Pop Culture Mondays/1.23.23
The “JUST A RANDOM WEEK” Edition
Happy Monday my darling pop culture junkies. This was a quietish week pop culture-wise other than the Hilaria Baldwin stuff and Beyoncé and this wild Atlantis opening in Dubai because obviously…and some more viral trends and OF course some George Santos and a little bit of content. SO…let’s get into it. Oh, and let me explain my Pedro Pascal/Baby Yoda picture. Pedro, aka Baby Yoda’s DADDY (and probably for a lot of us, our fantasy DADDY) aka THE MANDALORIAN and the star of my latest obsession, The Last of Us, on HBO Max.
But a fun fact going around the Interwebs is that Pascal has never starred in a TV show that has less than 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and I feel like because this newsletter was inspired BY Baby Yoda, making Pedro PCM’s daddy BY default, I wanted to celebrate it.
AND I did a crossover podcast last week that’s fun and the last of me talking about Prince Harry and his book (except for my own pod last week), but it was on a REAL podcast, and that was “On with Kara Swisher.”
She let me on ON and it was a thrill and I encourage you to check it out:
EMPATHY, EMPATIA, WHATEVS:
Look. I have empathy. I do I do and I feel sad for Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s kids having to go through all of the stuff they are going through and I don’t know enough about the movie biz to understand how ammo on sets works, but it seems to me if the actor is handed a gun and told it was safe by the professional on set and told it was all ok then he isn’t directly responsible for the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins. But he pulled the trigger (there is debate on this.) BUT again, I don't know the ins and outs.
I don’t think however as someone in the COMMS business that his behavior after the tragedy was appropriate. Both immediately after and then in subsequent press interviews. AND frankly, IF I had been him, I would have dropped social media - as in NO Instagrams showcasing my family and all the life he gets to live while the family of the woman he killed sat on the sidelines suffering immense grief. Like, I would have told him — GET OFF INSTAGRAM. But alas, that was not to be. SO much so that just a couple weeks ago, Alec Baldwin took to HIS Insta to beg his followers to FOLLOW Hilaria on Insta for her bday as she was “just shy of a million followers.”
I am ok with kids doing this…I mean in general the influencer kids who are 19. BUT ALEC BALDWIN? I mean it is really uncomfortable IMHO:
SO then we woke up to news last week that for some reason, the DA is charging Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter, which to me..and more importantly to the legal eagle pundits out there on all the cables news shows…seems to think this is quite a tall hill to climb. But here we are. And the paps descended on Alec and Hilaria’s home which is in Greenwich Village and I can tell you their address…but so could my doorman, so could anyone in our neighborhood because there is always a spectacle of some kind near it. Whether it is Alec fighting a guy over a parking spot on 10th street or he is yelling for his food to be brought to him at Grey Dog (saw that one with my own horrified eyes), the Baldwins and BALDWINITAS as they call their 7 children, are a well-known entity. Point being, Hilaria — the Boston born AND bred woman who has been outed for not being Spanish and has launched a million and one memes — knew the “media” had descended upon their home to get reaction pics and videos and so she came out for a coffee run wearing this:
Am I taking this personally because this is my street in NYC while she is bringing her man back MADMAN ESPRESSO? MAYBE.
HOWEVER, I posted this pic on Instagram, and I am not joking I got 45 of the EXACT same responses from people. Some of them were friends, some were strangers. Some were in London, Australia, Florida. I mean they were from all over. And the exact same thing was said by all 45 of them:
“Should say EMPATIA.”
Dead. I laughed hard at each and every response. Because they were not wrong. But we have moved PAST the Spanish thing, right? Now it’s just questionable outfit choices on the morning the DA announces they are charging her husband, right?
No no. We are most def not over the Spanish thing. This grift is BACK, baby, and better than ever. Now, I am SURE there were crisis comms people or at least Alec himself who said to say NOTHING. Say nothing.
DO I think it’s right the media are hovering over her while she is trying to get her kids to school and home? NO, I do not. That shit is crazy. BUT man oh man did she end up giving them gold and only insured the fact they will never leave her alone…and SURELY she must have known that? IN case you missed….
It is heartbreaking to think about the kids, no question. But saying you’re not going to say anything while saying lots of things IN a debunked Spanish accent is just not the right strategy. And social media is overjoyed:
Oy.
A LITTLE THIS, A LITTLE THAT:
There was a lot of little fun (and twisted and also some dark things) this week so let’s try to cover SOME of them!
GEORGE SANTOS:
I mean there is not much to say other than it says a LOT that this guy is universally loathed, mocked, discredited, diagnosed by professionals as mentally unwell and YET…he is being appointed to committees by House Leader McCarthy. I really cannot wait for the Netflix series on this at some point. We all know his previous lies….but the latest have been even bigger to some extent.
- He initially claimed his mom lost her life due to 9/11, and then he clarified she had escaped a tower during the attacks but died from cancer years later due to the toxic air. BUT it turns out his mom was actually not in the Towers (shocking) and in fact was not even in NY but IN BRAZIL. I mean to LIE about this is as low as it gets. BTW his tweets still exist:
In a radio interview in 2021 he went on to say:
“She was in the south tower, and she made it out. She got caught up in the ash cloud. My mom fought cancer till her death. She never applied for relief because her, her motto was, ‘I can afford it. We’re fortunate. We can take care of all our, our medical bills. If I take it, I’m taking it away from these men and women who need it and who put their lives on the line.”
And so far, he has not commented on THIS:
- And then maybe the only thing about him that IS actually likeable for everyone BUT the republican leaders, it is being alleged he was a drag queen in Brazil who went by the name KITARA. Also he was always known as Anthony, not George.
George Santos response is wild:
AND then of course, he is appointed to THE SCIENCE COMMITTEE IN CONGRESS. HILARIA!!!
DARK. Well, SNL wrapped it up perfectly:
AUBREY PLAZA:
AND speaking of SNL, our QUEEN, Aubrey hosted this weekend and every second she was on air was perfection. She should host everything forever tbh. But my favorite part was when they did a skit on the Miss Universe contestants which went viral last week. Their take was FLAWLESS. First, some amazing TikToks:
AND SNL’s take:
WEIRD CELEB RUMOR TAKING OVER TIKTOK:
The TikTok community can be really incredible and uplifting and body positive and take out trolls and so forth. But it can also be pretty dark. Take celebrity couple actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson and wife, director Sam Taylor-Johnson.
TikTok has long nicknamed her, “Grandma” due to the fact that she is older than Aaron. She is 23 years older than her husband and met when he was 18, auditioning for a role. And they are married and have been for over 10 years which is amazing in this day and age. He was NOT a child despite many creators calling her a groomer. It is just wild out there. But rumors have been hitting a breaking point around Aaron and his Bullet Train co-star Joey King. TikTok is having a feeding frenzy.
IF your kids are posting this stuff…take their phones away. It is awful.
The rumor apparently came from this creator who in my years on social media is one of the worst I have come across…like this woman is really terrible and posts videos where she gleefully shares rumors/gossip/etc and I mean it makes the Daily Mail look like ROMPER ROOM:
Gross. Full stop.
SAD DEATH TREND ON TIKTOK:
And more weirdness from TikTok this week. This trend where people post videos of them usually with someone they love to show them at a certain age and then shows that one of them died by showing one’s person’s age increasing and the other in red stopping. Hard to explain so here you go:
But people had fun with it too:
DUBAI & BEYONCÉ:
If you're a celeb and you go to an outrageous event in a place known for its anti-gay stance or human rights violations, you KNOW you will be called out. BUT you know what makes that not matter? MONEY. It makes it all go away. And look, tbh…I have been to Dubai and it was fun and weird and not of this world and I am glad I experienced it briefly. BUT that was a lifetime ago and I know too much now to go there to be honest. So here is the set-up:
ATLANTIS THE ROYAL: A new luxury hotel opening in Dubai. YES, we all know, or many do, of Atlantis Bahamas, where there are giant slides and over-the-top aquariums and all the THINGS. Well, imagine it times 1000, and then you have the one in Dubai. And their opening was MASSIVE and they got B to perform, who has NOT performed in 5 years:
She reportedly was paid $20+ million, which is a huge number, but also she is hugely rich. And the reaction has been harsh by many who are aghast at the fact that Dubai does not recognize LGTBQ+ rights.
And to be catty for a second, maybe all the money went to B and not to the set design…am I right? 🥰
OK and maybe it went to fireworks and water special effects…
But she did bring Blue Ivy out, which makes you think…WHAT IS TIME??
Money…it’s a hell of a drug.
Rebel Wilson, who recently came out, was very out and proud in Dubai. I can only imagine she hopes to help change the minds of the people there or that the hotel wanted to use stars to broadcast that they are a safe place? I don’t know.
WHAT TO WATCH?
Well, according to our beloved Timmy, it’s all APPLE TV+ or bust. This ad reallllllllly got me:
TRASHY CONTENT:
You know you love it. You have permission to watch it though it will kill a LOT of brain cells. My heart breaks for NYC with regards to this show:
MOST POPULAR?
Believe it OR not, one of the most popular new shows IS NOT streaming but is on good old-fashioned NETWORK TV and is a remake of a show from my childhood (I watched every second of it back then) and that is NIGHT COURT, starring OG John Larroquette:
I doubt I will watch it, but millions are.
And millions are watching That 90’s Show on Netflix, which I admit brings a little nostalgia with some of the stars from That 70’s Show making appearances but it’s a no for me:
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
I hope you have a beautiful week. If you missed last week’s PCMoT podcast, here you go:
If you aren’t already a subscriber (PLEASE PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!!! to MEDIUM) and please do SHARE this with all your friends as I am trying to grow this little thing…BUT IF you want this in your inbox for NOW, please send an email to:
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Xx,
Brooke
