Will Smith flouncing onto the Dolby Theatre stage, winding up, and walloping host Chris Rock is a moment that will live in Oscar-night infamy, but it’s far from the most egregious episode in the ceremony’s 94-year history. This is an event, after all, that made nominee Hattie McDaniel sit at …
Read More »'The Last of Us' Introduces the Cannibal Cult Leader From Hell
THIS POST CONTAINS spoilers for this week’s episode of The Last of Us, “When We Are in Need.” “When We Are in Need” is, for its first half, among the more low-key installments of Last of Us Season One. We are still in Colorado, still with Ellie helping Joel heal …
Read More »'The Idol': How HBO's Next 'Euphoria' Became Twisted 'Torture Porn'
Lily-Rose Depp as a glamorous, troubled pop star. The Weeknd as a slimy, modern cult leader. Supporting roles for Blackpink’s Jennie, Troye Sivan, and a handful of other buzzy stars. And in-demand director Sam Levinson at the helm. For months, the hype machine has been at full tilt for HBO’s …
Read More »The NBA Shouldn't Have Creepy Karl Malone at All-Star Weekend
On Feb. 18, Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone will be a judge during the Slam Dunk Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City. On the surface, an all-time great participating in All-Star festivities in their former team’s home city makes sense; the league is banking on most fans …
Read More »One of the Most Controversial Movies Ever Is Back in Theaters
Gaspar Noé’s Irréversible — the notoriously graphic, 12-scene rape-revenge tragedy from 2002 — still has the capacity, to say nothing of the will, to shock. The movie premiered at Cannes to jeers and walkouts, a long tail of outrage and a reputation that would grow to precede and overshadow the …
Read More »Eight Women Say the Same Man Raped or Assaulted Them. Now They're Out for Justice
O n the morning of Dec. 9, 2022, a young woman named Zoë awoke and found herself to be in avenger mode. Strictly speaking, a disguise may not have been necessary for the doling out of justice Zoë had planned for that day. But it had been a year and …
Read More »He Was Convicted of a 12-Year-Old's Murder. Will a Retrial Prove His Innocence?
A retrial has begun in the harrowing case of the 1994 rape and murder of 12-year-old Josette Wright in New York’s Hudson River Valley. In 1997, two men who’d been teenagers at the time of the crime were convicted in separate trials. They were each sentenced to 25 years to …
Read More »R. Kelly Survivor Says He Attacked Her for Discovering His Aaliyah Sex Tape
At a time when the true-crime genre has reached a creative nadir, as streaming services churn out assembly-line products that prioritize shock value over victims’ stories — and even stoop to paying perpetrators for exclusive access — Surviving R. Kelly stands out. Premiering in January 2019, Dream Hampton’s docuseries painted …
Read More »Cuba Gooding Jr. Accused of Rape in New Civil Lawsuit
Cuba Gooding Jr. has been accused of raping a woman twice in 2013 in a new civil lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Variety reports. The actor is awaiting trial for separate charges of misdemeanor forcible touching and sexual abuse in the third degree from 2019. According to the new lawsuit via …
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