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Alec Baldwin Got in a Twitter Fight With Asia Argento and Anthony Bourdain Through His Foundation’s Account


Alec Baldwin appeared on PBS News Hour on Friday talking about sexism, misogyny, and rape culture in the wake of the Weinstein sexual assault and harassment allegations, as well as those that have taken down other powerful men in Hollywood in the subsequent weeks—including director James Toback, who Baldwin had worked with in the past. His comments during his interview addressing those issues drew accusations of victim-blaming and mansplaining from more than a few notable women, who came for him on Twitter. It didn’t take long, then, for him to get embroiled in a tussle on the platform—using his foundation’s account, since he shut down his personal account—with actress and vocal Weinstein accuser Asia Argento, as well as her boyfriend, celebrity chef/foodie Anthony Bourdain.

The key part of his interview that women took issue with was when he appeared to criticize women taking settlements in exchange for their silence about acts of sexual assault and harassment. “What happened was that Rose McGowan took a payment of $100,000 and settled her case with him, and it was for Rose McGowan to prosecute that case,” he said. “When women take money and are silenced by that money, even though they took the money and were silenced because they were told, beyond the money, it was the right thing for them to do, keep quiet, don’t make too many waves, it is going to hurt your career. When they do it nonetheless, does it set back the cause of change?”

Not great, as women, including Argento, pointed out.

Baldwin suspended his Twitter on Saturday around midday, “for a period of and in the current climate,” with the note that “It was never my intention, in my public statements, to ‘blame the victim’ in the many sexual assault cases that have emerged recently … my goal is to do better in all things related to gender equality.”

And that’s when things started to kick off. Argento bid him a not-so-fond farewell:

Apparently Baldwin didn’t want to leave that unanswered, so he began tweeting from the Alec Baldwin Foundation page, which, um…isn’t a good look for a nonprofit.

Bourdain chimed in to stick up for his partner, and quickly followed it up with a casted stone of his own:

Baldwin then responded with a now-deleted tweet that Bourdain was careful to screencap and later posted.

Argento came back for it, but @ABFoundation had blocked her.

Baldwin wasn’t done yet, though—a few minutes later, he tweeted again at Bourdain:

Things kinda fizzed out (at least in our non-DM view) after that, but on Sunday morning, Alec Baldwin’s foundation retweeted a tweet of Rose McGowan’s—a highly vocal figure in the Weinstein fallout—that is…interesting.

So, not sure entirely what is happening, but given the rest of the day’s tweets, someone at his organization seems to have wrested control back of the account—with a dash of sass thrown in there. Never a dull moment on Twitter these days!

Related Stories:
–Alec Baldwin’s Trump Called Puerto Rico Mayor a ‘Nasty Woman’ on SNL
–Alec Baldwin Has Left the Twitterverse—This Time For Good!
–These Are the Women Who Have Accused Harvey Weinstein of Sexual Harassment or Assault





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'Outlander' Season 3, Episode 7 Recap: A Fight, a Fire, and a Bombshell Revelation About Jamie


This article centers on Season 3, Episode 7 of Outlander, “Crème the Menthe.” If you’re not yet caught up with the show, be warned: Spoilers abound.

Now that Claire and Jamie have reunited, all I need from this show is for them to have hot sex from the beginning of each remaining episode until the end. Alas, this is Outlander, so instead, there will be melodrama. And tonight’s episode, “Crème the Menthe,” felt more like an average one, filler to end the first arc of the season and transition into the next.

As the episode opens, Claire is fighting off the man she found in her room because, again, this show loves nothing more than to imperil women to create plot points. We must never forget that to be a woman is to live in a perpetual state of vulnerability. Got it? Good. Claire manages to fight off her attacker, wielding a knife. (See, women are vulnerable but they are also empowered!) The attacker falls, hits his head and is seemingly dead when Jamie enters the room and sees his wife over an unconscious man, panting heavily, knife still in hand. That’s when I knew there probably wasn’t going to be any sex in this episode. I was mostly right. Despite being apart for twenty years, Claire and Jamie don’t spend this entire episode in bed. They don’t spend any time in bed. It makes no sense.

When Claire realizes her attacker is still breathing, she immediately shifts into surgeon mode and insists on saving his life. (“Because I’m a doctor,” she explains when Jamie understandably asks why she wants to save her attacker’s life.) As usual, Claire is instantly able to translate 20th-century knowledge into whatever might be available in the 18th century and makes various people get her various things, including hot water. No matter the time period, whether in television or film, anytime something vaguely makeshift medical is going to happen, there must be hot water.

It turns out the attacker was looking for Jamie’s ledgers at the behest of Sir Percival Turner, who suspects Jamie is selling more than he claims and not paying Percival enough of a bribe. (Corrupt government agents are so greedy and suspicious.) Jamie realizes he’s going to have to move the booze he has hidden in Madame Jeanne’s basement and dispatches Fergus and young Ian Fraser to make a quick sale of the hooch, which they do at handsome profit.

Meanwhile, Claire goes to the apothecary to get some laudanum and who knows what else so she can perform surgery. In a hurry, she bargains with a man in front of her—who was looking for something to calm his sister—to go ahead of him in return for looking in on his ailing sister. As she places her order, Claire informs the chemist that a man’s life is at stake…which is so weird. Why is she broadcasting her business, particularly when so much is at stake? It makes no sense!

Back at the brothel, Jamie and Mr. Willoughby are wrestling with the attacker, who has awakened and is loudly trying to break free of their grip. Claire chastises them for being rough with her patient (LOL wut?), but before she can lecture them further, Madame Jeanne alerts Jamie that Sir Percival has paid him a visit. While Claire tries to reduce a brain bleed ye olden way, Sir Percival and his men search the brothel for the contraband booze Fergus and Ian have already sold off.

The surgery stuff that follows is incredibly graphic and unpleasant. The sound effects—of skin splitting open and a hand drill breaking skull bone—are doing the absolute most. At last, Claire successfully releases the clot while Sir Percival finds nothing of note in the brothel and makes like a dastardly villain, warning Jamie, “I’ll be watching you,” before he flounces off. Sure thing, buddy.

When Jamie returns to his chambers, he tells Claire, “This ends now’; but the attacker has died during surgery and Claire is sad. Ever the voice of reason, Jamie says, “I won’t grieve for the man that tried to kill my wife.” Right on, Jamie! Keep it real. Claire stays deep in her feelings, muttering that this wouldn’t have happened if she was in Boston, which, GIRL! You are not in Boston, anymore. You chose to go back in time for the best sex of your life. There’s a price to pay—no modern hospital facilities, not a lot of bathing, no television. The struggle is real in any century. She laments that she’s caused Jamie so much trouble in the brief time she’s been back, but Jamie, true to form, says some incredibly romantic, sexy shit and that’s that.

PHOTO: Aimee Spinks/STARZ

A doctor’s work is never done, so Claire heads off to see about that apothecary customer, Archibald Campbell, and his sister Margaret. He claims his sister is a seer and he “translates” her visions and it all seems kind of sketchy. Claire tells Archibald that Margaret is not a seer; she’s just mentally ill. She cautions him to stop medicating his sister with laudanum and offers him an herbal tea recipe to calm her when she gets agitated. Archibald isn’t so interested in tea…he basically wants to keep his sister sedated because they are heading to the West Indies the next day. As she leaves, Claire suggests Margaret eat a lot of fresh fruit when she gets to the islands. I have no idea what’s going on with that.

To celebrate their profitable sales, Fergus and Ian have a drink at the local tavern. As young men are wont to do, they start talking about sex. Turns out, Ian is a virgin and one of the young barmaids, Brighid, has caught his eye. Fergus makes like an expert wingman and hooks Ian and Brighid up but first Fergus discloses that his first time was a menage a trois. (Of course it was. He’s French, after all.)

Ian gets really lucky and Brighid seems more than amenable to having a drink with the young man. A love connection is made! Ian brings Brighid back to the print shop because nothing says romance like a print shop. He is drunk and singing loudly and then he and Brighid are making out and then they start to make love after a bit of an awkward start. So, I guess there is some sex in this episode, but it is not at all the sexy kind and we don’t see much of it, which is fine by me because Ian is like, a child, and he is very pale and no thanks. I’m not even sure why this episode featured this storyline other than to give a plausible reason for what happens next to Ian. I suspect this is the first and the last we will see of sex between anyone but Claire and Jamie and thank goodness for that.

Outlander Fergus Drinking Episode 307

PHOTO: Aimee Spinks/STARZ

Upon returning to the brothel, Claire suggests that maybe she and Jamie can get a place of their own and Jamie’s like, “Leave the brothel?” as if it is the wildest thing in the world for Claire to want to live somewhere other than a brothel. She also broaches opening her own practice, but they are interrupted when Ian Sr. shows up looking for Ian Jr. Apparently young Ian keeps running away from home, and Jamie is keeping watch over his nephew (while also pretending he doesn’t know where the boy is). Ian Sr. is shocked to see Claire alive and well, but is also distraught over his missing son. Jamie lies about the boy’s whereabouts and Claire seethes quietly because she disapproves. Jamie walks Ian out and the men allude to some secret Jamie is keeping that could cause trouble. (I am pretty sure I know what the secret is because I consulted Wikipedia about Book 3’s plot and I am very angry about the plot twist because it is so irritating and senseless and Claire is going to flip her lid when she finds out.)

Before any of that unfolds in some future episode, Ian and Brighid are basking in the afterglow of young love when another of Sir Percival’s minions shows up at the print shop, looking for the contraband casks. Corrupt and greedy government agents are also persistent. Ian confronts the man to little avail. As the minion searches, he finds Jamie’s seditious pamphlets. Oh no! There is a scuffle and soon the building is on fire. Of course it is. Ian sends Brighid to safety while he tries to put out the fire. The minion gets away with the seditious pamphlets; poor Ian is alone in the burning building; and Jamie just lied to his brother-in-law about his son’s safety. Every melodramatic possibility is happening all at once.

Jamie and Claire are having a tight-lipped argument about his lying to Ian Sr. that turns into an argument about parenting choices. Jamie gets real passive aggressive, saying he didn’t get a chance to parent Brianna, and he makes a shitty comment about Brianna wearing a bikini. His jealousy over her marriage to Frank comes out, but before anything can be resolved, Jamie is told there’s a fire at the print shop.

Ian is trapped and Jamie knows it, so he rushes, gallantly, straight into the fire and there’s lots of close calls—the score, never subtle on this show, makes it seem like death is imminent—but fret not, all is well. Jamie saves Ian and grabs the portrait of his son, Willie, and though the print shop is destroyed, everyone lives. There is, of course, the small problem of the seditious pamphlets but Jamie is in Edinburgh under a false name so he can just go back to being himself in the Highlands. Yes, this is all an elaborate plot device to get the Frasers and Ian back to Lallybroch. Jamie ties up some loose ends with Mr. Willoughby and Fergus lets it drop that Jamie has another wife which is so messy. Claire is, all the while, completely unsuspecting and probably about to walk into a fire of her own. Of course, the episode ends on this revelation, so sadly, we will not know more about this mess until next week. Until then!

Roxane Gay is the author of Bad Feminist, Difficult Women, and most recently, Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.

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The Story Behind Kate and Rebecca's Explosive Fight on 'This Is Us' Season Two Episode Two


This is Us fans have always been aware that Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) have a complicated mother-daughter relationship, but the exchange between the two on tonight’s episode was downright brutal. (Spoilers ahead!)

Rebecca decided to surprise Kate by attending her first singing gig—but rather than appreciate her mother’s support, Kate lashed out and unleashed years of anger in the process. “You still make me feel like a stupid, fat little kid,” Kate admitted after Rebecca said she sang “incredibly beautifully”—a word choice that set off Kate. Dumbfounded by her daughter’s accusation, Rebecca asked what she had ever done to make her feel that way, and all Kate could could say was, “You existed.” Ouch.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Kate followed it up by telling her mother that she only wanted a daughter like herself, and she was never going to be that. “No, you wanted me to be the you that you never became.” Rebecca remained impressively calm and collected, telling her daughter that she had nothing to say because, “I can’t think of anything that would be quite that terrible. You and your brothers are my entire life.”

So what provoked Kate to lash out like that? With too many questions and not enough answers, we asked executive producer and co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker to fill us in.

My jaw was on the floor with some of the things Kate said to Rebecca. Did you discuss how far you were willing to push their conversation? Or what damage this could do to their relationship?

Isaac Aptaker: We’re very fortunate we have a lot of brilliant female producers and writers on our staff who have wonderfully complicated relationships with all of their mothers. [Laughs] So, we had a lot of personal experience and real stories to draw from. Dan Fogelman wrote that episode with Bekah Brunstetter, who is one of our writers, and they did such a good job capturing how much love is there, but how much pain these two women have caused each other over the years and continue to inadvertently cause each other. It’s a long scene, and there’s a lot to it. These episodes are only 42 minutes, [so in editing] we wondered if there was any where to make a cut, but Mandy and Chrissy are just so good and we found it so compelling that we left it pretty much untouched. I think that was the right decision.

At the end of their exchange, Toby tells Rebecca he doesn’t know the full history between Kate and her mother. Is it safe to say that for us, as viewers, we don’t know either? Because what we’ve seen so far of Kate and Rebecca’s relationship doesn’t indicate there’s this much bad blood.

IA: Yeah, definitely. The relationship between Kate and Rebecca is going to be a big one that we’re really unpacking this year. Kind of how in season one it really focused on the dynamic between Randall and his mother and the secret of William that she kept from him for so long. This season we’re really diving into the mother/daughter relationship and what it was like for these two women growing up over the years and how they drifted apart and how they can hopefully come back together as adults.

PHOTO: NBC/Ron Batzdorff

What do you think was the worst of Kate’s accusations?

IA: Oh man, I think the saddest and truest thing that she says to her there is, “When I look back on this day that is my first time singing in front of a crowd, this is what I’m going to remember.” That breaks my heart because Rebecca just wanted to be there. She comes from such a place of pure intention; she just wanted to be there for her daughter and celebrate what should have been this really joyous occasion. And totally, inadvertently—through no fault of Rebecca’s—her presence turned it into this loaded thing for Kate, and it had the exact opposite effect. That’s why their relationship is so poignant and powerful. Rebecca just wants to be a good mom to her daughter. She just wants to do right by her, and it feels like every time she makes a move, it just ends up exploding in her face.

I know. I was like, what did she do that is that bad? She didn’t kill Toby!

IA: [Laughs] Right, right!

Do you worry about having these two female characters pitted against each other?

IA: We never talk about them as pitted against each other. Again, we really try to draw from our own experiences and the experiences of the women on our staff, particularly in this case, and also Dan’s family experiences because Kate’s a lot based on his family. We believed these are two women who are trying to repair and to do right by each other, and there’s a lot of baggage there and history there. At the end of the day, as you saw at the end of the episode, they have that small little repair in the car, where Rebecca tells Kate that she really loves Toby. So even moments after they said these pretty cutting things to each other, there is that effort to get through it and still be there for each other. So no, I don’t think we ever look at it as Kate and Rebecca pitted against each other. It hopefully captures the realities of what is a very complicated, fraught, but ultimately love-filled relationship.

Will we ever see Kate in her 20s in order to get more of that backstory?

IA: That would make our casting department’s head explode! It’s something we talk about a lot, just from a production and practical standpoint: When do our teenage actors transform into our adult actors and do we need another person to bridge that gap or is it something that we can do with our wonderful hair and makeup department? We’re very, very interested in visiting Kate in that time. In terms of whether it’s going to be Hannah [Zeile; teen Kate] or whether it’s going to be Chrissy, you’ll have to wait and find out.

hannah-zeile-chrissy-metz-this-is-us.jpg

PHOTO: NBC

Some fans haven’t gotten on board with the character of Toby, but I thought it was so funny and sweet that he told Rebecca he’ll always be team Kate.

IA: Honestly, we are baffled why anyone wouldn’t love Toby. We adore the character and Sully as an actor! We’ve heard every now and then there are people out there who aren’t on board with him, and I don’t get it. If I had a daughter or a sister, that’s exactly the guy I’d want them to be with. He’s just such a funny, fresh, genuine guy who we all love, and it felt like a very Toby thing to say. But no, it was not a pointed comment to anyone out there who doesn’t think he’s the guy for Kate. [Laughs] We don’t understand that.

Heading into next week, will Kate and Rebecca pick up from where we left off?

IA: Next week is Sylvester Stallone’s episode, so that’s the big focus there, but this is a bigger season-long arc that we’re going to explore their relationship over the years. We don’t dive right back into [what happened in the club], but it’s going to be a big part of the season. We’ll definitely hit on many more moments over the years of Rebecca and Kate, both at each other’s throats and being there for each other in really beautiful ways.



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I Lost My Mom at Sandy Hook. We Can Prevent Another Las Vegas—But We Have to Fight for It


After my mom was shot and killed at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, along with five other educators and 20 children, I was sure that Congress would act. They didn’t. And now 58 more people are dead following a mass shooting in Las Vegas—to say nothing of the more than 100,000 other Americans killed with guns since that December day five years ago.

The shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on the Las Vegas strip was the largest and deadliest mass shooting in our country’s recent history. For now. Until the next one. Because it’s not a question of if there will be another mass shooting, it’s a matter of when. How is it that our country has come to accept the regularity of these horrific acts of violence? This isn’t normal.

What should have been a fun night filled with dancing, singing, and laughing with friends instead has left dozens of people dead and more than 500 hospitalized, many with life-altering injuries. And that’s just the physical toll. No one walks away from a horrifying scene of that magnitude ever feeling safe again. For the victims and their families, there is no light, no hope. They will try to find a way out of this darkness, but I can tell you, the darkness does not leave you.

My mom, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, was my best friend in the entire world. She was the principal of Sandy Hook School, and she died running toward the shooter that awful day, trying to protect her kids.

I thought Sandy Hook would be a wake-up call to our leaders in Congress. There was no way they could allow 20 children and six educators to be gunned down in classrooms and offer no more than “thoughts and prayers.” But that’s exactly what happened.

Today my voicemail is full. My inbox is overflowing. The messages on Facebook are pouring in. For those wondering how I’m doing—I’m angry. I’m triggered. I miss my mom. I hurt for her. I feel like I’ve failed her. Above all, I am sick over how often this happens. And I don’t want to hear one more person say it’s too early to talk about solutions to our gun violence epidemic. It’s not too early—it’s way too late.

We don’t have to live like this.

It’s time for politicians to stop cowering behind the gun lobby and start standing with families. I wish Congress could show just half the courage my mother did on December 14, 2012.

This is a defining moment for our country. Do we want to continue living in the NRA’s dystopian society of guns everywhere, for anyone, no questions asked? Do we want to continue being held hostage by the gun lobby? Or do we want to live in a country where we feel safe going to schools, concerts, shopping malls and places of worship?

I could easily let days like this knock me down. It’s all too familiar and it’s all too painful. It takes me right back to the day my mom was killed. But no matter how hard it gets, I’m going to continue fighting for stronger gun safety laws. Time after time we see that it’s far too easy for people with dangerous histories to get their hands on guns in this country.

Right now, the gun lobby is pushing legislation to gut silencer safety laws and make it easy for anyone, including convicted felons and domestic abusers, to buy a gun silencer without a background check simply by going to an unlicensed dealer. I don’t even want to think about how much worse the shooting in Las Vegas could have been if the thousands of people attending the music festival didn’t recognize the sound of gunfire coming from above them, or if first responders weren’t able to determine where the gunshots were coming from.

And that’s not all. The NRA and its allies are also pushing for so-called “Concealed Carry Reciprocity” legislation, a dangerous proposal that would gut states’ gun laws, and allow countless people to carry concealed weapons across the country with no additional background checks or gun safety training beyond what goes into an initial purchase.

For those asking what they can do—get off the sidelines. Gun violence tears families apart every day in America. Most often, it doesn’t even make the headlines—there’s simply too much to report.

If you’re not actively trying to be a part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Get up and do something. Make a call to your Congressperson or Senator. Show up to a rally. Sign a petition. Donate to local organizations that support survivors of domestic violence. Just do something.

Erica Lafferty is the daughter of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, the principal murdered in the Sandy Hook School shooting on December 14, 2012. She is partnerships manager for Everytown for Gun Safety.



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Amal and George Clooney Donate $1 Million to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Fight Against Hate Groups


PHOTO: David M. Benett/Getty Images

Amal and George Clooney are adding their considerable power to the fight against bigotry and hate in the U.S. In a press release issued Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed that the Clooneys have donated $1 million via their Clooney Foundation for Justice to the center’s fight against hate groups.

“We are proud to support the Southern Poverty Law Center in its efforts to prevent violent extremism in the United States. What happened in Charlottesville, and what is happening in communities across our country, demands our collective engagement to stand up to hate,” the new parents said in the release. SPLC President Richard Cohen added, “Like George and Amal Clooney, we were shocked by the size, ugliness, and ferocity of the white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville. It was a reflection of just how much Trump’s incendiary campaign and presidency has energized the radical right. We are deeply grateful to the Clooney Foundation for standing with us at this critical moment in our country’s fight against hate.”

In another statement released to Deadline, the power couple said, “Amal and I wanted to add our voice (and financial assistance) to the ongoing fight for equality. There are no two sides to bigotry and hate.”

The additional statement is possibly a direct reference to President Donald Trump’s own statement on the clash between white supremacist groups and counter-protestors in Charlottesville earlier this month, which resulted in the death of one counter-protestor. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides,” he said on Saturday, August 13, before doubling down in the following week, telling reporters, “I think there is blame on both sides. You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say that. I’ll say it right now.”

Per the press release, the SPLC is a nonprofit watchdog organization that keeps a close eye on hate groups in America. “It currently tracks more than 1,600 extremist groups operating across the country, and has used litigation to win crushing court judgments against 10 major white supremacist organizations and 50 individuals who led them or participated in violent acts.” The Clooney Foundation for Justice was founded in 2016 “to advance justice in courtrooms, communities, and classrooms around the world,” according to its website. In the span of less than a year, the foundation has partnered with UNICEF to expand educational opportunities for Syrian refugees, offered support and assistance to Syrian and Yazidi refugees seeking resettlement in the U.S. and developed TrialWatch, an initiative to prevent especially susceptible courtrooms from committing human rights violations.



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