If you’re not on social media, good for you. If you are, you know that any good start by Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is immediately followed by a flood of venom aimed at former major league outfielder Josh Reddick.
No sooner had Yamamoto thrown his World Series complete game last week than Reddick got 3 million views for one of his tweets from two years ago.
Many of those viewers were happy to tell him he was a moron.
In 2023, the Dodgers signed Yamamoto, the winner of Japan’s version of the Cy Young award for three years running, for $325 million.
Reddick’s tweet: “How do you give a guy $325 million without ever throwing a pitch in MLB”
How do you give a guy $325 million without ever throwing a pitch in MLB
On Friday, the Dodgers will turn to Yamamoto to keep their season alive and force a Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays. He could — and this sounds insane in modern baseball — throw his third consecutive complete game.
“If Paul Skenes did not exist, Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be winning the Cy Young, going away,” podcast host Chandler Rome said.
Then Rome asked Reddick to answer for his tweet.
“I don’t think I would say I regret it,” Reddick said. “I’d probably say that tomorrow if they gave it [that money] to somebody else. That’s just my opinion, and I’m allowed to have it because it’s social media …
“That was my opinion, and obviously it was wrong. This guy has been phenomenal, and very, very, very, very, very, very good to come over here and do what he’s done. I’ll admit I was wrong on that one.”
Reddick said he regularly hears about it from Dodgers fans.
“They enjoy it,” he said. “I just love how much I live in Dodgers fans’ heads every day, and how they just look forward to making it feel like they’re upsetting me by sending these tweets and just completely ruining my day.
“If you’re a Dodger fan: It doesn’t bother me. So you do you for your two seconds of fame, and go back to work.”
At the time of the podcast, Reddick’s tweet had 9 million views. Now it has 12 million.
“It’s like wrestling, man,” he said. “You’ve got to be the good guy or the bad guy. As long as you’re a guy who’s getting noticed, you’re doing something right.
“I’m just playing the heel for the Dodgers for the rest of my life.”
Former Ireland star Conor Murray says the “shackles are off” as he launches a new BBC Sounds podcast – the Ireland Rugby Social.
Murray, who won international 125 caps, will join BBC Sport NI’s Gavin Andrews to give his unique insight into the mindset of a professional athlete as Ireland gear up for the autumn internationals and the 2026 Six Nations.
Each week, Murray will sit down with players, coaches and rugby insiders to dive into the sport’s biggest stories as Ireland face New Zealand, Japan, Australia and South Africa this autumn, before the Six Nations kicks off next year.
With five Six Nations titles and two United Rugby Championships with Munster, the three-time British and Irish Lion is uniquely placed to go beyond the headlines – and he says: “I can say what I want.”
“As a player you are always worried about protecting the team or the coach, or saying something the coach might not agree with after,” said Murray.
“But now the shackles are off. Now you can speak your mind and say things how you see it.”
Every Tuesday there will be podcast with a special guest who will offer their own insight into their life in rugby, whether that is playing, coaching or a role you may not know about.
Additionally, throughout November and Six Nations there will be a second podcast reflecting on the game that’s just been played and a look ahead at what is to come.
“Rugby has been such a big part of my life for so long, so I think staying connected to it is probably a good idea,” Murray added.
“I can give some insight, get some guests with some interesting stories – stories that you maybe haven’t heard before.
“I know the guests we have will be able to relax and tell us their true thoughts and stories.”
Former President Obama, speaking on stand-up comedian Marc Maron’s final podcast on Monday, said the Trump administration’s policies are a “test” of whether universities, businesses, law firms and voters — including Republicans — will take a stand for the nation’s founding principles and values.
“If you decide not to vote, that’s a consequence. If you are a Hispanic man and you’re frustrated about inflation, and so you decided, ah, you know what, all that rhetoric about Trump doesn’t matter. ‘I’m just mad about inflation,’” Obama said. “And now your sons are being stopped in L.A. because they look Latino and maybe without the ability to call anybody, might just be locked up, well, that’s a test.”
“It’d be great if we weren’t tested this way, but you know what? We probably need to be shaken out of our complacency,” he said.
Obama also criticized some Democrats’ messaging as he touched on significant issues facing Californians and discussed the state of the nation’s democracy, core convictions and the weakening of institutional norms.
After Los Angeles-based Maron joked, “We’ve annoyed the average American into fascism,” Obama responded, “You can’t just be a scold all the time.
“You can’t constantly lecture people without acknowledging that you’ve got some blind spots too, and that life’s messy,” Obama said in the interview, which recently took place in the former president’s Washington, D.C., office.
Faulting language used by some liberals as “holier than thou,” Obama argued that Democrats could remain true to their principles while respecting those with whom they disagreed.
“Saying, ‘Right, I’ve got some core convictions [and] beliefs that I’m not going to compromise. But I’m also not going to assert that I am so righteous and so pure and so insightful that there’s not the possibility that maybe I’m wrong on this, or that other people, if they don’t say things exactly the way I say them or see things exactly the way I do, that somehow they’re bad people,’” he said.
Obama’s remarks come as the Democratic Party faces a reckoning after losing the presidential election in 2024, in part because of declining support from the party’s base, notably minority voters.
Maron, a comedian and actor, launched his “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast and radio show in 2009. Interviews with guests such as actor Robin Williams, comedian Louis C.K., filmmaker Kevin Smith and “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels often took place at his Highland Park home.
Obama’s 2015 interview in Maron’s garage became the podcast’s most popular episode at the time — downloaded nearly 740,000 times in the first 24 hours after it was posted.
On Monday, the former president criticized institutions for capitulating to President Trump’s demands. His words come as USC leaders are debating whether to agree to a White House proposal to receive favorable access to federal funding if they align with Trump’s agenda.
“If you’re a university president, say, well, you know what? This will hurt if we lose some grant money in the federal government, but that’s what endowments are for,” Obama said. “Let’s see if we can ride this out, because what we’re not going to do is compromise our basic academic independence.”
Taylor Swift has a lot to be happy about — including a ring she says she could watch “like it’s a TV.”
The “Bejeweled” pop star hit “The Graham Norton Show” Friday to promote her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” and the host swiftly congratulated her on the “new bit of finger jewelry.”
“He really crushed it when it came to surprising me,” Swift said of fiancé Travis Kelce’s marriage proposal. “He went all out. 10 out of 10.”
The “Norton Show” appearance marks the first time the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has addressed this new chapter of her love story with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end on TV. In August, the high-profile couple announced they were engaged with a joint Instagram post that looked straight out of an enchanted garden.
According to Swift, the viral photos were not staged. While the couple were recording an episode of Kelce’s podcast, “New Heights,” the three-time Super Bowl champion was having his backyard transformed for the romantic occasion. (Kelce’s father, Ed, let it slip shortly after the announcement that the proposal had happened at Travis’ home in Lee’s Summit, Mo.) Among the added greenery were a few strategically placed hedges where Swift’s tour photographer could capture the proposal unnoticed.
“It’s really fun that we actually have the exact moment” when he proposed, Swift said.
Television is not the only place where Swift has been unable to stop gushing about her fiancé.
Fans have been meticulously dissecting the lyrics on all of the tracks on Swift’s latest album and there are plenty of nods to Kelce. The most explicit, according to Swifties and Swiftologists, is “Wood,” which is being described as her horniest and most openly sexual song to date.
Times pop music critic Mikael Wood describes the song as “a kind of kiddie-disco number that … exults in the erotic thrill of a guy brandishing ‘new heights of manhood,’” pointing out the reference to Kelce’s podcast. Among the other lyrics that are causing a frenzy among fans include references to a “Redwood tree,” how “his love was thе key that opened [her] thighs” and “a hard rock [being] on the way.”
Clearly, Swift is just as giddy about her upcoming nuptials as Kelce.
Shedeur Sanders had been considered by many to be a potential first-round pick before plummeting to the Browns at No. 144 overall, after Cleveland had already selected former Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round.
Earlier this month, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Baltimore Ravens had planned on drafting Sanders with the No. 141 overall pick until he let them know that he didn’t want to sit on a roster behind quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is a two-time league MVP and only 28 years old.
Last week, former NFL quarterback Cam Newton said on his podcast “4th&1 ” that he had heard that the Philadelphia Eagles had also wanted to draft Sanders at some point. Like the Ravens, however, Philadelphia also has a superstar quarterback who may not have even reached his prime in 27-year-old Jalen Hurts, who was named the MVP of Super Bowl LIX in February.
Deion Sanders, an NFL legend who coached his son at Colorado, seemed to confirm all of that during an appearance on Jason and Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which was published Monday.
“Philly called us on draft day. They didn’t mention that. I just let a cat out of the bag,” Coach Prime told the Kelce brothers. “Philly called. Who [else] was it? Baltimore and the Browns. … I played for Baltimore, so me and [Ravens executive vice president of player development] Ozzie [Newsome] are cool … and he wanted to talk to Shedeur as well as he wanted to talk to me.
“I put Shedeur on the phone. And Shedeur — I don’t want to say it went, but how in the world can somebody fault him for saying or thinking, ‘Why in the world would I go back up Lamar for 10 more years?’ Like, who comes in with that mindset?”
Sanders added: “Where do these guys come from, that sit on these platforms and say, ‘Oh, you should have sat in behind and learned the game and been what they developed.’ When have the pros ever developed anybody? By the time you get to the NFL, they expect you to know what you need to do and to do it, or somebody else gonna get in there and do it.”
The 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee summed it up this way: “I’ve never sat on a bench and said, ‘Well, I learned a lot today.’ Who learns sitting on the bench?”
Sanders said he’s been preaching patience and preparation to his 23-year-old son, who currently sits behind 40-year-old veteran Joe Flacco and 24-year-old Gabriel on the Browns depth chart and has yet to see the field during the regular season.
“Be patient and be ready,” Sanders said he’s told Shedeur. “They call your name and you ain’t ready — we ain’t built like that. Sanders, we ain’t built like that. We always ready. We don’t have to get ready. And I want you to be patient. You don’t force nothing that ain’t that it may not be time [for].”
Sanders also said he has a feeling that patience will pay off for his son sooner rather than later.
“It’s coming up,” he said. “I got a prediction. I ain’t telling nobody. I got a feeling when it’s gonna go down. But it’s gonna go down this year. He gonna get a shot.”
NEW YORK — Howard Stern, the popular and highly paid radio host, returned to SiriusXM’s airwaves Monday after trolling listeners into thinking he had departed his long-running show.
Stern, 71, who evolved from his shock jock origins to become a respected interviewer, enlisted a seemingly flustered Andy Cohen at the top of “The Howard Stern Show” to pretend to be his successor. “This was supposed to be a cleaner hand off. I’m kind of winging it,” said Cohen.
Stern then came on the air and thanked the Bravo personality, who has his own SiriusXM show and podcast, for agreeing to do the bit. The stunt was the culmination of weeks of promos that promised a big reveal, following swirling speculation that Stern’s show would be canceled. “The tabloids have spoken: Howard Stern fired, canceled,” one promo video said. “Is it really bye-bye Booey?” The speculation grew after Stern postponed his return from a summer break last week.
While he did return Monday, Stern did not announce that he had reached a new contract with SiriusXM. His current deal expires at the end of 2025.
“Here’s the truth: SiriusXM and my team have been talking about how we go forward in the future. They’ve approached me, they’ve sat down with me like they normally do, and they’re fantastic,” Stern said.
Stern joining what was then Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. in 2006 made him one of the highest-paid personalities in broadcasting and was a game-changer for both the company and the nascent satellite radio industry. His importance was highlighted on the SiriusXM homepage — tabs included For You, Music, Talk & Podcasts, Sports and Howard.
SiriusXM in the years after Stern joined has become home to top podcasts “Call Her Daddy,” “SmartLess,” “Freakonomics Radio,” “Last Podcast on the Left,” “99% Invisible” and “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” and features such personalities as Trevor Noah, Kevin Hart and Stephen A. Smith.
But SiriusXM’s subscriber base has been slowly contracting, with the company reporting 33 million paid subscribers in the second quarter of 2025, a net loss of 68,000 from the first quarter and 100,000 fewer than the same period in 2024. It is a battling a saturated satellite market and competition from free, ad-supported platforms like Spotify.
Stern extended his contract with SiriusXM twice before, in 2010 and again in 2020 with a five-year, $500 million deal, Forbes reported. He’s recently had newsy and intimate chats with Lady Gaga and Bruce Springsteen.
“He’s been with me and the company going on two decades, and so he’s pretty happy, but he’s also able, like many great artists, to stop whenever he wants,” SiriusXM president and chief content officer Scott Greenstein told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024. “Nobody will ever replace them. We would never try to replace them.”
Stern, who has liked to call himself the King of All Media, rose to national fame in the 1980s during his 20-year stint at the then-WXRK in New York. At its peak, “The Howard Stern Show” was syndicated in 60 markets and drew over 20 million listeners. Stern was lured to satellite radio by the lucrative payday and a lack of censorship, following bruising indecency battles with the Federal Communications Commission and skittish radio executives. His past on-air bits had included parading strippers through his New York studio and persuading the band then known as The Dixie Chicks to reveal intimate details about their sex lives.
His 1997 film “Private Parts” became a box office hit and offered a raw, humorous look at his rise to fame. He has also authored several bestselling books and served as a judge on “America’s Got Talent” from 2012 to 2015.
NEW YORK — If Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vaults into national prominence as a Democratic leader, he may one day look back at Thursday as a key step in that direction.
SiriusXM announced that it was giving Beshear’s new podcast a national platform starting this month, along with featuring him in a regular call-in show on its Progress network.
President Trump’s appearances on podcasts were a pivotal media strategy in his successful 2024 Republican campaign. Moving forward, mastering a personal podcast could replace soft-focus biographies or wonky books as a way for politicians to increase their profiles.
Beshear said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this summer that he will “take a look” at running for president in 2028. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, also in the circle of potential presidential nominees, started his own podcast earlier this year.
Speaking to the anxiety of Americans
In an interview, Beshear said a motivating factor in his own podcast was people who have come up to him, especially during the Trump administration, to talk about their anxieties.
“That’s how Americans feel,” he said. “They feel like the news hits them minute after minute after minute. And it can feel like chaos. It can feel like the world is out of control. With this podcast, we’re trying to help Americans process what we’re going through.”
He’s already done nearly two dozen podcasts, with his audience heavily weighted toward Kentucky residents. His guests have included some potential Democratic presidential rivals, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban, former Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari and Kentucky-born actor and comic Steve Zahn have also appeared.
Beshear, the son of a former governor who’s been leading Kentucky since 2019, talks issues himself. Two of his friends, a Republican and a Democrat, are regular guests, and his 16-year-old son helps Dad navigate some youthful lingo.
Newsom attracted attention — some of it negative among Democrats — for interviewing conservative guests Steve Bannon, Michael Savage and Charlie Kirk on his podcast.
“I did disagree with him on certain guests because I don’t like to give oxygen to hate,” Beshear said. “But Gavin is out there really working to communicate with the American people, and he deserves to be commended for it.”
Newsom’s podcast started slowly in the marketplace but has caught fire in recent weeks, his regular audiences jumping from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands, said Paul Riismandel, president of Signal Hill Insights, an audio-focused market research company.
The California governor’s increased visibility, particularly on social media, is likely a factor in the growing popularity of the podcast, Riismandel said. But it’s also a function of how podcasts often catch on: Many tend to be slow burns as audiences discover them, he said.
Learning to master the format of podcasts
Whether ambitious politicians start their own podcasts or not, they’re going to have to be familiar going forward with what makes people successful in the format.
“With a podcast, the audience expects a more unfiltered, authentic kind of conversation and presentation,” Riismandel said. If politicians come across as too controlled, looking for the sort of soundbites that will be broken out in a television appearance, it’s not likely to work, he said. They have to be willing to open up.
“That is something that is probably new for a lot of politicians,” he said, “and new for their handlers.”
Beshear’s first podcast for SiriusXM will feature an interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), conducted in the company’s New York studio and debuting Sept. 10. The Progress network will air Beshear’s podcasts regularly on Saturdays at 11 a.m. Eastern.
The first live call-in show will be next Tuesday at noon, with Beshear joined by Progress host John Fugelsang.
Beshear stressed that his work for SiriusXM is “not just aimed at a Democratic audience.”
“We’re aiming,” he said, “at an American audience.”
It was also the last time son Jack saw his dad, he shared in a new YouTube video.
“My dad was great. He was in a good mood he was happy,” he said.
“I woke up in Los Angeles to a knock on my house door at around 3.45 in the morning.
“Someone who has worked for my family for about 30 years now was knocking on my door and when I looked through my window and I saw it was him, I knew something bad had happened.
“I was informed that my father had passed.”
The grieving son continued: “So many thoughts, there was a level of like “okay, he’s not struggling. He’s not suffering anymore”. And that is something.
“I wish he was still here, you know? I wish he was still with us all, but he was having a rough go and I think people saw that at the show.”
Jack rushed back to England to support his family, and prepare for the funeral, as well as a procession through Birmingham in his father’s memory.
Ozzy Osbourne’s final months caught on camera as TWO documentaries race to air after his death
“I speak for the family when I saw this. We are so grateful for that and it meant so much…. it was validating because I know we weren’t alone”, Jack added.
The late rock legend’s son previously shared a heartwarming clip to Instagram and explained how hand-written letters, memorabilia, and merch were being “carefully preserved”.
Jack told how every item will be recorded on a digital database and given to the Osbourne family.
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Jack at the procession in Birmingham to honour OzzyCredit: Getty
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Thousands of fans lined the streets to pay their respectsCredit: Reuters
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Jack flew to England immediately to be with his familyCredit: Getty
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Each tribute is being added to a digital database for preservationCredit: Getty
He said: “I haven’t really wanted to post anything since the passing of my father. My heart has hurt too much.
“I’m gonna keep this short because he certainly hated long rambling speeches.
“He was so many things to so many people, but I was so lucky and blessed to be apart of a very small group that got to call him “Dad.”
“My heart is full of so much sadness and sorrow, but also so much love and gratitude.”
Jack continued: “I got 14,501 days with that man and I know that is such a blessing. I think this quote best describes my father.
“Hunter S. Thompson once said: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body… but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!'”
He added: “That was my dad. He lived and he lived his life fully. I love you dad.”
In recent years, Ozzy had been battling numerous health conditions, including Parkinson’s.
His official death certificate lists ‘acute myocardial infarction’ and ‘out of hospital cardiac arrest’ under the cause of death section.
It also listed coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction as “joint causes” of Ozzy’s death.
In his final performance, Ozzy sang five songs in his own set, with fans waving torches from their phones during Mama, I’m Coming Home.
He finished his performance with Crazy Train, before confetti rained over a packed Villa Park.
FAMILY UNITED
The Osbourne family have fiercely defended their late patriarch since his death.
As if we needed another reason to question Woody Allen’s judgment, the 89-year-old director praised President Trump as “polite” and “a pleasure to work with” on Bill Maher’s podcast, “Club Random.”
Allen, who cast Trump in a cameo appearance for his 1998 film “Celebrity,” said on Monday’s podcast that the then-real estate mogul “hit his mark, did everything correctly and had a real flair for show business.”
“As an actor, he was very good,” Allen said. “He was very convincing, and he has a charismatic quality as an actor. And I’m surprised he wanted to go into politics. Politics is nothing but headaches and critical decisions and agony.”
Trump’s latest critical decision as commander in chief? Sharing the filmmaker’s positive comments on his Truth Social account. Heavy hangs the crown …
But why would Trump even want Allen on his side?
Allen’s legacy as a groundbreaking filmmaker was tarnished by revelations about his personal life that emerged in the 1990s. It was revealed that he had a romantic relationship with his then-girlfriend Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. He was 56. She was 21. Allen’s own daughter with Farrow, Dylan, would later accuse Allen of sexually molesting her, claims that he denies. Even if fans want to separate the artist from news stories about the man, it’s difficult given that Allen’s films often reflect an obsession with youthful — and occasionally underage — women.
The president has been doing everything possible to bury his past associations with older men who allegedly prey on younger women. There’s this guy named Jeffrey Epstein …
There’s obviously no comparing Allen to the late convicted child sex trafficker, but why even open the door to such scrutiny? It’s because a compliment is a compliment, and there are so few of them coming from Hollywood that Trump could not help but copy, paste and post.
Maher responded to Allen’s flattering words about Trump with mock outrage: “How dare you?!”
Allen may have surprised listeners who know the director as a master satirist of the flawed personality, but Maher was right on brand. The 69-year-old has forged a career playing to all sides of contentious issues while sincerely committing to none.
Earlier this year, the host of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” who describes himself as a “vocal critic” of Trump, caught flak for dining with the president at Mar-a-Lago, then later describing Trump as “gracious,” “not fake” and that “everything I’ve ever not liked about him was absent.” He praised Trump for being “measured” and not like the “person who plays a crazy person on TV.”
Larry David, the creator of “Seinfeld” and star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” responded to Maher’s laudatory dinner recollection with a satirical essay in the New York Times titled “My Dinner With Adolf.” David wrote from the perspective of a “vocal critic” of the Nazi dictator who, over dinner, finds Hitler to be surprisingly “disarming” and “authentic.” The essay went viral.
During Monday’s podcast, Allen counterbalanced his kind words about Trump with the revelation that he voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. He also said that he disagrees with Trump on “99%” of issues.
After wondering aloud why Trump went into politics, Allen said, “This was a guy I used to see at the Knicks games, and he liked to play golf, and he liked to judge beauty contests, and he liked to do things that were enjoyable and relaxing. Why anyone would want to suddenly have to deal with the issues of politics is beyond me.”
Perhaps it’s about seizing total power? Exacting revenge on enemies such as his former national security advisor John Bolton? Scrubbing the Epstein files? Profiting off his office?
But let’s get back to Allen.
The director reiterated that he disagreed “with many, almost all, not all, but almost all of his politics, of his policies. I can only judge what I know from directing him in film. And he was pleasant to work [with], and very professional, very polite to everyone…
“If he would let me direct him now that he’s president, I think I could do wonders.”
He kids. But it was only just a few days ago that Allen came under fire for virtually attending the Moscow Film Festival as a guest of honor. He praised Russian cinema and hinted at wanting to shoot a film in the country. After some “measured” thought, perhaps Putin will get a cameo.
Gilbert Arenas and Skip Bayless have made news lately for reasons they would rather forget. Now, they will attempt to put an entertaining spin on NFL news in a digital program launching Tuesday and airing three times a week.
Arenas, a Van Nuys Grant High product who played 11 seasons in the NBA, will rebrand his current channel. Bayless, who had long runs on ESPN’s “First Take” and FS1’s “Undisputed,” will be featured on “The Arena: Gridiron” along with former NFL coach Jay Gruden and former NFL cornerback Aqib Talib.
Arenas was arrested July 30 and charged along with five others with conspiracy for allegedly running illegal poker games at his Encino mansion, court records show. Arenas, 43, rented out the mansion “for the purposes of hosting high-stakes illegal poker games,” according to a news release issued by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
The three-time All-Star guard — who went by the nickname “Agent Zero” according to federal authorities — was charged with conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, operating an illegal gambling business and making false statements to federal investigators.
Among the others charged was Yevgeni Gershman, 49, a.k.a. “Giora,” of Woodland Hills, who the U.S. attorney’s office described as “a suspected organized crime figure from Israel.” Arenas pleaded not guilty and was released on a $50,000 bond.
Bayless has also been sifting through court filings. He is a defendant along with Fox Sports, broadcaster Joy Taylor and executive Charlie Dixon in a lawsuit by former FS1 hairstylist Noushin Faraji, who alleged that Bayless offered her $1.5 million for sex.
Faraji filed a request to dismiss the lawsuit this month in L.A. Superior Court, which legal experts said is an indication that a settlement has been reached.
Bayless told the Athletic that he isn’t bothered by the criminal charges against Arenas.
“I’ve talked to Gil,” he said. “He has no concerns. I mean, he’s obviously concerned, but he believes he did nothing at all wrong, except rent out his space, and I believe in him.”
Underdog, a five-year-old gaming and media firm, will own and produce the show. Arenas’ two digital basketball programs under “Gil’s Arena” have become one of Underdog’s biggest draws.
Shifting to football prompted the addition of Bayless, whose spirited back-and-forth on social media with Arenas grew into a professional relationship.
“I’m back in the saddle in the debate arena,” Bayless said. “I live for this. I love this.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are taking their love story to the next chapter.
The Grammy-winning “Love Story” pop icon and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end are engaged, the couple announced Tuesday in a joint Instagram post.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift captioned photos from the garden engagement.
Weeks before getting engaged, the pair hit another personal milestone: They finally finally appeared together on Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce. The podcast was also where Travis Kelce took his shot at a romance with the singer-songwriter back in 2023.
During the “New Heights” episode, which marked Swift’s podcasting debut, she said her relationship with Kelce “is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”
With marriage on the horizon, it seems Swift and Kelce have come a long way since officially becoming an item in fall 2023. Their romance can be traced back to July 2023, when Kelce attended an Eras tour concert at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ house. The NFL star managed to get a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s camp and the two eventually got in touch.
Their rumored romance quickly became commentary fodder for NFL broadcasts (sometimes to sports fans’ chagrin). Then things took a turn when Swift seemingly accepted Kelce’s personal invitation to a home game in September 2023 and was seen cheering for him in a private box alongside his mother, Donna Kelce. Soon enough, Swift became a staple in the Chiefs audience.
Swift and Kelce’s relationship dominated the news cycle and most coverage of the NFL season. Feeding into the obsession, both Swifties and sports fans on social media created memes, TikTok videos and other social media content dissecting nearly every detail of the couple’s interactions and public appearances.
From late 2023 to early 2024, their blooming relationship also proved to be a boon as Swift carried on with her blockbuster, career-spanning Eras tour and Kelce prepared for Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs faced the San Fransisco 49ers. When the Chiefs won, Swift joined Kelce on the field, kissing and hugging her athlete boyfriend.
Swift and Kelce’s love didn’t just play out on the field. During a November 2023 show, Swift changed lyrics to her hit “Karma” to mention “the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me,” sending fans and Kelce into a frenzy. Then in June 2024, as Swift‘s tour continued, Kelce joined his superstar girlfriend on stage in London.
When the 2024-25 NFL season began in September, Swift returned regularly to Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs home games.
Swift brought her Eras tour to an end in December 2024 and hosted a private wrap party to celebrate her musical marathon. As photos from the party went public, eagle-eyed fans noticed more than Swift, Kelce and their VIP attendees. Social media sleuths claimed photos of Swift’s hands had been Photoshopped to conceal the presence of an engagement ring, Page Six reported at the time.
Rob Gronkowski first retired from the NFL in 2019 as a member of the New England Patriots.
The future Hall of Fame tight end retired again in 2022 as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And even though he hasn’t played in the league since then, it appears that Gronk will retire one more time, again as a member of the Patriots.
The idea of Gronkowski signing a ceremonial one-day contract with the team that he helped win three Super Bowls was floated publicly Tuesday by Susan Hurley, the founder and president of the CharityTeams fundraising firm for nonprofits.
“Can we just make it official and sign [Gronkowski] for a day so he can retire as a Patriot?” Hurley asked before looking in Kraft’s direction and adding, “What do you say?”
Gronkowski applauded and nodded while looking in Kraft’s direction. The owner, who was off camera at the time, apparently gave his approval, as Gronkowski later confirmed to reporters.
“[Kraft] gave her a thumbs up, so we’re going to make it happen in the future and it’s gonna be a special moment,” the five-time Pro Bowl selection said. “Come back for a day, a weekend, whatever it is. So we’ll make it happen and it will be a really, really cool moment. It’s gonna happen, we just don’t know when.”
The Patriots have not announced such a move and did not respond immediately on Thursday to The Times’ request to comment. On Wednesday, a somewhat less official announcement came on the Instagram account of the “Dudes on Dudes” podcast hosted by Gronkowski and former Patriots teammate Julian Edelmen.
“Gronk will sign a one day contract and retire a New England Patriot,” read the post that was accompanied by a video that featured Gronkowski speaking on the podcast about being drafted by the Patriots. The video doesn’t mention anything about him signing a one-day contract with the team, but it does feature a graphic that reads: “Breaking — Gronk will retire a New England Patriot.”
New England selected Gronkowski in the second round of the 2010 draft. He became a key and beloved member of the team’s dynasty under coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. After Brady left for Tampa Bay before the 2020 season, Gronkowski came out of retirement to join him and ended up winning his fourth career Super Bowl that year.
Mention the rugby league Ashes, and it’s hard not to think of Adrian Morley, a brutal hit and a red card after just 12 seconds.
Whatever happens when Australia visit this October and November, the series is unlikely to start quite as explosively as that first Test in Wigan 22 years ago.
One of the most feared forwards in the game, Morley poleaxed Australia prop Robbie Kearns straight from the kick-off with a high tackle.
The Great Britain forward, who played his club rugby in the NRL for Sydney Roosters at the time, was dismissed by referee Steve Ganson with the words: “Adrian. Adrian. It’s a real bad one. It’s across the chin. You’re off mate.”
Morley’s former Great Britain team-mate Jon Wilkin said: “He said that when he got sent off, he was back in the dressing room before the mascot had taken his head off.
“The mascot took his head off and said ‘What are you doing back in here?'”
Wilkin, Jamie Peacock and Brian Noble have recalled the extraordinary incident for a new weekly BBC podcast which has its first episode released on Thursday – Rugby League Top 10.
In the first episode, presenter Mark Chapman sets them the task of ranking the sport’s hard men.
Former Great Britain captain Peacock, who played alongside Morley in that 2003 series, said: “His brother got to the game late. He got to his seat about 20 minutes in, and said ‘I think I’m going to put some money on. Has our Adrian scored?’ And someone replied ‘Well, you can ask him, he’s sat there’.”
Each week Peacock, Noble and Wilkin will discuss, debate and argue over lists of the best players, games, finals and iconic moments in rugby league.
But as Chapman pointed out, the lists don’t cover the entire history of rugby league, “because we’d be here for hours”, and nor are they restricted to the Super League era. Instead, “the cut-off point for these lists is roughly 40 years ago”.
Morley, the first British player to win a Grand Final in both Super League and the NRL, is one of 10 hard men that the panel must rank – with the others, in alphabetical order, being: Stuart Fielden, Thomas Leuluai, Barrie McDermott, Terry Newton, Malcolm Reilly, Kelvin Skerrett, Gorden Tallis, Ruben Wiki and Paul Wood.
WASHINGTON — The director of the agency that produces the nation’s jobs and inflation data is typically a mild-mannered technocrat, often with extensive experience in statistical agencies, with little public profile.
But like so much in President Trump’s second administration, this time is different.
Trump has selected E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to be the next commissioner at the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni’s nomination was quickly met with a cascade of criticism from other economists, from across the political spectrum.
His selection threatens to bring a new level of politicization to what for decades has been a nonpartisan agency widely accepted as a producer of reliable measures of the nation’s economic health. Although many former Labor Department officials say it is unlikely Antoni will be able to distort or alter the data, particularly in the short run, he could change the currently dry-as-dust way it is presented.
Antoni was nominated by Trump after the BLS released a jobs report Aug. 1 that showed that hiring had weakened in July and was much lower in May and June than the agency had previously reported. Trump, without evidence, charged that the data had been “rigged” for political reasons and fired the then-BLS chair, Erika McEntarfer, much to the dismay of many within the agency.
Antoni has been a vocal critic of the government’s jobs data in frequent appearances on podcasts and cable TV. His partisan commentary is unusual for someone who may end up leading the BLS.
For instance, on Aug. 4 — a week before he was nominated — Antoni said in an interview on Fox News Digital that the Labor Department should stop publishing the monthly jobs reports until its data collection processes improve, and rely on quarterly data based on actual employment filings with state unemployment offices.
The monthly employment reports are probably the closest-watched economic data on Wall Street, and can frequently cause swings in stock prices.
When asked at Tuesday’s White House briefing whether the jobs report would continue to be released, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration hoped it would be.
“I believe that is the plan and that’s the hope,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt also defended Antoni’s nomination, calling him an “economic expert” who has testified before Congress and adding that “the president trusts him to lead this important department.”
Yet Antoni’s TV and podcast appearances have created more of a portrait of a conservative ideologue than a careful economist who considers trade-offs and prioritizes getting the math correct.
“There’s just nothing in his writing or his resume to suggest that he’s qualified for the position, besides that he is always manipulating the data to favor Trump in some way,” said Brian Albrecht, chief economist at the International Center for Law and Economics.
Antoni wrongly claimed in the last year of Biden’s presidency that the economy had been in recession since 2022; called on the entire Federal Reserve board to be fired for not earning a profit on its Treasury securities holdings; and posted a chart on social media that conflated timelines to suggest inflation was headed to 15%.
His argument that the U.S. was in a recession rested on a vastly exaggerated measure of housing inflation, based on newly purchased home prices, to artificially make the nation’s gross domestic product appear smaller than it was.
“This is actually maybe the worst Antoni content I’ve seen yet,” Alan Cole of the center-right Tax Foundation said on social media, referring to his recession claim.
On a 2024 podcast, Antoni wanted to sunset Social Security payments for workers paying into the system, saying that “you’ll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes but never actually receive any of those benefits.” As head of the BLS, Antoni would oversee the release of the consumer price index by which Social Security payments are adjusted for inflation.
Many economists share, to some degree, Antoni’s concerns that the government’s jobs data have flaws and are threatened by trends such as declining response rates to its surveys. The drop has made the jobs figures more volatile, though not necessarily less accurate over time.
“The stock market moves clearly based on these job numbers, and so people with skin in the game think it’s telling them something about the future of their investments,” Albrecht said. “Could it be improved? Absolutely.”
Katharine Abraham, an economist at the University of Maryland who was BLS commissioner under President Clinton, said updating the jobs report’s methods would require at least some initial investment.
The government could use more modern data sources, she said, such as figures from payroll processing companies, and fill in gaps with surveys.
“There’s an inconsistency between saying you want higher response rates and you want to spend less money,” she said, referring to the administration’s proposals to cut BLS funding.
Still, Abraham and other former BLS commissioners don’t think Antoni, if confirmed, would be able to alter the figures. But he could push for changes in the monthly news release and seek to portray the numbers in a more positive light.
William Beach, who was appointed BLS commissioner by Trump in his first term and also served under Biden, said he is confident that BLS procedures are strong enough to prevent political meddling. He said he didn’t see the figures himself until two days before publication when he served as commissioner.
“The commissioner does not affect the numbers,’’ Beach said. “They don’t collect the data. They don’t massage the data. They don’t organize it.”
Regarding the odds of rigging the numbers, Beach said, “I wouldn’t put it at complete zero, but I’d put it pretty close to zero.’’
It took about six months after McEntarfer was nominated in July 2023 for her to be approved. Antoni will probably face stiff opposition from Democrats, but that may not be enough to derail his appointment.
Sen. Patty Murray, a senior Democrat from Washington, on Tuesday slammed Antoni as “an unqualified right-wing extremist” and demanded that the Republican chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, hold a confirmation hearing for him.
Rugaber and Boak write for the Associated Press. AP writers Paul Wiseman and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
Marc Maron is not interested in being just another podcaster in a sea of mediocrity.
In a new interview, the comic — who recently announced the end of his popular and long-lived podcast “WTF” — criticized the current podcast landscape as awash in meh.
“Things were better before everyone had a voice,” Maron told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday. “Now there’s just hundreds of groups of two or three white guys, sitting behind mics, talking about the last time they s— their pants as adults. We live in a world of mediocre afternoon drive-time radio.”
“A lot of yammering in makeshift studios. It’s lowering the bar for everything,” he added.
Maron started “WTF” in 2009 out of his garage, where he interviews guests. Through the years, he has talked to comedians, actors, musicians and even a sitting president. During an episode with comedian John Mulaney in June, he announced the show will come to an end “sometime in the fall.”
Distaste for mediocrity has been a theme for the comic in recent weeks. “The world has changed a bit and, you know, the sort of uniqueness of whatever the hell’s happening,” Maron said during his appearance last week on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast. “There’s enough people yammering in the world.”
In his latest comedy special, Maron pokes fun at how certain podcast hosts are, in his eyes, pandering to the far right.
“If Hitler were alive today, I think he’d probably appear on Theo Von’s podcast,” the comedian jokes in “Panicked,” which premiered Aug. 1 on HBO.
In his podcast, Von explores various topics, including his struggles with drug abuse and mental health, with different guests — who include politicians as well as comedians.
Maron continues by playing out a scene in which the comedian host of “This Past Weekend With Theo Von” questions Hitler about the amount of meth the Nazis consumed. At one point, Maron impersonates Von blaming the hate Hitler had on the amount of drugs he did.
“WTF” continues with episodes coming out Mondays and Thursdays until it ends in the fall. Maron did not respond to a request for a comment before publication.
Shaquille O’Neal was never suspended for drug use of any kind during his decorated 19-year NBA career. The rugged 7-foot-1, 325-pound Hall of Fame center freely acknowledged playing through pain and openly worried about damage to his kidneys and liver from his prolonged use of legal anti-inflammatory medications.
He also recently recounted on “Inside the NBA” a bizarre story about testing positive for cocaine ahead of the 1996 Olympics. The result was thrown out — and never publicized — because O’Neal told officials he’d eaten a poppy seed muffin shortly before the test.
Never mind that while poppy seeds can trigger a false positive test for opioids such as morphine or codeine, they can’t do the same for cocaine, which is identified in drug tests by the presence of its major metabolite, benzoylecgonine.
So in his recounting of an episode from nearly 30 years ago, O’Neal was wrong either about the illegal substance for which he tested positive or about what he ingested that caused the false positive. Perhaps he just meant to say codeine rather than cocaine.
Point being, recollections can be fuzzy, and O’Neal isn’t immune to such fuzziness, something to keep in mind when listening to the four-time NBA champion ‘fess up to his use of painkillers on this week’s “Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard” podcast.
O’Neal toggled between referring to opioid painkillers such as oxycodone and powerful, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories such as Indocin. He said he used opioids when recovering from injuries and took NSAIDs throughout his career.
But he also said his doctor told him he was addicted to painkillers, leading to “a heated discussion.” O’Neal didn’t feel high, he said, even when he would take more than the prescribed dose. “I would do homeboy math,” he said. “If it said take one, I’m taking three.”
“It was a club sandwich, fries and two pills for 19 years.”
O’Neal first discussed painkillers during his four-part HBO documentary “Shaq,” which premiered in 2022, and on the podcast Shepard mostly asked him to expand on what he’d said then about the potential damage to internal organs, the warnings from doctors and his current regrets.
In the documentary, O’Neal had this to say: “Sometimes I couldn’t play if I didn’t take it. All it did was mask the pain…. Had a lot of painkillers. I got limited kidney stuff now going on. I don’t have the full range, but I took so many painkillers that [doctors are] saying, ‘Hey, man, we don’t need you taking that stuff now. You got to be careful.’
“My kidneys are kind of just chilling out right now,” he continued. “I don’t want to flare ‘em back up.”
Both opioids and NSAIDs can cause kidney and liver damage, and O’Neal didn’t specify on the podcast which substances caused him the most concern. He said he struggled with accepting that he might have an addiction, eventually concluding, “I had to have them. So, is that addiction?”
And he hid the use of painkillers from his wife and kids, although he said “the trainers knew.”
As far back as 2000 — a year when O’Neal was the NBA‘s most valuable player and led the Lakers to the first of three consecutive championships — he expressed concern about the dangers of anti-inflammatories.
O’Neal suspected that the kidney disease that threatened the life of fellow NBA star Alonzo Mourning might be the result of anti-inflammatories and said he would stop taking them.
Two years later, however, O’Neal had resumed NSAID use. After a stomach ailment he originally believed was an ulcer, diagnostic tests were done on his kidneys and liver.
O’Neal was playing with a badly aching arthritic big toe, a sprained wrist and a handful of unlisted bangs and bruises. He needed the pills, although it was unclear whether he was referring to painkillers, anti-inflammatories or both.
“I tried to stay off of them, but if I don’t take them I can’t move or play,” he said in 2002. “I was taking them. When my stomach was giving me problems I had to get the test.”
O’Neal has long championed non-prescription means of addressing pain. He’s been the spokesperson for the topical analgesic Icy Hot since 2003 and he spoke on Capitol Hill in 2016, plugging efforts to give police better tools to recognize when drivers are under the influence of drugs. He pledged two years of funding for officers to become drug recognition experts.
O’Neal’s comments on Shepard’s podcast are a clear indication that his use of painkillers and NSAIDs continues to weigh heavily on his mind. He added that these days he relaxes with a different vice: a hookah.
“I’ve never been into weed,” he said. “Hookah, it enables me to follow the routine of sit your ass down.”
Travis Kelce is done fighting for his right to party.
Or at least the 35-year-old Kansas City Chiefs tight end is ready to start toning down his party-hearty image — which is kind of big news for a dude who is known for his wild, celebratory, off-key renditions of the Beastie Boys classic “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)” and is often seen out enjoying life with superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift.
Kelce made the revelation during a lengthy interview with GQ that was published Tuesday morning.
“I’m starting to phase out of wanting to be known as the party guy,” the three-time Super Bowl champion and 10-time Pro Bowl selection said.
“When you see me hanging out at the US Open with Taylor, it may look like the two of us are partying. But I’m just enjoying the fun of being at this really cool event that I always wanted to go to with the person that I love.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce attend the men’s singles final match at the 2024 US Open last September.
(Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
He added: “I’ve become way more strategic in understanding what I am portraying to people.”
Following the Chiefs’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX in February, Kelce didn’t immediately commit to returning for his 13th NFL season and the final year of his contract with the Chiefs. He acknowledged to GQ that he has been thinking about his life after the NFL, although he didn’t offer any details on what that might look like.
Kelce already has a high profile off the field, thanks in large part to his relationship with Swift but also from his appearances in countless TV commercials and on his successful “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with older brother Jason. Incidentally, that podcast is sure to hit, uh, new heights in its number of listeners this week when Swift makes her first appearance on the show.
Part of Kelce’s new outlook on his image seems to have been influenced by Swift and the way she interacts with her immense fan base.
“People gravitate towards how she performs and how she makes it feel like the entire stadium is in a little room with her,” Kelce said. “She is so good at mesmerizing everybody and making everybody feel like it’s an intimate situation. I think that alone — there is so much calm and coolness. She’s beautiful. She’s up there making everyone feel at ease.
“Whenever I get in front of a crowd, I feel like I’ve got to be like, Woooo! Like, excited, bringing the energy. Then I saw that coolness and that calmness and that relatability that she is so good at presenting. I really grabbed that. Like, Man, I can use that side of entertainment as well. It’s not just always being the guy that brings the energy and creates these exciting moments.”
Kelce added that he and Swift share similar outlooks when it comes to their respective legacies.
“Nowadays I just want to be respected and loved by the people that I’m surrounded by in my work,” he said. “I want to leave it better than where it was when I started. And I see her having those same values.”
That could change in a couple of days, based on a tease posted on the “New Heights” social media accounts Monday — and on Swifties’ interpretations of the tease. The text is straightforward, simply informing fans of the special nature of the episode and the guest and noting it will drop Wednesday at 4 p.m. PDT.
The real juicy bits, though — if Swift’s fans are to be believed — are apparently found in the post’s graphic. Over the years, Swifties have become pretty good at spotting and deciphering Easter Eggs, so here’s what jumped out at the “You Need to Calm Down” singer’s diehard fans (based on observations they posted on social media and Reddit):
1. A silhouette of a slender person with long hair appears between images of the Kelce brothers, and naturally fans are convinced it can only be that of one particular slender woman with long hair. One commenter on X insists they can see Swift’s bangs in the completely darkened image.
2. Jason Kelce appears to be wearing a shirt bearing Swift’s image. Swifties are noting that the garment is from the Eras tour and that Travis is wearing one from that tour as well. This reporter, who did not attend the Eras tour, has no reason to doubt them on this.
3. The graphic’s background color is orange and sparkly. This apparently is seen as a reference to a particular dress Swift wore during the Eras tour. (Although didn’t she famously change her outfit more than a dozen times during each performance? Or so we’ve heard.)
4. Travis Kelce has a giant smile on his face. OK, sure, he has probably smiled numerous times during his life — like, say, maybe after at least one of the three Super Bowls he won with the Chiefs. But apparently he has a special grin reserved for the “Lover” singer, which one X commenter refers to as his “Tay smile.”
There are many other observations — including several that involve numbers, math and calendar dates — all of which clearly add up not only to Swift being the podcast’s “VERY special guest” but also that she will be there to announce something else very special, like perhaps a new album. (Reminder: This is only a fan theory; please remain calm.)
It wouldn’t be the first time this summer that Swift has made an appearance during one of her boyfriend’s projects. In June, she gave a surprise acoustic performance of her hit “Shake It Off” at a concert linked to Kelce’s Tight End University camp.
Come to think of it, Swift was introduced onstage that night by singer Kane Brown as a “really, really, really special guest.” That’s pretty darn close to “VERY special guest,” don’t you think?
In an age of changing media consumption (and work-from-home) habits, the phrase “watercooler television” may be something of an anachronism. But as anyone following shows like “The White Lotus” can tell you, discussing, dissecting and debating hit series never goes out of style.
And of all networks, HBO knows how best to capitalize on such buzzed-about moments: The network’s “Inside the Episode” programs have long offered viewers the chance to process shocking plot twists and jaw-dropping deaths. That’s where viewers of Season 3 got to hear creator Mike White break down everything from Saxon and Lochlan’s drunken exploits to Chelsea and Rick’s doomed ending.
“Shows like this are the new watercooler moment,” says Emmy nominee Natalia Echeverria, a creative director at HBO and an executive producer of “The White Lotus: Unpacking The Episode.” “We try to anticipate what beats from the episode people will be talking about and then we dive in, giving audiences an inside peek only we can provide.”
Owing a debt to post-episode talk shows like “The Talking Dead” and podcasts like “Private Joke: The Official How I Met Your Mother Podcast” and “The Good Place: The Podcast,” such companion series, now commonplace across platforms, have risen in popularity in the last decade. This year, in fact, they make up the entirety of the short form nonfiction or reality series Emmy category.
Projects like “Making of: The Last of Us” and “Adolescence: The Making of Adolescence” (also nominated) necessarily straddle the line between creative and marketing. They’re meant to bridge the gap between a show and its fandom. But, in borrowing the familiar format of making-of documentaries, DVD bonus featurettes, even episodic reviews or recaps, they insist on a vision of television as an art worthy of discussion and dissection.
“I think of these pieces like the movie theater parking lot after a film,” says Badger Denehy, an Emmy-nominated executive producer of “Making of: The Last Of Us” and an HBO creative director. “They remind me of that moment when you turn to your friend and dive into all the biggest moments you just watched. It’s my favorite type of project because we get to create something for fans as huge fans of the programming ourselves.”
For Shannon Ryan, president of marketing for Disney Entertainment Television and an Emmy nominee for “Only Murders in the Building: Unlocking the Mystery,” the decision to produce the show was driven by a desire to better serve fans of the hit Hulu comedy.
“These short-form series offer fans a peek behind the curtain to hear directly from the talented people that bring the show to life,” she says. “And for our creators, this is a meaningful way to share more with the fans, give insight into their work, share some entertaining — and often hilarious — behind-the-scenes stories, and also spotlight some of the critical crew members that make every episode of the show so special.”
To “The Last of Us” viewers, there was likely no bigger moment this season than “Through the Valley,” the jaw-dropping second episode. Fans looking for insights on how that action-packed tragic set piece was orchestrated had to look no further than “Inside Episode 2,” where director Mark Mylod, co-creator Craig Mazin and star Pedro Pascal spoke about shooting Joel’s untimely and quite gruesome death.
Boasting more than 710,000 views on YouTube alone, that featurette showcased both the artistry behind such a high-octane hour of television (with talk of prosthetics and wintry shooting conditions) and candid reflections from cast members about the emotional fallout the episode would undoubtedly create.
The history of this Emmy category alone tracks the increased investment from streamers and networks in this kind of programming. Past nominees have included behind-the-scenes series tied to everything from “30 Rock” and “American Horror Story” to “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “Pose.” And the last two winners (“Succession: Controlling the Narrative” and “Shōgun — The Making of Shōgun”) prove that the industry is similarly invested in (and impressed with) them, in turn.
John Wilhelmy, Emmy-nominated creative director of “Hacks: Bit by Bit,” notes that short-form projects now must be produced so they can exist across different platforms. “Certain stories within the conversation lend themselves well to TikTok and [Instagram] Reels, so we’ll pick those out and optimize them editorially,” he says. “They’re often funny outtakes or quick stories that we’ll post on those platforms alongside the full-length episodes hitting HBO Max and YouTube.”
In an era where fan-driven episode recaps, YouTube reaction videos and TikTok explainers contribute greatly to a show’s success in an increasingly fractured media ecosystem, these projects suggest a way to positively harness that engagement in a way that still puts TV creators front and center.
Echeverria puts it more simply: “Fan-made content has a huge place, but there’s nothing like seeing how the sauce is made from the chefs themselves.”
If you’re still looking for someone to blame for Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection, don’t just look at the usual suspects — the MAGA die-hards, the QAnon crowd or your uncle screaming at Fox News. Consider the bros at your local gym’s squat rack, the Discord server or the gaming lounge who suddenly swung right — or, better yet, consider blaming the Democrats who decided those guys didn’t matter. Yeah, nice work, geniuses.
Recent focus groups conducted by the centrist Democratic group Third Way, with the polling firm HIT Strategies, show that many young men feel criticized, overlooked and talked down to by a party they see as hostile to their values and concerns. This echoes similar feedback from last fall, when young male voters told pollsters that the Democratic Party “has somehow become the anti-male party.”
If you’re wondering why this siege mentality hasn’t softened, it may be because the condescension and antagonism persist — especially among progressive elites whose statements are often conflated with the Democratic Party.
July alone offered a plethora of examples. And lest you think this is from the fever swamps of the internet, consider a few selections from the New York Times.
First, we got “The Boy Crisis Is Overblown,” which shrugs off boys’ educational struggles, instead suggesting that boys expect others (women) to pick up the slack, both at home and in school. Then came “The Trouble With Wanting Men,” a literary masterclass on how dating men amounts to unpaid emotional labor. And to round it out, “Why Women Are Weary of ‘Mankeeping,’” which blames men for … being human? Having different priorities than their girlfriends and wives?
See a pattern?
None of these pieces are entirely wrong. Boys and men are only human, and there are good guys and bad guys. But if you’re a dude just trying to stay afloat in a rapidly changing world, you might get the impression that the cultural left, which (let’s be honest) constitutes the Democratic Party’s base of energy and pressure, isn’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat.
And if you’re a guy, what do you do with all of that criticism? You check out. You find a podcast. You listen to some YouTuber explain how protein cured his depression and why you should never trust a woman who owns more than one NPR tote bag.
You exercise your greatest act of middle-finger rebellion: You vote for Trump!
Now, you might say, “Is it really fair to blame the entire Democratic Party for what a few writers say?” No! But politics isn’t about fairness. It’s about vibes, and the vibe right now is that progressive culture has morphed into the HR department from hell. Heck, even Sydney Sweeney in an American Eagle ad was too much for the online pitchfork crowd. What’s next? Canceling golden retrievers?
The problem for the Democratic Party is that once you’re branded a “woke scold,” it’s hard to pivot, no matter what you say.
Look at President Biden. He was called “Genocide Joe” for supporting Israel, yet still got blamed for pro-Palestinian campus protests — proof that stereotypes are sticky, and perception, not policy, drives voter sentiment.
But here’s the irony: Democrats have an opportunity to turn things around — and if their friends weren’t so busy writing gender theory op-eds, they might notice there’s an opening to do just that.
Thanks to issues ranging from tariffs to immigration roundups to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, some of these podcast bros have started mocking Trump. Meanwhile, “South Park” skewered him for threatening lawsuits to intimidate or silence his critics, which is an impressive about-face considering he used to score points by criticizing cancel culture.
“While some of these young men are still drawn to Trump and the Republican Party,” Third Way’s focus groups found, “most are persuadable swing voters who dislike significant aspects of Trump’s actions so far in his second term.”
But it’s gonna take more than President Obama podcasting about “what’s right with young men.” It’s gonna take modern leaders — men and women — who have the guts to stand up to their own tribe and say, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t treat half the population like defective appliances.”
Want their votes? Talk to them like they’re human. Stop acting like masculinity is a war crime. Nominate a presidential candidate who lifts and can go on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Offer some real policies that don’t sound like they were cooked up in a gender studies seminar at Bryn Mawr.
Until then? Don’t be shocked if a whole generation of guys hears one more lecture about toxic masculinity … and decides to vote for the most toxic guy in the room.
