For the most part, pop culture in 2024 was “very demure, very mindful,” even as we were all having a Brat Summer.
The year kicked off with Elmo checking in to see how everyone was doing, which led to the largest trauma dump the little red guy has ever seen, and it was a roller coaster all the way to the end.
Beyonce came riding in on horseback with her country album “Cowboy Carter,” queer women like Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish dominated the charts, Kamala tried to stop all the drama-la and once “Wicked” was released in theaters, we were all taking the lyrics of “Defying Gravity” and really holding space with that.
As we do every year, we have been trying to make sense of all the pop culture happenings in 2024, and the best way we know how is to start with our ABCs.
Alan Cumming wins the Emmy for Outstanding Reality Competition host, beating RuPaul and ending the drag icon’s eight-year winning streak, at the Primetime Emmy Awards in September.
Billie Eilish comes out as queer to Variety in the publication’s Power of Women issue in November. Later, during the publication’s annual Hitmakers Brunch, Eilish expresses regret talking about her sexuality, saying she prefers to keep her personal life more private.
Cord Jefferson wins an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 96th Academy Awards in March for the film “American Fiction,” which he also directed and produced.
“Dead Boy Detectives,” a supernatural horror show based off the DC Comics series of the same name, premieres on Netflix in April. The series follows Charles and Edwin, ghosts who investigate crimes involving the supernatural. The show, which features queer characters and storylines, is canceled after one season.
Elton John wins an Emmy in September for his Disney+ special, “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodgers Stadium.” The trophy makes John the 19th EGOT — someone who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award.
“Fellow Travelers” premieres on Paramount+ and Showtime in October. Starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Baily, the eight-episode miniseries is an unflinching look at love, life and politics for queer people from the 1950s Lavender Scare to the 1980s AIDS crisis.
“Gender Queer,” Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir, tops the list of the year’s most challenged books in April. It is the third straight year that Kobabe’s book appeared atop the American Library Association’s “challenged books” list.
Hawkeye in Marvel’s “The Ultimates,” a new comic series written by Deniz Camp, is revealed in October to be Charli Ramsey, a member of the Lakota Nation’s Oglala tribe who is nonbinary and two-spirit. Camp took to X confirming this, adding “Charli’s pronouns are they/them.”
Ian McKellen withdraws from the play “Player Kings” in July to recover from injuries he sustained during one of his performances a month earlier. The “Lord of the Rings” and “X-Men” star spent three nights in a London hospital after tumbling from the stage at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Joan of Arc was the inspiration for queer artist Chappell Roan’s outfit and performance at her first-ever MTV Video Music Awards appearance in September. “Roan of Arc” took the stage in a suit of armor with a crossbow and dancing knights to perform her hit single “Good Luck, Babe.”
Karla Sofia Gascon stars in the Netflix film “Emilia Perez,” about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender-affirmation surgery and then later wants to reconnect with her family. The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May before releasing on Netflix in November. Gascon’s performance sparks Oscar buzz for Best Actress.
Lambert, Adam and Auli’i Cravalho both make their Broadway debut in September as the Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively, in the current revival of “Cabaret.” Lambert and Cravalho take over for English actors Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin.
Monsoon, Jinkx makes her debut as the villainous Maestro on the 14th series of “Doctor Who” in May. The series, which is aired jointly on BBC and Disney+, stars Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor. Gatwa is the first Black man and openly queer actor to portray the Doctor in the show.
Nemo from Switzerland wins Eurovision 2024, becoming the singing competition’s first-ever nonbinary winner. The 24-year-old singer won the contest with their song “The Code,” a track intended to take its listeners on Nemo’s journey of self-discovery as a nonbinary individual.
Orlando Pride defeats the Washington Spirit 1-0 at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, in November to win the 2024 NWSL Championship, the first in team history. To celebrate the championship and to honor the team’s players, the City of Orlando holds a parade.
Paris Olympics cause controversy in July when the opening ceremony uses drag queens to depict the feast of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and festivity. The segment is misinterpreted as a depiction of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” leading conservatives to call it a mockery of Christianity. A hate crime investigation is later opened after the ceremony’s artistic director gets death threats.
“Queer Eye” brings on new designer Jeremiah Brent after Bobby Berk leaves the series after eight seasons. The show’s eighth — and Berk’s final — season premieres on Netflix on in January. Brent appears as a member of the new Fab Five in season nine, which premieres on the streaming service in December.
“Red, White & Royal Blue,” the hit film about the prince of England and the president of the United States’ son entering into a secret same-sex relationship, is getting a sequel. Amazon confirms it in May, stating that Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez will both reprise their roles as Prince Henry and first son Alex Claremont-Diaz. Matthew López, the first film’s director, will return and will write the script with book author Casey McQuiston.
Siwa, JoJo debuts her post-Nickelodeon image during the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards in April wearing a KISS-inspired outfit complete with fauxhawk and make-up. Siwa releases her newest single “Karma” that same month, calling it her “debut single as an adult artist.”
Tracy Chapman steals the show at the 66th Grammy Awards in February when she takes the stage with Luke Combs to sing her ‘90s classic “Fast Cars,” which Combs covered last year. The single hit No. 1 on the country charts making Chapman the first Black woman to score a country number one with a solo composition.
Universal Pictures finally brings the Broadway juggernaut “Wicked” to the silver screen, after years in development, in November. The film based on a stage musical that is loosely based on a 1995 novel, tells the story of how the characters of Oz became who they are, focusing on Elphaba, also known as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. The film is a critical and commercial hit.
“Very demure, very mindful” becomes the latest viral catchphrase when transgender TikTok creator Jools Lebron says those words in a video talking about her make-up routine for work. She posted the video up in August with it going viral instantly. By year’s end, the video has amassed nearly 55 million views.
Wachowski, Lilly, best known for directing “The Matrix” films, says in an October interview that she is adapting Gretchen Felker-Martin’s horror novel “Manhunt” for TV. The story follows two trans women as they battle zombie-like men fueled on testosterone in post-apocalyptic New England.
“X-Men ’97” premieres on Disney+ in March and includes nonbinary character Morph as one of the featured X-Men. The show is a continuation of the popular animated “X-Men” series from the ‘90s and is big hit for Disney. Amidst the show’s season one success are rumors about openly gay showrunner Beau DeMayo and his surprising exit from the show with allegations of misconduct coming from both sides.
“Young Royals,” Netflix’s hit teen drama about the fictional Prince Wilhelm of Sweden and his romance with fellow student Simon at a prestigious boarding school airs its third and final season on the streaming service in March.
Zamata, Sasheer calls herself a “late-in-life lesbian” as she comes out while promoting her latest show “Agatha All Along,” which premiered on Disney+ in September. The “Saturday Night Live” alum plays a witch in the Marvel series alongside Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, Ali Ahn and Broadway legend Patti LuPone. Several of the show’s stars call the series the gayest thing Marvel has made so far.
