Controversial gay author, Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson highlight Pride entertainment line-up

by RYAN LEE

Ten years ago, millions of Americans were introduced to a sexy, smooth-talking, 20-something Jamaican named Winston Shakespeare in Terry McMillan’s semi-autobiographical novel “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.”

In 2005, the world met the real-life inspiration behind Winston, Jonathan Plummer, and realized that “Stella” wasn’t grooving happily ever after. In June of that year, McMillan and Plummer’s May-December marriage ended in a messy divorce after Plummer told McMillan that he is gay.

McMillan responded by telling Oprah Winfrey and anyone else who would listen that Plummer conned her by hiding his sexual orientation in order to marry into money and gain U.S. citizenship. In March, McMillan filed a $40 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Plummer, whom she regularly refers to as a “faggot.”

This weekend, Plummer brings his side of the story to Atlanta’s Black Gay Pride festival as he kicks off a national book tour promoting his debut novel, “Balancing Act.” Plummer also co-hosts In The Life Atlanta’s “Family Feud” game show on Sept. 2.

“People realize that she wrote her story, and now this is a way of showing an alternative side of my story,” Plummer tells Southern Voice.

Just as “Stella” was loosely based on McMillan’s courtship with Plummer, many parts of “Balancing Act” harmonize with Plummer’s real life.

The story centers around Justin Blakeman, a young Jamaican with “hazel-green eyes offset by dark chocolate skin” who catches the attention of Tasha Reynolds, a vacationing powerhouse modeling agent.

Tasha brings her Jamaican boy toy to America where the two of them engage in a “complex game of sexual desire and control” that is complicated further “when Justin discovers a hidden hunger for a male model," according to the promotional material put out by the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster.

The book is "fiction with a purpose, and it’s a funny and sexy story," the author says of "Balancing Act," which he co-wrote with Karen Hunter. “It mirrors my life and it mirrors my coming out process, but the main character Justin Blakeman is a hero, and I don’t really consider myself a hero.”

Lingering Shadows

The main character’s acceptance of his sexual orientation is more immediate and honest than Plummer’s real-life experience, which is why the author considers his protagonist a hero. Having transitioned from an icon of love to the epitome of deception, Plummer wants readers to know that while he’s no angel, he’s not the backstabbing, villainous liar McMillan has made him out to be.

“It really caught me off guard the way she responded and how bitter she is,” Plummer says. “I came out, I wasn’t found out, and I want people to know that. She’s been telling a lot of people she caught me, but that’s definitely not true — I decided to be truthful to her.”

It took Plummer about two years to complete “Balancing Act.” He crafted it as a piece of fiction rather than an autobiography with hopes of appealing to more readers — and because he isn’t prepared to tell his life story, he says.

“I think I’m just a little bit too young for that yet,” he says. “I’ve still got a lot to learn and a lot ahead of me.”

Plummer yearns for the day when he escapes McMillan’s shadow, something he is a long way from accomplishing.

McMillan also remains a kink in Plummer’s love life.

“I’m dating, but it’s rough,” Plummer says. “People, their impression is like, ‘Oh, you’re Terry McMillan’s ex-husband,’ and there’s a lot of baggage that comes with that. It’s kind of hard because people don’t really see me for who I really am; all they see is Terry.

“I’m a good, loving person, I think, and so hopefully people are ready to see me for who I am,” he adds.

Plummer, who says his first sexual experience with a man was three years ago, is quickly settling into his identity as a gay man.

“It was a little scary at first, but the more [other gay men] started embracing me, then I felt comfortable,” he says. “Coming out means honoring who you are on the inside, and I’m still coming out. I’m a work in progress.”

Queen Cancels

Plummer is among a large roster of celebrities attending Black Gay Pride, but the entertainment lineup slimmed down last week when the “Queen of Soul” announced that she was canceling her Labor Day weekend concert at Chastain Park Amphitheatre. Aretha Franklin was scheduled to headline Atlanta’s Montreux Jazz festival, and discount tickets were available to Pride attendees via ITLA, which organizes official events for Black Gay Pride.

Zandra Conway, an ITLA board member, said the organization will refund money to ticket holders who purchased seats through ITLA.

“It’s disappointing, sure. It was a highlight of Black Gay Pride, and people were buying tickets for that who probably wouldn’t attend a lot of the other events,” Conway said.

Conway said the ITLA seats were selling briskly, but did not have an immediate estimate of how many tickets the group had sold to the now-canceled show.

In a press release to Atlanta news media, Franklin blamed the cancellation on the hot summer temperature. The 65-year-old musical legend canceled a performance at an outdoor venue in Detroit earlier this summer and cited high temperatures as the reason then.

Word of Franklin’s decision reached the city of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs, an organizer of the Montreux Jazz Festival, on Aug. 22, according to director Camille Love.

Early reports that Franklin’s show was merely postponed are inaccurate, according to Love, who said that her office offered Franklin the use of the Atlanta Civic Center as a substitute for Chastain.

“We understood her concerns about her health and the temperatures. With respect to that, even though there was an air-conditioned stage at Chastain, we chose to offer her a different venue that was inside, air-conditioned, and comfortable in a great venue,” Love explained.

Franklin declined. No alternate date — at least organized through the city — is scheduled.

Other celebs
Celebrities still scheduled to attend this weekend’s Black Gay Pride include Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson performing at the Lion’s Den party at Club Europe Sept. 2, and “American Idol” semi-finalist Kimberly Locke singing at the “Full Moon” party at the new Traxx on Sept. 1. R&B sensation Amerie takes the stage at the “Men R From Mars” party at Atlanta Live on Aug. 31.

Traxx Girls also brings a handful of stars to town for its weekend of parties for women. “America’s Next Top Model” alumna Eva Pigford and Jade Cole host a Sept. 1 Traxx Girls block party in downtown Atlanta, the same night that the British R&B duo Floetry performs at Club Attraxxions.

Also on Sept. 1, Traxx Girls hosts its signature party at Atlanta Live, which almost 4,000 lesbians attended last year.

“I can only imagine what this year is going to be like — that evening is just bannoodles,” says Melissa Scott, one of the organizers of Traxx Girls.

The Atlanta Live party features appearances by Tiffany “New York” Pollard from “Flavor of Love,” “American Idol” castoff Frenchie Davis, and singer LeToya Luckett, formerly of Destiny’s Child.

Traxx Girls’ Sept. 2 party at Club Europe reserves the mic for local artists including the rap group Crime Mob, singer Spring, and Wanita “D-Woods” Woodgette, one of the sex kittens from the group Danity Kane.


Zack Hudson contributed to this article.

Bounce back