Tag: Kerry Washington

Image Recently, Interview magazine published a conversation between the actress Kerry Washington and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accompanied by photographs of the young politician wearing a fitted blazer with wide lapels and green piping; a slim, matching set of trousers; and an elegant pair of black stilettos from Manolo Blahnik, the total cost for which was somewhere around $3,500. Just as the left spun into fury when Melania Trump boarded a plane to the Mexican border to tour a shelter for immigrant children wearing a jacket that read, “I really don’t care. Do U?,” the right found outrage in what it regarded as discordant messaging — a democratic socialist who looked as if she were going to Davos or Balthazar. Here was “someone who pretends to be a champion of the people,” as the conservative activist Charlie Kirk put it on Twitter, dressing in clothes worth a few months rent, all the while “saying the rich have too much power.” The hosts of “Fox & Friends,” had a great time telling everyone they didn’t own, or want, $600 shoes. Appropriating signifiers from across class lines is, of course, a standard political move used to memorable advantage by, among others, George W. Bush, who successfully masked his patrician origins every time he put on a pair of Wranglers, a cowboy hat and a barn jacket. While authenticity is a sought-after characteristic in contemporary American politics, its currency is fairly limited. It is hard to imagine someone like John V. Lindsay, coming up in today’s system, persuading the poor he understood their suffering while looking as though he had started each morning on the squash court. The imperative to mirror the demographic you are trying to court will always be called out as hypocrisy by the opposition when it seems phony or betraying and yet often it is simply the deployment of tactical ingenuity. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez needs the center-left — surely emboldened by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s primary victory last week — to warm to her, to imagine that she isn’t going to tear down the castles.

LOS ANGELES -- A jubilant Ava DuVernay was named entertainer of the year at an NAACP Image Awards ceremony that focused on the black community's power to create change. "This is our time," DuVernay said. Barris' show "black-ish" was the night's big winner. "Power" was named best drama series, and star Omari Hardwick won for dramatic actor. Other winners included "Gifted" actress Octavia Spencer and "Empire" star Taraji P. Henson, who were both absent, and Daniel Kaluuya, who won for his leading role in "Get Out." The special awards provided some of the night's most poignant moments. Halle Berry talked about the significance of presenting the NAACP Image Awards on Martin Luther King Jr. day. Beyond his union leadership, Lucy was also an activist who fought apartheid in South Africa. He dedicated his award to the Memphis sanitation workers who went on strike in 1968, several of whom were in the audience at the Image Awards. King spoke to the striking employees the night before he was assassinated.

Kerry Washington tells Seth that she loves to pretend she's best friends with the Obamas. » Subscribe to Late Night: http://bit.ly/LateNightSeth » Get more Late Night with Seth Meyers: http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/ » Watch Late Night with Seth Meyers Weeknights 12:35/11:35c on NBC. LATE…