# "Anderson Cooper gives me a boner." Bwahahahahahaha! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944 "2006-06-16T16:30:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/1 "2006-06-16T16:30:07Z")
[This young lady](http://understandish.livejournal.com/164566.html) is awesome. Yeah, Coop’s awesome too, but for some reason this livejournal entry makes me want to bear April’s children. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/2 "2006-06-16T18:04:29Z")
Wait. It’s a woman, right? So how could she get a boner? And I thought the rumor was women didn’t exactly give Anderson Cooper a boner. So who is getting the boner? I am so confused. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/3 "2006-06-16T18:07:35Z")
Well, she seems pretty ballsy, so maybe that accounts for the boner? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/4 "2006-06-16T19:53:34Z")
I guess he’s good looking as news reporters go. I mean, if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to masturbate to CNN, I’d want to see him. But I never understood all the fuss. So is there any particular evidence for the rumors that he’s gay? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/5 "2006-06-16T20:05:33Z")
> [@5que](#): > > I am so confused. Boners are equal opportunity affairs now. Eavesdrop around changing rooms (stop looking at me like that) and you’ll frequently hear women declare their tumescence as a way of voicing approval for the way an article of clothing fits their companion. As for young Mr. Cooper, his boner-inspiring power is like Angelina Jolie’s in that it is practically universal, without regard to gender, race, or sexual orientation. [/has boner] ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/6 "2006-06-16T20:13:31Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I guess he’s good looking as news reporters go. I mean, if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to masturbate to CNN, I’d want to see him. But I never understood all the fuss. > > So is there any particular evidence for the rumors that he’s gay? [Wikipedia knows all](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Cooper#Sexual_orientation) I think the Falwell interview slip is the most telling (mentioned in the link). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/7 "2006-06-16T20:24:07Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I mean, if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to masturbate to CNN, I’d want to see him. Jesus, doesn’t anybody just have sex dreams about Wolf Blitzer anymore? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/8 "2006-06-16T20:31:12Z")
I had no idea his mom was Gloria Vanderbilt until I read it in **Glamour** yesterday. I’m still not sure how I feel about that. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/9 "2006-06-17T06:01:38Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I mean, if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to masturbate to CNN, I’d want to see him. And the June 2006 Award for Phrase You’d Only Encounter on the SDMB goes to … _drumroll_ _attractive woman hands BlackKnight an envelope_ _tension builds as he opens it slowly and reads the slip inside_ _drumroll halts_ … **Excalibre** , for _“I mean, if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to masturbate to CNN …”_! ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/10 "2006-06-17T07:12:59Z")
Robin Meade has helped me in the morning before and no one had to hold a gun to my head ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/11 "2006-06-17T12:42:05Z")
My mom, of course, had her own special journalist, but she admitted a hankerin’ for Ian Hanomansing. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/12 "2006-06-17T15:08:57Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I guess he’s good looking as news reporters go. I mean, if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to masturbate to CNN, I’d want to see him. But I never understood all the fuss. What, no Larry King in a pink vinyl bodysuit slowly eating a banana? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/13 "2006-06-17T22:15:52Z")
Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but he certainly does give \*\*\*me \*\*\*a boner. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/14 "2006-06-17T22:49:32Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > My mom, of course, had her own special journalist, but she admitted a hankerin’ for Ian Hanomansing. For me, it’s Christiane Amanpour. I can barely focus on whatever horrible upheaval she’s reporting from the midst of, because my mind’s eye keeps undressing her and bending her over the footlocker. Raaarr! I swore off three-ways ages ago, but I might relapse if Cooper and Amanpour knocked me up at 2:00am. Hooot. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/15 "2006-06-17T23:10:35Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > My mom, of course, had her own special journalist, but she admitted a hankerin’ for Ian Hanomansing. Well, _yeah_. (Also, I wouldn’t throw George Strombopoulos out of bed if I found him there.) I’ve heard rumours to the effect that Anderson Cooper is gay, though, which is a disappointment and a half. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/16 "2006-06-17T23:42:41Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > So is there any particular evidence for the rumors that he’s gay? Well, he’s attractive, famous, and unmarried. So he MUST be gay! :rolleyes: Just like Ryan Seacrest and Jake Gylenhaal and so on and so on… I wonder what happens to those like Anderson who are so widely rumoured to be gay that lots of people “just know” he is. Do those rumours simply continue until he comes out of the closet or fades into obscurity? He could get married to a supermodel tomorrow, but it would just lead to Tom Cruise-ish “She’s a beard” and “He’s a self-loathing gay”, etc. As much as I find him incredibly attractive, I’m amazed that people are interested enough in him to continue the gay rumours. He’s hardly the type of superstar that usually gets whispered about. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/17 "2006-06-18T16:25:59Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > What, no Larry King in a pink vinyl bodysuit slowly eating a banana? Dude, (Dude?), you just made my generative organs retreat into my abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/18 "2006-06-18T16:44:15Z")
The rumor is that he’s gay and open about it but CNN contractually forbids him from mentioning it. He does not deny it. I really couldn’t care less as I find him sexy for his obvious intelligence but not so much physically. (Even though he’s not- he’s half Mississippi po’white and half NYC brahmin- he looks inbred, like somebody who could cut himself shaving and then bleed for eleven days.) His father was also the source of many gay rumors and supposedly he and Gloria Vanderbilt’s stormy marriage was lightly fictionalized in the unpublished portions of Capote’s _Answered Prayers_. (They definitely excommunicated Capote at the same time as others did, understandably so, over his writing about them.) In Cooper’s own memoir he mentions the pain of his father’s death, his brother’s suicide and fury over the “Poor Little Rich Girl” headlines that still plague his mother in her 80s, and of course the wars and natural disasters he’s covered, but doesn’t seem to mention his sexuality one way or the other in the parts I’ve read. I have major respect for Cooper though. I have to admit that I have a prejudice as real as racism where kids born with silver spoons (or in Cooper’s case a gold and diamond encrusted spoon) are concerned- I know they can’t help it and certainly if I ever have kids I’d want them to grow up with every comfort- but Cooper’s the exception. He is _not_ just a spoiled rich brat using the trust fund to get a high profile job- he worked his diminutive butt to get there and the only help he got from his trust funds was using it to fly himself to Sarajevo, Moscow, Vietnam, Niger, etc., to study firsthand the world events. He supports himself on his own (substantial) earnings and donated his memoir profits to Katrina related charities. THAT is a man worthy of respect. (Though if he ever spends the night I’m stocking up on bandaids because I honestly think one nick with the razor will do him in.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/19 "2006-06-18T16:47:36Z")
Unrelated to anything, but Gloria Vanderbilt had two pairs of sons. The first pair was born when she was in her twenties and married to Leopold Stokowski (who was almost three times her age), then the second pair in her late 30s/early 40s with Wyatt Cooper. I’ve heard Anderson mention his parents and his brother many times but I’ve never heard him mention his half-brothers- does anybody know what became of them? ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944/20 "2006-06-18T16:52:04Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I guess he’s good looking as news reporters go. I mean, if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to masturbate to CNN, I’d want to see him. But I never understood all the fuss. > > So is there any particular evidence for the rumors that he’s gay? Tons of it. He’s gay. There’s no question about it. There’s more question about whether _David Hyde Pierce_ is gay than Anderson Cooper. Sorry, **Amaranta** , this isn’t a a Tom Cruise case. Sometimes the reason people think something is true is because it’s true. The only reason there’s a question now is because of the CNN job. When he hosted the Mole, Planet Out and other gay sources reported him as being “out and proud”. When I saw the title of this thread “Anderson Cooper gives…” how I mentally finished the sentence and what it actually turned out to be were not the same, but nevertheless aligned by circumstance. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anderson-cooper-gives-me-a-boner-bwahahahahahaha/360944.md?page=2)