Katt Williams, crypto and cat ladies: 2024 was the year of unexpected second chances
From comedy to courtroom drama, if you thought you’d seen it all before, that’s because this year … you hadIf 2024 was defined by anything, it was a distinct feeling of deja vu,Donald Trump ran and won, Death Cab and Janet Jackson headlined music festivals, and aesthetes on social media lusted after Windows Vista design language circa 2007,Same old, same old – almost,Because 2024 was also the year of unexpected second chances: in some very special cases, those who suffered a fall from grace or otherwise unfortunate first run in the spotlight got another shot at glory,Call it a comeback, a redemption, or deja vu all over again … for better or worse, it was their year once more.
,Before OJ Simpson, the Menendez brothers were America’s most ridiculed defendants – the guys who killed their rich parents, seemingly for the money,By the time both were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in the mid-90s, the country had already moved on to gawking at the trial of the century,It’s only since the brothers’ case was revisited in a Netflix docuseries, a Ryan Murphy soap opera and a raft of other deep-dive efforts this year that they have become a justice reform cause for a gen Z crowd that has much broader bandwidth for the nuances of the case than their forebears,Thanks to these efforts, a Los Angeles county superior judge could decide to free the brothers in January.
It’s an ending no one would have seen coming when Erik and Lyle were put on trial more than 30 years ago.ALWhen Sex and the City hit Netflix this spring, many of us couldn’t help but wonder: would gen Z be able to handle a decidedly unwoke 25-year-old series? Turns out, they could: it feels like every woman under 35 watched or rewatched the show this year, liking it much more than they thought they would.Depressing, maybe, that Carrie’s perennial dating woes still feel relatable in 2024, or that the idea of four friends maintaining a close friendship into adulthood feels aspirational.As young people battle a much-discussed loneliness epidemic, the real fantasy of Sex and the City may not be making it in New York or finding Mr Big, but rather having a tight group of girlfriends to go through it with.ADBitcoin was the next big thing – until it crashed.
Then it rose again – and slumped again.If you had invested, you were an idiot.No, wait, if you hadn’t invested, you were stuck in the stone age.Actually, ethereum was the better move.Or Solana.
Or an NFT of Melania Trump’s eyes,Through all the volatility, and despite the fact that any mention of it signals the beginning of a miserable conversation, cryptocurrency has refused to go away,Now it’s got a special place in the heart of our next president, who promises to make America “the bitcoin superpower of the world”, and his latest sidekick Elon Musk, who has named an as yet fictional agency, the “department of government efficiency (Doge)”, after his favorite digital currency,When fartcoin exists – let alone reaches a $1bn market capitalization – it’s clear crypto is triumphant,MCThey’ve always been the generation that got it from both sides: older generations see them as coddled, entitled brats; gen Z uses them as the definitive measure of uncoolness.
They’ve been mocked for their pauses on TikTok, their socks and their side parts,Meanwhile, they reached young adulthood in a recession, had to move back in with their parents, and are often described as the first generation that will earn less than those parents,But in 2024, a few things finally went their way,Side parts were deemed acceptable again,Their financial prospects started to look a little better.
And millennials, for once, weren’t the ones taking heat after an election that saw the majority of gen Z men – and an increasing number of gen Z women – voting for Trump.As for coolness, a millennial named Charli xcx established the year’s most talked about aesthetic.MCIf you were making a best comedians list in 2023, there’s a good chance that Katt Williams would have been overlooked entirely given how long it had been since he held audiences captive with his Emmy-winning guest appearance in the TV dramedy Atlanta.But then, three days into 2024, he roared back with a vengeance with a nearly three-hour long interview that’s still breaking the internet.Chatting with the former football great Shannon Sharpe, Williams was totally unfiltered, hitting out at rival comics and at Hollywood for disrespecting him.
But it was his P Diddy PSA (if he “wants you to party”, Williams sniped, “you got to tell him no!”) that had the internet calling him a prophet once the hip-hop mogul’s empire came crashing down mere months later.The interview, viewed more than 85m times on YouTube alone, paved the way for Williams’s comedy special on Netflix and his acting return in One of Them Days, the Keke Palmer-SZA buddy comedy that hits theaters in January.ALWhen JD Vance described Kamala Harris supporters as “childless cat ladies”, he meant it as a diss.But the line quickly became a rallying cry, a reappropriation in line with 2016’s “nasty woman” in pink pussy hats.Taylor Swift signed her endorsement of Harris as “childless cat lady”, Etsy stores began selling merch and social media feeds flooded with the term.
Once associated with batty, single women approaching midlife, being a childless cat lady became a badge of pride,Dog people had their pandemic moment; cat people, it’s your turn now,ADIn an age when insult comedy is never more than a scroll away, the idea of a modern roast seemed as antiquated as those old Dean Martin infomercials,But if the past year made anything clear, it’s that the format can keep up with the times – whether it’s Colin Jost emceeing the White House correspondents’ dinner (“We’re all here at nerd prom,Well, Matt Gaetz is at regular prom …”) or Tony Hinchcliffe likening Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage” at a Madison Square Garden rally for Trump without the punchline backfiring on him or the now president-elect.
But nothing marked the roast’s resurgence quite like the Netflix showcase dedicated to trashing Tom Brady, which was more viewed than standup specials from Dave Chappelle and Katt Williams.So it fits that Netflix would close the year with a roast of 2024, hosted by roastmaster general Jeff Ross.ALTwo years ago, Jessica Tisch, New York City’s then new sanitation commissioner, uttered a phrase that would go down in TikTok infamy: “The rats don’t run this city, we do.” To which the city’s approximately 3 million rats replied: “Oh, really?” In 2024, rodents had their comeback – if we can use that word to describe a perennial vermin.It came via the hot rodent boyfriend, a meme used to describe men who look like Stuart Little (complimentary), such as Timothée Chalamet, Jeremy Allen White and the Challengers star Josh O’Connor.
But also, literally, rats became a main character in NYC, which held its first annual, multi-day National Urban Rat summit dedicated to their removal.A true flex to be hated that much.ADThis was the year LA’s deeply beloved baseball team finally, definitively, actually won it all.Perennial contenders, they’d made it to the playoffs every year for more than a decade, and all the way to the World Series in 2017 and 2018 – only to lose it twice in a row.In 2020, they managed to win it all! … after a Covid-shortened season in which their fans were literal cardboard cutouts.
There was no parade,Finally, in 2024, they won the championship again, in the most definitive way possible: beating baseball’s biggest juggernaut, the New York Yankees,This time, the city got its parade, and made it count: more than 200,000 Angelenos showed up to celebrate,MCIron Mike was in the last throes of his post-fight evolution – podcaster, cannabis purveyor and tech bro thought leader – when Jake Paul, the YouTuber who only picked up his boxing gloves six years ago, started openly fantasizing about taking on a man who won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout,When the 58-year-old took up the challenge, fight fans feared he was in for another ear-biting low.
While the actual match proved to be a damp squib – with Paul taking pity on his boxing idol, thank God – Tyson at least proved less glitchy than Netflix; the streamer struggled to host the more than 120 million viewers who logged on to watch the spectacle,Meanwhile, Tyson netted an estimated $20m,Next up: Jake’s brother, Logan,Maybe,ALIt feels like we’ve lived multiple lifetimes since Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison at the tail end of 2023, but for a few months, 2024 really was her year.
Blanchard, who pleaded guilty to her role in the murder of her mother, Dee Dee, turned into an unexpected It girl upon re-entry, garnering 7 million Instagram followers, jetting to Paris for fashion week, starring in a Lifetime docuseries and posting colorfully about life with her then husband, Ryan Scott Anderson.(One comment she made about her sex life – “the d is fire” – really had us all in a chokehold for a day or two.) Then she shunned the limelight, deleting social media and divorcing Anderson, before rekindling a romance with an old prison pen pal and returning to social media to talk about her new memoir.The couple expects a baby in January – what a year, indeed.AD
‘Running a bad airline is expensive’: is British Airways finally getting better?
Complaining about BA is a ‘national sport’, but even critics says its £7bn turnaround plan is starting to bear fruitIt’s been a long and turbulent time since anyone used British Airways’ old slogan “the world’s favourite airline” with a straight face. After a decade during which the UK flag carrier was tarnished by cost-cutting, IT fiascos, mass redundancies and strikes, BA was then pushed to the brink by Covid.Hopes of a smooth recovery disappeared like lost luggage on a carousel, as cancellations and delays plagued an airline seen as pricier than short-haul competitors and dowdier than the Gulf carriers. With burgeoning complaints about customer service, pledges by bosses to turn things round were met with some scepticism.And yet, something strange has happened
You need more than Nobbies and Stobbies for a motorway grand slam | Letters
I added Preston’s of Potto to the game when Eddie Stobarts and Norbert Dentressangles became commonplace, and it was unusual to see all three on one journey (Letters, 22 December). A grand slam, spotting an Eddie, a Norbert and a Potto between two consecutive motorway junctions, was rare indeed. Peter LowthianMarlow, Buckinghamshire As well as Stobbies and Nobbies to count, there were also Willies (Willi Betz).Terry CarbroSleights, North Yorkshire A great way to keep occupied on long journeys was to keep a look out for the friesian paint scheme of Richard Wiseman Dairy lorries, and be the first to shout “moo”.John IlesHolne, Devon Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it
There’s no reason for older people to fear smartphones | Letters
In wishing to ban smartphones, Tim Watson (nearly 94) throws the baby out with the bathwater (Letters, 20 December). Being of a certain age myself, I remember when nobody in my close family even had a landline.Smartphone use can become misuse but, used intelligently, the smartphone is one of the greatest modern inventions. With mine, I can call people on the other side of the world cheaply or even at no cost; I can use it as a satnav; I do not have to speak to everyone because I can simply send them a text; I can store important information and use any number of apps.I agree with banning smartphone use during school hours – and appropriate use and misuse should be part of education today because, of course, there are dangers
Older music has been getting a second life on TikTok, data shows
This was the year that gen Z had their “Brat summer”, or so we were led to believe.Inspired by the hit album by pop sensation Charli xcx, the trend was seen to embody all the messiness of modern youth: trashy, chaotic and bright green.But on the teenager’s social media platform of choice, TikTok, a more sepia music trend has been taking root.Despite having an endless amount of music to pair with their short, scrollable videos, TikTok users have been raiding the back catalogues of artists from yesteryear including Bronski Beat and Sade to soundtrack their posts.This year set a new high for use of old tracks on British TikTok posts, with tunes more than five years old accounting for 19 out of its 50 top tracks this year
Galopin Des Champs ready for Gold Cup hat-trick after Leopardstown cruise
The mood music around the Willie Mullins stable was unusually downbeat on Saturday morning, with three winners from 47 starters over the first two days of the Christmas programme. It was significantly more up-tempo by the end of the afternoon after a Grade One double that included a deeply impressive return to winning form by the stable’s star steeplechaser, Galopin Des Champs.Galopin Des Champs lined up for the Savills Chase at Leopardstown, the feature event of the track’s four-day Christmas meeting, as the 5-2 joint-favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, a race he has won for the past two seasons. Alongside him in the ante-post market and Saturday’s race was Fact To File, a stable companion at the Mullins yard and the apparent leader of the second-season chasers.The two-time Gold Cup winner had also failed to add to his Cheltenham victory in two subsequent starts – a near-facsimile of his record before the Savills Chase last season and had finished behind Fact To File over two and a half miles at Punchestown in November
Kabaddi fever hits Melbourne as part of two nations’ sporting symbiosis
The blue swarm knew not of contested possessions as it closed in on the former AFL midfielder Josh Kennedy. His crew of recently retired colleagues, dubbed the Aussie Raiders, were struggling to stay in touch with the Pro Kabaddi All Stars. So when the opposing mass grabbed, gripped and grappled the greying former Swan late in the match on Saturday night in Melbourne, the crowd knew the contest was over.But this exhibition at John Cain Arena, of a discipline behind only cricket among India’s most popular sports, was an occasion at which the scoreboard didn’t matter. The few thousand fans who showed up had no attachment to the Raiders or All Stars, nor the Mavericks and Masters who played the curtain-raiser
Black cancer patients in England less likely to feel supported in hospital, says charity
One in five Britons would use weight-loss drug if free on NHS, poll reveals
‘Bullets can make a real mess of bones’: the hospital where the war wounded have their lives put together again
Assaults in prisons in England and Wales rise to average of 74 a day
Almost one in five children live in conflict zones, says Unicef
US saw dramatic rise in homelessness at start of 2024, housing agency says