WWE legend Hulk Hogan made a special appearance at the Intuit Dome with Jimmy Hart as "Monday Night Raw" debuted on Netflix.
Hogan came out to his "Real American" theme song with Hart waving the American flag in the background. As Hogan tried to cut a promo for his Real American Beer brand, which signed a deal with WWE before the show, he was met with a bunch of boos from the Los Angeles crowd.
The 71-year-old WWE Hall of Famer was seen for a few minutes before he walked to the back.
While the Los Angeles crowd was quick to make their displeasure known, not everyone watching "Raw" on Netflix was pleased with the treatment Hogan received. "The Hulkster" found defenders on social media.
"Hulk Hogan getting boo’d probably because the state of California is the biggest left sided piece of s--- state in the country. F--- your political views and watch wrestling," one Hogan fan wrote on X.
"I love Hulk Hogan idgaf. Guy had a whole life and made a few mistakes okay so what. F-----g people acting holier than holy. P--- off," another Hogan defender added.
"The booing for hulk hogan is r------d btw, he’s a legend, respect him," another fan wrote.
"Hulk Hogan getting boo’d on Raw is because he’s MAGA. F----n’ hypocrites. Without Hogan ya’ll aren’t watching WWE. Grow up, Trump is your president," another added.
It was Hogan’s first appearance since he came out in full support of President-elect Donald Trump during election season. Hogan was seen in Trump’s corner during a rally at Madison Square Garden back in October and the Republican National Convention in July.
He also appeared on the "PBD Podcast" and revealed why he decided to speak out, pointing to the assassination attempt against Trump over the summer.
"When they tried to kill Trump, someone that I knew personally, it affected me worse," he said. "I sat up off the couch and I said, ‘that’s it, this has to stop.’ I don’t want to split my audience as a businessman but now I don’t care. This is much more important than business. This is a spiritual revolution now.
"This guy is coming out trying to help people. He wants to help millions of people. He wants to help America. Have God in our country, in our homes, in our schools, and I said, ‘I can’t handle it.’"
Hogan’s appearance in Los Angeles came about two months after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the election.
Hogan, along with Hart, appeared on the "Raw" anniversary show back in January 2023. He warmed up the crowd in Philadelphia at the time and received the totally opposite reception.
The pro wrestler’s relationship with the company has been hot and cold. He has had multiple separations with the company over several scandals.
People are using the popular AI video generator Runway to make real videos of murder look like they came from one of the animated Minions movies and upload them to social media platforms where they gain thousands of views before the platforms can detect and remove them. This AI editing method appears to make it harder for major platforms to moderate against infamously graphic videos which previously could only be found on the darkest corners of the internet.
The practice, which people have come to call “Minion Gore” or “Minion AI videos” started gaining popularity in mid-December, and while 404 Media has seen social media platforms remove many of these videos, at the time of writing we’ve seen examples of extremely violent Minion Gore videos hosted on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and X, which were undetected until we contacted these platforms for comment.
Specifically, by comparing the Minion Gore edits to the original videos, I was able to verify that TikTok was hosting a Minionfied video of Ronnie McNutt, who livestreamed his suicide on Facebook in 2020, shooting himself in the head. Instagram is still hosting a Minionfied clip from the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand, in which a man livestreamed himself killing 51 people. I’ve also seen other Minion Gore videos I couldn’t locate the source materials for, but appear to include other public execution videos, war footage from the frontlines in Ukraine, and workplace accidents on construction sites.
A still from a video of the Christchurch mosque shootings edited with AI to look like a Minions movie.
The vast majority of these videos, including the Minion Gore videos of the Christchurch shooting and McNutt’s suicide, include a Runway watermark in the bottom right corner, indicating they were created on its platform. The videos appear to use the company’s Gen-3 “video to video” tool, which allows users to upload a video they can then modify with generative AI. I tested the free version of Runway’s video to video tool and was able to Minionify a video I uploaded to the platform by writing a text prompt asking Runway to “make the clip look like one of the Minions animated movies.”
Runway did not respond to a request for comment.
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Do you know anything else about these videos? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at emanuel.404. Otherwise, send me an email at [email protected].
I’ve seen several examples of TikTok removing Minion Gore videos before I reached out to the company for comment. For example, all the violent TikTok videos included in the Know Your Meme article about Minion Gore have already been removed. As the same Know Your Meme article notes, however, an early instance of the Minion Gore video of McNutt’s suicide gained over 250,000 views in just 10 days. I’ve also found another version of the same video reuploaded to TikTok in mid-December which wasn’t removed until I reached out to TikTok for comment on Tuesday.
TikTok told me it removes any content that violates its Community Guidelines, regardless of whether it was altered with AI. This, TikTok said, includes its policies prohibiting "hateful content as well as gory, gruesome, disturbing, or extremely violent content." TikTok also said that it has been proactively taking action to remove harmful AI-generated content that violates its policies, that it is continuously updating its detection rules for AI-generated content as the technology evolves, and that when made aware of a synthetic video clip that is spreading online and violates its policies, it creates detection rules to automatically catch and take action on similar versions of that content.
Major internet platforms create unique “hashes,” a unique string of letters and numbers that acts as a fingerprint for videos based on what they look like, for known videos that violate their policies. This allows platforms to automatically detect and remove these videos or prevent them from being uploaded in the first place. TikTok did not answer specific questions about whether Minion Gore edits of known violating videos would bypass this kind of automated moderation method. In 2020, Sam and I showed that this type of automated moderation can be bypassed with even simple edits of hashed, violating videos.
“In most cases, current hashing/fingerprinting are unable to reliably detect these variants,” Hany Farid, a professor at UC Berkeley and one of the world’s leading experts on digitally manipulated images and a developer of PhotoDNA, one of the most commonly used image identification and content filtering technologies, told me in an email. “Starting with the original violative content, it would be possible for the platforms to create these minion variations, hash/fingerprint them and add those signatures to the database. The efficacy of this approach would depend on the robustness of the hash algorithm and the ability to closely mimic the content being produced by others. And, of course, this would be a bit of a whack-a-mole problem as creators will replace minions with other cartoon characters.”
This, in fact, is already happening. I’ve seen a video of ISIS executions and the McNutt suicide posted to Twitter, which was also modified with Runway, but instead of turning the people in the video into Minions they were turned into Santa Claus. There are also several different Minion Gore videos of the same violent content, so in theory a hash of one version will not result in the automatic removal of another. Because Runway seemingly is not preventing people from using its tools to edit infamously violent videos, this creates a situation in which people can easily create infinite, slightly different versions of those videos and upload them across the internet.
YouTube acknowledged our request for comment but did not provide one in time for publication. Instagram and X did not respond to a request for comment.
Four Seasons, best known for its high-end hotels and resorts, also operates "private jet" tours and plans to add a cruise ship.
Four Seasons
Four Seasons' portfolio includes popular private jet tours and a coming yacht-like cruise ship.
Its CEO said these alternative vacation options create a "halo effect" for its hotels and resorts.
Some of its 2025 jet itineraries are sold out, and bookings for its 2026 vessel already look "very successful."
If Four Seasons' president and CEO, Alejandro Reynal, had it his way, travelers would be turning to the luxury hospitality company for vacations on land, at sea, and in the air.
About 80% of the luxury hotel brand's revenue comes from its renowned hotels and resorts, Reynal told Business Insider in late November 2024. However, over the past few years, the company has expanded its portfolio with extracurriculars such as private jet tours and cruises — all in a bid to keep high-paying customers within its travel network.
These extracurriculars create a "halo effect" for the brand, he said, complementing its core business while creating more avenues for maintaining relationships with loyal customers.
"How do we create this luxury ecosystem around the brand, and which businesses do we need or don't need to be in?" Reynal said.
Four Seasons' first ship, shown here as a rendering, is scheduled to launch in 2026.
Four Seasons
The luxury hospitality giant plans to debut its 95-suite, yacht-like cruise ship in 2026. Despite the wait, the company's CEO said bookings have already been "very successful," with about two-thirds coming from existing customers.
Travelers aren't booking it because they love cruises — they're booking it because they love the brand. "People were very favorable for us to pursue a Four Seasons experience at sea," Reynal said.
Renderings promise a sleek and luxurious vessel with 11 upcharged restaurants, a marina, and cabins up to almost 10,000 square feet, some with au pairs and security personnel. As such, suites during its first year in service currently start at $19,700 for a five-night voyage — about $3,940 per night.
Four Seasons' jet has a lounge area.
Courtesy of Four Seasons
Prefer to travel by air? Since 2015, the hospitality giant has also operated multiweek group jet itineraries with TCS World Travel.
Like a traditional at-sea cruise, the aircraft — a 48-seat Airbus A321LRneo — brings travelers on multi-country itineraries and overnight stays at the brand's properties, creating an end-to-end Four Seasons vacation that would entice any of its loyalists.
And enticed they have been. In 2024, the company's eight jet trips were almost sold out, Reynal said.
Several of its 2025 tours already have a waitlist. The few that don't start at $148,000 per person for a 13-day journey through Africa.
Reynal said the company was considering expanding the program with more itineraries of varying aircrafts or lengths.
TCS World Travel operates Four Seasons' private jet tours, shown in a rendering.
Four Seasons
"We have a high repeat rate of guests that stay with us or go through the private jet experience," he said. "We don't do it so much because of the revenue that it provides to the business. It's because it's a tremendous compliment to what we do as a brand."
Four Seasons is one of a few luxury hospitality companies diversifying their portfolios.
Aman, best known for its 35 ultra-luxury properties, plans to launch its 50-suite ship in 2027 in addition to the private jet tours it's been operating since 2013.
Similarly, the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection launched its first vessel, Evrima, in 2022. Its ships have since been considered a successful litmus test for the hotel-to-cruise pipeline, and it now expects to debut a third in July.
Nearly half of Gen Xers think they will need to postpone retirement, a Prudential survey found.
iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
Gen X may be even less prepared for retirement than boomers, wealth advisors say.
A large cohort of adults in their mid-50s have less than $50,000 in retirement savings.
Many expect to work part-time or receive family help after retiring, a Prudential survey shows.
Jim Thomas, a 52-year-old who works in a lumber mill, is well aware of how far behind he's fallen in saving for retirement. His job pays "good money," he says, but he's still trying to plug the hole in his finances after a layoff, a divorce, and several legal disputes emptied his wallet in the last decade.
Those expenses have dug a hole so deep in his savings that Thomas is only now starting up his 401k from scratch. Currently, he estimates he has around $100,000 in savings, well below the goal that is traditionally recommended by financial advisors, who say you should have around eight times your annual salary saved by the time you're 60.
"I know I won't be able to retire at 65 unless I win the lottery," Thomas told Business Insider. "I expect that I will either need help from my daughter when I can no longer work, or I will need government assistance greater than Social Security."
He's not alone. Thomas is among what retirement experts are calling "silver squatters" — adults in their mid-50s who are even more woefully unprepared than some boomers, despite being about a decade away from retirement. "Squatters" refers to the possibility that many will have to rely on family for housing in later years.
As far as silver squatters go, Thomas's story is fairly common. According to surveys conducted by Prudential Financial, the median retirement savings for those in their mid-50s is just under $48,000, with 35% of 55-year-olds having less than $10,000 saved and 18% having saved nothing at all in 2023.
Two-thirds of 55-year-olds say they're afraid of outliving their savings. That's the highest level of fear among any age group of Prudential's 2024 survey, with 59% of 65-year-olds saying they worried they would outlive their savings.
"As a whole, they are not as prepared as the boomers and actually are doing less well than the millennials," Pete Welsh, managing director of retirement and wealth at Inspira Financial, told BI, though he noted that the youngest Gen Xers still had time to catch up on their savings.
The lack of preparation among the cohort could be due to late planning and the unique economic circumstances of the mid-50s crowd, in addition to less financial literacy among the generation, wealth advisors say.
René, a 50-year-old based in Austin, Texas, has anxiety over whether she and her husband will have enough to live comfortably once they retire. Their life savings — around $380,000 between the two of them — dwindled to next to nothing after a medical diagnosis put her out of work and through a string of surgeries over the course of two years, she told BI.
The couple, who have fallen behind on some of their bills, don't know if they'll be able to get extra financial assistance once they retire, besides their expected pension payments. They have no external family, and they don't want to rely on their daughter for help.
"I was like, oh God, how did we get here?" René said, describing a plea she made with their mortgage provider not to foreclose on their home. "We're just going to have to work and 401k-it, and that's just how it's going to have to be now."
A forgotten generation
Silver squatters share some common characteristics, despite the unique circumstances affecting their retirement readiness. This group of Gen Xers — the generation of Americans aged 43 to 59 — largely expects to postpone or work past their retirement. 47% of Gen Xers think they'll have to retire later than they initially expected, while 40% expect to work part-time after they retire, per Prudential's survey.
A majority also don't expect to receive any inheritance, despite their boomer predecessors holding onto trillions in wealth. Only 12% of the 55-year-old group expect to get money passed down from their family members, Prudential's survey found.
They do, however, largely expect to be reliant on family for support once they retire. Around 24% of 55-year-olds say they expect financial support from their family members, with 21% adding they also needing housing support, the report said.
That compares to just 12% of 65-year-olds who say they will need that kind of help from family.
The gap in retirement readiness could be due to the "unique" challenges of Gen Xers, according to Dylan Tyson, the head of retirement strategies at Prudential. He notes that all of the generation was in their prime working years during the 2008 financial crisis, which could have set them back financially.
Gen Xers could also be in a tenuous stage of life, where a number of surprise expenses have popped up to drain their savings. Think of those who have had to fund their child's college education or are paying for a living facility for their own parents, Inspira's Welsh said.
"You're trying to help out here, you're trying to help out there, and then at the end of the day, there's just not enough on the table to really think about what you're going to do for yourself," Welsh said, adding that some of Inspira's Gen X clients had expressed frustration over their financial responsibilities to their family. "They're just in a very tough, tough spot that, for whatever reason, I guess maybe the boomers didn't have to deal with."
Low rates of financial literacy — which is a widespread issue among every generation in the US, according to a study from the World Economic Forum — doesn't help the situation, Welsh and Tyson say. Around half of Gen Xers are saving without a general plan for retirement, Prudential found.
Most also don't appear to be accounting for major expenses into retirement, with 48% not factoring in healthcare costs and 75% not factoring in assisted living expenses.
Many Prudential clients don't even know how much they need to save, Tyson said, adding that many of the firm's Gen X clients are simply guessing how long they will live. He said he believes many of them are guessing incorrectly due to rising life expectancies in the US.
"If you don't have the cushion — again, this is the group we're talking about, the 60-year-old, undersaved — they really need to be watching every penny and thinking about that," Welsh said.
This article was originally published in August 2024.
Professional perfumers are predicting what the next big fragrance trends will be in 2025.
topinambur/Shutterstock
Business Insider spoke to three perfumers about the coming 2025 fragrance trends.
Maximalist fragrances, like bold florals, are cycling back into popularity.
Consider testing out a rice scent or incorporating citruses during the warmer months.
As we enter the New Year, it's a great time to reassess our signature scents.
Business Insider spoke with three professional perfumers about the best scents and trends they see coming in 2025.
There's been a shift from minimalist to maximalist fragrances.
Big, bold florals are set to trend in 2025.
AnastasiaNess/Shutterstock
Shabnam Tavakol, the founder of the New York City-based independent fragrance studio Kismet Olfactive, said recent perfume trends have been all about soft fragrances that mix with your body's natural odors.
However, we're now entering a maximalism era reminiscent of the 1970s and '80s.
"It's much like fashion, where everything goes in this cyclical pattern," she told BI.
The perfumer said bold florals make great full-bodied fragrances. She also recommended heavier perfumes like Le Labo's Santal 33 and Alien by Thierry Mugler.
Gourmand scents will continue to be popular in the New Year.
Vanilla is probably the most popular gourmand fragrance, but consider trying coffee.
Thinnapob Proongsak/Shutterstock
Emma Vincent, an in-house perfumer at Lush, said gourmand scents will still be favored in 2025. These fragrances, which smell like edible things, remain popular largely due to their comforting and familiar qualities.
Vanilla is probably the most popular gourmand. However, as the trend continues to grow, the perfumer expects people to experiment with different scent profiles and complexities, including coffee, musk, and cereal undertones.
More specifically, it's time to look into rice scents.
Some people may not have heard of a rice-based perfume.
kai keisuke/Shutterstock
Kelsey Hodgson, a salesperson who's worked in the perfume industry for nearly nine years, said rice is a big scent right now. They've seen an increasing number of brands trying to add the note to their fragrance lineup.
"People are still looking for gourmands in general, but rice blends that space of milky and bready," they told BI. "It sits close to the skin."
In particular, Hodgson recommends L'Eau Papier by Diptyque and White Rice by d'Annam.
Dupes are on the rise.
There are affordable dupes for many designer perfumes.
Radu Bercan/Shutterstock
Between everything getting more expensive and the rise of influencer-run social media, dupe culture isn't slowing down.
The less-expensive duplicates of higher-end products are a more affordable and accessible option for those seeking luxury on a budget.
"The dupes that come out are so much better than they were before," Vincent said.
Lavender florals will be in for the spring.
Lavender is often seen as a relaxing scent.
Kotkoa/Shutterstock
Florals tend to trend in the spring, but Hodgson expects lavender to be particularly popular in 2025.
"People are leaving rose behind and trying to modernize a more old-school version of lavender," they said.
They recommend Lavande 31 by Le Labo for that old-fashioned floral scent.
Citrus scents will thrive in the summer.
Whether you prefer orange, lemon, lime, or grapefruit, citrus is a safe bet for summer.
Mazur Travel/Shutterstock
Warmer seasons typically bring lighter fragrances, so citrus scents usually boom in the summer.
"When it's humid outside, you don't want a scent that's going to be too oppressive," Hodgson told BI. In particular, they think notes of yuzu and grapefruit will be making a big comeback in 2025.
They recommend citrus aromas from Phlur, which offers unisex scents like Apricot Privée and Tangerine Boy, as well as J-Scent's Yuzu perfume.
Try layering your scents.
Think about how your bath and body products layer with your perfume.
New Africa/Shutterstock
Although it's not necessarily a new trend, layering scents offers an opportunity to create nonuniform and complementary scent profiles.
From your hair primer to body wash, building a full-body, complex fragrance palette is in for 2025.
"Once people start experimenting in that way, they're more likely to do more research and find things that are a little bit more out there," Hodgson said.
I moved to Celina, Texas, in 2022, and I love living here.
Claire Gautreaux
I moved to Celina, Texas, in 2022 and absolutely love living in the city.
I like the area's small-town feel and the sense of community among its residents.
There are tons of local shops and restaurants, and there always seems to be an event downtown.
When I first moved to Celina, Texas, I was excited to live in an area filled with young families and business-minded people.
However, I didn't realize the up-and-coming town, which many residents call Rollertown, would top the Census Bureau's list of the fastest-growing US cities with at least 20,000 residents, based on its data recorded between 2022 and 2023.
Celina, which had just 6,000 residents in 2010, grew to over 43,300 people in 2023, according to recent Census data. The quaint town, pronounced "seh-line-ah," is about an hour north of Dallas and gives Texans a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and form lasting roots within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Since relocating from nearby Frisco, Texas, in 2022, I've seen the city make significant investments in its expanding shopping centers and downtown area to accommodate its increasing population.
Here's why I love living in Celina.
I was drawn to Celina's small-town vibe
Celina offers quite a few local shops and restaurants to explore.
Claire Gautreaux
One of the things that drew me to Celina is that although the city is growing, it still has a small-town feel.
Popular chains like Costco, Lifetime Fitness, PetSmart, and many big-name food stores are opening just down the road from my apartment, but Celina also has a rich downtown area filled with local shops.
During the day, I love walking my dog and stopping at the library or Granny's Bakery, a local shop with delicious fresh-baked treats. Small boutiques give me the opportunity to find unique outfits without relying on big-box stores.
Celina is also full of great restaurants. I like to go to Heyday, a late-night hangout spot serving elevated cocktails with an upscale dinner menu and atmosphere. It's a great place to celebrate an accomplishment or catch up with my friends.
Celina offers a real sense of community
I love walking through the Celina Historic Square.
Claire Gautreaux
The downtown Celina Historic Square hosts community fairs, holiday events, and local markets. I love seeing the Square transform for events like the Friday Night Market, an opportunity for residents to purchase local produce and handcrafted items, or Cajun Fest, where attendees can feast on crawfish and watch live alligator shows.
Seeing children with face paint running around, watching friendly competitions, and having the chance to support local artists makes each event feel special.
Residents also show their commitment to the community as football fans decked out in Bobcat orange fill the stands at Celina High School on Friday nights. I attend the games to cheer on my younger sister as she takes the field with her flag during the halftime color-guard show.
I'm grateful to call Celina, Texas, my home
I have no regrets after moving to Celina, Texas.
Claire Gautreaux
I have no regrets after moving to Celina, Texas, and I'm proud to call it my home.
The sense of community here is amazing — I felt like I belonged in town from day one.
The beautiful scenery and friendly faces make Celina an awesome spot to settle down, whether you're starting a family or just looking for a place to connect with others.
Global holding company WPP will require employees to return to the office at least four days a week starting in April. The decision will affect the company's 100,000-plus employees worldwide. In a memo to staff obtained by the Financial Times, WPP CEO Mark Read wrote: "From the beginning of April this year, the expectation ......
The fast-food value wars are heating up again as McDonald's unveils its new value menu with a campaign fronted by actor John Cena. Today (Jan. 7), McDonald's debuted McValue, the first update to its value offering since 2018, where it priced some items between $1 and $3. McDonald's has been teasing McValue since November. The...
In this episode of the Brave Commerce podcast, hosts Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter chat with Michelle Crossan-Matos, chief marketing officer at Ulta Beauty. Michelle shares how her career journey from Procter & Gamble to Samsung and now Ulta has shaped her innovative approach to retail marketing. With insights on blending agility, customer-centricity, and brand-building...
Lenovo is launching one of the first small, yet powerful Android tablets we’ve seen in years with its new gaming-focused Lenovo Legion Tab which will be launching later this month.
Lenovo is kicking off 2025 with the reveal of two surprisingly enticing new Android tablets which include a lot of AI and the company’s first products with Circle to Search. Beyond that, there’s also a new Lenovo gaming handheld powered by SteamOS and a lot of new laptops.
Judge Kazanjian said sales agents in the companies were trained to hide the costs of individual policies so consumers did nt know what they were buying.
