Out Again!

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Anderson Cooper And Rachel Maddow Top Out’s Power List

by Michael Triplett | 8:04 am, April 15th, 2010


Out magazine’s annual list of the most influential gays and lesbians has been announced and CNN’s Anderson Cooper again tops the list of media names, coming third for the second year in a row. Although Cooper and fellow power-lister blogger Matt Drudge (he dropped from 6th to 15th) have never publicly acknowledged being gay, that doesn’t stop Out from consistently counting the two men–as well as actress Jodie Foster–when tallying who is gay and lesbian.

Saying Cooper “threw himself full-force into covering January’s Haitian earthquake with his usual journalistic rigor,” the magazine noted that Coop’s coverage of Haiti sparked a rumor that he “and his companion, New York club owner Benjamin Maisani, were adopting a Haitian child.”

Falling right behind Cooper at 4th was MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow who was described as “the most compelling voice of liberal dissent on television.” Also making the top 20 was Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner. Ellen Degeneres topped the list.

The New York Times’ Richard Berke landed at 22nd place, but makes the list for the first time on his own. The infamous NYT gay mafia–which includes Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliot, Adam Nagourney, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson–has previously made the magazine’s list, but Berke’s ascent to National Editor means the remainder of the “cabal” has been left behind.

Also making the list are Perez Hilton (26th), Andrew Sullivan (31st), Gawker’s Nick Denton (34th), Martha Nelson, group editor at Time Inc.’s Style & Entertainment Group (39th), New York magazine’s Adam Moss (40th), and GQ editor in chief Jim Nelson (46th).