Well, he did it. Prince William managed to make it to the United Nations yesterday. He was not invited to speak, nor was he invited to host a side-panel, nor was he invited to host an Earthshot event at the UN. He got the same thing most minor, unimportant figures get – a quickie photo-op with some flags and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Guterres truly had bigger fish to fry – Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy came to New York yesterday as well, plus President Biden is flying into New York and tons of other world leaders are already in town for the opening of the General Assembly. But here we are:

Prince William has met with UN chief Antonio Guterres to discuss ‘efforts required to accelerate the fight against climate change and protect the environment’. The Prince of Wales and the UN Secretary-General appeared in high spirits as they toured the 93-member world body where world leaders have gathered for their annual summit.

After their meeting, a UN spokesperson said the pair also ‘discussed efforts to enhance implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as financing for development’.

Leaders are also meeting at the United Nations on Monday and Tuesday on the Sustainable Development Goals, a 2015 ‘to-do’ list that includes wiping out hunger and extreme poverty, battling climate change and achieving gender equality.

[From The Daily Mail]

You’re supposed to be left with the impression that William is an important figure in global environmentalism and sustainability. The truth is, Guterres gave a dumb clout-chaser a photo-op and then Guterres moved on to the million other issues on his plate. I can’t even imagine taking up such an important person’s time given how many other pressing concerns are on the UN agenda. William is so deeply unserious. But hey, he really showed his brother, right? William has been seething with jealousy about Harry’s invitation to speak at the UN on Mandela Day last year, and Bill has been laser-focused on attaching himself to the UN in any way. It’s so pathetic.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Here are some photos of King Charles and Queen Camilla from the past week. They were busy too, just like Prince William and Kate. Nothing lights a fire under the Windsors’ asses like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex getting attention, I swear to God. Charles was doing events in Scotland last week, then on Saturday, he stopped by Dumfries House to open up a new farming center, then he and Camilla went to the Doncaster races, where one of the royal horses was racing (the royal horse lost). This was actually Charles and Camilla’s first time at Doncaster? Also: Charles and Camilla look like they’ve aged dramatically all rather suddenly. Charles is really looking like his father too – there were some photos from Doncaster where he just flatly looks like Philip now.

Meanwhile, the former head of Sky News has spoken out about the “Orwellian” demands of the Windsors in regards to special events (QEII’s funeral, the coronation) as well as their nastiness towards any reporter or broadcaster attempting to speak directly to a royal figure.

British television channels agreed to let Buckingham Palace censor television coverage of King Charles’s coronation, according to the former boss of Sky News. John Ryley, who stepped down in May after 17 years, said the monarchy imposed “extraordinary restrictions” on channels covering this year’s ceremony, including demanding the “Orwellian” right to retrospectively ban footage after it had been broadcast.

Reading from an agreement between the palace and broadcasters marked “private and confidential”, he told an audience at the Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture how the palace controlled coverage: “The royal spin doctors had the opportunity to censor any pictures from the coronation before they could be replayed on the day … And the royal spin doctors dictated which clips of the footage could be shown in future broadcasts in what they called with an Orwellian phrase: ‘a perpetuity edit’.”

Ryley’s decision to speak out has broken the omertà around the secret agreements between British television and the royal family over coverage of formal events. His comments confirm many details previously reported in the Guardian about how Buckingham Palace controlled coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and King Charles III’s coronation. This included a WhatsApp group where royal courtiers would tell senior editors at the BBC, ITN, and Sky News in real time if the royal family wanted specific pieces of footage removed from circulation.

Ryley told the audience in London the royal family regularly escaped real scrutiny by broadcasters. He said he regretted that Sky News made the “bad decision” to provide Prince Charles with a full list of questions before an interview with the future king in 2017: “If a viewer had interrogated us about whether that was entirely in keeping with our core values of being honest with our audiences it would have been hard to mount a robust defence. Imagine submitting a list of questions to a top politician or business leader. Maybe in a puppet state.”

In his speech – in memory of Hewlett, the broadcaster and writer who died in 2017 – he demanded more scrutiny of the royal family from British journalism, saying broadcasters were now “too supine … too incurious … too compliant” when it comes to the monarchy: “Topics such as why King Charles didn’t pay any inheritance tax on the fortune he inherited from his mother or the fact the Duchy of Cornwall doesn’t pay capital gains tax should be examined properly. The reporting needs to be far more rigorous.”

He also explained how Buckingham Palace reacts when journalists try to ask questions directly to royal family members: “You already know – perhaps you don’t – that spin doctors at the royal palaces freak out when a broadcast journalist doorsteps a member of the royal family. Haughty emails, phone calls, and even a summons for a head of news to a meeting can swiftly follow. I’ve experienced this treatment.”

[From The Guardian]

I wonder if Camilla has her own WhatsApp group with Piers Morgan, Jeremy Clarkson and the other dregs of British media. It would make a lot of sense – a streamlined way for Camilla to sow division within the family and spread her talking points. Anyway, yeah, the British media’s open collusion with the Windsors is far beyond “the invisible contract.” Everyone should be ashamed here – the media outlets who go along with it in exchange for access, the Windsors who spread their dysfunction, racism and sexism far and wide, and the British public for never questioning why this situation persists.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I’m still on Twitter, and yes, I’ll continue to deadname that stupid platform. Elon Musk has made the Twitter experience dumber, more racist, more antisemitic, and more Nazi-ish. But… I still have so many friends on the platform and there are still cool people saying funny sh-t. Still, if Musk’s latest move goes through, I will say sayonara to the only social media platform I use regularly. Musk claims he will soon roll out a paywall for Twitter. Meaning, everyone will have to “pay” to use Twitter. I’m out. You got me.

Elon Musk has indicated that X, formerly known as Twitter, is preparing to charge all users for accessing the platform. The X owner said erecting a paywall around the business would ward off the bots, or automated accounts, that have become a bugbear for Musk.

Speaking in a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, the Tesla CEO and world’s richest person suggested that X was going to charge its user base. Currently, Twitter only charges users for its subscription service X Premium, which offers perks such as a verified account checkmark and costs $11 a month in the US for iPhones and £11 in the UK.

“We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system,” Musk said.

Saying that bots cost “a fraction of a penny” to set up, Musk added that raising the cost of an account to “a few dollars or something” could put off operators of the software. He added: “Plus, every time a bot creator wanted to make another bot, they would need another new payment method.”

Musk also said X had 550 million monthly users generating up to 200m posts a day. Previously, the platform had measured its user base by a different method, monetisable daily active users, which stood at 238 million before Musk bought the business in October 2022.

Musk has raised the prospect of a paywall as the platform battles an entrenched decline in advertising, its main source of income. Musk has said an advertiser boycott, spurred by concerns over his leadership of the platform and its management of inappropriate or hateful content, has caused ad revenue to decline by 60%.

[From The Guardian]

Part of me wonders if this is another feint, or something which Musk announced in a half-assed way, and he’ll backtrack as soon as people convince him that a paywall will effectively end the platform. Remember the blue-check debacle? Musk insisted that celebrities and brands would have to pay for verification and celebrities/brands/public figures laughed in his face and so he backtracked. This feels like a repeat of that. All of which to say… yeah, I’ll probably need to pull the trigger on getting that Blue Sky account. Some of you have sent me invitations before but I put it off. Guess what, I have a BlueSky account as of this morning! Holler at me @kaiseratcb.bsky.social!!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

Chris Jackson is Prince William and Kate’s preferred event photographer. Jackson is married to one of Kate’s staffers and he dutifully airbrushes most of Kate’s photos to the point where she looks Yassified at all times. Jackson was hired by the Invictus Games to be one of their accredited photographers, taking behind-the-scenes pics and action photos of the competitors. There was a theory going around Sussex Twitter that Jackson was taking lovely photos of Harry and Meghan and then he buried the pics and refused to give them to Getty. All of which to say, I think Chris Jackson was exhausted from traveling to Dusseldorf for Invictus, and that’s why he seemingly wasn’t in Somerset on Monday to Photoshop the Princess of Wales’s photos. When other photographers shoot her, you can really tell that they’re not married to someone on Kate’s staff. To be fair, the lighting was doing Kate no favors. To be fair, that janky wig is doing her no favors either. She must have stapled that bitch on to keep it from flying away.

I’m including more photos from Kate’s day trip to the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton on Monday. The new pics are somehow even worse, she looks like she hasn’t slept in days and she’s been living on cigarettes and herbal supplements. Meanwhile, the Daily Express actually reported that Kate arrived at the station via royal helicopter. You mean to tell me that William flew all the way to New York to do environmentalist cosplay, all while Kate took a gas-guzzling helicopter for an event which could have been reached by train or car?

As for those “fart-face” photos, there’s video too. Kate was surprised by the speed and size of the inflatable vest, thus she made some cartoonishly awkward faces.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Prince William arrived in Newark, New Jersey on Monday, mid-afternoon. He flew commercial and arrived at Newark Airport. Not JFK. As soon as he touched down in Newark, his first statement was about John F. Kennedy, I guess because William thinks if he keeps name-dropping JFK, people will see him as an Irish-Catholic from Massachusetts?? This is Peg’s arrival statement:

“It’s so good to be back in United States. No one does optimism and ingenuity like the American people, so it’s only right we unveil this year’s Earthshot finalists in New York City. 80 years ago, the world came together in this great city to find a new way, through the UN, to solve our shared challenges. I know our generation can take the bold action we need to make changes towards a healthy and sustainable world. The challenge may feel huge, but as John F Kennedy taught us, we rise to the challenge not because it is easy, but because it is hard. And vital.”

[From Hello]

“No one does optimism and ingenuity like the American people” – I’m thinking about all of the times Kensington Palace “sources” scornfully briefed the press that Meghan was “too American” and she made white women weep when she assigned them tasks. But again, why is he constantly banging on about JFK? Someone pointed this out on Twitter – Diana loved New York, and Americans loved Diana. He could have cloaked himself in his actual attachment to his mother. But no, he’s got to clout-chase a dead Irish-American president.

Anyway, William’s first stop was “Billion Oyster Project” on Governors Island. William wore a baseball cap and he got in the water for a photo-op. I’m going to give this the same energy William gives to his briefing papers – none at all. Meanwhile, the Kensington Palace be-wigletted gopher had a lot to say to Vanity Fair about Peg’s Bigly American Adventure.

“As he remarked previously, the prince was incredibly appreciative for the love and support shown by the American people during that time,” said a spokesperson for Kensington Palace. “He is very much looking forward to being back in New York this week and hopefully meeting as many New Yorkers as possible.”

In addition to his time at the summit, William will visit a few more sites relevant to his interests. Following his arrival on Monday, William will visit the Billion Oyster Project on Governors Island to meet with volunteers, students, and restaurateurs who are working to restore oyster reefs in New York Harbor. On Tuesday, he will meet with a group of first responders to talk about mental health.

“As ever, wherever the prince visits, he’s always keen to see, hear, and learn from other projects that are happening and taking place in and around the cities that he visits,” said the palace spokesperson. “He’s conscious that he’s doing this visit only a few days after September 11th, where many of the people that he will be meeting tomorrow were remembering those that were lost on 9/11.”

Later, he will meet with UN Secretary General António Guterres to discuss climate issues and the innovative solutions that Earthshot Prize winners and finalists have already cultivated around the world.

[From Vanity Fair]

His big “two-day trip” is more like a whirlwind 30 hour visit in which he plans to wander around the United Nations during the opening of the General Assembly, begging for meetings, plus he’ll preview Earthshot something or other at the Plaza. Have we really talked about how idiotic it is that Peg is trying to gate-crash the UN, solely because Prince Harry was invited to speak on Mandela Day? Like, really important people attach their projects to the opening of the General Assembly. Bill Clinton is currently doing his Clinton Global Intitative summit, as he does every September. There’s been an 18-month war in Ukraine. The UN has a full slate of events about communicable diseases, preventing the next pandemic, women’s rights globally and more. No one has time for Peg’s wannabe-statesman busywork.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Getty.

While Katy Perry’s music is rarely my favorite, I acknowledge that the woman has some huge hits. Her catalog is extensive and well-known. She performed at the Super Bowl Half-Time show and she had to leave out several of her hits because there were just too many. I’m sure her masters are worth a fortune. So why does it sound like she sold them for much too small a figure? Katy is the latest in a long line of musical artists to sell their masters and catalog to a private-equity firm. The price? $225 million. As I said, it sounds way too low.

Litmus Music, a catalog rights company backed by private-equity giant Carlyle Group LP, said on Monday (Sept. 18) it acquired the rights to Katy Perry’s five studio albums released for Capitol Records, including her Grammy-nominated Teenage Dream.

According to sources, Litmus paid $225 million for Perry’s stake in the master recording royalties and music publishing rights to her five albums released between 2008 and 2020 — One of the Boys, Teenage Dream, PRISM, Witness and Smile. Litmus declined to comment on the deal terms.

Perry’s catalog sale, finalized earlier this year, follows other 2023 music rights deals like Justin Bieber’s $200-million sale to Hipgnosis Songs Capital, demonstrating that household name artists can still command top dollar even as high interest rates moderate investors’ appetites for song rights.

From her breakout single “I Kissed A Girl” in July 2008 to the five chart-topping songs from 2010’s Teenage Dream, Perry has notched a total of nine No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100. During a musical era that saw major hits from other female pop stars like Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Adele, Perry remains the first woman and only second artist ever (after Michael Jackson) to send five songs from the same album to the summit of the Hot 100. Those songs are “California Gurls,” “Firework,” “E.T.,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” and “Teenage Dream.”

[From Billboard]

Billboard also mentioned her Vegas residency, which was pretty lucrative for her – $168 million for about four months. Plus, she’s done so many huge tours over the years, although she hasn’t toured since 2018 and now she’s a mom. Oh, and she’s getting $25 million a year for American Idol? My point is that Katy isn’t poor, far from it. We’ve never heard stories about Katy drowning in debt or spending crazy money. She just sold her catalog for no real reason, I guess because they made her an offer. Did her manager not tell her that the bid sounds pretty low?

Maybe Katy decided to pack up her career after the mess at the coronation? I still can’t get over the absolute desperation of Charles and Camilla.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Here is Rep. Lauren Boebert on the House floor speaking about banning YA books that display “offensive and very inappropriate” themes and here she is at the Denver theater last Sunday where she and her date were caught on camera groping each other publicly. pic.twitter.com/kQEgbCjzAI

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) September 17, 2023

Here’s part of the Lauren Boebert–Beetlejuice saga. [Jezebel]
All about the “How often do you think about the Roman Empire” trend. [Just Jared]
Ciara laughs when asked about coparenting with Future. [LaineyGossip]
I really want to see Rustin, despite the mediocre reviews. [Pajiba]
Jason Wu’s collection is very pretty (and slightly boring). [Go Fug Yourself]
Oh, Keira Knightley looks amazing here. [RCFA]
ABC canceled The Wonder Years. [Seriously OMG]
What Emma Watson keeps in her backpack. [Egotastic]
Here are some (surprisingly) good tips about how to change some “mindless” habits which leave people feeling exhausted. [Buzzfeed]
This Elon Musk-Grimes situation is just… ugh. [Starcasm]
More photos from the Vogue World event last week. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Last week’s drag news. [Socialite Life]

Prince William arrives in New York today. He’ll leave tomorrow. Before he left the UK, William and his clowns at Kensington Palace organized several hype pieces about the trip, about his first year as Prince of Wales, and about how he’s a “global statesman” now. William really thinks he can just declare himself a “global statesman” and everybody will be like “oh, I guess he is.” Please – this is the man who was too lazy to fly to Australia to do his job as Football Association president. This is the man who hasn’t done a commonwealth tour since he and his wife did their Caribbean Flop Tour last year. During that tour, William got global headlines, but it wasn’t for being a “statesman” – it was for being a racist and neo-colonialist. Anyway, here are some headlines from the completely embarrassing CNN piece called “Prince William wants to be a global statesman.”

A wider strategy: Prince William will touch down in New York on Monday for a two-day visit – primarily to attend the second Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit. However, aides have revealed to CNN that the trip is also part of a wider strategy for the royal. The event coincides with both Climate Week NYC and the 78th session of the UN General Assembly and will see the announcement of the 2023 Earthshot finalists, who are in the running for a £1 million (about $1.2 million) jackpot.

Additional engagements and meetings: “In addition to unveiling this year’s Earthshot finalists next week, you’re also going to see Prince William sitting down with the UN Secretary-General and other world leaders… This really is the evolution of Prince William as the global statesman,” a close aide said.

The Boston Flop Tour: William will surely be hoping this trip is less challenging than his visit to Boston late last year. While he was “absolutely delighted” to be in Beantown, where he met US President Joe Biden, the visit was somewhat overshadowed by a racism scandal back in the UK.

The keen international leader: The whistle-stop visit will be the heir’s second solo trip in a year in which raising his global profile has been a focus. A close aide tells us that William is keen to evolve as an international leader as he continues his transformation from Duke of Cambridge to Prince of Wales and future King. Rather than get side-tracked by controversy and the distractions that have bruised the family’s standing over the past few years, we understand he is keen to be part of the global conversation around bettering the world while fiercely concentrating on impact and solutions.

[From CNN]

“The event coincides with both Climate Week NYC and the 78th session of the UN General Assembly” and “you’re also going to see Prince William sitting down with the UN Secretary-General and other world leaders.” You’re supposed to be left with the impression that Mr. Earthshot is so globally keen that he was invited to be part of Climate Week and the UN General Assembly. What’s actually happening is that no one invited Peg anywhere and his big Earthshot Summit is being held at the Plaza, probably in some rented conference room, and after which Peg will wander the halls of the United Nations building, asking people for “meetings.” This whole “summit” could have been an email. But no, William has to center himself in all things, and this is his I WANNA BE A GLOBAL STATESMAN tour.

Photos courtesy of Instar.

Around King Charles’s coronation, Thomas Markle was trotted out on Australian television. That pathetic grifter and his lunatic daughter Samantha got paid to deliver a script about how Toxic Tom is sad and how the Duchess of Sussex “owes” him and she’s “denying me my grandchildren.” He’s abusive and Meghan cut him out of her life for good reason, and every time he does these paid interviews, he shows why Meghan had every right to cut her ties. Well, now that the Dusseldorf Invictus Games were a massive success, guess who got trotted out again? This time, Toxic Tom appeared on Good Morning Britain.

‘She is not the person I knew as my daughter’

‘I think she has influence on Harry more than he does on her’

In an exclusive interview with GMB, Thomas Markle, who has recovered his speech following a severe stroke, shares his hurt of not being able to see his grandchildren. pic.twitter.com/AvCP5BsP1I

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) September 18, 2023

Why? Just… why? The British media and Thomas Markle openly treat a 42-year-old Black woman like a runaway slave, like Meghan “owes” them something, that she’s theirs to abuse and harass and threaten. It’s sickening. There’s no journalistic angle here – just an abuser getting paid to harass his daughter on British television. It’s disgusting. The tweet below is GMB’s PINNED TWEET. They’re conducting an internet poll on whether an American citizen should speak to her abusive father!!

Does Thomas Markle deserve to see his grandchildren?

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) September 18, 2023

‘Meghan is punishing Thomas for doing exactly the same thing that she has done.’

‘She owes nothing to her father but everything to herself and her children.’

Does Thomas Markle deserve to meet his grandchildren? pic.twitter.com/TVCgysC8RZ

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) September 18, 2023

So after a hugely successful Invictus Games that the British media managed to almost completely ignore, what do the scum low press do? Drag out Thomas Markle out of his pit again, dangle a cheque in front of him and demand he start spewing bile again. Pitiful. #InvictusGames2023

— Marcus Righton MP (@MarcusRightonMP) September 18, 2023

Photos courtesy of GMB, WENN, GB News, 60 Minutes Australia.

I’m trying to parcel out the final Invictus Games photos into multiple posts for the next few days, because I don’t want the Duchess of Sussex’s many looks to go unnoticed, nor am I interested in doing some mega-post about a million stories happening all at once. So please, just have faith that if I’m not covering something you want to talk about right at this very moment, I will get to it and I want the subject or look to have the proper attention it deserves. Yes, this is a long-winded way of saying “please don’t threadjack.”

The photos in this post are from two Sussex appearances on Friday and Saturday – the photos with Meghan’s blue dress are from Friday’s seated volleyball final and the pics with Meghan in a cream ensemble are from Saturday’s medal ceremony for swimming. They also gave a medal to Yuliia “Taira” Paievska, the Ukrainian medic featured in Heart of Invictus. Taira has gotten so much attention during the games and she’s been doing tons of press. She seems to have a special bond with Harry and Meghan.

Fashion notes: Meghan’s cream outfit on Saturday was Cuyana, paired with Aquazzura pumps. The blue dress on Friday was Carolina Herrera, with Dior pumps and Pippa Small earrings. The Herrera dress is maybe one of my favorite things Meghan has ever worn, and I love that she did a pop of color in what was mostly a palette of white, black, cream and brown. Meghan has gotten a lot of high marks from fashionistas for her Invictus looks, all while the Daily Mail’s most unhinged accountant is furiously tallying up the cost of every belt, every bracelet, every pair of shorts. They’re seething that… a rich woman wears whatever she likes, regardless of the cost.

At Friday’s volleyball final, Meghan and Harry were seated with two interesting VIPs: the UK’s Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer (the man beside Harry) and Nicky Scott, who sat beside Meghan. Nicky is one of Harry’s closest friends and they’ve been tight since they were at Eton together. Nicky was also interviewed in the Harry & Meghan docuseries. It’s lovely that he seemingly flew in (with his family) for Invictus and for Harry’s birthday. As for Johnny Mercer, he actually made public statements praising Harry at Invictus, saying that Harry created “a legacy he can be proud of with the Invictus Games. The nation is incredibly grateful to him.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.