Back in December, when COVID-19 cases were surging in the UK (which was a prelude to what we’re seeing there now with beyond-alarming case numbers and hospitals overwhelmed) and people were being advised to stay home and stop the spread, Prince William and Catherine embarked on a train tour so that …

Back in December, when COVID-19 cases were surging in the UK (which was a prelude to what we’re seeing there now with beyond-alarming case numbers and hospitals overwhelmed) and people were being advised to stay home and stop the spread, Prince William and Catherine embarked on a train tour so that …

I have always said that celebrities, who we gossip about, are often the biggest gossips. They gossip about each all the f-cking time. For the most part, when in public, they’re quick to disparage it and accuse media outlets and tabloids and paparazzi and Twitter or whatever of too much gossiping but…

I have always said that celebrities, who we gossip about, are often the biggest gossips. They gossip about each all the f-cking time. For the most part, when in public, they’re quick to disparage it and accuse media outlets and tabloids and paparazzi and Twitter or whatever of too much gossiping but…

Matt Damon Ring Watch: he’s been spotted without his wedding ring the last few times he’s been photographed. Does that mean something? [LaineyGossip]
Debra Messing sounds kind of mad about Nicole Kidman being cast as Lucille Ball in that new Aaron Sorkin movie. [JustJared]
Anne Hathaway made some fashion missteps circa 2009. [GFY]
DHS Secretary Chad Wolf quit, so who’s overseeing the inaugural security? [Towleroad]
Miya Ponsetto needs to go. Put her in jail. [Pajiba]
Andrew Yang is ridiculously out-of-touch. [Jezebel]
Hailee Steinfeld shouldn’t pull this off, but she really does. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Kirstie Alley continues to be the worst. [Dlisted]
Whoever did this to a poor manatee needs to be in prison. [Buzzfeed]
Kate Beckinsale is obsessed with her cats. [Seriously OMG]

Back in 2015, which was both five years ago and a hundred years ago, we learned that Aaron Sorkin was writing a biopic of Lucille Ball which would star Cate Blanchett. Now Sorkin is finally realizing the project, though it will no longer star Blanchett. Titled Being the Ricardos, the film, which Sor…

Back in 2015, which was both five years ago and a hundred years ago, we learned that Aaron Sorkin was writing a biopic of Lucille Ball which would star Cate Blanchett. Now Sorkin is finally realizing the project, though it will no longer star Blanchett. Titled Being the Ricardos, the film, which Sor…

Bill Belichick is the coach for the New England Patriots, and arguably one of the most successful NFL coaches of all time. He’s also been caught cheating a few times, but this story isn’t about that. The NE Patriots Organization is very pro-Trump. Belichick and Robert Kraft (the owner of the Pats) have been longtime friends and supporters of Donald Trump, and Belichick sent an open letter of support to Trump on the eve of the 2016 election. When the Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2017, Trump threw the Pats a big celebration at the White House. Trump loves Belichick, Kraft and Tom Brady. So Trump decided to give Belichick the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor a president can award anyone. Trump has given those medals away to completely random people, degrading the honor and making it look like a political gift to his allies. But Belichick did something unusual: he refused the honor. He even made a public statement about WHY he was declining.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has announced that he is declining the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he was scheduled to receive from President Donald Trump on Thursday.

Belichick cited the “tragic events of last week” as leading to his decision. Pro-Trump rioters rampaged in the US Capitol last Wednesday. Five people died as a result of the chaos, including a US Capitol Police officer. House Democrats want to impeach Trump, accusing him of “incitement of insurrection.”

“Recently, I was offered the opportunity to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which I was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients,” Belichick said in a statement. “Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom and democracy.”

A White House official told CNN the White House was made aware of the decision.

Belichick concluded his statement Monday acknowledging, “I also represent my family and the New England Patriots team. One of the most rewarding things in my professional career took place in 2020 when, through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions. Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”

[From CNN]

There were Massachusetts congressmen urging Belichick to reject the medal throughout the day yesterday, citing the other Trump-era recipients like Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan, all of Trump’s cronies and enablers. I guess Belichick listened. Or… it’s even possible that Belichick is just a normal American who was appalled by a violent attempted coup. That’s the thing so many Republican senators and congressmen really don’t seem to get: that Americans watched that insanity unfold and we were disgusted and appalled.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

As we discussed on Sunday, the February Vogue cover leaked online early, and it caused a lot of drama. Kamala Harris, the incoming Vice President, the first ever woman to hold national office, is the cover subject. The image chosen for the Vogue newsstand cover is of Kamala in slim-cut pants, Chuck Taylors and a jacket, as she stands in front of a pink cloth which has been draped over a green background. It’s a bad cover image and most people thought it was disrespectful to Kamala. On Sunday, Vogue dropped their two covers – the Chucks photo, and their digital cover, which is apparently the one which Team Kamala approved and which they thought was going to be the only cover.

All of this has put *everyone* involved in a terrible position. If Kamala and her team really call out Anna Wintour for doing her dirty, Team Kamala will look frivolous and, frankly, out-of-touch. I mean, with everything going on right now, people are going to waste time on a Vogue beef? But still, Team Kamala wanted to get some things straight, since there was so much social media angst about all of it. They did approve the powder-blue suit image, and they were told that was the image which would be the cover. They didn’t find out that Anna switched photos until late Saturday, and Team Kamala apparently expressed their disappointment to Vogue at the switched cover images.

One of the best op-eds/essays/criticisms I read about this controversy is this piece in the Washington Post, where critic Robin Givhan pinpoints the issue with newsstand cover: it’s overly familiar, it’s not respectful enough to our first female VP. “The cover did not give Kamala D. Harris due respect. It was overly familiar. It was a cover image that, in effect, called Harris by her first name without invitation.” Yes. That over-familiarity and lack of respect resonated with a lot of Black women.

Vogue released a statement saying that they changed the newsstand cover because that photo (the Chucks photo) showed her “authentic, approachable nature, which we feel is one of the hallmarks of the Biden-Harris administration.” But they released the digital cover, the one Kamala approved of, to “respond to the seriousness of this moment in history, and the role she has to play leading our country forward.” Now Anna Wintour has spoken about the issue herself, telling the NY Times: “Obviously we have heard and understood the reaction to the print cover and I just want to reiterate that it was absolutely not our intention to, in any way, diminish the importance of the vice president-elect’s incredible victory.” Then… why did Wintour change the cover? That’s what I don’t get. If there was a negotiation and Kamala approved of one image, why switch it?

Covers courtesy of Vogue.

I haven’t seen Meagan Good much since she married Pastor DeVon Franklin in 2012. She has done a lot of work on TV over the last few years. Meagan and DeVon wrote a book called The Wait about how they remained celibate before marrying in order to create deeper intimacy in their relationship. Of course this revelation sort of ruined Meagan’s whole sexy girl routine that everyone became accustomed to. Meagan has released a passion project that would see her step into the role of director for the first time. If Not Now, When? was released January 8 and it centers four Black middle class women who were high school friends. Meagan says she had to do a Kickstarter to raise the funds to make the film but she could not raise enough. After being turned down multiple times by Hollywood execs who said no one would be interested in a movie that centered Black women *eye roll*, a private investor stepped in to help make If Not Now, When? a reality.

Meagan is profiled in The Daily Beast where she discusses what it was like as a Black actress seeking lead roles in Hollywood. She also talks about how it took four years to make her new project a reality and how she is proud to be a Black woman despite the rumors to the contrary. Below are a few excerpts from that interview.

On how long it took to get If Not Now, When? made
It took us about four years to get it made. Once I read the script and fell in love with it, Tam and I went out, and there were a few places that wanted to make it, but we wanted to make it the way that we wanted to make it. We raised a little money on Kickstarter, but it wasn’t enough, and then we had a private investor come in and started to pitch the project to him and he said, “Stop—you had me at ‘Black women.’ I was raised by all women, and I do feel like this generation needs this story.” And that was that.

The general conversation [when I tried to pitch it] was, “People don’t want to see a Black female drama.” And we would say, “That’s not true. We’ve had Waiting to Exhale and Set It Off. We just haven’t had it much in this generation.” Yes, we have ensembles and comedies, but we haven’t quite had anything that reminds me of the films we used to have in the ’90s, and we got a lot of pushback. But we thought, no, there’s an audience for this and we just need to find someone who believes in it the way we do.

I’ve been in the business for 30 years, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told outright that I can’t play the lead in the movie because having a Black female lead is not going to sell overseas. I think that conversation has shifted over time but not dramatically. One of the biggest examples is Black Panther. People try to make excuses and say, “Well, that’s because it was a Marvel movie.” No. It’s because we haven’t had the opportunity to do something like that.

On how Hollywood makes either tragedies or comedies about Black people
That’s a fact: It often is either the tragedy, or the cookout, or the comedy, or living in a certain ‘hood—things that are culturally true experiences but can sometimes be caricatures and a lot of the time doesn’t represent every Black person. I grew up in Santa Clarita, California, and was one of one Black family growing up there. I dealt with a lot of racism and bullying, and coming into the industry, I was exposed to a lot of different people from a lot of walks of life. When I was 18 and I got my first serious boyfriend, he lived out in L.A., and when I went out there it was a culture shock for me, because I’d never seen that many Black people in one place. I was used to being one Black person in a sea of white people. I think that not every Black person’s experience as a human being is represented in film at the magnitude that it should be. And a lot of things that the film explores are not just Black women’s experiences, but I think it’s unique that you get to see it through their lens—women not being able to have babies, women not sure if they want to be a mother, women dealing with addiction and it’s not a drug you go buy off the street.

On being accused of skin bleaching
I love being a Black woman. I love even the struggle. I remember being in my early twenties and looking at some of my friends who were very frustrated with the commentary of, “You may not play the lead because you’re Black, and that might not sell our movies,” or this or that. I thought, “I can be bitter, or I can be better, and I can accept that when I accomplish something, I haven’t been given a damn thing. Nothing’s been given to me. I’ve worked tooth and nail for every single thing that God has allowed.” I take pride in that.

[From The Daily Beast]

I have yet to figure out why Hollywood continues to sell this bullsh*t that Black actors don’t sell overseas? We have two decades of Will Smith and Denzel Washington being lead actors in action films that all did well overseas. We won’t even mention how well Black Panther did and there were several dark skinned Black women leads in that film too. It is time for Hollywood to piss or get off the pot and stop using this narrative that BIPOC don’t sell overseas when they have evidence to the contrary. I miss the 80s and 90s Black film movement. Spike Lee, John Singleton and Eddie Murphy brought my childhood and early adulthood to life. I am not sure what happened in the last 20 years in Black film specifically, but it would be nice to see more films that center BIPOC. We have definitely proven that we sell everywhere. If Hollywood is looking for evidence they’d need to look no further than Black Panther, Parasite, and Crazy Rich Asians. It would seem the world wants to see its diversity reflected in film and Hollywood’s excuse that BIPOC don’t sell overseas is just that, an excuse.

With that being said, I am glad Meagan is back in the game because she hasn’t been that active of late. If Not Now, When? seems like this generation’s Waiting to Exhale and I am here for it. I will definitely be forking over my coin to support Meagan in her directorial debut because it takes courage to create the art that you wish to see. I will not touch the religious stuff and celibacy because that is not my rodeo, but I’m glad it worked for her. I do hope If Not Now, When? is successful because I am tired of the pain and struggle porn that seems to be the majority of films that center Black people specifically. I agree with Meagan when she says that Black people don’t all have the same experiences or story. I’d like to see our diverse experiences in Hollywood’s Black narratives. I think it would take more Black artists getting behind the camera to make diverse stories a reality, but there is proof that it can be done. You can rent If Not Now, When on YouTube and Vudu, if you are interested. I have embedded the trailer below:

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