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AFPAlthough Colin Jost is no stranger to solo stand-up comedy, most of America recognizes him best as part of a duo. He’s famous for being the straight-edged “Weekend Update” co-anchor on Saturday Night Live, working alongside the much raunchier, more dangerous Michael Che. How would Jost fare on his own? The answer, it turns out, is perfectly fine. His roast at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was nowhere near as brutal as Stephen Colbert’s famous WHCD roast in 2006, but it was certainly entertaining.Jost predictably focused a lot on the speculation that President Joe Biden might be too old to run for re-election, starting off his speech with, “I have to admit, it’s not easy following President Biden… I mean, it’s not always easy following what he’s saying.”The comedian also referenced Biden’s viral stumbling on the steps of Air Force One, and made light of the accusations that Biden was high on amphetamines during his recent energetic State of the Union address. "The last time I was in D.C., I left my cocaine at the White House,” Jost said, in what initially seemed like a joke about Jost’s Republican demeanor, before adding, “Luckily, the president was able to put it to good use for his State of the Union. I’m kidding, of course, the president doesn’t call it cocaine—he calls it high speed rail.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty ImagesLONDON—A crucial difference between the dinosaurs and Britain’s ruling Conservative Party is that the dinosaurs had no way of knowing the asteroid was coming. For the Tories, portents of doom abound, with some polls suggesting that an extinction-level event of catastrophic political losses could be on the way in the next general election. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has signaled that he’ll call the election in the second half of the year, and it can legally come no later than January 2025.With his party trailing the opposition Labour Party by over 20 points, most pundits expect the election will be the end of Tory rule. But will it be the end of the Conservative Party altogether?Lawmakers will get an early, if imperfect, indication of whether a Tory Götterdämmerung is in the making on Thursday, when local elections are held across England and Wales. The complex and varied ballots—which include elections for thousands of local council seats, several regional mayors, and law enforcement officials—will not affect the makeup of the British parliament or pose a direct threat to Sunak’s grip on power. But some Tories fear this could be where the unraveling of the world’s oldest operating—and electorally most successful—political party begins.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Piero Cruciatti/AFPHow do you solve a problem like Predappio?This small town in the hills of northern Italy where Mussolini was born in 1883 remains something of an enigma. The previous mayor called it the “Chernobyl of Italy”—a place too toxic to touch. It plays host to large neo-fascist rallies, souvenir shops selling Mussolini trinkets and the tomb of Il Duce himself, which lies in a crypt in the town’s municipal cemetery. All of this co-existing alongside 6,000 citizens in one of Italy’s most historically left-wing strongholds.Since the end of World War II, Predappio’s citizens have routinely elected mayors from the political left. This was until 2019 when, as part of a right-wing surge across Italy that eventually brought Giorgia Meloni to power, Predappio elected its first right-wing mayor since the death of its most famous son.Read more at The Daily Beast.
FacebookOne climber died and a second was seriously injured after falling 1,000 feet while ascending Mt. Johnson in Denali National Park and Preserve this week. The accident happened in Ruth Gorge, as the team—Robbi Mecus, 52, and her climbing partner—tackled a treacherous route known as “The Escalator,” on the night of April 25.“The approximately 5,000-foot route involves navigating a mix of steep rock, ice, and snow,” the parks service said. Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesSen. Ted Cruz has sought to soften his image as a conservative hardliner and recast himself as a lawmaker unafraid to reach across the aisle—but one of the top figures he’s recruited for his “Democrats for Cruz” group has been accused of crossing far more serious lines.Cruz (R-TX), facing a tougher-than-expected re-election struggle against Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), lit up social media last month with ads and public appearances featuring supporters from the other side of the partisan divide. And none has featured more prominently, whether on Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, than U.S. Hispanic Business Council President Javier Palomarez.In a recorded event with Palomarez, the business booster sat alongside the senator—famous for his first-term filibuster antics—as a true bipartisan problem solver.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/StarzWhen The Favourite arrived in 2018, it ushered the period drama into a deliciously profane new era. Undoing expectations established by the prim-and-proper costume dramas of the past, the movie’s scheming, swearing, and sexual innuendos made it a cinematic phenomenon—and paved the way for the likes of the steamy Regency rom-com Bridgerton and the spiky, no-holds-barred humor of The Great.In terms of raunchiness, though, Mary & George is the period drama to rule them all. In its two titular leads’ cutthroat world, it’s significantly not just strategic marriages that help get you ahead, but sex. And in this instance, it’s sex with a refreshingly out-and-proud king.Mary & George is consistently unabashed about gay sex—or any sex, for that matter. But it’s more than just that; it’s also an antidote to the staid period dramas of the past. Out of every straight-up Austen adaptation or Austen-adjacent drama (right up to Bridgerton), there has often arisen a misplaced nostalgia for archaic structures pertaining to courtship, marriage and romance. But in King James’ court, heterosexuality and monogamy are—thankfully—not the norms. It’s a refreshing change, one that more of its ilk stand to learn from.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Tim Sheehy CampaignAt first glance, Caleb Oriet’s social media accounts seem typical of a young member of the fringe, online right, featuring likes and reposts of far-right influencers and white nationalists expressing incendiary and bigoted views about racial and religious minorities.The account belonging to the 21-year-old Montanan and self-proclaimed “Anglo-Saxon Protestant” and “menace to society” liked, for instance, a tweet that refers to Black Americans as “the most criminal, dependent, and socially destructive part of the population,” and attacks GOP efforts to connect with Black voters.But Oriet isn’t just a denizen of the far-right fringes of social media. He’s also a staffer for one of the Republican Party’s top candidates to flip control of the U.S. Senate this year.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Paramount+Knuckles is one of the most surprising new shows of the year—yes, really. I know what you’re thinking: How could a spinoff of the incredibly popular Sonic the Hedgehog movies starring one of the franchise’s most popular characters be “surprising?” In fact, Knuckles is something of a Trojan Horse. While it presents itself as an action-packed show about Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba), the no-nonsense red echidna, it’s really about his friendship with a goofy human, Wade Whipple (Adam Pally). More than that, over the course of the six-episode Paramount+ series, Knuckles mentors Wade as he competes in a major bowling tournament—see, I told you it’s surprising!It’s not totally absent from the typical Sonic the Hedgehog hijinks, of course. Along the way, they run into dastardly foes determined to kidnap Knuckles. But in response, Wade decides to take his new bestie somewhere the bad guys would never think to look: his mother’s house. That leads to what is this series’ most special installment: a glorious, emotional, and poignant episode about a Shabbat dinner. Yes, I’m serious—the third episode (titled “The Shabbat Dinner”) of what is seemingly a big-budget action series about Knuckles from Sonic the Hedgehog is all about the weekly Jewish tradition of Shabbat.For those unfamiliar with Shabbat, Wade’s mother, Wendy (played by Stockard Channing, instantly entering the pantheon of great Jewish TV moms), explains it perfectly to Knuckles: “Shabbat is the day of rest. It’s about home.” Basically, according to Judaism, God created the world in six days, so on the seventh, he rested. For modern Jews, like myself, Shabbat is an opportunity to connect with family and spend time together without distraction. It’s one of those family things that you can’t stand doing as a kid, but the older you get, the more special and valuable it feels.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesFor weeks, it seems, the name on everybody’s lips has been Zendaya. Coming into the Challengers press tour, we all knew that Queen Z would show up to every red carpet ready to serve. After all, the looks she used to promote past films like Spider-Man: Homecoming and Dune: Part Two are still etched into our brains. Still, the eye-popping green and white ensembles she and stylist Law Roach have put together this year feel like their magnum opus; night after night, photo after photo, they’ve had us basically screaming “game, set, match!”(Is that the correct usage of that term? I’ll be the first to admit that my interest in tennis began when Luca Guadagnino announced this movie, and will end after it premieres this weekend.)From her tennis ball stilettos, to her preppy white halter dress appropriately adorned with tiny tennis rackets, to her 2013 Louis Vuitton green and white checkered mini jacket dress, Zendaya has nailed the perfect balance of preppy and campy with each and every Challengers outing. But what is it that makes her red carpet fashions so captivating in the first place?Read more at The Daily Beast.
Andrew Thomas/Getty ImagesPro-Palestinian protesters confronted guests arriving at the Washington, D.C. hotel where President Joe Biden is set to speak at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday evening, criticizing what they say is media complicity in the “genocide” of Gaza.With about 100 demonstrators in attendance, many of them dressed in Palestinian keffiyehs and watermelon symbols, they chanted “free, free Palestine” outside of the Washington Hilton, videos posted to social media show. Guests in evening wear could be seen passing protesters as they made their way toward the venue, with some of the demonstrators confronting them and chanting, “Shame on you!”“We demand coverage!” the protesters chanted at one point, holding signs that said “Free Palestine” and waving Palestinian flags. A large Palestinian flag could be seen hanging from the window of a room on the top floor of the Hilton, where the event will take place several stories below.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesListen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.Right-wing comedian Alex Stein seems obsessed with talking to Lara Trump about anal sex.The New Abnormal unearthed a clip of Stein talking to Trump a year ago about her views on sodomy, for which he was briefly suspended from The Blaze.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Nathan Posner/Getty ImagesThe white supremacist group Patriot Front unboxed their U-Hauls and marched through the streets of Charleston, West Virginia, on Saturday in a demonstration timed to coincide with an anti-racism 5k race.The neo-Nazis reportedly unloaded banners and other organization propaganda before a statue of Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson in the city’s downtown area. Wearing matching khakis, navy blue polos, white hats and face coverings, they chanted and paraded through Charleston’s main streets, flying a banner with the slogan “America is not for sale.” Some of them carried shields and many of them flew upside-down American flags. At least one Confederate flag could be seen in the parade.The neo-Nazi romp happened at the same time a planned 5k race, the YWCA’s Race to End Racism, was underway on the city’s West Side. According to the organization’s website, the race was a fundraiser for “community engagement and racial equity & inclusion programming” designed to bring corporate partners, congregations, police, non-profits and community groups together.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Contributor/Getty ImagesRussia has dismissed a report claiming Vladimir Putin did not order the killing of famed dissident Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in February.Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told Russia’s state-run media on Saturday that he had seen the Wall Street Journal report, which cited an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies, and that there was little reason to believe it. He derided its logic and said it wasn’t worth looking into.“I would not say that this is high-quality material that deserves any attention. Some very empty reasoning,” Peskov said.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Compass Real Estate, The Chernov Team, Getty Images and Public DomainWhen Prince Nawaf bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud sold his $75 million triplex in the Heritage at Trump Place building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the anonymous buyer of the 10,500-square-foot manse, complete with a hair salon, a sushi bar, and three bulletproof panic rooms, was a mystery.A real estate listing deemed the home ideal for a “member of the global elite.” The new resident would walk upon slabs of sumptuous Tuscan Calacatta marble, glide through doors of Makassar ebony, and sleep beneath ceilings of the finest Venetian plaster. The 2018 sale made headlines; the transaction was co-brokered by Robert De Niro’s son Raphael. However, the purchaser’s identity remained frustratingly cloaked behind a web of LLCs.Now, the previously nameless owner of the unit has been revealed as a Kazakhstani oligarch who allegedly stole a coal mine out from under the former Soviet republic’s top opposition leader during his unjust imprisonment on sham political charges, then snatched up the New York City spread at the relative bargain-basement price of $30 million—or, about 7,500 times the average annual household income in Kazakhstan.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesTwo of rapist Harvey Weinstein’s convictions have been overturned, and in New York he has been granted a new trial. And while it’s important to note that the rapist’s conviction in California stands, and that the rapist is old, weak, and sometime soon he will die alone and unloved in a prison cell in one state or another, this injustice is just another example of how all of our American institutions are built to demean and devalue women—to them, our bodies are commodities to be used, and that will be their downfall.Take, for example, Brock Turner (now going by Allen Turner and living in the Dayton, Ohio area). He spent only three months in a jail—not a prison—for three counts of felony sexual assault. (He had been initially indicted on five charges: two for rape, two for felony sexual assault, and one for attempted rape, although the two rape charges were later withdrawn.) The judge in that case, Aaron Persky, said that he was concerned about the “severe impact” of a long prison sentence on then collegiate athlete Turner when he sentenced him. Of course, the “severe impact” to Allen (née Brock) Turner’s victim didn’t matter to Persky—a man’s freedom was threatened, after all, and what does a woman’s suffering and the safety of all other women matter in comparison to that? Rumors abound that Turner likes to hang out at bars in Dayton—the kind of place where people like his victim tend to spend time.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesWhen Republican Gov. Kristi Noem proudly bragged about shooting her puppy in her new memoir, what she may have actually done was kill her chance at being Donald Trump’s VP. At least this time, it was an accident. Ever since The Guardian first reported that the MAGA politician, and potential Trump running mate, had written a gruesome account about executing a puppy into her new memoir, Noem has been lambasted online, including by several members of her own party. Alyssa Farrah Griffith, the Trump administration’s former director of strategic communications, wrote that she was “horrified” by the story, in a post on X. “A 14-month old dog is still a puppy & can be trained. A large part of bad behavior in dogs is not having proper training from the humans responsible for them.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
HamasThe militant group Hamas has released footage of 64-year-old American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, still alive after more than 200 days in captivity.In the video, Siegel and Israeli hostage Omri Miran, 46, appear gaunt and clearly emotionally distressed as they address the camera. The two men speak in Hebrew to identify themselves and say they’re hoping for a hostage deal that could allow them to return home, according to a translation by The Times of Israel. Siegel has been missing since he and his wife, Aviva, were kidnapped by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 from the Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Aviva Siegel was released during the seven-day November ceasefire and hostage deal.Read more at The Daily Beast.
Vincent Ricci/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesNortheastern University had around 100 peaceful protesters arrested on Saturday at its Boston campus’ pro-Palestine encampment, claiming that there had been reports of protesters using antisemitic slurs; but according to witnesses, the protester who spewed hate speech was a pro-Israel counter protester.On Saturday morning, Northeastern Vice President for Communications Renata Nyul released a statement, announcing that the protest on Centennial Common would be cleared by campus police and local law enforcement. In the statement, she explained that the reason they were clearing the encampment was because of the presence of hate speech at the site.“What began as a student demonstration two days ago, was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern. Last night, the use of virulent antisemitic slurs, including ‘Kill the Jews,’ crossed the line,” she said. “We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus."Read more at The Daily Beast.
HBOBill Maher took presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to task on Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, over his and his running mate’s persistent efforts to spread anti-vaccine misinformation.Maher has consistently platformed RFK Jr. throughout his presidential campaign, touting his “guts and integrity,” as he’s promulgated misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. The presidential candidate's unsavory anti-vax rhetoric was once again pushed to the forefront of his campaign, when his running mate Nicole Shanahan called for a recall of the Moderna vaccine, earlier this month. Apparently the comment didn’t sit so well with Maher.“But your vice presidential pick wants to recall the Moderna vaccine, that’s the one I got,” said Maher, who looked out onto the laughing audience. “Do you agree with that? Recall it?Read more at The Daily Beast.
Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Mauricio Sulaiman/XArdi Ndembo, who spent three weeks in an induced coma in Miami after a knockout loss, died on Thursday. He was 27.World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed the news on X, and paid tribute to the Congolese fighter and father-of-two.“May he rest in peace,” he wrote on X. “Ardi Ndembo has passed away in Miami. Our condolences go to his family.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
