Taylor's explanation and the state of 'fandom', pap-calling celebrities, 'Good Ones'' award chances, crisis management politics, acting "prospects" who blew up, why not more social media, and an ask
Let me say first: I am renewing my Squawk subscription! There is no question about that.
I meant to send this in to the Mailbox, and will post this with no expectation of it being answered. BUT just in case:
The site has covered Ryan Reynolds’ evolution from behind the scenes dick to current mastermind of intelligent promotion and overall sincere (apparently) decency, even kindness. I genuinely like him. So how does that happen while Blake, his wife and, presumably, witness to internal conversations and strategy, handle the IEWO rollout and gossip firestorm so badly? How did he change into the thoughtful celebrity of today while she is rude to journalists, minimizes domestic violence, and decides to launch a hair care line at the same time as her movie? Are their teams totally separate? Obviously we are not privy to the inner workings of their relationship, but one of the reasons I fell for my husband is how smart and perceptive he is.
I was thinking of how she could have launched Blake Brown by announcing that all proceeds for the next six months or year would go to shelters for people escaping DV situations, for example. That could have engendered good will, done something positive, and also started building in a client base for her products. I am not a mega fan of Blake’s but this whole thing has definitely changed my view of her.
"I was thinking of how she could have launched Blake Brown by announcing that all proceeds for the next six months or year would go to shelters for people escaping DV situations, for example."
My god. This would have been perfect PR. And it's not as if she couldn't have afforded to do this...
I now think a lot less of Blake, too. Frankly, there are actresses who are far more talented who are a hell of a lot more gracious.
You described her perfectly. Not very gracious, and not a huge talent to compensate (although people shouldn’t be jerks even if they are super talented!)
One theory I’ve seen in all the discussion that seems pretty likely is that Blake wanted to do a Barbenheimer cross-promotion with Deadpool & Wolverine and IEWU.
But what she/they didn’t realize or want to see was that 1) Barbenheimer was organic- it started with Tom Cruise posting a photo from a theater saying that he was doing a double feature of Mission Impossible and something else (maybe it was Oppenheimer? I don’t remember) and encouraging everyone to do a double feature. And then it became an internet joke to double feature Barbie & Oppenheimer, two totally opposite movies, and then the casts got into it and it became a real thing. (And Tom Cruise gets hailed again for saving the movies because it was all his idea). But the whole phenomenon came from the public, not from marketing.
And the other thing 2) was that IEWU was the Oppenheimer of the pairing and she wanted to do a Barbie press tour. Margot Robbie had a fashion show every day and the cast had a lot of fun promoting the movie. The Oppenheimer crew did a much more serious and calmer press tour because of the subject of their movie.
That’s the basic theory- they came up with this cross promotion to market IEWU as a fun movie to see with your girlfriends (remember that “Grab your friends and your florals and go see it!” ad they pulled? That was the marketing plan.)
Now as you say, Ryan is pretty damn good at this marketing so why in the world would he go along with this? Well, if you want to get really internet conspiracy, there’s a lot of rumors that he doesn’t like her working, so a little light sabotage might help keep her home more…
This is an excellent question, I too was kind of flummoxed by the execution. I will say my opinion of Blake Lively was not especially high to begin with. I think it’s nice she and Ryan apologized for having their wedding on a plantation, and I’m sure she still had a lifestyle website she would not be putting out articles called “The Allure of Antebellum” anymore. So yay for growth, but also it doesn’t seem she’s ever been especially engaged with the whole of American culture.
what sticks out to me is that BL chose to focus on saying that anyone who experienced domestic violence doesn’t have to be defined by it—and this is totally true. why then did this ring so false or inauthentic or was it just not enough for her to say? i feel like she should have known to have prepped beforehand or someone on her team should have made sure she was prepared. feels like a miss from many folks, not just her.
She has often came across as insincere to me. Like even when talking about wearing Britney’s dress and saying how lucky she was to wear it, it felt insincere. Maybe that’s it.
I agree, survivors don’t have to be defined by what happened to them — it may have come across better if paired with other points, like that anyone experiencing DV does not deserve it, or how they can get help.
Thank you for asking this question. I've had exactly the same one. Would love to know the inside baseball. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever know the full story.
I can see calling the paps ahead of time if you want to control a narrative and get ahead of a breaking story that could get unruly. It made sense for Angelina to summon photogs to Namibia to get those first grainy beach shots, even if it seems like a ridiculous effort on the part of the paps. I know Rihanna has done this in regards to her kids, and that makes sense to me - may as well direct the story as best you can if you know you and your family are going to be hunted down with cameras, anyway.
I always feel a little bad for celebs when I see them out and about, just plodding around and running simple errands. I saw Goldie Hawn in NYC a few years ago, and I felt myself involuntarily do that thing where your eyes get big and zoom in for another quick look. I didn't bug her, and tried to actively direct my attention away from her, but I know she clocked my recognition because she kept glancing in my direction. She was just a grandma buying shit at FAO Schwartz's that day, so I left her alone to do that.
My younger brother is involved in a very specialized artistic field, and he spotted THE MOST famous person in that field unloading his car a year or so ago - it's the kind of situation where this famous dude could breeze past a lot of people, but if you're into the kind of art he makes, you'd be able to pinpoint him in a crowd immediately (and everyone knows this guy's very distinctive name, even if they haven't listened to a minute of his output). I begged my brother to leave that person alone if he ever saw him out and about again, and I hope to hell he does. I think my brother, like so many other people, was like "but I'm his BIGGEST fan," when in actuality, he's just another rando who happens to love a person he doesn't know very much. That can be hard for a lot of people to accept - that the celeb is never going to appreciate a stranger bounding up to him on a sidewalk and professing their love, because who doesn't want praise and adoration? We don't get it, and we never will, because none of us have been the recipient of that much unrelenting parasocial attention. Cate Blanchett doesn't give a fuck about me, and she never will, and that's the way the universe should operate.
I don't think I'd enjoy being famous, honestly. I'd despise the notoriety, and being tapped on the shoulder everywhere I go for a picture, or to deliver a tired catchphrase, etc. I get how these folks have chosen careers that plant them in a spotlight, and many of them are handsomely paid for that choice, but I'm on the side that says they should have the right to pump gas or get coffee or sit in first class without being whispered at or harassed. Unless they're signing Playbills after a performance or something, I think they deserve to be left alone.
I agree with you 100%. My most desired superpower is an invisible cloak. I want to be able to disappear immediately at any time to get out of conversations with people I don’t want to be talking to. Like an irish goodbye but in a way that avoids encounters altogether. I could NEVER be a celebrity. No way. 🏃♀️
Completely agree with this comment and it’s also why I unfollowed deux moi because Sunday spotted made me feel uncomfortable. I think it’s easy to say that celebrities have chosen a profession that puts them in the spotlight but why do we believe there is a social contract which means they are fair game and have no right to a private life?
Oh, god. That Sunday Spotted thing. I don't need to know where Jon Hamm likes to eat brunch! He's not going to dump his wife no matter how hard I bat my eyelashes, and so what if I adored Mad Men? So did tons of other people. I can't offer any insight by wandering up to his table. Let the man eat his eggs in peace!
Deux Moi has gotten some stuff right, but the vast, VAST bulk of what they post just seems like pure speculation, anyway. Or it's stuff like Sunday Spotted, which just enables people to harass celebs at the spots where they like to hang.
I would hate being famous, though I think I’d enjoy being wealthy.
I’ve always thought the best job in Hollywood is a studio head or a producer or a super agent- you get all the money, power, and access but nobody outside of Hollywood cares much about you. Being the celebrity is such a gilded cage bargain.
It’s also like how women and femmes respond to men. Like there’s nothing inherently bad with a complement or offering to help someone to their car. Except if sometimes that person is lovely and sometimes that person is unimaginably violent, the comment starts to be uncomfortable or frightening. The celebrity has no idea if you’re a normy or a d*ck.
TikTok has been talking about Chappell Roan and someone told a story of Jason Momoa asking a fan to wait a minute because he was on the phone saying good night to his kids and the woman started sobbing and her boyfriend started screaming at him. Which I’m sure is like almost daily for some people.
That was a really interesting TikTok about what it’s like to be a friend-of-a-friend of a celebrity. “Being famous is a curse, because you can’t exist without being owned by people, they just seem to own you.”
Thanks for mentioning the Substack subscription, it made me go and check. I guess I was a “regular” subscriber and could upgrade to Founding. Had no idea! $120 a year (Canadian!) is a deal for all that LG brings. Would you ever consider, if possible, a higher tier with maybe periodic access to a chat/zoom/something with the team or some other low/no cost benefit to you that would be HIGHLY enjoyable to us?
And as someone who uses paid social as part of the advertising I do at work, I fully relate to the struggle. The cost and time - and agility - needed to develop the imagery is prohibitive. We’ve found it the most cost efficient channel with the highest return even without optimal visuals. If you ran teaser posts (edit of the story) as paid traffic, linking to the full story, I bet you’d get a good bump in site visits. It could be just one post a day, like you do with the Squawk (and you could promote the Squawk at the same time!). Sorry, I get excited when talking strategies. No good ideas on images, tho if you only did 1/day, could you include social rights in your purchase of just that one?
Hi Amy, thank you for the support and we’re super glad you guys enjoy this space. It’s been the perfect answer to our years-long lack of direct engagement on LG and we couldn’t be happier about how it’s gone.
Which platform are you guys using that you’ve found so cost effective? We’ve talked about re-formatting our video player teasers in a mobile format and still might explore that.
When Twitter was, well ‘brand safe’, it had the lowest CPM and highest engagement for our audience (a b2b audience that are heavy social users). Now it’s Meta - both Facebook & Instagram (we focus on Reels that run as promoted stories too, so they’re always on our feed organically but we get paid out of them too). We’ve not gotten into TikTok because production is cost prohibitive and it’s not where most of our audience is. They are on LinkedIn, but that always has the highest CPM because you can target roles so specifically but not a necessity for LG I imagine! Net, I think your best bet would be Meta.
Love this mailbag! As always, love the inside baseball. Re: social media, I don’t think LG needs to spend hours create content and engaging with folks to drive people to your site; like you said, nuance and critical thinking is missing in most online discourse and I agree that more thoughtful analysis and discussion happens here. ☺️
And of course I will be renewing my subscription and am happy to provide whatever testimonial brings more good humans to our space to squawk!
I'm very excited for Good One. We need more cool Donaldsons out there since MrBeast is ruining the name for all of us.
The paparazzi set-ups are always so interesting. I feel like there's a subset of people who believe that anyone who calls the paps for a photo are doing so with explicitly conniving and bad-faith intentions. I see this a lot with the Backgrid discourse. Sure, it definitely happens. Whenever I see Brad Pitt totes casually out with his girlfriend whenever Angelina's done something good, I wince. But it can also just be part of the gig, no added agenda needed. The tinhat shippers love to latch onto paparazzi stuff as "evidence." Sometimes a photo is just a photo.
On the topic of talking to celebrities, I have rarely done so because I agree that they don’t owe us their time. They’re living their lives and I would personally hate to be accosted all day every day. BUT I have made two exceptions, one of which involved a Beatle.
The first was talking to Peter Hermann when he was working as a server at a holiday party I was attending, and I recognized him from being on Guiding Light (this was over 20 years ago). I made sure to not take up a lot of his time because he was working, and I was complimentary and also absolutely turned red because he is extremely handsome and tall. He was also super nice and seemed happy to be recognized. Weirdly, I have also seen him at the movies, in the audience at a play, and the gym since then, but have not gone up to him again.
My second exception will sound unbelievable but it is completely true. My husband and I had a long layover in London Heathrow on our honeymoon, and we got our luggage before sleeping in an airport hotel. We happened to be on the same flight as some friends who’d been at our wedding and were traveling with their infant son. We were all waiting for our luggage together, my friend was carrying her baby, and PAUL MCCARTNEY rolled up to stand next to us and said to her “that’s a beautiful baby.” I swear to God! My friend thanked him and then my husband told Sir Paul that we’d just gotten married and had everyone sing “All You Need is Love” during the ceremony. He was very nice and said “it’s become a bit of an anthem.” I was totally star struck and tried to congratulate him on his own recent marriage, and am not sure he understood what I was saying. My husband asked if we could take a picture and he said no because it tended to get out of control, which I absolutely believe and is totally fair of him. And then he left! But it was the coolest thing and a crazy coincidence after singing that song at our wedding. And then years later, on our first Father’s Day after our son was born, we were walking down a street in NYC pushing him in a stroller, and there came Sir Paul walking along as well. He smiled at us. I’m sure he did not remember who we were, but clearly the man likes babies.
Best stories - gosh I love Paul McCartney so much! Thanks for sharing. This is adorable. Congrats on your amazing luck - I hope you bought a lotto ticket!!!
What a media studies feast we’ve had this summer, y’all! And this mailbag only adds more weight to that sentiment! We’ve parsed the Olympics, a slow-burn divorce, movie economics, pap walks, PR snafus, and more! I’m surprised we all don’t need a long vacation to recover 😂
I’ve only ever seen 2 “celebrities” where I attempted any type of contact.
Colin Firth was staying at Washington Duke Inn to film a movie in Durham in 2010 and as graduating Duke seniors my friends and I had a lot of leftover food points to spend on a fancy dinner there. A fire alarm went off and we all had to leave the restaurant. We saw Colin Firth walk by our table as we were leaving and tried to catch up with him but ultimately when we saw he looked agitated by the disruption we turned around and walked away.
I saw Cortney Hendrix from the first season of Married at First Sight at the SC Zoo in 2019. She was literally standing next to me and I had a 12 week old baby at the time and was very sleep deprived and had lost some of my filter. I looked over at her, did a double take and asked if she was Cortney from Married at First Sight and she said yes, I said I loved her content on Insta, said she looked so pretty in person and I had very much enjoyed watching her show, she asked how old my baby was and I walked away with my family. I barely take pics with my friends so to me it was way too presumptuous to ask for a pic and felt like I was just rambling!
I’ve also been to a few author events for Jasmine Guillory and Kennedy Ryan. I awkwardly said how much I loved their books and how they had helped me through dark times of lockdown in 2020 and still didn’t ask for pics so I’m prob more anti pics than most people. Kennedy Ryan/her team reposts when I tag her on insta so there’s more of a parasocial connection there. I get what they were saying about true fans being more into the moment of connection but I don’t know if I fully agree.
Jasmine Guillory!!! What a sighting. Love her books too! I now live in Minnesota, and I’m not gonna lie, went to Abby Jimenez’s bakery Nadia Cakes after I moved here to see if she would be there. But if she was, she would expect fans since it’s literally how she markets it. 😅
I would love to go to Nadia’s Cupcakes!! I heard of Abby Jimenez first on Food Network! I saw her at a romance panel with Julie Soto and Dominic Lim last September at Bookmarks festival but I don’t recall them doing the signing line- I think they had just previously signed stock so she was NEAR me but I didn’t speak to her.
Ahhh no way! She seems very normal and down to earth on social media. Nadia Cakes cupcakes are VERY good. They have so many GF flavors too which I appreciate. Like 8-10 in my memory? (Most places have 1, if you’re lucky.) Lots of frosting. Even my dog got her own pupcake! Her dogs have lil statues in cases there, too. It’s adorable.
Oh! Hello to a fellow Duke alum! (WaDuke! Food pts!) I moved back to Durham in 2009 and everyone was abuzz about that movie. Too bad it was so awful. 🤷♀️
I thought Sarah was also following/calling out Lily Gladstone way before she became “mainstream” right? That’s who I assumed would be referenced in that response!
I just want the Lainey Gossip team to know that this weekend I am canceling my monthly subscription…and signing up as an annual member on a new Substack account. In fact, because of being a part of this community and others on Substack I’ve decided to move my blog newsletter here and to make this my primary community space. Very excited for this change, thank you for introducing me to Substack!
When The Squawk was first announced, I was deeply motivated to “level up” my support of LG, having been a regular reader since 2007. A year later, that sentiment remains. The phrase “vote with your wallet” is about ten years out of date, I know, but it’s true. In the Attention Economy, where do we put our money? Happy to put a small portion of my “fun” money into a founding membership. It’s literally $10 a month and feels like back pay for the almost two decades of thoughts and entertainment Lainey & Co. have provided. Hell, a latte at Starbucks is about $7 these days. I buy a few of those a month and they’re “worth” more than LG? Nope.
After reading this + celebrity social media I’m now really curious about if Katie Holmes calls the paps. Seems against her current status, but I feel like there’s also an awful lot of pictures of her in fashionable outfits.
At this point, she doesn't need to. They know where she lives, they can just post up outside her building.
A decade ago, though, i do believe she used paparazzi photos to create a kind of shield for herself. Like she was SO visible, Xenu couldn't try any shit. And if anyone had tried to follow her (a known Xenu tactic), the paps probably would have clocked it, and then that becomes a story...
So I do think she set up photos in the past to protect herself. But now? She doesn't need to. They just know how to find her.
It's crazy to think that paparazzi photos were a form of protection for her! I've wondered recently about all the paparazzi photos of Suri - it seems Page Six has had almost daily photos of her this summer (on her own, without her mom it seems - at least from the photos on the main page, I refuse to click on the articles about her). I remember reading that she hated the paparazzi when she was a kid and I doubt she loves them now. Is all this attention a holdover from the guys (I assume they are men, maybe that's a stereotype?) that would have been photographing her a decade ago - are they possibly even the same people photographing her now? Regardless, it feels kinda gross to see photos of her when she is out on her own now - unlike other celebrities being followed by paparazzi, she didn't choose to be famous (not that choosing a career that could make you famous justifies all the invasive photos). Hopefully she is left alone now that she is at college.
I think it's the same deal where they just know where to find her now. And someone must be clicking on the photos, they wouldn't bother taking them if they knew they wouldn't sell.
Exactly- kids of famous people who are just being college kids should be left alone. They didn’t make the deal to trade fame for privacy, their parents did that. Let them just be regular people if that’s what they want to do.
Taylor Russell gave a wonderful performance in The Effect (as did Paapa Essiedu who is also poised for imminent stardom). She avoided the overacting quirk that a lot of even seasoned actors bring to the stage (looking at you, Adam Driver in Burn This) while still giving a theatrical worthy performance.
I just told my husband last night that The Squawk was the most cost-effective entertainment (and education…and community) of my life! Already yearlong subscriber and will always be.
I appreciate Lainey’s reiteration of what her site and this Substack are. I had a visceral flashback of hiding at about 14 or 15-years-old in my grandmother’s closet with her Vanity Fair issues and wishing all magazines had these thoughtful, long, detailed articles. LaineyGossip had me from my 1st site visit!
Also I have seriously enjoyed the live chats, including DNC. Cheers to many more!
Let me say first: I am renewing my Squawk subscription! There is no question about that.
I meant to send this in to the Mailbox, and will post this with no expectation of it being answered. BUT just in case:
The site has covered Ryan Reynolds’ evolution from behind the scenes dick to current mastermind of intelligent promotion and overall sincere (apparently) decency, even kindness. I genuinely like him. So how does that happen while Blake, his wife and, presumably, witness to internal conversations and strategy, handle the IEWO rollout and gossip firestorm so badly? How did he change into the thoughtful celebrity of today while she is rude to journalists, minimizes domestic violence, and decides to launch a hair care line at the same time as her movie? Are their teams totally separate? Obviously we are not privy to the inner workings of their relationship, but one of the reasons I fell for my husband is how smart and perceptive he is.
I was thinking of how she could have launched Blake Brown by announcing that all proceeds for the next six months or year would go to shelters for people escaping DV situations, for example. That could have engendered good will, done something positive, and also started building in a client base for her products. I am not a mega fan of Blake’s but this whole thing has definitely changed my view of her.
"I was thinking of how she could have launched Blake Brown by announcing that all proceeds for the next six months or year would go to shelters for people escaping DV situations, for example."
My god. This would have been perfect PR. And it's not as if she couldn't have afforded to do this...
I now think a lot less of Blake, too. Frankly, there are actresses who are far more talented who are a hell of a lot more gracious.
Thank you!
You described her perfectly. Not very gracious, and not a huge talent to compensate (although people shouldn’t be jerks even if they are super talented!)
One theory I’ve seen in all the discussion that seems pretty likely is that Blake wanted to do a Barbenheimer cross-promotion with Deadpool & Wolverine and IEWU.
But what she/they didn’t realize or want to see was that 1) Barbenheimer was organic- it started with Tom Cruise posting a photo from a theater saying that he was doing a double feature of Mission Impossible and something else (maybe it was Oppenheimer? I don’t remember) and encouraging everyone to do a double feature. And then it became an internet joke to double feature Barbie & Oppenheimer, two totally opposite movies, and then the casts got into it and it became a real thing. (And Tom Cruise gets hailed again for saving the movies because it was all his idea). But the whole phenomenon came from the public, not from marketing.
And the other thing 2) was that IEWU was the Oppenheimer of the pairing and she wanted to do a Barbie press tour. Margot Robbie had a fashion show every day and the cast had a lot of fun promoting the movie. The Oppenheimer crew did a much more serious and calmer press tour because of the subject of their movie.
That’s the basic theory- they came up with this cross promotion to market IEWU as a fun movie to see with your girlfriends (remember that “Grab your friends and your florals and go see it!” ad they pulled? That was the marketing plan.)
Now as you say, Ryan is pretty damn good at this marketing so why in the world would he go along with this? Well, if you want to get really internet conspiracy, there’s a lot of rumors that he doesn’t like her working, so a little light sabotage might help keep her home more…
This is an excellent question, I too was kind of flummoxed by the execution. I will say my opinion of Blake Lively was not especially high to begin with. I think it’s nice she and Ryan apologized for having their wedding on a plantation, and I’m sure she still had a lifestyle website she would not be putting out articles called “The Allure of Antebellum” anymore. So yay for growth, but also it doesn’t seem she’s ever been especially engaged with the whole of American culture.
I love this question.
what sticks out to me is that BL chose to focus on saying that anyone who experienced domestic violence doesn’t have to be defined by it—and this is totally true. why then did this ring so false or inauthentic or was it just not enough for her to say? i feel like she should have known to have prepped beforehand or someone on her team should have made sure she was prepared. feels like a miss from many folks, not just her.
She has often came across as insincere to me. Like even when talking about wearing Britney’s dress and saying how lucky she was to wear it, it felt insincere. Maybe that’s it.
I agree, survivors don’t have to be defined by what happened to them — it may have come across better if paired with other points, like that anyone experiencing DV does not deserve it, or how they can get help.
This. So much this. Married to a marketing savant, yet fumbled so badly.
My only thought was that he didn't know how to tell her it was a bad idea and she was deluded about her own strength in that area.
I also think it’s strange she wasn’t better at this because…she talked a lot about how they are all up in each other’s work.
Exactly!
Meant to say Mailbag, not Box!
Thank you for asking this question. I've had exactly the same one. Would love to know the inside baseball. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever know the full story.
I can see calling the paps ahead of time if you want to control a narrative and get ahead of a breaking story that could get unruly. It made sense for Angelina to summon photogs to Namibia to get those first grainy beach shots, even if it seems like a ridiculous effort on the part of the paps. I know Rihanna has done this in regards to her kids, and that makes sense to me - may as well direct the story as best you can if you know you and your family are going to be hunted down with cameras, anyway.
I always feel a little bad for celebs when I see them out and about, just plodding around and running simple errands. I saw Goldie Hawn in NYC a few years ago, and I felt myself involuntarily do that thing where your eyes get big and zoom in for another quick look. I didn't bug her, and tried to actively direct my attention away from her, but I know she clocked my recognition because she kept glancing in my direction. She was just a grandma buying shit at FAO Schwartz's that day, so I left her alone to do that.
My younger brother is involved in a very specialized artistic field, and he spotted THE MOST famous person in that field unloading his car a year or so ago - it's the kind of situation where this famous dude could breeze past a lot of people, but if you're into the kind of art he makes, you'd be able to pinpoint him in a crowd immediately (and everyone knows this guy's very distinctive name, even if they haven't listened to a minute of his output). I begged my brother to leave that person alone if he ever saw him out and about again, and I hope to hell he does. I think my brother, like so many other people, was like "but I'm his BIGGEST fan," when in actuality, he's just another rando who happens to love a person he doesn't know very much. That can be hard for a lot of people to accept - that the celeb is never going to appreciate a stranger bounding up to him on a sidewalk and professing their love, because who doesn't want praise and adoration? We don't get it, and we never will, because none of us have been the recipient of that much unrelenting parasocial attention. Cate Blanchett doesn't give a fuck about me, and she never will, and that's the way the universe should operate.
I don't think I'd enjoy being famous, honestly. I'd despise the notoriety, and being tapped on the shoulder everywhere I go for a picture, or to deliver a tired catchphrase, etc. I get how these folks have chosen careers that plant them in a spotlight, and many of them are handsomely paid for that choice, but I'm on the side that says they should have the right to pump gas or get coffee or sit in first class without being whispered at or harassed. Unless they're signing Playbills after a performance or something, I think they deserve to be left alone.
I agree with you 100%. My most desired superpower is an invisible cloak. I want to be able to disappear immediately at any time to get out of conversations with people I don’t want to be talking to. Like an irish goodbye but in a way that avoids encounters altogether. I could NEVER be a celebrity. No way. 🏃♀️
Completely agree with this comment and it’s also why I unfollowed deux moi because Sunday spotted made me feel uncomfortable. I think it’s easy to say that celebrities have chosen a profession that puts them in the spotlight but why do we believe there is a social contract which means they are fair game and have no right to a private life?
Oh, god. That Sunday Spotted thing. I don't need to know where Jon Hamm likes to eat brunch! He's not going to dump his wife no matter how hard I bat my eyelashes, and so what if I adored Mad Men? So did tons of other people. I can't offer any insight by wandering up to his table. Let the man eat his eggs in peace!
Deux Moi has gotten some stuff right, but the vast, VAST bulk of what they post just seems like pure speculation, anyway. Or it's stuff like Sunday Spotted, which just enables people to harass celebs at the spots where they like to hang.
I would hate being famous, though I think I’d enjoy being wealthy.
I’ve always thought the best job in Hollywood is a studio head or a producer or a super agent- you get all the money, power, and access but nobody outside of Hollywood cares much about you. Being the celebrity is such a gilded cage bargain.
It’s also like how women and femmes respond to men. Like there’s nothing inherently bad with a complement or offering to help someone to their car. Except if sometimes that person is lovely and sometimes that person is unimaginably violent, the comment starts to be uncomfortable or frightening. The celebrity has no idea if you’re a normy or a d*ck.
TikTok has been talking about Chappell Roan and someone told a story of Jason Momoa asking a fan to wait a minute because he was on the phone saying good night to his kids and the woman started sobbing and her boyfriend started screaming at him. Which I’m sure is like almost daily for some people.
That was a really interesting TikTok about what it’s like to be a friend-of-a-friend of a celebrity. “Being famous is a curse, because you can’t exist without being owned by people, they just seem to own you.”
Link here for anyone who has TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP81sVmcp/
Thanks for mentioning the Substack subscription, it made me go and check. I guess I was a “regular” subscriber and could upgrade to Founding. Had no idea! $120 a year (Canadian!) is a deal for all that LG brings. Would you ever consider, if possible, a higher tier with maybe periodic access to a chat/zoom/something with the team or some other low/no cost benefit to you that would be HIGHLY enjoyable to us?
And as someone who uses paid social as part of the advertising I do at work, I fully relate to the struggle. The cost and time - and agility - needed to develop the imagery is prohibitive. We’ve found it the most cost efficient channel with the highest return even without optimal visuals. If you ran teaser posts (edit of the story) as paid traffic, linking to the full story, I bet you’d get a good bump in site visits. It could be just one post a day, like you do with the Squawk (and you could promote the Squawk at the same time!). Sorry, I get excited when talking strategies. No good ideas on images, tho if you only did 1/day, could you include social rights in your purchase of just that one?
Hi Amy, thank you for the support and we’re super glad you guys enjoy this space. It’s been the perfect answer to our years-long lack of direct engagement on LG and we couldn’t be happier about how it’s gone.
Which platform are you guys using that you’ve found so cost effective? We’ve talked about re-formatting our video player teasers in a mobile format and still might explore that.
When Twitter was, well ‘brand safe’, it had the lowest CPM and highest engagement for our audience (a b2b audience that are heavy social users). Now it’s Meta - both Facebook & Instagram (we focus on Reels that run as promoted stories too, so they’re always on our feed organically but we get paid out of them too). We’ve not gotten into TikTok because production is cost prohibitive and it’s not where most of our audience is. They are on LinkedIn, but that always has the highest CPM because you can target roles so specifically but not a necessity for LG I imagine! Net, I think your best bet would be Meta.
Love this mailbag! As always, love the inside baseball. Re: social media, I don’t think LG needs to spend hours create content and engaging with folks to drive people to your site; like you said, nuance and critical thinking is missing in most online discourse and I agree that more thoughtful analysis and discussion happens here. ☺️
And of course I will be renewing my subscription and am happy to provide whatever testimonial brings more good humans to our space to squawk!
But you've already got a Squawk ad!!! 😁😂😜
Bwahahaha 🫣
I'm very excited for Good One. We need more cool Donaldsons out there since MrBeast is ruining the name for all of us.
The paparazzi set-ups are always so interesting. I feel like there's a subset of people who believe that anyone who calls the paps for a photo are doing so with explicitly conniving and bad-faith intentions. I see this a lot with the Backgrid discourse. Sure, it definitely happens. Whenever I see Brad Pitt totes casually out with his girlfriend whenever Angelina's done something good, I wince. But it can also just be part of the gig, no added agenda needed. The tinhat shippers love to latch onto paparazzi stuff as "evidence." Sometimes a photo is just a photo.
On the topic of talking to celebrities, I have rarely done so because I agree that they don’t owe us their time. They’re living their lives and I would personally hate to be accosted all day every day. BUT I have made two exceptions, one of which involved a Beatle.
The first was talking to Peter Hermann when he was working as a server at a holiday party I was attending, and I recognized him from being on Guiding Light (this was over 20 years ago). I made sure to not take up a lot of his time because he was working, and I was complimentary and also absolutely turned red because he is extremely handsome and tall. He was also super nice and seemed happy to be recognized. Weirdly, I have also seen him at the movies, in the audience at a play, and the gym since then, but have not gone up to him again.
My second exception will sound unbelievable but it is completely true. My husband and I had a long layover in London Heathrow on our honeymoon, and we got our luggage before sleeping in an airport hotel. We happened to be on the same flight as some friends who’d been at our wedding and were traveling with their infant son. We were all waiting for our luggage together, my friend was carrying her baby, and PAUL MCCARTNEY rolled up to stand next to us and said to her “that’s a beautiful baby.” I swear to God! My friend thanked him and then my husband told Sir Paul that we’d just gotten married and had everyone sing “All You Need is Love” during the ceremony. He was very nice and said “it’s become a bit of an anthem.” I was totally star struck and tried to congratulate him on his own recent marriage, and am not sure he understood what I was saying. My husband asked if we could take a picture and he said no because it tended to get out of control, which I absolutely believe and is totally fair of him. And then he left! But it was the coolest thing and a crazy coincidence after singing that song at our wedding. And then years later, on our first Father’s Day after our son was born, we were walking down a street in NYC pushing him in a stroller, and there came Sir Paul walking along as well. He smiled at us. I’m sure he did not remember who we were, but clearly the man likes babies.
Best stories - gosh I love Paul McCartney so much! Thanks for sharing. This is adorable. Congrats on your amazing luck - I hope you bought a lotto ticket!!!
What a media studies feast we’ve had this summer, y’all! And this mailbag only adds more weight to that sentiment! We’ve parsed the Olympics, a slow-burn divorce, movie economics, pap walks, PR snafus, and more! I’m surprised we all don’t need a long vacation to recover 😂
I’ve only ever seen 2 “celebrities” where I attempted any type of contact.
Colin Firth was staying at Washington Duke Inn to film a movie in Durham in 2010 and as graduating Duke seniors my friends and I had a lot of leftover food points to spend on a fancy dinner there. A fire alarm went off and we all had to leave the restaurant. We saw Colin Firth walk by our table as we were leaving and tried to catch up with him but ultimately when we saw he looked agitated by the disruption we turned around and walked away.
I saw Cortney Hendrix from the first season of Married at First Sight at the SC Zoo in 2019. She was literally standing next to me and I had a 12 week old baby at the time and was very sleep deprived and had lost some of my filter. I looked over at her, did a double take and asked if she was Cortney from Married at First Sight and she said yes, I said I loved her content on Insta, said she looked so pretty in person and I had very much enjoyed watching her show, she asked how old my baby was and I walked away with my family. I barely take pics with my friends so to me it was way too presumptuous to ask for a pic and felt like I was just rambling!
I’ve also been to a few author events for Jasmine Guillory and Kennedy Ryan. I awkwardly said how much I loved their books and how they had helped me through dark times of lockdown in 2020 and still didn’t ask for pics so I’m prob more anti pics than most people. Kennedy Ryan/her team reposts when I tag her on insta so there’s more of a parasocial connection there. I get what they were saying about true fans being more into the moment of connection but I don’t know if I fully agree.
Jasmine Guillory!!! What a sighting. Love her books too! I now live in Minnesota, and I’m not gonna lie, went to Abby Jimenez’s bakery Nadia Cakes after I moved here to see if she would be there. But if she was, she would expect fans since it’s literally how she markets it. 😅
I would love to go to Nadia’s Cupcakes!! I heard of Abby Jimenez first on Food Network! I saw her at a romance panel with Julie Soto and Dominic Lim last September at Bookmarks festival but I don’t recall them doing the signing line- I think they had just previously signed stock so she was NEAR me but I didn’t speak to her.
Ahhh no way! She seems very normal and down to earth on social media. Nadia Cakes cupcakes are VERY good. They have so many GF flavors too which I appreciate. Like 8-10 in my memory? (Most places have 1, if you’re lucky.) Lots of frosting. Even my dog got her own pupcake! Her dogs have lil statues in cases there, too. It’s adorable.
i work on jasmine’s books and she is lovely!
Omg no way!!! Are there any more in the works?! 👀🙏
yes!! she has flirting lessons coming out next april. and she has a substack! the jasmine guillory newsletter
Running to sign up! Thank you!! So pumped for a new Jasmine Guillory book too! 🥰
(Also I feel like we’re probably only a few degrees separated. I graduated in 2006. :) )
I graduated high school in 2006! My husband graduated from UNC in 2006 and it’s now been 13 years of being in a house divided!
Oh! Hello to a fellow Duke alum! (WaDuke! Food pts!) I moved back to Durham in 2009 and everyone was abuzz about that movie. Too bad it was so awful. 🤷♀️
I’ll definitely be renewing my subscription, this is one of my favourite corners of the internet.
I thought Sarah was also following/calling out Lily Gladstone way before she became “mainstream” right? That’s who I assumed would be referenced in that response!
Oh yeah! Lily for sure. I clocked her in Certain Women like 8 years ago.
Certain Women, I thought “Just let me watch this person herd cows or drive around for the whole film,” she was so incredibly compelling
I just want the Lainey Gossip team to know that this weekend I am canceling my monthly subscription…and signing up as an annual member on a new Substack account. In fact, because of being a part of this community and others on Substack I’ve decided to move my blog newsletter here and to make this my primary community space. Very excited for this change, thank you for introducing me to Substack!
When The Squawk was first announced, I was deeply motivated to “level up” my support of LG, having been a regular reader since 2007. A year later, that sentiment remains. The phrase “vote with your wallet” is about ten years out of date, I know, but it’s true. In the Attention Economy, where do we put our money? Happy to put a small portion of my “fun” money into a founding membership. It’s literally $10 a month and feels like back pay for the almost two decades of thoughts and entertainment Lainey & Co. have provided. Hell, a latte at Starbucks is about $7 these days. I buy a few of those a month and they’re “worth” more than LG? Nope.
Just here to say that this subscription has brought me so much joy, community and insight, I am DEFINITELY renewing!
After reading this + celebrity social media I’m now really curious about if Katie Holmes calls the paps. Seems against her current status, but I feel like there’s also an awful lot of pictures of her in fashionable outfits.
At this point, she doesn't need to. They know where she lives, they can just post up outside her building.
A decade ago, though, i do believe she used paparazzi photos to create a kind of shield for herself. Like she was SO visible, Xenu couldn't try any shit. And if anyone had tried to follow her (a known Xenu tactic), the paps probably would have clocked it, and then that becomes a story...
So I do think she set up photos in the past to protect herself. But now? She doesn't need to. They just know how to find her.
It's crazy to think that paparazzi photos were a form of protection for her! I've wondered recently about all the paparazzi photos of Suri - it seems Page Six has had almost daily photos of her this summer (on her own, without her mom it seems - at least from the photos on the main page, I refuse to click on the articles about her). I remember reading that she hated the paparazzi when she was a kid and I doubt she loves them now. Is all this attention a holdover from the guys (I assume they are men, maybe that's a stereotype?) that would have been photographing her a decade ago - are they possibly even the same people photographing her now? Regardless, it feels kinda gross to see photos of her when she is out on her own now - unlike other celebrities being followed by paparazzi, she didn't choose to be famous (not that choosing a career that could make you famous justifies all the invasive photos). Hopefully she is left alone now that she is at college.
I think it's the same deal where they just know where to find her now. And someone must be clicking on the photos, they wouldn't bother taking them if they knew they wouldn't sell.
Exactly- kids of famous people who are just being college kids should be left alone. They didn’t make the deal to trade fame for privacy, their parents did that. Let them just be regular people if that’s what they want to do.
Taylor Russell gave a wonderful performance in The Effect (as did Paapa Essiedu who is also poised for imminent stardom). She avoided the overacting quirk that a lot of even seasoned actors bring to the stage (looking at you, Adam Driver in Burn This) while still giving a theatrical worthy performance.
You need to start a movie review blog!
That is very kind of you to say.
I just told my husband last night that The Squawk was the most cost-effective entertainment (and education…and community) of my life! Already yearlong subscriber and will always be.
I appreciate Lainey’s reiteration of what her site and this Substack are. I had a visceral flashback of hiding at about 14 or 15-years-old in my grandmother’s closet with her Vanity Fair issues and wishing all magazines had these thoughtful, long, detailed articles. LaineyGossip had me from my 1st site visit!
Also I have seriously enjoyed the live chats, including DNC. Cheers to many more!