Megan Rapinoe, Gus Kenworthy, Ryan Russell star in Abercrombie campaign

Abercrombie & Fitch has unveiled a new ‘Face Your Fierce’ ad campaign, and it notably wants to showcase more diversity than previous images associated with the brand.

Adverts that appeared on social media yesterday to promote the A&F’s ‘Fierce’ family of fragrances feature several LGBTQ faces.

These include Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, World Cup-winning soccer player Megan Rapinoe, footballer Ryan Russell, plus-size model Michael McCauley (below), British rugby player Keegan Hirst, ballet dancer Harper Watters, comedian Andy Lalwani, and trans activists Laith Ashley and Leyna Bloom.

 

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In total, 24 athletes, performers and activists are included in the campaign. It also includes Paralympian Scout Bassett, and body positivity model Halle Hathaway.

 

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It makes a change from the models typically associated with A&F, which has faced criticism in the past for its rigid beauty aesthetics.

Related: Abercrombie & Fitch tweets that “Pride is for straight people, too.” Internet goes berserk

Seven years ago it was slammed when it was revealed the brand didn’t carry women’s XL or XXL sizes. Before this, in 2007, its then CEO, Mike Jeffries, told Salon, “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla.”

Going on its new campaign, A&F has done a 180-degree u-turn.

In a statement, Abercrombie said, “Throughout the year-long campaign, cast members will share their experiences of body positivity, self-empowerment, determination, LGBTQ+ equality, gender equality, overcoming obstacles, and more, all to inspire customers to explore the unexpected and emotional aspects of inner strength.”

Rapinoe told People magazine she had been delighted to be asked to take part.

“I jumped at it right away. I mean, what a cool opportunity to be part of a big brand and a big national campaign with the lineup that they have,” she said. “My high school self is like, ‘Oh my God, this is insane.’”

“Fierce to me means just being who you are and feeling confident in being that person,” she said. “And I feel very lucky to have people around me in the family who really support me and make me feel it’s good to be that way.”

Ryan Russell, who came out as bisexual in 2019, said in an Instagram posting, “This past year being Fierce for me was about being honest. Honest about who I was and who I wanted to be.”

Keegan Hirst also posted to his Instagram, saying, “It’s a privilege to be part of a campaign that includes so many people who are fierce in so many different ways.”

 

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Body positivity model Michael McCauley said, “When I started modeling a little over a year ago I never would have believed you if you’d said I’d become an Abercrombie and Fitch model!

“People want to see REAL people in the clothes they’re buying and I think most people can relate to guys like me. This isn’t a fashion statement. Beefy dudes are here to stay!”

 

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Related: Colton Haynes’ new Abercrombie photos aren’t half as hot as his others

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Trump Hotels Bill Taxpayers $650 Per Night for Secret Service Agents: ‘Emoluments be Damned!’

Donald Trump’s private company is making big bucks off American taxpayers when the president stays at his own properties, which he has visited on 342 days since he took office.

According to a new analysis from the Washington Post‘s David Farenthold, Trump’s company is charging $650 per night for Secret Service agents to stay at Mar-a-Lago, and $17,000 per month for a cottage at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.

WaPo reports: The only glimpses of this spending have come out via Secret Service records, released after public records requests. But these documents are often cryptic, giving few details. Last November, in response to a public records request from the group Property of the People, the Secret Service released a list of 56 payments it had made to Trump’s companies. All were from 2017. But the list was cryptic. It didn’t say what the Secret Service had been charged for. In some cases, it didn’t even say which Trump property had been paid. The Post tried to decode this list. One surprise: at least 20 of the payments to “Trump National Golf Club” — worth $63,700 — weren’t to a golf club at all. Other documents, already released, showed they were payments to Mar-a-Lago. The Post learned that many of them were hotel bills for $650 per night — a rate far higher than the usual limits on federal hotel spending. There is no legal limit on what the Secret Service may spend on hotel rooms while its agents are protecting the president.

Farenthold noted on Twitter (above) that the analysis directly contradicts something Trump’s son, Eric, said last year.

“If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free,” Eric Trump said. “So everywhere that he goes, if he stays at one of his places, the government actually spends, meaning it saves a fortune because if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50,” he added.

Several commenters noted that the arrangement appears to violate the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which provides: “The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.” 

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Trump Hotels Bill Taxpayers $650 Per Night for Secret Service Agents: ‘Emoluments be Damned!’

WATCH: Veteran TV host comes out as gay after 27 years of marriage

One of the most recognizable faces on British TV has surprised viewers and the wider industry by coming out as gay.

Phillip Schofield, who co-hosts ITV’s mid-morning chat show This Morning, posted a lengthy message to his Instagram today to say that after being married to wife Steph for the past 27 years, he was coming out.

Related: Jameela Jamil comes out on Twitter

Schofield, 57, got his first big break on TV when he began working for Children’s BBC in 1985. He has been a near-constant presence on British TV screens since that time, graduating to co-hosting This Morning in 2002. He also co-hosts primetime show Dancing on Ice.

His full statement reads as follows.

“You never know what’s going on in someone’s seemingly perfect life, what issues they are struggling with, or the state of their wellbeing – and so you won’t know what has been consuming me for the last few years. With the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I am gay.

“This is something that has caused many heart-breaking conversations at home. I have been married to Steph for nearly 27 years, and we have two beautiful grown-up daughters, Molly and Ruby…

“My family have held me so close: they have tried to cheer me up, to smother me with kindness and love, despite their own confusion. Yet still I can’t sleep and there have been some very dark moments.

“My inner conflict contrasts with an outside world that has changed so very much for the better. Today, quite rightly, being gay is a reason to celebrate and be proud. Yes, I am feeling pain and confusion, but that comes only from the hurt that I am causing to my family.

“Steph has been incredible – I love her so very much. She is the kindest soul I have ever met. My girls have been astonishing in their love, hugs and encouraging words of comfort. Both mine and Steph’s entire families have stunned me with their love, instant acceptance and support.

“Of course they are worried about Steph but I know they will scoop us both us.

“My friends are the best, especially Holly [Willoughby], who has been so kind and wise – and who has hugged me as I sobbed on her shoulder. At ITV, I couldn’t hope to work with more wonderful, supportive teams…

“Every day on This Morning, I sit in awe of those we meet who have been brave and open in confronting their truth – so now it’s my turn to share mine. This will probably all come as something and I understand, but only by facing this, by being honest, can I hope to find peace in my mind and a way forward. Please be kind, especially to my family. Phillip.”

Related: Celebrity YouTube beauty vlogger comes out as trans

Schofield co-hosts This Morning with Holly Willoughby. On today’s show, which aired minutes after Schofield’s Instagram posting appeared. Willoughby and Schofield addressed his coming out as the first topic of discussion.

“This is a big day, I know this is something you’ve been living with for a really long time,” said Willoughby.

Schofield said everyone he’s talked to had been supportive and told him they loved him and were proud of him.

“Every person I tell it gets a little lighter and a little lighter,” he said. “At the same time I have made this decision which is essential for me and essential for my head and that is principally the reason I have done this. They have been supporting while we get to this moment because we all know it was coming.”

Schofield and Willoughby have interviewed many members of the public and celebrities, and many of their interviewees have touched upon LGBTQ issues.

‘Everyone does these things at their own speed in their own time when the time is right,” said Schofield. “There’s no question it has in recent times consumed by head and has become an issue in my head, and so I got to the stage where I thought we sit here every day and I’m over there and some amazingly brave incredible person it sitting here and I’m listening to their story and thinking oh my God you’re so brave, and I’m thinking I have to be that person.”

LGBT advocacy group Stonewall was among the first to congratulate Schofield.

“Incredibly brave and moving announcement from Phillip Schofield this morning. It takes a lot of courage and is always a hugely personal decision to be open about who you are. Congrats Phillip.”

A tweet from fellow broadcaster Richard Osman summed up the high regard with which Schofield is held in the British TV industry.

“When you create a new entertainment show and start discussing who should host, the first name on the list is always Phillip Schofield,” said Osman. “That’s a fact. He’s just the very best at what he does, and the public adore him. Looking forward to many more years of his charm and brilliance.”

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Trump Plots Revenge Against Impeachment Witnesses, Bolton, Romney, Democrats: ‘We’re in the Heads-on-Pikes Phase’

President Donald Trump plans to oust a national security official who testified against him in his impeachment trial, according to Bloomberg News.

The dismissal of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council is expected to be part of a broader purge of NSC staff who are considered disloyal to the president.

And it’s likely only the beginning of Trump’s post-acquittal trail of revenge.

“We’re in the heads-on-pikes phase of burgeoning authoritarianism,” former White House ethics czar Walter Schaub wrote on Twitter on Thursday night, alluding to Trump’s recent threat toward GOP senators.

More from the Washington Post: Some of the president’s aides are discussing whether to remove or reassign several administration officials who testified during the impeachment inquiry, according to aides and advisers who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans. Meanwhile, Senate committee chairmen are ramping up their investigation into Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine while his father, Joe, was vice president. … [Trump] has discussed with aides removing other national security officials who testified or cooperated with House Democrats, with Trump calling them disloyal and asking whether he should further cull his national security staff after impeachment. He remains incensed that so many people in his administration testified last year, according to allies of the president.

Politico reports that Sen. Mitt Romney, the lone Republican who voted to convict Trump, tops the list of the president’s targets:

Romney is not the only one in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. Two Republican senators sent a letter to the Secret Service requesting information about Hunter Biden’s travel during Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president, part of an attempt to conduct the investigation that Trump couldn’t get Ukraine to launch. “People should be held accountable,” [White House press secretary Stephanie] Grisham warned in an interview on Fox News Wednesday morning. “The Democrats should be held accountable for not only what they did to the president and to his family but the country.” Another move over at the Justice Department also had Trump’s critics worried that the Trump administration was also taking steps to protect the president from further scrutiny. Attorney General Bill Barr issued a memo requiring his own sign-off on any investigations into a 2020 presidential candidate. Barr has long expressed skepticism about the probe that was launched into Trump’s 2016 campaign.

According to Salon, Trump is compiling a Nixonian “enemies list” topped by former national security adviser John Bolton:

Vanity Fair‘s Gabriel Sherman reported Monday that “Republicans briefed on Trump’s thinking believe that the president is out for revenge against his adversaries.”

“It’s payback time,” an anonymous Republican lawmaker told Vanity Fair. “He has an enemies list that is growing by the day.”

According to Sherman, names mentioned in his conversations with Republicans familiar with the president’s plans included House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Bolton, who Sherman noted is “at the top of the list.”

“Trump wants Bolton to be criminally investigated,” Sherman reported.

More from Twitter below.

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Trump Plots Revenge Against Impeachment Witnesses, Bolton, Romney, Democrats: ‘We’re in the Heads-on-Pikes Phase’