'RHOSLC' Season 4 star Monica Garcia was a witness for the federal government in Jen Shah's trial

I wouldn’t call myself a Swiftie. As an entertainment journalist, I have mad respect for Taylor Swift, the career she’s built, and the catchy bops and intimate lyrics that have won the singer 12 Grammys and dozens of other awards. I listen to Taylor’s Versions in solidarity with her fight to own her own masters. I appreciate she’s given a reported $55 million in bonuses to her tour workers, including $100,000 to each truck driver. I’m impressed that the Federal Reserve says her Eras Tour has boosted the US economy.

A new misleading image is doing the rounds on social media but, for a change, this one has nothing to do with AI. Instead, this (very real) photo has sparked a swirl of rumours concerning rapper 6ix9ine’s sexuality. The picture shows 6ix9ine (who also goes by Tekashi69), planting a kiss on the cheek of Mexican singer Eduin Caz, from the band GroupoFirme. It went viral after website Pop Tingz shared it to its Twitter account with the caption: “6ix9ine reveals boyfriend.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The tweet racked up more than 7.9 million views and 3,570 likes in less than a day as streams of commentators remarked that they “weren’t surprised” by the revelation. Except that it wasn’t a revelation at all, just proof of the power of a sensationalist headline. In fact, Caz posted the original picture to his Instagram account to mark the release of a new collaboration between Groupo Firme and 6ix9ine. Their track, ‘Y ahora’, is a love song about… a woman. And if you watch the music video, you’ll see the two men getting up-close and personal with a couple of scantily clad ladies. And yet, social media users love to consider themselves masters of hints and easter eggs, so apparently the fact 6ix9ine sports rainbow-coloured braids is enough to suggest he’s a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Others took the opportunity to fuel the rumour that the rapper has indulged in gay porn – under an alias – and that his sex tape was leaked to the internet. However, according to AllHipHop, the actor in said X-rated movie bears merely a passing resemblance to the rapper. Furthermore, the 27-year-old admitted to having a girlfriend on Instagram just three days ago when he posted a gushing birthday tribute to model Ariiela Lalangosta. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BESTFRIEND [sic] IN THE WORLD,” he wrote in the caption to a video showing him kissing Lalangosta and showering her with cash. “My girlfriend won’t get mad but we just friends she knows that,” he added. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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