The children’s version of a dog-themed Blazing Saddles might finally hit theaters in 2021, but the original version of the Mel Brooks classic is definitely not for kids. And in 2020, watching it on a streaming service will come with a bit more added context on HBO Max.
The Hollywood Reporter noted on Thursday that Blazing Saddles, the 1974 parody western from Brooks and Richard Pryor, has gotten a content warning added to it while streaming on HBO Max. It’s unclear exactly when the warning was added, but it definitely came in the wake of many services examining racially sensitive content and the depiction of blackface in light of massive protests against racial inequality and police brutality that have swept the nation this summer.
As THR reported, an HBO Max spokeswoman said the introduction puts the film in the “proper social context” necessary to explain that the film’s racism and bigotry is part of the larger parody of the genre and its own inherent racism.
TCM host and University of Chicago cinema and media studies professor Jacqueline Stewart provides the intro to Blazing Saddles. She also did the intro for Gone With the Wind.
A little more than three-minutes long, Stewart’s intro puts the bigotry and racist language in context, the host saying, “as the storyline implies the issue of race is front and center in Blazing Saddles. And racist language and attitudes pervade the film. But those attitudes are espoused by characters who are portrayed here as explicitly small-minded, ignorant bigots. The real, and much more enlightened perspective, is provided by the main characters played by Cleveland Little and Gene Wilder.”
It’s the latest film spotted on the service to have a content warning of sorts, as Gone With The Wind‘s considerably racism and derogatory plot points also garnered the 1939 film a warning earlier this year. It was part of a larger movement among streaming services to either provide context for racist depictions or remove them altogether, such as the variety of shows that saw episodes depicting blackface taken out of streaming libraries this summer.
Emmy Raver-Lampman likes to joke that she’s taking it easy during quarantine. On any given day she might be downing a pint of ice cream or enjoying a long hike. She’s taking things one moment at a time. But, with all due respect to Emmy Raver-Lampman, we’ve seen her IMDb page. We know that’s just not true. Between starring in the original cast of Hamilton, playing Angelica Schuyler on the national tour, filming two seasons ofThe Umbrella Academy, and scoring a new gig on Apple TV+’s Central Park, Lampman is one of the busiest actors in the game right now. The second season of Netflix’s sci-fi series about a dysfunctional group of superpowered siblings just landed on Netflix, and with it came a chance for Lampman to transport her character back to 1960s Texas.
It marks a bold storytelling choice by creator Steve Blackman and his team, to address a very real, often ugly part of our history with a show about talking chimpanzees and time-traveling assassins, and an alien masquerading as a mysterious tycoon. But it’s one that pays off and gives Lampman a chance to showcase her range. So no, we just don’t buy the idea that Lampman is sitting in her pajamas all day, watching The Office re-runs and considering giving herself a quarantine haircut. It was nice of her to try though. We chatted with The Umbrella Academy star about the eerie parallels of season two, Hamilton fun-facts, and her fight for representation.
We’ve got to start off with Hamilton because…
It’s Hamilton?
Exactly. You were in the original cast, what’s it like to see it reach a new audience on streaming?
I’m so grateful. I think Hamilton is told by a group of actors that represent and look like what our world looks like. So it’s just been amazing to watch the world kind of take in the show and be able to experience it in places that it hasn’t reached yet and to people that couldn’t afford a ticket to New York and then on top of that, a ticket to a Broadway show. For me, it’s just been so interesting because I was a part of the original cast. I helped to create this musical. But it’s so funny how I’m learning from fans of the movie and the show, stuff that I didn’t even know about it because people are diving deep in the best way possible — finding hidden Easter eggs and doing all this research and really devouring the material in a way that I’ve just never seen before.
After Hamilton, you made the switch to TV. Was that a “what’s next” kind of move? How do you top this show?
I think that was part of it for sure. The way that people are feeling after they watch Hamilton, I felt that as an artist. I was just like, “This is theater at its best and it’s being told by so many unbelievably talented Black and Brown bodies,” I think I was at that point where it’s like, “Well, I don’t know of a musical that’s coming to Broadway any time soon that I can see making me feel like this.” I had almost a decade of being a theater performer under my belt, I was feeling ready to be challenged in a different way. I came to LA with Hamilton as Angelica [Schyuler] and Umbrella Academy was one of the first self-tapes that I did. I didn’t put any stock into it because I’m so new here and nobody knew my name. I sent in my audition, no expectations, and didn’t hear anything for four months. And then out of the blue, heard from my manager that they wanted me to come in the next day and do a camera test. It happened so fast.
We’ve made it to season two and your character is dropped into ’60s Texas. I think we all have a watered-down idea of the Civil Rights Movement. Did you have to do more research to understand Allison’s journey this season?
Yeah, I mean, we learn the bare minimum in school, and we are never asked to confront the harsh realities and the brutal violence of our history, especially towards Black and Brown bodies. I think I wanted to be as fully educated as I could be so that I understood some of the harsh realities of the ’60s. The level of hatred that people had to live through in the ’60s as a Black person and as a Brown person and as an LGBTQ person… I just really rooted myself in facts of the time. I wanted to educate myself as much as I could because, at the end of the day, that’s the least that I could do.
How does filming something as traumatic as that sit-in scene influence how you view protests happening right now?
I think it’s the same. Allison sitting at that protest and then having it escalate to violence because of actions of white aggressors is the same violence that we’re seeing playing out on our TV screens today, especially in the midst of all of these protests. These are peaceful protests that are escalating to violent acts and to the point of violence because of white aggressors. It’s very clear to me that, yes, the ’60s was the ’60s, and today is today, but that fight, that struggle, that movement is the same movement. It’s just a different hashtag. We are still fighting injustice. We are still fighting systemic racism. We are still fighting hate. We are still fighting homophobia. We are still fighting so many of these things that all of these unbelievable people were fighting in the ’60s, and to be completely honest with you, for centuries. The ’60s wasn’t the beginning of this movement. You know what I mean? There is still so much work to be done.
Probably the biggest questions fans have about Allison’s arc this season is why she didn’t use her powers to help in this fight?
Yeah, that was a big part of the conversation at the beginning because I was like, “If she’s not using her powers, it has to be very clear why she’s not.” Allison’s powers are complicated, and her relationship with them is complicated. We don’t know the lasting effects of her powers. She has a biracial daughter in the 21st century, so for her to do a quick fix to solve the problems of civil rights, what are the long-term effects? I think it just was not worth the risk.
I also think that the work that is the most important and the work that is long-lasting, and the work that is the most needed is always the hardest to do. Having landed in the ’60s and not having her power, the beginning of the season is like a new beginning for herself. It forced her to observe and to listen and to kind of recreate herself without using her powers. At the end of the day, she’s actually liking this version of herself who isn’t using her powers because everything she has, she’s worked for and she likes that. That applies to her life, but I think she’s also realizing that it applies to this movement.
You’re replacing Kristen Bell on Central Park. Why is that an important move in the representation fight?
Representation is so important because it broadens our ability to tell stories. I think my lived experience as a biracial woman and what I have to give forth to a story about a biracial teenager coming of age is so important because that is a very unique and singular experience. That is true for the queer experience and the trans experience and the Black experience and the Asian experience. I think it is so important to give opportunities for people to tell their stories of their people. We have to start making those moves and that transition to opening up writers’ rooms and opening up directing opportunities and opening up producing opportunities and opening up acting opportunities.
I think the only option is to make art that is a true reflection of the world that we live in, and you can’t do that if everyone is white and everyone is male because the world is not all white and the world is not all male.
I mean, thank God.
[Laughs] Right? Everybody’s experiences are so unique because of their sexual orientation, because of their race, because of how they grew up, because of their location, because of their religion. I think it’s important also for people to turn on the TV and to go to a movie and to see a character that looks like them and connect to that. What a disappointment on an animated show, to see a Black character, and then go Google who voices it, and it’s not a reflection of the character that’s being voiced. I think that’s such a missed opportunity, and I’m so grateful for Josh [Gad] and Kristen [Bell] and the creatives of Central Park. It’s just so amazing that they’re opening it up to allow room for people to voice characters that look like them.
Netflix’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’ is streaming its second season now.
The Memphis Grizzlies will have a chance to play for a playoff spot this weekend thanks to a resounding 119-106 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday afternoon in Orlando.
Jonas Valanciunas dominated as he notched his first career triple-double with 26 points, 19 rebounds, and 12 assists (more than doubling his previous career-high) in 33 minutes, while Rookie of the Year frontrunner Ja Morant chipped in a triple-double of his own with 12 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds to pull the young Grizzlies into postseason contention once again.
Despite an 0-4 start to the bubble and the loss of Jaren Jackson Jr. to a knee injury, Memphis managed to make it to the play-in series with a pair of wins in their final four games. Memphis always looked to have the toughest path in terms of schedule, but their finale being against Milwaukee may have actually played into their hands. The Bucks, without a suspended Giannis (who may have sat out, anyway), didn’t play any of their main rotation pieces more than 21 minutes, as Mike Budenholzer went deep into his bench against former assistant Taylor Jenkins.
The most intrigue for the Bucks was Khris Middleton’s 50/40/90 season hanging in the balance, as he needed two more makes than misses to find himself in the exclusive club. The All-Star got off to a sluggish start and finished with just 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting in 21 minutes, falling just shy of shooting 50 percent from the field on the season.
Memphis — and Phoenix, which won its final game to move to 8-0 in the bubble — will now be watching with great interest to see if the Blazers can beat the Nets on Thursday night. A Portland win means they take the 8-seed and Memphis will have to beat them twice this weekend. A Portland loss means Memphis is the 8-seed by virtue of a tiebreaker with Phoenix, and the Suns would need to move to 10-0 in the bubble by beating the Grizzlies twice. The expectation is that Portland will cruise to a win, but Memphis’ opponent today knows all too well what underestimating the shorthanded Nets can lead to.
The other team in the mix was the Spurs, but by virtue of the Suns and Grizzlies winning, and both teams owning a tiebreaker over San Antonio, no matter what they did against Utah their 22-year playoff streak would indeed be coming to an end — thus putting a halt to the longest streak in American pro sports.
The Phoenix Suns capped off their magical run in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble on Thursday afternoon with a 128-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks in their final seeding game. Phoenix was led by Devin Booker’s 27-point, 7-assist, 5-rebound outing, and with the win, they secured the distinction of being the only team to go 8-0 while in the Bubble.
The bad news is that while they took care of business in a way that even the most optimistic Suns fan could not have seen coming, their future is out of their own hands. Due to the 119-106 win by the Memphis Grizzlies over the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, Phoenix has to sit and wait with bated breath to see what happens in Thursday evening’s game between the scorching hot Portland Trail Blazers and the shorthanded Brooklyn Nets.
The Suns’ postseason prospects are dependent on the Nets knocking off the Blazers. This is a gigantic ask for Brooklyn, which have played well in the Bubble and boast a surprising 5-2 record but are tasked with figuring out a way to slow down Damian Lillard. The Blazers are also 5-2 in the Bubble, thanks in large part to the play of Lillard, who has been out of his mind and is the favorite to be named the MVP of the Bubble’s seeding games — he’s averaging 37 points and 9.3 assists in 41.4 minutes per game in the Bubble while connecting on 41.4 percent of his triples.
Still, anything can happen in that game (as the Bucks learned against Brooklyn recently), which tips off at 9 p.m. EST on TNT. Even if Portland wins, though, Phoenix can leave the Bubble with their heads held high. Again, absolutely no one could have seen them going 8-0 in seeding games. They were the most wonderfully cohesive team in the entire Bubble — Booker looked like he made the leap from an extremely good player on a middling team to a legitimate superstar. Deandre Ayton gave plenty of reminders of his considerable potential. The team’s role players were fantastic, whether it was Mikal Bridges flashing as much potential as any young 3-and-D wing in the league, Cam Johnson showing some scoring punch, Ricky Rubio providing his perpetually-steady hand in the backcourt, Dario Saric shining off the bench, or Cameron Payne providing surprisingly quality minutes after being a last-minute signing.
Two things that Phoenix has been missing for quite some time have been a solid foundation that the team can build on and the kind of stability that you need to build. Monty Williams, in his first year in charge, has done a wonderful job building a culture and getting buy-in from everyone, which includes a front office that hasn’t exactly established itself as one that consistently makes the best decisions. Add in what these players have shown in Orlando and it’s evident that something special is brewing in Phoenix.
It’s a bit unfortunate that we may not get to see if this group can get a shot at the most unlikely of playoff berths. The Suns are extremely fun, play hard, and have a sense of belief about them that would make them an absolutely wonderful squad to watch in the postseason. It all comes down to the Nets, but even if the Blazers come out on top, a mic’d up Ayton put things succinctly at the end of their win against the Mavs.
“A fourth season with all of us?” Ayton asked. “Aye, NBA, we’ll be back next year. We’ll be back. We proved ourselves, though. Put some respect on our names.”
Though summer isn’t technically over until September 22nd, we’re inundated with fall-spiced products beginning mid-August (and sometimes even in July). Honestly, we barely feel like summer even started. We certainly aren’t ready for the explosion of pumpkin spice that’s already filling the shelves at our local grocery stores. From candy to candles, it seems like everything is slathered in this overly-saccharine spiced flavor.
What’s the point of this lead-in?
It’s just to say that here at Uproxx, we prefer our spice to be of the rye variety and pretty much only in whiskey form (although we’ll munch on a loaf of good rye bread, too). Instead of falling for the siren song of pumpkin-spice while we’re still in the dog days of summer, we recommend you get yourself a nice bottle of rye whiskey and watch the sunset with a nice dram. It’s way more satisfying and not nearly so cliche.
To help you out, we decided listed some of our favorite summer-fall transition-y rye expressions below.
Released in May of 2020, this is one of the newest offerings from Jim Beam’s small-batch brands. Previously, the brand released Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye, but this is the first bottle with an age statement. This 80-proof rye was aged for ten years. While its complex and well-balanced, it’s easily sippable and can be enjoyed just as much by seasoned rye fans as those new to the style.
Tasting Notes:
The result of the ten years of maturation is a softening of the spicy rye, giving this offering a much richer, more approachable flavor. Before you even take a sip, you’re met with aromas of peppery rye, subtle toasted oak, and lingering vanilla. The first sip leads you into a symphony of sweet toffee, rich caramel, and warming rye spice. It’s all finished with a flourish of warming cinnamon and smoky wood.
Bottom Line:
This is a great rye for beginners — it’s smoother and more sippable than some of the higher rye offerings.
Old Forester is a huge name in the bourbon world. The brand has been producing high-level bourbon or over 150 years. But, until last spring, it never branched out into rye whiskey. The brand likes to tout itself as the first bourbons to be bottled in a glass bottle. Obviously, they did that more than a century ago, but now they’ve made what they’re referring to as the first-ever “Kentucky straight rye whiskey”.
Tasting Notes:
Made using a recipe from 1940, this rye offering is made up of 65 percent rye, 20 percent malted barley, and 15 percent corn. The result is a whiskey with hints of dried orange peel and caramel on the nose. The first sip yields buttery toffee, subtle banana bread that leads into peppery spice, cinnamon, and various Christmas spices before ending in caramelized sugar and just a hint of rye pepper.
Bottom Line:
This is a complex, high-rye whiskey that should appeal equally to seasoned rye fans and newbies alike.
Back in July, Michter’s released its 10-Year Single Barrel Rye whiskey for 2020. The brand, more known for its bourbon, is only releasing this expression in limited quantities because of lack of supply due to the ongoing pandemic. This limited number of bottles makes this even more highly coveted than it normally would be. This “Kentucky-style” rye is unsurprisingly fairly high in the corn department and was aged for ten years in toasted, charred barrels.
Tasting Notes:
The result is a highly complex, one-of-a-kind bottle that you should definitely seek out while you still can. It all starts with the nose. Aromas of rye bread, charred oak, and rich caramel are highly nuanced. The first sip brings up images of vanilla bean ice cream, spicy cinnamon, subtle spices, and velvety clover honey. The finish is subtly dry with a long-lasting, warming hint of spicy pepper.
Bottom Line:
If you can get your hands on this bottle, definitely don’t waste it by mixing it. You spent enough on this whiskey that it should be sipped slowly on a cool evening.
In the 1800s there were two different versions of rye. The first was Pennsylvania Rye and the other was Maryland Rye. Pikesville is a Maryland-style Rye — a style known for its much milder, smoother whiskeys. Originally Pikesville was produced in the late 1800s until prohibition saw the closure of the distillery. After prohibition was repealed, Pikesville was the only brand of Maryland Rye to remain. Years later, this iconic, 110 proof, 6-year-old whiskey is now made in Kentucky by Heaven Hill.
Tasting Notes:
For a rye whiskey with only 51% rye content, this is a highly complex, well-rounded whiskey. Before you even take a sip, you’re met with just a whiff of peppery rye, dried fruits, and smoked cinnamon. The first sip adds caramelized sugar, vanilla, and dried orange peel into the equation. It all ends with toasted oak and malty chocolate and a pleasing hit of heat.
Bottom Line:
While this is definitely a great sipper, you can feel comfortable mixing this whiskey into your favorite rye-based cocktail.
Sagamore Spirits was officially launched back in 2016 and was named for a nearby thoroughbred horse racing farm. In the few years since, it has gained quite a following for its Maryland-style rye. Like many rye brands, Sagamore sources multiple rye mash bills from MGP before tirelessly blending them together to create the flavor they’re looking for. One mash bill is 95 percent rye, while the two others included are each 51 percent rye. They don’t let anyone in on the actual whiskeys they use and the amounts of each, but that’s all inside baseball anyway.
Tasting Notes:
While this whiskey definitely isn’t overpowered by its rye presence, peppery spice is present on the first nosing. This is followed by candied cherries, rich vanilla, and spicy cinnamon. The first sip brings robust, charred oak, dried orange peel, and sweet caramel. The finish is littered with hints of pepper and warming heat.
Bottom Line:
Pour a glass, drop in an ice cube, and sit back and sip on this high-rye whiskey while you sit near a large body of water.
Similar to Jim Beam’s small batch series, Russell’s Reserve (named for Jimmy Russell) is Wild Turkey’s higher-end brand. Well known for its bourbon, drinkers shouldn’t sleep on this 90-proof, small-batch rye that was aged for six years. It won a gold medal at the 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition for a reason. It’s known for its use of a single rye mashbill and the fact that it’s the only rye the brand makes with an age statement.
Tasting Notes:
Before taking a sip, it’s best to take in some of the whiskey’s aromas. The first sniff brings forth sticky toffee pudding, toasted wood, and just a wisp of peppery spice. Once you take a sip, you’ll be treated to rich vanilla, subtle cloves, cinnamon, and cooking spices along with honey sweetness. It all ends with a crescendo of chocolate truffles, caramel, and a pleasing hint of peppery heat.
Bottom Line:
Don’t waste this gem by using it as a mixer. It’s perfect for slow sipping while you grill up a nice, meaty steak.
As calls for racial justice escalated around the world this summer, one UK-based company that made statements regarding its role in systemic racism was Lloyd’s Of London, described as an insurance and reinsurance market formed by the Lloyd’s Act 1871. The market began as a shop where mariners and merchants would convene to secure insurance — including for slaves and slave ships. In June, Lloyd’s acknowledged these ties to the global slave trade and promised to make recompense. A month later, they received a list of demands from none other than T.I., whose plan was to hold the company accountable to its commitment to change.
Firing off — and sharing on his social media — an open letter to Lloyd’s with a list of ways to make restoration for its past actions, T.I. told the company “on behalf of ‘The Descendants’ of African Slaves,” that “we demand equitable financial consideration for the ‘shameful role’ they played in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.” Now, a little under a month removed from sending his open letter, T.I.’s Chief of Staff has received a response, sharing it via email with Uproxx.
“We cannot unfortunately undo the past,” it reads. “But we would like to play an active role in trying to level the playing field for Black and Minority Ethnic people in today’s world. On 10 June we announced an initial action plan that focuses on education, research and significant funding for charities and other organisations that promote opportunity and inclusion for Black and Minority Ethnic colleagues. There is much more to do and we will work with our Cultural Advisory Group to determine our longer term plans.”
The letter promises to update Lloyd’s websites as plans develop and offers links to the market’s action plan and advisory group.
Tom Cruise appears to have made it is mission to run in as many flicks as possible, including the Mission: Impossible franchise as seen above. Each Cruise sprint may be different from the last, although they all carry the same ferocity, and if you were wondering whether he’s got a rule about his running, you’d be correct. This story ends up being more flattering to Cruise than what Thandie Newton had to say aboutM:I 2, but yeah, Tom still comes off as totally intense. No surprise there.
Annabelle Wallis, who starred alongside Cruise in 2017’s The Mummy, spoke with Hollywood Reporter about her new movie, The Silencing (co-starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). In the process, Wallis (of course) discussed how often she’s asked about The Mummy, and she revealed how exactly she got Cruise to break his on-screen running rule — he prefers to go it alone — and allow her to sprint alongside him. This sounds like a lot of work, but her mission went as planned:
“I got to run on-screen with him, but he told me no at first. He said, ‘Nobody runs on-screen [with me],’ and I said, ‘But I’m a really good runner. So, I would time my treadmill so that he’d walk in and see me run. And then he added all these running scenes. So, that was it. It was, like, better than an Oscar. I was so happy! I was so happy that I got to run on-screen with Tom Cruise.”
And Wallis did a fine job at the task. Look at her go.
For the first time in history, an American scored a goal in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. And thanks to Tyler Adams’ 88th minute strike, RB Leipzig picked up a 2-1 win over Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, securing a spot in the tournament’s semifinals for the first time in club history.
Leipzig and Atleti squared off in Portugal on Thursday with the winner punching their ticket to take on Paris Saint-Germain next week. It was a cagey affair — something that is oftentimes the case when Atleti plays and was exacerbated by the fact that Leipzig’s star forward Timo Werner has left the club due to his move to Chelsea — and through the first half, neither side was able to break the deadlock.
That changed early on in the second half thanks to a lovely team goal finished by Dani Olmo. After 16 passes, Leipzig’s Marcel Sabitzer chipped a ball into the compact Atleti defense. Olmo found a bit of daylight, got his head to the ball, and beat Jan Oblak.
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 13, 2020
The Spanish side kept looking for ways to break down Leipzig’s defense. They eventually broke through when Lukas Klostermann recklessly challenged João Felix and conceded a penalty. Felix, the club’s world-record signing and one of the brightest young talents on the planet, coolly stepped up and slotted his penalty past Péter Gulácsi, who guessed right but couldn’t get a hand to the ball.
João Félix levels it!
The Portuguese star buries the penalty to bring Atletico Madrid even in Lisbon. pic.twitter.com/6GVg3PTeGM
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 13, 2020
A moment later, the man of the hour came on the pitch. Adams replaced Konrad Laimer in Leipzig’s midfield, giving his side fresh legs and a jolt of energy as the match entered its final chapter. His moment came in the 88th minute, when the former New York Red Bulls standout received a ball from his fullback, former NYCFC player Angeliño, and let one rip from the top of the box.
While it looked like the ball might have gone wide, it took a fortunate deflection off of Atleti’s Stefan Savic, and there was simply nothing that Oblak could do as the ball fell into the back of the net.
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 13, 2020
Atleti did everything it could in the game’s final minutes, but it could not find the equalizer. It was a gigantic moment for Adams — a 21-year-old New York native who joined Leipzig in 2019 and had never scored for the club before — and thanks to it, Leipzig is one match away from the Champions League final. All that stands in their way is French champions PSG, which came from behind with two late goals to knock off Atalanta on Thursday.
I was tempted to open this one up with a pithy, timely Shakespeare quote. You know the one from Romeo And Juliet: “What’s in a name?” But truthfully, it felt a little too on-the-nose — and for lack of a better term, cute — for a discussion that frankly, we should be done having by now. With rap Twitter in a tizzy over so many aspects of the 2020 XXL Freshman Class list, it’s a bit exhausting that one of the biggest names in hip-hop today is one that stands out so glaringly in the context of a year of long-overdue racial reckonings.
Yet, here we are. The tide of public opinion on Atlanta rapper Mulatto stands at a tipping point, incidentally just as the artist herself is at the most critical point of her career. She’s on the cusp of releasing her major-label debut after a half-decade of independent grind and a near-immaculate rollout. That process saw her collaborate with one of her hometown’s most iconic heroes on a remake of one of his most iconic songs. She’s also garnering unprecedented attention as one of the 12 artists selected by XXL for its annually anticipated list of artists expected to break out. Plus, she’s in the most talked about video of the year, courtesy of freak rap pioneer Cardi B.
But instead of celebrating a triumphant introduction to the world outside of rap’s ever-insurgent online underground, she’s just as likely to be fielding apt complaints about her chosen alias. Born Alyssa Michelle Stephens, “Mulatto” isn’t even her first pass at a suitable stage name. Originally appearing in 2016 on Lifetime reality series The Rap Game as Miss Mulatto, she cut down her rap name to make it more marketable, because the “Miss” was obviously the part that so desperately needed fixing.
Before I get accused of needlessly dissing or “hating on” an emerging talent, let me be clear. I absolutely love Alyssa Stephens, the rapper, and I have since she was on Jermaine Dupri’s teenie-bopper-centric competition show. She has a real gift for clever turns of phrase (as illustrated by the title of her recently-released single “Muwop”) and her swag is just about unmatched by most of the onslaught of new rappers that have appeared on the scene since 2016. But I can’t fully support her because of how truly problematic her name is — and how easily the controversy could have been foreseen and avoided.
For those who need it, here’s a really quick history lesson. The term “mulatto” is a reference to a person of mixed Black and white parentage. It’s extremely f*cking offensive because the term was originally used for livestock, specifically the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. It’s a really rude way of calling someone “mixed” deriving from an era when Black people were literally treated as livestock and a white parent would not even acknowledge their mixed child, instead discarding them to the harsh life of a slave. Their own kids.
Mulatto’s rap name is obviously a reference to her mixed ancestry (her father is Black, her mother is white) and there’s nothing wrong with being proud of where you come from. But to dub yourself a term that categorizes you as less-than-human is kind of a big fail. Mulatto’s name also evokes ghosts of the colorism problem. When it’s combined with her typical, pretty girl boast-rapping, it prompts a discomfort that stems from 200 years of systemic inequality filtered through the lens of light skin privilege. After all, those owners may not have exactly freed their lighter-skinned children from slavery, but they historically privileged them with jobs working inside the house and sometimes even education, which they denied their darker field hands.
It’s not like there aren’t plenty of highly successful rappers with mixed heritage who’ve had to grapple with questions of identity and colorism; just look at Drake, Doja Cat, J. Cole, or Saweetie, who are all tremendous stars who’ve dealt with hiccups in their presentation along the way. But how you talk about these things is important, too. Logic’s constant harping on his “AfricAryan” background (dear God, just look at that abominable portmanteau) earned him so much scorn from the rap establishment, he quit rap this year to go play video games for a living.
That’s not what we want to happen to Big Latto (an alternative that has been proposed by fans, riffing on the title of a 2019 EP). She’s at the outset of what could very well be a strong career thanks to a cameo in Cardi B’s “WAP” video, a wealth of genuine talent, and a business savvy that led her to turn down the recording contract offered by JD for winning the first season of The Rap Game in lieu of building a following organically. But that savvy should have alerted her to the potential pitfalls her nom de plume could lay in her path to stardom.
It’s not like she’s the first or only rap star to give herself a problematic pen name to start out with. Rich Brian, the Indonesian born performer who helped launch LA-based, all-Asian label 88rising to fame, started out his career as Rich Chigga — a play on a racial slur referring to Asian people who “act Black” (I shouldn’t even need to explain this one for you). The ever-controversial Noname cut her own pseudonym down from Noname Gypsy, citing ignorance of “gypsy’s” origin as a pejorative for the nomadic Romani people. Some Roma believe the name connotes criminality — a stereotype exploited by Nazis during World War II as justification for a systematic genocide of anywhere from 220,000 and 1,500,000 people.
Both the aforementioned rappers were smart enough to change their names after taking flak for them at first and both are ostensibly fine in terms of public regard (Noname’s various run-ins with other artists’ fanbases notwithstanding). It would probably behoove Mulatto to take her own fans’ advice and make a name change before the quiet rumble of dissent becomes an all-out cacophony of complaints. Big Latto deserves to be the star her unofficial nickname implies. If the thing that winds up holding her back is the way she chooses to introduce herself to potential fans and business partners, she’ll have no one to blame but herself.
Thursday represents the last meaningful day of the NBA’s seeding round, as the playoff brackets in the East and West are set with the exception of this weekend’s Western Conference play-in series for the 8-seed, which will be decided once the Blazers play at 9 p.m. ET.
The playoffs will begin on Monday, with the game schedule still to be announced, but that doesn’t mean the networks that will be bringing that coverage can’t start getting ready. On Thursday night, ESPN debuted its first playoff promo, featuring Michael B. Jordan narrating their “Rise Together” video (with Logic’s “Celebration” as the background music), highlighting the players efforts on and off the court during the bubble restart in both pushing for a championship run and also maintaining focus on the social justice movement, with videos of players protesting alongside them playing in the bubble.
“We rise together, for this generation and the next,” Jordan says. “On the court and on the streets. For your city and for your team. For everything it took to get to this moment. We rise together, because together we can win it all.”
Throughout the restart players and coaches have looked to ensure the Black Lives Matter movement and pushes for social justice and reform remain at the forefront of the conversation, and the league’s TV partners have tried to do the same in their promo videos — TNT’s opening night video was narrated by Meek Mill speaking on criminal justice reform.
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20 points 
15 rebounds 
10 assists 
