The 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture came to a close on Sunday after another full day in New Orleans. Shamea Morton, Mario, LeToya Luckett, Reginae Carter, Yandy Smith-Harris, Lance Gross, and other familiar faces appeared at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center as daytime programming wrapped for the weekend.

Sunday night, Festival attendees headed to Caesars Superdome for the final installment of the Evening Concert Series. T.I. took the stage before an audience ready to celebrate the last night of EFOC. George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic also performed, while Public Enemy brought Chuck D and Flavor Flav back to the Superdome. The show also featured Mýa, Chlöe, Normani, Ryan Destiny, Sevyn Streeter, Tevin Campbell, MC Lyte, and Scarface.

As another ESSENCE Festival weekend comes to an end, take a look at some of the celebrities spotted during the final day of this year’s celebration.

Shamea Morton

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Shamea Morton seen backstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

T.I. performs during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: T.I. performs during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Josh Brasted/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Mya, Ryan Destiny, and Chlöe

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: (L-R) Mya, Ryan Destiny, and Chlöe during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Josh Brasted/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Mya

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Mya performs during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Normani, Ryan Destiny, Mya, Chlöe, and Sevyn Streeter

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: (L-R) Normani, Ryan Destiny, Mya, Chlöe, and Sevyn Streeter perform during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Flavor Flav and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: (L-R) Flavor Flav and Chuck D of Public Enemy perform during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

MC Lyte

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: MC Lite performs during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Tevin Campbell

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Tevin Campbell performs during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Scarface

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Scarface performs during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

George Clinton

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic perform during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Josh Brasted/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

DJ Trauma, Kenny Burns and LeToya Luckett

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: DJ Trauma, Kenny Burns and LeToya Luckett perform during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture® Presented By Coca-Cola® at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Charles Beloved hosting.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Charles Beloved Kuykendoll performs onstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Peter Forest/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Mario

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Mario performs onstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Peter Forest/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

LeToya Luckett

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: LeToya Luckett speaks onstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Pastor Mike Jr.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Pastor Mike Jr.
performs onstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Reginae Carter

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Reginae Carter speaks onstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Peter Forest/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Miles Minnick

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Miles Minnick attends the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Yandy Smith-Harris

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Yandy Smith-Harris speaks during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Rodney Rikai, Lance Gross and Julian Horton

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: (L-R) Rodney Rikai, Lance Gross and Julian Horton pose onstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Lance Gross

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 05: Lance Gross speaks onstage during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture® presented by Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

The Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine said he was assessing next steps after allegations of sexual assault were reported on Monday by Politico. Platner denied them as “categorically untrue.”

(Image credit: Laura Brett)

Source: NPR.

“‘Man do those dots connect’ is such a great way to validate someone else’s feelings.”

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Source BuzzFeed.

Disneyland Resort has a new ticket offer for Anaheim residents starting July 16. The promotion comes just after the theme park launched a $59 limited-time evening ticket offer.

From The Hill

Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner on Monday said that “we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” just minutes after Politico published a story in which a woman who previously dated the oyster farmer alleged he had sexually assaulted her. “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious and false allegations against me. Any accusation of non-consensual…

Kylian Mbappe just went scorched earth on Paraguayan politician Celeste Amarilla for directing disgusting and racist comments at him after a World Cup game … calling her a “despicable woman” who is unfit to represent her country. Amarilla…

From TMZ.

From The Hill

Iranians flooded the capital of Tehran on Monday during the funeral procession for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike at the start of the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran. Monday saw the biggest day of crowds marching through Tehran’s streets, with tens of thousands tightly crammed in one of the…

Missing 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells’ body has been found off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, according to local authorities. Officials tell local outlets the body was discovered Monday morning around 8:45 AM in the water near the northwest end of…

From TMZ.

This post was originally published on Politico.

Maine U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner said Monday he is “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for his candidacy minutes after POLITICO reported that a woman who dated him said he forced her to have sex with him.

Platner denied the allegation, but he said in a roughly two-minute video posted to social media on Monday that he is “mindful of the political reality” the reporting “will inflict.”

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path

Micheal Ward, who denies the charges, tells a jury he thought they were “having a great time”.

Source: BBC.

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing a new sexual assault allegation from a woman he previously dated … an accusation he strongly denies. Jenny Racicot — a 41-year-old Maine woman — tells Politico she had an on-and-off…

From TMZ.

It was almost two years ago when candidate Donald Trump delivered a new campaign pledge: If elected to a second term, the Republican said, he would appoint Elon Musk to lead some kind of government “efficiency” panel.

To hear Trump tell it, the endeavor was going to work miracles. The Musk-led commission, he boasted, would save taxpayers “trillions of dollars” and implement “an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months.”

For a variety of reasons, none of this made any sense, but in early 2025, the Republican White House followed through and launched the Department of Government Efficiency, though the charter came with an expiration date of sorts: DOGE would cease to be on July 4, 2026.

In other words, in the wake of Independence Day, DOGE is no more.

Politico reported shortly before its formal demise:

DOGE claims it saved $215 billion, or $1,335.40 per taxpayer, with its cuts, which included slashing duplicative software licenses, canceling diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, grants as well as ending leases for underused office space. That’s a pittance to the federal budget, which is now about $7 trillion each year. The effort faded relatively early too as tech mogul Elon Musk clashed with government officials and left DOGE in May last year.

For now, let’s not dwell on the chasm between $215 billion and the “trillions of dollars” in savings Trump promised. Let’s instead emphasize the separate fact that cutting $215 billion in federal spending isn’t an inherently good thing, since much of that spending was worthwhile and beneficial to the public.

As The New Republic recently summarized, “DOGE’s legacy is both very stupid and very sad: It decimated the federal workforce, including Social Security personnel at local offices, and made it easier for hackers to access your data. The agency tore apart USAID, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of lives lost globally.”

Indeed, the damage DOGE did made people’s lives worse, both in the United States and abroad.

But as observers assess DOGE’s legacy, it’s worth recognizing what this endeavor was at its core: a failed experiment.

The president told Americans that he would bring in the planet’s wealthiest billionaire, who would apply his unique private sector perspective to overhaul the executive branch. The result would be trillions of dollars in savings and the total elimination of waste and fraud in federal spending. The whole endeavor, we were assured, would be awesome.

Except it wasn’t. Amid all the hype and tumult, it’s easy to lose sight of DOGE’s original remit: Trump tasked Musk and his team with leading an effort to cut spending and make the federal government more efficient. As the department expires, the facts show that government spending went up, not down, during Musk’s tenure, and that the DOGE endeavor made the government less efficient, not more.

Even the “savings” that the office touted proved illusory, misleading or both.

DOGE’s goals went unmet. Its promises went unfulfilled. It envisioned one set of results but delivered the opposite.

Good riddance.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

The post The White House’s failed DOGE experiment comes to an official and overdue end appeared first on MS NOW.

From MS Now.