Meg Stalter won the Emmys red carpet by dressing up as the award show’s iconic statue.
The “Hacks” star walked the carpet with series co-creator and her co-star Paul W. Downs — and she was dressed all in gold with matching skin, wings and the iconic Emmy statue’s globe held above her head. Downs was dressed rather conservatively in a tux alongside her.
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Stalter is nominated this year for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy — repping her first Emmy nomination. On the carpet, Stalter noted that she was just back in town after her stint on Broadway playing the title character in “Oh, Mary!”
Downs is also nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy, in addition to writing and as an executive producer (both with Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky) for “Hacks.” Together, Downs and Stalter played Jimmy and Kayla on the show.
Stalter and Downs frequently collaborate on eye-popping red carpet looks, like wearing Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner’s bright orange “Marty Supreme” premiere outfits to the Critics Choice Awards red carpet in January.
Stalter recently spoke with The New Yorker about her inspiration behind her outrageous red carpet collaborations with Downs.
“I think it happened because we loved to improv with each other. I feel like I like to do a lot of bits in general, on the red carpet or events, and the orange outfits opened up a world,” she said. “Paul and I had so much fun together doing that that we were just, like, ‘Why wouldn’t we want to do something weird every time?’ I think it’s one of those things where, if there’s an opportunity to bring my comedy, I’ll take it. If at stage door people are there waiting to meet you, why wouldn’t we do something funny like dress as nurses? They all have their cameras out. They’re all ready to meet us and laugh. It’s more fun for us. Why not?”
“Hacks” recently wrapped its fifth and final season. The series is up for 24 Emmy nominations at this year’s ceremony.
At the black-tie premiere of HBO Max’s upcoming docuseries Jay-Z in 8 on Sunday at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, the rapper and mogul reflected on his recent run of shows at Yankee Stadium, his lengthy talks with producer and director Rick Rubin for the series and how some of what he raps about on his debut album has manifested in his life.
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The series, which premieres Sunday, caps an active summer for Jay-Z, who headlined the Roots Picnic festival, his first performance on top of a bill in six years. And in July, the rap superstar commemorated the 25th and 30th anniversaries of his albums, The Blueprint, and his debut, Reasonable Doubt, with a series of concerts at Yankee Stadium. The shows shattered attendance records at the stadium and featured an array of famous guests, including Rihanna, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, Eminem, Nas and many more.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet Sunday, Jay-Z reflected on performing songs from his early records for a massive audience decades after they were recorded.
“It was just phenomenal to have these songs still resonate,” he said. “And they weren’t made for such a big venue. So to see ‘Can I Live’ or ‘D’Evils’ connect in such big stadiums — it’s a testament to the work that was created.”
As for the nostalgia of performing songs written when he was in his mid-to-late 20s, the man who came out of Brooklyn’s Marcy Houses to be worth an estimated $2.8 billion, per Forbes, said plenty of his life is laid out on those tracks.
“Just going back through there, there were a lot of things that were said — a lot of manifesting in those songs,” he explained. “A lot of those things came true. So to just go back and connect with those things — it’s just a phenomenal feeling, because you believe it at the time and you hope. And now, reflecting, a lot of those things came true.”
The conversations in the forthcoming series take place in a desolate museum and are one-on-one with Rubin, the Def Jam Records founder and a pioneering hip-hop producer behind notable records from Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy and the Geto Boys, as well as the seminal Jay-Z track “99 Problems.” Over the course of the series, the two walk through Jay-Z’s career and discuss his lyrics, life experiences and creative process. Their long history and Rubin’s deep knowledge of hip-hop made the shoot a breeze for the rap icon.
“I know Rick so well; it’s easy talking to him. And because he’s so studied, he was able to pick up on a lot of what I was saying and take it in different places,” he told THR. “He’s super curious, so it wasn’t like sitting for an interview. He’s really genuinely curious about what we were talking about, and it makes for a fascinating conversation.”
Sunday’s black-tie affair saw stars of the hip-hop world and beyond step out to watch the first two episodes of the series and pay respect to the man Vibe called “the greatest rapper of all time” in 2023. Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Yo Gotti, Charlamagne tha God, Winnie Harlow, Gunna, Rubin and Neil deGrasse Tyson were among those spotted at the event’s red carpet. Before the screening began, Jay-Z’s wife, Beyoncé, reportedly slipped in to watch the premiere at his side.
Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya, who serves as an executive producer alongside Jay-Z and Rubin on the docuseries, spoke about his interest in the rapper and why his legacy deserves this multi-part treatment.
“He tells the truth. He’s honest. He wears it out. His tone is very much of that generation of New York, and that’s fascinating — his story represents a lot of things that have happened with American society,” Kaluuya told THR. “He’s documenting what he’s around, and the environment and the culture that allowed Jay-Z to rise to the top of it.” %!s()
Key indicators of democracy in the US have fallen to their lowest levels in 50 years, with the global rule of law significantly undermined by the Trump administration’s “threats and actions”, data from a leading thinktank shows.
The intergovernmental organisation’s annual Global State of Democracy report is considered the most comprehensive of its kind, covering 174 countries and measuring democratic performance since 1975.
International Idea said the decline in the US was particularly marked, but part of a global trend, with 2025 the 11th consecutive year in which more countries declined than improved democratically – the longest continuous downturn since the thinktank’s records began.
“In 2025, the global challenges to democracy and the difficulty in stemming its erosion were both exemplified and compounded by political developments in the United States,” the report’s authors said.
“President Donald Trump quickly amassed power in the executive branch and wielded it to further a narrow set of personal goals and pursue retaliation against perceived enemies … The results have been far-reaching, undermining the rule of law domestically and internationally and testing longstanding alliances and multilateral cooperation.”
Donald Trump has made repeated false claims about the integrity of US elections. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Kevin Casas-Zamora, International Idea’s secretary general, warned that the risk of conflict rose as democracies deteriorated.
“The key message from our research is that investing in democracy should be at the heart of any country’s security strategy,” he said. “The connection between the erosion of the quality of democracy and increasing conflict is not being made either in policymaking or in the public debate.”
The separate Uppsala Conflict Data Program, based at Uppsala University in Sweden, shows that 2025 had the most violent conflicts – including the most interstate conflicts – of any year in its dataset, which goes back to 1946.
The International Idea report did highlight some positive developments, including in Australia – where civil society groups were consulted on an anti-racism strategy and children’s online privacy among other issues – and in Syria, where the repressive dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown.
Casas-Zamora said it was clear that events in the US influenced other countries. International Idea added the US to its list of “backsliding” democracies for the first time in 2021, pointing to a “visible deterioration” it said began in 2019.
Young voters celebrate in Nepal after the election of a new government in March. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters
The thinktank bases its assessments on 50 years of democratic indicators, assigning countries to one of three categories: democracies, “hybrid” governments and authoritarian regimes.
Globally, it found rule of law was the weakest area of democracy in 2025, with 71 countries – 41% of those assessed – ranked as low-performing. It was also found to be deteriorating quickly, with 29 countries registering downturns.
“Whatever happens in the US goes global. There is now an epidemic of election denialism, of which the patient zero is the current occupant of the White House,” Casas-Zamor said.
“I am not willing to say the deterioration of the quality of democracy is inevitable or permanent. It can be reversed,” he added. “We live in a volatile world and that means things can happen which create very positive political openings.”
Yet, despite the positive signs in Nepal, Bangladesh and elsewhere, the report paints a bleak picture overall.
“While people continue to push back against democratic deterioration, civic space is narrowing,” its authors wrote. “Civil society and civic engagement have suffered, due in part to the widespread use of strategic lawsuits against public participation, foreign agent laws, and the criminalisation of peaceful protests.” %!s()
Donald Trump Jr.'s wife, Bettina Trump, confirmed that their May wedding was paid for in part by an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A post on her Instagram account - attributed to the couple - said that two nights of their three-day wedding festivities on a private island in the Bahamas were partially funded by Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin.
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The statement was released Monday after investigative journalism outlet ProPublica published a story detailing that Kremlev paid "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for the celebration.
Donald Trump Jr., one of the US president's sons, is a private citizen, so it's not illegal for him to accept gifts from a foreign national.
"Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful," the couple said in the statement.
But ethics watchdog groups said it still presented the appearance of a conflict of interest for the president's son to accept lavish gifts from someone associated with a foreign head of state - even if he is not a US government employee.
"People don't just give hundreds of thousands of dollars to a random acquaintance without wanting something," said Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
"You can see how [Putin] would enjoy all this press about how people in his circle are cozying up to people in the president's circle."
According to the ProPublica article, the couple was married on a private island in the Bahamas, then held a two-day celebration on a separate island that rents for approximately $100,000 per night. Kremlev also paid other costs for the party, including a roughly $70,000 fireworks display, the report found.
Kremlev runs the International Boxing Association (IBA), an organization funded by the state-backed Gazprom energy company. The Olympic Committee suspended the group in part over its failure to report its ties to the Russian energy giant.
Earlier this year Kremlev was part of a delegation that visited China with Putin. The Russian president also gave Kremlev the Order of Friendship, a top state honor, according to ProPublica.
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. told the news outlet that the president's son and Kremlev were personal friends and did not have "a business relationship."
An ally of Trump Jr. referred the BBC to the Instagram statement.
In a statement to ProPublica, Kremlev's office said "Mr. Kremlev and Mr. Trump Jr have a friendly relationship." The statement said the men met a few years ago.
Kremlev attended part of the wedding, the outlet reported. Other attendees included one of the US president's daughters, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who has worked for the US on diplomatic negotiations with Iran, Russia and in the Middle East.
The Trump campaign and family faced controversy for potential ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential election, resulting in a special counsel investigation. During the campaign Donald Trump Jr. brokered a meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian operative that was closely scrutinized during the probe.
Libowitz, of CREW, said either the president, who is a billionaire, or Trump Jr. -- who is worth $300 million, according to Forbes -- could have paid for the full wedding to avoid a conflict of interest.
"His father is worth billions he could have picked up the tab. Clearly they just didn't want to pay for it," Libowitz said. "They don't really care about the ethical ramifications." %!s()
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will have a review of their publicly funded security following their return to the UK.
The royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), which oversees tax-funded security for royalty and public figures, is to reconsider Harry and Meghan’s level of police protection.
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The committee met last week to discuss the couple’s case, now they and their children are full-time residents in the UK and not just visitors.
It will be the first risk assessment for Meghan since the couple stepped back as working members of the royal family in 2020.
Harry was granted a review of his security in July but has yet to receive a decision.
The Telegraph has reported that Ravec’s chair informed Harry last week the committee had commissioned a new risk assessment and a separate one for Meghan, in light of their return to the UK.
The committee has reportedly asked the couple to provide their schedules and daily routine, including the school run, to inform their decision.
Last year, Harry lost a legal challenge against the Home Office after the automatic tax-funded security for him and his family was withdrawn when the couple stood down as working royals.
“The UK is my home,” said Harry in his witness statement. “The UK is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the US. That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe when they are on UK soil. I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”
The couple returned to the UK on 26 August. Soon after, a formal letter was issued on behalf of King Charles, reiterating their status as non-working royals.
The letter stated the couple were “akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests” and “any operational security issues should continue to be directed to the relevant police authorities”.
The Sussexes also decided on Monday to switch their children to a new school just two days after they started, reportedly due to security concerns over the long journey and heavy traffic.
“The decision for the children to move school was taken following a discussion with the family’s security team about the practicalities of their current arrangements,” a family spokesperson told Hello! magazine.
“The parents remain extremely grateful to all the teachers and staff for the love, care and effort they have shown their family.
“This decision should in no way be interpreted as a reflection on the school or the exceptional care the children have received there.” %!s()
