Entertainment

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) 

 

Wednesday October 31, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 31, 2018

What this year’s topical Halloween costumes tell us about the darkest fears of modern life

In 2018, traditional Halloween costumes simply don’t cut it. Vampires and witches are so uninspired, so overdone. You want real horror? Try looking outside.

October 27, 2005

Perhaps this explains why Halloween costumes are taking a turn for the topical, and why the New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum attended a party this weekend dressed in the scariest costume she could think of: the New York Times’ midterm election poll. Other sightings include the usual array of Donald Trumps, multiple Ruth Bader Ginsbergs and the literal death of democracy.

This is nothing particularly new. A New York Times article from 1998 lists faddish Halloween costumes like Monica Lewinsky, Woody Allen, and Lorena Bobbitt, while Lewes in Sussex has long been famous for burning effigies of characters, from the pope in 2005 to Angela Merkel in 2012. But in recent years this seems to have crossed over into the mainstream. Last year, at the height of #MeToo, there seemed to be a clutch of ever-present Halloween “handmaids” wherever you went. While this is the third consecutive year that “Brexit” has been a viable (and common) outfit choice of outfit.

What does this tell us about our fears? The bad news is that our fears are so front and centre that you can dress as Trump, or a nation’s voting intentions, or the concept of institutionalised sexism, and people will understand. This ubiquity only really happens in times of genuine crisis. The good news is that these costumes are an act of rebellion. By dressing as “our fears”, we are mocking them. And by mocking them, we are diminishing them. As Stephen Colbert says, you can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time.

October 31, 2008

But few things are as dull as a Halloween party full of ultra-partisan topical costumes. Within seconds of entering, you know exactly how all the conversations will go. You will spend your evening having your ear bent off about some half-remembered statistic from the news, while wishing you could slink off and get drunk with the attendee dressed as Sexy Super Mario. It is good to wear your stripes on your sleeve and all, but Halloween should be stupid. Let’s keep it that way. (Source: Guardian) 

 

Monday November 13, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday November 13, 2017

Who’s next? High anxiety in Hollywood amid sexual harassment allegations in the industry

The curtain has been pulled back, and, oh, is it messy.

November 9, 2017

Hollywood has always revelled in scandal. The rumour. The whisper. The unfortunate photograph. The apology and return to grace. But the recent sex abuse stories have turned into a parade of tawdry violations and twisted passions, the stuff of movies acted out in real lives against the unglamorous air of disgrace, endless transgressions that even Ray Donovan, Showtime’s half-shaven mercurial fixer, couldn’t clean up with all his hush money and muscle.

The rape and sexual abuse allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, James Toback and others have shattered the awards-season aplomb in a town that imagines itself bold and freewheeling but prefers the tempered and scripted. The entertainment industry has slipped into a multi-polar catharsis of emboldened women, nervous men, threatening lawyers, broken deals, spoiled careers and the uncertainty that comes when cracks run like lightning through facades.

May 25, 2011

“I think the industry is forever changed,” said Marcel Pariseau, a publicist whose clients include Scarlett Johansson and Olivia Munn, one of six women who accused Ratner of sexual misconduct in the Los Angeles Times last week. “Every morning we wake up and we don’t know what’s going to be next. You’re almost afraid to get on your gadget to see what the new story is.”

“No one is going to be going to a producer or director’s hotel suite anymore,” he added. “All meetings will be done with somebody else in the room for protection for both sides. It’s a defining moment. It’s vigilance.”

November 19, 2014

Instagram accounts are being scrubbed, Facebook pages edited, publicists consulted and memories jogged about what might have happened where and with whom on that blurry night years ago. The cocktail circuit is jittery; the Oscar buzz feels a bit listless. Talent agencies are dropping clients and scouring their own houses. Studios are pruning relationships, firing executives hours after an allegation is made public. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

Thursday November 9, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 9, 2017

High anxiety in Hollywood amid sexual harassment allegations in the industry

February 25, 2017

The curtain has been pulled back, and, oh, is it messy.

Hollywood has always revelled in scandal. The rumour. The whisper. The unfortunate photograph. The apology and return to grace. But the recent sex abuse stories have turned into a parade of tawdry violations and twisted passions, the stuff of movies acted out in real lives against the unglamorous air of disgrace, endless transgressions that even Ray Donovan, Showtime’s half-shaven mercurial fixer, couldn’t clean up with all his hush money and muscle.

March 1, 2016

The rape and sexual abuse allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, James Toback and others have shattered the awards-season aplomb in a town that imagines itself bold and freewheeling but prefers the tempered and scripted. The entertainment industry has slipped into a multi-polar catharsis of emboldened women, nervous men, threatening lawyers, broken deals, spoiled careers and the uncertainty that comes when cracks run like lightning through facades.

March 5, 2014

“I think the industry is forever changed,” said Marcel Pariseau, a publicist whose clients include Scarlett Johansson and Olivia Munn, one of six women who accused Ratner of sexual misconduct in the Los Angeles Times last week. “Every morning we wake up and we don’t know what’s going to be next. You’re almost afraid to get on your gadget to see what the new story is.”

“No one is going to be going to a producer or director’s hotel suite anymore,” he added. “All meetings will be done with somebody else in the room for protection for both sides. It’s a defining moment. It’s vigilance.” (Source: Toronto Star) 

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