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When news broke that Tony Bennett had passed away one of my first thoughts was, “Gaga must be devastated.” Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett met in 2011 when she was in her Born This Way era (still her best solo album, in my opinion). By 2014 she appeared on his Duets series and they recorded a jazz album together, Cheek to Cheek. The fondness between them was apparent from the get-go. I think Bennett saw past all the outfits and hairdos and just thought, “the kid can sing!” And it seemed that Gaga, for her part, revered Bennett and always treated him with kindness. I imagine she feels like she’s lost a family member, which is why I wasn’t surprised to see this sweet little piece from People on how she’ll always remember him:

Lady Gaga will always have a permanent reminder of the late Tony Bennett.

In 2014, the pop star, 37, had the legendary “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” singer–who died at age 96 on Friday–sketch her one of her tattoos.

“I asked Tony to draw me a trumpet, and he sketched me Miles Davis’ trumpet,” Gaga told PEOPLE that year. “Then I had it tattooed with his last name, Benedetto, underneath. Just so I would always remember this time together.”

Gaga and Bennett–who is remembered in this week’s PEOPLE cover story, on newsstands Friday–first bonded in 2011 at a charity gala where she sang the standard “Orange Colored Sky.”

“Tony heard me sing it, and he asked to meet me,” Gaga said in 2014. “He said, ‘Do you want to do a jazz album together?’ I said, ‘Of course I do!’ We were fast friends.”

Their 2014 jazz album, Cheek to Cheek, debuted at No. 1, making Bennett, at 88, the oldest artist to top the charts. Even after Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, he went on to release a second jazz album with Gaga, titled Love for Sale, in 2021.

In August of that year, Bennett played his final two sold-out shows with Gaga at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. “My time with Tony,” Gaga said at the time, “has changed me forever.”

[From People]

In addition to singing, Bennett was also an accomplished fine artist (he actually wanted to be a painter before he turned to music), so it’s all the more fitting that Gaga’s hand drawn trumpet tattoo is a marriage of both his talents. For all of the crazy Lady Gaga has thrown out into the world–and it’s a lot, I won’t deny that–I think her true character comes through in the way she interacts with the people she adores. We saw this last year when she took care of Liza Minnelli at the Oscars. The tenderness was also there when she and Bennett recorded Love for Sale in 2021, especially when they played his final two shows in New York that year. She knew his disease was progressing, and she put the focus on him. That’s a class act, Lady.

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This week, Kevin Spacey was acquitted of nine sexual assault charges in the UK. The assaults ranged in years, but most of them were from the time period when Spacey was in charge of the Old Vic, a legendary British landmark/theater. Spacey has also been credibly accused of assaulting and raping men and boys in New York, LA and wherever location his movies and TV shows were filming. While Spacey has still not been convicted of a crime, he’s truly faced hundreds of accusations. Everyone knows who he is now, if we can’t prove it in court.

Once the stories came out in 2017, Hollywood cut their ties with him. It was easier for Hollywood to do that with someone like Spacey – while he was on a Netflix show at the time, he wasn’t part of some big franchise and studios (other than Netflix) hadn’t locked him into any big contract. The biggest issue, at the time, was removing him from Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World and they figured out a way to do that pretty easily. So it was a little bit weird to see, after his acquittal, a few dozen thinkpieces about “will Kevin Spacey be able to make a comeback??” I was surprised to see that Page Six mirrored my own thinking on this issue – no, Hollywood is done with Spacey, but he’ll be able to find work in Europe.

Kevin Spacey may have to stick to working in Europe — as Hollywood isn’t ready to forgive or forget, multiple Tinseltown sources told Page Six.

“It’s not a matter of can Kevin work again, but who will work with him?” one producer told Page Six. Asked about Spacey’s career future, one well-placed Hollywood source told Page Six: “Look at all these men accused of sex crimes, from Woody Allen to Roman Polanski, they’re all working in Europe. Woody’s even got his new movie coming up at Venice Film Festival.”

“All these men get a clean bill of health in Europe, but it’s harder to come back to Hollywood.” the source added.

Two movie insiders cited Johnny Depp’s return to the big screen as an example of making it back after such a harrowing trial. One movie insider told us: “I think Kevin will come back the Johnny Depp way in Europe – I still don’t think people would employ him in Hollywood.”

[From Page Six]

Yeah, I agree? No American studio will hire Spacey and no big-name American actor will work with him. But he’ll find some way to relaunch himself in Europe. Nightmare-casting: Roman Polanski hires Johnny Depp and Kevin Spacey to star in his new film set in a non-extradition country.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Every single one of the Kardashian-Jenner women has gone through cosmetic surgery or cosmetic enhancement at various points of their lives. It’s just a matter of degrees. Kourtney is arguably the most natural one, and she has breast implants and she’s done injectibles. On the other side, I would argue that Kim, Khloe and Kylie are most “fake,” the most worked on, the most surgically enhanced. They always deny it, or they’ll do selective admissions – just a little Botox, or just a few lip injections. Kylie has always had a difficult relationship with the truth about how much plastic surgery she got when she was just a teenager. Well, on the most recent episode of The Kardashians, Kylie finally “admitted” to getting a boob job as a teen.

Kylie Jenner isn’t too proud to admit her regrets. On Thursday’s finale of The Kardashians, the Kylie Cosmetics mogul, 25, reveals a more emotional side of herself while expressing her regret over past surgeries. Speaking with close friend Stassie Karanikolaou, Jenner opens up about her history of cosmetic surgery. Jenner gave birth to Stormi, 5, when she was 20 years old. Jenner recently revealed that before she got pregnant, she got her breasts done. Speaking with Karanikolaou, she details her remorse over the surgery.

“I wish I never got them done to begin with,” Jenner emotionally states. “[I] recommend anyone thinking about it to wait after children.”

Having recently given birth to her second child Aire, 1, big themes of childhood and maturity seem to be dawning on Jenner. Reflecting on her kids brings greater self-reflection for Jenner’s surgery. In an emotionally climactic moment, Jenner reveals that she would be “heartbroken” if Stormi wanted to get cosmetic surgeries when she was 19, like her mom did.

Plastic surgery has been a contentious issue on this season of The Kardashians. On last week’s episode, Jenner denied any claims that she had gotten surgery done on her “whole face.”

“I always remember being the most confident kid in the room,” Jenner said. “I always loved myself — I still love myself — and one of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I was this insecure child and I got so much surgery to change my whole face, which is false, I’ve only gotten fillers.” She adds: “I feel like I don’t want that to be a part of my story.”

[From People]

Kylie was not the most confident kid in the room – she had huge insecurities about her lips, her face, her body. She reportedly begged Kris to let her get plastic surgery and Kris allowed it and here we are. Kylie had more than “fillers” in her face and she’s done more than just get a boob job (lipo, BBL, nose job, chin and eye work). She never needed any of it and she got it because her family has like a dozen plastic surgeons on speed dial. The thing Kylie is saying now, that she worries about what she’ll say or do if her kids want surgery at that age… I’ve always wondered if Kim’s kids will want to mimic their mom in that regard too.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram, Cover Images, Avalon Red.

Several weeks ago, the owners of Nouvel – previously Angelina Jolie’s half of Chateau Miraval – blasted Brad Pitt in scathing legal filings in California. Pitt was called a “petulant child” and there were descriptions of how he “looted” Miraval for his vanity projects. The American media covered it like Jolie was the one who did this filing – she was not. It was Yuri Shefler, the man who owns Stoli and its subsidiary, Tenute del Mondo (which technically owns Nouvel). Shefler has been on the warpath for more than a year, and the French authorities are now aware of the dodgy situation in Miraval too. Basically, Pitt is screwed, but he’s still trying to act like he has some power over the situation. Which might explain this idiotic Daily Mail piece:

The war between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has been the longest — and bitterest — celebrity divorce in living memory. But only a fortnight after a legal filing which accused Pitt of bullying and illegal behaviour over the vineyard they co-owned, it can be revealed that peace — yes, peace — could at last be on the horizon. For both Pitt, 59 and Jolie, 48, have agreed to mediation which could settle their beef.

Documents filed last week in the vineyard dispute show that both stars have agreed to mediation as an alternative method of dispute resolution over Chateau Miraval — rather than the matter going to court. Jolie has also said that she’s willing to take part in a settlement conference.

What’s more, it can be revealed that Pitt has appointed a ‘provisional administrator’ to Chateau Miraval in a bid to resolve the war between himself and the Russians Jolie sold her share of the vineyard to. The move, at Pitt’s suggestion, aims to protect the highly successful wine business which he has helped to build, in conjunction with French wine-makers Famille Perrin. It will see an independent figure come in to assess the winery and how it is run and (it is hoped), in time, facilitate negotiations between Pitt and Nouvel — the investment company his ex sold to Stoli boss Yuri Shefler.

A French source confirms the move, saying: ‘In view of the dispute between Nouvel LLC (controlled by Stoli boss Yuri Shefler) and Mondo Bongo LLC (controlled by Brad Pitt), Chateau Miraval and its director have requested and obtained the appointment of a provisional administrator by the Draguignan (France) Commercial Court, to enable the company and its director to continue to grow the business and its essential partnership with the Perrin Family until such dispute is resolved, in the interests of Château Miraval, its directors, employees, partners and subsidiaries.’

[From The Daily Mail]

From what I understand, this whole “Brad Pitt single-handedly decided to hire a mediator to solve this mess” is obviously false – as part of the many legal filings in multiple countries, Pitt, Jolie and Shefler have all expressed their general openness to seeing this dispute go into mediation out of the spotlight. It’s also worth noting that none of this would have blown up so spectacularly if Pitt hadn’t tried to smear and bully Jolie and Shefler publicly, only to see them fight back. Also: “it can be revealed that Pitt has appointed a ‘provisional administrator’ to Chateau Miraval” – more like the French authorities have all of Miraval’s chaotic business records and there’s a lot of talk about tax fraud. This is Pitt taking credit for hiring an administrator who was likely appointed by one of the courts trying to untangle Pitt’s mess.

Meanwhile, People Magazine has an exclusive about how Pitt is still dating Ines de Ramon. Sources (Pitt’s publicist) tell People that the relationship is still “going very strong” and “they are doing great.” Ines has flown into Europe to spend time with Pitt, apparently, and “The two have been spending a lot of time together this summer as they truly enjoy each other’s company and are very into each other. It’s apparent to anyone who sees them together.” Maybe Ines goes out drinking with Pitt at quaint British pubs.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Thursday afternoon, People Magazine had yet another exclusive about Ariana Grande and her new boyfriend Ethan Slater. They met when both of them were married to other people, and Ethan’s wife Lilly Jay welcomed their first child just last year. It’s as messy as can be, made messier by two simple facts: Ariana is using her A-lister PR team to steamroll her way into whitewashing her sloppy behavior AND Lilly Jay is not going quietly. “Sources close to Lilly Jay” have been battling it out with “sources close to Ariana Grande” for the past week and it’s been fascinating to watch from a gossip perspective. Anyway, People’s exclusive was another Team Grande piece about how it was “obvious” that Ari and Ethan were “forming a close connection” on the set of Wicked: “They were very sweet to each other and often seen laughing together… Everyone just thought they were both happily married though and didn’t expect them to end up dating.” The source says they’re now “full-on dating.” Barf. Within hours, Lilly Jay spoke on the record to Page Six:

Lilly Jay says her family is “collateral damage” as news broke of her estranged husband Ethan Slater’s budding romance with his “Wicked” co-star Ariana Grande.

“[Ariana’s] the story really. Not a girl’s girl,” Jay exclusively tells Page Six. “My family is just collateral damage.”

The musician, who shares one son with the “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical” star, says she’s focusing on raising her and Slater’s baby and being “a good mom.”

“The story is her and Dalton,” Jay adds, referencing Grande’s split from her husband, Dalton Gomez, to whom she had been married for two years.

However, sources tell Page Six that Jay has been “calling every news outlet to get this story out” while acting differently toward Slater behind the scenes.

“She’s telling Ethan and others that she only cares about protecting their child,” our source shares. “She’s rightfully upset because her marriage fell apart, but Ariana and Ethan didn’t do anything wrong,” our insider adds, telling us that Slater had been separated from Jay for two months before romancing Grande.

“Ethan is trying to take the high road and hopes he can resolve this situation for the sake of their child.”

[From Page Six]

Those quotes in the second half are from Ariana throwing a tantrum about how Lilly won’t just shut up. Lilly has been “calling every news outlet to get this story out” – yeah, that’s what wronged women do, that’s what many women would do if their husband dumped them for a married costar. “But Ariana and Ethan didn’t do anything wrong” – they truly cheated on their spouses for what will be a six-month relationship at most. Those “sources” keep insisting that Slater left Lilly two months ago when Lilly is making sure everyone knows that she was blindsided by all of this and Ariana’s actions are the real story. Shades of LeAnn Rimes-Eddie Cibrian, huh?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Harvey Weinstein is spending the rest of his life in jail, where he belongs, for decades of sexual crimes against women. Appearing on The Louis Theroux Podcast this week, British actress Samantha Morton revealed that Weinstein tried to ruin her career when she was in her early twenties, simply because she declined a role he offered her. She thought the movie was misogynistic, and when she gave this feedback, along with her pass, Weinstein and his casting directors flatly told her she would never work again:

Samantha Morton, the Oscar-nominee best known for her roles in “Synechdoche, New York” and “Minority Report,” revealed on this week’s episode of “The Louis Theroux Podcast” that disgraced studio head Harvey Weinstein tried to ruin her career for turning down a role.

Morton had already received critical acclaim for her role in “Under the Skin” (1997) opposite actor Stuart Townsend, when Weinstein, who ran Miramax Films with an iron fist at the time, urged her to star opposite Townsend a second time in “About Adam” (2000).

“I said, ‘I don’t like it. I think the film is really misogynistic, and I don’t want to be part of it,’” Morton told Theroux about declining the part. “The casting director came back with, ‘You don’t say no to Harvey.’ Well it’s not up to him. I just don’t want to do this film.”

Morton added she was even “uber polite” and clarified the film was “just not interesting” to her, only for the casting director involved to warn: “You don’t say no to Harvey.” Morton recalled reiterating she wasn’t saying no to Weinstein, but rather to the project.

“I had a phone call saying, ‘You can’t say no,’” said Morton. “The ‘no’ wasn’t being listened to. So they kept coming back with this role, and I was told unequivocally, ‘You’re not going to work again unless you do this role. I’m going to make your life hell.’”

“You will not work again,” the casting director told Morton.

While the film was made without Morton, she was seemingly blackballed from Miramax films to come. Morton told Theroux that Weinstein refused to cast her in “The Brothers Grimm” (2005) opposite Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, and said she was “unf—able.”

Morton started questioning why Weinstein “was anti-me,” only for continuous rejections from his studio—as well as the Weinstein Company, which he founded with his brother Bob in 2005—to remind her of turning down “About Adam.”

“I forgot about it because it was years earlier,” Morton said. “And then all these years later, I realized that [when] I get an offer, get a letter from a director, if Miramax or then the Weinstein Company had anything to do with it, it was just awful for me.”

Morton added that Weinstein had “a deep-seated reason” to “try and destroy” her career, but she was insulated by “independent cinema all over the world” and managed to forge ahead in smaller films—as well as Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise.

[From HuffPost]

The arc of this story is an all-too-rare triumphant one: to go from being told “you’ll never work again,” to having a rich career in independent cinema, then to being in a film about the downfall of the man who threatened you (she had a pivotal role in She Said last year). And all while he watches from prison. Bravo Samantha. If you read up on her, though, you’ll find that she had to navigate a very tough upbringing, which in a way made her just the kind of scrappy, punky type to talk bluntly to Weinstein, consequences be damned. I don’t know about you, but I needed this story after the pro-predator news out of London and Venice this week. Nevertheless, we persist.

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I lived in California for 28 of my 30 years, and I have a lot of frustrations with the political system there. Even though there’s a robust Democratic majority, state and local governments still have a lot of gridlock and inefficiencies. The state has some very serious problems coming down the pike and it seems as if there is not enough political will to meaningfully address them. There is a catastrophic housing shortage. This miraculous winter notwithstanding, the state is in a perpetual drought and water shortages wreak havoc on the agricultural sector, which provides the US with over 60% of its winter vegetables. Wildfires steal innocent lives, destroy entire towns, and threaten the state’s most precious and irreplaceable treasures, like the Sequoias. The cost of living is unsustainable, and there is a crisis of homelessness in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I love my home state, and I miss it constantly. But I left it because it has come to embody the original double meaning of the word “utopia”: it is both the good place, and the place that cannot be. (And yes, that is a reference to Mad Men.)

Needless to say I have some reservations about how governor Gavin Newsom’s tenure has been going. He also annoyed me so much when he went to French Laundry at the height of lockdown in 2020. The governor dining at a $600-a-head tasting menu fancypants restaurant when Californians were getting sick and dying? It left a gross taste in my mouth and demonstrated a lack of integrity. I don’t think he deserved to be recalled but I’m looking at him with a beady eye going forward, that’s all. I think Gavin Newsom has his big ambitions, whatever he may say to the contrary. I’m sure he’s going to try to run for president someday, and that’s probably why he’s offering to help end the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. He’s offered to help broker a deal, but it seems like nobody’s taking him up on it. At least not right now.

He’s reached out to “all sides” of the labor dispute: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has contacted all sides of the strikes that have hobbled Hollywood, his office said Wednesday, offering to help broker a deal to restart an industry that is crucial to keeping the state’s economy humming amid signs of weakness.

So far, neither studio executives nor actors and writers have shown formal interest in bringing Newsom to the negotiating table, said Anthony York, Newsom’s senior adviser for communications. But York said both Newsom and senior members of his administration have been in touch with all sides as the two strikes stretch deeper into the summer blockbuster season.

“It’s clear that the sides are still far apart, but he is deeply concerned about the impact a prolonged strike can have on the regional and state economy,” York said. He further noted “thousands of jobs depend directly or indirectly on Hollywood getting back to work,” including crew, staff and catering.

The last time the writers went on strike more than a decade ago, the 100-day work stoppage cost the state’s economy an estimated $2 billion. The economic hit could be even bigger this time around now that actors have joined the picket lines. The strikes come after Newsom signed a state budget that included a more than $31 billion deficit in part because of a slowdown in the tech sector, another one of the state’s key industries.

Why helping end the strike could help his political future: Now in his final term in office, Newsom has worked hard to boost his national profile as he sets his sights on life after the governor’s office. He is widely considered a future presidential contender, though he has said he has no plans to run. Any role for Newsom to help end strikes halting one of the country’s most recognizable industries could bolster his status on the national stage.

Labor actions have lit up California this summer, and it has become common for politicians and their allies to step in to broker deals. New Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for example, helped negotiate an end to a strike by Los Angeles school staff. Acting Biden administration Labor Secretary Julie Su, a former California labor leader, helped reach an end to a contract dispute at Southern California ports.

His connections to Hollywood’s top brass: York declined to say who Newsom has spoken with, either on the unions’ side or the studios. Representatives for the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declined to comment.

Hollywood isn’t just a major economic driver in California — it’s also a fundraising powerhouse for mostly Democratic candidates, including Newsom. In 2021, when Newsom was facing a recall election that could have removed him from office, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings donated $3 million to help defeat it. He has received smaller contributions from executives at Disney, Sony and Lionsgate. Prominent directors and producers like Stephen Spielberg and Chuck Lorre have also donated to his campaigns.

[From AP]

It doesn’t surprise me that Newsom is somewhat cozy with Hollywood execs and power players. Powerful people stick together. Honestly I am not sure the unions should trust him but that’s because I don’t trust him. With the tech sector slowing down, I see why he’s motivated to try to negotiate. He needs that tax revenue coming in, and Hollywood is a reliable cash cow. I just don’t think he’s going to get anywhere, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. We know that the studio execs are planning to run out the clock to make their own workers desperate and homeless. The sooner this ends and they can get a contract together that meets the unions’ *entirely reasonable* demands, the better. I’m also selfishly motivated for the strikes to end because I love red carpet fashion and going without it is sad, even during high summer when there’s not a lot of premieres except for action blockbusters.

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At the very same time that Keke Palmer’s (former?) partner was slut-shaming her about what she wore to Usher’s Las Vegas show, Keke was hanging out with an interviewer from The Cut. In her place, I would have let emotions get the better of me and put Darius Jackson on blast, on the record and in print. Keke did not. Keke side-stepped all of those questions like a pro, like someone who doesn’t want her personal business out there either way. I hope she dumped him, I really do. Anyway, Keke covers The Cut and the interview is heartwarming and nice, because she’s a nice person. Some highlights:

The moms hyping her online: “Do you, new moms. Do you. Girl, if there’s one person on this earth that loves you for sure, it’s that baby. Be happy, because there’s no love like it. Somebody loving you like that, hell, who cares?

Her dream podcast guest: “I absolutely would love to talk to Taylor Swift. And Nicki Minaj. Both for similar reasons. I would totally do it at the same time because it would be a big boss conversation, Ms. Lady. I think they’re both Sagittariuses and I’m a Sag moon. They’re not afraid to talk about the business, the music industry, and the things that people don’t understand. Nicki Minaj has spoken to the things that she’s trying to overcome and how they’re able to get in certain rooms or awards or conversations, etc. She’s very much so wanting to gun for some old ways of things being done. And it’s the same thing with Taylor Swift when it was coming to owning her masters and just … I’ve also talked a lot about my experience in the music industry, but I just think it’s really cool when you can sit down with your peers and you can discuss the real deal that goes on behind the scenes with the industry.

Her headspace as a new mom: “After having my baby, I’ve just gotten so much more powerful. I’m just so strengthened in a crazy way. Strutting my stuff, enjoying. I’ll be honest, I think before I even had the baby, I was really actually quite self-conscious. In a way that you would expect, considering the kind of work that I do as a public figure…After having the baby, my body got so much bigger and I started getting fluff in areas I never had before….We’re going to lean into this new body. That is the whole aura of what’s happening with me in this big boss era as I come into my 30s and I have my baby boy. I’m just continuing to spread my wings as a young woman.”

Whether she wishes she had more anonymity: “Sometimes I feel like I would love a little bit of more anonymity, or at least a version that wasn’t so chaotic. We live in a particular generation where the fame thing is a little bit too much. The way that celebrities are idolized. Popularity to some degree is fine. It’s normal. It could be expected, especially if you’re a public servant or someone that’s a public figure. But now it’s the desire and the goal as opposed to being the aftereffect of being good at something or being known for something. It’s just being known to be known. Fame used to be a little bit more mayorlike, and now it’s almost gone to some type of godlike vibe. That can be quite dangerous and a lot of pressure. I don’t think any human should be that adored.”

She doesn’t want her business out there: “There is such a thing as privacy. I’m not showing y’all my ass at night. I’m a human being. I have things that make me just a normal person. I’m flawed. I definitely try to put my best foot forward. But again, because I don’t like the idealism and I don’t like the kind of era that we are in with fame, I definitely self-deprecate, point to my flaws, constantly say I’m not perfect because I really don’t want people putting me to this unbelievable standard. I don’t live to be a celebrity.”

Whether she considers herself to be America’s sweetheart: “Girl, that is crazy as hell. If that is what the people think, I’m truly gagged and gooped because, wow. I don’t even know what that entails, truly, what that really means. But, by golly, if you all feel like I’m America’s sweetheart, I’m f–king here for that sh-it all day and night. I appreciate it because it feels like a term of endearment. But what do I think? If I were to declare myself, I do feel like America’s little sister, little cousin. I feel very much so related to everybody. I don’t even care what background they are, Black, white, otherwise. I feel related to all of the Americans in the Americas. I feel very much so like we grew up together. You know, we went to college together. We went to school together. It feels very familial to me. A lot of the people that I meet, even though I don’t know them, they know me. It kind of ends up feeling like I’m that adjacent second cousin that you see every two years at the family reunion.

[From The Cut]

Someone on Twitter pointed out that Darius Jackson thought he could shame Keke’s outfit and a small community of mostly men would just agree with him and back up his toxicity. While that happened, what also happened was that everyone else took Keke’s side, because Darius underestimated how famous Keke is. Even more than that, he underestimated how well-liked she is, that she’s popular for a reason, because people feel like they know her, that she seems like everyone’s fun cousin. I wish Keke every success in her Big Boss Era and I hope she takes care of herself and her little boy.

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Cover & IG courtesy of The Cut.

There was a big House subcommittee hearing on UFOs this week! [The Atlantic]
With all of this talk about UFOs and aliens, we need to ask the important question: would you bone an alien? [Jezebel]
Dr. Jill Biden has been wearing a lot of patterns this year. [GFY]
Julianne Moore & Jessica Chastain showed up for SAG-AFTRA’s big NYC “Rock the City” demonstration. [LaineyGossip]
Dan Wootton and the monstrous hypocrisy of the British media. [Pajiba]
More photos from SAG-AFTRA’s star-studded Rock The City For a Fair Contract event in Times Square, in New York. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Dave Chappelle will go on a comedy tour next month. Can he? [Towleroad]
You have to look at this woman’s wig, omg!!! [Starcasm]
Helen Mirren is playing Golda Meir in Golda. [JustJared]
Twitter reactions to the UFO whistleblower hearings. [Buzzfeed]
Tori Kelly is reportedly doing a lot better. [Socialite Life]
Troye Sivan wore Paco Rabanne. [RCFA]

It’s been a record-breaking summer around the world and in the US in terms of heat. Where I live we’ve mostly been spared, but because I’m in the PNW I know that “smoke season”–that new West Coast mainstay combining high temps with hazy, hazardous air–will be with us from August to late October. The heat has been especially brutal in the Southwest this year. Temperatures in Phoenix Arizona have exceeded 110 degrees Fahreinheit for 26 days straight. Extreme heat is a health hazard on its own, but if you happen to fall on hot pavement, you could burn your skin. That’s happening in Arizona–people are getting first and second degree burns and even needing to go to the hospital.

Temperatures in Arizona have climbed as high as 119 degrees — superheating the ground so intensely that people are suffering burns from coming into contact with it.

And in Maricopa County, some people have even been hospitalized from burns they sustained from falling on the ground.

Every bed at the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health is full, Dr. Kevin Foster, director of burn services, told CNN — and one-third of the patients were injured by falling outside on the hot pavement.

“Summers are our busy season, so we anticipate that this sort of thing is going to happen. But this is really unusual — the number of patients that we’re seeing and the severity of injuries — the acuity of injuries is much higher,” Dr Foster told CNN.

Temperatures of 118 degrees are high enough to burn the skin, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with blistering and second-degree burns being suffered at 131 degrees.

“The temperature of asphalt and pavement and concrete and sidewalks in Arizona on a warm sunny day or summer afternoon is 180 degrees sometimes. I mean, it’s just a little below boiling, so it’s really something,” Foster told CNN.

[From People]

I slipped and fell outdoors two years ago and broke my kneecap. I was stuck on the ground for a couple minutes before some very kind people pulled me up onto a chair. I dread to think what might have happened if the ground beneath me was 180 degrees. This kind of health hazard seems likely to affect the unhoused more than other populations, as they will have a harder time avoiding hot pavement. I hope there are air-conditioned shelters available in Phoenix, and cities across America should start prioritizing cooling centers if they aren’t already. Hot pavement is also bad for pets and animals–if the sidewalk or pavement is too hot for bare feet, it’s too hot for dogs, coyotes, or any other animal that isn’t well-adapted to hot surfaces. It’s really scary that the ground itself is becoming hazardous in some places because of extreme heat. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies have quietly abandoned their climate pledges. I’ve been feeling a lot of eco-grief lately and I know I’m not alone. But it feels better to cry about it than to live in denial about what’s happening.

Phoenix, Arizona, is in the midst of a record-breaking heat wave, seeing daily high temperatures of 110°F or above for 21 consecutive days as of July 20, and the forecast shows no relief, with temperatures expected to sit around 115°F next week. Christopher Burt, a weather… pic.twitter.com/uLrJ6GXgMm

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 20, 2023

NEW: 85 people in Arizona suffered severe burns from contact with pavements heated up to 180F (82C). 7 of them died. In total, 257 people had underlying cause of death listed as “exposure to excessive natural heat”.

This is not a forecast for 50 years time, it’s happening today. pic.twitter.com/A3lmWXyj2o

— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) July 21, 2023

Photos credit: Balazs Simon on Pexels and Sam Williams on Unsplash