Latest news with #Maythe4th
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Andor' Creator on That Stunner 'Genocide' Speech and Its Real-Life Inspiration
Great sci-fi often serves as an allegory for current social and political issues. But never before has Star Wars hit such a topical bullseye — intentional or not — as Tuesday's episodes of Andor season two when a character delivered a stunner speech that warned of rising government authoritarianism, the dilution of fact-based reality, and the reluctance to use the word 'genocide.' More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Andor' Star Denise Gough on Dedra Meero's Worst Nightmare Coming True How May the 4th Became Known as Star Wars Day and How It's Being Celebrated The Best May the 4th Gifts for 'Star Wars' Superfans, from R2-D2 Watches to the Force-Inspired Candles Airing on Disney+ the same day a Drudge Report headline became the latest to warn of 'America's Slide Into Authoritarianism,' the acclaimed drama series featured a sequence where the courageous politician Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) risks her life to deliver a speech before the Galactic Senate where she furiously attacked Emperor Palpatine and his Imperial forces. But one can also easily imagine her words being said by a politician on C-SPAN right now. 'I believe we are in crisis,' Mothma says. 'The distance between what is said today and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest.' And then, referring to a prior sequence where Imperial forces massacred peaceful protesters on the planet Ghorman — a world the Imperials invaded to exploit a precious mineral — Mothma says, 'What took place yesterday… was unprovoked genocide.' At this, the other senators cry out in protest at Mothma's use of the word. 'Yes, genocide!' she repeated. 'And the monster screaming the loudest, that we helped create, the monster who will come for us all, soon enough, is Emperor Palpatine.' It's worth noting that Andor season two began production in November 2022 and wrapped around February 2024. So filming was completed long before the reelection of Donald Trump and just a few months after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 (the latter having sparked much debate among experts over the last two years — such as here and here — over the right or wrongness of using the word 'genocide' when describing Israel's military response in Gaza). Nonetheless, the scene has some viewers on social media interpreting the moment as pro-Palestinian. Asked about the sequence and its real-life inspirations, Andor creator Tony Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter, 'The really sorry truth about the about this question — and we get it a lot — is that peace and prosperity and calm are the rarities. Those are rarities throughout the last 6,000 years of recorded history. You could drop this show at any point in the last 6,000 years, and it would make sense to some people about what's happening to them.' Continued Gilroy: 'I mean, the control of truth has always been a scabbard of power. Power dictates the narrative, and always has tried to always do that. Look at what the Empire does to Ghorman with their propaganda campaign. The very first scene [in the season] that Krennic has where he talks about Ghorman, that's based on the Wannsee convention — the convention where the Nazis got together and planned the final solution over a business lunch. You could say all this about the Gulf of Tonkin — which got America into Vietnam — or you could say the burning of the Reichstag [which paved the way to the Nazi's rise to power], or you could say the sinking of the Lusitania [which pushed America into World War I]. You go all the way through history, and power is the control of truth. So I think with that speech, we were looking to be timeless and classic.' Added the creator, a bit wearily, 'And I'm not psychic.' The second and final season of the Star Wars drama has been not pulling punches when it comes to depicting a wartime drama. In addition to that Wannsee convention scene (see the real-life photos and how closely the Andor setting matched up), the show made headlines during its premiere episodes by staging the first rape attempt in Star Wars content in a scene involving Bix (Adria Arjona). 'I get one shot to tell everything I know — or can discover, or that I've learned — about revolution, about battles, with as many incidents and as many colors as I can get in there, without having [the story] tip over,' Gilroy said about the latter sequence. 'I mean, let's be honest, man: The history of civilization, there's a huge arterial component of it that's rape. All of us who are here — we are all the product of rape. I mean armies and power throughout history [have committed rape]. So to not touch on it, in some way… It just was organic and it felt right, coming about as a power trip for this guy. I was really trying to make a path for Bix that would ultimately lead to clarity — but a difficult path to get back to clarity.' Andor Disney+'s acclaimed Star Wars drama series which currently has the highest rating of any Star Wars TV show or movie on Rotten Tomatoes. The show follows the adventures of Rebel Alliance leader Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and leads up to the events in the film Rogue One. The final three episodes air next week. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
Buzz Feed
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
People Are Giving Mark Hamill A Round Of Applause For His Response To That Trump "Star Wars" Image
By now, you've surely seen the Star Wars image that's gone mega-viral on social media. Posted by the official White House account, it depicts Donald Trump holding a lightsaber, looking like a complete idiot with bald eagles and American flags behind him. The caption reads: "Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You're not the Rebellion—you're the Empire. May the 4th be with you." Obviously, the backlash online was swift and severe, with tons of people pointing out that the red lightsaber means he's a bad guy, LOL. And now, Mark Hamill himself has addressed it! In case you're not familiar with the Star Wars franchise, he's the actor who portrayed Luke Skywalker in the original films (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi). He's also appeared in The Force Awakens, The Rise of Skywalker, The Clone Wars, and Star Wars Forces of Destiny. Safe to say he knows a thing or two about Star Wars! Well, Mark took to Bluesky to share his response, writing, "Proof this guy is full of SITH." And of course, many made Star Wars jokes: earthbound misfit /
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The White House's ‘Star Wars' misstep adds to Trump's pop culture woes
For 'Star Wars' fans, May 4 is an unofficial holiday of sorts, and as Variety noted, the White House apparently wanted to get in on the fun — in the most Trumpian way possible. The official White House X and Instagram accounts on Sunday posted an AI-generated image of Donald Trump as a beefed-up Jedi in celebration of 'Star Wars' day. The post read, 'Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You're not the Rebellion — you're the Empire. May the 4th be with you.' (In case this isn't obvious, characters in the film franchise say, 'May The Force be with you.' With this in mind, 'May the Fourth be with you' is a pun.) The fact that Team Trump used the opportunity to lash out at 'Radical Left Lunatics' was not surprising: Two weeks earlier, the president also wrote online, 'Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics.' But in this case, what stood out was not the predictable palaver, but rather, the seemingly AI-generated image of the Republican wielding a red lightsaber — and as fans of the 'Star Wars' franchise know, it's the Sith villains who use red lightsabers, not the Jedi heroes. (New York magazine's Chas Danner took an even deeper dive into all of the nerdy missteps in the White House-backed image.) With this in mind, actor Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker, turned to Bluesky to have a little fun at Trump's expense. Stepping back, I can appreciate why Trump and his team want to try to exploit pop culture to advance their message, but it's hard not to notice just how frequently they flub these efforts. In 2019, for example, the Republican White House tried to use 'Game of Thrones' as part of a clumsy argument about the president's border-wall project, and the whole thing fell apart rather quickly. A year later, Trump talked about the Captain William Bligh character from 'Mutiny on the Bounty,' though it wasn't altogether clear whether the president realized that Bligh was the villain of the story. After his defeat in 2020, Trump talked obsessively about Hannibal Lecter, a fictional character, including a weird instance in which he referred to the infamous cannibal from 'The Silence of the Lambs,' as 'the late, great Hannibal Lecter' and 'a wonderful man.' Soon after, Trump's 2024 running mate, future Vice President JD Vance, pointed to Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York' as an example of immigration leading to higher crime rates — which was wrong on the policy details as well as the artistic narrative. It fell to The Washington Post's Philip Bump to note, '[T]he most brutal, vicious killer in that movie is the nativist who loathes immigrants.' Maybe these guys should just steer clear of making pop culture references? They're clearly not good at it. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump meme roundup: From Pope Trump to a Star Wars Day lightsaber flub, the White House's AI-generated posts stir controversy
President Trump's White House has repeatedly shown that it's not shy about leaning into internet jokes and memes that stir controversy, even on the administration's official social media accounts. This past weekend was no different. On Sunday, the White House posted to X an AI-generated image of a muscular Trump, flanked by two bald eagles and two U.S. flags, wielding a lightsaber for Star Wars Day, the unofficial celebration of the George Lucas film franchise, which occurs annually on May 4. "Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You're not the Rebellion—you're the Empire," the White House post read. 'May the 4th be with you.' But Star Wars fans were quick to point out that the color of Trump's lightsaber — red — suggests that he is aligned with the Dark Side. In the films, the villains, including Darth Vader, use red sabers. The heroes, like Luke Skywalker, use blue and green ones. "Good guys are green and blue,' Lucas himself once explained. 'Bad guys are red. That's just the way it works." It was the second time in three days that an AI-generated image of Trump shared by the White House prompted a backlash. On Friday, the official White House account reposted an image that Trump shared on his Truth Social account depicting himself as the pope, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. Earlier in the week, Trump joked to reporters that he would 'like to be pope' following the death of Pope Francis. Trump, who is not a Catholic, attended Francis's funeral last month. The image drew criticism from some Catholics who continue to mourn Francis's death and from cardinals who've been in Rome ahead of the conclave that will convene to choose his successor. 'There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,' the New York State Catholic Conference said in a post on X. 'We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.' 'Not funny, Sir,' Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David wrote in a since-deleted post on Facebook. 'I hope he didn't have anything to do with that,' said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, when asked by reporters in Rome if he was offended by Trump's pope post. 'It wasn't good.' Vice President JD Vance — who was one of the last people to meet with Francis before his death — defended Trump when asked by writer Bill Kristol on X whether he was 'fine with this disrespect and mocking of the holy father.' 'As a general rule, I'm fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,' Vance replied. In both cases, the images prompted a flood of mocking memes in response. The White House's X account was also quick to latch onto the recent internet debate over who would win in a hypothetical fight between 100 human men and one gorilla. On Thursday, the White House posted to X a cartoon image touting its deportations. '100 men vs 1 gorilla is still up for debate,' the White House wrote. 'Meanwhile, 142,000+ illegal alien criminals went up against 1 President Trump — They all got deported.' Immigration experts, though, have cast doubt on the accuracy of that deportation total. According to the most recent figures posted on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, the total number of removals for 2025 so far is 71,405, roughly half the number projected by the Trump White House. The Trump administration's unusual digital operation goes well beyond memes. The White House recently launched a page on its website modeled after the Drudge Report devoted to promoting pro-Trump news stories. One of the stories currently at the top of the new White House site is an Axios article that proclaims, 'Trump's White House is the hottest right-wing media outlet.'
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump meme roundup: From Pope Trump to a Star Wars Day lightsaber flub, the White House's AI-generated posts stir controversy
President Trump's White House has repeatedly shown that it's not shy about leaning into internet jokes and memes that stir controversy, even on the administration's official social media accounts. This past weekend was no different. On Sunday, the White House posted to X an AI-generated image of a muscular Trump, flanked by two bald eagles and two U.S. flags, wielding a lightsaber for Star Wars Day, the unofficial celebration of the George Lucas film franchise, which occurs annually on May 4. "Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You're not the Rebellion—you're the Empire," the White House post read. 'May the 4th be with you.' But Star Wars fans were quick to point out that the color of Trump's lightsaber — red — suggests that he is aligned with the Dark Side. In the films, the villains, including Darth Vader, use red sabers. The heroes, like Luke Skywalker, use blue and green ones. "Good guys are green and blue,' Lucas himself once explained. 'Bad guys are red. That's just the way it works." It was the second time in three days that an AI-generated image of Trump shared by the White House prompted a backlash. On Friday, the official White House account reposted an image that Trump shared on his Truth Social account depicting himself as the pope, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. Earlier in the week, Trump joked to reporters that he would 'like to be pope' following the death of Pope Francis. Trump, who is not a Catholic, attended Francis's funeral last month. The image drew criticism from some Catholics who continue to mourn Francis's death and from cardinals who've been in Rome ahead of the conclave that will convene to choose his successor. 'There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,' the New York State Catholic Conference said in a post on X. 'We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.' 'Not funny, Sir,' Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David wrote in a since-deleted post on Facebook. 'I hope he didn't have anything to do with that,' said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, when asked by reporters in Rome if he was offended by Trump's pope post. 'It wasn't good.' Vice President JD Vance — who was one of the last people to meet with Francis before his death — defended Trump when asked by writer Bill Kristol on X whether he was 'fine with this disrespect and mocking of the holy father.' 'As a general rule, I'm fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,' Vance replied. In both cases, the images prompted a flood of mocking memes in response. The White House's X account was also quick to latch onto the recent internet debate over who would win in a hypothetical fight between 100 human men and one gorilla. On Thursday, the White House posted to X a cartoon image touting its deportations. '100 men vs 1 gorilla is still up for debate,' the White House wrote. 'Meanwhile, 142,000+ illegal alien criminals went up against 1 President Trump — They all got deported.' Immigration experts, though, have cast doubt on the accuracy of that deportation total. According to the most recent figures posted on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, the total number of removals for 2025 so far is 71,405, roughly half the number projected by the Trump White House. The Trump administration's unusual digital operation goes well beyond memes. The White House recently launched a page on its website modeled after the Drudge Report devoted to promoting pro-Trump news stories. One of the stories currently at the top of the new White House site is an Axios article that proclaims, 'Trump's White House is the hottest right-wing media outlet.'
