One of the first things you learn covering American politicians is that they’re not terribly bright. The notion that Hill denizens are brilliant 4-D chess players is pure myth, the product of too many press hagiographies of the Game Change variety and too many Hollywood fantasies like House of Cards …
Read More »Maroon 5 Keyboardist Defends Band's Decision to Play Super Bowl Halftime Show
Maroon 5 keyboardist PJ Morton has defended the band’s controversial decision to headline the Super Bowl LIII. Maroon 5 have faced a backlash for aligning with the NFL after numerous artists, including Rihanna and Cardi B, declined to perform at the Super Bowl in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. “I think …
Read More »Tekashi 69: The Rise and Fall of a Hip-Hop Supervillain
O ne day in the summer of 2017, Daniel Hernandez, better known as the rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, appeared outside a Brooklyn row house to shoot the video that would make him a star, and eventually ruin his life. Against the menacing strains of his viral hit “Gummo,” he and a …
Read More »We Don't Need to Applaud the Convenient Apologies
In 1994, a 26-year-old R. Kelly married a 15-year-old Aaliyah. In 2001, a sex tape of R. Kelly allegedly urinating on a 14-year-old girl was released to the press. The “Pied Piper of R&B” has been accused of statutory rape, sexual coercion and even maintaining a “sex cult” full of …
Read More »This Week in Music: Avril Lavigne, PrettyMuch, Bad Bunny
Listen to this week’s YouTube Music playlist here. Avril Lavigne, “Tell Me It’s Over” Sounds like: A former pop-punk princess all grown up Perfect for: Completely checking out of a relationship Avril Lavigne is priming herself — and us — for a big, surprising 2019 comeback. The soulful, Billie Holiday-inspired …
Read More »Trump Made a Mess of His Trip to Visit Troops in Iraq
President Donald Trump had been scheduled to close out 2018 with a 16-day vacation at Mar-a-Lago, up from the 11 days he spent at the “Winter White House” to bring home his first year in office. But prior to Christmas, the president decided to shut down the government because Congress …
Read More »'Vice': The Big Dick-Cheney Energy of Adam McKay
It was a fever, a bookshelf, and possibly divine intervention, that made Adam McKay realize he didn’t know Dick. In the late winter of 2016, the writer-director had just finished the awards-circuit death march for The Big Short, his look at the housing crisis. Then, a week after the Oscars, …
Read More »Why Elizabeth Warren's DNA Fiasco Matters
Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick announced Wednesday that he will not run for president in 2020, citing the “cruelty of our elections process.” This was understandable, given that the Bain Capital managing director has a record of helping subprime lenders swindle middle class African Americans. It was odd, though, to …
Read More »Both Sides Now: Why Sex Rules in Hulu's 'The Bisexual'
“Sex is complicated,” Leila, the hero of Hulu’s The Bisexual, tells her best friend Deniz in the show’s premiere episode. “Like, you strategize how you’re gonna get it, and then you anticipate it, and then once it’s finally happening don’t you wish you could just flash-forward because all the pressure’s …
Read More »The 'Good Guy With the Gun' Is Never Black
Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, Jr., was a good guy, if you believe his mama. “Emantic was that person who people went to when they needed someone to talk to,” April Pipkins tells Rolling Stone on Monday, four days after her son, known as “EJ,” was shot to death by a police …
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