Last week, a top Health and Human Services official resigned abruptly. Tom Corry, the assistant secretary of public affairs at HHS resigned after two weeks on the job. Reportedly, Corry?s resignation was because he was deeply uncomfortable with HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy?s ?muted response? to the measles outbreak in Texas. More than 140 people in Texas have been diagnosed with measles, a disease which had been largely eradicated in the US due to MMR vaccine mandates for schoolkids. Following Corry?s resignation, Kennedy actually made a public statement in support of the MMR vaccine? but still left wiggle room for anti-vaxxers to allow their children to die from measles.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke of the benefits of the MMR vaccine on Sunday in response to a growing measles outbreak in Texas. Kennedy has a long record of sowing skepticism about vaccines and last week appeared to downplay the situation in Texas when he described such outbreaks as ?not unusual.? He has previously repeated debunked claims about vaccines and provided elusive answers to senators on his stance on vaccinations ahead of being confirmed.

Kennedy wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital on Sunday with the headline ?Measles outbreak is call to action for all of us? and the subheading ?MMR vaccine is crucial to avoiding potentially deadly disease.?

Kennedy wrote that before the introduction of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the 1960s, ?virtually every child in the United States contracted measles.? He noted that from 1953 to 1962, ?on average there were 530,217 confirmed cases and 440 deaths,? with a fatality rate of 1 in 1,205 cases.

?Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons,? Kennedy wrote. Yes, but: Kennedy emphasized that the decision to vaccinate is ?a personal one.?

At least 146 measles cases have been identified in the South Plains and Panhandle since January, according to the latest available information from the Texas Department of State Health Services. A school-aged child in Lubbock who was not vaccinated against measles died after contracting the highly contagious virus, according to the department. The outbreak comes as vaccination rates fall and trust in public health institutions declines.

[From Axios]

?The outbreak comes as vaccination rates fall and trust in public health institutions declines.? The outbreak also comes as Kennedy canceled an FDA and CDC meeting about this year?s flu shots. The outbreak also comes as Kennedy has spent decades sounding like a rusty muffler as he spread deadly conspiracies about vaccines and public health. Apparently, Kennedy is talking about the efficacy of Vitamin A in treating measles. You know what?s better? Vaccinating your g?damn children.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Instagram.

For years, I?ve wanted to know more about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?s Montecito home and their extensive property. I?ve seen the ?before? photos from when they first bought their home, but we?ve also heard that they did some renovations and they redid their gardens too. Chef Alice Waters appears on With Love, Meghan, and Waters spoke about visiting Meghan?s gardens, saying that: ?It?s substantial in terms of biodiversity. She has a whole herb garden, corn, every colour of tomato, cherry tomatoes and larger ones, beautiful purple radicchio, and all kind of fruit trees, orange and citrus. It was very impressive. She grows potatoes and carrots ? we ate some of her carrots right there in the garden.? Meghan has also added chicken coops on the property and who knows how many chickens she has at this point, but there?s no egg shortage at the Casa de Sussex. But did you know that she also has beehives?

The Duchess of Sussex is so immersed in her swarms of bees that she has bought special masked bee-keeping suits for five-year-old Prince Archie and three-year-old Princess Lilibet, her master beekeeper has revealed. Branden Aroyan, who set up Meghan?s hives and works with her monthly to maintain the colony and gather honey, reports that she becomes like a ?giddy teenager? when surrounded by the 100,000 bees she keeps in her Montecito garden.

?Meghan has a couple of hives and she loves them,? Aroyan, 50, tells MailOnline. ?She?s giggling. She?s just like, ?Wow, that?s so amazing! Look at them! Oh my gosh, look at all those bees walking around, crawling around! This one has orange pollen in its pocket! Oh that one has yellow! Look how big this one is! What are these guys doing?? Just asking questions, and continuous ?Wow!? The entire time she?s like a giddy teenager. Harry loves it, and Archie and Lilibet are into it too. It?s a whole family affair. They all have their own beekeeper suits. They?re just all super-fascinated by it.?

Meghan follows in a long line of Royal beekeepers. The late Queen Elizabeth had hives at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Windsor Castle and Sandringham. King Charles maintains those hives, and also has several at his Highgrove country estate in Gloucestershire. Beekeeping is understood to have been a long-time hobby of the Princess of Wales, who tends hives at her Norfolk country home Anmer Hall on the Sandringham Estate. Queen Camilla has also kept bees on her Ray Mill estate in Wiltshire since 2015.

Aroyan set up Meghan?s hives in 2023, and says Meghan has no fear of being stung.

?She?s not at all nervous,? he says. ?In all our time together she?s never been stung. We take our time. She?s whispering. We?re not making loud noises, just moving slowly and surely. Just being kind to the bees, and they respond accordingly. ?She?s fascinated by the bees, loves it and really cares for them. She is intrigued by the interconnectedness of the whole colony and how they take care of each other. There?s no ego and it?s all for the greater good and the health of the hive. She loves to plant flowers for them: perennials that bloom throughout the year, and a variety of salvias that the bees just love, and so do the butterflies and the hummingbirds. It?s a great way to fill the garden with wildlife and gives the bees what they need to prosper and pollinate.?

?Listening to the buzz and hearing their hum is so calming, like yoga or deep meditation. After you hang out with them you walk away and all?s right with the world. She says that all the time. You show up, ?Oooh! Ooh! Ooh!? And after it?s like, ?Ahhh, thanks bees.?

Meghan plans to sell honey along with jams and preserves when she launches her new lifestyle brand, As Ever ? until recently named American Riviera Orchard ? as well as honey butter, honey sticks, honey pots, honey dippers and honey stirrers, according to her US trademark application. She relishes the honey gathered from her homegrown apiary, but it won?t produce enough of the sweet stuff to sell commercially. Meghan?s two hives might produce enough honey to fill only 64 8-oz jars each season.

?We harvest the honey and I put it in jars for them,? says Aroyan. ?Each hive can produce a couple of gallons of honey. That?s why in the Netflix trailer, she says: ?My golly, it?s so much honey.? Meghan will keep jars from previous seasons, and label them so she can compare the different flavours as the flowers really alter the taste. It?s wildflower honey, but some seasons it?s a little more citrusy. We do it together, but I?m basically helping her do it. She wants to save as many bees as possible. She wanted to know: ?How many bees can we put on this property? Can we put more than one hive?? So she has two hives, with about 50,000 bees per hive in the garden.?

[From The Daily Mail]

I?m reminded of two things ? one, Princess Kate tried to convince everyone that she?s a beekeeper too, and she brought her ?own? honey to an event one time in 2021. Soon after, Kate and William claimed that they keep chickens at Anmer Hall as well. Who is taking care of their bees and chickens in Norfolk when the family supposedly lives in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor? I still don?t know how all of that works.

The second thing I thought of was Angelina Jolie?s position as Godmother to the Women for Bees program, which teaches women around the world how to set up and maintain their own beehives, in the hopes of regenerating the declining bee population. I really wish Angelina and Meghan would eventually get together!

Photos courtesy of Netflix, Instagram.

Overall, I liked this year?s Oscars ceremony. It went on for way too long, but at least there weren?t any major production hiccups. All of the correct award recipients were announced and the only odd moment of the evening was the Best Original Song winners trying to start a singalong.

Unfortunately, the same problem-free production can?t be said about the viewing side. For the first time ever, the Academy Awards aired live on Hulu and any other streaming service that carried ABC. While the show aired without issue on most of those platforms, Hulu completely sh-t the bed. Their live steam glitched multiple times, including during the opening performance by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and while Conan O?Brien was doing his opening monologue. Those early glitches reportedly lasted for 40 minutes before they were fixed. Then, just as Emma Stone was about to announce this year?s Best Actress winner, Hulu?s live feed abruptly ended. This caused viewers to not only miss that award, but also the winner of Best Picture.

Hulu?s big night at the 2025 Oscars was cut short on Sunday evening for many viewers when the streamer?s red carpet coverage of Hollywood?s biggest night was followed by glitches in the stream of the broadcast of the ceremony, leaving its paying customers in the dark for more than two hours as the Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles ? and then at the ceremony?s end, when Hulu?s event cut off early.

For the first time, the Academy Awards ceremony was streamed live on Hulu. Since the ceremony is broadcast on ABC, cord-cutters could watch it live on any live TV streaming service that carries ABC, including Hulu + Live TV, Sling, Fubo and DirecTV Stream. Yet many Hulu subscribers couldn?t watch all of the Oscars action unfold as the beginning of this year?s ceremony was beset with major interruptions, causing viewers to miss out on Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande?s live Wicked performances and Conan O?Brien?s opening monologue.

Hulu was able to fix that glitch, which a representative told The Hollywood Reporter around 6:15 p.m. PT ? more than two hours into the Oscars ceremony ? was the result of the technician issue that at that point had been resolved; all impacted Hulu users were able to log in at that point, the rep stated. The rep cited a technical matter with Hulu?s login system as the cause of the widespread issue.

However, that was not the end of Hulu?s live stream meltdown on Sunday. The event cut off early for some subscription video-on-demand users, who then missed the announcement of the best actress and best picture winners. What they got was an onscreen message from Hulu thanking viewers for watching the program and indicating that it had ended.

During the glitches at the top of the show, annoyed and perplexed Hulu subscribers were quick to take to X to complain about the matter. One user pointed out that Hulu is prone to having issues when it comes to live events streaming on the platform.

?Reminder Hulu servers can?t handle live events,? X user @DogeCoinAud wrote in response to Hulu?s post about best actor nominee Sebastian Stan, which read, ?Reminder that this always was and forever will be a Sebastain STAN account,? with the actor?s name misspelled.

The company was quick to catch on to the early hiccups and responded on social media to the technical issues. Around 4:45 p.m. PT, Disney+ Help?s account posted on X that users having trouble streaming the Oscars broadcast should restart their Hulu+ or other Hulu application or check for app updates.

?@DisneyPlusHelp Thank you for reaching out! The 97th Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC-TV and are streaming on Hulu starting at 7 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT. If you are having trouble accessing it, try restarting your app or checking for updates. Let us know if you need further assistance!@DisneyPlusHelp Thank you for reaching out!?

THR has learned that the early end of Hulu?s Oscars stream resulted from a scheduling system issue, according to a source familiar with the matter.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

It sounds like when Hulu?s programmers scheduled the broadcast to stream live, they assumed that it would end on time, and only left a 15 minute buffer in case it ran over. Ha, rookie mistake! Even with the (thankfully) earlier start time, you always assume that an awards show is going to go way over. This really sucked for everyone who was watching the Hulu stream, especially for those who were looking forward to Erivo and Grande?s wonderful opening performance or were hosting Oscar parties and invested in the outcomes of each race. Poor Kismet?s Hulu stream cut out, so she missed the ending of the show, too. I watched it on YouTube TV, and if this had happened to me, I would have been so mad.

If these big streaming services are going to continue to raise their rates, the least they can do is figure their sh-t out and provide the service people are paying for. For example, Tubi, which is free, streamed the Super Bowl with only mild buffering issues. Anyway, it?s kind of funny that Hulu had so many issues during a movie awards show just after Anora director Sean Baker gave a ?battle cry? about how streaming services are killing the movie-going experience. They could not have timed it better if they tried.

Photos credit: Avalon.red

As I said in an earlier post, I started my morning by watching the Mindy Kaling episode of With Love, Meghan. I will try to finish WLM later today, and if I don?t finish it tonight, I will definitely get through it tomorrow. This is the kind of programming I love, but it?s been a busy few days because of the Oscars. Plus, WLM isn?t like the H&M Netflix series, which contained new information and some controversies ? WLM is supposed to be a chill, relaxing show. Stop treating it like a sprint to the finish! Anyway, People Magazine did a comprehensive breakdown of some ?news/gossip? we?re getting in the series, and some of this is cool. Some highlights:

The Sussex surname: In the second episode, Meghan welcomes Mindy Kaling as they talk about kids? parties, but the talk turns to their own childhoods. ?People wouldn?t believe that Meghan Markle ate at Jack in the Box,? Kaling says at one point, prompting Meghan to point out: ?It?s so funny, too, that you keep saying Meghan Markle. You know I?m Sussex now. You have kids and you go, ?No, I share my name with my children. I didn?t know how meaningful that would be to me, but it just means so much to go, this is our family name, our little family name.?

Meghan explained her fashion philosophy to Mindy Kaling: Meghan explains that she likes ?high-low,? revealing she was wearing pants from Zara, a shirt by Italian luxury brand Loro Piana and a sweater from California designer Jenni Kayne. ?Really cute,? Kaling praises.

Bonding with Mindy over starring in a long-running series: ?One thing that you and I have in common is we were both on TV shows for a long time,? Mindy says. Meghan confirms Suits ran for seven years, just shy of The Office?s eight. ?I?m on a series! This is all I want,? Meghan recalls. Mindy adds, ?Health insurance, steady paycheck.? ?Yes, consistency,? Meghan agrees.

Moving to Toronto for Suits: Meghan admits, ?Okay, one season in Toronto ? amazing. Two seasons ? okay, is my life gonna be in this other place now?? But she embraced it: ?Thankfully, I love Canada. And I always tried to invite the cast over or people I?d meet at the dog park ? neighbors. I love making friends.?

Meghan wasn?t surprised by the resurgence in love for Suits: ?I?m not surprised that people are rediscovering Suits because it was so well written and so well produced,? she says. ?It?s a time capsule for me ? I still have the pencil skirt from the first episode! That?s the one thing I kept.?

Making breakfast for her fam: ?I wake up every morning and take a lot of pride in making breakfast for my family,? Meghan says. ?Mornings are fast. Gotta get the kids to school. I find when I?m cooking bacon, my kitchen very immediately becomes full of husband and three dogs. It?s not my perfume that?s bringing them all in it,? she adds before singing, ?My bacon brings all the boys to the yard,? to the tune of Kelis? hit song ?Milkshake.?

She once worked the coat check of a Chicago bar before they encouraged her to try waitressing. ?The guy, it was really loud and he?s like, ?Hey, can I get a [indistinct] martini?? and I was like, ?I don?t know what he?s saying.? I was like, ?I think he?s from Texas, and he asked me for a Cowboy Run martini,? and they were like, ?We don?t have that.? So I went back and I was like, ?We don?t have that.? And he?s like,? What? you don?t have a Ketel One martini?? And I was like, ?I don?t know.? And they?re like, ?Let?s have you go back to being a coat check girl.??

Who got the #1 jar of ARO jam: On social media, many wondered who received the coveted No. 1 ? and on With Love, Meghan, the answer was unveiled to be her mother, Doria Ragland. ?People took it very personally, the hierarchy,? Meghan says on the series, adding, ?Anyone who got them, I hope they felt like I wanted to share this with you.?

She relaxes by arranging flowers: ?I learned a lot of this when I was pregnant with my son, Archie. My girlfriends threw a baby shower for me, and one of the things we did was learn flower arranging. I started to find this really calming and meditative, so when I have a little bit of time at the end of the day, I do this. I have a glass of wine and just enjoy it,? she says, adding that music is always part of the experience. ?I listen to a lot of ?70s soft rock and a lot of yacht rock and a lot of soul. and then also French dinner party music.?

Learning mahjong with Tracy Robbins, Victoria Jackson & Jennifer Rudolph Walsh: ?My girlfriends are coming over, we have all started to learn mahjong together in the past few months?We play a version called American mahjong. What I?ve come to really love about mahjong is that the game itself is really fun, but what was so great was the idea of learning something new with your friends, together. And then recognizing that mahjong becomes the background of the expansion of friendship. It?s the feeling of community. It?s become special for all of us. We?re all at such different chapters in our lives. It?s amazing that it?s just as meaningful for me as it is for Victoria or Tracy or Jennifer. We all really like it.?

Food & motherhood: ?Even before I was a mom, I loved being able to nurture in that way. Some of my favorite childhood moments are the meals that my mom would make. She?d make a lot of soul food. I remember she?d taken a Thai cooking class, so every week we had Thai BBQ chicken and spring rolls. I remember those flavors so well, and I want my kids to have those same formative memories of things that I cook. We call them Mama Meals, and those are the ones that I hope they come back to when they?re older, when they?re married, and they have their own kids, and they go, ?Oh, let?s have a Mama Meal.? And it?s the same roast chicken I?ve been making since they were little.?

[From People]

I can?t believe she was talking about listening to ?yacht rock? while arranging flowers! What a life. Anyway, Meghan is a nurturer and she has a lot of patience to really entertain, hostess and make things pretty. I don?t have that same patience, but I?ve always loved watching someone with a pleasant voice just cook and entertain this way. Oh, and of course Doria got the #1 ARO jam! People were really creating too many conspiracies about the jam.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

At this point, it?s probably a pipe dream to think that the British media will ever significantly turn on Prince William and Kate. But I always enjoy it when an outlet like the Daily Mail takes a significant swipe at them. It?s never going to be a situation where the press will finally be done with embiggening the lazy duo, but it?s funny that the swipes are getting more pointed and frequent. There?s an ebb and flow to this ? it?s William and Kate?s chains being yanked, and the British media reasserting their ownership and authority over W&K. The Mail published this piece by Amanda Platell, all about William and Kate?s recent visit to Pontypridd. W&K baked sad cakes and Kate bragged about HER jam. Platell was unimpressed, and her column was given this headline: ?Kate and Wills need a recipe for the magic of monarchy.?

The news last March of the Princess of Wales?s cancer diagnosis, delivered in her personal video, hit us like a bolt from the blue. She spoke with such candour it gave succour to cancer sufferers everywhere. Happily Kate is on the mend and she and William have just had their first joint engagement in Wales for more than a year.

Which is all very lovely and photogenic but I?m sorry to say that the event in Cardiff was too boring for words. The future King and Queen rolled up their sleeves ? to bake Welsh Cakes. It?s hardly the stuff to inspire the nation or conjure up the notion of a monarchy fit for the modern age. Yet, inspiration is what?s desperately needed from them at a time when King Charles has cancer himself and we don?t know how long he?ll be with us.

Baking is the sort of carry on we?d expect from the bicycling monarchies of Europe which have become irrelevant. Kate and William risk turning into European royals, so dreary they become obsolete. We want royals with power, the kind of soft power that thrilled President Trump this week when he was invited on a second state visit by King Charles. That?s the magic of monarchy. Where?s the magic with Kate, Wills and cake mix?

They could also have been at the Baftas in London recently, supporting the British film industry and adding glamour. After all, he is the organisation?s patron. And talking of glamour, why has the royal household decided it will no longer issue details of the clothes and jewellery Kate wears. Such endorsements are a lifeline to British brands

My advice to Kate is: leave the cake-making to Meghan and her new Netflix series. Although, come to think of it, even Megs would make it more interesting.

[From The Daily Mail]

LOL. The mention of the BAFTAs is especially pointed, and it shows that the British papers were really hoping for Will and Kate to put in an appearance just so they?d all have something to talk about. The fact that Will and Kate once again chose to go on vacation rather than ?shine? at a big event has left people feeling like the Waleses are not keeping up their end of the royal bargain. Oh well! Congrats on getting an heir and an heir?s wife who are more obsessed with copykeening Harry & Meghan than providing glamour and magic.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

There are widespread celebrations post-Oscars because we don?t have to talk about or think about Emilia Perez ever again. It was possibly one of the most problematic films to ever get a Best Picture nomination, and thinkpieces will be written about how the f?k it got 13 Oscar nominations. I covered the extreme and well-documented backlash to the film from the LGBTQ+ community, including GLAAD Media?s refusal to cosign any part of the story with any kind of nominations. We also documented the well-earned backlash to Karla Sofia Gascon, the lead actress of the film and the first trans actress to get an Oscar nom. Gascon had a long history of saying and tweeting offensive, bigoted, racist and problematic sh-t. Meanwhile, in Mexico and throughout Latin America, there was another backlash to Emilia Perez ? a backlash based on the European colonist attitudes prevalent throughout the film, from the French director?s vision of ?Mexico? to the Spanish lead actress?s comments on Latin America. There was widespread disgust within Mexico over the film. Once Zoe Salda?a won her Oscar for Supporting Actress, she was asked about this by a Mexican entertainment reporter. Zoe?s answer was BAD!

Zoe Salda?a is standing by the messages in Emilia P?rez, but also open to continuing the conversation about how the movie ?could?ve been done better.? Following her Best Supporting Actress win at the 2025 Oscars in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 2, the actress was asked by a reporter in the press room about some of the criticism surrounding the French-made film, which takes place in Mexico.

?A lot of things [have] been said about the movie, about trans people, about empowering women, but less has been said about Mexico, which is the heart of it,? the reporter told Salda?a, 46. ?What would you say about the heart of this movie, but also the topic [that] is really hurtful for us Mexicans??

?First of all, I?m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended [by Emilia P?rez],? Salda?a began her answer. ?That was never our intention. We spoke and came from a place of love, and I will stand by that.?

The actress, who is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, went on to say that she doesn?t ?share [the reporter?s] opinion,? in that ?for me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We weren?t making a film about a country. We were making a film about four women.?

?And these women could have been Russian, could have been Dominican, could have been Black from Detroit, could have been from Israel, could have been from Gaza,? she continued. ?And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find their most authentic voices.?

Salda?a concluded, ?So I will stand by that, but I?m also always open to sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters, and with love and respect, having a great conversation on how Emilia could?ve been done better. I have no problem. I welcome it. Thank you.?

[From People]

?For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico?? I mean? it was clear that almost no one involved in making the film had ever been to Mexico or met any Mexican people. I can?t even imagine the unbridled arrogance of that, btw ? to make this kind of film and show absolutely zero interest in grounding the film in any kind of authentic Mexican life when it?s set IN MEXICO and all of the characters are supposed to be Mexican.

?Emilia P?rez? star Zoe Salda?a responds to criticism of the film?s portrayal of Mexico, after a journalist shares that it has been ?really hurtful for us Mexicans.? https://t.co/AUQtz88gSi pic.twitter.com/8MBNR4Pvcn

? Variety (@Variety) March 3, 2025

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I started watching With Love, Meghan this morning, but I couldn?t even finish the Mindy Kaling episode because I had to start work (work = writing about WLM!). I got the vibe of WLM and it?s what I expected ? Meghan cooking and entertaining, hanging out with her friends and providing fun tips for family-friendly stuff and ?girls? nights? and more. Meghan whipped up a breakfast/brunch of frittata, bacon and parfaits in like five minutes and I was SHOOK. Then she started doing a balloon display and I was like? oh, that?s why she cooks so fast, because it takes several hours to do a balloon arch, even with a balloon inflator.

Watching WLM is going to be a trip this week, because it?s really just a sweet little cooking/entertaining show with zero drama and with little to do with the left-behind Windsors. And yet, the left-behinds have been in a full-blown panic about WLM for two months now, and William and Kate have already been sent out to bake cakes and talk about jam. The British media is trying their damnedest to make WLM into the most controversial program ever, and a show in which the entire Sussex Endeavor rests. As in, if WLM isn?t successful, then the Sussexes will be failures and something something they?ll come crawling back to the UK! As such, the Sunday Times had this piece: ?With Love, Meghan: as duchess returns to Netflix, was $100m well spent?? Would you believe that the Times found ?insiders? who claimed that Netflix hates Meghan??

Since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a deal with Netflix in 2020 for an estimated $100 million (some company insiders dispute this sum, although one former employee claimed it was ?even more?) there has been one mega-hit and three relative duds. The biographical Harry & Meghan was the streaming service?s biggest documentary debut, watched in almost 29 million households in its first four days, but Polo, a sports docuseries, Live to Lead, about ?global justice activists?, and Heart of Invictus, about the prince?s games for injured soldiers, did not set the streamer charts alight.

In Los Angeles, many have assumed that the Sussexes? relationship with Netflix is now on borrowed time, especially amid talk that the couple were difficult to work with. ?The word bandied around internally is ?nightmare?,? said a company insider. The chances of a deal being renewed were thought to rest on With Love, Meghan proving a major success.

However, last month, the streamer?s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, insisted the company was still ?really excited? to be working with the couple, describing Meghan?s hospitality series as ?such a great take on a lifestyle show and a showcase for California, Montecito and nature?. Initially, the deal had been for them to make TV, film and children?s shows.

?As long as Meghan and Harry are selling themselves, people will tune in ? whether they?re fans or watching through their fingers,? said a royal source. ?It?s where they have ventured beyond themselves and tried to say something about the wider world that they have struggled.?

The series will doubtlessly be criticised for being out of touch (while the trailer claims ?everyone?s invited?, no one will be watching this for budgeting tips), and the authenticity of the show and its star will certainly be questioned. It is filmed in a Californian farmhouse, not the couple?s Montecito mansion with its Tuscan architecture and 13 fireplaces ? but so long as it is being talked about, will Netflix care?

?There?s a feeling that Netflix hasn?t got great value for money [from the Sussexes] because they were buying exclusivity ? but then the couple appeared in other places, like their podcasts, and because their popularity has nosedived,? said a source with knowledge of the original deal. ?This might be a way to milk some value out of them.?

[From The Times]

I?ve said this before: it?s abundantly clear from the way the British media covers the Sussexes? businesses and contracts that the British media has no idea how any of this works. To the Times, Netflix is only ?Bridgerton, The Crown and the Sussexes,? and they assume that Netflix?s business model is that simplistic and localized. The British media doesn?t want to acknowledge the huge amount of support Netflix is giving WLM and Meghan?s product line, As Ever. Netflix put up a WLM ad in Times Square, for goodness sake. Those moves indicate that Netflix plans to be in the Sussex business for a while.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

As I said on Oscar night, I didn?t want Demi Moore to win the Best Actress Oscar, but I was still sad that she lost. She had a great ?comeback? story, a great ?it?s her time, after decades in the industry? story. I give her a lot of credit for changing into this Gucci dress and still going out to party post-Oscars. Demi is old-school ? never let the f?kers see you down. Never give them the satisfaction. That being said, Demi had a great awards-season run, picking up a Golden Globe, SAG Award and Critics Choice. She?s fine, according to me. According to Page Six, Demi is heartbroken though. A source told the outlet that Demi ?can?t help but feel heartbroken? and ?Demi is taking this loss very hard because she felt like this was finally her chance to take home an Academy Award? [but she] is thrilled for Mikey and all the other women who were nominated for this award. But of course, it was a huge disappointment not hearing her name be called.? I hope she?s not this upset, and as I said, she still went out and partied and enjoyed herself.

More photos from the VF Oscar party? Mikey Madison wore a simple black gown to the VF party ? I?m so happy for her win, but I desperately need her to give up the satin and taffeta, OMFG.

Embed from Getty Images

Lupita Nyong?o wore Chanel ? kind of boring, actually.

Selena Gomez in a custom Armani for the VF party ? I love this, she looked so great everywhere on Sunday.

Cynthia Erivo is one of the few women who prioritized comfort at the parties.

Embed from Getty Images

Lindsay Lohan and her husband Bader. Her dress is Balenciaga, and I always love the combination of white dress + emeralds. I hope she?s healthy and doing well.

Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.

It seems Adrien Brody can?t win an Oscar without also breaking a record. In 2003, Adrien became the youngest-ever man to nab Best Actor with his upset win for The Pianist when he was a wee bairn of 29. Had Timoth?e Chalamet won last night, he would have tied Adrien. So for now, Adrien still holds the title for youngest winner. But not one to rest on his laurels, Adrien broke an entirely new record with his second Best Actor victory: Guinness World Records confirms that Adrien?s acceptance speech for The Brutalist is the longest one in Oscars history. At a lengthy five minutes and 40 seconds, Adrien edged out the previous recorder-holder (Greer Garson in 1943) by 10 seconds. Thanks for making it official, Guinness, but I think anyone watching Sunday night could?ve verified that!

As per the Guinness World Records, Adrien Brody?s best actor acceptance speech at the 2025 Oscars is the longest in Oscars history.

Brody emerged triumphant ahead of Timoth?e Chalamet, Sebastian Stan, Colman Domingo and Ralph Fiennes at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood?s biggest night of the year, claiming one of the top performance prizes for his portrayal as Hungarian-Jewish architect L?szlo T?th in The Brutalist.

He came up onstage ? not before spitting out his chewing gum and throwing it to partner Georgina Chapman ? and ignored the standard 45-second timer to speak for a whopping five minutes and 40 seconds. It beats the record of five minutes and 30 seconds held by Greer Garson, according to GWR, when she won for Mrs. Miniver in 1943 (though there is no existing footage of the speech in its entirety).

When the music started to cut the star off, he said: ?Turn the music off! I?ve done this before. Thank you. It?s not my first rodeo, but I will be brief.? The moment may have conjured up old memories for Brody ? his first Oscar win aged 29 for The Pianist in 2003 was interrupted, too. At the time, he said: ?One second, please. One second. Cut it out. I got one shot at this. I didn?t say more than five names, I don?t think.?

He got payback by covering myriad topics this time around, among them antisemitism and racism: ?I?m here once again, to represent the lingering traumas, and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression, and of antisemitism, and racism, and of othering and I believe that I pray for a healthier and happier, and a more inclusive world, and I believe if the past can teach us anything it?s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.?

The actor also described acting as ?a very fragile profession.? He continued: ?It looks very glamorous, and certain moments it is, but the one thing I?ve gained, having the privilege to come back here is to have some perspective and no matter where you are in your career, no matter what you?ve accomplished, it can all go away, and I think what makes this night most special is the awareness of that and the gratitude that I have to still to do the work that I love.

?OK, I?ll get out of here, I love you, I appreciate you all,? he said as he wrapped up. ?Let?s fight for what?s right, keep smiling, keep loving one another, let?s rebuild together. Thank you.?

When speaking to GMA after his acceptance speech, Brody explained, ?It?s a pretty long movie so I had to have a little bit extra time to say what?s relevant,? he said. ?It?s been a very long time between speeches.?

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

I didn?t know your allotted speech time correlated to film length? [insert sarcasm here] Look, I like Adrien Brody. I think he has a real artist?s soul. And I didn?t hate his speech (like some people did). But to borrow an artistic metaphor, the speech needed some serious sculpting. There were peaks of heartfelt, beautifully-worded moments. And then valleys of agonizing pauses! He stopped the orchestra from playing him off, with the words, ?It?s not my first rodeo, but I will be brief.? And then how many silent seconds was it before he started speaking again?! The pauses just ended up diminishing the impact of the better parts of his speech. So in short (short, get it!), I give full marks to Adrien for emotion and sincerity, but his timing needs work. At his caliber, he should be able to deliver a tighter performance of an actor in an acceptance speech. And this isn?t even getting into the whole unfairness of less-famous winners being cut off, all for unnecessary dance numbers (you know who you are).

subjecting cillian murphy to the longest oscar speech in history should be a crime https://t.co/YlJTSX9Llt

? Vasilisa (@vasilisonka) March 3, 2025

Photos credit: Avalon.red

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