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Crime and Scandal
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May 3, 2025
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No. 303
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In This Week’s Issue
SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

More than two decades after School of Rock became a beloved family film, Ezra Marcus reveals the allegedly abusive acts by the real-life institution’s founder, as recounted by his former students …

SATURDAY NIGHT LEAVE

Following the deportation of three American children, one of whom reportedly has cancer, David Kamp has a suggestion for shedding light on Trump’s atrocities: deport Lorne Michaels …

CRUDE INTENTIONS

An explosive London court case alleges that an ExxonMobil-funded firm carried out cyber-attacks on environmental groups. Among the victims are the Rockefellers, whose forebears had their own history of dirty tricks …

THE SKINNY ON #SKINNYTOK

If TikTok trends are any indication, the body-positivity movement has been replaced with SkinnyTok, a rapidly growing community that promotes calorie-cutting by any means necessary …

MIND GAMES

The Robert F. Kennedy Jr.–led attacks on vaccines, “chemtrails,” and science more broadly is sending American researchers into asylum—and France, Germany, and Brussels are welcoming them with open arms …

BURN NOTICE

To the surprise of no one, convicted fraudster Billy McFarland’s second Fyre Festival is already going up in flames. Amid confusion over the event’s location, the whole venture is now up for sale …

BAD COUNSEL

Over the course of Trump’s first 100 days, Attorney General Pam Bondi has proved herself to be particularly adept at subverting justice—and violating her oath of office—at every turn …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

The man behind Tony Soprano … Conclave author Robert Harris talks papal succession … European royalty’s go-to island … a musical road trip through the American West … chocolate shops take over London … Bridesmaids director Paul Feig’s least favorite things … Agatha Christie, on page and screen … AIR MAIL’s Employee of the Month …

But First …
Issue No. 303

The View from Here If a two-year-old U.S. citizen can be deported, then none of us is safe. Not even Lorne Michaels

By David Kamp
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Facing the Music

The Real School of Rock Richard Linklater’s classic 2003 movie starred Jack Black as a dorky but harmless music teacher. The real-life School of Rock founder’s former students tell a more sinister story

By Ezra Marcus
Read On
Hats Off!
Daniel Berulis, a cyber-security expert and employee of the National Labor Relations Board. In a whistleblower report shared with Congress, Berulis revealed that DOGE may have leaked sensitive data concerning employees and business practices to Russia.

“We are under assault right now.... I believe, with all my heart, that this goes far beyond just case data. I know there are [people] at other agencies who have seen similar behavior. I firmly believe that this is happening maybe even to a greater extent at other agencies.”

Photo: Grace Raver/NPR
Industrial Espionage

Big Oil v. the Rockefellers ExxonMobil stands accused of spying on its environmentalist critics, a group that includes the heirs of its founder. It wouldn’t be the first time

By Rebecca John
Read On
Vatican Diaries

Conclave Confidential Why are we still captivated by the death of a Pope and the election of a new one? Robert Harris, whose thriller Conclave was adapted into an Oscar-winning film, explains

By Damian Whitworth
Read On
Air Supply

Say Frieze!

The art fairs are coming! The art fairs are coming! New Yorkers, prepare for Frieze and TEFAF with AIR SUPPLY’s guide to charmingly affected style. We have serious, cerebral fashion from the Row and Maison Margiela, a notebook from Public Supply, and a Jean-Michel Basquiat scarf from Chez Dede for artful flourish
Shop
Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images (Pratts Price, Harry, and Sprouse)
Guest Edit

Margherita Maccapani Missoni’s Favorite Things After years working for her family’s fashion house, Missoni launched her own collection of colorful, feminine streetwear. Here, she shares her style must-haves

Shop
Cooking the Books

Fyre Sale! Billy McFarland’s cursed music festival is now available to the highest bidder. But who on earth is buying it?

By Stuart Heritage
Read On
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index Pete Hegseth looks for leaks, George Santos begs for a pardon, and Jack Schlossberg won’t go to any party he wasn’t invited to

By George Kalogerakis
Read On
Small Talk
Department of Injustice

The Upside-Down World of Pam Bondi From re-arming Mel Gibson to arresting judges who cross her, Trump’s attorney general is doing the opposite of serving justice

By Andy Borowitz
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Best
SEARCH Ask Marcel Have you ever looked at a restaurant’s wine list and had no idea where to begin? You’re not alone. No offense to… READ Trouble Is My Business Credit Arvind Ethan David, Ilias Kyriazis, and Cris Peter with the inspired idea to turn Raymond… WATCH Secret Mall Apartment In 2003, when affordable housing was being demolished for parking-lot space in Providence, Rhode… LOOK Mirage “A parallel universe for people who are looking for a dreamy, endless summery utopian kind of world” is how German art director… DINE Three Chefs, Three Feasts Michelin-star maniacs, get out your calendars. The Peninsula Hotels have tapped three of its culinary… FLICK Louis Poulsen One of the happier by-products of the coronavirus pandemic is the battery-powered table lamp. The pleasures of outdoor… SEARCH Ask Marcel Have you ever looked at a restaurant’s wine list and had no idea where to begin? You’re not alone. No offense to… READ Trouble Is My Business Credit Arvind Ethan David, Ilias Kyriazis, and Cris Peter with the inspired idea to turn Raymond… WATCH Secret Mall Apartment In 2003, when affordable housing was being demolished for parking-lot space in Providence, Rhode… LOOK Mirage “A parallel universe for people who are looking for a dreamy, endless summery utopian kind of world” is how German art director… DINE Three Chefs, Three Feasts Michelin-star maniacs, get out your calendars. The Peninsula Hotels have tapped three of its culinary… FLICK Louis Poulsen One of the happier by-products of the coronavirus pandemic is the battery-powered table lamp. The pleasures of outdoor…
Social Studies

Who’s Afraid of #SkinnyTok? Ready or not, thin is back in—and people have no qualms talking about it

By Gracie Wiener
Read On
A Great Migration

The Trump Brain Drain As the White House continues to pull federal funding from U.S. universities, international institutions are courting America’s best minds like never before

By Tom Whipple
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHOP CHOPPISH SHOP
Read On
Books
Bruce Handy On

Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend

by Jason Bailey
Read On
Listen

Save America—Deport Lorne Michaels! On this week’s podcast, David Kamp discusses his modest proposal to return sanity to America

Read On
Film and Television

California Leavin’ As out-of-state shooting locations increasingly lure filmmakers, Hollywood risks becoming to movies what Detroit has become to car manufacturing: an industry hub turned ghost town

By David Smith
Read On
Open Book

Frank Fournier’s New York A portfolio of the French photographer’s 1970s Technicolor pictures hearkens back to a city steeped in danger, decay, and unbridled creative freedom

12
A woman at a phone booth in front of the Guggenheim Museum, photographed by Frank Fournier, 1977.
Top, the Riegelmann Boardwalk, in Coney Island, 1977; above, cars parked on Clinton Avenue, in Brooklyn, 1977.
McAnn’s Bar on Wall Street, 1977.
Top, a woman on Fifth Avenue, 1977; above, Christopher Street in the West Village, 1977.
Women under the Atlas sculpture, by Lee Lawrie, at Rockefeller Center, 1982.
Top, a parade in Times Square, 1980; above, Ninth Avenue and 13th Street, in the Meatpacking District, 1977.
A parade on 116th Street in Harlem, 1984.
Top, a fire on Clinton Avenue, 1977; above, a wedding party outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 1978.
The Solow Building, 1977.
Top, the R Train moving through Queens, 1977; above, a sex worker at 10th Avenue and 38th Street, in the neighborhood now known as Hudson Yards, 1977.
The intersection of Kenmare and Centre Streets, in Lower Manhattan, 1977.
Top, children in Brownsville, Brooklyn, 1977; above, a street in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, circa 1970s.
Read On
Design for Living

Taste the Rainbow New chocolate shops are springing up all over London, with interior design that’s as delicious as their truffles

By Fiona McCarthy
Read On
Murder, They Wrote

Deadly Pleasures to Watch and Read A new book and high-profile TV series paying tribute to Agatha Christie, and more

By Lisa Henricksson
Read On
Arts and Culture

Show and Tell The artist Goshka Macuga is exploring the intersection of fashion and art as part of her long-term collaboration with Miu Miu

By Jeanne Malle
Read On
Highlight

The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music A summer-long Western road trip for Hunter Noack and his nine-foot Steinway grand, vintage 1912

By Matthew Gurewitsch
Read On
Close-up

Brett Robinson The 34-year-old Ralph Lauren alum turned furniture designer is taking a bold new direction with his upcoming collection

By Jack Sullivan
Read On
Travel

The Gilded Shore The Île d’Yeu—and its spectacular coastline—has been a carefully kept secret for years. But two new hotels are opening up an island beloved by royalty and French actors

By Richard Assheton
Read On
Small Talk
“And make sure you’re home by curfew, or your father will be out looking for you in his cycling outfit.”
“And make sure you’re home by curfew, or your father will be out looking for you in his cycling outfit.”
Great Lives

A Love Letter to Jean Marsh The Emmy–winning British actress who co-created and starred in the hit TV series Upstairs, Downstairs was brave, deeply empathetic, and funny to the end

By Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Read On
The Imperfect Ending

Paul Feig

The Bridesmaids and Another Simple Favor director shares his least favorite things
Read On
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In Memoriam

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

Issue No. 303
May 3, 2025
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Issue No. 303
May 3, 2025
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