a dress too?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkaTp1UIVE0