The Daily Beast Latest Articles
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The Iconic Memphis Label Behind Music’s Most Soulful Stars Howard L. Bingham“We were flying by the seat of our pants,” Stax legend William Bell recently recalled of the early days of the venerable label that tracked the rise of the civil rights movement. “A lot of us came in from the gospel arena, right out of church, just neighborhood kids. We learned how to craft a song as young kids, 14, 15 years old, but really, we just wanted to hear our voices on the radio.”According to legend, Stax Records replaced cotton as the single biggest product coming out of Memphis, Tennessee, during its late-1960s heyday. And if you know the Stax story, it’s not hard to believe.But if you only know the hits, and not the rags-to-riches tale of the label that made stars of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, the Staple Singers, and so many more, then you couldn’t do better than STAX: Soulsville U.S.A., a four-part documentary that premieres on Max on May 20 and tracks its remarkable, and often heartbreaking, history.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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‘Hacks’ Season 3 Is Its Horniest Yet. Does It Need This Much Sex? Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/MaxHaving a one-night stand seems to have become veteran comic Deborah Vance’s (Jean Smart) go-to method in confronting the two most painful moments from her past: losing a late-night talk show and losing her husband to her younger sister in one fell swoop.In both of the last two seasons of Hacks, Deborah has had fleeting encounters that prove she has the capacity for self-reflection after a night in the sack with a hot guy—which is true even when Deborah breaks her own “no married men” rule.(Warning: Spoilers ahead for the latest episodes of Hacks.)Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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The Huge ‘Bridgerton’ Sex Scene Is Scored by…Pitbull?! Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Netflix/Getty ImagesHave you ever professed feelings to the love of your life while a Pitbull song was playing in the background? Oh, you haven’t? You should give it a try sometime. Clearly, it works wonders—because in Bridgerton, it leads to one of the series’ greatest love stories. Pitbull is a romantic genius.(Warning: Spoilers ahead for Bridgerton Season 3, Part 1.)Let’s set the scene: Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) is having a tense carriage ride back to her home across from the Bridgerton estate. She’s fed up with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), who has vexed her for years as the charming boy next door. He just ruined her one chance at marriage by intercepting a proposition at a ball. And yet, he still does not seem to love her. Why, then, must he continue to take such a vested interest in her love life?Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Bella Hadid’s Perfume Line Will Awaken Your Inner Romantic Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesThere is something preternaturally alluring about Bella Hadid. Maybe it’s the supermodel-activist-lemon heiress’ cheekbones, which look like Rodin’s careful hands finished sculpting them just before Pat McGrath’s devoted brushes dotted highlighter powder across their curvature. Or perhaps it’s the Palestinian-American’s fearless dedication to speaking out for what she believes in. Hadid has been strong-willed enough to suffer any detractors, consistently using her platform to speak out about Israel’s virulent military campaign in Gaza, and joining the call to demand a ceasefire.Whatever her draw is, one thing’s for sure: Bella Hadid serves as often as an Applebee’s waiter doing a double shift after a local junior baseball tournament. Watching her walk a runway is like catching a glimpse of Helen of Troy—suddenly, you understand how one face could launch a thousand ships. Hadid has an “it” factor that so many of her contemporaries have failed to procure, an undeniable pull that has made her the muse of designers and photographers around the world at just 27 years old. Who wouldn’t want an aura that makes people fall head over heels with just one look, if only for the big, fat paychecks it may yield?For anyone looking to replicate Hadid’s aura themselves—trust me, I’ve closely studied the texts to try to do this for years—there is Orebella, Hadid’s new line of fragrances, touted as “the first intentional skin parfum.” As a longtime Bella Hadid superstan, whose name was on the Orebella mailing list before the product was even announced, I couldn’t get my hands on Orebella’s first three scents fast enough. I may be a professional critic, sure, but I lay the money down first and form my subjective opinions later. Suze Orman will have my head for that, yet little does she know that all things are possible through Bella Hadid, which I have found out after a week’s worth of testing Orebella. The scents, and their unusual, proprietary formula, are as enchanting as the person who created them, a unique blend of essential oils whose bouquet transforms the longer they’re worn on the skin. While I’m reluctant to gush over every scent in the launch collection, one of them has become my go-to summer staple, a must-have for anyone looking to “reveal their alchemy,” to borrow a phrase from the brand itself.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Trump Ends NRA Speech With ‘Horror’ Warning Set to Dramatic QAnon Music Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesDonald Trump followed up his endorsement by the National Rifle Association on Saturday with a speech stoking fears of the government under Joe Biden “coming for your guns” and a bizarre monologue set to dramatic music resembling a song favored by QAnon.Addressing thousands of members of the NRA at their annual meeting in Texas, the former president stuck to his usual talking points, hailing the reversal of Roe v. Wade as an “amazing thing,” comparing himself to Al Capone, and insisting “genius” runs in his bloodline.Then, as he wound down, in a disorienting shift, sentimental music began to play and Trump furrowed his brow and shook his head to deliver the grim message that America is “a failing nation.”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Tributes Pour in for CNN Commentator Alice Stewart, Dead at 58 CNN via YouTubeCNN political commentator Alice Stewart died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 58. Authorities said they discovered her body outdoors in Bellevue, Virginia, and believe Stewart suffered a medical emergency. No foul play is suspected.Stewart served as communications director for the presidential campaigns of former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), and most recently Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). She was hired by CNN ahead of the 2016 presidential election. She was a conservative commentator who would regularly appear on CNN, and offer criticism of former president Donald Trump. Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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A Paralegal’s Steely, Star Turn at Donald Trump’s Trial Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/New York County District Attorney's OfficeShe had a simple job at a complex trial: Read a man’s damning words.Not just any man, of course. The Twitter posts on the bright courtroom screens at Donald Trump’s New York trial last Friday were the thoughtless intimidation tactics of the first American president to face criminal charges in a fight that could alter the course of the country’s history.The task fell to Georgia Longstreet, a tall, unassuming 24-year-old who walks into court every morning impeccably dressed. She and her two fellow paralegals show up half an hour before the prosecution team does, lugging in binders of evidence and prepping for the seven-hour battle ahead.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Diddy’s Couture Website ‘Sean John’ Has Gone Totally Offline ReutersIt’s been a tumultuous year for Sean “Diddy” Combs and those in his orbit, which was punctuated this month with his once-promising fashion line, Sean John, appearing to have had its website wiped from the internet. Internet archives indicate the site’s removal took place sometime between May 3 and Saturday, when The Daily Beast discovered its domain—seanjohn.com—now directs users to an “under construction” page that links to seedy webpages seemingly not associated with the brand. It appears to be the first time the domain has been in such a state since it went live in 1999, the archival service Wayback Machine shows. It’s unclear if the site’s deactivation is temporary, permanent, or merely an extremely bad technical error. Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Sex Offender Arrested After Faking His Death to Avoid Registering, Sheriff Says Pinal County Sheriff's OfficeA convicted sex offender was arrested on Tuesday in Arizona, seven months after he allegedly faked his own death to avoid having to register.In October, 50-year-old Benjamin Hollins allegedly had a woman file a false police report claiming that he’d killed himself jumping off the Theodore Roosevelt Lake Bridge in Roosevelt, Arizona.In a video statement posted to Facebook, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb said his department had wasted “a lot of resources” searching for Hollins’ body, “which was clearly not found, because he wasn’t dead.”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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‘Emilia Perez’: Selena Gomez’s Trans Cartel Musical Is the Buzz of Cannes Shanna BessonNothing about Selena Gomez’s new movie that premiered at Cannes should work.Let's just review the plot. Stay with me here.Emilia Perez is the mostly Spanish-language story of a lawyer, Rita (Zoe Saldaña), who is hired by a notorious cartel leader, Manitas, who has been on hormones for two years, to make secret arrangements for a gender confirmation surgery. Rita makes millions in the process. Cut to four years later: Manitas is now Emilia Perez. She is impossibly glamorous and has another task for Rita. Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) wants the lawyer, now a success in London, to retrieve her wife, Jessi (Gomez), and children from their hideaway in Switzerland and install them in a house in Mexico City, where Emilia will pose as her own kids’ aunt. Jessi assumes that Manitas is dead and has no idea who Emilia really is, but she wants to return to get back together with the sexy Gustavo (Édgar Ramírez), with whom she had an affair. Later, Emilia, atoning for her crimes as the ruthless Manitas, opens a foundation to locate the bodies of disappeared people.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett Has No Regrets About Viral ‘Bleach Blonde, Butch Body’ Jab at MTG Tom Williams/Getty ImagesFirebrand Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) continued to take no prisoners on a Friday night CNN appearance, doubling down on comments she made during a contentious House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday night.The meeting, which was supposed to be about contempt-of-Congress proceedings for Attorney General Merrick Garland, went off the rails when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) suddenly attacked Crockett’s appearance during a hostile exchange of barbs on the committee floor, suggesting that Crockett’s “fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”The comments drew immediate outrage from Democratic reps including committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who moved to strike Greene’s comments from the record. That motion ultimately failed, and Greene refused to apologize.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Biden Camp Has a Field Day With Wobbly Trump at Podium XThe Biden campaign gleefully turned one of Donald Trump’s favorite digs against him on Saturday, branding the 78-year-old candidate as woefully geriatric in response to his embarrassing stumble at a Minnesota rally on Friday.Video from the event shared by Biden-Harris HQ on X showed Trump grabbing the lectern during his remarks on stage, after nearly toppling the podium over.“A feeble Trump nearly falls down on stage after he leans on his podium too hard and then goes on an angry rant calling his event workers ‘crappy,’” the caption reads.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Bill Maher Doesn’t Get the Criticism of Harrison Butker’s Sexist, Homophobic Speech Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Reuters and Courtesy of HBOBill Maher said he doesn’t understand the backlash to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s graduation speech at Benedictine College, in which the footballer said being gay was a “deadly sin” and lectured female graduates on the importance of being homemakers.On the latest episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the late night host made it clear that he doesn’t share Butker’s personal enthusiasm for things like marriage, religion, and children. “I couldn’t be more not like this,” Maher said.But Maher wasn’t convinced that the outrage about Butker’s comments towards women were well-founded.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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John Stamos Shares ‘Full House’ Reunion With Olsen Twins in Tribute to Bob Saget Bob D'Amico/Getty ImagesJohn Stamos remembered his late co-star Bob Saget on what would’ve been the actor’s 68th birthday on Friday, posting a Full House reunion picture that included a rare appearance by the Olsen twins.The actor shared a black-and-white group photo of himself and several of his co-stars from the classic sitcom—including the famously private Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who shared the part of Michelle Tanner as young children. They were joined by four other Full House OGs: Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, Dave Coulier, and Scott Weinger, gathered around a statue of Dumbo in Saget’s home.“Happy Birthday Bob,” Stamos wrote in the caption. “This was taken as we gathered for his funeral. Though Bob wasn’t there physically, his spirit was unmistakably present, wrapping us in warmth and shared memories that drew both laughter and tears.”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Commencement Speaker Gives Each Grad $1K—But There’s a Catch Darren McCollesterCollege graduates at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth were left stunned at their commencement ceremony this week, captured in footage with their mouths ajar as a billionaire announced he was gifting each of them $1,000.Even better, the graduates would be getting the money on the spot, with the tech CEO Robert Hale Jr. handing them a pair of envelopes—each stuffed with $500 cash—as they walked across stage, he explained. “Each of you is getting $1,000 cash right now,” he said, to the crowd’s bemusement.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Opinion: Disturbing Video Shows Diddy Was Right: ‘Time Tells Truth’ Jason LaVeris“Time tells truth.”That was the cryptic Instagram post left by disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs just days before surveillance video would reveal the truth that he physically attacked his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016.The disturbing footage–that was originally obtained by CNN–shows Ventura trying to leave a hotel room with her belongings before being assaulted by Combs. Diddy, who was only wearing a bath towel wrapped around his waist, is seen in the triggering video grabbing, shoving, dragging and kicking Ventura on the floor. Such filmed abuse corroborates with the formal complaint Ventura filed last year against Combs in which she cited the attack as taking place “around March 2016” as her ex “followed her into the hallway of the hotel while yelling at her.”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Los Angeles County Explains Why It Won’t Prosecute Diddy Despite Video REUTERSThe Los Angeles District Attorney’s office has revealed why it won’t be prosecuting Diddy after horrific footage showed him brutally attacking his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at a hotel.The office said in an Instagram post that because the alleged attack happened on March 5, 2016, the window to prosecute has lapsed. California’s statute of limitations for simple assault is one year, while aggravated assault is three years. “We are aware of the video that has been circulating online allegedly depicting Sean Combs assaulting a young woman in Los Angeles. We find the images extremely disturbing and difficult to watch. If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted,” the office said. “As of today, law enforcement has not presented a case related to the attack depicted in the video against Mr. Combs, but we encourage anyone who has been a victim or witness to a crime to report it to law enforcement or reach out to our office for support from our Bureau of Victims Services.”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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From ‘Billions’ to Broadway: How Acting ‘Saved’ Corey Stoll Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyAs the chit-chatting, bicycling, late spring afternoon life of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park swirled around us, Corey Stoll excitedly spoke about the need to be reminded multiple times a day of his own mortality. “My favorite app is called WeCroak,” the actor said, smiling wide, holding his smartphone up. “Five times a day it sends you an alert that says, ‘Don’t forget, you’re going to die.’ It’s the best thing. Inevitably, it pings while I’m in the middle of some petty nonsense in my head. Then I get this alert, and it’s like, ‘Oh yep, it really doesn’t matter.’”Mortality isn’t just pinging at Stoll on his phone, The big D, the passing of time, the gritty truths of hidden history and what really matters and what does not, also form the pulsating bedrock of Appropriate, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ acclaimed 2013 play about a white family discovering some horrifically racist dirty laundry in its past.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Did ‘SNL’ Quietly Shelve Its Trump Impression? Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesIf you are among the more-than-half of Americans not paying much attention to Trump’s hush money trial, two pieces of news may still have managed to make their way to you: that Trump appears to be farting quite frequently, and he also seems to be falling asleep in the courtroom.What could be funnier? Everyone loves a good fart joke. But if you tuned into Saturday Night Live this past week, their flatulence-themed sketch wasn’t James Austin Johnson’s Trump offering his characteristic word-salad over increasingly loud fart noises. Instead, it was host Maya Rudolph as a throw-back Hollywood starlet trying to sell decaf coffee while pretending she’s not stinking up the room.In fact, Johnson’s Trump impression has not been seen since March. This absence comes during a particularly historic eight weeks, including the unofficial launch of the first election rematch of two presidents since 1892 and the start of the first criminal trial of an American president since ever. Yet instead of capitalizing on this historic moment, SNL has relegated Trump to somewhat perfunctory jokes in Weekend Update.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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This Accused Murderer Has Superfans Bankrolling Her Defense Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesThe prosecution of Karen Read for the murder of her Boston cop boyfriend has galvanized a group of volunteers—most of whom have never even met her—to proclaim her innocence and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for her legal defense.Supporters of the “Free Karen Read” movement spend their free time attending Read’s ongoing trial, analyzing the smallest bits of evidence, and organizing events to raise money for her defense fund.“I made great new friends,” Liz Erk, a single mother from Massachusetts who runs a PR consulting firm and went into court on Friday, told The Daily Beast. “It sounds so weird—this is a murder trial.”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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This Map Led Callum Robinson on Doomed Birthday Trip to Mexican Paradise Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/LinkedIn/Facebook/InstagramIt took a chance meeting, a beach photograph, and a couple of beers for Callum Robinson to hear about San Diego photographer Randy Dible’s “sacred” Mexican surfing spot.The hulking 6-foot 4-inch Australian with shoulder-length brown curly hair stopped by Dible’s photography booth near Ocean Beach on April 5, where they got chatting over a shot of a local surf break. Dible remembers a “kung-fu style grip of a handshake” and a conversation that parlayed into a hangout at Callum’s house the next day to drop off the print.Over cans of beer, the Perth native who had moved stateside a decade prior for a wildly successful lacrosse career, told Dible about his upcoming birthday trip with his brother, Jake—a doctor visiting from back home—and some friends.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Trump, Still Stuck in 2020, Recycles His Tired Drug Test Demand Scott Olson/Getty ImagesFormer President Donald Trump, who four years ago called on Joe Biden to take a drug test prior to the pair’s first debate that September, decided to make the same demand on Friday—one that Biden is sure to wave away once more.At a campaign rally in Minnesota—where he said he would never return if he lost the state in 2020—the indicted former president recycled his old line of attack against the now-president in advance of the debate next month on CNN.“I just want to debate this guy, but you know, I’m going to demand a drug test, by the way. I am, I really am,” Trump told supporters at the state GOP Reagan Dinner in St. Paul.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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The Expert’s Guide to the ‘Wicked’ Trailer Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/UniversalThis week:I Couldn’t Be HappierIt was around minute seven of my 13-minute monologue about the plot of Wicked that I realized, wait…not everyone knows every single plot point, lyric, costume, and casting trajectory of this musical??? The three-and-a-half minute trailer for the upcoming film was released this week, prompting my TED Talk. I came up as a high school musical theater kid, then New York City college student, then gay elder millennial at a time when Wicked was a sacred, foundational text. It has been news to me that not everyone is versed in the sometimes confusifying Ozian world.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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‘Mary & George’ Finale Ends Fittingly: Spectacular Murder and One Last Sex Scene StarzIt has been a long road to ultimate authority for Mary Villiers (Julianne Moore) and her son George (Nicholas Galitzine). The plotting duo began Starz’s limited series Mary & George utterly powerless but rife with conviction. They were determined to claw, scrape, and grab at every loose strand of thread they could find to climb up in the world during King James I’s (Tony Curran) rule in the 17th century. When the show began, seven episodes ago, Mary was the mother of four children, suffering at the hands of her abusive husband. George, her second-born son, was haughty and hormonal, assumed to be useless, as his parents’ estate would go to Mary’s first-born son, John (Tom Victor). At the series’ end, Mary and George had riches, land, and titles—now the Countess and Duke of Buckingham, respectively.But their splendors were not won without significant costs. Death and destruction followed the pair wherever they went, and naturally, all of their scheming eventually came between them. Once this wedge was in place, it was only a matter of time before their wealth slipped through their hands. Episode 7 of Mary & George, the series finale, tracks the collapse of the Villiers’ manufactured empire, and gives any history-oblivious viewers (myself included, believe me) a lesson in just how trivial monarchy can be. King James may have ruled England by name, but it was Mary and George Villiers who called the shots.Our final episode begins in 1623, 11 years after the series began. In just over a decade, Mary has shepherded herself and her son to the greatness she knew they were destined for. But George’s assumption that he could maneuver matters of the state without his mother’s assistance was gravely misguided. In Madrid, hundreds of miles away from his mother’s level head, George finds himself accompanying Prince Charles (Samuel Blenkin) in a bid for the hand in marriage of the Spanish Infanta—the royal title for the daughter of the King of Spain—Maria Anna (Aine Mcnamara). Charles sings to her, earning her adoration, and potentially securing the first step in achieving long-awaited peace between England and Spain. But George, hot-headed and overzealous, mucks it all up.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Opinion: Anthony Scaramucci: How Dems Can Steal the Thunder at Trump’s Trial Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastI have seen my fair share of political theatrics and controversy over the years. From my 11 days as White House Communications Director in the Trump administration, to my many public trials and tribulations, I know a thing or two about what goes on behind the curtain.Like most of us, I have been keeping tabs on the Trump trials. It is like a bad accident you drive past but cannot resist rubbernecking. Even if you hate the guy, he has turned the courthouse into a classic Trump-branded soap opera. Calling in his band of auditioning MAGA politicians, he is getting the airtime his weak ego craves.As a true narcissist—and trust me I have seen his ego-driven and childlike behavior up close—Mr. Trump is relishing in the attention even though it revolves around his despicable behavior. Some say he is a branding genius, albeit an evil one, and as such there are strategic lessons Democrats can learn about driving the discourse, owning the plot, and writing the story.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Reporter Puts Trump on the Spot Over His 2020 Vow on Minnesota KSTPIn an interview with a St. Paul, Minnesota reporter that aired a few days before his scheduled appearance Friday at the state GOP Lincoln Day fundraising dinner, former President Donald Trump denied saying that he wouldn’t return to the Midwest state if he lost it in 2020—but the local ABC affiliate brought the receipts to prove otherwise.KSTP reporter Tom Hauser spoke with Trump over a video call conducted Tuesday before the indicted ex-president went to court to hear testimony from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Hauser at one point asked Trump about his speaking engagement and whether it should be interpreted as part of a play for Minnesota in November.“I think at one point you vowed never to come back to Minnesota after you lost the state in 2020,” he recalled. “Is this a signal that you think you have a realistic chance to win the state of Minnesota in 2024?”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Judge Says GOP Candidate Linked to KKK Can Run for Governor Rich Sugg/Getty ImagesAn honorary member of the Ku Klux Klan can stay on the GOP primary ballot for Missouri governor, a judge ruled Friday.Longshot candidate Darrell McClanahan III survived a legal challenge by the Missouri Republican Party to shunt him from the ballot, which was denied Friday by Cole County Circuit Court Judge Cotton Walker. The petition had argued for McClanahan’s removal on the grounds that the GOP didn’t properly vet McClanahan before he filed his candidacy in February; Walker, in his decision, wrote that while the GOP was free to distance itself from McClanahan, the judge would not remove him from the ballot.McClanahan’s lawyer, Dave Roland, said he believed the Missouri GOP’s request was doomed from the start.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Bridget and Christian Ziegler ‘Prowled’ Florida Bars for Women, Police Memo Says Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Getty ImagesNewly released documents say Moms For Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler and her GOP chairman husband went “on the prowl” in Sarasota bars to find women to have sex with.Text messages quoted in a Sarasota Police Department (SPD) memo that was obtained by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune revealed how Ziegler sent her husband, Christian, hunting for a third sexual partner at local bars and directed him to send photos of possible hits. She allegedly told him to pretend to take pictures of his beer while photographing the women so he wouldn’t get caught sneaking pictures of them.“Don’t come home until your dick is wet,” Bridget allegedly told her husband.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Nepo Babies of the Week: Baby Coppolas Are Taking Over Cannes Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty This year, Cannes Film Festival belongs to the Coppolas. For nearly 48 hours, my feed has been flooded with breathless, bewildered reviews of Francis Ford Coppola’s bonkers cinematic adventure Megalopolis. More impressive than all the colorful descriptors critics have used to describe this film—including “mad modern masterwork,” “absolute madness,” “truly epic,” and “disastrous folly”—is the Avengers-like collection of Coppolas who have flooded Cannes, alongside other film-industry nepo babies. As always, the Hollywood dynasties are thriving!Consider Megalopolis itself—a labor of love from not one, not two, but three Coppolas. Francis Ford’s son, Roman Coppola, worked as second unit director on the film, while his granddaughter, famed one-time TikToker and private helicopter maven Romy Croquet Mars, made her three-line acting debut. Romy’s sister (and Sofia Coppola’s younger daughter) Cosima also joined the family on the red carpet, while Roman participated in the film’s much-anticipated press event. Speaking at the presser, Francis Ford insisted that using his own funds to make Megalopolis would not leave his precious progeny destitute.Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com
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Coroner: Boeing Whistleblower’s Death Was a Suicide Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Wikimedia CommonsA South Carolina coroner has found that John Barnett, the former Boeing quality-control engineer who blew the whistle on alleged safety concerns within the aircraft giant, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.Barnett, who was in Charleston for a deposition in his whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing, was found in the driver’s seat of his locked orange Dodge Ram truck at a Holiday Inn parking lot on March 9. Next to him was a notebook that contained “writing resembling a suicide note,” a Charleston County Coroner’s report said.“The writings found in the vehicle were examined by the Charleston Police Department and found only Mr. Barnett's fingerprints on the notebook,” the report said. “The writings contained information known only to his family.”Read more at The Daily Beast.thedailybeast.com