Kanye West bucked back at entertainment media who have criticized him in a new interview with Pharrell Williams for i-D Magazine, comparing himself to Michael Jackson and insisting that Black celebrities should be protected from scrutiny.

“We should have something that says we can’t allow any company to tear down our heroes,” he posited. “Not on The Shade Room, not on social media and especially not in documentaries. I’m like every time the media isn’t happy with me it’s like, ‘Here they go. They’re gonna come and Wacko Jacko me.’ Which in some ways, they’ve tried to do.”

Of course, Kanye may be referring to the last several years, in which he stumped for Donald Trump, insisted that slavery “sounds like a choice,” tried to leverage his bipolar diagnosis for sympathy, and stoked his now decade-long feud with Taylor Swift to sell more records. He certainly has been called out and criticized for many of these actions — several times on this very site — but as with most of the outlandish or self-aggrandizing comments he makes, there is a sliver of truth.

Tabloid outlets like The Shade Room do encourage readers to slam, shame, ridicule, and mock the subjects of their posts, often with little regard to the fact that their targets are human beings who deserve empathy. However, what Kanye would like sounds less like asking for empathy and more like immunity to behave however he likes without scrutiny, which is a thing that no public figure should ever warrant. If he wants the accolades, praise, and wealth that come from having a giant platform, he also has to accept the responsibility to use it properly and the scrutiny that comes from abusing it.

Meanwhile, Pharrell spoke at some length about the possibility that social distancing may become “the new normal.” “”I don’t think there will be such a thing as a new normal – it doesn’t do enough justice to the difference in who we were pre-pandemic and who we will be moving forward,” he said. “I think it’s made a lot of people very wary and on edge. Life’s going to have a different kind of gravity than it’s ever had before… But we have been through many plagues before. We have been through pandemics. We survived. We’re gonna make it. In a lot of ways we got ourselves into this, we gotta get to work to get through it.”

Read the full interview here.

She just dropped the NXT Women’s Championship to Io Shirai on Sunday. On Monday Night Raw, she had two matches with Raw Women’s Champion Asuka. She’s also been a regular presence on Friday Night Smackdown, and there’s no reason to expect that will change. Out of every WWE Superstar, male or female, Charlotte Flair currently seems to be getting the most attention, and the strongest booking.

And it’s true, she is one of the best wrestlers in WWE, but does that mean she needs to be everywhere, all the time? Charlotte herself says in an interview with Sportskeeda that she things her omnipresence leads to fans taking her for granted:

I really do think that my consistency is a detriment to people missing me. I feel like I am doing some of my best work of my career right now, promo-wise and in-ring-wise but, because people see me all the time, I think they’re used to it and the expectation is so high, and it’s so frustrating because it’s like, “Well, am I not supposed to be hungry? Am I not supposed to always want to be on top? Am I not supposed to be fighting to get better?” I don’t know. It’s like a Catch-22.

To hear Charlotte tell it, none of her appearances on the various brands are meant to be about her; she’s trying to elevate everybody else.

I think the biggest thing for me is, yes, I’m on all three brands but, if you look at my storylines that I am a part of, I am a part of someone else’s storyline, it’s not like anything is a “Charlotte Flair” push. Like, there’s nothing that… I’m just put [there] because I can basically do anything and everything they ask.

Like, going to SmackDown was not for me. That’s not a push. That is “Charlotte Flair is a name and she’s coming to SmackDown”. So, currently, I am just all over the place, brand-wise, because I am the hardest worker, and I will say that, for the women.

For somebody who didn’t grow up wanting to be a wrestler, Charlotte has clearly come to love doing it, and doesn’t seem able to imagine not doing it as much as she possibly can:

I’ve been going straight for six years. And, you know, I don’t know, I like getting better, I like being at work, this is my job, I love it. I don’t want to go away. But it is frustrating because I think people take the growth and my work, you know, for granted because they see it all the time. It’s not like, “Oh, man…” It’s hard. I don’t know what the right answer is.

Speaking as a Charlotte Flair fan myself, I think it might actually be good for her to take a break, so that we can miss seeing her, and so that WWE can build up more female stars in her absence. But with Becky Lynch out of the game indefinitely, it doesn’t seem like WWE is inclined to let that happen.

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NASCAR, like many sports leagues, put together a statement regarding racial injustice in the wake of nationwide protests against the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police in Minneapolis and Louisville. They had many of their top drivers put together a video they played before Sunday’s race in Atlanta, pledging to listen and learn, and NASCAR’s president remarked that the sport has work to do on issues of race and diversity.

Bubba Wallace, NASCAR’s lone Black driver, has been a prominent figure in recent weeks, speaking out about his own personal experiences with racism, the police, and discrimination, as well as being a leading voice in pushing for change within the sport. While Wallace said he’s pleased with the response from NASCAR, he hoped this would be the start of the sport making significant changes. One of those changes he hoped to see was for confederate flags to be banned from NASCAR races, and on Wednesday, NASCAR announced officially that they would be doing just that.

To some this will seem like a no-brainer decision, but it is a rather incredible step taken by NASCAR given their fanbase and, as anyone that’s ever been to a race can attest, how prevalent the stars and bars are at races. It will be interesting to see how they enforce this and how far they go — will this also extend beyond flying a confederate flag on your RV to wearing a t-shirt with the confederate flag on it — but it’s certainly a start and another strong message that their statement promising to listen and take steps towards inclusiveness wasn’t just hollow words.

The backlash to this will undoubtedly come, but if there were ever a time to do this, it’s now when fans are just starting to be allowed back in small numbers, where enforcement of a new policy will be easier. As races open up to more and more fans it will be incumbent on NASCAR to stick to their word here, but it’s a policy very few ever thought they’d see in the sport so ingrained in the deep South.

Ice Cube is swimming in dangerous waters thanks to his latest run of tweets that have some calling him “antisemitic” — a charge that he’s defended himself from in the past. Cube, who’s become more active on his Twitter channel lately, began posting a series of photo memes relating to various Afrocentric conspiracy theories that have floated around the community for a long while.

At first, he posted a context-less image of a black cube next to Egyptian hieroglyphs, but it wasn’t long before things got weird. Next, he posted a collection of architectural structures from around the country with a caption reading “Black Cube Of Saturn.” But then, he shared a meme placing the cube within the six-pointed Star Of David and things got really hectic. Before long, commenters began to react, accusing Ice Cube of sharing antisemitic messages, while others wondered whether he’d been hacked.

Of course, it wasn’t the first time he’d faced down such accusations. In the wake of his second album Death Certificate in 1991, he was accused of including antisemitic content in his lyrics. In response, he famously said, “I’m not antisemitic. I’m anti-Jerry Heller,” referring to NWA’s former manager, who Cube accused of withholding the group’s money and forcing him out of the group.

That didn’t stop him from continuing to post the conspiracy-related memes and other unusual Afrocentric art, as well as photos from his iconic rap career.

Cube is far from the first rapper to post questionable conspiracies online. Back in 2016, B.O.B. drew a backlash from his belief in Flat Earth Theory. But maybe the best thing for him to do while the nation attempts to come together to fight police brutality would be to log off for a little while and let other voices take the lead.

See Ice Cube’s “antisemitic” meme and the reactions to it above.

Famed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is still under fire for making anti-transgender remarks on Twitter over the weekend, and the controversy is showing no signs of slowing down.

When asked to comment on Rowling’s tweets that attacked the validity of transgender women’s sexuality and spurred an intense backlash on social media, Universal Parks & Resorts, which hosts the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks and rides, affirmed its commitment to diversity and inclusion in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

“Our core values include diversity, inclusion and respect for all our guests, as well as our team members. Our theme parks are places where people and families of all types are welcome to enjoy their time together. Beyond that, we have no further comment.”

Universal Parks’ statement arrived on the heels of the two biggest stars of Rowling-based properties, Eddie Redmayne and Daniel Radcliffe, both making separate public statements disagreeing with the author and asserting that transgender women are women. As THR notes, Universal’s addition to the mix now puts increased pressure on Scholastic and Warner Bros. to break their silence on the controversial situation. Scholastic publishes the Harry Potter books while Warner Bros. owns the rights to the films along with the prequel series Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

In light of Rowling’s remarks, the Beast franchise could be in even more trouble after the second installment, The Crimes of Grindlewald, already failed to match the box office of Fantastic Beasts. As public opinion continues to turn on the author, Warner Bros. could face some tough sledding when the third film hits theaters. If it even makes it that far.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

What We Do in the Shadows (FX, 10:00 p.m.) — The FX comedy wraps up its even-better second season tonight. Seriously, if you haven’t been watching, consider this your excuse to get caught up. We’ve watched vampire familiar Guillermo struggle with his role in the Staten Island house all season but tonight, the trio is left to survive on their own when he finally decides he’s had enough. Even worse? The most exclusive vampire event of the year is scheduled to take place and Nandor has no one available to dress him.

The 100 (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — Clarke and the crew at Sanctum meet a group of mysterious outsiders who know what happened to Bellamy, Octavia, and Echo, but they want to trade that information for Clarke’s life. Back on Sky Ring, Hope, Echo, and Gabriel train to defeat their new enemy with help from a surprising source.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 10:00 p.m.) — The team is stranded in yet another unfamiliar decade where they’re forced to infiltrate a maximum security base in order to thwart the chronicoms plans. So, naturally, they call on some familiar faces for help.

Queer Eye: Season 5 (Netflix) — Look, whether reality shows are your specific flavor of jam or not, you won’t regret bingeing the latest season of this Netflix feel-good makeover series. The Fab Five head to Philly where they level up a new crop of hopefuls including a gay pastor, a med student, and Macy Gray’s brother. Yeah, weird. But also, there’s so much bad stuff in the world right now, why not treat yourself to some fluff — and by fluff we mean Antoni Porowski freaking out over dogs. That happens. A lot.

Music releases in 2020 have been delayed for two major reasons: First it was the coronavirus pandemic changing plans, and now music is being pushed back out of respect for the death of George Floyd and the protests that have followed. Jessie Ware’s new album, What’s Your Pleasure?, was originally meant to come out next Friday, June 19, but that release date too has been impacted.

Ware made the announcement yesterday, explaining the she is pushing the album back after learning about Juneteenth, the June 19 holiday that commemorates the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation being read to enslaved African-Americans in Texas, the last Confederate state to have the proclamation announced, in 1865. The holiday is important to many in the Black community, and for that reason, out of respect for the occasion, What’s Your Pleasure? is being pushed back by a week, to June 26.

Ware said in a video shared on social media, “It’s been brought to my attention that June the 19th is in fact a special date in American history. It’s celebrated as Juneteenth. It’s an incredibly important day for Black voices, and I don’t want to distract from those voices or those experiences or stories in any way. And therefore, I have decided to move my album. What’s Your Pleasure?, back one week to come out on June the 26th globally. This means the world to me and I appreciate your understanding in this.”

Meanwhile, Ware is fresh off a performance of “Save A Kiss” and an interview on The Late Late Show, so check that out below.

What’s Your Pleasure? is out 6/26 via PMR Records. Pre-order it here.

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Since breaking into stardom as an actor and musician, Selena Gomez has often used her platform to speak about immigrants’ rights and push for immigration reform. Now in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and protests over police brutality, Gomez is using her platform to uplift the teachings of Black activists. The singer has invited a range of organizers to take over her Instagram account, like co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement Alicia Garza and author Ibram X. Kendi. Now, Gomez has given her account to Killer Mike to spread awareness about racial injustices.

Kicking off his Instagram takeover, Killer Mike wrote that many are asking him how they can personally make a difference. The rapper said, “start local.” Killer Mike advised people to support local candidates and grassroots organizations, even shouting out a few in his Atlanta hometown. The rapper also said he appreciates protests, but another way to effectuate change is to organize and vote for progressive candidates in local elections.

Continuing his posts, Killer Mike admitted to feeling “sadness, misery, hopelessness; basically everything that every Black person feels in their gut.” The rapper said it’s important to be honest about emotions.

Killer Mike has been very vocal about Black Lives Matter following the protests. Most recently, the rapper appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to give “homework” to white people about how they can become better allies.

Check out Killer Mike’s advice on how to make a difference above.