In the wake of Danny Masterson’s sentencing last week – he got 30 years in prison for being a serial rapist – one of the biggest headlines was about the letters of support Masterson got from his celebrity friends, including Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis. Ashton and Mila’s letters were so egregious and full of lies that they were leaked publicly within 24 hours of Masterson’s sentencing. One of the most disgusting aspects of their letters was Ashton and Mila crediting Masterson for being drug-free and encouraging his friends to be drug-free. Masterson was convicted of drugging and raping multiple women. Please allow the prosecutor to summarize:

A prosecutor in the Danny Masterson rape trial described the behavior and actions of the former That ’70s Show actor as “predatory in nature as well as opportunistic.” Masterson, 47, was sentenced Sept. 7 to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women at his Hollywood Hills home in the early 2000s.

“It’s been a long time coming for them to get their justice,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller tells PEOPLE in an interview. Mueller says the judge’s prison sentence was “absolutely the right decision.”

Mueller says Masterson was “consistent in the manner in which he forcibly raped each of his victims.”

“He surreptitiously drugged the victims using an alcoholic beverage as the vehicle for administration, and then forcibly raped them as they became incapacitated,” he says. “This afforded him the opportunity to obtain control and dominance over his victims as he carried out his forcible assaults.”

There was no toxicology analysis done to verify what the victims were allegedly drugged with, but Mueller says “our suspicion is that the drug used was GHB, based largely on the nature of the consistent symptoms experienced and rapid onset.” Mueller noted there’s no confirmation the victims were drugged with GHB.

“We did have an experienced toxicologist testify to the typical nature and side-effects of various date rape drugs that commonly existed within the social scene during the time period of when these rapes occurred, ” he says. “She was asked hypothetical questions that presented similar facts, circumstances and adverse reactions that were experienced by these victims after consuming an alcoholic beverage furnished by the defendant. She then testified to her expert opinion that the physical and mental symptoms experienced by these victims is not consistent with consumption of the amount of alcohol, alone.”

[From People]

The fact that Ashton and Mila wrote letters of support for Masterson is enough to cancel them off the face of the earth, but the whole thing about Masterson’s anti-drug persona is a really appalling part of the story. Ashton and Mila knew what Masterson had been charged with, they knew why he was on trial and the specifics of his victims’ claims. And they still wrote to the judge and talked about how Masterson was so anti-drug and he was such a good guy and something something 9/11. It’s insane. Meanwhile, some of the victims’ statements have also been making news after Tony Ortega published them:

The statements materialized Tuesday when Scientology blogger Tony Ortega obtained the court records and posted the transcripts, in their entirety, at his site the Underground Bunker.

“Of course, there are many cowards who can claim they just never saw him rape anyone,” Niesha Trout, who self-identified after going as Jane Doe 2 during trial, said in her impact statement. “Yeah, that’s generally not how sexual assault or rape works. We know that. For those of you living under a rock, who might have publicly stated before this trial they hoped he’d be found innocent, let me state this: I read that, and my own daughters could read that, too.”

That was a clear reference to an April interview that Kutcher did with Esquire, in which he said he’d hoped Masterson would “be found innocent of the charges brought against him.”

[From The Wrap]

I’m sure Trout was referencing Ashton as well, but here’s the thing: I’m sure Ashton knows exactly what Masterson has done. I don’t even believe “well, Ashton never saw him rape anyone.” Ashton knew what his bro was up to.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Drew Barrymore took to her Instagram on Sunday to announce her decision to bring back her talk show, despite the ongoing Hollywood strikes. Although Drew is a SAG-AFTRA member, her hosting duties fall under a separate contract, and thus she is not breaking any SAG-AFTRA strike rules. As for whether the move is breaking WGA strike rules, at first glance it seems complicated. Late night talk shows stopped production as soon as the writers strike began in early May — part of why hosts started the Strike Force Five podcast to raise money for their writers — while daytime talk shows like The View have carried on, claiming they’re simply not using their union writers. So perhaps the opinion that matters most right now is that of the WGA itself, and they say that The Drew Barrymore Show returning now is unequivocally a violation of strike rules:

The Writers Guild of America, East announced it would be picketing Barrymore’s New York based daytime talk show.

“The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers,” a tweet from their Twitter account reads. “The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on “The Drew Barrymore Show” is in violation of the WGA strike rules.”

In her statement Barrymore, who is one of the show’s executive producers, wrote that she owns the choice to return to production at a time when many talk shows have gone dark in solidarity with the strikes.

“We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind. We launched live in a global pandemic,” she wrote. “Our show was built for sensitive times and has only functioned through what the real world is going through in real time. I want to be there to provide what writers do so well, which is a way to bring us together or help us make sense of the human experience.”

A spokesperson for CBS Media Ventures, which produces the talk show, told CNN in a statement that “The Drew Barrymore Show will not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike.”

[From CNN]

So basically the producers (who the unions are striking against) are using the same line as The View. It’s a very technical, lawyer-approved way of saying the shows are not using work by union members. Which means they’re saying — by omission — that non-union writers or producers are generating material. Honestly my takeaway is that we’re late in asking why The View, Live with Kelly and Mark, et al are still in production.

But wait, there’s more! As if Drew hadn’t landed herself in enough of a quagmire, on Monday her crew kicked out (and allegedly “verbally assaulted”) two audiences members who showed up to a taping wearing WGA pins:

Meanwhile, X/Twitter user Dominic Turiczek took to social media to document being “kicked out” of today’s “Drew Barrymore Show” taping.

“Went to @DrewBarrymoreTV after winning tickets, unaware of the #WGA strike. We took pins & went in, got kicked out, & verbally assaulted by @DrewBarrymore ‘s crew. It’s clear they don’t support #WGAStrong, writers or fans! #DrewTheRightThing So we took shirts and joined. F— that,” Turiczek wrote.

“We knew about the #WGA strike, just not that they were picketing at Drew’s show. We were unaware until inside, that her show had WGA writers, thus crossing picket lines by starting again. We won the tickets last minute and didn’t do enough research, clearly,” the message continued.

In a statement to Variety, a “Drew Barrymore Show” spokesperson addressed the booted audience members.

“It is our policy to welcome everyone to our show tapings,” the spokesperson said. “Due to heightened security concerns today, we regret that two audience members were not permitted to attend or were not allowed access. Drew was completely unaware of the incident and we are in the process of reaching out to the affected audience members to offer them new tickets.”

[From Variety]

What a mess! I’m dying to know if the show does reach out and make the situation right, like really make a teachable moment out of it and invite them back to speak for a minute, wearing the damn pins. Or will the show do it Buckingham Palace style, wait a few weeks and invite them to sit with the crew members who attacked them? Do let us know, Dominic!

The last point I want to make is that if Drew really isn’t breaking strike rules, and by that I mean not employing writers or any written material. If that is the case, then the show will be… Drew speaking extemporaneously? Unless your name is Stephen Fry, any actor-turned-host who thinks they can deliver quality material off the cuff for 30-60 minutes 5 days a week, well they might actually end up convincing the studios to give the writers everything they want.

Went to @DrewBarrymoreTV after winning tickets, unaware of the #WGA strike. We took pins & went in, got kicked out, & verbally assaulted by @DrewBarrymore’s crew. It’s clear they don’t support #WGAStrong, writers or fans! #DrewTheRightThing So we took shirts and joined. Fuck that pic.twitter.com/UuyCxAS491

— Dominic Turiczek (@dom_turiczek) September 11, 2023

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photos credit: JPI Studios / Avalon and via Instagram

Last Friday, Prince Harry was photographed by a tourist as he left St. George’s Chapel in Windsor. As it turned out, Harry had spent Thursday night at some undisclosed location, then he went to his grandmother’s crypt to pay his respects on the one-year anniversary of her death. His visit ended up becoming THE story, as Buckingham Palace scrambled to shrug off the visit as “private” while Kensington Palace went on rage-briefing spree because Harry’s simple gesture made William and Kate look garish and silly. As the day went on, we also heard that a few other royals did the same thing as Harry: made a simple stop by the Windsor crypt to pay their respects to QEII. One of those royals was Prince Andrew. Well, the Ephraim Hardcastle column has an interesting wrinkle.

Awkward times at St George’s Chapel when Prince Harry turned up to pay his respects to his grandmother a year after her passing.

A source says that, during his visit, Harry discovered that a special service attended by Prince Edward and Prince Andrew was scheduled a few hours later.

Apparently, Harry wasn’t impressed at confirmation that fellow exile Andrew, who he took a swipe at in his autobiography, Spare, over the Virginia Giuffre imbroglio, is being brought in from the cold.

His attendance wasn’t publicised but he is now a fixture at family events, having grudgingly accepted that he won’t be returning to a full royal life. Harry, says the source, left St George’s ‘wearing his finest scowl’.

[From The Daily Mail]

Previously, I wondered if Harry really sought “permission” to visit the family crypt or whether he simply informed the palace as to his plans. Now I wonder if the palace did not inform Harry that some of the family planned a private service at the crypt and that’s why Harry was upset, if he really was. I mean, this is a story with many layers of family bullsh-t and many different levels of “treating Harry poorly.” Also: “the Virginia Giuffre imbroglio” is a hell of a way to describe “Andrew’s close friendships with human trafficking pedophiles and credible accusations of rape.” Harry has every f–king right to be angry that his family is perfectly fine with a rapist but not okay with a man who is trying to heal himself of years of abuse and neglect.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I haven’t visited or looked at any of the Chris Evans fandoms, so I don’t know how the news of his wedding is really going down. I am happy in my bubble of not knowing! Something nice is that there hasn’t been flat-out shock and outrage about “America’s Boston Bachelor” marrying a 20-something Portuguese actress. Chris actually did a good job of preparing people for this – he confirmed the relationship, he posted videos and photos with Alba, and he’s clearly been smitten with her from the word go. People Magazine’s sources say the same thing: Chris was head over heels in love with Alba at first sight.

Chris Evans knew he’d found the one with Alba Baptista. A source close to the Captain America actor, 42, tells PEOPLE that “it was kind of love at first sight” for Evans, who tied the knot with the Portuguese actress during a ceremony at a private estate in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Saturday.

“They got serious very quickly,” says the source, noting that Evans first met Baptista, 26, in Europe. “He kept saying he knew she was the one.”

According to the source, Evans “has been the happiest since they met,” and she is “everything to him.”

“He has been ready to settle down for a while,” says the source. “He can’t wait to have a family. He was just waiting for the right girl.”

“She is beautiful, smart and just a good person,” the source adds. “She is involved in charity work and truly cares about doing good. She is a very positive and happy person. It’s rubbed off on him. It’s the best news that they are married.”

[From People]

Yeah, his light was on. It’s been on for a while. He had criteria: brunette, petite, willing to spend a lot of time in Boston, comfortable with his family, etc. Alba fit the bill. Now, I’m not saying that Chris had a checklist or anything like that, but the man has a type and Alba must have fallen head over heels with him too. Sometimes you just know! I also don’t think the age difference is a huge thing… right now. Chris looks and acts like a much younger man. Alba is 26 – she’s old enough to know what she wants, and she apparently wants to have Chris Evans’ babies. It’s not like Chris picked her up from high school. Will it be different ten years from now, after a couple of kids? Alba will be 36, maybe missing home, and she’ll be married to a 52-year-old who is still best known as Captain America?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Instagram.

As I’ve been saying for the past week, King Charles should publicly invite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to come back and work, if just to light a fire under the asses of Prince William and Kate. W&K did f–k all for two months, with William downright refusing to do his job as President of the Football Association, and now suddenly, Will and Kate are making asses out of themselves every single day since the Sussexes have been dominating the newscycle. Well, guess who was out and about today in London? Lord Peggington, the lazy Prince of Wales.

It’s not just William and Kate’s completely obvious desperation to ride the Sussexes’ coattails, it’s also actually their tone-deaf (if not completely offensive) approach to their events in the past week. Flying all the way to Wales to “honor” QEII, then showing up over an hour late because the helicopter couldn’t land? Then Kate with her doll wig, jazz hands and gurning IN PRISON. And now this: William wearing a hard hat and talking about… suicide prevention. These people are not slick. Who thinks it’s a good look for a violent bully to talk about suicide prevention just a few years after he spearheaded the effort to drive his sister-in-law to unalive herself?

While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have reunited at the Invictus Games in Germany – enjoying a rock star welcome – the Prince of Wales continued with his charity work in West London. Prince William, 41, headed to a building site in the capital on Wednesday morning to discuss the mental health of the UK’s construction workers.

Wearing a light tweed blazer with a blue shirt, navy chinos and brown suede brogues, the Prince met with industry workers to discuss the high suicide rate amongst labourers – three times the national average and the equivalent of two men losing their lives each working day.

During his visit, William heard about some of the mental health challenges faced by construction workers, and discussed suicide prevention with the charity Mates in Mind.

Later, he donned full protective gear – including a hi-vis jacket, white hard hat and protective eyewear as he took a short tour of the site.

[From The Daily Mail]

You know it’s bad when the Mail can’t even jazz this up or make it sound like anything other than William’s pathetic and obvious attempts to invade the Sussex newscycle. If “DON’T FORGET ABOUT MEEEEE” was a person.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Here are some photos from last night’s Kering Foundation’s Caring For Women event. This was attached to New York Fashion Week, and this is why Kim Kardashian has been in New York this week. Kim has really been cozying up to Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos’ fiancee, as this is easily the fifth or sixth time they’ve attended the same event or been seen together in recent months. Sanchez was also at this event. Kim’s dress is Balenciaga – many women wore Balenciaga to this event (because Kering owns Balenciaga).

Lauren Sanchez wore Dolce & Gabbana – Big Bird vibez.

Speaking of big feathered birds, Nicole Kidman wore this pale, feathered number. It was… a lot. The hair is not doing her any favors here.

Karlie Kloss looked amazing in her tuxedo. Olivia Wilde looked like bedraggled ass in her tuxedo.

Malala and Asser! They’re so beautiful together.

Salma Hayek brought some bombshell energy to the event (she’s married to the CEO of Kering).

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Here are some photos of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex today at the Invictus Games. Meghan arrived in Germany yesterday, and she attended her first Invictus event last night, an event for friends-and-family of Invictus veterans sponsored by Fisher House. Today’s appearance was for the wheelchair basketball game between Ukraine and Australia. Meghan and Harry sat with the Aussies, but also close to Team Nigeria. The British press is ranting and raving about Meghan learning that she’s 43% Nigerian, and Harry referenced that in his Opening Ceremony speech. There’s an element of “Meghan’s Black so of course she supports NIGERIA” to this coverage.

Meghan’s look here is a combination of her high-low dressing. The cardigan is from J.Crew and her shoes are Chanel. the shorts are either from Staud (likely) or J.Crew. Plus, she’s wearing some nice jewelry, including a pinkie ring which the Mail is currently crying about. I love that she wore shorts to the basketball game and that she continues to make “dress shorts” into a thing. They’re also making a big deal about how Meghan didn’t travel with a glam squad – she’s doing her hair and makeup for these appearances. I’m sure that upsets the Derangers, who continue to insist that Meghan “demands” designer clothes and full hair and makeup wherever she goes. They can’t admit that Meghan is just an attractive woman who looks great with minimal makeup, and she makes mass-market pieces look like couture.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I’m sorry, but what are these photos of Princess Kate in prison? She’s so used to turning up to random places and screwing on her fake smile that she forgot that her forced hyena laughing and freeze-posing would look absolutely INSANE in a prison setting. She really looks like she’s having the time of her life doing this little prison skit. These are more photos of Kate at HMP High Down, a men’s prison in Surrey. Kate went to prison as part of her patronage of the Forward Trust, and the whole point of this was for Kate to “experience” what it’s like to be a family member of an incarcerated person, and what those family members have to go through to visit a loved one.

Kensington Palace gave the same line to all media outlets regarding Kate’s mysterious hand injury – she was seen with two fingers taped together on her right hand, and KP swore up and down that it was a trampoline injury from playing with her kids, and that it’s “a small injury, nothing serious.” If this was a one-off, I would say we could take KP at its word. But Kate consistently has bandaids and bandages on her hands for years now. They aren’t all trampoline injuries.

Meanwhile, there’s a lot of talk about Kate’s doll wig. Yesterday, I called this a “new wig,” but I might have to correct myself – what if this is the Together At Christmas doll wig from 2021? It doesn’t look completely the same, but the two wigs are definitely kissing cousins, much like QEII and Prince Philip. I wish Kate and her hair stylists would figure out something better than this. Hilariously, the sycophantic British media is trying to make Kate’s Prison Wig into the hottest new club. It has everything: Farrah Fawcett vibes, bewigged gopher energy, balayage, keen secrets, synthetic hair, fire hazards.

In recent months, countless celebrities have had their hair chopped into a bob. But, for the Princess of Wales, this would possibly be a transformation too far; after all, it takes an arm-length of hair to twist into those triumphant chignons we’ve come to admire.

So what’s a girl to do when she feels like a change but is reluctant to do anything drastic? Get a fringe, that’s what. While visiting HMP High Down men’s prison on Tuesday, the Princess debuted what’s known in fashion circles as the “butterfly fringe”, previously seen on taste-makers like Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega and model Matilda Djerf, who inspired the trend earlier this year.

The fringe, which gets its name, unsurprisingly, from a butterfly’s wings, is designed to skim the cheekbones to create a diamond shape, which is not only forgiving on faces that have softened with time, but also gives the hair a jaunty lift. Hence why it’s popular with Gen-Zers and Boomers alike.

For the Princess of Wales, this micro update is the perfect way to freshen up an end-of-summer hairstyle in line with the new autumn season without forsaking polish. Andreas Wild from Larry King’s Notting Hill salon says: “I love the Princess’s new look; It’s very soft and modern. Sometimes when you have long hair it can hide your features. What’s beautiful about this style is that it brings out Kate’s eyes more.”

[From The Telegraph]

Honestly, I think Kate wore this new wig (??) because she’s gotten some new work on her face, so she wanted everything to look different and you couldn’t really place exactly what was going on. Mostly, I think she’s overdoing the fillers and Botox, but I’ll also accept “botched eye job” as a possibility. Anyway, this hairstyle is not new, nor is it flattering on every face. If most women attempted some version of the Farrah Fawcett style, they would look like this – impossibly dated.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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This may come as a surprise, but guess what? The Elon Musk and Grimes stuff keeps getting grosser and messier. There’s a new Elno biography out by Walter Isaacson and the info that’s leaked out from it has led to gossip messiness. Over the weekend, we learned that at some point, they had a secret third child named Tau (government name: Techno Mechanicus). There was a bunch of drama when Grimes responded to Isaacson’s Tweet with a plea to Elon to let her see her son and to the baby mama of his twins, Shivon Zilis, to unblock her. It’s a bit chaotic, but Buzzfeed has a good breakdown to help you catch up. The general gist of that drama is that Elon sucks. Speaking of, Isaacson’s book includes a passage in which Grimes shares a little anecdote about how Musk grossly violated her privacy while she was giving birth to X.

In a new biography on Musk, writer Walter Isaacson discusses the SpaceX founder’s 11 kids, including his three children with singer Grimes (real name is Claire Boucher).

In a section about the pair’s son X Æ A-Xii, whom they call “X,” Isaacson reveals that Musk, 52, snapped a photo of Grimes, 35, as she was having a C-section and sent it around to their friends and family, including the musician’s father and brothers.

“He was just clueless about why I’d be upset,” Grimes told Isaacson.

[From People]

Of course he was clueless. Apartheid Clyde only cares about privacy when it involves someone Tweeting about his private jet. Why would he stop and think about what a horrible invasion of privacy it is to share a picture of a woman in the middle of her having a C-Section? I don’t have a lot of patience for Grimes, her ignorance, and her shenanigans, but I do feel angry on her behalf in this case. He clearly only sees her as an incubator in his plans to help repopulate the earth.

Also, Elon Musk clearly puts a lot of acid-induced thought into what he names his children, so I think it’s kinda funny that his biography is just called “Elon Musk.” I can think of a bunch of better names, like “Space Karen” or “Phony Stark.”

Hey, I wud prefer to not breathe any more life into this current press cycle but I want to de-escalate the narrative atm.

I spoke with Shivon at length finally, which was long overdue. This wasn’t her fault, plz don’t be angry at her! We respect each other a lot and we’re…

— Grimes (@Grimezsz) September 10, 2023

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Photos credit: Getty and Sara De Boer/startraksphoto.com

For years now, the MTV VMAs and Movie Awards have been in the depths of hell – like, no A-listers were showing up to those events, and it was just an endless parade of C-listers and reality stars. I figured this year’s VMAs would be the same, but MTV somehow got a bunch of big-name people to come out. Of course, I kind of think the only reason Taylor Swift went to the VMAs is because MTV guaranteed that Taylor would sweep, which is what happened – she won NINE VMAs this year. For the red carpet, Taylor wore Versace… you guys, this dress is so bad. Like, WTF? Who picked this out for Taylor? And who styled her?

Here’s Olivia Rodrigo in a great Ludovic de Saint Sernin dress. So pretty.

Shakira picked up the MTV Video Vanguard Award, and she wore Versace on the carpet (and on stage). I love how sparkles and metallics are back this year!

Cardi B wore the “Dilara Findikoglu hair clip dress,” a dress made out of hundreds of hair clips. She looked cool.

Selena Gomez wore this red Oscar de la Renta dress. Eh, kind of phoned it in?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.