• NASA is rolling out the International Space Station's red carpet for Tom Cruise to make a movie in orbit. The space agency's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said before Wednesday's postponed launch of two NASA astronauts aboard a SpaceX rocket that Elon Musk's company is already getting customers eager to blast off. Cruise is one of them. Bridenstine said he'll leave it to Cruise and SpaceX to provide the mission details. "I will tell you this: NASA has been in talks with Tom Cruise and, of course, his team, and we will do everything we can to make it a successful mission, including opening up the International Space Station," he said. Asked about Cruise filming on the space station, Musk told CBS This Morning, "Actually, I think that remains to be seen. We are supportive, and I think NASA is supportive of anything that captures the imagination of the public." Bridenstine said NASA created "this commercial marketplace" so SpaceX, Boeing and other private companies can attract customers besides the U.S. government. "I don't admit this very often ... but I was inspired to become a Navy pilot because when I was in elementary school, I watched the movie Top Gun," the 44-year-old Bridenstine said. Cruise starred as Navy pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in the 1986 film. "The question is, 'Can Tom Cruise make a new movie that inspires the next-generation Elon Musk?' And if he can do that, then we're all for it. NASA is all in," Bridenstine said.
• NBC's Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon has apologized for doing an impersonation of fellow comic Chris Rock while in blackface during a 2000 episode of Saturday Night Live. Fallon tweeted on Tuesday that "there is no excuse for this." Discussion of Fallon's 20-year-old skit surfaced this week after a video of it was posted online. According to Variety, it was first posted on Twitter by a user named "chefboyohdear," and showed Fallon, as Rock, appearing on a talk show. Fallon tweeted that it was a terrible decision to impersonate Rock, also a former Saturday Night Live cast member. "I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable," the late-night star wrote. The Twitter user who posted the clip mentioned Megyn Kelly, who was taken off the Today show and eventually left NBC News after suggesting in 2018 that it was OK for children to wear blackface in Halloween costumes. She apologized for her remark. Another late-night comic, Jimmy Kimmel, wore blackface to impersonate basketball star Karl Malone while on Comedy Central's The Man Show 20 years ago. Sarah Silverman used blackface for a sketch on her Comedy Central show in 2007, a decision she later said she was "horrified" by.
A Section on 05/28/2020