Jeopardy! has a plan for its life in syndication while no new episodes are able to get taped in Los Angeles, but the host of the long-running game show is certainly eager to return to the stage. The show is currently out of episodes to run after shutting down production amid the COVID-19 pandemic, airing its last “new” episode on Friday.

In its place will be some special episodes featuring recent greats like James Holzhauer and Emma Boettcher, some slight consolation to eager fans looking for more Alex Trebek content. But it turns out the show’s host is eager to get back to work after the pandemic and is pushing for it to be back in action as soon as possible.

According to TV Line, Trebek wants Jeopardy! to be one of the first shows to resume production once the all-clear is given from government and studio officials to start work again in the industry.

However, a Jeopardy! rep assures TVLine, “Alex is looking forward to resuming production as soon as we are able to do so. He’s told us he wants to be one of the first shows back in production.”

Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune were some of the first game shows to stop allowing a studio audience as the pandemic’s impact became more clear, and days later it officially shut down along with the rest of Hollywood shortly before St. Patrick’s Day.

Unfortunately for Trebek, COVID-19 cases in California and other parts of the country continue to rise significantly and there’s no word on when Jeopardy! can get back to filming, even without a studio audience. But as the weeks turn to months and the show’s studio sits silent, we now know there’s considerable interest from the show’s host to get back to work.

The NFL insists it plans on going about business as usual this fall when the season is scheduled to begin, despite a global pandemic and civil unrest over police brutality and systemic racism faced by the Black community. On the latter front, a number of players have spoken up and taken the league to task for how it’s responded in the past to protests and calls to action to address police violence, most notably in Colin Kaepernick continuing to be kept out of the league for his silent and peaceful protests of kneeling prior to games during the national anthem.

Kaepernick always explained what the message was behind his protests, but despite his constant explanations that he was calling for attention to be paid to how Black Americans were treated by police in this country, it became a debate about whether it was somehow disrespectful to the flag or the military. Drew Brees parroted that criticism recently and got roundly called out by teammates, others from around the league, and stars from other sports, and has since recanted and promised to listen and learn, even going so far as to explain to Donald Trump why his initial statement was wrong.

A number of the NFL’s star players called out the NFL for its initial statement and pushed the league to more fervently condemn racism and admit that peaceful protest by players, like Kaepernick’s, should be supported. Roger Goodell quickly issued a video message saying just that — albeit, without mentioning Kaepernick’s name, which should’ve happened — and a number of players have since made their plans to take up Kaepernick’s form of protest next season very clear.

Over the weekend, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield became the latest to do so, responding to an Instagram comment asking, hopefully, that he wouldn’t kneel during the anthem, “Pull your head out. I absolutely am.”

Mayfield’s star teammate Odell Beckham Jr. has likewise made his intentions clear this season, and there is clearly a movement happening at the NFL’s star level in terms of garnering support for those with the biggest platforms to take a stand and join in on protesting police brutality and racism.

To make clear why he would be doing this, Mayfield posted a message to is Instagram story explaining that “it’s about equality” and, again, noted that it has nothing to do with the flag but about conveying the needed message on the platform provided to them to do so, citing conversations had between Kaepernick and his veteran teammate, Nate Boyer.

Baker also took responsibility for into being educated enough on the systemic issues that face Black Americans and not using his platform previously to speak out on the issue. Given how Kaepernick was treated by the NFL, seeing so many star players take up his form of protest this fall will be fascinating, but hopefully those that do will also be willing to speak out about how he’s been pushed out of the league and is deserving of a spot on a roster.

Last week, HBO Max announced they were temporarily removing one of their most famous titles, Gone with the Wind, from their new service in the wake of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. The removal was never supposed to be permanent, and now, less than a week later, we now have word that it will be returning at an as-yet-to-be-announced date and with a new introduction from black scholar and television host Jacqueline Stewart to provide some much needed context.

First released in 1939, Gone with the Wind has remained one of the most beloved films from Hollywood’s Golden Age, as well as one of its most contested. One reason? Its whitewashed, nostalgic portrayal of the Civil War-era American South, centered around the moneyed white owners of a plantation filled with happy slaves. (Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Oscar for her turn as house servant Mammy.)

In their statement, HBO Max called the film a “product of its time” that “depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society.” At the same time, they did not wish to disappear the film, as to do so “would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.” Warner Bros., who owns the film and whose wares comprise a chunk of HBO Max’s content, has a history of presenting old, questionable fare, such as racist Looney Tunes cartoons, with a similar note. Meanwhile, Disney+ has no plans of releasing its own similarly racist title, 1946’s Song of the South.

(Via EW)

Moments after the police officer responsible for George Floyd’s death were arrested, with Officer Derek Chauvin receiving a second-degree murder charge, those active in the Black Lives Matter movement began to shift their attention to Breonna Taylor. The Louisville native was killed just months before her 27th birthday after police officers used a battery ram to enter her apartment with a “no-knock” warrant. Upon entering, officers fired multiple rounds, with at least eight gunshots hitting her.

Taylor’s death has become the protestor’s latest focus in making sure her and her family receive justice for her death. Now Beyonce has penned an open letter to the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, voicing her frustration with Taylor’s unresolved death. In the letter, obtained by TMZ, the singer explains her exact frustrations with the handling of the incident.

Three months have passed — and the LMPD’s investigation have created more questions than answers. Their incident report states that Ms. Taylor suffered no injuries — yet we know she was shot at least at times. The LMPD claim they announced themselves before forcing their way into Ms. Taylor’s apartment — but her boyfriend who was with her, as well as several neighbors, all say this is untrue.

Three months have passed — and zero arrests have been made, and no officers have been fired. The LMPD’s investigation was turned over to your office, and yet all of the officers involved in the shooting remain employed by the LMPD. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison must be held accountable for their actions.

Beyonce then made three requests to the attorney general, asking for the following to be made: arrest and charge the officers involved in her death, commit to transparency during the investigation and prosecution of the officers, and investigate the LMPD for any wrongdoing in both their response to Taylor’s death and any practices resulting in the loss of “unarmed Black citizens.”

In her conclusion, Beyonce made one final plea with the attorney general.

Don’t let this case fall into the pattern of no action after a terrible tragedy. With every death of a Black person at the hands of the police, there are two real tragedies: the death itself, and the inaction and delays that follow it. This is your chance to end that pattern. Take swift and decisive action in charging the officers.

Beyonce’s full letter can be seen here.

[via TMZ]

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A few weeks ago, All Elite Wrestling talents Fenix, Matt Jackson and Britt Baker all sustained injuries during an episode of Dynamite, with Baker being the most serious — she partially tore her LCL and will be out for months. Now, less than a month later, the injury bug has bitten All Elite Wrestling once again, this time in the form of the galaxy’s greatest alien, Kris Statlander.

Statlander, one of the standout talents of AEW’s burgeoning women’s division, joined Baker in the injured reserve after this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite, as she tore her ACL after performing a dive on Kip Sabian during a match. Word started making rounds on the internet earlier today about the injury, with Statlander confirming the seriousness of her current condition via Twitter:

Since the news is out. I told you I’d dive on Kip again and dammit I did. But in doing so, I ended up with a high grade tear in my ACL. Yes I need surgery. Yes I’ll be out of the ring for a while. I’ll do my best to still show up on your TVs as much as I can.

The dive spot in question can be found in the below video at the 4:35 mark:

The dive looks innocuous but you can see Statlander clutching her left knee as soon as she hits the ground, showing just how easy it is for these athletes to injure themselves doing even the safest moves in the ring.

Everyone at With Spandex sends our well wishes to Kris Statlander, and we look forward to seeing her get back in the ring as soon as it’s safe.

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WWE Backlash 2020 airs this Sunday, June 14, live on WWE Network. The event features matches for the WWE, Universal, Raw Women’s, Women’s Tag Team, and United States Championships, as well as The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever between Edge and Randy Orton. Here’s the complete card as of publication:

WWE Backlash 2020 card:

1. The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever: Randy Orton vs. Edge
2. Handicap Match for the Universal Championship: Braun Strowman (c) vs. The Miz and John Morrison
3. WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Bobby Lashley
4. Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Bayley and Sasha Banks (c) vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics
5. Raw Women’s Championship Match: Asuka (c) vs. Nia Jax
6. United States Championship Match: Apollo Crews (c) vs. Andrade
7. Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus
8. Raw Tag Team Championship Match: Street Profits (c) vs. Viking Raiders

If you’d like to read our predictions for the show, you can do that here.

Make sure to give your favorite comments from tonight’s open discussion a thumbs up, because as always we’re including ten of the best, funniest, and most insightful in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Backlash 2020 column. Be sure to flip your comments to “newest” in the drop-down menu, and enjoy the show!

A number of the details for the NBA’s bubble league plan still need to be worked out, but the general gist of the whole thing is that 22 teams will head to Disney and play out a truncated regular season, a potential play-in for the 8-seed, and a full postseason. The basketball-specific portions of the plan are the headliners, but a whole lot has needed to go into this plan in an attempt to keep players and personnel as safe as possible in the face of COVID-19.

That portion of the plan got a major endorsement from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In an interview with Michael Kim of Stadium, Fauci signed off on the plan, praising it for being “quite creative.”

“I actually have looked at that plan and it is really quite creative,” Fauci said. “What they are really trying to do, and I think they might very well be quite successful with it, is to create a situation where it is as safe as it possibly could be for the players by creating this bubble — essentially testing everybody, make sure that you start with a baseline of everybody being negative and trying to make sure there is no influx into that cohort of individuals and do a tournament-type play.”

Fauci continued to heap the praise onto the plan, saying that he does not find it reckless and that he believes, if it works, it could “possibly” end up being a model for other leagues that would like to go with a bubble approach.

“They really wanted to make sure that the safety of the players, and the people associated with the players, was paramount,” Fauci said.

This endorsement from the nation’s top infectious disease doctor came one day after a collection of players hopped on a phone call to express some reservations they have with the plan. It also comes on the same day that Player’s Association executive director Michele Roberts said that she is operating under the assumption that someone will contract the virus while players are posted up in Orlando.

There are still a number of concerns with this plan, because nothing is truly ironclad and we just won’t know whether or not it will work until everyone gets to Disney. Still, all the league can hope to do at this point is have a good plan in place, and in Fauci’s eyes, that’s what is happening.

“For the people who are thirsting for basketball, who love basketball, the way I do, it’s something that I think is a sound plan,” Fauci said.

The NBA Players’ Association is currently having lengthy discussions internally about the league’s proposed restart in the Orlando bubble and whether it is the right move for the players to go amid a pandemic and nationwide protests of police brutality and systemic racism against the Black community.

Kyrie Irving has been a prominent voice in questioning whether players returning would be wise, noting that playing basketball could serve as a distraction from the Black Lives Matter movement that has garnered unprecedented support in the last month. Others have voiced similar sentiments, and on top of concern of whether playing basketball would detract from the fight for racial justice, there’s the looming concern over the safety of players and the long-term effects of the coronavirus.

The activism of players around the league is having an effect and its for that reason why there are some skeptical of whether they can continue being impactful once games begin again and discussion shifts to the on-court product. An example of that impact was noticeable on Sunday when the Atlanta Hawks became the first NBA team to publicly announce that they would be making Juneteenth (June 19) an official company holiday to celebrate the official ending of slavery in the United States.

“I am proud of the decision our organization has made to recognize Juneteenth as a company holiday this year and going forward,” said Camye Mackey, Chief People, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena. “This is one of many steps we’ll take to support the positive change we need to see in society.”

Making the official abolishment of slavery a national holiday has become a more prominent topic in recent weeks, and some companies like Nike, Twitter, and now the Hawks have taken it upon themselves to add that date to their internal holiday calendar. June 19, 1965 was the date Union soldiers made it to Galveston, Texas to deliver news that the Civil War had ended and the slaves were now free — two and a half years after Lincoln first read the Emancipation Proclamation.

It is a significant date in U.S. history and one that, for a large part of the population, has gone unnoticed for most of our lives. That something this big is not widely known or celebrated offers yet another example of how little actual Black history gets taught in the American education system, and illustrative of why this movement is so important right now — and why players are fearful of diluting it in any way. It’s good to see the Hawks taking this step and hopefully the league will follow suit.