We are collectively watching a catastrophe unfold online in Los Angeles. It’s an incredibly dangerous, quickly changing situation. 

 

Lainey wrote about it this morning and for those of us not in LA, all we can do is wait and see what needs to be done.

 

Hulk Hogan made an appearance at WWE Raw and was heavily booed by the crowd in Inglewood. This is interesting because Hulk Hogan IS wrestling. Then he became a reality TV star and took down Gawker in a lawsuit that Peter Thiel helped fund. Looking back at that lawsuit, it’s as tricky then as it is now: would publishing Hulk’s sex tape be considered revenge porn as laws catch up to the cyberworld? And is watching Peter Thiel taking on Gawker for his own satisfaction any different than Bezos owning The Washington Post? 

 

But back to the Hulk: it turns out you can go home again, but you might not be welcome. What was always a safe space for him isn’t anymore and I don’t think it’s the politics (he endorsed Trump). Wrestling fans are not a monolith but they are extremely loyal and he showed up in a cheesy way to promote a beer and I think the fans were just like “f-ck this guy.” Sometimes it really is as simple as that. 

 

Hilaria Baldwin is up to her old tricks (pretending to be Spanish), this time forgetting how to say “onion” in English. This is either an elaborate piece of performance art or I don’t know, something I can’t diagnose. And this isn’t live TV, where she has no control – she filmed it, watched it, then posted it! And she knows that we know she isn’t Spanish. Maybe she’s hoping she will wear us down to the point that we don’t care anymore and accept the lie? To be honest I’m nearly there. 

 

Today I wrote about the Jessica Alba split and there’s another celebrity breakup that happened over the holidays that’s been a bit quieter, Lily Allen and David Harbour. In a new podcast episode, Lily said she isn’t in a good place and taking a step back from work.

 

Photo credits: MediaPunch/ BACKGRID

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