Men, you no longer have an excuse. It is now easier than ever for us to achieve woke enlightenment.
One way to begin this journey? Watch a funny show. It's called "Woke Bae," and it comes from Refinery 29's new comedy channel RIOT. Comedian and host Phoebe Robinson (one of the dope queens of the podcast 2 Dope Queens) and a rotating cast of comedian girlfriend co-hosts highlight a new guy each week who is "super hot, super smart and affecting positive change in the world."
Woke baes have included:
1. Actor Jesse Williams (Dr. Avery from "Grey's Anatomy"), for his public support of Black Lives Matter, for being on the board of the Advancement Project, for being the executive producer for Question Bridge, and for having really nice eyes.
2. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- also known as a feminist, supporter of Syrian refugees and ultimate desk yogi.
3. Actor, composer, rapper and writer Lin-Manuel Miranda who, in addition to breaking Broadway with "Hamilton," is an example of how it's "inspiring to people of color to see that they can be true to themselves and have the career that they want," as Robinson says in the video.
4. Aziz Ansari, the show's most recent woke bae, challenges Hollywood's history of racism and whitewashed casting choices, while repping feminism in his stand-up sets.
We asked Robinson how you can achieve "woke bae" status (and maybe even a shout-out on her show if you're famous enough and reading this) in four simple steps. Here's what she said:
Be good-looking. Dur. Haha. Sorry! But, also, looks count here and I would be lying if I said that they didn't. If you can't make me want to take it to the Bone Zone, I'm out.
Show me the receipts. And what I mean by that, is a lot of times, people come late to the party because something is trending -- like feminism is right now. And folks will say they are feminists without really understanding what that means and why they are on that side. So that's why it's nice when we highlight someone like Aziz Ansari, because he explained in an interview that he became a feminist because his girlfriend at the time broke it down for him, and then he did the work to research and understand the importance of feminism. So when he speaks about it publicly, he knows what the hell he's talking about. Or Jesse Williams. He's a big social activist and used to be a African studies teacher, and has been very vocal in his support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which is something not many celebs have done. So the key thing is there needs to be a pattern proving that you actually care about what you're talking about.
Give back! It's not enough to be hot and enlightened! You have to be trying to effect positive change in the world, whether that's teaching, raising money or using your platform to highlight issues that others may not recognize. Being selfless is really rad and helps move your cause along.
Pay me. I mean, I owe $42,000 in student loans and you can pay that off, you will be the #1 Woke Bae of all-time. (Totally J/K Simmons here. I cannot be bribed.)
See how easy that is?
What if all baes were woke baes? What a world that would be...
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