Content Consumed: Zayn, kidney donor drama, and ruining March Madness

Happy Election Day to my American readers! Please, for the love of God, vote. At this point, it’s the very least we can do (as I mentioned in a bit of a cynical rant in yesterday’s edition).

And in today’s edition of Content Consumed, we’re chatting about…
🩸 Selena Gomez’s beef with her kidney donor
🏀 Please don’t ruin March Madness
🥗 Zayn’s school lunches proposition
🏈 ManningCast’s secret sauce

Do you have to be friends with your kidney donor?

What do you owe your kidney donor—especially if you’re Selena Gomez?

Very quick background: Selena Gomez has battled various chronic illnesses like lupus; her friend, actress Francia Raisa, donated her kidney to save Selena’s life in 2017; Selena reportedly continued to abuse drugs and alcohol after this life-saving donation and surgery; Selena and Francia appear to no longer be on speaking terms.

This week, Selena’s health-focused self-documentary came out, and she said that Taylor Swift was her only friend in the industry.

To which Francia replied: “Interesting.”

And Selena said to that: “Sorry I didn’t mention every person I know.”

My take: I feel like the kidney donor who saved your life goes a bit beyond “every person I know”! Selena doesn’t just know Francia—Francia’s organ is literally in her body. If you’re making a documentary focused on your mental and physical health, her name might feel as worthy of a mention as Taylor Swift!

But, on the other hand, I’ve seen feedback online that argues that someone who receives a voluntary, consensual organ transplant doesn’t owe their donor anything because their donor should know what they’re getting into.

There’s an additional complexity here, as a hefty rumor has been swirling for years since the operation: supposedly Selena found out that Francia was a match before Francia did, so Francia felt pressured into the donation.

It all feels so icky.

Oh god, they’re gonna ruin March Madness

Sure, no one noticed college basketball started up again this week. We all only care about March Madness anyways. So why’s the NCAA trying to ruin it?

March Madness is a perfect thing. Its format— 64 teams in four 16-team regions play a single-elimination tournament over the span of a month—is nearly flawless. It’s perfect for betting, Cinderella stories, nostalgia, and buzzer beaters: some of the best parts of sports.

But now, university presidents and athletic directors and other folks from the NCAA want to squeeze even more money out of the tournament by expanding it to as many as 96 TEAMS.

And don’t think this means smaller schools and conferences will get more of a chance. No, the powers that be want more tournament bids for second-tier college-hoops programs.

God, the thought of a 96-team bracket is miserable.

Anyways, read the full story here.

Checking in on Zayn Malik

Every once in a while, we gotta check on our old faves. Zayn Malik, former star (next to Harry, of course) of One Direction, seems to be doing okay! Why are we checking in? Because of a lovely post he just added on Instagram!

Three things I know Zayn’s up to right now:

• Calling for free school meals for British lads and gals. Yesterday he posted a screenshot of a lengthy letter sent to 10 Downing Street, in which he called upon the UK government to provide free nutritious meals to school children across the kingdom. It’s personal (pulling on his experience as a child), well-educated (the facts and figures are there!), and properly urgent (with plenty of mentions of the UK’s cost of living crisis).
• Launching a clothing brand. It’s called “Paynt by Zayn”—an eerily close moniker to Liam Payne, his nemesis and another former 1D member—and it’s basically what you’d expect from a celeb clothing line. It’s all branded with a cute/creepy lil red guy, and the sweater looks cozy I guess.
• Co-parenting with Gigi. Despite the haggard wench Yolanda Hadid doing everything she can to prevent Zayn from seeing the daughter he shares with Gigi, they’re making it work apparently! Zayn threw Khai’s second birthday, featuring face painting and other cute kiddie things.

ManningCast’s secret sauce

God, Monday Night Football has been boring this year. Is the ManningCast the solution?

I can’t say I’ve watched a ManningCast—the secondary broadcast of MNF featuring brothers Peyton and Eli Manning—all the way through, but it’s fun to toggle between the main channel and the Manning commentary. They’ve got that brotherly banter made more unique by the fact that they’re both former star QBs with multiple Super Bowl rings on their hands.

Apparently, Peyton pitched it himself to ESPN in 2020 before they launched in full in 2021. It airs during 10 games a season on ESPN2, opposite Joe Buck and Troy Aikman’s coverage on ESPN (and certainly not pulling in as much money, of course).

And when the games have been this boring, watching the fraternal back-and-forth between Peyton and Eli—and big-time guests like Barack Obama, Snoop Dogg, Condoleezza Rice and Jon Stewart—provides so much more color.

I think next week I’ll go full Manningcast for my watch of MNF. After all, we’re just gonna watch the Eagles stomp Washington.

And that’s it for today! Happy Tuesday. I’ll catch you tomorrow.

Cheers,
Casey