On the morning of April 25, testimony began in the second rape trial of That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson after an initial trial ended last November in a hung jury and mistrial. The first witness on the stand was one of Masterson’s alleged victims, Jane Doe 3, who had …
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This post contains spoilers for the entire season of Peacock’s Mrs. Davis. There may be more thematically rich, artistically audacious TV shows on this spring. There has not, however, been anything that comes close in strangeness, shock value, or delightfully stupid humor than Peacock’s Mrs. Davis, which this week dropped …
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With his short fade, skinny jeans, toned bod, and tattoos, Carl Lentz wasn’t like other men of the cloth. As the lead pastor of Hillsong NYC, a megachurch specializing in youth-courting “come as you are” sermons and “Coldplay for Christ” music, Lentz became a bona-fide celebrity, palling around with A-list …
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There’s a saying in the Jewish community that certain things are bad for the Jews. The list largely includes people with a great deal of power and money who use it for nefarious ends: Bernie Madoff, Jeffrey Epstein, Woody Allen. (Other things that are arguably not-so-great for the Jews: Einstein’s …
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Spinning heads, seared flesh, holy incantations in Latin: could it be… Satan? We have reached the 50th anniversary of The Exorcist, William Friedkin’s blockbusting, genre-transforming horror landmark that has been parodied, sequelized (on multiple occasions), and firmly embedded in the collective cultural consciousness. And now along comes The Pope’s Exorcist, …
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On the Saturday night before Easter, live from Studio 8H, Saturday Night Live kicked things off with an Easter Sunday cold-open spoof of the Last Supper. “Alas, one of you will betray me… and though I have committed no crime, I will be arrested, tried, and found guilty,” said Mikey …
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“I’m literally shaking right now as I’m talking to you,” Valerie Haney says, speaking by phone from Florida. Her 22 years in Scientology’s hardcore elite unit, the Sea Organization, has left her with what her therapist has diagnosed as PTSD, she explains. And a court ruling on March 15 had …
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Nobody came out of the 1993 Waco tragedy looking good. Not David Koresh, the messianic religious/cult leader who stockpiled illegal weapons and married underage girls in order to spread his seed for a coming apocalypse. Not the ATF, which went ahead with its raid on Koresh’s Branch Davidian compound despite …
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Five women in California have sued a network of organizations associated with the International Churches of Christ and two of its leaders, claiming they are victims of childhood sexual abuse and a financial pyramid scheme perpetrated by a “cult.” The federal claim, filed Friday night in the Central District of …
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Some want to stand their ground and fight — after all, this is their home, too. Many want to leave and start anew. There’s an option to vote for doing nothing, but really, the days of simply enduring and ignoring are long gone. The choices that a group of women …
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