CELEBITCHY – RIP Kobe: The Los Angeles Lakers and NBA legend died yesterday in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles. None of the nine people on board the helicopter survived the crash; among the eight other victims was Kobe’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Gianna
GO FUG YOURSELF – Then, in one of the more surreal pop culture juxtapositions we’re likely to see in 2020, the Lakers’ home arena — better known as the Staples Center — hosted the 2020 Grammys. Plenty of celebrities were still visibly in shock and reeling from the news of Bryant’s death; that said, Billy Porter’s hat went a long way toward making pretty much everyone feel better
THE BLEMISH – The Grammys were also the venue for Demi Lovato’s first public performance in almost two years. She sang “Anyone,” a song she wrote literally the same week as her 2018 overdose, and was so overwhelmed that she had to stop partway through and begin again
DLISTED – Taylor Swift, on the other hand, did not perform at the Grammys, because of some behind-the-scenes drama that kind of got overshadowed
LAINEY GOSSIP – One person who did perform was Lil Nas X — he had the most-tweeted-about moment of the whole show by rolling up with BTS to perform “Seoul Town Road,” their remix of Nas’ “Old Town Road”
THE BLAST – Almost a year after his tragic death, Nipsey Hussle won two Grammy awards: One for Best Rap Performance and the other for Best Rap / Sung Performance. The Grammy categories will never, ever make sense, but congrats to Nipsey’s collaborators as well as his family
JEZEBEL – “The Recording Academy, the organization responsible for the Grammys, says it’ll take steps to ensure diversity and inclusion, following a complaint filed by former Grammy chief Deborah Dugan accusing the Academy of being a “boys’ club” full of white men who contribute to a corrupt and rigged Grammys voting process.”
REALITY TEA – Finally, in news not related to Kobe or the Grammys, Vicki Gunvalson has officially announced her departure from The Real Housewives of Orange County, along with long-time co-star Tamra Judge
THE ASHLEY’S REALITY ROUNDUP – “Sister Wives Season 14 Episode 4 Recap: Hopeless House-Hocking & a Holiday Ambush”
VOX – In case you forgot, there’s still a presidential impeachment trial going on. The range of possibilities of what could happen this week is vast; on the one side is “The whole thing could be over” and on the other is “The shit could really start hitting the fan”
(Photo credit: RIP Kobe via NBA)
John Sharp is Starcasm’s chief editorial correspondent-at-large. Tips: E-mail john@starcasm.net or Twitter @john_starcasm.
