 Keen to be involved ... The Bold And The Beautiful`s Ronn Moss / JPI Studios |
THE organisers of Sydney`s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have been accused of undermining international publicity for the parade after initially refusing to allow visiting US soap stars Ronn Moss and Katherine Kelly Lang to be involved.
As their Sydney stopover coincided with Mardi Gras, the duo from hit series The Bold And The Beautiful were keen to fly the pink flag aboard a float during the weekend`s parade.
But while the idea had the full support of Channel 10 and Moss and Lang`s US publicist, the concept became too difficult to orchestrate after Mardi Gras chiefs demanded to know exactly how the heterosexual pair had previously contributed to the gay and lesbian community.
"It had huge potential for worldwide publicity and they initially issued a flat out `no`," a frustrated Mardi Gras insider told Confidential yesterday.
"Do they want high-profile people to get involved and make the parade the best of its kind, or do they want Mardi Gras to end up with just a bunch of feral hippies carrying placards?"
Mardi Gras creative director Graham Browning said Moss and Lang`s involvement in the parade was "eventually given the green light" but had ended up clashing with their filming commitments for the soap.
Publicity director of Foxtel station TV1 Michael Shepard said he had experienced the similar "reverse discrimination" from parade organisers several years ago when he was told network talent Denise Drysdale couldn`t be involved because she was not gay.
"They`re trying to get a message out there but they`re not being very open-minded themselves," he said.
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