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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > May > 10 > Entry
Terry McMillan keeps groove in comfort zone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Author Terry McMillan (“How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “Waiting to Exhale”) cut to the chase before a packed crowd Monday night at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Midtown.
“I’ll take questions,” she said to an audience that was 90 percent women. “I prefer they don’t be about divorce. Or homosexuality.”
Everybody laughed. She added: “I have nothing against gay people, men or women. Just one. And he knows it.”
She was referencing her ex-husband, Jonathan Plummer, who came out of the closet in 2004 then tried to void a prenuptial agreement and seek alimony. His civil case accused McMillan of homophobia. She ultimately won the case.
Indeed, nobody dared throw out any divorce-related questions to McMillan, who recently finished a short book on tips for high school grads called “It’s OK If You’re Clueless.”
But when asked what future books she was working on, McMillan shared the title: “Don’t Pity the Fool.”
“It’s about what I went through in my divorce,” she said. “I spent $363,000 in legal fees. I had a prenup that was valid. He made 600-some-odd lies in court documents.”
She said Plummer’s accusations have harmed her irreparably: “What you can get away with in civil court that you can’t in criminal is unconscionable. What if I didn’t have the money? What if I had [young] children?”
McMillan’s complementary book idea, “The Low Down on the Down Low,” is about black men who secretly sleep with other men. “It’s not an indictment,” she said. “It’s just a plea to some extent that we be more accepting of people who are hiding and living a double life. … It’s nobody’s business how you love. Just don’t do it at everybody’s expense.”
The Kimmer’s team thins out
Stumbling news/talk station WGST-AM appears to be dismantling veteran afternoon show host Kim “the Kimmer” Peterson’s support team one piece at a time.
Last December, Jim Gossett, the comic who did celebrity impersonations on Peterson’s “newsmaker” line, quit after his girlfriend, newscaster Kari Dean, was fired. Then GST got rid of longtime sports guy Pete Davis in February. Last Friday, Peterson’s sidekick, Wayne Kitchens, was booted after nine years.
Kitchens, who produced the show, told Buzz that management was upset when he didn’t bleep out an anti-Muslim statement Peterson said on the air last week. Nonetheless, Kitchens suspected he had been on the chopping block for a while: “I knew I was next. And I think they’re trying to make the Kimmer quit.”
Program director Randall Bloomquist, who arrived last fall, said he couldn’t comment on Kitchens’ firing since it was a personnel matter. But he called the departures “side dishes. The steak and potatoes is the Kimmer.”
Peterson, a GST fixture for more than a decade, has seen his ratings drop sharply in recent months. “I have no comment,” he told Buzz Tuesday.
Blaine fails to break record
David Blaine — loosely dubbed a “magician” but more like an endurance stunt man — spent a week submerged in an 8-foot fish bowl at Lincoln Center in New York City. After seven minutes, eight seconds of holding his breath Monday night, rescue divers jumped into the 2,000-gallon saltwater tank and hauled him up. But he failed to break the eight minute, 58 second record.
Blaine, who experienced some liver damage and skin rashes, was moved to a New York hospital Monday night for observation but left Tuesday.
The spectacle, aired live on ABC Monday night, pulled in about 10 million viewers, slightly above average for the network.
Random bits
Clay Aiken, former “American Idol” runner-up, was recently disinvited to a local April 30 Christian Pure fashion show after organizers were inundated with e-mails alleging he was gay — something he has denied in the past. “He sounds like a great guy, but we didn’t have time to manage all the commotion,” organizer Brenda Sharman told Buzz Tuesday. Music producer David Foster had initially invited Aiken to sing a song at the event. …
Whoopi Goldberg is launching a morning radio show. The actress’ show will air weekdays from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., said former Atlantan John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. He didn’t indicate which markets will carry the show when it debuts July 31.
Celebrity birthdays
Sports announcer Pat Summerall is 76. Singer Donovan is 60. Singer Bono of U2 is 46. Model Linda Evangelista is 41. Rapper Young MC is 39. Actor and ex-Atlantan Kenan Thompson is 28.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: rho@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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