'24' gets a lesbian president

Fox's 24 gave the United States its first African American president with Dennis Haysbert. Now it's about to give us the first female president.

Broadway actress Cherry Jones will play President Allison Taylor when the show about the exploits of counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) returns for its seventh season-- and day-- in January.

In real life, Cherry is one of Broadway's leading and most outspoken lesbians. Her girlfriend is Sarah Paulsen, who played the dreary unconvincing comedienne hetero love interest on Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip.

Female president? Played by leading lesbian? With 24 creator Joel Surnow one of Hollywood's leading and most outspoken conservatives, is this a dig at Hillary Clinton or what?

Despite the evidence and suspicions, Fox's entertainment boss Peter Liguouri said today with a straight face: "It's a dramatic decision. The president is a very important piece of 24. We've had a broad array of presidents on the show; why not a female president? 24 took place in an election year in the past. How you see Joel, (co-creator) Bob (Cochran) and (fellow executive producer) Howard (Gordon) articulate drama is telling on how they deal with politics. The two are separated."

Uh huh.