By now, you’ve probably heard about the racist backlash against the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” the GOT prequel “House of the Dragon” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” for casting Black actors. But hobbits and dragon riders aside, this is a story about so much more than casting decisions.

“We’re really talking about labor … who gets work gets to work in the entertainment industry. Who gets work as an actor. Who gets work as a director, as a producer,” said Adam Serwer, staff writer at The Atlantic. “And if you’re trying to push companies to be less diverse, in part, what you’re saying is you should not hire Black people, Hispanic people to do these jobs.”

On the show today, Serwer discusses the pressure media companies are under to conform to conservative politics, how it impacts the industry and what it says about this political moment.

In the Newsfix, more from the files of “this is what’s supposed to be happening.” This time, we’ll check in on the housing market and what high mortgage rates are doing to home prices. Then, women everywhere are feeling validated after a new study on COVID-19 vaccines and menstrual periods confirmed what many suspected.

Plus, Kai Ryssdal describes what it was like at Dodger Stadium when Albert Pujols made history with his 700th home run. Also, one writer explains what he got wrong about writing.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Fear of a Black Hobbit” from The Atlantic

• “‘Rings of Power’ draws racist backlash and threats, but Amazon and Frodo stand behind it” from USA Today

• Check out this Rolling Stones article about legacy of NWA’s “Fear of a Black Planet” album

• “Home prices cooled in July at the fastest rate in the history of S&P Case-Shiller Index” from CNBC

• “Women said covid shots affect periods. A new study shows they’re right.” from The Washington Post

• “Germany Suspects Sabotage Hit Russia’s Nord Stream Pipelines” from Bloomberg

• “Cardinals’ Albert Pujols hits 700th home run, becoming 4th player to reach the mark” from NPR

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