The 40-year-old Puerto Rican star and Hamilton creator has weighed in on John Bolton’s lift of a lyric from his Tony Award-winning musical for use as the title of his memoir The Room Where It Happened.
Since the former national security adviser announced the title last year, Hamiltonfans have taken notice of the reference to the musical’s song “The Room Where It Happens.”
Earlier this year, the show’s producer, Jeffrey Seller, told a California newspaper, “I don’t even know how to describe it; it’s just strange.”
And now Miranda has just chimed it… by adding a lyric to another Hamilton number, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.”
He tweeted – with the additions in brackets – today:
Let me tell you what I wish I’d known When I was young and dreamed of glory You have no control Who lives, who dies, who [borrows your song title to write a cash-in book when they could have testified before Congress] tells your story…
Bolton’s book is set for release on June 23, and while his portrait of President Donald Trump is far from flattering, Miranda calls him out for not stepping up and testifying before Congress during the impeachment hearings.
Seizing the moment, Miranda provides a link in his tweet to Fair Fight, an advocate for fair elections in Georgia. Miranda’s link opens to a page that says, “Sign up to volunteer and help us build a more inclusive Georgia, where every vote is counted and every voice is heard.”
Let me tell you what I wish I’d known When I was young and dreamed of glory You have no control Who lives, who dies, who [borrows your song title to write a cash-in book when they could have testified before Congress] tells your story…https://t.co/mJlJaxGDnf
Ritchie Valensis getting a special stamp of approval…
President Donald Trump has signed a resolution renaming a Los Angeles area post office after the late rock ‘n’ roll legend, whose real name is Richard Steven Valenzuela.
The Los Angeles Daily Newsreported that Pacoima Post Office will be named the Ritchie Valens Post Office Building.
Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenasintroduced the resolution to rename the facility, along with another to rename the Van Nuys Post Officeafter Marilyn Monroe.
Valens attended San Fernando High Schooland was discovered in 1958 at the American Legionhall in Pacoima. His hits included “La Bamba,” an adaptation of a Mexican folk song. A film about his life with the same title was released in 1987.
A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens’ recording career lasted eight months and abruptly ended when he died in a plane crash at the age of 17 alongside Buddy Holly and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardsonin 1959.
The 26-year-old half-Dominican American rap superstar has teamed up with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to film a 2020 presidential campaign video meant to appeal to young voters.
“We (are) working on a way to involve more young people in the political process,” the Vermont independent toldCNNin an interview as he arrived for the shoot. “The future of America depends on young people. They are voting in large numbers, but not large enough numbers.”
He said he and Cardi B spoke about a range of issues, including canceling student debt, climate change and raising the minimum wage.
The video — filmed at the TEN Nail Bar, a local nail salon owned by two black women — is the first collaboration between the two.
After their meeting, Cardi B thanked Sanders on Instagram.
“Thank you Senator Bernie Sanders for sitting with me and sharing your plans on how you will change this country,” the rapper wrote.
She added that she asked the senator questions submitted by her fans and hinted to “stay tuned to see how he will fight for economic, racial, and social justice for all.”
Earlier this month, Cardi B was complimentary of the senator.
“I been reading about Bernie Sanders and I’m really sad how we let him down in 2016,” she tweeted. “This man been fighting for equal rights, HUMAN rights for such along time. Seeing this country become a better place been really his passion for a long time not a new front for a campaign.”
Last week, when asked about Cardi B’s support, Sanders told late night host Jimmy Kimmel he had spoken to the rapper on the phone on “several occasions.”
“She is really smart. And she is deeply concerned about what’s happening in this country,” Sanders said during an appearance on Kimmel’s show. “She wants to make sure we improve life for working people in this country, and I’m delighted that she is a supporter.”
The mutual admiration dates to April 2018, when Cardi B praised President Franklin Delano Rooseveltfor being “the real ‘Make America Great Again’ ” during a GQinterview. That statement caught the eye Sanders, who frequently refers to Roosevelt in his arguments for Democratic socialism and his single-payer “Medicare for All” plan.
“Cardi B is right,” Sanders tweeted at the time.
When asked Monday what it would mean to have Cardi B’s endorsement, Sanders said, “What it means is that, what Cardi B does is not only is she an enormously popular entertainer what she is doing is speaking to young people about the important issues that are on their minds and I applaud that very much.”
Time has released the fifth annual roundup of the 25 most influential people on the Internet, with the Cuban-American Vox journalist/vlogger and video producer making the list of the personalities who have the biggest global impact on social media.
Maza is being recognized for speaking about being harassed online, and his quest to target the policy that empowered the culprits.
For two years, Maza was the focus of videos from popular right-wing commentator Steven Crowder, who repeatedly denigrated Maza’s sexual orientation and ethnicity—actions that appeared to violate YouTube’s terms of service. But when Maza reported Crowder, he says YouTube didn’t respond. So at the end of May, Maza went public with his struggles on Twitter. His thread quickly went viral, prompting a new wave of harassment from Crowder fans—and eventually, a pseudo-apology from Crowder and a response from YouTube, which demonetized Crowder’s channel.
YouTube stopped short of banning Crowder outright, arguing initially that, while some of Crowder’s comments were hurtful, its policies were intended to protect free expression, which can include offensive opinions.
In the days that followed Maza’s Twitter thread, YouTube did reveal plans to revisit its harassment policies. But Maza isn’t optimistic about systemic change. “Harassment is really good for engagement,” he tells Time.
But Maza isn’t the only Latino to make the list…
Cardi B’s rise to stardom can be traced back to Instagram, where she now has more than 47 million followers.
As much as the 26-year-old half-Dominican American rap sensation’s life has changed since the success of “Bodak Yellow,” Cardi B’s online presence has stayed consistent—confessional videos and memes between red carpet shots, concert footage and political commentary.
In January, Cardi B made headlines for posting a video criticizing President Donald Trumpfor not funding the government, “all for a f-cking wall.” That clip went viral, and even came to the attention of Sen. Chris Murphy and Sen. Brian Schatz, who publicly debated whether they should retweet the video. In the end, the lawmakers chose not to, but the video still racked up 20 million views on Instagram.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be a junior member of the U.S. House of Representatives, but when it comes to social media aptitude, her superiority is practically unmatched.
The 29-year-old Puerto Rican politician and activist, who is simply referred to by her Twitterhandle “AOC,” has nearly 4.8 million followers on the platform, more than most members of theU.S. Congress.
In January, shortly after being sworn in as the youngest Congresswoman in U.S. history, Ocasio-Cortez co-hosted a session for her peers about social media best practices, explaining the importance of being “authentic.” And though she’s made some online missteps during her tenure on Capitol Hill— like identifying her Democratic colleague Rep. John Yarmuth as a Republican while slamming older male legislators — Ocasio-Cortez has also expertly harnessed viral tropes to draw attention to subcommittee hearings and granular policy debates that have typically been relegated to the confines of C-Span: an Instagram video of questions she asked at a hearing about cannabis in February has amassed over three million views.
Germán Garmendia is being recognized for his personality…
Since uploading his first skit to YouTubein 2011, the 29-year-old Chilean YouTuber, comedian and writer has earned more than 13 billion views, making him the world’s most popular Spanish-language YouTuber.
In his skits and over-the-top riffs, Garmendia mines humor from everyday topics; while describing how tough he is in a video about how to be sexy, for example, he noted that he only cried a little when Mufasa died in The Lion Kingand often pushes doors labeled “pull.”
Production values have risen on YouTube in the years since he got his start, but despite competition from bigger-budget operations, Garmendia’s main draw as he comments on memes, viral videos, and video games is still his personality.
As with many YouTubers, he has also provoked controversy, like when misogynistic comments he made in a 2014 gameplay video resurfaced in late 2018. But his subsequent apology was well-received, and his career hasn’t stalled: in fact, Garmendia released his first novel last year.
Caetano Veloso is speaking out about the political turmoil in his beloved Brazil…
The 76-year-old Brazilian musician and political activist has published an op-ed in the New York Times about the possible breakdown of democracy his home country is facing.
A two-time Grammy winner, Veloso gaimed acclaim through participating in the Tropicalismo artistic movement at the beginning of the military dictatorship that Brazil (the fourth-largest democracy in the world) operated under in the 1960s.
In the editorial, titled “Dark Times Are Coming for My Country,” Caetano writes about the populist right-wing conservatism influencing Brazilian politics, and claims that Brazilians “can expect a wave of fear and hatred” if projected election winner Jair Bolsonaro becomes president. The election is scheduled for Sunday, October 28.
“Like other countries around the world, Brazil is facing a threat from the far right, a storm of populist conservatism,” Caetano says. “Our new political phenomenon, Jair Bolsonaro…is a former army captain who admires Donald Trump but seems more like Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ strongman. Mr. Bolsonaro champions the unrestricted sale of firearms, proposes a presumption of self-defense if a policeman kills a “suspect” and declares that a dead son is preferable to a gay one.”
Caetano goes on to provide background information about the decline of Brazilian political life in recent years, the impact of the news media on Bolsonaro’s success, and his history of artistic activism. Caetano spent time in prison for his political beliefs, along with other artists, students, and intellectuals.
Caetano ends the piece by expressing that he was forced into exile before, but won’t see that happen a second time, saying “I want my music, my presence, to be a permanent resistance to whatever anti-democratic feature may come out of a probable Bolsonaro government.”
Netflixhas committed to finance and release The Laundromat, the Steven Soderbergh-directed drama about the Panama Papers scandal starring the 58-year-old Spanish actor.
Banderas is part of a stellar cast that includes David Schwimmer,Gary Oldman and Meryl Streep. Other cast circling include Will Forte and Riley Keough.
The film has a script by Scott Z. Burns, based on the Jake Bernstein book Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite.
Schwimmer will play Matthew Quirk, an attorney who speaks on behalf of one of the insurance companies after twenty elderly passengers die on a boating excursion. The boating company learned its insurance isn’t the large company it thought it was, but merely just a P.O. box in Nevis. Quirk would eventually kill himself after seeing no way out of the liability situation, but the incident triggers lawyers, government officials, and more to track down these shell companies. Those investigations lead to the laundering geniuses at the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, who created hundreds of thousands of ‘companies’ to help the wealthy avoid paying taxes. Reams of documents were leaked from Mossack Fonseca in April by an anonymous whistleblower that bared embarrassing details on investments and money trails from politicians the world over, meant to evade taxes.
The scandal drew in several world leaders, including former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Iceland Prime Minister Sigmunder Gunnlaugsson, the latter of whom resigned on April 5, 2016, after it was revealed he and his wife set up an offshore shell company in 2007 in the British Virgin Islands; he then sold his half of the company to his wife for $1 on the last day of 2009 to shield them from a new law that would have required him to declare his ownership as a conflict of interest. Among the swarms of famous people named in the leaked documents was current President of the United States Donald Trump— already embattled over charges his empire was built by avoiding taxes — and director Pedro Almodovar, Jackie Chan and Emma Watson.
Bernstein was part of a team of journalists who formed the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to break the Panama Papers story. The leak of data — 11 million records revealed — was the largest in corporate and government history.
The Latino actor has been cast as a new series regular on CBS’ new Murphy Brown, hailing from original creator Diane English and Warner Bros. Television.
As an inherently political comedy, the Murphy Brown revival has been expected to take on the Donald Trump presidency, and now the series will include his controversial immigration policies.
First appearing in the show’s second episode, Rocha will play Miguel, a Mexican Dreamer who came to the United States at the age of one. Now he’s a college student working at Phil’s Bar alongside Phyllis (Tyne Daly) for extra money to put toward tuition. Quick with a quip, he’s always making cracks about “The Wall” and ICE.
English previously had said that the revival would address Trump’s attacks on mainstream media and its coverage, which he brands “fake news.”
Candice Bergen is back as intrepid investigative journalist and news anchor Murphy Brown. Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto and Grant Shaud reprise their roles from the original series. Charles Kimbrough, who was the newscast anchor in the original, is set to do three episodes of the remake as a guest star. New series regulars include Daly, Jake McDormanas Murphy’s grown-up son Avery, and Nik Dodani as Pat Patel.
Rocha previously appeared on IFC’s Brockmire and Freeform’s The Fosters.
Mon Laferte is taking on the music of a legend… And it’s all for a good cause.
The 35-year-old Chilean singer-songwriter will perform at “Selena for Sanctuary,” a free concert that’s part of the summer festival Lincoln Center Out of Doors.
The concert aims to raise awareness about the dire situation of undocumented immigrant that has caused a national outcry, with the music of Selena being used to entertain and educate people about the plight of undocumented immigrants facing deportation.
“I am very excited to be part of this event,” said Laferte, a Latin Grammy winner. “I admire Selena and I grew up singing her songs. It is an honor for me to be able to sing her songs and to support this initiative with a subject like migration, which concerns us all.”
The show will also feature singers Gaby Moreno, Cuco and Nina Diaz, as well as special guest appearances by guitarist Chris Perez, Selena’s widower; Omar Apollo, and August Eve.
Created by Doris Munoz, daughter of undocumented immigrants, “Selena for Sanctuary” pays tribute to the most successful artist in Latin music while fighting for a cause. It arrives at the outdoor stage of the prestigious Lincoln Centerafter having smaller editions in South California.
“This event started as a simple idea and call to action after the current administration threatened our community’s sanctuary cities which affected my working-class undocumented parents,” Munoz said, referring to the policies of President Donald Trump.
She added: “It only feels necessary to leverage the platform we have been blessed with to help our community in need. This event is as personal as it gets, there are millions of families like my own and if this inspires at least one person to get involved we’ve done our job.”
More than two decades after her passing, Selena Quintanilla still inspires fans and musicians alike.
“We know Selena is a Tejano music icon and a legend, but beyond that, she represents the Latin American people as someone who fought for her dreams, overcoming many difficulties, always defending tooth and nail the Latino roots she carried inside,” Moreno said in an email.
Selena broke barriers for women in Latin music and opened the floodgates for a new generation of contemporary artists of Latin descent who would go on to enjoy huge popularity with mainstream American audiences.
She was fatally shot by her fan club’s president at 23. She has sold more than 65 million units worldwide, making her the best-selling female artist in Latin music history.
To Cuco, the late Tejano star launched a new era of representation for people of color in the industry.
“This event is important to me because it paves a way for people that went through the same struggle that my parents went through,” said the Mexican-American singer.
Lila Downs is shining a lantern on migrant and refugee rights…
The 49-year-old Mexican singer has been added to the list of artists who will take part in The Lantern Tour: Concerts for Migrant and Refugee Families.
Downs, a Grammy-winning singer, joins a roster that includes Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Steve Earle.
Proceeds will go to the Women’s Refugee Commission in support of families seeking safety at the United States-Mexico border.
The five-date tour begins at Nashville’s City Winery on October 23 and concludes at New York’s Town Hall on October 28.
Other dates include the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. on October 25; the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, New Jersey, on October 26; and Boston’s Orpheum Theater on October 27.
“The Women’s Refugee Commission has been on the front lines in advocating for the safety of women and children,” said Harris in a statement. “Their work is as remarkable as it is critical, especially right now. It is my honor to partner with this incredible organization and to bring my friends along for what I know will be a powerful tour.”
Founded in 1989, the WRC advocates for the rights of women, children and youth displaced by conflict and crisis. The organization has been on the forefront fighting President Donald Trump’s Zero Tolerance policy on the Mexican/U.S. border that has resulted in children being separated from their parents coming over the border.
Funds toward the concerts will go toward ending family separation and detention.
The 53-year-old Colombian actor/comedian is set to star in Ava DuVernay’s Netflix limited series Central Park Five.
Leguizamo joins a cast for the four-part dramathat includes Michael K. Williams and Vera Farmiga.
The limited series sprawls from 1989 when five Harlem teens were incorrectly convicted first in the media and then twice in the courts for the brutal rape of a jogger in the NYC park to 2014 when Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise saw their names finally cleared.
Having been vilified by the likes of Donald Trump back in the late 80s and forced to spend years in jail each, the five sued New York City and settled for just over $40 million about four years ago. Before you take another breath, take into account that sum that works out to around $1 million for every year they collectively spent tossed behind bars for a terrible crime they never committed
Emmy winner, recent Special Tony Award winner and Bloodline star Leguizamo has signed on as Raymond Santana Sr., father of another one of the falsely accused boys of color.
Currently in pre-production in NYC and with principal photography starting in early August, Central Park Five also reunites its creator DuVernay for the fifth time with Selma cinematographer Bradford Young, who recently shot Solo: A Star Wars Story.Working with writers Robin Swicord, Attica Locke and Michael Starrbury, DuVernay co-penned each episode of the series.
The Queen Sugar EP and ARRAY founder is directing every episode of the timely drama.
