This is not normally Culturebot’s purview but Sunday’s NY Daily News gossip column reported this:

Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Oprah BFF Gayle King are still going strong. While the talk-show maven is gallivanting around Europe, sans her pal, Gayle and Cory enjoyed a low-key date night, waiting in line with the masses to see “Dark Knight.” He was nuzzling his face in the back of her hair and she was giggling like a schoolgirl, our moviegoing spy reports.

Which is kind of funny because almost a year ago, exactly, Rush & Molloy reported this:

Newark may hold a special place in Arianna’s heart

Tough-minded pundit Arianna Huffington may have found a politician she approves of. Word is that the Huffington Post founder has been quietly dating Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Huffington didn’t respond to several e-mails. Hizzoner’s spokeswoman told us, “We don’t comment on his personal life.” Huffington was an early supporter of Booker in the Rhodes scholar’s battle to unseat longtime Newark boss Sharpe James. Booker has contributed several posts to her blog.

One person bound to take an interest in the talk is TV reporter (and Oprah pal) Gayle King, who has regularly turned up on Booker’s arm at events where Huffington is also a guest.

Which Gawker quickly pointed out is, like, totally gay. But why this time of year? Is it because Oprah’s on vacation and they need to prove something? Is there something about the summer months that particularly demands full frontal beard representation? Oprah should just start dating Tyler Perry and make life easy for everybody.