Today we talk about President Biden’s speech on the Buffalo shooting, Josh Gilbert leaving As I Lay Dying, and the possibility of Johnny Depp rejoining Pirates of the Caribbean.
President Biden Speaks on the Buffalo Shooting
On Saturday, in an act of terrorism, an 18-year-old white man shot and killed 10 Black people and injured 1 in Buffalo, New York, with two others having been injured. President and First Lady Biden visited Buffalo and this morning they addressed the country. The shooter released 180 pages on social media that outlined his motives and that he had been planning the attack for months. He even went as far as to say that he chose that location in Buffalo because of the black population. He believes in the bullshit “replacement theory” where conservatives believe that white Americans are being replaced by other ethnicities. In today’s speech, Biden said, “A hate that through the media and politics, the internet, has radicalized angry, alienated, lost and isolated individuals into falsely believing that they will be replaced. That’s the word, replaced by the other, by people who don’t look like them. I call on all Americans to reject the lie, and I condemn those who spread the lie for power, political gain, and for profit.” While we see progress being made in terms of social injustices through other examples, this tragedy is heartbreaking and terrifying proof that hate is still prominent and dangerous.
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Josh Gilbert Leaves As I Lay Dying
Last night, Josh Gilbert announced that he would be leaving As I Lay Dying after 15 years. The bassist is the second to leave the band after Nick Hipa left two years ago. Gilbert took to Instagram to let fans know about his decision stating, “Despite the ups and downs inherent, I’ll always be grateful for the profound privilege of being able to grow up traveling the world playing music with the band. None of that would be possible without the fans of the band, so for that I sincerely thank you all so much for allowing me the opportunity. I wish the best for AILD moving forward, and I hope to see all of you sooner rather than later.” AILD has already replaced Gilbert with Miss May I’s Ryan Neff. Their statement read, “Josh Gilbert has decided to exit AILD to pursue other musical opportunities. Josh has been a strong contributor musically for AILD since joining in 2007 so we are grateful for all his contributions and his friendship over the years. We wish him all the best and are excited to see where this new path takes him in life.” The band has had an interesting history after frontman Tim Lambesis was charged with attempting to have his wife murdered. He served 6 years in prison and was released in 2016 on parole. We will have to wait and see how this new chapter plays out for the band.
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A Possible Jack Sparrow Return
The internet is currently fascinated with the Heard v Depp trial. Saturday Night Live did a sketch on it this past weekend and TikTok can’t get enough clips from the live-streamed interviews. It seems that most agree at this point that Johnny Depp was falsely accused of abuse by Amber Heard. However, the whole reason they’re going through this trial is because the damage has been done. Depp is stating that he lost work because of the accusations Heard made about their marriage. Perhaps the biggest loss in Depp’s career was being taken out of any future involvement with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. His character Jack Sparrow is iconic and loved by both Depp and his fans. Now rumors are swirling that Disney will have Depp back to fill his role as the chaotic pirate. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has finally addressed the rumors, saying that no decisions have been made yet but “The future is yet to be decided.” They are currently working on a script for a 6th movie with Margot Robbie as the lead. Even then they aren’t sure which direction they will go in. At least now we know there is hope for Jack Sparrow to live another day.
