The Best of Racial Profiling, Pop Culture Edition
The arrest of Harvard's star African-American studies professor Henry Louis Gates has reignited national conversation about things like racial profiling! The important part of the conversation, however? What the best of pop culture has to say about it, naturally. Now, the following list is definitely some of the best, but it's by no means definitive, or comprehensive: surely, there're far more examples out there that we encourage you to throw in the comments. We've put screengrabs of each example in this gallery, and videos will be on individual threads in the comments for us to break down and discuss together! Maybe President Obama, Gates, and his arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, can make cute references to each of these examples when they have a beer together later this week. Or maybe they can actually discuss some of the realities of racial profiling in America, which pop culture can sometimes get right, and sometimes: absolutely mangle. The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air: In the episode "Mistaken Identity," Will and Carlton - on their way up to Palm Springs - get pulled over in a family friend's Mercedes Benz while going 2MPH looking for a freeway entrance. Because they're black, they're assumed by a cop to have stolen the car. Will tries to stonewall the cop while Carlton tries to reason with him, and of course, they end up in jail. Some singing and dancing later, Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil bail them out. The episode ends with Will castigating Carlton for not knowing better. White Guilt Factor: 5. Funny whiteguy Andy Borowitz was the show's creator, but it had a predominately African American cast. Black Anger Factor: 7, but it's subdued: After Carlton asks Uncle Phil if he would've pulled them over, Uncle Phil reminds him: "I wondered the same thing the first time I was pulled over." Not your typical Fresh Prince ending: Carlton sits alone in silence to ruminate with his newfound disquiet as the credits fade to black. Accuracy: 6. Black guys in nice cars are red flags for suburban cops, but really, who would mistake Carlton for a criminal? [Answer: Who would mistake Henry Gates for a home invader?]. 99 Problems by Jay-Z: The song - from his I'm Retiring-Before-I-UnRetire Black Album - was produced by Def Jam founder Rick Rubin, and one of the prominent verses is about being pulled over by police for a Jim Crow-esque speeding offense. Observe: "I...pull over to the side of the road/I heard "Son do you know why I'm stoppin' you for?"/Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low?/Do I look like a mind reader sir? I don't know../Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo'?/"Well you was doin fifty-five in a fifty-fo' "/"License and registration and step out of the car"/"Are you carryin' a weapon on you I know a lot of you are." The Mark Romanek-directed video - which showed Hov and Rubin being searched by cops - was a source of much controversy on MTV, where they ran it with a warning. It won three VMAs that year. Wikipedia-sourced trivia:... MORE >>
Craigslist Life Lessons: Don't Rent Your Apartment Out to Former Reality Show Contestants
Every time we think it'd be smart to rent out our apartment while we're away on vacation, we remember one of the horror stories we've heard. This one involves black sludge, fake tanner, and America's Next Top Model's CariDee English! A tipster tells us that she put her apartment up on Craigslist and rented it out to English, winner of ANTM's seventh "cycle," and her boyfriend Ryan Bunnell, who was an assistant director on Pretty Wicked an Oxygen reality show that English hosted. When she returned home after two weeks, our source says the place looked like a frat house after the annual "Bongs and Thongs" party. There was fake orange tan dust all over everything: the pillows, the sheets, the towels, the bathmat, the walls, everywhere. The icing on the cake were the short black hairs all over the entire bathroom, as well as an unidentifiable black sludge and lipstick smeared along walls. Fruit flies formed a thick cloud in the kitchen. Band-Aids stuck to the floor...Both puzzling and sickening. Our favorite detail though has to do with a busted remote control: I was shocked...to find a hole in the middle of my living room wall that was made during [their] stay. Coincidentally it's about the same size as the remote control, which is also broken. See, people, this is why you don't let strangers into your house! And just because you've seen them on television and laughed when Tyra gave them a bad makeover and rooted for them to win out over that skank Melrose in the finale doesn't mean that you actually know them. In the witty email our tipster sent the tanorexic couple, she excoriates them for betraying the respect for other people's homes that's necessary for the survival of this whole anonymous internet mi casa es su casa approach to renting out one's living space. See, this is what happens when you rent out to a reality show winner. If she had chosen someone who came in like, third place, at least they'd have some humility. The full letter is below (don't miss the PS!): Ryan and CariDee, I was shocked when I returned home yesterday to find a hole in the middle of my living room wall that was made during your stay. Coincidentally it's about the same size as the remote control, which is also broken. For this, I will be keeping your deposit. Along with that, there was fake orange tan dust all over everything: the pillows, the sheets, the towels, the bathmat, the walls, everywhere. The icing on the cake were the short black hairs all over the entire bathroom, as well as an unidentifiable black sludge and lipstick smeared along walls. Fruit flies formed a thick cloud in the kitchen. Bandaids stuck to the floor, etc. etc. etc. Both puzzling and sickening. People on Craigslist rent out their homes, not their hotel rooms. It's for mature, respectful people. If you throw things at walls, you are neither. Tanning dust, black sludge, black hairs hairs, and wall holes are for hotel rooms where a maid comes everyday. I've been doing this for five years,... MORE >>
Has Chris Brown's Career Been Rehabbed By A Wedding Party In Minnesota?
Have you seen the viral video of the wedding party from Minnesota dancing down the aisle to their nuptials? Well, they went on The Today Show and recreated it. How awkward was it? And has Chris Brown's career been saved? In all fairness, here's the original video: And who couldn't think the idea was incredibly cheesy? Trying to recreate a special moment that happened a few months ago on national television is typically the kind of thing that will suck the blood out of said sentiment. But at the end of the day, the couple got to take their friends to New York - experience the complete and utter assy-ness of network tv execs - and eventually dance with the slight self-awareness that they're not actually great dancers. And have a great time doing it: Not so bad, right? The couple, Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson, had more fun at their wedding than anybody I've ever seen. Sure, the traditionalists amongst us might find it a little gauche, but really: can you blame them for enjoying themselves? Maura Johnston from Idolator nailed it, however, regarding their use of Chris Brown's song "Forever" for their dance: This clip has done more for Brown's troubled career as a pop star than his apology regarding his February domestic-violence incident with Rihanna.. And it's true. Check out Brown's chart position today on the iTunes store for a months-old single that hasn't topped charts since before his domestic abuse issues came to light.Not bad for a guy who hasn't been able to shake a trail of bad press for months. Granted, the video's not new: the couple were wed previous to Brown's savage abuse of Rihanna. But still, he definitely owes the happy couple a wedding present. And not to draw too big of a line, but... Just days after Chris Brown publicly apologized for his February beating of then-girlfriend Rihanna, the two spent the weekend at the same luxury Midtown hotel under a cloak of secrecy, The Post has learned. Yeah, they spent a few days hiding out from the world in a hotel together. So, better question: did a couple from Minnesota show Chris Brown and Rihanna what true love can be? Probably not. Either way, if Chris Brown and Rhianna don't owe the happy couple a wedding present, maybe the rest of us do. It's nice to see what joy-filled newlyweds who aren't scary bridezillas or plucked from the savage waters of the New York Times Weddings and Celebrations look like every once in a while. Seriously. Further reading: Chris Brown Might Want To Send Jill And Kevin A Wedding Present [Idolator] Secrets behind wacky Web wedding aisle dance [Today] Is The Viral Video The New Status Symbol For Brides And Grooms? [Jezebel] MORE >>
Kate Major Will Get Exactly What She Wants In Life, And It's Not Jon Gosselin's Soul
Former Star reporter Kate Major's definitely one kind of whore, the other, not so sure. Whorebaiting gov'nuhs, too! Walter Cronkite, here? Yeah. Also: Frank McCourt. Paris Hilton, the Chelsea Hotel, some Indie Rock FAIL. Presenting your Sunday Morning Gossip Roundup: This is the worst. The absolute worst. Kate Major, Jon Gosselin's new ladyfriend, is vehemently denying a "callgirl" past. Personally, I'd be far more in spin cycle over the fact that I used to report for Star and am currently taking out my lunatic, attention-hungry succubus impulses on a guy with eight kids and a scorned wife going through the nation's most visible mid-life crisis, but that's just me. At least there're sex workers out there with dignity. That being said, Rush & Malloy's source for this item about Kate Major maybe or maybe not turning tricks is a guy named Chaunce Hayden. Hayden's a Grade-A sleazeball running his own ragtag publication - called Steppin' Out - that's like a city weekly for Hoboken sent from the seventh circle of hell. It's dreadful. And every week, Chaunce fills our tips line with what can only be described as the absolute worst shit I've ever seen in my entire life as far as anything trying to pass itself off as a magazine goes. It's dreadful. But Chaunce (pictured, above) is persistent, and it looks like he finally got some suckers - Rush & Malloy - to buy his story, or at least print what amounts to a shameless plug and - like we're doing now - contribute to a feeding frenzy of information about Kate Major. Chaunce, please stay the fuck away from us. If what we do here is like itching powder, or maybe like throwing a fistful of sand, the information you put out into the world is an obscure venereal disease. Please stop writing into our tips line, and kindly go the fuck away. You just peaked, homie. Rush & Malloy: Steppin' Out? Really? Next time, I can do the old (terrible, classic) Jim Carrey/talking ass routine and give you a quote that way. It'd be far more credible. [R & M] And speaking of what we do around here, right below the aforementioned item about Kate Major: "On Friday, when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's spokesman Chuck Ardo resigned, Ardo insisted his retirement had nothing to do with Gawker and other sites putting Rendell on their short list of pols who may be Governor X. Ardo told The D.C. Write Up that Rendell is not the new luv guv - 'no way, no how, no place, no time.'" Heh. Cajun, nice work. Your handicapping skills go unparalleled, as that's the kind of denial that would absolutely merit a 15:1 bet on Rendell. My money's still on Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, if only for homestate pride and his "shake a ho" past. Also, I've got a fiver on Charlie Crist, just 'cause. [R & M] Charles Manson wants to be a pop star, and now that Phil Spector's been deemed by a court of law a fellow murdering psychopath, he wants to enlist Spector's help to write the album of the century. If Manson can take being smacked around and ending up like... MORE >>
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