In an exclusive interview with Andrés Duque’s Blabbenado blog, Jennifer Lopez–who along with being a musical and fashion superstar is now hosting American Idol–talks LGBT in the Latino community and beyond.

Lopez says she has LGBT family members and grew up with it being no big deal. She feels there is growing acceptance in both the Latino community and in the Latino music industry to LGBT performers, driven in part by Ricky Martin:

I just think it’s a reflection of the real world we live in. And it’s OK to be out. I do think it is. I do think it’s acceptable for people to be who they are. I am a huge advocate of that. In that sense, that’s the only way we can truly love ourselves, it’s by accepting who we are and letting everybody know who we are.

So, I’m very proud – you know – I’m friends with Ricky and I’m very proud of him and support him in everything he does. And all these people who have been… who want to step forward and tell the world who they are… I think that’s awesome.

(photo: Gisele13, creative commons)

Molly DeWolf Swenson, a current White House intern who attended Harvard, must be making her parents extra proud: She’s made it through all the way through the American Idol Hollywood auditions and will be appearing next week in the group auditions. We didn’t see her Hollywood performance, but Ryan Seacrest gave us the news, hallelujah!

Judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler (who is really awesome!) picked Molly at the end of Day One in Milwaukee after she let them know Randy had accidentally slapped her face earlier in the day while high-fiving constestants–an incident caught on video. And she name checked Monica Lewinsky while admitting she is

in love with this president

Thankfully did not wear a blue dress.

Molly isn’t the first politically connected AI constestant: Massachusetts States Senator Scott Brown’s daughter Ayla who made it into Season 5′s Top 13.

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Chile, 70 miles outside the country’s second largest city Concepcion at 1:34am localtime (10:34 Pacific Standard Time). A tsunami has been generated and tsumani warnings have been issued to as far north as Alaska.

UPDATE 8:30am PST: Easter Island had a tsunami warning, but so far no damage. The tsumani warning  evacuations have been issued for Hawaii, which means evaculations from low lying areas, with reidents urged to directions from Hawaiian Civil Defense. The west coast of North America under a tsunami advisory, from Mexico to Alaska.

Chile’s outgoing President Michelle Bachelet said:

The country has just experienced an enormous earthquake… we are in the process of finding out about the effects of the quake across the region, the state of the roads and hospitals, the damage to buildings and of course the number of those killed and injured.

American Idol season 5 finalist Elliot Yamin who is in Chile on tour  has been tweeting reports as have been many other Chileans. At the time of this writing 47 deaths have been reported. Power is out in Santiago and in cities in neighboring Argentina. Dawn is breaking now as rescue crews began the work and aftershocks are hitting.

MSNBC, CNN and Fox  are carrying live reports.

Earlier Friday a 4.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Okinawa, Japan in the Ryukyu Islands around 5:31 a.m. Saturday local time (12:31 p.m. Friday PST). Additionally:

Microquakes have been shaking the Coso Junction area of Eastern Central California all week, but it wasn’t until tonight (Friday) when more noticeable ones struck. A light 4.1 earthquake struck at 10:22 p.m., followed by two minor shakers–a 3.8 at 11:10 p.m. and a 3.4 at 11:21 p.m, PST.

Time to go load up on water and more canned food!

Update: Ruth at The Seminal has a diary up about the Chile she knew

Blame it on the economy, but Hollywood players are not being payers.

Queen Latifah just got sued by two of her glam squad for a cool $1 million-plus total in unpaid bills, while Courtney Love is being sued for breach of contract–plus Twitter- and myspace-based defamation of character and intentional infliction of emotional harm;  please stop her before she facebooks!

Makeup artist Roxanna Floyd is claiming Queen Latifah owes her $700,000 for unpaid work for 2005 to 2007 helping to develop, produce and market the Queen Collection, Latifah’s line of cosmetics for CoverGirl. And stylist Susan Moses alleges she is owed $300,000. In 2005 Moses advised Latifah in her role as a lingerie spokesmodel.

Along with with using myspace and Twitter to accuse Austin-based designer Dawn Simorangkir of being a prostitute and drug addict and calling Simorangkir (who is married to Billy Idol guitarist Mark Younger-Smith)

a nasty lying hosebag thief

Love allegedly refused to pay for the work Simorangkir did in designing a clothing line for her last year.  Before the designer filed suit, Love wrote on her myspace blogs that

we had a dal i gave her a VAST amount of money clothes id been collecting for 8 years and 40,000$ is that not a vast amont of momey? the clothes are insured for 340,00 but are mo wortgh 500,000 some were as i said a formr ziegfeld girls and some were a silent film stars,

According to Love, Simorangkir was seen walking out of

the chateau…with two massive army bags full of things

after she had

been paid a massive amount of money and is in ossesion of prcless noyions dresses and fabrics changedthe "rules" she now wants 1750 per item! she bogged she made me fifty dresses,

Meanwhile, the Fremantle North America, the production company behind American Idol, is being accused running a sweatshop by three former production staff, who say they were forced to work 20 hour days, seven days a week without required breaks, and that

Fremantle and several related companies, including American Idol Productions, Blue Orbit Productions, Kickoff Productions and Little Pond Television, of trying to disguise violations of federal labor law by paying employees for a 12-hour day and a 60-hour week.

Way to keep your overhead down and your facade up.