Category: News

Many believe that one of the worst things the late John McCain ever did was inflict Sarah Palin on this country. In 2008, seemingly overnight, Palin—then the governor of Alaska—went from a pretty much completely unknown political entity to aspiring Vice President of the United States. And once she got a taste of the spotlight, she hasn’t wanted to go away, whether that means by threatening to run for office again or appearing on The Masked Singer.

But in the current moment, Palin has two bigger priorities: Her defamation suit against The New York Times, and spreading her current COVID infection across as wide a swath of New York City as she possibly can.

Palin sued The New York Times in 2017 over an op-ed which she claims falsely connected her to the 2011 Tucson mass shooting that killed six people and wounded 14 others, including politician Gabby Giffords. She is currently in New York for jury selection, which was set to begin this past Monday, but had to be postponed because Palin had tested positive for COVID. Yet that didn’t stop Palin from going about her normal daily routines, including eating out at Elio’s, a popular Italian eatery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

As Mediaite reports, Palin was seated in a heated, outdoor area for her Wednesday night meal, but had eaten inside the restaurant on Saturday night, one day before announcing that she had tested positive for COVID. Even if she was unaware of her illness at the time, Palin was still in violation of New York City’s dining vaccine mandate, which requires proof of vaccination for all indoor diners. Palin, of course, is notably unvaccinated—and proud of it. She previously, and rather short-sightedly, noted that she’d only get vaccinated “over my dead body” (at which point it would be too late, Sarah!) This bout with COVID marks the politician-turned-laughingstock’s second go-around with the virus.

The New York Times (of all outlets) reports that the city will not be investigating how Palin ended up sitting inside for a meal. And according to a statement from Elio’s manager, Luca Guaitolini—which was sent to Mediaite—Palin’s Wednesday night return visit was really more of a chance to apologize.

“Tonight Sarah Palin returned to the restaurant to apologize for the fracas around her previous visit,” the statement read. “In accordance with the vaccine mandate and to protect our staff, we seated her outdoors. We are a restaurant open to the public, and we treat all civilians the same.”

Jury selection in Palin’s case has been rescheduled for February 3. In the meantime, we have two words for Palin: Uber Eats!

(Via Mediaite)

Oh boy. After the green M&M caused a ruckus with her “more dynamic, progressive” look (admittedly silly new shoes) for 2022, there was sure to be comparative hell to pay when Minnie Mouse decided to take a break from wearing a dress. As PEOPLE reports, this is a special-event situation (for Disneyland Paris’ 30th anniversary events) where Minnie will leave her usual red-and-white, polka-dotted outfit at home and step out in a blue-and-white, polka-dotted pantsuit, including trousers and a blazer designed by Stella McCartney.

It’s not as though Minnie is ditching the dress. There’s no indication that this will happen at all, but as one can imagine, someone was going to be aghast. And over on Fox News, occasional guest (as well as Cardi B foe, Daily Wire host, and performative outrage artist) Candace Owens went off the rails while explaining how disturbed she felt by this new outfit, which she apparently feels is a travesty and a way to rewrite the social order and “destroy fabrics of our society.”

No, really. Candace believes that “they” (the Left) are trying to destroy what conservatives love in order to demonstrate progress and how the world is just fine despite inflation and so on:

“They are taking all of these things that nobody was offended by. It’s like they have to get rid of them and destroy them because they’re bored. You know, they’re absolutely bored. They’re trying to destroy fabrics of our society, pretending that there’s issues so everybody looks over here. ‘Look at Minnie Mouse. Don’t look at inflation, Jesse. Look at Minnie Mouse.’ The world is going forward because you’ve got her in a pantsuit.”

Because, as Candace insists, if people see “the real problem” being addressed (Minnie Mouse’s outfits), then they’ll forget all about empty aisles at the grocery store and the price of bacon. Owens’ argument is beyond parody at this point and just too much fun for people to enjoy dragging.

At least Owens gave people plenty to laugh about on this chilly January morning.

And as some people pointed out, it sure looked like Owens was wearing a pantsuit on Fox News while she complained about Minnie’s pantsuit. How bizarre.

Just because you still don’t know what the hell an NFT is doesn’t mean that Johnny Depp doesn’t understand them. Or maybe he’s just as confused, too, but knows that there’s some money to be made from them. Whatever the case: The Pirates of the Caribbean star is following in the footsteps of Lindsay Lohan, Ozzy Osbourne, and Michael Cohen (but not Home Improvement‘s Richard Karn) by getting into the NFT game.

As you may or may not know, in addition to being an actor, Depp has a number of side gigs. In addition to being the owner of West Hollywood’s (in)famous Viper Room, where he has often appeared on stage with the Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup he co-founded in 2015 with music legends Alice Cooper and Joe Perry. Depp also fancies himself a bit of an artist, and has often created portraits of his friends and loved ones, and it’s those images he’ll now be making available as NFTs.

As Page Six reports, Depp is selling more than 10,000 (!) NFTs of his art, which include a few self-portraits plus art of his daughter, actor Lily-Rose Depp. Among the friends and collaborators whose pop art likenesses will also be included are Tim Burton, Hunter S. Thompson, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, and Heath Ledger.

“I’ve always used art to express my feelings and to reflect on those who matter most to me, like my family, friends and people I admire,” Depp said in a statement. “My paintings surround my life, but I kept them to myself and limited myself. No one should ever limit themselves.”

According to Page Six, 25 percent of all proceeds will be donated to a host of charitable organizations, including the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, and The Gonzo Trust (which honors Depp’s longtime friend/hero Hunter S. Thompson). It’s the first time the public will get to peek at Depp’s artwork.

“Having the opportunity to salute my supporters and support the charities that have been so important to my family is an incredible gift,” Depp said. “I hope we can create a new community of friends around these NFTs. My involvement in the NFT space has just begun.”

The art, which Depp has dubbed “Never Fear Truth” NFTs, can be purchased here. Something tells us Brian Cox will not be among the buyers.

(Via Page Six)

“Speechless” isn’t generally a word one associates with perpetually butthurt Marjorie Taylor Greene. But it’s truly the best way to describe the controversial Georgia representative and noted conspiracy theorist’s reaction to being called out by a fellow Georgian while she was taking live calls on Night Talk, a talk show on UCTV, a Georgia cable access network.

Greene surprised pretty much everyone when she just sat idly by and listened to a caller note how terrible she is at her job. As Raw Story reports, the unnamed caller was short and direct with her comments when she called into the show to declare: “I just want to say thank God for Joe Biden. [Marjorie Taylor Greene] is an embarrassment to the state of Georgia.”

While Greene didn’t say anything, she smirked and threw enough side-eye at the camera to make it clear that she wasn’t amused. Go ahead and bask in this highly unusual moment.

While the co-hosts weren’t about to censor anyone’s opinion, they did want to sort of have the back of their unpredictable guest, so noted, “Well, we all have our opinions.”

“Amen to that,” said the caller. “And I’ve got mine.”

You can watch the clip below:

(Via Raw Story)

Britney Spears and Madonna were behind perhaps the biggest pop culture event of 2003 when they kissed on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards. Now, nearly two decades later, Madonna is interested in re-creating that moment.

During a recent Instagram Live Q&A session, Madonna was asked if she would ever do a world tour again and she responded, “Hell yeah, I have to. Stadium, baby. Me and Britney, what about that? Not sure if she’d be into it, but it would be really cool. We could, like, reenact the original kiss.”

As for Spears, her future with performing live is unclear. In late 2020, her then-lawyer Samuel Ingham reportedly insisted Spears would not perform live again until her father was no longer her conservator. Then, last June, a fan asked Spears in an Instagram Live broadcast if she’ll ever take the stage again and Spears responded, “I have no idea.” Even after Spears’ father was suspended from his role as conservator in September 2021, Spears was reportedly still in no rush to perform again.

Spears’ conservatorship has come to end since then and there has been no indication from Spears that she has plans to get back to performing live, so it remains to be seen if Madonna’s idea of a joint tour is enticing to Spears.

When was the last time you heard somebody complain about hipsters? Remember when that was a thing? When people complain about hipsters in 2022, they use a different word: millennial. Beyond the generational connotations of the term, “millennial” is also assumed to mean “trend-hopping city-dwelling striver in their 20s who older people find highly annoying.” That’s what “hipster” used to signify.

Hipster hysteria peaked around 2010. That year, New York magazine published an article called “What Was The Hipster?” that, perhaps presciently, indicated that the phenomenon had already peaked. Written in the dense language of an anthropological study, “What Was The Hipster?” included a section on the so-called “Hipster Primitive Moment” that “recovered the sound and symbols of pastoral innocence with an irony so fused into the artworks it was no longer visible.” Indie rock was singled out for leading “the artistry of this phase,” and certain attributes of notable aughts-era bands were enumerated — they have a thing for nature, they are bit a childish, they are obsessed with music of the 1960s, they are theatrical, they sometimes wear funny costumes, they are basically hippies (though likely won’t identify as such).

One band singled out in the article, of course, was Animal Collective, among the best and most acclaimed indie acts of the era, whose breakthrough 2004 album Sung Tongs was once described by Pitchfork’s Mike Powell (in far more sympathetic fashion) as a “children’s album” made up of “sing-alongs, nursery rhymes [and] lullabies.” AnCo’s cultural significance peaked along with that of hipster hysteria, with their most commercially successful LP, 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, which also topped that year’s Pazz & Jop critic’s poll in the Village Voice.

Of course, this being the age of hipster hysteria, there were also plenty of people who hated Merriweather Post Pavilion, an album that streamlined the anarchy of past Animal Collective releases with canny electro-pop hooks. This included the braintrust at the Village Voice, which ran a column adjacent to the poll (which was also topped by other “Hipster Primitive” acts such as Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors) admonishing voters for creating “the most whimsically insular prissy-pants indie-rock-centric Top 10 albums list in Pazz & Jop history.” But the conversation about Animal Collective went beyond merely debating their musical merits. Back then, people questioned whether people actually liked them, or if this was an illusion created by chattering nerds on the internet.

Some things to remember about this moment for those who weren’t around or have forgotten: The record industry was in free fall and presumed dead. Pop stardom seemed like it could be a thing of the past (sort of). Streaming had not yet arrived to save the day (sort of). Therefore, you couldn’t just peek at an artist’s clicks to get a sense of their reach. Meanwhile, terms like “monoculture” were still used with a straight face. Facebook was in the early stages of being adopted by boomers. People were just beginning to understand that the internet didn’t so much connect them to everybody as much as encase in them in a bubble with a select group of somebodies. The world we’re sick of now was busy being born.

In the gap between the collapse of the traditional media and the rise of our current social media-streaming-algorithm-clickapalooza, it really was hard to discern what exactly “mattered.” In a way this still happens today whenever someone distinguishes “Twitter reality” from reality reality or expresses pride in their ignorance over the latest TikTok fad. But in the age of hipster hysteria, the contempt for internet-fueled stars was rooted in genuine confusion over a rapidly changing paradigm. In the case of Animal Collective, whose thorny and unwieldy (and, at its best, mind-blowing) experimental pop at times seemed expressly designed to irritate listeners, the issue was compounded: Does anybody for real like this shit? was a sentiment felt by many.

You can feel that attitude permeating the Voice’s crack about “insular prissy-pants indie-rock.” But the complaints also came from inside the house. The blogger Carles, pranksterish proprietor of the zeitgesit-y blog (here’s that word again) Hipster Runoff, called Animal Collective “a band created by/for/on the internet.” While Carles’ mix of deadpan irony and genuine criticism could be difficult to decode, this was clearly meant as a putdown. “Where does Animal Collective realistically sit in this hierarchy of critical acclaim vs. pop appeal vs. actually selling albums?” he wrote in 2009. “I’m not sure if this internet-centric praise economy for Animal Collective means that they are ‘bigger’ than I think they are, or if we are just so caught up in what’s happening on the internet that we fail to realize ‘these conceptual bands don’t matter to most people and probably never will.’”

The sum total of the admonishments from the Village Voice and Hipster Runoff (among other combatants) coming at Merriweather Post Pavilion from different directions is that the referees were thoroughly worked. Never again would critics dare to put a group as strange, unpredictable, noisy, and polarizing as Animal Collective at the center of the conversation. Today, it’s painfully easy to see how popular things are. We live in a world in which streaming figures for any song are available for all to see. (“My Girls” has been played more than 43 million times on Spotify — not bad!) And this has established a hierarchy that has made it all but impossible for a band like AnCo to bug as many people as they once did.

It’s hard for me to believe that all of this didn’t affect Animal Collective. Formed in Baltimore in 2003, AnCo never seemed particularly comfortable in the spotlight, and being turned into a lightning rod must have felt like an odd turn of events for dudes content to screw around endlessly with floor toms and delay pedals. In 2012, they released their ninth album, Centipede Hz, and the consensus that it was a disappointment formed as quickly as the rush to declare Merriweather Post Pavilion a masterpiece had been three years prior.

When I interviewed Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, at the time, I asked him the same question several different ways: Did you do this on purpose? Are you intentionally trying to chase most of your audience away? And Lennox said “no” in several different ways. But I didn’t believe him then, and I’m not sure I believe him now. Animal Collective undeniably was entering a wilderness period. They put out another album, 2016’s Painting With, that also garnered mixed reviews. But by then the furor around the band had quieted considerably. Even the band members — Lennox, Dave Portner, Josh Dibb, and Brian Weitz — appeared more interested in collaborating on side projects and solo albums than laboring under the (the sometimes bothersome) Animal Collective banner.

Now comes Time Skiffs, the first Animal Collective album in six years, which comes out next week. I don’t know if this record will reach listeners beyond their cult of devotees, but it certainly sounds like an attempt by the animals to leave the wilderness. After two difficult (though in my estimation underrated) records, Time Skiffs is the sequel to Merriweather Post Pavilion that many fans probably would have wanted a decade ago.

What do I mean by that? Let’s start with the pair of songs that open the album. They are both bottom-heavy, harmony-rich, and immediate indie-pop songs with grabby choruses in the vein of “My Girls” and “Summertime Girls.” The basslines are slippery and the synths are warm and zippy. It’s pretty much as close to “normal” as Animal Collective gets, and it’s remarkable how much of Time Skiffs colors within those very same lines. As the album unfolds, tracks like “Walker” and “We Go Back” amble along at the same amiable mid-tempo pace. Animal Collective’s music no longer emulates the sonic meltdowns of Brian Wilson’s most drugged-out Smile outtakes. Time Skiffs signals the beginning of their Full House period.

Of course, sanding the rough and wooly edges from the music is a “for better or worse” proposition with this band. An essential element of Animal Collective — and what links them to the jam bands to which detractors once compared them as an attempted insult — is their willingness to fail in pursuit of some transcendent (or simply foolish) experiment. They were exciting because their music always teetered on the brink of a complete shit show; oftentimes, it was a deliberate shit show that the listener was asked to piece together into music in their own imaginations. The way that melodies suddenly arrive from out of the chaos before being swallowed up again in violent fits of screaming and percussion on masterpieces such as 2005’s Feels and 2007’s Strawberry Jam make those records exhilarating listens even now. It’s why I’ve come to appreciate even the maligned 2010s albums, which for all of their faults still throb with a pounding, unruly, and unceasingly questing energy.

Time Skiffs sometimes sounds a little, well, straight by comparison. What’s perverse about this record is that it’s the “accessible” comeback that arrives 10 years after the moment when it have had the most impact. We know for sure exactly how many care about Animal Collective now, and it’s a rather select group.

But if I may address my fellow Collectivists: They still are capable of sounding only like themselves. Yes, the album’s most experimental track, “Strung With Everything,” doesn’t hit the same dynamic peaks of Strawberry Jam. And the album’s prettiest number “Prester John” can’t approach the breathtaking ambient tunes on Feels. But if this album proves anything, it’s that the old assertion that these guys serve up “pastoral innocence infused with irony” was always a load of bunk. Animal Collective’s music has forever sounded to my ears like an attempt to move beyond conventional rock song structures in order to express pure and unfettered emotion, like peeling away the skin, muscles, and nervous system from the human body to expose the raw, primal, beating heat underneath.

There is something “child-like” about that, I suppose, though on Time Skiffs there’s no mistaking that this is a band with some mileage on the tires. What it does not resemble, however, is anything remotely “hipster.” Even back in 2009, when the biggest song from their biggest record was about being a dad, they were too earnest for that tag. Rather, they are like their namesake: wild, guileless, and free.

This week, Ray J’s name has appeared in headlines a few more times than he probably expected. It began with Kanye West’s claim that he gave him a laptop that held a second sex tape he made with Kim Kardashian. That report was quickly refuted by Kim’s team, who claimed that a that tape was not on the laptop. Now, we’re learning Ray J had a meeting with former president Donald Trump. According to Page Six, the two met at Trump’s resort Mar-a-Lago to discuss ideas for entrepreneurs and young business professionals. Ray J also wanted to raise awareness for the political issues he is passionate about.

“I’ve always admired and respected his business acumen,” Ray J told Page Six. “Our conversation was about job creation, encouraging small business development and how Information Technology plays an important role in the future of our economy.” He continued, “We also agree how important an educated workforce is, as well as the critical need of developing of young people. I’m ready to get started now!” Page Six also reports that Ray J and Trump already have a follow-up meeting scheduled so that they can begin to put some of their ideas into action.

Speaking of Mar-A-Lago, it was just earlier this week that Trump demanded that a crowd applaud him during an appearance at the club. A video showed him “appearing in front of diners at his Mar-a-Lago resort and getting absolutely no reaction until he waggles his little hands at them.”

Over the past few years, Joey Badass has taken a step back from his rap career to spend more time as an actor. He’s appeared in films and movies that include Grown-ish, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and Two Distant Strangers, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Now the Brooklyn native is ready to return to rap, as he recently released “The Revenge” and confirmed his third album will drop this year. While all that is happening, Badass also has some other unique things going on in his life.

During a recent appearance on Angela Yee’s podcast Lip Service, the rapper revealed that he prefers not to ejaculate during sex. “I’d rather not bust a nut, period,” he said. “Because I would rather preserve my lifeforce.” He continued, “When a man ejaculates, there’s a lot of things that leave your body. There’s blood cells, there’s testosterone, energy, you get depleted. They say it’s like an equivalent to running 20 miles when you bust a nut.”

Joey also noted that he’s been practicing semen retention for the past two years and that he considers himself a highly productive man who needs the energy to get through his days.

As for what’s next for Joey, he’s set to appear on Snot’s upcoming album Ethereal. He will also perform at this spring’s Smoker’s Club Festival.

You can watch Joey Badass’ full appearance on Lip Service in the video above.

Things are not looking so hot for Matt Gaetz. For over a year, the Florida representative and die hard Trumpist has been under federal investigation for his ties to a sex trafficking ring. The person who ran that ring, Joel Greenberg, has pled guilty and is cooperating with authorities. So is “Big Joe” Ellicott, a Florida shock jock and longtime Greenberg bestie who pled guilty to fraud and drug charges as part of deal with investigators. Ellicott reportedly has some dirt on Gaetz, too, and, sources tell The Daily Beast, he can reportedly confirm one of the more shocking parts of this whole affair.

That would be the claim Gaetz and others, including Greenberg, had sex with a woman they believed to be 19 back in 2017. She wasn’t. She was underage. At one point, Greenberg allegedly called Gaetz to break the bad news. But Greenberg wasn’t alone when he made the call. Ellicott claims he was also there.

It’s not known if Ellicott has yet to discuss the call with investigators, but if true, it would confirm a key detail from Greenberg’s confession letter, in which he claimed to have received an anonymous tip about the woman in question. After illegally accessing her records at the DMV, Greenberg said he rang up Gaetz, who Greenberg said was “equally shocked and disturbed by this revelation.”

If true, Ellicott could confirm Greenberg’s claims and debunk Gaetz’s denial. When asked about the allegations of underage sex, Gaetz replied, “The last time I had a sexual relationship with a seventeen year old, I was seventeen.”

In the meantime, Gaetz continues to act as though everything’s normal. Earlier this month he and Marjorie Taylor Greene shocked many by saying they were “ashamed of nothing” they did on Jan. 6, 2021.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Nicki Minaj fans hoped the rapper would deliver a new album in 2021. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, though she did drop some new music over the year. That included re-releasing her mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty with three additional tracks, such as “Seeing Green” with Drake and Lil Wayne. She also remixed BIA’s viral hit song “Whole Lotta Money” and delivered a collaboration with Polo G, among other artists. Now it seems Nicki is ready to share new music as per her latest announcement.

Minaj hopped on Twitter to share the release date of her first single of the year: On February 4, she’ll drop a collaboration with Lil Baby. While she did not reveal the title, she did share an image from what appears to be the song’s music video. “DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM,” she wrote alongside the image. “BABY X BARBIE,” she wrote, adding, “PINK FRIDAY” and its release date along with a number of emojis.

The announcement comes after Nicki Minaj appeared on murals around the country for Rap Cavier’s campaign “Rap Mount Rushmore,” which also featured Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Drake. As for Lil Baby, the song arrives after he and Future joined Rvssian for their collaboration “M&M.”