Ex-Euphoria Actor's New Job Sparks Fan Outrage
Nika King is widely known for playing Leslie Bennett (aka Rue and Gia's mom) on the hit HBO series for the first two seasons.
Three years after Season 2 debuted in January 2022, it was announced that Season 3 had finally begun filming. It even included a photo of Zendaya on set for additional proof.
Delays in production were due to a slew of reasons, which ranged from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in 2023 to alleged behind-the-scenes drama with claims of a "toxic" work environment and grueling "18-hour" workdays. During this delay, Euphoria producer Kevin Turen died in November 2023 from multiple heart issues, and Angus Cloud, who starred as the beloved Fez, tragically died of an accidental overdose at the age of 25 in July 2023.
On top of all that, two cast members revealed they had no plans on returning to the show: Barbie Ferriera announced the shocking news shortly after Season 2 ended, while Storm Reid revealed she would be focusing on other things, like graduating from USC and working on projects through her production company.
The delays also caused strain and stress for some of the cast members, including Nika. In March 2024, during one of her stand-up comedy shows posted on her TikTok, the actor and comedian admitted she was having trouble paying her rent because filming for Euphoria was taking so long to commence.
'People are like, 'We need Season 3.' I'm like, 'Bitch, I need Season 3. I haven't paid my rent in six months. I thought my career was on the rise after Euphoria. I thought I was good. It don't work that way. I called Taraji [P. Henson} and she was like, 'Bitch, get used to it.''While she recently starred in the American drama film Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, we should note that filming for it began back in 2022.
Fast forward to February 2025, Nika announced her "character is not coming back to the show," after she received tons of DMs and comments asking about Season 3. "Unfortunately, I'm not [returning]," she said in a video posted online. "My character is not coming back to the show, but I am forever grateful to HBO, Zendaya, and Sam Levinson for giving me the opportunity to come on set."
"Without Euphoria, I was not able to step into who I am as an actor."
Fans showered her with words of encouragement on her future endeavors, while also expressing sadness that they won't see her in future episodes.
But concern for Nika grew when she recently shared a video of her cleaning what appeared to be a restaurant kitchen. She captioned the clip, "When ppl ask me if I'm filming S3 of Euphoria?" while the caption for the post read, "A job is a job."
Reactions ranged from saying how "fucked up" it is that her promising acting career led her to a non-Hollywood position, to applause for her vulnerability in sharing the realities of being a struggling actor in the industry:
At first glance, I had similar thoughts, but I quickly found out there was more to her post than meets the eye. After noticing she tagged an account on the post I checked the page out, and discovered Nika not only works in that kitchen, but she co-owns the establishment it's located in.
The account is linked to Blue Tree Cafe, a vegan soul food restaurant run by Nika and her mother, Sharon Allen. The page was a pleasant surprise because the food looks delicious, and their playful relationship shines in their videos.
And once others caught on as well,
But owning a restaurant is no easy feat either. Nika hopped on a popular social media trend where people show how they mask their true emotions while dealing with a crisis — and for Nika, that was the current status of the restaurant. Nika and her mother also set up a GoFundMe as a way to help the establishment from closing.
I truly appreciate the transparency, even if it's done through laughter. I don't know about you, but I'm wishing Nika success in all of her passions — acting, comedy, and restaurateur.
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Eater
20 minutes ago
- Eater
The D.C. Restaurant Openings to Know This July
This is Eater's guide to all the new restaurants, bars, and cafes that have opened this month. If there's an opening in your neighborhood that we've missed, let us know at dc@ July 29 Downtown: Barbouzard – which means 'secret agent' in French – brings a lauded chef's longstanding recipes, bespoke music, and late-night aspirations to the busy corner of 17th and K Street NW on Tuesday, July 29. French American chef and partner Cedric Maupillier showcases his South of France education and upbringing across Barbouzard's plates, highlighting the elegance of the Riviera and the rest of the vast Mediterranean coast. The menu features grilled fish and seafood, plenty of vegetable dishes, seafood towers, and caviar (martinis), along with a short list of meats, steak-frites, and pasta. The 6,493-square-foot restaurant also houses a central DJ booth and stage for live piano, sax, guitar, and violin performances. Weekend hours extend until 1 a.m. 1700 K Street NW July 25 Gordon Ramsay's new Backyard burger. Gordon Ramsay Street Burger Penn Quarter: Celebrity chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay's burger chain lands stateside for the first time on Friday, July 25, on the lower level of his Street Pizza location on 7th Street. Street Burger's debut location in D.C. puts a twist on patties, serving 'American-style' smash burgers that you won't currently find at any of the nine U.K. locations. The five-ounce double smash patties comes in many forms, from the familiar In-N-Out style burger, called 'Next Level,' with caramelized onions, pickles, and a spicy aioli to a Hell's Kitchen-inspired burger with spicy tomato chutney, crispy onions, and jalapeños. There are also fried chicken sandwiches, vegan burgers made with harissa-spiced vegetables, buckets of chicken wings, $5 draft beers, and loaded fries on the new menu. 507 7th Street NW July 24 Rosslyn: Next-gen food hall Wonder opened its first Virginia location on Thursday, July 24, serving up dishes from iconic restaurants around the nation, like Brooklyn's Di Fara Pizza, Tejas Barbecue from Texas, and Marcus Samuelsson's Streetbird. Wonder recruits superstar chefs to lend their names and recipes, as well as co-develop exclusive concepts just for them, such as Greek-inspired Chios Taverna from celebrity chef Michael Symon in Rosslyn. The kitchen churns out dishes from 20 eateries in all, allowing diners to try an array of cuisines in the small dining area or delivered straight to their front door by Wonder drivers. The food hall touts a door-to-door delivery time of 30 minutes or less. 1771 N. Pierce St., Unit 100, Rosslyn, Virginia July 20 Georgetown: Yala Greek Ice Cream's founder Chrys Kefalas brought D.C. a unique taste of Rhodes — the Greek isle where his family is from — on Sunday, July 20 (National Ice Cream day). Relying on farm-fresh cream and premium ingredients sourced from the Mediterranean, opening flavors range from Greek classics like baklava and cherry studded with chocolate chunks to familiar American favorites like rocky road and cookies and cream. A strawberry vegan sorbet and several frozen Greek yogurt options are also available. 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The verdant green artwork and velvet furniture make the cozy restaurant – named after the Spanish word for 'jungle' – the perfect place to have a filling meal and ease into a night out, with plenty of tasting flights of liquors distilled across the Americas and the Mayflower Club on the floor below. 1223 Connecticut Avenue NW July 17 Old Town: Thompson Restaurants brought its Southern-styled brunch chain Milk & Honey to the heart of Old Town Alexandria on Thursday, July 17. The two-story space that formerly housed Thompson's Hen Quarter features two full-service bars, a large private dining room, and seating for up to 188. 801 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia Foggy Bottom: Taco Cat, an adorable, all-day taco shop from vet D.C. restaurateur Tim Ma, quietly sauntered into Western Market food hall in mid-July. An unapologetically fun menu loops in lots of global flavors into tacos, burritos, and tortas. 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A full bar slings wines and beers from the DMV and home-made cocktails like a strawberry Aperol spritz and blood orange paloma. 2800 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia Westville's menu goes heavy on fresh vegetables. July 11 National Landing: D.C. hospitality brothers Ian and Eric Hilton (H2 Collective) opened all-day French brasserie Bar Colline on Friday, July 11. Located next to Amazon HQ2, Bar Colline is their massive metropolitan answer to the charming original (Cafe Colline), which debuted in 2020 in an Arlington suburb. H2's longtime chef Brendan L'Etoile imports its top-selling steak frites dunked in bearnaise, croque madame, and duck confit. 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Fancy Ranch's long-term pop-up residency lasts through September. 1309 5th Street NE H Street: Chef Tim Ma is at it again, this time with an all-you-can-eat sushi spot for H Street NE. Sushi Sato, located in the recently closed Bronze space, offers endless nigiri, rolls, and izakaya dishes for $55-$75 (with a two-hour time limit). A namesake 'Sato roll' showcases soft-shell crab, eel, and scallop dressed with a spicy sauce. Izakaya orders include everything from steak sandos to monkfish karaage. Ma is also behind the newly opened Lucky Danger in Penn Quarter. Eater DC All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Time Magazine
21 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Ending of Netflix K-Drama 'Trigger'
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The thriller is simultaneously a parable for Korean viewers and a mirror for American viewers, who already live in a society where buying a gun can take as few as five clicks. Who is behind the gun plot in Trigger? The guns in Trigger are being funneled into the country by the fictional International Rifle Union (IRU), a black market arms dealer with immense political and economic power globally. The person behind the plan is Moon Baek (Evilive's Kim Young-kwang). Baek stumbles upon the IRU when as a kid, looking for revenge after being trafficked from Korea to the United States for his organs. Jake, one of the organization's higher-ups, sees something valuable in the desperate, vengeful kid. He raises Baek to be a part of the organization. The IRU's entrance into Korea is facilitated by Baek, who has been diagnosed with six months to live due to cancer. While Baek presumably presents the plan to Jake as a business opportunity, he is really looking for retribution against the country that failed him. Upon his arrival in Korea, Baek murders the man who made his childhood a living hell. He hides bullets in the ceiling of the man's apartment, a signal to officials that everything in Korea is about to change. Baek uses some local gangsters, posing as regular mail couriers, to distribute the guns. He targets individuals who are marginalized for some reason or another. Many of them are physically and mentally bullied by the people in their lives. 'Everyone carries a trigger in their heart,' a psychologist says early in the show's run. Trigger implies that everyone is capable of violence, and it is the job of a functional society not to give its citizens access to a weapon that can so easily lead to violent self-destruction. Lee Do's backstory explained Lee Do serves as a counterpoint to Baek's nihilistic ruthlessness. While Do's childhood may not have been quite as horrific, he didn't have it easy. His parents and brother were killed during a home robbery when he was just a child. Immediately following the incident, Do takes a gun off of Captain Jo's (Kim Won-hae) desk and aims it at the man who killed his family, intending to pull the trigger. The captain talks him out of it, but the moment is a formative one for Do. Jo raises Do as his own, alongside his daughter. Decades later, Lee Do is the Platonic ideal of a policeman, protecting the vulnerable and preferring de-escalation to violence. Until guns start appearing amongst the civilian population, Do chooses not to use a gun himself, still haunted by the lives he took during his years as a soldier. When gun violence starts ramping up, he decides to pick up a gun once again—but only when it is necessary to take someone down. 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Captain Jo, Do's surrogate dad, becomes one of Baek's desperate targets when a jeonse fraud drives his daughter to suicide. Jo finds the men who scammed his daughter, confronting them at a karaoke room. When they show no remorse, he starts firing. Lee Do arrives on the scene once Captain Jo has followed one of the men outside. He convinces Jo to put the gun down, asking him not to let the feeling that killing the man will help fool him in this moment. 'How did you bear this pain at such a young age?' Jo asks Do. 'It was all thanks to you, Captain,' Do tells him, embracing his distraught father figure. Baek, who has orchestrated the entire scenario to drive up public anxiety around shootings and to break Do's resolve, doesn't like how the scenario ends. He comes out of the shadows to shoot both Captain Jo and Lee Do. 'Just wait and see,' Baek tells Do as he loses consciousness. 'You'll wake up to a whole new world.' The ending of Trigger explained As intended by Baek, Do is out of the action for at least a few days following the incident. When he wakes back up, he is devastated to learn that Captain Jo has died. He grieves Jo and her daughter, acting as the chief mourner at their funeral. Meanwhile, Baek has announced to the public that anyone who wants a gun in Korea can get one. Public fear is at an all-time high as thousands of weapons are delivered to the populace, and incidents of gun violence become more common as a result. On the news, political pundits begin to debate whether gun ownership should be legalized in Korea. The president is considering martial law. A 'Free Guns' rally is organized by Baek to pit the two sides of the argument against one another. Lee Do leaves the funeral in order to attend. Baek has a truck filled with boxes of weapons driven into the middle of the rally. Chaos breaks out as people frantically grab the weapons, thinking they need them to protect themselves. Baek sets off smoke bombs to further confuse the crowd. As Lee Do makes his way to Baek, he remembers a philosophical argument they had over dinner, before Do realized Baek's villainy. 'Wouldn't pulling a 5-milimeter trigger in pursuit of revenge spread fear in the minds of many?' Do told Baek. 'Out of fear that they might die without a gun, everyone will rush to get one. And a society like that will soon be destroyed.' Baek wants to create that society, and he is well on his way. 'It was this world that made the people angry,' he tells Do, making the bad faith argument. 'All I did was hand them a gun. It's up to them whether they pull the trigger.' In the smoky plaza, as scared people point guns at one another, Baek taunts Do. 'What I want is a single gun shot … that will make these people start shooting at each other' He wants Lee Do to be the one to pull the trigger. Baek disappears into the smoke and Do follows, gun drawn. Before he can find the man, a gun shot rings out. Baek has been shot, perhaps by his own hand. The plaza erupts into gunfire. In the chaos, Do sees a boy alone, crying for his mother, a gun in his hands. It is an echo of the boy he once was. Rather than defend himself, Do drops his gun and rushes to him. He embraces the child as the gunfire continues. 'It's okay. You're safe,' he tells him. The image is captured by a livestreamer on the scene. It stops nurse So-hyeon, whom we have been following throughout the series, from using a gun to kill the co-workers who bully her. Once the dust has settled, and scores of people are dead, the image of Lee Do embracing the scared child becomes a symbol of choosing empathy over violence. Later, we see the image at a memorial for the victims of the shooting. Another message at the memorial states: 'We will remember the innocent lives lost and work to create a safer world.' Does Moon Baek die at the end of Trigger? Baek is in a coma following the events of the firefight. The doctor tells Do, who visits Baek in the hospital, that he is unlikely to recover, due to his cancer and the blood loss sustained from the gunshot wound. Later, we see an English-speaking cabal of IRU members, including Jake, vaguely discussing their next business move. A woman walks into the wards where Baek is unconscious, presumably to kill him. Does Trigger have a happy ending? The ending of Trigger isn't happy, but it is hopeful. Across the country, the police hold illegal firearm drop-off drives to collect as many of the weapons as possible. One of the people who drops off a fun is nurse So-hyeon. "It took too long," she tells Officer Jang, who collects her signature. "You did the right thing,' he tells her. Lee Do survives to de-escalate another day. In an echo of what Captain Jo did for him, Do adopts the child he saved in the firefight. He picks the boy up from school, and holds his hand as he walks him home. Do is doing what he can.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
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