CEO's Refuse to Hire Hamas-Supporting Harvard Students, Chicago Youth Football Homeless Due to Migrant Overflow, Will Smith's "Slap" Hurts Your Hometown (The Five for 10/13/23)
Plus, Jason Isbell claims "Rich Men North of Richmond" shouldn't exist, Chris Evans (Captain America) and Emily Blunt's new movie tells the true tale of Opioid hustlers.
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter.
I schedule this email early, so I hope and pray that nothing happens during the proclaimed “Day of Jihad.” Police presence has been dramatically increased today in Portland, Atlanta, New York and LA, as well as several other major metropolitan hubs across the country.
If something happens between the early morning hours when I finished this issue, and when it delivers (12pm CST), I will not be able to react to breaking news.
On a personal note just got word this morning that my wife’s cousins in Israel have survived the Hamas attacks and rocket fire. Pray for civilian safety, and that a world war will be averted.
It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Well, this changed quick. You know those pro-terrorism students at Harvard? They may have a bit of a tough time finding a job.
Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman and several other business leaders are demanding Harvard University release the names of students whose organizations signed on to a letter blaming solely Israel for the deadly attacks by Hamas.
The CEOs want the students blacklisted. But some of those students have since distanced themselves from the letter.
“One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,” Ackman said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
If the members support the letter, the names of the signatories “should be made public so their views are publicly known,” Ackman said. The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management said he wanted to ensure his company and others don’t “inadvertently hire” any students belonging to Harvard groups that signed the letter.
Following a backlash to the statement, some of the student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements.
Multiple other business leaders, including the CEOs of shopping club FabFitFun, health tech startup EasyHealth and Dovehill Capital Management supported the call from Ackman to name the students.
“I would like to know so I know never to hire these people,” Jonathan Neman, CEO of restaurant chain Sweetgreen, said on X.
Allegedly, the CEO group are contemplating not hiring ANY Harvard grads at their respective companies.
I’m torn on this issue. On one hand, I spent the better part of my career with my head down, seeing how political Conservatives were metaphorically spat upon and passed over for opportunities in a variety of sectors including: mainstream media (duh), corporate PR, venture-backed startups, higher ed (duh) and even Christian nonprofits (the children’s ministry Awana, which I previously worked for, threatened to sue the satire site the Babylon Bee over a comedy piece about Donald Trump being in their program). Part of me isn’t bothered that a group of mostly privilaged rich kids will endure a glimmer of the same treatment because they cheered on the slaughter of Jews.
On the other, doxing college students seems a bridge too far, especially in a world where more and more people are unhinged.
Ultimately, it’s not for me to decide. Although I may have some personal sympathy for young adults who may regret their actions, the Harvard students who clapped for Hamas terrorists parachuting in and slaughtering music festival attendees royally pissed off the market.
The market just responded.
[two]
Anger erupted both in Chicago and online after a low income youth football lost their facilities, which are being tuned into a shelter for illegal migrants. Video of community support for the team went viral after being posted to Twitter.
The Windy City Dolphins Youth Football Team has been a part of the West Side community for three decades, but they are unsure of where their home will be once Amundsen Park is converted into a migrant shelter.
The City of Chicago is planning to move 200 migrants to the fieldhouse found at Amundsen Park, for up to six months, as City officials try to reduce the burden felt by the Chicago Police Department and their police stations, who are currently housing thousands of migrants shipped to Chicago from the United States’ southern border.
Residents in the Galewood neighborhood booed the idea at a meeting earlier this week, upset they weren’t consulted on the plan.
“This is all we have,” said Darryl Adams, coach of the Windy City Dolphins. “I’m not sure if it’s going to displace our kids … lose kids to the streets.”
We’re watching the world change in real time here. I’m not one to predict the future, so I don’t know HOW this will shake out, but when more people in the heart of America are feeling the resource pinch from the migrant crisis, public opinion is bound to shift.
[three]
A pair of country artists, both known for left-wing political activism, have come out against Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” the anthem that took a blue collar worker to superstar in the span of a week.
Whiskeyriff first reported on this.
Former country artist Marin Morris (who “left the genre” and moved to pop last month in political protest…but nobody much noticed or cared) couldn’t pinpoint anything in particular, but is still big mad:
“Before I heard the lyrics, I was like ‘This guy can sing his ass off.’
I really do love that type of sound. I like bluegrass, I grew up listening to a lot of that, and anything with a soulful tinge, I’m down for.
I think it was the second verse that threw me for a loop. Plot twist. I don’t have a ton of opinion on it, but I did think it was crazy and it was just kind of compounded with the ‘Small Town’ thing.”
Morris is referring to another viral hit of the summer, Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” which is a different animal all together. Anthony has pushed back on any political alignment, insisting on keeping his blockbuster song a working class anthem free of ties to candidates or parties. (Check out this NY Times article for more). Meanwhile, Aldean was clearly playing to a Conservative audience.
Also, Jason Aldean is terrible at every aspect of being an artist. He mumble sings, doesn’t write well, and has to put an echo on his microphone during live shows to cover his thin vocals. If you’re about to respond with “but he has fans,” yup, so does White Castle. Mass consumption of a thing does not prove it’s quality.
Americana A-lister Jason Isbell ratcheted the rhetoric up several notches, pushing the idea that one of the year’s biggest songs shouldn’t have been released:
“Buddy, there’s a reason you just don’t jump in the f*cking pool.
There’s something there. But that’s the song you should have written when you were 16, and then, when you were 19, you should have rewritten it without the part about hating people on welfare.
And then when you are 20 you throw the whole thing out and write another song.”
Any commentary I could provide would be sub-par to Whiskeyriff’s rebutal, so I’ll just close out this story with a quote:
Now obviously there’s no denying that Isbell is one of the most talented songwriters in country music.
But there’s also no denying that Anthony’s song has clearly resonated with listeners: It currently has more streams on Spotify than all but one of Isbell’s songs, and more streams than all of his solo songs from albums like Southeastern, including his massive hit “Cover Me Up,” which currently has 65 million streams, about 20 million behind “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
Anthony also currently has nearly 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
Hard to argue that a song that’s been streamed that many times should have been scrapped altogether…even if you disagree with what he’s saying.
[four]
Ugh. I hate covering celebrity crap, but this is worth a deep dive.
Jada Pinkett Smith, who is somehow one of the most insane people in the mentally unstable entertainment industry, announced that she’s been separated from husband Will Smith for seven years.
Even The View realized was probably a desperate attempt to sell copies of her memoir.
Will famously slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, which canceled upcoming Smith movies Bad Boys 4, Netflix’s Bright 2, and several projects in pre-production. Will Smith is rich, but the rank-and-file who work on his movies are not…so this cost hundreds of everyday people their jobs.
Now a theory has surfaced online that the cause of the slap, a joke about Jada’s shaved head, is more complex than we first imagined. Alopecia is permanent, but Pinkett has regrown a full head of hair…which means that Jada may have been forced to shave her head due to a botched cosmetic operation. Smith’s “righteous anger” play only held a bit of public sympathy when it seemed like he was responding to an insult to a condition his wife couldn’t control…neither of which appear to be true.
Pinkett isn’t (really) his wife, and she almost certainly never had alopecia, barring a miraculous recovery.
This is notable for two reasons:
A). The public does seem to finally be turning sour on Pinkett’s constant attempts to become a victim in order to get attention, in the same way Americans eventually got tired of, and stopped believing, Prince Harry and Megan Markle.
but,
B). We’ll probably just believe the next famous person who claims they’re lives are terrible, despite immense wealth and people clapping for them doing their pretend-jobs.
This focus, in turn, diverts the public’s focus from the issues where people actually live. So, the cost of Jada Pinkett Smith’s fame is…things being a little worse where you live, due to lack of attention.
And that’s the true price of “The Slap.”
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
I really hated “scripted sports” (no offense to those who love Pro Wrestling), so my excitement over The Iron Claw is quite suprising. Zach Efron (High School Musical, The Greatest Showman) puts on a LOT of muscle (and sports a terrible haircut) for this real life family saga…and it’s always a delight to see Lilly James (Baby Driver) who really should be getting more and better roles, for her talent.
In theaters 12/22…this one may be a huge hit.
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer, Mary Poppins), Chris Evans (Captain America, Avengers Endgame) and Andy Garcia (The Untouchables, Oceans 11) lead the cast for Pain Hustlers, about the pharmaceutical companies pushing opioids.
I’m often leery of Netflix original movies because…uhh…terrible track record. But, this one looks solid. We’ll find out 10/27.
Kevin Costner (Yellowstone) is looking to replicate his success as an award winning actor/director, a dual role he played in Open Range as well as the Oscar winning Dances with Wolves.
This new project is a four film saga set in the American west. Working on such an ambitious project is essentially what ended Yellowstone, so hopefully Horizon stacks up. This first teaser reveals almost nothing… other than it's a Western and that we get the first two movies next summer.
We’ll see where this one goes. Black Cake combines the murder mystery genre with a family drama. I’m way more into the former than the latter. But it is based on a beloved novel…so, maybe?
Streaming movies are low-risk by definition, and Hulu has a decent track record with original films, so this one may be worth a 20 minute look to see if it’s worth watching the whole thing. Hitting the streamer 11/01.
NEW MUSIC
NEEDTOBREATHE have an excellent track record for consistently great songwriting, and they keep that streak going on their notable new track with Judah & the Lion.
If you’re a fan of The Gaslight Anthem, Bouncing Souls or any other 2000’s/2010’s punk outfits, you have to check out Some of it was True from The Mezingers. I’m not going to name a record in my top 5 for 2023 on release day…so I’ll just say it’s in the running for one of my favorites this year.
Until the next one,
-sth