This is Going to Ruin The Tour
The Friday Post.
The last 30 hours would make even Aaron Sorkin sitting-at-his-computer-writing-the Bin Laden episode of The Newsroom blush: Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina (and the state’s current Lieutenant Governor) has been linked to a series of racist and slimball comments on a pornography website. In a trove of comments uncovered by CNN’s KFile, Robinson referred to himself as a “black Nazi” and said “slavery is not bad” and that “some people need to be slaves.” The far-right fearmonger Chris Rufo was revealed to have an Ashley Madison account, presumably to cheat on his wife. According to court documents acquired by the nonprofit newsroom Notus, there is now sworn testimony saying that Matt Gaetz (the U.S. representative for Florida's 1st congressional district) attended a “drug-fueled sex party” that is yet another link between the representative and an alleged sex trafficking ring. And just before my bedtime Thursday night, the newsletter “Status” reported that New York Magazine placed the politics/election reporter Olivia Nuzzi (31) on leave after discovering that Nuzzi and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (70) had a romantic relationship. (It was “never physical,” according to Nuzzi’s statement … so I guess that means sexting? Lmao.) This *gestures at everything* is going to ruin the tour.1
So I would say it’s a perfect day for Katy Perry’s seventh studio album “143” to be released, wouldn’t you?
The impersonal, repetitive songwriting, thrill-less beats … it’s all indolent, color-by-numbers pop. These are songs for the emotional climax of a Love Is Blind episode! This album will get exactly the amount of attention it deserves, which is very little. Before the “Call Her Daddy” interview, before the “Woman’s World” music video, even before they started forcing Katy Perry to be Charli XCX,2 I first got the inkling that this Katy Perry era would leave a lot to be desired when she was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s show in February. Her exit from American Idol had just been announced, and Perry declared that she was "creating space for my new wingspan." I might as well have been that nun: Katy Perry please stop! The otherwise-lively “Lifetimes” charges to a crescendo of humdrum sentimentality, the kind I’d hear on the latest Dua Lipa album.3 The JID-featuring “Artificial” is insurrection-inspiring.4 The Doechii song is good, though:
More from Hung Up This Week:
Bennifer reunited last weekend and it either went very well (but the divorce is still happening) or very poorly (and the divorce is still happening.
They packed on the PDA (Public Display of Acrimony). I tried out Substack’s new live video feature to discuss.
𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓾𝓵𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮 💬 Which Celebrity Couple Did You Take Personally?
Over 300 comments on this one! My favorite answers were: Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, Ryan Gosling and Sandra Bullock, Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs, and a 90s-era Stanley Tucci love triangle that I did not know about before…
Emmys highs and lows and a big woah from Sunday night’s ceremony
It was only after the ceremony finished that my ‘woah’ of the night was Hannah Einbinder’s mom tweeting — verbatim — “fuck The Bear.”
On “Lemme Say This” this week: Clover Hope and the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl halftime show performance (slash presumed Lil Wayne snub) that has set off a Barbz vs. Roc Nation stan war:
That’s all this week. Thank you for reading! I simply have to get back to the Mormon wives show on Hulu5 because the chat about the show is sooo good. Have a good weekend!
Not technically within the last 30 hours but important to mention: all this news coming just days after Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested on federal sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Per
, a judge decided Combs will remain in custody until the trial. The Diddy arrest feels like it will be one of those explosive abuse trials with ramifications that reverberate through the music industry and beyond.“Straightio Lab” listeners know.
I hope that wherever you are, you’re marked safe from “French Exit.”
The Other Two watchers know.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
“These are songs for the emotional climax of a Love Is Blind episode!” Diabolical 😈
“Creating space for my new wingspan” feels like something a coworker leaving their job would say in a mass email when you know damn well they don’t have a better opportunity lined up.