#FASHIONFAB: Allen Edmonds Fall 2025 Footwear Proves Craft Is Still Cultural Currency
Allen Edmonds launches its fall-winter 2025 campaign, Where Legacy Meets Leather, as both manifesto and collection. The story begins in Port Washington, Wisconsin, where 140 artisans shape boots through 212 steps, guided by the brand’s signature Goodyear bench welt construction and leathers from storied tanneries. Constructed to be recrafted, not discarded, the boots frame “quality as the original sustainability.”
The campaign, featuring Raphael Diogo and David Agbodji, places Allen Edmonds’ values in pared-back imagery that highlights proportion. Suede harness boots stand out in ochre against black leather, Chelsea boots are cut in polished chocolate, and alpine hikers reveal their substance through brass hardware and deep tread.
Allen Edmonds’ manifesto reads like a workman’s poem: lights on at 5:03 AM, steel humming, leather waiting, hands starting. Machines are not replacements but extensions of the maker. Every stitch is framed as a choice, every sole a conversation between tradition and possibility. Craft is described not as nostalgia but as practice, a discipline that requires daily renewal.
#RHOA: Kandi Burruss Opens Up About Riley’s Career Success: "Did Everything Herself"
Citing her mother’s lifelong support, Kandi said she was “so proud” of the now-23-year-old Riley. Continued the Grammy Award winner, “She applied and graduated from [NYU] without any real help from us, did everything herself, and now she is doing what she said she’d do. She graduated in four years and has her own TV show, and it’s a hit.”
Kandi added of her daughter, who was only 7 years old when debuting on RHOA, “She’s growing in her own light and shining.”
And for Riley, the love was mutual for her “insanely powerful and talented” mother. As she told People, “Literally any time I’m confused about something in the world, I call her because I don’t think anyone could give me a better answer than her. I’m always checking my mom’s opinions for everything.”
Earlier this month, mother and daughter turned heads at the 2025 Creative Arts Emmys in LA, where they jointly presented the nominees for Outstanding Structured Reality Program. The pair stunned in black and gold glam on the red carpet.
On their way to the Peacock Theater, as seen in a video by Kandi, the mom captured Riley eating buffalo cauliflower. As Riley defended, “We gotta eat around here … I know we're in LA, but I'm not LA.”
That evening, the NYC-based daughter shared a snap from the event, tagging her Atlanta-based mother with a heart emoji.
Both women appeared on the July 15 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, where Riley expressed an interest in furthering her education with a Master’s Degree. So long as the daughter pursued an education, Riley admitted her mother hadn’t financially cut her off, as once promised and featured in Next Gen NYC.
The NYU grad, who obtained a bachelor's degree in music business in 2024, said, “We'll see which school … I don't like to tell everyone exactly what I'm doing, but I'm going to get my master's. I'm studying now to take the test in August.”
Added Kandi, "Yeah, so y'all pray for my baby that she pass and gets high scores on her test.”
Riley also told Bravo’s The Daily Dish in May that she was studying for the LSATs to pursue law and business. "I think, for me, my main priority is studying for the LSAT, of course, and getting a great score, and getting into Columbia. And my second goal is just to continue working on myself. You know, I'm only 22, so I feel like there's a lot of self-work that would be very needed at this age of your life. And I just want to make sure I'm doing the best I can with myself.”
Where does Riley Burruss stand with her dad, Russell Spencer?
Riley and her father, Russell “Block” Spencer, continue to have a strong relationship, which was somewhat kept away from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. As Kandi said back in 2016, "For me, that was never anything I want to exploit, the relationship between my daughter and her father.”
For Riley’s 23rd birthday, Russell took to social media to wish his daughter a “Happy B’day to [his] baby girl.”
Continued Russell, “[Kandi] u could have waited a couple of more [hours] and she would have been a [Virgo] and born on the same day as ME!” In the comments, the Housewife replied, “Absolutely not. She was already a week overdue.”
#MusicNews: Chris Brown Hits New Career Heights At No. 1 On Monthly Boxscore Report
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Brown’s 14 shows in August grossed $96.8 million and sold 590,000 tickets. That’s enough for his first month at No. 1. His only prior top 10 appearances were back-to-back showings at No. 8 last summer while on The 11:11 Tour.
What caused Brown’s sudden spike to the top? His 2025 tour, Breezy Bowl XX, elevated the R&B superstar from arenas to baseball stadiums, tripling the sellable capacity for each of his shows.
But his August gross is still a massive improvement upon his stadium performance in June on the European leg of this tour, when he ranked at No. 12. Brown, like most other R&B and hip hop acts, is a much bigger draw stateside than internationally. Plus, ticket prices are much more elastic for domestic shows, regardless of genre. And compared to 11 shows in Europe in June, he played 14 in the U.S. and Canada in August, maximizing his total reach to nearly 600,000 fans.
Not only is this a new peak for Brown himself, he enters rare space for R&B acts. He is only the second such artist to crown Top Tours, following seven wins for Beyoncé, spread between 2023 and 2025. But three of Queen Bey’s victories were for this year’s Cowboy Carter Tour, which notably became the highest-grossing country tour in Boxscore history when it wrapped earlier this summer. That makes Breezy Bowl XX the first R&B tour to conquer the list since the Renaissance World Tour in September 2023.
The highlight of Brown’s August was a double-header at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., with $15 million and 107,000 tickets on Aug. 12-13. Stops in Detroit, Toronto and Atlanta also pulled eight-figure grosses with two shows apiece. Those four cities landed him at Nos. 9-11 and 14 on Top Boxscores.
Congrats Breezy!
#HipHopNews: Cardi B Apologizes To Latto Over Leaked Call Comments, Tells Ice Spice’s Manager To “Post It All”
The call, seemingly from 2024, involved Ice Spice’s manager and referenced past award show drama.
Cardi challenged the partial leak, urging the full 11-minute conversation to be released.
It’s been an eventful past few days for Cardi B, to say the least. She celebrated her sophomore album going No. 1, traded shots with Nicki Minaj, and now the “I Like It” rapper is responding to a leaked phone call in which she threatened to beat up Ice Spice.
On Tuesday (Sept. 30), Cardi issued a public apology to Latto, who ended up catching a stray in the conversation with Ice Spice’s manager, James Rosemond Jr. “I was ranting and hot at the moment, but I f**k with Latto heavy! I respect everything about her, including her team that’s so sweet,” the soon-to-be mother of four posted.
She added, “AND NOPE! I’m not too prideful to apologize to somebody I really respect, so this [is] my public apology, and now I’ma privately buy her a bag.” Cardi and Latto just teamed up on “ErrTime (Remix)” last Tuesday (Sept. 23), so some fans were definitely a bit surprised.
However, judging by Rosemond Jr. referencing the Empire State Building — where Ice Spice celebrated the release of Y2K! in July 2024 — the call seems to date back nearly a year.
In a separate tweet, Cardi called out Rosemond Jr. for only the start of their call conveniently surfacing online. “But wait, James… [‘Cause] I just know you didn’t only record the beginning of that conversation,” she said.
“Go ahead, baby, post the whole 11-minute convo when Ice Spice said she was in her feelings all because I said Sexyy [Red] deserved a BET Award, and she had just won some iHeart award I wasn’t even thinking about. POST IT ALL!!! You came to bang, right?” Cardi’s post continued.
For those who missed it, Cardi threatened to beat up both Ice Spice and her frequent collaborator and producer, RIOTUSA. She told Rosemond Jr. that she wasn’t “p**sy a** Latto” or Minaj, before shouting at him to put the “Deli” hitmaker on the phone.
Ice Spice appeared to respond to the leak by previewing a track tentatively titled “Pretty Privilege.” In the snippet, she spat, “She might talk s**t on the ‘gram, but she won’t talk it to my face / … / Poser, she hear my song and copy everything I say.”
Cassie Ventura Says Diddy Hasn’t Changed At All In Chilling Letter To Judge
Cassie told a New York federal judge she fears Sean “Diddy” Combs will retaliate against her and others who testified if he avoids prison. In a victim impact statement submitted Monday, the R&B; singer said she remains afraid of what Combs might do following his conviction on federal prostitution-related charges.
“I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial,” she wrote in the letter to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian. “As much progress as I have made in recovering from his abuse, I remain very much afraid of what he is capable of and the malice he undoubtedly harbors towards me for having the bravery to tell the truth.”
She called Combs “the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker” and said he has “no interest in changing or becoming better.”
Combs’ sentencing is set for Friday in New York federal court.
Lionel Richie Recalls Michael Jackson’s Alleged Poor Hygiene And Nickname
Lionel Richie’s new memoir Truly — named after his 1982 debut solo single — is packed with personal stories from his decades in music. One excerpt in particular that has amped up the anticipation for the book, is one that speaks of his longtime, late friend Michael Jackson.
The 76-year-old Grammy winner and American Idol judge recently told PEOPLE that while much of the writing process for his memoir tested his memory, he said he’d never forget Michael Jackson’s approach to hygiene.
Richie shared that Quincy Jones allegedly gave Jackson the nickname “Smelly,” a moniker he claimed the singer took in stride. “Michael would laugh too, realizing that he was oblivious to the fact that he hadn’t changed or washed his clothes for a couple of days or so,” Richie recalled.
Michael Jackson performs on stage during is “HIStory” world tour concert at Ericsson Stadium November 10, 1996 in Auckland, New Zealand. Phil Walter/Getty Images
He explained that Jackson’s global fame and nonstop schedule often made even simple routines difficult. “He was on tour performing in the elaborate costumes made for him by his stylists, or he was in his pajama bottoms and slippers in the studio, or he was in his going-out attire,” he said. “Or he was at home in something loose and comfortable so he could practice his dance moves and play with his menagerie of pets.”
When it came to their private hangouts, Richie remembered that Jackson would show up casual and unbothered by his appearance. “Whenever Michael came to visit me, he was wearing whatever — jeans and a t-shirt. And the jeans were either falling off him or too short to even be jeans and, well, smelly,” he claimed in recollection.
In one instance, the “We Are The World” contributor recalled asking Jackson about his clothes, to which he alleged the singer responded that he avoided sending clothes out to be cleaned because “everybody kept something for a souvenir.” He said the latter would lead him to wear the same items until they were “unwearable.”
Revealing that he once stepped in to help the “Rock My World” singer, Riche recalled offering him a shower, fresh underwear, and a pair of jeans after Jackson showed up at his house looking unkept.
He claimed Jackson accepted with gratitude, but when Richie returned home later, he noticed the evidence left behind. “There on the carpet was the pair of Michael Jackson’s underwear and his old ratty jeans. Just lying there like roadkill,” he recalled. “What do I do but laugh? MJ was here.”
Truly by Lionel Richie is out now.
Tyrese Gibson failed to turn himself in following arrest warrant for cruelty to animals, police say
Tyrese Gibson failed to turn himself in to police after an arrest warrant was issued because his four Cane Corso dogs mauled and killed a neighbor’s dog in Georgia in mid-September, police said Tuesday.
The warrant for cruelty to animals issued for the “Fast & Furious” actor is part of an “ongoing issue” following multiple calls about the dogs in the past few months, Fulton County Police Captain Nicole Dwyer said.
“Our priority is the safety of the community and when there’s so many incidents of dogs, especially large dogs like this, getting out and then killing an animal, you know, what’s next? A child?” Dwyer said. “Our main priority is safety and that’s why we want the dogs in custody.”
Gibson had received multiple warnings before the warrant was issued, and police had attempted to cite him before the attack, but the actor wasn’t at his Atlanta home. Dwyer said she spoke with Gibson’s lawyer last week and informed them the actor had to turn himself in by Friday.
Gibson’s attorney, Gabe Banks, wrote to in an email to The Associated Press the actor is “cooperating fully with authorities to address and resolve this matter responsibly.” Gibson wasn’t home when the incident took place, Banks wrote, and “immediately made the difficult decision to rehome his dogs to a safe and loving environment.”
Just after 10 p.m. on Sept. 18, a neighbor of Gibson’s, whose house is half a mile away, let their dog, a small spaniel, out to their yard and returned five minutes later to find the dog had been attacked. The dog was rushed to a veterinary hospital, but did not survive, Dwyer said.
The four dogs were then seen at the next-door house, where the owner called police, saying she was afraid to leave her house. Animal control officers responded and were able to keep the dogs back while the neighbor went to her vehicle.
Police issued a search warrant for Gibson’s property on Sept. 22, but the actor and the dogs were not at the residence
Banks wrote that Gibson “extends his deepest condolences to the family who lost their beloved dog to this tragic incident.”
Gibson posted a video to Instagram that included various clips of his dogs early Monday. He didn’t speak in the video, but rather included audio from the podcast, “The Breakfast Club,” where hosts discussed the case.
WNBA superstar Napheesa Collier slams the commissioner
WNBA superstar Napheesa Collier created havoc when she put the WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert on full furnace blast as “the worst leadership in the world.”
Collier, 29, an All-WNBA First Team player and multi-time All-Star, went scorched earth in her exit interview after her Minnesota Lynx were eliminated in the semifinals by the Phoenix Mercury in four games.
During her press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 30, Collier said the WNBA “has the best players in the world, and we have the best fans in the world. But right now, we have the worst leadership in the world,” according to CBS Sports.
Collier said the officiating in the WNBA, which has been the source of ceaseless and bitter complaints for years, is substandard and is causing a rash of severe and season-ending injuries to star players. In fact, many fans believe that Collier was injured after an incidental contact caused her severe ankle sprain. There was no foul call. She was unavailable for the last semifinal game in which her Lynx were eliminated by the Mercury.
Here is the transcript of what Collier said during her scathing attack on Engelbert:
“Since I’ve been in the league, you’ve heard the constant concerns about officiating and it has now reached levels of inconsistency that plague our sport and undermine the integrity with which it operates.
“Whether the league cares about the health of the players is one thing, but to also not care about the product we put on the floor is truly self-sabotage. Year after year, the only thing that remains consistent is the lack of accountability from our leaders. The league has a buzzword that they rolled out as a talking point for the CBA as to why they can’t pay the players what we’re worth; that word is sustainability. But what’s truly unsustainable is keeping a good product on the floor while allowing officials to lose control of games. Fans see it every night. Coaches, both winning and losing, point it out every night in pre- and post-game media. And leadership just issues fines and looks the other way. They ignore the issues that everyone inside the game is begging them to fix. That is negligence.
Pay is an issue too
“At Unrivaled this past February, I sat across from Cathy and asked how she planned to address the officiating issues in our league. Her response was, ‘Well, only the losers complain about the refs.’ I also asked how she planned to fix the fact that players like Caitlin [Clark], Angel [Reese] and Paige [Bueckers], who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league, are making so little for their first four years. Her response was, ‘Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.’
“In that same conversation, she told me ‘players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.’ That’s the mentality driving our league from the top. We go to battle every day to protect a shield that doesn’t value us. The league believes it succeeds despite its players, not because of them.
“That is infuriating. And it’s the perfect example of the tone-deaf, dismissive approach that our leaders always seem to take. I’ve finally grown tired. For too long, I’ve tried to have these conversations in private, but it’s clear there’s no intention of accepting there’s a problem. The league has made it clear it isn’t about innovation, it isn’t about collaboration, it’s about control and power. I’ve earned this platform and I paid the price to get here, and now I have a responsibility to speak on behalf of the fans and everyone in this league that deserves better.
“I will not stand quietly by and allow different standards to be applied at the league level.”
Whoopi Goldberg, Sophie Turner, Toni Collette, and More Slam AI Actress Tilly Norwood
In addition to Emily Blunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Sophie Turner, Toni Collette, Mara Wilson, and Lukas Gage, Melissa Barrera, and Kiersey Clemons slammed the use of AI in film.
"It's a little bit of an unfair advantage. But you know what? Bring it on," Whoopi said on a recent episode of The View. "Because you can always tell them from us."
Turner took a shot at Norwood in the comment section of an Instagram post, writing "Wow…. No thanks," per People, while Blunt told Variety, “Does it disappoint me? I don’t know how to quite answer it, other than to say how terrifying this is.”
On IG, per Deadline, Collette responded with a handful of screaming emojis, while Wilson wrote, “And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?”
“She was a nightmare to work with!!!! She couldn’t hit her mark and she was late!” Gage quipped, while Clemons remarked, “Out the agents. I want names.”
Barrera took to her IG Story to repost Deadline’s article about Tilly Norwood and wrote, “Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their ass. How gross, read the room.”
SAG-AFTRA also had some choice words for Norwood and her creator, Eline Van der Velden.
“SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics," the organization said in a statement.
“To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performer—without permission or compensation."
Van der Velden later issued her own statement.
"Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I’m an actor myself, and nothing—certainly not an AI character—can take away the craft or joy of human performance," Van Der Velden wrote, in part.
"Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance. It takes time, skill and iteration to bring such a character to life," she added. "She represents experimentation, not substitution. Much of my work has always been about holding up a mirror to society through satire and this is no different."
Chris Gotti Says Ashanti Did Not Attend Brother’s Funeral Despite Report That She Was There
Chris Gotti, the brother of late music executive Irv Gotti, believes that Ashanti should've spoken to him in person after his sibling died. He also said that she didn't attend his funeral despite a report claiming that she was there.
Chris alleged that Ashanti avoided her former label, Murder Inc. Records, after leaving the company in 2009, and once again spoke on the R&B singer on the September 30 episode of The Breakfast Club. Around the 30-minute mark of the video below, Chris said that he and Ashanti haven't spoken "in person" since Irv died last February.
"For her not to call me after [Irv's] passing, she [texted] me, that that don't feel right," Chris said. "I did everything for them. Never did I get one thing in return."
Chris added that Ashanti is a "legacy artist" but without Murder Inc, she would have never released "hit records." After discussing a few Ashanti classics like "Foolish," Chris said Ashanti did not attend Irv's funeral despite previous reports.
"She did not. She sent some flowers," Chris said. When asked if the acknowledgment provided comfort, Chris called the flowers a "good gesture" but said that the singer "should know better" and suggested that they needed a face-to-face conversation. "She should come see me physically. I love Ashanti. ... That's little sis, for real."
Chris added that Ashanti once thanked him for "taking care" of her and explained he never had a problem with the singer's husband, Nelly. "The day of Verzuz, he pulls up and I said, 'What do you want to do?' I'll roll n***a this off the stage,'" Chris recalled. "She said, 'No, I'll give you the sign if there's a problem.' But that's the day they got back together. That's why you don't get in the middle of relationships."
Chris also commented on Ashanti not reaching out to his mother after Irv's passing.
"All bets is off when it's death. It's over. Nothing Irv could say. Nothing no more," Chris continued. "It's over. Why can't you? And again, if it's because of your husband, you could come see me and talk to me."
Elsewhere, Chris said that he would "appreciate a visit" from Ashanti and suggested that it was because of his and Irv's guidance that she became a star.
Last May, Chris said on podcast Lets Keep it 100 that Ashanti downplayed the work that he and his late brother put in to make the vocalist a success. Even after a public falling out between Ashanti and Irv just a few years before his passing from a massive hemorrhagic stroke, she gave credit to him in an Instagram post and interview on Angie Martinez IRL.
On the episode, Ashanti said that she "really wanted" a reconciliation with the late producer and that they "made history together."
“Reading Rainbow” Reboot To Be Hosted By TikTok Star Mychal Threets
Threets, a former librarian and social media advocate for literacy, has garnered a following for his engaging content that encourages reading and self-confidence. He has also served as PBS’s resident librarian for over a year. The reboot will feature celebrity guests like #GabrielleUnion, #JohnLegend, #ChrissyTeigen, and others, aiming to make reading fun and accessible for children.
Jimmy Kimmel Reveals Moment He Found Out About His Show Being Suspended
Jimmy Kimmel is opening about the recent suspension of his talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The 57-year-old host made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night (September 30), and recalled the moment when he learned his show was being put on hold indefinitely.
“It was about 3:00. We tape our show at 4:30. I’m in my office, typing away as I usually do. I get a phone call, it’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual,” he recounted of the afternoon (September 17). “As far as I knew, they didn’t even know I was doing a show previous to this, so I have like five people who work in my office with me, so the only private place to go is the bathroom.”
“So I go into the bathroom. And I’m on the phone with the ABC executives and they say, ‘Listen, we wanna take the temperature down. We’re concerned about what you’re gonna say tonight and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air tonight,” Jimmy continued, as the audience booed.
“That’s what I said. I started booing,” he went on. “I said I don’t think that’s a good idea, and they said, ‘Well, we think it’s a good idea.’ And then there was a vote and I lost the vote. So I put my pants back on and I walked out to my office and I called in some of the executive producers, and there were about nine people in there, and I said, ‘They’re pulling the show off the air.’”
After leaving that meeting, Jimmy shared his wife told him he looked whiter than Jim Gaffigan, because he “thought that it’s over. I was like, I’m never coming back on the air.”
Jimmy added that the show being pulled so late in the day made things a bit more complicated as the audience was already in their seats as the show was about to start filming.
One of the schedule guests that night, chef Christian Petroni, had also already started cooking what he was presenting on the episode, and musician Howard Jones was also set to perform.
Jimmy shared that they taped Howard‘s performance anyway, despite the audience being sent home.
“The song he did do because we decided to tape it anyway, even though we sent the audience home, in front of our disappointed employees, was ‘Things Can Only Get Better.’ Which you could take two ways, right?” he joked.
He also recalled staying at the studio for a few more hours before going home, but when it came time to leave, his normal drive home was met by lots of paparazzi.
“I’m followed by 20 paparazzi cars, TMZ people jumping in front of me on the way home. We’re just trying to get to the house and we’re like, ‘Should we be going to our house?’ There are two helicopters following us home,” he recalled, joking, “I hadn’t had makeup on yet, so my bald spot was not painted in. This is something I did not want America to see.”
Jimmy shared that his family was “shaken” by it all, and even shared what it was like in the days following the news.
“It was like a DUI in L.A., three days in jail where I couldn’t say anything. I just had to sit quiet and make a lot of phone calls and take a lot of phone calls,” he said. “You [Colbert] were very kind to call me. … I did hear from literally everyone I have ever met.”
Mariah Carey Talks Anderson .Paak Dating Rumors, Says There May Be 'A Little Love' There
Throughout the past several months, Mariah and Anderson have been seen holding hands on a couple of occasions, and she is once again speaking to the possibility of them dating in a new interview
While speaking on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast, Mariah told Keke that they met while working on the album.
“I just felt that his style of music would really blend well with mine,” she said.
Mariah, of course, played coy when Keke brought up the subject of the photos of them holding hands and pressed further if there was “a little love” between them.
“Maybe a little love,” Mariah responded. “Who knows?”
In another new interview with Jennifer Hudson, the Elusive Chanteuse said that the Anderson song is her favorite collab on the new album.
Earlier this month, Mariah said that Anderson “just likes to hold my hand.”
Bill Burr Defends Performing at Controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival: “They’re Just Like Us”
Bill Burr took to his podcast to give a detailed rundown of his experience last week in the Middle East, where he performed at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival.
The actor-comedian described rather nervously warming up for the event with a set in Bahrain to get a feel for what an audience in the region would find funny (and acceptable) and then performing at the Saudi Arabia festival’s opening night on Friday.
The event has been billed by organizers as the biggest comedy festival in the world. But its performers (which also include Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, and about 50 others) have come under intense criticism — even from some other comics — given the kingdom’s history of oppression and human rights abuses.
Burr painted a portrait of a region where people were, well, “just like us” — wanting live comedy, wanting to relax and have fun, and consuming a surprising amount of Western culture.
“It was great to experience that part of the world and to be a part of the first comedy festival over there in Saudi Arabia,” Burr said. “The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people that were doing the festival were thrilled. The comedians that I’ve been talking to are saying, ‘Dude, you can feel [the audience] wanted it. They want to see real stand-up comedy.’ It was a mind-blowing experience. Definitely top three experiences I’ve had. I think it’s going to lead to a lot of positive things.”
Burr said the restrictions on what comedians could say had been softened by the festival after some back and forth (Burr didn’t specify with whom). “When they first set it up, the rules on what they had about what you could and couldn’t say in Saudi Arabia, [organizers were told], ‘If you want some good comedians, this isn’t going to work.’ And, to their credit, they said, ‘All right, what do we got to do?’ And they just negotiated it all the way down to just a couple things, which were, basically: Don’t make fun of royals [and] religion.” (The speech restrictions were posted online by comedian Atsuko Okatsuka, who turned down the festival’s offer to attend, and it’s unclear if these were the rules from before or after the talks.)
Burr first described going to the island country of Bahrain — which is more socially liberal than Saudi Arabia — where a customs agent immediately clocked his anxiety about doing stand-up in the region and gave him grief about it. “When I was landing in Bahrain, like I’m fucking nervous, right? … [Then the agent says], ‘You tell jokes about the Middle East? You think you’re going to come over here and get beheaded, right?'”
After a successful show in Bahrain, Burr was at a bar where he was watching interactions among the locals and decided, “I’m like, these guys, they’re just like us … I don’t speak the language, but I get it.”
When he flew into Saudi Arabia, Burr’s nervousness crept back, but he was struck by the amount of local Western influence. “You think everybody’s going to be screaming ‘death to America’ and they’re going to have like fucking machetes and want to like chop my head off, right?” Burr said. “Because this is what I’ve been fed about that part of the world. I thought this place was going to be really tense. And I’m thinking like: ‘Is that a Starbucks next to a Pizza Hut next to a Burger King next to McDonald’s …? They got a fucking Chili’s over here!”
Once onstage at the Riyadh show, Burr kept pushing his material and crowd banter further and further — including doing a bit about gay men at the gym — until he was eventually performing his regular act. “I had to stop a couple times during the show [and say], ‘I’ll be honest with you guys, I cannot fucking believe any of you have any idea who I am. This is really amazing.’ And it was just this great exchange of energy. They know their reputation. So they were extra friendly.”
Burr’s take on the event comes as some comedians such as Shane Gillis, Marc Maron and David Cross have voiced objections to the festival, with Cross blasting comics — including citing Burr — who participated. “I am disgusted and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing,” wrote Cross. “That people I admire, with unarguable talent, would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for … what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers? We can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about.”
MSNBC opinion writer Zeeshan Aleem accused the performers of participating in “comedy-washing” in an op-ed, describing the event as “an insidious tool to project a misleading image of the country’s incremental efforts to liberalize … this comedy festival functions fundamentally as propaganda, allowing the country to falsely present an image of an open society when, in fact, the government remains hostile to democratic civil liberties tied to freedom of speech and assembly.”
There is a long history of debate on this issue, weighing a refusal to normalize and endorse an authoritarian regime versus the benefits of exposing such cultures to Western values and fostering a sense of openness. The political scientist Joseph S. Nye popularized the term “soft power” in the 1980s to describe using forces like art and culture to shape what other countries want and value.
The pop singer and humanitarian Sting has likewise spoken out about this concept in the past when defending his performance in Uzbekistan in 2009.
“I am well aware of the Uzbek president’s appalling reputation in the field of human rights as well as the environment,” Sting said at the time. “I made the decision to play there in spite of that. I have come to believe that cultural boycotts are not only pointless gestures, they are counter-productive, where proscribed states are further robbed of the open commerce of ideas and art and as a result become even more closed, paranoid and insular.”
Solange Knowles Launches Saint Heron Archive Library With “Primarily Rare” Black Works
Multidisciplinary artist Solange Knowles this week unveiled the Saint Heron Digital Archive Library, a new platform for distributing and preserving rare, out-of-print, and first-edition works by Black and Brown authors, poets, and artists. She described the collection as “primarily rare” in an Instagram announcement.
The announcement went live Thursday evening, timed with the library’s official launch at 6 p.m. Eastern. Knowles captioned the post: “The [Saint Heron] digital archive library part I. Liiiive today … The Saint Heron Library is home to our archival collection of primarily rare, out of print, and 1st edition titles by Black & brown authors, poets, [and] artists.” She added, “As the market and demand for these books, zines, and catalogues rises, we would like to play a small part in creating free access to the expansive range of critical thought and expression by these great mindsss.”
The Saint Heron archive is offered free of charge and operates on an honor-based system. It is currently open to U.S.-based residents only. Each user may reserve one book at a time, and requests are fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis. Books are shipped with complimentary return postage, and borrowers have 45 days to return them. If titles are lost or damaged, users will be charged the market value.
The collection features works by authors and thinkers such as Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Ed Bullins, and Octavia Butler. Among the holdings are The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde and An Ordinary Woman by Lucille Clifton. After just hours online, many items already appeared under “borrowed” status.
The new library builds on a seasonal community library launched in 2021 through Saint Heron and Guest Curator Rosa Duffy. That earlier effort offered a selection of rare works for a limited period. The current digital archive represents a more permanent infrastructure for access and preservation. Knowles has said that Part II of the library will roll out in the coming weeks, expanding the range of the archive.
For Knowles, the archive extends her long-standing mission through Saint Heron to uplift Black creative expression. In the Instagram post, she underscored the project’s ambition: “play a small part in creating free access to the expansive range of critical thought and expression by these great mindsss.”
The announcement went live Thursday evening, timed with the library’s official launch at 6 p.m. Eastern. Knowles captioned the post: “The [Saint Heron] digital archive library part I. Liiiive today … The Saint Heron Library is home to our archival collection of primarily rare, out of print, and 1st edition titles by Black & brown authors, poets, [and] artists.” She added, “As the market and demand for these books, zines, and catalogues rises, we would like to play a small part in creating free access to the expansive range of critical thought and expression by these great mindsss.”
The Saint Heron archive is offered free of charge and operates on an honor-based system. It is currently open to U.S.-based residents only. Each user may reserve one book at a time, and requests are fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis. Books are shipped with complimentary return postage, and borrowers have 45 days to return them. If titles are lost or damaged, users will be charged the market value.
The collection features works by authors and thinkers such as Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Ed Bullins, and Octavia Butler. Among the holdings are The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde and An Ordinary Woman by Lucille Clifton. After just hours online, many items already appeared under “borrowed” status.
The new library builds on a seasonal community library launched in 2021 through Saint Heron and Guest Curator Rosa Duffy. That earlier effort offered a selection of rare works for a limited period. The current digital archive represents a more permanent infrastructure for access and preservation. Knowles has said that Part II of the library will roll out in the coming weeks, expanding the range of the archive.
For Knowles, the archive extends her long-standing mission through Saint Heron to uplift Black creative expression. In the Instagram post, she underscored the project’s ambition: “play a small part in creating free access to the expansive range of critical thought and expression by these great mindsss.”
Tyler James Williams Reveals Three Crohn’s Surgeries in Three Months
Tyler James Williams revealed his Crohn’s Disease diagnosis. In a interview with PEOPLE, Williams shared that he had three different surgeries to deal with Crohn’s Disease in three months.
“I’ve been looking for a real actionable way to tell my story, my IBD journey. Because I felt like things happened to me that didn’t necessarily need to because of the steps that I took,” the Abbott Elementary star said,
“I spent a portion of my life and career in wild amounts of discomfort and pain, only to find out that had I had a more in-depth conversation with a gastroenterologist, a lot of that could have either been treated more directly or avoided,” he continued. “So I don’t want anybody who’s in the position that I was in previously to have to go through the same things.”
In August 2015, Williams was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, just before he turned 23. He said that his first major flare-up happened when he was just 19. Throughout childhood, the signs were always there, Williams said.
“I’ve experienced some of the milder symptoms of the disease. But then also some of the very extremes as well,” Williams said. “So much of that was due to the neglect of not treating the disease ahead of time.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, Crohn’s dieseas is a form of IBD that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. The disease effects more than half fof the citizens in the United States. If eft untreated, Crohn’s disease can be fatal. Willaims recalled learning more about the disease when he was hospitlaized.
I was waiting for the doctor to give me some kind of big, really scary diagnosis,” Williams recalled. “He mentioned Crohn’s disease and I didn’t know what that was. So although it was explained to me, there was a certain level of seriousness I just didn’t take to it.”
In anuary 2016 he required surgery, to deal with the painful symptoms. The procedure invovles removing a damaged portion of the digestive tract and reconnecting the healthy sections.
“I needed to have three surgeries over the course of three months. And was hospitalized on both the east and west coast for the better part of a year,” he said.
As the face of the face of AbbVie’s new “Beyond a Gut Feeling” campaign, Williams wants to hve more conversations about IBD.
“There are people who are suffering much like I was because they just don’t know how to talk about it,” Williams added. “I can understand that people have a hesitancy to talk about their digestive systems. But I hope that by me talking about this more frequently, it breaks that wall down a little bit.”
Tyler James Williams revealed his Crohn’s Disease diagnosis. In a interview with PEOPLE, Williams shared that he had three different surgeries to deal with Crohn’s Disease in three months.
“I’ve been looking for a real actionable way to tell my story, my IBD journey. Because I felt like things happened to me that didn’t necessarily need to because of the steps that I took,” the Abbott Elementary star said,
“I spent a portion of my life and career in wild amounts of discomfort and pain, only to find out that had I had a more in-depth conversation with a gastroenterologist, a lot of that could have either been treated more directly or avoided,” he continued. “So I don’t want anybody who’s in the position that I was in previously to have to go through the same things.”
In August 2015, Williams was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, just before he turned 23. He said that his first major flare-up happened when he was just 19. Throughout childhood, the signs were always there, Williams said.
“I’ve experienced some of the milder symptoms of the disease. But then also some of the very extremes as well,” Williams said. “So much of that was due to the neglect of not treating the disease ahead of time.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, Crohn’s dieseas is a form of IBD that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. The disease effects more than half fof the citizens in the United States. If eft untreated, Crohn’s disease can be fatal. Willaims recalled learning more about the disease when he was hospitlaized.
I was waiting for the doctor to give me some kind of big, really scary diagnosis,” Williams recalled. “He mentioned Crohn’s disease and I didn’t know what that was. So although it was explained to me, there was a certain level of seriousness I just didn’t take to it.”
In anuary 2016 he required surgery, to deal with the painful symptoms. The procedure invovles removing a damaged portion of the digestive tract and reconnecting the healthy sections.
“I needed to have three surgeries over the course of three months. And was hospitalized on both the east and west coast for the better part of a year,” he said.
As the face of the face of AbbVie’s new “Beyond a Gut Feeling” campaign, Williams wants to hve more conversations about IBD.
“There are people who are suffering much like I was because they just don’t know how to talk about it,” Williams added. “I can understand that people have a hesitancy to talk about their digestive systems. But I hope that by me talking about this more frequently, it breaks that wall down a little bit.”
US Government shuts down after Senate fails to pass spending bill
The United States government has partially shut down after last-ditch efforts by lawmakers to pass a spending bill failed.
While the US government has partially ceased operations more than a dozen times since 1980, President Donald Trump’s threats to use the funding lapse to dramatically reduce the size of the public sector have raised the prospect of greater disruption than in past shutdowns.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump warned that he could use the shutdown to take actions that are “bad” for Democrats.
“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programmes that they like,” Trump said, adding that “a lot of good” can come from government shutdowns
The shutdown, the first such funding lapse since 2018, means that some government services deemed non-essential will halt, including the publication of key economic data and loan approvals for small businesses.
Essential workers, such as law enforcement officers, military personnel and air traffic controllers, will remain on the job, but will go without pay for the duration of the shutdown.
Social security and food assistance will continue to be paid out.
While hundreds of thousands of federal employees were placed on temporary leave and received back pay upon returning to work during previous shutdowns, Trump has threatened to use the current funding lapse to fire a “lot of people”.
“And they’re Democrats; they’re going to be Democrats,” Trump said.
Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W Bush, called the threats “typical of President Trump’s strong-arm tactics”.
“He is threatening federal workers with termination if there is a shutdown,” Painter told Al Jazeera.
“Some of what he is threatening, he may be able to do, but much of it is not authorised by Congress, including firing federal workers with civil service job protection.”
Wednesday’s shutdown comes after weeks of bickering between Democrats and Republicans over how to keep the government open.
Democrats earlier this month rejected a Republican-drafted stopgap spending bill to keep the government running for nine more weeks, arguing that the measure should include provisions to expand healthcare coverage, including by extending soon-to-expire subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and reversing Medicaid cuts included in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Republicans have argued that issues like healthcare should be addressed separately in bipartisan negotiations further down the track.
In an 11th-hour bid to avert a shutdown on Tuesday, Senate Republicans failed to pass a stopgap bill that would have extended funding until November 21 in a 55-to-45 vote.
Two Democrats, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, as well as Angus King, an independent from Maine, voted with Republicans to advance the bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.
Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky known for his libertarian views, joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
Republicans, in turn, knocked back a Democratic bill that would have extended funding until the end of October and increased spending on healthcare by more than $1 trillion.
That vote failed 47-53, with no Republicans in support.
“I think that it is impossible to predict what Trump is going to do,” Gerald Epstein, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, told Al Jazeera.
“Will the Dems cave? Probably not for a while.”
After the failed votes, Republicans and Democrats traded blame for the impasse.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer attends a news conference about the government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2025 [Jacquelyn Martin/AP]
“Republicans are plunging us into a government shutdown rather than fixing their healthcare crisis,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, accused Republicans of voting to “hurt everyday Americans”.
The recriminations continued after the midnight deadline, with Schumer blaming the “Republican shutdown” on the party’s failure to protect Americans’ healthcare.
“We’re going to keep fighting for the American people,” Schumer said.
On social media, the White House posted the two words “Democrat Shutdown” above an image of a countdown clock reading zero.
In an interview with Fox News earlier, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed hope that enough Democrats would cross the aisle to pass his party’s “clean” bill in a follow-up vote on Wednesday.
“This was all unnecessary. This was all done to satisfy their left political base,” Thune said.
Including the current funding lapse, the US government has shut down 15 times since 1980, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The longest shutdown in US history, lasting 34 days, took place in late 2018 and early 2019, during Trump’s first term as president.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump warned that he could use the shutdown to take actions that are “bad” for Democrats.
“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programmes that they like,” Trump said, adding that “a lot of good” can come from government shutdowns
The shutdown, the first such funding lapse since 2018, means that some government services deemed non-essential will halt, including the publication of key economic data and loan approvals for small businesses.
Essential workers, such as law enforcement officers, military personnel and air traffic controllers, will remain on the job, but will go without pay for the duration of the shutdown.
Social security and food assistance will continue to be paid out.
While hundreds of thousands of federal employees were placed on temporary leave and received back pay upon returning to work during previous shutdowns, Trump has threatened to use the current funding lapse to fire a “lot of people”.
“And they’re Democrats; they’re going to be Democrats,” Trump said.
Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W Bush, called the threats “typical of President Trump’s strong-arm tactics”.
“He is threatening federal workers with termination if there is a shutdown,” Painter told Al Jazeera.
“Some of what he is threatening, he may be able to do, but much of it is not authorised by Congress, including firing federal workers with civil service job protection.”
Wednesday’s shutdown comes after weeks of bickering between Democrats and Republicans over how to keep the government open.
Democrats earlier this month rejected a Republican-drafted stopgap spending bill to keep the government running for nine more weeks, arguing that the measure should include provisions to expand healthcare coverage, including by extending soon-to-expire subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and reversing Medicaid cuts included in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Republicans have argued that issues like healthcare should be addressed separately in bipartisan negotiations further down the track.
In an 11th-hour bid to avert a shutdown on Tuesday, Senate Republicans failed to pass a stopgap bill that would have extended funding until November 21 in a 55-to-45 vote.
Two Democrats, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, as well as Angus King, an independent from Maine, voted with Republicans to advance the bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.
Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky known for his libertarian views, joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
Republicans, in turn, knocked back a Democratic bill that would have extended funding until the end of October and increased spending on healthcare by more than $1 trillion.
That vote failed 47-53, with no Republicans in support.
“I think that it is impossible to predict what Trump is going to do,” Gerald Epstein, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, told Al Jazeera.
“Will the Dems cave? Probably not for a while.”
After the failed votes, Republicans and Democrats traded blame for the impasse.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer attends a news conference about the government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2025 [Jacquelyn Martin/AP]
“Republicans are plunging us into a government shutdown rather than fixing their healthcare crisis,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, accused Republicans of voting to “hurt everyday Americans”.
The recriminations continued after the midnight deadline, with Schumer blaming the “Republican shutdown” on the party’s failure to protect Americans’ healthcare.
“We’re going to keep fighting for the American people,” Schumer said.
On social media, the White House posted the two words “Democrat Shutdown” above an image of a countdown clock reading zero.
In an interview with Fox News earlier, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed hope that enough Democrats would cross the aisle to pass his party’s “clean” bill in a follow-up vote on Wednesday.
“This was all unnecessary. This was all done to satisfy their left political base,” Thune said.
Including the current funding lapse, the US government has shut down 15 times since 1980, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The longest shutdown in US history, lasting 34 days, took place in late 2018 and early 2019, during Trump’s first term as president.
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
HAVE A GREAT DAY ALL!!!
EFREM
