Miley Cyrus Family Drama, Drake Gives Back & Sipping Tequila With UFC Star Mike Chandler
I have been fiending for a good margarita.
And I'm not really a tequila girl. My preferences are dry red, bourbon and Miller Lite — in that order.
But when the weather starts warming up, the sun is shining, and I swap out my boots for flip-flops… there's a patio seat with my name on it. Complete with bottomless chips and salsa and a tall, salty marg. Call me basic if you want. But that's a peak life experience, and you can't deny it.
But because I'm not typically a tequila girl, I won't settle for a sub-par cocktail or one that comes from a plastic bottle. No Applebee's Dollaritas for me. My first margarita of the season needs to be QUALITY, and I'm saving it for my trip to Phoenix next week.
That said, I still appreciate good tequila. So when I got an invitation to come hang with UFC star Michael Chandler and try his Hiatus Tequila, I said, Why not?
(OUTKICK: Amber Harding)
The ‘Beat McGregor Margarita’
Chandler loves Hiatus so much that he decided to become a part owner in the company.
"Everybody knows what bad tequila tastes like — what really additive-filled with vanilla sweetness, nasty tequila tastes like," Chandler said. "But when they try ours, they can feel how crisp it is, how clean it is. And it's just meant to be true tequila the way tequila was supposed to be."
Hiatus is marketed as a "premium sipping tequila." And Mike takes his like a man — blanco, on the rocks with an orange twist.
RELATED: Michael Chandler Assured Fight With Conor McGregor Will Happen, Teases Future WWE Crossover
I, personally, tried the Reposado and was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it is for someone who usually needs salt and lime. Some of us just prefer some training wheels.
And so I introduce to you the "Beat McGregor Margarita" — 2 oz. Hiatus Blanco, 1 oz. Cointreau, 1 oz. lime juice, with Tajín on the rim. Obviously a nod to his upcoming fight with Conor McGregor …whenever that may be.
That sounds tasty, and I'm going to have one myself in the Arizona sunshine next week.
But if you're still not on the tequila train and you want to switch things up, I offer you the Amber special: Get you some Añejo. It's been aged in oak barrels and can serve as a substitute for bourbon in pretty much any cocktail.
I love an Añejo Old Fashioned: 2 oz. tequila, 0.5 oz. simple syrup (or agave), 4 dashes bitters. BOOM. Delicious.
So give it a shot. In fact, mix one up right now. It's Nightcaps time!
In Case You're Not Up On The Miley Cyrus Family Drama…
Don't worry, I'm here to fill you in.
Truthfully, I try my best to avoid celebrity drama simply because I do not care what's going on in the lives of rich, out-of-touch strangers. But I kept seeing headline after headline about the Cyrus family feud, so it was time to put on my "Big-J" journalist hat and investigate what in the Achy-Breaky-Heart is going on here.
Let's start with Miley and Billy Ray. When Miley won her first GRAMMY Award last month, she thanked everyone in her family except her father. (Well, and her sister, Noah. But we'll get to her in a second.) But after listing her mom Tish, her half-sister Brandi and her boyfriend Maxx Morando, Miley ended the acceptance speech with: "I don’t think I forgot anyone — but I might have forgotten underwear. Bye!"
Proud moment for Dad.
Miley would not be up on stage at the GRAMMYs if it weren't for her father, whose glorious mullet two-stepped in and kicked the sh-t out of country music in the early 90s. And that's not to discount Miley's talent, but let's be real: Hannah Montana is the Mona Lisa of celebrity nepotism.
Anyway, Miley and Billy Ray have been feuding since September 2022, when she unfollowed him on Instagram. That was a month after he announced his engagement to Australian singer Johanna "Firerose" Hodges. Dad unfollowed Miley, too. So, apparently, we're all just petulant children.
Destiny Hope (Miley's real name) was pissed because the engagement came four months after Billy Ray and Miley's mom Tish announced they were divorcing after 30 years of marriage. So while I have no inside knowledge of the situation, I'm going to go ahead and assume ol' Mullet Man was sneaking around behind Tish's back.
(Getty Images)
A source close to Miley said at the time: "Miley is all about peace, but she didn’t agree with some things that her father has done. It has really escalated, and they are not on good terms. There were words exchanged over what happened towards the end of Billy and Tish’s marriage, and since then, but they clearly see things very differently."
You can't really blame Miley for defending her mom. I think most of us would also feel hurt and betrayed in that situation.
But hold the damn phone.
Tish Cyrus Is No Angel, Either.
After some brief Instagram snooping, I discovered Tish got engaged to her now-husband, actor Dominic Purcell, in November 2022 — just a couple of months after Billy Ray's new engagement! That also seems awfully fast. Again, I have no inside knowledge here, but it almost seems as if they both participated in some extra-marital activity, doesn't it?
Now, buckle up, because it gets better.
It's now come to light that Miley's younger sister Noah, 24, was in a romantic relationship with Dominic BEFORE HE STARTED DATING THEIR MOM.
Excuse me while I try not to vomit all over my brand-new company computer. Being an eskimo sister with your mom might be the grossest thing ever.
And there's clearly still some bad blood because Noah refused to go to her mom's wedding in August. (Miley was the maid of honor.)
So now that I've done extensive research, I now feel qualified to speak on the Cyrus family saga: Miley is on the wrong side of things. Tish really seems like the problem here. I'm team Billy Ray and Noah!
See, now your own family drama doesn't seem so bad, after all.
In the words of the great philosopher, Christopher George Latore Wallace: "Mo' money, mo' problems.'
Speaking of money…
Drake Pays Off A Fan's Mortgage
Turns out, Drake doesn't only donate his money to sportsbooks. He's also remarkably charitable toward his fans.
While performing in Kansas City on Saturday night, the rapper was handed a note from a person in the front row. He read it aloud.
"You said, '[Pay] off my mom's house, rest in peace.' Your mom passed away? Alright. And you owe... Oh, this is the outstanding balance right here," he said into his microphone while interacting with the fan. "This is a lot of money right here."
"But you know what, Imma pay off your momma's house for you," Drake promised.
Drake revealed the outstanding amount was "160 bands." (That's $160,000, for those of you who aren't hip to the street lingo like I am.)
And the fact that I just said "hip to the street lingo" should let you know exactly how not-hip I am.
Look, I've been very open about the fact that I think Drake's music sucks. But maybe I'm the asshole. Because he apparently does this sort of thing regularly.
RELATED: Drake Will Give Away Winnings From Super Bowl Bet
Just last week, he promised to give a fan in Buffalo $25,000, after she brought a sign detailing her cancer journey, according to WIVB.
He also pledged to donate $100,000 to another fan earlier in the month, after they, too, brought a sign mentioning that they beat cancer.
"That's a true soldier right there," Drake told the crowd. "Y'all better make some motherf-cking noise."
Drake is worth an estimated $250 million. A hundred thousand here and there may not mean much to him — but that's life-changing money for these people going through serious hardships.
I still think Drake's music sucks. But in my book, he's an A-OK human.
Tumbleweeds Take Over Utah Town
If you thought tumbleweeds were just some cutesy prop in cheesy old western films… think again, buckaroo.
Over the weekend, severe weather in the western United States brought wind gusts of over 60 mph — knocking down trees, damaging infrastructure and causing power outages. And in Pahrump, Utah (just outside of Death Valley National Park) tumbleweeds have taken over the whole town.
Instead of getting snowed in, residents are getting trapped in their houses by mountains of tumbleweeds. The prickly plants pelted cars, blocked traffic and buried anything that got in their way.
Locals are calling it Tumble-Mageddon!
What a weird problem to have.
If you're like me (a colossal nerd), you probably are thinking to yourself, WTF even is a tumbleweed? Don't worry, though, I got you.
SCIENCE LESSON: Tumbleweeds start out as a bright green plant (called a Russian thistle). After maturing and dying, the remains of the plant break off at the root and are blown away by wind. As they roll around wherever the wind takes them, tumbleweeds disperse as many as 250,000 seeds. So I imagine Utah residents are going to have a heck of a time pulling bushes out of their yards over the next several months.
Before they haul the tumbleweeds away, though, they should call Beyoncé and see if she wants to film another "country western" video.
Let's open the mailbag.
Jackie Is Here To Make Us All Vomit
Last week I shared videos of some sicko on TikTok who cooks meals using hotel sinks and toilets. Y'all were as disgusted as I was.
Here's an example.
Jackie weighs in:
Hi Amber! My husband sent me your column about the unsanitary sink nachos, and I had to tell you… In my younger days, I worked at a hotel (a nice one). Our cleaning staff regularly used the same scrubber to clean the toilets and the sinks. So… hope that guy enjoyed his feces nachos!
Amber:
Look, I don't trust anything in a hotel. Or any rental property, for that matter. When I go to an AirBnB, I handwash the dishes myself before I use them. Because I do not have faith that the previous guest properly cleaned them.
I have a friend who owns several short-term rentals. She confirmed to me that most guests just rinse the dishes and put them away — if they even bother to do that. Ever go to an AirBnB and there's a lipstick print on the coffee mug? Yeah…
And I generally feel the same way about a professional hotel cleaning staff. Think about it: They have hundreds of rooms to get through every day. They have to work as quickly and as efficiently as possible — and that means cutting corners.
I'm not a total germophobe weirdo, I promise. I wasn't wiping down my grocery bags with Clorox wipes during the pandemic. But I certainly won't be eating out of a sink anytime soon.
And More Hotel Secrets From Jacob
I was told by a friend who's also a hotel manager… never to use the big pump bottles of shampoo or soap because kids like to put Nair in them as a prank. People also put milk in the Keurig machines and try to get away with re-filling mini-bar bottles with water.
Enjoy your trip!
Amber:
A few of you wrote me last week to tell me that my hotel coffee pot rant was irrelevant, since most hotel rooms have replaced the traditional coffee pots with single-use coffee makers, like Keurigs.
And I guess I should have addressed that point in my initial post, but Jacob just did it for me. I, too, have heard stories about people making hot chocolate by running milk through the Keurigs. That milk contains fat that will stick to the hoses and tank and build up over time.
Next thing you know, your coffee water is littered with rotten milk.
I swear I'm not trying to ruin everything for you, but my point is: People are generally inconsiderate. You see it in the way they treat hotel rooms, throw their trash all over airplanes and can't be bothered to return their shopping cart in the parking lot.
And, finally, I'll give John the final word on my "Nashville is becoming overrun with douchebags" thesis…
This Ain't the Nashville John Knows
With your Nashville observations, it always reminds me of the Kid Rock song.
Amber:
Perfect. No notes.
Stuff That Made Me LOL
OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m.
Follow me on X / Twitter at @TheAmberHarding or email me at Amber.Harding@OutKick.com.