The following contains mild spoilers.
The movie &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; was cancelled late last year in a wave of allegations and bad publicity. The majority of the negative publicity around the film came from the Right and conservative commentators.
It&#8217;s easy to see why a superficial look at the premise of the movie got so many people excited and angry. From the trailer, the plot of &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; was clearly about a bunch of ultra-wealthy liberals who arrange the kidnapping of &#8220;deplorables&#8221; (yes they actually use that term) and then hunt them to death in a vast rural enclosure.
That is indeed the plot of the movie, but the film is also so much more. No conservative (or liberal) should miss seeing this new film.
In fact, &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; unexpectedly turns the tables as the elite make the fatal mistake of underestimating the &#8220;rednecks.&#8221;  Doesn’t that sound familiar? Eventually, the movie becomes a battle of intelligence, resourcefulness and stamina between those who believe they are superior and those who have to fight for survival every day.
If &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; were only about this it would be worth the visit to the theater, but the movie is about so much more. It manages to bring home the devastating consequences of having your career and future cancelled over a single, poorly worded private joke. It also looks at how social media mobs can compound the damage.
&#8220;The Hunt&#8221; explores these issues and then allows the victims to indulge in a fantasy revenge which is wildly disproportionate to what the people wrote about them. But then isn’t most reaction on social media wildly disproportionate to reality?
Writers Nick Cuse (&#8220;The Leftovers,&#8221; &#8220;Lost&#8221;) and Damon Lindelof (&#8220;The Leftovers,&#8221; &#8220;The Lost,&#8221; &#8220;Watchmen&#8221;) and director Craig Zobel (&#8220;Compliance&#8221;) throw lots of mud at both sides, the elites and the deplorables, but &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; seems to take particular pleasure in poking fun at the political correctness and hypocrisies of the elites.
Don’t believe the reviews that tell you that this is an &#8220;equal opportunity attack on both sides of America’s political divide.&#8221; It&#8217;s not. &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; is a movie for those who feel Hollywood hates them. It is the perfect revenge fantasy for MAGA supporters who feel they have been attacked, abused and sometimes &#8220;hunted&#8221; by the elites since before the last election.
One memorable scene features an elite couple murdering deplorables without a care but then criticizing each other about using politically incorrect terminology in their conversation. The deplorables — as in all horror movies — die in increasingly inventive and sometimes gory ways but then, as the tables are turned, so do the elites. But no one is allowed to die without a joke or sometimes a political point being made. Sometimes both. There is a lot in the movie for those who love politics, horror and humor.
And, of course, there is the perfect climax with representatives of both sides fighting it out to the death.  The standout star is Crystal (Betty Gilpin of “GLOW”) who is cynical, intelligent and resourceful and who uses all her backstory to maximum use to survive, literally turning the tables on her hunters. For one elite to be outsmarted by her is fatal, but the ultimate humiliation is to realize that Crystal actually reads books and can argue intelligently about what they mean.
Conservatives are so used to being abused and attacked by Hollywood that their initial reaction to &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; is probably understandable, but it would be a pity if this kept them from seeing the movie.
In the end, very few of the characters escape criticism or death, but &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; is a movie that predominantly humanizes the deplorables and satirizes the elites. This is a movie for those who have spent decades condemning Hollywood for attacking their values. &#8220;The Hunt&#8221; doesn’t and, in a sly way, it almost celebrates them. For this, the movie deserves conservatives&#8217; support.
&#8220;The Hunt&#8221; (rated R) opens Friday, March 13th.

Betty Gilpin

‘The Hunt’: Why Every Conservative Must Go And See This Movie [Review]

Conservatism

Hollywood

Political Correctness

On Monday, <a href="https://theathletic.com/1615529/2020/02/17/exclusive-giants-will-not-include-aubrey-huff-in-their-2010-world-series-reunion-celebration/">The Athletic</a> reported that MLB star Aubrey Huff was barred from the upcoming 2010 World Series Championship reunion over his past tweets, which includes a photo of Huff at a gun range with his sons and a tweet joking about Iranian women.
&#8220;Earlier this month, we reached out to Aubrey Huff to let him know that he will not be included in the upcoming 2010 World Series Championship reunion,&#8221; the San Francisco Giants announced in a statement.
&#8220;Aubrey has made multiple comments on social media that are unacceptable and run counter to the values of our organization. While we appreciate the many contributions that Aubrey made to the 2010 championship season, we stand by our decision,&#8221; San Fransisco added.
The Athletic noted that Huff was the team&#8217;s starting first baseman and &#8220;led the Giants in home runs and WAR and finished seventh in the National League MVP voting that season.&#8221;
When asked about the decision from the Giants, Huff told The Athletic: &#8220;If it wasn&#8217;t for me, they wouldn&#8217;t be having a reunion. But if they want to stick with their politically correct, progressive bullsh**, that&#8217;s fine.&#8221;
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One of the tweets that landed Huff on the outs included a photo of himself at a gun range with his sons.
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&#8220;Getting my boys trained up on how to use a gun in the unlikely event [Bernie Sanders] beats [Donald Trump] in 2020. In which case knowing how to effectively use a gun under socialism will be a must. By the way most the head shots were theirs,&#8221; the MLB star posted.
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Getting my boys trained up on how to use a gun in the unlikely event <a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BernieSanders</a> beats <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> in 2020. In which case knowing how to effectively use a gun under socialism will be a must. By the way most the head shots were theirs. <a href="https://twitter.com/NRA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NRA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WatchChad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WatchChad</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/2ndAmendment?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#2ndAmendment</a> <a href="https://t.co/6xUsS7ciX3">pic.twitter.com/6xUsS7ciX3</a>
&mdash; Aubrey Huff (@aubrey_huff) <a href="https://twitter.com/aubrey_huff/status/1199200986658553857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Huff also made a joke about bringing Iranian women to America.
&#8220;Let&#8217;s get a flight over and kidnap about 10 each,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;We can bring them back here as they fan us and feed us grapes, amongst other things&#8230;.&#8221;
In a follow-up post, Huff emphasized that he was joking and never said anything about &#8220;rape.&#8221;
&#8220;Does nobody have a sense of humor anymore!?&#8221; the baseball player asked. &#8220;The way Iranian women are treated over there I simply wanted 2 say I’d go there 2 rescue them &amp; bring them back 2 the states. And they would be so thankful 2 escape that hell that they’d fan me &amp; feed me grapes. Never said rape!&#8221;
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Does nobody have a sense of humor anymore!? 🤦🏻‍♂️ The way Iranian women are treated over there I simply wanted 2 say I’d go there 2 rescue them &amp; bring them back 2 the states. And they would be so thankful 2 escape that hell that they’d fan me &amp; feed me grapes. Never said rape! 🙄 <a href="https://t.co/F3IpCcivkN">https://t.co/F3IpCcivkN</a> <a href="https://t.co/WbGpgnAEmL">pic.twitter.com/WbGpgnAEmL</a>
&mdash; Aubrey Huff (@aubrey_huff) <a href="https://twitter.com/aubrey_huff/status/1214634047172820992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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On Tuesday morning, Huff expanded on his response, this time posting a lengthy statement and tagging President Donald Trump.
According to Huff, he was informed that he was not to be included at the reunion because of his Twitter posts and his &#8220;political support of Donald Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;My locker room humor on Twitter is meant to be satirical, and sarcastic. And it was that type of humor that loosened up the clubhouse in 2010 for our charge at a World Series title,&#8221; Huff wrote. &#8220;They loved it then, and it hasn&#8217;t changed. That&#8217;s not the issue. It&#8217;s politics.&#8221;
&#8220;We live in a country that is under attack. Society is desperately trying to take away our 1st Amendment, our freedom of speech, and our freedom of political association,&#8221; continued Huff.
Signing off, the MBL star wrote: &#8220;To the fans, you were amazing to me. And just because I might not share some of your political views (which are stupid) I still respect your right to express them.&#8221;
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My response to <a href="https://twitter.com/SFGiants?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SFGiants</a>
 <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mlb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href="https://t.co/tDs8L8kGNi">pic.twitter.com/tDs8L8kGNi</a>
&mdash; Aubrey Huff (@aubrey_huff) <a href="https://twitter.com/aubrey_huff/status/1229686896378499073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Aubrey Huff

MLB Star Banned From World Series Reunion Over ‘Politically Incorrect’ Tweets, Photo Of Gun Range With Sons

Donald Trump

Sports

On Tuesday night, Rose McGowan called fellow actress Natalie Portman a &#8220;fraud&#8221; for her pro-female fashion statement at the 2020 Oscars.
As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/natalie-portmans-girl-power-oscar-dress-sparks-mockery">The Daily Wire</a>, Portman showed off a designer cape emblazoned with the names of female directors the actress said were snubbed from the award show.
“I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for their incredible work this year, in my subtle way,” Portman explained on the red carpet on Sunday night.
The designer cape scored major points with Portman&#8217;s Hollywood peers, save McGowan.
In a lengthy Facebook post, McGowan branded the &#8220;Black Swan&#8221; actress a &#8220;fraud&#8221; who only cares about herself, posing as &#8220;someone who cares.&#8221;
&#8220;Some thoughts on Natalie Portman and her Oscar ‘protest.’ The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media for its bravery. Brave? No, not by a long shot,&#8221; criticized McGowan. &#8220;More like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do.&#8221;
The actress went on to call Portman&#8217;s activism &#8220;deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work,&#8221; noting that she&#8217;s &#8220;writing out of disgust.&#8221;
&#8220;Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career — one of them was you,&#8221; wrote McGowan. &#8220;You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director — you.&#8221;
&#8220;You are the problem,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Lip service is the problem. Fake support of other women is the problem.&#8221;
McGown recalled listening to Portman speak at a &#8220;Women in Film&#8221; event: &#8220;I quickly realized you and the other women speakers (and that joke of an organization) are just &#8230; frauds. You say nothing, you do nothing,&#8221; she said.
McGowan closed by urging Portman to &#8220;stop pretending you’re some kind of champion for anything other than yourself,&#8221; adding, &#8220;Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favor and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn’t hang right.&#8221;
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Some thoughts on Natalie Portman and her Oscar ‘protest.’ The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream&#8230;
Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RoseMcGowan/">Rose McGowan</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/RoseMcGowan/posts/2938303429566181">Tuesday, February 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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View the entirety of the post, below:
<blockquote>Some thoughts on Natalie Portman and her Oscar ‘protest.’ The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media for its bravery. Brave? No, not by a long shot. More like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do.
I find Portman’s type of activism deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work. I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust.
I just want her and other actresses to walk the walk.
Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career- one of them was you. You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director- you.
What is it with actresses of your ilk? You ‘A-listers’ (🤮) could change the world if you’d take a stand instead of being the problem. Yes, you, Natalie. You are the problem. Lip service is the problem. Fake support of other women is the problem.
As I wrote in my book Brave, what goes on behind the screen, goes onscreen, goes into the world. And it’s a pervasive sickness that needs its own medicine. 
What you do affects the world, Natalie. As does what you do not do.
I am singling you out because you are the latest in a long line of actresses who are acting the part of a woman who cares about other women. Actresses who supposedly stand for women, but in reality do not do much at all. Of course women in the world will keep buying the perfumes you promote, the movies you make, and think they’re buying into who you are. But who are you?
I was at a Women in Film event that you spoke at once, Natalie. You reeled off depressing statistics and then we all went back to our salads. I quickly realized you and the other women speakers (and that joke of an organization) are just&#8230; frauds. You say nothing, you do nothing.
There is no law that says you need to hire women, work with women, or support women. By all means, you do you. But I am saying stop pretending you’re some kind of champion for anything other than yourself.
As for me, I’ll be over here raising my voice and fighting for change without any compensation. That is activism.
Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favor and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn’t hang right.
🪐 RM</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/natalie-portmans-girl-power-oscar-dress-sparks-mockery">Natalie Portman’s ‘Girl Power’ Oscar Dress Sparks Mockery</a>

Rose McGowan, Natalie Portman

‘FRAUD’: Rose McGowan Rips Natalie Portman Over ‘Girl Power’ Oscar Dress In Brutal Facebook Post: ‘I’m Writing Out Of Disgust’

Feminism

Oscars

Rob Portman

Rose McGowan

Following the very &#8220;woke&#8221; Oscars on Sunday night, British comedian Ricky Gervais highlighted a warning to the privileged leftists who spouted off about their pet causes during acceptance speeches.
&#8220;I have nothing against the most famous people in the world using their privileged, global platform to tell the world what they believe,&#8221; posted Gervais.
&#8220;I even agree with most of it,&#8221; he said
&#8220;I just tried to warn them that when they lecture everyday, hard working people, it has the opposite effect,&#8221; emphasized the &#8220;After Life&#8221; star. &#8220;Peace.&#8221;
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I have nothing against the most famous people in the world using their privileged, global platform to tell the world what they believe. I even agree with most of it. I just tried to warn them that when they lecture everyday, hard working people, it has the opposite effect. Peace.
&mdash; Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1226912751009878016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
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On Sunday night, Mr. Gervais, who went brutally hard at Hollywood hypocrisy during his stint hosting the 2020 Golden Globes, listed off a couple of jokes he would have made if he were hosting the 2020 Oscars.
“I can’t wait to hear all your inspirational speeches about equality, and it’s great that the [three] hours you’re here tonight is the only time your badly paid migrant house staff will get some time off to sleep this week,&#8221; the comedian said, when asked what his first joke of the night would have been. 
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“I can’t wait to hear all your inspirational speeches about equality, and it’s great that the 3 hours you’re here tonight is the only time your badly paid migrant house staff will get some time off to sleep this week” <a href="https://t.co/fsFbdDkv6u">https://t.co/fsFbdDkv6u</a>
&mdash; Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1226524684734410753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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For good measure, Gervais rattled off another joke: “It’s great to see such diversity in the room tonight. Rich sex pests of all shapes and sizes,&#8221; he said.
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“It’s great to see such diversity in the room tonight. Rich sex pests of all shapes and sizes” <a href="https://t.co/fsFbdDkv6u">https://t.co/fsFbdDkv6u</a>
&mdash; Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1226528551337385990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Despite Gervais&#8217; &#8220;warning,&#8221; there was no shortage of privileged Hollywood liberals&#8217; virtue-signaling.
For example, &#8220;Joker&#8221; actor Joaquin Phoenix bizarrely bloviated about the insemination of cows, The Daily Wire reported.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the distressing issues that we are facing collectively, and I think at times we feel or are made to feel that we champion different causes,” the award-winning actor sounded off. “But for me, I see commonality. I think whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice.”
“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and when she gives birth, we steal her baby,&#8221; Phoenix said. &#8220;Even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. And then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.&#8221;
&#8220;And I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something to give something up but human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and ingenious, and I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop, and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and to the environment,&#8221; he added.
Following his hosting gig at the Golden Globes, Gervais posted similar tweets to liberals.
“I didn’t roast Hollywood for being a bunch of liberals,” he explained via social media. “I myself am a liberal. Nothing wrong with that.”
“I roasted them for wearing their liberalism like a medal,” Gervais added. “I’m such a snowflake, liberal, I can’t even really hate them for it. But my job is to take the p[*]ss. I did that.”
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I didn&#39;t roast Hollywood for being a bunch of liberals. I myself am a liberal. Nothing wrong with that. I roasted them for wearing their liberalism like a medal. I&#39;m such a snowflake, liberal, I can&#39;t even really hate them for it. But my job is to take the piss. I did that. 😇 <a href="https://t.co/bYwqxiyeKu">pic.twitter.com/bYwqxiyeKu</a>
&mdash; Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1215043466738176000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ricky-gervais-responds-to-critics-upset-over-him-accepting-conservatives">Ricky Gervais Responds To Critics Upset Over Him ‘Accepting’ Conservatives</a>

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais Not Done With Oscar Comments, Highlights ‘Warning’ To Liberals

Golden Globes

Leftism

Liberalism

Progressivism

Actress Jameela Jamil, a radical feminist and ethnic minority who made the news recently for bragging about her abortion, discovered this week that she still somehow lacks in Identity Points. As the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51399416">reports</a>, controversy erupted and backlash ensued when HBO hired Jamil as a judge for an upcoming &#8220;unscripted voguing contest.&#8221; We&#8217;re informed that voguing is a dance genre &#8220;founded by black and Latino LGBT people.&#8221; The trouble is that Jamil is not LGBT, which somehow makes her unqualified to judge a dance competition, despite the fact that this style of dance was apparently popularized by the white, heterosexual Madonna.
Jamil knew just what to do. Taking to Twitter, the actress promptly announced that she&#8217;s &#8220;queer&#8221; — marking, after Kevin Spacey, the second time in recent history that an actor has come out of the closet as a defensive tactic. Smartly, especially because she has a boyfriend, Jamil did not claim any definitive sexual orientation or label. &#8220;Queer&#8221; can mean just about anything. All that matters is that it&#8217;s in the Sacred Acronym.
I don&#8217;t know if Jamil is really &#8220;queer,&#8221; or even what it would mean if she were, nor do I care in the slightest. The point is simply that her residence in the LGBTQ camp provides her cover from criticism and gives her access to just about any opportunity in Hollywood without fear of &#8220;appropriation&#8221; charges. On the Left, victimhood is currency. And LGBTQ victims are the wealthiest of all. They stand at the very top of the Victim Hierarchy, over and above mere women and racial minorities.
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Whenever there are competing victimhood claims — for example, when transgender males say they are &#8220;victimized&#8221; by a lack of access to female locker rooms while females say they would be victimized by the privacy infringement such access would entail — the victory will always go to the claimant with the larger victimhood cache. And when one claimant is LGBT and the other is not, the former will win every time. This is why leftists feel perfectly comfortable screaming at adolescent girls to shut up and know their place as boys come into their locker rooms and get naked beside them.
On the Left, all that matters is identity. Your identity will decide what you have the right to say, think, do, and feel. Your identity will decide the content of your character and your value as a person. Your identity will decide if you are persecutor or persecuted, oppressor or martyr, slobbering racist bigot or bold and beautiful hero above reproach. But there is a rather massive problem with this system. Well, there are many problems, starting with its fundamental incoherence, but let&#8217;s focus on just one.
The problem is that the Left hangs everything on the hook of identity, but that hook is not connected to anything itself. It&#8217;s hanging precariously in the ether, not nailed into any sort of sturdy surface. According to their doctrines, identity is a nebulous, fluid, largely arbitrary, and entirely subjective concept. All that matters is how you identify, but anyone can identify as anything, so the edifice collapses in on itself. It becomes like a monetary system where everyone has a money-printing machine at their house. Just look at how the great scourge of white men have been able to manipulate things to their benefit.
By all rights, white men should be at the very bottom of the Victim Hierarchy. They are the serfs, the scum, the class beneath the peasant class. They are inherently bigoted, inherently oppressive, and inherently possessing a mythical privilege that renders all of their achievements moot. All victimhood claims supersede the white man&#8217;s claim, because the white man can make no claim. He is always the scoundrel and bully in every situation. But all that a dastardly white man need do is announce that he is a woman. This will not just move him onto the same victim status as real women, but in fact will put him above women. Five seconds ago he was a patriarchal pseudo-rapist for spreading his legs too wide on the subway. Now he is an awe-inspiring hero for barging into the women&#8217;s bathroom. He has ascended the pyramid all the way to the top simply by speaking a word. And nobody may question it or demand that he prove it or explain himself.
This is the trouble with declaring that everyone in such-and-such category is a drooling bigot and everyone in this other category is a blameless champion of human rights, and then following that declaration with the further declaration that everyone has the absolute and unquestioned power to decide the category in which they belong. It&#8217;s not hard to see why there is now a rush to get to the top of the Victim Hierarchy, with more and more people discovering their inner LGBT identity just in time to get whatever they want.
Consider the timely self-realization of Jonathan Yaniv, who found out he was a woman and then immediately sued a bunch of female estheticians for <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/transgender-activist-jessica-yaniv-loses-wax-her-balls-complaint-against-salon-workers">refusing to wax his genitals</a>. Indeed, Yaniv seems very much to be a <a href="https://www.thepostmillennial.com/the-truth-about-jessica-yaniv-is-beginning-to-emerge/">degenerate and predator</a> who uses his &#8220;womanhood&#8221; to manipulate and prey upon girls. And yet even now, the media will report about him while reverently using his preferred pronouns, still feeling obliged to pretend that his &#8220;transgenderism&#8221; is anything but a perverse ploy by a deranged and despicable adult male. The only doctrine cherished more than the one that gives Yaniv ultimate victimhood privileges is the one that forbids us from questioning the self-identification that accorded those privileges in the first place.
The Left has a tangled mess on its hands. I don&#8217;t think there is any way out of it, aside from abandoning one or all of their key doctrines. But I don&#8217;t think they will ever do that. So all that the rest of us can do now is sit and watch, not without satisfaction, as the house of cards comes tumbling down.

62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards – Arrivals

WALSH: The Left’s System Of Identity Politics Is Collapsing On Itself, And It’s A Fascinating Sight To Behold

Homosexuality

Jameela Jamil

LGBT

Sexuality

After bravely bearing the cruel slings and arrows of the woke scolds that launched a cancel campaign against him for old jokes that offended some members of the LGBT community, Kevin Hart has now apologized for how he handled the situation, which culminated in him <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kevin-hart-steps-down-from-oscar-hosting-gig-after-past-staments" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stepping down as host </a>of the Academy Awards in 2019.
Though Hart recently expressed regret for being immature at the time in the Netflix documentary “Kevin Hart: Don’t F**k This Up,” he doubled-down on that sentiment in an interview with Men&#8217;s Health.
“With the whole Oscars thing, there was a big gap between what I thought the problem was versus what the problem really was,” <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a30469053/kevin-hart-car-accident-recovery-interview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hart told the magazine</a>. &#8220;I got 10 years where I made sure not to joke or play in the way that I did back then because it was a problem. I don’t care if you’re gay or not gay. I’m a people person. I’m going to love you regardless.”
Hart, however, feels that he should have become an ally to the LGBT community by speaking up about violence.
“It wasn’t until close friends like Wanda Sykes, Lee Daniels, and Ellen talked to me and explained what they didn’t hear me say that I understood. Then I was like, ‘Oh, s*** — I did f*** up.’”
Kevin Hart had been slated to host the 2019 Oscars but stepped down within 48 hours of accepting the gig after the Academy demanded he apologize for his past jokes.
“I’m not going to continue to go back and tap into the days of old when I moved on, and I’m in a completely different space in my life,” Hart said in a video on Instagram at the time. “I’m going to be me; I’m going to stand my ground.”
Hours later, Hart stepped down from his dream of hosting the Oscars and apologized to the LGBTQ community for his “insensitive words.”
“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscars … this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists,” he wrote on Twitter. “I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.”
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kevin-hart-regrets-how-he-handled-oscars-controversy-i-was-immature">Netflix documentary </a>explored how the comedian disregarded the advice of his publicists and other members of his team at the time, leading him to eventually conclude that he was acting “immature.”
“What I thought was going to blow over ended up becoming a bigger mess than I expected,” Hart says in the documentary.
“You need to learn how to stop and think,” Hart’s publicist tells a team member in the documentary. “He’s not used to being the person that’s not loved and cherished. He needs to just shut up and put his head down for the next few weeks. &#8230; What he needs to remember is he’s feeding 50-60 people. When he takes a sh***er, everybody takes a sh***er and that’s a big issue now.”
Nine days after his stepping down, Hart then told members of his staff at an emergency meeting that he had no desire to keep addressing the controversy, fearing he would be “making it okay to go backward.” Looking back, Hart now feels that he “missed an opportunity.”
“I missed an opportunity to say simply that I don’t condone any type of violence in any way, shape, or form to anyone for being who they are,” Hart now says. “I f***ed up. &#8230; Instead, I said, ‘I addressed it.’ I said, ‘I apologized.’ I said, ‘I talked about this already.’ I was just immature.”

2020 Winter TCA Tour &#8211; Day 3

Kevin Hart Caves, Apologizes Over Oscars Controversy: ‘I Did F*** Up’

Kevin Hart

Netflix

The politically incorrect comedian Dave Chappelle has bucked the liberal trend once again by declaring that Trump supporters are not his enemy.
Speaking to reporters this week in Iowa about why he supports presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Chappelle says that he welcomes people as fans from both sides of the political aisle, while also admitting that he understands why people voted for Trump. Take a look:
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Dave Chappelle says why he is supporting <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewYang?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AndrewYang</a>. 
“I don’t look at Trump supporters as my enemy at all. I understand why people voted for Trump I understand people are desperate. And I think that Andrew is right you run against the reasons that Trump got elected.” <a href="https://t.co/jcAb1cDfPQ">pic.twitter.com/jcAb1cDfPQ</a>
&mdash; Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García (@GarciaReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/GarciaReports/status/1222358155952381953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I don&#8217;t look at Trump supporters as my enemy at all,&#8221; Chappelle told reporters. &#8220;I understand why people voted for Trump, I understand people are desperate. And I think that Andrew is right you run against the reasons that Trump got elected. I got friends on both sides of the political aisle, I got fans on both sides of the political aisle.&#8221;
As to why he supports Andrew Yang, Chappelle said the candidate has brought many &#8220;good ideas&#8221; to the table that nobody has previously addressed.
&#8220;A lot of people say professionally it&#8217;s not wise to support any candidate, but this idea is so good, that I think it should exist,&#8221; said Chappelle. &#8220;And I think the fountainhead of many of the good ideas on the table this year are coming from a single source — Andrew Yang. And for some reason, no one&#8217;s paying attention. This guy is the origin of a platform that really does address where I think the country needs to go.&#8221;
Chappelle announced his support for the &#8220;Yang Gang&#8221; earlier this month, when he pledged to perform several shows for his campaign.
“Thank you [Dave Chappelle] and welcome to the #yanggang,” Yang said in response to his endorsement. “You are the best. Let’s do this for our kids.”
While Dave Chappelle can in no way be classified as a conservative, he certainly has allied with conservatives in their fight against cancel culture. In October, while accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, he gave a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-video-released-of-dave-chappelles-fierce-hilarious-defense-of-first-amendment">fierce defense</a> of free speech.
“I like not knowin’ what’s going to happen. I like makin’ memories. Sometimes I do all this crazy s*** around my colleagues just so they can tell their friends I did it. Rather than talk about myself, just briefly, I want to just talk about my genre. Stand-up comedy is an incredibly American genre,” he said. “I don’t think any other country can produce this many comedians. Unbeknownst to many people in this audience, I don’t think there’s opinion that exists in this country that is not represented in a comedy club by somebody. Each and every one of you has a chance of bein’ in the room.”
“We watch you guys fight, but when we’re together, we talk it out. I know comics that are very racist, and I watch ‘em on stage, and everyone’s laughin’, I’m like, that motherf***** means it,” Chappelle continued. “Don’t get mad at ‘em, don’t hate ‘em, we go upstairs and have a beer and sometimes I even appreciate the artistry that they paint their racist opinions with.”
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“Man, it’s not that serious. The First Amendment is first for a reason. The Second Amendment is just in case the first one doesn’t work out,” he added.
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US-ENTERTAINMENT-HUMOR-MARK TWAIN AWARD

WATCH: Dave Chappelle Says ‘I Don’t See Trump Supporters As My Enemy’

2020 Election

Andrew Yang

Cancel culture

Dave Chappelle

Free Speech

Iowa

Trump Supporters

In today&#8217;s wild and wacky world, the politically correct police have somehow connected the death of a peanut company&#8217;s mascot with the death of a basketball legend.
Planters created Mr. Peanut, the debonair legume who wears a top hat, a monocle, white gloves and spats, in 1916. The cane-carrying mascot once stood as a representative for the whole peanut industry, but in the 21st century, Planters has decided to kill off the icon.
Literally.
Instead of just letting him retire, Planters ordered up a commercial, set to air during the Super Bowl, that shows Mr. Peanut with actors Wesley Snipes and Matt Walsh (not The Daily Wire&#8217;s Matt Walsh) being ejected from the Nutmobile in a violent crash (the peanut vehicle does not appear to be very safe on the highway). All three are hanging on a tree branch when it begins to break. Snipes tells Walsh to let go, but he refuses. Then Snipes says, &#8220;Mr. Peanut, No you don&#8217;t. Don&#8217;t do it.&#8221;
But Mr. Peanut lets go of his cane and plunges into a canyon, landing on top of the Nutmobile. &#8220;Maybe he&#8217;ll be alright,&#8221; Snipes says. The Nutmobile then explodes into a massive fireball. &#8220;Maybe not,&#8221; Snipes says. It&#8217;s all very pleasant, and perfect for a family event like the Super Bowl.
Planters plans to show a follow-up commercial in the third quarter of the game that will feature Mr. Peanut’s funeral (we don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s an open or closed casket).
Then the P.C. police showed up to decry &#8220;similarities&#8221; between the death of Mr. Peanut and the death of Kobe Bryant.
The plan to air the ad &#8220;will continue as planned, despite the ad’s similarities to the death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, a Planters spokesman confirmed Monday,&#8221; The Washington Post reported. (Uh, Bryant died in a helicopter crash, Mr. Peanut in a Nutmobile crash. Also, Bryant was a human being, Mr. Peanut is a cartoon. But perhaps that&#8217;s splitting hairs.)
Planters felt compelled to release a statement about the death of the 104-year-old Peanut.
“We are saddened by this weekend’s news and Planters has paused campaign activities, including paid media, and will evaluate next steps through a lens of sensitivity to those impacted by this tragedy,” said a Planters spokesman. “At this point, the pause impacts only paid advertising (on channels like Twitter and YouTube), and some other outreach in the immediate wake of this tragedy. No change has been made to our plans for Super Bowl Sunday.”
&#8220;Ad Age first reported that the company was rethinking its marketing leading up to the Super Bowl,&#8221; the Post wrote. &#8220;A social media campaign had encouraged people to &#8216;pay your respects&#8217; with the hashtag #RIPeanut, and Planters changed its Twitter handle to &#8216;The Estate of Mr. Peanut.'&#8221;
But at least some could separate the death of a basketball superstar from the death of a cartoon peanut. In a &#8220;Saturday Night Live&#8221; bit featuring President Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz (played by comedian Jon Lovitz) being interviewed for Satan’s podcast in hell, a few others in hell come by to greet him: Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the musician who wrote the “Baby Shark” song, and Mr. Peanut.
“You ended up in hell?” a surprised Dershowitz asks Peanut.
“Well, I took out a lot of first-graders with peanut allergies,” says Mr. Peanut. “Plus, I never wore pants.”

88th Annual Macy&#8217;s Thanksgiving Day Parade

PC POLICE RIDE AGAIN: Planters Halts Ads For Mr. Peanut Super Bowl Funeral Following Kobe Bryant’s Death

advertising

Alan Dershowitz

Football

Kobe Bryant

Saturday Night Live (SNL)

Super Bowl

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In a historic Sunday night episode of &#8220;Batwoman,&#8221; the lady caped crusader came out as a lesbian to Gotham City, thereby making her sexual orientation official.
According to <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/01/batwoman-comes-out-ruby-roses-cw-superhero-tells-gotham-shes-a-lesbian-1202835688/#comments">Deadline</a>, the midseason premiere episode, titled &#8220;How Queer Everything Is Today,&#8221; featured actress Ruby Rose&#8217;s Batwoman revealing her sexual identity after learning about a teenager whose parents refuse to accept her sexuality.
&#8220;The big reveal came in a magazine article published by CatCo, and the scoop belonged to none other than Kara Danvers, a.k.a. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), the title hero from Batwoman’s Arrowverse sister show,&#8221; the outlet reported of the big moment.
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&quot;What&#39;s next for Lena? Lena Luthor spotted in Gotham&quot; What was Lena doing there?! jajaja and, also, Kara wrote the article of Batwoman being a lesbian!!!! Kara and Kate BROTP! <a href="https://t.co/TH2QbLMV3B">pic.twitter.com/TH2QbLMV3B</a>
&mdash; 𝗗𝗿. 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 (@lKDanvers_) <a href="https://twitter.com/lKDanvers_/status/1219082978292391937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Speaking with <a href="https://ew.com/tv/2020/01/19/batwoman-coming-out-caroline-dries-1x10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:5;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk">Entertainment Weekly</a>, series showrunner Caroline Dries, who wrote the episode, said she wanted the character to &#8220;stand in her truth.&#8221;
“For me, it was so important for this character to stand in her truth,” said Dries. “The girl underneath the costume is so comfortable with who she is and so comfortable with being truthful, and she never really has been in the closet.”
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The character Batwoman first came onto the comic book scene in the 1950s as a potential <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/kathy-kane/4005-81174/">love interest</a> for Batman, but she eventually took a backseat in the 1960s and did not become a lesbian until being reintroduced in DC’s “<a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/batwoman/4005-9052/">New 52</a>.” A previous Hollywood Reporter <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/batwoman-series-poll-elseworlds-recap-1168339">poll</a> showed that 85% (more than 2,000 people) of respondents wanted a separate “Batwoman” series.
Though Batwoman certainly has her own woke pedigree, SJWs were reportedly upset over the openly gay Ruby Rose’s casting, prompting her to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/34435/ruby-rose-quits-twitter-after-leftist-critics-emily-zanotti">leave social media</a> after enough people complained she was “not gay enough” to play the title character.
“A #RecastBatwoman hashtag started circulating, with people also wondering why the role couldn’t have gone to a lesser-known LGBTQ+ actress in need of an acting break,” <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/ruby-rose-quit-twitter-after-getting-bullied-about-her-batwoman-casting">Glamour reported</a> at the time. “Critics also accused Rose of not being a lesbian since she also refers to herself as gender-fluid.”
In response, Rose said she could not believe people were actually insinuating she was not gay enough when her entire career has been people accusing her of being too gay. “Where on earth did ‘Ruby is not a lesbian, therefore she can’t be Batwoman’ come from — has to be the funniest most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read,” the actress tweeted at the time. “I came out at 12? And have for the past five years had to deal with ‘she’s too gay’ how do y’all flip it like that? I didn’t change.”
The CW network broke barriers on the SJW-themed “Supergirl” with the arrival of Nia Nal, the first transgender hero in television history, played by transgender actor Nicole Maines and based on the <a href="http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Nura_Nal_(Pre-Zero_Hour)" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0">DC Comics character Nura Nal</a>. Sometimes called “Dream Girl,” the character Nia Nal is a humanoid alien that also sees into the future.
Marvel has separately announced that phase four in its cinematic universe will feature more LGBTQ representation, starting with “The Eternals,&#8221; which will introduce the universe’s<a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/16/the-eternals-marvel-openly-gay-superhero-trailer-mcu-brian-tyree-henry-angelina-jolie-gemma-chan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> first openly gay superhero, Phastos</a>. The character will be married to a man and will be portrayed by actor Brian Tyree Henry.
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Celebrity Sightings in Los Angeles &#8211; September 11, 20199

HISTORIC: ‘Batwoman’ Tells Gotham City She’s A ‘Lesbian’ In Latest Episode

Lesbian

Social Justice

Transgender

One evening this week, I was rereading Lord Byron’s great poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” and came upon a startlingly accurate description of Cancel Culture. Writing in the early 1800s, Byron describes a civilization that has ceased to search for truth but weighs everything in “custom’s falsest scale”:
<blockquote>“Opinion an omnipotence, whose veil
Mantles the earth with darkness, until right
And wrong are accidents, and men grow pale
Lest their own judgments should become too bright,
And their free thoughts be crimes, and earth have too much light.”</blockquote>
Now, yes, I know I can’t enlist Byron — who used to refer to the more conservative William Wordsworth as ‘Turdsworth’ — as a spokesman for conservatism. But in this moment when the left insists that all disagreement with their orthodoxies equals bigotry and evil, when speaking simple truths like “a man is not a woman” can cost you your reputation or your job, who can fail to recognize a world in which “men grow pale lest their own judgments should become too bright and their free thoughts be crimes”?
This week alone, the left renewed its attempts to vilify the Oscar-nominated film Joker as somehow racist, which it’s not. When a Bible that was used to swear in commanders of the new Space Force was blessed in a ceremony at Washington National Cathedral, an anti-religious group called the blessing a “shocking and repulsive display of only the most vile, exclusivist, fundamentalist Christian supremacy, dominance, triumphalism and exceptionalism.” Even Stephen King, one of our great storytellers and a reliable anti-Trump leftist, was attacked when he said he would “never consider diversity in matters of art” but would only judge it by its quality.
These attacks are relentless and can often be costly. Writer Chadwick Moore, a gay former liberal, says he has been repeatedly banned from Facebook for not towing the homo-leftist line. His latest thirty day expulsion was for posting an article he wrote entitled “Rednecks Are the Least Racist People in America,” based on his own experiences bolstered by research by Thomas Sowell and historian Colin Woodard.
And much worse. In Australia, a young gay conservative who protested Drag Queen Story Hour at a library in Brisbane, committed suicide after being viciously defamed by the so-called LGBTQ Community.
Conservatives tend to treat the fight against such leftist bullying as a side skirmish compared to such major battles as who wins the 12th district in Ohio. They may roll their eyes and tweet their tweets — but at the same time, they teach themselves to watch their words lest they lose their social media platforms or their sponsors or their jobs.
Which, of course, is the whole point. In order to funnel power away from the individual and into the central government, the left is selling a utopian fantasy based on utterly false ideas of human nature and human enterprise. The greatest danger to that fantasy is any expression of the simple truth. Silencing that expression is what political correctness and Cancel Culture are for.
And any conservative who thinks the political fight to save the country from leftism can be won without confronting those devices is an idiot. The fight against Cancel Culture is not a side skirmish. It’s not even a major battle. It’s the war.
In the first two weeks of this year, President Trump eradicated a major terrorist, faced down the evil regime in Iran, made a new trade deal with China and had the new NAFTA-style deal ratified in a bi-partisan vote — all while the economy soared to new heights and low- and middle- class workers of all races saw their wages finally begin to rise. Indeed, lower income households have seen their net worth increase by 47 percent since the president took office.
And yet, the RealClear Politics polling average has Trump’s approval rating at 44.3 percent. About half the people want to see him impeached and removed from office.
Well, why not? Trump is himself the victim-in-chief of Cancel Culture. He is repeatedly and relentlessly portrayed as racist, sexist and otherwise phobic by a news media that gives him 93% negative coverage, according to the Media Research Center. The stone lie that he said there were “very fine people” among white supremacists continues to be shamelessly repeated — this week by the New York Times’ Charles Blow. And Democrat candidate after candidate declares the American economy serves only the rich, unchallenged by their poodle press.
If we cave in to leftist bullying, if the relentless political correctness of social media and the press goes unchallenged and Cancel Culture thrives because “men grow pale lest their own judgments should become too bright, and their free thoughts be crimes,” then the American public will ultimately follow a leftist fantasy straight into leftist reality, which is another name for hell.

cancel.jpg

KLAVAN: The Culture War Is The War

In 2008, Democrats nominated for president a first-term U.S. senator with no serious legislative experience, Barack Obama. They nominated him over the long-championed, long-celebrated presumptive heir apparent to the Democratic leadership, Hillary Clinton. Obama was, of course, the first black Democratic nominee, and he would be the first black president.
In 2020, 12 years later, we have been informed by the media that Democrats are ensconced in racism anew. Why?
First, because Democrats refused to activate in support of awkwardly robotic Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who is black; second, because Democrats refused to activate in support of wild-eyed former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, who is Latino; and now because Democrats refused to activate in support of scenery-chewing Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who is black.
Democrats have been accused by the media of having ignored their initially diverse field in favor of old, white candidates (amusingly, the media only noticed that Sen. Elizabeth Warren was, indeed, an old white person when actual people of color were booted from the race). It appears that the memory of President Obama — not yet four years old — is not enough to insulate Democrats from charges of discrimination.
Then there&#8217;s Hollywood.
In 2014, African actress Lupita Nyong&#8217;o won an Oscar for her supporting role in &#8220;12 Years a Slave.&#8221; In 2018, director Greta Gerwig was nominated for a best director Oscar for &#8220;Lady Bird.&#8221;
This week, we found out that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had neglected — horror of horrors! — to nominate both Nyong&#8217;o, for her role in the extraordinarily overrated horror flick &#8220;Us,&#8221; and Gerwig, for her direction of &#8220;Little Women.&#8221;
These oversights, we were solemnly informed, evidenced the Academy&#8217;s deep-seated bias in favor of white men. Never mind that Cynthia Erivo was nominated for best actress for her role as Harriet Tubman in &#8220;Harriet.&#8221; Discrimination was alive and well in Hollywood.
It must be difficult to live in an environment in which every day is a perpetual test of one&#8217;s submission to the &#8220;Woke Police.&#8221; It must be difficult to know that no past act stands in favor of the accused — that each day must be lived fresh — and that all past omissions stand against the accused. But the intersectional revolution requires continual struggle and continual sacrifice.
In Arthur Koestler&#8217;s &#8220;Darkness at Noon,&#8221; communist lackey Rubashov is jailed and charged — of what crime, it does not matter. The Soviet Union is purging members of the older generation and Rubashov is told that he must confess in order to uphold the sanctity of his own cause. Eventually, Rubashov does exactly that.
&#8220;There is nothing for which one could die, if one died without having repented and unreconciled with the Party and the Movement,&#8221; Rubashov says in his confession. &#8220;Therefore, on the threshold of my last hour, I bend my knees to the country, to the masses and to the whole people.&#8221; The choice between dying honestly, in repudiation of his own cause, was simply too much.
In the end, all revolutionaries will have to determine whether they, too, will bow before the cause — even if they go unjustly to the guillotine. Because there is one basic rule of radical revolutions: Those who are first to launch them are often just slightly delayed in feeling their wrath.

Democratic Debate

SHAPIRO: For Democrats, Every Day Is A Perpetual Test Of One’s Submission To The ‘Woke Police’

Democratic Party

Racism

This article has been updated since its original publication.
Fitness icon Jillian Michaels (&#8220;The Biggest Loser&#8221;) has defended her critique of pop singer Lizzo&#8217;s body positivity image in response to critics claiming she &#8220;body-shamed&#8221; her for daring to point out that obesity leads to serious health issues.
In an exclusive <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2020/01/09/jillian-michaels-defend-lizzo-fat-shaming-comment-health-diabetes/">interview with TMZ</a> on Thursday, Michaels said that her comments had nothing to do with Lizzo&#8217;s worth as a human being and everything to do with her position as a health expert.
&#8220;Look, I&#8217;m a health expert,&#8221; Michaels told TMZ. &#8220;For decades, I have said your weight and your size have no bearing or merit on your value, your beauty, your worth, your ability. Where it does have relevance is your health. And to pretend that it doesn&#8217;t is not only irresponsible, it&#8217;s dangerous. And it&#8217;s just not a lie I&#8217;m willing to tell because it&#8217;s politically correct.&#8221;
Michaels went on to say that her &#8220;overall point&#8221; is that loving oneself does not exclude taking care of one&#8217;s health.
&#8220;My overall point is to take care of your health because you love yourself,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;That&#8217;s kind of the whole point. And that we should value people based on their skills and their abilities. It should be irrelevant what size they are.&#8221;
Ultimately, Michaels&#8217; critique had less to do with Lizzo&#8217;s weight and more to do with how segments of the media have been celebrating her body for smashing traditional standards of beauty while seeming to have no regard for the health consequences. Even in her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jillian-michaels-on-lizzo-why-are-we-celebrating-her-body-wont-be-awesome-if-she-gets-diabetes">interview with Buzzfeed</a> on Wednesday, Michaels simply pointed out her health concerns and did not denounce Lizzo as an individual.
“I have to say, I have personally found and I love celebrities like Lizzo or Ashley Graham who are really preaching self-acceptance,” the Buzzfeed host said.
“I love her music, yeah, 100 percent,” Michaels responded. “I don’t know anything about her, I’m sure she’s a cool, awesome chick.”
“Yeah, and I love that they’re putting images out there that we normally don’t get to see of bodies that we don’t get to see being celebrated,” the host continued.
“But why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? That’s what I’m saying,&#8221; said Michaels. &#8220;Why aren’t we celebrating her music? Because it isn’t going to be awesome if she gets diabetes. I’m just being honest. I love her music, my kid loves her music, but there’s never a moment when I’m like, ‘I’m so glad she’s overweight.’ Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?”
Shortly thereafter, Michaels experienced a public flogging on social media for being an alleged &#8220;fat shamer.&#8221; Here are just a few helpful samplings:
&#8220;Nick Jonas and Halle Berry both have diabetes. Fat does not equal diabetes,&#8221; said one Twitter user, who seemed unaware of the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
&#8220;TW Fatphobia — Once you understand that nothing she is saying is backed by fact or science, this interview becomes all the more pathetic. This isn&#8217;t about health, this is about humiliating and shaming bodies that are not white and thin,&#8221; said another Twitter user.
&#8220;All this time it turns out Jillian Michaels was the biggest loser,&#8221; said Trayvon Free.
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Nick Jonas and Halle Berry both have diabetes. Fat does not equal diabetes.
&mdash; Gheigh Niggaologist (@NegroClarkKent_) <a href="https://twitter.com/NegroClarkKent_/status/1214982485668438022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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TW Fatphobia &#8211; Once you understand that nothing she is saying is backed by fact or science, this interview becomes all the more pathetic. This isn&#39;t about health, this is about humiliating and shaming bodies that are not white and thin. <a href="https://t.co/yeYZrWBvLf">https://t.co/yeYZrWBvLf</a>
&mdash; belen (@cloudiabelen) <a href="https://twitter.com/cloudiabelen/status/1214994383038083072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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All this time it turns out Jillian Michaels was the biggest loser. <a href="https://t.co/KKEN9SI7vi">https://t.co/KKEN9SI7vi</a>
&mdash; Travon Free (@Travon) <a href="https://twitter.com/Travon/status/1215004740783763456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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UPDATE: The original article attributed statements made by the Buzzfeed host to Jillian Michaels during her Wednesday interview. This article has been slightly altered to reflect that.

LizzoMiche

Jillian Michaels Refuses Apology For Allegedly ‘Fat Shaming’ Lizzo Amid Backlash

Jillian Michaels

obesity

Ricky Gervais gave some excellent and useful advice at the end of his brilliant monologue to open the Golden Globes last night.
&#8220;So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech, right?” Gervais said, speaking directly to the assembly of narcissists in front of him. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f*** off. No one cares about your views on politics or culture.”
Predictably, none of the assembled narcissists were willing — or perhaps even physically able — to heed this warning. Least of all Michelle Williams, who wasted no time in turning her acceptance speech into a satanic homily. After winning an award for her dazzling role in something or other, Williams pivoted directly to abortion: Her own abortion, to be precise.
&#8220;I’m grateful for the acknowledgment of the choices I’m made, and I’m also grateful to have lived at a moment in our society where choice exists, because, as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice,” Williams sermonized. &#8220;I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose, to choose when to have my children and with whom.&#8221;
We should note that Williams was visibly pregnant while she bragged about killing a previous child. She then ended her speech with a rousing defense of selfishness.
&#8220;So, women, 18 to 118, when it is time to vote, please do so in your own self interest. It’s what men have been doing for years,&#8221; she proclaimed, as the camera cut to actresses in the audience literally weeping tears of joy at the very mention of self-interest. Ricky Gervais couldn&#8217;t have scripted it any better.
Now, first of all, I very much doubt that the people at the awards ceremony last night needed encouragement to act in their own self-interest. I doubt that anyone anywhere in the world needs that sort of encouragement. But if such a person does exist, you won&#8217;t find her at the Beverly Hills Hilton.
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Second, I feel once again compelled to make the obvious point that Michelle Williams and her progressive pals in Hollywood really can&#8217;t do this girl power schtick anymore. References to a woman&#8217;s body and a woman&#8217;s voting habits make absolutely no sense in light of the gender theory that people like Michelle Williams routinely espouse. What the hell is a woman&#8217;s body? I mean, I know what it is. But Michelle Williams doesn&#8217;t. No member of the American Left does. Yet, when it suits them, they still pretend they do. They obliterate all distinctions between the sexes one minute, and then hope nobody notices when they redraw those distinctions the next minute.
Third, Williams packs about a half-dozen non-sequiturs, falsehoods, and delusions into the two sentences she spends talking about her abortion. Let&#8217;s take a look at just a few of them. She says that pregnancy is something that can &#8220;happen to our bodies that [is] not our choice.&#8221; In cases of rape, this is true. But <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/24/rape-and-incest-account-few-abortions-so-why-all-attention/1211175001/">rape accounts for</a> only 1% of all abortions. The other 99% occur because a woman chose to participate in the reproductive act. She chose to do the thing that, by its nature, can, and in billions and billions of cases does, result in the conception of a human life. To say that conception, in these cases, happens against the will of the woman is like saying that my elevated heart rate happens against my will when I use the treadmill. It may be true that I am not specifically willing my heart to beat faster, and it may even be true that I don&#8217;t want my heart to beat faster, but I am the one who is making it happen because I am the one who chose to get on the treadmill.
Likewise with Williams&#8217; insistence that a woman should be able to choose the person with whom she has children. Every contemporary person on Earth who is not a fundamentalist Islamist agrees. But the word &#8220;have&#8221; has two pertinent definitions here. Have can mean &#8220;to possess, own, or hold,&#8221; or it can mean &#8220;to experience or undergo.&#8221; Another possibly relevant definition is &#8220;to be the recipient of.&#8221; Whichever definition you choose, it&#8217;s clear that you &#8220;have&#8221; children from the moment they exist as distinct physical entities. That moment occurs when they are conceived, and not when they are born. So you choose who you are going to have children with when you choose who you are going to participate in the reproductive act with. Abortion does not protect that right or, indeed, have anything at all to do with that right.
But the most striking and disturbing part of Williams&#8217; abortion apologetic was more subtle. Note that she says &#8220;my children.&#8221; She claims that abortion enabled her to &#8220;choose when to have my children.&#8221; Currently, she has two children: One from a previous relationship and the other in the womb (notice how she identifies herself as &#8220;having&#8221; two children, apparently agreeing that women have children at conception, not birth). When she says that abortion enabled her to &#8220;have my children&#8221; later on in life, she seems to be almost suggesting that the child she eventually birthed was the same one she aborted years before.
Obviously, on an intellectual level, she knows that isn&#8217;t the case. But the rhetoric from the abortion lobby and abortion clinics is meant to give this perverse impression. Women are told that they can &#8220;put off&#8221; being a mother. They can place motherhood on hold for awhile. No need to have a baby now, they&#8217;re assured. They can just have it later, when everything is easier and it&#8217;s the &#8220;right time.&#8221;
Of course, in reality, motherhood occurs at conception. She is only at the abortion clinic because her attempts to &#8220;put off&#8221; parenting and babies failed. It is now too late for putting off. It is too late for waiting for a better time. It is too late to &#8220;have children&#8221; in a more convenient season of life. She is a mother now. That child exists now. If she goes through with the abortion, the child will be killed and he will be dead forever thereafter. And she will not go back to being a woman waiting for the right time. She will now be the mother of a dead child, living in grief or denial.
That is the horrible truth. Michelle Williams has three children, not two. One dead and two alive. She has found ways to talk about it and think about it that make her feel a little better about what she&#8217;s done. But she knows the truth, deep down. Otherwise she wouldn&#8217;t be on that stage, begging for applause.

Michelle Williams at Golden Globes

WALSH: Michelle Williams Shouted Her Abortion At The Golden Globes. Here’s The Most Disturbing Part Of What She Said.

Abortion

Comedian Ricky Gervais catered to no audience last night when he let his mouth run wild in a no-holds-barred opening monologue at the Golden Globes, during which he roasted the roomful of celebrities for their yearly routine of hypocritical virtue-signaling.
“If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a political platform to make a political speech,” Gervais told the crowd. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything, you know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God — and f*** off. OK?”
Gervais simultaneously roasted corporations like Apple and Amazon for producing supposedly &#8220;woke&#8221; creative content while doing business in authoritarian countries like China.
“Apple roared into the TV game with ‘The Morning Show,’ a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing — made by a company that runs sweatshops in China,&#8221; Gervais said. &#8220;Well, you say you’re woke but the companies you work for in China — unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service you’d call your agent, wouldn’t you?”
Naturally, segments of the American media did not exactly embrace everything Gervais had to say that night. Indeed, Gervais was immediately blasted for cruelly repeating &#8220;right-wing talking points&#8221; to score cheap laughs.
&#8220;Here&#8217;s my Ricky Gervais problem: The idea that celebrities are not only pampered babies but hypocrites who cause the problems they make speeches deploring and should therefore shut up and act/sing/be grateful is a right-wing talking point, and an especially stupid one,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkHarrisNYC/status/1214209277772156928?s=20">tweeted</a> Mark Harris of Vanity Fair.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not an act of speaking truth to power or of bravery to attack celebs on that front — it&#8217;s a tired way of scolding people into silence because you don&#8217;t like what they&#8217;re saying, and saying that he&#8217;s &#8216;calling out&#8217; the hyper-privileged is just the same thing in a new guise,&#8221; he continued in the tweet thread. &#8220;You&#8217;ll never go broke ending a night scowling at celebrities and saying, &#8216;Get drunk, do your drugs, f*** off,&#8217; which I think were his last words on the show. There will always be people to say, &#8216;Yeah! You tell &#8217;em!&#8217; But tell &#8217;em what? &#8216;F*** off&#8217; isn&#8217;t a stance. It&#8217;s a tantrum.&#8221;
&#8220;Anyway: There were celebrities who used their stage time to say valuable things coherently last night, and others who said valuable things incoherently, and others who talked about themselves. I don&#8217;t think yelling at any of them is of great interest. Peace,&#8221; he concluded.
Over at the Los Angeles Times, Lorraine Ali lamented how Gervais&#8217; trollery disrupted the sober mood at the Golden Globes.
&#8220;The [Golden Globes] mood was already sober thanks to an impeachment, threat of war with Iran and Australian bush fires. The last thing anyone needed was Ricky Gervais there, telling them they sucked,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/LorraineAli/status/1214069393174323201?s=20">tweeted</a> Ali.
Sam Adams of <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2020/01/ricky-gervais-golden-globes-opening-monologue-jokes-ranked-meanness.html">Slate</a> went into even more detail by ranking the jokes in Gervais&#8217; opening monologue according to their &#8220;dickishness.&#8221;
&#8220;Going into the Golden Globes, the biggest question was not who will win the night’s biggest awards but how much of a jerk Ricky Gervais would be,&#8221; wrote Adams.
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NBC&#8217;s &#8220;77th Annual Golden Globe Awards&#8221; &#8211; Red Carpet Arrivals

Media Trashes Ricky Gervais For Telling Hollywood To ‘F*** Off’

Media

Media Bias

Comedian Ricky Gervais has responded to the reaction to his eye-opening performance in hosting the 2020 Golden Globe Awards over the weekend, saying that he was relieved it was over.
Gervais caused many in Hollywood to melt down on Sunday after he ruthlessly mocked and attacked out-of-touch celebrities and elites for trying to politicize everything and for constantly lecturing the world.
The reaction to Gervais&#8217; speech appeared to be overwhelmingly positive among people who do not work in the news, media, or entertainment industries.
Entertainment news website Gold Derby wrote in a tweet, &#8220;Golden Globes viewers want Ricky Gervais to host ‘every year’ — He was ‘amazing!’&#8221;
The tweet included a link to an <a href="https://www.goldderby.com/article/2020/golden-globes-host-poll-results-ricky-gervais-amazing/">article</a> which stated:
<blockquote>Golden Globes viewers have spoken, and they want Ricky Gervais to host “every year.” A whopping 71% of fans who voted in our recent poll said he did an “amazing” job overseeing the 77th ceremony on NBC. To compare, 9% thought he was “good, but forgettable” while the remaining 20% of haters voted that he was “awful.”</blockquote>
Gervais responded to the tweet by writing, &#8220;Never gonna happen&#8221;
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Never gonna happen 😂 <a href="https://t.co/1tYopQjL1c">https://t.co/1tYopQjL1c</a>
&mdash; Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1214246992580243456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In a separate tweet, Gervais wrote: &#8220;Thanks for all your amazing comments about my Golden Globes monologue. Best reaction ever and that means a lot to me. I had a blast but thank f[***] it&#8217;s over, so I can get back to my real job of editing #AfterLife2 and touring #SuperNature. Make Jokes, Not War&#8221;
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Thanks for all your amazing comments about my Golden Globes monologue. Best reaction ever and that means a lot to me. I had a blast but thank fuck it&#39;s over, so I can get back to my real job of editing <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AfterLife2?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AfterLife2</a> and touring <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SuperNature?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SuperNature</a>. Make Jokes, Not War 🙏 <a href="https://t.co/u1bKrnDWMt">pic.twitter.com/u1bKrnDWMt</a>
&mdash; Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1214242222578622465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Here is Gervais&#8217; speech at the Golden Globe Awards that ignited a firestorm in the media world:
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Ricky Gervais kicks off The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoldenGlobes?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoldenGlobes</a>. <a href="https://t.co/ZSdqiWMudx">pic.twitter.com/ZSdqiWMudx</a>
&mdash; NBC Entertainment (@nbc) <a href="https://twitter.com/nbc/status/1214008610667155456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Transcript of Gervais&#8217; speech provided via <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7856311/Accept-award-f-OK-transcript-Ricky-Gervais-Golden-Globes-monologue.html">The Daily Mail</a>:
<blockquote>You’ll be pleased to know this is the last time I’m hosting these awards, so I don’t care anymore. I’m joking. I never did. I’m joking, I never did. NBC clearly don’t care either — fifth time. I mean, Kevin Hart was fired from the Oscars for some offensive tweets — hello?
Lucky for me, the Hollywood Foreign Press can barely speak English and they’ve no idea what Twitter is, so I got offered this gig by fax. Let’s go out with a bang, let’s have a laugh at your expense. Remember, they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon and there’s no sequel, so remember that.
But you all look lovely all dolled up. You came here in your limos. I came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman. No, shush. It’s her daughter I feel sorry for. OK? That must be the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to her. And her dad was in Wild Hogs.
Lots of big celebrities here tonight. Legends. Icons. This table alone — Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro … Baby Yoda. Oh, that’s Joe Pesci, sorry. I love you man. Don’t have me whacked. But tonight isn’t just about the people in front of the camera. In this room are some of the most important TV and film executives in the world. People from every background. They all have one thing in common: They’re all terrified of Ronan Farrow. He’s coming for ya. Talking of all you perverts, it was a big year for pedophile movies. Surviving R. Kelly, Leaving Neverland, Two Popes. Shut up. Shut up. I don’t care. I don’t care.
Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that. Hollywood Foreign press are all very racist. Fifth time. So. We were going to do an In-Memoriam this year, but when I saw the list of people who died, it wasn’t diverse enough. No, it was mostly white people and I thought, nah, not on my watch. Maybe next year. Let’s see what happens.
No one cares about movies anymore. No one goes to cinema, no one really watches network TV. Everyone is watching Netflix. This show should just be me coming out, going, &#8220;Well done Netflix. You win everything. Good night.&#8221; But no, we got to drag it out for three hours. You could binge-watch the entire first season of Afterlife instead of watching this show. That’s a show about a man who wants to kill himself cause his wife dies of cancer and it’s still more fun than this. Spoiler alert, season two is on the way so in the end he obviously didn’t kill himself. Just like Jeffrey Epstein. Shut up. I know he’s your friend but I don’t care.
Seriously, most films are awful. Lazy. Remakes, sequels. I’ve heard a rumor there might be a sequel to Sophie’s Choice. I mean, that would just be Meryl just going, &#8220;Well, it’s gotta be this one then.&#8221; All the best actors have jumped to Netflix, HBO. And the actors who just do Hollywood movies now do fantasy-adventure nonsense. They wear masks and capes and really tight costumes. Their job isn’t acting anymore. It’s going to the gym twice a day and taking steroids, really. Have we got an award for most ripped junky? No point, we’d know who’d win that.
Martin Scorsese made the news for his controversial comments about the Marvel franchise. He said they’re not real cinema and they remind him about theme parks. I agree. Although I don’t know what he’s doing hanging around theme parks. He’s not big enough to go on the rides. He’s tiny. The Irishman was amazing. It was amazing. It was great. Long, but amazing. It wasn’t the only epic movie. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, nearly three hours long. Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere and by the end his date was too old for him. Even Prince Andrew was like, “Come on, Leo, mate. You’re nearly 50-something.”
The world got to see James Corden as a fat p****. He was also in the movie Cats. No one saw that movie. And the reviews, shocking. I saw one that said, &#8220;This is the worst thing to happen to cats since dogs.&#8221; But Dame Judi Dench defended the film saying it was the film she was born to play because she loves nothing better than plunking herself down on the carpet, lifting her leg and licking her [expletive]. (Coughs) Hairball. She’s old-school.
It’s the last time, who cares? Apple roared into the TV game with The Morning Show, a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. Well, you say you’re woke but the companies you work for in China — unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service you’d call your agent, wouldn’t you?
So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.
So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK? It’s already three hours long. Right, let’s do the first award.</blockquote>

‘NEVER GONNA HAPPEN’: Ricky Gervais Responds To Reaction Over Golden Globes Performance

On Sunday night, comedian Ricky Gervais exposed Hollywood in brutal fashion — their pretensions and their cruelties, their hypocrisy and their greed. It was a dazzling exhibition. And it was made even more dazzling by the obvious and insufferable inability of the Great Faces of Celebrity™ to even act as though they could laugh at themselves for a solitary moment.
No sacred cow was off limits. Gervais sideswiped Felicity Huffman, the perpetrator of a scam to defraud colleges: “I came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman.” He went after the top Hollywood executives, who were “all terrified of Ronan Farrow. He’s coming for you, he’s coming for you.”
He continued, “Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that; the Hollywood Foreign Press are very, very racist. We were going to do an In Memoriam this year, but when I saw the list of people who had died, it wasn’t diverse enough. No, it was mostly white people, and I thought, ‘No, not on my watch.’ Maybe next year. Let’s see what happens.”
He blasted the Hollywood crowd for humoring the likes of Jeffrey Epstein: Speaking of his own show, &#8220;Afterlife,&#8221; he noted, “Spoiler alert, there’s a season two, so in the end, he didn’t kill himself. Just like Jeffrey Epstein.” When the room grew awkward, Gervais dropped the other shoe: “Shut up, I know he’s your friend, but I don’t care. You had to make your own way here in your own plane, didn’t you?”
He scoffed at the ridiculous wokescolds: “Apple rode into the TV game … a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. Well, you say you’re woke, but the companies you work for — Apple, Amazon, Disney — if ISIS started a streaming service, you would call your agent, wouldn’t you? So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech, right? You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God and f*** off. OK?”
Gervais’ appearance is likely to draw the ire of those in Hollywood who don’t appreciate being called on the carpet for their heresies. But that’s just because Hollywood has lost its own sense of humor. They’ve grown fat and lazy making fun of those who live in the red states and don’t swill from the ocean of self-aggrandizing leftism available to the coastal elitists. In Hollywood, the only funny joke is the one that isn’t a joke at all (see Gadsby, Hannah) or the one about Trump that isn’t actually a joke (see Bee, Samantha) or the one about abortion that isn’t a joke either (see Wolf, Michelle). If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had any brains at all, they’d see that most Americans want to see comedians rip up celebrities rather than listening to actors lecture them on global warming. Instead of avoiding an Oscar host, they’d host someone like Gervais, who would remind them just why they’re such pretentious asses for canceling their Oscar host in the first place.
Good for Gervais. He has eyes, and he has ears, and what’s more, he has a wicked hook. He used it last night. Thank goodness for that.

Ricky Gervais at Golden Globes

SHAPIRO: The Importance Of Ricky Gervais At The Golden Globes

In the lead-up to his return as host of the Golden Globe Awards, comedian Ricky Gervais ripped woke culture&#8217;s ruination of comedy by refusing to back down from making jokes it has deemed taboo.
Speaking with <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/ricky-gervais-5-time-golden-globes-host-has-a-few-more-things-say-hollywood-1265405">The Hollywood Reporter</a> (THR), Gervais addressed the intense Twitter backlash he has faced in recent days for making jokes at the expense of transgender activists. Most recently, he jokingly responded to a satirical article from Jarvis Dupont, sarcastically blasting biological women upset over transgenders using their bathrooms and taking over their sports.
“Those awful biological women can never understand what it must be like for you becoming a lovely lady so late in life,” Gervais said on Twitter. “They take their girly privileges for granted. Winning at female sports and having their own toilets. Well, enough is enough.”
Gervais later told THR that he was simply playing along with Jarvis Dupont&#8217;s persona of taking woke to an illogical extreme, arguing that his critics were angered by the fact he dared to make a joke about a touchy subject.
&#8220;I&#8217;m taking the p*ss out of Jarvis Dupont, who is actually a woman in real life. And this is the problem. You can say, &#8216;Listen, I was joking. It&#8217;s a joke.&#8217; But that&#8217;s not always enough for people. They go, &#8216;Well, why were you joking?&#8217; Also, add to that the nature of Twitter — it&#8217;s so curt, there&#8217;s no nuance, it&#8217;s there forever out of context,&#8221; Gervais said.
When THR pressed Gervais as to why he would engage in that kind of joke in the first place, the comedian said that some people would say it&#8217;s better not to engage in such jokes strictly due to fear. &#8220;For an easy life, it&#8217;s better not to,&#8221; he said.
On the issue of woke culture destroying comedy, a subject that &#8220;Joker&#8221; director Todd Phillips publicly lamented in recent months, Gervais said the onslaught of such purity results from a dislike for freedom of speech.
<blockquote>People like the idea of freedom of speech until they hear something they don&#8217;t like. So there&#8217;s still a pressure, but that doesn&#8217;t mean I&#8217;m going to water it down or back down and not say what I want. It&#8217;s just another form of what we&#8217;ve been through many, many times — it used to be called P.C. I think those things start off with very good intention and then they&#8217;re mugged. It&#8217;s a good thing to not be racist and sexist and homophobic. But it&#8217;s not a good thing to not be allowed to make jokes about those things, because you can tell a joke about race without being racist. I&#8217;m happy to play by the rules. It&#8217;s just that the 200 million people watching have different rules. That&#8217;s the plight. When people say, &#8220;He crossed the line,&#8221; I say, &#8220;I didn&#8217;t draw a line, you did.&#8221; It&#8217;s relative. It&#8217;s subjective.</blockquote>
When THR pressed Gervais on the issue of transphobia, he outright denied having no animosity against transgender individuals, and simply wanted to make a point about people holding up taboo subjects as a sacred cow.
&#8220;Some people, when you deal with contentious issues or taboo subjects, the very mention of them is the sacrilege,&#8221; said Gervais. &#8220;That&#8217;s why they stay taboo. People straight away, particularly with a comedian, if you&#8217;re joking about a subject, they think you&#8217;re anti it as opposed to pro it.&#8221;
Ricky Gervais faced heat for criticizing radical transgender activist Jessica Yaniv, who filed suit against a beauty parlor in Canada for refusing to wax his genitals. When news broke that he would return to host the Golden Globes, <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/ricky-gervais-transphobic-golden-globes-1202189531/">IndieWire argued</a> that Gervais&#8217; past transgender jokes warrant cancelation.

Ricky Gervais Slams Woke Culture’s Stranglehold On Comedy: I’m Not ‘Going To Water It Down Or Back Down’

In response to the growing backlash on social media over the character Rose Tico&#8217;s diminished role in &#8220;The Rise of Skywalker,&#8221; screenwriter Chris Terrio has argued that her screen time was cut strictly for economic purposes — and not out of fan service.
Speaking with <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-writer-sets-record-straight-perceived-last-jedi-jabs-1265168">The Hollywood Reporter</a> (THR), the Academy Award-winning screenwriter said that multiple scenes were shot featuring Rose Tico but were ultimately cut.
&#8220;Given the abuse that the actor/character has endured the last two years, people are, understandably, quite sensitive over the film’s treatment of Rose Tico,&#8221; THR began in its lengthy questioning of Terrio. &#8220;Additionally, in a couple of other interviews, I was told of some things that were cut out involving Rose. So, what ultimately happened, and were you and J.J. [Abrams] conscious of how her reduced role would be perceived by those who defended Rose and those who demeaned her?&#8221;
&#8220;As I&#8217;ve said elsewhere before, there were a couple of scenes that we shot with Rose that I wish had made it to the final cut,&#8221; Terrio began. &#8220;You&#8217;d be hard-pressed to find a screenwriter who doesn&#8217;t wish that all his scenes were treated as inspired gospel and ended up in the film exactly as written. But it&#8217;s the nature of the process that certain scenes fall out of the film, and I very much respect the difficulty of the decisions J.J. had to make, wearing both his screenwriter hat and his director hat — especially given that I know for a fact that J.J. adores and respects Kelly and would have loved to keep every second he shot with her in the film.&#8221;
With that said, Terrio argued that &#8220;The Rise of Skywalker&#8221; indeed featured Rose as an important character whose arc reaches its apex in conjunction with her role in &#8220;The Last Jedi.&#8221;
&#8220;I do think that [&#8216;The Rise of Skywalker&#8217;] shows Rose changing, growing, evolving,&#8221; said Terrio. &#8220;Rose begins her journey in [&#8216;The Last Jedi&#8217;] as just about the lowest person on the Resistance totem pole. In [&#8216;The Rise of Skywalker&#8217;], Rose is at the right hand of the general, working on military plans and helping to call the shots. I think Kelly does a masterful job of showing us a young woman&#8217;s evolution from a starry-eyed admirer of Finn to Resistance leader and strategist who is very much his equal.&#8221;
The controversy over actress Kelly Marie Tran&#8217;s diminished role in the film reached a fever-pitch last week, when the hashtag #RoseTicoDeservedBetter began trending on Twitter. Many embittered fans lamented the abuse Tran received on social media at the hands of alt-right trolls, arguing that her screen time reduction essentially rewarded the trolls&#8217; behavior. Violet Kim of <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2019/12/the-rise-of-skywalker-kelly-marie-tran-rose-tico-time-onscreen.html">Slate</a>, who clocked Tran&#8217;s screentime in at just one minute and 16 seconds, amplified those concerns extensively.
&#8220;Tran’s absence in  [&#8216;The Rise of Skywalker&#8217;] is especially troubling because she became the target of widespread racist harassment after &#8216;The Last Jedi&#8217; was released, to the extent that she had to delete her Instagram account,&#8221; argued Kim. &#8220;That the new movie not only shunts her aside but does so without bringing any closure to her character makes it seem as if Abrams caved into to some of Star Wars’ worst fans, or at the least that there was no involved who understood how deeply Rose’s casual exclusion would hit those to whom she meant so much.&#8221;

Celebrities Visit SiriusXM &#8211; December 9, 2019

‘Rise Of Skywalker’ Screenwriter Addresses Rose Tico Sidelining Controversy

Star Wars

The word “brave” gets tossed around too easily in Hollywood.
It might apply to stars tackling issues the entire industry supports, like removing President Donald Trump from office. It also refers to actors who obscure their beauty for Oscar-bait roles.
Want true Hollywood bravery? Try making a movie about a teen who not only survives a high school shooting but fights back a la “Die Hard.”
That’s the story behind both “Run Hide Fight” and its indie studio, Rebeller. Director Kyle Rankin’s film, tentatively scheduled for a late 2020 release, follows a student who takes on the ghouls behind a school shooting, yippee-kay-yay style.
Major studios <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/17/21024790/cinestate-rebeller-run-hide-fight-dallas-sonnier-craig-zahler">wouldn’t touch the “Run Hide Fight” screenplay</a> after the February 2018 Parkland High School massacre. Rebeller saw a compelling story and jumped in with both feet.
This indie studio, a branch of the equally rogue Cinestate, doesn’t have time for pearl clutching. It embraces “outlaw” cinema, stories that bounce from genre to genre without playing by the rules.
That’s refreshing at a time when key Hollywood players genuflect to the Woke Crowd. Just ask Scarlett Johansson, the industry’s most bankable actress. She took a gig playing a trans character in “Rub and Tug” but quit after social justice activists said the part should have gone to a trans performer.
Johansson’s apology read like a <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/scarlett-johansson-exit-rub-and-tug-trans-backlash-1202872981/">ransom note.</a> (It’s worth noting that film project remains in limbo without its bankable star).
Kevin Hart recently unveiled a new docu-series on Netflix where <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/kevin-hart-reflects-aftermath-stepping-down-as-oscars-host-1265024">he apologies for not apologizing better</a> after his Oscar hosting scandal.
Imagine how many challenging films don’t get made these days because the subject matter is deemed “problematic.” We’ll never know.
RebellerMedia.com’s editor in chief, Sonny Bunch, says the film industry has grown “stifling and conformist.” The new studio offers something different. It won’t be for everyone – consider the hard R nature of previous Cinestate releases like “<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/dragged-across-concrete-review/">Dragged Across Concrete</a>.”
Team Rebeller also won’t do any Apology Tours for its films.
Cinestate founder Dallas Sonnier “has my back,” says Bunch, who previously served as the Washington Free Beacon’s film critic.
“There are always going to be people who [will] be upset about the movies we make. They push buttons, they push buttons intentionally, in some ways. But that’s because art is designed to provoke a response … to push people’s buttons if you’re doing it well.”
That won’t necessarily stave off the outrage mob, a fact Bunch acknowledges.
“When they come for us, and they will, we just have to say, ‘what are you gonna do? Are you gonna fire Dallas Sonnier, get rid of the boss who runs all this stuff?’ That’s who you have to get rid of if you wanna shut us down. He fears no one.”
That protection extends to social media.
“I’ve never felt worried about being fired for an errant tweet,” Bunch says.
So how can Rebeller compete with Disney fare, from Pixar to the latest “Star Wars” adventure?
“You keep the budget low, you pre-sell rights based on the stars,” Bunch says. “Then you try to get it in theaters, and if you can’t get it into theaters … you move DVDs and Blu-rays on the shelves of WalMart and Target and you move [Video on Demand] sales. VOD is a very big part of our business model and has been a pretty big success on movies like ‘Bone Tomahawk.’”
Cinestate staple S. Craig Zahler, who directed “Concrete,” epitomizes the company’s ethos. His films, including “Brawl on Cell Block 99,” display fine craftsmanship, recognizable stars and material that pushes beyond standard storytelling tropes.
Zahler refuses labels, even if some far-left scribes dub him an auteur for the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/s-craig-zahlers-dragged-across-concrete-starring-mel-gibson-the-hollywood-filmmaker-making-movies-for-the-maga-crowd">”MAGA crowd.”</a> The evidence suggests otherwise.
“Dragged Across Concrete” is a prime example. Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn play rogue cops who share racist sentiments on, and off, the job. They risk their lives while bemoaning aspects of police culture they wish they could change.
Neither character is a true hero, nor are they villains in the mustache-twirling sense.
Rebeller isn’t Team Democrat or Republican. The studio doesn’t care about our increasingly tribal times. They’re telling stories, period. And, in our increasingly political age, being apolitical can be the bravest stance of all.

Hollywood sign.

TOTO: Indie Film Studio Rebeller Ready To Stand Tall Against PC Scolds

Woke

In response to actress Kelly Marie Tran&#8217;s relegation to little more than background noise in the recently released finale to Disney&#8217;s &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; trilogy, the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23RoseTicoDeservedBetter&amp;src=trend_click">#RoseTicoDeservedBetter</a> has been trending on social media — with many noting the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44379473">racist abuse she received</a> at the hands of alt-right trolls on social media following &#8220;The Last Jedi,&#8221; the prior installment in the &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; saga.
&#8220;The treatment of [R]ose in [&#8220;The Rise of Skywalker&#8221;] sends the message that if you, as a woman, do your job as an actress &#8230; and men don&#8217;t like it and proceed to attack you online, the writers of the next movie will listen to that and totally erase you from it. [W]hat the f**[*]?!&#8221; lamented one Twitter user.
&#8220;Quite frankly, Rose Tico IS &#8216;Star Wars.&#8217; She is the common person of the galaxy, rising up in resistance and rebellion. Her message of fighting out of love, not hate, is THE central theme. It&#8217;s the main lesson George Lucas was trying to teach us,&#8221; said another Twitter user.
&#8220;Seriously, was it that hard to give Rose a role similar to Lando in [&#8220;Return of the Jedi&#8221;]? Doing something amazing in the climax to save the day? Even Jar Jar [Binks] had a crucial purpose in [&#8220;Attack of the Clones&#8221;], and Rose is a way better character than Jar Jar. Come the f*** on,&#8221; said another.
Others were more defensive, arguing that J.J. Abrams had to make a difficult choice by elevating the main characters, who were already so flatly drawn as a result of the previous two movies.
&#8220;I’m about to say something controversial, but I think [Abrams] was better off giving characters that were already established more vital roles, like Connix and Rose, than introducing more characters that aided this whole whack a** McGuffin plot,&#8221; said one Twitter user.
&#8220;#RoseTicoDeservedBetter is the [&#8220;The Rise of Skywalker&#8221;] take I can&#8217;t stand. [Kelly Marie Tran] didn&#8217;t deserve harassment. But that is not a justification to give more screen time to a character that failed to land with the majority. Simply put, [Abrams] didn&#8217;t find value in her character. Stop making it more than that,&#8221; said another user.
According to Violet Kim of <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2019/12/the-rise-of-skywalker-kelly-marie-tran-rose-tico-time-onscreen.html">Slate</a>, the sidelining of Rose Tico was so dramatic that she received less than two minutes of total screen time in &#8220;The Rise of Skywalker&#8221; — compared to her voluminous presence in &#8220;The Last Jedi.&#8221;
<blockquote>
Just how bad is it? I conducted an investigation, watching both &#8220;The Last Jedi&#8221; and &#8220;The Rise of Skywalker&#8221; with my finger poised over a stopwatch app. And while I noticed Rose’s glaring lack of a presence, the results surprised even me: In &#8220;The Rise of Skywalker&#8221; &#8230; she appears for just one minute and 16 seconds, give or take a few seconds.
Even 1:16 is a fairly liberal appraisal — while I tried to be strict about only letting the timer run when Rose was actually on-screen, my definition of “on-screen” was generous. For example, I included the scene at the end where she hugs Chewbacca at the Rebel base, although it’s possible to argue that she wasn’t quite in the foreground of the action. I was so alert for any sign of Rose that I even included the part where she is only seen in (partial) profile staring intently at Poe while he speaks.
</blockquote>
Regardless of how audiences received Rose Tico in &#8220;The Last Jedi,&#8221; the fact of the matter is her character played a pivotal role in the movie&#8217;s outcome — so much so that she nearly sacrificed her own life to save the character Finn. For &#8220;The Rise of Skywalker&#8221; to just sideline her character rather than creatively elevating it appears more like a cheap game of audience damage control rather than an act of genuine storytelling.

&#8220;Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker&#8221; European Premiere &#8211; Red Carpet Arrivals

Outrage Erupts On Social Media Over ‘Rise Of Skywalker’ Sidelining Rose Tico

J.J. Abrams

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