ROLL CALL
A round-up of what's on the docket
After a long and hectic week, we returned from a road trip up north to celebrate our anniversary at the dreamy Monterey Plaza Hotel, where Mike napped and practiced mastering songs on new slide guitar. And I juggled champagne & romantic dinners overlooking a blanketed stretch of gray rippled sea views while unwinding a new chapter of the Hollywood photo mystery hunt on IG and tracking the manic tide Kanye is currently riding. There was little time for rest or relaxation, but who's complaining? We ate and drank well. And Hayes, a last-minute tag-along, spent hours scouring the scene for sea lions ducking in and out of the water and constructing lego creations on the bed beside me with the sound of aquatic wildlife below us.
Other notable successes? My skin is newly hydrated thanks to Samantha, the spa gal who sweetly sold me on the benefits of an oxygen facial, where I spent 60 blissful minutes in complete silence. Unplugged, unthinking and unbothered. I am terrible at self-care, but this hour-long facial proved to me what a mistake I'm making by completely neglecting it.
I realize that work bleeding into romantic weekends is not ideal, but it’s life these days. Mingling work and family, business with pleasure, and online scandal with real-life romance.
And with the way everything is colliding, I don't really have a choice. Not if I want to avoid being buried by the looming feats of October and November, which is basically trial stacked upon trial. Hence, a roll call. To swiftly round up what's ahead with these stretching (intertwining) storylines, content focal points, and perks of a paid newsletter subscription.
KANYE: It’s a rough life for a Kanye stan, let me just say it out loud. Maybe I don't even need to tell you. But once you accept it, it keeps getting rougher.
As we know, he's declared war on just about everyone in his path. But mainly BLM, Addidas, GAP, mainstream media, the Kardashians, “nazi liberals,” Gabby with the bad boots, and approximately 87 other celebrities that have pissed him off or liked a post denouncing or degrading him. Yes, he’s all ego. With big mad Gemini vibes on display always, but the sad thing is as erratic and explosive as he behaves (the antisemitic comments this weekend instantly turned off potential listeners and undermined all his other valid rants) he is addressing points no one else in his position would dare touch. In turn, opening up space for conversation where it’s slipped away.
I respect that he is rejecting the liberal orthodox that the entertainment industry not only demands but enforces. The truth is media doesn’t know what to do with Black conservatives. So they berate and discredit them. I just wish he would have stopped before he erupted with rage and insulted the entire Jewish community so viciously. How can he now speak about how uncomfortable voices like his make people who preach about diversity, inclusion, and tolerance, but crave political surrender, when he is igniting further division with these statements?
Before that remark, I argued that he is exposing industry secrets but also bringing new (alternative) actions and ideas to the table using provocative measures. It’s an interesting conversation if people are willing to let their guard down. I know he’s ranting, raving, funny, annoying, and relentless, so I see why he turns so many off, but I just can’t let go. I’m in too deep. Even with the train off the track. Even with the awful anti-Jewish comments staining his reputation and message. I am inclined to sit back and watch where this all goes. Curiosity is not a sin.
As I’ve said before, I don’t agree with him on many points, but I appreciate fearless fervor. Even it comes in the form of manic expressionism. A provocateur on a whim, using humor and shock to buck the status quo.
I think he's smarter than they give him credit for.
Did you watch the Fox interview? He seemed quite sane to me. Thoughts?
Also, what do we think about this?
PHOTO MYSTERY HUNT: In contrast to these other grim tales, this little gem shines bright. A true crime mystery centered around some pretty fabulous visuals, famous faces, and exotic backdrops. A story bonded by old (glorious) friendships and new (kismet) connections that highlight the kinder aspects of the internet. Which is probably why I take so much pleasure in unfolding it. Feel-good stories are a rarity these days. And just wait till we dive deeper into the back story of these two lovely people at the center of this. Anthony Russell and Chris O’Dell.
You’re going to love them as much as I do.
GHISLAINE MAXWELL: The Maxwell series unfolding here (at this stage) is vital because of a few different reasons:
The internal legal wars inside Maxwell’s legal woes link closely with some heavy hitters at the root of corruption attached to the Weinstein saga.
She and her team are closely watching this trial to see where W’s unexpected NY appeal will take (or free) him.
The MeToo conversations circle back to her story, trial, and conviction.
So I must compliment the directors of my simulation, who saw it as a fun twist to inject Lady Ghislaine’s West Coast arrival into the script. The grand yacht docked at the Marina del Rey harbor, upon my home passing. It’s clever work, guys.
Bravo.
KEVIN SPACEY: How wild it is that the trio: Spacey, Maxwell, and Weinstein, are all battling demons of their past in courtrooms dedicated to the old sex crimes that surfaced in the wake of the MeToo explosion? Disrupting the epicenter of this tight-knit circle that threaded Hollywood with dirty Washington politics for over two decades. One is in jail, two are in court, but yet Clinton and Wexner still sleep soundly knowing exactly where the long arm of the law stops short.
Later this week I’ll recap what is happening in this trial with Spacey + share the anon stories I received about his notorious groping and shameless harassment on set.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN: It's going to be a long six weeks! But I'm intent on dragging you all into the center of it with me. This time around I'm coming prepared, approaching all angles with an independent team of journalists, sketch artists, and photographers to help document the scope of this trial from a unique perspective.
Coverage will be behind a paywall, so if you are at all interested in watching this unfold, you'll want to stick around here for sure.
BRAD AND ANGIE: An email I received last week (evidence included to support claims attached) kind of rattled me. I’ll expand on it later, but just know this is not a wine trial. It's a war of reputations. And it will be brutal. Unless one party decides to settle out of court instead of taking it to a public stage for all of us to judge and devour.
To end with a slice of related gossip: My young (trusted) Hollywood scene insider recounted details of the recent date between Emily Ratajkowski (a close friend of a mutual friend) and Brad. Sounds like Brad is still hurt and healing.
“I got that tea.. so they went out on a date and Emily said that it was cute but not that fun .. she said that he's apparently just really sad and wimpy about what happened with Angelina and that she doesn't think she can date bc of it.”
Kanye is sane. He has very valid talking points, but he just happens to go against the grain of mainstream Hollywood thinking, so he’s branded at ‘crazy’.
It’s ok to not agree with everything a person says and still like them as a person. In today’s polarized society, having civil conversations and listening to each other’s opinions with open minds, without arguing, and eventually agreeing to disagree and part ways still having respect for one another, is a rarity and it saddens me to my core.
I’m looking forward to every single thing you have outlined here! I’m here for allllllll the tea! Thank you for your unbiased true journalistic reporting! 💗
Thanks Jessica for this update. In all honesty , I can’t help but to pull for Brad, I went to college w/him at MU in the 80’s. He was a Sigma Chi & my sorority sisters & I hung out w/he & his friends all the time. I still keep in touch w/Sev of his fraternity bros. In fact, ironically now neighbors with one. In college he always had dreams of Hollywood , but it went in one ear & out the other. Back then he was adorable, but very skinny. For years he kept in touch w/many Sigma Chi brothers & would fly several of them to LA, Vegas, or NYC for one of his premieres or a guys weekend. Mainly LA. Once he started dating Angie , she made him change phones, & the communication stopped abruptly. Concurrently the guys had no way of getting in touch w/him. His family, from what I’ve heard never cared for Angie & were always leery. I feel for him, but at same time, it was his choice.