The bonfire crackled in the background as roughly 35 students gathered around Madison Cox, a member of Campus Activities.
“The headliner will be…,” Cox began, pausing for dramatic effect. “Daniel Franzese, from the original ‘Mean Girls.’ He plays Damian.”
And the audience was… quiet?
A few claps and cheers began to crescendo out of respect, students turning towards their friends trying to remember who exactly that was. It wasn’t until the explanations of “the gay one from ‘Mean Girls’” that students began to connect the dots throughout the week.
Nearly 21 years ago, viewers heard the iconic line “She doesn’t even go here!” in over 3,000 theaters for the first time. Spoken by Franzese, this quote cemented its reputation as an iconic line of the early 2000s.
Franzese will visit Webster University on April 9 at 7 p.m. as this year’s spring headliner. The event will feature a movie screening, behind-the-scenes looks, a Q&A session and a meet-and-greet, allowing students to interact and meet with the actor.
Hosted by Campus Activities and the Webster Film Series, the event will be held in the Winifred-Moore Auditorium. There are 250 tickets available, with students able to claim free tickets using their ID numbers. Guests will be charged $10. Tickets are available through the link in Campus Activities’ Instagram bio (@GorlokCampusAct).
“I know it’s going to be a fetch evening,“ Franzese says in the first Cameo, one of many that are required by the event contract, “so get your tickets and see me there Glen Cocos or… you can’t sit with me!”
Director of the Office of Student Engagement, Jennifer Stewart, selected Franzese as the headliner. The considerations of the headliner included how well he would resonate with the Webster audience, as well as availability and performance costs.
“[Franzese] seems really friendly and really into college shows, wanting to meet folks, take pictures and get some fanart,” Stewart said.
But this enthusiasm isn’t just because it’s his job — it’s because he cares about the very thing Damien represents: freedom in gay existence.
Eleven years before the legalization of gay marriage, Damian played an important role of representation in the media landscape, even as a gay stereotype.
But Franzese didn’t come out until 2014, writing and publishing a letter to Damian about his personal experiences in the wake of the character’s publicity. This letter documented numerous troubles Franzese had, such as obtaining roles outside of offensive gay stereotypes. But, more personally, his struggles with internalized homophobia. It wasn’t until fan encounters that he started changing his outlook.
“So there it was. Damian, you had ruined my life and I was really pissed at you,” Franzese wrote. “It wasn’t until years later that grown men started coming up to me on the street — some of them in tears — and thanking me for being a role model to them. Telling me I gave them comfort not only being young and gay, but also being a big dude. It was then that I realized how much of an impact YOU [Damian] had on them.”
In the time since, Franzese has become an advocate for the gay community.
He was the only person to play the role of an HIV+ character for two years on scripted television. This role was Eddie from the TV series “Looking” in 2015.
Likely inspired by everything this stood for, Franzese began to use this spotlight to further this advocacy — including becoming an ambassador for both The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and the LAMBDA Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Franzese is also a writer and comedian, being seen as a guest star in “Rupaul’s Drag Race,” creating his own standup comedy tour, “Yass You’re Amazing,” and dissecting Christianity with an LGBTQ+ lens in his newest podcast ”Yass Jesus!”
Throughout the week after the announcement, many students are left unaware about who the headliner is due to the low turnout at the bonfire, much less Franzese’s reputation. Even still, this event will provide a unique opportunity for attendees to interact with the actor.
“It’ll be fun,” Stewart said, “It’ll take our mind off of whatever chaos is happening in the world. It’s not too serious, but it’ll be something that people enjoy.”
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