Talk:Ari Gold (singer-songwriter)

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Contents

[edit] Comment

For such a prominent gay singer, there's a lot more to edit with and from this article. It will be on my watch list. COI notice: I am 2 degrees of separation from Ari Gold, as my gay brother knows him. Bearian 03:15, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Knowing someone who "knows" someone does seem terribly COI to me. Benjiboi 05:55, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
Just in case it wasn't apparent I was using sarcasm in the above comment. Benjiboi 19:57, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Prostitution

Ari Gold has openly discussed in various interviews the period he spent as a hustler. Isn't this interesting enough and relevent to the article to be included? 206.218.208.57 14:09, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely, but to conform to WP:BIO we need to provide WP:RS. Hustling for a cute out gay guy is hardly news but we should present content encyclopedicly regardless and do so without undue weight. Benjiboi 20:00, 2 November 2007 (UTC)
I did a quick Google about this and couldn't find anything. He comes from a pretty affluent background (the dude went to NYU and Yale), so I don't know why he'd need to hustle. --David Shankbone 20:16, 2 November 2007 (UTC)
Motivations for hustling are varied but we seem to agree that reliable sources have to first assert allegations before they can be entertained per WP:BIO. Benjiboi 21:36, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] the "first" status

The intro sentence makes two dubious claims: 1)that Gold is the first openly gay R&B or pop singer- in the world?- that was openly gay from the start of his career and, 2) that Gold is the first openly gay pop singer period in the US.

I looked at both of the links at the end of the sentence and didn't read them in depth but used ctrl+f to search "first". The latter article featured an interviewer who speculated that Gold was the first openly gay "R&B" (not pop) singer in the US. Importantly, the interviewer him/herself was not even sure this was true (he was asking Gold if it was). Obviously the first sentence of ari gold's wiki article misquoted "r&b" for "pop". But more importantly, I believe the interviewer was wrong-- which is significant in that it is unfair to all those gay artists before Gold (whose contributions are undermined by these falsities/exaggerations).

I am no expert in this area but I would encourage anyone else doubting the veracity of these claims to point them out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gay_musicians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians_from_the_United_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bisexual_musicians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians_from_the_United_States

What about American artist RuPaul? Rupaul's wiki article describes one of her genres as R&B, categorizes her as LGBT, and dates her music career as beginning before Gold's. Admittedly, distinctions such as "gay vs transgender" and "mainly R&B vs dabbles in R&B" strengthen the claims for Gold's 1st status. Nevertheless, in the most literal sense Rupaul would absolutely disprove both claims 1 & 2. As to claim 1, what of David Bowie, Elton John, Boy George... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.34.65.204 (talk) 01:25, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

We should probably attribute this and quote it; I do believe he was the first out gay R&B singer from the start of his career and that possibly covers pop as well. There are plenty of out singers who weren't out when they started their careers so I don't find this too hard to be true. RuPaul was actually a dancer who later became a singer but I'm unclear when she was considered "out"; none of David Bowie, Elton John, Boy George were out from the beginning of their careers. Banjiboi 13:33, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Caption for lede photo

The following has been removed several times now as being possibly homophobic and/or anti-Semitic. Has any seen a reliable source that would support this? Banjiboi 13:26, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

“ _____ wearing Puma brand Chelsea-style kippah ”
It should be noted that the anonymous editor is banned, and Gold is not observant (and if so, then why in this photo is he not wearing his kippah? or here? Or in many photos on his site? Additionally, no such thing as "Chelsea-style kippah" exists, except for some kid who spends his time on his parent's computer obsessing about porn stars and Wikipedia editors. --David Shankbone 15:01, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

{{editprotect}} Hi, please remove "wearing Puma brand Chelsea-style kippah" from the lede photo caption as it seems readily apparent that it is not only untrue but is also being used as veiled homophobia (Chelsea-style is considered a gay district of NYC) and anti-Semitic (kippah is a religious garment covering one's head.) The Dynamic IP vandal is likely this anonymous editor who has been harassing User:David Shankbone. I was the one who requested semi-protection of the article to stop abuse on this article. Banjiboi 22:39, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Done - the hat is obviously not a kippah. The use of Chelsea-style seems to be a homophobic remark. The IP matches that of David's stalker. Protection reduced to semi - caption removed. WjBscribe 04:56, 26 March 2008 (UTC)