Will Smith, Lucy Liu, Antoine Fuqua, Hollywood Arclight Closes Due To Covid, Minnesota Protests Continue, Steak-Umm’s Beef with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Black Panther Turns 50, David Hogg Has a Beer, and More: #GAYNRD DAILY

Savas Abadsidis April 12, 2021

MANIC MONDAY #GayNrd’s best bets on news, art, and photos from all corners of the internet and social media for Monday April 12, 2021. Above: Today’s photo of the day: the Milky Way galaxy, our galaxy, seen from the Himalayas.

Above: Yaoi of the day by @AceTheGaymer.

RESOLVED The decades long legal rights battle between Macross and Robotech has been resolved. Forbes: In a pretty astonishing turn of events, both Bigwest and Harmony Gold have agreed to work together on the global distribution of the Macross and Robotech franchises. To put it simply, Robotech was built from three disparate mecha anime; Macross, Southern Cross and MOSPEADA. Tatsunoko Productions sold the these rights to Harmony Gold, who then edited them together to create Robotech. The issue was that in the case of Macross, Tatsunoko Productions was not the only owner of the property. The other party involved was a Japanese company called Bigwest, that has in the years since funded the creation of new installments in the Macross saga.

Above: ‘Super Dimensional Fortress Macross’ was originally released in Japan back in 1982. BIG WEST

The details of what this agreement entails, this is what the official press statement has to say: “Tokyo based BIGWEST CO.,LTD. and Los Angeles based Harmony Gold U.S.A. announced an agreement regarding the worldwide rights for the legendary Macrossand Robotech franchises. This expansive agreement signed by both companies on March 1, 2021, ends two decades of disagreements and will allow Bigwest and Harmony Gold to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential of both the Macross and Robotech franchises worldwide. The landmark agreement immediately permits worldwide distribution of most of the Macross films and television sequels worldwide, and also confirms that Bigwest will not oppose the Japanese release of an anticipated upcoming live-action Robotech film. The agreement also recognizes Harmony Gold’s longstanding exclusive license with Tatsunoko for the use of the 41 Macross characters and mecha in the Robotech television series and related merchandise throughout the world excluding Japan. Moving forward, both parties will cooperate on distribution regarding future Macross and Robotech projects for the benefit of both franchises.”

Above: Fantastic Four’s The Thing aka Ben Grimm (or is it Clayface?) battles the Batman by Ryan Lee.

PROTESTS continued for second night in Minnesota after medical examiner rules fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by police officer a homicide. A second night of protests is underway following the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, on Sunday during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The shooting was ruled a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner. During a press conference on Monday, Police Chief Tim Gannon said he believes the officer meant to pull out a taser when Wright was shot and called the incident an “accidental discharge.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey both announced 7 pm curfews for Monday.

What you need to know: 20-year-old Daunte Wright was fatally shot by an officer on Sunday during a traffic stop – Wright’s death was ruled a homicide – The police chief called the shooting an “accidental discharge,” saying the officer intended to use a taser – The officer involved has been identified as Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran – Demonstrations are ongoing outside the Brooklyn Center police department and vigils have taken place nationwide. Video via @ABCNewsLive

NEW: Hennepin County Medical Examiner releases autopsy report for #DaunteWright, who died at 2:18 PM Sunday afternoon after a Brooklyn Center Police Officer’s fatal shot.
“This individual died of a gunshot wound of the chest and manner of death is homicide.” #NBCNews pic.twitter.com/IcKOOxNaF7
— Morgan Chesky (@BreakingChesky) April 12, 2021

SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods’ Casts Lucy Liu as Villain. Variety: “The “Elementary” and “Why Women Kill” star has joined the DC Comics adaptation “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” as the villain Kalypso, the sister of Helen Mirren’s villainous character Hespera.”

Above: Roy Harper aka Speedy aka Arsenal aka Red Arrow by Travis Moore.

TWEET OF THE DAY What’s it called when you hate men but love cock?

What’s it called when you hate men but love cock
— Lee Dawson (@LeeDawsonPT) April 12, 2021

CLOSED DUE TO COVID Variety reports: “Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres will close down, a victim of a global pandemic that brought moviegoing to a standstill. The news comes as things were beginning to look up for the hard-hit exhibition industry and serves as a reminder of the economic devastation wrought by a public health crisis that upended cultural life.”

In this Tuesday, April 28, 2020, photo a cyclist sits in the abandoned courtyard of ArcLight Cinemas, which is closed due to California’s continuing stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

“After shutting our doors more than a year ago, today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations,” the company said in a statement. “This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.”

HISTORY Marvel’s Black Panther debuted on this day April 12, 1966 in the pages of Fantastic Four #52.

PULLING OUT Will Smith and the director Antoine Fuqua said on Monday that they were pulling their upcoming film production “Emancipation” out of Georgia because of the state’s new voting law, which has been denounced by activists as an effort to make voting harder for the state’s Black population. The New York Times reports: The slavery-era drama, which is being produced and financed by Apple Studios, is the first major production to cite the law as a reason to leave the state, which offers generous tax incentives to Hollywood productions and has become a major hub for Marvel Studios, Netflix and other industry heavyweights.

Above: Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua

“At this moment in time, the nation is coming to terms with its history and is attempting to eliminate vestiges of institutional racism to achieve true racial justice,” Mr. Smith and Mr. Fuqua said in a joint statement. “We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access. The new Georgia voting laws are reminiscent of voting impediments that were passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting. Regrettably, we feel compelled to move our film production work from Georgia to another state.”

TWEET OF THE DAY TOO Dr. Kara Morillo: I’m reading these articles on how introverts are worried about socially engaging when things open up. As someone who is introverted and intuitive, I think ppl are just exhausted from working 40+ hrs, and/or people need to let go of certain relationships.

COSPLAY OF THE DAY Nightwing!

PROBLEMATIC? The Problem With The Problem With Jon Stewart. Vice: Jon Stewart ended his 16-year-run as host of The Daily Show exhausted. When he announced he’d be leaving in 2015, he said, “This show doesn’t deserve an even slightly restless host, and neither do you.”

Stewart’s television absence will be ending this fall, when Apple TV+ debuts his new series, The Problem With Jon Stewart.

The show is billed as “a multiple season, one-hour, single-issue series” combining serious investigations into political topics with talk-show comedy. If you think this sounds like the premise of a number of shows from former Daily Show contributors—think: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, and Problem Areas with Wyatt Cenac—you’re not wrong. In fact, Cenac, who hosted Problem Areas between 2016 to 2018, when HBO canceled it, tweeted his displeasure with the undeniable similarities between the two programs. He posted a clip of a monologue he’d delivered on Problem Areas: “But if there’s one thing I’ve learned: If you want somebody to take a Black guy saying something meaningful on TV seriously, you really need to have a white guy saying basically the same thing right after,” he’d said.

BEEF The Steak Umm Twitter account reignites its ongoing ‘beef’ with Neil deGrasse Tyson after the scientist was critiqued for saying ‘The good thing about Science is that it’s true, whether or not you believe in it.’

the irony of neil’s tweet is that by framing science itself as “true” he’s influencing people to be more skeptical of it in a time of unprecedented misinformation. science is an ever refining process to find truth, not a dogma. no matter his intent, this message isn’t helpful https://t.co/sf4zLm33Jm
— Steak-umm (@steak_umm) April 13, 2021