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.

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Olivia Culpo addresses the controversy over her very conservative wedding gown. The criticism was more about how she told Vogue that she “didn’t want it to exude sex in any way, shape, or form,” which many people took as a personal attack or like she was being rather judgy about other gowns. [Buzzfeed]
Horoscopes for Leo Szn! Virgos, our horoscope is a lot about how hard we’re working and how we’re super-stressed out, which is true. [OMG Blog]
Ice Spice reveals that Matt Healy apologized (for saying racist crap about her) multiple times. Interesting, because he really downplayed it for months afterwards. [Just Jared]
Josh Hartnett is promoting Trap in NYC! [Socialite Life]
Comic Con and the Olympics at the same time?! [LaineyGossip]
Emma Corrin’s Deadpool fashion tour. [Go Fug Yourself]
What’s the worst mistake you’ve ever made at work? [Pajiba]
Jennifer Lopez still keeps photos of Ben in her Hamptons home. [Hollywood Life]
How do we feel about this dress on Sarah Michelle Gellar? [RCFA]
Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy celebrates Brat Summer. [Seriously OMG]
How many twins are in the Duggar clan? [Starcasm]

This week, ITV’s Tabloids on Trial documentary aired and the interviews are getting a lot of attention… in certain media outlets and not others. You can really tell which outlets are getting sued and which outlets don’t want any of the smoke from Prince Harry. Harry, Hugh Grant, Charlotte Church and many others were interviewed as part of the documentary, and this is Harry’s first on-camera interview about his lawsuits. Yesterday, we talked about some of the clips, where Harry addressed the “paranoid” tag given to him and his mother, and he broke down why that’s bullsh-t, Diana wasn’t paranoid and neither is he. In another part of the interview, Harry also speaks about why he will never bring his wife back to the UK:

When asked during the ITV documentary Tabloids On Trial whether the legal battles attract more attention, Harry said: “There is more than enough attention on me and my wife (Meghan) anyway. They pushed me too far…It’s still dangerous, and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read and whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”

The duke was also asked about claiming in a High Court filing that Queen Elizabeth II “supported” his actions against News Group Newspapers (NGN) – publisher of The Sun and the now defunct News Of The World.

Harry said: “I wish… we had many conversations before she passed, and this is very much something that she supported. She knew how much this meant to me and… she’s very much out there, going to see this through to the end, without question.”

In a witness statement, he had claimed the late monarch had wanted the media mogul Rupert Murdoch to “apologise”.

[From Sky News]

In 2022, Met Police officials spoke out about how the threats against Prince Harry and Meghan are very real, and the threats are mostly coming from right-wingers and racists. This has always been at the heart of Harry’s security fight in the British courts too, with the police and royal apparatus gaslighting Harry for years about how he “doesn’t need” security, because of vague reasons involving Harry not knowing his place. Harry is saying it outright: I will never bring my wife and children to visit the UK in any capacity given the danger they face in the UK.

Prince Harry saying he won’t bring his wife Meghan back to the U.K. because of the hate and violence the press incite from their relentless smear campaign and stories. The press have made it dangerous. #TabloidsOnTrial https://t.co/XCrgwOCqcQ pic.twitter.com/PMPZ55Nnpn

— Glow Lee (@GlowanneLee) July 25, 2024

THE QUEEN BACKED HARRY!!!

The tabloids print fake headlines to suggest there was beef between Prince Harry and Meghan and The Queen Elizabeth but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Prince William knows that!

Whilst his gutless father and brother did not support Harry’s… pic.twitter.com/oSy3gYeiuk

— Glow Lee (@GlowanneLee) July 25, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.

This week has been so amazing because of the rise of Vice President Kamala Harris and the fall of the Trump/Vance ticket. I maintain that the Trump team did next to no vetting on JD Vance before selecting him as Donald Trump’s running mate. Let’s keep it real – it was always going to be difficult to find a Republican willing to do it, especially given that Trump tried to get his cult members to hang his last vice president. JD Vance is just the kind of soulless weirdo who would agree to it, and he came with all of that financial backing from Peter Thiel.

Well, one week after the Republican National Convention and buyer’s remorse has set in bigly. Vance is terrible and awkward on the campaign trail. He has a long history of saying completely awful sh-t, like his mockery of “childless cat ladies.” Axios has a story where unnamed Republicans are bemoaning Trump’s choice and wondering why the hell he didn’t choose Glenn Youngkin (loser), Nikki Haley (lol), Marco Rubio (hahaha) or North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (WHO?). These Republicans acknowledge that Vance “doesn’t add much” to the ticket. Other Republicans – even current MAGA people – are acknowledging that Vance was a completely sh-tty choice. Rumors abound that Trump wants to find a way to dump Vance from the ticket but I don’t think he would be able to do it?

Meanwhile, Vance is quickly becoming something of a Sarah Palin-esque figure of mockery. Earlier this week, someone completely made up a story that Vance had sex with a couch and that Vance originally wrote about that couch-sex in Hillbilly Elegy, only for the story to be edited out. None of it was true, but the Associated Press ran a story saying “JD Vance never had sex with a couch” which the AP THEN DELETED because while the story was made up, they could not definitively say that JD Vance has never f–ked a couch. So… that’s why there have been so many couch jokes this week.

Well folks, it’s seems Trump picking Vance has been going great sofa…

— Dark Brandon (@VoteDarkBrandon) July 26, 2024

I don’t know if I’ve seen an unfunny JD Vance couch joke on here yet. It’s just banger after banger after banger, much like JD Vance after closing time at Ashley Furniture.

— Mike (@85mf) July 25, 2024

JD Vance upsetting his wife on purpose so he has to sleep on the couch

— Matthew (@fattmellows) July 25, 2024

I like how JD Vance’s media team now has to ensure he never does an interview sitting on a couch.

— Ben Panko (@btpanko) July 25, 2024

DO NOT show this couch to JD Vance pic.twitter.com/fhlyYTOArY

— worm buxx (@kayteterry) July 25, 2024

Just met J.D. Vance’s high school girlfriend pic.twitter.com/yfluKUlQeS

— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) July 24, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Donald Trump was and is completely unprepared to run against Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has already been gross, racist and misogynistic towards Harris on the campaign trail this week, and every story about his campaign in recent days has been “panic at the disco” and “WTF are we gonna do now??” While Kamala Harris campaigns, she’s been fielding questions about the already-planned presidential debates. Before Donald Trump hijacked the GOP, there was always a very staid presidential-debate commission and usually the Republican and Democratic candidates would come to an easy and fast agreement on terms (moderators, locations, formats).

There were already plans for a September 10th debate between Pres. Biden and Trump. Kamala Harris confirmed on Thursday that she was 100% ready to step in and debate Trump on that prearranged date now that she’s the nominee, but that the Trump campaign was suddenly panicking and backing out. VP Harris told reporters that Trump “agreed to that [debate] previously. Now here he is backpedaling, and I’m ready and I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage. And so I’m ready to go.” This scared the sh-t out of Diaper Don, and his campaign threw a tantrum and released this statement:

TRUMP IS CHICKENING OUT OF THE DEBATE BECAUSE HE IS SCARED OF KAMALA HARRIS. pic.twitter.com/7Ao0TswrX2

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) July 26, 2024

Invoking “Barack Hussein Obama” huh. Trump is such a p-ssy, he should grab himself. Donald Trump has been sh-tting himself since Sunday. The convicted felon does not want to be on a debate stage with a former prosecutor. VP Harris’s team was on it too, and they’re taunting him.

What happened to “any time, any place”? https://t.co/HlR6UmlZxx

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 26, 2024

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

VP Kamala Harris inherited President Biden’s campaign apparatus, but I’m still so impressed by how quickly and flawlessly she and her presidential campaign have hit the ground running. She’s still doing the work as the vice president, but she immediately kicked into high gear as the candidate and presumptive nominee. On Thursday, VP Harris released her first television ad, which is amazing. Then on Friday, her campaign released a video endorsement from Barack and Michelle Obama. Just five days ago, Barack Obama was endorsing a half-assed mini-primary and open convention. Just last week, he was sitting back and not pitching in to soothe jumpy Democratic donors and he was also not offering counsel or support to President Biden. There’s been some quiet backlash to Barack Obama’s moves, that’s all I’ll say. But the Harris campaign put a f–king bow on it and they must have said “no thanks” to another f–king Medium essay. The campaign was like “nah, we need to do some kind of video.”

Because I love a process story, I would absolutely love to know how this was negotiated, because we don’t even see the Obamas on camera. I want to know what the Harris campaign people said and what the Obamas’ original pitch was. I swear, it probably was another f–king Medium essay. In any case, the Harris campaign said that this call happened on Wednesday, while Harris was in Indianapolis. The big endorsement:

“We called to say, Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Mr. Obama said.

Ms. Harris replied: “Thank you both! It means so much. And, and we’re going to have some fun with this, too, aren’t we?”

The Obamas issued a statement saying they would “do everything we can to elect Kamala Harris the next president of the United States.” They added, “And we hope you’ll join us.”

[From The New York Times]

All of the Obama people swore up and down that he would never, ever endorse Kamala Harris before the convention, that his public reticence towards VP Harris was standard operating procedure. What changed? Was it the days and weeks of criticism? It feels like it. It also feels like the Clintons were getting such high marks for being good and loyal Democrats, and people really appreciated Hillary Clinton’s full-throated support for Harris right out of the gate. Anyway, I’m glad the Obamas made the endorsement and let’s keep it moving. We’re not going back.

Earlier this week, Michelle and I called our friend @KamalaHarris. We told her we think she’ll make a fantastic President of the United States, and that she has our full support. At this critical moment for our country, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure she wins in… pic.twitter.com/0UIS0doIbA

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 26, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The trailer for A Complete Unknown was released and that’s really Timothee Chalamet singing as Bob Dylan. You guys… this biopic might be the real deal? [Buzzfeed]
A rave review of AppleTV’s Lady in the Lake, starring Natalie Portman. [Pajiba]
This year’s Venice Film Festival should be all about the A-list ladies! [LaineyGossip]
Olympians keep showing off their cardboard beds in Paris. [Jezebel]
James McAvoy & the new Speak No Evil trailer. [JustJared]
Oh, I didn’t know Daniel Craig would do all that. [Socialite Life]
What is Charli XCX’s “Apple” dance trend? [Hollywood Life]
Nickelback loves Ryan Reynolds. [Seriously OMG]
Madonna wore Saint Laurent to the Deadpool premiere. [RCFA]
Comedian John Early covers Aaliyah’s “Rock the Boat.” [OMG Blog]