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Alright, who remembers last summer’s B-plot involving Elon Musk wanting to fight Mark Zuckerberg? To recap, last June, Elon Musk was bro’ing out with the Blue Check Bros while having a hissy fit over Meta’s then-new social media platform, Threads. At some point during that tantrum, Musk challenged Zuck to a cage match. Zuck responded by telling Space Karen to “Send me location.” At some point, it was planned that this cage match would be live-streamed from Las Vegas for charity. No one could agree on which platform to stream it from, and eventually, the Muskrat dropped out due to “shoulder surgery.” After that, the story had a few more gasps of air when Elon tried to rent out the motherf-cking Colosseum and then showed up at Zuck’s house for attention. It was a stupid time.

Last week, Elno apparently poked his head up from a potential ketamine haze and remembered his feud from 12 months ago. I have no idea if he thought that it was still ongoing, got excited after seeing the Gladiator II trailer, or if he’s just trying to distract from his daughter completely eviscerating him as she clapped back against his utter hypocrisy and complete cruelty, but he told a reporter during a visit to the US Capital that he is still totally down to get his ass kicked by Marky Z.

Mark Zuckerberg is showing little interest in Elon Musk’s renewed interest in a cage match. In a Wednesday, July 24, post on Threads, the Meta founder and CEO responded to Musk’s continued request to fight.

“Are we really doing this again?” Zuckerberg, 40, wrote.

The post was in response to Musk, 53, telling a reporter, “I’ll fight Zuckerberg any place, any time, any rules.”

The tech giants have previously discussed a potential match in the octagon in exchanges on social media and have yet to lock in an actual match. In June 2023, Musk and Zuckerberg appeared to agree to a “cage match” in Las Vegas. After a user posted about Zuckerberg’s Threads possibly competing with X (formerly Twitter) and another told Musk he needed to watch out for Zuckerberg’s ju jitsu skills, Musk responded, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.” Hours later, Zuckerberg responded by posting Musk’s reply to his Instagram Stories, adding “Send me location.” Musk proposed the Vegas Octagon.

A Meta spokesperson told PEOPLE at the time that “the story speaks for itself,” as far as how likely a battle between the billionaires was. However, the impending fight might have to wait. In August 2023, Zuckerberg told his followers on Threads that the Tesla CEO wouldn’t commit to a date for their face-off.

“I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity,” Zuckerberg wrote at the time.

“Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead,” the Meta founder said.

He added that if Musk would be willing, he could contact Zuckerberg.

“If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me,” the Facebook founder continued. “Otherwise, time to move on. I’m going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously.”

[From People]

Hahahaha this is so dumb yet I sometimes long for these times when rich people are being ridiculous and ridicule-worthy towards each other. That said, Zuck’s kids are similar in age to mine, and it seems like he’s a more hands-on parent than Elon ever was/is, so perhaps he really is just rolling his eyes at the complete immaturity of it all. They should just call a truce, given that they’re on the same side for this year’s presidential election and all. (To be clear, that side is whatever party will let them greedily take home more money and avoid paying back into the system that helped make them gazillionaires.) If I had to pick a side, I suppose for, as much as I can’t stand Zucky-Zuck, I’m still all for watching him punch the daylights out of Apartheid Clyde.

Another @elonmusk quote from his visit to the hill today—

Musk said he’d fight Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg “any place, any time, any rules” pic.twitter.com/XYSBdmpkzX

— Kelly Phares (@kellyfphares) July 24, 2024

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A post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck)

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photos credit: IMAGO/CNP / MediaPunch / Avalon, Olivier Huitel / Avalon, Getty

Justin Timberlake was arrested for driving while intoxicated in June. He refused the breathalyzer, but his drunk ass was driving on the wrong side of the road and he missed a stop sign. He was also visibly intoxicated, and the arresting officer could smell the liquor on him. After Justin spent one night in jail, he sobered up, hired a local lawyer and at least one clownish crisis manager. Whoever is running crisis management for Justin these days is doing a terrible job – they were trying to doxx the arresting officer, but everyone took the cop’s side. The crisis management team has also been running around, bribing people to publicly claim that Justin only had one drink and that he was definitely not drunk, not at all. Well, last Friday, Justin’s lawyer had several motions before the court:

Justin Timberlake will be arraigned next Friday on a misdemeanor charge of driving drunk in June in this waterfront village about 100 miles from New York City, and the pop singer will appear for the hearing virtually, by a remote link while he is on tour in Europe, a judge ruled on Friday. Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace also agreed to review a motion by Timberlake’s attorney, Edward D. Burke Jr., to dismiss the case outright based on what Burke called a procedurally “defective” criminal complaint filed by the Sag Harbor Village Police officer who arrested Timberlake.

Burke said that the local police department failed to have a supervising officer sign off on the criminal complaint that detailed the “young” and “part-time” officer’s interactions with Timberlake. Irace said the arraignment will still go forward based on a revised criminal complaint filed earlier in July by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. A prosecutor, Ashley Cangro, said the paperwork issue raised by Burke has no bearing ”on the facts of the case.”

Timberlake has a concert scheduled for tonight in Krakow, Poland. Irace briefly paused the half-hour hearing so that Burke could find a workable court date next week for his client. “Find out what day — whoever you have to talk to — what day we can do a video arraignment with your client.”

Outside the red-brick municipal building housing the court, Burke told reporters, “The most important thing we have to say today is obviously that Justin should not have been arrested for driving while intoxicated. The police made a number of very significant errors in this case, and you heard the District Attorney try to fix one of those errors just this morning upstairs in court.”

Burke emphasized that his client respects law enforcement and the judiciary, but said that police officers, being human, sometimes “make mistakes.” He added that Timberlake “cooperated with the police officers from the second he was ordered out of his car to the second he was discharged on June 18th” by the same judge. “But the facts remain,” Burke added, “he was not intoxicated. I’ll say it again: Justin Timberlake was not intoxicated and we’re confident that charge — that criminal charge — will be dismissed.”

[From Deadline]

With no Breathalyzer analysis and – I’m assuming – no blood-alcohol test administered when he was arrested, is this a he-said/he-said situation? Not to get too CSI about it, but I would imagine the prosecution could get their hands on traffic video and security footage of Justin’s drunk ass driving down the wrong side of the road. They could even get eyewitness testimony about his behavior in the bar – I doubt Justin’s team managed to pay off everyone in the bar, you know? All of this because Justin doesn’t want to admit that he’s got substance abuse issues. Sigh. Meanwhile, TMZ is still getting briefings from Justin’s lawyer, and this is their latest story:

Justin Timberlake might have an ace in the hole to get his DWI case dismissed … and it’s a woman who took the keys to his car after his arrest … TMZ has learned. As we reported, Justin was busted for drunk driving last month, after partying with friends at a Sag Harbor hotel. Cops say they saw him blow a stop sign and swerve as he was following some friends.

After he was stopped, cops say he failed multiple sobriety field tests and also smelled of alcohol. He refused to blow into a Breathalyzer, and claimed he only drank one martini. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … the car Justin was following came back to where the singer was pulled over. There was a woman and her husband in that car, and the woman got out and went up to one of the cops and began questioning him, asking, “Are you going to arrest Justin Timberlake?”

She then offered to drive Justin to their house, where he was going to spend the night … in other words, just let him go and she and her husband would get him home safely. That strategy did not work, and Justin was arrested.

Now here’s the twist. Our sources say the woman asked cops if she could take Justin’s rental car to her house, given that Justin was going to jail. The cops obliged, she got in Justin’s car and left. We’re told the woman had arrived at The American Hotel 2 hours before Justin and was drinking … and it was apparent she had been drinking. Yet the 2 cops who were on the scene let her take the wheel and drive away.

We’re told Justin’s lawyer, Edward Burke, Jr. — who is trying to get the case dismissed — will argue the 2 young cops were so off in their judgment, they let a person who had clearly been drinking drive away, right in front of their eyes. If they were unable to properly evaluate her, how could they properly evaluate him?

[From TMZ]

How many extra things happened around the DWI arrest of one washed-up pop star? While I’m no big-city lawyer, this story makes no sense as a “reason” why Timberlake’s case would be or could be dismissed. The argument of “that woman was drunker than Justin, therefore you must acquit” is bonkers. Justin is also clearly throwing a friend under the bus too?? Nothing quite like a has-been trying to save his own skin and avoid going to rehab.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Deadpool & Wolverine made $208 million in its opening weekend, and that’s just the domestic box office. It opened with $233.3 million internationally. [Seriously OMG]
A Dexter prequel is happening! Michael C. Hall is involved too. [Pajiba]
I’m calling it: Katy Perry is over. [OMG Blog]
Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo were forced to go to the Paris Olympics as part of the advanced promotion for Wicked. [Socialite Life]
Zendaya & other celebrities went to Paris for the Olympics! [LaineyGossip]
Simu Liu’s boots are snazzy! [Go Fug Yourself]
Cindy Crawford & Kaia Gerber were in Paris too! [Just Jared]
Greta Lee’s high-fashion Canadian tuxedo. [RCFA]
Wedding photos from two Summer House stars. [Starcasm]
There are unsurprisingly so many Leos in Hollywood. [Hollywood Life]
What is the best “summer horror movie”? [Buzzfeed]

One week ago, Vice President Kamala Harris was shoring up the delegates and party support to ensure that she will be the official Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. I’ve never seen someone hit the ground running like VP Harris – the speed with which she assumed the role of nominee was amazing and she’s already been campaigning her ass off. Meanwhile, there was of course an immediate concern for VP Harris and her campaign: who would be her running mate? They’ve been doing quick-yet-thorough vetting on at least six boring white men, because she’s absolutely going to choose a white guy running mate. Everyone’s made their peace with that. So who is the best contender? Kentucky’s Gov. Andy Beshear? North Carolina’s Gov. Roy Cooper? Arizona’s Senator Mark Kelly? Illinois’s Gov. Pritzker? Pennsylvania’s Gov. Shapiro? That was Harris’s shortlist five days ago or so.

Well, some of those guys have been campaigning as well, making this a veepstakes via television appearance. Something really funny has happened too – while Gov. Beshear has gotten really high marks in his TV appearances, a dark horse has emerged, someone who wasn’t even on some of the shortlists: Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz. Walz’s TV appearances are already legendary, and his folksy, regular-dad style of attacking the Trump-Vance campaign has gotten high marks. His insistence that Donald Trump and JD Vance are simply “really weird” has even been adopted by the Harris campaign. Bloomberg even reports that Gov. Walz is on the latest shortlist:

Vice President Kamala Harris is zeroing in on a group of potential running mates, as she faces a two-week dash to make the biggest decision of her nascent presidential bid. Harris is considering a wide range of vice presidential candidates from the Democratic Party’s bench, though people familiar with the process say a short list has emerged including three elected officials with nationwide appeal: Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said she “directed her team to begin the process of vetting potential running mates” but declined to elaborate on the search. Harris is expected to make a selection by Aug. 7, in order to align with the party’s plan to virtually nominate a ticket by that date.

Picking a vice presidential candidate will cement the Democratic standard-bearers to take on Republican nominee Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance in the November election. Harris’ sidekick can serve as a force multiplier who can campaign and raise money on her behalf, while ideally complimenting her strengths and covering any vulnerabilities.

Most on Harris’ list are White, male politicians with centrist leanings who could help Harris appeal to swing-state voters, as well as business leaders and donors. They have a track record of attacking Trump and his firebrand style of politics. Walz has gained momentum with progressives, enough to vault himself into consideration, according to people familiar with the matter.

Allies of Harris say chemistry between the vice president and whoever she picks is just as important as their political attributes. Harris knows firsthand the pressures of being No. 2 on the Democratic ticket and is weighing her experience as she makes a selection, according to her supporters.

[From Bloomberg]

Personal chemistry should not be underrated, which is why I think Gov. Walz has emerged as a favorite too – he seems really normal, he seems like the kind of folksy guy who tells dad jokes and appeals to a lot of Rust Belt voters. I could absolutely see Walz and VP Harris getting along really well on a personal level (he’s a bit like Doug, tbh). NBC News said as much too – they did a really nice profile on Walz, with many Dem sources saying that Walz is seen as someone who can “shore up the Blue Wall” in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. His biography makes him an attractive candidate too – a veteran, a former public school teacher, very pro-labor, very popular with the progressive wing of the party and popular because of his family-friendly policies. What’s more is that… Walz really wants it. He’s been happy to make the TV show rounds and make the case for Kamala Harris and for Democrats nationwide. Anyway, I’m calling it: I think Tim Walz is going to aw-shucks his way into the vice presidency and Kamala Harris’s heart.

I’m telling you: these guys are weird. pic.twitter.com/fvNRNf7T7T

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) July 24, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Robert Jobson has a new royal biography out this week called Catherine, The Princess Of Wales. As I’ve said before, Jobson is an old-guard Charles & Camilla royalist. Jobson’s sources are mainly from the Charles and Camilla side of things, so his biography of Kate is more about the king and queen consort, and it’s more about how the institution of the monarchy has approached Kate over the years. Which would be an interesting thing to study and analyze without agenda, but Jobson’s agenda is pretty obvious on every page. The Daily Mail published some extensive excerpts from the book and here are some highlights about Kate’s lack of work ethic, her lack of interest in being a fashion plate, and as always, her ability to be the keenest lynchpin ever.

Will & Kate’s 2010 engagement interview: It was the first time most people had heard Catherine speak publicly and some were surprised to note that her accent was perhaps overly posh, even compared with William’s. Afterwards even members of her own family gently ribbed her about how upper-class it sounded. (Over time, however, her accent has become less clipped.)

Kate’s ground rules: Diana was always going to be a tough act to follow but, from the outset, Catherine has never tried to do so. Before joining ‘the Firm’, she wisely established some fundamental rules. She wouldn’t be pigeon-holed into carrying out particular duties and insisted on eventually having her full quota of maternity leave, away from the glare of the media and public. Her priority, she emphasised, would be to maintain a balance between her royal obligations and what she held most dear: a loving marriage and a happy family life. This didn’t mean that she wouldn’t carry out royal duties; far from it. But she wanted to offer her patronage only to charities close to her interests and delve into their purpose with in-depth study.

Kate was too lazy to even present her ground rules to QEII: These ‘terms’ were, in fact, presented by William to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles in early 2015, when Catherine was pregnant with Charlotte. On her behalf, he explained that she wanted more space to grow into her role and needed more time to adapt to the peculiarities of royal life.

QEII monitored the Wales marriage: The Queen knew, too, that if this marriage failed, there’d be far more at stake than a broken heart. Since the early days of William’s romance with Kate, Queen Elizabeth had monitored it from a discreet distance. She didn’t interfere, but she was privately delighted by his choice. For understandable reasons, Her Majesty particularly liked the lack of drama that came with Catherine.

Prince Philip’s advice: He gave Catherine some sage advice: never to believe that the attention she’d receive as a member of the Royal Family was for her personally. It was for what she was supporting, he said. He also warned her against looking at the camera, as celebrities do. His advice chimed with her. She has also remained true to her resolution to stick to charities close to her heart — particularly those that deal with the early years of childhood — which means she has fewer royal patronages than Diana did, but can dig deeper.

Kate never complains, lmao: If Catherine has ever struggled to cope with the strains of royal life, she has never complained publicly — unlike Princess Diana or Meghan. True to her upbringing, she just gets on with it. Some have criticised her for being bland. The late novelist Dame Hilary Mantel went further, scathingly describing her as a ‘jointed doll on which certain rags are hung’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although Catherine has learned to play the dressing-up game, wearing sumptuous designer gowns for formal occasions, she’s not interested in being a fashion plate.

The Wales marriage is fine, nothing to see here! With William, Catherine also enjoys playing competitive games of tennis or lolling on the sofa and watching box sets — including Homeland and Game Of Thrones — when ‘the kiddies are in bed’. They like their low-key lifestyle at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, and remain very much in love.

The Keen Lynchpin! She may not have the starry allure of Princess Diana, but she’s brought stability, empathy, glamour and an enquiring mind to the royal institution. Commander Patrick Jephson, the former private secretary to Princess Diana, believes the monarchy needs ‘reassuringly conventional royal performers’ such as Catherine. She holds this royal dynasty’s future in her hands, he says, adding: ‘It helps that Catherine, like Diana, has that indefinable but essential royal quality: presence.’ In a way, she is much like the late Queen — quietly wielding influence without ever succumbing to the siren lure of celebrity. The King, say those close to him, has unwavering faith in Catherine, and sees her as a lynchpin for the modern monarchy.

[From The Daily Mail]

Jobson’s book is so full of propaganda, I’m more convinced than ever that some serious sh-t has gone down in the past year. Basically, since the coronation, I’m convinced that there’s been chaos behind the scenes in the Wales marriage and drama between the two central royal couples, Charles and Camilla versus William and Kate. Anyway, some quick factchecks! Kate is absolutely a complainer. She absolutely wants to be a fashion plate but fails at it. She’s never been interested in working at all and that lack of work ethic didn’t just suddenly become an issue during her second pregnancy. And the Windsors actually showed this year that Kate is not the lynchpin. People wanted to know if she was okay, they were concerned that she disappeared for six months, but the Windsors actually proved that everything was perfectly fine without Kate.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I’ve seen a lot of people compare JD Vance’s entrance onto the Republican presidential ticket to John McCain choosing Sarah Palin. Let me tell you something, kids – Vance is worse. Palin was an idiot and a catastrophe, of course, but Palin was enormously popular with the proto-MAGA voters. She gave a huge fundraising boost to the McCain campaign and she was a hit on the campaign trail. Vance… isn’t anything like that. He’s not popular with the base, he’s not a hit without donors beyond Peter Thiel, he’s awkward and weird on the campaign trail, his years of sh-ttalking is coming back to haunt him and his personal narrative is being attacked by both Democrats and Republicans.

As we discussed soon after Vance was added to the ticket, the white supremacists – who are Trump’s base – were really upset that Vance is married to an Indian-American woman and that they have three half-Indian children. When Vance was sent out last Friday to do damage control on all of his creepy, weird statements about “childless cat ladies,” Megyn Kelly also asked him about the white supremacist “backlash” to his Indian-American wife Usha Vance. This was his response:

“Obviously she’s not a white person…but I love Usha, she’s such a good mom.”

Honestly this is such a weird way to respond to white supremacist attacks on your Indian American wife. Pathetic. pic.twitter.com/aC5BIOzm1D

— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) July 27, 2024

This is what he said: “Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she’s who she is. Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been accused, attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha. She’s such a good mom.” There are like twenty different angles to unpack here. First of all, I find it interesting that he even addressed it at all, given that Donald Trump bends over backwards to let white supremacists know that they’re all simpatico. Secondly, Usha Vance needs to file for divorce. White supremacists are attacking her and her children and her husband goes on Megyn Kelly’s podcast and he says “she’s not a white person BUT I love her.” The “good mom” thing is fascinating too, because up until the RNC, Usha Vance had a high-powered legal career… the kind of career JD Vance believes women should not have.

Photos courtesy of Vance’s IG, Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The Telegraph still employs Camilla Tominey, even if Tominey’s curiously anti-Sussex “royal sources” have dried up in the past year. Tominey moved from royal gossip to right-wing political commentary, and she had a rough few months as she tried (unsuccessfully) to scare people into voting for the Tories in the British election. Now the UK election cycle is over and Labour has power, Tominey is now trying to turn her political savvy (lol) to the American election cycle. Would you believe that Tominey has opinions about Vice President Kamala Harris? Would you believe that those opinions involve the Duchess of Sussex?

There had always been something strangely familiar about Kamala Harris. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on it – until she emerged from Joe Biden’s shadow after the US President announced his resignation on Sunday. The penchant for spouting word salad; the slightly awkward misplaced laughter; the courting of chat show hosts; the celebrity iPhone moments; the loathing of Donald Trump; the unfortunate bullying allegations. And then the penny dropped. Meghan! Kamala Harris reminds me of the Duchess of Sussex.

As she continues to spoon Montecito jam into jars, I wonder what Prince Harry’s wife is thinking right now. It has been suggested that Meghan one day dreamed of being the first mixed race, female President of the United States. Now Harris could beat her to it.

Meghan was once the toast of Oprah Winfrey. Now Harris is the darling of the US chat show scene, having been salivated over by Drew Barrymore. Meghan once actively sought out a relationship with Michelle and Barack Obama, now they are busily endorsing Harris’s presidency. (Was it just me or did that staged phone call between the Obamas and Harris have shades of Meghan telling Harry “Beyonce’s just texted”, just as the Netflix cameras were conveniently rolling?).

And the rhetoric! Both Meghan and Kamala spout this sort of pseudo-spiritual psychobabble that sounds perfectly progressive but doesn’t always make that much sense. The Duchess once declared: “Reflecting on where I came from helps me to appreciate and balance what I have now.” But on reflection, might she have preferred to have come up with Harris’s now-infamous catchphrase: “What can be, unburdened by what has been”. I mean, if you heard Meghan uttering these words at some point during the Sussexes’ 2019 tour of South Africa, you really wouldn’t have batted an eyelid, so accustomed had you become to her sociology-degree speaking style.

Both women have spoken out in support of each other in the past. “Meghan, we are with you,” Harris tweeted when things were getting tough for the royal couple before Megxit. The Duchess, in turn, welcomed Harris’s nomination as vice president a year later. Meghan has not yet publicly endorsed Harris for president. But it can surely only be a matter of time.

[From The Telegraph]

I’m not sure a white political commentator would get away with this kind of bitter and snide ad hominem attacks on two mixed race women here in America. Well, someone like Tominey would absolutely try, and she would be widely mocked and ridiculed by the American media and social media. The one thing women like Tominey will always have is the audacity, you know?

It’s interesting that she mentioned VP Harris’s tweet of support for Meghan, because Kamala actually tweeted her support for Meghan several different times over the years. Tominey also failed to mention that Doug Emhoff attended and spoke at the Sussexes’ Mental Health Festival last year. The Biden-Harris administration has been supportive privately and publicly of the Sussexes, as has Hillary Clinton. I guess what I’m saying is that… of course Meghan is probably super-excited that a California girl like Kamala Harris is running for president. Meghan is not fuming that Kamala “beat her to it,” because the whole “Meghan is going to run for president” thing was truly just some British tabloid fiction. Meghan and Kamala are not in competition because they are not in the same place whatsoever. This attempt to denigrate both of them by comparison falls flat because Meghan and Kamala are both awesome in completely different ways.

Photos courtesy of Archewell, Instagram and Cover Images.

It just came to me: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are pulling some version of Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady’s divorce. Remember that? In 2022, Gisele made it clear that she was done with her marriage for months. She began setting up her post-divorce life before any papers were filed with the court. After a couple of months of work with a mediator, Tom and Gisele suddenly announced that they were divorced and everything had already been finalized and they wrapped it up in a bow. This is why Bennifer’s moves have felt so unsettlingly familiar. That’s why it feels like everything they’re doing is telegraphing their permanent split, and yet nothing has been filed. Speaking of:

Ben Affleck has purchased a new multi-million dollar L.A. estate, TMZ has learned, all but marking the end of his marriage to Jennifer Lopez.

Real estate sources tell TMZ … Ben just closed escrow on the Pacific Palisades mansion for $20.5 million. The stunning residence has 5 beds and 6 baths with breakfast and dining areas, a separate family room, den, walk-in closets, media room, powder room, guest house and on and on and on.

TMZ broke the story ,,, Ben and Jen quietly tried selling their marital home in Bev Hills back in June, but there were no takers, so they officially put it on the market July 11 for $68 million. They bought the house just last year for around $61 million, so with the L.A. mansion tax, real estate commissions and several mil in renovations, they’ll be lucky to break even.

Meanwhile, as TMZ first reported, Jen is on the hunt for a house of her own.

They’ve been separated since May, and Ben recently got all of his belongings out of the Bev Hills home while Jen was in Europe. It’s not hard to connect the dots … this marriage — which is just 2 years old — is headed for a conclusion in divorce court.

As for why they continue to wear their wedding rings occasionally … it may be a bluff, but it’s pretty clear at this point … the writing’s on the wall.

[From TMZ]

One month ago, Ben and J.Lo met up at their office and left separately. I kind of wonder if we’ll find out that date was when they signed some papers or met with their lawyers together or something. Because everything since then has been… very “we’re getting a divorce.” J.Lo is in the Hamptons, Ben didn’t even see her on her birthday, and now he’s buying a new house just for himself. This marriage is over. I’m really bummed about it too. What a f–king mess.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

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Jennifer Garner made a surprise appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday for the Deadpool & Wolverine panel. Jen reprises her role as Elektra from the 2005 film with the same name. That film was a spin-off of 2003’s Daredevil, where she met Ben Affleck. I didn’t realize this, but it was her first Comic-Con! I guess DD and Elektra came out before Comic-Con really blew up in 2008/2009 thanks to the Twilight movies, so SDCC wasn’t a part of the must-promote-at circuit.

Jen appeared as one of many surprise guests who make cameos in the movie. I won’t spoil you on anyone else, but there are some good ones! On Saturday, Jen found herself stuck in an elevator at the Hard Rock Hotel with an attendant and members of her team. The HRH is just across from the convention center and one of a few hotels downtown where celebrities and panelists stay. They also do a lot of press and have industry parties there. So what does a gal with a big personality and a lot of social media followers do when she’s stuck in an elevator? Why chronicle the entire adventure, of course!

Garner posted a series of seven videos capturing moments in time while she was stuck, each with a timestamp in the righthand corner. First responders finally arrived on the scene after an hour and 12 minutes, per the post.

“Hey guys, um, we’re stuck on this elevator,” Garner began in a clip from two minutes into the ordeal.

“I could use a Wolverine, I could use a Deadpool, I could use someone,” she continued, adding that she would look for stairs in the future. “Thanks for having us here. My first Comic-Con.”

At 11 minutes in, the Family Switch star, who was wearing a floral top and jeans, said: “It’s toasty, I’m sphitzy, I need to blot.”

“Don’t cut the blue wire is what we’re hearing,” she joked to the camera.

In the next video slide, Garner was sitting on the elevator floor because she said she heard on Brooklyn Nine-Nine or The Office that it’s what someone is “supposed to do” when stuck in an elevator.

By 41.5 minutes in, the Juno actress was leading her group in a round of the popular song “99 Bottles of Beer.” (There was an elevator attendant, a man in a suit and people from her team off-camera, but no one else was singing.)

“We’re 45 minutes in. We’re calling 9-1-1,” Garner whispered to the camera in the fifth clip, which panned to people with their cell phones out.

“I thought we were in Vegas,” she whispered when someone said they were in San Diego.

An hour into the journey, the elevator began beeping, lights went on, and Garner started singing Madonna’s hit “Like a Prayer.”

Garner’s eyes went wide with excitement at 1 hour and 12 minutes into the saga when she realized first responders had arrived and everyone started cheering.

[From People]

Being trapped in an elevator is a lot of people’s worst nightmare, especially if you’re claustrophobic. The videos are funny and it’s endearing how she seems to be the only one in the elevator who’s taking it all in stride. That poor elevator attendant, though! He thought his day was going to be full of pressing buttons for famous people to ride on the elevator and he had to do some unexpected field work. I would not have waited an hour to call 911, though! If it couldn’t be fixed within 15 minutes, I would have been on the phone so fast.

One of our good friends stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel during SDCC about eleven or twelve years ago, and I remember him complaining about how slow the elevators were back then! We were all so jealous that he randomly managed to book a room there through the hotel lottery, and he was all, “It’s super cool here but the bathrooms have glass doors so there’s no privacy and the elevators are really slow.” I’ve never forgotten that tidbit about the bathrooms, lol. Anyway, the hotel is lucky that this happened to a good-natured actress during the daytime and not during a big press event or party.

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It will never be normal to me, to watch right-wing Evangelicals throw their feverish support behind a serial sexual predator, adulterer, twice-divorced, violent hatemonger. I grew up in an era where everyone knew that the American Evangelicals were a right-wing political movement built on hypocrisy, but it’s never been more flagarent than now, with their lock-step support of an unhinged, fascist cult of personality. All of which to say, Donald Trump spoke – by invitation – to the Believers Summit on Friday, and he told them to get out the Christian vote for the last time. As in, make the Christians vote for me this year and no one will ever have to vote ever again. Because America as we know it will be over.

In the closing minutes of his speech to a gathering of religious conservatives on Friday night, former President Donald J. Trump told Christians that if they voted him into office in November, they would never need to vote again.

“Christians, get out and vote. Just this time,” he said at The Believers’ Summit, an event hosted by the conservative advocacy group Turning Point Action, in West Palm Beach, Fla. “You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”

Mr. Trump, who never made a particular display of religious observance before entering politics, continued: “I love you, Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, you got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”

Mr. Trump’s comments came at the end of a nearly hourlong speech in which he appealed to religious conservatives by promising to defend them from perceived threats from the left. Earlier in his remarks, he lamented that conservative Christians do not vote in large numbers, a complaint he had made repeatedly on the trail. “They don’t vote like they should,” Mr. Trump said of Christians. “They’re not big voters.”

[From The NY Times]

As Aaron Rupar pointed out, this isn’t even the first time Trump has “mentioned” the idea that no one will have to vote anymore if he gets into the White House again. Trump absolutely means it. He’s meant it this whole time. Those were always the stakes of this election: if Trump gets into the presidency again, he will install himself dictator for life. He will cancel all of the elections. His Supreme Court will let him do it too. And he’ll enforce it too, with deadly results. Also: my skin crawled at “my beautiful Christians.” How are true people of faith not disgusted by everything that comes off of this dumbf–k’s mouth?

Trump: You have to get out and vote. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.. In four years, you won’t have to vote again. pic.twitter.com/DBGcBr3Wht

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.