John Cusack was assaulted by police while filming a protest. [Dlisted]
Lorde acknowledges that many celebrities are performative with their activism, but still speaks out about police brutality & justice. [Just Jared]
Lainey on racism, white-adjacency, and recognizing our biases. [LaineyGossip]
I loved Angelina Jolie’s fashion for the Maleficent promo! [Go Fug Yourself]
The NYPD arrested a CNN journalist & held him for six hours. [Towleroad]
Drag Race has crowned a new winner & everyone loves her. [OMG Blog]
Jake Paul is not the story. [Pajiba]
K-Pop Stans crashed a Texas police department’s app, OMG. [Jezebel]
Someone named Lexus Shayden is returning to Unexpected. [Starcasm]
The Stonewall Riots were anti-police too. [Tom & Lorenzo]

Cops didn’t like me filming the burning car so they came at me with batons. Hitting my bike.
Ahhm here’s the audio pic.twitter.com/tfaOoVCw5v”

— John Cusack (@johncusack) May 31, 2020

When the trailer for Netflix’s new comedy series, Space Force, premiered a few weeks ago, I said that “reality IS satire now so this might as well be a documentary”. This turns out to be one of the biggest problems facing Space Force, that it is, intentionally or not, so embedded in our own current …

When the trailer for Netflix’s new comedy series, Space Force, premiered a few weeks ago, I said that “reality IS satire now so this might as well be a documentary”. This turns out to be one of the biggest problems facing Space Force, that it is, intentionally or not, so embedded in our own current …

Jane Fonda was a radical in the ‘60s and ‘70s. She worked with Black Panthers, she worked to end the Vietnam War (whoops), and she’s been active in reproductive rights, civil rights and social justice causes for decades. Some people might question her actual causes or opinions, but she’s truly put her money, reputation and body where her mouth has always been. So Don Lemon at CNN did a video-link interview with Fonda last night to talk about the ongoing protests:

“We are in a very important moment,” says @Janefonda. “We have an election coming, we have a pandemic crisis, we have a climate crisis, we have a race crisis, and we have a choice to make.” https://t.co/K5Gzn1gRT0 pic.twitter.com/ZZbLq1T2pt

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) June 1, 2020

Some people were questioning Jane’s Black Panther couture (the beret!!) and some were questioning why we needed to hear from Jane Fonda at this very moment. Thankfully, it became an educational moment for how Fonda has always been an ally to disenfranchised people and disenfranchised communities.

Before you pop yang about Jane Fonda or her all-black attire on CNN tonight, I suggest you check the resume.

Jane Fonda’s been doing this since the Panthers, Angela Davis & Vietnam in the 60s.

Jane has LONG been about that life.

— Darryn M. Briggs (@darryn_briggs) June 1, 2020

Jane Fonda getting arrested for the 479,765th time

Before ppl start talking wild, Jane lent her home 2 Black Panthers hiding from the FBI. She adopted the daughter of one after the child’s parents were arrested.

Auntie Jane gets to come to the cookout. Hell, she’ll be hosting. pic.twitter.com/zlwlkClasI

— Dana (Store Name)’s Life is at a Social Distance (@sagesurge) June 1, 2020

jane fonda has been with black panthers since the beginning you better ask somebody pic.twitter.com/0RTEPLckX8

— quarantine alfredo (@ndilettante) June 1, 2020

Guys, Jane Fonda is 82. Notice how you age when you aren’t toxic. pic.twitter.com/iBoXnK2LRq

— victoria whitlock (@vwhitlockmusic) June 1, 2020

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Photos courtesy of Getty, CNN.

Dakota Johnson was on her neighbor Jimmy Kimmel’s show in a very special guest appearance over the fence between their two properties. She was wearing an enormous fuschia dress with balloon sleeves that she said was straight off the runway and smelled like feet. It was the perfect outfit for a socially distanced interview where you could only see her from the chest up. I’m just thinking of how celebrities are going to dress differently for interviews now. We’re used to seeing so many women’s legs in high cut dresses but now that interviews are remote we’re going to see more creative tops and cleavage. I think Dakota just set a trend.

My favorite part of this interview is when Dakota talked smack about their neighbors. At first I thought she was joking, then Jimmy confirmed that the neighbors to the other side of Dakota had her grandfather’s truck towed! Apparently Dakota confronted the neighbors at a charity event, right in front of Jimmy, and he told the story on his show when he was interviewing her in 2018. Here’s a link to that older interview and here’s what they said back then:

Jimmy: After the event, you and I were chatting near the bar and two of our neighbors came up. You immediately said ‘did you guys tow my grandfather’s truck?’ It was very clear that they did. They [got nervous] and then they just disappeared.

Dakota: I don’t know what happened I just turned into medusa and I’m not a confrontational person at all.

Jimmy: If I have problems on the block I’m going to come to you first and tell you. I laughed about it the whole night. Has there been any fallout from that?

Dakota: No I think I really scared them.

Jimmy: Your grandfather left you this really cool old truck. It’s a beater. It’s got out of state license plates.

Dakota: It’s a ’95 F150 but it doesn’t look super nice. He gave it to me and then he passed away. It’s very sentimental, but these neighbors. I hope they’re watching right now. They kept calling about it. They kept saying ‘I really don’t want to look at it anymore.’

[From Jimmy Kimmel Live on YouTube]

Apparently Dakota got there before the tow truck driver and was able to stop it from being towed. She told Jimmy she was going to send the neighbors a cake of her truck! In this latest interview, Jimmy said he confirmed with the neighbors that they did try to get her grandfather’s truck towed.

On Hunter S. Thompson being her neighbor growing up
Hunter and my dad were best friends. He was at the house every night. He would always bring really bizarre gifts like bird callers, goggles or a fishing rod. He used to come into the driveway at like 3 o’clock in the morning to let us know that he was there.

On her neighbors sucking
You’re the best [neighbor]. The ones on the other side suck.

I had to rent a garage to put my truck in which is absolutely bullsh-t. They never owned up to it. Do you remember that night? That was nuts. I lost my mind.

Jimmy: They did tell me that it was them. [They saw the show.]

[From Jimmy Kimmel Live on YouTube]

I watched Dakota’s Architectural Digest video tour of her home finally, and she bad mouthed the neighbors in that too! She said they’ve been trying to get her to cut her bamboo grove, but that she isn’t doing it because it keeps them from seeing into her yard.

Whenever I have a problem with neighbors, I talk smack about them to other neighbors and try to play like it’s innocent. I’ll be like “oh so and so did this, but I really don’t know how to feel about it” or “have you seen all the dog poop in the neighborhood? It looks like it’s from a big dog, like the one Carole has.” Dakota is openly calling out her neighbors to their faces and mentioning them in interviews! We’ve seen that she’s got some nerve and I’m here for it.

Here’s that interview! She’s so mellow but you do not want to cross her.

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If you want to demand more charges brought on all those involved in the death of George Floyd, click the link in my bio to sign the petition.

A post shared by Beyonce? (@beyonce) on May 29, 2020 at 8:13pm PDT

So many celebrities have released messages or videos in support of Black Lives Matter and the protests for George Floyd. I won’t be posting all of them, but I wanted to highlight a few notable messages of support. Beyonce posted the Instagram above on Friday, hours after Derek Chauvin was arrested for George Floyd’s murder:

“We need justice for George Floyd. We all witnessed his murder in broad daylight. We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalize this pain,” Beyoncé said in the beginning of the video.

She then continued to point out that regardless of skin color, humans are a family and must stand up for each other in times of injustice. “I’m not only speaking to people of color. If you’re white, black, brown or anything in between, I’m sure you feel hopeless by the racism going on in America right now. No more senseless killings of human beings. No more seeing people of color as less than human. We can no longer look away,” Beyoncé said. “George is all of our family in humanity. He’s our family because he’s a fellow American.”

Though Beyoncé recognized that a police officer has been arrested in connection to Floyd’s death on May 25, she emphasized that more needs to be done.

“There have been too many times that we’ve seen these violent killings, and no consequences. Yes, someone’s been charged, but justice is far from being achieved,” Beyoncé said. “Please sign the petition and continue to pray for peace, compassion and healing for our country.”

[From Variety]

Something I think about a lot was the birther campaign, which was fundamentally about denying American citizenship to a black man (Barack Obama) because of the color of his skin. It was eye-opening for me at the time of Obama’s election because I had never seen the pattern of it before, that black and brown Americans are fundamentally seen as “not real Americans” by white people. When Beyonce says “George is all of our family in humanity. He’s our family because he’s a fellow American,” she’s saying that to the white people who want to act like black people don’t really deserve the same rights as them because black folks are “less than” citizens.

Serena Williams’ video and message made me ugly-cry.

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I can’t and still can’t find the words to say or express how sad I feel…. but she found them for me. She found them for so many of us. A lot of us are numb… lost for words… I know I am. This is a difficult time. A lot of us growing up were taught to pray “Let thy kingdom come,” this is what I continue to pray for in addition to so many that have been hurt/killed, or simply traumatized by how people of a different color are treated. The worst part is this is nothing new, “it’s just filmed.” I’m with a heavy heart. I’m lost for words. Video from @wealth

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on May 30, 2020 at 1:51pm PDT

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.

One week ago, Derek Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd. Thus far, Chauvin is the only one who has been arrested – he was the one who put his knee on Floyd’s neck. It’s completely asinine that the three other cops have not been arrested and charged (they’ve only been fired). Over the weekend, George Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd spoke to Al Sharpton on Rev. Al’s MSNBC show. Philonise spoke about his two calls with Joe Biden and Donald Trump:

As protests erupt across the country, Philonise Floyd virtually spoke with MSNBC’s Al Sharpton on Saturday and talked about the conversations he had with President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden, who is the presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2020 presidential election.

“I never had to beg a man before but I asked [Biden] could he please, please get justice for my brother, please. Because I need it, I just don’t want to see him on a shirt like those other guys. Nobody deserves that,” said Floyd, who was joined by his nephew Brandon Williams and their family attorney Ben Crump.

Meanwhile, Floyd said his call with Trump was much different. “It was so fast. He didn’t give me the opportunity to even speak. It was hard. I was trying to talk to him but he just kept like pushing me off like ‘I don’t want to hear what you’re talking about.’ I just told him I want justice. I said that I can’t believe that they committed a modern-day lynching in broad daylight,” he shared. “I can’t stand for that, that hurt me. I just don’t understand, man,” he said as he became emotional and fought back tears. “Why we have to go through this? Why we gotta have all this pain, man? I love my brother. I’m never going to see him again.”

Also during the MSNBC interview, Floyd gave his thoughts about former officer Derek Chauvin and the other police officers in the nine-minute video, which shows Floyd’s brother George groaning in pain while bystanders plead with Chauvin to be more gentle as he repeatedly asks for help.

“They all need to be convicted of first-degree murder, and given the death penalty because they didn’t care about what they wanted to do with my brother. He wasn’t a person to them, he was scum. He was nothing,” he told Sharpton. “I can imagine how many people they did like that. I don’t need them on the streets to kill anybody else. I’m hurt, my family is hurt. His kids are hurt. They will grow up without a father. Everybody is crying and in pain right now. So if they could do anything please arrest those other officers.”

[From People]

I’m including the video interview below. The fact that Trump couldn’t even feign empathy for a few minutes on a phone call is not surprising. The fact that Trump spoke OVER a grieving brother is not surprising either. But… Jesus, it just underlines how we’re without any kind of leadership, right? We have zero ACTUAL leadership, and we have no “healer in chief.” This interview is heartbreaking.

Screencap courtesy of MSNBC.

As I wrote in today’s open, in order to end racism and push for a more just and equal society, white people and non-black people of colour have to pull up. We can begin by acknowledging our mistakes and understanding that we’ve been shaped by institutionalised and systemic racism. And that while it’…

As I wrote in today’s open, in order to end racism and push for a more just and equal society, white people and non-black people of colour have to pull up. We can begin by acknowledging our mistakes and understanding that we’ve been shaped by institutionalised and systemic racism. And that while it’…

Sometimes, when B-list or C-list celebrities go through divorces, we don’t really cover it because there’s not enough mess or interest. Sometimes a divorce is just an everyday tragedy of two people falling out of love and there’s nothing scandalous there. But, sometimes it takes a few years for the messy drama to come out. So it is with Josh Lucas. In his heyday, I would consider Josh to be the poor man’s Matthew McConaughey. He had some movies and halfway memorable roles, but I haven’t seen him in much of anything for years. He married Jessica Ciencin Henriquez in 2012 and she filed for divorce in January 2014, soon after she gave birth to their only child together, son Noah. After that divorce filing, they reconciled, split up again, reconciled again, and on and on. They’re apparently off-again right now and Jessica is spilling some messy TEA.

Josh Lucas’s ex-wife, writer Jessica Ciencin Henriquez, has accused the actor of “cheating” while she says they were recently reconciled — though a source close to the actor disputes they were back together. The pair tied the knot in March 2012 and share one son, Noah Rev, 7. The two have long been off-and-on since they originally split in January 2014 when the writer filed for divorce.

Ciencin Henriquez tweeted about Lucas, 48, on Friday, issuing a scathing message with the caption, “Exes are exes for a reason.”

“Having a child with someone makes you want to forgive them more than you normally would, it makes you believe they are better than they are. But it takes a really sh-t human to cheat on their partner (correction: now ex partner) in the middle of a pandemic. Thank you for reminding me why I left you in the first place. I deserve better than this. Our son deserves better than this. And yes, I am airing this publicly because there are a lot of women accepting much less than they deserve because there are kids in the picture. You’re not stupid for hoping, for believing that people can change. I see you.”

A source close to the actor maintains the two remained exes and had not resumed a romantic relationship, saying “They haven’t been together in a long time. They are co-parents and have been doing so since their split in 2014.” The source adds, “They’re in California now but live separately. They weren’t trying to reconcile.”

[From People]

“But it takes a really sh-t human to cheat on their partner (correction: now ex partner) in the middle of a pandemic…” Well. For the record, I tend to believe that they were on-and-off so many times that neither of them really knew for sure the state of their current relationship. But for her to call him out like that, well… that’s certainly interesting. And Josh’s people – excuse me, “sources” – are now like “I don’t know her, wasn’t trying to reconcile with her.” Josh, girl, you already burned that bridge sweetie.

Exes are exes for a reason. ? pic.twitter.com/rIRQw7QLDK

— Jessica Ciencin Henriquez (@TheWriterJess) May 29, 2020

Photos courtesy of WENN.