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This has been such an awful, strange, macabre and ultimately tragic story. Sunday morning, OceanGate lost contact with their tourist submarine, a vessel which carried people down to the site of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic site is and should be considered a mass gravesite, and it’s deeply inappropriate to see it become a “tourist attraction” for the idle rich, men with too much money and too little sense. That’s exactly what happened here: OceanGate’s Titan submersible went missing and lost contact, and endless resources were spent Monday through Thursday to locate the vessel and perhaps attempt a search-and-rescue mission. Then, on Thursday, some news: debris was found near the Titanic site. All five men on the submersible are presumed dead, and it’s believed that the submarine imploded on Sunday, as it descended to the Titanic mass grave site.

All five people aboard the submersible that went missing on Sunday were believed to be dead, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday, ending a dayslong rescue effort that gripped much of the world.

“On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families,” Rear Admiral John Mauger said in a news conference on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, a remote-controlled vehicle located debris from the Titan submersible, including its tail cone, on the ocean floor, about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, he said.

“The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” Admiral Mauger said.

Stockton Rush, the chief executive of OceanGate, was piloting the submersible. The four passengers were a British businessman and explorer, Hamish Harding; a British-Pakistani businessman, Shahzada Dawood, and his teenage son, Suleman; and a French maritime expert, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who had been on over 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site.

For rescuers, the search for the pilot and four passengers aboard the submersible, the Titan, was always a race against time. When the submersible, a 22-foot-long vessel owned by OceanGate, lost contact with a chartered ship on Sunday morning, it was more than halfway into its dive to the wreck of the Titanic, and it was believed to be equipped with only four days’ worth of oxygen.

Asked what the prospects were of recovering the bodies of the victims, Admiral Mauger said he did not have an answer. “This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor,” he said.

[From The NY Times]

As the NYT noted (from the Coast Guard’s presser), the possibility of a recovery operation for the remains is an open question. I hope that they do not attempt any recovery operation – let the dead bury the dead. A mass gravesite claimed five more souls. Let this be the end of this kind of Titanic tourism.

Which isn’t to say that this should be the end of the reporting or the accountability. OceanGate needs to reimburse the government for the expense of these search-and-rescue efforts, and I would imagine that the victims’ families will be suing the f–k out of OceanGate too. There should be a consensus about adding more safety regulations to these kinds of submersibles too – from what I understand, the science of this submersible never made any sense, and a tragedy like this was sadly inevitable.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

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Prince William and the Princess of Wales finally made it to Royal Ascot today, after avoiding the event all week. King Charles and Queen Camilla rode in the first carriage (alongside the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire), then Will and Kate were shunted off to the second carriage, alongside Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. The Duchess of Edinburgh and the Kents were in carriage #3, if anyone cares.

Kate decided to go with a bright red Alexander McQueen dress and a matching hat by Philip Treacy. While many women wear bright colors to Ascot, most of the royal women have gone for whites, creams and pastels. I’m just saying, it’s a big choice for Kate to wear tomato-red to Ascot. Those giant earrings are also a choice! Don’t get me wrong, I actually love those earrings, but for Ascot?

Kate is making some pretty interesting styling choices lately when it comes to events where she knows she’ll be around Camilla and Sophie. She wants to make sure she stands out and gets the most attention. I do have to admit, tomato or not, she kind of ate this look.

The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive in the Royal Procession at #RoyalAscot! pic.twitter.com/1RcAW3Mc7t

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 23, 2023

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Photos courtesy of Getty and Cover Images.

While Michael Bloomberg has gone all-in with the Windsors, does it follow that his media empire also tows the Windsors’ line? I’m starting to wonder. Bloomberg’s tech columnist/reporter Ashley Carman has an exclusive about (what else) the end of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Spotify deal. Carman wondered the same thing I wondered: why didn’t Prince Harry ever produce a podcast? People have been screeching all week about how terrible it was that Meghan “only” produced one season of an incredibly successful podcast, all while ignoring the fact that Harry didn’t do anything except for that one Christmas pod. We also heard through industry sources that Harry and Meghan had pitched various ideas, only for Spotify to turn them down. Spotify executive Bill Simmons also called them “f–king grifters” and said that he had a call or meeting with Harry which went poorly. So, Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman tried to get to the bottom of what Harry pitched:

This got me wondering, while there’s been all this talk of Markle’s podcast and what she did or didn’t produce, what happened to a potential Harry show? I spoke to people with knowledge of the situation about what ideas the prince floated and why none of them ever came to fruition. They requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak about his work. Spotify declined to comment, as did Archewell Audio.

Harry spoke with multiple producers and production houses, these people said, to discuss possible shows. Along the way, Harry listened to various ideas from others but mostly stuck by his own — including one about childhood trauma. The concept: Harry would interview a procession of controversial guests, such as Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump, about their early formative years and how those experiences resulted in the adults they are today.

Harry also had an idea, the people said, for a show centered on fatherhood. Another one would have tackled major societal conversations episode by episode, ranging from climate change to religion. For the latter, Harry hoped to have Pope Francis on as a guest.

The practicality of these ideas struck some people in the Harry-podcast cosmos as questionable at best, given that people like Putin and Zuckerberg rarely give wide-ranging interviews about the topics they’re passionate about — let alone about their upbringings and personal childhood traumas. In any case, no podcast from Harry ever materialized.

The difficulty of nailing down a workable idea and actually recording a show — over nearly three years of a production deal — speaks to the broader reckoning around celebrity-driven content.

The pandemic reduced work for movie stars and others who typically fly around the world from project to project. Instead, they were all stuck at home with plenty of time of time on their hands. Which is why, for a while, so many celebrities were signing podcast deals — even if they didn’t necessarily have a concrete, workable idea that could get made into a show, let alone become a hit. (There were, of course, exceptions like the SmartLess crew, whose podcast tour is now a special on Max.) These stars also maintained expectations for the kind of jumbo paychecks that were once reserved for movies, commercials and Las Vegas club appearances — and were not, in any way, typical of the podcast economy.

[From Bloomberg]

The thing about a pitch meeting is that you’re throwing out big names to get people excited about the overall concept. Like, I think a podcast in which Harry interviews men about childhood trauma sounds interesting, unique and possibly groundbreaking. I would also imagine it would be a hard sell, which is why Harry or “someone” started throwing out potential names of high-profile men. If Harry actually wanted to interview Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin, I will eat my f–king hat. Please. After what Trump said about Harry’s wife, I doubt Harry wanted any part of Trump. And a podcast about fatherhood would have been lovely, as would a pod with each episode devoted to “big issues.” It sounds like Harry needed to work on his pitches, honestly. So, that’s why Harry never produced a pod, according to Bloomberg’s sources – he wanted to do pods about trauma, fatherhood, environmentalism and religion? GASP!!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Thus far, I’ve been surprised by how often the Princess of Wales has gotten “her way” on her children’s education. Traditionally, royal children and aristocrats’ children get packed off to boarding school as soon as possible. That’s doubly true for royal boys, with the expectation for the boys to matriculate into Eton, the prep school which educates most prime ministers, lords, MPs, etc. Prince George has escaped that thus far – he’s turning ten years old in a month, and he’s never been to boarding school. But it looks like William and Kate took their eldest son on a tour of Eton this week:

Prince George has been spotted visiting Eton alongside parents William and Kate. The nine-year-old has been schooled at Lambrook School in Berkshire since September last year, but a visit to the prestigious public school on Wednesday – which costs £46,000 a year in fees – has sparked talks on whether he will follow in his father’s footsteps.

Prince William also attended the historic boys’ school near Windsor as a child from 1995, after King Charles attended Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun – which he reportedly hated.

George, who will next month celebrate his 10th birthday, was seen accompanied by his doting parents at the college on Wednesday as the Prince and Princess of Wales chatted with staff. Kate was seen talking to two employees of the famous and historic school while wearing an elegant aquamarine dress and ballet pumps, Hello! Reports.

The family were standing near an archway, by a sign that reads: ‘Porters’ Lodge’ and previous reports about the school explain that through the doors you’ll find the school yard where a statue of the college’s founder, King Henry VI, is displayed.

Fees for Eton are a staggering £15,432 per term – according to the school’s website – with a £400 fee just for registering, although scholarships are offered to pupils who pass an exam.

[From The Daily Mirror]

Eton is the equivalent of a high school, the youngest pupils are 13 years old. So, no, George isn’t entering Eton in the fall, but maybe his parents are trying to get him used to the idea that he’ll eventually go to Eton. William and Harry both started at a boarding school before Eton – they boarded at Ludgrove, starting when they were like eight or nine years old. I wonder if this is the beginning of George being shifted into a “future king” education, like they’ll put him into a boarding school for a few years before Eton? Hm.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

Princess Charlene wore Akris at the Golden Nymph Awards. [JustJared]
This story is bonkers & I can’t even wrap my head around it. [Dlisted]
Gwen Stefani just loves fashion so much. [GFY]
Are we watching the Wham documentary on Netflix? [OMG Blog]
The Wonder Years reboot has started up again. [Seriously OMG]
Kim Kardashian & Lewis Hamilton chatted at the LV show. [LaineyGossip]
The Summer of Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam.” [Pajiba]
Tucker Carlson’s mommy issues explain so much about him. [Jezebel]
Kim Kardashian & Kourtney Kardashian are still beefing. [Buzzfeed]
Elton John: Homophobia in America is like a virus. [Towleroad]
Gwendoline Christie wore Giles… it looks like a silk bedsheet. [RCFA]

Here are some photos from Royal Ascot Day 3, Ladies Day. At first, it didn’t look like King Charles and Queen Camilla made it to Ascot today, but they did arrive finally, in the stupid carriage. It looks like Zara and Mike Tindall were the only royal-adjacents to make it to Ascot today. This is Zara’s best dress of the week, although that’s not saying much. Zara wore a lacy number from Scanlan Theodore – it looks nice on her, although I’m not sure this silhouette is the best for her figure.

Charles and Camilla:

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Sabrina Dhowre Elba was also in attendance on Ladies Day – look at her! She looks amazing! Sabrina is proof that you don’t have to dress up like a frumpy doily or wear an ‘80s bedspread to look fashionable at Ascot.

Behold, random Ascot hats!!

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.

In interestingly timed news, Ryan Murphy is leaving Netflix for Disney at the end of his five-year deal. He joined Netflix for a $300 million deal in 2018. So, he’s leaving quite soon. He and Shonda Rhimes were both big gets for Netflix, both having signed around the same time. And with Netflix, Ryan produced hits like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Politician, and Ratched. But like he left 20th Century Fox for Netflix’s greener pastures, now he’s leaving Netflix for Disney, for an unspecified sum.

Ryan Murphy will depart Netflix at the end of his five-year, nine-figure overall deal, and is set to make a new home at Disney.

The producer behind hits including Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, 911 and American Horror Story is expecting to reunite with Dana Walden, who worked closely with Murphy when she headed what was then 20th Century Fox TV and he had a deal there. Walden, who is also one Murphy’s closest friends and confidants, is now co-chairman of Disney Entertainment. The new, not yet completed pact — Murphy’s Netflix deal doesn’t expire until the end of the month, after all — will bring Murphy back in-house with FX’s John Landgraf, with whom he has long had a close creative relationship, as well. Sources say the move has been in the works since well before the Writers Guild of America went on strike in May.

Disney declined to comment.

Murphy famously left 20th in 2018 for a $300 million deal at Netflix, becoming — along with Shonda Rhimes — one of the biggest producers to sign with the streamer. Snagging a producer who had once declared he’d be buried on the Fox lot was seen as a major coup for Netflix and Ted Sarandos at the time. But Murphy’s early years at the streaming service proved rocky, with efforts like Hollywood, Halston and feature film The Prom failing to cut through. The past year has been the most fruitful of the deal, with Dahmer and The Watcher, both of which he co-created with longtime collaborator Ian Brennan, becoming breakout hits for the streamer.

During his tenure at Netflix — which also included The Politician, Ratched and The Boys in the Band — Murphy also continued to produce popular franchises for 20th that predated his departure. In addition to American Horror Story and 911, his output for 20th TV included FX’s ongoing American Crime Story anthology, Pose and Feud, which has a second season is in the works. The arrangement had long baffled many in town, particularly in the early days, when his Netflix projects weren’t hitting and the 20th fare were. According to multiple insiders, the summer 2021 announcement that Murphy would also be producing an American Sports Story and American Love Story via and for Disney entities did not sit well with Sarandos.

Now, in an ironic twist, Murphy will continue producing installments of Netflix hits Monster — another anthology, with season two focusing on the Menendez brothers — and Watcher for Sarandos, while calling Disney his creative home. Dealmaking terms are being kept under wraps, though the deal market has cooled considerably in five years.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

There was an announcement in summer 2021 that Ryan would be working on a couple of series in his “American Story” franchise for Disney, that apparently didn’t go over well with Netflix brass. The THR article points out that he did struggle to find his footing with his early projects with Netflix, though eventually he hit his stride and his hits. But even with his deal with Disney, Ryan will continue to produce new seasons of his shows with Netflix as he did with his 20th shows during his Netflix deal. So fear not, fans of Ryan Murphy shows on Netflix. I am guessing the terms of the deal must be great, because otherwise I’m wondering why Disney. I haven’t seen every single Ryan Murphy show, but I have seen quite a few. And I wouldn’t have guessed Disney as a natural fit for his content. I think his stuff is a bit “edgier” and dare I say, more interesting, than typical Disney products. But sometimes unlikely collaborations yield the best results, so we’ll see.

Picture note by CB: This is Ryan Murphy, Bela Bajaria (chief content officer for Netflix), Ted Sarandos (CEO) and Peter Friedlander (head of scripted series) at the New York Premiere of Netflix’s The Watcher

Photos credit: Eric Liebowitz/Netflix, Getty images for Netflix and Avalon.red

King Charles spent months briefing the British press about how Prince Harry absolutely needed to come to the coronation. Meghan was an afterthought with the invitation, and Charles made a point of not inviting Prince Archie and Princess Lili to the coronation or to the UK. Harry ended up coming back for 28 hours, then he flew back to California to be with his son on Archie’s birthday. Charles did not extend any invitations to the Sussexes for Trooping the Colour, nor did Charles make any attempt to meet with Harry while Harry was back in London to testify against Charles’s friends at the Mirror. At this point, there’s nothing Charles can hold over Harry’s head, and there are no big “events” for which Harry simply “must return.” This will be the holding pattern for the foreseeable future – Harry and his father barely communicating, and likely never seeing each other. The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes has royal sources insisting that this stalemate is all about Camilla, and all about Spare.

Relations between King Charles and his estranged son Prince Harry have descended to fresh lows owing to Harry’s attacks on Charles’ wife, Queen Camilla, and friends of the royals now suspect the two will never be reconciled. While many inside the royal circle of trust have long discounted the possibility of Prince William and Harry ever setting aside their differences, there is now similar pessimism in some quarters about the relationship between Harry and his father, the king, who has been left dismayed by Harry’s brutal criticism of Camilla in his memoir, Spare.

Friends say that Charles was particularly hurt by the assault his son mounted on the character of Camilla in his book. He characterized her as single-mindedly determined to become queen, accused her of “sacrificing” him on “her personal PR altar” and told one interviewer she was “dangerous” and was prepared to leave “bodies in the street” in her quest to be queen.

A longstanding friend of the queen told The Daily Beast: “How does she get past that? It’s one thing to call your stepmother a bitch privately or in a family argument. But to put it in a book which is catching up with the Bible on sales? I think Harry knew exactly what he was doing, and the result is predictable. Charles loves Camilla. He made her queen. He doesn’t react very well to criticism of her.”

Asked if they were saying that the attacks on Camilla, specifically, had generated a harder attitude towards his son from Charles, the friend of Camilla said: “It is a huge part of it. Charles has made it very clear that he loves both his sons so the door will never be bolted shut. But they are a very obstinate family and nobody is about to be the first to apologize. Charles certainly doesn’t believe he has anything to apologize for.”

The other problem, beyond the memoir itself, seems to be an obstinate refusal on both sides to make the first move in apologizing, or, indeed, accepting there is anything to apologize for. One friend of the king and queen told The Daily Beast: “There is no plan for Harry and Charles to meet. There might have been a chance of reconciliation had it not been for the book. But Charles was dismayed and deeply hurt by what Harry said about him and about Camilla in his book.

“Personal feelings aside, Charles has to prioritize the job of being king. He can’t start having meetings with Harry now, it would be a distraction and very destabilizing.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Sykes also cites Roya Nikkhah’s recent report in the Times, where sources “close to Charles” claim that the king “is becoming increasingly exasperated” over Harry and “The King brings Harry up every time I see him. I don’t think we’ve moved past sad and bewildered, but there’s a bit more frustration at his behaviour, because it just keeps going.” That comment was more about Harry’s testimony in court as opposed to Harry’s memoir. Which makes me wonder if Charles is actually all that bothered, at this point, about Spare or Harry’s comments about Camilla. It seems more like Charles is frustrated because of everything I said in the intro: he has no way of controlling Harry, nothing to hold over Harry’s head, no big event to which an invitation must be withheld. Now, I also think Charles is irritated by what Harry said about Camilla, because Harry’s version has been widely accepted, and Harry’s comments are still being repeated endlessly by the Rota. Anyway, Charles is a dogsh-t father, news at seven.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Hilaria Baldwin covers the new issue of Romper and the interview is just as bonkers as you would think. Keep in mind, since Hilaria’s lies about being “from Spain” were outed in late 2020, she’s never explained exactly why she lied or what this whole thing was really about. Romper doesn’t press Hilaria on the subject, they merely note (hilariously) that she grew up in Boston and merely “visited” Spain a lot. Which, again, does not make her Spanish or from Spain, dios mio. Even beyond that, this piece with Hilaria is massively creepy. Some highlights:

Her stepdaughter Ireland had a baby: “I love being a grandmother. My kids get a kick out of it. They feel like they’re so grown up; they’re like, ‘Well, I can do this because I’m an uncle now.’ I send things to Ireland all the time. My favorite swaddle or my favorite bathtub or whatever. The towels, all these things.” As the mother of seven, I ask, is she the one everyone else goes to for mom advice? “My friend and his wife had a baby a year ago, and he’s always coming to me with questions. He loves golf, and he’s like, ‘I think of you as the Tiger Woods of babies.’”

Her reproductive choices: “People like to have a lot of opinions about women’s reproductive choices. Either we have too many kids, or we have too few. We don’t do it exactly as we should. We don’t put the hat on the baby. And then people say, ‘Why doesn’t your baby have a hat?’ And I say, ‘Would you like to come and put the hat on the baby? She’ll take it off and throw it at you.’”

Her background, per Romper: She grew up in Boston, visiting Spain regularly — her parents, a former doctor and lawyer, now live there, as does her brother. She’s bilingual. She graduated from New York University, became a yoga instructor, and co-founded Yoga Vida.

People on the street love her? “Sure, I’ve had times where I feel lonely or isolated, and then I open my eyes and my ears and my mind, and I realize how many amazing people are out there. We walk down the street and people say to us, ‘We’re praying for you. We’re thinking about you.’ They give us hugs. Most of the people who are mean to us are people like the paparazzi, who are making money off tormenting us.”

Whether she loves being pregnant: “Not really,” she says with a shrug. “But I love giving birth. This last time around, I pushed her out in a minute! Giving birth is like going down a water slide that’s really scary. And then you get to the bottom, and you’re like, ‘I want to do this again.’”

Why does she keep getting pregnant? Firstly, there’s the matter-of-fact answer: She’s not on birth control. “I feel awful when I’m on birth control; it makes me depressed,” she says. And Alec’s not interested in other, er, methods. “Every single time I have a baby, my OB writes down the vasectomy doctor on a Post-it, and I bring it home to Alec. He hasn’t done it yet.”

She adores the baby phase: She refers to having babies as “creating love” — and from what I can tell, gets deep joy from taking care of others. This tendency also extends to her husband. “Am I his mommy? Sometimes I’m his mommy. Sometimes. At the beginning of our relationship, everyone was like, ‘She must have daddy issues because she’s married to somebody older.’ But it’s actually the opposite.”

The Reddit community tracking Hilaria Baldwin. They’ve come up with conspiracy theories related to her pregnancies and births, they focus on her background and accent, and they say she’s “harming” her children by showing them on Instagram. In a twist, Hilaria knows many of her Reddit haters’ real identities; she hired a private investigator. She hasn’t done anything with that info and doesn’t plan to. But it makes her feel better to know, and when she describes them to me, they’re exactly who you’d think: lonely, lost people.

[From Romper]

She had seven kids because birth control makes her depressed???? You’d rather bring seven lives into the world just to avoid taking the pill? Jesus. And the fact that she hired a private investigator to identify Reddit posters? Holy sh-t. People tend to turn into armchair diagnosticians when they encounter Hilaria’s whole deal, and I’m no different – to me, the woman comes across as profoundly disturbed and pathologically narcissistic. I also find it upsetting to see outlets go out of their way to portray all of this as normal or even inspirational.

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Cover & IG courtesy of Romper.

In May, Carole Middleton’s business Party Pieces was “sold” for £220K through some version of a bankruptcy court. PP was sold without its extensive debt, and it’s likely that Carole’s creditors are going to get screwed out of £2.6 million. As we learned this month, Carole left multiple small businesses and local craft suppliers on the hook for thousands of pounds, because they were supplying Party Pieces on credit, given Carole’s royal connections. Carole also owes various banks and the British taxpayers something like £800K. For several days, there were reports of how badly Carole personally screwed over small businesses and how much in debt she is. Party Pieces’ bankruptcy has left a trail of destruction and Carole just gets to walk away and live in her £5 million manor house in Bucklebury.

The story of Party Pieces’ demise should have been a months-long scandal, given the fact that the Middletons’ house of cards has utterly collapsed and their web of lies is starting to be untangled. Instead, the British media just completely stopped reporting on it. It’s been radio silence about Party Pieces for a week and a half. And now Hello Magazine is picking up the Middleton keenery like nothing ever happened:

The Princess of Wales’ family have a big week ahead of them – not only will they likely descend on the race grounds of Royal Ascot, but they are also set to celebrate several milestones behind closed doors.

Princess Kate’s parents Carole, 68, and Michael Middleton, 73, are marking 43 years of marriage on 21 June, which happens to be the same day as their son-in-law Prince William’s birthday and two days before Michael’s birthday.

Despite the fact that the party accessories business has been sold through a pre-pack administration, according to reports, the decorations will likely come in handy as they celebrate two birthdays this week. She added: “I do love a good party.”

[From Hello]

Oh, how cute, right? Carole and Mike’s anniversary! Mike’s birthday! Their son-in-law’s birthday! Ten bucks says that Carole and Mike turn up at Wimbledon in a few weeks and act like nothing’s happened. They’ll find a way to scam some good seats and no one will ask how they paid for their tickets or their new Wimbledon ensembles or anything else.

Note by CB: Get the Top 10 stories about the Middletons’ shady finances when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays after lunch.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.