Last night, WWE released a statement confirming that a member of their developmental program had tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the company to test everyone for the coronavirus. Since then, more information has come out about WWE’s talent and management’s reactions to the case.

The original email stated that after “the company’s performers and staff, all talent, production crew and employees on site at the training and production facilities” are tested for COVID-19, “WWE plans to proceed with its normal television production schedule.” This large-scale testing, however, has temporarily impacted TV production. According to POST Wrestling, WWE canceled its tapings today in order for everyone to get tested for the virus and plans to resume filming tomorrow.

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, WWE talent “found out about the positive COVID-19 test when the rest of the world did,” which was during the last half hour of last night’s Raw, when the news was spread by Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Ryan Satin and an email from WWE Public Relations. In contrast, Sapp says that last time there was a coronavirus case in WWE, back in April, “they were informed via a talent relations app about five days before news broke.”

This test result comes as, for last night’s Raw, WWE quietly started allowing non-staff, along with Performance Center talent, to be a part of the Raw audience for the first time in months. It was reported that these spectators had to sign a waiver saying that they wouldn’t hold WWE liable if they caught coronavirus.

Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer has now reported that he was “told by multiple sources that WWE would not allow anyone in the crowd at the RAW taping Monday to wear masks,” one of the most widely recommended methods, along with social distancing, of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The audience members were local wrestling fans and friends of WWE talent, and according to the Observer, “They just told people, ‘If you want to wear a mask. Don’t come.’”

Despite the fact that the U.S. has apparently tossed up its hands in resignation and decided that coronavirus was so last month, we are still in the middle of a global pandemic. More than 110,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 in just the past three months. We have 5% of the world’s population and a whopping 25% of the world’s COVID-19 cases and deaths. (Is this the “so much winning “we were supposed to get tired of?)

The death toll is harrowing enough. But what we don’t hear about as much is what happens to the people who get sick with COVID-19 and don’t die. Once a person’s symptoms have begun improving and they test negative twice for the virus, they are considered “recovered.” But that’s not even close to the whole story for many who wage a weeks- or months-long battle with this illness.

A nurse shared on Twitter how “recovered” doesn’t mean what many of us think. Cherie Antoinette wrote:

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“COVID 19 is the worst disease process I’ve ever worked with in my 8 years as an ICU nurse. When they say ‘recovered’ they don’t tell you that that means you may need a lung transplant. Or that you may come back after d/c with a massive heart attack or stroke bc COVID makes your blood thick as hell. Or that you may have to be on oxygen for the rest of your life. COVID is designed to kill. It is a highly intelligent virus and it attacks everything. We will run out of resources if we don’t continue to flatten the curve. I’m exhausted.”

Another nurse chimed in with her own experience of catching the virus and how it impacted her at 24.

“I am a nurse on a COVID floor, I caught it. I am a relatively healthy 24 year old & could barely walk up a half flight of stairs. My blood pressure skyrocketed, chest pain was debilitating. I’m 8 weeks out and still feeling the chest pain and shortness of breath. This is no joke,” she wrote.

Other people added their own experiences:

“I’m just getting over a “mild” case after over two months. There’s scarring in my lower right lung and my stomach and digestion are a mess like never before. But I’m coughing way less and can take walks again.

And, btw, this is the third time in two months that I’ve ‘gotten better’. I’m just hoping it’s the last and it doesn’t all come back AGAIN.”

Many people report severe, lasting fatigue that lingers and returns in waves.

More nurses added to the chorus of those saying that what they’ve seen as they treat patients is downright scary.

And some are describing lasting symptoms even with cases that were considered “mild” or “moderate.”

Cherie Antoinette responded to a woman who said she’d gone into acute kidney failure and acquired asthma, chronic cough, and an irregular heartbeat, saying that most of her patients had the same issues. “I am traumatized working in this environment,” she wrote.

She also shared a tweet she’d written back in March saying that people needed to be more concerned about the flu. After two months treating COVID patients, she’s changed her tune.

It’s true that many people either don’t get symptoms or do get truly mild cases. But none of us knows how it’s going to affect us. And because we don’t get to go to COVID units or people’s homes after they leave the hospital, we don’t see how difficult many people’s recoveries are or how long-lasting the impact can be.

As one healthcare worker wrote, “without people actually seeing these scenes they honestly just don’t believe it. The public believes as a whole that this only kills old people with heart problems or big complications.”

Indeed, there’s a whole lot of misinformation about the virus still floating around, from “it’s no worse than the flu” to “it’s all planned by Big Pharma and Bill Gates.” Someone even asked Antoinette who paid her, as if the countless stories we’re seeing from doctors, nurses, and patients who have had first-hand experience with this virus are being paid to push an agenda. [Insert world’s biggest eye roll here.]

Some responded that most people do not have severe symptoms and chastised the nurse for fear-mongering. But it’s not fear-mongering to state the truth that many people will suffer greatly from this disease, even if they don’t die from it. It’s not fear-mongering to point out that there’s still so much that we don’t know about how the virus works and why it ravages some people’s bodies while leaving others virtually unscathed. It’s not fear-mongering to share accounts from the front line workers who are the only ones who can tell us what COVID-19 is capable of.

We all need to continue to be diligent and careful, as the pandemic hasn’t gone anywhere. As businesses and communities keep opening up, we still need to wear masks in public spaces, keep our distance from others as much as possible, and take the virus seriously.

Sean Durkin made one of the more acclaimed indie movies of the early 2010s with Martha Marcy May Marlene (featuring a breakout performance from future MCU star Elizabeth Olsen), but no feature films since. He’s stayed busy on other projects, like directing Channel 4’s Southcliffe and Sharon Van Etten’s “Your Love is Killing Me” music video, but nothing on the scale of MMMM. Until now. Durkin is back with The Nest, starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon as Allison and Rory, a couple who leave “suburban America and return to his native England.” Their marriage (story) was already unraveling before the across-the-pond move — now Allison can no longer ignore what’s obvious: her husband, who favors wealth over stability, is a “poor kid pretending to be rich.”

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Rory (Jude Law), an ambitious entrepreneur and former commodities broker, persuades his American wife, Allison (Carrie Coon), and their children to leave the comforts of suburban America and return to his native England during the 1980s. Sensing opportunity, Rory rejoins his former firm and leases a centuries-old country manor, with grounds for Allison’s horses and plans to build a stable. Soon the promise of a lucrative new beginning starts to unravel, the couple have to face the unwelcome truths lying beneath the surface of their marriage.

The Nest comes out in theaters and on VOD on September 18.

A flurry of instruments open Khruangbin’s latest single “Pelota,” setting a lively tone for the spirited number. The single arrives as yet another preview of their forthcoming third record, Mordechai, and marks a distinctive pivot from much of their hazier catalog.

Alongside the new track, Khruangbin share a captivating animated video directed by Hugo Rodrigues Rodriguez that centers around the universal nature of a sphere. Of the genre-bending track itself, Khruangbin says they pull from several cultural influences: “A Texan band with a Thai name singing a song in Spanish, loosely based on a Japanese movie.” This medley of influences can be heard through the rhythm-forward production and bassist Laura Lee Ochoa trying her hand at vocals, something that wasn’t seen on much of the band’s former projects.

Ahead of the new single, the band unveiled the funk-forward singles “Time (You And I),” and “So We Won’t Forget” off Mordechai, but the album won’t be their first release of this year. Back in February, the trio teamed up with Texas crooner Leon Bridges for the EP Texas Sun, which stood as a soulful tribute to their home state and marked the first time the band used vocals on nearly every track.

Watch Khruangbin’s animated “Pelota” above.

Mordechai is out 6/26 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

It takes several tries to get a hold of Drakeo The Ruler over the phone. This isn’t that unusual, especially when reaching out to a famous musician deep in their publicity run. However, getting in contact with the incarcerated South Central Los Angeles rapper introduces all-new complications thanks to Global Tel Link, the official phone service provider for the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail.

You have to be careful not to press any keys, or the system will drop the call. Every five minutes, a little voice reminds you that all calls are recorded — and likely listened to — for any information that can be used against the interviewee. And just trying to set up the multi-way call including the jail, Drakeo’s manager, and my phone involves Drakeo calling his aunt first to accept the charges. I try to be mindful that someone is actually paying for this call as we discuss Drakeo’s new album with producer JoogSzn, Thank You For Using GTL, which was subject to every one of these limitations and more.

For Drakeo, though, it was important to give his fans everything they’ve come to expect from him, even though he was forced to record his vocals over jail phones while awaiting retrial on charges of criminal gang conspiracy and shooting from a motor vehicle. He’s already been acquitted on murder and attempted murder charges, but the District Attorney filed the new charges just two months later, resulting in a hung jury in the initial trial and highlighting yet again the failings of the US criminal justice system — especially when it comes to rappers like Drakeo.

As reported by longtime LA music historian Jeff Weiss, much of the State’s case relies on using Drakeo’s lyrics as evidence. That made recording the ironically-titled Thank You For Using GTL on the recorded jail lines even more fraught, but that didn’t stop him from bringing his usual level of creativity, authenticity, and narrative innovation to the 19-track project. Drakeo refuses to dumb down his gangsterism right up until the chilling closing track, “Fictional,” on which Drakeo playfully toes the line of hip-hop’s long-established kayfabe.

Drakeo is just as authentic in our interview, although I try to guide the conversation away from anything that may extend his stay in MCJ, which has already been two years too long. Over the course of the discussion, he detailed the difficulties of recording over the notoriously bad-sounding GTL system, becoming one of the architects of the new LA sound, and how current events have affected him while he sits in a cell as he is still presumed innocent.

So, the obvious question to start with here is, what is it like recording an album over jail phones?

It’s cool. I just have to tell everybody to be quiet and sh*t but everybody know me here so n****s just be cool. I really only did it because my little brother made me. You know what I mean?

Why did your brother want you to put this out, so bad, right now?

Because he said that I needed to put out new music because people would listen to just my old sh*t and they need to hear the new me.

Which is the same me, but it’s just the saying.

So, what can you tell me about the album? I see it has features from Rio The Young OG, Allblack, Lil 9. Tell me a little bit about those guys and how they got on the album.

These are guys that I f*ck with. So, Allblack, he been f*ckin’ with me. I f*ck with him. He always shout a n**** out, he always checking up on a n****. Rio, I like his sh*t because he reminds me of me, it’s crazy. He’s from Flint so it’s got my ear. I like that he say whatever the f*ck he want and he don’t care. And Lil 9, I just like that little n****. That little n**** hard and he deserve more credit. He reminds me of me when I was coming up and n****s didn’t want to f*ck with me.

So, I first heard about you, I want to say it was on “Out The Slums” with 03 Greedo. I posted the video where you guys were running around on Rodeo.

We do that type of sh*t all the time. So, I never did a video over there or nothing. I was just like, “Man, we always be over here with drums and all that type of sh*t.” So, I was like, “F*ck it, man. I got to do a video over here.” I couldn’t put none of that type of sh*t in the video because I’m doing my probation and parole, and stuff like that. But it was fun though.

What’s your background with 03 Greedo? I know y’all go way back but how’d you meet him? How’d you guys link up and what’s your relationship like now? Because I know you guys both may not be able to have a lot of contact with each other.

My brother and them, they was already out. So, they was f*cking with the n****s. I’m like, “All right. This n**** hard.” I didn’t know he was from out here but I know he Grape [Street Crips] and sh*t so I’m like, “He got to be from out here.” So, when I got out, first day I got out, I was in the studio, I was f*cking with the n****. Man, this n**** knockin back songs. He did like nineteen songs in one day. And I was just listening to this sh*t. That n**** be saying crazy sh*t too but he just be thinking that sh*t sometimes. One day he’s like, “Yeah, Drakeo, we’re going to do some sh*t.” I turn the song on and I’m like, “Yeah, we going to do something right now, then,” and it just went from there.

He was always cool. He wasn’t one of them type of n****s that’s like, “These n****s don’t like Drakeo so I’m not going to f*ck with him.” So, I respected that. I be talking to him sometimes but we both in here. [Note: Greedo is currently incarcerated in the John Middleton Transfer Facility in Abilene, Texas on drug trafficking and possession of a firearm charges]

The reason I ask is I read an article that contrasted your recording styles. Greedo does what you just described, just knocking out songs in one go. How do you go into making a song? Do you have the song already written or do you go to the studio, listen to beats, and figure out where you want to go from there?

That sh*t be already in my head but sometimes when I go I might have to change. I go do the song I initially already had in my head or wrote to, and then I just be in the studio, I hear something, I’m like, “All right, I can make something of this.” Sometimes I take my environment, or things in my past that I might have done, or been with people who did it, or things that I might’ve saw. I have a lot of imagination, I watch a lot of TV. So, people could be having a conversation in the studio, and I’m just sitting there, and they might say one word that might trigger me, and I’m like, “Yeah, this is going to be a song.”

Is that also how you approached Thank You For Using GTL? Did you go in knowing what you want to do as far as what songs you want to be on there and what sort of things you want to talk about? Or did you do a lot of songs and then try to pick the best ones?

Yeah, that’s why most of my songs be like that from the beginning. So, I’ll go in there, I might say one word or first couple bars and I’m like, “I’m just going to go off of the first word I said,” and then just turn it into something, and just keep going. That’s why I always start out with the first verse and then I think of the hook after. I try to figure out something that goes with everything I just said then I try to make it different. So, it’s like, “I got to make this right, this hook cool, but I need something that nobody ever said before. We’ve got to be different.” So when you hear it, you know, “Oh, yeah. That’s Drakeo.”

Absolutely. You may not want to talk about this but I just wanted to ask. What are the conditions like on the inside right now with COVID-19? How were you guys coping with that inside? How were they dealing with that?

They don’t really do sh*t for us. They give a n**** gloves — actually, they don’t really give us gloves. We ask for them but I just be in my cell and all that sh*t anyway. So, that sh*t is regular. They give us masks and sh*t — sometimes. They act like we the ones bringing sh*t in here when they bringing it in here. It’s crazy to me but it doesn’t really matter anyway because this is a closed facility. This sh*t is circulating dirty air anyway. So, it doesn’t matter we have a mask on or none of that sh*t. They don’t do nothing for us, they’re just sitting here.

What does it mean for you to have so much support on the outside from people who are trying their damnedest to get you out of that situation that you’re in?

It’s cool because I remember when I didn’t have nobody to say nothing for me or speak up for me. I wish it would be more people but I take what I get right now. Jeff [Weiss] always been there. I got Adam [22, of No Jumper Podcast] and sh*t now.

A couple of years ago I wrote this article, “Ron Ron, Shoreline Mafia, 03 Greedo, and Drakeo The Ruler Are The Architects Of LA’s New Sound.” Can you talk to that and talk about what it means for you to be the architect of LA’s new sound and what that sound is to you?

It’s crazy because when I first started rapping everybody’s like, “The f*ck? No, that sh*t trash. What does that even mean? You just be making up words and sh*t.” And now it’s like everybody wants to rap like me, it’s funny. It feels cool now though but I look at when I first started rapping and n****s wasn’t f*cking with me, it’s crazy. Even though some people don’t want to acknowledge it, it’s like, “Come on, everyone knows that this is cool.” When people bring up my name it’s not just like, “Oh, Drakeo The Rapper,” it’s like, “Yeah, you heard Drakeo? The n**** that changed LA rap forever. Yeah, that dude.”

Where’s the first place you hit up and what do you want to do when you get out?

Well, I want to go see my son. Of course, I’m going to get my son. Yeah, hopefully sh*t is open. I’m going to do the typical sh*t I always do, man. Throw a whole bunch of money around, hundreds of thousands. Go record a song. I’ll probably do a mixtape in one day. Yeah, that’s the type of attitude I have. Shoot as many videos as I could and just f*ck everything over. Just f*ck everything over on the streets for every single day I spent in here.

Thank You For Using GTL is self-released and out now. Get it here.

Netflix recently dropped a The Umbrella Academy quarantine video that was an affectionate take on a first-season fan-favorite scene, in which the cast danced to “I Think We’re Alone Now.” The purpose of that video, beyond showing that Robert Sheehan might truly be Klaus-In-Real-Life, was to announce the impending return (July 31) of this series, which adapts the graphic novels by Gabriel Ba and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way. Now, the streaming giant has dropped some first-look images to show exactly what happened after the apocalyptic season finale.

Or make that… before the apocalypse? It’s complicated. Let’s back up: we last saw the Hargreeves siblings attempt to calm down the furious Varya (Ellen Page) while she used her recently discovered (by her) powers to embody the apocalypse that the group had aimed to prevent. Even while subdued, she inadvertently took a chunk out of the moon, which began to crumble down on earth, and Five (Aidan Gallagher) used his time-travel powers to grab the group and get the hell out of there, hopefully to travel backward and work toward deterring the apocalypse all over again. Where did they land?

As the below photos (and EW) reveal, Five screwed things up royally. Yes, he saved the group (portrayed by Page, Sheehan, and Gallagher, along with Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, and Justin Min) and took them back to the 1960s. However, they’re nowhere near where the family manor (ambiguously) situated itself, but in… sunny Dallas? Also, Five accidentally split the group up “with each arriving in Dallas at a slightly different point in time.” Not only that, but “Five shows up last and finds himself staring down the barrel of yet another apocalypse.” Lovely.

The Umbrella Academy returns on July 31. Here are those photos, and it looks.. messy. Well, at least Klaus is enjoying himself!

(Via Netflix & EW)

Lamar Jackson being the Madden 21 cover athlete isn’t breaking news, as the reigning NFL MVP let that information slip in a video for the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year, but until Tuesday we had not gotten much official information about the upcoming EA release.

That changed when EA dropped a Madden 21 trailer (for the current generation of consoles, so Xbox One and PS4), showing off Jackson on the cover as well as some of the gameplay updates for this year — touting improved control of ball carriers and pass rushers, more realistic tackling (which, seems to be touted most years), and user-controlled celebrations.

The trailer shows the MVP Edition cover, which is available for presale and fans who do purchase early will get to play three days before the wide release on August 25. Jackson offered a look at the three different covers he will grace, with the MVP Edition, Deluxe Edition, and standard game.

A number of former Madden cover athletes, including Patrick Mahomes, Michael Vick, and Barry Sanders, offered Jackson a video message welcoming him to the elite group.

Jackson will hope to follow Mahomes in shaking off the reputation of the Madden Curse, as Mahomes went on to win the Super Bowl last year and Lamar’s Ravens have their eyes set on a similar finish to their 2020 season.

When I was asked if I wanted to talk to Howard Deutch (to promote a new Blu-ray release of Pretty in Pink), that was a pretty quick “yes.” Coincidentally, I had just rewatched Pretty in Pink in the last few weeks, so this seemed like serendipity. And to make it even better, it’s been 34 years since the film came out and Deutch has, let’s say, few reservations about telling us exactly how things went down. From not wanting to cast James Spader because he was “mean” (Deutch did backtrack on that a bit, but said he wasn’t someone he wanted to hang out with), to the tension between Andrew McCarthy and Molly Ringwald (that’s a whole thing; it somehow involves a stripper), it certainly made for one interesting set.

Ahead, Deutch (who is part of a huge showbiz family: his wife is Lea Thompson and his daughters are Zoey Deutch and Madelyn Deutch) spills all the beans (at least it seems like all the beans, but there could be more beans) about Pretty in Pink‘s behind-the-scenes shenanigans, which was Deutch’s first film as a director. Written by John Hughes, Pretty in Pink is, at its heart, a movie about a love triangle. Andie (Ringwald) likes Blane (McCarthy). Duckie (Jon Cryer) likes Andie. Blane, well, he likes Andie, but needs some time to figure it out because his friends don’t like her because she isn’t “one of them.” In fact, in the original ending Andie winds up with Duckie, but test audiences literally booed. So it was changed to Blane and the rest is history. (Also, a few years ago Ringwald said she believes Duckie is gay. Cryer has said he doesn’t believe that. So I also asked Deutch to weigh in, which he did.)

And he weighs in on Molly Ringwald’s claim that Duckie (played by Jon Cryer) is gay.

I find it weird that Pretty in Pink was your first movie.

I know. Me too.

One that we still talk about all the time.

Oh yeah, yeah. I have that kind of karma. Like in the Vietnam draft lottery, I was number one. Because they pick your birthday.

Is that true, really? Yours was the first one?

Yeah. I was the number one, but I didn’t end up having to go because there was a whole story to it. But anyway. My point is, that being my first movie, and it being such a success and not expecting it? All these kinds of crazy things in my life.

So the alternate ending when Andie winds up with Duckie? Were you surprised that it had to be changed? That test audiences didn’t like it?

Oh. Shocked! Shocked! John Hughes was also. Both of us were shocked, because the test screening was going like a dream come true. And then boom! The prom came, and everybody started booing. And it was like a nightmare! It was like, how did this happen? This story builds about true love and Duckie loved her! But, truly.

John was able to come up with the changed ending because it worked better. In the end, my lesson is that when women or a girl like Molly wants the cute boy, you can’t take that away from her regardless of the politics. I remember Rob Reiner said, “You can’t give the princess the frog.” So, I didn’t like it when he said it, but the point is that new ending, movies, to me, when they’re working, if it’s really working, it’ll tell you what it wants to be.

That’s a nice way of looking at it.

And this was one of those cases. It said, “No, no. This cannot be an ending.”

If Duckie and Andie wind up together, I think today it would be looked at differently. Because Duckie’s kind of an asshole at times.

Sure. Yeah.

It would feel like he almost bullied her into choosing him at some points in the movie.

Right. Yeah. Very, very true. But I mean, really, on a more dramatic level, I feel like, in retrospect, I can see that it would not be surprising. There’s nothing surprising about Duckie winding up with her.

True.

What’s surprising is, and just dramatically, you always want to be ahead of the audience. You want them to be invested, but you don’t want them to be able to see what’s going to happen, especially in a triangle. And that’s a triangle. And you want to have them guessing to the very last second. And the fact that John engineered it in the rewrite that Duckie sacrificed her? He made that sacrifice, which is always more moving to me. That he put her first and was rewarded for it.

Speaking of people still talking about this movie, I was watching Seth Meyers just last week and he was talking about how his hair’s too long because he hasn’t had a haircut in a while, and then he put up a picture of James Spader from Pretty in Pink.

[Laughs] Definitely. It’s crazy!

What was Spader was like then? That is a fascinating character he’s playing.

Not that different from the character.

I guess that makes sense.

Actually, I didn’t want to hire him. I said to John Hughes, “He’s terrible. He’s mean. I do not want to hire him.” He said, “What is wrong with you? That’s the character. That’s what you want.”

He was mean? He was mean to you? You’re the director of the movie.

Eh, I think maybe “mean” is too strong a word. But I thought, “No. I don’t want to hang out with that guy.” John was like, “Good! That’s the point.”

I’ve wound up watching a lot of Andrew McCarthy movies over the last few months. I saw an interview where he talked about giving up acting and becoming a travel writer. But he said he was drinking a lot then. Was that something you noticed?

Well, no. But he was dating a stripper. I remember that, but I don’t remember him drinking. But he was a very underrated actor. And I remember always being really taken with his choices, and I liked them. I dug him as a person, and as an actor. Molly was the one who said, “Andrew’s cute. We should hire him.” Yeah. And I was like, “Really? That’s the reason you want to hire him?”

I saw an interview where he said that you wanted to hire somebody else. That was a little more like a jock.

I don’t remember that. Maybe I did, but I don’t recall it. But I always listened to Molly because I trusted her instincts, and she was only 16. But she knew that movie better than me. And she knew that character. And she was like, “I’m telling you. He’s the one.” So, I auditioned him and met him, and I’d had a chemistry read with them. It was like they had great chemistry. And I thought, that’s going to work great. But he hated her. And she had a crush on him. And then she started to hate him, too, because she didn’t think he liked her. So I had to deal with that by telling her, “Oh no. He’s the guy. He’s afraid to admit how much he likes you.” And then I’d have to lie to him and say, “She really is crazy about you.” But what it did was create a lot of great sexual tension.

I could see a director thinking, “I can’t handle any of this,” as opposed to, “I’m going to use this to create tension for the characters.”

But the truth is, I always loved this Mike Nichols documentary where he talks about the unconscious. And he always talks about the decisions that he made as a director. The ones that he loves the most are those that he wasn’t conscious of. And when he watches the movie years later, he realizes he wasn’t even aware he made that decision, but it was his unconscious instinct.

You mentioned that Molly knew the movie better than you did, or knew the characters. Do you agree with her that Duckie is gay? Because Jon Crier has said he doesn’t buy that. But she seems adamant.

No. I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree with that. He was just desperately in love and idolized her and would have given his life for her. And I thought he completely made that believable and fun and emotional. But no. I don’t. No, I don’t agree about that other part.

One last thing, the music in this movie is incredible. Is that a big reason for its staying power? “Bring on the Dancing Horses” by Echo and the Bunnymen is one of my favorite songs.

A lot of the music, I wish I could take the bows, but they were John Hughes’ ideas. He would play stuff for me because he was really music-driven. He had a connection with producers in London, and a record shop in London that got stuff before it even made its debut in America. And, for instance, New Order. I don’t think anybody used them before us. He played me a piece of “Elegia,” that piece of music in the hallway when Molly’s screaming at Andrew. That piece of music, I’d never heard it before. And he played it for me and we put it up against that scene. And I was lucky that he found that piece of music, and as much as I love Michael Gore’s score, but there’s a combination to the music in that movie that was really discovered by John. And I was grateful that he found it and that he shared it with me.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The Roots declare the show must go on, turning their annual Roots Picnic into a virtual festival experience. The “hardest working band in show business” announced that their festival will livestream on YouTube Saturday, June 27 with performances from D Nice, Earthgang, G Herbo, H.E.R., Kirk Franklin, Lil Baby, Musiq Soulchild, Polo G, Roddy Ricch, Snoh Aalegra, and SZA,.

Throughout the concert, celebrities such as Chris Paul, Janelle Monáe, Kerry Washington, Lin Manuel Miranda, Michelle Obama, Tom Hanks, and Tracee Ellis Ross will appear to remind viewers of the importance of registering to vote in this year’s elections. Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote is a sponsor, with volunteers who will text voters throughout the show. Volunteers can sign up here.

The Roots’ manager Shawn Gee, who is also president of Live Nation Urban, said in the press release, “Historically, Questlove & Black Thought have always been very active participants in the voting process, however I felt that it was imperative that this year I open up both The Roots and my Live Nation Urban platforms as vehicles for both voter education and voter registration. Our goal is to aggressively impact change and we’re going to have some fun while doing so. This year, we are incredibly proud to partner with Mrs. Obama’s When We All Vote to ensure our audience has the resources they need to register and vote in November’s election.”

For more information on We All Vote’s involvement with the Roots Picnic click here.

Tune in to The Roots’ YouTube channel 6/27 at 8pm EST / 5pm PST.

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