5/20/2024: Jack-not!
PLUS: Bankrupted by Shrimp; Butker Jersey Sales Skyrocket; and Sussex in Scandal
Today is Monday, May 20, 2024.
It is the 141st day of the year.
225 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
Another attempt to free the ship responsible for the Baltimore bridge collapse and Saturday’s Preakness dashes hopes for a Triple Crown winner in 2024. Details in HIT LIST.
A damning video of SEAN COMBS comes out and CHER turns 78! More in SHOWBIZ.
“Goodfellas” gets a warning and a “Harry Potter” baking series lands on the Food Network. Details in CASTING CALL.
BIANCA is not on board with YE’s porn plans. More in KARDASH.
A totally unnecessary scandal dogs the Sussexes, again. Details in ROYALS.
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HIT LIST
If you ever wondered how RED LOBSTER could possibly make money on its endless seafood promotions, it turns out they didn’t.
Last summer, the seafood restaurant chain added an “endless shrimp” offering to their menu permanently as a draw for new customers. For $20, customers got all the shrimp they wanted to eat. And eat they did.
The first three months of the promotion racked up $11 MILLION in losses. Company brass says it underestimated how many people would take advantage of the promotion, instead of it working as a loss leader to drive new sales.
The next quarter, the company lost $12.5 MILLION.
Thai Union, the chain’s principal owner, is now looking to sell off its stake — at a $500 MILLION loss. The company suddenly announced dozens of restaurant closures last week. [via DailyMail]
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FINALLY: The Dali, the ship that impacted and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in late March, will return to port today if all goes to plan.
Last week, crews used targeted explosives to separate the ship from a piece of the bridge where it impacted.
High tide is expected early this morning.
WORTH NOTING: The two-dozen-some crew members have remained on the ship this entire time. Reps for the company that employs the crew say they’ll remain on the ship. At this point, their work visas have expired, leaving them in limbo for how to proceed. [via CNN]
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A New Jersey woman alleges that Bally’s in Atlantic City is refusing to pay out the seven-figure slot machine prize she won at the end of February.
Roney Beal says she spent hundreds on a “Wheel of Fortune” themed slot machine before it indicated she won a $1.2 MILLION jackpot and a multiplier.
But when casino staff came by, one reportedly told her, “Lady, get it in your head, you won nothing” — claiming the machine had malfunctioned. Staff opened and changed the settings on the machine before anyone had the chance to investigate the situation.
Now Beal has lawyered up and is seeking the full payout to be enforced by New Jersey Gaming Enforcement. [via ABC 6]
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Seize The Grey won the 149th Preakness Stakes on Saturday, crushing Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan’s hopes of a Triple Crown.
With the win, 88-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas became the oldest to win the Preakness. Also, it was his seventh win, making him one victory from tying fellow trainer Bob Baffert’s record.
The final chapter in the Triple Crown -- the Belmont Stakes -- will take place at Saratoga Race Course on June 8.
FOR THE RECORD: The last Triple Crown winner was Justify in 2018. [via NY Post]
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The city of Kyle, Texas hosted an event on Saturday to break the world record with the most people who share the name of a city gathered in one place — but came up short.
By the end, 706 Kyles showed up in Kyle, Texas, falling well short of the 2,325 Ivans who got together in Ivan, Bosnia in 2017 to set the record.
Government data shows that Kyle is far less common than Ivan in America, anyway: In 2023, Ivan ranked the 153rd most popular name; Kyle came in at 416th. [via NBC News]
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DEATHS
Actor DABNEY COLEMAN has died.
He passed away Thursday at his Santa Monica home. No cause of deaths was shared.
Coleman is best known for his roles in “9 to 5,” “Tootsie, “Boardwalk Empire” and “Yellowstone.”
He was 92.
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WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
10. Unsung Hero: $1 million (down from 6)
9. The Blue Angels: $1.3 million (new)
8. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: $1.7 million (down from 5)
7. Tarot: $2 million (down from 4)
6. Back to Black: $2.8 million (new)
5. Challengers: $2.9 million (down from 3)
4. The Fall Guy: $8.4 million (down from 2)
3. The Strangers: Chapter 1: $12 million (new)
2. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: $26 million (down from 1)
1. IF: $35 million (new)
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW increased 134 points (0.34%) to close at 40,003 on Friday — a record high close. The S&P added 6 points (0.12%) to close at 5,303 and the NASDAQ lost 12 points (0.07%) to close at 16,685.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $80 on Friday; BRENT CRUDE at $84.
⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.59 on Sunday.
₿ BITCOIN was up slightly on the weekend, trading around $66,770.
🛩 There were more than 4,960 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Sunday and more than 75 such cancellations.
💰Tuesday night’s MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be for a $421 million jackpot or a $195.9 million cash payout. Tonight’s POWERBALL drawing will be for a $88 million jackpot or a $41.4 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
Recently released camera footage allegedly shows SEAN COMBS assaulting then-girlfriend CASSIE VENTURA at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles.
According to the L.A. District Attorney, the rapper will not be charged with the assault because it occurred in 2016, which is “beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”
The video backs what Ventura claims she experienced during her 11-year on-again, off-again relationship with Combs, who she says also forced her to have sex with male prostitutes. [via Billboard]
Combs addressed the video on Sunday, saying he “takes full responsibility for his actions,” adding that “it’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life.” He also claims to have “sought out professional help” after the incident. [via TMZ]
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SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER’s charges are expected to be dropped at tomorrow’s arraignment after he was arrested Friday while trying to enter Valhalla Golf Club, where the PGA Championship was taking place.
The No. 1-ranked golfer was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic. The first charge is a felony and the other three are misdemeanors.
Scheffler still hit the green Friday after his release.
BY THE WAY: There is no video footage of the incident that led to his arrest. [via NY Post]
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Country singer ZAC BROWN has filed for a temporary restraining order against his estranged wife KELLY YAZDI after she made an Instagram post that he says violates their confidentiality agreement.
The filing will force Yazdi to remove the post, and stop her from making “false, defamatory or harmful statements” against him.
While it is unclear exactly which of her posts prompted the filing, there was one from earlier this month that discussed dealing with narcissistic abuse.
Brown and Yazdi tied the knot in August 2023, only to split four months later. [via Page Six]
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ALEC BALDWIN’s defense team argued Friday why they believe his manslaughter case should be thrown out, arguing that the prosecution failed to make defense witnesses available to the grand jury.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer appeared to sympathize with the claim, telling prosecutor Kari Morrissey, “Common sense tells me you should have reached out ahead of time.”
Marlow Sommer said she will issue a ruling on the matter this week. If the indictment gets tossed, the prosecution could refile the charges -- for the third time.
Remember, Baldwin was first charged in January 2023, but months later the case was dropped over questions about whether the gun worked properly. He was then recharged last fall. [via Variety]
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Despite the intense backlash over his recent commencement speech, Chiefs kicker HARRISON BUTKER’s jersey is now a top seller, even being dubbed the “Most Popular in Kansas City Chiefs” by the NFL Shop.
Elsewhere, a Change.org petition has nearly 200,000 signatures “demanding” the Chiefs release the kicker over his “sexist, homophobic, anti-trans, anti-abortion and racist” remarks.
The petition also states that “sports figures should be role models.” If that’s the case, where are the petitions for those who have been charged with assault (RASHEE RICE, VON MILLER, and CAM SUTTON) or have nearly a dozen children with multiple women (TYREEK HILL) or who get angry during a game and chuck their helmet on the ground and aggressively shove their coach (TRAVIS KELCE)?
If so many fans have an issue with Butker’s Christian beliefs being shared at a Chrisitan-based institution -- that is outside of football -- then shouldn’t there be the same uproar over COLIN KAEPERNICK sharing his beliefs on the football field? [via USA Today]
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Swifties think TAYLOR SWIFT was sporting a hickey on her neck during her recent concert in Sweden, calling the look So High School.
“Travis Kelce had a big appetite,” one person commented on a snapshot of the love bite.
Swift’s stop in Sweden comes days after she spent some time with her Lover on a romantic Italian getaway. [via Page Six]
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When asked how CHER plans to celebrate her 78th birthday (today), she told ET that she will be “putting [her] pillow over [her] head and screaming.”
She also told E! News that she will be “putting [her] head under the bed.” [via ET, E!]
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CASTING CALL
There is now a trigger warning that plays before the opening scenes of “Goodfellas” on AMC, letting viewers know that the film contains “language and/or offensive cultural stereotypes that are inconsistent with today’s standards of inclusion.”
The network says it added the warning in 2020, but it seems that enough people have seen it now to cause an uproar.
While the movie does contain casual racism and misogyny, the fact of the matter is that those things are consistent with the times. It is a period piece about the tough New York City streets after all. [via TMZ]
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A “Harry Potter”-themed baking series is heading to the Food Network this holiday season.
“Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking” will “celebrate the global phenomenon like never before, through elevated and innovative cake creations,” according to a press release.
Filming will take place at the Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England, where the movie was shot. [via People]
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After the success of Netflix’s roast of TOM BRADY, some think New York Jets QB AARON RODGERS should be next in the hot seat, but sports journalist STEPHEN A. SMITH doesn’t agree.
“With Tom Brady, I mean, he’s the golden boy. With Aaron Rodgers, even though I love him, a lot of people don’t. Because of that, some people will find it funny [and] some people will be intentionally cruel,” he told the Associated Press.
Instead of Rodgers, Smith suggested LEBRON JAMES or STEPH CURRY get roasted. [via X]
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
BIANCA CENSORI is reportedly not on board with YE’s plans to enter the porn industry.
An insider tells In Touch that she is “freaking out” because she thinks he will want her to “perform in the films,” after “strutting her around and dressing her like she’s a porn star.”
The source also insinuated that talks of Yeezy Porn is the “last straw” for Censori when it comes to their marriage.
Rumor is…Ye wants to eclipse the notorious porn tape that launched ex-wife KIM KARDASHIAN to stardom with one featuring Censori. [via In Touch]
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE returned from their non-royal-tour of Nigeria last week, and some bad press came with them.
TURNS OUT: The owner of the airline who provided them free travel around the continent is wanted in the United States on fraud charges. Dr. Allen Onyema owns Air Peace, a private airline; he was also indicted in November 2019 for laundering more than $20 MILLION through American banks.
Onyema did not accompany the Sussexes or their team for any of the trip. A rep for the airline says, “It was just the royals and their entourage… They were given everything they wanted. It was an exclusive experience … Everything was complimentary.”
SO NO: Totally not throwing a luxury experience worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at influential people connected to the height of global power by a guy who would probably very much like to not be wanted in the United States for laundering millions of dollars. [via DailyMail]
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DAY OF THE YEAR
World Bee Day
Weights & Measures Day
International Clinical Trials Day
International Red Sneakers Day
National Band Director’s Day
National Quiche Lorraine Day
National Rescue Dog Day
National Be a Millionaire Day
National Pick Strawberries Day
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ON THIS DATE
325 - The First Ecumenical Council is held.
Roman Emperor Constantine the First convenes the bishops. There were some things to work out, like determining when to celebrate Easter.
They forbade self-castration and usury - that would be priests giving out loans and charging crazy interest rates.Also, they ruled churchgoers could not sit or kneel during Mass on Sundays.
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1609 - Publisher Thomas Thorpe publishes an anthology of William Shakespeare's sonnets in London.
There were 154 poems in total.
This is about the same time his plays “Cymbeline” and “The Winter's Tale” were first being performed.
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1862 - Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
It gave settlers moving West the deed to up to 160 acres of land, as long as they could show evidence that it had been improved over the last five years.
By the time the program would be discontinued in 1886, the government would have granted 1.6 million homesteads about 420,000 square miles of federal land. That's about 10 percent of all of the U.S.'s territory.
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1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis are granted a U.S. Patent.
Jacob Davis was a tailor working in Reno. He had the idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the pockets on what were called "denim working pants.” Not having the money to do it, he partnered with Levi Strauss, who had been running a successful fabrics and clothing store in San Francisco.
The pair filed for and received the patent, and the modern blue jeans were born.
The first pairs sold for $3 a pop.
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1927 - Charles Lindbergh departs Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York in his plane Spirit of St. Louis.
He would make the first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight by air, landing in Paris the next day.
The flight lasted 33 and a half hours.
Five years later…
Amelia Earhart becomes the first female to accomplish the same feat. This time she flew a Lockheed Vega.
She took off from Newfoundland, Canada at 7:12 pm.
The flight was not without its peril. Poor weather hit, she dealt with a broken altimeter, and had gas leak into the cockpit. She almost crashed when the plane went into a downward death-spin and flames started shooting out the exhaust manifold.
But the next day she landed safely on the coast of Ireland.
It would be during a 1937 attempted flight around the world she mysteriously disappeared, and was never confirmed found.
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1956 - The first airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
Called Operation Redwing, the drop was the second of 17 in total. This one, called Cherokee, weighed in at 7,600 pounds, was three feet wide and about twelve feet long. 3.8 megatons were unleashed in the test.
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1979 - Elton John is the first western pop star to tour the USSR.
The reason he was the first? He “simply asked first.”
In the following decade, James Taylor, Santana, the Doobie Brothers and Billy Joel would all follow suit.
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2015 - David Letterman hosts the “Late Show with David Letterman” for the last time.
He hosted the show for 33 years.
Stephen Colbert would be announced as his successor a week later.
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2018 - K-pop boy band BTS are the first Koreans to perform at the Billboard Music Awards.
They would leave the event with the award for Top Social Artist.
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BIRTHDAYS
Doug the Pug - internet sensation - 12
Olivea Morton - actress, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” - 15
Omar Apollo - pop singer - 27
Josh O’Connor - actor, “Florence Foster Jenkins” & “The Crown” - 34
Jon Pardi - country singer - 39
Rachel Platten - pop singer - 43
Matt Czuchry - actor, “Gilmore Girls” & “The Good Wife” - 47
Busta Rhymes - rapper - 52
Timothy Olyphant - actor, “Justified” & “Santa Clarita Diet” - 56
Earl Charles Spencer - Princess Diana’s brother - 60
Tony Goldwyn - actor, “Scandal” - 64
Cher - pop singer - 78
Born On This Date
Joe Cocker - rock singer - 1944 (d. 2014)
Bill Hewlett - co-founded Hewlett-Packard - 1913 (d. 2001)
James Stewart - actor, “It’s A Wonderful Life” - 1908 (d. 1997)
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