Gorgeous Google Doodle celebrates Marsha P. Johnson for the last day of Pride Month

As a tumultuous Pride Month draws to a close, Google is marking it with a tribute to transgender artist, activist, and drag performer Marsha P. Johnson.

Johnson was a central and beloved figure in New York's gay scene from the 1960s onward, and is widely recognized as one of the first people to fight back against police harassing patrons during a raid on the Stonewall Hotel. This sparked the Stonewall riots, commemorations of which became Pride celebrations.

Alongside Sylvia Rivera, Johnson also founded Street Transvestite (now Transgender) Activist Revolutionaries, or STAR, to offer housing, food, and other assistance to trans and non-binary youth. She said the "P" in her name was there for when people questioned her gender or presentation — it stood for "Pay it no mind."

Johnson died in 1992, in what was officially ruled a suicide but believed by her loved ones to be a murder.

The bright illustration, created by L.A. artist Rob Gilliam, features ribbons of color (including the trans, bisexual, and genderqueer flag stripes, and a rainbow topped with black and brown(Opens in a new tab)) emanating from a march led by Johnson's iconic smile.

"As a queer person of color I owe Marsha so much," Gilliam said in a press release. "She was the catalyst for our liberation, the driving force behind the movement that has given many of us the rights and freedoms that we previously couldn't even dream of. Marsha created a space for us in western society through her empowering bravery and refusal to be silenced." 

Elle Hearns, founder and executive director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute(Opens in a new tab), envisions Tuesday's doodle as a pathway for more people to discover Johnson's legacy amidst the reckoning happening in American public life.

"This moment is a testament to our movement, and the amount of time and sacrifices Black trans people have made to contribute to something bigger than all of us," said Hearns in a statement. "I hope the collaboration between The MPJI and Google.org will serve as an opportunity for the world to interrupt its own fixation on transphobia and fear of redistributing wealth to communities that need it most. This is life-long work. Black trans women have always been here and will continue to be."

"Marsha knew that the true key to liberation was intersectionality," said Gilliam. "The original Pride movement pulled in participants from across the lines of class and race and sexuality and gender expression and united an entire community. Recent times have been extremely divisive, and it's far too easy to fixate on what separates us as opposed to celebrating the commonalities we share. I think we could all be a little more like Marsha in that respect."

Pride 2020 has been marked not only by restrictions on public celebrations due to the coronavirus pandemic, but also by the ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism. The demonstrations were sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade (a trans man), to name just a few of the unarmed Black people killed by police this year alone.

Remember: the first Pride was a riot(Opens in a new tab), and there are still #BlackLivesMatter and #BlackTransLivesMatter protests in the streets. Stay loud, all year round.

Related Video: The hosts of 'Queer Eye' reimagine the American dream

Police used ‘smart streetlights’ to surveil protesters, just as privacy groups warned

Well, we can't say we weren't warned.

San Diego police have turned a technology pitched on the promise(Opens in a new tab) of reducing traffic fatalities and tracking carbon emissions into a tool to surveil protesters. And yes, legal and tech experts saw this coming years ago.

In the midst of ongoing Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests following the killing of George Floyd, San Diego police looked to an unexpected source to gather surveillance footage: the 3,200(Opens in a new tab) so-called smart streetlights(Opens in a new tab) installed across the city beginning in 2017. So reports Voice of San Diego(Opens in a new tab), which, through public records requests, determined that in late May and early June the network of smart streetlights was accessed at least 35 times.

"Records obtained by VOSD show that the San Diego Police Department was primarily looking into incidents of vandalism, looting and destruction to property," reads the Voice of San Diego report, "as well as objects being thrown at passing vehicles or police."

While authorities' use of a supposedly progressive technology to monitor protesters might come as a surprise, it shouldn't. In 2017, the Electronic Frontier Foundation predicted the exact situation on the ground in San Diego today.

"There is an inherent risk of mission creep from smart cities programs to surveillance," warned the EFF in a blog post(Opens in a new tab) about a San Jose City Council smart streetlight proposal. "For example, cameras installed for the benevolent purpose of traffic management might later be used to track individuals as they attend a protest, visit a doctor, or go to church."

And if that wasn't enough, in 2018 the American Civil Liberties Union put forth a similar — and similarly on the nose — warning.

SEE ALSO: Encrypted Signal app downloads skyrocket amidst nationwide protests

"Many of these [smart city] technologies involve cameras that can be tasked with jobs that range from keeping track of traffic to monitoring when the corner trash can gets full," reads the ACLU blog post(Opens in a new tab). "In a city blanketed with cameras — including in LED light bulbs found in streetlights — it would be very easy for the government to track which political meetings, religious institutions, doctors offices, and other sensitive locations people go to and to focus its attention even more on traditionally over-policed communities."

In other words, the experts not only saw this potentially troubling use of smart streetlights coming, but warned the public about it as well.

Perhaps next time we'll listen.

5 trends that shaped TikTok in 2020, so far

In the last two years, TikTok has become a content machine. From its never-ending For You Page to its ability to spotlight new artists by making songs go viral, the platform's cultural influence is undeniable.

While early critics dismissed the app because its user base is predominantly Gen Z, it grew into a massive platform with 2 billion downloads(Opens in a new tab) worldwide.

Here are five major trends that shaped TikTok this year.

1. The rise (and fall) of the Hype House

Content houses aren't new — plenty have formed and dissolved YouTube friendships — but the Hype House(Opens in a new tab) was one of the first major collectives made of popular TikTok stars. The formation of the Hype House fueled rumors about new couples, breakups, and in-house feuds. Much like the drama of many YouTube content collectives, the drama of the Hype House garnered millions of views for its members. A legal battle(Opens in a new tab) between co-founders Daisy Keech, Thomas Petrou, andDaisy Keech fueled even more gossip about the group's dynamic. The massive amount of content made about the content house's drama cemented TikTok's place among YouTube influencers.

2. That one quarantine coffee

Remember the beginning of quarantine? When we all thought social distancing would only be necessary for a few weeks and everyone got really into baking bread? TikTok brought whipped coffee(Opens in a new tab) to internet fame. Also known as dalgona coffee, cloud coffee, or simply "TikTok coffee," the sweet, fluffy drink became wildly popular and widely shared on social media. As of Friday, the tag #dalgonacoffee has over 389 million views.

Related Video: How whipped coffee works, according to a scientist

3. Alt TikTok

While the mainstream end of TikTok feuded, the app's hyper-specific algorithm bred "Alt TikTok." Alternative, LGBTQ users rejected the popularity of major influencers like Keech and Hudson, and instead used the platform to share surreal videos inspired by Millennial Dadaist humor. From creating fake department store accounts to imagining Elon Musk' and Grimes' child's first words, the rise of Alt TikTok took everything weird and made it viral.

4. Protest TikTok

As the Black Lives Matter movement inspired protests around the world, American TikTok users began using a remix of Childish Gambino's "This Is America" to highlight police brutality against peaceful protestors. Following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white police officer, protestors took to the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They were met with violent use of force from police officers and the national guard. TikTok users used a version of "This Is America," which touches on themes of systemic oppression, racism, and police brutality, to show the excessive force police used against protestors. The sound quickly went viral, and became an anthem for protestors. TikTok became the go-to platform to stay informed about the protests.

5. TikTok users trolling Trump

The Trump campaign's ill-timed rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma — where the prosperous "Black Wall Street" was destroyed by white rioters in days of race-fueled violence — was widely criticized for taking place during the height of nationwide protests for racial equity. In protest, TikTok users called upon each other via viral video to reserve tickets for the rally so the campaign would expect an overflow of supporters. While the Trump campaign bragged(Opens in a new tab) that well over a million supporters had reserved tickets for the rally, a paltry 6,200 showed up to the venue that could hold 19,000. The president had to face a devastatingly empty stadium. To top it off, the campaign also has to contend with(Opens in a new tab) contributing to the spike in COVID-19 cases around Tulsa.

Lesson learned: TikTok may be lighthearted, but you'd probably want to avoid pissing off its user base in the future.

The 27 Guy Fieriest Guy Fieri tweets of 2020, so far

Logging on in 2020 feels a little like staring straight into the hot blaze of a giant flaming dumpster fire. But not everything online is bad.

It can be tough to scroll through social media these days without succumbing to a deep sense of dread, so we're once again here to remind you that Guy Fieri's Twitter account exists and can offer you a little comfort and comic relief when the world feels overwhelming.

Fieri has spent a good chunk of 2020 helping restaurant workers who were financially impacted by the coronavirus, but he and his Knuckle Sandwich team haven't stopped cranking out some of the most delightful memes on Twitter.

Here are 27 of Fieri's best tweets from 2020, so far. (We obviously expect more greatness to follow as the year continues and will keep you updated.)

1. Guy's first tweet of 2020, back when people still liked fireworks

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

2. The Simpsons / Triple D crossover we never knew we needed

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

3. Guyfield the cat

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

4. TFW you try Donkey Sauce

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

5. Fieri the frog sipping some tea

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

6. This absolutely masterpiece of an Office edit

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

7. Guy taking a page out of Dolly's book

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

8. Captain Flavortown

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

9. SpongeGuy FieriPants

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

10. Gotta taste 'em all

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

11. Guy will be there for you

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

12. Hey, look at this photograph

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

13. Vote Guy for Mayor of Flavortown

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

14. World's Best Guy

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

15. A dynamite game

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

16. Tiger King has nothing on the Flavor King

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

17. Guy's rollin' out and pickin' up the phone

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

18. Dying to shake some trees and collect fruit for Guy

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

19. The show all kids should be watching

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

20. Guy's a big Michael Jordan fan

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

21. Changed the times they have

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

22. Guy-der Man

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

23. Put him in, coach

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

24. Food Network, PLEASE make this happen

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

25. A painful year indeed

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

26. Guy Smash!

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

27. Guy's first voice tweet. Historic.

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Keep bringing your signature flavor to Twitter, Guy. The good people of Flavortown love you.

Scrabble tournaments may soon ban slurs, because they didnt before

In the latest instance of an organisation finally acknowledging racism is a thing they should maybe do something about, the North American Scrabble Players Association(Opens in a new tab) will soon vote on whether to ban slurs in tournament play. Because apparently the N-word was considered acceptable up until now.

The members of the NASPA's Advisory Board(Opens in a new tab) will vote on whether to expunge 236 offensive terms from its word list(Opens in a new tab) within the next few days, after CEO John Chew(Opens in a new tab) proposed the move on behalf of the Executive Committee(Opens in a new tab).

"I have felt for a long time that there are some words in our lexicon that we hang onto in the mistaken belief that our spelling them with tiles on a board strips them of their power to cause harm," Chew wrote in a June 20 letter(Opens in a new tab) to the association's members.

"When we play a slur, we are declaring that our desire to score points in a word game is of more value to us than the slur's broader function as a way to oppress a group of people."

Chew stated discussions concerning the use of slurs in Scrabble had been ongoing within the NASPA "for many years." The game had also previously been criticised(Opens in a new tab) for allowing bigoted language(Opens in a new tab).

However, this latest development only came about after a player in the NASPA's Facebook group(Opens in a new tab) asked what the association was doing regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. This prompted another player to suggest removing the N-word in solidarity, sparking "a spirited discussion."(Opens in a new tab)

"I couldn’t have found a bigger wedge issue if I tried," Chew told the New York Times(Opens in a new tab).

Some of that debate was recapped in Chew's letter, in which he listed reasons given for and against removing slurs. One of the arguments against it was that doing so would be "like tearing down statues of Confederate figures." This was also an argument for it.

Though Chew formulated the original list of potentially banned words, it was subsequently revised following invited input from the public. The list(Opens in a new tab) currently under consideration includes offensive words regarding ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, and disability, as well as anatomical and scatological insults.

Scrabble manufacturer Hasbro is not involved in maintaining the NASPA's word list, however the company does license the name "Scrabble" to the association. Speaking to the New York Times(Opens in a new tab), Hasbro spokesperson Julie Duffy stated the company will be changing the official Scrabble rules "to make clear that slurs are not permissible in any form of the game." The NASPA's decision will likely impact online versions of Scrabble as well, as the association licenses its word list to software developers.

Mashable has reached out to both Hasbro and Chew for comment.

It's good that spelling out slurs will probably be banned in Scrabble tournaments soon. However, it's also disappointing that there had to be global outcry before people stopped using racist, discriminatory language to literally score points.

UPDATE: July 9, 2020, 1:09 a.m. AEST Chew told Mashable the 236 slurs under consideration are derived from 73 root words, and that deliberation and voting could potentially conclude by tomorrow night.

"It's been a long process to remove offensive slurs, and the result is overdue," said Chew. "We made two big mistakes along the way: we accepted the argument in 1994 that there was no qualitative difference between a mildly offensive word like FART and the N word; and we thought that inclusivity meant giving voice to racists when making difficult choices.

"I am glad that we are finally in a position to be able to solve these problems, and am ready to move on to making a more meaningful contribution to issues of equity and inclusivity."

Also responding to an inquiry from Mashable, Hasbro spokesperson Julie Duffy did not provide a timeline for when the game would be updated to specifically exclude slurs. However, she did note that the company removed offensive words from Scrabble's official word list in 1994.

"More recently, we’ve been in discussion with the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) who have agreed to remove all slurs from their word list for Scrabble tournament play, which is managed solely by NASPA and available only to members."

Heres why Gabbie Hanna is all over TikTok

Gabbie Hanna, who first gained internet fame through Vine, is now the butt of jokes all over TikTok.

The 29-year-old Vine star turned YouTuber turned musician left social media this month after weeks of accusing YouTube of suppressing her content. Although her views and subscriber count has been dropping, per SocialBlade(Opens in a new tab), Hanna's YouTube channel is still publicly accessible.

Hanna is no stranger to controversy — she was widely criticized(Opens in a new tab) for associating with former Vine star Curtis Lepore, who plead guilty to sexually assaulting his then-girlfriend Jessi Vasquez. Vasquez, known online as Jessi Smiles, accused Hanna of being friends with Lepore's friends, who protected him when Vasquez accused him of sexual assault. She detailed the fallout between herself and Hanna in a 27-minute-long video in November 2019 titled "Gabbie Hanna needs to be stopped." YouTuber Trisha Paytas(Opens in a new tab) was also involved in the feud after Hanna allegedly told Paytas' then-boyfriend that Paytas had a sexually transmitted infection.

It didn't help that days before, Hanna tweeted that she wanted to be involved in a scandal because "views are down." But as Business Insider reports(Opens in a new tab), the resulting drama ultimately cost her 70,000 subscribers.

Given her online presence, it's no surprise that Hanna has previously been the subject of a meme. In 2018, a clip of her Genius interview about her song "Monster" went viral. To Hanna's credit, she leaned into the joke and posted a video(Opens in a new tab) reacting to the memes making fun of her.

Her poetry book Adultolescence was also criticized(Opens in a new tab) by both social media users and poets alike for its immature approach to discussing mental health.

Hanna's departure(Opens in a new tab) from the Vlog Squad, a group of popular Vine stars who began posting YouTube videos together, also fueled the rumors(Opens in a new tab) about drama between herself and other YouTubers. Other members included David Dobrik, Liza Koshy, and Trisha Paytas.

As the controversy surrounding Hanna continued, her view count and subscribers fell. In a series of tweets in June, Hanna claimed that YouTube shadow banned(Opens in a new tab) her, or prevented other users from seeing her content. She posted a screenshot(Opens in a new tab) of a YouTube search of her name in incognito mode, and pointed out that commentary channels criticizing her came up first over her own channel. Hanna furthermore claimed that her fans were automatically unsubscribed from her channel and that they weren't able to subscribe again. Although Hanna said she was discussing the issue with YouTube, the company has not publicly commented.

Hanna addressed her concerns in a YouTube livestream on Jun. 16. In the hour-long video, she compared YouTube to a manipulative, gaslighting partner and accused drama channel TeaSpill of defamation. While social media users have asked for proof that YouTube shadow banned her, Hanna has not provided evidence other than screenshots from searching in incognito mode.

"Say you've always suspected your boyfriend cheats on you, and you've never had proof," Hanna explained. "And then you finally find out... And it's this huge rush of release of, 'Oh, I'm not crazy.'"

On her podcast(Opens in a new tab) Box of Thoughts, she defended herself against her critics, which she decried as "bullies" and "narcissistic abusers."

"I'm not gonna show you the facts and the evidence because I'm 29-fucking-years-old," Hanna ranted on her podcast. "And I'm not gonna sit down and make a video with screenshots exposing my bullies. Those are bullies. These are high school fucking bullies and they wanna come at me saying, 'You're 29-years-old [with] how you're acting?' Fuck you. You're in your 30s."

She then quoted the lyrics from her song(Opens in a new tab) "Glass House," singing, "So point the finger, pull the trigger, throw them off your trail, you'll get yours eventually."

The two sounds went viral on TikTok, feeding the memes and criticism surrounding her.

In one video(Opens in a new tab), TikTok user countingschleeps mimicked Hanna's livestream rant, matching her cadence and rhythm. In another, a TikTok user laughed at excerpts of Hanna's poetry while her rant played in the background. Remixes(Opens in a new tab) of the rant with Meg Thee Stallion's "Savage" and controversial YouTuber Shane Dawson's livestream rant(Opens in a new tab) also went viral.

A clip from Hanna's 2018 spoken word poetry video(Opens in a new tab) "ROAST YOURSELF EVEN HARDER CHALLENGE" also went viral. In one, a TikTok user compared it to "whenever that one classmate gets too into the popcorn reading." In another, a TikTok user covered the song in Lin-Manuel Miranda's voice, adding it to the end of a Hamilton track.

As of Thursday, the tag #gabbiehanna has over 133 million views on TikTok. Hanna deleted her Instagram and Twitter accounts, and made her TikTok private.

YouTube has unintentionally shadow banned creators before. In March, popular vlogger Meghan Rienks revealed that her main channel had been hacked. When she successfully changed the password, the channel became inaccessible to viewers. Subscribers couldn't view Rienks' content at all. Her secondary channel was also taken over by a rogue beauty brand, Dexerto reports(Opens in a new tab), which began reposting content ripped from various makeup Instagram accounts. While Rienks did gain control of her channels again, she couldn't recover her backlog of videos.

But Hanna's case seems to be different, as viewers can still see her channel and all of her public videos.

While some of the criticism is justified, especially from former members of her inner circle, much of the pile-on is especially cruel. Hanna's viewership has been declining for years, and although she's found some success(Opens in a new tab) in her musical career, being embroiled in conflict has taken a toll on her reputation.

It's unclear whether Hanna will continue to post on YouTube. But it's clear that her content isn't resonating like it used to for the younger generation just now discovering her on TikTok.

Mashable has reached out to Hanna for comment, and we'll update this post if we hear back..

Disney Worlds reopening trailer gets an appropriately snarky response

If you're going to re-open one of the world's most popular theme parks during a pandemic, and in a U.S. state that is currently considered a hot spot, you're going to get dragged for it.

That's the response greeting Disney on Saturday as company leadership moved forward with a plan to fling open the doors to the some Florida parks, come hell or COVID-19. All the protective measures in the world can't keep park guests safe from an illness that has led to bans on large gatherings of people worldwide.

Predictably, Disney's mask-laden trailer(Opens in a new tab) released to hype the reopening of Orlando's Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom was met with scorn and snark on Twitter.

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Reports from the ground post-opening aren't terribly encouraging either. It doesn't mean that people aren't having fun, but it does speak to the challenge of maintaining social distancing in an entertainment venue that is literally built to cram as many people as possible together.

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Thankfully, the crowds do seem fairly small, beyond bottlenecks like the one described above.

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

Look. I get it. Lockdown months have been hard. And Disney World employs thousands of people, many of whom haven't been able to report for work since the parks all shut down in March. Those people need their incomes back.

That's balanced against concerns over how Disney corporate is handling the re-opening. Just in the past two weeks, the company not only stuck by its plan to re-open, it did so in the midst of a report(Opens in a new tab) revealing that returning workers aren't being tested for COVID-19.

Many people seem to feel that any protective measures at all still don't go far enough. Enforcing a mask requirement helps plenty (please wear a mask when you leave the house!), but things like that and social distancing are only deterrents. They don't fix the problem.

You want to show your support for Disney? Then respect the challenges park employees face as they return to their jobs and stay at home. Watch Hamilton on Disney+. And plan to vote in November, because the USA's bumbling response to this pandemic isn't going to change unless there's a power shift in Washington, D.C.

Sir Patrick Stewart marks his 80th birthday with 80th Shakespeare sonnet, of course

Remember back in March, when Sir Patrick Stewart's reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 went viral on Twitter?

The next day the legendary actor and unsung hero of Twitter posted another video of himself, this time reading Sonnet 1.

"When I was a child in the 1940s, my mother would cut up slices of fruit for me (there wasn't much) and as she put it in front of me she would say, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away,'" tweeted(Opens in a new tab) Stewart. "How about, 'A sonnet a day keeps the doctor away?' So, here we go: Sonnet 1."

Well, guess what? He's kept it going since then. And although Stewart hasn't quite managed one every day, he's still managed to work his way up to Sonnet 80 just in time for his 80th birthday on Monday.

"I had not realised that we were at a rather significant point in these sonnets. We just passed the halfway mark," says Stewart in a video posted Sunday. "There are still 74 to go. But not only are we at the halfway mark, we are at the point of Sonnet 80. And that has special meaning for me, because tomorrow, I am 80."

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)

"Thank you for tuning in, and I hope you will do the same tomorrow, and I will try and make the sonnet as cheerful and birthday-like as possible," he adds, before launching into the poem.

The rest of his readings can be found on his Twitter feed(Opens in a new tab), along with the glorious news that he's started work on a memoir(Opens in a new tab).

You really can't fault that man's dedication during a global crisis.