Larry Demeritte is the first Black trainer participating in the Kentucky Derby in 35 years. And while the betting-books have his colt West Saratoga running at long odds, Demeritte, who is battling chronic illness and cancer, is feeling confident.
For the 70-something veteran trainer, this is his first time at the Derby, but he is part of a rich history of Black horsemen who helped shape the Kentucky Derby into the iconic race it is today.
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Each week, Pop Culture Happy Hour guests and hosts share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Nice Guys, Vanessa Williams' song "Legs," Arooj Aftab's album Night Reign, and the game Planet Zoo.
Pro-Palestinian protests have been popping up at universities around the world, and in the last few days things have escalated at a number of those campuses. Columbia University called on police to shutdown the encampment on their university lawn and 300 people were arrested. At University of California Los Angeles, about 200 pro-Israel counter-protestors raided a pro-Palestinian encampment. To get first hand accounts of the protests, Brittany talks to two student journalists: Shaanth Nanguneri, an undergraduate reporter at UCLA, and Claire Davenport, a graduate reporter at Columbia University in New York.
Then, Eurovision may seem like a quaint, quirky event to Americans but it's a huge cultural event that easily surpasses the Super Bowl in terms of global viewership. And for an apolitical event, Eurovision can teach us a lot about geopolitics. This year, all eyes are on Israel, which is not European but has been a competitor since the 70s. With Israel's ongoing conflict in Gaza, there's a lot of politicking for and against its inclusion at the song contest. Brittany chats with Eurovision scholar Paul David Flood about Israel's controversial song and dance at Eurovision... and why Americans might want to pay attention.
The bill which was previously passed in the House in 2019 and 2022 but blocked in the Senate, aims to end race-based hair discrimination in schools and workplaces.
Where's the beef? What's the deal with marijuana? Why does this read like a '90s stand-up script? The answer to at least some of these questions can be found in the quiz. Were you paying attention?
In the entertaining new film The Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling plays a down-on-his-luck stunt performer who gets a big new opportunity to get his career on track. And maybe get back the woman (Emily Blunt) whose heart he broke. Directed by David Leitch, it's a knowing comedy about action movies, and a character study of a man who likes to think he's invincible. And the movie has amazing stunts.
It's déjà vu for the luxury fitness company: Peloton is cutting about 400 more jobs, and its CEO is stepping down just two years after a major shakeup.
The new movie The Idea Of You tells the story of a boy band star (Nicholas Galitzine) who falls in love with an older divorced mother (Anne Hathaway). It's based on a hit novel that's at least partially inspired by Harry Styles' life and career.
Nickelodeon's megahit show SpongeBob SquarePants made its TV debut on May 1, 1999. Fans of the cartoon span generations and the animated series has become a multibillion-dollar franchise.
The National Trust's annual list includes Eatonville, the all-Black Florida town memorialized by Zora Neale Hurston, Alaska's Sitka Tlingit Clan houses, and the home of country singer Cindy Walker.
Poet Iman Mersal's book is a memoir of her search for knowledge about the writer Enayat al-Zayyat; it's a slow, idiosyncratic journey through a layered, changing Cairo — and through her own mind.