Brittany Renner seemingly wants all the smoke behind Paul Jermaine Washington III, her son with PJ Washington. She went from jokingly defending him a couple of days ago to blasting his parental involvement. Things escalated when PJ seemingly took sides in the internet beef between Renner and his wife, Alisah Chanel. Meanwhile, some internet users found themselves on Rashad Scroggins‘ Instagram page.

After photos of their friends-to-lovers journey disappeared from their IG feeds, the people had questions under his other posts. This time, the internet clocked it. Scroggins told his followers he’s single and “dodged a missile.”

RELATED: Oop! Brittany Renner Drops SPICY Reply To PJ Washington’s Wife Alisah Chanel Over Her Reaction To A Joke

Brittany Reacts To PJ Washington’s Selfie With His Wife Alisah

After Brittany and Alisah’s back and forth on IG Stories and in The Shade Room’s comment section, PJ Washington seemingly stepped in. He reminded the public via his IG Stories that Alisah is the one — the ring is secured! After TSR posted the sweet selfie, Brittany hopped on her IG Stories to clock PJ about not replying to a message about their son, Paul. She had texted him, “What are your plans after the season ends? Did you have dates in mind you wanted to get Paul?” Washington seemingly hadn’t responded and the timestamps suggest Renner texted him a few days prior.

“Despite the dead eyes, I am glad to see your thumbs aren’t broken and you’re alive and well. While we have a moment, can we get back to the question at hand @pjwashington,” Renner wrote in her post.

Social Media Users Flood Brittany Renner’s Recent Boo With Breakup Comments

Brittany’s internet tussle with Alisah and PJ had folks on social media asking about her own love life. She and Rashad Scroggins debuted their relationship earlier this year. Last TSR reported, he had shared a post about their mountain trip in late December. Their sweet, and often joint, posts continued through Valentine’s Day. He was even in the podcast episode where she revealed she had dropped her child-related case in California against PJ Washington.

That podcast page is gone now. Also, sometime this week, their couples’ posts disappeared from their pages. And fans noticed. Two days he shared photos of himself on IG with the caption, “Everything should be cool.” Since then, the comment section has been flooded in with breakup speculation.

@juricafit wrote, “Big bro. She don’t want to be saved. Cole told us.”

“What happened? I liked you 2 together 😢,” @exceptionalerin added.

“Tell the truth, you knew what you were signing up for G 😅,” @earthtola_ commented.

“Why you deleted the pics of yall together?” @reginajackk asked.

@damsel_not_distressed added, “You got out in time! She’s already back to the messiness 🙄.”  

“Females don’t understand that men get tired and fed up too! A man with boundaries is a different beast! 💪🏼,” @oohkathylee commented.

@gannicus_kd_wilson wrote, “U can’t call the girl trash now my n*gga the world tried to warn u and tried post how much u was in love naw take that L now @rashadscroggins.”

Rashad Scroggins Confirms He’s “Single,” Says He “Dodged A Missile”

Rashad Scroggins left his comment sections scrambled. Looking for answers. He even kept his cone of silence amid Brittany Renner blasting her ex-boyfriend and his wife. Then, on Tuesday (March 31), he finally spoke out on video and in the comment section.

In videos on IG Stories, Rashad shared a general message about life being “full of surprises and interesting at the same time.” Then, he admitted that he was “really loud before,” and it’s a switch-up to go quiet. To him, though, “some stuff is not worth you going forward it.” 

“When you take that step back and there’s still chaos around the corner. When you enter somebody’s life, you hope to change, you hope to grow, you hope to make it better. I want to be better as a person, but some people, they just want to do the same thing over and over and over…they’re stuck in a loop and they can’t figure out that I need to do something different.”

He then told his viewers to never get stuck in life, and to keep moving forward. Up to that point, he hadn’t dropped any names and he kept the same energy in follow-up clips.

“I’m a big believer that idle time is the Devil’s playground. If you want to be a stay-at-home wife or you don’t want to work, you’re going to have issues. You have to do something with your time. I’m not saying stay-at-home wife is out, but you have to do something productive with your time. I pray for everybody, I hope they get happy.”

Rashad also acknowledged that he’s speaking in riddles and refused to get into specifics. He added:

“Mannnn, everybody told me,” before laughing. “My God look out for me man…I dodged a motherfing missile, do you hear me? I dodged all the ruckus…Thank you, thank you.”

RELATED: Issa New Couple? Social Media Reacts As Mystery Man Shares Mountain Trip Memories With Brittany Renner (VIDEOS)

In his follow-up, Scroggins said that people have to pay attention to what they have, including their own skills, rather than trying to eat off of what someone else has.

“Life is still gonna require you to do something or you’re going to feel an internal, deep hole that nobody’s gonna be able to fill. You’re going to think you need money, a jet, Rolls Royce, a chef, whatever you think that you need, it ain’t gonna be it. You need to figure out your purpose,” he said while filming outside. Adding, “To be clear, I’m single. I’m chilling, safe. Peaceful. Listening to birds. Just calm. Yes, that’s the story.”

Rashad said a lot of things transpired in a couple of days, but he didn’t go into details about what. Again, he never name-dropped Brittany Renner, but later made a reference to her. After defending the expression of his feelings, he said he was “kinda scared” to speak out because he wants “no smoke” with “her.” He said, “I just wish the best for her…but two things could be true.” 

Rashad Scroggins announces that he’s single. As previously reported, he was linked to Brittany Renner last December as they shared moments from a trip to the mountains. (📸: @gettyimages) ✍🏾: #TSRStaffJW pic.twitter.com/D7a4tjwRle

— TheShadeRoom (@TheShadeRoom) April 1, 2026

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RELATED: Brittany Renner Reacts After Alisah Chanel Alleges She’s Pregnant, Refused To Let PJ Washington See His Son And Begged For $150

By Jennifer Asencio
| Published 1 hour ago

The latest trailer for Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock, Jason Momoa, and Eve Ridley, has been released, and I take back everything I said about the previous teaser trailer. Everything about the old trailer indicated a disrespect for the Superman source material and a rebellious girl-boss operating under the slogan, “Truth. Justice. Whatever.”

Yet the new trailer, released March 31, 2026, reveals a lot more about the plot and the source of Supergirl’s anger. A story that was indicated to be about Kara, aka Supergirl, helping an alien girl named Ruthye avenge the death of her father becomes much more poignant when you know that the murderer has also poisoned Krypto, Supergirl’s faithful canine that she’s had since her days on Krypton.

Supergirl’s John Wick Arc

The dog is all she has left of her former home, since Kal-El is more like a human from living on Earth since infancy. Kara is a young girl grieving and literally the only person she knows who remembers her planet. Under those circumstances, she’d probably tell us to get over any problems we might have with her rebelliousness, and her John Wick reaction is just as forgivable as with the Keanu Reeves hitman.

The girl power theme from the previous trailer can now be forgiven now that we know the director is Craig Gillespie, famous for The Powerpuff Girls. Supergirl seems to ask the question, “What if Buttercup from The Powerpuff Girls grew up, lost everything in Townsville, and is now in a race against time to save her beloved pet?” Ruthye seems to stand in as a demure Blossom, and there’s probably enough of Bubbles to go around for both of them. The style of the movie is signature Gillespie, a live-action rendering of his cartoon universes.

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Jason Momoa Brings The Boom

There’s also plenty of room for the boys. Superman makes an actual appearance this time, rather than having his picture peed on by Krypto, and it is clear that he is worried about his cousin. He wants her to embrace the planet as he has, but she isn’t having any of it because she is too bitter about losing Krypton.

However, the objective highlight of the trailer is Jason Momoa as Lobo. If there was any actor born to play this role, it was Momoa, who looks exactly like his comic book counterpart. His perfectly fitting appearance is nothing compared to what we get to see of his performance during this trailer as he rolls in on his skull-adorned chopper to trade barbs with the movie’s heroine. If this trailer is any indication of what his performance is going to be like, it won’t be long before fans are clamoring for a stand-alone spinoff movie centered on Lobo.

Filled with color that hasn’t been dampened by sepia, bright explosions, and really cool outer space scenes, Supergirl looks a lot more promising the second time around than it did the first. Hopefully, it delivers on the promises of its trailer.

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By Robert Scucci
| Published 15 seconds ago

With all the Harry Potter buzz lately, everybody’s writing about the franchise, its future, J.K. Rowling, and so on. I don’t really have anything new to add to the conversation, so this is my warped way of inserting myself into it. I’ve read the books and seen the films. They didn’t define my childhood, but I remember enjoying them. They’re fine, but they were one-and-done for me. I’ve never been big on young adult fantasy, but sometimes it’s nice to feel like you’re part of the zeitgeist, so you play along to understand the references.

This line of thinking led me to Tubi (home of Amityville Death Toilet), where you can stream The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens. This movie falls into the “mockbuster” category, meaning it was produced to capitalize on the success of the wildly popular Harry Potter franchise, and for no other reason.

This movie, in so many words, is a blatant Harry Potter knockoff that hasn’t publicly disclosed its finances, but I’ll describe as hilariously low budget. It’s filmed in Canadian strip malls, you can spot crew members reflected in mirrors, and the CGI looks like something anybody could throw together after a day or two button-mashing in Blender. Oh yeah, and Roddy Piper is basically a Hagrid/Dumbledore stand-in, so on all fronts this cinematic experiment is something you need to know about.

Codex! Scriptoria! Please! 

The entirety of The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens is narrated by Mandy Finch (Ciara O’Hanlon), the bookworm of the group, basically functioning as Hermione in this universe (yes, there’s a sequel, Billy Owens and the Secret of the Runes). Mandy recalls the events we’re about to witness, which immediately tells me they all lived to see another day, otherwise somebody else would be narrating.

We’re introduced to our hero, Willard “Billy” Owens (Dalton Mugridge), who, on his eleventh birthday, realizes he’s a wizard after buying a magic wand from Roddy Piper’s William Thurgood for $11.

Billy Owens learns that the magic word is “please.” Roddy Piper uses what looks like Microsoft PowerPoint technology to spell words like “Codex” and “Scriptoria” in his antique shop. There’s another kid named Devon (Christopher Fazio), who’s clearly meant to be a Ron Weasley surrogate, but his presence is so inconsequential that I’m only mentioning it to prove I actually sat through this entire movie to impress you. And I did without bumping it up to 1.5x speed for reasons I’ll never fully understand.

The kids learn that Sumerian prankster god Loki is going to seize their small town of Spirit River if they don’t intervene, so naturally, they go to the library, where they try to hide from a security guard by talking loudly and waving their flashlights around. There’s a CGI fire at William’s shop, and then there’s a dragon.

At one point, because there’s clearly no budget, Billy tries to get out of doing chores by waving the wand at his parents. You think something cool is about to happen, but instead his father just looks the other way and Billy hides under a coat. Everybody saves the day, and we get one of those “To Be Continued” cards, threatening us with a sequel.

You Have To Be A Special Kind Of Person To Subject Yourself To This

The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens is hardly a movie. Though its runtime is 84 minutes, the last 10 are bloopers and credits. The amount of nothing that happens here is insane, and the little effort that went into it is still disproportionate to the story it’s trying to tell. If you’re wondering who movies like this are made for, the answer is me. It’s so stupid that I can’t help myself.

Actually, now that I think about it, this movie does serve a purpose. If you’re one of the millions of people upset about the new Harry Potter trailer, just fire up The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens on Tubi to remind yourself that it could be so much worse.

The Valley‘s Zack Wickham teased more might be revealed about Amanda Batula and West Wilson‘s shocking romance.

“Well, I will say that one of our friends’ cousins was on a vacation,” Zack said on the Tuesday, March 31, episode of SiriusXM’s Smith Sisters Live. “And met [Summer House star] Jesse Solomon and he just told her everything and then she told me.”

Zack continued: “So, I’m like, if what he told her is real, then brace yourselves, America. Sorry Jesse, I didn’t mean to throw you under the bus. I’m not saying anything publicly, but oh, my God.”

Rumors swirled that Amanda, 34, and West, 31, were hooking up shortly after she announced her split from husband Kyle Cooke in January. (West, for his part, has had an on-and-off connection with costar Ciara Miller since 2023.)

Earlier this month, Amanda denied having any potential involvement with another costar. “It’s not going to happen. I’m not touching any of my cast members,” she said on the “Trading Secrets” podcast. “Love them dearly, but I’m good.”

West later said he was “just hanging out” with Amanda on an episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.

“She’s single now,” he noted. “That’s [a] very important person to me and I care about her a lot. That’s a friend.”

As the rumors progressed, Amanda and West confirmed on Tuesday that their relationship status changed.

“We’ve seen the growing online speculation, so while this is still very new, we wanted to provide some clarity,” read a joint social media statement. “It was never our intention to purposely hide anything. Given the complicated relationship dynamics involved and the scrutiny that comes with being on a reality show, we needed a little space to process things privately before speaking on it.”

Related: Summer House‘s Ciara Miller, Amanda Batula and West Wilson Drama Explained

The  Summer House cast drama is raising eyebrows with Bravo fans. Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke announced in January that they decided to separate after four years of marriage. “After much reflection, we have mutually and amicably decided to part ways as a couple,” their joint statement read. “We share this with a heavy heart […]

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Amanda and West broke down how their connection evolved from friendship to more.

“We’ve shown up for each other as friends over the years, through all the highs and lows, and what’s developed recently was the last thing either of us expected,” they continued. “Our connection grew out of a genuine, longstanding friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care.”

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The statement concluded: “As our feelings evolved, we wanted to take time to understand exactly what we were feeling. We also recognize that this has had an impact beyond just us and never wanted our actions to cause any hurt or be perceived as careless. We truly appreciate the understanding and respect as we navigate this.”

After news of their romance broke, a source exclusively told Us Weekly, that Ciara, 30, is “heartbroken by this,” adding, “Her and Amanda were very close and she feels more betrayed than ever by both of them.”

A second source told Us, “Ciara cut off both Amanda and West after finding out.”

Megan Thee Stallion has spoken out as more details have reportedly been shared about what led to her recent hospitalization.

RELATED: Winning On Stage & At Home! Megan Thee Stallion Shares Selfie With Klay Thompson Amid Her Broadway Debut (PHOTO)

More Details Have Been Shared About What Led To Megan Thee Stallion’s Hospitalization

On Wednesday, April 1, The Hollywood Reporter published an update on Megan, reportedly shared by her spokesperson. In the statement, the spokesperson asserted that “…Megan was transported to a local hospital to undergo a medical evaluation after experiencing concerning symptoms.”

“Doctors ultimately identified extreme exhaustion, dehydration, vasoconstriction and low metabolic levels as the cause of her symptoms. Megan has since been treated, discharged and is now resting. Megan is incredibly grateful for the prayers and well-wishes from her supporters and is looking forward to resuming her role as Zidler on Moulin Rouge on Thursday,” the statement concluded.

Furthermore, The Hollywood Reporter noted that Megan would not be returning to the Broadway stage for Wednesday’s show. Instead, she would return to the stage on Thursday, April 2.

Megan Thee Stallion Speaks Out As Social Media Reacts

Then, on Wednesday, April 1, Megan Thee Stallion took to her Instagram account to share her own statement about her hospitalization and condition.

“Last night was a real wake-up call for me. I’ve been pushing myself past my limits lately, running on empty, and my body finally said enough. It honestly scared me. I thought I was gonna faint on stage, I really tried to push through my performance but I just couldn’t. Hotties I wanna be real with y’all because you mean everything to me and I hate letting yall down 🥺 I just need one day to rest, reset, and take care of myself the way I should have been..I’ll be right back on that stage Thursday, stronger, clearer, and ready to give you 100% the way you deserve. Thank you for always riding with me and loving me through everything,” she wrote.

In TSR’s comment section, fans reacted to Megan’s statement.

More On Her Recent Hospitalization

As The Shade Room previously reported, on Tuesday, March 31, Megan reportedly hit the stage for Broadway’s ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical.’ However, shortly after the show started, she did not return to the stage and reportedly fell “very ill.” Ultimately, it was reported that she was taken to a hospital.

RELATED: Prayers Up! Megan Thee Stallion Reportedly Rushed To The Hospital In Middle Of ‘Moulin Rouge!’ Broadway Performance

General Hospital spoilers for April 06-10, 2026 find Sonny Corinthos‘ (Maurice Benard) big risk and Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) scrambling.

General Hospital Spoilers Wednesday, April 1st: Jack Impatient with Nina

So on Wednesday, April 1st, we have got Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna) really impatient with Nina. And Jack tells Nina that she’s got to decide which daughter she’s going to protect. It’s either Willow Corinthos (Katelyn MacMullen) or Charlotte Cassadine (Bluesy Burke) because Jack wants to find Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart) ASAP and is tired of Nina not giving him information he’s certain she can get.

Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota) has some new instructions to give out and I’m guessing it is to Cassius Faison aka not Nathan West (Ryan Paevey). Sidwell is telling Cassius that he’s done it brilliantly and has everybody fooled. Obviously, this is him taking over Nathan’s life, pretending to be James West’s (Gary James Fuller) dad and Maxie Jones’ (Kirsten Storms) ex.

Obviously, Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) knew who he was all along, which explains a whole lot about their lack of interactions and her anxiety when he showed up in town. We actually did a video on Faison’s fourth kid the other day and talked about it before it was confirmed on GH this week.

GH Spoilers: Cassius Warns Someone

Also, Cassius warns somebody and it may be Sidwell. You know, Cassius may be worried that digging too deep into this murder investigation and acting out of character could blow his cover, but of course, Sidwell is in a blind rage while grieving and won’t care.

Britt and Lucas Jones (Van Hansis) put the pieces together. I assume Britt’s going to tell Lucas that Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) smashed the vials of her meds that Marco Rios (Adrian Anchondo) had gotten and that that’s probably why Cullum killed him.

And in tears, Lucas is going to tell Britt that Marco’s death was all for nothing. You know, now they’ve got no way to get Britt’s meds. And unfortunately, Lucas saved that creep’s life in surgery.

General Hospital Spoilers: Laura Suspicious & Willow Stunned

Laura Spencer (Genie Francis) gets more suspicious and Ezra Boyle (Daniel Cosgrove) is telling Laura that Sidwell’s son being murdered has changed everything. I wonder if Ezra knows that Sidwell suspects Sonny. Of course, that won’t make sense at all to Laura because of the leverage that Sidwell has on both her and Sonny.

Willow comes to a shocking realization and I think she is starting to figure out that Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) and Kai Taylor (Jens Austin Astrup) may know that she was there the night Drew Quartermaine (Cameron Mathison) was shot. Willow’s talking out loud to herself and maybe to Drew. She’s got him in his chair in the living room and Willow’s wondering how Trina knew her ringtone for Wiley Corinthos (Viron Weaver).

GH Spoilers: Drew’s Surprising Memories

Also, kind of interesting that Willow’s not planning on keeping Drew frozen forever and does not know that Sidwell plans to kill him. Also some lack of continuity in the writer room at General Hospital because Drew already knows that Willow shot him. She confessed that directly to his face.

So, I don’t know why we’re acting like this is some kind of shocking reveal for Drew. Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson) tells Kai he hopes he’s not interrupting anything. And looks like Michael may show up to Willow’s office maybe to talk to her about Wiley and them spending time together as their son asked.

General Hospital Thursday, April 2nd: Sonny and Ric Go to Marco’s Funeral

Thursday, April 2nd, we’ve got Nathan getting new information. And this may be from the PCPD. I still think Marco’s murder weapon is going to be found because Cullum took it with him. And he was careful to wear gloves. And that could be used to implicate somebody.

Plus, Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) is a little thrown by an update he gets from Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst). And it may be about her and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) reconciling because we saw Dante and Liz kind of vibing.

Plus, something shocks Lucas. And I wonder if it’s hearing rumors that Sonny supposedly killed Marco because the math’s not mathing on that. And Britt may tell him flat out that she’s sure that Cullum stabbed Marco.

General Hospital Spoilers: Sonny Shocks Laura

During a tense conversation, Sonny shares a bold idea with Laura, maybe to hit Sidwell while he’s down. Sonny may also tell Laura they should both go to the funeral. We know for sure that Sonny is going. Also on Thursday, Ric reassures someone. Could be Liz, but I bet it’s probably Sonny because they know that he’s going to be looked at for Marco’s death.

Sidwell hates him and he was the one who nearly killed Michael. So, Ric is going to accompany Sonny to Marco’s memorial. This is Ric putting himself in the eye of the storm and taking a big risk to stand at Sonny’s side. So, I’m all here for the brother bonding.

Friday, April 3rd on GH: Sidwell Rages at the Funeral

On Friday, April 3rd, Molly Lansing Davis (Kristen Vaganos) heads into surgery for her endometriosis. And Cody Bell (Josh Kelly) is going to be right there by her side. He’s supporting her, encouraged it, let the vacation go so that he could be there for her.

And he plans to take care of Molly. He offered either at Alexis Davis’s (Nancy Lee Grahn) house or his, but I don’t think the stables are a good idea when you’re recovering from surgery. You know, horse hair in the air. Plus, there’s that spiral staircase, not regular stairs.

Sidwell is in a rage on Friday. And I think it’s because Sonny and Ric show up to Marco’s funeral. Kristina Corinthos Davis (Kate Mansi) is also at the memorial, but her coming to honor Marco makes sense because he saved Kristina’s life in that fire that Sidwell had started at the pub. Plus, Nina tries to make things right.

And I wonder if she’s going to tell Charlotte why she’s been asking these questions and just explain herself. We’ll see. Alexis makes an admission and this may happen at Marco’s funeral. Plus, Carly Corinthos Spencer (Laura Wright) listens as Sonny explains and this may be about why he went to Marco’s funeral to start with.

General Hospital Spoilers Week of April 6th-10th Spoilers

Then the week of April 6 through the 10th, we’re going to be learning more about Cassius Faison, the fourth Faison offspring, or as we’ve been calling him here for quite a long time, not Nathan. Laura and Sonny with an assist from Ric are going to try to use Sidwell’s grief to take him down while he is vulnerable.

Cullum, of course, didn’t see who shot him, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to accuse someone, most likely Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), since he already took the warrant out for him and wants to keep him locked down.

General Hospital Spoilers: Rocco Struggles with His Secret

Rocco Falconeri’s (Finn Carr) guilt eats at him. And I suspect that he may tell Charlotte and Danny Morgan (Asher Antonyzyn) despite being warned not to tell anyone. But Rocco may first come clean to Britt, knowing that she won’t judge him. And she’s also worried about Jason.

If he does, I think that Britt will warn Rocco about not Nathan because he’s supposedly his savior, but obviously he can’t be trusted. He is a Faison and not a changed one like Britt.

Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton) are going to find out if they get to foster baby Phoebe or if the hooker comment from Wiley has permanently ruined that. Carly is absolutely disgusted by Jack. First Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy), now she’s lost Jason.

Really, as far as she can see, Jack and the WSB are costing her everything important. And she’s going to be increasingly drawn to Valentin as a result. Very soon, Carly and Valentin are going to reach an agreement. And it may be friends with benefits of revenge and some bedroom action.

General Hospital Spoilers: Sidwell Pressures Jordan & Cassius

Sidwell pushes both Cassius and Jordan Ashford (Tanisha Harper) to get results where Marco’s death is concerned. Sidwell in his mind has already, you know, decided Sonny is it. And of course, it’s one of his own partners in crime. Britt feels like she has no hope and options with Jason gone and Marco dead and no medication.

Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins Bruening) gets closer to Cassius with no idea. It’s a stranger in her bed and not Nathan. Cody takes care of Molly as she recovers. Ric and Liz are going to get much closer soon. Looks like they may make it to the bedroom.

Sidwell pressuring Jordan has Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) concerned and Sonny and DA Justine Turner (Nazneen Contractor) commit to something between them, but tragedy is looming where they’re concerned.

By Jennifer Asencio
| Published 1 minute ago

HBO’s new Harry Potter show has received mixed reception since the trailer was released. Some people are really looking forward to Warner Brothers’ re-imaging of the property, while others have criticized it on a variety of grounds, such as HBO’s announcement that they can’t keep up with a season-per-year schedule and that fans might have to wait longer between seasons. However, not everyone is criticizing the show on its own merits or lack thereof.

In an article on The Verge titled “There is No Ethical Consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter Series,” writer Charles Pulliam-Moore makes the claim that the show being successful will encourage JK Rowling to write more Harry Potter material, thus putting more money in her pocket. This, he says, is objectionable because Rowling is “attacking transgender people via the legal system.” Therefore, “there’s no way to watch this show without supporting Rowling’s bigotry.”

Is JK Rowling Actually A Bigot?

Evidence of Rowling’s “bigotry” surrounds her defense of women in vulnerable spaces, such as crisis centers, changing rooms, and sports competitions. She has been heavily critical of the inclusion of boxer Imane Khelif in the 2024 Olympics under the women’s category because Khelif claims to suffer from a condition that saw him misidentified as a girl when he was born. She supported businesswoman Maya Forstater when Forstater sued a former employer for not renewing her contract because of her personal beliefs, which is a violation of the UK’s Equality Act. Transgender activists were immediately outraged and have been trying to cancel Rowling ever since.

After trying to explain that science and biology aren’t as simple as they are to validate the arguments against Rowling, Pulliam-Moore then discusses her advocacy in favor of women and girls. Rowling doesn’t subscribe to the slogan that “trans women are women,” and advocates for private spaces for people of the female sex; while she is accused of discriminating against all trans people, she does include trans men, who are of the female sex but present as male, in her advocacy. Her advocacy centers on biology rather than identity, which has been labeled “transphobic” by people who believe that identity takes priority.

An Existential Threat To Activists

However, to Pulliam-Moore, not including trans women among the female sex is “transphobic” and thus bigoted. He makes this clear when he argues against the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in 2025 that the legal definition of “woman” was based on biology and not identity, an effort that Rowling helped fund through donations and her own women’s advocacy organization. Pulliam-Moore found this ruling “problematic” and condemns Rowling for supporting it.

Pulliam-Moore admits Rowling could have engaged in her advocacy with or without the show. However, Rowling’s continued popularity and thus continued income are an existential threat to trans activists, who truly believe identity supersedes physical biology.

Reviewers Are Already Choosing Sides

Pulliam-Moore suggests that not only should nobody watch Harry Potter, but anyone who does is a bigot, or knowingly supporting bigotry. This is meant to poison the well against the upcoming series, a tactic we’ve seen “reviewers” take over again when they don’t agree with the political or cultural stances of some creators. Critics took this same tactic with Scream 7, they did it with The Pendragon Cycle, and now they are pre-emptively trying to do it to the HBO show. In all these cases, it has nothing to do with the merit of the work, but behind-the-scenes drama in which “reviewers” have clearly taken sides.

There are plenty of other reasons to be skeptical of HBO’s new Harry Potter show, but the angle The Verge chose was to warn potential viewers that watching the show categorizes them as bigots. Nobody who thinks like Charlie wants to be called a bigot, so this is expected to be an effective argument against watching the show.

Fan Blaming Is Losing Its Efficacy

However, this tactic has been tried before. Collectives of fans, cast, crew, and critics of various productions have blamed bigotry on the failure of a lot of shows and movies recently, including The Acolyte, Starfleet Academy, Buffy: New Sunnydale, and The Bride. It didn’t help.

As the strategy of fan blaming grows in popularity, it’s becoming weaker as an argument. The ouster of figures like Kathleen Kennedy from Lucasfilm and Alex Kurtzman (we hope) from Star Trek seems to indicate this. In the case of Harry Potter, The Verge’s attacks will have as much effect as the efforts to boycott the video game Hogwarts Legacy, which went on to become a best-seller.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 6 seconds ago

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk famously quotes from A Tale of Two Cities: “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” He quotes from the novel again in the final scene as a way of grieving Spock, who had given him a copy of the Charles Dickens novel. I’ve been thinking about these scenes quite a bit lately as I process my own feelings regarding another death altogether: that of Starfleet Academy, the Discovery spinoff that was canceled shortly after Season 1 ended.

That season inadvertently honored Dickens by being “A Tale of Two Star Treks.” Half of the series focused on vulgar banter, teen hijinks, and juvenile humor so stupid that it actively made you lose brain cells. The other half focused on interesting characterization, deep lore cuts, and engaging (if uninspired) sci-fi melodrama. Interestingly, these two versions of the show were split right down the middle. The first half was the dumb teen comedy hour, and the second half was NuTrek’s best attempt at classic Star Trek. The only reasonable conclusion is that Paramount had no faith in their audience, waiting to give us traditional Trek storytelling until it was too late.

A Tale Of Two Star Treks

Obviously, taste is subjective, but most of the fans I have spoken to agree that Starfleet Academy was much better in the second half of Season 1. Critical reviews generally echoed this sentiment, with various reviewers chiming in on which episodes felt the most like classic Star Trek. Even the online fandom generally agreed with this sentiment. While it was mostly verboten to criticize Starfleet Academy in online spaces like r/startrek, superfans of the show repeatedly suggested that, like The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, everyone should give this new show time to find its legs.

What made the second half of Season 1 better, though? Some fans liked the increased callbacks to old Trek, including a final arc involving the Omega molecule. Other fans liked the payoff to ongoing character plots, like Caleb finally reuniting with his mother. But my theory about the show getting better is far simpler: it dropped the juvenile humor. Suddenly, the cadets weren’t speaking exclusively in Zoomer catchphrases and focusing on intercollegiate prank wars. The digital dean wasn’t cracking jokes about boners, and we didn’t have scenes with half the adult characters laughing at a farting fish. Just like that, Star Trek suddenly started taking itself seriously again.

Paramount Is Sick Of Star Trek’s Core Audience

While Star Trek had moments of levity over the years (like all those gags in The Voyage Home), it has generally been a very serious franchise. Quite frankly, it never had all of the over-the-top, tone deaf comedy that ruined the first half of Starfleet Academy’s first season. Removing all the gross, teen humor (well, minus the space vomit) from the show is a big part of what made it feel like classic Trek and, therefore, appeal more to the traditional fandom. This leads to the obvious question: if fixing your expensive new spinoff was that easy, why include the humor in the first place? 

My theory is that Paramount simply didn’t have enough faith in Starfleet Academy. Maybe the execs were nervous about the premise being so different, or maybe they knew how much other NuTrek shows had driven away the traditional fandom. For whatever reason, the network didn’t think fans of shows like TNG and DS9 were going to show up for Starfleet Academy, so they decided the first half of Season 1 to appeal to the widest audience (the younger, the better). Hence, all the dumb jokes and juvenile bro humor were an attempt to give the spinoff more mainstream appeal. It didn’t feel like Star Trek because it wasn’t Star Trek: it was, simply put, a teen comedy in space.  

Paramount’s Plan Blew Up In Their Face

If this was Paramount’s plan, it backfired spectacularly. As usual, younger viewers didn’t flock to the latest show of a franchise that debuted when their grandparents were young. Meanwhile, the attempts to pander to everyone but the older fans managed to (shocker here) drive away the older fans. This is why Starfleet Academy was canceled: the network drove away the core audience while failing to secure a new one, leaving a series with only a handful of diehards tuning in each week. 

With SFA dead, Alex Kurtzman’s contract expiring, and Paramount about to buy Warner Bros, one thing is clear: the future of Star Trek is going to be very different from the NuTrek era. Whatever the future of the franchise looks like, we can only hope the writers stop trying to appeal to everyone but the fans. Drop the mass market appeal, drop the cringe characters, and for the love of God, hire some writers who know something about sci-fi. By focusing on well-written sci-fi drama and colorful characters, Paramount can finally recapture what made The Original Series and The Next Generation so awesome in the first place.