JK Rowling’s comments about trans people in recent weeks have gotten some swift criticism from celebrities and even people who acted in the Harry Potter movies based on her wildly popular books. And now it seems the fallout from her comments might even impact the release of her next work.

The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that some workers at Hatchette, which is set to publish Rowling’s latest children’s book The Ickabog, have threatened to “down tools,” which is a delightfully English way of saying they might stop working on the book altogether.

Yesterday morning at publishing house Hachette, several of those involved in Miss Rowling’s new children’s book, The Ickabog, are said to have staged their own rebellion during a heated meeting. One source said: ‘Staff in the children’s department at Hachette announced they were no longer prepared to work on the book.

‘They said they were opposed to her comments and wanted to show support for the trans lobby. These staff are all very “woke”, mainly in their twenties and early thirties, and apparently it is an issue they feel very strongly about.’

These “woke” staffers apparently held what’s been deemed a “revolt” by the news outlet, but also noted that Hatchette had released a statement supporting Rowling’s right to express herself. It’s the latest blowback from Rowling expressing “deep concerns” about transgender activism, including an open letter she penned on her website that received swift criticism from Harry Potter fans and even those who have worked on the series’ movies like Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

Warner Bros., which made the movies, has had to release a statement encouraging diversity, effectively distancing itself from Rowling’s comments. And even the Harry Potter amusement park had to put distance between the author and the intellectual property upon which the park’s rides and attractions are based.

It’s unclear if Hatchette will still move forward with publication of The Ickabog or if its staffers’ apparent protest will be carried out, but it’s yet another consequence of Rowling speaking her mind about something that’s proven extremely unpopular, both on Twitter and in real life.

Gaming expos and conventions all around the world have been canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Tuesday brought word that two more events will be combined into one online event later this year. Penny Arcade, which puts on various PAX events that highlight gaming around the United States, announced that it would turn PAX West and PAX Australia into a single online-only event in September.

The company announced that PAX Online would instead be a nine-day event filled with panels and the traditional events that come with PAX, just running at all hours of the day from September 12 to the 20th.

In our previous post, we explained that while we still had hoped to bring you PAX West this year, protecting the safety and health of our community is our highest priority. The more we worked on a solution, the more it became clear that if we really wanted to welcome everybody home, we’d have to remove the physical barriers entirely, and simply take PAX Online.

Going digital means a lot more than just a change in venue though, and by transcending the physical, in fact, we’re able to do more PAX than ever before!

PAX East in Boston was one of the last events to go off as planned, despite some companies like Sony deciding not to attend the late February gaming event due to coronavirus concerns. It turned out to be one of the last live gaming showcases this year, as Los Angeles’ Electronic Entertainment Expo was canceled weeks later and companies like Sony and EA Sports have held online events to showcase new games and technology instead of the traditional expo settings.

The event will be free to “attend” and PAX organizers said Tuesday that they are currently soliciting panels from groups that would traditionally attend live PAX events. And, of course, there will still be plenty of merch for sale.

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Taking a midsummer trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando might sound like a lovely vacation, but for the players on 22 NBA teams, it will be a work trip in the league’s plan to finish the 2019-20 season. The NBA and its Players Association are still working out the details, and on Tuesday, we learned that there will be some perks to life in the bubble for some players.

Among the things revealed by media reports on Tuesday were a tiered system of determining which teams stay in which hotel while in Orlando, and what players will be allowed to do (and not do) while practicing and playing out the rest of the regular season and playoffs at the Wide World of Sports. One interesting perk, though, might be the chance to see major blockbuster movies before anyone else.

According to Yahoo’s Keith Smith, among the entertainment options like lawn games and DJs may be some movies Disney has delayed until movie theaters reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Marvel’s Black Widow.

The standalone Black Widow movie in Marvel Cinematic Universe starring one of the most popular Avengers was originally scheduled for a May 1 release, but as the world was essentially put on pause in mid-March the movie was pushed back to release on November 6. The film is done, though, and while movie theaters will likely be open in parts of the country once the NBA’s proposed bubble league starts, those players will be unable to actually go to them while they hopefully avoid coronavirus and successfully finish out the season.

Screening Black Widow months before it hits theaters would be an intriguing perk for NBA players, but it also reveals an interesting set of questions about what happens after they see the film. Will players have to sign NDAs about its details? Will LeBron James and the rest of the league essentially agree to an embargo and Disney just hopes they don’t spoil the film for anyone else in the months before it actually gains wide release?

It would be something else if an NBA player were to accidentally spoil one of the most anticipated blockbusters of 2020, especially in what’s been a movie-starved year given the few titles that have come out on demand amid an industry that’s been shuttered for months. Pulling off a bubble league in Orlando is proving to be a lofty challenge even before the games have started. Adding in the potential to play movie spoiler, at this point, is just making things even more complicated.

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If you still haven’t snagged a copy of NBA 2K20 and were looking for a good deal, there’s officially one that can do a lot of good and net you an impressive amount of games to boot. The latest gaming bundle put together to raise funds for racial justice initiatives might cost a bit more than Itch.io’s bundle for racial justice, but it also comes with thousands of dollars worth of games, including the latest basketball sim from 2K Sports.

Humble Bundle’s “Racial Justice” bundle was announced this week and the deal is simple: pay $30 or more and get access to a huge library of Steam codes for some extremely good games, starting with 2K.

Proceeds from the sale benefit the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, The Bail Fund and the Race Project. Humble estimates the collection of games, comics and books is worth more than $1200 at retail, and it includes some big titles like 2K and Bioshock Remastered.

There’s an extremely wide variety of titles like Jackbox Party Pack 4 and some very clever indie titles from smaller developers. Baba Is You, for example, is a delightful little puzzle game. FTL is a fun and very addicting title, and Kerbal Space Program alone retails for $40 and is well worth the investment.

Given how successful Itch.io’s bundle was it seems likely that Humble will sell a lot of games here, and it’s certainly going to a good cause if you’re looking for something new to play.

Comedian Trevor Noah has become not only a voice of comic relief in tough times, but a voice of thoughtfulness and reason on social issues, as well. As an immigrant to the U.S. from South Africa, Noah brings a unique perspective to the table, but it’s his ability to zero in on the truth at the heart of an issue that brings people to hear his social commentary.

This week, Noah posted a video with some thoughts on the police killing of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Atlanta man who fell asleep while drunk in his car in a Wendy’s drive-thru. According to CBS News, Brooks resisted arrest and took an officer’s Taser. As he was running away, police shot him twice in the back. One officer in the incident has been fired and another placed on administrative duty.

Noah described what surveillance video showed. He explained: “In the beginning, it seems like everything is going to be fine. The cops are talking to him like a person. They’re not being aggro, they’re not being disrespectful, they’re not being mean or anything. He’s being respectful. He’s calling them ‘sir’, he’s not cussing them out, he’s offering to walk home. Everything is going well…”

He continued, “And then in one moment, in just a few seconds, every part of that normal story turns into the abnormal ending that we’ve come to know as interactions with police and black people.”

Noah pointed out that the encounter never needed to get to that point. Despite the fact that the story is messy—Brooks was drunk, and he did resist arrest and took the police officer’s taser—the question remains, Why do we call on armed police in a situation like this in the first place?

“Why are armed police dealing with a man who’s sleeping in his car?” Noah asked. “These are the questions we need to ask: why, why, why, why, why, why? Why are armed police the first people who have to go and respond to somebody who’s sleeping in their car, who’s drunk?”

Noah laid out the way the story could have or should have played out, especially considering the fact that the man was drunk. The sober people in the situation are supposed to be the ones who can handle the situation responsibly. He also addressed the inevitable “ifs” that come up anytime people talk about an incident of police brutality.

“If you didn’t resist arrest, then you’d still be alive. Or if you didn’t run away from the cops, you’d still be alive. Well, if you didn’t have a toy gun and were 12 years old in the middle of a park, then you would have still been alive. Well, you know what, if you weren’t wearing a hoodie, then you would have still been alive. If you didn’t talk back to the cops, you would have been still been alive. If you weren’t sleeping in your bed as a black woman, you would have still been alive.

“There’s one common thread beyond all the ‘ifs’.” he concluded. Watch the video here:

Why Did Rayshard Brooks Have to Lose His Life? | The Daily Social Distancing Show

www.youtube.com

Noah’s questions are worth exploring. At what point do we fundamentally examine what the purpose of policing really is and whether or not the way we currently do it fulfils that purpose?

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A sensational skillet scraper, foaming garbage disposal cleaner, and multiple multi-surface cleaners to get every dang corner of your kitchen looking and smelling its best.

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Bong Soon and Min Hyuk are serious couple goals!

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