The Apollo Review | Jonathan Apollo

I didn't expect this piece to go live so soon... My new @Medium essay explores queer boyhood, secrecy, survival, and the long process of understanding what happened to me when I was younger. May this help to stop the silence. #LGBTQ #WritingCommunity medium.com/the-memoirist/…

A day for legendary people and works! - Janet Jackson turns 60 today. - New Edition vocalist Ralph Tresvant is 58. - Buffy/Angel star David Boreanaz turns 57. - Britney Spears' 'Oops!... I Did It Again' album dropped on this date, 26 years ago. 🥳🥳🥳🥳 #TheApolloReview

It didn’t feel right for me to keep this one behind a paywall. A free link can now be accessed within the one shared here. 💜 ‘I Just Wanted to Be Jonathan: A Story of Secrets, Shame, and Survival’ medium.com/the-memoirist/…

Imagine being nearly a decade removed from alleged relationships and still bashing supposed exes, despite being accused of some pretty nasty mess that has never been fully disproved. Aubrey Drake Graham is a joke and always has been.

My essay on Lane V. Rogers (a.k.a. #BlakeMitchell), queer visibility, and selective mourning can now be read for free on @Medium. A piece about respectability, remembrance, and real people behind the headlines. #LGBTQ #Media #Culture #WritingCommunity medium.com/counterarts/wh…

"Unlike [some], I don’t have the privilege of shrinking my identity for protection or social acceptance. Whether I like it or not, I am gay, and I have been forced to own that with everything I am." #LGBTQ #GayRights #WritingCommunity medium.com/counterarts/sc…

🌟NEW🌟 Singer Donavan Green was a standout in #2000s pop group #Scene23 -- yet cast aside when it came to their big moment. Now on @Medium, I offer him what he's been owed for more than 20 years: His flowers. 💐 #Music #WritingCommunity #PopCulture medium.com/counterarts/ho…

[2/end] This one gets a bit personal: I'm honoring an almost-forgotten millennial pop moment, the singer who made it unforgettable, and the strange ache of watching pieces of your pop-cultural memory disappear. See you tomorrow. #MusicHistory #BlackMusic #MediumWriters

[1] Calling all pop-loving millennials! Tomorrow on @Medium, I'm paying tribute to #Scene23 -- a pop group w/ a short shelf life and an "almost" hit. But also, a voice I've never been able to forget. His name was Donavan Green... and he was truly special. #Pop #2000sMusic 🧵

Raven-Symoné may not remember her old songs, but I've never forgotten tracks like "Alice" -- a standout from her This Is My Time album. The entire LP is a total vibe, but this one? It hits something deeper as an adult. If only things were different... youtube.com/watch?v=oiEdnh…

⭐NEW ESSAY IS LIVE⭐ OF star Lane V. Rogers achieved mainstream recognition on the day he died -- but what made him deserving of it? A look at celebrity culture, bias, selective grief for queer lives, now on @Medium. medium.com/counterarts/wh… #LGBTQ #Culture #WritingCommunity

[3/end] In death, Lane V. Rogers became a headline. Yet others with greater public visibility in his field barely did. My latest piece looks at celebrity culture and the selective grief built into modern media. Tomorrow on @Medium. See you then. #LGBTQ #WritingCommunity

[2] Lane would ultimately achieve that goal through tragic means, while simultaneously exposing something uncomfortable in the process: how media decides which queer lives are worth mourning. 🧵

[1] Tomorrow on @medium, a new essay drops -- one I've been sitting on for *weeks* (for proper reasons, but I'm impatient AF). A young man named Lane V. Rogers chased mainstream fame from a non-conventional angle. 🧵

⭐NEW ESSAY⭐ For Black millennials, watching certain icons fall hits differently. My new essay on Chilli, accountability, and the emotional cost of Black fandom is live now on @Medium. #BlackTwitter #BlackMillennials #Chilli #TLC #WritingCommunity medium.com/counterarts/we…

New @Medium essay dropping in about 90 minutes. ✍️🏿 I explore why disappointment over certain Black media figures hits differently -- especially for Black millennials who saw them as proof we could rise, too. Stay tuned. #BlackTwitter #BlackCulture #TLC #WritingCommunity

[2/end] For Black millennials especially, this feeling is familiar. We celebrate greatness -- but we also carry the hurt when it turns into disappointment. More tomorrow. Hope to see you then. #BlackTwitter #TLC #Chilli #MediumWriters #WritingCommunity

[1] Happy Sunday, readers! 👋🏿 Tomorrow afternoon, I’m publishing a new @Medium piece. It highlights the recent controversy with TLC's Chilli, Black fandom, and the emotional toll of holding our icons accountable when they stop representing the people who helped lift them up. 🧵

Brian Littrell of the #BackstreetBoys continues to ruin the group's legacy with his actions and political views. Here's my @Medium piece from Aug. 2025 that dives deeper into this situation. #WritingCommunity #2000sPop medium.com/counterarts/bl…