Anderson Cooper is a hero to the LGBT community, and even though he didn’t officially come out until 2012, his coverage of LGBT events, especially the Orlando shootings, has been highly praised. However, Mr. Cooper may have just made a mistake by speaking out against one of the many things the LGBT community loves about him — his hair!
According to Entertainment Tonight , Cooper doesn’t like being a “silver fox.”
“I don’t really like my gray hair. I wish I still had brown hair. It’s not my thing . If I could, I would probably color my hair, but I couldn’t imagine sitting in a salon with tin foil in my hair reading old issues of Rosie …At this point it’s too late — the cow has left the barn,” Cooper is quoted as explaining.
As the popular LGBT site Queerty noted, others certainly disagree.
“Say what?! We can’t imagine Anderson with anything but his signature silver locks…Oh, Anderson, quit being so hard on yourself,” says columnist Graham Gremore.
Many in the comments section after the article seem to agree.
“He looks GREAT as a silver fox. He is marriage material,” says Billy Budd.
“Don’t dye, Anderson. Please don’t dye,” jokes Footwork61.
Then, there is Twitter with fans actually planning to boycott Cooper over his “offensive” statements about himself.
https://twitter.com/Bowiefan73/status/746467133958197249
@andersoncooper is sexy regardless of hair color. https://t.co/NC7iAHSNUe
— I’m Just Randy ??????? (@PozitiveVizion) June 23, 2016
As mentioned, Anderson Cooper is being praised for his coverage in Orlando. However, as Salon points out, some at Fox News think Cooper is too biased to be reporting on the Orlando shootings.
“On Mediabuzz yesterday, host Howard Kurtz and guest Guy Benson debated whether CNN’s Anderson Cooper was fit to cover anti-LGBTQ incidents like the Orlando nightclub shooting, given that he is himself homosexual.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9VEm1u8uA
Salon adds that Kurtz asked Benson — who is also gay — whether Anderson Cooper seemed over-aggressive when he questioned Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi about her previous anti-LGBT positions in the wake of the Orlando shootings. Benson said that Cooper acted more like an activist than a reporter.
In what has been widely discussed in the media, Anderson Cooper confronted Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi over her history with gay rights. Variety was one of the first sources to analyze Cooper’s confrontation.
“CNN’s Anderson Cooper spoke on behalf of the gay and lesbian community when he grilled Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi over her recent statements about the scene, in which she said ‘anyone who attacks our LGBTQ community will be gone after with the full extent of the law’ after this past weekend’s mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub.”
The article adds that Cooper pointed out that these statements contradicted what Bondi had said about the gay community in the past, especially when she said that gay marriage would induce public harm to all the people in Florida. However, Bondi said she only made those statements because she was sworn to uphold the Constitution of the State of Florida. She said that’s what she was referring to and never said she doesn’t like gay people.
After his Orlando coverage, Anderson Cooper’s star is rising faster than ever. Although his ratings on CNN haven’t been historically high, one can expect Cooper to branch out to network television in the near future if rumors are true. Either way, Anderson Cooper has gone from being a reporter to a hero for many in the LGBT community
[Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images]
