Listen to your TV dad
Tracey Gold and Alan Thicke, who played Kirk Cameron’s sister and father on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains, have joined the chorus of performers taking exception to their castmate’s anti-gay comments.
Kirkland Lake-born Thicke wrote Monday afternoon that he was “getting (Cameron) some new books. The Old Testament simply can’t be expected to explain everything.”
Cameron, 41, a born-again Christian, told CNN’S Piers Morgan on Friday that being gay is “detrimental,” “unnatural” and “ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”
He spoke his mind again Tuesday, telling ABC News, “I should be able to express moral views on social issues, especially those that have been the underpinning of Western civilization for 2,000 years, without being slandered, accused of hate speech and told from those who preach ’tolerance’ that I need to ei- ther bend my beliefs to their moral standards or be silent when I’m in the public square.” The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has called Cameron “dated” and “out of step.”
Star wire services
Juno nominee heard but not seen on TV
Vancouver singer/songwriter Dan Mangan is tied for the lead with four nominations heading into next month’s Juno Awards, but representatives from his record label say he hasn’t been invited to perform during the broadcast, and they are rankled by the perceived oversight. “That’s a bit of like — who’s making those decisions?” said Arts & Crafts president Jeffrey Remedios. A publicist for the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences pointed out that Mangan is set to perform during the non-televised Junos gala where the bulk of the awards are handed out.
The Canadian Press
Mcanuff’s big year
brings GG Award
Des Mcanuff has won a special Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards.
Mcanuff, artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, received the National Arts Centre Award for his work in the past year in Calgary on Tuesday. In the past year, the Scarborough-raised director has seen Stratford’s Jesus Christ Superstar transferred to Broadway, made his Metropolitan Opera debut with Faust and took Doctor Zhivago to Sydney, Australia. Five Lifetime Artistic Achievement awards went to pianist Janina Fialkowska, dancer and chore
ographer Paul-andré Fortier, director and designer Denis Marleau, director and screenwriter Deepa Mehta, rock band Rush, and actor and comedian Mary Walsh,. The Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts was given to Earlaine Collins. Richard Ouzounian
Briefly
A large number of music files of the late Michael Jackson were allegedly stolen from record company Sony Music by computer hackers, sources familiar with the case say. On Friday, two men appeared in a British court accused of offences connected with the alleged security breach. Sources could not confirm British media reports that tens of thousands of files, most of them by Jackson, were downloaded illegally. Hard Toronto, a companion event to the Hard Summer music festival in Los Angeles, will launch at Fort York on Aug. 4. The show will feature headliners Justice and M83, along with supporting acts Austra and Buraka Som Sistema. Tickets are on sale at www.hardfest.com and www.ticketweb.ca/embrace. Big Wreck has announced a Canadian tour with a Toronto stop on May 10 at the Danforth Music Hall.
Songwriter Robert B. Sherman, who wrote “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and other songs for Disney classics, has died. He was 86. Working with his brother Richard, Sherman composed scores for Disney films including The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Their songs also included “It’s a Small World (After All),” written for the 1964 World Fair.
Universal Pictures Stage Productions says it’s developing a stage musical based on National Lampoon’s Animal House. Animal House: The Musical will feature an original score by the Barenaked Ladies, with direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw, who also directed The Drowsy Chaperone.
Bieber’s mom, Pattie Mallette, has signed a deal with Revell Books to publish her memoir. Nowhere But Up: The Story of Justin Bieber’s Momis slated for release Sept. 18.
Lady Gaga has become the first Twitter user to reach 20 million followers, beating Justin Bieber, who has 18.1 million followers. Star staff, wire services