I'm posting this in honor of International Women's Day Mar. 8.
Jun. 26, 2022 "Janelle Monáe, Taraji P. Henson, Jazmine Sullivan speak out during politically charged BET Awards: 'F*** you, Supreme Court'": Today I found this article by Lyndsey Parker on Yahoo news:
The 2022 BET Awards took place Sunday, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and rolled back reproductive rights — while simultaneously expanding gun rights in another controversial landmark decision.
So, as the emotionally fraught weekend came to an end, many of the award show’s celebrity presenters, performers, and honorees understandably used their time onstage at L.A.’s Microsoft Theater to voice their outrage and dissent.
Host Taraji P. Henson set the tone for evening, thanking Lizzo — who had opened the show with “About Damn Time” — for pledging $500,000 from her upcoming tour to Planned Parenthood (with Live Nation matching that amount).
“You are damn right: It's about damn time we step into our power,” declared Henson. “It is about time we talk about the fact that guns have more rights than a woman. It's a sad day in America. … A weapon that can take lives has more power than a woman who can give life, if she chooses to.”
However, no BET Awards participant expressed her anger as boldly as the ceremony’s first presenter, Janelle Monáe. After wishing the audience a happy Black Music Month and happy Pride Month, and shouting out “all the gays in the house,” she stated: "These artists making art on our own terms, owning our truth and expressing ourselves freely and unapologetically in a world that tries to control, and police our bodies, mind-body, our decisions, my decision.” She then blurted, “F*** you, Supreme Court”; her F-bomb was censored by BET during the live broadcast, but her middle-finger gesture was clearly shown, so there was no misunderstanding her message — which, judging by the thunderous applause inside the Microsoft Theater, was well-received.
Such sentiments were echoed throughout the three-hour ceremony. When accepting her award for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist from Monáe, Jazmine Sullivan proclaimed,
“As always, I do this for the women — for my sisters, especially. It's a hard time right now for us. I want to speak directly to the men: We need you all. We need y'all to stand up.
Stand up for us. Stand up with us. If you have ever benefited from a woman making one of the toughest decisions of her life, to terminate a pregnancy, you need to be standing with us. This is not just a woman's issue. This is everybody's issue. We need your support more than ever.”
Minutes later, Best New Artist winner Latto tearily spoke out about “a man policing my body” during her own acceptance speech.
Towards the end of the night, the cast of the BET dramedy series Sistas also stated, “In light of the recent reversal of Roe v. Wade and political events affecting our nation, it's time for sistas across the world to join hands and lift our voices. Hit those voting booths. We cannot afford to be silent — not now. The power to make these decisions belongs to us.”
However, the most powerful and haunting moment of the telecast was the In Memoriam segment, with the first casualty in the montage being “Roe v. Wade.” The tribute then listed various celebrities lost over the past year, including Sidney Poitier, Biz Markie, Michael K. Williams, Andre Leon Talley, and Traci Braxton, but was then jarringly interrupted by ringing gunshots, as hundreds of blurred names scrolled on the screen “in memory of all lives lost due to gun violence.”
The evening had its lighter and more celebratory moments, of course, although the most joyous performance was also a social statement. As Billy Porter took the stage at a time when many fear that LGBTQ+ rights will also soon come under attack by the Supreme Court, Porter's tribute to ball culture — set to Crystal Waters’s club classic “100% Pure Love” and featuring dancers Dashaun Wesley, Shannon Balenciaga, Dominique Jackson, Shaun Ross, and Kevin Prodigy — was nothing less than a Pride Month spectacular. “The category is culture's biggest night!” the Pose star, two-time Tony Winner, and activist roared. “We are here, we are queer — get used to it, darling!”
Jun. 30, 2022 "Stranger Things star "wouldn't exist" if mum Uma Thurman didn't have access to abortion": Today I found this article by Jade Biggs on Yahoo news:
Stranger Things star Maya Hawke has spoken out about the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade, revealing that she "wouldn't exist" if her mum, Uma Thurman, didn't have an abortion as a teen.
Speaking on The Tonight Show, 23-year-old Maya told host Jimmy Fallon that she'd had an honest chat with her actor mother Uma (best known for Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction) about the change in access to abortion that's occurred in the US over the past week.
"I called my mom to ask for advice today about coming in to talk to you," she said, referencing an op-ed that Uma wrote last year for the Washington Post in which she revealed she had an abortion as a teenager after being "accidentally impregnated by a much older man."
Going into detail about the chat she had with her mum, Maya added: "We just got into talking about the Supreme Court ruling and this essay that my mom wrote a couple months ago when they were putting these further restrictions on abortion access, sort of preceding this whole thing."
She continued, "If she hadn't had it [the abortion], she wouldn't have become the person that she had become, and I wouldn't exist. Both of my parents' lives would have been derailed if she hadn't have had access to safe and legal healthcare — fundamental healthcare."
Talking about the implications that the overturning of Roe v Wade will have, Maya pointed out that, "wealthy people will always be able to get abortions, but so many people, because of this ruling, will not only not be able to pursue their dreams, but actually lose their lives and be unsafe."
Her comments echo that of mum Uma, who revealed that – despite being the "hardest decision" of her life – she would not have the life she has now if she'd been unable to access safe abortion, something which millions of people in the US currently face.
"[It] caused me anguish then and that saddens me even now, but it was the path to the life full of joy and love that I have experienced," she wrote. "Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be."
In a final message on Roe v Wade being overturned, Maya said to Jimmy: "So I just wanted to say, f**k the Supreme Court. But we're going to keep fighting it, and we're going to win, like our grandmothers did."
Stranger Things star "wouldn't exist" if mum Uma Thurman didn't have access to abortion (yahoo.com)
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