The world’s most popular social media platform, TikTok, has made a bold and desperate move in hopes of changing its seemingly inevitable fate in the United States.

Last month, after two years of concerns that TikTok is a threat to U.S. national security, the United States Congress passed a bill to ban the social media platform unless ByteDance — the Chinese company that owns the app — sells the service. H.R. 7521, called the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” states that “Under the bill, a foreign adversary controlled application is directly or indirectly operated by (1) ByteDance, Ltd. or TikTok (including subsidiaries or successors that are controlled by a foreign adversary); or (2) a social media company that is controlled by a foreign adversary and has been determined by the President to present a significant threat to national security.”

In immediate response, TikTok CEO Shou Chew took to his platform to suggest that TikTok will fight against the ruling, saying, “The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail.”

Now, ByteDance has followed through with that promise by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. against the United States government, arguing that the congressional ruling meant to ban TikTok is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit reads, in part:

“For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide.”

TikTok also questions the evidence presented by the U.S. government to back their claims that the app poses a significant threat to national security, especially considering that the government, and not TikTok, shoulders the legal burden of proof.

Furthermore, the social media company states that a ban arising from unstated national security concerns does not justify the ban’s impediment to free speech. Many TikTok users agree with the company, believing that the ban ruling is an attempt to violate or at least curtail their Constitutional right to free speech.

Additionally, the lawsuit argues that Congress is creating unfair rules exclusively targeting TikTok, while not applying such rules to other social media platforms.

TikTok also suggests that if the ban were to occur, then it will only serve to silence millions of Americans who use the app. “The Act (law) will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025,” the lawsuit reads, “silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.”

The bill that bans TikTok, or attempts to force its sale, was passed by the Senate on April 23, 2024, and signed into law by President Biden the following day.

It’s time to raise the Jolly Roger and sail the seas under the black sails of plundering pirates in search of treasure, triumph, and revenge! Then again, maybe it’s best to settle for just watching such adventures.

Thanks to Netflix, the greatest show about pirates has been revived as Black Sails is now available on the streaming service. Originally running on the Starz network from 2014-2017, Black Sails justiciably received rave reviews. With the life of real pirates rarely depicted accurately, this series accomplishes just that despite being a work of fiction. It’s a realistic portrayal of pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730) as opposed to the cartoonish portrayals of the raiders of the sea in films such as Pirates of the Caribbean. Jack Sparrow wouldn’t last a day in this dark world of Black Sails.

The 4-season series acts as a prequel to Treasure Island, taking place about 20 years prior to the events of the famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson.

As a result, some of the pirates in Treasure Island also appear in Black Sails, though only a handful, and most are fictional pirates whereas others in the series are depictions of real-life buccaneers.

So, here’s a list of pirates in Black Sails who are also in Treasure Island.

Those watching the show who are unfamiliar with the book should take this as a spoiler alert because it obviously means that those mentioned below survive the series.

Long John Silver

We start off with the most famous fictional pirate in literary history. In Treasure Island, originally published in 1883, Long John Silver a one-legged pirate with a parrot on his shoulder. He walks with a peg leg and unofficially becomes the most imitated pirate character of all-time.

He’s untrustworthy and can be rather ruthless, but in Black Sails we see how he becomes a pirate, and actor Luke Arnold is truly exceptional in the role. As his wit keeps him alive, the series eventually shows how he lost his leg, and how John Silver becomes the feared Captain Long John Silver, though no prequel parrots are flying around.

Silver is arguably the most important character of the book and one of the two most important in the series, as his motives do more to twist the plot of Treasure Island than any other character.

Captain Flint

The dangerous Captain Flint makes this list on a technicality. No, not because Long John Silver’s parrot is named after Flint, but because Flint’s existence throughout the book and possible return frighten those who know the name.

As a boy reading Treasure Island, nothing is quite like the moment when the men finally approach the no longer hidden treasure only to suddenly, and rather shockingly, hear Flint’s voice. All is not what it seems however and some will argue that the end of Black Sails can be described in that same way.

Toby Stephens portrays Flint — rather, he is Flint. There is no point during the series where you’d believe he is an actor. You believe he is the character, I dare say he truly is, and he and Silver are the stars of the series.

Billy Bones

The first pirate we come across in Treasure Island is none other than Billy Bones. He’s a shell of his former self but his fear of Long John Silver in the novel’s early stages become adopted by the reader. In the series, we get to see Billy Bones in his better days.

8n terms of personality, no character is more different from Black Sails to Treasure Island than Billy Bones, and that’s saying something. Bones is just a drunk come the time period that the book takes place, trying to drown his fears away. He’s almost a completely different character in the series and it’s meant to show you just how far the man is from his former self. Actor Tom Hopper makes the role his own.

Israel Hands

Israel Hands is the only pirate on this list who is not completely fictional, having served under Blackbeard’s command. However, in Stevenson’s novel, there’s no mention of this and Hands serves with Long John Silver.

Black Sails puts all of those pieces together and gives us an unforgettable version of the character thanks to his initial introduction in the series — which is anything but kind to Silver — and thanks to actor David Wilmot who is nothing short of extraordinary in his performance.

Ben Gunn

In Black Sails, Gunn serves on Captain Flint’s crew and has many twists and turns to his story, yet the biggest twist is where he ends up.

Played by Chris Fisher in the series, Gunn is not a main character but becomes a very important one in the book. He doesn’t appear in Treasure Island until the story brings us to said island. That’s when readers get something they didn’t expect and, at least in this author’s opinion, might be the biggest surprise of the book. Once on the island, it becomes clear that someone is actually living there. Ben Gunn is that someone, though almost unrecognizable, having been marooned there for 3 years. His addition to the book is a genius move by Stevenson as you don’t expect to be introduced to an important new character once the story finally moves to the island.

Of all the pirate movies and pirate shows you can watch, Black Sails is must-see with 38 episodes that are worth the journey. Though not a pirate, there is one more character in the series that is also in the book, albeit unnamed in Treasure Island, but I’ll leave that one to you to figure out.

GMA host Robin Roberts almost found herself on ABC’s disabled list this morning, but viewers are wondering what exactly she did do, and is the injury she suffered serious?

Roberts showed up this morning with a cast on her right arm, sparking memories of her hosting the show with her right arm in a sling several years ago. That was after she had surgery for a shoulder injury believed to be the result of wear and tear from being a basketball player, and from never being able to stop playing tennis.

She’s suffered more right arm injuries than her co-host Michael Strahan, and he’s a Hall of Fame NFL player. This time it’s not a shoulder injury and, thankfully, it’s not too serious.

Roberts posted a video on social media of herself posing in a fighting stance, saying, “You ought a see the other guy.” Obviously, she was just joking, and explained that she fractured her right wrist after taking a tumble while playing tennis. No doubt the fracture happened on break point.

Despite the injury, Robin hosted the show as usual, without needing to punch anybody.
The always-athletic Roberts once again can’t get away from the tennis court, but who can blame her? As if tennis wasn’t already one of the more popular sports in the world, the movie Challengers — set in the world of tennis and starring Zendaya — premiered last month in Australia and this week in the States. It’s unclear if Roberts’ tennis partner that indirectly caused her injury is Zendaya, but my sources say no.

It’s not unusual for movies to experience bad weather while filming, delaying their shoot for days at a time. However, while filming The Empire Strikes Back in the late 1970’s a snowstorm made director Irvin Kershner get creative.

In a video uploaded to the YouTube channel, Hollywood’s Master Storytellers, Empire director Irvin Kershner recounts a story about the first day of shooting in Norway. Part of the shoot was meant to capture the many outdoor scenes in the film that take place on the ice planet Hoth.

However, when Kershner woke up on the first day of shooting there was a major snowstorm that was so bad that he, the cast, and the crew, were all practically snowed in at the hotel. According to Kershner, it was 26 degrees below zero.

He figured to get some shots of Mark Hamill that he needed anyway, depicting him alone outside the harsh conditions of snowy Hoth. So, they tried doing shots just outside of the hotel, but the film would crack because it was so cold.

Kershner realized that he had to keep the cameras inside while filming. So he was able to set up a camera in the hotel kitchen doorway.

The director explained that he then had Mark Hamill run outside alone as they filmed him from the comfortable confines of the hot kitchen. “I put the camera in the doorway of the kitchen. The crew was nice and cozy in the back. Poor Mark…he’d run out in the snow.”

When Kershner yelled “Cut,” Mark would run back to the kitchen and get warmed up before having to go back outside for next shot.

The scenes taken for this sequence were when Luke Skywalker is running from the Wampa, which Kershner describes as the “snow monster.” Kershner says that one of the shots is a closeup, and that Mark had to lay in the snow, yet did so just two feet away from the hotel’s kitchen door.

Star Wars fans certainly can envision Luke Skywalker laying in the snow after seeing the Force-ghost of Ben Kenobi. If you watch the behind the scenes footage, you can see them filming outside, nowhere near a hotel, but that particular closeup shot of Mark’s face is not seen, which seems to be the very shot Kershner was explaining.

Next time you watch The Empire Strikes Back, you’ll now see Mark Hamill in the snow, barely calling out Ben’s name and now know that he’s freezing his tail off while desperately looking into the kitchen two feet away.

The posthumous performance of Ray Stevenson in the Star Wars series Ahsoka is being rightly praised despite his somewhat limited dialogue in the series, something he makes up for with his commanding on-screen presence.

Stevenson’s depiction of the force-sensitive character Baylan Skoll relies heavily on subtle facial expressions and his skill of emphasizing certain words with particular emotions, which is imperative considering the very restricted script for his character.

Yet, to everyone watching, it’s all quite sad because earlier this year Stevenson shockingly passed away just a few days shy of his 59th birthday.

He suffered serious chest pains while filming the movie Cassino in Italy back in May 2023.  He was admitted to the hospital, but his chest pains worsened and he passed away the next day. No actual cause of death has yet been revealed.

One of Stevenson’s many memorable roles was as the infamous pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, in the award-winning Starz series Black Sails.

For those who have not yet seen Black Sails, I dare say turn away or consider the rest of this article a spoiler alert.

In the show, Teach is returning to seek out another pirate, Charles Vane, whom he had teamed up with on many adventures before and was a mentor to but who had also done him wrong the last time they saw each other. However, Teach wasn’t returning to take vengeance on Vane but rather seek him out to re-team with him. Why? As Stevenson so perfectly portrays in the series, Teach has something of a soft spot for Vane and sees him as the son he never had, something he eventually tells the fellow pirate.

Surprised over Teach’s sentimentality, Vane agrees to team up again with Teach but somewhat on Vane’s terms. Teach thus becomes a great help to Vane’s immediate aspirations.

Portraying a fearsome pirate with something of a heart is not exactly easy to pull off for any actor, but Ray Stevenson offered a model performance. His role, as a sword-slashing villain with complicated emotions, also likely greatly benefitted him in his role as Baylan Skoll, a lightsaber-slashing villain with complicated emotions.

However, Black Sails was not the first time he depicted a swordsman. Stevenson played Porthos in the 2011 film The Three Musketeers, which greatly swayed from the its source — a literary classic courtesy of Alexandre Dumas. In fact, the Musketeers sort of become pirates at one point in the movie, and even end up pirating on zeppelin-like balloons in the sky. It’s quite unique, really, though I personally prefer the 2014-17 series from the BBC, titled The Musketeers, which Black Sails coincidentally feels much more like, especially in terms of era depiction.

In episode XXIV of Black Sails, Teach reveals the single most motivating reason for wanting to forgive Vane and reconnect with him.

Teach is asked by a woman who knows him all too well what suddenly changed his mind about Vane. 

Stevenson then delivered his lines with a natural poignancy, something perhaps slightly unfamiliar to the series about plundering Pirates. “Things are different now. It doesn’t need to last long.”

Teach then follows up his cryptic statement with a further explanation while pointing to just above his heart. “A little Spanish shrapnel. It went in there when I was not much older than him. Once in a while it migrates, ticks closer to reaching its terminus and striking its chime.” Teach ends his explanation by moving his fingers an inch or two to his heart.

Teach had little time left before his heart would suffer and fail him. While watching the scene now, it’s sadly difficult not to think of Stevenson’s untimely passing, and the chest pains he experienced while his heart failed him.

“A grim little timepiece.” Teach tells the woman, while all-too-aware of his own mortality.

The scene, filmed in 2015, can serve as a haunting reminder for us all. It’s just a matter of time before we meet our own respective mortalities and that unwelcomed meeting could be much sooner than we expect.

Nonetheless, for Ray Stevenson, he was kind enough to leave us decades of such impactful scenes and other more joyous work, much of it without depicting a swordsman. He may have left this world, but so did his Ahsoka character Baylan Skoll — who journeyed not only to another world, but to another galaxy. 

Maybe that’s where we’re all headed.

Black Sails is now streaming on Netflix and I very highly recommend it.

Imagine being the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger — the Terminator himself — and watching him terminate your mattress by tossing it off the balcony then turning around and telling you to go make your bed.

The two biggest action movie stars of our time, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, sat down for an exclusive TMZ interview to discuss their respective careers.

Arnold and Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons was a one-hour special that recently aired on Fox and is currently streaming on Hulu. In the interview, Sly and Arnie open up about their dislike for each other early in their careers, their respect for each other later in their careers, and their friendship now.

The duo were interviewed by TMZ creator Harvey Levin, and during one portion of the sit-down they discussed the hardships of their respective childhoods. Arnold said that his abusive, alcoholic father was the reason why he was determined to get out of the house at an early age, emphasizing “I had a need to create my own world.”

Schwarzenegger pinpoints the abusive world that his father created as his motivation to get out and become something important. He admitted that he believes “that desire and that fire in the belly that we have,” referring to Stallone as well, is because of their horrendous upbringing.

Levin then brought up how their kids experience the exact opposite of them. The two agreed that their children are privileged and had a loving childhood, to which Arnold stated that it doesn’t mean that their children can’t still be successful, pending on what lessons they learn.

He then offered a rather interesting example, stating that his children had to abide by certain strict rules in certain things they did such as cleaning and other chores. However, if they took shortcuts then he would make it harder for them.

Schwarzenegger explained:

“My kids had to wash their own clothes, they had to wash their own bedwear, and every so often when I saw them cheating and someone else did it, I grabbed their mattresses and I threw it off the balcony of the bedroom.”

With Stallone and Levin humorously surprised by Arnold’s story, he added, “Then they have to drag it up again and they have to make the bed again.”

The interview continued as Schwarzenegger complimented Stallone for how he has raised his kids. Stallone didn’t have any wild mattress-tossing stories, however.

The interview is quite well done and the two movie legends are honest in their recollections as they discuss their rivalry and how badly they wanted to be better than the other. Stallone even admits to feeling extremely annoyed when Schwarzenegger won the 1977 Golden Globe for best newcomer despite Stallone having wrote and starred in Rocky. When Rocky then won best picture, Stallone reacted by tossing flowers towards Schwarzenegger who was sitting by, as a way to embarrass him. It’s a wonder Arnold didn’t at least toss them back.

Maybe he would’ve tossed something back if he had a mattress.

Mark Hamill has often said that he had no idea that the spacey 1977 film called Star Wars that he was starring in would be so successful. However, Carl Weathers once offered a slightly different take.

In a missed gem of an interview from several years ago, Carl Weathers told a story about Hamill that’s almost as good as Hamill’s own storytelling. In it, he makes it clear that Hamill practically predicted that Star Wars would become a box office hit.

The Rocky star was a guest on Sirius XM Radio’s The Dean Obeidallah Show back in 2017, when and began the story by telling Obeidallah that shortly after Rocky was released, Weathers was working on a show called the Streets of San Francisco. Looking at his television credits, Weathers appeared in one episode of the series, titled “Innocent No More,” that aired in 1977 and, indeed, Mark Hamill was also in the episode. Weathers actually plays a cop who arrests the character played by Hamill.

Weathers said that one day before shooting, he was approached by a young actor who was also appearing on the show, and who recognized him from Rocky. Weathers didn’t initially say who it was — it wasn’t until the end of his brief story when he revealed it was Mark Hamill, to the radio host’s joyful surprise. Of course, this anecdote took place a few months before the original Star Wars was released.

Weathers humorously recounted that Hamill came up to him and began complimenting him about his Apollo Creed role and on the success of the film. After the compliments wore out, Weathers claimed that Hamill decided to add one last thing, telling him, “I just made a little movie, finished it this year, and I think it’s gonna be as big as Rocky.”

Weathers thought that Hamill was being a bit overconfident, but admits that he himself told people that Rocky would be as big as Jaws. So, it was a dream big mentality that the two shared.

Now, for Star Wars fans, it seems unlikely that Hamill would say that, but considering that a man can dream — plus Hamill’s playful nature — he likely enjoyed telling Weathers that, though he may not have actually believed it. Maybe he was just wishing it and trying to will it into existence.

Nonetheless, Star Wars was indeed bigger than Rocky and both films spawned major movie franchises. Weathers even became part of the Star Wars universe with his role in The Mandalorian, which was after his interview with Obeidallah. However, Hamill hasn’t found his way into the Rocky world… yet.

Princess Leia was hot. I mean, literally. That was her problem while filming one particular scene in The Empire Strikes Back, as she briefly explained, in a resurfaced interview, that the heat in the room on-set was a bit too much.

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill appeared on the BBC show Blue Peter after Empire was released. For those unaware outside of the U.K., Blue Peter is still on the air and, in fact, is the longest- running children’s show in the world, having begun its run in 1958 when Star Wars wasn’t even a thought in the mind of George Lucas.

While Mark Hamill was busy petting a cat, Fisher was answering questions while playing with a turtle, and a dog sat between them. Personally, I thought it would’ve been more fun to see Fisher play with Salacious Crumb, but who am I to question the strange happenings on Blue Peter?

With turtle in-hand, Fisher was asked what scene what was the hardest part of Empire for her to shoot. She didn’t hesitate to answer.

”I think probably the carbon-freezing chamber,” she replied. “It says freezing but it was actually very hot. It was about a hundred degrees.”

Han Solo must’ve been secretly happy to be frozen in carbonite as Leia froze her buns off. Meanwhile, what was Peter Mayhew going through inside that already hot Chewbacca outfit?

Well, Fisher did bring up Chewbacca, as she explained that in the noted scene she embraces Chewbacca, and after numerous takes of doing that over and over again, things got hot between the two of them. Not romantically, that would be weird, rather the temperature was too much.

“After about two hours in a lot of heat like that,” Fisher said of being hugged by Chewbacca, “He doesn’t smell so nice.”

Perhaps they should’ve borrowed a line from the previous film when, in the garbage compactor scene, Han Solo tells Chewie, “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered!”

This might be the only scene in which Fisher wishes she actually was in her outfit from Jabba’s Palace in the Return of the Jedi. Instead, she was stuck in a sauna with Chewbacca while explaining her predicament to a turtle.

Before the Fisher and Hamill segment on Blue Peter ended, they present the movie stars with something called “Star Wars Stew.” It’s a kid’s recipe, and is a mix of a lot of things, including sausages, baked beans, onions, tomatoes, sweet corn, chips, potatoes, and — because it’s not enough stuff — cheese. Fisher and Hamill happily engage in the feast, though Hamill can be seen feeding it to the dog. The segment is quite a chuckle-jerker.

Chewbacca can be seen at the end but misses a golden opportunity to embrace Fisher. He walks in with Darth Vader and the droids, making kids wonder why the villain is hanging out with the heroes.

Noticeably missing is Han Solo, though it’s likely because he was stuck in Jabba’s Palace.

In the 1980s, there was an outbreak of “Darth Vader Syndrome”. Most people today are unaware of it, thanks partly that it’s no longer a significant issue. So, what was this bizarre syndrome and why was it named after the iconic Star Wars villain?

Over the last few weeks, while researching another project, I came across several newspaper articles from 1983-90, about Darth Vader Syndrome. I’d never heard about it before so I did more research and found over 40 articles printed in newspapers across the country from that time.

If you only knew the power of the Dark Side

Here’s the best way to explain what it is. Imagine being a kid in a house that’s suddenly on fire. You would be horrified, especially if trapped. As the smoke thickens, things get darker and then something approaches you that looks menacing, like Darth Vader, and is breathing heavy like Darth Vader, and is coming after you. What would you do? If the answer is scream and/or run around in panic then you’d understand this syndrome.

The figure approaching these kids in fires are, of course, firefighters. They’re wearing masks and you can hear them breathing through those masks as they approach in the smokey darkness.

Firefighters had a real problem. Children were actually running away from them when the firefighters were trying to rescue them, creating a worse situation where the firefighter would have to chase them and save them as the child’s fear only grew.

One newspaper quoted Captain Gibbs Hammond, a fire prevention education officer for the Knoxville fire department, who said, “There have been documented cases of children running back into a burning room after seeing a firefighter, who looks like a monster, at the door,”

This is also why it’s also referred to as Monster Syndrome. Apparently, the Children’s Television Workshop — producers of Sesame Street — coined the phrase “Darth Vader Syndrome” and began to spread awareness of it in the early 1980’s and tried to teach kids that a firefighter is a real-life Superman despite looking like Darth Vader.

Why did it disappear?

Firefighters began doing more frequent demonstrations at kindergartens and elementary schools. Almost every newspaper article I read about it referred to an upcoming event that firefighters were doing for children, partly to help them not be afraid of them in their gear. They would show kids how they put on the mask, what it sounded like, and tried to make it fun. Some children still felt the mask was too scary but parents were encouraged to teach them that even though firefighters can look scary in their gear, they are there to help

The mention of Darth Vader Syndrome significantly decreased in the 1990s, suggesting that it was no longer an issue. I reached out to my cousin, a NYC firefighter, and asked him about this. He said it’s definitely no longer an issue because, as he admitted, he never even heard about it before.

It’s likely that one other reason why this is not the major problem it once was is that the character of Darth Vader was at the peak of his popularity during that time, which was when the original Star Wars trilogy was being released, and although he is still a major character, it’s not quite like what it was then. His villainy used to scare children in the 1980s, whereas kids today want to dress like him for Halloween.

Now, there’s even a Darth Vader that visits Children’s Hospitals to brighten the day of the kids there. It’s probably accurate to say that most children today actually see the character as cool.

That doesn’t mean that they can’t develop a fear of masked firefighters but it’s far less an issue than it was when Darth Vader was every kid’s nightmare.

Hip hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion is facing a lawsuit from freelance photographer Emilio Garcia, involving harassment allegations and an unusual event that Garcia claims he was forced to witness.

Garcia, who worked as a photographer for the star vocalist, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Megan Thee Stallion, born Megan Pete, which alleges that Garcia was the victim of verbal abuse, harassment, and an overall hostile work environment.

The lawsuit describes a specific event when Garcia and Pete were in Ibiza in June of 2022. They were traveling in an SUV with three other women when, Garcia alleges, Megan Pete began performing sex acts with one of the woman.

Garcia explained to NBC News that he felt “frozen” and “uncomfortable,” while ultimately feeling shocked over the women’s actions.

Days later, Garcia claims that his pay was reduced when Megan decided to no longer pay him the usual monthly agreed-upon rate and, instead, pay him on a per-job basis. However, he also claims that Pete began degrading him, verbally harassing him, and created a hostile work environment which included calling Garcia “a fat bi***,” and telling him to spit out his food because Megan allegedly suggested he didn’t need to eat.

Garcia stated, “To hear someone who advocates about loving your body tell me these things, I felt degraded.”

Through her attorney, Megan Pete states that the allegations are simply an attempt at a money-grab by Garcia.

“This is an employment claim for money,” Megan’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said, “with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her. We will deal with this in court.”

Garcia has not worked for the Grammy winner since June of 2023. He told NBC News that he feels he was taken advantage of partly because “there’s no HR department in the entertainment industry.”

Megan’s attorney pointing out that Garcia didn’t file any harassment claim is a reference to California law requiring someone to file a workplace harassment claim with the California Civil Department before they can sue the employer. However, Garcia had explained in the lawsuit that Megan forced him to send her a monthly invoice in order to get paid, which further emphasizes that he’s a freelancer. The irony of this is that it means employment laws are thus non-applicable in this instance.

How the lawsuit itself plays out might not be Megan’s biggest concern. If it’s not uncommon for her to verbally harass those that work for her, then it’s likely that others will come forward to support or verify Garcia’s claims. If that doesn’t happen, however, then the court of public opinion may not be in favor of Garcia. If it does happen, then Megan the Stallion’s skyrocketing career could face a significant hurdle, regardless of the result of this specific lawsuit.

The intended rewards from Wrestlemania XL for multiple wrestlers have quickly turned into unscripted issues that has forced the WWE to change its plans, though such is not atypical for a wrestling company.

Dominik Mysterio’s situation is the latest such issue.

If you’ve been watching wrestling recently then you might be asking yourself, “What’s going on?” A lot has to do with wrestlers’ contracts. For instance, what’s going with Matt Hardy? Was he just faking a return to WWE? What about the surprising WWE releases of Xia Li and Jinder Mahal? Will they head somewhere else?

However, the best question might be “What’s going on with The Judgement Day?”

For those not in the know, The Judgement Day is a small group of wrestlers whose current impact on the WWE is undeniable. Wrestlemania XL, which occurred over the weekend of April 7, 2024, was good to them, but will it now all come crashing down thanks to unforeseen events?

On night one of Wrestlemania XL, Rhea Ripley successfully defended her Women’s World Championship against former title holder Becky Lynch. Then, night two saw Damian Priest win the World Heavyweight title despite not being scheduled for a match. The Judgement Day walked away with two titles and, on top that, arguably the most despised villain in the game in “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio, not to mention the former Universal Champion, Finn Bálor.

Then, during a scripted backstage attack by Liv Morgan on Rhea Ripley during the first Monday Night Raw after Wrestlemania XL, Ripley suffered a legitimate shoulder injury. One week later, after getting an assessment from doctors, WWE had to make a decision. Ripley would be out for at least several weeks, if not a few months. It meant that the organization couldn’t keep her as champion so, since she was in no condition to drop her title in a short match, WWE had Ripley vacate the title due to injury. That’s when the Liv Morgan attack was played up as her ending the one-year reign of the champion, though it’s actually true — hey, sometimes the storylines write themselves.

The former tag team partners seem destined for a match at some point which could very well happen at SummerSlam in August if Ripley can return by then.

Then, on the April 22 edition of Raw, another twist. On the same night that Becky Lynch won that vacant title via battle royal, where she tossed aside Liv Morgan last, Dominik Mysterio showed up in a sling just like Ripley did a week earlier. Unfortunately for wrestling fans, it turns out Mysterio is also legitimately injured.

WWE is set to hop across the pond for some multiple European shows including the next major event, which is the annual follow-up to Wrestlemania, appropriately called Backlash. Mysterio, a major character, could still show up and play a part in some developing storylines, but WWE is reportedly leaving him behind.

WWE Backlash will be in France on May 6. Events will also be held in Italy and Austria leading up to the big event. Not having Mysterio even show up at Backlash is a blow but the European Tour is very short, essentially a week, though they return for Clash at the Castle on June 15, so the WWE likely sees bringing an injured Mysterio along for the ride as unnecessary.

With short-term plans for The Judgement Day derailed, will this significantly change the long-term plans for the villainous faction? There is one decision that the WWE made that might reveal the answer.

Finn Bálor, the most feared wrestler of The Judgement Day, was allegedly being lured by the AEW due to his WWE contract coming to an end. However, it’s being reported that Bálor’s contract was renewed and it was for “big money,” though no specifics were immediately released. Although it doesn’t guarantee that The Judgement Day will continue it’s popular ride — considering Bálor can go his own way — it would be a questionable pivot if the WWE were to break up the band.

Mysterio’s timetable to return to the ring is presently unknown, which is not a good sign. In fact, what injury he suffered exactly has not been reported. Ripley’s return is also unknown but it may not be for several months pending on how her injury heals.

Losing two of the top performers in the business is not at all a good situation for the WWE, nor for the immediate future of The Judgement Day, but if Finn Bálor’s contract renewal is a sign, along with Damian Priest holding the Heavyweight title, then not all will be doom come Judgement Day.

Content advisory: This article mentions child sex abuse and assault, please take care while reading.

Bill Maher pulled no punches while taking shots at Disney in a rant sparked by the recent docuseries Quiet on the Set that also found Maher surprisingly defending “evil governor” Ron DeSantis.

Maher ended his weekly Real Time show with his usual “New Rules” segment and this week he began it by bringing up the 4-episode Max docuseries Quiet on Set, which was so popular that they produced a follow-up episode. The series mostly focuses on child stars who were sexually abused while working at Nickelodeon, including by Brian Peck, who was found guilty in a court of law of sexual assault of Drake Bell, yet only served 16 months in prison. Clearly furious over this — like most normal human beings would be — Maher noted that he believes it’s every adult’s job to protect children.

In disgust, Maher characterized Quiet on Set as “Scene after scene, clip after clip, of the child stars of their day being subjected to obviously inappropriate, highly sexualized degradation.”

Maher, who’s politically described himself as a “classic liberal,” surprised many by bringing up Florida governor Ron DeSantis to say something positive about him, as he pivoted from Nickelodeon and segued to Disney. Maher stated, “It must be pointed out that when the evil governor of Florida was saying the exact same thing about kids and creepy stuff at Disney — that liberals now find intolerable at Nickelodeon — he was dismissed as a hick and a bigot.”

Maher was mostly referring to those defending Disney over DeSantis’ claims that the Mickey Mouse company sexualized children.

Maher then took aim directly at Disney, as if in a mood to find out how it can be so different from Nickelodeon, considering it’s the other major company in Hollywood that’s built around showcasing children as stars of their content.

First, Maher noted, “A 2014 CNN report discovered that at least 35 Disney employees had been arrested for sex crimes against children.”

Maher went on to mention former Disney child star Alyson Stoner, who once said she “narrowly survived the toddler-to-trainwreck pipeline.”

Another former Disney child star, Cole Sprouse, once said that “young actresses at the Disney channel were heavily sexualized,” which is something Maher also brought up.

Then, Maher surprised everyone by turning it political, saying, “DeSantis wasn’t wrong but we’re so tribal now that the left will overlook child-f***ing if the guy from the wrong party calls it out.”

Obviously fed up, Maher reserved his deepest anger for one more shot at Disney in regards to Brian Peck, making one wonder which company was worse in their relations with the convicted child molester: Nickelodeon or Disney?

“Get this,” Maher said, “after Brian Peck, who was one of the lead creeps at Nickelodeon, served 16 months in prison for the molesting he did there — Disney hired him!”

Enraged, the long-time host added that Disney had him “work on a children’s series!”

The frustration of Maher is felt by all rational people in this society, regardless of their political affiliation. The only people he didn’t call out were those in Hollywood who defended Brian Peck at the time, but he did blast Hollywood altogether with one last jab. Despite the comedian being in no joking mood he saved that one, though with a sad tone.

“For pedophiles in Hollywood,” Maher told his audience, “it’s a small world after all.”