Kim Kardashian Lands Cover of ‘Time’s 100 Most Influential Companies of 2023’
Entrepreneur Kim Kardashian is an undisputed fashion and media icon, and the SKIMS co-founder’s shapewear company has been officially named one of TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2023. Gracing the cover, the mother of four revealed exclusively to the publication the brand’s plans of getting into bridal wear and coming this fall, a line of men’s loungewear and underwear. “It started off with simply finding shapewear that was a skin tone that would match my color,” Kardashian said. “I used to take my shapewear and dye it with tea bags and coffee in the bathtub.” Per TIME, the brand made $500 million last year, 25% more than projected and 80% more than it made in 2021, which was up 90% from the year before. Throughout the years, its campaigns have featured everyone from her über famous sisters to Snoop Dogg to Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert,
MLB Announces Inaugural Juneteenth Game for 2024 Season
As a part of its Juneteenth observance next year, Major League Baseball will honor Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays with a special game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, the league office announced Tuesday. Rickwood Field is the oldest professional ballpark in the country and served as the former home Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Black Barons, for which Mays played prior to joining the Giants. Scheduled for June 20 on FOX, the contest will feature the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals. “I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d see in my lifetime a Major League Baseball game being played on the very field where I played baseball as a teenager,” the 92 year-old Mays said of the occasion.
Pharrell Williams Debuts First Collection as Creative Director of Louis Vuitton Men
Pharrell Williams had the biggest of shoes to fill as he curated his first collection as the Creative Director of Louis Vuitton Men. Williams assumed the position in February, becoming the first to fill the role since Virgil Abloh. The Men’s Spring-Summer 2024 show took place on the Pont Neuf and featured a Clipse reunion on the runway. Prior to the show, Rihanna served as the star of his first print campaign, which debuted on the side of the Musee d’Orsay. The pregnant superstar sat front row alongside A$AP Rocky, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, LeBron James, and Kim Kardashian. After the show was over, the after-party was lit as Jay-Z and Pharrell took the stage together.
Taylor Swift Announces International ‘Eras’ Dates
After much anticipation, Taylor Swift is taking her sold-out Eras Tour worldwide. On Tuesday, the pop star announced on social media a slew of international dates, starting with Mexico City on Aug. 24. Over the next year, the 33-year-old will visit Tokyo, Paris, Lisbon, and more, closing her epic trek around the globe with two shows at London’s Wembley Stadium on Aug. 16 and 17, 2024. With plenty of notice, let’s hope Ticketmaster makes the process considerably less stressful for her legion of Swifties.
Aaron Rodgers Employs Packers Ownership Model with New Venture
New York Jets QB Aaron Rodgers is borrowing a business plan from his former franchise. In his business venture, the Online Sports Database (OSDB), the four-time NFL MVP is hoping to form a community by crowdsourcing $1.25 million in bridge funding, similar to how the Green Bay Packers boast half a million people as team shareholders. Founded in 2021 by Rodgers and actor Ryan Rottman, OSDB is a digital sports platform that answers burning questions about 26,000 athlete, similar to Hollywoods popular IMDB website. Whether it’s their height and weight to team contracts, brand deals, and even personal interests, OSDB has an answer. Thus far, Rottman told The Hollywood Reporter they’ve secured $1.25 million of the $2.5 million goal.
Trevor Noah Inks a New Deal with Spotify
Trevor Noah will soon host an original, weekly podcast on Spotify, the streaming platform’s CEO Daniel Ek announced the news at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. The show, set to launch later this year, will focus on “the hottest and most captivating topics of the moment.” Joining Ek onstage, Noah teased the podcast will “engage in interesting and meaningful conversations with some of the world’s most fascinating people,” also jokingly claiming, “We’ll also probably fix every single issue humankind has ever faced.” Spotify has more than 5 million podcasts on its platform, with 100+ million listeners. The streaming giant is reported to have a new subscription tier, which will enable it to take its place in the $5 billion audiobook industry.
TikTok Unveils Strategic Partnership with Candle Media at Cannes Lions
TikTok and Candle Media have entered a strategic partnership wherein Candle Media’s business sectors will develop unique creator-focused content and branded entertainment for TikTok users. Announced at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, a major part of this alliance is Hello Sunshine, actress Reese Witherspoon’s production company that Candle acquired in 2021. TikTok will give the association responsible for HBO’s “Big Little Lies” access to the app’s popular #BookTok community to discover new content and talent that can help support the development of film, TV, and audio projects.
Utah Jazz Announce Move Towards Free Broadcasting
The Utah Jazz will begin making their game broadcasts available over the air starting this upcoming campaign, becoming the latest team to pivot to a new viewing option for fans and in the long run, hopefully, accrue more viewers than ever before. Requiring nothing more from audiences other than a digital antenna and a TV to access games, all non-nationally televised Jazz games will air on KJZZ-TV, the team’s television home. Fans will preview the new format in July when the Jazz’s Salt Lake City Summer League games will be shown on the network. The Jazz follow in the footsteps of the Phoenix Suns, who unveiled a similar plan in April.