(SPOILERS for Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar will be found below.)
A few years after the scammer-show extravaganza that took over streaming (those spaces have yielded to the spy-thriller resurrection), Apple Cider Vinegar is set to bring grifting back to Netflix. The series stars Kaitlyn Dever (Justified, No One Will Save You) and Alycia Debnam-Carey (The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart, Fear The Walking Dead) as Australian “wellness” rivals who gathered substantial followings during Instagram’s early days.
Directed by Jeffrey Walker (The Artful Dodger, Modern Family) Apple Cider Vinegar chronicles the fiction woven by real-life figure Belle Gibson (Dever), whose falsehoods (particularly in peddling “cures” bolstered upon her false claims of a cancer diagnosis) ultimately led the Australian government to fine her for over $300,000 “for misleading her readers,” according to BBC.
Part of Gibson’s downfall involved a certain prime-time interview that exposed her many lies, including repeated name changes and insistence that she has always been “26” years old. She also admitted to that program that she “never had brain cancer” but denied that she is a pathological liar.
Is The Apple Cider Vinegar Worm Scene Based On A Real Story?
No, but this scene is based upon a false claim that Gibson truly made in real life. The situation has been dramatized by Netflix, as revealed in the below clip with arrives with this promise: “You’re not ready for this trainwreck of a story.” The clip not only makes reference to Gibson’s primetime meltdown but also visualizes her impossible claim (as portrayed in the series) of curing ringworm (which is a fungus) by guzzling a bottle of apple cider vinegar and then pulling a tapeworm (a parasite, obviously) out of her throat.
The answer to the above question, again, is no. Gibson did not cure herself of a worm with ACV, but this scene does tweak her real-life falsehood (this is so circular) as summarized by Sydney Morning Herald, in which Gibson claimed on social media to have expelled a large worm during an enema:
Gibson talks about having a colonic irrigation, and expelling a 15cm parasite, followed by “A HUGE ROPE WORM”, saying “it ruined my day almost not to be able to get this on video. Baha.’ “It was coiled around itself like a spiral about 5 or more times, and it took up the width of the tube, so based on this math, I’m guessing it was at least 60cm (at minimum!!). I felt such HUGE relief and was floating all day afterwards.”
Yikes. Perhaps producers decided that it was slightly less disgusting to have Kaitlyn Dever pull a worm out the front end rather than have it come out the other way? Thank goodness. The series synopsis declares, in part, “This is a true-ish story based on a lie, about the rise and fall of a wellness empire; the culture that built it up and the people who tore it down.”
Netflix‘s Apple Cider Vinegar is based upon is based upon The Woman Who Fooled the World (the 2017 book by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscanowill) and streams on February 6.
The 2025 NBA trade deadline has come and gone in one of the most impactful week’s of trade activity the league has ever seen. Every star that requested a trade got dealt (which doesn’t always happen), most of the league got involved in at least one trade, and the week began with the most shocking deal in league history.
As 3:00 p.m. ET arrived and everyone around the league was done making trades, we could finally take a breath and start to settle out who had the best and worst weeks at the end of the NBA’s transactional period. In this space, we’ll look at the winners and losers of the deadline, where I do try to take into account the goals of each team when determining whether they were successful. Some teams have a long-term vision while others are looking to win right now, but there are a few teams that I just can’t quite figure out what they’re actually doing (and I’m not sure they do either).
Without further ado, let’s start with the winners.
WINNERS
Los Angeles Lakers
If you get Luka Doncic without having to give up everything, you’re a winner — and we’ve explored that trade in length here. The Lakers made the most stunning player acquisition in arguably franchise and league history (which is a high bar for the Lakers) and now have their post-LeBron era all figured out suddenly. Then, on Wednesday night, they made a bold move for Mark Williams, trading the rest of their movable assets for the Hornets big man they hope can be their version of Dereck Lively II, who Doncic adored in Dallas. Losing AD is a very significant loss and I’m not sold the Lakers became a legit contender in the West this season. That said, I don’t think they were going to be one with Davis, even if they made a different move to build around James and AD, and they now have a long-term plan in place that didn’t exist a week ago.
I do see the vision for what this team can be with Doncic and Williams, but they are investing heavily in Williams who has played just 84 games in 2.5 seasons and has been spotty, at best, defensively despite some considerable tools. If he’s healthy and the defense was simply a product of struggling to focus on a terrible Hornets team (with other bad defenders), this team could certainly make the playoffs in the West and then anything goes when you have Luka and LeBron in a playoff series. That’s not a small if, but after years of Lakers fans wondering when Rob Pelinka would go for it, he did just that.
San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs managed to land their point guard of the future in De’Aaron Fox without having to part with any of their best young players or assets. They sent three firsts out in the deal, but only two of them are real firsts (the 2025 Hornets pick is lotto-protected and then becomes two seconds, and as discussed above, the Hornets are dreadful this year) and they held on to not only Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle, but also kept Keldon Johnson, Chris Paul, and Harrison Barnes. They should be able to at least be a Play-In team in the West now and will be a threat to make it to the playoffs from there. Beyond that, they have a ton of picks still at their disposal and can use the second half of this season to evaluate exactly what they need to add between Wembanyama and Fox and how the rest of their supporting cast fits into that vision. It was an aggressive move, but also one that wasn’t forced, which is exactly how this team needs to operate right now.
Jimmy Butler (and to a slightly lesser degree the Golden State Warriors)
Jimmy Butler didn’t get to Phoenix like he wanted, but the Warriors are a nice consolation prizeand he got the max extension (albeit for just two years) that he was hoping for. Butler is going to make $60.5 million annually over the next two seasons, which is an outrageous amount of money and he gets to play with Stephen Curry, which just generally seems to be a joy. For those reasons, Jimmy is a winner here.
I’m still not entirely sold on this fixing the Warriors problems entirely (and I’m just generally skeptical Jimmy can stay healthy at this point of his career), but I will give Golden State credit for executing on a vision finally and without giving up all of their assets to do it. If they had gone into the deadline with the very public determination to get a star and come away with just Nikola Vucevic, it would’ve been fairly embarrassing. They didn’t get Durant (who didn’t want to come back), but they do land Butler and I can certainly see how this could work well. There is a scenario where Jimmy and Draymond Green clash and everything goes terribly wrong, but the Warriors weren’t going anywhere soon by staying the course so I call this a mild win for the Warriors.
Bradley Beal
Bradley Beal likes living in Phoenix and will continue to do that. The most powerful man in the NBA stood firm with his no-trade clause and now gets to keep getting paid a lot of money to be in a place he likes. Good for you, Bradley.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The only team in the top-3 of the standings in either conference to actually buy at the deadline were the Cavs, and I think their move to bring in De’Andre Hunter was shrewd and well thought out. This is a team that has been doomed in playoffs past by believing too much in their depth and they went out and made a consolidation trade on the wing for a presumptive upgrade. I don’t think this is a deal that makes them stone-cold favorites, but I do think Hunter is better for what they need than having both Caris LeVert and Georges Niang. They have some lineup versatility with Hunter and Max Strus and he can play some small-ball four when needed. Hunter’s having a career-year and if he can continue that in Cleveland, they’ll be even stronger in the playoffs for it.
Charlotte Hornets
Of all the potential sellers out there, the Hornets were the ones that got the job done. They wanted to acquire picks and went out there and got some good assets by trading away players on a team going nowhere right now. Taking on Jusuf Nurkic’s deal to get a first (that has some wild swap rights and protections before it gets to them, but should be like, mid-20s in 2026) for Cody Martin and Vasilije Micic was solid, and while I like Mark Williams, if you can get Dalton Knecht and an unprotected first for a guy with a worrisome injury history, you almost have to do it — the pick swap is so unlikely to convey I’m not even really counting that as an asset. They know they’re building for the future, got some assets in, didn’t part with any cornerstone guys (aside from, possibly, Williams), and they get to see if Knecht has some juice. I don’t fully see how you build a team around LaMelo Ball-Brandon Miller-Dalton Knecht, but, those are three fun players and I will enjoy listening to Eric Collins get very excited when they do stuff.
Schroder got traded from Brooklyn to Golden State early in the year. Then got dealt to Miami in the Jimmy Butler trade but rerouted to Utah but then rerouted again to Detroit where, I think, he is going to actually end up. I know he didn’t actually fly to all of those places, but the man is really racking up the destinations this year.
LOSERS
Dallas Mavericks, but mostly Nico Harrison
It’s been five days and I still cannot get over the Mavs trading away Doncic. I wrote in length about how I hated the process of this deal and how it completely ignores (and actively spits in the face of) why Mavs fans loved the organization. I don’t even think folks like Shaq are necessarily wrong that the Mavs will be better the next two years than the Lakers, I just don’t think Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and this roster are going to win a title. That has to happen for this not to be a disaster, and as many Mavs fans have pointed out, even with a title, they will still be mad about this.
Nico Harrison has gone from mostly anonymous to to the dictionary definition of “bad GM” in the eyes of the average NBA fan over the last week, which is a wild turn. He didn’t help himself with his explanation of the deal and the more details that emerge about the negotiations, the more he comes off looking terrible for not getting more for a generational star that is 25 years old. Beyond the Doncic deal, the Mavs also traded Quentin Grimes for Caleb Martin which I grade out as a net neutral for Dallas. I just don’t know how this all works and have a very hard time seeing this being anything other than a miss, with the potential for it to be an all-time organizational misstep.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns should send Nico Harrison a gift basket because if it weren’t for Dallas, everyone would be talking about what a catastrophe the Phoenix organization is right now. Not only did they spend months trying to pressure Bradley Beal into waiving his no-trade clause, they very publicly listened to offers on Kevin Durant and then failed to find a trade for him. In the end, they had to attach a pick to Jusuf Nurkic to dump his salary and now have the most wretched on-court vibes in all of the NBA (including Dallas!). This summer, a Durant trade request feels like a near certainty and it’s hard to imagine they recoup close to what they gave up to get him a few years ago.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies were apparently in on Butler and Durant talks, but neither veteran star had any interest in playing with Memphis despite them being a top-3 team in the West. In the end, all the Grizzlies could do was salary dump Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia. Having to attach a first rounder to Smart when they gave up two firsts to get him less than two years ago is absolutely brutal, and it’s a borderline miracle the Grizzlies are still in as good a place as they are as an organization. This team is still good, but they had designs on cementing their place as a contender at the deadline and instead could only pull off some financial savings.
Toronto Raptors
I’ll be honest I don’t see the vision of pairing Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram. I don’t think what the Raptors gave up for Ingram was crazy in a vacuum. I think Ingram, at this point, is probably a little underrated because of last year’s playoff series with OKC and then his injury this year. However, I just do not see how you build a really good team around Barnes and Ingram together occupying a lot of the same space. It feels a lot like the problems Toronto had previously with Barnes, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby, and they’re just doing it again with a different flair.
Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers did a bunch of salary dumping at the deadline, which is not where they expected to be before the season. I will say, the Caleb Martin for Quentin Grimes trade has some upside, which I don’t hate for them. Trading Reggie Jackson and a first to Washington for Jared Butler and four seconds is a trade I don’t even know how to judge from a value standpoint, but whatever, it’s fine. The one that was really rough was having to attach picks to KJ Martin to salary dump him to Detroit after signing him to an inflated deal before the season with the direct purpose of being able to trade him at the deadline. They did that, I guess, but they weren’t expecting it to be a salary dump with picks attached. A brutal season continued this week for the Sixers.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets were supposed to be sellers at the deadline, but after trading Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith earlier in the year, they didn’t make a single deadline move. It’s not a disaster, as they clearly didn’t get the kind of offers they wanted for the likes of Nic Claxton or Cam Johnson, but after spending a lot of effort and draft capital to get their own picks back from Houston to tank, they now still have a fairly competitive team. It’ll be interesting to see who gets shut down (and how soon) by Brooklyn, but there’s a very real chance they don’t have the coveted top-4 lottery odds this year.
Milwaukee Bucks
I do get it. Khris Middleton is old and not on the court a ton and…I get it. However, boy, it feels rough to trade him for Kyle Kuzma in the midst of his worst season as a pro. Perhaps Kuz will come to life in Milwaukee. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen someone just completely lose focus and motivation playing on the league’s worst team and then find the spark once on a contender. That said, I hate seeing Middleton go out like this in Milwaukee given how much he meant to that organization and their title run, but the game is the game. I’m just not sold this makes the Bucks a much better threat in the East.
Clairo lost Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammys this past weekend, but in another, more accurate way, she is winning life.
The “Sexy To Someone” singer got “Weird Al” Yankovic to sing for her — sing as her — in the old school Hollywood-meets-’80s cheese video for “Terrapin,” a dreamy track from one of the best albums of 2024, Charm. Even better: it’s directed by The Bear and Bottoms star Ayo Edebiri.
How did “Weird Al” and Clairo link up? Who knows! Maybe it’s because she likes silly stuff. “I just grew into a superfan of their weirder albums or their albums that, in my opinion, are deemed silly,” Clairo told Vanity Fair about being inspired by The Beach Boys and Harry Nilsson while recording Charm. “I really liked how these people that I think are genius also got to have fun and make songs that are silly and genius. Really profound songs can also be extremely silly, and [it doesn’t] take away the intellect behind the song.”
If “Weird Al” ever releases another album (unfortunately unlikely), he should do a parody of “Bags” about sandwich bags.
Bob Marley, tragically, is on the list of legendary musicians who were taken from us too soon. The icon was only 36 when he died in 1981, and yet, he managed to become the face of reggae, and perhaps of Jamaica as a whole. Today (February 6) would have been his 80th birthday, and Acoustic Sounds’ Analogue Productions label is celebrating with a batch of reissues.
A handful of Marley’s most enduring works are included in the series: 1973’s Catch A Fire, 1973’s Burnin’, 1974’s Natty Dread, 1976’s Rastaman Vibration, 1977’s Exodus, 1978’s Kaya, and 1980’s Uprising. Across the releases are Marley hits like “Stir It Up,” “Get Up Stand Up,” “I Shot The Sheriff,” “No Woman No Cry,” “Three Little Birds,” “Easy Skanking,” “Could You Be Loved,” and “Redemption Song.”
The releases, created in partnership with the Marley family and Tuff Gong International, launch this spring and come in a variety of formats, including 33rpm UHQR, 45rpm UHQR, 2LP 45rpm, SACD, and reel-to-reel tape (15 IPS on 1/4 inch tape).
Acoustic Sounds founder Chad Kassem says of the releases, “We’re honored to be working with the Marley Family to give these records the treatment they deserve. The experience of going to Jamaica, visiting Tuff Gong, and meeting the people carrying Bob Marley’s legacy forward was incredible, and we believe this series is a beautiful tribute to one of music’s greatest innovators.”
More information about the reissues can be found here.
Earlier this week, Lil Wayne teased a “very special” announcement. There was a lot of speculation that it might have something to do with the Super Bowl, and in a way, it does. But more importantly, the “Don’t Cry” rapper may have revealed when Tha Carter VI is coming out.
Lil Wayne stars in a Cetaphil commercial that shows him dealing with sensitive situations. It’s a sly acknowledgment to his disappointment over not being selected as the halftime performer for Super Bowl LIX, which is being held in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Throughout the ad, there’s references to 6-6-25 — it even ends with a sign on a door that reads, “Do Not Disturb Til’ 06-06-25 Carter VI.” If that means what it seems like it does, The Carter VI is dropping on June 6, 2025, a Friday.
“What attracted me to this project was the chance to flip the script,” Wayne said about starring in the ad. “Showing a sensitive side isn’t a weakness — it’s a power. There’s nothing more real than turning those types of moments into a display of strength. This campaign made perfect sense to me. The world knew I was disappointed, but what they didn’t know was that it made me determined to deliver something way bigger.”
You can watch the commercial (which will air exclusively in New Orleans on Super Bowl Sunday) above.
Bob Myers has been at ESPN for a couple of years now and while his presence on NBA Countdown and calling games hasn’t been groundbreaking by any stretch, the former Warriors GM is legitimately great during the big transaction periods of the NBA calendar — namely the trade deadline and free agency.
He not only has insight into how these deals get done that very few that do television can explain to viewers, but he also still has a ton of connections and intel into talks and things that happen — or almost happen. The challenge, of course, as someone who has that much information is what you tell the public and what you do not, and on Thursday’s trade deadline special, Myers let something slip that was not yet public knowledge that I don’t think he meant to have become breaking news.
The discussion turned to the top teams in the West and how teams in the middle of the standings don’t feel particularly threatened by the Grizzlies, Rockets, and even Thunder, as they’re all unproven in the playoffs. Myers was explaining that the Grizzlies seem to understand that themselves, which is why they tried to make a deal for Jimmy Butler and Kevin Durant. That second part was not something that had been previously reported, which Brian Windhorst couldn’t help but note on air.
We knew there were other teams calling about Durant, including on Thursday, but didn’t know what teams. While the Grizzlies make sense as one of those teams given their effort to get Butler, we did not have that confirmed by anyone in the know until Myers’ little slip. This isn’t disastrous — and if anything it offers a glimpse into how much we don’t know that’s going on behind the scenes that some of these guys do — but it was a funny moment as Windy chuckled about it some as the master of knowing things and not sharing all of the information.
The Atlanta Hawks were very quiet for the first four days of deadline week while the rest of the league was going crazy with big trades. That was a bit surprising as the Hawks were expected to be some of the biggest sellers, but in the final two hours before the deadline, Atlanta got to work.
After trading De’Andre Hunter to the Cavaliers for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, and three second round picks, the Hawks turned around and shipped Bogdan Bogdanovic to the Clippers along with three second round picks for Terance Mann and Bones Hyland, per Shams Charania.
Clippers get: Bogdan Bogdanovic, three second round picks Hawks get: Terance Mann, Bones Hyland
Bogdanovic has only played 24 games this season due to injury and is having the worst shooting season of his career (30.1 percent from three), but the Clippers will hope he can regain his form in L.A. as he has been a highly reliable bench scorer for much of his career. Mann is also having a down year, as the 28-year-old is averaging 6.0 points and 2.9 rebounds per game coming off the bench in L.A., and the Clippers will hope for a Bogdanovic resurgence while also getting off Mann’s long-term money.
The Hawks acquire Mann as something of a hopeful Hunter replacement, just for $10 million less per year as he has three more years and $47 million remaining on his deal. The Hawks cannot go fully into a rebuild as their pick this year is owned by the Spurs, so it does make some sense for them to look to bring in some help for the rest of the season. Having to spend three seconds to move off Bogdanovic is tough, but where they sold high on Hunter in the midst of a career-year, they had to sell low on Bogdanovic in his worst season. Atlanta still has some moves to make both to get under the tax (always a priority for the Hawks) and to get down to 15 players on the roster, as they currently are at 17 after the Hunter and Bogdanovic deals. On cue, they attached a second to Cody Zeller to send to Houston to get below the tax, but still have to create a roster spot.
Thailand is where it’s at for Hollywood these days. Not only did Peter Sutherland have his cover blown there in The Night Agent‘s most recent season for Netflix, but that’s where Alien: Earth filmed the imminent arrival of a Xenomorph for FX. Now, Thailand is the place where The White Lotus (after visiting Hawaii and Sicily) will engage in more murder and mystery for for Mike White’s HBO series that Alexandra Daddario declared to be a dream job.
This season will emphasize death a bit more than usual, too, after White was very up front about his initial plans for the season being “a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality.” Additionally, this was also projected by White to be a “longer, bigger, crazier” season than usual, it’s sweet to see that that first adjective is already coming true.
How Many Episodes Will Be In The White Lotus Season 3?
Eight. That’s up from the first season (six episodes) and the second (seven episodes), so expect even more lurid behavior from this season’s resort guests. And given that Patrick Schwarzenegger ^^^ has a knack for dying in shows (The Terminal List, Gen V), his character had better watch his back.
Jennifer Coolidge, of course, will not return this season after her character was the unfortunate one in Sicily. This year, Natasha Rothwell will be the connecting thread in reprising her first season role of spa worker Belinda.
The White Lotus‘ third season also stars Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Walton Goggins, and Aimee Lou Wood. Look forward to them on Feb. 16.
Drake just launched his Anita Max Win Tour in Australia earlier this week. Aside from playing his hits on stage, he’s giving his fans down under another gift: inside scoops about what he has coming up next.
“You know, eventually when the time is right, Drizzy Drake alone by himself is gonna have to have a one-on-one talk to y’all. When the time is right, I’ll be back with another album: a one-on-one conversation with y’all that you need to hear.”
During his first Australian show, Drake began by walking out wearing a hoodie covered in fake bullet holes as his song “Over My Dead Body” played. At the end of the night, he addressed the crowd by saying, “My name is Drake. I started doing music in 2008. I come all the way from Toronto, Canada. The year is now 2025, and no matter what, Drizzy Drake is very much alive and that’s all thanks to you. I love you.”
He also wrote on Instagram after the first show, “They thought einstein was lying & shakespeare was barely rhyming & edison wasn’t lit despite what he was designing. So how can I give af what they say about my stars aligning.”
Super Bowl commercials are no longer released during, well, the Super Bowl. For years, they’ve popped up online days ahead of the game, which is both good and bad. Good: the more ads you’ve already seen, the more opportunities you have to get a drink or use the bathroom. Bad: it was fun to watch “The Force” at the same time as millions of other people.
But something tells me even if you check out Mountain Dew’s Super Bowl LIX commercial now, you won’t be able to look away on Sunday.
The ad begins with Becky G being offered a tropical lime-flavored Mountain Dew Baja Blast in her kitchen. After taking a sip, the Grammy winner is transported into an island paradise where she sees a herd of seals, including one who looks a lot like Seal. “Baby, I compare it to a kiss from a lime on the bay / Ooh, the more I think of it, it’s strange I’m a seal,” the seal Seal sings to the tune of “Kiss From A Rose” from the Batman Forever soundtrack. “My flippers can’t hold Mountain Dew / It slips right on through, what a shame.”
As Becky G puts it, “Well, this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Watch the full-length version of the Mountain Dew commercial above.
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