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Jared Kushner Said Black People Need To ‘Want To Be Successful’ To Escape Their ‘Problems’

Jared Kushner sparked controversy on Monday when he appeared on Fox News and criticized Black Americans for voting for Democrats and not supporting Donald Trump. The quotes spread quickly on social media, forcing the White House to defend Trump’s son-in-law and advisor as he attempts to help the president’s reelection campaign.

Kushner appeared on Fox And Friends on Monday morning, speaking about how many Black voters identify as Democrats despite his claim that Donald Trump’s policies actually benefit them more. He claimed that many Black voters need to “want” to be successful in order for Trump to help them.

“One thing we’ve seen in the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump’s policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they’re complaining about,” Kushner said. “But he can’t want them to be successful more than that they want to be successful.”

Kushner claimed there’s a “groundswell” of Black voters coming to Trump in the campaign’s final days because they are “realizing that all the different things bad things the media and Democrats have said about President Trump are not true.” But to many, the comments from Kushner — who grew up in a family with inherited wealth — were implying the economic disparity in some Black communities exists because people of color simply don’t want to fix their “problems” enough to do it.

A number of people were quick to criticize the comments, sharing the video on social media and providing commentary about Kushner’s choice of words.

The White House quickly responded to criticism of the comments as well, claiming Kushner’s statement about Black voters was taken out of context by “trolls.”

Still, it’s not a great look for Kushner and Trump in the final days of an election in which millions of people have already voted and Trump is behind in polls nationally. There aren’t many undecided voters left in America after an exhausting campaign and two head-to-head debates, but Kushner likely didn’t help his cause very much on Fox News on Monday.

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What’s On Tonight: ‘We Are Who We Are’ Tears Its Own Little World Apart

We Are Who We Are (HBO, 10:00pm EST) — The gang’s beginning to fall apart amid their disagreements about Colonel Wilson, who’s tearing the base apart, which says a lot, considering that it’s a microcosm of the United States at large. As troubles mount, Caitlin freezes her self discovery, but Danny plows full steam ahead with hit. This show is Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino’s first stab at a TV series, and it will appeal to the Euphoria audience while they await Season 2.

Filthy Rich (FOX, 9:00pm EST) — Franklin heads to Mardi Gras, and it’s not only for fun but a worthy cause? Alright. In the meantime, Margaret’s annoyed by Reverend Paul and Eric, and Ginger gets pulled into that hot mess.

One Day At A Time (CBS, 10:00pm EST) — Alex and Penelope are at odds over practical matters while Schneider and Avery deal with an awkward Dr. Berkowitz situation. Then The Alvarezes get romantic with their significant others during the supermoon.

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon — Sterling K. Brown, Zoe Lister-Jones, Rina Sawayama

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Gwen Stefani, Giancarlo Esposito

In case you missed these picks from last week:

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Prime film) – Sacha Baron’s most beloved character is back and still funny, even if racism in America isn’t nearly as shocking in 2020. With this followup, formally titled Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the “victims” become the performers, and Borat’s “daughter” is along for the ride. You’ve heard about the Rudy Giuliani scene, so watch it now, and then check out Borat’s response to Rudy’s explanation, as well as Cohen’s out-of-character remarks.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix series) – This chess-centered drama is a surprisingly interesting and tightly paced show. It’s also a meditation upon addiction and danger and what it means to be a champion, all wrapped up in a coming-of-age tale about a boozy grandmaster in the making. As fictional prodigy Beth Harmon, Anya Taylor-Joy’s piercing gaze is here to demonstrate how a board game can look like a battlefield in Scott Frank’s adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel. The supporting cast (including Marielle Heller as a tragic 1950s housewife, Moses Ingram as a kickass childhood friend, and Harry Melling and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as gameplay rivals) also crushes the game

How To With John Wilson (Friday, HBO 11:00 p.m.) — This comedy docuseries launches with John Wilson dissecting the careful balancing act of making small talk, with all its ups and downs. Wilson also spoke with us about capturing the intimacy and absurdity of life in New York with a “psychotic amount” of footage.

Unsolved Mysteries: Vol. 2 (Netflix series) – The next batch of cold-case deep dives is here to spook the hell out of you. We ranked the six episodes — which include a mysterious death in a luxury hotel, the disappearance and murder of a Washington insider, and a mass haunting following a tsunami — that invite citizen detectives to do their thing. This reinvigorated take on the classic series comes from the original creators, who teamed up with the Stranger Things production company, and hopefully, some justice and closure can be found for victims’ families.

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AOC Roasted The Heck Out Of Trump (Again) After He Questioned Her College Education (…Again)

Donald Trump has been down this road before, and it didn’t end well the other times, but the president decided to take another dig at the college credentials of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And, guess what: it didn’t end well this time, either.

While aggressively campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, Trump took a shot at AOC during his second rally of the day in Lititz. As he was stirring up the crowd with his usual rhetoric, and an unusual boast that he’s locking down the Amish vote even though the Amish are notoriously apolitical, the president questioned whether the congresswoman even went to college.

In a now-viral tweet, AOC responded, “I could say yes, but who cares? Plenty of people without college degrees could run this country better than Trump ever has.” She then added, “As much as GOP cry about ‘elites,’ they’re the ones who constantly mock food service workers, people w/o degrees, etc as dumb. It’s classist & disgusting.”

The president should have known how this spat would end after attacking AOC back in August when he stopped in the middle of a Fox News interview to call her a “poor student” and “not even a smart person.” Trump’s timing couldn’t have been worse, as his own niece had revealed how the president used his family connections to get into the University of Pennsylvania and paid others to take his SAT for him. That left an opening for AOC to directly challenge Trump’s own educational background, and she went right for it by daring him to release his college transcripts.

“Let’s make a deal, Mr. President: You release your college transcript, I’ll release mine, and we’ll see who was the better student,” AOC tweeted. “Loser has to fund the Post Office.”

Trump has yet to accept the congresswoman’s challenge.

(Via Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter)

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Chris Paul Will Produce And Star In The New HBO Documentary, ‘The Day Sports Stood Still’

March 11, 2020 will be a date few sports fans forget, as it was the day the NBA came to a screeching halt with word that Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19, which subsequently led to a complete shutdown of the sports world within the next week.

The Utah Jazz were in Oklahoma City to face the Thunder when the game was steadily delayed, and ultimately called off, as they awaited Gobert’s testing results. On the opposite bench from the Jazz was Chris Paul, who also serves as the president of the NBPA, and he recognized this was a moment that would thrust the NBA into a great unknown and was something that needed to be documented. As such, he contacted producer Brian Grazer about beginning to start filming a documentary, which will be directed by Antoine Fuqua and premiere on HBO in early 2021, titled The Day Sports Stood Still.

The documentary will feature Paul, who will talk about that fateful March night as well as the process of making the NBA Bubble in Orlando happen, along with other figures from around the sports world.

Featuring additional in-depth and emotional interviews largely conducted remotely, the documentary captures a broad swath of voices and experiences exploring how the pandemic pressed pause on their careers, but also changed their lives in dramatic and surprising ways. The film features everyone from an NFL Super Bowl champion who volunteers in the ER, to a defending WNBA champ who decides to sit out the 2020 season to focus on protesting racial injustice.

Paul will also serve as an executive producer on the project, as well as being an interview subject, and while there’s no firm release date it figures to arrive not too long after the calendar flips to 2021.

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Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden Just Isn’t Working

Before this current season started, in an interview with The New York Times, Lorne Michales said this about Jim Carrey’s then upcoming interpretation of Joe Biden: “First of all, Jim is brilliant, and he cares deeply about the country and what’s going on. He wants to have a voice in this. Every time he’s done [SNL], he’s always come through brilliantly, and I think what he will bring to this part will be stunning and possibly transcend comedy. Because we’re in a period where comedy is only part of it.” We are now four weeks into Jim Carrey’s tenure as Biden and I’m not sure what we are seeing “transcends comedy.” Not only is it painfully not working, it’s arguably SNL’s worst presidential impression in the last 30 years.

A couple of caveats first. First, over the years Jim Carrey has been one of the best hosts SNL has ever had. There’s no question about that. So this is certainly not any sort of referendum on his ability to perform on the show. He, without question, does that very well. Also, this has nothing to do with making a candidate look good or bad. In fact, that’s maybe even the problem here because Carrey’s Biden is so all over the place, it’s difficult to have an opinion one way or another if it makes the actual Biden look “good” or “bad.” In all honestly, it’s too bad it doesn’t do one or another. Instead, it’s just kind of its own thing, flailing away the last four Saturday nights at 11:30 p.m.

No matter what you might personally think of Carrey, his heart, here, seems to be in the right place (even though, yes, he’s had some pretty bad opinions about vaccines over the last few years). The answer to Carrey’s unfocused Biden might just be hidden up there in that answer from Michaels. We know from his Twitter feed that Carrey is no fan of Donald Trump. And Michaels says that Carrey (who was born in Canada but became an American citizen in 2004) wants to have a voice in this election. So it can be assumed that Carrey’s pitch to Michaels was something along the lines of, I have a lot I want to say.

And, boy, he sure does. Which is the problem. Carrey’s Biden focuses less on a character – which seems to mostly consist of finger guns and saying, “C’mon, man!” – and more on lecturing the audience about what a bad guy Donald Trump is. And look, no argument here! But I knew we were in some trouble when Carrey’s Biden pulled a Zack Morris-esque time freeze to tell us how he wanted Donald Trump to stop talking. Yes, that’s a nice sentiment, but it isn’t really great comedy. Maybe that was the part that was supposed to transcend comedy?

Also, Carrey has a bad habit of launching into other characters while doing Biden. Call me crazy, but I don’t remember the actual Joe Biden doing a Clint Eastwood impression at the last debate. Or at any point Jeff Goldblum. What made Jason Sudeikis’ Joe Biden so good is that it was a heightened version of Biden himself. Sudeikis played Biden as hilariously cocky, loud and aggressive – but always with a big smile on his face. It’s actually difficult to watch without laughing. Honestly, I’m not sure what Carrey’s Biden even is. Two episodes ago, during the competing town halls, Carrey’s Biden was portrayed as boring the audience so much they didn’t want to talk to him anymore. Which wasn’t a heightened version, instead it seemed to be the opposite of what happened that night since it appeared the audience stuck around late to listen to Biden, even after the cameras were off.

As mentioned before, Carrey’s Biden might just be the worst election season presidential candidate since Michaels returned to SNL in the mid-‘80s. And to be fair, that might be more a statement on just how good SNL has been over the years to have so many memorable portrayals. Of course, those were all cast members in the past instead of this new trend of recruiting talent. Even the most “boring” election, 1996, had Norm Macdonald’s terrific Bob Dole impression. The only year that might compare is 2008. Fred Armisen’s Obama was pretty uninspired. Darrell Hammond’s McCain was serviceable, in that he certainly sounded like McCain, but that portrayal was overshadowed by Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. (That year’s presidential roles were so overshadowed I had to doublecheck to make sure it was Hammond who played McCain. I was pretty sure, but needed to make sure. Making it even more odd is the fact the real John McCain even showed up once to play himself.)

I do wonder why we didn’t get Sudeikis back as Biden (who came back late last season to take back his role). Imagine the applause he’d get if he came back now. It’s likely he was busy with Ted Lasso. But, I’ll be honest, if I had the chance I wouldn’t really want to ask him because (a) it doesn’t affect the reality that Carrey is what we have and (b) my experience with Sudeikis over the years is that he’s, maybe surprisingly, a sensitive fellow, and if he did want to come back, then it’s most likely a sore subject and he’s probably not going to answer me on the record anyway. (Though I am under the impression it’s the first reason.)

But the truth is, even though it’s not working, Jim Carrey’s Biden isn’t going away anytime soon. Lorne isn’t going to read this and go, “You know, Mike has a good point.” Our only hope is Carrey’s Biden becomes more focused. To be fair to Carrey, Dana Carvey’s Bush was pretty bad at first. Go look up some of those first sketches, it’s all about him not being “a wimp.” Will Ferrell’s Bush wasn’t great at first either, played more as a partying frat guy than the dimwitted yet kind of likable version we all know now. But both of those were early in the primaries. Carvey and Ferrell had over a year to fine-tune these impressions, so by the time we got to the debates, they were fully crafted machines. (Which, is kind of like what happens with the actual candidates.) Carrey has had to jump in on the fly, so what we are getting is what we’d have seen a year ago, instead of having time to cultivate his portrayal. Don’t underestimate the time cast members in the past had to get these things right. And, for me, that’s the strongest argument why these should remain within the cast.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

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Kid Cudi Promises ‘Man On The Moon III’ With A Nostalgic New Trailer

Kid Cudi is turning his fan-favorite series of albums into a trilogy soon, announcing the third edition of Man On The Moon today with a nostalgic trailer that reveals few details but promises the album is “coming soon.” Footage from past Cudi videos and shows flashes across the screen before Cudi himself makes an appearance, standing in silhouette on a mountainside overlooking a dazzling view of the city under a red-lit moon. Then, the familiar strains of the “Man On The Moon” theme song play as the roman numeral three resolves over a black background.

Cudi’s been busy on a lot of projects lately but there’s a reason this one may be the most exciting to his fans, as it represents a return to his musical origins and the nostalgia of his groundbreaking debut album. In addition to Man On The Moon III, though, he’s also been busy collaborating with Eminem, Kanye West, and Travis Scott, expanding his musical portfolio into the second decade of his career. He and Scott have supposedly been working on “a lot” of songs for a potential collaborative album in the wake of their successful single, “The Scotts,” while his call for Eminem’s help led to “The Adventures Of Moon Man And Slim Shady.” And while Cudi doesn’t approve of Kanye’s political activities, that hasn’t stopped them from working on a Kids See Ghosts animated series.

Watch the trailer for Man On The Moon III above.

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Adam Sandler’s New Netflix Movie Won’t Be Anything Like His Goofy Comedies

Some bozos think Hubie Halloween is the “so bad on purpose” movie that Adam Sandler threatened to make if he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for Uncut Gems (he wasn’t), but those people are wrong. Hubie Halloween is much-needed dumb fun with one joke that I still think about daily. In a follow-up interview about his comments, Sandler explained, “I said, ‘If I don’t get a blah blah blah, I’m gonna make the worst movie,’ a payback, whatever, right? Just said it as a joke. But what would the worst movie entail? I have no idea, I’m game to be in it.” It probably won’t be either one of his next two Netflix movies.

There’s the previously-announced Hustle, where he plays a basketball scout “who discovers a player abroad with a rocky past,” and now, The Spaceman of Bohemia, both of which are coming to Netflix. Directed by Chernobyl helmer Johan Renck and based on the science-fiction novel by Jaroslav Kalfař, Spaceman “follows an astronaut (Sandler) sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust,” according to Deadline. “He soon finds his earthly life falling to pieces and he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship.”

If the voice doesn’t sound like this…

… I’m demanding a refund from Netflix. I will accept space dust as payment.

(Via Deadline)

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Action Bronson And The Alchemist Are Not Impressed On ‘I Hate Everything’

The Alchemist has a roster of artists with whom he regularly collaborates, and among them is Action Bronson. The Alchemist put out a new project today, The Food Villain, so naturally, Bronson put his stamp on it.

The rapper actually appears all over the project, which is experimental in its structure and contains a lot of musical sketches as opposed to traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus songs. While Bronson’s voice can be heard through the full 24-minute project, he got a feature credit on “I Hate Everything,” and he kicks off his verse, “Been around the world, I’m not impressed / I’ve been around the world, I’m not impressed
Three Michelin stars, I’m not impressed / I hate everything / I’m the food villain.”

The project as a whole got a shout-out from Eminem, who shared it on Twitter and wrote, “My concert DJ and cohort @Alchemist just dropped his new project The Food Villain – hit up ALC Records to pick it up!”

This is just the latest from what has been a productive year for the producer. Aside from his own album A Doctor, A Painter & An Alchemist Walk Into A Bar, he also dropped collaborative projects with Boldy James (The Price Of Tea In China), Conway The Machine (Lulu), and Freddie Gibbs (Alfredo).

Listen to “I Hate Everything” above and stream The Food Villain in full below.

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In Defense Of Manuel Margot Trying To Steal Home In The World Series

On Sunday night, we witnessed one of the rarest moments in sports: an attempt to steal home plate. In the fourth inning, Manuel Margot of the Rays found himself as the tying run on third base with no outs after stealing second and then advancing to third on a fielding error by Chris Taylor on the throw down from the catcher. However, three batters later — a walk and two non-productive outs — Margot was still standing there with Kevin Kiermaier at the plate and two outs in the inning.

Clayton Kershaw’s first pitch to Kiermaier was a strike but before his second pitch, Margot decided to try to take advantage of the left-hander’s long stretch delivery and steal home plate. It nearly worked out, but he was out by mere inches.

After the game we learned that it was Margot’s decision to steal home, not a call from manager Kevin Cash, and both in the moment and after the decision was widely panned. How could someone make the final out of the inning at home on such a brazen attempt and ruin the opportunity for a Rays rally? Why take such a wild gamble in a pivotal moment? Why would he cost his team the game?

The last point was one that became a popular refrain but, quite frankly, is a bit absurd. Margot may have cost the Rays a run, that’s very possible, but they lost 4-2, not 3-2, and, while they put Kershaw in some pressure spots by getting the first batter on in each of the first five innings, they weren’t exactly scalding at the plate. There’s a very real math argument to be made for Margot trying this steal given the incredible jump he got before Kershaw was alerted to what was happening by first baseman Max Muncy.

Margot was out, but by the slimmest of margins. Kershaw delivered a perfect throw and catcher Austin Barnes got the tag down just in time to get Margot before his hand got to the plate. As Joe Buck and John Smoltz noted on the broadcast, the play by Kershaw was, truly, spectacular. He had to step off the rubber to avoid balking (a very real possibility that would’ve advanced the runner on first to second and given Margot home) and fire a strike from an awkward spot on the mound stepping partially onto the slope but not in the way he would to throw a pitch. He did those things just about perfectly, the throw was a touch high and wide but on target, and still barely got Margot at the plate.

If there had been no outs or one out, then yes, Margot is taking away the chance for a sac fly or a grounder up the middle for an out that may have scored him, but with two outs, they had to have a hit to score him. At the plate was Kevin Kiermaier, who has had a nice World Series, but entered that at bat as a .240 hitter this postseason (the same average he had with runners in scoring position on the season). Overall this year, he was a .217 hitter and that dropped to a rather hideous .158 average against left-handed pitching, per Fangraphs.

Clayton Kershaw isn’t just any left-hander, so with two outs, the likelihood of Kiermaier getting a hit to score Margot was somewhere in the 15-20 percent range. Given everything Kershaw and Barnes had to do right — not balk, deliver a strike from behind the rubber, catch it clean and get the tag down quickly — I have to think that, at the very least, the likelihood of success with the jump Margot got had to be pretty close to 20 percent just from all the things that could’ve gone wrong on the Dodgers end, which is to say, it wasn’t really any riskier than letting Kiermaier continue hacking away at the plate against a Hall of Famer.

Even moving beyond all of that and the actual analytics of the play, stealing home in the World Series is cool as hell. Jayson Stark of The Athletic dove into this in his roundup from Game 5, but in World Series history there have been TWO straight steal attempts of home plate. The first is Jackie Robinson’s iconic steal in 1955. The second was a failed attempt in 1982 by Lonnie Smith.

Two other men have “stolen” home successfully since Robinson as well, Tim McCarver in 1964 and Brad Fullmer in 2002, but both were on double steals, going home after a throw down to get a runner stealing second. That’s it. Stealing home is, by far, the rarest offensive feat one can pull off in the World Series, and to try it and come as close as Margot did and force a near perfect defensive play by the pitcher and catcher is pretty incredible.

The results didn’t work out but you can make a strong analytical case for the process behind the move in that situation as well as simply noting that it’s unbelievable cool to try and steal home plate in the World Series.

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Cher Fawns Over Joe Biden On Her New Single, ‘Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe’

Joe Biden’s campaign hosted the virtual I Will Vote Concert over the weekend, and the event’s final performer was Cher. She decided to make her presence known by modifying a decades-old song, “Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe,” to better suit the presidential candidate. Following the performance, she shared a studio version of the song as well.

The song was originally written by Harold Arlen and Yip Hapburn for the 1943 musical Cabin In The Sky, and Cher changed the lyrics some for her rendition. The first verse was kept mostly the same, as Cher sang, “It seems like happiness is just a thing called Joe / He’s got a smile that makes the lilacs want to grow / He’s got a way that makes the angels heave a sigh / When they know, President Joe’s passin’ by.”

She took more liberties with the chorus, though, on which she sings, “Right now, our country’s gloomy, fear is in the air / But when Joe’s president, hope is everywhere / Trouble’s fly away and life will easy flow / Joe will keep us safe, that’s all I need to know.” The original chorus goes, “Sometimes the cabin’s gloomy and the table’s bare / But then he’ll kiss me and it’s Christmas everywhere / Trouble’s fly away and life is easy go / Does he love me good, that’s all I need to know.”

Watch the performance above and stream the studio version below.

Cher is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.