BAFTAs: Joaquin Phoenix Delivers Powerful Speech About ...
Round 1Kobe Bryant Was a TV Star With a Complex Media LegacyBy?DANIEL HOLLOWAY?Executive Editor, TV@ Lazarus was an executive at Turner Broadcasting in the 1990s when the company was the NBA’s sole national cable-TV partner. As such, he had a front-row seat for the hand wringing that occurred when Michael Jordan abruptly left pro basketball in 1993.“There was a ratings hit,” says Lazarus, who became president of Turner Sports in 1998 and now serves as chairman, NBCUniversal broadcast, entertainment and lifestyle group, sports and news. Jordan was the undisputed face of the league and its top attraction. “Who was going to take that mantle? Who was going to be the next guy up?”Jordan would return to the game in 1994, then retire again, then un-retire again, then retire again. All the while the succession question loomed.?Kobe Bryant, who joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996 — when he was 17 years old and the Chicago Bulls began their fifth of six championship runs with Jordan — wasn’t an obvious heir apparent at first.“It was not completely predictable when Kobe got drafted in the middle of the first round out of high school,” said Lazarus. “It was so odd that a guy would come straight out of high school at that time. But when he came into the league and found early success,” Lazarus added, two things became clear. “One, that he was an incredible talent. Two, that he was on a great team in a great market that was really good for the NBA and good for television audiences. He became one of the main shining stars for the next 15 to 18 years.”Bryant died Sunday at the age of 41 in a helicopter accident that killed eight other people, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. One of the greatest players in NBA history, his legacy was complicated by a sexual-assault allegation at the height of his career, when he was 24. But Bryant remained a major media figure who helped the NBA grow in the critical post-Jordan era.With Bryant and fellow star Shaquille O’Neal, the Lakers won three straight NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. After O’Neal departed, the Bryant-led Lakers would go on to win two more rings in 2009 and 2010.During that period, no player was more important to the NBA or its television partners.“He was every bit the equal to Michael [Jordan] and LeBron [James],” Lazarus said. “In his era, that period of time from, say, post-Jordan til ’10, he was the main guy who got marketed.”When Lazarus was at Turner, the company would, every season, broadcast the maximum number of Lakers games possible.“You could put them on against other marquee teams and have blockbuster ratings, or you could put them on against less attractive teams and they still drew a big national audience,” Lazarus said. “They were a major draw — the whole Lakers aura, but the Shaq-Kobe piece was especially exciting.”At the time, the league needed a major draw. The NBA had grown astronomically in the Jordan era. (When real-estate investor Jerry Reinsdorf bought 56% of the Bulls in 1985, a year after Jordan joined the team, he paid $9.2 million. At the time of Jordan’s second retirement in 1998, the franchise was valued at more than $200 million.) Driven by ever-increasing television rights fees, the league has thrived in the decades since. But continued upward momentum was not a given.“Even post-Jordan, people were still skeptical that the NBA was ever going to be a product that would rival the popularity of the NFL, but that certainly has happened,” said Windy Dees, a sports-administration professor at the University of Miami. In the 2017-18 season, the NBA topped $1 billion in corporate-sponsorship revenue for the first time — and in 2016 it became the first league to pass one billion social media followers. The league’s current national television contract with Turner and ESPN pays it a reported $2.66 billion a year.“I don’t think people knew for sure that that kind of growth was going to happen,” Dees said. The only person, she adds, who likely did know was David Stern, who was commissioner of the NBA from 1984 to 2014 and died earlier this month. “It’s sad to think that he and Kobe were lost so close together, because the two of them combined were instrumental in the league’s growth revenue-wise and popularity-wise.”Bryant was by any measure a star attraction. During the 2013-14 season, which he missed almost all of with a ruptured Achilles tendon,?ratings plummeted?not just for the Lakers, but also for their crosstown rivals the Clippers, indicating a diminished interest in basketball throughout the Los Angeles market.But Bryant’s marketing prowess was not on par with that of Jordan or James — and many non-fans found him problematic. In 2003, Bryant was charged with felony assault after a 19-year-old woman accused him of raping her at a Colorado hotel where she worked. The charges were dropped in 2004, and a year later Bryant agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to settle the civil suit that followed.The case did nothing to diminish Bryant’s ratings pull. But it affected his standing as a media figure.“There’s no way that a player can have that serious of an incident in their career and still be able to attract sponsors, partners, business opportunities,” at a consistent level, said Dees. “People certainly shied away from him for about a decade before we really started to see the business side of Kobe’s endeavors pick back up. I think there was definitely a cooling off period with Kobe in terms of what he was able to do off the court, and rightfully so.”Bryant had, however, in the latter years of his career and the early stages of his retirement, begun to successfully transition into a media heavyweight. The 2017 animated short film he produced, “Dear Basketball,” won an Academy Award. His production company, Granity Studios, was in the process of ramping up multiple projects. A series he created for ESPN Plus, “Detail,” premiered last year on the streaming service.The status of that series and other projects from Granity is, for now, unclear. But that Bryant was critical to his sport’s increased importance in the television landscape and larger media universe is a certainty.Fewer than four years removed from his last NBA game, Bryant remained an impactful figure across Los Angeles and beyond. Just hours after news of his death broke,?hundreds gathered?outside Staples Center, home of the Lakers, to mourn him. An outpouring a grief emerged online, with everyone from Disney CEO Bob Iger to actress and producer Mindy Kaling to former President Barack Obama expressing shock and sadness.On Monday, in an almost unprecedented move, the NBA announced that the Lakers’ upcoming game against the Clippers would be postponed as the franchise processes the death of Bryant and his daughter. In its place Tuesday a memorial service will be held at Staples — and broadcast live on TNT.Round 2BAFTAs: Joaquin Phoenix Delivers Powerful Speech About Lack Of Diversity In This Year’s Awards?SeasonBy?Tom GraterTom GraterInternational Film ReporterASSOCIATED PRESSAs expected, diversity (or the lack thereof) was the hot-button topic?at tonight’s BAFTA Awards.?Joaquin Phoenix, picking up his Best Actor prize for?Joker, made a particularly poignant speech on the topic.“I feel conflicted because so many of my fellow actors that are deserving don’t have that same privilege. I think that we send a very clear message to people of color that you’re not welcome here,” he said onstage at the Royal Albert Hall. “I think that’s the message that we’re sending to people that have contributed so much to our medium and our industry, and in ways that we benefit from.”“I don’t think anybody wants a handout or preferential treatment, although that’s what we give ourselves every year. I think people just want to be acknowledged, appreciated and respected for their work. This is not a self-righteous condemnation because I’m ashamed to say that I’m part of the problem,” Phoenix continued.RELATED STORY HYPERLINK "" BAFTA Awards: '1917' Takes Best Film And Leads Way With Seven Wins - The Complete Winners List“I have not done everything in my power to ensure that the sets I work on are inclusive, but I think it’s more than just having sets that are multicultural. We have to do the hard work to truly understand systemic racism. I think it is the obligation of the people that have created and perpetuate and benefit from a system of oppression to be the ones that dismantle it. So that’s on us,” he concluded.The speech has caused quite a stir on social media. Responding to Phoenix’s words,?The Farewell?director Lulu Wang took to Twitter to write, “An uncomfortable silence filled the hall for a long noticeable moment. Thank you Joaquin.”The Brit org has taken flack?since it unveiled a nominations list featuring no non-white actors, and an all-male list of nommed directors. In response, it took the unusual step of?mailing its members to express frustration?over the lack of diversity, and has also promised a review of its voting procedures post this year’s ceremony.Prince William, awarding this year’s?BAFTA?Fellowship to?Star Wars?producer Kathleen Kennedy, also weighed in on the topic.“We find ourselves talking again about the need to do more to address diversity in the sector. That cannot be right in this day and age. I know Pippa [Harris] and Amanda [Berry] share that frustration. BAFTA take this issue seriously, and following this year’s nominations have launched a full review… to ensure the opportunities are available to everyone,” said the Duke of Cambridge.Rebel Wilson, presenting the Best Director award, made reference to the all-male nominees, “A look at the exceptional, daring talent nominated in this category. I don’t think I could do what they do. Honestly. I just don’t have the balls.”Speaking backstage having claimed two BAFTAs on the night,?Parasite?director Bong Joon Ho, also addressed questions on diversity.“I’m not sure if I’m necessarily contributing to the diversity of the BAFTAs or the Oscars because I’ve been creating films for the past 20 years. It’s a huge honor to be invited to these events. From the various efforts we put in, I think naturally we will come to a day where we do have diversity whether it’s about gender, sexuality or people of color,” said the South Korean director.Also backstage after scooping the Best Actress BAFTA,?Judy?star Renée Zellweger added, “I’m grateful there are more female storytellers out there. I think it was the president of BAFTA who said content should reflect society more completely, I agree with that.”Throughout the evening, BAFTA made regular reference to its list of nominees for the Rising Star Award, which, featuring majority of non-white actors and 2/5 women, was a more diverse group than the main awards.For the first time, individual packages highlighting each nominee and featuring clips from their performances were dotted throughout the ceremony. Whether that was a deliberate endeavor by BAFTA to up the night’s presence of diverse acting talent, or merely part of an increased deal with sponsor EE, wasn’t immediately clear. BAFTA did also make sure to highlight its Breakthrough Brits initiative during the ceremony, which last year featured a majority of women participants.The Rising Star winner, Micheal Ward, whose credits include Netflix’s?Top Boy?and?UK box office hit?Blue Story,?was met by a rapturous response from the audience.Off-stage, Queen?& Slim?star?Jodie Turner-Smith, who many thought could’ve been a nominee in the acting field this year, wasn’t holding back with the quips when live-tweeting from inside the ceremony.“i’m sitting next to half of the black people here and the three of us are laughing at all of [Graham Norton’s] jokes,” she posted as this year’s host pointed to the #BAFTAsSoWhite controversy in his opening monologue.“Finally remembered as the year white men broke through… 11 nominations for?Joker, essentially the story of a white man who makes himself even whiter,” Norton quipped.“They’re beginning the ceremony by patting themselves on the back for including women and bong joon ho,” Turner-Smith also wrote as the awards got underway.It was a more positive night, diversity-wise, for some of the winners in the earlier categories.For Sama?scooped the award for Best Documentary, having become the most-nommed doc in BAFTA’s history. The project came from female Syrian director Waad al-Kateab, who had the joint most nominations for any individual (alongside Bong, who won Original Screenplay and Foreign Language Film), and Edward Watts.The winners in both short film and animated short were women directors, Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva for?Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl), and Iranian-British director Maryam Mohajer for?Grandad Was a Romantic.Klaus?director Sergio Pablos also highlighted the diverse crew employed on his animated feature, “[The film had] the most diverse crew I’ve ever worked with. 22 countries, 15 languages, almost gender parity.”Round 3Round 4The Fifth FactBY?SARAH BROWNINGFor Ben’s project he must research five factsabout his African-American hero and write themon poster board. He chooses Harriet Tubman,whose five facts are:?Her father’s name was Ben.Her mother’s name was Old Rit. She was bornin 1820 and died in 1913. She was born in Marylandand died in New York. Ben asks for adviceabout his fifth fact and I suggest:?She led more than300 people to freedom. Ben sighs the way he doesnow and says,?Everyone knows that, Mom.?So I try to remember the book we read yesterday,search for the perfect fact, the one that will matchhis four facts and satisfy his almost-seven mind.Remember, I ask,?she was a spy for the Northduring the Civil War??It’s a hit! He writes it:Harriet Tubman was a spy for the north duringthe civil war. It was a war between the northwhich is where the slaves were trying to getand the south which is where they were.Before the war, Abraham Lincoln signed a formthat said All the slaves everywhere are free!which is one of the reasons they were fighting.?On summer mornings, Lincoln rode his horseto work down the Seventh Street Turnpikeclose to my new home. Down Georgia Avenuepast The Hunger Stopper and Pay Day 2 Go and liquorstores and liquor stores. Past Cluck-U-Chickenand Fish in the ‘Hood and Top Twins Faze IIAuthentic African Cuisine and the newish Metro stationand all those possibilities gleaming in developers’ eyes.?There goes Lincoln’s horse down Georgia Avenuefrom the Soldier’s Home to the White House –much cooler up here in the country, in the neighborhood,at the hospital. And there’s Walt Whitman, the sworn poetof every dauntless rebel the world over, hanging aroundhis street corner every morning to bow to the presidentat Thomas Circle by the homeless guys. It’s 100 years nowsince any president summered at the Soldier’s Home.But I was born only 50 years after Harriet Tubman died,all the centuries we drag into the next century and the next.?Writing here, in my new neighborhood, the city oldand new around me, I see Harriet Tubmanand Lincoln and Uncle Walt and the true storiesand sometimes our own despair like Washington’ssummer malaria, her 40 war hospitals, Whitman movingfrom bed to bed, stroking the hair of so many dying boys.?North up Georgia Avenue in our own soldiers’ home –Walter Reed – the boys and now girls toomourn the ghosts of their own legs and armsand our capacity for love. Where is theirsworn poet? Harriet Tubman bornso close. All these heroes under our feet. ................
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