Category: Trending

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

Cursed (Friday, Netflix series) — The streaming giant builds onto its library of original fantasy series with this adaptation of Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler’s novel. This show keeps the Miller worldbuilding tradition alive while retooling King Arthur’s origin story to explore what would happen if the legendary Excalibur sword — which is meant for the one true king — chose a queen instead. This season is an entertaining dark-fantasy romp that builds promise for future adventure to come.

Absentia: Season 3 (Friday, Amazon Prime Series) — Alright, so this series may not be fantastical, but it’s also set in a world where we can lose ourselves… in FBI-related shenanigans. This season, Emily comes back after her suspension, all ready to dig back into work when a criminal case hits far too close to home

Brave New World (Peacock series) — This series is a dreamy, devilish, and delightful take on Aldous Huxley’s classic sci-fi 1932 book for NBCUniversal’s streaming service. Starring Harry Lloyd, Alden Eichenbach, and Jessica Findlay, it’s hyperkinetic and experimental while dabbling in both grit and gloss as it explores a new “utopia.”

Down To Earth: (Netflix series) — Zac Efron’s new travel series won our own Brian Grubb over in 13 minutes flat. Zac travels to Iceland and learns how to “bake rye bread by burying it underground in the piping hot soil that is heated by a nearby volcano,” and I think everyone should be sold by that description.

Intelligence (Peacock series) — David Schwimmer’s return to TV comedy “pivots” in the wrong direction. On its face, this is a workplace comedy and a Britcom, but Schwimmer’s misogynistic and homophobic boss fails to be redeemed even though humor.

Father Soldier Son (Friday, documentary on Netflix) — This New York Times doc revolves around a former platoon sergeant who returns home from Afghanistan following a serious combat injury. As he works to help raise his young sons, this film takes a look at military service’s intergenerational effects, along with the meaning of sacrifice, purpose, duty, and American manhood.

Kissing Game (Friday, Netflix series) — The timing on this series feels eerie, given that it takes place in Brazil, where panic takes over during an outbreak of a contagious disease that’s spread by kissing. It’s also a coming of age tale, and a dark examination of attempting to connect in a reality that’s full of mistrust.

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home (Peacock movie) — A twisted case must get extralegal for Shawn and Gus as they visit their old stomping grounds to an unwelcome reception.

In case you managed to miss these over the past week:

Fatal Affair (Netflix movie, Thursday) — Get ready for heavy Fatal Attraction and Obsessed vibes with this cautionary tale full of melodrama. Nia Long stars as a wife (Ellie) with a “perfect marriage” to Stephen Bishop’s Marcus, but of course, temptation strikes because (I guess) she’s bored, and the passion has faded. Enter David (portrayed by Omar Epps), who lures Ellie into a passionate encounter, and although her conscience strikes at the last possible moment, it’s far too late to get rid of him.

Palm Springs (Hulu) — This Sundance hit from Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island partners is stylish and silly and absolutely fantastic. It also busted the Sundance acquisition record in a “nice” way, and it’s got a Groundhog Day-esque, summery twist.

The Old Guard (Netflix) — Charlize Theron kicking butt. What else must you know before checking out what might be the closest thing to a summer blockbuster that we’ll see this year? Well, she’s also an immortal mercenary, who’s leading a group of immortal mercenaries, and they might see their immortal-ness exposed, which means they might no longer be immortal. Sounds like a winner.

Greyhound (Apple TV+, Friday) — Need a little Hanx in your life? The Saving Private Ryan star is doing World War II again, and it’s an exciting ride that puts the sea-pedal to the metal from beginning to end. Turn down the lights and relish this one.

Relic (VOD, Friday) — This critically acclaimed haunted-house movie from IFC and director Natalie Erika James did respectable drive-in business last weekend. Starring Robyn Nevin, Emily Mortimerm and Bella Heathcoate, here’s your chance to receive a fresh bone-chilling experience in the privacy of your own home.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Friday Night In With The Morgans (Friday, AMC 10:00 p.m.) — Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton are at it again while hosting celebrity friends. This week, Lennie James from The Walking Dead universe and Bethany Joy Lenz from One Tree Hill will be on hand to distract us from reality.

P-Valley (Sunday, Starz 8:00 p.m.) — The club’s private booth sees bared souls and negotiated deals while The Pink’s fundraising carwash sees an unwelcome blast from the past.

Black Monday (Sunday, Showtime 8:00 p.m.) — “I Don’t Like Mondays” is the name of this second season finale, so good luck in getting that Boomtown Rats song out of your head.

Perry Mason (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — Mason visits his ex-wife and son in an attempt to make amends for being a lousy dad, possibly, while Mason and Delta embark upon an important errand.

The Chi (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Trig’s custody battle gets hairier while fight-or-flight instincts rear their collective head during Kevin’s adventure. Also, Emmett’s making the best of a predicament.

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — This true-crime docuseries is revolutionary, much like the Michelle McNamara book that fueled it. This week, Michelle hits the “Motherlode” after being granted to 37 boxes of evidence on the Golden State Killer, previously known as the East Area Rapist.

NOS4A2 (Sunday, AMC & BBC America 10:00 p.m.) — Charlie Manx will get his favor while Vic McQueen barrels stright into a deadly trap.

Outcry (Sunday, Showtime 10:00 p.m.) –A new hearing pokes holes in Greg Kelley’s case as this documentary continues to explore the high school football’s controversial conviction and sentencing for child molestation.

Desus & Mero (Sunday, Showtime 11:00 p.m.) — The illustrious guest is Don Cheadle.

The Los Angeles Clippers will not have a crucial player off of their bench for an undisclosed period of time. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Montrezl Harrell needed to leave the NBA’s bubble in Orlando on Friday. It is unclear exactly what spurred this decision, outside of Charania referring to this as “an emergency family matter.”

While the No. 1 priority is that Harrell and members of his family are safe and healthy, Charania reports that the expectation is that the former University of Louisville standout will return to the team at some point, although it is unclear when Los Angeles can expect to get him back.

The news of Harrell’s departure comes one day after New Orleans Pelicans standout Zion Williamson had to leave the bubble. Williamson needed to leave due to an “undisclosed family medical matter,” and he expects to return to the bubble at some point.

Harrell joined the Clippers three years ago and has turned into an indispensable member of the team’s bench. While he is expected to command a pretty penny as an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Harrell has averaged 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game this year while shooting 58 percent from the field.

This Fletch news feels different. Of all the many attempts to reboot Fletch over the last 30 plus years, no other actor (rumored or confirmed for the part) has been as not on the nose as Jon Hamm is for the role. From Jason Lee to Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Ben Affleck, and Jason Sudeikis (the last two options representing the best and most interesting of the bunch, to my mind), there has always been a seeming effort to make sure that the next Irwin M. Fletcher felt like a spiritual successor to the first. The fit of the Lakers jersey was destined to be perfect and fans of the original film(s) would be serviced right and truly by a barrage of sarcasm and silly disguises. But maybe, in hindsight, that approach was wrong. Or maybe it was our perception of what makes a good Fletch that was off the mark.

On the surface, there is little about Jon Hamm that is reminiscent of Chevy Chase. One often comes off as commanding, the other is loose and always in play mode. But if you look a little deeper at the roles they’ve taken on, there are slight similarities.

In the ’80s, Chase played his most indelible characters on a spectrum ranging from aloof to smug and indifferent to if anyone else was having as much fun as he was. He was an asshole, and yet somehow likable. Especially in Fletch. Though he’d fake being in control, Fletch was often flailing, barely escaping tight situations by making things up as he went along. But he was also tough, able to take a punch or put someone in their place if they mistook his humor as a sign of weakness. That struggle, strength, and the character’s hunger for justice enmeshed with Chase’s specific charms and both a script (by Andrew Bergman) and source material (by novelist Gregory McDonald) that supernaturally played to those charms to make Fletch special.

In his signature role as Don Draper on Mad Men, Hamm played an ad man wired to make sure that he connected with everyone in every room, but it was all an effort to seduce them to his way of thinking. He was another asshole who was pretty much indifferent to everyone else’s existence but in a more severe way. More hidden and at a different speed. But Draper was also flailing.

In the years since Mad Men went off the air (and while it was on the air) Hamm has been put into a little bit of a Don Draper box. It’s not his fault. Draper is one of the most layered characters in TV history. A lover, a fighter, sad, strong, drunk (on power and drink), resilient, brilliant, frightened, and fearless. A terrible father, husband, and boss with shades of being warm and wonderful to those who loved him even if he could never quite process their love or find a way to not screw things up. How do you play against type when you’ve been given the chance to play all of the types with such gusto and all eyes on you for so long?

For years, Hamm has played with the perception of who people think he’s supposed to be on-screen. Kimmy Schmidt, SNL, Bridesmaids, and Baby Driver stand out, efforts that benefitted from the shock value of seeing “Don Draper” as a cult leader, a sexy saxman, a selfish lover prone to making weird sex faces, and an unrelenting villain. Efforts that have helped to break the box open. And yet, still, when you see the headline “Jon Hamm To Play Fletch,” don’t you cut to him in an immaculate suit, confident, and serious and wonder how that’s going to work? Again, it’s not a Jon Hamm problem, it’s an us problem, but it might be solvable thanks to the choice of source material.

Previous reboot attempts have centered on later books in the series, specifically Fletch Won and Son Of Fletch — offering a path to reboot by way of an origin story or a passing of the torch narrative. Both are appealing, but Confess, Fletch (the second in McDonald’s series and published in 1976) has other things going for it, particularly the thought that it’s a version of the character that’s in a decidedly different place than in the movie.

This book starts with Fletch visiting Boston from his new life in Italy. He’s still dismissive of authority and quick with a quip, but it’s a slightly more refined version with more personal stakes. This is such a great fit for Hamm, who is going to be asked to match the aesthetic of a character attempting to embrace opulence while immersed in the world of art. Someone who is going to likely navigate with humor and humanity while both pursuing an investigation and trying to avoid one thanks to the dead body that he finds in his borrowed apartment (there’s a nod to that same setup in the second Fletch movie, Fletch Lives, but it’s not the same story). Fletch has always been much more than a snide journalist in a Lakers jersey, Confess, Fletch and the passage of three decades makes that easier to remember and swallow.

Francis Xavier Flynn is another real game-changer here. And I mean that in a few ways. A character that McDonald eventually spun off into another series of novels, Flynn is a unique/quirky Boston police investigator with an interest in Fletch as a suspect. With Flynn, there’s great potential to create someone that can stand in against Fletch and make this into less of a one-man-show than the previous films. I’m excited to see the dynamic and what Hamm and his eventual co-star create. But turning to the colder, business side of things, there’s no way the success of Knives Out didn’t play a part in the selection of Confess, Fletch as the source material and this project getting a green light. That film is the gift that keeps on giving.

Remember, in addition to being cherished and a 30+ year unsolvable riddle, Fletch has some of the ingredients from which you can make a successful franchise — nostalgia and a ton of source material to pull from. The Fletchverse could be real one day. Maybe it was about more than finding the right Fletch over the years, maybe it was about realizing the power of having their own Benoit Blanc.

To speculate further on the composition of something at this early stage would be pointless, especially considering the cursed history of these projects that come on with a wave of excitement before dying on the vine for innumerable reasons. But I return to the initial point — this feels like it might be different owing to an actor and source material that seems to better position the film as something truly new with a pathway to success that isn’t purely dependent on nostalgia. If nothing else, it’s certainly worth an open mind and not lazy dismissals based on a limited view of what this can be.

Back in June, two women anonymously came forward on Twitter and accused Justin Bieber of sexual assault in 2014. After the reports gained traction, Bieber swiftly responded with an explanation of why both accounts were “factually impossible,” saying that “rumors are rumors but sexual abuse is something I don’t take lightly.”

Bieber previously filed a $10 million lawsuit against both accusers and claimed he would be working “closely” with authorities and Twitter to investigate the claims. Now, it seems the singer has had a legal breakthrough in the case.

According to NBC LA, a judge granted Bieber permission to subpoena Twitter on Thursday in order to gain information about the people behind the anonymous accounts. During the court hearing, Bieber’s lawyer, Evan Spiegel, told Judge Terry Green that they “just want to uncover who is behind these two accounts” and that “it may be the same person.”

Since the reports were anonymous, Spiegel told Judge Green during the hearing that the subpoena placed on Twitter will help identify the accusers and allow Bieber to serve them a summons.

As per NBC LA’s report, Judge Green originally mispronounced Bieber’s name before announcing his ruling and asked Speigel if he should know who the plaintiff is. Speigel responded that Bieber is a “recording artist well-known to certain demographics” and Judge Green replied: “I gather demographics not 73 and over.”

Lido is an artist whose work you probably know intimately without even realizing it. The Norwegian producer, singer, and songwriter has worked behind the boards with Jaden Smith, Ariana Grande, Mariah Carey, and A$AP Ferg, among others. He produced “Same Drugs” and “Angels,” two of the best songs on Chance The Rapper’s best album (Coloring Book obviously). He contributed two songs to the Netflix anime Carole and Tuesday (helmed by the director of Cowboy Bebop) and he’s worked extensively with Halsey, co-producing and writing six songs on the singer’s last two albums. Dude is everywhere.

With his latest album PEDER, Lido is stepping up the production and songwriting to a level the artist has only previously hinted at. His latest single, “Rise” is an uplifting, spiritual jam that presents Lido’s voice in a spacey backdrop of aquatic synths as he slips between a fragile falsetto and a strong resonant tenor. Throughout Rise, layers of percussion and synths are gradually added as the song blooms into a rhythmic bop that actually makes you feel hopeful in this bleak era.

In celebration of Lido’s newest single, we linked up with the producer and singer for a post-pandemic travel guide to his home city of Oslo, Norway. It’s might be a fair bit of time before travel is safe again, but we’re counting down the days until we can hop on a plane and hit up Lido’s Oslo suggestions with some earbuds in and those uplifting synths thrumming.

Best spot in Oslo to grab a coffee?

Tim Wendelboe’s

Tim Wendelboe’s is by far the best coffee I’ve ever had. There isn’t a day that goes by when I’m in town that I don’t grab a coffee (or three) there. It’s this quaint, very cozy corner shop and that first sip of their coffee feels like home, I miss it.

Best place to enjoy the outdoors in Oslo?

Aker River

Aker River, Oslo in the summer is the perfect place to be. The rushing river runs straight through the center of the city, and the scenery is straight out of a fairy tale. It’s my go-to place to sit down, relax, daydream, and read a good book. The nature in Norway is something I definitely miss when I’m in the States, there’s nothing like it here.

Best spot to grab lunch?

Mathallen

Mathallen is a giant food hall in Oslo. It’s this incredible, bustling space like a farmer’s market, and the food is out of this world. There are so many options to choose from, everything from noodles, to tacos, pizza, amazing mussels, anything you can think of. My favorite is the Fish soup (almost as good as my mom’s). It has the perfect amount of seafood with the right amount of creaminess.

Best dinner spot in Oslo?

Villa Paradiso

Villa Paradiso — another go-to place for me. They have these fresh, personal pizzas that come out of the oven piping hot every time, they’re amazing. Everything is made in-house, and you can definitely taste how fresh the ingredients are. They have this amazing truffle pizza, and I also love any pizza with burrata on it. So good!

Best sandwich spot in Oslo?

Godt Brod

Godt Brod has the best sandwich with bread so fresh you can smell it from down the block. I love simple food, like a sandwich, that gets elevated with incredible, fresh ingredients added to an already amazing dish. Sometimes I leave with an extra loaf of bread in tow because it is that good. They also make really delicious pastries and baked goods.

Best place to grab a drink?

Den Gamle Skobutikken

https://www.instagram.com/dengamleskobutikken/

Den Gamle Skobutikken has the best drinks in the city. This place has a really cool vibe, it’s very unique, and the cocktails are so bomb, too. My friend actually owns the place, so it’s a big gathering spot for us whenever I’m in town. I don’t get to see my friends as often as I’d like, so whenever I’m back in town you can always find us catching up here. I’ve even done a few listening parties there before.

Best place to catch a concert or live music?

Blaa

Blaa is such an amazing place for music in Oslo. It’s this venue in Downtown Oslo, a bit more underground, but it’s a really cool local spot. I even played there a few times when I was younger. They also serve really great food and the view from the patio is incredible, it’s a must-see if you’re in Oslo. I’m getting nostalgia just thinking about it.

Best spot to cop a fly pair of kicks?

YME

YME is one of my favorite stores on Earth. Everything is so well-curated and fire. They always have the best selection of all my favorite brands in town. They always show me love when I go and I’ve gotten some of my favorite pieces in my closet from there.

What is the best place in Oslo to escape?

The Oslo Opera House

The top of the Opera house is my favorite place to go to escape. The view is so beautiful. It’s a great place to go and clear your mind. The architecture is incredible and it’s one of those places that makes me feel grateful to have grown up in Norway.

After wearing a controversial face mask earlier this week that was captured by Rockets’ social media, All-NBA guard James Harden explained why he wore the mask in a conference call with media.

“It was just something that covered my whole beard. I thought it looked cool,” Harden said. “That was it.”

Harden added that he was not familiar with the symbolism of the art on the mask, which included a “Thin Blue Line” flag that has been associated with white supremacy and opposition to the movement for Black lives. The mask also featured a likeness of the Punisher, another symbol that has been used by “Blue Lives Matter” counter-protestors.

This NBA season is highly focused on promoting the Black Lives Matter movement and furthering the efforts of the league and its players around political engagement and anti-white supremacy activism. Harden made it clear the mask was not intended to diverge from that purpose.

“It wasn’t to make a political statement,” Harden said.

As conversations regarding history and racial reconciliation have overtaken the national discourse, many NBA players and other prominent athletes had to backtrack their messaging. Harden clearly didn’t want his position to be left to a social media post, and distanced himself from the political motivations behind others who have used similar symbolism to do harm.

In an alt-universe, a movie about the absence of consequences and the sameness of every day may have been rejected for being a little too on the nose during the broken Summer of 2020. But through the force of its charming cast and clever storytelling, Palm Springs manages to deliver on its awesome hype, offering thoughts about existence and love that are bound to resonate while also sparking conversations around things left unexamined or unexplained – particularly its ending. And that’s the real gift here: continued time-wasting opportunities to discuss something that isn’t tied to the nightmarish real-world news cycle.

Instead, it’s the quest for meaning and the fight against loneliness that we’re examining. Which is, believe it or not, a little easier to take right now. With that in mind, here’s a spoiler-filled guide to some of the questions the film leaves us with (including some that may be conjured by too much investigation) and a few stray thoughts.

What’s the deal with Nyles’ lack of a back story?

If you were trapped in a time-loop, you’d probably do everything Andy Samberg’s character, Nyles, does. The no-fucks-to-give attitude, beer can cavalcade, and ultra-casual dress needs no explanation. Ditto not wanting to reflect on the different levels of chaos he has inflicted in his more experimental phase. We get it. We’ve all played GTA with cheat codes in hand. But Nyles’ inability to recall what he did for a living before the loop seems a little weird. Like, seriously, he can’t even feel a hint of an idea around what he did (and how it was absolutely part-time realtor/full-time friendly weed guy)?

It’s clear Nyles has been stuck for a long, long time. That’s bolstered by his confession to Sarah (Cristin Milioti) that they’ve had sex thousands of times. But still, would your job be that forgettable even after a decade? I can’t see losing the emotional scars I’ve accumulated from my working life going back to when I was a 19-year-old clerk. I can dream about it, but I can’t see it.

Also, it’s weird that he never mentioned Fred the dog’s existence until the very end. Jobs come and go, but shaggy dogs imprint forever. Maybe Nyles’ refrain about how things “drift away” (and the loaded glance that followed) stems from an awareness that he’s forgetting things outside of his loop existence, offering him more of a reason to never feel anything.

The Time Loop has impacted people other than Nyles, Sarah, and Roy, right?

Nanna Schlieffen (June Squibb) definitely seems to know something is up at the end. Also, does Jerry (Tongayi Chirisa)? It’s interesting how he says it’s “interesting” when Nyles confesses his love for Sarah. What about Jena Friedman’s Daisy the Bartender? She seems to be surfing a wave of indifference that isn’t foreign to anyone who has had a service job, but maybe there’s more there to explain the detachment from everything and everyone around her. Maybe it’s just misdirection, but there’s a purpose and some weirdness attached to Nyles’ early days rant when he says to Daisy: “I know you know, but you don’t know that I know. Or do you know?” Maybe Daisy never went to the cave and isn’t burdened with the full effect, but maybe, instead, there’s a less potent impact on people in close enough proximity to those who did. And maybe it manifests in different ways, explaining why Connor O’Malley’s character is the way that he is. Was Meredith Hagner’s character always cheating on Nyles with the Aussie drug store cowboy officiate, or did that develop over time in the loop, a variation on the order of things in response to a feeling that something was off with Nyles? Hey, that’s a stretch, but there are no wrong theories when concocting theories. Here’s another one.

Where’s Roy’s oldest son?

JK Simmons is fantastic playing it revenge-crazed and sadistic, but then we get a peek at the life he was, at once, running from and trying to hold on to. There, we see a more fatherly and knowing man, trapped in his own complicated version of the time loop. And that’s where we see the value of his character beyond the fun Wile E. Coyote vs. The Roadrunner dynamic that he has with Samberg.

When we initially see into his house, however, we see a family picture with what seems to be three kids, not two. A teenager is missing from Nyles’ awkward visit to Irvine. He doesn’t even garner a mention. It’s probably nothing. Unless it isn’t just memories being erased, but whole people. (Gasp)

I’ll also say that the look thrown off by Roy’s daughter at Nyles is weird. As is Roy’s response. Is that further confirmation that people are somehow changed by being around Nyles? And if that’s the case, does she sense something with Roy? Is Nyles giving off a different energy because of how long he’s been the loop or is it something else? I’m going to stop before I break out a bulletin board and tie myself up in string.

The cave and the ending.

This isn’t a question so much as it’s an observation perhaps influenced by my own relationship to the big topics of life, love, and meaning that the film explores.

Everywhere I look with Palm Springs, specifically in those last few moments, I see metaphors for marriage and the epic, angst-spurring decision to commit to someone else. This all culminates in that big, frightening, universe-altering explosion — which is the point where, I think, this story really and truly ends for me.

To some, marriage (and committed coupledom) is an overblown construct from a different time. Something that may not be especially reflective of our wants and needs while, at the same time, seeming like something that may one day lead to emotional destruction and despair. That cynicism is reflected in the movie, but so too is the magical view of marriage as a kind of salvation or solve for the gaps in our lives and that phantom limb feeling that someone should be next to us.

Falling in, not just love but trust, and getting to the cliff’s edge of that commitment is, in and of itself and speaking from personal experience, an epic story. I really like being married, but the moment in the film, when Sarah and Nyles are about to head into the unknown, really connects if you’ve stood at an altar. “Come on, let’s see if we blow up and die” may as well replace “I now pronounce you.” Nothing explains the feeling of saying “I do” quite so well. It’s thrilling, it’s frightening, and you don’t know where you’re going to land — in the same place, totally fine, 20 years down the road with nothing to show for it, or exploded right from the start. Is all of the above an option?

I actually would have been totally fine with Palm Springs ending at the cave as Sarah and Nyles kiss and her hand moves to the detonator. That’s the end of that specific story, really. Everything that follows masquerades as closure but it’s really a prompt for more questions about the reappearance of the dinosaurs, whether they’re just stuck in a different loop, and what happens next for Roy — things that feel like the start of a new story that I would, incidentally, love to see more of down the road. But with this one and all its questions, I’m most drawn to its one big answer: they decided to face the abyss together.

‘Palm Springs’ is available to stream on Hulu.

In the early months of the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, regularly appeared in White House coronavirus briefings and served as a spokesperson for the federal government response in news interviews. The past month or so, however, he’s been conspicuously absent from television—an absence that appears to be a deliberate choice on the part of the White House, who has limited the approval of TV appearances for Dr. Fauci.

Dr. Fauci has a theory as to why that’s happened. “I have a reputation, as you probably have figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things,” he told the Financial Times last week. “And that may be one of the reasons why I haven’t been on television very much lately.” One might think that an administration that claims to pride itself on “telling it like it is” would appreciate such truth-telling, but apparently not so much.

In the middle of a pandemic, we need Dr. Fauci’s voice and expertise more than ever. Thankfully, he spent 45 minutes talking with Mark Zuckerberg live on Facebook to answer questions and share his thoughts on what the experts have learned about virus transmission, the effectiveness and safety of masks, considerations for school reopenings, racial disparities among COVID-19 victims, and more.

Watch the interview here:

Thank you, Dr. Fauci, for clearly articulating what we know at any given time, explaining what has changed in what we know, reminding us that the nature of a novel pandemic is that information is constantly evolving, and encouraging us to remain flexible and humble enough to change the way we think as we get new information.

Musical artist Nick Cannon was fired from Viacom this week after the release of a podcast in which he made anti-semitic comments. According to the New York Times, the podcast was an interview with Richard Griffin (also known as Professor Griff), who was kicked out of the band Public Enemy after blaming Jews for most of the wickedness in the world in a 1989 interview. “The Jews are wicked. And we can prove this,” he told the Washington Times. Cannon told Griffin he’d been “speaking facts” and also praised Louis Farrakhan, who has been known to make anti-semitic comments.

In addition, Cannon referenced a conspiracy theory that the media is all controlled by wealthy Jewish families. “I find myself wanting to debate this idea and it gets real wishy and washy and unclear for me when we give so much power to the ‘theys,'” he said, “and ‘theys’ then turn into illuminati, the Zionists, the Rothschilds.” He also said that Black people are the true Semitic people. “You can’t be anti-Semitic when we are the Semitic people,” he said. “That’s our birthright. So if that’s truly our birthright, there’s no hate involved.”

At first, despite the backlash, Nick Cannon refused to apologize for this remarks. Responses to his firing ranged widely across the internet, with some calling him out as a bigot and some praising him for what they saw as “free speech.”

But one woman on Twitter, who happens to be Black and Jewish, took the opportunity to explain exactly why his comments were so problematic. Speaking as “your Black & Jewish educational fairy godmother,” Malana wrote:

“My partner and I were just discussing how a lot of Black people don’t have the education around anti-Semitism to fully get why Nick Cannon’s rant was messed up. So let me be your Black & Jewish educational fairy godmother.

First, that Rothschild bank theory. That ain’t real. Many Jewish people in Europe were forced to work in banking because of laws restricting them from entering other types of work. This is where the stereotypes of stingy, money grubbing, banking, etc. Come from.

But it was the racist/anti-Semitic structures that pushed Jewish people into that system in the first place. This is similar to calling Black people Welfare Queens – a system was created that locked people into place and a stereotype was invented around it.

One old-timey Jewish family being rich doesn’t mean there’s a conspiracy theory. It’s like wealth inequality has existed for generations! *gasp* If you want to know who runs the banks google Bank of America and Chase (hint- they’re very white and very not Jewish).

Now as far as Nick calling Jewish people savages, I hope it’s pretty obvious why this is anti-Semitic. But in case it’s not, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch

Then Nick’s whole original semite thing…ugh… there’s so much wrong with it. So the idea is that Jews stole Black people’s identity as the ‘true’ people of israel. This means that Jewish people are to be blamed for all the racism Black people experience.

You see this a lot in Farrakhan’s rhetoric. Taken to the extreme, you’d have [sic] to exterminate racism you’d have to exterminate Jewish people so Black people can reclaim their spot as the ‘chosen people.’

Farrakhan and other Black supremacists use Jewish people as a boogeyman and scapegoat to push their own agenda and cult of personality. There can be no end to racism without an end to anti-semitism

The us (Black people) vs. Them (Jewish people) people like Nick Cannon use breaks down when you have someone like me, a Black Jew.

In fact, many anti-Semitic ideas of features are rooted in anti-Blackness and vice versa: curly hair, big nose, etc.

Historically, the very idea of racism came initially from Spain and its treatment of Jews during the Inquisition. https://atlasobscura.com/articles/how-racism-was-first-officially-codified-in-15thcentury-spain… these types of racial codifications were later used to entrench chattel slavery in what would become the U.S.

I know lots of white Jewish people are racist. I know lots of Black people are anti-Semitic. I know these communities have hurt each other, and I know from personal experience it is much harder to be Black in the U.S. than it is to be Jewish. But all oppression is connected.

Anyway, there’s a lot more to be said but I’ll leave it there for now. Go head and ask questions if you’re here to learn. Other Black Jews especially feel free to chime in.

Adding this because people keep saying Viacom fired Nick because he’s a Black man exercising his freedom of speech. Stop it. Colin Kaepernick was fired for exercising his freedom of speech. Nick Cannon was fired for shooting off racist conspiracy theories.

Viacom is a racist company that has stock in for-profit prisons. Maybe Nick was given a quicker hook than a white person saying the same things would have been. Doesn’t make it any less racist or mean Nick should be expected to not face consequences.

Black people: you cannot want people to suffer consequences for racist actions *but only when they’re racist against Black people.” You also can’t have it so Black people aren’t also held responsible for racist actions. That’s not how justice and liberation works.”

After initially taking a defensive position, Nick Cannon has shared posts in the past 24 hours indicating he is open and learning from Rabbis and others who have reached out from the Jewish community to educate him. On Thursday, he shared the following message on Instagram:

“First and foremost I extend my deepest and most sincere apologies to my Jewish sisters and brothers for the hurtful and divisive words that came out of my mouth during my interview with Richard Griffin. They reinforced the worst stereotypes of a proud and magnificent people and I feel ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from. The video of this interview has since been removed.

While the Jewish experience encompasses more than 5,000 years and there is so much I have yet to learn, I have had at least a minor history lesson over the past few days and to say that it is eye-opening would be a vast understatement.

I want to express my gratitude to the Rabbis, community leaders and institutions who reached out to me to help enlighten me, instead of chastising me. I want to assure my Jewish friends, new and old, that this is only the beginning of my education—I am committed to deeper connections, more profound learning and strengthening the bond between our two cultures today and every day going forward.”

Here’s to all of us learning more about the history of all marginalized groups and doing what we can to build bridges between people of all backgrounds.

Alex Trebek has a new memoir coming later this month full of stories about his life and time on Jeopardy! and through it we’re learning just how essential he is to the show. Though not the trivia game show’s first host, over the years he’s become synonymous with Jeopardy! and the rapid-fire show currently on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hanging over all of that is his battle with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, which has impacted him significantly and also, in a way, created more urgency for him to write the book in the first place. With The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life coming out next week, Friday brought us a profile of Trebek in the New York Times. One intriguing anecdote from the story — which sadly has some heartbreaking moments detailing the pain he’s suffered from chemotherapy and how it’s impacted his day-to-day life — is about his uncanny ability to predict which questions will give contestants trouble.

As the story goes, Trebek usually would get to the studio very early in the day to look over the hundreds of clues for the five episodes the show tapes per day. He’s very careful with pronunciation and the cadence of how the clues are read, and he often makes notes on the clues themselves if they seem too tough.

Pre-pandemic, when “Jeopardy!” and everything else was still getting made, Trebek would wake up at 5:15 a.m. and arrive at the Sony lot at 6:30. At 7:30, he would go over the 305 clues for that day’s shows, making notations, diacritical marks and pronunciation notes. If a clue seemed too hard, he told the writers to drop it.

“I’ll say, ‘Nobody’s going to get this.’ And they usually take my suggestions, because I view myself as every man,” Trebek said.

There’s a very specific way clues are written and structured on the board, including how difficult the question is based on how much money it’s worth. But Trebek’s notes have some serious value here. Whether the show’s writers listen to him, well, that’s up to them. But he’s usually right about his “every man” instincts.

Sometimes the writers keep esoteric clues in anyway. Almost invariably, the contestants are stumped. “We get this horrible dead-fish look from him,” said the show’s co-head writer Billy Wisse. “We know we’re going to hear about it at the next meeting.”

It’s an extremely charming story, though I definitely wouldn’t want to be scolded by Trebek about much of anything, let alone stumping contestants. And it’s another detail about just how instrumental Trebek is in coming up with categories and questions and the impact he has on the show.

As we’ve heard from Jeopardy! GOAT Ken Jennings here at Uproxx, figuring out what people know is hard, and Jeopardy! itself has impacted what people know and consider general trivia canon. It’s another indication of just how much of Jeopardy! is Alex Trebek, and how difficult it will be for the show to move on without him when he decides it’s time to retire.