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Plus: Christina Aguilera is on Grindr
I’m not the biggest Jimmy Kimmel fan because I think taking Halloween candy away from kids is mean, but I sure do love living in a country where the freedom to believe what we feel, speak what we want, peaceably assemble, and petition our government for a redress of grievances is Constitutionally protected. God bless America.
Welcome to this week’s issue of Whig. Read to the end to find out the world record that Cardi B just broke. — Hunter Schwarz
Trump attends Kirk funeral:
President Donald Trump attended Charlie Kirk’s funeral Sunday in Glendale, Ariz., with more than 90,000 others. In an emotional moment, Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk said she forgave the accused gunman.
“That young man. I forgive him,” Kirk said, adding, “The answer to hate is not hate, the answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”
Trump took an opposite approach. “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them,” he said. Yeah, dude, that’s pretty clear.
Melania’s hat stole the show on the U.K. visit:
First Lady Melania Trump’s wardrobe for her and her husband’s state visit to the U.K. beginning late last week included a dark gray Christian Dior haute couture suit with a big ole hat you can’t miss (below) and a yellow gown from Carolina Herrera, according to WWD. POTUS laid a wreath at the late Queen Elizabeth’s tomb while there, and yes, there were gifts.
King Charles and Queen Camilla gifted Trump with the Union Jack flag that flew over Buckingham Palace on the day of his inauguration in January and “a bespoke, hand bound leather volume specially crafted by the Royal Bindery in Windsor Castle, to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” which is really the ultimate sign that you’re on good terms with your ex. Trump gave the royal couple a replica of Dwight Eisenhower’s sword.
Trump’s war on Tylenol:
Although research hasn’t found a definitive link between using Tylenol during pregnancy and autism, Trump said Monday the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, will begin recommending “that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary” and warn that the drug and similar painkillers “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”
Listen, I’m no doctor, but neither is Trump nor Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Yale School of Public Health professor Dr. Zeyan Liew, who’s studying Tylenol use in pregnancy, said more research is needed. “[W]hether other possible factors related to Tylenol use are driving these associations needs to be thoroughly evaluated,” he said, and the school notes that during a pregnancy, pain and fever — which Tylenol fights — can create risks to the pregnancy and fetus.
Kimmel’s coming back:
The Walt Disney Company announced today it’s bringing back Jimmy Kimmel’s show Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday after the company suspended him “indefinitely” last week following his monologue and FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s comments many interpreted as a threat to stations airing Kimmel’s show (Carr attempted to walk back his “we-can-do-this-the-easy-way-or-the-hard-way” comments Monday, btw).
It wasn’t just liberals and comedians who spoke out. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called it “absolutely inappropriate” for Carr to weigh in and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the move was “dangerous as hell.”
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” Cruz said. “It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, yeah, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.”
Trump’s DOJ shut down an investigation into his border czar who reportedly accepted $50,000 from undercover FBI agents:
“Border czar” Tom Homan accepted $50,000 in cash last year from FBI agents posing as business executives asking for government contracts in Trump’s second term, according to MSNBC, but that investigation has been shut down.
The investigation was launched after someone claimed Homan was soliciting payments for government contracts if Trump won the 2024 election, per DOJ documents reviewed by MSNBC, and Trump appointees closed the investigation in recent weeks.
“This matter originated under the previous administration and was subjected to a full review by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors. They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing,” FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told the network in a statement. The money was reportedly given to Homan in a Cava bag lol.
Harris’s book is out on Tuesday and here’s what we know:
Ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 107 Days being released Tuesday, plenty of details have already leaked. Democrats aren’t happy with the book.
Harris wrote that former President Joe Biden called her right before her debate with Trump and made it “all about himself,” Trump told her his daughter Ivanka Trump was a “big fan”, and Trump finally pronounced “Kamala” correctly only after she conceded. Harris also dished on her running mate picks and said former Transportation Secretary Mayor Pete Buttigieg was her “first choice” as running mate but “too risky.” Buttigieg has some thoughts.
🎬 No. 1 movie: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle spends a second week at No. 1, bringing in more than $17 million at domestic box offices.
💿 No. 1 album: Breach by Twenty One Pilots moved 200,000 equivalent album units, making it the biggest week for a rock album in six years. Rock is back, baby.
🎵 No. 1 song: “Golden” by Huntr/X logs a sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the longest-reigning No. 1 hit for a soundtrack single since “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” in 2015.
Taylor Swift is taking her album release party to the theater:
Everyone’s invited to Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl album release party. Swift will hold an 89-minute event at AMC theaters nationwide the weekend of Oct. 3 called “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.”
The event will include the premiere her music video for “The Fate of Ophelia” along with album commentary and lyrics videos. AMC says you can sing and dance during the show, but notes “guests may not stand on seats or block any aisles or stairs.” You’ve been warned, Swifties; behave yourselves.
Madonna just signed with Warner Records again ahead of Confessions Pt. II:
Madonna is going home. Warner Records, which signed the singer in 1982 and worked with her through 2009’s greatest hits album Celebration before she jumped to Interscope, announced last Thursday that Madonna is coming back, and it couldn’t come at a better moment.
“Back to music, Back to the Dance Floor, Back to where it all began! COADF – Pt. 2 2026,” Madonna wrote on Instagram in reference to her planned sequel to 2025’s dance record Confessions on a Dance Floor.
There’s been an arrest in the stolen Beyoncé music case:
Police arrested a suspect in Georgia last week in connection with the flash drive of unreleased Beyoncé music and other items stolen from the singer’s choreographer’s car. “The hard drives contained water marked music, some unreleased music, footage plans for the show and past and future set list,” the police report read, per People. I wonder what the suspect thought of Act III…?
Christina Aguilera is on Grindr:
Come on over, come on over baby. Christina Aguilera partnered with the gay dating app Grindr to give users a new notification sound. Rather than the app’s iconic “bloop” sound, users can turn on an Xtina notification with a snippet of Aguilera’s No. 1 hit “Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You).” The promotion dropped ahead of the singer’s set at the Portola Music Festival in San Francisco over the weekend where she recreated her “Dirrty” look.
Kim Kardashian just released the first NikeSkims lookbook:
The Kim Kardashian co-founded Skims just released a first look of NikeSkims, its collaborative brand with the athletic apparel giant, and the brand is going all in on athletes. Kardashian is the only traditional “influencer” in the campaign that has a Serena Williams cameo and athletes from USC and UCLA. I wrote for Fast Company about the business imperative behind the brand.
Cardi B broke a world record with her new album:
Is anyone hustling harder than Cardi B to shift units of her sophomore set Am I the Drama? The rapper hawked the album on New York City streets in person earlier this month, and last week, Cardi set the Guinness World Record for most drone deliveries in an hour. Cardi and her record label Atlantic Records partnered with Walmart and Wing Drone Delivery to make 176 deliveries in an hour of the album in the Dallas area.
Thanks for reading! See you next week. ⭐