Cristian Sancho in Romeo magazine

An update of sorts to yesterday's post about the gay storyline in the Argentinian television soap opera "Botineras". In the soap, 34 year old Cristian Sancho plays El "Flaco" Riveiro, a soccer star having a torrid extra-marital affair with one of his teammates.  From what I have read about the soap, when it began airing in November, it was a somewhat comedic take focused on the plight of a group of women in relationships with soccer players (an Argentinian version of the British hit "The Footballers' Wives", it sounds like). But, as the show has continued, it has taken a darker turn with a murder mystery thrown in and the storyline about the nascent relationship between the male soccer players.

As you read yesterday, Sancho has said that he is glad to have been given the opportunity to play El "Flaco" and calls it the role of a lifetime. Married to a woman, he also is not shy about a former underwear modeling career. And, last December, when "Botineras" was just starting, he wasn't shy either about posing for an Argentinian gay pin-up magazine called Romeo.

Interestingly, back in January an actual Argentinian soccer player - Jesús Datolo - was reprimanded by the Italian soccer team he played for - for posing for an edition of the same magazine.

In any case, I'm not sure the editors of Romeo had any idea that Sancho's character in "Botineras" was about to begin a gay affair but I am sure they were more than glad when he said 'yes' to posing for the magazine.

Here is a clip of the Romeo photo shoot. And, no, I don't know where to get an actual copy of the magazine...

Argentina: Soccer players in love

Back in March there was a bit of a media sensation in Argentina when an actor who plays a star soccer player in a television soap opera called "Botineras" kissed another actor playing the role of an up-and-coming player. The kiss shocked viewers because both characters had been established as being romantically involved with women (the first with a wife and the second with a girlfriend) and because it came at the end of a scene in which the soccer star was consoling the teammate over an unrelated plot line. Watch...



You can also watch the two immediate follow-up scenes here and here (it's worth it, if you have the time - English language subtitles courtesy of BlackAngel82).

The kiss made the rounds of local media and was welcomed by local LGBT rights organizations.  It has also made "Botineras" the top rated television soap opera in Argentina at the moment.

Cristian Sancho, the 34 year old actor who plays soccer idol El "Flaco" Riveiro (top man above, pun somewhat intended), is a former underwear male model and married to a woman in real life. He says it was the first time he had ever kissed a man but felt the pressure to make the scene as realistic as possible because he knew the LGBT community would complain about it otherwise.

In an interview published in Clarin on March 31st, he said he was proud of the role and the willingness of the producers to break the mold.

"What's good is there is no fear of taboos. Homosexuality in soccer is a topic that stems from years ago," he says, "there are tales of players that were as such and we all know certain myths."

Sancho says he believes that gay soccer players fear coming out because of what might happen to them professionally and the potential reaction of soccer fans with their ingrained machismo.

As to whether the character of El "Flaco" is gay or bisexual, Sancho has this to say:

He is [currently] in the bi-polarity of not knowing how to distinguish what he wants. What he loves the most in his life is his family and he could not be able to live without them.  He lives in a machista world, and, indeed, he is machista. He believes his wife should take care of him.  There is love for her, but a fraternal love. He sees her as a mother-figure.  When I developed the character, I began from the basis that he is a man. I did not go with the stereotype of an effeminate gay. I wanted to have respect for the gay community, which is very demanding when it comes down to it.

But wait! That's not all! Remember all the bru-ha-ha in December over the first ever gay sex scene on a US television soap opera? Well, you can watch that darkly-lit, candle-decorated, gauzy-lensed snooze-fest from "One Life to Live" by clicking here.

Now compare: Something must have happened on "Botineras" during the past month because Lalo, as played by Ezequiel Castaño, seems to have gotten over his initial rejection of the advances by El "Flaco".  Here is the first sex scene between the two of them as aired Friday night on Argentinian television. It might show way more flesh than any of the US soap operas might show but, even taking away the nudity, THIS is how a TV soap should handle a sex scene between two leading men [Original source: AG Magazine].



Extra points: A Twitter friend tells me that the music playing in this clip is from Sigur Rós. And, indeed, it is! ("All Right").  And any TV soap that uses Sigur Rós for a pivotal love scene must be the best. soap. ever!  I thought I'd let you know.


Just beautiful...

Farandula: Soap opera diva says she will not go lesbo for "Assassin Women"

I have to admit that when I first heard of it last week, I was a little disturbed and felt somewhat nauseous: Two of the all-time most popular television soap divas in Spanish language television - both way past their glory years and victims of several rounds of cosmetic surgery - had allegedly signed up to play a lesbian couple in the Mexican version of an Argentinian television series called "Assassin Women".

Don't get me wrong! It would be great to see Mexican television portray the lives of older lesbian couples but Lucia Mendez shaking up with her real-life showbiz nemesis Veronica Castro? OMfG!!! I feel queasy all over again just writing that sentence!

Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself: On Wednesday, the Mexican newspaper Milenio broke the story ("It is expected that Veronica Castro and Lucia Mendez will play a gay couple").

The two actresses had already appeared at a news conference (above) to announce that they would be part of "Assassin Women." Carlos Pascual, a writer for the show, revealed that they would be playing a lesbian couple: "The storyline is stupendous, it's about a gay couple made up of two women who dedicate themselves to the theater, one is a costume designer and the other an architect. A huge problem surfaces, a rape, but I cannot say anything else."

I can see Lucia Mendez (right) truly sink her teeth into such a role (full disclosure: I've always had a fond heart for La Mendez ever since I saw her in "Tu o Nadie" with Andres Garcia and the amazingly crap-tastic - in a good way - "The Strange Return of Diana Salazar" in the late 80's).

Her gay fans are legion - I dare say that she was probably more popular than even Madonna at the heights of her career - and it's no surprise that just a few months ago she was touring some of the Latino gay bars in the United States singing some of her hits (in Mexico you cannot be a soap opera star without having a recording career to go along with it and they gays always love you even if your career is on the downturn).

My queasiness, to be sincere, was all about the other side of the equation: The cougar-rific Veronica Castro (left) who used to be as big a star as Mendez (full disclosure: I never got her appeal but have to admit that her role in "Rosa Salvaje" - perhaps her biggest hit - was just hilarious and not in an intentional way - I dare you to YouTube it).

I mean, this is the woman who called someone a faggot back in July defending her son Cristian (long rumored himself to be gay despite a recent and scandalous divorce that has filled pages and pages of gossip magazines in Mexico).

Well, I do have to say, La Vero does not disappoint! Here's her reaction to the possibility of playing a lesbian character, according to yesterday's El Universal ("Veronica Castro rules out playing a lesbian"):

"[To be an actress today] you are asked to let go of your disgust for anything - sucking, sticking, pulling out - and then you have to allow your body to be shown without inhibitions, in other words, a type of prostitution, and if you end up acting, well, you are welcome. But how!"

OK, that was a bit tough to translate but even if El Universal says she said this in good humor, who exactly is asking La Vero to suck, stick or withdraw anything from Lucia Mendez, much less in the nude?

Probably feeling concious that she might come off a tad lesbophobic she then went on another tangent saying she had always felt some sense of disgust when asked to kiss male actors in the past: "Other [actors] can tell you, like [Guillermo] Capetillo with whom we always tried to eat the same thing, or we'd say to each other 'look, I brought gum' or a new breath-mint, because I am disgusted [by it], anyway she is not my type."

Oops. Ended up coming off worse.

And now I've written way more about Mexican soap operas than I should be allowed - ever! And exposed how much useless information resides in my brain! But, I swear! There were other benefits of having watched soaps like "Tu o Nadie". Perfect example:

Hm, Andres Garcia is is the original McSteamy! Even if he's stuck selling male-enhancement treatments nowadays (and yes, that's the younger Lucia Mendez next to him).