The Seattle Medium has announced the official nominees for its inaugural Best of the Best Northwest Readers’ Choice Awards, with community voting opening June 1 and continuing through June 19, 2026.
The awards program recognizes outstanding businesses, nonprofits, community leaders, educators, athletes, advocates and cultural institutions throughout the Pacific Northwest. Nominees were selected through a public nomination process that generated submissions from readers across the region.
“The response from the community has been tremendous,” said Chris B. Bennett, publisher and CEO of The Seattle Medium. “These awards were created to celebrate the individuals, businesses and organizations that are making a positive impact in our communities every day. We encourage everyone to participate in the voting process and help recognize those who are helping move our communities forward.”
The Best of the Best Northwest Readers’ Choice Awards feature nominees in eight major categories: Community Leadership, Youth & Education, Coaches & Athletics, Business & Enterprise, Non-Profits & Community Impact, Food & Dining, Personal Care & Wellness and Black Beverage Makers.
Nominees include elected officials, community advocates, nonprofit organizations, educators, coaches, entrepreneurs, restaurants, cultural institutions and youth-serving organizations from throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Among this year’s nominees are respected community organizations such as the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Freedom Project, Atlantic Street Center, Tubman Center for Health & Freedom, Central Area Youth Association, Byrd Barr Place and Africatown. Individual nominees include Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, State Sen. T’wina Nobles, State Rep. Jamila Taylor, Attorney General Nick Brown and numerous community advocates, educators, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders.
The awards were created to celebrate excellence while increasing visibility for the businesses, organizations and individuals who continue to strengthen communities throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Voting will take place online from June 1 through June 19, 2026, at BestoftheBestNorthwest.com. Winners will be determined by reader votes and recognized in a special Best of the Best Northwest publication and across The Seattle Medium’s digital platforms.
The complete list of official nominees appears below.
Williams, 44, never officially announced her retirement, but it’s been almost four years since her last match. Late last year, though, the 23-time grand slam singles champion started taking steps toward a possible return to action.
“Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,” Williams said in a statement on the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) website. “Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages.”
Williams last played in 2022, when she lost in the US Open to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović. At the time, she did not use the word “retirement,” instead saying she was “evolving away from tennis.”
The HSBC Championships are due to start in London on June 6 with women’s qualifying. The women’s main draw will then begin on June 8.
Williams is set to feature in the doubles tournament, but it’s not yet clear who her partner will be.
Hinted return
Until now, there had been no official confirmation that the American would be returning to the sport that she dominated for so many years. But there were signs.
In December 2025, her name appeared on a list on the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) website showing players registered in the international testing pool. The document was dated October 6, 2025.
Returning players can’t compete unless they’ve given at least six months’ written notice of their intent to return, as well as make themselves available for testing for a period of six months before competing, according to tennis anti-doping rules.
Williams, though, tried to dampen expectation at the time.
On Monday, though, the 44-year-old posted what seemed like a cryptic video on her social media, which showed her walking on a tennis court before it ended with the words: “Guess everybody heard the news.”
Then, shortly after, Queen’s Club made it official, announcing she had been given a wild card entry into the doubles draw.
The grass-court tournament also serves as a build-up to Wimbledon, a place where Williams has won seven singles, six doubles and one mixed-doubles title. It’s not yet clear whether Williams will participate in the major this year.
Wimbledon posted a message on social media reacting to the news, though, reacting with a caption that read: “Serena on grass” with a green heart emoji.
“Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen, and we’re delighted that she will be making her return to tennis at the LTA’s HSBC Championships,” WTA tournament director Laura Robson said in a statement Monday.
“Women’s tennis made a historic return to The Queen’s Club last year, and now we have an icon of the game stepping back on to court at this prestigious venue – it’s very exciting for the tournament and the fans.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
Victor Wembanyama celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder to win Game 7 on Saturday night. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Victor Wembanyama celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder to win Game 7 on Saturday night. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Jacob Lev, CNN
(CNN) — The San Antonio Spurs went into Oklahoma City and knocked off the defending champs on their home court in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday.
They’ll play the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, which begin on Wednesday, a rematch of the 1999 Finals – the last time the Knicks had a chance to win the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
The Spurs outlasted the reigning champions, Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in a tense deciding game.
“Back in October, we knew we had a chance to be pretty good,” said head coach Mitch Johnson after the game to the NBC broadcast. He praised his team for “giving themselves to each other, to the program, and everything that we’ve done. Oklahoma City’s a helluva organization, and what a series.”
He alluded to the youth of his team, in their first playoff run since 2019, when he said it wasn’t experience that got them to the Finals.
“There’s been a lot being talked about, just words like competitiveness, resolve, togetherness, execution. … I don’t give a damn about the word experience,” he said.
Led by Victor Wembanyama, who finished with 22 points and seven rebounds, the Spurs clinched a spot in the Finals for the first time since 2014.
It was the kind of dramatic Game 7 that a classic series deserved – one that saw both teams eke out close wins and run away with blowouts as the Spurs and Thunder established their matchup as the premier rivalry in the NBA right now. The physical, rollicking deciding game in OKC on Saturday showed that it might be the rivalry to watch in the league for years to come.
The Spurs came out of the gates hot, quickly taking a 14-point lead, leaving the raucous Continental Coliseum crowd stunned.
But the Thunder stormed back to briefly take the lead just before halftime behind reigning two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander’s 13 points in the second quarter.
However, OKC’s momentum did not last as San Antonio surged right back to a double-digit lead behind a 16-2 run in the third quarter led by Julian Champagnie’s six three-pointers.
Like all game long, the Thunder could never be counted out.
SGA clawed the team back into the game, only trailing by three points entering the final quarter.
But San Antonio had an answer for every Thunder response down the stretch, securing the victory.
It has been quite the turnaround for the Spurs, a team that drafted Wembanyama first overall in 2023 and finished 13th in the Western Conference last season.
The 22-year-old Wembanyama was emotional, bursting into tears as the final horn blew and again choking back emotions after being named the Most Valuable Player of the WCF.
The French center said the emotions came from “realizing some part” of his childhood dreams will come true.
“Even though we still have one more, this feeling is – I can’t explain it,” Wembanyama told the NBC broadcast while holding the Earvin “Magic” Johnson Trophy. “It’s so powerful.”
The Spurs will host the Knicks on Wednesday at Frost Bank Center and Wemby had one message for the fans.
“We want four more, we are not done. Go Spurs, go,” Wembanyama yelled.
The Thunder’s attempt at becoming the first NBA team to successfully defend their title for the first time since the Golden State Warriors did so in 2017 and 2018 came up short.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a game-high 35 points and nine assists but wasn’t enough to carry a Thunder team that limped to the finish line, dealing with fatigue and a slew of injuries.
“They were just the better team tonight from start to finish,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters after the game. “And then every time we tried to cut into it and take control of the game, it felt like they had an answer.
“And a lot of the time, it felt like tough shot making. So, hats off to them. They played better tonight and they deserved to win again.”
The Finals will make a bit of history: The Knicks’ Mike Brown and Spurs’ Johnson will become the fourth pair of Black head coaches to face off in the Finals – the first time since 2024 when Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and then-Mavericks coach Jason Kidd went to head-to-head.
A fountain outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 14, 2026. (Will Dunham/Reuters via CNN Newsource)
A fountain outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 14, 2026. (Will Dunham/Reuters via CNN Newsource)
By Emily Condon, John Fritze, CNN
(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Monday sided with a death row inmate in Florida who was blocked from challenging his sentence even though a lower court acknowledged a key witness lied on stand, marking the third time the conservative high court has backed an inmate sentenced to death in recent weeks.
In an unsigned opinion, the court threw out a decision from a federal appeals court that sided with the state because, it said, the judges considered DNA evidence that had not been presented at trial. Over a dissent from two conservative justices, the Supreme Court’s summary decision will require the federal appeals court to take another look at the case.
It was the latest of several high-profile death penalty cases in which the Supreme Court has sided with a defendant over the objection of some members of the court’s conservative wing.
Last week, the court ruled in favor of a Black man on death row in Mississippi who said the prosecutor engaged in racial bias by striking Black jurors. A week earlier, the court let stand an appeals court decision that barred Alabama from executing a man that lower courts found is likely intellectually disabled.
Especially on its emergency docket, the Supreme Court rarely steps in to stop an execution. In May, the court denied requests to halt executions in Tennessee and Florida.
But the record is more mixed in merits cases. Last year, the Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Richard Glossip, whose appeal drew national attention and support from the state’s conservative attorney general. After nearly three decades in prison and three last meals, Glossip was released on bond last month.
Whitton’s bloody boots
The Florida inmate, Gary Richard Whitton, was convicted in 1992 for the 1990 murder of his friend James Maulden in a motel. Whitton has denied his guilt and is attempting to have his conviction overturned. The case, initially tried before a Florida jury, has made its way through five Florida or federal courts in over 30 years, most recently the Florida Supreme Court and the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Maulden was found in his room at the Sun and Sand Motel in Destin, Florida. His skull was fractured, court records show, and he had been repeatedly stabbed in the chest and other parts of his body.
Whitton had unsuccessfully appealed to the Supreme Court twice before.
The Supreme Court’s decision Monday drew a sharp dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas, who said his colleagues had overread the significance of the 11th Circuit’s focus on the DNA testing. And, Thomas wrote, the majority had been willing to swoop into Whitton’s case even when it has failed to do so in a series of other cases he felt were just as worthy.
The justices were reviewing an 11th Circuit decision that acknowledged prosecutors failed to disclose that a key witness named Jake Ozio had been previously arrested as a juvenile, even though he claimed on the stand that was not the case. But the federal appeals court ruled that it didn’t matter due to other “overwhelming” evidence against Whitton.
That other evidence, the appeals court said, included a 2002 DNA retest that linked splattered blood on Whitton’s boots to the victim. But that test was conducted a decade after the trial and was never admitted in court.
“The Court of Appeals did something peculiar: It considered not only the evidence that was presented to the jury at Whitton’s trial, but also evidence the jury never saw,” the Supreme Court said in its decision Monday. “The evidence in question relates to blood stains on Whitton’s boots, which were seized the day after the murder.”
At Whitton’s trial, the jury heard an opposite account of the blood from a DNA specialist who said the blood found on Whitton’s boots did not match the victim’s DNA. Two co-inmates of Whitton, including Ozio, also testified that he told them he “stabbed the bastard,” while in jail, but both have since recanted their statements.
Whitton’s attorney argued that the circuit court should not be allowed to consider the 2002 test. Florida officials counter that the boots were not central to the 11th Circuit’s reasoning, and they note that federal law restricts the ability of courts to review state criminal convictions.
Thomas: Decision is ‘unfortunate’
And that is the point that Thomas made in a dissent joined in part by Justice Samuel Alito.
Thomas wrote that the court was basing its decision on “one-and-a-half sentences” in the appeals court opinion.
“In rejecting one of Whitton’s claims — which would fail on other grounds anyway — the Eleventh Circuit mentioned a fact that was notable but certainly not dispositive to its analysis: DNA testing had since further confirmed that Whitton is guilty.”
Toward the end of the opinion, Thomas also opined about several other non-death penalty cases in which the Supreme Court has declined to weigh in with a summary decision. That included a high-profile case the Supreme Court declined to hear two years ago dealing with whether three elite Boston public schools violated the Constitution with a zip-code based admissions policy intended to ensure racial diversity.
“Even when presented with multiple opportunities to vindicate the rights of families to pursue education for their children on color-blind terms, this court ‘refused to correct a glaring constitutional error,’” Thomas wrote in his dissent.
The conservative justice also pointed to a recent case the court declined to hear last year involving Indiana University’s “bias response team,” an effort to lower the temperature of heated rhetoric that critics say winds up chilling speech on campus.
“It is unfortunate that the court chose to intervene at the request of a convicted murderer to correct the Eleventh Circuit’s inconsequential foot fault,” Thomas wrote. “What makes it even worse is that the court does so even while it refuses to correct far more consequential errors for law-abiding citizens, such as the discriminated-against families in Boston.”
Musicians Young MC, Bret Michaels and Martina McBride are among the artists who are dropping out of a concert series meant to mark America's 250th anniversary. (Shutterstock via CNN Newsource)
Musicians Young MC, Bret Michaels and Martina McBride are among the artists who are dropping out of a concert series meant to mark America’s 250th anniversary. (Shutterstock via CNN Newsource)
By T.M. Brown, Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump is now hosting the opening ceremony for the Great American State Fair after several performing artists pulled out of the event’s concert series.
“As the visionary behind the Great American State Fair, we are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24 in an opening ceremony celebrating America’s 250th birthday,” Freedom 250 spokesperson Danielle Alvarez told CNN in a statement.
The announcement comes after a majority of the artists booked to perform at a marquee concert series for the event dropped out this week. The Commodores, Martina McBride, Morris Day and the Time, Poison frontman Bret Michaels, and rapper Young MC have all publicly distanced themselves from the string of performances scheduled to take place on the National Mall in Washington, DC, from June 25 through July 10.
“I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” McBride, the country star, wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday announcing her decision not to perform.
Freedom 250 is a White House organization launched by executive order to create Trump-driven alternatives to the events planned by the nonpartisan United States Semiquincentennial Commission, America250. The announced concert lineup was heavily tilted toward legacy acts like Morris Day and Vanilla Ice, and many of them share the same booking agent in Jeff Epstein of Universal Attractions. Epstein did not respond to repeat requests for comment.
Trump mocked performers who have withdrawn from the event, saying on social media Saturday that they were getting “the yips” and suggesting he could replace them as the featured attraction.
”We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” he posted later Saturday, adding, “Cancel it.”
All of the artists who have pulled out suggested they were misled about the event’s political associations. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” Young MC said in a statement on Instagram. The rapper told Rolling Stone that the concert was a “bait-and-switch.”
Bret Michaels, who won “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010 and who has been complimentary of Trump in the past, cited a similar issue. “Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of,” he wrote in a statement on Instagram on Friday. He also said that he and his crew have received threats due to his potential participation in the event.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Sunday pushed back on accusations of partisanship over the Freedom 250 events.
“The president plays a key figure in helping to again celebrate, kick off and be at the opening of these events. It’s very appropriate,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
Not everyone has dropped out. The “Ice Ice Baby” rapper Vanilla Ice, a vocal Trump supporter who has performed at Mar-a-Lago several times, said that “I’m super honored to do this concert” in a TikTok video. “We don’t take anything too serious, man.” The rapper Flo Rida, of the blockbuster late aughts dance hit “Low,” has not made a statement about whether he will still perform.
The infamous pop duo Milli Vanilli, also announced as part of the lineup, is in a somewhat strange position. The group won a best new artist Grammy in 1990 before it was revealed that frontmen Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus had not sung on the recordings credited to them. Jodie Rocco, one of the artists who provided the real vocals for the group and who performs with other singers from the sessions under the name “The Real Milli Vanilli,” told the AP that she was “shocked” that Milli Vanilli was a listed act. Pilatus died in 1998. Morvan, however, is still expected to perform at the Great American State Fair — with his own voice.
Freedom Williams, a rapper from the group C&C Music Factory, said in an Instagram reel filmed from an odd angle — one commenter said Williams looked like he was sitting on the toilet — that he “doesn’t f**k with Trump.” But he said he was more irritated by people who were attempting to “cancel” him over his performance, indicating that he’s planning to go through with it. “The day I let you motherf**kers tell me what to do is the day I die.”
CNN reached out to representatives for all of the artists who were slated to perform. Many declined to comment or didn’t respond. Young MC reiterated that Freedom 250 had touted itself as a nonpartisan organization when he originally agreed to perform, and that he didn’t find out about its affiliation with the Trump administration until later.
Rachel Reisner, a spokesperson for Freedom 250, said the organization “remains fully committed to delivering a once-in-a-lifetime experience that brings every corner of this country together on the National Mall.”
“We respect the rights of any artist to make their own decisions, and our doors remain open to any performer who wants to be part of honoring 250 years of American freedom, culture, and unity,” Reisner said in a statement. “There is far too much to celebrate about this great nation to let noise and division distract from the incredible moment ahead.”
This story and headline have been updated with additional information.
Wilson Isidor #18 of Haiti celebrates after scoring a goal during the international friendly match between Haiti and Iceland at BMO Field on March 31, 2026, in Toronto, Canada. (Leonardo Ramirez/Eyepix Group/NurPhoto/AP via CNN Newsource)
Wilson Isidor #18 of Haiti celebrates after scoring a goal during the international friendly match between Haiti and Iceland at BMO Field on March 31, 2026, in Toronto, Canada. (Leonardo Ramirez/Eyepix Group/NurPhoto/AP via CNN Newsource)
By Hira Humayun, CNN
(CNN) — When gangs set fire to the FIFA Goal Center in Haiti’s capital this year, it wasn’t just a key sports ground that went up in flames. It was the center of Haitian youth sports, a training ground for talent and home to the dreams held by young athletes in a country battered by violence.
Months earlier, Louicius Deedson –– who used to be one of those budding athletes –– had helped make history with the Haitian national team in Curaçao. They beat Nicaragua in the World Cup qualifier and secured Haiti’s place in the world’s biggest single-sport event for the first time in over 50 years.
The streets of Port-au-Prince came alive with euphoric fans in a brief moment of respite that punctuated the turbulence and overlapping crises that have engulfed the country.
“It’s been a long time since you see Haitian people united like this,” said Deedson, 25, who scored one of the two winning goals for Haiti in the November match.It is a remarkable achievement for the national team that had to train abroad due to the country’s violent instability.
Gangs control an estimated 80 to 90% of the capital, according to the United Nations, including areas home to some of the country’s biggest stadiums. Sylvio Cator in downtown Port-au-Prince was where the national team trained for decades, even for its last and only World Cup stint in the 70s.
But it has not been used by the team for years as armed groups have become increasingly powerful in the country, especially after the 2021 assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise left a power vacuum.
The stadium is now used by people seeking shelter from gangs, who now control key routes to and from the capital, choking off vital supplies in the Caribbean nation grappling with a deepening hunger crisis. Fear permeates every aspect of life in parts of Haiti and the sports world is no exception.
Deedson has played at stadiums now under gang control, and laments that Haitian kids aspiring to make the national team one day can’t use those vital facilities.
The Haitian midfielder who now plays for Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas is from Port-au-Prince’s Tabarre district. The aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and armed gang attacks made daily life tough, but Deedson didn’t see the worst of it. As a young teen he moved to the United States to pursue his soccer career and an education.
“I think moving to the US was the best thing for me at the moment,” he told CNN.
The game goes on
Many of the national team players are born, raised and reside abroad in countries like France where they play for European soccer leagues. Even when representing Haiti during the World Cup qualifiers, the unrest in the country has meant they have not been able to play any home games, practice in Haitian stadiums, nor could their French coach travel to the Caribbean nation. They are instead training in Florida and New Jersey in the lead-up to the tournament.
Woodensky Pierre is one of the few players on the national team who grew up and still lives in Haiti – and the only one who currently plays in the country’s soccer league.
He hails from the impoverished Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, where he began playing soccer with his father as a child, before leaving the neighborhood to live with his mother. Like many other Haitian kids he faced financial barriers to a promising soccer career.
“There was a moment where I felt like I would never make it to this point because things were very difficult, I had no support, nothing,” he told CNN over Zoom from Port-au-Prince. “I did not grow up in a rich family, my mom was a street vendor, and my father was always doing side jobs. Football was all I had.”
Even today, sports-related expenses like equipment, travel and programs are difficult to come by for families struggling to make ends meet as economic turmoil and armed violence have weighed heavily on employment opportunities for many Haitians.
Pierre eventually got a soccer scholarship that got him through school.
But his hometown of Cite Soleil remains a hotbed for armed attacks. On May 11, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) suspended operations in the area as armed clashes injured dozens and pushed hundreds to seek shelter at the medical facility.
Pierre now plays as a midfielder for Haitian soccer team Violette Athletic Club, part of the Haitian soccer league that plays on amid the country’s overlapping crises. On May 10, Pierre’s team won the final game of the national championship at the Parc Sainte-Therese stadium in Port-au-Prince’s Petionville area – one of the few areas of the capital not entirely overrun by gangs.
Wasting talent
Making it to Haiti’s final World Cup squad as an athlete playing in Haiti, Pierre hopes opportunities will open up for other young talent to make it to the national league someday.
In his country, youth sport is not only a means of empowerment for children growing up under violence it is an avenue of engagement for that vulnerable group at a time when about half of Haiti’s gangs are made up of minors, according to the UN.
It’s among the reasons Haiti’s Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action wants to build more sports facilities – an ambition stunted by the unrest in many places.
“It’s killing us, whenever we see a kid with a gun,” the ministry’s communications director Louis Alex Francois told CNN. “Our prayers (are) for that unrest to stop so we can be with the youth and the kids, to offer them a better alternative, a better future.”
Pierre’s former agent, France-based Jerome Salbert, said the athlete’s background has given him the grit and resilience needed to excel in a soccer career.
“The fact that he was born in a tough neighborhood in Haiti…he developed a mentality of a warrior,” Salbert told CNN.
Salbert scouted Woodensky remotely – unable to watch him play in person because of the security-related travel restrictions, especially at Port-au-Prince’s international airport. He says that’s just one of the reasons why many Haitian soccer players are unable to sign with agents who can present them with international opportunities to push their careers forward.
“The fact that the country is (in) a humanitarian crisis, sometimes you can face a lot of instability with the players…because they are young, they don’t trust easily, sometimes they live with gangs surrounding their houses,” Salbert told CNN.
“It (was) everything for me as a young guy to be able to go to school with my friends and play soccer twice a day, every day,” said Deedson, reminiscing about his childhood on the soccer fields of Port-au-Prince’s landmark sports centers.
But today, the surge of violence presents a very different set of circumstances for sports lovers.
“I know there’s a lot of Haitian kids that are very good and they just want the chance to show themselves,” Deedson said. “There’s a lot of talent there that’s wasting right now.”
His own childhood home in the Port-au-Prince area was partially burned down in a gang attack last year. It was the house his parents worked hard to build and raise him and his sister. Other parts of his family in Haiti have had to flee gang attacks.
“It’s not just my family, it’s everyone in Haiti,” Deedson said. Even from Texas – he’s plugged into what’s happening back in the Caribbean nation, praying for things to turn around.
He hopes Haiti’s historic World Cup participation can somewhat help do that – in any way.
Trionda, the official match ball of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, in Mexico City on April 23. (Solrac Santiago/NurPhoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Trionda, the official match ball of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, in Mexico City on April 23. (Solrac Santiago/NurPhoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Don Riddell, CNN
(CNN) — 104 games, 48 teams and 1,248 players. The soccer stars taking to the pitch will have plenty of opportunities to shine during the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico this summer. In the meantime, it’s the creative types behind the squad reveal videos who can take a bow.
Over the last two weeks, many of the countries heading to North America have celebrated the 26 men they are sending to the tournament in short films that also celebrate the history, culture and pride of the nations they represent. The very best of them contain Easter eggs and in-jokes that only the most committed fans will be able to spot. Here’s a primer for six of the best.
France
The French team has played in the last two World Cup finals, winning in 2018 and losing to Argentina in a penalty shootout at Qatar 2022.
Les Bleus’ reveal video featured players in a 90s sitcom, set in the fictional American town of Clear Fountain (pop. 26), a reference to their national academy at Clairefontaine.
Ousmane Dembélé is eating breakfast, Maxence Lacroix is driving in a traffic jam, N’Golo Kanté is chilling in the diner, and Michael Olise, who famously checks the firmness of the turf before every game he plays, is doing the same with the grass at the barbecue.
Kylian Mbappé is working as a cashier at the corner store with what seems to be four Employee of the Month awards behind him on the wall, presumably inspired by his four French Player of the Year awards.
Look closely and you’ll see that the Nike swoosh on their shirts is copper-colored, a nod to the Statue of Liberty, which the French gifted to the Americans to celebrate the declaration of independence, the 250th anniversary of which will be marked during the tournament. Now iconic green, the statue was copper-colored for around 30 years until the metal had oxidized.
There are respectful blink-and-you’ll-miss-them nods to the tournament’s other co-hosts, Mexico and Canada – some flags, maple syrup and a guacamole dip – and the French even found a way to shout out some of their sponsors and partners. Coca Cola bottles are seen throughout, Google gets a quick mention, and every vehicle on the road seems to be a Volkswagen.
Senegal
Senegal’s film is culturally rich and cinematic in quality, evoking the pride of a nation selecting its most talented men to send into the fray overseas.
“The pirogue (an ancient canoe) is ready to head out to sea,” goes the narrative. “Only the warriors will have the honor of boarding. Those who never compromise on honor, those who never give up, whatever the suffering may be, those who stop at nothing.”
The visual subtext is also defiant and uncompromising – notice the two stars on the throne and the AFCON trophy being protected by the Teranga Lions? Senegal beat Morocco to win its second continental title earlier this year, but was subsequently deemed to have forfeited the game by African football’s governing body because much of the squad had left the field after a contentious penalty call late in the game. A 1-0 victory became a 3-0 defeat.
Either nobody told the producers of this film, or Senegal has not accepted the defeat.
Czech Republic and Germany
There are no hidden messages in the Czech Republic’s reveal video, just the most adorable clips of the players as kids starting out on their soccer journeys with a world of possibility ahead of them.
Their proud parents, who would have taken the footage and can be heard shouting words of encouragement from the sidelines, are featured holding scrapbook photographs with their amateur trophies in the background. Even if you don’t speak Czech, it’s hard for any parent to watch without becoming a little misty-eyed.
The German videos also focus on the players’ humble beginnings, deftly splicing early footage and photographs to the stars they grew up to be. Keep an eye out for Leon Goretzka’s earliest celebration and Lennart Karl’s Futsal goal is worth the price of admission alone.
England
The award for the biggest budget production probably goes to England, who revealed its squad to the soundtrack of The Beatles’ “Come Together.” Music by England’s Fab Four is notoriously the most expensive and difficult to license.
The film, shot in a gritty New York street, echoes the hysteria of the band’s “British Invasion” of the United States, with the players revealed on storefronts, yellow taxi cabs and music flyers. Look out for a neat reference to goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s “legacy number” with the team: He was the 1,225th player to be called up by the team.
Fun fact, the 1966 in the telephone number of the Pickford store references a pivotal year for both the Beatles and the England team. The Three Lions won their only World Cup that year and, barely a month later, The Beatles played their last ever commercial concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
But the Easter eggs aren’t just for fans of the Beautiful Game, Beatles fans will love it too, you’ll see a lion three times in the Yellow Submarine sequence of the film, Harry Kane’s reveal looks an awful lot like the “Help!” album cover, and the photobooth images of Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Kobbie Mainoo and Bukayo Saka are straight from “A Hard Day’s Night.”
New Zealand
Arguably the most creative video is the most irreverent. New Zealand is returning to the big stage since the All Whites departed from the group stage as the only unbeaten team at the 2010 tournament in South Africa – champion Spain lost its opening match to Switzerland.
Having established that this is not a video for the country’s more famous All Blacks rugby team, they got the message across with a field of all white sheep. The reveal runs from players 1 through 26, leaning heavily on props and visual gags to name the squad.
An image of Tim Payne is shown behind a window pane, Jesse Randall on a flip flop – which the Kiwis call a jandal – and Francis de Vries is written in ketchup on a plate because his crosses are known to be so accurate. Once a prodigious golfer, Ben Old is a ball on the tee, 36-year-old Kosta Barbarouses is presented as a wine label (they say he’s aging like a fine wine) and Lachlan Bayliss is a bowl of popcorn because he plays club soccer for The Box Office Jets.
How can you not love a team that has so much fun with a project that so many others have taken so seriously?
KSI has announced that he is leaving the Sidemen, a hugely popular UK-based YouTube collective. (Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
KSI has announced that he is leaving the Sidemen, a hugely popular UK-based YouTube collective. (Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Lianne Kolirin, CNN
London (CNN) — Content creator KSI has left the Sidemen after more than a decade with the massively popular YouTubers.
In a video posted on his own YouTube channel, KSI, 32, told his 18.4 million subscribers about his departure. Describing it as the “hardest video I’ve ever had to make in my life,” he said: “I’ve gone back and forth on this decision for a very long time. I’ve spent months trying to figure out what the right thing to do is but after a lot of thought, I’ve decided that I will no longer be doing Sidemen videos.”
Olajide “KSI” Olatunji — or JJ as he is also known — is a British gamer, vlogger, rapper and boxer. He shared his message in a video lasting almost 13 minutes on Sunday, saying that would be the last day he would post with the hugely popular, seven-person collective, which he described as his “second family.”
He said: “We’ve traveled the world together. We built something that none of us ever thought was possible, especially back then when we were making random videos together playing GTA. I still remember those early days with no idea that tens of millions of people were going to be watching us on the channel, and somehow this turned into an incredible journey together.”
That journey has included appearing on stage in sold-out stadiums, making shows for Netflix and staging celebrity soccer matches, he said, adding: “We’ve been there for each other through some of the highest highs and the lowest lows of our lives.”
In 2023, Forbes estimated KSI to be worth $23.9 million and listed him as the second top content creator of that year, overtaken only by MrBeast.
Until now, the Sidemen have delighted their huge following with their regular videos on sports, gaming and other trending topics. According to their agent’s website, they have a combined audience of 47 million across their YouTube channels and social platforms.
KSI, which stands for “knowledge, strength, integrity,” said that “nothing bad has happened” and that the decision is “completely my own.” He said he felt like he’s been running at “100 miles an hour,” and added: “I spent so long trying to be everything for everyone, trying to be everywhere, trying to do it all, trying not to let anyone down, but somewhere along, somewhere along the way, I started losing the balance of my own life.”
“I found it hard to make enough time for myself … I definitely found it hard to find time for my family. I found it hard to make time for the people I love, and I realized that something has to change. The Sidemen deserve someone who can give 100% and right now I know I can’t do that. It just wouldn’t be fair on the boys, it wouldn’t be fair to you, and it wouldn’t be fair to myself.”
He said the decision has been “painful,” but he knows “it’s the right thing to do.”
It appears that KSI did not share the news with his fellow Sidemen in advance, as they said in an Instagram post that it “came as a surprise to us.”
Referring to KSI by his nickname JJ, they wrote: “We’re sad to share the news that JJ has decided not to continue as part of the Sidemen.”
“We had an amazing time on this journey with him and we wish him all the best with his future endeavours.”
They said that it “doesn’t change anything for the rest of us” and that they will continue to create “the best content, events and shows.”
They ended by saying: “This came as a surprise to us and we know it will be an adjustment for you, but we’ve got lots of exciting stuff planned that we can’t wait to share.”
(Trice Edney Wire) – “[N]either can we deny or diminish the delay with which both society and the Church came to denounce the scourge of slavery … This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached. It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord. For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.” — Pope Leo XIV
Despite his bungled attempts to quote the Bible or portraying himself as Jesus Christ, the President of the United States is not a faith leader. Moral leadership, however, “is in fact the central task of our presidents.” Such leadership demands not only the condemnation of atrocities, but “acknowledging the harm done, just reparation and taking steps to prevent it from happening again.”
These were the eloquent words of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, in which he formally apologized for the role the Vatican played in legitimizing slavery and its centuries-long failure to condemn it.
The Pope’s principled and unequivocal declaration stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s unconscionable vote against a United Nations resolution designating the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity.”
According to the resolution, “States bear responsibility for internationally wrongful acts and have an obligation to cease the act … offer appropriate assurances and guarantees of non-repetition … and to make full reparation for the injury caused.”
Neither the U.N. resolution nor Pope Leo’s encyclical specify what forms such reparation should take, but Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dan Negrea’s feeble and dishonest defense of the indefensible vote was that the United States “does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred.”
In fact, the United States has repeatedly recognized the right to reparations, the most widely recognized of which is the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted formal apologies and reparations to Japanese Americans who were forcibly relocated and incarcerated in internment camps during World War II.
Between 1946 and 1978, the Indian Claims Commission awarded more than $800 million to tribes for land taken without fair compensation. In 1974, the United States provided reparations to survivors of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and their heirs.
The United States even provided reparations to slaveholders when the institution was abolished in the District of Columbia. But no form of restitution – much less the promised “40 acres and a mule” – ever was granted to the formerly enslaved or their descendants.
Even if the issue of reparations were set aside, the only historical injustice the Trump administration affirmatively acknowledges is imaginary discrimination against white people. It has usurped the laws and institutions intended to defend racial justice and wielded them in defense of inequity.
In his encyclical, Pope Leo wrote, “…injustices do not arise solely from the wrong choices of individuals, but also from structures, mechanisms and economic and cultural systems that produce inequality almost automatically.” This acknowledgement is repulsive to an administration dedicated to the illusion that the existing, inequitable status quo is the result solely of “merit” and “hard work” on the part of those who enjoy its advantages.
The President repeatedly cloaks his actions and policies in the language and imagery of faith—wielding a Bible for a photo op, claiming he was chosen by God, and pandering to the religious right. But when confronted with faith’s moral demands, he has resisted and rejected it. The contrast is not merely a disagreement over policy, but a deeper conflict over whether faith is an instrument to defend authority or to hold it to account.
