Category: Viral

Unlike Daniel Radcliffe, who criticized J.K. Rowling’s misinformed anti-trans remarks, another Harry Potter actor has unfortunately come to the author’s defense.

Robbie Coltrane, who played Rubeus Hagrid in all eight films of the series, told the Radio Times, “I don’t think what she said was offensive really.” Rowling made a terrible joke about trans people and later tweeted, “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.” Her new book also has an anti-trans plot. So, what were you saying about Rowling not being “offensive,” Hagrid?

Coltrane continued:

“I don’t know why but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended. They wouldn’t have won the war, would they? That’s me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, ‘Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight and carry on.’”

Coltrane, 70, stopped there, not because he realized he was reaching peak Old Man Yells at Cloud with His Backwards-Ass Opinion and wanted to change his ways, but because, “I don’t want to get involved in all of that because of all the hate mail and all that sh*t, which I don’t need at my time of life.”

You know who else doesn’t want to deal with “all that sh*t” from Rowling? Trans people.

(Via the Huffington Post)

Towards the end of 2019, Ariana Grande told her fans, “I’m just going to be chilling a lot more next year.” 2020 has been a quieter year for Grande, but not a silent one; She had No. 1 singles with Justin Bieber (“Stuck With U“) and Lady Gaga (“Rain On Me“), after all. It seems she’s been working on some solo music as well, as she took to Twitter last night to share something new.

The snippet isn’t much in terms of length, but the six-second video shows off some smooth Grande vocals.

This follows another snippet of new music she shared back in March, writing alongside the audio, “i miss making things. can’t wait to get back to work. but for now, let’s stay inside pls.” She also shared how she was handling the pandemic, telling a fan, “i’m fine. i’d be an asshole if i complained. just watching things, calling friends, cooking and looking for ways to help ppl who don’t have it as easily as i do rn. if any of y’all need anything, any help at all pls tell me to check DMs.”

A couple months after that, she noted that she and Doja Cat had worked on something together: “I was able to work with her earlier this year on this song that I want to save for whenever it’s time again, to drop.”

In 1945, the world had just endured the bloodiest war in history. World leaders were determined to not repeat the mistakes of the past. They wanted to build a better future, one free from the “scourge of war” so they signed the UN Charter — creating a global organization of nations that could deter and repel aggressors, mediate conflicts and broker armistices, and ensure collective progress.

Over the following 75 years, the UN played an essential role in preventing, mitigating or resolving conflicts all over the world. It faced new challenges and new threats — including the spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, a Cold War and brutal civil wars, transnational terrorism and genocides. Today, the UN faces new tensions: shifting and more hostile geopolitics, digital weaponization, a global pandemic, and more.

This slideshow shows how the UN has worked to build peace and security around the world:

Malians wait in line at a free clinic run by the UN Multidimensional Integrated Mission in Mali in 2014. Over their 75 year history, UN peacekeepers have deployed around the world in military and nonmilitary roles as they work towards human security and peace. Here’s a look back at their history.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Marco Dormino

In May 1948, the UN Security Council authorized the first UN peacekeeping mission. It deployed a small number of unarmed UN military observers to the Middle East to form the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The UN also played an important role in mediating that armistice in the Arab-Israeli war.

Photo credit: United Nations

On June 25th, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea and that same day, the UN Security Council called on North Korea to withdraw to the 38th Parallel. On September 15th, a multinational coalition under a UN banner helped South Korea defend itself.

Photo credit: United Nations

In 1956, the UN Security Council deployed the first armed peacekeeping operation in UN history to address the Suez Crisis in the Middle East – a major evolution in UN peacekeeping.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Yutaka Nagata

In the 1970s, tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border increased and on March 11, 1978, there was a deadly attack in Israel that resulted in Israeli forces invading Lebanon. The Security Council called on Israel to cease military action and established a UN interim force to confirm withdrawal, restore peace and assist the Lebanese government.

Photo credit: UN Photo/John Isaac

On September 29, 1988, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UN peacekeeping forces for their work observing armistices, monitoring peace agreements, protecting civilians from harm and human rights violations, and their peace enforcement missions against terrorists and aggressors. In 2001, the UN itself and its Secretary-General Kofi Annan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize again.

Photo credits: UN Photo/John Isaac and Saw Lwin

Since its founding, the UN has worked tirelessly toward disarmament – Weapons of Mass Destruction and conventional. These efforts facilitated the negotiation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Convention. This work continues today through the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN Conference on Disarmament, the UN Office for Disarmament and the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, and others. In 2007, the UN was involved in destroying weapons in Côte d’Ivoire as part of the “Flame of Peace” ceremony to signify the beginning of the country’s disarmament and reconciliation process. IAEA inspections are a critical barrier against nuclear proliferation.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Basile Zoma

After the Cold War ended, there was a rapid increase in the number of peacekeeping operations. Between 1989 and 1994 alone, there were 20 new operations and the number of peacekeepers grew from 11,000 to 75,000. In the mid-1990s, there were three challenging peacekeeping operations that caused setbacks but the essential role of UN Peacekeeping was soon re-affirmed.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein

9/11 marked a turning point for the UN in terms of terrorism and proliferation. It began sanctioning terrorists and terrorist organizations and those who proliferated weapons of mass destruction.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Stephenie Hollyman

The UN has worked to advocate for the concept of “human security,” which elevates the safety of people above that of territory. In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals linked security and development. They also enshrined the goal of building peaceful societies and reducing all forms of violence.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Martine Perret

Today, more than 85,000 troops and police from over 120 countries work as part of United Nations peace operations. These operations help to prevent the outbreak or renewal of conflict, build peace, and support countries as they transition out of conflict and/or authoritarianism.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

On March 26, 2020, UN Secretary-General António Guterres made an appeal for a global ceasefire and for a focus on “the true fight of our lives.” COVID-19 has fueled nationalist policies and authoritarians’ tightening grip, which threatens to intensify existing conflicts. It is also stressing fragile countries already tackling multiple challenges, including conflict and climate change. An active and effective UN has never been more important as we work to recover from COVID-19.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Stephen Gostkowski entered Monday night as the fifth most accurate kicker in NFL history — although, despite what Steve Levy said on the broadcast, he’s almost assuredly not a Hall of Famer. By the end of the night, he had seen his make percentage take a hit as the former Patriot missed three field goals (one right, one left, and one blocked) and an extra point in his debut for the Tennessee Titans in Denver, becoming the first kicker to do so in his debut with a new NFL team since 1968.

It was a dreadful night for Gostkowski and it looked like his kicking woes might end up costing Tennessee an opening night win after the Broncos took a 14-13 lead in the fourth quarter on a Melvin Gordon touchdown, and a successful PAT of their own. However, as the football gods would have it, some bizarre clock management down the stretch by both teams put the game’s fate on the right foot of Gostkowski in the final minute of play.

The Titans drove down the field methodically, milking the clock for all it was worth with quick passes and handoffs to Derrick Henry. By the time they got inside the 10, they tossed a fade that just missed on third-and-1, leaving 20 seconds on the clock for Gostkowski to seal the deal one way or the other. Naturally, in the midst of his worst night as a professional, Gostkowski powered through the chip shot and handed Tennessee an opening night win.

It was a cool redemption story, but the Titans certainly have some decisions to make going forward with a kicking situation that is apparently just as shaky as it was a year ago when they were a disaster in that area as well. For the Broncos, it was a mind-numbing clock management decision from Vic Fangio, who ended the game with two timeouts in his pocket and a Hail Mary attempt that never crossed the 40. Even icing Gostkowski, who to that point was clearly in his head, would’ve made sense. Instead, Denver starts another season with a loss as Fangio’s tenure has not produced the best fourth quarter performances — or offensive effort.

For the third time in as many years, ESPN entered the NFL season with a new crew in the Monday Night Football booth, and, hopefully, that streak ends this year.

Steve Levy, Louis Riddick, and Brian Griese weren’t necessarily ESPN’s first choices, as the Worldwide Leader reportedly chased big names again, most notably their white whale, Peyton Manning, and a reported offer to NBC to send Al Michaels back to Monday nights. However, while they had to shift to Plan B it has likely created the best product they’ve had in a long time, as the group was sharp, informative, and insightful in their first game together — the bright spot in a game that was otherwise a slog between the Titans and Broncos.

It wasn’t a major surprise that this was a solid broadcast, as Levy is the consummate professional, calling everything from college football to the XFL for ESPN in recent years. Griese has always been sharp in the booth on college football games, while Riddick emerged as a star on ESPN’s studio shows. However, the question was how they’d mesh as a group, given that’s been an issue in the post-Gruden era for the Monday Night Football booth. We got an emphatic answer on Monday night, as they were smooth, didn’t step over each other, and provided terrific insight into the game.

What made them so good is the interplay between Riddick and Griese, two brilliant football minds who were quick to point out things they saw on the field and explain why that led to what happened on that play. It was incredibly refreshing to hear that level of football conversation on a broadcast, as they managed to thread the needle of getting into coverages, alignments, schemes, and play design without it feeling like they were either talking down to the viewer or speaking at too high of a level for a more casual fan to understand.

It’s the hardest thing to do on a broadcast, point out what you see and explain it in a concise and efficient manner to allow you to get to the next play, but they did it expertly. Griese’s booth experience was clear as he often took hold of the telestrator immediately after plays to break down plays quickly, and Riddick’s insight was sharp and on time when it was his turn to dissect a play. They seemed to thrive off of being able to hold a conversation about these things with one another, bouncing off the other and letting it facilitate better, more thorough analysis than what is often possible in a two-man booth.

For Levy’s part, he was exactly what those two needed. As he told me during the XFL season when they were experimenting with more on-field sound on the broadcast, his job was simple: call the action and get out of the way as the coaches, players, and his partner Greg McElroy broke things down. On Monday, that ethos paid dividends as he didn’t try to interject himself too much in the conversation between Riddick and Griese, letting the experts explain the action, teeing them up on talking points, and kept the broadcast moving.

There were hiccups at times, as happens, with some confusion about things happening on the field, but for the most part it was a great opening broadcast, certainly as good as ESPN could’ve hoped for and was refreshing to see as a viewer. As the season wears on, it only figures to get better, and hopefully this is the last booth shake up we see for some time because this group has the goods.

We’re less than two months away from what may be the most important election not only in American history but possibly in world history, in species history. And one of the far too many issues piling onto our already sky high anxiety is this: The current head of the United States Postal Service appears to be cool with it not working during an election that may be largely done by mail. While public servants have yet to fix it, celebrities have stepped up to the plate. First, John Ratzenberger, aka Cheers’ noble mailman Cliff Clavin, came up with an idea. Now so have Larry David and Jon Hamm.

Actually, it was really Hamm’s idea, which David attempted to make worse. Earlier this year, the Mad Men star appeared on an episode of the most recent season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The two made a perhaps unexpectedly dynamic duo, so they tried it again for Sunday’s viral voting outing, “#VOMO: Vote or Miss Out.”

Hamm’s pitch to try and save the election? A stamp with his face on it. “I did the math and if half of all Americans buy one sheet of stamps we could raise like a billion and a half dollars, save the U.S. Postal Service and everybody could vote safely,” Hamm told David over a Skype session. “You gotta figure a lotta ladies want to lick this face. Maybe some guys, too, I dunno!”

Instead of simply egging Hamm on, David tried to join in. He volunteered to do his own set of stamps bearing his own likeness. But Hamm questioned the efficacy of this idea. “I don’t think that’s a lickable face,” Hamm told David.

David disagreed. He figured his target audience was “Jewish women over 60.” So Hamm summoned one up: Susie Essman, aka Curb’s Susie Green, “Larry”’s sometime nemesis and constant vocal critic.

“Nobody wants to lick your face,” Essman told. “I wouldn’t lick your face if it was covered in chocolate ice cream!” Things then devolved further into Curb territory, a noble idea turning into a session about licking Larry David’s face. But hey, given the severity of this year’s election, whatever works!

When I read the description of Good Joe Bell, which is playing this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, I found myself feeling that little twinge of dread in the back of my head. Based on a true story, the idea of Mark Wahlberg (who I do like as an actor) playing the role of a man who lost his son to suicide, then decides to walk across the country to bring awareness to gay rights and bullying, as something that could, let’s say, go amiss. At least, my concern was this could wind up being a movie that would be filled with rousing speeches and scenes ready-made to be submitted to the Academy Awards nominating committee. What’s remarkable about Good Joe Bell is Wahlberg plays the role in such a nuanced way, by the end of the movie you want that rousing speech. But it never comes.

Over the last five years, the only non-comedy Mark Wahlberg has starred in that wasn’t directed by Peter Berg is 2017’s All the Money in the World. Since 2013, Wahblerg and Berg have teamed up for four films, which started with the blockbuster Lone Survivor, then each after saw diminishing returns in box office and quality. (Though, I still think Wahlberg was terrific in Deepwater Horizon. Look, I get it, they like working together. But it was well past due for Wahlberg to try something different where he’s not just on cruise control. And Wahlberg finds that with Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Good Joe Bell (Wahlberg is also a producer).

Wahlberg plays the title character, as we meet he and his son, Jadin (Reid Miller), walking along the highway in some sort desperate attempt to raise awareness against bullying. I say “desperate” because Joe seems desperate. Even the conversations he has with his son early on in the film are just conversations with himself. Joe’s not delusional – when asked about his son he fully admits his son is dead – but, again, he’s desperate. He doesn’t even seem to know what this walk across the country is even supposed to accomplish, or if he’s doing the right thing being away from his wife and younger son, but he has to do something. People who know the real-life story know this story ends in heartbreak, so it’s not a movie that follows the beats a viewer might be expecting. The movie feels unstructured, but in a way that represents what Joe is going through.

This might be the most understated performance of Wahlberg’s career. I kept waiting for the moment when he’d unleash on someone … the big grandiose speech. Maybe it would be the two men in the diner who make the homophobic slur at something they see on the diner’s television. Maybe it would be the bullies who taunted Jadin to the point he’d take his own life. Maybe it would be himself, for not grasping what his son was going through. But it never comes. Joe just keeps walking – and talking about what happened to his son to anyone who will listen. It’s all the more heartbreaking because the movie (and real-life) doesn’t let Joe have peace. There’s no big moment. It all feels so futile and sad. It’s just a dad who misses his son and nothing he can do will bring him back. This is certainly not a satisfying movie, but it’s not supposed to be.

It’s also not lost on me that Wahlberg is a devout Catholic and, it seems, a fairly conservative guy. At least as much that he’s denounced his own role in what still might be his best film, Boogie Nights. So it is, if nothing else, pretty interesting to see him in a roll where not only is he advocating for gay rights, but he’s putting churches on blast for both being judgmental of the LGBTQ community and the Catholic church specifically for years and years of abuse against young children. On the surface, it just doesn’t seem like a role Wahlberg would even consider. Not that he condones any of this, but my experience with devout Catholics (I come from a Catholic family) is they just don’t like talking about any of this. So I am curious how Wahlberg wound up producing this film and playing this role. Maybe it was an easy decision? Maybe it required some soul searching. But he’s never done anything quite like it. (Though, in Deepwater Horizon, there’s a pretty magnificent scene near the end where Wahlberg just looks emotionally spent and it’s some of the best acting he’s done to that point.) And this is a side of Wahlberg I really like. I hope he explores this side of his persona more and more as he goes on. Good Joe Bell is a huge surprise.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

There’s been a lot of big news lately, but arguably as big as this: On Saturday, Chris Evans seemed to accidentally share a picture of his schlong. Granted, it could have been anyone’s, although most people leaped to the assumption that what they were gendering at was indeed (Captain) America’s penis. While Evans has laid low since the inciting incident, on Monday he finally broke his silence with a pretty great — and pretty useful — Twitter post.

“Now that I have your attention,” Evans posted, followed by two embarrassed emoticons. He then relayed his main message: “VOTE Nov 3rd!!!”

Mind you, technically Evans neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of aforementioned trouser snake. He could very well have simply been caught with pictures of the wang of another. Maybe he’d been watching some pornographic motion picture spectacular, and he’d just happened to pause on an erect monster hog.

In any case, it’s good to see Evans — who’s received tongue-in-cheek comfort from MCU colleague Mark Ruffalo and his very own brother — putting the fracas to good use. What better way to get ahead of a nude picture scandal then by changing the subject to the election that very well may dictate the future of all of our lives? We salute you, and that.

Anyone who expected that Carole Baskin’s maiden episode of Dancing with the Stars would be free of any Tiger King-esque drama were left sorely disappointed. During one of the commercial breaks, an ad played starring the family of Don Lewis, Baskin’s missing former husband. It’s been claimed, notably by Baskin’s arch-nemesis Joe Exotic, that Baskin herself played a hand in his disappearance. And while the ad didn’t explicitly accuse her of foul play, its appearance was certainly meant to be a boss move.

The ad was first reported hours before it aired Monday night, with TMZ breaking the news. Sure enough, in between some huffing by Baskin and others, the commercial played, featuring three of his daughters pleading with the nation, hoping that someone, anyone would come forward with information about their father’s appearance. They were joined by Anne McQueen, Lewis’ former assistant, and the family lawyer, John M. Phillips.

“Don Lewis mysteriously disappeared in 1997. His family deserves answers. They deserve justice,” Phillips told the nation. He added, drawing the line at an outright accusation, “Do you know who did this or if Carole Baskin is involved?” They then mentioned a $100,000 reward and a tip line.

At the time of his disappearance in late August of 1997, Lewis left behind over $5 million in assets. One of the episodes of Tiger King, the Netflix documentary series that took the nation by storm in the early days of the American wing of the pandemic, delves into his vanishing, and features Joe Exotic, aka Joseph Allen Schreibvogel, alleging, without hard evidence, Baskin’s involvement. Baskin has denied the accusations.

(Via TMZ)

Longsuffering Kanye West fans who have patiently awaited the arrival of a followup to 2019’s Jesus Is King just got some bad news: The mercurial producer just said he refuses to release any new music until he’s “done” with his current record contracts. As usual, he made this ominous pronouncement via his new favorite form of communication: His often bewildering Twitter page.

“I’m not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract with Sony and Universal,” he wrote. Just in case anyone thought he wasn’t being completely serious, he added, “On God … in Jesus name … come and get me.” Kanye has been locked in a contract dispute for some time, alleging his current deal with EMI (under the Universal Music Group) won’t allow him to retire in 2019. In 2020, the two parties apparently reached a settlement, but it seems he still has a bone or two to pick.

Of course, that was only the beginning of his rant, as he was just getting warmed up for the main event: Taking shots at two of his erstwhile proteges, Drake and J. Cole. While he’s been engaged in a passive-aggressive tet-a-tet with the “Laugh Now Cry Later” rapper from Canada, he never did get around to responding to J. Cole, whose fan-favorite single “False Prophets” is widely believed to be a criticism of Kanye’s hard left turn into radical conservatism.

“I need a publicly apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately,” he wrote. In his defense, he called himself “Nat Turner,” evoking the leader of an 1831 slave revolt which killed at least 50 white slaveowners before being put down a few days later. “I’m fighting for us,” he insisted, despite every appearance from the last several years to the contrary. Kanye is currently running for President backed by Trump-supporting Republicans using false names on petitions for several states’ ballots. While he and Trump maintain that this isn’t being done to siphon votes from Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential election, very few people believe them.

Check out Kanye’s latest rant above.