Month: June 2023

Noel Gallagher is once again getting involved in the ongoing feud between him and The 1975’s Matty Healy.

This time, he has thrown Taylor Swift’s name into the mix, after hearing about the rumored couple’s supposed breakup. In his words, during an appearance on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Gallagher feels it’s what he deserves.

“Taylor has obviously said, ‘Now look, keep your f*cking nose out of that Gallagher business, or we are f*cking through,’” Gallagher said “And he couldn’t help it.”

“Swifty, God bless her, said, ‘I can’t deal with this sh*t because once he’s done with you, he is gonna come after me and I’m not f*cking having it. So, I’m sorry, Matty, you gotta go,’” he added. “Serves him right!”

The musician’s comments about Swift eventually made the rounds online and fans aren’t having it. “If I was Taylor Swift I’d tweet ‘huge fan of @liamgallagher’ and then turn off my phone,” one wrote, with others joking about a similar subject on the feud between the two brothers.

Gallagher’s tensions with Healy started after The 1975 singer commented on the possibility of an Oasis reunion, saying, “There’s not one kid, not one person, going to a High Flying Birds gig or a Liam Gallagher gig that would not rather be at an Oasis gig.”

This also isn’t the first time Noel Gallagher has thrown some shade at Swift. In a different Rolling Stone interview from 2015 (via Far Now), he criticized the fact that she was called a songwriter.

“Who says that?” he said. “Her parents… name these people. You’re f*cking lying. She seems like a nice girl but no one has ever said those words, and you f*cking know it.”

Entertainment mogul (and Gone Girl standout) Tyler Perry, who has been recognized by Forbes as a billionaire and who pulled off one of the first successful production bubbles during the pandemic, is the subject of a recent report on BET that hasn’t checked out as valid.

However, signs do point towards the Madea creator potentially buying BET. In April, Perry went on record with Entertainment Tonight in response to louder-than-whispers assertions that he would soon take the cable channel from CBS/Paramount Global. Perry has, of course, long since been whipping up multiple series (including Ruthless and Bruh) for BET, and he made it clear that his desire to full-on own BET wasn’t simply from rumortown:

“Rumor? No, it’s not a rumor,” Perry shared. “I’ve been there for four years now and had tremendous success. I wasn’t expecting this to happen, so, yes — if that is possible, I’m very, very interested in taking as much of it…”

He continued, “If it’s possible, I’m gonna take as much of it as I can.”

However, Perry is not the only interested buyer. Diddy would also love to get in on that, and it looks like another outlet jumped the gun and decided to report that Perry had a done deal. The report surfaced as a claimed exclusive from a site called TheStreamr, and although the report quickly spread, the Huffington Post’s Phil Lewis noted on Twitter that the report has evaporated: “Just FYI, the original report on this Tyler Perry BET news has been taken down.”

In other words, not so fast, Bruh. Although if Buff Perry has his way, the news could become real at some point, so stay tuned.

(Via ET Online & Phil Lewis on Twitter)

As part of Pride Month, Joe Biden invited hundreds of guests, many from the LGBTQ+ community, for a White House event over the weekend. “I want to send a message to the entire community — especially to transgender children: You are loved. You are heard. You’re understood. And you belong,” the president said. First Lady Jill Biden added, “This year’s Pride is caught between the push and pull of progress. Outside the gates of this house are those who want to drag our country backwards.”

Those “backwards” people (a.k.a. conservatives) are having a collective meltdown over the Pride event, not only for its mere existence, but also because a transgender activist and influencer flashed her breasts on the lawn.

“I had the honor of attending @WhiteHouse Pride, the largest one in history where the pride flag flew for the first time. This is trans joy. We’re here at the white house unapologetically trans, queer, and brown #foryourpride #pridemonth #whitehouse #potus #flotus #dcpride #trans #transjoy #lgbt @POTUS @FLOTUS,” Rose Montoya (she/they) tweeted, along with a video from the event. You can see it here. As recapped by Mediaite:

In the video, Montoya met with the president and First Lady Jill Biden and took photos, as children could be seen in the background. Just seconds later, the video transitioned to Montoya exposing and shaking her breasts on the White House lawn — just meters away from the Truman Balcony — as a voice could be heard saying, “Are we topless at the White House?”

Would you believe conservatives didn’t enjoy the answer to that question? The scandalized reactions aren’t worth sharing (it’s the usual moral outrage that has led to silly boycotts of Bud Light and Target), with one exception.

Somehow, it always comes back to Hitler.

Anyway, Montoya, who told the Guardian that she’s “spoken to a lot of my trans friends and colleagues, and we’ve all noticed less brands seeking partnerships and smaller budgets for Pride campaigns” this year due, responded to the uproar with a new video. The caption: “Free the nipple.”

(Via Mediaite)

In case you missed it: During a Q&A with Billboard last week, Garth Brooks spoke about Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, which the singer is opening in Nashville’s South Broadway District. He said, “I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another. And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an asshole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”

That was in reference to the conservative backlash Bud Light has faced for its partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, and Brooks’ words earned some unfavorable responses from John Rich and Florida congressman Matt Gaetz. Brooks, though, seems unbothered.

Yesterday, Brooks hosted an Inside Studio G livestream and addressed the situation (as Billboard reports), saying, “We did an interview with Melinda Newman from Billboard, and from that came quite a little bit of a stir. So let’s […] address two things on it. One is diversity. Inclusiveness: That’s me. That’s always been me. […] Everybody’s got their opinions, but inclusiveness is always going to be me. I think diversity is the answer to the problems that are here and the problems that are coming. So I love diversity. All-inclusive, so all are welcome. I understand that that might not be other people’s opinions, but that’s OK, man. They have their opinions, they have their beliefs, I have mine.”

He concluded, “Here’s the deal, man: If you want to come to Friends In Low Places, come in. Come in with love. Come in with tolerance, patience. Come in with an open mind, and it’s cool. And if you’re one of those people who just can’t do that, I get it. If you ever are one of those people who want to try, come! Let’s have some fun. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.”

The Beatles are still massive: In 2022, of albums that were released 20 or more years ago, the group’s 1 compilation was the fifth-biggest on Spotify. They’re not exactly releasing new music these days, though, but that is actually set to change later this year: Paul McCartney has revealed that thanks to AI, he has finished work on “the final” Beatles song and it’s set for release in 2023.

In an interview on Radio 4’s Today Programme (as NME reports), McCartney spoke about how for the Get Back documentary, Peter Jackson and dialogue editor Emile de la Rey used AI technology to isolate vocals from old audio clips. He said:

“[Jackson] was able to extricate [John Lennon’s] voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar’ So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles’ record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway. We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year.”

McCartney didn’t say what the song is, but NME speculates its an unreleased song from Lennon in 1978, titled “Now And Then.” McCartney previously explained why the track was never released, saying, “It didn’t have a very good title, it needed a bit of reworking, but it had a beautiful verse and it had John singing it. [But] George didn’t like it. The Beatles being a democracy, we didn’t do it.”

People on the internet may be complaining that Hollywood is only greenlighting reboots and remakes for new media in 2023, but thankfully, the same can’t be said for indie music. Sure, this year has brought the return of indie staples like The National’s lauded First Two Pages Of Frankenstein and Gorillaz’s hit-packed Cracker Island, but leaves plenty of room for newcomers like Wednesday and Blondshell to make a sizeable splash.

Experimentation is a welcome aspect of the indie genre, and artists have more than delivered thus far in 2023 thanks to releases by 100 Gecs, Yaeji, and Yves Tumor. Whether you’re looking to escape into another world, headbang to some new releases, or simply throw on a laid-back album to barbecue to, the indie genre has it all. It can be hard to keep up with many indie albums that have already dropped this year, but Uproxx has you covered. Here are our picks for the best indie albums of 2023, so far.

100 Gecs — 10,000 Gecs

100 Gecs could have so easily had their moment in the meme sun with their 2019 debut album 1000 Gecs and then faded away forever. The songs were both catchy and off-the-wall weird, a delicate balance that’s not easy to pull off on a single album, let alone two. They did it again, though, on 10000 Gecs. How? Songwriting. Throughout the album are compositions that reach out through their alternative, kooky grime and smack you in the face with catchy hooks and memorable lyrics. The inevitable 100,000 Gecs can’t come soon enough. – Derrick Rossignol

Arlo Parks — My Soft Machine

After first making a name for herself with her poetic lyrics and touching confessions on mental health and queerness, UK artist Arlo Parks returned with her sophomore album My Soft Machine. Living up to the accolades that came along with her debut (which included two Grammy nominations and the Mercury Prize for Album Of The Year) Parks doubles down on her revelations about the realities of relationships and struggling with depression, this time adding synths into the mix. Lush indie earworms like “Purple Phase” and the Phoebe Bridgers-featuring “Pegasus,” Parks’ My Soft Machine continues to prove she’s one of the best indie songwriters of her generation. – Carolyn Droke

Blondshell — Blondshell

LA-based songwriter Blondshell was the latest buzzy indie songwriter to arrive on the scene in 2023. Her self-titled debut offers a realistic snapshot of navigating your early 20s, relationship woes, and a heaping pile of self-doubt included. Blondshell opens with a song titled “Veronica Mars,” referencing the early aughts hit TV show. But that’s not the only ’00s reference you’ll find sprinkled throughout the album. The blown-out guitars and tangible angst call back to early alt-rock, along with singer Sabrina Teitelbaum’s earnest yet at-times guttural vocal delivery. Her lyrics pack an emotional gut-punch, my personal favorite being, “My kink is when you tell me that you think I’m pretty” on “Kiss City.” – C.D.

Boygenius — The Record

When Boygenius — the supergroup comprised of Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers — first appeared with their 2018 self-titled EP, its members were known indie quantities but not quite the stars that they are in 2023. Their steady rise makes their debut LP, The Record, all the more of an event, and has found them on the cover of Rolling Stone, headlining festivals, and even appearing on the massive Taylor Swift stadium tour. But what might get lost in the hype and the friendship-focused narrative is that Boygenius also finds three magnificent songwriters working in their prime, tapping both new and unfamiliar territory in equal measure, and discovering parts of themselves that can only be illuminated through the artistry of others. – Philip Cosores

Gorillaz — Cracker Island

From Snoop Dogg to Kali Uchis, Gorillaz have always positioned themselves as expert collaborators. And their latest album Cracker Island is no exception. Throughout the 10-track release, their first since 2020’s project Song Machine, Gorillaz whisk up a collection of lush and attention-grabbing songs that prove they’re still innovators after over 20 years as a band. The project spotlights artists from Bad Bunny with “Tormenta” to Tame Impala with “New Gold” (and even includes a collab with Stevie Nicks!), showing that the band is at their best when they work with other artists. The end might be nigh for the current iteration of Gorillaz — according to Damon Albarn — but with Cracker Island, the band has primed itself to continue pushing the boundaries of indie music, no matter who’s at its helm. – C.D.

Hot Mulligan — Why Would I Watch

The singles for the new Hot Mulligan album Why Would I Watch consisted of “Shhhh! Golf Is On” and “Gans Media Retro Games,” both of which are some of their best material to date. Their pop-punk earworms explode with unabating riffs and fervent shouts; every melody has the stickiness of a song you’d hear on the radio. The Blink-182 influence is directly confronted on the ridiculously catchy and inconsolably depressing track “It’s A Family Movie She Hates Her Dad”: “Sit me down and give me the confessional / Stay together for the kid / Isn’t that original?” – Danielle Chelosky

Indigo De Souza — All Of This Will End

Indigo De Souza is a master of imbuing sad songs with a contagious aura of hope. Though “Time Back,” the opener of her new album All Of This Will End, dwells on loss, it bursts with lively synthesizers and ends on an optimistic note: “When I come home / I will begin again.” This is also true of the confessional yet jubilant “Smog,” as well as the anxious “Parking Lot.” The images of pain are all outlined in a revelatory glow that forces her to recognize the significance of feeling anything at all. – D.C.

The National — First Two Pages Of Frankenstein

This is the most National-like that The National has sounded in years. While there are plenty of high-profile guest stars — Taylor Swift! Phoebe Bridgers! Sufjan Stevens! — First Two Pages Of Frankenstein at its best when they re-focus on their most essential attribute, which comes when these lifelong friends and brothers plug in, stand in a circle, block out the outside world, and sound like a great band. – Steven Hyden

Wednesday — Rat Saw God

On the previous Wednesday LP, 2021’s Twin Plagues, singer-songwriter Karly Hartzman wrote evocative story songs set in what I like to call the Gummo South, a partly real and partly made-up region in which dead dogs and burned-down Dairy Queens dot the landscape like Starbucks crowd street corners in big cities. But on Rat Saw God, her songwriting exhibits a level of detail that is practically physical. The title alone of the opening track, “Hot Rotten Grass Smell,” filled my nostrils with the aroma of a humid late July day. – S.H.

Yaeji — With A Hammer

Yaeji simmered relatively under the radar as a beloved figure in the electronic scene for years before impressing with her debut 2020 mixtape What We Drew. Now, it’s debut album time. With A Hammer came out in April and it too is a critical hit. She clearly hasn’t let early success coerce her into taming down her experimental ways in pursuit of a more commercial sound. Singles like “For Granted” and “Passed Me By” are as adventurous as ever while also maintaining an undeniable charm, which can also be said for the rest of one of the year’s most interesting projects. – D.R.

Yves Tumor — Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)

It’s not quite radical enough to qualify as “experimental” and not quite catchy enough to work as a full-on pop move. But sonically this is one of the best-sounding indie albums of 2023’s first half. With the assistance of Noah Goldstein, an engineer who worked on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Alan Moulder, who’s one of the great architects of ’90s alt-rock, Praise A Lord invites you to get lost in its grooves. It’s a very good headphone record. The instrumental tones are on-point. – S.H.

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

It’s common to hear anonymous dispatches about Hollywood sets where an actor or director created a toxic environment for the cast and crew. This type of behavior feels like a given in a high-pressure creative field with a lot of egos and money on the line. But does it have to be?

An anonymous employee from the set of HBO’s “Barry” has some refreshing news that’ll delight anyone who’s a fan of the show created by its star, Bill Hader, and Alex Berg. It should also give hope to anyone interested in working in film that not all sets are toxic.

An anonymous post on the IA (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) Stories Instagram account said that Bill Hader was a true professional who cared about people working on their set, no matter their job. IA Stories is an account where “TV/Film workers share stories [anonymously] about our work environments to build solidarity across crews/crafts.” Hader directed every episode of the recently released 4th and final season of the critically-acclaimed show.

The post was tweeted out by Amrita Khalid, a reporter for The Verge who specializes in writing about podcasts and audiobooks.

u201cAdd Bill Hader to the list of Hollywood directors who treat their crew like humans and arenu2019t assholes.u201d

— Amrita Khalid (@Amrita Khalid)
1686172863

“The series finale of Barry is now wrapped, and I’d like to share some thoughts on my experience working with Bill Hader and his team,” the IATSE guild member writes. “All of the actors have spoken about what a great director he is, but he’s also great from a crew standpoint, and it makes me believe that people like him who worked as a PA will end up making the best directors.”

Hader came to Los Angeles in 1999 from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and worked as a production assistant with the goal that he would one day become a director. Four years later, he joined a Second City improv class on a whim and two years later was on the cast of “Saturday Night Live.”

“He knows firsthand how much of a beating the crew can take when a director comes in ill-prepared,” the guild member continued. “Bill worked extensively in prep and always came to set knowing exactly what he wanted. As a result, we worked the shortest hours I’ve ever worked in my whole career.”

The anonymous poster also has kind words for “Barry” star Henry Winkler who is known as one of the nicest people in Hollywood. Winkler played the iconic character Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli on “Happy Days” in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

“The real person who stole my heart was, of course, the Fonz himself. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it as long as anyone wants to hear it, Henry Winkler is a National treasure. … He makes you feel special just by looking at you.”

Hader told The New Yorker why his directing style caters to the needs of the people working on his set.

“I had those jobs. I know what it’s like when someone at the top is miserable and yelling and screaming. It just makes everybody’s life miserable,” he said. “The crew and all these people, they have families and lives, and, yeah, they’re being paid, but nothing’s worth keeping someone up for twenty hours because you can’t make up your mind.”

“I’ve talked to directors who do a ton of takes, and as an actor, I’ve never felt like it helps me at all,” he told IndieWire. “I used to have that thing in my 20s with Kubrick, thinking shooting all those takes was really romantic and cool. But then once you actually start doing this stuff, you’re like, ‘That’s insane.’”

Hader keeps his set calm by using other people on set for mental health support when things get stressful. “It’s been brought to my attention that I can emotionally dump, and I treat people like my therapist. I think meditating helps,” he said.

There’s no shortage of stories out there showing how emotionally distant or out of touch some baby boomers can be. Younger generations are so fed up with it that they have their own catchphrase of frustration, for crying out loud.

The disconnect becomes especially visible in parenting styles. Boomers, who grew up with starkly different views on empathy, trauma and seeking help, have a reputation for being less than ideal support systems for their children when it comes to emotional issues.

But even if they often have a different way of showing it, boomer parents do have love for their children, and many try their best to be a source of comfort in some way when their kid suffers.

Occupational therapist Jacqueline (@jac.rose8) recently shared a lovely example of this by posting a video of her boomer dad helping her through a divorce in the best way he knew how.

Turns out, it was the perfect thing.

“My husband just said he’s divorcing me and my dad came over and I was non-functional in bed,” Jacqueline wrote her video, adding that “…boomer dad didn’t know what to do, so he played his favorite song, the Dua Lipa ‘Rocket Man’ remix 😂”

In the clip, Jacqueline’s dad never really looks at her, but shifts the focus by describing what he imagines while listening to the song and performing the sweetest dad dance ever.

Watch:

@jac.rose8 #divorcetok #divorcesucks #divorcesupport #divorcesupportforwomen #divorcesupportsquad #supportivedad #disabilitytiktok ♬ original sound – Jacqueline

The heartwarming moment served as a great reminder that words aren’t always necessary.

‘“I am CRYING. This is so precious, he is trying his hardest to be there for you in any capacity. How pure ❤️,” one person wrote.

Another added, “This would instantly make me feel better.”

Even Jacqueline shared in the comments that her dad “didn’t know what to say but he was there and helped me in such a sweet way. He’s the best 🥰”

Proving that he has multiple love languages, Jacqueline later shared that her dad also went out to Home Depot to replace her lightbulbs. Not only that, but her mom also made Jacqueline’s favorite dinner. Maybe boomers are okay after all.

Really, it goes to show that great parents can be found in every generation. Part of what makes them great is knowing that they don’t need to be perfect in order to show up when things are hard. Being there and sharing their love is enough.

When we think of a “troll” in the internet age, we usually picture some sad sap wasting his one wild and precious life making inflammatory statements and luring people into inane arguments online.

But out in the physical world, some very different kinds of trolls are luring people away from their computers and out into nature. These benevolent trolls tower over humans with their enormous size and have an important message to share.

Also, they look really freaking cool.

Danish “recycle artist” Thomas Dambo has spent the past nine years building dozens of giant trolls all around the world. Each one is made entirely of recycled materials, and each is unique, with its own delightful name and origin story. Hector the Protector, who lives on the water’s edge in Puerto Rico, came first in 2014. When Hector was first built, he was holding a rock to throw at anyone who threatened to hurt the island. After being damaged in Hurricane Maria, Hector “learned from his violent ways” and was rebuilt holding a lantern instead of a rock to guide sailors coming in during a storm.

Now there are at least 100 different trolls residing on nearly every continent.

Dambo has even created an entire elaborate folklore involving these trolls. For instance, legend has it that a global gathering of trolls that happens every 211 years, and in the last gathering, the trolls became angry with the humans who have stopped listening to nature and have been harming the Earth. They ultimately decided the best course of action was to eat the humans to save the planet.

But a group of six young trolls believed the humans were just young and ignorant, and because they “only live around eighty circles of light,” they can’t grasp the big picture. These young trolls decided to form a gang to save the humans and help them learn instead of destroying them.

Perusing Thomas Dambo’s website makes it clear that these trolls are not just cool art sculptures, but living parts of an ongoing story that involves all of us, both in a literary sense and a literal one. The lore puts a fun and fantastical spin on the very real issue of humans being out of touch and so often in conflict with nature.

Take a look and listen to this brief tale about seven trolls and the magical tower they built to help the humans see more clearly.

And this magical world just keeps expanding. In the summer of 2023, he’s bringing his troll installations to the U.S. with his “Way of the Bird King” tour. Dambo and a group of 22 builders will be traveling from coast to coast creating 10 new trolls out of more than 1,000 discarded wooden pallets.

“It’s always been a dream for me to go on this coast-to-coast road trip, especially when I was a rapper touring around Denmark in a big bus,” says Dambo. “So in some way, this feels like my big American breakthrough. My hope is that these sculptures not only showcase the beauty of repurposed materials, but also inspire people to reconnect with nature, spark their imagination, and foster a greater sense of environmental responsibility.”

The first four trolls to be created on the tour will be:

6/28 Hainesport, New Jersey — a female troll named Big Rusty

7/5 South Londonderry, Vermont — a male troll named Lost Finn

7/21 Germfask, Michigan — a male troll named Benny Beardfisher

8/4 Cripple Creek, Colorado — a female troll named Rita Rockplanter

After that, Dambo and his team will head to the Pacific Northwest, where six more trolls will make their homes. Exact dates are still to be announced, but these trolls will be built in that region: Ole Ole, Pia Peacekeeper, Iduns Flute, Jacob Two Trees, Oscar the Bird King and FiFi Feet Splinter.

If they are anything like the trolls that currently live in Denmark, China, France, South Korea, Australia, Chile, Ireland and other places (including a handful of locations in the U.S.—you can find them all on the Troll Map here), they will surely draw people’s attention. (But hopefully not too much attention. Poor Isak Heartstone, a troll in Breckenridge, Colorado, that was built as part of an arts festival, had to be destroyed and rebuilt in another location because too many tourists wanted a troll selfie with him, which caused complaints from locals.)

Check out a few other trolls from Dambo’s ongoing “Trail of a Thousand Trolls” project.

Some of Dambo’s trolls interact with the human world:

It takes a team of people to bring the trolls to life.

What a wonderful, whimsical way to bring attention to how humans and nature interact.

You can find more about Thomas Dambo and his magical world of Earth-loving trolls on his website, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Mr. Rogers was a kindness icon, and his lessons continue to ripple out in the world around us. People quote Mr. Rogers when they’re feeling afraid and not sure what to do during moments of tragedy. Some of his songs are sung in preschools and homes to this day. The man just exuded kindness, empathy and compassion and continually showed it on and off his show.

Looking back on some of his actions, it seems he was pretty consistently ahead of his time, from inviting his Black mailman to put his feet in the baby pool with him as a form of public protest against segregation to him finding a way to model diversity and inclusion after he received a letter from a blind girl who was worried about his fish eating. It’s why he started saying out loud, “I’m feeding the fish,” in an effort to include blind children.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Mr. Rogers didn’t shy away from the talk of sex education for children while on “The Tonight Show” in 1980.

While holding his comments to 2023 standards wouldn’t be fair, it’s safe to acknowledge that any talk of sex education for children was way ahead of its time in 1980. Of course, there were gender-normative teachings in the song itself—it was 40 years ago after all—but while Johnny Carson and the audience laugh about children thinking they could change genders, Mr. Rogers did not. It was obvious that he took the topic seriously while others may have been a bit uncomfortable.

Rogers explained that while his show is mostly watched by preschoolers, there may be older people that watch the show as well. When Carson asked if preschool was too young for the topic of sex education, everyone’s favorite neighbor informed the talk show host that children start noticing the differences between bodies around that age. This is where his song, “Everybody’s Fancy” came in as he recited two verses.

The song doesn’t go into detail about sex, but it is a way to talk about the differences in bodies and how just because every body is different, that doesn’t mean something is wrong. When people think about sex education, they often think about it on adult terms and experiences, so Rogers coming right out and giving an example of what sex education looks like for young kids was extremely progressive for the early 80s. In fact, he started singing this song in 1967, but in true Mr. Rogers fashion, he updated the lyrics in the early 90s.

“Becoming more sensitive to gender issues, Fred Rogers slightly altered the third verse of this song for the ‘You Are Special’ CD release,” according to The Neighborhood Archives.

The original third verse read, “Only girls can be the mommies. Only boys can be the daddies,” but the revised lyric read, “Girls grow up to be the mommies. Boys grow up to be the daddies.” This may seem like a minor change, but it removes the binary of “only,” which when accompanied with the second verse didn’t account for people whose “fancy insides” didn’t quite match their “fancy outsides.”

While we will never know how Mr. Rogers would speak on today’s understanding of gender, based on his history, his change in lyrics and his thoughts around early introduction to sex education, it wouldn’t be a jump to think he’d be in favor of kindness and compassion.