The daily gossip: 2021 will be the 'craziest party ever,' Jennifer Lopez is going to 'wash away' 2020 from her bathroom, and more

(Image credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. David Guetta looks forward to 'the craziest party ever' in 2021
2. Jennifer Lopez to host virtual NYE afterparty from her bathroom
3. Tony Hawk goes entirely unrecognized … again
4. Mandy Patinkin wins Best COVID Cabin award
5. Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings apologizes for 'unartful' tweets

published 31 December 2020

1. David Guetta looks forward to 'the craziest party ever' in 2021

DJ David Guetta has high hopes for 2021, when he believes the coronavirus vaccine will allow for the eventual reopening of nightclubs and the world will throw "the craziest party ever." The French DJ, who recorded an audience-free show at the Louvre Museum in Paris earlier this week that will be streamed as part of New Year's festivities, said he was grateful to be "one of the lucky ones" who had the finances to weather the pandemic shutdowns without stress. But "I told my kids already, I'm like: 'Listen, guys, enjoy while I am here because when [the dance venues] open, I'm gone,'" Guetta told The Associated Press. "I'm going to play every single day. People are going to party like they have never partied before."

Everyone is counting on 2021 to be better than 2020, which is where Jennifer Lopez comes in: the singer plans to bring the good vibes to the stage when she welcomes the New Year on Thursday night. "It has been a difficult year for so many and we are hoping we can all start the new one with a positive and hopeful outlook," she told People. "New Year's Rockin' Eve in Times Square is such a symbolic event and we're excited to perform for everyone and keep this tradition going, even though it will look a little different this year." Lopez will additionally be hosting an afterparty with 1,000 fans on Zoom — from her bathroom. She plans to "symbolically [wash] away 2020," which at least is better than symbolically flushing it away.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Tony Hawk is ending the year the same way he started it: Unrecognized. The pro skateboarder has been sharing stories since at least 2017 about how strangers get thiiiiis close to realizing who he is, only to not put the pieces together. Hawk shared his most recent encounter on Twitter late Wednesday, from when he was at a COVID-19 testing site with two of his kids. "Anthony, Keegan, and Kadence … Hawk? Are you guys related to Tony Hawk?" Hawk recalled the woman checking them in saying. "Yes," Hawk said. "Are you pulling my leg?" the woman asked. "No, we are all directly related to him," Hawk deadpanned. Since everyone apparently needs the reminder: This is what Tony Hawk looks like.

For the duration of the pandemic, the Room Rater Twitter account has been grading TV guests on their video chat backdrops (for example, Barack and Michelle Obama's white bookshelves got a 10/10, while Tom Brady earned a measly 2/10 for his room looking "like the lobby of a hotel"). On Wednesday, Room Rater announced its awards for the year, with Room of the Year going to presidential historian Michael Beschloss, Best Pineapple going to Obama's former campaign manager David Plouffe, and Best Supporting Cat going to Rocky Balboa, who belongs to PBS Newshour's Lisa Desjardins. Actor Mandy Patinkin won Best COVID Cabin and accepted the honor with humility and gratitude: "We'd like to thank our bowls, our toaster oven, and the wood on our walls," Patinkin said.

Jeopardy! champ and rumored Alex Trebek replacement Ken Jennings has apologized for his past "insensitive" tweets, including mocking a Star Wars fan with terminal cancer and people who use wheelchairs. "I've definitely tweeted some unartful and insensitive things," he wrote in a five-part thread on Wednesday, adding that while he'd "usually leave bad tweets up just so they could be dunked on," he now believes "that practice may have given the impression I stand by every failed joke I've ever posted here. Not at all!" Jennings added an apology to "people who were (rightfully!) offended," and concluded: "If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that we should be kinder to one another. I look forward to heading into 2021 with that in mind."

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.