Month: July 2020

Colin Jost has admitted at least one episode of Saturday Night Live hasn’t stood the test of time. Predictably, Donald Trump is very much involved. Jost was interviewed on MSNBC while promoting his new memoir A Very Punchable Face and was asked about a line from the book where he addressed Trump’s infamous 2015 appearance hosting SNL, where he danced to a parody of Hotline Bling while running for president.

In the book, Jost compared the appearance in SNL history to a Confederate statue and elaborated on that sentiment in the interview.

“There have been some hosts over the years who are real “confederate statues” of entertainment,” Jost wrote. “And that episode of SNL has not aged well, politically or comedically.”

Asked about that line by Andrea Mitchell, Jost called the appearance “surreal” and detailed how he feels Trump used ‘SNL’ on his way to the White House.

“I write about it in the book because I wanted people to have a sense of what that was like behind the scenes. Just look at this clip that’s playing,” Jost says as Trump’s Hotline Bling video played in a box alongside his face. “All these clips are so surreal when you look back. I think it also speaks to what he’s done and how he can feel charming or even manipulative sometimes with people.”

Jost joked about other people who have also written about Trump in recent months and how they share a similar experience with Trump manipulating them and then moving on.

“Think about it with all the people in his administration that he’s gone through and people that have learned that lesson and are now writing books about it,” he said. “I wanted people to be able to understand what was going on while he hosted and what that week was like because it was a pretty weird week for us on a lot of levels.”

Jost pointed out that Trump was not a passive host at all, and was at every rehearsal the show had even while he was running a national campaign that would eventually get him elected president.

“I think most people assumed in America that he would be burned out by that point and that campaign would have been over,” he said. “Instead he was fully in the middle of the campaign and somehow was also hosting our show every day.”

SNL alum Taran Killam has publicly spoken about the episode as well, saying how much the cast and writers “hated” the experience. So at the very least it’s a re-confirmation from the show’s co-head writer that those involved ultimately regret what happened. In a slightly related story, Jost has said in other promotional interviews that he’s “definitely” returning to the sketch comedy show despite admitting earlier in the month he wasn’t sure what his future holds.

[h/t Deadline]

Twitter exploded this morning over chatter that the New York Times essentially confirmed the existence of UFOs in an article about the Pentagon’s secret official UFO unit. They didn’t, but we’ll get to that in a second. The article in question confirms that despite the Pentagon’s earlier statements that it had disbanded a once-covert program charged with investigating UFOs, the program was actually still operational and had been renamed the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force and transferred into the Office of Naval Intelligence, where officials continue to study “mystifying encounters” between military pilots and unexplained aerial phenomenon.

A UFO task force part of Naval Intelligence? Sounds like a job for Space Force to us.

The program appeared most recently in a Senate Committee Report that outlined 2021 National Intelligence Agency spending and listed that the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force’s responsibility was “to standardize collection and reporting” on sightings of unexplained aerial vehicles, with a requirement to report some of its findings to the public within 180 days after the passage of the Intelligence Authorization Act, according to The New York Times.

That news and a quote from astrophysicist, Eric W. Davis, who previously worked as a subcontractor and a consultant for the Pentagon’s former UFO program, which stated that he had given a classified briefing to a Defense Department agency this March about the retrieval of materials from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.” has left many a Twitter-user hoping that within a few months we might finally see some evidence of UFOs. Unfortunately, that’s probably not the case.

As credible a source as Davis is, the article mentions that his inability to determine the source of materials that had examined in the past led him to conclude that “we couldn’t’ make it ourselves,” whether that actually means the materials are in fact from an off-world vehicle, remains to be revealed. Additionally, an earlier version of the New York Times article inaccurately reported remarks from retired Senate majority leader Harry Reid that seemed to suggest that crashes of UFO had previously occurred and that retrieved material had been studied secretly in the past. However, the New York Times has sent corrected those statements.

The correction reads:

Correction: July 24, 2020

An earlier version of this article inaccurately rendered remarks attributed to Harry Reid, the retired Senate majority leader from Nevada. Mr. Reid said he believed that crashes of objects of unknown origin may have occurred and that retrieved materials should be studied; he did not say that crashes had occurred and that retrieved materials had been studied secretly for decades.

Admittedly, saying crashes “had occurred” sounds a whole lot more definitive than saying he “believed” that crashes had occurred, but unfortunately, this mistake is on the New York Times, not former Senate majority Harry Reid. Instead, the program’s main focus is on discovering whether potential adversaries might be using aviation technology that could possibly threaten the safety of the United States. So while the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force is set to reveal something soon, the chances of it being an alien aircraft look a little slim… even though that’s what we really want it to be.

A Marvel show is coming to Hulu. Yes, that’s correct and quite a development, but while Helstrom technically sits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s currently intended to be a standalone story that was co-produced by Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios (part of Disney TV Studios). Oh, this is a dark one, all fiery and brimstone-y, for as this Comic-Con teaser trailer shows, it includes what’s possibly the worst family reunion ever. And a slight spelling modification.

In the comics, Daimon Hellstrom is the Son of Satan, although the TV show has notably gone with a single “l” for his last name, we’ll have to wait and see how many other changes are coming for the TV adaptation, but first, take a (frightened) look at what Hulu is presenting as Helstrom’s family portrait. Yikes.

The show’s protagonist, of course, will be Daimon (Tom Austen). He’s an exorcist and an ethics professor; he and his sister, Ana/Santana (Sydney Lemmon in a The Crying Game-esque wig), will reckon with their status as children of a serial killer. Their dynamic is a fraught one, and their mom, Victoria (Elizabeth Marvel — her real name), is a real (institutionalized) piece of work and apparently of no assistance. This should be one of Hulu’s bigger shows for fall, and the streaming service announced today that a full 10-episode season will be ready to roll accordingly.

Helstrom‘s first season comes to Hulu on October 16.

In a historically frenzied offseason for the WNBA, the Phoenix Mercury were determined not to be left out of the action. The team signed star guard Skylar Diggins-Smith from the Dallas Wings in a blockbuster move, slotting her in alongside Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner to establish a new “Big Three” in the league. Last season, Phoenix advanced to the playoffs for the third consecutive season, but fell short in first round. Taurasi struggled to make it onto the floor after undergoing back surgery for a disc protrusion in April and then suffering a hamstring injury, and only made six appearances for the Mercury in 2019.

The team couldn’t adequately make up for the loss of their point guard and other injuries whittled the active roster down, but there were some bright spots in Phoenix. Griner continued to put up strong numbers, Leilani Mitchell stepped up in Taurasi’s absence to win Most Improved Player for the second time in her career, and DeWanna Bonner was a reliable force for the Mercury. The latter two are no longer with the Mercury, however, as Mitchell was picked up by the Mystics in February and Bonner has since departed to Connecticut.

Heading into the 2020 WNBA season, the Mercury have freshened their roster added Bria Hartley and Shatori Kimbrough-Walker, two experienced guards who can create scoring opportunities. Forward Jessica Breland was deemed medically exempt and will not play this year, so the team brought in center Kia Vaughn to help shore things up in the frontcourt with Griner. With the possibility that this could be 38-year-old Taurasi’s final year in the league, the Mercury will be pushing hard for a chance at the championship in Florida.

The Mercury look like one of the most formidable teams in the league with a deep and experienced roster, and are early favorites for a title run.

WUBBLE ROSTER

Nia Coffey
Sophie Cunningham
Skylar Diggins-Smith
Brittney Griner
Bria Hartley
Alanna Smith
Diana Taurasi
Brianna Turner
Kia Vaughn
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough

KEY PLAYERS TO WATCH

Brittney Griner: One of the few consistent performers for the injury-riddled Mercury last season, Griner averaged a league-leading 20.7 points and two blocks as well as 7.2 rebounds per game while having the highest usage rate. In her seventh year in the league, the 6’9 center was named a WNBA All-Star for the sixth time in her career and received a spot on the All-WNBA first team for the second time. She has continued to improve year-over-year, and last season, Griner became one of the most dominant post players in the league, averaging a league-best 14.1 points in the paint. The biggest of the big three, Griner is set to have a big year and will be expected to once again be in the MVP conversation.

Skylar Diggins-Smith: Diggins-Smith missed the 2019 season after giving birth to her son in April. But in 2018, she did it all for Dallas, averaging 17.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per contest. She also suited up for Team USA during its college tour in the fall. The star guard is a very energetic player, and is excellent at running the point while also being a nuisance on defense. At 29 years old, she will definitely upgrade this Mercury team, both as a leader and as someone who can give Taurasi chances to rest.

EXPECTATIONS

Injuries, suspensions, and and overall lack of consistency made it hard for the Mercury to build chemistry and succeed last season. Losing Bonner and Mitchell, who really helped carry the team into the playoffs last year, will hurt, but with a healthy Taurasi and the addition of Diggins-Smith, Phoenix can compete for the title. With those two on-the-ball guards, Phoenix will have to work hard to make sure both players get their touches and run plays that ensure the two can perform at their best levels for the team.

The Mercury will also need Alanna Smith, Brianna Turner, and Sophie Cunningham to grow into more reliable players so that the scoring workload does not fall solely onto the big three. Talented as Taurasi, Griner, and Diggins-Smith are, they cannot expect to contend without a full team effort from the players around them.

X-FACTOR

Bria Hartley: The former New York Liberty guard describes herself as “the perfect combo guard,” someone who can hold the rock and run the offense but also knows when to use her speed to get out and up the floor. She is a solid shooter, averaging 9.8 points on 38 percent shooting and with a 33 percent clip from beyond the arc. Her addition to the fold should certainly help the team spread the floor and she can help get others looks as well; last season, she averaged 3.2 assists per game.

BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION

How strong is the Mercury’s depth and chemistry? Last season saw the Mercury’s roster tested to the limits as players fell left and right with injuries. Taurasi’s injury was the biggest one of all, and the team certainly needs her to be back at full strength if they have any real hope of winning their fourth championship. The addition of Diggins-Smith will certainly help take the load off the Mercury legend, but Phoenix needs to ensure that when the pair are on the floor together they get enough touches and have enough space.

The Indiana Pacers got a boost before their Orlando bubble schedule began when All-Star guard Victor Oladipo, who was not expected to take the floor as he continued to work his way back to 100 percent from the quad tear that delayed his 2020 debut until January, reversed course and decided to play. But while that’s excellent news, a separate Pacers star has been dealing with an injury issue in recent days that has now caused him to leave the bubble altogether.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis has to leave the bubble in the hopes of finding treatment for a foot injury that has left him hampered recently.

Earlier this week, Sabonis discussed the injury, which had been described as plantar fasciitis. The former Gonzaga standout explained that he’s taking a wait-and-see approach with the situation.

“With this kind of injury, you can’t really circle (a date),” Sabonis said, per Ethan Sears of the Indianapolis Star. “Every person is different how long it heals, how long it doesn’t. We’re just trying to do the best we can with everything we have here.”

It goes without saying, but losing Sabonis — who is averaging career-highs in scoring (18.5 points per game) and rebounding (12.4 boards per game) — would be an absolutely brutal blow for the Pacers, especially following such optimistic news about Oladipo. Indiana’s bubble slate kicks off next Saturday when they take on the Philadelphia 76ers in a game with major seeding implications ahead of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The tragic death of comedian Brody Stevens is still being felt in the entertainment world more than a year later, and some Los Angeles Dodgers fans have managed to pay tribute to the late entertainer even in a season where people aren’t allowed at the ballpark. A life-sized cutout of Stevens has made its way to the stands at Dodger Stadium as a tribute to Stevens, who was a big baseball fan and died suddenly in February of 2019.

As COVID-19 has impacted sports around the world, the return to play has come without fans in the stands. Some leagues choose to put mannequins in seats, while others started putting images of real fans in stadiums for a fee they donated to charity. A handful of baseball teams in the United States have followed suit, offering fans foul balls if they happen to get their cardboard cutouts dinged during games.

As it turns out, some friends of Stevens got the money together and his image was approved by the Dodgers. Before Thursday’s opening day, the cutout became a bit of a mini-game, with the people involved offering a prize if someone was able to spot him on TV.

Of course, the cutout was shown on ESPN during the broadcast on Thursday night, and a number of people shared the image and remembered Stevens online.

One comedian, Anthony Jeselnik, pointed out that it was somehow fitting that Stevens would show up during a commercial.

As Adrian Garro wrote for MLB.com last year, Stevens was a baseball player in college and maintained his fandom throughout his life, so it’s certainly a loving tribute to Stevens that resonated with a lot of people when he showed up on national television once more on Thursday night.

Longtime Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is looking to sell the team to someone new. The headlines in recent days have been dominated by a group looking to purchase the squad led by Kevin Garnett, the greatest player in franchise history and someone who has been ultra-critical of Taylor in the past, but on Friday, we learned of another group led by a separate retired hooper.

According to Pat Graham and Dave Campbell of the Associated Press, Arron Afflalo and a group of investors with some serious financial muscle want to get involved in the bidding process. Not only that, but the group hopes to jump into the fray soon, as the report indicates that Afflalo and co. plan on bidding “no later than this weekend.”

The people familiar with Afflalo’s group said the team won’t be relocated. The 34-year-old Afflalo would be the face of the group, with venture capitalist Brock Berglund spearheading the financing. The only Black primary owner in the NBA now is Michael Jordan in Charlotte.

It’s a diverse group seeking to place minorities in positions of power and uplift the community in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the handcuffed Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck for nearly 8 minutes.

Afflalo, who retired following the 2017-18 season, never played for the Timberwolves, but had a respectable career as a member of the Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers, New York Knicks, and Sacramento Kings. He suited up for former Minnesota coach Flip Saunders as a member of the Pistons, and Saunders’ son, Ryan, is now in charge of the Timberwolves. Revered for his tenacity and savvy on the defensive end of the floor, Afflalo averaged 10.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game over his 11-year NBA career.

While tribalism, nationalism, and xenophobia have all been on the rise across the globe for the last several years, hip-hop has seen its own corresponding rise in xenophobic sentiments in recent weeks, with multiple prominent figures of the culture getting censured by the public after sharing anti-Semitic views. The latest to join this growing list of rap icons is British grime MC Wiley, who spent over ten hours railing against the Jewish community on Twitter, sharing videos, memes, and photos which propagated long-disproven stereotypes and misconceptions.

What started with Wiley trying to make a point about record deals and ended up far afield from where it began. Initially, it seemed he was offering useful advice to up-and-coming artists. “A record deal is not to benefit you,” he wrote. “It’s to make the person who gave you the advance rich as hell while you take 17 or 18 % of net profit after costs.” Fair enough.

But then, his next tweet indicated the position he’d be taking, several miles away from the rails. “If you work for a company owned by 2 Jewish men and you challenge the Jewish community in anyway of course you will get fired,” he tweeted. He may have been referencing Nick Cannon’s recent excommunication from Viacom after an anti-Semitic discussion on his podcast. But soon enough, he was off on a long-winded rant, similar to the one conducted by Ice Cube a few weeks ago, in which he shared the views that had been shaped by both negative experiences and anti-Semitic propaganda throughout the years.

Among some of the other tweets, he accused Jewish people of controlling the world, denounced Israel, and repeated the assertion that Jewish people had taken advantage of Black artists in the music business. While some of his followers tried to talk sense into him others, unfortunately, sent words of affirmation. As of press time, he’s still going. We won’t repost his conspiracy theories here, because they don’t warrant repeating, but the number of rappers who have embraced these conspiracies is concerning — especially after months of civil disobedience aimed at bringing about true justice and peace.

Back in 2018, voters in Florida approved an amendment that would automatically restore voting rights to individuals who had been convicted of felonies and served their time with a handful of exceptions. Almost immediately upon its inception, politicians began to add hurdles to the rule, and while a judge ruled earlier this year that one such pay-to-vote system was unconstitutional, the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has filed an appeal.

One former Florida resident with a passion for voting rights has decided to get involved. In a release, LeBron James’ recently-launched voting rights group More Than a Vote announced that it is teaming up with the Florida Rights Restoration Commission to raise more than $100,000, which will go towards helping those who are disenfranchised due to the actions of Florida’s government by paying outstanding court fees.

Per the release, the funds will be raised off of proceeds from a screening of John Lewis: Good Trouble, a documentary film about the former civil rights leader and member of the U.S. House of Representatives who passed away last week.

More Than a Vote and the FRRC both announced the partnership on their respective Twitter accounts.

James also took to Twitter following the announcement, proclaiming that this law prevents ex-felons from “their constitutional right to vote” and specifically praising Udonis Haslem for his work on this front.

Haslem, a Florida native and James’ former teammate with the Miami Heat who is part of More Than a Vote, said in a statement that “your right to vote shouldn’t depend upon whether or not you can pay to exercise it.” According to Politico, the law disenfranchises up to 775,000 Floridians.

Today at San Diego Comic Con, AMC has finally pieced together its plan for The Walking Dead universe for the rest of 2020. As we have already written, Fear the Walking Dead will return on October 11th at 9 p.m. However, The Walking Dead will return on October 4th at 9 p.m., followed by the spin-off series, The World Beyond at 10 p.m., and Chris Hardwick’s The Talking Dead at 11 p.m. Thereafter, it appears that Fear will air at 9 p.m., followed by The World Beyond and The Talking Dead, essentially setting up a three-hour block of The Walking Dead programming to finish out 2020.

Note I did not say that The Walking Dead “finale” will air on October 4th, because — twist — it will no longer be the finale. At Comic-Con, Angela Kang also announced that, although production has not yet begun, the plan is to add an additional six episodes to season 10, which will air in 2021. It sounds like, instead of jumping to season 11 in its traditional February slot, the series will add additional season 10 episodes in the Spring and, presumably if all goes well, begin season 11 in the fall.

Meanwhile, when season 10 returns, we will get to see Maggie (Lauren Cohan) again, and presumably she will continue on in the extra six season 10 episodes, and we will finally find out how she treats Negan, who killed her husband and burned down her house. First, however, we will have to find out if and how Alexandria dispatches with Beta, and whether season 10 will move into The Commonwealth storyline, or if The Whisperer War and the journey with Princess will be extended.

For Comic-Con, AMC has also released another clip featuring the first minutes of the season 10 finale.

The Walking Dead returns on October 4th.