Category: Viral

After an illustrious career, J Balvin is known as the “Prince of Reggaeton” and currently stands as one of the best-selling Latin music artists. After growing up in Medellín, Colombia, Balvin has gone on to have a successful global breakout and win a number of awards. Now, the singer is detailing his rise in an upcoming documentary, The Boy From Medellín.

According to Billboard, Amazon Studios have secured the rights to The Boy From Medellín. Directed by Matthew Heineman, the feature-length documentary will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in early September.

In a statement, Balvin said he was “honored” to be able to represent his culture and share his story in the documentary: “Representing my country, my city and Latin culture globally is a lifelong pursuit and I’m so proud to be a son of Medellín. I’m honored to be able to tell my story in this beautiful way and working with Matthew on this project was an incredible experience. Thank you to Amazon for making sure this story can be seen around the world.”

In other news, Balvin was awarded a VMA Sunday night for his “Qué Pena” collaboration with Maluma. Balvin wasn’t able to appear during the ceremony, presumably because the singer is recovering after suffering from a “bad” case of COVID, but Maluma accepted the award on his behalf and put on a spectacular performance.

The last week of August is a traditionally dry one on TV, and this year is no exception. Yet it’s quite likely that you haven’t caught up on all of these streaming highlights from the past week, so please give something from this list a whirl. (If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.)

Ted Lasso (Apple TV+ series) — Jason Sudeikis is reviving his small-time college football coach character (who hails back to a 2013 advertising campaign) for this show. Lasso is somehow coaching professional English soccer, and good luck to him. What’s even more important, though, is that our own Brian Grubb calls the series “almost unreasonably good,” despite the seeming odds against it.

Lovecraft Country (HBO Max) — The unfurling of monsters continued on Sunday night, and there’s no time like now to catch up if you missed it. This week, Leti’s confronting a poltergeist after transforming a ramshackle Victorian home into a boarding house. Given that this happens on Chicago’s North Side, one can expect racist neighborly responses, which will spark dormant spirits within the structure.

Bill And Ted Face The Music (VOD) — Decades in the making, the long-anticipated threequel of the greatest damn franchise ever is here. Yes, “greatest” is a subjective term (fight me, Vin Diesel), but is anyone going to argue that the reteaming of Alex Winter (as Bill S. Preston, Esq.) and Keanu Reeves (as Ted “Theodore” Logan) is an unwelcome sight in 2020? Nope. The good news (for them) is that they’re getting the hell out of 2020 to steal music from themselves in the future and save the world. And unlike The New Mutants, they’re on VOD in addition to theaters this weekend.

The Binge (Hulu film) — Vince Vaughn plays “the adult” in this movie that’s a boozy play on The Purge but without the murder. Basically, teens are allowed to get totally blitzed (alcohol, drugs, you name it) for one 24-hour stretch per year, and the endearing Skyler Gisondo (Santa Clarita Diet, Booksmart) looks like the rising star of this project.

Cobra Kai: Seasons 1 & 2 (Now on Netflix) — Season 3 of this crowd-pleasing arrival will arrive in 2021, but you can catch up to your heart’s content on the series that started as a YouTube original. Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso faces off again with William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence and both of their respective dojo members, and the show’s still got the same energy as the original movies. Macchio promised us that “[t]he best is yet to come” for this series, and we believe him. May the franchise live on as long as possible.

Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness (HBO Max series) — The star of 2014’s Meet the Patels is back to mull over deep conversations in a four-part season. Maybe some of life’s more fundamental questions shall be solved, but the journey to several different continents will fuel enough escapism that answers might not matter.

Love Fraud (Showtime series debut) — This critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival limited series feels like the lovechild of Dirty John and Tiger King, as one prolific con-man leaves a decades-long trail of destruction.

The nice thing about comic book characters is that even if you’ve never heard of them, it’s not hard to figure out their deal. For instance, Riddler? My man loves to riddle. Joker? Jokes. Batman? He f*cks bats. The Suicide Squad is full of easily-understood weirdos, including Peacemaker (he’s a “douche-y Captain America,” as John Cena put it), the Thinker (he thinks), Polka-Dot Man (he has polka dots), Ratcatcher (she communicates with rats), King Shark (he’s a shark), Weasel (he’s a weasel), and Arm-Fall-Off-Boy (he loves Fall Out Boy). There’s one single-concept character in the rogues gallery that director James Gunn didn’t want to include in The Suicide Squad, however.

When asked on Twitter if “there [was] any d list character you decided you didn’t want to use in The Suicide Squad?” Gunn replied, “Dog Welder was considered of course. But, you know, being an animal lover, I’m not sure it’s something I’d personally want to see expressed cinematically.” Dog Welder’s powers should be self-explanatory, but…

Dogwelder is a mysterious and likely disturbed individual who never speaks. His face is never revealed; always hiding behind a welding mask. All we know of Dogwelder and his methods are that he seems to live in an alley, he sets traps for stray animals, has a supply of dead dogs (perhaps just puppies) and he fights evil by pouncing upon evildoers and welding a dog to their face.

Uh, good call, James. I never thought I would grow to love a talking tree and a sarcastic raccoon voiced by Jackson Maine (his hands don’t scan), but I’m not sure he could pull off that same feat again with the dog-welding psycho. He’s too twisted, even for Joker!

The Charlotte Hornets know a good thing when they have one, which is why we’ll see more pinstripes on their players next NBA season. The team, like others, is patiently waiting for the current season to wrap up in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble, but that hasn’t stopped announcements about what they’ll wear on the court next season, whenever that starts.

The Hornets Twitter account revealed the team’s Icon and Association uniforms from Nike on Monday, and the big news is that double pinstripes are back.

The website the Hornets shared Monday has more details about the uniforms, along with a video narrated by former Hornets legend Dell Curry that detailed the cultural and sporting impact the teal and purple has had on the world since the franchise began. Curry noted the jersey’s very fashionable roots, but explained that it’s far more than good design that’s made them a fan favorite over the years.

“That’s not the only thing that makes the Hornets uniform one of the most iconic in all of sports,” Curry said. “It’s how it makes you feel. These jerseys have taken a journey since 1988, on and off the court.”

Curry described some former Charlotte greats playing in them, making sure to include himself in the highlight package.

“I dropped jaws in it,” Curry said, noting other icons like Criss Cross, Ric Flair and DJ Jazzy Jeff wearing the uniform off the floor.

“These aren’t just uniforms,” Curry said. “They’re unforgettable.”

On Friday, it was announced that actor Chadwick Boseman, 43, had died after a silent, four-year battle with colon cancer. The actor was known for playing cultural trailblazers such as James Brown and Jackie Robinson, but will forever be known as T’Challa in the 2018 smash, “Black Panther.”

To give the public a glimpse of how thoughtful Boseman was in real life, actor Josh Gad, who starred with him in the 2017 film “Marshall,” shared one of the final texts his friend ever sent him. The text shows how Boseman found beauty in even the most distressing times.

It’s a lesson we should all take to heart these days.

Gad shared the text on Twitter and called it, “Catch the Rain.” It appears to have been sent last spring when Los Angeles had just started to go on lock-down due to COVID-19 and it was raining.

“This was one of my final texts from the brilliant & once-in-lifetime talent, @chadwickboseman – take this in & celebrate life. He knew how precious every moment was. Take none of it for granted,” Gad captioned the post.

“If you are in Los Angeles, you woke up this morning to the rare and peaceful sound of a steady precipitation,” Chadwick’s text began. “If you’re like me, maybe you looked at the week’s forecast and found that it’s supposed to rain for three straight days — not without breaks of sunlight and reprieves of moist gloom. But yeah, it’s gonna be coming down like cats and dogs.”

“Great, we’re stuck inside these damn quarantines because of the COVID, and now we can’t even get no sun in Cali. Come on now!”

“But now that the rain has stopped and today’s storm has cleared, I urge you to go outside and take a deep breath,” the text continued. “Notice how fresh the air is right now, after our skies have had a three-week break from the usual relentless barrage of fumes from bumper-to-bumper LA commuters.”

“And now today’s rain has given the City of Angels a long overdo and much-needed shower.”

“Inhale and exhale this moment, and thank God for the unique beauties and wonders of this day. We should take advantage of every moment we can to enjoy the simplicity of God’s creation — whether it be clear skies and sun or clouded over with gloom.”

“And hey, if the air is in the clear right now, and it does rain tomorrow, I might even put jars and bins out and catch the rain, throw that in the water filter, and I have water more alkaline than any bottled brand out there.”

After the announcement of Boseman’s passing, Gad shared a heartfelt video paying tribune to his friend, on Instagram.

“There aren’t words to express how amazing of a human being Chadwick Boseman was,” Gad began the video.

“You come upon people in your life who are next-level good,” he continued. “This was a man who was beyond talented and was so unbelievably giving not only as a performer but as a human being. Beyond just being Black Panther, Chadwick was T’Challa in real life. He was somebody who just gave and gave and gave and never stopped giving.”

Gad mourned the loss of his friend as many of us do. After a few days, he turned his energy from focusing on the loss to celebrating the person’s life and the the friendship they shared.

To celebrate the good times they had together, Gad posted a video clip of himself, Boseman, and fellow “Marshall” co-star Sterling K. Brown, singing a beautiful three-part harmony on Boyz II Men’s hit song, “Motownphilly.”

On Sunday, he posted a photo collage to remember the good times they had together.

“As with any passing, we have to find our way though the grief of loss to reach the celebration of life,” he captioned the post. “So, this morning, I have tried to replace the tears with smiles and revisit the many (but still too few) moments of joy I got to spend with my friend over the last few years.”

As kids have prepared to go back to school in recent weeks, a cruel prank has circulated on TikTok. Dubbed the #NewTeacherChallenge, parents are sharing videos of them telling their kids that they have a new teacher, showing the kids the face of someone who is disabled or who has a facial deformity or disfigurement, and then filming the child’s reaction.

If that sounds horrible, it’s because it is.

The people whose faces are being used in this challenge have every right to be angry and hurt. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior, and no one would blame them if they colorfully told the whole internet to shove it.

But two of the targets in these challenges are well-known disability activists who somehow manage to always take the high road, serving as an example to the rest of us. Their ability to respond to people’s basest behaviors with dignity and strength, calling out the cruelty with clear and calm eloquence, saying over and over again, “It is absolutely not okay to treat me or any other human being this way and here’s why,” is awe-inspiring. If you want a role model for your kids, look to these ladies.

Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare congenital disease called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome, which prevents her from putting on weight, among other physical symptoms After being dubbed “The World’s Ugliest Woman” at age 17, she became a popular of advocacy for people who are different, for anti-bullying, and for teaching empathy and compassion. She continues to be an ongoing target of horrible memes and jokes, and yet she continues to respond by teaching valuable lessons and showing her own kind heart with her motivational speaking.

She shared a video when the New Teacher Challenge first started surfacing, explaining how the prank was not okay:

This week, she posted another video showing how not to teach your kids about empathy utilizing this challenge. Some parents might use it as a teaching opportunity, getting kids to see why their own reactions are unkind, but if the parent’s own reaction to the reaction is to laugh, then kids can get confused and the lesson gets lost.

Responses to Velasquez’s videos have been largely positive, but of course she has also received even more cruel messages. And again, she reacts by stating that these people “need help figuring out how to channel their own anger/hate in a way that doesn’t hurt someone else.” (I would personally like to tell these people to shove it on her behalf, but I will try to follow her example.)

Melissa Blake is another disability activist and writer who has been the subject of countless jokes, memes, and pranks on social media. She wrote an article for Refinery29 about her face being used as a prop for unkindness-as-entertainment in the New Teacher Challenge.

One thing she pointed out was that the parents making these videos aren’t just being cruel to her and others with disabilities, but also to their own children.

“I can’t help but feel sorry for their children,” she wrote. “Imagine your mom filming a vulnerable moment, one where you can’t help but burst into tears, and they actually post it for the whole world to see. How is humiliating your child, or watching other children go through that, a source of amusement?”

She was also direct about the impact this cruel treatment has on her personally:

“I want to be clear: I am violated. Every single time. Each photo, taunt, and cruel word is a clear violation of my dignity and my worth as a human being. And every time these platforms fail to take action, they’re sending the message that this bullying is okay. So many disabled people have become inured to our appearance being mocked. That’s not something we should ever have to get used to.”

Blake battles the trolls in a delightfully subversive way—by insisting she be seen in all her glory, refusing to hide away the way some tell her she should, and letting bullies know they will not win in her world.

Not only should we be teaching our kids to understand and embrace that some people are going to look different or move differently or have different abilities, but we should also show our kids outstanding examples of strength, resilience, and respect they can look up to. These women fit that bill to a tee.

Director Andrij Parekh doesn’t quite go along with my theory that the “Boar On The Floor” scene in the third episode of Succession’s second season, “Hunting,” is the show’s version of Game Of Thrones’ “Red Wedding,” since both occurred in a grand hall and featured breathtaking maneuvers by patriarchs bent on cruelly asserting their power. One is, of course, a bit more brutal. A bit more brutal. While the other swaps naked brutality for humiliation, allowing us to watch as the three men (who are made to be examples) squirm away with their lives and diminished pride.

Or not.

For, you see, it’s just a game — one that’s revealing, entertaining, and upsetting, but with zero consequences, because those successful, merciless few who exist in the upper stratosphere of modern American society are almost always spared from anything beyond surface (and fleeting) humiliation.

Ahead, we spoke with Parekh (who got an Emmy nomination for his work on the episode), executive producer and episode writer Tony Roche, Brian Cox (nominated for his role as Logan Roy), Nicholas Braun (nominated for his role as Greg Hirsch), and David Rasche (who plays Karl, Logan’s CFO) about “Boar on the Floor.” In doing so, we explore the making of the scene and the impact Logan’s showcase of dominance had on the other characters involved. But before we get to that, though, here’s a chance to soak up the big swings from this debauched little game — a small refresher, as if you could have forgotten “Boar On The Floor.”

The Demon

While the game itself is the headline, copious thought went into the runup with Brian Cox leaning into the setting, sprinkled with a dash of Shakespeare, and the notion that he would free the demon that both lives inside and drives all of Logan’s successes.

Tony Roche (Writer/Producer): I think one of the big things we wanted to do with Season 2 was really explore how poisonous an influence Logan is on his friends and family, as well as on the world. An episode early on in the season which shows how he bullies people and bends them to his will, and the things they do to try to avoid incurring his wrath, and the things they do to earn his favor, helped set out that stall. I think it also elaborated on his tendency to pit people against each other and shows how that fosters an air of paranoia and self-preservation and back-stabbing.

Andrij Parekh (Director): The whole sequence is written as a sort of Hungarian hunting trip. We obviously weren’t going to go to Hungary to shoot this, although it would have been nice. We found a Hungarian castle in Long Island. I think it was built in the 1910s or 1920s as a kind of sort of faux castle. Loved the location. Wanted to set this dinner sequence in what felt like a sort of medieval castle. We hung all sorts of stuffed taxidermied boar heads on the walls. Production designer Steven H. Carter did a fantastic job on this amazing table that felt very medieval and heavy and grounded. And we just sort of set the stage for them to go a little nuts.

Roche: Andrij Parekh realized the whole sequence brilliantly. It looks beautiful but in a chilly, scary, stuff of nightmares way. It’s not a room I’d ever want to find myself in, let alone be locked in.

Brian Cox (Logan): I think it’s because we are in that environment, and Logan maximizes the environment because that’s his gift. His gift is to see the physical space and go, “Ah, I’m going to pitch that, that way.” And he does it.

Parekh: I did very careful seating charts, a number of times just imagining what it would be like, who should be at the head, who’s at Brian’s right-hand, who’s at his left hand. What that gallery looks like down the aisle on both sides. Where the positions of power are in the room. So there was a lot of, sort of, prep going into that. Those choices were quite important, I think. Deciding who sits where in the room, who gets called out. There are moments where he sort of makes people stand up and call them out. That was not scripted. That for me was a sort of throwback to me being in the fourth or fifth grade and being called up in front of the class and that sort of feeling of humiliation.

Nicholas Braun (Cousin Greg): I just loved watching Brian and seeing him move around the table, picking targets.

Parekh: I love the fact that he’s sort of able to stand behind Tom and sort of menacingly be behind him over his shoulder. I love the moment where Brian sort of leans in over Kendall with both hands and you feel like he might just choke him, and you don’t really know what’s going to happen. We set the stage for Brian to just let him loose.

Roche: On big scenes like this there’s often room for the actors to bring a ton of great little touches of their own that can add so much depth. Logan putting his hands on Kendall’s shoulders and Kendall’s incredibly self-conscious reaction to that unexpected show of affection wasn’t scripted. That was just Brian and Jeremy [Strong] coming up with it in the moment. And it’s an exquisite, or exquisitely horrible, moment.
Cox: We’d set it up. We’d seen him through the first season. We’d seen him through the first two episodes, where he’s very amazingly sweet and concerned and genuine about Shiv being the successor.

Parekh: There’s copious amounts of food, and meat, and wine, and Brian’s kind of getting everyone drunk secretly to sort of find them all.

Cox: He’s playing the game of observation. He’s showing them what he does, and they’ve forgotten about that. He feels everybody’s a fucking traitor. “Everybody’s against me. I’ve got to really sort it out.” And the game is the thing that does it. So he gets people to play the game and just remember their position. Because it’s a family. It’s not just the four kids. It’s everybody. It’s Karl, it’s Frank, it’s Gerri, it’s Marcia. It’s all of that. They are all part of that family. And he does see it as his family. And it kind of congeals in that episode when he finally says, “Hang on, we just got to clear the air here. We really got to get down to who’s who, and who’s ambitious and who’s treacherous.”David Rasche (Karl): It’s a rather buttoned-up group. Sure, they’re trying to knife each other, but everybody wears nice clothes, drinks from glasses, and things like that. But this was an aberration, this just, I think shows the breadth of Logan’s ferocity and his willingness to exercise his power in the most ruthless way.

Cox: The thing that’s kept him going his entire life is his demonic self. I mean, it’s older, wiser, smarter, more in reserve, but it’s still there. That demon is still there.

Braun: For Greg, there hasn’t been a lot of exposure to this side of Logan. I think he had heard about it or seen it from a distance, this kind of intensity, but never was it addressed towards him.

Cox: Logan sees the sort of awkward ambition of Greg. And it’s some weird kind of dichotomy that Greg has, because he’s always fighting with himself in some kind of way. Tom is really quite vulnerable in terms of… the real Tom is on the make. And therefore, being on the make as he is, makes him vulnerable. Anybody on the make is vulnerable. They’re weak because they’re desirous of something. And I think that’s what’s so brilliant about using the two of them. They’re fair game in a game like this. They’re the obvious people to pick on. Some people would say, “Well, why didn’t you pick on Kendall? Why didn’t you pick on Roman?” Well, there’s no distance in that, because they’re family, they’re close.

Rasche: Karl is, if nothing else, loyal. I think Karl has faith in Logan. And I think it was also a test of loyalty, at least it seemed like that to me when I was in the middle of it. I don’t think Karl was willing to have his loyalty pressed, he was going to remain loyal no matter what. It didn’t matter what he had to go through.

The Game

With his targets selected, the stage is set for a further demonstration of strength, dominance, and fealty for the benefit of all the little piggies in the Roy family.

Cox: So that scene, that “Boar On The Floor” scene, suddenly it was kind of like crazy time. You saw the demon come out.

Rasche: When someone says, “Get on the floor,” you have a choice of either getting on the floor or walking out. That’s kind of what you’re confronted with. And I guess what went through my mind as my character was, “This is going to go away.” And you take it one step further and you think,”well it can’t go any further than this,” and then it does. And I guess the choices are, lose everything or suffer humiliation. And I guess we’re all weak enough that our choice was to suffer the humiliation rather than lose everything.

Braun: I think you try to not make it feel vulnerable. Whenever you are in a humiliating moment in real life, you believe it will end very soon. Or you hope it does. It can’t last forever. So I think I just hoped it wasn’t as bad as it looks or as soon as I grab a sausage it will be over and Logan will laugh and it’ll all just be a big joke.

Rasche: You learn a lot about everybody in that scene. You learn who is sniveling and who is defiant and who is ruthless, and did anybody step in and say don’t do that? Did anybody step forward and say, “Logan, what are you doing?” No. Not his children, not his wife, not anybody. So that shows you who they are. So it’s very non-human.

Parekh: The “Boar On The Floor” moment where the guys are on the floor, we were just trying to push the sort of sadism of it and see how denigrating it could be. I had to speak to all the actors ahead of time and ask them like, “How comfortable are you doing this?” Humiliation on-camera is still being humiliated. And so one needs to be very careful with the actor’s sense of trust that they place in you. One has to be very sort of cogent to that. And getting everyone’s permission, basically, to do it even. And to know when you have it and know when to not push it any further before it becomes ugly. Because I feel like it’s quite ugly. It could have gone further, but I think it was enough.

Rasche: I have to say that the rest of the cast just stood with their mouths agape. [Laughs] No one had ever seen humans act like that before, and so there was something sort of disgusting about it. Something sort of revolting about humans being forced to act like swine and doing it. [Laughs]

Braun: Brian brought such charm and fun to the way he plays the game. If it was all heavy and dark, I think it would have felt much different.

Roche: Brian just came roaring in and scared the absolute crap out of everyone. It was mesmerizing. And that scene was a long scene so it was a big number. But he was absolutely pitch-perfect all the way through. Which, of course, helped everyone else to be as well.

Rasche: He [Brian] loved every minute of it. That’s just the truth there. He was in heaven.

Cox: The actors are consummate on the show, and they’re great actors, and they’ll go whatever way the scene is going. They’ll give themselves over to it.

Parekh: I’ve spent a lot of time as a DP and I know I have a good sense, I think, of camera placement and what is going to be used, and what’s not going to be used. And that enables me to be quite precise in that manner to not make the actors do it over and over and over needlessly.

Rasche: I think we got lucky that through the combination of movements of the various men trying in various ways [to fight for the sausage], we ended up with something that worked. Sloppy, uncoordinated, and desperate — it was all those things.

Braun: We just knew Karl had to end up beating Tom for the second sausage.

Cox: I always think it’s not the first time he’s played “Boar On The Floor.” He’s played it before. Probably many, many years ago, he’s played it. And Karl and some of the older people remember the game. They do have a knowledge of it from the past, and they’re kind of trepidatious about it.

Rasche: [Karl’s loud and proud oink] was defiance. “You want me to oink, okay watch this. Okay, you want me to oink louder? Okay, watch this. How much louder? Watch this, I’ll do it.” But it was completely defiant. But again, the thing is you can be defiant but only within certain bounds, because if your defiance goes beyond those bounds, then you’re out. [But] part of the purpose of it was to show him that it could be done victoriously. There could be victory in humiliation.

Braun: I think Greg understands Logan differently from this point on. He realizes the stories are real. He has this side to him. And for everyone else, I think it reaffirms who is at the top of the food chain. And you have to make a decision whether you’re with or against him.

Cox: I don’t want to be him being the sort of obvious version of Logan, because all the time you’re trying to avoid the obvious, but when you’ve got something that’s so stark as this… But then it’s stark within the context of a play, a game and that’s what I didn’t realize. The brilliance of Tony Roche’s writing is that he made it a game. It was a game, so that therefore he could take these liberties with Logan… for the audience, in a way. And it just meant that Logan and everybody went, “Oh, hang on, what’s this?” And then it’s gone. Then we moved on.

Rasche: My guess is that Logan walked out five minutes later and he said, “What’s for dinner?” It’s just something that happened, it’s not like his whole life led up to it and led away from it. It’s just another part of his MO.

Parekh: It’s amazing that it’s such an emotionally brutal scene and that it’s such a sadistic perverse scene that people somehow respond to and understand.

Rasche: My son got texts from all his friends and they play “Boar On The Floor.” It’s like, first of all, it doesn’t exist, okay. He made it up. I’m telling you Tony Roche made it up totally, there’s no such game. And now it’s become common.

Big Sean’s new album Detroit 2 is just days away and we finally get a preview of what the album may sound like with the another single, “Harder Than My Demons.” Sean released the song with a video, which is full of chilling religious imagery, today after teasing the new song on Sunday.

The video finds Sean rapping to the camera from above as scenes from inside a church flash by on the screen. There’s a baptismal pool, an older woman praying, and children with angel wings sitting on swings. There’s also the inside of a mausoleum, with ominous imagery of an execution style shooting. The woman prays for protection for the boy being shot, and the clip rewinds, with Sean himself turning out to be an angel sent to answer her prayers and provide protection, echoing the song’s theme that “God got me working harder than my demons.”

“Harder Than My Demons” is the third single to emerge from Detroit 2 since its announcement, with Sean sharing the Nipsey Hussle collaboration “Deep Reverence” and the Lil Wayne-featuring teaser “Don Life” in back-to-back weeks. Now, with the album’s release coming later this week, Sean’s hard work is about to pay off.

Detroit 2 is out 9/4 via GOOD Music/Def Jam. Pre-save it here.

Kanye West is running for president at the moment, but it does not seem like he has a strong chance of winning (to put it lightly). That’s what the polls suggest, anyway, and yet, Kanye continues his campaign. Some wonder why he is even running, and a common theory that has been floated out there is that Kanye hasn’t turned his back on Trump like he has indicated, and that he is being paid to help the current POTUS remain in office.

Now he has addressed those allegations, and he denies them.

Nick Cannon shared some clips of an upcoming episode of his Cannon’s Class podcast, on which he will be joined by Kanye. In one of the clips, filmed in Wyoming, Kanye insists that he is not working with Republicans to help Trump’s campaign. He said, “People keep on saying, ‘I think that y’all, you and Republicans, are in cahoots.’” Cannon added, “They’re saying that they’re paying you to do what you’re doing to be a distraction.” Kanye replied, “Bro, can’t nobody pay me! I got more money than Trump!”

Cannon asked he thinks a Kanye West presidency is “realistic right now in 2020,” and Kanye responded, “I’m not running for president: I’m walking,” which got a laugh out of Cannon.

The full podcast is expected to be released tomorrow, so keep an eye on Cannon’s social channels for that.

As kids have prepared to go back to school in recent weeks, a cruel prank has circulated on TikTok. Dubbed the #NewTeacherChallenge, parents are sharing videos of them telling their kids that they have a new teacher, showing the kids the face of someone who is disabled or who has a facial deformity or disfigurement, and then filming the child’s reaction.

If that sounds horrible, it’s because it is.

The people whose faces are being used in this challenge have every right to be angry and hurt. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior, and no one would blame them if they colorfully told the whole internet to shove it.

But two of the targets in these challenges are well-known disability activists who somehow manage to always take the high road, serving as an example to the rest of us. Their ability to respond to people’s basest behaviors with dignity and strength, calling out the cruelty with clear and calm eloquence, saying over and over again, “It is absolutely not okay to treat me or any other human being this way and here’s why,” is awe-inspiring. If you want a role model for your kids, look to these ladies.

Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare congenital disease called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome, which prevents her from putting on weight, among other physical symptoms After being dubbed “The World’s Ugliest Woman” at age 17, she became a popular of advocacy for people who are different, for anti-bullying, and for teaching empathy and compassion. She continues to be an ongoing target of horrible memes and jokes, and yet she continues to respond by teaching valuable lessons and showing her own kind heart with her motivational speaking.

She shared a video when the New Teacher Challenge first started surfacing, explaining how the prank was not okay:

This week, she posted another video showing how not to teach your kids about empathy utilizing this challenge. Some parents might use it as a teaching opportunity, getting kids to see why their own reactions are unkind, but if the parent’s own reaction to the reaction is to laugh, then kids can get confused and the lesson gets lost.

Responses to Velasquez’s videos have been largely positive, but of course she has also received even more cruel messages. And again, she reacts by stating that these people “need help figuring out how to channel their own anger/hate in a way that doesn’t hurt someone else.” (I would personally like to tell these people to shove it on her behalf, but I will try to follow her example.)

Melissa Blake is another disability activist and writer who has been the subject of countless jokes, memes, and pranks on social media. She wrote an article for Refinery29 about her face being used as a prop for unkindness-as-entertainment in the New Teacher Challenge.

One thing she pointed out was that the parents making these videos aren’t just being cruel to her and others with disabilities, but also to their own children.

“I can’t help but feel sorry for their children,” she wrote. “Imagine your mom filming a vulnerable moment, one where you can’t help but burst into tears, and they actually post it for the whole world to see. How is humiliating your child, or watching other children go through that, a source of amusement?”

She was also direct about the impact this cruel treatment has on her personally:

“I want to be clear: I am violated. Every single time. Each photo, taunt, and cruel word is a clear violation of my dignity and my worth as a human being. And every time these platforms fail to take action, they’re sending the message that this bullying is okay. So many disabled people have become inured to our appearance being mocked. That’s not something we should ever have to get used to.”

Blake battles the trolls in a delightfully subversive way—by insisting she be seen in all her glory, refusing to hide away the way some tell her she should, and letting bullies know they will not win in her world.

Not only should we be teaching our kids to understand and embrace that some people are going to look different or move differently or have different abilities, but we should also show our kids outstanding examples of strength, resilience, and respect they can look up to. These women fit that bill to a tee.