Since Proposition 8 passed in California, much of Hollywood has been up in arms. Now, they are singing and dancing, too, in a new Web video called “Prop 8: The Musical.”
The video was posted Wednesday on www.FunnyOrDie.com, the video site co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. The site has found a niche in getting professional talent to quickly create topical comedy videos.
“Prop 8: The Musical” may be a 3-minute Internet video, but it has a blockbuster cast — including Jack Black (who plays Jesus), Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Margaret Cho, Rashida Jones and others.
Though Jesus doesn’t bring the two sides together, Harris has better luck. He argues gay marriage could save the economy: “Every time a gay or lesbian finds love at the parade, there’s money to be made.”
The video was conceived and written by Marc Shaiman, the Tony-winning composer of “Hairspray” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” McKay, who had previously collaborated with Shaiman on the song-and-dance routine Ferrell, Black and Reilly did at the Oscars earlier this year, sent him an e-mail floating the idea of a video.
As of Thursday, the clip had clearly ascended to viral status, with more than 1.1 million views on FunnyOrDie.com. Given the sensitivity of the issue, comments also have been flying, with well over a thousand posted.
Shaiman had been involved in a more serious debate over Proposition 8.
After voters approved Proposition 8, which changed the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage, it was revealed that Scott Eckern, artistic director of the California Musical Theater in Sacramento (the state’s largest nonprofit musical theater company) had donated $1,000 to the “Yes on 8” campaign.
Shaiman’s “Hairspray” had played at the theater and he said he would never allow anything he wrote to play there because of Eckern’s donation. Others protested and Eckern resigned in November.
In an interview Wednesday, Shaiman regretted that it came to Eckern losing his job and said: “It’s a tragedy for everyone involved. You’ll certainly see that no one called for him to resign.”
The video for Funny or Die was a lighter-hearted protest.
Shaiman wrote the piece in a day, recorded it the next and shot it in a single day last week.
“It was like, ‘Eureka! That’s right, that’s what I do!” said Shaiman of the mini-musical. “If I’m going to stand on the soap box, at least let me sing and dance.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More