Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

JUSTINE Sacco made headlines back in 2013 after her tweet sparked outrage on Twitter.

Her tweet resulted in internet backlash and she was eventually publicly fired from her job at IAC, where she worked as the senior director of corporate communications.

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Born in 1983, Sacco, 39, is a Tule University graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy.

After she was fired from IAC back in 2014, Sacco went on to work for FanDuel where she was hired as the Director of communications before being promoted to VP of communications.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she left FanDuel in 2018 and went on to become the VP of communications for Match Group and has been their chief communications officer since February of 2020.

Sacco is known for her controversial tweet back in 2013 that many people have referred to as one of the first acts of cancel culture.

Not much information about Sacco's personal life is known as she has tended to stay out of the spotlight since her tweet.

Back in December of 2013, Sacco boarded a plane to South Africa and prior to taking off, she sent out a tweet saying: "Going to Africa. Hope I dont get AIDS. Just kidding. Im white!"

Revealed

Exclusive

During her 11 hour flight to Cape Town, Sacco's tweet had sparked outrage on Twitter and it promoted the hashtag #HasJustineLanded.

By the time she landed, the tweet had become the number one trending topic in the world despite her account only having 170 followers at the time.

After landing, her phone blew up with hundreds of messages and countless mentions on Twitter.

In light of @Justine-Sacco disgusting racist tweet, Im donating to @care today, one user said while another added How did @JustineSacco get a PR job?! Her level of racist ignorance belongs on Fox News. #AIDS can affect anyone!

One of her IAC co-workers added, Im an IAC employee and I dont want @JustineSacco doing any communications on our behalf ever again. Ever.

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After the backlash started to settle down, Sacco talked to author Jon Ronson and offered an explanation for her tweet.

To me it was so insane of a comment for anyone to make, she said at the time. I thought there was no way that anyone could possibly think it was literal."

She continued: Unfortunately, I am not a character on South Park or a comedian, so I had no business commenting on the epidemic in such a politically incorrect manner on a public platform ... To put it simply, I wasnt trying to raise awareness of AIDS or piss off the world or ruin my life. Living in America puts us in a bit of a bubble when it comes to what is going on in the third world. I was making fun of that bubble.

Despite a rough couple of years, she was able to get back onto her feet and has since stayed out of the spotlight and mostly off of Twitter.

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Who is Justine Sacco and what did she say?... - The US Sun

Ted Lasso seemed like a bad idea from the beginning. It was a sitcom adapted from an advert imagine the horror of a comedy about the inner life of the Go Compare singer, or a 10-part miniseries about the talking M&Ms. It was to be released on Apple TV+, a streaming platform that had failed to grab pretty much anyones attention since its launch in 2019. And it was about football, a subject which has long proved impossible to dramatise competently in either film or television. Despite this, Ted Lasso flew straight into viewers hearts, like a shot off the boot of the Jack Grealish-esque Jamie Tartt. By the time its second season was released, over the past 12 weeks, it had become a minor sensation. In September, its first season landed seven Emmys from 20 nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series. What was its secret elixir? You could describe it many ways charm; schmaltz; #positivevibes but it essentially boiled down to being nice. With an uplifting central message, gently low stakes, and, in Jason Sudeikiss NFL-coach-turned-Premier-League-manager Ted Lasso, a modern-day saint of a main character, this was a series that seemed to evoke a bygone age of wholesome, good-natured TV.

It was more than this, though. Ted Lasso was not simply a nice programme. If some critics were to be believed, the series represented the start of an imminent TV sea-change, a clarion call for a wider resurgence of kind and heart-warming programming the perfect counterbalance to our troubled reality. But this ignored the fact that people had been saying similar things about Schitts Creek for the past few years, or Parks and Recreation before that. It ignored that Ted Lasso itself complicated the narrative with a second season that was darker and more psychologically complex (although often still extremely saccharine). And it ignored another plain fact: niceness will only get you so far. In the world of TV, spite still wins out in the end.

This month sees three compelling antidotes to Ted Lassos virulent optimism arrive on UK screens. The most high-profile of these, one of the years most eagerly anticipated shows, is Succession, which returns for its third season on Sky Atlantic on 18 October. Focusing on the poisonous infighting of a family of media moguls, Succession emerged in 2018 as one of the immediate classics of modern TV. Some viewers complained that there was no one to root for and they werent wrong. Every character is a conniving egotist, pretty much every interaction poisoned by ambition and avarice. And yet, Succession is essential viewing. There is profound humanity in its moments of rank cowardice or betrayal, artistry in its razor-wire insults.

Meanwhile, Curb Your Enthusiasm grumbles its way back onto screens at the end of the month, and will, presumably, see Larry David bump up against the new social mores of the Covid pandemic. David has spent his career in vigorous opposition to the kind of good-natured sensitivity Ted Lasso epitomises first with Seinfeld, then with Curb. The first six or seven seasons of Curb were masterpieces of subversive, provocative comedy, and last years season 10 was a sparkling return to form. Theres no emotional through-line, no pathos to Larrys many arguments and mishaps, but that doesnt matter. All it has to be is funny. And in a strange way, the petty, politically incorrect feuds of a wealthy curmudgeon are as insightful about the human experience as anything Ted Lasso has to offer.

Also arriving on BBC2 this Sunday is the second season of Dave, the sitcom created by and starring David Lil Dicky Burd, set in the world of hip-hop. Though this flew under the radar for many in the UK and its native US, Dave is one of the superior comedies of recent years, nailing the delicate balance sitcoms are now seemingly obligated to strike, between real belly laughs and moments of genuine pathos. Burds on-screen alter-ego, loosely inspired by himself, is a complicated beast a distinctly 21st-century spin on the classic nebbish archetype. Hes a talented but narcissistic artist, a slippery, neurotic provocateur who repels the audiences sympathies with every ill-judged joke or selfish outburst. And yet, hes all the more relatable for it.

These series are not the only recent examples, and the idea of unlikable or complicated protagonists is not a new one. Anyone could tell you that comedy much like drama relies on conflict, and conflict requires a clash of personalities. The comedies that have endured through the years are almost always those with a cynical streak Fawlty Towers, The Simpsons, Seinfeld whereas those without an edge tend to age badly, living on only as soppy clichs. Once-beloved series like The West Wing and Parks and Recreation have rapidly become pass, the limitations of their sunny worldviews being laid bare within a short number of years.

Uncle Fun: Brian Cox as the cold-blooded Logan Roy in Succession'

(HBO)

For their part, the creators of Ted Lasso seem to have realised these limitations. The series spent its second season muddying the waters, insisting that its not just some dewy-eyed naf that nastier shows could beat up for lunch money. The character of Ted has been deconstructed, sent to therapy to confront his own traumatic past. The character of Nate (Nick Mohammed) has been flipped, transformed from a meek savant to a pernicious egomaniac. But still, the show tempers its sharpness with a few dozen spoonfuls of sugar. The Christmas episode, and a recent funeral-set episode, are just about as mawkish as anything thats been on TV in the last year. Thank God there are still plenty of other options for us misanthropes. TVs not ready to play nice just yet.

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Get lost, Ted Lasso the thrill of nasty, cynical TV is still unbeaten - The Independent

LYON--International police organisation INTERPOL on Thursday said it had reintegrated Syria into its information exchange network, lifting restrictions imposed on President Bashar al-Assads regime in 2012.

The curbs were introduced against the background of international sanctions against Damascus over abuses by the regime in the early phase of the Syrian civil war.

In line with the recommendation from the General Secretariat headquarters, INTERPOLs executive committee endorsed that corrective measures applied to Syria be lifted, an Interpol statement said.

The move means that Damascus can directly receive and send messages from other INTERPOL national offices. These access rights had been suspended since 2012.

The statement emphasised that it was incorrect to state that Syria had been readmitted to INTERPOL as it has been a member country since first joining in 1953.

The recommendation to lift the corrective measures was made following close monitoring of messages from Syrias national INTERPOL office, it said.

Individual national INTERPOL offices still have the power to decide with which other countries to share information, the statement said.

It added that Syria does not have the power as a member state to issue international Red Notice arrest warrants, though it can, like any member state, request the general secretariat of INTERPOL to do so.

All requests are subject to a thorough compliance review, it added.

Despite such assurances, the move by INTERPOL to allow Syria access to information networks has aroused disquiet among some activists.

Human Rights Watch Syria researcher Sara Kayyali described it on Twitter as a a dangerous development saying despite claims to the contrary there was a history of Red Notices being misused by repressive governments to make politically-motivated arrests.

The French foreign ministry also declined to endorse the move.

As long as the Syrian regime continues to fuel instability, the humanitarian crisis and the risk of terrorism, France will remain opposed to the normalisation of relations with Damascus and to any easing of the sanctions regime, it said in a statement, adding Paris would reaffirm this position at Interpols general assembly next month.

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INTERPOL reintegrates Syria in information exchange network | | AW - The Arab Weekly

Played by Paul Anthony George, known professionally as Paul Anthony, of hip-hop group Full Force, Stab is a buff bundle of revenge. He's the leader of the bullies and the one of his two brothers, Pee-Wee (Lucien "Bow-legged Lou" George Jr.) and Zilla (Brian "B-Fine" George), who most wants to destroy Kid in "House Party," though he's not quite as enthusiastically chaotic about it as his two siblings.

Anthony performed in Full Force with his brothers Bow-legged Lou, B-Fine, and cousins Hugh Junior "Shy Shy" Clark, Curt "Curt-T-T" Bedeau, and Gerry "Baby Gee" Charles. Anthony shares in the group's Grammys and multi-gold and platinum records. While Full Force had several of their own hits, they were also high-powered producers who have worked with Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and UTFO (responsible for the 1984 mega-hit "Roxanne Roxanne"), among many, many others.

After the film, the group worked with Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and James Brown. Anthony made sporadic acting appearances, including as a heckler on the television series "Martin" in 1995, but his focus apart from music is on physical fitness, as evidenced by his physique as Stab. In 2006, Anthony was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, and eventually developed myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia. Thanks to a bone marrow transplant from his brother, Lou, Anthony is currently in remission, and works to raise money for cancer research through The Paul Anthony Foundation. He also does speaking engagements to help educate and uplift others.

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Whatever Happened To The Cast Of House Party? - Looper

Austin American-Statesman

Vote no on Proposition A.

I'm part of the Austin Superfriends,a group of Austin residents who want a better city.

The Austin Police Department is already sufficiently funded and diverting funds will require cuts in other city departments, as well as laying off firefighters, medicsand 9-1-1 call takers.

It also may require large tax increases and further increase our citys budgetary shortfall. Austin is one of the safest cities in the U.S.

Lets focus on peaceful interventions that do not escalate to violence.

JuliaAustin, Austin

I read every letter to the editor published in theAustin American-Statesman inSeptember. I agreed with 114, had no opinion on three and disagreed with two.Thats a 96% agreement-rate. Topics of concurrence include:

Austinites want a sensible, responsibleand compassionate government.As long as Texas leaders are heartless and destructive, Texas will continue to be the political sewer of our nation.

Be proud, Austin. We know Texas is better than this.

Don Batory, Austin

When Justice Samuel Alito says the Supreme Court is not a dangerous cabal, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett says the court "is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks, and Justice Clarence Thomas refutes charges of going right to his personal preferences, I hear Republican candidate Christine ODonnell declaring, I am not a witch.

After all, ODonnell had said that she dabbled in witchcraft on Bill Mahers Politically Incorrect. I never joined a coven, she explained. I hung around people who were doing those things.

Justice Alito, when you allowed the Texas abortion ban to stand without a full briefing or oral arguments, were you dabbling in unconstitutionality?

Justice Coney Barrett, when you spoke after being introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were you just hanging around partisan politicians?Justice Thomas, have you ever not voted your personal preferences?

The Supreme Courts recent rulings belie their protestations.

BarbaraChiarello, Austin

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Letters to the editor: Police have enough funding. Vote no on Prop A. - Austin American-Statesman

The winning streak continues for Connecticut Jeopardy Champ Matt Amodio.

The Yale student from New Haven continues to dominate all opponents on the popular nighttime game show. On Friday (October 1) he won his 33rd consecutive game and moved up to the number two spot on the all-time winners list eclipsing former Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer's 32-game winning streak.

Since that win, Matt has won two more times and increased that number to 35 consecutive wins.

Amodio has quite a ways to go before he can claim the top spot on the Jeopardy all-time winners list. The great Ken Jennings won 74 games in a row before he was defeated in 2004, so that means Matt has 40 more games to win before he can tie that mark.

A little over a week ago, Amodio moved into the third spot on the Jeopardy all-time money winners list behind James Holzhauer and Ken Jennings. Matt's current total money winnings stand at $1,400,801 which is still $1,061,415 behind Holzhauer, and $1,119,899 behind the all-time Jeopardy money winner Ken Jennings.

Here are some other interesting facts about this Connecticut Jeopardy champ thanks to thejeopardyfan.com.

Matt Amodio's career stats to date on Jeopardy.

Matt's is third on the all-time Jeopardy money list, but places fourth on that list when you include tournaments.

He's answered 1162 question correct, and only 107 incorrect. He's 54 out of 62 in rebound attempts on 120 rebound opportunities. He's also been first on the buzzer over 55 percent of the time, is 68 for 78 on Daily Double questions, and 27 of 35 on Final Jeopardy questions. There is one record on the show that Matt holds that will probably never be broken, and that's using the phrase "What Is" for every answer, something that has enraged Jeopardy fans across the country.

The show, however, has recently made more headlines for its new host then for its latest champion. According to nypost.com,after their pick of host Miyim Bialiks, the selection was met with controversy surrounding comments she made about the COVID-19 vaccine. The former "Big Bang Theory" star joked during her appearance last Tuesday on the Late Show with James Cordin saying, "I was a headline on CNN for three days in a row, who knew people were so passionate about who hosts Jeopardy."

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Excerpt from:
Connecticut Jeopardy Champ Now Second In Consecutive Wins - kicks1055.com

For the last 12 months I have been publishing regular articles on racial inequities in the arts with the aim of driving more open conversations about racial bias, its causes and practical solutions. While engagement with the articles is high, there is hesitancy among all demographics when it comes to sharing opinions publicly. More than 50% of responses I receive have come via direct messages rather than publicly shared comments.

When asked, people gave a variety of reasons for choosing not to share their views publicly. These include issues of privacy, employer constraints (such as working for a public broadcaster), not wishing to appear ill-informed and a belief that as a white leader you should leave the conversation about solutions to racial equity to people with lived experience. Each of these reasons and there are more would merit an article on its own. In this piece, I focus on what I think is the biggest barrier to participation: political correctness.

The readers of my articles who include senior leaders, managers and administrators in the arts often have strong, interesting and important perspectives. However, when asked, people from all communities say they are uncomfortable sharing their opinions because they are fearful of saying the wrong thing and being judged.

Conversations on race generate emotion. They can trigger people and opinions can be received with judgement. They can become a minefield of political correctness. When sharing views on the extent of racism, its causes and how it might be solved, you risk causing deep offence if your opinions are deemed to be insufficient (not radical enough) or inappropriate. Online, this can lead to personal attacks which can quickly be amplified, ending in condemnation and a risk to professional reputation.

The term racist is one of the most unacceptable labels in our society. No one will publicly admit to being racist; not even supporters of far-right political parties, much less more left-leaning communities in the arts. Any potential accusation sparks fear to the heart, making open debate more difficult.

The severe and multiple impacts of racial injustice make negative reactions natural. But if our goal is to end racism, we must question the extent to which public shaming helps us or not. Racial prejudice cant be ended without forensic diagnosis of the problem. To achieve this, open conversations are critical. The more people engage, the better our collective understanding of the problem and the more effective the solutions become.

There absolutely needs to be room for challenge, but challenge that is constructive. This is harder to do when tensions are high. To take some heat out of these conversations and shed more light on the extent of racism, its important to find a new and more socially acceptable definition of the term racist. One that people dont necessarily feel proud of but can at least ascribe to, with regret but not shame.

Ibram X Kendiswork on anti-racism helps with this. He contends that theres no neutral position on racism: if you are not pro-actively anti-racist then you are racist. He defines racism as any idea which suggests that Black communities are responsible for the systemic disadvantages we experience. Whats interesting is that, for Kendi, although holding such views is highly problematic it is not sufficient cause for writing someone off.

He understands that this thinking is itself a product of systemic racism and that we are all subject to it. Black, white, left wing or right wing. Racism in his world has no colour or political affiliation. He freely admits to having held racist opinions himself and says the same of some of his heroes like Frederick Douglass and Barack Obama. So, for him, racism should not be used pejoratively, but simply as a descriptor of a way of thinking.

In conversations about race, the reaction to anything deemed ill-informed or politically incorrect is often criticism in which racial prejudice is either inferred or implied. Any accusation or suspicion of racism is toxic so many prefer to remain silent or express their views in a safe space rather than running the gauntlet of sharing their opinions publicly. Kendis widening of the definition makes racism more ubiquitous so its harder to judge others as most of us are likely to have been guilty of racism at some point in our lives.

None of this lets the predominantly white leadership of our sector off the hook. In fact, it may create the space to better hold them to account. While in Kendis view we are all likely to be guilty of racist thinking, ultimately it is still those in power that have most responsibility to change things. Using his approach, we can de-weaponise the word racist and reduce its emotional impact in conversations.

With a less polarising definition we are free to name racism where we see it without the shame and possible consequences that come with it. We can avoid the emotion that prevents us from fully focusing on the job in hand, gain a better understanding of this pernicious problem and move towards the implementation of solutions.

This wont be easy: it will require patience by some, bravery by others and goodwill by all. We are all gatekeepers in these conversations. Lets begin, one conversation at a time, starting here!

We are keen to keep the conversation going. To read more and share your thoughts on this or other articles, connect with me on LinkedIn.

Kevin Osborne is CEO at MeWe360.@_KevinOsborne

This article from social entrepreneur Kevin Osborne, founder of MeWe360 and Create Equity, is part of a series of articles that promote a more equitable and representative sector.

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We need to talk about race | ArtsProfessional - ArtsProfessional

Im not sure what is politically incorrect, what isnt these days, but screw it some aspects of history are just too absurd to not be amused by. It becomes even funnier when, subjected to certain lenses of political correctness, the mirth is multiplied into top-notch black humour. In todays sermon, colonialism provides just such a wonderful tipping-of-the-table.

Consider a cultural oddity of last century cargo cults that appeared in some undeveloped countries like Papua New Guinea. Locals were blessed with visits from Europeans, who came ashore from huge boats. A primary influence the Europeans left behind was Pidgin English, a shorthand version of English that is endearingly direct (Prince Philip became known on some shores as Fella belong Missus Queen). A sadder aspect was the development of cargo cults simple-living people with little exposure to the outer world who were mesmerized by the bountiful, strange, wonderful objects brought ashore by foreigners. They associated this stuff with the arrival of ships, and many watched and waited years for ships to return, and with them, more miraculous cargo.

Mock those people at your peril, for now the tables have turned in a poetic-justice manner. Those same colonialists that landed ashore Papua New Guinea, bringing the stench of royalty and bedazzling primitive tribes with Euro-goods, are now standing on the shores of the UK, staring out to sea, desperately hoping to see an LNG cargo ship arrive, and Papua New Guinea might very well be the home of that LNG.

Karma has a sense of humour.

Nothing against your energy crisis, UK; it truly is a tragedy in the making. The dart of accountability is aimed more at the foreheads of the climate lunatics youve let take the wheel. Their boneheadedness is truly breathtaking; its like they are standing on the deck of the Titanic staring down at the gaping hole in the side, and declaring that what the ship needs first and foremost is a salad bar. Hey, our governments have been infiltrated by those termites also, so Im not laughing; I guess the only difference is that, since our oil/gas sector is rather critical to the economy over here, our government is having a much harder time killing it.

Here in Canada, some of us would love to help out. We would love to send you some natural gas. We have a lot. We just cant get it to you, because we have federal leaders that care far more about what the UN thinks than about how to manage and run a country. A whole country, that is. Putin builds Europe a gas line, then plays games to maximize the haul of rubles. Canada chooses to not even get in the game.

We are working on LNG export capability, despite some bizarre internal obstacles. A few terminals may be ready a few years after you freeze to death. If you want to know why we cant get you any natural gas, a good local place to start for the British is with the whack jobs at Extinction Rebellion, the piteous group of flailing and ignorant anarchists that originated there and spread over here like wildfire, a sort of COVID-18. You can have them back, by the way; they block roads, annoy everyone, convince no one, and wander in circles evading reality until the next siren song beckons them to assemble again in a formation of human mosquitoes.

For full disclosure, we would love to get you some natural gas not just to keep you from freezing to death, but because extracting and selling natural gas pays a lot of the bills. It would pay a hell of a lot more of them if we could get you some of our gas. Erudite industry veteran Dave Yeager posted an excellent synopsis of the issue on Twitter last week: In late September, AECO gas traded at C$2.72/GJ, US Henry Hub gas traded at US$5.03/mmbtu (approx C$6/GJ), and Asian LNG traded at US$29/mmbtu (approximately infinity compared to Canadas pathetic number).

Canadian producers are forced to sell at this bargain basement price because we cant get the product to global market, where it would be most welcome. Canadians are generally oblivious to the amount of money being left on the table, not to mention oblivious to your thundering need for the stuff.

Because your situation there in Europe is so dire, I dont really have the heart to point out that the piano really is being moved over your head, and XR is cutting the rope. Chinas central government officials ordered the countrys top state-owned energy companies from coal to electricity and oil to secure supplies for this winter at all costs, according to people familiar with the matter, noted Bloomberg in a (sorry) firewall-protected article. Good luck competing with them. Over here in Canada, we would liken that to a grizzly bear and a French poodle squaring off over a pork chop. Not being disrespectful of Britains might, mind you; just pointing out that China has 1.3 billion people to keep from revolting, and they are running for the buffet and will shoulder check anyone out of the way without blinking.

I really am loathe to inform you though that it gets worse. Much worse. In nearby India, where coal accounts for almost half of the countrys energy production, more than half of Indias 135 coal-fired power plants have only enough coal to last only three days. Government guidelines suggest a two-week supply. India also has over a billion people, and is also on a life-and-death scramble for hydrocarbons in any form. The UKs 70 million well-looked-after citizens are going head to head with 2.5 billion that need those same fuels for survival.

And on that note, please dont take the above bits of levity as a failure to grasp the seriousness of this global situation. A cold winter will be devastating for much of the worlds population, and Im not talking about a government directive to set the thermostat to 65.

As one clown on Twitter put it, we are past gas-to-oil switching and approaching gas-to-furniture switching. The headlines get ever more ominous. Ten days ago, it was European zinc processors that were cutting output, now, as of early October, massive Dutch greenhouses are going dark and cutting output. I had no idea how huge Dutch greenhouses are, exporting over ten billion in food, but Im sure you knew that, being neighbours. To make the point crystal clear to any apoplectic activists listening in, thats the food supply shutting down, folks.

Make no mistake: this catastrophe has been purposefully engineered by energy charlatans and organizations that convinced the world it no longer needs hydrocarbons and can begin dismantling the hydrocarbon system. Every ENGO celebration of a blocked pipeline is a direct and irrefutable piece of evidence should the unthinkable happen. The games are over. It would be really great to be just writing about positive energy developments, like a burgeoning hydrogen economy, or whatnot, and if the transition had occurred in a rational way, that would be the story. But its not, and wishing you all the best that those cargo ships appear on the horizon. And soon.

Buy it while its still legal! Before the book burnin startspick up The End of Fossil Fuel Insanity at Amazon.ca,Indigo.ca, orAmazon.com. Thanks for the support.

Read more insightful analysis from Terry Etamhere,or email Terryhere.

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Column: European cargo cults? Standing on the shore, waiting for energy cargoa full circle of colonial irony - BOE Report

Times have changed. Thirty or so years ago Ron Collins did a radio ad for Bergasol in which the voice changed from white to black. There was a Silk Cut ad recreating the film Zulu in which the cigarettes were promoted against a backdrop of Zulu warriors casual deaths. And there was a Timberland ad -We stole their land, their buffalo and their women. Then we went back for their shoes. Apparently a Native American chief liked the publicity but may not have appreciated the irony. This is tricky to write about and possibly inadvisable to show examples (but here goes.)

In the past, the idea that women should write ads for women was questioned in favour of the argument that ads for women could be written by good writers, which might include men. But as channels have fragmented I wonder how many good writers can write for the very different social and cultural groups now being targeted, however observant and in tune they are. Historically the advertising business in the UK and the US did not employ many black, Asian or other groups, at least not in the creative departments. There have been notable exceptions, and things have thankfully changed, though women have been well-represented in account management and planning for many years. I wonder though whether more diversity in agencies might have changed anything?

Many of the great ads of the past 40 years have used humour. But how many would have been made if they were done now, starting with the three above? Humour is closely connected to creativity. It is hard to analyse humour and I am not going to try, but those that have done so seem to agree that at one level it is aggression robbed of its purpose and that it is (and certainly was in past ages) often cruel. Howard Jacobsen did a programme some years ago about humour in which he talked to bigoted (but immensely popular) comedians like Bernard Manning and Roy Chubby Brown. I think he concluded that it was impossible to prevent jokes, of whatever kind, and that even those that many find offensive can act as a safety-valve.

When I used to co-run workshops around the world we used to start with a joke to make the point that clients and agencies needed to have the same criteria for judging work. The joke wasnt always understood because of language or culture and sometimes simply because of a lack of a sense of humour. But in answer to the question what is the criteria for a joke? of all the times we did the exercise, I think only one delegate replied is it funny? The issue for advertising is that if the creativity of many ads is based on humour (or the combining of two things that arent normally associated which is the essence of many ideas) and humour is subject to political correctness, what will the effect be on the quality of advertising? Steve Henry used to do a presentation in which he showed how easy it was to kill great ads, an update of the famous Bullmore and Bernstein video in which The Man with the Hathaway Shirt was edited to destruction.

I dont know what the solution is. For reasons I have looked at before, a lot of advertising has reverted to direct response. Given that the ultimate aim of advertising is to sell, this is not in itself a bad thing but it does tend to ignore the arguments for brand building and the view that advertising is an investment not simply a cost. Direct response does not lend itself so readily to humour, which takes many forms from slapstick to the human observations in the classic Alka Selzer ads or the hyperbole of Heineken. I believe people in AI are looking at whether robots can not just tell jokes but create them. I dont doubt they might randomly put words together that might be funny (maybe of the Christmas cracker type) but the humour in advertising is more than a joke: it has a truth that reflects human attitudes and behaviour.

Many advertisers now seem so afraid of offending anyone that they end up boring everyone. As Bill Bernbach once said: If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you, and nobody for you. You cannot stop people finding something funny even if it is politically incorrect. You cannot control thought, but we do control advertising. It should be truthful, decent and honest. These are all increasingly open to interpretation. But advertising needs also to be human and engaging or people will find more ways to avoid it, even while the algorithms get to work.

I realise this is a view based on another age perhaps and there is great and interesting work being done, not just for brands but for causes. I just hope agencies and their clients dont forget that ideas are more than messages and still need human observation and creative connections.

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Giles Keeble: can creativity still function in a woke world? - More About Advertising

STARRING CHERRY COLA PITTS and THE STORM IS HERE are two one acts Vincent Victoria Presents has sewn together to make one night of challenging entertainment. They both run under an hour, and move quickly through their dramatic scenarios. The first is a musical comedy variety show imagining an unapologetically queer black man having a hit show running just behind I LOVE LUCY in the ratings, while the second is a dramatization of the last day of the only civilian to lose her life during the Keep America Great insurrection on January 6th of 2021. At first glance it seems the two could not be intertwined, but director and writer Vincent Victoria never shies away from the seemingly impossible.

The first act of the evening features Vincent Victoria in a rare star turn in one of his own plays as Cherry Cola Pitts. The character first emerged from a fever dream sequence of his production company's first feature film BLAQUE TCHERIE. Victoria decided to develop a play around the character, and told his audience they would be in for a politically incorrect evening. Boy! When he makes a promise, you best listen. The show pulls no punches whether it is "in your face" gay humor or tearing up any veneer behind black tropes within the entertainment industry. Nobody escapes unscathed here, and the politically charged humor seems to jive right in with the era in which it has been written. In the '50s certainly Cherry Cola would be censored to oblivion, but here in the middle of Black Lives Matter and the rise of Lil' Nas X he seems relevant and on point.

Vincent has always had a certain style all his own, and it is no surprise he makes an engaging host of a black themed variety show. He holds the audience easily in his grasp, and makes them laugh and squirm all at once. He's a whirlwind of energy, and it comes off so good naturedly that by the time you read the underlying rage it is too late. He has you! He is an enigmatic figure the likes of the emcee in CABARET, and he takes on dangerous politics and alternative sexuality with the same vim and vigor of Joel Grey back in the late 60s.

There is an ensemble cast around him, composed of his company of players to support the show. They match his energy beat for beat, sing songs, and dance around Cherry Cola to punctuate each barb or joke. Erica Bolden, Terrie Donald, and Jacqueline Harrison have some of the best turns as "The Mammies" who are poking fun at the cliche of having black maids as supporting roles in television and film. Here, they get the spotlight! Maya Flowers, Venise Watson, Wykesha King, and Ansonia Jones are "The Cherries" and "The Sign Girls" who also bring sparkle and shine anytime they hit the center of the stage. Truly it's a Greek chorus of super charged talent supporting Cherry Cola Pitts, and the entire cast acquitted themselves well throughout. The play moves fast, always is on level ten, and fires away quickly through all of its commentary.

At the end of the Cherry Cola segment, the scene shifts abruptly to a rather plain bedroom with a huge American flag on the wall. The queer jokester stops in his tracks, and is suddenly standing in a place he no longer recognizes. He looks around lost for the first time of the evening. It is then we realize the show is about to shift into THE STORM IS HERE which depicts the last days of Ashli Babbitt at the pro Trump takeover of the capital less than a year ago.

Vincent Victoria has cast one of his most likeable actresses as the lead, Carrie Lee Sparks. She spouts the expected Trump beliefs and faith in Q Anon, but we can't help but admire her spunk no matter how misguided we know it will end up being. Mark Christian gets a tender first scene as her husband who strangely seems to try and reason with Ashli to stay and work on their struggling pool cleaning business. Then we see Ashli travel by plane, and have a run-in with a black Republican (Reyna Janelle and Ansonia Jones alternating). She finally ends up at the rally, and well... the inevitable happens.

What is most amazing about THE STORM IS HERE is it rarely judges Ashli, and lets her live in her own reality. Carrie Lee Sparks is the perfect actress to make us feel sympathy for anybody, and you just want to protect her even when she has a Trump rally flag draping behind her and she is climbing the Capital walls. The only thing the script misses is Ashli's military background and training which should have enlightened her actions on that fateful day. She also seems to be in a vacuum, and we never get a sense anyone supports her beliefs including her husband. I would wager a fair amount the real Ashli Babbit had strong support from family and friends around her. Here we are romanticizing her independent thought, when in truth it was a mob mentality that was fatal to her.

Both shows have an incredible energy about them, but one thing that stands out is the rapid pace never waivers and remains the same throughout the night. There is not a somber moment in STARRING CHERRY COLA PITTS, and there is no change from Ashli's outrage to "stop the steal!" in the second half. If there is one thing I would have liked to have seen is more variation in tone, but they certainly make up for it in sheer commitment to the themes and the material. Both shows are a challenge to the political climates of their times. We have a mythical pioneer inserted into 1955 television, and then a woman who championed the return to the morality of 1955 and died for it in the present. Maybe this is where they connect the best, both symbols of protest against the values of their present. It's a strange juxtaposition that somehow works, and makes this show a thought-provoking one that you won't easily shake after seeing it.

STARRING CHERRY COLA PITTS and THE STORM IS HERE run until October 17th at the Midtown Arts Center adjacent to the HCC campus. For tickets and information you can head to the website https://www.vincentvictoriapresents.com/ . COVID protocols include the audience wearing masks for the entire performance, and the theater has plenty of room to spread out if needed.

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BWW Review: STARRING CHERRY COLA PITTS AND THE STORM IS HERE at Vincent Victoria Presents - Broadway World