Relationships Talk

An unearthed video of Drake kissing, touching, and hitting on a 17-year-old fan is gaining lots of attention in the wake of Surviving R. Kelly, which documents numerous allegations of Kelly’s sexual abuse against minors.

The clip is from a Colorado show in May 2010, according to TMZ.

He welcomes the young fan on stage and starts by slow dancing with her. That’s not unusual; other performers often bring fans up on stage for a little dance moment.

Then he spins her and gets close to her, then smells her hair. He asks her about her shampoo; that’s where it starts to get a little more intimate—and upsetting. 

But the clip gets really alarming when kisses the back of her neck. The crowd erupts in cheers.

“Y’all gonna have me get carried away again,” he says in the video. “I get in trouble for shit like this; how old are you?”

She tells him she’s 17.

“Seventeen? How do you look like that? You thick. Look at all this,” he responds.

Knowing her age didn’t seem to make him back off, though.

Before he sends her off stage he kisses her cheeks, forehead and then plants one right on her lips.

He tells her “I had fun.” and “I like the way your breasts felt against my chest.”

It’s important to note that at the time of this video recording, Drake was 23 and the age of consent in Colorado is 17. Colorado makes exemptions for 15- and 16-year-olds, too; they can consent to sex with someone up to ten years older. 

But the video reignites suspicion around the rapper; after the video surfaced, Twitter users called Drake out for his behavior with younger women.

so… again…

and honestly this isn’t just about drake. people are not asking questions that should be asked. And it’s real easy to watch #SurvivingRKelly and say “why didn’t anyone xyz…” but there’s a lot of folks hooting & hollering in this video.https://t.co/SU93YdIamY

— wikipedia brown (@eveewing) January 5, 2019

Me watching drake grope a 17y/o pic.twitter.com/YcO9EQJZyO

— keezy beats (@thegodofcanada) January 6, 2019

That vid of Drake w that 17 year old makes me cringe & want to throw up 🤢

— Beth 🦢 (@Bethany01219696) January 6, 2019

Drake’s a predator too. Even if they are 17/18.

— Rocky Bakari (@RockyBakari) January 6, 2019

That video of Drake and the 17yo is DISGUSTING! “You’re 17? Why you look like that?” UMM BITCH WTF, that’s HER body why can’t YOU keep your hands to yourself? AND he still mentions he likes her breasts and goes on to kiss her…🙄

— 🍷 (@zulemaaaaaa_) January 6, 2019

During a red carpet interview at the 2018 Emmys, Millie Bobby Brown, the 14-year-old Stranger Things actress, told a reporter that she and Drake text.

“He’s a great friend and a great role model,” she told Access Hollywood. “We just texted each other the other day. He was like, ‘I miss you so much,’ I was like, ‘I miss you more,’ he’s great.”

She explained that the rapper gives great dating advice.

But despite Brown’s insistence that their relationship is innocent, the news still raised eyebrows online.

when we found out drake, 31, is texting millie bobby brown, 14, talking bout “i miss you so much” pic.twitter.com/YkPdIdg4EK

— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) September 18, 2018

And there was speculation Drake was dating 18-year-old model Bella Harris over the summer of 2018. While legal, the pair seems to have been close since Bella was 16.

Both have denied any sort of romantic relationship.

H/T TMZ

If dating apps had a Super Bowl, or an Oscars, or a Mardi Gras … today is that day. According to the data scientists at Hinge, Bumble, OKCupid, and more, Sunday is always the busiest online dating day of the week. (As you try to make sure that next weekend is better than the one you just had?) But Sunday, January 6, is predicted to be the biggest of the year.

And it’s based on math, from the past two years. According to Hinge data, on the first Sunday after New Year’s Day, you’re likely to get a 20 percent bump in conversations and a 36 percent higher response to messages.

“It’s the perfect trifecta,” Julie Spira, author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating, told USA Today. “You have people recovering from a breakup or who were down during the holidays, you have all those New Year’s resolutions, and you have the clock ticking down to Valentine’s Day.”

But hey, do we really need to be so fear-based about it? Here’s a better way to count down the clock to Valentine’s Day: being all about the (self-)love, with daily restorative yoga sessions, followed by a hot bath with your rose quartz crystals. Now that’s a good time.

Women are 166 percent more likely to get “likes” on a photo where they’re playing sports. (For men, it’s only 45 percent.)

But! If you’re working that app game, today is the day when your efforts will reach the biggest audience. (If you’re going to do it, do it right…right? Optional: Blast “All I Do Is Win” while you swipe.)

So, besides the importance of January 6 in pretty much every single person’s social life, what else have the dating experts uncovered as they dug into the data?

First of all, let’s talk about selfies. They are 40 percent less likely to receive a “like”—and bathroom selfies are 90 percent less likely to get one, according to Hinge data. Same for Snapchat filters: They shoot down your chance of getting a reaction by 90 percent.

Black and white photos, though? They’re twice as likely to get a reaction than color pics. For women particularly, these are the go-to engagement boosters: smiling with teeth (up 76 percent), looking away from the camera (up 74 percent), and standing alone (up 69 percent). So, here’s your best excuse to do a moody black-and-white photo shoot while you look wistfully into the distance (AKA the dream!). Just don’t wear sunglasses—or you’ll see “likes” plummet 41 percent.

Speaking of living the dream, this data point was by far the most interesting from the Hinge deep dive: Women are 166 percent more likely to get “likes” on photos where they’re playing sports. (For men, it’s only 45 percent.) And yes, that means out of everything in your closet, the one thing you should wear in your profile pics is the thing you want to wear all the time, anyway: your sneakers.

There’s so much depressing news about dating—case in point: rebating, orbiting, and of course ghosting—that this feels like a major breakthrough. If we’re now living in a world where posting an action shot from a tennis match, in all your sweaty, sneaker-clad glory, gets you more dates than the old heels-and-a-nice-dress approach, then maybe the future really is female. And hey, you might as well set expectations early—because you’ll probably be wearing sneakers on your first date, anyway.

It’s called “Dating Sunday” or “Singles Sunday”. 

Cyber-dating experts tell USA Today that Sunday, January 6th is the busiest day of the year for online dating. 

“It’s the perfect trifecta,” said Julie Spira, author of “The Perils of Cyber-Dating”. “You have people recovering from a breakup or who were down during the Holidays. You have all of those New Year’s resolutions and you have the clock ticking down to Valentine’s Day. It’s the first lonely Holiday after the New Year.”

Experts say online dating activity increases up to 75 percent on “Dating Sunday”. 

To read the full story and get some advice on how to spruce up your online dating profile, click here. 

If you’ve been thinking about dusting off your online dating profile, Sunday might be an opportune time to do it.

According to online dating platforms like Match, Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Coffee Meets Bagel, Jan. 6 is the busiest day of the year for online dating. In fact, it’s earned the name Dating Sunday.

Match is expecting a 69 percent spike in new singles joining up Sunday compared to the previous two months. In 2018, Coffee Meets Bagel saw a 75 percent increase compared to the previous 30 days. Also last year Tinder had a 41 percent jump in downloads from the week before.

“Dating Sunday is Hinge’s Black Friday,” said a spokesperson for Hinge.

Sundays in general see higher traffic than other days of the week, Hinge also said. But what’s so special about Dating Sunday — Jan. 6, in particular?

“The holidays inspire singles to reboot their dating life after navigating questions from friends and family about their relationship status and reflecting on their own personal goals,” said a spokesperson for Match.

In other words, the family hassled you big-time about your singlehood and you decided that 2019 is going to be different, dammit.

New year, new love.

With that mindset, CMB found that daters are 17 percent more likely to get a match, and 16 percent more likely to actually chat with that match on Dating Sunday. Match said it expects more than 1.5 million messages will be sent. Along those lines, last year Hinge found that 59 percent more daters started conversations than in the week before.

While online dating is not a new practice, more and more people are embracing the idea of turning to online services to find anything from a hookup to a serious relationship. The Statistic Brain Research Institute found that more than 90 percent of the US’ 54.3 million singles have tried online dating.

If you’re planning to look for love this Sunday, also check out CNET’s guide to supercharging your online dating profile, including such tips as backing off the selfies, posing with dogs and making sure people can actually see your face in at least one of your photos. Seriously. Tinder found wearing sunglasses reduces your chances of getting a swipe right by 12 percent. 

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