Quoteworthy
Joan Jett Blasts SeaWorld for Alleged Sexual Abuse of Animals
Joan Jett appeared virtually at SeaWorld’s annual shareholders meeting on Monday to excoriate the enterprise for its alleged animal abuses, namely their methods of forced breeding. Appearing on behalf of PETA, the punk rock icon said in prepared remarks: “SeaWorld has caused public outrage by continuing to forcibly breed bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales in order to create generations of animals who then suffer in cramped tanks, deprived of any semblance of a natural life.” “In the park’s breeding program, unwilling female dolphins are taken from the water and sometimes even drugged so they can’t fight back while SeaWorld staff thrust tubes filled with semen into their uteruses,” Jett went on to claim. “Some must endure this process repeatedly, only for their babies to die or be taken ...
Paris Hilton Chose Britney Spears’ Wedding Over DJing for President Biden
The jury is in: Britney Spears just might be more important than the president of the United States. The pop star’s wedding last Thursday brought together a monumental crowd of A-listers, including longtime pal Paris Hilton — who claims she skipped out on DJing at President Biden’s Summit of Americas dinner to attend the nuptials instead. Hilton spoke briefly about the wedding on an impromptu episode of her podcast This Is Paris: “I was actually asked to DJ for the president and all of the other presidents from around the world for the dinner, but this was more important to me,” she said, still recovering from the prior night’s festivities. The socialite went on to say that she didn’t want anyone to know she’d be going to Spears’ wedding beforehand. “Literally, I did not tel...
Christine McVie Says Cocaine and Champagne Made Her Perform Better
From infighting to drugs, Fleetwood Mac have long been a notoriously messy band, but looking back, singer-keyboardist Christine McVie doesn’t seem to regret any of it. In a recent interview with The Guardian, the artist even proclaimed that she thought her drugs of choice, cocaine and champagne, made her perform better. “I have to say I’m not guilt-free in that department but Stevie and I were very careful,” McVie said, when asked if she had any “blanks” in her memory from years of partying. “The boys used to get provided with cocaine in Heineken bottle tops onstage, but Stevie and I only did the tiny little spoons. I suppose sometimes we got a bit out-there, but we were quite restrained, really.” She added, “I always took fairly good care of myself. My drug of choice was cocaine and champ...
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...
Tim Burton on Batman: “You Put Nipples on the Costume? Go Fuck Yourself”
Tim Burton directed Batman (1990) and Batman Returns (1992) before exiting the franchise over disagreements with Warner Bros. about tone. In a new interview with Empire, he said that his reaction upon seeing the next installment, Batman Forever (1995), was, “You put nipples on the costume? Go fuck yourself.” The conversation came as part of a broader reckoning with the twists and turns of the Batman films, which in recent years have trended darker. It’s something Burton had always wanted, he said. “It is funny to see this now, because all these memories come back of, ‘It’s too dark,’ So, it makes me laugh a little bit.” As he explained, “[Back then] they went the other way. That’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Ok...
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...
John Lydon, Who Wrote “Anarchy in the U.K.,” Says “Anarchy Is a Terrible Idea”
By this point, John Lydon’s status as a one-time punk pioneer has been overshadowed by a series of right-leaning political faux pas. But perhaps unsurprisingly, the man once known as Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten has now gone so far as to retract the message of his band’s debut single “Anarchy in the U.K.,” saying that he isn’t an anarchist at all. “Anarchy is a terrible idea,” Lydon wrote in a new essay for The Times. “Let’s get that clear. I’m not an anarchist. And I’m amazed that there are websites out there — .org anarchist sites — funded fully by the corporate hand and yet ranting on about being outside the shitstorm. It’s preposterous. And they’re doing it in designer Dr. Martens, clever little rucksacks and nicely manufactured balaclavas.” Just in time for Queen Elizabeth II’s ...
Jerrod Carmichael Slams Cancel Culture: “That’s Just to Give Boring People Something Interesting to Talk About”
Breaking news: A famous comedian has an opinion about cancel culture. Jerrod Carmichael is the latest funnyman to chime in on the topic, saying during a new roundtable interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he thinks “cancelation” is just coinage “to give boring people something interesting to talk about.” The interview in question featured Carmichael alongside fellow TV comedians Danny McBride, Michael Che, Will Forte, Jake Johnson, and Bowen Yang. The topic of cancel culture arose when interviewer Lacey Rose asked Che about a recent episode of his show That Damn Michael Che, during which the SNL star explored what being “canceled” might actually feel like. “I think the lie that we tell each other, and ourselves, is that we don’t feel [being canceled],” but we...
Why Kate Bush Granted Stranger Things Clearance of “Running Up That Hill”
Strangers Things 4 might bring Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (Make a Deal with God)” to a new career high on the Billboard charts thanks to its repeated use in the Netflix show’s latest installment, which debuted over Memorial Day Weekend. Though its reached instantaneous viral fame, the process of securing the 1985 cult-pop favorite was apparently years in the making. Warning: Spoilers ahead. The song is first introduced as an auditory balm for the character Max (played by Sadie Sink), who has isolated herself after the traumatic events of the previous season and blocks out her friends and classmates by blasting the tune through her headphones, and later serves as a crucial plot device. In a report by Variety, Stranger Things music supervisor Nora Felder reveals she was given free ran...
Steve Jones Doesn’t Like the Sex Pistols’ Music Anymore: “I’d Rather Listen to Steely Dan”
Sure, Steve Jones might be in the midst of promoting Pistol, the new FX series about his band, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he has to like his own music. In two recent interviews, the Sex Pistols guitarist has admitted that his tastes have changed quite a bit since being a punk rocker in the ’80s; nowadays, he’d “rather listen to Steely Dan.” The topic first came up in an interview with The Telegraph last week. “I never really listen to the Pistols’ music anymore,” Jones admitted. “I’m fucking tired of it, to be honest with you. I’d rather listen to Steely Dan.” It might come as a shock that Jones would prefer a jazz-rock group over the genre he helped pioneer, but rest assured he meant what he said. Speaking with The Associated Press about the re-release of the Pistols’ hit...
Jack White Calls for “New Rules” Following Uvalde Shooting
Jack White has joined a chorus of renewed calls for gun control following the shooting at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead. In a statement posted to Instagram, the artist called for “new rules” that “save lives and protect us from serious harm.” “As we tour in Texas these past few days, I can’t help but to feel saddened in so many ways about the latest in a long line of mass shootings, but mostly I’m exhausted,” White began his statement. “Exhausted with the ignorant excuses about the inability to fix this problem, exhausted with people clinging to their political party or their ‘side’ instead of looking at the issue. Exhausted with people whining about their ‘freedom’ being more important than rules that help save lives.” The musician continued...
