Back to blackface, back to business at 12:36
Discover more from Twelve Thirty Six
New Mom, Who Dis?, the Facebook Watch show with Jessi Cruickshank, went viral thanks to six-year-old twins. But they had to compete with Liberal MP Judy Sgro getting exposure for a YouTube interview with GBKM.FM, where she said the PM’s blackface was an expression of mutual affection. (Sgro then apologized for what she said.)
The search for a new smear
“Anatomy of a Manufactured Election Scandal” is the headline on a Toronto Star story that deconstructs a Conservative press release offering credence to Twitter chatter about Justin Trudeau’s 2001 departure from a teaching job. Canadaland’s Justin Ling made the case against a cover-up, to the chagrin of unyielding speculator Warren Kinsella.
Jagmeet Singh’s wife said that Rihanna following him on Instagram was better than their wedding day. Gurkiran Kaur supported her NDP leader husband sliding into RiRi’s DMs, even if he wouldn’t detail the exchange. Singh’s spot on CTV’s The Social generated the sort of likeable attention that seems likely to stoke more Liberal attacks on him.
This edition of 12:36 is brought to you by HelloMD
A service that helps Torontonians get medical cannabis from the comfort of their own homes, HelloMD is a California company that launched in Canada last year, with partners like Shoppers Drug Mart. Learn more at this link:
A short-lived shutdown story
Soufi’s will reopen on Friday, with assistance from Paramount Fine Foods. Earlier this week, its family owners closed their downtown Toronto café, alluding to threats stemming from son Alaa al-Soufi’s participation in a protest of Maxime Bernier:
Bell Canada defends defining some CTV content as community cable. The CRTC is questioning the use of national Bell Media celebrities to meet its obligation to produce non-commercial local content for video subscribers. Meanwhile, a partnership of CTV and Netflix will deliver a new wedding reality show with Jessica Mulroney: I Do, Redo.
Playing deep in the app trap
CBC is moving away from feeding Netflix, presumably in favour of its own streaming service, Gem. Similarly, the new CBC Listen app keeps the audio curation in-house:
The search is on for the next Margaret Wente. A new job posting from the Globe and Mail is for a full-time current events writer to “weigh in on the important social and political issues of the day.” Wente did that for almost 20 years until she took a buyout.
Finally, our new tabloid troll
Aaron Carter, initially known as the tween kid brother of a Backstreet Boy, is now a 31-year-old with a face tattoo. While brother Nick is concerned for his mental health, Aaron claims to have bought a house in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He described it as “A FUCKING CASTLE,” featuring maple syrup on tap. The home has been listed at $629,000:
