The Rachel Divide; & Dissecting The Met Gala

It’s a week of controversy: Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who says she’s black, is back in the public eye thanks to a Netflix documentary, The Rachel Divide. What trauma led to her fraudulent ‘transracial’ identity? And why does Rachel refuse to back down? We called up gal-dem deputy editor and Guardian writer Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff to discuss the documentary - and whether or not Netflix were right to air it. 

Also on today’s agenda: the glitzy annual Met Gala and it’s ‘Catholic’ theme, courtesy of Andrew Bolton’s ‘Heavenly Bodies’ exhibition. From Rihanna’s papal mitre to Lena Waithe’s politically charged rainbow cape, via Jared Leto dressed as Jesus (God complex, much?) the dress code might have been crassly interpreted and as camp as Christmas, but does that make it offensive? We run the full gamut of opinions.

Last thing - the Chuckle Brothers have not fallen out. We repeat: rumours of a feud are false. 

[email protected] @thehighlowshow

Links

The Rachel Divide review by Doreen St Felix for The New Yorker  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-rachel-divide-review-a-disturbing-portrait-of-dolezals-racial-fraudulence 

The Rachel Divide on Netflix  https://www.netflix.com/title/80149821 

Does Anyone Have The Right To Sex? By Amia Srinivasan, for The London Review of Books https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n06/amia-srinivasan/does-anyone-have-the-right-to-sex

Sean Penn interview, by Emma Brockes for The Guardian  https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/05/sean-penn-some-of-my-best-laughs-have-come-out-of-the-worst-reviews

You Think It, I’ll Say It, short stories by Curtis Sittenfeld https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Think-Ill-Say-Stories/dp/052552777X/ref=nodl_

Patrick Melrose, starts on Sunday on Sky Atlantic

How The Met Gala Guests Tackled “The Heavenly Bodies” Theme, by Osman Ahmed for Vogue.co.uk http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/how-met-gala-guests-tackled-heavenly-bodies-them

Radio 4 Soul Music on God Only Knows  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b01jsk

Abi Morgan’s Desert Island Discs  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b01jsk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.