Kristen Stewart is eyeing a move out of the United States due to President Donald Trump.
The “Twilight” actress revealed in an interview with The Times that she’s cultivating her directorial career around being able to create films in Europe because she “can’t work freely” in America.
Her directorial debut, “The Chronology of Water,” was shot in Lativia as “it would have been impossible to do in the States.”
Stewart added that Trump’s threat of tariffs on movies made outside the country is “terrifying” for the film industry.
Kristen Stewart slammed Donald Trump’s proposed film industry tariff.(Michael Buckner)
“Reality is breaking completely under Trump,” she said. “But we should take a page out of his book and create the reality we want to live in.”
The bi-coastal actress – who spends time in Los Angeles and New York – admitted that she’s “probably not” going to live in the states for much longer.
“I can’t work freely there,” Stewart said. “But I don’t want to give up completely. I’d like to make movies in Europe and then shove them down the throat of the American people.”
In September, four months after initially musing the idea, Trump proposed a 100% tariff on films made outside the United States.
“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’ California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. “Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never-ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”
Kristen Stewart said “reality is breaking completely under Trump.”(Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images)
“Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” he concluded.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office responded with a statement on X: “The Governor tried to explain this to Trump months ago — when this was initially proposed — that his actions will cause irreparable damage to the U.S. film industry. Today’s move is 100% stupid.”
Trump’s proposal has not yet gained further momentum.
Stewart struggled to get the film made since she first announced the project in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival, but told Porter Magazine in 2024 that she planned to shoot in Latvia.
“It’s a fledgling film culture there. Look, I’m all about the way we make movies here [in the U.S.], but I needed a sort of radical detachment. I am not a director yet. I need to make a student film. I can’t do that here,” she explained at the time.
Kristen Stewart filmed her directorial debut in Lativia.(Matt Winkelmeyer )
Her history with the president goes back more than a decade. While she was dating “Twilight” co-star Robert Pattinson, Stewart was involved in a cheating scandal with her then-married “Snow White and the Huntsman” director, Rupert Sanders.
Trump posted a string of tweets at the time, including, “Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again — just watch. He can do much better!”
Trump followed up days later with another post on the platform, and wrote, “Everyone knows I am right that Robert Pattinson should dump Kristen Stewart. In a couple of years, he will thank me. Be smart, Robert.”
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart dated for four years after meeting on the set of “Twilight.”(Chris Polk/FilmMagic)
Last month, the “Adventureland” actress slammed the entertainment industry as a “capitalist hell” which hated women and “marginalized voices.”
“We’re in a pivotal nexus, because I think we’re ready for a full system break. Do you know what I mean? I mean that across the board and also specific to the world that I live in, which is very exclusively the entertainment industry,” Stewart said in a sit-down with The New York Times’ “The Interview.”
“We need to start sort of stealing our movies. I’m so appreciative of every union. Trust me, we would not survive without them. But some of the terms and some of the rules and some of the structures we’ve set up have created unbelievable barriers for artists to express themselves.”
She argued, “It’s just so difficult to make movies, it just doesn’t need to be. I’m just trying to think of some sort of weird, like Marxist, Communist-like, situation that other people can definitely think, of course this psycho is saying that, but I think it’s possible, especially in these kind of narrow and exclusive environments. I’m not talking about the world at large, but for us, the system has barred people and made it too difficult to be honest.”
Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.
Chris D’Elia is blasting the comedy world that he says deserted him.
D’Elia, 45, accused fellow comedians of being “spineless” while reflecting on the fallout from the sexual misconduct allegations that derailed his career.
In a recent conversation on the “Trying Not to Die” podcast with Jack Osbourne and Ryan Drexler, the comedian said he was blindsided by how quickly people he’d known for years distanced themselves after the scandal unfolded in 2020. Drexler asked D’Elia if it shocked him that longtime peers failed to stand by him during the public backlash.
“It blew my mind kind of because, like comedians are so … community, I thought, was what mattered … but comedians are just so — most comedians are just pretty spineless,” D’Elia said.
Chris D’Elia was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2020.(Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)
“You know their whole life they’ve been the outcast, and they finally get some recognition because of laughter, and it’s like, ‘I’m not letting go of that.’ And f— that. I’m not … If that’s what a comedian is, then I’ll do something else. I’ll be something else. I’ll be on stage making people laugh, but don’t call me that because that’s weird to me.”
D’Elia said the experience revealed what he believes is a rush to judgment and a drive to tear people down, particularly within the industry.
“I was surprised. Yeah. By a few people … But you know, it is interesting because you really realize that people can’t f—ing wait to hate you … it blew my mind, and it still kind of blows my mind, but that’s how people are,” he said. “And particularly, you know, I can say people at least that I know like in comedians and in the arts, but like, you know, everyone else, they’re cool.”
The comedian previously faced a federal lawsuit alleging he sexually exploited a minor in 2014.(Michael Schwartz/Getty Images)
The conversation then shifted to addiction and how different behaviors are judged in the public eye.
“And other addictions, whether it’s, you know, gambling or whatever, and sex, you’re considered the worst of the worst of the worst,” Osbourne remarked.
D’Elia agreed and described the backlash against him as having unfolded during one of the most tumultuous periods in recent history. He said the timing of the allegations — coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread social unrest — amplified fear and silence across the entertainment industry.
“Yeah. It’s weird … Look, 2020 was the craziest time … Period. When it all started with COVID and then George Floyd and then everything, and then people were afraid to say anything wrong, and then that’s when my whole thing went down and then everyone’s afraid to say anything wrong,” D’Elia said.
The comedian then appeared to acknowledge his own misconduct, describing how he viewed his behavior in hindsight and tying it to addiction.
“I was a f—ing liar and I would use sex … looking back now … I think also age has a lot to do with it. Now that I’m 45 … thinking about how I didn’t think the other shoe was going to drop, now that I think about that, I’m like, ‘Oh, I was crazy. I was delusional … what the f—? Why would — why would that not happen?’”
In 2021, D’Elia was accused of sexually exploiting a minor and soliciting child pornography.(Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
The remarks come years after D’Elia became embroiled in serious legal allegations.
In March 2021, the comedian was accused in a federal lawsuit of sexually exploiting a minor and soliciting child pornography. The lawsuit, filed in California on behalf of a Jane Doe, alleged that D’Elia sexually abused a 17-year-old girl in 2014 and demanded sexually explicit images from her after they connected on social media.
According to court documents obtained by Fox News at the time, the accuser — described as a fan — initially messaged D’Elia on Instagram before he suggested moving their conversations to Snapchat. The messages allegedly “became sexual very quickly,” with D’Elia accused of requesting nude photos and videos.
D’Elia has kept a relatively low public profile since the accusations surfaced.(Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
“Ms. Doe sent Defendant D’Elia approximately 5-10 sexually explicit photos and videos of herself before she met him in person,” the lawsuit states. “Ms. Doe was only 17 years old at the time.”
The suit also alleged that D’Elia “psychologically punished” the teen when she refused to comply with instructions regarding the images.
At the time, a spokesperson for D’Elia strongly denied the allegations. The plaintiff later voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit.
D’Elia has kept a relatively low public profile since the accusations surfaced.
Stephanie Giang-Paunon is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to stephanie.giang@fox.com and on Twitter: @SGiangPaunon.
Many of the documents and photos from the Epstein files, such as this one depicting Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Ghislaine Maxwell, feature significant redactions.
Department of Justice
“This is a time-intensive process due to the voluminous materials, the idiosyncratic nature of many of the materials, and the need to protect victim-identifying information,” Bondi writes. “The Department will continue to apprise the Court of its progress in this regard,” she continues, but does not provide a timeline.
Frustrating, yes, but a situation Americans might have to accept. Though Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massieasked to Engelmayer to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the file release, as they suspect “serious misconduct by the Department of Justice,” the judge’s hands appear to be tied at the moment. According to a letter sent to Engelmayer Friday by US Attorney Jay Clayton, the judge “lacks the authority” to appoint that neutral party, the Associated Press reports, as Khanna and Massie lack standing with the court that would allow them to make that demand.
Via statement, Khanna says that Clayton misunderstood their request, which was denied as neither Khanna nor Massie were involved in the criminal case against Maxwell, which resulted in the Epstein investigation’s sole conviction. “We are informing the Court of serious misconduct by the Department of Justice that requires a remedy, one we believe this Court has the authority to provide, and which victims themselves have requested,” Khanna says. “Our purpose is to ensure that DOJ complies with its representations to the Court and with its legal obligations under our law.”
Antonio Brown #81 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looks on prior to the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on October 14, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mitchell Leff
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
As anyone who has lived in the Miami area for any length of time knows, it takes a lot to shock locals. And as a celebrity reporter, especially, I’ve seen my share of eye-popping news stories barreling out of left field.
This past year was no different, with all kinds of unexpected folks showing up on 2025’s bingo card.
So, presenting my top five, in order of shock value:
1. Antonio Brown’s wild, international ride
The former NFL wide receiver probably won’t be posting too many throwback memories on New Year’s Eve. In June, a Miami-Dade judge issued an arrest warrant for Brown, a month after he was filmed getting into a scuffle outside a celebrity boxing event in Little Haiti.
The warrant charged the Liberty City baller with second‑degree attempted murder, alleging he seized a gun from a security guard and fired two shots at a man caught up in the melee, grazing his neck. The rub: Brown was nowhere to be found, having fled almost 8,000 miles away to Dubai.
After a handful of months overseas, the ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneer was brought back to Miami to stand trial, and pleaded not guilty, claiming he acted out of fear for his safety. He was released on $25,000 bond with an ankle monitor under house arrest. Brown’s attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, told the Miami Herald his client used his own weapon and wasn’t aiming at anyone.
“Our detailed motion makes it abundantly clear that my client was forced to defend himself as a direct result of the alleged victim’s violent and aggressive actions,” Eiglarsh said. “We are confident that these charges will be dismissed as a matter of law.”
Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra looks on from the sidelines during the second half of an NBA game after the game at Kaseya Center on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Miami, Florida. D.A. Varela Miami Herald File
2. Coach Spo’s home destroyed
While Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was flying back from a game in Denver on the team plane in November, a two-alarm blaze was beginning to whip through his Coral Gables mansion. By the time he arrived, the 5,700 square foot property was engulfed in flames, with multiple firefighters on scene. Fortunately, there was no one home at the time of the fire, whose cause is still under investigation. Viral videos from the scene show Spoelstra pacing the demolished property; at one point, he holds his head in disbelief, echoing all of us.
Perhaps the most incredible part of this tragedy? The NBA coach went to work the next day for a game against the Charlotte Hornets.
“Things in the house, those things can be replaced,” said Spoelstra, flanked by his three kids, at a news briefing. “And if they can’t be replaced, what does it really matter? This is really what matters. Family, the closest ones. … We’re just grateful.”
David and Victoria Beckham McClatchy File
3. The Beckhams’ rumored family feud
Miami has its own version of royalty — David and Victoria Beckham, who maintain a luxury pied-à-terre in town. But like that other royal family across the pond, there’s drama behind the scenes. Rumors of a massive fallout with the power couple’s oldest son, Brooklyn, began churning around May, when the aspiring chef failed to show up to dad’s 50th birthday party at Cipriani.
Insiders say issues began as far back as Brooklyn’s 2022 wedding to Palm Beach heiress-actress Nicola Peltz. After the bride opted not to wear one of her mother-in-law’s designs, relations reportedly chilled, and now the situation has gotten even frostier, with Brooklyn unfollowing the InterMiami co-owner and ex pop star on social media. Let’s hope working through this unpleasant chapter tops their list of resolutions (said in the fanciest British accent we can muster).
Julia Lemigova and Adriana de Moura attend the American Humane Hero Dog Awards at The Breakers on November 10, 2023 in Palm Beach, Florida. Mireya Acierto Mireya Acierto/Getty Images
4. The 305 ‘Real Housewives’ antics really are crazier than the other franchises
The bombshells were dropping left and right during the “Real Housewives of Miami” reunion special in October, but two castmates singlehandedly stole the show.
Former besties Julia Lemigova and Adriana de Moura’s feud took such a bizarre turn that even Bravo ringleader Andy Cohen was left speechless. The former beauty queen, who is married to Martina Navratilova, claimed there was friction with the Brazilian art dealer due to a one-night stand years ago. While de Moura didn’t exactly deny the fling, she went on a full-scale attack, labeling Lemigova a “liar” who cheated on the tennis legend with “a Haitian mortician” and gave him a coffeemaker as a gift.
Lemigova later clarified during a separate appearance that the relationship with the gentleman in question occurred in Paris before she was married, and no coffeemaker was involved.
“Adriana takes a piece of truth and wraps it up in a bunch of lies,” said the Russian native.
US rapper Megan Thee Stallion attends the premiere of Amazon Prime Video’s “Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words” at the TCL Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California, October 30, 2024. ETIENNE LAURENT AFP via Getty Images
The “Hot Girl Summer” rapper is beautiful, talented and wildly successful, but inexplicably has her share of haters. If you assumed the South Florida resident would find peace after her ex, hip-hop artist Tory Lanez, was convicted of shooting her in the feet in 2020, you’d be sadly mistaken. In November, Megan ended up having to take the stand at the federal courthouse in downtown Miami in a defamation trial against blogger Milagro Gramz. The Atlanta influencer was accused of online harassment and sharing a “deepfake” AI video of Megan engaged in pornographic acts. A judge ruled in favor of Megan, who was awarded $59,000 in damages.
Bethenny Frankel walks the runway at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Runway Show at W South Beach on May 31, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Ivan Apfel Ivan Apfel/Getty Images
Most of the time you see the “Real Housewives of NYC” alum, she’s on our feeds hunting for designer bargains at TJ Maxx or showing us her latest homemade dip on a cracker. Imagine our surprise when the new South Florida resident popped up at the Sports Illustrated show at Miami Swim Week in June, slaying the catwalk like a boss. Frankel, then 54, managed to steal the spotlight from professional (and much younger) models, from the perfectly placed thong and impeccable spray tan to the goddess-like extensions and rock hard abs. Did we mention the fierce attitude? We’ll have what she’s having next year and beyond.
Celebrity/real time news reporter Madeleine Marr has been with The Miami Herald since 2003. She has covered such features as travel, fashion and food. In 2007, she helped launch the newspaper’s daily People Page, attending red carpet events, awards ceremonies and press junkets; interviewing some of the biggest names in show business; and hosting her own online show. She is originally from New York City.
A 32-year-old marketing professional now based in Los Angeles, Kimmy initially became drawn to the case after learning that Mangione is also from Maryland. “Otherwise it’s just another shooting in America,” she says. Her interest deepened, though, as the political stakes developed and potentially complicated the legal proceedings. (Erika Kirk recently wondered in a CBS appearance “how social media will impact that court case, just how it might impact mine,” referring to the similar surfeit of attention that has accompanied the assassination of her late husband, Charlie Kirk.)
Soon she was captivated by the Agnifilos themselves, and the legal strategy they were building. “The case itself is already so interesting,” Kimmy says, “but the fight to control the narrative bleeding in and out of court adds another incredibly interesting layer.” (Mangione has pleaded not guilty in this case as well as a parallel federal case.)
The Agniflos met in 1992, when they were both working in the Manhattan district’s attorney office and Karen assisted Marc on a case involving one deliveryman cutting off another’s hand with a machete amid a feud over a parking spot. Their work, together and apart, eventually took them to some of the most knotty and high-profile spots in defense law.
Former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn sits with Marc Agnifilo.Richard Drew/AFP/Getty Images.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo addresses the Mangione press corps.Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images.
When Marc’s firm represented Dominique Strauss-Kahn in his 2011 sexual assault case, Karen, still working as a prosecutor, had to recuse herself. (Prosecutors ultimately dropped criminal charges of attempted rape against Strauss-Kahn, and a civil case was settled.) 50 Cent’s recent Netflix documentary about Sean “Diddy” Combs includes footage of the mogul screaming at Marc on the phone over the state of his case, leading TMZ to describe the attorney as the “true victim in all of this.” Agnifilo was Combs’s lead attorney in his federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial, which was largely regarded as a victory for Combs after he was convicted only on lesser prostitution counts.
In Mangione, the couple has found a celebrity defendant drawing a particularly personal degree of investment from his fans, with his facial expressions and movements in court dissected for meaning in online communities. A, a London-based paralegal who asked to be identified by her first initial, co-runs an advocacy platform for Mangione called Free Luigi NYC and devotes time to breaking down the legal maneuvering in the case. She attended a day of the court proceedings this month and attested that the Agnifilos had become stars.
Within the swirl of earlier declassified material is Epstein’s address book, whose contents was first published by journalist Nick Bryant in 2019. In the back, Epstein kept a carefully curated list of hotels, restaurants, and stores. There were no hidden gems, holes in the walls, or up-and-coming locations. Instead, it was filled with places that exclusively—and famously—catered to a global set of millionaires and billionaires who sought to see and be seen. There’s an entry for Manhattan’s Four Seasons restaurant, the famous power lunch spot (now permanently closed) in the Seagram building that had a James Rosenquist mural and was frequented by Bill Clinton and Henry Kissinger. For dinner, he had phone numbers for Mr. Chow, where models, socialites, and other moneyed New Yorkers would drink lychee martinis and eat Peking duck while racking up sky-high bills.
Hotels were exclusively five-star and famous for their over-the-top fanciness: The Mark in New York, The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, and Plaza Athénée in Paris. There’s even an entry for the secretive Corviglia Ski Club in Switzerland, whose membership once included Coco Chanel.
A mention in Jefffrey Epstein’s black book doesn’t mean something untoward or illegal happened there, or that he even frequented these places. But they do suggest a gilded existence—where gold on the outside hid a cheap, dark metal beneath.
Investigators took thousands of photos of Epstein’s compound on Little St. James, where some of the most egregious crimes are said to have taken place. One of them shows a shower. There’s a bottle of Frederic Fekkai shampoo, an expensive haircare product from the luxury salon. Yet also on the shelf? A bottle of Head and Shoulders. Amid all rare antiques, the extensive art, fancy amenities was a creepy, cruel man with dandruff shampoo.
For someone who gets her information from dreams and is guided by her hunches, Candace Owens is apparently very in touch with her own comments section. Before sitting down to discuss the results of her four-and-a-half-hour conversation with Erika Kirk—widow of Charlie Kirk and CEO of Turning Point USA—Owens used her Tuesday livestream to make a noxious joke for members of her audience who worried she was selling out to the Israeli government.
“Okay, everybody, Shabbat Shalom,” Owens said. “Happy Hanukkah to our greatest friends and allies. And, you know, this is a good time to mention that Israel does have a right to defend itself.” She kept going: “Tucker Carlson is Adolf Hitler, and TikTok does need to be purchased by the Mossad. It’s just how I’m feeling today. I am not different. Maybe you are different. Welcome back to Candace.” The independent conservative podcaster danced when, instead of her normal Kanye West theme song, she played “Hava Nagila.” The entire performance, of course, was sarcastic; afterward, she ribbed her audience for worrying that she might have been flipped by her time with Kirk. “I keep telling you guys, I am not governable.”
For the last month, Owens has used her YouTube channel—on which she has nearly 5.7 million subscribers—to spin fanciful theories about Charlie’s killing. She has claimed that Israel and France had something to gain from his death and has suggested that other employees of his right-wing organization might have played a role in it too. At first, Owens and Kirk’s Monday summit in Nashville looked like a sign that Owens might ease off the conspiracies, just in time for AmericaFest—TPUSA’s annual summit, which started Thursday and runs through December 21.
But ultimately, Tuesday’s livestream, titled “Erika And I Sat Down. Here’s What Happened,” proved that Owens had no intention of changing. The opening display was her shtick in a nutshell: luridly antisemitic and very online, with a complete disregard for the seriousness of the subject at hand. If you didn’t know the backstory, how could you ever predict that the next 30 or so minutes of the show would be a discussion of a public assassination?
So far, Kirk has remained quiet about the substance of the conversation, aside from publishing a post on Monday night that said it was “very productive.” If Kirk watched Owens’s Tuesday livestream, it’s hard to imagine that she’s sticking with that assessment.
Savannah Chrisley came to Erika Kirk’s defense after a fellow reality star called out the grieving widow on social media.
“Selling Sunset” star Christine Quinn took umbrage with Erika’s parenting choices in a post shared Wednesday on X. “Erika Kirk be everywhere but with her kids,” Quinn wrote in a message to her 50,000 followers.
Chrisley, 28, fired back at Quinn, and listed myriad ways Erika has advocated for her two children following the September assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk.
“Erika isn’t ‘everywhere but with her kids’ she’s everywhere fighting FOR them. She’s raising her babies while surviving a level of grief most people would crumble under. Showing up, advocating, building, working… that’s called resilience, not absence.”
Christine Quinn found fame as a star on the Netflix show “Selling Sunset.”(Getty Images)
The “Chrisley Knows Best” star fired back after Quinn questioned Erika Kirk’s parenting plan.(Savannah Chrisley/X)
Chrisley added, “Taking a cheap shot at a woman who just lost her husband and is doing everything she can to create stability for her children isn’t the look you think it is.”
“Erika is one of the strongest, most intentional mothers I’ve ever witnessed and she deserves compassion, not commentary from people who see a post but not her pain,” she wrote.
“Taking a cheap shot at a woman who just lost her husband and is doing everything she can to create stability for her children isn’t the look you think it is.”
— Savannah Chrisley
Chrisley was set to join Charlie Kirk on a college campus tour before his assassination on Sept. 10. The Turning Point USA founder was shot during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
She described Charlie’s impact on her life during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” at Charlie’s memorial service.
Erika Kirk wants to continue her husband’s legacy through his last book, “STOP, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life.”(David Dee Delgado)
“I think when this assassin did take Charlie’s life, that was the turning point for him,” Chrisley said. “He thought he was ending Charlie’s life, but he really just created millions and millions of Charlie’s followers to fight. To fight for our freedom, to fight for us to have a voice. For me to watch it, it’s so sad and it breaks my heart. To see Erika [Charlie’s wife] step in as a woman and take on this role, Charlie knew that if he couldn’t do it, she was the only one that could do it.”
Chrisley said that Kirk “gave [her] a voice in times when she felt she didn’t have one.”
“I was so excited to get to sit next to Charlie and open up to him and get to know him on a more personal level, like a lot of my friends who got to know him,” she said. “But above all else, Charlie has been a voice for our country.”
The reality TV star said it is remarkable to see how Charlie’s legacy at Turning Point USA has impacted young adults, including her brother.
Savannah Chrisley admitted Charlie Kirk had a huge impact on her brother.(FOX via Getty Images)
“To watch my 19-year-old brother and watch all these college kids now show up and be loud and not be afraid because, at the end of the day, our lives are on the line,” she said. “2028 is coming up. And Charlie, he wants us to fight. He wants us to be loud. And he said it himself, ‘If you don’t correct evil, if you don’t speak about evil, when evil is happening, then that in itself is evil.’ So it’s my job to stand up, be loud, and really I don’t care who likes it and who doesn’t.”
“I keep saying that above all else, Charlie Kirk and his wife Erika, are Christians,” she continued. “Isn’t that really the message? I think bringing Christianity back into households is the only thing that’s going to save us as a country. I know for me, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I don’t know where I would be today without it.”
“And so watching Erika, I don’t know how she spoke the word of God after losing her husband. I mean, I was in such awe to know that she is now the leader of Turning Point. I mean, we only go up from here.”
Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Sept. 10 while speaking on a college campus in Utah.(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Kirk, 31, was assassinated at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Sept. 10. He was pronounced dead later that day.
The political activist had traveled around the country to college campuses, where he had conducted question-and-answer sessions with students and discussed key political issues.
Authorities identified the murder suspect as Tyler Robinson, 22, who appeared for the first time Thursday during a hearing in Utah.
Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.
Reid Hoffman has spent years trying to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, having apologized repeatedly for his former ties to the disgraced financier. Now, the LinkedIn cofounder and prominent Democratic donor has been thrown into a widening political storm—one fueled by the release of emails between him and Epstein in the late 2010s and President Donald Trump’s efforts to scrutinize Democrats named in the Epstein files after newly released documents revealed seemingly extensive ties between Epstein and Trump that appear to challenge the president’s account of their relationship.
Trump has emphatically and consistently denied any wrongdoing, knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation, or involvement with the allegations mentioned in newly released emails
The controversy has escalated rapidly in recent days, as Trump ordered a Justice Department investigation into Hoffman, several other high-profile figures, and institutions like JPMorgan Chase, and then abruptly reversed his stance and spoke out in favor of releasing the full trove of Epstein files. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed on Nov. 13 that she would launch the probe. The move was widely interpreted as a political counteroffensive designed to deflect attention from Trump’s own ties to Epstein—ties that the 20,000 newly released documents described in detail.
Bondi has attempted to further connect Hoffman to Epstein in the past. During her contentious Senate Judiciary Committee testimony on October 7, she repeatedly invoked Hoffman’s name when questioned about Epstein and Trump and called him “one of Epstein’s closest confidants.” Hoffman has repeatedly denied any such allegations.
On November 14, Hoffman hit back, taking to X to demand “Trump should release all of the Epstein files: every person and every document in the files.” The LinkedIn co-founder accused Trump’s probe of being “nothing more than political persecution and slander” and claimed he was never a client of Epstein’s nor did he engage with him in any capacity other than fundraising.
In a Sunday evening Truth Social post, however, the president doubled down. He said calls to release the entire cache of Epstein files were a “Democrat Hoax” and declared, “The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on ‘Epstein,’ are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!”
A White House spokesperson reiterated some of Trump’s claims, telling Fortune, “By releasing tens of thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have. The Democrat Party did nothing about Epstein for years; they are only pretending to care about these victims now as they attempt to score political points against President Trump.”
Hoffman did not respond to a Fortune request for comment regarding his ties to Epstein. JPMorgan Chase, Clinton, and Summers also did not respond to Fortune’s requests for comment.
Summers apologized for his relationship with Epstein in a statement to the Harvard Crimson, writing, “I have great regrets in my life. As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”
A spokesperson for Clinton refuted the Trump administration’s claims in a post on X. “These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else,” they wrote.
JPMorgan Chase, which previously settled a multi-million-dollar lawsuit with Epstein victims, responded to Trump’s probe in a statement to CNN: “The government had information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks. We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts. We ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges.” (The bank did, however, continue to bank Epstein even after his 2008 solicitation of a minor conviction, working with him until 2013.)
When Hoffman met Epstein
The relationship between Hoffman and Epstein began through Joi Ito, who served as director of the MIT Media Lab. According to multiple reports, Hoffman first encountered Epstein when he helped solicit donations for the MIT Media Lab from the convicted sex offender. In July 2013, Epstein met with Hoffman and others at MIT’s campus. At this time, Epstein was already a registered sex offender, following his 2008 guilty plea to soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida.
Hoffman then visited Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, in 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ito was also present during this trip, which was described as being for the purpose of raising funds for MIT. According to Ito’s statement to the Journal, Hoffman participated in a “fundraising event” on the island “at my request.” Documents also indicated that Hoffman and Ito were planning another visit to Epstein’s island later in 2014, with plans to travel from Palm Beach to the island for a weekend and then onward to Boston.
Documents obtained by the Journal in 2023 also note that Hoffman planned to stay overnight at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse on December 4, 2014, followed by a “breakfast party” the next morning that was expected to include both Epstein and Bill Gates. Whether this visit actually occurred remains unclear.
The last known in-person meeting between Epstein and Hoffman occurred in 2015, when Hoffman hosted a dinner attended by Epstein along with several Silicon Valley luminaries, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel. Hoffman has stated that he invited Epstein to this gathering based on assurances from Joi Ito that Epstein had been vetted and cleared by MIT’s approval process.
In 2023, Hoffman claimed the 2015 dinner was the last time he interacted with Epstein. Unsealed emails reviewed by Fortune, however, show that Epstein wrote to Hoffman at least once in 2017. This correspondence appears to be related to potential fundraising efforts intended to offset cuts Trump wanted to make to federal spending in his first term in office.
In an email to Hoffman dated March 16, 2017 and reproduced here with the original typos and other errors, Epstein says, “a HUGE donor advised fund is an elegant solution to the cuts trump proposes to what some consider critical programs. you could organzie a huge public charity that would continue the work of many worthwhile orgs. not my thing but structurally beautiful. its the wealthiest now stepping into a quasi govt funding. national endowment for arts. climate science, as extraordinary amounts of wealth have moved into private hands. elons and jeff space goals should be mirrored with many other former govt ones. hope to see you soon.”
The newly released emails do not show whether Hoffman ever replied.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial on further sex trafficking charges in 2019.
MIT’s external investigation report, released in January 2020, also described Hoffman’s timeline. The report revealed that in July 2016, Ito sought advice from Hoffman about whether to allow Epstein to attend a Media Lab conference with “lots of people” who may “see him and maybe know he’s involved.” The report did not disclose whether Hoffman offered any advice or what it was.
While Elon Musk accused Hoffman of being a client of Epstein’s in 2024, no evidence of that genre of relationship has actually emerged. Hoffman has also vehemently denied any such characterization.
Hoffman has issued several public apologies and statements regarding his interactions with Epstein. After scandal over MIT’s Epstein connections erupted publicly in September 2019, Hoffman apologized in a statement to Axios: “By agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful.” He reiterated this position in 2023 to the Journal, stating, “It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors.”
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a measure that would compel the DOJ to make all Epstein files publicly available “in a searchable and downloadable format” within 30 days.
WASHINGTON — A slow drip of revelations detailing President Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein that have burdened the White House all year has turned into a deluge after House lawmakers released reams of documents that imply the president may have intimate knowledge of his friend’s criminal activity.
The scope of Epstein’s interest in Trump became clear Thursday as media organizations combed through more than 20,000 documents from the convicted sex offender’s estate released by the House Oversight Committee, prompting a bipartisan majority in the House — including up to half of Republican lawmakers — to pledge support for a measure to compel the Justice Department to release all files related to its investigation of Epstein.
In one email discovered Thursday, sent by Epstein to himself months before he died by suicide in federal custody, he wrote: “Trump knew.” The White House has denied that Trump knew about or was involved in Epstein’s years-long operation that abused over 200 women and girls.
The scandal comes at a precarious political moment for Trump, who faces a 36% approval rating, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC survey, and whose grip on the Republican Party and MAGA movement has begun to slip as his final term in office begins winding down leading up to next year’s midterm elections.
Attempts by the Trump administration to quash the scandal have failed to shake interest in the case from the public across the political spectrum.
In several emails, Epstein, a disgraced financier who maintained a close friendship with Trump until a falling-out in the mid-2000s, said that the latter “knew about the girls” involved in his operation and that Trump “spent hours” with one in private. Epstein also alleged that he could “take him down” with damaging information.
In several exchanges, Epstein portrayed himself as someone who knew Trump well. Emails show how he tracked Trump’s business practices and the evolution of the president’s political endeavors.
Other communications show Epstein closely monitoring Trump’s movements at the beginning of his first term in office, at one point attempting to communicate with the Russian government to share his “insight” into Trump’s proclivities and thinking.
White House officials attempted to thwart the effort to release the files Wednesday, holding a tense meeting with a GOP congresswoman in the White House Situation Room, a move the administration said demonstrated its willingness “to sit down with members of Congress to address their concerns.”
But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York accused the White House and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of “running a pedophile protection program” for trying to block efforts to release the Epstein files.
The legislative effort in the House does not guarantee a vote in the Senate, much less bipartisan approval of the measure there. And the president — who has for months condemned his supporters for their repeated calls for transparency in the case — would almost certainly veto the bill if it makes it to his desk.
Epstein died in a federal prison in Manhattan awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner and the Justice Department’s inspector general.
As reporters sift through the documents in the coming days, Trump’s relationship with Epstein is likely to remain in the spotlight.
In one email Epstein sent to himself shortly before his imprisonment and death, he wrote that Trump knew of the financier’s sexual activity during a period where he was accused of wrongdoing.
“Trump knew of it,” he wrote, “and came to my house many times during that period.”
“He never got a massage,” Epstein added. Epstein paid for “massages” from girls that often led to sexual activity.
Trump has blamed Democrats for the issue bubbling up again.
“Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!” the president wrote Wednesday in a social media post, hours after the records were made public.
Trump made a public appearance later that day to sign legislation ending the government shutdown but declined to answer as reporters shouted questions about Epstein after the event.
Trump comes up in several emails
The newly released correspondence gives a rare look at how Epstein, in his own words, related to Trump in ways that were not previously known. In some cases, Epstein’s correspondence suggests the president knew more about Epstein’s criminal conduct than Trump has let on.
In the months leading up to Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges, he mentioned Trump in a few emails that imply the latter knew about the financier’s victims.
In January 2019, Epstein wrote to author Michael Wolff that Trump “knew about the girls,” as he discussed his membership at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s South Florida private club and resort.
Trump has said that he ended his relationship with Epstein because he had “hired away” one of his female employees at Mar-a-Lago. The White House has also said Trump banned Epstein from his club because he was “being a creep.”
“Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” Epstein wrote in the email to Wolff.
“[Victim] spent hours at my house with him,” Epstein wrote. “He has never once been mentioned.”
“I have been thinking about that…,” Maxwell replied.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that the emails “prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
News over the summer that Trump had penned a lewd birthday card to Epstein, drawing the silhouette of a naked woman with a note reading, “may every day be another wonderful secret,” had sparked panic in the West Wing that the files could have prolific mentions of Trump.
The brick row house sits just steps from Washington Square Park, in plain view of any passersby from New York University. In 2021, it was rented, the New York Postreported in its wall-to-wall coverage of an unmissable sports betting spectacle, to Travis Scott over the period when he was dating Kylie Jenner—a glancing connection that suggested no wrongdoing. It was not a New York landmark, exactly, but in its simultaneous accessibility and status, it brought out some essential, familiar character of its monied Greenwich Village vicinity.
As federal prosecutors claimed in an indictment unsealed on Thursday, the building was later where “Flappy,” “the Wrestler,” and “Juice,” among other evocatively nicknamed alleged members of the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese New York mafia families, assembled to carry out a Hollywood-ready scheme that rigged poker games with card-reading contact lenses and X-ray tables and used the attendance of an active NBA coach, Chauncey Billups, as bait for their marks. In a separate but simultaneous indictment, prosecutors alleged that an active and a former player, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones, provided insider information on NBA games to bettors and, in Rozier’s case, manipulated his performance to the gambler’s benefit. (All the defendants in the two cases—which include Billups, Rozier, Jones, and alleged organized-crime affiliates—who have entered a plea thus far have pleaded not guilty on fraud, money laundering, extortion, and gambling charges.)
Perhaps, as alleged, the set-up was even stranger than fiction, a relic from a bygone era when Gottis in courthouses dominated the tabloid pages, or when betting scandals rocked professional baseball several times over.
And yet, in some sense, the alleged behavior was taking place right under our noses. Vanity Fair spoke with veterans of the gambling and mafia underworlds to help situate the relative absurdity—and predictability—of the scandal that has ricocheted across sports, business, and politics.
The new sports gambling landscape
“What did anyone think was going to happen?” New York sports radio host Craig Carton asked me on Friday.
Carton’s career as a leading local drive time personality was upended in 2017 when he was arrested for running a ticket reselling Ponzi-like scheme in order to cover millions of dollars in gambling debts. He was sentenced to 42 months of prison for fraud, ultimately serving about a year, at what was a fairly quaint time by the standards of today’s gambling industry.
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Prince Andrew could be called to testify before U.S. Congress over his connections to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
During a Tuesday appearance on BBC’s “Newsnight,” Rep. Stephen Lynch, the Democratic ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, was asked if the committee was interested in speaking to the 65-year-old disgraced royal as part of their investigation into the Epstein files.
“We would be extremely interested in hearing from Prince Andrew regarding his involvement in all this, yes,” Lynch said.
Prince Andrew may be called to testify before Congress over his connections to Jeffrey Epstein. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images; Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
Lynch said he was “sure” that the committee would issue an invitation for Andrew to provide his testimony in relation to the case.
He explained that the committee had already spoken to several Epstein survivors as part of their investigation.
“I think for those on our committee, both Democrat and Republican, who have seen the pain and anguish that has been experienced by these women, it will only increase our interest in speaking to everyone who was involved here,” Lynch said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the House Oversight Committee’s representative for comment.
Giuffre alleged that she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell and forced at age 17 to have sexual encounters with Andrew in London, New York and on Epstein’s private island.(Karwai Tang/WireImage; Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
The House Oversight Committee is currently looking into a number of issues surrounding Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, including the Epstein files — a large collection of documents related to the disgraced financier’s sex-trafficking operation and other official investigations.
Giuffre alleged in a 2015 court affidavit that she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell and forced at age 17 to have sexual encounters with Andrew in London, New York and on Epstein’s private island.
In 2021, Giuffre filed a sexual abuse lawsuit in New York against Andrew, who has consistently denied all allegations.
After a U.S. judge rejected Andrew’s bid to dismiss the case, the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement in February 2022.
Andrew did not admit liability but agreed to pay Giuffre an undisclosed sum and to make a donation to a charity supporting abuse victims.
Andrew relinquished his royal title last Friday. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Epstein died in prison in August 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
In December 2021, Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy to entice and transport minors for illegal sex acts. She was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in June 2022.
Andrew, who had already stepped down from his official royal duties following a disastrous 2019 BBC interview about his Epstein connection and Giuffre’s allegations, released a statement last Friday in which he announced that he had relinquished his royal title.
Andrew allegedly appears in this photograph with his arm around the waist of then-17-year-old Giuffre. Ghislaine Maxwell is standing to the right.(U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Giuffre died by suicide at the age of 41 in April. Her posthumous memoir “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice” was published on Tuesday.
In the book, Giuffre recalled having multiple sexual encounters with Andrew when she was underage, accused the prince of treating her as a “birthright,” described being trafficked for sex by Epstein and Maxwell, and recounted an alleged group sex encounter and how she “believed that I might die a sex slave.”
Matlock star David Del Rio was dropped from the cast of the CBS series in October 2025 following an investigation into allegations of sexual assault.
Us Weekly reported at the time that David — who is married to actress and chef Katherine Del Rio — was involved in an incident with his Matlock costar Leah Lewis that September, which sparked an internal investigation at CBS. David was reportedly escorted off the Matlock set and later dismissed from his role as first-year associate lawyer Billy Martinez.
David nor his wife Katherine offered any immediate comment on his dismissal from Matlock. Several members of the Matlock cast — including Lewis and Skye P. Marshall — continued to follow Katherine via social media in the wake of the controversy, though many of them stopped following her husband. (Lewis wrote via Instagram that she was “moving forward in strength” in the wake of the news.)
Katherine and David’s relationship started off unexpectedly when she attended a Broadway performance of In the Heights in 2010 and was introduced to her future husband — who starred in the musical — at the stage door after the show. David and Katherine tied the knot eight years later, after a fortuitous reunion in Los Angeles.
Keep scrolling for more information on Katherine and her marriage to David.
1. Katherine Is an Actress and Chef
Katherine started her career as an actress with guest appearances in TV sitcoms Big Time Rush and Awkward, in addition to appearing in numerous short films. She subsequently described herself as an “actress, chef, and producer with a deep passion for creativity” in a May 2024 interview with Bold Journey.
“I’ve been involved in theater since my childhood and carried that love through my studies at New York University, continuing to perform in New York City,” she said. “After moving to Los Angeles, I expanded into producing while also embracing the culinary arts. In between acting gigs, I pursued my chef career, serving as a private chef for celebrities, catering on film sets, curating picnic boxes, hosting influencer dinners, and even crafting wedding cakes.”
Courtesy of Katherine Del Rio/Instagram
Katherine stressed that cooking wasn’t simply a job for her — it was an “extension of [her] artistic expression.”
“Drawing on the flavors from my travels, I love designing exciting menus that delight my clients,” she said.
2. How She Met Husband David
Katherine and David met in the unlikeliest of ways, when she went with her parents to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights on Broadway in 2010. Her future husband David was a featured performer in the production at the time.
In a 2018 Inside Edition profile, Katherine recalled scrawling a heart next to David’s picture in the program and, with her father’s encouragement, met the cast after that night’s show. Katherine returned to see In the Heights numerous times before moving to Los Angeles.
“Who knew that seven years ago, when we saw that show and got tickets on a whim […] that was going to be the guy you marry [and] have kids with,” Katherine recalled in 2018.
Katherine was unexpectedly reunited with David years later at a party in L.A. as she was discussing her love of In the Heights with friends.
“When he said he was from In the Heights, I said, ‘Could this be David Del Rio?’” she remembered wondering.
Courtesy of Katherine Del Rio/Instagram
Katherine boldly asked David to perform a song from the musical on the spot before correcting him when he messed up a lyric.
“Now, knowing him, I’m sure he hated this because he’s not that kind of showy guy,” she admitted.
The two started dating and David eventually proposed at the historic Richard Rogers Theater in New York City while they were attending a performance of Hamilton.
“I always had an idea of how I was going to propose,” he confessed. “But the minute I started speaking, we landed at the stage door and I just started forgetting everything I was going to say except the question.”
The couple exchanged vows at a destination wedding in Mexico in April 2018.
3. David and Katherine Founded Their Own Business
They created their own production company called Theatre Row in Austin, Texas, while David was filming short-lived ABC romantic comedy series The Baker and the Beauty in 2020.
“[I founded the company] with my brilliant husband while living in Puerto Rico during his 6-month shoot for The Baker and The Beauty,” she told Voyage Austin in June 2023. “He is also an actor so we are always picking up and moving to where the job takes us! Since then, we have decided to take our production company to Austin and LA.”
She credited starting Theatre Row with helping both herself and David feel more stability in Hollywood.
“Our company has produced a feature film, sold a TV show, been hired to write multiple screenplays, and is in pre and post-production on numerous independent projects,” she said at the time. “Having more control of my career feels empowering, rather than having to wait for an opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of waiting involved as a writer/producer, but I am always working on something, which is a wonderful feeling.”
4. David and Katherine Share 2 Children
The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Lilia, in July 2023, with Katherine declaring via Instagram that her and David’s “lives [had] changed forever.”
“On June 20–a day with record breaking high temperatures in Austin TX—our perfect Lilia was born after 27 hours of labor,” she revealed. “Life has been a blissful, sleepless blur since then, and our little summer solstice baby has completely blown our minds in every way. We had no idea what to expect or what this would feel like, but WOW does its surpass the hype. There will never be enough words for how deeply we love her. Honored and truly blessed to introduce you to Lilliam Kellie Wallace Del Rio III.”
Katherine Del Rio.Michael Bezjian/Getty Images for A Cause for Entertainment
In March 2025, Katherine and David announced that Lilia had become a big sister with the arrival of their second daughter, Coco.
“Coco Del Rio arrived with a smile on January 20, right in the heart of a winter storm,” she beamed. “Her big sister is completely obsessed with her, and we are indescribably elated and exhausted. Thank you, God for your miracles.”
5. Katherine Described 2024 as the ‘Hardest Year’
The actress and chef candidly opened up about health problems — and her surprise pregnancy with Coco — in January 2025 while describing hardships from the previous year.
Katherine wrote, “ 2024 was the hardest year of my life. Battling PPD, a brutal pregnancy, & raising a toddler alone while my incredible husband worked 14hr days took its toll Add a few moves, loss, & a huge identity shift, & I was near my breaking point. God forced me to pause, check in on my mental health, & do my best to rest — though with a toddler, that’s easier said than done.”
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She mentioned many “many moments of grace” occurred during her difficult year, including her pregnancy, “bonding with Kirsten Dunst (my queen) over postpartum struggles & our lives bouncing between LA/Austin” and “traveling the world with my angel of a firstborn,” among others.
Katherine acknowledged she was still “learning to navigate [her] marriage with intention” despite “seeing each other less” due to David’s busy schedule with Matlock.
“Through it all I’m ultimately so proud of everything I sacrificed for my family because I am watching them thrive & that is more than worth it. God is good,” she concluded.
Former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron looks to have patched things up with wife, Megan, after he was caught canoodling with his chief people officer at a Coldplay concert on July 16.
The married couple was photographed over the weekend leaving a $2.4 million mansion in Kennebunk, Maine, where Megan, 50, has been living since the controversy broke.
Both were seen wearing their wedding bands as they strolled hand in hand toward a local beach, reportedly for a cozy sunset picnic.
The outing, captured by the Daily Mail, marks the first public sign that the pair may be moving past one of the year’s most talked-about viral moments.
Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin wondered if a couple was having an affair after he caught them on the kiss cam. The two are rumored to be Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot.(@calebu2/TMX)
The quiet coastal sighting comes just over two months after Byron, 51, stepped down from Astronomer, the AI-driven data company he helped build, after the highly publicized incident.
In July, during Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour stop at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, Byron suddenly appeared on a Kiss Cam alongside Kristin Cabot.
The pair were shown leaning close before ducking away once they realized they had been broadcast on the jumbotron.
Andy and Megan Cabot were spotted in Kennebunk, Maine, where Megan has been living since the controversy broke.(Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
The clip spread quickly across social media, gaining further attention when frontman Chris Martin quipped from the stage, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Within 24 hours of the viral video, Astronomer’s board launched an internal investigation, placing both Byron and Cabot on leave.
Byron resigned the following day, and Cabot left her role less than a week later.
Chris Martin quipped from the stage, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”(@calebu2/TMX/Getty Images)
Megan also left the couple’s home in Northborough, Massachusetts, relocating to the Kennebunk property, where she has largely stayed out of the public eye. She has not commented on the scandal.
Cabot, 52, meanwhile, filed for divorce from her husband, Andrew, in August.
Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.
The infamous viral video that featured Andy Byron, the then-CEO of the small New York-based data platform Astronomer, on the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert in a seemingly intimate embrace with his chief people officer, Kristin Cabot, went global earlier this year. Both parties were married to other people, so Byron quickly took the fall and resigned, with Cabot following shortly after.
Given the worldwide attention the clip gained, their resignations were all but inevitable. But new research suggests that a scandal of a personal nature like this is much more harmful to CEOs than you might think — no rock band kiss cam necessary. In fact, if a CEO is caught committing fraud, it’s far less harmful to their future than becoming embroiled in a more personal scandal.
The actual figure is surprising: CEOs are five times more likely to survive fraud-related scandals than they are if they get caught in inappropriate relationships, issues like drug or alcohol abuse, violence or inappropriate speech, Phys.org reports. The study leader, Aaron Hill, an associate professor from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business, told the news outlet that in an instance of financial fraud, a CEO “can easily say, ‘Hey, it wasn’t me,’” but for the other sorts of scandal, like “personal misconduct, there’s no excuse,” because it’s harder to evade accusations of direct involvement in the problem.
The researchers also found company boards act decisively when a leader’s personal scandals become known, but recent company performance has more of an impact on how they react to a leader’s involvement in a financial scandal. If the company is doing well, the CEO is more likely to be allowed to remain at their post, possibly because company directors may have “plausible deniability” about absolute blame, and little incentive to disrupt the company’s success.
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And when a leader does get fired when their personal misbehavior goes public, the researchers found boards are more likely to promote an insider into the role. it’s a “signalling move,” according to Hill, implying the company is fine, and the behavior of one bad apple has been addressed. “Stick with an insider after a personal scandal, and it says the organization itself is sound,” Hill said. He added that if it’s fraud, it’s better to reassure markets and clients by hiring an outsider. This is exactly what Astronomer did, in the wake of the Coldplay video scandal, by promoting Pete DeJoy, a co-founder, into an interim CEO position while looking for a replacement.
CEOs, of course, hold massive authority over their companies, and their public image may be tightly bound up with that of the firm itself. Recent data show exactly how influential CEOs have become, with the average leaders’ pay rising nearly 6 percent in 2024, so they now make 281 times the salary of the average worker, the Economic Policy Institute showed.
Acting swiftly to remove a scandal-tangled CEO thus makes economic sense as well as protecting the company from reputational harm. This is something Hill also highlighted, noting that firing a CEO after a scandal is nearly always motivated by finances. Meanwhile if a company leaves a CEO in post, it can simply send “the wrong message — to employees, to investors and to the public,” Hill noted.
What can you take away from this for your own company?
You might think that in your smaller, more family-like atmosphere none of these issues are likely to raise their ugly heads. And hopefully you’re right. But remember that recent data show one in three U.S. workers has had a relationship with their manager, and 91 percent of the people surveyed said they’d used flirting or charm to boost their position with leadership.
The one lesson you can learn from this is that a scandal really can impact your company unless it’s handled right, and one of a personal nature (instead of, say, fraud) can be even more damaging for the executives involved.
Sean “Diddy” Combs had been under investigation for at least a year after being accused of sexual assault by multiple people.
The rapper and music mogul made headlines in November 2023 after his ex-girlfriend Cassieaccused him of sexual abuse in a bombshell lawsuit. She accused Diddy of beating her, forcing her to take drugs and have sex with male prostitutes on camera. She alleged that the incidents took place at Diddy’s homes across the U.S.
In the lawsuit, Cassie also claimed that Diddy threatened to blow upKid Cudi’s car after she had moved on with him following their 2018 split. (Cassie has been married to Alex Fine since 2019.)
Diddy’s lawyer Ben Brafman denied the accusations on his behalf at the time, stating that Cassie’s lawsuit was “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’ reputation and [is] seeking a payday.”
Paras Griffin/Getty Images While Sean “Diddy” Combs has fervently denied ex-girlfriend Cassie’s rape and assault allegations, multiple women have come forward with similar claims of alleged misconduct by the music mogul. Us Weekly confirmed in November 2023 that Cassie (real name Casandra Ventura) filed a lawsuit against Diddy, accusing him of rape and repeated physical […]
The case was settled just one day after Cassie’s filing. “I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control,” she told Us Weekly in a statement through her attorney Douglas Wigdor. “I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support.”
In a statement of his own, Diddy said: “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”
Scroll down for a timeline of Diddy’s sexual assault legal troubles:
November 2023
Following Cassie’s case settlement, a 2004 New York Magazine interview with Kimora Lee Simmons resurfaced, in which she claimed that Diddy “threatened to hit her” while she was pregnant. The interview noted that Diddy “eventually got down on his knees in public to apologize.” (Kimora is a mother to five kids, whom she shares with multiple partners. Diddy did not address her comments at the time.))
Diddy was soon hit with another lawsuit from a woman named Joi Dickerson-Neal. In court docs obtained by Us filed on November 23, Dickerson-Neal claimed that the musician “drugged, sexually assaulted and abused” her when she was a college student in 1991 and was a victim of “revenge porn” Diddy created and released. Diddy’s spokesperson called the lawsuit a “money grab” in a statement to CNN.
Hahn-Marechal-Nebinger/ABAC/Startraks
December 2023
An anonymous woman, dubbed Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against the music mogul claiming she was sex-trafficked and gang-raped by Diddy and other men when she was 17 years old in 2008. She allegedly flew out to meet him in New York City and was given “copious amounts of drugs and alcohol” before the men forced themselves on her, according to court docs obtained by Us.
Diddy declared that “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” in a statement to Us at the time, adding, “For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
February 2024
Diddy once again denied any wrongdoing after being accused of sexual assault in another lawsuit, this one filed by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones. Jones alleged that during his time living and traveling with Diddy from September 2022 to November 2023, he witnessed and recorded Diddy and his staff “engaging in serious illegal activity.” Jones claimed he was sexually assaulted by Diddy in more than one of the rapper’s homes, as well as on a yacht rented by Diddy.
Diddy called Jones — who was seeking $30 million in damages — “a liar” in a statement through his attorney Shawn Holley. “We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them,” Holley added.
Fernando Lucena/Startraks
March 2024
Diddy’s Los Angeles and Miami homes were raided in connection with a federal sex trafficking investigation by Homeland Security. Diddy was not present at his homes at the time of the raids but was later found boarding a private jet at a Miami airport. Two of his sons were reportedly detained in the raid on his L.A. property but were released without charges.
“Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” Diddy’s attorney Aaron Dyer said in a statement to Us, denying that any of his family members had been arrested. “There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”
Following the raids, it was revealed that Diddy’s eldest son, Justin Combs, was named in an amended complaint filed by Jones. In the court docs, obtained by Us, the phrase “sex trafficking” was mentioned 50 times. Reps for Justin said in a statement that he “categorically denies these absurd allegations,” per NBC News.
Years before two of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ homes were raided in connection to a federal sex trafficking investigation, there was conversation about what went on at the rapper’s residences. After the March 2024 raid made headlines, a clip resurfaced of Usher recalling his experience living with Diddy as a teenager. “I got a chance to […]
April 2024
Diddy’s youngest son, Christian “King” Combs, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman who worked on a yacht Diddy chartered for a 2022 trip in a Los Angeles County Superior Court lawsuit. The woman, Grace O’Marcaigh, also accused King of sexual harassment and emotional distress and Diddy for aiding and abetting.
Diddy’s attorney Dyer slammed the lawsuit in a statement to Us. “We have not seen this woman’s claim but I’m sure we can expect the same kind of manufactured lies … just as we saw in Rodney Jones’ lawsuit — which has yet to be served.”
Later that month, news broke that Diddy’s alleged drug mule, Brendan Paul, was arrested for cocaine and marijuana possession. Paul was later charged with one felony count of drug possession. (Paul avoided jail time but was ordered to enter a six-month drug diversion program the following month.)
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Cassie.ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
May 2024
Less than a week after Diddy filed a motion to dismiss Jane Doe’s December 2023 lawsuit against him, CNN released security footage from 2016 allegedly showing Diddy physically assaulting Cassie in a now-closed Los Angeles hotel. In the clip, Diddy was shown allegedly hitting and kicking Cassie, as well as throwing an object at her.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office explained in a statement that Diddy could not be charged for the security footage “as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”
Diddy addressed the footage in an Instagram video, telling fans, “My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted.” Though he didn’t mention Cassie by name, he captioned the post, “I’m sorry.”
A member of Cassie’s legal team, Meredith Firetog, criticized Diddy’s apology video in a statement to Us. “When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday,” she said. “That he was only compelled to ‘apologize’ once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words.”
Cassie addressed the security video in a lengthy social media statement, writing, “Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to take this matter seriously. My only ask is that EVERYONE open you hear to believing victims the first time. It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in.”
Some companies appear to be distancing themselves from Sean “Diddy” Combs as the rapper continues to face sexual assault allegations. In recent months, multiple women have come forward to share allegations of misconduct by the music mogul. One individual who filed a lawsuit was his ex-girlfriend Cassie. (The exes dated on and off from 2007 […]
May 2024
Diddy continued to face more allegations after a woman named April Lampros accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her several times in a new lawsuit. The alleged abuse took place after she met Diddy in NYC in 1995 during her time as a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Lampros’ lawsuit alleged that she was once forced by Diddy to have sex with his late ex-girlfriend, Kim Porter, as he watched and that the music mogul recorded one of their sexual encounters without her knowledge.
Diddy moved to dismiss Lampros’ case in August 2024, arguing that some of her claims were time barred and did not apply to New York allowing previous sex offenses to be prosecuted. Lampros filed a cross-motion one month later, asking for permission to add additional details to her case regarding the alleged time barred claims.
Diddy was also accused of sexual assault by model Crystal McKinney for an alleged incident that took place in 2003. In her lawsuit, McKinney claimed that Diddy forced her to perform oral sex despite denying his advancement and that she was subsequently blackballed from the modeling industry. (Diddy’s team did not respond to Us’ request for comment for either lawsuit at the time.)
McKinney, Dickerson-Neal and Jane Doe came forward about their experiences in a Rolling Stone report. “It isn’t about money,” Dickerson-Neal told the outlet of their respective lawsuits against Diddy. “It’s about making sure the world sees that this man who rose to the level of an ‘icon’ is actually sick and has left so many victims in [the wake of his] unpunished disgusting behavior for years.”
PA Images/INSTARimages
August 2024
Adria Englishfiled a criminal complaint against Diddy after accusing him of sex trafficking her from 2004 to 2009 in a July 2024 lawsuit.
“Ms. English is very excited and cautiously optimistic about her journey to justice starting with the filing of her civil lawsuit on July 3, 2024, and now with the filing of a criminal complaint with the Miami Beach Police Department,” Ariel E. Mitchell told Us in a statement. “Ms. English hopes to file an additional criminal complaint in New York but has been precluded to this point as New York requires an individual to be in person in order to file a criminal complaint.”
Diddy’s attorney Jonathan Davis called English’s accusations “baseless” in a statement to Entertainment Weekly one month prior, adding, “No matter how many lawsuits are filed, it won’t change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone. We live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason and without any proof. Fortunately, a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth and Mr. Combs is confident he will prevail against these and other baseless claims in court.”
In addition to being a rapper and entrepreneur, Diddy is the proud dad to seven children. The rapper started his family in 1993 when he and fashion designer Misa Hylton welcomed a baby boy. Diddy later moved on with model Kim Porter. The twosome had an on-again, off-again relationship from 1994 to 2007, during which […]
September 2024
Former Danity Kane member Dawn Richardfiled a lawsuit against Diddy accusing him of sexual abuse, manipulation and terrorizing her. She also alleged that she witnessed Diddy abuse Cassie and Porter in front of her, and claimed Diddy promised to advance her singing career if she gave into his sexual demands following her time on MTV’s Making The Band.
Another of Diddy’s attorneys Erica Wolff noted that he was “shocked and disappointed” by the lawsuit in a statement at the time. “It’s unfortunate that Ms. Richard has cast their 20-year friendship aside to try and get money from him, but Mr. Combs is confidently standing on truth and looks forward to proving that in court,” she added.
Later that month, Diddy was ordered to pay a $100 million default judgment for a civil lawsuit filed by a Michigan inmate who accused him of sexual assault. The default judgment was ordered after Diddy failed to appear in a virtual hearing. Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith accused the rapper of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a 1997 party in Detroit. Diddy proceeded to challenge the ruling by filing an emergency motion to vacate the default judgment. He also filed to dissolve a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.
With authorities apparently armed with necessary evidence to move forward, Diddy was arrested in NYC on September 16 after a grand jury indicted him on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. The indictment accuses Diddy of abusing and threatening women to “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” with some incidents dating back to 2009, according to new documents.
Sean “Diddy” Combs was indicted on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering on Tuesday, September 17, following his arrest one day prior. The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, accuses the music mogul, 54, of abusing, threatening and coercing women for years “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct.” Some of the […]
“To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and influence of the multifaceted business empire that he led and controlled — creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice,” the indictment stated.
Diddy plead not guilty to the sex trafficking and racketeering charges at the time.
“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” his attorney Marc Agnifilo told Us in a statement.
He added: “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal. … Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
Diddy pleaded not guilty to charges before he was denied bail and remanded to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until his trial. Multiple reports surfaced that Diddy was subsequently placed on suicide watch.
Diddy’s lawyer, however, denied the reports in a statement to Us. According to Agnifilo, it is standard protocol for “new, high-profile inmates,” but Diddy is “not at all suicidal” and is “strong, healthy, confident and focused on his defense.”
Later that month, The New York Times obtained a new court letter that laid out Diddy’s alleged plan to blow up a car. While the letter did not identify the targeted person, the details aligned with claims laid out by Cassiein her November 2023 lawsuit against Diddy. She alleged that Diddy had been “angry” when she started dating Kid Cudi after one of their splits and threatened to firebomb the rapper’s vehicle in retaliation. (Diddy did not specifically address the firebomb allegations at the time but issued a broad statement denying all of Cassie’s claims.)
“In the early morning hours of December 22, 2011, the defendant [Diddy] and a co-conspirator kidnapped an individual at gunpoint to facilitate breaking into and entering the residence of another,” the court documents read. “Multiple witnesses would testify at trial to the events surrounding the kidnapping and break-in, the latter of which is corroborated by police reports and other records.”
According to the letter, Diddy’s “co-conspirators” allegedly “set fire” to the car “by slicing open the car’s convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside the interior.”
“Police and fire department records extensively document the arson and conclude that the fire was intentionally set,” the letter continues.
December 2024
Diddy and Jay-Z were accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000, as detailed in a civil lawsuit that was originally filed against Diddy alone in October and refiled to add Jay-Z’s name on December 8.
The accuser, who remained anonymous and was only identified as “Jane Doe,” claimed the assault occurred at an after party for the MTV Music Video Awards.
Jay-Z said in a statement to Us on December 8 that he denied the allegations lodged against him. “My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a ‘lawyer’ named Tony Buzbee. What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle,” Jay-Z wrote at the time. “No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!”
January 2025
Defense attorneys for Diddy claimed in a January 14 court filing that videos of sexual activity between Diddy, Cassie and male prostitutes “confirm Mr. Combs’s innocence,” per ABC News. The attorneys alleged in court papers that the clips show sexual activity among “consenting adults.”
There are nine videos of Combs’ “freak offs” that are available for defense attorneys to view. They are allegedly asking judges for electric copies.
“Contrary to what the government has led this Court and the public to believe, the so-called ‘Freak Offs’ were private sexual activity between fully consenting adults in a long-term relationship,” defense attorneys Marc Agnifilo and TenyGeragos said.
The defense said that the videos between Diddy and Cassie “unambiguously show that the person alleged in the indictment to be ‘Victim-1’ not only consented but thoroughly enjoyed herself.”
“At bottom, this case is about whether Victim-I was or was not a willing participant in her private sex life with Mr. Combs. The videos confirm that she plainly was,” the defense said.
On January 22, Diddy filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against one of his accusers, Courtney Burgess, and Burgess’ attorney, Ariel Mitchell, along with NewsNation. The suit came after Burgess previously claimed to have footage of Diddy’s “freak offs.” He also appeared on NewsNation’s Banfield alongside Mitchell in November 2024 to discuss the allegations against Diddy.
Two additional suits were filed against Diddy on February 4. Two women accused the music mogul of forcing them into “group sex” and alleged that he directed a club promoter to rape one of them in the late ’80s and ’90s. That same day, Diddy was sued by another John Doe who claimed the rapper drugged and assaulted him in 2015.
Diddy subsequently sued Peacock for $100 million over alleged “defamatory statements” made in the Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy documentary.
On February 28, Rolling Stone obtained court documents in which a former I Want to Work for Diddy reality show contestant accused Diddy of sexual misconduct.
March 2025
A superseding indictment filed on March 6 included new claims regarding forced labor through “physical force, psychological harm, financial harm, and reputational harm, and/or threats of the same” and an allegation that Diddy made one employee “engage in sex acts.”
On March 26, another John Doe filed a suit alleging that Diddy sexually assaulted him in either 2022 or 2023 while on the set of a commercial. USA Today obtained the complaint, alleging that the anonymous man “struck up a conversation” with Diddy. The musician allegedly invited the man, who was a “photographer/production assistant,” into his trailer and demanded oral sex.
Allegedly, after Combs invited Doe into his trailer, he demanded Doe perform oral sex on him and promised to “make your career take off.” Doe called the alleged incident “blatant sexual quid-pro-quo.” Diddy’s team denied the allegation in a statement to the newspaper.
April 2025
TMZ reported that another accuser — a man, Joseph Manzaro — filed a sex trafficking lawsuit against Diddy, alleging he was sexually assaulted by the rapper.
Manzaro reportedly claimed in the filing that he was drugged and brought to one of Diddy’s parties in Florida, where multiple A-Listers were in attendance, including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Lebron James, Gloria Estefan, Emilio Estefan and more. At the alleged event, Manzaro claimed the music mogul allegedly strapped a penis mask to his face and paraded him around.
Gloria, Emilio and Jay-Z have denied being at the event. Beyoncé and James have yet to address the lawsuit claims. Us reached out to both at the time. (Monzaro filed an amendment on April 11 which removed Beyoncé and Jay-Z as witnesses from the legal complaint.)
Diddy’s legal team also denied the allegations.
“This complaint demonstrates the depraved lengths plaintiffs will travel to garner headlines in pursuit of a payday,” read a statement to TMZ. “No sane person reading this complaint could credit this story. Mr. Combs looks forward to having his day in court where these lies — and the perverse motives of those who told them — will be revealed.”
On April 4, federal prosecutors added two additional charges to the indictment against Diddy. He was charged with one additional count of sex trafficking and one additional count of transportation to engage in prostitution relating to a person identified as Victim-2. The conduct in the new charges allegedly occurred between 2021 and 2024.
He now faces a total of five federal charges after he was previously charged with racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution related to three victims and one count of sex trafficking related to a person known as Victim-1.
“These are not new allegations or new accusers. These are the same individuals, former long-term girlfriends, who were involved in consensual relationships,” Diddy’s legal team told Us Weekly in a statement. “This was their private sex life, defined by consent, not coercion.”
On April 18, Diddy’s request to push back the start date of his trial by two months was denied by judge Arun Subramanian. The trial will go ahead as planned on May 5, the same day as the Met Gala. It was reported days later that Cassie would testify against him under her own name, as opposed to Victim-1.
In a motion filed in April, the prosecution stated that “Victim-1” would not be testifying anonymously. “She is prepared to testify under her own name,” the filing stated. “Victim-2, Victim-3 and Victim-4 have asked that their identities not be revealed to the press or the public.” Us reached out to Cassie and Diddy’s legal teams for comment at the time.
With the trial set to start in May, prosecutors filed a motion on April 27 to prevent Diddy’s lawyers from including testimony from a psychiatrist that suggests Diddy was not mentally capable of committing these crimes due to drugs and alcohol.
Prosecutors wrote in their objection, “If a defendant intends to introduce expert evidence relating to ‘a mental disease or defect or any other mental condition of the defendant bearing on . . . the issue of guilt,’ he must provide notice to the Government.”
July 2025
A New York jury found Diddy guilty of two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution after a two-month trial. He was acquitted of three subsequent charges, including two counts of sex trafficking and one count of racketeering conspiracy. A judge denied Diddy bail, remanding him to jail until his sentencing.
September 2025
Deonte Nash, a former stylist for Diddy who testified against him during his sex trafficking trial, filed a lawsuit accusing the disgraced mogul of sexual battery, human trafficking and false imprisonment while he was in his employ.
“Nash personally experienced sexual, physical, mental and emotional abuse at the hands of Defendants during his 10-year employment,” read the lawsuit, per CBS News. The stylist allegedly experienced “forced tests of loyalty and manipulation, sexual harassment and sexual assaults, physical violence and manhandling, labor trafficking, threats of harm and threats of death.”
Nash, who began working for Diddy in 2008 when he was 21, said the alleged abuse caused him to resign in 2018 but claimed his former boss’ team “continued to threaten” him.
“After enduring years of abuse, I finally found the courage during the criminal trial, and I am now ready to take action,” Nash said in a statement. “Sean Combs has never taken accountability for the years of harm he inflicted on me and so many others.”
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During the trial, Nash testified that he witnessed Diddy threatening Cassie and being physically violent toward her.
Diddy denied the allegations in Nash’s lawsuit in a statement to Us via his legal team. “Mr. Nash is another opportunist looking to profit off his proximity to celebrity. This complaint is riddled with falsehoods and stands in stark contrast to the record that has already been established in court,” the statement read. “Mr. Combs has dedicated his life and career to uplifting artists, creating opportunities and building one of the most influential cultural enterprises in the world. Mr. Nash’s tabloid-style accusations are insulting not only to Mr. Combs, but also to the countless individuals who worked honorably and professionally within his companies. In court, the truth will prevail, as it did in his criminal trial: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman. Mr. Combs looks forward to clearing his name again in a court of law where truth matters.”
There are few estates better-known than Memphis, Tennessee’s Graceland, once the home of Elvis Presley and his family. This family jewel, glowing with the allure of its past, not to mention the mansion’s sprawling ’60s design, was home to the rock and roll legend for more than 20 years. After sharing the premises with his parents, the King lived there with his wife, Priscilla Presley. The house hosted the couple’s second wedding ceremony on May 29, 1967. Now open to the public as a monument to Elvis’ legacy, the singer’s property almost suffered a very different fate. In her memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, which hit shelves Tuesday, Priscilla Presley reflected on the fate of Graceland, now a must-see for Elvis fans.
When Elvis died of a heart attack in 1977, his father, Vernon Presley, inherited the house, as he and Priscilla had divorced in 1973. When Vernon, Priscilla’s former father-in-law, died two years later in 1979, she then became trustee of the property. If we are to believe Priscilla, becoming Graceland’s caregiver was more burden than boon. According to her, Graceland’s upkeep represented such a huge loss of money that she and her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, were left with just $500,000 of Elvis’s inheritance to spare. The future of the property was at stake.
“After Elvis passed, it went on for about three years until the attorneys brought me in and said, ‘Priscilla, we’re going to have to sell Graceland. We have no money. We’re not bringing any money in,’” Priscilla told People in an interview this week. “I just looked at them, and I said, ‘That’ll never happen, ever.’ Then, I left.”
Time was running out. The new trustee had to come up with a plan to prevent the Graceland estate from slipping away, crumbling, or being sold. A new acquaintance saved the day: Morgan Maxfield, a businessman who had made his fortune building highway service stations, was introduced to Priscilla by a mutual friend. Maxfield breathed life into the idea of opening Graceland to the public and generating income to sustain the estate. Unfortunately, Maxfield died in a plane crash in 1981, before he could see Graceland opened as a museum in 1982.
“That was a shock. He was guiding me all the way on opening Graceland,” Priscilla told People. “Thank God I was able to fulfill what he had said about making sure I get the right people, the right attorneys, the right bank. It was a trip, but it was a trip worthwhile.” Today, the estate welcomes around 600,000 visitors a year.
Although Priscilla Presley fought to preserve the estate as soon as the singer passed away, the property again found itself at the heart of a dispute in 2024. Riley Keough, Elvis’s granddaughter, is now the property’s trustee. She became embroiled in a legal battle with Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, which purported to be an investment firm specializing in real estate loans and buyouts. The mysterious Naussany claimed that they had granted a $3.8 million loan to Keough’s mother, Lisa Marie Presley, in which she allegedly put up the property as collateral. Naussany advertised a foreclosure auction for Graceland, claiming to hold the deed, and after a brief, bizarre period of legal drama, both the deed and Naussany itself were both found fraudulent, with Keough’s ownership of Graceland affirmed.
“The purported note and deed of trust are products of fraud and those individuals who were involved in the creation of such documents are believed to be guilty of the crime of forgery,” reads part of the initial civil suit, which also accuses NIPL of being “not a real entity.”
A Missouri woman, Lisa Jeanine Findley, was arrested in August 2024 and fingered as the actor behind Naussany and the scheme to steal Graceland. In February 2025, she pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in the ensuing criminal case in the District of Western Tennessee court. On September 23, a Memphis judge sentenced her to 57 months in prison, with three years of supervised release.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr joined Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday night to explain why Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night TV show was abruptly suspended following backlash over his controversial comments about the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.
Carr stressed that broadcast networks like ABC operate with a license that has a “unique obligation to operate in the public interest,” unlike cable channels such as CNN.
“Broadcasters are different than any other form of communication,” Carr said, pointing to affiliate groups like Nexstar and Sinclair that announced they would no longer carry “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” He argued that local stations acted appropriately, saying they were “standing up to serve the interests of their community.”
“Over the years, the FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation,” Carr said. “I don’t think we’re better off as a country for it.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr appears on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Sept. 17, 2025, to discuss ABC affiliates pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s show.(Fox News)
Hannity pressed Carr on whether broadcasters had been abusing their licenses by advancing partisan agendas.
“They went from going for applause, from laugh lines to applause lines. They went from being court jesters that would make fun of everybody in power to being court clerics and enforcing a very narrow political ideology,” Carr asserted.
Carr pointed to what he described as years of “narrow, partisan circus” programming and said the FCC was working to reinvigorate enforcement of the public interest obligation. He called Nexstar and Sinclair’s decisions “unprecedented.”
Jimmy Kimmel hosting his late-night program in Los Angeles earlier this year. (David Russell/Disney via Getty Images)
“This action today by Nexstar and Sinclair, frankly, it is unprecedented,” said Carr. “I can’t imagine another time when we’ve had local broadcasters tell what we call a national programmer like Disney that your content no longer meets the needs and the values of our community.”
The controversy erupted after Kimmel suggested that conservatives were trying to deflect responsibility from “the MAGA gang” in connection with the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the suspect accused in Charlie Kirk’s killing.
Carr defended the indefinite suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” while appearing on “Hannity” Wednesday.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nexstar, which is awaiting FCC approval on a multibillion-dollar acquisition, announced it would preempt Kimmel’s show “for the foreseeable future.” Hours later, Disney confirmed ABC would suspend the program indefinitely.
The ACLU blasted the move, accusing the Trump administration of using federal pressure to silence critics. “This is beyond McCarthyism,” said Christopher Anders, the group’s democracy and technology director, warning of a “grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms.”
Carr told Hannity the shift reflected market realities, arguing that late-night shows had alienated broad audiences by prioritizing politics over comedy.
“You can’t avoid ratings,” Carr said. “At the end of the day, the market is going to be undefeated.”
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Jasmine Baehr is a Breaking News Writer for Fox News Digital, where she covers politics, the military, faith and culture.
We see people get catfished all the time — there’s an entire reality series about it called Catfish: The TV Show starring Nev Schulman on MTV. There’s an episode where a man believes he’s truly in a relationship with Katy Perry…and now, we have two women in Spain who were scammed out of over $300,000 by none other than Fight Club’s own, Brad Pitt.
Except, as you may have realized, it wasn’t the former husband of Angelina Jolie who was actually talking to these women. On September 25, five people were arrested for posing as Brad Pitt on WhatsApp and scamming two women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Look, I get it. I, too, spend my days yearning for Harry Styles to slide into my DM’s. It’s just…I know that’s never going to happen. And if it does, it’s a fake account, of course. But, for some, they want to believe Brad Pitt (or any catfish celeb) is really speaking to them.
CNN reported that scammers profiled the victims and contacted them through a Brad Pitt fansite. They claimed the actor wanted to work with them on projects. Individually, one victim lost $195,000 and the other lost $167,000. Sadly, police were only able to recover $95,000.
It’s important to research before responding to or contacting a “celebrity” asking for money. Typically, legal professionals would handle such matters, and Brad Pitt likely doesn’t need your financial help.
Juliet and Amanda return this week with a couple of celebrity bits to discuss, starting with Olivia Nuzzi and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “digital relationship”, alleging a secret relationship was happening (1:04). Next, the ladies discuss a “divorce watch” as Prince Harry seems to be going on a solo tour without Meghan (15:24), then touch on Chappell Roan’s continuous soundbite and clickbait headlines as she navigates being in the spotlight as a new artist (20:35). Lastly, Juliet says a heartfelt see you later to Amanda as she leaves for maternity leave for a few months (25:13). Safe delivery Amanda!
Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Jade Whaley
