Category: Viral
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Anthony Fauci is a name that will come to define this generation. The 79-year-old head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was most likely preparing to wind down an already historic career having helped lead the fight against other world changing epidemics like AIDS and Ebola. But it is almost surely his work as the face in the war against the coronavirus for which he will be most remembered.
And it’s increasingly obvious that the main reason Fauci will be seen as perhaps the leading hero of this pandemic is in the masterful way he has risen above politics, steered clear of the catastrophic governmental incompetence that has plagued this crisis and in how his honest, blunt and occasionally reassuring tone has helped steer our collective psyche into calmer waters.
Part of Fauci’s job has been making the rounds giving interviews to a long list of media outlets. But it was an interview he gave on Tuesday that has so far best encapsulated the way his persona is bringing most Americans together, united against this terrible disease. Some highlights:
In an interview with Vanity Fair,Vanity Fair, Fauci offered some never-before-seen insights on what life is like at the forefront of battling the virus.
On how much he dealt with President Trump before the virus and how much he interacts with him now:
“Well, I had some interaction. And now I see him for at least an hour or more every single day … I see him so often and for so long I almost never have to call him directly because I know that literally I’m within a few feet of talking to him if I want to anyway.”
On he and Trump both being New Yorkers:
“He’s an action person. I mean he likes to get things done. He doesn’t want to waste a lot of time. He wants to just get right to it.”
On navigating the pandemic in an era of heightened political partisanship:
“Well, I just stick very strictly to the science and the evidence base. I’m not new to this. I’ve been doing this now for over 30 years, starting with the HIV/AIDS issues with President [Ronald] Reagan, and I have found, and it’s proven time and time again: stick with the science, stay completely out of the politics. I have no ideology. My ideology is health, public health, and science. You do that. You can make it uncomplicated. If you get involved in political rhetoric, then it gets complicated.”
Fauci has regularly appeared on the Fox News Channel where they earlier were resistant to his claims about the threat of the virus. On how he reacts to an overly skeptical media and if that forces him to be political even in subtle ways:
“One of the great things about messaging is consistency. If you consistently stick with the science, sometimes you might be contradicting something that someone says and sometimes you may be agreeing with it, but as long as you’re consistent with the science then you are fine.”
Fauci has publicly disagreed with Trump on several occasions. Typically, that leads to someone quickly exciting the White House, either voluntarily or by direct order. But Fauci’s position — and relationship with Trump — only seem to be getting stronger by the day. On if it’s “tough” debating your boss when your boss is the commander-in-chief:
“Has it been stressful? Uh, yeah. This is a very, very stressful situation for everybody, including me.”
And if he’s ever worried those disagreements will cost him his job:
“Not at all. I take the tack that I will say what’s true and whatever happens, happens. As a matter of fact, in fairness to him, the president has listened very carefully to what I’ve said. He’s taken my recommendations almost invariably, and he has never really contradicted things that I have recommended to him. He listens. I mean, there’s a lot out there in the press about conflict between the both of us. There’s absolutely none. There really isn’t.”
Finally, Fauci explained what has been the biggest challenge so far. In short, other people:
“It wasn’t any particular event that happened. It was just a realization a few weeks ago when the stress was overwhelming. I was getting 3,000 emails, a couple of hundred phone calls, every senator, every governor, every congressman wanted to speak to me and I was getting like two to three hours sleep. I realized then that I could not go on that way. I’m a very conscientious person. I like to answer calls. But I had to get myself used to the fact that I cannot do that. I’ve got to focus on what my primary responsibility is.”
Read the full interview with Vanity Fair here.Vanity Fair here.
People with no COVID-19 symptoms may be spreading the disease — but big questions remain about how much they are driving the pandemic.
Before the pandemic began, the systems that govern our world were brittle. Today, they are broken. When we emerge, the world will be different and so will we.
In an effort to provide entertainment relief for everyone doing their part by practicing social isolation, HBO has officially unlocked the largest amount of free content of any streaming platform to date. Starting Friday, April 3, the premium channel is offering viewers over 500 hours of programming that includes a robust collection of hit series and feature films:
All of the programming will be available to stream without a subscription starting Friday by downloading the HBO NOW or HBO GO apps or by visiting HBONOW.com or HBOGO.com. The content will also be made available for free via participating distribution partners’ platforms in the coming days.
HBO has never offered this amount of free programming before, and all it asks in return is that viewers stay at home. But if you’re up to it, they probably wouldn’t mind if you hopped on the #StayHomeBoxOffice hashtag while passing the time. Your call.
Here’s the full list of original series, documentaries, and Warner Bros. movies that will be available for a limited time starting Friday.
9 Full Series
Ballers (5 Seasons)
Barry (2 Seasons)
Silicon Valley (6 Seasons)
Six Feet Under (5 Seasons)
The Sopranos (7 Seasons)
Succession (2 Seasons)
True Blood (7 Seasons
Veep (7 Seasons)
The Wire (5 Seasons)
10 Docuseries and Documentaries
The Apollo
The Case Against Adnan Syed
Elvis Presley: The Searcher
I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Jane Fonda in Five Acts
McMillion$
True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality
United Skates
We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest
20 Warner Bros. Theatricals
Arthur
Arthur 2: On the Rocks
Blinded By the Light
The Bridges of Madison County
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Empire of the Sun
Forget Paris
Happy Feet Two
Isn’t It Romantic?
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Midnight Special
My Dog Skip
Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase
Pan
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Red Riding Hood
Smallfoot
Storks
Sucker Punch
Unknown
Tekashi 69 is reportedly a (semi) free man after Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered his release yesterday, according to NY Daily News. Because the Bureau Of Prisons did not raise any objections, the order was completed earlier today, with Tekashi reportedly exiting the Queens Detention Facility via a back exit 90 minutes before the order was publicized.
Tekashi’s legal team first requested the early release two weeks ago, concerned that his asthma would make him vulnerable to a possible COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak at the detention facility. Although the request was initially denied, Engelmayer apparently simply wanted Tekashi’s lawyers to follow correct protocol and appeal to the Bureau Of Prisons first, then re-submit the request, which Engelmayer was inclined to grant. However, in order to allow for a low-profile release, the ordered that news of his decision be delayed until after 69 was well clear of the facility. He’ll serve out the remainder of his two-year sentence on house arrest.
Tekashi has spent the last year in protective custody as a result of his decision to cooperate with federal prosecutors in hopes of an early release. While he was given a drastically-reduced sentence in comparison to the Nine Trey Bloods compatriots also scooped up in the racketeering sting that led to his arrest, he has lobbied unsuccessfully for the opportunity to leave prison and serve his sentence in alternative confinement as a result of the animosity against him since finding out his original release date. With the outbreak of the coronavirus, it seems he got his wish, but he’ll only be joining the rest of us in quarantine bumping Curtis Roach and Tyga’s latest hit.
For more Uproxx coverage on Tekashi 69’s case, click here.
As more parts of the country find itself ordered to stay at home, it’s anybody’s guess what’s going to capture the attention of an entertainment-starved populace. First, it was Tiger King, and now, it’s… finding water bottles in the background of Little Women?
Enter Madelyn Rancourt, a Little Women superfan who claims she saw the film seven times in theaters and is apparently still obsessively watching the period drama on VOD. In a now-viral TikTok video, Rancourt highlights a scene featuring Timothée Chalamet where not one, but two modern water bottles are clearly visible in the background. They’re unmistakable, and you can see for yourself in Rancourt’s video below.
@madelynrancourt anyone else notice this?
#fyp #foryou #littlewomen #hydroflask #timothéechalamet
As Variety reports, the video went instantly viral, and Little Women fans even began floating theories around the bottles’ strange presence.
Some fans shared their own theories on why the bottles went unnoticed, with one user suggesting that Gerwig left them in to pay homage to fellow period piece director Sofia Coppola, who famously placed a pair of Converse in her film “Marie Antoinette.”
However, this situation is probably more akin to the Starbucks cup that made a cameo in a “Game of Thrones” scene last year, which was chalked up to the fact that sometimes, things are simply forgotten on set.
Realizing she had a viral hit on her hands, Rancourt released a follow-up video with even a more hilarious twist. While promoting the film in a Vanity Fair YouTube video, Gerwig, Chalamet and co-stars Laura Dern and Saiorse Ronan broke down the exact scene with the water bottles, and the cast never even mention them to Rancourt’s disbelief. She then asks users in the caption if they think the actors even know the bottles made it into the film.
@madelynrancourt do you think the cast knows the water bottles made it into the film? #littlewomen #waterbottles #fyp #xyzbca
We’re guessing the actors probably saw them and figured the professional thing to do would be to not point them out, but who knows? It took a nationwide quarantine for someone to finally spot them, so it’s anybody’s guess.
It’s census time, cats and kittens!
Oof. Friends, our team at Upworthy tried to think of a way to make filling out the census form sound exciting, but let’s face it—there’s just nothing sexy about counting people. It IS super important, though.
The census counts literally every person living in the U.S., so everyone needs to participate. While it might sound super snoozy on its face, the result will be used for important policy decisions for the next 10 years, such as:
– drawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries
– distributing government funding for schools, roads, and local services
– planning where to build new schools, hospitals, supermarkets, and other local businesses.
Traditionally, the census has been completed by people who go around from house to house, but now the form can be filled out online. With the pandemic happening, we can’t have census takers going door-to-door right now anyway, so it’s even more important for us all to do it online. It literally takes 10 minutes. One form per household. Basic demographic info. Easy peasy.
Tell your friends and family, too.
Here’s the link to the form: https://my2020census.gov/
And here’s the preview for The Tiger King in case you’ve been living under a rock and can’t figure out why people keep mentioning Joe Exotic. You’re welcome.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness | Official Trailer | Netflix
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