Culture

We did it, Joe! Finally, finally, Donald Trump departed the White House and Joe Biden was sworn in as America’s 46th president. Though it wasn’t exactly a peaceful transfer of power, and Trump fled to Florida rather than attend Biden’s inauguration,…

For one of his final acts as president, Donald Trump dished out more than 140 pardons and commutations — less than half of Barack Obama’s single-day record in 2017. The days leading up to his exit were filled with rampant speculation over which…

Look, no one is happier than me to see that fascist leave the oval office. I ugly cried when Gaga sang — even though I have mixed feelings about the national anthem — and yes, her outfit was great. The Obamas came through like stunning superheroes,…

After an election that we may never truly escape, a new president’s finally dropping on Wednesday. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going to be sworn in the old-fashioned way, with unprecedented pandemic and security measures in place. No matter how…

So, here’s a safety bulletin for anyone in possession of one of Gwyneth Paltrow’s notorious vagina candles: evidently they get a little too excited and explode sometimes. A “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle belonging to a London woman reportedly…

President-elect Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he will nominate Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as his assistant secretary of health. Levine, who currently serves as the top-ranking health official in Pennsylvania, could become the first openly…

She’ll be only the sixth poet to perform at the swearing-in of a new president, and at just 22, Amanda Gorman will also be the youngest ever chosen to greet incoming leaders with lines of verse. Other inaugural poets have included Maya Angelou and…

The final days of President Trump’s term have seen a return to the garish celebrity fixation from before his political career. He’s picked up the “National Garden of American Heroes,” a project set to feature everyone from Kobe Bryant and Alfred…

More than a week later, and the Capitol siege continues to cast its dark, absurd shadow over the music industry. The Backstreet Boys are potentially subtweeting each other over QAnon support. On Thursday night, Ariel Pink appeared on Tucker Carlson…

Want a half million dollars? On Snapchat, it might be as easy as filming your sister deep-frying a turkey or exploding a bottle of Coke, according to a story by tech journalist Taylor Lorenz, published on Friday in The New York Times. Contrary to…

Last month, 22-year-old Californian Miya Ponsetto made headlines as the latest “Karen” after falsely accusing a Black teen of stealing her iPhone in a New York City hotel. In recent years, the Karen moniker has become a catchall term to describe…

When legendary actor and comedian Betty White turns 99 on January 17, she’ll be celebrating her quarantine birthday with a pair of unconventional party guests. “What am I doing for my birthday? Feeding the two ducks who come to visit me every day,”…

Former presidential candidate and champion of universal basic income Andrew Yang announced a long-rumored New York City mayoral campaign on Wednesday night. Yang kicked it off with a trailer-length campaign video, directed by Darren Aronofsky, but…

Whenever I meet a hearing person, I immediately begin steeling myself for their inevitable release of what I like to call “the triad of microaggressions”: 1. Incredulity at deaf independence (“You can drive?”) 2. Comparison to animal (“Oh,…

This entire week, I’ve been repeatedly rapping the phrase “throw it like a stripper, yuh” — to no one in particular — from Erica Banks’ “Buss It.” Though this behavior is concerning to all of the people I live with, the 2020 single and its catchy…

Remember how much trouble Trump had persuading talent to perform at his inauguration four years ago? When a member of his transition team boldly announced they’d booked Elton John, the Rocketman’s reps swiftly shut it down: “Incorrect. He will not…

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm star, is holding to the assertion that he and his client bear no responsibility for the Capitol insurrection last week. Despite months of loud, leaky protestations…

TikTok is famously a hitmaking platform. You don’t have to look much further than the career trajectories of musicians like Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion, and Doja Cat for proof of its power. So, it’s a little puzzling to learn that some of the…

Remember how desperate we were for 2021 just a few weeks ago? People were pining for the new year like it was going to magically fix all the stuff that went wrong in 2020 — though I think most folks did so with the begrudging acceptance that,…