The GLAAD Media Awards closed with a big surprise on Thursday night, as Liza Minnelli appeared in the show’s final moments to accept the inaugural Liza Minnelli Storyteller Award.
The star sat in a director’s chair surrounded by dancers and close friend/collaborator Michael Feinstein, as she told the room of LGBTQ+ creators and allies, “I’m so glad to be with you. You make me so proud, because you’re strong and you stand up for what you believe in. You really do, and it’s so nice to be here with you. I feel like a 5-year-old, I didn’t make up a speech so now I’m just rattling away.”
Minnelli turns 80 next week, and following her remarks a birthday cake was brought out as the whole crowd inside the Beverly Hilton sang her happy birthday. The honor was also timed to her upcoming memoir Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, which comes out March 10.
Alongside Minnelli’s moment, the biggest stars of the night proved to be the Heated Rivalry team, who were continually referenced on stage — host Jonathan Bennett began the ceremony by declaring, “Welcome to the cottage!” — and had security around their table to manage the constant swarm of fans.
Heated Rivalry won the final award of the night for outstanding new TV series, as creator Jacob Tierney said in his speech, “Making queer art is hard. It’s hard to get it made, it’s hard to get it seen. I think a lot of us in this room know that. And we owe so much to the shows that came before us, as problematic as some of them may be.” He went on to shout out Queer as Folk, The L Word, Dante’s Cove, Transparent and Will & Grace, while on stage with stars Connor Storrie, François Arnaud and Robbie G.K.
In addition to more than 30 competitive awards, Quinta Brunson received the Vanguard Award and Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award. Demi Lovato opened the show with a performance of her hit “Kiss,” and Sony Music Group artist Eli also performed “Glitter.”
Stranger Things, Palm Royale, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Traitors, Young Miko and KATSEYE were among the other big winners, along with Laverne Cox, who won outstanding TV journalism for an appearance on MS NOW’s The Weekend.
Cox brought down the house with her speech about the “strategic, well-funded, calculated effort to systematically dehumanize transgender people,” as she noted it’s never been about protecting women and children or they would “prosecute the motherfuckers” in the Epstein files.
“I am so angry and sad and scared and none of it should be normalized. We should be raising our voices and urging each other to fight back against this fascism,” she continued. “Saying that trans women are a threat to women, that is bullshit. All of the laws attacking transgender people actually negatively affect all women… people getting accosted in bathrooms are cis women often. Gender is being policed in this way and it usually disproportionately affects women of color. So we are all in this together — trans, Black, white, working class people. We are all in this together.”
