- Barack Obama Says Striking Writers Deserve “Fair Share” From Studios & Streamers; Ex-POTUS Promoting Netflix ‘Working’ Docuseries Deadline
- Obama’s new Netflix series sands the rough edges off capitalism San Francisco Chronicle
- Former President Barack Obama Shows His Support For The Writers’ Strike HuffPost
- Why Barack Obama’s “Working” Isn’t Quite… Working The Nation
- Barack Obama Calls Out ‘Embattled’ Studios and Streamers During Panel for His Netflix Series: ‘I’m Very Supportive of the Writers’ Variety
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Barack
Barack Obama shares his favorite movies and books of 2022
CNN
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Former President Barack Obama stuck to an annual tradition Friday, releasing a list of his favorites for the year of 2022, including movies and books.
“I always look forward to sharing my lists of favorite books, movies, and music with all of you,” Obama tweeted. “First up, here are some of the books I read and enjoyed this year. Let me know which books I should check out in 2023.”
Among his favorite written works, Obama listed “The School for Good Mothers” by Jessamine Chan and “The Light We Carry” by former first lady Michelle Obama, noting, “I’m a bit biased on this one.”
On his list of favorite movies, the former president included “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Descendant,” which he also noted he was “biased” about since the Netflix documentary was produced by the Obama-founded company Higher Ground Productions.
“I saw some great movies this year – here are some of my favorites. What did I miss?” Obama wrote in another tweet.
Social media denizens quickly pointed out that Obama left off the list one of the highest grossing movies of the year: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The Marvel hit and sequel to 2018’s “Black Panther” has come in second behind “Top Gun: Maverick” in box office gross this year, bringing in more than $421 million at the domestic box office alone since its November release, according to Box Office Mojo. “Black Panther” made the list of Obama’s favorite movies in 2018.
Check out the full list of Obama’s favorite movies and books for 2022:
“The Light We Carry” – Michelle Obama
“Sea of Tranquility” – Emily St. John Mandel
“Trust” – Hernan Diaz
“The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams” – Stacy Schiff
“The Furrows: A Novel” – Namwali Serpell
“South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation” – Imani Perry
“The School for Good Mothers” – Jessamine Chan
“Black Cake” – Charmaine Wilkerson
“Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands” – Kate Beaton
“An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us” – Ed Yong
“Liberation Day” – George Saunders
“The Candy House” – Jennifer Egan
“Afterlives” – Abdulrazak Gurnah
“The Fabelmans”
“Decision to Leave”
“The Woman King”
“Aftersun”
“Emily the Criminal”
“Petite Maman”
“Descendant”
“Happening”
“Till”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“The Good Boss”
“Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy”
“A Hero”
“Hit the Road”
“Tár”
“After Yang”
Barack Obama blasts cancel culture, calls Dems ‘buzzkill’
Former President Barack Obama took a shot and cancel culture and knocked “buzzkill” Democrats for getting caught up in “policy gobbledygook.”
In a new interview with on the “Pod Save America” podcast on Friday, the 44th President said that Democrats have strayed away from a message of equality to “scolding” on social issues.
“My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, having fun,” Obama said. “Hell, not being a buzzkill. And sometimes Democrats are.”
“Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us, at any given moment, can say things the wrong way, make mistakes,” he added.
Obama said Democrats need to “be able to speak to everybody about their common interests.”
“And what works for I think everybody, is the idea of a basic equal treatment and fairness. That’s an argument that’s compatible with progress on social issues and compatible with economic interests,” he said.
“I think where we get into trouble sometimes is where we try to suggest that some groups are more – because they historically have been victimized more – that somehow they have a status that’s different than other people and we’re going around scolding folks if they don’t use exactly the right phrase,” Obama said. “Or that identity politics becomes the principle lens through which we view our various political challenges.”
He said that Democrats, himself included, sometimes see their message bogged down by “policy gobbledygook.”
“Look, I used to get into trouble whenever, as you guys know well, whenever I got a little too professorial and, you know, started … when I was behind the podium as opposed to when I was in a crowd, there were times where I’d get, you know, sound like I was giving a bunch of policy gobbledygook,” Obama explained.
The former president added, “And that’s not how people think about these issues. They think about them in terms of the life I’m leading day to day. How does politics, how is it even relevant to the things that I care the most deeply about?”
Ahead of November’s midterm elections, Obama has been campaigning for Democratic candidates in key states. He will travel to Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin this month.
Barack and Michelle Obama make first joint return to the White House for unveiling of official portraits
The history-making portraits of the Obamas stand in contrast to those of other US presidents and their spouses hung on the White House walls, depicting the first Black President and first lady through the perspectives of contemporary artists working outside many of the conventions of traditional political portraiture.
President Obama’s image was painted by Robert McCurdy and Michelle Obama’s portrait was painted by Sharon Sprung.
McCurdy told the White House Historical Association in an interview that his process focused on working off of a photograph of the former President. The photorealistic image of the former President, dressed in a black suit with a gray tie, is painted against a minimal white backdrop — a signature of McCurdy’s artworks. McCurdy said his paintings take at least a year to complete.
The former first lady’s portrait was painted by Sprung, who describes her work as “contemporary realism.” The image depicts Michelle Obama in a blue dress, seated on a sofa in the Red Room of the White House. The artwork was painted from photographs taken in different locations on the White House’s State Floor.
The long-awaited return of a White House tradition
Wednesday’s ceremony in the East Room marked a rare occasion for a celebration among two presidential administrations, where President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden convened a who’s who of administration officials past and present — from the unique vantage point of having served in both.
The pieces, which will hang inside the White House for decades to come, are the first official portraits added to the White House Collection since then-President Obama held a bipartisan unveiling ceremony for George W. Bush and Laura Bush in 2012.
Biden used the unveiling ceremony to reflect on the Obamas’ accomplishments in the White House, saying that the former first couple “made history.”
“You both generated hope for millions of people who were left behind for so long — and it matters. You both did it with such grace and such class. You dreamed big and secured lasting wins for the American people, helping lift their burden with a blessing of hope,” he continued. “It’s so underestimated … just having hope. This is the gift of the Obama presidency to the country and to history.”
The former President subsequently led a standing ovation for Biden, saying in the East Room, “Thanks to your decency and thanks to your strength — maybe most of all thanks to your faith in democracy and the American people — the country’s better off than when you took office. And we should all be deeply grateful for that.”
Stewart McLaurin, the president of the WHHA, told CNN that the Covid-19 pandemic played a factor in the timing of the unveiling. The WHHA, a nonprofit organization, facilitates and funds the creation of the portraits.
“Covid impacted us two-and-a-half years ago, and I do think it’s important for these (portraits) to be revealed at a time when the public does have access to the White House and they can be seen,” McLaurin said.
While there’s no hard-and-fast rule for when a White House portrait ought to be unveiled, ceremonies have often been hosted by a former president’s immediate successor. And when in office, President Donald Trump never held a ceremony for the Obama portraits.
‘An evolution of art’
Details about the pieces being unveiled on Wednesday were a tightly held secret, with artists and art movers signing confidentiality agreements to keep things under wraps before the big day.
But the Obamas have often used art as a tool to express their tastes, so it should come as no surprise that their White House portraits are doing the same.
McCurdy’s depiction of the former President is minimalist, eschewing the conventional props typically associated with a presidential portrait, like a desk or a bookcase, for an entirely blank background.
The former President said during the unveiling that he liked that McCurdy “paints people the way they are, for better or worse.”
“He captures every wrinkle on your face, every crease in your shirt. You’ll note that he refused to hide any of my gray hairs, refused my request to make my ears smaller. He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way,” Obama quipped. “His work is so precise that at first glance it looks like a photograph.”
While past presidents attain a form of “mythical status” after leaving office, Obama said he hoped future generations would look at the portraits and “get a better, honest sense of who Michelle and I were.”
“And I hope they leave with a better understanding that if we could make it here, maybe they can too. They can do remarkable things, too,” he continued.
Sprung’s interpretation shows the former first lady appearing to take a brief moment to get comfortable inside one of the the most formal rooms in the White House. Unlike her predecessors’ portraits, Michelle Obama is wearing a strapless gown in her portrait — perhaps a marker of the country’s evolving style.
In her portrait, the former first lady is wearing a custom Jason Wu Collection gown, a person familiar with the details told CNN. Wu is a full-circle choice of designer for Obama, and he designed both of her inaugural gowns. Obama’s choice of Wu back then essentially launched his career as a globally recognized fashion designer.
Michelle Obama said during the ceremony that though she “never could have imagined” being first lady would be part of her story, she recognized that “traditions like this matter, not just for those of us who hold these positions, but for everyone participating in and watching our democracy.”
“Too often in this country, people feel like they have to look a certain way or act a certain way to fit in, that they have to make a lot of money or come from a certain group or class or faith in order to matter. But what we’re looking at today — a portrait of a biracial kid with an unusual name and the daughter of a water pump operator and a stay-at-home mom — what we are seeing is a reminder that there is a place for everyone in this country,” the former first lady said.
“That is what this country is about. It’s not about blood or pedigree or wealth. It’s a place where everyone should have a fair shot,” she continued.
Ahead of Wednesday’s reveal, McLaurin called the Obama portraits “an evolution of art.”
“We’re now heading towards the first third of the 21st century. And I think in the mind’s eye of most Americans, we see presidential portraits as these very traditional, 19th-century-looking-and-feeling portraits. But art and taste in art evolves and changes,” he continued.
While living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Obamas opted to highlight several contemporary and modern artists.
A Robert Rauschenberg painting replaced a portrait of a Roosevelt in the family dining room. Mark Rothko and Josef Albers works were installed. And Michelle Obama brought in work from Alma Thomas — the first Black female artist in the White House Collection.
Since leaving the presidency, the Obamas have staked some of their post-White House careers in taste-making — producing podcasts and award-winning films, as well as curating playlists and book lists each year.
For their portraits unveiled in 2018 at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (which are not to be confused with new official White House portraits being unveiled this week), the Obamas chose two Black artists with unique perspectives on African-American portraiture.
Amy Sherald, who painted the first lady’s Smithsonian portrait, challenges conventions about race by depicting her figures’ skin in shades of gray. Kehinde Wiley, who painted the former President, re-imagines Old Master paintings with Black subjects.
Traditionally, the two latest sets of presidential portraits are placed in the Cross Hall of the White House — though Trump chose to move portraits of Bush and Clinton into the Old Family Dining Room — which was essentially used as a storage room during his White House — after feuding with both families.
Biden moved the Bush portraits and Clinton portraits back to the Cross Hall, but with a new Obama portrait, Clinton may have to be relocated soon.
Wednesday’s ceremony at the White House
The Obamas’ return to the White House marked a rare moment for the current and past administrations to converge and look back on a presidential legacy in the same room where President Obama awarded then-Vice President Biden a surprise Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2017.
Unlike the 2012 Bush portraits unveiling, Wednesday’s event mostly hosted attendees from the same political party — with some attendees having connections to both administrations.
The Obamas were joined by family, friends, former Cabinet members and top staffers from the administration during the unveiling, acknowledging former staff in the room as well as staff from the White House residence.
Marian Robinson, the mother of Michelle Obama who lived in the White House residence during their presidency, attended the ceremony.
Other attendees included Obama’s former chief of staff (and the current US Ambassador to Japan) Rahm Emanuel, former senior adviser David Axelrod, former Treasury Secretaries Jack Lew and Timothy Geithner, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former Attorney General Eric Holder, former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, former Director of the US Office of Management and Budget Shaun Donovan, and former White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
Former President Obama has visited the White House since Biden took office, but Wednesday’s event marked Michelle Obama’s first time back in the building since the Trumps arrived in January 2017.
While former President Obama and President Biden like to play up their relationship in public, there are limits to their friendship, officials have said.
They speak occasionally, but they are not in daily or weekly contact, people familiar with the matter have said.
After two terms working in Obama’s shadow, Biden has, at moments, differentiated himself from his predecessor. Officials have said there is also a degree of competition between the two men.
Their history, while one of partnership, has also been colored by various slights, real or perceived, that still linger.
Obama declined to endorse Biden over other Democrats in the 2020 primary, a step both men insisted was necessary to allow a true contest within the party. Four years earlier, Obama had viewed Hillary Clinton as his Democratic successor instead of Biden, who decided not to run as he grappled with his son’s death.
Trump portraits are up next
The White House Historical Association is in the “beginning stages” of the portrait processes for former President Trump and former first lady Melania Trump, McLaurin said.
“There’s focus on specific artists that will likely be doing their portraits,” McLaurin added.
A source familiar with the situation told CNN that chatter about the portraits started in the last six months at Mar-a-Lago — Trump’s Florida residence — and that the former president recently sat for photographs. However, it’s not clear whether Trump has posed for the White House portrait artist or for photographs specifically for the portraits.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether Biden would extend an invitation to Trump should his portrait be completed during the Biden administration.
While the official White House portraits are typically funded by the WHHA, the other set of portraits being created for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery are being underwritten by Trump’s political donors.
Trump’s political action committee donated $650,000 to the Smithsonian Institution in July to help underwrite the portraits of the Trumps, according to Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian.
The donation from Trump’s Save America leadership PAC marks the first time that funds have come from a political action committee since the institution began raising private funds for presidential portraits — a practice that started with the portraits associated with former President George H. W. Bush, St. Thomas said.
St. Thomas said another private donation of $100,000 also is helping to pay costs associated with the portraits. The funds, totaling $750,000, will go to artists’ fees, shipping, framing, installation and events.
CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to clarify where President Donald Trump had the portraits of Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton moved during his time in the White House.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Kate Bennett, Fredreka Schouten, Gabby Orr, Betsy Klein and Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.
Barack Obama shares his summer playlist
A former president’s duty is never truly done, especially since those duties are usually limited to “don’t do anything” and “show up when they open your library,” but Barack Obama has courageously continued working on his annual summer playlist—one of the keys to the relative unity we all shared when he was in office. (And this is not to be confused with his annual list of his favorite music of the year, which is totally separate list that he also personally complies all by himself every year.)
Anyway, Obama put out his summer playlist, and like all of his playlists, it’s a weird mix of stuff that definitely seems like something he’d like and stuff that seems suspiciously hip for a former president (not to mention dad) in his 60s. But whatever, if any of this is less than true, it has to rank pretty damn low on the list of things that politicians have lied about. So what’s on the playlist? It includes Obama’s podcast partner Bruce Springsteen (and a pretty famous track of his at that), Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” Nina Simon’s “Do I Move You?,” Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright,” Al Green’s “I Can’t Get Next To You,” and—in one of the most surprising picks we’ve ever seen on one of these Obama lists—“Praise You” by Fatboy Slim. Yes, not only is someone listening to “Praise You” in 20-goddamn-22, but that someone is Barack Obama.
“Praise You” aside, the list also has a lot of newer songs (newer than “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim?!), like “Break My Soul” by Beyoncé (is Obama hinting that he’s going to quit his job, whatever that is?), Harry Styles’ “Music For A Sushi Restaurant,” and “Angelica” by Wet Leg. Also, we’ve had “Praise You” playing in another tab, and we’ve gotta say: It still hits. Obama was right! Song of the summer!
Barack Obama tests positive for Covid
“I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” he said on his official Twitter account. Obama also said that his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, has tested negative.
“Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted,” the former President said in a Facebook post. “It’s a good reminder that, even as cases go down, you should get vaccinated and boosted if you haven’t already to help prevent more serious symptoms and giving COVID to others.”
Obama, 60, had recently returned to Washington, DC, after spending much of the winter in Hawaii. He tested positive in DC, a person close to him said.
The diagnosis makes Obama the second US President known to contract the virus after then-President Donald Trump announced he tested positive in October 2020, which was before vaccines were widely available in the US.
Obama has been a champion of public health measure throughout the pandemic. Last August, he dramatically scaled back his 60th birthday party on Martha’s Vineyard due to concerns at the time over the Delta variant.
Currently, only 2% of the US population — about 7 million people — live in a county with a “high” Covid-19 community levels, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rest are at “low” or “medium” community levels, areas where there’s no recommendation for masking or where immunocompromised people and those at high risk for severe disease are advised to take extra precautions against Covid-19, respectively.
President Joe Biden said in his first State of the Union address earlier this month that the US is moving “forward safely” into a less disruptive phase of the pandemic. During his speech, the President outlined his plan to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Thanks to the progress we have made this past year, Covid-19 need no longer control our lives,” Biden said as he acknowledged that Americans are “tired, frustrated and exhausted” with the pandemic.
This story has been updated with additional background.
Barack Obama Wants You to See This Harrowing Movie
Following his sojourn in Europe for 2018’s thriller Everybody Knows with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, celebrated director Asghar Farhadi returns to his homeland with A Hero, yet another keen social-realist drama about the tangled messiness of contemporary Iranian life. The story of an imprisoned man who tries to hustle his way to freedom, in the process ensnaring just about everyone in his orbit in trouble, it’s a perceptive morality play about the complicated nature of nobility and deception, even if a few narrative hiccups prevent it from achieving the highs of his prior A Separation and The Past.
Iran’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming 94th Academy Awards, A Hero (Jan. 7 in theaters and Jan. 21 on Amazon, on the heels of a brief awards-qualifying run) concerns Rahim (Amir Jadidi), who’s been incarcerated for three years for failing to pay back a sizeable loan to his creditor Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh). At film’s start, Rahim exits prison on a two-day leave and reunites with girlfriend Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldust), who’s recently found a lost bag at a bus stop that contains a collection of gold coins. Together, they attempt to sell those coins for cash that Rahim can then use to settle a portion of his debt to Bahram. When they’re offered far less than they’d originally hoped for, however, they concoct an alternative plan: to post flyers around the city about the lost bag in the hopes that the owner gets in touch, and that Rahim earns positive publicity that will convince Bahram to forgive his outstanding bill.
Initially, this good deed goes unpunished, with Rahim receiving praise from prison officials after his sister Mali (Maryam Shahdaei) delivers the bag to a woman who answers Rahim’s ad, and who had been hiding the gold from her husband in case she ever needed it in an emergency. A TV appearance touting Rahim’s selfless act aids his cause, convincing a charity council to raise funds on his behalf in order to satisfy Bahram’s demands. From the get-go, though, cracks in this scheme begin to form, such as Rahim claiming in public (on his jailers’ advice) that he found the bag, rather than Farkhondeh. Moreover, Bahram simply doesn’t trust Rahim, whose original irresponsibility cost the businessman not only the money he’d loaned him, but the dowry he’d saved for his daughter. Regardless of how popular sentiment develops, Bahram refuses to be labelled the bad guy for wanting what he’s owed. Moreover, even once he (temporarily) agrees to let Rahim off the hook, mounting social media rumors begin to spread—both about prison officials concocting this tale to distract from a separate crisis, and Rahim’s lack of honor.
In the latter case, those suspicions are somewhat valid. Rahim has both legitimately returned lost property and yet lied about his motivations, and his subsequent decision to trot out his stuttering son Siavash as a means of eliciting additional sympathy marks him as a less than laudable individual. Farhadi’s camera trails alongside Rahim as he scurries from one location to another trying to prop up his fiction, often subtly evoking his protagonist’s trapped circumstances through compositions that spy him through bars and wire fences, or in constricting doorways. At the same time, the director employs no music, thereby amplifying the immediacy of his unadorned portrait of Rahim’s plight, in which selfish intentions are achieved via virtuous actions and consequently beget knotty situations that require even more duplicity.
Rahim is neither a villain nor an innocent wronged-man, and A Hero situates itself in the topsy-turvy middle ground he’s crafted for himself. That space becomes more uncomfortable when, having seemingly cleared his name, Rahim strives to get a job that will help secure payments to Bahram, only to discover that his potential employer wants proof of Rahim’s feel-good account. Providing such evidence turns out to be impossible when the owner of the bag can’t be contacted, and Rahim’s response to this state of affairs further muddies an already chaotic dilemma. So too does a subsequent scuffle between Rahim and Bahram that once again calls the former’s reputation into question and compels him to double-down on mistakes from which he can’t easily extricate himself.
“At the same time, the director employs no music, thereby amplifying the immediacy of his unadorned portrait of Rahim’s plight, in which selfish intentions are achieved via virtuous actions and consequently beget knotty situations that require even more duplicity.”
Rahim’s ordeal is a case study in moral gray areas, where no one is damnable or faultless, and A Hero navigates its thematic landscape with understated incisiveness. Just about everyone who has anything to do with Rahim becomes a collateral-damage victim, from Farkhondeh and Siavash to the council members and prison officials who—for reasons both self-serving and altruistic—have helped forward Rahim’s version of events, and now want to minimize the blowback from his possible exposure as a fraud. Where the film stumbles, however, is in its somewhat creaky late scripting. Rahim’s decision to literally take matters into his own hands comes off as a bit contrived, as does the ensuing quasi-blackmail plot.
More pressing still is a general lack of suspense, which is due to both Farhadi’s tonally reserved storytelling (which never builds to a requisite crescendo) and the fact that Rahim’s shadiness is hard to shake, and thus neuters sympathy for his predicament, no matter that it’s as much a result of fate’s cruel hand as it is a reflection of his character. Nonetheless, that we feel as much for Rahim as we do is a testament to the performance of Jadidi, whose harried countenance and sad eyes exude genuine concern not only for his own well-being, but for Farkhondeh and, in particular, Siavash, whose exploitation he finally cannot tolerate. In that ultimate refusal to treat his child as merely a pawn in a game he’s desperate to win, and to accept accountability for his own fortunes, Rahim exhibits the decency he’s previously affected for so many and allows A Hero to locate a true measure of admirable heroism.
Sidney Poitier news – latest: Mark Ruffalo, Barack Obama and Whoopi Goldberg lead tributes after actor dies 94
Sidney Poitier wins Best Actor award in 1964 Oscars
Tributes have begun pouring in for Sidney Poitier who has died aged 94.
The Bahamian-American actor – best known for his films Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night – was the first Black man to win an Oscar for Best Actor.
Poitier took home the prize for his role as Homer Smith in the 1963 drama Lilies of the Field.
Following the news of his death, which was announced by the Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, fans and fellow stars have begun remembering Poitier on social media.
The Independent’s Geoffrey Macnab paid tribute to Poitier, a singular actor whose profound influence and legacy will be everlasting.
Hilary Clinton pays tribute to Sidney Poitier
Hilary Clinton has remembered Poitier with a post on social media.
“We were all so lucky to share a culture with Sidney Poitier, and benefit from his hand in shaping it,” wrote the former US secretary of state on Twitter.
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 21:45
Lupita Nyong’o remembers Poitier as ‘my hero’
Academy Award-winner Lupita Nyong’o has paid tribute to Poitier, “my hero”.
The Kenyan-Mexican actor of Us and Twelves Years a Slave shared four photographs of the late actor on social media, accompanied by the caption: “Sidney Poitier, my hero. A life so well lived.”
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 21:30
Kerry Washington mourns the loss of ‘an elegant King’
Kerry Washington has remembered Poitier following news of the actor’s death.
The Scandal star took to Twitter to thank Poitier “for not only opening the door, but for walking in this world with endless grace and excellence, so that today, still, we follow behind you, reaching toward the example that you set”.
She added: “Rest In Peace and in Power. We love you.”
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 21:16
Sidney Poitier: The charming trailblazer who continually challenged stereotypes
After the Academy Award winner’s death, film writer Geoffrey Macnab pays tribute to a singular actor whose profound influence and legacy will be everlasting.
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 20:33
British actor David Harewood remembers Sidney Poitier’s ‘defiance, grace and style’
Homeland star David Harewood has paid tribute to Poitier on Twitter.
“Gotta get my s*** together. Gotta walk onstage tonight and remember who started this crazy fever dream,” wrote Harewood.
“Sidney Poitier’s defiance, grace and style changed me – and shaped my life as an actor.”
The 56-year-old is currently starring in the Young Vic’s production of Best of Enemies, in which he plays the American conservative author and political commentator William F Buckley Jr.
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 20:11
Reese Witherspoon says she was ‘lucky enough to spend some time with Sidney Poitier’
Reese Witherspoon has shared a tribute to the late Oscar winner on Twitter.
“Today we lost a legend. I was lucky enough to spend some time with Sidney Poitier,” wrote the Big Little Lies star.
“As a long time fan, I cherished hearing his incredible stories of how he changed perceptions in Hollywood. His incredible performances are filled with dignity, strength, truth and deep humanity.”
Witherspoon accompanied her post with a photograph of Poitier and herself.
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 19:20
Oprah Winfrey says ‘the greatest of the ‘Great Trees’ has fallen’
“For me, the greatest of the ‘Great Trees’ has fallen: Sidney Poitier,” wrote the talk show host.
“My honor [sic] to have loved him as a mentor. Friend. Brother. Confidant. Wisdom teacher.”
She continued: “The utmost, highest regard and praise for his most magnificent, gracious, eloquent life. I treasured him. I adored him. He had an enormous soul I will forever cherish. Blessings to Joanna and his world of beautiful daughters.”
Winfrey accompanied the post with a photograph of her and Poitier hugging.
Poitier is survived by his wife Joanna Shimkus, with whom he shares two daughters, Anika and Sydney.
The late actor also has four daughters – Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina – with his former wife Juanita Hardy.
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 18:50
Barack Obama fondly remembers Sidney Poitier who ‘epitomised dignity and grace’
Former US president Barack Obama has remembered Poitier for his “groundbreaking roles and singular talent”.
Obama paid tribute to the late actor in a Twitter post.
“Through his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomized [sic] dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together,” he wrote.
The 60-year-old continued: “He also opened doors for a generation of actors. Michelle and I send our love to his family and legion of fans.”
He shared the post on Twitter alongside a photograph of himself and former first lady Michelle Obama together with Poitier.
On 12 August in 2009, Obama presented Poitier with the Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington.
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 18:24
Joseph Gordon-Levitt remembers Sidney Poitier as ‘an absolute legend’
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has paid tribute to the late acting icon.
In a Twitter post, the Don Jon star wrote: “Sidney Poitier. An absolute legend. One of the greats.”
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 18:04
Elijah Wood says ‘so long’ to Sidney Poitier
Elijah Wood has said “so long” to the late actor on Twitter.
The Lord of the Rings star wrote: “So long to the groundbreaking titan, Sidney Poitier.”
He accompanied the post with a black and white photograph of Poitier.
Annabel Nugent7 January 2022 17:41
‘Don’t sit this one out’: Obama stumps for Virginia governor candidate Terry McAuliffe | Barack Obama
Barack Obama vehemently warned Virginia voters on Saturday against any complacency that what was now a “blue” state would stay that way, as he spoke at a rally to support Terry McAuliffe in the tightening race for governor.
The former president urged supporters to turn out, despite this being an off-year election, in order to keep Democrats in control of not just the state but ultimately the nation.
“For the direction of Virginia and the direction of this country for generations to come,” Obama said, “don’t sit this one out – vote.”
Virginia’s governor’s race is the first big chance voters get to express their approval of Joe Biden’s administration and is widely viewed as an indicator of whether the Democrats will keep control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
The former president’s appearance in Richmond on Saturday followed several other high-profile visits to the state by Democrats this month, including Vice-President Kamala Harris and two of Georgia’s big names, the activist and former candidate for governor Stacey Abrams and the Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms.
About 2,000 people were admitted to the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond on Saturday afternoon to attend the rally for McAuliffe, who has previously served as Virginia governor.
Mackenzie LaBar, acting president of VCU’s Young Democrats, said Obama’s presence was bound to propel voters to the polls.
“This is a pretty blue area so, unfortunately, a lot of ‘blue’ people, blue voters tend to get complacent,” he said.
As further encouragement, Obama recounted meeting a 106-year-old Black woman who had lived through the terror of opposition to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and survived to see the election of the first US Black president, himself, in 2008, and never once missed a chance to vote.
“Born in the shadows of slavery, deep in the midst of Jim Crow,” Obama said, “She has witnessed all that. And I thought, ‘If she’s not tired, I can’t be tired.’”
Almost every speaker alongside Obama at the rally emphasized that the right to vote had never been fully guaranteed in America.
Andre Hayes is one of over 200,000 Virginians, many people of color, whose right to vote had been lost but was restored by McAuliffe when he was previously governor.
“I’ll tell you, when I got that letter in the mail and it was stamped, sealed and approved, and had his signature on it,” Hayes paused to look at the sky. “I was a happy man.”
Virginia is one of three states whose constitution permanently bars those convicted of a felony from voting.
The clause was seen as racially motivated when it was added to Virginia’s constitution in 1902, shortly after Black political power propelled 85 Black politicians to office during Reconstruction.
Speaking at the rally, McAuliffe touted his expansion of voting rights in Virginia and he and Obama commented on increased voter restrictions, which have hit states such as Texas and Florida in particular.
Obama also noted that Senate Republicans once again blocked federal voting rights legislation last week.
“Republicans are trying to rig elections because the truth is people disagree with your ideas,” Obama said. “And when that doesn’t work, you start fabricating lies and conspiracy theories about the last election, the one you didn’t win. That’s not how democracy is supposed to work.”
While the purpose of Saturday’s rally was to energize Democratic voters, many children attended as well. Saturday was the first time Tamer and Brandy Mokshah’s two elementary-aged children would get to see Obama in person.
“These two were born into a world where we had a Black president, right? So that was deeply emotional, really important. And then we’ve seen sort of the extreme opposite of that in the previous five years,” Tamer told the Guardian.
“So we have taken them with us to vote since before they could speak. They go with us all the time. We want to make sure that we’re able to leave something behind in terms of this process and what democracy actually means.”
Education policy and school curriculum have been thrust to the center of the governor’s race, with a focus on Covid-19 protocols, critical race theory, and school choice. Critical race theory is an academic discipline that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society. It is not taught in US secondary schools.
Obama said simply: “We should be making it easier for teachers in schools to give our kids a world class education.”
Disinformation and conspiracy theories have plagued the gubernatorial election, with Democrats protesting that Republicans are touting misleading Covid-19 guidance and focusing on inflammatory campaigning.
Larry David says he was ‘relieved’ to be uninvited from Barack Obama’s controversial 60th birthday party
Larry David says he was nothing short of relieved to be uninvited to Barack Obama’s lavish 60th birthday party last weekend.
The former president held a star-studded bash on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts to celebrate another trip around the sun. Although celebrities such as Don Cheadle, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Beyonce and more were in attendance, the large and highly criticized bash was actually scaled back significantly due to concerns over large gatherings posed by the coronavirus.
One person who was apparently thrilled to have his invite taken away was the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star. In a statement to The New York Times’ opinion columnist Maureen Dowd, the 74-year-old, who has a home on the island, explained that he feared he would be asked to perform comedy at the event. With just three days to prepare jokes for the 44th president of the United States, David found himself completely at a loss for material.
“I was pretty glum when I finally called back his assistant,” David explained.
PHOTOS OF MASSIVE TENT AT OBAMA’S MANSION RAISE QUESTIONS OF ‘SCALED BACK’ BIRTHDAY PARTY
Larry David said he was relieved to be uninvited from Barack Obama’s 60th birthday party.
(Getty Images)
Fortunately for him, that call ended with him getting the boot from the guest list as things scaled back.
“When he told me I was eighty-sixed from the party, I was so relieved I screamed, ‘Thank you! Thank you!’ He must have thought I was insane,” David explained. “Then I hung up the phone, poured myself a drink and finished my crossword puzzle.”
OBAMA’S SCALED BACK 60TH BIRTHDAY BASH: CELEB ARRIVALS BEGIN TO SHOW WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT
The New York Times previously reported that other celebrities, such as late-night comedians Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien and David Letterman, were also axed from the guest list amid fears of the coronavirus delta variant. Dowd’s piece, however, was most critical of the fact that many Hollywood celebrities who had little to nothing to do with Obama’s time in office were still allowed to attend while former administration staffers were told to hang back.
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Hannah Hankins, a spokeswoman for the former president, said in a statement obtained by Fox News that the “outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public health guidelines and with covid safeguards in place.”
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“Due to the new spread of the delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends. President Obama is appreciative of others sending their birthday wishes from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon.”