Bill Cosby has been ordered to pay ex-waitress Donna Motsinger more than $19 million after he was found guilty of sexual abuse.

According to the New York Times, a civil jury in California found that Cosby, now 88, had drugged and sexually assaulted Motsinger, now 84, after escorting her to one of his comedy shows in 1972.

The jury made its decision on Monday, March 23, after nearly three days of deliberation.

According to Deadline, Cosby’s attorney says his client already plans to file an appeal. While Cosby did not testify in his own defense, the former TV star has denied the allegations.

A deposition video was played in court during the two-week trial, in which Cosby was asked if he had sex with Motsinger. He replied, “I cannot remember if I did or not.”

In his latest case, Cosby has been ordered to pay Motsinger $17.5 million for her past mental trauma. He also had to pay another $1.75 million for mental suffering.

Us Weekly has reached out to Cosby and Motsinger’s attorneys for comment.

Motsinger first filed her lawsuit in September 2023. According to court documents obtained by Us, the former waitress alleged that Cosby drugged and raped her when she was working at a Bay Area restaurant more than 50 years ago.

“Mr. Cosby picked Ms. Motsinger up in a limousine from her house and drove her to the Circle Star Theater. Mr. Cosby gave Ms. Motsinger a glass of wine in the limo along the way,” the lawsuit alleged. “At the Circle Star Theater, Mr. Cosby took Ms. Motsinger to the dressing room there. She began to feel sick and Mr. Cosby gave her what she believed was an aspirin. Next thing she knew, she was going in and out of consciousness while two men attending to Mr. Cosby were putting her in the limousine with Mr. Cosby.”

Related: Bill Cosby Reacts to Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Tragic Death

Bill Cosby is mourning the loss of his on-screen son Malcolm-Jamal Warner. “This reminds me of the call I got when I was taping The Cosby Show and I got a call saying that my son, Ennis, had been murdered,” Cosby, 88, told Us Weekly via his rep, Andrew Wyatt, on Monday, July 21. “It’s […]

Advertisement

The documents continued, “In the limousine, Mr. Cosby sat near the window and put his arms around her. The last thing Ms. Motsinger recalls were flashes of light. She woke up in her house with all her clothes off, except her underwear on – no top, no bra, and no pants.”

Cosby was once a highly regarded actor in Hollywood thanks to his overwhelmingly warm and paternal roles in The Cosby Show, I Spy and other projects.

In recent years, however, the comedian has faced several allegations of sexual assault, harassment, rape or sexual misconduct. His attorneys have maintained his innocence and believe the actor is being targeted and tainted as a result of his cultural status.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

OnlyFans creator Taila Maddison was in for a shock when she discovered that her top paying subscriber was allegedly her stepdad of 13 years.

“This one subscriber would talk to me every single day, and he would always be tipping me and unlocking new content,” Maddison claimed in a press release obtained by Us Weekly. “The thing he requested most was to know what underwear I was wearing to work every single day. It got to the point where I was so busy and getting messages from this guy so much that it was starting to interfere with my other job. In two months, he had spent $2,000 on me.

She continued, “Then one day I got a TikTok notification saying someone with the same username as this subscriber on OnlyFans had viewed my profile. What was really odd to me was that TikTok notified me saying that this person was in my contacts and then I realized that since I’ve had the same number since I was 12, it’s had to be someone I knew. I immediately assumed it was someone I went to high school with.”

Maddison claimed that she wrote down all the contacts from her phone and cross checked them with her TikTok, before narrowing down the list to six people.

Related: Miley Cyrus’ Brother Trace Spars With Farrah Abraham After OnlyFans Rant

Miley Cyrus’ brother Trace Cyrus didn’t hold back while sharing his thoughts about OnlyFans creators in a bizarre post. “There’s so many girls that do Only Fans that have lost their chance of ever settling down with a good guy with morals. They will try and call those men insecure for having standards,” Trace, 34, […]

“My ex-boyfriend saw the list of six people, which included a guy from high school, a female friend and some other unlikely suspects, and said, ‘Imagine if it’s your step-dad.’ I told him to f*** off, but then I pieced together a few details, and sent a message to my subscriber on OnlyFans,” she recalled. “I told him, ‘I know who this is,’ and he responded, “Who, babe? You don’t know me.”

Maddison replied back, writing, “You need to tell Mum before I do.”

“I immediately got a text from my stepdad saying ‘Hey, can we please talk.’ Thinking back on what happened I just feel so sick,” she said. “My immediate first thought when I confirmed it was him was for my younger sister. She is four years younger than me, and was still living with my Mum and stepdad. My stepdad worked from home everyday, and my younger sister was also studying from there, and she would go to the beach most days and walk around at home in her bikini, or sun bathe in the backyard. I just felt so worried for her, now knowing there was a predator in the house.”

Maddison then informed her mom, who told her to call her stepdad. “We used my ex’s phone and called him. He picked up and said ‘Oh, Tai. I just wanted to see and check on your welfare.’ I was so snappy. I said, ‘You spent $2,000 on my sex tapes to check on my welfare?’ He begged me not to tell Mum, but I told him he’d ruined his life, and that there was no way I wouldn’t tell her. He tried to argue with me, but I told him he had severely f***ed up,” she said.

She continued, “When I got off the phone with him, Mum called him. By the time he was home, she was ripping all of his stuff out into the front of the house. That was it. An 11 year marriage, gone. When what happened eventually settled in, I couldn’t go to work. I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t sleep. I ended up leaving my job anyway because I was making enough money, but I literally couldn’t go in because he knew where I worked. I couldn’t stop thinking about running into him. I was just mortified.”

Maddison claimed her relationship with her family was rocky after her discovery and the end of her mother’s marriage, but her bond with her mom healed. Months later, Maddison decided to share her story on TikTok as a cautionary tale to others who are thinking about starting OnlyFans.

“I literally just was in the car, and it was the most candid video,” she said. “I literally just said, ‘My stepdad subscribed to my OnlyFans and I caught him through TikTok.’ Then I went into a movie, and my phone just wouldn’t stop going off.”

She continued, “That night it was so hard to go to sleep because subs were rolling in and so were followers. My Instagram went from 2,000 followers to 50,000 overnight. My subscribers went from 200 to 15,000. That week I made $125,000. I got so many messages on my OnlyFans asking if the story was real. There were messages in so many different languages from all over the world.”

To learn more about the serious potential risks and harms of “competitive sex” and other explicit OnlyFans content — read what doctors, mental health professionals and other experts told Us Weekly here.

It takes a special kind of canonical classic to feature a line of dialogue so memorable that anyone could identify what movie it comes from without any context. “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” uttered by Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) in The Dark Knight, fits the bill. In what is likely to remain his culturally definitive and most popular movie, Christopher Nolan, for better or worse, changed the film landscape forever by making a superhero movie feel like an American epic about crime, justice, and society’s belief in costumed vigilantes as religious dogmas.

While often celebrated for his visual panache and as a groundbreaking pioneer of IMAX photography in narrative films, Nolan writes every one of his movies. However, his clunky and on-the-nose dialogue is a point of contention for many critics, but there’s no denying the power of Dent’s line in The Dark Knight. There’s one problem: Nolan didn’t write that line—it was his brother, Jonathan Nolan, and the director is still haunted by him stealing his thunder.

Jonathan Nolan Wrote ‘The Dark Knight’s Most Iconic Line

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Christopher Nolan is a singular, uncompromising visionary, but Jonathan Nolan is frequently right by his side as a co-writer, contributing to the source material for Memento, and the scripts for The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Interstellar. It rounds out the family enterprise nature of Nolan’s filmography, as all his movies are produced by Christopher’s wife, Emma Thomas. Since their last collaboration, Jonathan has developed his own autonomous career as the creator of Person of Interest and Westworld on television, as well as producing and directing Prime Video’s Fallout.

No contribution will ever match the legacy of one line of dialogue in an early scene in The Dark Knight, where Harvey Dent, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) discuss the legality and morality of Batman’s existence as a vigilante crime-fighter roaming the streets of Gotham. For anyone in a position of power, whether a Caped Crusader or Gotham District Attorney, there are only two destinies: die with honor, or live in infamy.

Which MCU Hero Are You?

In an interview with Nolan and his longtime collaborator and Oppenheimer star, Cillian Murphy, the director revealed that the “die a hero or live enough to see yourself become the villain” quote was actually coined by Jonathan Nolan. “I’m plagued by a line from The Dark Knight, and I’m plagued by it because I didn’t write it,” Nolan said, especially because the line was the one that “most resonates.” When Jonathan first conceived Dent’s line, Christopher admitted that he was puzzled by it, but the latter’s skepticism was proven wrong, expressing that it “kills” him that he can’t claim authorship of the line. “In this story, it’s absolutely that. Build them up, tear them down. It’s the way we treat people,” Nolan continued.

It’s easy to overlook him, but Jonathan Nolan’s understanding of genre mechanics and elaborate concepts, as demonstrated in his television shows, helped turn his brother into a commercial juggernaut with mass critical appeal. With films like The Prestige and Interstellar built around ornate ideas and executions, Christopher could’ve easily gotten lost in his own orbit, but Jonathan grounded these structures while maintaining their innate grandeur.

The Underlining Thematic Impact of This Famous Line from ‘The Dark Knight’

No one would think twice about who wrote the film’s most iconic line, as it feels very much in tune with Christopher Nolan’s style of dialogue. Characters in The Dark Knight, between Alfred (Michael Caine) analyzing the Joker’s (Heath Ledger) anarchic plan or the Joker himself sharing his philosophy on chaos, often sound like viewers and critics discussing the meaning of the film and its themes, which leads to a fair share of didactic moments where the message is conveyed with little subtlety, such as “Some men just want to watch the world burn,” and “This town deserves a better class of criminal.”

Complain about them all you want, but there is no denying the enduring, instantly recognizable magic of these lines. Nolan’s dialogue may not always be the most natural, but is that what we should expect from a movie about a billionaire dressed as a bat fighting crime? These lines, particularly when delivered with conviction by Eckhart, Caine, and Ledger, are poetic treatises about the mythos of superheroes and the disillusioned sentiment of America in a post-September 11th world.

Without Aaron Eckhart’s austere, earnest delivery, “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” would’ve been an awkward line. It is also saved by the fact that it is the succinct thesis of The Dark Knight and its central thematic figure in Harvey Dent, who secretly dies disgracefully but is remembered fondly by the city of Gotham.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 60 minutes ago

Recently, Hulu canceled a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer show, which understandably upset fans. After all, they had been waiting decades to see more of their favorite ‘90s icon kicking butt onscreen. Plus, many of those fans are now parents, and they were hoping to use the new show as a way of introducing kiddos to their own childhood.

Personally, though, I was a bit relieved to see the new show get canceled. Because Sarah Michelle Gellar was the only returning cast member and she was barely in it, I worried that it would be Buffy in name only. Plus, I worried that the absence of the original creative team meant the new show wouldn’t have the old magic. Mostly, though, I’m hoping the death of this new Buffy show leads to the death of the most annoying trend in media: the television revival.

Rise Of The Revival

These days, streaming platforms (especially Netflix) are increasingly filled with absolute slop. You know the kind: original content that is either play-by-numbers melodrama, CGI schlockfest, or both. This has led audiences to stream more of the content they loved growing up. Unsurprisingly, this primarily consists of classic TV shows, which now function as so much more than nostalgia. They are our comfort food and security blanket all rolled into one, something many of us increasingly turn to now that the world (both streaming and otherwise) is turning into such a hellscape.

Obviously, it didn’t take network executives very long to realize they were sitting on a golden opportunity. When shows from yesteryear are more popular than ever on streaming, it’s a no-brainer to revive them with a completely new show. More often than not, these feature actors who haven’t exactly been very busy (like David Duchovny and even Patrick Stewart) lately and are happy to relive their television heyday. Best of all, networks can deploy these revivals on the very same streaming platforms their biggest fans use, meaning they don’t have to worry about broadcast restrictions, sponsors, or any of the other drama that comes from network television.  

On paper, TV revivals seem like a great idea for actors, networks, and fans. What could possibly go wrong, you ask? As it turns out, everything.

Few Diamonds, Plenty Of Rough

Before anyone yells at me, I do want to acknowledge the obvious: there are some really great TV show revivals out there. David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return was a masterpiece of staggering, often heartbreaking genius. Fuller House was full of great nostalgia and crowd-pleasing moments for anyone who grew up quoting “You got it, dude.” If you can ignore that annoying ending, the Veronica Mars revival was a great reminder that Kristen Bell’s titular character is one of the best protagonists in television history.

Make no mistake, though: these good revivals are the exception, not the rule. Streaming platforms are littered with revivals that fizzled out because they could never match the quality of the original show. Frasier, for example, brought back only the title character while changing the setting and premise of the series; unsurprisingly, it was canceled after two seasons because what fans wanted was more of the original show’s ensemble brilliance. Conversely, The X-Files brought back plenty of characters, but the writing revealed there was nothing really left to do with everyone’s favorite pair of spooky FBI agents.

Similarly, the Murphy Brown revival was a dud because its quaint ‘90s political sensibilities just didn’t work in a world where both politics and the discourse surrounding it have completely changed. Heroes Reborn just served as a sloppy reminder of what we already knew: that Heroes should have ended after Season 1. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life provided exciting new reasons to scream at Rory about her increasingly terrible life decisions. Let’s not forget the Night Court revival, whose attempts at comedy were just as dead on arrival as, well, a huge chunk of the original cast!

Killing Franchise Reputations, One Show At A Time

So far, I’ve covered two kinds of TV revivals: the ones that are mostly solid and the ones that are completely awful. But there’s a secret, third kind of revival: the ones that are both bad and good. That ‘90s Show, for example, was actually starting to show promise when Netflix killed it. Star Trek: Picard served up two completely awful seasons before finally turning in a fan-favorite final season. Will & Grace, meanwhile, started out strong, but that final season was so limp that I can only imagine Jack making a crude joke about it.

For fans of the original shows, these revivals are just as bad as the completely terrible TV reboots. That’s because they sully the reputation of the original show while wasting our time. Why even bring back Captain Picard after nearly two decades, for example, if it will take another couple of years to give him a good season? Speaking as a huge fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I’d have preferred if this show had never gotten a revival. If I wanted to see one of my favorite shows reduced to a mediocre action fest filled with out-of-character performances, I don’t need Picard; I can just go rewatch Star Trek: Nemesis.

No More, With Feeling

While the creators are hoping to shop it to a new platform, the Buffy show is currently dead. With any luck, this will be the final nail in the coffin for the TV show revival. With any luck, the Powers That Be will finally get the message that audiences no longer have any appetite for halfhearted remakes of shows that were once great.

Hopefully, this will lead to the creation of brand-new IPs, a pleasant alternative to producers lazily strip-mining the hits of yesteryear. As always, viewers need to realize how much actual power they wield over the various corporations and streaming platforms that keep bringing these franchises back to life. If you really want to see fresh ideas return to the small screen, the solution is simple: stop streaming these crappy revivals and stick to physical media for your nostalgia fix. Otherwise, the modern adage remains true: if you keep watching slop, they’ll just keep making it!

Actor John Boyega may be returning to a galaxy far, far away after all! The “Attack The Block” alum starred as the former Stormtrooper Finn in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, consisting of 2015’s The Force Awakens,” 2017’s “The Last Jedi,” and 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” In 2020, he was vocal about how the trilogy shifted its focus to his costars, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, leaving him on the sidelines. Although he has been openly critical about the way the franchise treated his character, it seems he might be leaving the door open to exploring Finn’s story yet again.

John Boyega Reveals He Has Talked To Dave Filoni

While speaking with fans at a Megacon Orlando panel hosted by ScreenRant, Boyega revealed that he had privately been talking to Dave Filoni about Finn’s future after the exit of Kathleen Kennedy earlier this year.

When asked about the possibility of Finn returning to a galaxy far, far away, one fan shouted, “Get Dave on the phone.” Boyega reportedly replied, “I actually have, actually.”

Although this is far from confirmation that Boyega will actually reprise his role as Finn, it has made many fans excited for his possible return, especially since he didn’t seem interested in the idea a few years ago.

John Boyega Was Vocal About His Frustrations In 2020

In 2020, less than a year after “The Rise of Skywalker” hit theaters, Boyega made his concerns with Disney public while speaking to GQ magazine. “What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are, and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up,” he said at the time.

“You guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” Boyega continued. “But when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f-ck all. So what do you want me to say?”

“What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience…’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley,” he added. “Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything.”

Boyega Had A ‘Very Honest’ Conversation Following That Interview

In November 2020, Boyega told The Hollywood Reporter that a Disney executive had reached out to discuss his concerns following the publication in GQ. He described it as “a very honest, a very transparent conversation.”

“There was a lot of explaining on their end in terms of the way they saw things. They gave me a chance also to explain what my experience was like. I’d hope that me being so open with my career, at this stage, would help the next man, the guy that wants to be the assistant DOP, the guy that wants to be a producer,” Boyega said. “I hope that the conversation is not such a taboo or elephant in the room now, because someone just came and said it.”

Boyega Said He Is ‘Good Off It’ When Asked About A ‘Star Wars’ Return

He seemed to shut down speculation that he’d return to the franchise yet again in 2022, telling SiriusXM “at this point I’m cool off it, I’m good off it” when he was asked if he was interested in reprising his role as Finn.

“Versatility is my path and Finn is at a good confirmation point where you can just enjoy him in other things: the games, the animation. I feel like [Episodes] 7 to 9 was good for me,” he added.

John Boyega Addressed The Racism In ‘Star Wars’ In A 2025 Documentary

In the 2025 Apple TV+ documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood,” Boyega also slammed the franchise’s “vibe” of being “the most whitest, elite space.”

“Lemme tell ya, ‘Star Wars’ always had the vibe of being in the most whitest, elite space. It’s a franchise that’s so white that a Black person existing in [it] was something,” Boyega said in the documentary, as per Variety. “You can always tell it’s something when some ‘Star Wars’ fans try to say, ‘Well, we had Lando Calrissian and had Samuel L. Jackson!’ It’s like telling me how many cookie chips are in the cookie dough. It’s like, they just scattered that in there, bro!”

“They’re okay with us playing the best friend, but once we touch their heroes, once we lead, once we trailblaze, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s just a bit too much! They’re pandering,’” he continued. However, he did acknowledge that being cast in the sequel trilogy was a “fundamental moment” in his career.

Back in 2023, Amazon Freevee released a show so unique and experimental, it was shocking that they even pulled it off. Jury Duty, which premiered on April 7, 2023, is a mockumentary series in which one real person, Ronald Gladden, thinks he’s ordered to attend to jury duty, only for everyone around him to be an actor messing with him at every turn. The series went on to become a major streaming hit for Freevee and Prime Video, earning not only a Season 2 renewal, but four Emmy nominations.

So, of course, stakes were high for the second season. After all, with the first season out in the world, would creators Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky be able to pull off another successful season? As it turns out, the answer is a resounding yes. On March 20, 2026, Prime Video released the first three episodes of the sophomore season, titled Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, and the installment proves that while the series is certainly a unique and ambitious piece of TV, it’s a formula that works time and time again.

What Is ‘Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat’ About?

Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat follows Anthony Norman, a temporary assistant hired by the family-owned hot sauce company Rockin’ Grandma’s to help out during their annual week-long retreat. The retreat is also a major turning point for the small but mighty team as CEO Doug (Jerry Hauk) is getting ready to retire and hand off the company to his tone-deaf son, Dougie (Alex Bonifer). From the very first episode, Anthony realizes that the retreat will be far from drama-free when his boss, the well-meaning HR Director Kevin (Ryan Perez), proposes to a coworker and leaves abruptly when the proposal goes awry. With no other choice, Anthony is left to pick up the pieces and rise to the occasion to help the company stay together.

In each episode, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat follows sitcom beats being played out in real time for Anthony that comedy audiences know and love. Storylines so far include Dougie’s disastrous new project launch for the company, Other Anthony (Rob Lathan) finding a sex toy and deciding to drink from it, and a robbery of a box of Cool Ranch Doritos. In addition to all the hilarious moments, the series also creates a classic underdog story with Rockin’ Grandma’s being a small company on the verge of being bought out by a larger corporate entity, a situation that’s far too frequent in this day and age.

Plus, while Jury Duty brought together “random” strangers for a court summons, Company Retreat has Anthony coming in as a newcomer in an environment with pre-established dynamics, traditions, and problem-makers. So, as audiences get to know each of the characters along with Anthony, writers had the freedom to create a more in-depth lore for the cast, including office politics, romance, and a nepo-baby successor. Among the cast highlights so far are Rachel Kaly‘s Claire, Jim Woods‘ Jimmy and LaNisa Renee Frederick‘s Jackie. Like the best comedy casts, the Rockin’ Grandma’s ensemble is at its best all together, playing off each other like they’ve been doing it for years. In each of those scenes, Anthony is welcomed in like one of their own, becoming not only a necessary part of the dynamics, but a charismatic lead too.

‘Jury Duty’ Found Another Lead Just as Endearing as Ronald Gladden

In many ways, what made Jury Duty so great the first time around was how endearing and empathetic Gladden was. He never judged his fellow jurors, was always a helping hand, and even made sweet gestures (like watching A Bug’s Life with David Brown‘s Todd) to make them feel seen and heard. In Company Retreat, the series found another incredible hero in Anthony. In the three episodes so far, Anthony embraces the weirdness of the team, showing off just how likable and committed he is to keep the retreat going even when things take a turn. When Kevin abruptly leaves, for instance, he has a candid moment with Blair Beeken‘s Marjorie about what to do, but soon comes back in the room and keeps everyone’s spirits high as the new “Captain Fun.” He rolls with the punches, keeps a positive attitude, and never loses his cool.

“More than familiar sitcom tropes and reality show shenanigans, Company Retreat highlights the compassion and kindness of one man,” wrote Meredith Loftus in her review for Collider. “Despite only having known these people for less than a week, Anthony weaves himself effortlessly into the Rockin’ Grandma’s family. He may laugh at the hilarity of certain situations, but he’s never making fun of or mocking his new coworkers.” So, by picking another lead who’s sweet and charming in his own way, Jury Duty has once again struck comedy gold.

With only three episodes out so far, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat is already shaping up to be another hit for Prime Video. Currently at #5 in the US streaming charts, per FlixPatrol, the series has all the right ingredients: a new hilarious cast of characters, wild storylines, and a compassionate lead at the heart of the show. Despite the change in setting, Company Retreat is turning out to be just as delightful as its predecessor.

By Jennifer Asencio
| Published 1 hour ago

1348: Ex Voto will be a lesson in humility for years to come. For those not yet aware of this game, consider yourself fortunate. In the lead-up to the game’s launch, the social media page for 1348 Ex Voto was active on X, claiming that there were now 250,000 wish lists on Steam. It was released digitally on March 12, 2026, on Steam and PS5, with a scheduled physical release for later this year. Those numbers ultimately did not pan out, with the game peaking at around 420 players on launch day.

Immediate Gameplay Issues

The most recent update from Sedleo Games, producers of the game, was on March 18, 2026, with a public announcement that they have heard feedback from those who played the game and were working towards numerous fixes to solve some of the game’s many problems. For a company that was so vocal about its game, the silence that has followed in the wake of the game’s lack of success or acclaim is a fitting and karmic ending.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. Two weeks before the game’s launch, the demo was released, and it did not go well. At that time, the wish list total was roughly 100,000, with only a few hundred playing it. Criticisms include clunky combat, poor animation and shading, stuck NPCs during combat, and multiple button presses for the character to perform an action. Commentators began to question if the game was ready for release at this point, floating the idea that the digital release should be delayed until the release of the physical edition.

Many felt that they had backed themselves into a corner after their social media picked a fight with another upcoming title, A Knight’s Path. This game, from another independent studio, said they would have pretty characters, players could only play males, and would not include any “modern agenda.” To a company like Sedleo Games, this had crossed an intolerable line, and the infamous social media dispute between the two companies unfolded in front of the entire audience for both games.

Needless to say, it was divisive in splitting fans into two very distinct groups. The 1348: Ex Voto social media account asked its audience to put the game’s launch date “on their modern agenda”. It seems that their target audience misplaced their agendas as they did not show up at all for the game’s launch, evidenced by such poor launch numbers and ratings. Its social media activity has dropped to zero, other than the post that they were working to fix the game.

A Massive Disconnect

The game’s poor showing has led to a wider conversation about the use of Steam charts and other public-facing metrics to critique game performance. There were several high-profile cases of journalists and developers calling gamers “chuds” and other less flattering terms for disapproving of the slop put in front of players, who are just expected to mindlessly consume it and then gratuitously praise it.

This argument has also been made for the recently released Marathon, from Bungie Studios, the creator of Halo. Gaming journalists are getting mad that Steam charts have been used to critique the game to support commentary that the game is not as good as they claim it is. They do not tolerate differences of opinion; only toxic positivity, with no room to critique each other, as the norm.

It’s not just in gaming but the wider entertainment industry as well. With how badly Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is performing, journalists and reviewers keep telling us it’s awesome and everybody loves it. And in both gaming and TV, we’re being told that negative critique is “being mean on social media” and would get those games, movies, or shows canceled.

Toxic Positivity (noun) — the compulsive insistence on optimism at the expense of reality, in which negative emotions are dismissed, suppressed, or reframed into forced positivity, often invalidating genuine human experience.

If that is what it takes for these companies to take the gripes of their fans seriously, then more companies need to lose more money than they already have before this lesson is apparently learned. The makers of 1348: Ex Voto just found out the hard way.

Advertisement

---

Pop star Britney Spears was spotted in public for the first time since she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in early March. Photos shared on a fan page dedicated to the “Crossroads” actress show the singer purchasing a beverage at Starbucks. Fortunately, it looks like she was able to avoid the media frenzy that her appearance usually brings.

Britney Spears Seen Shopping At Starbucks After DUI Arrest

On Sunday, March 22, Britney was believed to be ordering a drink at Starbucks at the Malibu Country Mart shopping center. The fan page BritneysVault shared several photos of the “Toxic” singer on their Instagram Stories, showing the singer hiding her face behind large black sunglasses.

In addition to a long brown coat, she also carried an orange purse. Some fans speculated that her son, Jayden James, was with her, though this has not yet been confirmed.

Britney Was Arrested On Suspicion Of Driving While Intoxicated

On March 4, the “Oops!… I Did It Again” singer was arrested near her home in Ventura County, California, “on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs,” per a press release from the California Highway Patrol.

She was sent to a hospital to test her blood alcohol content and released from police custody the following morning. Although she was booked, law enforcement officials have opted not to release her mugshot at this time. She is scheduled to appear in court on May 4.

Britney Spears’ Family Wants To Prioritize Her Well-Being

Many fans have taken to social media to express their concern for the pop star’s well-being. Her friends and family have also shared their concerns. “Her team wants her in rehab or a program to help her get to a better place,” an insider told Us Weekly in the week following the singer’s arrest. “Everyone around her hopes this will be a wake-up call for her.”

The source went on to say that she “has been lying low at home,” because she “knows it’ll be a spectacle the next time she steps out, so she’s trying to avoid that as long as humanly possible.” Fortunately, it looks like her casual trip to Starbucks went without incident.

Britney’s Sons Have Been Supporting Her

The source also told the publication that her two sons, Sean Preston, 20, and Jayden James, 29, have also been supporting her. Although Jayden “has been there with her,” she has also “seen” her son Sean since they moved to Hawaii with their father, her ex-husband Kevin Federline, in 2023.

The insider also said that Britney is getting plenty of support from her mother, Lynne Spears, who “is very worried about her and keeping tabs on the situation through Britney as well as her team.”

Britney Spears’ Family Is Looking Into Treatment Options

In addition to spending time with her, they are also trying to help her “put her life back on track.” Things have been difficult since the pop star’s approximately 13-year conservatorship ended in November 2021. She married her long-term partner, Sam Asghari, in June 2022, but in August 2023, the former personal trainer filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences,” according to court documents obtained by The Blast.

“Her family and team are looking into treatment options for both addiction and mental health, but it won’t be easy to talk her into it unless she feels ready herself. You can’t force it,” the insider told the publication. “They just need to have hope that she will take this arrest and its consequences seriously, which she seems to be doing so far. She has already expressed regret about what happened.”

The source added that Britney’s team and loved ones are “praying that she doesn’t get jail time for this,” which “would be the worst-case scenario.”