Month: January 2026

Ikea’s Swedish meatballs are a signature of its food court, but a new item on the menu also holds cultural significance in the store’s native Scandinavia.

​Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Last week, famed defense attorney Alan Jackson withdrew from Nick Reiner’s case just hours before Reiner was due in court for his arraignment.

The news came as a shock to many, and the judge in Reiner’s case was forced to postpone the arraignment.

A week later, Reiner is still being represented by a public defender — an extreme rarity in a celebrity murder case — and Jackson is finally breaking his silence on this bizarre situation.

Appearing on Billy Bush’s “Hot Mic” podcast, Jackson gave his first interview since his withdrawal from the case.

Unfortunately, he cited attorney-client privilege as his reason for providing very little detail.

“That’s a confidential communication between a lot of folks that I’m not willing to disclose,” Jackson explained (per Page Six).

While he refused to go into specifics, he noted that the withdrawal was not the result of a payment issue.

“You can’t say that something happened with the retainer because I’ve never said that,” Jackson explained, adding:

“Obviously, something happened with my ability, and my team’s ability, to continue the representation, but I don’t want you, your audience or anybody else to start speculating as to what that might be. I have not said a word about it.”

He also noted that he definitively will not be returning to Reiner’s defense team, saying:

“Once I’m done, I’m done. I’ve withdrawn.”

As for how he came to represent Reiner in the first place, Jackson revealed that he received a phone call in the “very early hours of December 15.″ He refused to identify the caller.

“I have to show fealty and loyalty to the confidentiality that attends that kind of phone call … I can tell you that immediately thereafter, I dropped everything,” he told Bush.

“I sent out a notice to my team here back in Los Angeles … I got on a flight nearly immediately.”

Reiner, of course, has been charged with the murders of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner.

He is currently being held without bail and is due back in court for on February 23, at which time he’ll finally be arraigned.

Jackson has represented numerous famous clients, including, most recently, Karen Read, who was acquitted of the murder of her police officer husband last year.

We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.

Nick Reiner Attorney Breaks Silence on Sudden Withdrawal From Case was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.

​The Hollywood Gossip

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Grand Theft Auto Online players have gone too far for the company’s tastes.

In case you’ve missed his widow’s unending spectacle, Charlie Kirk’s death continues to incite strong reactions.

Even far-right grifters have faced violence if they don’t discuss Kirk in exactly the right tone.

Some GTAO players were effectively reenacting the podcaster’s death, in-game. They’re getting into trouble over it.

‘Grand Theft Auto Online’ is cracking down on one specific form of player expression

In Grand Theft Auto Online, players can create custom missions for each other.

Sometimes, it’s to show off their creativity. Other times, it’s to set a particular challenge. And then, of course, there are the memes.

As recent videos on social media highlight, one of those memes has spawned from the September 10, 2025 death of the far-right podcaster.

In this custom in-game scenario that a player set up, an NPC (non-player character) stands idly under the canopy of a fruit vendor stall on the campus of University of San Andreas, Los Santos campus.

(There are many recordings online; this one is short and to the point)

On the rooftop, the player has a sniper rifle, and must then snipe the NPC.

A graphic appears, saying: “Mission Passed.”

To be clear, Rockstar (the company that creates the Grand Theft Auto series and is accused of some nasty union-busting) did not create the scenario.

Instead, the game featured tools — as many games do — for players to set up their own missions.

The mission title is “We Are Charlie Kirk.” As you may or may not be aware, an AI-generated “song” with that title emerged less than a week after the white nationalist’s death.

Rockstar is explaining its censorship policy

TMZ spoke to Rockstar, who said that missions like this one are reported to the trust and safety team and then deleted.

The company also acknowledged that they have added the dead podcaster’s name to the game’s “profanity” list, effectively censoring its use.

Rockstar’s goal isn’t to censor people trying to discuss the divisive figure. Quite the opposite: it seems that the company’s goal is to prevent people from mocking him or quipping memes about him.

It’s their company and they can choose how to limit gameplay and discussion on their platform (up to a point). Just as it’s the choice of players whether to play.

That said, it probably sucks for a lot of players who were having a good time with their friends who now find their work undone and have to move some simple conversations to Discord to avoid censorship.

There are many scenarios where companies intercede in in-game player expression for a good cause.

Over the years, developers of multiplayer games and moderators of online discussions have had to step in end hateful displays in various forms. Welcoming bigotry means chasing out everyone else.

Hate speech has surged in recent years, flourishing in conservative circles and spreading from there.

Tech companies have gleefully abandoned responsibility, with companies like Meta shifting to the right in pursuit of unregulated profit.

Of course, the Kirk thing isn’t really hate speech and also doesn’t really apply to anyone but the Christian nationalist himself, who is not playing these games and who is also no longer alive.

Is the Kirk vengeance cycle still going strong?

The week or two after Kirk’s death, America felt like a world gone mad.

According to Reuters, as many as 600 people lost their jobs or faced other disciplinary action at work for more or less not reacting “properly” to the viral video. Police held a man in jail for 37 days with no legal justification over his comments.

That man is suing, and he is not alone. It turns out that not mourning enough is not a crime. Even when the person who died is a good person, but also when they were not.

This move by Rockstar feels like an extension of September’s vengeful frenzy. But it’s hard to see how players could sue over this. It sucks, but playing the game is optional, and Rockstar is allowed to rain on their parade.

Some credit Erika Kirk’s controversies for helping a few people in society come to their senses about the post-Kirk backlash.

Charlie Kirk Assassination Reenactments Banned in ‘Grand Theft Auto Online’ was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.

​The Hollywood Gossip