Latest news with #Grindr
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Former GOP Strategist Who Created Fake Grindr Account in Victim's Name Is Convicted of Stalking
A jury convicted a former Republican political strategist on two counts of stalking Friday after prosecutors alleged that Daniel Duffey sent harassing text messages and letters to the victim and his family, the Montana Free Press reported. According to witnesses, Duffey also created a fake Grindr account under the victim's name and asked app users to attend the victim's wedding to have sex with him. Duffey was political director for Greg Gianforte's 2020 gubernatorial campaign until he was fired because he allegedly repeatedly hit a parked car with his car door, causing $1600 in damages. He worked on other Republican campaigns as well as for the GOP-led Montana Legislature in the 2019, 2021, and 2023 sessions. Duffey met the victim at a University of Montana football game in 2023 where the two men talked about rugby. After the game, they began a friendly texting exchange. But when the victim didn't reply to Duffey's invitation to grab a beer, Duffey appeared to get angry. 'I'm not sure what happened man. I thought we clicked,' Duffey said in a text sent in Nov. 2023. 'I thought it would be cool to be friends.' Duffey later texted the victim, 'Seriously man, that sucks. I don't know how you go from [being] all over me and sexually assaulting me to pretending like I don't even exist. If you're embarrassed about what happened you shouldn't be.' The victim responded, 'Been struggling. Not trying to offend you. Also, I do not know what your [sic] talking about with being all over you.' On the witness stand last week, the victim said Duffey's version of events was 'fictitious.' Law enforcement and other witnesses denied knowing about any prior sexual assault allegations against the victim. In another text to the victim, Duffey wrote, '[H]onestly the more you treat me like shit and make me think that this is all in my head and I'm going crazy, the crazier I am going to act. You've made very clear you don't give a f— about me and what happens to me, and now I'm going to return the favor. My only hope is that I put you in as much pain and ruin your life the way you've ruined mine.' Things continued to escalate from there. According to prosecutors, Duffey sent a letter to the victim's mother-in-law where he wrote about working as a Republican political operative, serving in the military in Afghanistan, and volunteering in Ukraine in 2022. Enclosed in the letter were photos of Duffey with well-known Republican leaders, including Vice President Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, and Sens. Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell. In Feb. 2024, around the time of the victim's wedding, Duffey drove near the wedding location to post flyers showing the victim's name and photo and accusing him of sexual assault. According to witness testimony, as reported by the Montana Free Press, Duffey made a fake account on Grindr, an LGBTQ dating app, using the victim's name. He then requested app users attend the victim's wedding to have sex with the victim. Duffey even texted the couple a threatening message on their wedding day: '[I]t should be pretty obvious by now, that this isn't going to end tonight when you get married, this goes on for years until I see [the victim] behind bars or paying me so much money you'll never be able to do anything nice again.' Prior to the wedding, on Jan. 21, 2024, the victim reported Duffey's unhinged behavior to local police. Duffey was later arrested near one of the wedding events, and according to prosecutors, law enforcement found a semiautomatic handgun in his car along with poster board and similar flyers. Duffey pleaded not guilty last year and did not testify in his defense. The jury took less than an hour to reach a unanimous guilty verdict after the four-day trial. 'The evidence in this case convinces the court that, with very little if any provocation, he engaged on a monthslong campaign of assailing the character, the safety of a person he knew for a very short time before engaging in this campaign,' District Court Judge Dan Wilson said in court on Friday. 'There's no rhyme or reason for the conduct. It's so far outside of the realm of sociable or acceptable behavior that it is the court's genuine concern that, now that the conviction has occurred, Mr. Duffey has a tremendous incentive and, in light of the evidence submitted in this case, very little imposition of self-restraint to prevent him from engaging in similar conduct in the immediate future.' Because of Duffey's apparent lack of self-restraint, the judge said the former Republican strategist will be incarcerated ahead of his sentencing scheduled for July 10. More from Rolling Stone Dems Lose Montana Senate Seat as Tester Falls to Sheehy Abortion Won Almost Everywhere. Here's Where It Lost Donald Trump Brings Plenty of Loathing and the 'Cats' Soundtrack to Montana Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Scottish Sun
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Drag Race UK star shares top tips for the perfect dating profile pic – from no group snaps to switching it up
The star has also revealed the single 'all-important' thing you must do on your profile SWIPE RIGHT Drag Race UK star shares top tips for the perfect dating profile pic – from no group snaps to switching it up Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DRAG Race UK star Kitty Scott-Claus has shared their top tips for the perfect online dating profile pic – flaunt it, strike a pose and avoid group photos. The 33-year-old knows a thing or two about looking their best for the camera - and has seen countless profile pics which don't cut it. 4 Drag Race UK star Kitty Scott-Claus has shared their top tips for online dating 4 The star says the best profiles include a range of photos, not just mirror selfies Credit: Ben Stevens/PinPep 4 Kitty Scott-Claus added that it's important to be authentic on your profile Credit: Ben Stevens/PinPep Mirror selfies aren't recommended, instead Kitty claims the best dating profiles bring a range of vibes including smirks, laughs and pouts. And it's important to be authentic, rather than trying to be someone you think people want. But the most important element is to simply ensure that the photos you're using on dating profiles, are current – to avoid awkward moments when meeting in real life. This applies whether you're on the apps looking for Mr Right, or Mr Right Now, according to Kitty's tips, in collaboration with Grindr. The star revealed their top tips after a poll of 500 adults who use online dating platforms found 45 per cent struggle to get the perfect shot of themselves. Kitty Scott-Claus said: "There is quite a bit of pressure to get it right. 'You have even less time to make a first impression on a dating app than you do in real life, so that initial picture is all-important.' The research also found it takes an average of 10 attempted pictures taken before people decide they're happy enough to upload one. While 42 per cent admitted they've been actively 'turned off' by a bad online snap, of someone they may otherwise have been interested in. And 41 per cent have been on a date who turned out to look nothing like their profile snap. Danni Menzies opens up about catfish hell that haunts her social media and how they're cashing in on pretending to be her. On average, it takes just 14.6 seconds for daters to decide if they're looking at someone they want to connect with. And while 34 per cent say their biggest online dating pic ick is no face pictures, 32 per cent dislike 'overly sexual' poses. While 29 per cent get turned off by obvious use of face filters or heavy editing, according to the OnePoll research. Tristan Pineiro, a spokesperson from Grindr, said: 'In today's digital dating world, your profile picture is often your first impression – so put your best photo forward. 'While it can be tempting to choose an old photo or heavily filtered image, it's far more effective to show the real you. 'People are looking for genuine connections, and that starts with being upfront about who you are, including how you look.' Kitty Scott-Claus' top tips for dating snaps Refresh that throwback. If your profile pic's older than your last situationship, it's time to update. That blurry beach snap from 2015? Cute memory but not a vibe for 2025. Make it a moment. Strike a pose that tells a story of who you are, give them something to ask about in the DMs. Snap your pics when you're feeling fab - whether that's fresh from a spin class or living your best life at Mighty Hoopla. Your joy is your glow-up. Confidence is sexy. Embrace every part of you, confidence is sexier than fantasy. Don't try to be someone you think people want; we're here for the most authentic you. Got killer arms? A dazzling smile? Show it off. Modesty is cute, but confidence is the real thirst trap. No group gaggles. We want a date, not a game of Guess Who. This is your moment to shine, solo. Switch it up. One blank stare in five mirror selfies? No ma'am it's not cute. The best dating profiles bring a range of vibes: smirks, laughs, pouts – even serious can look sexy.
The Sun
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Drag Race UK star shares top tips for the perfect dating profile pic – from no group snaps to switching it up
DRAG Race UK star Kitty Scott-Claus has shared their top tips for the perfect online dating profile pic – flaunt it, strike a pose and avoid group photos. The 33-year-old knows a thing or two about looking their best for the camera - and has seen countless profile pics which don't cut it. 4 4 Mirror selfies aren't recommended, instead Kitty claims the best dating profiles bring a range of vibes including smirks, laughs and pouts. And it's important to be authentic, rather than trying to be someone you think people want. But the most important element is to simply ensure that the photos you're using on dating profiles, are current – to avoid awkward moments when meeting in real life. This applies whether you're on the apps looking for Mr Right, or Mr Right Now, according to Kitty's tips, in collaboration with Grindr. The star revealed their top tips after a poll of 500 adults who use online dating platforms found 45 per cent struggle to get the perfect shot of themselves. Kitty Scott-Claus said: "There is quite a bit of pressure to get it right. 'You have even less time to make a first impression on a dating app than you do in real life, so that initial picture is all-important.' The research also found it takes an average of 10 attempted pictures taken before people decide they're happy enough to upload one. While 42 per cent admitted they've been actively 'turned off' by a bad online snap, of someone they may otherwise have been interested in. And 41 per cent have been on a date who turned out to look nothing like their profile snap. Danni Menzies opens up about catfish hell that haunts her social media and how they're cashing in on pretending to be her. On average, it takes just 14.6 seconds for daters to decide if they're looking at someone they want to connect with. And while 34 per cent say their biggest online dating pic ick is no face pictures, 32 per cent dislike 'overly sexual' poses. While 29 per cent get turned off by obvious use of face filters or heavy editing, according to the OnePoll research. Tristan Pineiro, a spokesperson from Grindr, said: 'In today's digital dating world, your profile picture is often your first impression – so put your best photo forward. 'While it can be tempting to choose an old photo or heavily filtered image, it's far more effective to show the real you. 'People are looking for genuine connections, and that starts with being upfront about who you are, including how you look.' Kitty Scott-Claus' top tips for dating snaps Refresh that throwback. If your profile pic's older than your last situationship, it's time to update. That blurry beach snap from 2015? Cute memory but not a vibe for 2025. Make it a moment. Strike a pose that tells a story of who you are, give them something to ask about in the DMs. Snap your pics when you're feeling fab - whether that's fresh from a spin class or living your best life at Mighty Hoopla. Your joy is your glow-up. Confidence is sexy. Embrace every part of you, confidence is sexier than fantasy. Don't try to be someone you think people want; we're here for the most authentic you. Got killer arms? A dazzling smile? Show it off. Modesty is cute, but confidence is the real thirst trap. No group gaggles. We want a date, not a game of Guess Who. This is your moment to shine, solo. Switch it up. One blank stare in five mirror selfies? No ma'am it's not cute. The best dating profiles bring a range of vibes: smirks, laughs, pouts – even serious can look sexy. 4
The Print
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Print
Grindr is dying. The final nail in the coffin is ads
For some time now, the app had begun to get tiresome. No matter how many Western TV shows talked about it, each new batch of profiles would feature 'looking for gym-toned' or 'don't text if girlish' in their bio. But even as my generation—the Gen Z elders—navigated the problems of fatshaming and transphobia, we clung to hope. Some have already quit, while others have become infrequent users. And there are those who have been 'Grindr sober' for months. It's the end of an era. Grindr is dying, and it's not the 'paid top' profiles, the 'high fun' peddlers, or even the safety risk that is doing it—it's the ads. We'd ignore the homophobes and the closet cases. We'd let down the people we weren't interested in with a gentle 'sorry', rather than the industry-standard block. Naturally, it was also a hotbed of insecurity. If someone sent their pictures and you didn't reply within five minutes, there was a good chance they'd block you. Or send a cryptic question mark. And if you ask me if I've been guilty of this, I'd request you to get in touch with my lawyer, please and thank you. It was a brutal place. It's where closeted college bros came to get their weekly fix, where bicurious men toed the edge of desire, and sometimes, where a cis woman could be found casually hanging out. While the last one remains a mystery to me, I also found lovers and formed friendships on the app. Before I got my first phone—a cute Samsung Galaxy J2—Facebook was where I'd find other gays. It was fairly straightforward—visit a cyber cafe, pay Rs 20 for an hour, use a fake profile to join a group called 'Gays in Nashik', and voila! All the gays in the city at your fingertips, from married grandpas to mean twinks. And then Grindr came on the scene. It was perfect. You could be anonymous, and it showed how far a guy was, so you'd know to block a profile if it was 1 metre away. Even better, you didn't have to bother opening Facebook anymore. I remember counting the profiles in my town and feeling a sense of relief—there were more like me out there. Once in a while, I'd find myself staying up till 3 am, telling a guy my life story and hearing his in return. Granted, there were the fake profiles and the creeps and the fear of being kidnapped by an older man. But those of us who were lucky learned our way around the potholes. Also read: Modern romance comes with EMIs & Splitwise accounts. It really isn't a sport for the broke Who is Grindr for? Grindr was a brutal place, but it offered freedom. And now, you can't even text the gentleman with a peach emoji as his username without getting an ad for inDrive. The bigger problem is, not a single person I know uses inDrive. I wouldn't be able to tell you if it is an obscure software or the newest clean energy 'solution'. But here I am, trying to hit the microscopic 'close' symbol on the ad and getting redirected to the inDrive webpage instead. All when I should be texting a semi-desperate 'heyy' to the cutie on metro, as god willed it when he compelled that Israeli guy to create Grindr in the first place. The app has lost its way. Who is Grindr serving these days? Not the trans girlies, not the geriatric twinks, not the moustached uncles—just Swiggy Instamart and 'best no wifi car games'. That's the real insult—the ads aren't remotely queer. Where are the tote bags with Rekha's face on them? What about dangly earrings, black nail paint, graphic eyeliner? You know it's the end times when capitalism doesn't bother to be convenient anymore. To be fair, Grindr is neither the only app to run ads, nor is it the first one. I've often closed Tinder after being redirected to Myntra. The latter has a much greater variety of bottoms, after all. But there's a key difference: the other apps still let the user, well, use them. With Grindr, what began as a polite nudge to get the 'Xtra' plan is now the only way it'll let you use the app. Over the last few years, Grindr has slowly moved one feature after another into its paid category. Once upon a time, you could see the profiles that had checked you out—a cue I believe some gay intern passed along to LinkedIn eventually. You could see all the profiles that had 'tapped' yours—a way of showing interest in a low-key, chilled-out, non-cringe manner. And before all this, there were 'tribe' grids to help you filter the kind of people you wanted to meet: twinks, bears, trans folks. In the words of a friend, 'When I couldn't find geeks from 60 km away, that's when Grindr died.' There are those (allegedly) thriving on Grindr Xtra. They can access 600 profiles, see who's tapped them, and create multiple albums to keep their nice pictures separate from the naughty ones. But most people scoff at the idea of paying for a hookup app, especially one that crashes every five minutes. As Redditors often do, one summed it up best. 'Why would you pay for this garbage.' The problems were always there. The app broke down too often, it was hilariously unsafe, and prolonged exposure left you feeling ugly and doomed to loneliness. The ads are just the final nail in the coffin. 'I'm almost on the verge of quitting,' said a junior from school. 'What's keeping me here is the lack of an alternative.' While many like him are waiting for a better gay app to come along, an exodus has already begun. Gays, I hear it, are migrating from Grindr to Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. Some are even turning to PlanetRomeo, Grindr's older, but less popular cousin. Most likely, they won't find much luck there—dating apps are failing across the board. So what happens now? Is it time for the gays to emerge, blinking, from the caves of digital desire? To face the nauseating prospect of flirting in real life, perhaps? To see people in their context? It's best to be safe before one goes and does something rash, though. Who knows, PlanetRomeo might just turn out to be lovely. Views are personal. (Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Business Upturn
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Upturn
You Up? Grindr's 'Right Now' Goes Global
West Hollywood, Calif., United States: Grindr, the Global Gayborhood in Your Pocket™ with more than 14.6M average monthly active users, today announced the global launch of Right Now, their newest intent-based feature designed to instantly connect people looking for immediate encounters. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Grindr's Right Now feature. Right Now is a real-time feed—separate from the app's main grid that displays profiles—where Grindr users can post text and share photos displayed for one hour, letting other like-minded users know exactly what they're looking for. 'Right Now empowers our users to find exactly what they want, when they want it – without the guesswork,' said AJ Balance, Chief Product Officer at Grindr. 'We built this intention-based feature based on feedback from our community so they can connect with like-minded people without wasting time on mismatched expectations. The response to our initial March launch was so strong we accelerated the global rollout ahead of schedule because it's clear people want this… well, right now.' Following successful pilots in Australia and Washington, D.C., and regional expansions in early 2025, Right Now is now available to all users globally on iOS and Android. Right Now can be accessed directly from a new entry button on the main grid, through the bottom navigation bar, or from the profile side drawer of the app, leading to a dedicated feed optimized for immediate engagement. At launch, depending on their location, people will receive a number of free hour-long Right Now sessions per week (refreshed every Friday), with the option to purchase more sessions after using their complimentary ones. Explore our product roadmap for a closer look at the new features coming to Grindr in 2025. About Grindr Inc. With more than 14.6 million average monthly active users, Grindr (NYSE: GRND) has grown to become the Global Gayborhood in Your Pocket™, on a mission to make a world where the lives of our global community are free, equal, and just. Available in 190 countries and territories, Grindr is often the primary way for LGBTQ+ people to connect, express themselves, and discover the world around them. Since 2015, Grindr for Equality has advanced human rights, health, and safety for millions of LGBTQ+ people in partnership with organizations around the world. Grindr has offices in West Hollywood, the Bay Area, Chicago, and New York. The Grindr app is available on the App Store and Google Play. View source version on Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
