Thursday, September 10, 2015

TIME

TIME

‘Dear Fat People’ Comedian Nicole Arbour: ‘I’m Not Apologizing for This Video’

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 09:23 AM PDT

Nicole Arbour isn’t apologizing for a controversial video she posted on Sept. 3 called “Dear Fat People”—in fact, she feels proud she’s started a conversation about weight, body image and what it means to be a female comedian.

The controversial “fat-shaming” message in the video—which has racked up nearly three million views and spread rapidly on social media—drew swift reactions from YouTube stars, comedians and columnists, who slammed Arbour for apparently mocking those who weigh more than she does.

But in an interview, Arbour, who has 159,000 YouTube subscribers, maintained that the video is satire and anyone who doesn’t realize that is missing the point.

“I feel it’s really important that we make fun of everybody,” she told TIME. “I think [what] brings us together and unites us as people is that we can poke fun at all of us.”

Much of the criticism of Arbour has focused on her lack of subtlety in discussing fat-shaming, obesity and health. In the video, she says people are entirely responsible—or, as her tone implies, to blame—for their own weight. Among Arbour’s lines that drew particular attention:

“I don’t feel bad for you because you are taking your body for granted… What are you going to do, fat people? What are you going to do? You going to chase me? I can get away from you by walking at a reasonable pace.”

Arbour doesn’t see her comments as bullying, but rather an intense form of truth-telling. She said she hopes the video convinces people to exercise and eat healthier, and she bristled at the idea that people had found her words offensive.

“I find seeing someone’s head being blown off offensive,” she said. “I find children starving in a country with more than enough food offensive. I find women’s bodies being mutilated for religious purposes, that is offensive to me. But words and satire I don’t find offensive.”

Arbour said her comments were partly inspired by other comedians who have touched on weight issues, like Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, Mindy Kaling and Sarah Silverman. One difference, though, is that these comedians tend to make fun of themselves—like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the Golden Globes in 2013—rather than treating fat people in general as a humorous topic.

When asked about her personal body image and her own experience with her size, Arbour responded by speaking generally, saying, “every single girl has an issue with their body—we never think we’re perfect, ever.”

But Arbour’s Twitter account is also filled with retweets of those who condone “fat-shaming” and those focusing on the idea that she’s “encouraging healthiness” with the video.

Grace Helbig, a YouTube personality and host of the E! series The Grace Helbig Show, addressed the controversy with her own video called “Oops We’re All Humans.”

“I was bummed that someone that seemed really smart and funny would speak about weight that way,” she said in the video. “I’ve had my own issues with body image in the past, some really dark personal struggles I’ve really worked on. Most people with body image issues are pretty self aware deep down.”

In her response, Helbig also suggested that Arbour used the video to “leverage subscribers and attention in a really negative way.” Others have posited that the video, and Arbour’s subsequent claim that her YouTube channel was suspended for a short period, might be part of a larger publicity stunt.

But despite the negative reactions online, Arbour is sticking to her original message: “I’m not apologizing for this video, but if someone got something from it, then that’s great, fantastic. Comedy with a message, let’s do it.”

 

Watch Stephen Colbert and James Corden in Failed CBS Promos

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 08:44 AM PDT

On Wednesday night’s episode of The Late Late Show, James Corden showed viewers that he and Late Show host Stephen Colbert had actually shot some promos for CBS.

Despite trying skateboarding and even riding digital bikes together, Colbert and Corden just couldn’t quite perfect any promo.

One of the highlights of the sketch included the two hosts putting on wigs and sweaters for CBS’ fake new drama series The Sweater Boys in which Corden warns: “Rhode Island … beware.”

Already, Colbert and Corden are a classic team — like Simon and Garfunkel, Woodward and Bernstein, Ben and Jerry, and as Colbert suggested: “Your mother and a punch in the face.”

This article originally appeared on EW.com

The Fresh Prince Turns 25: The Show’s Creators on Will Smith, Reboots and Race

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 08:42 AM PDT

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a show about a street-smart teen from West Philadelphia whose mom sends him to live with his conservative relatives (the Banks family) in Bel-Air, California, premiered 25 years ago this week. The sitcom, which ran from 1990 to 1996, launched the career of its star Will Smith, known as the rapper The Fresh Prince, along with many others.

With reruns still airing and the theme song still playing on dance floors and being remixed on YouTube, TIME catches up with award-winning composer and record producer Quincy Jones, 82, who was the show’s executive producer, and its creators (who were married at the time) Andy Borowitz, 57, author of the satirical column The Borowitz Report, and Susan Borowitz, 56, a former writer for Family Ties and the author of When We’re in Public, Pretend You Don’t Know Me. In separate interviews, the trio talks about why NBC was scared to run a show starring a rapper, how the show influenced pop culture and why not to get your hopes up for a Fresh Prince reboot.

How the show got started
Andy: I was under contract to create comedies for NBC, and the network wanted to develop a show for Will. [Producer] Quincy Jones was one of the executive producers, and he had a lot of stories about bringing up his children in Bel-Air. According to Quincy, he received this phone message from one of his daughters who was away at camp: “Dad, the water here sucks. Please FedEx Evian.” So the idea for the show was to drop Will into a family like Quincy’s.

Susan: I had been reading this New York Times series on being black in America, and there was this one article that really disturbed me about how being successful in some corners of the American black experience was akin to selling out. It was a really upsetting story because it was like, how do you get out of the poverty, the more violent neighborhoods, if succeeding is considered tantamount to turning your back and becoming white? So I said to Andy, why don’t we make it about that? Why don’t we make it about how there are all these different ways of being black?

Twenty five years ago, there was a sense of this monolith of a black experience, that there was one kind of black American, and they all think alike and do the same thing. We liked the idea of challenging that.

Quincy: If the show allowed people to have a better understanding of our culture, all the better.

How two white television writers made a show about a black family
Andy: In terms of the characterizations of the black characters, I was naturally concerned, as a white writer, about getting things wrong.

Susan: We made sure we had a lot of black writers and black crew people and were very open about “Hey, if we get something wrong, let us know.” How many white writers grew up around so many black families that they’re able to see the nuances? For instance, one of our white writers wrote a Thanksgiving episode with pumpkin pie, and the black writers laughed and said a black Thanksgiving has sweet potato pie. We didn’t know if Hilary [Karyn Parsons] was accurate, but Quincy called his daughters “black American princesses” and said, “You’ve got have the daughters be BAPs.” Oh, okay.

Andy: One thing that’s interesting about the characters on Fresh Prince is that they didn’t have a lot of obvious antecedents. We hadn’t seen black actors portraying English butlers, millionaire corporate lawyers, and Princeton-bound preppies in 1990. And one thing Quincy stressed, which was so important, was that the characters had to have duality: Uncle Phil [James Avery] was excited to live in the same neighborhood as the Reagans, but he was also proud to have heard Malcolm X speak.

Quincy: The Cosby’s were affluent, but the Banks’ were wealthy. I don’t think you’d ever seen a wealthy African-American family on television until Fresh Prince, and you definitely hadn’t seen a kid from the hip-hop generation until Fresh Prince.

How Will Smith became a star

Quincy: Will had never acted before Fresh Prince, but after a 15-minute read through, we knew he was our guy. You could tell that there was no mountain too high for him, and I’m so proud of everything that he has achieved. But he was surrounded by an absolutely stellar cast, and a great writing staff and crew, and that should never be overlooked.

Susan: The network also would listen to Will. NBC wanted us to make Carlton [Alfonso Ribeiro] cool, and we said, “No, he’s a great foil,” and won on that because Will weighed in and said, “Absolutely not, this is what makes the comedy.” [The network] didn’t want to hire Joseph Marcell, who played Geoffrey the butler, because he wasn’t a name. They wanted us to go with Ron Glass who was on Barney Miller. Luckily, Will said, “No, I like the British guy with the big nose.”

How the show influenced pop culture

Quincy: I think Fresh Prince and the success of the show was the final piece that cemented hip-hop into the pop culture lexicon. Throughout our history, African-American music and culture has always been a barometer for a coming social change in America – the Jazz Age in the 30’s and 40’s, be-bop in the 50’s, rock-and-roll which is really the blues in 60’s, the empowerment movement of the 70’s with Marvin Gaye, Aretha, James Brown and others in the 70’s, and hip-hop in the late 80’s. I had a lot of the rappers on my album “Back on The Block” in 1989, so I was very aware of the shift that was happening with hip-hop and its genesis early on. It was the next evolution of our music.

But you have to remember what was going on in the country at the time culturally. Hip-hop was blowing up, selling millions of albums a week. The kids, both black and white, had cloaked themselves in the culture. You had white kids in Iowa walking around with their baseball caps on backwards, but the establishment, as usual, was freaking out about the reality of the message in the music. You had C. Delores Tucker, Tipper Gore, and other groups doing everything possible to kill the music, but they couldn’t. The kids had found a voice in hip-hop that spoke to them.

Susan: By the time we moved back [to the East Coast], we’d hear white kids on the playground using these words we wrote into scripts, and it cracked us up — these wealthy Westchester white kids using “Yo, dawg.” A lot of the language crossed over into white suburban culture. Some rappers were very angry Will had done this. They felt he had watered down their culture for this white middle class audience.

Andy: I’ve seen the show referred to fondly as a “’90s time capsule” and the wardrobe described as “typical ’90s fashions.” I think both of those assessments are wrong. The show was extremely stylized and kind of inhabited a universe of its own. If you look at other sitcoms from that decade, they look nothing like Fresh Prince because everything in the show is so amped up – the huge mansion, the English butler, Carlton’s dancing. Having said that, I’m sure there are kids who watch it now and think they’re seeing what life was really like in the ’90s. That’s hilarious to me.

How the show changed television

Quincy: In business, particularly in Hollywood, success makes a lot of fear go away, and I think the success of Fresh Prince gave the networks permission to move in directions they may not have normally. We followed Fresh Prince with In The House which starred LL Cool J, and that show ran for three years.

Andy: I didn’t see the show as being trailblazing, but it sort of turned out to be, since it was the first network show to feature a hip-hop star. That might not seem like a big deal in 2015, but in 1990 it was. At the time, the media were freaking out about controversial rappers like 2 Live Crew, and even though Will’s rapping had zero in common with theirs, NBC was irrationally nervous about how the network audience would respond to a show starring a rapper. As it turned out, the show was the highest-rated new sitcom in its first season. In 1990 I had no idea that, 25 years later, it would still be on TV and people would still be enjoying it.

Susan: It was surprisingly forward-thinking. The show launched a lot of careers. It started a wave of black shows. Ironically, BET was harmful to mainstream black network shows because it became the place where black shows went when you’d pitch. It was very easy for networks to say, “This sounds more like a BET show than a network show.” Then Shonda Rhimes comes along, earns her credit doing white shows, and then she’s able to do How to Get Away with Murder. I have such respect for her.

With Empire and Blackish, now apparently they’re asking for black shows again. My fear about this newfound black programming is that the networks will say, “Great, so to repeat the success of Empire, what we have to have is an all black cast, shady dealings, and danger.” But it may not be good. And to repeat Blackish? “What we need are more black family comedies.” But they may not be good. And if these fail, they’re just say, “Oh, I guess Blackish was a one-off, Empire was a one-off, so we’re not going to do those anymore.” They won’t persist in actually broadening.

How likely the chances of a Fresh Prince reboot are

Andy: They’re doing a fish-out-of-water show that’s not a continuation of Fresh Prince in any way. I’m not involved with that show. As for actual TV reboots, which are all the rage right now, I oppose them on principle. I think the reboot of The Brady Bunch as The Brady Bunch Hour variety show in 1976 should be a cautionary tale for all of us.

Susan: I’d be interested to see how [Will Smith would] do a fish-out-of-water situation because things are so different in good ways and bad ways. In good ways, I think America recognizes now that there can be Ben Carsons and Kanye Wests, and I don’t think people blink an eye, especially after Obama. The bad thing that’s happened in America that I think would be a challenge for this show: How do you talk about the black experience without dealing with Ferguson and police brutality? How do you do that in a comedy? It’s one of the reasons I wouldn’t be involved even if he asked me, because I would say I don’t think this is a winning…I don’t think this is an easy thing to do.

How The Fresh Prince would look if it premiered today

Susan: Honestly, when I think about doing a reboot of this, it all becomes very schematic to me, like going backwards. Unless you do the Rachel Dolezal story. That’s the modern thing — the person who is masquerading.

Andy: I guess if the show were premiering today, cousin Hilary would have a very active Instagram account and would be constantly taking selfies, and… as I describe this … it sounds truly horrible. Why are you asking me to wreck Fresh Prince, Time magazine? Let’s just stick with the ‘90s version, okay?

There’s Something Suspiciously Absent From Matthew McConaughey’s New Lincoln Commercial

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 07:54 AM PDT

Remember those ridiculous Lincoln commercials Matthew McConaughey starred in last year? Well, he’s back with a new set of three ads, all directed by Gus Van Sant. Sadly, though, the new commercials lack what made the old ones so special and entertaining: McConaughey’s bizarre, rambling soliloquies.

The ads will start airing this Saturday on ABC during college football games, AdAge reports. Together, the 30-second ads — Welcome, Arrival, and Winning Hand — form a mini-movie that shows McConaughey arriving at the world’s classiest poker game. Expect plenty of smooth jazz, finely-tailored suits, and knowing glances.

Oh, and yeah, there’s also a car, since that’s what this ad is trying to sell you. But after watching, you’re probably just going to want to buy hair products.

The 3 Best Late-Night Jokes About Apple’s Latest Announcement

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 07:45 AM PDT

Late-night comedians had a blast spoofing Apple’s much-anticipated announcement Wednesday.

Jimmy Kimmel summed up every Apple announcement as a showcase of “new products for you to lose in a cab on the way to the airport” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

He also created his own timeline of these much-anticipated announcements, from the “thinner, thinner iPod” and a “big iPod you can’t talk on” and “one you can sleep on. You’re out of money. This is your bed now.”

In his monologue on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon described the new, extra-large iPad as “the best way yet for people to ruin concerts.”

James Corden revealed new Apple Watch features on The Late Late Show, such as “sexy slo-mo,” which will attempt to make the wearer look sexier as if he or she “just came out of the shower.”

Keurig to Finally Release Campbell’s Soup K-Cups

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 07:19 AM PDT

Keurig is finally bringing its Campbell’s Soup pods to stores, just in time for soup-sipping season.

The company first announced its partnership with Campbell’s in 2013, and is only now getting round to selling the pods for use in its coffee machines. The K-Cups are 70 calories or less and come in two flavors, Homestyle Chicken and Southwest Style.

There is a slight chance your coffee could taste like soup, or vice versa, so Keurig recommends running a hot water brew cycle without a pod before and after making the soup.

Keurig announced earlier this year that it was planning to cut 5% of its work force after sales of its signature products took a dive.

Here’s What Frozen Would Look Like If Elsa Was The Villain

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 07:16 AM PDT

Earlier this year, it was reported that the name “Elsa” cracked the list of most popular baby names in the U.S. for the first time since 1917, thanks to parents inspired by the brave, loyal and strong Princess Elsa from Frozen.

That might all change when people watch this video that re-cuts the 2013 Disney blockbuster to reveal that Elsa was actually the villain of the movie.

The video is part of BloodBlitz Comedy’s Movie Trailer Remix series and once you watch it, you may never see Elsa the same way again. Truly a villain for the ages.

Watch Demi Lovato Rock This Cover of Hozier’s ‘Take Me to Church’

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 07:14 AM PDT

Pop star Demi Lovato covered Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge. Hozier took to Twitter to compliment the rendition:

The clip racked up more than 1 million views in about a day.

Lovato is promoting her upcoming album Confident, which is expected to be released on October 16. She is also slated to be a musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

Hozier just did his own cover on the show last week — an upbeat rendition of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down.”

Obama Admits Shedding a Tear on Malia’s First Day of Senior Year

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 06:54 AM PDT

President Barack Obama’s visit to a Michigan college really hit home on Wednesday, reminding him that his eldest daughter will soon be leaving the White House to start a college career of her own.

“Just yesterday, Malia started her first day of senior year. You know, I was sitting in her room because I was going to see her off her first day of school,” Obama said in a speech at Maycomb County Community College in Warren, Michigan, where he promoted his plans for free community college. “She puts her head on my shoulder and she says, ‘Daddy, you know, you realize this is probably going to be the last time that you ever send me off for my first day of school.'”

While Malia’s choice of school is still unknown, the 17-year-old has been busy at work touring some of the Country’s most elite Ivy Leagues, such as Harvard, Tufts, Yale and Stanford, where she may go into the field of filmmaking or television production.

As the audience “awwed” the President continued, “And I started – I had to look away. I didn’t want to just be such a crybaby. It makes no sense. Michelle and I are way too young to have daughters who are both almost in college now. So as a parent, I was a little freaked out.”

“The truth is the girls are wonderful,” the family man told Extra in June, praising Malia and his youngest daughter, Sasha. “You know they work hard, they work a lot harder than I ever did when I was a kid.”

He added, “Most importantly, they’re kind, they’re respectful, they don’t have an attitude,” he said. “Partly because maybe my mother-in-law was here, you know we say we don’t want to see any attitude out of them. And they’ve been terrific.”

This article originally appeared on People.com

This Couple Made a Surprisingly Adorable Drunk History Video For Their Wedding

Posted: 10 Sep 2015 06:35 AM PDT

When Justin Willman and Jill Sipkins were planning their wedding ceremony, they wanted to include a little of their history as a couple. What better way to do that than to take a cue from Comedy Central’s Drunk History, get loaded and recount their first meeting and then play it for their wedding guests?

According to the video posted to Willman’s YouTube channel, a few months before their big day, the happy couple drank a bottle of whiskey, two bottles of wine and half a bottle of vodka and with a little help from their friends, documented their own drunken history for posterity (and the wedding ceremony). If you’re watching at work, be forewarned, as the video says: “(WARNING: a few f-bombs from my drunken bride, delicate ears beware).”
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