Are you racist, or am I?
✏️ Matt Walsh's new documentary on race · Transparency for me, but not for thee · Film rundown · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
We've got two great pieces today that couldn't wait, so we just smashed 'em together into one newsletter.
First, Jerod attended the premier of Matt Walsh's new documentary Am I Racist? and builds on the points made in the movie colored with quotes from everyone from Walsh to director Justin Folk.
Second, Megan interrogates why Freddie O'Connell elected to exclude the cost of the transit referendum determined by an independent auditor in the ballot language. In 2018, O'Connell and even then-council member Vice Mayor Angie Henderson supported putting the audit number on then-mayor Megan Barry's proposal. Transparency for thee, but not for me?
Onward.
The last place one expects to see The Daily Wire personality Matt Walsh is in a ramshackle biker bar on the outskirts of Hartsville, TN. But midway through Am I Racist?, he’s in the thick of it as he converses with the watering hole’s regulars, including a guy in a shirt that says, “Vaginaterian.”
In his trademark plaid and oversized glasses that peek out from his impeccably trimmed beard, Walsh resembles an erudite lumberjack more partial to Crossfit than Paul Bunyan antics.
But during this scene, he’s in disguise as a soy boy certified DEI trainer complete with man bun and skinny jeans, who hopes to get some deplorable perspectives on structural racism straight from the cis white male source. It’s a scene straight out of a Borat movie. Except that Walsh is much more generous than British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has proven when he transforms into a Kazakh reporter to expose America’s foundational racism and xenophobia.
But this group of ragtag country folk would never make the final cut of a Borat sequel. They welcome Walsh into the fray despite the fact that the character he’s playing is much deserving of an ass beating. They talk about tolerance against the backdrop of a Confederate Flag or two. They display no sign of the race hatred that legacy media claim runs rampant at the Trump rallies filled with people like them. In fact, they treat this abrasive liberal interloper with more hospitality than what everyday Walsh (or a prominent conservative like Matt Gaetz) would receive when minding his own business at a venue like The 5 Spot.
Since the trailer for Am I Racist? dropped this summer, legacy media outlets and their imitators have responded with vitriol that far exceeds their expected scorn, including Rachel Leishman’s article in The Mary Sue that devotes a feature to a second-by-second reading of said trailer. “Sadly, if you watch the trailer for this movie, you will be disappointed to learn that it isn’t someone making fun of Matt Walsh,” Leishman writes with all the expected nuance. “No, instead, it is the actual Bad Matt Walsh thinking he is unpacking what being racist means by mocking the ‘liberal’ ideology that we should unlearn racism.”
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↪ FLIP-FLOPPING FREDDIE ↩
On February 6th, 2018, Metro Council defied Megan Barry’s administration by adding an amendment to change the ballot language of the then-mayor’s transit referendum. Though Barry’s office lobbied to limit the language to the present-day cost of $5.4 billion, the council felt it necessary to include the larger, $8.95 billion, 15-year estimation on the ticket. In stark contrast, this year’s council passed Mayor O’Connell’s Choose How You Move plan without so much as a discussion during its three readings.
Six years ago, 21 council members, a handful of whom still serve in Metro Government, voted to attach the adjusted total to the ballot in the name of transparency. Fast-forward to 2024, and some of those same public servants—including Freddie O’Connell and Vice Mayor Angie Henderson—flip-flopped, furtively omitting the 15-year estimated cost of O’Connell’s plan from this year’s ballot.
Instead of disclosing the $6.9 billion long-term estimate, the mayor and council opted to include only the smaller, $3.1 billion present-day cost, and $111 million in annual recurring costs—similar to the figures Barry fought so hard to preserve on 2018’s ballot. So, what changed?
DEVELOPMENT
- Local developer plans 25-story Midtown tower, bringing novel concept to Nashville (NBJ)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and yearly festival guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 The Avett Brothers @ FirstBank Amphitheater, 7:30p, Info
🎸 Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $30+, Info
🎹 Opening Weekend: Rachmaninoff and Mahler @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $53+, Info
🎸 Musicians Corner @ Centennial Park, 5p, Free, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: September 13-19
The latest releases and special screenings hitting Music City this week. For a complete list of upcoming releases, check out our 2024 Film Guide.
Speak No Evil (Dir. James Watkins; Starring James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis) An American family finds their vacation descend into a hellscape when they visit the country estate of a British couple they met on vacation in this critically acclaimed remake of 2020 Danish horror film. Now playing in theaters.
Essential Coppola In the two-week leadup to Megalopolis, The Belcourt has culled together the best of Francis Ford Coppola’s oeuvre for a big-screen celebration. This week brings The Godfather Trilogy, Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut, and–our vote for the director’s personal best–The Conversation.
¡CASA BONITA MI AMOR! (Dir. Arthur Bradford) When “The Disneyland of Mexican restaurants” faces closure, the creators of South Park who made it famous in an iconic 2003 episode decide to save the beloved landmark in this off-the-wall documentary. Now playing at The Belcourt.
Am I Racist? (Dir. Justin Folk; Starring Matt Walsh) The Daily Wire’s deadpan everyman goes Borat on the DEI industry in a must-see movie for everyone on the political spectrum. Read our review here. Now playing in theaters.
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