After five seasons of SNL not really knowing what to do with her, Leslie Jones is moving on and won’t be returning for season 45 next month. During her time on the show, she was nominated for two Emmys and was consistently the best part of Weekend Update, but they never found a way to really integra…

This is the first time I’ve ever looked up Beth Ditto’s background and I really had no idea. Ditto grew up poor in Arkansas, she’s 38 years old and she’s currently moving back and forth between music and acting. Beth was interviewed by the Independent to promote her role in the new series On Becoming a God in Central Florida with Kirsten Dunst. I read a recent interview with Dunst where she talked about how she asked for Ditto to be cast specifically. Unbeknownst to me, Beth Ditto was briefly married to Kristin Ogata in 2013, and they split in 2018. Now Ditto is in a relationship with a transgender man named Ted Kwo. Ditto has always been an out-and-proud queer woman and she’s always talked about queer issues. This is background because she talks about LGBTQ issues and being an artist who appeals to LGBTQ fans. Some highlights from this interview:

On fat-positivity: “I feel proud that I got to represent this very DIY – not just body positivity, but fat positivity – momen. It’s such a thing now – Lizzo is everywhere, she had a full page in Vogue… I’ve been half-naked and wearing whatever I wanted forever, so it was always surprising when people were surprised.”

When she first started dating Ted Kwo: When Ditto first revealed they were dating, she said that Kwo had urged her to consider how she might be treated differently if people perceived her as a straight woman. “Straight privilege is wild. It’s very interesting, being treated completely differently in public is something I hadn’t experienced since high school. I’m really proud of Teddy because he’s an openly trans man who talks about his experience.”

On gay stan culture & whether gay men can be misogynistic: “It’s a really difficult place right now, to be queer. I know those gay men and they can be really possessive. Male privilege can come into play, but there was much suffering in their childhoods, and these artists saved them. It was a secret world for a lot of gay people – like for me I thought Cyndi Lauper was my real sister because she made so much sense to me. I saw myself in her, and I really attached myself to this idea of her.” It’s a long conversation, she concedes, because of the risk of being misunderstood and her own reluctance to exclude anyone. “There’s so much bulls*** going on in queer culture that right now [the debate about misogyny in gay stan culture] doesn’t mean that much to me.”

She’s bothered by the “pink pound”: The “pink pound” is “a whole market deliberately aimed at gay men to take their money…That’s what Taylor Swift did,” she says, aiming straight for the single “You Need to Calm Down”, with its “shade never made anybody less gay” sentiments. “I was like, great anthem… straight white girl? Cool, thanks. Released just in time for Pride! I wonder where the proceeds are going for that, you know? That’s the thing that bothers me about it.”

When Ditto is told that Swift donated $113,000 to a charity to help fight anti-LGBT+ bills in Tennessee: “She did? She is doing that? Good, she should! Especially if you’re releasing a song like that. That makes me happy, I’m glad she’s doing that.”

[From The Independent]

“I was like, great anthem… straight white girl? Cool, thanks. Released just in time for Pride! I wonder where the proceeds are going for that, you know?” Yep. I like that Ditto wasn’t afraid to name-check Taylor Swift, but to be fair, Swift was the most blatant example of this. Other straight artists do this all the time. But it’s a fine line between being a straight woman who appeals to the LGBTQ community versus someone like Swift, who is a relative Johnny-Come-Lately bangwagoner to all of these progressive causes, and then tries to create her own LGBTQ anthem. Plus that song is terrible.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I was never an obsessive fan of The Hills but even I know enough about The Hills to remember arguably its most well-known moment:

“You know what you did!”

That’s Lauren Conrad accusing Heidi Montag of rumouring that there was a sex tape of LC and Jason. Everyone I know was throwi…

There’s one thing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have done which the Sussexes will have to play catch-up. For years now, the Cambridges have been carefully curating their image as a perfectly normal, middle-class family. Of course there have been times where that image has blown up in their faces, but they still keep on with it. It’s their branding. It’s the whole reason why William loves the Middleton family – they help him cosplay his idea of a “middle class” life. Harry and Meghan have been repeatedly bashed and smeared as “too jet-set” or “too Hollywood” or “too elitist,” because apparently British people don’t like to be reminded that there’s a monarchy and the Queen literally owns a gold piano. So, the Sussexes have some work to do on their image, and on their couple-branding. So they decided to go down to a local pub for some pints and a Sunday roast.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle answered critics of their jet-set lifestyle — by having a roast dinner down the pub. The royal couple tucked into a £15 lunch at the boozer with three-month-old Archie in a cot beside them. Harry, 34, washed his down with a couple of pints of beer while Meghan, 38, appeared to stick to water during their two-hour stay.

They sat inside unnoticed while other diners soaked up the sun on Sunday at The Rose & Crown in Winkfield village in Berkshire. It was in contrast to the global warming campaigning couple’s recent holiday jaunts to Ibiza and the South of France on gas-guzzling private jets.

The Sussexes — watched by two protection officers — were spotted by a businessman, 53, and his girlfriend. He said: “They were on a table with, I presume, a private secretary. Meghan was cradling Archie most of the time. The little lad was as good as gold, I didn’t hear him cry once while he was there. No other customers recognised them. The staff clearly knew who they were but kept the service low-key. They did indicate to me they had been there before. They just chatted away like any normal couple and were laughing a lot. After the controversy they have been attracting they were getting their feet back on the ground with pub grub like millions of ordinary folk – and it was nice to see.”

[From The Sun]

After that little stunt was over, I bet Harry and Meghan were driven back to their high-tech haven, Frogmore Cottage, where they slipped into golden slippers and reviewed the horrors of having to interact with peasants! Seriously, that’s the image the British papers want people to have of the Sussexes. Like Meghan and Harry haven’t actually lived in the world and existed with regular people before. Anyway, The Sun published the pub’s menu and so much of it looks delicious. Has anyone been to this pub, the Rose & Crown? Is that pork sirloin good? Because it sounds good.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid and Avalon Red.

I guess I’m going to say some nice things about Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott? Here we go… I think they adore their baby Stormi. I love the way that Travis seems obsessed with his little family. He seems very proud of Kylie and Stormi, and he seems to love showing them off too. It’s all sort of… sweet? These are photos from the premiere event for Netflix’s Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly. It’s a documentary about Travis working on Astroworld (the album) all while juggling fatherhood and partnerhood and navigating fame and all of that. Little surprise that Travis would agree to this kind of documentary – Kylie probably showed him how easily he can curate the narratives around him through a “documentary” style.

At the premiere, Kylie and Travis pulled out all the stops. Kylie posed separately so everyone could get the angles on her dress. Then she and Travis posed together in a way I’m sure they rehearsed (they’re honestly so cute and try-hard). Then Kylie brought out Stormi for photos and Travis couldn’t keep his eyes off his daughter. I’ve heard Travis say in interviews that he wants to be an empire, that he has big goals for his life and career. I feel like Kylie is a big part of that too – like, he understands that they raise each other’s profiles. He seems really proud of the fact that Kylie has her own empire too.

Also: TMZ is reporting that Kylie was in Las Vegas this past weekend and that she ran into her ex, Tyga. They were both at the Sapphire Club as part of the big bash for Sofia Richie’s 21st birthday. Apparently, there was no drama. But Travis was not there.

Here’s the trailer for Look Mom I Can Fly:

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

I want to vouch for these dog poop bags that we featured a few weeks ago. I bought some in a little plastic holder at the local pet store and they’re so much better than the bags I was using! They’re lightly scented but not perfumey and cover up the smell well. Plus they’re thicker and bigger than normal poo bags and so much easier to use. You don’t need to double bag at all. I will definitely buy them when I get my own dog. (I’m just pet sitting a sweet border collie as I keep mentioning. I’ll miss her.)

A large capacity bagless vacuum that’s mid-priced

I need a new vacuum as mine gave up the ghost after about five years. I had a Bissell Powerglide Pet bagless. It stopped sucking up hair and it stopped rotating, but it was great while it lasted. I do not want to splurge on a Dyson (I hate how much hype they get) and am looking for something less expensive. This lightweight bagless vacuum by Shark is the number 3 bestseller in upright vacuum cleaners on Amazon. It has 4.3 stars, over 2,000 reviews and an A from Fakespot. Reviewers call it “easy to clean” and “not super bulky,” praise how much dirt and hair it picks up and say it’s “an incredible vacuum” for the price. I looked at so many vacuums before finding this one and it’s probably the one I’m choosing. I’m not really motivated to buy a new vacuum though, you know?

A single serve smoothie blender that can crush ice

Commenter Shoo Chai asked in our last post for a single serve smoothie blender that’s powerful enough to blend frozen fruit. The 700 watt Ninja personal blender comes with two 16 ounce cups for blending and two spout lids for make and go drinks. It has over 800 reviews, 4.6 stars and an A from Fakespot. Users say it “makes a great smoothie” and is “the most thorough blender I have ever used for smoothies.” I do not think it’s as quiet as Shoo was hoping for.

A vacuum insulated bottle that stays hot or cold for days

My kid wanted this expensive insulated bottle because they’re popular at his school. I was skeptical, but he left it at his friend’s house around dinnertime, got it back the next morning at school and it was still cold! This bottle by Hydroflask is the number one bestseller in water bottles. It comes in five different colors and in so many different sizes so you can stay hydrated all day. This is the version with the top which has its own straw. There’s also a wide mouth version and one with a flip top. This would be great for school, traveling or camping. Yes it’s a status symbol bottle as the top review admits. That person also writes that he feels “compelled to drink more water” now that he owns this. Other people write that it’s the “best water bottle I have ever owned” and say it “keeps ice in it for days.” Here’s a link to a more affordable, smaller 12 ounce version from Thermos.

Women’s jelly flats bring nostalgia to your footwear

We’ve been talking about flats here but I haven’t bought any yet! Fall is coming so I probably need some closed flats, but I’ll just wear my boots, sneakers and pumps as usual until I find some which aren’t a fortune and which have decent enough reviews. (The Amazon brand ballet flats we featured seem decent.) These are the only jelly flats I could find with an A from Fakespot. All the others had Ds or Fs. These have 3.5 stars, over 650 reviews and an A. Some styles are said to run small, and they may smell plasticky, but some women really love them, especially the price. One bride wore them to her wedding reception. She writes that she got “so many compliments on them,” that they were comfortable and she plans to wear them again. Other women call them “better than I imagined” and say they’re “beautiful” and “fit great.”

Do produce savers really work?

I found two produce saver containers to consider from Amazon, the one above by Rubbermaid Freshworks and Oxo. I watched the half minute videos about each so now I’m an expert. The Rubbermaid Freshworks containers have an elevated crisping tray and venting in the top. Those have 4.4 stars, over 3,000 reviews and a B from Fakespot. The Oxo brand is more expensive and comes with a little carbon filter to reduce spoilage along with an internal colander-like area to let air vent around the produce.Those have 3.8 stars, 468 reviews and an A from Fakespot. Do any of you use these and do they work? Some reviewers swear by them.

An adjustable spice rack drawer organizer

I have all my spices in a drawer, my mom does it that way so I got the idea from her. They roll around and are messy in there, but there’s a product for that! I saw this on Buzzfeed in their kitchen organization story. This has 4.8 stars, over 1,200 reviews and an A from Fakespot. Reviewers rave about how easy it is to custom fit to your drawers by cutting it to size. It’s called “fantastic,” “the best system ever” for spice organization and an “absolutely brilliant solution” to keep spices corralled.

A nonstick indoor grill with easy cleanup

I keep finding things I want which I didn’t know existed. This indoor searing grill by Hamilton Beach is under $65. It has over 2,300 reviews, 4.4 stars and an A from Fakespot. This summer I developed an allergy to beef and pork and am scared to use my outdoor grill now because of this. I’m not sure how to avoid cross contaminations. The hood, grill and drip tray on this grill can all go in the dishwasher! This would be great for grilling in the winter or fall when you don’t want to bother going outside. Reviewers say it doesn’t smoke like they expected, that the drip tray catches everything and that there are grill marks and good flavor, just like an outdoor grill.

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Dear Gossips,

I predicted back in July that Lizzo would be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live’s season premiere. I was wrong. It’s going to be Billie Eilish and the host is Woody Harrelson to promote Zombieland: Double Tap which opens in October.

When SNL announced their upcoming hosts …

As I’ve said before, I’m a Harry Styles fan. I was looking forward to his Rolling Stone cover profile because A) he hasn’t done a big profile in a while and B) it means we get new music! New music and new interviews. Harry is 25 years old and he loves his life. He has a bachelor pad in London and he also has a place in LA or Malibu, which is where he recorded the bulk of this new album. The Rolling Stone piece is full of great little details, like how Harry loves this one deli and the older ladies who work there dote on him. At one point, he cruises around the city in a 1972 silver Jaguar singing “Old Town Road.” He dresses like a cross between Mick Jagger in the ‘70s and Elton John in the ‘70s. He’s confident and vulnerable and a feminist. Why don’t you already LOVE him? You can read the full RS piece here. Some highlights:

His new album: “It’s all about having sex and feeling sad.”

The new masculinity: “I feel pretty lucky to have a group of friends who are guys who would talk about their emotions and be really open. My friend’s dad said to me, ‘You guys are so much better at it than we are. I never had friends I could really talk to. It’s good that you guys have each other because you talk about real sh-t. We just didn’t.’”

He did a lot of mushrooms while working on the album: “Ah, yes. Did a lot of mushrooms in here. We’d do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney’s Ram in the sunshine. We’d just turn the speakers into the yard.” The chocolate edibles were kept in the studio fridge, right next to the blender. “You’d hear the blender going, and think, ‘So we’re all having frozen margaritas at 10 a.m. this morning.’” He points to a corner: “This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue. So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place.”

He doesn’t put a label on his sexuality & he aims to be as inclusive as possible: On his first solo tour, he frequently waved the pride, bi, and trans flags, along with the Black Lives Matter flag. “I want to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be. Maybe at a show you can have a moment of knowing that you’re not alone. I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows. I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.”

He’s not trying to be a spokesperson for these issues: “It’s not about me trying to champion the cause, because I’m not the person to do that. It’s just about not ignoring it, I guess. I was a little nervous to do that because the last thing I wanted was for it to feel like I was saying, ‘Look at me! I’m the good guy!’ I didn’t want anyone who was really involved in the movement to think, ‘What the f–k do you know?’ But then when I did it, I realized people got it. Everyone in that room is on the same page and everyone knows what I stand for. I’m not saying I understand how it feels. I’m just trying to say, ‘I see you.’”

He’s aware of his privilege too: “It’s not about, ‘Oh, I get what it’s like,’ because I don’t. For example, I go walking at night before bed most of the time. I was talking about that with a female friend and she said, ‘Do you feel safe doing that?’ And I do. But when I walk, I’m more aware that I feel OK to walk at night, and some of my friends wouldn’t. I’m not saying I know what it feels like to go through that. It’s just being aware.”

He loves his female fans: “They’re the most honest — especially if you’re talking about teenage girls, but older as well. They have that bullsh-t detector. You want honest people as your audience. We’re so past that dumb outdated narrative of ‘Oh, these people are girls, so they don’t know what they’re talking about.’ They’re the ones who know what they’re talking about. They’re the people who listen obsessively. They f–king own this sh-t. They’re running it.”

He’s a feminist: “I think ultimately feminism is thinking that men and women should be equal, right? People think that if you say ‘I’m a feminist,’ it means you think men should burn in hell and women should trample on their necks. No, you think women should be equal. That doesn’t feel like a crazy thing to me. I grew up with my mum and my sister — when you grow up around women, your female influence is just bigger. Of course men and women should be equal. I don’t want a lot of credit for being a feminist. It’s pretty simple. I think the ideals of feminism are pretty straightforward.”

[From Rolling Stone]

Zen and the Art of Harry Styles, right? He’s talking about hot-button subjects (drugs, sex, sexuality, feminism, black lives mattering) but he’s clear that he’s not the spokesperson for any of these causes, and his goal is simply to increase visibility and to allow all of his fans to feel seen and heard. I love him! He also says some stuff about One Direction and there’s so much about his love of music and his music-geekiness, but these were the most interesting parts to me. Is it weird that even with all of the sex, drugs and inclusion, this boy just seems so f–king wholesome?

“This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue,” @Harry_Styles tells @robsheff while in the studio. “So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place” https://t.co/iQUkNh9GfQ pic.twitter.com/8pSQ2yzzfd

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 26, 2019

“I want to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be,” @Harry_Styles says. “I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows” https://t.co/fEHJpcNEcH pic.twitter.com/fYwyZ6bafT

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 26, 2019

Photos courtesy of Rolling Stone.

While I am a Timothee Chalamet stan, I actually don’t get a watchful eye on his future projects. My love for Timothee is rather general – I love his work, but mostly I just like to look at him and hear about him. He’s beautiful and interesting and weird and perfect. So… I had not heard anything about The King before Timothee tweeted out the poster several days ago. Then I found out that Timothee had made some kind of Henry V movie and Joel Edgerton is in it and Robert Pattinson too and Timmy has a bowl cut. Well… now the trailer is out. GIVE THESE BOYS ALL THE OSCARS.

First of all, Timothee is pulling off that haircut a lot better than I would have assumed. Second of all, Joel Edgerton’s Falstaff wig looks like the cheapest of the lot. Third of all, did you SEE Robert Pattinson’s glorious weave? God bless the hair stylists on The King, for they are truly brilliant.

Would you like to know who these people are supposed to be? Timothee is Prince Hal, who turns into King Henry V. Ben Mendelsohn is King Henry IV. Joel Edgerton is Falstaff. Sparkles is the Dauphin of France (the crown prince). Lily-Rose Depp – who is Chalamet’s real-life girlfriend – plays the French princess Catherine of Valois. It will be Pattinson who gets to say one of the most iconic lines in Shakespeare: “tennis balls, my liege.” That is, if they really adapted it from Shakespeare’s Henry V, which… IMDB doesn’t have it credited that way. This script might just be sort of a reworking of the traditional story of Henry V then.

Shall we talk about Chalamet’s accent work? To me, he sounds GREAT. I would be interested in hearing what British Celebitches think. I can always hear when a British actor is trying to do an American accent. Does Chalamet’s accent sound hokey?

Robert Pattinson with that weave! https://t.co/icGEfAcO2p #TheKIng pic.twitter.com/ukryoPJYDP

— Decider (@decider) August 27, 2019

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

Embed from Getty Images

The first time I covered Prince Andrew’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein was in 2015, when Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre) filed a civil lawsuit naming Andrew as one of the powerful, well-connected men to whom she was “given” by Epstein. Virginia Roberts has been telling her story – the same story – for years, and she’s been fighting in civil courts for years to be heard, to get Epstein punished for his crimes and to get Epstein’s co-conspirators charged too. She’s never deviated from her story. And now that Epstein and his crimes are back in the news, Virginia is still talking. Good for her.

At a hearing in a Manhattan court, more than 20 of Epstein’s victims gathered to tell their stories in some kind of victim-impact, on-the-record testimony. After the hearing, Virginia spoke to the media. While she sticks the knife into Andrew, I’m still stuck on the first part of her statement: “I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago…” OH MY GOD.

#JeffreyEpstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, who delivered a profound statement in court this morning, said Price Andrew, Duke of York “knows exactly what he’s done” and implored him to come clean about his role in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. pic.twitter.com/QPmQyPYiy5

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) August 27, 2019

Here’s what else she said:

An accuser of the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday addressed her accusation that she was coerced into sex with Prince Andrew, saying the royal “knows what he’s done”. Virginia Giuffre had already alleged in 2011 testimony that Andrew “knows the truth” about Epstein’s abuse of underage girls and said he should be made to testify. In a December 2014 court filing she alleged that she was made to have sex with Andrew and other friends of Epstein.

On Tuesday, Giuffre spoke to reporters outside federal court in Manhattan. She was one of nearly two dozen women who spoke about alleged sexual abuse by Epstein during a unique court proceeding scheduled after the financier’s death in prison on 10 August, which was ruled a suicide. Epstein’s death at 66 brought an end to his criminal case but the judge gave accusers the opportunity to speak publicly.

“He knows what he’s done and he can attest to that,” Giuffre said about Prince Andrew, a video of the press conference showed. “He knows exactly what he’s done, and I hope he comes clean about it.”

Brad Edwards, a lawyer representing a number of Epstein accusers, said that “with respect to Prince Andrew or anyone else who made statements, gratuitous statements, if anyone wants to come over here and talk with us, and answer real questions that the victims have, and that we have on their behalf, we welcome that invitation. I personally extended that invitation to Prince Andrew multiple times. Any time, we are ready, and we have a lot of questions for him.”

[From The Guardian]

Meanwhile, Prince Andrew keeps releasing new statements which make him seem guiltier and guiltier. His people let everyone know that he’s available to speak to the police about anything, but he has not offered up his availability for any of these civil cases. I hope Virginia drags him to hell.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.