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When 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, closes out his The Final Lap Tour, he can enjoy the downtime in peace. One of his outstanding legal dilemmas has reportedly come to an end. Per TMZ, on Friday, November 17 it was revealed Jackson will not face criminal charges in relation to his mic-throwing incident in Los Angeles after a City Attorney’s office representative told the publication that they’ve decided not to pursue charges.

Back in August, during a concert stop in the city, Jackson was captured on video hurling his microphone in a frustrated fit following a string of technical difficulties. In the clip, the microphone made contact with a bystander, which the public later learned was Power 106‘s host Bryhana Monegain. After the viral video began to circulate online, rumors quickly followed that Jackson could be named in battery charges by local law enforcement.

After the incident, Monegain took time away from the station to seek physical and mental treatment. Ultimately, she returned in October. Yesterday, she took to her official Instagram page to thank the public for their support. “The reason I keep pushing,” she wrote, sharing a picture of a flower bouquet sent to her office by her mother.

Jackson and his attorney, Scott Leemon, have yet to release a statement following the news.

The media likes to call them “cocaine hippos.” And there are a lot of them. Back when Pablo Escobar was the world’s most notorious drug kingpin, he was so decadent that he imported animals to his Colombian compound that, ecologically, shouldn’t be there. Zebras, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses. And four hippos. After Escobar’s death in 1993, most of these animals either died or were sent to zoos. But not the hippos. There are now about 170 of them, descended from the original quartet, who’ve long posed a threat to the nation’s ecosystem.

Perhaps they won’t be menace for much longer. Per The New York Times, after some 30 years of inaction, the nation’s officials have decided on some ways to finally reign them in. The plan is to sterilize some, euthanize others, and relocate others to sanctuaries in other countries.

They’re already hard at work: On Friday one official said they’d already surgically sterilized four hippos: two males, two females. The goal is to sterilize 40 within the year.

Escobar brought the original four hippos to his lavish estate in the 1980s, where they joined a menageries of wild animals, there to entertain his guests and show off his wealth. After Escobar was killed in a shootout in Medellín, the hippos took their lives into their own hands. As their numbers exploded, local reaction was a mix of affection and dread. In 2009, a hunting party of Colombian soldiers drew public ire after shooting and killing one of the so-called “cocaine hippos,” name of Pepe.

Sterilizing hippos is not easy, as one can imagine:

Hippos can weigh more than three tons and spend most of their days wallowing in the water, so they’re easiest to capture at night. Experts said they are generally tranquilized with a dart and undergo surgery wherever they land. If they run into the water after being hit with a dart, they could drown, experts said.

“This procedure is very dangerous since the veterinarian must be very skilled to sterilize it in the shortest time possible, before it wakes up,” said Germán Jiménez, a biologist at the Pontifical Javeriana University in Colombia.

The good news, though, is that at least Colombians won’t have to bid adieu to all the cocaine hippos.

(Via NYT)

When Taylor Swift rolled into Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with Sabrina Carpenter for The Era Tour, the city was ready for a multiple-day celebration. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck the region’s Swifties. According to TMZ, on Friday, November 17, a devoted fan of Swift died just before the scheduled concert.

Before the “Blank Space” singer could take the stage, news spread that said fan, named Ana Clara Benevides Machado, had passed away. After learning of the death, Swift took to her official Instagram page to pen a touching letter via her Stories in remembrance of the supporter.

Read Swift’s full letter below.

I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before the show. I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too you.

I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it. I want to say now I feel this loss deeply, and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.

Machado’s cause of death has not been revealed. Ticketholders believe the heatwave in the region could have contributed to the tragedy. During the show, Swift was recorded handing out water bottles to onlookers.

Dakota Johnson has a unique way of delivering lines. The actress doesn’t shout. She rarely gets worked up. She prefers a kind of deadpan, speaking with a monotone that’s more laidback than disinterested. But there’s a part in the new trailer for Madame Web when she just sounds bored, possibly because the line is so clunky. It’s this part that’s turned into a social media meme.

Per The Daily Beast, people online seized upon a random part of the Madame Web ad, in which Johnson, on the narration track, gets awfully expository. Her character, Cassie Webb (yes, that’s her name), is talking about the film’s big bad, who looks awfully familiar.

“I’ve seen that man before,” Johnson muses. “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders, right before she died.”

The line may have sailed right past most viewers upon first watch. But leave it to social media yuksters to milk it for laughs.

One person turned to Johnson’s iconic exchange with Ellen DeGeneres.

Some roped in doomed Republican lawmaker George Santos.

Others went with George W. Bush.

And Trump.

You can watch the trailer for Madame Web, which hits theaters February 14.

(Via The Daily Beast)

It’s been three weeks since Matthew Perry unexpectedly passed away. The news hit people hard, and tributes poured in like an avalanche. More are still coming in. Last week Perry’s fellow Friends alumni each honored their longtime colleague individually. On Thursday Lauren Graham, a close pal of Perry’s, went on CBS Mornings to promote her new book Have I Told You This Already?, and she took some time to reveal what made him happy at the end of his life.

“This last year, he was so proud of the book he wrote, and of how many people it touched,” the Gilmore Girls star revealed. “It was a success that gave him a level of happiness that I hadn’t seen in him for a really long time, so that’s a nice memory.”

Graham was of course referring to Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, his both funny and bracingly honest book in which he detailed, among other things, his lengthy struggles with addiction.

She added, “That’s something to be thankful for, and again, the book really meant something to him, so it was a really happy year for him.”

Graham co-starred with Perry in the 2008 film Birds of America. During a Q&A for the mid-to-late-aughts revival of The Odd Couple, Perry called her “one of my favorite people,” saying, “We have great chemistry when working together and it’s fun to work with a close friend.”

(Via HuffPost)

Weddings are filled with love, not just from the bride and groom but from everyone that shows up to support the couple’s big day. So much goes into preparing for a wedding, from catering to hair and makeup but the one thing that probably takes the most mental preparation is the speeches. Whether it be vows, best man speeches or the father of the bride speech, people put in a lot of care and emotions when writing them and that emotion usually pours out when the moment comes.

A groom in a recent viral video knows all too well the emotional labor that goes into writing the perfect speech because he took it one step further. Ben Carpenter recently married his beautiful wife, Sohee and during the wedding reception, he surprised everyone in the room, including his bride by delivering his speech in Korean honoring his wife’s culture.

This wasn’t something that he pulled off line and memorized the pronunciation, he actually learned the language specifically to honor his new family.

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“I secretly took Korean lessons for 10 months so I could surprise my amazing wife Sohee Carpenter and her family,” Ben writes in the caption. “Yes, my pronunciation was far from perfect, but I wanted to be able to say everything I wanted to say without reading notes than just rehearse a couple of quick lines as perfectly as possible. You know what they say. If they wanted to, they would. And I really really wanted to.”

Wow. That’s some serious love and dedication right there and commenters are having a lot of emotions.

“I can tell this much she’ll always remember respect & celebrate you learned & spoke in her natal language for her parents well done Ben,” someone says.

“Ben. I am NOT watching this again. I cannot cry a third time over the same d*mn speech,” another writes.

“I have never cried more during a wedding speech as I did with yours. Your love for your incredible wife just bursts through you. I am so in awe,” a commenter gushes.

It’s true, the Korean is sweet but the speech is so thoughtful and the look on her father’s face lets the world know just how proud he is of his son-in-law. Just see for your self below, but don’t forget the tissues.

@bdccarpenter

Replying to @JesC Lee here is my full groom’s wedding speech. I don’t normally repost videos, but thanks to a couple of viral videos circulating, I have been tagged a bazillion times from people asking if this is me, and it is. I secretly took Korean lessons for 10 months so I could surprise my amazing wife @Sohee Carpenter and her family. Yes, my pronunciation was far from perfect, but I wanted to be able to say everything I wanted to say without reading notes than just rehearse a couple of quick lines as perfectly as possible. You know what they say. If they wanted to, they would. And I really really wanted to. Thank you all very much for the very kind words of support. It genuinely means a lot ❤️ #wedding #speech #weddingspeech #weddings #groom #korean

It’s no secret that moms give up a lot for their children—including parts of their identity.

A recent survey by Baby Center found that 22% of moms feel like they’re “just moms.” And those feelings don’t necessarily change once kids have grown—they only deepen the longer they have been a mother and if they had more children, the study added.

And as most moms would agree, the sacrifice is one they would willingly make again…but that doesn’t make it any less painful, necessarily.

That’s what makes one daughter’s simple gift to her mother—reminding her to reclaim the person she was before motherhood—so life-changing.

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As Rachel Sevcik explained in a TikTok video, her mom, who had the “privilege” of being a full-time stay-at-home mom while Sevcik was growing up, was approaching her 52nd birthday.

This coupled with the milestone of Sevcik heading out to college, leaving her mom an empty-nester. Sevcik was “scrambling” to think of a gift to properly honor the occasion.

“So, I went to a little boutique. I got a sign that said “Try,” and I wrote a letter saying, ‘Mom, try. Whatever you’ve always wanted to and didn’t because you were putting us first.”

For Sevcik’s mom, it was writing.

Sevcik gave the letter and poster to her mom eight years ago, and in that time, her mom has joined writers groups, published a short story, co-authored a book, and just finished her first book. She’s already working on book #2.

Sevcik concludes by saying, “She is turning 60 in about a month. And now when people ask me what my mom does, I say, ‘She’s a writer.’”

@theraeraeshoww My hero 🫶🥹 #momtok ♬ original sound – Rachel Sevcik

Sevcik’s sweet gesture struck a chord with online viewers.

One person wrote, “if my child wrote me a letter/sign saying “try. do whatever you wanted to after putting us first”, I’d break down in tears🥺🥺”

Another added, “I’m incredibly impressed at you understanding the gravitas of all her sacrifices at just 18. The sign and note was an amazing gesture.”

Others chimed in with similar wins.

One former stay-at-home-mom wrote, “At 48 I’m an empty nester sahm going back to school to be a therapist. It’s never too late.”

Another daughter shared, “This gives me all the feels, my mom is similar. Was an amazing stay at home mom of five kids for 20 years and then went back to work and is a BOSS!” they wrote.

The discussion gave moms—those currently raising kids and new empty nesters—some encouragement.

See on Instagram

“Immediate tears – from a SAHM of 3 still in the trenches, thanks for sharing,” one commented.

Another said “I’m a SAHM and wonder what I’ll do when my son is off to college. Anything I want I guess, but it is daunting. Thank you for encouraging her! ❤️”

Imagine if all moms got this kind of recognition and cheerleading. Maybe then pursuing their own aspirations besides motherhood would feel less like a dream, and more like a reality. Until then, hopefully this story can help.

By the way, if you’re curious to know what the title of Sevcik’s mom’s book is, she plan to do a reveal on TikTok.

One night after making her first wrestling appearance since exiting WWE, Ronda Rousey has apparently joined Ring of Honor.

Rousey turned up at the Ring of Honor tapings in Los Angeles as part of a duo alongside Marina Shafir, facing off against Billie Starkz and Ring of Honor Women’s champion Athena in a rematch from the previous night’s Wrestling Revolver show.

That match set up Rousey’s relatively surprising return to wrestling after exiting WWE in the summer. After losing an MMA rules match against her real-life friend Shayna Baszler at SummerSlam, Rousey had a “hard out” date from WWE, meaning her contract had a firm end date, per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.

Rousey is arguably one of WWE’s biggest crossover stars to join the company, concluding her trailblazing UFC career before transitioning into pro wrestling. She hit the scene in WWE with her first match coming alongside Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 34 against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon before going on to win the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. After three years away from the company, Rousey returned in 2022 to win the WWE Smackdown Women’s title twice before holding the tag titles alongside Baszler.

As matches are starting to be announced for ROH’s Final Battle show in December, the natural conclusion is ROH is loading up on talent. While we’ll wait for official word, it seems safe to assume that Rousey is the next big name for the show.

Taylor Swift brought The Eras Tour to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil tonight, where she took a moment to address the crowd with a sweet speech during the “Champagne Problems” spot of the set.

For those who haven’t seen, the country welcomed Swift by dressing their statue of Christ The Redeemer in a “Junior Jewels” shirt — styled after the one that she wore in her music video for “You Belong With Me.”

“I just want to start off by saying that I feel completely unworthy of this honor but it is sort of the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me,” Swift shared. “And I say that because I heard that part of why this was able to happen is because so many of you donated food and water and that makes me so incredibly proud. I’m so proud of you. Thank you so much for everything that you do, including showing up tonight and being so nice to us!”

Swift is currently set to play two more shows in Brazil. The city’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, also had a message for her. “We will have Taylor Swift duly honored, her arrival in Rio. Welcome, Taylor Swift. And may you be happy, with the Swifties,” Paes said, according to a translation from G1 about the statue change.

Check out a clip of Taylor Swift’s speech for Brazil below.

In the waning moments of the Boston Celtics’ 108-105 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night, Celtics star Jaylen Brown appeared to hurt his groin. Brown attempted to get open while the team was trying to inbound the ball, and while there’s no official diagnosis yet, was clearly in some pain as he tried to move around.

After the game, Brown spoke to the media and remarked on the state of the court. Throughout the In-Season Tournament, the NBA has put down new courts that are designed to make fans know that they’re watching a game during the event. But in Brown’s eyes, the court was unusually slippery in Toronto, which he called “unacceptable.”

“The court was just slippery all game,” Brown said. “I think we’re all, as players, we’re all here for the In-Season Tournament, cause it’s gonna generate revenue, excitement, competition, etc. But we gotta make sure the floor is safe to play on, we can’t put out players out there and risk their health. So, tonight, I thought the floor was kinda unacceptable, I think guys were just slipping all over the place. Not just me.”

This sentiment was shared by Precious Achiuwa of the Raptors.

This has been a criticism of the Tournament courts in other games — on Friday, for example, Torrey Craig of the Chicago Bulls said that the floor has been slippery whenever they’ve played on it. Barring something really shocking, our assumption is these courts are going to stick around for the rest of this season. Whether that changes during the In-Season Tournament going forward, though, remains to be seen.