This week in pop culture, this author was surprisingly offline due to the unrelenting stress of school. But, not to fear, I scrolled all the way back in my Twitter feed, deep dived on TikTok and am actively watching YouTube to catch up on all of the pop culture news to share with you today. 

This article contains brief mentions of sexual assault.

Maggie Smith passes away

Dame Maggie Smith, most well-known for her iconic roles in Downton Abbey and Harry Potter, passed away at the age of 89 on Friday. 

She began her career in the 1950s and was nominated for her first Oscar in 1965. Since then, she has obtained an impressive repertoire of acting roles, such as in Sister Act (1992) and The Lady in the Dane (2015). 

NCT Dream wraps up their U.S. leg of tour 

One of my favorite K-Pop groups, NCT Dream, wrapped up the U.S. leg of their tour on Thursday. Now, anyone that follows me on Instagram or has talked to me in the last two weeks knows that I was there. 

The show took place at the United Center in Chicago. If you were in the nosebleeds, you probably saw me absolutely shocked for the entirety of the show. I didn't cry, even though I totally expected myself to. 10 out of 10 concert.

Ryan Murphy receives backlash for depiction of the Menéndez brothers

Ryan Murphy, who produced Glee, is facing backlash for his most recent film production: Monsters. The series is centered around the Menéndez brothers, Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who were convicted of murder in 1996. 

During their trial, both brothers stated that their reasons for killing their parents were out of fear of their father—their father was accused of years of sexual, emotional and physical abuse. 

Now, Ryan Murphy's Monsters apparently portrays the Menéndez brothers as lovers, which Murphy has said is being presented “as a theory”. 

Extended Menéndez family released a statement regarding the show, where they called it a “grotesque shockadrama”. They claimed that Murphy never talked to their family, and they said that Murphy and the fellow Netflix producers would not understand the negative impact of a series like this being created.

Murphy has since said that this series is the “best thing that has happened to the Menéndez brothers in 30 years”, while simultaneously saying that he has no interest in meeting the brothers. Interestingly enough, he also said that he didn't make a documentary of the brothers—considering how the full title is Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, I'm not quite sure how that lands. 

It should also be noted that this isn't Murphy's first time in hot water for something he helped produce. When he made a series about Jeffrey Dahmer, that show received heavy backlash. What does Murphy think about it? He says his motto is “never complain and never explain”. 

One must wonder how ethical it is to create a production based on people's very real lives without their consent and putting the label “fiction” on it, even when that very real person's name is in the title. 

Elon Musk teases new block feature on Twitter/X

Elon Musk has recently teased a new feature on X, which is unblocking the block button. According to him, this feature would allow blocked people to see everyone's Tweets, but they wouldn't be able to interact with someone who had blocked them. 

It should be noted that Apple's App Store and Alphabet's Google Play guidelines require apps with user-generated content to have a way to block abusive users. 

Lana Del Rey unsurprisingly is married

Lana Del Rey has sealed the deal! Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey recently revealed that she is now married to Jeremy Dufrene, a Louisiana swamp tour guide. They got married on Louisiana bayou, which is apparently where they met in 2019. Congrats to the couple! 

Nam Yoonsu talks about homophobia in the Korean film industry

Nam Yoonsu, Korean actor and model, recently spoke about homophobia in the Korean film industry and South Korea at large. In an interview with Allure Korea, Nam Yoonsu talked about his most recent role, where he will be playing a gay character in a BL (boy love) K-drama called “Love in the Big City”. 

He mentioned that he had queer friends growing up and that to him, this is the same love story with only a difference in gender. He also mentioned that Korean society still has ways to go in terms of their acceptance to LGBTQ people. 

While there has been a wave of hate toward Nam Yoonsu, such as people leaving homophobic comments on his Instagram posts, he is sticking firm to his beliefs. 

Extreme speculation about Diddy sparks wild rumors

Since the news broke that there is a hefty case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, the internet has quickly spread speculations about details of the case. Now, it can't be confirmed if any of these are true or not; we won't likely know the details of anything related to the case until the trial occurs. 

For the sake of having it in a coherent list, here's some of the speculations that people on the internet have posted (note, these are all rumors) and my thoughts on them:

• Kanye was saving Taylor Swift when he interrupted her VMA award speech in 2009 because otherwise, Beyoncé would've hurt her for being successful. → One must wonder, then, why did the feud between Kanye and Taylor exist for literal years? 
• The deaths of many rappers, such as Aaliya, XXXTentacion and Tupac, are tied to Diddy. → Again, this really can't be proven unless there's some solid evidence and if it's brought up in court. 
• Usher and Jay Z will go down with Diddy. → Perhaps! One can't really know for sure until the trial happens. But, it is pretty well-known that Jay-Z and Usher were close with Diddy—Usher even deleted his entire Twitter account since Diddy's case was revealed. 
• Usher exploited Justin Bieber to Diddy, which is why Justin Bieber didn't go on stage with Usher at his halftime show. → For those who don't know, Justin was actually under legal guardianship of Usher, who gave Diddy it for a 48-hour period once. Usher also said that he wouldn't send one of his kids to “Diddy camp” in an interview, which has since resurfaced against Usher. Justin has endured a lot of pain in his fame, which he has spoken publicly about, but it can't really be said what went down between him and the rappers. 
• Kris Jenner exploited Justin Bieber to help Diddy. → This rumor came from the fact that Justin Bieber and Kourtney Kardashian dated in 2015, when Justin was about 21 and Kourtney was about 36. Kris Jenner often plots many of her daughters' publicity stunts, such as relationships for PR, but the rumor of her being connected to Diddy is only because Kim Kardashian apparently was spotted at some Diddy parties (we don't know if they were the “freak off” parties or not). 
• There's a list circulating of celebrities and politicians that have attended Diddy parties. → Yes, there are definitely lists of celebrities and politicians that have appeared at events affiliated with Diddy. But, as mentioned above, we can't know for sure yet if they were considered “freak off” parties, where Diddy would do the alleged horrific acts to people, or not. All we know is that some individuals have been seen with or with Diddy's associations. For example, in 2012, Trump called Diddy a “good guy” and “good friend”. The lists don't tell us if these celebrities were aware of the “freak offs” or not, either. We'll have to wait until the trial for that.
• Will Smith brought his son Jaden Smith to Diddy parties. → This one is hard to prove, too. Jaden has certainly had his disagreements with his parents, but nothing has been confirmed relating to him and Diddy.
• The death of Michael Jackson was orchestrated by Diddy. → This falls under the other murder allegations, as none truly can be proved, yet. 

While these speculations are certainly shell-shocking, it is always worth the reminder to center cases about sexual assault around the victims and their wellbeing. 

Media I have been recently enjoying:

• Hard Times by Charles Dickens (reading for class)
• Rains in Heaven – NCT Dream
• Zillow