Equality Issues What Happened to Sasha Exeter On Friday, Kathleen wrote a piece at Refinery29 about what Sasha Exeter shared on Instagram last Wednesday and how certain media outlets have covered the story. Many of them, from Vanity Fair to The Telegraph to the Canadian Press, have been characterising Jessica Mulroney leaning into her white privilege against By Lainey • Jun 15, 2020 10:43 am
Equality Issues Intro for June 12, 2020 Dear Gossips, Since last Friday, alongside my colleagues at CTV, I’ve been working on CHANGE & ACTION: RACISM IN CANADA, a 90 minute special that will air on CTV tomorrow, Saturday June 13, at 8pm. This has been rewarding and challenging work for our entire team as we’ve By Lainey • Jun 12, 2020 09:03 am
Dumbass Harry Potter and the 3,600-word Essay of Transphobia Part of me doesn’t even want to write this article. It’s not that I’m tired of writing about trans rights (I will always be thirsty for some Respect Trans People Juice), but because I’m not sure we should even be giving JK Rowling this much screen By Prem • Jun 11, 2020 10:33 am
Equality Issues Intro for June 11, 2020 Dear Gossips, We had some technical issues yesterday and we think we have it under control now but if you missed it, our opening yesterday was about HBO Max removing Gone With The Wind from its library and how Hollywood is reckoning with its past but also must interrogate its By Lainey • Jun 11, 2020 09:14 am
Equality Issues The Benefits of Defunding the Police This week a reader called E emailed Lainey about the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in the ongoing discussions around race, reform, and revolution happening on the site over the last couple of weeks. E brought up a very good point: Native peoples are also the targets of police brutality in By Sarah • Jun 10, 2020 03:18 pm
Equality Issues Harry Potter Says Trans Rights Remember in the final Harry Potter movie, when Harry and Voldemort are fighting and they’re shooting orange and green things out of their respective wands? That’s basically what went down yesterday IRL. In response to JK Rowling’s transphobic tweets, Daniel Radcliffe penned a statement in defense of By Prem • Jun 09, 2020 02:09 pm
Top Reads Brad Pitt at the protest and Alia Shawkat apologises Brad Pitt was seen at the Black Lives Matter protest in LA on Sunday. The Daily Mail has exclusive rights to the photo that was taken by another protester. “Protester Aree Khodai, 42, said she saw the star riding with the crowds. 'The amount of people there was amazing. By Lainey • Jun 09, 2020 01:24 pm
Equality Issues Intro for June 9, 2020 Dear Gossips, Ava DuVernay’s tweet yesterday illuminated for me that I’ve been doing it wrong in not naming George Floyd’s murderers, referring to them only as police officers, even though by now you probably know their names: Derek Chauvin is the one who held Floyd down with By Lainey • Jun 09, 2020 09:11 am
Equality Issues Michael B Jordan at the protest Here’s Michael B Jordan in LA at a protest in support of Black Lives Matter. We are now approaching two weeks of sustained demonstration, in major cities across the United States and around the world. Even here in Canada, thousands (thousands!) gathered in St John’s, Newfoundland in solidarity By Lainey • Jun 08, 2020 03:10 pm
Dumbass JK Rowling isn’t just Transphobic – she’s a Troll Let me raise my hand as one of those who was shocked by JK Rowling’s tweets on Saturday evening. Not because of her transphobic views, which erase, diminish, and harm the trans community – though it’s important to be clear that they do, especially since Rowling has such an By Duana • Jun 08, 2020 01:56 pm
Equality Issues What about the other Pop Justin? There have been a lot of problematic celebrities during the COVID-19 lockdown and in the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery joining the long list of Black people dying because of anti-Black racism. Tell me if I’m out of line here but… you By Lainey • Jun 08, 2020 12:15 pm
Equality Issues Second City’s systemic race problem Second City, the Chicago comedy institution known as a breeding ground for SNL talent/tourist trap, was rocked last week by news that company Executive Producer and co-owner Andrew Alexander will be stepping down. In his statement, published on Second City’s website, Alexander acknowledges failures on the part of By Sarah • Jun 08, 2020 11:41 am
Douchebags Mark Wahlberg, Black Lives Matter, allyship, and forgiveness On June 4th, superstar actor and producer Mark Wahlberg tweeted in support of Black Lives Matter against the murder of George Floyd: The murder of George Floyd is heartbreaking. We must all work together to fix this problem. I'm praying for all of us. God bless. #blacklivesmatter ❤🙏❤ pic. By Melayna • Jun 08, 2020 10:35 am
Equality Issues Intro for June 8, 2020 Dear Gossips, As Black Lives Matter protests continued across the United States and in many cities around the world this weekend, including Canada, defunding the police has become a major talking point and on Last Week Tonight last night, John Oliver and his team broke down the history of anti-Black By Lainey • Jun 08, 2020 08:49 am
Equality Issues Dick Wolf Fires Writer. This Is News It shouldn’t be news. ‘Man [or woman] behaves abominably, loses job as a result’ is a narrative we know very well – one that’s been playing out in fast-forward over the last few days, a cold comfort relative to the atrocities we’re seeing every single time we open By Duana • Jun 05, 2020 03:23 pm
Equality Issues K-pop fans and Black Lives Matter You may have noticed some headlines this week about K-pop fans and what they’ve been doing on Twitter to support Black Lives Matter. When the Dallas police put out a call for people to alert them to what they called “illegal activity” from the protests via their app, K-pop By Lainey • Jun 05, 2020 01:24 pm
