Dear Gossips, How was Adele for you? She pulled in solid ratings for Saturday Night Live this past weekend – not a surprise since she was already trending well before the episode started. And right off the top, though she claimed she was nervous, she seemed comfortable and relaxed during the monolog…

Dear Gossips, How was Adele for you? She pulled in solid ratings for Saturday Night Live this past weekend – not a surprise since she was already trending well before the episode started. And right off the top, though she claimed she was nervous, she seemed comfortable and relaxed during the monolog…

One of the dumbest stories this weekend was this piece from the Daily Express/Mail, which is just part of a rather unhinged campaign around Prince Harry. To recap, when Prince Harry negotiated his exit from the royal family, the Queen and her courtiers insisted upon several punitive measures, perhaps because the Queen is a petty a–hole, or perhaps because they wanted to somehow force Harry to choose between his obvious interest in serving the military and veterans versus wanting to protect his wife and child. In any case, the Queen forced Harry to “give up” all of his earned and honorary military titles, including the prestigious position of Captain General of the Royal Marines. After badgering Harry about everything under the sun for months on end, the courtiers seem to feel like THIS is how they need to attack him now: that Harry is awful for… withdrawing from his military positions because he was forced to by the Palace. So here’s the latest in that particular smear campaign:

The Major General who commanded British forces in the Falklands War in 1982 has told how the Royal Marines need ‘someone who lives here’ for the role. It comes after Prince William, 38, was reportedly invited to take on Prince Harry’s role Captain General of Royal Marines after the Duke of Sussex, 36, was stripped of military appointments after stepping back from royal duty, according to sources.

‘The Royal Marines have had sovereigns serving as Captains General since George V, but the royal link stretches back to James II,’ said Major General Julian Thompson, speaking to The Express. ‘In that regard, and for many other reasons too, the Duke of Cambridge would be perfect. The Royal Marines deserve someone who is an active participant for the role, someone who lives here. The point is to have someone who understands us and protects us. It cannot be done by someone who has decided to make his life in Los Angeles. It matters.’

Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West also told the publication: ‘Prince William is a future king of this country and as such the Royal Marines would be very proud to have him in that role.’

Prince Harry entered into negotiations with the royal family after announcing his withdrawal as a senior royal in January, and was said to be ‘devastated’ by the agreement to give up his military honours, including the role of Captain General of Royal Marines. However, sources claimed the Duke of Cambridge was ‘approached’ with the view of taking on the role, and was ‘keen’ to take up the appointment. Insiders told the Express: ‘The decision has been made to invite Prince William to take over this important duty, largely on the basis that the Duke of Sussex has given no reason to believe that he will alter current arrangements.

Quite the opposite, in fact.’ The source revealed: ‘The Corps is, in effect, without a Captain General and we really must get on and fill this role.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Harry would have loved to remain as Captain General of the Royal Marines. The Queen made him give it up, along with all of his military titles and honors. It’s not a matter of “Harry should be doing more!” He was forced out. And all of this talk about William taking over the role is just… obvious. It’s all very obvious. William wants everything Harry had and has. William also wants to keep punishing Harry for leaving, for choosing his wife and child over a lifetime of being William’s doormat.

Omid Scobie also tweeted this:

A source close to Prince Harry says claims that the duke has not been in touch with the Marines (made by “informed sources”) are not true. https://t.co/9XToZfXuey

— Omid Scobie (@scobie) October 25, 2020

Okay. I’m sure Harry has been in touch! But he’s not going to come back to England *just* to have this position, especially since they would also demand that he leave his wife and child in America. Jesus, these people are psychos.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The VP Debate was on October 7th. I believed, at the time, that Mike Pence was likely in the throes of coronavirus, or perhaps getting over it. He had pinkeye or some kind of crazy bloodshot eye situation, he sounded sort of hoarse and a fly clearly thought he was deathly. That also would have come about a week and a half after the White House superspreader event on September 26th. I bring up this timeline because there seems to be another big White House coronavirus outbreak, this time centered around Mother’s Husband.

At least five people in Vice President Mike Pence’s orbit have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days, including chief of staff Marc Short, close aide Zach Bauer and outside adviser Marty Obst, sources told CNN.

There are concerns that more people within Pence’s inner circle will test positive in the coming days, a source said. “They’re scared,” the source said of staffers in the vice president’s office.

Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence each tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday, a White House official said. Despite contact with multiple people who recently tested positive, Mike Pence is refusing to quarantine in defiance of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Pence’s office announced Saturday evening that Short had been diagnosed with Covid-19. Sources told CNN that Obst, who is a senior political adviser to Pence but is not a government employee, and at least three staffers in Pence’s office have also tested positive for the virus.

Bauer, one of the staffers who tested positive, according to two sources familiar with the matter, is Pence’s “body man,” meaning his job is to accompany Pence throughout the day and night helping him with a wide range of duties, putting him in close proximity to the vice president. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Bauer has not been in the office since Tuesday, when he went home to quarantine after coming into contact with Obst. Bauer tested positive Saturday.

[From CNN]

Yeah, I’m not worried about these people infecting Mother Pence or her Husband, my concern is that Mother’s Husband was actually the Patient Zero for this new outbreak. I mean, that’s what makes more sense, right? That Pence had it and infected everyone close to him in his office, as opposed to everyone in his office magically contracting the virus around the same time and yet Pence is testing negative? It would also explain why Pence is refusing to quarantine – because he already had it, he already infected his staffers and God knows who else, and now he thinks he’s “immune.”

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.

Last week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched their Archewell website quietly. They still haven’t done anything with it but ask for people to sign up for updates, and I would suspect that they’re steadily growing an email list in the hundreds of thousands (maybe more). We also know that Archewell will probably be an umbrella foundation where they organize their far-ranging work and sundry projects. Like, even though many outlets claim that the Sussexes’ main focus right now is digital safety and hate speech and all of that, I think Archewell is going to be a lot more than that when all is said and done. Anyway, to celebrate the launch, “sources” chatted with Elle about Harry and Meghan’s vibe these days and their plans for the foundation. Some highlights:

Archewell is already up and running: A source close to the Sussexes shared with ELLE.com that their Archewell non-profit is already up and running—and has been in motion for some time now: “While Archewell hasn’t already had a formal launch, it is still already all of their work—the structure, the events, the research they’re doing, the people that they’re meeting. All of the effort they are putting in is within that umbrella. Over time, it is going to grow and grow.”

Changing the online world is the larger issue: “At the moment, the majority of their time and attention is definitely dedicated to the idea of creating, utilizing the online space for better,” a source close to the couple shared with ELLE.com. “They feel that it’s reached a very critical point. And it is a central reason or catalyst in so many of the problems we are facing.” The source added, “They both come at it especially from the place of mental health and personal wellbeing. But they have also seen firsthand the dangers of misinformation online“

2020 has been a rough year: It has not been an easy year for the couple, a source very close to Meghan and Harry said. “It’s been quite staggering, everything they’ve been through.” But they couldn’t be more devoted to what they’re trying to achieve with Archewell and are in a great place.

The criticism they received for being “political”: Yet the Duchess faced criticism in the U.K. for those actions, with some calling her comments “political,” when they were no different than the sentiments expressed by numerous public figures, politicians, philanthropists, and humanitarians across both sides of the political spectrum in the United States. A source close to the Duchess says the constant attacks have been difficult. “She thought she was saying something relatively uncontroversial, which is people should get involved and vote. Then, it gets spun into a whole other thing. There are people, especially in the tabloids, that will use whatever they can to go after this couple. There is no doubt there is an agenda.”

Just vote: “The Duke and Duchess believe in civic action, civic duty, social responsibility, and an element of that is participating in the democratic process, so all they have said is that they encourage people to get involved,” the source continued. “What they’re trying to do with the foundation is link a lot of the issues they believe in and find the connective tissue in all of it and actually find potential solutions. It is worrying and frustrating things get distorted so easily and readily on a regular basis. She [Meghan] now feels, [and] admits, as she said the other day, she has to be constantly careful about what she says and stick to what she thinks will not be controversial. Even telling people to get involved in the democratic process should not be a controversial subject.”

[From Elle]

Considering that the British media has been blowing up everything Meghan says or does for four solid years now, the only thing I don’t believe is that Meghan was *surprised* by the reaction to her “people should vote” comments. She knew that her words would get attention, which is why she chose her words so carefully and why she did NOT endorse one candidate specifically. And she’s right, none of what she said was controversial or even all that political… unless you’re a f–king fascist and/or misogynist. As for this: “It’s been quite staggering, everything they’ve been through…” It is! But I bet the past seven months or so have been pretty restful for Harry and Meghan. I bet they’ve got some big things they’ll be doing and announcing soon.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Two weeks ago, we learned of Dominic West and Lily James’ affair, aka their Roman bangathon. They flew to Rome together and had a “dirty weekend.” Dominic and Lily then flew back to England, where she returned to her London home and he returned to his country home, where his wife and kids were staying. After that, Lily cancelled nearly all of her promotion for Netflix’s Rebecca remake, where she plays the second Mrs. de Winter to Armie Hammer’s Maxim de Winter. I thought it was weird because it would have been easy enough to use Armie as a deflection shield in any and all joint interviews. Except that now it’s looking like Lily probably had a good reason for cancelling all of those interviews – she didn’t want anyone to look too closely at her relationship with Armie Hammer. Maybe. Is Lily also one of the reasons why Armie’s marriage fell apart?

Dominic West is not the only married man with whom Lily James has found her name intertwined. Sources close to Rebecca co-star Armie Hammer and his wife say their marriage went into a nose-dive in the fall of 2019 after she found passionate texts and letters from a mystery woman who signed herself ‘Adeline’.

Adeline’s’ real identity is a mystery. But intriguingly, around the same time as the apparent dalliance, Armie was shooting the movie Rebecca, released on Netflix Wednesday, with co-star Lily James. While her Mrs. de Winter character in the adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel has no first name, James was referred to as Adeline on the movie call sheets and on her trailer, sources claim. Adeline also happens to be the name of a character in another du Maurier novel, Hungry Hill.

This week sources on the set told the Mail that Lily James seemed to be flirting with her then very married co-star Hammer even though she knew the father-of-two was happily married to Elizabeth Chambers, 38. At the time, former Downton star James’ relationship with her longtime boyfriend, actor Matt Smith, 37, had been cooling and observers said the beauty appeared to be ‘smitten’ with Hammer from the moment she laid eyes on him.

Said one source: ‘She was not subtle. And he was into it, no doubt about it. She was touching him constantly, giving him long smoldering looks. While he was filming, he chose to have weeks away in the English countryside instead of returning to see his family who were also in the UK. This is all very typical of him.’

Things finally came crashing down when Chambers discovered passionate messages between Hammer and the woman who called herself Adeline, the source said. Hammer also had a number saved in his phone under the same name. Chambers was ‘devastated’, sparking a downward spiral that ended with Hammer and Chambers jointly announcing they were divorcing after 10 years of marriage in July.

Hammer and James began filming Netflix’s adaptation of the Gothic novel Rebecca in the UK in June of 2019, shooting in Devon, Dorset and Hertfordshire. When filming wrapped in August, Hammer and his family returned to Los Angeles but he returned to London alone weeks later. Following his return to Los Angeles things really reached the point of no return, after Chambers discovered messages between Armie and ‘Adeline,’ the source said.

‘Elizabeth was devastated, heartbroken,’ they explained. ‘But they had 13 wonderful years together. She wasn’t about to throw away her marriage for one indiscretion. She is an amazing woman. She doesn’t deserve this. You couldn’t ask for a more stunning devoted wife and she’s a great mom to their two little ones.’

[From The Daily Mail]

The Mail says that Armie and Elizabeth tried couples therapy and possibly could have kept it together, but the pandemic screwed everything up. And then when Armie left the Cayman Islands after several months of lockdown, “he went to Miami and accidentally sent Chambers a sexually explicit text from yet another woman that she knew wasn’t meant for her, the insider said.” MESSY AND SLOPPY! My God. So, yeah… it sounds like Lily and Armie had some kind of torrid on-set affair which was probably still happening after Rebecca completed production, and then she started banging Dominic West on the Rome set of their film too. WHEW. Girl, get yourself together.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

Introduction: Minutes 0 to 3:45
We’re going to take next week off due to the election. Our next release will be on November 8, 2020. Chandra has been laughing at social media, like Trump releasing his 60 Minutes interview thinking it made him look good. Giuliani got caught in a hotel room with his hands down his pants with a young woman. Here’s a link to the tweet that Chandra mentioned by Mike Redmond about Giuliani’s 20-year-old Instagram model press secretary. Both Chandra and I have already voted. Please make a plan to vote if you haven’t already. You can do that through IWillVote.com. You can listen below!

Royals: Minutes 3:45 to 11:45
Harry and Meghan did a Time 100 talk where they talked to experts about online media and mental health, and the fact that disinformation and hate is spreading. In one section Meghan and Harry talked to two experts, one was an expert from a documentary on Netflix called The Social Dilemma. His name is Tristan Harris and he founded The Center For Humane Technology. The other expert was UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry co-director Safiya Noble. She wrote a book called Algorithms of Oppression, How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. She was saying how racism and sexism are big business online, which is what Tristan said too, that they’re just trying to get people addicted to the apps. I watched The Social Dilemma and was floored at how Facebook specifically led to the rise in QAnon, misinformation and the genocide in Myanmar. Chandra points out that Harry and Meghan are making this a larger conversation instead of focusing on the hate they get.

Minute 7:45 We got a lot of promotional interviews with Robert Lacey, the author of Battle of The Brothers. He’s been talking out of both sides of his mouth about The Sussexes and The Cambridges.

Minute 9:15 Will and Kate did a couple of events on Tuesday and they’re not consistently wearing masks. They only wore masks while meeting hospital workers. The Queen did an event for the first time in seven months and did not wear a mask. They made a big deal about the fact that The Queen and everyone around her was tested, which is still a bad look. She should be promoting mask wearing.

Chris Pratt: Minutes 11:45 to 18:30
We had the big Avengers GOTV fundraiser with Kamala Harris this week. Right before that, there was a mild meme with the four famous Chrises asking which one had to go. Everyone picked Chris Pratt because he’s a member of an anti-LGBTQ church and once gave away his cat on the Internet. This conversation has been around for years, but it got picked up by major outlets. Chris’s wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, and other celebrities including Robert Downey Jr., Zoe Saldana and Mark Ruffalo jumped in to defend Chris in an over-the-top way which was not warranted by the meme. Because the tweet got popular right before the Avengers Biden event, which Pratt did not participate in, people conflated the two things. The defense of Chris was ridiculous. It’s very privileged of white men to be “apolitical,” especially at this point in history. It reminded Chandra of the defense of Chris Evans for leaking his own pics. When Brie Larson got so much hate online hardly anyone defended her except for Don Cheadle. I play a segment from Zoom where Ameerah, Lisa and Zakia talk about this.

Ghost stories: Minutes 18:30 to 30:00
We told ghost stories in episode 34 if you’re looking for another spooky episode. Chandra read an article in People about haunted roads and was reminded of a incident when she was driving home late at night on back country roads after visiting her mother. You have to listen to hear the details of that! I play a segment from Zoom where Amber, Karen, Alnaaze and Kimberlyanne tell stories of encounters, coincidences and loved ones visiting them.

User Feedback: Minutes 30:00 to 32:00
Thanks Bianca for your nice email. Thanks Diane for your fun message on Instagram!

Comments of the week: Minutes 32:00 to 35
My comment of the week is from FancyPants on the link post about Jeffrey Toobin. Here’s a link to the tweet I mentioned. Chandra’s comment of the week is from Midnight@theOasis on the post about Obama’s rally for Biden.

Thanks for listening bitches! Text us or leave a voicemail at 434-218-3219. We’re on all major platforms including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, iTunes, Castbox, YouTube, Google Play Music and Google Podcasts.

photos credit: vaun0815 on Unsplash, Backgrid, Avalon.red and WENN.com. Music from A.A. Alto, Meydan and via Premium Beat and Sound of Picture

In June of this year, there were widespread Black Lives Matter protests and counter-protests in London. At one point, there was a clash, and pro-racism “protesters” and BLM protesters got into some conflicts, and the cops were there too and it was all one big clusterf–k. In the melee, one of the racists got injured and a BLM protester named Patrick Hutchinson lifted the racist up and carried him out of harm’s way in what became iconic footage and iconic photos. Hutchinson has become something of a celebrity in the UK now, and he’s been given some platforms to speak about racism and BLM in the UK. And now this: a Zoom discussion with Prince Harry for the GQ Hype issue.

I’m including the video at the end of the post, and you can read the full transcript of their conversation here. Harry is clearly interviewing Patrick, not the other way around, and Patrick comes across as a completely lovely and thoughtful everyday hero. At one point in the conversation, Harry does speak at length about unconscious bias and ignorance. It really is remarkable to hear a 36-year-old white man, a blood prince raised in the cushion of privilege and wealth, speak about his own journey of self-education on race:

“You talk about unconscious bias to start with, which you and I both know is a huge thing globally. But, yes, it exists in the UK as well… Because as we know, the information that is put in front of us, they choose how to deliver it. And it can come to us with an element of bias or it can come with a sensationalist headline that just aggravates people…

“And no one’s blaming anybody. That’s the way that I look at it. No one’s pointing the fingers. You can’t really point fingers, especially when it comes to unconscious bias. But once you realise or you feel a little bit uncomfortable, then the onus is on you to go out and educate yourself, because ignorance is no longer an excuse. And unconscious bias, from my understanding, having the upbringing and the education that I had, I had no idea what it was. I had no idea it existed. And then, sad as it is to say, it took me many, many years to realise it, especially then living a day or a week in my wife’s shoes.

“…For me, it’s down to a more diverse perspective, otherwise you’re just perpetuating that bias. And I think one of the most dangerous things is people within positions of power, whether it’s politics or whether it’s the media, where if you’re not aware of your own bias and you’re not aware of the culture within your system, then how are we ever going to progress? How are we ever going to get to that point where there is more fairness? Because it’s not a zero-sum game, right? Everyone benefits if the black community gets treated the way they should be treated… Every day is a learning process. And it’s not actually up for debate. These are the facts. This is what’s happening. And it’s been very interesting for me to sit through or live through this in America.

But again, it’s going to take every single one of us to really change things and anyone that’s pushing against it really needs to take a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror. Because as I said, this isn’t black versus white. As you quite rightly pointed out, now in 2020 we have protestors of every colour, every background, every religion, every age. This is a global movement. The train has left the station. If you’re not on it now, then get on it because there’s so much that we can do. And being a dad myself, the whole point in life, I guess, for me, is to try to leave the world in a better place than when you found it.

[From British GQ]

*sips tea and looks at the clock* I predict that by the end of business today, we’ll be hearing about You Know Who being incandescent with rage about all of this. I bet it’s upset some courtiers too. And while this isn’t the point, I love the “process” of this – the fact that editors at British GQ got Prince Harry to conduct this interview, and that Harry was perfectly willing to speak at length about his own bias, his own privilege, his own journey of educating himself about race and racism.

Photos courtesy of WENN, British GQ, Avalon Red.

I miss so many things about OG Gawker, but one of the things I miss the most is their takedowns of Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. Noonan was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, and she fashioned a certain kind of columnist/politico profile for herself: the mean Republican lush, sitting in her Manhattan apartment, yearning for a time when there were fewer brown and Black people around. This is her brand and it’s awful. So, as you can imagine, Ol’ Peg had some thoughts about Kamala Harris, she of the Black and Indian heritage, who has the audacity to laugh and be loud. Can you even imagine??

Peggy Noonan keeping it normal and not prejudiced pic.twitter.com/zXcyhw04QN

— Dylan Scott (@dylanlscott) October 25, 2020

Wow, of all of the people in this campaign, it’s weird that Peggy Noonan thinks KAMALA is the one who seems “insubstantial” and “frivolous.” Not the game show host who whines constantly, doesn’t understand sarcasm, and repeatedly insists that he passed his cognitive tests. How dare a woman – much less a Black and Indian woman – show joy, or dance, or be LOUD.

Oh, in the same breath, Peggy was talking about Trump’s crowd sizes, completely shrugging off the fact that we’re in the middle of a damn pandemic??

I missed this earlier. Observe how Peggy Noonan refers to Kamala Harris dancing at her rallies – which makes her “insubstantial, frivolous,” while Trump, who has also been dancing at his rallies is…not. https://t.co/SAATtyFeRx pic.twitter.com/cR9R0ET8dk

— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) October 25, 2020

Kamala dancing and laughing in the rain:

This is the joy that so triggered Peggy Noonan that she wrote a column about how Senator Harris comes off as “insubstantial, frivolous.”

Black joy is something they feel the need to attack. pic.twitter.com/orxMynAhAK

— African American Policy Forum (@AAPolicyForum) October 25, 2020

Photos courtesy of NBC News, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Darren Star (Sex and the City, Melrose Place, Younger) is no stranger to writing hit TV Shows from the female perspective. Darren’s new Netflix series, Emily in Paris , is like Devil Wears Prada meets Sex and the City. It follows newly single American transplant, Emily, played by Lily Collins. Emily finds herself navigating cultural landmines in the office as well as crazy entanglements in her personal life. As NYC was the glamourous fourth character in SATC, so is Paris in Emily in Paris. Since the show was released nearly three weeks ago on Netflix, many folks have been criticizing Darren for his portrayal of Paris as too glamorous and cliche. He spoke to the The Hollywood Reporter to say s

On writing female characters as a middle-aged man
I enjoy writing female characters. I find it easy to see the world from their point of view; I find them very verbally expressive; they’re vulnerable; they have challenges — they may not be mine, but I can relate to them.

If he would change SATC if he wrote it now
I May Destroy You is the Sex and the City for now. Girls was the Sex and the City for its moment. I wouldn’t be doing Sex and the City today. Twenty years ago, I knew those people that I was writing about. I understood the time and I understood the characters and also what needed to be said.

On criticism of Emily in Paris in the French media
The show is a love letter to Paris through the eyes of this American girl who has never been there. The first thing she is seeing is the clichés because it’s from her point of view. I’m not sorry for looking at Paris through a glamorous lens. It’s a beautiful city, and I wanted to do a show that celebrated that part of Paris.

[From THR]

I couldn’t wait to watch Emily In Paris. Some of the situations Emily ended up in were cringeworthy. And though the portrayal of the French was cliched, Emily in Paris is the glamorous escape we all need right now. I’ve been to Paris and I feel it is an overrated city, but I love watching about it on TV or in movies. Paris is grimy like NYC but both cities have a unique mystique about them.

I also liked how Darren was able to turn the Parisian male stereotype of being romantic, passionate, and smooth talking lovers on its head. In one scene, a French guy ruins a romantic moment with Emily by telling her he “loves American p**sy.” I screamed with laughter at that. I won’t bore you all with my Parisian encounters while visiting Paris. I will say however, Parisian men are a hot mess.

I think Darren has found the magical formula again with Emily in Paris. It felt like a modern version of SATC, like what would have happened if Carrie Bradshaw ended up in Paris instead of New York. The over-the-top portrayal of Paris and Parisians is fun.

With that being said, the eye candy on the show alone are worth giving up some free time for. And the tough boss is one of the best characters. If you are a lover of travel, fashion and sappy romance and you need a bit of inspiration from being grounded all year, Emily in Paris is definitely a fun, albeit awkward and cliched escape.

View this post on Instagram

When you’re back from the weekend trip and regretting your poor choices

A post shared by Emily In Paris (@emilyinparis) on Oct 25, 2020 at 1:15pm PDT

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Carole Bethuel/Netflix and Getty