Jake Johnson is known for his comedic timing and getting cast as the snarky, 30-something man-child type he perfected in New Girl, and he leveraged beautifully in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, just FYI. So Johnson was definitely up for the challenge of stretching his acting chops by playing the slick, yet multi-faceted pornographer Doug Renetti in the new HBO Max series Minx. However, show creator Ellen Rapoport wasn’t fully prepared for all of the thirst out there for her leading man, particularly his chest hair, which Johnson works, and works, hard thanks to the ’70s fashions featured in the series.
Rapoport had no idea that casting Internet Boyfriend Johnson would add another angle to her show about female desire. “I did not know that there was so much thirst for Jake Johnson until I started reading Twitter two weeks ago,” she says. “I’m so happy people like his chest hair and open shirts. I would have opened them more if I knew there was such an appetite for them.”
For Johnson, the opportunity to bare his lusty chest hair wasn’t so much his concern as getting to play a smooth-talking, yet oddly endearing character who reminded him of his dad.
“Doug reminds me of my uncles and parts of my dad,” Johnson told Thrillist. “These salesmen, who you’re not sure if they’re on the good team or the bad team. They have tons of heart and morality, but in the same sense, they’re really shady. And you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I can trust this person.’ Those parts don’t come my way very often.” And you don’t often get to look like this either. Real win-win here.
The Karate Kid franchise shows no signs of dying anytime soon (in fact, it’s arguably never been more full of life). However, one Cobra Kai star joked (while on the Critics’ Choice red carpet over the weekend) that his character would soon bite the dust.
That actor, Jacob Bertrand, portrays the fantastic Hawk, who has already been through plenty after having his trademark hairstyle chopped away from his head. That moment felt symbolically crushing, particularly in a franchise that celebrates the underdogs, but Hawk went on to win his division (fair and square) at the All Valley Karate Tournament.
Now, the show’s viewers have been interested in knowing when Season 5 will arrive (and we’ve talked about that elsewhere), but Entertainment Tonight touched base with both Bertrand and Ralph Macchio to dig for some content hints. Macchio, of course, went in hard to discuss the show’s brilliant interweaving of generations that inform one another. The show does so marvelously and admirably and in a way that a lot of revivals and reboots don’t seem to grasp at all. And then Macchio hinted at twists, and Bertrand, joker that he is, decided to declare, “Yeah, I die.”
Fortunately, this is all (we hope) a joke, but the truth of the matter is that Bertrand did inform us that Season 5 is in already the bag: “We actually just wrapped,” he told us in early January while adding that there were “things I’m not even allowed to bring up about Season 5.”
And surely, no one will die. Alright, I would not be upset if Terry Silver died. Let Anthony LaRusso, who is still the show’s worst character, finally prove himself by burying Silver in a hail of popsicle sticks. Justice.
Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ is currently streaming the first four seasons on Netflix.
The student loan crisis that has been brewing for decades has reached a fever pitch in the U.S. The cost of college tuition has been on a steep upward trajectory since 1980, far outpacing wages and resulting in many student borrowers being buried in mountains of debt they have little chance of repaying.
Since 1980, college costs have increased by 169% u2014 while earnings for workers between the ages of 22 and 27 have increased by just 19%…source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/02/the-gap-in-college-costs-and-earnings-for-young-workers-since-1980.htmlu00a0u2026pic.twitter.com/UGBq8Vwi2e
In fact, many students end up not making a dent in their loans, even after paying on them for years. One report found that even among students who made voluntary payments to their Navient loans during the student loan payment freeze, 63% were “underwater,” meaning they owe more on their loans than what they originally borrowed. Some even owe more than 150% of the original loan amount. And these are people who are actively trying to pay down their loans, making payments when they technically didn’t even have to.
It’s truly a crisis, which is why we saw such a push for student loan forgiveness being put on the agenda during the 2020 election. That hasn’t happened, but at least one state is taking a big step toward mitigating the college debt problem.
New Mexico has passed a bill that makes all in-state public and tribal colleges—both 2-year and 4-year—free for all residents, as long as they enroll in at least six credits and maintain a GPA of 2.5. That means residents can take classes part-time or full-time without worrying about tuition.
The New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship Act, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law March 4, makes New Mexico the first state to waive tuition for all public colleges and universities, regardless of a family’s income. Some states offer free community college programs and a handful of states have state-sponsored scholarships for some students at state universities. New Mexico has just upped the game, waiving tuition across the board.
And people are loving it.
The signing of the law was received as “good news” by those who advocate for affordable higher education.
Some bright news during these dark times: New Mexico has become the first US state to implement state-wide tuition-free college! Can’t believe so little attention was paid to this monumental achievement.https://twitter.com/GovMLG/status/1499876403885395969u00a0u2026
Hey! Yes, you. nStop your doom scrolling. nAll we seem to hear about are the terrible, inhumane, cruel laws republicans pass, but while we were busy doom scrolling, NEW MEXICO JUST SIGNED INTO LAW a bill that makes COLLEGE TUITION FREE!
Good News Alert:nnThe state of New Mexico has signed a bill to make college tuition free.nnIt will waive tuition for any students attending any in-state public school or tribal college, including community colleges.nnSome 35,000 students are expected to benefit this year alone.pic.twitter.com/Q8oqLKqxQT
Some asked why all states or the federal government don’t do the same.
It’s not an unheard-of idea, by any means. More than a handful of countries in Europe and some in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia offer free college education.
If New Mexico can make college tuition free, why canu2019t all states do this ? Why canu2019t , or why wonu2019t @POTUS pick up that pen and #CancelStudentDebt for all , not just some?pic.twitter.com/QcyTYuTytb
Itu2019s official! Free CollegeForAll!nnThank you, @GovMLG. Now itu2019s time to make public college free, nationwide!https://kvia.com/news/new-mexico/ap-new-mexico/2022/03/04/governor-signs-free-college-bill-expands-coverage/u00a0u2026
In her speech given prior to signing the law, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham explained how the law will help provide flexibility and opportunity to people from all different backgrounds and circumstances and remove so many of the barriers that prevent people from getting the education they need or desire.
“College is too damn expensive,” she said.
Indeed, it is. Congrats to New Mexico for this historic move to make higher education more accessible for everyone.
Simone Biles withdrawing from the team final in the Tokyo Olympics and subsequently withdrawing from the individual all-around finals after getting a case of the “twisties” has the world talking. She’s received overwhelming support as well as overwhelming criticism for the move, with some praising her for recognizing her limits and others blasting her for not persevering through whatever she’s dealing with.
Some people pointed to Kerri Strug, who landed on one foot after vaulting with a broken ankle in the 1996 Olympics to help the U.S. win gold, as an example of the kind of sacrifice an athlete should be willing to make for their country.
Byron Heath shared some thoughts about that fateful day in a viral Facebook post that has been shared more than 370,000 times in less than a day.
Heath wrote:
“This realization I had about Simone Biles is gonna make some people mad, but oh well.
Yesterday I was excited to show my daughters Kerri Strug’s famous one-leg vault. It was a defining Olympic moment that I watched live as a kid, and my girls watched raptly as Strug fell, and then limped back to leap again.
But for some reason I wasn’t as inspired watching it this time. In fact, I felt a little sick. Maybe being a father and teacher has made me soft, but all I could see was how Kerri Strug looked at her coach, Bela Karolyi, with pleading, terrified eyes, while he shouted back ‘You can do it!’ over and over again.
My daughters didn’t cheer when Strug landed her second vault. Instead they frowned in concern as she collapsed in agony and frantic tears.
‘Why did she jump again if she was hurt?’ one of my girls asked. I made some inane reply about the heart of a champion or Olympic spirit, but in the back of my mind a thought was festering: *She shouldn’t have jumped again*
The more the thought echoed, the stronger my realization became. Coach Karolyi should have gotten his visibly injured athlete medical help immediately! Now that I have two young daughters in gymnastics, I expect their safety to be the coach’s number one priority. Instead, Bela Karolyi told Strug to vault again. And he got what he wanted; a gold medal that was more important to him than his athlete’s health. I’m sure people will say ‘Kerri Strug was a competitor–she WANTED to push through the injury.’ That’s probably true. But since the last Olympics we’ve also learned these athletes were put into positions where they could be systematically abused both emotionally and physically, all while being inundated with ‘win at all costs’ messaging. A teenager under those conditions should have been protected, and told ‘No medal is worth the risk of permanent injury.’ In fact, we now know that Strug’s vault wasn’t even necessary to clinch the gold; the U.S. already had an insurmountable lead. Nevertheless, Bela Karolyi told her to vault again according to his own recounting of their conversation:
‘I can’t feel my leg,’ Strug told Karolyi.
‘We got to go one more time,’ Karolyi said. ‘Shake it out.’
‘Do I have to do this again?’ Strug asked. ‘Can you, can you?’ Karolyi wanted to know.
‘I don’t know yet,’ said Strug. ‘I will do it. I will, I will.’
The injury forced Strug’s retirement at 18 years old. Dominique Moceanu, a generational talent, also retired from injuries shortly after. They were top gymnasts literally pushed to the breaking point, and then put out to pasture. Coach Karolyi and Larry Nassar (the serial sexual abuser) continued their long careers, while the athletes were treated as a disposable resource.
Today Simone Biles–the greatest gymnast of all time–chose to step back from the competition, citing concerns for mental and physical health. I’ve already seen comments and posts about how Biles ‘failed her country’, ‘quit on us’, or ‘can’t be the greatest if she can’t handle the pressure.’ Those statements are no different than Coach Karolyi telling an injured teen with wide, frightened eyes: ‘We got to go one more time. Shake it out.’
The subtext here is: ‘Our gold medal is more important than your well-being.’
Our athletes shouldn’t have to destroy themselves to meet our standards. If giving empathetic, authentic support to our Olympians means we’ll earn less gold medals, I’m happy to make that trade.
Here’s the message I hope we can send to Simone Biles: You are an outstanding athlete, a true role model, and a powerful woman. Nothing will change that. Please don’t sacrifice your emotional or physical well-being for our entertainment or national pride. We are proud of you for being brave enough to compete, and proud of you for having the wisdom to know when to step back. Your choice makes you an even better example to our daughters than you were before. WE’RE STILL ROOTING FOR YOU!”
Many people shared Heath’s sentiment, with comments pouring in thanking him for putting words to what they were feeling.
We’re in a new era where our lens of what’s admirable, what’s strong, and what’s right has shifted. We understand more about the lifelong impact of too many concussions. We have trainers and medics checking on football players after big hits. We are finding a better balance between competitiveness and well-being. We are acknowledging the importance of mental health and physical health.
We are also more aware of how both physical and mental trauma impacts young bodies. Though Kerri Strug pushing through the pain has long been seen as an iconic moment in sports, the adults in the room should have been protecting her, not pushing her through an obvious injury.
And the way this fall of Dominique Moceanu at age 14 was handled is downright shocking by today’s standards. She said she never received an exam for it, even after the competition was over. So wrong.
In our sport, we essentially dive into a pool w/ no water. When you lose your ability to find the groundu2014which appears to be part of @Simone_Biles decisionu2014-the consequences can be catastrophic. She made the right decision for the team & herself. @bisping
Athletes are not cogs in a wheel, and the desire to win a competition should not trump someone’s well-being. Elite gymnasts already put themselves through grueling physical and mental feats; they wouldn’t be at the top of their sport if they didn’t. But there are limits, and too often in our yearning for a gold medal—or even for a triumphant Olympic story—we push athletes too far.
Now we see some of them pushing back, and knowing what we know now, that’s 100% a good thing.
Per court documents obtained by Complex, 69 stated, “Right now, I am struggling to make ends meet. I do not know if I will ever command the kind of advances I was paid before my arrest, and my career stalled.” He continued: “I did receive large advances under the recording artist and merchandising agreements prior to my arrest. However, I do not receive any royalties under those agreements either since my royalty accounts remain unrecouped.”
“It will surely bankrupt me in a way from which I will never recover to the permanent detriment and hardship of the family members who rely upon me,” he added in the documents.
There’s no whisky in the world that’s more popular than Johnnie Walker. Full stop. Its global sales trounce every other brand, even international best-seller Jack Daniel’s. That means that there are a lot of Johnnie Walker out there. But it also means that the brand often gets dismissed as too big to take seriously by whisk(e)y “fans.”
That’s a shame, as Johnnie Walker puts out some absolute bangers in their core line, which represent (and in some cases define) the best of what modern blended whisky and blended malts can be. Yes, I’m serious.
Johnnie Walker releases seven expressions in their core line. Those whiskies are a mix of “blended whiskey” — a blend of single malt and grain whiskies from all over Scotland — and “blended malts” — a blend of single malts, mostly from the Diageo stable of distilleries around Scotland. Taking it a little further, these whiskies range from mixing whisky (Johnnie Red and Black) to some of the most sought-after blended malts, aka Johnnie Walker Blue.
To parse which ones are actually worth your time and money, I’m throwing them all into a blind taste test. To round out the numbers, I’ve also added in the Jane Walker Edition of Johnnie Walker Black. It’s a unique take on the classic expression that’s limited for now but sure to be a mainstay in coming years.
Today’s Lineup:
Johnnie Walker Blue Label
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve
Johnnie Walker Red Label
The Jane Walker Edition
Johnnie Walker Double Black
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Johnnie Walker 18
Johnnie Walker Green Label
Let’s get tasting and ranking!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
Soft malts and dried fruits lead the way on the nose with meaty plums, soft and worn leather, winter spice, and dry fireplace smoke balancing it out. The palate leans into orange oils and marzipan with a splash of rose water. The mid-palate has a nice, floral honey sweetness that leads to a finish full of bitter dark chocolate, lightly smoked malts, dried fruits, and dry-roasted nuts all with a pure silk mouth feel.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Leather and honeyed oats mingle with sultanas and spicy malts on the nose. The taste pops with tropical fruits (almost papaya) with a rich vanilla cream throughline. The mid-palate hits a fruity-honey note that leads to a hint of soft oak and mild earthy peat.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This is much thinner from the jump with an echo of leather, “sweet” citrus, and lightly smoked wood. There’s a touch of black pepper on the palate next to orchard fruits and “smoke.” The end just disappears, leaving you with mineral water and wet ash.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
There’s a mix of raisins, old peaches, and leather on the nose with a hint of dried cherry and creamed honey. The palate leans into apple pie filling with rich creamy vanilla sauce and milk chocolate. The finish arrives with a bushel of dry wicker cane, warming malts with a hint of winter spice, and a final rush of dry dark chocolate powder.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This opens with cherrywood smoke next to dried apricots and cloves that are countered by a raw banana bread batter. The taste balances vanilla creaminess with ripe and tart apples next to smoked prunes and smoked cherry. Those cherries lead to a soft and wet oak counterpointed by dry chunks of peat and old leather-bound books.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Watery leather opens the nose with hints of sweet raisins, vanilla pods, and spiced malts. The palate bounces between vanilla pudding and mulled wine spices with apricot jam and smoked applewood rounding things out. The finish is short and hits on light, sweet, and earthy smoke but ends fairly thin.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Applewood and buttery toffee draw you in on the nose with nice notes of fresh and ripe fruit, worn jacket leather, and soft malts just touched with winter spices. Caramel leads the palate toward rich marzipan, vanilla pudding, and freshly peeled tangerines. Sweet yet dark cacao drives the mid-palate toward the softest line of sweet smoke just touched with dry chili spice and that applewood.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Cedar boxes full of sweet fruits lead the nose toward black peppercorns and vanilla pods with an underlayer of sweet green grass. That soft cedar leads the taste with support from grilled tropical fruits, dried roses, spiced malts, and chewy apple tobacco. The mid-palate sweetens with a honeycomb vibe as earthy smoke, singed cedar bark, dark cacao nibs, dry reeds, and an echo of sea spray round out the finish.
Johnnie Walker’s entry point expression is also the best-selling scotch expression on the planet. The juice is a blend from Diageo’s deep stable of distilleries around Scotland that’s specifically designed to be mixed and not taken straight.
Bottom Line:
It was immediately evident that this was Red Label. It was so indistinct and thin. I really can’t even see using this for mixing if I’m being honest, making this last place by a lot.
This is Johnnie’s signature blend that’s dialed in to be a sipper with a few rocks thrown in. The blend leans into the peaty seaside distilleries with 30 plus whiskies from powerhouses like Lagavulin, Talisker, and Cardhu.
Bottom Line:
“Just fine” was my note on this one. It’s mediocre and not really all that memorable. I’d likely bury this in a whisky and coke or ginger and move on with my day.
This is basically Johnnie Black, a slightly peaty blend, that’s been casked again in deeply charred oak. The idea is to maximize that peat and amp up the Islay and Island smokiness of the final dram.
Bottom Line:
This felt like a really solid mixing whisky, especially for highballs. I can see this standing up and bringing something to a cocktail, easily. It’s not that engaging on its own but not terrible by any stretch either.
Master Blender Emma Walker created this blend with Cardhu — a Speyside distillery — at its core. Cardhu was famously founded and run by another female pioneer in whisky, Elizabeth Cumming, back in the 1800s. The juice is a blend of malts that aged at least ten years from the Diageo stable of Scotch single malts.
Bottom Line:
This felt like a great on-the-rocks pour or highball whisky. It was the best of the Black Labels but didn’t quite break through to the depth of the more refined bottles on this list.
This no-age-statement blend leans into that signature Walker marriage of Highland and Speyside whiskies with a small dose of Western Scottish juice for good measure. The lion’s share of the whisky involved in this gilded bottle is Clynelish, a Highland whisky that adds a modicum of peat to the mix.
Bottom Line:
This feels like a bit of a cheat to call “middle of the road.” This is a damn near-perfect pour of blended whisky. From here on out, I’m splitting hairs. But for this one, it felt like it was more suited to a nice (or the perfect) highball than an awesome neat pour that’ll take you on a journey.
This whisky was actually taken off the market in 2012 and people lost their shit. Diageo came to its senses and brought it back by 2016. The juice is a blend of single malts only, making it a “pure malt” and not a “blended scotch whisky” (that blends malt and grain whiskies). The juice primarily comes from Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Island malts with a focus on a minimum of 15-year-old Talisker, Caol Ila, Cragganmore, and Linkwood.
Bottom Line:
This is a regular pour in my house, but as a highball mixer or on the rocks “everyday” whisky. It’s just so damn refined for a great price. That hint of sea spray helps this truly stand out from all the fruit and honey but it doesn’t quite elevate it to “holy shit” heights. It’s just really freakin’ good and easy to drink without being challenging — and that’s why it’s not the best of the best when it comes to Johnnie Walker.
This is the mountaintop of Johnnie Walker’s whiskies. The blend is a marriage of ultra-rare stock from extinct Diageo distilleries around Scotland. That’s just … cool. This expression is all about barrel selection and the mastery of a great noser and blender working together to create something special.
Bottom Line:
This was the first taste and set the bar almost impossibly high from the jump. But today it was beaten, thanks to the 18’s slighty greater depth that leaned into fattier flavor notes of buttery toffee and just that little bit more going on in the glass.
That’s not to say this isn’t a stellar whisky. It 100 percent is. This is a whisky that’ll get you hooked on Johnnie Walker for life. It’s deeply hewn, nostalgic, and pure velvet in the glass.
This blend used to be called Johnnie Walker Platinum, which was also aged for 18 years. You might still see some of those bottles on shelves where scotch sells slowly. This is the same juice, which is comprised of 18 whiskies all of which are a minimum of 18 years old. The primary distilleries in the bottle are Blair Athol, Cardhu, Glen Elgin, and Auchroisk.
Bottom Line:
I had to look at the ABVs on this bottle about five times to check if this was really only 40 percent ABV. This is so well built that you don’t feel that water at all. It’s all flavor and nuance from top to bottom with a slow dance between nutty, citrus, bitter, and the silkiest smoke in the game. This felt next level in a way that was both interesting and kind of exciting. I wanted more of this right away.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
I can’t say I’m surprised by this outcome. I love Johnnie Green and it broke into my top three. I guess I likely would have put money on Blue winning out. But that 18 is a dark horse that could not be denied today. And not for nothing, it’s half the price of Johnnie Blue. So there’s that.
Overall, I’d skip the Red and Black entirely if you’re interested in getting into the world of Scotch whisky. I’d start with Gold or Green Label and then move on to 18 and Blue if you dig those first two (and have the cash to spend). Double Black and Jane Walker Edition are perfectly good whiskies, but I really can’t see using them outside of a highball setting, which is fine. At the same time, there are tons of blended malts that are fine for highballs out there, so maybe experiment rather than opting for either of those.
If all you take from this is the following: “Hey, you, track down a bottle of 18!” That’s a solid outcome. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Season two of HBO’s Euphoria was reportedly a “hellish” ordeal, but star Sydney Sweeney wants to set the record straight about one story that she claims has been blown out of proportion.
In a January 2022 interview with the Independent, the Emmy-worthy actress said, “There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell [creator Sam Levinson], ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here.’ He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it’. I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me.”
That quote led to headlines about Sweeney asking and/or demanding that her nude scenes be cut from the show, but that’s not the case. “I never asked him to cut any scenes,” she told Teen Vogue. “It got twisted and turned and it became its own beast, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was more how respectful Sam is and how incredible of a director he is, that he would never make me do something I didn’t feel comfortable with.”
Sweeney continued, “I think it’s important to the storyline and the character. There’s a purpose to what that character is going through. That’s the character. We all get naked in real life. We show this character’s life and what they’re going through. Cassie’s body is a different form of communication for her.”
This headline about Sweeney being cooler than everyone else, though? Absolutely true.
It seems like everybody has an opinion on pizza toppings, which is perfectly fine because people generally have different taste buds and enjoy different things. But one thing that society seems to fight aboutall the time is whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza. Even Peppa Pig states that pineapple pizza is “illegal” (though they don’t mention ham on pizza because….you know). Most recently, the characters from the post-apocalyptic zombie drama The Walking Deadaddressed the pressing topic. You would think they would be focused on other things, like zombies, but, hey, the show is in its eleventh season, and they need to get creative.
While Ezekiel, played by Khary Payton, prepares to go under before major surgery, he is comforted by Carol (played by the iconic Melissa McBride) and Jerry (Cooper Andrews) who says they will have pizza when he wakes up. Before Ezekiel finally drifts off, he says the controversial take: “No… no pineapple. I’m serious, Jerry. Pineapple on pizza makes no sense.”
The statement was then supported by The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang, who told Entertainment Weekly that the culinary concoction was “disgusting” and the show stands behind its very debatable meal. “I didn’t write that line, but I was like, I thoroughly agree. It’s an abomination. Why mix these two things? I don’t understand it. So wrong.”
Here’s the thing: most people don’t know how to properly make pineapple pizza. They put the pineapple on before it cooks, which dries it out, and makes it gross. You have to use fresh pineapple, and it needs to be grilled on its own, separately from the pizza. Combine with ham, the acidity perfectly balances out with the saltiness of ham and cheese. You’re welcome!!! And if you don’t like it, to each their own. At least it’s not licorice.
The recent HBO Max Harry Potter reunion special did its best to pretend that J.K. Rowling isn’t an elephant in the room. That is to say, the author of the book saga (and who has had her fingers all up in the adaptations therein) periodically issues her controversial remarks about trans people. This practice has led to a multitude of public rifts, including when Rowling deleted praise for Stephen King after he tweeted, “Trans women are women.” In addition, actors who have appeared in Rowling adaptations (Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and Fantastic Beasts actor Eddie Redmayne) have defended those targeted by the author. As well, Emma Watson, who famously played Hermione Granger, followed suit with a statement of support for trans people.
Fast forward a few years, and Emma presented (over the weekend) at the BAFTAs, where (via a video clip posted by The Independent), Rebel Wilson welcomed Watson to the stage while alluding to Harry Potterand declaring, “She calls herself a feminist, but we all know she’s a witch.”
Watson stepped up to the mic and began like this: “I’m here for all the witches.”
I love the shade Emma Watson just threw at JK Rowling at the BAFTAs. She said, “I’m here for ALL of the witches, bar one.” Emma is a QUEEN. pic.twitter.com/3jXEDVpzHQ
Naturally, this sentence is causing a stir on social media with some people celebrating Watson’s remarks and others complaining about too much wokeness. That’s to be expected, and Emma did not follow up on her remarks. She has, however, recently owned up to her own blindspots in supporting marginalized communities. In 2020, Emma also tweeted, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
Emma later added, “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
To that end, Emma didn’t directly mention J.K.’s attacks on the trans community, but this appears to be a reference and another distancing from the author. There’s been no response or acknowledgement (of this moment) from Rowling’s camp thus far.
Last week saw the end of Encanto mainstay “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” surpassed it to claim the No. 1 spot for the first time. Now, on the new chart dated March 19, Glass Animals are once again at the summit as “Heat Waves” is No. 1 for a second week.
“Heat Waves” is a big one for UK music’s presence on the US charts: It’s the first song by a British group to top the Hot 100 for multiple weeks since Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” did for four weeks in February and March 1997. Coldplay has come close to doing it a couple times, as “Viva La Vida” and “My Universe” were No. 1 for a week each in 2008 and 2021, respectively.
The band’s Dave Bayley previously told Uproxx of the song, “With ‘Heat Waves,’ it was coming to terms with the fact that it’s OK to understand, appreciate, and know that you’re missing someone — that it’s actually probably quite healthy. That you should let yourself do that, you shouldn’t try to bury it the whole time. It’s kind of like a eureka, euphoric moment. Or it can be.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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