CULTURE

Footer Column 2

Footer Legal

Footer Main

Nav Bar

OTHER

SPORTS

Subscribe, at any level, to play

Thanks for your interest in Defector Crosswords!

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Plans start at $8/month.

Subscribers enjoy unlimited, ad-free browsing.

Register to continue

Or click here to subscribe for unlimited, ad-free access!

Our gift to you: This year's post is unlocked. Register your email to get even more free articles.

Welcome to the 2025 Hater's Guide!

Just register your email:

This blog is free to read.

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

Capital

Climate

Margin Of Error

Policing

The Machines

Politics

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

Ted Leonsis sits at a lectern emblazoned with Wizards logos.

Ted Leonsis Is Chasing A Wad Of Public Dough Out To The ‘Burbs

Patrick Redford

13 August 2021, Brandenburg, Grünheide: Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, stands at a press event on the grounds of the Tesla Gigafactory. The first vehicles are to roll off the production line in Grünheide near Berlin from the end of 2021. The US company plans to build around 500,000 units of the compact Model 3 and Model Y series here each year. Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Elon Musk Is Grimly Determined To Let You Know He Is Funny

Albert Burneko

Elon Musk wearing a black leather jacket with a shearling collar to a stage interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, lol.

Looking Good, Elon! Feeling Good, Trashcan Man!

Kelsey McKinney

artist's rendering of Caravaggio's painting of Narcissus with a spotify logo for a head

Arts And Culture

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who’s The Prettiest Spotify Wrapped Of Them All?

Journalismism

G/O Media Offloads Shuttered Jezebel To Paste Media Group

Justin Ellis

The exterior of a Red Lobster restaurant illuminated by its neon sign at dusk in South Carolina.

This Is So Stupid

We Will Plunge The Depths Of Unlimited Shrimp Until The System Is Broken

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO - JULY 11: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, speaks to the media as he arrives at the Sun Valley Lodge for the Allen &amp; Company Sun Valley Conference on July 11, 2023 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every July, some of the world's most wealthy and powerful businesspeople from the media, finance, technology and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive weeklong conference. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

What The Shit Is Happening With OpenAI And Sam Altman? An Explainer

A Color Star logo over the phrase, "We Provide Entertainment To Our Customers"

Life's Rich Pageant

Color Star Is Circling The Color Drain

A goofy-looking robot bartender on a cruise ship, with a rack of various liquors behind it.

Here’s $75, Give Me One Frosty Tesla Cyberbeer Please GZZT MZZZZT ZZZZZTT ERROR ERROR FATAL ERROR

G/O Media Shutters Jezebel After Abandoning Sale Efforts

A Bored Ape Yacht Club, uh, ape, whose eyes I have crudely blacked out, with blood running in rivulets from his empty eyesockets.

When Blindness Hits A Hundred Bucks A Share, Then Who Will Be Laughing, I Ask You, “Doctor”

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 24: 'Cruise' driverless robot taxis are seen at a parking lot as California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) revokes its self-driving car permit and citing 'unreasonable risk to public safety' in San Francisco, California, USA on October 24, 2023. The self-driving service of 'Cruise', the autonomous vehicle company owned by General Motor, is thought to be a step towards wider commercial deployment of a long-promised autonomous alternative to ride-hailing services such as Uber or Lyft in the US. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

San Francisco’s Robotaxi Fleet Halved After Horror Crash

Lauren Theisen

Logo for The Messenger, with letters flickering out and then going blank. First the 'h', then the 'nge', then the 'T e e r.' Blue background, white text.

The Messenger Is Speedrunning The Media Startup Life Cycle

Tom Ley

Managing Partner John Fisher of the Oakland Athletics in the stands during the game against the Chicago Cubs at RingCentral Coliseum on April 17, 2023 in Oakland, California. The Cubs defeated the Athletics 10-1.

A’s Reliever Trevor May Retires, Tells Owner To “Take Mommy And Daddy’s Money Somewhere Else”

Samuel Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, testifies during a Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry hearing about "Examining Digital Assets: Risks, Regulation, and Innovation," on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 9, 2022. The photo is stylized. His big poofy hair is mostly what the photo is of, plus the top half of his face. The canvas behind him is ugly and Brown, kind of in a gradient.

Michael Lewis’s ‘Going Infinite’ Goes In Circles

Katharine Trendacosta writes about tech policy, the entertainment industry, pop culture, and where those things intersect. In her day job, she&#8217;s the Associate Director of Policy and Activism for the digital civil liberties nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation. (Her writing here reflects her views alone and not those of EFF.) In her spare time, she writes things like this.

A photo of the author, Katharine Trendacosta

Katharine Trendacosta

Members of WGA cheer at the end of their picket in front of CBS Television City on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023 in Hollywood, CA. Saturday marked the fourth straight day of talks, which kicked off Wednesday with the heads of four major studios participating directly. The union and studio alliance had not announced a deal as of early Saturday evening.

The Hollywood Writers Strike Proved That Collective Action Works

James Robins is an award-winning critic and historian. His work has appeared in the New Republic, Vulture, and the TLS, and he writes the newsletter <a href="https://thedreadnought.substack.com/">The Dreadnought</a>. He lives in London.

James Robins

Walter Isaacson (right) and Elon Musk (left) speak onstage at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit back in 2014, long before Isaacson wrote a big biography of Musk.

Not Even The Patron Stooge Of Fawning Biographies Can Make Elon Musk Look Good

NEW YORK, USA - JUNE 15: FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at Manhattan Federal Court for a court appearance in New York, United States on June 15, 2023. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Oh, So It’s Illegal To Email Your Son About How To Do Financial Crimes Now?

Media Meltdowns

Barstool Sports’s New Owner Reportedly Laying Off 100 Staffers After Purchasing Company For One Dollar

Jason England

Roger Goodell, Jay-Z and Blue Ivy Carter attend Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona.

Music

50 Years Later, Is There Anything Left Of Hip Hop?

Kathryn Xu

Screenshot from tripleS LOVElution's "Girls' Capitalism" music video, with text reading, "Rule No. 1 Don't Cry Be Rich."

TripleS And The Rise Of K-Pop Girls’ Crypto-Capitalism

A hand holding a cracked Autostraddle logo reaches out of a pink whirlpool

Autostraddle To Be Acquired By Queer Wellness Company For Them

Santa Monica, CA - February 21: Passengers ride in an electric Jaguar I-Pace car outfitted with Waymo full self-driving technology in Santa Monica Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

San Francisco Takes First Step Towards The Grim, Autonomous Future Of Transportation

Adlan Jackson is a writer-editor at Hell Gate. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, Study Hall and more.

Adlan Jackson

The central branch of Brooklyn Public Library, wrapped in Jay-Z lyrics.

Is ‘The Book Of Hov’ Really For Anyone But Jay-Z?

Saquon Barkley #26 of the New York Giants stretches prior to an NFL divisional round football game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on January 21, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.