Columbia University Students Kick SNL Comedian Nimesh Patel Off Stage For Making Unsafe Jokes
Event organizers apologize for “the hurt his words caused members of the community.”
Nimesh Patel, a comedian and writer for Saturday Night Live, was yanked from the stage in the midst of his routine at Columbia University on Friday after students decided his material was homophobic, racist, and making them feel unsafe.
Columbia’s Asian American Alliance (AAA) had invited Patel to perform during the group’s annual charity event, “Cultureshock: Reclaim,” a title that sounds a little too exciting and provocative, honestly, given the students’ apparent need for maximum security and comfort.
AAA is run by students, which means it was their decision to pull Patel from the stage after he made jokes that they deemed racist and homophobic, according to The Columbia Daily Spectator. I emailed AAA to ask what exactly Patel said that was so offensive; the group sent me a statement that did not clarify matters.
The Spectator, though, lists one of the allegedly inappropriate jokes:
During the event, Patel’s performance featured commentary on his experience living in a diverse area of New York City—including a joke about a gay, black man in his neighborhood—which AAA officials deemed inappropriate. Patel joked that being gay cannot be a choice because “no one looks in the mirror and thinks, ‘this black thing is too easy, let me just add another thing to it.'”
The joke acknowledges that black people and gay people suffer oppression, and that a person who is both gay and black suffers “stacked” oppression. This joke seems almost perfectly “intersectional.”
Intersectionality, the operarting system of the modern left, requires everyone to recognize that different forms of oppression are interrelated, and that they stack. The problem for Patel, however, is that intersectionality also recognizes the oppressed as the sole experts on their own oppression. Thus Patel should not have commented on matters relating to black people or gay people, since he is neither gay nor black.
“if you’re Black and gay, you don’t need a straight South Asian guy to point out that your life is hard because you’re Black and gay,” wrote a student, Liberty Martin, in an op-ed. Martin accused Patel of “blatant anti-blackness,” with reference to the above joke, specifically. Even though the joke reflects a sentiment that gay and black students want everyone to recognize as reality—that life as a gay, black student is hard—the fact that it was made by an Asian guy means it’s actually evidence of anti-black bias. (It doesn’t have to make sense, you just have to obey.)
Perhaps Patel went on to say actually insensitive things—why the easily offended would attend any comedy show, ever, is fodder for another discussion—but if this joke is representative of his set, the outrage looks that much more ridiculous.
Patel made it 30 minutes before organizers cut off the routine. According to The Spectator:
Patel pushed back on the officials’ remarks, and said that while he stood in solidarity with Asian American identities, none of his remarks were offensive, and he was exposing the audience to ideas that would be found “in the real world.” Before he could finish, Patel’s microphone was cut from off-stage, and he proceeded to leave.
AAA released a statement on Facebook condemning Patel’s remarks, which “ran counter to the inclusive spirit and integrity of CultureSHOCK.” They apologized for inviting Patel, and for “the hurt his words caused members of the community.”
Many students in the audience agreed with AAA’s decision to end the event prematurely. One told the student newspaper that Patel’s jokes “contradicted the sensitive nature of the event.” Another had this to say:
“I really dislike when people who are older say that our generation needs to be exposed to the real world. Obviously the world is not a safe space but just accepting that it’s not and continuing to perpetuate the un-safeness of it… is saying that it can’t be changed,” said Jao. “When older generations say you need to stop being so sensitive, it’s like undermining what our generation is trying to do in accepting others and making it safer.”
When things like this happen, it’s hard to deny that some college campuses have a student fragility problem.
Article via Reason
Cardi B Shows Curves in Body Painted Tiger Look After Saying She’s ‘Depressed’ Over Weight Loss
Cardi B got in touch with her wild side.
The “Money” rapper, 26, sported an eye-catching tiger-inspired look as she frolicked and twerked in the ocean on the set of a new music video shoot. The star got decked out in an orange bra and thong and appeared to airbrush paint her entire body (from head-to-toe!) orange with black tiger stripes. On her back, detailed tiger eyes were painted on while further down on her butt, the look was completed with the whiskers and mouth.
The paint used on Cardi’s body was so waterproof, not one bit of the body art smudged as the star got down in the ocean.
Cardi’s revealing look comes nearly three weeks after the rapper opened up in an Instagram live about feeling “depressed” about losing too much weight after giving birth to her first child, daughter Kulture Kiari, in July.
“I’ve been very depressed because I cannot stop losing weight,” Cardi said. “And it’s so crazy because when I first gave birth, I did everything to lose my baby weight. I was drinking Teami [weight loss tea] so it could curb my appetite and now that I lost all the baby weight I don’t like looking too skinny.”
The Bronx-born star added that she’s never liked looking thin.
“I used to look too skinny as a teenager and I used to hate it and I hate it now,” she said. “It’s been really depressing me, making me sad. My weight. You know what I’m saying.”
However, in August one month after welcoming her daughter, Cardi revealed she wanted to get liposuction to remove some extra weight and loose skin around her stomach.
“I still feel like I got a lot of love handles right here,” she said in another Instagram Live video, as she pulled on her tummy. “It’s not much but it’s like — I’m used to having, like, a real tight stomach.”
She’s also taken a liking to using duct tape to lift up her breasts and make them look extra perky for red carpet appearances post-pregnancy.
“Oh this s— is crazy. I have never done this s— in my life but f— it. I have to f—ing tape my titties up because son! Giving birth and s—, like my titties was already like a little low, low you know what I’m saying? Cause I got my tits done when I was 19 and I never wore a bra and s— so, you know what I’m saying?” Cardi said in a very honest sentiment to her followers on her Instagram Story.
“When I was pregnant my s— was looking nice though, nice. I was like, ‘Oh s—!’ Now though? Now Kulture did me filthy!” she continued, jokingly blaming daughter Kulture for making her chest saggier.
And then she hinted that she just might go under the knife later this year to get a second breast augmentation surgery so her chest would look more lifted.
“I don’t give a f—. If y’all mothaf—ers see me gone in November, December I’m getting my tits done! I don’t give a f—,” Cardi said. “Matter of fact, I’m not even gonna call it surgery. I’m just gonna say a titty renovation cause I gotta renovate these s—s!”
Article via People
Controversial Gene Editing Physicist Missing
A Chinese doctor recently claimed he edited the CRISPR gene on a fetus, an illegal act. Now, he’s missing…
Soros-founded university says it has been kicked out of Hungary as an autocrat tightens his grip
BERLIN — An American university established a quarter-century ago to educate a new generation of leaders and scholars after communism’s collapse in Central and Eastern Europe said Monday it has been kicked out of its home in Hungary.
The ejection marked one of the surest signals to date of autocracy’s return to the country, and the region, after decades of relative freedom. It is the first time a university has been forced out of an European Union nation.
Central European University has long been considered among the world’s finest graduate schools, attracting students from across the globe, and it is widely seen as the best in Hungary.
But the university, which was founded by Hungarian American financier George Soros, has also been the target for nearly two years of a right-wing government that has systematically consolidated control and marginalized dissent.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been particularly ruthless in attacking anything associated with Soros, whose open and liberal philosophy is the antithesis of the illiberal, nationalist and nativist view celebrated by Orban.
The university said Monday it was left with no choice but to move its primary campus to Vienna next year after Orban’s government refused to acknowledge an agreement that would enable the school to continue to admit new students in Budapest.
“Arbitrary eviction of a reputable university is a flagrant violation of academic freedom,” the university said in announcing the move. “It is a dark day for Europe and a dark day for Hungary.
The university, which has dual accreditation in Hungary and the United States, has enjoyed robust, bipartisan backing in Congress, where members expressed concern about the threat to academic freedom and the precedent of a U.S. institution being kicked out by an American ally.
Despite the Soros affiliation, CEU was also, for a time, even defended by the Trump administration. President Trump’s ambassador arrived in Budapest this summer on a mission, he said, to broker an agreement and keep CEU in the country.
But last week, after it became clear there would be no deal, Ambassador David B. Cornstein broke with previous U.S. policy on the matter. In an interview with The Washington Post, he refused to criticize Orban — whom he described as his “friend” — and pinned the blame on Soros, who he said had been insufficiently acquiescent to the government.
Cornstein — an 80-year-old New Yorker who made his fortune in the jewelry, gambling and telemarketing businesses and is a close friend of Trump’s — compared the university’s plight to his own experience selling jewelry at department stores.
“I was a guest in another guy’s store,” he said. “The university is in another country. It would pay to work with the government.”
He also minimized the university’s importance — comparing its 1,500 students unfavorably with what he described as much larger campuses at Ohio State and Michigan — and appeared baffled by why the school’s fate had generated wider interest.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with academic freedom,” he said.
The government’s campaign against CEU began in early 2017, soon after Trump’s inauguration. Legislation passed that spring by the Hungarian parliament appeared to specifically target the university by requiring all foreign-based school to have academic programs in their home countries.
CEU created a program at Bard College, in New York, and it was certified by state authorities. But the Hungarian government did not acknowledge the arrangement, and last month government officials signaled that they never would.
With the legislation set to take effect on Jan. 1, university leaders said they were forced to shift to Vienna to continue admitting new students.
“The government has done an injustice toward its own citizens, the hundreds of Hungarians who work and study at CEU, and thousands of Hungarian alumni and their families,” said Michael Ignatieff, the university’s president, in a statement released Monday.
Hungarian government officials have said the university has not complied with all aspects of the law, though they have declined to spell out publicly exactly how.
Zoltan Kovacs, a senior Hungarian official, said in an interview that he believes the university’s decision to move is a bluff and that it will ultimately back down.
“CEU is going to remain,” said Kovacs, who is a CEU alumnus.
Outside the Hungarian Parliament last week, students staged a last-ditch attempt to force the government to change its mind. They erected white canvas tents, and held a “teach-in” in which professors conducted their classes round-the-clock in the freezing cold of late fall in Hungary.
Zalan Jakab, a 23-year-old Hungarian who was among the students taking part, said in his home region, the vast majority of people hear little about the university beyond government propaganda and regard CEU “as an evil place.”
The protest, he said, was designed to show the public the true face of a school that is “the top of the league in Hungary in terms of educational quality.”
Ultimately, though, it was not enough to make a difference in the university’s fate.
“It’s a big loss,” said Jakab, who is studying political science. “I feel ashamed that my government has done this.”
Article via The Washington Post
Egyptian actress could face 5 years in prison for wearing revealing dress
Rania Youssef appeared at the closing ceremony of a film festival in Cairo wearing a see-through dress that revealed the entirety of her legs.
CAIRO — An Egyptian actress is facing trial next month charged with public obscenity after she showed up at the closing ceremony of a film festival in Cairo wearing a see-through dress that revealed the entirety of her legs.
Rania Youssef’s trial, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 12, follows a complaint to the chief prosecutor by a group of lawyers against the young actress.
Egypt is a mostly conservative country with a Muslim majority. The Arab country of 100 million people has retained vestiges of secularism despite decades of growing religious conservatism, but Youssef’s case serves as a reminder that Islamic fundamentalism continues to have a voice five years after an Islamist president was ousted by the military amid mass protests against his rule.
Youssef, who is in her 30s, faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
Article via NBCNews
A Young Offset Once Appeared In A Whitney Houston Music Video
Offset recently revealed a photo that showed that he was in show business way before he joined his best-selling group Migos.
The rapper shared a photo of his younger self from the set of Whitney Houston’s video for her 2002 single ‘Whatchulookinat’ on Instagram. The song was featured on the late singer’s fifth studio album, Just Whitney.
“I been doing this entertainment, God my witness – which one is me?” he captioned the picture. In the video, a young Offset appears to be pop-locking in front of the legend.
A whole young Offset was really pop locking in Whitney Houston’s music video??? I am dead at how cute that is ffs 😂 https://t.co/F1qTiFuELO
— 𝕹𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖌𝖆 (@norizzlepie) November 30, 2018
In a New York Times profile, it was confirmed that Offset also appeared in a music video for TLC.
Article via Essence
Neil deGrasse Tyson Denies Sexual Misconduct Allegations
“Accusations can damage a reputation and a marriage. Sometimes irreversibly,” astrophysicist wrote. “I see myself as loving husband and as a public servant”
Neil deGrasse Tyson has denied accusations of sexual misconduct that three women brought forward in late November. “Accusations can damage a reputation and a marriage. Sometimes irreversibly,” the famous astrophysicist wrote in a lengthy Facebook post titled “On Being Accused,” disputing the claims of inappropriate behavior – dating from 1984 to summer 2018 – first reported by spirituality website Patheos. “I see myself as loving husband and as a public servant – a scientist and educator who serves at the will of the public.”
Katelyn N. Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, told Patheos that Tyson engaged in “uncomfortable and creepy” behavior during a 2009 party after a gathering of the American Astronomical Society. Dr. Allers has a tattoo of the solar system on her arm, and she claims Tyson was “obsessed” with whether or not it included Pluto: “He looked for Pluto, and followed the tattoo into my dress,” she told the site.
Tyson, in his note, wrote that it was “never his intent” to make her uncomfortable, emphasizing, “I can surely be more sensitive to people’s personal space, even in the midst of my planetary enthusiasm.” “While I don’t explicitly remember searching for Pluto at the top of her shoulder, it is surely something I would have done in that situation,” he wrote. “As we all know, I have professional history with the demotion of Pluto, which had occurred officially just three years earlier. So whether people include it or not in their tattoos is of great interest to me.”
Tyson, who hosted the Fox/National Geographic science documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, also rejected the description of their encounter. “I was reported to have ‘groped’ her by searching ‘up her dress,’ when this was simply a search under the covered part of her shoulder of the sleeveless dress,” he said.
Another accuser, Ashley Watson, told Patheos that she quit her position as Tyson’s production assistant this past summer after he tried to pressure her into sex. She allegedly visited his house, where he offered an “awkward and incredibly intimate handshake” and told her, “I want you to know that I want to hug you so bad right now, but I know that if I do I’ll just want more.”
On Facebook, Tyson described inviting Watson over to his home for wine and cheese, noting that she later told him she was “creeped out” and interpreted the invite as a seduction attempt. He described the handshake as “special,” writing, “I learned [it] from a Native elder on reservation land at the edge of the Grand Canyon. You extend your thumb forward during the handshake to feel the other person’s vital spirit energy – the pulse.” He wrote that his hug comment was “clumsily declared,” noting, “My intent was to express restrained but genuine affection.”
The third woman, Tchiya Amet, alleged Tyson of raping her in 1984 while they were attending the University of Texas as graduate students. She claimed she blacked out after Tyson gave her water, and then woke up naked on his bed; when she awoke, she claimed he began to have sex with her. She filed a police report in 2014 – which was not investigated because of the state’s 10-year statute of limitations on sexual assault charges – and has written multiple blog posts about the encounter in the years since.
Tyson disputed the claim, adding that the pair briefly dated but didn’t have “chemistry.” “According to her blog posts, the drug and rape allegation comes from an assumption of what happened to her during a night that she cannot remember,” he wrote. “It is as though a false memory had been implanted, which, because it never actually happened, had to be remembered as an evening she doesn’t remember.”
On Friday, Fox Broadcasting and National Geographic announced they will investigate the allegations; the next day, New York’s American Museum of Natural History, where the astrophysicist directs the Hayden Planetarium, said it is also investigating, The New York Times reports.
“In any claim, evidence matters,” Tyson wrote on Facebook. “Evidence always matters. But what happens when it’s just one person’s word against another’s, and the stories don’t agree? That’s when people tend to pass judgment on who is more credible than whom. And that’s when an impartial investigation can best serve the truth – and would have my full cooperation to do so.”
Article via RollingStone
After Posting a Sex Tape Featuring an Underage Girl, Tekashi 6ix9ine to be Re-Sentenced
According to Page Six, it looks like rainbow-haired rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine will possibly be re-sentenced to time served next week for posting a video online that features a 13-year-old girl engaged in a sexual act.
The rapper, born Daniel Hernandez, was not in attendance during the closed-door conference Friday in which Justice Felicia Mennin, his defense lawyer, and prosecutors made the decision.
Previously, Mennin sentenced the controversial artist to four years probation and 1,000 hours of community service for the 2015 charge, despite prosecutors insisting on one to three years behind bars. But since he’s being held without bail on new federal charges, he can’t be on probation. Hence, being given time served.
Since being indicted on racketeering and firearm charges last month, he’s been in federal custody.
Article via TheRoot
Radio Station Removes ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ From Rotation During #MeToo Peak
A radio station in Cleveland decided to remove “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” from it’s Christmas playlist after complaints from a listener deeming the tune inappropriate.
The song, written in 1944, details a conversation between a woman who is trying to leave a man’s home, and the man who won’t let her due to the blizzard outside. According to FOX8, a listener called WDOK 102.1 to say that the song doesn’t align with the morals of the growing #MeToo movement.
“People might say, ‘Oh, enough with that #MeToo,’ but if you really put that aside and listen to the lyrics, it’s not something I would want my daughter to be in that kind of a situation,” WDOK’s midday host Desiray told FOX8. “The tune might be catchy, but let’s maybe not promote that sort of an idea.”
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” includes lyrics such as, “I simply must go/But baby it’s cold outside/The answer is no/But baby it’s cold outside.” Listen to the full tune below.
Article via: Billboard