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Jennifer Lopez Went Full Jenny From the Block for Her 2018 MTV VMAs Performance


Before Jennifer Lopez took the stage for her career-spanning performance at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, presenter Shawn Mendes pointed out that the awards were being held at Radio City Music Hall, just 13 subway stops away from the Bronx, where J.Lo grew up. It was a poignant lead-in to an electrifying performance that provided a stunning snapshot of her sprawling career. Now excuse us while we try to regain our composure.

J.Lo was on hand to accept the 2018 Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, honoring her lifetime achievement in music. But all that became secondary when she appeared in a blue and gold Versace robe that she quickly shed to reveal a shimmering gold bodysuit. And from there, it was on. J.Lo kicked off the medley with “Waiting for Tonight,” then seamlessly transitioned into throwback hits like “On the Floor,” “Let’s Get Loud,” “Dance Again,” “Ain’t Yo Mama,” “El Anillo,” “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” “All I Have,” and “Jenny From the Block.”

And since no J.Lo performance would be complete without a myriad of on-the-fly outfit changes, she made sure to give us plenty of that too. At one point, she flung on a white fur coat, then disappeared, only to reemerge in a gold tracksuit, snapback and all.

Oh, and did we mention there was dancing? So. Much. Dancing. It’s no wonder her boyfriend, Alex Rodriguez, couldn’t contain his ear-to-ear grin from the audience. We were right there with him, especially when Ja Rule emerged to assist J.Lo on the classics “I’m Real” and “Ain’t It Funny.”

She eventually wrapped up the 10-minute performance with a surprise cameo from none other than DJ Khaled, who provided his unique brand of, er, vocals for her latest hit “Dinero.” Overall, it was a heart-stopping reminder of why J.Lo is and always will be one of the best to ever do it. Now excuse us while we watch it again, and again, and again.





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A Federal Judge Ruled That Donald Trump Can't Block Users on Twitter—and of Course Chrissy Teigen Has Thoughts


A federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that Donald Trump is in violation of the Constitution when he blocks users on Twitter, as he so often does.

In making her ruling, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald wrote that “no government official—including the President—is above the law, and all government officials are presumed to follow the law as has been declared.” She continued, “While we must recognize, and are sensitive to, the President’s personal First Amendment rights, he cannot exercise those rights in a way that infringes the corresponding First Amendment rights of those who have criticized him.”

In short, Buchwald holds that the “interactive space” where users can engage with the President’s tweets should be considered a public forum and blocking people based on their political viewpoints is a violation of their First Amendment rights.

At least one celebrity critic of Trump is looking forward to interacting with POTUS once more. Chrissy Teigen tweeted a video of herself watching news coverage of the decision with the caption, “Well well well we meet again @realdonaldtrump”.

Trump infamously blocked Teigen last July after a fairly innocuous tweet in which she said, “No one likes you.”

At the time she said, “It’s been a long time coming. I have been very anti-Trump since The Apprentice, like when it first started, so it didn’t start during the presidency like everyone thinks. This goes pretty deep.” But it’s not like she was all that bothered. “I don’t even follow him [on Twitter], so I’m definitely fine being blocked,” she continued. “There’s just this part of me that’s so happy that he had to actually do that. It’s just funny.”

The case that resulted in Wednesday’s ruling was brought to court by the Knight First Amendment Rights Institute of Columbia University on behalf of seven individuals who had been blocked by the @RealDonaldTrump account. “We’re pleased with the court’s decision, which reflects a careful application of core First Amendment principles to government censorship on a new communications platform,” Jameel Jaffer, the Knight Institute’s executive director, said in a statement on their site.

“The President’s practice of blocking critics on Twitter is pernicious and unconstitutional, and we hope this ruling will bring it to an end.”

It’s not clear at this moment when or how users once blocked will become unblocked. Will it be en masse? One at a time? Is there a prioritized list? We shall have to wait and see.





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Amal and George Clooney Gave Out Noise-Canceling Headphones on a Plane to Block Their Twins' Crying


It is a truth universally acknowledged that it’s majorly stressful—for parents and nearby passengers alike—to travel with a newborn baby. But new parents Amal and George Clooney, of course, have already mastered the art of flying with two infants on an international flight.

Sources told Page Six that during a recent flight to the UK, the Clooneys “gave all the first-class passengers noise-canceling headphones” just in case their 6-month-old twins Ella and Alexander started crying in midair. The headphones were reportedly emblazoned with the logo of Casamigos, Clooney’s tequila company, and came with a note “apologizing ahead of time” for any noisiness from the twins. Among the recipients of the headphones was Quentin Tarantino, per the insider, but the new parents’ preparedness was all for naught. “The babies didn’t make a peep!” the source said.

Amal and George Clooney aren’t the first air travel experts to distract their fellow passengers from any potential tantrums with material goods. Other parents have passed out ear plugs, goody bags, and gracious notes. And during a flight from New York City to Long Beach, California, around Mother’s Day in 2016, JetBlue actually rewarded passengers every time a baby cried: For each cry sesh, passengers received a voucher for 25 percent off a future JetBlue flight. Needless to say, tears and tantrums on the cross-country flight were met with cheers and applause rather than eyerolls and grumbles.

Related Stories:

Amal and George Clooney Donated $1 Million to Fight ‘Violent Extremism’ in the U.S.

We Finally Know How Amal and George Clooney Met, and It Was Love at First Sight

George Clooney Opens Up About Having Twins With Amal: ‘It’s Going to Be an Adventure’



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Ivanka Trump Supports Her Dad's Choice to Block Equal Pay Legislation


The Trump administration is doing away with an Obama-era initiative to close the gender wage gap—and Ivanka Trump is okay with it.

To hold employers accountable for promoting equal pay, former President Barack Obama created a rule requiring them to release salary data categorized by gender and race. It was set to go into effect in spring 2018—but now, thanks to the Trump administration, it never will.

Obama’s rule was “enormously burdensome,” Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, told the Wall Street Journal. “We don’t believe it would actually help us gather information about wage and employment discrimination.” As a result, the Trump administration decided to block it.

Some wondered what Ivanka Trump, who serves as her father’s adviser, might have to say about this—given that she’s made wage equality one of her causes. On Equal Pay Day, she wrote on Facebook that “closing the gender pay gap is critical to the economic empowerment of American women,” and that she would “work towards this goal alongside my father.” And when she announced her global Women Entrepreneurs Fund, she cited combating the wage gap as one of her goals.

But Ivanka has been criticized for paying lip service to gender equality without doing much to further it. She’s stayed silent on her father’s decisions to cut funding for women’s healthcare and remove other Obama-era legislation to protect women in the workplace. In fact, she told the Washington Post that she tries not to give her dad her opinion at all. Her book, Women Who Work, claimed to help women get ahead in the workplace—but it was widely denounced as relevant only to a privileged few.

So it’s perhaps no surprise that Ivanka is standing by her father, as usual. “Ultimately, while I believe the intention was good and agree that pay transparency is important, the proposed policy would not yield the intended results,” she said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. “We look forward to continuing to work with EEOC, OMB, Congress and all relevant stakeholders on robust policies aimed at eliminating the gender wage gap.”

The Anne Frank Center—among others on Twitter—have called her out for this statement, using it as further proof that she’s mostly talk and little action when it comes to gender equality.



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Did Kim Kardashian Block the Snake Emoji From Her Instagram Account?


Let’s take a trip down memory lane to Sunday, July 17, 2016. It’s late. You’re about to crawl into bed and dream about work being canceled the next day, when all of a sudden your phone starts blowing up. “Kim exposed Taylor,” 19 people texted you simultaneously. What!? WTF does that mean? Exposed what? Exposed how? Were these people referring to Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift or just two random people named Kim and Taylor? So many questions, but you’re too tired to find the answers.

You begrudgingly log onto the Internet, and that’s when you see it: Kardashian’s lengthy Snapchat Story, which features her husband, Kanye West, and Swift having a detailed phone conversation about his song “Famous.” You’re immediately reminded of the drama that led to this phone conversation: Swift claimed she didn’t approve of West calling her a “bitch” on “Famous,” but both he and Kardashian said the opposite. According to them, Swift absolutely green-lit the lyric—and she was excited about the controversy.

Kardashian published this phone conversation to set the record straight, but it honestly didn’t confirm anything one way or the other. Yes, Swift and West talked about “Famous” during their chat, but not the “bitch” lyric specifically. All this proved was that Swift knew about the song in general, but not the details.

Of course, this didn’t stop the Internet from praising Kardashian for “exposing” Swift. The hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty quickly popped up on Twitter, and fans started spamming Swift’s account with the snake emoji to show their disdain.

Why the snake emoji? That’s what people were using at this time to bully Swift. This started happening after Swift’s ex-boyfriend, Calvin Harris, went on a Twitter rant about her, but it really ramped up after the Kardashian drama.

But now Swift is fighting back. On Monday (August 21), she started dropping mysterious snake videos on her Instagram page. These clips led to the announcement of her new album, Reputation, which seems to be a clap-back to everyone who trolled her last year—including the people who called her a “snake.”

She’s officially reclaimed the snake emoji as a positive symbol, and her fans are living for this. They’ve reclaimed the emoji, too—but now they’re using it against Kardashian. Just look at this recent message Kardashian posted to Twitter; several Swift fans replied to it with—you guessed it—snake emojis.

Is this petty? Absolutely. Kardashian, though, still isn’t standing for it. According to BuzzFeed, the reality TV star has blocked the snake emoji from her Instagram page—which means people can’t use it in her comments section. A BuzzFeed staffer wrote the snake emoji on Kardashian’s page but then noticed it disappeared when he tried to view it from a different account. Interesting.

Apparently, this is a thing you can do. If you go to Instagram’s settings and select “comments,” you can set a filter that prevents certain phrases from appearing on your page—including emojis.

So…did Kardashian do this because of Swift? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s totally possible she’s just afraid of snakes now and doesn’t want to see them. They are snakes, after all.



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