Year: 2022

The latest episode of Culture Quick Bites is live with hosts Drew Dorsey and Tom Plumley. What are they going to talk about this time? Well, the Oscars introduced a new fan-voted category for this year’s awards in order to drive fan engagement, ostensibly giving burner phones a say when it comes to what is and isn’t trophy worthy. Also, daylight Savings Time is about to Spring Forward on Sunday, March 13, so make sure to set your clocks ahead an hour so you’re still on time! Or, well, as on-time as usual. Too many things have clocks on them. We’re gonna have to spend that extra hour making sure all of our clocks are synced up just in case.

Did you love The Batman so much that you can’t stop thinking about what comes next? Tom has a take on what a Batman movie should REALLY be going forward, turning the conversation away from the typical topic of what villain Robert Pattinson’s Batman will face next time. Then Drew and Tom give an update on what March Madness is (and the real bracket everyone should care about) before finishing things off with a reminder to fill up on some circular pie for Pi Day while we provide a few questionable math puns. All this and more on this episode of Culture Quick Bites!

There are very few men in Hollywood who have a pretty squeaky-clean image, with a reputation for being a genuinely nice guy. One of them is Tom Hanks, who played Mister Rogers, for crying out loud. Hanks has had a long and successful career and is praised for nearly every role he lands. But none of that matters to Connor Ratliff, who was traumatized after being fired from Hanks’ Band Of Brothers set nearly 20 years ago for having “dead eyes.” Finally, Ratliff was able to confront Hanks.

Hanks stopped by Ratliff’s podcast, titled Dead Eyes (yes, he has been holding on to this phrase for two decades) to set the record straight and apologize for firing the actor, who was just beginning his career. Hanks insists he doesn’t remember the event, saying “not a single moment of this rings a bell,” but, Hanks, a stand-up guy, apologized anyway.

“Let me first take full responsibility for doing this to you. This was without a doubt the act of the director, and that was me,” Hanks began, adding that firing Ratliff for his eyes was “one of those very, very subtle sort of decisions that aims the story in the direction you want it to go.” When Hanks heard of the podcast, he was mortified at the idea that he hurt someone that bad, “I was aghast. I was … I actually got chilled. My heart rate skyrocketed and I said, I did … I did what? I did what?”

Hanks continued, trying to explain himself: “In the inner sanctum of whatever this casting session was on Band of Brothers … I’m sure I said, ‘I don’t know man, that guy’s got dead eyes.’ I could’ve said, ‘He’s got too blond of hair; he’s too tall and I can’t have the aide be taller than Captain Winters.” I could’ve said, “He’s too short and slight … I could’ve said any of these things, and they would have been true and they would’ve been the opinion.”

Finally, Hanks said the comment should have never made its way to the actor. “Whoever communicated to you what was said, in the inner sanctum, with such authenticity, should have their kneecaps broken, because that is … That is not allowed. It’s not quotable there. It’s off the record.” When Ratliff showed Hanks his old headshot, he confirmed that his eyes were anything but dead. “These are not dead eyes. Can I just say that right now from this 8×10 black and white.”

Ratliff has gone on to star in a number of successful projects, like Search Party and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. But who knows what he could have accomplished if he had starred in Band Of Brothers. We will literally never know.

Malaysian pop sensation Yuna has announced her forthcoming album Y5, the follow-up to her defiant fourth LP Rouge. Y5, which reckons with life and death, will be released in five installments, with the first one, Y1, out today. The songs include “Intro,” “Hello,” “Pantone 17 13 30,” and “Cigarette,” all of which are accompanied by a Adam Sinclair-directed visual concept rooted in the beauty of Joshua Tree in California.

About “Hello,” she said, “I wanted to write something around the topic of death especially after losing someone really close to me and it was something unexpected. One day we’re all going to leave this earth, why do we avoid that conversation? This is my message to everyone I love – once I leave the world, I don’t want you to be sad.” She added, about “Pantone 17 13 30,” “I’ve come to a place in my life where I can appreciate my natural beauty (such as my skin tone) and this song is about finding someone who recognizes and sees the beauty that I have already realized within me.”

Y1 focuses on immersing the listener in a sensory experience, as per usual; the opening track is a 15-second introduction that’s much like the beginning credits of a movie.

Stream the EP below, a visualizer for which arrives later tonight.

Last night, after a week of teases, Megan Thee Stallion and Dup Lipa released the macabre video for their collaboration, “Sweetest Pie.”

Although it takes place in a fairy tale fantasy land, the video is packed with disconcerted slices (heh) of body horror and unsettling surrealism that apparently had some fans feeling a bit creeped out, according to a celebratory tweet Megan posted this morning. However, rather than being apologetic, she flaunted the fact that some fans probably had to watch through their fingers, crowing, “I see that the #SweetestPie video scared some people or creeped them out a lil bit. Lol MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. How many times do I have to say I love horror films/ aesthetics?”

She certainly has said as much a few times; in 2019, she said that she was writing her own horror movie before sharing her “Hottieween” series of shorts to celebrate the spooky season. Then, in 2020, she hinted at wanting to work with master horror director Jordan Peele, who has been chilling audiences since 2016 with his Oscar-winning Get Out, Us, and the upcoming Nope. Meg even compared herself to seemingly immortal (or at least, unkillable) slasher icon Jason Voorhees in an interview earlier this month, joking that “no matter how hard my haters try to take me out, I keep coming back harder!”

With her Netflix first-look production deal in place, she’s getting closer to her dreams of giving us all nightmares; perhaps “Sweetest Pie” is just a dry run, letting her practice and preview what skin-crawling delights she has in store.

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

We’re nearing the one-year anniversary of when Iowa guard Caitlin Clark became a household name. In back-to-back NCAA tournament games against blue bloods Kentucky and UConn, Clark scored a combined 56 points and stretched the topography of a basketball court in ways few in the world can. Since then, she’s been a mainstay on SportsCenter, Instagram highlight videos, and in the nightmares of her opponents.

Clark’s sophomore revenge may be coming this month, as her Big Ten champion Iowa Hawkeyes finished two games better this season and could be headed toward a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament — or better. Clark took some time after Iowa won the Big Ten tournament to talk with Dime about her supreme confidence heading into the Big Dance and a new partnership with H&R Block.

As part of its “A Fair Shot” campaign, the tax company is giving $1 million to women college athletes this spring through sponsorships and support, while also providing education on tax prep for athletes who’ve signed name, image and likeness deals this year. Clark explained why she partnered with the company and how she’s approached the era of NIL as a college hooper.

Poking around a little bit at the past NIL deals that you’ve put together, they were local, they were different industries, so what excited you when you heard about such a big company that wanted to partner with you on a campaign like this with International Women’s Day and the tournament and everything going on in March, for them to say, We want Caitlin to be one of the faces of this.

I was really honored, but what stood out to me is just like all the companies that I’ve partnered with, they have the same values and align with what I’m passionate about and that’s certainly what H&R Block is doing with this campaign, committing $1 million to give back to female college athletes to shrink the inequities facing college athletes in NIL. This is a new thing, so they’re going to guide us through the tax implications which are something a lot of college athletes (typically) don’t have to deal with.

Has that been your NIL approach, to play things slowly? Have you said no to things that didn’t align with you?

I have said no to a lot of things, with H&R Block, I was very involved with the inequities of last year’s NCAA tournament, so I kind of lived this and that’s what makes me so passionate about it. I thought this was the perfect opportunity with such a great brand that’s doing great things with women’s basketball but a lot of other sports as well. It was an easy yes for me to be part of their team throughout this campaign.

I think I speak for all basketball fans when I say you’ve been on our timelines and our feeds and our screens for two years now, and I imagine that confidence isn’t something that seems to come too difficult for you. But this is a whole other area of life, getting your feet in the business world. Is this something you are comfortable doing? I’m sure it’s a lot to take on, being something of a face for the inequities that this campaign is addressing. Is this as easy for you as scoring 30 might be?

It is something I’m comfortable doing. It’s been a couple years now of being in the spotlight, but being in the spotlight with this issue and using your voice and using your platform is one of the most important things (an athlete can do).

Pivoting a bit, your college decision was a lot about being close to home and being part of a program at Iowa you were comfortable with. It’s gone well, you’ve won and made a name for yourself and put the program in a great spot. How much of the Iowa aspect of your career do you take pride in, (being) the reason that the next Iowa player gets an opportunity that they wouldn’t have otherwise?

That’s a great point. That’s why I came here. I’m a hometown girl, basically, I grew up an hour and 45 minutes away. That speaks to who I am and my values, but the biggest thing is I loved this place overall and that’s why I chose it. I’m really trying to lay the groundwork for those who come after me.

(With this campaign), I had to suffer through these inequities, but we hope that the people who come after us don’t have to deal with the same things. We’re fighting for what we believe in now so that it doesn’t have to be the same issue year after year.

Sticking on the note of confidence, I feel like the mood within this Iowa team right now must be incredibly positive. Can you give me a sense of your level of confidence and your teammates’ level of confidence is heading onto the big stage of March and getting an opportunity to push toward a title?

I don’t think we could be any more confident right now, obviously we’re playing our best basketball right now, we’re on a seven-game winning streak. Everything’s clicking for us. We had an up and down at the beginning of the season, went through a little COVID pause, but overall we’re playing our best basketball, and this is when you need to play your best basketball. This is when you cut down nets and trophies are handed out, so we’re excited and we’ve enjoyed every single moment over the past two weeks, but we’re really looking forward to the NCAA tournament.

There are going to be a lot more eyes on you and this Iowa team this month than there may have been during the regular season. If people maybe haven’t watched you or Iowa since last year’s tournament, what areas have you and your team improved in that people should have their eye on?

Defensively, we’ve improved a lot. That was our focus during the offseason, and during the Big Ten tournament last week, we played super good defense and I think that’s the reason we won. Our offense is pretty tremendous, but the joy and passion that we play with is what attracts people to our program and makes them want to come to our games. We smile, we go out there and have fun, and we know it’s a game, but at the end of the day, we want to win.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — Listen to me

Picture this: It’s Batman, the whole way through, with the dead parents and the Bat Cave and the double life as billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, but instead of being played by some young actor with a razor-sharp jawline and a brooding demeanor, blammo, it’s Jack Black. Yes. Yes, we are doing it.

The Batman of it all is fun to consider, mostly because of Jack Black in the Batman costume doing karate moves in an alley to incapacitate a slew of goons, and also because of the “one of our finest physical comedians getting into and out of the Batmobile” thing, too, please don’t discount the Bruce Wayne angle, too. Picture Jack Black in a tuxedo at some fancy Gotham charity ball, popping cocktail shrimp into his mouth and unleashing the whole Jack Black Charisma Bomb right there on the screen. It’s a good idea. I’m not crazy.

The only problem here is that now I’m angry. Again. I’m angry again that Batman isn’t fun anymore. We just got another new Batman project with another new Batman and it’s still all dark and emo and heavy, and like three full hours long. You can watch like eight episodes of the Harley Quinn cartoon in that time, and at least in that you can see Batman doing stuff like this.

That’s good. Great, even. Topped only by the thing I just mentioned about Jack Black playing a live-action Batman. I can’t stop thinking about it. Just now, while I was typing that last sentence, I got this image in my head of him in the Bat Cave trying to work a supercomputer and getting frustrated and spilling a whole Diet Coke on it and just shouting and raging around in the Batsuit and it’s making me so happy. He has just the suit on, too. Not the mask. We need to see his face for this. It’s a good idea. Picture him fighting Bane. Take the whole weekend on it if you need to.

Anyway, if all of this sounds a little familiar, like maybe something I wrote a little under a year ago with a similar headline, there’s a good reason for that: It is a lot like something I wrote a little under a year ago with a similar headline. That was titled “We Should Let (Or, If Necessary, Make) Jake Johnson Play Batman” and touched on many of the same ideas, regarding Batman being fun and an actor I like getting to try it. But there is an important difference here, and one I think you should note before yelling at me for being a derivative hack: This time I said Jack Black instead of Jake Johnson. Very different. Jack Black as Batman is at least 60 percent more chaotic. I think we need and deserve that.

So let’s get Jack Black on the phone. Let’s ask him to play Batman. A full Batman, too, with a massive budget and special effects and another chaotic star as the villain. Let’s pencil in like Eric Andre as The Joker. And let’s make another one with Jake Johnson as Batman, too. Let’s just have two Batman franchises running at once, maybe one on television, both goofy and weird as all hell. Batman has been dark and brooding long enough. It’s time to switch it up.

Let Jack Black play Batman.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — I am so worried about Kim Wexler

This is the trailer for the first part of the final season of Better Call Saul, which will presumably take us back to the start of Breaking Bad, which premiered over 14 years ago now, which is a lot. It’s also how prequels work, so, like, fine. A little of the drama of it all gets removed because we know how this all shakes out for a lot of the characters, if we’ve seen Breaking Bad or rushed to Wikipedia in a panic. Saul does the Saul thing, Mike does the Mike thing, at least for a while, etc. But it does make things really stressful when it comes to Kim.

Kim Wexler is the love interest and law partner of Jimmy/Saul. She is very prominent throughout Better Call Saul, arguably the second most important character. And she is never mentioned in Breaking Bad. Not once. Which means one of at least two things is going to happen:

• Kim dies, which will devastate me
• Kim gets fed up and moves away and leaves it all behind

I need it to be the latter. Like, I need it. I will not do well if it’s not. A part of me wants to skip the entire season and just pretend she moves to California and changes her name to Ellen Swatello and becomes her character from Franklin & Bash, meaning that all three shows exist in the same universe. I’m fine. I’m doing great.

I’m also worried about my beloved Lalo Salamanca, a ruthless villain who won me over forever with blistering displays of charm like this…

I did Wiki Lalo, for the record, which is where I discovered/remembered this from Breaking Bad.

Season 2
When Saul Goodman is kidnapped by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman and taken to the desert, Saul assumes that it is Lalo who has abducted him and starts begging for his life, blaming Ignacio for what happened, swearing he’s always been friends with the cartel. After realizing Walter and Jesse’s confusion, he understands he had mistaken them for Lalo’s men and sighs in relief.

Season 4
After conquering the cartel, Gus visits Hector at Casa Tranquila and sadistically informs him that every other Salamanca is dead, which suggests that Lalo died at some point in time.

Which means Lalo, in all likelihood, also survives Better Call Saul. This is surprisingly important to me. I love him very much. And I’m so excited for the show to return. But also very worried. Again, it’s fine.

I’m fine.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — Please pause all existing television shows until this one gets made

Important business here: Jon Hamm was interviewed by Tara Ariano for GQ, and, because Tara is good at her job, she asked Jon Hamm about his dog, and then asked this relevant follow-up a bit later.

Since you are a noted voice actor, when you talk to your dog, and your dog answers you back, is there a specific voice you do for him?

I feel like his inner voice is Greg from Succession. He kind of is like, “[in a Greg voice] Wow. So wait.” He’s kind of confused and amused at the same. “But wait, so I get a treat, but are we going to go for a walk? But wait, I’m kind of sleepy. What?” Anyway, that’s how I feel my dog talks to me.

I need it. I need a show where Jon Hamm has a dog who speaks to him with the voice of Cousin Greg from Succession. I want them to solve crimes together. I must stress here that I am not joking even a little bit. It can be live-action or animated, on any channel or streaming service, preferably co-starring, oh, let’s say Regina King as a jewel thief and Luis Guzman as the police chief and Gonzo from the Muppets as the narrator. Please. For me. Please make this television show. I’ve been very good.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — This is… kind of incredible

The important thing to note first here is that The Righteous Gemstones is a good show. One of the best. A reasonable argument can be made that it features three of the funniest performances on all of television, with Danny McBride and Edi Patterson and Walton Goggins just doing a weave every week to decide who gets the crown. It’s so good. It’s been off the air for less than a month and I’m already despondent. Please make new episodes as soon as possible. Thank you.

But that’s not the point here. It is, kind of, but it’s also not. The point here is that Cassidy Freeman, who plays Amber Gemstone, revealed this week that she was secretly remnant during the filming of the entire season.

Unbeknownst to the majority of her cast members on the megachurch-focused dark comedy “The Righteous Gemstones,” created by Southern native Danny McBride (“Eastbound & Down,” “Hot Rod,” “Tropic Thunder,”) Freeman was pregnant during the majority of Season 2’s filming. “Well, no one knew minus my roommate and my bestie, Edi [Patterson],” Freeman says. Hot, mosquito-ridden days on-location in South Carolina, COVID-19 protocols, and some stunts here and there didn’t slow down Freeman, she adds.

Three things are worth noting here:

• This means that she was pregnant while filming the scene I screencapped above, in which she pops off a dozen or so gunshots at a crew of motorcycle assassins who tried to take them out, which rules
• I would absolutely watch a movie about a pregnant assassin
• I would absolutely watch a comedy where Edi Patterson helps her best friend hide a pregnancy

Please get to work on these last two things after we get the “Jon Hamm and a dog voiced by Nicholas Braun” show together. I feel like we can have all three of these wrapped up and available for me to watch by early 2023 if we hustle. Take the weekend to brainstorm, but let’s get cracking first thing Monday morning.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — I need to see Denzel on acid

Denzel Washington did a wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times, one that touched on music and religion and his career and just a whole lot of stuff that you are welcome to read and discuss on your own time because, right here, right now, we are going to focus on the thing where Denzel Washington did acid with a bunch of prep school kids.

Not, like, recently, though. That would be weird. And probably less of a fun anecdote than a national scandal. “Hollywood Star Denzel Washington Does LSD With A Bunch Of Teens” is not a news story any of us are really ready to comprehend. But he did do it many years ago, when he was also a teen. Here, look.

Washington had been remembering when he went away to boarding school in upstate New York as a teenager, following a youth spent in the house of his Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington Sr., where secular music wasn’t allowed.

“Listen, you’ve got to understand,” Washington tells me. “I get up there … my mother is trying to save me from the streets and heroin. And they sent me to a school with a bunch of white kids with acid. So I was introduced to the [Beatles’] White Album on some orange Owsley or orange sunshine or some blotter. So it expanded my experience.”

I absolutely must know what a teenage Denzel Washington was like on acid. If you went to prep school with Denzel Washington — or know someone who did — and can elaborate on this, please contact me at once. I won’t even publish it. This is all off the record, just for my own curiosity. I’ll buy you dinner and pick your brain and then we can just never talk about it again. But I do need to know. As soon as possible. Thank you.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Zack:

Just saw the trailer for the “Nicolas Cage as ‘Nick Cage’” movie. I am so happy for you, dude.

This was not technically an email. It was a Twitter DM. But it still counts because I want to talk about this beautiful film. Look at this trailer.

And look at this description.

Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nick Cage.

It’s perfect. It’s just laser-focused to my insane sensibilities in a way that almost feels uncomfortable, but in a good way, kind of like eating really spicy food. I’m so happy for and proud of everyone involved in the making of this movie. I can’t believe they pulled it off. The whole thing seems like a bonkers high-wire act and I suppose that means there’s still a chance it could all topple over and go splat in the execution, but that’s a conversation for later. Just doing it is impressive enough to me. Good for them.

And good for me, too, because Nicolas Cage was interviewed about it all and the discussion featured an extended riff on his cat, Merlin, which I am going to post here without any context because I kind of like it better that way.

I think the key is to respect them. And to let them come to you. The hand is very important. When you pet them, that connection is the great reward. When they start purring, you know they genuinely appreciate you being there. Lately, Merlin and I have had some issues because I got a little Pomeranian and he’s not happy about that. But Merlin is an unusual cat. It’s not the same as the other relationships I’ve had with cats throughout the years. There’s a real, almost human level of affection emanating from him which is almost like a son. It’s pretty intense.

Let’s go ahead and tie this into the show about Jon Hamm and the talking dog. Let’s have Merlin voiced by… hmm. Let’s go with Henry Winkler. I think that plays. And let’s also make a note to keep asking celebrities about their pets in every interview. Maybe just ask them about their pets. For the whole interview. It’s worth a shot.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To… the entire East Coast!

An invasive species of spider the size of a child’s hand is expected to “colonize” the entire East Coast this spring by parachuting down from the sky, researchers at the University of Georgia announced last week.

Hmm.

I hate it.

Large Joro spiders — millions of them — are expected to begin “ballooning” up and down the East Coast as early as May. Researchers have determined that the spiders can tolerate cold weather, but are harmless to humans as their fangs are too small to break human skin.

I suppose the good news here is the “their fangs are too small to break human skin” thing, but I absolutely cannot condone any situation where climate-resistant spiders are flying through the sky.

No.

Thankfully, after that fear-mongering article from Axios terrified me in a deep and unsettling way, NPR put out a much more comforting fact-check that made me feel a little better about the massive flying spiders.

Despite their startling appearance — and their namesake — Davis noted joros don’t appear to be harmful or have much of an effect on local agriculture or ecosystems. In fact, he said, they may be beneficial to native predators like birds as an additional food source. And, while they kill their prey using venom, scientists say they are harmless to people and pets because their fangs are usually too small to break human skin.

Which is better. I still do not think spiders should fly. And I have seen enough movies to know that this is just how it starts, and that they’ll evolve rapidly and grow massive fangs and start dive-bombing from the heavens straight into our necks by 2024 at the latest, but still. This is helpful. I feel better.

Or at least I felt better until I read this from an old article in The Atlantic.

Ballooning spiders operate within this planetary electric field. When their silk leaves their bodies, it typically picks up a negative charge. This repels the similar negative charges on the surfaces on which the spiders sit, creating enough force to lift them into the air. And spiders can increase those forces by climbing onto twigs, leaves, or blades of grass. Plants, being earthed, have the same negative charge as the ground that they grow upon, but they protrude into the positively charged air. This creates substantial electric fields between the air around them and the tips of their leaves and branches—and the spiders ballooning from those tips.

THE DEATH SPIDERS ARE RIDING ELECTRICITY THROUGH THE SKY AND COMING FOR YOUR FAMILY WITH THEIR SMALL BUT PRESUMABLY GROWING FANGS.

The lesson here is to never read anything. Just watch cartoons and YouTube compilations of idiots trying to do stunts. And eat donuts. Inside. Away from the electrospiders.

Please be safe.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still remarkably good after 15 record-breaking seasons, including the recent highlight, season 11’s “Charlie Catches a Leprechaun.” (One of my favorite things about Sunny is you don’t have to explain the episode plot. It’s right there in the title.) It’s the closest the comedy has come to doing a full-blown St. Patrick’s Day episode, which is surprising for a show about a bunch of drunks owning an Irish bar in Philadelphia. But the Gang is going all out for St. Patrick’s Day this year.

“This was the dumbest and most fun thing we’ve ever done together,” Rob McElhenney tweeted on Friday, along with a teaser for an upcoming episode of The Always Sunny Podcast. The podcast, hosted by creators McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton, along with writer and producer Megan Ganz, is an episode-by-episode look at the FXX series. The next episode, for season three’s “The Gang Gets Held Hostage,” will be uploaded on March 14, three days before Saint Patrick’s Day.

I think you can see where this is going.

“I think we should do an episode of the podcast, and I don’t know where everybody is with their drinking these days, but we should do possibly a podcast where we are annihilated. Very, very drunk,” McElhenney suggested. Smash cut to everyone doing shots, Charlie holding guitar for some reason, and Rob and Glenn (jokingly) threatening to fight each other. Hopefully no one brought a plate of their famous mac and cheese.

You can catch up with the podcast below.

Disney is currently being raked over the coals for its tepid response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which is on track to be signed into law and do significant damage to LGBTQ+ students. However, now, the House of Mouse is also being hit from the right as the conservative Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) released a press release blasting Disney for its plans to add the slate of TV-MA Marvel Netflix series to Disney+.

While PTC “applauded” Disney+ for its plans to include a new suite of parental controls to coincide with the Marvel series arriving on the platform on March 16, the conservative parents group warns that adding mature content to the streaming service “destroys your brand.” Via the official press release:

The company’s eponymous platform Disney+ logically marketed itself as a family-friendly streaming service, and parents have placed their trust in Disney to deliver just that. It seems wildly ‘off-brand’ for Disney+ to add TV-MA and R-rated programming to this platform, ostensibly to increase subscription revenue. So what comes next, adding live striptease performances in Fantasyland at Disney World?” said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television and Media Council.

Wow, they went right to strippers at Disney World. That’s certainly a choice. As the PTC continued to make its dubious case, the group argued that Disney+ will end up losing subscribers as parents reject the addition of mature content.

“There is no need for Disney+ to compete with the explicit content on other streaming platforms,” the PTC said. “Disney is already at a competitive advantage with a streaming platform that is the safest one out there for families. Its foray into TV-MA-rated fare will forever tarnish its family friendly crown.”

Considering the Marvel movies and live-action series have been a massive hit for Disney, it’s safe to assume that a lot of people aren’t going to balk at the inclusion of the Netflix shows even if they are grittier (and sporadically more provocative) than the usual Marvel fare. Not really seeing a mass parent exodus over that one.

(Via Parents Television and Media Council)

Not everyone was enthused to hear about Travis Scott’s proposed Project HEAL initiative, which the Texas rapper announced earlier this week. Travis donated $5 million to local community-based funds such as HBCU scholarships and mental health programs, as well as the U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Event Safety. However, the family of one of the victims of the Astroworld Festival disaster was unimpressed, calling the move a “PR stunt” that he could later use to make himself look good in court when the combined slew of cases against him goes to trial.

Bernon and Tericia Blount, the grandparents of Ezra Blount, the youngest of the Astroworld attendees who were killed as a result of the crowd crush during Travis’ headlining set at the festival, aren’t convinced Travis is just giving out of the goodness of his heart. Tericia told Rolling Stone, “It’s a PR stunt. He’s pretty much trying to sway the jurors before they’re even assembled. He’s trying to make himself look good, but it doesn’t look that way to someone with our eyes. What we’re seeing is that he’s done wrong, and now he’s trying to be the good guy and trying to give his own verdict on safety.” Bernon agreed, “Every time he does something like this, it’s an ongoing reminder.”

Meanwhile, the lawyer for Ezra’s father Treston Blount, who filed a separate lawsuit from the 9-year-old’s grandparents, believes that Travis’ Project HEAL announcement may have flouted court orders, violating a gag order instated to ensure objectivity from the jury. “Blount and the other plaintiffs herein do not have the high profile ability to sway public opinion as defendant Scott — an international music star — and his sophisticated media team do,” wrote Blount’s lawyer, Robert Hilliard, in an emergency motion to “immediately clarify” whether the gag order “applies equally to lawyers and parties.”

Meanwhile, Travis’ spokesperson, Stephanie Rawlings Blake, called Hilliard’s statement “shameful and beyond cynical,” continuing, “It is also disappointing that Mr. Hilliard would attack Project HEAL, a series of philanthropic gestures designed to give students and young people a leg up. Project HEAL is a continuation of Travis Scott’s longstanding work, including academic scholarships and creative design programs for underprivileged students.” Travis’ lawyers have since filed their own statements defending the star’s right to “make public statements about his ongoing philanthropic work, even as it relates to public safety.”

Bridgerton‘s second season shall arrive within weeks, and thankfully, the Shondaland show has already bestowed us with a trailer that’s filled with scandalous moments and touches upon the steaminess to come, hopefully beyond the “jizzing in blankets” so prominently highlighted (and as pointed out by John Oliver) in the show’s debut. No Duke Simon shall be found, but Anthony Bridgerton is around, smoldering and falling into bodies of water while looking for a match, and the show’s newest leading lady, Simone Ashley (top left, above) is doing the rounds to discuss her experiences.

Simone spoke with Glamour UK to discuss her role as Kate, who is unafraid to let Anthony know what she really thinks when he gets all wrapped up in Anthony’s courting of her sister, Edwina. Things get complicated, as this show tends to do, and we can all guess who really ends up with Anthony (though we may not be correct). And as Simone indicates, this show’s dedication to following the female gaze (particularly in sex scenes) doesn’t extend to all aspects of what’s ideal for women. Yup, there’s one convention that the show really insists upon holding onto, and that would be those corsets. Simone doesn’t hold back on discussing how dreadful (and potentially injury-causing) those contraptions turn out to be:

“On my first day, I was like, ‘OK, first day as a leading lady, got to eat lots of food, be really energized.” So, I had this massive portion of salmon and that’s when I needed to be sick, basically because I was wearing the corset. I realised when you wear the corset, you just don’t eat. It changes your body. I had a smaller waist very momentarily. Then the minute you stop wearing it, you’re just back to how your body is. I had a lot of pain with the corset, too. I think I tore my shoulder at one point!”

Yeah, yikes and no thanks. The odd thing about those omnipresent corsets, too, is that, for a lot of the dresses on Bridgerton, they don’t really appear to be necessary? In the above photo and the one below, the dress designs don’t include cinched waists.

Perhaps the corsets are the one thing that the show’s hanging onto in order to remind everyone that, even though this is a reimagining of the Regency era, it’s still a period piece. But heck, I doubt anyone would complain if they altogether burned those corsets.

Bridgerton returns on March 25, and after that, three more seasons shall follow.

(Via Glamour UK)