Meghan Markle is THE story with American Riviera Orchard and she has laid low (not in a Kate way) since then – a great strategy.
I loved reading all your emails and as many comments as I could (and yes Janice I am a c-nt, thank you for noticing). The overall sentiment is that a lot of people want Meghan to win, whatever that looks like for her. ARO’s first drops will be hot - I expect the first 3-5 product uploads to sell out instantly. There will be wait lists. As for the British press, well obviously they are freaking out and will criticise anything she does. If the products she launches are artisanal and small batch, it will be “out of touch.” If it’s inexpensive items, it will be “hawking junk”. They are going to snark on the products, the creators of those products and the stories behind those products. (In line with her previous work, there’s a hope that women and particular BIPOC women ARO will featured prominently, which will of course send the UK press over the edge – I can see the “woke jam” headlines now.) That same group of moldy dishrags will also be ordering as much as they can. Trust and believe Piers Morgan will try to get his grubby little hooves on it all. He’s obsessed.
The Reel below is by Clevr Blends, a company Meghan invested in.
Bill Maher reupped his contract with HBO for another two years, but that’s not the headline. The headline is that he then fired his agency because he wasn’t invited to an Oscar party at Bryan Lourde’s house. I need to know the exact timeline of how things went down: had Bill previously been invited and was left off just this year? Did his assistant follow up asking where the invite is? Did Bryan hand out invitations on the playground and Bill was the only one to not get one? Did Bill spend the night on social media looking at his friends having the best time at the CAA party? There’s so many possibilities. And to fire them after the deal was done must really be bothering Bill because that means CAA still gets the commission.
Ben Platt’s Dear Evan Hansen went from Broadway hit to big studio film to social media meme – it has had quite a journey. Ben continues to be a major player on Broadway and has a new single, which brings me to the promotional photo. Is he wearing TWO denim jackets? Not a shirt and a jacket. Not even a shacket and jacket. Those look like two proper jean jackets. I’m agog at the styling here.
Bowen Yang has been making headlines for defending Ariana Grande on his podcast and you know what? I get it. There are the outsiders (us) reading the gossip but for Bowen, this is someone he has worked with and grown close to over the past couple of years. From that angle, I see where he is coming from. Sometimes a good friend can have a messy personal life, that is part of adulthood even if the TikTok scolds don’t understand nuanced adult relationships. Also, for Bowen, this is his world now. He’s crossed over to the other side and if he did have any spicy takes on his coworkers, spilling them on a podcast would be professionally dangerous. This is what Tina Fey was warning him about.
The headlines about Kelly Clarkson suing her ex-husband business and business manager Brandon Blackstock are a little misleading. Kelly is countersuing to collect on a judgement she’s already been awarded from Blackstone and his dad (E! has a good summary). Her legal team is responding to his filings. Oh and his spousal support, $115k/month, expired in January 2024.
