Steve Pond's Blog, page 8

‘The Daily Show’ Questions Donald Trump’s Indictment of James Comey: ‘He’s the Dude Who Got You Elected President’ | Video

“The Daily Show” host Jordan Klepper couldn’t believe that President Donald Trump was indicting, of all people, former FBI Director James Comey asking, “How can you go after a guy who played a key role in you winning the election?”

“I don’t know what’s worse, Donald Trump weaponizing the Justice Department or the fact that he’s doing it to go after James Comey,” Klepper began on Thursday night’s episode of “The Daily Show.” “I mean, Trump, he’s the dude who got you elected president. Remember, he announced a few days before Election Day that he was investigating Hillary for her email server. And America was like, we can’t have a president with such disrespect for proper procedure. Let’s elect Donald Trump instead.”

Earlier Thursday, Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on one count for giving a false statement and on one count of obstruction of justice. Both charges were related to his September 2020 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The former FBI director is the first senior government official, who investigated Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign over possible ties to Russia, to face federal charges.

“How can you go after a guy who played a key role in you winning the election?” Klepper asked. “What’s next? Are you going to go after podcast with names like ‘The Chode Kings’ or ‘Roiding Out with the Jizz Brothers?’ […] Look, now, even though prosecutors say they don’t have a case against Comey, Trump seems to have found a loophole to appoint a prosecutor who doesn’t care.”

According to sources the president allegedly forced out a U.S. attorney he appointed in eastern Virginia and replaced them with Lindsey Halligan, one of his personal lawyers.

“Wow, wow, one of his personal lawyers,” the host joked. “She must have a ton of experience in the criminal justice system. I bet she knows her way around a grand jury.” The show then cutaway to a media report that said Halligan is an insurance lawyer who has never prosecuted a criminal case.

He continued: “But you got to figure, if he’s trusting Lindsey Halligan to go after his political enemies, the vetting process must have been extremely thorough.” Another cutaway revealed that she told the Washington Post that she ended up
on Trump’s legal team after showing up at one of his golf events in a suit and was hired a few weeks later. The attorney was also reported to be a former contestant in Miss Colorado USA.

“This is all starting to make sense, though. When Trump hires people, they’re
either beauty queens or the ugliest bog creatures in the world,” Klepper said. “So the bad news is, Trump continues to appoint people to positions that are
completely unqualified for. But the good news is, Trump continues to appoint people to positions they’re completely unqualified for. In other words, don’t worry, James Comey. You don’t have to learn how to make toilet hooch just yet.

You can watch the full “Daily Show” monologue in the video above.

The post ‘The Daily Show’ Questions Donald Trump’s Indictment of James Comey: ‘He’s the Dude Who Got You Elected President’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Jon Stewart Calls Out Kamala Harris Over Pete Buttigieg Veep Snub: ‘It’s Actually Reverse Affirmative Action’ | Video

Jon Stewart took issue with Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ admission that she passed on Pete Buttigieg as her running mate during the 2024 election because he was gay.

On Thursday’s episode of “The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart” the podcast host welcomed Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin where the pair discussed the identity issue the Democrats are having at the moment. In the midst of the conversation, they discussed the importance of authenticity and what that word really means in terms of picking a candidate.

“There is a trust issue that we have right now between the rhetoric of our politics and the reality of our politics,” Stewart said. “Kamala Harris’ book. It does a real service. Maybe not in the way that she had intended or that the political parties will be happy about, but it exposes that the conversation that we all think is happening. But we’re told over and over again is not happening.

He continued: “Whether it be when you choose a running mate, are you looking at whether or not they’re gay or Jewish or Black? To the point of when you looked at President Biden, did you think he was strong enough to go up against Donald Trump in in the national election again?”

The decision to pull Biden out of the presidential race created a wave of backlash for the left as the public began to question their trust in the party. Harris picked up the mantle for the Democrats with just 107 days to campaign. The former vice president detailed the experience in her new memoir “107 Days.” In the book she shared that while Buttigieg was her first choice but she passed on him due to mounting political pressure saying “he would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man.”

“We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” she said in the memoir. “Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”

Stewart applauded Harris for her candor about the conversations being had behind closed doors but also pointed to it as an example of “a fundamental foundational problem of erosion of trust.”

Martin said that “this is where authenticity matters” but Stewart was quick to push back that authenticity has simply become a “buzzword” in campaign strategy.

“But that’s the point,” Martin continued. “The reason we’ve lost trust is because people don’t believe that we actually believe the sh-t we’re selling them. That we’re saying, that we’re telling them what they want to hear.”

“To my point,” Stewart interjected. “In the book when she says, ‘I didn’t go with Pete Buttigieg cause he’s gay. And that’d be too far.’ And you’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s actually reverse affirmative action.’ It’s like, ‘What!?’”

You can watch the full “Weekly Show With Jon Stewart” episode in the video above.

The post Jon Stewart Calls Out Kamala Harris Over Pete Buttigieg Veep Snub: ‘It’s Actually Reverse Affirmative Action’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

JD Vance Calls On Jimmy Kimmel to Apologize to Charlie Kirk’s Widow Erika | Video

Vice President JD Vance called on Jimmy Kimmel to apologize to Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika following the six-day suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for comments he made about Kirk’s killer which were deemed “offensive” and “insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”

Vance appeared on Thursday’s night episode of Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” and was asked about the late-night host. Laura Ingraham mentioned that the Kimmel had not apologized to Erika Kirk directly and asked if at this point, the sentiment would even matter.

“I think it would matter. I would love for Jimmy Kimmel to apologize to Erika and all the people he slandered,” Vance said. “He is trying to say he told a joke. He didn’t tell a joke. He was accusing right wing America, conservative America of killing Charlie Kirk.”

He continued: “We now know that is false. Charlie Kirk was murdered by a left-wing assassin who was radicalized by some of the rhetoric that we see coming from the far left. When you accuse the people who have been holding prayer vigils, who have been praying about Charlie Kirk, you accuse them of killing Charlie Kirk, when we know it was a left-wing assassin, you are not apologizing for his murder. You are encouraging more of that violence to happen. If we’re going to stop this crazy strain of left-wing violence, we have to be honest about what it is.”

Ingraham also asked Vance his thoughts about the cultural touchstone the Kimmel suspension has become regarding free speech and particularly media censorship. The Fox News host cited celebrity and Democratic outcry against FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s involvement in the matter.

“I would like them to tell me exactly what Brendan Carr did to have Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air,” he said. “Because, number one, is he currently on the air. To the extent that he isn’t in certain stations, it’s because he is not funny and because his ratings are not very good. It is actually — we should let these stations determine whether they want a non-funny comedian.”

To that, Ingraham asked, “Why should the government chime in at all?”

“I think that Brendan Carr put out a couple of tweets or truths, whatever he did,” Vance said. “That does not constitute government collusion. It’s pretty rich coming from the Democrats after years of the Biden administration explicitly demanding the social media company censor. You didn’t hear anything from the Democrats about free speech. Brendan Carr putting out a couple of tweets about speech shuts down Jimmy Kimmel’s free speech rights? That’s preposterous.”

Despite his insistence that Carr did not engage in censorship regarding Kimmel, Vance also took a moment to mention that networks rely on public airways. He added that he was not opposed to having the government look into what they’re allowed to broadcast but said it was not related to the ABC host.

“These broadcast companies, ABC, NBC, CBS, they enjoy the public airwaves because they serve the public interest,” Vance added. “So I actually think that we should be having a conversation about whether these companies are serving the public interest. That’s actually totally separate from the Jimmy Kimmel issue because nothing happened to him.”

You can watch Vance’s full “The Ingraham Angle” interview in the video above.

The post JD Vance Calls On Jimmy Kimmel to Apologize to Charlie Kirk’s Widow Erika | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Other Americans’ Off Broadway Review: John Leguizamo Channels Arthur Miller’s Best With Uncompromising Tragedy

John Leguizamo‘s sources improve as his new play moves from an unfocused first act to a very powerful, uncompromising second. “The Other Americans” opened Thursday at the Public Theater after its world premiere last year at D.C.’s Arena Stage.

A Latino family has moved from Jackson Heights to the far more upscale Forest Hills in Queens. Nelson (Leguizamo) has even installed in the backyard a swimming pool, something that he never saw in their old neighborhood. His daughter, Toni (Rebecca Jimenez), is getting married and it promises to be quite the blowout. More important, his son, Nick (Trey Santiago-Hudson), is returning home from a long stint in a mental hospital.

You may already be thinking of Paddy Chayevsky’s “The Catered Affair” or Frank D. Gilroy’s “The Subject Was Roses.” At first glance, it’s all pretty soggy kitchen-sink stuff, and even the usually brilliant set designer Arnulfo Maldonado appears to have succumbed, decorating Patti (Luna Lauren Velez) and Nelson’s house from the nearest outlet furniture store. That swimming pool is central to the story and should never be out of sight. And yet Maldonado, under the not-always-steady direction of Ruben Santiago-Hudson, often allows this status symbol to be obscured by a very messy kitchen in need of drastic renovation.

Fortunately, the seeds of a far better drama are planted in this sketchy first act. Nelson’s plans to save his laundromat business don’t really come into focus until Act 2 when Leguizamo takes something as mundane as the “mats,” as Nelson calls his business, and gives them all the weight of Joe Keller’s World War II munitions factory in Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” That’s quite a theatrical feat, and equally effective, Leguizamo never softens his fierce performance to paint the harsh contours of Nelson’s rigid world view.

Trey Santiago-Hudson makes the son’s pain palpable from the moment this character’s parents resort to old mistakes. And one can’t fault the other portrayals, of Nelson’s future son-in-law (Bradley James Tejeda), his sister (Rosa Evangelina Arredondo) and a neighbor (Sarah Nina Hayon). How unusual it is nowadays for a playwright to eschew the two-hander format and deliver a full extended family and community on stage!  

Where Leguizamo and director Santiago-Hudson run into trouble are a number of scenes that deliver tiny capsules of drama from the characters’ fraught past. There’s a reason playwrights like Miller, Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill took at least three hours to tell their stories of troubled families. It takes time to develop these complicated, often panic-stricken lives. “The Other Americans” clocks in at two hours and fifteen minutes with intermission. Short scenes that gives us Nelson’s own traumatic childhood and Toni’s inferiority complex are introduced and resolved only minutes later. What’s needed is a setup in Act 1 and then a slow festering in the second act.

What Leguizamo achieves, fortunately, is far greater: a true American tragedy.

The post ‘The Other Americans’ Off Broadway Review: John Leguizamo Channels Arthur Miller’s Best With Uncompromising Tragedy appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Peacemaker’ Just Nailed a Massive DCU Cameo

Welcome to the new DCU.

When James Gunn took over as the architect of a revamped DC movie universe, he teased a high level of interconnectivity between projects, spanning film, television and beyond. Now, a massive DC character has made his way onto the small screen through “Peacemaker” Season 2.

Suffice it to say, this article will contain spoilers from “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 6. Unless you’ve made your peace with being spoiled, go watch the episode and then come back here.

In the sixth episode of “Peacemaker” Season 2, titled “Ignorance Is Chris,” we watch the aftermath of Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) losing Peacemaker to the alternate universe, which leads him to Belle Reve Prison to ask for some help. There is one leading expert in alternate dimensions in this new DCU — Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).

Lex walks in with the help of a cane after his beat down at the end of “Superman.” He is disgusted being locked up in a metahuman prison. He’s apparently serving a 265-year sentence for what he pulled in “Superman,” but that’s not stopping him from plotting for a way out.

Lex asks if a device that could pinpoint the location of an open portal would be enough to get him out. Flag says there is not a chance. He does however say there is something that might interest Luthor — a chance at redemption.

What that redemption looks like is unclear but given the fact that Gunn has already written a screenplay for “Man of Tomorrow,” a sequel (releasing July 9, 2027) featuring the Last Son of Krypton teaming up with Lex Luthor against a common enemy, it seems likely this favor for Flag could help get the villain closer to being out of prison and into that power suit.

Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor in “Peacemaker.” (HBO Max)

Fans had speculated that Superman would make a cameo appearance during “Peacemaker” Season 2 for a number of reasons. To begin with, “Superman” and “Peacemaker” overlapped in filming, with the Man of Steel’s 2025 outing (written and directed by Gunn) shooting at the same time as part of the HBO Max series. This led to pictures of David Corenswet with “Peacemaker” stars like John Cena and Danielle Brooks making their way onto social media. With Corenswet already present and in the suit, it seemed like an easy feat for him to pop over to the “Peacemaker” set.

It turned out that was a bit of a bait and switch to get Hoult as Lex Luthor into the mix. Though there’s two episode left, so the Man of Steel’s cameo could very well still be in play.

This cameo also marks Hoult returning a favor, in a sense. In “Superman,” Clark returns to his home after a confrontation with Lex Luthor to find negative coverage of himself on a right-wing talk show hosted by Cleavis Thornwaite (Michael Ian Black). Cena then appears as Peacemaker himself on the talk show, stating that he thinks Superman thinks he’s better than everyone else due to his less-violent brand of heroism. It’s one of the biggest cameo appearances in “Superman,” highlighting how a handful of characters from the former DCEU (including the “Peacemaker” crew, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller and Xolo Maridueña as Blue Beetle) transitioned into the DCU with their actors intact.

Lex Luthor and Peacemaker aren’t the only characters to hop between film and television in the DCU so far. Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. appeared in the animated show “Creature Commandos,” as well as “Superman” and “Peacemaker” as a top member of A.R.G.U.S. Additionally, Justice Gang members Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) appeared alongside team owner Max Lord (Sean Gunn) in “Peacemaker” after their prominent role in “Superman.” The aforementioned talk show host Cleavis Thornwaite made a brief appearance on “Peacemaker” after his cinematic “Superman” debut. Even a Kaiju fought by Superman and the Justice Gang in the first DCU film is taken down by the parallel Earth’s Top Trio in “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 5.

“Peacemaker” Season 2 releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.

The post ‘Peacemaker’ Just Nailed a Massive DCU Cameo appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Peacemaker’ Alternate Earth Explained: Changing History for the Worse

“In what world is he the hero?” the tagline for “Peacemaker” Season 2 asks.

The answer? Not a very good one.

“Peacemaker” Season 2 follows John Cena’s titular vigilante as he retreats into a world where he, his deceased brother and his racist, abusive father and are alive and well as their planet’s heroes, the Top Trio. Now, the disturbing truth behind this reality has finally been revealed.

Be warned, this article contains spoilers for “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 6. If you don’t want to know what’s really going on with Peacemaker’s parallel Earth, go watch the episode and then come back.

After Peacemaker returned to the parallel reality and shut the door behind him in the previous episode, “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 6, titled “Ignorance Is Chris,” follows the 11th Street Kids as they reopen the Quantum Unfolding Chamber and follow him to the other dimension. The world is almost identical, but it becomes quickly apparent something is off when everyone around the characters is white. James Gunn, who wrote and directed Episode 6, called this week’s installment one of his favorite things he’s ever made.

After Chris and Harcourt reunite following her being detained on suspicion of drugs, they realize ARGUS is run by nazis after noticing an American flag with a swastika on it. The reveal is all the more stressful for Adebayo, who ends up being chased by a stampede of people — including Peacemaker’s brother — down a quiet neighborhood in the episode’s final moments.

Adrien also meets this dimension’s version of himself and they’re getting along as expected until he lets slip that in the main Earth, he and Peacemaker are friends. On Earth-X, Vigilante and Peacemaker are enemies and he joined the Sons of Liberty — seen in the third episode — to fight back the Nazi government.

Jennifer Holland in “Peacemaker.” (HBO Max)

Now, viewers know the disturbing truth of this parallel Earth — or, as it’s called in the comics, Earth-X. In the show, as in the comics, this world exists as a universe where Nazi forces won World War II.

Fans had long speculated that Peacemaker’s “best universe ever” was in reality some riff on Earth-X from the comics. Waiting for some narrative shoe to drop and reveal a hard truth about the alternate reality, viewers were tipped off by a number of clues that this would indeed be a late-season reveal.

To begin with, audiences noticed early on the lack of diversity in the background characters of Peacemaker’s alternate world. Where the primary world of the DCU is filled with a diverse cast of actors and characters in “Peacemaker,” audiences could only find white extras and background actors in the alternate world Peacemaker finds himself in.

David Denman in “Peacemaker.” (HBO Max)

This led fans to ponder the question raised in the season’s tagline: “In what world is he the hero?” As Gunn showed viewers in Season 1 and a cold open in Season 2, Peacemaker’s father, Auggie Smith (played by Robert Patrick), was a raging white supremacist who raised his sons to share in his values. Throughout Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker,” Gunn’s central character struggles to become a better man against these values outside of his father’s shadow.

Yet the Auggie Smith of this parallel dimension is much more loving and gentle toward his sons. Peacemaker’s brother Keith (played by David Denman) is alive and similarly caring. At first, it seems as if this is the primary twist of the new dimension  — Peacemaker’s family is kinder, and they’re viewed as heroes as a result.

But fans expecting a twist and noticing the cast of background characters quickly suspected that Auggie, at his core, did not change. Rather, the world around him changed in a way that his supremacist views were now commonly accepted. Rather than entering a world where the White Dragon (or, on this Earth, the Blue Dragon) is a hero, Peacemaker simply found a reality where people don’t treat his racist beliefs as villainous.

Earth-X, or Earth-10 as it later became known, is a decades-old concept in the DC Comics universe, though not one with an overly extensive history. The idea originated in 1973’s “Justice League of America #107” by Len Wein and Dick Dillin. In the issue, members of the Justice League (Batman, Green Arrow, Elongated Man) and the Justice Society (Dr. Fate, Sandman, Earth-2’s Superman) are inadvertently launched onto Earth-X while using a transmatter machine during their annual team-up.

On Earth-X, history changes drastically when the Nazis win World War II, becoming a dominant global superpower. A group of heroes, known as the Freedom Fighters, fight as rebels in the name of America and freedom, led by Uncle Sam. The JLA and JSA help the Freedom Fighters overthrow the Nazi regime before returning to their own realities.

Since then, Earth-X has only appeared in a handful of stories. After the events of “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” some elements of the Nazi dimension, such as the Freedom Fighters, were folded into the composite New Earth. Later, after the multiverse re-expanded in “Infinite Crisis” and “52,” the Earth-X concept was adopted by one of the new 52 universes, Earth-10.

Grant Morrison later expanded upon Earth-10 during their series “The Multiversity,” which explored the multiverse’s 52 Earths in a post-Flashpoint, pre-Convergence timeline. In “The Multiversity: Mastermen” one-shot, Morrison and artist Jim Lee depicted a world in which Superman (here named Kal-L) was adopted by Adolf Hitler, allowing him to establish Nazi supremacy worldwide. This Kal-L goes by Karl Kant and adopts the name Overman, styling himself after fictional “Superman” comics read by Hitler. The most popular “Multiversity” one-shot, “Pax Americana,” starred the then-unpopular Peacemaker as the primary character.

Arguably, Earth-X’s most prominent appearance to date was in the CW Arrowverse event “Crisis on Earth-X.” In this four-part crossover between “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl,” the wedding of Barry Allen and Iris West is interrupted when Nazi forces, led by Dark Arrow and Overgirl, invade their world. The heroes themselves went over to Earth-X, seeing the world where Nazis ruled.

It’s not clear who is in charge of this DCU’s Earth-X quite yet or what the rules are. But it clearly is not the idyllic place to live that Chris initially thought.

“Peacemaker” Season 2 releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.

The post ‘Peacemaker’ Alternate Earth Explained: Changing History for the Worse appeared first on TheWrap.

James Comey Says He Is ‘Not Afraid’ of Trump-Backed Indictment: ‘We Will Not Live on Our Knees’ | Video

Former FBI director James Comey made his first public statement since he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia Thursday.

Comey asserted that he is innocent. The former FBI director was indicted on one count for giving a false statement and on one count of obstruction of justice. Both charges were related to his September 2020 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The former FBI director is the first senior government official, who investigated Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign over possible ties to Russia, to face federal charges.

“We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either,” the former FBI director said in an Instagram video. “Let’s have a trial. And keep the faith.”

Watch the video here:

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President Donald Trump responded to Comey’s indictment on TruthSocial, exclaiming “JUSTICE IN AMERICA!”

“One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI,” the president wrote. “Today he was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for various illegal and unlawful acts. He has been so bad for our Country, for so long, and is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”

Trump has put increased pressure on his Department of Justice, publicly demanding to prosecute both Comey and New York attorney general Letitia James.

The Justice Department was crunched for time to indict Comey because the statute of limitations on his September 2020 testimony about Russian interference in the 2016 election was set to expire next week.

“My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way,” Comey said Thursday. “I’m not afraid, and I hope you’re not either. I hope instead, you are engaged, you are paying attention, and you will vote like your beloved country depends upon it which it does.”

The post James Comey Says He Is ‘Not Afraid’ of Trump-Backed Indictment: ‘We Will Not Live on Our Knees’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Gen V’ Star Hamish Linklater Says He Was Shocked by the Amount of Times He Had to Take His Pants Off

Note: This article contains spoilers from “Gen V” Season 2, Episode 4.

“Gen V” newcomer Hamish Linklater said it wasn’t the blood, violence or messiness that shocked him the most about “The Boys” spinoff, it was how many times he had to sign off on dropping his pants.

Linklater, who stars in Season 2 as the new dean of Godolkin University Cipher, told TheWrap that he was impressed by the Prime Video’s series’ cast, crew and writers.

“The meticulous notes their scripts are filled with are just mind-blowing. These are like elite-level professionals that you’re coming to work with every day,” Linklater explained. “And then I was shocked by how many times I had to take my pants off, by the sheer volume of nudity riders I had to sign.”

Nudity riders are written agreements within an actor’s contract with a production that outlines the details of the specific nudity, simulated sex or intimate scenes the performer has agreed to. They are provided to the performer prior to filming and put in place to ensure the safety and security of the talent.

The entire “The Boys” franchise, including the college-based spinoff, has become famous for its overly raunchy content and characters.

“My lawyer had to write ‘side of cheek’ so many times,” Linklater said. “There’s like special lawyer language for top of butt … I learned a lot about nudity riders, that’s for sure.”

Cypher is both the new dean of God U and the season’s newest antagonist. Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and her crew just thought he was a normal human being, but as we all learned in Season 2, Episode 4 he isn’t at all what he seems. While Marie couldn’t initially spot any Compound V flowing through his bloodstream, it wasn’t until he started controlling the body and mind of Jordan Li (Derek Luh, London Thor) during their fight with Marie that his powers were revealed: He’s some sort telepath.

While discussing what attracted him to the show, Linklater applauded the series for making the characters’ “weaknesses become their strengths.”

“I watched the show and I was like, ‘No f—king way, what’s happening?'” he explained. “From the opening scene and sequence … this amazing young woman kills her parents with her menses. If that isn’t a metaphor for being a young person, and then it doubles down. You’ve got an eating disorder, you self-harm, the mental disorders, that all of these weaknesses become their strengths. That is some archtypal Greek, superhero s—t.”

He also praised the show for its societal and political relevance.

“As an actor citizen, all you want to do is be part of things that are part of projects that are in conversation with the present moment,” Linklater said. “It’s very rare that you get to do that. So it’s a real privilege when those jobs come along. The show is super dark and super violent and super current, but it’s also super optimistic, I think, hopeful, and that optimism is in the title. It’s in the next generation. And so hopefully the generation that’s watching ‘Gen V’ will join the resistance.”

“Gen V” Season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.

The post ‘Gen V’ Star Hamish Linklater Says He Was Shocked by the Amount of Times He Had to Take His Pants Off appeared first on TheWrap.

NBCUniversal Warns of YouTube TV Blackout as Carriage Dispute Heats Up

NBCUniversal is warning viewers of a potential blackout on YouTube TV as a Sept. 30 deadline looms for negotiations — the latest in the pending carriage dispute between the media company and the distributor.

“Google, with its $3 trillion market cap, already controls what Americans see online through search and ads—now it wants to control what we watch. YouTube TV has refused the best rates and terms in the market, demanding preferential treatment and seeking an unfair advantage over competitors to dominate the video marketplace,” an NBCU spokesperson told TheWrap in a statement, “all under the false pretense of fighting for the consumer. The result: YouTube TV customers will lose access to NBCUniversal’s premium programming, including Sunday Night Football, NBA, Big Ten Football, WWE, Premier League, Saturday Night Live, The Voice, The Real Housewives, and much more.”

However, YouTube expressed a strikingly different sentiment amid the new back and forth.

“NBCUniversal is asking us to pay more than what they charge consumers for the same content on Peacock, which would mean less flexibility and higher prices for our subscribers,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to media. “We are committed to working with NBCUniversal to reach a fair deal for both sides ahead of our current agreement expiring on Sept. 30. If their content is unavailable for an extended period of time, we’ll offer our subscribers a $10 credit.”

The negotiations come as YouTube TV is already facing a heated carriage dispute with TelevisaUnivision, which also could result in a blackout should negotiations not settle by Tuesday. That would mean both major Hispanic broadcasters, Univision and NBCU-owned Telemundo, would be unavailable to YouTube’s roughly 10 million U.S. subscriber base.

Upcoming programming that would be impacted by the blackout includes Sunday Night Football, the NBA and new seasons “The Voice” and “Saturday Night Live,” which is set to return on Oct. 4.

YouTube TV faced a similar headline-making carriage dispute in August with Fox Corporation, eventually reaching to renew their deal and avoiding a blackout by hours.

The post NBCUniversal Warns of YouTube TV Blackout as Carriage Dispute Heats Up appeared first on TheWrap.

Maude Apatow’s Directorial Debut ‘Poetic License’ Acquired by Row K

Newly established indie distributor Row K Entertainment has acquired the U.S. rights to “Poetic License,” a comedy from debuting director Maude Apatow that premiered at TIFF earlier this month.

The film stars Apatow’s mother, Leslie Mann, as Liz, a former therapist and soon-to-be empty nester, whose family relocates to a new town for her husband’s job – a place where she doesn’t know a soul. Her quiet attempt to settle in takes an unexpected turn when she becomes the point of tension between two inseparable best friends and college seniors, Sam (Cooper Hoffman) and Ari (Andrew Barth Feldman).

As their fierce competition for her attention threatens to upend their lives, Liz is pulled into a tangle of longing, self-discovery and the intoxicating thrill of being truly seen – forcing her to confront the life she’s built and the one she still craves. 

“Poetic License” is Row K’s fourth acquisition since its launch in August, joining Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire”, Tom Dean and Mac Eldridge’s “Charlie Harper” and “Cliffhanger,” a reimagining of the 1993 classic directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

“What struck us about ‘Poetic License’ is the balance between its laugh-out-loud comedy and its very human observations about growing up – at any age,” Megan Colligan, president of Row K, said. “Maude Apatow has announced herself as a filmmaker with a truly distinctive voice, and the energy in that Toronto screening confirmed how much audiences are ready for films like this. It’s a perfect fit for Row K.”

Producers include Judd Apatow and Josh Church for Apatow Productions; Benjamin Hung and  Thalia Daniel for August Night (formerly Levantine Films); Maude Apatow and Olivia Rosenbloom for Jewelbox Pictures; and Will Greenfield. Executive producers include Jamal Daniel, Michelle Upton, Renee Witt, Harrison Kreiss and Jay Cassidy. 

The acquisition was negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers by WME Independent, which is representing global sales rights. 

The post Maude Apatow’s Directorial Debut ‘Poetic License’ Acquired by Row K appeared first on TheWrap.