As the fictional character Oliver Quick (played by Barry Keoghan) showed off his happy feet, folks feverishly tried to recreate the footloose scene, including Ellis-Bextor herself. Today (February 18), Ellis-Bextor brought her best moves to the 2024 BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards) with a groovy performance of the record.
Although the film’s stars didn’t come out for a shocking moment, on stage, Ellis-Bextor and her army of dancers held it down, showing why the over twenty-year track will never get old.
During an interview with Brisbane Times, Ellis-Bextor shared her feelings about the track’s rise in popularity due to its feature in the film and the scene’s virality on TikTok. “You get very clever people like Emerald Fennell to sort of tap into the cyclical nature of things,” she said. “In the 1990s, we reminisced about the 1970s, the music came back, the fashion came back, and now it feels like people are repeating that with the 2000s. Either way, it’s very fun for me and Natasha [Bedingfield].”
Watch Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s full performance courtesy of the BAFTA Awards below.
INDIANAPOLIS — Jayson Tatum has steadily established himself as one of the NBA’s elite players over his seven seasons with the Celtics. On Sunday night he will play in his fifth consecutive All-Star Game, his fourth as a starter, and is coming off of a 55-point performance a year ago that earned him All-Star MVP honors.
All that is to say, Tatum has become a staple of All-Star Weekend and becoming the leading star on a franchise like the Boston Celtics comes with ample attention and responsibility. On Saturday afternoon, Tatum stopped by Ruffles’ activation at Nap or Nothing in Indy to interact with fans and give them a chance to see him up close, and as he explained when we sat down prior, that’s one of the most important parts of All-Star Weekend.
“I think it goes hand-in-hand,” Tatum said. “Like part of being an All-Star is the fans voting and wanting you to be here and I think being in some ways accessible and being able to come to things like this so they can see you and see your participation and see you actually are organic with the brands that you partner with. You know fans are smart, they remember things like that. Obviously I’m excited to be here with Ruffles and part of this Ridgeline experience, and any time you get to be interactive with the fans and give them a chance to be a part of All-Star Weekend and get a chance to unlock gifts and things like that. I think it’s just better for everybody.”
It’s all part of being in a leadership role with a team like the Celtics, which Tatum admits has taken some time for him to get comfortable with. As a naturally quiet guy, the star forward has had to grow into being a more vocal leader alongside the more natural “lead by example” tendencies to his work.
“Just doing it at your own pace, right. Everybody leads differently,” Tatum says. “I’m not the loudest guy in the room, but, you know, understand that your voice matters and people respect you by the work that you put in — show up every day, do your job, and when you have the right intentions. So just growing into your own skin, you know, through your experience in the league, people see that.”
On the floor, Tatum has gone from a helpful piece of a playoff team to the top star. While it’s one thing to make a leap into the All-Star conversation, it’s another to become a true superstar, the kind of guy that can be the best player on a championship team. That’s what Tatum is looking to prove this season, and when asked what it takes to make that leap, he quickly highlights one aspect of the game that’s crucial.
“Consistency,” Tatum explains. “Everybody can be special on one night or have a good month. But you know, can you do it for 82 games? Can you do it year after year after year? You know defenses are meant to stop you and you’re the main focus every night. Can you be efficient? Can you make other people better? Can you impact winning? When you’re doing all those things every single night, game after game after game, you’re doing something right.”
Since coming into the league, Tatum has known nothing but success at the NBA level. His Celtics teams have made the playoffs each season and have reached at least the Conference Finals four times in six years. However, with all of that success comes a lot of pressure now to not only get in the mix for a title, but to actually win a championship.
At 43-12, the Celtics have the best record in the NBA by a wide margin — four games ahead of Minnesota and six games ahead of Cleveland in the East. Regular season success isn’t new to Boston, but they do seem to be firing on all cylinders at the moment. It’s the second year with Joe Mazzulla at the helm, who like Tatum has been finding his way after suddenly being thrust into the lead role in Boston shortly before last season started. This year Tatum feels Mazzulla has been more comfortable in that position after having a full offseason to prepare and build out his staff, and that’s one of the reasons the Celtics have been able to be as good as they are.
“Getting that year under his belt, I think it was big,” Tatum says of his coach. “He got a whole offseason to prepare, he got the coaching staff and hired some guys that best fit him and the style he wanted to coach. And I think you’ve just seen him relax a lot more and he’s a lot more sure of himself and a lot more comfortable in his position as the head coach, and he’s taking responsibility.”
This year’s Celtics roster also looks different after a big offseason of moves, headlined by adding Kristaps Porzingis in a trade for Marcus Smart. That was a gamble by Brad Stevens and the organization to take away a player that was considered the heart of Boston’s locker room, their vocal leader, and perimeter defensive ace. They were banking on Derrick White thriving in that point guard role, Tatum and Jaylen Brown to embrace their leadership positions to keep things on track, and Porzingis to bring them a more dynamic offensive attack. To this point, that’s all worked out, with White having a terrific season, Tatum and Brown further adding to their roles as leaders, and Porzingis making them more dangerous.
Adding Jrue Holiday via trade only bolstered the overall attack more, and gave them another proven leader on both sides of the ball.
As Tatum explains, with their current group there’s no longer an easy decision for defenses. They can create more pressure points for the defense and to eliminate one of those, you have to give something up — and now that’s to a player well-equipped to take advantage.
“It’s tough. I mean, I feel like guarding us, you got to give up something. You can’t stop everything,” Tatum says. “And I think that’s what we were trying to build. Get the right guys in place in our system that you might have to give up something and you have to give it up to a really good player.”
Tatum and the Celtics know regular season success is no longer the bar they will be measured by — and even making it to the NBA’s final four isn’t enough. They are now a team that will be judged by championships. Tatum believes they are equipped to do that, noting they’re not just a talented group but one that enjoys playing with each other. In a few months they’ll get their chance to prove they’ve made the right moves as team to win and Tatum will get his chance to cement his status as one of the NBA’s premier players.
There was a massive jump in credit card fraud in America in 2021 due to the pandemic. According to CNET, fraud involving credit cards jumped 69% from 2020 to 2021, affecting 13 million Americans and costing $9 billion.
In a world where online transactions are part of everyday life, it’s hard to completely protect your information. But, by staying vigilant and monitoring your accounts you can report fraud before it gets out of hand.
A TikTok user by the name of Lauren (@absolutelylauren) from San Diego, California, got a notification that there was a $135 charge on her card at Olaplex’s online store that she hadn’t made. Olaplex sells products that repair excessively damaged hair. Before reporting the charge to her credit card company she asked her family members if they used her card by mistake.
“I don’t wanna shut my card down if it’s just my mom ordering some shampoo,” Lauren said in the video. “Definitely not my two younger brothers, they’ve got good hair but they don’t color it.”
After realizing the charge was fraudulent, most people would have called their credit card company and had their card canceled. But Lauren was curious and wanted to know who stole her information and used it to buy hair care products. So she concocted a plan to get their information. She called Olaplex’s customer service line asking for the name and address of the purchaser to see if it was made by a family member.
“Hey, can you help me with something?” Lauren asked Tanya, the Olaplex customer service agent. “If I can give you the time and date, purchase amount and card number and whatever could you let me know who placed an order?”
Tanya had no problem helping Lauren with her request.
olaplex customer service is top tier 😤 #creditcardscam
“At this point, I’m willingly giving Tanya enough info to steal my card as well — she could have very well taken advantage of me in that moment but she didn’t,” Lauren said. “She comes back — tell me why she gave me the little scammer their full government name and address.”
Tanya revealed that a guy named Jason in a modest suburb in Texas used her card to buy a gift for his wife. “They also did it on Black Friday so at least they got a deal I guess, it was the gift set,” Lauren continued.
Lauren then called her credit card company and shared the information she had on the fraudster. The card company is currently investigating the situation.
One commenter thought that Olaplex wasn’t supposed to share that information with Lauren. “For some reason, I don’t think olaplex was supposed to give that info,” Arae270 said.
“I definitely gave them the option, but I explained that it was an unauthorized purchase, and if the name did not match anyone that I knew that I would just tell them to cancel the order and refund me, I told the girl that they would probably save everyone, a headache!” Lauren replied.
People should use utmost caution before deciding to track down a credit card thief. But kudos to Lauren for being clever enough to track down the person who stole her card information to help the authorities with their investigation. She didn’t put herself in harm’s way and if someone follows up on the tip, maybe they can prevent the same thing from happening to someone else.
Donald Trump clearly adores Vladimir Putin, as he does all the world’s despots. But is the feeling mutual? Perhaps not. Last week the Russian president dragged MAGA star Tucker Carlson over the painfully boring interview he did during his dumb trip to Moscow. Now Russian State TV is tearing Trump’s super fans a new one.
Russian media mocks Trump supporters as “not very smart,” “rednecks,” and “primitive people” who you have to talk to with “cliches and dumb slogans.” pic.twitter.com/HW4jjWr7Zy
Per Newsweek, a clip from Friday’s edition of Meeting Point spread over social media, with subtitles. In it, Maxim Yusin, a Russian journalist and political commentator, went off on MAGAland.
“The majority of people who vote for Trump are not very smart primitive people with whom you need to talk like this, with cliches and dumb slogans,” said Yusin.
The remark prompted laughter from the fellow commentators, one of whom called Trump stans “rednecks,” comparing them to villagers who cry out for money.
Yet another commentator turned his derision towards Trump himself. “He shuffles around the same 10 words, such a bullsh*t that’s all,” he said. “This man is planning to be president again.”
Why is Russian State TV so down on Trump? He’s all but egging them on, promising he’ll allow the nation to invade NATO countries he doesn’t like. Meanwhile his lackeys in the House of Representatives, including Speaker Mike Johnson, are trying to block further aid to Ukraine. While they may appreciate the help, it seems clear they don’t respect them. Wonder why.
“Sun/Son” singer Jhené Aiko has made promoting peace, caring, and positivity a part of her artistic ethos. Unfortunately, in the court of law, one person is attempting to paint Jhené in a different light.
According to The Blast, Jhené Aiko is being sued for her alleged involvement in a 2022 car accident. In the filing obtained by the outlet on Friday, February 16, plaintiff Genelle Ligot accused Aiko of being reckless behind the wheel. Ligot suggested that Aiko’s negligence led to their July 2022 crash in Encino, California.
While at a traffic light, Ligot claims that Aiko struck her vehicle from behind, which reportedly resulted in bodily injury and, consequently, loss of wages. “Due to the negligent actions of [Aiko] while operating the motor vehicle, [Ligot] was injured in health, strength, and activity,” reads the legal documents.
Outside of the wage loss, Ligot listed that she also suffered: ‘Loss of use of property and loss of earning capacity.” Although Ligot’s financial demand amount was not included in the paperwork, she clarified that she is seeking compensation for hospital and medical expenses, general damage, property damage, and the loss of wages.
Ligot has requested a jury should the case go to trial.
Jhené Aiko has not issued a statement regarding the incident.
But even when she isn’t trying, fans find themselves cackling at Adele, as seen in the plethora of viral memes starring the entertainer. Yesterday (February 17), during her latest performance, Adele explained the origins of the viral meme of her courtside at the 2022 NBA All-Star festivities. In short, the still taken from a clip during the broadcast was due to her extreme discomfort.
Do you remember that viral meme of me looking like I don’t give a flying f*ck. I’d like to give some context to that meme. I know it sounds crazy, but I really don’t like being famous, right? So obviously, I know I’m sitting courtside at a basketball game, whatever. But Rich [Paul] was working the room and, you know, talking to other players and people. I was fine. I didn’t mind. I was just there on my own, looking for Michael Jordan, to be honest with you.
So, the people with the camera came over and asked me twice. They were like, ‘Do you mind if we film you? Can we put you on the screen?’ I said, ‘Please don’t. I just canceled [my] Las Vegas [residency]. I really don’t wanna be [on camera]. They came back and they filmed me. So, the reason my lips look like I had filler, because I have naturally big lips…I don’t need filler. The reason I looked like a different person was because I was sulking. Because I was like, ‘These motherf*ckers have come back and are filming me against my will.’
I didn’t know they were airing it on TV. I thought it was just in the room, you know. But anyway, I just wanted to give some context. Because I was ignoring looking everywhere but in the camera. I was very annoyed because I asked not to be filmed. Also my face is very memeable. I can’t help it.
On Saturday bad Valentine’s Day gifter Donald Trump reached a weird new low in self-parody: He hawked gold sneakers. The former president crashed Philadelphia’s Sneaker Con, where, amidst a sea of cheers and boos, he showed the crowd a new line of expensive Trump-brand kicks, including a pair that runs $400. The move earned instant mockery, including from the current president’s team.
Per Mediaite, shortly after Trump unveiled his gold shoes, the Biden-Harris campaign’s communications director, Michael Tyler, fired off a meme dragging his latest stunt, writing, “Donald Trump showing up to hawk bootleg Off-Whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life.”
Trump’s pricey sneakers — which come in three kinds, the most expensive bearing the color gold, just like his toilets — happened to be unveiled the day after he was ordered to pay nearly $355 million (plus interest) after being found liable for fraud. What’s more, he’s banned from doing business in his home state of New York for three years.
Alas, these expensive gold sneakers won’t likely make a dent in that sum. The sneaker aren’t Trump products but rather the result of a licensing deal with a joint called 45Sneakers, which also put out a line of Trump fragrances. The gold shoes sold out quickly, though MAGA die hards can still pre-order $199 “T-Red Wave sneakers,” plus white “Potus 45” version. And don’t forget about “Trump Victory 47” cologne.
INDIANAPOLIS — So, a little inside baseball for you: Before a big event like All-Star weekend, websites will put together content plans so they have a general idea of what’s going up on a given day. Who’s recapping the events? Who’s going to be talking to which person? How can we make sure gaps are filled in when everyone is doing something that pulls them away from their computers? That sort of thing.
In the lead-up to this weekend in Indianapolis, our fine website had a brief discussion about something that could go up in the lead-up to Saturday night. It was this piece, a few hundred words on why the league should consider rearranging the schedule of events on Saturday — it’s gotten the agenda down to a science by this point. The broadcast starts up, the Skills Competition finds a way to get weirder and weirder every year, then the Three-Point Contest, and then, the Dunk Contest puts a nice bow on the entire thing.
I was going to write it before arriving in Indianapolis, and then, I came to a pretty strong realization: I’d look like a real doofus if the Three-Point Contest was mediocre this year and the Dunk Contest was sick. That, of course, ended up not happening, because Saturday night highlighted why the order of events needs to be tweaked.
For a moment, let’s think about the sport of basketball and how it exists right now. The three-point line is the great equalizer, the thing that can let teams shoot themselves into or out of games. As a result, players work tirelessly to get better from behind the arc, which has led to an explosion in, well, just about everything. Teams are hoisting from deep more than ever and scoring more points, all the stuff that gets brought up as a bad thing whenever an ex-big man talks about basketball on television.
Simply put: the game is built around the three-pointer right now.
This is reflected in the caliber of the players who participate in the Three-Point Contest. Six of the eight players who participated this year have made an All-Star Game before. A seventh, Jalen Brunson, will make his debut in the game this year. Go through the last decade or so of guys who have decided to compete: Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, Trae Young, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Dirk Nowitzki, Klay Thompson, Bradley Beal, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Kevin Love. These are some of the players who have come to define this era of basketball, the exact sort of stars that the NBA and the million brands in its ecosystem love to promote.
And then, look at who tends to do the Dunk Contest, particularly in the last couple of years. Jaylen Brown — the first All-Star to compete since Lillard in 2014 — doing it was huge news. He said after he competed on Saturday night that he believes “some players are just afraid to get turned into a meme or whatever,” echoing what dunk contest great Nate Robinson told Dime’s Katie Heindl earlier this week. But since the famed 2020 contest where Dwyane Wade conspired to keep Aaron Gordon from winning over Derrick Jones Jr. in Chicago (FOR LEGAL REASONS: this is a joke), the Dunk Contest has pretty consistently been a flop. Between crowds that tend to be a little bit flat and collections of players who don’t demand attention from fans like the Three-Point Contest guys above, it’s worth considering what should be the main event.
To be clear, at its best, there is nothing in sports like the Dunk Contest. And I would argue the dunks in the 2024 version of the event weren’t that bad, but it ran into yet another problem that differentiates the two. A flat crowd (or, in the case of the 2024 event, a crowd that is more compelled to boo judges than anything else) absolutely kills the Dunk Contest, while scores are subjectively handed out by a panel that might be a bit harsh, a la this Saturday’s quintet of judges. If a guy misses a dunk attempt or two? That incredible moment where we see someone pull off a feat of athleticism few others can match gets the air taken out of it a bit. The ceiling is higher — that Gordon vs. Jones contest was one of the most remarkable sports things I’ve witnessed in person — but the floor is in the basement.
The ceiling of the Three-Point Contest is for sure not as high, but the floor is about as high as anything the NBA does this weekend. There are no judges who can become the story of the event, and the way the whole thing works creates a natural drama that just does not exist in the Dunk Contest — it’s an objective score, with competitors going against one another and a clock, and that tension builds and builds leading into their final rack. When that’s a moneyball rack and a guy can get scorching hot on it? Even better.
And in 2024, we learned something new about the Three-Point Contest: You can actually build it out and add even more intrigue to the entire thing. The league did shoot itself in the foot by not just having all four competitors who tied in the first round move on — the wholly unnecessary tiebreaker meant that the hometown hero, Tyrese Haliburton, did not move on to the finals — but watching the four-way tie get all sorted out between a quartet of All-Stars was ultra compelling.
And then, there was the spin-off of the usual event, when Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu went shot-for-shot in an absolutely sensational spectacle. Both expressed the desire to run it back in 2025, but imagine if that gets built out even more? Obviously Curry and Ionescu should be involved, but what if the winner of that year’s event joins in? What if another elite shooter from the W like Jackie Young gets in on the fun? Or maybe they just never do this again, letting it be the sort of one-time thing that people look back on fondly for years. Which is fine! We still have the usual competition, the one consistently great part of the night.
Despite all of this, it does make sense why the NBA wouldn’t want to tweak its Saturday night format. Traditions are important, and the tradition of closing out Saturday with the Dunk Contest is as much a part of the Association as the silhouette of Jerry West that give us the logo. The event can turn someone into a household name — Mac McClung went from a high school mixtape hero, to a nice but forgettable college player, to a G League guy who got the occasional cup of coffee in the NBA, to a guy who can forever say he’s a back-to-back champion in a competition that’s been won by guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. That’s truly storybook stuff, and a reflection of what the Dunk Contest can be at its best.
But it’s worth remembering the discourse around the first time McClung won. In 2023, the league went to Salt Lake City and had a rather unspectacular field at first glance: McClung, Trey Murphy III, KJ Martin, and Jericho Sims, who was the injury replacement for Shaedon Sharpe. McClung and Murphy were both terrific as they made their way through the first two rounds, and the winner was praised for saving the Dunk Contest. Fast forward one year and McClung was back, this time in a field that included an All-Star (Brown), one of the most exciting rookies in the league (Jaime Jaquez Jr.), and the younger brother of a former champion (Jacob Toppin).
With each passing dunk by Brown that got a higher than expected score and boos from the crowd, one thing was made clear: The weight of making the main event of All-Star Saturday Night the spectacle that we all love should not be on Mac McClung’s shoulders, nor should that have ever been the case. It’s on the NBA to look at what works and what does not, and right now, that means considering changing up the order of events, letting the star-studded Three-Point Contest close out the night, and giving the Dunk Contest a chance to find its place again among the greatness of All-Star Weekend.
There’s a chance it had been a minute since you last thought about notorious race pretender Rachel Dolezal. That changed last week. A report surfaced that she’d changed her name and rebranded as an elementary school teacher — only to get fired over her OnlyFans account. Dolezal, now going by Nkechi Diallo, had kept quiet, but now she’s broken her silence — and she seems cool with her life hitting another bump.
Per The Daily Beast, Diallo posted a brief, semi-cryptic message on her Instagram Stories. It was a chipper selfie with a simple caption reading, “Keep On Living,” followed by three plant emojis.
Diallo gained infamy in the mid-teens when she was busted not only passing herself of as Black but having nabbed a position as the president of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Diallo defended her actions, saying that she was “biologically born white to white parents, but I identify as Black.” That did not mollify her detractors and she wound up stepping down from her NAACP position.
After years of laying low, Diallo was back in the news after being fired from the Catalina Foothills School District in Tucson, Arizona. It was reported that she’d been employed as a “part-time after school extended day instructor” as well as a substitute teacher. School district brass had discovered her OnlyFans account, where, according to The Daily Beast, she dropped fitness videos, “hair-chair” tutorials, and “foot pics.”
Anyway, best of luck to the former Rachel Dolezal.
It’s been some two-and-a-half months since George Santos was booted from the House of Representatives. But has he really gone away? Of course not. The serial fabulist quickly segued into a stint as a Cameo star, making some scratch recording videos for the celebrity service. Now he’s found another way to stay in the public eye: He’s suing someone who made fun of him.
Per The Daily Beast, Santos filed a civil suit on Saturday against Jimmy Kimmel. Why? Because Kimmel tricked him into recording a Cameo video then aired it on his late night show. In his filing, Santos accuses Kimmel of violating the terms of service, in turn committing copyright infringement and fraud.
Incidentally, Santos has been accused by the Department of Justice of credit card fraud.
According to the documentation, Kimmel “misrepresented himself and his motives” so that Santos would “produce personalized videos for the sole purpose of capitalizing on and ridiculing” him and his “gregarious personality.” (Yes, that’s how Santos, or at least his lawyers, describe him.)
Shortly after the late night prank, Santos threatened to sue Kimmel, even contacting him with a heads-up.
“We are writing to congratulate you — your ‘dream’ of being sued by Mr. Santos may indeed come true,” Santos’ lawyer Andrew Mancilla wrote to Kimmel. “While your comedic efforts are much appreciated, you should have obtained Mr. Santos’ consent, as he is not camera shy, nor is he blind to the comedic irony of suing you for fraud.”
Santos was ejected from his House seat in part due to his long and prolific history of lying creatively about his past during his election campaign. Among his many whoppers include claiming his mother died in the September 11 attacks, that he was a collegiate volleyball star, and that he helped produce one of Broadway’s most notorious flops.
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