theroot--2020-12-15--The Baffling, Years-Long Beef Between Kyrie Irving and NBA Media, Explained

When it ’ s a sport ’ s offseason and an athlete ’ s name trends as often as Kyrie Irving ’ s does—well , an athlete not named LeBron James—it ’ s usually because of an injury , a trade , or perhaps even some legal issue .
Kyrie , however , seems to always be in the news because of ... a podcast and a couple of creatively punctuated pre-written statements to the media .
But after reading some of the ( very negative ) stories about him , you ’ d think he ’ d raided an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stabbing spree .
Can you explain what ’ s happening here , because I ’ m clueless ?
So , what you ’ ve observed—a puzzling but legitimately adversarial relationship between Kyrie Irving and much of the media that covers him—is accurate .
There are professional athletes who ’ ve done actual bad things to people—committing crimes , physically threatening teammates and coaches , playing for the Dallas Cowboys , etc.—who receive more favorable media coverage than he does .
But despite not being one of the NBA ’ s five best players @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the five most popular , and this same adversarial media has assisted with that .
So yeah , this is weird and complex .
And definitely very real .
Making it weirder is some of the counter-intuitiveness that exists with both his playing style and his presentation .
For instance , when basketball players are considered as unhinged as Kyrie is generally regarded by NBA media and ( some ) fans , this can usually be traced , basketball-wise , in two ways : turnovers and technical fouls .
If you look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in both of those categories , the players most associated with a certain emotional volatility ( Draymond Green , Russell Westbrook , DeMarcus Cousins , Dwight Howard , etc ) are always near the top .
Kyrie , however , turns the ball over a shockingly low rate for someone as creative as he is and rarely gets techs .
Wow .
That ’ s actually surprising .
I assumed , from how he ’ s talked about , that his game and his personality were much more reckless .
Well , what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this context is just his preternatural ability to put his foot in his mouth .
He doesn ’ t say or do terrible or violent things ; just shit that makes you ask : “ Fam , why the hell would you say that aloud ?
” I see , but that still doesn ’ t explain things , because he ’ s far from the only professional athlete who says and does weird shit sometimes .
But those other guys don ’ t have national media members calling them idiots and cowards @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legitimate .
What ’ s the difference with Kyrie ?
There are two things happening here , converging at once .
But first , um , did you go to college ?
Do you remember how insufferable you were the summer after your freshman year when you came back home and acted like you were Stephen Hawking just because you read a physics textbook and a Bukowski poem ?
Of course , you remember , because we all were that person .
Unfortunately , the fresh-out-of-freshman-year steez is Kyrie ’ s general steez @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a Black guy from Duke who possesses an aggressively Duke affectation—basically , someone who carries himself like he ’ s smarter than they are—seems to irritate the mostly white NBA media , and they ’ re elated for opportunities to prove him wrong .
I ’ m convinced that if Kyrie had either a more hood presentation or tried harder to perform humility , the media coverage for what he ’ s said and done would be much less antagonistic .
I ’ m glad you brought that up !
That was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for .
But did you also know that Steph Curry said that he thought the moon landing was fake ?
And that Dame Lillard shares and promotes COVID-denying conspiracy theories ?
Of course , you didn ’ t , because it doesn ’ t surface in basketball-related conversations about them the way the flat Earth thing does with Kyrie .
I see .
So you said there were two things happening here .
What ’ s the other one ?
Kyrie has also had the misfortune of being in the crosshairs of two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) groups of NBA media—those with connections to Boston and those invested in LeBron ’ s legacy .
The Boston thing is annoying as fuck , but makes sense .
His stint with the Celtics did not end well , and perhaps the most popular and powerful person in sports media today ( Bill Simmons ) is also a die-hard Celtics fan .
So naturally , Simmons and sports media people with connections to him ( Zach Lowe , Ryen Russillo , etc ) would take shots at him .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ embarrassing to them , but it ’ s on-brand .
Makes sense .
The LeBron thing feels like more of a stretch , though .
How can you even prove this ?
Because I ’ m one of them .
LeBron James ’ s greatest competition today ain ’ t Steph or Kawhi or KD .
It ’ s Michael Jordan .
As LeBron himself even said a few years ago , he ’ s chasing a ghost .
But since there ’ s no way to compete against Mike himself , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between LeBron ’ s on-court impact versus Mike ’ s .
And people who believe LeBron is better ( I like do ) have to make compelling and convincing arguments why .
So Kyrie becomes a convenient foil and collateral damage .
If Kyrie ’ s branded “ an unstable loser ” who was “ suffocated by LeBron ’ s shadow ” and “ dumb enough to fight his way off of LeBron ’ s team ” and “ hasn ’ t experienced success since , ” LeBron looks better for getting a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if Kyrie ’ s a supernova who dominated the MVP ( Steph ) in the Finals , hit the game-winning shot , and only asked to be traded from Cleveland because 1. he knew LeBron was leaving soon and 2. felt a way because LeBron tried to get him traded first , the impact on LeBron ’ s legacy is less sunny .
Anyway , I know how stuff like this works because I ’ ve done it before .
For instance , even though Dwyane Wade was arguably the second-best player in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I found ways to downplay how great he was because the worse he was the better it would make LeBron look if they won .
It ’ s not a conscious thing at first .
But after these repeated mental gymnastics , you find yourself becoming an associate member of LeBron ’ s PR team .
Kyrie ’ s not blameless here , though .
I mean , what about the podcast thing where he said he never trusted LeBron in the clutch ?
This is another perfect example of the power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kyrie ’ s quote from the two-hour-long podcast with Kevin Durant .
Podcasts can be sprawling and amorphous beasts where half-baked , stream-of-consciousness thoughts find ways to leak out .
Context matters here .
But someone searching for an entry to position Kyrie against LeBron—a battle Kyrie will always lose—will read that quote and see a blatant diss of the world ’ s best basketball player .
I see a guy trying to compliment his friend and new teammate , but doing it in a loose and aggressively unsavvy manner .
It reminds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who gets a new girlfriend , is enamored with her , and calls her “ the smartest and most beautiful woman I ’ ve ever been with ” in an IG caption about her .
But if that guy ’ s ex is Beyoncé , when people read that , they ’ ll see “ This nigga called Beyoncé dumb and ugly !
!
!
” and it would become a thing .
And Kyrie ’ s basketball ex just happens to be Basketball Beyoncé .
If this seems too far-fetched , imagine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a grown-ass media professional to ask Kyrie how he feels about LeBron being a father figure to him .
Another example of this juxtapositioning happened when the NBA was preparing to restart the season in the Orlando bubble .
Kyrie voiced that returning might draw attention away from the uprisings and protests happening in the country then—a feeling echoed by many of his colleagues .
LeBron , however , disagreed and wanted to play .
This is fine .
Two people with different opinions on an unprecedented labor conundrum during an unprecedented time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when ESPN ’ s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted the article he ’ d written about this disagreement , he framed it in a way that positioned Kyrie as a problem .
That ’ s a crude encapsulation , but I ’ ll allow it .
LeBron is a politician .
Which makes sense for someone who ’ s been the center of media frenzies since he was 14 .
He knows how to play the game , and most importantly , knows how to bend the rules in his favor .
Kyrie is either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that .
He seems to be fine with just being a stoner loner who says what he feels , is genuinely curious about how the world works , and happens to be great at playing basketball .
He ’ s not a cancer .
He ’ s Darius from Atlanta .
This might be your longest explainer , ever .
Can you explain why ?
Because it ’ s an assembly of many of my favorite things .
Basketball is my favorite sport .
I know it like how I know my face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to watch on TV .
Kyrie Irving and LeBron James are my two favorite basketball players , perhaps ever .
( Only other contenders are pre-baseball Mike and pre-ACL tear Tim Hardaway . )
And I know how words work .
I know how to spin facts .
How to construct subjective titles with a veneer of objectivity .
How to ignore the context that might negate a point I wish to make .
How to create or continue or subvert a narrative .
And I ’ ve witnessed this happening in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you give me a concrete example of a context-ignoring narrative ?
Sure .
It ’ s not too hard to find a professional sportsperson repeating the “ facts ” that 1 .
Kyrie ’ s only been successful with LeBron on his team and that 2. he ’ s a toxic teammate whose teams perform better when he ’ s not playing .
But if you add context , the reality becomes a bit less clear .
Below is a rough timeline of his career .
2011-2012 : He ’ s drafted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the league , and wins Rookie of the Year .
He ’ s 19 years old .
2012-2013 : The Cavs make slight improvements , but they ’ re still young and still tanking .
Kyrie , however , makes his first all-star team .
Also , the front office wastes a high lottery pick on Dion Waiters , who is bad but believes he ’ s good , and the friction between him and Kyrie is immediate .
Still , despite how bad the Cavs are , Kyrie gains a reputation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most clutch players .
Austin Carr coins him “ Mr .
4th Quarter.
” 2013-2014 : The Cavs fire Byron Scott ( who was bad ) and hire Mike Brown ( who was worse ) .
They still suck , and now the team employs people like Andrew Bynum , who did shit like this : Despite this toxic environment , Kyrie makes another all-star game and wins MVP in it .
He ’ s 21 .
2014-2015 : LeBron returns and brings the entire world back with him .
Before the season @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the FIBA World Cup and wins MVP there on a team that Steph Curry , James Harden , and Anthony Davis are also on .
Led by LeBron and helmed by David Blatt ( Kyrie ’ s third head coach in four seasons ) , the Cavs reach the Finals and lose to the Golden State Warriors .
Kyrie breaks his kneecap in game one .
If he stays healthy , I think they win .
2015-2016 : Kyrie returns mid-season after recovering from surgery .
The Cavs fire Blatt and hire Tyronn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coach in five seasons ) .
They reach the Finals again and win .
Steph Curry has the best season a small ( 6 ' 4 or under ) guard has ever had , and is the NBA ’ s first unanimous MVP .
Kyrie dominates him .
2016-2017 : The Cavs reach the Finals again , but lose to the best NBA team ever .
Despite rumbling that LeBron is attempting to get him traded , Kyrie has his best regular season and averages 30 points in the Finals .
2017-2018 : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Celtics , through the first 60 games , are the best team in the league .
At one point , they win 18 straight .
Kyrie is in the MVP conversation .
( He wouldn ’ t have won it , but he was in the conversation . )
And then he gets a season-ending injury .
The Celtics continue playing well .
And leaning on the home-court advantage they earned while Kyrie was still playing , they advance to the conference finals and lose to the Cavs .
2018-2019 : With @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expectations for the Celtics are high .
But they have an underwhelming season , they finish fourth in the East , they face the Bucks in the second round , Kyrie has a bad series , and they lose to a team that was much better than them .
Kyrie ( who makes second team all NBA ) is largely blamed for the team ’ s disappointing season .
Other factors contributing to the team ’ s failures—Heyward getting shoehorned back into the starting lineup when he clearly wasn ’ t ready for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pout about playing time , Marcus Morris doing Marcus Morris shit , etc.—are ignored .
2019-2020 : Kyrie leaves for Brooklyn , and has his best statistical season .
Drops 50 twice—including a game where he just decided not to miss any shots .
But injuries limited him to 20 games .
Twenty games are not enough time to accurately determine a player ’ s impact on a new team .
There ’ s just too much inherent wonk there .
But since they were slightly below 500 when he played , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t , the narrative of Kyrie being a team cancer continues .
Also , there ’ s a ridiculous rumor—a rumor repeated by people employed by ESPN—that he faked an injury that 1. kept him out most of the season and 2. led to surgery , just to avoid playing against the Celtics .
Please reread that sentence .
Shit .
When you consider all of that , I understand why he ’ d be deeply skeptical about the NBA media .
Fuck .
I am now , too .
That ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not help himself , but he also ain ’ t making this shit up .
And I feel like everything here can be summarized by a thing published on one of our sister sites last year .
One of the few bright spots in the Celtics 2018-2019 season was a January win over the conference-leading Toronto Raptors .
Kyrie was particularly incandescent that game , with 27 points , 18 assists , and a clutch and game-clinching 30-footer with Kawhi in his grill .
The next morning , I was looking forward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Kyrie ’ s performance on Deadspin .
But this also happened to be the same night Kyrie revealed to the media that he ’ d recently called LeBron to apologize to him for being immature while he was in Cleveland .
And so Tom Ley ’ s piece essentially ignored the game and spent 200 words calling Kyrie a disingenuous fraud who owes everything to LeBron .
Now , Deadspin is gon na Deadspin , and that “ go fuck yourself ” general ethos is why it grew to be my favorite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A snarky piece about Kyrie with LeBron in the title will be more compelling to more readers than a wonky basketball blog about some cool shit Kyrie did .
But they do write about cool basketball shit , too .
Some of the coolest basketball shit I ’ ve ever read .
( And I have no doubt that if Steph Curry played this exact same game , the cool basketball shit angle would have been the angle . )
But instead of that , Ley chose the angle that gave Kyrie the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is just one example .
But after nine years of it , I think I ’ d rather get fined than talk to these motherfuckers , too .
An irony here is that Kyrie ’ s actual basketball game exists in the sweet spot where old school basketball purists and contemporary fans should find community .
He ’ s roundly considered the best ball handler ever , the best below-the-rim finisher ever , and is also one of the best shooting point guards ever—skills that only develop if you ’ re a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your craft .
He still shoots ( and makes ! )
the mid-range shots purists lament have disappeared from the game .
You hate how players like James Harden and Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry and even Dame Lillard sometimes flop themselves to the foul line ?
Well , Kyrie never , ever , ever flops .
I ’ m not sure he ’ s even aware that flopping exists .
You ’ re upset that superstars are linking up and ruining competitive balance ?
Well , Kyrie forced his way off a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Sure , the Celtics stint wasn ’ t as successful as it could have been for him , but he literally did the thing that everyone says they want star basketball players to do .
So , is there anything Kyrie can do now to reverse this narrative ?
Yes .
Stay on the court .
The biggest issue in Kyrie ’ s career—the only issue worth giving a shit about , really—is that he can ’ t seem to stay healthy .
He injures parts of his body that I didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , if he ’ s healthy and playing well , there just isn ’ t as much room for “ guess what weird/dumb/silly/crazy thing Kyrie said today ” discourse .
Instead of “ shut up and dribble , ” he needs to dribble to shut them the fuck up .
Thanks !
I ’ m done writing now .
Goodbye !

Damon Young on Very Smart Brothas, shared by Damon Young to The Root

When it’s a sport’s offseason and an athlete’s name trends as often as Kyrie Irving’s does—well, an athlete not named LeBron James—it’s usually because of an injury, a trade, or perhaps even some legal issue. Kyrie, however, seems to always be in the news because of...a podcast and a couple of creatively punctuated pre-written statements to the media. But after reading some of the (very negative) stories about him, you’d think he’d raided an animal shelter and went on a kitten stabbing spree. Can you explain what’s happening here, because I’m clueless?
So, what you’ve observed—a puzzling but legitimately adversarial relationship between Kyrie Irving and much of the media that covers him—is accurate. There are professional athletes who’ve done actual bad things to people—committing crimes, physically threatening teammates and coaches, playing for the Dallas Cowboys, etc.—who receive more favorable media coverage than he does. But despite not being one of the NBA’s five best players, he’s also arguably one of the five most popular, and this same adversarial media has assisted with that. So yeah, this is weird and complex. And definitely very real.
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Making it weirder is some of the counter-intuitiveness that exists with both his playing style and his presentation. For instance, when basketball players are considered as unhinged as Kyrie is generally regarded by NBA media and (some) fans, this can usually be traced, basketball-wise, in two ways: turnovers and technical fouls. If you look at the NBA’s usual leaders in both of those categories, the players most associated with a certain emotional volatility (Draymond Green, Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, etc) are always near the top. Kyrie, however, turns the ball over a shockingly low rate for someone as creative as he is and rarely gets techs.
Wow. That’s actually surprising. I assumed, from how he’s talked about, that his game and his personality were much more reckless.
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Well, what’s considered “reckless” in this context is just his preternatural ability to put his foot in his mouth. He doesn’t say or do terrible or violent things; just shit that makes you ask: “Fam, why the hell would you say that aloud?”
I see, but that still doesn’t explain things, because he’s far from the only professional athlete who says and does weird shit sometimes. But those other guys don’t have national media members calling them idiots and cowards and even questioning whether their injuries are legitimate. What’s the difference with Kyrie?
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There are two things happening here, converging at once. But first, um, did you go to college?
I did. Why?
Do you remember how insufferable you were the summer after your freshman year when you came back home and acted like you were Stephen Hawking just because you read a physics textbook and a Bukowski poem?
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Regrettably.
Of course, you remember, because we all were that person. Unfortunately, the fresh-out-of-freshman-year steez is Kyrie’s general steez. Which matters here because, well, a Black guy from Duke who possesses an aggressively Duke affectation—basically, someone who carries himself like he’s smarter than they are—seems to irritate the mostly white NBA media, and they’re elated for opportunities to prove him wrong. I’m convinced that if Kyrie had either a more hood presentation or tried harder to perform humility, the media coverage for what he’s said and done would be much less antagonistic.
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Even the flat Earth thing?
I’m glad you brought that up! That was an indefensible thing that he eventually apologized for. But did you also know that Steph Curry said that he thought the moon landing was fake? And that Dame Lillard shares and promotes COVID-denying conspiracy theories?
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I did not.
Of course, you didn’t, because it doesn’t surface in basketball-related conversations about them the way the flat Earth thing does with Kyrie.
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I see. So you said there were two things happening here. What’s the other one?
Kyrie has also had the misfortune of being in the crosshairs of two of the most passionate (and powerful) groups of NBA media—those with connections to Boston and those invested in LeBron’s legacy.
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The Boston thing is annoying as fuck, but makes sense. His stint with the Celtics did not end well, and perhaps the most popular and powerful person in sports media today (Bill Simmons) is also a die-hard Celtics fan. So naturally, Simmons and sports media people with connections to him (Zach Lowe, Ryen Russillo, etc) would take shots at him. It’s impetuous and petty and it should be embarrassing to them, but it’s on-brand .
Makes sense. The LeBron thing feels like more of a stretch, though. How can you even prove this?
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Because I’m one of them.
Oh.
LeBron James’s greatest competition today ain’t Steph or Kawhi or KD. It’s Michael Jordan. As LeBron himself even said a few years ago, he’s chasing a ghost. But since there’s no way to compete against Mike himself, the “battle” becomes a nebulous competition between LeBron’s on-court impact versus Mike’s. And people who believe LeBron is better (I like do) have to make compelling and convincing arguments why. So Kyrie becomes a convenient foil and collateral damage.
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If Kyrie’s branded “an unstable loser” who was “suffocated by LeBron’s shadow” and “dumb enough to fight his way off of LeBron’s team” and “hasn’t experienced success since,” LeBron looks better for getting a guy like that a ring. But if Kyrie’s a supernova who dominated the MVP (Steph) in the Finals, hit the game-winning shot, and only asked to be traded from Cleveland because 1. he knew LeBron was leaving soon and 2. felt a way because LeBron tried to get him traded first, the impact on LeBron’s legacy is less sunny.
Anyway, I know how stuff like this works because I’ve done it before. For instance, even though Dwyane Wade was arguably the second-best player in the league when LeBron got to Miami, I found ways to downplay how great he was because the worse he was the better it would make LeBron look if they won. It’s not a conscious thing at first. But after these repeated mental gymnastics, you find yourself becoming an associate member of LeBron’s PR team.
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Kyrie’s not blameless here, though. I mean, what about the podcast thing where he said he never trusted LeBron in the clutch?
This is another perfect example of the power of the media narrative. Below is Kyrie’s quote from the two-hour-long podcast with Kevin Durant.
One thing I’ve always been comfortable with is, I felt like I was the best option on every team I’ve played for down the stretch. This is the first time in my career where I can look down be like, ‘That motherfucker can make that shot, too.” It’s not so much deferring, because in past situations where I didn’t take the last shot, I felt guilty. I want this game-winning shot, but also, you want to trust your teammates. Not that I didn’t trust my teammates, but I felt like I was the best option.
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Podcasts can be sprawling and amorphous beasts where half-baked, stream-of-consciousness thoughts find ways to leak out. Context matters here. But someone searching for an entry to position Kyrie against LeBron—a battle Kyrie will always lose—will read that quote and see a blatant diss of the world’s best basketball player. I see a guy trying to compliment his friend and new teammate, but doing it in a loose and aggressively unsavvy manner. It reminds me in a way of a guy who gets a new girlfriend, is enamored with her, and calls her “the smartest and most beautiful woman I’ve ever been with” in an IG caption about her.
But if that guy’s ex is Beyoncé, when people read that, they’ll see “This nigga called Beyoncé dumb and ugly!!!” and it would become a thing. And Kyrie’s basketball ex just happens to be Basketball Beyoncé.
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If this seems too far-fetched, imagine the level of LeBron-induced psychosis necessary for a grown-ass media professional to ask Kyrie how he feels about LeBron being a father figure to him.
Wait. That actually happened?
Yes.
Wow.
Another example of this juxtapositioning happened when the NBA was preparing to restart the season in the Orlando bubble. Kyrie voiced that returning might draw attention away from the uprisings and protests happening in the country then—a feeling echoed by many of his colleagues. LeBron, however, disagreed and wanted to play. This is fine. Two people with different opinions on an unprecedented labor conundrum during an unprecedented time of social and political upheaval.
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But when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted the article he’d written about this disagreement, he framed it in a way that positioned Kyrie as a problem.
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Essentially, he’s been branded the anti-LeBron.
That’s a crude encapsulation, but I’ll allow it. LeBron is a politician. Which makes sense for someone who’s been the center of media frenzies since he was 14. He knows how to play the game, and most importantly, knows how to bend the rules in his favor. Kyrie is either uninterested in or fundamentally unable to do that. He seems to be fine with just being a stoner loner who says what he feels, is genuinely curious about how the world works, and happens to be great at playing basketball. He’s not a cancer. He’s Darius from Atlanta.
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This might be your longest explainer, ever. Can you explain why?
Because it’s an assembly of many of my favorite things. Basketball is my favorite sport. I know it like how I know my face. NBA basketball is my favorite thing to watch on TV. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James are my two favorite basketball players, perhaps ever. (Only other contenders are pre-baseball Mike and pre-ACL tear Tim Hardaway.) And I know how words work. I know how to spin facts. How to construct subjective titles with a veneer of objectivity. How to ignore the context that might negate a point I wish to make. How to create or continue or subvert a narrative. And I’ve witnessed this happening in the framing of stories about Kyrie.
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Can you give me a concrete example of a context-ignoring narrative?
Sure. It’s not too hard to find a professional sportsperson repeating the “facts” that 1. Kyrie’s only been successful with LeBron on his team and that 2. he’s a toxic teammate whose teams perform better when he’s not playing. But if you add context, the reality becomes a bit less clear.
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Below is a rough timeline of his career.
2011-2012: He’s drafted to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the worst team in the league, and wins Rookie of the Year. He’s 19 years old.
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2012-2013: The Cavs make slight improvements, but they’re still young and still tanking. Kyrie, however, makes his first all-star team. Also, the front office wastes a high lottery pick on Dion Waiters, who is bad but believes he’s good, and the friction between him and Kyrie is immediate. Still, despite how bad the Cavs are, Kyrie gains a reputation as one of the NBA’s most clutch players. Austin Carr coins him “Mr. 4th Quarter.”
2013-2014: The Cavs fire Byron Scott (who was bad) and hire Mike Brown (who was worse). They still suck, and now the team employs people like Andrew Bynum, who did shit like this:
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Despite this toxic environment, Kyrie makes another all-star game and wins MVP in it. He’s 21.
2014-2015: LeBron returns and brings the entire world back with him. Before the season begins, however, Kyrie plays in the FIBA World Cup and wins MVP there on a team that Steph Curry, James Harden, and Anthony Davis are also on.
(Please skip to the eight-minute mark, to the clips from the championship game against Serbia. Team USA is actually losing by seven. And then, Kyrie happens.)
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Led by LeBron and helmed by David Blatt (Kyrie’s third head coach in four seasons), the Cavs reach the Finals and lose to the Golden State Warriors. Kyrie breaks his kneecap in game one. If he stays healthy, I think they win.
2015-2016: Kyrie returns mid-season after recovering from surgery. The Cavs fire Blatt and hire Tyronn Lue (Kyrie’s fourth head coach in five seasons). They reach the Finals again and win. Steph Curry has the best season a small (6'4 or under) guard has ever had, and is the NBA’s first unanimous MVP. Kyrie dominates him.
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2016-2017: The Cavs reach the Finals again, but lose to the best NBA team ever. Despite rumbling that LeBron is attempting to get him traded, Kyrie has his best regular season and averages 30 points in the Finals.
2017-2018: Kyrie gets traded to Boston, and the Celtics, through the first 60 games, are the best team in the league. At one point, they win 18 straight. Kyrie is in the MVP conversation. (He wouldn’t have won it, but he was in the conversation.) And then he gets a season-ending injury.
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The Celtics continue playing well. And leaning on the home-court advantage they earned while Kyrie was still playing, they advance to the conference finals and lose to the Cavs.
2018-2019: With Kyrie and Gordon Heyward back, the expectations for the Celtics are high. But they have an underwhelming season, they finish fourth in the East, they face the Bucks in the second round, Kyrie has a bad series, and they lose to a team that was much better than them.
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Kyrie (who makes second team all NBA) is largely blamed for the team’s disappointing season. Other factors contributing to the team’s failures—Heyward getting shoehorned back into the starting lineup when he clearly wasn’t ready for it, Terry Rozier doing a full-season pout about playing time, Marcus Morris doing Marcus Morris shit, etc.—are ignored.
2019-2020: Kyrie leaves for Brooklyn, and has his best statistical season. Drops 50 twice—including a game where he just decided not to miss any shots.
But injuries limited him to 20 games. Twenty games are not enough time to accurately determine a player’s impact on a new team. There’s just too much inherent wonk there. But since they were slightly below 500 when he played, and slightly above it when he didn’t, the narrative of Kyrie being a team cancer continues. Also, there’s a ridiculous rumor—a rumor repeated by people employed by ESPN—that he faked an injury that 1. kept him out most of the season and 2. led to surgery, just to avoid playing against the Celtics. Please reread that sentence.
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Shit. When you consider all of that, I understand why he’d be deeply skeptical about the NBA media. Fuck. I am now, too.
That’s all I’m saying! He does not help himself, but he also ain’t making this shit up. And I feel like everything here can be summarized by a thing published on one of our sister sites last year.
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One of the few bright spots in the Celtics 2018-2019 season was a January win over the conference-leading Toronto Raptors. Kyrie was particularly incandescent that game, with 27 points, 18 assists, and a clutch and game-clinching 30-footer with Kawhi in his grill.
The next morning, I was looking forward to reading a write-up of the game and Kyrie’s performance on Deadspin. But this also happened to be the same night Kyrie revealed to the media that he’d recently called LeBron to apologize to him for being immature while he was in Cleveland. And so Tom Ley’s piece essentially ignored the game and spent 200 words calling Kyrie a disingenuous fraud who owes everything to LeBron.
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Now, Deadspin is gonna Deadspin, and that “go fuck yourself” general ethos is why it grew to be my favorite blog. And I get it. A snarky piece about Kyrie with LeBron in the title will be more compelling to more readers than a wonky basketball blog about some cool shit Kyrie did. But they do write about cool basketball shit, too. Some of the coolest basketball shit I’ve ever read. (And I have no doubt that if Steph Curry played this exact same game, the cool basketball shit angle would have been the angle.) But instead of that, Ley chose the angle that gave Kyrie the absolute least benefit of the doubt.
This is just one example. But after nine years of it, I think I’d rather get fined than talk to these motherfuckers, too.
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An irony here is that Kyrie’s actual basketball game exists in the sweet spot where old school basketball purists and contemporary fans should find community. He’s roundly considered the best ball handler ever, the best below-the-rim finisher ever, and is also one of the best shooting point guards ever—skills that only develop if you’re a gym rat who’s obsessive about your craft. He still shoots (and makes!) the mid-range shots purists lament have disappeared from the game. You hate how players like James Harden and Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry and even Dame Lillard sometimes flop themselves to the foul line? Well, Kyrie never, ever, ever flops. I’m not sure he’s even aware that flopping exists. You’re upset that superstars are linking up and ruining competitive balance? Well, Kyrie forced his way off a team with LeBron Motherfucking James on it. Sure, the Celtics stint wasn’t as successful as it could have been for him, but he literally did the thing that everyone says they want star basketball players to do.
So, is there anything Kyrie can do now to reverse this narrative?
Yes. Stay on the court. The biggest issue in Kyrie’s career—the only issue worth giving a shit about, really—is that he can’t seem to stay healthy. He injures parts of his body that I didn’t even know existed. But, if he’s healthy and playing well, there just isn’t as much room for “guess what weird/dumb/silly/crazy thing Kyrie said today” discourse. Instead of “shut up and dribble,” he needs to dribble to shut them the fuck up.
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That was clever.
Thanks! I’m done writing now. Goodbye!


theroot--2020-12-16--Naomi Ackie Will 'Dance With Somebody' as Whitney Houston in Biopic Directed by Stella Meghie

The first authorized Whitney Houston biopic has found its leading lady .
According to Variety , Naomi Ackie ( Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker ) has been cast as Whitney , the iconic songstress known as “ The Voice ” who tragically died in February 2012 .
Back in April , it was announced that Stella Meghie ( The Photograph ) would be directing the authorized biopic produced by Pat Houston , the late singer ’ s sister-in-law who also managed her .
Anthony McCarten ( Bohemian Rhapsody ) penned the screenplay .
“ We spent the be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an exhaustive search for an actress who could embody Whitney Houston .
Naomi Ackie impressed us at every stage of the process .
I was moved by her ability to capture the stage presence of a global icon while bringing humanity to her interior life , ” Meghie said in a statement .
Ackie recently won this year ’ s Supporting Actress BAFTA TV Award for her role in Netflix ’ s The End of the Fucking World .
She also co-starred in Education , one of the films from Steve McQueen ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She is also set to star in the heist musical The Score .
“ All Whitney fans have an appetite for perfection when it comes to Whitney and her legacy , ” Pat said in a statement .
“ To transform someone into a matchless icon is virtually impossible but with careful consideration Naomi Ackie was selected based on her quality performances and her deep commitment to emerging into the woman that we all loved .
We look forward to taking this journey with her.
” “ Naomi Ackie ’ s screen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shivers up my spine , ” Clive Davis , who is also producing the film , said in a statement .
“ Although Whitney ’ s incomparable vocals are used for all the songs , Naomi ’ s extraordinary acting range enables her to masterfully capture Whitney ’ s unique charm , star power and , of course , her personal struggles .
Naomi is the real deal and I can ’ t imagine a better choice for this iconic role.
” I Wan na Dance With Somebody is scheduled to be released @ @ @ @ @

Tonja Renée Stidhum on The Grapevine, shared by Tonja Renée Stidhum to The Root

The first authorized Whitney Houston biopic has found its leading lady.
According to Variety, Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) has been cast as Whitney, the iconic songstress known as “The Voice” who tragically died in February 2012.
Back in April, it was announced that Stella Meghie (The Photograph) would be directing the authorized biopic produced by Pat Houston, the late singer’s sister-in-law who also managed her. Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody) penned the screenplay.
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“We spent the be tter part of the last year in an exhaustive search for an actress who could embody Whitney Houston. Naomi Ackie impressed us at every stage of the process. I was moved by her ability to capture the stage presence of a global icon while bringing humanity to her interior life,” Meghie said in a statement.
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Ackie recently won this year’s Supporting Actress BAFTA TV Award for her role in Netflix’s The End of the Fucking World. She also co-starred in Education, one of the films from Steve McQueen’s acclaimed anthology series, Small Axe. She is also set to star in the heist musical The Score.
“All Whitney fans have an appetite for perfection when it comes to Whitney and her legacy,” Pat said in a statement. “To transform someone into a matchless icon is virtually impossible but with careful consideration Naomi Ackie was selected based on her quality performances and her deep commitment to emerging into the woman that we all loved. We look forward to taking this journey with her.”
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“Naomi Ackie’s screen test was so powerful, it sent shivers up my spine,” Clive Davis, who is also producing the film, said in a statement. “Although Whitney’s incomparable vocals are used for all the songs, Naomi’s extraordinary acting range enables her to masterfully capture Whitney’s unique charm, star power and, of course, her personal struggles. Naomi is the real deal and I can’t imagine a better choice for this iconic role.”
I Wanna Dance With Somebody is scheduled to be released on Thanksgiving in 2022.


theroot--2020-12-16--There Is No Such Thing as 'Trumpism'

There Is No Such Thing as 'Trumpism'

Our long national nightmare is over .
Can you see the latest class of insightful pundits furiously crafting the narrative ?
Listen closely and you can hear the whirring wheels of the spin doctors ’ myth machine .
If you squint , you can see them gathering the cattle excrement from which they will weave a blanket of bullshit out of whole cloth .
The Electoral College has finally voted , releasing mainstream Republicans from four years of bondage in MAGAland .
They are now free to place the word “ president ” next to “ elect ” and return @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fiscal responsibility , states ’ rights and family values .
No longer will they be required to go along with Donald Trump ’ s fever dream of overturning the will of the people and subverting democracy .
According to the talking heads inside our television sets , for four years , Donald Trump changed the Republican Party into a cabal of cowardly acolytes who acceded to white nationalism , fearmongering and outright lies to hold on to his ever-dwindling power .
They sat in silence as he tried to toss Black people ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his lies .
They averted their eyes as he demonized democracy .
“ What happened to the Republican Party ?
” asked Joe Scarborough as his fellow patriots shook their gel-slicked heads in disbelief .
They wanted their party back .
Unlike Donald Trump , they loved America .
And to prove it , a few GOP faithful formed the Lincoln Project—a makeshift group of Republican Avengers who used clever ads and the internet to wrest their party back from the hands of an insane , lying , aspiring authoritarian .
Christian Evangelicals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trumpism : “ He is without question the most powerful voice in our party , ” said Sen. Mitt Romney ( R-Utah ) on Sunday ’ s episode of Meet the Press .
“ He will have an enormous impact on our party going forward ...
I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure that his principles and his policies are pursued .
So , yes , he ’ s not disappearing by any means .
He ’ s the 900-pound gorilla when it comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s just one problem with this narrative : Donald Trump is the most Republican Republican of all time .
Scholars , politicians and sociologists all struggle to define the phenomenon known as Trumpism but perhaps GOP adviser Ron Christie described it best .
He defined Trumpism as “ what the president believes on any particular moment on any particular day about any particular subject ...
He could believe he ’ s against climate change on Monday , and Tuesday , he could come back to you and say , ‘ I am the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ but by Wednesday he could go back to his previous position.
” While that ever-shifting explanation leaves a lot to be desired , it also applies to a party that purports to hate government interference—except in cases of women ’ s vaginas , homosexual marriages and trans toilet choices .
They champion religious freedom—but only for Christians .
They are pro-life—except when it comes to the death penalty , healthcare initiatives , masks and police bullets .
They rail against government handouts , except to corporations , white farmers and wealthy businessmen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Constitution and liberty and justice for all .
But they will not stand for anyone who exercises their constitutional right to protest or condemn America ’ s injustices .
They demand law and order while protecting out-of-order cops who disregard the law .
They run up deficits while touting fiscal responsibility .
Republicans don ’ t believe in anything ; they just say things .
And Trumpism is not a phenomenon .
Trump is a loyal institutionalist who is as fickle and capricious as the party he represents .
He is more Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who would argue that Trump is a far-right-wing version of the Republican Party .
They theorize that the GOP has shifted so far right because Trump mobilized the most extreme elements of the party ’ s base .
This narrative serves as cold comfort for mainstream moderates who see their party slipping towards white nationalism It is also a lie .
Using racism to coalesce the GOP base is not a Trumpist tactic ; it is a Republican tactic .
It ’ s almost like Nixon ’ s War on Drugs didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican messiah Ronald Reagan traveled to the site of a civil rights murder and essentially gave the thumbs up to the states ’ rights advocates who shot the activists in the head and dumped their bodies into a hole ?
Or how about when he chatted with his homeboy Richard Nixon about “ those monkeys from those African countries ?
” Or maybe you can recall Reagan ’ s successor , George H.W .
Bush framing a Black teenager to incite fear about crack dealers in the “ ghetto.
” How about George @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flag was a “ state ’ s right ?
” Can you recall moderate John McCain saying it was a “ symbol of heritage ” when he ran against Barack Obama ?
McCain would later admit that he only said it because he was trying to appeal to South Carolina ’ s Republican base .
And just in case you thought Trump devised a plan to steal votes , please remember that democracy has never been their thing .
This is the party of the Southern Strategy .
This is the party that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an armed “ task force ” to polling sites in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods to scare away voters .
This is the party that sent postcards to Black voters in North Carolina telling them they might be arrested if they vote .
This is the party that found a loophole in Florida ’ s constitution that allowed them to continue disenfranchising millions after the state ’ s voters went to the ballots and said “ Enough !
” This is the party that targeted Black voters “ with almost surgical precision , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is the party that ignored Russian interference .
This is the voter ID-requiring , poll-closing , poll restriction-loving , registration-purging party of “ the most racist politician in America , ” the white nationalist congressman , and the “ The Wizard of Voter Suppression.
” This is is the party of Willie Horton and “ nigger , nigger , nigger , ” and “ welfare queen ” and “ build that wall ” and “ send her back.
” This is not Trump ’ s party .
This is the Republican Party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Would Come Do not fall for it .
Contrary to popular belief , Trump did not strongarm an entire party into subverting democracy , ignoring civil rights and dog-whistling white supremacist ideology .
He ’ s neither a marketing genius or a political innovator .
He isn ’ t even saying the quiet part out loud .
He ’ s just inhabiting a house that they built .
Those hand-wringing conservatives who are now denouncing “ Trumpism ” and distancing themselves from the white nationalist president are the same ones who spit-shined Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way toward the White House .
Joe Scarborough and Mika B. apparently had no idea Trump was racist after a years-long friendship .
Before discovering Trump ’ s racism in 2017 , they called their schmoozing the “ Washington way.
” Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson was a Confederate flag-loving , Trayvon Martin-hating Republican until he deleted his tweets .
Co-founder Jennifer Horn lobbed baseless accusations of voter fraud and illegal voting when Trump ’ s desk was still on the set of The Apprentice .
Mitt Romney was hiding his tax returns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ glimmer in Trump ’ s eye .
They built this party .
Trump just perfected it .
“ [ I ] n large measure , we laid down the metrics and pathway for Donald Trump to emerge and to arise the way he did .
He understood the GOP better than the GOP understood itself , ” Former GOP Chairman Michael Steele told Jonathan Capehart .
“ [ T ] his confrontation within the party is something that is long overdue.
” Steele said that in August 2016 .
When you hear the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders of the “ Party of Lincoln ” are so quiet about Trump taking a hatchet to the Constitution , the Bible or moral values , it ’ s not because they have been bullied into a “ complicit silence.
” Their reticence to speak has less to do with fear and everything to do with political manifest destiny Trumpism isn ’ t a new political ideology .
It ’ s just purest , uncut form of Republicanism and they never meant for it to be taken at full strength .
Orange Crush @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to use the usual euphemisms employed by his co-conspirators but , rest assured , he ’ s saying the same things they are .
Perhaps that ’ s why he is so beloved—his base doesn ’ t need a glossary or a decoder ring to decipher the delicate , racist grandiloquence hiding beneath the surface of the party dogma .
When he is gone , Republicans will go back to hiding behind the florid pretense of patriotism and puritanical philosophy .
They will wax poetic about the amber waves of grain and how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And there ’ s absolutely nothing wrong with preferring politicians who can mask the smell of their anti-democratic white nationalist feces-flinging versus an untrained , feral , dookie-throwing spider monkey .
But let ’ s stop pretending it ’ s not all the same bullshit .

Our long national nightmare is over.
Can you see the latest class of insightful pundits furiously crafting the narrative? Listen closely and you can hear the whirring wheels of the spin doctors’ myth machine. If you squint, you can see them gathering the cattle excrement from which they will weave a blanket of bullshit out of whole cloth.
The Electoral College has finally voted, releasing mainstream Republicans from four years of bondage in MAGAland. They are now free to place the word “president” next to “elect” and return to the regular principles of conservatism, fiscal responsibility, states’ rights and family values. No longer will they be required to go along with Donald Trump’s fever dream of overturning the will of the people and subverting democracy.
Advertisement
According to the talking heads inside our television sets, for four years, Donald Trump changed the Republican Party into a cabal of cowardly acolytes who acceded to white nationalism, fearmongering and outright lies to hold on to his ever-dwindling power. They sat in silence as he tried to toss Black people’s votes. They refused to refute his lies. They averted their eyes as he demonized democracy.
“What happened to the Republican Party?” asked Joe Scarborough as his fellow patriots shook their gel-slicked heads in disbelief.
Advertisement Advertisement
They wanted their party back. Unlike Donald Trump, they loved America. And to prove it, a few GOP faithful formed the Lincoln Project—a makeshift group of Republican Avengers who used clever ads and the internet to wrest their party back from the hands of an insane, lying, aspiring authoritarian. Christian Evangelicals like Jesus disciple Beth Moore even condemned Trumpism:
Advertisement
“He is without question the most powerful voice in our party,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Sunday’s episode of Meet the Press. “He will have an enormous impact on our party going forward...I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure that his principles and his policies are pursued. So, yes, he’s not disappearing by any means. He’s the 900-pound gorilla when it comes to the Republican Party.”
There’s just one problem with this narrative:
Donald Trump is the most Republican Republican of all time.
What Is “Trumpism?”
Scholars, politicians and sociologists all struggle to define the phenomenon known as Trumpism but perhaps GOP adviser Ron Christie described it best. He defined Trumpism as “what the president believes on any particular moment on any particular day about any particular subject...He could believe he’s against climate change on Monday, and Tuesday, he could come back to you and say, ‘I am the most ardent believer in climate change,’ but by Wednesday he could go back to his previous position.”
Advertisement
While that ever-shifting explanation leaves a lot to be desired, it also applies to a party that purports to hate government interference—except in cases of women’s vaginas, same-sex marriages and trans toilet choices. They champion religious freedom—but only for Christians. They are pro-life—except when it comes to the death penalty, healthcare initiatives, masks and police bullets. They rail against government handouts, except to corporations, white farmers and wealthy businessmen.
They believe in America, the Constitution and liberty and justice for all. But they will not stand for anyone who exercises their constitutional right to protest or condemn America’s injustices. They demand law and order while protecting out-of-order cops who disregard the law. They run up deficits while touting fiscal responsibility.
Advertisement
Republicans don’t believe in anything; they just say things. And Trumpism is not a phenomenon. Trump is a loyal institutionalist who is as fickle and capricious as the party he represents.
He is more Republican than most Republicans.
Something Like a Phenomenon
There are some who would argue that Trump is a far-right-wing version of the Republican Party. They theorize that the GOP has shifted so far right because Trump mobilized the most extreme elements of the party’s base. This narrative serves as cold comfort for mainstream moderates who see their party slipping towards white nationalism
Advertisement
It is also a lie.
Using racism to coalesce the GOP base is not a Trumpist tactic; it is a Republican tactic.
Advertisement
It’s almost like Nixon’s War on Drugs didn’t exist. Remember that time when Republican messiah Ronald Reagan traveled to the site of a civil rights murder and essentially gave the thumbs up to the states’ rights advocates who shot the activists in the head and dumped their bodies into a hole? Or how about when he chatted with his homeboy Richard Nixon about “those monkeys from those African countries?”
Or maybe you can recall Reagan’s successor, George H.W. Bush framing a Black teenager to incite fear about crack dealers in the “ghetto.” How about George W. Bush saying that flying a Confederate flag was a “state’s right?” Can you recall moderate John McCain saying it was a “symbol of heritage” when he ran against Barack Obama? McCain would later admit that he only said it because he was trying to appeal to South Carolina’s Republican base.
Advertisement
And just in case you thought Trump devised a plan to steal votes, please remember that democracy has never been their thing.
This is the party of the Southern Strategy. This is the party that was barred from polls because they sent an armed “task force” to polling sites in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods to scare away voters. This is the party that sent postcards to Black voters in North Carolina telling them they might be arrested if they vote. This is the party that found a loophole in Florida’s constitution that allowed them to continue disenfranchising millions after the state’s voters went to the ballots and said “Enough!”
Advertisement
This is the party that targeted Black voters “with almost surgical precision,” according to a federal court ruling. This is the party that ignored Russian interference. This is the voter ID-requiring, poll-closing, poll restriction-loving, registration-purging party of “the most racist politician in America,” the white nationalist congressman, and the “The Wizard of Voter Suppression.” This is is the party of Willie Horton and “nigger, nigger, nigger,” and “welfare queen” and “build that wall” and “send her back.”
This is not Trump’s party.
This is the Republican Party.
They Built It So He Would Come
Do not fall for it.
Contrary to popular belief, Trump did not strongarm an entire party into subverting democracy, ignoring civil rights and dog-whistling white supremacist ideology. He’s neither a marketing genius or a political innovator. He isn’t even saying the quiet part out loud. He’s just inhabiting a house that they built.
Advertisement
Those hand-wringing conservatives who are now denouncing “Trumpism” and distancing themselves from the white nationalist president are the same ones who spit-shined Trump’s shoes as he meandered his way toward the White House. Joe Scarborough and Mika B. apparently had no idea Trump was racist after a years-long friendship. Before discovering Trump’s racism in 2017, they called their schmoozing the “Washington way.”
Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson was a Confederate flag-loving, Trayvon Martin-hating Republican until he deleted his tweets. Co-founder Jennifer Horn lobbed baseless accusations of voter fraud and illegal voting when Trump’s desk was still on the set of The Apprentice. Mitt Romney was hiding his tax returns when the White House was still a glimmer in Trump’s eye.
Advertisement
They built this party. Trump just perfected it.
“[I]n large measure, we laid down the metrics and pathway for Donald Trump to emerge and to arise the way he did. He understood the GOP better than the GOP understood itself,” Former GOP Chairman Michael Steele told Jonathan Capehart. “[T]his confrontation within the party is something that is long overdue.”
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Steele said that in August 2016.
What Next?
When you hear the audible gasps from people wondering why the leaders of the “Party of Lincoln” are so quiet about Trump taking a hatchet to the Constitution, the Bible or moral values, it’s not because they have been bullied into a “complicit silence.” Their reticence to speak has less to do with fear and everything to do with political manifest destiny
Advertisement
Trumpism isn’t a new political ideology. It’s just purest, uncut form of Republicanism and they never meant for it to be taken at full strength. Orange Crush’s vocabulary might be too limited to use the usual euphemisms employed by his co-conspirators but, rest assured, he’s saying the same things they are. Perhaps that’s why he is so beloved—his base doesn’t need a glossary or a decoder ring to decipher the delicate, racist grandiloquence hiding beneath the surface of the party dogma.
When he is gone, Republicans will go back to hiding behind the florid pretense of patriotism and puritanical philosophy. They will wax poetic about the amber waves of grain and how we finally returned to our American values. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with preferring politicians who can mask the smell of their anti-democratic white nationalist feces-flinging versus an untrained, feral, dookie-throwing spider monkey.
Advertisement
But let’s stop pretending it’s not all the same bullshit.


theroot--2020-12-17--Public Service Announcement: Tenet Is Not Going to Make Any More Sense Upon a Second Watch

Back in September , my roommate and I drove a half-hour to the closest drive-in to watch Christopher Nolan ’ s latest epic , Tenet .
My initial feelings on the film could be boiled down to “ Fuck yeah !
But what , what actually happened ?
” Yesterday , I copped the 4K Blu-Ray , eager to experience it again with the hope of being able to piece it all together .
Ladies and gentlemen , I ’ m here to tell you that didn ’ t happen .
Many of you may have watched the film for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left with questions such as : “ Who exactly are they blasting on during the last action sequence ?
” “ Okay , but like , logistically , how does one actually fight a nigga in reverse ?
” Yeah , I got no answers for y ’ all .
I will say the one thing that is cool about the second viewing of Tenet is that is very much a different experience once you ’ re aware of the twists in the movie ’ s structure .
The underlying “ problem ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tries to explain , the more questions it leaves open .
The physics of time have particularly bent my mind .
Deadass , I woke up at 3 a.m. last night and couldn ’ t go back to sleep for an hour because I was too busy trying to make it make sense .
Despite being unable to pierce through the movie ’ s internal logic , I still really like it .
I mean really like it .
Mainly for the same reason I ’ m a very big fan of Michael @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ludwig Goransson ’ s propulsive , trippy score gives the movie energy and the fact that Travis Scott ad-libs punctuate certain action scenes is just *chef ’ s kiss .
* John David Washington manages to channel the steely cool of his father while also creating a unique presence of his own .
Not to mention the man just looks great in a suit .
While I can ’ t make heads or tails of how time functions , seeing time move forward and backward simultaneously is just inherently really cool !
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ So no , I doubt Tenet is going to make more sense upon further rewatches , but I get the feeling it isn ’ t necessarily supposed to .
When one of the characters is explaining the mechanics of time she tells The Protagonist “ Don ’ t try to understand it .
Feel it.
” I think that ’ s both instructions for the character and the audience .
If you go in expecting a meticulously outlined sci-fi epic where everything more or less makes sense , you ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tenet to see Christopher Nolan making a really good Future song .
It might not make much sense upon closer inspection , but damn if it don ’ t set a mood .

Joe Jurado on The Grapevine, shared by Joe Jurado to The Root

Warning: Light spoilers for Tenet will follow.
Back in September, my roommate and I drove a half-hour to the closest drive-in to watch Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, Tenet. My initial feelings on the film could be boiled down to “Fuck yeah! But what, what actually happened?”
Yesterday, I copped the 4K Blu-Ray, eager to experience it again with the hope of being able to piece it all together. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to tell you that didn’t happen.
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Many of you may have watched the film for the first time this week and were left with questions such as:
“How does time even work?”
“Who exactly are they blasting on during the last action sequence?”
“What the hell is a temporal pincer movement?”
“Okay, but like, logistically, how does one actually fight a nigga in reverse?”
Yeah, I got no answers for y’all.
I will say the one thing that is cool about the second viewing of Tenet is that is very much a different experience once you’re aware of the twists in the movie’s structure. The underlying “problem” with Tenet is that the more it tries to explain, the more questions it leaves open.
Advertisement Advertisement
The physics of time have particularly bent my mind. Deadass, I woke up at 3 a.m. last night and couldn’t go back to sleep for an hour because I was too busy trying to make it make sense.
Despite being unable to pierce through the movie’s internal logic, I still really like it. I mean really like it. Mainly for the same reason I’m a very big fan of Michael Mann’s 2008 Miami Vice reboot.
Advertisement
It’s just a fucking vibe, y’all.
Ludwig Goransson’s propulsive, trippy score gives the movie energy and the fact that Travis Scott ad-libs punctuate certain action scenes is just *chef’s kiss.*
Advertisement
John David Washington manages to channel the steely cool of his father while also creating a unique presence of his own. Not to mention the man just looks great in a suit.
While I can’t make heads or tails of how time functions, seeing time move forward and backward simultaneously is just inherently really cool! I can’t even front!
Advertisement
So no, I doubt Tenet is going to make more sense upon further rewatches, but I get the feeling it isn’t necessarily supposed to. When one of the characters is explaining the mechanics of time she tells The Protagonist “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” I think that’s both instructions for the character and the audience.
If you go in expecting a meticulously outlined sci-fi epic where everything more or less makes sense, you’re going to be disappointed. Instead, go into Tenet to see Christopher Nolan making a really good Future song. It might not make much sense upon closer inspection, but damn if it don’t set a mood.


theroot--2020-12-15--The Best Night Creams to Fake a Good Night’s Sleep

We ’ ve all been there , you get a bad night ’ s sleep and it reads all over your face .
Dull skin , raccoon eyes , and uneven patches are all culprits when a night without peaceful slumber hits .
Lucky for us there are a few quality night creams to aid with each of those concerns .
Here are the best of the bunch , based on my personal , anecdotal experience as well as that of my favorite beauty gurus .
I have a close friend that used to work for No7 's parent company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their products ages ago for the holidays .
All of my U.K. pals told me to use the Lift and Luminate triple-action night cream first and assured me I ’ d fall in love with it .
Well , they were right .
I still keep a tub of the stuff in my nightstand for when I ’ m having off days .
This cream does everything you can think of : softens skin , evens tone , firms , and reduces fine lines .
If you ’ ve got a big event @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few days or a week ahead of time and I can assure you ’ ll be glowing .
No7 is known for top-notch skin care products , and Lift and Luminate is one of its best sellers for a reason .
If you ’ re not looking to shell out the big bucks , then this CeraVe drugstore night cream might be the solution for you .
Formulated for gentle skin , this night cream will wake up even the most tired skin , leaving it feeling refreshed .
The niacinamide helps repair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hyaluronic acid will keep your face looking dewy by locking in moisture overnight .
If you ’ re looking for a budget brand , this is the cream for you .
Looking to soothe your dry skin ?
Look no further than the Aqua Bomb sleeping mask from belif .
Not only is it a great clean beauty brand , but this product will give your skin the nourishment it needs !
Formulated with innovative jully , this sleeping mask is great at restoring dull skin ’ s radiant glow .
Using apothecary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guaranteed to kiss your skin problems goodbye !
Fresh ’ s antioxidant-rich Lotus anti-aging night moisturizer is great for repairing fine lines and wrinkles .
Its super lotus ingredient helps to hydrate skin and deliver antioxidant protection .
Peach leaf extract keeps skin feeling refreshed and replenishing it from any environmental stressors .
Known for its first-class line of masks , moisturizers , and eye creams , Fresh ’ s Lotus night cream falls right in line with the rest of its offerings in terms of reliability and quality .
Ready to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a top-rated bestseller , Dermalogica ’ s Sound Sleep Cocoon .
This product will optimize your skins recovery process , reducing hyper pigmentation with vitamin c and fighting free radicals with persian silk tree extract .
Tamarind seed and Wu-Zhu-Yu fruit extract may sound a bit obscure , but together , they ’ ll make your face glow all over again .
The “ Cocoon ” also works to jumpstart microcirculation which leads to the luminous look you ’ ve been trying to achieve .
This story was originally published by Sheilah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clark on 12/15/2020 .

Sheilah Villari on Roundups, shared by Gabe Carey to The Root

Top Product: No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Night Cream | $ 25 | Ulta Beauty
We’ve all been there, you get a bad night’s sleep and it reads all over your face. Dull skin, raccoon eyes, and uneven patches are all culprits when a night without peaceful slumber hits. Lucky for us there are a few quality night creams to aid with each of those concerns. Here are the best of the bunch, based on my personal, anecdotal experience as well as that of my favorite beauty gurus.
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Ready for younger-looking skin in just a few weeks? Then, it’s time to cash in on the No7's Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Night Cream. Formulated with Matrixyl 3000+, the brand’s powerful anti-wrinkle peptide, this product will visibly improve the appearance of deep lines & wrinkles. Meant to be applied at night time, this cream helps your skin recover from a long day during your sleep. As a bonus, it even works great with sensitive skin
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La Roche-Posay Redermic R Anti-Aging Retinol Eye Cream will instantly your eyes lift and improve the texture of your skin. This retinol formula will instantly reduce the look of wrinkles. Beyond retinol, this cream also contains caffeine and La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water. Suitable for sensitive skin and eyes, this cream is ultra-gentle and even tested by dermatologists and ophthalmologists .
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Sometimes, a little hydration is all you need! This all-natural, vegan beauty product is formulated with beautiful botanicals, such as aloe vera juice, cranberry, and rose distillate, all meant to keep your skin looking radiant. Plus, this cream also helps correct dark spots, dullness, and hyperpigmentation. Also, you can rest assured knowing that no animals were tested in creating this product.
Free gift with purchase
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Looking for a lightweight eye cream to diminish the appearance of puffy undereyes and dark circles? Look no further than Clinique’s All About Eyes. Its oil-free formula will hydrate your skin while keeping your makeup in place. This cream is also free of sulfates , parabens, fragrance, and phthalates, so you never have to worry about researching the ingredients to death.
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Olay Total Effects Night Firming Cream will leave your skin looking firmer and younger. This product is infused with a vitamin-rich complex to fight the signs of aging in one portable container. It also helps even your skin tone’s appearance, enhancing its brightness, and reducing the look of dark spots. To boot, this cream is formulated with glycerin technology to improve surface cell strength after just four days.
This story was originally published by Sheilah Villari on 11/16/2020 and updated with new information by Juliana Clark on 05/31/2021.


theroot--2020-12-17--NCAA to Argue Student-Athletes Shouldn’t Get Paid Before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has agreed to take on an antitrust case that could either tighten or substantially loosen the limits of how much student-athletes are allowed to be paid .
This will be the first time in over 30 years the court will rule on a case involving the NCAA .
According to the Associated Press , the court will review a lower court decision that the NCAA says blurs “ the line between student-athletes and professionals.
” The ruling removed caps on payments or benefits related to education .
( Think scholarships , internships , laptops , and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decision was upheld in May by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S .
Circuit Court of Appeals , and in August , Justice Elena Kagan denied a request by the NCAA to place a hold on the ruling while it formally petitioned the court .
The NCAA really said , “ Look , they ruled against us so can you just make it not count until we maybe get our way ?
” The case was initially brought forth by Shawne Alston , a former West Virginia football player , along with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ athletes and the NCAA were pleased to hear the Supreme Court would be hearing the case .
Ramogi Huma , a former UCLA football player and leader of the National College Players Association , told Politico that the Supreme Court could find that “ the lower courts didn ’ t go far enough in allowing athlete compensation.
” Donald Remy , the NCAA ’ s chief legal officer , released a statement saying that the Supreme Court ’ s ruling could potentially allow the organization “ to improve the student-athlete experience without facing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NCAA has argued that the initial ruling creates a “ pay-for-play ” system which , um , that ’ s just how it should work ?
If you ’ re rendering a service , then capitalism dictates one should be paid for services rendered , right ?
Usually , if you ’ re really good at providing that service , people are typically willing to pay more to secure it .
Wait , why am I explaining the basic rules of capitalism to one of the greediest organizations in America ?
Now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is currently in the process of rewriting its rules to allow athletes to be paid for endorsements and brand deals .
Since this is the NCAA , though , there are quite a few caveats to this .
See , there are efforts by legislators in over two dozen states to introduce legislation that would allow student-athletes to profit off their personal brands .
Democrats in Congress are working on a so-called “ College Athletes Bill of Rights ” that would allow athletes both to make money off their own brands and engage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , conferences and schools that make money off college sports.
” The NCAA is pushing for Congress to instead pass legislation that would undercut those efforts and essentially allow the NCAA to place restrictions on just how much student-athletes can earn .
A bill from Senate Commerce Chair Roger Wicker ( R-Miss . )
more or less would fulfill those desires by allowing the federal government , along with a private entity selected by the Federal Trade Commission ( so the NCAA ) , to develop the rules and restrictions regarding how much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will hear arguments in late spring , with a ruling to be expected by early summer before the end of the Court ’ s current term .
Considering the fact that only a handful of players will see their investment paid off with a career as a professional athlete , I don ’ t see why this has been subject to so much debate .
If an organization is making billions of dollars on the back of free labor , that ain ’ t sports , my guy .
That ’ s more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ name .

The Supreme Court has agreed to take on an antitrust case that could either tighten or substantially loosen the limits of how much student-athletes are allowed to be paid. This will be the first time in over 30 years the court will rule on a case involving the NCAA.
According to the Associated Press, the court will review a lower court decision that the NCAA says blurs “the line between student-athletes and professionals.” The ruling removed caps on payments or benefits related to education. (Think scholarships, internships, laptops, and other things of that nature.) That decision was upheld in May by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in August, Justice Elena Kagan denied a request by the NCAA to place a hold on the ruling while it formally petitioned the court.
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The NCAA really said, “Look, they ruled against us so can you just make it not count until we maybe get our way?”
The case was initially brought forth by Shawne Alston, a former West Virginia football player, along with several others. Both advocates for the athletes and the NCAA were pleased to hear the Supreme Court would be hearing the case. Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player and leader of the National College Players Association, told Politico that the Supreme Court could find that “the lower courts didn’t go far enough in allowing athlete compensation.”
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Donald Remy, the NCAA’s chief legal officer, released a statement saying that the Supreme Court’s ruling could potentially allow the organization “to improve the student-athlete experience without facing never-ending litigation regarding these changes.”
The NCAA has argued that the initial ruling creates a “pay-for-play” system which, um, that’s just how it should work? If you’re rendering a service, then capitalism dictates one should be paid for services rendered, right? Usually, if you’re really good at providing that service, people are typically willing to pay more to secure it.
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Wait, why am I explaining the basic rules of capitalism to one of the greediest organizations in America?
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Now, it should be noted that the NCAA is currently in the process of rewriting its rules to allow athletes to be paid for endorsements and brand deals. Since this is the NCAA, though, there are quite a few caveats to this.
See, there are efforts by legislators in over two dozen states to introduce legislation that would allow student-athletes to profit off their personal brands. Democrats in Congress are working on a so-called “College Athletes Bill of Rights” that would allow athletes both to make money off their own brands and engage in “revenue-sharing agreements with athletic associations, conferences and schools that make money off college sports.”
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The NCAA is pushing for Congress to instead pass legislation that would undercut those efforts and essentially allow the NCAA to place restrictions on just how much student-athletes can earn.
A bill from Senate Commerce Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) more or less would fulfill those desires by allowing the federal government, along with a private entity selected by the Federal Trade Commission (so the NCAA), to develop the rules and restrictions regarding how much the athletes make.
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The Supreme Court will hear arguments in late spring, with a ruling to be expected by early summer before the end of the Court’s current term.
Considering the fact that only a handful of players will see their investment paid off with a career as a professional athlete, I don’t see why this has been subject to so much debate. If an organization is making billions of dollars on the back of free labor, that ain’t sports, my guy.
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That’s more akin to something with a very different name.


theroot--2020-12-16--Minnesota Man Convicted for Killing a Child With a Stray Bullet Has Life Sentence Commuted

In 2003 , Myron Burrell was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the death of an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet .
On Tuesday , the Minnesota Board of Pardons commuted his sentence .
According to CBS News , the decision was mutually agreed upon by Gov .
Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison .
On November 22 , 2002 , 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards was shot and killed when a gang incident occurring outside her home resulted in a stray bullet hitting her .
Burrell was only 16 years old at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Supreme Court rulings outlining the difference between a child ’ s brain and an adult ’ s as one of the primary reasons behind his decision to commute Burrell ’ s sentence .
In a meeting with Edwards ’ s family , Walz said that he was not there “ to relitigate the crime ” that tragically took the life of their daughter , according to the Associated Press .
Walz added that “ we must act today to recognize the law in this area has changed .
Justice is not served by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a horrible mistake committed many years ago.
” Ellison shared similar remarks on Twitter , writing “ Mr .
Myon Burrell ’ s age at the time of his conviction is extremely persuasive to me in terms of a commutation .
The Supreme Court has said it is unconstitutional to give a juvenile a life sentence.
” Burrell ’ s case was particularly high profile due in part to Sen. Amy Klobuchar ( D ) citing it as evidence she was tough on crime during her time as chief prosecutor in Hennepin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this year .
Those claims led to an investigation by the Associated Press and APM Reports that found serious flaws in the police investigation that led to Burrell ’ s convictions .
The yearlong investigation by The AP showed there was no hard evidence — no gun , DNA or fingerprints — tying Burrell to the shooting .
Among other things , police did not collect a corner store ’ s surveillance video , which Burrell said could have cleared him .
And video footage showed the lead homicide detective offering a man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s name , even if it was just hearsay .
Officers relied heavily on a single eyewitness , who offered conflicting accounts , along with jailhouse informants , who benefited generously for testifying .
Some have recanted .
One had his 16-year prison sentence cut to three .
Another said he had agreed to work with police on 14 other cases .
Burrell ’ s co-defendants said the teenager was not at the scene that day .
One of them , Isaiah Tyson , has been saying for years that he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I will always carry the burden of what happened to an innocent child , ” Tyson said Tuesday during a call from prison , where he ’ s serving a 45-year sentence for Tyesha ’ s killing .
“ But by him being let go , it ’ s a huge relief for me , because I ’ ve been holding that this whole time .
...
He was locked up for something he had no idea about ” Welp , that ’ s the American justice system in a nutshell .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do with this tragedy spent almost two decades— his entire adult life— in prison due to hearsay and evidence that was flimsy at best .
An independent national legal panel reviewed Burrell ’ s case and released its findings last Tuesday , saying that “ failure to investigate that illustrates tunnel vision ” and that evidence that could ’ ve led to Burrell being exonerated off jump was dismissed or minimized .
Burrell ’ s release was swift , leaving Stillwater Prison on Tuesday night shortly after his sentence was commuted .
Burrell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spend the remainder of his sentence under supervised release .
According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections , this is the first time in over 20 years that a murder sentence has been commuted in Minnesota .
Shortly after arriving home to his friends and family , Burrell stood outside to look at the moon and stars , a sight he ’ d been waiting a long time to see .
“ It ’ s just a blessing , ” he told AP .

In 2003, Myron Burrell was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the death of an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Board of Pardons commuted his sentence.
According to CBS News, the decision was mutually agreed upon by Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. On November 22, 2002, 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards was shot and killed when a gang incident occurring outside her home resulted in a stray bullet hitting her. Burrell was only 16 years old at the time of the incident and Walz cited Supreme Court rulings outlining the difference between a child’s brain and an adult’s as one of the primary reasons behind his decision to commute Burrell’s sentence.
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In a meeting with Edwards’s family, Walz said that he was not there “to relitigate the crime” that tragically took the life of their daughter, according to the Associated Press. Walz added that “we must act today to recognize the law in this area has changed. Justice is not served by incarcerating a child for his entire lifetime for a horrible mistake committed many years ago.”
Ellison shared similar remarks on Twitter, writing “Mr. Myon Burrell’s age at the time of his conviction is extremely persuasive to me in terms of a commutation. The Supreme Court has said it is unconstitutional to give a juvenile a life sentence.”
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Burrell’s case was particularly high profile due in part to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) citing it as evidence she was tough on crime during her time as chief prosecutor in Hennepin County while campaigning to be president earlier this year. Those claims led to an investigation by the Associated Press and APM Reports that found serious flaws in the police investigation that led to Burrell’s convictions.
From AP:
The yearlong investigation by The AP showed there was no hard evidence — no gun, DNA or fingerprints — tying Burrell to the shooting. Among other things, police did not collect a corner store’s surveillance video, which Burrell said could have cleared him. And video footage showed the lead homicide detective offering a man in police custody $500 for Burrell’s name, even if it was just hearsay. Officers relied heavily on a single eyewitness, who offered conflicting accounts, along with jailhouse informants, who benefited generously for testifying. Some have recanted. One had his 16-year prison sentence cut to three. Another said he had agreed to work with police on 14 other cases. Burrell’s co-defendants said the teenager was not at the scene that day. One of them, Isaiah Tyson, has been saying for years that he was the shooter, not Burrell. “I will always carry the burden of what happened to an innocent child,” Tyson said Tuesday during a call from prison, where he’s serving a 45-year sentence for Tyesha’s killing. “But by him being let go, it’s a huge relief for me, because I’ve been holding that this whole time. ... He was locked up for something he had no idea about”
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Welp, that’s the American justice system in a nutshell. A Black boy who apparently had nothing to do with this tragedy spent almost two decades— his entire adult life— in prison due to hearsay and evidence that was flimsy at best.
An independent national legal panel reviewed Burrell’s case and released its findings last Tuesday, saying that “failure to investigate that illustrates tunnel vision” and that evidence that could’ve led to Burrell being exonerated off jump was dismissed or minimized.
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Burrell’s release was swift, leaving Stillwater Prison on Tuesday night shortly after his sentence was commuted. Burrell was resentenced to 20 years and will spend the remainder of his sentence under supervised release. According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, this is the first time in over 20 years that a murder sentence has been commuted in Minnesota.
Shortly after arriving home to his friends and family, Burrell stood outside to look at the moon and stars, a sight he’d been waiting a long time to see. “It’s just a blessing,” he told AP.


theroot--2020-12-16--Well, Tutti My Frutti and Call Me Super Freak: The Lives of Little Richard and Rick James Are Headed

Well, Tutti My Frutti and Call Me Super Freak: The Lives of Little Richard and Rick James Are Headed to Our Screens

It ’ s about to be a wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam bomb day for fans of Little Richard and Rick James !
Deadline announced today that Rolling Stone and Bungalow Media have teamed up to develop a documentary on the life and times of the late trailblazing rock-n-roll icon , Little Richard .
Little Richard : I am Everything , will be directed by Lisa Cortes and executive produced by Dee Rees , Liz Yale Marsh and Rolling Stone .
Speaking to the impact Little Richard had on the entertainers to come after him , Rees had this to say : There ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was Little Richard lit up my world .
Burning bright with a voice that slayed and a pompadour that pridefully sashayed , he inspired me to color outside the lines , and give voice to all who are silenced for being too bold , too Black or too queer .
The architect of rock ‘ n ’ roll , he instantly outpaced what passed for outrageous or transgressive .
But that ’ s only the beginning of the story , and I plan on telling the rest .
Together with my trailblazing producer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reclaim the crown for Little Richard , the undiluted King and Queen of rock ‘ n ’ roll .
Forever may he reign !
Rolling Stone President and COO Gus Wenner also expressed his excitement for the upcoming project adding , “ Rolling Stone is thrilled to partner with Bungalow Entertainment to tell the definitive story of one of the most dynamic and unique founders of rock n ’ roll , whose rich history , career and gender-bending impact remains as important today as ever.
” Little Richard passed away earlier this year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s no word yet on when exactly his documentary will be released or who will pick it up , there is some other news about another musical icon ( who was also arguably influenced by Little Richard ) that ’ s sure to spark some fire and desire .
UCP announced today that it would develop a limited series based on the life of eclectic and iconic artist Rick James .
According to Deadline , the series , currently entitled “ Super Freak ” ( because literally nothing else would make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a funkadelic mix of music biopic and true crime .
It chronicles Rick James ’ plans for a comeback in the early 1990s amidst a heated trial that threatened to destroy his legacy .
The story will touch on timely themes of race , privilege , and the gray area of image vs. reality for celebrities.
” The series will also be written by Randy McKinnon and Nick Antosca , with Antosca , Mike Sagar and Ty James , daughter of the late musician and producer set to executive produce .
Speaking on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s legacy to life , James expressed : We are truly ecstatic about this new project with UCP and extremely excited to work with the writer Randy McKinnon .
We are confident he can give the fans exactly what they have been waiting on , plus some .
This will be a magic carpet ride , with ups and downs , joys and pain— a story of perseverance and tenacity , with the music being the greatest navigation system .
Get ready for the ride of your lives—the story of James A. Johnson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now , no network or streaming platform has been attached to either project .

Shanelle Genai on The Grapevine, shared by Shanelle Genai to The Root

It’s about to be a wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam bomb day for fans of Little Richard and Rick James!
Deadline announced today that Rolling Stone and Bungalow Media have teamed up to develop a documentary on the life and times of the late trailblazing rock-n-roll icon, Little Richard. Little Richard: I am Everything, will be directed by Lisa Cortes and executive produced by Dee Rees, Liz Yale Marsh and Rolling Stone. Speaking to the impact Little Richard had on the entertainers to come after him, Rees had this to say:
There’s a direct lineage from Little Richard to boundary-pushing artists like Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Moses Sumney, Frank Ocean and Brittany Howard. We wouldn’t have the genre-bending musical innovation, electrified performance style and the proud, identity-forward music culture we have today if Little Richard hadn’t fearlessly chopped a completely different path over new musical and social terrain.
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Cortes echoed similar sentiments:
There’s that moment when the meteorite that was Little Richard lit up my world. Burning bright with a voice that slayed and a pompadour that pridefully sashayed, he inspired me to color outside the lines, and give voice to all who are silenced for being too bold, too Black or too queer. The architect of rock ‘n’ roll, he instantly outpaced what passed for outrageous or transgressive. But that’s only the beginning of the story, and I plan on telling the rest. Together with my trailblazing producer Dee Rees, we are going to reclaim the crown for Little Richard, the undiluted King and Queen of rock ‘n’ roll. Forever may he reign!
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Rolling Stone President and COO Gus Wenner also expressed his excitement for the upcoming project adding, “Rolling Stone is thrilled to partner with Bungalow Entertainment to tell the definitive story of one of the most dynamic and unique founders of rock n’ roll, whose rich history, career and gender-bending impact remains as important today as ever.” Little Richard passed away earlier this year at the age of 87. While there’s no word yet on when exactly his documentary will be released or who will pick it up, there is some other news about another musical icon (who was also arguably influenced by Little Richard) that’s sure to spark some fire and desire.
UCP announced today that it would develop a limited series based on the life of eclectic and iconic artist Rick James. According to Deadline, the series, currently entitled “Super Freak” (because literally nothing else would make sense), “is described as a funkadelic mix of music biopic and true crime. It chronicles Rick James’ plans for a comeback in the early 1990s amidst a heated trial that threatened to destroy his legacy. The story will touch on timely themes of race, privilege, and the gray area of image vs. reality for celebrities.” The series will also be written by Randy McKinnon and Nick Antosca, with Antosca, Mike Sagar and Ty James, daughter of the late musician and producer set to executive produce. Speaking on bringing the story of her father’s legacy to life, James expressed:
We are truly ecstatic about this new project with UCP and extremely excited to work with the writer Randy McKinnon. We are confident he can give the fans exactly what they have been waiting on, plus some. This will be a magic carpet ride, with ups and downs, joys and pain— a story of perseverance and tenacity, with the music being the greatest navigation system. Get ready for the ride of your lives—the story of James A. Johnson, AKA Rick James!
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As of now, no network or streaming platform has been attached to either project.


theroot--2020-12-16--Democratic Lawmakers Urge Joe Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty on His First Day in Office

The death penalty—a thing supposedly reserved for perpetrators of the most heinous crimes , typically involving intentional and cold-blooded murder—arguably makes sense in theory ; but in practice , its flaws and potential for racial discrimination are undeniable .
According to figures compiled by the NAACP , Black people represent 42 percent of inmates on death row and 35 percent of those executed , despite making up only 13 percent of the U.S. population .
And if the death of Brandon Bernard—who was an accomplice to murder , but not a killer himself—by lethal injection Tuesday doesn ’ t drive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actually deserves to die , I ’ m just not sure what will convince pro-death penalty advocates of that .
On the same day Bernard was put to death , more than 40 Democratic members of Congress and members-elect signed a letter to President-elect Joe Biden urging him to put an end to “ the barbaric and inhumane practice of government-sanctioned murder ” on his first day in office .
With the current administration using its final weeks in power to fast- track federal executions—and even proposing to bring back firing squads—people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the incoming administration takes a more progressive stance on capital punishment .
NBC News reports that three more federal death row inmates are scheduled to be executed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute , Ind.
, days before Biden ’ s inauguration next month .
The letter—which was pushed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley ( D-Mass . )
—addresses that directly .
“ With a stroke of your pen , you can stop all federal executions , prohibit United States Attorneys from seeking the death penalty , dismantle death row at FCC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resentencing of people who are currently sentenced to death , ” the letter reads .
“ Each of these elements are critical to help prevent greater harm and further loss of life.
” The letter also addresses the biased nature of the death penalty , calling it “ unjust , racist , and defective , ” and pointing out that it is “ disproportionately applied to people who are Black , Latinx , and poor.
” As NBC notes , Pressley introduced legislation to ban the death penalty last year , but that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Attorney General William Barr directed the Department of Justice to reimplement it into federal practice after past administrations had put capital punishment on pause for nearly two decades .
Hopefully , the incoming administration will take another look at the death penalty and how it ’ s practiced in America—and a look that ’ s focused on justice and fairness , not bloodthirst .

The death penalty—a thing supposedly reserved for perpetrators of the most heinous crimes, typically involving intentional and cold-blooded murder—arguably makes sense in theory; but in practice, its flaws and potential for racial discrimination are undeniable. According to figures compiled by the NAACP, Black people represent 42 percent of inmates on death row and 35 percent of those executed, despite making up only 13 percent of the U.S. population. And if the death of Brandon Bernard—who was an accomplice to murder, but not a killer himself—by lethal injection Tuesday doesn’t drive home the point that not everyone executed actually deserves to die, I’m just not sure what will convince pro-death penalty advocates of that.
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On the same day Bernard was put to death, more than 40 Democratic members of Congress and members-elect signed a letter to President-elect Joe Biden urging him to put an end to “the barbaric and inhumane practice of government-sanctioned murder” on his first day in office.
With the current administration using its final weeks in power to fast- track federal executions—and even proposing to bring back firing squads—people who oppose the death penalty are hoping that the incoming administration takes a more progressive stance on capital punishment.
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NBC News reports that three more federal death row inmates are scheduled to be executed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., days before Biden’s inauguration next month. The letter—which was pushed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)—addresses that directly.
“With a stroke of your pen, you can stop all federal executions, prohibit United States Attorneys from seeking the death penalty, dismantle death row at FCC Terre Haute, and call for the resentencing of people who are currently sentenced to death,” the letter reads. “Each of these elements are critical to help prevent greater harm and further loss of life.”
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The letter also addresses the biased nature of the death penalty, calling it “unjust, racist, and defective,” and pointing out that it is “disproportionately applied to people who are Black, Latinx, and poor.”
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As NBC notes, Pressley introduced legislation to ban the death penalty last year, but that didn’t pan out because soon-to-be-former Attorney General William Barr directed the Department of Justice to reimplement it into federal practice after past administrations had put capital punishment on pause for nearly two decades.
Hopefully, the incoming administration will take another look at the death penalty and how it’s practiced in America—and a look that’s focused on justice and fairness, not bloodthirst.