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Richard Montoya of Culture Clash doesn’t mince words when it comes to politics, current events or the state of mainstream Hollywood. But he does sugarcoat his technological limitations as a 67-year-old comic in the dreaded age of video calls with a punchy Chicano twist.

“I’m a low-tech Aztec,” he writes via email when requesting a Zoom link to our Monday interview.

Culture Clash — which includes members Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Sigüenza — arrived on the scene as a guerrilla sketch theater group from the San Francisco Mission District in 1984. By that time, the Chicano movement had reached its peak, thanks to the United Farm Workers labor movement, as well as student activist organizations like Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), which advocated for Chicano unity, political empowerment and educational access.

Luis Valdez, founder of El Teatro Campesino — who began putting on social justice-oriented plays for the striking Delano farmworkers in 1965 — backed the slapstick satire troupe, considering the trio “the cutting edge of fresh, new Latino comic genius.”

Culture Clash stood out in a time when Chicanos became more vocal and visible — and its members challenged an entertainment industry that has historically lacked Latino representation. Between 1993 and 1996, Culture Clash hosted its own self-titled TV show on the syndicated Fox network. The show, which was filmed at the Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles, is widely considered the first Latino sketch comedy to air on American television.

Throughout the last four decades, Culture Clash has parodied nearly every prominent Latino figure in history, including Che Guevara, Frida Kahlo, Ritchie Valens, Rita Moreno, Edward James Olmos and others. Its members have mocked hard-shell cholos and gangsters, often by placing them in funny scenarios. For instance, take this clip, in which the trio take on cholo characters and reimagine what it would be like to surf on the Southern California shore.

But they’ve also taken on more serious topics in their classic “Chavez Ravine” play, which looks into one of the darkest chapters in L.A. history: the forceful removal and displacement of families, mostly Mexican, in the 1950s under eminent domain. Recently Montoya attended a live reading adapted by Somos El Teatro, led by Xolo Maridueña, Mariana da Silva and Angel Villalobos at Elysian Park.

“It gives us so much life that people are finding the issues of swindlers, whether it’s gentrification, the taking over of settlements,” says Montoya. “The generational trauma of losing your home in L.A. has never gone away.”

But not every Culture Clash joke or skit has been safe from criticism. Montoya still remembers how a conservative pundit chastised the group for using light humor to discuss the 1992 riots, when LAPD officers were acquitted for using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King.

“By looking at it and treating it as dynamite, exploding it and then by bringing some levity and a whole lot of seriousness to the Rodney King matter allows us a moment, a fraction of time to look at the issues a little bit differently,” says Montoya. “That laugh allows us a moment to examine it differently.”

On June 27, Culture Clash will return to Grand Performances, a free summer concert series at California Plaza in downtown L.A., with comedic sketches colored by political and social satire. The show, titled “American Payasos! Culture Clash’s End Times Cabaret” will be co-presented with De Los.

While their 40-year-plus legacy might merit a show reminiscent of old goofball skits — like their early 1989 show “The Mission” that poked fun at the problematic Spanish Franciscan missionary Junipero Serra — this will not be an “oldies but goodies show,” as Montoya put it. “We are highly pissed off about a lot of stuff right now.”

“ We’re thinking a lot about the Mexican American patriarchy, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and it’s time to address some of these things,” says Montoya. “ We want to look at the service workers of Los Angeles, the people that sell cotton candy in MacArthur Park, the people that sell ice cream in Echo Park and the people working the World Cup.”

For the veteran comic, son of the late Chicano poet Jose Montoya, it is also impossible to ignore the immigration enforcement raids that have rattled Los Angeles communities in recent years.

“This is a very strange moment for satirists,” says Montoya. “We have a responsibility to use those tools to say what’s going on in our city and country and provide these moments where we can do a little bit closer examination because the people in power aren’t telling us what’s going on.”

In the last five years, Montoya has fiddled around with digital media, creating sporadic videos featuring old clips of the troupe, as well as videos of Latino media, to connect with technologically diverse audiences of all ages. (One example is a video calling on people to get out the vote, that features clips of Speedy Gonzales and honors political figures like Huerta.)

Although Montoya believes Culture Clash is nearing the end of its career, there’s a question lingering inside his mind: What does a graceful exit look like for a group like Culture Clash, which has never been fully integrated into mainstream Hollywood and still left such a profound legacy in the world of Latino entertainment?

The answer to that might still be unknown, but like any Culture Clash project, it will likely be wickedly satirical and punchy. Says Montoya: “We’re ready to go out with a huge, loud bang that can say something against the power structure.”

Culture Clash will take center stage on June 27 at Grand Performances, in partnership with De Los. Also performing is the retro cumbia-quebradita musician É Arenas (bassist of Chicano Batman), the cumbia-fusion, luchador-masked cumbia group La Nueva Ola de Cumbia, as well as DJ Dali.

BECKY Hill has hit back at the crowd that booed her during her surprise festival set as she addressed a viral video.

The pop star, 32, was treated badly at the weekend after she vowed to play only new songs at her secret set at TRNSMT. 

Speaking about the viral video that showed the crowd, she has now said: “Getting booed is not nice.

“I haven’t found a single one of these easy, it’s really upsetting.

“Because I love this job and that’s not making me love it as much as I usually do.”

Speaking directly to the camera she added: “I wanted to bring a new and exclusive thirty minute set of brand new music to a festival crowd unannouced.

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“I thought it would be a great opportunity to play the new music I’ve been working so hard on.

“And I personally love so much.”

She then thanked the team at the festival for giving her that stage and also the crowd of people who you stayed and danced with her right until the very end.

She added: “It was amazing to have such a captive audience who wanted to hear the new stuff too.

“I said on stage how difficult it is to transition into a new single, and new music and new albums.

“And all this conversation online is exactly what I meant.

“I’m not a jukebox, I’m an artist and the tickets at TRNSMT were not sold with my name as part of the line-up.

“And I wanted to do something new, artistically driven.”

Becky explained that she doesn’t normally get the opportunity to do that much in her career.

She added: “But trust me when my name is on the poster I will always sing the tunes that people know and love.”

“I feel really grateful to have those records in my catalogue,” she explained.

The singer concluded that in order to have a long career she needed to have new music and thanked those that stayed to listen to her.

The pop star has no shortage of hits to choose from, with 19 top 40 singles, six top 10s and a number one to her name.

Becky played her new track Daddy’s Range Rover at TRANSMT which hits out at Jack Whitehall for mocking her when he hosted last year’s Brit Awards.

The pair have since buried the hatchet and Jack admitted he apologised to Becky for calling her “Wetherspoons Whitney”. 

Addressing her fans while performing earlier this year, she said: “I’ve had enough of all this s*** so I wrote about it.

Katelyn Ohashi has gone viral for her gymnastics routines.

She has won two ESPY Awards.

She’s a former national champion and All-American who earned 11 perfect scores of 10 during her time at UCLA.

She once took first place in the all-round at an elite national competition, with the now-legendary Simone Biles finishing as runner-up.

But Ohashi apparently has some unfinished business in the sport, as the 29-year-old athlete announced her return to elite gymnastics Tuesday on Instagram.

“After a few years of contemplating whether I wanted to continue chasing a dream I had as a little kid, I have decided to go for it,” Ohashi wrote. “I’m taking it one day at a time; one skill, one event, one dream. I don’t have any regrets in my career and I want to be able to continue saying that no matter what happens. So here goes nothing!”

Katelyn Ohashi accepts the trophy for best play during the 2019 ESPY Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Ohashi thanks Pacific Reign Gymnastics, a U.S. national training center in Woodinville, Wash., “for taking a chance on me.” Her post also includes a video of herself at the gym performing a couple of floor skills — with her signature broad smile across her face. The clip uses the same audio of a phone buzzing and ringing as the video Serena Williams posted earlier this month to announce her return to competitive tennis.

Also on Tuesday, Pacific Reign posted on Instagram several photos of Ohashi working out at its facility, along with the caption, “Queen Kate trains to reign.” The gym also announced on its Instagram Story that Ohashi would compete Saturday at the American Classic event in Minneapolis.

Little else is known about Ohashi’s comeback plans. The Times reached out to an agency that represents the gymnast but received no immediate response. Pacific Reign referred questions pertaining to Ohashi to the same agency.

Born in Seattle, Ohashi made her senior elite gymnastics debut at the 2013 American Cup, where she outscored U.S. teammate Biles for all-around gold. Later that year, Biles would win the first of her record six world championships in the all-around.

Ohashi became a fan favorite while competing for the Bruins from 2015 to 2018. She earned nine perfect scores on the floor and two on the beam, with video from a January 2019 floor routine reportedly garnering 240 million views across various platforms (including a repost from future Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris).

UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi’s viral floor routine.

The same routine won Ohashi two 2019 ESPY Awards, for best play and best viral moment.

In 2018, Ohashi was the co-national champion in the floor exercise and helped the Bruins win their seventh and most recent NCAA title. The 10-time All-American last competed in the 2019 national championships, where she placed third on the beam and helped UCLA finish third in the team competition.

“We can’t wait to see you back on the floor, Kate!” UCLA gymnastics posted Wednesday morning on X.

Ohashi was a featured performer in Biles’ “Gold Over America” gymnastics tours in 2021 and 2024.

PERRIE Edwards has shared a behind-the-scenes wedding video, as she officially changed her name after getting married.

The stunning singer, 32, tied the knot with footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, also, 32, over the weekend in a lavish ceremony in Portugal.

For her big day, Perrie had six bridesmaids which included her sister Caitlin, her cousin Ellie, twins Lucy and Lydia Connell, manager Sam Cox and dancers Claude and Renae.

In a video shared on TikTok, they were first seen all dancing by the pool in their matching white pyjamas to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, by Cyndi Lauper.

Then in a quick transition, which saw Perrie go towards the camera and flash her HUGE engagement ring, the camera zoomed out to show the star now in her stunning wedding gown.

The singer was then seen dancing on a staircase with her bridesmaids, who are now wearing blue satin gowns.

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It comes as Perrie has also officially changed her name to reflect her new marital status as Alex’s wife.

On social media, the singer now goes by Perrie Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Meanwhile, joining Perrie on her big day were her two Little Mix bandmates, Jade Thirwall, 33, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 34.

Jade proved the ultimate multi-tasker, staying to watch the I Dos but leaving early into the evening celebrations to perform 335 miles away at Primavera Sound in Porto.

Leigh-Anne remained at the ceremony, with newlywed Perrie telling Vogue they hit the dancefloor together.

She told the publication: “We were absolutely going off to En Vogue… we still remembered all of our harmonies and the choreography!”

Other showbiz guests included ex Arsenal footballer Carl Jenkinson and Fulham‘s Harrison Reed.

Perrie and Alex wed in the Igreja Matriz de Estoi church, close to where they own a villa.

After their nuptials they headed to their wedding reception at the nearby restaurant Parrilla Natural.

The newlyweds shut down the Faro venue for the lavish event, which saw the place transformed with fresh flowers and white linen.

A source told The Sun: “Perrie and Alex’s wedding day could not have been more special.

“It was intimate and emotional.

“Perrie and Alex’s son Axel had a special role to play in the ceremony. It was adorable to see.

“She looked absolutely radiant and Alex didn’t stop smiling. It was a truly beautiful day.”

Insiders revealed Perrie and Alex had chosen to wait until after the birth of their daughter Alanis to wed.

“Perrie and Alex love the Algarve and have a home there, so they knew they wanted to get married there,” a friend added.

“Their guests were driven from their hotel to a top-secret venue for the ceremony, before being taken to Parrilla Natural for the reception.

“The weather was absolutely perfect too. The pictures are amazing.”

Insiders also said that generous Perrie and Alex put their guests up at the five star hotel Conrad Algarve, where it costs up to £2,800-a-night.

The newlyweds have been dating for over ten years and were engaged four years ago, after Alex proposed on a beachfront while they were on holiday.

They share two children – Axel, four, and Alanis, six-onths.

The pair first started dating back in 2016, with their big day falling close to their 10-year-anniversary.

Lil Nas X says he feels “less fear in my heart” as he opens up about receiving treatment for bipolar disorder and moving forward from the mental health episode that landed him in hot water with law officials last year.

The Grammy winner (real name Montero Lamar Hill) addressed last year’s events in a video Wednesday morning on Instagram. Lil Nas X, 27, informed fans that he has been in a rehab program “for a few months,” spending time with family in Atlanta and with friends in Los Angeles. Since last year’s incident, the singer said he has been focused on “trying to ground myself down to Earth and get out of my head.”

Lil Nas X was hospitalized and arrested in August after he was seen strolling in only his underwear and white boots through Studio City, eventually shedding those items as the night progressed. The singer received treatment at a nearby hospital for a possible overdose but was accused of assaulting police officers.

He was charged with four felony counts: three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer. Police accused the singer of assaulting the officers who were trying to take him into custody. Lil Nas X pleaded not guilty to all those counts.

In Wednesday’s video, Lil Nas X explained that he has also started seeing a therapist and psychiatrist to help address his mental condition — one he initially refused to accept. The singer, smiling and standing against a blue sky in his video, told fans that he was hesitant to take medication that would help address his bipolar disorder and joked that living with mental illness would add more to his plate: “I mean I’m already Black and gay…I’m like already living life on extreme hard mode.”

According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, bipolar disorder is a treatable mental health condition marked by extreme changes in mood, thought, energy and behavior. Manic episodes, marked by elevated changes in mood or behavior, are a symptom of the condition. People with a bipolar disorder diagnosis more commonly experience depressive episodes.

Lil Nas X spoke candidly about his diagnosis months after a Los Angeles judge in April granted the “Industry Baby” and “Old Town Road” singer’s motion for diversion, ordering the musician to enter a two-year mental health program. TMZ reported at the time that the musician would be cleared of his four felony counts if he complies with treatment and commits no other crimes.

The singer assured fans on Wednesday: “I’m doing better, I’m feeling better, I’m creating freely and there’s less fear in my heart and I’m just like smelling the roses.”

He also reflected on his career thus far — he quickly ascended to fame in 2019 with his viral hit “Old Town Road” — and teased that new music is on the way. Lil Nas X concluded his video by thanking fans for their support and for “holding it down.”

“I love you, and all I wanna do is continue to try to make you proud and make myself proud,” he said. “Let’s go dreamboy, let’s go.”

She was stopped as she was about to board a plane to leave the country

A woman has been arrested after reportedly posting a negative video about her holiday. Yass Naubelle was intercepted by border authorities on Saturday, June 13.

The influencer was placed in police custody just moments before boarding her flight back to her home country France. The 30-year-old content creator published a viral video that reportedly criticised local authorities – sparking hundreds of comments online.

The French-Algerian influencer reportedly slammed her holiday experience in Marrakech, Morocco. She allegedly criticised local law enforcement as well as general driving standards in the North African country.

Airport police at Marrakech Menara Airport executed the border stop as Yass prepared to clear security checkpoints for her return flight to France. Yass, founder of the Naubelle skincare line, was arrested under a national warrant after Moroccan authorities deemed her clip “defamatory towards Moroccan citizens” and “outraging to the forces of order”.

She was placed in police custody “to determine the real motivations behind these criminal acts”. State investigators confirmed she is being held on suspicion of publishing defamatory and insulting digital content directed toward citizens and undermining a public institution.

In the now-deleted video, filmed during her short break in Marrakech, she reportedly described the roads as chaotic. “I’ve never seen people drive like this. It’s super dangerous – cars, mopeds without helmets, with children on board, swerving suddenly,” she reportedly said.

When comparing the driving standards to Algeria, she reportedly said: “It’s less bad than here”. She also accused some traffic police officers of stopping women “for nothing” in order to extract money, it is claimed.

The content quickly triggered a national alert, leading to her interception at the airport. Yass, who has more than 20,000 TikTok fans, currently remains in custody in Morocco. No formal charges or court appearance details have been publicly confirmed beyond her initial arrest.

Marrakech, a popular destination for European tourists including many from France, relies heavily on holidaymakers but has seen occasional controversies involving social media content. British travellers to Morocco are advised to remain cautious with social media posts about local conditions as the authorities have reportedly acted swiftly in similar cases.

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was escorted out of a UFC Freedom 250 fan fest near the White House on Sunday evening for his own safety and the safety of other attendees, according to the U.S. Park Police.

Strickland was not on the card for the UFC event held on the White House South Lawn in connection with a summer-long celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Instead, the 35-year-old fighter attended a viewing event on the Ellipse, causing a stir among fans as he eventually entered a wrestling ring set up in the area.

“At approximately 7 p.m., the U.S. Park Police received report of a disturbance within the UFC event,” the agency said in a statement emailed to The Times. “The unplanned presence of Sean Strickland drew significant attention from attendees, resulting in disorder. Due to concerns for Strickland’s safety and the safety of event patrons, personnel from the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Park Police, and other assisting agencies evacuated him safely from the area.”

In videos posted to his Instagram Story from, during and after the incident, Strickland states he “might be going to jail” and “may have been charged with disorderly conduct.”

However, the Park Police said that is not the case.

“Strickland was neither cited nor arrested in connection with the incident,” the agency said. “However, he was advised not to return to the venue for his own and public safety. USPP escorted him to his hotel without incident.”

Strickland was once a supporter of President Trump but has become a vocal critic over such issues as the Jeffrey Epstein files and the war with Iran. Still, he had expressed interest in attending UFC Freedom 250, which took place on Trump’s 80th birthday, but has said on X that the UFC told him he “wasn’t cleared by the white house.”

UFC president and chief executive officer Dana White has said that nobody, including Strickland, was banned from the event.

On Saturday, Strickland posted on X that he wanted to attend the fan fest on the Ellipse.

The next day, he posted a video on Instagram that shows him doing just that. Apparently filmed by the MMA star as he was being led through the crowd by another man (Strickland later said on X that a fan “snuck me in”), the video shows Strickland trying to avoid being recognized until getting to the ring.

Once there, however, he basked in the attention of a large crowd that chanted, “U-S-A! U-S-A!”

Strickland also posted a photo to Instagram of himself being escorted barefoot out of the event, with the caption “NOT AMERICAN ENOUGH.”

In this week’s episode of The Envelope podcast, Riz Ahmed talks about drawing on his own experience for “Bait,” his Prime Video series about a British Muslim actor whose life is upended when he’s rumored to be the next James Bond.

Kelvin Washington: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the next episode of The Envelope. Kelvin Washington, Yvonne Villarreal, we have Mark Olsen. And Mark, I’ll stay with you for a second. You had a chance to speak with Riz Ahmed, who is the creator and the star of “Bait,” which centers around the idea of who could be the next James Bond. So then, dang it, I’m asking you two the same question: Who could be, should be the next James Bond? Is there somebody or somebodies that you’ve thought about for a while and said, “Well, that would fit, that could work”?

Mark Olsen: It was recently announced that they have begun the casting process to replace Daniel Craig in the beloved and long-running James Bond franchise. And there have already been at least one sort of confirmed person, the actor Tom Francis, auditioned. But then there’s a lot of other names being thrown around, like Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Kind of everybody about that age bracket you could think of. You know, it’s funny, in the last movie, “No Time to Die,” Lashana Lynch was given the number 007, so she was not James Bond, but she was 007. And I always thought, actually, in the last couple of movies, that Léa Seydoux would make a perfect [00 agent] — she’s cool, she feels kind of dangerous. She would have seemed to me like a great person for that kind of role. But then also, that’s obviously not James Bond. So who knows who it could be. Yvonne, what do you think? Do you have anybody in mind?

Yvonne Villarreal: Can it be a toss-up between you two? How would you fare?

Olsen: I don’t know if I’d pass basic training.

Washington: They have doubles, OK? They got stunt doubles and CGI and AI for all of that and for you, OK.

Villarreal: It’d be like the Leslie Nielsen version.

Washington So it’d be like 007 with a question mark: 007?

Villarreal: More seriously — not that I don’t take you two seriously as candidates — I would throw my enthusiasm around Jonathan Bailey or Damson Idris.

Washington: I’m gonna one-up your Idris and just go [with] the obvious, Idris Elba. It’s been sitting there for the last 15 years or so.

Villarreal: That’s why I didn’t [say that], because I’m like, “It’s been sitting there and they still haven’t.”

Washington: But sometimes it just makes sense. Sometimes it’s just sitting smacking you in the face, or shooting you with a silent 9mm — whatever he uses, James Bond. It just makes sense, and to be honest, it’s one of those, he’s probably passing [on the role] because you wanna have a franchise you can hold on to for 20 years with a particular actor, give or take, and he seems like he’d be probably too senior for that at a certain point. The podcast, the conversation behind what really happened there is going to be fascinating because, to your point, it just seems like the momentum was building for it and it didn’t happen. So it would be interesting to hear what actually comes out of that. But those are my are my guesses right there.

All right, Mark, you had a chance to speak with Riz Ahmed, obviously the creator and the star of “Bait.” Fascinating to me, just the concept of the show as a whole.

Olsen: Riz Ahmed is someone who, he’s so thoughtful about his own career, but also his place in the world. And so he does such a great job with this show and taking this idea of like, “Could an actor like Riz Ahmed, could he be James Bond? Should he be James Bond? Why not?” And so the show is just so thoughtful and finds all these really inventive ways of exploring that idea. He’s playing a little-known actor who it becomes public that he’s auditioned for the role and that throws his whole life into tumult both within the industry, with sort of like online hate towards him, but then also with his own family. And the show is also meant to be kind of a real love letter to the South Asian communities of London. Riz in the conversation talks about how they went out of their way to shoot in parts of London that you don’t normally see. So the show, it’s just so inventive and fun in a lot of really terrific ways.

Washington: Well, let’s hear more of your conversation with Riz now.

Riz Ahmed.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Mark Olsen: On the show, you play an actor who auditions for the part of James Bond. It leaks to the press, and then his whole world turns upside down. For you, is the premise of the show predicated on the idea that someone like you would never get that part, or is it that, of course you should get that? Which end of the telescope are you looking at it from?

Riz Ahmed: Kind of neither, really. The premise of the show was something a bit more emotional than that. The James Bond thing came right at the end, to be honest, of the creative process. Really, the heart of the show is the idea of auditioning. James Bond really serves as a symbol in the show, a symbol of aspiration, pinnacle of achievement in this industry and also of alpha masculinity and all this kind of stuff. And so it’s really the idea of trying to be that guy, which on some level, we’re all trying to be this kind of preferred version of ourselves, right? We’re all performing. We’re actually all always auditioning. So it’s about that feeling, [which] I think extends outside this industry. We’re doing that on LinkedIn or social media, on this podcast right now. We’re performing a version of ourselves. When actually the true version of ourselves is kind of messy, chaotic and vulnerable. So it’s that distance between the public and private self that I was really interested in, and James Bond just served as an aspirational symbol of that public way that you would love to be seen.

Olsen: But Bond, because of the specific cultural baggage that comes with that franchise, did you feel like it fit thematically with what you were trying to do?

Ahmed: Oh, perfectly. It was a godsend. It was like one of those moments where it’s like, “OK, so we want to do something about, like, aspiring to be anything but yourself. We want to do something about feeling like life is one big audition, but we need something that encapsulates success and cultural acceptance.” And it was like … Of course: Bond. And because the process of making this show was one of pulling so much from my own personal life, there was a moment or two when my name was mentioned in that conversation. I mean, along with, you know, everyone and their dog. But it was an interesting kind of thought experiment, it was an interesting, as I said, kind of vessel to place all of the themes into. And so when that idea came about, it was like, “This is perfect. We can talk about everything we want to talk about using this symbol.” We’re like, “OK, now how are we gonna get it?” And everyone told us Barbara Broccoli would never let us use it. Rightly so, she was very protective of this IP. But I wrote her a letter, sat down with her, showed her the scripts and she understood. She understood that it’s not really about Bond. It’s a show about self-love, and she really kind of vibed with that. Shout out Barbara Broccoli, thank you for letting us use Bond exactly how we wanted to.

Olsen: You recently hosted the new “SNL UK” and in your monologue, you made this joke that you don’t just play intense roles, that there’s this image of you that it’s all that you do. Did you purposely want to make “Bait” as a way to break you out of that perception?

Ahmed: It wasn’t that careerist and calculating, to be honest. I was just trying to make something that was authentically me. And I think the people who know me know that I’m a lover of comedy. My first rap song was a comedy rap song. I got banned on British radio back in the day because it was a quite an acerbic kind of satire. And actually it’s funny because I think that’s an American perception of me. In the UK, nine times out of 10, when I get stopped is for a British comedy I did called “Four Lions.” Which is like a kind of cult classic British movie. It’s a very British comedy. That’s like me, that’s like how I am in real life. And so when I wanted to make my own show, it just stands to reason it would be a reflection of my taste. So the overall frame was comedy, but I kind of have quite a maximalist sensibility. I want to have my cake and eat it. So I also wanted it to be a spy thriller and a family drama and quite surreal and psychological thriller and all of these elements kind of put together, but the frame of it all, I would say, is comedy. And yet it was really actually important to us that we tried to defy genre and defy categorization in that way.

Olsen: Did you feel like this was a role that, like, nobody was going to give you, like you had to write this for yourself?

Ahmed: It wasn’t so much out of a kind of frustration or a desire to create work for myself or break out of a pigeonhole or anything like that. Honestly, I just tried to make something as honest and authentic and vulnerable as possible, if that doesn’t sound too eye-rolly. I guess I reached a point in my life as a creative where I realized, actually, performance isn’t about putting on the mask, it’s about taking it off. It’s about sharing with the world who you are, sharing your privacy and your insanity. And if you do that, people will connect with it because it’s honest. And if you name your pain and your craziness, there’s something healing in that for yourself and others. I had kind of gotten to that place in my life. And so I wanted to kind of follow that through to a place that felt quite scary and pull on the most personal aspects of my own neuroses and my life and my neighborhood that I grew up in — so many locations are literally where I’ve grown up. So many moments in the show I pulled very directly from my life experience. My character has a panic attack at the end of Episode 1 at this particular music venue in North London. I had a panic attack in that venue in North London when I was supporting Wu-Tang Clan. My character is approached by MI5 and MI6. They say, “Hey, you’re a rising actor, do you wanna work with us, help with messaging?” That happened to me specifically once I started to become a bit more well known. There’s just so many things that kind of came from that place, and it was all based on this idea of like, “If I wanna make a show about a character who needs to learn how to take off the mask, then I need to do that as well.” And we kind of had a mantra in the room, which was like, “If it feels scary and it’s true, do it.” And there were times when I didn’t want to do it, definitely times when I wanted to kind of hide, but I just increasingly have this feeling that if you can offer up a part of yourself, then that’s one of the most liberating things you can do as an artist. And also for an audience, it just feels honest. That’s where you can connect most with people, if you’re willing to share that vulnerability.

Olsen: What was the writing process of the show like for you? Was there a moment where you had like a whiteboard with a list of awkward things that had happened to you?

Ahmed: That whiteboard would be very, very big, very, very large. Let’s say we’ve got a lot left in the tank if we ever do another season. The writing process was a learning curve for me, never having been in an American writers’ room system before. Hugely grateful to my co-showrunner, Ben Karlin, who’s got himself a really eclectic background. He’s one of the founding writers of the Onion, the satirical website. He has this track record, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report,” but also “Modern Family.” And so I wanted someone who had that eclectic background, and we had a writers’ room that was similarly very eclectic. We had stand-up comedians. We had novelists. We had playwrights. We had experienced TV writers. We had U.S. [people], we had UK people. I just knew that I wanted this to feel quite eclectic, and as I say, kind of genre-bending. And so I wanted that breadth. So actually the writing process for this was like, “How do we make this feel as chaotic and messy and unpredictable as possible?” That requires a crazy amount of craft. And there were a lot of late nights, there was a lot of hair being pulled out. And it was, I think, one of the most intense periods, more so than the shoot, even. It was just trying to figure out what this show was. And I came to this realization, which is, Shah Latif, my character, is having an identity crisis. He’s trying to work out who he is. So it stands to reason the show should also be trying to work out what it is. The show needs to be having an identity crisis. So then we gave up on this mission of trying to make it feel coherent and consistent. And we said, “Of course, he’s an actor trying to work out who he is. Every episode should be a different genre. We should have our James Bond-goes-to-the-gala-in-a-tux episode. We should to have our Bollywood-proper episode. We should have our Linklater walk and talk. We should have our Greengrass does a spy thriller.” So we really deliberately and really defiantly tried to embrace the identity crisis of the character in how we told the story. And when we did that, everything fell into place. We would stop trying to straitjacket this into something more predictable.

Olsen: And what was it like for you to be filling this role of not just actor but also writer, producer, showrunner? How did you feel about taking on all those roles?

Ahmed: I felt scared. I felt out of my depth. I felt like I needed the help of people much smarter than me. Luckily, I had that help. And more than that help, their patience. I continually said, “No, we’ve got to go back and do it again. We’ve got to rewrite that episode. We’ve gotta redo this whole section,” as it felt so personal to me. Not just because it’s my personal experiences, but because there’s a world that hasn’t quite been put on screen before in this show, and I felt a tremendous sense of responsibility and emotional connection to that world and these characters. So at times it felt overwhelming. ButI’m of this philosophy that usually when you’re making something, you kind of end up feeling how the character is feeling. The character feels out of his depth, feels overwhelmed, feels like he does not quite know what he’s doing, it stands to reason I should feel like that. If I really feel like I’ve got it all worked out and I’m in control, we’re doing something wrong. So as far as possible, I tried to remind myself that that was a sign of almost being in touch with the material. At least that’s how I tried to talk myself off the ledge, man.

Olsen: Can you just talk to me a little bit about the title? As I understand it, “Bait” is UK slang?

Ahmed: The title actually has many different layers to it. I always say this is a show that’s hard to sum up in a sentence, but it’s really easy to sum up in one word, and that word is bait, because it has like five or six different meanings. So one key meaning is British slang. It means really blatant and in your face. So if you’re blowing up someone’s spot, you’re baiting them up. You’re being really kind of, “Look at me, look at me,” you’re being bait. So that speaks to Shah Latif, the character, and his attention seeking. But bait also means, online, trolling. It also means, in Urdu, your loyalty or your allegiance. It also mean in Arabic, in Hebrew, home. And it also, in literal meaning, it’s something used as part of a trap, which speaks to the spy thriller element to the show. So all these different layers to the word bait correspond to a different layer of show, correspond to each different episode. That’s exploring that meaning. And I wish I could tell you we had this all worked out upfront, but we struggled with the title for so long and it kind of like hiccuped itself up into the ether in a late-night kind of hair-pulling session. We realized, “Oh, my God, that’s it. That’s exactly what it should be.” So yeah, the title I think encapsulates how we’re trying to explore these different genres and all the different narrative threads in the show.

Olsen: All the things that your character of Shah Latif is going through trying to move forward in his career as an actor, remaining true to his community and his sense of self, how much of those are your own issues? Are there things that you feel like you’re on the other side of now? Are those things that you’re sort of constantly trying to figure out for yourself?

Ahmed: Of course, like this idea of searching for your identity in a world that either commodifies it or punishes it, that’s something I relate to. But I also kind of feel like that’s something we all relate to. There’s a lot of me in Shah Latif, but I actually think there’s a lot of Shah Latif in all of us. This idea of feeling as though you’re not enough. This idea of trying to cultivate a public version of yourself because you’re ashamed of the private version of your self. I think that’s such a universal feeling right now in this performative culture that we live in. We all wanna be looked at, but we don’t wanna be seen. And somebody once told me that the distance between your public and private self is the amount of shame that you carry. I think it’s true, more or less. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a private life and some things shouldn’t be kept private. It probably should. But in a kind of deeper sense, I think there’s a truth in that. So I wanted to make a comedy in this playground of shame because it’s something that I can relate to, but I just had a sense that this is a very universal feeling.

Olsen: How much of these are issues or things you were going through in your career maybe five years ago, 10 years ago? What are the the sort of top-line things that you feel like you’re struggling with now?

Ahmed: This is where it becomes a full-blown therapy session. I would say that there was a period of time when I was just really desperate to be in the room. And now I’m in a place where I’m really excited to try and build my own room. And that, in a way, is a journey that the character goes on. I think it’s a journey that I’ve gone on, and the show, in a way, is a culmination of that journey. You know, it was just such a privilege to be able to create a playground and bring together this kind of ensemble. I don’t think there’s ever quite been a brown ensemble like this on screen before and [to] showcase all that talent and create that sense of family and specificity. And yeah, as I said, kind of build my own room rather than asking for a seat at someone else’s table. So I think that journey is one that I’ve been on and one that, I think, the show is exploring.

Olsen: There are these title cards throughout the series that give you these neighborhoods and locations, and I don’t know London super well, but like, it feels like it’s a very specific version of London. What was the importance of those locations for you?

Ahmed: The shows that I really adore and the ones that really inspired me on this journey are ones that are unapologetically specific. The Holy Trinity in my mind was “Atlanta,” “I May Destroy You” and “Fleabag.” These half-hour shows that are super personal, but also super specific in the world they’re exploring, whether they’re a city like Atlanta or a certain kind of Black London, or a very particular kind of white, middle-class British family in “Fleabag.” And so I wanted that unapologetic specificity. I wanted it to be a love letter to my London. And so I wanted to shout out these neighborhoods that really mean something to me. But more than that, I wanted to give a nod to the spy genre with those title cards. You know, in a Bond movie it says like, “Somewhere in the Caribbean,” you know, “Mexico City.” I wanted do that with Kentish Town, with Brick Lane, with Wembley. I wanted to elevate our daily experience and those neighborhoods to that kind of grand stage and those epic stakes and say, “Actually, this is as magical, as important, as exotic, as thrilling as any of those locations within that kind of genre.” Jordan Peele, when he made “Get Out,” said, “Being Black in America is like living in a horror movie. That’s why I made ‘Get Out.’” I can add this thesis that being brown in the West is like being in a spy thriller. And that’s why we made this. So I wanted those neighborhoods to feel like those chyrons you have in a spy thriller.

Olsen: You’ve often mentioned in the past, it’s a phrase I’m very taken with, “stretching culture,” expanding the idea of what’s possible. And I’m just curious, like, how is that going for you?

Ahmed: There’s the idea that the universe is expanding in all directions at the same time. I feel like that with culture. I feel like things are getting crazier and better at the same time simultaneously at an accelerating pace. You know, that’s kind of how I feel about it. And it’s like our consciousness, right? You get a little bit crazier, even as you get smarter. It’s that kind of feeling. For whatever it’s worth, it may sound pretentious, but I kind of feel it’s important to try and anchor myself in some sense of purpose. And I think that’s the purpose of storytelling, is to kind of constantly expand horizons of who is considered human and what is considered human. And I think for me, at least in this moment in my journey, I want that to be about telling stories that haven’t been told before, portraying worlds and communities and characters that maybe we haven’t been that familiar with.

Olsen: You’ve expressed some frustration recently with the phrase “representation” — that it’s become kind of a hollow gesture. What would you like to see happen moving forward?

Ahmed: Well, I was really proud to be part of the conversation, when we were kind of collectively coining that term, right, going from diversity to representation. But I do think it’s not an end in itself. Like I said, being in the room doesn’t necessarily change anything. It’s what are you allowed to do in that room? Does the room change you, or do you change it? It’s what the show’s exploring. And so at least for me right now, the kind of representation I’m interested in is how authentically we can represent ourselves. Do you know what I mean? Like, do I have to code switch? Do I have put on a mask or do I get to take it off? That to me is, I think, the most exciting kind of knot to unpick right now. And as I said, that’s kind of at the heart of the show.

Olsen: I want to be sure to ask you about some of the other cast on the show, specifically Guz Khan. I feel like I could watch the two of you just driving around in a car together for hours.

Ahmed: I’ll send you the rushes.

Olsen: Did you two have an immediate chemistry?

Ahmed: Can I tell you, the story of me and Guz is its own bizarre bromance. Here’s how I thought I knew Guz. Guz went viral in the UK because he did a joke, kind of like [a] shout-out against Steven Spielberg, right? Because there’s a kind of dinosaur in his “Jurassic Park” reboot that sounds like a racial slur in the UK. I’m just gonna let people check it out for themselves. I’m not gonna say more than that. This is like 10 years ago, something like that. He goes viral, he starts blowing up, people start offering him his own TV show. He DMs me on Twitter and he’s like, “Bro, like, what’s the industry like? Is it like crazy Illuminati vibes?” I was like, “Yes, but the Illuminatis are actually very fun, come and join us.” And just started this banter with him, and he goes on his journey, becomes one of the most beloved comedians. I’m on set with him, shooting “Bait.” And he goes, “You don’t remember the first time we met and we spoke, do you?” I said, “I remember, you DM’d me like a crazy guy.” And he was like, “No, no. We met 20 years ago.” I was like, “What are you talking about?” I was doing a spoken-word performance in the Midlands in the UK. No one was coming to see it. It was a completely empty club. So I take it upon myself to go outside and start flyering passers-by. Down a dark alley, I see guys with some of his friends engaged in a business of some sort. His legal team have asked me to refer to it as “selling tulips.” They were selling tulips, OK? I go down to this alleyway, I hand him flyers, him and his friends. I’m like, “How are you doing there, gentlemen? Would you like to come and see me do some spoken word?” They’re like, “What the hell? We’re in their mid-tulip transaction.” He decides out of the kindness of his heart with his boys to come and watch me do spoken word at Coventry Student Union. And he said it was the first time he saw someone that looked like him doing something like that in a space like that. … Twenty years later, we’re on set together. We met when we were like 20 years old and I’d completely forgotten him, but he remembered. We have like a brotherhood and a friendship in real life. I wrote that role for him. He is someone who constantly reminds me that as an artist, your art can only be as expansive as your heart is. He’s just that guy on set you want to be around. He brings the positive energy, he reminds you this is meant to be fun. And actually, when you’re having fun, you’re feeling relaxed and loose, you do great work. He’s evidence of that. And so I just have so much love for him, but I would only say that because he’s not here. If he was here, I would be making fun of him aggressively.

Olsen: Now that to me seems like this notion of stretching culture, where you’ve had this influence on him that you kind of didn’t even know.

Ahmed: I would love it if he would say that publicly, rather than me having to tell the world that I’m responsible for his career. Thank you for saying it. If we can clip that bit, that would be great. Send it to Guz, yeah? Email that to him. I don’t know, man. I kind of feel like we’re all in this relay race, right, and we’re just fumbling the ball to one another and trying to move forward. And one of the great things about this show was being in community in that way. I think for some people, particularly in the UK, they’re familiar with the world that’s portrayed here. I think, for a lot of Americans, they’re really not. Interestingly, I’ve had a lot of Latin viewers and Latina viewers approach me saying, “That’s my family, I get that, I know what that is.” And so I don’t know, I just think it’s kind of exciting. One of the things I love most about storytelling on screen is we can bring people into worlds they haven’t been to before. That’s what I remember falling in love with when I watched “Goodfellas” and “Mean Streets” in that world that Scorsese creates. So yeah, I think as long as we’re all leaning into this specificity, doing so in community, maybe that’s how we get to stretch culture.

Olsen: In a recent profile on you, the actor Sandra Hüller, who you work with on the upcoming movie “Digger,” she said that one of the things she most admires about you is that you take yourself and your work seriously. And I think I feel the same way, like there’s an intentionality to what you do, there’s a sense of purpose to what do.

Ahmed: It sounds so boring, though, when you put it like that. Doesn’t it? I hope I don’t take myself too seriously. I guess I take it seriously that I’ve got this opportunity to try and tell stories, and I believe that they matter. But I actually hope I don’t take myself seriously, very seriously. I hope this show in a way is evidence of that. That’s Exhibit A. Yeah, you got Hüller’s testimony here and then you got “Bait” over here. Who do you believe?

Olsen: Is there anything you can tell me about “Digger”? It’s a new film from Alejandro González Iñárritu, it stars Tom Cruise, and it has quickly become, I think, one of the most anticipated movies of the year. People are very excited about it. And there’s very little known about it, is there anything you can say about it?

Ahmed: It’s funny you should say that because I spoke to Alejandro today and he gave me permission to reveal something exclusively to you on this podcast. No, not really. There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. I actually might get assassinated for just saying that even.

Olsen: And have you seen it?

Ahmed: I feel like anything I say, there’s like a bomb on my leg that might go off. I’ll say this, it was a really unique and incredible experience. Alejandro is this crazy genius and being around that level of — Tom Cruise as well — they’re all obsessive perfectionists that have just like endless rocket fuel in them. It’s just inspiring to be around, honestly. Really, really unique. I don’t know if I’ll ever have an experience like that again.

Olsen: And then you were nominated for an Academy Award for acting for “Sound of Metal,” but you won an Academy Award for the short film “The Long Goodbye” that was based on an album that you put out. As you’ve become busier in your acting career, has it become difficult for you to still make time for your music?

Ahmed: The projects that I have out right now with “Hamlet” and “Bait” are things that I’ve built. I’m not saying this is the way, necessarily, it’ll always be, but at least over the last several years, acting is like this cherry on the cake. I’m spending all this time building these other things and writing these things and producing these things. And in a way making music is part of that. It’s like being in a writers’ room, with musicians in a studio. And one of the things that I’ve enjoyed most is bringing the development of stories together with the development of albums. “The Long Goodbye” short film is an example of that. But I mean, I joke about this to my friends, one of the main reasons I made “Bait” as a TV show is so that I could make a soundtrack. You know, I grew up on Bollywood where, in a way, the movie was just an excuse for the music. I partly almost feel the same way here. We’ve got a soundtrack for “Bait,” which I’m very, very proud of. And it’s a reflection, I think again, of that eclectic, multicultural London that I know and love. It pulls together artists from across the diaspora, from the Bay Area and the U.S. through to India and Pakistan, from Trinidad and Bangladesh and Karachi and London. And it’s something that I think kind of speaks to the genre-bendiness of the show as well. So in a weird way, as I’m developing more of my own stories, I’m able to incorporate music into that process more.

Olsen: But are you making music of your own?

Ahmed: Yeah, I’ve got two tracks on that soundtrack, for example. Yeah, one of them with a rapper who I’ve been a huge fan of for many, many years. So that was a lovely moment. His name is Casisdead, makes very kind of cinematic UK hip-hop. So I’ve got two tracks on that and yeah, I mean, watch this space. Hopefully I’ll have some more time.

Olsen: And then, this is a moment in the show, and I know it’s something that’s happened in the past, but are you still ever mistaken for Dev Patel?

Ahmed: Honestly, every time I’m mistaken for Dev Patel, I’ll take the flowers. I’m such a fan of his, personally, and he’s actually also from that very particular pocket of Northwest London where I’m from, that this show is almost a love letter to. That pocket of London has produced, if I may humbly put myself in that bracket, myself, but also Dev Patel, Jay Paul, Jay Sean and Jay Shetty. All the Jays. All of them. So I’m very proud of Dev and everything he’s doing, and he’s telling his own stories as well in a way that I find really inspiring.

Beneath azure skies and fluffy white clouds, three giggling toddlers and their mothers arrive at a candy-colored water park in the town of CoComelon.

It’s the opening of “Fast Little Fishy Splash Water Park Adventure,” a three-minute episode of “CoComelon,” the popular children’s cartoon series that is perhaps as controversial as it is appealing to young children.

Moonbug Entertainment, the studio behind “CoComelon,” says the episode, which debuted on YouTube in May, is the result of a years-long collaboration with a UCLA think tank.

In an unconventional move for a privately held entertainment company, the studio released its child development guidelines on its website Tuesday. Moonbug’s head of communications Bao Nguyen said the company began to incorporate findings from the research into its creative process in late 2025.

“It’s a great example of what we’ve been trying to do,” said Rich Hickey, Moonbug’s chief creative officer, referring to the episode. “Inclusive storytelling and learning through play — they’re all evident within that episode.”

Nina and Cody, ecstatic about visiting their neighborhood splash pad, run through fountains and hop in kiddie pools, but protagonist JJ is a bit more skeptical.

With support from his friends and his mother, who offers him goggles and a pair of orange arm floaties, JJ decides to face his fears. He joins his friends under a tipping bucket, and — spoiler alert — realizes that he actually enjoys playing in water. (“I just love to swim, swim, swim,” he sings.)

The guidelines, called the “Moonbug Learning Principles Framework,” are informed by academic research and advise that Moonbug shows should help young viewers navigate “real life moments” and “model positive relationships among children and their friends and caregivers.”

Other priorities include creating shows that encourage kids to learn through play, as this helps them develop their imagination and creativity, and featuring characters from diverse backgrounds (“CoComelon’s” Nina is Mexican American, Cece is Korean American and Cody is Black) — and giving said characters depth — across all Moonbug shows.

“We’re a digital-first company and we realized that there may be some … hesitation to sharing online content with children,” Hickey said. “This is really to keep building on the trust we think we’ve built.”

“CoComelon” is Moonbug’s flagship preschool show, and the series’ origins date back to 2006 when commercial director Jay Jeon shared a YouTube video of an alphabet cartoon set to music. The videos began to revolve around toddler JJ in 2017.

By 2020, “CoComelon” was the most-watched YouTube channel in the world, averaging 3.5 billion monthly views. That year, the show made its streaming debut on Netflix — where it broke ratings records — and was bought by London-based entertainment company Moonbug.

Moonbug was then acquired by Candle Media, a firm led by ex-Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, for a reported $3 billion. Disney+ has since obtained the exclusive streaming rights to “CoCoMelon.”

“CoComelon‘s” image woes aren’t new. The series has developed a reputation for keeping children glued to the screen, as seen in videos that have gone viral on social media of babies bolting to the television upon hearing the marimba theme song.

In 2020, a Guardian columnist wrote that “CoComelon” was “like crack” for a preschool child. A New York Times report in 2022 gave the public more insight into Moonbug’s audience development process, which included testing “CoComelon” videos on young children to make its shows as attention-grabbing as possible.

The program has been a hot topic on parenting forums. The exchange typically goes something like this: Someone asks if “CoComelon” is “bad” and a gaggle of parents weigh in. “Very overstimulating,” said a user in one Reddit thread. “It moves too fast for kids’ brains to process, which can cause a speech delay,” wrote another.

Asked to respond to the criticism, Hickey said he believes Moonbug makes “age-appropriate content” and produces a range of videos to cater to different moments throughout a child’s day, from slow bedtime videos to faster-paced ones meant to encourage movement, Hickey said.

In 2023, Moonbug recruited the Center for Scholars and Storytellers, a think tank at UCLA that bridges entertainment media and psychology research, to “create the best possible product” for its audience, Hickey said.

The center was tasked with analyzing Moonbug’s content and crafting the learning principles to guide the studio’s future preschool programming, which also includes the “Blippi” and “Little Angel” franchises.

A scene from Moonbug Entertainment’s “Blippi’s Job Show.”

(Jessica Perez / Moonbug)

Moonbug also asked the center to determine if there was research showing that audiovisual content could be addicting for preschoolers, said Yalda T. Uhls, an assistant adjunct professor of psychology at UCLA and executive director of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers. Uhls said the center’s review of existing peer-reviewed research found that there was no such evidence.

And despite oft-repeated claims that long-form content is better for kids than short-form content, “there isn’t really actually any evidence for that,” Uhls said. “It’s very inconclusive.”

The center found that preschool children struggle to learn as much from content with frequent cuts, though consuming it doesn’t impact their attention span negatively, Uhls said.

As such, the principles the center crafted recommend Moonbug “minimize distractions and tangential songs or storylines” when characters are navigating real-life situations to make sure it does not interfere with preschool children’s ability to learn lessons.

The center interviewed members of Moonbug’s creative teams and formed an advisory council of academic experts in child development to evaluate a selection of Moonbug’s episodes, assess the quality of socio-emotional learning and find areas for improvement, Uhls said.

“The content certainly had a lot of places where it could improve, but it wasn’t horrible,” Uhls said. “There was some learning within the episodes. … It wasn’t all good, it wasn’t all bad.”

Uhls said she recalled several instances of episodes modeling unsafe behavior, but declined to share specifics.

The center plans to continue to work with Moonbug to integrate child development research much earlier in the studio’s creative process and aid with the integration of the learning principles into its content slate, Uhls said.

Golf legend Phil Mickelson is refuting an accusation that he inappropriately touched a female employee at a prestigious golf club in Southern California a few months ago.

According to Golf Digest, Mickelson allegedly approached the worker at Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe and made “nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact.” After she rejected him, she reported to her supervisors and accused him of sexual misconduct.

Mickelson hired Tom Clare, a top defamation attorney, who said video evidence contradicted the allegations.

“There is a great deal of misinformation circulating and, while Phil’s full attention is devoted to a private family health matter, he has retained defamation counsel and is determined to hold accountable any publication or individual trafficking in speculation or false rumors,” Clare said in a statement to Golf Digest.

Clare did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said it investigated but found no evidence of an assault. However, the allegation resulted in the immediate removal of Mickelson from the golf grounds and revocation of his longtime membership at the club.

Farms Golf Club said in a statement to the golf magazine that it conducted a thorough investigation before confronting Mickelson and stood by its decision to end his membership. Farms also said no video cameras were in the area where the alleged misconduct occurred.

“Following a staff member report of member misconduct, the club provided immediate and ongoing support to the staff member, conducted a thorough independent investigation of the incident and took decisive action,” the statement read. “This individual is no longer a member of The Farms Golf Club.

“To protect the safety and privacy of our staff and member, we are unable to speak further on the matter.”

Mickelson, who turns 56 next week, withdrew from professional golf this year because of family health reasons, last playing at the LIV Golf South Africa in March. A married father of three, Mickelson won six major tournaments on the PGA Tour — three Masters, two PGA Championships and one British Open — before he left the tour in 2022 for the upstart LIV Golf League, which will lose the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund this fall.

His estimated career earnings exceed $1 billion, including $97 million in PGA Tour prize money, a reported $200 million signing bonus to join LIV Golf and an estimated $800 million from endorsements and business ventures.

Mickelson was one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour before his controversial move to LIV and comments about his Saudi backers, and his career survived some unsavory headlines, several of which pertained to gambling.

The Detroit News obtained federal court records that claimed a mob-connected bookie handled bets for Mickelson and was accused of cheating the golfer out of $500,000 in 2007.

Mickelson was accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2016 of getting an insider trading tip and buying $931,000 of stock from sports gambler Billy Walters. Mickelson was not charged and agreed to pay back the amount.

Federal auditors investigating Mickelson’s role in the scheme found that his gambling losses totaled more than $40 million from 2010 to 2014, according to an unauthorized biography of Mickelson.

Ariana Grande was crystal clear in the White House’s comments section on TikTok.

The “We Can’t Be Friends” hitmaker didn’t mince words on Thursday when she commented on a White House TikTok: “Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F— ice,” she wrote in her comment.

The TikTok in question, posted by the White House on Tuesday, promoted the administration’s crackdown on immigration and featured Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers handcuffing various people to the tune of the Grammy-winner’s song “Bye.”

“Bye-bye 👋 President Trump has delivered the most secure border in history,” the caption on the video read. Grande’s comment has since been deleted or hidden from the video’s replies, and the sound on the TikTok has been disabled.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to Grande’s comment in an emailed statement to The Times, writing, “We’ll say this one last time: what’s actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens.”

Grande joins a slew of prominent musicians and artists who have told the Trump administration to cease using their tunes to promote his agenda.

On the 2024 presidential campaign trail, Beyoncé endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris, who used Queen Bey’s song “Freedom” as a rally anthem. When a spokesman for Trump used the same song in a social media post, the mega star’s team responded swiftly with a cease-and-desist.

During a 2024 Montana rally, Trump’s team played a video clip using “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme song from the 1997 film “Titanic.” Celine Dion’s management team and record label responded with a statement shooting down the song’s use: “In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use. … And really, THAT song?”

And then, of course, when Trump used Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” on the 2016 campaign trail without the artist’s permission, the American rocker responded by endorsing Hillary Clinton and calling Trump a “moron.”

Add to the list Nancy Sinatra, who posted that Trump’s nod to Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way” was “sacrilege”; the Smiths’ former guitarist Johnny Marr, who said, “Consider this s— shut right down right now,” when the band’s song was used at a 2023 Trump rally; Sabrina Carpenter, who slammed the use of her song in a video, calling it “evil”; and many, many, many more.

Video released by US Central Command shows what the military says are ‘self-defence’ strikes on Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communications systems and air defence sites. The footage accompanied a statement that US forces had completed the latest wave of attacks.

MADONNA has landed a host of A-listers to feature in cameos on her new music film.

Last night the Queen of Pop premiered the 13-minute Confessions II — featuring Hollywood’s Benedict Cumberbatch, supermodel Kate Moss and several other celebrities.

The film features six songs from her upcoming album.

During the one unreleased track, Danceteria, the singer slinks through a bathroom where Chelsea football aces Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro are at the urinal, while Richard E. Grant, Gwendoline Christie, Shygirl, Kate and Benedict rave in the toilet disco.

Sabrina Carpenter, who teamed up with Madge on the record’s lead single, the recently released Bring Your Love, also has a starring role.

Julia Garner, who was cast as Madonna in a yet-to-be-filmed biopic, appears in a scene where Madge flies over the crowd.

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Bianca Censori crawls on the floor in a g-string thong for Kanye’s birthday

The superstar’s ­daughter, Lourdes Leon, is in there too.

Other new tracks in the film are I Feel So Free, Good For The Soul, One Step Away and Read My Lips.

I first told in March how the superstar had enlisted her showbiz pals to be part of a four-day shoot at a West London studio for the video — and now she has proved it was worth the wait.

Her Confessions II collection is set to be released on July 3 — 21 years after her original Confessions On A Dancefloor album came out.

I revealed at the weekend that she is now eyeing up plans for potential concerts to celebrate the record’s release — but you are unlikely to see her follow in other stars’ footsteps with a Las Vegas residency.

Name-checking a state-of-the-art 20,000-capacity arena in Paradise,

Nevada, she said, during a Q&A: “Sphere seems cool, but I don’t want to wake up and look at Vegas every day.”

And she’s ready for fans to ditch their phones at any future gigs. She added: “Put your phones down, go out, and connect with people.

ABBA have hatched a scheme to take Mamma Mia! The Party to Manchester after it proved a hit in ­Stockholm and London.

Plans for a new entertainment venue next to the city’s Etihad Stadium have been recommended for approval by council planners.

The three-storey venue, set to be built beside Man City’s new North Stand and close to the Co-op Live, would offer a theatrical dining experience for up to 600 guests.

City have teamed up with entertainment giant Pophouse – founded by Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus – for the project, with bosses saying the city’s rich music heritage made it the perfect home for the production.

Pophouse chief executive Jessica Koravos said: “Manchester is known for its innovation in music and entertainment and we cannot think of anywhere better to bring one of the world’s most ­popular and ground breaking theatrical productions.”

TRAITOR STEPHEN’S MUSICAL

TRAITORS winner Stephen Libby fancies himself as the next Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I can reveal the Scottish fashionista has penned a musical that he hopes to bring to the West End in the not-too-distant future.

A source said: “Stephen has the musical all written and ready to go.

“He has always dreamed of his work making it to the West End.

“With The Traitors opening so many doors – both financially and in terms of connections – he feels like the time could be now.

“He’s been having various meetings and things are looking promising.”

Stephen and fellow Traitors winner Rachel Duffy split the hit BBC show’s £95,750 prize money earlier this year.

Since then he has been a regular on the showbiz circuit in London and even landed an ad hoc hosting job on ITV’s This Morning.

NIALL HORAN is on course to catch up with his One Direction bandmate Harry Styles this ­week by scoring his third No1 album.

The Irish singer released Dinner Party on Friday and it is ­currently in the lead to top the charts, after Sir Paul McCartney claimed pole position last week with The Boys Of ­Dungeon Lane.

ACE THEO TACKLES TOXICITY

FORMER England ace Theo Walcott is getting into the World Cup spirit despite hanging up his footie boots.

The Arsenal legend has teamed up with EE to front its new Yes Boys campaign.

The initiative aims to shine a light on the negative online influences shaping boys’ attitudes both on and off the pitch.

It comes as new data reveals 42 per cent of boys aged 11 to 16 encounter outdated phrases like “men shouldn’t show emotion” and “boys need to toughen up” every week.

Progress has been made over the years, but clearly there is still a long way to go.

DOLLS ASH: MY DANCE TRAUMA

PUSSYCAT DOLLS star Ashley Roberts has admitted she was so burned out when the group split in 2010 that even seeing people dance would make her cry.

The girls were known for their intense, choreographed routines but Ashley couldn’t bear to bust any moves after the break-up because of the trauma wrapped up in the group’s original run.

She said: “It was absolutely heartbreaking. I couldn’t even actually watch dancing because I would just be bursting into tears.

“When it first became my job, I was like, ‘Well, this is epic’.

“But then it got wrapped up in this bubble of a major pop group that was a global success.

“I got a bit on the other side and I was like, ‘Well, who am I actually outside of this, right?’

“I just felt very lost, very disconnected to the one thing that actually made me feel like it was like the essence of life to me.

“I just didn’t really recognise myself.

“And it was a really, really tough time.”

Thankfully Ashley has since healed herself, as well as her relationship with performing, and has reunited with Nicole Scherzinger and Kimberly Wyatt for a tour here this autumn.

On how she feels to be back, she told Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast: “Everybody’s like, ‘No, you’re in shape – you got this’.

“I’m like, ‘No, this is a whole other beast’.

“It’s like running a marathon in heels.

“We’re like, ‘Screw it’. You never know when we’re going to be able to do this again.

“We’ve got to just do it – we’ve got to say yes and just go for it.”

Swissh look, Sam

SAM SMITH mixed business with glamour by pairing a shirt and tie with an eye-catching gold corset.

The Stay With Me singer’s snap has been released for the first time as part of a book called The Elegance Of Time, celebrating the 60th edition of Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival.

Sam played at the event – held annually near Lake Geneva – in 2023, and this photo, along with 150 other intimate portraits of artists including Raye, Lionel Richie, Benson Boone and Pulp, will be included in the book, which is out tomorrow.

BBC bosses splashed out on therapy for UK Eurovision act Look Mum No Computer after he came last in the contest and was ridiculed online.

The performer, whose real name is Sam Battle, said the fallout from his quirky entry Eins, Zwei, Drei is ongoing, so he is still seeing a counsellor.

Sam told The Euro Trip podcast: “There was some sort of therapy stuff. The BBC got me a therapist, which is amazing.

“I’ve never really had one before. They were very accommodating. In fact, I’ve still got the therapist because obviously the fallout is another thing. They don’t just leave you.”

Now Sam reckons the only way forward for the UK at Eurovision is to send a hard rock band.

He said: “We went for ‘very good sensible pop songs’ and then for something ‘a little bit left field’. Still didn’t quite work.

“My tip? Metal. Do we have anything to lose?”

Footage has emerged showing the destruction of a drone by a French Rafale fighter over Latvia earlier today. The engagement underscores how the drone war unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly spilling over borders, as well as the growing reality of the drone threat to NATO.

The French Air and Space Force confirmed that its Rafales, currently deployed in neighboring Lithuania, were scrambled in response to the drone incursion. The drone was identified before one of the fighters shot it down over an uninhabited area. The incident was a “demonstration of the French Armed Forces’ commitment to contributing to the security of Europe’s eastern flank,” the service said in a statement on X.

A detachment of French Air and Space Force Rafale jets is currently engaged in the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission from Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania.

This is not the first time that a NATO fighter has shot down a drone in the Baltic region as part of the Baltic Air Policing mission. On May 19 of this year, a Romanian F-16 shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia after it strayed into NATO airspace, reportedly due to Russian electronic warfare interference. Last September, NATO fighters shot down at least three, and likely four, Russian drones, after 19 reported violations of Polish airspace. Polish authorities assessed that the drones “did not veer off course but were deliberately targeted.”

However, this is the first time that an incident of this kind has been captured on camera.

At least two videos are now circulating on social media showing the engagement playing out.

One shows the moment that a Rafale launches an air-to-air missile, leaving a prominent trail of smoke, before detonating seconds later.

Another video, from a different angle, shows the immediate aftermath of the shootdown. Another trail is seen in the background of both videos, but it’s unclear if this is evidence of a previous missile launch, or a contrail from another aircraft that previously transited the airspace at a different altitude.

In a typical Baltic Air Policing configuration, the Rafale is armed with MICA air-to-air missiles. These beyond-visual-range weapons can be fitted with either an active radar seeker or an infrared seeker head, with a mix normally being loaded. The MICA uses a thrust-vectoring motor for improved agility and has a reported maximum range of around 37 miles.

📍 Lituanie | Le succès des vols conjoints commence au sol 🇫🇷🤝🇷🇴
 
➡️ Préparation d’un vol d’entraînement avec des avions de chasse 🇫🇷 et 🇷🇴 :

🔧 Montage d’armements entre mécaniciens des deux pays alliés

💬 Échanges sur les procédures, matériel et méthodes des équipes… pic.twitter.com/LPYygu0P5r

— Armée française – Opérations militaires (@EtatMajorFR) June 6, 2026

The Latvian Armed Forces provided more details of the shootdown, noting that a yellow alert was originally issued for the Ludza, Balvi, and Aluksne districts this morning at 9:20 a.m. local time. This led to NATO fighters being launched.

At 9:40 a.m., this alert level was increased to orange for the Ludza and Rēzekne districts. At this point, it was confirmed that some kind of drone was entering Latvian airspace. A military spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that the drone entered Latvian airspace from Russia.

🟠 Izsludināts gaisa telpas apdraudējums Krāslavas un Ludzas novados, informē Nacionālie bruņotie spēki.

Brīdinājums par iespējamu gaisa telpas apdraudējumu izsludināts Rēzeknes un Balvu novados. pic.twitter.com/PFcMZmhhga

— LTV Panorāma (@ltvpanorama) June 8, 2026

The Latvian Armed Forces warned residents in these areas to “Seek shelter indoors, close windows and doors — follow the two-wall principle.” It added: “If you notice a low-flying, suspicious, or dangerous object, do not approach it and call 112.”

At 10:05 a.m., the Latvian Armed Forces confirmed that NATO fighters were over the Rēzekne district, and a “foreign” drone was shot down over the Berzgale parish.

Berzgale is less than 20 miles from the nearest Russian border, and around 340 miles from the closest Ukrainian border, with Belarus, a close Moscow ally, separating Latvia and Ukraine.

NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission has safeguarded the airspace of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since the three countries joined the alliance in 2004. Because the Baltic states do not maintain fighter fleets capable of continuous air-defense duties, allied nations rotate detachments of combat aircraft to bases in Lithuania and Estonia, where they remain on quick-reaction alert around the clock.

The mission routinely scrambles fighters to identify and intercept Russian military aircraft operating near NATO airspace, particularly flights to and from Russia’s heavily militarized Kaliningrad exclave that often occur without flight plans, radio contact, or active transponders.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO expanded the mission with additional aircraft and operating locations, making Baltic Air Policing one of the alliance’s most visible peacetime deterrence operations on its eastern flank.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the expanding drone war between the two countries has provided another layer of responsibility to the Baltic Air Policing mission.

For most of its history, Baltic Air Policing centered on scrambling fighters to identify Russian bombers, fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, and transports flying near NATO airspace. The war in Ukraine has seen the increasing proliferation of drones that can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles, creating a new challenge for NATO air defenses.

Since 2022, there have been several incidents, including drones and missile debris entering or crashing in NATO territory, including in Poland and Romania. Late last month, a Russian kamikaze drone strayed into Romanian airspace before striking a residential building, injuring civilians, in what appears to have been the first incident of its kind.

A russian drone carrying explosives, involved in the bombing of infrastructure in Ukraine crashed in Galați, Romania, causing a fire on the roof of a residential apartment building.

Two persons sustained minor injuries and several residents required medical attention, the… pic.twitter.com/P8jzYFrEEp

— Toiu Oana (@oana_toiu) May 29, 2026

We asked NATO for more details of today’s incident, including whether it could confirm reports citing the Latvian military that the drone had entered its airspace as a result of Russian electronic warfare. This is a threat that is by now commonplace in the Baltic region.

“While the circumstances surrounding this incident are still under review, jamming is known to occur in this region, and can pose serious safety risks, including to civil aviation,” a spokesperson for the alliance told us.

In recent days, Ukraine has carried out a number of high-profile drone attacks against Russian targets in and around the Baltic region.

In the last week, Ukrainian drones appear to have hit the St. Petersburg oil terminal, the Baltic Fleet base at Kronstadt, and a weapons factory in the Tambov region.

As we observed in our previous reporting, there have been very few confirmed Ukrainian attacks of any kind against the Baltic Fleet. However, satellite and other imagery that emerged in the wake of the recent drone strike reveals extensive damage inflicted on the  Steregushchiy class corvette Boikiy.

Footage of the Russian Navy Baltic Sea Fleet corvette Boikiy burning in its Kronstadt drydock after a Ukrainian drone strike yesterday. pic.twitter.com/9CHz4aLdY8

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 4, 2026

Another satellite image of the Russian corvette Boikiy following yesterday’s Ukrainian strike. What is interesting here is that the active fire was captured before firefighting crews managed to extinguish it. @planet image taken on June 3 at 16:30 local time. It burned for hours. pic.twitter.com/PzcHxoSxGk

— Mark Krutov (@kromark) June 4, 2026

Today’s incident provides visual evidence of advanced NATO fighters used to shoot down drones over alliance territory. While effective on this occasion, this kind of interception can be inefficient due to the mismatch in cost between the drone and missile. It is notable that the French Ministry of Defense has plans to introduce a lower-cost counter-drone capability on the Rafale by the summer. Trials of a pod loaded with 68mm laser-guided rockets have already begun.

Un Rafale équipé de roquettes guidées laser aperçu à Istres. Les essais ont donc enfin démarré. Ici une nacelle Thalès JF12, donc 24 roquettes 68mm au total. Une corde de plus à l’arc du Rafale, la chasse au Shahed est OUVERTE ! pic.twitter.com/6v0xSMkUJ1

— bruno aviation (@Bruno_Aviation) April 16, 2026

As a result, NATO has accelerated work on layered defenses that include short-range ground-based air defenses, electronic warfare, and other counter-drone technologies.

Fighters, however, will always remain a critical last-resort option, especially when a drone poses an immediate threat or when a visual identification is required.

Today’s video not only illustrates the changing face of the Baltic Air Policing mission due to the Russian war in Ukraine, but highlights the growing threat posed by drones and cruise missiles that can cross borders with little warning, whether deliberately or not.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

TWILIGHT star Taylor Lautner has revealed the gender of his unborn baby in a sweet video with his wife Taylor.

The couple, who are expecting their first child together, took to Instagram to share the exciting news with their fans.

In the video, the pair are seen covering their eyes while finding out the gender on a laptop in front of them.

They scream in excitement as the word ‘Girl’ flashes on screen in pink.

She begins crying as he puts his arms around her to console her.

He looks at her and says: “We did it,” as they both wipe away tears from their faces.

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They captioned it: “Our little secret is now yours,” with pink and blue heart emojis.

Their fans flocked to the comments section to share their well-wishes for the soon-to-be-parents.

One person gushed: “I will forever be watching this on repeat. It’s a girl! I guessed right! I’m so excited for you guys!”

Another social media user commented: “I love how intimate this moment was for you both.”

Somebody else enthused: “Congratulations to a beautiful couple that will be the best parents in the world.”

Yet another wrote: “It’s so nice and wholesome to see a man so excited to have a girl!

“Congratulations guys, this beautiful angel is lucky to have such wonderful humans as her parents.”

While a fifth added: “My kids are obsessed with Shark Boy and Lava Girl and watch it about five times a week and now shark boy is having a baby?! Congratulations!”

The couple revealed they were expecting their first child in March.

The actor, 34, shared a sweet snap of him planting a kiss on his wife’s blossoming baby bump.

The glowing couple also posted a baby scan in an adorable family photo.

Taylor cheekily captioned the post: “What’s better than two Taylor Lautners?” – a nod to the fact his wife shares his first name and surname.

The image was the first in a series shot by snapper Chanelle Sekas-Whitacre showing the couple dressed in white in a countryside setting.

The husband and wife revealed last year on their podcast The Squeeze that they had been exploring their fertility as they planned to start a family.

Taylor’s wife bravely opened up about her fertility concerns, recalling a chat with her doctor about whether she’d have enough eggs.

“My doctor was a little concerned for me because I’ve been on birth control for 10 years and never taken a break.

“And she was like, you could, like, not have any eggs right now,” she said, adding: “We’re in the clear. I got a lot of eggs.”

The two tied the knot in a lavish November 2022 wedding.

A surveillance camera caught a brutal assault by an Israeli soldier and settlers on two young Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Video shows them slamming the victims onto the ground and repeatedly beating them, including with a plank of wood, leaving them motionless on the ground.

This is the moment the Republican-led US House of Representatives passed a resolution to reign in President Donald Trump’s ability to keep attacking Iran, unless Congress declares war or approves the use of military force. But it’s unlikely to become law as Trump can veto it even if it passes the Senate.

Born in Rosario, Argentina, Bielsa hails from a family of educated minds, with his brother having worked in politics and his sister a renowned architect.

Both of those professions require analytical thinking – a gift Bielsa also possessed from childhood. However, he was drawn to football, not necessarily playing it but absorbing the tactics.

Every day he would send his mother to the local newsagent to buy football magazines and newspapers, spending hours reading up as much as he could about how teams played and how different managers worked.

Bielsa was still a capable but limited footballer. A defender but lacking in pace, he came through the youth system at his boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys before frustrating spells in the lower leagues of Argentinian football meant he decided to call time on his playing career at the age of 25 to focus on coaching.

His post-playing career started with the Buenos Aires university football team and, after two years there, he secured a position back at Newell’s as a coach of the reserve team.

Bielsa’s frustration with his limitations as a player played a significant part in his coaching philosophy, as he focused on ensuring that any player he coached was able to get the maximum out of their ability.

His training sessions were intense, with lots of focus on repetition – if a player did not have the talent to make something happen naturally then he would be sure to drill the processes into their minds.

Bielsa was appointed Newell’s manager in 1990 and his methods brought instant success as they won the Argentinian championship.

A spell in Mexico followed before Bielsa returned to Argentina in 1997 to manage Velez Sarsfield. There he would be labelled ‘loco’ (crazy) as he insisted on fielding two teenage centre-backs. He would have the last laugh, however, as he immediately helped them to win the league title.

Bielsa, who has said his nickname of ‘El Loco’ actually predates his time at Velez Sarsfield, very briefly became manager of Spanish side Espanyol but left them when he was offered his first international post in 1998 – as Argentina boss.

Teachers in north-eastern Nigeria held protests, demanding stronger protection for learning institutions.
The outcry comes after the abduction of dozens of school children in Borno State last month. Al Jazeera’s Felix Niwara explains.

Far-right outsider Abelardo de la Espriella will face left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda in the run-off for Colombia’s presidential election next month. Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo explains what this means for Colombians.

Matt Brown, who starred with his family in the Discovery reality television show “Alaskan Bush People,” was found dead in the Okanogan River in Washington state, law enforcement officials said Sunday.

Brown’s body was discovered Saturday by a group of private citizens who were conducting a search, the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Brown’s brother, Bear Brown, said in a video posted Saturday on social media that fellow brother Noah had been with the search team, helped pull the body out of the river and identified him.

The official cause and manner of death is still to be determined by the coroner, the sheriff’s office said. But the Brown family believes Matt Brown died by suicide, Bear Brown said in the video.

Witnesses said they saw Matt Brown in or near the river and that he “took his own life,” Bear Brown said on social media.

“I would have never suspected he would hurt himself, honestly,” Bear Brown said in the emotional video. “He struggled for a long time.”

Bear Brown said his brother had battled with alcohol and drugs and that Matt Brown told him in their last conversation that he had “fallen off the wagon.”

The Brown family and their life in the Alaskan wilderness were the subject of the reality TV show “Alaskan Bush People,” which ran on the Discovery Channel from 2014 to 2022.

NEWARK, N.J. — The mayor of Newark imposed a curfew early Sunday around an immigration detention center in New Jersey after a series of intense clashes between protesters and police.

The curfew around Delaney Hall will be in place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. until further notice, Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement.

The move came after another night of standoffs between law enforcement and demonstrators at the facility, as protesters could be seen in photographs and videos fighting over barricades as police used riot shields to push them back. A video posted on social media showed police on horseback marching into crowds, attempting to break up groups of demonstrators.

The high-profile demonstrations at Delaney Hall began this month after advocates said detainees launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility, the latest focus of opposition over the federal government’s immigration crackdown.

The private company GEO Group operates the lockup under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The shuttered facility reopened for immigration detainees in February 2025.

New Jersey state police on Friday replaced federal immigration enforcement agents who had been facing off against protesters at the facility for days.

In a statement Sunday morning, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said masked people attacked a barrier in a designated protest area set up by state police and were “throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street.”

“These actions put both peaceful protesters and law enforcement in danger,” Sherrill said, urging calm to focus on advocating for “better conditions for the detainees, for their families, and ultimately, for the closure of Delaney Hall.”

Sherrill also said that the federal government has reopened family visits at Delaney Hall starting Sunday.

Asked about visitations resuming, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement, “To be clear: Visitation was only suspended because of violent riots. Now that we have a secure perimeter, visitation can resume.”