A transgender athlete won two events at the California state track and field championships this weekend after officials announced an adjustment to high school sports rules essentially defying President Trump’s executive order to protect girls in sports. A.B. Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High in Southern California, won the girl’s triple jump and high […]
A transgender athlete won two events at the California state track and field championships this weekend after officials announced an adjustment to high school sports rules essentially defying President Trump’s executive order to protect girls in sports.
A.B. Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High in Southern California, won the girl’s triple jump and high jump, sharing the high jump win with two other contestants.
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) changed the rules before the meet so girls who finished behind a biological male still got the award they would have won if the trans athlete had not competed. The rule change allows the trans athlete to still win a medal while also allowing female athletes on the medal podium, even if they technically missed out on a medal finish.
For example, Hernandez finished the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 7 inches (1.7 meters), with no failed attempts. Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle also cleared that height after each logged a failed attempt. However, the three shared the first-place win.
CIF said in a statement, “(It) values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code.”
Protestors opposed Hernandez competing in the championship saying girls’ sports should be for girls only, not biological males.
“The new proposed CIF rule is a travesty. No one thought it through while they tried to cut the baby in half for the sake of a boy’s feelings,” said Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, on X.
“The thrill and joy of winning is stripped from the girl,” she continued. “She is, at the moment she is supposed to taste victory, told to compare herself to a male standard (and a male that can’t even measure up to a good male standard). She gets what feels like a consolation prize she had to share.”
“It’s an insult. It’s robbery. It’s stealing everything wonderful about chasing wins, working toward an accomplishment, and celebrating the limits and successes of female athletes,” Jones added.
“He is a mediocre male athlete. He gets to stand on the girl’s podium & be listed as the winner in the girls’ category because he misrepresents who he is,” Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, the only athletic brand to support women athletes and their sports, wrote on X.
“I blame CIF, @GavinNewsom, and the boy’s mother. They further the message that one boy’s feelings matter (more) than all girls’ hard work and the rights afforded them from Title IX,” she continued.
Hundreds have chimed in on the controversial matter online as the CIF implemented its pilot program.
President Trump criticized the state ahead of the championships and called for federal funding to be stripped for allowing male athletes in female sports.
“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social, last week.
“THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS. Please be hereby advised that large-scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not totally adhered to,” the president concluded.
The Journal of the Endocrine Society finds that teen males have 15 times the amount of testosterone circulating in their bodies than females who’ve gone through puberty. That means at least a 10% advantage in running and swimming and a 20% advantage in jumping events, according to the 2018 review.
“He might be transitioned, but he is still a male,” said Mimi Israelah, who protested Hernandez’s performance. “It’s not fair for the women, and it is destroying women’s sports.”
According to results posted by the CIF of the state championship, Hernandez’s performance not only places him fourth among other highschool girls in the triple jump, but ranks him 70th among all collegiate females competing in the same event.
However, as HeCheated.org points out, Hernandez “does not even rank in the top 250 high school jumpers in the state of California” among males.
“‘Trans’ is the celebration of male mediocrity and in doing so ignoring and failing to celebrate actual female athleticism,” the organization wrote on X.
Oregon
California is not the only state where trans athletes took victories from girls over the weekend.
In Oregon, Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School refused to share their spot on the podium with a trans athlete during the state championship on Saturday.
The pair who competed in the high jump stepped off the podium and faced the opposite direction when the Ida B. Wells High School gave a medal for a fifth-place finish. The athlete previously competed in the boys’ category in 2023 and 2024, Fox News reports.
Two girls who had to compete against a boy at the Oregon high jump state championships refused to step on the podium in protest.
“Two female athletes in Oregon refused to stand on the podium because a boy was awarded a place,” wrote conservative women’s advocate Riley Gaines. “Girls have had enough.”
As CBN News reported, Gaines had to share the podium with Lia Thomas, formerly Will Thomas, when the trans athlete swam for the University of Pennsylvania. The two tied for fifth place in the NCAA’s 2022 women’s 200 freestyle.
Thomas later went on to take first place in the women’s 500 freestyle, becoming the first trans athlete to win an NCAA national championship.
That moment galvanized Gaines’ resolve and launched her into advocacy.
Minnesota
Gaines also pointed out how a trans-identifying female-dominated the Class 4A Softball Championship in Minnesota.
“He pitched 14 shutout innings in back-to-back games to defeat the defending state champs,” she wrote on X. “14. Shutout. Innings.”
As CBN News reported, a sports advocacy group is suing Minnesota’s attorney general on behalf of three female softball players over a state policy that allows males to compete in female sports.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit legal group, is representing Female Athletes United (FAU) and the high school athletes.
“Minnesota is failing its female athletes. The state is putting the rights of males ahead of females, telling girls their hard work may never be enough to win and that they don’t deserve fairness and safety,” said ADF legal counsel Suzanne Beecher.
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AI Videos of Black Women Depicted as 'Bigfoot' Are Going Viral
An AI-generated “bigfoot baddie,” with acrylic nails and a pink wig, speaks directly to her imaginary audience using an iPhone. “We might have to go on the run,” she says. “I’m wanted for a false report on my baby daddy.” This AI video, generated by Google’s Veo 3, has racked up over a million views […]
An AI-generated “bigfoot baddie,” with acrylic nails and a pink wig, speaks directly to her imaginary audience using an iPhone. “We might have to go on the run,” she says. “I’m wanted for a false report on my baby daddy.” This AI video, generated by Google’s Veo 3, has racked up over a million views on Instagram. It’s just one of many viral posts on Instagram and TikTok viewed by WIRED that depict Black women as primates and perpetuate racist tropes using AI video tools.
Google’s Veo 3 was a hit with online audiences when it dropped at the company’s developer conference in May. Surreal generations of Biblical characters and cryptids, like bigfoot, doing influencer-style vlogging quickly spread across social media. AI-generated bigfoot vlogs were even used by Google as a selling point in ads promoting the new feature.
With “bigfoot baddies,” online creators are taking what was a fairly innocuous trend on social media and repurposing it to dehumanize Black women. “There’s a historical precedent behind why this is offensive. In the early days of slavery, Black people were overexaggerated in illustrations to emphasize primal characteristics,” says Nicol Turner Lee, director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution.
“It’s both disgusting and disturbing that these racial tropes and images are readily available to be designed and distributed on online platforms,” says Turner Lee.
One of the most popular Instagram accounts posting these generated clips has five videos with over a million views, less than a month after the account’s first post. The AI videos feature the animal-woman hybrids speaking African American Vernacular English in a caricatured manner, with the characters often shown wearing a bonnet and threatening to fight people. In one clip, the AI generation, using a country accent, implies she pulled out a bottle of Hennessy liquor that was stored in her genitals.
Veo 3 can create everything seen in videos like this, the scenery to the spoken audio to the characters themselves, from a single prompt. The bio of the popular Instagram account includes a link to a $15 online course where you can learn how to create similar videos. In videos with titles like “Veo 3 does the heavy lifting,” three teachers use voiceover to step students through the process of prompting the AI video tool for bigfoot clips and creating consistent characters. The email address listed as the administrator of the online course bounced back messages when WIRED attempted to contact the creators.
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Instagram, declined to comment on the record. Google and TikTok both acknowledged WIRED’s request for comment, but did not provide a statement prior to publication.
Our social media analysis found copycat accounts on Instagram and TikTok reposting the “bigfoot baddie” clips or generating similar videos. A repost of one video on Instagram has 1 million views on an AI-focused meme page. A different Instagram account has another “bigfoot baddie” video with almost 3 million views. It’s not just on Instagram; an account on TikTok dedicated to similar AI-generated content currently has over 1 million likes. These accounts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“If I die here, I better get resurrected with a BBL,” says an AI-generated female bigfoot on a different account, talking to the camera as she dodges bombs while vacationing in Israel. “One of the problems with generative AI is that the creators of AI tools cannot conceive of all of the ways that people can be horrible to each other,” says Meredith Broussard, a professor at New York University and author of More Than a Glitch, a book about biases in technology. “So, they can’t put up a sufficient number of guardrails. It’s exactly the same problem we’ve seen on social media platforms.”
A screenshot of one of the “Bigfoot Baddies” videos WIRED found on Instagram. The video was generated by AI tools.
Courtesy of Reece Rogers
After clicking on a few of the female bigfoot videos, the Instagram Reels feed for our test account was soon filled by the algorithm with other racist videos—including an AI generation of a Black man on a fishing boat excitedly catching a piece of fried chicken and referring to a chimpanzee as his son.
While these AI videos are upsetting, they are not necessarily surprising. Back in 2023, as an AI-generated video of Will Smith eating spaghetti was going viral on social media, WIRED senior writer Jason Parham dissected the video as a form of minstrelsy. “This coming age of new minstrelsy will assume an even more cunning chameleon form, adaptive and immediate in its guile, from humanistic deepfakes and spot-on voice manipulations to all manner of digital deceit,” Parham wrote at the time.
With this latest wave of generative AI video tools, helmed by Google’s Veo 3, it’s never been easier to produce photorealistic AI videos. The ease of generating numerous videos paired with the consistent spread of AI slop on social media platforms is part of what’s popularized these “bigfoot baddies.” More social media trends where creators use AI to attack minority groups will likely continue. “AI has not only made it easier to manipulate images,” Turner Lee says. “But the algorithm itself, and the ecology of the algorithm, has also made it easier to share or to ramp up your consumption of this content.”
BlockDAG's presale surges with 3,025% ROI potential, 2 million users, and viral social media traction
BlockDAG, a Layer 1 infrastructure project, has rapidly gained traction across various social media platforms, becoming one of the most talked-about cryptocurrency projects of 2025. The project has raised over $328 million, attracted more than 2 million users to its X1 app, and has over 200,000 holders. Additionally, it has sold over 18,000 ASIC miners, […]
BlockDAG, a Layer 1 infrastructure project, has rapidly gained traction across various social media platforms, becoming one of the most talked-about cryptocurrency projects of 2025. The project has raised over $328 million, attracted more than 2 million users to its X1 app, and has over 200,000 holders. Additionally, it has sold over 18,000 ASIC miners, indicating a strong interest from both retail and institutional investors.
The X1 Miner App, developed by BlockDAG, has become one of the most downloaded crypto mining apps of the year. The app’s Proof-of-Engagement mining model encourages users to check in daily, complete in-app boosts, and invite others, creating a viral loop that has turned every user into a promoter. This has made the X1 app a top trending Web3 mobile tool on platforms like Discord and Reddit.
BlockDAG’s decision to partner with two U.S. professional teams, the Seattle Seawolves (MLR) and Seattle Orcas (MLC), has brought mainstream attention to the project. These partnerships have not only expanded BlockDAG’s reach into the sports industry but have also bridged into real-world visibility. The announcement went viral across both sports and crypto communities, with athletes, influencers, and fans resharing branded content. This has resulted in millions of impressions and has positioned BlockDAG as a leader in the Web3 space.
BlockDAG is dominating across all major social media platforms, including X (Twitter), Telegram, and YouTube. On X (Twitter), BDAG has seen over 120,000 mentions in July alone. On Telegram, there are over 100,000 users and dozens of active communities. On YouTube, explainer videos, miner reviews, and prediction breakdowns are pushing BDAG into the wider retail investor landscape. No other Layer 1 project in 2025 has grown this fast socially, and it’s showing up in presale numbers.
BlockDAG’s presale is still offering BDAG at $0.0016, locked until August 11. Once the GLOBAL LAUNCH release goes live, the price is set to climb significantly, with the official listing pegged at $0.05, giving current buyers a 3,025% ROI potential. The combination of real ecosystem growth, viral user activity, confirmed U.S. partnerships, and a fully detailed launch plan has created a perfect storm of trust, excitement, and community energy. BlockDAG is no longer just trending — it’s the presale of the year.
While most crypto projects burn out during the presale or quietly fizzle post-launch, BlockDAG is doing the opposite. It’s building loud, delivering fast, and going viral before it even hits exchanges. With social momentum peaking, miner shipments starting next week, and the GLOBAL LAUNCH release locked for August 11, this may be the last time to enter before BlockDAG’s valuation enters an entirely new tier. The crypto world is watching, and BDAG is quietly — and loudly — becoming the most powerful Layer 1 under $1 in 2025.
Sophie Cunningham's Twerk Goes Viral After Fever's Historic Commissioner's Cup Victory
The Indiana Fever just made franchise history, but all eyes were on Sophie Cunningham’s postgame celebration. After the Fever’s stunning 74–59 win over the Minnesota Lynx in the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup final, Fever reserve guard Sophie Cunningham decided to cap the night with some dance-floor flair. As her teammates rejoiced on the court and posed […]
The Indiana Fever just made franchise history, but all eyes were on Sophie Cunningham’s postgame celebration.
After the Fever’s stunning 74–59 win over the Minnesota Lynx in the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup final, Fever reserve guard Sophie Cunningham decided to cap the night with some dance-floor flair. As her teammates rejoiced on the court and posed with the hardware, Cunningham turned her back to the camera, dropped low, and gave the lockeroom and Instagram Live a twerk, a brief but instantly viral moment that ignited a social media firestorm.
Some fans were all for it. Others, not so much.
The Game: A Statement Win Without Caitlin Clark
Indiana’s win was dominant and, more importantly, gritty.
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With All-Star point guard Caitlin Clark sitting out her third straight game due to a groin ailment, the Fever trailed by 13 early in the second quarter. Instead of collapsing, they flipped the switch. The Fever closed the first half on a merciless 18–0 run, turning a 27–14 deficit into a 32–27 lead at halftime and silencing the Minnesota home fans.
From there, it was the Fever’s game. The Fever’s lead grew to 14 in the third quarter, and Minnesota was able to get no closer than six points of catching up again. Indiana’s defense stifled the Lynx, holding them to 34.9% shooting and forcing 16 turnovers.
Seasoned Indiana forward Natasha Howard was the unanimous Cup final MVP with 16 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, and two steals. All-Star center Aliyah Boston was similarly effective at 12 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Cunningham started hot off the bench to provide a clutch jolt: 13 points, seven rebounds, and three threes.
“Sophie for the Culture!”: Social Media Reacts to Celebration Heard ‘Round the Timeline
But for many fans watching the game or catching the highlights online, the storyline pivoted from gritty defense to cheeky dancing.
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Sophie Cunningham’s postgame twerk didn’t last more than a few seconds, but it was long enough for the internet to divide into camps.
On X (formerly Twitter), one fan gushed,
“Sophie so cute.”
Another simply wrote,
“Sophie Cunningham. That’s the tweet.”
And of course, someone threw their support behind her completely:
“My fav WNBA player.”
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Yet the celebration had its fair share of detractors and skeptics.
One unimpressed viewer wrote:
“ZERO motion back there. Embarrassing for an athlete.”
Another took issue with the entire concept:
“Why is this the go-to for so many women? I don’t get it. No matter what happens they have to do this dumb shit.”
Another tweet, dripping with sarcasm, read:
“Was the twerking in the room with us..”
Still, others were more playful:
“That little thing moving.”
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And of course, no social media moment is complete without someone shooting their shot:
“I would treat her so well man.”
But the sentiment that seemed to dominate the viral moment?
“Sophie for the culture!”
What This Means for the Fever and Cunningham’s Brand
Though the Commissioner’s Cup is technically a midseason competition and doesn’t affect regular-season standings, the win and the $500,000 prize pool that came with it signal a culture shift for Indiana. The Fever are no longer the rebuilding team anchored solely by Caitlin Clark’s spotlight. They are a unit.Deep.Versatile.Dangerous.
Asfor Sophie Cunningham, the 28-year-old Missouri alum might not have led the team in scoring, but she certainly led the postgame conversation. The seven-year WNBA veteran has always brought energy and edge to the court, and now, apparently, to the dance floor too.
The Fever Keep It Moving
Head coach Stephanie White was all business postgame.
“We have a resilient group,” White told reporters. “They’re tough – mentally, physically.They pull for one another… It’s nice to take a trophy home, but this isn’t the ultimate goal. It’s a goal. And we’ve got to continue to get better.”
The Fever turn their attention back to the regular season now. They begin a five-game home stand on Thursday by hosting the Las Vegas Aces at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Attendance will be watched closely, both for the game itself and the postgame celebration.
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Sophie Cunningham’s twerking viral moment may have divided folks, but here’s something that’s not debatable: in a league still fighting for relevance in the mainstream, she made sure the Fever’s win was not overlooked.
Emily Krauser July 1, 2025 at 9:17 AM Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty ; Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Trinity Rodman after a USWNT training session on July 15, 2024 in Washington, DC ; Ben Shelton on Day 10 of the U.S. Mens Clay Court Championships on April 7, 2024 in Houston, Texas. NEED TO KNOW Tennis pro Ben […]
Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty ; Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty
Trinity Rodman after a USWNT training session on July 15, 2024 in Washington, DC ; Ben Shelton on Day 10 of the U.S. Mens Clay Court Championships on April 7, 2024 in Houston, Texas.
NEED TO KNOW
Tennis pro Ben Shelton and soccer star Trinity Rodman teased their relationship in early March 2025
The couple then hard-launched their romance on Instagram a few days later
Now, Shelton and Rodman are supporting each other’s athletic careers
Shelton and Rodman are choosing to keep aspects of their relationship private, including how they met, but they have continued to gush over each other on social media, and Rodman made her players’ box debut at Shelton’s BMW Open semifinals match in Munich in April 2025.
The soccer pro opened up to ESPN’s SportsCenter about making her and Shelton’s relationship public. When asked about the response to their Instagram post, Rodman said with a laugh, “I mean, I’m just another person in a relationship and people know about it.”
Trinity Rodman during the first half against Brazil on April 05, 2025 in Inglewood, California ; Ben Shelton during the 2024 Australian Open on January 19, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia.
Rodman, who is the daughter of former NBA star Dennis Rodman and his third wife, Michelle Moyer, is a soccer star and Olympic champion. In 2021, she was drafted second overall in the National Women’s Soccer League at age 18. She plays professionally for the Washington Spirit and has already shattered records and made history several times.
Rodman participated in her first FIFA Women’s World Cup alongside the U.S. Women’s National Team in July 2023. One year later, she made her Olympic debut in Paris. She scored the first goal for the USWNT, and the team went on to win gold.
In April 2025, the National Women’s Soccer League announced that Rodman was sidelined indefinitely due to back issues, according to the Associated Press.
Shelton is a professional tennis player. He turned pro in 2022 and in 2023 became the youngest U.S. Open American men’s semi-finalist, after Michael Chang in 1992. As of July 2025, he was ranked 10th in the world.
The Atlanta native is the son of former professional tennis players Bryan and Lisa Shelton.
They fueled dating rumors on TikTok
Trinity Rodman/Instagram
Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton pose for a photo in June 2025.
First, Shelton posted a TikTok video of himself listening to GloRilla and Jorjiana’s song, “ILBB2,” which includes the lyrics, “They say shooters shoot / Duke Dennis what’s up with you.” Text appeared over Shelton’s clip, which read, “T****** wsp with u.”
The next day, Rodman posted a video seemingly in response. In hers, the Olympian mouthed the same lyrics, but the text over her clip read, “_ _ _ wassup w you.” In her TikTok, Rodman can be seen smiling widely and pointing at the message.
Fans had a field day in the comments, pointing out that the “blanks” in the posts matched the first letters of each of their names.
The duo went Instagram official on March 17, when Shelton posted a carousel that included a selfie of himself and Rodman in an elevator. In the photo, the soccer player has her arm around her beau’s neck as she kisses him on the cheek.
“I been focused, but I’m steady climbin’, I’m nowhere near my peak,” Shelton captioned the post.
Rodman responded in the comment section by referencing their previous TikTok trend post: “Shooters shoot I guess .”
Shelton’s fellow American tennis pros were quick to react, too. Gauff and Sloane Stephens both responded with excited takes on the “hard launch,” while Tiafoe commented, “We gram now .”
The relationship reveal has already become fodder for opinion pieces, like musing in The Athletic on “how high-profile relationships affect soccer careers.”
They won’t publicly reveal how they met
Trinity Rodman/Instagram
Trinity Rodman with Boyfriend Ben Shelton in June 2025.
It’s unclear when or how Shelton and Rodman met, but that’s intentional. The tennis pro told the New York Post in April 2025 that he and Rodman want to keep some aspects of their relationship private.
Tiafoe had taken credit for setting the pair up, but Rodman denied that claim.
“I don’t know if I want everyone to know the story [of how we met], but I can assure you Frances was not the reason we met or got together. I don’t know why he’s taking credit for that,” she told SportsCenter. “Me and Ben can both cut that out. It was solely a me and Ben thing.”
Shelton backed his girlfriend up.
“Tiafoe had nothing to do with it. He’s taking credit, [saying] ‘Oh, yeah, I put them together. I was like Danny Ainge.’ He’s a liar,” Shelton told the Post with a laugh. “He’s trying to make it about himself. It’s not about him, but that’s funny.”
Shelton added that Rodman was “kind of annoyed by that.”
“She was like, ‘Come on, bro,’ ” Shelton told the outlet. “I think she said something to him a couple times. But we’re all friends.”
They’ve continued to gush over each other on social media
Trinity Rodman/Instagram
Ben Shelton and Trinity Rodman together in March 2025.
Shelton and Rodman are still in their social media honeymoon phase.
After making their Instagram debut, Rodman posted a sweet close-up photo of the pair on Instagram on March 27. In the photo, she can be seen gazing at her boyfriend as she leans against his chest. Shelton’s face is blocked by his green baseball cap, but he was tagged.
“Dibs ,” Rodman captioned the photo. “Whoever that is he won,” Shelton flirted back in the comments.
As for Shelton, he pinned a slideshow from May 6 to the top of his Instagram feed that features a photo of him and Rodman lovingly looking at each other as they’re walking in Spain.
Rodman shared three comments under the post: “My man my man my mannnnnnn,” “Ur everything ” and “My forever obsession.”
Rodman made her players’ box debut at the BMW Open
Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty; Alexander Hassenstein/Getty
Trinity Rodman at the Tennis: ATP Tour on April 19, 2025 in Munich, Germany ; Ben Shelton after winning his semi-final match of the BMW Open on April 19, 2025 in Munich, Germany.
The outing marked the first time Rodman was spotted cheering her boyfriend on from the players’ box. Footage from the tournament shared on Instagram showed Rodman sitting beside her boyfriend’s father and coach, Bryan, during the match.
Shelton was victorious, beating Francisco Cerundolo and proceeding to the final, per ATP Tour.
Rodman was again spotted with Bryan in the tennis pro’s box for the singles final match on April 20. Shelton lost to Alexander Zverev, per Sports Illustrated.
They’ve spoken publicly about their relationship
Roy Rochlin/Getty; Gerald Matzka/Getty Images for Laver Cup
Trinity Rodman attends the United States Women’s National Team “Players’ Ball” on November 14, 2022 in New York City ; Ben Shelton of Team World attends the Opening Night Gala of the Laver Cup 2024 on September 19, 2024 in Berlin, Germany.
Rodman opened up to ESPN’s SportsCenter in late March 2025 about revealing her and Shelton’s relationship to the world.
When asked about the public response, Rodman said, “So, yeah, I’m obviously very happy and hopefully some of the world’s happy. It’s in the public eye, so I can’t really do much about that.”
Shelton had a similar response. He told the Post that while he was “happy for sure” in his relationship, he was surprised by the reaction to their social media announcement.
“I guess I didn’t think it would blow up as much as it did. That’s not why I did it,” Shelton said. “I feel like, you know, posting your girlfriend on Instagram is a more normal thing. I guess because of who it is, is why people went nuts a little bit. But yeah, kinda crazy how much it did blow up … and I realized, ‘Wow, people care about my life that much.’ ”
How many of us can say we’ve been Dodger fans since before we were born? Amri Arias sure can. The 2-year-old from Pico Rivera recently went viral for a 12-second clip posted to TikTok in which she names her favorite Dodger players. Her mother, Jacquelyne Arias, said that she originally filmed the video to send […]
How many of us can say we’ve been Dodger fans since before we were born?
Amri Arias sure can. The 2-year-old from Pico Rivera recently went viral for a 12-second clip posted to TikTok in which she names her favorite Dodger players.
Her mother, Jacquelyne Arias, said that she originally filmed the video to send it to her husband, Daniel. But they decided to post it on TikTok without expecting it would reach nearly 1 million views.
“She’s been saying her favorite players since she’s been 2” Jacquelyn said. “She’ll walk around the store, saying ‘Let’s go Dodgers!’ and I’m like ok you need to relax.”
Her dad explains that Amri started sporting Dodger gear as soon as she was born. And although she hasn’t been to a game yet, he says he’s searching for the right time to take her.
However, it might seem that Amri has been to a game before she was even born.
“We went when I was pregnant with her in my belly and oh my goodness she moved around like crazy when the crowd would go wild,” Jacquelyn said. “I would just feel her doing flips and turns so she’s been a fan since she was in the belly.”
Jacquelyne even makes her daughter’s Dodger bows herself. “Once I realized I was a girl mom, thankfully I’m very crafty so I started making her baby bows.”
Daniel said his daughter really started taking an interest in the Dodgers when she turned 2.
“Her birthday is close to the post season, so we were watching the post season and then she would ask like ‘Who’s that? Who’s that?” Daniel said. “So she was very into it so we just started naming players for her, and then that’s when she started naming her favorite players.”
Amri would play with her toys around her parents, occasionally standing in front of the television, pointing and asking about certain players, her mother said.
Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and Kike Hernández seemed to have won a spot on the toddler’s top list.
There may even be favorites among the favorites, as she mentioned Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman twice.
“‘Feeefeeeman’ soo cute,” one person commented on TikTok. “She said Ohtani loud and clear,” another person said.
Some commenters pointed out that it sounded like Amri said “chicken nuggets” when she said Kike Hernández’s name, with some even joking that the Dodger player should adopt it as a nickname.
Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images Xavier Legette knows his meats. The Carolina Panthers’ wide receiver has made headlines for his favorite foods, particularly his affinity for raccoon and squirrel, which he grew up hunting in Mullins, South Carolina. As we enter fully into grilling season, one of his favorite times of year (that and the start of […]
Xavier Legette knows his meats. The Carolina Panthers’ wide receiver has made headlines for his favorite foods, particularly his affinity for raccoon and squirrel, which he grew up hunting in Mullins, South Carolina. As we enter fully into grilling season, one of his favorite times of year (that and the start of the NFL season of course), Legette is partnering with food retailer Lidl US (known for their affordable, quality groceries), to get the word out about their new private label line of meat called Butcher’s Specialty, options the rest of us are a bit more familiar with cooking. The meat is hand-selected, and he has already been featured in content for the brand on social media, promoting their beef patties, antibiotic-free chicken, and more.
“High protein. I need that, so all that, it’s good for me,” Legette tells us in a charming, molasses-thick South Carolina drawl. “It’s good for me, for my protein, good for my body and all that.”
Also good for Legette is taking to the grill with his family in Mullins, whom he loves to visit with when he’s not busy practicing running routes with the Panthers in Charlotte. Being home helps him feel connected to his favorite people and keeps him fed, of course. We caught up with the athlete, who has gone viral for his palate, his accent, and his striking good looks (with “Typa,” it’s clear Glorilla‘s a fan), to chat about the off-season, his new Internet admirers, Mullins living, fun on the grill, and what raccoon really tastes like.
ESSENCE: How are you liking Charlotte? I mean, it’s not completely far off from Mullins, South Carolina. You’re neighbors.
Xavier Legette: I mean, I been coming around this way since I’ve been little. I went to the University of South Carolina. Charlotte was right up the road from there as well, so I’ve been coming up here a little bit. But I mean, it’s smooth, though. I don’t really do too much.
Do you spend your downtime grilling and cooking? I know we’ve heard all kinds of things about what you like to eat, but as you get into this warm weather grilling season, what are you throwing down with and how is Lidl helping you?
Well, I just got done with practice and all that, so I mean, I’m probably going to go back home Tuesday or Wednesday. We’re going to do a little something. My cousin and them, they got it right on the grill yesterday while I was riding around on the four-wheelers. But I mean, I do a little something, too.
Speaking of protein, I have to ask you, what did you think of the reaction to your love of raccoon and squirrel that you received when you shared it during the press days, and people were like, “What?!”
I already knew them folks were going to react like that. Nobody would’ve never really knew that if it wasn’t for [Panthers teammate] Adam Thielen. He started telling folks that I had the raccoon in my locker. They were like, “No, not really, man. I know you ain’t got that for real.” I let them try it and I knew they was going to act like that because they think raccoons are the dirtiest animals alive. I just tell folks, “I don’t know why y’all say it’s dirty. They eat the same stuff we eat. They just eat it out the trash can.”
That’s true! [laughs] Like you said, you don’t think that raccoons are dirty and you obviously have a love for the taste. If people are interested, what does it taste like?
I mean, it has its own taste, for real, for real. Everybody likes to say stuff tastes like chicken. It don’t taste like no chicken. It got its own taste.
I saw the texture. It almost looked like shredded beef?
Yeah, a little bit. A little like pulled pork, but it’s just dark.
In addition to the reaction you received about the food, did you also notice the reaction you get from the ladies online for being handsome and so wonderfully country?
Well, to tell you the truth, I never really seen any of that, for real, for real unless my people bring it to my attention, because I never had the TikTok app. They say that’s really where they be talking about it online. I really only see it once they bring it to my attention.
Got you. For those who may want to know, what is it like when you’re not training and you’re not on the four-wheelers and hanging out with your cousins and stuff like that? How do you enjoy spending your free time?
Oh man, I just be in the house cooling, man. If I ain’t back home, I’m trying to really get my body right. If I ain’t home, then that means I’m practicing or training or resting for the next day.
You mentioned you’re getting ready for the next season. What are you looking forward to and how are you preparing? I know you mentioned high protein, Lidl’s helping you get the right meats for that, but how else are you preparing yourself mentally and physically for the next NFL season?
I’m really trying to take care of my body and do anything that can help me. Trying to stay on top with the IVs and getting the massages, trying to keep my muscles loose, not all the way tensed up. And man, just staying up on my hydration as well.
What did your first season kind of show you that made you realize, “Okay, as I get into this next season, I have to hydrate, I have to do things differently.” What did you learn from the first go-around of being in the NFL?
Man, the season gets long. It ain’t 12 games no more like college [laughs]. The way we practice, the intense level, it don’t really stop. Also, man, I just really got to take care of my body more. For real.
I know you love Mullins. I know you’re in Charlotte training. If there’s anywhere you could go when you have downtime, somewhere maybe you haven’t been, where would you like to go?
The only place I want to travel to is Dubai. I want to see what it’s like out there. They tell me it looks good out there, but they also tell me they strict out there as well so I’m a little nervous about that.
When you are home, what is it that you love about it? We all have our attachments to home. Obviously, our families are there, but what is it about being back in Mullins with your cousins, with your loved ones, you guys eating whatever you eat, from raccoon to Lidl’s Butcher’s Specialty, that just brings you so much joy?
Man, really the folks in Mullins are great people, even the ones that’s really not my family. You know, Mullins is only but so big. Folks I grew up with, I mean, I don’t really get to see every day no more. Last night, we was up late, last night just outside, just cooling. It just be good times and good vibes when I go back home, man.