Big Mick Energy

Michael Gove has been known among certain parliamentary colleagues as “Donkey” for years now (on account of the way that he is supposedly hung) but that nickname is clearly a little too ‘thinky’ for some of the journalists covering the current leadership race.

They’ve plumped for a different nickname. The altogether less subtle “Big Dick Mick”.

When filming wrapped on the movie Gravity, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney gave each member of the crew a gift. Everyone was given a flat, fairly heavy box which contained two long bits of rope and a large piece of wood that was inscribed with a special thank you message from Sandra and George.

It was a swing, given to encourage everyone to “keep defying gravity and soar!”

Trouble is, as most of the crew live in modest flats (and not huge Hollywood mansions) no-one has really been able to use this thoughtful gift as intended.

Still, on the plus side, many of them now have some very fancy cheeseboards.

Which big-time pop star caused a non-famous friend to fall behind on rent because they took so long to pay back the grand their mate kindly stumped up to cover the cost of the star’s cocaine order one night?

She’s a veteran of dozens of fly-on-the-wall shows, so Katie Price knows better than most how to bend reality to her benefit, but it seems that the boundaries between scripted reality and actual reality are maybe starting to blur a bit in her world.

We hear from the set of her latest docu-show that when members of the crew have reason to call her they are specifically instructed to wrap up the conservation by saying “I love you!” and the call can’t end until Katie has responded with the same.

A secret code for sensitive production calls? Let’s hope so – because the alternative is almost too bleak to contemplate.

Christina Ricci suffers from a very specific fear of plants, a condition known as ‘botanophobia’. Apparently she can just about deal with the petals of flowers, but if she brushes up against a leaf she is liable to “lose her shit” and walking on grass is out of the question.

If she ever wants to set up a support group for like-minded people, she might want to talk to Frank Ocean. When he played Lovebox Festival a few years back, one of his lackies was heard explaining to the artist liaison that “Frank won’t walk on grass.”

Which must have made navigating Victoria Park a little tricky…

Popbitch turns 20 at the end of this year. As we approach this milestone, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the weirder events of the century so far.

Over the coming weeks and months, in the run-up to our birthday, we’ll be publishing a loose collection of stories that revisit some of the more Popbitchy pop culture moments of the last 20 years, to ensure they get their rightful place in the annals of history.

THIS WEEK: Paul Danan screaming “MAKE SOME MOTHERFUCKING NOISE!” at the Preston Xmas switch-on, Leslie Grantham getting sexy in his Captain’s costume, and we ask again if there’s anything that a celebrity can actually do to kill their career.

[Read ‘Noise And Fury’ on Popbitch]

Before this weekend, the last time that Liverpool won the Champions League was in 2005. A small group of reporters managed to cadge their way on to one of the club buses as it paraded around the city. While on the bus, one tabloid hack took a call from his editor who needed to know the size of the crowd cheering on the team.

Having no real idea, he blurted out “750,000” – and then suggested to all the other reporters that if they all just agreed to stick to that figure, they’d all be OK for the day. So they did.

The story came to mind on Sunday when the city of Liverpool was celebrating again. And how many people did the press think were out on the street?

Yep, you guessed it.

Looks like our story of Robbie Williams hocking up a loogie on his lover might have cleared up a little mystery for a cleaning company last week.

Someone who spent some time working for the fancy-pants laundry service that took care of Robbie’s delicates a few years back had a rather unwelcome flashback to the time they took receipt of his luxury linens to find that they were covered in all manner of stains. Most of them were recognisable – but there was one mystery substance that they just couldn’t put their finger on.

Whatever it was, they were unable to lift it. In fact, in trying to remove it they ended up causing further damage to the sheet so just ended up giving him a replacement set instead.

With a further round of redundancies due to take place at the Sun, it looks as if News UK is trying to practice radical transparency with its staff. They announced that the news budget is looking to be slashed by 75%, online by 25% and they’re telling people that this is the last time that any properly decent redundancy terms will be offered, so anyone interested should go now.

Things there accidentally got a little too transparent earlier this week though after someone in HR mistakenly sent a private email out to the whole of the staff. It was a tax query about a third party’s medical treatment, which also contained some discussion of the impact it had had on the company’s private healthcare scheme. Oops!

Earlier this week, Tory hopeful Jeremy Hunt let slip that he knew Boris Johnson had shorter odds than him at Ladbrokes. It’s no surprise that MPs are clued in to the movements on political betting markets (not least because the bookies have sometimes outperformed the pollsters in recent elections) but it’s unusual to hear them speak about it so directly. It’s supposed to be one of their secret weapons.

In fact, there’s a strong rumour going around those in the know that the reason Andrea Leadsom’s odds are as short as they is that people in her camp are steadily backing her on Betfair’s exchange market in order to manipulate her price. Which would explain why she appears to still be doing so well with none of her colleagues coming out to back her.

Popbitch Popquiz on Tuesday 11th June; last few tables!
[Book your team in now]

The Vengaboys, welcome to the resistance!
[Read on Reuters]

Michael Cohen is the top dog in celeb jail, with fellow inmates Billy McFarland and The Situation
[Read at Daily Beast]

Snoop Dogg and the world’s largest gin and juice
[See on USA Today]

The Eazy-E Memorial Bench is proving to be quite divisive in Newhaven
[Read on The Argus]

Local News Of The Week: bin-humper edition
[See on Daily Echo]

The “Oi Trump” cock is now a sea turtle
[See the transformation]

Sad otter news
[Don’t feed them human food!]

Still Bored?
Popbitch favourite Neil Hamburger has a new show at Soho Theatre this month. We’re going to be at the opening night (Monday 17th June) and you can join us. Use the promo code “PBHAMBURGER” to get a £10 ticket which includes a free drink at the bar. Come and say hi if you see us!
[Last few on sale]