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Back in May, word broke that, after a single season, Ruby Rose would be leaving her post as the star of DC’s CW show Batwoman. The reason for the actress’ decision was reportedly less than amicable, and although they would be replacing her with both a new actress and a new character, they wouldn’t be killing her off. As per EW, they’ve found the new Batwoman, and, like the casting of Rose, it’s another milestone.

Javicia Leslie, one of the stars of God Friended Me, will now lead the show, which will follow a character named Ryan Wilder, who’s described as “nothing like Kate Kane.” Here’s more from the official character description:

With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan spent years as a drug-runner, dodging the GCPD and masking her pain with bad habits. Today Ryan lives in her van with her plant. A girl who would steal milk for an alley cat and could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero.

When Rose was cast in the role, she became the first out LGBTQ+ protagonist in a superhero show. Leslie’s casting makes her the first black woman to assume such a role, and it sounds like they’ll be retaining the show’s queer aspect. In a statement, Leslie wrote, “I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the iconic role of Batwoman on television, and as a bisexual woman, I am honored to join this groundbreaking show which has been such a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ community.”

(Via EW)

“The issue on the table…”

Two of Hamilton’s most beloved numbers are the Cabinet Battles between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. In Cabinet Battle #1, the issue on the table was Hamilton’s national financial plan. In Cabinet Battle #2, the issue was whether to provide France assistance in their revolutionary war.

But there was a third rap battle written for the show, which was cut due to time and because it didn’t actually move the plot along. The issue on the table for Cabinet Battle #3? Slavery.

One of the few criticisms of the Hamilton musical is that it goes light on the issue of slavery—criticism that creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and others in the original cast say they welcome and hope people talk about more.

Squeezing a founding father’s life and a huge chapter in American history into a 2.5 hour stage production with adequate character development, plot movement, musical flow, etc. is a herculean task, and Miranda has said he wrestled mightily with what to keep and what to cut. Slavery is obviously a huge issue, but since none of the founding fathers in the show actually did anything to end it, the light treatment makes sense from a plotline perspective.

From a historical perspective, however, the omission is glaring. Much can be said about how the men who founded the United States thought about and engaged with the institution of slavery—and how their beliefs and actions were often at odds with one another.

Jefferson called the slave trade an “assemblage of horrors,” and slavery itself a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot,” yet he kept more than 600 men, women, and children enslaved in his lifetime and fathered six children with one of them.

Washington became increasingly anti-slavery in his later years and was the only slaveholding founding father to free his slaves—but he only did so in his will. (He also had false teeth that may have been made up of the teeth of enslaved people.)

Madison argued that slavery was incompatible with the values of the Revolution, but he himself enslaved people his entire life, even selling people for a profit.

Hamilton himself, though publicly against slavery, did nothing of consequence to change it.

All of these hypocrisies and contradictions are highlighted as these men debate the issue in Cabinet Battle #3. It’s too bad it didn’t make it into the final cut of the show, but it can be found on the Hamilton Mix Tape album. And someone made a nice animatic video for it, making it a bit clearer who is speaking (since the recording has Miranda rapping all the parts):

Cabinet Battle #3 (Animatic)

www.youtube.com

And there you have it. “Let’s hope the next generation thinks of something better.”

As much as many of us would love to see the slavery problem tackled more directly in Hamilton, the truth is that at that time and in that place and with those men, slavery wasn’t going anywhere. It was wrong and they knew it, but they benefited from it. It was a sin and they knew it, but like Hamilton with Mariah Reynolds, they didn’t say no to it. Instead, they chose to pass the ticking time bomb to their descendents.

Miranda explained Hamilton’s slavery complicity in an NPR interview last week. “Hamilton—although he voiced anti-slavery beliefs—remained complicit in the system. And other than calling out Jefferson on his hypocrisy with regards to slavery in Act 2, doesn’t really say much else over the course of Act 2. And I think that’s actually pretty honest. … He didn’t really do much about it after that.”

“None of them did. None of them did enough,” Miranda added. “And we say that, too, in the final moments of the song. So that hits differently now because we’re having a conversation, we’re having a real reckoning of how do you uproot an original sin.”

Here’s another video of the song with the lyrics and names to make it easier to follow:

The Hamilton Mixtape – Cabinet Battle 3 (Demo) Music Lyrics

www.youtube.com

A little more than three years ago, I premiered a track from Buffalo’s Del Paxton on this very site, calling the track and their LP All Day, Every Day, All Night a “record packed out with great hooks and even some surprises along the way.”

Now, after some time off, the trio is back with “September,” another welcome installment in the band’s ’90s-emo-inspired catalogue. To celebrate the new track, bassist/vocalist Zack Schoedel sat down to talk Forrest Gump, Saves The Day, and Breaking Bad tattoos in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Light, refreshing, inspirational, uplifting

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

It would be cool if people looking back on it from 2050 just assumed it was from the 1990’s and not 20-teens. This one thing might actually the determining factor in whether we consider ourselves to have been successful or not.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

We’ve never toured outside the US. So in my imagination it would be Jakarta or Budapest. In reality, my favorite place to play has been right here at home in Buffalo, NY. But if that doesn’t count, I’ll say Brooklyn is my favorite place to play. RIP Suburbia.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

If Dylan and Greg could be made into one person, that hybrid of a person would be the one who has most inspired my work. But that probably doesn’t count for an answer either does it? If not, I’ll just say Bob Nanna.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

The name of the place escapes me but it was a Mexican place in Albuquerque, NM.

What album do you know every word to?

Saves the Day – Stay What You Are

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Believe it or not it was Marylin Manson and Alice Cooper co-headlining show in Buffalo. It was on a big outdoor stage by the harbor. I was actually working for the organizers of the show. I got to hang out on the other side of the barricade and was like 2 inches in front of Marilyn Manson while he did his insane thing. So I was standing in-between him and a sea of thousands of people. There were a lot of balloons and confetti.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Low cut jorts and a t-shirt. No shoes if possible. If shoes are necessary, no socks. Why? I don’t know. Why does the tide rise with the moon? Why does the rooster crow?

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

@Catatonicyouths.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

Probably Third Eye Blind – “Losing A Whole Year.” And just by virtue of it being the first track on the best rock album of all time

What’s the last thing you Googled?

Honestly it was “options bandcamp.” Our buddy Seth from Chicago has a solo project called Options and he released his 6th LP today called Wind’s Gonna Blow. I’ve been excited about it for a long time and my excitement was justified.

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Something that someone would never buy for themselves. So usually a very popular band and a very popular album everyone loves kind of half ironically. Dylan and I bought Greg Dookie on vinyl for his birthday one year.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

Many many years ago, long before the existence of this band, we drove to central coastal New Jersey to have a meeting with a record executive. We parked in a grocery store parking lot and slept in the van the night before. We woke up to people parking their cars and walking into the grocery store first thing in the morning. We then followed our mapquest directions to the palatial home of this record executive we believed held the key to our futures. It turns out he didn’t.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

I don’t have any tattoos but I keep thinking about getting a little alien guy giving a peace sign or an eight ball. Lately I’ve been thinking about getting a Breaking Bad tattoo as well.

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Santana feat. Rob Thomas is one of my favorite artists. That will usually keep me from touching the dial.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

My parents raised me, which was very very nice of them. Believe me.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Stop eating pizza every day.

What’s the last show you went to?

If memory serves, it was Taking Meds. They have a new EP coming out which is very exciting. One of my favorite bands.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

Forrest Gump. It’s always on TV.

What would you cook if Kanye were coming to your house for dinner?

If Kanye were coming over for dinner, I’d make a nice risotto or lentil stew.

“September” is out now, with all proceeds going to the Buffalo-based organization Black Love Resits In The Rust. Listen here.

ABC has officially announced that a pilot is in the works for a reboot of The Wonder Years from Empire co-creator Lee Daniels. The updated version of the classic ’80s staple will focus on a Black family, but it will still take place in the ’60s and during a time of civil unrest.

Just like the Arnolds, the family in the rebooted Wonder Years will navigate a tumultuous time in America from their hometown of Montgomery, Alabama where there will be no shortage of historical moments as the country comes to terms with its ongoing legacy of systemic racism. Via Entertainment Weekly:

Alabama was the site of many significant events during the American civil rights movement, such as Rosa Park’s defiance of segregation on a public bus in 1955, a white supremacist church bombing in 1973, and the five-day march from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King that pushed the government to approve the Civil Rights Act in 1965.

The new Wonder Years will be executive produced by Daniels with The Big Bang Theory‘s Saladin K. Patterson acting as showrunner. However, fans of the classic Wonder Years will be happy to know that Fred Savage will be involved as both a director and executive producer, and original co-creator Neal Marlens will be consulting.

In light of the recent Black Lives Matter protests over the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, this updated version of The Wonder Years comes at a time when America is openly struggling to move past its beginning as a country built on white supremacy towards one that champions equality for all.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

A San Francisco lawmaker wants to clamp down on people who make racially-motivated 911 calls and it has a funny name.

San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton introduced an ordinance to outlaw racially-motivated 911 calls and it’s called the CAREN Act. The acronym stands for Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies.

Over the past year or so there has been a rash of incidents where white women have called 911 to report people of color who make them uncomfortable while going about their daily lives.

These people are colloquially known as “Karens.”

(Although there has been some push-back against the name Karen because it’s used to propagate a stereotype against white women. Shouldn’t those in the fight for racial justice stand against stereotypes even if they apply to the privileged?)

The calls put people of color in the dangerous positions of being arrested for a crime they didn’t commit or an interaction with the police that turns violent.

Recently, there was the woman in Central Park who threatened to call the police on a Black bird-watcher who asked her to put her dog on a leash.

There was the woman in Oakland, California who called the police on a Black family having a cookout.

There was also the woman who called the police on a Black man stenciling “Black Lives Matter” on his own house.

The list goes on and on.

The new law is an attempt to punish those who think that they can use the police to intimidate people of color who aren’t doing anything wrong. The bill is similar to California state Assembly member Rob Bonta’s Assembly Bill 1550 that calls for consequences for those who use law enforcement to based on biases toward race, class, outward appearance and religion.

Walton says both measures “are part of a larger nationwide movement to address racial biases and implement consequences for weaponizing emergency resources with racist intentions.”

“This bill could protect millions of Californians from becoming targets of hate and prevent the weaponization of our law enforcement against communities of color,” Bonta said in an online release.

Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price introduced a similar bill recently to explore “criminal penalties, rights of victims to bring private civil actions and cost recovery by the City.”

The passed, the bills would work to give people pause before thinking they should use the police as a way to carry our their racial grievances or discomfort. They will also prevent law enforcement from having to dedicate resources to calls that aren’t important.

Hopefully, the bill will also allow all the women who’ve had to deal with being named Karen over the past year to sleep easy knowing that their name is no longer attached to an ethnic stereotype.

There are a few things you shouldn’t do on social media if you want to keep your job. One of them is posting quotes attributed to Adolph Hitler.

It shouldn’t matter if you’re a school teacher, construction worker, or play wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles, you should lose your job for sharing Hitler quotes. Heck, even if Trump advisor Stephen Miller — the architect of Trump’s most racist policies — posted a quote attributed to Adolph Hitler, he’d probably lose his job, too.

On Saturday, July 4, Eagles Pro Bowl wide receiver DeSean Jackson posted a photo to his Instagram stories of a quote that was attributed to Adolph Hitler. He didn’t make the post in an attempt to speak out against racism. Nope, his attempt was to promote anti-Semitism among Black people.

The quote he attributed to Hitler said white Jews “will blackmail America. [They] will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were.”

According to Snopes, the quote is fake and not from Hitler. But that’s besides the point, it was a disgusting paean to the “International Jew” stereotype that was promoted by the Nazi regime and has been the basis for anti-Semitism for over a century.

via Instagram

After the post received an immediate backlash, he made a post saying he “has no hatred.”

via Instagram

Then, as if it somehow made things OK, he reposted the original fake Hitler quote with some of it blacked out. As if saying, here’s what I was trying to get at, “Black people should still be aware of Jews who are plotting world domination.”

via Instagram

Just in case the Hitler posts seemed like an awful one-two punch of accidental stupidity, he also posted two photos of Reverend Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, to prove his intent.

Farrakhan has a long and troubled history of anti-Semitism.

Jackson later apologized in an Instagram video where he said he knows that “Hitler is a bad person.”

“I post a lot of things that are sent to me,” Jackson wrote as a caption to the Instagram video. “I do not have hatred towards anyone. I really didn’t realize what this passage was saying.”

“Hitler has caused terrible pain to Jewish people like the pain African-Americans have suffered,” he added. “We should be together fighting anti-Semitism and racism. This was a mistake to post this and I truly apologize for posting it and sorry for any hurt I have caused.”

DeSean, Hitler also really didn’t like Black people.

The Eagles issued a statement condemning Jackson’s actions, but they didn’t go far enough to say he would be punished,

The NFL released a statement saying it has discussed the matter with the Eagles.

It would seem to any person with an ounce of dignity and decency that coming to Jackson’s defense would be a terrible idea. But, former NBA player Stephen Jackson defended DeSean Jackson on Tuesday night, saying that he was “speaking the truth” in an Instagram video.

“He was trying to educate himself, educate people, and he’s speaking the truth. Right?” Stephen Jackson said. “He’s speaking the truth. You know he don’t hate nobody, but he’s speaking the truth of the facts that he knows and trying to educate others.”

So, Stephen, what was true about what DeSean said? Black people need to be wary of Jewish people trying to take over the world?

If both Jacksons want to educate themselves, they should learn the rich history that Jewish people have had in supporting the civil rights movement. They should be following the words of Martin Luther King instead of fake Hitler.

“There isn’t anyone in this country more likely to understand our struggle than Jews,” lawyer and close adviser, Clarence B. Jones, said King told him. “Whatever progress we’ve made so far as a people, their support has been essential.”

Currently, the NFL has been pushing hard to be on the right side of history. It has supported Colin Kaepernick after blacklisting him for years, pledged $250 million for social justice causes, and will play the Black National Anthem before games.

If the NFL wants any credibility in its support for social justice, swift action against DeSean Jackson is necessary.

The nation may be fully enveloped in a discussion over Black lives, but in the background, the U.S. is experiencing one of the largest waves of anti-Semitism it has experienced in decades.

“Anti-Semitism in 2018, including a doubling of anti-Semitic assaults and the single deadliest attack against the Jewish community in American history,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a report.

Jewish people have always had to combat anti-Semitism from right-wing extremists and white supremacists and, of recent, they’ve been emboldened by Trump. But there has also been a growing specter of anti-Semitism coming from far left-wing anti-Israel groups as well.

“I do think what is very dangerous for us today is if, on the right, we think that only the left is anti-Semitic because of the critique of Israel, and if, on the left, you think that only the right is anti-Semitic because of white nationalism,” David Nirenberg, the dean of the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, told the New York Post.

“It is when you do that that the danger of anti-Semitism becoming more dispersed in different parts of society and the potential for doing significant damage becomes greater,” he continued.

The NFL is a bell-weather organization that tends to reflect how we think about things as a society. Four years ago, much like the rest of the country, it was reticent to fully embrace Colin Kaepernick’s protests against racial inequality.

However, in 2020, the league, much like America, is singing a completely different tune when it comes to social justice. Let’s hope that as anti-Semitism once again raises its ugly head in its centuries-long game of whack-a-mole, the league will stand on the right side of history this time.

Suspend DeSean Jackson.

Back in May of this year, Kid Cudi sent out a cryptic tweet calling on Eminem for help. While there was no context at the time, the tweet prompted speculation that Cudi had designs on a collaboration with Eminem — speculation that has now been confirmed by Kid Cudi himself, with some help from his daughter Vada. In a video posted to Cudi’s Instagram, Vada offers up the track’s title and release date. It’s called “The Adventures Of Moon Man And Slim Shady” and it’s due this Friday, July 10.

Cudi previously teased the release date with another mysterious tweet — he seems to be quite fond of those — last Friday, which contained only the date “7/10/20.” The speculation around what he might release on that day included his animated show with Kanye West, Kids See Ghosts, the first episode of his promised podcast, or a follow-up to his No. 1 hit with Travis Scott, “The Scotts.”

“The Adventures Of Moon Man And Slim Shady” will mark the first collaboration between Eminem and Kid Cudi and a further softening of Eminem’s prior stance on younger rappers. The Detroit veteran broadened his horizons earlier this year with his “Godzilla” single from Music To Be Murdered By, which featured Juice WRLD on a song many would have thought Em would scoff at in his Kamikaze era. The question now is what does a collaboration between Eminem and Kid Cudi sound like?

We’ll find out Friday, 7/10. Stay tuned.

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

The 100 (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — Clarke finally meets the Shepherd, and we learn about the group’s dark beginning. This episode serves as the planned prequel to the series, so expect more cults, more apocalyptic events, and the return of a genocidal A.I. named Allie.

Stateless (Netflix) — Cate Blanchett plays a cult leader in this prestige drama from Netflix. Based on a true story, the show follows the story of a white woman named Sofie (The Handmaid’s Tale star Yvonne Strahovski), who finds herself drawn to a group of fanatics, betrayed, and then tossed in an Australian immigration detention center. The story of how she escapes touches on everything from mental health to anti-immigrant sentiment and the plight of refugees, and it’s a thrilling watch.

Bulletproof (CW, 9:00 p.m.) — Bishop and Pike search for a lead in Cyprus and find an ally in the unlikeliest of places.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 10:00 p.m.) — Both Mack and Deke are stranded in 1982 with no idea when, or if, the team is coming back for them. While Mack revisits his childhood to process his parents’ deaths, Deke starts scouting new agents.

The Babysitter’s Club (Netflix) — The iconic teen book series has been remodeled for a modern audience by Netflix and look, we know this thing’s for kids, but it’s one of the most comforting things you could watch right now, so no shame in enjoying it if you’re, say, over 30. The story’s mostly the same — an entrepreneurial 11-year-old starts a babysitting club in her small town and the group of girls gets into all sorts of fun mischief along the way — but it’s been updated with some killer style, more relevant storylines, and a promising young cast.

The Child (a.k.a. Baby Yoda) is a technological marvel that absolutely captivated audiences when he made his surprise debut at the end of The Mandalorian‘s first episode. Heck, even the actors and crew were mesmerized by the animatronic puppet. Werner Herzog cooed at it like a real, live baby in between takes, and Taika Waititi couldn’t stop holding the little guy. When it came time to punch the tiny alien during a scene in the season finale, Adam Pally, who was playing the part of a scout trooper, actually got nervous. Then again, showrunner Jon Favreau also informed him that the puppet is a $5 million piece of equipment. No wonder he looks so adorable.

While the vast majority of Baby Yoda’s scenes feature the impressive puppet, the special effects team admitted during Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian that a few shots were CGI, but they never specified which ones, and they noted it’d be hard for audiences to spot them. Until now. In a new interview with Variety, animation supervisor Hal Hickel opened up about the major scene where Baby Yoda uses his Force powers for the first time, and it turns out, it’s one of those rare CGI moments.

Of course, the puppet does the heavy lifting in the show — the puppet is the baseline — but at that moment in time we were still figuring out what the puppet could do and how to get the best out of it. That particular shot of the baby using the Force to pick up the Mudhorn was the hardest from a CG perspective because it was such a big performance moment — its face was so concentrated. We were trying to make sure we didn’t do more than the puppet could do, and that we didn’t break what’s awesome and charming and perfect about the puppet.

Using the CGI for that early scene tracks with Werner Herzog’s account that The Mandalorian team was leaning towards going full CGI for Baby Yoda instead of the animatronic until he called the filmmakers “cowards” for not having faith in the puppet. Like we mentioned earlier, Herzog loved that little guy. Like a lot.

(Via Variety)

Dequan Nichols posted a video of his three-year-old son, Joakobi, giving him his “daily checkup” and it’s cute beyond words. In the video, Jaokobi asks his patient his name to which Dequan replies, “Dada.”

The little doc then asks Dequan, “What happened?” and he goes over his symptoms which include a “crink in my neck.” Jakobi then puts his stethoscope to his father’s heart and lets out a dramatic gasp.

The daily routine began after Joakbi told his dad he wanted to “be a doctor.” So he went online and bought him a doctor costume complete with toy instruments.

“I wasn’t even going to post it until my friends told me I should,” Nichols told Good Morning America. “People have seen the video in India and Brazil. It’s just crazy.”