Pop Apologists
268: Blake Lively’s Donut Shop Controversy, White Lotus Finale, & a Bold Taylor Swift Prediction
Wed, 09 Apr 2025
Lauren and Chan chat about the countdown to Chan’s wedding and take a stroll down memory lane (0:47). They discuss the backlash over Blake Lively’s time at a donut shop (8:51), the White Lotus finale (15:03), Lauren’s suspicions about Taylor and Travis (30:18), Sydney Sweeney’s breakup + potential new romance (32:27), Meghan Markle’s new podcast “Confessions of a Female Founder” (37:42), Erin and Abe Lichy’s new podcast “Come Together” (43:59), and finally, their top picks for the Sephora sale (50:57). Check out our amazing sponsors:Clean Simple Eats: Shop Clean Simple Eats protein powder and use code POPAPOLOGISTS for 10% off!Earlybird: Click here to try EarlyBird CBD/THC gummies and use code POP20 for 20% off. Cozy Earth: Prioritize your sleep! Visit CozyEarth.com/POP and use our exclusive code POP for 40% off best-selling sheets, towels, pajamas, and more. And if you get a post-purchase survey, let them know you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Sleep better with Cozy Earth.Progressive: Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance.Please note this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.For more Pop Apologists, follow along at:@popapologists on InstagramPop Apologists on YouTubeTo support the show, consider subscribing on Patreon or anywhere you listen to podcasts, where you can get a bonus episode of Pop Apologists every Friday!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What are Lauren's wedding preparations and mental state?
You are three weeks away from your wedding. How's your mental state? How's your physical state? Tell us everything. Physical state, great. Feeling like I'm locked in, I just need to hold steady. I need to just keep the plane at a cruising altitude. I need nothing to go terribly wrong. I need no cystic acne to come my way. And then I think starting after this week, I will start to shelter in place.
You will. So you are going to quarantine, like I suggested. I'm going to shelter in place for sure. But yeah, after this weekend, we have one big party, you know, thing to go to this weekend. And then after that, the social engagements are going to start to die down. And it's really time for us to hunker down. I need to finish writing my vows. I'm just going into my mental state.
I'm waking up a little earlier every day, you know, feeling a little bit like stressed, like there's more and more to do. But overall, I am okay. I'm not. I mean, I don't know. What do you think? How do you think I am? because I'm like, I can't really say much more beyond the fact that I think I am okay. I think that you're doing, I think you're doing great.
I think that basically almost everything is done. I think all I's are dotted and T's are crossed. Yes. So you seem like you're doing great to me. I'm doing, I'm doing good. I just need nothing to go wrong. One thing you said, which I think will resonate.
And I think we have talked about is you're excited to, you said this when you were talking to me earlier today, you're like, I'm excited to not be worried about being like about looking my best. Like I'm just so ready for that worry to be over. Come May 3rd, May 4th, this shit is hitting the fan. Oh, let it all go. I am just so... I mean, we've had a long engagement.
We've been dating for a long time. You know, I've been pulling out all the stops for a minute here. And I'm ready to just sort of let go, let God... And yeah, I'm potentially considering dying my hair darker. Oh, OK. I'm considering cutting it in a crazy way. I've got big plans for my low maintenance look after this. Yeah, because it's been a high maintenance couple months for you.
It's been a high maintenance couple months. It's been a high maintenance life. That's true. So yeah, anyway, I do have something kind of cute to show you. Okay. It's a little bit of a surprise. Okay. Because I did a little bit of digging yesterday.
Okay.
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Chapter 2: What is the story behind Lauren's new relationship and its origin?
I want to do something with what I'm about to show you, but I just thought it might be kind of cute to go down memory lane for a second. Okay, so everyone, I'm going to play for you a Patreon from January 25th, 2021. Not an entire, a clip. A clip, yeah. No, we're just going to... Recut this episode. Wow, we're really working soft today. We have about a 40-minute Patreon we're going to play you.
And we'll just put this clip in here. Okay, we'll see you on the other side. No, okay, everyone listen to this. This is January 25th, 2021. I will say with a very tight lip, because you never know what happens, but I went on a very special first date. Oh, you did.
Okay, so before you say, oh, you did, you and I have been casually chatting about how I'm considering the idea of spending a month in New York, you know, that summer. We were talking about that on the podcast. We were talking about that on the podcast. I mean, do you want me to play that part? No, but were those plans related to this?
It's just, it's hilarious that I thought people couldn't see right through this. Because listen. Let me tell you this. So I went on, it was a great first date. We're going to see what happens, but yeah, we'll see. I'm very excited. Soon, sooner than you'd think. Okay, cool. Where's the person live? The person lives on the other side of the country.
Oh, maybe New York where you want to get your movie from?
The thing is... I see right through this little wanderlust plan that you thought you would hatch. No, Lauren, the thing is, the truth is of the matter that I was talking about this before the first date. People leave New York in the summer. They don't go to it. They continue. But I did think about this before the first date.
about moving to his city for a month it would be an added bonus a little bit stalkerish an added bonus okay it would be a bonus but we'll see no one knows what's gonna happen you know there's still months to go but um yeah well very excited for you happy to monitor if that's the right word or hear how this can how this relationship continues to blossom we'll see how it evolves we don't know
Okay, so that was January 25th. Our first date was January 16th. Okay. So what was that nine days later that I'm talking about potentially moving to his city? Okay, that is psychotic. Psychotic. I mean, I do remember thinking that that was something I wanted to do, but like after meeting him, I was like, that wouldn't be so bad.
Even if we were going to break up, I was like, I want, you know, this could be fun. Okay, so the next clip I'm going to play for you is from February 1st. So a mere five days later. All right.
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Chapter 3: What happened with Blake Lively’s donut shop controversy?
While all of this just seemed like another run-of-the-mill celebrity appearance for social media attention, which it received, what it ended as was a chance for those who were not exactly playing for Team Lively in her ongoing legal disputes with Justin Baldoni to somehow believe that the best way to respond to this was to lodge a wave of complaints against the donut shop with the Wilton Health Department.
As reported by TMZ, complaints of Lively working in the company's kitchen without the appropriate hairnet in place saw an investigation being launched into the business.
Following reports of Lively posing a health risk by working in Rise Donut's kitchen without a hairnet, potentially distributing strands of her golden hair over the glossy sweet treats like sugar strands, Wilton Health Department were required to visit the establishment to ensure that the quote disgusting and quote unsanitary practices were not being carried out on the premises.
Talk about a witch hunt. I think this is insane. Yeah. People should not be attacking a small business, a small donut shop business, because Blake Lively decided to have a PR moment there.
Right.
All of her PR things at this point definitely feel manufactured and like she's trying to, you know, win back favor, you know, from everyone. But to attack this small business and like report it to the health department or whatever, I just need to speak to everyone, you know, on Team Justin right now. You're making us look bad. Yes.
It's making us look like we cannot, you know, see the forest from the trees or whatever, some type of expression like that. Let's just stick to the facts. Let's stick to the things that are actually important and, you know, actually worth being upset about in this case. Let's actually only lob our complaints against the named people in this lawsuit, not the mom and pop owners of this donut shop.
Also, let me just say, I have firsthand experience in food service. Okay. Okay.
worked at a at pete's coffee and tea worked as a server for a while both in both of those jobs i did not have to have my hair up you can have your hair half back yeah that's so interesting i don't think i always wear my hair my hair up either her hair is fully down which does seem to me like a little bit over the line we'll say her hair is quite yeah and it is very voluminous it's like it's it's you know there's a i'm not gonna say it but you know
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Chapter 4: How did the White Lotus finale end and what were the key themes?
Yeah.
But that was like she was talking about how her life is amazing now. Yeah. I don't know. I guess I was like interpreting that, too, as like the friendships that she's that she has. OK. But I agree with you. You know, it's on some level. I just felt like. The friendships still were, even though they were long friendships, they still seemed surface to me.
And it seemed like there wasn't a lot of actual sharing and it was a lot of kind of surface level conversation. I wish that it had been a better mix of that. Because I think that's more realistic. You know, it has, maybe it has superficial moments, but it also has, you know, in the next breath, really vulnerable moments. No, exactly.
It's like, you're not, every moment with your friends is not you sharing, like, your deepest fear, Dorinda Medley style. Yes. Like, that would be exhausting and no one wants that. Mm-hmm. But I think that true friendships, you do know what your friend is really struggling with and you have shared. And I just think that that for me was like a missing moment.
And so when she says like these friendships give me meaning because we've had so much time together. It just rang a little hollow to me because the friendships didn't seem actually that deep or authentic. They seemed really based on time. And ultimately, old friends are so important. You can never make new old friends again.
But on some level, I also just don't know that that's enough to keep investing in people if the relationships aren't based on true authenticity. So that's my take. I think that's a really smart take. I think that's true. And now I can understand why it felt a little bit more hollow to you. I wish that we'd had like another episode.
to see them kind of coming through the drama that happened on the trip and just enjoying being together after they'd had a little bit of a moment. Right. That would have made, then, I feel like, the payoff feel a lot better. Yeah.
And I just feel like, I don't know, personally, as I get older, I just feel like I have less patience for superficial friendships and friendships that feel like, oh, we just do x, y, and z together, but we don't actually really know each other.
i didn't see and i didn't feel like that was the whole dynamic of them the entire time i mean i when i say superficial i meant like you know they were a little bit like snide with each other but i felt like these were women who who had been through things together i guess for sure yeah i don't know i i really like i like that part of the entire show i mean their scenes were my favorite it was like the least like caricature
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Chapter 5: What was Lauren's personal story related to Thailand and worldly experiences?
They watched taken. And they're like, wow. Mom's like, dad does not have months to go look for you. I remember her saying that. I don't remember the story, but I absolutely remember her saying that. She was like, he has a business to run. He doesn't have months to go looking for you in Thailand. I love, I love that. She's like, I just, that's so funny. So mom, I remember.
I don't have to go to Thailand.
I don't have to spend three months in a hundred degree weather. I could not have been more thrilled that I did not have to go at the end of the day, but I didn't want to pull out because they'd already paid like three grand for this trip or whatever. I mean, that's a nice way to think about, you know, why you didn't want to pull out of the trip.
And maybe that was a little bit of it, but I think you also were a very serious person and you thought like, this was my calling. No, I never thought. I think you were just a. I wanted a worldly experience for sure. Yeah, worldly. Yeah, you wanted. Why would that not be worldly? No, it is worldly. But when I think of the word worldly, I think about like diamonds and fast cars.
Oh, no, I think about like cultures. That's the difference.
Wow.
No, and you did want that at those experiences. So I think. I mean, I don't want them anymore. Yeah. So I'm good. Yeah. You want them in smaller doses and like Amman. I would love it. Yeah, exactly. I would love an Amman culture experience.
Yeah.
Anyway. But that's so funny. Your dad does not have months to go look for you. And I truly was Piper, like being like so happy I didn't actually have to go. And when she's like, I'm so sorry I brought you here. And they're like, it's fine. It's fine. Anyway, I just felt her relief. What does she say to you?
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