Mailbag for July 10, 2026
Awarding Taylor Swift, King Charles told on himself, the art vs artist line and who we cover, on The Odyssey's nomination chances, and ballcap hairstyles
Dear Squawkers,
I want to talk about Taylor Swift…but not about Taylor’s wedding. Even though it’s not wedding-related, it’s still gossipy. About the Emmys.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: The Final Show (that is too many colons in a title, sorry), available on Disney+, has been nominated for five Emmys, including Outstanding Variety Show (pre-recorded), and she’s a credited producer. Usually, this category is presented at the Creative Arts Emmys the week before the big Emmy show broadcast a week later on Monday 14 September. The Television Academy, of course, would love to get Taylor there but considering that September 14 is also Kansas City’s regular season home opener (clever scheduling by the NFL for the first Monday Night Football of the season), they might have a better chance of Taylor showing up at the Creative Arts Emmys and not the main show. Although…since one of her good friends, Mariska Hargitay, is hosting the Emmys this year, there might be slightly more incentive for her to go as a presenter…
Which would set up an interesting classic “red carpet run-in” scenario that is always good for gossip. Because Sarah Pidgeon is also nominated in the lead actress limited series category for her performance in Love Story. (She’d be a favourite to win here if not for Sally Field in Remarkably Bright Creatures.) Sarah, as we all know by now, is currently dating Joe Alwyn. Joe Alwyn was not in the habit of walking award show carpets with Taylor when they were together but then again, especially lately, he’s moving differently with Sarah. So, you know, it’s not impossible for him to join her…
Like I said, though, Emmy night is also when Travis Kelce kicks off what is likely his final season and I can’t imagine the newlywed bride wouldn’t want to be there.
While we’re here though, let’s talk about Taylor’s award ambitions beyond the Emmys. Is there an entertainment equivalent of a grand slam? Like in tennis and golf? That would be the EGOT, right? But the EGOT, as we know it, is when an artist wins the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony over the course of their entire career, not limited to an (one) award season. If we start the award season calendar with the Emmys, which is how the EGOT order is listed, then an entertainment grand slam could be Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony…
And Taylor could actually go for a slam this season. We just talked about her Emmy chances. The Life of a Showgirl for sure will pick up some Grammy nominations and we already know she has an excellent track record with the Recording Academy. We also know that at the Oscars she’ll be contending with “I Knew It, I Knew You” from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack. She just needs something at the Tonys.
What are the chances that she’ll be able to put together something for Broadway, or get a producer credit, before April 2027? If there’s anyone who could and would, it’s her. If we know anything about Taylor Swift, it’s that she will always find another mountain to brand her initials into.
Now the mailbag…
Question from Amy B from the Prince Harry thread:
I’m going to harp again on the statement in The Guardian - before the verdict - that one reason that Harry couldn’t sleep over at Pa’s house was because of “fears the king would be put in an awkward position” with the verdict.
What would be awkward?
If Harry won, the king wouldn’t be able to publicly support him since he (Charles) is beholden to the media? Or that the media (or Daily Mail) would have some backlash against Harry and Charles wouldn’t be able to stand up for him (ha!)?
Or that his father would have to face his son that he chose and continues to choose his media image over him?
Lainey’s Answer:
This was probably rhetorical…what would be awkward? Because of all the points you cited. But I love what you’re bumping up against, this specific paragraph in that article:
“But if that all looked like a bit of an unedifying mess, what really upset Harry’s team was the suggestion the invitation had been withdrawn over fears the king would be put in an awkward position when a high court judge rules in a case involving his youngest son on Tuesday.”
So they told on themselves. His kingness told on himself. And I wonder if it was inadvertent – since these people so regularly show their decrepit asses when it comes to public relations. Because I think that they thought it’d make King Charles look good, like he’s so impartial, so neutral, a paragon of fairness. And, sure, that’d be the case if, say, his son was being investigated for some kind of criminal activity, if this was that kind of legal issue. But as I wrote the other day, in this situation, it’s his own son on one side and the fucking media mafia on the other. His Majesty is not coming out looking like a paragon of anything except cruel parenting.
That said…
If we’re talking about neutrality and impartiality, maybe we should be talking about how the royal institution FOR TWO DECADES harboured a member of the family with serious ties to a convicted sex offender who exploited minors and was accused of sex trafficking. And who himself was accused of sexual assault by a victim whose pain resulted in her tragic death.
So are we seriously calling it “an awkward position”, a MORE AWKWARD POSITION, to have your son sleep over just because he’s suing the tabloids for invading his privacy, harassing his wife, and fomenting racial animosity against his partner and child than to have an actual pervert sitting next to you in church?!!????????????????????
We should all be yelling at this bullshit, the fucked up way these fuckass royals decide what’s proper and what’s not. Also, while we’re here, can we get an update on that sleazy piece of shit, Just Andrew? Just last month it was reported that he’s being investigated for even more mess, including allegations that he “behaved inappropriately” at a horse show back in 2002.
WHAT COULD BE MORE AWKWARD THAN THAT?!
Question from Margaret:
Lainey noted in a post that there are some celebrities who the site gives less attention to (e.g. not providing a movie review) when the team deems the person to have crossed a moral line. I would like to hear more about how you decide to cover a celebrity less and what that practically means. And will you share some examples? I can’t stand Tom Cruise because of Scientology, and I don’t watch his movies anymore, but I admit I still click on Tom Cruise stories. Hmm. I may have some thinking to do!
Sarah’s answer:
I admit, my system is irregular and probably hypocritical. For instance, we try to skip Brad Pitt when we can. Personally, I believe he did everything detailed in the FBI reports, and his whole public persona these days is centered on blaming his ex-wife for parental alienation (which is currently not diagnosable), and what I believe to be financial abuse of Angelina Jolie via the court system. Fuck Brad Pitt, basically.
That said, I am very curious about The Adventures of Cliff Booth. For Pitt? No. I’m just so curious to see David Fincher direct a Quentin Tarantino script. One of the most coldly precise directors working off a script by one of the most verbosely maximalist writers? I am intrigued! But, ugh, I have to get through the Pitt of it all. Still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with that.
And I feel you, Margaret, on Tom Cruise. We can laugh about Xenu all day, but at the end of it, Scientology does harm people. Cruise is a lot more toned down on his public support, though, which is why I can kind of squint and push the Xenu of it all to the side of the frame. I don’t ignore it; I just think he makes it less of my problem than he did 20 years ago. This is the hypocrisy in the system!
I firmly believe we all draw the art vs artist line for ourselves, and that line can shift over time. My line is mostly whether or not someone is using their platform to do harm. I can’t fuck with JK Rowling at all anymore, because she openly boasts about using her Harry Potter money to fund anti-trans hate campaigns in the UK, which have been successful in narrowing, if not outright stripping, human rights from our trans brothers and sisters. I can’t put money in her pocket knowing what she’s doing with it.
Practically, that means not covering the upcoming HBO series reboot of Harry Potter, but at the same time, I know I will 100% watch and review Digger and keep tabs on a potential Tom Cruise Oscar run. But for The Adventures of Cliff Booth, maybe I’ll just watch it and not review it. I’m still engaging with it, Netflix will still get my data and viewing minutes, but maybe I won’t promote the show. Maybe I’ll just recommend Widow’s Bay again and point out that Matthew Rhys is, as far as we know, an unproblematic king. The worst thing he’s done that we know about is buy a boat his family hates (a very Tom Loftis thing to do).
I’m not claiming any moral high ground here. Like I said, my system is imperfect and selfish in design. But I can at least try not to put money in the pockets of bigots.
Question from Caitlin:
Not sure if LaineyGossip and Sarah are allowed to answer this, but how much nudity is in [The Odyssey]? We are generally okay with our 14 year old seeing certain R rated stuff, but we also try to keep the sex and nudity to a minimum. Using Oppenheimer as a baseline, would you say there is more, less, or the same amount of sex/nudity? I don’t necessarily mind if the characters are having sex, it’s really if there is a lot of nudity. I could wait until the film comes out and watch it first but he’s going to camp a few days after it comes out, and I wanted to take him beforehand if I can.
Lainey’s Answer:
Using Oppenheimer as a baseline, as far as I can remember, there is way less sex/nudity in The Odyssey. In fact, I’m not sure there is even any nudity or sex for that matter. Greek stories are horny, often disturbingly so, and I know some people still have lingering ick over the sex parts in Oppenheimer but there’s none of that energy in The Odyssey, even though Odysseus obviously had his opportunities. This clearly wasn’t Christopher Nolan’s vision for the story – and that might be an interesting question to ask him, whether or not the reaction to the sex scenes in Oppenheimer had an impact on how he approached Odysseus’s various detours. Having seen the film and what his focus is, I personally don’t think that it was a deliberate choice. And, frankly, with Nolan’s artistic ego (and of course he has one, given his status at this point), I’ll never be convinced that he’d be swayed by audience opinion anyway.
That said, while you may not need to be concerned about graphic sex and nudity, the film is graphic in other ways – it’s the opposite of horny in parts, it’s actually horror. This shouldn’t be a spoiler being that the text is, like 2,500 years old. The Odyssey is an odyssey, and Odysseus’s experiences are traumatic. Remember, the ancient Greeks were twisted, LOL.
Question from Maggie:
Given Lainey’s early comments on The Odyssey, I’m assuming it will be a big factor at the Oscars. With the huge and stacked cast, what are your predictions for nominations?
Sarah’s answer:
I see The Odyssey on Monday, so I’m not sure about the acting stuff yet—though out of all of Anne Hathaway’s films this year, this one seems the most likely to support a strong Oscar push—but without even seeing it I can tell you The Odyssey will be up and down the technical and craft categories. Ludwig Göransson composed the score, he’s almost an automatic nomination at this point (and deservedly so, the man is a legit musical genius). He already has THREE Oscars, including one for Oppenheimer. He’s as close to a sure thing as I will commit to at this point.
Hoyte van Hoytema is the cinematographer, both of his Oscar nominations are from Nolan films, and he won for Oppenheimer. Editor Jennifer Lame also won an Oscar for Oppenheimer, she could contend for The Odyssey, too, but if she does, it becomes an automatic Best Picture contender, too. Editing and Best Picture go hand in hand.
It’s a war movie, so put it down for sound, almost certainly—even though Nolan’s soundscapes are AWFUL, they’re still loud, which is usually what ends up winning sound Oscars—and stunts, probably. And it’s a period piece and a fantasy, so visual effects, costumes, production design, hair and makeup are all in play. And it’s a huge ensemble with every famous person in Hollywood, so mark it for a casting nomination, too.
With 25 categories in 2027, The Odyssey is already a top competitor in ten categories, easy, before we even get into acting, directing, etc. But I fully expect support for Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon, and Nolan can never be counted out as a writer or director. The Odyssey could easily end up with around 15 nominations, maybe even 16, tying Sinners’ record for most nominations of all time. But you know who will be right there with them? Denis Villeneuve and Dune: Part Three. That movie will really have to shit the bed to mess up a massive nomination haul.
Question from Jenn H:
Simple style question: what are Lainey’s favourite hairstyles to wear under a ballcap? Preferably ones that don’t leave your hair flat on top (if that’s even possible.)
Lainey’s Answer:
I think I might be an unhelpful asshole here because I like my hair flat – and sometimes I use my ballcap in the morning to pre-style the front of my hair so that my layers lie just right against my face. But that’s generally how I like to wear a cap, with hair framing both sides. When I golf, it’s always in two braids, but not tight braids, it looks better on me with a little hair coming out. This TikTok is pretty much my golf hairstyle, I just don’t get that fancy with looping and tucking the braid over and over.
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In my opinion, Asian TikTok is the best for hair inspo. And there’s a whole subcategory on TikTok for ballcap hairstyles.
Here’s another one really good one with a couple of hairstyles I’ve worn with a ballcap for dog walks and weekends.
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And here’s one of the most popular ones – the final style that she does at the end is great for shape but also keeping the hair off your neck.
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Thank you for your questions and for your comments in the chats and for your patience while our team has been navigating some heavy workloads and deadlines the last few weeks. Also, personally, I apologise in advance because I’m a week away from fulfilling a lifelong dream, OMG OMG OMG I can’t even talk about it but I know I’ll definitely be insufferable. Borahae!
Keep squawking and keep gossiping,
Lainey and Sarah
When I think about doing a near-EGOT in one season of course my mind goes to Bob Fosse, who in two months in 1973 won the Tony for directing Pippin (Mar 25), the Oscar for directing Cabaret (Mar 27) and the Emmy for directing Liza with a Z (May 20). That's an all-time run right there.
This may be snobby of me, but people who write a check for a producer credit of a either Broadway production or a film that other people created and more or less finished by the time the star got their checkbook out are not real EGOT-ers to me. you are buying your way in and did not earn it. especially the tony, which is already the hardest award to get out of the Big 4.
i would hate if taylor got a tony that way. and i also don’t think someone who is as obsessed with putting in the work as her would want to win it that way either.