The Emmys Were an Emotional Wrecking Ball: Catherine O'Hara's TV Kids Made Martin Short Cry, Colbert Won After Getting Canceled, and Shailene Woodley Wore Five Outfits at Once
Quick Hits
- The Catherine O'Hara tribute is the video ending us all. Her onscreen children — yes, including Macaulay Culkin — gathered to honor her at the 78th Emmys, and the camera cutting to Martin Short wiping away tears is the moment that broke the internet, per BuzzFeed.
- Stephen Colbert's canceled 'Late Show' just won the Emmy for outstanding variety series, and he used the moment to tell the industry to hire his crew. 'Widow's Bay' and Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime were also among the night's big winners, per Billboard.
- Drake dropped 'FOMO', a self-described "not so short film," featuring new collabs with Ella Langley and Don Toliver — and an intimate moment between Drake's mom and her best friends that Rolling Stone flagged as a highlight.
- Shailene Woodley is having a week. Her Emmys look is being called straight-up rage-bait ("the outfit a toddler wears after throwing a tantrum all morning and their parents gave up"), AND she finally responded to Aaron Rodgers' claims about their split.
- The international Oscar race is loading: Spain picked Cannes sensation 'La Bola Negra,' Indonesia chose 'Four Seasons in Java,' and Finland's 'The Squirrel' already has Aki Kaurismäki calling it "like '2001: A Space Odyssey,' but better."
What's Trending
- The O'Hara tribute is genuinely the tearjerker of the year — BuzzFeed says the mega-viral video of her onscreen kids honoring her has "everyone in tears," and honestly, the Martin Short cutaway is the moment where you lose it too.
- Peak chaos counterprogramming: the internet spent the same night dragging Rachel Sennott and Odessa A'zion's "deeply painful" Emmys segment, with one viral take comparing it to "when the 'popular girls' have to present their group project to the class." Ouch.
- Shailene's Emmys look inspired such brutal memes that people are convinced she's rage-baiting us on purpose — "she's wearing five different outfits and all of them are awful" is the energy of the entire discourse.
- Meanwhile, in adorable corner: Elle and Dakota Fanning signed their viral dance-table photo at the Emmys, per r/popculturechat. The sisters said signed-artifact supremacy, and I'll be thinking about it all week.
Music
- Drake's 'FOMO' arrived Tuesday night after days of fan theories about what it would even be, and Billboard immediately published a full "everything we learned" breakdown. Headline discoveries per Rolling Stone: new Ella Langley and Don Toliver collaborations, and yes, the softest moment in the whole film belongs to Drake's mom and her best friends.
- Lil Wayne is DONE with the NFL after exactly one game. He vented on X that refs cost the Packers the loss and declared "I'm out on the NFL this year." One game, Weezy. One.
- Calvin Harris announced his first-ever headline tour of Australia — a four-city, coast-to-coast run landing February 2027. Wild that it took this long, but better late than never, mates.
- Colombian singer ARIA VEGA couldn't be happier, and fair enough: her very first Billboard chart entry, "Chévere" with Ryan Castro, rocketed 6-1 on the overall Latin Airplay chart. Debut and No. 1 in one move — that's the dream.
- Chinese superstar Adam Fan (Fan Chengcheng) released his debut full-length English-language album, 'Skyfall,' officially going for global audiences.
Movies & TV
- The 78th Emmys, held at the Peacock Theater in L.A., sent 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' out in style with the outstanding variety series win following CBS's cancellation. Colbert told Rolling Stone "free speech is alive and well" and that late night is "just as funny and just as vital as it ever has been" — and, per the r/popculturechat thread, urged the industry to hire his crew: "They will make your show better!" Get you a finale like that.
- 'Vivant' just made history: the TBS drama became the first Japanese show ever to top ampd Analytics' monthly Asia streaming ranking (excluding China and India), outdrawing everything else on the continent last month.
- Oscar submissions are stacking up: Spain went with Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's Cannes sensation 'La Bola Negra'; Indonesia selected Kamila Andini's 'Four Seasons in Java'; and Finland's pick, Markus Lehmusruusu's 'The Squirrel,' comes pre-blessed by Aki Kaurismäki, who reportedly called it a masterpiece — "like '2001,' but better because it's full of humanism." The quote of awards season, already.
- Festival season check: Busan locked its juries and will host Netflix's Creative Asia on Oct. 10, where Peter Jackson's Weta FX will talk AI; Cate Blanchett is headed to the Tokyo International Film Festival for the Japan premieres of the Displacement Film Fund shorts; and per Variety, John Abraham has started shooting the psychological thriller 'Guru' with director Ribhu Dasgupta.
Celebrity Tea
- Shailene Woodley was asked about Aaron Rodgers' shocking claims regarding their split, and BuzzFeed's read is that her response "kinda says it all." Their verdict: "No notes." Whatever she did — the silence, the look, the vibe — it apparently did more than a full statement ever could. Between this and the Emmys memes, she's dominating the conversation without trying (or maybe trying very hard, if the rage-bait theorists are right).
TikTok & Internet
- The verdict is in on TikTok shopping: BuzzFeed rounded up 27 products reviewers swear actually live up to the hype, with one convert declaring, "This is a product I will not go without now that I know it exists." The algorithm wins again.
- In heavier creator news: TMZ published video of car influencer James Wehr's fatal crash, and the family of passenger Lexi Kramer says Wehr hid his infidelity and misled her about his divorce being nearly finalized before flying her to California for their first date. A grim one — sending love to everyone affected.
- And for your procrastination needs: BuzzFeed has a quiz to identify '90s throwback icons from three songs (if you can't name the "My Heart Will Go On" artist, we need to talk) and a BookTok quiz that tells you which character you are. Good luck getting anything else done today.