By some estimates, it's lost nearly 90 percent(Opens in a new tab) of its pre-Elon Musk workforce. Most recently, the billionaire owner fucked around, telling his remaining employees to either get "hardcore" or leave. And then he quickly found out: Roughly 75 percent of the staffers he hadn't already canned, including those who reportedly run critical parts of the platform, chose the softcore life and ditched Grimes' ex.
For now, Twitter remains up and running, but it seems quite possible it could die or fizzle out while trying to tread water with a skeleton crew.
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That would be weird for me, personally. Though I've tried to slow down, I've spent a good portion of the last decade farting around on Twitter. I joined in July 2012 and have since posted roughly 25,600 times. Doing some back-of-the-napkin math, that puts me at about 6.2 tweets per day, which frankly was less than I figured. Twitter defined a "heavy" tweeter(Opens in a new tab) as someone who logged into the app six or seven times per week, and tweeted three to four times...per week. So yeah, a "heavy" tweeter is putting up rookie numbers, in my opinion and experience.
Which raises the question: Should Twitter really die — which is an open question — what in the world will I do with all that free time? Because even when I'm not posting, I'm always onTwitter. It's a constant open tab during my workday. It's my mindless scroll while watching TV. It's my journal for truly stunning, hilarious, and typo-laden observations such as:
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and...
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or this...
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and of course...
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So...what now? Well, I've brainstormed 11 ideas for what I could do with my time if Twitter well and truly dies. Feel free to steal these for yourself if your mind, too, is poisoned by the bird app.
1. Try once again to learn how to play the guitar.
Honestly though, I've tried for years and it's hopeless. Do we really think this effort will finally be the time I get past the first four chords?
2. Cook even more than I do now.
Frankly, I've already cooked most days for nearly three years since working from home. But sure, I could get even more unnecessarily complex with my dinners.
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3. Take up woodworking.
Might be hard to do in a Brooklyn apartment but, you know, seems fun. Ron Swanson likes it(Opens in a new tab). Sure, I might choke on sawdust, but at least my brain won't be turned to oatmeal by social media. Doing something with your hands feels nice.
4. Become one of those comic book dudes.
I feel like being super into comic books is basically studying? Like, there are different timelines, and lore, and histories, and yada, yada, yada. Maybe I'll put my Twitter energies into becoming one of those people.
5. Run
I like jogging. I could just do that.
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6. Commit to living in the moment.
For ten years, I've lived, at minimum, a two-screen experience involving some combination of: laptop and phone, TV and phone, or iPad and TV. Maybe, with Twitter gone, I could unplug from the mainframe. I could stop and smell the roses or, rather, the piss-soaked NYC sidewalks. (Same thing.) I could look at the sun setting each evening, feeling deep gratitude for the love in my life and the good fortune to be in that exact location at that exact moment. I could live with my feet on the ground instead of my eyes on a screen.
Lol. Imagine?
7. Take up yoga.
I've never been flexible.
8. Pace around my home, whispering my tweets into the ether like little secrets to the Lord.
Today's Thursday is giving major Monday vibes. Made some eggs for breakfast. LMAO my neighbors are blasting Phoebe Bridgers on Friday night — we love a depressed comrade.
9. Get really into chess.
Seems like an interesting world(Opens in a new tab) these days.
10. Post on TikTok instead.
I know that's where everything is going on these days, anyway. But I'm a millennial and the dangers of being impossibly cringe on TikTok are strong. Besides, short-form video isn't the same as being an idiot on Twitter. But I could try, I guess.
11. Stare at the wall.
Who knows if Twitter will die? But my wall isn't going anywhere. 'Til then follow me @timmarcin(Opens in a new tab).
Website of this article：https://dointy.com/?m=home&c=View&a=index&aid=65085
A guide to getting off to your own sexual fantasies and imagination
They say the mind is the biggest, most powerful sex organ in the body. But, uh, don't try visualizing that mental image too vividly or literally, unless you're into that sorta thing?
Instead, imagine your favorite fictional crush pressing you up against a wall, or think back to the hottest sex you ever had in your life. Now stop imagining, because this magical place where all your desires are possible and acceptable exists. And literally anyone can tap into it.
While sexual fantasies are by definition not "real," their effects on your sex life (especially when explored during masturbation) are — shall we say — palpably physical.
"Engaging your imagination rather than relying on visual porn for example helps to build, enhance and strengthen your erotic mind," said Dr. Britney Blair, co-founder and Chief Science Officer of the sexual wellness Lover(Opens in a new tab) app. "You can bring that imagination to life when you want to prime the pump on your desire or push yourself over the edge to climax while solo or with a partner."
"It's incredibly liberating, recognizing our own power to design the scenes and situations that turn us on."
To be clear, there's nothing wrong with porn or other forms of erotica. But there's something especially powerful in orgasming to smut that couldn't be more personally tailored to what you like.
"In our minds we're not confined to our studio apartments or our current sexual partners. There are no rules or judgments. Not even the laws of physics apply," said Gina Gutierrez, co-founder of the popular audio erotica app Dipsea(Opens in a new tab). "It’s incredibly liberating, recognizing our own power to design the scenes and situations that turn us on and to scrap the ones that don’t work for us."
Don't take our word for it, though. There's science to show exactly how real the effects of a healthy erotic imagination are.
In a landmark 2016 study(Opens in a new tab), Dr. Nan Wise — neuroscientist, sex therapist, and author of Understanding the Neuroscience of Pleasure for a Smarter, Happier, and More Purpose-Filled Life(Opens in a new tab) — mapped the brain's response when subjects merely imagined pleasurable stimulation on their genitals. Just by thinking about it, the pleasure centers in their brains "lit up like a Christmas tree," Wise said.
"The mind is really the recipient of all the body's sensations. So there's this empirical evidence of a huge connection between the mind and pleasure," she said.
While everyone can benefit from using their imagination as a sexual aid, it's an especially potent practice for women and others who society has conditioned to feel ashamed about their sexuality.
"We have to do more work to lay down the connections, the neural pathways, between the genitals and the brain's sensory reward regions," said Wise. "Using your imagination to masturbate not only gives us the information about what stimulation we need, but also actually strengthens the connections between our genitals and the brain."
SEE ALSO:
Why some people masturbate about people they hate
Beyond that, getting off to our own sexual fantasies tackles another negative effect that patriarchy can have on women's sexuality.
"We're socialized to think of ourselves as the objects of other people's desires, like we need to borrow someone else's idea of pleasure" said Wise. That's why learning how to be the subject of our own desires, to embody the pleasure we conjure up in our own mind, can be so empowering.
Everyone with a brain, genitals, and desire is already equipped to masturbate to their own sexual fantasies. And while the practice does come more naturally to some, it only takes little guidance and patience to unlock the endless possibilities tucked inside your erotic mind.
Set the right environment
Set that phone to night mode, but make it sexy.Credit: bob al-greene / mashable
A major key in setting your mind up for erotic success is to ensure your environment allows your brain to feel fully relaxed, safe, and free from distraction.
Pick a time and place where you'll have full privacy without needing to worry about any interruption, whether from roommates or notifications. For most people, that place will naturally be the bedroom. But put some effort into also making it a true fortress of sensual solitude, like by locking the door, setting your phone to airplane mode, putting on an eye mask, or maybe even using some essential oils and putting on your favorite sexy playlist.
Blair even recommends purposefully scheduling these more exploratory kind of session and making them habitual. So maybe it can be something you add to your nightly ritual before bed: Brush your teeth, do the skincare routine, put on some pajamas, then let your mind wander as you touch yourself.
Create a safe space in your mind
Of course, priming yourself with the right mindset is vital to unlocking your brain's full fantasy potential.
One of the biggest hurdles to exploring our erotic imaginations is actually the engrained social shame many of us have picked up (even subconsciously) through sexism, homophobia, social stigmas, religion, etc.
"It’s important to know if that is coming up for you, you’re not alone. But there is no such thing as a wrong or right fantasy." said Blair.
SEE ALSO:
Am I the only one who's horny for podcasts?
Treat your imagination as a judgement-free zone. To be fair, clearing or redirecting your mind away from feelings of shame is easier said than done. But certain exercises can help (which we'll get into more in the mind-body connection section below).
Blair suggests that, while exploring sexual fantasies in your mind, try to distinguish between when you're having a reaction versus a judgment to a certain scenario. Judgments often come from values imposed on you by something or someone else, while visceral reactions can be an indication that your mind wants to explore it further — especially if it's something your never thought you'd be into.
It's easy to get scared off by an intense response to a fantasy, and write that off as being too weird or outside the norm for your taste. But if you give yourself a second to assess where that response is coming from, you might actually find that the intensity comes from a part of you that you've never tried tapping into before.
"Everything is okay in the world of fantasy. No fantasy is a crime."
Or maybe not, and that's fine too. The point is, if you feel safe doing it, just try leaning into parts of your erotic mind that feel challenging and see where it goes.
"Everything is okay in the world of fantasy. No fantasy is a crime," said Blair. "Whatever turns you on in your mind is totally healthy. Your fantasy doesn’t say anything about you except that you are lucky to have a rich imagination that you can use to have an exciting and enduring erotic life."
That's another major benefit of sexual fantasies versus traditional porn, too. You don't have to worry about any ethical concerns, because your imagination can't hurt you or anyone else. You're in total control.
"You imagination is a completely safe space," said Dipsea's Gutierrez. "We can play out fantasies that are risky or illicit that we would never actually want to happen in real life. In our minds we’re free to experiment without consequences."
Familiarize yourself with (but don't feel limited by) common sexual fantasies
While the whole point is to tap into the unique potential of your own mind, a good jumping off point is to explore whether the most common sexual fantasies(Opens in a new tab) spark your interest. Researchers have labeled them into different categories, though there's a world of possibilities within those labels as well.
Dr. Blair described these categories as multi-partner sex like group sex or threesomes; power, control, or rough sex; novelty, adventure, and variety; taboo and forbidden sex; partner sharing and non-monogamous relationships; passion and romance; and erotic flexibilitylikehomoeroticism or gender-bending.
Jess O'Reilly is a sex educator, author of The New Sex Bible(Opens in a new tab), and Astroglide's resident sexologist. She explained that through each of these fantasy categories you can help identify the specific core erotic feelings that get you into a heightened state of arousal.
"Oftentimes, they relate to fantasy, escapism or subverting otherwise 'negative' emotions. You might find that sex is really hot when you feel powerful, submissive, challenged, mindful, or playful," she said. "You may also find yourself aroused by feelings that you don’t naturally associate with pleasure, like jealousy, inadequacy, fear, and even humiliation can be exciting."
What our brains often gravitate to most is pure novelty. What gets you off in a fantasy can actually be the total opposite of your real-life sexual orientation or even completely removed from you, as an abstract scenario happening to someone else entirely.
Let your spank bank be a place where your freak flag flies.Credit: vicky leta / mashable
So don't be weirded out if you learn that you're as horny for that fish-god monster from The Shape of Water as the Academy Awards were in 2018. Or maybe you're one of the many women who enjoys a rape fantasy — which, as Dr. Wise points out, in a fantasy context is the opposite of a real-life rape since, "you're choosing to have the fantasy and who's overpowering you. You're in complete control."
One other general rule of thumb Wise found is that while men tend toward more visually-oriented fantasies centered around preferred body parts, women tend to focus on overall scenarios. However, it's impossible to distill the endless possibilities of human sexuality into neat categories. Which is why you also shouldn't get discouraged or ashamed if none of these common fantasies do it for you.
"Our capacity for imagination is limitless," said Wise. Don't feel pressure to confine yours to a specific label.
Related Video: I built my own vibrator at CES
Start building your erotic imagination through fiction, porn, memories... anything!
The truth is that, while other obstacles might make it hard initially to give yourself permission to explore sexual fantasies, using your imagination is a very natural and innate part of being human. Who doesn't fantasizing about getting up from their desk in the middle of a hard work day and quitting, or spend time daydreaming about how they'd furnish their dream apartment?
"We make Pinterest boards and save Instagram photos, collect and catalog all these things that we like. I recommend starting to do that for your sex life," said Gutierrez. "Become more mindful observing what attracts you to someone. The moments where you feel sexiest. What you want to say out loud during sex but hesitate to. Then the next time you want to use your fantasy for pleasure, you know exactly where to draw from."
Everything in your life can become part of your horny mood board.
Everything in your life can become part of your horny mood board.
We all have that one fictional character or public figure — whether from books, tv, movies, video games, or even politics and the internet — that just does it for us. Begin there, expanding into a specific sexy scene that got you going or whatever comes to mind when you think of that person. Heck, maybe you're like me and realize that a silky, authoritative voice is actually your kink, leading a bunch of non-erotic popular podcasts to become your go-to spank bank material.
Audio erotica can be a great place to start if you don't want to take the training wheels off yet to explore sexual fantasies of your own making. Unlike visual porn, audio erotica still exercises the muscles of your erotic imagination, asking you to fill in the details and paint the full picture. While we always recommend Dipsea, there's also plenty of free ways to try audio erotica like r/gonewildaudio(Opens in a new tab) and Girl on the Net(Opens in a new tab).
Once you're ready to bring yourself more to the forefront of the fantasy, begin with a memory of the hottest, most visceral sex you've ever had. Really ground yourself back in that moment by recalling your senses: What position were you in? What did the person's lust feel like? Were you sweating? How exactly did they touch you?
Touch yourself while pulling from all the erotic mental material you've curated, and don't be afraid to really get your whole body involved in mimicking the sensations you're creating through your mind. Maybe that means masturbating while you're on all fours, or matching the tempo of the fantasy, or even dry-humping a pillow. Don't put any pressure on yourself to orgasm throughout any of this, though, and instead just zero in on embodying the experience of your imagination.
"It's about giving yourself full permission to explore all our internal pleasure places, and how we experience them in both our minds and bodies at the same time," said Wise.
It's like writing fanfiction, but in real-timeCredit: vicky leta / mashable
Try these exercises to strengthen your mind-body connection
Through her research and other studies in the field, Wise has ultimately found that, "This distinction we make between the mind and body is really a very arbitrary one."
One of the best ways to embrace this in a way that engages your erotic fantasy life in is through something called mindful sex.
This increasingly popular branch of sex therapy describes a bunch of different practices and exercises that add a layer of sexuality to mindfulness, to help you stay present in your body while experiencing pleasure, train your mind to focus on whatever arouses you, and engage in a non-judgmental curious sexual mindset. Try out basic exercises like pleasure mapping (which Dipsea has a guide for), mindful masturbation (which you can read about here), and sensate focus (which you can read about here).
Wise also suggests a very simple exercise for getting your imagination more connected with your genitals on a neurological level: Just start by tapping or pleasurably touching your genitals, then stop, then think back on the sensations you felt while touching them. Try to recall and summon them back in your body: What did it feel like in your body when the stimulation was building, then dissipating?
At first, it might not feel like much at all and the pleasure may be pretty mild compared to what you're used to while using more immediate erotic visual aids like porn.
“But you’ll slowly start to develop a better connection to that pleasure sensation channel in your brain,” she said.
Use your imagination during partnered sex
While sexual fantasies are a great way to enhance self-love, learning how to engage with them during partnered sex can also do wonders to get people over the edge and into orgasm.
At this point though, you might be wondering: Is it even OK to fantasize about other situations — or maybe even other people — while having sex with a partner?
“It doesn't matter where you get your appetite, as long as you'd come home to eat.”
“Yes, it’s an unequivocal yes! Because thinking about stuff is not the same as doing it,” said Wise. As the famous saying goes, “It doesn't matter where you get your appetite, as long as you'd come home to eat.”
It’s totally normal for your mind to desire novelty, especially if you're not in a new relationship anymore. In fact, Wise found that one of the best ways to ensure a couples’ longevity is precisely this kind of openness and understanding that people need to fuel their erotic imagination with new stuff.
“If we can get over these kind of hang ups, get past this fear of our partners having a fantasy about somebody else while they’re with us, and instead use it as an opportunity talk about: What would you like? What haven't we tried? What are you afraid to tell me? Because that's hot. That's really hot,” said Wise.
Or maybe instead of thinking about someone else, you'd simply rather use your imagination during partnered sex to transport you both to a setting or scenario that heightens your arousal even more.
In the end, what you do with your erotic imagination is up to you. You can share it if you'd like — or keep it all to yourself. That’s what’s so great about sexual fantasies you cut from your own cloth: They’re all yours, and no one else's.
Childish Gambino warned us in 2018. This is America, right?
It's been a brutal week for anyone who doesn't live with their eyes closed. The proof is right there on Twitter and other social platforms. It used to be that we relied on police bodycams to hold officers accountable for their actions. But in this difficult moment, citizen journalism is carrying that bucket instead.
Something snapped in the United States as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against George Floyd's neck until he died on May 25. Floyd was black and Chauvin is white. It was a sadly familiar scene of what looks to rational observers like a clear case of police brutality.
But this time, we hit a breaking point. The gruesome reality of Chauvin's actions as captured on camera is certainly part of it. He held his position on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes, until after the restrained man died. The camera captures it all in vivid, horrifying detail. Add to that the ongoing pandemic, and historic levels of unemployment. People's nerves are frayed and the callous inhumanity of Floyd's death was a last straw.
So cities exploded over the weekend with widespread protests and grim scenes of violence. Even as much of the country outside of major cities continues to hunker down behind stay-at-home orders, social media has brought all of us to the front lines through citizen journalism and shared news reports.
These ongoing protests are about stopping racial violence and police brutality, and they're hundreds of years in the making. I think the images and videos, and the actions of the people portrayed therein, tell the whole story. Thank you to all of the protesters and members of the press who are out there doing your part to make sure the realities of this moment won't soon be forgotten.
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It hasn't all been as completely terrible as the above visuals suggest. Protesters are out in force and many of them are skipping the violence in favor of working to send a message, lift up the people in their community, and generally just keep the peace. Many others are just doing the best they can to peacefully work through the days, weeks, months, decades of pent-up anger they've been carrying.
They've even been joined in a few cases by police officers and departments that have managed to maintain a level of trust with their local communities.
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SEE ALSO:
How to demand justice for George Floyd and support Minneapolis protesters
I don't know what else to say. Take care of yourselves, folks. And please, keep on documenting this moment in any way that you can.
Police scanner app catapults to the top of the App Store
Protesters just made a police scanner the most popular paid iOS app in the country.
On Monday, 5-0 Radio Police Scanner(Opens in a new tab), which costs $5, was the number one paid app in the App Store. A pared-down version with ads was the number two paid app, surpassing TikTok and second only to the suddenly popular Zynn app. Vice first reported(Opens in a new tab) on the app's rise.
Protesters clashed with police in Minneapolis, Louisville, Los Angeles, Philadelphia(Opens in a new tab), and other U.S. cities over the weekend. They are demanding an end to police brutality after George Floyd was killed by a police officer.
A look at the top paid apps.Credit: screenshot / mashable
Also popular as a free app.Credit: Screenshot / mashable
Scanner apps let protesters listen to live police radio feeds. App analytics firm Apptopia found the top five police scanner apps, such as 5-0 Police Scanner(Opens in a new tab) and Police Scanner(Opens in a new tab), were downloaded 213,000 times over the weekend. That's a 125 percent increase from the weekend before — a record for police scanner apps. 5-0 Police Scanner was downloaded 40,000 times between Friday and Sunday in the United States.
Other related apps saw download surges as well, like the encrypted messaging app Signal. It was downloaded 37,000 times this weekend, a record for the app. Same for community alert app Citizen, which was downloaded 49,000 times during the same period, according to Apptopia(Opens in a new tab).
Elizabeth Warren and her very good dog Bailey joined the Washington D.C. protests
Less than half an hour before the official curfew started in Washington D.C., thousands of protesters were still walking peacefully in the streets of the capital. Among them were Sen. Elizabeth Warren, her husband Bruce Mann, and their dog Bailey.
Dressed in sensible beige shorts, sneakers, and a basic blue face mask, the last female candidate to suspend her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination was quickly spotted by her fellow protesters as she joined the throng in Lafayette Square. Many were clearly thrilled to see her, cheering as she told reporters President Donald Trump had been "wrong" to deploy the National Guard in the city.
"He is imposing violence on our people," she told one reporter(Opens in a new tab). "People are here to protest peacefully.
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Warren also called for Attorney General Bill Barr to resign after reports that he had ordered the violent removal of protesters near the White House, and tweeted her support for her colleague Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's bill to criminalise the use of chokeholds by police. Gillibrand was also in the presidential race until last August.
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Widespread protests have emerged in cities across the U.S. in a furious response to the death of George Floyd — who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes — as well as other recent police killings, including Louisville woman Breonna Taylor and Florida man Tony McDade. These names are only the latest to be added to a shamefully long list of black Americans killed by police.f
Trump's response to the protests, in particular the order to disperse peaceful demonstrators near the White House using tear gas and rubber bullets for a Trump photo op, has drawn criticism from members of both parties(Opens in a new tab).
Other politicians who have appeared at protests include Reps. Ayanna Pressley(Opens in a new tab), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez(Opens in a new tab), and Joyce Beatty, who was pepper sprayed by police at the Columbus, Ohio event(Opens in a new tab), as well as Sen. Kamala Harris (Opens in a new tab)
Every police department should have to hear our rage via Zoom call
Yesterday, the Los Angeles Police Commission held a Zoom call with citizens — of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, as well as some former residents — and watched with blank faces as citizens berated them mercilessly for eight hours.
The call came not only after several nights of protests in Los Angeles, but also after LAPD chief Michael Moore blamed the death of George Floyd(Opens in a new tab) on the city's protestors and looters. (Moore walked back on the comments(Opens in a new tab) after backlash.)
But that's just the tip of the iceberg: LAPD has a long history of violence against black people — next year will be 30 years since LA officers beat Rodney King(Opens in a new tab).
After many people were initially left out of the call(Opens in a new tab) because it capped at 500 people — and after the boomers on the commission figured out how to work Zoom — the commission said their statements.
Then, the real show started. The public unleashed their fury on the LAPD for hours on end. They demanded Moore's resignation or firing, as well as to defund the LAPD and support the people's budget(Opens in a new tab). Some spewed incredible insults(Opens in a new tab), while others broke down in tears. Several impassioned callers, like this one, went viral:
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After watching this call, I'm convinced that every police department needs to have a Zoom call like this one.
While the LAPD is notorious for its racism, so are many other departments across the country — including the Minneapolis police(Opens in a new tab), who are responsible for the killing of George Floyd. He died after three police officers pinned him down, one kneeling on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.
Police departments across the nation should be subjected to people's rage. In many cities, they're beating up peaceful protestors who they are sworn to protect, all while we — the taxpayers — pay their salaries. Police commissions are supposed to be working for us, the civilians, and we should be able to scream and cry and drag our cops just like the residents of LA did yesterday. (And then I think we should defund the police(Opens in a new tab), but that's a different story.)
Public meetings with police departments aren't new. As some activists mentioned on the call, they've been raising the same concerns about the police for years. But now thanks to technology not afforded previous generations, these meetings can be online (and the current pandemic pretty much mandates that, anyway). Virtual meetings can not only be more accessible to people who can't make them in-person, but allows these meetings to go viral and be seen by thousands, both in the department's jurisdiction and beyond.
The total impact of the LAPD call has yet to be seen. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti didn't make any promises about changing the budget(Opens in a new tab), and as of publication the LAPD chief has not resigned.
But that doesn't mean this call didn't have an impact. Hundreds of people were able to express anger that has possibly been pent up for years. People around the country — like me, in New York — stayed tuned for hours and are now inspired to tell our police departments our similar demands (and probably insults). Like protesting, donating money, and calling our reps, being able to rip into our respective police departments can be just another action to elicit change, and it's a cathartic one at that.
Police commissions and departments have a duty to their citizens to let their voices be heard. We are all owed a more modern-day public forum. Americans everywhere should be able to call out their police chief's racist eyebrows.
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Mashable has reached out to LAPD for comment and will update if received.
Even Piers Morgan thinks Rudy Giuliani sounds completely barking mad
Listen, let's not give Piers Morgan — a British TV presenter who's dabbled in racist tropes(Opens in a new tab) and transphobia(Opens in a new tab) — a gold star. But even he has realized Rudy Giuliani seems a little off.
Giuliani, the former NYC mayor and current personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, appeared on Thursday on ITV's Good Morning Britain, which Morgan co-hosts. The appearance, which took place in the middle of the night in the U.S., turned into a shouting match between two old white guys about who was more discredited.
The fight began when Morgan criticized Trump's tweet about "when the looting starts the shooting starts" in regards to the protests surrounding the police killing of George Floyd. But the argument soon devolved into a barrage of personal attacks.
"You sound completely barking mad, do you know that?" Morgan said.
Giuliani fired back, "No, I don't. You sound like a big liar."
But Morgan kept going after the former mayor, firing off wonderfully British insults.
"You've lost the plot. And it's sad to see," the host said.
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Taking a page from his boss's playbook, Giuliani stumbled through a few insults about Morgan's failed CNN show and its poor ratings. At some point, Giuliani either tells Morgan he "sucked up" or "fucked up" — it's tough to tell because Giuliani's words are a bit slurred — but either way Morgan apologizes for the language before twisting the knife further into his guest.
"When I used to interview you, you were an intelligent, reasonable man and you've gone completely mad," he said. "And you sound deranged. You're abusive. And it's really sad to see what's happened to you."
A viral clip from the interview goes on in a similar fashion for a few more minutes. It does represent a shift from Morgan — a former winner on Celebrity Apprentice who had a largely friendly (if bonkers)(Opens in a new tab) interview with Trump this time last year.
But definitely watch the entire clip from Thursday, if only to see co-host Susanna Reid deliver an absolutely perfect, "OK," to end the wild segment.
Fox News host says John Lennon — who was killed in New York — wouldnt be safe in the city right now
Days after an NYPD car floored it into a group of protesters(Opens in a new tab) — just one of many instances of police violence in the city(Opens in a new tab) — New York City mayor Bill de Blasio responded with...John Lennon lyrics.
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"I don't mean to make light of this but I'm reminded of the song 'Imagine' by John Lennon," said de Blasio, according to journalist Jack Mirkinson. He went on to say that defunding the police, a rallying cry of the George Floyd protests, was "not the way forward."
De Blasio was subsequently roasted by social media(Opens in a new tab) and traditional(Opens in a new tab) media(Opens in a new tab) outlets(Opens in a new tab), and then Fox News got ahold of the quote. On Fox & Friends Thursday morning,Brian Kilmeade thought he was delivering a brilliant zinger about the mayor:
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"John Lennon wouldn't be safe in this city right now," said Kilmeade. "He'd be hiding in his apartment."
For those who are unaware (like Kilmeade, apparently), John Lennon was murdered in New York(Opens in a new tab) in 1980. His killer, Mark David Chapman, shot him four times outside his luxury Manhattan apartment. He's still in prison and his eleventh parole hearing is scheduled for this August(Opens in a new tab).
Maybe Kilmeade should do some fact-checking. Imagine that?
Singer performs Bunker Boy, a catchy tune about Trumps time in the bunker
There's a new song inspired by Donald Trump's recent and somewhat confusing trip to the White House bunker, and honestly? It's catchy as hell.
On Monday, days after it was reported that Secret Service rushed the president to the White House bunker(Opens in a new tab) amidst D.C. protests, singer Courtney Jaye (@TropicalJaye(Opens in a new tab)) penned and performed the tune, titled, "Bunker Boy."
Jaye shared a video of herself performing the song to social media, and on top of her gorgeous guitar playing and sweet-sounding vocals, the lyrics are truly something.
"Bunker Boy, don't lie. You got scared and hid in the basement in the middle of the night," Jaye sings. "You're not so tough, no. It's a sorry sight. So take your bible, shove it up your ass, and turn on the fucking lights."
Jaye ends the song with the lyrics, "Bunker Boy, Bunker Boy, November's coming and we hope you're terrified, Bunker boy," before taking a big exhale and letting out an exhausted eye roll. A real mood.
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SEE ALSO:
Stephen Colbert slams Trump's hypocritical Bible photo op
For those who haven't been closely following Trump's bunker saga, let's recap.
On Friday night, hundreds of people gathered outside the White House gates to protest racism, police brutality, and the death of George Floyd, a black man who died on May 25, after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.
Reports stated that when protests escalated Friday night, Secret Service ushered Trump — along with Melania and their son Barron — to the underground presidential bunker, where they allegedly remained for nearly an hour(Opens in a new tab).
After Trump received some backlash for retreating to the bunker amidst a national state of unrest, he said that he didn't go to the bunker to get away from the protests, rather he was merely inspecting the bunker.
"I was there for a tiny, short little period of time," Trump told Brian Kilmeade on Fox News Radio. He then stated his bunker visit was "more for an inspection," and that he'd been been to the bunker previously. He said he's gone "two and a half times," whatever that means.
Trump's bunker comments sounded a bit absurd to many people, including Jaye, which is why she decided to use the gift of song to hilariously call the president out on his suspicious story.
Jaye tweeted her video and made sure to tag Trump's Twitter handle — and the song has been quite a hit since. At the time of writing this piece, Jaye's tweet had more than 60,000 likes, and celebrities like Sophia Bush have even praised the blunt and catchy tune.
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Jaye is no stranger to writing songs about President Trump. On June 1, she also shared another potential hit, called "fuck this fucking president," which has been viewed 174,000 times.
In it, Jaye shares her true feelings about the president, and urges people to get out and vote for the November election.
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I only wish Jaye had been cranking out these political hits back in 2018, when former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was hiding in (or among) bushes. I bet "Bushes Boy" would have been a real banger.
Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, resigns to make room for a black board member
The co-founder of Reddit just put the rest of the tech world on notice.
Alexis Ohanian announced Friday(Opens in a new tab) that he was resigning his Reddit board seat, and "urged" the rest of the board to fill his spot with a new black board member. He will also be donating all future gains on his Reddit stock to "serve the black community," and is immediately giving $1 million to Colin Kaepernick's racial justice charity.
Yes, take that in. Ohanian just set the bar for using power and privilege for racial equity by transferring not only resources, but also power to people of color.
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The tech world has been looking for ways to support racial equality amid Black Lives Matter protests across the world. The leaders in efforts to promote diversity in tech say that one of the best ways tech leaders in particular can help is by investing in black businesses and venture funds, hiring black employees, and putting black people in positions of power within the tech world.
"Tech companies should be hiring [people of color] at all levels, from the board room to the boiler room," Rodney Sampson, a leader in tech diversity and founder of the accelerator OHUB(Opens in a new tab), said. "If you’re a venture-backed tech company, you should be looking to put someone black on your board of advisors."
Ohanian called his move "long overdue." He explained that he had made his decision so that he could answer his black daughter (Ohanian's wife is Serena Williams) when she asked: "What did you do?"
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Williams expressed support for her husband in a tweet that may have made this reporter choke up.
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In the background of Ohanian's actions are the stark realities of Reddit, which Ohanian said he founded "to help people find community and a sense of belonging." Anyone who has spent even a passing moment on Reddit knows that it can be a quagmire of divisive vitriol. Amid the protests, some Reddit communities protested what they see as Reddit's failure to take stronger action against hate speech on the platform by making their communities private. Ellen Pao, a former VC, and one-time interim CEO of Reddit who now runs a tech diversity organization, called out Reddit's hypocrisy on Twitter:
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There is, of course, no guarantee that Reddit leadership will take Ohanian up on his request to fill his seat with a black board member. But this is an opportunity to set an example for the rest of the tech and business world. Currently, around 11 percent of Fortune 100 board members are African American, according to a recent study(Opens in a new tab) by the Alliance for Board Diversity.
Mashable has reached out to Reddit to learn whether it intends to follow through with Ohanian's call to action, and Reddit said it would be responding "later today."
Trump lies about elderly protester injured by police, hits another new Twitter low
Every time you think Donald Trump has hit a new moral low, he manages to outdo himself.
On Tuesday morning, Twitter users saw yet another exceptionally distressing and unpresidential display from Trump. The president tweeted outlandish lies about Martin Gugino, the injured protester who was shoved to the ground by Buffalo police officers last week. Even for someone prone to spreading false conspiracy theories, this was a shocking thing to say.
After video of the Buffalo police officers pushing the 75-year-old man to the ground went viral, public outrage led to the suspension of two officers directly involved and the resignation of the 57 other officers(Opens in a new tab) from Buffalo New York's emergency response team. Those officers who resigned from the team remain on the force.
As Gugino — whose head could be seen smacking the pavement in the video and then was bleeding from his ears — remains in serious but stable condition, Trump suggested to nearly 82 million Twitter followers that the 75-year-old man was "an ANTIFA provocateur" who was trying to tamper with police equipment and exaggerated the severity of his fall.
"Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?" Trump tweeted.
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SEE ALSO:
Protesters turned Donald Trump's #BabyGate fence into something beautiful
The tweet not only publicly targets a citizen, but also attempts to destroy his reputation as a peaceful activist(Opens in a new tab). And though Trump continually flings insults and spreads misinformation on Twitter, many people were genuinely taken aback by the harmful nature of this conspiracy theory.
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Trump seems to have gotten this conspiracy theory in his head from One America News, the conservative, far-right news network that previously claimed Dr. Fauci had ties to the Deep State, George Soros, Bill Gates, and the Clintons(Opens in a new tab).
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Trump has proven time and again that he's not above lying to rile up his base and change the conversation. So it's imperative now more than ever that you research whatever he says before you even consider believing it.
PlayStation takes over Londons Underground signs with iconic shapes
Sometimes marketing stunts make so much sense we can't help but stan.
PlayStation has teamed up with Transport for London to temporarily rebrand some of the city's iconic Underground stations with the console's signature shapes, marking the release of the PS5.
Roundel signs marking the Oxford Circus Tube station entrances have been rebranded with the PlayStation controller's button shapes (leaving the classic red circle as is), and the interior walls of the Bakerloo, Victoria, and Central line platforms have had their wall signs replaced too.
Specially designed roundels are unveiled at Oxford Circus to celebrate the UK launch of PlayStation 5.Credit: Matt Crossick / PA Wire
We'd be pretty happy to see these designs up for longer than 48 hours, to be honest.
PlayStation UK teamed up with Transport for London for a 48-hour takeover.Credit: Matt Crossick / PA Wire
Other stations have also been rebranded as part of the campaign, including Mile End station which will be known as "Miles End" in honour of the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
SEE ALSO:
'Spider-Man: Miles Morales' is a thrilling, much-needed update in a diverse Spider-verse
Seven Sisters is now "Gran Turismo 7 Sisters" for the forthcoming instalment of the racing game, West Ham is "Horizon Forbidden West Ham" named for the upcoming sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, and Lancaster Gate is "Ratchet and Clankaster Gate" after classic PlayStation adventure game Ratchet and Clank.
Rebranded interior walls too.Credit: Matt Crossick / PA Wire
The Oxford Circus takeover will remain up just for 48 hours on Nov. 18 and 19, while those at Mile End, Lancaster Gate, Seven Sisters, and West Ham will stay up until Dec. 16. If you're in London, remember, the city's still under England's national lockdown, so you should only be checking out the signs as part of a journey for work, education or other essential services.
Yes, it's a marketing campaign, but it's a clever blending of two iconic popular culture uses of simple shapes — it undeniably makes sense.
It's the little details.Credit: Matt Crossick / PA Wire
The release of the PlayStation 5 has been met with both celebration and criticism. If you've got one already, or are thinking about it, here are five settings you should tweak on it immediately.
15 unique Halloween costumes you can get at the last minute on Amazon
Halloween is like New Years Eve to me, in the sense that it always seems so fun, but then it ends up being more stressful than anything. You've got to figure out your plans, put together outfits, and coordinate with your friends. Seeing that in writing, it doesn't look like a lot, but believe me it's stress-inducing.
Lucky for us, each year seems to be getting more unhinged, which while not great for day-to-day life, does end up producing some fun Halloween costumes. We've come up with 15 clever costume ideas that you can get from Amazon — aka two-day shipping. We're looking at all of you who are trying to throw together a last-minute Halloween costume.
This list includes pop culture moments, favorite characters, and both individual and couples costumes. Happy haunting!
The 12-foot Home Depot skeleton(Opens in a new tab)
Skelly is our king of Halloween, and dressing like the tall monster is super easy. Just get a skeleton suit and adhere some blue googly eyes in the eye sockets for Skelly's signature off-putting LifeEyes™.
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Credit: Spooktacular Creations
Skeleton bodysuit
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$29.99 at Amazon
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Credit: UPINS
Assorted googly eyes
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I still don't know what's in Pink Sauce, and frankly, I don't want to. What I do know is that it makes for an easy and clever Halloween costume that — dare I say — might even be a little sexy.
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Credit: Speerise
Pink spandex bodysuit
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$24.99 at Amazon
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Credit: MTLEE
Pink letter patches
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$13.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Durio
Yellow beanie
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Wordle really was That Girl this year, and if you're a DIYer, you should pay homage to Miss Wordle this Halloween. Start with a simple black outfit, cut out some gray, yellow, and green squares, and tape/glue them to your body in a Wordle fashion. You can even get creative and come up with a fun five-letter word to display on your costume like SCARY or PARTY.
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Credit: Speerise
Black full-body leotard
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$39.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Sunworks
Multi-colored construction paper
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$18.49 at Amazon
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Credit: AVERY
Black marker
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$1.40 at Amazon
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Lofi Girl(Opens in a new tab)
Credit: Hanes / SSOULM / Sony / Kenz Laurenz / Mashable composite
Our favorite study buddy had her livestream interrupted this year after more than two continuous years thanks to some false copyright claims. But she's back, baby. And she's still rocking that signature green sweater and headphones. Which happen to make for a cozy Halloween costume.
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Credit: Hanes
Hanes green crewneck
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$14.99 at Amazon
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Credit: SSOULM
Red turtleneck
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$15.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Sony
Wired headphones
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$19.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Kenz Laurenz
Green scrunchie
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Squilliam Fancyson is our favorite rich asshole. (Sorry, Elon Musk.) He's got style, he's got talent, and he's got a gorgeous unibrow. You can replicate his look with a fancy robe, purple ascot, stick-on mustache that acts as a unibrow, and a little bit of teal face paint.
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Credit: Borje
Burgundy robe
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$39.30 at Amazon
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Credit: Comsite
Purple ascot
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$7.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Ysanciuu
Stick-on unibrow
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$5.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Mehron
Teal face paint
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$13.95 at Amaon
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Christopher Meloni double cheeked up(Opens in a new tab)
Credit: Amazon Essentials / Amscan / Bow Tie House / Mashable composite
We've all seen the photos of Christopher Meloni's dump truck butt(Opens in a new tab). The man clearly does his squats. This look is so easy to recreate — you just need some slacks, a button down shirt, a tie, and some padding for your booty. Maybe even size up on the pants to make room for all that extra cake.
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Credit: Amscan
Butt pad
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$49.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Amazon Essentials
Long-sleeve button down shirt
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$19.50 at Amazon
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Credit: Amazon Essentials
Black dress pants
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$20.61 at Amazon
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Credit: Bow Tie House
Black tie
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Ahead of winter, bears from Katmai National Park and Preserve turn into absolute units. And we all get the opportunity to watch them gain weight and vote on the best fat bear. For Halloween, you can go as a generic fat bear or 2022's champ bear 747. We love a cozy costume.
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Credit: Funziez!
Bear onesie
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$39.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Hometex Canada
Stuffing
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$23.12 at Amazon
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Chris Pine on the Don't Worry Darling press tour(Opens in a new tab)
Chris Pine was a mood amongst the Don't Worry Darling Venice drama. He had his little disposable camera, was in the middle of Spitgate, and sat through Harry Styles calling the movie a movie. Get Pine's glamour-chic zoned out look with the following costume.
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Credit: Oxeely
Blonde wig (that might require some styling)
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$22.90 at Amazon
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Credit: Manhattan
On-ear headphones
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$9.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Beninos
Black blazer
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$34.99 at Amazon
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Credit: vkwear
Ivory button down shirt
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Rachel Sennott's Alice(Opens in a new tab) was the true star of A24's murder mystery. She was funny, she had a hot older boyfriend (played by Lee Pace), and she gave us the iconic line, "I mean I've never actually said this to anyone, but I have body dysmorphia." Slap on some glow sticks and fake blood, and you've got yourself an Alice costume.
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Glow sticks
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$8.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Aposhion
Fake blood
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$11.99 at Amazon
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Credit: SweatyRocks
Tank top
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$17.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Leggings Depot
Leather pants
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Sheryl Lee Ralph was the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 35 years, and she looked absolutely killer accepting the award. The hair bling — a moment!
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Credit: SUKRI
Braid extension
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$9.90 at Amazon
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Credit: Jollin
Hair crystals
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$9.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Romagic
Black gown
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$47.99
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Credit: Gemsme
Tennis necklace
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Maddy from Euphoria saying "Bitch, you better be joking" turned into an amazing meme, and is an easy last-minute Halloween costume. Just make sure you say the line all night.
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Credit: Kurve
Black tube top
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$13.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Wowshow
Chunky gold hoop earrings
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$15.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Stila
Black liquid eyeliner
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Listen, Shrek and Donkey are already hot, but you can sex 'em up a little extra for Halloween. We went with a more feminine approach for Shrek and masculine approach for Donkey here, but you can obviously switch that up however you like.
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Credit: PMS
Shrek ears
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$14.99 at Amazon
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Credit: DEARCASE
Beige tunic dress
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$26.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Grace Karin
Brown leather corset
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$15.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Dream Pairs
Brown riding boots
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$47.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Géneric
Donkey ears and tail
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$7.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Amazon Essentials
Gray long-sleeve shirt
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$11.65 at Amazon
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Credit: Muscle Alive
Gray shorts
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$17.99 at Amazon
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Couples costume: Perry the Platypus(Opens in a new tab) and Dr. Doofenshmirtz(Opens in a new tab)
Credit: QINSEN / Hanes / Home Prefer / Novelty Giant / VOGRYE / Poriff / Dockers / Mashable composite
The ultimate frienemies make for a great couples or friends costume. Don't forget the fedora — otherwise you're just a regular platypus.
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Credit: QINSEN
Teal two-piece set
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$41.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Hanes
Teal T-shirt
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$7.79 at Amazon
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Credit: Home Prefer
Fedora
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$26.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Novelty Giant
Platypus bill
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$10.97 at Amazon
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Credit: VOGRYE
Unisex lab coat
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$15.99 at Amazon
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Credit: Poriff
Black turtleneck
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$20.99 at Amazon
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It’s Disability Pride Month. So why is nobody talking about it?
If there’s one thing you do this Disability Pride Month, please make it listening to disabled people. You may have spotted awareness-raising posts from disabled content creators on social media, many of which serve as a call to arms(Opens in a new tab) to creators’ mostly non-disabled audiences, asking them to publicly support and show appreciation for the disabled community in July and also beyond.
Even with the effort some of us put into telling the world about it, year on year Disability Pride Month tends to pass by largely unnoticed by those outside our community. There are a few parades that take place annually in the U.S., but Brighton is the only city in the UK to have held a parade, the last of which — thanks to the pandemic — was three years ago.
It is perhaps of little surprise, given the mistreatment of and lack of funding for disabled people under their rule, that lawmakers in both the U.S. and UK continually fail to acknowledge the celebration.
Another kick in the teeth is that, even in a month that is supposed to be about us, I haven’t seen any big brands include disabled people in their advertising campaigns. Based on my own experience and that of some of my peers, the amount of work I’m assigned in July is rarely more than any other month.
I would love to see more brands talking about disability pride and more non-disabled people mentioning it too.
All in all, it is incredibly likely a great number of you reading this are completely unaware Disability Pride Month even exists. But when the global disabled community is made up of more than one billion people(Opens in a new tab), why wouldn’t people take it seriously? And why aren't more people talking about it?
Disability Pride Month started with a parade in Boston, U.S., in 1990 to celebrate the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a law that prohibits the discrimination of disabled people in the U.S. There is an equivalent law in the UK, the Equality Act (2010). There was another parade in Boston in 1991 and the main event moved to Chicago, where the first parade was in 2004. New York City has held annual parades since 2015.
Parades, like the one held in NYC(Opens in a new tab), protests and other in-person events are unfortunately often inaccessible to many disabled people, especially in the wake of a global pandemic, which is partly why in recent years so many of us have turned to the internet to rally interest and share information.
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"I absolutely do not feel as if Disability Pride Month is celebrated here in the USA," says Dalyce Wilson (@black_bird_photo(Opens in a new tab)), a photographer living in California. "Even during [the current] Disability Pride Month, I personally have not seen the prioritization of centering us in policy change, in the media, or city planning to create more access and ease for us."
The lack of acknowledgement of Disability Pride Month and meaningful support for our community extends globally. Not only are national and local governments quiet, at last count, I noted just two major brands that have posted messages of solidarity for disabled people on their social media, one of which was Starbucks(Opens in a new tab), who vaguely stated that they are working with a non-profit supporting the Deaf community.
"I would love to see more brands talking about disability pride and more non-disabled people mentioning it too," said social media activist Disabled Eliza (@disabled_eliza(Opens in a new tab)). "A lot of people think it only includes LGBTQ+ people [because of the ‘pride’ connection] but that isn’t the case. It just isn’t spoken about enough!" Are people really confused about what Disability Pride represents — or is the feeling around it just one of indifference?
Content creator and model Shelby Lynch (@shelbykinsxo(Opens in a new tab)), said, "I feel like it's celebrated by the disabled community but nobody else really cares about it. 99 percent of brands don’t post about it or they won’t pay disabled people to make content."
With the popularity of social media used as a platform for social justice discourse, this year a number of disabled activists used their digital spaces to share what Disability Pride Month means to them in the hope that it will rally more support for our community.
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Dalyce said that to her disability pride means, "that anyone who is not able-bodied embraces their unique circumstances and embodies innovation to live their best life."
"This term ‘disability’ coupled with ‘pride’, is sometimes seen as oxymoronic by able-bodied people and that alone makes me even prouder to call myself disabled and proud [..] If it were not for my Diabetes, I would not be the advocate I am today," says Dalyce "I would not know how to be an ally to others. I simply would not be me."
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Eliza added, "[to me] it means, love, acceptance, protest, access, support, rebellion, fight, rights. It is a time for the community to come together to talk about being disabled and to share our experiences."
This term ‘disability’ coupled with ‘pride’, is sometimes seen as oxymoronic by able-bodied people and that alone makes me even prouder to call myself disabled and proud.
For me, this month is about disabled pride and so much more. It’s about expressing and celebrating our disabled joy. It’s a time to educate people about disability rights and history. It should also be an opportunity, at bare minimum, for disabled people who struggle to find employment to gain work they feel passionately about.
The lack of support for the disabled community through the pandemic, from the out of touch with reality governments to people in everyday society, has underlined how much progress needs to be made to get the world to actually notice, celebrate and fight for our rights and our freedom.
Are you feeling ready to join the fight for equity for disabled people in your country? Here’s some things you could do:
Follow disabled content creators on social media to keep abreast of the issues disabled people are facing
Look out for petitions, marches and events that support disabled people and our rights and attend if feasible, or share with others that might be interested
Tell your friends and family about things you’ve learned
Find out about local community organisations supporting disabled people and see how you could get involved
Write to your MP often to let them know about key issues disabled people in your community face
The majority of people become disabled at some point in their lives, either through old age, accident or the late onset of disability. Wouldn’t it be great, then, if we as a society embraced the disabled community a bit more? It feels at odds that we have to keep telling people to care about us in the hope that they will listen.
I hope next year we see a marked uptick in public interest in Disability Pride Month, but more than that, I hope we see more of an invested interest in improving socioeconomic conditions for disabled people around the world.
Comedians hilarious Trump impression compares Sex and the City with Gilmore Girls
Donald Trump's 60 Minutes interview drummed up major buzz last week when the president walked out of the interview early. Despite Trump subsequently posting "leaked" footage on his Facebook page(Opens in a new tab), CBS wasn't deterred from airing the combative conversation between Trump and journalist Lesley Stahl.
Comedian James Austin Johnson lampooned the footage, spending three minutes comparing characters on Sex in the City to those on Gilmore Girls, all while doing a damn good Trump impression.
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TRUMP DENIES BEING TEAM LOGAN, SAYS "JESS IS A CARRIE"(Opens in a new tab)
A post shared by James Austin Johnson(Opens in a new tab) (@shrimpjaj) on
This is far from Johnson's first time imitating the president. His IGTV is full of clips(Opens in a new tab) where Johnson-as-Trump comments on pop culture happenings like 100 Gecs and Weird Al. Johnson told Mashable over email that he's impersonated Trump on stage and on Instagram since 2015, so he's had time to fully develop his take.
"It's really fun when you're complaining about pop-culture stuff, really meaningless stuff that has almost no bearing on reality — when people tell me it's uncanny, I think that's what they're hearing, the unrehearsed speech pattern," said Johnson. He doesn't use a script when imitating Trump, instead opting to pick a meaningless pop culture attitude he holds in real life and relaying it on camera in Trump's voice.
"Even though I'm a comedian that does voices in his act all the time, I think that the rambling, frustrated complaining is as much a way to sound like the president as physically distorting my voice to sound like him," Johnson said.
He was inspired to film this video after watching a 60 Minutes clip on his phone while Gilmore Girls was playing in the background; the show is one that he and his wife have watched many times and sometimes put it on to fall asleep. Johnson noticed that Trump was filmed in a dark room with a harsh light highlighting his fake fan, and knew he could imitate it.
"It was at night with this hard light on my face and it just felt enough like the 60 Minutes interview that I just had to do it," he said. "It's fun to make those stupid videos. It gets me through this terrible time."
The video's subject matter came together after Johnson and his wife watched the clip and returned to Gilmore Girls. "My wife and I start talking about Lorelei's boyfriends on Gilmore Girls [and] it all just comes together," he recalled. "The Sex and the City comparisons are just another pop-culture element to help with the Trumpian word salad."
"The Sex and the City comparisons are just another pop-culture element to help with the Trumpian word salad."
In the video, Johnson's Trump goes through explaining the four SATC lead's roles in the show and then in true Trump fashion, changes the subject and pontificates about something else. Unlike Trump, however, Johnson's ramblings are funny: He transitions into talking about Luke, a character on Gilmore Girls, and his dating history.
A woman off-screen, a stand-in for Stahl, interrupts Johnson as he's going on about how Luke loves to date "Carries," to get to the real question: He says he's Team Logan (one of Rory's major boyfriends in the show — if you haven't watched Gilmore Girls, Logan is a hoity-toity rich boy she meets when she goes to Yale), but he cuts in to say he's actually Team Jess, another one of Rory's boyfriends who was the "sensitive bad boy" type and working class, unlike Logan.
The jumping around from topic to topic was purposeful on Johnson's part. He said he's watched videos of his rallies where he mixes two or three stories together in what Johnson called an "unhinged ramble."
"It seemed totally fitting to grab multiple different TV shows made for the same demographics and chop them all up into the word salad," he said.
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Johnson's Trump asserts that he's never been Team Logan and always Team Jess because Jess is a "pre-Luke." Then he launches into a diatribe about how Logan is a "pre-Chris" and therefore not good for Rory. Now, if you've never seen the show you'd be completely lost, so I'll catch you up: Chris is Rory's biological father, while Luke had been a consistent father figure throughout her life (and Luke eventually ends up with Rory's mother, Lorelai — which I'd say is a spoiler but the show ended over a decade ago, so don't come crying in my DMs).
Then, similarly to how it played out in real life, Johnson's interview goes off the rails when he insists that Jess is a Carrie and that Rory is a Charlotte, two comparisons that make an ounce of sense but are non-sequesters from the rest of the interview.
He then halts the interview like Trump did with Stahl. "You've got enough interview," Johnson said, "I think we're done."
Johnson said he'll be making Trump videos as long as people get a kick out of them. He compared Trump to Sonny in Adam Sandler's Big Daddy, saying he'll always be a fixture in our lives. "Even if he loses, which it seems is what he wants to happen," Johnson mused, "we will never forget him will we?"
QAnon figurehead Ron Watkins announces hes running for Congress
The U.S. House of Representatives already has two QAnon-believing Congress members: Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.
Will we soon see Q himself (allegedly) join them?
QAnon figurehead Ron Watkins officially announced that he is running for Congress as a Republican in Arizona on Thursday night in a bizarre video(Opens in a new tab) posted to his Telegram channel.
"I am here to formally announce my run for Congress in Arizona," Watkins declared, saying the inspiration(Opens in a new tab) came from a right-wing pastor who has previously promoted the idea of executing women who have abortions.
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Rumors had been spreading(Opens in a new tab) over the past few days when it was discovered(Opens in a new tab) that someone with Watkins' name and known email address registered a "statement of interest" in running for Arizona's first congressional district. The seat is currently held by Rep. Tom O'Halleran, a Democrat, who has been in office since 2016.
Ron Watkins had been living in Japan, but has recently(Opens in a new tab) been seen in Arizona with the Trump-endorsed candidate for governor, Kari Lake.
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Watkins was the subject of HBO's documentary series on QAnon, Q: Into the Storm. In the final episode of the series, documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback seemingly almost gets Watkins to admit that he was the anonymous figurehead of the QAnon conspiracy theory, whom so many of its believers followed.
QAnon began in October 2017 when an anonymous user posted using the name "Q" on the imageboard 4chan. These "drops" from Q, as they are called, formed the basis of this right-wing conspiracy: former-President Donald Trump is secretly waging a war against his political enemies in order to take down a global satanic child trafficking ring run by baby-eating Democrats and Hollywood elites.
By the end of 2017, Q had moved from 4chan to a competitor formerly known as 8chan, now 8kun. This website is run by Jim Watkins, Ron's father. Ron also worked as the administrator of 8kun.
In 2020, during the pandemic, QAnon conspiracy theories exploded online and spread on major platforms like Facebook. On Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, many QAnon believers were seen leading the charge.
Watkins, as himself, has even pushed conspiracy theories about election fraud and the presidency being stolen from Trump. (Note: There has been no proof of election fraud and the election was not stolen from Trump.)
While many now believe Ron Watkins is "Q" due to the HBO series and these various connections, it's still unconfirmed. However, Watkins almost assuredly was not the "Q" posting on 4chan, as studies and reports(Opens in a new tab) have confirmed.
While Ron Watkins would be the biggest QAnon name running for Congress, he's not alone. Media Matters for America has discovered(Opens in a new tab) that 45 people who are running for Congress in 2022 have "endorsed or given credence" to QAnon conspiracy theories.
Related video: How to know if you (or Donald Trump) violated the First Amendment
Does skim-watching videos on 2X speed hurt or help your brain?
As much as we might sometimes want to fast-forward life's more boring moments, that technology currently only exists in the form of a surprisingly tragic Adam Sandler movie(Opens in a new tab).
Not so with video.
Nowadays, the majority of video players — whether it's YouTube, Netflix, or a random training video or lecture — come with the option to watch the action at different speeds, typically allowing anything from "normal" up to "2X" or beyond.
But how many people actually use this playback feature? And if they do, does it really benefit them? We spoke to a number of people who like to watch videos at 2X, as well as an academic who's done research into the area, to find out.
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55-year-old PR agency head Joel Jelen has been watching videos on 2X for about 15 years now — and one type of video in particular.
"I watch a lot of sports videos at two times speed," Jelen told Mashable. "I started because I found that life is too short to watch the whole of a game of, for example, football."
Jelen said he started doing it as a break from work, and got into the habit that way.
"I actually find it very relaxing and a really good switch off as I’m having to use my head so much in business. I can't think of a negative I've ever experienced in watching football, rugby league, cricket, golf, athletics or basketball…my favourite sports to watch. I get to see all the highlights and action without spending hours and hours doing it!"
32-year-old video editor Riccardo Fusetti, meanwhile, has been watching a variety of sped-up content for the past two years as a means of saving time.
"I only watch videos that are 'exposition heavy' that are easy to follow and not very technical and where the visuals don't matter," he explained. "I also have to add that I rarely go to 2X, I most likely will go 1.5X."
Fusetti felt some of the content he was watching and listening to was being delivered quite slowly, hence the decision to opt for a faster playback speed — although he did admit that it probably doesn't help him absorb information.
I do 1.5x but I can get up to 2x
— Zuva Seven (@ZuvaSeven) May 24, 2022(Opens in a new tab)
26-year-old student and writer Zuva Seven told Mashable she watches YouTube videos, Netflix shows and lectures (where possible) on 1.5-2X speed, and has been doing so for around six months to a year.
"It was actually around the time I was pursuing my ADHD diagnosis," Seven said. "Something went viral about how listening to things at that pace is beneficial for neurodivergent people and I haven’t looked back since!"
Seven explained that her executive dysfunction is bad when she's bored, so speeding up the pace helps keep her interested.
"For recreation I’ve found it perfect for when I’m warning up at the gym," she said. "Especially if I’m watching something while I run, I need the pace to match me. For entertainment it depends on my mood. I’ve found with Japanese TV shows I tend to up the speed due to their pacing being slower. I only do this when I’m bingeing shows (after a couple of episodes I need a change of pace)."
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She added that if she could play Netflix faster than 2X she would, and that if she's high she needs to watch things at 2X speed "at least."
"People call you weird online, but it’s what helps me keep on track with work and stay engaged," Seven said. "It's like having subtitles for TV shows (something I do too), it makes things better when I need it."
Clearly, there are a lot of people out there that regularly consume content at faster speeds. But as Fusetti mentioned, does it ever affect the way we absorb information? Can we take in as much at double the speed as we can at the "normal" playback rate?
"I think people forget that other people’s brains work differently."
Dillon H. Murphy, a doctoral student in cognitive psychology at the University of California, carried out research into this area for a 2021 paper, Learning in double time: The effect of lecture video speed on immediate and delayed comprehension(Opens in a new tab), after observing that a number of his students watched lecture material this way. The study involved over 200 students watching the same law and history videos at different speeds, before taking comprehension tests in order to gauge how well they'd absorbed the information.
The result? Students watching at faster speeds, including those watching at 2X, performed just as well in the tests as those watching at normal speeds.
"I was surprised at how effective students are at learning at 2X and even 2.5X speed," Murphy told Mashable. "Our results demonstrated that students are good learners and can remember information even in circumstances that conventional wisdom suggests should be bad for learning. Given students' resiliency to faster playback speeds, I was encouraged that students could potentially use this strategy to enhance their comprehension."
Not everybody absorbs information in the same way. What's normal for one person might even be uncomfortable for somebody else.
For anyone who's only used faster playback as a means of skipping forward in a video, the idea of watching something at 2X may seem strange. But as Seven emphasised to Mashable, not everybody absorbs information in the same way. What's normal for one person might even be uncomfortable for somebody else.
"I think people forget that other people’s brains work differently," she said. "What other people perceive as normal, is actually almost painfully slow for others. So it’s about getting a person to their normal. It's only weird if you don’t see it that way."
10 best people to follow if you want to learn how to be a farmer
If you've recently fantasized about quitting your desk job and living on a farm, you're not alone. Farming has growing appeal(Opens in a new tab).
The new generation of farmers aren't just socially and environmentally conscious, they're social media savvy(Opens in a new tab), and the online world seems to have an insatiable hunger for the kind of romanticized farm life content these influencers are offering up.
Whether you're seriously thinking about becoming a farmer, or just looking for a quick agrarian escape on your phone, these modern farmers are serving up the content you crave.
Hot tip: If you want to spend more time with plants and nature, but don't want to overhaul your entire life by starting a farm, might we suggest a foray into gardening instead.
Tyler Froberg (@farmer.froberg(Opens in a new tab))
Proving that that tradition and modernity don't always clash, fourth generation farmer Tyler Froberg is also a TikTok natural. In between farming tips and deep-dives on crops like okra and jicama, Froberg spoofs the wholesome farmer trope in videos about growing jelly beans and candy peanuts.
FYI jelly beans don't actually come from the ground.Credit: tiktok / farmer.froberg
Farmer Melody (@farmermelody(Opens in a new tab))
Ten years ago, Melody's family bought a 34 acre farm and started a new life in regenerative agriculture. Today, Melody hopes to inspire and educate people about sustainable farming practices through videos that demonstrate more humane conditions for their pigs and chickens.
Leah Penniman (@leahpenniman(Opens in a new tab))
Leah Penniman is the co-founder and director of Soul Fire, a farm in New York state dedicated to "uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system." Penniman and her organization do this by using regenerative farming practices, training BIPOC "farmer-activists," and building urban gardens in the area.
Soul Fire is community farming at its best.Credit: instagram / @leahpenniman
Hannah Jackson (@theredshepherdess(Opens in a new tab))
Raised in the city of Wirral, England, Hannah Jackson fell in love with farm life when she saw a lamb being born. And now she is defying the assumptions of the male-dominated shepherding industry with her bright red hair, and just you know, the fact that she's a woman. Also, you will be amazed at the antics she and her team of border collies get up to.
Hannah Neeleman (@ballerinafarm(Opens in a new tab))
As a mother of six, Juilliard-trained ballerina, 2021 Mrs. Utah, and now—along with her husband—the proprietor of a pig farm, it's safe to say that Hannah Neeleman is an overachiever. Follow along with this endearing family for the farmlife fantasy of your Instagram dreams.
Vermont-based farmer Morgan Shaw gives you the fully immersive farm experience by attaching tiny cameras, POV-style to various fowl. He also gives them awesome names like a rooster named "Alexander Hamilhen" and a barn cat named "Pablo Escobarn." What's not to love?
Niki Irving (@flourishflowerfarm(Opens in a new tab))
For the visuals alone, Niki Irving's Instagram is worth following. Her page is a vibrant display of colorful blooms sprinkled with dew. Irving, who runs the flower farm with her husband, also offers workshops about farming and floral arrangement.
It's hard not to smile when this shows up on your feed.Credit: instagram / @flourishflowerfarm
Brian Brigantti (@redleafranch(Opens in a new tab))
In March 2020 photographer Brian Brigantti, and his partner Domonick Gravine, left city life behind and haven't looked back. They moved to a homestead in Tennessee, where Brigantti documents their new life, and serves as an inspiration to young farmers(Opens in a new tab).
We love following Brigantti's journey into farming.Credit: tiktok / @redleafranch
Justin Rhodes (@thejustinrhodesshow(Opens in a new tab))
Permaculturalist, author, and teacher, Justin Rhodes shares resources about permaculture as well as his family's own experience of living on a farm in North Carolina. Particularly compelling is his video series documenting how much food they can grow in 100 days.
Angelique Taylor and David "Kip" Ritchey (@smarterbynature(Opens in a new tab))
After attending a climate march in 2015 Angelique Taylor and Kip Ritchey started thinking about restoring food systems where they live in Florida. Now they own a regenerative farm that sells produce through farmer's markets and directly to local restaurants. One of the best parts of their content is watching how they farm using only hand tools—which means no machinery. My back is aching just looking at them.
Taylor and Ritchey are dedicated to bringing fresh produce to their local communityCredit: instagram / @smarterbynature
13 best tweets of the week, including Dame Judi Dench, blackberries, and the Big Purchase
We're inching toward the summer, the CDC says masks might soon(Opens in a new tab) be a thing of the past for the vaxxed, and it's FRIDAY.
What a week. Another one down. We did it, Joe(Opens in a new tab).
To celebrate the end of another week, we collected some of our favorite funny tweets from the last seven days. So here they are for you to enjoy as you head into the weekend.
1. Damn, you hate to see it
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2. The whole pub IS loving it
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3. Finally have a retirement plan
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4. Frankly, Whop is a great name
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5. Wow. Beautiful.
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6. I've been saying(Opens in a new tab) that a good blackberry is a game changer
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7. Perfect
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8. Not my responsibility
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9. If I've learned anything it is that the Big Purchase will fix it. It always does. Foolproof method for happiness that has no after effects at all.
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10. Obligatory dril tweet
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11. Fiesta forever, baby
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12. Bennifer back together
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13. And, finally, beavers really do their thing, don't they?
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"I never had any children. I used to want kids...for like five seconds. And I'm so glad I never did it," says Samantha Osborne(Opens in a new tab), an activist and comedian, in a recent TikTok. "I love my nieces, I love my nephew, I love kids, I really do. But I don't want to be a mother."
Osbourne goes on to say that her choice is "OK", just as the choice to have children is OK. She is one of the many women who have turned to TikTok to voice their decision to be voluntarily childfree. Some do hilarious impressions of being the carefree, single aunt (a classic trope). Some take viewers through the many unsolicited questions and comments they get from nosy bystanders ("who will take care of you when you're older?"). Others, like Osbourne, merge both into a larger conversation about societal pressures and expectations placed onto women to reproduce.
Hashtags like #childfreetok, #childfreebychoice, and #nothavingkids have been around on TikTok for a while, but have gained far more popularity and traction in the past year. All of these subcategories fall under #childfree, a snowballing TikTok genre that has over 162 million views.
@danahbananaa(Opens in a new tab)
This is ONLY for the weirdos that shame women for choosing not to have children. 😇
♬ original sound - DanahBananaa(Opens in a new tab)
The term "childfree" is a welcome substitute for the traditionally-used "childless"(Opens in a new tab), which inadvertently implies something that is lacking or a loss. "Childless" aligns with a well-worn expectation of society: that a woman is made to have children, a prescribed gender norm that prioritizes duty over desire. Feminist Adrienne Rich's idea of compulsory heterosexuality or "comphet"(Opens in a new tab) comes into play here. Comphet has found fuel through virtual queer and gendered spaces; the term refers to how heterosexuality is not a natural desire in women but is, instead, learned. According to Rich, this gives way to women fulfilling gender roles that have them serving men, whether sexually, domestically, or emotionally. This concept can be applied to gender today, where roles have been decided years ago and therefore must continue to be fulfilled. For example, in some cultures, there is an embedded notion(Opens in a new tab) that motherhood will occur and this assumption can be hard to fight.
This brings us to a fundamental point: women choosing not to have children is a layered subject in itself. This differs from the decision to single-parent by choice or to have children through IVF or surrogates. As TikTokers have pointed out, many of them are currently in relationships but simply don't want to have children. The reasons are incredibly personal and oftentimes complicated.
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Some say that the coronavirus pandemic egged on the childfree phenomenon(Opens in a new tab) because it unveiled two things: it gave people time to reflect and reconsider their personal preferences and it also revealed the realities of healthcare systems around the world. A study by the Guttmacher Institute(Opens in a new tab) found that the pandemic changed fertility plans for women, with access to contraception and attitudes to contraception shifting. For example, one-third of the women participating in the study said that they became more careful about using contraception over the course of the pandemic. The study also linked the pandemic to exacerbating social inequalities, with the pandemic disproportionately affecting Hispanic, Black, queer, and women of a lower socioeconomic background. They have reported barriers to more timely care, for instance. Black and Hispanic women reported higher intentions of using contraception because of the pandemic and the interconnected concerns to accessible healthcare and financial considerations.
Credit: Screenshot: @itssisi.official (tiktok)
In May 2021, data collected for over a year from the start of the pandemic, indicated that there has been a significant drop in fertility in both the United States and worldwide. According to the Pew Research Center(Opens in a new tab), this plummet is in direct correlation to the pandemic. In the U.S., the birth rate had already dropped 4 percent in 2020. Take California, the country's most populated state. There, a 10.2 percent decline in the birth rate(Opens in a new tab) was reported in December 2020, as compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the UK is allegedly facing a "baby shortage"(Opens in a new tab), according to the Social Market Foundation(Opens in a new tab). The think-tank examined the total fertility rate (or number of children per woman) across England and Wales, comparing current statistics to the UK's peak baby boom post World War II. Their projections showed that a recent decline in birthrates, along with an ageing population, are leading to this shortage.
Motherhood also requires an immense support system, a fact that the Guttmacher Institute also pointed out. If women in the UK, for instance, were provided with "greater parental leave entitlement and cheaper childcare", the likelihood of choosing to be mothers could increase. The UK has been found to be "failing" on childcare(Opens in a new tab), with thousands of working parents saying that the government has not provided adequate, well-priced support for families. Social support, from friends and family, is also vital for a positive experience of positive motherhood. A 2017 study by Science Daily(Opens in a new tab) found that a social support network continues to be important for mothers of teenagers, not just in early childbirth.
A CNN report(Opens in a new tab) from August cited various other factors that are contributing to women deciding not to have kids, including "economic insecurity, political uncertainty, shifting gender norms, and a lessening stigma."
But the latter continues to prevail: women and people of other genders who choose not to have children face varying degrees of stigma when they express their desires to be childfree(Opens in a new tab). A stray from the prescribed path of motherhood leads to some form of stigmatization.
This is likely where TikTok has come in — to fight the inevitable influx of external voices. TikTokers who are speaking out on the subject are attempting to normalize their personal reasons as to why they don't want children.
@sherdesleona(Opens in a new tab)
So tell me why you’re not gonna have kids 🙇🏾♀️#therapytiktok(Opens in a new tab) #ThatCloseMessenger(Opens in a new tab) #fyp(Opens in a new tab)
♬ original sound - Sherdes Leona(Opens in a new tab)
Abigail Coughlan and Megan Grace-Hughes co-run a podcast, The Dick Effect(Opens in a new tab), which aims to decode and dissect the language society uses. They regularly post their content onto TikTok. In a series of videos last week, they spoke about the various connotations of choosing to be childfree. They also examined the dangerous rhetoric surrounding childfree women, such as being labelled as "selfish". Coughlan tells Mashable that she chose the subject in the midst of grappling with the idea of herself.
"I'm personally trying to establish whether that is something that I want or not. And in having honest conversations with Megan I realised that we often convince ourselves that we want something or we behave in a certain way just to line up with societal expectations rather than our own desires," she says.
"When I was younger, I assumed I would have children. Now I am 38, a graduate student and not a mother. I've worried about biological clocks, finances, fertility but never about what I personally want," Coughlan continues. "My partner doesn't want children and finally I am coming to a place where I realise it's not something I ever felt a pull towards, it was an assumption I made based on being a woman that I would just have them."
@the.d.effect(Opens in a new tab)
She has a choice ##coersive(Opens in a new tab) ##women(Opens in a new tab) ##nothavingkids(Opens in a new tab) ##whenareyouhavingkids(Opens in a new tab) ##truth(Opens in a new tab) ##honesty(Opens in a new tab) ##womensrights(Opens in a new tab) ##mybodymychoice(Opens in a new tab) ##foryou(Opens in a new tab)
♬ original sound - The D Effect(Opens in a new tab)
Osbourne also turned to TikTok to express her frustrations(Opens in a new tab) on society's overwhelming reaction to someone being childfree by choice. The reactions she's faced from people for her own decision prompted her to speak out.
"I think it is important for women to know they have choices, even though society pushes us to be mothers. I'm 33 with no children on purpose but when the doctor asked me if I was sure I wanted a hysterectomy — instead of having a fibroid removed so I could potentially have children in the future — I said 'please give me the hysterectomy!'," she tells Mashable. "He was shocked and asked if I was sure. Why is it so shocking that a woman doesn't want to be a mother? Those reactions are why I speak up about this topic more than some others."
Coughlan similarly expressed the importance of having such conversations openly, with TikTok being a prime spot for this open communication.
"I think these conversations are happening more, because platforms like TikTok are allowing people to find commonality and allowing people to express themselves without too much concern for traditional societal expectations," she says.
The members of #childfree TikTok are emphasizing the ability to have a choice and freedom, but to execute these decisions without society's punishment. This means undertaking choices without the unsolicited opinions of others who want to impose their personal value system on childfree people.
Being #childfree is a woman's right and personal decision, just as choosing motherhood is.
"I believe women are often stigmatized for not having children because we're still often and mainly viewed as a 'reproducers' even though we’re so much more than our ability to have children or not," says Sisi Hinley, a model, author, and TikToker.
"Society feels like it must change your mind, because you are after all a woman," says Coughlan. "I've realised as I've gotten older, that I am allowed to make these decisions of my own free will."
Their ultimate message is this: being #childfree is a woman's right and personal decision, just as choosing motherhood is. It's time for society to pay attention to the reasons behind this choice, without judgement.
An exhaustive guide to the scandovalous Vanderpump Rules drama
How do we explain the #Scandoval? In basic terms: A reality star from the Bravo show Vanderpump Rules, Tom Sandoval, allegedly cheated on his longtime girlfriend, Ariana Madix, who is also on the show, with yet another Vanderpump star, Raquel Leviss, who is the ex-fiancée of fellow Pump star, James Kennedy.
But that very convoluted sentence is the equivalent of saying JFK was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald, end of story. There is so much more. A hilarious amount more. A truly daunting amount more, which I will do my absolute best to lay out in this article. It is a story ripe with theories floated by internet sleuths, complicated webs of romantic overlap, and the deeply weird history of a reality show that's been running for a decade.
Here's my best attempt at breaking this entire thing down into some kind of discernible bit of text. But before we get to the (alleged) cheating, its history, and the theories, we need to go over some facts.
The show
Vanderpump began as a Real Housewives spinoff of sorts. Scheana Shay, a castmember, worked at SUR, the Los Angeles restaurant owned by Real Housewives of Beverly Hill star Lisa Vanderpump. Shay unknowingly had an affair with the husband of another housewife. That drama helped birth Vanderpump Rules, which initially traced the lives and drama of the wannabe actors/models/etc. who worked at SUR. A decade and a few cast members later, the show now follows a mishmosh of people who work at SUR and those who don't.
Basically, the show created micro-celebrities (also known as Bravolebrities) out of its cast — so now it's just a show that follows those people.
The key #Scandoval players
OK, let's meet the people. Other cast members will inevitably come up, but these are the four major players in this scandal.
Tom Sandoval
Sandoval is a longtime cast member of Vanderpump Rules. He's been there since the beginning. He fancies himself a Renaissance man of sorts: a model, actor, and musician, and not much good at any of those things. He was previously in a relationship with former cast member Kristen Doute, who had alleged (without proof) that Sandoval cheated on her with Madix.
Ariana Madix
Madix joined the cast in Season 2. Her and Sandoval have been partners for years, own a house together, and repeatedly stated they were life partners despite not wanting marriage.
Raquel Leviss
Leviss joined the cast in Season 5. She was dating cast member James Kennedy, a self-styled DJ. They got engaged before calling it quits last year.
Tom Schwartz
Schwartz is Sandoval's bestie. He was married to cast member Katie Maloney before a very public divorce last year. Schwartz is the more laid-back, man-child of the Tom duo. Together they opened the bar TomTom(Opens in a new tab) under the guidance of Lisa Vanderpump before striking out on their own with another bar called Schwartz & Sandy's(Opens in a new tab).
The scandal
OK, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this thing.
This season of the Vanderpump Rules has been all about relationship struggles, primarily the divorce of beloved cast members Schwartz and Maloney. And, let's not forget, Leviss and Kennedy had called off an engagement — and the hot-headed DJ had already moved on with a new girlfriend.
Amid all that, there were rumors that Schwartz and Leviss had made out at Coachella. To make things worse, Leviss kept sort of...openly flirting with Schwartz. Keep in mind: She's ostensibly friends with Maloney and Madix, so all of this public flirting crossed several girl codes. The most recent episode that aired this week showed Leviss admitting to Maloney(Opens in a new tab) that she had floated the idea of making out to Schwartz.
Come to find out, the public discovers that no, no, no it wasn't that Tom who was cozy with Leviss. It was none other than Sandoval, you know the one still in a longterm relationship. TMZ first broke the news(Opens in a new tab) that Sandoval and Leviss were engaged in an affair and that Madix apparently found(Opens in a new tab) explicit messages and videos proving such. Soon enough, incremental details of the affair and breakup flooded the pages of TMZ, Page Six, Reddit, and pretty much everywhere else online. There are lots of smaller details to go over later but the biggest thing: This was reportedly not a one-off cheating incident. A source told People(Opens in a new tab)that the affair had been going on for at least six months.
Vanderpump is a show basically built on infidelity — the history there is so deep we do not have the time — but this incident comes amid a downturn in popularity for the show that once headlined Bravo's non-Housewives offerings. It's also the kind of cheating scandal the show hasn't really seen: It's an affair within the group dealing with a couple — Sandoval and Madix — who had planned to spend their lives together. Madix was even seen supporting his band at a gig as recently as last Wednesday.
"This is someone [Madix] thought she knew; someone she planned to spend the rest of her life with. You can't even put into words that betrayal," People quoted(Opens in a new tab) a source,
Eventually, Sandoval all but confirmed the affair. In an Instagram post he said he understood the anger directed at him — nearly all fans are firmly on Madix's side — but that to please leave his bar Schwartz & Sandy's out of it, which had been flooded with bad reviews on platforms like Yelp and Google.
Noticeably absent from the initial statement: Madix, who apparently noticed(Opens in a new tab) that herself. Sandoval finally addressed her in a statement in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
He wrote(Opens in a new tab), in part:
"I want to first and foremost apologize to everyone I've hurt through this process. Most of all, I want to apologize to Ariana. I made mistakes, I was selfish, and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love. No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly. I can only imagine how devastating this has been for Ariana and everyone around us. I feel really horrible about that. My biggest regret is that I dishonored Ariana. I never meant to disappoint so many people, including our loving families and friends."
On Wednesday, we finally got some confirmation and an apology from Leviss herself.
"I want to apologize for my actions and my choices foremost to Ariana, and to my friends and the fans so invested in our relationships. There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I must own my actions and I deeply regret hurting Ariana," Leviss told Entertainment Tonight(Opens in a new tab).
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Those are the broad strokes of the #Scandoval, but there's so much more. Because as with any other juicy news, the internet sleuths are on the case.
The theories, the gossip, and all the rest
So now that we know the basics of the scandal, let's get to the juice. To be frank, there is a 0.0 percent chance I could include every bit of gossip about this situation because it is infinite. If you're not a Bravo person, you won't get it, but the network and its shows inspire a certain kind of fandom. The fervor surrounding this is affair has been rabid and people have been hard at work uncovering every last breadcrumb on the internet.
Let's dig into a few of the theories, bits of gossip, and other tidbits circulating around the #Scandoval. Because it's easy to believe this affair was imminently obvious if you knew where to look.
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The matching necklaces
The good folks on Reddit(Opens in a new tab) — where else — noted soon after the news breaking that both Sandoval and Leviss had frequently worn lightning bolt necklaces lately. This was backed up — or, let's be real, maybe reverse-engineered — with a post on Reddit(Opens in a new tab) from someone claiming to be a friend of Raquel. These sorts of stories get spread like wildfire by Bravo fan accounts online, which are basically treating this affair like Watergate.
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Now, of course a lot of these details are to be taken with a huge grain of salt. For instance, that random account claiming to be Leviss's pal stated that Leviss would stay the night at Sandoval and Madix's home, carrying out the affair right under the couple's roof. It also claimed Sandoval has been putting off the breakup for months. Yet, the sourcing comes down to "trust me, bro." Some of this could be true, but it's there's no way to tell.
The Tom of it all
The Toms are inseparable. Naturally, some folks have wondered if Schwartz was covering — knowingly or not — for Sandoval's mess. After all, it's quite strange the Leviss was so obviously pursuing Schwartz on camera and even playing along in press interviews at the opening of Schwartz & Sandy's. People have even floated the idea that Sandoval was the Tom spotted making out with Leviss at Coachella and that Schwartz was a convenient fall guy.
This would be interesting, considering the drama playing out in the season currently airing. Leviss effectively wiggled out of drama in last week's episode because Maloney believe she wasn't smart enough to plan an affair with Schwartz. Maloney believed Leviss got the idea put in her head and that she couldn't pull off being the villian.
"Raquel is not smart enough to come up with something this diabolical on her own," Maloney said in the episode. "She's literally the human equivalent of cotton candy."
Perhaps not so much.
Halloween and hoodies
I swear it's like Sandoval and Leviss wanted people to know something was up. First of all, Leviss wore a TomTom hoodie onstage at last year's BravoCon(Opens in a new tab), and interesting choice for an event where the cast members typically get glammed up. At the time, people speculated this was a shot at Maloney and her apparent interest in Schwartz. Now, with the Sandoval affair out, it could be read differently.
Not to be outdone, when Halloween rolled around, Sandoval dressed as Leviss. He donned a wig to match her hair and the very same TomTom hoodie(Opens in a new tab).
The cast chooses sides
Spoiler alert: Pretty much everyone has sided with Madix. Kennedy, a friend of Sandoval and typically cast as the villain in his relationship with Leviss, has been taking a victory lap(Opens in a new tab). All the women in the cast, especially, have rallied around Madix(Opens in a new tab). They've been spotted going to her house, wine in hand, while Shay has posted(Opens in a new tab) videos of her dancing and singing with Madix, apparently taken at a concert.
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Watch What Happens Live drama
So much drama in the Bravo-verse traces back to Watch What Happens Live, the late-night show hosted by Andy Cohen, the brains behind everything Bravo. Unconfirmed rumors have suggested Shay — who is tight with Madix — may have physically confronted Leviss last Wednesday after they both appeared on the late-night show. That would align with the rumored timeline of the scandal breaking — that Madix discovered the apparent affair after Sandoval performed with his band. There has been no confirmation a confrontation occurred but US Weekly reported(Opens in a new tab) that Leviss has filed a restraining order against Shay.
Again, the physical altercation is just a rumor, but Shay did like a tweet(Opens in a new tab) that said, "If what they are saying @scheana did after WWHL is true she is the ULTIMATE RIDE OR DIE friend."
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The statement from Leviss also indicated some incident may have occurred, but, again, nothing has been confirmed and Shay's name wasn't mentioned.
"Although I chose to be on a reality show accepting the good and bad that comes with it, beyond my own actions I have been physically assaulted, lost friendships, received death threats and hate emails in addition to having had my privacy violated," Leviss told(Opens in a new tab) ET in a statement.
"Send it to Daryl"
Lawyers, of course, have already gotten involved. Leviss's attorney has reportedly contacted cast members to warn them not to share any intimate videos involving Leviss and Sandoval, claiming it was filmed without her consent and subject to revenge porn laws.
Cast member Lala Kent, who famously once called Leviss a "Bambi-eyed bitch,(Opens in a new tab)" wasn't pleased that the lawyer contacted her directly. She brought up her own lawyer by name in a phrasing that is sure to last the test of time.
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"Raquel: Tell your little Mickey Mouse lawyer that if he has stuff to send over, he can send things to my lawyer. Same with the rest of my friends and cast, alright?" she said(Opens in a new tab) in a video posted to Instagram.
"I don't know if you know how this works, I know you’re pretty brand new to the game. Didn't last long — look what you did with your fucking 15 minutes. You have something to send over, you can send it to my lawyer," she added. "I don't want to see that ever. Send it to DARYL!" (There is, of course, now "send it to Daryl(Opens in a new tab)" merch.)
So what now?
What now, indeed. For one, the tenth season of Vanderpump Rules is still freaking airing. The apparent affair is playing out in real time, and we'll be able to watch the upcoming episodes knowing information the cast members — aside from Leviss and Sandoval, apparently — are without. When the news broke, Bravo fired up the cameras to, one assumes, get reactions from the cast. We'll get some kind of response to the scandal this season, which is a rarity for a reality show. Until then, folks will be pouring over the episodes like the Zapruder film to suss out new theories.
Cohen said on his radio show(Opens in a new tab) that it's his understanding Sandoval and Leviss are still seeing one another. Sandoval has been spotted(Opens in a new tab) visiting her apartment, so that adds up.
In a show basically built on cheating — we didn't even touch on scandals involving former iconic cast members like Jax, Stassi, and others — this is the scandal that beats them all. The show, which had struggled to find its footing amid cast turnover, is now must-see TV. Get your popcorn and outrage ready.
