Anna Paquin declaration causes site to crash
Winnipeg-born True Blood star comes out as bisexual
A gay rights campaign featuring True Blood star Anna Paquin's surprise declaration of bisexuality generated so much traffic that its website crashed.
The web-based Give a Damn campaign was launched on Thursday by Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund, which aims for the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality.
The campaign's video features Paquin, a Winnipeg-born Oscar-winning actor, declaring she's bisexual.
"I'm Anna Paquin," says the 27-year-old actress, who is engaged to True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer. "I'm bisexual and I gave a damn because one hate crime is committed approximately every hour of every day in this country."
The video also includes Lauper, Elton John, Sharon Osbourne, Whoopi Goldberg and comedien Wanda Sykes, who urge people to be more tolerant of others' sexual orientation.
The crashed website left a message that read: "OK – we didn't expect THIS kind of traffic!"
Its administrators told The Associated Press on Friday that it was "overwhelmed by the enormous traffic," and has added additional servers.
Paquin was born in Winnipeg, and won an Academy Award at age 11 for best supporting actress for her first film role, in The Piano.
She made the Give a Damn announcement at a Jan. 30 taping session.
With files from The Associated Press