Welcome to Laugh Through The Payne. I was going to replace this week’s newsletter with a music video remix of Timber by Pitbull and Ke$ha about Confederate statues being torn down, but opted for the more traditional route instead. If you feel I should have made the music video instead, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Let’s get to it.
What the Hell Happened This Week?
As education and conversation regarding the Black Lives Matter movement carried on this week, a surprising voice stood out against racism as NASCAR banned Confederate flags and allowed its lone black driver, Bubba Wallace, to race in a BLM-themed car. Unsurprisingly, Wallace’s car wasn't the only thing making laps this week, as conversations with NASCAR fans regarding these “progressive” ideas seem to be going in circles too.
The future of gaming was announced on Thursday as Sony held a virtual unveiling of its next console, the PlayStation 5. The presentation ended up being quite sloppy, as much of it was thrown out and redone over the last week due to fears that the “Out with the black, in with the white” campaign wasn’t going to be received the way they intended.
The fight against systemic racism is going on across every street in the nation right now, not excluding Sesame Street, as CNN co-hosted a town hall with the characters to discuss racial issues in the US. The program was received with rave reviews by parents and kids alike, but ruffled some feathers in the children’s television industry as some of the Muppets were reportedly upset about a rant where Elmo called the cops pigs.
Speaking of racism, Donald Trump is still our president, and he was back at it on Twitter this week praising his own performance and touting that crime is the lowest it’s ever been thus far in 2020, seemingly ignoring that there’s been a pandemic that has had people trapped inside. But hey, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised, since pretending Coronavirus isn’t an issue is legally what you have to do to attend one of Trump’s rallies in June.
Across the nation this week, protesters began aiming their frustration at the existence of statues of Confederate leaders who were known for having and fighting for racist beliefs. Many southern Republicans were quick to push back on taking down these statues, citing that it’s foolish to ignore history. “You can’t forget where you came from” is a really powerful sentiment, that’s why I’m confident the Republican party will be just as loud in their defense of their last presidential nominee.
The statue issues aren’t limited to the South, as a statue of Christopher Columbus has been a hot topic in New York all week. Governor Andrew Cuomo said that he feels the statue should remain standing as it serves as a reminder of the Italian legacy on New York City. I couldn’t agree with the Governor more, if it wasn’t for a statue of Christopher Columbus, I’m not sure how we’d ever know that Italians had any cultural impact on New York City.
While on a company Zoom call this week, Crossfit CEO Greg Glassman told the group that he and his staff aren’t mourning the death of George Floyd in any way. Glassman understandably took a great deal of heat for his comments, but it should come as no surprise to any of us - if we know anything about people that do Crossfit it’s that they have absolutely no idea when to shut up.
With college football season fast approaching, the president at Ole Miss announced that he fully anticipates having full attendance for every game this fall. The school doesn’t plan to take any extra precautions with regard to Covid-19, but does plan to have a ticker on the scoreboard that pays tribute to all the ole misses and misters who died from catching the virus at a game.
The New York City Health Department released a set of guidelines on Thursday that aim to encourage citizens to have safe sexual interactions as the city reopens. The guidelines call for taking temperatures before hooking up, using protective barriers, avoiding kissing, and other drastic measures that would seem to take a lot of the romance out of sexual encounters. But hey, look on the bright side New Yorkers, safety and sexual interactions don’t have to be mutually exclusive - that’s why rectal thermometers were invented.
That’s all for this week. Again, my apologies to those who were expecting the Timber music video. Same time next week.
Send any questions, comments, or general affection to laughthroughthepayne@gmail.com