Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang turned daytime television into a laugh-fest on Thursday with an eyebrow-raising — and entirely comedic — new nickname for Vice President JD Vance: “the pope killer.”
Yang appeared on The View to promote his new romantic comedy The Wedding Banquet, but it was his commentary on politics and SNL impressions that sent the hosts into hysterics.
While chatting about his role on the NBC sketch series — where he famously plays characters like the Titanic’s Iceberg and Vice President Vance — Yang dropped the remark that had the studio in stitches. Referencing Vance’s highly publicized last-minute meeting with Pope Francis just hours before the pontiff’s death on Easter Monday, Yang quipped, “The guy’s a pope killer, okay?”
The comment instantly broke the panel. Whoopi Goldberg turned away from the camera in laughter, declaring, “Someone had to say it!” Co-host Sara Haines jumped in with, “There’s our new headline!” Meanwhile, Joy Behar, ever the voice of comic reason, quickly clarified, “He doesn’t mean it literally — he’s talking spiritually.”
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at age 88, just one day after briefly meeting with Vance in Vatican City. Vance later told The Hill, “Obviously, when I saw him, I didn’t know that he had less than 24 hours still on this Earth… I think it was a great blessing.”
Yang’s zinger may have been exaggerated satire, but it certainly landed with the audience — and the hosts.
Earlier in the segment, Yang spoke about preparing to play Vance on SNL, confessing, “I thought there would be better people to embody him.” To get it right, Yang said he worked with an accent coach to find a blend “between Ohio and Appalachia.” One host responded, “You nailed it,” to which Yang grinned and responded with the now-viral “pope killer” line.
Of course, Yang was primarily on The View to talk about his latest film The Wedding Banquet, a queer romantic comedy directed by Andrew Ahn. Yang stars as a commitment-phobic man caught in a tangled web of love and immigration schemes, opposite Han Gi-chan, Kelly Marie Tran, and Lily Gladstone. The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, earning rave reviews. Out Magazine praised it as director Ahn’s “career peak” and said, “No other movie moved me or made me laugh more.”
When filmmaker Andrew Ahn set out to reimagine The Wedding Banquet, he wasn’t just updating a classic queer rom-com—he was telling a love story rooted in his own experience. “Yeah, this one was really personal in a different way,” he told Gayety. “I made this for my boyfriend, and we’re in this phase of our lives where we’re thinking about how to grow our family. This question of marriage and this question of having children… So this one feels really close and makes me a little vulnerable in this process.”
Originally released in 1993 by director Ang Lee, The Wedding Banquet broke barriers as one of the first queer Asian films to find global success. Ahn’s version keeps the heart and spirit intact, while adding modern layers of intimacy, humor, and cultural nuance.
This time around, the story centers on Min (Han Gi-Chan), a closeted man who proposes a fake marriage to his best friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) to help fund her IVF journey. But when his traditional grandmother flies in for a surprise wedding banquet, the secret spirals out of control.
Ahn leaned into his own experience to guide emotional beats—especially for the film’s couples. “I remember talking to Kelly and Lily [Gladstone] about how people say ‘I love you,’” he explained. “My boyfriend and I have a special way of saying it. I had them create together how they say ‘I love you’ as a couple. And that shows up in the film in this really beautiful way.”
Photo: Luka Cyprian/Bleecker StreetPhoto: Luka Cyprian/Bleecker Street
When asked for his favorite line, Ahn lit up: “I really love when Kelly Marie Tran yells, ‘Everything in this house is gay.’ Because I think a lot of queer people would really understand that—we just somehow end up accumulating so many gay things.”
From the artwork to the DVD collection, everything in the film’s home set was intentionally chosen to reflect a queer household. “We worked with our production designer, Charlotte Royer, our prop master. We also worked with our actors to just pull together a house of gay things… It’s a home that I wish I lived in. It’s super cozy queer.”
Backed by a cast that includes Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, and Han Gi-Chan, Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet is a poignant, funny, and deeply personal story about building the life you want—and the love that makes it possible.
Catch it in theaters on April 18. Watch the full interview with Andrew below.
If you’re going to make a movie about a chaotic queer wedding, you better know your way around one in real life. Luckily, the cast of The Wedding Banquet has plenty of opinions—and they didn’t hold back. Gayety reporter Caitlynn McDaniel asked them about their ultimate wedding do’s and don’ts.
“I’m going to say what a huge do for me is buffet style,” said Bowen Yang with confidence. “I feel like waiting for the courses to come out is just fussy, and everyone gets a little stressed out about it. If you just line up at a buffet, eat your own, eat whatever you please—it’s better than reading off a menu.” When Caitlynn brought up the classic sneeze-guard concern, Bowen replied, “Well now that you bring it up… I think we do glass sneeze guards—Subway style.”
Lily Gladstone added a practical (and relatable) note: “Do let your wedding party choose their own clothes… We’ll never wear the matching one again. Absolutely. Ever.” And for guests planning to party all night: “If you’re required to wear heels, bring a different pair of shoes for the dance floor… Just everybody have an extra pair of shoes.”
Kelly Marie Tran quickly jumped in with support: “Oh yeah.”
And Han Gi-Chan? He stole the moment with a spicy take: “For the bride… Don’t bring your real boyfriend to the picture of the wedding photo.” Lily cackled: “Don’t bring your side piece.”
Photo: Luka Cyprian/Bleecker Street
It’s that chaotic, rule-breaking energy that fuels The Wedding Banquet, a heartfelt and hilarious new rom-com from director Andrew Ahn. Inspired by Ang Lee’s 1993 classic, the film follows Min (Han Gi-Chan), who proposes a green card marriage to his best friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) so she can afford IVF with her partner, Lee (Lily Gladstone). When Min’s traditional grandmother surprises the couple with an over-the-top Korean wedding, the chosen family must navigate clashing cultures, closeted secrets, and the joyful mess of queer love.
With a cast that includes comedy powerhouse Bowen Yang, Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, and fan-favorite Kelly Marie Tran, The Wedding Banquet is a reminder that life is not always a piece of cake.
What do you get when you mix RuPaul’s Drag Race royalty, dim sum, bottomless mimosas, and the cast of the most joyful queer rom-com of the year? The Wedding Banquet drag brunch, of course.
On Sunday, April 13, Bleecker Street and Tremendous Communications hosted a fabulous celebration for The Wedding Banquet, the upcoming film from director Andrew Ahn. Held at CHIFA in Eagle Rock, the event was hosted by All Stars legend Ongina and featured performances by Ally Meda, Thai Theeze, and Saturn. The vibe? Full camp, full glam, and full of love.
A Reimagined Classic
In theaters April 18, The Wedding Banquet reimagines Ang Lee’s groundbreaking 1993 film with a new generation of talent and a modern twist on queer love and chosen family. The film follows Min (Han Gi-Chan), a closeted man who offers to marry his friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) in exchange for helping her partner afford IVF. Their secret elopement is thrown into chaos when Min’s grandmother surprises them with a lavish Korean wedding banquet.
For director Andrew Ahn, the project was deeply personal.
“The original The Wedding Banquet was the first gay movie that I ever saw. And the fact that it was a gay and Asian movie—it was very meaningful to me,” Ahn said at the brunch. “I think I really used my own personal experiences and the phase of life that I’m in to be my creative North Stars. I have a boyfriend, and we’ve been talking about getting married and talking about having kids. And it’s really hard conversations, and they’re very nuanced. And I wanted to find a way to put that in a film and both kind of make fun of it, but also really take it seriously.”
Director Andrew Ahn teases a potential ‘Fire Island’ sequel while preparing to release his new queer rom-com ‘The Wedding Banquet,’ starring Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, and Bowen Yang.
Drag, Dumplings, and Delight
The brunch was a celebration of everything the film stands for: joy, queer love, and community. The crowd sipped mimosas between jaw-dropping performances while the cast mingled and snapped photos under a sea of rainbow lights.
Kelly Marie Tran brought the energy, walking the red carpet in full glam and a full appetite.
“I’m so hungry and so excited to be here,” she laughed. “I want to be fed in multiple ways today.”
On taking the role, Tran said:
“I was just really excited to be a queer person telling a queer story. And that was the most exciting thing to me, and getting to celebrate this part of my identity.”
She also shared what stayed with her from the film:
“The message of having a chosen family. And there’s a line that Bobo Le says—Kendall, Chris’s cousin—says, ‘We’re not good enough alone.’ And I just think that’s such a beautiful sentiment. Together, we’re more than enough. And it’s just beautiful.”
Lily Gladstone echoed the sense of family behind the scenes.
“Charlotte did such an incredible job dressing the whole set and finding the artwork, reaching out and finding artists that would be in the home. And so I have the rug. I picked up the gardening technique that Lee uses in the background… So beyond that, just lovely group of people that I adore and upped my game and made me smile… It was just joyful.”
She added:
“This one felt like… in addition to being an incredible film, just an incredible quality-of-life sort of a thing. And it was just joyful… It’s new, little chosen family. It was everything that you want a job to be. An absolute dream.”
A Star Is Born (with Dim Sum)
For Han Gi-Chan, who plays Min, the film marks his English-language debut—and his first major audition in English.
“This is my first English film, and this was also almost first audition for me in English,” he shared. “That point actually drew my mind. And the other one is that this film has the original right, which I have never done before. This is the first time I’m doing a reimagining film, which has an original. So that was a kind of real big challenge for me, and I really wanted to be a part of it.”
He added:
“This is a story about… it’s a queer story, but also a story about a chosen family… When you’re building your own family, this is a very brave thing you should do, but this could also be a happy moment in your life.”
Asked about weddings, he got adorably romantic:
“The best thing about wedding is that there’s a huge romance in one person’s life, which you could find your own loved one and be all half of your life. So I think that’s a real romantic part when you say, ‘I take her’—that part, it’s really romantic, I guess.”
Come for the Mimosas, Stay for the Message
From the red carpet to the final death drop, the Wedding Banquet drag brunch was a glittery celebration of love, culture, and queer family. And with an all-star cast, heartfelt story, and endless reasons to cheers, the film is one we’ll be toasting to long after the credits roll.
The Wedding Banquet opens in theaters nationwide on April 18.
The sun might have set on Fire Island, but a second serving of the beloved queer rom-com may still be on the horizon.
Andrew Ahn, the director behind the hit 2022 LGBTQ+ film Fire Island, recently opened up about the possibility of a sequel—and while nothing’s confirmed, fans have reason to keep their beach bags packed and ready.
The Queer Classic That Sparked Joy (and Viral Memes)
Originally released on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in the UK, Fire Island is a modern, gay reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, centered around two best friends—Noah (Joel Kim Booster) and Howie (Bowen Yang)—as they dive into a week of romance, friendship, and drama at the famous gay vacation spot.
The film was praised for its hilarious dialogue, heartfelt representation of queer Asian-American experiences, and thoughtful explorations of race, class, and body image. Oh, and let’s not forget the viral Marisa Tomei-inspired scene featuring Matt Rogers and Tomas Matos that lit up timelines and solidified Fire Island‘s cult status.
Naturally, fans (and let’s be honest, the entire internet) have been demanding a sequel ever since.
A Sequel? It’s in the Ether
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ahn revealed that while a Fire Island sequel isn’t officially in development, the idea hasn’t been ruled out.
“There’s always been conversation about doing a sequel,” he said. “I don’t know if a real concrete idea has been formed yet, but there are things in the ether.”
Ahn also shared that Booster, who wrote and starred in the original film, “always jokes” that a sequel would be like And Just Like That… — the Sex and the City reboot — but “30 years later, and they’re older and gayer.”
Provincetown Wedding? Yes, Please
The dream of a sequel has popped up before. In 2023, Matt Rogers told GAY TIMES there were “immediate” conversations post-release about a follow-up set in Provincetown, with a potential wedding between Howie and Charlie taking center stage.
“It would be a really interesting continuation,” Rogers said. “You pull away from the dock, watch them dance, and you do wanna know what’s next. That is, I think, a compliment to the ensemble and the wonderful script.”
Booster echoed the sentiment in an earlier GAY TIMES interview, saying, “While I don’t know that I necessarily feel all the way inspired to write another gay vacation movie at this time, I would definitely do anything to work with this cast again.”
Still, he teased the same And Just Like That style reunion: “We’ll all return to Fire Island, and we’ll see where these characters are in 20 years.”
Andrew Ahn’s Queer Cinema Continues
Even if Fire Island 2 doesn’t land on our screens just yet, Ahn isn’t done blessing audiences with queer-centric stories.
His next film, The Wedding Banquet, hits theaters in the U.S. on April 18. A remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 classic, the updated version follows lesbian couple Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone), who are navigating IVF challenges. Their friend Min (Gi-chan) steps in—offering to fund their next round of treatment in exchange for a green-card marriage, following a breakup with his boyfriend Chris (played by none other than Bowen Yang).
Family secrets, complicated love, and sharp humor? It’s another Ahn signature.
The answer is still up in the salty, sunscreen-scented air—but as long as the cast, the fans, and the memes are ready, hope for a sequel is far from washed out.
Actress Kelly Marie Tran has revealed that her role in the upcoming queer comedy The Wedding Banquet played a significant part in her decision to come out publicly as queer. The actress, who rose to fame with her role as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, shared her personal journey in an interview with Vanity Fair last November, and now, in a conversation with Attitude magazine, Tran discusses how working on the film created a supportive environment that helped her embrace her identity.
In The Wedding Banquet, Tran portrays Angela, a woman whose girlfriend, Lee (played by Lily Gladstone), is trying to get pregnant. Lee agrees to marry her gay male friend to help him secure a green card, with the arrangement that he will pay for her IVF treatments. However, complications arise when the friend’s traditional Korean grandmother arrives and insists on hosting an extravagant wedding banquet. The film, which blends humor with poignant themes of family and identity, is set to open on May 9.
Tran admitted that she hadn’t planned on publicly coming out before the film’s release, but the positive atmosphere on the set made the experience feel natural. “There was so much queer joy on this set, whether that was from the cast or the crew. I’d never been on a set before that was very dominantly queer, and there was so much joy in that,” Tran told Attitude. The actress described how this inclusive environment allowed her to express herself freely.
The pivotal moment came during an interview on the same day that the wedding scene was filmed. As Tran described the joyful energy of the set, a journalist asked her, “What are you most excited about?” In that moment, Tran says, she spontaneously came out. “I sort of just naturally came out. Then I was like, ‘Oh God, what have I done?’” she recalled. However, instead of feeling regret, Tran emphasized that she did not view her coming out as something shameful. She also recognized the importance of celebrating not just her identity, but the identities of many of the cast and crew members involved in the project.
Tran’s coming out was met with support from the film’s cast, including Gladstone, who previously shared a heartwarming story about Tran’s thoughtful gift to the crew. After filming wrapped, Tran gave the cast a candle with a unique scent of chestnuts and jujubes. The candle’s label read, “Don’t Fear Your Queer,” with a note at the bottom that said, “When you feel like throwing a whole a*s Korean wedding instead of embracing who you really are.” The gift, along with the atmosphere of love and acceptance on set, further solidified the sense of queer joy that Tran described.
In The Wedding Banquet, Tran’s character embarks on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth, a theme that resonates deeply with the actress’s own life. The movie’s exploration of love, identity, and family dynamics is especially meaningful in a time when more LGBTQ+ stories are making their way to the forefront of mainstream media. Tran’s decision to come out in such an open and authentic way is a testament to the power of representation and the positive impact of surrounding oneself with a supportive community.
The film, which features a predominantly queer cast and crew, is expected to make waves in the entertainment industry for its honest portrayal of queer relationships and the intersections of culture, identity, and tradition. Tran, who has long been a trailblazer for Asian representation in Hollywood, now adds another important milestone to her career by embracing and sharing her queer identity with the world.
As for the future, Tran’s decision to come out is not only a personal triumph but also an inspiration for others in the entertainment industry who may be struggling with their own identities. By using her platform to share her truth, Tran has become a powerful example of how visibility can change lives. With The Wedding Banquet set to premiere on May 9, audiences will have the opportunity to see her in a new light, embracing a role that mirrors her own personal journey.
The film’s cast also includes Bowen Yang, the openly gay comedian known for his work on Saturday Night Live, who plays a pivotal role in the film. The presence of both Tran and Yang in a queer-centered story highlights the growing demand for more inclusive narratives in Hollywood, as the entertainment industry continues to evolve and offer diverse representation for marginalized groups.
The Wedding Banquet promises to be a celebration of love, culture, and the complexities of queer relationships. Tran’s decision to come out during the promotion of the film only adds to the film’s significance, as it provides another layer of authenticity to the portrayal of LGBTQ+ experiences. As Tran continues to break barriers in Hollywood, her journey serves as a reminder that there is power in being true to oneself—and that representation matters now more than ever.
The Wedding Banquet opens in theaters on May 9, bringing a fresh perspective on queer love and the complexities of family, culture, and self-acceptance.
