43. How To Solve a Problem Like Candace Owens?

We weren’t thrilled by the idea of covering Candace Owens’ new documentary on George Floyd. Sarah was so nervous to log onto Daily Wire, you’d think she was downloading porn. Nancy scoffed at giving 90 minutes to a provocateur she detests. “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold” is flawed, but it also raises questions the media has largely ignored, introducing us to Floyd’s two roommates, who carried the financial burden of his death but never saw a dime of the $90 million raised by Black Lives Matter. A refusal to cover inconvenient truths — the grifts of BLM organizers, the complicated realities of Floyd’s life and death — is how conspiracies grow.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to talk about things,” comedian Dave Chappelle lamented in his “Saturday Night Live” monologue, a watertight fifteen minutes that might have satirized Jewish stereotypes but also might have normalized them. Whatever your perspective, we dare you to beat Chappelle’s description of Trump as an “honest liar” and Melania as “the kind of chick James Bond would smash but not trust.”

Meanwhile, Twitter convulses as Elon Musk takes over, a mess that’s also a bit fun. Sarah stans for “Infamous” comedian Andrew Schulz, and Nancy gives the view from Israel, along with a story about a Holocaust survivor that leaves us both wiping tears.

Looking across to Gaza

Episode Notes:

Rotten Tomatoes rating of “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold”: 91% audience, [null set] critics

“‘Not helping the community’: George Floyd roommates, others slam BLM in new film,” by Mary Kay Linge (NY Post)

“Bingo Card From Hell: Kanye West, Kid Rock Attend Candace Owens’ Film Premiere,” by Larisha Paul (Rolling Stone)

“The Truth Isn't as Simple as 'The Greatest Lie Ever Sold' Pretends,” by Eli Steele (Newsweek)

“The Greatest Lie Ever Sold” trailer:

Candace Owens’ Wikipedia entry is a pretty good read

“The Newest Star Of The Trump Movement Ran A Trump-Bashing Publication — Less Than Two Years Ago,” by Joseph Bernstein (BuzzFeed)

“The Changing Faces of George Floyd Square: Dispatch From Minneapolis,” by Nancy Rommelmann (Reason)

“The Looting Last Time,” by Nancy Rommelmann (Make More Pie Substack)

Dave Chappelle “Saturday Night Live” monologue:

“Jon Stewart Defends Dave Chappelle’s ‘SNL’ Monologue: ‘Censorship’ Doesn’t End Antisemitism,” by J. Kim Murphy (Variety)

Adam Feldman @FeldmanAdam

That Dave Chappelle SNL monologue probably did more to normalize anti-Semitism than anything Kanye said

“Chappelle Was Right,” by Yair Rosenberg (The Atlantic)

“The Age of Social Media Is Ending,” by Ian Bogost (The Atlantic)

Elon is wilding out on Twitter:

Matt Binder @MattBinder

free speech is back on twitter dot com!

Kali Hays @HaysKali

So Musk sent his first Twitter email at 230 am, told his remaining ~4k staff they all must work in-office now full-time; the overall economic picture 'is dire;' that Twitter 'will not survive the upcoming economic downturn' unless the business becomes 50% subscription based...

Nancy’s dispatches from Israel are rich, funny, and illuminating. You can start here. (Make More Pie substack)

And watch our roving reporter emerge from the underground:

Nancy Rommelmann @NancyRomm

Went down into the Hezbollah-dug tunnel on Lebanon-Israel border. Had the 200,000 missiles amassed along Lebanon side of border pointed out, and told that when the Israel-backed South Lebanon army was evacuated to Israel, the kids all played together. That’s the way

In the Hot Box:

Have you heard of the comedian Dusty Slay? Now you have:

“Andrew Schulz: ‘Forget streaming giants, I made more than $1 million on my own!’” (TMZ)

Andrew Schulz live at the Paramount Theater in Austin, full special:

A Daughter Of Many Mothers: Her Horrific Childhood and Wonderful Life, a memoir by Rena Quint

And here is Rena, talking about the past she ignored for a long time:

smoke ‘em…