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Matt Gaetz, Currently Under Investigation For Human Trafficking, Is Still Trying To Make Himself The Face Of The #FreeBritney Movement

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Matt Gaetz has been under investigation by the FBI since late last year, over his alleged connection to a sex trafficking ring. But the Florida representative has been doing what many Republicans do when they’re being probed for criminal activity: ignore and distract. On Wednesday, a rally was head in downtown Los Angeles for the #FreeBritney movement, which seeks to end pop icon Britney Spears’ restrictive conservatorship, which is run in part by her father. And guess who randomly showed up to make a fiery speech?

The Florida lawmaker was there to show passionate support for a person who achieved fame when she was very young. “If this case does not result in freedom for Britney Spears,” Gaetz bellowed to the crowd, “it is a black eye for the American justice system.”

Gaetz declared that Spears — whose conservatorship is so strict that she’s not allowed to remove her IUD, which prevents her from having children — deserves “the freedom and liberty that should be offered to every single American.” He continued:

“She’s been abused by the media. She’s been abused by her grifter father. And she has been abused by the American justice system. And so we need to come together and create a federal cause of action — a federal change in the law that will free Britney and the millions of Americans [presumably referring to those who are also under conservatorships].”

He added, “One thing we can all agree on is that Jamie Spears is a d*ck.”

Preach! But a few people didn’t think Gaetz was the person who should be trying to gain hosannas for sticking up for someone like Britney Spears.

Gaetz is one of a handful of GOP lawmakers who’ve tried to get Spears to testify in Washington D.C. (Then again, one of them is Marjorie Taylor Greene.) Whatever his real motives, one wonders if he got the idea to glom onto her plight after getting made fun of three months ago in a Spears-centric SNL sketch.

(Via Variety)

A New Report Suggests Tucker Carlson May Have Voted For Kanye West In 2020, Not Trump

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Tucker Carlson is one of the most visible supporters of Donald Trump on American cable television, but according to a report, not even the Fox News host could muster up a vote for Trump in November.

According to a Politico report, Carlson started telling people that he didn’t vote for Trump in the election the now-former president claims he won against all evidence. Instead, he apparently voted for, uh, Kanye West, seemingly as a way to differentiate himself from other Fox News hosts.

Shortly after the presidential election, the Fox News host started telling some program guests that he had cast his ballot for West, according to two people familiar with those conversations. Given Carlson’s fierce on-air commentary in favor of Trump, the guests were left wondering if Carlson was serious or merely joking.

“It’s his way of saying that he’s not just another Trumpette at Fox News like Sean Hannity,” one of the sources said, referring to Carlson’s fellow primetime opinion host and reputed internal rival.

Another source mentioned in the story said he mentioned his intentions before the election as well, citing that “he and Kanye get along” and have similarly restrictive views on reproductive rights. Despite all that, though, who Carlson voted for largely didn’t matter for a variety of reasons. As the story noted, Carlson votes in Florida, where West wasn’t officially on the ballot. That would mean he would have to write in West’s name, even if it ultimately wouldn’t count for much of anything other than bragging rights.

It’s unclear exactly who leaked this information and if it’s accurate, but from what we know about how Carlson himself is often the biggest source of information among people in Trumpworld, you can at least heavily infer where this kind of thing is coming from.

[via Politico]

Piers Morgan Is Voicing Support For The End Of Britney Spears’ Conservatorship: She ‘MUST Be Freed’

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Following the recent FX on Hulu documentary episode, The New York Times Presents: “Framing Britney Spears,” the groundswell of support for the (hopeful) end of Britney’s conservatorship has only grown. It’s been a long thirteen years for Britney under her father’s financial thumb, and that followed a few years of public chaos, which I’m sure no one can forget. Her fans have long rallied for her “freedom,” given that Britney has vowed not to work again until she can make her own decisions again. This week, the 39-year-old singer gave testimony that was both heartbreaking and infuriating and included details about how her father controls every aspect of her life. That even allegedly includes a prohibition on removing her IUD device, which is a chilling revelation to behold and one that Planned Parentood has branded as “appalling.”

In the aftermath of Britney’s testimony, the public has rallied around her as well as the musical community, including ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, who previously faced backlash for revelations in the documentary about his behavior towards her regarding public perception and the press. Now, a surprising voice has arose to support Britney: the cantankerous Piers Morgan. He of course, generally abhors everyone (except the Queen), but even Piers can’t stomach what he’s seeing happen.

“Britney Spears is a legal slave,” Piers tweeted. “[W]ho can’t control her own money, career or even her womb and MUST be freed from this torment to finally live the life she wants.”

Piers also penned a lengthy Daily Mail column, in which he argues that Britney’s calls for freedom should be heeded:

We’ve been told for years via endless cruel briefings to the media that Britney’s so mentally unhinged that’s she totally incapable of thinking, speaking or acting for herself. That wasn’t the woman I heard yesterday. It was stunning to hear the brutal reality from Britney’s own mouth, in her own powerful, eloquent, often rapid-fire words. It was like she couldn’t wait to finally have her say, and who could blame her for the obvious frustration and anger?

The last time she appeared in front of Judge Penny, in 2019, Britney’s testimony was sealed… This time, it was made public so there could be no doubt or self-interested ‘spin’ about what she was asserting. ‘I have a lot to say,’ she began, ‘so bear with me. I don’t think I was heard on any level when I came to court last time.’ That’s the understatement of the year. There’s no doubt that Britney’s still a troubled woman, but it seems apparent that many of her current demons are now being driven by the way she’s been treated as a direct result of her conservatorship that she says has ‘enslaved’ her.

The entire column is worth a read, as Britney’s own words about feeling “traumatized” continue to reverberate, after she described her conservatorship as “abusive.” You can also read Britney’s testimony at NBC in transcript form.

(Via Daily Mail)

Meghan McCain Is Calling On The FBI To Free Britney Spears From Her Conservatorship: ‘This Is A Human Trafficking Issue’

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ABC

In a passionate plea on Thursday morning, The View‘s Meghan McCain called on the FBI to essentially bust down doors and free Britney Spears from her conservatorship. McCain’s comments were in response to Spears’ explosive court testimony that she is forced to have an IUD in place to prevent pregnancy and is repeatedly prescribed questionable amounts of psychiatric medications to keep her compliant and working so her family can live off her financial empire.

During her remarks, McCain praised the #FreeBritney movement while accepting blame for being part of the media that has been “brutally unkind” and didn’t listen to Spears. “I actually believe this has reached the level where the FBI needs to be involved and extradite her from her home, away from these people at this very moment, because these are people that can continue the abuse in realtime,” McCain said.

After stating that Spears is “ostensibly a slave,” McCain went so far as to call the situation a human trafficking issue to bolster her claim that the FBI needs to get involved. Via Mediaite:

“I am sadly not surprised by this, but it’s much more extreme than I ever could have possibly imagined. I feel horrible for her,” McCain said. “I hope to God they get her out of this environment and this situation today. I think it is at that level, and if this were any other person not named Britney Spears, this is a human trafficking issue, and it should be treated as such.”

McCain’s thoughts were echoed by her co-hosts on The View including Sunny Hostin, who is an attorney and called Spears’ conservatorship “unprecedented” and “highly unusual.”

(Via The View on Twitter & Mediaite)

Azealia Banks’ Historical Response To Candace Owen’s Inane Juneteenth Comment Is A Complete Shutdown

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Love her or hate her, sometimes Azealia Banks is the only woman for the job at hand. Sometimes she’s off on her own planet, trying to discredit Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting claims, or literally boiling her dead cat, but sometimes she’s right on the money. And today’s job at hand? Speaking truth to Candace Owens, the insistently right-wing, Conservative pundit — who also happens to be a Black woman — who tends to make claims like using “they/them” pronouns is “poor grammar,” or declaring the recognition of Juneteenth as a national holiday an extension of “segregation.”

Juneteenth was, rather famously, the day that African-Americans in Texas were liberated after they were purposely kept ignorant of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and remained in slavery for more than two years after the practice was outlawed. But Owens is, for some reason, against making it clear that Black Americans weren’t really free on the 4th of July back in 1776 and recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday, like the Senate just unanimously agreed to do. So, Banks broke down for her just what a day in the life for a Black woman in America would’ve been like back then.

“According to this logic, on July 4, 1776, you would still be enslaved,” Banks wrote as the caption on a screenshot post of Owens’ tweet. “Most likely on the verge of starvation due to all of America’s food supply having been prioritized for the war, while you hand sew American flags and struggle to wet nurse some depressed 24-year-old white widow’s sickly child until your nipples are chapped and dry. Whereafter, you will be whipped by her 80-year-old uncle for your own malnourishment and inability to produce milk, then sent to toil over a wood-burning stove — blistering your hands while [being] forced to make a peasantly meal of biscuits and gravy.

You will be watched closely by her irate, sunburned and whisky soaked 80 year old uncle to be sure you do not sneak a single biscuit or fingerful of roux to yourself. after you’ve watched everyone eat, you will be sent to do the cleaning up. Your last task will be brushing the stressed and balding white widows hair to prepare for her sleeping bonnet, a deep rest in her comfortable canopy bed. Next your final descent down the stairs and out the back door where you proudly sleep on a bed bug infested pile of hay in a 6×4 cabin you share with 4 other slaves. Happy Independence Day @realcandaceowens.”

What else is there to say?

John Legend Shows Support For Chrissy Teigen After Her Lengthy Apology For Old Tweets

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For the past month, Chrissy Teigen has been in the dog house of the internet after drawing ire for past tweets in which she bullied Courtney Stodden. After maintaining and understandably quiet online presence since then, Teigen wrote a lengthy post about the situation yesterday, and husband John Legend has offered a reaction.

Legend shared Teigen’s post and added a caption of his own: He quoted a line from the post — “We are all more than our worst moments” — and appended four heart emojis.

In the Medium post, Teigen addresses the “old awful (awful, awful) tweets” and the “crushing weight of regret for the things I’ve said in the past” she is experiencing. She also addresses Legend and her family, writing:

“John tells me almost every day how much our daughter Luna reminds him of me. Every day, I try to make sure she’s all the best parts of me, all the things I aspire to be all the time, but fail at sometimes. And we preach kindness to her and Miles every chance we get. Will they eventually realize there is some hypocrisy there? I certainly do. But I hope they recognize my evolution. My goal is to be so good that my kids will think this was all a fairy tale. Not the fake good. The good that has the best intentions, the good who wakes up wanting to make her friends, family, her team and fans as happy as possible. The good who will still f*ck up in front of the world but rarely, and never not growing only more good from it.”

She goes on to conclude, “We are all more than our worst moments. I won’t ask for your forgiveness, only your patience and tolerance. I ask that you allow me, as I promise to allow you, to own past mistakes and be given the opportunity to seek self improvement and change. Phew. A lot, I know. Thanks for listening.”

Read the full post here.

Quavo Went Onto ‘First Take’ And Continued His Beef With Kendrick Perkins

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ESPN

Migos are making the media rounds in anticipation of Culture III, which drops on Friday. One such cameo was Quavo heading onto First Take, which included a pretty fun wrinkle: an interaction between himself and Kendrick Perkins.

Perkins and Quavo have been butting heads ever since the latter dropped Quavo Huncho, which included the line “Get no playin’ time, Kendrick Perkins” on the track “Fuck 12.” Perkins, as you might guess, didn’t particularly enjoy this, and over the years, he’s made this point clear. The latest example of this came over the weekend, when Migos performed at the Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul fight and Perkins tweeted the following…

A few days later, the two had a back-and-forth after Quavo used a picture of Perkins and a fist emoji to promote the new album.

This set up the two going back-and-forth on First Take, and while the show usually relies on debates over random sports things to get people on set riled up, it legitimately seemed like Quavo and Perkins were going at one another over this.

Anyway, if Migos decide to delay Culture III at the last minute, we can all assume it is because there’s going to be a line making fun of Perk on it. Unless, of course, that already exists.

Trevor Noah Had An Amazing Response To Learning That Jay Z And Beyonce Actually Know Who He Is

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Comedy Central

Celebrities, they’re just like us! They, too, get excited when they learn that two of the most famous and brilliant people in the world actually know who they are. That’s what happened to Trevor Noah the other night when he went to Barclays Center to see the playoff game between the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. The Daily Show host and sporadic Ted Cruz sparring partner was casually sitting courtside when who should show up but former Barclays stake holder Jay Z and his wife, Beyonce, who is also very popular.

A Getty photojournalist just happened to snap the meeting of the minds, catching Noah and Beyonce mid-fist-bump. Noah made sure to post that pic to his Instagram feed, complete with a gushing, fanboyish, pinch-me-is-this-real? caption:

“I’ve thought of every possible caption for this picture but really what can I write? You’re at the @brooklynnets game, the King of Brooklyn walks in with his wife @beyonce and then they both fist bump you. You try to act cool but then later you see a picture of the moment and you realise that this life is insane!!! What a privilege and magical moment to experience in life. And even though magic happens to me every day, I hope the little South African boy inside of me never stops reminding me that I’m living a dream.”

Who among us hasn’t been sitting courtside at an NBA playoff game and traded fistbumps with Jay Z and Beyonce? Many were quick to congratulate Noah on the honor, though in the comments, Daily Show colleague Jordan Klepper took some jokey umbrage with one detail of his caption: him referring to Jay Z as “the King of Brooklyn.”

Instagram / @TrevorNoah

“To be clear, I live in Brooklyn,” Klepper wrote. “Is the Jay Z is King a totally settled thing?”

Anyway, it’s great to know one of the world’s most powerful power couples watches The Daily Show.

New York Mayoral Candidate Andrew Yang Apparently Struggled To Name A Jay-Z Song During His ‘Ziwe’ Interview

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@zwie on Twitter

Ziwe Fumudoh sat down with former presidential and current New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang this week, and those who assumed the result would be bad news for Yang were apparently very correct according to the first clips from Ziwe.

Ziwe, whose Showtime series has garnered a reputation for putting celebrities on the hot seat and asking some very leading questions, asked Yang on Twitter earlier in the week he would appear on the show. “You would be an iconic guest,” she wrote on Twitter.

Those who knew her work pretty plainly thought this would be a tough interview for Yang, who has stumbled in his mayoral campaign in recent weeks. By Thursday night, however, Wall Street Journal reporter Katie Honan had reported Yang would indeed appear. And on Saturday, Ziwe posted a clip from the episode that involved New York legend Jay-Z. The clip, which cuts off after about 30 seconds of awkwardness, includes Ziwe asking Yang what his favorite Jay-Z song is with him unable to name a single one.

“I listened to a lot of hip-hop during like the 90s and 2000s,” Yang said when asked what he’s “vibing to” lately after a question about listening to rap music. She presses him, saying “I gotta know” what artists he likes, and he mentions Nas and Jay-Z after some hesitation.

“What’s your favorite Jay-Z song?” she asks. “I mean, he’s a New Yorker.”

Yang only says “yes” initially, and then there’s a long pause as he seems to think it over. “What is my favorite Jay-Z song?” he asks, as if to himself as well as anyone willing to give him the name of one to rescue him from the situation. Ziwe’s expression really says it all here.

@zwie on Twitter

The clip cuts off right as he says “it’s” after a full 10 seconds of contemplation or so. And while he may just have had a hard time coming up with his favorite, not simply struggling to come up with any songs at all, the awkward moment is the latest in a campaign that’s struggled to avoid them.

For Yang to have said yes to the interview means either no one on his staff knew what Ziwe’s deal was with these interviews, or he was simply not as prepared as he should be for the kind of questions she’d ask. But it’s also an own goal in several ways here: If Yang simply isn’t a Jay-Z fan, which is fine even for New York mayoral candidates, the easiest way to avoid falling into this trap is to not claim he spent a few decades listening to his music seconds before.

We’ll have to wait and see what he came up with when his interview on Ziwe airs on Sunday night.

The ‘Call Of Duty: Warzone’ Season 3 Trailer Features Everyone From Young Thug To Mookie Betts

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No video game took over in 2020 more than Call of Duty: Warzone, as the free-to-play battle royale became massively popular as it dropped right at the start of pandemic restrictions hitting in March and people finding themselves having to find ways to pass the time at home. A year later and Warzone is still plugging along and entering Season 3, which will see updated maps, weapons, and gear hit after they nuked Verdansk Island to end Season 2.

To celebrate the start of Season 3, the game brought together a number of their biggest celebrity players from the world of sports, music, and entertainment for a ridiculous two-minute trailer that was released on Thursday morning — along with a call to drop in to Verdansk84. The trailer, which you can watch in its absurd entirety above, opens with Young Thug leaping out of a building and grabbing onto a helicopter piloted by Gunna, who then blows up the building that Thug presumably rigged with charges. Jack Harlow, Saweetie, Swae Lee, and others from the music world are featured, along with Dennis Schröder, Jack Grealish, and Mookie Betts from the sports world — with Betts hitting a grenade out of the air with his rifle like a baseball.

In case there were any wonder if Call of Duty was still raking in cash thanks to Warzone, this trailer and all the celebrity cameos should provide the answer, but if it gets people to drop back in, that’s all they care about.