Names and faces
Cynthia Nixon fans who agree with the former Sex and the City star that marijuana should be legalized can support her campaign for governor of
New York by entering a contest to win a bong. The contest to win a glass bong signed by Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer of Comedy Central’s Broad City runs through Monday. The contest website says it “may be a silly contest but it’s a serious issue.” Nixon is running against
Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic nomination. Cuomo said last year he opposed legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes but since then he has called for a study of the issue. Jacobson and Glazer support legalization. Nixon spokesman Lauren Hitt says about 2,000 people have entered. The website seeks donations but does not require them.
Defeated Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore is talking about a defamation suit after discovering that he too was duped by actor Sacha Baron Cohen for his forthcoming television series. In a statement posted on Facebook, Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, says he accepted an all-expenses trip to Washington in February after being told he’d receive an award for supporting Israel. “I did not know Sacha Cohen or that a Showtime TV series was being planned to embarrass, humiliate, and mock not only Israel, but also religious conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Joe Walsh, and Dick Cheney,” Moore wrote on Facebook. “I am involved in several court cases presently to defend my honor and character against vicious false political attacks by liberals like Cohen,” Moore added. “If Showtime airs a defamatory attack on my character, I may very well be involved in another. As for Mr. Cohen, whose art is trickery, deception, and dishonesty, Alabama does not respect cowards who exhibit such traits!” Neither Showtime nor Baron Cohen responded to requests for comment. Who Is America? premieres Sunday on Showtime.
Scarlett Johansson has pulled out of the film Rub & Tug after her plans to portray a transgender man prompted a backlash. In a statement to Out.com on
Friday, Johansson says she’s withdrawing from the project “in light of recent ethical questions raised surrounding my casting.” Last week, Johansson said she would star as prostitution ring leader
Dante “Tex” Gill, who was born Lois
Jean Gill but identified as a man. When transgender actors and advocates questioned the casting, Johansson initially responded with a statement that criticism “can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto and Felicity Huffman’s reps.” All are actors who won acclaim for playing transgender characters. Johansson previously came under fire for playing an originally Asian character in the 2017 film Ghost in the Shell.