The Sauce, With Sos 11/10/21

VANESSA BRYANT ALLEGES "COVER UP" IN DISPUTE OVER LEAKED HELICOPTER IMAGES

Did Los Angeles County first responders improperly destroy photos and other evidence at the Kobe Bryant's crash site at the direction of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva– evidence that Vanessa Bryant’s attorneys say they had a legal obligation to preserve? Or did the sheriff keep his word to Kobe’s widow and get rid of the likelihood of those photos being shared publicly by instructing employees to delete them?

As we’ve told you, Vanessa is suing Los Angeles County for invasion of privacy and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to punish the deputy defendants and “make an example of them to the community.” The county maintains that the crash-scene photos were taken for official government and investigative purposes, and were not publicly disseminated beyond isolated incidents at a bar and a banquet.

At this point, all the photos have been scrubbed from the phones of the first responders and others. But Vanessa’s attorneys say it’s a cover-up and want the court to sanction the county for destroying evidence her attorneys say it should have preserved – including photos and text messages in the aftermath of a crash. She also asked the court to grant an “adverse inference” at summary judgment and trial that “the lost evidence would have been unfavorable to Defendants and shown, among other things, further electronic dissemination of photos of Plaintiffs’ deceased loved ones” by county employees. The case continues…

Source:USA Today

STARBUCKS TEASING TAYLOR SWIFT "RED" COLLABORATION

As I told you, Starbucks' annual red holiday cups are already back in stores, but a recent tweet about them has Taylor Swift fans thinking something else may be up.

The coffee chain recently tweeted, "It's Red Season," along with coffee, sparkle, scarf and heart emojis, all things Taylor mentioned in an Instagram video promoting her upcoming release “Red (Taylor’s Version)," which drops Friday.

That, of course, has led Swifties to speculate that Starbucks and Taylor have some sort of “Red” tie-in in the works, with Starbucks adding fuel to the fire by responding to questions about it with, “We know all too well how exciting this time of year is, and we'll forever & always love it. Our red holiday cups and drinks are back!" For all you non Swifties, “All Too Well” is a song on the album. They also quoted Tay songs “Holy Ground" and "Begin Again 

And one Twitter post allegedly featured a letter that went out to Starbucks employees claims the tie-in, which starts Friday, will feature Taylor’s music being played in stores, customers being invited to enjoy Tay’s favorite Starbucks beverage, a Grande Caramel Non-fat Latte, and labels featuring “(Tay’s)” in the label name alongside the beverage.

So far neither Starbucks or Taylor has confirmed any possible tie-in, but fans are certainly excited by the idea.