Turns out, the best place to scoop beauty news is on the international trademarks website. Rihanna’s company, Roraj Trade LLC, just filed trademark application documents for “Fenty Hair.”

According to legal documents filed March 3, the prospective Fenty Hair line could include shampoo, hair relaxing, straightening, and waving stylers, bleach and color products, and even hair glitter. Though, given that the “Fenty Hair” trademark is still in its early stages of processing and approval, there’s no estimated date as to when we could actually see (or shop) any tangible products at Sephora.

Although there isn’t much information out about the specifics of a Fenty Beauty expansion, fans are getting excited about the prospect. Some even speculated that Rihanna may have hinted at the release of the hair-care line in the music video for “Lemon” by N.E.R.D. and Rihanna.

Can’t wait to be around the house in my fenty furnitures, fenty skin on, in my savageXfenty, doing my fenty hair , wearing fentyXpuma, while listening to absolutely NOTHING. 🥲 https://t.co/iPDwViiMVS

— a l e x (@dontgivafuck_) March 10, 2021

fenty hair, fenty skin, fenty beauty… not rihanna taking over the entire beauty industry. she’s not playing pic.twitter.com/lM1xVcXHS5

— knee ❦ (@thickannawhore) March 10, 2021

Not me predicting FENTY HAIR😭 This video is from last summer pic.twitter.com/TSrGO21Bz9

— T (@TokoGa12) March 10, 2021

The Fenty Hair news comes a few weeks after the company announced that Rihanna’s Fenty fashion line would be put on pause less than two years after its launch. “Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions,” reads a statement released to WWD.

Between her beauty line, her lingerie, and now her hopefully soon-to-be-released hair-care line, Rihanna is quickly making it possible for her fans to never have to shop another brand again. 

However, some fans were still a little sad that the news of their favorite artist didn’t include new music. But building a fashion and beauty empire takes time, and last we checked, even Rihanna only gets 24 hours in a day. “I am always working on music and when I am ready to put it out in the way that I feel fit, it’s gonna come out,” she told Entertainment Tonight back in July of 2020. “And you’re not going to be disappointed when it happens. It’s going to be worth it.”

Whenever she puts out her music, catch us doing a full hair and makeup look using Fenty exclusively.

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In his seventh week in office, President Joe Biden is expected to sign the American Rescue Plan Act into effect on Wednesday. The massive piece of legislation will provide direct payments to Americans, extend jobless benefits, and offer financial relief to state and local governments, among a number of other initiatives aimed at boosting the economy and inspiring hope as the U.S. stays on course to move past the coronavirus pandemic.

While many headlines focus on the question at the forefront of everyone’s minds — when stimulus checks will arrive — there are many other important developments in this $1.9 trillion plan that are worth highlighting. Namely, this relief package dedicates considerable funding for an ambitious anti-poverty program and significant benefits for low-income people. 

“It’s a remarkable, historic, transformative piece of legislation which goes a very long way to crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday. 

Many Republican politicians have attacked the measure as wasteful and excessive; however, most people in the U.S. don’t seem to share their sentiments. A Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday found that 70% of Americans support the relief package.

On Thursday, Biden is scheduled to showcase the bill during a primetime TV address that will also mark one year since the coronavirus prompted nationwide shutdowns. As stimulus checks arrive in the mail, we outlined just a few of the other elements of the COVID relief package.

Funding to help schools reopen

Focusing efforts on getting schools to reopen — including implementing models of social distancing measures, hybrid programs, and prioritizing vaccines for educators — has been near the top of the list of talking points for politicians during the pandemic. Getting students back to in-person classes has been a primary concern for both political parties.

Within the American Rescue Plan, there is $128 billion allotted in grants to state educational agencies, reports NPR, with 90% of it allocated to local education agencies. Another $39 billion in grants has been earmarked for higher education institutions. Nearly $15 billion of the relief funds will be given to the Child Care & Development Block Grant program with the aim of supporting childcare facilities, and a special focus on high-need areas.

A more generous child tax-relief credit

For 2021, the relief bill will temporarily expand the child tax credit. Currently, it is worth up to $2,000 per child under the age of 17. But under this new legislation, the tax credit will be as much as $3,600 for children up to five and $3,000 for children aged six to 17.

The bill would also make the full value of the credit available to low-income people who, currently, are ineligible or receive only a portion of the tax credit. In the second half of this year, this measure will require the federal government to send the credit in the form of an advance payment in periodic installments. It is essentially a guaranteed supplemental income for families with children.

A financial boost for the Affordable Care Act

For those purchasing health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace, the bill will temporarily increase subsidies, which means lower monthly premiums and possibly lower copays. This will also help people who have lost jobs keep the health insurance they had through their previous employer by covering the full cost of premiums through a federal program called COBRA. Currently, this program is set to go through in September.

Funding for back rent and rent assistance

Approximately $20 billion will go to state and local governments to help low-income households cover the cost of housing, including back rent, rent assistance, and utility bills. According to CNN, $10 billion would be allotted to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages, utilities, and property taxes. $5 billion is for assisting those at risk of homelessness. The remaining $5 billion is set aside for emergency housing vouchers for those who are already homeless.

A step toward student loan forgiveness

The idea of forgiving individual student loan debt anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 has progressively become a more mainstream concept. While it was not included in this bill, there is a very important provision tucked away in the lengthy stimulus package that increases the pressure on Biden to address the student debt crisis by removing one of its most discussed hurdles. The provision states that anyone whose student loans are discharged through 2025 will not face tax consequences, reports Vox.

Typically, debt cancellation is considered taxable income meaning that if all of a sudden, $50,000 of an individual’s student loans were forgiven, it would come up on their taxes as if they earned an additional $50,000 that year. With this commonly argued point out of the way, it appears as though the path is being paved for more progress on student loan forgiveness.

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Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has inspired all manner of hot takes, but not all of them are quite as piping hot as self-proclaimed “Queen of Dragons” Meghan McCain’s. And perhaps none of the many memes about the interview are quite as rewatchable (or relatable) as the one of Whoopi Goldberg’s reaction to McCain’s take on The View.

On Tuesday, The View co-hosts held a lively discussion about Oprah’s interview with the former senior royals — including Piers Morgan’s insensitive ranting about Markle, after which his own co-host criticized him and he stormed off the set of Good Morning Britain and swiftly resigned. But rather than speak to the tell-all interview or Morgan’s blatant sexism, McCain took the conversation in a different, unexpected direction. 

McCain instead decided to extoll the virtues of the American Revolution, speaking about how she loved visiting George Washington’s historic home in Mount Vernon — encouraging “all Americans to visit Mount Vernon and see why monarchies are stupid” — and insisted that she refuses to defend the monarchy because she’s “a red-blooded 100% American who celebrates freedom any way I can.” (Ok!) She went on to note that different generations in the U.K. view the monarchy differently.

“The American experiment is the way to go, and if we have two American women — Meghan Markle and Oprah Winfrey — who are single-handedly finishing what George Washington and our revolutionary counterparts did, I’m all for it,” McCain concluded.

After a measured pause that felt much longer than its three seconds, Goldberg attempted to process what she had just heard. “Okay,” she said with a level tone. And that was it. Just one word. “I guess we’ll talk more about this when we come back,” Goldberg added before the show cut to commercial. Goldberg’s sentiments clearly resonated with viewers, because a clip of her reaction quickly racked up over a million views and started trending on Twitter. 

It’s 2021 and we are all Whoopi. pic.twitter.com/SncHJPxHTW

— Justin Martindale (@justmartindale) March 9, 2021

If it wasn’t clear before: Whoopi Goldberg is all of us. How many moments in the last year or more have we heard something so utterly out of left field — often from Meghan McCain’s mouth — that all we could hope to do is give a championship-level thoughtful pause, full of self-restraint, and simply acknowledge that something was said? So many. From now on, anytime we are completely taken aback, Goldberg measuredly saying, “Okay,” is going to play in our heads. After all, isn’t brevity the soul of wit?

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Just as abruptly as he stormed out of the studio on Tuesday morning after his co-host denounced his continued criticism of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Piers Morgan says that he will no longer host ITV’s Good Morning Britain, effective immediately. 

This fallout occurred in two parts, but it is predated by years of Morgan chastising Markle for tearing Harry away from the royal family. The first incident took place on Monday following Oprah Winfrey’s explosive interview with the couple. In the interview, Markle shared that, at points, she had suicidal thoughts. She also revealed that a member of the royal family raised concerns about how dark her baby’s skin would be. On Twitter, Morgan labeled the interview an “absolutely disgraceful betrayal” of the Queen. Further, he said that he expected this “vile destructive self-serving nonsense” from Meghan — but not Harry.

Morgan then went on to attack Markle by questioning whether she was being truthful about her mental health, which he was immediately reproached for online. “Just another reminder that anyone who criticizes Meghan Markle is deemed a racist bully,” he tweeted later that same day. Since then, he tried to walk back his insensitive take. But clearly, he didn’t walk back too far.

The second incident occurred on Tuesday while on air. Morgan’s Good Morning Britain co-host, Alex Beresford, had enough of his excessive criticism of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. “I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle, you’ve made it so clear a number of times on this program,” Beresford said to Morgan. “And I understand that you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle, or had one and she cut you off…Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has, but yet you continue to trash her.”

At that point, Morgan stood up abruptly and walked off set, saying: “Okay, I’m done with this. Sorry, no, sorry…see you later, sorry, can’t do this.”

But this is nothing new for Morgan, who has actually cultivated a brand of chastising Markle for years now. Morgan met Markle years ago. He followed her on Twitter and she reportedly messaged him saying she was a fan of his. They chatted online before meeting for a drink in London in 2016 while she was in the city to watch Serena Williams at Wimbledon. 

“We had two hours in the pub, she had a couple of dirty martinis and a couple of pints — we got on brilliantly,” Morgan said during an appearance on the Late Late Show. “Then I put her in a cab, and it turns out it was the cab that took her to a party where she met Prince Harry. The next night they had a solo dinner and that was the last I ever heard from Meghan Markle. I never heard from her again…Meghan Markle ghosted me.”

According to Grazia, Morgan — all while claiming to not care about Markle — has tweeted about her more than 60 times in the last month alone.

Following Monday’s broadcast, U.K. media regulator, Ofcom, said it received over 41,000 complaints about Good Morning Britain in response to Morgan’s actions. In a statement released by the company on Twitter, it said that it is launching a formal investigation into Monday’s episode of the show, specifically Morgan’s statements about Markle’s mental health, citing that it goes against Ofcom’s “harm and offence rules.”

ITV released a short statement which reads: “Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain. ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.”

So it appears that Morgan’s entire dislike of Markle is based on her lack of desire to maintain a relationship with him, which frankly is a phenomenon that reeks of sexism and misogyny. He is not entitled to her time, friendship, or anything else. Plain and simple. Morgan thinking otherwise — and then spending years criticizing her in front of millions of people — just goes to show that he should have been off the air a lot sooner.

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When Republican Senator Josh Hawley burst onto the scene as a more well-spoken mouthpiece for many of Donald Trump’s dangerous, far-right ideologies, he quickly became the new star of the GOP — little did they know how quickly his “poster boy” image would be tarnished. In a recent New York Times story, numerous people from Hawley’s life — from old school friends to academic advisers — spoke about their memories of the junior senator growing into the far-right conservative politician we know today. Some of it is expected, some of it is terrifying, but one piece of information is particularly bizarre.

“I do think there was something reflexively present in Josh from early on that aligned with that kind of thinking,” Dr. David Kennedy, Hawley’s former college advisor said of his former student’s rise to one of the Republican Party’s most prominent members.

But in one memory recounted by a former Stanford classmate, Hawley appeared to have been unhinged long before the rest of us knew it. According to his classmate, he had a sepia-toned poster of a shirtless male model cradling a newborn placed directly above his bed in his dorm. Sound strange? Well, it gets stranger. When asked by classmates about the peculiar poster, Hawley would allegedly explain that it represented his fervent stance against abortion. 

According to a 2007 Independent article, the monochrome image was one of the biggest-selling posters in British history in the ’80s, steadily selling millions of copies for years as the image came to represent the predicted arrival of a “New Man” who was both masculine and sensitive. But for Hawley, this image intended to portray the evolution of the male role in society seemed to stand in for his own pro-life ideals. Hawley even wrote about his stance in a series of columns for the conservative Stanford Review.

Josh Hawley at Stanford: “Above his bed he hung a sepia-toned poster of a shirtless male model cradling a newborn; when asked by classmates, he said it reflected his fervent stance against abortion.” Said poster:https://t.co/rTMANXTMnd pic.twitter.com/2lerwOKVkE

— Josh Barone (@joshbarone) March 8, 2021

This shouldn’t be a surprise coming from the man who, as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee, insisted that he would not support any Supreme Court nominee that didn’t publicly denounce Roe v. Wade. “I will vote only for those Supreme Court nominees who have explicitly acknowledged that Roe v. Wade is wrongly decided,” he told The Washington Post in July 2020. “By explicitly acknowledging, I mean on the record and before they were nominated.”

In 2019, Hawley defended the state of Missouri’s efforts to pass restrictive abortion laws saying they were a “direct response to the extremism” of abortion measures approved by Democratically-led states. And let’s not forget, he also refused to certify the 2020 election results and openly supported the Capitol insurrection on January 6 as a principled stand against the “radical left.”

When approached by the NYT, a spokesperson for Hawley said that he did not remember the poster but that “he’s proudly pro-life.”

So the poster, which strangely is the least concerning part of that story, is the only part he can’t quite recall clearly; however, his unwavering record of insisting that he knows better than women do about what they should and shouldn’t be allowed to do with their own bodies is crystal clear in his mind.

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Lady Gaga was photographed outside a hotel in Rome today sporting dark brown hair, a total 180 from her signature platinum blonde, which she had several weeks ago at the presidential inauguration. Though the rich brunette shade is in stark contrast to her usual look, it’s actually a return to her (literal) roots — and a possible signifier of an exciting upcoming project for the singer.

Over the last few days, Gaga has been spotted wearing a number of remarkable high-fashion looks, including a full-length leopard-print caftan by Celine. This time, she paired a white suit with seven-inch leather platform boots and her new dark hair in 1940s-style brushed-out curls.

The amped-up style game and dye job could very well be part of the star’s character development for her upcoming role in Ridley Scott’s fashion film Gucci, which also stars Jared Leto, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Adam Driver, reports Harper’s Bazaar. Gaga will portray Maurizio Gucci’s ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani, who was tried and convicted of orchestrating his assassination on the steps of his office in 1995.

This is the first film Gaga has taken on since her now-legendary performance in A Star Is Born in 2018. During and after filming, the performer and fashion chameleon experimented with her own style, channeling her onscreen persona in the process. She could be doing the same now — and if that’s the case, we can hopefully expect countless iconic glam moments from her in Gucci.

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Dolly Parton, the country music legend beloved by all, is working way more than 9 to 5 to make sure that as many people get the coronavirus vaccine as possible. While in Nashville on Tuesday, she got the Moderna vaccine, a treatment she helped fund, and released a special video of the process.

“Well, hey, it’s me,” she says, addressing her fans — which is everyone — in the video. “I’m finally gonna get my vaccine. I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting a while. I’m old enough to get it, and I’m smart enough to get it.” She posted the video on Twitter with the caption “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine.” The video quickly racked up more than a million views within the first few hours after posting it (obviously). 

Not only does she walk the walk, but Parton even wrote a song about it. “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine,” Parton sang, giving her famous song “Jolene” a viral rewrite. “I’m begging of you please don’t hesitate. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, because once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late.”

Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine. @VUMChealth pic.twitter.com/38kJrDzLqC

— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 2, 2021

Before the doctor arrived to give her the inoculation, Parton doubled down on her message: “I know I’m trying to be funny now, but I’m dead serious about the vaccine,” Parton continued. “I think we all want to get back to normal — whatever that is — and that would be a great shot in the arm, wouldn’t it? I just want to say to all of you cowards out there: Don’t be such a chicken squat. Get out there and get your shot.”

It’s comforting to see Parton get the vaccine, which she actually helped fund. Last year, the singer donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Together, with drug maker Moderna, it developed one of the first coronavirus vaccines to be authorized for use in the United States. According to the leader of the research effort, Dr. Mark Denison, it was the Dolly Parton’s donation that funded the project in its critical early stages before the federal government invested $1 billion to create and test the vaccine. Not only that, last month Parton told USA Today that even though she likely could jump the line to get the vaccine — she did play a big part in funding it after all — she planned to wait her turn just like everyone else. 

For someone whose fame spreads as far and as wide as Parton to be sending such a strong message about the vaccine is so important. There are few people who are universally beloved by so many different communities and demographics in the U.S., and it seems Parton knows the power of her influence — and she is using it for good. What we want to know is how many people will be humming the tune to “Jolene” and hearing vaccine now? We suspect quite a few.

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On Monday, a second former aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo accused him of sexual harassment, making for a total of three women to come forward so far. As an independent investigation begins, some are already calling for his resignation.

According to the aide, Charlotte Bennett, during the time that she worked as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration, he asked her intrusive questions about her sex life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships, and if she ever had sex with an older man. Bennett says this all took place late last spring and, according to The New York Times, is supported by texts. This comes days after another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, shared a detailed account of sexual harassment from Cuomo spanning several years. In October 2017, Boylan said that the governor suggested they play strip poker. Then, in 2018, she says that Cuomo kissed her on the lips. Anna Ruch, the third woman to accuse Cuomo, said that he made unwanted advances during a wedding reception in New York in 2019. 

On February 28, Cuomo issued an apologetic statement that seemed to confirm some of Bennett’s and Ruch’s accusations: “I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended.” He then acknowledged that these comments may “have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation.” However, Cuomo and his office have denied the allegations levied by Boylan and called for an independent investigation which will be led by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The situation is not unlike the circumstances that former Senator Al Franken faced before he resigned. On Tuesday, Franken started trending on Twitter as people discussed the similarities and differences between the two men. In the fall of 2017, eight women accused Franken of strikingly similar misconduct in which he inappropriately touched them during photos. Others recalled instances where he tried to forcibly kiss them. “I take thousands and thousands of pictures, sometimes in chaotic and crowded situations,” he said in an apology. “I can’t say I haven’t done that. I’m very sorry if these women experienced that.” After a stream of senators called on him to resign, he agreed.

Lines drawn between Cuomo and Franken’s allegations share another similarity: accountability from within their party. And since sexual misconduct is a bipartisan issue, it begs the question: Why are only Democrats holding members of their own party accountable?

This is not to say the Democratic party in totality is a shining example of accountability. And it certainly shouldn’t be about praising one party over another. In fact, as long as we are consistently encountering story after story of misconduct, no one should be patting themselves on the back. The issue here with the Republican party is the inconsistency and desire to protect their own.

More than 20 women have accused Former President Donald Trump of sexual assault, harassment, and misconduct. While case after case was mounted, his supporters in the Republican party did not demand an investigation, they didn’t call for him to resign, they didn’t even ask him to address it. They decided that Trump remaining in his position was more important to their end goals than calling out a pattern of inappropriate and criminal behavior.

And Trump is not the only one: In the past week alone, several women came forward accusing freshman Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn of sexual harassment and misconduct, and this has not seemed to set back his career in politics in the slightest. 

It is easy to point to the other side and call out misconduct and harassment. When Franken was accused, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was quick to issue a statement saying that Franken should face an ethics investigation or step down. McConnell notably did nothing about Trump’s 20+ accusations.

Sexually inappropriate and exploitative behavior should be universally condemned. When it is situationally castigated — political opponents being lambasted while closing ranks with tight lips when it is a member of your own party — it allows for boundaries and repercussions to be optional.

We preserve what we protect. If we preserve accountability, we protect the people who come forward. If we preserve a politician or a person in power in order to achieve our own ends, we protect abusers and the idea that inappropriate behavior won’t be followed by consequences. Cuomo should be held accountable, but let’s not forget that there are a lot more people who need to be held accountable as well. It can’t only be done when it’s easy.

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In one of her first moves as a new member of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren unveiled legislation this week that would introduce a tax on the net worth of the super-rich. As the coronavirus pandemic devastates the economy, disproportionately affecting lower-income households, the United States’ multi-millionaires and billionaires have actually seen their wealth increase exponentially. Warren now plans to combat that in a new proposal.

“This is a wealth tax that has been needed for a long time. We need it to produce more revenue, to create more opportunity in America,” Warren said in a statement. “But it is a wealth tax that we particularly need because of the changes in this country under the pandemic. We have watched the wealth of the billionaire class in America increase by more than a trillion dollars over the last year.” 

The proposal, called the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, would introduce a 2% annual tax on households and trusts over $50 million. Once exceeding $1 billion, an additional 1% annual surtax would be added. So just to really clarify: If you do not make or have a net worth of $50 million or more, you will not be affected by this tax. 

Warren and the group of lawmakers behind the wealth tax argue that it would go directly toward digging the U.S. out of the pandemic-induced economic crisis while also allocating funds toward infrastructural priorities like childcare and early education. If passed, it is estimated to generate $3 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years without raising taxes on 99.95% of American households. For reference, as a whole, that same percentage of U.S. residents does not have a collective net worth that would be enough to be subject to this tax, reports CBS.

But shortly after this legislation was announced, some hopped on Twitter to call it “political grandstanding,” or to remind people that the tax would keep happening every year, which amounts to a lot of money in the lifetime of a billionaire (which is kind of the point). Some argued that it would harm the businesses themselves and their employees. But one could argue that it does more harm to businesses and employees to keep a select few so wealthy that they couldn’t spend all their money in a lifetime if they tried.

The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act was released by Warren alongside Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Brendan Boyle. It is co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Brian Schatz, Ed Markey, and Mazie Hirono. With the 50-50 chamber split in the Senate, getting a majority — let alone a two-thirds majority — could prove exceptionally challenging. 

However, even though there seems to be a contentious divide among politicians, the idea of a wealth tax actually has widespread support among the American people. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last year showed that nearly two-thirds of Americans agreed that the very rich should be contributing more in taxes. This includes a majority of Republican voters. 

Perhaps that is the two-thirds majority Congress should be paying attention to.

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Julien Christian Lutz spends much of his day on Clubhouse, an invite-only audio app that has swiftly garnered widespread attention since its launch last year. Specifically, Lutz frequents a series of coronavirus chat rooms, where many users swap ideas about health care in the pandemic, discussing things like the ongoing vaccine rollout and COVID symptoms.

These discussions are not simple exchanges of information, though. Things often get heated, and Lutz is one of the platform’s many impassioned users — something that immediately became clear when he spoke with me recently via Instagram about his experience in Clubhouse’s medical chat rooms. In our first few exchanges, Lutz was careful to say that he was not an outright anti-vaxxer, nor would he ever explicitly tell someone not to get the coronavirus vaccine. But Lutz — who calls himself a “science communicator,” though perhaps is better known as a rather prolific music video director — also described himself as “pro-herbs,” and was more than happy to send me a PDF of studies he’d found showing the effectiveness of herbal remedies in treating and combating the symptoms of COVID-19. Her also told me, via Instagram: “For doctors to have this information and not act upon it is negligence!”

Lutz told me that he rarely encountered anti-vaxxers in his time on Clubhouse; mostly, he said, it was just full of people with a lot of questions. But that’s not quite the perspective that doctors have when it comes to their experience using the platform. For them, Clubhouse is a hub of conflicting information — including misleading medical advice. But, unfortunately, it seems like this is not a flaw of Clubhouse’s design, but is rather an accepted part of it.

Though still only in beta mode, Clubhouse has become a home for all manner of things. By allowing people to connect with complete strangers, the app creates opportunities for users to join live chat rooms to discuss or listen in on every subject from getting started in creative professions to burgeoning health trends. It’s informal and communal, which is part of its appeal. But that’s also why it has fallen prey to the great challenge facing all social media platforms — misinformation. Users can easily encounter a licensed medical practitioner or experienced virologist sharing scientifically backed information in the same room as someone who says that the vaccine is embedded with a tracking device or people with the best of intentions passing on unsupported information unknowingly.

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, a board-certified internal medicine physician, founded a club on the app called All Things Covid last month. Since then, it has grown to almost 25,000 members due in part to weekly Q&A with expert clinicians and scientists answering any and all questions about coronavirus. In these discussions, Ungerleider said that she and fellow physicians occasionally encounter audience members who are anti-vaccine.

“Since we’re very explicit that we’re a group of physicians and scientists who speak about evidence-based, data-driven issues related to the coronavirus, it is less frequent,” she explains. More often, Ungerleider says they encounter people who are skeptical or have questions. “There’s, of course, a difference between questioning the science, which we welcome, and being anti-science.”

Lutz said he spent quite a bit of time in those Clubhouse chatrooms. “I come in and present studies about medicinal plants,” he explained. “The doctors and I argue. The regular people cheer me on and start calling me Doctor X.” Despite the nickname, Lutz is not a doctor — another thing he is clear about mentioning to me in our messages on Instagram.

Even if Lutz is clear about presenting his credentials, that doesn’t mean everyone else is. And Clubhouse is far more difficult to moderate than platforms like Facebook, Reddit, or Twitter, because any record of the chat rooms disappears when they end, leaving no digital footprint. There is no documentation of the conversation once the room closes — it’s against community guidelines to record the chat rooms, and you can even get kicked off the app for doing so. And, there are currently no internal Clubhouse moderators, so fact-checking is near impossible.

Despite the lack of accountability, users are warning each other that outlandish coronavirus conspiracy theories are spreading quickly across the app, reports Vice. Everything from false rumors of 5G satellites controlling people via social distancing to the vaccine being made from fetal cells has proliferated in recent weeks. Medical professionals on Clubhouse have attempted to intercept this misinformation by calling it out and proactively sharing scientifically supported information, but many of those who have spoken out have faced harassment, abuse, and alleged death threats.

Ungerleider said she comes across anti-vaccine rooms with over 1,000 people in them at least a few times a week. “Occasionally physicians or scientists will enter the room to try to combat misinformation, but it is very challenging,” she explained. “Clubhouse does have many people who claim to be experts but are touting pseudoscience, and it’s very dangerous.”

Lutz, who said he is in “no rush” to get the vaccine and wants to wait and see how people he knew felt after a few months, does not see himself as one of the Clubhouse users “touting pseudoscience.” He advised me: “I hope you will represent what I am saying properly. You will be doing more harm than good if you discourage people from medicinal plants after I presented you with that PDF.”

When I asked Ungerleider about the herbal remedies Lutz said should be getting more attention as legitimate treatments for coronavirus, Ungerleider replied: “We haven’t seen any randomized controlled trials (the gold standard for medical research) show benefit for supplements, herbs in treating or preventing COVID, but more study is warranted.”

But while Ungerleider offered a measured response to Lutz’s assertions, the same courtesy isn’t often extended to her — or other doctors. Dr. Aya Osman, a neuroscientist, described her time on Clubhouse similarly to Ungerleider; from her experience, she’s had harsh criticism in rooms devoted to talking about the coronavirus vaccine.

“We tend to stay away from rooms that are blatantly anti-vaccine because you simply get attacked in those rooms,” Osman said, but then pointed out that “sometimes rooms are started to legitimately have questions answered,” and that those rooms often generate informative and productive discussions when they’re filled with a large number of doctors who make it their mission to spread scientifically backed data and information. It’s when doctors become outnumbered by people who don’t believe in the efficacy of the vaccine, says Osman, that the bullying can begin. 

This harassment isn’t limited to Clubhouse. One in four physicians who use social media reported being personally attacked according to a Stat News study. The most common reason? Vaccine advocacy.

“Honestly, it usually stems from misinformation that isn’t founded in data or facts,” Osman said. “And when you provide the actual facts it can go south.” However, she believes that the public’s considerable distrust of medical institutions stems from trauma. As a neuroscientist, Osman studies how the brain responds to trauma and she believes that fear of the vaccine is an understandable response to prolonged inequity that includes racially-biased medical treatment. For every staunch anti-vaxxer, Osman says she encounters far more cautious people simply looking for reliable information.

“People are honestly hungry for this information, she said. “I think during this pandemic people have seen how messy the scientific process can be. And so helping explain some of that to the public goes a very long way during a scary time like this.”

Dr. Hisham Yousif, who spent most of the past year working in a coronavirus intensive care unit, echoed this appetite for information and advocated patience with vaccine skeptics. “Do you antagonize them on their practices and beliefs, or meet them where they’re at and open their mind to another treatment option?” he responded. “A lot of these folks feel not listened to, disrespected by the medical establishment, etc. You have to understand people’s experiences. A lot of them are rooted in pain, trauma, and prior bad experiences.”

While the spectrum of Clubhouse users may run the gambit from a medical expert to a staunch anti-vaxxer, it seems like most people there are questioning things in good faith and trying to find reliable information. So how can Clubhouse, a fledgling social media platform, provide some level of certainty that the information users are coming across is accurate? There’s no post to review or flag feature right now, and that’s part of the problem. Still, Ungerleider believes there are ways to combat misinformation in this new landscape. She suggests Clubhouse adopt a verification system similar to Twitter. Refinery29 reached out to Clubhouse to see if they had any plans to implement a verification system for combating misinformation, but they did not yet respond.

“I think it would definitely help users to understand who the credible sources are on the platform and combat a lot of the misinformation,” said Ungerleider. In the meantime, she recommended that people seeking out vaccine information on Clubhouse really do their homework when it comes to the “experts” on the platform. “Take notes while on CH and spend time personally investigating by reading the science before making any major decisions. I also think asking questions of speakers and specifically asking about the evidence to support claims is important.”

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And the award for best 2021 Golden Globes red carpet accessory goes to Sarah Paulson… and her runway-ready Prada cast! Ahead of the show, the actress — who was nominated for a Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series in the Drama category for her role in Ratched — posed for Instagram in a black off-the-shoulder Prada gown, dangling silver earrings, and her arm wrapped in a cast emblazoned with the Italian luxury designer brand’s logo. 

Enlisting the help of celebrity stylist Karla Welch, Paulson turned the injury into a fashion statement. The purple-hued cast, that stretched from her fingers to above her elbow, offered a fun pop of color against the retro-esque dress. “When you’re Lady Paulson, you get a custom Prada cast to go with your custom Prada dress,” Welch captioned her Instagram post showing off the finished look.

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A post shared by Karla Welch (@karlawelchstylist)

Just hours before the award show was set to kick off, Paulson shared a photo of her arm wrapped up and under ice packs. “So this happened,” she captioned the image. It’s not yet known how exactly Paulson was injured.

Here’s hoping she has a speedy recovery and matches her cast to her outfits until then.

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January Jones and Kiernan Shipka have already won the 2021 Golden Globes best-dressed award. The two former Mad Men co-stars re-wore their dresses from when they attended the award show in 2011.

“10 years later and it still (sorta) fits,” Jones wrote alongside a throwback photo of herself wearing the red Versace cutout gown then and now. Not one to be left out, Shipka reprised her Golden Globes look — a velvet mini dress with a ruffled collar — as well. “I heard we’re putting on our Golden Globes looks from 10 years ago,” Shipka wrote in her Instagram post, adding her own photo alongside Jones’ picture and the throwback photo of the two of them wearing the dresses when she was 11.

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A post shared by Kiernan Shipka (@kiernanshipka)

“I believe this is called upcycling now,” Jones joked in Shipka’s Instagram comments. Fans of Mad Men flooded their Instagram posts demanding their outfits get an award. 

In 2011, Mad Men was nominated for Best Drama Series, Jon Hamm was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, and Elisabeth Moss was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series. And even though the show didn’t win that year, it swept the same category earlier, in 2008, 2009, and 2010. 

With COVID-19 forcing actors who attend award shows to continuously get creative with how they dress for the red carpet, taking a trip down memory lane is one way to keep things fresh while virtually attending from home. 

With any luck, the former Drapers have sparked a trend and we’ll see some more throwbacks throughout the night.

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