Ryan Gosling will star in new Star Wars filmEntertainment
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Actor apologizes for antisemitism amid arrest
Haley Joel Osment is apologizing after aiming an antisemitic slur at a police officer during his arrest last week at a California ski resort, according to reports.
Osment apologized for his use of the slur in a statement shared with People and the New York Post April 18 after his arrest footage surfaced the day prior.
“I’m absolutely horrified by my behavior. Had I known I used this disgraceful language in the throes of a blackout, I would have spoken up sooner,” Osment told the outlets. “The past few months of loss and displacement have broken me down to a very low emotional place.”
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Osment continued: “But that’s no excuse for using this disgusting word. From the bottom of my heart, I apologize to absolutely everyone that this hurts. What came out of my mouth was nonsensical garbage – I’ve let the Jewish community down and it devastates me. I don’t ask for anyone’s forgiveness, but I promise to atone for my terrible mistake.”
On April 8, “The Sixth Sense” and “Forrest Gump” actor was arrested for disorderly conduct for public alcohol intoxication and possession of cocaine at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area resort in Mammoth Lakes, California, Mono County District Attorney David Anderson said in an April 17 statement.
What did Haley Joel Osment say?
In the nearly 2-minute footage shared by Page Six, Osment says, “I’m being detained.” Later, when asked what his name is, he replies, “I’m an American.”
Later in the footage, an arresting officer holds up Osment’s ID to other law enforcement officials and says, “You do recognize him right? That’s the actor … from ‘Sixth Sense,’ ‘Pay it Forward.’ That’s the kid actor.”
Inside the police car, as they are purportedly driving to a jail, Osment calls the officer a “Nazi” and later hurls an antisemitic slur about Jewish people.
“You’ll wish you treated me nicer,” Osment says to the officer. As he’s escorted into the jail in handcuffs by two officers, the actor says, “Good luck.”
Haley Joel Osment arrest follows prior legal troubles
Preceding his arrest in April, Osment was described as an “unruly skier,” according to a Mammoth Lakes Police Department media bulletin. The incident is still under investigation, People reports, and the Mono County District Attorney’s Office said the actor will be arraigned on July 7. At the time of his arrest, Osment, a Los Angeles native, was days away from his 37th birthday.
The “Blink Twice” actor has had previous run-ins with law enforcement, dating back nearly two decades. In 2018, media outlets reported the actor was involved in an argument at a Las Vegas airport on Super Bowl Sunday, with police being called to respond to an “unruly passenger.”
There was also a 2006 arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol and misdemeanor drug possession, in an incident where he suffered a broken rib. The then-18-year-old Osment pleaded no contest and was sentenced to three years of probation, 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation program, attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous and a $1,500 fine.
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman
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Oklahoma City bombing documentary: Timothy McVeigh’s chance arrest
Watch trailer for Netflix’s ‘Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror’
Netflix’s documentary ‘Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror’ arrives on the 30th anniversary of the tragedy. See the exclusive trailer.
On the morning of April 19, 1995, an Army veteran once described as “probably the best soldier” in his company parked a commercial truck carrying a 4,800-pound bomb in downtown Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh targeted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building because of the numerous federal agencies scattered among the structure’s nine stories, where hundreds worked.
The date marked two years since the fatal end of a 51-day standoff between law enforcement and cult leader David Koresh in Waco, Texas. In retaliation, McVeigh rented a truck using a fake I.D. made with a clothing iron to transport the fertilizer bomb that he and his friend Terry Nichols assembled. The two first met in the Army, and later bonded over their anti-government views. At 9:02 a.m., the explosive detonated, obliterating one-third of the building, which also housed a daycare center.
Thirty years after the shocking act of domestic terror that claimed 168 lives, the tragedy is the focus of new projects: NatGeo’s three-part docuseries “Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America” is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. And Netflix’s “Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror” 1 hour, 24-minute documentary chronicles the day of the bombing, featuring interviews with people on site and law enforcement officers desperate to solve the case. The documentary also spotlights local residents’ resiliency and ability to step up for their grief-stricken community.
The inspiring Oklahomans who ‘found a heroic piece of themselves’
Director Greg Tillman tells USA TODAY that while making his film, he found a consistent theme: “In spite of the horror that they’re all experiencing,” he says, “so many people in that moment found a heroic piece of themselves that they may never have known about until something like this happened in their life.”
The filmmaker applauds the “hundreds” who “ran right to the site to see if they could help people.” Those attempting to save survivors in the building did so with the understanding that they were risking their own lives. Dr. Carl Spengler, who performed onsite triage, remembers in the documentary a surgeon who, when he “crawled into the hole to do (an) amputation he handed his wallet back and said, ‘If this collapses, give that to my wife.’”
Tillman says FBI officials told him as he made the documentary they were mindful about requests for donations, “because anything they asked for from the public, they got 20 times more than needed.”
Timothy McVeigh in custody for another crime during hunt for bomber
Charlie Hanger, then an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper, pulled over McVeigh shortly after the bombing. McVeigh’s getaway car, a 1977 Mercury Marquis, didn’t have a license plate. McVeigh threatened Hanger with the loaded gun bulging from his jacket, so Hanger arrested McVeigh and brought him to Noble County Jail in Perry, about an hour north of Oklahoma City. There, McVeigh was booked and saw on TV the extent of the devastation. Because of a court backlog, McVeigh remained jailed, though authorities had not yet connected him to the bombing.
Meanwhile, a blown-off piece of McVeigh’s truck led authorities to a rental reservation, which resulted in a sketch that ultimately connected him to the crime. The FBI searched a database to see if anyone named Timothy McVeigh had been arrested and discovered he’d been apprehended in Perry. On April 21, the FBI phoned Hanger, who informed them that McVeigh was currently in court “35, 45 minutes away from walking out the door.”
When asked about the coincidence Mark Gibson, then assistant district attorney for Noble County, reasoned with a Southern drawl, “God was watching us.”
McVeigh was executed in 2001. His co-conspirator Nichols is serving a life sentence in Florence, Colorado.
A dedicated doctor, grieving mother and transformed survivor
The documentary depicts the experiences of three people irrevocably touched by the tragedy that will stay with viewers long after the documentary ends.
Spengler, a third-year medical resident, accepted a friend’s invitation for breakfast near the Federal Building after his shift ended at 7 a.m. Spengler says after the bombing he “took off running” to the scene and provided triage care. He determined which victims needed the most urgent attention and which could not be saved. “And to compound all of that, you had children,” Spengler emphasizes.
Renee Moore worked near the building and relied on its daycare for her 6-month-old son Antonio Cooper Jr., who was among those killed. She recalls nights where she would drive to McVeigh’s prison and “just sit out there in the dark, wondering how I could get in so I could hurt him.” In an interesting twist of fate she welcomed another son, Carlos Moore, on Antonio’s birthday.
Amy Downs, an employee of the building’s Federal Employees Credit Union, regained consciousness beneath a mountain of debris. Rescuers located Downs but had to flee before they could free her from the rubble after authorities thought they had found a second bomb.
“They were leaving me buried alive,” Downs remembers. “And I’d start thinking about my life and relationships and doing something with your life to help others, and I’d never been a mom. And all of a sudden, it was just so clear. I didn’t live a life true to myself. Once free, Downs vowed to God, “I would never live my life the same.” She became a triathlete, earned her MBA, became CEO of the credit union, an author and a motivational speaker.
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‘Sinners,’ streaming ‘The Last of Us’
Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal discuss father-daughter relationship
“The Last of Us” stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal reveal they didn’t enjoy their character’s estrangement in season 2.
Love movies? Live for TV? USA TODAY’s Watch Party newsletter has all the best recommendations, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now and be one of the cool kids.
Here’s an outstanding BOGO: Not only can you see a great Michael B. Jordan performance in “Sinners,” you get another one for free!
Jordan pulls double duty as gangster twins taking on vampires in 1930s Mississippi in director Ryan Coogler’s musical horror mashup. But don’t just limit yourself in your screen monsters, fam: Those fungal zombies are back and still freaky in the second season of HBO’s “The Last of Us.” (OK, yeah, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey return as well and they’re pretty cool.) It’s also getting kind of scary for TV shows out there, with cancellations on the horizon. We’re giving y’all to a chance to let your voice be heard to keep your favorites before it’s too late!
Now on to the good stuff:
See Michael B. Jordan battle vampires in Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’
It took a few months, but the movie season’s really revving up these days: “Warfare” came out last week and this week brings “Sinners,” the year’s best film to date. Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers who return to their Mississippi hometown to open up a juke joint, and they recruit their talented cousin (Miles Caton) to sing the blues on opening night. However, their party’s crashed by a vampire (Jack O’Connell) and this fangtastic menace threatens their entire community. It’s a frightfest that’s musical and meaningful, mesmerizing and memorable. (Peep my ★★★½ review.)
I talked with Coogler and Jordan about the inspirations behind the surreal horror movie. To build out his dual roles, the scheming Stack and the more serious Smoke, Jordan thought about how “their earliest childhood traumas” informed their personalities and coping skills. “Two survival instincts, but just approached differently.”
Stream ‘The Last of Us’ for an emotionally wrought Pedro Pascal
The first season of HBO’s “The Last of Us” was a great, emotionally complex and super-gory adaptation of the survival horror video game, and the new second season (streaming now on Max) finds Joel (Pedro Pascal) and surrogate daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) trying to make a life for themselves in a post-apocalyptic world.
My colleague Bryan Alexander interviewed the stars about Ramsey (and her new jiu-jitsu skills) taking on more of an action role this season, Joel having a new therapist, and Joel and Ellie’s newly estranged relationship. “I want to take it all back. Go back to Season 1 and just stroll through the apocalypse. Together,” he says. For more “Last of Us,” check out TV critic Kelly Lawler’s ★★½ star Season 2 review and my fellow horror nerd Brendan Morrow’s breakdown of the biggest changes between the show and game.
Don’t forget to vote in USA TODAY’s Save Our Shows poll
The deadline is quickly approaching on the end of our Save Our Show poll this year, and if you haven’t yet, pick your favorite among 17 “bubble” TV dramas and comedies as the networks weigh their fates. (You have until April 30!) One of the leading vote-getters already received its lifeline, as ABC renewed the Tim Allen comedy “Shifting Gears” after the poll launched April 2. Two dramas have also proven popular among readers: NBC’s “The Irrational,” starring Jesse L. Martin, and CBS’ remake of “The Equalizer,” starring Queen Latifah.
The endangered crop also includes my pick, ABC’s “Doctor Odyssey,” plus the new spinoff “Suits LA,” Fox’s long-running “The Cleaning Lady,” and two NBC sitcoms, “Lopez vs. Lopez” and a “Night Court” revival.
Even more goodness to check out!
Got thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns, compliments or maybe even some recs for me? Email [email protected] and follow me on the socials: I’m @briantruitt on Bluesky, Instagram and Threads.
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Sean Combs news, live updates from court: Diddy trial delay denied
NEW YORK − Federal prosecutors scored another win against Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled against the Combs defense team’s request to push back the start of his federal sex-crimes trial two months after its scheduled May 5 start date.
Combs’ attorneys made the original request in a motion filed April 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.
Now, the Combs defense team will have limited time – less than three weeks – before the trial begins to prepare their arguments. The ruling comes as Combs now faces two new charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution of the unnamed “Victim-2” filed earlier this month.
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In court documents filed April 17, the day before the court hearing, Combs’ legal team also presented their case for excluding from the trial footage of Combs attacking then-girlfriend Cassie.
The embattled music mogul was arrested in September and has been charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all five charges.
The federal indictment on criminal charges emerged amid a growing number of civil suits that allege Combs engaged in a pattern of abusive behavior over three decades including accusations of rape, sexual assault and physical violence.
Live updates from court:
Brian Steel, who represented rapper Young Thug in his own long-running legal battle and RICO trial, appeared at the federal court building as he joins Combs’ legal team ahead of the trial. –Anika Reed
Combs’ mother, Janice Combs, arrived at court April 18, donning sunglasses and sporting a bright blonde bob as she entered the courthouse to support her son. –Anika Reed
The Sean John founder’s lawyers have requested more time to prepare his defense in response to additional evidence and two new charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution of “Victim-2.” Combs’ lawyers originally requested a two week, and later, a two-month delay, claiming in a April 16 motion that there is “substantially new conduct” alleged in the expanded April 3 indictment, and that the U.S. government is still producing evidence.
Combs’ lawyers said in the filing that the proposed two-month delay would allow Combs the “necessary time” to prepare his defense. –Taijuan Moorman and Edward Segarra
The court hearing was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET on April 18. –Anika Reed
When does Diddy’s trial start?
Combs’ trial, which will take place in downtown Manhattan, is currently set to begin May 5 with jury selection. –Anna Kaufman
Is Sean Combs in jail?
Despite repeated attempts at bail, Combs was ordered to remain in custody at the Special Housing Unit in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of trial — a ruling his legal team has challenged in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He’s been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 16. –Anna Kaufman
What is Diddy accused of?
Combs’ federal case involves a narrow number of alleged victims.
Using RICO law, which is aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some whom were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in “freak offs” – sometimes dayslong sex performances that lawyers claim they have video of.
Diddy news: Prosecutors add new charges to criminal case in indictment
Embattled music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with two additional sex crimes charges ahead of his May trial in New York City.
In March, prosecutors submitted a second superseding indictment, updating the amended indictment from January that added three unnamed women who were allegedly victims of his so-called sex trafficking enterprise, which claims Combs subjected employees to forced labor under inhumane circumstances. In a third superseding indictment, prosecutors added two additional charges – one count of sex trafficking and one count of transportation to engage in prostitution of “Victim-2” – to the previous three charges against him. –Anna Kaufman
What is a RICO charge?
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations contributing to criminal activity.
Per Combs’ indictment, prosecutors say his racketeering activity included “multiple acts of kidnapping,” arson, bribery, witness tampering, forced labor, sex trafficking, transportation for the purposes of prostitution and distribution of narcotics. –Anna Kaufman
How is Cassie involved?
Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura filed a civil lawsuit in November 2023 that is widely viewed as the match that lit the flame for the mogul’s current predicament.
She accused her former partner of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse, a series of allegations that opened the floodgates to dozens of damning civil complaints accusing the Bad Boy Records founder of various sexual assaults throughout his career.
Combs and Ventura settled for an undisclosed amount a day after she filed her suit. –Anna Kaufman
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, Edward Segarra, Anika Reed and Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY; Luc Cohen, Reuters
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Lorrie Morgan husband’s cancer pushes her to cancel Alabama concerts
Country singer Lorrie Morgan has canceled upcoming concerts and appearances for the next two weeks due to her husband’s health.
Morgan, a 65-year-old singer known for songs “Except for Monday” and “What Part of No,” is currently on tour with the band Alabama.
According to Morgan’s manager, the Grand Ole Opry star’s husband of nearly 15 years, Randy White, has been undergoing treatment for mouth cancer. He was recently readmitted to a a Tennessee hospital.
Country singer Pam Tillis, who is known for songs “Maybe It Was Memphis” and “Shake The Sugar Tree,” will replace Morgan on the tour with Alabama.
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Tillis and Morgan are known collaborators and have released multiple tracks together, including “I Am A Woman” and “I Know What You Did Last Night.” On the 2024 “CMT Giants: Alabama” show, Morgan and Tillis hit the stage to perform a duet.
Morgan had concerts set for Lincoln, California, on April 19 and Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House on April 24. She is slated for shows in Wisconsin, Connecticut, North Dakota, Louisiana, Missouri and Canada, as well as a second Grand Ole Opry House show, through May.
The singer and actress has been married to White, her sixth husband, since 2010, after previously being married to three fellow country musicians.
Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter with The Tennessean. You can reach her at [email protected].
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
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Starfighter’ movie cast includes Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling to star, Shawn Levy to direct new ‘Star Wars’ movie
Ryan Gosling will star in “Star Wars: Starfighter,” directed by Shawn Levy, that takes place five years after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker.”
Oscar-nominated actor Ryan Gosling will star in a new “Star Wars” film, Walt Disney’s Lucasfilm announced on April 17.
Shawn Levy will direct, and production will start in the fall. Levy directed Marvel’s record-breaking 2024 film “Deadpool & Wolverine” and episodes of Netflix’s sci-fi series “Stranger Things.” Jonathan Tropper is credited as a writer for the film, according to IMDb.
The film comes as the science-fiction franchise has several other films said to be in the works, including the Daisy Ridley-led “The Rise of Skywalker” follow-up.
“Star Wars,” created by George Lucas in 1977 and set in a galaxy “far, far away,” has brought in more than $5.1 billion at global box offices.
Here’s what we know about “Star Wars: Starfighters” to date.
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‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ release date
“Star Wars: Starfighter” will reach movie theaters on May 28, 2027.
Who does Ryan Gosling play in ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’?
Gosling’s character has not yet been announced.
When does ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ take place?
“Star Wars: Starfighter” will take place five years after the events of 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” a Lucasfilm statement said.
The movie is “an entirely new adventure featuring all-new characters set in a period of time that has not been explored on screen yet,” the statement said.
The film stands alone from the new trilogy of “Star Wars” films in the works set to be written and produced by “X-Men” writer and producer Simon Kinberg. No new “Star Wars” movie has been released in nearly five years following “The Rise of Skywalker,” which received mixed reviews and polarized reactions among fans.
What other ‘Star Wars’ films are in the works?
Several “Star Wars” films have been announced that are in various stages of development and may or may not actually make their way across the finish line. Daisy Ridley is set to star in a film that will see her character, Rey, building a new Jedi Order after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker.” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is directing.
“Logan” filmmaker James Mangold has also been tapped to direct a movie about the dawn of the Jedi, and Filoni is directing one said to “close out the interconnected stories” told in the live-action Disney+ shows like “The Mandalorian.” A movie continuing the story of “The Mandalorian,” titled “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” is also on the way from director Jon Favreau and scheduled for release in May 2026.
Contributing: Lisa Richwine, Reuters; Brendan Morrow and Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
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Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour boosts Black-owned cowboy hat brand
Beyoncé released ‘Cowboy Carter’ album one year ago: A look back
It’s been one year since Beyoncé released her eighth studio album, “Cowboy Carter.” Here’s a look back at the album’s impactful year.
- Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” tour has boosted interest in Western fashion, particularly cowboy hats.
- Chicago entrepreneur Mercedes Matz owns Maya James, a company selling handmade leather cowboy hats.
- Matz hopes the cowboy hat trend extends beyond the current “cowboy core” aesthetic.
- Beyoncé’s tour and album have highlighted Black country artists and the genre’s roots.
Beyoncé has undoubtedly put a renewed spotlight on Black country artists, the genre as a whole and its culture and fashion. One Beyoncé fan and Black business owner says she hopes fans start to incorporate her cowboy hats into their everyday wardrobes.
Chicago native and die-hard Beyoncé fan Mercedes Matz launched her brand Maya James last June.
“I have always loved Western fashion. And one of my best friends, Kayla, introduced me to this guy who makes hats,” Matz says. “He made me a hat, and I was getting so many compliments on the hat … and honestly, it kind of just blossomed that way.”
Her blossoming brand now sells exclusive cowboy hats for $285 each.
“My hats are 100% leather cowhide material, and they are all one-of-one hats. That’s why we don’t have these super huge drops, because I want to ensure that each hat is perfect when it gets to the customer’s hands,” she says. “Each hat is different.”
While Matz is from Chicago, she gets a lot of Southern influence form family in Arkansas and Mississippi.
Although a “Cowboy Carter” tour wasn’t necessarily in mind when she launched her brand, she says the singer’s announcement had a major impact on her business — especially after an influencer spotlighted her brand for fans seeking Black-owned options for the tour.
“With the ‘Cowboy Carter’ album out and Western fashion just being on this resurgence — not to say that it has ever gone out of style; I think it’s always been here; now it’s reaching new audiences — I would say that Beyoncé announcing her tour is what really catapulted it,” Matz says.
Now she hopes the resurgence of the cowboy hats transcends the current trend and cowboy core aesthetic.
“One of the things that I want people to do with the hats is really just make it their own,” she says. “Obviously, with a cowboy hat, you think Western and fringe. But, I really want people to wear it as an accessory to any piece that they have in their closet.”
Matz plans to attend the “Cowboy Carter” tour and says she’s looking forward to seeing fans in their hats. Her brand has even helped fans feel inspired with outfit mood boards.
As fans know, Beyoncé first announced her eighth studio album, “Cowboy Carter,” during a surprise Super Bowl commercial in February 2024 when she released singles “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
In a matter of weeks, Beyoncé will kick off her first concert April 28 in Los Angeles and include 32 stadium shows across the U.S. and Europe. Since the initial announcement, Beyoncé has added a handful of concerts including final shows in Las Vegas. She’s also set to make history with her scheduled tour dates.
Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
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Many popular TV shows like ‘White Lotus’ score by skewering the rich
Why Jon Hamm’s ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ is crime dramedy gold
Actor Jon Hamm tackles dark comedy and crime in “Your Friends and Neighbors.”
Entertain This
Being rich isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
At least not on TV, where increasingly the wealthy seem to be objects of pity, if not ridicule. In “Your Friends & Neighbors,” a new Apple TV+ series, Jon Hamm plays a fired hedge fund manager who decides his loaded pals are so clueless about their wealth that they won’t notice when he starts robbing them blind of five-figure bottles of wine and six-figure watches.
“The show holds up a mirror and asks, what’s really important? Is more always better?” Hamm says. “Is the point of life to just accumulate larger and larger piles of stuff?”
For some, apparently so. The third season of HBO’s “The White Lotus,” which ended this month, featured a wealthy North Carolina family whose matriarch, Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey), casually explains she’d rather be dead than lose her material possessions. “At this age, I just don’t think I’m meant to live a hard life,” she told her husband.
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“Lotus” creator Mike White even seems to be worrying about boosting his own bank account as he renegotiates a deal with HBO for Season 4. “At a certain point with money, (one wonders) is this going to make me worse?” he told Howard Stern. “Is having more money just going to make me more dysfunctional?”
When it come to riches and dysfunction, TV obliges with Bravo’s sprawling “Real Housewives” franchise, whose catty episodes seem like advertisements for the adage, “more money, more problems.” And in HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones,” the money-loving Gemstone family leverages their mega-church to finance sprawling homes and fancy cars to great comedic effect.
For high-net-worth individuals, expensive goods are status symbols bought “mainly to signal to each other that they’re in the same club,” says Joseph Nunes, professor of marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business.
That sort of showboating elicits laughs from TV audiences, partly because today’s younger shoppers are spending less on pricey goods and more on luxury experiences. “Gen Z seem to be more into showing off what they’re doing than what they have,” he says. “So now it’s become almost a joke to laugh at people who are attached to objects.”
Aaron Cheris, marketplace and e-commerce expert with consultancy Bain & Company, recalls an admission from a luxury brand executive that “we sell beautiful useless things to people who don’t need anything.”
Cheris says that the wealthy often stock up on so many “beautiful useless” things that they end up with closets full of items they rarely use, which is turn has fueled “double digit growth in luxury goods resellers” such as The RealReal (fashion items) and Chrono24 (watches).
TV today showcases rich folks who seem infinitely more wealthy than in the past
And that’s exactly who Hamm’s protagonist Coop is targeting with his thievery in “Your Friends & Neighbors”: people whose accumulation of material goods seems to be an end unto itself.
That stands in marked contrast to rich TV families from decades past, folks like the Carringtons (ABC’s “Dynasty”) and the Ewings (CBS’ “Dallas”). They might have had drama, but there was a grandness and sweep to their lives that seemed epic and enviable.
“The ’80s were all about aspirational wealth, whether it was ‘Dallas’ or ‘The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,’” says Jason Lynch, curator at the Paley Center for Media. “The rich were glamorous, and we wanted to be them.”
It doesn’t hurt that being rich in the 1980s is not the same as rich in the 2020s. Back then, there remained that aspirational quality for many viewers. J.R. Ewing might have had a nice car and house, but he wasn’t hopping into a $50 million Embraer Lineage 1000 private jet used by the Roy family on “Succession.”
Today’s TV shows focusing on over-the-top lifestyles heavy on dysfunction clearly makes for entertaining viewing and healthy ratings. There’s a frisson of schadenfreude as we watch folks with blacked-out helicopters and far-flung ranches writhe in a morass of backstabbing and malaise.
There now seems to be a laughable rich person for every type of viewer, whether you’re a fan of comedy (Apple TV+’s “Loot” features Maya Rudolph as a hapless but do-gooder billionaire) or drama (Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple” stars Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber as anything but that title). The list goes on.
“Watching shows like ‘The White Lotus’ or ‘Succession’ or ‘Big Little Lies’ allows you to have your cake and eat it too,” says Lynch. “You immerse yourself in a fabulous lifestyle and can talk about how it all clearly has its flaws, but no one wants to be these characters.”
As Coop muses, “You get the car, the house, the stuff. But how the hell could everything go so wrong, so fast?”
Fire up that popcorn, and be lucky you’re not loaded.
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Lineup, schedule, set times, how to watch live
Coachella campers face festival traffic nightmare
Coachella campers arrived ahead of the start of the famed festival only to face massive traffic lines.
Dancing, lights, edgy outfits and hit records will make a return at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, starting on Friday, April 18.
After a first weekend plagued by traffic issues that left campers waiting in their cars for hours, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival officials have promised that weekend No. 2 will be a smoother experience.
Some of music’s biggest stars, including Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Charli XCX, Post Malone and more, are on tap to make a return appearance this weekend.
Here’s what you need to know about the second weekend of Coachella 2025, including the full lineup and how to watch from home if you can’t make it to the festival in person.
How to watch Coachella 2025 on livestream
Coachella performances will be available on YouTube. The streams started on April 11 at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT. Fans can watch multiple stages from their coach simultaneously, while a vertical live stream option featuring DJ sets will also be available.
YouTube also allows viewers to watch the show with content creators on their respective channels.
“New to the desert this year, Watch With allows creators to react to live events with commentary and real-time reactions, giving you the experience of watching Coachella alongside your favorite creator,” the video platform shared.
Coachella 2025 Week 2 headliners, key performances
Friday: Lady Gaga will headline the festival, along with star-studded performances from Missy Elliot, GloRilla, Mustard, Tyla, Benson Boone, the Go-Go’s, Ravyn Lenae, Yeat, and more.
Saturday: Green Day is slated as the headliner. Other performers include Charli XCX, Tink, T-Pain, Jimmy Eat World, Japanese Breakfast, and Amelie Lens, among others. In an epic set, rapper Travis Scott will “design the desert,” what’s been previously called the “returning to the desert” slot, according to the Palm Springs Desert Sun, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Sunday: Post Malone is the headliner to wrap up the weekend. Other acts to take the stage are Shaboozey, Megan Thee Stallion, Amaarae, Odd Mob, Ty Dolla $ign, Muni Long, Zedd and many more.
Coachella 2025 Week 2 set times
A complete list of day-by-day set times can be found on Coachella’s website or in an Instagram post below:
Contributing: Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY, Ema Sasic, Palm Springs Desert Sun, USA TODAY Network
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].