In The Buzz Cut, we bring you a round-up of all the weird, controversial, and wonderful stories we’ve been reading all week.
“Hi guys, I’m in my gym right now. I haven’t been in here for like six months because I burnt my gym down, unfortunately,” Britney Spears said in a matter-of-fact tone during an Instagram livestream. “I had two candles, and yeah, one thing led to another, and I burned it down.”
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When a Twitter user tried to slut-shame Kendall Jenner for dating too many NBA players, Jenner clapped back — “they act like i’m not in full control of where i throw this cooch.”
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Black artists like Lizzo have had to straddle a very thin line between appealing to mainstream audiences and seeming ‘Black enough’ at the same time. But when mega popularity comes to mean having to “transcend race” — what people think Prince did — then what does it say about these Black artists’ roots, and how they make music?
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Irrfan Khan, the revered actor that achieved fame in both Bollywood and Hollywood, and who dabbled in everything from mainstream cinema to art-house movies, died this week after a long fight with a neuroendocrinal tumor. The Atlantic’s Mayukh Sen examines what Khan’s legacy.
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Terrace House, a Japanese reality show, has made a global niché for itself as an amiable and mundane look into the lives of people at the brink of change, living together in a fully-stocked house. Under lockdown, the mundanity of Terrace House takes on a whole new level of relatability, even as we envy them for being able to leave whenever they wish, while we stay trapped.
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Democrat and Presidential hopeful Joe Biden has been accused of rape by a former staffer, Tara Reade. Biden denies the allegation; Reade stands by it. As the election approaches, voters will have to grapple with the choice in front of them — an alleged rapist, or a known pussy-grabber?
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A strip club in Portland was shut down after the state of Oregon, U.S. sent out a stay-at-home order. Refusing to let its dancers go out of work, the strip club owner added a drive-through option — patrons can now drive by, pick up a food order, perhaps stay for a song.
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Alice Wu, the creator of Chinese-American lesbian rom-com Saving Grace, is back — 10 years later, with another queer romance. How did she write a movie after all this time? Wu says she made out a $1,000 check to the U.S. National Rifle Association and told her friend to mail it if Wu didn’t finish her script. The self-blackmail worked.
