Major DC Movie Star on the Run from Police, Did a Sitcom Re-Run Beat The Jan 6th Hearings in TV Ratings? A Pop-Tarts Movie?! (The Five for 06/17/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
It's Friday so let's dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
One of the most expensive movies of the year, due out in November, may be headed towards complete cancellation due to the behavior of star Ezra Miller.
Miller has a long history of odd, violent and illegal behavior that (so far) WarnerMedia, who own the rights to The Flash, have overlooked.
But now, Miller is being accused of sexually grooming two minors, and as of 9am this morning, appears to be on the run from police.
The Daily Beast reports:
Ezra Miller has been the center of multiple controversies in recent months. Miller was arrested multiple times in Hawai’i earlier this spring, once for disorderly conduct and then a second time later for assault. Now it appears that Miller is getting hit with another 1,2, punch, as they’re going to be served with a second order of protection, if anybody can find Miller to serve the papers.
According to The Daily Beast, The family of a 12-year-old nonbinary child have been granted a temporary harassment prevention order in Greenfield, Massachusetts after the actor allegedly menaced the family and acted inappropriately toward the child.
This isn’t confirmed, but multiple sites have The Flash budget at north of $100M for production, and the film is reportedly set to serve as a relaunch for several upcoming DC projects.
So, if The Flash doesn’t come out, DC/Warner Brothers may be out MORE than $100M in losses, due to other projects being cancelled/delayed as well. S
But now that Miller is facing separate accusations of:
attacking and choking a female fan in Iceland
Stalking and intimidating a married couple in Hawaii
Sexually grooming/possibly molesting a 12-year-old and then-14-year-old
…I’m highly doubtful this movie can be released without an unprecedented backlash.
…I’m also highly doubtful this movie can be cancelled.
This is about to make the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard debacle look like child’s play.
[two]
In a special election last night, a Congressional district in Texas flipped Republican after being a Democratic area for 150 consecutive years.
There’s a lot going on here, but one of the more surprising things turning traditionally Democratic Hispanic voters towards the right side of the aisle is the extreme disdain the community feels for the term “Latinx.”
MSN reports:
Shortly after her victory, the argument against the term "Latinx" began to surface once again.
"Latinx" was adopted in recent years as an alternative to gendered Spanish words, as feminine nouns typically end with the letter 'a' while masculine words end in 'o.' The word was used by gender non-conforming individuals, as well as politicians and activists who have worked to reach Hispanic voters with a more inclusive option.
However, the term has been widely debated. In a nationwide survey from December 2021, 40 percent of Hispanic voters said they found the term bothersome or offensive, and only 2 percent said they refer to themselves as Latinx.
The Five has reported on this previously…but Flores’ election is the first hard evidence we have to the extreme backlash against “Latinx.”
[three]
It takes a lot for me to defend Lizzo.
Before I’d ever heard a note of a song from the R&B superstar, I saw Lizzo’s viral tweet that read “People who review albums and don’t make music themselves should be unemployed.”
Umm…if we’re going to continue that line of thinking, why do we allow baseball commentators who haven’t won a World Series? Why do we allow The Washington Post, CNN, New York Times and Fox News to cover the White House when NOBODY at any of those stations has ever been President?
As a former music, TV and film critic, I was greatly annoyed so I’ve never given her the dignity of the $0.00000003 or whatever it is for a single song stream.
Anyway, Lizzo has another song out that I won’t listen two, which apparently has the word “spaz” in it (a common 90’s slang—to go crazy).
But hey, maybe it means something different in Australia, so Lizzo should be canceled, apparently.
Notice how “Do Better” has become a catch-all phrase for anything someone else doesn’t like, even if the ask is beyond reason.
It’s absurd that Lizzo thinks you have to record an album to write about music…and it’s equally absurd to demand an artist understand differences in slang for every major country on earth before recording an album.
Lizzo tried to “cancel” music critics three years ago (because she didn’t like a couple of reviews of her debut album), and is now facing down the barrel of Cancel Culture.
But there’s the thing, either you’re for Cancel Culture, or your against it.
I’m against it, including when Cancel Culture comes for people I find to be annoying.
Free speech means free speech.
UPDATE: Lizzo re-released the song without the word “spaz.”
I would comment on this, but you know, she thinks my decade in journalism doesn’t count for anything, so I’ll continue to ignore.
[four]
Last week, I didn’t believe the “blockbuster” January 6th riots hearing was TV worth covering because those who committed violence and invasion of private property are being tried and put in jail (trial tracker here), so why burn any of my (very limited) TV time on it?
The hearings largely flopped, but now the argument is to whether or not a rerun of Young Sheldon was more popular than the “Prime Time Hearing.”
The source of the claim made by the Fox News host and others appears to be a report published by The Washington Free Beacon, which assessed CBS viewership numbers.
"Just 3.24 million people watched [CBS] 'Capitol Assault Hearings' coverage Thursday night, according to the TV Ratings Guide," the report said.
"Exactly one week prior, 3.86 million people tuned into CBS to watch a Young Sheldon rerun, meaning an old episode of the coming-of-age sitcom garnered roughly 600,000 more viewers than the inaugural hearing."
However, that fails to present the full picture, as TV Ratings Guide report also reflected on the ratings across multiple networks for the hearing on June 9.
"The January 6th Committee Hearings got under way on Thursday evening, with three of the five networks broadcasting the investigation live," the ratings analysis said.
"ABC's telecast, entitled 'Attack on the Capital: The Investigation', garnered the most attention by mustering up a strong 0.66 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic and crossing the 5 million mark in total viewers.
Fair enough…Attack on the Capital: The Investigation was slightly more popular in real time than Young Sheldon.
Considering that I hafve’t seen either, I’ll withhold further comment.
However, it’s worth noting that a week after Attack on the Capital, I don’t see anyone on social media or YouTube still talking about it, making the hearing little more than one-night blip on the cultural radar.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
Ladies and gentlemen, Jon Snow has now been resurrected from both (spoiler alert) being stabbed by traitorous Nights Watchmen…and the terrible writing of the final season of Game of Thrones.
Kit Harrington will reprise the beloved role in a G.O.T. spinoff.
The King in the North!
Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld, A Bee Movie), Melissa McCarthy (Gilmore Girls, Bridesmaids) and Hugh Grant (Notting Hill, Love Actually) are doing a movie about the invention of Pop-Tarts.
Weird. Really weird, but that cast has earned a shot at weird.
Joker 2 is a go…and will be a musical?!
To carry over from the last story, director Todd Phillips deserves the benefit of the doubt here, given the $1 billion (and Oscar winning) success of the first film.
But again, weird.
(Hat Tip: Craig at Second Drafts)
Uber-popular superhero show The Boys is getting a college spin-off on Amazon Prime.
Again, weird. But I’m fine giving it a shot.
MUSIC NEWS: I like 3 or 4 Beyonce songs, but most of her catalog doesn’t move the needle for me. But she’s one of only a handful of stadium-filling artists in the world, so a forthcoming new album is worth noting.
The album hits stores and streaming July 29.
Until the next one,
-sth