Conversations about Culver City — the vibrant enclave on Los Angeles’ Westside often called “the Heart of Screenland” — usually include phrases such as “walkable” and “green spaces” and “Erewhon.”
So when U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi insinuated the city of 39,000 residents is a crime haven during a heated exchange with Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) Wednesday, local officials and personalities responded with statistics, memes and wry mockery.
Bondi slipped in the jab near the end of an arduous House hearing largely focused on the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Kamlager-Dove, whose district includes Culver City, hammered Bondi over deleted Department of Justice data linking far-right ideology with political killings, asserting that “there are violent, dangerous people out there with real threats.”
“There are — in your district,” Bondi responded. “Her district includes Culver City, and she’s not talking about any crime in her district. Nothing about helping crime in her district. She’s not even worth getting into the details.”
Hometown names stepped up to defend the burg by posting photos of clean streets, manicured parks and humming community events.
Political commentator and Angeleno Brian Taylor Cohen called the city “one of the most non-controversially safe” places in L.A., while Culver City-based comedian Heather Gardner said: “The worst crime of the century is that this woman had made a mockery of our justice system. Release the un-redacted files. Prosecute the REAL crimes.”
Kamlager-Dove shrugged off Bondi’s comment, saying Culver City was known for “breakfast burritos — not crime.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for Bondi to clarify her statements.
Crime in Culver City declined 9.7% in 2024 and was down an additional 6.1% in the third quarter of 2025 compared with the same period of 2024, according to the Culver City Police Department. Violent crime declined 3.9% in 2024 — the last full year of available data.
Over that period, murders dropped to zero while aggravated assault, kidnapping and robbery also fell. There were 26 cases of sexual assault in the city in 2024, compared with 25 in 2023. The only violent crime that saw a significant increase were simple assaults, which rose 8.1%.
The California Department of Justice and the FBI reported in 2024 that crime in the state had fallen to “among the lowest levels ever recorded.”
Mayor Freddy Puza, in an interview Thursday, described Culver City as a “strong and vibrant community” of people with no shortage of job opportunities at small businesses and corporations alike, including TikTok, Pinterest and entertainment giants Apple, Amazon and Sony.
He said the local government has been able to lower crime rates through community-based policing and by providing housing and social services to its unsheltered population. The mayor characterized Bondi’s retort as a “knee-jerk reaction” from an attorney general faced with damaging public trust concerns at her department.
“My read of it is that she’s trying to deflect,” he said. “I think she could really spend her time prosecuting the people in the Epstein files and making sure that information from the federal government is transparent.”
The city had seen no ideological violence, he said, adding, “but the potential for it is right around the corner. There’s no doubt that it is on the rise and the president is stoking it. People are becoming further and further polarized.”
At the hearing, Bondi faced sharp criticism over the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation — specifically over redaction errors in the release millions of case files last month. In one instance, the attorney general refused to apologize to Epstein victims in the room, saying she would not “get into the gutter” with partisan requests from Democrats.
Her performance has already prompted a volley of bipartisan demands for her resignation, including from conservative pundits including Megyn Kelly, Nick Fuentes and Kyle Rittenhouse.
Culver City was not Bondi’s only target Wednesday. She called Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) a “washed-up loser lawyer,” accused Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome,” and branded former CNN anchor Don Lemon a “blogger.”
Since the hearing, however, she has stayed silent as locals continue to question her intel and chuckle over images of the pylon-protected war zone of Culver City.
“The worst crime in Culver City,” Gardener joked again on TikTok, “is that they charge $24 for a smoothie at Erewhon.”
TikTok’s Becki Jones makes cryptic comment about ‘not being honest’ amid fat jab and surgery rumours after weight loss
TIKTOK star Becki Jones has finally responded to claims she has “not been honest” about her extreme weight loss.
The influencer rose to fame on the video streaming platform back in 2020 and is famed for her ‘what I eat in a day’ videos, which showed her enjoying foods such as McDonalds for breakfast, takeaways and treats.
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However, in March last year she quit the platform without explanation before suddenly returning in September — with a significantly smaller frame.
While Becki has consistently insisted that she has not lost weight via jabs or surgery, fans have been left questioning the legitimacy of her claims.
And now, she has made a cryptic comment in response.
During a TikTok live stream by Becki this week, one user left a comment which read: “People would hate less if you were honest”.
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Becki replied: “I have been honest about everything that needs to be said.
“The only thing I haven’t told you about is what I’ve been through and what I’m currently battling with as well. It’s nothing that will benefit anybody knowing, so, yeah.”
Later on in the stream, she said: “I did not come back to TikTok in September to be like, ‘Guys! I’ve lost weight’.
“That was not my intention, it was not my goal. Like I’ve said, my page was never gonna be ‘Becki Jones for fitness’ or ‘Becki Jones for how to lose weight’.
“That’s never been my goal for my journey on TikTok or as a content creator.”
Becki added: “I’ve come back and to be fair, most of my weight I’ve lost has been since September.”
Fans in the comment section still weren’t convinced by her comments, as one wrote: “People just want honesty… period!”
“Just give people a straight answer, especially your loyal followers,” echoed another.
However, others defended that it was “nobody’s business” what Becki has done.
Last year, a source told The Sun why Becki really left social media, and why she returned.
They explained: “Everyone knows Becki took six months offline because she felt the trolling had become too much.
“It was a real chance to reflect on her life and the main cause of issues – her weight. She’s also a secret smoker, so really did start to feel like her lifestyle wasn’t doing her any favours.
“Once she started losing some weight, she felt a new wave of confidence and when she returned online and saw the reaction to the way she looked, it really spurred her on.”
They added: “It’s the same when she was larger and the more she ate, the more people watched her videos. At the end of the day, it’s all about engagement and making money. It’s addictive.”
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Tiktok comic Corey O’Brien opens up on Beckhams feud, Celeb Big Brother plans and big fat jab mistake ahead of UK show
HE’s got almost 2 million followers on TikTok alone, has an army of A-list celebrity fans and now US comic Corey O’Brien is preparing to invade the UK.
After blowing up on social media post lockdown with his hilarious videos impersonating everyone from Dua Lipa and Justin Timberlake to the Spice Girls– who all shared his clips online – the 34 year-old former dancer’s comedy career has gone from strength to strength.
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And next week he’s performing in London for his first ever UK show, much to the delight of both Corey and his legions of British fans.
“I’m a real anglophile,” smiles Corey, as he chats to The Sun from his home in Los Angeles.
“I’m really excited because I feel like my comedy goes across really well with a UK audience.
“I’m unhinged and have no filter, and I feel like you guys really get that. I have no boundaries, I say whatever the f*** I want to say and I think that’s quite a British sense of humour.”
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He may live 6000 miles away from Blighty, but Corey admits he avidly follows UK pop culture – whether it’s binging classic early seasons of Love Island with his former NFL star boyfriend Ryan K Russell (“we stopped having sex at one point because we were so obsessed with watching Hannah Elizabeth) to keeping abreast of every development of the Beckham family feud.
“I am so invested in that drama,” he confesses. “I’m team Posh, of course. If Victoria wants to come to crash my wedding, do a full dance number and make the night all about her, I wouldn’t hate it.
“She could slap me in the face in the middle of my vows and I would probably say thank you. She’s Victoria Beckham. She was my gay awakening.”
Indeed, when Corey impersonated all five Spice Girls for his own take on the iconic Say You’ll Be There video three years ago, he never expected it to get more than three million views and be shared by the legendary pop group’s official social media channels.
“I think I cried when that happened,” he confessed. “It was one of the most amazing things to ever happen. My boyfriend was upstairs at the time and I screeched as if someone was killing me. He was quite concerned.”
It’s not just iconic British girlbands that Corey is obsessed with though – during our chat he happily recounts his favourite moments from various UK Celebrity Big Brother series.
“Oh my god, I’ve watched all of Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa‘s romance, I can’t get enough of Farrah Abraham‘s fight with Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace and of course Tiffany Pollard’s ‘David’s dead’ moment is my all time favourite,” he laughs.
“I’d love to do Celebrity Big Brother. If any casting people are reading it, get me on there! I’ll get nude if they want me too!”
Anyone who follows Corey on social media will know he’s more than happy to flash his naked buff body – either in the name of comedy or simply for a bit of a thirst trap.
“I’ve not said this publicly before, but I microdose Ozempic,” he confesses when asked about his increasingly toned physique, before admitting to making a big mistake when he started on the fat jabs.
“I ordered some off some random website for like $400 and, believe it or not, I’m not a doctor so I didn’t really understand the dosages,” he deadpans.
“The first time I took it, I shot up a whole month’s worth of it in one go and I didn’t realise. I lost like 12 pounds in a week and it was all muscle that I lost. So yeah, now I just do little microdoses here and there.”
And he’s more than willing to show off some skin when he hits Britain next week.
“I’ll show my nudes on stage, hell, I’ll show them in person for like 20 bucks,” he laughs.
“I need to make some money – the exchange rate is crazy right now!”
Corey O’Brien: Live In London is at the Top Secret Comedy Club in London on Monday February 23. Doors open from 5.30pm.
For tickets, book here
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Culver City, a crime haven? Bondi’s jab falls flat with locals
Conversations about Culver City — the vibrant enclave on Los Angeles’ Westside often called “the Heart of Screenland” — usually include phrases such as “walkable” and “green spaces” and “Erewhon.”
So when U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi insinuated the city of 39,000 residents is a crime haven during a heated exchange with Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) Wednesday, local officials and personalities responded with statistics, memes and wry mockery.
Bondi slipped in the jab near the end of an arduous House hearing largely focused on the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Kamlager-Dove, whose district includes Culver City, hammered Bondi over deleted Department of Justice data linking far-right ideology with political killings, asserting that “there are violent, dangerous people out there with real threats.”
“There are — in your district,” Bondi responded. “Her district includes Culver City, and she’s not talking about any crime in her district. Nothing about helping crime in her district. She’s not even worth getting into the details.”
Hometown names stepped up to defend the burg by posting photos of clean streets, manicured parks and humming community events.
Political commentator and Angeleno Brian Taylor Cohen called the city “one of the most non-controversially safe” places in L.A., while Culver City-based comedian Heather Gardner said: “The worst crime of the century is that this woman had made a mockery of our justice system. Release the un-redacted files. Prosecute the REAL crimes.”
Kamlager-Dove shrugged off Bondi’s comment, saying Culver City was known for “breakfast burritos — not crime.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for Bondi to clarify her statements.
Crime in Culver City declined 9.7% in 2024 and was down an additional 6.1% in the third quarter of 2025 compared with the same period of 2024, according to the Culver City Police Department. Violent crime declined 3.9% in 2024 — the last full year of available data.
Over that period, murders dropped to zero while aggravated assault, kidnapping and robbery also fell. There were 26 cases of sexual assault in the city in 2024, compared with 25 in 2023. The only violent crime that saw a significant increase were simple assaults, which rose 8.1%.
The California Department of Justice and the FBI reported in 2024 that crime in the state had fallen to “among the lowest levels ever recorded.”
Mayor Freddy Puza, in an interview Thursday, described Culver City as a “strong and vibrant community” of people with no shortage of job opportunities at small businesses and corporations alike, including TikTok, Pinterest and entertainment giants Apple, Amazon and Sony.
He said the local government has been able to lower crime rates through community-based policing and by providing housing and social services to its unsheltered population. The mayor characterized Bondi’s retort as a “knee-jerk reaction” from an attorney general faced with damaging public trust concerns at her department.
“My read of it is that she’s trying to deflect,” he said. “I think she could really spend her time prosecuting the people in the Epstein files and making sure that information from the federal government is transparent.”
The city had seen no ideological violence, he said, adding, “but the potential for it is right around the corner. There’s no doubt that it is on the rise and the president is stoking it. People are becoming further and further polarized.”
At the hearing, Bondi faced sharp criticism over the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation — specifically over redaction errors in the release millions of case files last month. In one instance, the attorney general refused to apologize to Epstein victims in the room, saying she would not “get into the gutter” with partisan requests from Democrats.
Her performance has already prompted a volley of bipartisan demands for her resignation, including from conservative pundits including Megyn Kelly, Nick Fuentes and Kyle Rittenhouse.
Culver City was not Bondi’s only target Wednesday. She called Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) a “washed-up loser lawyer,” accused Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome,” and branded former CNN anchor Don Lemon a “blogger.”
Since the hearing, however, she has stayed silent as locals continue to question her intel and chuckle over images of the pylon-protected war zone of Culver City.
“The worst crime in Culver City,” Gardener joked again on TikTok, “is that they charge $24 for a smoothie at Erewhon.”
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