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There have been hundreds of confirmed coronavirus cases and dozens of deaths at nursing homes in Michigan, the Detroit Free Press has found.
The two big stories that came out of WWE over the weekend don’t go together very well. One was that an on-air employee tested positive for COVID-19, and the other is that they’re resuming live broadcasts of Raw, NXT, and Smackdown. That’s three shows a week that much of their talent will have to either travel back and forth to, or isolate themselves locally, away from their families. Neither solution is great, and at a time when only essential businesses are supposed to be going to work, WWE’s justification for going live again is a bit questionable, to say the least.
Naturally, the statement they made to ESPN made it all about the fans:
We believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times. We are producing content on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance following appropriate guidelines while taking additional precautions to ensure the health and wellness of our performers and staff. As a brand that has been woven into the fabric of society, WWE and its Superstars bring families together and deliver a sense of hope, determination and perseverance.
But meanwhile, Dave Meltzer at WON is saying that the real issue is that WWE’s contracts with USA and Fox limit how many pre-taped shows they’re supposed to air per year, apparently to just 3, which are usually used for Christmas and the UK tour. Apparently the fear is that if they don’t go live, even during this pandemic, the networks will have justification to renegotiate other parts of the contracts.
So yes, if you were confused, it sounds like WWE’s decision to put its talent at risk by running three live weekly TV shows a week during a global pandemic is all about money. I don’t think this will surprise anyone.
WWE keeps stressing how many precautions they’re taking at these shows, but personally I can’t even bring myself to call that doing the bare minimum for their workers’ safety. In this crisis, as most of us know well, the bare minimum, unless you’re selling food or providing healthcare, should be keeping your workers home.
Despite the philanthropic purpose and uplifting mood of his Team Love Dance-A-Thon Fundraiser Sunday, Diddy drew heat from the easily-offended denizens of social media when an excerpt of Diddy cutting off Lizzo‘s twerking session migrated from the livestream the wider social media ecosystem. At the time, Diddy said it was because the livestream was on Easter Sunday and he wanted to keep it “family-friendly.” Today, he explained exactly what he meant by that, hoping to appease the hundreds of accounts accusing him of fat-phobia.
Diddy said ‘aht aht!!!’ not on Easter Sunday!! Lizzo
pic.twitter.com/xsQw5v6K8D
— The Shade Room (@TheShadeRoomEnt) April 12, 2020
Many on Twitter felt that Diddy exercised a double standard in requesting Lizzo put a pause on her dance session, pointing out that model Draya Michele was allowed to twerk it out to her heart’s content. However, it seems those folks overlooked some important context in projecting on Puff’s reasoning: The difference in the ladies’ respective song choices. As it turns out, Diddy objected more to the lyrics from Moneybagg Yo and Blac Youngsta’s “123,” which Lizzo used to as her own background music.
As he explained in a video at the end of the stream, “There’s one thing that I wanna make clear. My queen, my sister, Lizzo, when I stopped the music, it’s because it had a lot of curses in there. Not because she was twerking. She’s one of the best twerkers in the world, okay? So let’s keep that clear. It wasn’t about twerking. You’re allowed to twerk on Easter. There was a lot of cursing on the record and I don’t need child services knocking on my door right now, you understand?”
Diddy on stopping Lizzo: “When I stopped the music, it’s because it had a lot of curses in there, not cuz she was twerking. She’s one of the best twerkers in the world.” pic.twitter.com/tRl2cEZshL
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 13, 2020
Specifically, the portion of the song Lizzo threw her backside to contains the lyrics: “She a bad b*tch, eat the p*ssy like a spinach / She’ll suck d*ck on the way to the dentist.” Meanwhile, Draya’s dance to Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” did contain the uncensored version, in which Juvenile rhymes “You a fine motherf*cker,” which has some Twitter users skeptical about Diddy’s explanation (although if you count the asterisks above, it’s pretty clear that one requires way more censorship than the other).
Also, his younger kids were with him when Lizzo was on. His adult kids were on when Draya was on.
— Cee, Esq (@picCharESQ) April 13, 2020
In any case, it’s a prime example of how things can be taken out of context on the internet — or at least, interpreted in many different ways. Fortunately, there were many other moments that seemed positive to take away from the Dance-A-Thon, such as Drake telling Diddy about the new music he’s making while on lockdown.
It was supposed to be a grand farewell: On February 25, Bob Iger stepped down as CEO of Disney — a position he’d held since 2005. Over his tenure the super-corporation had swollen even bigger in size; it was under him that they bought Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. It was under him that they’d absorbed Fox. He’d released a memoir last fall with a brag of a title, The Ride of a Lifetime. But, as per The New York Times, Iger is now informally back at the company, trying to steer it through waters that, thanks to our current rampaging pandemic, became immediately choppy after his departure.
The NYT reports that, mere weeks after being replaced by Bob Chapek, he’s “effectively returned to running the company,” having “smoothly reasserted control.” One major problem is that the company, which brought in more than $26 billion last year, is reportedly losing around $30 million a day.
That’s because three of their biggest revenue streams are essentially on “pause.” Last year Disney extended their focus to cruise ships and theme parks (beyond Disneyland, Disney World, etc.). Now those ships are empty, as are the parks. ESPN, one of their biggest cash cows, has not aired new sports in almost a month. And no one’s going to the movies.
The one glimmer of hope is Disney+, which recently announced they’d amassed 50 million subscribers. But, the NYT says, “the project is still an investment, years away from generating revenue that could replace a big movie opening in theaters.” On top of that, they need new content, which, for the most part, can’t be generated while everyone’s on lockdown. (Unless humanity gets super into watching famous performers performing in front of webcams in their homes à la the most recent SNL.)
In any case, the mood at Disney is “dire,” says the NYT, and while the exact number of its 223,000 employees who’ve been furloughed has not been revealed, the numbers are reportedly “huge.” (Among the furloughed are 30,000 who work at California resorts and 43,000 in Florida.)
The Times suggests Iger and company are considering ways to bring people back to parks in ways that won’t further spread COVID-19, including, reportedly “taking visitors’ temperatures.” There may also be a reduction in staff, though Iger wouldn’t confirm that, saying that decision would be left to his successor. But in any case, it appears Iger won’t get that Disney happy ending after all, and nor will the hundreds of thousands under his employ.
(Via The New York Times)