Month: September 2020

The first presidential debate was almost certainly the nastiest in history, starting off quiet but quickly descending into fighting and interjections, mostly from the incumbent, Donald Trump. Some of the jabs between the two were amusing; a flustered Biden at one point called him “man” and twice he called him a “clown.” But most of the time watching the debate was a profoundly annoying and noisy experience, with Trump barely letting Biden get five words in before interrupting him with jabs and insults.

But there was one interruption that was more horrifying than most, one that showed how heartless the sitting president can be. Biden was talking about our divided nation when he segued into a discussion on something close to his heart: the military. Both of Biden’s sons served at different points, including his late son Beau, whose unit was deployed overseas during the Iraq War. Trump has said many derogatory things, both on and off the record, about the military, in which he never served, infamously having repeatedly avoided service during the Vietnam War. Here’s where Biden went on the attack.

“The way you talk about the military, the way you talk about them being losers and being suckers,” he said to Trump. “My son was in Iraq. He spent a year there. He got the Bronze Star. He got the Conspicuous Service Medal. He was not a loser. He was a patriot. And the people left behind there were heroes.”

It’s around here that Trump started interrupting Biden’s talk about his late son and the troops, trying to bluster in with one of his attempted gotchas. “Really?” Trump said in defance. “Are you talking about Hunter?” Joe Biden: “I’m talking about my son Beau Biden!” President Trump: “I don’t know Beau. I know Hunter. Hunter got thrown out of the military. He was thrown out, dishonorably discharged.”

It’s true: Hunter Biden was discharged, though not dishonorably, and while battling a cocaine addiction. But ignoring that Trumpian embellishment, people online were disgusted that Trump would interrupt Biden talking about his late son by trying to falsely smear his other son.

It caused people to reflect on their own lives.

brought up cocaine

Even if Trump hadn’t acted inhumanely, he was still wrong.

Just like many festivals this year, Bonnaroo postponed their 2020 showcase following growing concerns over the coronavirus. The festival originally hoped to hold their festival at some point this month, but as the pandemic continued to impact our country, the festival was forced to postpone a second time, pushing it back to June 2021. And now, they’re delaying it a third time, hoping to finally get things back in time for September 2021.

The festival made the announcement in a post on their social media pages, noting they’ll return to Manchester, Tennesse on September 2-5, 2021. The festival asked ticket holders to roll over their tickets to the new festival date, but they also offered to give refunds if the new date could not be honored. “We want to thank you for being a loyal Bonnaroovian, and we appreciate your patience as we navigate the best options to ensure we can be together on the Farm in 2021,” the festival said on their website in conjunction with the new festival date.

Back during the second postponement of their festival in June, Bonnaroo staff wrote, “Our annual time together on the Farm is nothing short of magical, but out of an abundance of caution and for the health and safety of all Bonnaroovians, artists, staff, partners and our community, this is a necessary reality.” The new Bonnaroo date would also mark the festival’s 20-year anniversary.

You can read Bonnaroo’s full statement on the new 2021 dates here.

No one should be surprised that the first Trump-Biden debate is total chaos. Trump refuses to let his opponent speak interrupted, Biden told him to shut up, and then for the first time in U.S. history, the sitting president was called “a clown” during a general election debate. Both sides are slinging insults, and Biden actually raised his voice about two-thirds of the way through the show. It’s absolute mayhem, and Fox News’ Chris Wallace is acting as moderator of the evening’s events.

Or is he? Wallace isn’t able to get a word in edgewise, which was undoubtedly the plan from Trump, and Biden’s throwing plenty of shots. In the middle of it all, Wallace isn’t putting up much of a fight. And he’s being roundly called out (by the right, left, and everything in between) for his (lack of a) performance.

In all fairness, could anyone moderate this hot mess? Well, maybe Samuel L. Jackson could, as one user pointed out on Twitter.

The complaints continued (as you can see below), and as it stands, there’s still two more scheduled debates between the president and the former vice president (but will they happen?). 2020, it only gets weirder as the year continues.

The first — and possibly last? — presidential debate during the 2020 election got off to a relatively quiet start. Moderator, Fox News’ Chris Wallace, laid the ground rules, that incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden would each get two minutes apiece to talk, uninterrupted. That lasted for about one exchange. Then Trump lost whatever cool he had and would barely let Biden get more than five words without some interjection or insult, trying — and often succeeding — in throwing his opponent off his game. Sometimes Biden even snapped.

In the first half hour, Biden lost it, greeting one interruption with the instantly iconic words, “Will you shut up, man?” But like Trump, he stepped up his game. At some point during the second half-hour — it’s hard to tell when, time seemed to evaporate while watching it — Trump went after Hunter, Biden’s son, whom he’s accused, without much proof, of shady dealings. Biden tried to defend his son, but was pelted with more Trump blabber. And so he moved on from calling him “man,” and moved onto calling him “clown.”

“It’s hard to get any word in with this clown,” Biden told Wallace, the auditorium’s socially distancing crowd, and the entire world. To his credit, he backed off, recusing himself by calling him a “person,” instead.

The world responded in kind. Some praised Biden for losing his cool in such a Biden-y way.

People wondered if history was being made. (Probably.)

There were clown memes.

And Nicolas Cage memes.

And, inevitably, Joker memes.

Actually, it was the second time Biden had called him a clown within the first hour. There’s just that much going on!

Anyway, as of this moment there was still 40 minutes left. Hang tight.

For anyone hoping the first round of the 2020 Presidential Debates would remain civil and orderly, you simply had to tune in for the first few minutes of tonight’s event to know that’s just not going to happen when President Trump is at the podium.

Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace was given the difficult job of reigning both men in — Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden — as they traded barbs on stage in Cleveland in front of a limited live audience. Wallace — who really should have a mute button at the ready as Trump continuously interrupted the former Vice President — struggled to manage the two candidates during their first topic of discussion: the impending Supreme Court nomination.

Wallace gave the floor to Biden to answer the question of whether Senate Democrats would filibuster the Republican nominee Amy Coney Barret should she go through and if Biden would support that political tactic. Biden refused to directly answer Wallace, saying he didn’t want his answer to be the focus of the debate, instead reaffirming his belief that the American people deserve to have a say in who sits on the Supreme Court. It’s an argument Democrats have been making since the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, saying that because we’re already in the midst of a presidential election, the nomination should be made until after a new president is elected.

Obviously, Trump took that as an opening to goad Biden, belligerently interrupting his time and forcing Biden to finally say what everyone watching this circus was probably thinking: “Would you just shut up, man?”

Biden had some fairly good digs at Trump before and after this moment but this feels like a standout because, as presidential as this bickering might be, it’s also incredibly cathartic to see someone stand up to this schoolyard bully.

Over the last month, Travis Scott has been on an unstoppable streak. The Houston rapper kicked off the last week of August with a new song, “The Plan,” which appeared in Christopher Nolan’s film Tenet. Soon after, the rapper and McDonald’s announced a new collaboration that debuted a new commercial, a Travis Scott Meal, and a trio of merchandise collections. Despite all this, Travis has a problem on his hands: He has reportedly been sued by video game company KontrolFreek for copyright violations.

According to Page Six, the company claims Travis and Cactus Jack “reproduced KontrolFreek’s copyright-protected” images of its products for their own use. KontrolFreek claims that, as a result of this, false rumors of a possible collaboration between them and Travis began to swirl following his Fortnite performance in April. The video game company says that while Travis and Cactus had not manufactured the copyrighted material at the time, they were contacted by them in May about their willingness to “to manufacture the Cactus Jack Thumbsticks for Defendants, and at no cost.” After this request the two parties did not speak again, but the previous rumors came back to haunt the video game company when Travis and his team released the Cactus Jack-branded controllers.

Consumers were dissatisfied with the “the poor quality” of the controllers, with one consumer saying the controllers “were not like ‘normal kontrol freeks’ [sic].” KontrolFreek later discovered a copyright violation in the packaging of the Cactus Jack controllers including the use of their slogan and “identical bullet points.” KontrolFreek is suing Travis and Cactus Jack for their profits, plus damages, as well as requesting that they halt all sales of the controllers and destroy the rest of the stock.

(via Page Six

In an ideal world, Westside Gunn‘s Shady Records debut Who Made The Sunshine would have dropped last month. The Griselda rapper announced the album back in July in an Instagram post that revealed its artwork, which was curated by his daughter WS Pootie. Unfortunately, due to the untimely death of Griselda’s DJ Shay, Westside, as well as the entire group, pushed back the release of all of their future projects. But fans won’t have to wait long, as Westside Gunn revealed the new release is this Friday, October 2.

Who Made The Sunshine will serve as Westside’s third album of the year, following April’s Pray For Paris and July’s Flygod Is an Awesome God II. The album includes many a great guest, among them the entire Griselda squad: Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, Armani Caesar, and Boldy Jame. Others from outside the label will also be present, including Slick Rick, Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Smoke DZA, A.A Rashid, Stove God Cooks, Flee Lord, Estee Nack, ElCaminio, and Keisha Plum.

The announcement comes after Westside joined RMR on the video for “Welfare” and Armani Caesar on the track “Mac 10s For Everybody,” off her Griselda debut, The Liz.

Check out the artwork and tracklist for Who Made The Sunshine below.

01. “Sunshine Intro” Feat. A.A. Rashid
02. “The Butcher and The Blade” Feat. Benny The Butcher & Conway The Machine
03. “Ishkabibble’s” Feat. Black Thought
04. “All Praises” Feat. Boldy James & Jadakiss
05. “Big Basha’s”
06. “Liz Loves Luger” Feat. Armani Caesar
07. “Ocean Prime” Feat. Slick Rick & Busta Rhymes
08. “Lessie” Feat. Keisha Plum
09. “Frank Murphy” Feat. Stove God Cooks, Flee Lord, Estee Nack, ElCamino & Smoke DZA
10. “Goodnight” Feat. Slick Rick
11. “98 Sabers” Feat. Armani Caesar, Conway The Machine & Benny The Butcher

Who Made The Sunshine is out 10/02 via Griselda/Shady.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Zendaya was simply another cool musician segueing into a thespian, but her career has risen pretty quickly. And things are moving even faster: Just over a week after winning an Emmy for her HBO show Euphoria, the onetime Disney Channel actress is in talks to establish yet another benchmark: As per Deadline, she may be playing Ronnie Spector, one-third of the ‘60s soul trio The Ronettes.

Should the production be green-lit, it will be the latest piece of content about a soul singer, joining the dueling Aretha Franklin productions of Respect, the movie starring Jennifer Hudson, and Genius: Aretha, the TV miniseries starring Cynthia Erivo. Ronnie Spector was the most famous of The Ronettes, best known for hits like “Baby, I Love You,” “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up,” and their signature hit, “Be My Baby.”

Born Veronica Bennett, she went on to marry Phil Spector, the legendary/notorious producer who discovered her, in 1968, taking his surname. Her escape from him and his increasingly erratic behavior fueled her intense memoir Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts and Madness, which includes a part where Phil threatened to have a hitman kill her.

Ronnie Spector is still with us and, just as the now-late Aretha Franklin hand-picked Jennifer Hudson to play her, so did Ronnie chose Zendaya. It will give Zendaya the chance to show off her twin talents, though you’ll be able to see her acting chops soon, in both the latest movie version of Dune and in Malcolm & Marie, the romantic drama she filmed with John David Washington on the DL during the pandemic.

(Via Deadline)

Editor’s Note: We used “black” in lowercase for our headline and the body of this story in accordance with emerging guidelines from the Associated Press and other trusted news outlets who are using uppercase “Black” in reference to American descendants of the diaspora of individuals forcibly brought from Africa as slaves. As part of our ongoing efforts to be transparent and communicate choices with our readership, we’ve included this note for clarity. The original story begins below.

On February 26, 2019, Stacy and Babajide Omirin of Lagos, Nigeria got quite the shock. When Stacy delivered identical twins through C-section one came out black and the other, white.

The parents knew they were having identical twins and expected them to look exactly the same. But one has a white-looking complexion and golden, wavy hair.

“It was a massive surprise,” Stacy told The Daily Mail. “Daniel came first, and then the nurse said the second baby has golden hair. I thought how can this be possible. I looked down and saw David, he was completely white.”

“I called my husband in so he could see what we had here,” she continued, “I didn’t understand. He couldn’t believe what he saw either. They are so adorable and it felt like we had been given a miracle.”

The boy’s father was overjoyed when he saw the unique pair arrive into the world.

“Their dad was really overwhelmed and immediately named My Twin 2 (David) ‘Golden,’ so he fondly calls him Mr. Golden,” Stacy told Bored Panda. “He was all overjoyed seeing his boys. He stood for more than 10 minutes staring at them and said he was just looking at God’s wonderful work and that they are his best gift ever.”

David was born with a condition called oculocutaneous albinism which affects one in 20,000 births each year.

It occurs when the body produces little or no melanin, resulting in a lack of hair pigment and light skin. It can also cause visual problems, but Stacy says Daniel is perfectly healthy.

According to Action on Albinism, albinos in Nigeria suffer from a “high level of discrimination.” Nigerians with albinism are more prone to live in poverty, resulting in a lack off access to education and basic healthcare.

A study conducted in 2014 found 41% of persons with albinism interviewed exhibit mental health issues related to being a person with albinism.

The twins are often the center of attention when the family goes out in public, so they started an Instagram page to create “awareness” about their unique family. “We opened an account for them because we believe they have a story to tell to the world,” Stacy said.

“I have to answer questions all the time when we are out. People say ”excuse me madam, which one of the kids is yours?”” she said. “I just say both of them are mine and people look at me as if I am joking.”

Some women have told the family that they pray at night in hopes of having twins like Daniel and David. “They are special to everyone and I love them. It feels special to be their mother because they are a special kind of twins,” Stacey said.

“I believe I am blessed and I am so proud of them.”

Depending on who you ask, the Los Angeles Clippers were either the biggest disappointment of the postseason or a team that ended up right where they were headed all along if you were paying attention to the red flags. Either way, they’re out, and now the franchise faces big questions as they look toward the future.

They made the first major change earlier this week when they announced that they were parting ways with head coach Doc Rivers. In some ways, it was an inevitable move given Rivers’ repeated failure to get several talented iterations of the team to a Western Conference Finals appearance.

With those past failures looming large, it now appears that Rivers was already on the hot seat going into the playoffs. Despite what Paul George would have you believe, it was championship or bust for a team that had gone all in this season to try to win their first title in franchise history. And now, it turns out that’s the only thing that could’ve saved Rivers’ job.

Via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:

Aside from the underwhelming results, the Clippers identified troubling patterns in the collapses. If anything, the separation was probably years in the making. Even if the Clippers had lost deeper in the postseason, say, to the Lakers in the conference finals or to the Heat in the finals, Rivers likely would not have been back next season.

During his tenure in Los Angeles, the Clippers won just three total postseason series. Rivers also holds an NBA record for coaching three teams that have blown a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs, the second of which came against Rockets in the second round in 2015.

Even by the more generous assessments, it’s a questionable postseason track record that certainly detracts from all of his overall success as an NBA coach, and it remains to be seen what the next move in his career might be.

(The Athletic)