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Content about the Village Voice

June 12, 2012

Donna Summer letter surfaces in which she disputed making anti-gay remarks

Late singer wrote to ACT UP in 1989: 'I did not say God is punishing gays with AIDS'

The career of Donna Summer, who died last month of cancer at the age of 63, never fully recovered after she was quoted by the Village Voice in 1983 as saying AIDS was God's punishment to gays.

Summer later denied ever making the comments but in this pre-GLAAD era, she did not respond to the controversy quickly. Gay fans were a huge portion of her audience and many felt betrayed by the comments attributed to the singer.

May 7, 2012

Rufus Wainwright recalls the time he met and was slapped down by Bea Arthur

Late TV and Broadway legend told singer: 'I'm not your f*cking grandmother!'

A story that singer Rufus Wainwright has been telling for years is getting a new life after being shared in an item in the Village Voice newspaper.

It involves that late television and Broadway star Bea Arthur, who died in 2009, and the time Wainwright met her at an AIDS benefit several years ago.