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Dolly Parton 'could not bear negative things' and kept her cancer diagnosis from fans and family
Dolly Parton's sister is sharing why the legendary singer kept her cancer diagnosis a secret.
In an interview with "CBS Mornings'" set to air on Thursday, Sept. 10, her sister, Stella Parton, didn't go public with her cancer diagnosis because she "did not want people sad," revealing she didn't even share the news with her entire family.
"Well, Dolly did not want anybody to tell that, because Dolly could not bear negative things, and she would not have wanted her fans worried about it," she shared. "She didn’t want a lot of the family worried about it. Some of us knew, the ones that were closer, but not every relative."
The "Jolene" singer died at the age of 80, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, following a "brief battle with cancer."
News of her death was announced on her Instagram by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, in which he highlighted her incredible body of work as a musician, as well as her philanthropic work with the Imagination Library.
Her death inspired tributes on social media from fans around the world, including musicians and actors alike, something Stella says the "9 to 5" star would have been happy with.
"She’d be really happy and delighted that people have shown her so much love because she knew that that would make us feel better as her family," Stella said. "Bottom line, end of the day, her family and Carl’s family and probably Judy’s family are the people that she would want to say, ‘See, everything I did, they cared. They really loved me."
Dolly rose to stardom in 1967 when she began appearing on "The Porter Wagoner Show." During her time on the show, the two released many iconic duets and were nominated for many Grammys together.
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She chose to leave the show and focus on her solo career in 1974, after seven years with the program.
In an effort to explain to Wagoner, who had become her close friend during her tenure on the show and was unhappy with the news, why she needed to leave the show, she wrote one of her biggest hits, "I Will Always Love You."
"I sang the song alone in his office — just me and my guitar," she told Howard Stern in 2023, adding that he replied, "That’s the best song you’ve ever wrote … You can go if I can produce the song."
She went on to win 10 Grammy Awards, receive a Kennedy Center Honor, get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as many other honors.
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In addition to her incredible success as a country music star, Dolly was also a philanthropist. She launched the Imagination Library, a book gifting program which sends one book a month to children across the country regardless of their family's economic status.
"When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true," Dolly said in a statement on the organization's website. "I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister.
"Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer," she continued. "The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world."
Surrogate who refused abortion takes fight to Supreme Court as baby's life hangs in balance
A surrogate who defied a California couple’s demand to abort their baby after a devastating heart diagnosis is taking her fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing a lower court ruling has left her powerless to advocate for the medically fragile newborn.
Attorneys for Alaska cardiac nurse McKenna West filed an emergency application Wednesday, asking Justice Elena Kagan to temporarily block a Los Angeles court ruling that declared the California couple the baby’s legal parents.
Kagan handles emergency matters arising from the Ninth Circuit, which includes California. She has not ruled on the request.
SURROGATE GIVES BIRTH IN TEXAS TO BABY WITH HEART DEFECT AFTER PARENTS REQUESTED ABORTION
West carried the child under a surrogacy agreement with California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, who call the baby Rumi. West calls him Gabriel.
The baby was born in Texas on Aug. 12, with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, a rare condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.
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The legal war began after the condition was detected during a 20-week ultrasound. West alleges Gilkar and Ahmed asked her to terminate the pregnancy under a provision in their surrogacy agreement covering serious fetal abnormalities.
West refused, telling the surrogacy agency she could not abort "this precious baby" after feeling him move and learning treatment was available, according to the filing.
She offered to raise the child herself or arrange an adoption if the couple no longer wanted him, while allowing them to walk away from any further financial obligations.
Her attorneys allege West was then warned that continuing the pregnancy could expose her to more than $250,000 in financial penalties.
Gilkar and Ahmed later turned to a California court to establish their legal rights as the baby’s parents. West argued the case belonged in Alaska under the surrogacy agreement and said she appeared in California solely to challenge the court’s jurisdiction.
The Los Angeles Superior Court determined that West had effectively consented to its authority by submitting a 147-page filing that addressed the "substance of the issues," according to the application.
West’s lawyers said most of those pages were exhibits supporting her jurisdictional challenge and that she had repeatedly refused to argue the underlying case.
"Any reasonable view of consent would recognize that ‘no’ does not mean ‘yes,’" they wrote.
West also claims she was never properly served. Her filing says a FedEx package containing the court papers was delivered to her babysitter, who allegedly was not told what was inside.
The California court declared Gilkar and Ahmed the baby’s legal parents June 22, and West failed to persuade three state courts to put the ruling on hold.
SURROGATE GIVES BIRTH IN TEXAS TO BABY WITH HEART DEFECT AFTER PARENTS REQUESTED ABORTION
The judge acknowledged during the California proceedings that the dispute "[m]ay be a question of life and death" for the unborn child, according to West’s application.
The fight then moved to Texas, where West traveled so the baby could be delivered at a hospital equipped to treat his condition.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured an emergency order before the birth directing the hospital to provide life-saving care and preventing the child from being removed from the state.
West previously said she had only about one minute with the newborn while his umbilical cord was still attached before he was taken from her. A court order later barred her from seeing or holding him.
The baby underwent the first of three anticipated open-heart surgeries Aug. 17. He was later returned to a breathing tube after his condition declined, according to court filings previously reviewed by Fox News Digital.
Gilkar said during a hearing last month in Dallas that the couple had remained at their son’s bedside and accused West of trying to take him.
"He’s our child," Gilkar said, according to The Associated Press. "He’s the love of our lives."
She also told the court the newborn was "suffering a lot" as he struggled to breathe, choked on tubes and required a blood transfusion following surgery, according to the AP.
West has said she would abandon her custody effort if a court determined the intended parents were committed to providing the child with life-saving care.
But on Sept. 2, a Texas judge upheld the California ruling and removed West from the case. Paxton has also stepped away from the legal fight.
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West’s attorneys argue she is now barred from receiving information about the baby or defending the order requiring his continued treatment. They allege Gilkar and Ahmed are challenging that medical-care order.
The couple previously agreed to the baby’s first surgery and said they would approve life-saving care if doctors determined he was a candidate.
West is now asking the Supreme Court to temporarily block the California ruling, which could give her a path back into the Texas case. Her attorneys argue the dispute raises a broader constitutional question over whether challenging a court’s authority can itself be treated as accepting that authority.
Her lawyers stressed that temporarily blocking the ruling would not decide who the baby’s legal parents are or direct doctors to provide a particular course of treatment. Instead, it could allow West to ask the Texas court to bring her back into the case.
Without Supreme Court intervention, her attorneys warned, West will remain shut out of decisions and updates about the baby’s condition as the appeals process plays out.
"Unless this Court provides relief from that judgment, M.W. will have no access to information about Baby G.’s condition," West’s attorneys wrote.
They argued that a victory later could come too late to protect the child.
"Relief later in Texas proceedings may only restore her right to protect a child that has already passed," the filing states.
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.
Potential Dem presidential contender crashes GOP convention, tries to snatch spotlight from Trump
DALLAS - Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois is urging voters to ignore the Republicans' first-ever midterm convention.
"Voters can see through the BS that Republicans are spewing," Pritzker told reporters at a Democratic National Committee-hosted counter programming news conference across the street from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, the site of this week’s first-ever Republican midterm convention.
With less than two months until the midterm elections — and early voting just weeks away — President Donald Trump and the GOP kicked off their convention on Wednesday as Republicans fight to keep control of Congress.
The GOP's playbook for the convention, which comes as Republicans face energized Democrats and political headwinds as they defend their slim House and Senate majorities, is to motivate the party's base and boost turnout in key races that will determine control of Congress.
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"We are putting the president on the ballot," Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the gathering. "That's exactly what we're doing with this midterm convention."
But Pritzker, a potential 2028 White House contender, blasted the two-day GOP confab.
"This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can't paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote. Donald Trump is hoping that a flashy primetime event will make you forget that, well, his trade war is killing costs for families at the grocery store. His war in Iran is killing ranchers and farmers and their way of life, and his war on people, on the working people, the working families of this country are raising the costs of health care and housing."
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The governor also charged that Republicans are trying to "rig" the midterm elections, arguing that Trump is aiming to use the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail-in balloting across the country.
"Republicans know that they can't win on the merits of their unpopular policies. So, they're working to rig the 2026 election," Pritzker charged.
Pritzker also warned that "if Democrats don’t win, if they don’t win in this election, we may not have other elections, or certainly we’re going to have future elections, every single one of which will be rigged."
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The White House has defended Trump's executive order on mail-in voting as a "commonsense measure" aimed at ensuring secure elections.
Pritzker, who is running for re-election this year for a third term steering Democrat-dominated Illinois, is seen as a possible presidential contender in the 2028 White House race to succeed Trump.
But the governor pivoted when asked by Fox News if his stop in Dallas should be seen as a 2028 signal.
Standing alongside some top Texas Democrats, Pritzker said, "I care a great deal about what happens in Texas. Voters everywhere in the country should care about what happens in Texas. So, I'm pleased to be here for that reason. If I can advance the cause, that's why I should stand here."
Manhattan prostitute pleads guilty to killing 3 men with fentanyl-laced drugs in robbery scheme
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A Manhattan prostitute who killed three johns when she fed them fentanyl-laced drugs to rob them pleaded guilty Tuesday.
Tabitha Bundrick, 39, admitted to giving her customers the powerful synthetic opioid between April 2023 and February 2024 and then taking their personal belongings, including their cell phones, sneakers, money and watches, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.
"The defendant knowingly killed three people by providing them fentanyl-laced drugs," said District Attorney Alvin Bragg. "As they lay unconscious, she robbed her victims and left them to die. In several instances, the victims’ bodies were found by their friends or family members."
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Bundrick showed a "shocking indifference" to the lives of her victims, Bragg said.
She is expected to be sentenced to 27 years to life for three counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault.
Bundrick's crimes began on April 30, 2023, when she met Mario Paullan, 42, and his friend on the street and offered to sell them soap. She then offered to have sex with them for money and took them to an apartment she broke into, prosecutors said.
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After taking the fentanyl-laced drugs she gave them, Paullan's friend woke up to find him dead the next morning and their belongings missing, authorities said.
Months later, she met Miguel Navez, 39, and gave him drugs at his apartment. He was found three days later by his brother, with his belongings also stolen.
The third incident occurred on Feb. 25, 2024, when Abrihan Fernandez, 34, died in his apartment. Bundrick was caught entering and exiting the Upper Manhattan apartment several times with large bags.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6.
Gavin Newsom expresses 'openness' to packing SCOTUS, calls Electoral College system 'perverted'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed "openness" to reforming the Supreme Court and claimed the Electoral College "perverted" politics during an interview with former CNN host Don Lemon on his podcast Tuesday.
Near the end of the interview, Lemon directly asked Newsom, a rumored 2028 candidate, whether he believed the judicial branch needed to be expanded, an idea pushed by several Democratic figures, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.
"My initial instinct — me, a year ago, I would have said no out of concern that it will continue to be expanded," Newsom said.
"And I was making a case for the ethical reforms and term limits, 18 years, which I was making a case a year ago. I'm more open to it on the basis of those district court arguments, which are not terrible arguments."
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"Is that a yes?" Lemon asked.
"I'm finding myself evolving on it. I normally have very clear conviction on things. I've been open to argument and interested in the evidence on this," Newsom answered.
He described his position as "caution on expanding it, but openness," adding that he believes reforms like term limits are a "no-brainer."
The California Democrat had harsher criticism of the Electoral College, suggesting that it has "perverted" U.S. politics.
"California has already been a leader that's already gone out front saying it's time to change that system. Which state's more burdened by it than my state? We're the size of 21 state populations combined. Come on. And we have two representatives in the Senate? Come on.
"And the way that thing favors ... it's perverted, I think, our politics. The Constitution is a living document, and it was conceived to be amended, and I think it's time to make that amendment," Newsom said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for comment.
Though Newsom has not explicitly supported expanding the Supreme Court, he made similar comments suggesting an openness to it during an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen on his podcast in June. Cohen was arguing in favor of court expansion, and Newsom remarked that Cohen was "getting me closer to your point of view."
During an interview with "PBS NewsHour" on Monday, Newsom also said the Democratic Party is "pretty aligned" with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) on issues like universal healthcare, climate change and moving off fossil fuels. The DSA's goals include eliminating the Supreme Court and replacing it with a judiciary that would be selected by Congress.
House Democrats recently voted against a constitutional amendment to cap the number of justices on the Supreme Court at nine. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who introduced the measure, warned Congress about the downsides of expanding the court.
"Here's the question every American should ask: If a sitting majority can change the size of the Supreme Court the moment it dislikes rulings, what happens to the next time the other side is in power?" Biggs said on the floor.
Beauty school moms caught in accreditation crossfire as Trump administration weighs consequential decision
The Trump administration is weighing the future of an accreditor overseeing roughly 1,300 beauty and cosmetology schools and more than 120,000 students, in a decision that could test how the president’s push to overhaul higher education accreditation is applied beyond the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) battles that have dominated the issue.
President Donald Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to "fire the radical left accreditors" and called accreditation his "secret weapon" against colleges and universities he argued had been captured by the political left.
But the case now before the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is different.
Rather than allegations involving DEI requirements, it centers on whether the National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences, or NACCAS, has complied with federal requirements and what consequences should follow if it has not.
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That distinction matters to students because recognition by a DOE-approved accreditor is generally necessary for schools to participate in federal student aid programs. NACCAS says it accredits approximately 1,300 institutions serving more than 120,000 students in cosmetology, beauty and related career programs.
DOE staff identified deficiencies with NACCAS but recommended continuing its federal recognition with restrictions, additional reporting and monitoring while it works to come into compliance.
The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, or NACIQI, took a harder line at its July meeting, voting 9-3 to recommend that the department deny NACCAS renewed recognition.
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The DOE has not made a final decision.
The Department of Education told Fox News Digital that accreditor recognition is reviewed every five years through a three-step process: DOE staff makes a recommendation; the independent bipartisan NACIQI makes its own recommendation; a senior department official makes the final judgment based on both.
"We will not comment on details as the process is ongoing," the DOE said.
For some students, the federal process has raised concerns about a source of funding they say they could not have attended beauty school without.
Aliyah Fernandez, a recent Hollywood Institute cosmetology graduate and mother who now works as an assistant in a salon, said federal aid made her education possible.
"I could not have afforded beauty school without federal financial aid," Fernandez told Fox News Digital. "It was because of that that I could attend at all."
Fernandez said she chose cosmetology in part because she wanted a career that would allow her to earn a living while remaining present in her daughter's life.
"I knew that if I worked full-time 9 to 5, I wouldn't barely have any time to see her grow up," Fernandez said. "I really just wanted to be there for her.
"I wanted an opportunity to financially support her and be present in her life at the same time," she added. "I wanted to have both."
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Blythe Fields, an expectant mother who is studying cosmetology while working in salons, said she previously paid for esthetician school herself and spent roughly two years saving her tips to continue her education.
"I paid out of pocket for esthetician school, and it made me go broke," Fields told Fox News Digital.
Fields said she now works during the day and attends school at night, describing her schedule as "literally 12-hour days."
She said federal financial aid allowed her to continue her education and that the flexibility of cosmetology will become even more important when her baby arrives.
"The first year is so important, and I need to be able to have that flexibility to raise a child," she said.
Fernandez and Fields both said they helped start a petition asking the DOE not to adopt NACIQI's recommendation outright. The petition calls instead for a monitored improvement period that would allow NACCAS to address the government's findings while maintaining recognition.
Fernandez said she understood why federal officials raised concerns about NACCAS but believed denying recognition would go too far.
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"Having done the research myself, I can completely understand, you know, the side of the board," Fernandez said. "However, I do not think a full termination of accreditation is reasonable considering how many people rely on this."
Fields was more pointed when asked what she would tell Trump before his administration makes the final decision.
"I would ask him who cuts and colors his hair and how did they get there?" Fields said.
The disagreement over NACCAS centers on whether the deficiencies identified during its federal review warrant continued oversight or denial of recognition.
Education Department staff recommended that NACCAS be prohibited from accrediting additional institutions until it demonstrates compliance, complete corrective action within 12 months and submits additional reports to the department.
NACIQI instead recommended denial.
Zakiya Smith Ellis, a former Obama administration DOE official who serves on the advisory committee, made the motion to deny NACCAS renewed recognition.
Michael Poliakoff seconded the motion, which passed 9-3.
Smith Ellis argued during the July meeting that NACCAS had been given opportunities to address compliance problems and questioned whether giving it additional time would be sufficient. She also raised concerns about debt and earnings among students at NACCAS-accredited institutions.
Three committee members voted against denial, including Robert Eitel, who served in the DOE during Trump's first term.
Eitel argued that NACCAS should be required to correct its deficiencies rather than lose recognition and raised concerns about the potential consequences for the schools and students it oversees.
The proceeding also creates an unusual contrast with the accreditation practices Trump highlighted in his April executive order.
The order directed the DOE to investigate whether accreditors require schools to engage in unlawful discrimination, including through DEI-related standards. The federal findings at issue in the NACCAS proceeding concern compliance and oversight rather than an allegation that NACCAS imposes DEI requirements.
Smith Ellis, meanwhile, has publicly defended DEI policies and previously served as a senior DOE official during the Obama administration.
Fox News Digital asked Smith Ellis why she favored denying recognition rather than the corrective measures recommended by DOE staff and what she would say to students concerned about the potential consequences. Smith Ellis did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Fields told Fox News Digital she believes beauty careers can be overlooked in ways that other skilled trades are not. Asked whether she thought the same fight would be playing out around traditionally male-dominated trades such as plumbing or welding, she said she did not.
"I think it's because they're like male fields, like mainly men are involved in," Fields said. "They don't think about that. They just think, ‘Oh, they went to hair school. It's easy.’"
For Fields, however, the training will give her the career she hopes will allow her to earn a living while raising her child.
The White House, NACCAS, and the Hollywood Institute of Beauty did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announces distribution of more than 7 million free eggs statewide
More than 1.7 million free eggs have already been delivered to Texas food banks, with another 5.3 million slated to arrive in the coming weeks as part of an antitrust settlement with three major egg producers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday.
The statewide distribution stems from settlements reached in June with Cal-Maine Foods, Centrum/Versova and Hickman's Egg Ranch, resolving antitrust claims brought by the Trump administration's Department of Justice and a coalition of state attorneys general over allegations the companies conspired to inflate egg prices between 2022 and 2025.
Under the agreements, the companies will donate more than 7 million eggs to Texas food banks and pay a combined $3.3 million to participating states.
"After securing 7 million eggs for the people of Texas, I am excited to announce that Texans will now have an opportunity to receive cartons of free eggs in communities across the state," Paxton said. "I will continue to help our families put food on the table and do everything within my power to lower prices and help Texans who are struggling to make ends meet."
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The distributions are being coordinated with Feeding Texas, the state's largest hunger-relief organization. Seventeen food banks are participating in the effort.
The Houston Food Bank is expected to receive the largest allocation of 1,544,400 eggs, followed by the North Texas Food Bank in Plano and the Tarrant Area Food Bank in Fort Worth, which will each receive 842,400 eggs. Other participating food banks are located across the state, including Austin, San Antonio, Tyler, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Laredo, Odessa, Pharr, Beaumont, Amarillo, Lubbock, Victoria, Abilene and Wichita Falls.
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It was not immediately clear when individual food banks would begin distributing the eggs to Texans or whether eligibility requirements would vary by location.
A spokesperson for Feeding Texas did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on distribution timing and how Texans can receive the eggs. Fox News Digital also reached out to Cal-Maine Foods for comment on the settlement and the statewide donation effort.
Stephen A Smith blasts SEC for threats to kick LSU out of the conference: 'Sit your a-- down'
The 2026 college football season is off to a surprisingly controversial start. Out of nowhere, the Western Michigan-Michigan game became one of the most contentious finishes in recent memory, with replay review adding an additional second to the fourth quarter after the game had seemingly ended.
That sparked a formal appeal from the MAC to the FBS Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff to recognize the Broncos as the official winners, due to improper replay review procedures.
Then there’s the human element: new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin drew criticism for his lengthy, drawn-out decision-making process after LSU offered him the job in Baton Rouge. His eventual decision to leave Ole Miss before the College Football Playoff made him public enemy No. 1 in Oxford. Somehow, the questions surrounding Kiffin have only deepened over time.
Kiffin set about reshaping the Tigers' program through the transfer portal, then apparently had an even more unique and extreme idea: bring players who had signed with NFL teams but failed to make the regular season roster back to college football. Obviously designed to give LSU an advantage by adding more physically advanced and developed players, that tactic was immediately disparaged by opposing coaches, NFL coaches and, more importantly, the SEC itself.
A war of words and policies ensued with multiple conferences, including the SEC, immediately passing a policy to prevent "pro" players returning to the collegiate ranks. LSU fought back, even winning an injunction to allow two players, Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, to confirm their eligibility.
That led to some extreme measures being discussed, including reports this week that the SEC was prepared to vote imminently to expel LSU from the conference entirely. As shocking and extreme as that sounds, it's clear that the SEC wanted to ensure that their commitment to "amateur" athletics remained unblemished.
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Some supported the potential vote as a punishment for Kiffin and the Tigers program pushing the limits of eligibility. And further SEC filings implied that the athletic director had little control of the football team, with Kiffin alone running the ship.
But Stephen A. Smith, apparently, strongly disagrees, saying that just signing a contract in the NFL does not make you an "NFL player."
"Just because you enter a draft — if you haven’t signed a contract with the NFL team, you are not an NFL player," he said during a recent episode of "First Take" on ESPN. "If you haven’t been on a practice field, if you haven’t competed against NFL players, you are not an NFL player. You should be able to go back to college. That’s the one thing that I do feel."
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Smith wasn't done there, saying that LSU being pushed into independence may actually help the program.
"And oh, by the way, Notre Dame, and we got love for Notre Dame, they’re an independent," he added. "LSU, you wanna throw them out the SEC? Go ahead and do it. Watch, they ain’t gonna lose. They’ll be just fine…Could you imagine Lane Kiffin as an independent? Out there in the open market for the LSU brand? Please, they’ll get paid…The SEC, sit your a-- down! Sit your a-- down!"
The Tigers seemingly backed down from their plan this week, signaling by adding two other players to their roster that they wouldn't bring in those former "NFL" players. But Smith seems to have a different perspective on this than most fans or rival administrators and coaches. Once you leave college and sign with an NFL team, that's it. You're done. That's how it's always been, and changing it now opens up a can of worms.
Would a player who’s, say, only made the practice squad be considered an "NFL player" in Smith’s view? Or would they still be eligible to return? What about another who is on an active roster, but never enters a game? Or someone who plays just one game before getting hurt? Defining who and who isn't a professional becomes a game of Whac-A-Mole that shouldn't be necessary.
Stephen A., though, clearly doesn't see it that way. He's wrong.
‘Kirkiversary’ Charlie Kirk look-alike contest advertised at University of South Carolina to mark killing
An apparent Charlie Kirk look-alike contest called "Kirkiversary" is being advertised at the University of South Carolina for Sept. 10, the anniversary of the conservative activist’s assassination.
A screenshot of an anonymous Yik Yak post circulating on social media advertises a "Charlie Kirk look-alike contest" on Greene Street outside USC’s Russell House at 7 p.m., offering a $50 prize and telling prospective participants, "Be there or be square."
Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University during his "American Comeback Tour."
It was not immediately clear who created the post or organized the apparent event, whether those involved are USC students or not.
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Libs of TikTok amplified the post Wednesday, characterizing the contest as an event organized by students to celebrate Kirk’s assassination and calling it "demonic." The underlying Yik Yak post reviewed by Fox News Digital referred to the event as "Kirkiversary" but does not explicitly state that its purpose is to celebrate Kirk’s killing.
The University of South Carolina replied to the Libs of TikTok post saying, "We have no record of any registered student organization planning such an event. No university resources will be used to support this. DM us if you’d like a contact here that can help verify claims like this ahead of posting."
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Students at Georgetown University also allegedly planned a Kirk "lookalike contest" for the anniversary of his assassination, with the event drawing thousands of upvotes at the elite Washington, D.C., campus, according to screenshots shared with Fox News Digital by the school’s Turning Point USA chapter.
The Sept. 10 event was promoted on Fizz, an anonymous social media platform popular with Georgetown students, where the initial announcement received more than 2,200 upvotes. Georgetown's undergraduate population is roughly 6,000.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the University of South Carolina for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Jet plunges 27,000 feet in 10 minutes as oxygen masks suddenly drop aboard flight
Travelers aboard a recent Delta Air Lines flight faced a midair scare when oxygen masks suddenly dropped in the passenger cabin.
A pressurization issue occurred aboard Delta Flight 2311 on Sept. 6, prompting the crew to bring the plane to a lower altitude and divert to Las Vegas, a Delta spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The flight was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members.
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"As safety comes before everything else at Delta, the flight crew of Delta flight 2311 LAX-SLC followed their training and procedures to safely bring the aircraft to optimal altitude when an unexpected pressurization issue occurred," the spokesperson said.
The flight, which was traveling from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, descended roughly 27,000 feet in about 10 minutes as oxygen masks deployed in the cabin, according to reports.
News of the rapid descent could be heard in communications between the pilots and air traffic control.
"Delta 2311 currently [in] rapid descent. We'd like to get down to 9,000, and we're direct [to] Las Vegas," a pilot said in an air traffic control recording, according to reports.
When an air traffic controller asked, "Is the oxygen deployed?" the pilot responded, "Affirmative."
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The aircraft landed safely at Harry Reid International Airport in Vegas, where passengers exited normally, according to Delta.
Delta arranged for another aircraft so that passengers could continue on with their journey.
"Delta sincerely apologizes to our customers for their experience and thanks our flight crews and other support teams on the ground for their professionalism," the spokesperson said.
Matthew "Whiz" Buckley of Florida, a retired U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter pilot with nearly 40 years of flying experience, said such a pressurization occurrence "is an extremely rare issue" in the United States.
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In a case such as the Delta one, he told Fox News Digital pilots in this scenario would need "to land as soon as practical — meaning, what's the closest airfield with a nice, long, suitable runway where we can get this thing on the ground safely."
The incident drew attention online. A passenger aboard the flight talked about the chaos inside the cabin.
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"The scariest part wasn't even the descent — it was not knowing what was going on," the passenger wrote on Reddit. "Flight attendants were trying to make announcements with their masks on, and it was almost impossible to hear them."
The passenger was reportedly asleep when a fiancé said something about what was going on.
"It took me another second of 'Is this real or am I dreaming?' before getting our masks on," the traveler wrote.
"I was frantically trying to see if I could get on WiFi because I didn't know if I was going to have to be sending out 'I love you' texts," the person added.
Other travelers responded to the post by sharing their own experiences with oxygen masks and rapid descents.
One Reddit user recalled a previous Delta flight that descended from about 34,000 feet to 10,000 feet while passengers wore oxygen masks.
"The several minutes of rapid descent ... [were] pretty jarring until the captain finally came on the mic once we were at a safe altitude," the commenter wrote, adding that passengers remained quiet and focused on breathing through their masks.