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February 22, 2025
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No. 293
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In This Week’s Issue
WHO LET THE DOGE OUT?

Elon Musk and his DOGE task force’s destruction of agencies from the National Science Foundation to N.I.H. is at odds with the massive government loan that got Tesla off the ground …

FUNNY BUSINESS

Chris Rock! Amy Poehler! Will Ferrell! Tina Fey! In an excerpt from Susan Morrison’s biography of Lorne Michaels, cast members from S.N.L.’s last five decades look back on Michaels’s unconventional hiring process …

BAILED OUT

By leaving her ex-husband, Harvey Weinstein, for Oscar front-runner Adrien Brody, Georgina Chapman has swapped the worst of Hollywood for its best—and wiped her #MeToo-tarnished reputation squeaky-clean …

DIPLOMATIC IMPUNITY

Ukrainians living in places such as Odesa and Kyiv who’ve remained steadfast in their devotion to the country are preparing to flee, amid Donald Trump’s disastrous “peace” talks with Russia …

IN A JAM

Due to trademark issues (which she denies), Meghan Markle has had to rename her nebulous lifestyle brand, meaning that just a year into its exceptionally depressing existence, American Riviera Orchard is no more …

PROGRAMMED TO KILL

Ammunition belts, radical veganism, and transgender computer engineers: inside the so-called Zizian death cult, under investigation by the F.B.I. …

PRIVATE HELL

After discovering a 1944 Life-magazine article by John Hersey about a Polish Holocaust survivor who looked eerily familiar, one woman realized her lineage was much more complicated than it seemed …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

All the cool girls are reading … Justice Department second-in-command Emil Bove’s Roy Cohn vibes … how reality TV made The White Lotus possible … the many lives of Curzio Malaparte … Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks on loss … a Boston thriller writer’s brush with Russian intelligence … Who was this week’s biggest Attention Whore?

But First …
Issue No. 293

The View from Here Before he took a chain saw to government spending, Elon Musk used taxpayer funds to turn a failing business into a trillion-dollar company

By Oz Woloshyn
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Comeback Queen

The Runaway Bride Designer Georgina Chapman, Harvey Weinstein’s ex-wife, has managed a spirited return, alongside her Oscar-nominated boyfriend, Adrien Brody

By Tim Teeman
Read On
Wheels of Injustice

The Apostate Trump’s dead-eyed hatchet man in the Justice Department, Emil Bove III, has attacked the very office that taught him the law—and betrayed the ideals he once espoused

By Liz Dye
Read On
High Anxiety

Inside the S.N.L. Audition Room Laugh-free interviews, under-the-breath asides, and lots of popcorn … Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, and others reveal what it’s like to get hired by Lorne Michaels

By Susan Morrison
Read On
Air Supply

Going Hollywood

As the Oscars approach, Hollywood is on our mind. Get in the mood to celebrate glitz, glamour, and the art of cinema with AIR SUPPLY’s guide to silver-screen appreciation
Shop
Photo: Snap/Shutterstock (Poitier)
Morten Morland’s Sketchbook
Guest Edit

Michèle Lamy’s Favorite Things The singular creative force known for her distinctive personal style—defined by gold teeth and henna-dipped fingers, a ring from her jewelry collection with Loree Rodkin on each one—shares a few things that catch her enigmatic eye

Shop
Photo: Shutterstock (Lamy)
Megxit Follies

Meghan Ever-Lasting The real tradwife of Montecito just won’t stop. New this week is a rebrand of her lifestyle company, American Riviera Orchard

By Hilary Rose
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Seeing Red

Ukraine Upended Ukrainians who endured three years of invasion, bombardments, and devastation are packing up to escape a Trump-brokered peace

By Michael Bociurkiw
Read On
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index Elon Musk wants your financial information, Eric Adams suffers yet more humiliation, and Donald Trump spins lies without hesitation

Read On
The Cult Around the Corner

How to Almost Get Away with Murder A group of Berkeley-educated, transgender, ex-Google “radical vegans”—armed with ammunition belts—are quickly shaping up to be a 21st-century Manson family

By Keiran Southern
Read On
Reality Bites

Family Business Alec and Hilaria Baldwin have a new reality-TV show, and nothing—from his fatal shooting to her Spanish accent, to their seven children and cats and dogs—is off the table

By Tim Teeman
Read On
Estate Wars

A Broke Hallelujah In the latest twist in a lengthy legal battle, Leonard Cohen’s children have accused their father’s former lawyer of siphoning millions from the singer’s estate

By Keiran Southern
Read On
Small Talk

By George! Elon Musk is beginning to resemble another unelected foreigner who messed with American taxpayers’ money—and incited the Revolution

By Andy Borowitz
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Best
Carry Louis Vuitton Bag collectors, set your marks. Louis Vuitton has launched the LV Biker MM, a new signature bag masterminded by artistic director… WEAR Isa Arfen As tempting as it is to cocoon yourself in a blanket at night during these dog days of winter, actually doing so during the daytime while… Listen The Music of Butterfly It’s been more than two decades since artist, actor, director, and singer-songwriter Vincent Gallo… sip French Bloom Who says you need alcohol to raise your glass? French Bloom offers all the elegance and flavor of a sparkling wine—without the… SHOP Colin King After years of shaping the design world from his Tribeca loft, stylist and art director Colin King is bidding adieu to his space… SCROLL Dividual Blake Butler, author of the critically acclaimed memoir Molly—about Butler’s marriage to poet Molly Brodak as well as her suicide—… Carry Louis Vuitton Bag collectors, set your marks. Louis Vuitton has launched the LV Biker MM, a new signature bag masterminded by artistic director… WEAR Isa Arfen As tempting as it is to cocoon yourself in a blanket at night during these dog days of winter, actually doing so during the daytime while… Listen The Music of Butterfly It’s been more than two decades since artist, actor, director, and singer-songwriter Vincent Gallo… sip French Bloom Who says you need alcohol to raise your glass? French Bloom offers all the elegance and flavor of a sparkling wine—without the… SHOP Colin King After years of shaping the design world from his Tribeca loft, stylist and art director Colin King is bidding adieu to his space… SCROLL Dividual Blake Butler, author of the critically acclaimed memoir Molly—about Butler’s marriage to poet Molly Brodak as well as her suicide—…
Past is Prologue

Dispatch from Klooga How a young woman discovered her grandfather’s harrowing Holocaust-survival story, memorialized in a forgotten Life-magazine report by the famed war correspondent John Hersey

By Lesley M. M. Blume
Read On
Listen

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli In AIR MAIL’s latest podcast, never-before-heard interviews with the likes of Robert Evans and James Caan chronicle the making of The Godfather

Read On
Lit Chicks

The Next Big Thing in Book-Club Land? Edge Being a star isn’t enough anymore. One has to be cool too

By Max Kutner
Read On
Small Talk
Murders and Acquisitions
Murders and Acquisitions
Television

Mike White’s Magnum Lotus How The White Lotus turned a reality-TV contestant into an unlikely Hollywood star

By Ed Power
Read On
Books
Joanne Kaufman On

Memorial Days: A Memoir

by Geraldine Brooks
Read On
The Literary World

The Curious Case of Curzio Malaparte Was the celebrated Italian writer an anti-Fascist behind enemy lines, as he portrayed himself? Or just a Fascist?

By Paul Berman
Read On
The Theater

Sisters in Arms A new play about the early days of women’s lib asks: Where does the movement go from here?

By Clara Bingham
Read On
Small Talk
Flat-earthers and round-earthers reach a compromise.
Flat-earthers and round-earthers reach a compromise.
Listen

Elon Musk, Welfare Queen On this week’s podcast, Oz Woloshyn reminds our shadow president that his fortune was built on government handouts

Read On
Open Book

All About Yves A new coffee-table book offers an intimate glimpse into daily life at Yves Saint Laurent’s studio, as captured by the son of one of the French designer’s closest confidantes

9
The models Nina Heimlich and Diana Gartner, photographed backstage by Carlos Muñoz-Yagüe at Yves Saint Laurent’s farewell show, in Paris, January 2002.
Saint Laurent backstage at his spring-summer 1990 haute couture show, in Paris, January 1990.
Top, Claudia Schiffer and Pierre Bergé backstage at the spring-summer 1997 haute couture show, in Paris, January 1997; above, Saint Laurent backstage at his spring-summer 1990 show.
The model Laura Lenee backstage at the autumn-winter 1989–90 haute couture show, in Paris, July 1989.
Saint Laurent in his studio on Avenue Marceau, in Paris, July 1997.
The model Stella Tennant during a fitting on Avenue Marceau, January 1997.
Top, the model Alix Mouret and Saint Laurent during a fitting on Avenue Marceau, January 1997; above, Kate Moss backstage at the spring-summer 1993 haute couture show, in Paris, January 1993.
Saint Laurent, a studio assistant, and head seamstress Renée Cassart during a fitting with the model Karen Mulder on Avenue Marceau, January 1997.
A mannequin in the Avenue Marceau studio of Jean-Pierre Derbord, Saint Laurent’s head of tailoring, April 1997.
Read On
Travel

Soak Before You Souk At the foot of the Atlas Mountains, the Berber Lodge offers civilized, old-world idling as a welcome reprieve from the commotion of Marrakech

By David Coggins
Read On
Highlight
Sade Adu, photographed by Jamie Morgan for the April 1984 issue of The Face.

Face Value

Magazines that hit the magic spot in readers’ enthusiasm and devotion are a result of right time, right place, and the right captain at the helm. The New Yorker, founded by that irascible crew-cut genius Harold Ross, was launched in 1925, the same year as The Great Gatsby, a frothy era syncopated to the sound of jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and the pop of champagne corks. Had the raised-monocle urbane magazine launched a decade later, during the Depression, it wouldn’t have carried the same chorus-line kick. It might not have gotten off the ground at all. READ ON

Read On
Inside Story

Vladimir Putin and My Missing Mice A Boston-based thriller writer on the break-in that followed his appearance on a Russian propaganda outlet

By Joseph Finder
Read On
Music

Centenarian Blues The legendary jazz sideman Marshall Allen is releasing his debut solo album at the age of 100

By Spike Carter
Read On
Close-up

Storm Ascher The 30-year-old founder of Superposition Gallery wants to redefine the modern gallery with her nomadic approach

By Elena Clavarino
Read On
View With a Room

Swiss Bliss Can’t imagine renting a chalet with fewer than a dozen staffers? Then Ultima Crans-Montana is the one for you!

By Rachel Johnson
Read On
The Perfect Ending

James Norton

The Happy Valley actor answers 67 of life’s most pressing questions
Read On
Grant Shaffer’s Sketchbook
I feel like the love and connectedness in our L.G.B.T.Q.I.A. community is only growing stronger, even with the daily torrent of awful news. This administration fears our joy, our love, our power—our very freedom. They want us to roll over and accept their darkness. They are coming for our transgender family, but they should know that when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. We have always been here. We always will be here. We will resist and persist. If you can, please make a donation to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which helps queer youth, or to the A.C.L.U.
Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Editor at Large

George Pendle

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Senior Editor

Elena Clavarino

Investigations Editor

Clara Molot

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Junior Editors

Carolina de Armas Paulina Prosnitz

Associate Editors

Victoria Herman Lucy Horowitz Jeanne Malle Jack Sullivan

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Senior Photo Editor

Emine Gözde Sevim

Deputy Art Director

Zoé Gillette

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

Communications Director

Harrison Vail

Columnists

Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Bridget Arsenault Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall Daphne Merkin Sam Wasson

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Business Development Director

Catherine Scott

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

Chief Merchant

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

Jessica Iredale

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

E-commerce Associate

Lilly Schoenbaum

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

Issue No. 293
February 22, 2025
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Issue No. 293
February 22, 2025
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