Pop Culture

In recent months, Republican lawmakers in a number of states have been quietly annihilating the rights of marginalized communities—mostly Black and Latinx people—via extreme, targeted gerrymandering. This week, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Texas, saying their redistricting maps are a violation of the Voting Rights Act. At a press conference, Attorney General

The boys are back on Calvin Klein’s Instagram. After doing an Instagram Live for the brand in which they called their briefs “undies” and talked horniness in deadpan tones, Machine Gun Kelly and Pete Davidson are at it again.  This time, in a 10-minute live, they got their nails done and hinted briefly about preparing

With Don’t Look Up, the filmmaker confronts climate change—and pandemic misinformation, and vampiric tech oligarchs, and the broken media. By Sam Schube December 7, 2021 Emma McIntyre A few hours before I speak with Adam McKay, news breaks that Staples Center, home to the Los Angeles Lakers, has entered into a new naming-rights deal that

Forty years later, Brooke Shields has been reflecting on the way she was treated as a 15-year-old after starring in a sexualized Calvin Klein campaign, labeling the whole experience as absolutely “maddening.” The model made an appearance on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast to discuss those infamous ads from the 1980s and the way she

As streaming services wrestle to nail down which episode rollout strategy will prove most fruitful, HBO Max has taken the “spaghetti at the wall” approach, cutting some series into mini half-seasons or, as is the case with The Sex Lives of College Girls, dicing up the show into seemingly arbitrary chunks. This strategy might smooth

Jussie Smollett took the witness stand Monday at his trial on charges of staging a racist, anti-gay attack on himself and lying to Chicago police about it. The actor who starred on the TV show Empire shared his account of what happened in January 2019 in an attempt to refute damaging testimony from two brothers

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced last week that he wants to create a little vigilante army that he, not the Pentagon, will control. As part of his state’s military budget, DeSantis allocated $3.5 million to “establish the Florida State Guard, a civilian volunteer force that will assist the National Guard in state-specific emergencies.” This would

Drake has withdrawn his two Grammy nominations, the organization behind the awards show has confirmed. A representative for the Recording Academy told the Canadian Press that the Canadian rapper asked to be removed from the two categories for which he received nominations. He had been nominated for best rap album for Certified Lover Boy and

From Licorice Pizza to sexy tailoring, the spirit of the ’70s is alive and well. Drink it in! By Jason Diamond December 6, 2021 Courtesy of Everett Collection/MGM As a teenager in the 1990s, I often felt as if I had caught a case of the 1970s. That is, the culture I was being fed—from

The Kansas-born World War II veteran was a mainstay in the Republican Party.  By Jordan Hoffman December 5, 2021 Bob Dole, the Republican from Kansas who served in the Senate from 1969 to 1996 before making a presidential run, died in his sleep on Sunday morning, according to reports. He was 98 years old. An

Director Amy Aniobi and costume designer Shiona Turini explain how episode seven made history for the Emmy-winning HBO show.  By Yohana Desta December 5, 2021 On Sunday night’s episode of Insecure, every detail of every costume was designed by a Black woman—from clothing to accessories to shoes. It’s a fashion first for the series, intentionally

Billie Eilish debuted her new brunette locks on Instagram this week before taking her look to the pink carpet on Saturday at Variety‘s 2021 Music Hitmakers Brunch in Los Angeles. The 19-year-old wore a monochrome burgundy ensemble including an enormous anorak coat that brushed the floor. Her loose fitting top and baggy pants in matching

[embedded content] With countless new series premiering nearly every day, it’s hardly a surprise that plenty of good shows fall through the cracks. One such show is HBO Max’s cerebral science fiction saga Raised by Wolves. Created by Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners), the series follows the story of two androids restarting humanity on a new planet

The spider-verse shall keep expanding.  By Jordan Hoffman December 5, 2021 With the live-action Spider-Man: No Way Home less than a fortnight away from swinging into theaters—and with demand to be there opening night so great that tickets are going for preposterous sums on the resale market—there’s no better time to chum the waters and

Speaking on the events that led to Halyna Hutchins’ death, Baldwin told ABC News “I can’t imagine that I’d ever do a movie that had a gun in it again.” By Grant Rindner December 3, 2021 Alec Baldwin during an exclusive ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos.Courtesy of Jeff Neira/ABC for Getty. It’s been more than

The pop-rock sisters turned a timely song parody into a possible tour announcement.  By Jordan Hoffman December 4, 2021 Haim, the Grammy-nominated pop-rock trio consisting of sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, presented the internet with a terrific sixth-night-of-Chanukah gift on Friday. With a caption that just read “Sandler we love you,” the trio posted

CNN announced Saturday that its most popular anchor Chris Cuomo has been terminated following revelations that he had aided his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, after he was accused of sexually harassing multiple women. Chris was suspended earlier in the week after new information came to light of his involvement with his brother’s

Couple Tom Holland and Zendaya made an appearance on the Graham Norton Show on December 3, while promoting Spider-Man: No Way Home. If you’ve seen them in photos together, you may have noticed there’s a bit of a height difference. Holland is about two inches shorter than his girlfriend and Zendaya is often styled in

The Gucci family, superhero movies, and even interviewers have all gotten a piece of the great director’s mind.  By Jordan Hoffman December 4, 2021 Sir Ridley Scott, who recently celebrated his 84th birthday, has had a very busy year, bringing two major motion pictures into the world while also saying exactly what’s on his mind

Protagonist Emily’s (Hailee Steinfeld) younger sister, Lavinia “Vinnie,” is the comedic and most original voice in Apple TV+’s critically acclaimed Dickinson. Now in its third and final chapter, this beautifully bizarre portrait of the artist as a young poet reveals Lavinia’s narrative arc in all its glory. When viewers are introduced to Vinnie in season

Show creator John Wilson explains his surprising feud with NXIVM’s Keith Raniere and Allison Mack, and why he felt personally “vindicated” by the cult’s destruction.  By Yohana Desta December 3, 2021 Here’s a story documentarian John Wilson thought he would never tell: When he was in college, he was in an a cappella group that

A guide to the very specific slice of ‘70s L.A. settings in PTA’s latest. By Keith Phipps December 3, 2021 Photographs courtesy Getty Images, Everett Collection; Collage by Gabe Conte “‘Are you really going to make another film in Los Angeles in the ’70s again? Don’t you think you’ve done that?,’” Paul Thomas Anderson recalled

By respecting his friend and subject’s request for anonymity, director Jonas Poher Rasmussen constructs a compassionate collage of sound and image. By Cassie da Costa December 3, 2021 Refugee stories are not always obscured by our media, but they are often distorted, with broadcast news segments and sensational dramas twisting the extreme oppression and abuse

Games of Thrones is the best TV show ever (pending if we’re pretending the last season never happened). Okay, maybe not the best, but it’s so good that multiple spin-offs are in the works. No, I’m not talking about House of the Dragon, though you should be hyped up for that too. I’m talking about

Alec Baldwin said on Thursday he assumed the gun he was holding was empty of live bullets before it went off and killed a cinematographer during a rehearsal last month on the set of his Western movie Rust. In an emotional television interview, the actor also said he did not see any safety issues on

Why do everything you can to ensure people don’t get COVID when you can demand the government let them get COVID? By Bess Levin December 2, 2021 As you’ve probably heard by now, the COVID-19 omicron variant has been detected in more than 30 countries, including the United States, and it’s scaring the hell out

We here at The Mary Sue, like much of the internet, enjoy speculating about how and when the Singularity will take over and we will all perish at the hands of sentient killer robots. Now, a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is lending some scientific analysis to our