Salute to these White Folk out here seeking justice for George Floyd and other victims of police & promising to change their ways
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Julie Chen explains 'Big Brother' sign-off, says Black Lives Matter
'Big Brother: All-Stars' host Julie Chen says Black Lives Matter and explains that episode sign-off
Julie Chen explains Big Brother: All-Stars sign-off, says Black Lives Matter
By Dalton Ross
August 14, 2020 at 05:27 PM EDT
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Each week, host Julie Chen Moonves will answer a few questions about the latest episode of Big Brother: All-Stars. Here, she weighs in on Keesha and Kevin’s troubles, Cody’s deal-making, whether there will be a Battle Back competition, and her social message sign-off from the episode.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Both Keesha and Kevin seemed really slow out of the gate and struggled in the first week to make connections. I found that interesting because Survivor also just had an all-stars season, where they brought back former winners, and some of the players from earlier seasons really struggled to adapt to the faster pace of the new-school game. Do you think that’s what happened here with Keesha and Kevin, who were both returning after over a decade away?
JULIE CHEN MOONVES: I didn’t see Survivor, so I don’t have a sense of why old-school players didn’t do as well now. That being said, I think for Keesha, her life went on after the Big Brother house and she didn’t watch the show religiously once she left. That made it hard for her to get a sense of who she was up against with the more recent players. She couldn’t play up to their egos and compliment them on their great game moves during their season. She even laughed at herself when she realized she had no idea Tyler’s name is not Taylor... nor Trevor. Her all-around likability and kindness won her “America’s Favorite Houseguest” back in 2008. Ironically, it was that same laid-back kindness that got her voted out.
If she were a hardcore, win-at-all-costs, deal-making, fast-talking kind of competitor, more people would have tried to make an alliance with her. As for Kevin, he doesn’t seem to think he belongs “up there” with these other, as he calls them, “iconic” players. He stayed an avid fan of the show after leaving 11 years ago and oddly enough, that ended up hurting him. He is so in awe and almost starstruck by the other houseguests that he fails to see he is an all-star too!
He came in third for crying out loud! That’s nothing to sneeze at. Sadly, he seems intimidated by the others and that’s blocking him from playing the game and engaging on the same level with the others. So there you have it: One watched the show too little after leaving the house; the other watched it too much, and in both cases that harmed them in this All-Stars season. Expect the unexpected?
Cody made about a billion alliances. That should keep him safe for a while, but do you think that’s a good long-term strategy, or could that come back to haunt him later on?
I think it’s okay for now. We always see a million alliances form the first week and they shift, change, dissolve, resurrect, disband... You name it, we’ve seen it. He’s fine right now. But he’s going to have to make a real choice soon, before people really start to think he’s is going to be a thousand percent loyal.
Julie, that sounded like a pretty definitive goodbye you gave to Keesha after she was voted out. Does that mean there is no Battle Back competition this season?
Dalton, you know our favorite saying... expect the unexpected. I can’t say nuthin’! Ha! Anything is possible... stay tuned! She was wearing a mask as you saw when she exited, so as long as she stays virus-free, anything is possible. By the grace of God... ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!
Finally, you signed off of the show by saying, “And remember the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” What inspired that? Is that a clue to something in the game, or an outside-of-the-game message?
It’s totally an outside-of-the-game message. I feel fortunate that the network and the producers have been so supportive in letting me put my own personal messaging at the end of our live shows.
While we are fortunate to have been able to find a way to offer Big Brother fans a much-needed break from all that is happening in our beloved country, we have taken many measures to keep everyone as safe as possible during these challenging times, including regular COVID-19 testing and requiring all personnel to wear masks. (Of course, I have to remove mine when talking on TV, but we mitigate that risk with social distancing.)
Although it seems at times that wearing a mask has turned in to a political statement for some people, we believe it’s the best way to protect ourselves. Last night, I mentioned the Golden Rule because I believe that of EVERYONE followed that principle we’d ALL be better off as a society, as a nation, as a world. I chose to close with those words because Black Lives Matter and now is the time to speak up. If the number of Black lives that have been taken happened to people of your heritage, you would be saying (fill-in-the-blank) Lives Matter! It’s my faith in God that is getting me through these uncertain times. We CAN be better. Why not try? It can’t hurt. It can only help. Most of all, it’ll help the person who rises to the occasion.
Taylor Swift Wants You to Vote Early to Get President Trump Out of Office
By Devon Ivie@devonsaysrelax
Not today, teenage love triangle, because all of that Folklore has manifested itself into a legit call to action. Taylor Swift has issued another missive against Donald Trump on Saturday, this time criticizing the president for his ongoing efforts to sabotage mail-in voting and defund the USPS prior to the upcoming election. “Trump’s calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is well aware that we do not want him as our president. He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power,” Swift wrote on Twitter. “Donald Trump’s ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in and he is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely. Request a ballot early. Vote early.”
Swift has notably become far more politically outspoken over the past year and a half, which began in June 2019, when Swift wrote how she “personally rejected” how the Trump administration has treated the LGBTQ community. That August, she admitted that she was reluctant to go public with political opinions due to the vast backlash (and subsequent blacklisting) the Chicks received when they criticized George W. Bush’s presidency in 2003. “I come from country music,” Swift said at the time. “The number one thing they absolutely drill into you as a country artist, and you can ask any other country artist this, is ‘Don’t be like the Dixie Chicks!’ I watched country music snuff that candle out.” This year, Swift would go on to condemn Trump for “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism,” as well as voice her support for the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.
VERY IMPORTANT THREAD!!!!
@Camille
Kirsten Dunst Does Not Endorse Kanye West’s Message
By Rebecca Alter@ralter
DUNST-PLEMONS 2024. Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Getty Images
Kanye West, you picked the wrong smiling-blonde-lady.jpg to put on your campaign posters. On August 18, the independent presidential candidate tweeted a “KANYE 2020 VISION” poster featuring stock imagery of smiling people of all walks of life, including a close-up of a happy, sun-dappled Kirsten Dunst. The photo, it turns out, was taken by photographer Mario Testino and was from a Vanity Fair photo shoot in 2002. Dunst, who supported and publicly endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primaries, tweeted her confusion about the unauthorized use of her face on West’s campaign poster, replying, “What’s the message here, and why am I apart [sic] of it?” with the shruggy-lady emoji. And that really is the question we all want the answer to: What is the message here? Where is he going with this? Why is this happening?
Look, we’re glad to have a reason to reflect on the ethereal beauty of Dunst in the post–Virgin Suicides era, but it’s a bummer that we have to talk about it because West is going forward with this political project. West’s confused political leanings aside, the aesthetics of this poster are extremely not it. Among the checkerboard of diverse smiling children and elderly people and workers in construction helmets, West also uses a picture of Anna Wintour, because, yeah, Condé Nast management is really what you want to be associating your campaign with right now.
Kirsten Dunst Does Not Endorse Kanye West’s Message
By Rebecca Alter@ralter
DUNST-PLEMONS 2024. Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Getty Images
Kanye West, you picked the wrong smiling-blonde-lady.jpg to put on your campaign posters. On August 18, the independent presidential candidate tweeted a “KANYE 2020 VISION” poster featuring stock imagery of smiling people of all walks of life, including a close-up of a happy, sun-dappled Kirsten Dunst. The photo, it turns out, was taken by photographer Mario Testino and was from a Vanity Fair photo shoot in 2002. Dunst, who supported and publicly endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primaries, tweeted her confusion about the unauthorized use of her face on West’s campaign poster, replying, “What’s the message here, and why am I apart [sic] of it?” with the shruggy-lady emoji. And that really is the question we all want the answer to: What is the message here? Where is he going with this? Why is this happening?
Look, we’re glad to have a reason to reflect on the ethereal beauty of Dunst in the post–Virgin Suicides era, but it’s a bummer that we have to talk about it because West is going forward with this political project. West’s confused political leanings aside, the aesthetics of this poster are extremely not it. Among the checkerboard of diverse smiling children and elderly people and workers in construction helmets, West also uses a picture of Anna Wintour, because, yeah, Condé Nast management is really what you want to be associating your campaign with right now.
He makes great points. Sadly the people he is addressing are not listening. Once he points out common sense they cut him off and move on from him. I would like to see him at one of these KKK rallies with a microphone and speak to them directly.
All his videos are dope. Him and Jesse Dollamore.
@ViCiouS @fonz @largebillsonlyplease @ansatsusha_gouki
The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Claims “The White Dudes Standing Next To You” Are “the Most Dangerous People”
John F. Trent August 11, 2020 Television
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The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke recently discussed the upcoming second season of the Amazon show based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic series.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Kripke was asked, “In season two, there’s the supervillain terrorists all over the world that have been activated by Homelander. However, you never really get the sense that they’re more dangerous than their creators. Can you talk to me a little bit about that dynamic?”
Mediavine
He answered, “Yeah, it’s a great question. We were really interested in exploring the idea of authority figures getting the public really riled up with xenophobia and racism, but ultimately the most dangerous people are the white dudes standing next to you. We wanted to reflect that story. So, the supervillains are, in a way, a misdirect.”
Character of the Day: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Raphael
Play Video
Just as a reminder in the first season of The Boys, The Seven included Translucent, Black Noir, A-Train, Starlight, Queen Maeve, The Deep, and Homelander.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys’ Executive Producer Seth Rogen Claims Christians Believe Jews Need To Die In Israel To Fulfill An Apocalyptic Prophecy
There were three white men on the team in Homelander, The Deep, and Translucent. A-Train is black, it’s unclear what Black Noir’s race as he never takes off his mask. Starlight and Queen Maeve are both white women.
The Boys executed Translucent in the first season. He’s expected to be replaced by a gender-swapped Stormfront. It also appears that The Deep might get sidelined from the team as well.
Mediavine
Kripke then claims that part of Season 2 was inspired by real world events when a caravan of Central American immigrants attempted to illegally enter the United States of America
He continued, “We wrote it at the time of the travel ban, if you remember; the caravan that were ‘going to come over the border and rape all the white women.’ We were in that world, and the way that authority figures were drumming up fear in these outsiders was disgusting, frankly.”
He elaborated, “And so we wanted to reflect that story, which is Vought and the superheroes and Stormfront are really drumming up quite a lot of fear about these supervillains. When in reality, Homelander and Stormfront are the real threat.”
Mediavine
Not only did Kripke indicate that white dudes standing next to you are the most dangerous people, but he also reiterated that the show would explore white nationalism through Stormfront played by Aya Cash.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Confirms Season 2 Will Include Storyline About “Rise of White Nationalism”
Kripke had previously detailed the second season would be about white nationalism in an interview with Coming Soon back in August 2019.
He told them, “Yeah, our version of Stormfront kind of evolves over the season. And I think the comic books version of Stormfront, with again, great respect to the comic, which I love, it’s a pretty straight forward character, you know? The first lines out of his mouth are like, “Schnell!” He’s pretty straight up just like a full-on Nazi. And it’s hard to do reveals with a guy like that.”
Mediavine
Kripke continued, “But where the idea emerged, and without spoiling too much, what I’ll say is under the writer room mantra of ‘Bad for the world, Good for the show,’ we’re all news junkies, and we tend to pay attention to things that are happening out there in the world, and how do we use our super heroes as a metaphor for that? And I am horrified and sad to report that there is a rise of white nationalism.”
Related: Amazon Announces Season 2 Release Date For The Boys
Mediavine
He then elaborated on how they will address white nationalism in the show, “And it’s taking a very different form than it took in the 40s. It takes a very social media savvy trying to attract young men and women form. And so, we got really interested in creating a character that could represent that for us. And so, as I would say, it’s not the version in the book, but I would say they have the same rotten soul.”
Mediavine
Speaking with ScreenRant, Kripke echoed those comments responding to a question about Stormfront and what Aya Cash brings to the role. He would also explain why they decided to gender swap Stormfront.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Gender Swaps Stormfront For Season 2 – She’s Also A Feminist
He stated, “First, Aya brings such like a formidable intelligence and wit, and she’s just so sharp and smart. And we really needed that. The goal was to create Homelander’s worst nightmare, which is a woman who wasn’t afraid of him and proceeds to steal his spotlight. That’s the worst thing that that gaping black hole of insecurity would ever deal with. So that was the idea originally, or at the start, and why we gender flipped the character from the books – who is a man.”
Mediavine
Kripke continued, “And then she was our way to get into issues of white nationalism. Anyone who reads the books knows who this character really is, and we ultimately reveal it. She has a very hateful ideology, but we were really interested in modernizing it and how it’s sort of often expressed today.”
“It’s wrapped in a very savvy social media package, and a lot of these people come on as like disruptors. “We’re gonna be free thinkers about our hateful ideology,” and so they come off in a kind of an insidious way, because they’re attractive to young people until you dig a little deeper and then you realize it’s the same hate they’ve been peddling for 1000 years. And we wanted to reflect that in that character,” he elaborated.
Mediavine
The Boys will premiere its first three episodes on September 4th with new episodes debuting every Friday until the finale on October 9th. The second season will have a total of eight episodes.
Here’s the official description:
Mediavine
“The even more intense, more insane Season 2 finds The Boys on the run from the law, hunted by the Supes, and desperately trying to regroup and fight back against Vought. In hiding, Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) try to adjust to a new normal, with Butcher (Karl Urban) nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) must navigate her place in The Seven as Homelander (Antony Starr) sets his sights on taking complete control. His power is threatened with the addition of Stormfront (Aya Cash), a social media-savvy new Supe, who has an agenda of her own. On top of that, the Supervillain threat takes center stage and makes waves as Vought seeks to capitalize on the nation’s paranoia.
The Supes of The Seven also include Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), The Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Recurring stars in season two include Claudia Doumit, Goran Visnijc, Malcolm Barrett, Colby Minifie, Shantel VanSanten, Cameron Crovetti, PJ Byrne, Laila Robbins and Giancarlo Esposito returning as Vought boss Stan Edgar, among others.”
What do you make of Kripke’s comments? Does this get you excited for The Boys Season 2?
The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Claims “The White Dudes Standing Next To You” Are “the Most Dangerous People”
John F. Trent August 11, 2020 Television
Share this:
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)More
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke recently discussed the upcoming second season of the Amazon show based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic series.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Kripke was asked, “In season two, there’s the supervillain terrorists all over the world that have been activated by Homelander. However, you never really get the sense that they’re more dangerous than their creators. Can you talk to me a little bit about that dynamic?”
Mediavine
He answered, “Yeah, it’s a great question. We were really interested in exploring the idea of authority figures getting the public really riled up with xenophobia and racism, but ultimately the most dangerous people are the white dudes standing next to you. We wanted to reflect that story. So, the supervillains are, in a way, a misdirect.”
Character of the Day: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Raphael
Play Video
Just as a reminder in the first season of The Boys, The Seven included Translucent, Black Noir, A-Train, Starlight, Queen Maeve, The Deep, and Homelander.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys’ Executive Producer Seth Rogen Claims Christians Believe Jews Need To Die In Israel To Fulfill An Apocalyptic Prophecy
There were three white men on the team in Homelander, The Deep, and Translucent. A-Train is black, it’s unclear what Black Noir’s race as he never takes off his mask. Starlight and Queen Maeve are both white women.
The Boys executed Translucent in the first season. He’s expected to be replaced by a gender-swapped Stormfront. It also appears that The Deep might get sidelined from the team as well.
Mediavine
Kripke then claims that part of Season 2 was inspired by real world events when a caravan of Central American immigrants attempted to illegally enter the United States of America
He continued, “We wrote it at the time of the travel ban, if you remember; the caravan that were ‘going to come over the border and rape all the white women.’ We were in that world, and the way that authority figures were drumming up fear in these outsiders was disgusting, frankly.”
He elaborated, “And so we wanted to reflect that story, which is Vought and the superheroes and Stormfront are really drumming up quite a lot of fear about these supervillains. When in reality, Homelander and Stormfront are the real threat.”
Mediavine
Not only did Kripke indicate that white dudes standing next to you are the most dangerous people, but he also reiterated that the show would explore white nationalism through Stormfront played by Aya Cash.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Confirms Season 2 Will Include Storyline About “Rise of White Nationalism”
Kripke had previously detailed the second season would be about white nationalism in an interview with Coming Soon back in August 2019.
He told them, “Yeah, our version of Stormfront kind of evolves over the season. And I think the comic books version of Stormfront, with again, great respect to the comic, which I love, it’s a pretty straight forward character, you know? The first lines out of his mouth are like, “Schnell!” He’s pretty straight up just like a full-on Nazi. And it’s hard to do reveals with a guy like that.”
Mediavine
Kripke continued, “But where the idea emerged, and without spoiling too much, what I’ll say is under the writer room mantra of ‘Bad for the world, Good for the show,’ we’re all news junkies, and we tend to pay attention to things that are happening out there in the world, and how do we use our super heroes as a metaphor for that? And I am horrified and sad to report that there is a rise of white nationalism.”
Related: Amazon Announces Season 2 Release Date For The Boys
Mediavine
He then elaborated on how they will address white nationalism in the show, “And it’s taking a very different form than it took in the 40s. It takes a very social media savvy trying to attract young men and women form. And so, we got really interested in creating a character that could represent that for us. And so, as I would say, it’s not the version in the book, but I would say they have the same rotten soul.”
Mediavine
Speaking with ScreenRant, Kripke echoed those comments responding to a question about Stormfront and what Aya Cash brings to the role. He would also explain why they decided to gender swap Stormfront.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Gender Swaps Stormfront For Season 2 – She’s Also A Feminist
He stated, “First, Aya brings such like a formidable intelligence and wit, and she’s just so sharp and smart. And we really needed that. The goal was to create Homelander’s worst nightmare, which is a woman who wasn’t afraid of him and proceeds to steal his spotlight. That’s the worst thing that that gaping black hole of insecurity would ever deal with. So that was the idea originally, or at the start, and why we gender flipped the character from the books – who is a man.”
Mediavine
Kripke continued, “And then she was our way to get into issues of white nationalism. Anyone who reads the books knows who this character really is, and we ultimately reveal it. She has a very hateful ideology, but we were really interested in modernizing it and how it’s sort of often expressed today.”
“It’s wrapped in a very savvy social media package, and a lot of these people come on as like disruptors. “We’re gonna be free thinkers about our hateful ideology,” and so they come off in a kind of an insidious way, because they’re attractive to young people until you dig a little deeper and then you realize it’s the same hate they’ve been peddling for 1000 years. And we wanted to reflect that in that character,” he elaborated.
Mediavine
The Boys will premiere its first three episodes on September 4th with new episodes debuting every Friday until the finale on October 9th. The second season will have a total of eight episodes.
Here’s the official description:
Mediavine
“The even more intense, more insane Season 2 finds The Boys on the run from the law, hunted by the Supes, and desperately trying to regroup and fight back against Vought. In hiding, Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) try to adjust to a new normal, with Butcher (Karl Urban) nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) must navigate her place in The Seven as Homelander (Antony Starr) sets his sights on taking complete control. His power is threatened with the addition of Stormfront (Aya Cash), a social media-savvy new Supe, who has an agenda of her own. On top of that, the Supervillain threat takes center stage and makes waves as Vought seeks to capitalize on the nation’s paranoia.
The Supes of The Seven also include Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), The Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Recurring stars in season two include Claudia Doumit, Goran Visnijc, Malcolm Barrett, Colby Minifie, Shantel VanSanten, Cameron Crovetti, PJ Byrne, Laila Robbins and Giancarlo Esposito returning as Vought boss Stan Edgar, among others.”
What do you make of Kripke’s comments? Does this get you excited for The Boys Season 2?
@ViCiouS @fonz @largebillsonlyplease @ansatsusha_gouki
The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Claims “The White Dudes Standing Next To You” Are “the Most Dangerous People”
John F. Trent August 11, 2020 Television
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke recently discussed the upcoming second season of the Amazon show based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic series.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Kripke was asked, “In season two, there’s the supervillain terrorists all over the world that have been activated by Homelander. However, you never really get the sense that they’re more dangerous than their creators. Can you talk to me a little bit about that dynamic?”
He answered,
“Yeah, it’s a great question. We were really interested in exploring the idea of authority figures getting the public really riled up with xenophobia and racism, but ultimately the most dangerous people are the white dudes standing next to you. We wanted to reflect that story. So, the supervillains are, in a way, a misdirect.”
Just as a reminder in the first season of The Boys, The Seven included Translucent, Black Noir, A-Train, Starlight, Queen Maeve, The Deep, and Homelander.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys’ Executive Producer Seth Rogen Claims Christians Believe Jews Need To Die In Israel To Fulfill An Apocalyptic Prophecy
There were three white men on the team in Homelander, The Deep, and Translucent. A-Train is black, it’s unclear what Black Noir’s race as he never takes off his mask. Starlight and Queen Maeve are both white women.
The Boys executed Translucent in the first season. He’s expected to be replaced by a gender-swapped Stormfront. It also appears that The Deep might get sidelined from the team as well.
Kripke then claims that part of Season 2 was inspired by real world events when a caravan of Central American immigrants attempted to illegally enter the United States of America
He continued, “We wrote it at the time of the travel ban, if you remember; the caravan that were ‘going to come over the border and rape all the white women.’ We were in that world, and the way that authority figures were drumming up fear in these outsiders was disgusting, frankly.”
He elaborated, “And so we wanted to reflect that story, which is Vought and the superheroes and Stormfront are really drumming up quite a lot of fear about these supervillains. When in reality, Homelander and Stormfront are the real threat.”
Not only did Kripke indicate that white dudes standing next to you are the most dangerous people, but he also reiterated that the show would explore white nationalism through Stormfront played by Aya Cash.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Confirms Season 2 Will Include Storyline About “Rise of White Nationalism”
Kripke had previously detailed the second season would be about white nationalism in an interview with Coming Soon back in August 2019.
He told them, “Yeah, our version of Stormfront kind of evolves over the season. And I think the comic books version of Stormfront, with again, great respect to the comic, which I love, it’s a pretty straight forward character, you know? The first lines out of his mouth are like, “Schnell!” He’s pretty straight up just like a full-on Nazi. And it’s hard to do reveals with a guy like that.”
Kripke continued, “But where the idea emerged, and without spoiling too much, what I’ll say is under the writer room mantra of ‘Bad for the world, Good for the show,’ we’re all news junkies, and we tend to pay attention to things that are happening out there in the world, and how do we use our super heroes as a metaphor for that? And I am horrified and sad to report that there is a rise of white nationalism.”
He then elaborated on how they will address white nationalism in the show, “And it’s taking a very different form than it took in the 40s. It takes a very social media savvy trying to attract young men and women form. And so, we got really interested in creating a character that could represent that for us. And so, as I would say, it’s not the version in the book, but I would say they have the same rotten soul.”
Speaking with ScreenRant, Kripke echoed those comments responding to a question about Stormfront and what Aya Cash brings to the role. He would also explain why they decided to gender swap Stormfront.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Gender Swaps Stormfront For Season 2 – She’s Also A Feminist
He stated, “First, Aya brings such like a formidable intelligence and wit, and she’s just so sharp and smart. And we really needed that. The goal was to create Homelander’s worst nightmare, which is a woman who wasn’t afraid of him and proceeds to steal his spotlight. That’s the worst thing that that gaping black hole of insecurity would ever deal with. So that was the idea originally, or at the start, and why we gender flipped the character from the books – who is a man.”
Kripke continued, “And then she was our way to get into issues of white nationalism. Anyone who reads the books knows who this character really is, and we ultimately reveal it. She has a very hateful ideology, but we were really interested in modernizing it and how it’s sort of often expressed today.”
“It’s wrapped in a very savvy social media package, and a lot of these people come on as like disruptors. “We’re gonna be free thinkers about our hateful ideology,” and so they come off in a kind of an insidious way, because they’re attractive to young people until you dig a little deeper and then you realize it’s the same hate they’ve been peddling for 1000 years. And we wanted to reflect that in that character,” he elaborated.
The Boys will premiere its first three episodes on September 4th with new episodes debuting every Friday until the finale on October 9th. The second season will have a total of eight episodes.
Here’s the official description:
“The even more intense, more insane Season 2 finds The Boys on the run from the law, hunted by the Supes, and desperately trying to regroup and fight back against Vought. In hiding, Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) try to adjust to a new normal, with Butcher (Karl Urban) nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) must navigate her place in The Seven as Homelander (Antony Starr) sets his sights on taking complete control. His power is threatened with the addition of Stormfront (Aya Cash), a social media-savvy new Supe, who has an agenda of her own. On top of that, the Supervillain threat takes center stage and makes waves as Vought seeks to capitalize on the nation’s paranoia.
The Supes of The Seven also include Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), The Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Recurring stars in season two include Claudia Doumit, Goran Visnijc, Malcolm Barrett, Colby Minifie, Shantel VanSanten, Cameron Crovetti, PJ Byrne, Laila Robbins and Giancarlo Esposito returning as Vought boss Stan Edgar, among others.”
What do you make of Kripke’s comments? Does this get you excited for The Boys Season 2?
The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Claims “The White Dudes Standing Next To You” Are “the Most Dangerous People”
John F. Trent August 11, 2020 Television
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke recently discussed the upcoming second season of the Amazon show based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic series.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Kripke was asked, “In season two, there’s the supervillain terrorists all over the world that have been activated by Homelander. However, you never really get the sense that they’re more dangerous than their creators. Can you talk to me a little bit about that dynamic?”
He answered,
“Yeah, it’s a great question. We were really interested in exploring the idea of authority figures getting the public really riled up with xenophobia and racism, but ultimately the most dangerous people are the white dudes standing next to you. We wanted to reflect that story. So, the supervillains are, in a way, a misdirect.”
Just as a reminder in the first season of The Boys, The Seven included Translucent, Black Noir, A-Train, Starlight, Queen Maeve, The Deep, and Homelander.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys’ Executive Producer Seth Rogen Claims Christians Believe Jews Need To Die In Israel To Fulfill An Apocalyptic Prophecy
There were three white men on the team in Homelander, The Deep, and Translucent. A-Train is black, it’s unclear what Black Noir’s race as he never takes off his mask. Starlight and Queen Maeve are both white women.
The Boys executed Translucent in the first season. He’s expected to be replaced by a gender-swapped Stormfront. It also appears that The Deep might get sidelined from the team as well.
Kripke then claims that part of Season 2 was inspired by real world events when a caravan of Central American immigrants attempted to illegally enter the United States of America
He continued, “We wrote it at the time of the travel ban, if you remember; the caravan that were ‘going to come over the border and rape all the white women.’ We were in that world, and the way that authority figures were drumming up fear in these outsiders was disgusting, frankly.”
He elaborated, “And so we wanted to reflect that story, which is Vought and the superheroes and Stormfront are really drumming up quite a lot of fear about these supervillains. When in reality, Homelander and Stormfront are the real threat.”
Not only did Kripke indicate that white dudes standing next to you are the most dangerous people, but he also reiterated that the show would explore white nationalism through Stormfront played by Aya Cash.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Confirms Season 2 Will Include Storyline About “Rise of White Nationalism”
Kripke had previously detailed the second season would be about white nationalism in an interview with Coming Soon back in August 2019.
He told them, “Yeah, our version of Stormfront kind of evolves over the season. And I think the comic books version of Stormfront, with again, great respect to the comic, which I love, it’s a pretty straight forward character, you know? The first lines out of his mouth are like, “Schnell!” He’s pretty straight up just like a full-on Nazi. And it’s hard to do reveals with a guy like that.”
Kripke continued, “But where the idea emerged, and without spoiling too much, what I’ll say is under the writer room mantra of ‘Bad for the world, Good for the show,’ we’re all news junkies, and we tend to pay attention to things that are happening out there in the world, and how do we use our super heroes as a metaphor for that? And I am horrified and sad to report that there is a rise of white nationalism.”
He then elaborated on how they will address white nationalism in the show, “And it’s taking a very different form than it took in the 40s. It takes a very social media savvy trying to attract young men and women form. And so, we got really interested in creating a character that could represent that for us. And so, as I would say, it’s not the version in the book, but I would say they have the same rotten soul.”
Speaking with ScreenRant, Kripke echoed those comments responding to a question about Stormfront and what Aya Cash brings to the role. He would also explain why they decided to gender swap Stormfront.
Related: Amazon’s The Boys Gender Swaps Stormfront For Season 2 – She’s Also A Feminist
He stated, “First, Aya brings such like a formidable intelligence and wit, and she’s just so sharp and smart. And we really needed that. The goal was to create Homelander’s worst nightmare, which is a woman who wasn’t afraid of him and proceeds to steal his spotlight. That’s the worst thing that that gaping black hole of insecurity would ever deal with. So that was the idea originally, or at the start, and why we gender flipped the character from the books – who is a man.”
Kripke continued, “And then she was our way to get into issues of white nationalism. Anyone who reads the books knows who this character really is, and we ultimately reveal it. She has a very hateful ideology, but we were really interested in modernizing it and how it’s sort of often expressed today.”
“It’s wrapped in a very savvy social media package, and a lot of these people come on as like disruptors. “We’re gonna be free thinkers about our hateful ideology,” and so they come off in a kind of an insidious way, because they’re attractive to young people until you dig a little deeper and then you realize it’s the same hate they’ve been peddling for 1000 years. And we wanted to reflect that in that character,” he elaborated.
The Boys will premiere its first three episodes on September 4th with new episodes debuting every Friday until the finale on October 9th. The second season will have a total of eight episodes.
Here’s the official description:
“The even more intense, more insane Season 2 finds The Boys on the run from the law, hunted by the Supes, and desperately trying to regroup and fight back against Vought. In hiding, Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) try to adjust to a new normal, with Butcher (Karl Urban) nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) must navigate her place in The Seven as Homelander (Antony Starr) sets his sights on taking complete control. His power is threatened with the addition of Stormfront (Aya Cash), a social media-savvy new Supe, who has an agenda of her own. On top of that, the Supervillain threat takes center stage and makes waves as Vought seeks to capitalize on the nation’s paranoia.
The Supes of The Seven also include Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), The Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Recurring stars in season two include Claudia Doumit, Goran Visnijc, Malcolm Barrett, Colby Minifie, Shantel VanSanten, Cameron Crovetti, PJ Byrne, Laila Robbins and Giancarlo Esposito returning as Vought boss Stan Edgar, among others.”
What do you make of Kripke’s comments? Does this get you excited for The Boys Season 2?
I am kind of surprised with Kirk. He didn't agree with Colin's stance. He played in Ohio St. back in 89. Why he acting like his eyes just opened these passed 4 months.
We as a nation are at a very difficult juncture. There are a lot of people, both black and white at the head of all that's going on pushing or change in light of the murder of George Floyd
Concurrently, there are people , blacks and mostly whites who have infiltrated the protests cause excessive damage and blamed it on black lives matter
Who are these people? And nobody the fuck knows. You cannot tell the enemies from the friends and that is one of the most difficult situations there is in the world we currently live
We knew that all skinfolk wasn't Kinfolk, but now... who the fuck is my friend and who the fuck is my enemy?
Concurrently, there are people , blacks and mostly whites who have infiltrated the protests cause excessive damage and blamed it on black lives matter
Who are these people? And nobody the fuck knows. You cannot tell the enemies from the friends and that is one of the most difficult situations there is in the world we currently live
We knew that all skinfolk wasn't Kinfolk, but now... who the fuck is my friend and who the fuck is my enemy?
Divide and conquer is tried and true except when they use the dumb coons posting here. They need a refund.
Philanthropist Sandler Gives $200M to Racial Justice Groups
By Crime and Justice News | 5 hours ago
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Liberal philanthropist Susan Sandler will make a $200 million investment in racial justice organizations, targeting areas across the South and the Southwest that are experiencing rapid demographic transformation, reports the New York Times. Sandler said her investments would be made through a new organization, the Susan Sandler Fund, aimed at combating systemic racism and building civic power. Ms. Sandler characterized the effort as a shift in her political priorities and giving philosophy. “I have come to believe that, rather than trying to use persuasive papers and reports to attempt to change the minds of those who are making decisions, the more effective way to transform societal priorities and public policies is to change the climate and environment in which decisions are made,” she said.
Sandler’s announcement comes amid increased investment in racial justice organizations, fueled by the national reckoning on systemic inequities and injustice this summer. Contributions to bail funds after the killing of George Floyd reached over $90 million. In July, the foundation started by George Soros pledged $220 million to groups focused on racial equity. The donations have reshaped the landscape of Black political and civil rights organizations, and made clear that race and identity will remain at the center of politics. It signals a commitment by liberal donors to invest in long-term efforts to change the political landscape, not simply one-off efforts to win an election or invest in a particular candidate. Initial recipients of grants from Sandler’s fund include several progressive organizations working in battleground states to register new voters from underrepresented groups. The organizations include the Texas Organizing Project, New Virginia Majority, New Florida Majority and the Arizona Center for Empowerment.
Progressive Donor Susan Sandler to Give $200 Million to Racial Justice Groups
New York Times | Sep 14, 2020 at 11:00 AM
- Susan Sandler, a liberal philanthropist, has announced a $200 million investment in racial justice organizations, targeting areas across the South and the Southwest that are experiencing rapid demographic transformation.
- Ms. Sandler characterized the effort as a shift in her political priorities and giving philosophy.
- Ms. Sandler’s announcement comes amid skyrocketing investment in racial justice organizations, fueled by the national reckoning on systemic inequities and injustice that swept the country this summer.
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Matthew Stafford takes knee during national anthem, other Lions players leave field
Adrian Peterson also took a knee for the playing of the anthem in Detroit's latest round of protests against police brutality.
Lady Antebellum Is Now 'Lady A.' But So Is a Blues Singer Who's Used the Name for 20 Years
Lady Antebellum changed their name to "Lady A," unaware that there was a 61-year-old black singer with multiple albums with the same name.www.rollingstone.com
Lady Antebellum Is Now ‘Lady A.’ But So Is a Blues Singer Who’s Used the Name for 20 Years
“This is my life. They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time,” says the original Lady A, a 61-year-old black singer who’s released multiple records under the name
By
AMY X. WANG
&
ETHAN MILLMAN
Lady Antebellum changed their name to "Lady A," unaware that there was a 61-year-old black singer with multiple albums with the same name.
John Shearer/Getty Images; Courtesy of Lady A
Seattle blues singer Lady A had just gotten off of work on Thursday when a bombardment of phone messages from friends, fans and producers came in all shouting the same thing: Her name had been stolen.
Earlier that day, Grammy-winning country trio Lady Antebellum — whose name had been criticized for its associations with romanticized ideas of the pre-war, slavery-ridden American South — announced they were changing their name to Lady A in light of a heightened national conversation about racism. Lady Antebellum made the changes swiftly on social media and distribution platforms including Spotify and Apple Music, and the group’s website also announced their rechristening as Lady A. But according to Seattle’s Lady A, neither the band nor any members of their team reached out to her before making the change.
This Lady A — a 61-year-old black woman whose real name is Anita White — has been playing the blues under the name for more than 20 years. She began singing as a gospel performer at church and started going by Lady A for karaoke nights in the Eighties. She’s released multiple albums with the name, and on top of her day job working with Seattle Public Utilities, she’s gearing up to release another album, Lady A: Live in New Orleans, on her birthday on July 18th.
White tells Rolling Stone she’s frustrated that Lady Antebellum hadn’t gone to her before making a decision, pointing out the irony in changing a name in support of racial equality while simultaneously taking another one from a black performer. “This is my life. Lady A is my brand, I’ve used it for over 20 years, and I’m proud of what I’ve done,” she says, her voice breaking. “This is too much right now. They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldn’t have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it.
“It’s an opportunity for them to pretend they’re not racist or pretend this means something to them,” she adds. “If it did, they would’ve done some research. And I’m not happy about that. You found me on Spotify easily — why couldn’t they?”
When reached for comment Friday morning, a rep for Lady Antebellum said the band was not aware of the other artist and plans to reach out to her.
White has long been an advocate of social change. She hasn’t participated in protests around the police killing of George Floyd out of concern about the ongoing health crisis — she and her sisters regularly visit their 83-year-old mother — but she’s readying a panel on Zoom on June 27th with white and minority colleagues that discusses the role of white people in conversations about race. She’s written songs about cases of racial injustice like the death of Trayvon Martin, and says she changed some of the lyrics in an upcoming song in response to Floyd’s death. That song and the name of her upcoming panel are called “The Truth Is Loud.”
At issue is the possibility of trademark infringement. “Just like other goods and services in the marketplace such as Nike or McDonald’s, band names can be protected under trademark law,” explains intellectual-property attorney Wesley Lewis.
“It’s about who is first to use a name. Audience size is irrelevant,” says Bob Celestin, a longtime music attorney who’s represented Pusha T and Missy Elliott. “And the question is, does the original Lady A have a trademark registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office? If she does, she can go ahead and sue Lady Antebellum for infringement. If not, she still has a common law trademark and she can still show that she’s been using the name in commerce — records, posters, tour flyers — for a number of years. She is first to use the mark in commerce, so that gives her a superior right to the name.”
Celestin adds that if two artists who work in different genres end up with the same name, they can reach a coexistence agreement that allows both groups to market music under the name by acknowledging the slim chance for confusion. “But you could say that blues is the foundation of country, so they’re very close in genre, and if they’re close in genre there’s much more confusion in the marketplace,” he says.
Seattle’s Lady A — who got her performing start in a Motown Revue band in the Eighties — says she holds a business trademark for Lady A LLC but does not know where she stands from a legal standpoint; she is going to speak with a lawyer next week to discuss her options. “I don’t know if [the new Lady A] are going to give me a cease-and-desist. I don’t know how they’d react. But I’m not about to stop using my name,” White says. “For them to not even reach out is pure privilege. I’m not going to lay down and let this happen to me. But now the burden of proof is on me to prove that my name is in fact mine, and I don’t even know how much I’ll have to spend to keep it.”
If the two parties end up going to court, Celestin says one group will likely have to alter their name. The newly-named Lady A may also have to pay a sum to the Seattle singer if there’s proof of damages. “Whenever you sue someone, you have to show that you’ve been hurt,” he says. “So have you been damaged, and how? This problem with names is not too common, because it’s easy to do a Google search. I tell my clients to search Google, GoDaddy, and the trademark office before using a name.”
Though such clashes are rare, some artists have had to change their names in the past due to doubling. The British group the Charlatans, for example, are known in North America as the Charlatans UK because of a conflict with a Californian psychedelic-folk band already named the Charlatans.
The Lady A trio have been releasing music under the moniker Lady Antebellum since 2006, but said they decided to change their name after reflecting on its possible connotations. “We are deeply sorry for the hurt this has caused,” group members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday. “We’ve watched and listened more than ever these last few weeks, and our hearts have been stirred with conviction, our eyes opened wide to the injustices, inequality and biases black women and men have always faced and continue to face every day. Now, blind spots we didn’t even know existed have been revealed.”
Blues Singer Anita “Lady A” White Countersues the Former Lady Antebellum
By Zoe Haylock@zoe_alliyah
Lady A. Photo: Dawn Lucrisia-Johnson
Anita White, a blues singer who’s performed under the name Lady A for more than 30 years, is suing the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum. Per Pitchfork, White is seeking unspecified damages and music royalties, citing “lost sales, diminished brand identity, and diminution in the value of and goodwill associated with the mark.” The band, comprised of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood, first sued White on July 8, claiming she had requested $10 million and that they “ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A.” In July, White told Vulture she came to $10 million after the band refused to compromise, planning to use half to rebrand and half to fund charities, including those in support of independent Black artists.
The country trio announced their decision to drop the racism-adjacent “Antebellum” from their name on June 11, as protests in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis continued around the world. They revealed their new name was Lady A without consulting White, a Black woman who has recorded under the name for decades. Once she spoke out, they convened over Zoom, where White says they rejected her attempts to co-exist as Lady A the Band and Lady A the Artist. “Five million dollars is nothing, and I’m actually worth more than that, regardless of what they think,” White previously told Vulture. “But here we go again with another white person trying to take something from a Black person, even though they say they’re trying to help. If you want to be an advocate or an ally, you help those who you’re oppressing. And that might require you to give up something because I am not going to be erased.”
@Camille
I just ran across this dude's video. Once you get past his blue mood lighting and the annoying ASMR delivery, it's a good watch. Timestamped for the least amount of annoyance of him talking like he's trying not to wake up a baby with colic.
He gives his account of how Cops are trained to dehumanize Black/Brown/poor people.
He gives his account of how Cops are trained to dehumanize Black/Brown/poor people.
British writer pens perfect description of Trump
https://londondaily.com/british-writer-pens-the-best-description-of-trump-i-ve-read “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response: A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the...
www.bgol.us
Matthew Stafford takes knee during national anthem, other Lions players leave field
Adrian Peterson also took a knee for the playing of the anthem in Detroit's latest round of protests against police brutality.
We Can’t Just Stick to Football | By Matthew Stafford
We can’t just stick to football. Not as a team. Not as an organization. And we shouldn’t as a country.
www.theplayerstribune.com
We Can’t Just Stick to Football
PHOTO BY
DETROIT LIONS/AP IMAGES
Matthew Stafford
DETROIT LIONS
SEP 18 2020
Listen, I love the game of football.
I love it.
But there are some things that are way more important than football right now.
Yes, this NFL season just kicked off, and nobody is more excited about that than me. But we can’t just move on from the issue of racial injustice and use sports as a distraction.
We can’t just stick to football. Not as a team. Not as an organization. And we shouldn’t as a country.
My proudest day as a Detroit Lion was the afternoon that we came together as a team and decided that we were going to cancel our practice in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. We had some extremely difficult conversations. We shared stories. We debated. We cried. We were vulnerable. We were uncomfortable. We were angry. We were everything.
We can’t just stick to football. Not as a team. Not as an organization. And we shouldn’t as a country.
But we went through it all as a team.
As most everyone knows, I haven’t exactly embraced social media over the years. It’s just not me. But I feel like it’s right to take the time to say what’s on my heart as we begin this new season together as a team. And what’s on my heart is that we all need to come together as a country and admit what we know is real. Deep down inside, no matter what political party we support, or what we do for a living, we know what’s real.
Police brutality, white privilege, racism — it’s all real.
It’s time we stop pretending, or defending, or just closing our eyes to what’s right in front of us. We have to listen, and we have to keep having these hard conversations.
Detroit Lions/AP Images
And it’s not like this is just our history. This is right now.
These are not political problems. These are human problems. It should not be seen as a political statement to discuss this stuff honestly. And I’m sure there are people out there who simply don’t want to hear it. But let me just tell you a quick story.
Shortly after George Floyd was killed, I was down in Atlanta doing my off-season workouts. It was obviously complicated because of COVID, so I had arranged to use a field where I could do some work with my receivers. The first one who could make it to Atlanta was Danny Amendola.
Danny and I spent four days working out together. No problems at all. It was great. A week later, I went to do the same thing, at the same field, with four of my black teammates. We were just starting to dump all the footballs out on the field and some of the guys were still stretching when a gentleman came out and told us that we were trespassing — and to leave immediately.
We didn’t even have our cleats on yet. I remember I was standing there in my socks, just kind of stunned and confused, like, What?
But he didn’t even want to listen.
We were still gathering up the footballs and trying to figure out another spot where we might be able to go when the gentleman pulled out his cellphone.
He said, “I’m calling the police.”
After everything that we’ve witnessed over the last few months, and how situations can escalate for no reason at all … and here the police are being called.
We were there for maybe 10 minutes total. Nobody said a bad word to him. And he still called the police and told them that we were being “uncooperative” and “not leaving the property.”
Obviously, we got out of there immediately.
It should not be seen as a political statement to discuss this stuff honestly.
I was embarrassed to have put my teammates in that situation, especially when I was told that it was cool to use the field. Especially when I had been on the same field with Danny with no problems.
The only difference is what we all know in our hearts. Danny and I are white. We don’t get the cops called on us in those situations. We don’t immediately get called uncooperative. And if even if Danny and I somehow did get the cops called on us, we all know how that interaction would’ve gone.
“Hey, what are you doing here? O.K, well, move along now. Have a good day.”
It’s just a different dynamic. It’s just the reality of this country, and it’s O.K. to talk about it. Situations that I take for granted are different for my black teammates, and I am learning just how deep that goes every single day.
After the Jacob Blake incident happened, our team came together and guys shared some very emotional and raw stories of their own experiences. The level of trauma that guys and their families were feeling — I mean really feeling — was just so deep. Multiple guys were saying how whenever they would leave their house to go to the facility, their parents were begging them to text them as soon as they arrived and as soon as they got home. Just to know that they were safe. That’s the level of trauma that you feel as a parent when you see these videos and you instantly think, That could be my child.
Detroit Lions/AP Images
But the one story that stuck with me so much was when Trey Flowers talked about how he copes with the anxiety of dealing with the police. Trey was explaining that if he were to ever get pulled over in his car — something that I have experienced many times without even thinking twice about it — he would roll down his window, put both hands on the wheel, and ask the officer if he would like him to step out of the car so he can handcuff him.
Just so that he is not seen as a threat.
Just so the officer can’t say, “Oh, he was reaching here, he was reaching there.…”
Just so he makes it back home.
If you’re a white person, all I’m asking you to do is to really think about that. Imagine that being your first instinct when you see police lights in your rearview mirror.
No one in America should have to feel this way.
He would roll down his window, put both hands on the wheel, and ask the officer if he would like him to step out of the car so he can handcuff him. Just so that he is not seen as a threat.
Listen, I’m not some perfect person. I’m not trying to lecture anybody. I’ve made a million mistakes. I grew up in Highland Park, Texas, which is probably one of the most privileged places in the country. It’s a place that I still love very much, but it’s a bubble. That’s just a fact. I was not exposed to a lot of diversity or different ideas growing up. I was not educated on these issues, and I probably said a bunch of stupid things when I was young that I regret. But a big part of life is about looking inside yourself and trying to evolve as a person.
And when you hear your teammates telling these stories — and getting so emotional that they’re breaking down crying — you can’t just sit there and be silent. These were the same guys who had supported me last off-season during the darkest months of my life, when my wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It’s still very hard for me to talk about, honestly. But I will just say that when you’re going through hell like that, and you’re still trying to be the quarterback of an NFL team and a guy who people can rely on, you absolutely can’t do it alone. I would come into the facility at five in the morning and try to get my work in, and then I’d leave to go be with my wife just as guys were coming in for meetings.
I remember passing my teammates in the hallway on my way out to the car, and they never once looked at me like I was letting them down. It was always, “We got you. Is there anything we can do to help? Is there anything you need? We’re praying for you.”
This is what it means to be a part of a brotherhood. You have your brother’s back when they’re in pain. You listen to them. You try to help.
I wish that we could do that as a country.
Detroit Lions/AP Images
There are still people, as sad as it is to say, who are simply not listening.
After we canceled our practice, I received text messages that made me realize just how far we have to go in this conversation, and how people just assume I feel a certain way about all of this.
Things like, “Sorry you had to miss practice, or, “Sorry you have to deal with this stuff, man.”
The fact that anyone would feel sorry for me, or be thinking about a football practice at a time like that, really speaks volumes. There are still people in this country who just want sports to be a distraction, and that’s their right. But I beg to differ.
I was drafted by the Lions in 2009, when the city was struggling due to the economic crisis. The city was bankrupt and they couldn’t even afford to tear down the abandoned buildings all over downtown. Then you see how many of Detroit’s public schools have been shut down over the last 15 years, and the unbelievable amount of rec centers that have closed, especially in low-income neighborhoods. A lot of people growing up in those communities have only known inequality and struggle for their whole lives.
Michigan has been home to me and my family for a long time now. People have welcomed us with open arms, and we’ve always embraced that love. I visit schools from time to time where maybe kids don’t have access to Wi-Fi or even to a computer nearby, and you just want people to have a chance. But the thing is, you wouldn’t know the hardship they’re experiencing based on some of the smiles on these kids’ faces. And just their attitude toward life — despite what their families are going through. And now, after all these years of economic hardship, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and these same kids have been in lockdown for months, where they have been exposed to video after video of people who look just like them having these incidents with police.
There are still people in this country who just want sports to be a distraction, and that’s their right. But I beg to differ.
I didn’t grow up like that. I didn’t have to deal with anything remotely close to what those kids have to deal with. And if you grew up the way I did, and you still happen to live in one of those bubbles where you don’t have to worry about these things, maybe you’re tired of hearing about all this. Maybe you want to pretend it doesn’t exist, because you don’t see it with your own eyes. Maybe you just want us to “shut up and play football.”
That’s your right. I probably can’t change your mind.
All I can ask you to do, as we continue through this NFL season, is to close your eyes and really put yourself in other people’s shoes. Try for a minute to put all the social media and the politics and the arguing aside, and look within yourself.
Ask yourself hard questions.
But more than anything, listen.
It’s time.
Kelly Stafford: I was wrong to criticize Colin Kaepernick for kneeling for national anthem
"When (Colin) Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, I had strong feelings," Kelly Stafford said, after announcing donation to UGA
www.freep.com
Kelly Stafford: I was wrong to criticize Colin Kaepernick for kneeling for national anthem
Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press
View Comments
0:20
19:28
Three years after she criticized NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said she was wrong.
"When (Colin) Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, I had strong feelings about it," Kelly Stafford wrote in an Instagram post Saturday. "Even when he kept saying it had nothing to do with the flag or military, I didn’t listen. I kept not listening to him or anyone else and let the political rhetoric persuade me that him kneeling was disrespectful to our military.
"Over the past several months, I have opened my ears, mind, and heart and it has opened my eyes to see how wrong I was and for that I am sorry."
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The Staffords donated $350,000 to their alma mater, the University of Georgia, this week to help fund a social justice program for the school's athletes.
Matthew Stafford played three seasons for the Bulldogs in 2006-08, and Kelly Stafford was a cheerleader at the school.
For Subscribers:Calvin Johnson's relationship with Lions still cold: 'No back and forth there'
Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, last played in the NFL in the 2016 season, when he regularly took a knee during the anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality.
Dozens of NFL players joined Kaepernick's demonstrations during the 2016-17 seasons, including eight Lions who took a knee during a Sept. 24, 2017, game against the Atlanta Falcons to protest incendiary comments made by President Donald Trump
About a month earlier, Kelly Stafford voiced her thoughts on the anthem, what it meant to her and what she thought players should do when it plays before NFL games on social media.
"I've been hesitant to talk about this, as I know I will get backlash from it," Stafford wrote in 2017, "but I believe we can stand and show our unity against everything that doesn't represent what this flag stands for. Let's stand united against terrorists, against racism, against white supremacists, against killing of cops, against police brutality, against sex slave trafficking.. against anything that is not the ideal for this country.
"Let's unite in the fact that God made us all unique and different and that is something we should cherish. You can disagree with me and that is totally ok.. let's use this forum to discuss (not yell at each other) and listen to one another. "
Georgia said Friday it will use gifts from the Staffords and Georgia football coach Kirby Smart to "implement strategic initiatives in the areas of diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice" for athletes in all sports.
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Matthew Stafford also took part in a virtual town hall for voter education with Lions teammates Trey Flowers and Duron Harmon this summer.
"This systemic racism is not going away unless we ALL work on it by working on ourselves and those around us," Kelly Stafford wrote Saturday. "It's time for everyone to do their part to help end this system."
Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press
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Three years after she criticized NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said she was wrong.
"When (Colin) Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, I had strong feelings about it," Kelly Stafford wrote in an Instagram post Saturday. "Even when he kept saying it had nothing to do with the flag or military, I didn’t listen. I kept not listening to him or anyone else and let the political rhetoric persuade me that him kneeling was disrespectful to our military.
"Over the past several months, I have opened my ears, mind, and heart and it has opened my eyes to see how wrong I was and for that I am sorry."
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The Staffords donated $350,000 to their alma mater, the University of Georgia, this week to help fund a social justice program for the school's athletes.
Matthew Stafford played three seasons for the Bulldogs in 2006-08, and Kelly Stafford was a cheerleader at the school.
For Subscribers:Calvin Johnson's relationship with Lions still cold: 'No back and forth there'
Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, last played in the NFL in the 2016 season, when he regularly took a knee during the anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality.
Dozens of NFL players joined Kaepernick's demonstrations during the 2016-17 seasons, including eight Lions who took a knee during a Sept. 24, 2017, game against the Atlanta Falcons to protest incendiary comments made by President Donald Trump
About a month earlier, Kelly Stafford voiced her thoughts on the anthem, what it meant to her and what she thought players should do when it plays before NFL games on social media.
"I've been hesitant to talk about this, as I know I will get backlash from it," Stafford wrote in 2017, "but I believe we can stand and show our unity against everything that doesn't represent what this flag stands for. Let's stand united against terrorists, against racism, against white supremacists, against killing of cops, against police brutality, against sex slave trafficking.. against anything that is not the ideal for this country.
"Let's unite in the fact that God made us all unique and different and that is something we should cherish. You can disagree with me and that is totally ok.. let's use this forum to discuss (not yell at each other) and listen to one another. "
Georgia said Friday it will use gifts from the Staffords and Georgia football coach Kirby Smart to "implement strategic initiatives in the areas of diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice" for athletes in all sports.
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Detroit Lions headlines from Freep.com, delivered every day at 5:30 a.m.
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Matthew Stafford also took part in a virtual town hall for voter education with Lions teammates Trey Flowers and Duron Harmon this summer.
"This systemic racism is not going away unless we ALL work on it by working on ourselves and those around us," Kelly Stafford wrote Saturday. "It's time for everyone to do their part to help end this system."
Matthew Stafford takes knee during national anthem, other Lions players leave field
Adrian Peterson also took a knee for the playing of the anthem in Detroit's latest round of protests against police brutality.www.mlive.com
We Can’t Just Stick to Football | By Matthew Stafford
We can’t just stick to football. Not as a team. Not as an organization. And we shouldn’t as a country.
We Can’t Just Stick to Football
PHOTO BY
DETROIT LIONS/AP IMAGES
Matthew Stafford
DETROIT LIONS
SEP 18 2020
Listen, I love the game of football.
I love it.
But there are some things that are way more important than football right now.
Yes, this NFL season just kicked off, and nobody is more excited about that than me. But we can’t just move on from the issue of racial injustice and use sports as a distraction.
We can’t just stick to football. Not as a team. Not as an organization. And we shouldn’t as a country.
My proudest day as a Detroit Lion was the afternoon that we came together as a team and decided that we were going to cancel our practice in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. We had some extremely difficult conversations. We shared stories. We debated. We cried. We were vulnerable. We were uncomfortable. We were angry. We were everything.
We can’t just stick to football. Not as a team. Not as an organization. And we shouldn’t as a country.
But we went through it all as a team.
As most everyone knows, I haven’t exactly embraced social media over the years. It’s just not me. But I feel like it’s right to take the time to say what’s on my heart as we begin this new season together as a team. And what’s on my heart is that we all need to come together as a country and admit what we know is real. Deep down inside, no matter what political party we support, or what we do for a living, we know what’s real.
Police brutality, white privilege, racism — it’s all real.
It’s time we stop pretending, or defending, or just closing our eyes to what’s right in front of us. We have to listen, and we have to keep having these hard conversations.
Detroit Lions/AP Images
And it’s not like this is just our history. This is right now.
These are not political problems. These are human problems. It should not be seen as a political statement to discuss this stuff honestly. And I’m sure there are people out there who simply don’t want to hear it. But let me just tell you a quick story.
Shortly after George Floyd was killed, I was down in Atlanta doing my off-season workouts. It was obviously complicated because of COVID, so I had arranged to use a field where I could do some work with my receivers. The first one who could make it to Atlanta was Danny Amendola.
Danny and I spent four days working out together. No problems at all. It was great. A week later, I went to do the same thing, at the same field, with four of my black teammates. We were just starting to dump all the footballs out on the field and some of the guys were still stretching when a gentleman came out and told us that we were trespassing — and to leave immediately.
We didn’t even have our cleats on yet. I remember I was standing there in my socks, just kind of stunned and confused, like, What?
But he didn’t even want to listen.
We were still gathering up the footballs and trying to figure out another spot where we might be able to go when the gentleman pulled out his cellphone.
He said, “I’m calling the police.”
After everything that we’ve witnessed over the last few months, and how situations can escalate for no reason at all … and here the police are being called.
We were there for maybe 10 minutes total. Nobody said a bad word to him. And he still called the police and told them that we were being “uncooperative” and “not leaving the property.”
Obviously, we got out of there immediately.
It should not be seen as a political statement to discuss this stuff honestly.
I was embarrassed to have put my teammates in that situation, especially when I was told that it was cool to use the field. Especially when I had been on the same field with Danny with no problems.
The only difference is what we all know in our hearts. Danny and I are white. We don’t get the cops called on us in those situations. We don’t immediately get called uncooperative. And if even if Danny and I somehow did get the cops called on us, we all know how that interaction would’ve gone.
“Hey, what are you doing here? O.K, well, move along now. Have a good day.”
It’s just a different dynamic. It’s just the reality of this country, and it’s O.K. to talk about it. Situations that I take for granted are different for my black teammates, and I am learning just how deep that goes every single day.
After the Jacob Blake incident happened, our team came together and guys shared some very emotional and raw stories of their own experiences. The level of trauma that guys and their families were feeling — I mean really feeling — was just so deep. Multiple guys were saying how whenever they would leave their house to go to the facility, their parents were begging them to text them as soon as they arrived and as soon as they got home. Just to know that they were safe. That’s the level of trauma that you feel as a parent when you see these videos and you instantly think, That could be my child.
Detroit Lions/AP Images
But the one story that stuck with me so much was when Trey Flowers talked about how he copes with the anxiety of dealing with the police. Trey was explaining that if he were to ever get pulled over in his car — something that I have experienced many times without even thinking twice about it — he would roll down his window, put both hands on the wheel, and ask the officer if he would like him to step out of the car so he can handcuff him.
Just so that he is not seen as a threat.
Just so the officer can’t say, “Oh, he was reaching here, he was reaching there.…”
Just so he makes it back home.
If you’re a white person, all I’m asking you to do is to really think about that. Imagine that being your first instinct when you see police lights in your rearview mirror.
No one in America should have to feel this way.
He would roll down his window, put both hands on the wheel, and ask the officer if he would like him to step out of the car so he can handcuff him. Just so that he is not seen as a threat.
Listen, I’m not some perfect person. I’m not trying to lecture anybody. I’ve made a million mistakes. I grew up in Highland Park, Texas, which is probably one of the most privileged places in the country. It’s a place that I still love very much, but it’s a bubble. That’s just a fact. I was not exposed to a lot of diversity or different ideas growing up. I was not educated on these issues, and I probably said a bunch of stupid things when I was young that I regret. But a big part of life is about looking inside yourself and trying to evolve as a person.
And when you hear your teammates telling these stories — and getting so emotional that they’re breaking down crying — you can’t just sit there and be silent. These were the same guys who had supported me last off-season during the darkest months of my life, when my wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It’s still very hard for me to talk about, honestly. But I will just say that when you’re going through hell like that, and you’re still trying to be the quarterback of an NFL team and a guy who people can rely on, you absolutely can’t do it alone. I would come into the facility at five in the morning and try to get my work in, and then I’d leave to go be with my wife just as guys were coming in for meetings.
I remember passing my teammates in the hallway on my way out to the car, and they never once looked at me like I was letting them down. It was always, “We got you. Is there anything we can do to help? Is there anything you need? We’re praying for you.”
This is what it means to be a part of a brotherhood. You have your brother’s back when they’re in pain. You listen to them. You try to help.
I wish that we could do that as a country.
Detroit Lions/AP Images
There are still people, as sad as it is to say, who are simply not listening.
After we canceled our practice, I received text messages that made me realize just how far we have to go in this conversation, and how people just assume I feel a certain way about all of this.
Things like, “Sorry you had to miss practice, or, “Sorry you have to deal with this stuff, man.”
The fact that anyone would feel sorry for me, or be thinking about a football practice at a time like that, really speaks volumes. There are still people in this country who just want sports to be a distraction, and that’s their right. But I beg to differ.
I was drafted by the Lions in 2009, when the city was struggling due to the economic crisis. The city was bankrupt and they couldn’t even afford to tear down the abandoned buildings all over downtown. Then you see how many of Detroit’s public schools have been shut down over the last 15 years, and the unbelievable amount of rec centers that have closed, especially in low-income neighborhoods. A lot of people growing up in those communities have only known inequality and struggle for their whole lives.
Michigan has been home to me and my family for a long time now. People have welcomed us with open arms, and we’ve always embraced that love. I visit schools from time to time where maybe kids don’t have access to Wi-Fi or even to a computer nearby, and you just want people to have a chance. But the thing is, you wouldn’t know the hardship they’re experiencing based on some of the smiles on these kids’ faces. And just their attitude toward life — despite what their families are going through. And now, after all these years of economic hardship, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and these same kids have been in lockdown for months, where they have been exposed to video after video of people who look just like them having these incidents with police.
There are still people in this country who just want sports to be a distraction, and that’s their right. But I beg to differ.
I didn’t grow up like that. I didn’t have to deal with anything remotely close to what those kids have to deal with. And if you grew up the way I did, and you still happen to live in one of those bubbles where you don’t have to worry about these things, maybe you’re tired of hearing about all this. Maybe you want to pretend it doesn’t exist, because you don’t see it with your own eyes. Maybe you just want us to “shut up and play football.”
That’s your right. I probably can’t change your mind.
All I can ask you to do, as we continue through this NFL season, is to close your eyes and really put yourself in other people’s shoes. Try for a minute to put all the social media and the politics and the arguing aside, and look within yourself.
Ask yourself hard questions.
But more than anything, listen.
It’s time.
Kelly Stafford: I was wrong to criticize Colin Kaepernick for kneeling for national anthem
"When (Colin) Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, I had strong feelings," Kelly Stafford said, after announcing donation to UGAwww.freep.com
