Month: March 2021

Rolling Stone reports that Bunny Wailer, the last surviving founding member of The Wailers, has died at age 73, as confirmed by his manager Maxine Stowe. He died earlier today at the Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica according to Jamaica Observer, and no cause of death has been released yet. He’d been in failing health since 2020 when he suffered his second stroke.

Born Neville Livingstone in the Nine Mile district of Jamaica’s St. Ann Parish, Bunny became a musical icon revered the world over for his work with The Wailers, which included childhood friend Bob Marley and later addition, Peter Tosh. The then-trio soon added singer Junior Braithwaite and backup vocalists Beverley Kelso and Cherry and began releasing a string of international hits, which included “Simmer Down,” “Stir It Up,” “Is This Love,” “Jamming,” “Could You Be Loved,” “Buffalo Soldier,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” and “Redemption Song.”

Rolling Stone notes that while Marley and Tosh were the group’s principal songwriters, it was Wailer who provided the band with not just its name but also its unforgettable harmonies. The group was instrumental in bringing Jamaican music to the world, touring the UK with Johnny Cash in the early 1970s. Wailer left the group in 1973 after the group’s new producer Chris Blackwell sought to rebrand them as “Bob Marley’s backup singers.” Wailer embarked on his own successful solo career with Blackheart Man. Wailer eventually won three Best Reggae Album Grammys, in 1991, 1995, and 1997.

Six books by author Theodor Geisel, known to millions as Dr. Seuss, will stop being published due to racist and insensitive imagery. They are: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer. “Today, on Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises celebrates reading and also our mission of supporting all children and families with messages of hope, inspiration, inclusion, and friendship,” a statement to the Associated Press read. “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’s catalog represents and supports all communities and families”:

As adored as Dr. Seuss is by millions around the world for the positive values in many of his works, including environmentalism and tolerance, there has been increasing criticism in recent years over the way Blacks, Asians and others are drawn in some of his most beloved children’s books, as well as in his earlier advertising and propaganda illustrations.

To discuss the news, Fox & Friends brought on a literary expert: Donald Trump Jr. (he read Think Big and Kick Ass… probably?). “There’s no place they won’t go,” DTJ, nearly unintentionally referencing a Seuss book, said about his boogeyman, the Left. “This week alone, they canceled Mr. Potato Head. This week alone, they canceled the Muppets. They’re canceling Dr. Seuss from reading programs. I literally know The Cat in the Hat by heart without the book there, because I read it so many times to my children.” The Cat in the Hat is not one of the six books being, as Fox News would put it, “canceled.” Trump Jr. is also furious about “Oreo cookie chiming in on trans rights,” because it’s easier for him to be mad at a dessert than a transphobic congresswoman.

He also said that “we have lost our minds,” which is his only accurate take yet:

Here’s the Fox News segment.

(Via the Associated Press)

Every now and again, Soulja Boy makes headlines for one reason or another, although in recent years, those reasons haven’t been related to music. He’s sold controversial video game consoles, had a thriving soap business during the pandemic, and now he’s making wrestlers, a famously muscular and confrontational group of people, mad at him.

Towards the end of February, Soulja tweeted, “Rap game faker than WWE,” which served as a rallying cry for wrestlers to express their discontent. Raw wrestler T-Bar fired back, “Does the rap game take years off your life and leave you with countless injuries and debilitating pain? Oh well maybe just stick to super soaking hoes or whatever it is you did 15 years ago.”

That prompted Randy Orton to chime in, “Fake? Dare this prick to step up. He dont like movies? Consider us actors that do stunts, without pads 200 days a year and don’t b*tch when we get surgically repaired and come right back. Consider us 100 times tougher then anyone you’ve come across. Aint nuthin but a bitch ass…” He then added, “Ps [Bad Bunny] would beat the f*ck outta you. Why? How? Because he’s seen our world. Respects it and knows what it takes and finds himself lucky to be a part of it. You wanna talk fake? Pawn that cheap ass chain and come work for it you one hit wonder ass mutha f*cka.”

Soulja didn’t back down, responding, “Do u know who the f*ck I am. I’ll bring the REAL to wrestling don’t play with me. Randy Ortonnnnnnnn??????????” Orton responded, “‘Crank that’ came out in ’07 you had a hell of a year. Serious $. Hats off to ya my dude. Here’s the thing tho… I like rap. I bump that sh*t all day whether it’s tunechi, meek, JZ…but you call what I do to survive, fake? F*ck that. Come to my world and say that. Dare ya.”

Soulja then fired back, “If you mad because I spit facts just say that. What you do is FAKE and I stand on that. What I do is REAL. Come to your world? Lol welcome to Soulja World.” Orton responded, “U spittin facts? Seems like all you spittin is the same mess you rap about. Nut. Clear your throat my dawg, and be there. Enough talk. Back it up.” Soulja then said, “Cap wrestler [laughing emoji] If u really want big draco to pull up say less.”

While WWE may not be a competitive sport, there’s no denying that its wrestlers are uncommonly strong, athletic people. So, to state the obvious, if Orton and Soulja ever did get in the ring, it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to see the 20-plus-year wrestling veteran make light work of the “Crank That” rapper.

Check out the tweets below.

As with many teams in the (very) bizarre 2020-21 NBA season, the New York Knicks have had their ups and downs through 35 games. After all, the Knicks did endure a five-game losing streak in mid-January, with a couple of additional mini-hiccups along the way. Even so, New York is one of the better stories in the league in the first half, with the team posting an 18-17 record and generating real excitement in a fan base that has been starved for some sustained positivity for a long time.

The latest uptick for the Knicks is a 7-2 spurt since Feb. 12 and, during that nine-game run, New York sports the best defense in the league in allowing only 105.6 points per 100 possessions. Keyed by Tom Thibodeau’s approach and general activity and toughness, the Knicks are a top-three defense for the season, yielding just 107.4 points per 100 possessions. While the Knicks’ personnel is at least slightly better than a year ago, the results are jarring, as a similar group finished 23rd in defense in 2019-20 under different leadership.

Thibodeau’s reputation proceeds him in many ways, but he does have an earned pedigree for defensive basketball. Yes, the Knicks are likely to regress in that opponents are shooting a league-worst 32.5 percent on three-point attempts against them, but New York’s principles are solid and Thibodeau has even the lead pieces buying in defensively.

The most notable of those lead pieces is Julius Randle, who is enjoying in All-Star season. Randle boasts career-best marks in scoring (23.4 points per game), rebounding (10.9 per game), assists (5.5 per game), three-point shooting (41.9 percent) and free throw shooting (80.8 percent) while operating as New York’s lead option. It might be fair to suggest that he could cool off from long range, but Randle’s development as a playmaker is notable and impressive. Randle also ranks as a top 10 player in the league in FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR metric, and he is providing two-way value that he should be lauded for at this stage.

From there, RJ Barrett is producing 16.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, showing flashes (including improved assist and turnover rates and an uptick in three-point shooting efficiency) that made him the No. 3 pick not that long ago. As a team, the Knicks are still underwhelming offensively on a per-possession basis. When combined with their elite defensive marks, though, New York is scoring more points than they allow, placing them in the top 12 of the NBA in net rating.

The Knicks may not truly be better than a few teams behind them in the standings (i.e. Miami, Boston, Toronto, etc.), and that’s fine. It is worth remembering the exceptionally modest expectations for this particular group and simply enjoying the ride with a team that is scratching and clawing its way to respectability in the country’s largest market. It isn’t always pretty, but it’s been effective and brought some joy and optimism to a fan base that hasn’t felt that in years.

Where do the Knicks stack up in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s take a peek.

1. Utah Jazz (27-8, Last week — 1st)

Trouble in Salt Lake City!?! Okay, I’m mostly kidding, but the Jazz have lost two of the last three games. Utah’s profile is still (much) better on paper than any team in the league, but they were always going to regress from that absurd level. For now, they stay in the top spot with the best record and the best net rating in the league.

2. Brooklyn Nets (23-13, Last week — 2nd)

Even with Utah’s full-season advantages, I would have put Brooklyn at the top if they had beaten Dallas at home this weekend. Granted, that was a game without both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, so it’s not a knock to lose it, but the bar was quite high to overtake the Jazz. Brooklyn has still won 9 of the last 10, and they’ve done it at less than full strength. It’s wild. P.S.: This James Harden guy might be pretty good.

3. Phoenix Suns (22-11, Last week — 3rd)

The Suns just keep winning. They are 14-3 in the last 17 games, and while I don’t actually believe they are better than the Lakers and Clippers, there is no reason to drop them right now. Speaking of the Lakers… Phoenix visits STAPLES Center on Tuesday in primetime for a matchup between two intriguing contenders.

4. Los Angeles Lakers (24-11, Last week — 5th)

I likely would’ve bet against the Lakers losing four in a row at any point this season, but it happened from Feb. 18-24. To restore order, Los Angeles just beat Portland and Golden State as Dennis Schröder returned to the lineup, and Anthony Davis will return at some point. It seems that the panic is over.

5. Milwaukee Bucks (21-13, Last week — 7th)

Since the beginning of February, Milwaukee’s entire existence has been marked by streaks. They began the month with five straight wins. Then, the Bucks lost five straight games. Now, they’ve won five in a row again, including a home win over the Clippers in a national TV slot on Sunday. Oh, and Jrue Holiday is back, which is not a small thing.

6. L.A. Clippers (24-12, Last week — 4th)

Quietly, the Clippers are 3-4 in the last seven games. It should be noted that three of those losses came to Brooklyn, Utah and Milwaukee, so it’s not as if L.A. is in dire straits. At the same time, they aren’t playing as well as they did earlier this season.

7. Philadelphia 76ers (23-12, Last week — 8th)

Philadelphia is 5-2 in the last seven games after a little bit of a dry spell, and they seem to have stabilized. Joel Embiid was dominant in a breezy win over Indiana on Monday and, even with a net rating that puts them 8th in the NBA, the Sixers maintain the best record in the East.

8. Denver Nuggets (19-15, Last week — 10th)

It was a single-digit road win over Chicago, so Monday’s effort from Nikola Jokic won’t get a ton of attention. He was brilliant, however, in scoring 39 points and completely destroying the Bulls. Obviously, he’s been fantastic all year, but I can’t help but mention that performance. He’s carrying the Nuggets.

9. Miami Heat (17-17, Last week — 13th)

Miami is alive and kicking. The Heat are on a five-game winning streak and they’ve won 10 of the last 13 games. It isn’t a surprise that they are much better when Jimmy Butler is available, but it is truly night and day. Miami did beat Atlanta without Butler on Sunday, though, and that was a nice win to keep their mojo flowing.

10. Dallas Mavericks (17-16, Last week — 14th)

On one hand, the Mavericks are 8-2 in the last 10 games, and that is worth lauding under any circumstances. On the other, Dallas didn’t exactly navigate the world’s most difficult schedule in that period. The best win, over Brooklyn, came without Durant and Irving, and victories over Minnesota, Atlanta, New Orleans, Memphis, Boston and Orlando aren’t going to move the needle a ton. Still, in a very competitive West, you have to pile up wins where you can.

11. Toronto Raptors (17-17, Last week — 6th)

It would be tempting to say we “jinxed” the Raptors last week, since they went 1-2 overall. It might even be true, but Toronto lost a home game to Philadelphia and a road game to Miami before beating Houston and having two games postponed. Pretty much every sentiment from a week ago still applies.

12. New York Knicks (18-17, Last week — 15th)

Depending on which predictive metrics you trust, there is some statistical skepticism about the Knicks. At the very least, they can enjoy the end of the first half and the All-Star break in great position, and New York is in great shape.

13. San Antonio Spurs (17-13, Last week — 9th)

The Spurs have played three games in the last two-plus weeks. Two of them were decided by three points, and the other was decided in overtime after Dejounte Murray made a wild play. Let’s just wait for some more information here.

14. Portland Trail Blazers (19-14, Last week — 12th)

Portland stopped the bleeding of a four-game losing streak with a solid home win over Charlotte on Monday. That avoided a deeper fall in the pecking order, but they were due for some regression after a wild run of wins to reach 18-10 overall.

15. Golden State Warriors (19-16, Last week — 16th)

If you fly too close to the sun, you might focus on the Warriors getting boatraced by the Lakers on national TV over the weekend. I’ll simply point out that the Warriors won the three previous games and, contrary to the product they put on the floor in Los Angeles, Golden State is good on defense.

16. Boston Celtics (17-17, Last week — 19th)

Boston suffered a pretty embarrassing loss to Atlanta mid-week, with the Hawks making a franchise-record 23 three-pointers in the process. To their credit, the Celtics recovered with back-to-back wins, and they have two intriguing games before the break against the Clippers and Raptors.

17. Memphis Grizzlies (15-15, Last week — 21st)

The Grizzlies played three games this week. They won the first by 28. They lost the second by 20. They won the third by 49 (!). I don’t know what to take from that, but Memphis is .500 and that’s a win given their available roster.

18. Indiana Pacers (15-18, Last week — 11th)

It was not a good week for the Pacers with four consecutive losses. None of them were too brutal, with the exception of Monday in Philadelphia, but Indiana is effectively a .500 team by the metrics. That isn’t what anyone wanted, even when acknowledging the absence of TJ Warren and Caris LeVert.

19. Washington Wizards (13-19, Last week — 18th)

Washington is one of the more difficult teams in the league to evaluate right now. They are undeniably playing better after winning seven of the last nine games, and their offense looks great on some nights. On others, the defense is tough to overlook, and their level of play has been… inconsistent. Of course, they are 1.5 games out of the play-in after the terrible start, and that probably feels good in the nation’s capital.

20. Chicago Bulls (15-18, Last week — 17th)

The Bulls are generally on the upswing and that doesn’t change after a 1-2 week that featured losses to Phoenix and Denver. Chicago finishes up the first half in New Orleans on Wednesday, and that will be an interesting stylistic battle.

21. Charlotte Hornets (16-18, Last week — 22nd)

Charlotte has alternated wins and losses in every game since Feb. 8. In the East, that’s pretty much all you need to do, but it’s tough to make sweeping statements other than “LaMelo Ball is good and fun.”

22. New Orleans Pelicans (15-19, Last week — 23rd)

If you catch them on the wrong night, the Pelicans are unwatchable defensively. It’s truly terrible. With that said, Zion Williamson is must-see TV and he’s shooting a comical 61 percent from the floor. New Orleans just beat Utah by bludgeoning the rim the entire game, and they can really put on a show when it’s going well.

23. Oklahoma City Thunder (14-20, Last week — 25th)

Looking at OKC’s peripherals isn’t fun. They aren’t good. Yet, the Thunder just went 2-1 in a week again, beating Atlanta and San Antonio in the process. They also play a fun style and play hard. It’s a good start to the rebuild, even with more losses than wins.

24. Cleveland Cavaliers (14-21, Last week — 30th)

A week ago, things were truly dire in Cleveland after 10 straight losses. Now, the Cavaliers are (somehow) riding a four-game winning streak. They still have the worst net rating (-8.2) in the NBA, and it would be unwise to overreact in a positive direction, but it was a heck of a week for the Cavs. Shouts to Lamar Stevens.

25. Atlanta Hawks (14-20, Last week — 20th)

Atlanta finished February with a 4-11 mark that featured a handful of maddening defeats. On March 1, they fired head coach Lloyd Pierce as a result. It will be interesting to see what the Nate McMillan era looks like for the Hawks, but first, they will need to get their wings healthy again.

26. Orlando Magic (13-22, Last week — 24th)

While the Cavs were flipping the script in a positive direction, the Magic did the opposite. Orlando went 0-4 after a previous winning stretch, and this feels like the landing spot. Nikola Vucevic keeps rolling, but that’s about it.

27. Sacramento Kings (13-21, Last week — 26th)

Sacramento is 1-10 in the last 11 games and allowing almost 125 points per contest, including a mind-numbing collapse to the Hornets on Sunday. The Kings have the worst defensive rating (118.7) in the league and it’s not close. Their prize is a home date with the Lakers on Wednesday. That’s not what you want after a lengthy period of shaky play.

28. Detroit Pistons (9-25, Last week — 28th)

I continue to think the Pistons aren’t as bad as their record. After 34 games, their record still matters, and Detroit has dropped six of the last seven. It wasn’t as if the win was overly impressive, either, as the Pistons split a two-game set with the 26th-ranked Magic.

29. Houston Rockets (11-22, Last week — 27th)

Houston probably “deserves” to be No. 30 this week. The Rockets haven’t won a game since Feb. 4, losing 12 games in a row. They are dead-last in offense during that stretch (by a lot), with no real end in sight. It is almost unthinkable that they were 11-10 before this downturn, but they were.

30. Minnesota Timberwolves (7-28, Last week — 29th)

The Wolves were 29th after firing their coach and flailing last week. From there, Minnesota lost all four games this week, and they have the worst record in the league by 2.5 games. It could certainly be argued the Wolves aren’t in the worst organizational spot, but they are not very good right now.

Julien Baker made waves in the indie music scene when she released her tender 2015 debut album Sprained Ankle. The singer continued her momentum with her 2017 sophomore LP before joining her contemporaries Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus to form the trio Boygenius. But last week, Baker returned to deliver another solo album, the polished effort Little Oblivions. Celebrating its release, Baker brought one of her introspective tracks to a performance on Late Night With Seth Meyers.

Showcasing the radical honesty in her songwriting, Baker was joined by a full band for a performance of “Hardline.” The song opens with atmospheric synths before Baker gently delivers a reflection on her sobriety. “Blacked out on a weekday / is there something that I’m trying to avoid?” she sings.

Speaking in an interview with Uproxx, Baker discussed her vulnerability on Little Oblivions and how she nearly decided to quit making music altogether:

“I don’t know what it is about myself, but I always think every record is going to do really poorly, and I just operate under that assumption. So, I was like, ‘I’m going to make a really weird record that I wouldn’t have made because I would have been scared to jeopardize my career as a musician.’ When I went back to school and realized that everything could go away and I would still be alive and be making music, I think it became easier for me to do things without those high-stakes fears.”

Watch Baker perform “Hardline” on Late Night above.

Little Oblivions is out now via Matador. Get it here.

Never say Noname doesn’t put her money where her mouth is. The outspoken Chicago artist, who in recent years has repeatedly called out the failings of America’s mainstream social system, found a way to help educate fans with the Noname Book Club, which she came up with one day when she was “really high.” However, that idea has since grown into a real political activist network that has a tremendous impact on communities with branches, and recently, Noname took a huge step in increasing that impact in more material ways.

On Instagram, Noname shared the first photos of the official headquarters of the Noname Book Club, which currently undergoing renovations. She also shared her plans for the physical space, which include holding food and book drives, free art showing and film screenings, and political education classes. She noted that “Everything provided in this space will be FREE. We service the community. We cannot wait for Biden or any other white supremacist political to provide for the people. Capitalism doesn’t end by itself. We have to start building a worker-led solidarity economy. The government would rather bomb Somalia than pay your rent.”

Noname also recently shared her first song of 2021, “Rainforest.” You can listen to it here.

Like many artists, Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) made a quarantine album, doing so as part of her quarantine band Bumper. Now, though, she’s returning with a proper new Japanese Breakfast album: Jubilee comes out on June 4. Ahead of then, she dropped a silly and fun video for “Be Sweet,” an upbeat and optimistic new tune she wrote with Jack Tatum of Wild Nothings.

Zauner says of the song and album, “After spending the last five years writing about grief, I wanted our follow up to be about joy. For me, a third record should feel bombastic and so I wanted to pull out all the stops for this one. I wrote ‘Be Sweet’ with Jack Tatum from Wild Nothing a few years ago. I’ve been holding onto it for so long and am so excited to finally put it out there.”

Press materials describe the album as being “about processing life and love in the quest for happiness, and how that process sometimes requires us to step outside of ourselves.” Zauner also noted that she took lessons on music theory and studied piano during the lead-up to this album, saying, “I’ve never wanted to rest on any laurels. I wanted to push it as far as it could go, inviting more people in and pushing myself as a composer, a producer, an arranger.”

Watch the “Be Sweet” video above and check out the Jubilee art and tracklist below.

1. “Paprika”
2. “Be Sweet”
3. “Kokomo, IN”
4. “Slide Tackle”
5. “Posing In Bondage”
6. “Sit”
7. “Savage Good Boy”
8. “In Hell”
9. “Tactics”
10. “Posing For Cars”

Jubilee is out 6/4 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.

Gina Carano now has one The Mandalorian cast member coming to her defense after she was unceremoniously fired by Lucasfilm last month. Bill Burr, who plays the Boston-accented former stormtrooper Mayfield, called Carano an “absolute sweetheart” and criticized the circumstances that led to her being dumped from The Mandalorian franchise and her Cara Dune action figures scrapped from production. Burr made the remarks on “The Bill Bert Podcast” where he didn’t hold back his thoughts on cancel culture, and how he’ll probably be the next one in trouble for defending Carano. “I’m on that f*cking show,” he said. “Now, I gotta watch what the f*ck I say.” Via IndieWire:

“She was an absolute sweetheart. Super nice f*cking person,” Burr later said of the actress. “And you know whatever and somehow someone will take this video and they’ll make me say something else and try to get rid of my bald action figure… It’s how it is out there. It’s f*cking crazy times. People just waiting, laying in the weeds.”

While Burr is quick to defend Carano, he doesn’t seem to be fully aware of her social media activity that led to her being fired except that she made an “ignorant comparison” and now her dreams have been flushed down the toilet. For months, the former Cara Dune actress had been pushing the envelope by with a series of controversial posts, in which she shared conspiracy theory memes that contained anti-Semitic imagery after cracking transphobic jokes. As an admitted Trump supporter, Carano pushed the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen, which has already led to violence at the Capitol building. She’s also been a fervent anti-masker during the pandemic. That last one is notable considering Burr made headlines back in June when he blasted Joe Rogan for saying masks are for “bitches.”

“I don’t want to start this bullshit,” Burr previously said to Rogan. “I’m not gonna sit here with no medical degree, listening to you with no medical degree, with an American flag behind you smoking a cigar, acting like we know what’s up, better than the CDC.”

(Via IndieWire)

According to The Hollywood Reporter, T.I. will not be returning to his role as the title character’s sidekick in the third Ant-Man film, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. In the original 2015 Ant-Man and its 2018 sequel, T.I. plays Dave, a member of Ant-Man Scott Lang’s heist crew, providing comic relief alongside Michael Peña’s Luis and David Dastmalchian as Kurt.

The news arrives after a New York Times report confirming that a lawyer has reached out to law enforcement officials in California and Georgia urging criminal investigations into multiple allegations of sexual assault against T.I. and his wife, Tiny. 11 women represented by Tyrone A. Blackburn claim that the couple used drugs to encourage them to have sexual encounters. It’s currently unknown whether T.I.’s removal from the Ant-Man 3 cast is a result of the accusations against him and the Reporter notes that the film is still in development, so changes could be made in the future. The film does not have a release date.

However, MTV Entertainment’s production of T.I. and Tiny’s Vh1 show T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle has been suspended following the allegations, with a spokesperson telling Deadline, “Given the serious nature of the allegations, we have decided to suspend production in order to gather more information.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s ever-deepening sexual harassment scandal gained steam this week with a third woman coming forward to speak with the New York Times while detailing her accusations against the politician. This update follows two former Cuomo aides coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, all on top of the nursing home probe, which involves accusations that Cuomo mishandled data about the deaths of COVID-fueled deaths of residents.

The intensification of scrutiny upon Andrew Cuomo with these twin issues led people to wonder whether his brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo, would be covering the stories on Cuomo Prime Time. Well, Chris let everyone know on Monday night that “[o]bviously I am aware of what is going on with my brother.” He added, “And obviously I cannot cover it because he is my brother.” And he pointed out that his colleagues “have covered it extensively and they will continue to do so.”

This was bound to cause some backlash, given that Chris hosted Andrew on the show many times during New York City’s initial COVID surge and beyond. And during this time period, Chris even whipped out a giant Q-tip swab to joke about the size of his brother’s nose. The jovial tone didn’t go over well with a lot of people, considering the massive loss of life that was ongoing due to the virus, and Meghan McCain was front and central with her criticism at the time.

So, it stands to reason that Meghan would also be ready to come for Chris over his Monday admission that he can’t cover Andrew’s sexual harassment scandals for CNN. “So you interviewed your brother a thousand times with giant q-tips joking about his sex life during covid but now that he’s an accused predator, it’s a conflict?” Meghan tweeted. “Give me an absolute break. Hypocrites. This is ground zero of why the American public doesn’t trust ANY of the media.”

Her point is not unfounded. “Obviously I can’t cover it because he is my brother” is, at best, an awkward thing to say now, given that Chris was onboard with doing flattering segments about Andrew. Everything has seemingly changed now, and this puts Chris in a difficult position, to say the very least, with different contexts and accusations of subjectivity flying. Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien joined in with her criticism of Chris’ stance, and she was not alone.

Yep, that Q-Tip joke didn’t have a ton of fans when it took flight, and it’s definitely aged poorly.