This Week

• The pope in the age of TikTok.

• The Met Gala moment I’ll never get over.

• Lady Gaga broke a record and I have questions.

• Kelly Clarkson, iconic again.

• Countess Luann, iconic always.

The New Breakout Pop(e) Star 

I know more about Pope Leo XIV—Cardinal Robert Prevost, if you’re nasty—after the last 24 hours than I’ve known about any other pope in my lifetime. 

Welcome to the papal digital age. The pontiff is going to be a TikTok star. 

The conclave choosing a successor to Pope Francis was already the rare monoculture moment at a time when everyone’s attention is divided into 45 directions, warring politics make universal conversation impossible, and the only instance we’re all ever talking about the same thing is when incest is happening on HBO. 

The fact that he’s American and from Chicago, and therefore ripe for a million memes, made the selection even more of a cultural moment. 

The water cooler has been filled with Holy Water, and we’re all belly flopping into it. Baptism by social-media cannonball. 

I’m a gay Irish Catholic cliché, which means I’m lapsed when it comes to going to mass, still say prayers every day out of habit, and feel guilty about something or other 90 percent of the time. The pope has always been a big deal in my life, but there’s something about Pope Leo that, just in this last day, feels huge. 

Monoculture may be disappearing, but stan culture is thriving. There’s almost a Tiger Beat-esque vibe to the pureness and earnestness of cheering for Pope Leo. Nothing in the Year of Our Internet 2025 remains positive for long—surely, backlash will be brewing—but in the immediate moment, the pope has transcended from religious and cultural figure to something more akin to a major Hollywood celebrity. It’s fascinating. 

Thursday was a hilarious day to be on the internet. The sheer number of memes that were being made about Pope Leo and the fact that Cardinal Prevost was from Chicago was overwhelming, in the best way. I spent the day in the steady hum of giggle, just scrolling through posts and jokes mashing up Catholic humor and Chicago stereotypes. As Pope Leo was being meme’d on the scale of Katy Perry being sent to space, I wondered what it will mean to have a pope that is so accessible to the Extremely Online. 

We’re all nothing if not narcissists, so the fact that Pope Leo is American immediately makes him more important to us. And that lingual kinship quickly brings into focus all the other ways that he may be more relatable. 

He’s the first pope who may have voted for Kelly Clarkson on American Idol. He probably is aware of Jersey Shore and Keeping Up With the Kardashians; in other words, the pope could have a conversation about Snooki and Kim K. We know what baseball team he roots for. It’s a fair bet that he also saw Conclave.

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was, that the conclave made TikTok stars out of several cardinals. Cardinals Tagle, Zuppi, and Pizzaballa were the subject of fancams and loving videos of the kind typically reserved for celebrity crushes like Shawn Mendes or Timothée Chalamet. (All due respect to Cardinal Prevost, but the fact that we could have had a Pope Pizzaballa is like a 30 Rock joke coming to life, in the best way.)

We’re in an age where public figures are stalked, exalted, and turned more into brands than humans on social media. It’s bizarre, but also makes sense, that an event like the conclave and papal selection happening at this moment of digital media means that the pope is among those social stars. 

There’s obviously a lot of curiosity over what the new era of the Catholic Church will be like with Pope Leo in charge. But there’s also going to be a new era of papal celebrity that accompanies that. I even expect the Vatican, who already made semi-controversial moves like setting up a Twitter account for the pope, to use that to its advantage. 

Are we ready for a pontiff who may one day ask us to smash the like button and subscribe?

Today’s Top Entertainment News 

• Chloe Fineman Takes a Teen to Sex Goddess Bootcamp in ‘Summer of 69’
• The Beach Scene In ‘Hacks’ Is What True Love Looks Like
• Elmo Posted About Getting Laid Off From ‘Sesame Street’ Because of Trump

The Fashion Nightmare of the Year 

I can’t stop thinking about—and may never stop thinking about—the Rosa Parks panties.

When the Met Gala theme honoring Black style and tailoring was announced and we started our coverage plans for The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, I casually mentioned, “I’m sure there’s going to be some celebrity who does something horrifyingly tone deaf and offensive.” 

My brain was operating in Before Times, when we could rely on a foolish white actress to do blackface or do her hair in dreadlocks. Never could I imagine that the biggest global superstar would have a portrait of a civil rights icon on her hoo-ha.

The biggest fashion story from this year’s Met Gala was Lisa, the breakout star from K-Pop sensation Blackpink who also played Mook in The White Lotus. Part of her Louis Vuitton outfit, which was styled by the brand’s men’s creative director Pharrel Williams, involved panties that had faces stitched into the design of the fabric. (Like many of the brand’s looks for the night, the outfit was confusingly pantsless.)

In a statement, the brand swears that the face that everyone assumed was Rosa Parks isn’t actually Rosa Parks, but the image of a friend of the underwear’s designer. Depending on how much you trust PR crisis damage control, you can believe that.

Still, the snafu that it could be perceived by anyone with eyes and an education in American history to be the face of a civil rights hero sitting pretty on the private muffin of a pop star is a pretty wild error for a major fashion brand to make. And one that I may never stop gasping about.

Lady Gaga Set a Massive Record 

Lady Gaga played a concert for a reported 2.5 million people at Copa Cabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It set a record for the highest attendance at a concert ever performed by a female artist, breaking Madonna’s previous achievement of 1.6 million. 

The photos and videos of the crowd are astonishing. Just endless throngs of people, stretching back for what seems like endless blocks, all with their necks craned at massive video screens showing the concert for attendees who are way too far away to even have a prayer of seeing the singer or the stage. 

It’s so cool that Gaga broke this record and that fans turned out in such wildly huge numbers. That said, I have questions. 

How early did people get there? How long did it take to get home when the concert was over? Food??? Bathroom???!!! How loud was the show if 2.5 million people were able to hear it? What happened to the other businesses that were at the beach? Were people just like eating McDonald’s while millions of people were dancing to “Abracadabra” next to them? And, mostly, was it worth it?

How All Songs Should Be Written 

Honestly, I don’t get why more songs aren’t inspired by Meryl Streep. 

Kelly Clarkson said that she wrote her new song “Where Have You Been” after being particularly moved by a scene in Only Murders in the Building between Meryl Streep and Martin Short. 

The scene is when the pair talk about how they may be each other’s soul mates after years of searching. Short’s character asks Streep’s character, “Where have you been?” 

Of all the reasons I love Kelly Clarkson, the fact that she wrote a banger of a love song after watching an episode of a Hulu comedy series is surging to the top of the list. 

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Rest in Peace, Darling 

Countess Luann taking a moment to tell Pope Francis to “rest in peace, darling” while on the Bravo talk show Watch What Happens Live is a moment I will cherish forever. 

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed 

• Elsbeth Tascioni herself, actress Carrie Preston, dishes about the Elsbeth season finale. Read more.
• Even Bravo fans think that the reality TV scandals are getting too dark these days. Read more.
• #TamiTaylor4ever. Connie Britton is giving the Queer Eye treatment to single moms. Read more.

• Forever: A Judy Blume book that’s frequently banned from schools is adapted into a lovely Netflix series. (Now on Netflix)

• Caught by the Tides: This is a small movie, but it’s a gem worth seeking out. (Now in theaters)

• Fight or Flight: The Josh Harnett-aissance is alive and well. (Now in theaters)

• Nonnas: Italian grandmas deserve so much better. (Now on Netflix)

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