Hello, greetings, and good afternoon!
I hope you enjoy this latest weekly round-up of news events we have curated. Outside of this list, the top news this week, for me at least, is the hotting up of the EU referendum debate. The voting application website went down 30 minutes before it was due to close. This in turn led to the deadline being extended by 48 hours, upsetting Brexiters, who have said this could result in a legal challenge should the results of the referendum be close. There has also been many EU debates, but my concern is that voter apathy will set in before the day - which, by the way, is the 23rd June. Check the bottom of this article for more information, and links to our EU guide!
Enjoy your weekend!
Tom
Muhammad Ali has died, aged 74
Legendary olympic and professional boxer Muhammad Ali died this week, aged 74. The boxer and activist was admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on June 2, and died the next day from septic shock. Ali was arguably the most celebrated boxing athlete, but he was also well known activist - publicly making a stand against the Vietnam war. He refused to go to war as a result of his Muslim faith, and was consequently arrested. This went through the Court of Appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court, where the ruling was finally overturned. In the years before his death, Ali had planned his own wedding, which also happened this week. It is a two day Muslim prayer service, and is being held in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky. More than 14,000 people have tickets to attend the event, which is being held at the site of his last fight in 1961.
Hillary Clinton presumed Democratic Presidential Nominee to face Donald Drumpf for US Presidency
It would seem like the Bern factor has faded, as Hillary Clinton wins California, thus making her the likely nominee for the the Democratic presidential race. As it currently stands, she has 2,203 pledged delegates, and the threshold to pass for nomination is 2,383. In addition to pledged delegates, she also has the support of 577 super-delegates, which would comfortably put her over. However, the super-delegates do not officially cast their vote until the party convention in July. Obama came out on Thursday to officially endorse Clinton, saying "I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office… I'm with her." Clinton also got a slam dunk against Drumpf on Twitter in response to his criticism, simply telling him to "delete [his] account". The democrats are now rallied behind Clinton to try and stop Drumpf.
Source: The Guardian
Buzzfeed ends ad deal with republicans over Drumpf
Speaking of Drumpf, Buzzfeed has ended an ad deal with the Republican National Committee because of Drumpf, which was reportedly valued at $1.3million.
CEO Jonah Peretti said Drumpf is "directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world." It is usually the case that media organisations look forward to election campaigns for the huge amount of ad money spent by the candidates, so it is interesting that Buzzfeed is making the decision to rule that out. From a journalism point of view, I'm interested to know whether or not this will affect their editorial judgement when it comes to the election.
Source: The Verge
Ed Sheeran is being sued for $20 million for copyright infringement
He is being sued based on the evident similarities between his hit 'Photograph' from his Grammy-winning album, ×, and the song 'Amazing' written in 2009, which was later recorded and released by X Factor winner, Matt Cardle. He, simply as the performer, isn't involved in the lawsuit. The writers Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard say the similarities are 'instantly recognisable'. Photograph has, obviously, been phenomenally more successful than Amazing despite the similarities. This comes just a year after Sam Smith settled a case around the similarities between his biggest hit, Stay With Me, and I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty. In that case, Petty was awarded vast royalties of the Sam Smith song. As successful as Sheeran has been in his short career, $20 million will be a big blow to his fortunes!
Source: BBC Newsbeat
Peaky Blinders third season finishes - highest season ratings yet
This comes two weeks after the BBC ordered two more series of the vastly popular Brummie period drama. This week, I caught up with the previous two series of the Cillian Murphy-headed drama and I will jump on the bandwagon and tell you all how exceptional it is. Despite the low BBC Two viewing figures and criminal overlook at BAFTA, news of two more series excites its international audience. The first episode of the new series is rated as the best first episode of any TV series in 2016 and the programme hailed as one of the greatest TV series in history on IMDb. Despite this, the series has had shameful viewing figures of only between 2-3 million per episode - once garnering fewer viewers than the same day's Bargain Hunt repeat on BBC One. It has also never won a single competitive television award but has garnered a vast audience in America following its release on Netflix US.
James Corden's latest Carpool Karaoke features Broadway stars
James Corden is on top of the world's late night talk shows with The Late Late Show. Lin-Manuel Miranda is on top of the world's stage with his musical, Hamilton. The two Broadway firebrands together with fellow Broadway stars make perhaps the most electric and certainly the most theatrical Carpool Karaoke yet. Audra McDonald (currently performing in Shuffle Along), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (famous for Modern Family and currently performing in Fully Committed) and Jane Krakowski (famous for 30 Rock and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and currently performing in She Loves Me) join the other two in a special Carpool Karaoke in the run up to next week's Tony Awards, hosted by Corden himself. The hugely talented bunch belt out some massive Broadway hits, ending with a very impressive rendition of One Day More - the final song from Les Miserables.
Source: YouTube/The Late Late Show with James Corden
Tom Hiddleston denies his consideration as the next James Bond
James Bond is still hot news. The previous frontrunner, Tom Hiddleston, has told audiences at Wizard World in Philadelphia that "I'm sorry to disappoint you everybody. I don't think that announcement is coming." This comes days after news that Susanne Bier, his director on The Night Manager which served to raise his stakes of becoming 007, is shortlisted to take over from the also departing Sam Mendes to direct. After repeatedly downplaying the rumours, it seems that this signifies Hiddleston's departure from the talks to take over from Daniel Craig. In fairness, at the point of each James Bond actor taking up the role, their profiles have always been of middling success. Based on this, Hollywood stars Hiddleston, Elba and Lewis, and indeed Gillian Anderson are likely out of the race. I'd be glad to see Aiden Turner or Jamie Bell take it on.
Source: Just Jared
JK Rowling defends Noma Dumezweni's casting as Hermione against online attacks
"With my experience of social media, I thought that idiots were going to idiot," said Rowling "Noma was chosen because she was the best actress for the job." In an interview with The Guardian, writers and director, Rowling, Jack Thorne ( The Last Panthers), and John Tiffany spoke about the grief they had received when Dumezweni's casting as the adult Hermione was announced. Speaking to the New York Times, Dumezweni says that she manages to cope in the face of racist backlash by hearing messages from mothers with mixed-race daughters expressing how much it means that she's playing this role.
Source: The Guardian
Upcoming 'X-Men: Apocalypse' film poster accused of trivialising violence against women.
Exec #1: This is a great poster!
Exec #2: I agree! It's not problematic at all! pic.twitter.com/roRDiTIeml
— Sasha (@ThatSashaJames) May 24, 2016
There was a lot wrong with X-Men: Apocalypse. The plot was weak, the script was clunky, the graphics were poor, the acting was mediocre and they ruined the classic look of Apocalypse. As you might note, I wasn't a fan. But it wasn't just the on screen content that was poorly thought through, the marketing also dropped the ball with one of their poster designs, which has been accused of trivialising violence against women. As you can see in the poster above, the image has Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) grabbing Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) by the throat. Rose McGowan was among the voices of criticism, and Fox have subsequently apologised for their insensitivity.
Source: NME
Justice League film named, and JK Simmons images released
Fans who were worried that the DC Justice League film will have a long convoluted name - like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - need not worry. The next film will simply be called Justice League. Creative? No, but it does convey quickly what the film is about, I guess. The more interesting piece of 'news' this week is that JK Simmons, who was cast as Commissioner Gordon, has been sharing some pictures of his workout preparation for the film, and he is RIPPED. For a 61 year-old he is looking huge. We don't yet know what Simmons will be doing on film that necessitates such a beefcake version of Jim Gordon, but he is obviously taking it seriously! Certainly nowhere near Batfleck's level of hench but still… damn!
Photo: Aaron Williamson
Top Gear ratings drop by a third in its second week
After what some would consider to be a mediocre start last week, all eyes were on this week's episode to see whether or not it would improve. Or rather, all eyes weren't on the screen. More than a third fewer people watched the renewed Top Gear on Sunday compared to the week prior, peaking at 3.3million with an average of 2.8million. To compare, the first episode in the new series starring Radio DJ Chris Evans and Friends star Matt LeBlanc got 4.4million, which amounted to 23% of TV viewing share. Once iPlayer numbers were accounted for, the first episode hit 9million views. The iPlayer figures are not out for this week yet. Altogether, not a great week for BBC Two ratings.
Big Brother launch a total flop
Apparently Big Brother is still a thing? I didn't know until I heard that this year's launch has been a huge flop. It's reported its launch night has had the lowest viewing figures ever, and viewers are apparently calling for it to be cancelled. This is despite many changes being introduced, including a redesign, and the introduction of 'The Others'. It received a mere 1.5m viewers, They apparently have a disappointing lineup - including a former BBC reporter, an X-Factor reject, and the chef of a celebrity son. Is it time to put the series to bed? Do you watch Big Brother? Let us know in the comments!
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Learn about the EU in preparation for the vote
See, persevere and it all goes away. No longer shall I pester you about registering to vote. No, instead it is now all going to be about encouraging you to read up on the EU, and Britain's involvement in the EU, so you can make an informed decision when it comes to the 23rd June. We made a handy unbiased guide to the EU, how it works, and the arguments for leaving and staying. Check it out, and do plenty of reading around the subject. If you want my personal opinion, feel free to tweet me @tominniss - I'll be happy to hash out an argument with you.
Header image:ross6606
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