Congressman Steven Smith from Georgia Trolls with the Best of Them

By Emily Cutler | Lists | July 6, 2016 |

By Emily Cutler | Lists | July 6, 2016 |

Listen, I’m going to have to level with you about something: There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know how to write about. When eight terrorist attacks take place during Ramadan, which are all loosely linked to ISIS, I’m not sure how to cover that on a pop culture website. When seven of those attacks were in predominately Muslim countries, one of which killed 200 goddamn people, and we in the U.S. still have politicians our national joke/shame a presidential nominee for a major political party claiming this is a problem with Islam, I can’t figure out how to work that into a some bit of casting news. And when yet another black man is killed during a confrontation with police because we totally don’t have a race problem here, I feel wildly ill-equipped to say anything insightful other than this is fucking terrible (also careful with the video on that link. They mean it with the “disturbing” label). So I can’t offer anything meaningful about those news pieces other than to maybe bring them to your attention so you can find someone who is equipped to comment on them. And I can offer you lists. I know I just bummed you out, but let me maybe brighten your day with these.

1) “Wannabe” Has Gotten A Global Make Over

Hell yes! 20 years after its release, The Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” has gone global again. This time with a significantly more blatant feminist message. From Vox:

The video, produced by MJ Delaney for Project Everyone’s #WhatIReallyReallyWant campaign, features women performers from India, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom lip-syncing and dancing to point out ways to improve the lives of women and girls around the world: equal access to quality education, equal pay, and ending child marriages and violence against women.

The campaign is part of an effort to hold world leaders at the United Nations to their word: One component of the sustainable development goals signed in September 2015 was to prioritize the needs of women and girls in order to tackle bigger issues like climate change and poverty.

2) Two Dozen Artists Recorded A Benefit Single For The Orlando Shooting Victims

Britney Spears, Troye Sivan, Selena Gomez, Gwen Stefani and about two dozen other pop stars have come together to record a tribute to the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting called “Hands,” which will benefit the Equality Florida Pulse Victims Fund, the LGBT Community Center of Central Florida and GLAAD.

The song — written by Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels and produced by BloodPop, Mark Ronson and Justin Tranter — also features Mary J Blige, Jason Derulo, Tyler Glenn, Halsey, Ty Herndon, Imagine Dragons, Juanes, Adam Lambert, Mary Lambert, Jennifer Lopez, Kacey Musgraves, MNEK, Alex Newell, P!nk, Prince Royce, Nate Ruess, RuPaul, Jussie Smollett and Meghan Trainor, as well as the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles.

I’m too old to know who some of these people are, but the internet assures me they are popular musical acts.

Via Pop Crush

3) Rep. Steven Smith Is Still Trolling With The Best Of Them

Congressman Steven Smith from Georgia’s 15th District tweeted this out last night:

Every time I see #NeverTrump, I think of this. These people are the ultimate traitors. We're talking about HILLARY! pic.twitter.com/2E7qV5xOut

— Rep. Steven Smith (@RepStevenSmith) July 5, 2016

Now before you get too upset, you might remember that Georgia’s 15th district isn’t a thing, and Rep. Steven Smith isn’t a person. But that tweet up there? That’s such pitch perfect satire, I’m a little surprised Georgia hasn’t created the 15th District to give it to a Twitter troll. You can just make out the dog whistle if you listen closely. And a few days from now when Trump retweets this as an example of all of his political alliances, we can laugh/cry our way into the next tragedy.