Cultural Commentary

As the founder of the International House of Prayer Kansas City, or IHOPKC — not to be confused with the International House of Pancakes – Mike Bickle led a successful campaign against the professional porn industry. His idealogues formed the anti-porn evangelical group Exodus Cry in 2008, and over a …

Beef is the true currency of the NBA. OK, that’s not true. It’s money, like it is everywhere else. But when you read that didn’t it feel right? Everyone involved wants you to think this, to believe that the NBA is a gigantic arena for settling grievances. Stephen A. Smith …

A version of this response appeared on the Black Rock Coalition’s website. When Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner made offensive comments in The New York Times about women and Black artists, the Black Rock Coalition, which has battled stereotypes and musical categorizations about what rock is “supposed to be” since …

There’s a popular adage floating around the social media site formerly known as Twitter: “I miss the old Doja.” With the release of her album Scarlet this fall, pop star Doja Cat debuted a new look. She dropped her colorful lacefronts for a shaved head. She eschewed skin-baring costumes for …

On Oct. 26, 2022, Elon Musk enjoyed his first and last good day as the head of Twitter (now X). Following a $44 billion acquisition he tried to scuttle but was legally forced into closing, he attempted a bit of prop comedy — entering the company’s headquarters with a porcelain …

In the 1979 film Stalker, the eponymous Stalkers are informal, illegal guides to a blighted Zone somewhere in Eastern Europe. In the middle of the Zone, it is said, there is a room that grants the true heart’s desire. And we learn, secondhand, about the tale of one Stalker named …

Roger Waters has long denied he’s antisemitic. His former collaborators — including the celebrated producer Bob Ezrin — are telling a different story. A new documentary,The Dark Side of Roger Waters,includes claims from Ezrin and former Waters saxophonist Norbert Stachel. Both are Jewish, and both claim Waters made offensive remarks …

The vilification of Isiah Thomas began in his prime playing years. As the star and floor leader of the Detroit Pistons, the so-called Bad Boys — Isiah named the team after a line of dialogue from Al Pacino’sScarface— Thomas became associated with all the sins of that two-time NBA champion …

As long as there have been celebrities, there’ve been celebrity apologies. It’s a common cycle, one that’s fed the entertainment gossip pipeline for years: a famous person messes up, people are disappointed in them, and then they apologize, free to live in uncanceled bliss until, you guessed it, they mess …

This summer, we faced unbearable heat waves, we breathed in thick, dark wildfire smoke, and we saw homes and cars be swallowed up by mass floods. We are up against a ticking time bomb, pushing us to cut down emissions as fast as possible. From our cities and towns, to …