Daily Archives: July 13, 2020

Boys Meets World was a TV staple in the 90s for seven seasons. Fans rooted for the love of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel) and the chemistry among the main cast members was ratings gold. But the shows lone Black cast member, Trina McGee, who appeared on the last two seasons of the series, tells Yahoo Entertainment that she often felt left out.

Trina McGee, Rider Strong, Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel in Boy Meets World. (Everett Collection)

In January, McGee, who played Angela Moore, tweeted about a racially insensitive comment she received from one of her co-stars on the set of the family sitcom. She revealed Will Friedle (Eric Matthews) had called her Aunt Jemima while she was getting hair and makeup ready backstage.

Even though the comment was made more than 20 years ago, it stuck with her for years, and now McGee says she is done being silent.I feel like Im always the one who had to squelch it and move on, she says. What about me? What about all this stuff Im taking and ingesting in me, and not really totally realizing how much its lowering my vibration, my self-esteem.

Looking back on the experience, McGee believes that at the time Friedle didnt grasp the severity of the situation.I dont think he understood how I had to deal with it, she explains. I didnt have a hairdresser. All those little micro braids you see, I stayed up all night doing them right before I went on national television for myself.Friedle did end up apologizing to her after the incident, though she didnt feel it was completely sincere.

When McGee reunited with the cast on the Disney Channel spinoff Girl Meets World, her co-star Rider Strong (Shawn Hunter) brought up the racially insensitive moment and tried to explain Friedles actions as playful joking and prodding to get a rise out of her.When I walked away from that experience, I got pissed again because I was like, What the hell?, she says. Years later, this is the explanation for it?

After posting the tweets and publicly voicing her pain, McGee was able to have a healing conversation with Friedle. Because of that, she encourages this kind of dialogue to move away from cancel culture and to create teachable moments instead.

He wrote a long email to me, she says of Friedles recent apology. He said that it was a journey for him since that day that he had called me Aunt Jemima. And it was a journey of thinking about himself, thinking about what hes been taught as acceptable to other cultures ... what might hurt people.

McGee also received an apology from Fishel, who explained her cold behavior toward McGee during their reunion on Girl Meets World was because she was going through a personal situation. The two, who played best friends on the series, have a positive relationship today.

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But McGee has yet to hear from Savage. I do not talk to Ben Savage at all, she says.

Yahoo Entertainment reached out to Savage for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Ultimately, McGee is proud of her work on Boy Meets World and is always touched when fans share how impactful it was for them to see a young Black woman onscreen. She hopes that open and honest conversations will lead to more people of color in front of and behind the camera.

Video produced by Gisselle Bances

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Trina McGee confronts the racism she experienced on the set of 'Boy Meets World': 'I didn't say it 20 years ago, but I'm saying it now' - Yahoo...

WASHINGTON A political campaign built around making videos designed to bait the president of the United States into overreacting would almost certainly have been a total waste of time at any other moment under any other commander in chief.

But Donald Trump is unlike any other president.

And so for the Lincoln Project, which was created by a group of anti-Trump Republican political operatives last December, that means there is a logic to being a metaphorical fly buzzing around the presidents head.

If he responds, we know weve had some effectiveness, Reed Galen, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, told Yahoo News. Its not just a matter of trolling him. Thats fine, but thats not the point. The point is to throw him off his game politically, strategically, personally.

Even the groups name, evoking the Republican president whom Trump likes to compare himself to (generally favorably), seems intended to get a rise out of the president.

The trolling, in other words, is aimed at pushing Trump to further demonstrate to swing voters why they should vote against him. Thats a relatively new method for influencing swing voters.

Voter persuasion has traditionally been done through advertisements, and for a long time the most effective way to get an ad in front of a voter was to pay a TV network to air it.

Over time, earned media also became an option. Do something that gets attention, whether through a provocative ad or something else, and it will get noticed and talked about on cable TV, on the internet and then among voters.

But usually political ads are aimed at getting the attention of voters, either directly through a paid ad or indirectly through starting a conversation in the media.

Trump is the first president who watches hours of cable TV a day, who spends large amounts of time on Twitter and who is easily drawn into petty spats.

Any other president would have laughed off jokes about his age and physical fitness after walking slowly down a ramp, as Trump did following his speech to graduating West Point cadets on June 13.

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But as social media obsessed about Trumps cautious stroll, the Lincoln Projects Twitter handle started using the hashtag #Trumpisnotwell. The top operatives who are part of the Lincoln Project, who collectively have over 3 million Twitter followers, amplified the hashtag.

Three days later, the group released an ad titled #TrumpisNotWell. It began with a shot of Trump drinking water with two hands, another subject of social media fascination, and then showed him walking down the ramp. Somethings wrong with Donald Trump. Hes shaky. Weak. Trouble speaking. Trouble walking, the narrator said over spooky music. The most powerful office in the world needs more than a weak, unfit, shaky president. Trump doesnt have the strength to lead.

That video has been viewed 1.3 million times on Twitter. Many of the projects videos now regularly hit more than 1 million views.

But so what? Which voters who might vote for Trump are going to change their minds based on that ad? And more important, how many persuadable voters are actually taking the time to watch political videos on YouTube?

Most persuadable voters are not paying much attention at all to politics, especially during the summer, said Austin Barbour, a Republican operative who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns.

Im not convinced theyll actually move any voters because they may not have enough cash to reach real swing voters in an impactful way, Barbour told Yahoo News. He did pay the group a compliment for the edginess of their videos. If they do have the cash, their ads are good, he said.

Barbour also said that the group has somewhat made this about them and their hate of Trump.

If they dont reach real voters, Barbour said, this is just a glamour project for some associated with the group.

However, when Trump held a rally in Tulsa, Okla., on June 20, he spent several minutes talking about his walk down the ramp, explaining to the crowd what had happened, and why he drinks water with two hands.

I dont want to get water on the tie, and I dont want to drink much, so I lift it up, the water, Trump said. I have lived with more the ramp than the water, but I have lived with the ramp and the water since I left West Point.

Galen also said that the Lincoln Project began running a video about the Confederate flag on May 31, weeks before Trump began to wade into various controversies around race and racism. On July 6, for example, the president criticized NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag from its events.

Its exactly the kind of box canyon you want him to go into, Galen said.

On July 1, a few days before that, Trump said that painting Black Lives Matter on Fifth Avenue in New York would be a symbol of hate.

The word weak is one of the Lincoln Projects favorite adjectives for Trump, who often boasts about his strength and loves to be photographed with military officers and gear. The ads have clearly gotten under Trumps skin. In early May he went after the group on Twitter and mentioned each of its leaders by name: Galen, Rick Wilson, John Weaver, Steve Schmidt, Jennifer Horn and George Conway, a conservative attorney who is married to one of Trumps top political advisers, Kellyanne Conway.

That kind of attention from the president only helps elevate the group, swelling its email list and adding to its fundraising. And that could help it run targeted TV and digital ads in key swing states closer to the election. So far, its spent just under $3 million on paid TV ads and $1.2 million on Facebook ads.

Galen, when asked what other president would have even responded to any of this in the past, answered simply: None.

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The Lincoln Project's 'Never Trump' ads expertly troll a president who never fails to take the bait - Yahoo News

Zion Williamson emerged from quarantine in fantastic shape and teasing some new additions to his repertoire.

The New Orleans Pelicans rookie said he felt like a kid again while staying basketball-ready during the COVID-19 pandemic and has improved aspects of his game.

Williamson, 20, went back in time as he prepared for the resumption of the NBA season with his stepfather, Lee Anderson. The league will tip off later this month at Disney World after going on hiatus in March.

Via ESPN:

It just felt like I was 5 years old again, Williamson said Friday. Just went back to square one, tried to get my body where it needs to be, get my fundamentals back to square one and start from there. So yeah, it was just like starting over at 5 again. It was a great process to learn it all over.

Williamson also worked with Pelicans staffers as he continued rehab. The No. 1 overall pick underwent knee surgery for a torn right lateral meniscus and missed the start of the 2019-20 season. He made his NBA debut in January and averaged 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 19 games.

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson teased an improved game thanks to work in the NBA's hiatus. (AP Photo/Rusty Costanza)

Head coach Alvin Gentry said the former Duke star looked great at the teams first full practice in Florida. He commended his conditioning and improvements.

He's made a lot of strides in his shooting, I think. Although we weren't together, he did a lot to improve his game, Gentry said, via ESPN.

Known for monstrous dunks at Duke, Williamson succeeded at the basket in his short rookie showing. He took 76.7 percent of his attempts there and teased additions to his repertoire..

Yeah, I think there are going to be parts of my game that you didn't see before that you'll see when we start playing, Williamson said, via ESPN.

The Pelicans (28-36) are 3.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies (32-33) for the Western Conferences eighth seed. They could force a play-in series to get into the playoffs and face the Los Angeles Lakers, setting up Williamson vs. LeBron James in their first postseason match-up.

Williamson emerged from quarantine last week slimmed down, muscular and toned. Hes been constantly questioned about his weight. Hes also one of the newest NBA2K cover athletes, starring on the next generation console covers.

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Zion Williamson teases new aspects of game ahead of NBA's restart at Disney - Yahoo Sports

Video posted to social media early Sunday shows Vauhxx Booker, a Black man, pinned to a tree in what he calls an attempted lynching at Lake Monroe right outside of Bloomington, Indiana. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton says he's known Booker for 5 years and concedes that even in his relatively liberal city, home to Indiana University, racism persists within and around the community.

- Let him go. Please, let him go. Please let him go.

- You go.

- We're going to as soon as you let him go.

- You go.

- I'm going to.

- You go, and we will let him go.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

JOHN HAMILTON: I'm John Hamilton, the mayor of Bloomington, Indiana. Sunday night, I saw videos on social media that showed a member of my community, somebody I know, experiencing just horrific violence attacks, terrifying to watch, no doubt 100 times worse to be in, terrible racial epithets, conflict really angering me, also infuriating me.

I learned through the video and then subsequent activities that there had been a conflict not in my city, but near my city at a lake in a state controlled area of this kind of awful, racial hatred erupting.

- That's what you get.

JOHN HAMILTON: I do know Vauhxx Booker. I've been mayor for five years and I've probably known him for five years. And he's been a very active member of the community. I care a great deal and I want to help my residents have justice.

And of course, we want to stop this kind of thing from ever happening. It's a terrible reminder that racism-- we're a very progressive city, democratic city, progressive, liberal. We believe in inclusion.

But in our community, we know we have hate incidents every year. We know there is racism in our community and around our community. And we can't pretend that's not the case.

I don't know what would have happened in the woods alone around Lake Monroe if there hadn't been other individuals there, if there hadn't been a video taken. We pray that any terrible episode, horrific interaction like this, ends at least with as little violence as possible. There is obviously violence, but I don't know what would have happened.

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Bloomington mayor responds to news of attempted lynching of man he knew - Yahoo News

PepsiCo (PEP) is getting its message across loud and clear that social media sites need to clean up their act on everything from diversity to hate speech on their platforms.

We have not joined the [Facebook] boycott but what we have done is announced that were suspending social media advertising for a period of time. I believe it ends in July, PepsiCo vice chairman and CFO Hugh Johnston said on Yahoo Finances The First Trade. Johnston is a former Twitter board member and currently sits on the board at Microsoft.

Johnston continued, Its less around timeframe and more around the actions that need to happen. What were dealing with simply is this. If you think about the business were in, we do supply people with little bits of joy in their day. Just smiles. Thats the way we tend to think about it. What we dont want to do is take the products that we have that bring smiles to peoples faces and have them positioned right against some of the challenging things that are on social media right now. Obviously as a company we are in favor of free speech, but some of the things on social media are really inconsistent with the way we were looking to position our brand. As they do a better job with managing that, youll see us come back to social media. But the time being, we said were going to pull back on that.

The Pepsi logo is seen on a delivery truck Wednesday, May 30, 2012 in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Johnston confirmed PepsiCo has just pulled back from Facebook advertising, and is evaluating the rest of its spending on social media. PepsiCo is one of the biggest consumer goods marketers around, with an annual budget reportedly more than $2.5 billion.

Other big spenders have gotten their message across, too.

Unilever, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, HP Inc., and Yahoo Finance parent company Verizon have revealed plans over the past month to pause advertising spend on Facebooks platforms until founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg lays out clear-cut measures to improve content policing. Thus far, well-defined measures by Facebook have been few and far between, sources have told Yahoo Finance.

Its a major wake-up call for Facebook. I think theyll rally to the challenge. If they dont, well visit them soon in the graveyard of dinosaurs, said Unilevers former long-time CEO Paul Polman,now speaking as the co-founder of Imagine, onThe First Trade.

Brian Sozziis an editor-at-large and co-anchor ofThe First Tradeat Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter@BrianSozziand onLinkedIn.

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PepsiCo will return to social media advertising when they better manage hate speech: CFO - Yahoo Finance

Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya recently explained why the thinks New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is both interesting and spectacular.

In a series of Twitter posts last month, the CEO and founder of tech holding company Social Capital lashed out at President Donald Trump while vowing to send money to Democrats an amount he pegged at over $750,000.

At that time, he also endorsed the polarizing freshman Congresswoman from Queens, also known as AOC.

Over the weekend, Ocasio-Cortez waded into a new controversy by describing New York Citys spiking crime rate as a consequence of unemployed workers trying to feed their families. In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, Palihapitiya explained his thinking on the evolution of the major parties, and why he considers AOC a wonderful politician.

"I spend a lot of time trying to understand where the parties are going. And I think what's happening is that the Republican Party is going to get torn apart because of people's affiliation or lack of affiliation with Donald Trump, said the 43-year-old investor, who grew up in Canada in an immigrant family on welfare.

Similarly, I think the Democrats are too beholden to a, you know, a gerontocracy class that's, frankly, fading away. It's the reason they lost the election. And I think people are very perceptive of that," the billionaire added.

The reason AOC is interesting is that "she represents a standard-bearer of the movement in the left." He also thinks there will be "standard-bearers, young, dynamic leaders, in the right that do the same thing."

And what that's going to do is actually create a movement among centrists, he added.

Palihapitiya, who has no party affiliation and prides himself on independence, believes what's happening currently is a disintegration of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and "broadly speaking, that disintegration is a really good thing."

When these standard-bearers, like Ocasio-Cortez, emerge from within both the Democratic and Republican parties, and "those two poles exist at scale," it creates "an opportunity for somebody down the middle to unify the country."

Meanwhile, what AOC represents is something really unique and special. I also think I would say the same thing about a Republican, a young, dynamic personality who has a modern view of economic theory and social programs, which is sorely needed," Palihapitiya added.

At the moment, he explained, the pendulum is "swinging toward progressives, and then it'll swing back to centrism."

The latter is where most of the good will be done. But I think AOC is spectacular," he added.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 19: Founder/CEO of Social Capital, Chamath Palihapitiya, speaks onstage during "The State of the Valley: Wheres the Juice?" at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 19, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)

According to Palihapitiya, "politicians at their best are 'do no harm' because the real things that move society forward are incentives. And incentives are best designed by people who are experts of policy, not experts of politics."

What that means is the U.S. is in need of a bipartisan political class who just get out of the way, and who don't make things worse, and who allow us to do what we're all capable of doing, which is taking care of ourselves and fending for ourselves and, at the edges... design incentives so that we can take care of ourselves in a more humane and thoughtful way," he added.

In the midst of a heated debate over what capitalism needs to do to better society, Palihapitiya made a case for the need to create incentives for a more accountable form of capitalism, more progressive form of capitalism can actually make money for shareholders but return more value to people.

Julia La Roche is a Correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her onTwitter.

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Billionaire Palihapitiya on phenomenon of 'spectacular' AOC, and 'swinging pendulum' of politics - Yahoo Finance