The 2025 Rock & Roll HoF nominee list is light on women and people of color
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: I do not understand how the
Ashley Graham Does Self Magazine
From Self: At 17, Graham signed with Wilhelmina Models and moved to New York City on her own. She quickly discovered the industry’s uglier aspects—for one thing, that even within the niche of plus-size modeling, body diversity has its limits. After one agent waved a wad of cash in her face and said, “You can make a lot more of this if you lose more pounds,” her body image took a dive. Graham began trying every diet under the sun, from cabbage soup to 10-day juice fasts. But nothing stuck. “All of a sudden, Mom wasn’t cooking for me; Mom wasn’t there being like, ‘Lets go work out!’ ” Her confidence plummeted, and so did the control she felt over her body. “I went from a size 12 to a size 18,” she says, trying to keep up with the constant partying and networking that seemed effortless to the other models and agents around her. “It was a dark place.” At the time, Graham couldn’t see herself as beautiful at a size 18, but more than that, “It was the way that I was treating my body. I didn’t understand the health aspect of it.” The former high school basketball and volleyball player stopped exercising, losing her tone and definition. Within a year of moving to New York, “I looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘I hate you. You’re so gross,’ ” Graham recalls. “I’m looking at my cellulite and my back fat and thinking, I have to go shoot lingerie tomorrow and smile, and I am heinous. How can I get through this?” Read the full story HERE! See more! (…)Read the rest of Ashley Graham Does Self Magazine (0 words) © Versus for Skinny VS Curvy, 2016. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:
Priyanka Chopra: “Beauty has nothing to do with me. I was born with it”
On feminism: “For eons, women have been told how to be or think or dress. I come from a part of the world where this debate is so heated, especially because we’re a country that has goddesses. We pray to women. But at the same time, we prey on them…Feminism needs men to understand that we don’t want to berate you or kill you or hate you. We just need you to stand by us.” On beauty: “Beauty has nothing to do with me. I was born with it. But I don’t want to be known by the fact that I’m beautiful. I want to be known for the fact that I’m an achiever. Not even an actor. I don’t want a label. I don’t want a box. I want a legacy.” On the phrase ‘woman of color’: “I know everything is about diversity right now. But I think it should be about humanity. It’s 2016. It’s so easy to separate ourselves and become smaller and smaller pieces of humanity. I don’t like the phrase ‘woman of color.’ I feel like that puts women in a box. I’m a woman, whether I’m white, Black, brown, green, blue, or pink — whatever. I think we need to start looking beyond that. It would be a big win for women, period.” … says Priyanka. See more of her next! (…)Read the rest of Priyanka Chopra: “Beauty has nothing to do with me. I was born with it” (1 words) © Versus for Skinny VS Curvy, 2016. | Permalink | 40 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:
Stacey Dash: Jesse Williams is a ‘perfect example of a Hollywood plantation slave’
Just know, I was looking to avoid covering this, but it’s the Friday before a long holiday weekend and there isn’t much else going on. I’d actually like some commenter-thoughts on this one: in the future, is it smarter to simply avoid Stacey Dash stories completely, no matter how hard she’s trolling? Or should we cover those stories because we need to say (repeatedly) that Stacey Dash is a terrible person filled with terrible ideas? The BET Awards were held last Sunday, and one of the best moments from the show was Jesse Williams receiving an award for his humanitarian work, and his work with Black Lives Matter and the Advancement Project. Here’s his speech again: @iJesseWilliams full speech. P R E A C H!!!https://t.co/CESmMrtmWA — 100% (@goafgang) June 27, 2016 It was a powerful speech that touched on many issues, from police brutality to the exclusion of black women from the narrative of civil rights movements, from savage inequalities in education to the systemic appropriation of black art and talent. Many were moved to tears by Williams. But not Stacey Dash, master troll and Fox News idiot. Dash got on her Patheos blog to complain about Jesse’s speech and insult him for daring to be a black man at an awards show recognizing diversity in the arts and making a speech about the racial problems we still have in this country. How dare he, right? Here’s part of what Dash wrote (I’m leaving her typos): You’ve just seen the perfect example of a HOLLYWOOD plantation slave! Sorry, Mr Williams. But the fact that you were standing on that stage at THOSE awards tells people you really don’t know what your talking about. Just spewing hate and anger. Because you my man are just like everyone else hustling to get money. But your cognitive dissidents has you getting it from THAT BYSTANDER whom YOU DONT NEED. Yes. BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION is WHITE OWNED. GET over yourself and get on with it! That chip on the shoulders of people like you will weigh you down and keep you from flying free. But true freedom is never free. You have to know how to fly. If anyone is making you feel this way its you. Living in a psychological prison of your own making. If anyone is GHETTO-IZING anyone, it’s people like you letting the BETs and other media outlets portray us in stereotypes. [From Dash’s Patheos blog] A few points. You’re not your. Cognitive dissonance not cognitive dissidents. As for the rest of it… I don’t even want to waste my energy trying to figure out the pretzel of logic she uses to claim that Jesse William is the one ghettoizing people and stereotyping people. How is Jesse Williams a “plantation slave” for working with black activists and making a speech about how much work is left to be done? Who can tell anymore? A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Photos courtesy of WENN.
Charlotte Rampling on her #OscarsSoWhite drama: ‘I’m anything but racist’
In the heat of this year’s Oscars race, the #OscarsSoWhite controversy blew up. For the second year in a row, there were no major nominations for minority actors. The controversy got so bad that the Academy is still undergoing renovations to the voter rolls and trying to bring in some fresh blood and hopefully more diverse membership. The controversy also got so bad that various (white) actors had to answer questions about the all-white party known as the Oscars. One of those actors? Charlotte Rampling. Rampling was asked point-blank about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy and she said: “It is racist to whites. One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” added Rampling. Asked if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should introduce quotas, a proposal which no current advocate of increased diversity has mooted, she responded: “Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted … People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’ … someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ [this or that] … But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?” [From previous story] Within hours, Rampling’s publicist made her issue an apology in which Rampling claimed that her comments had been “misinterpreted” and that she of course believes that “in an ideal world every performance will be given equal opportunities for consideration.” While her clarification left me cold (it was basically “sorry you read the words I actually spoke”), Rampling really didn’t suffer because of it. She didn’t have to answer any other questions about race and her belief that minorities were being racist to white people. Well now, months later, Rampling is talking about it again. Charlotte Rampling has defended her controversial Oscars race row comments insisting her words were simply misunderstood. “I probably think it was misinterpreted at the time. I thought, ‘Oh my god, what have I said’. It was in no way what people thought,” says the 70-year-old, who was nominated for best actress at the 2016 Academy Awards for her performance in British drama 45 Hours. “After I just didn’t listen to anything so I don’t know who said what about it. I can’t really say too much now. I could have easily had a dialogue but I wasn’t going to do that after what I said. I’m anything but racist.” [From Express] “I could have easily had a dialogue but I wasn’t going to do that after what I said. I’m anything but racist.” I have literally no idea what she’s trying to say there. Is she saying that of course she isn’t racist and she could have totally had a dialogue about what she said but she knew everyone would just say that she’s racist and she’s totally not racist, you guys. We know she’s not racist because she says so! And it’s like she wants bonus points because she COULD have had a dialogue about race but she didn’t. I would have been fascinated to hear that dialogue. Photos courtesy of WENN.
Zendaya on the election: ‘It’s disappointing, sad, and scary. You have to vote.’
Zendaya covers the Jusly issue of Cosmopolitan looking like she’s trying to fix her shoe while showing off her incredible legs. I remember marveling at how she towered over Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at the Grammys and it turns out she’s 5’10″ tall, which is not surprising. She’s got to be over 6′ in heels. The people at Cosmo sent us some advance quotes and while I would be surprised to hear them from most other 19 year-old starlets (see: Chloe Grace Moretz), it’s typical of Zendaya to sound wise beyond her years. She emphasized that young people who are scared to see the direction of this year’s election need to actually go out and vote instead of just tweet about it. That may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s true. She also detailed an incident in which a former publicist was racially insensitive, so she sacked her. (I love that term! I never get to use that, it’s so British.) On the election and voting: “There’s really crazy stuff happening right now, and it’s disappointing, sad, and scary. My generation, we really have to step up to the plate and vote. Tweeting is great — people say, ‘Oh, I don’t want this or that’ — but at the end of the day, tweeting isn’t a ballot. Just saying that you don’t like someone on Twitter is not going to turn a state blue or red. You have to vote.” On her return to Disney as the star and co-producer of K.C. Undercover: “The only way I was going to come back to the Disney Channel was if I was in a position of more power. One thing that is really important to me is diversity on the channel. It’s hard as a young person of a different ethnicity or background to look at the TV and not see anyone who looks like you. Representation is very important.” On a situation on set with someone being racially insensitive: “I didn’t like my hair and makeup one time on a photo shoot, and my publicist told me, ‘You should just be happy with it — they haven’t had a black girl on the cover since forever.’ She’s no longer my publicist.” On being in love versus casual hookups: “Me, personally? I would much rather be in love and have the full experience with the person I’m doing that with. Everyone deserves to be in love — it’s different from when you’re with someone you don’t really know. But as long as you protect yourself and get tested periodically, then by all means, go ahead and do what you’ve got to do!” [from Cosmopolitan] I like how she was diplomatic about her own dating preferences vs. people who like casual sex. She doesn’t sound judgy. I mean she gets her dad to chaperone dates, which seems a little excessive at 19 but maybe that’s her choice too. Given how self-possessed she is, it seems likely that she would have a say in that. Also, is she dissing the Disney channel or just television in general for not being more representative of society? I would say she’s talking about TV as a whole, because the Disney channel seems like it’s somewhat diverse already. I bet Zendaya has helped make changes there. photos credit: WENN and Cosmopolitan
Alicia Silverstone in Christian Siriano at Women in Film: lovely or weird?
These are more photos from the Women in Film event (Kaiser covered the other attendees here), which was held last night in LA. They were calling for diversity in film and wage equality for women, as they do annually at this event. It was hosted by the Women in Film president, producer Cathy Schulman (Crash.) I’ll just be covering some of the more questionably dressed women. First off is Alicia Silverstone, who is 39 years old but somehow manages to look 20-something. This scoop neck spaghetti strap bronze metallic Christian Siriano dress is making her look much younger too. This is a very young-looking dress, I think it’s the simple empire cut, but her styling is perfection. Here’s Kate Walsh in a simple v-neck black dress that somehow manages to look like a power suit. That dress is cool, I would wear that, and I like the skinny belt but she paired it with fishnet stockings and high boots. When you look at her makeup though – what was she thinking? She’s got like bright purple eyeshadow on both her lids and under her eyes with thick heavy eyeliner, too much mascara and pink lips. If a makeup artist did this to me I would wipe it off and redo it myself. She looked much better the day before at the Cadillac pre-Oscar party in a contemporary wrap dress. Patricia Arquette was in a plain black and white combo with a white blouse under a half sleeve jacket with a tea length skirt. This look is just too boxy for my taste. She would look better with a fitted jacket and some tailoring. Lake Bell was in a very bizarre fishnet shirt with a bandeau bra underneath for modesty. She has on skintight pinstripe pants with too long split cuffs. This entire outfit looks like a reject from Project Runway. (Credit: my mom.) She does get points for pairing it with shoes that mimic the pattern in her top and carrying a practical purse. I always carry a big purse for all the crap I need to have with me at all times. Photo credit: WENN.com