TV shows and movies are always hiring stand-ins and photo doubles to work on set. Usually, their job consists of mimicking the principal actors so the production’s cinematographer can set up the lighting and camera angles. But, Spider-Man: Homecoming star, Hannibal Burress, took it one step further and hired a photo double to play for Wednesday’s Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere.
Buress, who plays Coach Wilson in the movie, sent someone on his behalf to walk the red carpet. In tweets ahead of the premiere, which was later deleted, Buress issued a casting call for “a lookalike with solid comedic timing for an event tonight” and promised to pay the stand-in $500.
Spider-Man: Homecoming stars Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Donald Glover, Robert Downey Jr., and Zendaya. The Atlanta-filmed production hits theaters on July 7th.
YouTube provides the unique opportunity for anyone with a camera and access to a computer the opportunity to showcase their life. But, with millions of hours of content uploaded every month, it may be tough to get noticed and garner the attention to build a thriving YouTube page. Many times, aspiring YouTubers engage in dangerous and sometimes illegal activity to gain followers. For example, early this year an aspiring YouTuber promised to release a sex tape if she reached 1 million subscribers. Now, an aspiring YouTube star accidentally shot and killed her boyfriend on Monday in a stunt gone wrong, according to a criminal complaint.
The Norman County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota said on Wednesday that Monalisa Perez, 19, shot her 22-year-old boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, in the chest at close range with a handgun as Ruiz was holding a large encyclopedia that was supposedly able to block the bullet.
“Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever,” Perez wrote in a tweet Monday evening before the alleged incident occurred. “HIS idea not MINE.”
Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever?? HIS idea not MINE?
According to the criminal complaint, Perez who has been arrested wanted to grow her YouTube channel by performing daredevil stunts on camera. Perez has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to court documents and now faces up to 10 years in prison.
The couple has a three-year-old daughter, and Perez is pregnant with their second child. According to NBC News, local officials do not plan on releasing the video showing the fatal shooting.
Michelle Rodriguez is fighting for her female co-stars.
The Fast & The Furious actress announced on Instagram that she is willing to leave the franchise behind due to the movie’s lack of strong female characters.
Rodriguez wrote in the caption of her Instagram photo, “I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise. It’s been a good ride & I’m grateful for the opportunity the fans & studio have provided over the years … One Love.”
The franchise currently features several award-winning actresses including Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron. But, men still are predominately featured in the Fast and the Furious franchise, according to Rodriguez.
NEW YORK-APR 8: Actress Michelle Rodriguez attends the premiere of “The Fate of the Furious” at Radio City Music Hall on April 8, 2017 in New York City. (Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com)
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly Rodriguez said, “On day one, I [changed] the character from being something that I could not do in front of millions of people into a character that I’m actually proud of, but at the end of the day, what message are we sending out there for women?”
Rodriguez added, ”It does weigh heavy on my head — especially in the male-dominated environment that I work in.”
The Fate of the Furious was directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. The movie was a box office hit and earned over $1 billion dollars in the box office on a budget of $350 million including marketing costs. It is Universal Picture’s biggest worldwide distribution in the company’s history. The movie is so huge it earned the biggest global opening in filmmaking history.
Facebook now has over two billion users, and as the company continues to grow so does the social network’s public responsibility. One of the biggest concerns is creating an environment that fosters civil discourse. Handling this issue is by targeting and deleting hate speech. Facebook’s guidelines for moderating hate speech were revealed Wednesday after ProPublica investigated how and why the social network created, implemented and instituted their moderation system.
If evidence found by ProPublica is accurate, the company’s policy on how it handles hate speech may illustrate disparities in how comments about particular groups of people arguably unethical. In fact, the report asserts Facebook has built a comment moderation system that protects “white me from hate speech, but not black children.”
Facebook has tried to build a global set of rules on what is and what is not considered hate speech. But the company’s logic, according to ProPublica, is likely to spark outrage among people who feel that the company already fails to create a safe environment.
Protected Categories versus Unprotected Categories
Facebook appears to claim that you cannot, or should not, make fun of someone for things that are out of their control, protected groups, which include their race, gender, sexuality, and religious affiliation. Facebook moderators delete those types of hate speech directed towards protected categories. However, Facebook considers hate speech targeted towards non-protected classes regarding someone’s social class, job, appearance age or religion is considered okay.
For example, in the report, there is a Facebook slide asking, “Which of the below subsets do we protect?” It says female drivers, black children, and white men (the section for white men features a picture of the 90’s boy band Backstreet Boys). Can you guess what the correct answer is?
Stock Photo: Jelenia Gora, Poland – February 25, 2016: New Facebook like button 6 Empathetic Emoji. Facebook is a well-known social networking service. Mark Zuckerberg’s page account on FACEBOOK (Bakhur Nick / Shutterstock.com)
According to ProPublica, Facebook policies allowed moderators to delete hate speech against white men because they were a “protected category”. Meanwhile, the other two examples, black children, and female drivers, in the previously described slide were in a non-protected category and as a result, hate speech comments are allowed.
Ultimately, Facebook’s guidelines of protected and unprotected groups lead to political and ethical issues. If a post targets members of a protected class such as women, it will be penalized. If it targets a smaller group, an unprotected category within a protected category,such as women drivers, then it is not.
Dave Willner, a former Facebook content moderator who helped build the guidelines, told ProPublica, the social network moderating system is “more utilitarian than we are used to in our justice system … It’s fundamentally not rights-oriented.”
Facebook and the role of moderation and terrorism
Facebook’s relationship with the US government came under fire after the release of confidential documents provided by former NSA contractor turned whistleblower, Edward Snowden. Snowden explained in a 2014 interview that if users want to keep their privacy they should avoid using Facebook. (Michal Ludwiczak / Shutterstock.com)
Earlier this month, Facebook announced how the company is planning to fight terrorism through the social networking application. In an outline, the company pointed towards new methods to combat the threat of terrorism by using artificial intelligence.
Monika Bickert, Facebook’s Director of Global Police Management and Brian Fishman, Counterterrorism Policy Manager, said in their latest blog post, “We agree with those who say that social media should not be a place where terrorists have a voice. We want to be very clear how seriously we take this — keeping our community safe on Facebook is critical to our mission.”
During the 2002 Academy Awards, Halle Berry was nominated and won an Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Monster’s Ball. In a moving speech Berry proudly exclaimed, “Every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”
However, 15 years later, Berry is still the only black woman ever to win the award. In an interview with Elaine Welteroth, editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, Berry said, “It’s troubling. To say the least, it’s troubling.”
During the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite controversy, Berry said, “It was one of my lowest professional moments… I sat there and I thought, wow, that moment really meant nothing. It meant nothing. I thought it meant something but I think it meant nothing.”
Halle Berry holding her Oscar at the Academy Awards, LA, CA 3/24/2002 (Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com)
Berry continued, “I profoundly hurt by that and saddened by that, and it inspired me to try to get involved in other ways. Which is why I want to start directing. I want to start producing more, I want to start being a part of making more opportunities for people of color.”
Berry said she is also working on ways in to make the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences more diverse. “These kinds of groups have to start changing,” she said. “We have to be more conscious and more inclusive.”
Halle Berry at the 89th Annual Academy Awards held at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, USA on February 26, 2017. (Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com)
Berry continued by saying, “We need more people of color writing, directing, producing, not just starring. We have to start telling stories that include us,” she continued. “And when stories don’t include us, we have to start asking, ‘why can’t that be a person of color? Why can’t that white male character be a black woman?’ Why can’t it? We have to start pushing the envelope and asking these questions.”
Leslie Jones took to Twitter to complain about her stay at the Ritz-Carlton during her stay in Los Angeles for the BET Awards on Sunday. The Saturday Night Live alum accused employees of the hotel of racism.
“Wow was such a great night at the BET awards,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “But then had THE WORST STAY @RitzCarlton DO NOT STAY THERE!! THEY DONT LIKE BLACK PEOPLE!!”
Jones did not elaborate on what transpired at the Ritz Carlton establishment. After Jones made the claim on social media, the hotel reached out to her via Twitter to say they will “look into this right away.”
“@Lesdoggg We’re sorry to hear this. “@Lesdoggg We’re sorry to hear this,”
While it is not known what Jones experienced at the Ritz Carlton hotel, it is not the first time Jones was faced with racism. Last year, Jones took a debatable from Twitter after she was repeatedly hit with racist comments following her casting in the Ghostbusters reboot.
LOS ANGELES – APR 12: Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Paul Feig arrives to the Cinema Con 2016: Sony Pictures Presentation April 12, 2016 in Las Vegas, NV. (DFree / Shutterstock.com)
“I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. “I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie,” Jones said on Twitter.
Jones would later return to Twitter after Milo Yainnopoulos, who was accused of leading the harassment campaign, was permanently banned by Twitter.
Wow was such a great night at the BET awards. But then had THE WORST STAY @RitzCarlton DO NOT STAY THERE!! THEY DONT LIKE BLACK PEOPLE!!
Apple has acquired a German computer vision company called SensoMotoric Instruments.
Axios reports the company, which is based in Teltow near Berlin, develops eye-tracking technology that can be used in virtual and augmented reality glasses. Given Apple’s focus on augmented reality applications, the new acquisition could help the company develop software to be built into future Apple products.
It is important to note Apple has not officially confirmed the deal but, the company has a history of not publicly disclosing acquisitions. Apple told Axios,”Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
At this time it is currently unclear how Apple will use the technology, talent, and intellectual property of SensoMotoric Instruments. However, it is clear that augmented reality is important for Apple CEO Tim Cook. In fact, last February, Cook gave an interview to The Independent. In the interview, Apple CEO explains how augmented reality could revolutionize technology in the same way the smartphone changed the world.
“I regard it as a big idea, like the smartphone,” Cook explained. “The smartphone is for everyone, we don’t have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s huge. I get excited because of the things that could be done that could improve a lot of lives. And be entertaining.”
During Apple’s WWDC, Apple revealed their ARKit platform. The platform allows developers to create new applications that use iPhone’s camera and sensors to create visual objects in a real world environment. A few weeks later, those demos were able to create a virtual tape measure.
Pandora CEO Tim Westergren has stepped down from the music streaming company, the company announced on Tuesday. Westergren will also step down from the company’s board of directors, and letting go of any and all official positions within the company that he started 17 years ago.
In the meantime, Pandora CFO Naveen Chopra will act as the interim CEO while the board looks for a new chief executive officer. Pandora also announced that Pandora president Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle would also step down.
Tim Leiweke, a Pandora board member, explained that it was Westergren’s decision to leave the company. “We support Tim’s desire to identify a new CEO for Pandora’s next stage,” Leiweke said.
In a statement, Westergren explained how Pandora is ready to take the company to the next level. “I came back to the CEO role last year to drive transformation across the business. We accomplished far more than we anticipated. We rebuilt Pandora’s relationships with the music industry; launched a fantastic Premium on-demand service, and brought a host of tech innovations to our advertising business. With these in place, plus a strengthened balance sheet, I believe Pandora is perfectly poised for its next chapter.”
It is not the second time Westergren has stepped down as the CEO of Pandora. After an early role as the CEO first launched in the early 2000s, Tim Westergren stepped down. That said, the company has launched several new products including an on-demand streaming service, and investment by Sirius XM radio.
Three CNN employees have resigned over a retracted story linking President Trump to Russia.
CNN broke the news on Monday after CNN removed the article from CNN.com on Friday. The network commented that they could no longer support the story.
On Thursday, CNN investigative reporter Thomas Frank published a story centering around an investigation into a Russian investment fund with alleged ties to several of Donald Trump associates. According to CNN, an internal investigation found that some of the company’s employees did not follow CNN’s editorial processes after the journalism team published the report. CNN reportedly used an unnamed source and stated that Congress was reportedly investigating a “Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials.”
CNN later released a statement.“Once it was determined that editorial processes were not followed, CNN deleted the story from CNN.com,” the network reported on their website on Friday. “Soon thereafter, the story was officially retracted and replaced with an editor’s note.”
November 9, 2016: CNN television screen shot of Donald Trump after he was elected the United States president. (Andy Dean Photography / Shutterstock.com)
Moreover, CNN commented that the news report “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled.”
CNN says the mistake was caused by a “breakdown in editorial workflow,” claiming that “these type of stories” do not go through the typical editorial processes, which include fact-checkers, journalism experts, and attorneys.
Ultimately, three people are out of a job including Frank, who wrote the story, Eric Lichtblau, an editor, and the person in charge of the group, Lex Haris.
Frank previously worked as a reporter for USA Today and Newsday before working with CNN. Lichtblau is a former New York Times Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter and Haris was a former executive editor of CNNMoney.
In a statement, Haris said, “On Friday, CNN retracted a story published by my team. As Executive Editor of that team, I have resigned. I’ve been with CNN since 2001, and am sure about one thing: This is a news organization that prizes accuracy and fairness above all else. I am leaving, but will carry those principles wherever I go.”
CNN’s journalism was caught under fire in the past. In 2014, CNN fired a news editor for repeated plagiarism offenses. An internal investigation found Marie-Louise Gumuchian had published nearly 50 stories containing plagiarized work. Then, in 2012, CNN Host Fareed Zakaria was suspended from both CNN and Time after admitting to plagiarizing parts of a story from the New Yorker.
According to Santa Fe County, New Mexico health officials, two new cases of the plague have been confirmed in the state.
The New Mexico Department of Health says a 62-year-old woman and a 52-year-old woman were diagnosed with he plague. The two confirmed infections are the third confirmed case this year. Earlier this month, a 63-year-old man contracted the disease. All patients infected with the illness live in Santa Fe County and were hospitalized. There have been no deaths.
Health officials are investigating the homes of the patients to make sure that there are no additional risks to those living nearby.
There are seven cases of the plague on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease can be deadly. However, it can be treated with antibiotics. That said, the earlier someone receives treatment, the better their chances.
The plague is typically transmitted to humans through bites of infected fleas. However, it can also be spread through contact with rodents or dead animals. The CDC says people can reduce their chances of contracting the disease by reducing the number of rodent animals around their homes, treating pets for fleas, and wearing bug spray in camping areas or around areas infested with fleas.
