Links: Cicely Tyson, Daniel Radcliffe, and "I Know Where I've Been"
Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 5:00PM 
• THR Cicely Tyson is still winning at age 95. This time it's the Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award. In the past seven years she's received a competitive Tony Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an an Honorary Oscar. Talent + longevity is an unbeatable combination!
• Variety fine actress Keke Palmer (Hustlers) writes a guest column on the current moment and what it asks of us
• The Guardian We were not prepared for "chainsaw accident" and "Cate Blanchett" to be in the same headline. Thankfully she's fine.
more after the jump including Daniel Radcliffe's outreach to fans who are angry with JK Rowling...
• Theater Mania the Drama Desk Awards will be held this Saturday after delays. The event will be streamed live on DramaDeskAwards.com
• Cinema Blend talks to one of the stunt doubles from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise
• My New Plaid Pants Stephan James (Homecoming S2) 13 times
• Vulture Young rising star Justice Smith (The Get-Down, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) comes out and confirms he's dating another young actor Nicholas Ashe (Queen Sugar). "If you're revolution does not include Black Queer voices, it is anti-black"
• / Film production has begun on the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• / Film Indie horror film The Wretched has passed $1 million at the box office, thanks to drive-in movie theaters!
RIP
• Gr8terDays gymnastic champ and 80s star (Gymkata, anyone?) Kurt Thomas has died at 64
• The Root Bonnie Pointer of The Pointer Sisters has died at 69
Finally...
• Advocate Harry Potter himself attempts to salvage the legacy of JK Rowling's books after fan outrage at her comments about trans women:
To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.
Everyone is on edge these days so why JK Rowling keeps going on the offense about this sensitive issue rather than keeping her mouth shut is a mystery. But then she really does have trouble not saying anything that occurs to her. She's already done enough damage to her legacy by constantly attempting to rewrite the books after the fact to take credit for things she didn't actually put in them, like making Dumbledore gay retroactively.
Exit Video
Alex Newell (of TV's Glee and Broadway's Once On This Island) does a powerful rendition of Hairspray's number "I Know Where I've Been" in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Reader Comments (15)
I need Alex Newell to become a thing. Someone give him a mainstream musical role ASAP, please. And as much as I enjoyed the presence he brought to Zooey’s Extraordinary Playlist, that doesn’t count.
Justice Smith and Nicholas Ashe are really cute together. Happy for them both.
Queen Cicely getting another award, Justice Smith & Nicholas Ashe representing #QueerBlackBoyJoy... Just when I thought this week would have no redeeming qualities, things turn around.
Cicely Tyson is so beautiful.
Teppo2 -- did you see ONCE ON THIS ISLAND? He was amazing in that.
Can we now call J.K. Rowling Georgina Rowling now that's the new George Lucas?
Now let’s give Betty White her Kennedy Honors!
YES CICELY TYSON! YES DANIEL RADCLIFFE! YES JUSTICE SMITH & NICHOLAS ASHE! YES ALEX NEWELL!
This link update filled my heart.
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/hbo-max-gone-with-the-wind-removed-1234629892/#article-comments
This can't be the way forward. I'm in faraway India, and so it would be unwise and uneducated of me to comment on the protests in the US, beyond the obvious stand that racism is bad and needs to be opposed and eradicated. Having said that, I can never ever support a cancel culture. There is an inherent danger in any sort of movement that proposes bans. Like capital punishment, once you accept it in the best of cases (where everything is being done by the 'good guys'), it is only a matter of time before it gets used as a dangerous tool by the 'bad guys'. Power keeps shifting and changing hands. What was wrong should always remain wrong, and what is right is universally correct.
HBO Max removes guns from Elmer Fudd cartoons and now this?
This is just fucking stupid.
To add to my post, even acknowledging all the troubling aspects of Gone With The Wind, is wiping it out of existence really helpful at all. If nothing, shouldn't films like it and Birth Of A Nation remain in the public domain to precisely remind us of how the medium of cinema was used to fabricate, obfuscate and delude. Its existence, and its history of being rewarded, should serve as cautionary reminders of how cinema can be used to further narratives and rewrite histories while they are happening. Erasing the propaganda films of Reifenstahl or the slavery romanticizing films of early Hollywood will accomplish little other than denying future cinephiles and general audiences who care an approximation of a past where the medium colluded with the powers to fashion and fabricate reality. Inconvenient truths must exist, not erased.
Da 5 Bloods is apparently great. Can Spike Lee finally win Best Director at the Oscars this year?
When I say that America has a long and deep history of racism, I want to be able to point to examples. Even a film as great as Gone with the Wind leaves a bad aftertaste that needs to be explained and discussed, not erased from the record. I've never seen Song of the South, but I'd like to make up my own mind about where it fits in the history of American race relations. Who knows, will Lawrence of Arabia be a future target because Arabs are played by an Englishman (Alec Guinness) and a Mexican (Anthony Quinn)?
Cicely was worthy for The Help, just like Alfre Woodard was for 12 Years a Slave. I hate that short supporting performances that are worthy get overlooked so often. If Beatrice Straight can deservedly win so can Jo Van Fleet for Cool Hand Luke gosh darnit!!!
@Abzee, Gone with the Wind is a very easy to find film. HBO Max started about two weeks ago and people were able to find it then. They'll still be able to find it all over the internet and on DVD. And on HBO max when it's back in a few weeks.It's not "canceled."
On another note I would love to see Cicely Tyson get a great role in a film so she could have a sort of Ruby Dee like moment during the awards season. It's always really fun to have legends on the awards trail. I know she has always been more of a television person, but she definitely has the chops to do it. I'd also love to Sophia Loren back out there too (maybe for The Life Ahead??).