Last Halloween, Diddy had easily one of the year’s best costumes with his phenomenally executed Joker look. It appears Warner Bros. didn’t like that and actually forbade Diddy from wearing the costume again, but he still managed to stick it to the studio this year.
Diddy was a Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest on October 30 and at the end of the conversation, when the host asked what he was planning to be for Halloween this year, the rapper responded, “Last year, I was the Joker, and I actually got a letter from the studio that I can no longer be the Joker.” Kimmel asked why and Diddy continued, “They said it broke their trademark, that I did it too good. I swear I have this letter. I swear to God. From Warner Bros.”
Kimmel, forever stirring the pot, responded, “Well do it again, then. Do it again!” Diddy leaned into it, declaring, “So tomorrow… Warner Bros. lawyers, can you see me? Put this camera on right here. The head of legal: Tomorrow, watch what I do.”
After the show, Diddy took to Instagram to expand on the story, holding the papers he supposedly received from Warner Bros. “I don’t know what I’m going to be this year,” he said, later adding, “You win, I’m not going to be the Joker this year.” At the end, though, the video teased, “Stay tuned.”
Now, this morning, Diddy made his grand reveal. True to his word, he didn’t dress up as the Joker, but he kept his costume in the same universe, sharing a scripted, high-production-level video of himself as, who else, Batman (“The Darkest Knight,” as he called his version). In the video, Diddy’s Batman confronts a studio executive in his office and demands they end the ongoing actors strike.
In conclusion, Diddy has mastered the art of malicious compliance.
Megan Thee Stallion may be the founder of Hot Girl Summer, but she’s also winning Spooky Season. Over the course of the past weekend, the “Bongos” hitmaker slayed in a variety of Halloween costumes, some of which, she wore to her annual Hottieween party. It’s hard to keep up with the iconic figures and characters she nailed this year, but we put together a nifty guide to Meg’s uncanny recreations.
What are Megan The Stallion’s 2023 Halloween costumes?
This year’s Hottieween party was reportedly Tim Burton-themed, and Meg dressed as a flower from Burton’s 2010 adaptation of Alice In Wonderland. In this adaptation, the flowers are colorful plants, with human-like faces and characteristics.
Megan Thee Stallion dresses up as a flower from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for her Hottieween party. pic.twitter.com/neIaFPUMrq
Later on in the weekend, Meg took her Halloween talents to Instagram, where she shared a set of photos of herself dressed as Death The Kid from the anime and manga series, Soul Eater. Meg is an outspoken lover of anime, and the ambitious, driven Death The Kid matches her energy.
In another photo, Meg dressed as Greta from the movie Gremlins. Greta is character known for her allure, as well as her femininity and unapologetic seductive nature.
Let’s start at the beginning, for simplicity’s sake…
There is a movie coming out in February 2024 called Argylle. It is from Kingsmen director Matthew Vaughn and has a truly loaded cast, with everyone from Henry Cavill to Bryce Dallas Howard to Sam Rockwell to Bryan Cranston to Samuel L. Jackson to Dua Lipa involved in some way. It also has a really wild premise, with pulse-pounding spy-type action parroting the events of a series of spy novels written by a character in the movie named Elly Conway.
The official description from the studio might help.
Elly Conway, an introverted spy novelist who seldom leaves her home, is drawn into the real world of espionage when the plots of her books get a little too close to the activities of a sinister underground syndicate. When Aiden, a spy, shows up to save her (he says) from being kidnapped or killed (or both), Elly and her beloved cat Alfie are plunged into a covert world where nothing, and no one, is what it seems.
The trailer might help, too. Maybe. Possibly. I think you should watch it anyway because it makes the whole thing feel like a cross between a Jason Statham action movie and the movie Spy, which co-starred Jason Statham as a satirical version of the characters he plays in your normal Jason Statham action movie. I’m actually kind of mad he’s not in this movie now. Maybe there’s a twist we don’t know about yet. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, yes, Dua Lipa whispers the phrase “we’re not so different” into Henry Cavill’s ear in this trailer, so I already love it.
But here’s where things get strange. The Elly Conway character in the movie, who writes the Argylle novels that come to life in the film, is also, allegedly, a real person who writes a real book about a secret agent named Argylle. It’s all very twisted and convoluted and it was explained about as well as one can explain it in a recent examination by Vanity Fair. Here’s the most relevant passage.
The funny thing about all this is that there doesn’t seem to be a “real” Elly Conway, either. There are no photos of Conway on the internet, and her author bio on the Penguin Random House website is suspiciously short: “Elly Conway was born and raised in upstate New York. She wrote her first novel about Agent Argylle while working as a waitress in a late-night diner.” Both X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram contain verified profiles under this name that have a smattering of posts, but there is no way of validating who is actually posting from either account.
All of this, as one might suspect, has led to a slew of suspicion and speculation from the type of people who like to build gigantic conspiracy boards in their homes and connect potential clues together with strings of red yarn. And that, also as one might suspect, has led a not-unsubstantial amount of people to wonder if this mysterious and possibly fake author is actually…
… you guessed it…
… world-famous musician Taylor Swift writing under a pseudonym.
And so, what I have done here is attempt to sort through the potential evidence and various ravings to present you with the case for and case against Taylor Swift being the secret mastermind behind Hollywood’s most mysterious new spy movie. There are some strange corners of the internet out there, folks. Bring a hardhat and flashlight.
CASE FOR
UNIVERSAL
The short version here goes something like this: Ladies and gentlemen, the Swifties are at it again.
The longer version is… uh, more involved and requires a knowledge of Swift/Swiftie history, complete with the thing where Taylor Swift has written under a pseudonym before and how she occasionally drops hints via clue or puzzle and her very devoted fan base pieces them all together with an efficiency that would be the envy of any murder detective. Think of this crew as kind of like Columbo except with yoga pants and a comfy crewneck sweatshirt instead of a trenchcoat.
Thankfully, for me, much of the legwork here was done by Polygon’s Petrana Radulovic, who scoured the Swiftie hangouts to present a list of potential clues and scored them on a scale from 1-10 based on validity. Some of them are as simple as “the cat in this movie is a Scottish Fold and Swift owns two of those and has carried them in a similar backpack” or “Taylor Swift has, on occasion, worn an argyle sweater.”
Some are a little more intense. I recommend clicking through and reading all of these but here are my two favorites.
Birthday stuff:
Conway’s first post was on Swift’s birthday in 2022: This is perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence, because the book and movie were announced a full year and a half prior (in June 2021). No other news surrounding the movie or book was released on Dec. 13, 2022. 9/10
Cat stuff:
Chip the cat (the cat in the movie) made an Instagram post about a big announcement the day before the announcement of the Eras Tour movie: …and it was also the day before the first trailer for Argylle dropped. Considering the cat is owned by the director of the movie, Matthew Vaughn (and his spouse, Claudia Schiffer), that pretty much explains away the coincidence. -1/10
The important things to note here are as follows:
None of this is technically impossible
I think I would honestly watch a movie about the dedicated fans of a pop star solving a murder by piecing together clues on the internet
I did not realize the director of the Kingsmen movies was married to Claudia Schiffer
Really just a lot to process here. Which brings us to…
CASE AGAINST
UNIVERSAL
Three things here, all equally important:
Taylor Swift is a very busy lady, what with her new movie lighting up the box office and her busy schedule of attending Kansas City Chiefs games, and I just don’t know where she would have found the time to write a spy novel
Let’s all take a deep breath here
That Vanity Fair article I linked to way back up in the intro also includes this sentence: “Vanity Fair’s sources confirm that Swift is not, in fact, the author of the book”
So… you know. There’s that.
VERDICT
UNIVERSAL
Taylor Swift is probably not the secret mastermind behind Argylle, a mysterious new spy movie that stars Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa.
Unless…
…
…
… unless that’s exactly what they want you to think.
For one night, Breaking Bad turned into Drake-ing Bad (sorry).
Rapper Drake, who released his eighth studio album For All the Dogs earlier this month, turned 37 years old on Tuesday. To celebrate, he held a birthday party at Casadonna in Miami, Florida, with two celebrity bartenders: Breaking Bad actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. According to TMZ, “the two stars showed up floral shirts and all to Drake’s Miami bash… which likely served as an easy promotion for Bryan and Aaron’s Dos Hombres mezcal brand.”
In a video shared on Instagram by Drake’s producer BNYX, Paul can be overheard telling someone that a “Negroni is the easiest drink to make.” What about a Vodka Red Bull? Actually, never mind. I’m not going to argue with Jesse Pinkman. He’s been through enough.
“It’s important for Bryan and I, as founders of this company, that [our business partners] know that we are doing the work. We don’t want to just slap our names on something and let other people do the work,” Paul told MSNBC about Dos Hombres. “This is our baby, and we’re incredibly proud of our baby.” He added, “It’s brutal, but we have a good time doing it.”
Please enjoy Bryan Cranston getting loose on the dance floor. You deserve it.
Aaron Paul & Bryan Cranston serving up drinks and dancing last night at Drake’s 37th birthday party in Miami. pic.twitter.com/z0NlDbMJch
LeBron James has appeared in some iconic commercials in the past. One of his most well-known advertisements came for Beats back in 2014. When he announced his return to the city of Cleveland and the Cavaliers franchise that summer, he and the premium audio brand came together to create a truly spectacular commercial. It featured Hozier’s hit song “Take Me to Church” and it was pure magic. This latest one from these two icons might be another one that will be etched into the history books for ads as well.
This one features LeBron, soccer talent for Manchester City, Erling Haaland, his dad, Savannah James, and her sons Bronny and Bryce. It is a really hard-hitting commercial with Savannah and Haaland’s dad leaving voicemails to their loved ones about the upcoming season. The most interesting part of it all is what Bron’s wife says to him. Uproxx is credited for the quotes from the ad. She says to him, “Tell them you’re not done until you play with your son.” The first cut goes to Bronny. Then, she challenges him further, “And then do that again.” After that it goes to Bryce.
It is public knowledge amongst basketball fans that LeBron wants to play with his sons, namely Bronny. However, it is not going to be the easiest of challenges to complete. Bronny recently had the health scare earlier this year, LeBron is in year 21, and Bryce is still in high school as a three-star recruit. While we await to see if that will play out, this ad certainly gets us amped that it will happen.
What are your initial thoughts on this newest commercial from Beats featuring LeBron James and his sons, Bronny and Bryce? Do you think James will be able to continue to play in the NBA long enough for him to play with both of his boys? Will both kids get drafted to a team and will LeBron be able to play with either of them? We would like to hear what you have to say about all of this. With that in mind, be sure to leave all of your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest breaking news around LeBron James, as well as everything else going on around the sports world.
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have starred in some iconic movies together: Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers, and most recently, Holmes & Watson. Step Brothers in particular was a pop culture phenomenon, and one of the film’s most memorable moments remains the song “Boats ‘N Hoes.” All these years later, Ferrell and Reilly haven’t forgotten about the tune: This past weekend, the pair reunited to perform the song with Snoop Dogg.
This went down at the Best Night of Your Life 2 benefit show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The trio performed a verse of the song before transitioning into Snoop’s “Gin And Juice.” Ferrell and Reilly then surprised Snoop, whose 52nd birthday was on October 20, with a cake and a singing of “Happy Birthday.”
Snoop, meanwhile, recently spoke about how the last thing he wants to be is the smartest person on his team, saying, “What do I always say, y’all? I want to be the dumbest one on my team. I’ve always said that, I just said that the other night. Because if I’m the dumbest one on the team, I got some bad muthaf*ckas around me!”
Check out Ferrell, Reilly, and Snoop’s performance above.
Bad Bunny pulled double duty tonight (October 21) on Saturday Night Live, as both the host and the musical performer for this week’s episode. His new album title, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana, translates to “Nobody Knows What’s Going To Happen Tomorrow,” but we can bet this record will bring in a promising season in his career.
Kicking off the show with a bang, Bad Bunny delivered a humorous opening monologue, during which, he assured the audience that he is capable of hosting the show in both English in Spanish.
“I can order McDonald’s in English, I can have sex in English, but I prefer sex in Spanish,” Bunny said.
He continued, delivering his monologue in Spanish, and during this portion, a subtitle reading “Speaking In Non-English” appeared on-screen. This alludes to a situation last season, when Pedro Pascal was hosting, and delivering his opening monologue in Spanish. The subtitles read “Speaking In Non-English,” to the chagrin of Spanish speakers.
Bunny was not having this, and immediately asked the powers that be to make the necessary corrections.
The subtitle then read “Speaking In Sexier Language.”
Shortly after, Pascal himself made a surprise appearance in the monologue.
Tonight marks the Puerto Rican superstar’s first time hosting SNL, his second time as the show’s musical guest, and his third overall appearance. In April 2020, Bunny appeared in a special “at-home” episode of SNL at the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and performed as the musical guest in a February 2021 episode, with Bridgerton actor Regé-Jean Page hosting.
You can see Bad Bunny’s full opening monologue above.
At this point, we all know what a rebound relationship is, but when it happens between two high-profile people, things start to get a little complex. Let’s travel back 20 years to the premiere of The Recruit, an Al Pacino film that also starred a young Colin Farrell, years before he befriended Jenny the Donkey.
At the time, Farrell made headlines for showing up to the premiere with pop star Britney Spears, who was still reeling from her publicized breakup with troll Justin Timberlake. While Farrell said they were “just mates” (so Irish!), Spears hadn’t spoken out about the relationship… until now.
Spears called their two-week fling a “brawl” in a new excerpt from her memoir, per TIME. She wrote, “Brawl is the only word for it—we were all over each other, grappling so passionately it was like we were in a street fight,” Spears and Timberlake had just broken up and the singer was still dealing with her post-breakup life. She continued, “As I had before when I’d felt too attached to a man, I tried to convince myself in every way that it was not a big deal, that we were just having fun, that in this case, I was vulnerable because I wasn’t over Justin yet.”
Though Farrell and Spears didn’t date for too long, there was a moment when the singer thought it could have been the real thing. She added, “For a brief moment in time, I did think there could be something there. The disappointments in my romantic life were just one part of how isolated I became. I felt so awkward all the time.” The duo seemed to have fizzled out after that. And now Farrell is off being a Batman villain lurking in the shadows. It’s funny how things work out.
Spears’ memoir The Woman In Me hits shelves on October 24th.
After Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce made a surprise appearance at last weekend’s Saturday Night Live premiere, speculation began running wild that the power couple really did just show up and the cast and crew scrambled to include them in the episode hosted by Pete Davidson. According to SNL star, Bowen Yang, the rumors are true.
While promoting Dicks: The Musical on Thursday’s episode of The View, Yang confirmed to co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin that Swift and Kelce magically emerged at the 30 Rock studio to the surprise of everyone.
“This did not come about in any way!” Yang said via Decider. “No one was told that they would be there.”
“I’m going to my makeup chair after dress rehearsal, I see a couple people talking to the two tallest people in the world, and then I realized it was them,” Yang recalled. “To see them individually as tall people I go, ‘Amazing,’ but when they’re next to each other, it’s a force multiplier. These two people, it’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I’m in the Redwood Forest. It’s amazing.”
“But there they are. I mean yeah, they just showed up,” Yang said in conclusion. “It was incredible. It just reminds you that SNL and The View are the kinds of shows where live TV is beautiful, people drop by, things happen.”
It’s no secret that Taylor Swift is a pop-culture tsunami, washing over everything that she touches. When she recently appeared at a NFL game touting a massive entourage that notably included Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy, the rumor mill kicked into high gear with hopes that Swift would cameo in the film as Dazzler. In the X-Men comics, Dazzler is a mutant pop singer with the ability to convert sound into light and energy, and Taylor Swift is a pop singer with the ability to convert fans into mass hysteria, so this should be a no-brainer.
The calls for Swift to appear in Deadpool 3 were so strong that Levy couldn’t escape the subject during a new interview with The Wrap. His answer was notably coy:
“They sure are loud,” Levy said of Swift fans clamoring for her to play the musical mutant. “I’m going across the board. ‘No comment’ because that’s a double whammy. That’s Taylor-related. And it’s MCU-related. I’m no dummy. You’re going to have to wait and see.”
If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because Swift’s history of being dream-cast as Dazzler goes back nearly a decade to X-Men: Apocalypse. Thanks to her well-documented friendship with Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner, Swift visited the set of the film, which naturally, kicked the Dazzler rumors into overdrive. While Swift doesn’t appear in the film, Turner’s Jean Grey and Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops do visit a record store where they find a Dazzler album. There was speculation that Swift posed for the cover, but a source squashed that rumor.
The Swift as Dazzler rumors briefly fired up again for the next X-Men film, Dark Phoenix, which did include Dazzler’s live-action debut. However, the role was played by The Orville star Halston Sage.
Could Deadpool 3 make the Taylor Swift as Dazzler fancast a reality? The chances are pretty high. For starters, Ryan Reynolds is some sort of powerful genie who already brought Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine. The guy is pulling all kinds of rabbits out of a hat. Deadpool 3 will also dabble in the Multiverse, which makes a Swift cameo even easier. She can simply play Dazzler from an alternate reality, freeing Marvel to cast another actress down the road.
Although, maybe Swift wants to be the official pop star of the MCU? Surely, Kevin Feige wouldn’t say no to that.
