The studio behind the blockbuster Potter films issued a statement, which doesn’t mention Rowling by name but asserts its support for diversity and inclusion after highlighting the need to confront recent societal issues without specifically naming those issues. Via IndieWire:
“The events in the last several weeks have firmed our resolve as a company to confront difficult societal issues. Warner Bros.’ position on inclusiveness is well established, and fostering a diverse and inclusive culture has never been more important to our company and to our audiences around the world,” the company said in a statement. “We deeply value the work of our storytellers who give so much of themselves in sharing their creations with us all. We recognize our responsibility to foster empathy and advocate understanding of all communities and all people, particularly those we work with and those we reach through our content.”
As of this writing, Warner Bros. and Rowling are still on track to deliver a third film in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The author has served as the screenwriter for the prequel films that have had diminishing returns, and this latest controversy could raise questions about the future of the property going forward. Following Warner Bros. statement, IndieWire asked about its working relationship with Rowling. The studio declined to comment.
The Sheamus vs. Hardy feud began on Smackdown when someone with red hair and a red beard framed Hardy of hitting Elias with his car while intoxicated, both a reference to Hardy’s real-life issues with substance abuse and a device to write the real-life injured Elias off of the show. According to Sportskeeda, this Friday’s episode of Smackdown will feature a contract signing that continues to reference Hardy’s history of addiction.
The plan is reportedly for Sheamus to demand Hardy take “a urine test as he refuses to compete against a ‘junkie.’” Hardy will pee in a cup, but then throw the pee in Sheamus’s face.
Usually, a caveat with reports like this is that WWE is known for re-writing segments shortly before they go on the air, so what’s planned on Thursday could easily not make it on screen on Friday. But since Smackdown is currently pre-taped, this segment is probably here to stay.
The biggest positive: It looks like Sheamus is the real villain of this story and we won’t get swerved by the also red-headed, red-bearded Sami Zayn coming back with no Intercontinental Championship and as a guy who frames people for drunk driving.
The Black Lives Matter movement may be centered in and stem from the US and America’s institutional abuses against Black people, but the movement has spread to become a global phenomenon addressing inequality and injustice abroad as well. A recent Black Lives Matter protest in London received attention from the participation of Star Wars actor John Boyega, and today, outspoken grime star Stormzy declared his plans to contribute to the cause to the tune of £10 million.
Stormzy issued a statement of intent via his #Merky label, writing that he plans to donate £1 million a year for 10 years to “organisations, charities and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and Black empowerment within the UK.” He also included this would be part of a “lifetime commitment” to the cause of equality, justice, and empowerment.
“I’m lucky enough to be in the position I’m in and I’ve heard people often dismiss the idea of racism existing in Britain by saying, ‘If the country’s so racist how have you become a success?!’” he explained. “I reject that with this: I am not the UK’s shining example of what supposedly happens when a Black person works hard. There are millions of us. We are not far and few.”
““We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us and designed for us to fail from before we are even born,” he elaborated. “Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.”
Read the full statement below.
Stormzy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
With 22 teams going to Orlando to resume the NBA season next month, there will be plenty of opportunities for the media to cover teams they haven’t had great access to since the spring. However, in an attempt to cut down on total bodies in the quarantine bubble down in Florida, the league is reportedly looking to allow only a small portion of those who cover the sport to actually interact with players and coaches in-person.
Not to get too inside-baseball here, but there’s an organization for everyone who covers basketball for a living, called the Professional Basketball Writers Association. The same thing exists for football, the White House, and many other high-level beats. In effect, the NBA is working with the PBWA to categorize a small number of its writers as “first-tier,” and these folks would be able to take part in postgame press conferences and practices and everything that typically goes into covering the NBA.
Then, according to Robert Silverman at The Daily Beast, a smaller group of “second-tier” reporters would be around basically only in spirit. They would be able to be in the stands for games, but in order to mitigate the transmission opportunities for the coronavirus, these reporters would not be allowed to interact personally with players, coaches, or really anyone.
If you’re wondering what the point of that would be, you’re not the only one. That’s exactly what the PBWA is negotiating with the league right now. Not only the access to ensure local beat reporters and smaller publications have equal opportunity to cover the league, but also the affordability of all of this. The downside of trapping everyone at a luxury resort is that it’s expensive. Staying on-property at Walt Disney World for three months is not something in the budget for really anyone. These concerns may seem trivial, or something that only those who cover the league should care about, but if you’re a Spurs or Grizzlies or any other small market reporter whose local outlets may not have the money to cover the league, or would be blocked out as “second-tier” reporters even if they did make the trip, this is a decently big deal.
With just a few releases to her name, Sir Chloe has been racking up quite a following over the last year or so. Her single “Animal” has garnered over ten million streams, and her latest release “Easy On You” is already making its way up the list of her popular tracks. While at first glance, Sir Chloe might seem like she would sound closer to a modern shock rocker like Poppy than a bona fide indie artist, “Easy On You” proves otherwise, with vocals that sound like The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan and reverb-soaked guitars.
To celebrate the new track, Sir Chloe sat down to talk misspelled tattoos, karaoke bars, and time travel in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Always mean never nice.
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?
I can only hope we’re immortalized in sticky laminated books at karaoke bars.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
Sia, Selena Gomez, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator, And The Kids, Car Seat Headrest, Whitney, Joy Division, Dolly Parton, Pixies, Her’s, Mitski, Omar Apollo, Angele, Ann Peebles, Lianne La Havas, Daniel Cesar.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Can’t say. Once I announce the winner, the contest is over.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
I wouldn’t, time travel is scary and the butterfly effect is real.
What’s the last show you went to?
I saw Petey back in February at Hyperion Tavern in LA.
What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
9 to 5.
What would you cook if Kanye were coming to your house for dinner?
Not too long ago, Gal Gadot’s “Imagine” video (in which she and several famous friends, including Natalie Portman, Will Ferrell, and Jimmy Fallon sang the iconic John Lennon tune to, uh, fight the pandemic) got dragged online, and following weeks of police brutality protests, it’s happening again. Gadot is not involved this time (she appears to have gotten the message), but another gathering of celebrities has assembled, this time to “take responsibility” for unchecked racism and swear to help end it.
This PSA is actually part of a project (as detailed at the Hollywood Reporter) — hosted at the ITakeResponsibility.org website — that launched in partnership with the NAACP. The celebrities in this video, including Sarah Paulson, Justin Theroux, Stanley Tucci, Aaron Paul, Kristen Bell, Julianne Moore, Mark Duplass, Bryce Dallas Howard, Debra Messing, Piper Perabo, and Kesha, all pledge to stop “turning a blind eye” while claiming that they are, themselves, taking responsibility for letting racism fly (through inaction) in their presence. The website also asks users to take responsibility in various ways, and one has to make selections from a menu before entering the site.
Let’s just say that the video’s not being embraced too warmly on social media.
Despite the good intentions involved with those who made this video, people are cringing and wondering how Stanley Tucci ended up here, noticeably pulling his eyes away from the camera to read a script.
tag yourself i’m stanley tucci looking away from the camera to read the script https://t.co/XqgaxLFRpe
The winner is Aaron Paul who gave us a full pro wrestling promo with gritted teeth and firm jaw muscle definition to let you know it’s time for WHITE SERIOUSNESS pic.twitter.com/nDMfO5MenO
And of course, this has inspired one user to toss out a Breaking Bad take because, well, 2020 is just a difficult time, and some people want to embrace the chaos.
With Aaron Paul trending I would like to once again remind everyone that Jesse Pinkman was a bad person who is more responsible for Jane’s death than Walt and doesn’t deserve the love he gets
T.I. is once again butting heads with Black conservative leader Candace Owens. In the past, T.I. has critiqued Owens for her support of Trump and controversial views on systematic racism and now, the rapper seems to have lost hope for her.
T.I. recently sat down with Nick Cannon on Power 106 FM to discuss his role as a community leader and activist in Atlanta. The conversation turned to the nature of cancel culture, which T.I. experienced after being slammed for his views on his daughter’s virginity. T.I. said that the Black community must come together to uplift each other rather than discredit one another for having conflicting views. “We don’t all have the same views,” he said. “We don’t all have the same opinions of how to move forward on what’s gonna get us to our goal. But we all have the same fight. We’re all on the same journey.”
But T.I. said he draws the line of understanding at Owens. “Some severe cases, like Candace Owens, she got to go,” Tip said. “She can’t come.” T.I. even went so far as to say Owens is being paid off to discredit the experiences of Black individuals. “Somebody paid her to come out here against speak out against what the majority of us is standing for,” he said. “She ain’t a double agent, she’s their agent. You mean to tell me there’s no injustice against people of color you’ve ever seen, that you could speak out for? That white people are always right? You telling me law enforcement is always right? You telling me the United States of America has always been right when dealing with us? And that’s her story. You can’t trust that story because we have facts that show us otherwise.”
Cannon agreed, saying she doesn’t always stick to the facts and T.I. offered his explanation: “When this young lady was in college, something happened to her, an attack,” the rapper continued. “She called out to the community, and she got justice in her case. Ever since then, she seems to have forgotten that she’s black. She has turned in her black card and crossed over.”
This isn’t the first time T.I. has argued with Candace Owens over her views. At last September’s Revolt summit, T.I. fired back at Owens’ praise of Trump’s “make America great again” slogan. “When you say ‘make America great again,’ which period are we talking about?” he asked. “The period when women couldn’t vote, the period when we were hanging from trees, or the crack era? Which period in America are you trying to make America like again?”
Watch T.I. give his thoughts on Candace Owens and Terry Crews on Power 106 FM above.
The gaming community within the NBA is steadily growing, with the league’s hiatus only helping to give players more time to refine their skills on the sticks without basketball taking up so much of their time. J.R. Smith, for example, has long been an avid gamer, growing up with “Nintendos and Ataris” but has really gotten involved in recent years with the boom in online gaming.
“Where it got to the multiplayer level and being able to play online, it just blows things out of the water,” Smith told Dime. “But I’ve always been into games, like ever since as long as I can remember I spent like four, five hours a day playing video games.”
While he continues working out to be ready for a hopeful NBA return next season, Smith is also taking this down time to game more and joined the Call of Duty League’s New York Subliners to stream Warzone on the CDL’s channels a few weeks back. Smith held his own with the pros, but said it was a humbling experience to see how far he has to go to become an elite gamer.
After the stream, Smith spoke with Dime about the experience, the communal aspect of gaming, why quarantine has been so hard for him, thoughts on The Last Dance, and why he wants people to stop comparing greats like LeBron, Kobe, and Jordan and just appreciate what they all have brought to the NBA.
How was the stream and what’s it like playing with pro Call of Duty players?
Man that sh*t was dope, man. Because for me, playing with them is like regular people playing basketball with me. So, like, as a person who really watched people’s YouTubes and streams to try and get better at the game — and I feel like I’m an avid gamer — it’s like being a kid in a candy store playing with a bunch of pros. Like, I’m used to playing with my boys, and it’s just like, some people’s skill levels just aren’t there, some people’s attention span just isn’t there, and at the level that I would like to play at, it’s just refreshing. At the same time, it’s humbling, cause I’m like, “I got a long way to go.”
When you play with pro gamers, what are the things you’re able to pick up and see as the differences between what they do and their approach compared to a casual gamer?
Well, when I was asking them about the keys — there’s certain keys you can get to go in the bunkers and stuff like that, and they don’t even go for those. They just going for kills and wins. Now, we’re playing to try and reach a certain goal, but sometimes you get caught up in going for certain parts of the game and it gets all strategic. But when you play with them, they’re going for straight kills and kill as many opponents as they can, and at a high rate as well. One person can go over there and get two or three kills or even a whole team wiped, and it’s like, just one person on one side. On the team I play with, the whole team has to go over and fight the other team.
Are there guys in the NBA you enjoy playing with? I talked to Devin Booker about some of the guys he plays with and know a lot of guys play. Who are some of your favorite guys in the league to play with, cause I know there’s an avid gaming community in the NBA?
You know what’s funny, I never really played with guys , not Call of Duty. I played 2K with Kyrie before and stuff like that, but I’ve never played Call of Duty with any of those NBA guys. I think they running from me.
I see you’ll hop on social media at times and see if fans want to play online with you, whether it’s COD or 2K. Do you feel like gaming has helped you build more of a connection with fans and how important is having that sense of community, especially over the last few months where we’ve all been isolating and under stay-at-home orders?
Yeah man, it’s funny because for me it’s a blessing in disguise with all this staying at home and everybody being on games and stuff like that. It’s like, all my friends are back home in a tough neighborhood, and you know, when you go outside you can get in trouble and other things. So having my friends being online consistently has been huge for me. So that’s what’s been my main focus, honestly, is just trying to get my game up. Trying to get my channels poppin’ so people can tune in and see what’s going on, just watching and kicking it.
How have you been holding up these last few months? I know you’ve got some young ones running around and that’s always an adventure, but you’re also training and trying to keep in shape. What’s the isolation period been like for you?
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It’s tough, man. So I’ve been in L.A. I actually just got back from New Jersey yesterday, and I’ve been in L.A. for the previous three months before that, and I hadn’t seen my kids cause they’re in New Jersey. So it’s been tough because of the travel situation and stuff like that, not knowing what’s going to happen and schools and everything being closed. So it’s been tough for me because I’m all the way out here and my kids are in Jersey, and the fact that I’m out here training and stuff, and they’re just finally home. They’re out of school and have all this free time, and I gotta miss months of that because of something like this cause airports were shut down for so long and I couldn’t travel, and you didn’t know if you could actually go outside and if you’d catch it or not. So it kinda spooked me a lot with that, so it’s been crazy.
I do want to talk a little basketball. Any player on a championship team has a special connection to a city and its fans, but especially so in a place like Cleveland winning the first title the city’s seen in decades. How would you describe your relationship with Cleveland and Cavs fans after that 2016 title?
I mean our connection is just remarkable, man. Just the team and the city, was just a perfect fit. Especially going in as an underdog to Golden State, just a big powerhouse in the West, won so many games and stuff like that, and Cleveland being a blue-collar city, you know, hard work and hard-nosed, and we were that team in the East — diving for loose balls, getting loose balls, and playing physical — so it kinda coincided so well. Even now, we get so much love and so much strength when we go back.
Do you still have a shirtless JR t-shirt?
[Laughs] I still have a few, but I don’t wear ‘em. My mom will give ‘em out for family and stuff like that and the kids.
I know you were watching The Last Dance what were your biggest takeaways from that and all the Jordan footage we got out of it?
Man, from watching all of the tapes growing up — Come Fly With Me, all those — and then watching this, it kinda felt sad because it was a capping of his legacy. You know, he’s already in the Basketball Hall of Fame and all that, and then he finally comes out with the documentary and it’s the last thing that we ever see or hear from Michael Jordan from like himself and out of his words. I took it like it was kind of sad seeing something that I didn’t really think about until it actually came out and I actually watched it, because obviously with the anticipation of it coming out everyone was like, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. Let’s see it, let’s see it.”
And now, when I was watching it, it was just like, some of the stories and stuff like that it was like, damn, that’s exactly what happened. That’s it? That’s no more Bulls nothing? Y’all gonna stop showing highlights or something? What’s going on?
The practice footage was really interesting and a rare look for fans at that part of the NBA. No one is compared to Jordan more than LeBron, but when people talk about that hyper-competitive style they talk about Jordan and then Kobe, but I know LeBron has that kind of drive even if the public facing image doesn’t show that as much. How would you describe what LeBron was like in those moments, in those closed door settings and practices, because he’s also a super-competitive person?
I mean, for one, LeBron practiced every day. So whenever people always try to talk about the rest thing and stuff like that, for the miles that he’s done and still to compete with his peers day-in and day-out on a game level as well as in practice, there’s a lot to be said for that. And then just the way he attacks the game with his mentality. He knows he’s great, but his greatest aspect is he knows how to play the game the right way. Now Jordan, in my eyes he’s the GOAT, he attacked it like, I’m going to win this game or I’m going to get us over the top every single time. And Bron’s mindset is, the team’s going to get us over the top every single time.
I understand in a way, any other time someone like Kobe, they would always say, “Kobe’s selfish. He’s this, he’s that,” before the last couple months and a year and a half seeing Kobe off the court. Nobody was, like, the biggest Kobe fan as far as his mentality and his quote-unquote “person off the court” cause they didn’t know him. Everyone was scared of him and thought he was just this wild, vicious person that was just a fierce competitor, and they didn’t know until unfortunately after the situation that he was a great person, a great dad, he had a great family, he coached his daughter’s team, stuff like that. So it’s just stipulations come out through people’s careers because we only see them for that two and a half hours on the court or on TV and we just judge them off of that instead of knowing them as a person.
Like, Jordan’s so high on a pedestal people feel they can’t relate to him. When this guy first came into the league he got a regular apartment, he drives a regular car, and does regular things just like everyone else. It just so happened he excelled and was so amazing at what he did that people put him on a pedestal to where they try to tear him down as much as they possibly can. And within all of the greatness we seen from The Last Dance all you hear is, “Oh well he called Horace Grant a snitch,” and this and this, and creates so much turmoil within it, and then you compare legacies. It’s like, why can’t we appreciate what his greatness was and what he created, because realistically, he paved the way for so many — more than anybody in basketball history he paved the way. He changed everything. So why can’t we just respect him for that instead of trying to compare his greatness to anything else? I think that’s the biggest thing I took away.
To bring it full circle, you mention fans don’t get a chance to get to know athletes through the games. Like, you see what you see, but is that something that you like about when you have these avenues like Twitch streaming and fans get the chance to see you off the court, talking, being a regular person and doing things regular folks do. Is that something where you think gaming and being able to stream is something that can help bridge that divide a little bit?
A hundred percent, especially with gaming. So many kids and so many people are playing a game. I think I seen this a week or two ago where like, 60 million people are playing Call of Duty. I mean, you come in contact with so many different people and so many walks of life. I’ve created some great friendships that I truly value off of playing video games and stuff. It’s crazy because for so long you heard your parents saying, “Get out of the house, stop playing video games,” and there’s like, 13-year-olds making millions of dollars playing Fortnite. Like what are you going to tell him? You going to tell him to go to college? I made a million dollars, what are you going to say? You gotta clean your room? Mom I just bought this big ass house, I’ll get a maid and everything else, you gonna tell me to clean my room?
[Editor’s Note: This interview was edited and condensed for clarity]
Last week, fencing went up around the White House as an increased security measure to keep protestors and demonstrators who were marching to end police violence from getting too close to the building. In the days since, the fencing has become a memorial wall to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, and other black Americans who have died because of bigotry. Now, as the Secret Service and U.S. Park Police begin removing the fencing, the Smithsonian is rushing to the scene to collect what it views as historic artwork.
A group of curators from the @smithsonian have arrived and are preparing to collect the artwork left by thousands of protesters over the last week to honor black lives lost at the hands of police.
In a series of tweets documenting the moment, Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson shared video footage on Wednesday morning of curators from the Smithsonian and National Museum of African American History and Culture as they toured the crowd-sourced art gallery in the D.C. streets looking for notable works to photograph and preserve.
“This is a really important moment,” says Dr. Dwandalyn Reece, the executive committee chair of the NMAAHC.
History is being documented right now in the nation’s capital. Curators from @smithsonian@NMAAHC are strolling along the wall of protest art by the White House and discussing which signs to photograph and preserve. pic.twitter.com/3quVyC2yHJ
Speaking to DCist, Kai Gamanya — a protestor who hung a painting of a raised fist flanked by a crown and pyramid on the fence –described the art gallery as a moving, saying “It’s like the whole nation is crying, and this whole fence is crying.”
The scene around the fencing is truly something to behold. Take a look at some of the posters below.
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