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Wendy Williams' Life Story on TV This Weekend
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Intermediate
Intermediate
FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2014 file photo, host Wendy Williams appears at the 2014 Soul Train Awards in Las Vegas. Lifetime's “Where is Wendy Williams?” documentary will air this weekend as scheduled after a New York court rejected an attempt to block the broadcast. The order signed Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 by a New York appellate judge says blocking the documentary from airing as planned on Saturday and Sunday would be an “impermissible prior restraint on speech that violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Wendy Williams' Life Story on TV This Weekend

February 23rd, 2024

Wendy Williams is a famous lady who used to host a TV show. There is a new movie about her life called "Where is Wendy Williams?" Some people did not want this movie to be on TV this weekend, but a judge said it was okay. The judge said stopping the movie would be against the rules about free speech. The movie has videos of Wendy and interviews with people. Recently, Wendy's doctors said that she is sick with something called primary progressive aphasia and dementia. She was also sick before with something called Graves' disease. Because she was sick, she couldn't do her TV show anymore, and another lady, Sherri Shepherd, got her own show. Some of Wendy's family members don't know where she is. They can't call her, but she can call them. The movie makers stopped filming last April because Wendy had to get help for her thinking problems. Her son said that her thinking problems might be because of drinking alcohol. Now, because of the judge's decision, the movie about Wendy will be on TV as planned.
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💭 Discussion Questions


1
. Who is Wendy Williams?
2
. What is the name of the new movie about Wendy Williams?
3
. Why can Wendy Williams no longer do her TV show?

📖 Vocabulary


🌐 Cultural context


Wendy Williams is a well-known American TV personality. Freedom of speech is a valued principle in the US, allowing many types of media to be shown. Dementia and aphasia are health conditions affecting memory and communication.

🧠 Further reading


Media portrayal of asexuality
Some people do not feel romantic attraction towards others. These people are called "asexual." It can be hard to find these people in movies, TV shows, books, comics, or games. Usually, these characters are not the main ones, and their asexuality is not clearly shown or talked about. Sometimes, characters that are thought to be asexual are not really said to be so. A writer named Lauren Jankowski said that when asexual people are in movies or on TV, they are sometimes shown as if they have a problem that can be fixed. This is not good because it gives people the wrong idea about asexuality. Some cartoons have asexual characters. For example, a character named Owen Burnett from a show in the 1990s was confirmed to be asexual. But, it is not common to see asexual characters, and they do not get much attention. In 2017, a group that watches TV shows and movies, called GLAAD, started to look for asexual characters. They noticed that one character from a comic is asexual, but he is not shown like that in a TV series. They also found one asexual character in a TV show called "Shadowhunters" and another one in a show on the internet called "BoJack Horseman." In summary, there are not many examples of asexual people in the media. When they are shown, it is sometimes done in a way that is not true to life. There is hope for better stories about asexual people in the future.

Legal aspects of file sharing
Sharing files means to give other people photos, videos, music, or documents over the internet. Sometimes, sharing files can be a problem because the files belong to someone else, who made or owns them. People use file hosting services to share files. One person can put a file online, and then other people can download it. But this can cause problems if the file is not supposed to be shared because someone owns it. In 2010, a big website called RapidShare was called illegal by the US government because a lot of people used it to get movies and music without permission. But a German court said that many people use RapidShare in the right way, and it's not fair to say everyone is doing something wrong. The court also said RapidShare does help by removing files that should not be shared if someone asks them to. In 2012, another big file sharing website called Megaupload.com was closed down by the United States because it was being used to share files that weren't supposed to be shared.

Mental Health Awareness Month
May is a special month in the United States because it is Mental Health Awareness Month. This has been happening since 1949. During May, people talk a lot about how to be mentally healthy, have events, and show movies to help others learn. A big group called Mental Health America started this month-long focus on mental health. They give out ideas and tools every year in March to help people get ready to share information in May. Each year, there's a new theme for the month. The goals are very important. People want to make sure everyone knows about mental health. They talk about illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder. They want to show what it's like to live with these conditions and share how to stay mentally well. They also focus on suicide, which can happen when someone has a mental illness. The month tries to make people think differently about mental health and not have bad ideas about it. The President even talks about it. Mental Health America isn't alone. Many groups do things in May for mental health. One event is for children's mental health. It is run by a group that usually helps with substance abuse and partners with other organizations. Besides May, there are other times in the year to talk about mental health for different groups of people or for certain mental health issues.