Meghan Markle Sidelined, Brooklyn Beckham's FAILED Sympathy Ploy, and Timothée Chalamet's Alter Ego

Summary

The Nerve with Maureen Callahan — Jan 27, 2026

Episode: Meghan Markle Sidelined, Brooklyn Beckham's FAILED Sympathy Ploy, and Timothée Chalamet's Alter Ego

Episode Overview

In this charged and candid episode of "The Nerve," Maureen Callahan welcomes celebrity columnist Rob Shooter and, later, commentator Marlena for a deep dive into the week’s most provocative pop culture stories. From Meghan Markle's latest social overtures and the Beckham family drama to Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar campaign (and his cringe-inducing alter ego), the hosts dissect celebrity schemes and media failings with biting humor and unapologetic skepticism.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Meghan Markle’s “Funeral Crash” & Sundance Flop

[03:15–14:10]

• Meghan’s Attempt to Attend Valentino’s Funeral

  • Meghan reportedly tried to "worm her way in" to Valentino Garavani's star-studded memorial, viewing it as a "networking moment" rather than a solemn tribute.
  • Rob Shooter:
    “Her ambition is unrivaled. The one thing about Meghan is she doesn’t ever believe there is any world, any place that she cannot insert herself into.” (04:28)
  • Meghan’s tendency to self-invite was recounted with a previous fashion show anecdote — Callahan notes, “She invited herself to that… the only place that she has a standing open invite to where she will not appear, a tragedy, is her father's bedside...” (04:52)
  • The hosts contrast Meghan’s lack of authentic connection to Valentino with Paltrow, whose friendship with the designer was deeply personal.

• Sundance Disaster: ‘Cookie Queen’

  • Meghan and Harry's Sundance documentary screening was poorly attended—“rows and rows of empty seats.” (07:17)
  • Rob reveals an exclusive: The Girl Scouts are upset because the documentary exposes the increasingly commercial (read: parental) aspects of cookie-selling, "pretty negative" towards the organization.
  • Maureen: “You come to me… Good luck selling that movie. Because what real drama requires is some conflict and some tension...Story’s over." (10:07)
  • The Sussexes' producer status became toxic; they didn't introduce their own film, and other producers are trying to distance the project from them.
  • Netflix officially canceled Meghan's other show, signaling a "hands-washed" break.
    • Rob Shooter: "Netflix is such a major company… the last thing they want is to have Harry and Meghan as your stars.” (13:01)

2. The Beckham Family Blowup

[14:10–26:33]

• Brooklyn Beckham's Sympathy Ploy
  • Brooklyn Beckham published an 821-word Instagram statement disavowing his family, citing family disputes.
  • Maureen rails against Brooklyn’s privileged complaints:
    “You cannot have it both ways....You don’t get to springboard into the culture on the backs of your parents and then say, hey, guess what? I fucking hate my parents.” (19:13)
  • Rob notes Brooklyn's life/career only garner public interest through his parents' fame; Victoria Beckham "was not a phony. She was not afraid to be the villain...I had total respect for her." (16:02)
  • Talk of the Beckham brand, Victoria’s resilience, and how familial disputes can actually boost the senior Beckhams’ names (notably, sales of Victoria’s eyeliners).
  • Maureen and Rob discuss the issue of privileged children lashing out, connecting Brooklyn's story to others like Harry and Meghan, and the "dark underbelly" of celebrity offspring.
  • The wedding video controversy: Brooklyn claims his mother behaved inappropriately during a dance, but controls the only copy of the video.
    Rob Shooter: “Release it. Let’s see the tape.” (25:53)

3. True Colors: Taylor Swift, Blake Lively, and Legal Drama

[28:43–34:14]

• Hostility Exposed in Texts

  • Legal documents in the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni lawsuit reveal Taylor Swift’s deeper involvement than previously admitted, including mean-spirited texts.
  • Rob Shooter: “It’s devastating for Taylor Swift … I thought she had been ambushed. I wanted to believe… now I’m not quite as sure.” (29:07)
  • The texts sour public perception of Taylor; Rob forecasts this is just the beginning of negative fallout.
  • Taylor is taking steps to distance herself from Blake, including changing her phone number.

• Ben Affleck & Industry Gossip

  • The episode teases further drama involving Blake Lively, Ben Affleck, and their rumored affair exposure via industry hacks.

4. Hollywood Oversteps & PR Misfires

[34:47–40:39]

• Mark Ruffalo Axed by Disney/Marvel

  • Reports say Ruffalo's political grandstanding has cost him his role as Hulk;* the hosts lambast Hollywood celebrities using their platform for politics rather than entertainment.
  • Rob Shooter: "We pay these actors to entertain us… The ones that are the most successful know that." (35:50)
  • Maureen: "Dolly Parton has been beloved for nearly her entire 80 years because she never wades in [politics]." (36:31)

• Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi: PR or Reality?

  • On the "Wuthering Heights" press tour, their mutual fawning and Valentine's Day antics (roses, obsessive praise) strike Maureen as manufactured and humiliating for Robbie’s spouse.
  • Rob Shooter: “If this was any other profession ... you'd call the police. It sounds like an episode of Dateline.” (39:09)
  • The hosts agree it's either fake and insulting or real and humiliating—either way, a PR disaster.

5. Listener Feedback & “Stump Grinder” Segment

[46:50–55:26]

• Highlights from passionate Troublemakers' emails about everything from Meghan at Sundance, the "sham" Beckham marriage, and the glut of celebrity book deals vs. meaningful stories.
• Touching tribute to a listener’s lost dog, Beau, and encouragement to write the stories that matter—"Troublemaker, rest assured, as you write that book, Beau will be with you..." (End of feedback segment)
• Debut of “The Stump Grinder” segment, a recurring feature designed to “shred and pulp reputations.”

6. Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar Playbook & 60 Minutes Media Critique

[56:00–79:07]

• CBS & 60 Minutes Under Fire

  • Criticism of 60 Minutes airing old celebrity profiles (Chalamet, Kate Winslet, Jamie Lee Curtis) during a major news week, attributed to Bari Weiss’ chaotic turn at CBS.
  • Roger Friedman's reporting on internal tumult and permanent reruns at the legendary news show.

• Timothée Chalamet’s “Daniel Day-Lewis” Pretensions

  • Chalamet's Oscar campaign includes recounting his supposed “170% commitment” to playing Dylan, including learning 40 Dylan songs and going method (giving up cell phone, no visitors).
  • Maureen: “You want to be great, you go the extra mile... You shouldn’t be giving yourself laurels because you work really hard.” (65:03)
  • Reliance on classic Oscar-nomination PR: directors acting amazed their leads are… acting.
  • Excruciating playback of teenage Timothy’s alter ego “Lil Timmy Tim” — complete with cringeworthy self-rapping and the woke media’s analysis of its optics.
  • Chalamet’s privileged artistic upbringing, repeated college dropouts, and alleged “STD super-spreader” reputation laid bare.
  • Maureen: “...he just couldn’t stay in school in New York. But what I love about that is... all this garbage jargon…” (77:01)
  • Chalamet has still never met Bob Dylan, who remains unimpressed.

7. Final Segment: Anderson Cooper, Out of Touch

[79:07–92:50]

• Maureen and Marlena take on Anderson Cooper’s apparent ignorance—from not knowing Nicole Kidman’s highly publicized divorce to butchering the name of last year’s hottest toy, “Labubu,” live on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show.
• Marlena and Maureen dissect whether Cooper’s cluelessness is an affectation to appear above celebrity and pop culture, or a troubling sign of detachment for CNN’s lead anchor.
  • Marlena: “He is friends with Andy Cohen... Andy Cohen, who. His entire world is like, celebrities... You don’t know Nicole Kidman’s getting a divorce?” (84:23)
  • Maureen: “If Anderson thinks this is a flex ... he’s actually giving—if I’m his boss at CNN, I’m like, why are we cutting this guy such a big fat check?” (85:05)
  • They critique the broader media landscape and the disconnect of legacy networks from genuine audience and cultural currents.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “She sees a funeral as an opportunity.” – Maureen Callahan on Meghan Markle [06:26]
• “Their brand is so toxic, so damaged... I think the other producers realize now they regret ever getting Harry and Meghan involved, as does everyone.” – Rob Shooter [11:24]
• “You cannot have it both ways...You don’t get to springboard into the culture on the backs of your parents and then say, ‘Hey, guess what? I f***ing hate my parents.’” – Maureen [19:13]
• “You could only drop the chandelier once.” – Rob Shooter, on one-and-done sympathy stories [19:51]
• “I think Taylor can weather this, depending on what else comes out.” – Rob Shooter (on the Swift/Lively texts) [31:15]
• “If this was any other profession...you’d call the police. It sounds like an episode of Dateline.” – Rob Shooter on Margot Robbie/Jacob Elordi [39:09]
• “If Meghan and Harry touch it, it falls apart...Run for the hills.” – Rob Shooter [12:03]
• “We pay these actors to entertain us...When someone sticks a microphone in your face, they don’t want [politics].” – Rob Shooter [35:50]
• “Hey now, jump. Hey now, jump. That’s the chorus. I’m Timmy Tim and hey now, jump.” – Maureen Callahan, recapping Chalamet’s rap alter ego [73:31]
• “I just thought he was a political activist. [Ruffalo] probably would find that flattering. But I’d ask him, how’s he paying his bills?” – Rob Shooter [35:55]
• “If you’re inauthentic, you’re done.” – Maureen Callahan [91:02]

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Episode Structure with Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamps | |------------------------------------------------|-------------------| | Meghan Markle’s fashion funeral ambition | 03:15–07:08 | | Sundance & Cookie Queen flop | 07:08–12:30 | | Netflix axes Meghan's show | 12:30–14:10 | | Beckham family feud, Brooklyn’s statement | 14:10–21:20 | | Analysis: Privilege, family grievances | 21:20–26:33 | | Taylor Swift & Blake Lively lawsuit fallout | 28:43–34:14 | | Mark Ruffalo, politics in celebrity | 34:47–36:44 | | Margot Robbie/Jacob Elordi love-fest critique | 39:09–41:14 | | Listener feedback & “Stump Grinder” debut | 46:50–55:26 | | Timothée Chalamet’s 60 Minutes/alter ego | 56:00–79:07 | | Anderson Cooper: Out-of-touch media | 79:07–92:50 |

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Tone & Style

True to “The Nerve,” the episode is laden with acerbic wit, pop culture expertise, and a healthy skepticism of celebrity self-promotion and media narratives. The hosts don’t pull punches—every story is approached with irreverence and, when necessary, outright exasperation.

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For First-Time Listeners

• Expect incisive breakdowns of the latest scandals—no PR spin, no sacred cows.
• Come for the celebrity gossip; stay for the media literacy, hot takes, and the sense that you're at the sharpest dinner party around.
• Skip to the segments you care about via timestamp, or settle in for the full ride.

Transcript

[Maureen Callahan]

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[Marlena]

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[Maureen Callahan]

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[Marlena]

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[Maureen Callahan]

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[Rob Shooter]

Hey, Maureen. I'm ready, I'm ready. Let's go.

[Maureen Callahan]

Okay. First, Meghan Markle. What do you know about these reported attempts of hers? You know, if you're not invited to a funeral, I think it's safe to say just, you know, you're not invited to a funeral.

[Rob Shooter]

Yeah, yeah.

[Maureen Callahan]

This one tried to like worm her way in. Knock that door down. Hey, I'd love to show up at this. What? It's. It's a funeral. But to Megan, allegedly, it's just another star studded event. Mm.

[Rob Shooter]

Yeah. I broke this story on my substack, Maureen, that Meghan was angling for an invite to this funeral. She saw it as an opportunity. She's not wrong there. These big celebrity funerals, they're not like ours. They really are networking moments. I went to Joan Rivers funeral and it was shocking how many people were there trying to get jobs, trying to get comedy gigs. And so it's really awful that this happens. But when Meghan is really smart and outrageous and she doesn't as an opportunity, when she thinks she can make one, is she wanted to be with the high fashion players of the world. Everybody from Anna Winter on down was at this funeral. And it's a world that we know Meghan would love to be part of. The one thing about Megan is she doesn't ever believe there is any world, any place that she cannot insert herself into. Her ambition is unrivaled.

[Maureen Callahan]

And.

[Rob Shooter]

And so we know from last summer when she turned up at a fashion show in Paris, and it's still a little unclear whether or not she was actually technically invited to that. So I think maybe.

[Maureen Callahan]

Oh. She told New York magazine that she reached out to the designer herself and said, hey, I'd love to come and support you if you'd like me to. So she invited herself to that the only place that she has a standing open invite to where she will not appear. A tragedy is her father's bedside with his half his leg gone, amputated in the Philippines. But you know, if you're a famous iconic fashion designer, she would love to attend your funeral.

[Rob Shooter]

Love you. Hit it. Absolutely. Absolutely right. I'm sure she would have phone ad. I'm sure she would have felt as if she was one of the biggest stars there. Gwyneth Paltrow was there. We also saw Anne Hathaway there. Now it's a lot of people, Elizabeth Hurley, who. Who have had a long Time relationship with this really legendary designer. Meghan is not part of that world. I did a little research. She's wore Valentino a few times, but it's not her staple. It wasn't like he designed her wedding dress or major moments in her life. So this wasn't about paying respect to a man that she admired, a man that she had worked with. This was just sheer opportunity, which we shouldn't be surprised about. Let's not forget at the opening of the Lion King in Britain, Harry was pitching Meghan to the heads of Disney about her being an animated character. So they use these opportunities, they use these occasions to push themselves forward. With Meghan and Harry, it always backfires and it ultimately ends up egg on their face.

[Maureen Callahan]

You know, Rob, what you just said, though, more than once, I think is the salient thing. She sees a funeral as an opportunity. She sees a funeral as an opportunity. When you know the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, whether you like her or not, she had an extremely long standing, close relationship with Valentino. In fact, she was there in Italy celebrating a landmark birthday of his when her father fell ill and died in Italy. And I believe Valentino really helped her through that. Like arranged for her to get back to the States. So, you know, she's just such a lizard. So, okay, she's. She's refused there. And again, zero shame. So, so she and Henry. Harry. Why do I keep calling him Henry today? I have no idea why.

[Rob Shooter]

You know, that's his real name. His real name is Henry. It's not Harry on his birth certificate, it's Henry. So maybe that's why perhaps.

[Maureen Callahan]

So he's. They, they toddle over to Sundance where allegedly they have produced. Their names are on the stock as a producer, a documentary about Girl Scouts trying to sell their cookies. It's called Cookie Queen Edge of your seat viewing. Okay, now there are reports the Daily Mail has that the Sundance screening had rows and rows and rows of empty seats. While the Sussex squad, those nebulous 10 fans out there, claim that it was a standing room only, sold out screening. Because who doesn't want to watch a bunch of 8 year olds trying to sling some cookies over at the local stopping shop. Rob.

[Rob Shooter]

I had some friends, people I know, colleagues who are at Sundance, real film folks who are working and they went to this screening and they said when it started, and it's a small theater, this is not Radio City, this is a small theater. When it started there was about 150 empty seats. As the movie progressed, I think ushers or People were pushed in to try and make it look a little less embarrassing, but there still was about 60, 70 seats. What's really unusual is that anyone that's been to Sundance knows that these theaters are packed for the two weeks, for the time that the festival is on. It's really hard to get a ticket.

[Maureen Callahan]

There are often lines outside of screening rooms, you know, well before.

[Rob Shooter]

And they do it on purpose. They really want to put them in small theaters so they can say they've got a lot of buzz and they had to turn people away. And the movie companies go and watch these, and they see people and the lines around the block, and they buy them. So this is interesting. The fact it's at Sundance tells me they've not sold it to Netflix, or else they wouldn't have taken it to Sundance.

[Maureen Callahan]

Great point.

[Rob Shooter]

So they're looking for a distributor from this. But get this. You'll love this. It's an exclusive that I have today just for you. People who have seen the movie tell me that once again, Harry and Meghan have stepped in it because now they've really upset the Girl Guide foundation organization because this movie is pretty negative. What I did not know, but the movie points out, is that moms and dads have to buy all these cookies up front, and then they scandal. So they have to pay this money up front. And in the movie, it's quite controversial that a lot of these Girl Scouts, now, their parents are buying lots and lots of cookies and then selling them on the Internet. They're not going door to door. That whole cookie business has changed. And so if you have a kid and you have a lot of money, you can get them a special brownie badge by buying these cookies. The Girl Scouts don't care if you sell them or not. They're how many your parents buy. Meghan and Harry didn't seem to understand this until they watched the movie, which my friends are telling me might have been for the very first time.

[Maureen Callahan]

These two fuckwits, they're such dopes. They're such dummies. You. You come to me. Good luck selling that movie. Because what real drama requires is some conflict and some tension. And if the only real narrative question in cookie queens is, will these girls sell all their cookies so they can have another year with the Girl Scouts? But the answer is, yeah, of course, because their parents have to buy them in bulk. Story's over.

[Rob Shooter]

It's over. I've told you the whole movie. I'm sorry. Did I give away the plot?

[Maureen Callahan]

Maybe not.

[Rob Shooter]

That's the Whole movie. That's the whole movie. They stretch it into an hour and a half. It's telling that Harry and Meghan did not get up and introduce the movie. Normally, the stars, the producers get up. If Oprah Winfrey had a movie there, if Steven Spielberg did, they'd certainly get up before that movie started. I went to the Wicked premiere in New York. The whole cast didn't shut up. The movie was delayed an hour because we had to see Cynthia and Ariana touching each other, holding each other, loving each other. So this was interesting. So I hit the phone. So I was like, what's going on here? And they said that they were happy to have Meghan and Harry as producers, but they don't really want them out front selling it, because the brand of the Sussex now is something that is so toxic, that is so damaged, that I think the other producers realize when Harry and Meghan signed onto this movie two years ago, their stock was falling, but nobody knew it was gonna go as low as it is today. Now it's at the bottom of the barrel. And it's almost as if the other producers, the real movie makers, the people, actually made this movie. Now I think they regret ever getting Harry and Meghan involved, as does everyone.

[Maureen Callahan]

Who does any kind of business with them. You don't have to be one of the financial wunderkins of industry, that great HBO show to know to read the room. This brand was falling. I could have predicted that two years ago. So could you. Rob.

[Rob Shooter]

Don't get involved. Everything they touch really, really falls apart. I think at the moment, anybody that's thinking about any future deals with them should run for the hills. This wasn't sold out. He'd rushed back from London to. To. To do this. She did give a very revealing interview on the red carpet that I once. That I. That I. That I watched. Mint Thin Mint are her favorite cookies.

[Maureen Callahan]

Riveting. The woman contains multitudes, by the way, as we put a pin on this and move to another family that's a hot mess that has ties to these two dopes. She was announced last week after you and I spoke. Netflix has official, officially canceled. With love, Megan. Now, I. But I think the headline here is that Netflix felt the need to announce that rather than just let it fritter away and let people forget. To me, it says that they have. They are done. Meghan Markle.

[Rob Shooter]

Yeah, they're done. They don't need to tell that there's. There's no law that they have to announce this. The Real Housewives on Bravo are great at that. They never cancel shows. They just don't bring them back. We're still waiting for the New York Housewives in the might never come back. I think he's been gone for. For 10 years, so you don't have to announce this stuff. They announced it and that was their way of washing their hands. It's over. She claimed she had two season. We now know that is not true. She had one and she taped both seasons together, so they'd already got a second season in the can, and so that was ready to go. So really the show had one season. Disastrous ratings, and I think they want to move on now. Netflix is such a major, a major, major company that they're trying to buy Warner Brothers. The last thing they want us to talk about is Harry and Meghan. That's not a good look. To have Harry and Meghan as your stars, as people in your roster is something that I just don't think anybody really wants anymore. In fact, they've become nothing but a distraction. So what did Netflix do? They announced it. They told the world what we knew, Maureen. We had reported it. We. Months ago. No more.

[Maureen Callahan]

No masks. Okay? Moving on to the Beckham scandal. Not starting off the year with a bang. Brooklyn Beckham, who by all reports, he and his wife, Nicola Peltz, had had conversations with Harry and Meghan about their own grievances, varied and sundry though they may be. And so Brooklyn took to Instagram last week, on Monday, released an 821 word statement reading, in part, I do not want to reconcile with my family. And then he laid out a whole bunch of reasons which included allegedly, Victoria pulling out of designing her daughter in law's wedding dress, even though Vogue ran a huge story about Nicola flying back and forth to Rome because none other than the House of Valentino was working on it for a year. Hijacking the wedding dance, Brooklyn saying his mother danced very inappropriately on me. I find the lack of grammar, the lack of spelling, you know, to be exactly what one would expect. Then on this Monday, yesterday, the Daily Mail reports that David Beckham was at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week with his two, excuse me, two other sons, Cruz and Romeo and their girlfriends. Sorry, I'm fighting a little cold. My. My voice is a mess. While Victoria is made a knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. Rob, explain what all this theater is telling us.

[Rob Shooter]

First of all, I gotta tip my hat here to the Spice Girls. It was my very first job outside of university. I finished university and they were the first first people. The first job I ever got, most of the people after my University went to McDonald's or waiters, and I was lucky enough to work very low down.

[Maureen Callahan]

Oh, wow.

[Rob Shooter]

I love them. I thought they were really, really funny.

[Maureen Callahan]

What was Posh like back then?

[Rob Shooter]

She was difficult and annoying and just delicious. I just really liked her. Like, she was not a phony. She was not afraid to be the villain. She was not afraid to say no. And so I sort of really had total respect for her. And then after the Spice Girls, with her marriage for David Beckham and her clothing line, which has had its ups and downs, she's managed to keep her name in the spotlight. I love the fact that she will not do this reunion. They reunited at the Olympics, but then the girls went out on the road without her. I'm told from my sources, which are really, really strong with the Spice Girls, that don't feel bad for Victoria. For a minute, I felt really bad for her. She's loving this. This has put her really back on top. Everybody's talking about her. A couple of nights ago in London, what did she do? She went out for dinner with all the Spice Girls. It was Emma's birthday.

[Maureen Callahan]

She did.

[Rob Shooter]

Victoria wasn't meant to go to that. I was told she'd rsvp no. She. She doesn't know. She said, I'm gonna put on a great dress, and I'm gonna go out and take a picture with my sisters with the Spice Girls. Now there's even talk that this. This sun, this. This Brooklyn, attacking them might even push her into a reunion. What better way to distract the world from this from. From. From your son saying awful things about you than doing a few shows, remind everybody that you are a Spice Girl. Brooklyn, we're only talking about you for one reason, and that's that. That one reason is that you're a Beckham. And what I find so interesting about this is the only thing that's interesting about Brooklyn. He's never really had a job. He's a failed chef. He's gone to good schools that they've paid for, but he's always. He's always been in the spotlight because of his parents. He has a million followers because of his parents. And the one thing that makes him interesting, his parents, is the one thing he's trying to run away from. So I say, Brooklyn, run away. And when you do, we never need to talk about you ever again. The only thing that is interesting about you is your mom and your dad. And so if you don't want to be part of that world anymore. I'm pretty sure the Beckham's as hurtful as it must be on a human level. Bran Beckham is still going strong. In fact, if anything, they've had a surge. I'm told that Victoria's eyeliners. Her clothes have gone through.

[Maureen Callahan]

Her eyeliners are amazing. I love them.

[Rob Shooter]

My girlfriends have bought three. Three extra ones just to show solidarity.

[Maureen Callahan]

I wouldn't go that far. But you know what? It's so interesting. So with the whole David Beckham thing, showing up at Paris o Couture Week with Cruz and Romeo, his other two sons and their girlfriends is a deliberate poke at Brooklyn and Nicola. To say, look, we get along just fine with these two and their girlfriends. It's not a problem. We think the problem is Nicola. And secondly, she. To your point about Brooklyn, Beckham, they. You know, the problem is that Victoria and David kind of made this monster. You know, he did an interview with Esquire, Brooklyn did, where he talked. He bragged about his watch collection and the Patek that his father gave him for his 21st birthday, which cost $200,000. You know, most Americans can't even scrape together enough for a down payment on a home that costs $200,000. And then, as you said, he cycled through all of these would be glamour jobs to no effect. You know, whether it's modeling and. Listen, nepotism can only take you so far. I am sorry, but this is an unattractive kid. Modeling, photography, race car driving, DJing. Now we are a chef. We're making. We're. We're slinging hot sauce. You know, none of it has ever resulted in anything. But the only reason he's in front of our faces, as you said, is because his last name is Beckham. Yeah, that is it. You cannot have it both ways. You don't like it, Fine, leave. But you don't get to. You don't get to springboard into the culture on the backs of your parents and then say, hey, guess what? I fucking hate my parents.

[Rob Shooter]

Right, Right. And that story is Harry. As Harry and Meghan have found out, you can only tell it once or twice. It becomes rather boring. You know, there's a reason in Phantom of the Opera that they only dropped the chandelier once. Cause it works once. The second time, it wouldn't be so dramatic. Like, you could only drop the chandelier on once. And so he's dropped the chandelier. And now we've read that story. It was fascinating. I loved it. I ate up those 800 words for two days. I exploded into the Spice Girl territory and reporting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But now what are you going to do next? You know, when I used to be a publicist for some really big people like Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, even Didi, God forgive me. What, what made them, what made their stardom continue is they always had the next act. They always knew what they were going to do next. My question to be to Brooklyn would be, before you blow up the kingdom, what's your next act? What are you going to do next? If you're going to rip up what made you famous, what have you got? Do you want to go away? Clearly they don't. They've been staging pictures, I'm told in Malibu there were some really beautiful romantic pictures of them walking down the beach with their dog. Now, photographers just don't camp out anymore. Got to the right. You have to assign them. They're not camping out anymore. The other little tell, I love this. If ever you see a celebrity and they got accidentally discovered by the photographers and they look a little bit too perfect, if they're in full hair and makeup, then that picture was probably staged. If they're picking their nose or sneezing, that it probably was not staged. These pictures.

[Maureen Callahan]

Ben Affleck is stress eating fast food in his Range Rover. That is a real photo.

[Rob Shooter]

That's a real picture. If you see them in Central park with their children or. Whenever I see a puppy, whenever I see a puppy, I know that that picture. Diddy was the. Diddy was the king of this. When I worked with Diddy, he used to text me 24 hours a day to send photographers to meet him. He was with his kids, he was with a puppy. He was with a homeless shelter. And so I think Brooklyn and his wife have been like staging a few pictures, but it won't help in the big picture because what Victoria's got in her bag of tricks, she was a Spice Girl. And she just reminded us just a few days ago that she is still a Spice Girl. Do not be surpr surprised, Maureen. Do not. If suddenly they do a one off concert, maybe at Madison Square Garden, maybe.

[Maureen Callahan]

The Smythe skills, maybe a one night only Netflix event. You know, here's, here's the other thing that I find fascinating and there's an adjacency here a bit with some of the stuff we're seeing happening with not just Harry, but I think the darkest of these stories, which is the Nick Reiner story. Brooklyn both idolizes and Loathes his parents, both of his parents are unicorns. They are uniquely famous and wealthy, and they occupy a place in the British psyche, the global psyche as well, but the British psyche, they are beloved. I've never been more interested in the Beckhams since this thing blew up. Otherwise, I never cared. I really never cared. But, you know, it's like he. He. He both wants to be. He'll never be them. He'll never be them. They are and. But they have worked. They have both worked so hard. They earned every single penny. Nobody can begrudge them their wealth. You know what I mean? What is this kid doing? He's a flitter to gibbet. Like, obviously contributing to us.

[Rob Shooter]

I have such respect. Victoria can't really sing that well. Like, she has every disadvantage you need, apart from she's very, very beautiful. But she's made her own money and she has sustained. She should be a pop star that we forgot about years ago. And so she's kept herself in. In the celebrity culture. He's done nothing. And ultimately, that's why he's not gonna win this. And at first, when that statement came out, that 800 word, which is way too many words too. It felt like too long vomiting. And he felt like he had a grudge. Like, you didn't need to say that much. In fact, I think it diluted a lot of people who want to be writers always write too many words. Shorter, I think, is always better. Just the nude. And so when that statement came out, at first I. People were a little sympathetic towards Brooklyn. And then, you know, his mother was dancing provocatively at a wedding. Let me tell you the following. She ate Mary Poppins. She's a Spice Girl. If she came to my wedding and she didn't shake her booty, I would be so disappointed. At Meghan and Harry's wedding at Frogmore, was it Frogmore? After the big. The big ceremony, the private party they had. I'm not sure people were up there dancing. This is what people do at once. I went to my niece's wedding two weeks ago, and they were, like, dancing and having a great time. It's not about the dancing. It's not about the dress. He hates his parents. And you. You really touched on something very important. Maureen. This is the Nick Reiner issue that Hollywood have.

[Maureen Callahan]

This is the dark underbelly, everything.

[Rob Shooter]

And I get it. My parents didn't have everything to give me, but if they did, I fear they would have, and it wouldn't have been for the best. I'm thankful Every day that I really grew up in a working class background, when you're little, you think, gosh, if I was a prince, if I was Harry, my life would be.

[Maureen Callahan]

If I was the child of a movie star, what a glamorous life. And you see it now. You're so right, Rob. I have this thought all the time. You know, Brooklyn Beckham would have us believe that Victoria was practically dry humping him. Okay.

[Rob Shooter]

Right.

[Maureen Callahan]

You know, and. But. But it is. It is this kind of thing where it's such. There are so many destroyers in the culture, and there are many ways of killing your parents that don't involve actually physically murdering them. And Brooklyn Beckham's intent here, no, make no mistake. It's to kill them. It's to ruin their reputation. It's to. It's to destroy them.

[Rob Shooter]

It was violent. It was so violent that 800 words was full of anger. He might as well have slit their throats. He wanted to really, really hurt them. And another reason that I know that video is not quite as exciting as what Brooklyn has made out it to be is that Brooklyn has a copy. Release it.

[Maureen Callahan]

There you go. Exactly. Release. Let us see it.

[Rob Shooter]

Let's see the tape. I was told from people who were at the wedding that everybody was 500 guests. Everybody had to hand over their phone. So nobody has any footage of this. And then the. The staff, everybody that worked the wedding had to hand over their phones, too. They. They went through a metal detector. So this was a real lockdown celebrity wedding. There's only one copy of that video, and it's not. Not the wedding photographer at the wedding. At the end of the night, the wedding videographer photographer downloaded all the images, all the video onto a Brooklyn laptop, and then he had to delete his hard drive. So the only person that has that video is Brooklyn. Release it. Let's see how.

[Maureen Callahan]

Yeah, Brooklyn, you want to play? You want to play? Let's play. As Rob just said, you got to move this story along.

[Rob Shooter]

Yeah. They've learned from Harry and Meghan, one of the smartest things they did and the cruelest thing they did is in the Oprah interview when they alleged that a member of the royal family had asked them about Archie's skin color, but they would never say the name. And that is such a great novel movie idea that progresses the plot, because every time you see the royals on the balcony, you're like, did she say which one? Did she say? Did he say? Now, if that actually told us, who had said that, that story would have come and Gone really quick. What. What Brooklyn has done here is he's alleged that something happens at a wedding. He's got the video, but he won't release it because after Savage and his parents on Instagram, he's decided to take the high road.

[Maureen Callahan]

I believe it.

[Rob Shooter]

There's that video. There's nothing.

[Maureen Callahan]

Shit. There's nothing on it, by the way. Again, like bitching and moaning about everything that went down at that wedding. That was an Indian wedding that the Beckhams threw those to. Okay. It went on for three days. And to your point about being grateful, you were born to normal, hardworking. I. If I got an invitation to a three day wedding, I would be sending my regrets. Okay? I don't care who you are. It's too much. Okay, Moving on to Taylor Swift and Blake Lively. We're going to get into this more in depth tomorrow on the Nerve at night because it's just so rich and so effing bitchy. But I think the main thing we've learned right now, Rob, is that Taylor Swift was way more involved than her team was. Would have had us believe. You know, it was just a few months ago. Taylor didn't even know anything. She just walked in. She just walked in and was ambushed while Justin Baldon was getting a spanking from Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. And now we're seeing these legal documents in which, you know, Blake and Taylor are texting each other and Taylor's calling Justin Baldoni a little and you know, Blake saying, oh, Taylor, you were so epically heroic and you made up all this about me and how I knew how to use lenses and direct and, and, and oh my God, I'm reenact of this for Ryan. Tell us what you make of it, Rob.

[Rob Shooter]

I think it's devastating for Taylor Swift because I think we all deep down knew that Blake Lively was a mean girl. Like, it's well documented. Everybody's seen those interviews. You know, whenever there's an interview with her on the red carpet, normally my staff love to go to those things. They love to talk to celebrities. If I said tonight there's a. There's a premiere with Angelina Jolie, I'd have 10 staffers who want to go into the one spot. Whenever there's a premiere with Break Lively, not one person in my office wants.

[Maureen Callahan]

To go because they supreme.

[Rob Shooter]

She's really awful. Awful human being. We should have known. Water finds its own level. This Taylor thing took me a little by surprise. I'll admit. I was naive here. I really bought into the Taylor stuff here. I thought she had been ambushed. I wanted to believe. It just goes to show you, we believe what we want to believe. I wanted to believe that Taylor was not a mean girl. I knew Blake was. And now I'm not quite as sure about this. And these texts are not going to stop. They're going to keep coming. The person that this is going to hurt the most I think is going to be Taylor Swift. No wonder she has cut and run from Blake because she knew she had sent them. Taylor knew this stuff was coming out. She knew she was guilty. And now that it's come out, it's quite shocking and really disappointing to me. Like, I'm a good reporter. I love doing this. Taylor has fooled me. I would have stuck up for Taylor, but now I'm seeing these texts. I'm starting to believe that there's a reason she was friends with Blake.

[Maureen Callahan]

Exactly. Birds of a feather. They even would present like alike, you know, same shade of blonde hair, the red lip. They're like practically dry humping in the VIP box at Travis's Chiefs games. I read the Taylor, not long after all of this began breaking with Blake, changed her cell phone number.

[Rob Shooter]

She has. Yeah. So Taylor, because she knew these cell phone numbers now have been been released. A lot of media outlets have blacked them out. But that cell phone's out there now that these are in documents. Justin Baldoni has it. Justin's team have it. So there's, there's a new phone number there. A lot of celebrities do this. I remember I was working with Jessica Simpson after she and Nick Lachey broke up. Jessica changed her. Her number two. She just didn't want that old team, Nick's friends being involved. This is self preservation. What we're going to see now is just how smart a business person Taylor is. She's already got rid of a toxic friendship. I think that's a very smart move. She's changed phone numbers. So I think that's a really, really clever thing too. I think she can weather this. Depending on what else comes out, comes out.

[Maureen Callahan]

We'll get a big fat wedding ceremony and we'll. That's what we'll get. We'll get a lot of kids around. We'll get other famous friends. We'll have lots of. It'll be a People magazine exclusive.

[Rob Shooter]

Yes.

[Maureen Callahan]

Access Hollywood will have drones above. You know, it'll amazing. That's what's going to happen. By the way, this is my other favorite part of this and we're going to get into it tomorrow night. Is the message she sent to Ben Affleck, which began, hey Ben, it's Blake. Don't hang up. And but, but Ben, who was at the time married to JLo, those two were rumored to have had a very hot affair on the set of the town. So hot, in fact, I'll never forget these tabloid photos of Jennifer Garner, like dropping everything and flying from LA to Boston to get in the middle of that. And then the Sony hack where like, you know, we saw it was rumored that, that, that leak of Blake's nudes, it was, it came from. Perhaps it was a fallout maybe from that little affair. Allegedly.

[Rob Shooter]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This stuff is going to be interesting. You know, there's some reporting out there that when they first met, just in Baldoni and Blake really hit it off. Like she agreed to do this movie. She knew that he was a first time, a very, very new director that had many, many conversations. He had sat with her. She disclosed that he had even revealed that he was circumcised before she signed up. Director. The director. And that's not to be in a meeting. I might not sign on to the movie. And so I'm told there was really good chemistry between them in the beginning. Maybe too good of chemistry in the beginning. And maybe that explains a little bit by the venom now that's going on. But it is so interesting that, that they reach out. You think these people are full of confidence. My experience is they're all riddled with insecurity. And asking Ben Affleck to edit a movie or look at a movie that isn't his. It's so disrespectful. You don't take someone else's work and give it to somebody else to look at. If you imagine doing that in your company, if somebody gave you something and you, you handed it to somebody else to edit it, it's just.

[Maureen Callahan]

Yeah, no, it's very strange. You know, my understanding is in the film industry it's very similar. It's akin to what you do as an author. You give your manuscript before it's done to trusted first readers to give you their edits. And so they do the same thing. Filmmakers will give their first movie. Yeah, movie. Their movie.

[Rob Shooter]

Justin should have sent it to his friends. Should have sent it. Or she should have gone to Justin. We don't have these emails and say, hey, Justin, Ben Affleck's a really great friend of mine. He's really talented. Do you want to get.

[Maureen Callahan]

Except he won't return my calls. Yes, aside from that.

[Rob Shooter]

And then. But where I Find that a little bit dubious is nobody wants notes from Jennifer Lopez on movies.

[Maureen Callahan]

Oh, my God. Yeah. That part of her message. Oh, I'm such a fan of Jennifer's. Yeah, go to Jennifer, who's like, last 20 movies have bombed at the box office. I want her eyes on my asking for business.

[Rob Shooter]

This advice from Meghan Markle, I guess.

[Maureen Callahan]

Like, what, are you babysitting advice from Jeffrey Epstein? Okay, so quick, two other really quick ones. Okay. Mark Ruffalo, their report, there were reports breaking over the weekend that Disney and Marvel Studios have cut ties with this guy with a multi, multimillion dollar contract over him swatting around at the Golden Globes and politicking and pontificating. And they are reportedly moving ahead with reshoots to replace him as the Hulk. What do you hear?

[Rob Shooter]

Nobody wants this. Let me say that again, Hollywood. You talking about politics. Whether you're pro a candidate or against a candidate, nobody wants it. And so I think we've just figured out, you know, if Taylor Swift can't get Kamala Harris elected, then just shut up like you're a free person. You can. You can speak your mind. I'm a huge believer in free speech. But if you're trying to help somebody, don't say anything. And if you're trying to hurt somebody, don't say anything because the backlash is not there. We pay these actors to entertain us. And the ones that are the most successful know that have your views. When you go for dinner with your friends, talk about the state of the world. But when someone sticks a microphone in your face, they don't want this. And so I think Mark Ruffalo here is just an example of somebody. I forgot he was an actor. I just thought he was a political activist. And he probably would find that really flattering. But I'd ask him, how's he paying his bills? Who paid your mortgage? And it isn't his politics. It's his movie making. What sent your kids to college are the movies that he's made. I understand that corporations, big companies, they want you to have your opinions, but not necessarily on their dime. I get that. When you're paid a lot of money to promote a movie. Promote a movie. It's actually in your contract. Even superstars, people that are paid 10, $20 million a movie, it says how many press days they have to work. It says how many promotions.

[Maureen Callahan]

Yes, exactly, do.

[Rob Shooter]

And so they don't want you wasting that time talking about what your politics are, Whether you're for somebody or against them. That is your business. I'M not telling you not to talk about it, but don't do it on somebody else's dime.

[Maureen Callahan]

The smartest entertainers just keep their mouths shut about this stuff. Dolly Parton has been beloved for nearly her entire 80 years because she never wades in. She never wades in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rob Shooter]

Leave it to people like you and me, Maureen. Don't do this. And if you're tempted to do it, don't talk about your movie. Talk about, talk about your life. It's never worked. I've been trying to think of examples of a political endorsement by a celebrity that changed everything, and I'm still struggling. It's very nice to know.

[Maureen Callahan]

I would argue Oprah endorsing Obama change at the height of her powers.

[Rob Shooter]

Right, right. You're probably right. Yeah. Oprah probably pushed out Hillary and so you're right. But I just don't know if. I don't know if Oprah's got that power anymore.

[Maureen Callahan]

She doesn't.

[Rob Shooter]

She doesn't. And so let people make their own mind up. We're smart, we can read, we can talk to our friends. The day of those big movie stars being able to say and do anything, it's over and we've all wised up.

[Maureen Callahan]

We all know Mark Ruffalo's an idiot. Anybody who's seen him speak extemporaneously about the issue of water purification knows that, you know, like, don't insult my intelligence. I'll read a newspaper on my own. That's his last one, Mark. Sorry, Rob. I'm so worked up over Mark Ruffalo. Okay, but you're just as handsome, Rob. That's part of the problem. Okay, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Now this ties into the Cynthia Erivo Ariana Grande press tour for Wicked, in which about every entertainment journalist who was unlucky to be seated across from them had to witness them practically copulating during every interview. Margot Robbie is starring in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights of the classic Bronte novel Wuthering Heights. Now I got problems with this. Number one in Wuthering Heights, Catherine is like 15. Margot Robbie's a 35 year old woman. Secondly, she looks way too modern for a period piece. Way too modern. A little bit too much plastic surgery. Just my opinion. Thirdly, though, Margot Robbie has been married to her husband since like 2016. They have a two year old son together. She and Jacob Elordi are out on this press tour talking about how they practically just fell in love with each other. They were mutually obsessed on Valentine's Day, Jacob allegedly reportedly flooded Margo says her hotel room with red roses. This is like, I, I just. Whether or not it's actually true, I think this is like she's humiliating her husband. Humiliating him.

[Rob Shooter]

Absolutely. I think it's just so dumb. If this was any other profession, if somebody in your office told you that their co worker was, was flooding their hotel room on Valentine's Day with flowers, you'd call the police. It sounds like an episode of Date Line. This sounds like something really bad is going to go down. The arrogance of movie stars. To think that we're so stupid that we have to believe they're actually together in real life makes me laugh. It's like when movie stars pretend that they hook up on movies. Pam Anderson and Liam Neeson make fools of themselves when they had that movie out together and they pretended to be in a romance.

[Maureen Callahan]

And the public does not like being fooled and lied.

[Rob Shooter]

I don't want to be fooled.

[Maureen Callahan]

Don't like it. It's the same when they're like, oh, we didn't have an affair, you know, like. And everybody knows like did.

[Rob Shooter]

Right? Yeah, I'm smarter than that. There's too much out there on social media and other places now to get to get news. If it's a precedent, it's really dumb. And if it's real that it's humiliating what you're doing to your husband and so there's no win here, you know, maybe the movie, it's a great story. I'm not sure these two would be my first choice to play these legendary characters, but I love this story. I'll watch this movie, but I don't want to go into the movie creeped out by them when they, when they kiss. I don't want to be thinking about her husband. I don't want to be thinking about him love bombing her. Just do your job. It's so simple. I say it to people who work with me, my friends, just do your job. That's all you need to do. The rest is nonsense.

[Maureen Callahan]

You know, it's again, to your point about being thankful you were born to the people you were born to. You live the life like you. You think it might be glamorous to be married to like a rich, famous actor. This is the cost of doing business, okay? Your spouse is out there. The mother of your child is out there on the giving interviews to anyone who will ask some from Entertainment Tonight. Oh, my God. I couldn't move without him in my sight line on the set. He was like my security blanket. I. I was obsessed with him. I still busy.

[Rob Shooter]

You know what I'm obsessed with Maureen.

[Maureen Callahan]

What?

[Rob Shooter]

You know what? Your new hairdo today is so great.

[Maureen Callahan]

Thanks, Rob. You know, I really, I'm struggling out here on the east end of Long island in a snowstorm with no glam squad.

[Rob Shooter]

You look today. Your glam squad are going to be furious with me.

[Maureen Callahan]

Oh, you're so sweet.

[Rob Shooter]

Straightener, your Keith Urban straight and Flatiron. You look sharp, my friend. Today.

[Maureen Callahan]

Well, you look. You look amazing. As always, Rob, thank you for the kind words and thanks for coming to Dish as always. I love it.

[Rob Shooter]

I love it. Troublemakers. I'll see you soon.

[Maureen Callahan]

Bye, Rob.

[Rob Shooter]

Take care.

[Maureen Callahan]

Oh, my God. So fun. Okay, we will be back with troublemaker feedback and we've got some doggy photos. You guys have been sending in photos of your dogs and a bunch of other stuff that we'll get to too. We've got some big announcements about the show that are coming up and we will be back. We will be back in a minute. The beauty industry has been scamming women for decades. Peddling toxic overpriced potions that promise miracles and deliver nothing. Everyone's sick of it. And that's why Van Man's Pearl Eye Cream is a game changer. Van Man's Pearl eye Cream rejects the chemical garbage and goes primal. Their products are made with grass fed tallow paired with wild caught pearl powder. An ancient nutrient dense secret that actually supports eye health, not skin health. Deeply penetrating emu and castor oils smooth skin tone and help fight vision degradation, cataracts and even floaters. Then royal jelly, organic green tea, frankincense and rose. Real pronounceable ingredients that tighten skin and boost collagen. No fillers, no fraud. This is the eye cream that the industry doesn't want you to discover. And they've got lots of other great all natural products too. I use their lip balm constantly. So go give your eyes the care they actually deserve. Go to Vanman Shop, slash Maureen and use code Maureen for 15% off your first order. That's Vanman Shop Maureen, and use code Maureen for 15% off your first order. Van man, real ingredients, no exceptions. ABC's David Muir, the most trusted anchor in America. The most watched anchor in America. Thank you for making World News Tonight with David Muir, the number one newscast in America. Most trusted, most watched. David Muir on abc. What if you could monitor the health of your career? For most people, it starts out strong. A new exciting job where it feels like anything is possible. But somewhere along the line, things change. That promotion you expected never happened. You haven't had a raise in ages, and. And you're starting to feel irrelevant. These are early warning signs that your career is about to flatline. You need to get yourself immediately to Strawberry Me, where a certified career coach will help bring it back to life. Your coach will push you, challenge you, and help you put together a plan to get ahead, either at your current job or by helping you land a new, more rewarding one. Every Strawberry coach is certified in career resuscitation. Go to Strawberry Me Coaching and get 50% off your first coaching session. That's Strawberry Me Coaching. Now is the most affordable time ever to find out if career coaching is right for you. We are back. We are back. And it is time for the best part of any nerve, which is your feedback. And again, I apologize for my wobbly throat. I've been fighting this cold for, like, this the past three days. And I've been dosing emergency. They don't. They're not a sponsor for the show. It just works like a charm, and it's really successfully, like, kept this cold at bay. But I just. The throat's a little ticklish. I'm so sorry now. But to that, I got to tell you guys, you know, the whole, like, half the country is, like, under snow, and a lot of people are still without power. And out on the east end of Long island, we had a very, very heavy snowfall. New York had a great snow snowfall. There is nothing like New York City in the snow. There is nothing like it. It is the most beautiful. And it's the only time. It's the only time the city goes just quiet, quiet. It's like. It's as quiet as a church. You know, it's just. It's. And it's. It's just the most beautiful. And anyway, so we had this very heavy snowfall, and, you know, politicians love nothing more than doing tons of press conferences about the weather and the snow and it's coming and then it's here, and, oh, my God, we successfully dug our way out of it. Anyway, I was watching this presser on Monday, and Marlena had her channel tuned to the same presser, and we were texting, and I was like, we gotta show this to the troublemakers at the Nerve. This is the commissioner of Emergency services in New York City, and I tell you, real men in blue states are dead. Again, we are apolitical here at the Nerve, but this is New York City, and this is the head of emergency services. Zachary is Cole and He's effing crying at the podium on tv. Here we go. You know, as I prepare to step.

[Rob Shooter]

Away as commissioner, I want to just say how lucky I have been.

[Maureen Callahan]

Alongside the team at emergency management and all of our sister agencies, I found that.

[Rob Shooter]

Excuse me. I found that government really is truly.

[Maureen Callahan]

At its best when it's a team sport. It's really. That's enough. That's enough. The government is really, truly at its best when men in charge of getting hard done cry at podiums. I've never cried upon leaving a job ever. You know, usually it's kind of the opposite. You're kind of ready to go. All right, anyway, on to yet another new trending phenomenon. I. I mean, forgive me if it's not so new and it's just popped up in my algorithm. But again, I saw this and I shot it over to Marlena and I was like, are you familiar with this at all? And she was like, oh, my God, no, no. And then, like, more videos like this started coming into my feed. They're Snowpocalypse moms. And if you're. If you're only listening to this episode of the Nerve, I'm going to implore you to go to this part of the YouTube broadcast and. And watch it, because I'll. I'll narrate. This is what they do when there's. When there's imminent snow. So she has, first of all, she's put her son in, like, her wardrobe, like, in her walk in closet. And then she's laying out cash, an ATM card with a PIN number on it. She's put the child's name and date of birth on like a band aid on the child's arm. Now we're packing a bag. It's got a hoodie in it. Oh, we're also packing the bag very, very carefully. Flashlight, garbage, protein bars that are like, you know, really junk food. We've got a thermos and we've got Labu boos and they've got trackers in them. Oh, and then we've got a flotation device. We've got everything except, you know, the lifelong amount of therapy this small child is going to need. Because instead of being excited for a snowfall and a successive snow day, we're prepping our child for imminent death. Okay, now on to your emails. This one from dog lover and her subject line is Hoda. Hi, Maureen. Troublemaker Linda in Michigan reporting on Sunday morning, I awoke to this headline Today. Hoda copies post today, exit has left colleagues irritated and the Daily Mail did what looked like a follow to me off of our piece on Hoda, and they advanced it by going to NBC employees who were like, everybody just wants this woman to go away. Like, she left the show. We gave her a farewell beyond. Like, she had months of goodbyes. It was like a huge ceremony, and she keeps coming back, and we just want her to leave us alone. Troublemaker Linda continues. I won't be surprised if the NBC morning transportation hits the gas the next time they see Hoda on the curb in her ongoing search for joy. P.S. linda sent us a photo of her adorable dogs, Groucho and Little Debbie. We're showing you here on screen. Give us lots of joy. They are heated. They are on their heated, soft, round daytime bed. Is there anything better than dogs being all cuddly in a snowstorm? I mean, Teddy caused some trouble during the snowstorm. I'll just. I'll.

[Marlena]

I'll.

[Maureen Callahan]

I'm going to spare his dignity, but, you know, can never stay mad at the little guy. He's just so cute. Okay. Hi, Maureen. I just saw the images of Megan at Sundance hugging some Girl Scouts while promoting her documentary Cookie Queensland. The sum total of her participation, no doubt amounting to laying down a check so she can elbow her way into their spotlight. Agreed. Hi, Maureen. Headline Beckham Sham Marriage. This is troublemaker Michelle from England. Hi, Maureen. I worked in television production in the 1990s, 2000s, and know where a lot of bodies are buried. Happy to dig them up and transport them to the woodshed anytime. Once we got room in there, we'll let you know. We're going to introduce the stump grinder in a minute. In a minute. Okay. Now we live. We in TV knew for years that the Beckham marriage was a sham. I have firsthand experience of David and his behavior saying no more than that. I think we can all pick up what Michelle is laying down here. And by the way, Brooklyn Beckham, in his attempt to blow up his family, you know what happened? That Pandora's box indeed got opened. And Rebecca Loose, a woman who allegedly reportedly had an affair with David Beckham, took to Instagram to weigh in on the Beckham family feud. This is what happens. Okay? This is what happens now, Michelle. This is just. Michelle's opinion says that Victoria only put up with it and stayed married. Not for the kids, as some women might do, but for the Beckham brand. Her favorite child, Savage. Okay, I have two more I'm going to read from my laptop. Maureen, this is troublemaker Jan in Texas. Matt Walsh just nailed Michelle Hard. The reason she's so miserable and constantly complaining is because her husband is the star and she isn't. I've always subscribed to this theory. Had she not married Barack, no one would even know who she is. And she knows it. She wants to be the star and bitterly resents that it's never going to happen. That's why she openly badmouths him. She is eaten up with jealousy. I could not agree more. It's so obvious, you know, I don't know how people don't realize bitterness and jealousy, it really, it just like oozes off of people, you know, it's just, it's, it's never good. Okay, this is from a troublemaker who I'm going to keep nameless. But this troublemaker, her headline is the, her subject line rather is the power of dogs. And she sent the most adorable photo of the most adorable, adorable dog. His name was Beau. And she lost Beau. He passed last week, age 15. And this troublemaker says she had a rough time for quite a while and her parents took her dog in while she was struggling and her dad would reach out to her often and say, hey, like Beau is waiting for you. And it was the notion that her dog needed her that caused her to pull it together. And she says, I missed that little dog so much that my heart would ache and I would have panic attacks. I certainly have a story that I want to share with the world with. We're going to talk about this later in the week, probably on Friday's show about exactly what's going on in the book publishing world and why so many morons and so many famous or fame adjacent people are getting book deals for nothing. Okay? And every time one of those people gets a book deal, that's a real writer out there who's not getting a book deal, who's being told that the marketplace doesn't care what they think. And that is a very dangerous message to get because I think people like us are way more interested in stories like the one our troublemaker who is writing from Australia has to share. She continues with so many morons bringing books out. I would like to think that a true story about a homeless drug addict and her dog would be something that people actually choose to read over bullshit books by Michelle Obama, Hoda Kotb, Hilaria Baldwin and her 14 year old daughter and our sprightly 900 year old fuckhead that is SJP troublemaker, you are a writer. You are, as mentioned in my previous email, all of these people are taking the fucking piss out of the literary world. And they don't deserve to bring out books so easily just because they are famous. As an author yourself, meaning me, you must feel disgusted and disappointed in all these ridiculous books that get published. You have no idea. You have no idea. This Troublemaker concludes, I would do anything to get my bow back. Anything at all I would do. I know I will see him again one day, but for now, I will be honoring his memory by writing a book that I think people would prefer to read. And troublemaker, rest assured, as you write that book, Beau will be with you like it is a. It is a way of. Of maintaining him in your life. I. I firmly believe that. And she says, P S Teddy Van Halen is precious. Thank you. I loved seeing him at the Golden Globes. Give Teddy a big pat for me. Will do. And now, introducing the Stump Grinder. After we took Ashton out back and gave him several whacks. Well deserved. We decided, you know what? It is time that the Stump Grinder makes its official debut. Because there are people and reputations that just need shredding and pulping. And I love this Stump Grinder in particular. You know, there are different versions. Here's Timothy Shyamalan. Ding dong. I love this Stump grinder, though. It looks like it's kind of like a big corkscrew and the stump is kind of like a big cork in a wine bottle. Like that's all you have to think about it as. And it makes total sense. So the Stump Grinder is the latest addition to the Nerve. And not to worry, the burn pile will be coming. Please, troublemakers, keep your feedback coming. Email me at Maureen Devil May Care Media or DM me on Instagram at Maureen Callahan, writer, or at the Nerve Show. And remember to subscribe to the Nerves substack. That is our weekly email. It drops in your inbox every Friday around 3pm Just go to thenerveshow.com and you will see a prompt. Would you like to sign up for our substack and just put your email in and that's it. And if you want to subscribe and get like the bonus content, it's like five bucks a month. It's like nothing. It helps the show grow. Our last great bonus content. We we talked to Armando of I love you too much of my darling Armando J. Ortiz, who spoke to us about his thoughts on Valentino and his contributions to men's fashion. And let me just say, Armando was none too impressed. And this is why we love Armando. Coming up on this in this week's sub stack, our bonus content. We're going to be talking to Paul from New Zealand about all of his incredible art and what, you know, what, what motivates him and how it is he's so prolific, you know. So it's a really fun time over there. You should definitely just go sign up. Up next, up next, we got Shyamalan, Ding Dong, ping Pong. And Marlena and I are going to talk a little smack about stars that pass for journalists these days. We will see you back here in a minute. Hey, troublemakers. Next time you're in the kitchen, take a look at the ingredients list on your child's cereal box. Chances are you're going to find red dye, seed oil, synthetic pesticides, fake flavors. It's poison dressed up as breakfast. That's why you should switch to Lovebird cereal. The founder created it after his daughter was born, refusing to feed her the garbage that big food pushes. Just a handful of clean, organic ingredients listed right on the front. No refined sugar, no lab made flavors, no tricks. My favorite is cacao, which is made with pure buckwheat, cassava, coconut, raw cacao, honey, coconut sugar and sea salt. That's it. Best of all, it's indulgent. And I also love their granolas. So light, so tasty. Gorgeous packaging. Almost every morning I'll have like a Greek yogurt with granola for breakfast. It's so good. The Lovebird one grain free, gluten free, packed with prebiotic fiber for gut health, third party tested, glyphosate free. Most cereals fail that test. Plus Lovebird is family owned and donates 20% of profits to childhood cancer research. Support them. Go to lovebirdfoods.com and try a box. You'll taste the difference immediately. If you are ready to take back your breakfast, go to lovebirdfoods.com Maureen and use code MAUREEN for 25% off your first order. You can also find Lovebird cereals at Walmart, Whole Foods, Sprouts and other major retailers nationwide. Lovebirds cereal. Join the real food revolution and take back our country's health from big food, box by box. ABC's David Muir, the most trusted anchor in America. The most watched anchor in America. Thank you for making World News Tonight with David Muir the number one newscast in America. Most trusted, most watched. David Muir on abc. We are back now. I saw this promo and I was like, okay, perfect, perfect. We're talking about it on Tuesday. And then I realized it was a, it was a repeat and it still stuck. For the nerve. And I'll tell you why. So CBS aired this promo of an interview that Anderson Cooper conducted with Timothy Shamalama, ding Dong on 60 Minutes. And I thought, oh, they're doing this new profile because as we know, Timothy has been telling us all about his top level and how he's a top level actor and just give him the Oscar already. But no, this was a repeat. The original air date of this interview was 11 months ago, February 16, 2025, when he was banging the drum to get an Oscar for his role as Bob Dylan in a complete unknown. Now this leads us to also another adjacent entertainment media story, which is that 60 Minutes in CBS are hot, raging, effing mess. Things are not going well under Bari Weiss. They're not. And as, as, as I said at the very beginning of her tenure, like, you cannot replace the entire newsroom. You have got to work with them. You have got to cultivate that and make them want to come along with your vision and be loyal to you. And I don't think it's going well for Barry. And, you know, I, I've heard personally that she's just, she's, she's terrible with people. She doesn't know how to manage people. She also has never, ever, ever worked in television before. Now Showbiz411's Roger Friedman reports that about this, this repeat of 60 last night or Sunday night, excuse me, which also ran repeats of interviews with Kate Winslet and Jamie Lee Curtis. So it was all celebrities that despite what is currently a raging news cycle, like every single segment of 60 minutes should have been new and it should have all been pegged to what's been going on in the news. 60 Minutes, Friedman reports, maybe in permanent reruns, while Barry Weiss slugs it out with the show's correspondence, producers and staff, per Friedman, I'm reading from his, his report. Clearly a show that was supposed to air tonight simply has been pulled. Obviously, his sources are all the people at 60 Minutes. Under CBS News shill Barry Weiss and CBS owners David And Larry Ellison, 60 Minutes is being destroyed quickly from within. There is absolutely no reason why a news show wouldn't be on tonight. So he profiles Timothy Shamalama. Ding dong. Now, Timothy tells Anderson that and this is not something to be proud of again, especially if you are a creature of New York City or you grow up near New York City and you're interested in the arts. And I speak as someone who was a kid who was very interested in the media and in art and artists, whether they were Musicians or whatever. And I, we go into the city every single weekend and I would go to all the vintage shops and all the record stores and I would get all the stuff that like predated me because I was interested in culture that, that existed before I ever arrived on the earth. Timothy didn't know who Bob Dylan was when he was offered this role at 23 years old. And he went to an art, he went to the premier art school in America, High School, LaGuardia, the Fame School. No idea who Bob Dylan was. And by the way, what makes this even more egregious is at the time when he was at that high school, he dated Madonna's daughter. You want to, you want to learn at the knee of somebody who knows mass media and pop culture. It's Madonna who's Bob Dylan. Here we go.

[Rob Shooter]

I give 170% in everything I'm doing.

[Maureen Callahan]

No, but there, I'm giving it my all. Something like the Dylan project. These aren't watered down experiences.

[Rob Shooter]

I'm going Daniel Day Lewis on all of them. I'm not saying in process, but I'm saying in level of commitment.

[Maureen Callahan]

And I don't know, man, it sounds like I'm desperate saying that or something.

[Rob Shooter]

But no, it sounds like you're professional.

[Maureen Callahan]

And you want it to be the best it can possibly be. Yeah, and, and increasingly I, I don't.

[Rob Shooter]

Want to shy away from saying that.

[Maureen Callahan]

Listen, this is what Timothy has thought of himself. I, I think, I think from the beginning that he is a supremely gifted actor. And I love what, what I love about this is he gets on 60 Minutes and says to Anderson Cooper, you know, I, when I, when I get hired and I do a role, I, I give it 170%. You know what, asshole? That is called doing your effing job. You want to be good, you do your job. You want to be great, you go the extra mile, you go the extra 10 miles or thousand miles, that's it. That's it. You shouldn't be giving yourself laurels because you work really hard. You know, it's like he wants that Oscar so desperately and he says, I know. I feel desperate saying this. You are. You are. And then Anderson Cooper sits there and says, well, you don't sound desperate at all. You sound much like somebody who wants to do a good job. Anderson, pick up your self respect wherever you last left it. Which I'm going to say was probably in the prior millennium kissing the ass of this fucking brat. Okay, now, Anderson Cooper, this brat, by the way, who is Blocking our beloved Ethan Hawke from getting his well deserved Oscar for Blue Moon and a body of work that frankly is superior to Timothy's. Now Anderson is going to talk to us about how Shamalama Ding Dong says this is what he says he did. I would double source it. I would triple source it. You know, the old saw in journalism is if your mother tells you she loves you, get it? Get a second source. He says that he learned how to play the harmonica, the guitar, and 40 Dylan songs, four more than were required for the film. And this reminds me of when Natalie Portman was doing her big Oscar campaign for Black Swan, and she was like, you know, I learned how to ballet dance at the age of 28. I learned how to become a prima ballerina at the age of 28, which is physically impossible. She had a stunt double, but everybody wanted to believe it. So you're gonna tell me a guy who didn't even know who the fuck Bob Dylan was learned harmonica and good job. And it's also, it's very similar to Timothy telling all the Oscar voters that for Marty supreme, he, he's, he, he trained in, in table tennis, otherwise known as ping pong, for four years. And that timeline has now ratcheted up to six years. But he's not going all Daniel Day Lewis on us. Okay, here's Timothy on getting into character. Chalamet, disconnected from his own life for.

[Rob Shooter]

The two and a half months of.

[Maureen Callahan]

Filming, wouldn't use his cell phone or.

[Rob Shooter]

Have visitors on set.

[Maureen Callahan]

I've never approached a character so intensely as Bob because I had such respect for the material and I knew I.

[Rob Shooter]

Wouldn'T be able to live with myself.

[Maureen Callahan]

If I, if I remember that I.

[Rob Shooter]

Was lazy on a day where something went wrong.

[Maureen Callahan]

So he's not going all Daniel Day Lewis, but he never touched his cell phone. I believe that is a lie. He didn't have any visitors on set. I believe that is a lie. I mean, the guy that parts of the movie were shot in New York, he's from New York City. But, you know, you can't get an Oscar unless you're like, you know, I, I'm Daniel Day Lewis and I played a cobbler. And so guess what? I went to school to learn how to be a cobbler. And then I went and lived in the woods like the Unabomber for nine months. That's what it takes to get an Oscar, you know. Now this is, this is also one of my favorite parts of any given Oscar campaign. And this is where the director of the film marvels Just marvels that the actor they have hired as their lead, who they have paid a shit ton of money to, is actually acting. Can you believe it? Here's James Mangold moment in that scene.

[Rob Shooter]

Right at the last stanza where he holds a note.

[Maureen Callahan]

Here's to the hearts and the hands of the men. It comes.

[Rob Shooter]

That would never have happened if we'd used the playback track. Was that in the song originally? Because, I mean, there was no.

[Maureen Callahan]

That's Timothy's genius improvisation at work. You know, Mangle, the director, he's like, oh, it never would have happened, never would have happened if we use that playback track. And Anderson Cooper is happy to be his useful idiot. He's like, well, would you. Would that moment have happened otherwise? And Mangle's like, no, no. I mean, with all the gravitas of, like, I'm on the witness stand and like, I absolutely did not see Oprah and Gail running from the murder scene of. Of Stedman Stead, where Stedman's body was left. Not that we know where it is yet. Teddy wouldn't work this weekend. He took five snow days. What can I say? Okay, now we've got Timote. This is the part where you walk with 60 minutes back to where you grew up and you look at, like, your humble origins. Most of them are humble origins. That's the only tension. It's. There's no tension if, like, you grew up in a mansion, who cares? So he's walking Anderson, who, by the way, is a Vanderbilt. Okay. His mother was Gloria Vanderbilt. Okay. He grew up very, very privileged in New York City. Anderson is walking with Timothy through. There's, there's rent, subsidized housing in New York City that is dedicated solely to those who work in the performing arts or in the arts in general. But you have to make under a certain amount of money per year in order to qualify. And honestly, this is one of the things I love most about New York City. Like, you know, the, the way in which the city really, really promotes and protects the arts and artists. So anyway, Timothy grew up here and he's going to walk. He's walking Anderson through the mean streets of New York City while he's wearing Timothy. That is a pink Chanel scarf. Like a winter pink Chanel ultra logoed scarf. Like, he's like Dori Kemsley of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. And then Anderson shows us a little bit of Timothy's alter ego. This is from his talent show, I believe, at the Fame School. Timothy was a rapper who went by Lil Timmy Tim. We're gonna take a look at a little bit of this and develop routines for LaGuardia's talent show as a rapper named Lil Timmy Timmy Tim. This is humiliating, but I'll show you guys. He took us to the practice room in his building's basement where he'd rehearse. How old were you there? Here? I'm 15, but I look like I'm 7. These are two good friends of mine, Sheree and Desiree.

[Rob Shooter]

They're the only people in the world.

[Maureen Callahan]

That did this talent show act with me. I probably asked 35 people, okay? So he says, I was 15 at the time, but I look like I'm seven. And this remains the problem with Timothy. He's 30 years old now, I believe, and he looks like he's 14. Now, unlike the idiots at 60 Minutes, we at the Nerve know how to tell a story. And if I come across that piece of footage of Timothy Chalamet, three time Oscar nominee, performing as Lil Timmy Tim, a hardcore rapper, and he's shown part of that. We're showing a lot more of that. A lot more. So we brought this. We bring this to you. The Troublemakers. Timothy Shamalama. Ding Dong Again, if you're just listening, you gotta watch it. You gotta watch it. The rap has like two lines and he toggles back and forth like his. His chorus is, hey now jump. Hey now jump. That's the chorus. I'm Timmy Tim and hey now jump. Okay, settle in, settle in Here we.

[Rob Shooter]

Me.

[Maureen Callahan]

Tim, it's time to do my dance. Timmy Tim, pull up your pants. I pick my wish to street from France it's little to me too. I am a boss. You really like my shirt?

[Rob Shooter]

Should I take it off?

[Maureen Callahan]

See me with a girl and you know it's getting cuddly See me in the hallway and you know I hear my Dougie Feel the music. I'm bringing it back. What's wrong with that kid? Does he think that he's black? Chop. The timmy chimax. Okay, it's hard to listen to. Like, the vocals are rough, I think. I think it's deliberate, but they're rough. And that line towards the end where he says it's a couplet, he says, what's wrong with that kid? Does he think that he's black? Leave it to none other than the humorless wokists over at New York Magazine and Vulture to write a think piece on whether Timmy Tim's quote, unquote. This is their word, not mine. Wigger, period. Which is a controversial word for a White person, usually a guy who really wants to present as black or deeply immersed in black culture or hip hop culture. Whether that's problematic, given that Timothy. Timothy Shyamalama Ding Dong is white. Is white. Now, before we get to talking shit about Anderson with Marlena, so Timothy talks about to Anderson. He went to Columbia and he left after a year. Now, again, my question is, were you asked to leave, you know, Columbia? If you get. You get to go to Columbia, it's a big deal. So I'm going to say he was probably asked to leave. I'm going to guess he was a little bit. He was way more into his show business career than his studies. Then he went over to nyu, which we all know is like, it's a wannabe Ivy. And it's like, if you have enough money, you can get in. If you have enough money, you can get in. It's not as academically rigorous, but it still has a patina of prestige. So anyway, he went to NYU for a little bit, and then he left there. And by the way, when he was at nyu, allegedly, reportedly, the rumors have been out there for a while. He was an STD super spreader. Now, again, just, just, just allegedly, reportedly. So Anderson ends this interview by asking Timothy about why he left ac, his academics, his college career, and went both feet into Hollywood. And listen to this kid's musings on that.

[Rob Shooter]

Listen, man, I was. I was struggling.

[Maureen Callahan]

I was struggling. I was struggling with identity, and I.

[Rob Shooter]

Was struggling with your sense of self.

[Maureen Callahan]

Respect, your sense of drive or where.

[Rob Shooter]

You want to be pales in comparison.

[Maureen Callahan]

To where you are. So Timothy knew he had this career that was being laid out for him and that there were many power players in Hollywood who wanted to get him over that hurdle to mega stardom. And he was just too itchy. Like, he just couldn't stay in school in New York. But what I love about that is he goes, instead of just being like, listen, I really. I didn't want to spend three years in school when I knew I could be rich and famous in that time, just like a pro athlete, like, you know, you don't need to go to school. Like, you're gonna. This is what you're gonna do. This is what you're put on the earth to do. Instead, he's like, listen, man, listen, man. You know, I just. I was struggling with, like, identity, all this garbage jargon, and Anderson Cooper's there with his glasses on. Like, you know, if I'm Anderson Cooper and I'm allegedly this smart, I'd Be like, can I. Can I interview somebody with a little bit more going on upstairs? And by the way, you know who wasn't impressed, despite Timothy's Oscar nomination by his peers for his role as his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown? No, who wasn't impressed? Bob Dylan. Timothy. Never met him. Never got to meet him, never spoke to him. Bob Dylan knows what's up. Always has. Now, for our next and final hot conversational topic, Marlena. Marlena and I are going to talk about Anderson Cooper and just how out of touch this guy is. And this is great, because, you know, Anderson works at cnn. He's like their star journalist face of the network, and he also works at 60 minutes as a special correspondent, and he also does New Year's Eve Live with his buddy Andy Cohen. And Marlena has some thoughts, as do I. So here she is, joining us now. How are you doing in the snow, my friend?

[Marlena]

I'm doing okay. My hair is not doing so great, which is why I have a hat on. So.

[Maureen Callahan]

But are the bangs not working out, Marlena?

[Marlena]

The bangs are not working out, Maureen. They never were. I do like the way they look, but I can't get them to stay in place.

[Maureen Callahan]

Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I had a printout that didn't come through because my. My toner's out of ink. But I meant to read a letter from. This isn't a troublemaker. This is somebody who's just an instigator who just wanted to relay to me that if I didn't see their. See them in the comments on YouTube that I should drop wearing the red lipstick and the soft curls because it makes me look 60 years old. To which I say, you're somebody I probably know writing under an alias who just is, like, trying to fuck with me. Yeah. So I. I can relate. It's funny.

[Marlena]

And I wish I had mentioned this to you before you even told me that story, because I was gonna say to you how great it does look on you.

[Maureen Callahan]

Thank you.

[Marlena]

Because you had it on last week when Tim did the tutorial.

[Rob Shooter]

Right?

[Maureen Callahan]

Yeah. Tim sort of helped bring me over here. Yeah.

[Marlena]

And I'm always so fascinated, like, by things that you put on, and they seem to work. And I feel like if I put them on, it would just not work, as I keep to neutrals, but I. So I can never pull that off. So I. Who cares, whoever that person is?

[Maureen Callahan]

I think she's going by the name Patricia, but I just love it. It's like, oh, Patricia said. She says I look 60 years old, so I'll just do whatever you say.

[Rob Shooter]

Okay.

[Maureen Callahan]

All right, let's talk Anderson, who's someone who does look 60 years old and probably has since the time they were nine. Now we're going to look at a clip from New Year's Eve, the most recent New Year's Eve, which was notable for some of the things that Anderson claimed to have no idea about. So we're going to take a look at this. He was shocked to hear that a major A list celebrity couple had split up. Here we go. Sarah, recently single, Nicole Kidman. Really? Okay, wait, I didn't know that Nicole Kidman is recently signal. Don't you cover the news?

[Marlena]

I saw that live and I. It floored me. I actually think I texted you at the time.

[Maureen Callahan]

I think so, too.

[Marlena]

And you were like, I'm not watching that anymore.

[Maureen Callahan]

And then I watched the bulk of it, just because I can't turn away. It is a train wreck. But I am firmly of the opinion that Anderson pretends not to know this stuff because he thinks it makes him seem smarter than not just Andy, but most of us, and more intellectual and too invested in things that really matter, like geopolitics, than whether or not as he stands there next to the biggest star fucker going, Andy Cohen, you know, talking to like, you know, a C lister like Sarah Sherman, late of snl. You know what, Nicole Kidman's getting a divorce. It was only splayed all over the Internet, all over Instagram, all over major magazines, newspapers. The Times covered it. Get out. What do you think? What do you agree?

[Marlena]

No, I agree. I don't get it. Because first of all, that happened at the end of September and now we're on New Year's and it never, ever once crossed your desk. Cross your phone, cross the system within cnn, which, if you work in those places, you know, there's an AP alert for everything that happens. It doesn't matter what you cover on your show. You will get alerts for anything and everything. There's also, oh, I don't know, about 20 TVs in every newsroom with every network on all the time. You also get a stack of like, hard newspapers, like, you know, hard copies with.

[Maureen Callahan]

That's.

[Marlena]

That was definitely on the COVID of some tabloid over the past three months at that time. No one ever mentioned it. Plus you do these celebrity profiles for 60 minutes like you don't know what's going on with one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood.

[Maureen Callahan]

I.

[Marlena]

But his reaction was so genuine that it actually makes Me concerned that he has tunnel vision and he's only, like, fed a certain amount of information and he doesn't look left or right. But he's a journalist, and he should be absorbing everything that's going on, even if it's not relevant to his newscast. That's in my opinion.

[Maureen Callahan]

Yeah, no, I agree with you. Like, I don't understand how you can call yourself a journalist and work at two of the biggest mainstream media outlets and then claim not to know that Nicole Kidman, one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, who's in, like, every single streaming series there is, is getting a divorce from Keith Urban. And to your point, because I was asking you, like, what it was like at CNN back when I used to go into an actual newsroom. This is before COVID and when I worked at the New York Post, every morning when I got in, there would be a stat that that day's newspapers would be stacked on my desk. And every Wednesday, in addition to those newspapers would be the week's new tabloids like the Star, Us Weekly, and all of it. So you see, and you said the same thing was true at cnn. People like Anderson Cooper that would be waiting on their desk when they come in in the morning. So you would see the COVID of People magazine, Nicole, shocking split. There's that, right?

[Marlena]

And to your point, he is friends with Andy Cohen. He doesn't just see him once a year on New Year's Eve. They're friends. They've had, you know, stories about those. Them getting together with their kids. So Andy Cohen, who. His entire world is like, celebrities, even if some of them are D list, he's still.

[Maureen Callahan]

He knows all he cares about is celebrities and famous people and who he knows and who's doing what and who's having sex with who and who's cheating on who. Like, come on, you think you're having really weighty discussions with the likes of Andy Cohen.

[Rob Shooter]

Right?

[Marlena]

But you saw Andy Cohen's reaction. He's like, wait, what? Like, he couldn't even believe that that came out of his mouth. I wish I was shocked by it, but.

[Maureen Callahan]

And I just think, you know, if Anderson thinks that this is a flex and he's showing how far above things like celebrity gossip he is, he's actually giving. If I'm his boss at cnn, I'm like, why are we cutting this guy such a big fat check? He doesn't know the most basic headlines of the day.

[Marlena]

Yeah. But the next one was even a little bit more shocking, in my opinion.

[Maureen Callahan]

Oh, I forget what the next one is. Let's. Let's roll it and then we'll talk about it.

[Marlena]

Okay.

[Maureen Callahan]

Good night, Lababu. I don't know what it is.

[Rob Shooter]

My kids are Amish.

[Maureen Callahan]

Yes, I know. Okay, so he mispronounces while reading from what looks like a children's book, Labubus, which were the biggest craze of 2025. And Anderson reads it as Lababa Lababu.

[Marlena]

But also that book that he's reading, they make, you know, they make this goodnight moon and they. And they change the words like we did with the Night Before Christmas. And so you didn't. I guess he didn't take a look at it before.

[Maureen Callahan]

He was something that they. The production of the CNN New Year's Eve special.

[Marlena]

Right.

[Rob Shooter]

Did.

[Maureen Callahan]

So Anderson didn't even take a cursory look at what he was going to be reading live on air that night. I don't buy it. Again, if you. If that's true, he's lazy.

[Marlena]

Well, there's that and the fact that he was like, my kids are Amish and.

[Maureen Callahan]

But he was also saying, like, I'm Amish, basically, right? Like, I'm Amish. Like, I don't like none of this. Again, this stuff doesn't interest me. This stuff doesn't. It's not relevant to me. Like, I'm. Who do you think you're talking to out in the, in the viewing audience? The great unwashed who are watching your deigning to watch your. Your shitty New Year's Eve broadcast?

[Marlena]

I mean, I know it's sarcasm because everybody knows he lives in New York City and he's not Amish, so why even make that joke? I mean, you're just showing how out.

[Maureen Callahan]

Of touch you are.

[Marlena]

Now, I don't know how many people keyed into this, although I did check out TikTok and there were a bunch of posts that isolated this specific thing because obviously other people picked up on it. It's like that was the biggest story. And, you know, as far as being above the news, I mean, that was business news. Right? So business news is sophisticated enough for Anderson.

[Maureen Callahan]

Great point.

[Marlena]

Right? I mean, that was so, I mean, he must know what's going on in the markets. I'm sure he watches his money just a little bit. Where is he putting his stocks? Does he not talk to. Does he not.

[Maureen Callahan]

Does he get a quarterly call from his wealth advisor at Fidelity or wherever he's got his money, right, that says.

[Marlena]

You know, maybe you should lump some of your millions into this big craze? That's happening right now. And right.

[Maureen Callahan]

Hey, aren't you a parent? Don't you have two children? Do you buy them toys or do the nannies take care of all of that? The care and feeding, that was my other guess.

[Marlena]

It's like, okay, you may be with your kids at some point, and if they do have a labubu, then maybe you just don't know the name of it. I don't know. It's hard for me to make excuses here because like Anders, Andy Cohen said, you are the face of cnn. It's like, you don't know Nicole. Kids, Nicole Kidman's breaking up with her husband, which is three months old. This was the biggest selling toy of 2025. I mean, you're on a New Year's Eve special, so you're going down the rundown of the year, right? Going into the next year, didn't you just do, like, a quick overview or get a glimpse at what you might be talking about?

[Maureen Callahan]

Do you attend a production meeting ever? Like, do you interact with your staff? Like, do you have a conversation about what the biggest stories of. Like, when we were getting the Nerve Awards together, you know, we went back and looked at, like, the old. We didn't even have to watch all the old episodes. We. All we had to do is read what the top stories were, what we covered, and that was it. I know it doesn't take very long. It doesn't take if you like what you do. Especially if you like what you do. And this is my problem with Anderson Cooper. He acts like he's too good. What do you think he's making? What is he making at CNN? Like, 13 million a year.

[Marlena]

I knew. Millions. We know that. But although during that special, he basically went through some shtick about how the Vanderbilts lost all their money. And I guess it was like, boohoo, Anderson Cooper.

[Maureen Callahan]

But no one's buying it.

[Marlena]

Right? But also, let me just point out that he has a team, right? He has a huge team. He has bookers, he has producers, he has PAs, he has production assistants.

[Maureen Callahan]

Excuse me.

[Marlena]

Production assistance is a pa. A production assistant is a PA and associate producers. I mean, there's a team. There's a news desk. There are. He's surrounded by people who have information that they hand to him on a regular basis. And people talk. I don't know. I'm trying so hard to figure out, like, how would that if it does. Okay, I'll put it this way. I don't have a newsroom.

[Maureen Callahan]

Right?

[Marlena]

You don't have A newsroom. I am not someone who consumes sports at all. I'm sorry, Mo Bros. Not my thing. But if there was a big story that came out about a big athlete and forget Travis Kelsey. Forget him, because he's now. He's a. He's in the celebrity list at this point. But if it was just like, an athlete who was getting traded and there was a big upset or, you know, a big athlete that was retiring. I mean, I.

[Maureen Callahan]

Or say, a big athlete who savagely murdered his wife and her friend, like O.J. simpson. I was saying to you, like, what's next? Is Anderson Cooper going to pretend he's never heard of Jeffrey Epstein?

[Marlena]

I think the whole network doesn't want to remember that they know Jeffrey Epstein. I don't know. I don't know. It doesn't bode well for Anderson Cooper.

[Maureen Callahan]

It does not bode well for Anderson Cooper. And this is why legacy media is dying. And, you know, it almost doesn't even matter whether Anderson is pretending not to know these things or legitimately doesn't know these things. Either one is terrible. Objectively terrible. And it makes you. It explains why you are a dinosaur and why the digital lane is exploding in the way that it is. Nobody. We don't believe him. It doesn't matter. Like you and I don't believe him. And that's it. If you're inauthentic, you're done.

[Marlena]

Yeah, it's true, but. And they're done anyway. But, yeah, it blows my mind. And the amount of money so many of these people make on top of it. And I feel like there's more knowledgeable people that aren't making that kind of money that could probably slip right in and do that job. Not that they want to, but, hey, it's true.

[Maureen Callahan]

To your point, I hope that Anderson is investing and saving that money he's making. Well, because I don't think paychecks like that are in his future for much longer.

[Marlena]

Well, I mean, he should probably find out what the hot trends are before he retires and figures out where to put his money.

[Maureen Callahan]

Do you think he knows that Taylor and Travis are engaged in getting married this year? Or would that be beneath him? Probably beneath him. Do you think he knows that Oprah and Gail are wanted for the disappearance of one Steadman Graham? No, I don't think so. Hopefully the nerve winds up in his algorithm. Hopefully the nerve will wind up in his algorithm. You know, we can help him out a little. Marlena.

[Marlena]

Well, yeah, maybe we should reach. Maybe that should be our next outreach, let's reach out to Anderson Cooper and and see if he needs a little help getting up to date on the news.

[Maureen Callahan]

Anderson, consider yourself the recipient of an open invitation. I know he'll never take us up on it, but it's always fun to try. Thank you, Marlena. Thank you. That does it. That does it for this Tuesday edition of the Nerve. We will be back tomorrow with the Nerve at night. If you haven't already, check out our substack. Just go over to thenerveshow.com be sure to subscribe and join that party. Plus nerve merch. Grab something for yourself or pick something up for a fellow troublemaker@shop thenerve.com Also the nerve is now available on Megan's podcast playlist every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9aM Eastern on Sirius XM channel 1 11, the Megyn Kelly channel. We will see you back here tomorrow at the Nerve where you will never guess what we're about to say next.