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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Kelsey McKinney

jacked man with midlength hair sittting at a laptop

Arts And Culture

Why is AI Jesus So Fucking Jacked?

David Roth

The City Lives In The Earth Room

Alex Sujong Laughlin

The words "girl's girl" appear in the Charli XCX Brat font, on a Brat-green background.

Charli XCX, Lorde, And The Trap Of The “Girl’s Girl”

Albert Burneko

Appalling Errors In Vulture’s Ranked List Of Muppets Movies, Ranked

Israel Daramola

God Help Me, I Can’t Stop Watching ‘Clipped’

Kendrick Lamar at Life Is Beautiful 2023 on September 23, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Kendrick Lamar Gets His Curtain Call

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and has written for The Guardian, The Second Serve, The Athletic, and other publications.

Owen Lewis

Josh O'Connor feeds a churro to Mike Faist in a scene from Challengers

Tennis

Who Wins The Match In ‘Challengers’?

It’s Pop Girl Summer

Samuel John Peploe, R.S.A's 'Pink Rose in a Glass Vase with Fruit' is hung on a wall for auction.

Everyone Loses When We Start Talking About Art Like It’s Real Estate

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

Conner O'Malley performing in his latest stand-up special

Conner O’Malley’s New Special Exposes The Dark Heart Of Techno-Optimism

Talk show host Conan O'Brien appears on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" at the NBC Studios on September 5, 2003 in Burbank, California.

Mods Asleep

The Late-Night Television Wars Are Worth Reliving

Fran Hoepfner is a writer and teacher.

Fran Hoepfner

US actor Kevin Costner attends a press conference for the film "Horizon: An American Saga" during the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 20, 2024.

Why Do I Keep Rooting For Kevin Costner?

Dan Brooks writes essays and fiction from Missoula, Montana.

Dan Brooks

Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour at MetLife Stadium on July 21, 2018 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Culture Needs More Jerks

Vincent Namatjira (Western Aranda people) with Vincent Namatjira: Australia in colour, installation view

Australian Billionaire Not Rich Enough To Control Art

Soraya Roberts

Two characters from I Saw The Tv Glow sit side by side

How Many Times Is Too Many Times?

Lauren Theisen

What Makes Hockey Hockey?

Annie Howard is a journalist and historian based in Chicago. She is currently at work on her debut manuscript, The City Made Me Trans.

Annie Howard

‘I Saw The TV Glow’ Unfurls The Great Trans Unknown

Barry Petchesky

SHAOYANG, CHINA - FEBRUARY 16: People read books at Songpo bookstore during the Spring Festival holiday on February 16, 2021 in Shaoyang, Hunan Province of China. (Photo by Teng Zhizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

Life Lessons

Buy Yourself A Gift Card

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

Anne Hatahway cries in her Subaru in a scene from The Idea of You

The Ideas Of ‘The Idea Of You,’ According To Us

Paramount Plus Is Ruining My Life, And It Is Time For Jeff Probst To Do Something About It

John Mulaney Made A Perfect Late-Night Show For Just One Week

Pro-Palestinian protesters opposing Israel's participation in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) demonstrate in Malmo, Sweden, on May 11, 2024, with a poster saying : NEJ TILL FOLKMORD, Welcome to the Genocide Song Contest

The Myth Of An Apolitical Eurovision

Steve Albini performs with his band Shellac at the FYF Fest in Los Angeles in 2016.

Everyone Has A Steve Albini Album

South African singer and songwriter Tyla arrives for the 2024 Met Gala in a Balmain gown meant to evoke sand in an hourglass. She is being helped by a procession of men in tuxedos who are holding the train of her gown in order for her to walk.