It’s quite a choice that PEOPLE Magazine has made for their cover story this week: What the Queen is REALLY like. And the image that was selected to front the issue – the Queen, not in regal monarch style but just about as casual as we’ll ever see her. Basically this is her version of athleisure, lo…

Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon is one of the few big movies coming out in the next few months—it’s pretty much this and Godzilla vs Kong, kind of a “one for me, one for you” deal with parents and kids—and there is a new trailer showing off more of the film and its particular appeal to children. I…

January 2001 was a big month for Jennifer Lopez and she’s been commemorating her anniversary moments on social media. Last week it was the 20th anniversary of her second album, J.Lo, and a “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” throwback. She recreated the video, sort of: What is the significance of that video?…

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QAnon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene supported executing Democratic elected officials in social media posts. [Towleroad]
Can you believe Miranda Lambert & WhatsHisGuts have been married for two years? I didn’t think it would last. [Just Jared]
The Republican Party is the party of white supremacy. [Pajiba]
Mossimo Giannulli was denied early release from prison. [Dlisted]
Heidi Klum wears white in Germany. [Go Fug Yourself]
I’m surprised that I like Katie Holmes’ coat as much as I do. [LaineyGossip]
Regina King looks fabulous. Perfection. [RCFA]
I really enjoyed Katie Porter’s Vanity Fair interview. [Jezebel]
President Biden absolutely needs to pack the courts. [Buzzfeed]
OMG, these face filter fails are amazing!! [OMG Blog]
Bronson Pinchot suggests that instead of endless remakes, we should just watch the original shows or movies. [Seriously OMG]

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It was one week ago exactly that America’s Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman had her “a star is born” moment. We haven’t seen one of those in years, where someone who is not in the public consciousness whatsoever comes out and delivers something – a performance, a book, a poem, a moment – in front of the world and everyone is like “WOW, who is that?!?” Amanda is only 22 years old and her poem “The Hill We Climb” stole the show at Joe Biden’s inauguration. The poem itself is beautiful and hopeful and I’m still crying whenever I think about the message, delivered two weeks after armed goons tried to overthrow democracy. She wore a pretty yellow Prada coat and jewelry gifted to her by Oprah Winfrey. And now Amanda might be looking to supplement her poetry and public speaking income with some modeling:

Amanda Gorman’s climb continues as the inaugural poet has signed with IMG Models. The 22-year-old Los Angeles native, who recited her original work “The Hill We Climb” on Jan. 20 and instantly became the breakout star of the inauguration ceremony as the world looked on, now has a team of reps that includes Writers House, WME and the law firm Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown and Passman. As Gorman’s partner in the fashion and beauty industries, IMG Models will focus on building her profile through brand endorsements and editorial opportunities.

About that profile: Following her turn at the podium, Gorman mingled and took photos with former first couples Barack and Michelle Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton. She received well wishes online from Oprah Winfrey and Lin-Manuel Miranda and made appearances on Good Morning America and on CNN with Anderson Cooper. Her upcoming books — The Hill We Climb and Other Poems and the children’s book Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem — shot to the top of Amazon’s best-seller charts ahead of September debuts.

It’s safe to say that all eyes are on Gorman to see what she does next. Meanwhile, she’s already got millions following those moves. Following Inauguration Day, her social media footprint skyrocketed and she went from 7,000 Twitter followers to 1.4 million. On Instagram, she racked up north of 3.1 million followers and counting. The fashion industry also took notice thanks to a look by Prada and accessories including a caged bird ring and earrings gifted to her by Winfrey. WWD dubbed Gorman “a new kind of style icon,” while Vogue reported that the red headband she wore is already sold out.

[From THR]

To be clear, I doubt Amanda will, like, walk the runways in Paris. But she’ll definitely be offered some sponsorships and brands will try to get her endorsement, especially on social media. I could definitely see her doing print ads for a jewelry line, something like that. This really will be about building her brand all around – designers will want to dress her for her book tour and media appearances, and she should absolutely find ways to commodify her newfound stardom. Most poets are not making a lot of money, you know? I’m all for the fashion, beauty and jewelry industry helping to supplement her income.

Oh, and this came out earlier today: Amanda will perform a new poem AT THE SUPER BOWL. For real!!!

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

There have been some announcements from former Trump administration fascists. Sarah Huckabee Sanders landed on her feet in Arkansas and plans to run for governor there. Kayleigh McEnany is already talking to Fox News, although that might get tricky. Sean Spicer is finding a home in alt-right conservative media. But what of all of the Trump loyalists who were with him to the bitter and violent end? What about all of the staffers who changed diapers, delivered cheeseburgers and Diet Cokes and helped Trump organize a violent insurrection in an attempted coup? Well, those people are having a tough time finding work! Donald Trump has not put any organization together, which has left former Trumpers largely adrift.

As Trump gingerly charts out next steps, he is doing so increasingly alone. Two of his most trusted confidantes, Johnny McEntee and Hope Hicks, declined to join him in Florida after spending years by his side on the campaign trail and in the West Wing.

Many other aides have left his side, eager to start anew far away from their former boss. White House aides and administration officials who once relished their West Wing perches have jetted off on remote getaways — cashing in on a mountain of unused vacation time. Others are frantically asking former colleagues for help finding work as they prioritize their own careers over whatever chapter Trump is planning for himself.

“There’s a lot of resumé passing and people just wanting to help people land on their feet,” said a former Trump White House official. It’s not been easy. Tainted by Trump’s reputation, several Trump aides described an increasingly bleak job market with virtually no chance of landing jobs in corporate America and some even having seen promising leads disappear after the rampage at the U.S. Capitol. A second former White House official said they knew of “people who got jobs rescinded because of Jan. 6.” A Republican strategist was blunter.

“They are really f—ed,” the strategist said, pointing to some top officials who stuck with Trump until the bitter end. “The Hill scramble, one of the few places where they’d be welcomed, already happened a month or so ago… They were told over and over to take their hand off the hot stove, and they didn’t want to listen.”

It’s not just the lower- and mid-level staffers getting pinched. Two people familiar with his thinking said Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who spent seven years in the House of Representatives before joining the White House, was even considering a position at the Trump Organization because of a lack of options.

It’s a far different reality from where Trump and his aides had envisioned they would be. A month ago, everything seemed crystal clear: He had lost the 2020 election but would soon launch a juggernaut campaign for the presidency in 2024, and his allies and inner circle would be there to help. Now, the former president’s team is scampering away — willing to leave Washington, in some cases for red states like Texas and Florida, to increase their job prospects — while his own second act is clouded by uncertainty. One former senior administration official noted that many inside the White House were waiting until after the Electoral College votes were counted to begin their job search in earnest, so as not to step on messaging about Trump’s efforts to challenge the election results. But then, the riots on Capitol Hill upended their plans.

“They looked to that [Jan. 6] as the end of the limbo state people were operating in so they could start moving on to the next thing” the former official said. “But the 6th put a shock to that.”

[From Politico]

Who would have thought that “organizing a deadly coup” and “subverting democracy” and “cheering for terrorists to murder elected officials and police officers” would look bad on a resume? Who would have thought that going full-throttle fascist with the dumbest guy on earth would have larger career repercussions? What’s particularly painful though is the thought that without the Jan. 6th insurrection, many of these douchebags probably would have been able to find jobs. The jobs wouldn’t have been great or anything, but it’s depressing to think that it literally took a domestic terrorist attack organized by the Trump White House to make these f–kers unhireable.

Oh, and now a liberal watchdog group is tracking former Trump aides in their quest to find work. Yes!! Make a spreadsheet and keep the pressure on!!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, social media.

About a month ago, I covered a story about wealthy patients of concierge medical services trying to pay to get one of the two approved vaccines. At the time I thought we would be further along in the vaccination process than we are now. While there’s a lot of hope now that the Biden administration is in power, the incompetent a-holes in the Trump administration left absolutely no vaccine surplus nor even a rudimentary distribution plan. States are scrambling to administer the vaccine to frontline workers and people at-risk, and availability varies wildly by area. Los Angeles and California are among the hardest hit, and vaccinations are understandably difficult to get. Enter all the rich, powerful and famous people who want to jump the line. Variety has a new article about the lengths some are going through to get vaccinated. While some celebrities, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harrison Ford, seem to have waited in line like everyone else, others are traveling on private jets to get the shot and sharing news about private doctors willing to give vaccinations.

Beverly Hills-based Dr. Robert Huizenga confirmed to Variety that his practice has been offered in excess of $10,000 by individuals, including members of the entertainment industry, desperate to get vaccinated.
“We’ve been offered bribes. We see people taking planes to every location. We’ve seen people try to transiently get into the healthcare profession or on staff at nursing homes, so they qualify for an early vaccine,” said the physician, who has also appeared as an expert on the NBC weight loss competition show “The Biggest Loser…”

Managers, agents, producers and a few film directors have pivoted from their daily business to focus on helping clients and stars find vaccines for family members, insiders said. Some notable names are using their own shoe leather, not representatives, to seek out the vaccine.

Not all are content to navigate California’s byzantine vaccination process. Allen Shapiro, the 73-year-old former CEO of Golden Globes telecast producer Dick Clark Productions, was reported last week to have flown via private jet to Florida recently in search of the vaccine with friends. Sources tell Variety that Shapiro did fly private — but alone — to Miami. While some reports have decried this as an example of vaccine tourism, insiders said Shapiro owns property and conducts business in Florida.

Some Hollywood power players are aghast that people in the industry are using their connections as millions of healthcare workers, older citizens, teachers, and essential workers toil in line. As of January 15, reports citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that California has only administered 2,716 doses for every 100,000 residents.

Dr. Art Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at the NYU School of Medicine, said he has heard of hospital donors seeking early access to the vaccine, or about concierge doctors being asked to provide it early for their wealthy clients.

“It’s bad behavior. It should not be condoned. We should find ways to penalize it,” he said. “We’ve got 91-year-olds waiting, health care workers waiting. People who are wealthy can easily find ways to quarantine, mask, and stay isolated for another month or two, and more vaccine will become available.”

[From Variety]

The part that stuck out to me was the line about managers and agents working to get vaccines for their clients and their families. They’re making calls, using connections and trying to get deals for them, like they do for their careers. Only vaccinations should be reserved for people who work in healthcare, who are elderly or who have public-facing jobs and can’t afford to stay home. It’s infuriating that these rich a-holes think that they deserve to get vaccinated ahead of the people who serve them. However, there was a music industry executive, Irving Azoff, who was quoted as saying “I’m a 73-year-old cancer survivor. I recently had part of my intestine removed. Damn right I received the vaccine, and I’m glad I did. Everyone eligible should get vaccinated as soon as they can.” That is definitely understandable, I just hope he’s making contributions to healthcare organizations serving people in need.

I agree with the medical ethicist quoted at the end that these people are so privileged that they can easily quarantine a little longer. They probably have staff and friends they’re still hanging out with anyway. I see what the celebrities are doing on Instagram! Plus they can get tested every day if they want to! They should be penalized if they’re taking resources away from people who need them. No one is going to enforce that though, because that’s how the healthcare system works in our country. Those who can pay get the best care and people who can’t afford it have to fend for themselves.

Note that the celebrities featured here all waited their turn!

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A post shared by Arnold Schwarzenegger (@schwarzenegger)

I feel very lucky to have had the vaccine. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. https://t.co/gBLRR0OeJc

— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) December 17, 2020

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A post shared by Joan Collins (@joancollinsdbe)

if anybody needs some good news today @WillieNelson got his covid vaccine ??? pic.twitter.com/mIShGtswIA

— Margo Price (@MissMargoPrice) January 14, 2021

Photos credit: Kristine Wook, Steven Cornfield and Hakan Nural on Unsplash and via social media

It was announced back in June that Kristen Stewart had been cast to play Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s upcoming biopic Spencer. Pablo directed Natalie Portman in Jackie and if you’ve seen that film, you should know that this will likely be an unconventional story about a woman and a story that m…

I really enjoyed Emma Corrin’s performance as Lady Diana Spencer/Princess Diana in Season 4 of The Crown. I thought that the “Diana” character would be unplayable, just because Diana is so iconic and so KNOWN. But Emma found a way to do it through wigs, terrific accent work and head tilts. Was it a perfect Diana replica? No, but it wasn’t supposed to be.

Now that Emma worked out the puzzle, it’s time to enjoy other actresses playing Diana. Like, Kristen Stewart, the American lip-biter best known for the Twilight franchise. Kristen was cast in the film Spencer last year, and the film is about a very specific moment in time, in the early 1990s, as Diana and Charles’ marriage was irreparably broken. The production released this first image of Kristen-as-Diana. It looks… good? The head tilt! And really, the eyes. Kristen has those striking eyes. Facially, Diana and Kristen have a lot of similarities. But I’m still not sure Kristen will be able to do Diana’s voice at all.

This first photo marks the start of principal photography on Spencer. The director is Pablo Larrain, who directed Natalie Portman in her Oscar-nominated performance in Jackie (she played Jackie Kennedy). I had my doubts about Portman in that role too, but I really enjoyed Jackie and it was one of the better performances I’ve seen from Portman. Will Larrain work his magic with K-Stew? Or will this just a sucky off-brand version of The Crown?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first Archewell podcast came out just before New Year’s. It feels like that was months ago! January 2021 has been a whole-ass journey. Anyway, there was an expectation that Meghan and Harry would be releasing a second podcast soon enough, but they have not, at this time. I wonder again if M&H were a little bit surprised by how time-consuming it is to just produce one podcast? Plus, they’re like, doing interviews and featuring exclusive clips of celebrities and authors and sh-t. I’m sure that their first pod took hours and hours of labor. Anyway, at least one royal commentator is dreaming about who will be featured in the Sussexes’ next podcast. The dream is, apparently, for Meghan to speak to Vice President Kamala Harris. Um.

Kamala Harris may be a guest on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s podcast Archewell, according to a royal commentator. There has been speculation that the Duchess of Sussex may be wading into US politics, but she has so far stopped short of any directly partisan comments. While stepping down as a senior royal means she can express herself more politically, there are still limits, as she retains her Duchess title and HRH status ? although the latter should not be used commercially. During the US election, Meghan and Harry encouraged citizens to vote, while openly opposing “misinformation” and “hate” online, which many interpreted as being anti-Donald Trump comments.

Meghan chose not to congratulate Vice President Kamala Harris on her win in the election, although it is clear that the two women admire each other. In her interview with Gloria Steinem, Meghan strongly hinted at her support for Ms Harris, saying the “representation” of people of colour in politics “excited” her. Meanwhile, Ms Harris has made comments in admiration and solitary with the Duchess. When Ms Harris won the election with Joe Biden, popular friends of Meghan’s including Oprah Winfrey and Priyanka Chopra congratulated her, but Meghan did not do so ? publicly, at least.

However, Rosa Silverman wrote in the Telegraph that there may be plans for collaboration on the horizon, such as a podcast.

One source told her: “I think there’s a real feeling of solidarity between the two women.”

She added that Ms Harris is a serious politician and not usually one who chooses to rub shoulders with celebrities too often. The source said: “I don’t think she’s interested in popular game-playing,” but added that the opportunity to work with Meghan might be too good to pass up.

Ms Silverman suggested a podcast might be the answer. She wrote: “Why this could work: It would serve as a one-off collaboration to discuss and promote some shared aims and interests before Harris becomes too busy to enter into such enterprises with figures like Meghan.

[From The Daily Express]

I don’t see how it could or would happen, but I totally understand why royal commentators want it to happen. They want to attack Meghan for “getting political” and they also want to continue their weird campaign of assuming that Meghan is friends with all of the prominent Black people in America. It’s clear that VP Harris and Meghan are on each other’s radars and that will probably be enough for now. Don’t take this the wrong way and I don’t mean to insult Meghan and Harry but… I would hope that the Vice President of the United States has better things to do with her time than appear on the Archewell podcast.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, social media.