It’s really revolting to watch Roya Nikkhah’s big Sunday Times exclusive play out across the week. Nikkhah’s story was supposedly about Prince Harry’s upcoming 40th birthday. But the piece was so clearly engineered and sourced by Prince William and his unhinged cronies. I mean, who would have thought that the biggest headlines from a “Harry’s turning 40” article would be: “William won’t invite his brother to his coronation” and “William is still incandescent with rage at Harry” and “why isn’t Harry falling out of pubs anymore” and “Harry is angry because he lives in a huge mansion in California with a beautiful wife and two healthy children.” William is nowhere near as slick as he imagines himself to be. Anyway, the thing about William not inviting Harry to his coronation has been a discussion point for bored royal reporters throughout the week. Christopher Andersen chimed in with his thoughts:

Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” told Fox News Digital he remains hopeful that William won’t shut Harry out on his big day.

“Despite all the bad blood between the brothers, I’m convinced that, when the time does come, William will not be foolish enough to exclude his only sibling, now fifth in line to the throne, from his coronation,” said Andersen.

“Things probably have never been worse between the brothers than they are now,” Andersen explained. “William and Charles have pretty much made the joint decision to effectively cut Harry out of their lives, at least for the time being. There is no sign of a reconciliation on the horizon, and everyone involved seems to have pretty much come to terms with that.”

“I really don’t think Harry and Meghan would be making what looks like royal tours to Nigeria and Colombia if they thought a thaw in the relationship was possible,” Andersen shared. “Everyone knows how angry the king and Prince William get every time the Sussexes behave as if they are still working members of the royal family.”

“That being said, we have to remember that William is carrying a very heavy psychological burden at the moment,” Andersen continued. “He is deeply upset that his wife and his father are battling cancer at the same time. He must keep a brave face not only for his three young children but also for the sake of the monarchy.”

[From AOL]

“William will not be foolish enough to exclude his only sibling…” Wanna bet? William is exactly that foolish. These same people have spent the past six years trying to gently convince William to stop acting like an angry, violent brat and he keeps screaming “NOOOooOO I’ll do what I want, I will be king!” Besides, this whole thing is so typical of the Windsors – they believe that their plans and schemes are the only factors in any situation. William is clearly plotting some new “punishments” for Harry once their father dies. Little does Huevo know that Harry does not give a f–k. Harry barely cared enough to go to Charles’s coronation, you think he gives a sh-t about his deranged brother’s coronation?

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Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck. She filed on their second wedding anniversary of their second wedding. In the summer of 2022, J.Lo and Ben first “eloped” in Las Vegas in July, then they had a second wedding at Ben’s estate in Georgia on August 20, 2022. Two years later, Jennifer pulled the plug after waiting until Ben and Jennifer Garner moved Violet into her freshman dorm at Yale, which happened last weekend.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are calling it quits — again. On Tuesday, Aug. 20, Lopez, 55, filed for divorce from Affleck, 52, more than two years after the couple married in July 2022, multiple sources confirmed to PEOPLE. TMZ first reported the news.

Lopez filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and listed April 26, 2024 as the date of separation. She filed for divorce herself without using a lawyer and is technically self-represented. Although they married in Las Vegas on July 17, 2022, Aug. 20 marked the second anniversary of the traditional wedding ceremony in Georgia.

The singer did not say if there was a prenuptial agreement, and sources told TMZ there is none.

“She tried really hard to make things work, and is heartbroken,” a source tells PEOPLE of Lopez. “The kids are a top priority, as they always have been.”

[From People]

Yeah, TMZ’s reporting says there’s no prenup and J.Lo filed pro per (without a lawyer). She listed the date of separation as April 26, 2024. Which checks out – in February, Jennifer did the big rollout for her album (This Is Me… Now), plus the musical film and documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told. Ben supported her through that promotional blitz but you could tell that he was checked out of the marriage, especially given that the documentary revealed that J.Lo shared all of Ben’s love letters to her friends, music producers and songwriters. By May of this year, that’s when In Touch Weekly was the first to report that Jennifer and Ben had separated. Looks like that report was right on the money. Sigh… I wish this had turned out differently. I’m sad about this.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid, OnTheJLo newsletter and Instagram.

Former Republican congressman George Santos, who lasted an astonishing 11 months in that role, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft in federal court on Monday, just a few weeks ahead of when his trial was due to begin. His sentencing will be in early February, and will likely result in a sentence of at least six years in federal prison, considering he still owes over $570,000 in restitution and forfeiture. The guilty plea is a stunning about-face for the Baruch College volleyball star, NYU M.B.A., Goldman Sachs and Citigroup alum, animal charity founder, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark Broadway producer, Cameo celeb-for-hire, Jew-ish former representative from New York (guess which one of the titles on that list is real?!), who had previously been bullish about his innocence. From The Associated Press reporting:

George Santos, who spun lies about his life into an 11-month stint in Congress, pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in a case that led to his expulsion from office. He blamed his ambition for clouding his judgment and said he was “flooded with deep regret.”

Santos, 36, is likely to spend at least six years in prison and owes more than $570,000 in restitution and forfeiture after tearfully admitting that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of 11 people, including his own family members, to make donations to his campaign.

Santos’ guilty plea in federal court on Long Island came weeks before the case was to go to trial, punctuating one of the more bizarre stories in modern political lore. He remains free on bond awaiting sentencing Feb. 7.

“I betrayed the trust of my constituents and supporters. I deeply regret my conduct,” the former New York representative said, his voice trembling as he entered the plea.

Santos was elected in 2022 after bandying stories — later proven false — about his wealth and background, including a lie that his mother perished in the 9/11 attacks. As his biography unraveled, Santos went to great lengths to defend himself, once saying he was “Jew-ish,” not Jewish, when confronted about his campaign claim that his grandparents had fled the Holocaust.

Once regarded as a rising Republican star after flipping a district covering parts of Queens and Long Island’s Gold Coast, Santos faced scrutiny even before taking office. Reports he lied about having a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree were followed by questions about how he funded his campaign.

Outside court, Santos told reporters Monday his political ambitions led him “to make decisions that were unethical.”

“Pleading guilty is a step I never imagined I’d take, but it is a necessary one because it is the right thing to do,” Santos said. “It’s not only a recognition of my misrepresentation to others, but more profoundly, it is my own recognition of the lies I told myself over these past years.”

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Santos, in pleading guilty, told the truth “after years of telling lies.”

“And that truth is he is a criminal,” Peace said.

Santos was indicted last year on felony charges he stole from political donors, used campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses, lied to Congress about his wealth and collected unemployment benefits while working.

Additionally, Santos also admitted to “a litany of other crimes for which the court will hold him accountable at sentencing,” Peace said.

Among them: stealing multiple people’s credit card numbers and charging them for his campaign, tricking donors into giving money to a bogus nonprofit and using the cash to buy designer clothing and fabricating his personal wealth in a financial disclosure report to Congress.

A House Ethics Committee investigation last year found money Santos diverted to his personal bank accounts was used to pay credit card bills and make purchases at luxury retailer Hermes, beauty retailer Sephora and the adult content website OnlyFans.

[From AP News]

Wow, something must have really spooked him to finally concede and plead guilty. I’m not sure if I’m ready to fully buy his remorse, or that he’s seen the error of his (allegedly former) ways, at least not so suddenly and whole-heartedly. But I suppose he could get there in time. Possibly. But then my interest was piqued by the “more than $570,000” sum total he owes. Funny, it’s just a bit less than the $750,000 he was suing Jimmy Kimmel for — on allegations of copyright infringement and fraud — over Kimmel’s “Will Santos Say It?” segments, wherein Kimmel’s staff used aliases to purchase Cameo videos of Santos saying crazy sh-t. That lawsuit lives rent-free in my head, thanks to its accusation that Kimmel “took advantage of Santos’ gregarious personality.” Well everything’s coming home to roost at once for Santos, because also on Monday, a separate Manhattan federal court tossed out the suit against Kimmel, on the grounds of fair use. There was no verdict, however, on whether Santos has now, or ever had, a ‘gregarious personality’ under the eyes of the law, nor what legal bearing that may have had on this ruling.

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Sadly, The Acolyte has been canceled by Disney+ after just one season. The Acolyte was the first Star Wars series to have a female showrunner, Leslye Headland, and when it debuted, it had the highest opening day viewership for a Disney+ show in 2024. Taking place around 100 years before the events in the original Skywalker saga movies, it starred Amandla Stenberg, Manny Jacinto, Lee Jung-jae, Charlie Barnett, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Rebecca Henderson. Despite its strong start and good critic reviews, viewership for The Acolyte dropped after its third week.

Unfortunately, because of its queer female showrunner, diverse cast, and daringness to tell a new story, The Acolyte was frequently attacked by the toxic fanboys who need to stop thinking a Star Wars property is only created for them.. These douchebags organized a review bomb campaign on Rotten Tomatoes, went after a female editor on the online website Wookiepedia, and aimed racist attacks at Stenberg. It looks like these a-holes have once again gotten their way because we’ll never get a chance to find out Jacinto’s Qimir’s backstory or what happened in the Ghost of Jedi Past.

The news is not entirely surprising. The Acolyte did OK with critics, with 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, but divided Star Wars fans, which was reflected in its overall viewership. Driven by interest into the venerable space franchise, The Acolyte got off to a strong start when it launched June 4 with two episodes, generating 4.8M views in its first day on the streamer to rank as the biggest series premiere on Disney+ this year. The tally rose to 11.1 million views globally after five days of streaming. Corroborating Disney’s data, the series made its debut on Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart in its premiere week at No. 7 (488 million minutes viewed), climbing to No. 6 the following week.

But The Acolyte could not sustain the momentum, dropping out of the Top 10 in Week 3 and staying off before returning at No. 10 after the release of the finale (335M minutes, believed to be the lowest for a Star Wars series finale). Like fellow global streamers Netflix and Prime Video, Disney+ has a high viewership threshold for renewing high-end, big-budget series that cost well above $100M per season to make.

In interviews, Headland has revealed that she had pitched her ideas for a second season, sharing her hopes for a renewal. Lucasfilm’s first — and most successful to date — Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, is carrying on, crossing over to features with the upcoming The Mandalorian & Grogu. Ahsoka, the company’s series that proceeded The Acolyte, has been renewed for a second season.

The Acolyte was a mystery-thriller that took viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.

[From Deadline]

I’m pretty bummed out about this news. I refuse to link to it, but one mouthy YouTube account in particular has been gloating hard about taking down the “woke” Star Wars, ugh. F-ck them. I know that beyond the toxic fanboys, there were mixed reviews from fans, but most of those complaints were about the pacing in the earlier eps and that Osha and Mae weren’t as compelling as other characters. I’ll grant that like most Star Wars series, The Acolyte started off slowly, but it really picked up midway and ended strongly. The Clone Wars sucked its first season, but it got a chance to grow into one of the best Star Wars properties out there. And not that it matters, but just to pad my argument, other examples of TV shows with bad first seasons that were given a chance are the US version of The Office and Parks and Recreation. And yes, yes, I know a Star Wars series is a lot more expensive to make, but they’ve got Disney money.

Anyway, I’m just really disappointed. I was excited to see where the story would go from there, especially with the Osha/Qimir pairing and the reveal of Darth Plagueis. My main gripe here is that when it came down to it, Disney just pulled the plug on one of the more interesting Star Wars shows they’ve had since Andor rather than giving it a chance to really grow and flourish. And since Disney and Lucasfilm has a history of listening to its louder, more toxic members, it really does feel like they’re once again catering to them, which is a shame. It may please a specific group of fans, but it will only hurt them in the long run.

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The House of Mouse has turned tail. Disney had filed a motion to have a wrongful death lawsuit against them dismissed. Their reasoning was as curious as it was infuriating. The plaintiff, widower Jeffrey Piccolo, sued Disney after his wife, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, died of anaphylaxis as a result of eating contaminated food at a Disney Springs restaurant, despite having asked the wait staff exhaustively to confirm there would be no nuts or dairy in her food. In their recent filing, Disney countered that Piccolo had actually waived all rights to sue them… because he’d signed the terms and conditions for Disney+, in a buried clause that stipulates issues can only be addressed through arbitration. Needless to say, the legal chicanery was met with swift backlash. So now Disney has filed a notice to withdraw the previous motion, meaning Piccolo can proceed with his lawsuit.

Josh D’Amaro, chairperson of Disney’s theme park division, said in a statement emailed earlier to The Associated Press that the entertainment giant will waive its arbitration rights and allow the suit, brought by the husband of a New York doctor who suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating at a restaurant in Disney Springs, to proceed in court.

“At Disney, we strive to put humanity above all other considerations,” he said in the Monday night statement. “With such unique circumstances as the ones in this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss.”

Disney had previously argued that Jeffrey Piccolo could not sue the company because he agreed to settle any lawsuits against the company out of court when he signed up for a one-month trial subscription to Disney+ back in 2019.

Brian Denney, Piccolo’s Florida-based lawyer, said Tuesday that his client will continue to “pursue justice on behalf of his beloved wife” and hopes that their ordeal has helped raise awareness of the challenges people with food allergies face.

He also noted that others seeking to take Disney to court risk facing a similar legal challenge as the arbitration provision remains in many of the company’s terms and conditions.

“The right to a jury trial as set forth in the Seventh Amendment is a bedrock of our judicial system and should be protected and preserved,” Denney wrote in an email. “Attempts by corporations like Disney to avoid jury trials should be looked at with skepticism.”

In a response filed earlier this month, Denney had argued that it was “absurd” to believe that the more than 150 million subscribers to Disney+ have waived all rights to sue the company and its affiliates in perpetuity because of language “buried” in the fine print.

The company, in its bid to have the lawsuit dismissed, argued Piccolo had not agreed just to the arbitration terms in his Disney+ trial, but also again when he signed up for an account on Disney’s website and app in order to purchase the couple’s tickets for their ill-fated theme park visit.

…Disney, in a follow-up statement to The Associated Press last week, said that it was merely defending itself against Piccolo’s attempt to include the company in his lawsuit against Raglan Road, the Irish pub in Disney Springs where the family dined.

Spokespersons for the restaurant didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. Disney Springs is owned by Disney, which leases some of the spaces in the outdoor dining, shopping and entertainment complex to other companies.

Piccolo’s lawsuit claims the family had decided to eat at Raglan Road in October because it was billed on Disney’s website as having “allergen free food.”

[From AP News]

Score one for the little guy! I mean, the Disney legal team will for sure do their worst in court and/or arbitration, or will attempt the smallest settlement they can get away with. But cynical lil’ ole me honestly didn’t think The Mouse would even deign to make this reversal. Something to look out for long term, is what happens to the “you can watch our cartoons, but only if you sign away your right to sue us,” clause. I’d say the only thing that would force a mega company like Disney to take out such a clause would be the Supreme Court, but well, yeah…

It’s nice to see Piccolo and his lawyer using this case as an opportunity to champion people with food allergies. Piccolo is absolutely right that Raglan Road is touted as an allergen-free option among the dining at Disney World. And don’t you just love how Disney tried to throw the restaurant under the bus? “Don’t sue us, it was the restaurant’s fault!” Yes, the restaurant on Disney’s land, that Disney leases to the restaurant. I bet the deciding factor for who’s at fault will come down to minutia language on the lease between Disney and Raglan Road.

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There’s always a big “tell” between the average royal gossip and a full-blown royalist/monarchist. That tell is how they refer to the Princess of Wales. The monarchists call her Catherine, even when doing so comes across as awkward or high-handed. My little thing, when I’m writing about her, is to refer to her by her title the first time, and then I call her “Kate” throughout the rest of the post. Okay, sometimes I also might refer to her as Keen or Buttons or Waity. But I will never call her “Catherine.” I think the whole “call her Catherine” thing is stupid from a branding perspective – she was always known, and she’s still primarily known, as Kate Middleton. She wants her personal brand to be one of normalcy, relatability, the middle-class girl who married a prince. Demanding that people constantly refer to you as Catherine kind of ruins that. It’s also been clear for years that people who interact with her privately still call her Kate as well. People like… her brother-in-law and his wife. Apparently, Prince William is absolutely furious that Harry and Meghan still refer to her as Kate. LMAO.

Friends of Prince William and Kate Middleton have told the Daily Beast that William took offense at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle publicly referring to his wife as Kate rather than Catherine, “even when they were sending her get-well-soon messages after her cancer diagnosis.”

Kate has long let it be known that she prefers to be called Catherine. It is the name her friends and family use, it is the name William uses in private, and it is how she introduces herself to others. The Daily Beast, in common with many American media outlets, still uses Kate and Kate Middleton, which is how she is still universally known in the U.S. and around the world. Although she was widely known as Kate at school and university, she made a deliberate switch to her full name, Catherine, shortly before marrying William.

In Harry’s book, Spare, he always refers to Catherine as Kate, apart from in one episode when he recalls Charles calling her Catherine and Harry says he “flinched” on hearing the name…. However, a source now says that William was annoyed when Harry and Meghan chose to refer to her as “Kate” in a March 2024 statement, released after the Princess of Wales revealed she had cancer. The brief statement said: “We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace.”

A friend of William and Kate said: “The fact that Harry and Meghan were unable to bring themselves to use her chosen name, even when they were sending her get-well-soon messages after her cancer diagnosis, was noted. William takes offence at people calling Catherine ‘Kate,’ because she has asked to be known as Catherine. It’s a fairly simple wish to respect. I’m sure Meghan wouldn’t like it if William started publicly calling her ‘Meghan Markle.’

“Of course it’s an utterly trivial thing, but those of us who know William know that it is one of the things that pushes his buttons. Pushing his buttons while he was going through his wife’s cancer seemed an entirely unnecessary and deliberate irritation. I wonder if the private card began, ‘Dear Kate…’”

Another friend of the Waleses said, “No-one’s saying it’s responsible for all the trouble, but deliberately calling someone by a name they don’t like is just bloody rude. If Harry and Meghan were serious about healing their issue, a good first step would be to call her Catherine.”

[From The Daily Beast]

As I said, it’s been clear for a while that people call her Kate privately and basically the only time anyone refers to her as Catherine is in formal statements from Kensington Palace. Harry has always known her as Kate, so he calls her Kate. Meghan was probably introduced to her as Kate too. Now, do I also think there’s a hilarious element of Harry and Meghan trying to needle Will and Kate? For sure. The Sussexes are like, we don’t give a f–k, people know her as Kate and we’ll call her that in statements and interviews too. I hope they never stop! It’s also funny because Meghan and Kate are BOTH known by their maiden names and their maiden names are still widely used in reporting, biographies and commentary. Meghan doesn’t care. Kate does.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex concluded their four-day tour of Colombia on Sunday. The tour was a huge success! Nigeria and Colombia have given a blueprint to other countries: you can bring Harry and Meghan to your country and get them to highlight tourism, women’s issues, veterans’ issues, etc. I absolutely believe that other countries have taken note, and I’ve already heard some anecdotal stories about Argentina wanting the Sussexes to come (if that happens, they’ll want Harry to play polo).

On the final day of their Colombian tour, Meghan spoke in Spanish and English at the Afro-Descendant Women and Power: Voices of Equity summit. Meghan spoke about how this time of her life is now her “chapter of joy” and “The more that you are able to look at your life and really, truly recognize that if you’re going to be grateful for your life, you have to be grateful for all aspects of it — the parts that were opportunities for growth and may have felt really difficult, as well as the parts that feel inspiring, joyful and full.” Beautiful sentiments, right? Well, did you know that Meghan refused to mention her sister-in-law when she praised the “strong women” around her? From the Daily Mail:

Meghan Markle omitted her sister-in-law Kate as she praised the ‘strong women’ around her during her talk on ‘Afro women and power’ in Colombia.

The Duchess of Sussex said her mother is one of the women who inspires her the most, before adding that life can be ‘full of surprises’ and ‘quite complex’.

Meghan Markle paid tribute to her mother Doria Ragland and gushed over her three-year-old daughter Lilibet at the event in the city of Cali’s theatre while Prince Harry sat in the audience.

She told the crowd her go-to tale about how she wrote to Procter & Gamble aged 11 to ask the brand to change its ‘sexist’ soap commercial – and argued it showed the importance of people using their voice. The Duchess said: ‘[I] encourage our daughter […] at three she has found her voice and we are so proud of that. For me I find inspiration in so many of the strong women around me. My mother being one of them. Life is full of surprises and can be quite complex. So much of how I approach things is about less of the fight and how do we wash things over with love and kindness and generosity. You see something wrong and you go and fix it. As women we are multi-taskers and fixers. We all know how much representation matters.’

[From The Daily Mail]

This reminds me of when Meghan guest-edited British Vogue in 2019 and the British media screamed and wailed about how despicably un-royal the whole thing was AND they were mad at her for not including Kate and QEII on her “change-makers” list. Why the f–k would Meghan mention that hateful racist Karen in her speech about inspirational women?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tours this year have been hugely successful. Their multi-day trip to Canada was focused on the Invictus Games and honoring First Nations and the larger Whistler community. Their tour of Nigeria was specifically undertaken to highlight Invictus and veterans’ causes, plus it was a celebration of Nigerian culture and, frankly, tourism. The Sussexes’ tour of Colombia was in the same vein, although I think this tour was more based on Meghan and women’s empowerment and racial issues within Colombia. Yes, there were Invictus and veterans events too, but the bulk of the visit was about celebrating Colombian culture, art, race and women.

That still isn’t enough for the Telegraph, which published this completely snide piece at the end of Harry and Meghan’s tour: “More questions than answers over Harry and Meghan’s Colombia visit: The Sussexes’ quasi-royal tour produced a stream of glossy images, but reasons behind it remain a mystery.” This reminds me of Kamala Harris releasing a detailed plan to decrease grocery prices and it was called “gimmicky,” meanwhile Donald Trump stood by rotting groceries and ranted about Hillary Clinton and no one said anything. Like… the Telegraph is so clearly mad that Harry & Meghan’s quasi-royal tours are better and more substantive than the neo-colonialist dumbf–kery that passes for the Windsors’ “royal tours.” But Harry and Meghan are held to a different standard, apparently.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s four-day quasi-royal tour of Colombia generated a stream of glossy images, along with gushing reports of locals cheering and children dancing. But as the couple head back home to California, questions remain about why they chose to visit this troubled Latin American country and what exactly they managed to achieve. There were woolly statements about “uplifting communities” and “showcasing the nation’s heritage”. But why Colombia and why now? Many feel as baffled today as they did before the couple set foot in Bogota.

Part of the answer may lay in the fact that the entire trip was carefully filtered through their own PR lens. Unlike a traditional royal tour of old, the media were not invited, save for one handpicked reporter whose job it was to relay each event to newspapers and other outlets across the world. The chosen journalist was an online reporter from US publication Harper’s Bazaar, who duly filed a brief overview of each engagement. As the Sussexes had no doubt intended, it was a saccharine-sweet account that took a broad brush approach to detail.

There were very few quotes from anybody, forcing media organisations keen to present a full account scratching around for snippets of video and local accounts published online in an attempt to piece it all together. With no access, there is no independent scrutiny.

The couple, now operating as private individuals no longer reliant on public funds, can do as they please. It was part of the reason they turned their backs on the royal household and its many constraints, after all. But by throwing a veil over the tour, they have simply thrown up more questions than answers.

[From The Telegraph]

Completely unhinged: “There were very few quotes from anybody, forcing media organisations keen to present a full account scratching around for snippets of video and local accounts published online in an attempt to piece it all together.” You mean that two private people traveled to Colombia after being invited by the vice president, and the British media barged into the country, demanding access to events and they were forced to… do their jobs as journalists instead of being spoon-fed briefings from a royal comms secretary? “With no access, there is no independent scrutiny.” And? Do you think Harry and Meghan are public servants? Were they elected to public office? Where’s this smoke for Charles, Camilla, William, Kate, Sophie and Edward as they constantly make asses out of themselves internationally with very little in the way of “independent scrutiny.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Chris Martin & Dakota Johnson are still together and still engaged. Dakota made sure to get pap’d and she showed the paparazzo her engagement ring. [Hollywood Life]
Bebe Rexha was banned from a flight for speaking Albanian? [Socialite Life]
I’m predicting, for the record, that people will probably be pleasantly surprised by Travis Kelce’s acting in Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie. [LaineyGossip]
I would truly enjoy someone sitting down and explaining the real backstory within the Aliens franchise. Like, I’m still confused by the Engineers, etc. [Pajiba]
Sydney Sweeney is so damn hot. [Seriously OMG]
No, this is a bad look on Jenna Ortega. [Go Fug Yourself]
Dan Stevens & Hunter Schafer play “name that flute.” [OMG Blog]
Jonathan Bailey really is having his moment. [Just Jared]
Emily in Paris’s William Abadie is so hot. [RCFA]
Jana Duggar did not get married in a church?? [Starcasm]
Don’t ever, ever sleep in your contacts. [Buzzfeed]

Dakota Johnson Spotted Wearing Engagement Ring from Chris Martin Following Split Rumors https://t.co/yW1KmZDWzT

— People (@people) August 18, 2024

Dakota Johnson flashes massive emerald engagement ring at paparazzi after shutting down Chris Martin split rumors https://t.co/VYWxJsAZ2o pic.twitter.com/OlG3oMY4ah

— Page Six (@PageSix) August 18, 2024

This exclusive story popped on People Magazine’s site on Friday and I found it fascinating. First, some backstory: Prince William has been the royal patron of Tusk Trust for years. The Tusk trust is associated with Jecca Craig and her family, and that’s how William got involved in the first place. He attends one or two Tusk Trust events a year, almost always in London. At those events, William tends to make an ass out of himself by repeatedly blathering on and on about how African people are having too many children and specifically African overpopulation (not overpopulation in general) is hurting conservation efforts. But I digress! The purpose of this People Magazine exclusive was to highlight the fact that the Tusk Trust held a fundraiser in the Hamptons… and their royal patron didn’t go. William was on their CEO’s mind though.

A charitable organization Prince William has been patron of for nearly 20 years held a Hamptons gala on Aug. 15 that raised funds for the organization.

The Prince of Wales, long a supporter of the continent of Africa and issues pertaining to it, has been patron of Tusk Trust since 2005 — one of the very first organizations he put his name behind. Tusk Trust, founded in 1990, is buoyed by its mission of advancing wildlife conservation across Africa and funds the protection of African lion, rhinoceros and elephant species across the continent. The nonprofit hosted The Footprint of Life Gala at the home of Amy and Gary Green in Bridgehampton, where Ludacris and the London Electronic Orchestra performed at the environmentally-themed “50 Shades of Blue” soiree.

The money raised at the gala will “support the work of wildlife rangers across Africa and also the rollout of our environmental education program,” Tusk Trust CEO Charlie Mayhew told PEOPLE exclusively. The education program reaches about 500,000 children annually, Mayhew added.

“He is very knowledgeable and passionate about conservation and the environment,” Mayhew said. “He has a particular love for Africa. He has been incredibly supportive as our patron and proactive in supporting us. We find ourselves incredibly lucky.”

Mayhew plans to meet up with Prince William in Cape Town, South Africa, when the Prince of Wales hosts the fourth annual Earthshot Prize Awards there in November. Soon enough, the Prince of Wales will want to introduce his three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — to the continent, Mayhew said.

“I think it won’t be long before, you know, he will want to introduce them to Africa,” he said.

[From People]

The stuff about William “introducing” his children to Africa is interesting because… well, Kate refuses to travel at this point, and she especially is never going to set foot in Africa anymore. If the Wales kids ever make a trip to Africa, it will be without their mother (which is probably why they haven’t gone yet). But really, this whole thing is so odd – an August fundraiser for William’s patronage in the Hamptons? And William didn’t bother to show up? I thought William’s big thing was winning over Americans and encroaching on Harry’s turf? I guess William didn’t think it was important enough to glad-hand American donors, especially during his summer vacation.

It’s also strange because there’s a good chance that William will be in New York next month for his dumbass Earthshot busywork. Did no one think to schedule everything for the same week, so that William could do his faux-statesman thing in some Manhattan hotel, then go to the Hamptons for a fundraiser for one of his patronages?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, KensingtonRoyal video screenshots.