MasterChef presenter John Torode has said he is subject to an allegation of using racist language, upheld as part of an inquiry into separate allegations against co-host Gregg Wallace.
In an Instagram post on Monday, the TV presenter said the allegation was that he made the remarks in 2018 or 2019 and that he had apologised immediately afterwards.
However, the TV chef said he had “no recollection” of any of it, adding: “I do not believe that it happened.”
It comes after an inquiry ordered by MasterChef’s production company Banijay found that 45 allegations about Wallace’s behaviour on MasterChef were upheld.
His statement said: “Following publication of the Executive Summary of the investigation into Gregg Wallace while working on MasterChef, I am aware of speculation that I am one of the two other individuals against whom an allegation has been upheld.
“For the sake of transparency, I confirm that I am the individual who is alleged to have used racial language on one occasion. The allegation is that I did so sometime in 2018 or 2019, in a social situation, and that the person I was speaking with did not believe that it was intended in a malicious way and that I apologised immediately afterwards.
“I have absolutely no recollection of any of this, and I do not believe that it happened. However, I want to be clear that I’ve always had the view that any racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment. I’m shocked and saddened by the allegation as I would never wish to cause anyone any offence.”
NASA research has shown that cell-like compartments called vesicles could form naturally in the lakes of Saturn’s moon Titan.
Titan is the only world apart from Earth that is known to have liquid on its surface. However, Titan’s lakes and seas are not filled with water. Instead, they contain liquid hydrocarbons like ethane and methane.
On Earth, liquid water is thought to have been essential for the origin of life as we know it. Many astrobiologists have wondered whether Titan’s liquids could also provide an environment for the formation of the molecules required for life – either as we know it or perhaps as we don’t know it – to take hold there.
New NASA research, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, outlines a process by which stable vesicles might form on Titan, based on our current knowledge of the moon’s atmosphere and chemistry. The formation of such compartments is an important step in making the precursors of living cells (or protocells).
The process involves molecules called amphiphiles, which can self-organize into vesicles under the right conditions. On Earth, these polar molecules have two parts, a hydrophobic (water-fearing) end and a hydrophilic (water-loving) end. When they are in water, groups of these molecules can bunch together and form ball-like spheres, like soap bubbles, where the hydrophilic part of the molecule faces outward to interact with the water, thereby ‘protecting’ the hydrophobic part on the inside of the sphere. Under the right conditions, two layers can form creating a cell-like ball with a bilayer membrane that encapsulates a pocket of water on the inside.
When considering vesicle formation on Titan, however, the researchers had to take into account an environment vastly different from the early Earth.
Uncovering Conditions on Titan
Huygens captured this aerial view of Titan from an altitude of 33,000 feet.
ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest in our solar system. Titan is also the only moon in our solar system with a substantial atmosphere.
The hazy, golden atmosphere of Titan kept the moon shrouded in mystery for much of human history. However, when NASA’s Cassini spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004, our views of Titan changed forever.
Thanks to Cassini, we now know Titan has a complex meteorological cycle that actively influences the surface today. Most of Titan’s atmosphere is nitrogen, but there is also a significant amount of methane (CH4). This methane forms clouds and rain, which falls to the surface to cause erosion and river channels, filling up the lakes and seas. This liquid then evaporates in sunlight to form clouds once again.
This atmospheric activity also allows for complex chemistry to happen. Energy from the Sun breaks apart molecules like methane, and the pieces then reform into complex organic molecules. Many astrobiologists believe that this chemistry could teach us how the molecules necessary for the origin of life formed and evolved on the early Earth.
Building Vesicles on Titan
The new study considered how vesicles might form in the freezing conditions of Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes and seas by focusing on sea-spray droplets, thrown upwards by splashing raindrops. On Titan, both spray droplets and the sea surface could be coated in layers of amphiphiles. If a droplet then lands on the surface of a pond, the two layers of amphiphiles meet to form a double-layered (or bilayer) vesicle, enclosing the original droplet. Over time, many of these vesicles would be dispersed throughout the pond and would interact and compete in an evolutionary process that could lead to primitive protocells.
If the proposed pathway is happening, it would increase our understanding of the conditions in which life might be able to form.
“The existence of any vesicles on Titan would demonstrate an increase in order and complexity, which are conditions necessary for the origin of life,” explains Conor Nixon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’re excited about these new ideas because they can open up new directions in Titan research and may change how we search for life on Titan in the future.”
NASA’s first mission to Titan is the upcoming Dragonfly rotorcraft, which will explore the surface of the Saturnian moon. While Titan’s lakes and seas are not a destination for Dragonfly (and the mission won’t carry the light-scattering instrument required to detect such vesicles), the mission will fly from location to location to study the moon’s surface composition, make atmospheric and geophysical measurements, and characterize the habitability of Titan’s environment.
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Transcend today announced the launch of the ESD420, a portable SSD that includes a magnetic attachment designed to work with MagSafe iPhones.
The ESD420 can be attached to the back of a MagSafe-compatible iPhone and connected using the appropriate cable, such as a USB-C to USB-C cable. It supports iPhone video recording features that require an external SSD, such as 4K ProRes video recording.
Transcend designed the SSD to be compact and portable, and it weighs 48 grams. Transcend says that it offers military-grade drop resistance so that it can withstand shocks and falls, and it is meant to match the iPhone with gold and space gray color options available. Because there is a magnet inside, the SSD can also be attached to other magnetic surfaces for storage purposes.
The ESD420 comes in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. It supports read and write speeds of up to 2,000MB/s, and it comes formatted in the exFAT file system. More information is available on Transcend’s website.
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Andrea Gibson, a celebrated poet and performance artist who through their verse explored gender identity, politics and their battle with terminal cancer, died Monday at age 49.
Gibson’s death was announced on social media by their wife, Megan Falley. Gibson and Falley are featured in the highly anticipated documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light,” a favorite at this year’s Sundance Film Festival that will air this fall on Apple TV+. The film is directed by Ryan White and includes an original song written by Gibson, Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile.
“Andrea Gibson died in their home (in Boulder, Colorado) surrounded by their wife, Meg, four ex-girlfriends, their mother and father, dozens of friends, and their three beloved dogs,” Monday’s announcement reads in part.
Gibson was a native of Maine who moved to Colorado in the late 1990s and had served the past two years as the state’s poet laureate. Their books included “You Better Be Lightning,” “Take Me With You” and Lord of the Butterflies.”
“Renowned for inspiring poetry, advocacy for arts in education, and a unique ability to connect with the vast and diverse poetry lovers of Colorado, Andrea was truly one of a kind and will be deeply missed by personal friends as well as all who were touched by their poetry,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis posted on X.
A feud has broken between the Israeli government and the military over the cost and impact of a planned camp for Palestinians in southern Gaza, as politicians criticised the former prime minister Ehud Olmert for warning that the project would create a “concentration camp” if it goes ahead.
The “humanitarian city” project has become a sticking point in ceasefire talks with Hamas. Israel wants to keep troops stationed across significant parts of Gaza, including the ruins of Rafah city in the south, where the defence minister, Israel Katz, says the camp will be built.
Hamas is pushing for a more comprehensive withdrawal. Husam Badran, a senior member of the group, said the camp plans were a “deliberatively obstructive demand” that would complicate talks, the New York Times reported.
“This would be an isolated city that resembles a ghetto,” he said in a message to the paper. “This is utterly unacceptable and no Palestinian would agree to this.”
Katz revealed last week that he had ordered the army to draw up plans for a camp. It is envisaged that Palestinians would be crammed into an area between the Egyptian border and the Israeli military’s “Morag corridor”, which cuts across the strip.
Katz said initially 600,000 people would move there, and eventually Gaza’s entire population. Those inside would only be allowed to leave for another country, he told Israeli journalists at a briefing.
The plan was unveiled while the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was in Washington DC for an official visit, but it was understood to have his backing. The plan caused immediate alarm among Israel’s allies, including the UK, and domestically.
Olmert, who led Israel from 2006 to 2009, has been the most high-profile domestic critic of the project. He said that if Palestinians were forced to move to the camp, it would constitute ethnic cleansing.
The former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has likened the project to a concentration camp. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian
His comments evoking comparisons with Nazi-era Germany were fiercely attacked inside Israel. The heritage minister, Amichai Eliyahu, in effect called for Olmert to be jailed over the comments, with a barely veiled reference to time he served for corruption offences after leaving office.
“[Olmert] already knows prison very well,” Eliyahu said. “There is no other way to shut him down from the hatred and antisemitism he spreads around the world.”
The military has also opposed the project, even as it has followed orders to draw up plans to implement it. In a security cabinet meeting on Sunday night, tensions broke out into the open as the IDF chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, clashed with Netanyahu, Israeli media reported.
Zamir reportedly said the project would divert funds and other resources from the military, sapping its ability to fight and undermining efforts to rescue hostages. His office had previously argued that moving and “concentrating” civilians was not a goal of the war, in response to a legal petition brought by reservists concerned they would face illegal orders to commit war crimes.
Netanyahu reportedly lashed out at Zamir, saying the plans he had presented – which estimated several months of construction work, and perhaps up to a year – were “too expensive and too slow”, Israel’s Channel 12 reported, citing official sources.
“I asked for a realistic plan,” the prime minister reportedly said, demanding that a cheaper, faster timeline for construction be delivered by Tuesday.
Finance ministry officials raised other practical objections to the “humanitarian city” plan, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported. They said an estimated 15bn shekels (£3.3bn) annual cost would be a huge drain on the state’s budget. That cost would probably fall on the Israeli taxpayer, taking money away from schools, hospitals and welfare, the paper added.
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Senior Israeli officials estimate that constructing a proposed “humanitarian city” in the Rafah area would cost between $2.7bn and $4bn, Ynet reported. They added that if the plan proceeds, Israel would initially bear nearly the entire cost.
The row came as Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 31 people, according to local hospitals. Twelve people were killed by strikes in southern Gaza, including three who were waiting at an aid distribution point, according to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which received the bodies.
Shifa hospital in Gaza City received 12 bodies, including three children and two women, after a series of strikes in the north, according to the hospital’s director, Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia. Al-Awda hospital reported seven killed and 11 wounded in strikes in central Gaza.
UN agencies, including those providing food and health care, reiterated a warning made at the weekend that without adequate fuel they would probably be forced to stop their operations entirely.
In a joint statement, they said hospitals were already going dark and ambulances could no longer move. Transport, water production, sanitation and telecommunications would shut down and bakeries and community kitchens could not operate without fuel, they said.
There are some Linux distributions that were created for specific purposes. There are those for creating multimedia, developing software, network routing, ethical hacking, general use, and everything in between.
And then there are some distributions that can easily serve multiple purposes.
When I think of ParrotOS, I generally think of security: forensics, penetration testing, etc. I’ve used ParrotOS for similar purposes before, but always neglected to test the Home edition.
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The ParrotOS home edition is all about versatility. While retaining the ParrotSec aesthetics (the common nickname for Parrot Security — which is the security-minded version of the OS), this version of the OS is tailored for everyday use, meeting a wide range of user needs.
That doesn’t mean ParrotOS has all of the security bits removed. While it might not contain the cornucopia of pentesting tools, it does include software for privacy, such as AnonSurf, which makes it possible (and easy) to browse anonymously. AnonSurf uses the Tor network to ensure your IP address is masked and your traffic encrypted. Essentially, AnonSurf is like having a built-in VPN powered by one of the most secure services available to the public.
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To use AnonSurf, you open the app, click Kill (to clear the previous cache), type your user password, and you are now anonymous. You can also control AnonSurf from the green shield icon in the top bar.
AnonSurf makes it very easy to browse anonymously, thanks to the Tor network.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Speaking of the top bar, ParrotOS uses the MATE desktop, which is a fork of the GNOME 2 desktop environment. MATE includes a top bar, a bottom panel, a desktop menu, a system tray, and clickable icons. This desktop will be instantly familiar (and easily adopted) by any user of any skill level. MATE was a great choice for ParrotOS because of its simplicity and user-friendly nature.
Included software
Beyond AnonSurf, ParrotOS includes the software you need for a general-purpose OS, such as Firefox, Pluma (a text editor), LibreOffice, GIMP, encryption tools (such as EncryptPad and zuluCrypt, VLC media player, Bleachbit), and all the utilities you might need, such as a calculator, a terminal window, an archive manager, webcam software, and more.
There is one bit of confusion that you’ll want to get out of the way immediately. On the ParrotOS desktop, you’ll find an Applications menu at the top left corner of the display. That only shows installed applications and not some of the other tools you’ll need (such as access to Settings). If you click the Menu button at the bottom left corner, you’ll see everything installed (as well as a search tool and power menu). Click Control Center to access all of the MATE settings.
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The MATE Control Center gives you plenty of options for configuration and is broken into the following categories: Administration (such as login window and printer settings), Hardware (such as Bluetooth management and keyboard), Internet and Network (such as firewall configuration and proxy), Look and Feel (such as appearance and MATE Tweak), and Personal (such as File Management and Preferred Applications).
One quirk to keep in mind is that ParrotOS uses the Synaptic Package Manager GUI. Although this app is very easy to use, it’s not quite as user-friendly as, say, GNOME Software or KDE Discover. Even so, you can open Synaptic, search for the app you want to install, mark it for installation, and click Apply.
Synaptic isn’t nearly as hard to use as you might think.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
ParrotOS does include Flatpak (the universal package manager), but support for Flatpak is not available for Synaptic, which means you can install via Flatpak, but it must be done from the command line, like so:
flatpak install slack
The aesthetic
Once again, I have to lodge a complaint against distribution developers everywhere. What is it with the dark themes being the default? How about Linux desktop developers realize that not everyone prefers the dark theme? I’d go so far as to say that the majority of average users do not prefer the dark theme and would rather have something light and airy.
Fortunately, it’s easy to switch the theme in the Control Center. Go to Look and Feel, click Appearance, and select from one of the lighter themes (such as ARK-Snow). In fact, between Appearances and MATE Tweak, it’s fairly easy to customize the MATE desktop to better suit your tastes.
It’s fairly easy to adjust the default MATE theme.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Is ParrotOS for you?
The answer to this question requires a sub-question:
Do you want a general-purpose OS that includes the tools necessary for anonymous browsing (and makes it simple enough that anyone can use it)? If so, ParrotOS is a great choice. If, on the other hand, you want more eye candy and a simpler app store, ParrotOS might not be for you.
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I was pleasantly surprised at how ParrotOS could accommodate users of any skill level, so I could easily recommend this Linux distribution to just about anyone.
If you’re interested in ParrotOS, download an ISO image of the Home edition from the official site, install it on a spare computer (or as a virtual machine) and see what there is to see.
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The wait for Jennifer Love Hewitt’s return to the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise is finally over.
This Friday, for the first time in nearly three decades, Hewitt reprises her final-girl role of Julie James in Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). The legacy sequel reintroduces Julie as a psychology professor, one who fittingly specializes in trauma. Now single, Julie is living a happily quiet life after narrowly surviving two rounds of attacks by murderous fisherman, Ben Willis (Muse Watson), in the late ‘90s.
However, Julie’s past soon catches up to her when Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders) pays her a visit and requests her help in dealing with an all-too-familiar problem. A vengeful Fisherman copycat is now targeting Ava and her friend group of twenty-somethings in Julie’s hometown of Southport, North Carolina.
For Hewitt, the decision to return to her most famous role was anything but automatic.
“I was hesitant at first. I wanted to make sure that she fit into the movie in the right way and that there was a reason for her to come back besides just the ‘90s nostalgia moment,” Hewitt tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of the film’s July 18 theatrical release. “I wanted her part in the movie to matter and for the audience to feel like they were proud of who she has become.”
Once her return was finalized, Hewitt sat down to revisit Jim Gillespie’s I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Danny Cannon’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998). But these latest go-rounds were particularly special since she got to share her teenage self’s work with her kids for the first time. In doing so, she also recognized some elements from the first two films that paved the way for the jaw-dropping ending of Robinson’s new installment. (Don’t worry, this is a spoiler-free zone.)
“I will say that in thinking about it and watching the other movies before filming this new one, [the jaw-dropping ending] makes sense,” Hewitt carefully teases.
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Hewitt also looks back on her character’s iconic line of, “What are you waiting for, huh!?” and how the indelible moment may have been conceived by a young kid who’d won a contest to visit the I Know What You Did Last Summer set in 1997.
***
To go back to the very beginning, was it just a coincidence that Party of Five became the casting office for Kevin Williamson-written slasher movies? [Writer’s Note: For the uninitiated, the Wiliamson-penned Scream drafted Hewitt’s co-star Neve Campbell from the same hit series.]
Isn’t that hilarious? Yeah, it was just a coincidence.
Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Ray and Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Julie in 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Columbia/Courtesy Everett Collection
What’s the history with you and a third I Know What You Did Last Summer movie? Have there been other attempts to get you back as Julie James over the years?
No, this is the first one! I was shocked and elated all at the same time.
Hollywood loves the rule of three, so it was always surprising to me that they didn’t conclude the first two films with a proper trilogy capper.
I know, I was surprised too. But after a certain span of years went by, I was like, “Oh well. I guess it’s just not going to happen.” But now it did.
When writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson pitched you, were you immediately on board? Or did you need to mull it over?
I was hesitant at first. If I was coming back as Julie, I just wanted to make sure that we were bringing back the best and right version of her. I wanted to make sure that she fit into the movie in the right way and that there was a reason for her to come back besides just the ‘90s nostalgia moment. I wanted her part in the movie to matter and for the audience to feel like they were proud of who she has become.
Julie is now a psychology professor, and I suppose one could say she’s lonely by choice. Is this the life you expected for her? Or did you think she’d have three kids and a Golden Retriever by now?
(Laughs.) No, she’s exactly who I thought she would be and who I wanted her to be, honestly. As weird as it sounds, it was really important for me to not see a Julie James that had healed her trauma. She needed to stay in trauma, and she would’ve stayed in trauma, so this version of her feels right.
During her reintroduction, is she wearing a Cure t-shirt underneath her jacket?
Yes, I really liked the idea of her being a professor in a vintage t-shirt, and Jenn [Kaytin Robinson] is the one who chose The Cure. I’m also a massive Cure fan, so I was really psyched about that. It was just us wanting to be nostalgic by also having her hold onto some nostalgia. Originally, she was going to be in a shirt and tie when you first saw her, and then she would wear the vintage t-shirt later. But Jenn was like, “No, we’ve got to go with the vintage t-shirt right off the top.” And I just loved that.
You haven’t played Julie in 27 years. How quickly did you find her again?
Well, what’s beautiful about this movie is that she feels like the same person from the original movie, but she also feels like a new character in some ways because of all the time that’s gone by. But I did rewatch [I Know What You Did Last Summer]. It was my kids’ first horror movie. They really wanted to watch it together, and so I watched it with them, which was a total trip. So it was really fun and exciting and interesting to go back and watch that girl on the road that night.
When you watched it, could you focus on performance and story? Or were you more consumed by your behind-the-scenes memories?
I think it was a mixture, but I did learn a lot about Julie that I didn’t notice at the time. One big thing in particular that we tried to bring back into the new movie is that I never realized how silenced she was on the road that night. If you had asked me at 18 or even at 20, I would’ve said, “Yeah, we were all in it together,” but that really isn’t the case. After the accident happened that night, everyone basically looked at her and said, “Shut the fuck up.” That’s what they said, and she really was struck by that. And in that silence, her detective brain kept going, and she wanted to solve this.
She didn’t just lose her innocence that night; she lost everything. She lost her friends. She lost the respect that she had for the person [Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Ray] who was the love of her life in that moment. She also lost herself, and she lost the ability to ever live life trauma-free again. So I honestly don’t think that I realized any of that when I watched the movie as a young person. Watching it now at this age after having children, I went, “Oh, wow. These are some really interesting things that we can pull from in this new movie.”
Do you still feel connected to that 18-year-old version of you?
Yeah, I do. Very much so. It’s interesting that you ask that. I’ve definitely had a loss of innocence and trauma in my life. Some of my friends don’t [feel this way], but I still feel uniquely connected to my youth and who I was then. I carry her with me, and that’s an important thing to do as you get older. When you lose that, you lose something very drastic. So I still feel very connected to that part of my life, for sure.
Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt in 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Columbia/Courtesy Everett Collection
When you reunited with Freddie Prinze Jr. on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025), did it feel like old times?
Honestly, it was an out-of-body experience that I didn’t totally process until after we were done with the first scene. That’s when I was like, “Oh my God, that’s Freddie, and we just did that scene.” I was just so in my head about making sure that Julie and Ray felt like Julie and Ray, but also a totally new Julie and Ray.
I didn’t get a normal high school experience in my life, but [reuniting with Freddie] was what I imagine a high-school-reunion feeling to be. You know a person, and while so much time has passed to where it’s different, we still fit in with each other. We immediately felt like Julie and Ray, but obviously new versions of them.
Did you ever feel like you had to take the new cast aside and offer them some pearls of wisdom?
No, but I was really touched by how much they celebrated and honored both the movie and us coming back. So I was just really excited to be there and be a part of it. But I have definitely taken a mom role to Chase [Sui Wonders]. (Laughs.) Off camera, I’m constantly checking in on her and making sure that she’s eating and drinking and taking care of herself. I just felt very close to her in such a special way, and that was really sweet.
Generally speaking, the ending of I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) is quite shocking. It’s a big swing.
Yeah.
When you read it, did your jaw hit the floor?
It did. But I will say that in thinking about it and watching the other movies before filming this new one, it makes sense. [Writer’s Note: I then asked Hewitt if she was referring to a specific scene from an earlier movie, and she confirmed that I was on the right track.]
You incurred some fishing hook-related damage while making the first two movies. Were you able to come out of this one unscathed?
I was! The only thing is that my feet were sore from standing in very tall shoes. I am now in my forties, and I choose not to torture my feet in high heels most of the time. But other than that, no. All was well.
As previewed in the trailer, Julie’s famous line of, “What are you waiting for, huh?” was bound to be incorporated somehow, and I liked that it had utility. It wasn’t an empty reference.
Right.
Were you very particular about its usage in this?
Not in its usage, but it had to be said again, and it had to be said in a fresh way. And I think we accomplished that. The meaning behind this one is very different, and I love where it is [in the movie]. That line has just become such a special part of my life; I hear it all the time. Even my kids say it to me, especially my 3-year-old, which is hilarious. He’s in his, “What are you waiting for?” phase, and it’s really funny. So it holds a special place in my heart.
The “huh” really makes that line what it is. You put this extra emphasis on it, and it really showed Julie’s fighting spirit in the first movie.
Thank you. A lot of people leave out the “huh” when they say it back to me, and so I appreciate that. Yeah, for me, the “huh” was her gumption. The “huh” was her challenge: “Come at me! Bring what you’re going to bring. I’m here, I’m ready, let’s go.” So the “huh” is important.
There’s an internet legend that the entire moment was conceived by a contest-winning child. Is that true?
So here’s the thing about that. I was 18 years old when we filmed the first movie, and all I know is that there was a kid visiting the movie that day. He was a horror fan, but I don’t know who he was. I was 18, I’m now 46, and Lord knows I’ve had three children, so I don’t remember everything perfectly. But I know that he was there that day, and I thought that he was a part of that moment, somehow, because we were all at a monitor.
Originally, in the script, I wasn’t spinning around and yelling, “What are you waiting for?” It was a different kind of moment, and it suddenly became that moment. I’ve heard different versions of it, but I do remember a kid being there and him being a horror movie fan. So he was a part of that conversation, somehow. Was it his designed moment? I don’t know. But I somehow ended up spinning around in the street that day, screaming that line that became very iconic. So whoever created it, I’m very grateful.
“And that kid’s name was Damien Chazelle.”
(Laughs.) Could you imagine?
According to another internet legend, Jamie Lee Curtis was filming a different movie near your set in North Carolina, and so she would often come by to lend you emotional support. Is there any truth to that?
No! But I’ve known Jamie since I was 14. She is a very supportive, amazing person, but I did not see her during [filming]. That would’ve been awesome. I love her.
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Brandy in 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Have these movies altered your behavior at all? Do you avoid late night drives, tanning beds and fishing boats?
(Laughs.) When we were filming the first movie, I was already terrified of horror movies, and I was very aware of the fact that I was actually filming in a real fishing village in Southport, North Carolina. I was like, “There’s fishermen everywhere, and I’ve been running from one all day. And now I’m supposed to go home and go to sleep? How is that going to work out?” But since this movie has come back into my life, I’m a tad bit more paranoid. I left that behind for a while, and now I’m definitely like, “What was that!?” (Laughs.) I’m a little jumpier now that the movie is back in my life.
Most of the new movie was shot in Australia for the necessity of summer weather, and I loved how Jennifer Kaytin Robinson used the unrecognizable locations to the movie’s advantage. Southport’s gentrification by an uber-rich land developer is a huge part of the story.
Yeah, it’s brilliant. If I could say anything to the audience, everything that you want this movie to be, it is. And everything new and fresh is so worth it and so awesome. It’s a perfect way to come back in all facets.
Sony is putting the new movie out just like they did the first two. They also have the rights to your beloved teen romcom, Can’t Hardly Wait (1998). Can you try to get that property back on its feet soon?
I’ve been asking! I’ve asked a few times now. Yes, I would love that.
*** I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) opens July 18 in movie theaters nationwide.
The EU’s Digital Markets Act requires Apple to allow third parties to offer web browsers with their own browser engines. However, more than a year later, there are no browsers built with Chromium, Gecko, or any other engine in the EU.
At a recent EU workshop on Apple’s compliance with the DMA’s browser requirements, Apple representatives were asked some pointed questions by Open Web Advocacy (OWA), and others about its browser engine policies. OWA, a non-profit that advocates for the open web, raised multiple issues with Apple’s approach to browser engines in the EU that they believe are holding back third-party engines.
One issue is that versions of the same browser with different engines can’t be part of the same app bundle. According to OWA, that effectively means vendors like Google and Mozilla would need to release a new EU-only version of their browsers, starting the process of acquiring users from scratch, which I can’t imagine any browser company would sign up to do voluntarily.
Another issue OWA raised is that there is currently no way for web developers outside the EU who are not associated with the browser makers to obtain browsers with competing engines for testing purposes. That’s a problem that’s been solved with other apps by allowing test versions to be distributed outside the EU. However, as things stand today, OWA says that web developers couldn’t use EU-only browsers for testing even if there were any available.
Other issues were raised, too, but these two strike me as practical impediments to third-party browser engines that can and should be resolved. Apple’s responses to OWA’s challenges focused on privacy and security, which are legitimate factors to consider, but it’s disappointing that more than a year after the DMA took effect, the practical problems raised by OWA and others still haven’t been solved.
Findings from a multivariant analysis of the phase 1/2 FELIX trial (NCT04404660) demonstrated that certain patient and disease factors were associated with improved remission rates and prolonger survival in patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with obecabtagene autoleucel (obe-cel; Aucatzyl).1
These data were presented at the 2025 EHA Congress and showed that, at baseline, Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)–positive disease (odds ratio [OR], 6.0; 95% CI, 1.4-26.3), 3 or fewer prior lines of therapy (OR, 3.8; 95% CI, 1.2-12.1), and not being refractory to the last line of therapy (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.1-8.0) were all associated with increased complete response (CR)/CR with incomplete hematologic recovery (CRi) rates.
Additionally, a lower bone marrow blasts percentage (<5% vs ≥75%; HR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.6), receipt of prior hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT; HR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.8), CAR T-cell persistence (HR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2-0.9), and receipt of 3 or fewer prior lines of therapy (HR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-1.0) were all associated with improved event-free survival (EFS).
“These findings support the potential for obe-cel to serve as a definitive treatment without HSCT in a subset of patients,” Jae H. Park, MD, said in a presentation of the data. “However, longer follow-up, further analyses, and external validations are necessary to confirm these outcomes.” Park is the chief of Cellular Therapy Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.
In November 2024, the FDA approved obe-cel for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor ALL, based on prior data from FELIX.2
Long-term data from the study showed that among patients who achieved a CR/CRi (n = 99), the median duration of response (DOR) after censoring for consolidative HSCT was 42.5 months (95% CI, 12.5-not evaluable [NE]).1 The 12- and 24-month DOR rates were 61.8% (95% CI, 50.1%-71.5%) and 54.1% (95% CI, 42.1%-64.6%), respectively.
The median EFS among evaluable patients (n = 127) while censoring for HSCT was 11.9 months (95% CI, 8.0-NE); the respective 12- and 24-month EFS rates were 50.0% (95% CI, 40.2%-59.0%) and 43.0% (95% CI, 33.2%-52.3%). In this patient population—without censoring for HSCT—the median OS was 17.1 months (95% CI, 12.9-28.8), and the 12- and 24-month OS rates were 61.4% (95% CI, 52.4%-69.3%) and 46.0% (95% CI, 37.1%-54.5%), respectively.
Long-term safety data showed that at a median follow-up of 32.8 months, there were no changes in the rates of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) compared with the analysis conducted at a median follow-up of 21.5 months. The rates of any-grade CRS and ICANS were 69% and 23%, respectively. The respective rates of grade 3 or higher CRS and ICANS were 2% and 7%.
At the 21.5-month analysis, the rates of any-grade infections and malignancies were 78% and 2%, respectively. The grade 3 or higher rates were 52% and 2%, respectively. At the 32.8-month analysis, rates of any-grade and grade 3 infections increased to 81% and 55%, respectively. The rate of any-grade secondary malignancies increased to 4%, although there was no change in grade 3 or higher secondary malignancies.
With longer-term follow-up, new infections included 1 instance each of viral pneumonia, recurrent chest infection, enterocolitis infectious and hospital-acquired pneumonia, and multi-lobular pneumonia. The 2 new secondary malignancies reported with longer-term follow-up included lentigo maligna melanoma and urothelial transitional cell carcinoma, which were both deemed unrelated to obe-cel.
FELIX Overview and Analysis Breakdown
The phase 1/2 study included patients at least 18 years of age with relapsed/refractory ALL. Enrolled participants underwent leukapheresis and received bridging therapy and lymphodepleting chemotherapy during obe-cel manufacturing. Lymphodepletion comprised fludarabine at 30 mg/m2 per day for 4 days and cyclophosphamide at 500 mg/m2 per day for 2 days.
Obe-cel was dosed based on individual tumor burden, with doses split between days 1 and 10. The target dose was 410 x 106 CAR T cells.
CR/CRi rate and minimal residual disease–negativity rate served as the trial’s primary end points. Secondary end points included DOR, EFS, OS, safety, CAR T-cell expansion, and CAR T-cell persistence.
Among the 127 patients infused with obe-cel, 28 patients did not respond or were not evaluable for response; the CR/CRi rate was 78.0%. At a median follow-up of 21.5 months, 40.4% of patients remained in remission without subsequent HSCT or other therapy; 18.2% of patients underwent HSCT while in remission; 5.1% began a new anticancer therapy; 31.3% of patients experienced relapse; and 5.1% died while in remission without subsequent transplant or therapy. At 32.8 months of follow-up, 38.4% of patients remained in remission without subsequent transplant or therapy, and 7.1% of patients had died in remission without subsequent HSCT or treatment. There were no changes in the rates of patients who underwent HSCT while in remission, patients who started a new anticancer therapy, or patients who relapsed.
The multivariant analyses used univariate analysis–selected baseline characteristics to further ascertain which patients were most likely to experience long-term benefit associated with obe-cel. Baseline characteristics alone were used for the CR/CRi multivariant analysis, and the EFS/OS analysis included baseline characteristics and CAR T-cell persistence after treatment.
In the univariate analysis, characteristics that had a P value of less than 0.1 included an age of 55 years or younger (proportion of trial population, 37.8%); not Hispanic or Latino, or unknown ethnicity (70.1%); Ph-positive disease (28.3%); 3 or fewer prior lines of therapy (85.0%); not being refractory to the last prior line of therapy (48.0%); prior HSCT (44.1%); no prior treatment with inotuzumab ozogamicin (Besponsa; 68.5%); no extramedullary disease at lymphodepletion (78.7%); and a bone marrow blasts percentage of less than 5% at lymphodepletion (28.3%).
References
Park JH, Roddie C, Tholouli E, et al. Can CAR T-cell therapy be a definitive treatment for adult R/R B-ALL without transplant? Long-term findings and predictors of sustained remission for obecabtagene autoleucel. Presented at: 2025 EHA Congress; June 12-15, 2025; Milan, Italy. Abstract S113.
FDA approves obecabtagene autoleucel for adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. FDA. November 8, 2024. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-information-approved-drugs/fda-approves-obecabtagene-autoleucel-adults-relapsed-or-refractory-b-cell-precursor-acute
