I live alone and, while I can cook, I prefer not to cook most nights. Especially during the pandemic, I just can’t concentrate very long on cooking and baking. It’s easier to just stock up on takeout once or twice a week and eat those “leftovers” throughout the week. Over the past year, I obviously haven’t been eating in restaurants, so I’ll just call in an order and pick it up, because there are at least a dozen good restaurants within a five-to-seven minute drive from my house. Call it the OG Uber Eats, or maybe I’m just an old school, analog person. Anyway, far be from me to suggest that Uber Eats is all a big scam! Zoey Deutch, a well-known child-actor-turned-grown-up-actress, has some kind of sponsorship deal with Uber Eats, American Express and a new “Rose Gold Meals” thing. She chatted about it with People Magazine and she cracked me up about her love of takeout, fried chicken and getting enough food for eight people. I’ll spare you the spon-con, here are the quotes about food:

Her V-Day plans: For Zoey Deutch, Valentine’s Day will consist of eating “like four or five” fried chicken sandwiches while at home in quarantine by herself. And the 26-year-old actress — whose fans and Instagram followers know her to be quite the foodie — would have it no other way. “I’m very vocal about my deep, deep love of food and very much so a huge fan of fried chicken. Anything that can make this specific Valentine’s Day a little bit more festive and sweeter, or maybe spicier, is great by me,” Deutch, who will be indulging in Amex and Uber Eats limited-edition Rose Gold Meals this Feb. 14, tells PEOPLE exclusively, joking, “Eating is all I’ve got on the docket this year.”

She became a regular on Uber Eats this year: “I mean, I should go to jail,” Deutch quipped, when asked about her most expensive Uber Eats bill. “I shouldn’t be allowed to have this app … I’ve definitely ordered way too much sushi. They sent like eight sets of chopsticks, and I was deeply offended by that.”

She didn’t grow up in a “takeout” kind of family: “I think there’s a part of me that it feels like the inner child in me is rebelling because growing up, my parents never ordered in food. I can only remember two times we ordered Chinese food, but otherwise my mom would always cook. So whenever I order in food, it feels extra. Like tapping into the rebellious child in me. It feels extra good.”

She’s also perfecting her banana bread recipe. “I started putting candy in mine. Rolos and Snickers are really delicious in it,” The Politician star says, adding that, during quarantine she also got “really into sweatsuits, like the rest of the world. There’s a lot of cooking, a lot of ordering in food from Uber Eats and a lot of re-watching TV shows that you thought you’d never re-watch or ever get to. I finally watched all six seasons of The Sopranos.”

[From People]

“They sent like eight sets of chopsticks, and I was deeply offended by that…” YES! Last weekend, I ordered from a Vietnamese place which just opened up and they put in two baggies of utensils AND two sets of chopsticks. And I only ordered food for one person! So, yeah, I feel her. Who amongst us has not dropped $50 on takeout just for one person? Yes, I know I ordered four meals, I HAVE A REFRIGERATOR, HELLO.

Photos courtesy of Zoey’s IG.

Dr. Jill Biden did something special for her husband and for the nation to celebrate Valentine’s Day (which is Sunday). She had special heart-shaped “valentines” erected on the White House lawn, with words like Healing, Unity, Strength, Compassion, Courage and Love written on them. It was all a big surprise to President Biden. This morning, she brought out her husband and the dogs to look at her work. Thus, we have this video of the Bidens and their dogs and nearly the whole thing makes me so happy.

First of all: President Joe in his jeans and his president’s bomber jacket, collar up, looking like he could be in Top Gun. And he’s wearing a mask, still, because even though he’s vaccinated, he still wants to give the visual of mask-wearing to Americans. Now, the dogs. Major Biden is the younger dog, Champ is the older dog. Champ is about 12 years old and you can absolutely tell that the poor puppy is feeling his age. The way he hobbles over to his mom and dad! SOB. It’s cold and his arthritis is probably particularly bad. I love that Jill is such a good dog-mom that she goes over to him to pet her old Good Boy. And then Major crashes over and he’s like “pay attention to meeeee!!” Poor Champ though.

This display is so nice and warm. It’s such a mom thing and it’s such a teacher thing.

A Valentine from First Lady Jill Biden popped up overnight at the White House. Per her office, “The First Lady is known for her sense of humor, love of surprises and celebrating traditions… This is her Valentine to the country.” pic.twitter.com/lwiAxePaPv

— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) February 12, 2021

. @FLOTUS overnight had giant hearts installed on the North Lawn of the White House – strategic placement will have them seen via TV cameras as backdrop to reporters’ hits. (? by @betsy_klein) pic.twitter.com/vhGUd1N54F

— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) February 12, 2021

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram, Avalon Red.

Dear Gossips,GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!The Year of the Ox has arrived! If you’ve been a regular visitor here over the years, you may remember that my ma, the Chinese Squawking Chicken, provided annual Chinese Zodiac advisories for each of the 12 signs leading up to Lunar New Year. Last year, though, when sh…

This week, a close family friend died of coronavirus. It was awful, and it happened really quickly – from the first symptoms appearing to her death, little more than two weeks had passed. While thousands of people are still dying from the virus every week, there is hope that the outbreak has peaked. We still need to stay vigilant and wear masks and pray for available vaccines for everybody.

I wanted to say all of that before I reminded everyone of that moment when all of us, collectively, were really happy for several straight days in early October 2020. Those were the days when Donald Trump announced that he had caught the virus and, within 24 hours, he had entered the hospital. Days later, he would throw himself a coronavirus parade and he did a series of bizarre photo-ops, but those days were still kind of awful-funny. I mean, the man lied about the pandemic a million times for months. His lies truly killed thousands of people. I don’t feel bad about laughing at Trump getting really sick from coronavirus. Turns out, he was a lot sicker than the White House originally disclosed, according to a new NYT piece:

President Donald J. Trump was sicker with Covid-19 in October than publicly acknowledged at the time, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels at one point and a lung problem associated with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, according to four people familiar with his condition. His prognosis became so worrisome before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator, two of the people familiar with his condition said.

The people familiar with Mr. Trump’s health said he was found to have lung infiltrates, which occur when the lungs are inflamed and contain substances such as fluid or bacteria. Their presence, especially when a patient is exhibiting other symptoms, can be a sign of an acute case of the disease. They can be easily spotted on an X-ray or scan, when parts of the lungs appear opaque, or white.

Mr. Trump’s blood oxygen level alone was cause for extreme concern, dipping into the 80s, according to the people familiar with his evaluation. The disease is considered severe when the blood oxygen level falls to the low 90s.

It has been previously reported that Mr. Trump had trouble breathing and a fever on Oct. 2, the day he was taken to the hospital, and the types of treatment he received indicated that his condition was serious. But the new details about his condition and about the effort inside the White House to get him special access to an unapproved drug to fight the virus help to flesh out one of the most dire episodes of Mr. Trump’s presidency. The former president resisted being taken from the White House to Walter Reed, relenting when aides told him that he could walk out on his own, or risk waiting until the U.S. Secret Service was forced to carry him out if he got sicker, two people familiar with the events said.

There are still unanswered questions about whether Mr. Trump was already sick with Covid-19 when he participated in a presidential debate on Sept. 29, just two days before the public announcement that he had been diagnosed with the disease and three days before his deteriorating condition forced him to go to Walter Reed.

When Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, tried to surreptitiously tell reporters that the situation was more dire, Mr. Trump erupted in anger, according to people who spoke with him. Mr. Trump’s medical team said that on that Friday, he had a “high fever” and that his oxygen level dropped, requiring him to be administered oxygen. Mr. Trump’s oxygen level dropped again on Saturday. Mr. Trump appeared to still be struggling with the disease when he returned to the White House, where he stationed himself on a balcony in a choreographed scene, tearing his mask off and saluting his helicopter. Doctors at the time noted how Mr. Trump used his neck muscles to help him breathe in those moments, a classic sign that someone’s lungs are not taking in enough oxygen.

[From The NY Times]

I mean, we knew he was incredibly sick that Friday. I still remember it, the giddiness I felt, how much laughter I had in my heart, my soul. And now it seems like he was even sicker than we previously knew. But I think most of suspected that too – we could never get a straight answer about his symptoms or his oxygen levels, and it’s all fun and games until you understand that this too was a huge constitutional issue. The doctors had the duty to inform the public about Trump’s health and they failed. Trump had the duty to invoke the 25th and he failed. Oh well.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Mike Tindall recently got some critical media coverage because he is taking “furlough money” from the British government. The UK’s furlough money scheme is a lot like the PPP loan scheme here in America – employers and businesses can apply for and receive grants and loans from the British government and use that money to keep employing staff. Many wealthy people have exploited the system here in America and in the UK, and Tindall seems to be one of them. Tindall took furlough money even though he’s self-employed (a public speaker) and he’s married to the Queen’s rich granddaughter. Well, here’s another one. Pippa Middleton’s terribly moderately wealthy husband James Matthews is also taking furlough money.

Pippa Middleton’s billionaire husband James Matthews and his Made in Chelsea star brother Spencer have both been claiming taxpayers’ money to furlough staff, MailOnline has learned. Hedge fund boss James, 45, is believed to have been using the government handouts to pay the six employees of his Scottish shooting estate, Glen Affric.

The state-funded Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS), running since the first lockdown almost a year ago, is designed to help cash-strapped employers survive the lean months of the pandemic, but eyebrows will be raised at two such high net worth individuals taking advantage of the public money. Both companies appear on the government’s published list of firms which made use of the furlough scheme during December, but previous months have not been made public. Under the CJRS, furloughed workers receive 80% of their wages, up to £2,500 per month. The government website did not reveal what staff at both Matthews companies earn.

Racing driver-turned city trader James, who was privately educated at Uppingham School, married the Duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister Pippa in 2017, having proposed with a 3.5 carat £200,000 diamond ring the previous year. James, who has also spent lockdown in the capital with his wife, is set to inherit the Scottish courtesy title of ‘Laird of Glen Affric’ which came with the 10,000-acre estate of the same name near Inverness that his father bought in 2008. James is listed as managing director of Beaufort Glen Affric.

The estate’s website lists six employees at Glen Affric, and it is believed they are the furloughed workers, as due to the lockdown, paying guests would no longer be able to hire the impressive mansion for shooting parties or other occasions. One of James’ smaller companies, Beaufort Glen Affric Ltd, based in Inverness, was in the red to the tune of £9.95m, according to the latest published accounts in 2019. It is this company, believed to handle the running of the Glen Affric Estate, which has claimed under the CJRS.

Having launched his own hedge fund company, Eden Rock Capital Management Group – named after his father David’s exclusive £1,000-a-night hotel in St Barths – in 2017, James was estimated to be ‘close to’ to being a billionaire by founder of the Wealth Quotient website, David Friedman. More recent estimates of his wealth have put it at up to £2bn. He owns a £3m private jet and bought a six-bedroomed, £17m house in 2014, which boasts a car-stacking garage in the basement, along with an underground home cinema and a lift.

[From The Daily Mail]

The class warriors at the Daily Mail are making the point that James is terribly moderately wealthy from running his hedge fund/investment firm and that it looks bad when someone rich is taking a government handout to keep employing staffers at his family’s luxury country estate. Which I understand, I get that, and it is a bad look. But… isn’t the furlough money scheme simply about keeping people employed? If the Matthews family is using the money to keep the Glen Affric employees paid, then… that’s how it’s supposed to be used. Still, I get the point about how TMW James is rich enough to dip into his pocket to financially support the staff at his big country estate. Incidentally, does James Middleton still work at Glen Affric? I think he might. Pippa’s husband gave James Middleton a job as a kind of tour guide and host to paying guests. Um… so James Matthews is paying James Middleton with government furlough money? James Middleton is getting paid by the government to hang out with his dogs.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.

You guys, this Bruce Springsteen-DUI story just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Initially, the story came out just after the Super Bowl, where Bruce did a commercial for Jeep. When the news about Bruce’s drunk driving arrest came out, Jeep pulled the ad. But then we learned that the arrest happened in November – and no one breathed a word of it until now, bizarrely – and that the arrest was for a negligible blood-alcohol level of .02, a quarter of the .08 blood alcohol level which would have actually made this a legit driving-under-the-influence charge. We also learned that Springsteen was on a motorcycle, pulled over to take some photos with some fans, and they offered him a shot. All of that happened in front a cop, who then pulled Springsteen over, despite “drinking alcohol in front of a cop” not being against the law either. So what’s the truth? Well, there even more versions coming out.

Bruce Springsteen was glassy-eyed, swaying and reeked like booze when he was cited for a DWI … at least according to cops.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, an officer watched Bruce take a shot of Patron Tequila, hop on his motorcycle and start the engine back on November 14. The officer says he informed Bruce drinking was prohibited in that area of Sandy Hook, NJ … and observed the 750 ml bottle of Patron was empty.

Springsteen allegedly told the cop he was about to ride out of the park — Gateway National Recreation Area — even though he admitting having 2 shots of tequila in the last 20 minutes.

The officer says Bruce smelled strongly of alcohol and his eyes were glassy, so he put the Boss through a field sobriety test, during which he was swaying, and took 45 steps when he was only asked to take 18. He allegedly refused to submit to a breath test.

TMZ broke the story … the rock icon was cited for DWI, reckless driving and consuming alcohol in a closed area. There have been reports claiming Springsteen’s BAC was only .02, far below the legal limit, however cops can bust you for DWI based on other factors … such as field sobriety testing or observing erratic driving.

[From TMZ]

When I hop off a motorcycle, I’m going to sway a little bit too. Hell, I sometimes sway a little bit if I get out of my car too fast. If he blew a .02, that means that he’s not drunk. Even though it’s sounding more and more like Bruce was caught up in a speed trap or something like that and the cops just didn’t want to back down once they realized who he was. A source close to Springsteen told CNN: “When this is all resolved, I think, people are gonna have some serious doubts about the seriousness of this, especially when the actual details of this are revealed, including the blood alcohol level.” Yeah, I agree. What could have been a slap on the wrist for violating some law about drinking in a park – ??? – turned into a huge thing which will end up going nowhere. It’s just a huge waste of time.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears)

There was a lot of rejoicing in one of my group threads with the news that Britney won in court against her toxic father. However this sounds like a minor victory to me, but good continual progress for Britney. This story is complicated, and I have better understanding of it after talking to my friend, Lisa, who is co-host of the Eat, Pray, Britney podcast. My interview with Lisa is going to air in this week’s Gossip With Celebitchy podcast! Stay tuned for that on Sunday morning when episode 82 comes out.

As you know, Britney is under a dual conservatorship of her person and her finances. Some of the things I learned from Lisa and the Framing Britney NY Times documentary are that 1) conservatorships are a last resort as they’re practically forever, 2) Britney’s dad, Jamie, doesn’t have her best interests at heart and 3) Britney’s visitation with her sons has been held over her head as a strategy to get her to comply. In 2019, Jamie Spears temporarily stepped down as the conservator of Britney’s person after he allegedly abused her son, Sean, then-13. Britney got a restraining order against Jamie at the time with K-Fed’s help. Jamie is still conservator of Britney’s finances, however Britney successfully petitioned the court in November to have an investment company, Bessemer Trust, step in as co-conservator of her estate. This latest ruling makes no changes to that and continues Bessemer’s co-conservatorship of Britney’s money.

The legal battle over conservatorship of Britney Spears’ estate continued in court on Thursday.

Though the pop star was not in attendance, her father Jamie Spears attended virtually as Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny heard arguments from both Spears and her father’s attorneys.
The hearing focused on the November appointment of Bessemer Trust to serve as co-conservator — along with her father — of Spears’ estate. Judge Penny ruled in favor of keeping the co-conservatorship and made no changes at Thursday’s proceedings.
Spears had previously petitioned to have her father removed as co-conservator. The latest ruling does not preclude her attorney, Samuel Ingham III, from submitting another petition for his removal.
Ingham, who also attended the hearing virtually, reiterated that his client “does not want her father as co-conservator and we recognize removal is a separate issue.”
Vivian L. Thoreen, attorney for Jamie Spears, issued a statement to CNN Thursday night.
“The Probate Court’s rulings today show the court’s confidence in our client Jamie Spears and Bessemer Trust to manage the conservatorship of Ms. Spears’ estate together. My client looks forward to working with Bessemer to continue an investment strategy in the best interests of his daughter,” Thoreen’s statement read in part.

[From CNN]

This is good news, but it speaks to how slow and difficult it is, even for a massively wealthy famous white woman, to get out from under a conservatorship. Let’s get into the weeds for a moment. I learned in the Framing Britney documentary that Britney sought to have her own representation before the conservatorship went into effect in 2008. The lawyer she spoke to, Adam Streisand, said Britney told him at the time that she knew the conservatorship was inevitable but that she did not want her father to be in control of it. Britney was given a court-appointed lawyer instead, Samuel Ingham III, who remains her lawyer to this day. She has had a court-appointed lawyer for 13 years, but her wealth and work are literally paying for her father’s lawyers to keep her under his control. Do you see how this works? Lawyer Vivian Thoreen was also interviewed in the documentary, she’s a conservatorship expert. She said that she has never seen a case of anyone successfully getting released from a conservatorship. Vivian Thoreen is now working for Jamie Spears to keep Britney under Jamie’s conservatorship!

In the last episode of the Eat, Pray, Britney podcast they talked about the fact that it’s a catch 22 gaslighting situation for Britney and that everything she does and says is interpreted under the lens that she’s crazy and deserves to be in this conservatorship. I told Lisa during our interview that it reminds me of the Rosenhan experiment, where psychology students checked into a mental health facility in the 1970s. The other patients quickly realized that the students didn’t fit in and shouldn’t be there, but the staff thought that their note-taking and other observant behaviors were pathological. What could Britney do to convince people that she is able to manage her own healthcare, money and life? It’s been over a decade now and she’s been on X-Factor live and done Vegas residencies. Imagine how elderly people fare under conservatorships where family members want access to their money.

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears)

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears)

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears)

As soon as the Duchess of Sussex got so much attention for her pregnancy in late 2018, I started to feel like the Duchess of Cambridge would want to have a fourth child. I was honestly shocked that we got through 2019 AND 2020 without Kate ending up pregnant again. While it was said that Kate had to “convince” William to have a third child (Louis), I’ve felt for some time that Kate’s secret plan was to have four kids, the same number as the Queen, and that William would eventually come around to having a fourth. But who knows, really. Us Weekly thinks they know – they claim that Kate is still thinking about having a fourth.

The more, the merrier! Duchess Kate and Prince William are “trying” to conceive their fourth child.

“Having four children was always part of Kate’s plan,” a source exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly. “She put the idea on hold when [the coronavirus pandemic] hit, but now there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine and [Prince George and Princess Charlotte] scheduled to return to school in April. She feels ready to start trying again.”

The Duchess of Cambridge, 39, who also shares son Prince Louis, 2, with the prince, 38, has been feeling “broody” since her sister Pippa Middleton’s pregnancy reveal in December 2020. Because she knows that her “clock is ticking,” Kate has been eating a “nutrient-rich” diet to prepare her body.

“It took a while for Kate to convince William, though,” the insider tells Us. “He said that three children is more than enough. The thought of having four made him feel overwhelmed. … But Kate’s desires to have another child have inspired him, and at the end of the day, he loves and appreciates the secure family setting he never had growing up. Why not make it bigger? After taking some time to think about it, he’s on the same page and is excited about the future.”

Kate is hoping for another daughter since she and Pippa, 37, are “extremely close” sisters. The source tells Us, “She wants Charlotte to have the same enjoyable experience — to grow up with a little a sister to confide in and look out for.”

[From Us Weekly]

I know it’s Us Weekly and all, but I feel like there could be some truth to this, honestly. I think Kate loves to have a baby in the house and Louis is coming up on his third birthday in May. I also think Kate would love to have another girl, and it would not surprise me at all if she wanted to have a baby around the same time as Pippa (who I honestly forgot was pregnant). Now, will it actually happen? Who knows. It’s kind of ironic to me that 2020 would have been the perfect time for so many high-profile, image-conscious women to get pregnant. They would have been able to gestate in peace at home, with no demands to step out and, say, be performatively keen.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

I’m still aglow with the Duchess of Sussex’s legal victory! She didn’t even have to take this stupid issue to trial, although it looked dicey there for a while. Justice Warby issued his summary judgment that yes, of course Meghan’s letter to her father was private and of course the Mail had no business publishing it and wildly misrepresenting the letter and Meghan’s motives. The trial set for March will only be slightly about who owns the copyright (Meghan solely or Meghan and Jason Knauf) and mostly about DAMAGES.

I really don’t know what kind of comparison to make to judge what kind of damages could be made here. The British system of damages feels very different than the American system. The Telegraph says that the court will award damages for different things, and they think Meghan could get £300,000 for the breach of privacy, but she could get millions for copyright infringement, because she’s entitled to the profits made by the newspapers for wrongly publishing her letter. Plus legal fees. So, first the lawyers will get paid, and then Meghan said she would donate the rest.

Meanwhile, the British press is doing a lot of whining about how this case might set a new precedent which could “puts manacles on the media” and keep them from publishing “leaked” materials. The thing about that is… there have been cases where media outlets published private letters, gotten sued for it, and lost. There already are precedents on the books. And those previous cases actually did involve matters of state, whereas Meghan’s case involved her telling off her toxic father for being a douche, and then the toxic father GETTING PAID to smear her.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

There were a few surprising elements to the Morgan Wallen-racist slur episode. Two weekends ago, TMZ got their hands on Morgan and his (white) friends, being drunk and loud outside of Wallen’s home. At one point, Wallen loudly calls out to a friend and he used the n-word. It was gross and it drunkenly rolled off his tongue way too easily. What was surprising about it was the complete condemnation from the professional class in Nashville. Country music stations suspended playing his super-successful album. His recording label suspended him and high-profile people in the country music industry called him out. I expected the reaction (from the music professionals) to be more of “well, he said he was sorry, so all’s forgiven, he’s a good ol’ boy” kind of thing, which is… how the fans reacted. Wallen’s fans have been blanketing social media to scream at anyone and everyone critical of their racist sh-thead icon. Well, here’s something else surprising: Morgan Wallen has released an apology video, and he specifically asks his fans to stop “defending” him.

Morgan Wallen is taking ownership of his actions after he was captured on video using the N-word. On Wednesday, the country music star, 27, released a five-minute Instagram video addressing his use of the racial slur, urging fans not to defend him as he wants to “take ownership” for the offense.

“I’m long overdue to make a statement regarding my last incident. I wanted to collect my thoughts, seek some real guidance and come to you with a complete thought before I did,” he began. According to Wallen, the video that surfaced was taken during “a bender,” which he said was “not something I’m proud of either.”

“I let so many people down. I let my parents down and they’re the furthest thing from … the person in that video. I let my son down, and I’m not okay with that…So this week, I’ve been waiting to say anything further until I got the chance to apologize to those closest to me that I knew I personally hurt.”

The “Whiskey Glasses” singer — whom the NAACP recently offered to meet with to educate him on why the N-word is hurtful — went on to say that he’s “accepted some invitations from some amazing Black organizations, some executives and leaders to engage in some very real and honest conversations.”

“I’ll admit to you I was pretty nervous to accept those invitations,” he said. “They had every right to step on my neck while I was down, to not show me any grace. But they did the exact opposite — they offered me grace, and they also paired that with an offer to learn and to grow.”

For Wallen, their “kindness really inspired me to dig deeper on how to do something about this. And one thing I’ve learned already [and] is specifically sorry for is that it matters my words matter. A word can truly hurt a person and in my core, it’s not what I’m okay with.” Since the video, Wallen said he’s heard “firsthand some personal stories from Black people that honestly shook me. I know what I’m going through this week doesn’t even compare to some of the trials I heard about from them. I came away from those discussions with a deep appreciation for them and a clear understanding of the weight of my words. I wish the circumstances were different for me to learn these things, but I’m also glad it started the process for me to do so.”

“I’ve got many more things to learn, but I already know that I don’t want to add to any division,” Wallen said. “Our words matter and I just want to encourage anyone watching to please learn from my mistake. There’s no reason to downplay what I did, it matters.”

Wallen, who’s “been sober for nine days” since the video surfaced, added that fans should not defend his actions. “I appreciate those who still see something in me and have defended me. But for today, please don’t. I was wrong. I fully accept any penalties I’m facing. This entire situation is ugly right now, but I’ll keep searching for ways to become the example instead of being made one.”

[From People]

I hate that I’m actually kind of impressed by how thorough this apology was and how he hit several of the right notes. I’m not saying all is forgiven or forgotten, but I actually think Wallen might use this as a genuine opportunity to perhaps become a better person? Or at least understand how thoroughly he f–ked up. Is that naive? Perhaps. Imagine being the NAACP or Black Lives Matter activist tasked with educating him though. Whew. And again, I do appreciate the fact that he told his fans to stop defending him. That’s a big deal, because he had a little redneck fan-army out there, harassing anyone speaking out about racism in the country music industry.

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Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.