Entertainment

Wednesday December 8, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 8, 2021

Justin Bieber performs in Saudi Arabia despite calls for boycott over human rights

August 10, 2018

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber performed to a packed crowd in the Red Sea city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, singing some of his most popular hits. The Sunday night concert took place even as human rights campaigners and activists called on Bieber to cancel his performance to protest the kingdom’s arrests and crackdown on critics.

Bieber’s model wife, Hailey Baldwin Bieber, posted a supportive video on Instagram of him on stage, with the words: “Go Baby.” Other videos on social media showed Bieber on stage solo, wearing a co-ordinated red outfit. Pop and R&B singer Jason Derulo performed before Bieber with backup female dancers in sweatpants and baggy tops.

August 8, 2018

Only a few years ago, this would have been an unthinkable scene in Saudi Arabia, where ultraconservative norms prevailed. Concerts were banned and unmarried men and women were segregated in public spaces. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is behind the sweeping changes as he works to modernize society, attract foreign investment and create jobs for youth.

Human Rights Watch and others, however, have called on celebrities to boycott the kingdom, saying such events are aimed at diverting attention and deflecting scrutiny from Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

August 2, 2017

Bieber was the biggest name performer to take the stage as part of Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix, which saw Lewis Hamilton win ahead of the last race of the Formula One season.

Bieber has not commented on the public pressure surrounding his performance and calls for him to cancel the show. Weeks before his show in Saudi Arabia, the fiancee of slain Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi joined a chorus of voices urging him not to perform at the kingdom’s F1 race.

In an open letter published by The Washington Post, Hatice Cengiz had urged the megastar to cancel his performance to “send a powerful message to the world that your name and talent will not be used to restore the reputation of a regime that kills its critics.” She noted that the decision to host the F1 race and invite a star like Bieber “comes directly” from the crown prince.

November 13, 2012

Bieber’s concert in Saudi Arabia comes shortly before he opens a world tour next year. The tour is being promoted by Live Nation, the company that owns Ticketmaster. Saudi Arabia’s state-owned sovereign wealth fund — steered by Prince Mohammed — is among the largest institutional holders in Live Nation, with a stake worth some $1.4 billion US. (CBC) 

Meanwhile, Tim Hortons has teamed up with pop superstar Justin Bieber to launch three new Timbit flavours — called Timbiebs — along with co-branded merchandise. (Global) 

 

Saturday June 20, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 20, 2020

The end of the buffet as we know it?

December 4, 2013

The COVID-19 pandemic may be the end of the restaurant buffet as we know it. 

With concerns over the spread of the virus heightening concerns around food safety, the fill-your-plate dining concept is facing serious challenges.

Some Alberta restaurant operators believe that long after anxiety around the spread of the virus subsides, customers won’t have an appetite for self-serve eats. 

Some buffets shuttered by the pandemic may be gone forever, said Oscar Lopez, the founder of Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse, a chain of five Alberta restaurants. 

“That’s the $2-million question,” Lopez said. “This is part of a huge industry.

December 13, 2013

“We’ve been thinking about it a lot.” 

After months of public health messaging about virus prevention, customers may have become permanently put off by sneeze guards and shared spoons, Lopez said. 

He wonders how long the world-famous buffets of the Las Vegas strip will remain closed, or if now-docked cruise ships will ever serve their food in the same way again. 

Even when Alberta health restrictions prohibiting buffets are lifted, his chain of restaurants may never operate them again. 

June 11, 2014

“An emotional scar has been left on people,” he said. “I’m skeptical. I don’t know. 

“When Alberta Health Services allows us to reopen our salad bar operation, I’m not quite sure that we will. I think that will have to do a lot with what the public’s reaction is, what their memory of this whole situation is.

“We may just keep doing what we’re doing.”

Pampa is known for its rodizio-style service. Customers sample from shared plates and meat skewers served by waiters circulating from table to table. The salad bar is also a huge draw, Lopez said.

Coronavirus cartoons

Since reopening, the restaurant is now plating its food individually in the kitchen. Tables are carefully spaced two metres apart. The salad bar is closed indefinitely. 

Lopez considered having an attendant for the buffets but said he was advised by health inspectors that it would be too difficult to keep customers a safe distance apart from each other. 

“Almost overnight we had to reinvent ourselves and sort of reteach our team on our new style of service, so we’re kind of learning as we go.” 

Most customers have been accommodating, he said, but some reservations have been cancelled.

“It looks empty. It looks sad. We have lost a lot of the ambience in the restaurant.” (CBC)

Letter to the Editor, Wednesday June 24, 2020

June 20 cartoon missing racialized customers

I want to thank The Spectator for giving us a great example of systemic racism: A cartoon with seven people at the buffet table and not one racialized person. I guess only white people in Hamilton go to buffet restaurants. Despite the fact that systemic barriers exist everywhere, people continue to be blind to them.

Jorge Lasso, Hamilton

Wednesday May 13, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 13, 2020

Bryan Adams’s Instagram post draws rebukes from Chinese-Canadian organization, social media users

A prominent Chinese-Canadian activist says she is shocked, disappointed and angry about an Instagram post on Canadian singer Bryan Adams’s official account that she and others say is racist.

January 29, 2020

The post contains a snippet of Adams singing his hit song Cuts Like a Knife. An accompanying description expresses his frustration that COVID-19-related restrictions have led to the postponing of three shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

“Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of a tenancy of gigs at the @royalalberthall, but thanks to some f–king bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards, the whole world is now on hold,” the post read.

“My message to them other than ‘thanks a f–king lot’ is go vegan.”

Amy Go, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice called the post racist and believes it could stoke hatred of Chinese-Canadians.

“People look up to public figures. He is seen as an idol by many,” Go said. “It justifies this racist hatred against Chinese … This is so irresponsible and just so, so, so, so racist.”

Coronavirus cartoons

As the coronavirus pandemic has spread, many have raised concerns about growing anti-Asian and anti-Chinese racism in Canada, with reports of anti-Asian hate crimes on the rise in Vancouver, including physical and verbal attacks. 

But on Tuesday morning, the singer issued an apology on Instagram “to any and all that took offence” to his post. He said he just wanted to rant about “animal cruelty in the wet-markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism.”

“I have love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world,” he wrote in the post. 

As of 10 p.m. PT Monday, his original Instagram video had received more than 1,500 replies. 

Many of the comments expressed love for his music and dismay he would not be touring, but dozens of others accused Adams of racism. (CBC)



 

 

Tuesday December 10, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 10, 2019

SNL spoofs Justin Trudeau’s candid comments about Donald Trump

December 4, 2019

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent candid comments about U.S. President Donald Trump received the Saturday Night Live treatment, with some big-name comedians dropping in to portray Trudeau and other world leaders as cool kids teasing a clueless Trump.

Jimmy Fallon as Trudeau, Paul Rudd as French President Emmanuel Macron, and James Corden as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t let Trump sit at their table in the skit and put a sign on his back saying, “Impeach me!!!”

Nearly one week ago, Trudeau was seen standing in a huddle with Macron, Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, at a Buckingham Palace reception for leaders at the NATO summit, joking about Trump’s long, impromptu press conferences.

“Some dismissed it as petty high school gossip,” the SNL intro begins, “but you should have seen what happened in the NATO cafeteria.”

June 27, 2016

The sketch pokes fun at Johnson’s inclusion in the caught-on-video chat, given the British prime minister’s generally closer relationship with Trump.

Rudd’s Macron tells Baldwin’s Trump that an empty seat had been promised to a friend, to which the Trump character replies that he is Johnson’s friend.

“Don’t make this harder than it already is,” Corden says, looking away. “I’m hanging out with these guys now.”

The sketch has the Trudeau character mocking Trump’s appearance and intelligence, while the Macron character tells the others to wave to Trump at the other table, “so he thinks we like him.”

“Those are my best friends,” the Trump character says. “We run this place.”

The Johnson character also makes a joke about Macron’s wife being older, and the Trump character says, “That’s good. I like when it’s mean, but not about me.”

December 20, 2016

The real Trump has seemed to shrug off the recording, calling Trudeau “two-faced,” but also overall a good guy.

Later in the show, during the Weekend Update segment, the SNL cast took one more dig at Trudeau, playing off of Trump’s “two-faced” comment.

“It’s true, I’ve definitely seen Trudeau with at least one other face,” says host Colin Jost, while displaying a 2001 picture of Trudeau wearing brownface as part of an Aladdin costume in a photo that emerged during the fall election. (CBC) 

 

Saturday February 23, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 23, 2019

Jody Wilson-Raybould has Trudeau in checkmate

“Is Jody Wilson-Raybould going to burn my government to the ground?”

February 15, 2019

It’s the question Justin Trudeau must surely be asking as his former attorney general and justice minister prepares to “speak her truth” this week at the justice committee on the question of SNC-Lavalin.

If the dribs and drabs of information appearing on the front pages of The Globe and Mail over recent weeks turns out to be accurate foreshadowing, Trudeau might not be able to surviveWilson-Raybould’s truth, let alone handle it.

As “did not direct” Wilson-Raybould has morphed into a “vigorous debate” on the question, and then to an admission of “pressure” from the Clerk of the Privy Council, but of the “lawful advocacy” kind, not the ‘do as you’re told’ vintage, Team Trudeau has, to date, succeeded only in lighting itself on fire when it comes to SNC-Lavalin. Now it’s time to see if Wilson-Raybould rocks up to committee with the final keg of kerosene.

If you’re Trudeau, it’s hard to envision an appearance in which Wilson-Raybould doesn’t burn everything—Trudeau included—to the ground.  There has been some serious red-on-red action on the nation’s front pages in the past few days, and only one side can survive.

Animated!

Wilson-Raybould and the forces aligned with her have been putting out a narrative of undue pressure on the non-partisan attorney general over the criminal prosecution of SNC, a Liberal-loving Quebec behemoth. And they’re making a compelling case.

Despite the independent director of public prosecutions saying ‘no’ to SNC on Sept. 4 of last year, Trudeau, his office, and the clerk—we now know, after initial denials—continued to revisit the issue with Wilson-Raybould and her office until Dec. 19, i.e. a few short weeks before she was shifted out of the attorney general role. It turns out ‘no means no’ meant nothing in Trudeaupia, at least when it came to SNC. (Source: Macleans)