
Here, at the end of the decade, I have a confession: I can no longer tell when celebrities are earnest, or getting paid, on Twitter. It’s probably been the long year I’ve had reporting on influencer culture, but interactions between famous people and brands generally make me overwhelmingly suspicious. There was a time I was probably inclined to believe them, but now the experience has been soured by affiliate links and Instagram’s often dubious approach to litigating undisclosed sponsorships.
Sharon Stone was probably not paid by Bumble to tweet about getting kicked off the app for looking like a fake account. The Bumble employees in her mentions are also, likely, not a part of a complicated conspiracy to get the dating app trending just in time for New Year’s Eve parties tomorrow. But in some alternate series of events elsewhere in the multiverse, that is definitely what happened! And any other time this year, the news would be unsurprising. Anyway, some context: Sharon Stone tweeted last night that her account had been closed after users reported it as suspicious. Comedy podcasters and ironic Twitter users rapidly filled her mentions with “pick me!” tweets, while others @-ed Bumble to rectify the disservice done to Sharon Stone’s many possible boyfriends.
Soon after, her tweets caught the attention of whoever was unfortunate enough to get pulled from bed by a flurry of Slack messages to fix it, before the morning news cycle devoured itself whole over it. Bumble editorial director Clare O’Connor responded, some hours later:
When several in the replies asked if this had been set up weeks in advance, or if Bumble and Stone were in cahoots with the marketing department, O’Connor replied: “Ha, I assure you we wouldn’t pick Dec 30 when the east coast is asleep if that were the case.” But actually, December 30 would be the perfect time for a nonsensical partnership: The news is slow, Page Six is winding down on mess for the year, and People’s beat reporters are busy writing about the Royals’ Christmas celebrations—still!
-
Bari Weiss Got Herself Some 'Beefy' Bodyguards By Audra Heinrichs October 23, 2025 | 5:51pm
-
Which Piece of Stolen Louvre Jewelry Are You, Based on Your Zodiac Sign By Lauren Tousignant October 23, 2025 | 11:26am
-
County Coroner Who Hoarded 'Rotting Corpses' Ruins Halloween for His Community By Lauren Tousignant October 21, 2025 | 5:39pm
-
CBS Staffers 'Won't Be Punished' for Not Responding to Bari Weiss By Audra Heinrichs October 14, 2025 | 5:47pm
-
Kristi Noem Is Trying to Use Airports to Spread Propaganda By Danielle Han October 14, 2025 | 4:15pm
-
Woman Who Became Household Name for Holding Feet to the Fire Can't Handle Heat on Her Own By Audra Heinrichs October 9, 2025 | 4:27pm
-
Take Jezebel's 2025 Reader Survey By Lauren Tousignant October 7, 2025 | 8:00am
-
Weekly Reader: Stories from Across Paste Media By Lauren Tousignant October 3, 2025 | 8:03pm
-
Oh Nothing, Just the President Posting AI Videos About QAnon Conspiracy Theories By Danielle Han September 29, 2025 | 11:58am
-
Trump Admin Makes Yet Another Anti-Women, Anti-Science Move By Danielle Han September 26, 2025 | 12:19pm
-
Elon Musk's Dad Accused of Sexually Abusing Multiple Children and Stepchildren By Audra Heinrichs September 24, 2025 | 4:25pm
-
After a New Round of Epstein Files, Republicans Are Still Crying Hoax By Audra Heinrichs September 9, 2025 | 3:40pm
-
South Korean Women Sue U.S. Military for Decades-Long Role in Sex Trade By Danielle Han September 9, 2025 | 10:24am
-
Team USA Just Shook Up the Women’s Rugby World Cup By Alyssa Mercante September 3, 2025 | 12:23pm
-
Florida Removed the Pulse Memorial Rainbow Crosswalk Under the Guise of 'Safety' By Audra Heinrichs August 23, 2025 | 10:04am
-
JD Vance Had a Busy Week Getting Booed at Shake Shack & Doing Putin Propaganda By Audra Heinrichs August 21, 2025 | 4:53pm
-
Fooled Us All, Our Flannel Queen By Audra Heinrichs August 20, 2025 | 5:15pm
-
Israel Continues to Justify Killing Journalists By Claiming They're Hamas Terrorists By Audra Heinrichs August 11, 2025 | 6:32pm
-
ICE Is Working Hard to Get More of the Worst Americans to Join Its Ranks By Audra Heinrichs August 8, 2025 | 11:22am
-
Stop Betting on Dildos Being Thrown at WNBA Games, You Fucking Creeps By Alyssa Mercante August 7, 2025 | 4:04pm
-
Cool! Diddy Still Doesn't Think He Did Anything Wrong By Audra Heinrichs July 31, 2025 | 3:29pm
-
Another Boat Carrying Life-Saving Aid for Starving Palestinians Was Intercepted by Israel By Audra Heinrichs July 28, 2025 | 3:40pm
-
AFP Says Its Journalists in Gaza Are Starving to Death By Nora Biette-Timmons July 22, 2025 | 2:47pm
-
How Swedish Soccer Fans Are Changing the Face of Hooliganism By Danielle Han July 15, 2025 | 7:51pm
-
American Horror Story: Butthurt Foreigner Wants New Party After Bad Bill, Botched Epstein Claims By Audra Heinrichs July 8, 2025 | 4:18pm
-
Caitlin Clark Exposes the WNBA’s Officiating Problems...Again By Alyssa Mercante June 18, 2025 | 5:24pm
-
Karen Read Found Not Guilty in Nail-Biting Verdict By Audra Heinrichs June 18, 2025 | 4:26pm
-
Targeted Violence Disrupted 'No Kings' Rallies in Virginia, Texas, Utah, and More By Audra Heinrichs June 16, 2025 | 3:51pm
-
Justin Baldoni Threatens to Refile His Countersuit After a Judge Threw It Out By Audra Heinrichs June 10, 2025 | 11:53am
-
Key Trump Court Nominees Claimed Abortion Pills 'Starve Babies to Death' By Kylie Cheung May 29, 2025 | 12:08pm
-
Ms. Rachel Says World Leaders Should 'Be Ashamed' of Silence on Genocide, 'Anti-Palestinian Racism' By Kylie Cheung May 28, 2025 | 11:01am
-
Texas Came Way Too Close to Passing Bill Making It Harder to Challenge Anti-Abortion Laws in Court By Kylie Cheung May 27, 2025 | 11:55am
-
Kristi Noem Is Blocking International Students from Harvard, Accuses School of Being ‘Chinese Communist Party’ By Kylie Cheung May 23, 2025 | 1:15pm
-
Nancy Mace Stays Up ‘All Night’ Programming Bots on Social Media, Ex-Aide Alleges By Kylie Cheung May 22, 2025 | 3:02pm
-
Hmm! Let's See How Many Ways Knicks Fans Can Compare Wednesday Night's Game to 9/11 By Kylie Cheung May 22, 2025 | 1:28pm
-
Rep. Gerry Connolly Dies at 75, the 3rd House Democrat to Die in Office in 3 Months By Kylie Cheung May 21, 2025 | 2:37pm
-
Nancy Mace Maintains Rape, Exploitation Allegations While Sharing Nude Photo of Herself By Kylie Cheung May 21, 2025 | 12:58pm
-
I Hate That Megan Thee Stallion Has to Address Tory Lanez's Lies... *Again* By Kylie Cheung May 20, 2025 | 3:15pm
-
Trump Signed a Bipartisan Deepfake ‘Revenge Porn’ Bill, Which Claims to Offer Victims Greater Protections By Kylie Cheung May 19, 2025 | 5:47pm
-
Suspect Behind Palm Springs Fertility Clinic Bombing Was 'Anti-Natalist' Who Condemned Procreation By Kylie Cheung May 19, 2025 | 1:44pm