Dear reader,

The internet was a HYSTERICAL place this week.

Did you guys see the Pennsylvania mayor who was CONDEMNING the police officer who quit to be on Love Island? I died.

So the mayor of Bethlehem, PA, J. Williams Reynolds, made this statement:

And that last line did me in. LIKE SIR, where have you been the last 10 years? BLM? ACAB? Does any of that ring a bell? Maybe, influencer culture?

I mean, come on. It is absolutely not a shock to ANYONE that someone would prefer to go to a tropical island, be on a reality show, and hopefully become an influencer, than be a cop in the 2020s.

This was the best comment:

Not even a question.

And what makes it even funnier is that yes, this contestant, Sean Reifel, is a new-ish cop in Pennsylvania, BUT THEY DIDN’T TRAIN HIM! He came from California with four years of experience already under his belt, according to his mom who was going to bat for him in the comments section:

Now a couple things came to mind here. Number 1, yes, this mayor needs to get with the times and consider the world he’s living in. But number 2, I do think this brings up an interesting conversation about masculinity.

Because while in 2026 it's unsurprising that a man would choose reality TV and fame over being a policeman, I’m sure that wasn’t always the case. Think about the great warriors and heroes of the past and how they would BALK at the priorities of some modern day men. But again, who can blame them? He sees the potential for a life on Easy Mode, and societal messages broadly say that fame alone is a worthwhile pursuit.

For stories about REAL masculine men, check out these recent episodes:

Now, another “masculine” individual out there is Cynthia Erivo. JUST KIDDING! But also not.

The star of the WICKED movies has been speaking out about her relationship with Ariana Grande and that viral moment when she stepped in to defend Ariana from a fan who ran onto the red carpet. Masculine AF.

Now at the time, people really latched onto that story because of their preexisting codependent relationship. The crying, the hand (and finger) holding, the finishing each other’s sentences, the emaciated look they shared. So her being Ariana’s knight in shining armor was simply more fodder for the online conversation.

But to Cynthia, this is a conversation about black women… of course.

GIRL, PLEASE. Can we stop bringing race into everything? This isn’t about blackness or your stature, it was about your relationship. And that co-dependency that people were picking up on and joking about had literally nothing to do with your bald head, your shape, or the color of your skin. Seriously.

The default to race is a lame, lazy excuse.

And lastly, Jake Short (yes, the same Jake Short most of us used to see on Disney Channel) is a lame, lazy excuse of a boyfriend. Or I guess I should say, ex boyfriend.

So let’s back up.

The hit show right now is called OFF-CAMPUS. I haven’t watched it yet, but it is all over my FYP, my girls on the Toast (my favorite podcast) are talking about it constantly, and my producer loved it.

And one of the female stars of this show, Mika Abdalla, was engaged to Disney Channel alum, Jake Short. 

Now the moment OFF-CAMPUS came out, people started hoping that Mika and her male love interest/co-star would get together. The storyline was hot and heavy, the off camera chemistry was THERE, and so when the news broke that Mika and Jake had called off their engagement, the world wasn’t surprised.

Usually, these types of stories make me sad. Relationships in Hollywood are hard. We have seen it time and time again. Lines get blurred, there is jealousy, PR/marketing relationships get taken too far - a la Sydney Sweeney and Glenn Powell, and so people online had honestly expected to see these OFF-CAMPUS actors slowly become single as their fame increased.

But then another layer came out, and suddenly, I didn’t feel bad at all. Just take a look at how Jake Short was SPEAKING to Mika - his girlfriend at the time - publicly on his podcast:

So TLDR: he would DESCRIBE HIS GIRLFRIEND as “some b*tch.”

And the best part is, he wasn’t on the podcast alone. He was there with his best friend Bradley Steven Perry (another Disney Alum) and Natasha Bure (Cameron Bure’s daughter) who are now married and expecting their first baby. 

And the look on their faces was PRICELESS. I think they spoke for the entire internet with that one:

But the “some b*tch” line wasn’t all. If you made it to the end of that video, you would have seen Mika express that she was cold and ask Jake for his shirt. If I’m psychoanalyzing the situation, it looks like she is begging him - and giving him an opportunity - to redeem himself and prove to the world that he isn’t an awful boyfriend. Even if he IS, asking for the shirt seemed like a desperate cover.

And he failed that test too.

SO GOOD RIDDANCE.

There are jokey, ball-busting relationships, and then there are relationships where people are hell-bent on putting down their significant other - probably because it boosts their own ego. This situation seemed like the latter.

Okay, that’s all for now! Don’t get diabetes from all the Kool-Aid pineapples!!

Talk soon,

BC