Newsletter Wednesday, December 20, 2017

[LaineyGossip.com - Calling all smuthounds!] Wednesday, December 20, 2017 [Intro for December 20, 2017]( [Lopizzy on Instagram](Dear Gossips, Do you remember what we were doing a year ago? Do you remember what we were talking about a year ago? [Lopizzy](. It never took. Both the portmanteau and the relationship, if it really was a relationship. But exactly a year ago this week, it was the second week of Jennifer Lopez and Drake and a week after that, they danced together at the “prom”: [A post shared by ✨Leyla✨ (@lleeyla)]( on Dec 30, 2016 at 3:05am PST [A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom)]( on Dec 30, 2016 at 3:13am PST JLO and Drake didn’t make it another month. And just a few weeks after that, she was already falling in love with Alex Rodriguez and now they’re practically engaged. Later on, during one of her shows, Hotline Bling came on and she [paused and shot out](, “Huh, bootycall”, to the audience before flipping her hair and spinning around. I’ve been trying to look back on the last year in gossip as we approach the end of 2017 and whether or not we could have known what we know now. Probably most of us would have known that Lopizzy wouldn’t last. But did you think she’d be on the brink of her fourth marriage… with ARod? It makes total sense now. In the way that’s almost like, why didn’t we think of this before? Why DIDN’T we think of it before? Here and there, over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be remembering some of highs and lows in gossip from the last 12 months. Let us know what you’d like featured too. Yours in gossip, Lainey [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 1:40 PM [What Else?]( [The Golden Child](We’re not supposed to be recording any new episodes of Show Your Work until 2018. But. But. This is tempting. Because [Catt Sadler’s situation]( is exactly what we get jacked about on the podcast. It’s apples to apples. Same level of responsibility, same skillset, same same same same same. EXCEPT where cash money is concerned. And their official statement? What does the network’s official statement mean? It means that, straight up, she’s worth less than her male colleague. Straight up. (Dlisted) Love when [Keira Knightley wears this leather jacket](. Pretty sure she’s had it for a long time because I’ve seen it on her several times before. But note the condition – it’s in GREAT condition. Like brand new condition. How does she do that? I mean, sure, if she was just pulling it out once or twice a year, but like I said, I’ve seen her wear it a lot, in candid photos. This jacket gets used. Also super cute Chanel low-waist pouch. (Go Fug Yourself) Brittany Snow isn’t the only person who says she [feels better after giving up dairy and gluten](. And it’s not just celebrities. I know a lot of people who say the same. No lie, I’m happy for them. But I would not be happy if I had to give up those things. I would just be wistful. Then bitter. (Cele|bitchy) Quiz time! [This quiz is about embarrassment](. What I think I’ve learned here is that apparently people are more embarrassed about sex than about poo. And they have major hang-ups about sex. The sweatpants question really confused me though. Seriously? At least if you wear sweatpants, you’d be comfortable! Doesn’t that count for something? (Buzzfeed) This dude is trying to figure out the future of fashion. I’m trying to figure out if he’s hot. I can’t tell though because of that [huge beard on his face](. Sorry. But this, for me, is too much. That beard could be reduced by 50% and the effect would still be the same. Which is why I think that the reason why the beard is SO much is because it’s compensating for something else. What could it be? (The Cut) OMG remember the movie The Golden Child? I haven’t seen it in a while. But I loved it in its time. So much. And I wanted to be that kid. I wanted to be the Chosen One, protected by Eddie Murphy. That kid knew magic right? I need to see it again. Although I’m scared now. Because it probably is a [really terrible movie](. (The Root) [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 8:57 PM [Michelle Williams: Tom Hardy’s She-Venom]( [Michelle Williams at the premiere NY of 'All The Money In The World' on December 18, 2017](Tom Hardy has been in Atlanta the last few months working on Venom. Venom is a Spider-Man villain. Apparently he starts off as Eddie Brock and some sh-t happens to him – as it does in these stories – and he becomes a bad guy. I’m not a comic book nerd so please don’t ask me to tell you more than that. All you need to know for our purposes is that this is an entire movie based on a bad guy and if the bad guy is the protagonist, you know he’s more than just a dude who wants to swallow the whole world. Obviously there will be LAYERS. And obviously, since Tom Hardy is involved, the character will be COMPLICATED. And obviously, Tom Hardy also belongs to the [Leonardo DiCaprio acting school of hardness](. Or, maybe he doesn’t. Leo doesn’t do big budget superhero style movies because he’s too important for that. Anyway, Venom itself, until this week, didn’t interest me much, even starring Tom Hardy. I think maybe I’ve gone off Tom Hardy? It might be because we haven’t posted much about him in 2017 and I’m fickle. I need constant attention. But not too much attention. It’s a tricky balance. That said, I’m more interested in Venom now because Michelle Williams has been cast. And she apparently plays a character called Anne who is Tom Hardy’s character’s ex-wife and Anne is a lawyer who then also becomes a super-villain type called She-Venom. This is a stupid name, comic book people. Why can’t she have her own name? Why is her name so lazy? All they’ve done is stick the feminine pronoun in front of his name and call it a day. I’m sure there will be some nerd explanation for this. Please know, in advance, that I don’t accept it. Michelle was interviewed recently for All The Money In The World and asked about Venom, the movie, and she [said that]( she took the role for the opportunity to work with an actor like Tom. And that while these kinds of movies and this kind of CGI is not normally her jam, I very much appreciated her response to that kind of work when asked how she would compare Anne to any of her previous parts: I’ve done one other movie where I was asked to track a tennis ball with my eyes and pretend it was a giant creature thing. Not my favorite thing in the world to do, but it is a skill set and I’m trying to learn it. And uh, she’s, geez, what can I tell you? Not too much right now. It is a skill set and I’m trying to learn. YES. YES!!! Give her her own f-cking name! [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 6:50 PM [Next Up: TJ Miller]( [T.J. Miller attends the premiere of 'The Emoji Movie' at Regency Village Theatre on July 23, 2017 in Westwood, California](Did you think it was over? Did you think the Hollywood Predator Advent Calendar had spat out its last name? Well Merry F*cking Christmas, we’ve got another one: [TJ Miller](. Remember him? Of Silicon Valley and Deadpool fame, and, oh yeah, The Emoji Movie. And also one of the most intolerable personalities of 2017. Is anyone surprised TJ Miller is now ensnared in the ongoing traffic jam of abusers and harassers being called out in Hollywood? [This guy](? SURELY YOU JEST. Like so many others, there have been rumors about TJ Miller for a while. I’ve heard stories of bad behavior at comedy clubs, and of bullying female comedians and women who work with him. And it’s not limited to his stand-up act, he [bullies]( people in his life, too. The excuse for many years has been that TJ Miller loves his wife, Kate Gorney, and so he can’t be a prick with a woman problem. As if that has ever stopped anyone before. As if being married prevents someone from (allegedly) getting loaded before going on stage and then verbally abusing audience members until they cry, or creating a toxic work environment. The accusation against Miller is horrific, as reported by The Daily Beast, and goes back to Miller’s college days, when he assaulted “Sarah”, a girl with whom he had a relationship. There’s punching, choking, violent unsolicited sex, all wrapped up in the emotional damage of intimate violence and being hurt by someone you think, at the very least, cares about you. (For the record, Miller, and his wife, [deny the allegations](.) It’s heartbreaking, and like so many of these stories, you can feel how “Sarah” is still dealing with the aftermath today. While Miller has gone on to fame and success, “Sarah” has reshaped her whole life around the wounds he inflicted. There’s a lot of talk—mostly from Matt Damon—about “due process” as these stories continue to come out. About waiting to judge, hearing all the facts, blah blah blah. The thing is, though, that for the vast majority of these stories, there will be no due process. It took “Sarah” a year to work up to reporting what Miller did, and by that time, there was no more physical evidence, so she didn’t go to the police. Instead, she reported it to the college, who reviewed the accusation in “student court”. The result was that Miller was expelled, but only after he graduated, so basically, nothing. And then he went on to fame and success. Where’s the due process in that? Where’s the due process, FOR “SARAH”? The court of public opinion exists because the actual courts fail all the time. In a perfect world, the justice system would work perfectly every time, and we really could just go around saying, Well Person X got theirs because our flawless justice system worked yet again! But we know that is not how the world works. We know the justice system, no matter how pure the intent or sincere the effort, fails. It fails all the time. It fails some people more than others, and it fails victims of intimate violence at a rate so high it is almost incomprehensible. But the court of public opinion, while flawed in its own way—the crime solvers on Reddit are not extremely helpful—does mete out its own form of justice. It comes in Google results that put up a mug shot and case details when you search “Brock Allen Turner”. It comes in lost jobs and reduced opportunities for people like Kevin Spacey and TJ Miller. Is that fair? I don’t know man, was it fair that because it took her a year to arrive at a place where she could recount her story for the record, the lack of physical evidence doomed “Sarah’s” case before it got started? Is it fair that Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd paid a price in lost jobs because they told Harvey Weinstein no? TJ Miller’s Comedy Central show [got canceled](. That might or might not have anything to do with “Sarah’s” story, it might just be the result of low ratings. So far, there has been no word if any of Miller’s upcoming films, which include Deadpool 2 and Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, will replace him a la Kevin Spacey/Christopher Plummer. We’re going to have to wait and see what the court of public opinion dishes out to TJ Miller, but right now, I’d say he’s looking at fewer opportunities and certainly, a tougher time booking stand-up gigs. Is that enough? No. Of course it isn’t. He changed the course of a young woman’s life, and she can go on and not be defined by one night, but that sign post is always there. That’s a sign she can’t take down. So now Miller will have a sign of his own, one he can’t take down, either. It’s a sign that says “sexual assault”, and anyone who chooses to work with him from now on has to look at that sign first. And because the deck is so stacked against victims and the system is not f*cking fair, that’s the best we can hope for. We have to settle for karmic justice because actual justice fails us. It failed “Sarah”. But at least now she isn’t the only one with a sign. [Source]( [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 6:30 PM [Smutty Social Media, December 20, 2017]( [Justin Bieber stops to chat with photographers after leaving Selena Gomez's house on December 19, 2017](Yesterday, Kathleen wrote about the issues between [Selena and her mother]( and now they have unfollowed one another on Instagram. For all the world to see. (Her mom still follows The Weeknd.) It’s definitely high drama. But I want to go back to Selena and Justin’s [Seattle date for a minute](. When the story came out, I wondered why they specifically chose Seattle out of all the places they could go with a few hours and a jet. Pastor Judah Smith, a very close confidant of Justin Bieber and the one who actually introduced him to Pastor Carl Lentz, has a church in Seattle. So I did a bit of Googling and found this: Justin and Selena Were Jet-Setting for Jesus, [Weekend Getaway to See Famous Pastor](. [A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)]( on Dec 14, 2017 at 7:39pm PST Janet Jackson and [Jermaine Dupri are back together](?!?!?!?!?!?! [A post shared by Janet Jackson (@janetjackson)]( on Dec 17, 2017 at 4:17pm PST Gwen and her children jokingly wore this backstage and yes it’s extra but it’s also kind of cute – everyone was trying it on. It is true that bullies pick on people to feel better about their [own failures and shortcomings](. And horrible ties. Remember that time on The Apprentice your dad tried to show Eric love the only way he knows how by mocking your tie in front of the whole crew until you cried? How’s that for a narrative junior? [#ProveMeWrong]( — Tom Arnold (@TomArnold) [December 19, 2017]( I’m not a fan of sports but I enjoy the gossip around sports teams. Tom Brady, who is establishing himself as an athletic wellness expert (through his meal plan, book and training center), has a long-time friend, business partner and trainer, Alex Guerrero. [According to the Boston Globe](, Alex has recently had his sideline access revoked and can no longer board the team plane to travel with Brady. He also can’t treat other players (besides Tom) in the locker room or team office. So QB1 and coach are obviously not seeing eye-to-eye on Alex’s contribution to the organization. How does that play out privately in locker room conversations? [A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady)]( on Dec 19, 2017 at 1:26pm PST Shady and Eichner, [I ship this](. IMHO I don't think Eminem was really joking when he said he uses Grindr. He is very smart and self-aware. I think he knows people will *think* he's joking - and that his rep will say he's joking - but I don't think he's joking. And good for him! 🌈🌈🌈 — billy eichner (@billyeichner) [December 20, 2017]( IT’S A LEGITIMATE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE AND NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN. (In a subsequent thread, Liam said Noel has reached out to him.) I don’t want a Love Actually sequel but if they were to make one it could just be a rolling list of Liam’s tweets about Noel. I wanna say Happy Xmas to team NG it's been a great year thanks for everything looking forward to seeing you tmorrow AS YOU WERE LG x — Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) [December 19, 2017]( Attached: Justin Bieber leaving Selena's house last night. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 6:08 PM [Mindy Kaling’s Daughter Katherine]( [Mindy Kaling attends the 2017 NBCUniversal Upfront event at the Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York on May 15, 2017](You know how there’s a word for all kinds of things in German that English doesn’t have a reference for? What’s the word for ‘I kind of got played and I think I like it’? Please advise. Okay, ‘played’ is too strong a word, probably. But the way the story (or non-story) of [Mindy Kaling](’s pregnancy has played out is one of the few elements of 2017 that I have found surprising and charming. First there was the weird non-announcement, then the later revelation that she was outed by Oprah, which seems like a surprise anointing of a sort, right? Then she not only thwarted people’s curiosity about how she came to be pregnant but posted zero ‘look at my growing pregnancy’ photos on her very active Instagram – and now has announced that her daughter Katherine was born on December 15th. It’s so chill. So un-extra. And a big part of it is the name she chose. Parents these days trend toward names you know but wouldn’t have heard a generation ago – Dashiell and Silas and Adelaide. But while some people call them ‘traditional’ names and some say ‘old fashioned’, a lot of people love to say ‘timeless’. That’s a misnomer – William, for example, has always been classic, and probably was always in use, but it’s not timeless; a kid who actually responds to William was either born before 1940 or after 2002. But Katherine is timeless. Literally. Katherine Brooke was Anne Shirley’s nemesis circa 1889; she was also the most stylish girl in grade 10 when I was in high school. Katherine is simultaneously evocative of Katherine Hepburn and of a 7-year-old. True, there are a glut of Katies in their late 20s who probably have Katherine on their birth certificates, but you can’t know for sure, if you get an email from Katherine, whether she’s 17 or 47. It’s kind of genius. Mindy Kaling knows more than a bit about names. Her name given at birth was Vera Mindy Chokalingam. I gave a [TED talk]( last year, and in it I explained why I believe Mindy’s name is directly related to her success – it has to do with relatability. Accessibility. Things she’s built an entire career on. ‘Katherine’ strikes these same chords. It’s a name that is here, that has always been here. It fits perfectly with Mindy’s ‘there will be no questions’ approach to her pregnancy, because there are no questions to answer about Katherine. It’s timeless. It’s unassailable. Katherine was born on Friday, or she was born three years ago or five years from now. The choice was stylish and charming and alliterative – Katherine Kaling sounds great – and I’m sure that it’s a name Mindy loves. But it was also deliberate. You can’t make any judgments on a Katherine until you meet her. She is anything she wants to be, from any time in history – which would be true even if the reference to [A Wrinkle In Time]( wasn’t hovering here, begging to be mentioned. I feel this choice of an ‘anything’ name is particularly significant coming from Mindy Kaling. This is a woman who has defied expectations of who and what she can be since we first met her: The first Indian woman who created and stars in her own show; a successful multi-hyphenate who is asked to talk all the time not about her self-made career, but how incredible it is that she likes her body and enjoys fashion even as a self-identified ‘curvy’ woman. From a [2013 interview with Parade](: “I always get asked, ‘Where do you get your confidence?’ I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?’” Maybe there are people who expected a name that’s a little more unusual from Mindy, or those who thought she might choose to highlight an ‘exotic’ Indian name. I’ve expressed my hope that celebrities might popularize non-Anglo names before, but I know exactly why Mindy didn’t – just like millions of our parents didn’t. And I’m so here for it. After a lifetime of being judged on what she looks like before she ever opens her mouth, a career whose trajectory may have been helped by a name that mitigates those judgements, and her new path as an apparent ‘Choice Mom’, Mindy Kaling’s choice makes so much sense it’s almost chemical. A stylish but timeless name that gives absolutely nothing away, and the ability to truly be anyone she wants to be, is one of the first great gifts Katherine Kaling has received. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 5:13 PM [Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman]( [Zac Efron, Zendaya and Hugh Jackman attend the Australian premiere of The Greatest Showman at The Star on December 20, 2017 in Sydney, Australia](Even if you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about PT Barnum, The Greatest Showman is not a great movie. It has going for it [Hugh Jackman](, truly a Great Entertainer, and he is determined to greatly entertain the sh*t out of his audience. And the musical numbers aren’t that bad, honestly. It’s no The Lure, the year’s best musical, but the song and dance bits are tolerable. Everyone can sing, everyone can dance—or, in the case of Michelle Williams, a professional double was obviously hired and regularly deployed—and while the songs aren’t especially memorable, most of them are anthemic empowerment ballads with strong back beats, so toe-tapping is easy. And Rebecca Ferguson turns out to have QUITE the pipes—is there anything Ilsa Faust can’t do? But The Greatest Showman walks into the ugliest, grossest exploitation and it becomes impossible to ignore the history butting up against the fantasy, and, unbearably, it involves Zendaya. WHO DOES NOT DESERVE IT. But first, the movie itself, which is a mess. Showman covers like forty years and there is no sense of time passing through any kind of visual clue—it feels like all this happens in six weeks—and that makes it hard to track shifting motivations, especially as Barnum’s appetites fail to be satisfied. There are HUGE chunks missing because Barnum’s history is so f*cking repellant, and that creates a disconnect between the show and the tell of the movie. The movie is showing us Barnum as an affable family man whose worst trait is the desire to be accepted by his snooty in-laws. (I do appreciate Showman for casting Fred Lehne as Snooty Father-In-Law, because if you want to instantly communicate “asshole” to the audience, you hire Fred Lehne.) But they keep referencing how people call Barnum a “scoundrel” and a “con”, and they cast the protestors of the circus as people who oppose the “freaks” involved in his show. (And not like, people objecting to the TREATMENT of the people and animals involved in his show.) We are never given a reason to understand why people might not like Barnum, beyond his friendships with social outsiders. The worst thing he does in the movie is have an unconsummated attraction to opera singer Jenny Lind (Ferguson). And this is where Showman gets ugly. Because people DID protest Barnum’s circus in New York, but a huge part of that was that he OWNED A SLAVE. New York abolished slavery in the 1820s, and PT Barnum BOUGHT A HUMAN BEING FOR DISPLAY in the 1830s. Not only was he breaking a law, he was transgressing against a hot-f*cking-button moral issue. Her name was Joice Heth. She was old, and ill, and needed serious care. PT Barnum put her ON DISPLAY to be gawked at. He called himself her “proprietor”. This, naturally, caused an uproar, which in the movie is recast as unenlightened troglodytes trying to drive the “freaks” out of their town. This is where [Zendaya]( comes in. Yes, Zendaya is amazing. She is a swan trapped in a sh*t pond, and she’s doing the best with the sh*t she’s in. She even has decent chemistry with [Zac Efron](! In and of itself, their storyline is far more compelling than anything going on with Barnum. Zendaya stars as Anne, a trapeze artist, an outcast by virtue of the color of her skin. Showman does not hide that, even in the abolitionist North, Anne is subjected to considerable racism. Efron stars as Phillip Carlyle, Barnum’s partner in the circus. Carlyle falls for Anne, but he’s a society guy and she is very conscious she will never be welcome in his world. The circus is the only place they can be together. It’s romantic and a little tragic, and it works. But Showman cannot escape the specter of Joice Heth. She’s there in every shot, and the fact that Zendaya is put in a situation to present PT F*cking Barnum as some kind of Hero Of The Oppressed is straight up SICKENING. For all the liberties the movie takes, I don’t know why they didn’t just change the name from PT Barnum to literally anything else. It still wouldn’t be very good—for a movie set in a fantasy version of a circus it’s weirdly dark and drab—but at least it wouldn’t come with Barnum’s ugly history. At least then Anne wouldn’t be an uncomfortable reminder of the black woman who was Barnum’s prisoner with a job. But they do name PT Barnum, and Anne is grateful for the “liberation” of his circus. And that sits very badly with the very real history of Joice Heth. It’s almost irrelevant that The Greatest Showman is not a very good movie because it’s such an atrocious f*cking idea in the first place. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 4:56 PM [Kathleen’s Top 5 Albums of 2017]( [CTRL](If 2017 felt confusing, sometimes infuriating, sometimes triumphant, and generally emotionally sporadic on your timelines, that same perplexity was reflected in the music it produced. I’m not mad at the art 2017 delivered but I don’t think I was expecting most of it. Aside from two hip-hop legends meeting impossible expectations and even surpassing their potential, the albums that impressed me the most this year came as pleasant surprises. I’m trying really hard not to echo the “we needed ___ more than ever” sentiment [The Ringer]( called out in a piece Lainey linked to the other day but truthfully, some of these albums are a perfect representation of the times. Some of them are just dope sh-t. The albums I picked are a mix of stunning protest, feel-good escapism, mindless pop hits, underrated anthems and yes, urgent masterpieces. These are the albums I couldn’t stop playing, the ones that made me think or sob or dance around my kitchen – or all three. These are the albums that will be replaying in my brain under the great and not so great memories of a year filled with equal amounts of both. Here are my Top 5 Albums of 2017, in a very specific order. 4:44 In music history, Jay-Z’s 4:44 will probably be remembered as Jay’s most sonically ambitious and artistically mature album – or the one where he admitted to cheating on our Queen Beyoncé. To me, it will go down as Jay’s first work as a post-therapy proper adult and the album of 2017 that gut-punched me the hardest. I have been talking about/dissecting the themes and confessions in 4:44 since the day it dropped this summer. The importance of a black man with Jay’s gravitas and social standing showing vulnerability and remorse and taking accountability for his actions will be this album’s legacy. Jay-Z redefined black masculinity for himself and hopefully, for a generation. Plus, along with giving us essential, beautiful music for the hip-hop history books, 4:44 gave us SO MUCH CONTENT. Shout out to Beyoncé for being responsible for the seminal album of the year two years in a row. Revisit my [reaction piece]( to 4:44 here. DAMN. Whew. What a work. I was careful not to call 4:44 the BEST album of 2017 because, of course, that title has to go to Kendrick Lamar. DAMN. is perfect. It’s an instant classic. It’s an album that, as a hip-hop fan, you just feel fortunate to be in its presence, to devour in every sitting. I listen to this album in full almost weekly. WHAT. A. WORK. Not only is every word smart AF (are we retiring “AF” in 2018?), it’s got bangers. When I [first wrote about DAMN.](, I called its second single DNA. “our Eye of The Tiger.” Basically, it makes me want to punch walls and start revolutions. Kendrick Lamar is called the Artist of His Generation so often the title is starting to feel trite but he continually rises to meet expectations most artists would crumble under. Long may King Kenny reign. Meaning of Life So far, Kelly Clarkson has not made any of the Best Albums of 2017 lists I’ve seen. The music snobs at Pitchfork would probably laugh in my face that I included Meaning of Life in my top 5 of 2017 but I give less than a single f-ck. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS ALBUM. I am not a pop culture snob. I love Game of Thrones and Handmaids Tale like the rest of the media elite but I also I spent a lot of my year writing about The Bachelorette and Riverdale. I’d rather watch A Christmas Prince over Dunkirk any day of the week. My point: Kelly Clarkson’s Meaning of Life may not be a critically acclaimed body of work but it IS her masterpiece. It’s the album Kelly has always wanted to do and you can hear the freedom in her voice. Meaning of Life was the shot of pure, unadulterated joy I needed in 2017. Read my [full review here](. More Life I didn’t want to like Drake’s More Life. In fact, I tried really hard NOT to like More Life. After Views, I was decidedly over Drake. Then, I heard the opening of Passionfruit. Holy sh-t, Passionfruit is a good song. More Life is so stacked with great songs, it’s annoying. Drake finally got out of his own way and threw a hell of a party with this album. Drake silenced his critics (including me) who were calling for him to take a stand politically through his music by just putting out great work that was fun and a nice distraction. I can’t be mad at this. And after all my initial hesitations, I can definitely say that I danced to More Life more than any other album (remember when Drake tried to make calling albums “playlists” happen?) this year. [Full review here](. CTRL SZA’s debut studio album was 2017’s A Seat at the Table. A Seat at the Table was more political where CTRL is simply introspective and sexy but to me, they exist in the same space. They’re both stunning, smooth R&B, dreamlike masterworks from black female artists who found their voices and some overdue respect. We’ve mentioned SZA a couple times on the site but for some reason, I have yet to yell at all of you about how great SZA is. Some of you already know. To those of you who don’t, now seems like an opportune time to start yelling. SZA IS GREAT. LISTEN TO CTRL. I recommend it in the bathtub with a bottle of wine. Whatever is plaguing you, this will cure it. Promise. Runners-up Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory Migos – Culture Haim – Something to Tell You Daniel Caesar – Freudian Kesha – Rainbow Solid albums I only felt compelled to listen to once Lorde – Melodrama, I know, I know, I should probably give it another shot (Lainey: you really should. It’s on my Top 5) Pink – Beautiful Trauma Future - HNDRXX Album Everyone Liked That I Was “Meh” About Harry Styles – Harry Styles (sorry, handsome) Biggest disappointments Taylor Swift – reputation Katy Perry – Witness Miley Cyrus – Younger Now [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 4:13 PM [Eminem uses dating apps]( [Eminem performs at Samsung Galaxy stage during 2014 Lollapalooza Day One at Grant Park on August 1, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois](The fact that [Eminem]( admitted to using dating apps would probably make headlines on its own but it’s the specific dating apps he mentioned that have turned his quotes into clickbait. EMINEM USES GRINDR! Those are the headlines. You’re clicking on that, right? Tell me you wouldn’t click on that. If you did click on any of these Eminem + Grindr stories, you’d know the quotes came from a [Vulture interview]( where he was asked about his dating life. Please enjoy the entire exchange: Do you date? It’s tough. Since my divorce I’ve had a few dates and nothing’s panned out in a way that I wanted to make it public. Dating’s just not where I’m at lately. When you were dating, how’d you meet people? Tinder? I mean, yeah. Are you being serious? Yeah, Tinder. Really? [Laughs] And Grindr. I also used to go to strip clubs. The writer then asks Eminem a follow-up about strip clubs instead of, oh you know, asking him about the fact that the rapper who famously wrote homophobic lyrics just confessed that he’s on a gay dating app? Maybe there’s a follow up question there, David Marchese. In this writer’s defense, maybe he didn’t want to out Em before he was ready. Maybe he didn’t know that Grindr is an app specifically for gay and bisexual men. Or maybe he just thought we’d all be fascinated by a follow-up about whether or not you can find a long-term relationship at a strip club. Many Eminem fans think it’s obvious that this was a joke. They say that Eminem knows we’d all be talking about this and that’s why he said it. If that’s true, Eminem hasn’t really moved on from using the gay community as a punchline, has he? Sure, this could have just been a problematic joke. But could it be possible that Eminem is actually bisexual? Would it be kind of poetic and almost cliché for the once infamously gay-bashing, misogynistic rapper to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community? I actually wouldn’t be surprised. We’ve seen it time and time again in public cases that homophobia can be rooted in self-hatred. I hope Eminem is actually bi-curious instead of either a) using Grindr as a way to get people talking or b) joking about the gay community because I was really starting to believe he was evolving. Call it naivete but after Eminem went IN on [Trump during the BET Cypher](, I’d been rooting for his comeback. After one listen, Revival hasn’t lived up to anything he did during that freestyle and after this story, maybe he’s not worth rooting for. If Marshall really doesn’t use Grindr to find dates, he shouldn’t be so flippant about a community he caused significant pain to in the past. On a less serious note, can someone please find Marshall Mathers on Tinder and/or Grindr? This is an important challenge to all of our single readers. I am dying to know what Eminem’s opening online dating pickup line is. Is it, “Hi? My name is?” I’m sorry. I had to. I’ll go now. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:03 PM [Meghan & Harry at the Queen’s Christmas lunch]( [Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arriving for the Queen's Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace, London on December 20,2017](It’s an annual tradition. The Queen hosts a Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace. And for the first time, [Prince Harry]( has an official plus one. Here he is arriving with [Meghan Markle](. They always drive themselves on this occasion, right? Prince William was also seen pulling in today with Kate in the passenger seat and presumably a nanny behind them. So far no photos yet of Big G and Charlotte in the backseat. Will post if I get them and if they’re good. But let’s focus now on Meghan’s first Christmas lunch with the Queen, ahead of her first proper Christmas with the Queen at Sandringham. This is the first major royal family event for Meghan, with all if not most senior royals in attendance and other members of Her Majesty’s extended family. It’s not a small deal. Not for her and definitely not for Harry either. Because, as we’ve seen through the years, he’d either show up with his dad or as a tag-along with his brother. Since Big G arrived, he’s had to sit next to Big G in the car on the way in. Now he gets to ride up front, behind the wheel, with his future wife at his side. Adulting, royal styles. As for Meghan, I wonder if she was trained for this breakfast. Like what preparations they put her through. I mean, at the very least, she would have had to have been briefed on a schedule. This is when they serve the salad. This is when the alcohol comes out. Don’t drink before this person starts. Don’t do this with your hands. Try not to giggle. Here’s a list of all the people who will be there. You should start learning their names and memorising facts. Make sure you ask this dude about his garden. Do not mention horses around that lady. These are rich judgy people. Among them: Princess Michael of Kent. You remember Princess Michael of Kent, don’t you? In 2004, in New York, she reportedly told a group of loud diners to “go back to the colonies”. They were black. And then, to defend herself, she was interviewed a couple of months later. [This is what she said]( as a proof that she’s not racist: "I even pretended years ago to be an African, a half-caste African, but because of my light eyes I did not get away with it, but I dyed my hair black," Princess Michael said. Then she digs some more: "I travelled on African buses. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted experiences from Cape Town to right up in northern Mozambique. I had this adventure with these absolutely adorable, special people and to call me racist: it's a knife through the heart because I really love these people." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s who Meghan Markle’s hanging out with today. And Princess Michael of Kent can’t be an outlier. She’s not an exception. Don’t tell me she’s the only one in that family with these views. Meghan will have to navigate all of this, move through this world. And, also, disrupt it. Disrupt the f-ck out of it. Here’s the Self Portrait dress Meghan wore today. And earrings by Canadian jeweller Birks. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 2:25 PM [Privacy Policy]( - [Unsubscribe](