The road to the Little League World Series is supposed to be a celebration of youth baseball. Instead, one state’s path to Williamsport this year has descended into a scandal involving an ineligible player, disputed tournament administration, improper fees, missing eligibility paperwork, and demands for the removal of state and regional Little League officials.
The controversy centers on Tulsa National Little League, which <a href="https://www.espn.com/llws/story/_/id/49585682/judge-backs-little-league-baseball-decision-remove-tulsa">was disqualified</a> from the Southwest Region Tournament on Monday while representing Oklahoma after Little League International determined that one of its players was ineligible. A Texas judge briefly allowed the team to continue competing before vacating the order Tuesday, clearing the way for the tournament to proceed without the team from Oklahoma.
According to documents obtained by <a href="https://www.si.com/onsi/softball/news/new-evidence-shows-oklahoma-little-league-state-tournament-was-a-sham-2026">Sports Illustrated</a>, Tulsa National&#8217;s eligibility problems were not confined to one player or the Southwest Region Tournament. The evidence suggests that Oklahoma&#8217;s entire state tournament may have been improperly administered, with two of the three participating teams allegedly ineligible to compete for the state&#8217;s berth in the international tournament.
Tulsa National defeated Washington County and Oklahoma City Parks &amp; Recreation to win the Oklahoma state tournament and advance to Waco, Texas.
But Washington County had never registered players in the Little League Major Division, according to Little League data reviewed by Sports Illustrated. The league says it followed instructions from Oklahoma District Administrator Mindy Abbott and was told its team had been properly registered.
The documentation submitted by Tulsa National also contained basic procedural problems. The required Tournament Team Eligibility Affidavit was not signed by the Tulsa National Player Agent or manager Cole Abbott, while Mindy Abbott&#8217;s signature was not dated.
The more serious issue involved the <a href="https://www.si.com/onsi/softball/news/first-softball-now-baseball-tulsa-national-disqualified-from-southwest-region-2026">player whose eligibility</a> ultimately triggered the regional disqualification. <a href="https://www.littleleague.org/playing-rules/2025-regulation-2-update/">Little League&#8217;s rules</a> allow a player who lives outside a league&#8217;s geographic boundaries to establish eligibility through a sibling who is age seven or younger and participates in the league&#8217;s program. Court documents show that Tulsa National relied on that provision to establish the eligibility of a player identified as O.G.
But according to Little League officials, O.G.&#8217;s father had registered his younger daughter as being 7 years old when she was actually 10. Officials also determined that the girl never participated in Tulsa National&#8217;s program. 
Dan Velte, Little League&#8217;s vice president of operations and international tournament director, said in court documents that the age misrepresentation rendered the sibling ineligible under the under-8 open enrollment provision and therefore made O.G. ineligible as well. 
“O.G. participated in the Oklahoma State Tournament, which is part of the Little League International Tournament, while ineligible,” Velte wrote. “Under this rule, disqualification was mandatory.”
That meant the problem extended backward. Tulsa National had not merely brought an ineligible player to Waco. The player had already participated in the Oklahoma state tournament that sent the team there.
Little League International ultimately declared Tulsa National&#8217;s previous regional game a forfeit and removed the team from the Southwest Region Tournament. The decision came after three protests. Little League said the formal investigation determined that O.G. was ineligible, while court filings indicate that Tulsa National representatives initially attributed the player&#8217;s absence from the regional roster to a “falling out” between his family and the coaching staff rather than disclosing the underlying eligibility issue.
The parents of Tulsa National&#8217;s players subsequently blamed the adults responsible for administering the tournament. 
“To our own Oklahoma administration, the Southwest Regional administration, and Little League International: this one is on you,” the parents said in a <a href="https://x.com/Maren_Angus/status/2087308970746654990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2087308970746654990%7Ctwgr%5E0a51c2676a2073ac0eda6eb03f682379a94b910e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fonsi%2Fsoftball%2Fnews%2Fnew-evidence-shows-oklahoma-little-league-state-tournament-was-a-sham-2026">statement</a>.
But now, the controversy has grown beyond Tulsa National. New evidence also indicates that the Oklahoma state tournament <a href="https://www.si.com/onsi/softball/news/exclusive-oklahoma-little-league-controversy-raises-new-questions-over-profiteering-on-little-league-trademark-tulsa-national-2026">involved fees</a> that appear to violate Little League regulations. Oklahoma District Administrator Mindy Abbott instructed the three participating teams to pay a $100 tournament entry fee. When the teams arrived, they were directed to pay the money to Tulsa Area Youth Softball and Baseball, Inc., an entity associated with the Tulsa Little League organization.
There was also a $5 gate fee charged, despite Little League rules prohibiting mandatory admission fees for Major Division games. Little League permits voluntary donations but states that “no admission shall be charged” for Major Division games. The $100 entry fee was also separate from the $300 tournament fee paid to Little League International for eligible teams in certain divisions.
The organizational structure surrounding the tournament has only added to the confusion. Tulsa Area Youth Softball and Baseball, Inc., Tulsa Little League, Inc., Tulsa Little League Baseball, Inc., and Tulsa National Little League are separate entities, but they are all controlled or operated by Tulsa National President Stephen Skocik. Little League regulations prohibit local leagues from extending the Little League name and emblem to other organizations for unrelated purposes.
Now, more than 300 Oklahoma and Southwest Region Little League coaches, volunteers and parents are calling for the removal of Mindy Abbott and Southwest Region Director Blaine Whitmire, as well as the revocation of Tulsa National&#8217;s charter. 
“We have no confidence in Oklahoma District Administrator Mindy Abbott to administer Little League in this state with the integrity, consistency and fairness its families deserve,” the group said.
The letter also called for the vacating of Tulsa National&#8217;s 2025 and 2026 Oklahoma state and Southwest Region tournament titles. “The damage caused cannot be undone,” the statement said. “But Little League International can decide whether the failures that caused it will have consequences.”
Abbott has pushed back, telling the <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/2026/08/13/oklahoma-little-league-teams-call-for-leadership-purge-after-disqualification-scandals/91286870007/">Oklahoman</a> that the two leagues calling for her removal “are not in compliance with Little League regulations.” Whitmire has not publicly responded to the newspaper&#8217;s request for comment.
For the children involved, the consequences are obvious. The Tulsa players lost their opportunity to compete for a place in Williamsport despite advancing through the tournament on the field. Little League International says its tournament system depends on parents and volunteers adhering to its rules and ensuring a “fair and equitable experience” for every child.

Little League World Series – Championship Game

An Illegal Player And A Sham Tournament: Scandal Rocks The Little League World Series

Baseball

kids sports

Oklahoma

Sports

Sports Illustrated

youth baseball

youth sports

Much of the staff at Sports Illustrated, including possibly all of its writers, received layoff notices on Friday, according to the union representing the workers at the publication. The layoffs come less than two months after the magazine was caught publishing AI-generated stories, authors, and photos.  
The Sports Illustrated Union <a href="https://twitter.com/si_union/status/1748390846058176659" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that on Friday “workers of Sports Illustrated were notified that The Arena Group is planning to lay off a significant number, possibly all, of the Guild-represented workers at SI.” The pending layoffs come after Authentic Brands Group (ABG) revoked The Arena Group’s license “to publish at SI,” the union’s statement added. 
ABG has owned Sports Illustrated since 2019 and sold the publishing rights to The Arena Group, but The Arena Group missed a payment for those rights recently, which resulted in ABG pulling the publishing license, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/01/19/sports-illustrated-layoffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
“As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand,” a note to staff reportedly read. The note added that some of the staff would be laid off immediately while others would work until the end of the 90-day notice period. 
“This is another difficult day in what has been a difficult four years for Sports Illustrated under Arena Group (previously The Maven) stewardship,&#8221; the union said in a statement. &#8220;We are calling on ABG to ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years.”
A <a href="https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> by Futurism in November <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sports-illustrated-created-articles-using-ai-generated-authors-magazine-says-content-came-from-third-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> that Sports Illustrated appeared to have been publishing AI-generated content attributed to fake authors — complete with bogus biographies and headshots. When asked about the content by Futurism, Sports Illustrated allegedly deleted the AI-created writers and profiles along with the content generated by AI. Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn was then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sports-illustrated-publisher-fires-ceo-after-outlet-allegedly-published-ai-generated-stories-with-fake-authors">fired</a> by The Arena Group in December. 
The magazine has been one of the most successful sports publications since it was first published in 1954. Sports Illustrated is known for the iconic photos that have graced its covers and for its annual swimsuit issue which was first published in 1964. The magazine faced backlash in 2021 after <a href="https://swimsuit.si.com/swimnews/meet-your-cover-model-2021-leyna-bloom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">putting</a> a man who identifies as a woman on the cover of its swimsuit edition, touting model Leyna Bloom as the &#8220;first trans person of color to appear on our pages.&#8221; Last year, Sports Illustrated <a href="https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/05/15/kim-petras-featured-2023-si-swimsuit-cover-model" target="_blank" rel="noopener">featured</a> a transgender model again on its swimsuit edition cover, lauding Kim Petras as &#8220;an icon in the LGBTQ+ community.&#8221; 
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The first issue of Sports Illustrated featured Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Mathews batting at home plate with New York Giants catcher Wes Westrum behind him. The cover of the latest issue showed Michigan’s college football national championship victory over Washington earlier this month.

Sports Illustrated Lays Off Its Remaining Staff Photographers

Sports Illustrated Laying Off ‘Significant Number’ Of Workers, ‘Possibly All’ Writers

Sports Illustrated Laying Off 'Significant Number' Of Workers, 'Possibly All' Writers 

Journalism

Digital publisher The Arena Group, which owns and operates <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sports-illustrated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated</a> and other major publications, announced this week that it had fired Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn effective immediately.
&#8220;Today, the board of directors of The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: AREN) met and took actions to improve the operational efficiency and revenue of the company,&#8221; the company <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231211378068/en/The-Arena-Group-Announces-Termination-Of-CEO-Ross-Levinsohn-Appoints-Manoj-Bhargava-As-Interim-CEO/?feedref=JjAwJuNHiystnCoBq_hl-W8j9Oi60kFTomUxRDB8jhBsNpnJw7dvSfTyni2BOVIOrCOi9QzgjCezTS3Nw_X6kJUrpSBm-Hav1w-UkdSlG3nDlC87j5HoE75BMeA8LaVacVjEfZIyqgxRRsuxHCTK2w%3D%3D&amp;utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement. &#8220;The board terminated the employment of CEO Ross Levinsohn, and named Manoj Bhargava as interim Chief Executive Officer, both effective today.&#8221;
The company declined to go into further detail about what specifically led to Levinsohn&#8217;s removal and, when asked if it was related to a recent scandal involving the company allegedly publishing AI-generated content from fake authors, a spokesperson said: “We have nothing further to add to the company’s prior statements regarding A.I.”
The Arena Group noted in its statement that it had also recently fired operations president and COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett, and corporate counsel Julie Fenster.
“All of the media brands, including Sports Illustrated, will continue to operate with the management of those verticals, while the company just takes a broad view of operations and how to improve the business overall,” a company spokesperson <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/media/sports-illustrated-ai-articles-ceo/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNN.
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sports-illustrated-created-articles-using-ai-generated-authors-magazine-says-content-came-from-third-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> late last month from Futurism laid out examples of authors whose personas existed only on the website of the leading American sports magazine, which also allegedly used artificial intelligence to churn out articles.
“The content is absolutely AI-generated,” an anonymous source told Futurism. “No matter how much they say that it’s not.”
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According to the outlet, Sports Illustrated listed a writer named “Drew Ortiz” — a white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes who grew up in a farmhouse and enjoyed the greater outdoors. But the profile photo paired with Ortiz’s biography is a headshot listed for sale on a website that sells AI-generated photos.
“There’s a lot,” another source told Futurism. “I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.”
“At the bottom [of the page] there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, ‘Oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.’ Stuff like that. It’s just crazy.”
TheStreet, another publication owned by The Arena Group, was also found to have allegedly engaged in similar practices, according to the report.
When Futurism asked the magazine’s publisher, The Arena Group, for comment, the company did not respond immediately.

2023 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson Of The Year Award And The Prime Video World Premiere Of “Coach Prime” Season Two

Sports Illustrated Publisher Fires CEO After Outlet Allegedly Published AI-Generated Stories With Fake Authors

Artificial Intelligence

General

U.S.

A year ago, Sports Illustrated uploaded a video to their various social media channels. It shows Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors point guard and NBA champion, making five full-court shots in a row, in just about thirty seconds. In case you&#8217;re not familiar with basketball, this is an athletic feat that&#8217;s about as close to statistically impossible as you can get. But Sports Illustrated played it straight. The outlet <a href="https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1599554509373468672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on their Twitter account, &#8220;Just finished a shoot with Steph Curry — this dude just can’t miss.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Steph Curry Makes 5 Full Court Shots In A Row (Different Angle)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xt5vzE0QCvk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Watching it, there&#8217;s no obvious way to tell it&#8217;s fake. Even if you watch it a few times, it seems real. You see him shoot the basketball, the camera follows the ball, and it goes in the hoop. Looks basically legit. But of course none of it was legit. And Sports Illustrated knew that, because the creator of the clip — who they tagged in one of their posts — is known for manipulating videos like this. The whole thing was just a bid for some attention on social media.
No one really followed up on this whole episode. There was no ensuing conversation about ethics in sports journalism. When Sports Illustrated ultimately <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/warriors/news/steph-curry-confirms-viral-shooting-video-is-fake" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> that it was a sham, no one cared. On one level, that&#8217;s not particularly surprising, since Sports Illustrated is a shadow of what it once was. Other than the annual swimsuit edition, which presumably now features trans and plus sized models, there&#8217;s no longer anything to distinguish the magazine from any number of other low quality sports blogs you can find on the Internet. That&#8217;s been true for quite some time.
What&#8217;s interesting about this episode, though, is what happened afterwards. 
Sports Illustrated didn&#8217;t stop lying to its audience. They didn&#8217;t decide to renew their commitment to serious sports journalism, to the extent that &#8220;serious sports journalism&#8221; isn&#8217;t an oxymoron. Instead, Sports Illustrated chose to start faking a lot more than just videos.
A website called &#8220;Futurism&#8221; just published an investigative <a href="https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers">report</a> into the scam that Sports Illustrated has been running. Apparently, the company has been using artificial intelligence to draft entire articles. But more than that, they have been using AI to create fake authors, as well, complete with fake biographies. The outlet never disclosed any of this to its readers.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/231128me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Here for example is their <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221205082417/https://www.si.com/review/author/drewortiz/">biography</a> of one Drew Ortiz, who appears to be a white male with brown hair and blue eyes. This is straight from Sports Illustrated&#8217;s website: &#8220;Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature. &#8230; Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn&#8217;t out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents&#8217; farm.&#8221; 
Obviously, most of the biographies you&#8217;ll read online are stilted and fake. But even by that low standard, Drew Ortiz&#8217;s bio is a little suspect. What does it mean to &#8220;keep you from falling to the perils of nature,&#8221; exactly? That sounds a little morbid. And once you find out that AI was responsible for it, the “perils of nature” line starts to seem more than a little bit creepy. But you&#8217;re not supposed to dwell on Drew&#8217;s biography. Instead, you&#8217;re supposed to click on his articles, because that&#8217;s how Sports Illustrated makes money.
Once you do that — once you click the AI-generated clickbait — here&#8217;s what you&#8217;ll find. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221004090814/https://www.si.com/review/full-size-volleyball/">One</a> of Ortiz&#8217;s articles, which was originally published last year, is entitled, &#8220;Play Like A Pro With The Best Full-Size Volleyballs.&#8221; The point of this article is to advertise a series of volleyballs, so that Sports Illustrated can get a kickback when people click on the links and buy a volleyball. This is pretty standard in digital media, as you may have noticed. The &#8220;Drew Ortiz&#8221; artificial intelligence, for its part, was tasked with writing a paragraph to introduce all these affiliate links.
Here&#8217;s what Drew came up with: 
<blockquote>Volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the world, and for good reason. It’s fast-paced, has a high skill ceiling, and is generally an exciting sport to both play and watch. Even people who don’t watch sports can easily understand the intensity and skill required to play volleyball whenever they watch clips. There’s a reason why it’s been such a mainstay in modern sports to this day. Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with.</blockquote>
Now, up until that last line, you can see why someone might be fooled into thinking that Drew Ortiz is a real person. He comes across as an earnest guy trying to explain why he loves volleyball, in as many words as possible. But towards the end, Drew enters the uncanny valley. &#8220;Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into,&#8221; Drew writes, &#8220;especially without an actual ball to practice with.&#8221;
Well, that&#8217;s an understatement, Drew. It&#8217;s a bit like saying water polo is hard to get into without water, or cooking is hard to do without food. It&#8217;s the kind of thing no human being would ever say. So needless to say, the AI known as Drew Ortiz wasn&#8217;t exactly producing the most compelling copy. We can assume that very few people bought volleyballs on Drew&#8217;s professional recommendation.
That could be why, sometime this summer, Sports Illustrated quietly <a href="https://archive.is/D9DV2">replaced</a> Ortiz with another AI. This time, the name for the AI changed from Drew Ortiz to &#8220;Sora Tanaka.&#8221; Who is Sora Tanaka? Let&#8217;s see. According to her biography on Sports Illustrated&#8217;s website:
<blockquote>Sora has always been a fitness guru, and loves to try different foods and drinks. She is fond of varying her workouts and believes everyone should participate in some form of physical or mental activity at least three times per week!</blockquote>
I&#8217;ll read that last part again: &#8220;She &#8230; believes everyone should participate in some sort of physical or mental activity at least three times per week!&#8221; Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. We can infer from this that AI doesn&#8217;t exactly have a high opinion of humans, if this is the bar it’s setting for us. Just use your body or your mind three times a week. Let’s start there, AI is saying to the human race. I’d like to say that the robots are underestimating us here, but I don’t think they are.
At this point, it&#8217;s important to mention that Sports Illustrated didn&#8217;t just have AI generate articles, and fake biographies for fake writers. AI also created fake headshots for these writers. They generated images out of thin air. Both Tanaka and Ortiz had AI-produced headshots. We know that because the headshots were available for sale, on an online marketplace that sells AI headsets. Eventually, after they were confronted by Futurism, Sports Illustrated took all of these articles and headshots down, scrubbing all of it from their website. 
In a statement, the company blamed a contractor for all of this. They denied that the articles were written by AI, although they didn&#8217;t deny that the headshots were AI-generated. They also claimed that editors carefully review all content that&#8217;s uploaded. 
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That&#8217;s a claim that several other websites have made in the past. CNET, for example, insisted that while it was using AI to draft articles, editors were carefully fact-checking every detail prior to publication. How did that work out? A few months ago, CNET published an <a href="https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/banking/advice/what-is-compound-interest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> claiming that a $10,000 deposit in a savings account, earning a 3% APY, would return $10,300 in profit after the first year. That&#8217;s off by about $10,000. CNET later appended a correction to the article. Somehow that one slipped by the fact-checkers.
Bankrate, one of CNET&#8217;s sister sites, has had the same problem. They claim that their editors carefully review AI-generated articles, but these articles are full of mistakes. Including mathematical mistakes, which is the one thing you’d think AI would always get right. 
So what do we make of all this? 
It&#8217;s easy to mock outlets like CNET and Bankrate and Sports Illustrated, which no one reads anymore. But it&#8217;s not hard to see where this is all heading. We&#8217;re rapidly and willfully moving towards a dystopian world where AI does everything and most human effort and labor has become redundant. Everyone can see this coming, and knows it&#8217;s bad, but it seems like none of our leaders have the fortitude to do anything about it. AI replacing Sports Illustrated writers is the least of our concerns in this regard. What happens when AI starts replacing, oh I don&#8217;t know, truck drivers and ride-share drivers? These are jobs that a significant portion of the American middle class depend on in order to survive. What happens when Waymo and Cruise and Tesla manage to perfect their self-driving AIs?
We&#8217;re not there yet, of course. It&#8217;ll likely be several more years until AI is capable of doing any of that. And it&#8217;s still possible we&#8217;ll eventually elect leaders in time, who will do something to prevent the potential destruction of millions of jobs in this country.
In the meantime, it&#8217;s important to look closely at the jobs that AI *is* capable of replacing, and what that says about these jobs and our culture at large. 
It&#8217;s hard to deny that &#8220;journalism&#8221; — and sports journalism in particular — has become so vacuous and pointless that it can easily be replaced by robots and most readers don&#8217;t even notice. It&#8217;s generally not a good thing to replace human jobs with AI, but in the media, so many of the humans doing the jobs are already barely human as it is. So it feels like a bit of a lateral move.
This isn&#8217;t just happening at Sports Illustrated and CNET and Bankrate. It&#8217;s happening at all the various tiers of garbage journalism, including gaming journalism. The website Kotaku now <a href="https://twitter.com/xpatriciah/status/1725928585737666947" target="_blank" rel="noopener">features</a> a few AI-written articles. Microsoft Start — which is the homepage that Microsoft presents to users of its Internet browser — recently featured an <a href="https://futurism.com/msn-ai-brandon-hunter-useless" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obituary</a> with this headline: &#8220;Brandon Hunter Useless At 42.&#8221; This is a former NBA player who died suddenly, and that&#8217;s the headline the AI went with. He&#8217;s not dead — he&#8217;s, “useless.” Which is sort of true in a literal sense, I suppose. But that’s not how humans typically look at it. Microsoft, maybe the biggest tech company on the planet, promoted that story. And here&#8217;s the amazing thing: It didn&#8217;t cause any kind of stir. You probably hadn’t even heard about it.
That&#8217;s because we&#8217;re used to this. We take it for granted that whatever garbage we read was either written by a poorly programmed AI, or it was written by some liberal arts graduate with no life skills. Either way, we don&#8217;t take it seriously, it&#8217;s just noise. The bar is so low that it&#8217;s impossible to be outraged by poor quality journalism anymore.
Indeed, it&#8217;s hard to be outraged by the quality of pretty much anything produced for mass consumption at this point. Take popular music, for example. A few days ago, an AI &#8220;singer-songwriter&#8221; using the name Anna Indiana went viral on social media. Here&#8217;s how Anna introduced itself, followed by some of Anna&#8217;s singing:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hello world! I’m Anna Indiana and I’m an AI singer-songwriter. Here’s my first song, Betrayed by this Town. Everything from the key, tempo, chord progression, melody notes, rhythm, lyrics, and my image and singing, is auto-generated using AI. I hope you like it 💕 <a href="https://t.co/0Cf42iyxHI">pic.twitter.com/0Cf42iyxHI</a>
&mdash; Anna Indiana (@AnnaIndianaAI) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnaIndianaAI/status/1728089499429642432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Now, needless to say, kill it with fire. The song is bad and bland and creepily lifeless. It’s also quite ominous. AI’s idea of a fun pop ballad is a lamentation about the pointlessness and futility of existence, followed by a call for us to “tear it all down.” The robots are, once again, not trying to hide their disdain for the human species. But then again, the mainstream music industry also hates the human species, and also has been, for decades, churning out its own bad and bland and creepily lifeless content.
To be fair, I should note that on social media, a lot of people gave negative reviews to that particular performance. But there are plenty of examples of soulless AI singers that have gotten a lot of praise recently. Here&#8217;s AI Johnny Cash singing a Taylor Swift song, for example. This was everywhere on social media a few weeks ago:
https://twitter.com/buccocapital/status/1719482652577644722?s=20
AI Johnny Cash got rave reviews, for the most part. People didn&#8217;t care that they were hearing the voice of a dead country music legend singing some of the most vapid lyrics imaginable. They embraced it. Some of them even said they preferred it to Johnny Cash&#8217;s original work.
This why we can be certain that eventually nearly all of the content we consume on the internet, and nearly every movie and show we watch, and song we listen to, will all be generated by AI. The technology is getting more advanced, while at the same time the humans who produce most of this content are getting dumber and more vacuous. Humans and AI are essentially meeting in the middle, where the two become indistinguishable. Now, I don’t think that AI will ever be able to write a book like &#8220;The Lord of the Rings&#8221; or make a movie like &#8220;The Godfather&#8221; or compose an original song to match Beethoven, but that’s not the kind of art that we consume these days. We watch Marvel movies and read short blurbs on the Internet and listen to canned pop music, and AI will certainly be able to produce all of that. And since we, as a culture, don’t value beauty and originality and depth anymore, we will eventually accept the AI content and consume it just as vigorously. All we want is the content, after all. We don’t really care where it comes from, or what it is, or who produced it, or what produced it. This is what makes AI dangerous. Not that it will become sentient and enslave mankind or whatever. But that it will become indistinguishable from humans, because humans have become indistinguishable from it.
It all kind of reminds me of the last few page of George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm,” which was obviously meant to be an allegory about communism not artificial intelligence. Still, I think about that very last line: &#8220;The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again. But already it was impossible to say which was which.&#8221;
All you need to do is replace the word &#8220;pig&#8221; with &#8220;AI,&#8221; and you&#8217;ve got a modern allegory. Which is incredible, if you think about it. Just a few decades ago, it would have been crazy for Sports Illustrated to publish computer-generated slop, and pass it off as journalism, it never would have worked. But this past year, it went on for months, and no one even noticed, until a website called &#8220;Futurism&#8221; just happened to catch on.
Men are becoming indistinguishable from pigs, to use Orwell&#8217;s phrase. And with each passing day — with each refinement to the algorithm — it becomes more and more difficult to say which is which.

Robotic hand pressing a keyboard on a laptop 3D rendering

Media Outlets Use AI To Create Fake Writers Who Are Almost As Creepy And Soulless As Real Journalists

Matt Walsh

Readers Pass

Robots

Steph Curry

Sports Illustrated appeared to have been publishing AI-generated content attributed to fake authors — complete with bogus biographies and headshots, according to a report by <a href="https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Futurism</a>.
The exposé included examples of authors whose personas existed only on the website of the leading American sports magazine, which also allegedly used artificial intelligence to churn out articles.
&#8220;The content is absolutely AI-generated,&#8221; an anonymous source told Futurism. &#8220;No matter how much they say that it&#8217;s not.&#8221;
According to the outlet, Sports Illustrated listed a writer named &#8220;Drew Ortiz&#8221; — a white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes who grew up in a farmhouse and enjoyed the greater outdoors. But the profile photo paired with Ortiz&#8217;s biography is a headshot listed for sale on a website that sells AI-generated photos.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot,&#8221; another source told Futurism. &#8220;I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.&#8221;
&#8220;At the bottom [of the page] there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, &#8216;Oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.&#8217; Stuff like that. It&#8217;s just crazy.&#8221;
TheStreet, another publication owned by The Arena Group, was also found to engage in similar practices, according to the report.
When Futurism asked the magazine&#8217;s publisher, The Arena Group, for comment, the company did not respond immediately.
The outlet noted that after it reached out for comment, all the AI-generated authors disappeared from Sports Illustrated&#8217;s site — a practice the report claimed regularly happened before the sports magazine created new phony authors.
The report further emphasized the magazine&#8217;s website did not disclose that the articles credited to the writers&#8217; names used artificial intelligence. However, it eventually added a disclaimer explaining that the content was &#8220;created by a 3rd party&#8221; and that the &#8220;Sports Illustrated editorial staff are not involved in the creation of this content.&#8221;
Sports Illustrated — founded in 1954 — <a href="https://vault.si.com/vault/1990/11/12/from-the-publisher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prides</a> itself on being a magazine that penetrates coverage of social issues, which helped it become the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice.
However, using undisclosed AI-generated content for the magazine appears to show its fall from grace and further adds to a growing problem with &#8220;thinking&#8221; computer systems in media that only erode the public&#8217;s trust and pose a question of ethics in news publishing.
According to <a href="https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/sports-illustrateds-ai-generated-stories-third-party-1235810314/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Variety</a>, Authentic Brands Group purchased Sports Illustrated from Meredith for $110 million in 2019. The company then licensed media and publishing rights for the Sports Illustrated brand to Maven, which eventually changed its name to Arena Group Holdings in 2021.
The Arena Group later told Variety that a third-party company named AdVon Commerce claimed that humans wrote the content it produced for Sports Illustrated and has since ended its partnership with the company.
&#8220;The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce,&#8221; a spokesperson for Arena Group said in a statement to Variety. &#8220;A number of AdVon&#8217;s e-commerce articles ran on certain Arena websites. We continually monitor our partners and were in the midst of a review when these allegations were raised. AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans.&#8221;
The Arena Group rep continued, &#8220;According to AdVon, their writers, editors and researchers create and curate content and follow a policy that involves using both counter-plagiarism and counter-AI software on all content. However, we have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy — actions we don&#8217;t condone — and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership.&#8221;
Following the report, Sports Illustrated Union — a group created to safeguard the magazine&#8217;s standards and integrity — later released its own <a href="https://twitter.com/si_union/status/1729245677690012152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1729245677690012152%7Ctwgr%5E103f3c380ce6e062f36245cdc32969a7a21d2c37%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fsports%2Fsports-illustrated-reportedly-created-fake-authors-for-ai-generated-articles-complete-with-phony-headshots-and-bios%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> surrounding the accusations.
&#8220;We, the workers of the SI Union, are horrified by a story on the site Futurism, reporting that Sports Illustrated&#8217;s parent company, The Arena Group, has published AI-generated content under SI&#8217;s brand with fabricated bylines and writer profiles,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;If true, these practices violate everything we believe in about journalism. We deplore being associated with something so disrespectful to our readers.&#8221;
&#8220;We demand answers and transparency from Arena Group management about what exactly has been published under the SI name. We demand the company commit to adhering to basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-written stories by fake people.&#8221;

Sports Illustrated Created Articles Using AI-Generated Authors, Magazine Says Content Came From Third-Party

Legacy Media

News

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martha-stewart-becomes-oldest-model-in-si-swimsuit-history-with-latest-cover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martha Stewart</a> has responded to plastic surgery claims after she made history with her 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover, making her the oldest model to grace the cover of the annual issue.
The 81-year-old TV personality/businesswoman — who&#8217;s known for her strict beauty regimen — hit back at critics of her cover and said it&#8217;s not true she&#8217;d ever gone under the knife, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/martha-stewart-confesses-pose-playboy-sports-illustrated-cover">Fox News</a> reported.
&#8220;Well, it’s not true,&#8221; Stewart said. &#8220;I’ve had absolutely no plastic surgery whatsoever.&#8221;
The home entrepreneur said she worked hard to get ready for the cover and shared what she&#8217;s done to take care of her skin all these year to keep its youthful look.
&#8220;I have very healthy, good hair,&#8221; Stewart said. &#8220;I drink green juice every day. I take my vitamins. I eat very healthfully. I have very good skin doctors.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m very careful in the sun,&#8221; she added. &#8220;I wear hats and I wear sunblock every single day.&#8221;
&#8220;I had my regular facials but maybe more frequently and I also got a spray tan … I’m not a hairy person, but I got a complete body wax,&#8221; Stewart continued.
However, the author admitted, &#8220;Every now and then there are certain fillers that I can do for a little line here or there, but I hate Botox.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s a weird thing for me,&#8221; she added. &#8220;I really and truly don&#8217;t do a lot.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Martha Stewart is continuing to make her mark &#8212; this time on the cover of the 2023 SI Swimsuit issue! See her like never before here <a href="https://t.co/BcQZcV7R6j">https://t.co/BcQZcV7R6j</a>
&mdash; Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) <a href="https://twitter.com/SI_Swimsuit/status/1658113755912491008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Speaking to <a href="https://www.today.com/video/martha-stewart-is-sports-illustrated-s-2023-swimsuit-cover-model-174399045701">NBC&#8217;s</a> &#8220;Today&#8221; show when the cover was revealed, Stewart said that she was motivated to do it to inspire others.
&#8220;Usually I&#8217;m motivated by pay. But this time I was motivated by showing people that a woman my age could still look good, feel good, be good,&#8221; Stewart said. &#8220;I thought that this is kind of historic and that I better look really good.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s one of my mottos, when you&#8217;re through changing, you&#8217;re through,&#8221; she added. &#8220;Change is very good. Evolution is very good, just trying new things.&#8221;
Stewart also told NBC that it &#8220;was a challenge&#8221; to be on the cover at her age and said she hopes other women will be inspired after seeing her on the cover.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martha-stewart-becomes-oldest-model-in-si-swimsuit-history-with-latest-cover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martha Stewart Becomes Oldest Model In SI Swimsuit History With Latest Cover</a>

LIFE, LITERACY, LUXE, and EDUCATION, An Authors’ Night “Golden Age: The Genius of Architect Grosvenor Atterbury”

Martha Stewart Responds To Plastic Surgery Claims After Sports Illustrated Cover

Celebrities

Entertainment

Martha Stewart

Actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/megan-fox" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Megan Fox</a> recently admitted that she never <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/body-positivity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">loved her body</a>. 
The 36-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">celebrity</a> discussed her feelings during an interview with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sports-illustrated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated</a> magazine after posing for its famed swimsuit issue this year. 
&#8220;I have body dysmorphia,&#8221; Fox <a href="https://swimsuit.si.com/video/megan-fox-addresses-her-experience-with-body-dysmorphia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the outlet. &#8220;There is never a point in my life where I loved my body, ever ever.&#8221;
The &#8220;Transformers&#8221; star said she had an &#8220;awareness&#8221; and &#8220;obsession&#8221; with her body from a young age. &#8220;It definitely wasn’t environmental because I grew up in a very religious environment where bodies weren’t even acknowledged,&#8221; Fox said. &#8220;The journey of loving myself is going to be never-ending.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
She&#39;s an actress, she&#39;s a mom and she&#39;s gracing the cover of the 2023 SI Swimsuit issue! <a href="https://t.co/Ze7jPErtdf">https://t.co/Ze7jPErtdf</a>
&mdash; Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) <a href="https://twitter.com/SI_Swimsuit/status/1658088589991788553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
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During the interview, the actress also mentioned how she wished people recognized her for her “aura” and not her figure. “I have a rainbow aura, and it&#8217;s special,&#8221; Fox said.
&#8220;Shooting Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is definitely a lot of pressure,&#8221; the mom of three also told SI. &#8220;I have a vision in my head that I&#8217;m trying to achieve, so we&#8217;ll see if it pans out for me.&#8221;
&#8220;What I most want people to know is that I&#8217;m a genuine soul who is hoping to actually belong to something and not always have to live as a misunderstood outcast,&#8221; the actress went on. Fox is currently engaged to performing artist Machine Gun Kelly, though there have been rumors of trouble in their relationship.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for 2023 showcases a wide range of models this year, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martha-stewart-becomes-oldest-model-in-si-swimsuit-history-with-latest-cover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martha Stewart</a>, the oldest SI swimsuit model at 81, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sports-illustrated-features-transgender-model-on-cover-again-a-dream-come-true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kim Petras</a>, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman.
&#8220;Our goal with the 2023 issue is to continue to evoke captivating and thought-provoking conversations,&#8221; SI Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day <a href="https://people.com/style/megan-fox-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-issue-cover-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> of the new issue.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-40146">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
&#8220;While the industry wavers on its arbitrary notion of beauty, our issue has stayed the course, showcasing the women of today, the women shaping the future. This year, we&#8217;re featuring an extremely diverse group of women starting with our cover models, who are collectively the most unapologetic women from different walks of life who continue to forge their own paths on their own terms.&#8221;

Megan Fox

Megan Fox Says There Was ‘Never A Point In My Life Where I Loved My Body’

Megan Fox Says There Was 'Never A Point In My Life Where I Loved My Body'

Body positivity

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Transgender</a>-identified model Kim Petras will be on the cover of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sports-illustrated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated</a> this year, the outlet announced Monday.
The 30-year-old singer and model will be the second <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lgbtq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trans-identified</a> model to be featured on a cover. The first, Leyna Bloom, modeled for SI in 2021.
“It&#8217;s super exciting to have my Sports Illustrated cover and album announcement happening at the same time! Yu Tsai and the whole team at Sports Illustrated made me feel really comfortable and like I belonged there. I had the best time and, honestly, it was a huge confidence boost,&#8221; Petras told <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kim-petras-models-dream-come-190301119.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">People</a> in an interview. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As if being a Grammy-Award winning artist and history maker wasn&#39;t enough, Kim Petras is now adding SI Swimsuit COVER model to her list of accomplishments. <a href="https://t.co/ESSyOwdMJI">https://t.co/ESSyOwdMJI</a>
&mdash; Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) <a href="https://twitter.com/SI_Swimsuit/status/1658096139827298304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Megan Fox, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martha-stewart-becomes-oldest-model-in-si-swimsuit-history-with-latest-cover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martha Stewart</a>, and Brooks Nader were also featured in this year’s swimsuit issue.
“I was so excited when I got the call to be in Sports Illustrated,&#8221; Petras told SI. &#8220;It&#8217;s very iconic, and a lot of very iconic people have done it before, so [it was a] big dream come true for me.&#8221;
Petras had another big announcement Monday. The musician’s debut album, “Feed the Beast,” will be out on June 23.
&#8220;I am so excited that my album is coming out,&#8221; the singer and model told People. &#8220;It has been in the works for three years. I&#8217;ve really sacrificed my entire life to it and have been writing these songs that mean the world to me. I feel like it&#8217;s something that you&#8217;ve never heard from me before!&#8221;
Petras caused controversy earlier this year during a Grammy performance with Sam Smith, who identifies as non-binary. The duo took home the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their hit single &#8220;Unholy.&#8221; But then the overtly satanic-themed and sexualized performance earned the pair a lot of backlash.
Petras <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/literally-a-tribute-to-satan-viewers-slam-demonic-performance-at-the-grammys" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> the controversial performance later, saying, “I think a lot of people, honestly, have kind of labeled what I stand for and what Sam stands for as religiously not cool.”
“And I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it, but then slowly realizing it doesn’t want me to be a part of it,” the singer continued. “So it’s a take on not being able to choose religion and not being able to live the way that people might want you to live, because, you know, as a trans person, I’m kind of already not wanted in religion.”

Kim Petras

Sports Illustrated Features Transgender Model On Cover, Again: ‘A Dream Come True’

Sports Illustrated Features Transgender Model On Cover, Again: 'A Dream Come True'

LGBTQ

Social Issues

Transgender

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martha-stewart-jokes-that-shes-wished-friends-would-die-because-she-had-crushes-on-their-husbands" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martha Stewart</a> just became the oldest model in the history of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue after the magazine released one of four covers for the 2023 edition.
The 81-year-old TV personality/businesswoman/author is shown wearing a white swimsuit with a gold wrap.
&#8220;Usually I&#8217;m motivated by pay. But this time I was motivated by showing people that a woman my age could still look good, feel good, be good,&#8221; Stewart said. &#8220;I thought that this is kind of historic and that I better look really good.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s one of my mottos, when you&#8217;re through changing, you&#8217;re through,&#8221; she added. &#8220;Change is very good. Evolution is very good, just trying new things.&#8221;
Stewart also told NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Today&#8221; <a href="https://www.today.com/video/martha-stewart-is-sports-illustrated-s-2023-swimsuit-cover-model-174399045701">show</a> that it &#8220;was a challenge&#8221; to be on the cover at her age.
The home entrepreneur said she hopes other women will be inspired after seeing her on the cover.
SI Swimsuit magazine editor MJ Day called Stewart &#8220;a legend&#8221; and defended her choice to feature her on the cover.
&#8220;Never in her life has she let her circumstances dictate her outcome,&#8221; Day said. &#8220;She&#8217;s changed with the times—always one step ahead, it seems—to build a wide-reaching business empire.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Martha Stewart is continuing to make her mark &#8212; this time on the cover of the 2023 SI Swimsuit issue!<a href="https://t.co/WqY9v7EwQR">https://t.co/WqY9v7EwQR</a>
&mdash; Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) <a href="https://twitter.com/SI_Swimsuit/status/1658084707957895172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;While the industry wavers on its arbitrary notion of beauty, our issue has stayed the course, showcasing the women of today, the women shaping the future.&#8221;
The very first SI Swimsuit issue hit the store shelves in 1964 and, over time, has featured fashion models, influencers, and celebrities from all over the world. Female athletes like former UFC fighter Ronda Rousey and former Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn have been shown in recent years.
Elon Musk&#8217;s mother, Maye, was previously the oldest model to appear on an SI Swimsuit cover. She was featured in the 2022 issue at age 74, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/martha-stewart-oldest-sports-illustrated-144533077.html">Yahoo.com</a> reported.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charming-martha-stewart-responds-to-those-dating-rumors-involving-pete-davidson">&#8216;Charming&#8217;: Martha Stewart Responds To Those Dating Rumors Involving Pete Davidson</a>

Olmsted Bicentennial Gala “Parks For All People” Presented By National Association For Olmsted Parks At Central Park

Martha Stewart Becomes Oldest Model In SI Swimsuit History With Latest Cover

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sports-illustrated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated</a> Swimsuit model Emily Ratajkowski said she doesn&#8217;t &#8220;really believe in straight people&#8221; after recently filing for divorce from husband film producer Sebastian Bear-McClard.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/emily-ratajkowski" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31-year-0ld</a> model made the comments during a wide-ranging interview for <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a41616069/emily-ratajkowski-podcast-interview-november-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harper&#8217;s Bazaar</a> when she was asked about a recent TikTok in which it appeared she was identifying as bisexual.
&#8220;I think sexuality is on a sliding scale,&#8221; Ratajkowski shared. &#8220;I don&#8217;t really believe in straight people.&#8221;
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Emily Ratajkowski doesn&#39;t &#39;believe in straight people&#39; <a href="https://t.co/xk60VkyNef">https://t.co/xk60VkyNef</a> <a href="https://t.co/TNEjXQSkq6">pic.twitter.com/TNEjXQSkq6</a>
&mdash; Page Six (@PageSix) <a href="https://twitter.com/PageSix/status/1587465864529543168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;My girlfriend came over and was like, &#8216;B****, have you seen the green-couch thing?’” she added. &#8220;She was laughing at me because my green couch is so big.&#8221;
&#8220;I want to be able to have fun with how I present myself in the world without feeling like I&#8217;m a bad feminist or a good feminist,&#8221; Ratajkowski continued. &#8220;Duh. I don&#8217;t want to be a part of your club if you don&#8217;t want to have me. It&#8217;s fine!&#8221;
In the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@emrata/video/7152973396052053290?is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1&amp;item_id=7152973396052053290&amp;lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a>, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/emily-ratajkowski-says-she-stayed-silent-about-robin-thicke-groping-allegation-because-she-wanted-to-be-famous" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swimsuit model</a> revealed that she owned a green velvet couch in response to a meme claiming that ownership of a green couch means one identifies “as bisexual,&#8221; according to <a href="https://pagesix.com/2022/11/01/emily-ratajkowski-doesnt-believe-in-straight-people/?utm_source=like2buy.curalate.com&amp;crl8_id=b028a641-8a8c-470d-9085-46ab74e8ccca" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Page Six</a>.
In September, the activist model filed for divorce from Bear-McClard after four years of marriage. The two share a one-year-old son, as Page Six noted.
At one point in the Harper&#8217;s Bazaar article, Ratajkowski admitted she feels anger over the divorce after Bear-McClard reportedly cheated on her.
&#8220;I can tell you that I have never been single before,&#8221; the model shared. &#8220;I feel all the emotions. I feel anger, sadness. I feel excitement. I feel joy. I feel levity. Every day is different. The only good thing I know is that I&#8217;m feeling all those things, which is nice because it makes me believe that I&#8217;ll be okay.&#8221;
Even though Ratajkowski didn&#8217;t want to talk about her divorce, she did confirm reports that she&#8217;s dating again.
&#8220;I have gone on dates,&#8221; the swimsuit model explained, noting she&#8217;s steering clear of dating apps for now. &#8220;But give me time.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-obsess-over-dead-girls-actress-and-model-complains-that-marilyn-monroe-film-fetishizes-female-pain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8216;We Obsess Over Dead Girls&#8217;: Actress And Model Complains That Marilyn Monroe Film &#8216;Fetishizes Female Pain&#8217;</a>

Emily Ratajkowski-2

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Says She Doesn’t ‘Really Believe In Straight People’

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Emily Ratajkowski Says She Doesn’t ‘Really Believe In Straight People’

Emily Ratajkowski

Model

Sexuality

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chrissy-teigen">Chrissy Teigen</a> shared life-changing news Wednesday that after undergoing IVF treatments, she is once again expecting with husband singer John Legend.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chrissy-teigen">36-year-old</a> model shared a few selfies on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgz_10nv_Dn/">Instagram</a> showing her sporting a baby-bump in her underwear. She shared how the last few years have been emotional after suffering a miscarriage with her son Jack at 20 weeks into her pregnancy.
&#8220;The last few years have been a blur of emotions to say the least, but joy has filled our home and hearts again,&#8221; Teigen captioned her post. &#8220;1 billion shots later (in the leg lately, as u can see!) we have another on the way.&#8221;
&#8220;Every appointment I&#8217;ve said to myself, &#8216;ok if it&#8217;s healthy today I&#8217;ll announce&#8217; but then I breathe a sigh of relief to hear a heartbeat and decide I&#8217;m just too nervous still,&#8221; she added.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll ever walk out of an appointment with more excitement than nerves but so far, everything is perfect and beautiful and I&#8217;m feeling hopeful and amazing,&#8221; the swimsuit model continued. &#8220;Ok phew it&#8217;s been very hard keeping this in for so long!&#8221;
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In October 2020, the model shared very personal images on her social media account of the day she and her husband lost their unborn child, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chrissy-teigen-says-shell-never-be-pregnant-again-after-miscarriage">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported.
&#8220;We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we&#8217;ve never felt before,&#8221; Teigen captioned her post. &#8220;We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn&#8217;t enough.&#8221;
&#8220;We never decide on our babies&#8217; names until the last possible moment after they&#8217;re born, just before we leave the hospital,&#8221; she added. &#8220;But we, for some reason, had started to call this little guy in my belly Jack. So he will always be Jack to us. Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-we-go-again-chrissy-teigen-confirms-shes-doing-ivf-again-after-death-of-son-jack">TV personality</a> tied the knot with Legend in 2013. The two share two kids together, 6-year-old daughter Luna Simone and 4-year-old son Miles Theodore. In February, the model confirmed reports the couple were once again undergoing IVF treatment in hopes of growing their family, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-we-go-again-chrissy-teigen-confirms-shes-doing-ivf-again-after-death-of-son-jack">reported</a>. Teigen&#8217;s other children were also conceived via IVF due to fertility issues.

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‘Blur Of Emotions’: Swimsuit Model Chrissy Teigen Announces She’s Expecting Again Following Death Of Her Son

Swimsuit Model Chrissy Teigen Announces She's Expecting Again Following Death Of Her Son

Chrissy Teigen

Motherhood

Pregnant

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sports-illustrated">Sports Illustrated</a> model Victoria Vesce recently opened up about a major health battle that started in 2017, when she was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor.
Vesce <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/si-swim-search-finalist-victoria-vesce">told</a> Fox News in an interview published Saturday that she knew something was wrong early on, but was continually misdiagnosed for about six months. When she was finally diagnosed with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4472946/">multiple paraganglioma</a>, Vesce said her &#8220;heart just dropped.&#8221;
&#8220;I felt a sense of relief, honestly,&#8221; the model said. &#8220;For six months, I felt like doctors thought I was crazy. From the outside, I looked perfectly healthy. But I just knew something was wrong with me.&#8221;
Doctors found Vesce had nerve damage and was losing her hearing.
&#8220;I just thought maybe I hurt my ear somehow during NBA dance practice,&#8221; said Vesce, who was a dancer for the Charlotte Hornets from 2014-2017. &#8220;But, eventually, I was told, &#8216;We found a mass in your head.&#8217; My heart just dropped.&#8221;
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SI Swim model recalls overcoming ‘nightmare’ brain tumor <a href="https://t.co/lq1OQYojDC">https://t.co/lq1OQYojDC</a>
&mdash; Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1545776071039148035?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I was 23 years old,&#8221; Vesce continued. &#8220;I’m healthy. How could this happen? In one way, it was good to know that I wasn’t going crazy. But, by then, it had spread down my neck into my carotid artery. I went from living my best life, traveling, modeling. Then I get hit with something insane. I was relieved to finally have an answer, but I didn’t know how to react. It was like my nightmare, a nightmare coming to fruition.&#8221;
Vesce, now an advocate for the National Brain Tumor Society, was treated at Duke University Hospital, where she volunteered to participate in a study involving rare tumors, Fox News noted.
The treatment was a &#8220;terrifying&#8221; prospect, Vesce said, but she tried to stay as positive as possible, noting that &#8220;stress can trigger brain tumor growth.&#8221;
&#8220;I was told I needed surgery, or I would be at risk of paralysis or even death,&#8221; she recalled. &#8220;I was terrified, but I did it – May 2017. I went through a six-week recovery time to eat and walk again. It took forever just to stand up. I thought it would be all over. But then I ended up doing 30 rounds of experimental radiation treatment.&#8221;
Fast-forward to 2022, and Vesce is doing &#8220;great,&#8221; while routinely checking on her health.
&#8220;I’m doing great,&#8221; she told Fox News. &#8220;I mean, I lost 100% of hearing in my right ear. I do go for routine MRI checkups because they have to leave remnants of the tumor in my head. It wrapped around my brain stem. There are a lot of nerves involved and if they end up touching it, I could be instantly paralyzed or have a stroke. So there is some of it in my head that gets monitored by an MRI. But luckily, everything’s been stable.&#8221;
The model emphasized that it was her late mother who kept her motivated during the hard times.
&#8220;It was a dark period in my life,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I have always been pretty positive, maybe a little stubborn. But my mother, my best friend, she kept me motivated. She would always say, &#8216;We’re gonna get through this together.'&#8221;
&#8220;Honestly, if I didn’t have such a strong support system of family and friends, I’m not sure if I would have gotten through everything,&#8221; Vesce added. &#8220;They kept me mentally strong.&#8221;
Read the full interview at <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/si-swim-search-finalist-victoria-vesce">Fox News</a> 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/overwhelmed-with-gratefulness-model-who-walked-headfirst-into-airplane-propeller-now-a-mother">‘Overwhelmed With Gratefulness’: Model Who Walked Headfirst Into Airplane Propeller Now A Mother</a>

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‘My Heart Just Dropped’: Sports Illustrated Model Talks Rare Brain Tumor

Sports Illustrated Model Victoria Vesce Talks Rare Brain Tumor

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