The daily gossip: Kanye West concedes, SZA celebrates New Jersey's marijuana legalization, and more

1. Kanye West admits he did not win the election

In a year as unpredictable as this one, you'd be forgiven for bracing for potentially anything to happen on election night. A murder hornet could have been elected on write-in votes and at this point, Americans would have shrugged and been like, "Yeah, this is 2020, that makes sense." But let this be your confirmation that despite everything, Kanye West is not the president-elect. The rapper made a concession tweet on Wednesday morning after winning no states, writing "WELP," which also happens to nicely sum up his entire campaign. As of Wednesday morning, Deadline reported that it is "safe to say at least 60,000 Americans voted for West," though his percentage of the vote never broke .04 percent in any state.

Deadline

2. SZA is thrilled her home state of New Jersey legalized marijuana

Several states legalized marijuana on Tuesday, including SZA's home state of New Jersey — and the singer couldn't be more excited. The 29-year-old had sounded a little downtrodden going into the evening, though, tweeting that she voted by mail and "ain't got no sticker" and that while she "don't even know if it matters," she still "wanted to at LEAST BE ABLE TO SAY I DIDN'T GIVE MY CHOICE AWAY FOR FREE." She added dramatically that she was spending her evening watching Purge: Election Year and that "if they don't legalize marijuana in jersey ya'll can kiss my a-- and I'm never voting again." Luckily, things went her way; SZA ended the evening by quote-tweeting the news that the Garden State had legalized weed, adding "I won Gn."

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Vulture

3. The royal vote has been counted

Meghan Markle practices what she preaches. After encouraging Americans to vote in the Nov. 3 election (which hit voter turnout records), the Duchess of Sussex made history by becoming the first known British royal to vote in a U.S. election. Meanwhile, her husband Prince Harry has never voted in any election, as the royal family is expected to have political neutrality. Markle voted by mail, Page Six reports, with a source telling them, "Meghan was an American long before she was a royal. She wouldn't miss voting in this election no matter where she was living." The Duchess is rumored to have political ambitions of her own, so who knows, maybe one day she'll be casting that vote for herself.

Page Six Town and Country

4. John Oliver got emotional after casting his first vote in the U.S.

John Oliver became a U.S. citizen in December, but he's been waiting for it to feel real since then. "When you worry about your immigration status all the time and even getting your passport still doesn't feel real because you haven't tested it against a system," the British comedian told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. Oliver said it didn't feel real while waiting in line to vote, or while getting his ballot. But when the machine told him his vote had been counted, he nearly burst into tears. "That is the truth. My eyes got misty. I thought, 'I don't know if I can cry in a voting station.'" Even so, he was disappointed there was no lever to pull at his polling place.

People

5. Gap's attempt to bring the nation together with a red-and-blue hoodie backfired spectacularly

It was only a matter of time before a brand made a bad election tweet, and sure enough, the Gap came through on Wednesday morning. "The one thing we know is that together, we can move forward," the retailer tweeted with an accompanying photo of a Gap hoodie split down the middle with red on one side, and blue on the other. The artificial message of unity didn't sit well: "A Gap hoodie is what will bring this country together," sarcastically tweeted NBC News' Olivia Solon while The Daily Beast's Molly Jong-Fast observed "the brands are at it again." The tweet was swiftly deleted, with the company stating they'd intended "to show the power of unity" but "it was just too soon for this message."

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