Content Consumed: Ramy, Tennessee fans, and James Corden

Hello! Happy Monday. Welcome to this late afternoon edition of Content Consumed. I’m happy to see you.

In today’s edition…
⚡️ Why I loved Bella Hadid’s performance in Ramy
🏈 R.I.P. to the Tennessee goalpost
🙄 James Corden proves cancel culture isn’t real
👀 If I was Jason Sudeikis’ PR person…

I actually loved Bella Hadid in ‘Ramy’

When I heard Bella Hadid would be featured in an episode of Ramy Youssef’s self-titled revelation Ramy in Season 3, I was hesitant. Could Bella actually be a good actress, especially in this dark dramedy about modern millennial Muslim identity? What experience does she have acting? Isn’t she really booked and busy?

My expectations for her character were perhaps misplaced. I thought the most sought-after supermodel of the moment would be a hot one-night stand for Ramy, or something of the sort, which Bella acknowledges in an interview: “People probably thought that my first acting job would be something super sensual and sexy.”

But nope: Bella plays the autistic—this label is never confirmed but heavily implied—girlfriend of Stevie, Ramy’s best friend who suffers from muscular dystrophy (as the actor, Steve Way, does in real life). She is intensely obsessed with The Office (making “that’s what she said” jokes every other sentence and dressing like a Scrantonite), cannot/will not drive, and really seems to like Stevie in the most innocent way.

And her acting was good! It was! Her monotone line delivery, spirited conversations about Islam, and connection with Stevie feel real and fit the character. If it wasn’t for her having one of the most recognizable faces in the world, I could’ve forgotten it was Bella Hadid for a moment.

Anyways, Ramy is a really really really good show, Season 3 has been amazing, and Bella went beyond the typical celeb cameo. This was no Chelsea Clinton in Derry Girls or Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones.

Also, one of my favorite GQ stories this year was a joint interview with Ramy and Bella. Read it here.

R.I.P. to the Tennessee goal post

One of my favorite sagas to follow on social media this weekend: the upending, the transportation, and the river-based funeral of the University of Tennessee’s goal posts.

How else would you celebrate a historic win over Bama?

Like a massive horde of ants, Tennessee students swarmed the field, ripped up the posts, and literally carried them on their shoulders out of the stadium.

Through the streets of Knoxville, the posts traveled with students. Until, finally, the posts were laid to rest. In the Tennessee River.

Tough news for the Vols: The Southeastern Conference hit the university with a $100,000 fine for violating the SEC’s “access to competition area policy,” citing the imperative for schools to ensure the safety of their fans and players.

Is it funny or sad that the Tennessee athletic department has started a fundraiser for new goal posts? At least the tweet requesting the cash was funny.

James Corden proves cancel culture isn’t real…

… Because he should’ve been canceled by now.

The most recent incident involves a popular NYC restaurant called Balthazar. Keith McNally, the owner of the establishment, has officially banned James Corden from dining at the hot spot.

In a lengthy Instagram post, McNally calls Corden a “tiny Cretin of a man and the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.” He goes on to detail specific incidents of Corden’s wickedness.

Other transgressions of James Corden that I consider a personal affront to myself and all of humanity:

• Starring in the live-action remake of Cats
• Thrusting his hips in a mouse costume in the middle of a heavily trafficked road during a flashmob in LA to promote the live-action remake of Cinderella
• Forcing his talk show guests to either “Spill Their Guts” or eat certain dishes that he’s called “really disgusting” and “horrific”—many of which are just foods from other cultures, like Filipino balut
• Doing a Reddit AMA, in which he barely answered anything and the feed was filled with stories from folks who have met him and said he’s a menace to be around (especially waitstaff at restaurants)
• Getting a Golden Globe nom for playing an offensively stereotypical gay man

I could go on. The stories about him floating around on the Internet are insane. He gives off Ellen vibes: nice on-camera, tyrannical off-camera.

How I’d proceed, as Jason Sudeikis’ PR person

In case you missed it, yet another revealing article has been published about the Harry Styles / Olivia Wilde / Jason Sudeikis affair.

It makes Olivia look like a suspicious child-abandoner with a passion for salad dressing, Jason like a drunk cuckolded over-texter who finds out about affairs on Apple Watches, and Harry like an enabler.

TLDR: Olivia and Jason’s nanny released a series of texts from both of them and they both look like absolute losers in the end.

Now, I think Olivia’s reputation has been damaged beyond control over the past couple of months, even as she keeps chatting and tries to backtrack on previous comments/issues again and again.

But I believe Jason’s reputation can be saved. Again, don’t get me wrong: they’re both losers. But let’s have a fun little PR exercise here.

1. Make season 3 of Ted Lasso super dark. Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) needs to make some serious mistakes where we question all of his moral principles. However, in the finale, he sets it right in a way that redeems himself to the audience but lets us know he’s a changed man forever with more inner conflict.
2. Off-screen, he must get darker too. Ben Affleck’s divorce style—NOT Tom Brady's divorce style. Not skeleton-y, more grizzled. Appearance is everything.
3. He needs to publicly apologize to the nanny for his behavior. It won’t be pretty, but it needs to happen.
4. There’s gotta be one massive profile piece that has everyone talking. Like that Jeremy Strong one in the New Yorker. It needs to be on the cover of a respected publication—Vanity Fair if we want to keep it entertainment-industry aligned or maybe the New York Times to make it a Bigger and More Serious story.
5. In that profile piece, Jason tells all. He can’t be disrespectful to Olivia or Harry, but he can be honest about timelines and feelings and such. And whatever he says, even if it’s very dark and negative, will be offset by his onscreen work as The Good Guy With Issues in Ted Lasso.
6. If none of the above works to help his public image, it’s time to go Villain Mode. A season-long arc in a show like Barry or Succession or some other HBO classic could do the job.

And that’s my plan. You’re welcome, Jason’s PR team.

Editors note: Thank you to my friend Eli for the inspiration for this story.

And that’s it from me today! Be sure to follow Content Consumed on Instagram for extra—you guessed it—content.

Cheers,
Casey