"

Your best friend was born and raised in this town

and being born and raised in this town means loving basketball.

Scratch that- it means worshipping.

The game, the team, the fanfare of it all.

So when you go to a concert on a warm October night

and see the team there, you ask them if you could all

take a picture together and they say yes.

In 1977, Roman Polanski raped a 13-year old girl.

He was arrested and charged with rape by use of drugs,

perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts upon a child

under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor.

When he learned he would likely be facing imprisonment

and deportation, Polanski fled to France. In 2009, Polanski

was detained at Zurich Airport. While he was in custody,

over 100 people in the film industry publicly called for his

release in a petition. Since 1979, he has won twenty awards

for his filmmaking.



As the flash of the camera is going off, the shooting guard of the basketball team

who has rosary beads tattooed around his wrists

slips his hands between your best friend’s legs

sliding his fingers into her through her leggings.

In the picture, her mouth is opened into an “o”

of surprise.



In 1985, Bill Cosby allegedly raped Barbara Bowman.

42 other women have come forward with their

accounts of sexual assault and rape at the hands

of Bill Cosby, with the earliest incident dating back to

1965. Although accusations of sexual assault and rape

have chased Cosby for decades, it has not impacted his

life, career, or marriage. In 2009, he won the Mark Twain

Prize for American Humor and in 2010, he won the

Marian Anderson Award, which honors individuals

who have changed society through their art.



You keep asking what’s wrong and when she tells you,

your heart drops into your feet. 20 minutes later,

you watch him get kicked out of the concert.

So you follow him.



In 1990, Charlie Sheen shot his fiancé, Kelly Preston, in the arm.

Six years later, he was arrested for repeatedly beating

his girlfriend, Brittany Ashland. He pleaded no contest to battery

charges and got two years probation and a $2,800 fine.

In 2006, his wife Denise Richards got a restraining order against him

after repeated threats of violence from Sheen.

In 2010, he was the highest-paid actor on TV.



And you scream. And your best friend sits on a curb

across the street and she cries. And you scream.

And she’ll never talk about this night again.

And he asks you what the fuck you want from him.

And you say leave her alone leave us alone.

And you scream. And she cries.



In 2000, Eminem’s wife Kim Mathers attempted suicide

after he performed a song detailing his desire to violently

murder her while beating a blow-up doll on stage that was

meant to resemble her. During that same year, Eminem released

a song expressing hatred toward his mother and his longing

to rape her. “Just bend over like a slut OK Ma? Oh, now he’s raping

his own mother, abusing a whore, snorting coke, and we gave him

the Rolling Stone cover”. Despite a history of violence and songs that

are rife with misogynistic, abusive, and homophobic themes,

Eminem has won 15 Grammy Awards throughout his career and in

2013, was awarded the Global Icon Award at the MTV European Music Awards.



She didn’t ask you to touch her she didn’t want this

you have no right she didn’t want this how could you

how could you how could you.

In 2009, Chris Brown was charged with felony assault

for a vicious attack against his girlfriend Rihanna on the

night before the Grammys. Brown was sentenced to five years

of probation and 1,400 hours of community service.

In 2012, Chris Brown won his first Grammy. In 2015,

he sat in the audience of the Grammy Awards as

President Obama issued a PSA imploring the country

to help stop violence against women and girls.

“Artists have a unique power to change minds and attitudes,

and get us thinking and talking about what matters.”

That night, Chris Brown was nominated for the

Best Urban Contemporary Album Award.



Three months later, you’re watching a basketball game with your friends

and the boy with the tattoo of the rosary beads makes a 3-pointer

and your best friend looks away from the TV but that doesn’t stop

the stadium from erupting in cheers and they’re chanting his name

and they’re chanting his name and they’re chanting his name.

—

Fortesa Latifi - POWER PIGS

(MAKE A MOVIE

MAKE US LAUGH

DROP A BEAT



MAKE A THREE-POINTER

WE’LL FORGIVE YOU)