Central Park duck’s star continues to rise
What the duck?! Central Park’s Mandarin duck has become an even bigger celebrity. Jeanne Moos has this duck redux.
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Princeton group cuts ‘The Little Mermaid’ song over ‘toxic masculinity’
PRINCETON, N.J. — An all-male a cappella group at Princeton University has pulled a Disney movie song from its act after a student newspaper column that suggested the lyrics helped promote “toxic masculinity.”
The Princeton Tigertones have performed “Kiss the Girl,” a song from “The Little Mermaid,” for years.
During performances at the Ivy League school, a female audience member would be brought onstage to decide whether or not a man from the crowd could kiss her.
Noa Wollstein, who wrote the column, claimed the song’s message is misogynistic and that too many women have been pulled on stage for unwanted encounters.
“I have seen a queer student brought on stage have to uncomfortably push away her forced male companion,” Wollstein, a sophomore from New York, wrote in her column.
“I have heard of unwilling girls being subjected to their first kisses. I have watched mothers, who have come to see their child’s performance, be pulled up to the stage only to have tension generated between them and the kid they came to support.”
In a response published in the newspaper, Tigertones’ President Wesley Brown apologized to anyone made uncomfortable by the tradition.
He said the group won’t perform the song until it can find a way to do so without offending any audience members.
Brown, a senior at Princeton, wrote the group has taken steps to try to make audience participation voluntary and consensual, but did not provide specific examples.
He said the group had tried to bring a lighthearted, youthful energy to its performance of the song but failed to ensure comfort for audience members brought on stage.
“Performances of this song have made participants uncomfortable and offended audience members, an outcome which is antithetical to our group’s mission and one that we deeply regret,” he wrote.
In “The Little Mermaid,” the song’s lyrics are sung by Sebastian the crab as he encourages Prince Eric to kiss Ariel, who can’t talk because she traded her voice in order to become human for him.
“My oh my/ Look like the boy too shy/ Ain’t gonna kiss the girl,” the crab sings with help from other sea creatures. “Ain’t that sad?/ It’s such a shame/ Too bad/ You’re gonna miss the girl.”
Other lyrics include, “Don’t be scared/ You better be prepared/ Go on and kiss the girl.”
Wollstein also criticized “The Little Mermaid” song for “unambiguously encourage men to make physical advances on women without obtaining their clear consent.”
“Removed from its cushioning context of mermaids, magic, and PG ratings, the message comes across as even more jarring,” Wollstein wrote.
Article via KDVR
Neo-Nazi group calls for assassination of ‘race-traitor’ Prince Harry over Meghan Markle marriage
Counter-terrorism police are investigating the British offshoot of a violent American neo-Nazi group which called for Prince Harry‘s assassination and claimed he is a “race traitor” for marrying Meghan Markle.
The group, known as Sonnenkrieg Division, posted a picture of the prince with a gun to his head featuring a swastika and the caption: “See ya later, race traitor!”
A BBC investigation obtained hundreds of messages sent by extremists on an online gaming server over several months, including messages sent by senior members of the Atomwaffen Division, an American neo-Nazi group linked to five murders.
A spokesperson for the North East Counter Terrorism Unit said: “We are aware of the BBC coverage last night around Sonnenkreig Division and enquiries are ongoing.”
Atomwaffen, which means “atomic weapons” in German, celebrates Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson while promoting a dystopian ideology called the “universal order”.
It has called for the overthrow of the US government through the use of terrorism and guerilla warfare in order to establish a national socialist state.
The group is also known to have trained in firearms and hand-to-hand combat.
It is estimated to have between 24 and 80 members.
Messages from the gaming server discuss the creation of the Sonnenkrieg Division, with one user describing it as “full on Universal Order” and “atomwaffen with less guns”.
In another exchange, he said “kill all police officers” and suggested they should be “raped to death”.
Article via Independent
Disneyland tower likely source of 22 cases of Legionnaires’ disease, official testifies
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A health official testified that a cooling tower that provides mist to make Disneyland visitors comfortable was the likely source for 22 cases in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak last year near the theme park.
Dr. Matthew Zahn with the Orange County Health Care Agency testified Tuesday before an appeals board judge at the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The Los Angeles Times reports Zahn said tests around the time of the outbreak showed high levels of Legionella bacteria in two Disneyland cooling towers.
He said contaminated droplets likely spread to people in the park and beyond.
Disneyland is appealing state fines, saying the outbreak’s source was not scientifically determined.
Upon questioning, Zahn said he could not be 100 percent certain that Disneyland was the source without additional testing.
Article via USAToday
Viola Davis Proclaims “I Cannot Lead With Bull—” at Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment Event
At The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment event on Wednesday, Davis was honored with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, given annually to a woman who is a trailblazer and philanthropic leader in her industry.
Viola Davis is speaking her truth, and speaking out about being a black woman in Hollywood.
At The Hollywood Reporter‘s Women in Entertainment event Wednesday, Davis was honored with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, given annually to a woman who is a trailblazer and philanthropic leader in her industry. When she took the stage, the star revealed how it can feel for her as a black actress, comparing her feelings to a scene in The Exorcist when a possessed young girl lifts up her nightgown to show “Help me” written on her stomach.
“She’s somewhere in that body but being possessed by these demons, but somewhere she musters up enough courage to say ‘Help me.’ That’s how I feel everyday in this Hollywood community and in my life, in trying to live my authentic life,” Davis told the audience at Los Angeles’ Milk Studios. “The demons aren’t gargoyles, they aren’t men with pointy noses and ears — they’re other people’s desire for your life, people who don’t see you. People who stereotype you. People who take your pathology, your complexity, everything away from you.”
The honoree continued, “How you have to water yourself down in order to meet the standards of the community who are in charge, who is not mine. That’s how it feels. And I’ll tell you the worst demon of all is a lack of purpose because let me tell you something, you do not have to know what is in the hearts of people to be a leader, but, by God, you have to know what is in the heart of the leader. And what is in my heart is I cannot lead with bullshit.”
Davis spoke about bringing change to the industry with her production company JuVee productions, which she runs with husband Julius Tennon, and aiming to tell more diverse, inclusive stories.
“We started it because I got tired of always celebrating movies that didn’t have me in it. I don’t mean me Viola, I mean me as a black woman. I was tired of seeing the expansive imagination of writers when they wrote the mess, the joy, the beauty, the femininity of white characters,” she said. “Maybe an hour into the movie you saw the obligatory black character just kind of walking into the camera, who had a name but didn’t really need to have a name because we know nothing about them.”
The actress called out The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, Leave It to Beaver and similar shows as being “a lie,” and added, “embrace the truth, that’s my biggest gift.” She also commended Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins, Ryan Coogler and Greta Gerwig for their wild spirits and for being “people who just dare, who say, ‘You cannot silence me.'”
To wrap up her speech, Davis said, “my big thing with JuVee Productions is there is no limit to how we see narratives for people of color — that there’s only so much that I’m going to kowtow to this business. My gift to anyone is that. Don’t let anybody tell you who you are. … This is my fist pump. This is my drop the mic. This is me.”
The award was presented by Lansing herself, who commended Davis as someone who “empathizes with the underserved and she gives a voice to those who are silenced. Viola has never forgotten where she came from and she pays it forward to make sure others don’t have to suffer like she did.”
Aside from her Oscar-, Emmy- and Tony-winning career, the star is a leader in the fight against child hunger, serving as an ambassador for charitable initiative Hunger Is from 2014 to 2017, which raised more than $20 million to provide meals for children across the U.S. Additionally, Davis has worked to end poverty in her hometown of Central Falls, Rhode Island, and has donated to its public library, her high school alma mater and the charter school Segue Institute for Learning. Through her partnership with the Vaseline Healing Project, Davis returned to Central Falls in 2016 to launch a free health clinic for residents unable to afford health care. The actress has also been outspoken on issues of racism, pay inequality and sexual abuse in Hollywood.
Davis joins past Lansing Award recipients Tina Fey, Barbra Streisand, Shonda Rhimes, Oprah Winfrey, Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren, Halle Berry, Jodie Foster, Glenn Close, Barbara Walters and 2017 honoree Jennifer Lawrence.
The Power 100 Women in Entertainment event presented by Lifetime is sponsored by American Airlines, Cadillac, Fiji Water, eOne, Gersh, Loyola Marymount University and SAG-AFTRA, in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and Entertainment Industry Foundation.
Article via HollywoodReporter
Kim Kardashian Was ‘Hysterically Crying’ After Kanye West Called Slavery a ‘Choice’
In a sneak peek from Sunday’s episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the reality star discusses her husband’s controversial slavery comments.
“He’s doing good; everyone thinks he’s having a breakdown,” Kardashian says after her friend Jonathan Cheban asks how the rapper is doing just days after the incident.
In May, West made headlines after implying that slavery was a “choice” for African-Americans during an interview on TMZ Live, where he also repeatedly proclaimed his love for polarizing President Donald Trump.
Accompanied by conservative commentator Candace Owens, the outspoken artist sounded off on the centuries African-Americans spent shackled in servitude.
“You hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice,” he said. “You were there for 400 years and it was all of y’all? It’s like we’re meant to be in prison. I like the word ‘prison’ because slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks…Prison is something that unites us as one race.”
Kardashian admits that she drove home “hysterically crying” to check on West.
“I rushed home, I was hysterically crying,” she recalls. “So I go home…he’s totally fine.”
But Kardashian says she wasn’t surprised to find her husband in a relaxed state amid the scandal.
“When he gets ramped up, he can’t control what he says, he can’t let it go,” she explains. “He loves being ramped up. He’s like ‘I feel powerful when I’m ramped up. I don’t want to be so suppressed. Yeah, I say crazy s— but I’ve always said crazy s—. That’s why I’m Kanye.’”
And no matter what the rapper does or says, Kardashian says she will always have West’s back.
“I always know what Kanye’s intentions are and what he’s trying to say, but I also know that they’re gonna write a headline and people are gonna assume that that’s exactly what you said and what you meant,” she says. “He didn’t say slavery is a choice, he was saying if you’re gonna still be enslaved for another 400 years then that’s some bulls—.”
Article via People
Tiffany Haddish And Awkwafina Are Rumored To Be Starring In The Next ’21 Jump Street’ Reboot
Awkwafina had the kind of star-making 2018 that hasn’t been seen since… Tiffany Haddish in 2017. The actress/comedian/rapper starred in Ocean’s 8, Dude, and Crazy Rich Asians and hosted SNL, something that Haddish, whose breakout role in Girls Trip led to critical acclaim and a spot on Time‘s 100 most influential people in the world list, accomplished last year. So, it’s only fitting that they’re both rumored to star in the female-driven 21 Jump Street reboot.
Collider reports that Haddish is being targeted to “play a teacher this time around, possibly posing as the mother of a new student — and fellow undercover cop,” while they’ve heard from “multiple sources” that Awkwafina (real name: Nora Lum) is “at the top of Sony’s list, and for months I’ve heard that executives over there are big fans of the Crazy Rich Asians actress, who has also been considered for a supporting role in Sony’s Jumanji sequel.”
It might be hard to get people excited for more 21 Jump Street — the Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum-starring buddy comedy came out in 2012, while the sequel was released two years later — but casting Haddish and Awkwafina would be a good start. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who directed both films, are expected to return as producers, while Rodney Rothman is writing and directing. “We think that there’s something fun about keeping that irreverent spirit of Jump Street, but maybe having it be told through a female undercover cop point-of-view,” Columbia Pictures president Sanford Panitch said about the script. “We’ve had enough male buddy comedies. The script is really funny and has a freshness to it.” It also means the rumored Jump Street/Men in Black crossover is dead. That’s probably for the best because it led to this:
Article via UpRoxx
Princess Love Puts Ray J on Blast About Their Sex Life: ‘It Doesn’t Even Get Up Anymore’
Princess Love seems like she’s ready for a second child, but only if her husband is ready to bat in the bedroom.
Love and Ray J. Norwood welcomed their adorable baby girl Melody Love in May and the couple said they were open to having another child. During an interview with BET’s “Raq Rants” on Dec 4., Love said she’d love to expand her family, but Norwood’s “third leg: doesn’t seem to be working too well.
“I hope so,” the model said. “But you have to have sex, too. So, it has to go hand-in-hand… We’ve done it like three times.”
Norwood and Love went tit-for-tat over his male parts and its ability to perform. Nevertheless, the “One Wish” singer said he’s more than ready to try for a second child.
“I’m always ready,” he replied. “I’ve never been limp.”
Love sharply hit back, “You’ve been limp, lately. It doesn’t even get up anymore.”
The 34-year-old mother said she’s been basking in motherhood and called it the “best feeling ever.” She couldn’t be more ecstatic than to be a mommy to her beautiful baby girl and recently celebrated baby Mel turning 6-months-old.
Love took to Instagram last week and shared a series of photos with she and her family at an amusement park for Melody’s celebration.
“We took Melody to Universal Studios for her 6-month celebration,” Love wrote. “Can’t wait to create more memories as she gets older and now I have a reason to do all of the fun kid stuff.”
Fans complimented Love and her husband on being such great parents.
“You two make great parents.”
“Awww I love this! Nothing like making memories with the ones you love the most! I’m so happy for you.”
“You and Ray are amazing parents. Melody is so beautiful and you and Ray are a beautiful couple.”
Watch more via AtlantaBlackStar
R. Kelly’s wife thinks ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ gun threat was linked to singer
R. Kelly’s ex-wife Drea says that she believes a gun threat that caused an evacuation at a New York City screening for Lifetime’s upcoming documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” was connected to the singer.
“I can’t speak to what he would or would not do because I don’t know what his mindset is right now,” she told Variety. “But I would say that I don’t believe in happenstance, I don’t believe that anything is a coincidence. I do believe that in some shape, form or fashion it is connected to him. Now, whether he orchestrated it or not, that I cannot say. But I just do not believe in coincidences. Of all the theaters, of all the nights, of all the premieres, it happened with us.”
The evacuation took place around 15 minutes into a talk that followed the screening, in which the seven accusers featured in the film were to speak about their experiences with the singer, who has been accused of sexual misconduct multiple times over the past 20 years. The venue received two anonymous, threatening calls in which the caller claimed someone had a gun in the theater; the calls were routed to local police, who suggested the evacuation.
Among the seven accusers was Drea Kelly, who has claimed in recent months that he beat and bound her, among other abuses, during their 10 years of marriage; the pair separated in 2005 and divorced the following year. The other accusers are Kitti Jones, Asante Jones, Faith Rodgers, Lizzette Martinez, Lisa Van Allen and Jerhonda Pace. Drea Kelly spoke with Variety around four hours after the evacuation; a rep for R. Kelly did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment. “Surviving R. Kelly” premieres on Lifetime Jan. 3, 2019.
What was the reaction of the other accusers?
First of all, I would have to correct you in saying “accusers”: It’s survivors. But we were all blindsided. It’s a little disheartening, but at the same time there’s a little victory behind it. And what I mean by that is, you feel like after all the pain — reliving the memories, dealing with the PTSD, pouring your soul out into this documentary to help save lives — you kind of feel like this is my night of vindication, people are going to hear about it… and then the disappointment of feeling the rug has been pulled out from under you.
But I will say that whomever is behind it and whatever their goal was, if they thought it was something that was going to dismantle us or crush us in any way it actually did the opposite. All they did is unite even more than we already were, and all they did was let us know that we are doing a mighty work and we will not be stopped.
Have fans made threats that were this extreme before?
I don’t know of any superfans who have done things like this, but you just have to look at the temperature of the world right now — the craziness and the killings. Where humanity is right now, I don’t put anything past anybody.
It’s more about society. At the end of the day we’re women of color. This would not be happening if I was a 17, 18, 25 or 40-year-old Caucasian woman in America. He would not have gotten more than one chance to do this.
If all or even some of the accusations are true, how does he get away with it?
I can’t speak to that because I’m not in his camp, but when you have a team of enablers anything is possible. He is one person: he doesn’t have a doppelganger, he hasn’t been cloned, so he is not working alone. If he’s on the basketball court then we also need to look at the man who’s booking the hotel rooms; if he’s on the stage singing we have to look at the person who’s driving the bus. It’s a team that’s helping facilitate and keep him sick and make more victims.
What happens next?
I know some people might think a situation like being evacuated is the worst thing that could ever happen, but this is the best thing that could happen to us. We are united and we’re not going anywhere. That documentary was not done in vain. And now people will want to know, “What was it they did not want to be seen?”
Article via FoxNews
Reginae Carter Gets Body-shamed After Sharing Pictures From Her Mexico Birthday Trip
Living it up! Reginae Carter had the best time in Mexico for her 20th birthday with her mother, Toya Wright, and her friends, and now she is sharing tons of photos of her epic parties and outings on social media.
Lil Wayne’s daughter also posted a few sexy snaps where she is flaunting her weight loss in gorgeous bikinis.
This supporter defended Toya’s daughter and revealed: “Looking gorgeous and losing weight. Ok, you really went in under her mf page. She tryna enjoy her birthday, and your bitter friends wants to spread negativity. Wtf do you care how old she looks see her under your pics popping? leave Nae alone she young and living her life. I m tired of seeing people talk about her it’s sickening. Damn she make y’all mad no matter what she do. I support Nae forget these haters !!!! Shine Chocolate.”
This person explained: “U pretty, but u need to gain some weight sis you’re looking really skinny out here.”
Article via CelebrityInsider