The Women’s U.S. Soccer Team won the World Cup Final yesterday, as I’m sure you know by now, shutting down every critic who was mad at them for disrespecting Donald Trump or scoring too many goals or celebrating said goals or for having the gall to demand equal pay to the Men’s team.
In fact, as the team accepted the World Cup trophy, the crowd began chanting, “EQUAL PAY! EQUAL PAY! EQUAL PAY!”
See, the Women’s U.S. Team, they don’t get paid the same amount as the Men’s U.S. Team, even though they have won 4 World Cups, to the Men’s 0 World Cups, their games generate more revenue than the men’s, and the ratings for their World Cup final was 20% higher than the last Men’s World Cup Final. In fact, they get paid 18¢ to the dollar compared to the Men’s Team. True story. So the players on the Women’s Team, they sued the United States Soccer Federation for discrimination three months before the World Cup, knowing full well that they needed this win to hammer the final nail in their argument.
Hammer away, ladies.
Here’s the truth: Women in the workplace get pretty much nowhere until a group such as this comes along and pops some new muscle. For some reason it’s the only thing that male deciders take as proof of competence, the only thing that convinces them that women have enough cold steel in them to drive companies or serve on aircraft carriers. Every time a women’s team wins another gold medal, it helps other women enter a new space, move up to a higher suite. And when they enter that new space, they change it forever — and not just by improving the language and table manners. It “removes the lurking question of the impossibility of an ambition,” Susan Hockfield, a neuroscientist who was the first woman to serve as president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, once said. To borrow a phrase from Condoleezza Rice, they make “the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect.” That’s power.
A victory such as this does something much bigger than just hand a few women a trophy. “It gives everyone permission,” Billie Jean King has said. This is the real source of the dynamism in the U.S. women’s soccer tradition — and it is a tradition now. The U.S. squad has always played with the consciousness that it was about other women and not just the team. The great Mia Hamm-led ’99ers, who really built this city, explicitly passed that message to the younger players, and it’s why the program has such an infinite capacity for rejuvenation no matter how the cast changes, with four Olympic gold medals and four World Cups now, and no sign of its ambition flagging.
Icons, all of them.
But before we move on, can we just pause and relive the moment when following the win, Fox News broadcast from a sports bar in France and a chant of “FUCK TRUMP!” broke out?
Delicious.
President DVR had another Twitter meltdown yesterday and the subject of his ire was ~checks notes~ Fox News?
I mean, to be fair, he was also mad at: The New York Times, Brian Williams (for some reason), CNN, MSNBC, NBC and Donna Brazile, because sundowning President ADHD can’t focus on any one point for more than a few seconds.
So why was he upset at Fox News? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But Matthew Gertz of Media Matters spends his days comparing President Senile Grandpa’s tweets to what is on the cable news channels at a given time, and he thinks he was angry at Fox News for doing a segment on the abysmal conditions at the migrant detention center in Clint, TX, which The New York Times reported on.
Also, somewhat hilariously, Gertz pointed out that Donna Brazile hasn’t been on Fox News in a week.
So, good for you, Fox News? For reporting on a real story? IT FEELS REALLY STRANGE TO SAY THAT.
CNN will be hosting the next round of Democratic Presidential debates, and they will host a live draw to determine how the crowd of candidates is split up. Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, and Don Lemon will be the moderators.
Apparently, when you googled “bad writers,” “Benioff and Weiss” was the first term to come up thanks to a bunch of Reddit trolls.
Have you watched Stranger Things yet? If so, feel free to click this link about how you can really call the phone number in episode six. If not, skip this until you have. Also, Robin? She’s Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman’s daughter, which I, for one, did not know.
Lee Daniels is now saying that there will be a Star TV movie to tie up loose ends for the canceled series.
Even Robert Kirkman is saying that there’s just not that much more story to tell for The Walking Dead. I just don’t see the original series surviving more than two or three more seasons, frankly. Those upcoming movies starring Andrew Lincoln suggest an endgame to me.
In which Vanilla Ice and I finally have something in common.
The Simpsons as a Russian Art Film.
Get better soon, Stevie Wonder!
#MeToo
Epstein had previously been convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution back in 2008 — a ludicrously lenient charge considering there were some 36 young girls he was accused of sexually trafficking, assaulting and abusing over the years. After cutting a deal with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida at the time, Alexander Acosta (who happens to be the current Labor Secretary in the Trump Administration), Epstein only served 13 months in “custody with work release” which meant — and I am not kidding — he spent 16 hours a day, 6 days a week, outside of prison. What makes the Epstein situation particularly interesting is that in 2006 a lawsuit, it was alleged that Epstein had installed cameras on his property so as to record prominent people having sex with underage girls to use as a blackmail material — and Epstein, he knew some prominent people, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.
ANYWAY. What makes his recent arrest particularly curious is that the SDNY’s Public Corruption Unit is leading the case, which is not typically the unit brought in on sex trafficking cases. And what I’m saying is that there is probably a Labor Secretary feeling a little nervous this morning.
Also, and this can not be stressed enough, the reason Epstein is finally being held accountable for these horrific crimes is because Julie K. Brown of The Miami Herald wrote a devastating and powerful three-part investigation into Epstein’s crimes and his curious terms of his deal with Alexander Acosta back in November, turning a bright spotlight on an outrageous and infuriating story. Support newspapers, people, they’re holding power accountable in a time when we need it the most.
Terry Crews spoke at the Essence Festival where he thanked the women of the #MeToo movement for inspiring him to speak out. He added: “One thing that people don’t understand about the #MeToo movement is that people think that people come forward to get money, people come forward to get fame. The deal is you only get paid for silence. It’s so important to understand that when people are telling the truth, it’s a way of setting free a whole nation of people who have been suffering.”
Kevin Spacey was questioned about sexual assault allegations by Scotland Yard back in May. He was not arrested, but the investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, the man accusing Spacey in Nantucket has dropped his civil lawsuit against the actor, but the criminal case is ongoing.
SAG-AFTRA has censured and fined actor Kip Pardue $6,000 for harassing one of his fellow actresses on the set of the series Mogulettes.
Mark Your Calendar
- Black Lady Sketch Show will debut on HBO on August 2.
- Power will return on Starz for its sixth and final season on August 25.
- gen:LOCK will debut on Adult Swim on August 2.
- Cannon Busters will debut on Netflix on August 15.
R.I.P.
Cameron Boyce, Disney star of Jessie and Descendants.
Robert Bradford, TV Producer
Paul Benjamin, Actor in a number of films and TV shows, including Do the Right Thing, and ER
Martin Charmin, Creator of the Broadway musical Annie
João Gilberto, Musician and creator of the Bossa Nova
WATCH THIS
The Bachelorette: The dreaded hometowns. Hey, quick question: WHY IS LUKE STILL HERE? 7 p.m., ABC
Scream: The TV Series: Scream, but with a little dash of The Breakfast Club for an extra bit of meta-ness. Series premiere. 8 p.m., MTV
Chasing the Moon: American Experience: A three-part history of America’s race to the moon ahead of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Series premiere. 8 p.m., PBS
Late Night:
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Tracy Morgan, Patrick Mahomes II, Gwen Stefani, Megan Thee Stallion
- Conan: Kevin Bacon
- Watch What Happens Live: Joao Franco, Colin Macy-O’Toole
| MON. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | The Bachelorette (new) |
Grand Hotel (new) |
| CBS | The Neighborhood (repeat) |
The Neighborhood (repeat) |
The Code (repeat) |
Bull (repeat) |
| CW | Penn & Teller: Fool Us (new) |
Whose Line is it Anyway? (new) |
Whose Line is it Anyway? (repeat) |
Local |
| FOX | Beat Shazam (new) |
So You Think You Can Dance (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | American Ninja Warrior (new) |
Dateline (new) |