Category: Viral

Loneliness is one of the most dangerous health problems in the United States, although it’s seldom discussed. Psychology Today says loneliness has the same mortality risks as obesity, smoking, alcoholism and physical inactivity.

A meta-analysis from Brigham Young University found that social isolation may increase the risk of premature death by up to 50%. The problem with loneliness is that people suffer in silence and it afflicts the ones we don’t see.

A TikTok user who goes by the name Megan Elizabeth recently shared a touching story on social media about how her grandfather was feeling lonely so he reached out to her. The story shows what can happen when one person is brave enough to confront their social isolation and the important role grandkids can play in their grandparents’ lives.

It started when Megan’s grandpa texted her to ask if she’d like to come over for a sleepover. “I haven’t been feeling well and miss you. We can order food and watch a mystery show. Love, grandpa,” he wrote.

Megan was happy to go see him, so grandpa made a series of requests to make the sleepover a hit.

“Could you pick up applesauce? The cinnamon kind,” he asked. “And if you go somewhere with mash potatoes, I would like that because I have no teeth and can only eat soft things. Ha!”

He also wanted some strawberry ice cream for dessert. “Thank you. You are my favorite granddaughter,” he ended the conversation. Megan later noted that she’s his only granddaughter.

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Megan came by with a big bag of food and some ice cream and the two hung out and watched his favorite black-and-white “mystery movies.” When it was time for bed, grandpa hadn’t forgotten how to put her to sleep. He got her a glass of water to put by the bed in case she got thirsty and left a flashlight on the nightstand just in case his 29-year-old granddaughter got scared.

The next morning, at 5:30 am, he watched her leave for work.

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Grandfather and granddaughter grew up close to one another. Megan lived with her grandparents when she was young while her parents saved up money for a house. When they bought one, it was right across the street.

“I am so lucky to have grown up with my grandpa and my grandma (rest in peace),” she wrote on Instagram. “I feel so happy. I am thankful for my grandpa and he will never understand how much love he truly has shown me. And more importantly, the love he showed my grandma while she was alive. I believe in love and loyalty because of this man. He is my hero,” she added.

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Megan’s time with her grandfather made her realize a valuable lesson about her life.

“I think one of the most important realizations I have had recently is that it’s important to live in the moment but it is important to live in the now with intent,” she wrote on Instagram, “so that when you are 92, you look back and smile at all the people you loved, the memories you made and the life you chose to live.”

This article originally appeared on 04.27.22

While a catchy hook might make a song go viral, very few songs create such a unifying impact that they achieve timeless resonance. Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” is one of those songs.

So much courage and raw honesty is packed into the lyrics, only to be elevated by Chapman’s signature androgynous and soulful voice. Imagine being in the crowd and seeing her as a relatively unknown talent and hearing that song for the first time. Would you instantly recognize that you were witnessing a pivotal moment in musical history?

For concert goers at Wembley Stadium in the late 80s, this was the scenario.

The year was 1988. Seventy-two thousand people gathered—along with 600 million more watching along on their televisions—to see headliner Stevie Wonder as part of Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday tribute concert.

However, technical difficulties (or perhaps some divine timing) rendered Wonder unable to perform his act. Chapman had already played a three-song set earlier in the afternoon, and yet she agreed to step up to the microphone.

Armed with nothing but herself and a guitar, the shy and stoic Chapman captivated everyone to silence. And the rest is history.

Watch:

Using just a simple story, “Fast Car” conveyed a million different themes—the challenges of class and poverty, seeking escape from a small town and yearning for freedom and new opportunity. It’s easy to see why some find the song heartbreaking, while others find it hopeful.

After the Mandela gig, the song became a worldwide hit, earning Chapman Grammy awards and shooting her to stardom. What’s more, she introduced a new wave of socially-conscious music filled with gentle, yet brutally truthful introspection. Since that fateful day, her name is forever synonymous with a quiet revolution. We are quite lucky to get to experience it so many years later.

This article originally appeared on 2.2.23

Friday evening Russell Brand posted an alarming video on social media. In it, he tried to get ahead of what he called “extremely egregious and aggressive attacks” he claimed were forthcoming. Brand didn’t go into specifics, but he said they involved his height-of-fame days when he admitted he was “very, very promiscuous.” However, he maintained the encounters were “absolutely, always consensual.”

On Saturday details of those allegations dropped.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, four women have formally accused Brand of sexually assaulting them between 2006 and 2013, in a joint investigative report by The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches.

THR reports:

The first woman told the news outlets that Brand raped her against a wall in Los Angeles, where she was treated at a rape crisis center the same day. The investigation also found text messages between the woman and Brand. She messaged him, saying, “When a girl say[s] NO it means no.” The actor allegedly replied that he was “very sorry.”

Another woman alleged that the comedian assaulted her when he was 31, and she was 16. She explained that he called her “the child” during their emotionally abusive and controlling relationship that lasted for around three months. She claimed that he “forced his penis down her throat” and made her choke, only backing off when she punched him in the stomach.

A third woman told the outlets that Brand sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in L.A. and said he threatened to take legal action if she went public with what happened. The fourth woman also alleged the actor sexually assaulted her and was physically and emotionally abusive toward her.

In his pre-emptive video, Brand said that he was “always transparent about [his past behavior] then — almost too transparent — and I’m being transparent about it now as well.”

Brand, who’s leaned ever-rightward over the last few years, also denied claims that he was a “conspiracy theorist” or “right-wing” — while claiming that these accusations were part of a concerted effort to silence him.

“I’m aware that you guys have been saying in the comments for a while: ‘Watch out Russell, they’re coming for you. You’re getting too close to the truth. Russell Brand did not kill himself,’” Brand said, not getting into specifics about what “truth” he was unearthing or who “they” were. “It’s been clear to me, or at least it feels to me like, there’s a serious and concerted agenda to control these kinds of spaces and these kinds of voices, and I mean my voice along with your voice.”

(Via THR)

Dwayne Johnson has kept himself pretty busy over the last day. After making an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show in Boulder on Friday afternoon, Johnson appeared in his old stomping grounds on Friday night, as he joined McAfee and dropped a People’s Elbow on Austin Theory on WWE SmackDown.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this wasn’t the last time that The Rock made his presence felt in Colorado this weekend. The College GameDay crew is in Boulder ahead of the Colorado Buffaloes’ game against Colorado State, and prior to the game, Deion Sanders went on set to talk about the Buffs’ 2-0 start to the season. During his time on set, The Rock’s entrance theme hit, which led to Johnson joining Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, McAfee, and Sanders.

Sanders was especially excited to have Johnson come on set, perhaps because he knew that The Rock would cut a promo about why he’s doing something special in the world of college football.

“What Deion is doing right now — let’s talk about this just for a second, because we are witnessing something that is not only game-changing in the face of college football, but also, something that’s very special,” Johnson said. “And what that special thing is, is passion mixed with love mixed with disruption mixed with swagger mixed with confidence, but also, there’s an undercurrent here that Coach Prime is doing, is he’s changing the face of college football, and he’s doing it his way. But he’s also doing it in a way — and this is the hard part — that is galvanizing not only a town in Boulder, Colorado, but also galvanizing an entire country.”

After admitting that The Rock nearly made him cry, Coach Prime did what any good college football coach would do in this situation: used it as a recruiting pitch.

“All recruits, did you hear what he said?” Sanders said while the rest of the desk laughed. “We ain’t hard to find.”

Jenna Ellis may have had the cheeriest mugshot of the 19 defendants in Trump’s Georgia case, but in some way she’s the least happy of the lot. The former president’s former lawyer — who’s already had to endure Rudy Giuliani farts — was none-too-happy that he wouldn’t help her out with her mounting legal bills. And in a recent interview she went farther.

“I simply can’t support him for elected office again,” Ellis vented during an episode of her show American Family Radio, as caught by The Daily Beast. “Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong.”

After being indicted, Ellis tried to “live laugh love” her way through the indignity of being charged with racketeering and soliciting the violation of an oath by a public officer. Since then, it’s been reported that she was on the “tipping point” of turning on her former client, as previous Trump lawyers have done in the past. Ellis dismissed those rumors, though, saying that anything “genuine happening with me in the Georgia matter will come directly from me or my lawyers.”

In the meantime, Trump is still out there making gloomy speeches about what will happen if he, a guy who accused of helping foment a failed coup, doesn’t return to the White House. In a Friday address, he accused “cognitively impaired” Joe Biden of leading us into “World War II.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Travis Scott‘s fourth studio album Utopia has proven to be one of the most acclaimed albums of the year. And for the first time in three years, Scott will be returning to the road for a tour in support of the album.

While many fans are excited to see Scott on his upcoming Utopia: Circus Maximus Tour, the idea of a Scott production is giving many people pause, due to the Astroworld disaster of 2021. With the upcoming tour comes several questions.

Are Travis Scott and Live Nation doing a tour?

Live Nation is, in fact, sponsoring the Utopia: Circus Maximus Tour. Live Nation/Ticketmaster is the largest entertainment company in the world, and thus, one of very few event production companies able to handle a fanbase as big as Scott’s.

Still, many fans are worried about the idea of a potential repeat of the Astroworld catastrophe, which resulted in eight deaths and several injuries. Following Scott’s 2021 Astroworld festival in Houston, several attendees and their families filed lawsuits against Live Nation, with one plaintiff notably suing for $1 million in damages.

Live Nation has not indicated what measures they will take in order to avoid an Astroworld repeat, however, Houston is noticeably absent from the Utopia tour stops.

One of Donald Trump’s favorite attacks on Joe Biden is that, unlike him, he’s in cognitive decline. After all, Trump’s the guy who passed a “difficult” mental acuity test before he lost re-election. But is it possible the guy who can’t spell “rumor” or “hamburgers” is projecting? Based on a speech he delivered Friday, it sure seems that way.

In a gaffe-strewn address at the D.C. Pray Vote Summit, Trump unloaded on his likely 2024 contender. “We have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead, and is now in charge of dealing with Russia and possible nuclear war,” he railed.

“Just think of it. We would be in World War II very quickly if we’re going to be relying on this man, and far more devastating than any war,” he said.

Trump didn’t’ catch that he forgot about the other second World War, in a slip of the tongue that has strong Animal House vibes. Instead he amped up his gloomy predictions, saying, “There will never be a war if that happens— there will never be a war like this. It will obliterate everything there is, everybody, it will obliterate every country.”

There were other whoppers in his speech, too. At one point he accidentally said that polls have him crushing his presidential predecessor Barack Obama, which he caught, then tried to incoherently spin.

Meanwhile, the guy who’s supposedly in cognitive decline knows how to zing Trump in just a few words.

(Via Mediaite)

Lauren Boebert is a land of contrasts. On one hand she can baselessly accuse the LGBTQIA+ community of “grooming” children and exposing them to sex acts. On the other she’ll go to an all-ages musical and get handsy with her date. The MAGA lawmaker has seen a lot of blowback since news spread of her antics at a regional production of Beetlejuice on Sunday. Initially she denied vaping during the show, which security video taken that night later disproved. But now there’s proof that she did even more than that.

As per The New York Post, new video shows Boebert not only vaping during the stage musical take on the Tim Burton favorite, but also getting felt up by her date. She returns the favor, groping his crotch amidst an audience of family members.

Boebert’s date was later identified as a Democrat bar owner who’s hosted drag queen shows — the kind of event that’s been brazenly demonized by folks like the Colorado representative.

As the scandal spread, Boebert issued a carefully worded apology blaming her antics on her continuing divorce from a guy who once exposed his genitals in a bowling alley.

Many pointed out that crusading against people allegedly exposing kids to sex while getting frisky in front of kids might be a pretty solid example of hypocrisy.

(Via NY Post)

Saturday is a special day in the world of college football. ESPN’s long-running pregame show, College GameDay, is in Boulder for the matchup between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Colorado State Rams, and at the end of this edition of the program, GameDay institution Lee Corso will throw on headgear and make a pick, a tradition that has gone on since 1996.

This will mark the 400th time that the 88-year-old football coach-turned-broadcaster will end the show with a headgear pick, and to celebrate the occasion, the fine folks at GameDay decided to call up a friend and have him do something special. In a pre-recorded video, USC fan and former GameDay guest picker Will Ferrell congratulated Corso on the milestone before busting out some headgear of his own: the helmet that Ricky Bobby wore in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

It’s both very cool that Ferrell was part of this celebration of Corso and unsurprising that he decided to have some fun with the assignment. We’ll have to wait and see if they have him do another one of these with a different bit of headgear, like that little hat that Buddy the Elf wore in Elf or the hat that he wore during the Gator scene in The Other Guys.

Lauren Boebert is a land of contrasts. On one hand she can baselessly accuse the LGBTQIA+ community of “grooming” children and exposing them to sex acts. On the other she’ll go to an all-ages musical and get handsy with her date. The MAGA lawmaker has seen a lot of blowback since news spread of her antics at a regional production of Beetlejuice on Sunday. Initially she denied vaping during the show, which security video taken that night later disproved. But now there’s proof that she did even more than that.

As per The New York Post, new video shows Boebert not only vaping during the stage musical take on the Tim Burton favorite, but also getting felt up by her date. She returns the favor, groping his crotch amidst an audience of family members.

Boebert’s date was later identified as a Democrat bar owner who’s hosted drag queen shows — the kind of event that’s been brazenly demonized by folks like the Colorado representative.

As the scandal spread, Boebert issued a carefully worded apology blaming her antics on her continuing divorce from a guy who once exposed his genitals in a bowling alley.

Many pointed out that crusading against people allegedly exposing kids to sex while getting frisky in front of kids might be a pretty solid example of hypocrisy.

(Via NY Post)