Culture Club - Sydney Sweeney Sells Lingerie, Nicki Minaj Loves Trump & PR Relationships Suck Now

00:00:00.000 Sydney Sweeney's new lingerie brand, Ariana Grande's Vogue AI cover, and Have PR Relationships

00:00:12.420 Lost Their Spark? I'm Maggie Zau. And I'm Jasmine Wallace, and you're listening to Culture Club,

00:00:17.620 where two writers and editors chat about pop culture, current affairs, the internet, and our

00:00:23.060 lives. Today we're on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. We would

00:00:35.080 like to pay our respects to elders past and present and extend this to any Aboriginal or

00:00:40.080 Torres Strait Islander listeners today. It's so nice to see your face again and to be behind the

00:00:50.420 mic we saw each other on saturday but we were in a group with different people so like we haven't

00:00:56.240 actually talked one-on-one since you've been back also you only went away for like five days but i

00:01:00.820 genuinely was like so codependent i was like it feels like you've been gone for months oh and it

00:01:07.240 did feel like that it was yes six days but truly i felt like i was away for ages also i was somewhere

00:01:14.960 where there was a four hour time difference which doesn't seem like much but you feel it in the

00:01:20.120 mornings you feel it so I'm still slowly recovering from that to be honest this weekend also felt

00:01:27.920 really long um in a nice way I guess but the news I woke up to on Saturday morning what everyone

00:01:35.580 woke up to the news that the actress Catherine O'Hara sadly passed away age 71 was not a nice

00:01:43.820 way at all to start the weekend and it feels like the first big kind of celebrity death of the year

00:01:51.700 of course she was the acclaimed actress in schitt's creek beetlejuice beetlejuice 2 home

00:01:58.100 alone this woman is incredible she is so funny so this news really did hit and a lot of people

00:02:05.160 were saying like 71 is so young and i think it's because she was still like actively acting she

00:02:10.480 was nominated for awards she was still very much like a part of the industry it wasn't like

00:02:16.280 an older starlet from like a bygone era like she felt very modern I think Schitt's Creek

00:02:22.100 did a lot in that as well see like an incredible sitcom tv show so really really sad news there

00:02:31.860 one of the recommendations I'll pop up here I recommended this on bookmark like ages ago and

00:02:37.120 watched it but watch best in show if you haven't she stars in it and it's just so funny it's got a

00:02:43.620 lot of the same um stars as schitt's creek it was just like an earlier project that they worked on

00:02:49.320 and it's just yeah a great movie i think if you want to bask in more katherine o'hara glory in

00:02:56.920 other news ariana grande is the cover star on the latest issue of vogue japan but people have 1.00

00:03:04.360 notice one glaring issue and that is she has six fingers on the cover. Oh my goodness I can't 0.57

00:03:12.100 believe that internet sleuths and essentially Ariana fans are the ones to spot this and that

00:03:17.540 this went undetected. In response to a fan who posted the cover on Instagram Ariana actually

00:03:23.720 replied to it and said holy shit and then another reply oh my goodness how exciting I've been saying 0.75

00:03:29.660 I need some extra appendages so that I can start an album thankful for this. Okay I also have to 0.98

00:03:34.160 mention as a sidebar this is so inconsequential but it is funny to look at ariana grande's texting

00:03:39.740 style that hasn't changed and it's very much like that all fully lowercase like even i is lowercase

00:03:45.580 and then when she has punctuation like a exclamation mark she puts like a space in

00:03:49.940 between and i'm like i remember this era oh really is that like a certain time yeah the the gen

00:03:58.480 zedification of only wanting to use lowercase texting when did that become a thing do you

00:04:04.520 remember oh good question i want to say like mid 2010s i want to say but i've been reintroducing

00:04:12.480 title case into my vocabulary only in the last like maybe two three years oh sorry this is such

00:04:18.720 a side bump so back to ariana with ariana's comment when i read that i know she doesn't 0.74

00:04:23.620 need to be held responsible like she's not the editor of vogue japan she like was just the model

00:04:29.380 in the photo essentially but i thought her comments were kind of like normalizing it a bit

00:04:35.100 like haha so funny and i couldn't tell with her tone if it was sarcasm like thanks so much

00:04:42.120 pointing this out like this is not good and whether her team like would have handled it

00:04:45.780 or if it's just like yeah like the normalization of ai mistakes and ai slop essentially on the

00:04:52.780 cover of Vogue which obviously has huge editorial standards like it sets the standard for the rest

00:04:58.300 of the media and magazine industry what did you think of the comments I think she was being tongue 1.00

00:05:03.340 in cheek and also in the position of being talent here where you don't want to like like put down 0.99

00:05:09.040 your ruling sum and like stamp your foot but you have to be the one that's kind of like oh haha

00:05:14.520 what a funny mistake and then have your manager sort it out so I think that's what she was doing 0.81

00:05:19.320 here because I don't think it's going to help her if she like took us down in the comment section

00:05:24.040 true but I don't know if it was me I think I'd say something I don't know I guess you don't want

00:05:29.440 to ruin your relationship with Vogue of all publications it just felt a bit flippant for

00:05:35.540 what it was and like yeah it's a photoshop mistake it's an editing mistake it's the photographers

00:05:39.800 it's the design team but like yeah I don't know it just feels too like haha this is so normal like

00:05:47.160 whoops shit happens and it's like why are we even using ai in a photo of her when she like would

00:05:53.540 have been in the studio getting these photos taken like what was it that ai was used for that gave 0.97

00:05:57.860 her the extra finger some people were saying that it might have been an image blend tool which is

00:06:02.420 an ai so like when you're merging two images together maybe like picking some parts of it

00:06:07.380 we don't have the details on that but we do know that vogue japan has now updated the image on

00:06:15.940 their site so now that photo that's live has just the five fingers but on the covers around the world

00:06:22.060 it's still six now it's time for culture shock where we bring you one of the most shocking

00:06:36.140 headlines from this week we are talking about the newfound friendship in Nicki Minaj and Donald

00:06:43.160 Trump yes I remember getting off the plane from my holiday and turning off airplane mode

00:06:50.720 and my friend turns to me shows me her phone first thing I see off a flight off a red eye flight

00:06:56.440 zoomed in pic Nicki Minaj Donald Trump holding hands and I was like what is this alternate

00:07:01.900 reality I found myself in yeah that photo is like seared into my brain I guess we're putting 0.94

00:07:07.460 me some culture shock not because this is new news like we've seen nikki of the past like six 0.87

00:07:13.680 to twelve months kind of standing with republicans supporting donald trump but this week she made a

00:07:20.360 comment that has really essentially like solidified her point and in my opinion like closed the coffin

00:07:27.020 on her career in the way that it was nikki was speaking at an event to launch trump accounts for

00:07:34.340 newborn babies which is essentially a $1,000 baby bonus for newborn babies to encourage to you know 0.87

00:07:42.020 raise the birth rates and Nikki said I will say that I am probably the president's number one fan

00:07:47.520 and that's not going to change yeah number one number one fan of Donald Trump and in the same

00:07:58.520 speech she called out the quote hate bullying and smear campaigns aimed at Trump. This I think

00:08:07.360 comes as a massive shock because it was not long ago where she publicly made comments that she would

00:08:13.520 not be team Trump right. It was just a few years ago back in 2020 where she spoke to Rolling Stone

00:08:20.000 and said that she would not quote jump on the Donald Trump bandwagon. In that interview she

00:08:26.840 compared her own upbringing with how Trump's policies usually went in terms of children

00:08:33.260 being taken away from their parents and the treatment of immigrants but everything kind

00:08:38.220 of started to change publicly at least in around 2021 remember her COVID takes yeah she said that 0.94

00:08:46.580 her male cousin or male relative like had the COVID vaccine and then his like balls swelled

00:08:52.880 up or something she was echoing some right-wing vaccine like denial and skepticism and conspiracy

00:08:58.800 theories and people were already kind of like um what is going on here with Nicki Minaj I remember

00:09:03.580 she was like disinvited from the Met Gala like the public opinion was kind of beginning to turn

00:09:08.740 on her a little bit and then last year she reposted White House TikTok clips which promoted Trump's

00:09:15.560 anti-trans and anti-immigration policies and she also appeared at a Turning Point USA's America

00:09:21.900 fest event with erica kirk if you remember um the the thing i remember the most from that

00:09:28.340 is nikki and erica are like on the stage and nikki like is using a metaphor and she said

00:09:33.560 something like assassinate like we don't want to assassinate his opponents or something like that

00:09:37.620 and then she's like so awkward because charlie kirk was obviously assassinated like oh my god

00:09:43.680 it's just weird like alternate reality timeline and we were talking to some friends about this

00:09:50.080 on the weekend they were saying like how disappointing it was given like how much of

00:09:54.640 an icon she was especially for like the gay queer community and I felt the turning of the tidying 0.95

00:10:00.200 culture in person around this as well I was at a party on the weekend and then like a Nicki Minaj 1.00

00:10:05.820 song played and then Tom and I looked at each other I was like I feel like we can't enjoy it

00:10:11.140 as much anymore yeah which sucks like Starships great song I know it was Starships a classic

00:10:18.720 so some people are saying that the reason that she's publicly supporting donald trump

00:10:23.580 is in a bid to win a presidential pardon for both her husband and her brother both who have

00:10:29.460 serious criminal records and she also posted a photo with like the donald trump gold card

00:10:36.660 where it's like you get like citizenship if you spend a certain amount of money it's so

00:10:41.300 it's disgusting so there's like a few theories kind of floating around why she's switched i

00:10:47.700 wouldn't say suddenly because it has been like over five years there was also a piece published

00:10:51.300 in women's agenda titled nikki minaj thinks trump is her ally he sees her as his prop and that was

00:10:58.460 written by tala lambert so the piece speaks to nikki minaj's beginnings and why this is even 0.96

00:11:04.080 stranger than your usual celebrity endorses maniacal president moment explains her background 0.96

00:11:10.380 growing up in queens as like a working class black woman and the neighborhoods that she lived 1.00

00:11:16.140 in that was shaped by poverty and a lot of disparity and systemic neglect.

00:11:21.240 So Tala has graciously read out a little bit of the piece in her own words.

00:11:24.640 Of course, wealth and fame can insulate people from the realities they once lived.

00:11:29.260 When policy impacts no longer touch your daily life, it becomes easier to romanticize strong

00:11:33.880 men and dismiss systemic injustice as smear campaigns.

00:11:37.720 But the communities Minaj came from do not have that luxury. 1.00

00:11:41.300 Trump's policies may not affect her private jets, mansions or wealth, but they will affect 0.99

00:11:46.120 to the poverty-stricken family still struggling in Queens, New York. 0.98

00:11:50.020 Minaj has spent her career insisting she is more than a puppet, 0.97

00:11:53.300 yet in siding with Trump, she's proved that's exactly what she is.

00:12:07.960 It's finally February, which means that Wuthering Heights is finally being released this month.

00:12:14.080 It feels like it's been such a long time coming.

00:12:16.180 We've been talking about this for, I swear, a year, two years, and we're so close.

00:12:22.200 I'm so excited to go to the premiere.

00:12:24.020 You are.

00:12:24.940 This is such a you, movie.

00:12:26.860 We have talked about this movie quite a few times.

00:12:30.600 There's been various controversies or various talking points, and perhaps the PR machine

00:12:35.480 is working because we are talking about a different facet of it today, which is the

00:12:41.660 perhaps engineered PR relationship between the two stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie but first

00:12:49.980 I haven't read this book but I saw on Instagram stories that you are trying to read this and how's

00:12:55.600 it going? I'm trying to read it in 12 days well now 11 days it feels like reading another language

00:13:01.340 so I haven't really read many classics since year 12 I did um oh my god this sounds like such a

00:13:07.460 freaking humble humble brag I did extension English and advanced English in year 12 I mean

00:13:13.100 not a surprise given my job now but like we read some classics then and I genuinely don't think

00:13:17.540 I've touched any properly like this ever since I tried to read Persuasion for our book club I

00:13:23.600 couldn't get into it but that's by Jane Austen and I've had this on my bookshelf I got it as part of

00:13:29.000 like the t2 romance package thing and got this beautiful mug with it anyway so I don't know so

00:13:34.380 has been on my bookshelf for ages and I thought this is a perfect opportunity to start reading it

00:13:38.140 I read two chapters yesterday morning I understood what was going on I was getting like context clues

00:13:43.980 and things but I did spark notes after I read both chapters just to make sure that I was on the right

00:13:49.960 track with what I was thinking was happening and I was so I was like cool I can understand

00:13:54.140 150 year old English but it actually feels a lot like when I lived in Amsterdam by the end of the

00:14:00.200 six months I started to understand Dutch like just listening to conversations I couldn't really speak

00:14:06.500 it probably could just speak basic basic but like people in class would be having conversations in

00:14:10.520 Dutch and because of context clues and like words that I knew I realized what they were talking

00:14:15.880 about it feels like that I'm like okay this word means this and this is this funnily enough one

00:14:23.100 word that caught my attention I was like that's crazy that they use that still is um ejaculate

00:14:28.940 or ejaculated they use that instead of like said or spoke or shout oh yeah I was like which one

00:14:37.380 came first like in which context it was like Heathcliff I ejaculated across the room I was 0.58

00:14:43.500 like oh my god Emerald Fennell read that and was like okay we must have a lot of that in the movie

00:14:51.520 oh my gosh yeah but it's only two chapters in which is like not it's like eight pages or

00:14:58.300 something so so far so good and hopefully i can finish it but this stars of this movie we've

00:15:04.900 already spoken about you know it's an adaptation it's an interpretation it's not going to be like

00:15:09.200 exactly like the book it's like a 14 year old girl's sexual fantasy kind of thing but the stars

00:15:15.780 are now receiving a little bit of criticism online i wouldn't i don't know if it's like permeated

00:15:21.120 through to like mainstream thought it feels like very twitter discourse but there have been some

00:15:26.980 rumors and chat of like a PR relationship or people getting tired of movie companies trying

00:15:33.500 to push the PR relationship angle and I am like the audience for this I have a really bad gauge

00:15:38.840 on PR stunts sometimes right so the first thing I saw is or one of the first moments or instances

00:15:44.880 of this that I kind of fell for if you could call it that was there was a quote that they gave to

00:15:50.900 the press that last year on valentine's day while they were filming jacob alordi fueled margot

00:15:57.220 robbie's dressing room with red roses and i was like that is intense this theory kind of came to

00:16:04.420 a head after the vogue australia february cover story went live the cover story is by the writer

00:16:11.300 hannah rose ye and it starts with like a classic feature narrative and then it goes into the stars

00:16:19.220 just like interviewing each other okay so we're gonna role play some of this i think because

00:16:23.860 they're back and forth it's really it's really something so do you want to play margot and i'll

00:16:29.380 play a lordy all right what was your favorite of my costumes you were pretty devastating in the

00:16:35.160 wedding dress you were pretty devastating in the wedding stuff that is the best thing anyone could

00:16:41.360 ever say maybe there's one with a black corset the one where you lift me up like that she reaches 1.00

00:16:48.660 one hand to yank herself up by the chest. That's the one I'm talking about. That one's an absolute 1.00

00:16:53.760 banger. Breathtaking. Devastating. New combo. Okay what was your favorite scene? I really didn't

00:17:03.340 like shooting when Margot wasn't there. I hated shooting when you weren't there. There was this

00:17:08.020 moment when she was off with Shehzad for god knows how long. And you were off with Alison, Oliver and

00:17:14.380 And I was like, this is just not right.

00:17:16.620 Loved shooting with Alison and Shazad's a great guy.

00:17:20.420 Loved them more than anything.

00:17:21.760 But I was like, he's mine.

00:17:24.840 Good job.

00:17:26.360 Good job.

00:17:27.100 Acting class.

00:17:28.500 Yeah, acting class, like finish.

00:17:31.120 And scene.

00:17:32.140 Yeah, so as you can hear in that interview, it's a bit flirty.

00:17:35.540 It's a bit like, no, we're like so codependent.

00:17:38.120 I can see why actors do this, though.

00:17:41.120 Like you're playing a character.

00:17:42.560 you obviously shooting schedules are very intense like you live with these people you see them for

00:17:48.060 12 hours a day every day for the months and it's very like uh what do you say like a moving

00:17:55.320 experience I guess yeah it's like a really intense bubble that you're in for a prolonged

00:18:00.880 period of time with like the same people so like we've talked about this with like the wicked

00:18:04.880 discourse but it's it's understandable why emotions get heightened and these bonds get

00:18:10.020 really intensified but it's like do we believe this reading that makes me feel no no i don't

00:18:17.120 think they're trying to like i don't think the movie companies are trying to like dupe us into

00:18:21.180 being like no they're actually having an affair i don't think it's that but i do think they're

00:18:24.800 trying to like make us see margot and jacob as kathy and heathcliff right and so like with we're

00:18:32.360 getting sucked into that world so i do see how it's like pr marketing angle but i don't think

00:18:38.200 people are like they're definitely dating but i do think that people are getting really tired of

00:18:45.140 this angle it's like do we have to go down this route to try sell a romance i think we first

00:18:52.860 saw this like new wave of this happening during anyone but you with sydney sweeney and glenn powell

00:18:58.860 that was definitely like flirty are they aren't they sydney was single at the time which is

00:19:04.000 definitely different to margot being like married with a baby glenn's girlfriend at the time gg

00:19:08.100 paris even spoke out against the toll it took on their relationship that was a big drama another

00:19:12.920 major one we saw was liam neeson and pamela anderson who were confirmed to be dating during

00:19:19.180 naked gun and everyone was like i believe in love again like these two older people i think they're

00:19:24.680 in like their 60s like so nice that they're like dating and they're like having so much fun and

00:19:30.200 that fizzled out really quickly like after the movie came out and i think people felt a bit duped

00:19:35.940 i think that probably was real like they probably had a fling they probably had an affair or like

00:19:39.920 you know they're dating but i do think audiences felt really duped by the fact that like they 0.98

00:19:43.580 believed in this love story and like they went to the movie naked gun is like such a silly silly

00:19:48.480 movie but they went and like invested in that and felt like a bit parasocial about it and then it

00:19:55.640 just fizzled they're like oh well why should i like invest my emotional like parasocial bandwidth 0.82

00:20:00.900 into these pr couples i think that's such a good point especially when these uh quote unquote 0.96

00:20:06.260 relationships or whatever you want to call them fizzle out so quickly after the movie is finished

00:20:11.560 i wonder do you think there's uh anything to be said about don't worry darling and olivia wilde

00:20:16.580 and harry styles because they did stay together for quite a while but i think again there was

00:20:22.100 so much noise around that relationship and drama around the movie that it did get fatiguing near

00:20:28.960 the end so even if it's a real relationship you know it still can take its toll i think with don't

00:20:34.280 worry darling that felt like less like a pr relationship and more of just like a cast drum

00:20:38.720 like a good old-fashioned hollywood drama who's saying what who likes who the florence pew thing

00:20:46.280 of her not liking aspects of the filming and all that I think that was more so than like a PR

00:20:53.260 relationship but I do think it can it can damage the people and it can damage the movie's perception

00:20:58.040 for sure and I know I wouldn't want to be in one I wouldn't want to be speculated to have one either

00:21:03.060 it's also worth mentioning that Margot's production company Lucky Chap is producing Wuthering Heights

00:21:09.500 and her husband Tom Ackerley also co-founded Lucky Chap also they're both quite still new

00:21:16.400 parents together their baby boy was born in October 2024 so this is a family business

00:21:23.080 I think it's a bit silly to assume that like Jacob and Margot are having an affair to like

00:21:29.800 think that they're in a relationship some people are like thinking it is or they're just like

00:21:34.020 getting tired of like they're like don't shove it down our throats like we don't believe you and

00:21:37.940 like i don't think they're trying to say that they're together they're having a secret affair

00:21:42.460 i just think like they're trying to make viewers and audiences like believe in the love story of

00:21:48.180 kathy and heathcliff and therefore that will sell tickets so as jaz mentioned we are going

00:21:54.340 to the premiere in a couple weeks so we will give you our proper review when the time comes

00:22:07.940 sydney sweeney has launched her lingerie brand siren described as a quote playground for self

00:22:17.560 expression and lingerie you can wear for you this lingerie launch has raised some eyebrows

00:22:23.800 sydney told l magazine i wanted to create a world and a feeling i wanted to build a lingerie brand

00:22:30.320 that feels like it understands women instead of talking at them siren is about confidence

00:22:35.260 without pressure feeling sexy powerful soft playful or all of the above depending on the day

00:22:41.020 as the sole founder my vision was to create something that lives in real life and doesn't

00:22:45.800 hold anyone back so the lingerie brand is dropping in different collections and they're all split

00:22:51.400 into different like personas so the first one that has been launched is called seductress but

00:22:56.240 in the coming months she'll be launching romantic playful and comfy and there is a range of 44

00:23:03.080 sizes ranging from cup sizes a to g and most products will be priced under a hundred dollars 0.91

00:23:10.340 usd why do we think that she launched a brand now and why is it every three minutes she has like a

00:23:19.880 new ad live like a new venture people kind of making fun of it in a way that people are saying 1.00

00:23:25.940 what debt does she owe like she's constantly got a side hustle going and she's like a mainstream

00:23:31.860 like popular actor like anyone but you made millions and millions and millions of dollars

00:23:36.520 in the box office not saying that actors get all that money of course but come on like you're a

00:23:41.580 successful actress why are we doing this I don't know I was reading a piece I think it was in the

00:23:45.640 Guardian about this and it was like apparently in this day and age even if you are like a mainstream

00:23:51.760 successful actress you're not going to be rich rich necessarily like you might have been in the

00:23:57.580 past. Sydney Sweeney also had that interview that she gave quite a few years ago and she like broke

00:24:03.260 down the cost thing of like you know 10% goes to my manager 10% like the other blah blah percent

00:24:08.040 goes to blah blah blah and she was quite transparent about that because she has done a lot of brand

00:24:14.120 partnerships right but this is the first time we've seen her release her own thing. I do wonder

00:24:19.560 the timing of it all of course the success of Skims is probably something she was also looking to

00:24:25.640 Victoria's Secret has been revived again to like pretty positive reaction from the general public

00:24:32.280 so maybe she was like okay this is my moment too. And as a fellow big boob girly like I totally

00:24:37.940 get wanting to find something or create something that you you can't find in stores like it is

00:24:46.300 really um on a personal level like confidence shattering I guess going into a store like

00:24:52.220 a lingerie store and finding something that's like just beige and boring with like massive

00:24:56.840 straps because like all the sexy like lace doesn't fit you so i get that but i just think 1.00

00:25:03.900 she had the success of skims like she was a model for skims she had that range come out as well

00:25:08.840 it just feels like with the tide at the moment on her i don't know i'm not saying she should like

00:25:15.880 sit down and be quiet and like that's really misogynistic but we say this every time we talk

00:25:20.200 what Sydney I'm like what does she want what is she doing what is her team doing where are they

00:25:24.000 trying to put her in the market and I just don't know if this helps the business of fashion reported

00:25:30.020 that this has been in development since around mid 2024 and it's backed by an investment firm

00:25:36.720 which launched last May after receiving a one billion dollar cash infusion from Jeff Bezos

00:25:42.480 as well as the Dell chief executive Michael Dell and we also know of course Sydney attended

00:25:48.760 um bezos's wedding to lauren sanchez in venice last june so now people are saying it's not just

00:25:55.280 a lingerie brand it's also like an amazon backed lingerie brand um which doesn't help her thing of

00:26:01.600 like trying to steer away from like being considered right wing as another sidebar as

00:26:06.980 well when i first saw the name of this i was like so it is spelled s-y-r-n did you get siren straight

00:26:15.140 away no i was like siren because i was like siren as in earn yeah that would make sense while a lot

00:26:23.760 of the reporting around this brand has been positive a lot of people are talking about

00:26:28.000 how the collections are selling out really fast and and about the praise around this there's a

00:26:33.620 cosmopolitan feature article that does a really good job of covering this launch but also holding

00:26:40.140 Sydney to account. Yes so US Cosmopolitan is currently being led by the editor-in-chief

00:26:45.220 Willa Bennett who I think is doing a really great job of like bringing new life into this magazine

00:26:49.740 it's been around since like the 70s some of the covers have been really really great lately and

00:26:54.100 the discourse they're starting. I was really surprised by this interview like you said it

00:26:58.460 isn't just like a fluff piece it's not an ad for Siren it really does ask her some questions about

00:27:04.480 the criticism that she's been receiving lately. One example is the question that says there is

00:27:09.820 a charged nickname that was stuck to you on social media maga barbie how do you understand this label

00:27:14.940 given that you've been private about your politics sydney said i've never been here to talk about

00:27:19.200 politics i've always been here to make art so this is just not a conversation i want to be at the

00:27:24.260 forefront of and i think because of that people want to take it even further and use me as their

00:27:29.160 own porn so the cosmopolitan writer alexandra whittaker asked sydney sweeney you don't speak

00:27:36.320 to your fans directly about your political beliefs. You're not the first celebrity to be

00:27:40.440 called out for this. Do you think you'd ever change your mind about doing the same? Is there

00:27:45.020 a future in which people will get to see what you believe politically? This is where one of the main

00:27:49.460 soundbites from the interview has been pulled out from. Sydney says, I'm not a political person. I'm

00:27:55.060 in the arts. I'm not here to speak on politics. That's not an area I've ever even imagined getting

00:28:00.380 into. It's not why I became who I am. I became an actor because I like to tell stories, but I don't

00:28:06.340 believe in hate in any form. I believe we should all love each other and have respect and understanding

00:28:11.680 for one another. Jaw is on the floor. What does she mean by this? How can you say that art is not

00:28:19.620 political? This is the craziest soundbite in my opinion. Art is not political. I'm not a political

00:28:26.300 person i'm in the arts arts is famously political like you are talking about a period of time that

00:28:32.140 you live in you're telling stories everything is political number one everything is political

00:28:36.600 but this is just such a tone deaf take and in my opinion it makes it seem like she genuinely

00:28:44.560 doesn't get it like she genuinely doesn't understand the criticism she's like i've never

00:28:47.660 said i'm right or left like i'm just telling stories like little old me but her one of her

00:28:52.620 first roles was in The Handmaid's Tale, which is a famously political piece of text. She played a 0.65

00:29:00.540 literal child bride, number one. She's also in a relationship with Scooter Braun, who is a pretty 0.80

00:29:06.780 divisive figure. Her making comments like this, I think undermines her acting experience, undermines

00:29:14.000 the films and TV shows she has made and the significance and cultural hold that they have as

00:29:19.240 well i think she doesn't fully actually believe what she's saying here i think she's saying this

00:29:23.900 as a cop-out like when you say a quote that's like i just want to love everybody like let's just

00:29:28.440 no hey we'll be friends it means nothing and it's just disappointing but not surprising

00:29:34.700 that she gave a quote like this and i think a lot of people are now really really getting

00:29:40.040 fatigued by it as well like we had the american eagle jeans discourse tried to talk it over with

00:29:46.860 the media and kind of saying like when i have something to say you'll hear about it but again

00:29:52.040 she's doubling down on this like i'm not political person art isn't political like i'm just here to

00:29:57.980 tell little stories i think it's so demoralizing and i think it's really actually offensive to like

00:30:05.200 other creatives and art makers now that we've had this conversation like four times she's given

00:30:10.540 interviews like this like so many times where she's just like i'll speak when i want to speak

00:30:14.940 my mindset now is like maybe i just don't listen maybe i just don't like i turn away from her

00:30:20.520 unfortunately like why am i still giving her so much air time in a way like we still give weight

00:30:25.280 to her interviews when she's saying the same old nothingness every time i think it's because we've

00:30:30.740 been like waiting for her to like get it and i do think she's had a lot of chances in the past like

00:30:36.540 12 months to just like set the record straight everything going on politically in the u.s

00:30:41.560 this is not the time to be having these like middle of the road conversations and i yeah like

00:30:46.940 you say i don't think she's going to get it and so we just have to like move on yeah i think we're

00:30:52.240 delusional if we think she's going to make a strong political stance in our favor i think

00:30:57.400 she's showing us who she is in her true colors already

00:30:59.880 it's now time for bookmarked where we share something we've loved watching reading or

00:31:14.040 listening to this week maggie you are up first what have you enjoyed i went to the movies yesterday

00:31:20.840 a beautiful sunday afternoon movie which is probably one of my favorite things to do

00:31:25.920 and I saw Hamnet finally so this Chloe Zhao film had been getting so much buzz you know it stars

00:31:33.180 Paul Meskel I'd seen the trailer a bit and I was like god I know I should watch this because it's

00:31:38.700 beautiful and apparently it's amazing but there was a big part of me that was like oh like this

00:31:43.700 sounds so bad it's like oh like do I want to sit through something that's like beautiful and slow

00:31:48.580 which is so embarrassing to admit we're so used to like the Netflixification of like really

00:31:55.260 hyper poppy movies or whatever so I went in not knowing anything I actually don't think I knew

00:32:01.220 the premise at all I just knew that it was a adaptation of the Maggie O'Farrell's book which

00:32:07.080 is a historical fiction that like looks at the story of Hamlet but I didn't know anything more

00:32:13.100 and I left feeling changed wow oh my god it was such a good movie wow did you cry oh yeah

00:32:22.820 lots of tears lots of tears and it was just beautifully like shot like it was such a

00:32:29.580 like a visually stunning well you know it's again like a period piece so I was like oh I'm not

00:32:36.100 usually a fan of that but I will give you the synopsis I think most people do know I was just

00:32:42.300 being silly so I'll first start with reality the reality is that it's about William Shakespeare

00:32:49.380 and William Shakespeare's only son Hamnet died at the age of 11 so that's what the truth is

00:32:55.900 and then Maggie O'Farrell like spun her own story so essentially this follows a story of

00:33:03.680 William and his wife Agnes aka like Anne Hathaway which is William Shakespeare's wife's proper name

00:33:09.680 but Agnes is also interchangeable with Anne and yeah it goes through their love and their family

00:33:15.540 and the tragedy tragedy that strikes them and then maggie o'farrell uh in her story it's like

00:33:22.360 what inspires william to create the story of hamlet i like totally didn't even know that it

00:33:28.100 was about william shakespeare until they they like not necessarily a spoiler but like they say his

00:33:34.060 name maybe like three quarters of the way through like full name drop and then me and my friend were

00:33:37.660 like oh my gosh i can't believe you were so offline for this like any of the talk around it

00:33:43.520 because obviously agnes is played by jesse buckley who's literally nominated for an oscar for this

00:33:47.540 performance there's a lot of heart and the way that she deserves it completely so i hadn't seen

00:33:53.720 i don't think i've seen her in anything else jesse buckley and i think that really heightened

00:33:57.840 my experience because i was like i believe you as this character only also paul miskell the

00:34:02.500 performance of his lifetime so far you reckon because some people saying it wasn't good i guess

00:34:07.900 people say in comparison to jesse it's yeah you can't compare the two but jesse was next level

00:34:13.940 this is such a you film i don't know why you haven't seen it i know okay so yesterday we're

00:34:18.760 having such a lazy day at home and i was like laurie do you want to go to the movies and i

00:34:22.700 thought i either want to see hamnet or sentimental value and i was looking at times and it just

00:34:27.840 didn't work but yeah same idea of like sunday afternoon i will go see hamnet i was a bit scared

00:34:32.680 of it because of like how much people have been crying in the movies but no I really really want

00:34:37.840 to see I love historical fiction as you know oh yes and especially seeing in the movies oh I think

00:34:43.420 what really pulled this over as someone who's not a big fan of historical fiction or like I'm quite

00:34:47.400 tentative about it the pacing and narrative flow was just so spot on like Chloe Zhao like pulls

00:34:52.960 you through the story you're invested in the characters it's not like hard to follow or it's

00:34:59.160 not steeped in so much history sorry i was embarrassed again to admit that but oh i gave

00:35:05.780 this a five star wow wow for historical fiction it's a big one yeah i can't wait to see it okay

00:35:11.440 i'm so excited for you to watch it yes and what are you recommending for us this week i'm also

00:35:17.100 coming in with a historical fiction oh like i said yesterday we had a really really lazy day

00:35:23.060 at home i could not get out of bed for the life of me and i was like you know what i've got no

00:35:28.260 plans. I have nowhere to be. I actually want to spend all day in bed watching movies. And one of

00:35:33.200 them was Mothering Sunday, which is a 2021 British period romantic drama movie. It's directed by Eva

00:35:40.980 Husson. The screenplay was by Alice Birch and it comes from the novel of the same name by British

00:35:48.240 writer Graham Swift. So the film follows the life of Jane Fairchild, who is an orphan maid working

00:35:54.640 for a wealthy family in 1924 the neighboring houses are and families are like reeling with

00:36:01.380 grief having lost four young men from two different families in world war one so the family that jane

00:36:07.760 works for um the parents who of whom are played by um colin firth and olivia coleman have lost like

00:36:15.720 both of their sons so olivia coleman is you know like a woman grieving colin firth is just like

00:36:20.040 this sweet character who i guess feels some sort of like paternal emotion towards jane jane's super

00:36:26.200 young like early 20s they give her the day off for mothering sunday which is mother's day and it's

00:36:32.280 here that she cycles to her lover's house who's played by josh o'connor and he's the last remaining

00:36:38.920 son of these like multiple families so kind of a lot of pressure on him i won't spoil you know

00:36:45.280 the actual plot but the movie jumps around in time a bit kind of flashes forward but majority takes

00:36:50.600 place in 1924 and essentially it's a story about love and grief the passing of time passion and

00:36:59.860 it's just such a beautiful sunday movie like it's quite slow it's like beautifully shot i think the

00:37:05.940 way that it jumps through time is really creative and yeah i've already mentioned some of the cast

00:37:10.500 but it also stars Emma Darcy and the Australian actress Odessa Young plays Jane Fairchild as the

00:37:19.260 main character Odessa Young is the actress from the new Bruce Springsteen biopic so she's great

00:37:26.260 can't wait to see her do more so yeah I highly recommend that I watched it on SBS all the things

00:37:31.740 I watched yesterday I just had like an SBS day this is not a sponsored segment like genuinely

00:37:36.080 was like what's on SPS like so fun so yeah I found this British movie and I highly recommend

00:37:41.560 so many good things on SPS and it's free as well which we love um the cast of this movie is

00:37:48.280 incredible so that's what would get me through the over the line through the historical fiction 0.94

00:37:54.000 I'm like oh war sorry war British people that's terrible no that's terrible of me but no that 0.97

00:37:59.740 sounds amazing so thank you for sharing that I was like how did I not hear about this when 1.00

00:38:03.880 actually came out given the cast but recent as well like yeah a few years old so there you go

00:38:09.380 that brings us to the end of this episode of culture club thank you so much for tuning in

00:38:15.120 and keeping us company if you enjoyed this episode why not share it with a friend also we love

00:38:21.220 hearing what you're thinking in our spotify comments so feel free to drop us a line there

00:38:26.180 too we will catch you next time bye

00:38:33.880 You

Culture Club - February 02, 2026

Sydney Sweeney Sells Lingerie, Nicki Minaj Loves Trump & PR Relationships Suck Now

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