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Peter Weber Fired Back At Critics Who Trolled Him and Kelley Flanagan—Then Deleted His Comments


Former Bachelor Peter Weber has been supplying tons of quarantine content lately. After keeping his fans amused with singalongs on his Instagram stories, he started sharing a few videos that offer a glimpse into his lockdown situation with Kelley Flanagan—who he’s been quarantining with in Chicago.

On April 18, Weber shared a new TikTok video where he climbs onto Flanagan’s shoulders (it’s actually pretty impressive), but some people who are hyper-aware of Weber and Flanagan’s past had thoughts. Basically, they started trolling the pilot in the comments, reminding him that he’d kicked Kelley off of his season and chose Hannah Ann (and eventually Madison Prewett, who he only dated for approximately two days.

However, Weber was not about to let the critics get to him. He went through the comments and responded cheekily to a lot of them and tried to make light of the whole situation, according to Cosmopolitan. For example (because there were a bunch), when a social media user teased, “Kelley sweetie blink twice if ur ok,” Weber hit back with the wide-eyed emoji. “Kelly = CEO of being the last possible option,” another user wrote.

To that, Weber responded, “Ok, it’s not like I sent her home the night one…”

One screengrab of his comments section from April 18.

However, it seems he changed his mind about feeding the trolls and decided to delete his comments. He didn’t reveal why, but this is what the same TikTok comments section looked like just a day later:

Screengrab from Peter Weber's TikTok.

A screengrab of the same comments section from April 19.

His initial responses might be a hint that Weber and Flanagan are getting serious, but speaking to Nick Viall on the podcast The Viall Files, he insisted they’re still not putting a label on things.

“Are we dating? No. Do I love spending time with her? Absolutely,” he said. “We’re not dating. Could I see that in the future? Yeah, of course. I’d be extremely lucky and very happy if that happened. I’m the last person that needs to rush into any kind of relationship. I just had an engagement that didn’t work out. I just was trying to pursue things with another woman that didn’t work out. That’s why right now. I’m just taking it really, really slow.”

Keep an eye on his TikTok account for updates…and magic tricks.



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I Always Take My Kids Trick or Treating. This Year I Was Fired.


This Halloween marks the official end of my 17-year tenure as a trick or treat chaperone. It was a good run. Like a well-behaved mother of the bride, I kept my distance, took lots of pictures and helped myself to refreshments—Mike and Ikes and the occasional paper cup of cider (preferably spiked). I have no regrets about any of it, and I always looked forward to those chilly fall nights as the season opener of my down vest. So when my 11-year-old announced my retirement, it took me a minute to understand what was happening. She said, “Mommy, I was thinking I’d go trick or treating alone this year.”

I said, “Won’t that be a tiny bit sad?”

A look of pity passed over her face and, suddenly, I knew what was coming—knew it right down to my fingertips, the same ones that carried her pumpkin when it was overflowing. This was a service I provided: candy sherpa.

“Oh,” she said. “I’m going with my friends. Just, like, without you.”

Of course I gave her my blessing. Who am I to stand in the way of an independent giraffe?

**

I hated Halloween as a kid. Dreaded it. Even in the years when I would have given anything to be someone else, I loathed dressing up. Sweet or frisky? Black cat or Madonna? And then there was the whole issue of who to trick or treat with and which neighborhood to go to and what kind of bag to carry and whether or not I’d need a coat. Windbreaker or cardigan? I was relieved when I outgrew the whole ordeal.

From there, trick or treating evolved into Halloween parties, including one where I had my first-ever long chat with my now-husband; and the occasional wacky colleague wearing an antenna headband on October 31. Realizing, Right, it’s Halloween. How liberating it was to buy my own fun-size Kit-Kats instead of asking a stranger to fork them over! I developed an appreciation for gourds, candy corn and pumpkin ravioli.

And then I had kids. For the first few years, I planned their costumes with my mother-in-law; she’s crafty, I’m lazy. My older daughter was an apple, then an eggplant—we were going for a produce theme—and then a dinosaur (Diner Horse, as she called it). At two-and-a-half, she came to visit me in the maternity ward in all her green felt splendor, spun around for the nurses and warily offered peanut M&Ms to her hours-old “sister-brother.” She was on the fence about the brother part.

The next Halloween, he was a black cat and she was a ladybug. We read books featuring witches, goblins and Clifford the Big Red Dog dressed as a ghost. We carved pumpkins, toasted the seeds, baked pumpkin muffins (from a mix, but still), marched in parades, trick or treated in our apartment building and went to a costume party where, in the space of an hour, every guest ran the gamut from elation to hysteria. I bought a pair of jack-o-lantern knee socks at the drugstore. I was fully-invested in Halloween.

Pretty soon my kids started planning their own costumes. The oldest and youngest were twin zebras; Dorothy and the Tin Man; a ladybug and a bumblebee. My son was Superman, LeBron James, and then LeBron James again. When he entered his Harry Potter phase, I perfected the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. It couldn’t be black or red; it had to be a realistic rust-color. I watched a YouTube video multiple times just to get it right.

Every year, my kids asked why I didn’t dress up. Some parents did—the fun ones who would put a red nose on the grill of their minivan in December. I told them I was a witch the other 364 days of the year; on Halloween I preferred to be a nice mom who said yes to everything. Now I wonder, why didn’t I put on a costume? How hard would it have been to go as the Cowardly Lion or Hermione?

What are you? It’s a surprisingly meaningful question. For me, October 31 is as good a time as any to mull it over. Anything is possible. Isn’t that the whole point of Halloween?

Two years in a row, hurricanes swept through our town—first Irene, then Sandy. Both times, we were without lights, heat or hot water, so trick or treating was the least of my concerns. But after Sandy, a friend who had power invited the neighbors over to her house, where kids trick or treated from room to room. Superior parents chose high-traffic zones like the mudroom and the living room; I grabbed a bag of Snickers and high-tailed it to the third-floor bathroom where I gorged in peace, huddled under a fleece blanket. When I finally emerged, I found a pack of monsters with masks on top of their heads, little hands wrapped around bowls of homemade chili. Someone handed me a goblet of wine. I took a deep breath—warm and spicy—and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the best Halloween we’d ever have. I was right.

But power or no power, rain or shine, my favorite moment of the holiday has been the same year to year. It’s the one when my kids and their friends finally get to answer the question they’ve been waiting for since the day they picked their costumes months ago, usually round the Fourth of July or when the first Halloween catalogs start arriving in the mail.

The question is simple, and constant through the ages: What are you?

Ask this of a group of kids on a crisp October night when the leaves have just started to fall and the sky isn’t quite dark and the neighborhood echoes with “Trick or treat” and “I’ll trade you Almond Joy for Nerds!” Shoulders straighten; chins lift; feet plant firmly on the ground, each one claiming the space it deserves.

One little girl says, “I’m Wonder Woman.” Another says, “I’m Cleopatra.” A third: “I’m Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” (The lucky ones will grow up to be a combination of all three.) Even the boy dressed as a carton of milk announces himself proudly, as if he’s ready to get poured into the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

What are you? It’s a surprisingly meaningful question if you tend to overthink things, as I do. When was the last time you asked this of yourself? Some people wait for January 1. For me, October 31 is as good a time as any to mull it over. Anything is possible. Isn’t that the whole point of Halloween?

This year, I’m ready to step into my new role at the front door. Let some other mom smile at her toddlers from the end of my walkway. Vampires and fairies, Oreos and bananas, Pete and Arianna, Meghan and Harry—you’re all welcome at my house. Even you, Melania (but leave your husband on Air Force One). I won’t ask too many questions of our visitors because my teenagers will be waiting in the wings, mortified. But I do want to know what you are, and I want to give you one piece of advice, the same one I’m giving my giraffe: Tomorrow, be yourself.



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Taylor Swift's Backup Dancer Reportedly Fired After Posting Sexist Things on Instagram


A Taylor Swift backup dancer is coming under fire for reportedly posting a series of sexist and problematic Instagram Stories. The music news Twitter account Pop Crave captured screen shots that it claims came from Swift’s longtime background dancer, Kim “Toshi” Davidson.

The contents are offensive, to say the least: One suggests the Australia women’s soccer team should go “back to the kitchen” because they had a losing season. Another has the caption “every girl’s weakness,” alongside pictures of chloroform, a dish cloth, a forest, and a black van. The third photo makes a “joke” about sexual assault, which is disgusting, full stop, but even more deplorable because Swift herself is a survivor. (Swift recently won a lawsuit against a radio DJ who groped her at a meet-and-greet in 2013.)

According to the Daily Mail, Swift is “livid” over these posts and has fired Toshi as a result. (We reached out to Swift’s rep for confirmation and will update if we hear back.) Toshi, interestingly, was not at Swift’s latest Reputation Stadium Tour stop over the weekend. The two have worked together for years; in 2015 Swift even donated $50,000 to Toshi’s GoFundMe for his infant nephew, who had cancer.

Naturally, Swift’s fans are supporting her—as they always do in times like these.

Swift’s next concert date is this Friday, June 1. Stay tuned to see whether Toshi makes an appearance.

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These Emotional Celebrity Speeches From the 2018 Women's March Will Get You Fired Up


One year after millions of people took to the streets in what became the largest single-day protest in the history of America, the Women’s March returned, reignited by movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, as well as the fight to protect DACA and immigrants’ rights. And that’s really only the beginning. (The government shut-down and Trump’s recent comments about nations like Haiti provided ample fodder to fuel the crowds’ frustration—and creative sign-making.)

In rallies across the country—from New York City to Atlanta to Los Angeles—celebrities took to podiums to shine a spotlight on topics like sexual harassment and racial justice, as well as rally crowds to vote in the midterm elections later this year. Speakers like Natalie Portman and Halsey made explicit references to their own experiences with sexual harassment and abuse. At Sundance, lawyer Gloria Allred pushed to bring back the fight for an equal rights amendment, saying, “No one has ever given women their rights,” and adding: “We have been fighting for almost 95 years just to put women in the constitution to protect the rights of our daughters and we are going to have it.”

Here are the highlights from some of the most emotional speeches at the various Women’s March rallies.

Viola Davis, Los Angeles
“Every single day, your job as an American citizen is not just to fight for your rights, but it is to fight for the right of every individual that is taking a breath, whose heart is pumping and breathing on this earth. I am speaking today not just for the ‘Me Toos,’ because I was a ‘Me Too,’ but when I raise my hand, I am aware of all the women who are still in silence. The women who are faceless. The women who don’t have the money and don’t have the constitution and who don’t have the confidence and who don’t have the images in our media that gives them a sense of self-worth enough to break their silence that is rooted in the shame of assault and rooted in the stigma of assault.”

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Alyssa Milano, Atlanta
“I really want you guys to look around at each other. I want you to look around and I want you to realize, that this, this right here is what democracy looks like. It doesn’t happen automatically. It demands our action and participation. It challenges us but it also empowers us because at the end of the day, it is us. With [the] two words [‘me too’], we regained our dignity and #MeToo connected us through our pain but it also connected us, and this is very important. It connected us each one of us to our own power and by saying #MeToo, we formed a bond that is unbreakable. We formed a movement that is unstoppable and when time comes time to vote, you’re gonna prove that it’s also unbeatable. Voting is how we prove that our country is so much bigger and kinder than one man that is in the White House. The good news is that in a democracy like ours, the real power is not with him, it is with you. Let me tell you, we’ve got a whole lot more love and hope on our side than they have a–holes.”

Whoopi Goldberg, New York City
“The only way we’re going to make a change is if we commit to change. We have to decide that the people who represent us have to represent all of us. They can’t represent some of us. We’re all human beings and have a right to say, ‘This is how I want to be spoken to. I don’t want to be spoken to like you own me, like you think you can touch me when I say you cannot.’ We are here to say—as women—we’re not taking it anymore. It’s just not going to happen.”

PHOTO: MARK RALSTON/Getty Images

Eva Longoria, Constance Wu, and Natalie Portman at the 2018 Women’s March in Los Angeles.

Natalie Portman, Los Angeles
“I keep hearing a particular gripe about this culture shift, and maybe you have too. Some people have been calling this movement ‘puritanical’ or ‘a return to Victorian values,’ where men can’t behave or speak sexually around dainty, delicate, fragile women. To these people, I want to say: the current system is puritanical. Maybe men can say and do whatever they want, but women cannot. The current system inhibits women from expressing our desires, wants, and needs; from seeking our pleasure. Let me tell you about my own experience. I turned 12 on the set of my first film, The Professional, in which I played a young girl who befriends a hit man and hopes to avenge the murder of her family. […] I was so excited at 13 when the film was released, and my work and my art would have a human response. I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me. A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday, euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with. Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews. […] At 13 years old, the message from our culture was clear to me. I felt the need to cover my body and to inhibit my expression and my work in order to send my own message to the world that I’m someone worthy of safety and respect. The response to my expression—from small comments about my body to more threatening, deliberate statements, served to control my behavior through an environment of sexual terrorism. A world in which I could wear whatever I want, say whatever I want, and express a desire however I want—without fearing for my physical safety or reputation—that would be the world in which female desire and sexuality could have its greatest expression and fulfillment. That world we want to build is the opposite of puritanical. So I’d like to propose one way to continue moving this revolution forward. Let’s declare loud and clear: The is what I want. This is what I need. This is what I desire. This is how you can help me achieve pleasure. To people of all genders here with us today, let’s find a space where we mutually, consensually look out for each other’s pleasure, and allow the vast, limitless range of desire to be expressed. Let’s make a revolution of desire.”

Halsey, New York City
The singer has been vocal about her own emotional struggles in the past—including describing a miscarriage she experienced right before a performance—and for the Women’s March she read a raw, intense poem called “Story of Mine” that that nodded to her own experiences with sexual abuse. The poem begins with an account of the rape of a friend of hers and its aftermath: “It’s 2009 and I’m 14 and I’m crying / Not really sure where I am but I’m holding the hand of my best friend Sam / In the waiting room of a Planned Parenthood / The air is sterile and clean, and the walls are that not grey, but green / And the lights are so bright they could burn a whole through the seam of my jeans / My phone is buzzing in the pocket / My mom is asking me if I remembered my keys ’cause she’s closing the door and she needs to lock it / But I can’t tell my mom where I’ve gone / I can’t tell anyone at all / You see, my best friend Sam was raped by a man that we knew ’cause he worked in the after-school program / And he held her down with her textbooks beside her / And he covered her mouth and he came inside her / So now I’m with Sam, at the place with a plan, waiting for the results of a medical exam / And she’s praying she doesn’t need an abortion, she couldn’t afford it / And her parents would, like, totally kill her.”

Halsey then recounts her own history with abuse, saying: “It’s 2002 and my family just moved and the only people I know are my mom’s friend Sue and her son / He’s got a case of Matchbox cars and he says that he’ll teach me to play the guitar if I just keep quiet / And the stairwell beside apartment 1245 will haunt me in my sleep for as long as I am alive / And I’m too young to know why it aches in my thighs, but I must lie, I must lie.” She later describes a 2012 relationship with a man who forced her to perform oral sex: “And he wants to have sex, and I just want to sleep / He says I can’t say no to him / This much I owe to him
He buys my dinner, so I have to blow him / He’s taken to forcing me down on my knees / And I’m confused ’cause he’s hurting me while he says please / And he’s only a man, and these things he just needs / He’s my boyfriend, so why am I filled with unease?”

See Halsey perform the full poem here:

Eva Longoria, Los Angeles
“This march and this movement is far more ambitious in scope and scale and it extends beyond one political actor or even one political party. What we’re calling for is sustainable and systematic change to the experience of women and girls in America. A change from fear and intimidation to respect. From pain and humiliation to safety and dignity. From marginalization to equal pay and representation.” (Source: CNN)

Tessa Thompson, Sundance
“Until we see legislation and policy and a president who respects our humanity…we must continue to gather and tell each other’s stories. […] We are here to say Mr. Trump…your time and power may not yet be up, but our time to stay silent is.” (Source: Variety)

Scarlett Johansson Women's March 2018

PHOTO: MARK RALSTON

Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis at the 2018 Women’s March in Los Angeles.

Scarlett Johansson, Los Angeles
“I have recently introduced a phrase in my life that I would like to share with you: no more pandering. No more feeling guilty about hurting someone’s feelings when something doesn’t feel right to me. […] I had many relationships where the power dynamic was so off that I had to create a narrative where I was the cool girl. It allowed me to have the approval that women are conditioned to need. Moving forward means my daughter growing up in a world where she doesn’t have to become a victim of what had become the social norm. […] It gives me hope that we are moving towards a place where our sense of equality can truly come from within ourselves.”

Olivia Munn, Los Angeles
“I’m asking all of you to be the team member for every woman in your life. Refrain from judgment. Be the rock of understanding be the well of empathy. Right here, we all have the power to make sure that our daughters, nieces, granddaughters, great granddaughters, grow up with a mentality, that if you come from one of us, you come from all of us.” (Source: CNN)

Olivia Wilde, Los Angeles
“This is a winnable fight, but we need everyone to work together to make it happen. We must reach across cultural divides and recognize our power as an undivided force. This means white women need to hold up our end of the fight. Not just coming to rallies with likeminded others but reaching deep into our own families and communities deep into the places where women wore t-shirts that read, “Trump can grab my p***y,” and have courageous conversations about what freedom really looks like.” (Source: CNN)

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Matt Lauer Fired From NBC For 'Inappropriate Sexual Behavior'


NBC has fired Matt Lauer for “inappropriate sexual behavior. “

At the top of the “Today” show, anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb delivered the message to viewers, revealing NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack wrote in a staff memo that there was a “complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer.” Though it was the first made against the journalist and morning host during his 25-year career with NBC, Lack wrote “we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”

Lack’s statement also said the company underwent a serious review of the complaint, which represented “a clear violation” of the company’s standards, and Lauer was terminated as a result.

“This is a sad morning at “Today” and NBC News,” Guthrie said. “As I’m sure you can understand, we are devastated. I’m heartbroken for Matt. He is my dear, dear colleague. And I’m heartbroken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story and any other women who have their own stories to tell.”

She added: “This reckoning that so many organizations have been going through is important, it’s long overdue and it must result in workplaces where all women—all people—feel safe and respected.”

Last week, CBS News fired its morning anchor, Charlie Rose, after a report in The Washington Post detailed years of sexual misconduct.

This is a developing story…





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Twitter Is Ready for Robin Wright to Take Over 'House of Cards' After Netflix Fired Kevin Spacey


The first of several sexual assault and harassment allegations against House of Cards star Kevin Spacey broke on Sunday when Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey made an inappropriate sexual advance toward him when he was 14 and Spacey was 26. Since then, eight current and former House of Cards employees have come forward anonymously, alleging they experienced inappropriate sexual conduct from Spacey on the Netflix show’s set. In the wake of these allegations and others, production on the show’s next season has been suspended, and Netflix fired Spacey from the show on Friday. (Netflix has also canceled an upcoming Gore Vidal biopic he starred in and produced.)

Spacey’s firing has left the question of what to do with the final season of the hit show now that the central character is gone. He played Frank Underwood, a politician manipulating his way to the Oval Office and eventually succeeding in his journey. But fans think a new lead character could be a reasonable way to wrap the series—and their vote goes to the frosty, calculating Claire Underwood, Frank’s co-conspiring wife and politician in her own right, who is played on the show by Robin Wright.

The employees who worked with Spacey on the set of House of Cards told CNN that the star created a toxic work environment. One employee alleged he was sexually assaulted by Spacey. “I have no doubt that this type of predatory behavior was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position,” he told CNN. “It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors.”

House of Cards‘s production is currently suspended to allow writers to rework the show’s final season and write out Spacey’s character, according to what sources have told The Hollywood Reporter.

In the meantime, fans are making their voices heard on Twitter. They don’t want the show to be canceled; instead, they want season six to begin with Wright’s character, Claire, explaining that her husband has died, and she’s taking over the White House.

It’s official: Twitter is voting for Claire Underwood 2018.

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