Politics
Arizona Republican Strikes Protester Wearing BLM Shirt, Allegedly
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty A GOP candidate for the Senate has sparked outrage after a video shows him assaulting an activist wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, but the candidate claims there is more that happened. According to reports, Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters was caught on camera committing assault on an activist at a meet-and-greet for all the candidates at the Continential Shopping Plaza in the town of Green Valley this past Saturday (June 4th). The event was crashed by Democratic activists, a group that included 73-year-old Peter Jackson. Jackson was wearing a t-shirt with “Black Lives Matter” and a hat with “Jail Trump.” The footage allegedly showed Masters lunging after Jackson with both hands outstretched. The action fo...
Rep. Bennie Thompson Delivers Blistering Opening Statement At Jan. 6 Hearing
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Getty Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat representing Mississippi, delivered the opening statement at the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Insurrection hearing in the House chambers. Thompson’s blistering words decried the attempted coup allegedly linked to former President Donald Trump and related agents of chaos. Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, delivered his remarks from a prepared statement which we’ll share a portion of below. We can’t sweep what happened under the rug. The American people deserve answers. So I come before you this evening not as a Democrat but as an American who swore an oath to defend the Constitution. The Constitution doesn’t protect just Democrats or just Republican...
Laurie Anderson Called Off Plan to House Lou Reed Archive in Texas over Gun Law
The new exhibition “Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars” opens at Lincoln Center’s Library for Performing Arts on Thursday, but it nearly ended up in Texas. As Reed’s widow Laurie Anderson explained in conversation with The New York Times, she cut off conversations with UT Austin after Texas legislators passed a law allowing handguns to be carried on college campuses. Reed died in 2013, and Anderson had initially wanted his archive to be housed at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, which already boasted papers from James Joyce, Norman Mailer, and Don DeLillo. But after Governor Abbott signed the campus-carry bill in 2015, “I called them up,” she said. “‘This thing we’ve been talking about for a couple years? It’s off. Because of guns.’” A few months later, she read about a...
Laurie Anderson Called Off Plan to House Lou Reed Archive in Texas over Gun Law
The new exhibition “Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars” opens at Lincoln Center’s Library for Performing Arts on Thursday, but it nearly ended up in Texas. As Reed’s widow Laurie Anderson explained in conversation with The New York Times, she cut off conversations with UT Austin after Texas legislators passed a law allowing handguns to be carried on college campuses. Reed died in 2013, and Anderson had initially wanted his archive to be housed at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, which already boasted papers from James Joyce, Norman Mailer, and Don DeLillo. But after Governor Abbott signed the campus-carry bill in 2015, “I called them up,” she said. “‘This thing we’ve been talking about for a couple years? It’s off. Because of guns.’” A few months later, she read about a...
Matthew McConaughey Gives Emotional Plea for “Gun Responsibility” from White House Briefing Room
Matthew McConaughey appeared at the White House Press Briefing Room on Tuesday, where he delivered an impassioned plea for Congressional leaders to pass new bipartisan gun legislation in response to the recent wave of mass shootings in the US, including in the actor’s own hometown of Uvalde, Texas. McConaughey began his remarks by sharing personal anecdotes about the nineteen students and two teachers killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24th. He and his wife, Camila Aves, traveled to Uvalde the day after the shooting and met with the families of the victims. In one particularly striking moment, Camila held a pair of green Converse shoes belonging to one of the victims, Maite Rodriguez. The nine-year-old girl had drawn a heart on the shoes because it “represented her love of nature,” Mc...
Dave Chappelle to Donate Buffalo Show Proceeds to Shooting Victims
Dave Chappelle is donating the proceeds from a recent standup show in Buffalo, New York to the families of those killed in the May 14th mass shooting in the city. Chappelle performed Sunday, June 5th, at Buffalo’s Shea’s Performing Arts Center after surprise announcing the show last week. According to TMZ, all of the ticket sales from the sold-out, 3,000-capacity venue will be donated to the local community. An 18-year-old opened fire at a Buffalo Tops Friendly Market on May 14th, driving hours across New York state to target a predominantly Black neighborhood. The gunman, who posted a white supremacist manifesto online, live streamed the attack. He pleaded not guilty to the 25-count indictment against him. Advertisement Related Video Chappelle was recently attacked on stage during a stand...
New York Moves to Ban Hidden Fees from Concert Tickets
New York State is working to save you from the heartache of spending way more on concert tickets than you originally anticipated. A new bill will ban hidden fees from concert tickets, requiring ticketing companies to show “all-in” ticket prices up front rather than letting them sneak up on you at the last minute. Via Stereogum, as of June 3rd the bill has passed the New York state senate and assembly and is awaiting Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature. Once signed, both primary and resale vendors will be required to disclose the final ticket cost on concert tickets’ initial listing, offering a more accurate picture of ticket pricing. What’s more, that final ticket cost cannot be printed in a smaller type size than the initial cost — a nod to the bill’s requirement that prices be displayed in...
Big Thief Announce Israel Tour Dates, Internet Boos
Big Thief have extended their world tour by adding two dates in Tel Aviv, Israel, cushioning the announcement with a statement claiming to be “open to other people’s perspectives” regarding the country’s conflict with Palestine. Noting that bassist Max Oleartchik is from Israel, the band explained that they wanted to explore Oleartchik’s hometown and meet his family and friends in the same way that he had done for them as they toured the United States. “It is important for us to go where we have family to share space and play for them,” the band said. “It is foundational. It is in that spirit that we made our decision to play in Israel.” Aware that many fans would likely not support their decision to perform in a country currently occupying another, Big Thief went on on to add, “We ar...
Joe Biden Calls for Assault Weapons Ban: “How Much More Carnage Are We Willing To Accept?”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: MANDEL NGAN / Getty After weeks of back-to-back mass shootings across the United States, President Joe Biden addressed the nation in an emotional evening speech on Thursday where he urged Congress to pass sensible gun reform laws. Against a somber backdrop of lit white candles, the President recounted stories from Uvalde, TX site of the deadliest mass school shooting in the nation’s history where 19 children and two teachers were slain by an 18-year-old armed with an AR-15. Related Stories “After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done. This time, that can’t be true. This time, we must actually do something. The issue we face is one of conscience and common sense,” th...
Joe Biden Calls for Assault Weapons Ban: “How Much More Carnage Are We Willing To Accept?”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: MANDEL NGAN / Getty After weeks of back-to-back mass shootings across the United States, President Joe Biden addressed the nation in an emotional evening speech on Thursday where he urged Congress to pass sensible gun reform laws. Against a somber backdrop of lit white candles, the President recounted stories from Uvalde, TX site of the deadliest mass school shooting in the nation’s history where 19 children and two teachers were slain by an 18-year-old armed with an AR-15. Related Stories “After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done. This time, that can’t be true. This time, we must actually do something. The issue we face is one of conscience and common sense,” th...
Black Senate Candidate Charles Booker Wears Noose In Campaign Ad
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Stephen J. Cohen / Getty Charles Booker, the Democratic challenger for the United States Senate in Kentucky, wore a noose in his new campaign ad directly challenging current GOP Senator Rand Paul, and the history of lynching in the nation. In a campaign ad that is certain to stir up conversation, the Democratic candidate Charles Booker wears a noose around his neck as he takes aim at his opponent, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. The ad starts out with a content warning for “strong imagery”, before opening with an image of the noose hanging from a tree. “In Kentucky, like many states throughout the South, lynching was a tool of terror. It was used to kill hopes for freedom. It was used to kill my ancestors,” he says as a montage of images i...
Stevie Nicks Calls for Stricter Gun Control: “Background Checks Are Not That Hard”
In light of the horrific mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school, Stevie Nicks has spoken out in favor of stricter gun control. The Fleetwood Mac singer posted an emotional statement to social media, imploring law makers to “make it really hard” for people to purchase assault rifles. “My hope for this country is that the lawmakers just find a way to make buying an assault rifle — more difficult,” Nicks began her statement. “There is just no reason to have a gun that would disintegrate a deer — or a small animal, if you are, indeed, an honorable hunter. When those guns go into the hands of obviously disturbed people, it gives them a sense of unbelievable power that they have never felt before. Power, used in a bad way, is the opposite of ‘power’ used in a good way. Once people ha...
