Nicole Scherzinger--former Pussycat Dolls frontwoman and now star of the Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard--just got put through a Struggle Session.

Her sin?

Responding to a Russell Brand post on Instagram. 🧵 Russell Brand, a former atheist who recently found religion, posted a picture on IG wearing a "Make Jesus First Again."

Scherzinger wrote "Where do I get this hat!!!?"

The backlash was intense and immediate.

It's tragic how politics has destroyed certain people--even entire industries.

I call this process Rapid Onset Ideological Deterioration...ROID Rage.

I can't think of a better illustration of this phenomenon than what happened to an ex-friend I'll call "Claire." 🧵 Claire and I met 20 years ago. I was hired as a guest artist at my local university, where she was a junior. She was beautiful, bright, charismatic and smart, while ALSO being a gifted actor, singer, dancer, AND instrumentalist.

I was smitten right away.

The key to genius isn't only intellect--it's imagination.

From da Vinci to Einstein, humanity's greatest minds have one thing in common: incredible inventiveness.

Here are 6 ideas to maximize your creativity in 2024 🧵 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 "𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗪 𝗨𝗣."

Children are effortlessly open, endlessly inquisitive, and bursting with imagination.

They love to play.
They love to explore.
They live in the moment.

To cultivate creative genius as an adult, see the world through the eyes of a child.

All of show business is struggling. It's not just Hollywood.

Major theatres across the US are also dying:

🔸Nearly a THIRD of their patrons are GONE

🔸Theatres are "pausing" seasons, laying off staff, or closing outright

🔸 Industry leaders reportedly have a running list of closures, which is updated routinely

🔸 Experts warn the industry may shrink by HALF over the next year

The Guardian, the LA Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Times have all reported on the collapse.

Based on what I've read, journalists and industry leaders are either being deliberately obtuse about this issue, or are pretending not to know what's wrong.

The few who DO know what's wrong say nothing because they want to keep their careers, clinging to the Titanic where at least it's still warm.

But I no longer have a career, so I'll point out the obvious for them:

THEY WENT SUPER "WOKE", AND THEN FUCKED THEMSELVES WITH RIDICULOUS PANDEMIC PROTOCOLS.

The collapse of the American Theatre is a cautionary tale, a culmination of the insanity of the past few years, and a prime example of what happens to an industry that values ideological conformity over robust debate. What's eye-opening about the theatre's collapse is they are scapegoating the pandemic.

But OTHER forms of live entertainment are not struggling with "post-pandemic recovery":

🔸 Despite a dip in ratings, the NBA and NFL report unprecedented live attendance

🔸 The WWE is reporting record ticket sales

🔸The UFC continues to grow in popularity and profitability

🔸 Live music is booming despite equipment shortages

Even online Influencers are selling out arenas, crowdfunding multimillion-dollar campaigns, and raking in money on a daily basis from their loyal subscribers while theatres cry about a LACK of donations and outdated subscription models.

COVID can suck but people are risking it to see live entertainment. The economy sucks but people are still spending money.

They're just refusing to spend their money on Theatre.

Flatly dehumanizing people as "lunatics" for criticizing the WuFlu shots ignores that many of those critics have gotten the shots themselves (and in some cases, previously championed their use), then changed their minds over time. For previously healthy people who had no health issues until they took the shots, it's perfectly rational to have questions; yet in seeking answers, they're dismissed and denigrated by people with an irrational inability to accept ANY criticism of these "miraculous" products.

If I were a White Supremacist, I wouldn't say so publicly.

Instead I'd use the education system, pop culture, & the press to demoralize generations of Black people into a sense of Learned Helplessness, so that their entire lives are spent seeking validation from Whites. I'd utilize the education system to indoctrinate young Blacks into believing that Whites are so omnipotent that even those who are long dead still exercise influence over their destiny.

This would create an inferiority complex from a young age.