“Can I get you a Tree Paine Paloma?”
Upstairs at the Freehand New York, hundreds of you packed into The Georgia Room to talk about pop culture moments big and small. At the bar, you could get a “Power Publicist Tree Paine Paloma,” a “Carrie Bradshaw Banging on That Window Cosmo,” or a “‘Here We Go Mama’ Margarita.” For one night it was New York’s hottest club: literally, the room was very warm. (Sorry!) And figuratively because there was much to discuss. Real cup runneth over hours: On Wednesday night, 350 Hung Up readers1 showed up to hang out with me, meet one other, and share your best guesses as to what’s going on with Leos Ben and Jennifer Affleck.
The night’s invitation — sent to Founding Members first, and then all paid subscribers — advertised the event “one-night-only trivia show,” but really it was just a party plus conversation. The night’s name came from the iconic Cardi B IG story monologue after Nicki Minaj addressed her during an episode of Queen Radio. “And I’m glad you brung it up,” Cardi said memorably2, “because I’ve been dying to talk about it for a fucking hot minute!”
My welcome:
Hung Up is a newsletter about personal pop culture obsessions, moments in celebrity and entertainment that we can’t stop thinking about and why. So tonight I wanted to make that real: I asked some of my favorite writers and friends to share one moment from pop culture they’re convinced only they remember.
I have a million of these: Jennifer Lawrence saying she was taking time off of acting to focus on voting rights. Whitney Houston starred on the Bravo reality show Being Bobby Brown, and only a handful of clips from that show exist online. On Mother’s Day, Bobby had upset her by planning a dinner with their extended family. Whitney replied: “It’s Mother’s Day, it’s not all everybody day.” My personal favorite, which I honestly think is something I might have nightmared into reality: in 2017, Emma Watson walked around the 14th St subway stop hiding copies of a Maya Angelou book, because white feminism. Her partner in this crime, of course, was Derek Blasberg.
So tonight we’ll hear from nine writers I enjoy reading. I’ll choose my two favorites and award a pair of iconic prizes. Thank you so much to Substack for co-hosting tonight’s event, to The Georgia Room for having us, and all of you for being here. Don’t forget to tip your bartenders and download the Substack app to read Hung Up. Ok — Let’s get started!
The night’s nine performers — Tembe Denton-Hurst, Liana Satenstein, Sydnee Washington, Emilia Petrarca, Jordan Coley, Hilton Dresden, Chris Murphy, Akosua Adasi, and my best friend-slash-podcast cohost Peyton Dix — competed for two rare prizes. Peyton, who got first runner-up, won a Club Chalamet hat. Chris, sharing the grand prize with Sydnee, won a Dune popcorn bucket.3
We spent months planning this event, touring venues, finding a photographer and videographer, curating the list of writers, and trying to cultivate a vibe. Many emails and texts, and one emergency order of napkins when we weren’t sure the night’s custom stickers would make it in time, later: The event! I went to an engagement party a few months ago where the bar served cocktails with the couples’ initials. I don’t think anyone noticed, but the cocktails were emblazoned with the Hung Up logo! This was my “Shiv Getting Married.”4 I wanted to figure out the best way to bring Hung Up’s inbox alchemy — rapid-fire chat replies, begging Club Chalamet to unblock us, twenty people alerting me to Spike Lee’s every move — into reality. I think we got pretty close!
Thank you to Substack (particularly
and ) for co-hosting this event with me. Thanks to all nine of my speakers for obscure memories that were both giddy and probing. Thank you most to the readers who pay to read this newsletter every week! Best night of my life!!! As Usher says, Wednesday night was “one of them ones.”
Follow Tembe Denton-Hurst, buy Homebodies, and read
.Follow Liana Satenstein and read .
Follow Sydnee Washington on Instagram and TikTok.
Follow Emilia Petrarca and read .
Follow Hilton Dresden and read .
Follow Peyton Dix and listen to “Lemme Say This.”
Follow Chris Murphy and read his work at Vanity Fair.
Follow Jordan Coley and go see the newest “Jordan Show” on 6/15.
Follow Akosua Adasi and read .
𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃𝓁𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝓊𝒷𝓈𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒶𝓅𝓅 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝐻𝓊𝓃𝑔 𝒰𝓅!
Roll the Credits!!!!
Photos: Emma Trim (@emmatrim)
Video: Brennan Murphy (@brenonade), Olivia Becker
Venue: The Georgia Room
Production: Sophia Efthimiatou, Matt Starr
Dress: Sir (not even sponsored lmao I just love this dress)
Hair: Stacee Flood @handsnheartss, @lugos
Makeup: Niko Maragos (@nikomaragos)
Hungies.
And if I said the Cardi B of it all is why there weren’t any Barbz in attendance … lmao.
And would you believe we were scammed in the process of acquiring a Dune popcorn bucket??
Or whatever you want to call the season one finale of Succession. Except on Wednesday night there weren’t any casualties!
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