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Jett Discusses QTN “Fiasco”:
Faltering Gay Network Kept Queer Edge Host “Out of the Loop”
Being “kept in the dark” doesn’t feel good, just ask Jack E. Jett. The talk show host says it became “painfully obvious” while talking with journalists from The Advocate exactly how little he knew about the inner-workings of Q Television Network, the home of Jett’s popular daytime series The Queer Edge.
“In the middle of our interview, I really became aware they knew more than I do on some subjects,” admits Jett. “It was rather baffling. I feel like I was kept out of the loop to some degree. That’s not the best way to feel.”
A feature in the magazine’s March 28, 2006 issue reveals significant turmoil within the up-start queer premium channel. The piece claims the network’s competition with here! and Logo for views has led to a “financial fiasco.” Mixing quotes from a significant number of QTN employees, and a variety of well-known facts, The Advocate paints a less-than-rosy picture of the gay network.
Jett and Bernhardt
In January, QTN announced the high-profile acquisition of Jett’s Queer Edge cohost, comedienne Sandra Bernhardt. Less than a month later, Jett says network brass called a meeting to announce a broadcast hiatus. Official statements from the company contend QTN planned to use the time off to strengthen daytime programming in preparation for upcoming Gay Games broadcasts. According to Jett, the reason given insiders was “something about an investor.”
To compound matters, founder Frank Olsen stepped down as CEO of QTN parent company Triangle Multi-Media Limited in March. Lloyd Fan was named Chief Executive soon after. With all the shifts, starts and stops, The Advocate article goes so far as to suggest the fledgling gay network is “falling apart.” Jokes Jett: “That’s an uplifting headline, isn’t it?” While the comedian makes light of the article, Jett realizes the network’s current situation is far from a laughing matter. Hindsight being 20/20, Jett says he now fights the urge to “beat myself up.” I keep asking myself how much of this I should have known,” he shares. “Not only did I have my head buried in the sand, it was a matter of seeing what I wanted and ignoring the rest.”
One member of senior management, who was present at the network’s big ticket summer launch party in San Francisco, says things began to go awry within the company last fall. Though QTN’s website denotes this individual parted ways with the network amicably, the former bigwig says that is far from the truth. He contends he was “forced out” by executives. On conditions of anonymity, the source reveals: “Things there are really fucked up.”
Jett seemed surprised to hear of such comments dating back to Fall 2005. He reveals his first real indication something was amiss at QTN popped up–if he had been willing to recognize it—in January 2006.
On a trip to cover a Bare Naked Ladies concert in San Diego, Jett says the network was supposed to pay $500 for access to the arena. Just days before the shoot, the bill still wasn’t paid. “Nobody could figure out who to have sign the cashier’s check,” Jett recalls. “That was my first clue something bad was going on.”
For Jett this realization after-the-fact is particularly frustrating. Especially since the upheaval at QTN is hitting the host and many others involved where it hurts most: in the pocketbook. “I talked to my partner and found out I haven’t been paid in six or more weeks,” Jett confesses. “My husband has kicked my ass about 300 times over this. I guess he was telling me all along, but I wasn’t paying attention.”
With responsibilities which include writing, producing and booking guests for The Queer Edge, Jett calls his personal commitment to the program “certainly more than a full-time job.” Filming five episodes a week kept him so busy, he says, there was little time left to keep abreast of what else was happening within the company. “You do your job and expect others to do theirs,” he says.
“Now that the shit’s hit the fan, though, it’s a different story,” Jett points out. With the situation at QTN making headlines in a national publication, everyone’s story is beginning to come out. Jett says that now, even more than when speaking to writers from The Advocate, he sees how unaware he was. “The staff of Queer Edge hadn’t been paid in several weeks,” he says. “Nobody wanted to tell me.” Jett is especially angry about the way QTN has treated its staff. While he says he can “go without paying a few bills,” others were truly “caught off-guard.” “There are people who can’t pay their rent. Others can’t cover their gas bill or phone,” says Jett. “Those are hard working people who were putting their heart and soul into this, and that’s not just the people who were working on The Queer Edge.”
Many employees were told the network was going on hiatus and then, afterwards, let go without notice. The host says over the course of his tenure with QTN, he has seen people randomly let go when things were not going as planned within the company. He says this “seemed weird,” since management is usually the first to take the fall. With the exception of Olsen, Jett says, “As far as I know, management is still in place.”
Financial matters for his crew aside, Jett is not worried. “As far as my manager and I know, we are still on hiatus and will return,” he notes. Jett is certain his show–which he says has proven to be “QTN’s flagship program”–will live on even if the network itself proves fatally flawed. “I really think what is happening is sad,” he confesses. “All three gay networks offer something so different. I really do think there is room for all three.”
“As far as The Queer Edge with Sandra and I goes,” Jett assures fans, “We will bounce back, whether on QTN or somewhere else.”
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