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American Idol finalist Jim Verraros holds the distinction of being the first person to come out as gay on the show. He was never in the closet.

Before RJ admitted it, before Clay denied it, there was the one and only Jim Verraros. Jim was going to college downtown when a friend suggested he try out for the television show, which at the time was unknown what a hit it was going to be. He just walked and sang his way into the top ten, next to Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini.

Placing 9th on the first season, Jim was one of the most talked about contestants to ever appear on American Idol. Because he was raised by deaf parents, he is fluent in American Sign Language. As a child, Jim ironically excelled in singing and acting at a very early age so much that the school’s music teachers had the task of explaining his talent to his parents who were naturally unaware of Jim’s abilities.

When you meet Jim face to face, you get a sense like you’ve known him all along. Warm and embracing, he’s the kind of person who you would have been best friends with in high school.

On today’s show Jim joins Gregg Shaprio, Marc Felion and me your true blue pal Fausto Fernós to talk about the sacrifices and benefits of being out gay man in the music and film industry.

Jim comes to talk about his new film, “Eating Out Two: Sloppy Seconds” a bedroom face about where queer youth try to find sex. Although these new type of films owe a lot to the works of the great John Waters, they share a common thread with films like “Porky’s” and “American Pie” in their sophomorphic goofiness and superficial sex escapades. It’s fun, like eating cotton candy, but it’s mostly sugar. Did we mention there’s full frontal nudity in the film?

Jim has been keeping busy this past year working on a follow up to his album “Rollercoaster” which he collaborated with Gabe Lopez. Some of the songs have a catchy disco groove like “I Want You” and others get darker and sexier with the irresistible “So Deep.” So go buy it here, right now.

Click here to check out our photos taken of us with Jim Verraros.
Click here to visit Jim Verraros’ website.

[Our first interview with Jim Verraros, originally posted on October 27, 2006.]

FOF = LOL

Featured Movie:
Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (2006)
Buy it on Amazon

Featured Music:
Jim Verraros - Rollercoaster: iTunes | Amazon | Site

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