GoneTrending

It’s been almost two years since Matt Gaetz became the subject of a federal investigation involving his ties to a sex trafficking ring. Since then the MAGA lawmaker has done his best to ignore it and carry on normally — at least publicly. Behind the scenes is another story.

According to The Washington Post, during an interview with the House select committee investigating Jan. 6, Johnny McEntee, a former White House aide, claimed Gaetz at one point before or after the Capitol riot revealed he was seeking a preemptive pardon from outgoing president Donald Trump. At the time, the federal investigation had still not been made public. The aide said that Gaetz told him “that they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him.”

McEntee said that Gaetz professed his innocence, claiming investigators were simply “trying to make his life hell.” If the president could give him a little pardon ahead of time, though, McEntee said, “that would be great.”

Gaetz didn’t specify to McEntee what the investigation would involve, but McEntee said he thought that was the context. Sure enough, that April the investigation was made public, with the revelation that it had been ongoing for months.

A spokesperson for Gaetz denied that he was one of the many who sought pardons from Trump during his final days in office.

In the nearly two years since the investigation began, Gaetz has not (yet) been charged with any crimes, though Joel Greenberg, a Gaetz associate, pleaded guilty in the spring to six criminal charges. He agreed to sing to investigators.

If McEntee’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he was the former college quarterback who became Trump’s “bag man” in the final stretch of his one term presidency. He became known as the guy who would do anything Trump wanted. One high-profile secretary described him as a “fucking idiot.”

(Via The Post)

Mariah Carey recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of her RIAA-certified, five-time Platinum album Butterfly, which features the singles “Honey” and “My All.” Amidst the celebration from both the pop star and her fans, she opted to show off her funny side by reenacting one of the album’s most iconic videos, this time with a surprise guest.

In a TikTok video posted Saturday, the “We Belong Together” singer was joined by Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown for a 2022 take on the opening scene from the video for “Honey.” Carey reprised her role as the hostage, while Brown and others played the roles of mafia members giving her threatening warnings. In the end, they all joined together to yell “You gon’ die!” in unison.

Butterfly was released in 1997 to both positive critical and commercial acclaim. The album debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 236,000 copies in its first week, remaining in the top 20 for 21 weeks. In a retrospective review for The Washington Post, journalist Bethonie Butler stated that the album “changed the face of pop music” and paved “the way for other pop stars…to sing alongside their rap contemporaries.”

Check out Mariah Carey and Millie Bobby Brown’s TikTok video above.

When Queen Elizabeth II passed away earlier this month, tributes (and some not-quite-tributes) poured in. One was from Donald Trump, who wrote a very nice note about her on Truth Social, where he’s usually not so nice. Despite the warm sentiments, it was unclear whether he would be among the elites invited to her funeral. Now, about a week and a half later, he’s finally got his invite — although it’s technically not for the funeral.

As per The Telegraph, invitations went out Thursday for a memorial service, which will be held two days after the Queen’s funeral, scheduled for Monday at Westminster Abbey. It’s called the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and Trump wasn’t the only former president invited. Barrack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter were also offered spots at the event.

Joe Biden was the only American figure invited to the official funeral, due to the high number of dignitaries from around the world expected to attend.

After Elizabeth II’s passing, a message appeared on Trump’s Truth Social feed, which exhibited a marked difference from his usual aggressive malarkey:

Melania and I are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Together with our family and fellow Americans, we send our sincere condolences to the Royal Family and the people of the United Kingdom during this time of great sorrow and grief. Queen Elizabeth’s historic and remarkable reign left a tremendous legacy of peace and prosperity for Great Britain. Her leadership and enduring diplomacy secured and advanced alliances with the United States and countries around the world. However, she will always be remembered for her faithfulness to her country and her unwavering devotion to her fellow countrymen and women. Melania and I will always cherish our time together with the Queen, and never forget Her Majesty’s generous friendship, great wisdom, and wonderful sense of humor. What a grand and beautiful lady she was—there was nobody like her! Our thoughts and prayers will remain with the great people of the United Kingdom as you honor her most meaningful life and exceptional service to the people. May God bless the Queen, may she reign forever in our hearts, and may God hold her and Prince Philip in abiding care.

(Via The Telegraph)

It is a phrase that every single football coach is contractually required to say at some point: special teams are a third of the game. There are so many examples over the years of football games that have been decided by someone doing something extremely good or extremely bad on special teams, and while offenses and defenses tend to get most of the attention, game-changing plays on special teams tend to stick with you a little more than most — unless you are an Alabama fan, you can see an example of that right here.

Anyway, Abilene Christian entered Saturday’s game against Missouri needing just about everything to go right to pull off an upset, as the Wildcats, an FCS squad, walked into SEC country as 31.5-point underdogs. Instead, they got one of the more perplexing special teams decisions you will ever see, as wide receiver and return man Kendall Catalon opted to call for a fair catch instead of letting the ball bounce into the end zone.

The catch: Catalon did not exactly have a ton of space behind him, as he caught the ball while his heels were more or less on the very edge of the end zone.

My assumption here is that he thought he was catching it in the end zone. Still, just let it bounce into the end zone next time.

This Pittsburgh Pirates season has been defined by two things: Oneil Cruz hitting and throwing baseballs really hard, and weird stuff happening at third base. Earlier this year, infielder Rodolfo Castro slid into third and had his cell phone fall out of his pocket, which was pretty silly but still led to him issuing up an apology for the whole thing.

The latest edition of “weird stuff happening at the hot corner for the Buccos” came on Friday night during the team’s 4-3 loss to the New York Mets. In the bottom of the third inning, Tomás Nido punched one into shallow right field. A hit-and-run was on, so Eduardo Escobar was on his horse before the ball even got to home. He kept running and running, and eventually, he was able to slide into home and give the Mets their first run of the game.

Watch until the end of the highlight, notice anything? Well, after the game, SNY’s Todd Zeile pointed out that Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, in the middle of the play, took his glove off and threw in some sunflower seeds.

Now, listen, it’s easy to get jokes off here but Hayes didn’t really have anything else to do here — the ball was hit into right field, he was headed to third, and his pitcher was backing up the catcher in case the throw went awry, while Nido stayed at first. We do not blame him for wanting to have a snack, as sunflower seeds are very good.

New York City in 2022 is among the safest it’s ever been. Over the last 30 years, violent crime has plummeted, with murder, robbery, and burglary rates dropping dramatically. That said, compared to last year, most crime is up. Murder is still down, but NYPD figures show shocking rises in grand larceny, auto theft, and robbery. Rape is up 10% from 2021. This has happened under the watch of Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who rose to power in part promising to get tough on crime. His pro-cop stance, in a time when police are under extreme scrutiny, has alienated him from some Democratic voters. Now he’s pissed off Fox News, too.

During a segment on The Five, Jeanine Pirro — the shouty judge-turned-far right commentator — went to town on Adams over the rising statistics.

“We weren’t here ten years ago. Why weren’t we here 20 years ago? The reason we weren’t is because we were a nation of law and order and consequence,” Pirro stormed. She then deemed Adams a “failure,” continuing:

Yeah, the guy’s a former police captain. Everybody said, yeah, streets are good, but you’re a failure. You talk the talk. You don’t walk the walk. You don’t call out Hochul. You don’t call out the legislature and say, change the bail laws. They’re coming out. They’re killing us.

Pirro was then challenged by Geraldo Rivera, who’s no stranger to deviating from the party line. “I respect his attempts to reign in violent crime,” he told Pirro.

“What attempt, tell me?” Pirro replied. When Rivera said Adams has reached out to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Pirro interrupted him, saying, “He’s a pussy.”

As Rivera and other co-hosts chuckled, Pirro continued her war path. “When he came back to talk about that meeting,” she said. “This is what he said. He said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you about this.’ He didn’t want to talk to us about it because he didn’t do anything.”

When the Democratic mayor who’s hated by most Democrats has lost Judge Jeanine…

You can watch the segment in the video above.

(Via Mediaite)

For months, John Fetterman has relentlessly trolled Dr. Oz, his Pennsylvania Senate opponent, on many issues. But he’s frequently dwelled on one idea in particular: The former TV quack was, up until pretty recently, a Jersey boy. Now it turns out he’s not the only Republican candidate who’s spent most of his life voting in the Garden State.

As per New Jersey Globe, Doug Mastriano — the far-right MAGA gubernatorial candidate running against Doug Shapiro — was a registered voter in New Jersey up until (wait for it) July of 2021. That’s around the same time that Oz hightailed it from Jersey to Pennsylvania, then launched a surprising-to-many run as a Trumpian candidate.

Mastriano has been a registered Jersey voter since 1982, when he turned 18, and while he hasn’t voted in a primary election since 1985, he voted in most general elections up till 2010. Then he stopped voting. He was removed as an active voter last year after he sent a sample ballot back to election officials with a handwritten note, reading, “Return to sender. Moved to PA.”

When Mastriano’s voting record was made public, Fetterman had a joke at the ready: a meme photoshopping both Oz and Mastriano in front of the Broadway musical Jersey Boys.

While Oz has his faults (boy, does he), Mastriano is on another level. Mastriano was involved with the Jan. 6 protests, though he claims he did not storm the Capitol. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. He’s against any form of abortion, including in cases of rape and incest or even to save the life of the mother. He’s suggested that he would only certify Pennsylvania’s presidential election results if a Republican candidate wins. He wants to slash public education, deport illegal immigrants to Wilmington, Delaware, and has ties to far-right extremists and militias. He doesn’t believe in climate change but does believe in pseudoscientific gay conversion therapy. A photo of him wearing a Confederate uniform was recently unearthed, and though he’s lagging in the polls, he could still be the governor of a swing state.

(Via New Jersey Globe)

Back in 2005, the Keanu Reeves vehicle Constantine did alright. A very American take on the very British comic Hellblazer, it made a decent amount of money and got mixed reviews. Then it disappeared. There was no sequel. But over the years it’s gained a reputation, all while Reeves’s star has gotten arguably bigger than ever. Not long ago, HBO Max wanted to revive Constantine as a new show. But now Warner Bros. has decided to make things easy and just bring Reeves back for a sequel.

As per Variety, the studio is getting most of the old gang back together, reuniting Reeves with the original film’s director, Francis Lawrence, who went on to helm I Am Legend, Red Sparrow, and three Hunger Games entries. He’s also directing the prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so don’t expect Constantine 2 any time soon.

That means the Constantine show — which was to feature a non-white version of John Constantine, the chainsmoking big city occult detective, who can literally go to hell — has been put on indefinite hold. Ditto Madame X, about the DC sorceress Madame Xanadu. That doesn’t mean both will never happen; they simply have to find new, non-HBO Max homes, as Warner Bros. Discovery goes through some things. In the meantime, let’s hope they bring back the film’s stacked supporting cast, including Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou, and — that’s right — Bush vocalist Gavin Rossdale.

(Via Variety)

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are looking for a new head football coach. On the heels of last week’s 45-42 loss to Georgia Southern, the university opted to part ways with Scott Frost, who made a nasty habit of losing very close games during his tenure in Lincoln. A former national championship winning quarterback for the Huskers, Frost went 16-31 and 10-26 in conference play after returning to his alma mater from UCF to much fanfare.

It’s led to plenty of questions about who Nebraska can hire. Firing Frost gave them more time to figure things out, but on Saturday, a number of the school’s fans made pretty clear there’s one name at the top of their list: Urban Meyer. Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff is in Lincoln ahead of the team’s game against Oklahoma on Saturday, and at one point, Meyer — who is an analyst for Fox Sports — got serenaded by Cornhuskers fans.

A little later in the show, Fox brought The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman onto the show to run through potential candidates and Meyer’s name didn’t come up.

Meyer is one of the most decorated coaches in college football history, as he has recorded a 187-32 record during his time with Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, and most recently, Ohio State. He is a three-time national champion, having won two titles with the Gators and one with the Buckeyes. His last stop as a coach was not nearly as successful, as Meyer made the jump to the NFL last year to serve as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. After going 2-11 and watching him get embroiled in a number of off-field controversies, the Jags decided to fire Meyer.

Kid Cudi seems to be a fan of Abbott Elementary. In a TikTok video uploaded by actress Sheryl Lee Ralph‘s son, Etienne Maurice, Ralph, who plays Barbara Howard on Abbott, reveals to her son that Cudi sent her flowers following her winning the award for Best Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series at the Emmys.

Maurice reads the message sent with the flowers, which says, “Congrats Sheryl, you are a legend, and watching you and Quinta [Brunson] win was truly inspiring. Your speech was everything. Always rooting for you…Looking forward to meeting you one day.”

It’s hard to tell who’s more excited; Ralph or her son. But nonetheless, Maurice is grateful that his mother is receiving her flowers (in both the figurative and literal sense).

“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think one of my favorite artists of all time would be sending flowers to my mom,” he said in the post’s caption. “I know this is about my Mom, but @KidCudi, my mother wouldn’t know who you were if I wasn’t blasting your music on my way to school in the morning or her buying tickets to see you for my high school graduation. I am your fan from DAY 1 bro bro. Thank you for showing love to moms. You are loved my g.”

The second season of Abbott Elementary premieres on ABC next Wednesday, 9/21 at 9 p.m. EST