BRAVO DIGITAL LAUNCHES FIRST WEB PERSONALITY, 23-YEAR-OLD YOUTUBE WUNDERKIND WILLIAM SLEDD, ON THURSDAY, JUNE 21, WITH 'ASK A GAY MAN' WEB SERIES
Sledd Tackles Thorny Fashion -- "It Just Really Bothers Me When People Look Like Crap," Said Sledd -- And Pop Culture Topics On Bravo's OUTzoneTV.Com And BravoTV.Com
First Webisode: "Ask A Gay Man: The Wedding/Commitment Cake" Edition Launches Thursday, June 21, To Coincide With Gay Pride
NEW YORK - June 19, 2007 - As part of Bravo's ongoing effort to deliver original content from the buzziest personalities on the web, the network announced OUTzoneTV.com's June 21st launch date of the popular "Ask A Gay Man" webisode series hosted by Internet sensation and Gap manager William Sledd, a 23-year-old Paducah, Kentucky native. Timed to coincide with Gay Pride, the first webisode entitled "Ask a Gay Man: The Wedding/Commitment Cake Edition" features Sledd and his BFF Stephanie, "the best wedding planner in western Kentucky," demonstrating how to make a pink-on-pink-on-pink cake, perfect for gay/straight/bi betrothal ceremonies. The announcement was made today by Jason Klarman, the network's Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital.
Bravo also announced that Sledd will be OUTzoneTV.com's voice at a variety of gay pride-related events providing commentary and posting man-on-the-street video installments during the course of the week.
Armed with a video camera and a mission, Sledd's weekly vlogs (which are several minutes in length) tackle thorny fashion and pop culture topics and offer witty and irreverant advice about the fashion/style issues of the moment.
From locations as diverse as his hometown of Paducah, to the streets of Manhattan, Sledd muses on all the wisdom and tips users need to survive the long hot summer. Webisode themes will include thought-provoking topics from the wedding/commitment ceremony cakes to dressing to beat the heat.
The baby-faced Sledd, who leans toward preppy in his own choice of style, admits that "it just really bothers me when people look like crap." He first made headlines last November when his eighth YouTube installment, exploring the world of denim, was watched more than two million times and quickly thrust him into the national limelight.
Currently, Sledd, whose "Ask A Gay Man: Fashion Edition" was recently nominated for best series in the first YouTube awards, has almost 40 videos posted to YouTube and boasts almost 60,000 subscribers.
The launch, announced by Bravo executives last month, is part of a larger digital expansion this month offering Bravo fans four new web-exclusive series for www.BravoTV.com and www.OUTzoneTV.com including the June 5th premiere of "My Life on the Z-List: Jen's Vlog," a companion web series to "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List;" and "Miami Spice: Hot Recipes with Latin Flavor" and "Top Recipe: The Wong Way to Cook," web extensions for fans to further savor "Top Chef," which began on June 13.
"We're really ramping up our online original efforts, tapping both Bravo's buzziest personalities and those we've found on the web," said Klarman.
Bravo is the cable network that plugs people into arts, entertainment and pop culture with original programming, acclaimed drama series, movies, comedy and music specials, and by showing a whole different side of celebrities. Currently available in more than 84 million homes, Bravo is known for breaking exciting new personalities, shaking up the way we look at style, media, fame and Hollywood, pulling back the curtain on the creative process, and making influential and inventive original programming. Its critically acclaimed original programming includes the Emmy-nominated "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List," 12-time Emmy-nominated "Inside the Actors Studio," "The Real Housewives of Orange County," "Top Chef," "Celebrity Poker Showdown," as well as the 2004 Emmy winner for Outstanding Reality Program, "Queer Eye," and the four-time Emmy-nominated hit competition series, "Project Runway."
Bravo is a program service of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBC Universal one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been an NBC cable network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information, visit www.BravoTV.com.
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