In a lovely bit of (as-of-yet unconfirmed) news, pop singer Ariana Grande has reportedly offered to pay for the funeral costs of the people who died in the terrorist attack at her Manchester Arena concert on Monday night.
A Twitter account dedicated to the singer called Ariana Updates! tweeted on Tuesday night that "Ariana has reached out to the families who's [sic] loved ones died last night…she is gonna pay for the funerals!"
News on Ariana: Ariana has reached out to the families who's loves ones died last night....she is gonna pay for the funerals! pic.twitter.com/lmGHt4GbEg
The Independent has apparently reached out to a representative for Ariana Grande, but had not heard back by press time.
Monday night's attack came just after Grande's show had ended and concertgoers, many of them teenaged girls, were beginning to leave the Manchester arena. A suicide bomber was responsible for the deaths of 22 people and left 119 more injured, The Independent reports.
After the concert, Ariana Grande tweeted, "Broken. From the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don't have words."
broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words.
A source told Entertainment Weekly that “as of right now, the tour is not canceled,” but that Grande's team is currently reassessing when, and if, it will continue. The source said, “Right now, the focus is on the victims and grieving for them. We’re not focused on the tour."
It's unclear whether Grande will perform as scheduled at London's O2 Arena on Thursday and Friday night. The arena sent out a tweet saying that they'll share that information with the ticket holders as soon as they have word from Grande's team.
On Wednesday morning, US President Donald Trump met with Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic state. Although Trump and the Pope have had a rocky past (in case you forgot, the Pope called Trump's plans for a border wall "un-Christian", and Trump responded by calling him 'disgraceful'), the two men came together at the Vatican.
How did the meeting go, you ask? Well, the Pope's face says it all.
pope: why'd he bring BOTH wives trump: I get into heaven now, yes? melania: there. is. no. god. ivanka: buy my book! also, I feel nothing pic.twitter.com/EejxsfkfAz
Right before this photo was taken, Melania and the Pope simultaneously slapped Trump's hands away and high fived behind his back. pic.twitter.com/TMrzYbClMQ
Even the West Wing Reports Twitter account had to tweet out some damage control.
In some photos the Pope smiled (see prior tweet). In others, he did not, as pool report indicated (Pool Photo/AP) pic.twitter.com/rlT0lP9HUl
— West Wing Reports (@WestWingReport) May 24, 2017
According toNew York Magazine, the Pope also took a few moments to not-so-subtly drag the President during their meeting. First, he asked Melania what she was feeding The Donald (it's so cute the the Pope thinks Melania cooks!).
“What do you give him to eat — potica?”
Potica is a cake from Melania’s native Slovenia. DAMN, need some holy water for that burn, Trump?
Pope Francis also gifted Trump a book on climate change.
Pope Francis gives @realDonaldTrump a copy of Laudato Si', his encyclical on the environment and climate change
Despite the shadiness, Trump (or whoever runs Trump's Twitter account when he's busy) said that meeting Pope Francis was "the honor of a lifetime."
Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world. pic.twitter.com/JzJDy7pllI
After the terrorist attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, United Kingdom, on Monday night, there was an outpouring of compassion and love on social media for the victims and for all of Manchester. Of course, there were others who began condemning Muslims in general, which is ignorant, hateful, and unhelpful.
A woman who goes by @hannawwh on Twitter witnessed the terrorist attack, and tweeted, "I can't believe it, I'm heartbroken, I'm so sorry to all the families who have lost loved ones and to all those injured."
I can't believe it, I'm heartbroken, I'm so sorry to all the families who have lost loved ones and to all those injured😭😭😭
Someone else, clearly Islamophobic, referenced her tweet, writing, "This is what happens when you let muslims in your country." (The tweet has since been deleted.)
@hannawwh This is what happens when you let muslims in your country. #Manchester
@X5265015119@hannawwh This is what happens when uneducated barbaric people like you have twitter ⚠️⚠️
— KING S H A K E E L👑 (@king_shxkeel) May 23, 2017
Twitter is great for letting people share thoughts and ideas, but it's also such a perfect tool for spreading hate and ignorance. Fortunately, the hateful bigots usually seem to be outnumbered.
Tyra Banks recently joined the America's Got Talent panel of judges, and it seems she may have gotten a little carried away. A contestant is suing the show's production company after Banks allegedly "humiliated" her daughter.
According to Deadline, the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday by a contestant on the upcoming season of America's Got Talent, identified as Jane Doe. The suit alleges that the contestant and her husband, a musical duo, were "publicly humiliated" by the America's Got Talent judges and the audience during their performance on March 19. The couple had their young daughter with them, identified as Mary Doe in the lawsuit, and allege that Tyra Banks "physically manipulated and verbally abused" her.
The lawsuit alleges:
Banks shook Mary’s shoulder, pulled Mary’s hair back and physically manipulated Mary. … Mary did not stop Banks’ conduct because Mary was fearful. Banks also insinuated that Mary was accidentally conceived, made fun of the performance and ridiculed [the song] in front of Mary, all in front of active cameras that were filming Mary. After the performance, Banks asked Mary to describe, in front of active and filming cameras, her opinion about Jane and her husband after they were publicly ridiculed by AGT. … As a result of her negative experience from AGT and Defendants’ abusive treatment, Mary was traumatized and became deeply depressed.
The suit goes on to say that a few weeks after the incident, the plaintiff and her husband asked that the footage of their child's reaction not be televised or published. The company "acknowledged Mary's emotional distress" and agreed not to air any footage of her. However, when the plaintiffs asked them not to air the song's performance at all, for fear of "further emotional distress," America's Got Talent"maintained that they will exploit all footages of Jane and her husband and that they will not air those footages in their entirety."
The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial and claims "intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress along with civil battery and civil assault," per Deadline.
Neither Tyra Banks or the production company has commented on the suit yet.
A recentWashington Postop-ed that entitled "Melania and Ivanka Trump show the world what feminine power looks like" is being roasted for its definition of "feminine power."
Opinions: Melania and Ivanka Trump show the world what feminine power looks like https://t.co/pLhW5C5tHD
"Melania and Ivanka Trump stood as beacons of light in a part of the world that remains cloaked in the darkness of religious fundamentalism and oppression. Preternaturally beautiful, they seemed to glide as apparitions above the sea of dark suits and white robes and must have struck fear in the hearts of men whose culture demands that women be publicly invisible."
I'd say Donald wrote the op-ed himself but it had adjectives fancier than "huge."
That's right, to be a "beacon of light" is to stand there and look pretty!
It gets worse:
Wordlessly, they projected strength, intelligence, grace — and a timeless wisdom that all women share.
Wordlessly—as in, silently—they looked "strong" because they wore expensive, light-colored clothes in Saudi Arabia. That's all it takes.
Call us old school, but we think "feminine power" should involve words, articulating smart arguments and advocating for rights and freedoms.
Women are challenging this definition of "feminine power," which is the real feminine power.
Melania and Ivanka showed "feminine power" by being beautiful and silent? That's not what "power" means. https://t.co/RDVnJKwHXz
Maybe just me, but I don't think of "feminine power" as thing primarily enabled by having a wealthy father or being married to a wealthy man https://t.co/4XBBNLyaZG
In that they are the photo negative of feminine power, and when you develop the picture it's Simone Biles & RBG riding a tiger with a sword https://t.co/s2UHpT7SvJ
Um. This is...really terrible. It's White supremacist and xenophobic. The light/dark analogy. "Feminine" power through WW's looks? pic.twitter.com/C0uLRQLSQU
A new rule of the internet in Donald Trump's America is that for every Trump gaffe, there is an elegant troll from President Obama's official White House photographer, Pete Souza.
2. Request nude pics from someone out of the blue.
Look, if you and a consenting party want to send pictures of your bits back and forth all day, go for it! But when the request comes out of no where, it is just plain ol' creepy.
One woman discovered the best possible way to deal with a gross dude who wouldn't stop hounding her for nudes. The prank went viral on Imgur, and you are going to want to steal her trick:
Two days ago, the world was shaken by yet another terrorist attack outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. Since then, a lot of people, including celebrities, have taken to social media to express their condolences for the victims and their families, and to Ariana Grande herself. Kim Kardashian was one of those celebrities. However, her tweet prompted widespread backlash among Twitter users, who accused Kardashian of trying to make the tragedy all about her. Kardashian has now deleted the tweet.
Kardashian's now-deleted May 23 tweet featured a photo of herself, Kendall Jenner, and Ariana Grande having fun at a concert. "Concerts are supposed to be a place where u can let loose and have fun," the tweet read. "So scary not to feel safe in this world. @arianagrande I love you."
Kardashian followed up her original tweet with a separate one, this time without an image, offering her condolences to people of Manchester.
I'm praying for everyone in Manchester. This is truly so senseless & heart breaking.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 23, 2017
She also posted an additional message about "the fear and agony these parents must be going through" trying to find their kids in the wake of the attack.
I can't imagine the fear and agony these parents must be going through searching for their kids 💔
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 23, 2017
Despite her additional tweets, fans were still focused on the fact that she posted (and then deleted) a photo of herself.
— Stephanie Sidley (@StephanieSidley) May 23, 2017
Kim Kardashian really posted a pic of herself at a party with Ariana Grande as a tribute to what happened in Manchester
— WhoElz Rothschild (@juelzthatmana12) May 23, 2017
It's important to keep in mind that everyone responds to tragedy in their own way. After all, Miley Cyrus also posted a photo of herself with Grande after the news broke. Maybe Kim's tweet wasn't the best way to respond to the Manchester attack, but we have to ask: Aren't there more important things to worry about at the moment?
Side-eyeing Chloe will surely go down in the annals of internet history as one of the greats.She shot to internet fame in 2013 after a video of her reacting to her older sister Lily crying over a surprise trip to Disneyland went viral.
Spoiler: Chloe was NOT impressed.
Lily's happy tears over getting to skip school and go to Disneyland are really cute and everything. But it was Chloe, specifically her facial response to her sister's crying, that captured the internet's cold, snark-loving heart.
But while memes stay static forever, children grow up. And little side-eyeing Chloe is now 6-years-old and just as adorable as ever. But despite rising to childhood fame as an icon for the unimpressed, she seems happy and not-so-skeptical these days:
Three high schoolers in Florida have invented a simple gadget that can help prevent tragedy: a straw.
As part of a school project, students Victoria Roca, Susana Cappello, and Carolina Baigorri in Miami, Florida developed a straw that could detect date rape drugs, and they have a patent pending.
"Being young women, I feel like this is a problem that we hear about a lot, especially when we came to high school," Baigorri toldInside Edition. "It’s such a common problem. Statistics say it’s one in every five women, which is so many people."
The subtle straw has two strips on the end that could detect roofies (Rohypnol), GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid) and Ketamine, which as the Miami Heraldnotes, are "overwhelmingly the most common club drugs" used on women.
If traces of either drug are found in the drink, the tip of the straw turns blue.
The use of these drugs are not only used to facilitate rape, but as the girls note, are used for human trafficking as well. These tragic outcomes inspired the students to develop a product that is easy to carry and inexpensive to make.
"We know it’s not a solution because it can’t end rape, but we were hoping to lower the amount of rape and dangerous situations you might be in through drugs," Baigorri explained.
Cappello added:
Our impact is just to help people feel safe in their surroundings and be aware of what’s going on and just to make sure that where they are, and what they are drinking, is safe.
The three girls are working on taking their school project beyond the classroom. The team has been consulting test kit makers about manufacturing issues and potentially collaborating on the product, hoping to make it available at college campuses around the country.
A Russian news anchor named Linarte was delivering the news last week when a very friendly-seeming black lab crashed the live broadcast. Turns out, she's "actually a cat lady."
"I’ve got a dog here," she says in Russian, clearly struggling to stay calm. "What is this dog doing in the studio?"
She doesn't get answers. And for some reason no one comes to retrieve the dog. Eventually Linarte freaks out, in a very controlled, newscaster-y kind of way, and her reaction has gone viral.
You can watch it here:
It seems Linarte and the dog were finally able to reach some kind of peace accord, as Linarte gave the dog a pat on the head before revealing "I actually prefer cats."
Hopefully this poor dog doesn't understand Russian because that is just harsh.
Apparently, a Twitter troll had a problem with her tweet.
@chrissyteigen Christ! Do you have ANYTHING else to do with your time? Isn't your "class" ALWAYS working your fingers to the bone like a Denny's busperson.
Eugene and his boyfriend, Chris, go to Disneyland nearly every month. So when they went to Splash Mountain recently, Chris had no idea that Eugene had been plotting an incredible, sneaky, certain-to-go-viral proposal.
Keep in mind, that look of shock is from the ride.
Imagine his face when they went to collect the photo.
"I always knew I wanted to propose to him at Disneyland," Eugene told Someecards via private message on Reddit. He also shared a detail from the proposal with excited commenters:
I quickly hid the sign away after the drop and when we exited the ride we walked to see our photo and he was shocked. I got down on one knee and asked him to spend the rest of his life with me. He said, “yes”. :)
It was perfect for their relationship, but he didn't settle on the Splash Mountain plan until he saw a girl come out to her mother there—a moment that made headlines of its own.
That's when inspiration hit, and he enlisted the help of his niece and nephews to craft the perfect (water-resistant?) sign.
Unfortunately, Eugene's mother wasn't as supportive as his brother's family.
"I made a point to sit both of my parents down the day before the proposal to let them know my intentions with Chris," Eugene told Someecards. "They weren't overly supportive or interested and that's how they've always been since I came out almost 10 years ago."
Even though he expected their disappointing reaction, Eugene was surprised when his religious mother wouldn't stop insisting—after the proposal turned into the above, impeccable photo—that he avoid posting it to Facebook.
"She didn't want her family members, whom I'm friends with, to see and 'gossip'" about it.
"I didn't even receive a 'congratulations' from my parents," said Eugene. Just repeated requests not to share the photo. "So it was very heartbreaking for me."
After she kept insisting that Eugene not post the photo, Eugene says he "lost it and told her that I can post whatever I want."
"I don't care if she's ashamed of me," said Eugene, who was heartbroken at a moment that should have been joyful. "I decided, in anger, to post it on Reddit instead."
Eugene took to Reddit and vented: "My mom told me not to post it on Facebook because she's ashamed of me, so I'm posting it here for the world to see!"
Reddit did not disappoint. His photo was met with overwhelming support, as hundreds of supportive comments and thousands of symbolic thumbs-up rolled through in the form of upvotes.
Sometimes the internet is a good place.
"I didn’t expect the response I received," he told Someecards. But, he continued, "it definitely made me feel the love that I’d hoped I’d receive from my parents."
When we asked Eugene if he planned to show his mother all the support he'd received from the post, he wasn't sure:
"I’m just thankful to everyone on Reddit who saw and commented on the photo and to my fiancé’s parents who are so supportive and overjoyed with us taking the next step in our relationship."
Maybe his post will inspire the next Splash Mountain proposal, and the cycle of support, acceptance, and viral photos will continue for generations. We can only hope.
If you couldn't get enough of Making a Murderer and The Jinx, then get ready to be completely sucked into Netflix's new true crime documentary series, The Keepers.
Directed by Ryan White, the seven-episode docuseries explores the 1969 unsolved murder of nun Sister Cathy Cesnik in Baltimore, Maryland. But The Keepers differs from those other true crime shows in several ways: Cesnik is not the only victim, and the focus of the series is bigger than that one murder.
The Keepers takes a hard look at systemic sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the failure of the church and the American justice system to hold anyone accountable for it.
Cesnik, who was 26 at the time of her death, was a much-beloved English teacher at Baltimore's all-girls Catholic school Archbishop Keough High School. On November 7, 1969, Cesnik went to buy an engagement gift for her younger sister and never returned. Her car was later found right across from her apartment, with mud on its tires and a twig inside near the ignition. Cesnik's body wasn't found until almost two months later, on January 3, 1970. Her killer has never been identified.
Investigative journalist Tom Nugent calls Abbie "the intellectual" and Gemma "the bulldog."
The investigation into Sister Cathy Cesnik's death eventually went cold, but two of her former students, Abbie Schaub and Gemma Hoskins, decided to work together in recent years to find justice for their teacher. Schaub and Hoskins, both retired, have spent the last decade knocking on doors, interviewing people, and poring over old articles looking for information related to the case.
But Schaub and Hoskins weren't initially aware of a crucial piece of the story that could ostensibly relate to Cesnik's murder. As the series progresses, the focal point becomes not just who killed Cesnik, but why. As it turns out, many of the young students at Keough in the late '60s and early '70s were victims of repeated sexual abuse at the hands of a priest named Father Joseph Maskell. It turns out that Sister Cathy Cesnik was apparently one of the only people who knew about it.
Father Joseph Maskell, left, and Father Neil Magnus, right, both accused of sexual assaulting students.
At the heart of the show is Jean Hargadon Wehner, who, in her 40s, began to have memories of the abuse she'd endured at the hands of Maskell, which until then she'd repressed entirely. Along with another victim of Maskell's abuse, Teresa Lancaster, she filed a lawsuit in 1994 against Maskell, the school where Maskell had been employed, and the archdiocese of Baltimore. The statute of limitations for sexual abuse had long expired, but the women's lawyers argued that the case was still valid because both women had repressed their memories until the '90s. However, Paul McHugh, a Catholic psychiatrist brought in by the church, got the case thrown out on the basis of his "false memory" theory.
Jean Hargadon Wehner repressed her memories of Maskell's abuse.
The Keepers serves as a powerful look at the world of sexual abuse survivors and the victim-blaming that so often goes along with it. As Hargadon Wehner says at one point, speaking candidly to White in her kitchen, “Some part of this is really squelching people’s righteous anger and people’s need to make things public. Stop acting like we’re invisible. We’re not invisible.”
Dan Stevens and his blue eyes mesmerized audiences as a sexy buffalo in Disney's live action Beauty and the Beast, and his transformation from beauty to beast was way more complicated than a curse from an enchantress.
My, what a guy.
A behind-the-scenes video reveals the process behind unleashing Stevens's Beast and damn, it is hilarious.
ladies and gentleman. i present to you what we've all been waiting for, dan stevens doing the facial and body capture for the beast. pic.twitter.com/YYYfuf1RE8
