‘Saturday Night Live’ Writer Katie Rich Suspended Over Barron Trump Tweet
Posted: January 23, 2017 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: ABC News, Alec Baldwin, Barron, Beck Bennett, CNN, Cold open, Donald Trump, Donald Trump presidential campaign, Felicity Jones, Kate McKinnon, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Sketch comedy, SNL, Twitter Leave a comment
Katie Rich, the writer for Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update” who sparked a backlash with a tweet targeting President Donald Trump’s 10-year-old son Barron, is no longer working on NBC’s veteran late-night
sketch comedy show. In an ill-conceived joke, she wrote on Friday — the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration attended by the boy — that “Barron will be this country’s first homeschool shooter.”
She deleted the tweet hours later, but the controversy already was swirling and did not subside over the weekend, with many demanding an apology and calling on NBC for the writer’s dismissal.
SNL has not commented on the issue, but a person familiar the situation tells Deadline that Rich was suspended from the show immediately after her tweet and the suspension is indefinite. She was not listed in the credits for the episode that aired on Saturday. Meanwhile, Read the rest of this entry »
The Cult of Clinton: That’s How it Crumbles, Cookie-Wise
Posted: November 20, 2016 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: A Tribe Called Quest, Alec Baldwin, Bullshit, Cult, Dave Chappelle, Donald Trump, Emmy Award, Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen song), Hillary Clinton, Kate McKinnon, Leonard Cohen, religion, Saturday Night Live 2 Comments
Brendan O’Neill continues:
…By the Cult of Hillary Clinton, I don’t mean the nearly 62 million Americans who voted for her. I have not one doubt that they are as mixed and normal a bag of people as the Trumpites are. No, I mean the Hillary machine—the celebs and activists and hacks who were so devoted to getting her elected and who have spent the past week sobbing and moaning over her loss. These people exhibit cult-like behavior far more than any Trump cheerer I’ve come across.
“Maybe she is an idea, a world-historical heroine, light itself…Hillary is Athena,” Heffernan continued, adding that “Hillary did everything right in this campaign… She cannot be faulted, criticized, or analyzed for even one more second.”
— Virginia Heffernan
Trump supporters view their man as a leader “fused with the idea of the nation”? Perhaps some do, but at least they don’t see him as “light itself.” That’s how Clinton was described in the subhead of a piece for Lena Dunham‘s Lenny Letter. “Maybe [Clinton] is more than a president,” gushed writer Virginia Heffernan. “Maybe she is an idea, a world-historical heroine, light itself,” Nothing this nutty has been said by any of Trump’s media fanboys.
“Hillary is Athena,” Heffernan continued, adding that “Hillary did everything right in this campaign… She cannot be faulted, criticized, or analyzed for even one more second.”
[Read the full story here, at Reason.com]
That’s a key cry of the Cult of Hillary (as it is among followers of L. Ron Hubbard or devotees of Christ): our gal is beyond criticism, beyond the sober and technical analysis of mere humans. Michael Moore, in his movie Trumpland, looked out at his audience and, with voice breaking, said: “Maybe Hillary could be our Pope Francis.”
Or consider Kate McKinnon‘s post-election opening bit on SNL, in which she played Clinton as a pantsuited angel at a piano singing Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah,” her voice almost cracking as she sang: “I told the truth, I didn’t come to fool ya.” Read the rest of this entry »
Ang Lee Predicts China Box Office to Dwarf Hollywood
Posted: October 30, 2016 Filed under: Asia, China, Economics, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: A-Yo, Alec Baldwin, Bill Murray, Crying (Roy Orbison song), Donald Trump, Hillary Lindsey, Kate McKinnon, Ron Howard, Saturday Night Live, Tom Hanks Leave a comment
Taiwanese-born filmmaker Ang Lee predicted Friday that the Chinese film market was about to explode, not only overtaking but dwarfing the American box office in a matter of years.
The two-time Oscar winner said executives in the world’s second economy used to rely on him as a bridge to Hollywood, but the newly-confident Chinese film industry no longer finds it necessary.
“It’s huge, it’s going to be bigger in a few years,” the 62-year-old told reporters on the red carpet at the glitzy BAFTA Britannia Awards in Beverly Hills.
“In a few years it’s probably going to be bigger (than the US) and then in the years to come a lot bigger. They’ve got many people and, most importantly, film has been lacking in the past in the culture, so it’s still fresh.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers projects China’s box office will rise from $4.3 billion in 2014 to $8.9 billion in 2019, outstripping the US.
Hollywood studios have been looking to capitalize on the burgeoning market through partnerships with Chinese companies.
Meanwhile, Beijing has ambitions to increase China’s “soft power,” unleashing a wave of Chinese money into Hollywood.
Real estate developer turned media conglomerate Wanda bought “Jurassic World” creator Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion earlier this year. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Larry David Surprises Crowd As Bernie Sanders in SNL Democratic Debate
Posted: October 17, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Darrell Hammond, Donald Trump, Ernie Hudson, Hillary Clinton, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Matthew McConaughey, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Taran Killam Leave a commentSince the surprise surge in Senator Bernie Sanders’ poll numbers this year, many people have long attempted to figure out an apt comparison for the self-described Democratic-Socialist. One of those celebrities has undoubtedly been Larry David, and apparently Lorne Michaels and the NBC powers-at-be have been listening.
The crowd-favorite David was revealed on Saturday night’s SNL cold open playing Sanders, moments after frequent SNL host Alec Baldwin appeared to play Democratic candidate Jim Webb.
As expected, Kate McKinnon played Secretary Hillary Clinton as the opening sketch predictably poked fun at Tuesday night’s CNN Democratic debate hosted by Anderson Cooper. McKinnon’s Clinton angrily declares, “…But this year I thought I got to be the cool black guy,” when discussing her 2008 collapse while trying to earn the party nomination for President.
[VIDEO] OH YES THEY DID: Louis C.K. & Leslie Jones’s SNL Sketch ‘This Is How I Talk’
Posted: May 17, 2015 Filed under: Comics, Entertainment | Tags: Accent, Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, comedy, Hillary Clinton, Jay Pharoah, Justin Bieber, Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Louis C.K, Manny Pacquiao, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Slang, Trash talk, Vanessa Bayer Leave a commentAfter getting caught imitating his boss (Leslie Jones), a new employee (Louis C.K.) must play off the impression as his real talking voice in order to not get fired.
Jeremy Gerard writes: In the Department Of So-How-Was-The-Play-Mrs. Lincoln?, Louis C.K.’s dive into the empty pool monologue was followed on last night’s season finale of Saturday Night Live with a sketch that had the star going almost one-on-one with 
Leslie Jones in a street-slanguage slam, as Louis tried to hold on to his job at a Sprint store after being busted while imitating Jones as his mouthy, negatory boss.
“Is that how you think I talk? Is that yo little impression of me?”
— Leslie Jones, busting Louis C.K., who then maintains the ruse
Convincing her that’s the way he really talks, the bit (with nice assists from Jay Pharaoh, Cecily Strong and Aidy Bryant) followed them over five years as he maintains the ruse. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] ‘Hillary Clinton’ Talks Email on ‘SNL’
Posted: March 8, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Humor | Tags: Benghazi, comedy, Hillary Clinton, Kate McKinnon, media, NBC, news, Parody, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Television 2 CommentsComedian Kate McKinnon plays Hillary Clinton and discusses personal email and presidential ambitions in a “Saturday Night Live” parody.
Timothy B. Lee writes:
For the last week, Hillary Clinton has been at the center of a media feeding frenzy over allegations that she used a personal email account while Secretary of State to avoid public scrutiny of her official communications. The real Clinton has been tight-lipped, but her Saturday Night Live alter ego, Kate McKinnon, took to the airwaves on Saturday to address the controversy.
McKinnon portrays Clinton as aloof, awkward, and power-obsessed. And these portrayals can have a big influence on a candidate’s public image….(read more)
