The daily gossip: Bruce Springsteen escapes drunk driving charges, please don't take Goop's advice for treating COVID, and more

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1. Barack Obama's podcast cohost pleads guilty to a misdemeanor
2. NHS advises against Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop-based COVID treatments
3. Spider-Man 3 will probably not feature 3 Spider Men
4. Kim Kardashian listens to 'Driver's License' in the car, and fans think it means something
5. Daily Beast report alleges Olympian McKayla Maroney is part of a 'cult'

published 24 February 2021

1. Barack Obama's podcast cohost pleads guilty to a misdemeanor

When it comes to the drunk driving case against Bruce Springsteen, it sounds like prosecutors couldn't quite prove it all night. In November, a park ranger arrested the Boss in New Jersey's Gateway National Recreation Area after Springsteen was spotted taking a shot of tequila before getting on his motorcycle. Prosecutors dropped their charges of drunken driving and reckless driving, though Barack Obama's podcast co-host did plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of consuming alcohol in a closed area. Springsteen confessed he'd had "two small shots of tequila" in an area where the judge noted alcohol consumption was permitted up until a few years ago. Asked during Wednesday's hearing how long he needs to pay the resulting $540 fine, Springsteen reportedly told the judge, "I think I can pay that immediately."

Gwyneth Paltrow revealed she had COVID-19 "early on" and it left her with fatigue and brain fog. Naturally, she has a list of Goop product and lifestyle recommendations for anyone experiencing similar symptoms, including an "intuitive fasting" diet, numerous supplements, and an infrared sauna blanket. But it seems the National Health Service in the U.K. isn't onboard with that Goop life. NHS England's national medical director Stephen Powis says "serious science" should be involved when talking about long-haul COVID, and that Paltrow's suggestions are "not really the solutions we'd recommend." "Like the virus, misinformation carries across borders and it mutates and it evolves," Powis noted. "So I think YouTube and other social media platforms have a real responsibility and opportunity here." He did make it clear that he wishes Paltrow well.

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Spider-Man 3 will not include cameos from former Spider Men Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, according to the current Peter Parker, Tom Holland. "It would be amazing if they were [in the movie], because they haven't told me that yet and I am Spider-Man," he told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. But due to Holland's reputation for revealing spoilers, Fallon suggested the crew might be keeping secrets from him, prompting Holland to get defensive. "I'm a trustworthy member of the Avengers, and I haven't really ever spoiled anything. Well, there's a few things, but no big things," he admitted. We do know one thing for sure: The movie is titled Spider-Man: No Way Home. Or is it Phone Home? Home Wrecker? Home Slice?

I guess Kanye didn't mean what he wrote in that song about Kim? On Monday, Kim Kardashian posted a video of herself listening to Olivia Rodrigo's teenage breakup anthem "Driver's License," just days after she filed for divorce from her husband of nearly seven years, Kanye West. Though Rodrigo's song has been on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for weeks now, fans read significance into the snippet Kim posted, including the lyrics "...all my friends are tired of hearing how much I miss you/but I kinda feel sorry for them 'cause they'll never know you the way that I do, yeah." Just keep in mind, though, that if you want to get a driver's license like a Kardashian, you've got to bring your own ring light.

Olympian gymnast McKayla Maroney has allegedly joined a "mystery 'cult,'" according to a report by The Daily Beast. The 25-year-old gold medalist bravely revealed in 2017 that she was among the athletes abused by former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar; tragically, Maroney unexpectedly lost her father in 2019. In a selfie from September of that year, Maroney is seen wearing "a large silver pendant necklace from the Church of the Master Angels (CMA)." The church confirmed to The Daily Beast that Maroney is a member. Notably, the CMA offers expensive courses similar to Scientology, and is led by Master John Douglas, who claims his "Angelic Reformation" healings have cured people of everything from Lyme disease to cancer. "[Douglas] makes these extraordinary claims," cult expert Steven Hassan warned, "and alarm bells go off."

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