A week ago, Jay-Z was sued by a woman who claimed that Jay and Sean Combs raped her in 2000, after the MTV VMAs. Jay spent all of last week furiously issuing statements and having his lawyers file a blizzard of legal actions, all with the intention of convincing the court to dismiss the case or pressuring the woman and her lawyer (Tony Buzbee) to drop the case. On Friday, NBC News aired their interview with the accuser (who is still protecting her identity), and after she told her story to NBC and they fact-checked her, she admitted that her story is full of inconsistencies. From NBC News’ exclusive (I’ve edited some of this for space):

An Alabama woman who accused Jay-Z and Diddy of raping her when she was 13 years old sat down with NBC News to recount what she called a “catastrophic event”: a limo ride to a white house, a drink that made her feel woozy, a sexual assault by rap stars that would ruin her life. But the woman and her lawyers also acknowledge that there were some inconsistencies in her account in response to questions from NBC News.

“I have made some mistakes” in recollections of that night, the woman, identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit filed against Jay-Z and Diddy, told NBC News. The woman said she stands by her allegations overall. The inconsistencies in her account of the incident — alleged to have happened 24 years ago — do not necessarily mean the allegations are false.

Among the inconsistencies: The woman said her father picked her up after the alleged sexual assault, but he says he doesn’t recall that. The woman also claims she spoke to a celebrity at the after-party where she said she was sexually assaulted, but that celebrity said he was not in New York at that time. And images from that evening show Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, and Sean “Diddy” Combs at a different location than the one the woman described, although their whereabouts for the entire evening are unclear.

“This incident didn’t happen,” Carter told NBC News in a statement Friday, “and yet he filed it in court and doubled down in the press,” he added, referring to one of the woman’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee. “True Justice is coming. We fight FROM victory, not FOR victory. This was over before it began. This 1-800 lawyer doesn’t realize it yet, but, soon.”

NBC News traveled to Houston to interview the woman, who declined to be identified, at her attorney’s office earlier this week. “You should always fight for what happened to you,” she said about why she is going public with her accusations now. “You should always advocate for yourself and be a voice for yourself. You should never let what somebody else did ruin or run your life. I just hope I can give others the strength to come forward like I came forward.”

The woman, who is now 38, told NBC News she was living in Rochester, New York, in 2000 and that attending the VMAs was “on my bucket list at 13. It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ one of those things I’ve got to do.” She said she snuck out a window to evade her parents. A friend drove her to Radio City Music Hall in New York City, she said in the lawsuit. People thronged into viewing areas outside the venue, which was decked out for the awards. Crowds roared when J.Lo arrived. Eminem performed on the street. She didn’t have a ticket, and said in the suit she watched some of the show on a jumbotron outside. She also started chatting up limo drivers. “I’m trying to get in to try to stay back and get to an after-party and get invited in and meet some celebrities,” she told NBC News.

One limo driver said he worked for Combs and that she “fit what Diddy was looking for,” the suit said, and he told her to return later and he’d take her to an after-party. After about 20 minutes in the limo, she said in the suit, she arrived at a “large white residence with a gated U-shaped driveway.” She said in the suit she signed a document that she didn’t read.

Inside, she told NBC News, “I’m talking to, like, Fred Durst, Benji Madden, about his tattoo, because, you know, about his tattoo that’s ‘The Last Supper,’ because I have a religious background, so it was just something to talk about.” After accepting a drink from a waitress, she told NBC News: “I started feeling funny. Tried to start looking for a place to lay down.”

She found an empty room with a bed in it, she said in the suit, and soon after, Combs, Carter and a woman entered the room. “You are ready to party!” Combs said, according to the suit. Both Combs and Carter raped her, she said. “Jay-Z comes over, holds me down. I start trying to push away. He puts his hand over my mouth, tells me to stop it, to cut the shit, and then he rapes me like he had me overpowered,” she said. Afterward, she said in the suit, she managed to flee the house and ran to a gas station.

“I was upset, and the person at the gas station could tell that I was obviously upset, and she let me use the phone. I called my dad because he was the only person I trust at that time. I told him I messed up and I needed a ride home,” she told NBC News. “We rode home in silence. He didn’t ask me what happened. He didn’t ask me what I did or where I was.”

There are some inconsistencies in her story about that night. Her father told NBC News that he does not recall picking her up after the alleged attack, casting doubt on a key detail in her lawsuit. According to their address at the time, her father would have driven more than five hours from their home to pick her up. “I feel like I would remember that, and I don’t,” he said in an interview Thursday. “I have a lot going on, but I mean, that’s something that would definitely stick in my mind.” The woman’s father, who said he learned of the alleged assault this week, added that he did remember once picking her up in the middle of the night. But, he said, it “was a local drive.”

Asked about her father’s account in a follow-up interview on Friday, the woman said she stood by her claim that he had picked her up and that it’s possible he had misremembered. “There are a lot of things, and this is stuff that we argue about constantly, something he said or did back in New York around that time period he just doesn’t remember,” she said. “It actually causes a lot of fights sometimes in the household.”

The woman also told NBC News she spoke with musician Benji Madden at the after-party. But a representative for Madden confirmed that neither Benji nor his brother Joel attended the 2000 VMAs and that they were on tour in the Midwest at that time. (The woman did not accuse the brothers of any wrongdoing.) “Honestly, what is the clearest is what happened to me and [the] route that I took to what happened to me. Not all of the faces there are as clear,” the woman said in the Friday follow-up interview. “So I have made some mistakes. I may have made a mistake in identifying.”

Also among the woman’s allegations that could not be corroborated is how she made it to New York City that night. One of her attorneys provided NBC News with the name and birth date of the friend she said drove her, who would have been 20 at the time. That person appears to have since died. NBC News’ attempts to reach the person’s relatives were unsuccessful.

[From NBC News]

I think the most damning inconsistencies are: she was a 13-year-old driven from Rochester to NYC by a 20-year-old who cannot be found; she called her father in Rochester who drove five-plus hours to New York to pick her up and another five hours to drive her back home and they didn’t speak about it at all, AND he has no memory of it? The Madden brothers not even being in New York that month is also a pretty huge inconsistency. I’m including a video from a lawyer who has worked on SA cases and she breaks it down really well.

This lawyer works with sexual assault cases and basically, Tony Buzzbee fucked up, majorly. Jay is going to take his law firm, watch. pic.twitter.com/kJ5qo3fbf6

— Brisket Back Bish (@AshleyShyMiller) December 14, 2024

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

Last week, we learned that a Chinese spy had been banned from entering the UK after MI5 discovered an array of incriminating material on the guy’s phone. What made the situation into international news is the fact that the accused spy was a close associate of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. They were so close, Andrew and his people authorized the alleged spy to act on Andrew’s behalf in business dealings in China. They were so close, the alleged spy was apparently advising Andrew and his staff on ways to get around palace security. What’s especially crazy about this situation is that the bulk of the incriminating stories about Andrew’s relationship with the spy happened after Andrew’s Newsnight interview in 2019, meaning: it happened after Andrew “stepped down” as a working royal. Chinese intelligence kept pursuing Andrew and apparently used him as some kind of asset/useful idiot. As such, the alleged spy got invitations to Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace, Windsor Castle and Royal Lodge. LOL.

An alleged Chinese spy who has been banned from Britain on national security grounds entered Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle at the invitation of Prince Andrew. The Chinese businessman, 50, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was invited into Buckingham Palace twice. He also attended a function at St James’s Palace and an event at Windsor Castle. On another occasion, the alleged spy was invited as a guest to the Duke of York’s birthday party at Royal Lodge, Andrew’s 30-bedroom home on the Windsor estate.

The Chinese businessman, who was previously not known to be a security risk, was barred from entering the UK when he was stopped at the border under counterterrorism laws in 2021. Details of his connection to the royal family emerged in a hearing on Thursday, in which he tried and failed to get the ban overturned. The alleged spy is also believed to have met George Osborne, the former chancellor.

A statement from the duke’s office last night asserted that Andrew had “ceased all contact” with the businessman. The announcement read: “The Duke of York followed advice from His Majesty’s Government and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised. The duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed. He is unable to comment further on matters relating to national security.”

A palace source confirmed that the King had been briefed “through the appropriate channels” about his brother’s links to the alleged spy. The fact that Andrew was so close to someone who is facing accusations of espionage has raised questions about what sort of intelligence might have been sought from the duke.

[From The Times]

“…Has raised questions about what sort of intelligence might have been sought from the duke.” That can be read in so many ways, it’s kind of a brilliant British burn. While Andrew knows a lot of royal secrets and he has plenty of compromising personal secrets, it’s not like Andrew knows the launch codes (hopefully). It’s not like he can sell anything but access to himself, his family and maybe a handful of politicians. And it sounds like that’s exactly what he did, sell access, and he got this alleged spy into some of the most elite spaces in the kingdom. How much did China give Andrew for all of this access? That’s the question, isn’t it.

Chinese money given to the Duke of York is being investigated by the security services, The Telegraph can disclose. Prince Andrew’s business venture is understood to have received money from Chinese donors with links to an alleged Communist party spy. The case raises serious questions for the Duke over how he funds a lavish lifestyle that includes the upkeep on Royal Lodge, his 30-room home at Windsor, and his own private security.

The Telegraph can disclose that Buckingham Palace has no way of scrutinising the Duke’s finances, including the money used for the upkeep of Royal Lodge, which is owned by the Crown Estate. Sources said the palace had “no power, authority or legal right” to do so and that all palace officials could do was seek assurances that the Duke’s money was “legitimately earned”.

It can also be revealed that the King was made aware of the MI5 investigation into his brother and his links to the alleged Chinese agent before the bombshell judgment which exposed their friendship.

[From The Telegraph]

I genuinely wonder if Andrew will be allowed on the Christmas church-walk this year. It definitely feels like… I don’t know, maybe Charles is giving Andrew some payback after all of the bullsh-t with Royal Lodge? It’s not that simple, I know, but Buckingham Palace certainly isn’t lifting a finger to help him, even if BP is compromised by the association too. As I said, it’s wild that so much of this happened post-Newsnight interview, but it’s further evidence that Andrew didn’t really stop scheming back then. He was still working various angles, he was still selling access, he was still being enabled by his mother.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Samuel L. Jackson is currently promoting The Piano Lesson, which streams on Netflix. It’s another adaptation of an August Wilson play, and John David Washington directed it and co-wrote the adapted screenplay. Sam is currently 75 years old (man, he’s ageing well) and as always, he works so consistently. Sam and Nicole Kidman work like they’re paying off gambling debts. But I digress! While Sam received an honorary Oscar in 2021, he’s only received one Oscar nomination for an actual acting role – Pulp Fiction, back in the 1990s. Well, Sam is here to tell everyone that, actually, it’s not an honor just to be nominated.

Samuel L Jackson said in a video interview with AP Entertainment, while promoting his role in Netflix’s “The Piano Lesson,” that Oscar nominations aren’t too big of a deal for him. Shockingly, Jackson has only earned one Oscar nomination during his illustrious career — for “Pulp Fiction,” which he landed a best supporting actor nod for in 1995. Jackson was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2021.

“We’ve been in the business long enough to know that when folks go, ‘It’s just an honor to be nominated.’ No it ain’t. It’s an honor to win,” Jackson said with a laugh. “You get nominated and folks go, ‘Yeah I remember that.’ Or most people forget. Generally it’s a contest you didn’t volunteer to be in. I didn’t go in there so I could flex. ‘Let me do my scene, so you can remember who I was.’”

“They nominate you and people go, ‘What is that movie you’re nominated for? What’s the name of that thing?’ And after it’s over and people have a hard time remembering who even won,” Jackson added.

[From Variety]

First of all, maybe I’m an old fart now (#facts) but back in the day, Oscar nominations really did mean a lot more, and so did the Oscars. Back in the day, people did know and remember who won and who was nominated. But these days – and it’s been this way for years now – I do think all of it has just declined in significance and importance overall. People genuinely don’t remember who was nominated for what, and they barely remember the winners. Like, Gary Oldman won a Best Actor Oscar for wearing a fatsuit and prosthetics to play an extremely drunk Winston Churchill. Rami Malek won for those teeth. I totally forgot that Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything! Anthony Hopkins won and they didn’t even let him speak because they thought it would go to Chadwick Boseman! The past ten years have been messy as hell.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

What will it take to get Amy Adams out of her flop era? [Pajiba]
This is a good explanation of The Brutalist. [LaineyGossip]
Nicholas Hoult walked the carpet for the first time with Bryana Holly, his partner of seven years. They have two kids together! [Just Jared]
Artist Stewart Taylor is back. [Socialite Life]
Dallas Cowboy cheerleader Armani Latimer dances without her wig to promote alopecia awareness. Don’t let Chris Rock know. [OMG Blog]
Cynthia Erivo wore Moschino. [RCFA]
Even when she was a kid, Leah Remini had that wry smile. [Seriously OMG]
I still have no idea what Welcome to Plathville is actually about. [Starcasm]
James Kennedy charged with domestic violence. [Hollywood Life]
This Nicole Kidman Wig Quiz made me lol. [Buzzfeed]

I like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex a lot, but even more than that, I root for them. I want them to be successful, I want them to be rich, safe and protected from the high-level campaign to hurt them and disrupt every part of their lives. Which is why I want them to make better decisions about how they communicate with the world and how they promote their work. This is turning into their Achilles, their bizarre and outdated communications strategies and their refusal to advocate on their own behalf when it comes to their business. They massively f–ked up last year when they went silent as Spotify dropped them and Bill Simmons called them “f–king grifters.” And they’re f–king up again this month by refusing to promote the Netflix Polo series. Meghan and Harry wouldn’t even do a couple of interviews in the trade papers, they wouldn’t even host a screening. So, obviously, the narrative of “Polo is a bomb, and the Sussexes don’t even want to acknowledge it” narrative has taken hold.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seem to be galloping away from any association with their new show about polo, after it was ridiculed by critics as a tin-eared foray into the “world’s stupidest sport.”

Notably, there has been no visible promotion for the show, entitled, imaginatively enough, Polo; no interviews or podcast episodes with Meghan or Harry have dropped, and records suggest there are no premieres or press events scheduled to support its launch earlier this week. It’s a grim turn of events for the couple, once heralded as Netflix’s golden duo. Their own lack of engagement with promotional efforts for the show, which they executive produced and have a cameo role in, suggests even they know it’s a dud.

Sean McNulty, a producer, writer, and Hollywood veteran who also created and wrote the Hollywood newsletter The Wakeup, told The Daily Beast: “This one hasn’t been on my radar at all this week, which maybe says it all right there.” McNulty noted the absence of coverage in the Hollywood trade papers and the apparent absence of any scheduled premiere or press activity for the series, saying: “The lack of a proper, visible press campaign for a series from Harry & Meghan raises an eyebrow to say the least.”

He said that Netflix has launched “other much higher profile content this week” such as Carry-On, Jamie Foxx and Sabrina Carpenter specials, which suggested Polo “could very well disappear in to the Netflix ether quite quickly.”

Harry and Meghan do not have official social media accounts but their friends who have often promoted things on their behalf have been eerily quiet too. Even Nacho Figueras, the player sometimes described as the David Beckham of polo, who is one of the stars of the show, only posted a few tweets and one Instagram story about the show earlier this week before moving on.

More shuffling away from the bad smell was evident in remarks attributed to a source reportedly quoted in Closer Magazine, who said the end result was “pretty much out of their control” because “the bosses wanted the series to appeal to the masses and push this reality TV angle.”

With a spokesperson for the couple declining to comment, it looks suspiciously like Harry and Meghan would rather we all quietly pretend this new show doesn’t exist. Critics, however, do not appear ready to extend that courtesy.

Even Harry’s arch-foe Prince William appeared to troll the couple earlier this week, revealing he has been enjoying Netflix—except he said he was watching the hit new show Black Doves.

[From The Daily Beast]

As I said, I watched one episode of Polo and I’m going to finish the series this weekend. It’s enjoyable and actually well-done. Harry and Meghan should be proud of the finished product, and I cannot understand why they’re refusing to hype it or even remind people that it’s out now. Sussex fans will say “the British media gives them free promotion for whatever they do,” but that’s how the “Polo is a terrible show and it’s bombing” narrative came about in the first place. Even if H&M aren’t particularly proud of Polo – which, again, I think is a good show – they still have the responsibility as producers to hype their product and ask people to watch it.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Netflix.

In September, a judge ruled on the Heritage Foundation’s 20-month attempt to gain access to Prince Harry’s visa records. Originally, Heritage FOIA-requested Harry’s visa records, which of course are not public documents. Heritage then took that FOIA request through several federal courts. They wanted access to Harry’s records because Harry wrote about his drug use in Spare, and Heritage was on a fishing expedition to discover IF Harry lied about drugs on his visa application. The idea being, if Harry lied about drugs, he could be “deported back to the UK.” Heritage was openly doing the bidding of the British media AND the monarchy. Anyway, back in September, the judge examined Harry’s records and then ruled in favor of the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security, denying Heritage access to Harry’s file and putting the whole thing under seal. Meaning, the judge saw nothing alarming in the file and saw no reason for Heritage to have access to someone’s private immigration documents. We hoped it was all over.

Then Donald Trump “won” the election. Suddenly, there’s been a revival of interest in the “Prince Harry could be deported” storyline. The British papers are salivating at the thought of it. Royal reporters even suggested that Prince William might have spoken to Donald Trump about his brother’s immigration status last weekend. And so now Heritage has filed another legal challenge. This time, Heritage’s argument is not “we need the records to see if Harry lied!” This time, the argument is “ANY drug use should have prohibited his residency in America.”

A right-wing think tank has launched a fresh legal challenge against the Biden Administration over Prince Harry’s US visa records, claiming there was “no proper method” for his admission to America. The Heritage Foundation’s latest court filing seeks to overturn a judge’s earlier decision to terminate their case, which aimed to force the release of the Duke of Sussex’s immigration documents.

The organisation’s lawyers wrote in the filing, seen by Newsweek: “[Heritage] submitted there was no proper method by which the Duke of Sussex could have been admitted.”

The case had previously been dismissed in September by Judge Carl J. Nichols after he privately reviewed confidential Department of Homeland Security files. The Heritage Foundation argues that the sealed nature of the judge’s reasoning denied them the opportunity to challenge the DHS’s private disclosures.

The Heritage Foundation’s case centres on Prince Harry’s past drug use disclosures during the US immigration process. The think tank contends that if the prince was honest about his previous drug use, he should have been denied entry to America.

In his earlier ruling, Judge Nichols addressed Heritage’s argument that Harry either disclosed his drug use and was “admitted inappropriately” or failed to disclose it entirely. A recent Government filing responded to these claims, stating: “The evidence before the Court plainly sufficed to show that [Heritage’s] speculation of impropriety was unfounded.”

Heritage’s lawyers have now clarified their position, asserting they were actually arguing that it would have been impossible for Harry to have been properly admitted to America through any means. Heritage’s challenge focuses heavily on the sealed nature of Judge Nichols’ decision-making process. The think tank argues that the confidential handling of DHS files prevented them from properly contesting the department’s private disclosures to the judge.

Their lawyers maintain that if the Department of Homeland Security had “paroled” the Duke of Sussex into the country, it would be both “illogical and illegal.”

[From GB News]

We’ve gone from “we just want to look at his records to double-check that he didn’t lie about drugs” to “actually, we meant to say that if he admitted any kind of past, casual drug use, he should not be allowed to live in America!” The thing is, this kind of ridiculous bullsh-t will find a home in the incoming Trump administration. The new administration is going to be teaming with Heritage’s dumbf–k fascists, and you don’t think one of them will end up at DHS? What I’m saying is that it’s probably inevitable that Harry’s visa records will be made public, probably handed right over to the Mail and the Telegraph. I just hope Harry has really good immigration lawyers in California, because this whole thing has been lunacy.

Top 8 Stories about the Heritage Foundation targeting Prince Harry

The ultra right wing Heritage Foundation has been trying to deport Prince Harry since Spare came out! Sign up for our mailing list and get the top 8 stories about the Heritage Foundation targeting Prince Harry! – Katie at Celebitchy

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Photos courtesy of Netflix.

Behold, American Vogue’s December 2024 digital cover. This became controversial as soon as it was released. First, some backstory on the cover. It features seven actual models (only one of whom is a nepo-baby): Angelina Kendall, Anok Yai, Vittoria Ceretti, Amelia Gray, Lulu Tenney, Loli Bahia and Devyn Garcia. A real who’s-who of the under-30 models and I think all of them qualify as Gen Z?

Vogue’s cover story is called “How Fashion Is Coming Down To Earth.” The cover models are all wearing various mass-market brands on the cover, brands like Gap, Toteme, Dôen, Levi’s and Polo Ralph Lauren. The thesis is that fashion is headed to mass-market brands, because people – especially young people – do not want to wear couture or excessively priced fashion in this new era. There’s also a focus on how many major designers are moving into established mass-market brands, like Claire Waight Keller moving from Givenchy to Uniqlo. Zac Posen is also creating a Gap line, and that’s especially highlighted in the Vogue piece. I enjoy these kinds of “trendspotting/where is fashion going” pieces but I think Vogue is missing some components of what awaits the fashion industry in the coming years.

Anyway, the controversy! Basically, Vogue could have highlighted the the style diversity within affordable, mass-market brands and really showcased the affordable looks in the best possible way. Instead, Vogue made the choice to make everyone looked washed out and same-y. All the models in jeans and white tops, placed in a grey box with a grey letterhead. This is the future of fashion? Dull, sexless models in a grey box, all wearing the same thing?? I can handle a lack of glamour if the magazine is giving us a striking or striped-down cover image. But this just looks like some AI sh-t.

Elaborated on this https://t.co/owX0mimPGc pic.twitter.com/8b0JNPYeTs

— Louis Pisano (@LouisPisano) December 12, 2024

Love that there are models on the covers. HATE the covers. pic.twitter.com/Rq7cp67x4A

— Linduh Evangelista (@marcuslmorris) December 11, 2024

Cover courtesy of Vogue.

A big dream of mine is to go to Australia one year to get to experience a summer birthday and swim in the ocean there. I never feel more spiritually grounded and supported than when I’m bobbing along with the waves, and my gosh their waters look gorgeous. So bright, so clear! And much warmer than the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans I’ve always lived near. So that’s my fantasy, but one aspect of Aussie culture, particularly beach Aussie culture, that I wasn’t aware of until now is that some people walk around barefoot? Not just on the beach, but everywhere. And I am not alone in just learning this. A video has gone viral on TikTok that shows Aussies doing everything from food shopping to walking their dogs at indoor and outdoor venues, all sans shoes. Naturally, people online have very strong opinions both for and against barefoot living:

Barefoot in the park… and store, and beach, and supermarket: For many down under, going barefoot is a way of life. When we’re not getting around in thongs (flip flops, for the dirty-minded), we often forgo shoes when going for a quick trip to the supermarket, the petrol station or Maccas. But now, the rest of the world has discovered our collective shoelessness, leaving many stunned and even horrified. A video montage of Sydney locals walking around barefoot has gone viral on TikTok, racking up over 4.4 million views, 200,000 reactions and 7,000 comments. … The video exposed our dirty habit, with the poster saying: “POV: You’re in Australia” with a crying emoji.

The world reacts: Even though we pride ourselves on being a clean country, people still seem to take issue with our nonchalant attitude towards the hygiene and safety of our feet. “But why?? So many insects, broken glass, urine etc.,” one comment, with 1,500 likes, read. …Even our fellow countrymen chimed in, with one saying, “I’m from Melbourne and can’t think of anything filthier than being barefoot on public floors.” … Other international commenters thought it was a joke. “Can someone please confirm if this is real?” one confused viewer asked. “What?! Do people not have shoes??” another shocked man wrote. “Aren’t there bugs, snakes and weird plants everywhere?” someone else replied.

Australia responds: “As a born and raised Aussie, this is true, but only in beachside suburbs, more people wear shoes than not but definitely have memories of hot days barefoot in the supermarket getting ice cream,” one said. “It’s only acceptable if you’re close to the beach,” someone wrote. Others went so far as to specify the exact radius from the beach it’s acceptable to go sans shoes. “10km or less,” one said. “Nah, it’s 5km,” a second quipped. Others couldn’t see the issue and even argued that it was our “natural state of being.” “We weren’t born with shoes, why is this so strange to some people?” one questioned. “It’s ‘grounding’,” another joked. … There isn’t a clear reason why it’s so common to go barefoot in Australia. Some have put it down to the influence of our Indigenous culture. Others see it as a reflection of our casual, laid-back society.

[From NY Post]

What do we think? I am all over the place on this issue! My gut reaction was nope, not happening, I don’t care how clean you think your country is. But then I wondered if I was just recoiling thanks to my frame of reference for the past 10+ years: the mean streets of New York City. I would sooner remove my shirt, split it in two, wrap my feet in the strips, and go around topless than walk these streets barefoot. But hygiene isn’t the only consideration here. What about temperature? I’ve had times where we left our flip flops at the beach entrance, thinking we’d frolic freely, only to have to make a mad, desperate dash back when the sand was burning our feet. I can’t imagine the sidewalk being any cooler! And speaking of flip flops, I only ever wear them in beach or pool situations, because despite their being ubiquitous, I have never found them comfortable. Is going around all day barefoot comfortable? I need support! As I’ve opined before, I don’t f–k with fashion stilts (aka high heels), instead proudly wearing the cloudlike footwear that are Hoka sneakers. After living with that level of buoyancy, am I a lost cause for trying out barefeet?

Clearly I have a lot of sole-searching to do (see what I did there?!) before I’m ready to book my trip down under. Wait for me, Bondi Beach… I’ll make it someday!

Is going barefoot acceptable? #barefoot #australia #onlyinaustralia #barefootlife #barefooting pic.twitter.com/rQFVoXmMFB

— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) December 12, 2024

Note by CB: I found this BBC news report about Australians going barefoot!

Photo note by CB: These photos of Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon, Elsa Pataky and Luciana Damon are from 2018 and were taken in Sydney! Bonus pics of Hugh Jackman on Bondi Beach in 2019. Credit: Diimex/Backgrid. Photo of Chris Hemsworth at the Transformers One premiere in September credit: James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon

Remember Angela Kelly, Queen Elizabeth’s dresser and BFF? According to Kelly’s leaks about herself, she was QEII’s best friend and constant companion, and Kelly was given free rein to disrespect and smear anyone in the Windsor clan. It was always funny that Kelly was held up as some kind of discreet confidante and companion. Her history of violence and tacky personal dramas should have been disqualifying, but no, she continued to back-stab her way into being a seriously ill queen’s right-hand woman. I bring up Angela Kelly to point out that Buckingham Palace does not attract the best and brightest. Unsurprisingly, there’s a new drama involving a palace maid getting arrested at a Christmas party for palace staff. How deliciously tacky.

A Christmas party for Buckingham Palace staff spiralled “out of control” with cops called to a nearby bar after glasses were hurled and punches thrown. Trouble flared when up to 50 servants arrived for a pre-arranged All Bar One bash after Palace drinks. A woman believed to be a housemaid aimed a punch at the manager, smashed glasses and was arrested. Security tried to calm her down but she continued to throw glasses, it is claimed.

A witness to the chaotic scenes said: “I’ve never seen one person get that crazy during a night out. She was on another level.”

Police raced to the bar after 9pm on Tuesday and the woman, 24, was arrested for common assault, criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly. She was thrown in a cell for the night and was released almost 24 hours later with a fine.

A source admitted to The Sun it had been a “tough night” for everyone involved. Another said: “Someone kicked off outside, was smashing glasses, and then got arrested.”

Details of the drama emerged as offices across the country hold Christmas parties with warnings they can spiral out of control ahead of Black Eye Friday, or Mad Friday, next week.

Royal staff had enjoyed drinks at the Palace at 4pm, with the event passing without incident. A group of around 50 including the woman later arrived for a pre-arranged party at the All Bar One — a nine-minute walk away in Victoria Street.

One insider told The Sun: “The group walked in and this one girl just got hysterical. She started smashing glasses and abusing our staff members, so we had to call the police. I’ve never seen one person get that crazy during a night out. She was on another level.”

It is understood Met Police officers also seized its CCTV. A force spokesperson said: “At 21.21hrs on Tuesday, December 10 officers were called to a bar in Victoria Street, SW1, following reports that a customer had smashed glasses and attempted to assault a member of staff. Officers attended and arrested a 24-year-old woman on suspicion of common assault, criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly. She was taken into custody and released the following evening having been given a penalty notice for disorder.”

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident ­outside the workplace involving a ­number of Household staff who had previously attended an early evening reception at the Palace. While this was an informal social gathering, not an official Palace Christmas party, the facts will be fully investigated, with a robust ­disciplinary process followed in relation to individual staff and appropriate action taken.”

[From The Sun]

Okay, now I’m curious – the Sun makes it sound like this happened early in the night? Like, did the maid arrive with 49 palace staffers and immediately get hammered and start beefing with everyone? Was there some kind of inciting incident? Did she have an issue with the All Bar One staffers or with her coworkers? Anyway, it’s not a good look for Buckingham Palace, and yet this feels on-brand for King Charles’s reign. This is what happens when you make your tacky-ass side-chick the queen consort, you know? This is what gets normalized.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Around this time last year, Kensington Palace excitedly announced that there were plans afoot to send Prince William and Kate on a “charm offensive” trip to Italy in 2024. As we know now, the trip never happened, but I’ve often cited those briefings of a planned trip to question the palace narrative that Kate’s abdominal surgery was “planned” as well. In any case, in November, Buckingham Palace claimed the Italian trip for King Charles and Queen Camilla – they will likely head to Italy at some point in the first half of 2025. But that hasn’t stopped “a source at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office” from expressing disappointment that William and Kate remain so unwilling to travel on state business.

The King and Queen are hoping to visit Italy next spring, partly to make up for William and Kate pulling out of a trip planned for earlier this year.

A source at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office whispers that there is a sense of frustration at the lack of ‘limelight royals’ – those who will attract crowds and headlines – available for the Government to deploy.

There is some annoyance that Wills consistently declares himself unavailable. Difficult family circumstances were perfectly understandable, says the source, and the FCO were suggesting only short-haul, short-duration trips for William sans Kate.

So they were somewhat surprised that he was able to head to South Africa last month to support his Earthshot Prize. He also made three trips to Germany to watch the Euros and turned up at the recent Notre-Dame reopening to glad-hand Donald Trump.

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, there’s a sense that “everyone understands” why Kate no longer travels (she hates traveling, William doesn’t want her around, she doesn’t want a repeat of the Caribbean Flop Tour). There’s also a sense that everyone knows that William is a lightweight, so the Foreign Office begs William to just do quickie solo visits to various countries and he just refuses or claims that it would interfere with his “me time.” And yet he has all the time in the world to travel to football matches or his Earthshot busywork. When Charles was Prince of Wales, he was deployed internationally for decades, even when he sometimes made a hash of it, he still did it and showed up. Anyway, it’s interesting that the Foreign Office is muttering about this to the Mail.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.