Category: Trending

Meghan Markle has been off social media (lucky) since 2020, when she and her husband Prince Harry made Piers Morgan more irrationally angry than any human has ever been by stepping down from their royal duties. But now that Suits is the biggest show of the summer, the Duchess of Sussex is allegedly planning her return to Instagram.

Page Six reports that Markle has already taken the first step by claiming the @meghan handle (the photo for the currently-private account is a stock pic of peonies, her favorite flower). If any advertisers want her help in promoting their weed gummies or coffee that makes you sh*t yourself, it’ll cost them.

“I don’t think Meghan coming back to Instagram will surprise anyone,” social media “expert” Eric Schiffer told the Daily Mail. “I would expect her to quickly become one of the most followed accounts on Instagram. You have celebrities like the Kardashians who can command $1 million and up for a single post promoting a product. There is no reason Meghan couldn’t be earning those sorts of fees. She has to be careful, as a duchess, to avoid being seen to be hawking every product under the sun. She will align with quality brands and companies that are on point with her political and social beliefs.”

So, probably not the weed gummies then, huh?

Kardashian is said to make nearly $1.7 million per promoted post, while Cristiano Ronaldo, the most followed person on Instagram, earns around $2.4 million. Markle won’t command that much… until she starts hawking kooky wellness products. Coffee enemas is where the real money’s at.

(Via the Daily Mail)

A white gunman shot and killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, over the weekend in an attack that’s being investigated as a hate crime. The shooter, 21-year-old Ryan Christopher Palmeter, was armed with a Glock and an AR-15-style rifle that had swastikas on it when he took the lives of Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Jerrald Gallion, 29; and Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19. “This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people,” Sheriff T.K. Waters of Jacksonville said.

The Associated Press reports that Palmeter, who killed himself following the shooting, “texted his father [during the attack] and told him to break into his room and check his computer. There, the father found a suicide note, a will, and racist writings from his son. The family notified authorities, but by then the shooting had already begun.”

On Sunday, Florida governor Ron Desantis attended a prayer vigil for the victims. The unsettling presidential hopeful, who loosened up gun restrictions in the state, was loudly booed. The jeering is so loud, it’s hard to hear what he’s saying in videos from the vigil.

Many in the crowd demanded DeSantis leave and some levied blame at him for the increase in gun violence.

However, Jacksonville City Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, who delivered remarks before DeSantis took the stage, stepped to ask the crowd to quiet down and listen. “It ain’t about parties today,” she told the audience. “A bullet don’t know a party.”

You can watch (and hear) the booing below.

(Via Mediaite and Associated Press)

Last weekend, Florence + The Machine canceled performances at two festivals, Pukkelpop in Belgium and Lowlands in the Netherlands, for medical reasons. Some may have suspected it was due to a foot issue, since Florence Welch broke one of her feet on stage in 2022. She has shared some more about what happened, though, and it sounds serious.

In an Instagram post shared yesterday (August 27), Welch wrote, “I’m so sorry that I had to cancel the last couple of shows. My feet are fine, I had to have emergency surgery for reasons I don’t really feel strong enough to go into yet, but it saved my life. And I will be back to close out the Dance Fever tour in Lisbon and Malaga. (Maybe not jumping so much but you can do that for me) Suffice to say I wish the songs were less accurate in their predictions. But creativity is a way of coping, mythology is way of making sense. And the dark fairytale of Dance Fever, with all its strange prophecies, will provide me with much needed strength and catharsis right now.

Welch has not yet revealed what caused her to need emergency surgery. The next concerts listed on the Florence + The Machine website currently are set to take place on September 1 and 2.

Selena Gomez’s new song “Single Soon” is about preparing for a breakup, so naturally, there’s been tons of speculation and theorizing about whether the song is inspired by one of Gomez’s famous exes. Some believe the track is about The Weeknd and the song’s opening verse certainly helps fuel that speculation: “Should I do it on the phone? / Should I leave a little note / In the pocket of his coat? Yeah / Maybe I’ll just disappear / I don’t wanna see a tear / And the weekend’s almost here.”

Gomez is putting all that to rest, though. Over the weekend, Hollywood Life shared an Instagram post that made note of the speculation about The Weeknd, and Gomez commented, “Couldn’t be more false.”

The Weeknd was on Gomez’s radar recently for a different reason: She caught wind of an AI-generated recording that made it sound like she was singing “Starboy.” She commented simply, “Scary.”

She also recently spoke about her classic hit “Who Says,” saying, “I was working with Disney at the time, and they were actually giving the song to another artist. I cried — I remember I was with my mom — because I loved the song so much. […] And so maybe it just didn’t work out with the other artist, but that was a gift to me that I did not know I needed. I love that song, and it has carried with me through my whole career, and I fought for it. So to be honest, I, to this day, need to hear it.”

Just months before Hip-hop’s 50th commemoration, De La Soul shared that their entire catalog would finally be available on streaming platforms for the first time. As one of rap music’s most impactful trios, fans jump for joy knowing that their years-long battle with former label Tommy Boy Records had finally ended. Unfortunately, beloved member Trugoy died before it could happen.

Now that their critically acclaimed bodies of work are available for all to enjoy, Maseo and Posdnuos addressed their fight to gain control of their catalog. The group discussed their lengthy legal pursuit in the teaser clip for their upcoming appearance on People’s Party with Talib Kweli.

“I’m going to be very candid and very real; it was like freeing the slaves but adding vagrancy laws,” said Maseo. Vagrancy laws were enacted to essentially make it a crime for an individual to loiter. For decades, vagrancy laws have been criticized as an attack on unhoused people.

With his statement, Maseo seemingly touches on the rumors that the group almost were given their rights to the past works but were told they wouldn’t be allowed to monetize it any further. This was at the root of online speculation after negotiations between parties were shut down in 2019.

Maseo continued, “[The deal] was almost like giving me a house that I couldn’t do nothing with… the wordplay in the contracts. I have a house I can live in, but I can’t sell it. I can’t control nothing [in it], but I can live inside of it. That just wasn’t going to work for me or my crew. It was another form of slavery, in my opinion.”

Maseo’s wife, Tina, played a critical role in his desire to push forward. “The more we continued to talk about it [I realized] we were talking about a new deal over old music and [look at] the age we’re at, at the same time… What future opportunity are we really talking about?.. The more I assessed this thing, we’re in a business where we are worth more dead than alive. So, it was really about negotiating that deal based on death and life. Knowing the realities of the business that we are in,” proclaimed Maseo.

He closed by saying, “It was a tough decision to make, but God was on our side. My wife was on my side, and it worked out for the best. It wasn’t even Tommy Boy that made it right. It was the new owners of the catalog that did. Tommy Boy… Tom Silverman would’ve never made it right.”

Watch the full clip above.

Miley Cyrus wasn’t joking around when she named her latest album, Endless Summer Vacation. The “Used To Be Young” singer aims to enjoy as much downtime as possible. Although fans hope she will change her mind and shock them with a string of shows, Cyrus is tripling down on her decision to no longer tour. In the latest video episode of her TikTok interview series, named after her new single, she gave followers more insight.

“Traveling as a cheerleader really set me up for touring. Like the show or the competition may only be for a day, but that’s what most people don’t understand about touring. The show may only be for 90 minutes, but that’s your life,” said the singer.

She continued, “If you’re performing at a certain level of intensity and excellence, there should be an equal amount of recovery and rest.”

Cyrus then revealed one of her most challenging discoveries about how touring impacts her. “There’s a level of ego that also has to play a part that I feel gets overused when I’m on tour, and once that switch is on, it’s hard to turn it off. Once you’re training your ego every single night to be active, that’s the hardest switch for me to switch off,” confessed the entertainer.

Then she confessed that touring isn’t even a focus for her now: “Having every day the relationship between you and other humans being subject and observer isn’t healthy for me. Because it erases my humanity and my connection; without my humanity and connection, I can’t be a songwriter — which is my priority.”

Before the clip concludes, Cyrus ends with a joke, “Have you ever seen a girl that’s been on tour for two years? They come back with facial hair. I’m telling you.”

Fans of Cyrus aren’t going to be too happy with the news, but with the explanation, she’s hoping they will understand.

Frank Herbert’s Dune saga is a weird one to turn into a film franchise, for a number of reasons. For one, there are some huge time jumps between some of the six books, meaning there are no consistent main characters. For another, they, uh, get a little weird! Indeed, they get so weird that after Part Two comes out this fall next March, director Denis Villeneuve will only do one more movie in the series, then he’s out.

In an interview with Empire (as caught by The AV Club), Villeneuve talks about the future of the franchise and his role in it. Right now a lot is up in the air. Just getting Part Two made was enough of a pain, though there’s enough excitement for it that there are at least “words on paper” that he’ll be back for Part Three, i.e., the series’ second, much more manageable book, Dune Messiah.

“If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream,” Villeneuve said. After that, though, he’ll move on to greener, less dune-y pastures. In part, that’s because from Children of Dune on, the series, in his words, “becomes more… esoteric.”

That’s putting it mildly! Without getting too into it, Herbert’s imagination really runs rampant as the series (or his part of it; he died after writing Chapterhouse: Dune, and the story continued thanks to other writers, including his son) trudges on. Okay, here’s one thing, which is fairly well-known already: By book four, God Emperor of Dune, there’s a giant human-sandworm who f*cks. (To bring that one to freaky life, we recommend rehiring David Lynch, who almost killed his career with the first big screen take on Herbert’s classic, even though it’s also pretty good.)

For now, though, the world still has to wait — even longer than previously thought — to see how Villeneuve tackles the back half of the first book, which is way too dense for one movie anyway. Then if all works out, he’ll move onto Dune Messiah, in which Herbert made explicit that what Paul Atreides did in the first book ain’t so grand — ideas Villeneuve seems to already be exploring in the second part of his adaptation.

Dune: Part Two [sigh] doesn’t hit theaters until March 15. Alas, it’s not the only Zendaya movie to get bumped due to the two-pronged Hollywood strikes.

(Via Empire and The AV Club)

MJF pinned Adam Cole to retain the AEW World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of AEW All In at Wembley Stadium in London.

After the bell rung, MJF and Cole hopped out of the ring and grabbed their tag team shirts from underneath the ring to a standing ovation from the audience. They grappled around the ring and MJF taunted with a strut across the ring. Cole answered with an ‘Adam Cole Bay Bay’ taunt of his own.

MJF poked Cole in the eye and Cole slapped MJF across the face as their partnership began to dissolve. Cole eventually pulled MJF’s shirt off of him and then raked the champ’s eyes. He set up for a super kick, but MJF countered with a clothesline.

MJF finally landed a dive to the outside, then in the ring traded near falls with Cole. Cole connected on MJF’s Heat Seeker before tossing the champ into the stairs. Cole climbed to the top of the stairs and landed a suplex on MJF on top of the stairs.

MJF beat the count and laid out Cole on the apron. He then pulled off the top to the announce table and set up for a tombstone before ultimately laying Cole down. MJF went back to Cole, but Cole slammed MJF into the table and landed a tombstone of his own. After rolling him into the ring, Cole got a two count.

On their knees, they exchanged blows before making it back to their feet and exchanging another series of shots. When they climbed to their feet, they called for a double clothesline, clotheslined each other and pinned each other for the three count and a draw.

Cole got on the mic and asked for five more minutes. MJF grabbed the mic and said no, that five minutes isn’t enough and said they’d go until there’s a winner. Cole accidentally knocked the referee out, and he immediately went to grab a steel chair. They tossed the chair back and forth before Cole faked being hit with the chair and MJF wrapped the chair around his head.

MJF then rolled up Cole for the two count before hitting the Heat Seeker for another two count. Cole then landed a german suplex on the apron. Cole hit the Panama Sunrise from the apron to the outside, but only got a two count. Cole set MJF for another in the ring, but he landed it on the ref after MJF pulled him into danger’s way.

MJF pulled out the diamond ring from his trunks and decided against it. Roderick Strong then climbed into the ring and hit MJF with a low blow. Cole took advantage and hit the Panama Sunrise before the running knee as he waited for the ref to get up. The ref counted two before MJF was able to kick out.

Strong tossed the championship belt into the ring, Cole took his shirt off, then tossed the title out of the ring. As MJF tried to pick up Cole, he got rolled up for the three count. After the match, MJF tried to give Cole the ROH Tag Championship, but Cole tossed it aside. They teased a split, but Cole ultimately hugged him and rose his hand to end the show.

AEW also announced it will return for All In in 2024 on Sunday, August 25.

Cole and MJF’s story is far from finished after the duo won the ROH Tag Championships from Aussie Open as part of Zero Hour ahead of the show.

DaBaby is working hard to regain traction with rap music fans. He’s even attempted to make amends with former friend Megan Thee Stallion following their private fallout. Over the past few months, the rapper has shared several freestyles and singles with supporting music videos. His latest video for the track “Ghetto Girls” is picking up steam but for all the wrong reasons.

On Saturday, August 26, an actor who was slated to appear in the video as the main antagonist accused DaBaby of being homophobic. The extra named Mustang took to Instagram to express his frustrations with DaBaby after he was supposedly edited out of the video due to his past work as an adult film star.

Read Mustang’s full statement via Instagram below.

So a moment of truth….No one is perfect and yet we are all flawed, we all have skeletons in our closets but there in the closest because none of us wont them out for whatever reason. I often times here (some ppl) of the LGBTQ community say live in your truth and while I understand that I think it’s a method for most of the ones saying that to be in yo business and know your business. Im not ashamed of what I like, love, may or may not do but I am a private person and have a right to my privacy and unless I’m involved with a person like that I don’t feel the need to walk around with a flag in my hand or a rainbow to let ppl know my business. My past decisions to do gay content and porn at the time was simply about the bag $$$ I didn’t kno ppl like that, I didn’t care about the hype of being a pornstar and while it brought a ok platform it brought me more turmoil than anything, it outted me, separated me from my family for a while trying to hide the truth of what I was doing at the time to make a living and a come up. It messed up friendships I had with ppl who didn’t kno about me , working relationships and all. At one point I almost committed suicide but I had a praying father and family and I kno God wasn’t through with me yet. So I fought sooooo hard not to let porn define me or put me in a box. I wanted my talents to be seen, I wanted ppl to see I was more than a sex symbol but I could be the best at everything I do. I was always taught if I don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all, don’t throw shade, don’t be petty and don’t be envious. If u see someone doing big things congratulate them, learn from them and grow. I have been told NO a million times but I kept being humble, I kept being professional, I kept being cooperative and easy to work with, I kept loving ppl, I kept giving,I kept building and I kept working and God allowed me to get the right YES everytime. I don’t believe in standing with a community of ppl who only come together to talk about your porn career, and bring you down at the highlight of your success. So I was canceled because of my sexuality and porn so to all who played apart, Thanks YOU DID YOUR BIG ONE.

After people online pushed back against Mustang’s claims, he doubled down in a separate post, writing, “They definitely cut me from the whole video because people couldn’t congratulate me or applaud. But had to bring attention to my sexuality which had nothing to do with the video or my performance. So to all the people who went out of their way to expose a part of my life that didn’t have nothing to do with this project, thank y’all for getting me canceled.”

Back in 2021, following his insensitive onstage commentary at Rolling Loud aimed at the LGBTQ community, DaBaby found himself in hot water with several queer entertainers and allies, including Elton John, Lil Nas X, and Madonna. After deleting his initial apology, he then issued another one reflecting on his actions.

Watch DaBaby’s video for his single, “Ghetto Girls,” below.

A father-daughter snowboarding session takes the cuteness up a notch, thanks to dad’s brilliant idea to attach a mic to his 4-year-old. Sweetness ensued.

Sporting an adorable dinosaur onesie, the “powder-saurus” glides through their “secret path,” warning dad of intruders. Cause clearly, it’s THEIR secret path.

As she does, she sings her song of resilience and courage.

“I won’t fall … maybe I will … that’s okay … cause we all fall.”

Truly powerful wisdom in such a tiny package.

@chasing.sage We mic’d up our 4 year old while snowboarding.🥰 #fatherdaughter #dadlife #snowboarding #micdup #cuteness #wholesome #familytime #raddad #fatherhood ♬ original sound – Chasing.Sage

One person astutely wrote in the comments, “this is the mantra we all need in 2022.” I mean … it’s accurate.

Another added, “this child gave a TED Talk about the power of positive self-talk.”

Indeed, “Shredder Dad” shares footage of our loveable snowboarding dinosaur making a few face plants, but she quickly bounces back. Nothing can stop her from her “weewhoos.” Nothing.

That is, until she becomes a “stuck-asaurus.” A truly relatable moment for all ages. Aren’t “indiscernible verbal struggles” part of the soundtrack of life? Still, she takes it all in hilarious stride, laughing all the way, and the positivity is heartwarming.

This video quickly put a smile on more than 6 million faces, and even got a comment from Walmart, which agreed that “we all fall sometimes.”

Turns out that there’s even more wholesome adventure content on the family’s TikTok. They even have a very thorough guide for teaching a toddler to snowboard here.

And by the way, yes, that dinosaur outfit does come in an adult size.

Next time you’re feeling down, just think of the powder-saurus song, and you’ll be back to “weewhoo” in no time.

This article originally appeared on 02.11.22