Table of Contents
Christian Toto
Conservatives are cheering the Bud Light blowback and the success of Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” and “Sound of Freedom.”
The three pop culture “victories” suggest woke is on the run. Not so fast.
The last few days have seen a woke resurgence, proving once more that the corrosive, freedom-snuffing movement isn’t fading away.
It might be betting stronger.
Singer/songwriter Ne-Yo kicked woke’s third rail – transgender ideology – in a video interview uploaded to YouTube over the weekend.
“I just personally come from an era where a man was a man and a woman was a woman … and there was two genders, and that’s just how I rocked. You could identify as a goldfish if you feel like, I don’t care. That ain’t my business. It becomes my business when you try to make me play the game with you. I’m not gonna call you a goldfish. But if you wanna be a goldfish, you go be a goldfish. We live in a weird time, man. We do…”
“I feel like parents have almost forgotten what the role of a parent is. If your little boy comes to you and says, ‘Daddy, I want to be a girl.’ And you just let him rock with that? He’s 5 … If you let this 5-year-old boy decide to eat candy all day, he’s gonna do that. When did it become a good idea to let a 5-year-old, let a 6-year-old, let a 12-year-old make a life-changing decision for themself? When did that happen? I don’t understand. He can’t drive a car yet, but he can decide his sex?”
The comments caught fire, where else, on social media. The musician quickly backpedaled in a way that will sound familiar to anyone who observes the woke culture.
“After much reflection, I’d like to express my deepest apologies to anyone that I may have hurt with my comments on parenting and gender identity … I’ve always been an advocate for love and inclusivity in the LGBTQI+ community, so I understand how my comments could’ve been interpreted as insensitive and offensive … Gender identity is nuanced and I can honestly admit that I plan to better educate myself on the topic, so I can approach future conversations with more empathy.”
The only thing missing from the apology script? His vow to be an “ally” moving forward.
Recovering superstar Jamie Foxx also ran afoul of the woke mob with a curious post. The vague message got interpreted by some as being anti-Semitic even though Foxx has no history of sharing similar, ugly thoughts.
“They killed this dude name Jesus…what do you think they’ll do to you???! #fakefriends #fakelove.”
The woke mob assumed the worst, which it often does. So the Oscar winner, who recently suffered a mysterious medical condition, rushed to social media to share his apology.
“I want to apologize to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended by my post. I now know my choice of words have caused offense and I’m sorry. That was never my intent. To clarify, I was betrayed by a fake friend and that’s what I meant with ‘they’ not anything more. I only have love in my heart for everyone. I love and support the Jewish community.”
“Sherlock” star Amanda Abbington caught social media flack for previous “problematic” thoughts. She shared the following on Facebook in 2020. “You cannot have a penis and want to be referred to as a woman.”
She also criticized a drag artist for performing a sexualized routine in front of a child.
For that the mob rallied against both her and her invitation to appear on the show “Strictly Come Dancing.” She deleted her Twitter account but shared her apology on Instagram, calling her previous comments both “stupid” and “ill-informed.”
“I did my research and I’m much more informed now,” she added.
The Queen of Canceled Artists also got yet another punishment for her thought crimes, even though she hasn’t said anything on the subject of late.
That’s J.K. Rowling, of course.
The “Harry Potter” author doesn’t hate trans people. She expresses love and respect for the trans community. She still doesn’t adhere to every aspect of the trans community’s agenda and has been rigorously canceled ever since.
She’s even had her life threatened for her views. Rowling refuses to backpedal, which means the cancellations continue.
The latest?
The Seattle-based Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) erased the author’s name in its Harry Potter exhibit. Who created the beloved figure and his imaginative realm? This museum pretends it’s a mystery.
MoPop project manager Chris Moore said in a nasty post that he would “love to go with the internet’s theory that these books were actually written without an author.”
“For the time being, the curators decided to remove any of her artifacts from this gallery to reduce her impact,” Moore wrote, suggesting even more draconian measures are in the works.
“It’s not a perfect solution,” Moore said. “But it’s what we were able to do in the short-term while determining long-term practices.”
And then there’s Dwayne Johnson. He’s arguably Hollywood’s most popular, bankable star, but his 2022 film “Black Adam” didn’t generate as much cash as top-tier superhero movies. The film made just $168 million stateside and another $225 million from international theaters.
That crushed plans for a sequel, let alone a new film franchise.
He’s still smarting from the defeat, blaming the studio’s changing leadership for the lack of a sequel. He also played to the woke mindset in his comments regarding the film’s failure.
“You’re establishing a new superhero and you want to grow out the franchise. You bring back Superman and Henry Cavill – the world went crazy. … We created a diverse superhero portfolio, where we have just men and women of color in Black Adam 2 as well.”
Johnson isn’t dumb. He knows he can generate some sympathy for his wannabe franchise by playing the Identity Politics card.
It likely won’t work.
Hollywood is suffering due to the dueling strikes, the Biden economy and the changing tech landscape. The “Black Adam” franchise can be as diverse as possible, but if it can’t guarantee to top at least $200 million domestically you won’t see a sequel anytime soon.
Maybe he should hire Jason Aldean to sing on his next movie project?
UPDATE: Ne-Yo shared a new message on social media suggesting he didn’t want to apologize in the fashion he did, but his publicist shared thoughts on his behalf. That apologetic Tweet remains up at his X page, however.
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