Chippendales is SO GAY. We Love Them
Jaymes Vaughan, a singer and dancer with the infamous Chippendales male revue recently came out in the pages of QVegas magazine. Making him the 2nd out gay dancer from the show.
What?!? Chippendales has singers? Of course they do – these are your Grandma’s Chippendales!
Most of you don’t remember the original Chippendales. In 1979 Chippendales was the first all-male stripping troupe to make a business
performing for mostly female audiences. Through the quality of its
staging and choreography, Chippendales also helped legitimize stripping
as a form of popular entertainment.
Now, they live on in Las Vegas. The Chippendales perform in a ten-million dollar theater and lounge built specifically for them at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Annually, the official men of Chippendales are seen by almost two million people worldwide. Men ARE ALLOWED into see the show these days.
Back to Jaymes, who does double duty at Rio.
“My nights start at 6:00pm and I don’t stop until 12:30am. I
start Show In The Sky, run up to Chippendales in time for my first song,
run back to Show In The Sky for my next number there, and so it goes
each night. There is a four minute break where I run to Burger King,
they give me my chicken sandwich and I run back in time to sing my next
song.”
Vaughan has also released a new single, “Vampire,” and recorded the
accompanying music video. He says he’s always loved the Dracula types,
even as a kid, but that the song is really “about being in a
situation where you can’t be yourself; where you can’t live a part of
your life in the daylight; being in a relationship that I can’t share
with my family. “
WATCH THE VIDEO on his site.
Coming out wasn’t like facing the harsh light of day: Vaughan was
already out to his family and friends—and even hosted Las Vegas Pride in
2011. This is more a case of coming out publicly as one of the few
openly gay entertainers on the Strip.
“I hope to be able to
take advantage of a platform so that my fourteen-year-old self that was
sitting in Chesterfield County, Virginia, might find some hope. The
fourteen year old that had no one to look up to; whose mama told him he
better not be gay; whose church told him he was going to hell; whose
best friend killed himself because he didn’t “fit in.” Because he didn’t
have any hope. I thought for so long you had to cover up who you were
to be successful. I’ve realized you can be more successful by being
yourself.
IN 2008- Instinct magazine’s annual swim suit issue cover features Chippendales’ first openly gay dancer, Brandon
Pereyda, talked about how most Chippendales guys are mistakenly
pegged as being gay.
“I guess it is monumental for this company,” Pereyda notes. “Chippendales
guys are often pegged as being gay. And they’re not. And I think this
will clear the slate.”
He continues, “They’re all straight, but we would
do anything for each other and that’s what I really love about working
here. They don’t view my be gay as a negative thing at all.”
On a sidenote – Chippendales in Vegas
has already reached out to muscle hottie Kris Humphries, hoping to fill their empty
celebrity MC spot at the Rio — previously occupied by ex-98 Degrees
singer Jeff Timmons.