upworthy
Identity

Mom has the most hilarious response to her daughter's gay friend asking to sleep over

The mother handled it fabulously.

LGBTQ, parenting, sleep over, gay friends
Image created from @maymaybarclay Twitter page.

The courage to speak up to join in the fun.

Meet Mason Brian Barclay, a teen and self-described "very homosexual male." He recently wanted to attend a sleepover at his "new best friend" Houston's house, because teens are gonna teen. But he's a boy, and everyone knows boys aren't allowed to attend girls' sleepovers, because of cooties/patriarchal norms.

So he behaved more maturely than most adults, and crafted a long text message to Houston's mom, Mrs. Shelton, in which he politely asked for permission to attend Houston's sleepover.


"I think the common meaning behind only allowing the same sex to share sleepovers is due to the typical interest in the opposite sex, when, in this case, I do not like the opposite sex," he explained in the text.


Mrs. Shelton's response was so good that Mason tweeted it out and it went viral:

"Hmm. Well my husband is hot. Should I worry?" she responded.

via GIPHY

Evidently Mason found Mrs. Shelton's text hilarious. So does Twitter.

And others are just wondering if the sleepover is on, or not??

Others need to know if Houston's dad lives up to the hype:

This article originally appeared on 11.26.18

No pet owner wants to give their vet "the ick."

Ally McBeal first brought us the phrase “gives me the ick” back in 1999, and it’s had a resurgence in recent years, thanks to TikTok. While mostly reserved for describing annoyances in the dating world, the term can and has been used to describe virtually every red flag or pet peeve under the sun. Now, thanks to Dr. Frank Bozelka, we can enjoy a veterinarian version of “the icks.”

Just to be clear, the icks in question don’t come from the patients themselves…but the pet parents. While Dr. Bozelka is clearly just poking fun, he doesn’t shy away from highlighting some of the choices that pet parents make that cause some serious problems for their furry friends.

Ick #1 - Trusting a breeder's opinion over a vet’s

As Bozelka points out in his video caption, breeders “are not medical experts.” He added that while there are certainly knowledgeable breeders out there—even some who taught him breed specific tidbits—”most of the time you’re dealing with a backyard breeder who is literally just trying to dodge any responsibility.”

@dr.bozelkaervet

While there certainly are breeders that know their stuff, they are still not medical experts! Sure I’ve learned a few things from breeders about unique breeds I didn’t know, but it’s not very common. And the harsh reality of being a vet is that most of the time, you’re dealing with a backyard breeder that’s literally just trying to dodge any responsibility. So yes, our gut reaction when people say that is to cringe, sorry. I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT JUST BUY A BREED BECAUSE IT’S CUTE!!! DO! YOUR!! HOMEWORK!!! Make sure the breed is a good fit for your lifestyle, and make sure your lifestyle is a good fit for the breed! And for retractable leashes: I’ve seen far more injuries caused to dogs and humans from retractable leashes compared to other leashes. End of explanation. For number 6: stop complaining about the wait times. We know it’s frustrating. The dirty truth, however, is the vast majority of the time it’s NOT the fault of the hospital staff. It’s other owners and the cases we are seeing. #fyp #comedyvideo #satire #doglover #catlover #petlover #vetsoftiktok #drbozelka


Hence why his gut reaction when he hears someone refer to a breeder’s opinion as gospel is to “cringe.”

Even breeders agreed on this one. One wrote, “As a breeder I never give medical advice. I say: ‘please go see your vet.’ Maybe because I’m also a vet tech.”

Ick # 2 - Doing the opposite of what the vet says they would do

Next on the list: when someone asks, “If this were your dog what would you do?" then proceeds to do the opposite of what he’d do.

“Bro, why did you even ask me?” he says in the clip. Seriously, why ask if you're not even going to take the information to heart?

University Of Washington Dog GIF by Pac-12 NetworkGiphy

Ick # 3 - Not accommodating a dog that needs lots of activity

Some people desperately want, say, a husky dog because they're so beautiful and so smart. But breeds like that also have very high activity needs that require some pretty significant lifestyle changes. And yet, people complain when that same breed of dog is tearing up the house all the time because they're not giving them the physical activity outlets they require.

In other words, you can put a dog bred to race sleds through the snow into a 12' by 12' living room and expect them to just happily chill there.

Ick #4 - Buying a pet after doing zero research on the specific needs of the breed

Along the lines of the husky example, pet owners really need to understand the breed of animal they are getting.

“I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT JUST BUY A BREED BECAUSE IT’S CUTE! DO! YOUR! HOMEWORK!” Bozelka wrote in all caps.

Dog breeds in particular vary a lot and some have very specific needs that an owner may not be prepared to handle. Know what you're getting into before making a decade-plus long commitment to care for an animal.

@dr.bozelkaervet

True story… Legends has it that Hisoka aged another 2 years by the time she realized what was happening with him… Make sure to follow me on other platforms for when TikTok inevitably gets banned! YouTube: @Dr.BozelkaERvet1 Facebook and Instagram: @Dr.BozelkaERvet #fyp #comedyvideo #catlover #doglover #petlover #animallover #vetsoftiktok #drbozelka

Ick #5 - Complaining about wait times at the ER

No one wants to be made to wait when their animal needs to be seen, but there's only so much that is under the staff's control.

“We know it’s frustrating,” Bozelka writes, “The dirty truth, however, is the vast majority of the time it’s NOT the fault of the hospital staff. It’s the other owner and the cases we are seeing."

Ick #6 - Retractable leashes

Lastly, Dr. Bozelka listed retractable leashes as an ick, simply because they’re so dangerous. He’s seen “far more injuries caused” by them in comparison to other leashes, so better to be safe than sorry.

While not every vet might have the same icks as Bozelka, it’s easy to see how any one in his situation would be aggravated. Vets undergo years of education and training to help give our pets the best life possible. And when we make their job even harder, frustration is inevitable.

Dr. Bozelka has also shared things pet owners do that vets love:

@dr.bozelkaervet

Replying to @konagirl02 May not be mah best work, but it’s still important work! There are plenty of things pet owners can do to make us happy, and most of them are pretty simple! And TRUST me, for those of you that are understanding and considerate of the wait times, the vet staffs are literally singing your praises and blessing your family and friends behind close doors because of how amazing you are! Being polite and understanding about your wait is a sure fire way to get a staff to love you (at least from an ER standpoint). #fyp #comedyvideo #catlover #doglover #petlover #animallover #vetsoftiktok #drbozelka

According to the website KeepingItPawsome.com, there are a few other behaviors that vets find frustrating, including:

Overfeeding, trusting “Dr. Google” over their professional opinion, being verbally abusive or getting hysterical in the waiting room, not having pet insurance or an emergency fund, waiting too long before brining the pet in to get a check up, expecting free treatment or reduced fees, giving up on sick or old pets, trying medications or supplements without consulting them (again, Google can’t always be trusted), and last but not least—expecting a quick and easy fix.

Vets want what’s best for our fur babies. So these are good things to remember as pet parents, so that we may better help them help us.

This article originally appeared last year.


Danielle Marie Carolan/Wikimedia Commons

Jimmy Fallon asked his fans to share stories of being caught in the act.

There is nothing worse than being caught in the act when you're up to no good. You can't lie about it, you can't take it back, all you can do is pray for forgiveness. Some people unfortunately have to learn that lesson the hard way, which makes for some pretty epic life stories, hopefully without too much lasting damage or embarrassment along the way.

While laughing at another's misfortune isn't cool, when someone brings it upon themselves and shares their misdeeds in a spirit of solidarity, it's fair game. So when "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon asked his viewers on X if they had ever been caught red-handed, asking them to tag stories with #IGotCaught, people's responses were too embarrassing, cringeworthy, and hilarious not to share.

Here are 11 of the funniest and/or most embarrassing Tweets of people being caught red-handed:

The teacher who ditched class only to run into one of his students doing the exact same thing.

"Called in sick to work one day. Saw one of my students at the beach. We nodded as we both realized we were skipping my class."

How do you explain this one?

"I googled a guy before meeting him. Later I pulled out my phone to show him a picture of my dog and he saw the picture of him."

And sexting your husband when your mother-in-law's in the chat? Mortifying.

"Sent a sext to my husband…forgot his mom was in a group chat."

When your crush catches you looking him up…

"#IGotCaught looking up a guy's info on a college computer. Heard his voice behind me telling me how to correctly spell his last name."

Life lesson: If you're going to try calling out sick from work, don't get caught on television at a rock concert.

"I called off sick to go to a music festival. The next day my boss said, 'Next time don't stand in the front row.' I was on TV."

Ah, the innocence of youth caught being not so innocent.

"I snuck out at age 15 to go to a drinking party. The doorbell rang, I answered the door, there stood my mom."


If you're going to fall asleep at work, at least make it entertaining for the boss.

"#igotcaught when my boss caught me dozing off at my desk. I raised my head slowly and said, 'Amen.'"

Oh, this is one that will stick for a long time. Ouch.

"On a first date and sent a text to what I thought was my buddy saying 'this date is awful SOS'…sent it to her."

At least this one was a compliment:

"I was telling my friend about a guy that had a cute butt. The guy heard me and said Thanks."

When you think your parents are noobs:

"Parents found out my bro threw a house party after finding the wifi password pinned up everywhere. His excuse, 'I forgot it…a lot.'"

Or, when your dad is already one step ahead of you…

"Once I tried to sneak out my window and it was dark so I put my hand on something for balance…it was my Dad."

Thanks for all the vicarious, second-hand embarrassment, Jimmy Fallon. Yeesh.

This article originally appeared eight years ago.


Canva Photos, Hawksmoor Manchester

An unwitting server accidentally gave away a nearly $6000 bottle of wine

Ever screw up royally at work? There’s nothing worse than that sinking feeling that comes when you realize you have to fess up to your manager. Next comes the uncertainty over whether you’ll keep your job or not. If your mistake happens to be one that costs your company money, let alone a significant amount of it, the stress is unimaginable.

A server at the Hawksmoor Manchester steakhouse and cocktail bar in England went through that same experience. She accidentally served a customer a £4500 ($5750) bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol 2001 instead of the £260 ($33) Bordeaux they ordered.


wine, red wine, wine glass, vintage wine, fine wine, fine dining, funny restaurant storiesYou have to wonder if normal people can even tell if they're drinking a $6,000 bottle of wine Photo by Jeff Siepman on Unsplash

The server didn't realize the mistake right away. It wasn't until later that a manager clocked the switch, leaving the poor waiter absolutely mortified. It's not every day that a server makes a $5700 mistake! The few that do rarely end up keeping their jobs.

However, the server’s manager decided to handle the situation with grace and humor, posting a lighthearted message on Twitter.

"To the customer who accidentally got given a bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol 2001, which is £4500 on our menu, last night - hope you enjoyed your evening! To the member of staff who accidentally gave it away, chin up! One-off mistakes happen and we love you anyway," they wrote.


The manager even went a step further and excused the mistake by saying the bottles “look pretty similar.”

The post went mega viral, racking up over 53,000 Likes on Twitter/X. Commenters praised management and ownership for letting the server off the hook for an honest mistake.

"As someone who works in hospitality, bless you for being understanding and not flying off the handle at the poor lad/lass."

"Now that’s a good employer! Mistakes do happen, sadly some employees aren’t as forgiving and only see the value of what was lost. I’m certain your understanding and forgiving manner towards the member of your staff will win you more customers!"

"This is such a great way to deal with a member of staff who has made a genuine mistake - great to read about it, well done to the management team & a lot of leaders could learn a thing or two from this story. Thanks for sharing the story."

Working in any kind of customer service, especially food service, is brutally difficult and under-appreciated. These kinds of employees absolutely deserve some grace, so it's heartwarming to see them finally get some.

Other users teased that if this was the kind of service they could expect from the restaurant, they'd be making a reservation ASAP.

"How can I book a table?" someone joked.


Hawksmoor founder Will Beckett later clarified the story to BBC News saying that the server had been working with a manager from another location because it was a busy night. The manager accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle and the customer apparently didn’t notice the mistake. (Sure they didn't.)

Beckett said the server is “brilliant,” but he’s still going to “tease her for this when she stops being so mortified.”


wine, white wine, red wine, fine dining, sommelier, expensive wineAll wine is good wine. Cheers!Giphy

Some users questioned the very nature of a nearly $6000 bottle of wine. To be fair, reviews of the vintage call it "perfection," "luxury," and a "thrilling experience." Still, it can be hard for people to wrap their minds around such extravagance.

"Is no-one else disgusted by the fact that a restaurant charges £4,500 for a bottle of wine in the first place? No wine is worth that much; it's pure & excessive extravagance for the sake of it & I find it vile," a user commented.

Beckett followed up in another post adding that, while the wine was expensive, the restaurant has raised over £1 million ($1.3 million) for the Wood Street Mission children's charity.

This article originally appeared six years ago.

During a recent podcast, White revealed an intriguing piece of family history.

Even by Hollywood standards, Mike White is quite the character. Born Michael Christopher White, the award-winning actor, producer, director, and screenwriter has been active in the industry for over 25 years. He's penned screenplays for films like School of Rock and Nacho Libre, while also writing and producing shows including Dawson's Creek and Freaks and Geeks.

He's proven to be a reality TV savant, too—White reached second place on Survivor: David vs. Goliath and competed twice on The Amazing Race (season 14 and The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business) alongside his father, Mel. But if you’ve heard anything about Mike White lately, it’s likely due to the gargantuan success of his HBO Max series, The White Lotus, which has earned him three Primetime Emmy Awards and is now in its third season. During a recent appearance on Andrew Sullivan's The Dishcast podcast, White revealed an intriguing piece of family history. Before becoming an LGBTQ+ activist, his father, Mel, was a prominent ghostwriter for America's televangelist movement.

“He wanted to be the next Billy Graham.”

For 25 years, James Melville "Mel" White was a "pillar" of the evangelical community. He lived in Pasadena, CA with Lyla, his wife and childhood sweetheart, and their two children. He held a master's degree in divinity and a doctorate in ministry, then later led his own church, Pasadena Covenant. Mel White taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, the largest nondenominational evangelical school in the country.


James Melville, pastor, writer, man, photo, pose James "Mel" Melville White.Flickr

According to a 1993 profile by the Los Angeles Times, White had become an accomplished author and documentarian. His inspirational books sold millions of copies, and he produced over 50 Christian-themed film documentaries that were shown throughout the country.

But beneath this thriving public life, he carried a profound secret: he was gay.

“I found out around middle school, when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old,” recounts Mike on The Dishcast. “It wasn’t like, ‘I’m gay, hello!’” he adds. “It was not on his agenda to be gay; it was a very long, drawn-out process. It was probably the worst time in my life.”

During this period, another shocking twist was unveiled: throughout the late 70s and 80s, while Reverend Mel White privately struggled with his sexuality (in his bestselling autobiography, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America, Mel describes enduring two decades of counseling, exorcisms, and electric shock therapy due to the church's condemnation of homosexuality—an ordeal so taxing, it led him to attempt suicide), he paradoxically became the most sought-after ghostwriter among the televangelist movement's elite. By the time he came out as gay in the early 90s, Mel White had penned books including Jerry Falwell's 1987 autobiography, Strength for the Journey, Pat Robertson's America's Dates With Destiny, and Billy Graham's Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. These weren't just well-known religious figures—they were televangelism's superstars.

Flooded with work, yet grappling with the weight of his suppressed sexuality, Mel White found himself between a rock and a hard place. Should he come out and live his best, true life? Or, could he force himself to ride this cash cow—in silence—for just a little bit longer? He chose the latter. “[Ghostwriting books for televangelists] was lucrative because his books were given away. Like, if you donated something to the church, you would get his book, so there was a built-in royalty factor,” says Mike White. “My dad actually made pretty good money doing that and got me through private school and college.” He adds, “My parents separated, but because all of his income came from these books—and he couldn’t have been an out, gay man and remained associated with these people—he stayed closeted until my sister and I got through college.” On a personal level, Mel White was put through hell and was living in a world of chaos. But professionally, he’d never been more successful. “I can say I did it to put my kids through college, to pay the bills for my wife and family,” he said in 1993. “I can say I did it because it was fun, traveling around the world on private jets, staying in nice places.” And he was well-compensated for his work: for Jerry Falwell’s autobiography, he was paid $125,000 for about five months of work, the equivalent of $547,719 today.

Communicating Christ’s message through TV

Starting in the 1960s, evangelicals began to dominate the airwaves. While other religions were wary of television, a relatively new technology, or couldn’t afford to purchase airtime, evangelicals, on the other hand, saw TV as the perfect conduit for getting in touch with the masses. They happily dedicated large portions of their shows to raising money from listeners. In a way, televangelism (a portmanteau between “television” and “evangelism”) was a product of its time: an American phenomenon, found at the crossroads between freshly deregulated mass media and a large Christian population with even larger pockets.


stone carving, televangelism, monk, religion, spirituality, evangelism Televangelism, a portmanteau of "television" and "evangelism." Photo credit: Canva

In 1961, Pat Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and launched its flagship show, The 700 Club, a few years later. Part talk show, part news reporting, Robertson paved the way for a generation of televangelists to follow. Jerry Falwell rose to prominence in the 1980s, “instantly” becoming a celebrity on TV, while fellow evangelists Paul Crouch and Jim Bakker followed with their own networks soon after.

According to Jeffrey K. Hadden, a professor of sociology at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, between the late 1960s and the mid-80s, the number of Americans watching religious TV ballooned from 5 million to 25 million. Not only was televangelism growing at a rapid rate, but so was its influence. Soon, the movement began to dip its toes into the political sphere, culminating in Falwell’s Moral Majority coalition endorsing Ronald Reagan in his 1980 presidential election bid.

However, the aggressive tactics and harmful rhetoric employed by televangelism began to rub people the wrong way. In 1990, Steve Bruce, a professor of sociology at the University of Aberdeen, wrote:

“In a country more committed than most to the extension of individual freedom, televangelists have been some of the most vocal proponents of tradition social taboos, notably in their campaigns against the right of women to an abortion and towards greater public tolerance of homosexual relationships. And in a society where any intervention of religion into politics is treated with almost unnatural suspicion, televangelists have, in the last decade especially, made themselves notorious in their open advocacy of conservative Republican candidates… both for national and local office.”

He continues, “It is that sense of influence beyond its naturally eccentric—minority—constituency, which has recently transformed televangelism in the minds of some observers… from being little more than an elaborate joke…into being a real and present danger in the life of liberal democracy and for the survival of civilized values.”

From ghostwriter to LGBTQ+ activist

Once Mike White and his sister finished college, his father, Mel, left the Christian church, dumped televangelism, and became a proud spokesperson for LGBTQ+ rights. “He’s standing with the gay rights activists and shouting back at the biggest names in American televangelism—‘homophobic hatemongers,’ he calls them—whose lucre he pocketed for years,” describes the Washington Post in 1993. He wrote about his journey and the televangelist movement in books like Stranger at the Gate and Religion Gone Bad: Hidden Dangers from the Christian Right.


crowd, activism, LGBTQ, pride, protests"His gay activism was specifically targeted toward the Religious Right." Photo by Margaux Bellott on Unsplash

After leaving his church in Pasadena, Mel White was appointed as “dean” of Dallas’ Cathedral of Hope, the largest gay church in the world and the flagship institution of the 30,000-member national gay denomination known as the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).

“His gay activism was specifically targeted towards trying to convince the Religious Right and those that he had worked for prior,” remembers Mike White. He wanted to rewrite the church’s narrative about being gay, which, at the time, told its constituents that there would be “life or death” consequences for same-sex attraction. “He would go around the country, to religious colleges with gay students,” Mike continues. “He’d have them try to bear witness to the harm that was being caused by religion-based oppression or hate.” That work led to the creation of Soulforce, a gay advocacy group co-founded by Mel White and his husband, Gary Nixon. In 1997, White received the American Civil Rights Union’s National Civil Liberties Award for his principles of relentless nonviolent resistance, which he applied to the “struggle for justice for sexual minorities.”

Although his upbringing was challenging, Mel's work and legacy are clearly important to his son, Mike White. In 2022, the then-52-year-old gave an emotional speech while accepting the Primetime Emmy Award for best director for The White Lotus. "I wanna thank my parents, I love my parents, my mom let me be the weird kid I wanted to be, and my dad, who's struggling right now," White said of Mel, 82. "Thank you so much for letting me honor him tonight.” That speech is a testament to the power of authenticity, a theme that’s woven into every fiber of his father’s story. You are who you are—and that’s enough.

Check out the full episode of The Dishcast here.