You Can't Hate a Celebrity Into Irrelevance.
On July 5, The Sunday Times ran a column under a near-perfect headline: "The will-they won't-they Harry and Meghan show — please make it stop." The catch is that the column is itself another episode of the show — the plea to end it is one more turn of the wheel. That's the paradox in a single byline, and it isn't about one writer: everyone asking the Sussexes to fade from view, from tired columnists to furious repliers, is helping keep them in frame. The machine that decides who stays relevant doesn't read your sentiment — a hate-share and a fan-share are the same fuel — and the only thing that would actually make them irrelevant, everyone looking away at once, is the one thing an outrage economy can't produce. This isn't a defense of the Sussexes, who sell that attention as hard as anyone. It's a look at the trap we're all in.
Joshua Henry Lost the Tony Three Times. On His Fourth Nomination, Broadway's Best Voice Finally Won.
You've probably never heard of Joshua Henry. Watch thirty seconds of the clip below and you'll wonder how that's possible. For over a decade he's been one of the finest voices on Broadway — nominated for a Tony three times, and each time sent home empty-handed. This year, on his fourth try, he finally won.
Radio Isn't the Thermometer. It's the Furnace. Lizzo's New Record Never Got Lit.
Everyone agrees Lizzo's new album flopped — and everyone assumes it's because the songs are bad. Almost no one asked whether that's even how hits are made. It isn't: the machine that makes a song stick — radio rotation — never ran for this record. That doesn't make the album good. It makes "it's bad" the one thing no one can actually prove.
Oprah Said Whitney Relapsed — and That She Shielded Her. The Internet Convicted Her in 48 Hours, and That's the Real Story.
At Cannes, Oprah said Whitney Houston had relapsed and fell at her final taping — and that she begged the audience not to leak the photos, to protect her. Whitney's estate disputes it: a sound check fall, and “absolutely not high.” The family had every right to correct the record. The crowd that skipped straight to “drag Oprah” — before she'd said a word — did not. The speed of the swing should worry you more than the story did.