Like many major brands and leagues, the NFL issued a statement as protests against police brutality and racial injustice, sparked by George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police, launched nationwide. Many of its players have spoken out on the subject and the league committed $20 million to social justice programs on Thursday, but the hypocrisy of the league that has effectively blackballed Colin Kaepernick for peacefully protesting issuing these statements claiming to support the movement has not been lost on many of its biggest stars.

While Drew Brees’ comments about how he still feels Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem to protest police brutality is wrong drew ire from teammates, others in the NFL, and even the likes of LeBron James, the players haven’t forgotten the league’s stance on the same issue. On Thursday night, a number of star players posted a strong video message featuring prominent voices like Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Odell Beckham Jr, Saquon Barkley, and many more, calling for the league to strongly “condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people” and “admit wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting.”

It’s an incredibly powerful video, and that this many of the league’s stars participated shows that the NFL is going to have to take this very seriously. Having the players say “I am…” and listing out only a partial, yet lengthy, list of names of unarmed black people killed by police and white citizens, like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, and Trayvon Martin was gutting, and the players asserting their right to peacefully protest indicates that whenever football returns to the field, so will the protests the league tried so hard to get rid of.

Billie Eilish has never shied away from addressing her public persona and various personal issues. To close out May, Eilish shared a video titled “Not My Responsibility,” in which she addressed, among other things, her body image and clothing style. In mid-April, she revealed in a feature with Dazed that she “can’t win” when it comes to the public’s perception of her body. In the upcoming July/August feature of GQ, she’s further addressed those ideas.

In the article, she reveals that she has “never felt desired,” saying, “My past boyfriends never made me feel desired. None of them. It’s a big thing in my life that I feel I have never been physically desired by somebody. So I dress the way I dress as I don’t like to think of you guys–I mean anyone, everyone–judging it, or the size of it.” Opening up about her style as well, she said, “Sometimes I dress like a boy. Sometimes I dress like a swaggy girl. And sometimes I feel trapped by this persona that I have created because sometimes I think people view me not as a woman.”

Later in the interview, Eilish revealed that she is very much aware that she is subject to comments regardless of what she does. “I am clickbait at the moment. Anything with my name on it or anything I say or do can and will be used against me,” she states. “I don’t watch people’s [Instagram] Stories, I quit Twitter a couple of years ago.”

Lastly, Eilish acknowledged that she will always be subject to extreme reactions. “You will be super hated. And super loved,” she said. “There are a million people who don’t like Beyonce – and I don’t know how the hell you can’t love Beyonce. Same with Rihanna. Same with Trump – people actually like that fool.”

The July/August issue with Eilish arrives on newsstands June 5th.

[via GQ]

The NBA announced its plan to return to play later this summer, with 22 teams going to Orlando to play at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. The plan was agreed upon by 29 of the 30 teams, with Portland as the lone exception, and it now moves on to the players’ association to ratify and negotiate terms, both for this season’s return and how next season will take place.

There are financials to figure out and start and end dates for a 2020-21 season to be determined — the owners proposed a Dec. 1 date, which came as a “surprise” to the NBPA — but it seems as though we are indeed moving closer to basketball being played. One of the biggest questions facing the league’s return is the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, where Florida just saw its highest new case count on Thursday.

Silver said in an appearance on TNT’s Inside The NBA that they are constantly monitoring the situation and are still in “the first inning” with the understanding that a plan was needed for a return, but factors beyond their control will dictate if that plan can take place. If it does go on and we do get to playoff basketball, the question of what happens if a positive test of a player happens in the middle of a series looms large. Charles Barkley asked exactly that, wondering if a team would need to pull out of the playoffs due to a positive test, with Silver saying he and the league don’t believe that to be the case.

“The answer is we don’t believe we would need to,” Silver said. “We’ve been dealing with a group of our experts plus public health authorities down in Florida now. The view is that if we are testing every day, and we are able to trace in essence the contacts that player has had, we’re able to in essence contain that player and separate him from his team, and we’re continuing to test every day, the belief is we would not have to shut down if a single player tested positive.”

That the league will be doing daily testing of everyone in the bubble is what gives them this opportunity, given most experts say the best way to limit spread is to test and contact trace to understand who is impacted and who needs to be isolated. Still, while Silver says “we would not have to shut down” for a single positive test, that didn’t fully answer the question of if a team would need to, should tracing indicate much of that team has been in contact with the player in question.

All of this is to say, there are still many unknowns and the league is proceeding with the understanding that things are always capable of changing, but the hope is they can move forward even with a positive test.

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Several members of the New Orleans Saints took star quarterback Drew Brees to task this week for comments that failed to display understanding of Colin Kaepernick’s protest of kneeling during the national anthem. From there, a firestorm emerged with LeBron James calling Brees out and FOX Sports personality Shannon Sharpe going as far as to say that Brees “should probably retire” following his comments.

After the initial and deeply negative reaction, Brees offered a public apology and later apologized to his Saints teammates for what he said. On Thursday evening, an interesting wrinkle came to light during TNT’s special edition of Inside The NBA, with Shaquille O’Neal revealing that he was actually present, at least virtually, when Brees addressed the team.

O’Neal, who indicated that he was scheduled to speak to the team on Thursday well before the controversy, went on to describe the events, albeit in limited detail.

“Most of his teammates accepted his apology,” O’Neal said. “They said, ‘Drew, we know your character. We know you stepped in some stuff that you can’t get out of but, guess what, we want you to do more positive things and less talking.’ And they all said ‘we accept your apology.’ I agree with Chuck. He made a mistake.”

Saints running back Alvin Kamara was among a number of players that discussed things with Brees and, since then, Kamara went on to describe his personal experiences with racism on Thursday. While Brees’ apology certainly did not appease everyone or evaporate the negative sentiment toward his initial comments, some statement of contrition was immediately necessary, and in another example, Saints star wide receiver Michael Thomas revealed he accepted Brees’ apology despite disagreeing with his original statement.

It will be interesting to monitor the ongoing sentiment toward Brees, as even the TNT panel was split to some degree, with O’Neal and Charles Barkley on one side and Kenny Smith still channeling a more negative reaction to Brees’ comments. Still, it was quite something to consider that, by apparent coincidence, one of the biggest names in basketball just happened to be within earshot when a prominent football player apologized for a high-profile misstep.

The movie industry is still shut down, and it’s not clear when it will reopen — when, essentially, it’s safe to have cast and crew once again sharing spaces that aren’t six feet apart. But months of quarantine have given talent plenty of time to plot their next move when they can make them. When Ari Aster, acclaimed director of Hereditary and Midsommar, finally gets to a film set, he’s planning on going big.

As caught by /Film, the filmmaker was speaking to the Associated Students Program Board at UC Santa Barbara, during which he dropped a couple details about his next movie. He didn’t say much, but what he said was tantalizing — namely that it will be, in his words, a “nightmare comedy,” or to be slightly more specific am “apocalyptic break-up movie.” Oh, and it will be four hours long.

A couple things. One, Aster may make serious, downer, incredibly upsetting horror movies, but they’re also quite funny, at least if you’re on their mordant wavelength. Granted, not everyone probably thinks the thing that happens with the bear in Midsommar is amusing, but then, not everyone’s going to see a four hour movie. Which brings to point number two: His movies are quite long. Midsommar is exactly as long as Goodfellas, and the director’s cut he made available in some markets later on ran nearly three hours. Truly, if anyone’s going to make the longest comedy since It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, it might by Ari Aster.

(Via /Film)

In early May, 1501 Certified Entertainment owner Carl Crawford was reportedly arrested for domestic violence against his ex-girlfriend, according to court documents obtained by TMZ Sports. The alleged victim and Crawford had ended their relationship after being together for two-and-a-half years, but both parties agreed to meet on May 8 in Houston to possibly reconcile. Upon her arrival, she claims that Crawford took out a semi-automatic handgun from his pocket and, according to the statement on TMZ, “unloaded the clip and ejected a round of the pistol and began walking towards her holding the firearm.”

The woman, whose name has not been made public, claims that, after she attempted to leave the apartment, Crawford pushed her to the ground to stop her. According to the documents, Crawford then “held the gun in one hand, and used the other hand to grab her by the head and neck, while asking her how long she had been dating a male acquaintance.” He then allegedly slammed her against the wall and squeezed her neck. She was moments away from passing out, she claimed, when her 1-year-old daughter appeared, distracting Crawford long enough for her to leave the scene.

She also claimed that Crawford left the scene as well, but failed to do so with the handgun. The documents also revealed injuries to her neck and her hand from the incident. Crawford surrendered to police on June 4, when he was charged with assault of a family member.

The incident arrives after TMZ shared a report that revealed two drownings occurred at Crawford’s home in mid-May during a get-together involving six individuals. The incident came after a boy mistakenly wandered into the pool in the backyard. The woman who was taking care of the boy went into the pool to save him, but neither of them exited the pool safely.

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It’s been nearly three months since the majority of the nation’s movie theaters closed, and there remains a lot of unsurety and anxiety about when and how they’ll re-open when they do. On Wednesday Cinemark, one of the country’s top chains, set a plan for opening back up with social distance tactics…that does not make moviegoers wearing masks a requirement. But one group is pretty cocksure: As per Business Insider, one major group is predicting that by mid-July, 90% of the nation’s movie theaters will be open.

That group is the National Association of Theatre Owners, which represents movie theaters across the country, so they know better than most what they’re talking about. And by the way, that date is when a certain movie is still scheduled to open: Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which throughout the quarantine has held onto its July 17 release date, even as the majority of fellow blockbusters have rescheduled for later in the year, or even next year.

Will this happen? Possibly! Many of the cities hardest-hit, including New York City, are planning to begin the first phase of re-opening as new cases and deaths continue to lower in number. Of course, it remains to be seen if there will be a resurgence following the number of protests that have cropped up around the nation. And there is still that threatened second wave of Covid cases that many officials have predicted. But at the very least we may have a brief chance to sit in comfy chairs in darkened rooms, having our brains rewired by the latest Nolan mindbender.

(Via Business Insider)

LeBron James’ track record of fighting for social justice and the Black community off the court is as strong as his on-court resume. He’s long used his platform to speak out against police brutality, racial injustice, and systemic racism that creates such inequity in America.

Unsurprisingly, he’s been very vocal this past week following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, which sparked nationwide protests that continue as people speak out against police brutality and the disproportionate targeting of the black people by police forces across the country. James has explained to Drew Brees why his anti-kneeling stance is one borne of privilege, as Brees citing his grandfather fighting in World War II ignores black veterans that returned to face racism and weren’t afforded the opportunities of their white counterparts.

When Fox News’ Laura Ingraham defended Brees’ right to have his own opinion, he took her to task for coining the term “shut up and dribble” in response to LeBron’s outspokenness on political and social issues in the past. Not long after that, LeBron posted a video made by his company, Uninterrupted, that explained in plain text why no athlete can “just stick to sports.”

It is a simple, yet powerful message, explaining why he and other athletes use their platform to speak up. It’s because white people have the privilege of compartmentalizing the issue and pushing it to the side, looking to sports for distractions from real world problems that may otherwise inconvenience them, even if not directly affecting the. Those sports are filled with black men and women who can’t ever push the issues of systemic racism aside, because it impacts their own lives, their families, friends, and communities every day.

While the NBA looks to a return to play plan, you can be sure that players will not simply return to the court forgetting what is happening right now in America. They will use that platform, where millions will want to tune in to watch sports return, to speak out and keep the message alive, as they should.