Month: October 2020

The Overwatch League saw a surprising shakeup on Thursday when it was reported that the commissioner of the Overwatch League, Pete Vlastelica, would be stepping down from his role as commissioner of the Overwatch League. This news came as a huge surprise for eSports because the Overwatch League Grand Finals are occurring from October 8 through October 10. Just seven days out from the finals is not exactly an ideal time for the commissioner of the sport to be stepping down, and as such this move raised some eyebrows.

Reports about whether Vlastelica is stepping down by his own choice or not have so far been mixed, but a spokesperson from Activsion Blizzard released this statement to UPROXX about the change.

“Pete Vlastelica, CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports and Commissioner of the Overwatch League, will transition from his role in (Activision Blizzard Entertainment) to focus on new entrepreneurial ventures on behalf of Activision Blizzard, following the Overwatch League Grand Finals. He was instrumental in building the company’s esports business and driving the industry forward, and we thank Pete for his contributions and impact on our business over the last four years”

Vlastelica has been with the company since 2016, but didn’t spend a long time as commissioner of the Overwatch League, taking over for Nate Nanzer when Nanzer stepped down in May 2019.

The news was originally reported by multiple outlets, including Eben Novy-Williams.

At the beginning of March, Palm Springs’ newest hotel, Les Cactus, was enjoying a nice run. It had scored good write-ups, Instagram stars were posting pics, and the user-based reviews were glowing. Best of all, the buzz was converting to real revenue. The property entered the month with 70% occupancy after being open for less than thirty days.

For a brand new hotel/AirBnB hybrid in a hyper-competitive industry, that number is certainly eyebrow-raising. Corporations started calling for buyouts. More cool kids rushed to visit (without the actual kids — the property is 21+). Models posted to Instagram from every rattan chair, retro-tiled shower, and sunbaked slab of pink stucco they could find. Les Cactus was as hot as a Palm Springs sidewalk.

Then COVID hit. The property shut down completely — a week before that move was mandated by California Governor Gavin Newsom. From the first week of March to mid-June, they were 100% closed. As cash flow evaporated, first-time hotel-owner Matt Kurtz, 33, came to a crossroads: open back up (as soon as it was legal) or risk shutting down forever.

He chose to open while taking stringent actions to make sure that the potential for contact was at its absolute minimum. Things wouldn’t be quite the same, of course. The public shared kitchen was shuttered. Guests would be asked to wear masks in the lobby and walking across the pool deck. But, in general, the vibe was classic P.S. — people basking in the sun, paging through paperbacks, snapping photos, and taking dips in the pool.

The property surged again, thanks to its Instagram-friendly midcentury maximalist design and Kurtz’s own accomodating manner when managing guest concerns. As of this writing, Les Cactus has had no COVID cases reported and, having visited, I can say that the precations they claim to be taking are real. The night of my stay, I spoke with Kurtz about his entire opening-closing-opening saga. He proved refreshingly frank about the steps he’s taken, the risk of spreading the virus, and the challenges of running a hotel in the COVID-era.

When did you shut down the property during the initial wave?

We shut down a week before the actual required shutdown.

So that was… March 7th?

Just about. At that time, it was really scary. No one knew what was happening. As an employer, I was like, “I need to look out for my staff and guests. How might we be potentially promoting or spreading this virus? We don’t know what it is.” So we shut down a week before the actual California governor said that we had to close down businesses. We stayed empty until we reopened on June, 19th.

It was that or potentially closing forever, which was a possibility. So when we opened we wanted to make sure we were doing everything that we could to A) make guests feel comfortable with the visit, but also B) make sure our staff was safe. Guests may be here for one or two nights. It’s our staff that’s here for five to seven days a week. So we’re the ones that are really more at risk than the guests are. We did a lot of research and followed any guidelines that were provided.

Yeah, there are the CDC guidelines for hotels, of course, but there is also a lot of industry-specific information out that really drills down in how to pull a re-opening off.

The California Hotel and Lodging Association has pretty strict guidelines that we follow. We use Ecolab, which is a commercial cleaning company that provides us all our chemicals, which are hospital-grade and CDC-rated to kill viruses. We’re just following any sort of guideline and practice that we can just make sure our staff and the guests are safe.

There was a time where when people re-opened there was a fear of, “Okay, what is our protocol where we would have to close right back down again?” Is that conversation you’ve had?

When a guest checks out, we completely sanitize and disinfect the hotel using the Ecolab products, these disinfectants and cleaning solutions that are ready to kill viruses. We purchased a hypoallergenic, completely safe disinfecting fogging machine, so we go in there and drop a little gift bag, which has snacks and hand sanitizer and stuff, then we go in, we fog the entire thing down. The floor, the furniture, the high touch areas… everything.

Then the guest room is closed. The room code is programmed. We work it down and then we don’t go in there. If someone was to call and say that they were COVID-positive, we have all the guests’ information, we would call and say, “Hey, we want to let you know that while you were here, there was a guest that was positive.” Then we would be shutting down the hotel to make sure that the entire property was sanitized in such a way that we felt comfortable to reopen the property to our staff and guests again.

What have the guests’ attitudes generally been? It’s one of the things that’s been interesting about this: LA treats the pandemic differently than Orange County, where I live, which is different than here in Riverside County.

I would say 99% of our guests are very chill and open about it. What makes it really easy for us is that when you drive in there are signs that read, “facemasks required.” It’s Citywide. If there ever is any pushback, we say, “Hey guys, we’re so sorry. This is a city-mandated requirement. We can get shut down.”

If there was any pushback for that, then we would ask the guests to leave — kindly, respectfully, and with an offer to refund them. The last thing we want is one of those Walmart, Trader Joe, or Cosco social media situations. But luckily —

Those people who are obviously trying to create a scene?

Exactly. We ask guests when they’re indoors, in our lobby, to wear a mask. If they don’t have it, we have masks at the ready for you to put on. We ask guests to wear them while they’re walking around outdoors. When they’re sitting down in a pool chair or swimming or at some other outdoor dining table, then they’re welcome to take it off. It’s the same rules that you would see at a restaurant or anything like that. At the end of the day, we’re just trying to protect everyone who is here to make them feel comfortable.

To pivot the conversation a little bit. When did you guys originally open?

The first week of February?

Oh my God.

So we had about a month of operation until we had to shut down.

So talk to me about that because… you’re obviously quite young to be able a hotelier. This is your first project?

Yep. I was always was in the hotel industry, wanting to own hotels. Worked at the front desk for the Chateau Marmont. Moved to NYU to get my master’s in Hotel Finance. Worked at a bunch of restaurants and bars and hotels over there. Got a job in hotel consulting in appraisals and went into finance. But all with the idea of one day being able to open up a property or multiple properties.

Did you know from the very beginning that, the design was going to be so intrinsic to the property? The design is very Palm Springs — this kind-of mid-century Tiki design. It’s also really friendly to the Instagram world, where people come and stay and say to themselves, “Okay, stylistically, I can really tell a cool story through my images here.”

Well, I think that’s the world we’re living in. A social media world. That’s how word of mouth gets out nowadays. I can only speak of hotels or hospitality businesses. To open up a property that isn’t Instagrammable or something that people really get excited to take photos of would mean that you’re not very relevant and you’re not going to get that word of mouth free marketing that you might otherwise enjoy. When we were designing it, yes, we wanted it to be fun and funky and affordable. Those were kind of our mantras. Knowing that, if we build a place that has really good service, really good price point, and a great design, people are going to come.

When you’re opening up a brand new hotel in Palm Springs — where there are these other really cool properties that are very successful, that have been around for years — how do you get people in your property? It comes down to pictures, right? You’re going to put your pictures on Expedia, Hotel.com, Instagram and just by people seeing the photos and looking at the prices, they’re going to make a decision. “Okay, I can maybe go to a place that doesn’t have any reviews because it looks really cute and just hope for the best.”

Now, luckily, we’ve been getting a ton of really good reviews lately, which is helping us. Design was very important when we opened this property. We always knew service has to be top-notch. Who wants to go to a hotel where they’re treated poorly or are being met by someone who’s unhappy? You have to feel good and relaxed when you come to a hotel. The price point is important also because you want to make sure people can afford it, and you want to deliver on that design.

Of course, you have a beautiful pool and you have a nice deck, too. I think in Palm Springs — where it gets to 105-degrees pretty routinely through the spring, summer, and fall — that becomes asset number one, right?

When we came into this property, it was very dated. The colors were brown and red and orange. What we did feel when we came in was a really great vibe, a really central courtyard, a great pool, and a good hot tub. Really mature plants — bougainvillea and palm trees. It had really good bones. We were able to see, “Okay, if we give this thing, a facelift, it could be really special.”

Then you finally get it open and… not to pour salt on the wound, but what was your feeling as a young hotel owner? When the pandemic hit, it sounded like you became employee-focused right away, which is very admirable. Was your brain just spinning at that point?

It was a real punch in the gut. When you open up a hotel, you hope for the best. You have projections that you hope you’re going to hit, but at the end of the day, they’re numbers on paper. When we opened, we got such fanfare and such positive reviews and word of mouth, that we became, within a month we were at probably 70% occupancy. Obviously in February, that’s the start of the busy season, but for a hotel that just opened to be 70% occupied — I think that’s really special. We were getting requests from cool companies to come and do buyouts and stuff like that.

Then, in early March, the world… We had about 50 or 60,000 thousand dollars worth of revenue already in March that was canceled, all within a couple of days because people were afraid to travel. So that was really upsetting and made us ask, “What’s going to happen? Are we going to weather the storm? Are we going to be able to stay open? When we do reopen, is it going to be as positive as when we just did in February? Or we’re going to have to jump through hoops now?” So it was really scary.

What are guests saying about being opened up again?

For many of them — actually, right now, we just had a guest check-in and she said, “This is the first time that we’ve left our home for the last four months.” We get a lot of calls and emails. “What are your procedures? What are your policies with COVID?” People call in, “I’m not comfortable. Can you tell me what’s going on?” I just take them through our process step-by-step and we still get cancellations today, and I say, “I completely understand, when you’re comfortable, we’re here for you.”

We used to have a 14-day cancellation policy. We cut that down to one to two days, officially. But even then, we’re really flexible. We’re here for guests, so we make sure guests feel comfortable. If they don’t, then we’re not going to charge them a penalty. We want to let them know that we’re here and we’re friendly. When you’re comfortable, you’ll come back. We’d love to have you. It’s all a matter of walking people through the policies and procedures, and just doing our best to make people feel comfortable. That’s cleaning and wiping things down throughout the day. Our housekeepers do it in the morning and afternoon. Then I do it again at night.

Were there any capacity changes?

We’re only talking about 27 rooms. As for the pool deck, we had more chairs and moved them around a little bit. In the summer heat, people are only at the pool for a certain number of hours. So we haven’t had an issue where people are like, “Hey, there’s no chairs!”

It’s really just about keeping people distanced. Trying to keep them wearing a mask, doing our part in cleaning and disinfecting, and taking the whole thing incredibly seriously for the sake of our guests and our team.

Game 1 of the NBA Finals couldn’t have gone much better for the Los Angeles Lakers, but LeBron James insists there’s plenty to work on. The Lakers got off to a sluggish start, falling behind by as many as 13 in the first quarter. In the fourth quarter, they saw a 30-plus point lead shrink to as few as 13 before they extended things back out to the eventual 116-98 final score.

Despite those nitpicks, L.A. is in tremendous position to win another championship, which would be the fourth of LeBron’s career and first of Anthony Davis’. In Game 1, both players were sensational, with Davis racking up 34 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, while James put forth a 25-point, 13-rebound, nine-assist night. Their partnership has been nothing short of tremendous all season, and has only gotten better this postseason.

On Thursday, LeBron was asked about what’s made he and Davis work so well together in their first year, as they haven’t seemed to encounter the same bumps in the road that, say, the Clippers with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard did. For James, who has played with plenty of other stars in his career, what sets apart his relationship with AD is that there’s no jealousy involved and they want nothing but the best for each other, on and off the floor.

James has seen how star dynamics play out elsewhere, whether it’s in Miami where he, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh all took some time to adapt to each other and learn how they best fit, or in Cleveland where he, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love had their ups and downs. With Davis, James noted both are extremely comfortable in who they are, which is likely a different situation from James’ previous stops where, in Miami, he was still trying to cement his legacy and, in Cleveland, Irving was trying to create his own as a young star. It’s the latter that most assume the jealousy comment is in reference to, and that James said this the same day Irving made some … let’s say interesting comments on feeling like he was always the best option on past teams before playing with KD is at the least an interesting coincidence.

In this case, Davis wanted to join LeBron and they had enough of a relationship before becoming teammates via trade that there were no surprises about how they’d mesh. The result has been a swift and fruitful partnership, one the Lakers hope will result in a championship in the next week-plus, and it seems as though they really, truly have a relationship that’s rare between superstar teammates.

Despite the fact that it was more well-received than its first iteration, the XFL was unable to complete its 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It led to the league’s parent company, which was owned by Vince McMahon, filing for bankruptcy and a few weeks of drama regarding its future, but ultimately, the league was purchased by a group led by Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia.

We were unable to smell what The Rock’s group was cooking up, however, as they kept their plans vague and under wraps. But on Thursday, Johnson posted a hype video to his Twitter account that announced that the league will try to give it another go in spring of 2022.

An official announcement came shortly after this hit the Twitterverse, with the league’s president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Pollack making clear that they want to wait for a more safe environment to start back up. This means that the XFL won’t resume operations for quite some time.

“For the love of football and for the safety of our players and fans, we’ll be back on the field in 2022,” Pollack said. “The opportunity in front of us, with our new ownership, is simply too big to rush back. We want to do this properly with care and thought for everyone who loves football, especially our players, coaches, partners and fans.”

It’s unclear what the league will look like, namely if we’ll see the same teams in the same cities that existed in the rebooted version of the league. But regardless, the XFL is coming back, even if we might have to wait a while for its return.

The best new hip-hop albums coming out this week include projects from 21 Savage, ALLBLACK, Sa-Roc, Smoke DZA, Westside Gunn, and YG.

While checking out that impressively diverse list above, you might wonder where Bryson Tiller’s Anniversary album is. As of press time, Tiller’s releases and presentation to the album have all suggested that — although he’s a more-than-serviceable rapper in his own right — he’ll be doing more singing than spitting on his latest. I also missed his virtual listening session and on top of all that, he hasn’t provided a usable album cover despite doing his best to gin up a buzz for the new release, so there’s little to be done in that regard. You’ll probably listen to it anyway.

But that provides this column with the opportunity to use what would have been his slot to highlight some on-the-rise talent you might not otherwise have heard, so assume either ALLBLACK or Sa-Roc took that space (dealer’s choice here) and pencil in some time to get familiar with some off-the-radar alt-rap that may move your soul as much as Tiller might have.

Here are all the best new hip-hop albums coming out this coming out this week.

21 Savage & Metro Boomin — Savage Mode 2

To use a term like “long-awaited” would be doing this collaboration a disservice. The original Savage Mode was Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph’s introduction to much of the world outside his native Atlanta, with “X” featuring Future sparking interest in his dead-eyed menace. Since then, fans have clamored for a sequel — and both rapper and producer have been more than happy to prod that frenzy with teases and previews over the past several years. With a cover referencing the old Pen & Pixel art for No Limit Records’ millennial releases and the maturation of 21’s sound since his last solo full-length, I Am Greater Than I Was, the level of intrigue is high, but the promise of more of Savage’s sly humor and devil-may-care outlook remains as solid as ever.

ALLBLACK — No Shame 3

After popping up on G-Eazy and Blueface’s “West Coast” last year, ALLBLACK became the video’s clear standout due to his off-kilter flow (no small accomplishment on a song with Blueface) and his double take-inducing looks. The co-sign helped the Oakland rapper build his buzz after dropping a string of well-received EPs and features with fellow Bay Area standouts Guapdad 4000, Nef The Pharaoh, OMB Peezy, and P-Lo.

Sa-Roc — The Sharecropper’s Daughter

Sa-Roc may not be a household name but she’s been an underground fixture for most of the past decade. She’s been signed to Rhymesayers since 2016 and toured with fellow hip-hop queen Rapsody, but perhaps her biggest break came earlier this year when she made her debut on NPR Tiny Desk At Home. Although her earliest releases predate the tsunami of female talent that has washed over the rap game recently, she’s unafraid to ride the wave, capitalizing on the empowering moment with her new album.

Smoke DZA — Homegrown

A fixture in the New York independent rap scene for well over a decade, Harlem’s Smoke DZA has been receiving renewed attention thanks to his affiliation with Griselda Records rapper Benny The Butcher. The pair collaborated in late 2019 on the Pete Rock-produced Statute Of Limitations EP, widening Smoke’s sphere of influence to include this new, previously untapped audience. Capitalizing on the new notice, he dropped the Prestige Worldwide EP with Curren$y in 2019 and opened 2020 with his A Closed Mouth Don’t Get Fed LP. Adopting the semi-annual release strategy of his Griselda Records collaborator, he follows up with Homegrown, a tape his Bandcamp notes “brings it back to his roots.”

Westside Gunn — Who Made The Sunshine

Speaking of Griselda’s nonstop releases, Westside Gunn is around three months removed from his most recent project, so of course, he’s overdue for another release. This time around, it’s his Shady Records “debut” album, which means mostly that he had a budget to spend on producers, feature rappers, and the best-known engineer in the game, Young Guru. Naturally, the guest list doesn’t extend much beyond his Griselda gang; Armani, Benny, and Conway all appear on the album closer — which is produced by Just Blaze(!) — while Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, and Slick Rick pop up elsewhere. Otherwise, it’s business as usual for the Buffalo boss: Harrowing beats from Alchemist and Daringer, grimy rhymes, and ART.

YG — My Life 4Hunnid

I didn’t actually plan on including a Compton rapper every week for a month, but it went from running gag to straight-up civic duty this week. Keenon Jackson is set to finish off his Def Jam obligation with this release, on which he pays homage to the late, great Nipsey Hussle, (finally) earnestly contemplates the legitimate traumas he’s experienced in his life, and takes another swing at a topical, urgent anthem defying the system (“FTP”) in the vein of previous standouts like “FDT.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Oktoberfest: Beer And Blood (Netflix series) — An ambitious brewer (named Curt Prank…?) in 1900-set Munich sets out to build the most dominant beer hall at his city’s annual Oktoberfest festival. The series promises to get both brutal and bloody.

A World Of Calm (HBO Max series) — This might be the most invaluable series of 2020, given that the voices of Keanu Reeves, Oscar Isaac, Idris Elba, Mahershala Ali, Zoe Kravitz, and more will guide you on an immersive tour aimed at relaxation. The episodes are based upon Calm’s Sleep Stories, which aim to be “bedtime stories for grown-ups.” Sold.

Good Morning, Verônica (Netflix series) — This isn’t your everyday procedural. Away from her job at the Homicide Police Station in Sao Paulo, Verônica Torres witnesses a death that changes everything. Soon, she’s diving into an endless series of mini-investigations that threaten her very existence.

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS, 10:00pm EST) — Ahead of the show’s Season 3 arrival (at some undetermined point) the CBS All Access show keeps cranking away with Klingon vessels facing down with the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

Mysteries Decoded (CW, 8:00pm EST) — This week, the Salem Witch Trials get the spotlight with updated expert analysis and a Navy vet turned P.I. on the centuries-old mystery.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Ethan Hawke, rosecutor Andrew Weissmann.

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon — Michael Che, Colin Jost, Kaitlyn Dever, BTS

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Gloria Steinem, Sally Hawkins, Craig Roberts.

Late Night With Seth Meyers — David Wright, Miranda July

In case you missed these offerings from last week:

Utopia (Amazon Prime series) — Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn is a showrunner now, and she also wrote this U.S. remake of the U.K.-born series for Amazon. The show, which stars John Cusack, Desmin Borges, and Sasha Lane, is a conspiracy thriller that just happens to include details of a pandemic. Flynn didn’t plan for the show to arrive in the middle of an actual pandemic, but here we are.

Sneakerheads (Netflix series) — An ex-sneakerhead and stay-at-home dad, Devin, jumps back into the game and loses five G’s in a get-rich-quick scheme. Before his wife finds out what’s amiss, Devin must go on the hunt for the holy grail of hard-to-find shoes, “Zeroes,” along with a ragtag gathering of fellow shoe addicts.

Tehran (Apple TV+ series) — This series promises the exhilarating story of a Mossad agent undercover in a deep way during a mission in (of course) Tehran, where she and those who surround her find themselves in peril. The first three episodes drop on Friday with weekly episodes to follow.

Enola Holmes (Netflix film) — Netflix loves Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown, who’s now making her turn as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister Enola Holmes. As a bonus, The Witcher‘s Henry Cavill is onboard to play Sherlock with Sam Claflin stepping in as Mycroft Holmes, and between the two of them, they have the fancy hair and twirling-of-mustaches quotient covered.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant officially joined forces last summer — they’ve admitted it was a decision solidified at the All-Star break back in February 2019 — but we’ve yet to see the two on the floor together as Durant continued his rehab from his Achilles tear and was unable to play this year.

Next season, whenever that may begin, we will finally see the duo together for the first time under new head coach Steve Nash. On Thursday, the two released part two of their two-hour long conversation on Durant’s new “The ETCs” podcast, in which they discussed everything from their relationship on and off the court to their new coach, with Irving noting he doesn’t see anyone as a “head coach” necessarily and Durant calling it a “collaborative effort.”

Among the discussion points was Durant’s co-host Eddie Gonzalez asking the question that is always posed to new star combinations: Who takes the last shot. The answer from Irving will certainly raise some eyebrows, not with his assessment of how the Nets will handle those situations, but with his thoughts on past teams he’s been on.

“Depends on who’s hot,” Irving said. “I don’t see it as anything other than that. 1-3 pick-and-roll or it’s an iso for either one of us or it’s something great for our team. One thing I’ve always been comfortable with is, I felt like I was the best option on every team I’ve played for down the stretch. This is the first time in my career where I can look down and be like, that motherf*cker can make that shot too and he’ll probably do it a lot easier. I feel like, yo, it’s not so much deferring, because in past situations if I didn’t take the last shot I felt guilty. I was like I want this game-winning shot but you want to trust your teammates — not to say I didn’t have the trust in my teammates — but I felt like I was the best option. And now, 10 seconds down, OK, K, get us a f*ckin bucket, I don’t care. I’m going to crash the offensive glass. I know how to play the game without the ball. I’m like, yo, if he makes, misses, I’m living with it. If I make, miss, he’s living with it. I think when you match that up together, hey, now you get to really see it, two guys that are unselfish with that end of the game but going for that game-winner we’re trying to make it and that’s all I care about.”

Durant would concur, noting he wouldn’t have any issues standing in the corner and letting Irving take control late in some games because of the importance of playing the decoy sometimes was something he learned in his time with the Warriors. It’s the right approach and it’s nice to hear two stars that think that way, but the focal point of the conversation will surely be on Irving saying it’s the “first time in my career where I can look down and be like, that motherf*cker can make that shot too” and he’s always felt he’s been his team’s best option, given that he once played with, you know, LeBron James.

Irving certainly hit some huge shots with the Cavs, none bigger than his Game 7 game-winner in the 2016 NBA Finals, but one would think he would’ve had the same approach with James — or at least seen it that way in hindsight. That said, James’ approach and Irving’s approach and the shots they create and take late in games are different, so there is maybe something there to Irving looking at Durant as someone capable of creating the looks he would be trying to make more than LeBron. Still, it’s an eyebrow raising quote but that’s come to be the norm for Irving. The good news for the Nets is it seems he and KD are very much on the same page with their relationship and where they see themselves fitting on the court, and the rest is just fodder for the rest of us.

Americans spend about $1,2000 a year on average for prescription drugs. That’s more than anywhere else in the world. Private insurers and government programs pick up the bulk of the costs which we then pay through higher taxes and insurance premiums.

A major reason why Americans pay so much more than other countries is that the U.S government isn’t allowed to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.

To better understand the underlying reasons for these astronomical prices, the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee held hearings on Wednesday with current and former executives of three major drug companies.

Democratic Representative Katie Porter from Orange County, California proved to be the star of the hearing for how she clearly explained how price gouging works using a whiteboard and the testimony of former Celgene CEO Mark Alles.

via Revlimid

Celgene launched a cancer drug called Revlimid in 2005 at a price of $215 per pill. After more than 20 price hikes, the drug now costs $763 per pill or $16,023 per month. According to Porter, the price increases have cost American taxpayers over $3 billion.

While drug companies commonly cite research and development costs as a reason for raising prices. An investigation found that the CEO repeatedly raised the price to help the company meet revenue goals.

The investigation also found the company was profiting from a drug that was developed using taxpayer funds. According to the investigation the company “relied heavily on taxpayer-funded academic research to develop Revlimid, and its internal pricing decisions appear to have been unrelated to past or future investment in research and development.”

Rep. Porter grills Big Pharma CEO for price gouging

www.youtube.com

Porter opened her questioning by remarking how Revlimid price increases seem to counter traditional economic logic.

“I’m curious, did the drug get substantially more effective in that time? Did cancer patients need fewer pills?” she asked. “How did you change the formula for the production of Revlimid to justify this price increase?”

Alles responded with a non-answer: “The indication changes are for subsets of different patients with disease.”

She then pushed him again, asking how the drug improved over the past seven years.

He admitted that the manufacturing for the pill was “the same.”

Porter then brilliantly related the price increase to the financial situation of her constituents. “So, to put that in perspective, you hiked the price by $500 when the average Orange County senior only has $528 left in their bank account after they’ve paid their basic monthly expenses,” Porter said.

While the CEO claimed that no one pays the list price, she asked about uninsured people. He said he could “imagine” that there were uninsured or underinsured people who have probably paid the list price.

via Katie Porter

Porter finished her presentation by tying the price increases to Alles’ paycheck. As CEO, Alles made $13 million a year, 360 times the average person on social security.

“Any increase in the price of Revlimid would also increase your bonus by increasing earnings. Isn’t that right Mr. Alles? she asked. “That was a part of the calculation of my compensation.” the CEO agreed.

Porter then showed how the CEO has made $500,000 over the past two years in bonuses by raising the price of the cancer drug.

“So to recap here: The drug didn’t get any better. The cancer patients didn’t get any better. You just got better at making money. You just refined your skills at price gouging!” she stated.

As I watched the presidential debate—in horror, like most—I perused Twitter at the same time to see if other were as appalled as I was. About an hour into the blazing tire fire, one tweet stood out to me so much I took a screenshot of it.

Biden has shared publicly his struggles with stuttering, which he’s dealt with since childhood. In 2011, he wrote an article for People magazine detailing his experiences.

“I never had professional therapy,” he wrote, “but a couple of nuns taught me to put a cadence to my speaking, and that’s why I spent so much time reading poetry – Emerson and Yeats. But even in my small, boys’ prep school, I got nailed in Latin class with the nickname Joe Impedimenta. You get so desperate, you’re so embarrassed.”

Biden’s success at managing his stutter and rising to public office—a job that requires a lot of public speaking—has served as an encouragement to young people who have stutters. At the Lab School of Washington—a school for kids with learning disabilities or other difficulties—Biden told students in 2010 that he saw his stutter as “a gift from God” while also telling them, “Don’t let your disability define you.”

As other people with stutters chimed in to praise Biden, it became clearer and clearer what was happening on that stage and how extraordinarily Biden was handling it.

But for those of us who don’t stutter or aren’t close to someone who stutters, this post by Wes Kennison was perhaps the most helpful in understanding the dynamics on the debate stage from Biden’s point of view. Kennison wrote:

“Joe Biden is a stutterer. Like many others, he has overcome the disability by understanding it and exercising extraordinary perseverance and discipline. If you know and love a stutterer and you watched the presidential debate last night, within minutes it became obvious what was going on. Abusive tone of voice, rapid fire interruptions, zigzagging change of topic, personal insult and humiliation, and family pain are all tripwires that scramble a stutterer’s ability to speak. There was nothing unplanned or spontaneous in the President’s strategy. The bastards did not prep him to attack Joe. They prepped him to attack Joe’s disability hoping that by triggering his stuttering they might deceive an audience unfamiliar with the disability into thinking that Joe was stupid, weak, uncertain, confused, or lost to dementia.

If you have ever gotten in the face of a bully on the playground protecting a stutterer that you love, the game being played last night was nakedly and painfully obvious. If you watched with glee while it happened, then you haven’t made much progress since the playground.

However, the stutterer that I love taught me early on that he did not so much need my protection. He fought back by owning and integrating his disability into who he is. He learned how to stand his ground as master of perseverance, knowledge, and empathy. Without his example, I would not have recognized the game that was being played last night. I would not have been able to recognize the subtle but intense struggle against the disability that Joe was winning at the same time he was struggling to advance his positions on the issues in the midst of a rhetorical shit storm.

But, like the stutterer that I know, Joe didn’t need any help on the playground. I was proud of him.

The President flushed his family fortune down a gold-plated toilet and somehow wants us to believe that he is the poor victim of mean people. Then he tries, and fails, to beat up a kid with a disability on the playground. I’m done with this, guys. I want my country back. Thanks, Joe.”

Even those of us who don’t have a stutter would find it difficult to stay focused and verbally acute with someone constantly interrupting, insulting, and distracting us. If you dive at all into the methods that stutterers use to compensate, what sometimes appears to be searching for words is simply shifting to a new word when the stutter rears its head.

Trump and his supporters have tried to paint Biden with the “cognitive decline” brush, largely by focusing on his gaffes and verbal slip-ups (as if Trump doesn’t have a full montage full of mispronunciations, misspeaks, and mistakes in his speeches). But knowing about Biden’s speech impediment, how well he has overcome it, and how impressively he performed during a stutterer’s “worst nightmare” scenario at the presidential debate, all questions about his mental acuity should now be put to rest.

Well done, sir. You’ve offered a hopeful example of perseverance and resilience to all who experience speech struggles.

And thankfully, the debate commission has added the option for moderators to cut the microphone when candidates go overboard, so hopefully the final two debates won’t be as much of a nightmare for all of us.

Teyana Taylor released her towering third LP The Album back in June. The record is quite the undertaking, boasting 23 tracks and clocking in at well over an hour. Since its release, Taylor has followed-up her music with a handful of cinematic visuals, the most recent being her “1800-One-Night” video. Now, Taylor taps her husband, basketball player Iman Shumpert for a sultry video to her track “Concrete.”

Directed by Taylor herself under the Spike Lee-inspired alias “Spike Tey,” the visual depicts the singer pulling up to her lover’s house. The two start of in a heated argument, but manage to make up by taking things to the bedroom.

Ahead of the visual’s release, Taylor revealed she gave birth to her second daughter, Rose, who was delivered with the help of Erykah Badu. “At 3:28 am on Sept 6th 2020 Rue Rose decided that the baby shower thrown for her and mommy was too lit. She didn’t make the party but she managed to make the next day her birthdate,” Taylor wrote alongside the birth announcement. “Now…when we buy homes, we always find a bathroom with great energy… but not in a million years would you be able to tell me we’d deliver both of our daughters in a bathroom without the assistance of a hospital!”

Watch Taylor’s “Concrete” video above.

The Album is out now via Def Jam. Get it here.