Girls Trip/Night School Actress Molested Children?, This Episode Canceled SNL?, Winnie the Pooh Goes Horror, Illegal FIle Sharing Software Napster at 20 (The Five for 09/03/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
This one is a bit late…but hey, maybe you’ll find something new to listen to/watch for your Labor Day.
Enjoy the holiday.
Let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Win Butler of Arcade Fire got into hot water this week over accusations of sexual misconduct.
Numerous people who spoke with Pitchfork in recent months say that Win Butler’s virtuous public reputation is not entirely in line with his offstage behavior. Three women made allegations of sexual interactions with Butler that they came to feel were inappropriate given the gaps in age, power dynamics, and context in which they occurred. All three women were devoted Arcade Fire fans between the ages of 18 and 23 at the start of their interactions with Butler, which took place during overlapping periods from 2016 to 2020, when he was between 36 and 39.
I mean…yeah.
At 18-23, you’re an adult, but you’re still in the stage my friend Haydn Shaw calls emerging adulthood (see his Ted Talk for more on that).
I’m 39. If one of my 39 year old friends started dating an 18 year old…I probably wouldn’t even give him fair warning…just punch him in the face out of the blue.
“While these relationships were all consensual, I am very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behavior,” he wrote. “As I look to the future, I am continuing to learn from my mistakes and working hard to become a better person, someone my son can be proud of. [...] I’m sorry I wasn’t more aware and tuned in to the effect I have on people - I fucked up, and while not an excuse, I will continue to look forward and heal what can be healed, and learn from past experiences.”
Ummm…nah. You’re a literal rockstar…unless you have an undiagnosed and/or hidden mental issue, you knew.
A statement from Butle’s wife and bandmate Regine Chassagne:
Win is my soulmate, my songwriting partner, my husband, the father of my beautiful boy. He has been my partner in life and in music for 20 years. And for all of the love in our lives, I have also watched him suffer through immense pain. I have stood by him because I know he is a good man who cares about this world, our band, his fans, friends, and our family. I’ve known Win since before we were “famous,” when we were just ordinary college students. I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did. He has lost his way and he has found his way back. I love him and love the life we have created together.
What pain?
The dude is both very rich and very famous. He is one of the most lauded artists in this century.
And that “love” in your lives…yeah, that was coming from a bunch of groupie chicks.
I’m a big fan of separating the art from the artist, which is what I’ll do here.
Celebs are…pretty much like this. Self inflated, unable to admit wrongdoing and always rushing to a victim mentality.
That being said, Arcade Fire’s latest record still slaps. You don’t have to like a person to realize they write great songs and communicate valuable ideas.
But count me out for seeing Arcade Fire live. They can have my pennies for streaming, but not my dollars for tickets.
[two]
President Biden made a rather extreme set of statements, backlit by blood red lighting and flanked by the military on Thursday night.
Even the left-leaning Washington Post throught it went way too far.
From MSN (Since WaPo is paywalled):
The piece, however, noted that Biden faced a challenge on getting the tone of his speech right. It stated, "The difficult, perhaps insurmountable, challenge that Mr. Biden confronted — just eight weeks before midterm elections that will determine the future course of his presidency — was how to convey the message of defending democracy in a way that summons patriotism rather than partisanship."
Though the board admitted Biden failed here, writing, "Here, as much as we agree with the president about the urgency of the issue, is where he fell short, too often sounding more like a Democrat than a democrat."
The optics were…well, have a look for yourself.
Just last week, I condemned the open carry of weapons, which is almost always an intimidation tactic.
Walking out for a speech naming half of America the enemy, while flanked by the actual military, is open carry x 1 billion.
[three]
At the 20th anniversary of the death of of Napster, the illegal music sharing software, The Guardian looks back at how many (including me) claim the service elevated their tastes and opened up the musical world.
Like most teenagers at the time, especially those who grew up without much money, I didn’t think twice about undercutting multimillionaire Lars Ulrich for his share of £10.99 for a copy of Master of Puppets. The real hit was taken by the labels, which is why many artists – some for political reasons, others seeing it as a canny PR move to boost their countercultural clout – sided with Napster. Wyclef Jean said he wanted his music to be heard regardless of how, Limp Bizkit announced a Napster-sponsored free tour in summer 2000 and Public Enemy’s Chuck D saw Napster as part of a “war” that saw people clawing the power back from the industry. In a speech to the Digital Hollywood Online Entertainment Conference in May 2000, Courtney Love stated that the “real pirates” were “major label recording contracts” that trap artists in a cycle of debt, promotion and lack of ownership.
It’s fair to say that for most users it wasn’t a question of industry ethics. Napster was beloved mainly by teenagers and students with the internet at their fingertips and a curiosity that far outstripped their financial means. Faced with the option to discover anything in the world free of charge, it seemed nonsensical to spend your own money buying a handful of CDs a year based on one or two singles you’d heard on MTV.
Napster died (and probably should have), but the software broke the music industry—in the best possible way. The days of record labels charging $18 for a CD with only 2-3 good songs on it ended, and music went digital.
The music industry resisted going digital, until it was forced to.
Now, we can pay for a subscription and discover as much as we want.
In 2002, that would have sounded like heaven to me.
I doubt the music industry would have ever gone there if Napster hadn’t changed the world.
[four]
Tiffany Haddish, best known for the films Girls Trip and Night School, has been accused of molesting children.
A woman and her younger brother have accused comedians Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears in a new lawsuit of grooming them when they were children and coercing them into filming sexually explicit skits.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday by siblings identified only as Jane Doe, now 22, and John Doe, who was born in 2007. Jane, who is John's legal guardian, is the plaintiff in the lawsuit both individually and on her young brother's behalf.
The lawsuit alleges that Haddish and Spears coerced the siblings when they were children to take part in sexually explicit skits in separate incidents, which they say "stole the youth of a 7-year-old child and a 14-year-old child."
One of the biggest debates is whether or not "OK Groomer” is a slur or a description of an increasing phenomenon of sexualizing children.
The evidence continues to tip towards the latter…
[five]
As always, let's head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup…
The upcoming Lady in the Lake starring Natalie Portman (Star Wars I-III, Black Swan), Lupita N’Yongo (Black Panther, Avengers: Endgame) and Moses Ingram (Obi-Wan Kenobi) should be in the news for an all star cast and excellent subject material (the show is based on a true crime book set in the 1960’s).
Instead, the upcoming Apple TV+ streamer is in the news because…locals in Baltimore shut down streaming after threatening the cast and crew with extortion and murder.
At this point, it’s assumed that Saturday Night Live will end in 2024, as the show has hit a ratings skid and creator Lorn Michaels is retiring.
According to former cast member (and frequent Adam Sandler collaborator) Rob Schneider, the show lost cultural relevance after the election of Donald Trump…when Kate McKinnon sang Leonoard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in character as Hillary Clinton.
“When Hillary Clinton lost — which is understandable why she lost. She’s not exactly the most logical person in the room. And then when Kate McKinnon went out there on Saturday Night Live in the cold opening and all that, and she’s dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing ‘Hallelujah.’ I literally prayed, ‘please have a joke at the end. Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.’ And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s over. It’s not gonna come back.’”
Schneider seems pretty dead on there…as my own viewership started to fade (after decades as a raving SNL fan) when I realized the show was no longer doing the kind of dangerous comedy the could skewer anybody.
Before seeing the trailer, I would have guessed there was a 0% chance I would want to watch a Weird Al Yankovic biopic…but things are not as they seem.
From the trailer…it looks like this isn’t a biographical film of the famous parody artist…but a running joke on music biopics.
In other words, this stuff (probably, mostly) didn’t happen…it’s all for laughs.
The only problem…it appears you need to own a ROKU streaming stick to watch it, and I’m not going to run out and buy one of those to watch a single movie.
A high profile documentary on outlaw country is on the way. They Called Us Outlaws: Cosmic Cowboys, Honky Tonk Heroes, and the Rise of Renegade Troubadours will cover the genre over a whopping 12 hours.
The doc will feature over 90 interviews: Eric Church, Margo Price, actor and Austin resident Matthew McConaughey, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, and dozens more.
No word on distribution or release date yet, but this will probably hit Netflix, Prime Video or a similar platform.
The much talked about Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey trailer has dropped, due to the Intelectual Property aging into public domain access.
I’m not much of a horror fan, so maybe I’m just not the target demo…but I can’t imagine this appealing to an audience much wider than jr. high boys that sit there and giggle “uhh, dude, Pooh just killed somebody.”
Oh, and the entire movie was shot in 10 days…normally, a film shoot is 60+ days.
On the flip side, maybe a large audience tunes in to see just how bad this will be. And the answer is…very, very bad.
I can’t tell if The Son is going to be slow, boring Oscar bait or a psychological thriller. Or, a slow, boring psychological thriller in the name of Oscar bait. Overall, I feel like Hugh Jackman (X-Men, The Greatest Showman) picks good projects, and Laura Dern (Big Little Lies, Star Wars VIII) and Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs, Hitchock) rounding out the leads roles is promising.
In theaters November 11th.
MUSIC NEWS: Rolling Stone dropped their 100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time List, which has kicked up a lot of internet discussion.
I’ll be responding with my own list next week…
NEW MUSIC
A quick note about the new music section…I’ll be slowing this down a bit. Rather than posting about every new album of note that drops, I’ll be hand selecting new(ish) music to share.
This week, I’m highlighting YUNGBLUD, who’s coming in strong as the Gen Z version of a Smiths/Clash/Cure hybrid.
To call this pop-punk…wouldn’t be wrong, I suppose, but it would ignore the 70’s/80’s post-punk scene in Britain that most heavily influenced the song on this album.
Until the next one,
-sth