Billy McFarland, you've been de-fraud-throned. On Monday night, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley aired on HBO, showing the sociopathic tendencies of , her failed blood-testing startup Theranos, and its shocking impact on the tech industry. We have to admit, Holmes's ideas were definitely there. If the technology was there as well, as we know it, buuuuut instead, a company that at one point was , failed to deliver on any of its promises, and attempted to defraud all of .
For those who read Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou or listened to the podcast The Dropout, the recently released HBO documentary provides a scarily vivid look at Holmes - the so-called "brilliant" Stanford dropout who was once compared to Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison (by herself and by others). Witnessing , the way powerful investors like , and to keep up this act was jarring. Related: Following and the overall infatuation with , one person that "Elizabeth Holmes makes Billy McFarland look like an amateur scam artist." He added, "She raised over $700m around a company that was just an idea. Nearly killed a gigantic part of our population. Was backed by the wealthiest people AND the presidential administration." But unlike the staff and attendees of Fyre Festival who , the powerful people men funding Theranos had no idea.
As a viewer, it's impossible not to recognize the demographics of her early critics and supporters. The only person to immediately shoot down Holmes's dream was , Dr. Phyllis Gardner, yet some of the most powerful men in the world were advocating for her and saying Theranos could change the world without once seeing proof of the alleged technology.
It's pretty insane to see how far Holmes and were willing to go to keep up their act . . . and to keep it up for over a decade! Whew. Ahead, see how viewers all across Twitter reacted to the mind-blowing story that is Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Related:
One of on the current season of came from an unassuming source: a Georgia teenager with a guitar. Fifteen-year-old Ethan Payne didn't seem all that different from the hundreds of other young hopefuls we've seen on , but the reaction from one judge made it clear he was already a standout.
As it turned out, Payne was already acquainted with judge Luke Bryan, having met him through Make-A-Wish Foundation a few years earlier. Payne lives with , a genetic disorder, and back in 2016, Make-A-Wish brought Payne to one of Bryan's concerts, where the singer invited him on stage to perform alongside him. Bryan even gave Payne one of his own guitars to take home and hone his musical skills with - and that's exactly what Payne did. When the teen appeared in front of the judges, Bryan recognized him immediately - and the guitar he was carrying, which was the very same one Bryan had given him years ago!
In a sweet reversal of their first meeting, during his audition, and of course, Bryan obliged. It certainly helped that the song Payne chose for his audition was Bryan's own "Do I." The duo's unplanned duet quickly won over audiences, as well as the other judges, who sent the teen country singer through to Hollywood.
In his on-camera interview after the audition, Payne reiterated how much Bryan and his music have meant to him. "I think of Luke as like a father figure. I felt honored, I felt like I was one of his own. We harmonized, we did stuff that was unrehearsed, and it went perfect."
While Payne is just now getting the attention of national audiences, he's been sharing his music on for a while! Along with fun snaps of his teenage life, he occasionally posts short videos of him singing and playing guitar, often covering familiar songs. While we wait to see how Payne's Idol journey will continue, check out the highlights from his Instagram!
The investigation of Gregory B. Craig, who served as White House counsel in the Obama administration, comes amid a growing crackdown by the Justice Department on illegal foreign lobbying.
The profusion of more than 50 tweets, which stoked new tensions and nursed past grievances, came as the president was largely idle and skipped his regular weekend trip to his Florida estate.
2019 is going to be one sizzling hot ! While it might be tempting to alone at home with a big glass of wine, why not treat yourself to longing stares, soft caresses, and sensual kisses in front of the big screen? From Taraji P. Henson's wacky romp to 's lustful thriller , we've rounded up a collection of films so steamy, they'll make you blush. Whether you're in the mood for something raunchy or intimate, you'll find a movie on this list that will satisfy your deepest sexy pangs.
Democrats are at odds over how to fulfill their promise to lower health costs, with centrists opposing the “Medicare for all” plan favored by progressives.
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Floyd Mayweather says that's exactly the case with him ... telling TMZ Sports he still has NOT cashed his massive checks from the Manny Pacquiao and the ...
When I was growing up, St. Patrick's Day always inspired a mix of emotions in my house. On the one hand, America's take on St. Patrick's Day always struck us as kind of weird and comical (seriously, lads, where did you come up with the whole "top of the morning" thing?). But on the other hand, March 17 inspired an annual bout of homesickness for the country my parents had left - and that I'd always considered my second home. Ever reluctant to assimilate (at least within the privacy of their own home), my parents would stock up on Irish bacon and Barry's tea bags and blast the RTÉ (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) morning show on our kitchen speakers.
While it helped, nothing could compare to the therapeutic value of television. Irish wit and sentimentality translate pretty well onto the small screen, and curling up on the couch watching Father Ted never failed to make us feel like we were back home again, at least for a little while. So without further ado, allow me to introduce six streamable TV series that will provide you with an authentic Irish experience this St. Patrick's Day. Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!
Legalization of marijuana has become a pillar of progressive politics, and a litmus test for candidates’ commitment to equal treatment for all races in policing and criminal justice.
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With the release of the controversial new documentary , in which and at the hands of , many of the other boys in Jackson's circle have been brought up as well. One such friend who has always maintained Jackson's innocence is Macaulay Culkin, the Home Alone actor who was among the young boys who hung out with Jackson. Today, he's the godfather to , and he continues to defend the late singer against all accusations.
Most famously, Culkin testified in Jackson's defense at his 2005 molestation trial. Initially, Culkin publicly said he'd rather not testify; , "Probably not. Like I said, it's crazy and I don't really want to be a part of it . . . I'm not saying I wouldn't do something like that, it just hasn't been brought up to me and I don't think he'd want me to either."
However, Culkin did testify, and as the news reports in Leaving Neverland also showed, the common thought at the time was that it was his testimony that struck the biggest blow in Jackson's favor. Culkin and Jackson had first met when Culkin was only 9 years old, and he'd become friends with Jackson after the singer reached out to him during his post-Home Alone fame. During the trial, Culkin vehemently denied that anything inappropriate had happened between him and Jackson, directly repudiating claims by Neverland staffers that they had seen Jackson behaving inappropriately toward Culkin while at the mansion.
Although he defended Jackson, Culkin's testimony did corroborate some of the claims later made by Leaving Neverland's James Safechuck: specifically, that Jackson tended to grow apart from the boys in his orbit as they reached their later teens, and that Jackson had an alarm system that let him know if anyone was approaching his room.
"There was like a walkway kind of thing, where if somebody was approaching the door, it would kind of like 'ding-dong, ding-dong.' When anyone would approach the room, yeah, you'd hear this kind of - soft kind of alarm, like 'ding-dong' kind of thing," the transcript of Culkin's testimony reads. He also testified that he had, indeed, slept in Jackson's bed, but that nothing inappropriate had gone on.
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In 2018, , where the host asked Culkin about his relationship with Jackson.
"He was my best friend growing up for a good, fat stretch of my life," Culkin said. When pressed about Jackson's behavior and penchant for spending time with young boys, Culkin added, "[Jackson was] emotionally young . . . He enjoyed my youthfulness. He liked being a kid with me. It never struck me as odd. I never felt uncomfortable. That was just the way he was."
Only weeks before , Culkin appeared on the , where he again defended Jackson and their relationship.
"It's almost easy to try say it was 'weird' or whatever, but it wasn't, because it made sense," he said. "He reached out to me 'cause a lot of things were happening big and fast with me. I think he identified with that." He also claimed that his treatment of the singer as a "normal" person cemented their relationship.
"I think that's one of the reasons also why we got along, is that everyone's always thoroughly impressed by him. So the fact that somebody treated him like a normal person . . . It was that simple."
Culkin rarely speaks directly about the abuse allegations, and has always maintained that his relationship - and others' relationships - with Jackson were purely innocent. He has not commented in the wake of Leaving Neverland, and the documentary's director Dan Reed told Vanity Fair that while making the documentary.
"Macaulay has gone on the record many, many times, including recently to say that his relationship with Jackson was innocent," he said.
We've closed in on Marvel's latest release, , which gifts us with tons of cool revelations about the . Even and special looks weren't enough to properly prepare us for her greatness. But along with Carol Danvers's , Goose, the film introduces us to Maria Rambeau, played by the brilliant Lashana Lynch, who is Carol's best friend and former copilot.
In Summer 2018, POPSUGAR visited the LA set of Captain Marvel with a group of other journalists. During our time in the thick of the action, we were treated to an interview with Lynch. The fact that she'd joined the Marvel universe is huge; not only is she a fresh face in the superhero world, but she's a pretty recent newcomer in Hollywood, too. And here she is, kicking ass alongside a badass female superhero in one of Marvel's most important releases in the past decade! To introduce you to the rising star, we've scribbled down a handful of fun facts about the character . . . and the delightful woman who plays her. Related: 1. She Plays the Mother of a Well-Known Marvel Comics Character
"I play Maria Rambeau, who is , who we know from the comics," Lynch revealed. In Marvel's official database, Monica Rambeau notably after she joins the Avengers, but she's only 11 in the film and hasn't quite developed her own superpowers yet (though she clearly worships her Aunt Carol). It seems like the perfect way to segue into the Captain Marvel sequel, no? But back to Maria!
The comics don't seem to give a lot of information about Monica's mother. Luckily, we had Lynch to fill us in: "We are going from the beginning, so we're going from before Carol Danvers got her powers. We have us being set in the mid-'90s, which is nice because we have lots of flashbacks. You know, memories that we all know and love." Although we would've loved to see meatier flashbacks in the film to get a better sense of Maria's friendship with Carol, the bond between them is still very much genuine, and a high point of the film.
"My character, along with Carol Danvers, is a fighter pilot, so you catch a lot of us being the strong, driven, bold females in the workplace, in a male-oriented environment," Lynch continued. "It's nice to flash back and see that - see how women can really burst through being in that environment and still holding their own, and not having to have a man telling them what to do, where to stand, how to look. And also not be glamorous at work: not having to wear heels and the pencil skirt and be on their Ps and Qs, just being a complete badass going to work."
2. Carol's Relationship With Maria Actually Runs Deeper Than You Think
Not only were Maria and Carol best friends as fighter pilots before Carol disappeared, but they also grew up together! "They were best friends in the beginning. Absolute best friends," she said. "They were in and out of each other's houses. Carol was very close with Monica." The film hints at how tight the pair were in a scene when little Monica is showing a recently resurfaced Carol a ton of photos from her former life. She mentions how Carol wasn't close with her biological family (her father is very briefly shown as domineering and cruel) and tells her that instead, "We became your family."
Because of that time together, Lynch revealed, Maria and Carol do have a pretty incredible bond. She said they give each other "strength, mainly, and spiritual strength. In order to do the job that we do - and especially with me being an African-American female fighter pilot - any other woman just gets you, understands the journey. It gives you enough power [to] just go to work." 3. Maria Is the Key to Captain Marvel's Reverse Awakening
Once Carol returns to Earth, Maria and Monica help spark a major change in our hero. "There's a certain energy that you share with your friends that you can't get anywhere else, and she has these flashes of the feeling," Lynch told us. "The feeling of being herself through seeing her friend, the feeling of being at home through being in a home - which is mine - and the feeling of being normal and accepted, able to be herself without being an object, which I think is kind of what happens when she gets her powers." That's a pretty impactful piece of Carol's fragmented puzzle of a life.
4. Maria Can Absolutely Hold Her Own With Nick Fury
In the film, we witness a team-up of sorts between Carol, Maria, , and the known as Goose. Nick Fury totally factors in majorly; Lynch said he's "there to be Nick Fury, to save and support and make things happen" when Carol Danvers starts to come to terms with her own identity." While we were on set, we witnessed the scene in which Nick, Maria, and Captain Marvel all board an alien spacecraft. Now that we've seen the completed film, we couldn't imagine the story without Maria, you know? 5. Fun Fact: Lynch Auditioned For Black Panther and Almost Got Picked
In the midst of our interview, Lynch revealed that she's a longtime Marvel fan and had made it a goal for herself to get into a Marvel movie. She really had her sights set on Black Panther. "Literally, I was begging my manager to get me in Black Panther. I was in LA and they hadn't started yet, because they were just finishing up on Spider-Man," she recalled. "And I said, 'Gut I'm here now, and I could just do a tape. I'll make up sides, and I'll just do an audition, and it'll be great.'"
By now, the end of the story should be clear. "It didn't happen. I was shooting a series at the time and sent them the tape, and they loved [it] . . . and then there was an age issue; like, I looked too young for one and too old for the other, and that didn't happen. I'm really happy, because in the end, Letitia Wright got it, and she is bombastic."
6. Maria's Costume Has a Cute Little Easter Egg
A close look at Lynch's costume revealed a very cute little detail: she wears a necklace that spells "Monica" in gorgeous gold-plated lettering. "That was my idea," Lynch said, glowing. "Yeah, it says Monica, because it's the '90s." How very Carrie Bradshaw of her.
Warning: MAJOR Captain Marvel spoilers below, so proceed with caution!
Brie Larson has officially made in , and we couldn't be more thrilled. Marvel's latest ass-kicking superhero is the first woman at the center of one of their action-heavy films, and she fits in great alongside the rest of the Avengers we've come to know and love over the years.
But aside from sharing traits with other films in the MCU - like pithy one-liners, dazzling battles, and - Captain Marvel also includes what has become a staple of most Marvel movies: . Actually, , and both are very important, albeit in very different ways.
If you're one of the many flocking to movie theaters over the next few days to catch Carol in all of her glowing, super-powered action, but you have a few questions about the extra scenes that play once the credits begin their painfully slow crawl, you've come to the right place. The first and most important scene happens relatively quickly, functioning as more of a midcredits scene. The second is much more lighthearted, but contains a special nod to , so it's not to be missed, either.
Ahead, you'll find explanations for what happens in each, as well as what they mean for the future of the franchise. Related:
The veto will send the legislation back to Congress, which most likely doesn’t have enough votes for an override, meaning the declaration of an emergency at the southern border will remain in effect.
How does 1992's stack up to Disney's brand-new ? Well, thanks to the movie's , we now have a better idea than ever.
From the romantic magic carpet ride through a cloudy sky to Jasmine's iconic turquoise number to all of the Genie's sarcastic one-liners, the Guy Ritchie-directed movie appears to have plenty of nods to the original. Despite initial wariness about - He's so blue! And ?! - the new footage has also given people a better idea of his interpretation of the character (he appears to be pretty damn funny, if you ask us).
If you're curious about how the other key elements from 2019's Aladdin stack up, keep reading to see (and one monkey) side by side with stills from Disney's original film! Related:
The Senate voted to overturn President Trump’s national emergency declaration, delivering a bipartisan rebuke for what lawmakers in both parties saw as executive overreach