New Yorker celebrates its 100th and Cardi B takes the stand

Raphael Comes to New York City

Renaissance art lovers rejoice! The Metropolitan Museum of Art has just announced a major exhibition of Raphael’s work. Set to open in March 2026, Raphael: Sublime Poetry has been in the making for seven years. With over 200 works on display, this is the first time Americans won’t have to jet over to Europe to enjoy the breadth of this Old Master’s work.

“Visitors will have an exceptionally rare opportunity to experience the breathtaking range of his creative genius through some of the artist’s most iconic and seldom loaned works from around the globe — many never before shown together,” shares MET director Max Hollein.

Raphael only lived to be 37 years old, but his contributions to the art world have never wavered in the 505 years since his death. With loans by major institutions across Italy, France, London, and more, the exhibition shows the beauty of international collaboration. Visitors will get to see preparatory drawings alongside finished artwork, gaining insight into the creative process of this genius. And, at the same time, get the rare chance to see how Raphael evolved his style during his short lifespan.

From personality-filled portraits to exceptional narrative paintings full of emotion, Raphael’s work is the Italian Renaissance at its finest and certainly merits a trip to the MET. So save the date and make your way to New York City between March 29, 2026, and June 28, 2026. Your eyes will thank you.

Four SNL Cast Members Won’t Be “Live from New York” Anymore

With the 51st season premiere of Saturday Night Live in about a month (on October 4), there’s been a last-minute shakeup to the cast lineup. It was announced this past week that Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, and Heidi Gardner won’t be returning to NBC’s live sketch comedy TV show. While it can be argued that Walker and Longfellow, who have each been on SNL for 3 seasons, were never properly utilized on the show, Wakim was only on for 1 season without much airtime for the audience to get to know him or his brand of comedy at all. (Of course, there have been others like Jenny Slate and Michaela Watkins, who left a mark as 1-season standouts that were clearly cut too soon.)

The most shocking of the seemingly abrupt departures, though, has to be Gardner who has been an active player for 8 seasons. Given her standing as the most-tenured current female cast member and her presence as a key player in many sketches where she has successfully played the straight woman and the eccentric character garnering laughs, it’s surprising she didn’t get a proper send-off. Thankfully, other cast members (including SNL alum Molly Shannon) are showing love to them all.

Despite the sudden news of losing their gig, most of them have already vocalized their gratitude for their time on the show. “It was the best three years of my life so far. I feel nothing but gratitude for the experience and everyone there,” said Longfellow. Wakim admitted, “It was a gut punch of a call to get but I'm so grateful for my time there.“ Walker lightheartedly wrote: “Yall acting like we died lol we just getting different jobs.” (Someone even jokingly made an in memoriam video.) Gardner hasn’t released a public statement yet, but I hope she’s off somewhere being a woman who insists she’s not mad about it.

• 📸 The New Yorker is celebrating 100 years, and to mark the moment, the magazine turned to Cindy Sherman for a history-making cover. It’s only the second time a photograph has graced the magazine’s cover, and there’s nobody better than Sherman to masterfully interpret The New Yorker’s inaugural cover.

• 🫰 Apparently, the United States isn’t the only country where publicly funded museums and the government are at odds. In a chat with The New York Times, the director of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum says that the beloved museum risks shutting down if the Dutch Ministry of Culture backs a much-needed renovation. (PS. Don’t have a NYT subscription? Get the gist of what’s happening on The Art Newspaper.)

• 🖌️ Speaking of Van Gogh, it turns out the Post-Impressionist artist was an accidental quantum physicist when he painted Starry Night. Researchers have just published a study showing that the artist’s swirling sky resembles a rare phenomenon in quantum physics. Science and humanities combo for the win!

• 👷‍♀️ We love quirky architecture, and a new book, Weird Buildings, is the perfect look at how architects stretch their imaginations. From a hotel made from a bunch of “stacked” traditional houses to Alex Chinneck’s incredible sliding facades, the book is a fun and inspirational way to see what happens when architecture gets “weird.”

• 🔫 After another devastating school shooting in the US, self-taught artist Stanley Tong is seeing his work reenter the zeitgeist thanks to his powerful “Thoughts and Prayers” series. In it, Tong creates ceramic vases that, when still wet, are shot with real guns. When the clay dries, we’re left with a visceral look at the real damage bullets cause.

• 👑 It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when body parts were traded like any other collectible. Don’t believe it? Apparently, a Paris museum had the head of a Malagasy king sitting in storage for 128 years for “scientific reasons.” The head has now made its way back to Madagascar, and even though there’s no DNA evidence that it’s the king (tests were inconclusive), a spirit medium confirmed it was the king, which was good enough for his descendants. Incredibly, this is just one of 20,000 human remains in French collections that will be slowly returned to their rightful owners.

• 🔎 An Argentinian real estate listing caused a stir when eagle-eyed viewers noticed a Nazi-looted painting on the wall. The painting has mysteriously vanished once again, and the family is busy changing their names on social media, sparking even more intrigue.

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• ⚖️ Cardi B taking the stand at her trial is the gift that keeps on giving. The way she responds to cross-examining questions is chef’s kiss comedy gold. We are all so fortunate to be alive in the age of the internet to bear witness to it all. See some of her best moments, compiled by Saint Hoax.

• 💔 Love Island USA Season 7 might be over, but the post-reunion drama has just begun. While Nicolandria nation is celebrating their relationship, it looks like Ace has been throwing shade at the couple’s authenticity. Meanwhile, couples Amaya & Bryan and Iris & Pepe have called it quits shortly after the reunion, which has caused fans to believe this was intentional of the boys so that they wouldn’t have to answer questions about their breakup. Why just the boys? Well, there have been cheating allegations for both of them, though they have both denied it.

• 🙈 Over on the Love is Blind UK reunion, we discovered that all but one of the couples that made it to the alter have ended their relationships. Bardha & Jed, who never said “I do” but decided to still date, lasted a whopping 3 weeks. And after 3 months of marriage, Ashleigh and Sarover were blindsided by Billy and Kal, respectively, seemingly with a blunt “We’re over.” What’s especially weird is the timing. One was broken up with on January 1 and the other on January 2. This was a week after the boys hung out. Verrrry suspicious… Congrats to Megan & Kieran for lasting a year!

• 🎬 Sony is in talks with Netflix about a KPop Demon Hunters sequel! The Netflix animated film is a global phenomenon now, even ranking #1 at the box office for a single-weekend sing-along run in theaters, so it’s no wonder that there’s great demand for a sequel. Personally, we can’t wait for HUNTR/X’s “golden” return. (We’ve loved the film ever since way back when we alerted everyone about it nearly 2 months ago.)

• 🏳️‍🌈 Watch Bob the Drag Queen break down his top 7 queer culture moments with EW. Of course a RuPaul’s Drag Race moment makes the list, but not necessarily one we expected. Some other highlights include the iconic documentary Paris Is Burning and Isis (a trans woman) being a contestant on America’s Next Top Model.

• 🧢 Yet another CEO was caught behaving badly at a public event. This time, it was a Polish millionaire at the US Open who was seen smugly snatching tennis player Kamil Majchrzak‘s hat from a child, just as the athlete was actually extending his cap to the kid. Social media was ablaze with outrage over the callousness of the adult and demanded his identity be outed. Unsurprisingly, now that he’s been identified, the CEO’s paving company has been receiving backlash, causing all commenting to be turned off. In some good news, though, Majchrzak found the kid and gifted him a whole bag of swag.

• 🚂 All aboard! We are loving this mini metro station built for cats that Xing Zhilei of Xing’s World built for his cats. Once you’ve purrchased your tickcat, stand clear of the clawsing doors on this locomeowtive! This pawsenger train is furst class only! ….ok, we’ve gotten that out of our system. Really, it’s a cool train though.