Sean Penn appeared (remotely) at Anderson Cooper’s Town Hall to talk about relief efforts for Covid-19 – this clip has made its way around Twitter. Sean doesn’t sound particularly well-spoken in that clip, so I searched out a longer segment because anyone can stumble over their words on live TV (CNN has posted the Town Hall here.) Sean and Anderson worked together in Haiti and Sean is active with his relief organization, CORE.
My first reaction is to eyeroll Sean Penn (it’s muscle memory), but after watching the clip, it’s clear he has a lot of respect for the disaster relief outreach capabilities of the US military. What he’s seen on the ground in Haiti is why he’s being asked to speak on what could happen now and what he thinks the next step in containment should be. It’s a very specific thing he’s being asked to talk about: military intervention.
The question is whether or not Sean’s experience in disaster areas makes him an expert in this situation, or if he’s a famous face to add some shine to cable news. Both can be true. Pop culture ambassadors (read: celebrities) are a form of outreach and, eyeroll or not, bring awareness and attention to a situation. Sean Penn was on Instagram way back in 2013. Now @seanpenn has a blue checkmark but no posts or profile photo. He might be back for this.
No idea why CNN and @andersoncooper have Sean Penn on as an expert on military responses to pandemics (it’s insanely irresponsible) but a friend just sent me this clip of him being completely incoherent pic.twitter.com/7iQYpao6O9
— Danny Gold (@DGisSERIOUS) March 20, 2020
Yesterday, Lainey talked about the Biebers in quarantine and mentioned that the US Surgeon General is asking people like Kylie Jenner to ask their followers to practice social distancing. She has been doing updates daily and today posted a video, mentioning the Surgeon General’s advice, and urged her followers to follow the instructions to stay home if possible. It feels weird, but this is doing her part. This is how she will make an impact.
Evangeline Lilly was trending yesterday for not heeding the Surgeon General (and Kylie Jenner’s) advice, sending her kids to camp and living her life with “freedom.” In its own way, this has sparked conversation but I have a question: where is this camp? Everything is shut down, I find it hard to believe that she found a group camp for her kids.
The Gallagher brothers have been socially distancing from one another for years – would it be ironic if it’s this situation that makes them, finally, come together?
Listen seriously a lot of people think I’m a cunt and I am a good looking cunt but once this is put to bed we need to get oasis back for a 1 of gig rite for charity c’mon Noel we can then go back to our amazing solo careers c’mon you know LG x
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) March 19, 2020
Cereal is a highly underrated self-isolation food; it’s suitable for breakfast, lunch, dinner or late-night snack, so I approve of this message. (Although no one needs this many boxes – stop hoarding!)
What I can’t wrap my head around is that lamp. Is it purposefully phallic?
Val Kilmer has an autobiography coming out, I’m Your Huckleberry. This man has some stories, I promise you.
The Weeknd has dropped his album (is it a surprise? I feel like we knew it was coming). Of course social media is piecing together the lyrics and pointing to Bella Hadid as inspiration. I mean, yes, well deserved. The model-as-rock-star-muse is a classic pairing. There’s a line in the song “Escape From LA”, “she got Chrome Hearts hangin' from her neck” – I don’t think he was trying to be subtle.
