The U.S. is home to many eclectic and vibrant cities, but this southern neighborhood’s celebration of culture and food makes it a truly unique place.
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Month: May 2026
Elizabeth Smart is ready to embrace her body.
Though the activist was admittedly hesitant to share pictures of herself competing in a bodybuilding competition last month, she said the…
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In a 17-game season, starting off slowly can be the difference between reaching the playoffs and making plans for vacations to warmer climates in January. Look no further than the Minnesota Vikings, who dealt with injuries to starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy early and started the year 4-8, but finished on a five-game winning streak and a half-game out of the postseason. The Vikings looked to rectify that issue this offseason by signing former No. 1 overall draft pick Kyler Murray to compete with McCarthy for the No. 1 quarterback job, providing a better opportunity to compete in the NFC North. A slow start could also cost head coaches and general managers their jobs. The Tennessee Titans needed just six games to determine that they saw enough of head coach Brian Callahan last season, while the New York Jets only needed five games to fire Robert Saleh during the 2024 season. So, now that we know what the schedule looks like for the 2026 NFL season, let’s take a look at five teams that need a fast start to the upcoming year. After winning four straight NFC South titles, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and head coach Todd Bowles find themselves under pressure entering the 2026 season. The Bucs not only lost seven of their last eight games last season, missing the postseason and finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2019, but they’re also replacing a pair of foundational stalwarts. Wide receiver Mike Evans left the team to sign with the San Francisco 49ers, and linebacker Lavonte David announced his retirement. So, Bowles will now enter the season on the hot seat while also having to replace a pair of franchise icons. Bowles has a 35-33 record and has taken the team to the playoffs in three of his first four years of the helm. But can he prove that last season was a blip? Bowles is on the hot seat after last season’s poor finish and needs a strong start to avoid a potential midseason firing. That starts with better play from quarterback Baker Mayfield, who began 2025 strong but scuffled down the stretch, finishing with just one 300-yard passing performance in his last 12 games. Mayfield has some added motivation this season, entering a contract year. A Week 2 matchup with the Cleveland Browns could also spark some extra juice for Mayfield. The Bucs added reinforcements in the draft to a defense that finished No. 27 in pass defense last year, selecting polished Miami (Fla.) pass rusher Rueben Bain in the first round, along with linebacker Josiah Trotter, safety Keionte Scott and defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart. The 49ers somehow managed to deftly navigate a rash of injuries and reach the postseason in the toughest division in football, finishing third in the NFC West. But San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan will have a tough time playing catch-up this season, facing four playoff teams in the final seven games, along with Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs and the John Harbaugh-led New York Giants on the road in the backstretch of the season. That’s why it’s important for the 49ers to start the season strong. They will have some adjustments to make, with Raheem Morris taking over for the departed Robert Saleh as the team’s defensive coordinator. The 49ers added edge rusher Romello Height and interior pass rusher Gracen Holten in the draft to help improve one of the worst pass rushes in the league. San Francisco starts the year with a tough international contest in Australia against the Super Bowl favorites, the Los Angeles Rams, and will log a league-high 38,105 miles during the season. That includes another international contest against the Minnesota Vikings in Mexico City in Week 11. However, after the Rams, the 49ers have winnable games at home against the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals, so surviving that initial tough road game against Los Angeles and stacking some wins early will be important for Shanahan’s 49ers if they want to have a chance to push for the postseason late in the year. The second — and final — year of the Aaron Rodgers era is officially underway in Pittsburgh, with the Cal product agreeing to a one-year deal, reuniting with his old head coach, Mike McCarthy. Rodgers helped lead the Steelers to the postseason in 2025, which resulted in another early, opening-round exit for the Steel City. But how long will the Steelers stick with Rodgers if they get off to a slow start this season? Pittsburgh drafted Will Howard in the sixth round last year and Drew Allar in the third round this season as development prospects to groom behind the future Hall of Famer. Scouts I spoke with in the pre-draft process liked Allar’s upside, believing he has all the tools to develop into a starting NFL quarterback. If Rodgers struggles early, it increases the urge for McCarthy to hit the eject button on his 42-year-old quarterback and turn to the development of Allar or Howard, especially with the future Hall of Famer announcing that the 2026 season is it for him. Therefore, it will be important for Rodgers to get some wins early, much like Pittsburgh’s 5-3 start in 2025. And the schedule obliges, with only one game against a playoff team last season (New England Patriots) in Pittsburgh’s first eight contests. The Steelers also face the Cleveland Browns twice, and host the Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts at home in the first five games. Speaking of the Colts, general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen are once again on the hot seat, missing the playoffs for a fifth season in a row after starting 8-2 in 2025. Indianapolis faltered after a rejuvenated Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear in December, leaving the desperate Colts turning to 44-year-old Philip Rivers in an attempt to rescue the season late in the year. The return of Rivers was entertaining and gave Indianapolis at least a fighting chance to win at the end of the season. However, a healthy return for Jones is imperative to the success of the Colts in a make-or-break season for Ballard, who’s in the final year of his contract. It’s a daunting start for the Colts, who face four playoff teams in the first five games and an international game in Week 4 against the Washington Commanders in London. The expectation is that Jones will be ready for the start of training camp in August. Indianapolis re-signed receiver Alec Pierce and Jones to big money in the offseason, and both need to play to their potential — along with running back Jonathan Taylor — carrying the offense in a difficult first part of the schedule to start the year. New head coach Jesse Minter replaces John Harbaugh after the Ravens’ underwhelming performance last season resulted in Baltimore missing the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Under the defensive-minded Minter, expectations are high for the upcoming season. Minter is tasked with returning Baltimore’s defense to its tough and stingy ways. The signing of star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson away from the Cincinnati Bengals should help in that effort. The Ravens also added Missouri edge rusher Zion Young in the second round of the draft to help improve an underperforming pass rush. New offensive coordinator Declan Doyle will look to create an offense that gets the most out of Lamar Jackson, who played in only 13 games for the Ravens last year because of hamstring and back issues. A two-time MVP, Jackson’s now on his second head coach, his fourth offensive coordinator and is skipping organized team activities this offseason. With Harbaugh gone, the pressure is on Jackson to lead this franchise. One of the favorites to reach the Super Bowl this season, Baltimore starts with four of its first six games on the road, including a Week 3 international game in Brazil against the Dallas Cowboys. However, the Ravens do not play a team that made the playoffs last season until a Week 8 matchup with Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. So, the schedule maps out well for a strong start in Minter’s first season with the Ravens.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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As you’re probably aware Kim Kardashian is a bonafide billionaire thanks to her media presence and her popular clothing line, Skims.
And she’s unlikely to jeopardize all of that — to say nothing of her freedom — with illegal activities like, say, international drug smuggling.
So the news that millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine was found in a Skims shipment came as quite a surprise to Kim fans.
Yes, earlier this week, Skims made headlines for all the wrong reasons when the brand became tied to a major cocaine-smuggling operation in England after one of its clothing shipments became connected to a convicted trafficker.
But before anyone starts imagining a Breaking Bad spinoff starring Kardashians in compression wear, the company says it had absolutely nothing to do with it.
“SKIMS is aware of the recent news involving a shipment with our products,” the company told TMZ in a statement.
“We want to be absolutely clear: SKIMS had no knowledge whatsoever about this criminal activity. We had no connection to the smuggling operation, the driver, or the truck.”
According to authorities, a Polish truck driver named Jakub Jan Konkel transported a trailer carrying legitimate Skims merchandise from the Netherlands to England last September.
When the truck arrived at the Port of Harwich, Border Force officers searched it and reportedly uncovered 90 hidden packages of cocaine worth an estimated $9.4 million concealed near the rear trailer doors.
Authorities emphasized from the beginning that the SKIMS products themselves were legitimate and that the brand was not involved in the trafficking scheme.
The UK’s National Crime Agency said the shipment was real, but the truck had allegedly been modified with a hidden compartment used to stash the drugs.
“The load was entirely legitimate and neither the exporter nor importer were connected to the smuggled load,” the agency said, adding that the truck had been specially adapted to conceal the narcotics.
Konkel initially denied knowing anything about the drugs, but later admitted he agreed to smuggle the cocaine for roughly $5,300, ultimately pleading guilty in court.
On Monday, he was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison in Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex, England.
“Organised crime groups use corrupt drivers like Konkel to move Class A drugs often hidden on entirely legitimate loads such as this,” National Crime Agency operations manager Paul Orchard said in a statement.
In other words: the shipment may have included Kardashian-branded shapewear, but officials say this scandal has nothing to do with Kim or Skims — aside from some very unfortunate headlines.
So Kim is in the clear legally. Unless society decides to outlaw having children with Kanye West, which might not be such a bad idea.
Kim Kardashian Breaks Silence After $9 Million of Cocaine Found In Skims Shipment was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
Memorial Day weekend is filled with backyard cookouts, but if you want fast food chains to do the cooking, check out these can’t-miss deals.
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For nearly three grueling hours, drivers competing in the Indianapolis 500 endure sitting in a tiny cockpit with temperatures climbing up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re racing at speeds topping 230 mph. Yet, when the checkered flag drops at “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” the winner doesn’t celebrate by spraying a baseline vintage of French champagne like a competitor might do in Formula 1. Instead, they climb out of their car, covered in sweat and grime and eagerly grab an ice-cold glass bottle of American dairy milk. It is arguably the most recognizable — and perhaps, most curious — tradition in motorsports. Learn more about how a simple post-race craving evolved into a decades-long tradition, backed by hundreds of local farmers and a lot of spilled dairy. 1. It Started By Accident With A Thirsty, Three-Time Champion The legendary tradition was sparked by driver Louis Meyer after his third Indy 500 win in 1936. Exhausted and thirsty after driving 500 miles, Meyer asked for a cold bottle of buttermilk — a refreshing drink his mother appreciated. A local dairy executive spotted a photo of Meyer chugging the beverage in the next day’s newspaper, recognized a golden marketing opportunity and vowed to make milk a permanent fixture. 2. World War II And “Water from Wilbur” Forces Temporary Hiatus While milk was handed out sporadically after Meyer’s 1936 victory, the tradition paused during World War II when the race was suspended. When racing resumed, then-Speedway president and three-time winner Wilbur Shaw opted to hand the victors a silver cup of cold water instead, a brief era known as “Water from Wilbur.” The dairy industry officially reclaimed its territory in 1956 — two years after Shaw’s passing — by offering a $400 cash bonus to the winner and $50 to their chief mechanic. 3. Almost 700 Local Dairy Farmers Make It Happen Every Year The milk handed to the winner isn’t just grabbed from a local grocery store shelf on race morning. It is provided by the American Dairy Association Indiana, an organization representing nearly 700 dairy farmers across the state. Every year, two designated Indiana dairy farmers are selected as the official Milk People. Their responsibilities include looking after the bottles and hand-delivering the ice-cold prize directly to the winning driver in Winner’s Circle. 4. Drivers Can Choose Whole, 2 Percent Or Skim. Whole Milk Is Dominating Since 2006, the American Dairy Association Indiana has conducted an official pre-race preference poll asking all 33 drivers to lock in their choice of whole, 2 percent or skim milk. Whole milk remains the overwhelmingly popular choice. And that’s not just for the taste. It’s because it looks much better and thicker in photos. In fact, current stars like Alex Palou are purists about it, with Palou once saying, “The Indy 500 is about traditions and I do not think you can go with half measures… Whole milk it is. If there were double whole milk, I would just get that.” 5. No, Buttermilk Is No Longer On The Menu Despite being the exact drink that Louis Meyer used to kickstart the whole phenomenon, buttermilk was taken off the official ballot in the mid-1990s. Modern buttermilk has evolved into a cultured baking ingredient rather than the sweet, rich byproduct of churned butter that Meyer drank. While a few nostalgic drivers might try to write it in on their ballots, officials won’t hand them a bottle of it today because it simply wouldn’t taste as good. 6. Winners Sip It, Pour It And Sometimes Even Dye It While the primary goal is to take a massive gulp for the cameras, modern winners love to pour the remainder of the glass bottle entirely over their heads. Some drivers get even more creative. In 2021, four-time winner Helio Castroneves secretly dumped a packet of strawberry powder into his bottle. Castroneves wanted pink milk to match his pink race car, creating one of the most colorful celebrations in the track’s history. 7. Even Non-Milk Drinkers Say It’s ‘The Best Drink Ever’ You might think chugging dairy after driving inside a cockpit for three hours doesn’t sound appealing, but drivers absolutely crave it. Even those who don’t usually drink milk admit the history behind the tradition makes it taste that much better. As defending Indy 500 champion Alex Palou put it after the 2025 race: “I’m not a huge whole milk guy, like, just plain milk. But it tastes amazing. I loved it. “It was super sweet. It just felt amazing. It was the best drink ever.”Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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Jeff Bezos’ mixed bag for Mamdani
BEZOS’ BLESSING: Mayor Zohran Mamdani found an unlikely supporter today for his push to raise taxes on rich property owners: Jeff Bezos, one of the wealthiest men in the world.
“The pied-à-terre tax is a fine thing for New York to do,” Bezos said in a wide-ranging interview this morning on CNBC.
The billionaire Amazon founder was referring to the new surcharge that the state — after prodding from Mamdani — is expected to levy on individuals who own secondary homes in the city worth more than $5 million. Bezos, who resides mainly in Miami, gave his thumbs up even though he owns multiple homes in the city — reportedly worth well over $5 million each — meaning he’s likely to be impacted by the new tax.
But Bezos, who ranks as the fourth richest man in the world, also had plenty of flack for the mayor and his democratic socialist philosophies.
On pied-à-terre, Bezos blasted Mamdani for releasing a social media video in which he stood outside billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse to tout the tax.
“To go stand in front of Ken Griffin’s house and act like he’s some kind of villain — Ken Griffin isn’t a villain,” Bezos said in the interview, which was shot inside his Florida space rocket manufacturing facility. “He hasn’t hurt anybody. He’s not hurting New York. In fact, quite the opposite. And so that piece of it isn’t right, and there was no reason to do that.”
Mamdani’s video stunt has triggered a sustained uproar from business leaders who say the video was in poor taste. They’ve also argued a pied-à-terre tax is flawed because it could drive the rich to sell their properties, depleting the local tax pool.
Griffin himself threatened to pull the plug on a $6 billion office development project in the city in response to Mamdani’s video. The mayor has since taken pains to meet with local business giants, like the chief executives of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, though Griffin himself has so far rejected Mamdani’s entreaties for a sit-down.
While Bezos gave Mamdani an unexpected boost on the pied-à-terre front, the Amazon honcho’s gripes with the mayor went well beyond Griffin.
Mamdani has long favored raising income taxes on the rich — on both the state and federal level — arguing such hikes would create more revenue to fund services for the average person.
Bezos contends that’s nonsense and pointed to the fact that the city’s public school system spends about $44,000 on every student annually — a markedly higher sum than other major U.S. cities — with little to show for it in terms of educational outcomes.
“You could double the taxes I pay and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens, I promise you,” said Bezos.
Instead, he said the focus should be on eliminating taxes altogether for low-income earners. “A nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year pays 12 — more than $12,000 a year in taxes. Does that really make sense?” he said. “So, people talk about making the tax system more progressive. How about we start by having the nurse in Queens not pay taxes?”
CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed Bezos on whether billionaires like himself would need to pay more in income taxes if nurses and teachers are given a pass on their bills, given there might otherwise be a revenue shortfall. Bezos replied that is “certainly a perfectly valid policy debate.”
A spokesperson for Mamdani would not comment on Bezos’ support for the pied-à-terre tax. But responding to a CNBC clip of Bezos criticizing higher taxes on the wealthy, Mamdani wrote on X: “I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ.”
Queens holds a special place in Bezos’ mind. In 2019, Amazon canceled plans to build a massive headquarters in Long Island City after progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Mayor Bill de Blasio fought against awarding the mega-corporation $3 billion in public subsidies for the project.
Indeed, Bezos kept coming back to Queens in his CNBC hit, even while talking about what a great career choice he believes Amazon is for working class Americans.
“Amazon, we have our entry level wage for, in Queens, is $23 an hour,” he said. “That works out to be like $52,000 a year, and this is an entry level job that doesn’t require any educational attainment. It doesn’t require any preexisting skills. We will train you. It’s actually a great first job.” — Chris Sommerfeldt
From the Capitol
ZOMBIE FIGHT: State lawmakers are expected to grant Mamdani the power to dissolve a Charter Revision Commission launched by his predecessor, providing him with a clear path to kill the controversial panel.
The new authority, set to be approved in a budget bill scheduled for a Thursday vote, will give Mamdani until June 1 to either approve or rescind the commission’s creation by former Mayor Eric Adams, two people familiar with the deal said.
The people, who were granted anonymity to discuss details of the yet-to-be released legislation, said Mamdani asked state officials to insert the language into the tax-and-spending plan. They also said Mamdani — who has for months sought a way to kill the Adams commission — is expected to use the authority to disband the panel once and for all.
Kayla Mamelak, Adams’ former press secretary who’s among several aides and political loyalists he appointed to the commission, told POLITICO on Wednesday that no one from the panel received a heads up from state lawmakers or the mayor’s administration about the new legislation.
Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman and Chris Sommerfeldt.
LANDFILL LATTE: A plastic cup tossed into the recycling bin at a Starbucks in Park Slope traveled 463 miles to its final resting place at Apex Landfill in Amsterdam, Ohio.
The cup’s long and winding road from eco-minded, brownstone Brooklyn to a tiny Ohio village underscores how little consumer plastic ends up getting recycled — even through a corporation that touts its sustainability cred.
The journey was tracked by Beyond Plastics, which released a report today documenting how it attached trackers to plastic cups in Starbucks recycling bins to see where they ended up. Not a single cup ended up at a recycling facility.
“When a company tells you something is being recycled and it isn’t, it doesn’t just mislead the customer, it also takes the pressure off for real solutions, which is using less plastic in the first place,” Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, told reporters Wednesday.
The group, a non-profit that advocates for ending plastic pollution, is lobbying for the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act to pass in Albany this session. The bill is aimed at reducing single-use packaging in New York and is sponsored by Assemblymember Deborah Glick and state Sen. Pete Harckham, both Democrats.
The cups in question are made of polypropylene, or No. 5 plastic. And while they are indeed recyclable, Beyond Plastics could only find a handful of commercial recycling operators in the country that claim to recycle post-consumer polypropylene.
Starbucks is already using fiber to-go cups in hundreds of its outposts across 14 states. The report calls on the coffee chain to use those cups nationwide. Starbucks pushed back on the report.
“Our cups are designed to be recyclable, and the ‘widely accepted for recycling’ designation reflects that,” Emily Albright, a spokesperson for Starbucks, said in a statement. “Obviously, recycling in practice also requires local community infrastructure. That’s why we work closely with others, including the recycling companies, to help expand access and help improve the system.” — Mona Zhang
FROM CITY HALL
EYES ON AI: Council member Julie Won is rolling out legislation that would establish an artificial intelligence oversight office in the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
The director of the office would be responsible for investigating “allegations of the use of artificial intelligence in violation of the consumer laws” and for implementing an “outreach and education campaign to raise public awareness regarding the use of artificial intelligence to harm the rights, safety, or interests of consumers.”
The Council has long attempted to regulate AI.
Won is running for Congress in the competitive Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez. As part of her campaign, she’s put out a technology policy platform focused heavily on AI and using the technology “responsibly.”
“We have to change the public sentiment from being so afraid of becoming obsolete to making sure there’s protections so that people don’t become obsolete,” Won said in a recent interview.
The debate over the path forward for AI has reshaped elections across the country — especially in the Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler’s seat, where millions of dollars have poured in from groups on both sides of the regulation conversation.
There’s no indication, though, that those entities are planning to get involved in this race, where Won is up against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Assemblymember Claire Valdez. — Madison Fernandez
BUFFERING, PLEASE HOLD: City Council Speaker Julie Menin is planning to introduce a revised version of the “buffer zone” protest bill for educational facilities, scaling back the proposal after Mamdani vetoed the original measure in late April.
The new legislation narrows the definition of educational facilities to early childhood sites and most K-12 schools, explicitly excluding libraries, teaching hospitals and — notably — colleges and universities.
The bill, similar to the buffer zone protest bill for religious institutions, would require the NYPD to create and publicize security perimeter plans around those schools during protests. Both measures have undergone significant revisions compared to earlier versions, which initially proposed 100-foot buffer zones between protestors and the sites in question.
The changes mark a significant concession from Menin on the bill’s core scope, as she moves to address member concerns rather than attempt an override — despite saying she had the votes to do so.
“We have the ability to do an override, but to jam through an override on an issue where even members who were going to support the override had real concerns — I don’t think that’s a responsible path forward,” the speaker said. “It’s my job as speaker to build consensus.”
Changes to the school-focused bill also include replacing its original prime sponsor, Council member Eric Dinowitz, with Council member Elsie Encarnacion. Under the new version, Dinowitz will appear as second co-prime sponsor.
Menin pushed back on criticism that the revisions weaken the legislation.
“I don’t view it as a watering down. I actually view it as a strengthening,” Menin said. “It means we’re going to get more members involved in supporting this bill.”
The original proposal — part of the Council’s five-point plan to combat antisemitism — was driven in part by concerns over campus protests tied to Israel’s war in Gaza. Mamdani vetoed it in April, citing constitutional concerns and the bill’s broad definition of educational institutions, which he argued could have applied to libraries, museums and hospitals.
“The Mamdani administration has not seen the specific legislative language, and we look forward to reviewing it,” a spokesperson for the mayor said. “The Mayor believes New York City must remain a place where students can access their schools safely as well as exercise their constitutional right to protest.” — Gelila Negesse
IN OTHER NEWS
— CHECKERS, NOT CHESS: OpenAI is pivoting to a state-by-state lobbying strategy to shape AI regulation, aiming to build momentum as federal efforts stall. (POLITICO)
— CASE NOT CLOSED: Citizens Union, a government watchdog group, is urging the Manhattan district attorney to pursue state charges against Eric Adams despite the Trump administration dropping a federal case against him. (The New York Times)
— NO PLAYING AROUND: New York health officials say they are closely monitoring an Ebola outbreak in the Congo as international travel ramps up ahead of the World Cup. (Gothamist)
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Last month, we learned that Lisa Kudrow earns $20 million a year from Friends residuals.
And it turns out she’s not the only sitcom star who’s still raking in five figures from work she did decades ago.
According to new reports from various outlets, Ray Romano is earning an eye-popping $18 million per year in residuals from Everybody Loves Raymond residuals, more than twenty years after the series wrapped its final episode.
Romano continues to rake in tens of millions annually thanks to syndication and streaming for Raymond, which ended its original run back in 2005 but remains widely available on platforms such as Paramount+ and Peacock.
Not a bad deal if you can get it!
Raymond premiered in 1996 and quickly became one of television’s defining family sitcoms.
The series starred Romano as Ray Barone, a sportswriter navigating suburban life on Long Island while constantly clashing with his overbearing family.
Over the course of nine seasons, the show became a massive ratings success, ultimately earning 15 Emmy wins out of 69 nominations before coming to an end in 2005.
And the titular star was compensated accordingly.
By the show’s ninth and final season, Romano was reportedly earning nearly $2 million per episode, cementing his status as one of television’s highest-paid actors at the time.
As of 2026, Romano’s net worth reportedly sits around $200 million.
While he later appeared in projects such as the Ice Age franchise and NBC’s Parenthood, much of his long-term wealth appears to stem from one very lucrative source: those juicy Raymond royalty checks.
Of course, Romano’s enormous salary once sparked major behind-the-scenes tension on set.
Back in 2003, reports surfaced that Romano was earning approximately $1.8 million per week under a reported $40 million contract during the sitcom’s eighth season.
That revelation reportedly did not sit well with co-star Brad Garrett, who played Ray’s older brother, Robert Barone.
According to TV Insider, Garrett pushed for a salary increase after learning not only how much Romano was making, but also that Romano’s contract included royalties from reruns of older episodes.
At the time, Garrett was said to be earning roughly $160,000 per episode.
According to insiders, Garrett refused to return to work until CBS renegotiated his deal. His character was temporarily removed from the season premiere and allegedly faced the possibility of being written out entirely.
Co-stars Patricia Heaton, Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle reportedly backed Garrett during the standoff, even calling in sick in solidarity.
“Ray deserves every penny, all Brad wants is compensation commensurate with what other similarly situated actors have made in the past and are making today,” Garrett’s representative said at the time.
Ultimately, CBS negotiated with the cast, and Garrett reportedly saw his pay increase to $250,000 per episode for Season 8 and $315,000 per episode for Season 9.
As for Romano? He didn’t seem to harbor any resentment.
“When my salary came out in the papers, I knew stuff would happen,” Romano said at the time. “I’d do exactly the same thing.”
Despite the massive paychecks, Ray says he has no interest in a revival series and intends to “leave our legacy the way it is.” We guess you can afford to feel that way when you’re raking in $20 million annually!
Ray Romano Still Earns 5 Figures a Year From Sitcom Reruns; Here’s Exactly How Much … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip