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Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta, reviving Beijing’s decades-old “panda diplomacy” on the opening day of his first state visit to the United States in more than a decade.
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Xi announced that Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, two giant pandas from a research base in Chengdu, would arrive at the Georgia zoo “in the coming days.” The pair will be Zoo Atlanta’s first pandas since its previous four returned to China in November 2024, when the facility became the last U.S. zoo to lose its bears.
Atlanta is Getting Pandas: Xi Revives Classic Diplomatic Strategy During Summit with Trump
“The giant panda has been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and Americans,” Xi said. “Here, I have a piece of good news. In a few days, two pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people.”1
The move revives a soft-power tactic China has used since the 1970s, when Beijing first loaned pandas to the United States after President Richard Nixon’s historic opening to China. Over the years, pandas on loan to U.S. zoos have produced 17 cubs, according to Chinese state media. Analysts say the gesture aims to improve the atmosphere between the world’s two largest economies and generate positive momentum in bilateral ties.5
“Panda diplomacy conveys a message of friendship and goodwill from China,” said Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University.
Xi paired the panda announcement with another people-to-people initiative: an invitation for 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years. “The hope of the China-U.S. relationship lies in our people, and its future lies with the young,” he said.1
The announcements came as Xi and President Donald Trump began high-stakes talks expected to cover artificial intelligence, tariffs, critical minerals, Taiwan, and the Iran war. Trump greeted Xi planeside at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday—an unusual welcome for a visiting head of state—and hosted an arrival ceremony at the White House. It is Xi’s first state visit to the U.S. since the Obama administration more than a decade ago.5
China has long used pandas both as symbols of goodwill and, at times, as leverage when relations cool. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., saw its pandas return to China in 2023 amid heightened tensions; new ones arrived under a fresh agreement a year later. Zoo Atlanta’s earlier group left in 2024 after a 25-year arrangement ended.
With Ping Ping and Fu Shuang on the way, Atlanta will once again join a small group of U.S. zoos hosting the animals. The loan forms part of a conservation agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
As the two leaders continue their meetings through Friday, the return of the black-and-white ambassadors offers a rare moment of shared warmth in a relationship marked by competition and friction—underscoring how even the most complex geopolitical ties can still find common ground in the simple appeal of pandas.
If you want to explore Atlanta’s cultural palate a bit, a short ride to East Point offers some great places to eat! If you like that part of town, don’t sleep on College Park either.
If you like barbecue, see our list of the Best Atlanta BBQ Restaurants.
As for eateries below I-20, these Southside Atlanta restaurants have developed quite a following.
More Food Coverage from AtlantaFi.com:
Here Are The Best New Restaurants In Atlanta
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Starbucks announced Thursday it will close about 250 coffeehouses across North America later this week, calling the move a “difficult decision” after reviewing locations that it says cannot consistently deliver the experience it wants or a path to acceptable financial performance.
The closures represent about 1% of the company’s more than 18,000 North American stores. Most locations remain profitable, Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams said in a letter to employees, known internally as partners.
We interviewed Starbucks customer Kimberly Goldberg of Woodstock, who said coffee is her morning go-to. “Oh no,” the San Diego native said. “I hope they don’t close the one I go.”
Starbucks To Close 250 Stores
The company expects about $300 million in related charges and is lowering its fiscal 2026 net new store outlook to roughly 440 from a previous target of 600 to 650.
Grams said the company is speaking directly with affected partners and will offer transfers where possible, plus severance for those who cannot be placed nearby. Customers at closing shops will be directed to nearby stores.
What this means in Atlanta
Starbucks has not released a list of the stores closing this week, so it is not yet clear whether any metro Atlanta locations are included. Local customers should check the Starbucks app or website for sudden hours changes or closures.
The news lands in a market that has already seen several Starbucks changes. In September 2025, three Atlanta stores closed as part of an earlier restructuring: the location on the lower level of the Equitable Building at 100 Peachtree Street downtown, 21 14th Street, and 1870 Piedmont Avenue in Piedmont Heights. An Ansley Mall store at 1544 Piedmont Road also closed earlier after its lease expired.
In May 2026, Starbucks separately closed its Atlanta regional support office and other underused offices in cities including Dallas and Chicago, affecting about 300 corporate roles in marketing, human resources, and similar functions. Coffeehouse staff were not part of that cut.
Metro Atlanta still has a large Starbucks footprint—dozens of cafes across the city and suburbs, with some location trackers listing 50-plus stores in Atlanta proper. Georgia overall has hundreds of locations. Atlanta is also among the markets where Starbucks has been expanding store “uplifts,” the renovations meant to make cafes cozier and more inviting as part of CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” plan. The company says it is on track to complete 1,500 such upgrades by the end of its fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The bigger picture
This is the second major wave of closures under Niccol, who joined in 2024. Last year the company shuttered hundreds of North American and European stores. The latest review, Grams said, followed improved visibility into which shops are benefiting from faster service, warmer interiors, and the Green Apron Service standard—and which are not.
The original Fox Business report also noted that the announcement came days after Starbucks resolved a Florida DEI lawsuit with a nationwide agreement. That settlement is separate from the store-portfolio decision.
For Atlanta regulars, the practical takeaway is simple: this week’s closures are happening quickly, specific local addresses have not been published, and the company says it still plans to grow in North America even as it prunes underperforming shops. Check nearby locations if your usual stop suddenly goes dark.
LAYOFFS AND STORE CLOSURES
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Drew “Druski” Desbordes turned a Gwinnett County childhood, a college dropout year, and years of posting phone videos from his mother’s house into one of the defining comedy careers of the social-media era. The Atlanta-area creator is now a multimillion-follower sketch artist, festival headliner, BET Awards host, Super Bowl commercial star, and self-funded producer whose “Coulda Been” universe spans YouTube series, tours, and a growing entertainment company.
The latest chapter of that story arrived this week. In a lengthy Diary of a CEO conversation, Druski spoke openly about the household that shaped his humor: an abusive father, a mother and brother he tried to protect with jokes, and comedy as a tool for making a tense home feel a little lighter. That origin story is not the usual “overnight viral” narrative. It is the through-line.
Druski Interview: Suburban Atlanta roots and a house that needed a ‘funny guy’
Drew Desbordes was born September 12, 1994, in Columbia, Maryland, and raised in Gwinnett County, Georgia—Snellville and the South Gwinnett High School area north of Atlanta. His mother, Cheryl, worked in public health (CDC and later Department of State). His father, David McLain Desbordes, was a United Airlines pilot, a former Air Force captain, and National Guard major. The family was not poor. Druski has been careful to say they were not a “broke home.” They were, in his words, a broken one.
In the recent interview he described watching his father beat his brother for wetting the bed and witnessing his mother being choked and locked out of the house. He did not claim he himself was the primary target of the worst physical violence, but he watched it happen.
His response, even as a kid, was to become the person who tried to reset the room. “I would always try to be, ‘Oh, the funny guy,’ maybe at dinner after or maybe after the next day goes by, and I’m trying to lift everybody’s vibe up,” he said. “My comedy comes from that place of healing, wanting to make our situation better at home.”
He has connected his brother’s later diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to that trauma. He has also said he has forgiven his father and now has a good relationship with him, reframing some of the harshness as inherited intensity from his father’s own upbringing. The hypervigilance that helped a child read a dangerous room later became professional skill: noticing tiny shifts in an audience, a co-star, or a host and adjusting in real time.
The nickname “Druski” itself is local and unglamorous. In middle school, classmates started calling him that after a character on the reality show College Hill. It stuck. At home his mother put him in front of the family camcorder to practice impressions. The dinner table was his first stage. Atlanta snap-era culture—big white T-shirts, Soulja Boy, the particular mix of suburban and street energy in Gwinnett—gave him a specific observational palette he still uses. “If I grew up anywhere else, I don’t know if I would be the same person,” he has said.
Dropout, depression, and the first Instagram videos
After high school he tried college the conventional way: Georgia Gwinnett College, then Georgia Southern University as a sports-analytics major who thought he might become a sportscaster. He was depressed, stopped going to class, sat in his dorm playing NBA 2K and watching YouTube (Steve Harvey and Gary Vaynerchuk were early influences), and dropped out after two semesters.
His mother cried when he told her. He moved back home and slept on the floor at times. He worked service jobs and, by his own later account, drifted toward Atlanta’s street-scam scene before a gun-to-the-head moment convinced him there was no Plan B. He wrote the line down: “Don’t have a plan B, your plan A will work.”
On October 2, 2017, he posted his first comedy skit on Instagram as @druski2funny. Early work was raw character comedy: the entitled frat brother Kyle Rogger, an angry high-school football coach, a power-tripping TSA agent, a ruthless fake record-label executive. The videos were anthropological—specific enough to feel like people you actually know, vulgar enough to travel. His mother at one point came home, saw him rearranging the living room for a sketch, and told him he needed a real job. That embarrassment, he has said, made him get serious.
For a few years almost nothing happened. He promoted other people’s music on his story for a couple hundred dollars a day. Friends recorded him at a gas station and told him to just be himself. Consistency, not a single video, is the part of the story he now emphasizes. Most people quit in years three and four, he says, when the numbers still look like failure.
2020: hip-hop co-signs and the celebrity bubble
The pandemic accelerated everything. People were stuck inside scrolling. Druski’s sketches were already there. Then the co-signs arrived. He and Jack Harlow, who lived minutes apart in Atlanta, started working together. Lil Yachty put him in the “Oprah’s Bank Account” video.
Drake, who had seen the Kyle Rogger bits, DMed him and put him in the “Laugh Now Cry Later” video. Odell Beckham Jr. let him stay at his place. Professional athletes started quoting the sketches. The “internet comedian who hangs with rappers” lane opened, and Druski occupied it without looking like he was forcing it.
He opened for J. Cole and 21 Savage. He toured with Chris Brown and Lil Baby. Brands noticed: Beats, Google, Nike, later Dunkin’ Super Bowl work, T-Mobile. He launched the satirical label Coulda Been Records in 2019 as an Instagram Live anti-talent show. It became a franchise—Coulda Been House, Coulda Been Love, Coulda Fest at State Farm Arena in his hometown, arena tours, and the production company 4Lifers Entertainment. When streamers passed on his ideas, he financed the shows himself on YouTube. Those same platforms later came back around.
He tried Los Angeles for six months and returned to Atlanta. The city is still the center of the work.
From living-room sketches to awards stages
By the mid-2020s the résumé looked like a traditional entertainment career that had skipped the traditional gatekeepers: acting roles (Praise This, Grown-ish, the upcoming The Catch with Emma Stone and Chris Pine), commentator on The Voice, youngest BET Awards host, ESPYs presenter, Forbes top-creators list, equity in products, a sports agency. Followers sit in the tens of millions across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. The numbers are large. The method stayed recognizably the same: characters pulled from real rooms, timing sharpened by years of reading a tense household, and an insistence on owning the IP.
Druski’s recent willingness to talk about the abuse and the brother’s mental-health struggles does not rewrite the jokes. It explains the reflex. The kid who tried to lift the vibe after dinner became the adult who can walk into a Super Bowl commercial, a Drake video, or a two-hour podcast and still feel like the same person his classmates called Druski. Atlanta did not just give him material. It gave him the audience that recognized the material first. The rest of the world caught up later.
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Todd Tucker is telling his side of the story. In a candid interview tied to his forthcoming docuseries Til Divorce Do Us Part, the producer and former Real Housewives of Atlanta fixture detailed the isolation that followed his split from Kandi Burruss, addressed her public frustration over comments about their sex life, and described the relief of no longer having her mother, Mama Joyce Jones, as a daily presence.
The couple married in April 2014 after meeting on Season 4 of RHOA. They share son Ace, 10, and daughter Blaze, 6, and each has an adult daughter from a previous relationship. Burruss announced she was moving forward with divorce in November 2025; they settled in March 2026 with joint legal and physical custody.
Isolation, dark thoughts, and rebuilding
Tucker, 53, said that after the separation he stayed in the guesthouse on the property while his family was next door. The alone time was heavy. “It was a lot of time in my head, thinking, trying to figure out, ‘What did I just do? What just happened? Did I lose my family?’ So I’m gonna be honest, I had nobody really to lean on,” he told Page Six.
Kandi Burruss asks Todd Tucker to stop ‘sensationalizing’ their sex life.
He reiterated a moment he also discusses in the docuseries: during especially painful stretches, he “looked at [his] gun.” He said he snapped out of it by focusing on his children. “No, you have a family. You have kids that you have to see them through.” He has been attending church and plans to start therapy as he works on “rebuilding myself” and being the best co-parent he can.
If you or someone you know is struggling, contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
Tucker framed the project as his counterpart to Burruss’s “I Do. I Did. I’m Done.” tour. He said men often carry stress until it becomes a health crisis, and he wanted to model getting it out without bashing anyone. After this, he said, he plans to fade from the conversation and focus on films and other projects.
The threesome comments
A trailer moment that drew Burruss’s sharp response showed RHOA alum Peter Thomas asking Tucker about threesomes. Tucker replied that they had, “for most of our marriage.” Burruss later said he was “choosing to sensationalize [their] sex life to stretch his five minutes of fame” and that what happens between spouses is private.
Tucker pushed back. He noted that Burruss had spoken about their intimate life on RHOA, on Kandi Koated Nights, and through her Bedroom Kandi line—often without consulting him first. “I’m not throwing out there any new information,” he said. “It was just a conversation.” He asked rhetorically how private their marital sex life could be after years of her own public comments.
What ended the marriage, according to Todd
Tucker was vague about the specific “incident” involving another woman that he says led Burruss to end things; he said he will elaborate in the docuseries. Friends suggested flowers. He said the problems were bigger than that and set up therapy. In his view, she wanted the immediate issue fixed first; he wanted to address the overall relationship. When he felt she was not willing to fight for it with him, he “bowed out.” He added that he had made vows to stay foreverand would have done so.1
He does not fully blame reality television but said it “played a part.” On co-parenting, he said they put anger aside for the kids and that there is “never any tension” when it comes to Ace and Blaze
Mama Joyce and the “weight lifted”
Tucker said he “allowed a lot of disrespect” from Burruss’s mother, Mama Joyce, over the years while trying to prove himself to someone who did not like him. Not having her directly in his life now “feels like a weight lifted off his shoulders.” He still encourages the children to stay connected to their grandmother.
He is not dating. He said he needs time to get himself together before he can be a good partner to someone else.
Tucker is premiering the docuseries alongside his film Don’t Bring Your Man to Atlanta at an AMC Theatres event next month. After years of being labeled on Housewives without speaking much, he said he simply wanted to be heard—then go quiet.
The public back-and-forth continues a very public chapter for two people who built a blended family, businesses, and a long on-camera life together. Tucker’s version emphasizes loneliness, accountability to his kids, and the right to tell his side. Burruss has emphasized privacy, peace, and that his recent comments confirmed her decision to leave. Both say the children come first.
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This weekend, Sandy Springs turns its downtown core into a two-day celebration of live music, handmade art, and family-friendly spectacle. The fourth annual Bluestone Arts & Music Festival returns to City Springs on Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26, with free admission, nationally known headliners, an artist market, and the Georgia premiere of an interactive outdoor show. This is one of the best festivals in the Atlanta area.
The festival takes over City Green, Blue Stone Road, and surrounding blocks at 1 Galambos Way. Hours run 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. Artist market, emerging-artist gallery, and Kids Zone close at 8 p.m. both nights; food trucks stay open until 10.
Bluestone Arts & Music Festival: Headliner & Schedule
Friday night belongs to Nicotine Dolls, an alternative-pop/rock act making a special stop in Sandy Springs before heading overseas. They take the City Green Stage at 8:30 p.m. Saturday’s closer is Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Allen Stone, whose mix of soul, R&B, funk, and pop arrives just as he finishes a new album and continues dates with Chris Stapleton and Teddy Swims. He headlines at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Supporting acts fill the rest of the weekend. Friday’s City Green lineup includes Carl Wockner + Cat Ridgeway (singer-songwriter and live looping) at 4:30 p.m. and Brother Maven (rock and soul) at 7 p.m. Saturday features Something In The Orange (Zach Bryan tribute) at 1 p.m., Carl Wockner at 2:30 p.m., Bad Medicine (Bon Jovi tribute) at 4 p.m., SOUP (’90s alt-rock) at 5:30 p.m., and Kyndle Wylde (soul and rock) at 7 p.m.
New this year on the Hilderbrand Stage is Squonk’s Joy Machine, an interactive multimedia performance making its Georgia debut. Audiences help power giant inventions, animate puppets, and play a massive drum wall. Showtimes are 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday and noon, 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. Saturday. Every set is unique.
Art, kids, food, and a race for people and pups
More than 60 artists and makers from across the Southeast line Blue Stone Road with pottery, jewelry, paintings, woodwork, clothing, and specialty foods. Hours are 4–8 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Saturday. Nearby, the Emerging Artist Gallery displays student work from kindergarten through high school. A limited run of 40 official 2026 festival posters, designed by Atlanta illustrator Jordan Longenecker, will be available.
The Kids Zone offers carnival rides and giant inflatables. A $15 wristband covers unlimited access all day. Squonk’s performances double as family entertainment on the Hilderbrand Stage.
Food trucks and a Sports Zone turn Galambos Road into an outdoor tailgate with big-screen football, yard games, and patio seating. Drink tickets (credit card only) are required at outdoor bars.
Saturday morning starts early with the Blue Stone 5K-9, an 8 a.m. fun run/walk open to all ages—with or without a dog. The flat out-and-back course is an official Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race qualifier. Registration is $35 plus fees at runsignup.com; adaptive handcycles are available through Catalyst Sports. Pets are welcome only on the race course, not inside the festival grounds. Service animals are allowed.
Final Word
Admission is free. Lawn chairs and blankets are allowed (low-back chairs preferred); umbrellas for shade are fine if lowered during sets. No tents, outside tables, or drones. Wear comfortable shoes and sunscreen—the festival spans several blocks. Restrooms, including ADA facilities, are located throughout the grounds and parking areas.
Expect road closures around City Springs; Springs Landing shops remain accessible. Check sandyspringsga.gov/bluestone for the latest parking, shuttle, and MARTA information closer to the weekend. Weather updates will be posted on the city’s Facebook page.
The Blue Stone Arts & Music Festival is produced by the City of Sandy Springs with support from the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and local sponsors. It has grown from earlier Heritage Sandy Springs Festival roots into a signature fall event that mixes national acts with neighborhood energy. For maps, full schedules, and last-minute changes, visit sandyspringsga.gov/bluestone or bluestonefest.com.
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The family of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells and civil rights attorney Ben Crump held a news conference Tuesday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, just outside Atlanta, after a Mississippi grand jury declined to bring criminal charges in the teenager’s death.
On Monday, a Jackson County grand jury unanimously returned a “no true bill,” finding no probable cause to indict anyone in connection with Wells’ death.
Ben Crump, Family Speak on Nolan Wells Grand Jury Findings
The panel reviewed testimony from more than 40 witnesses, physical and digital evidence, GPS and cellphone data, videos, and reports. It concluded there was “no credible evidence” of criminal conduct by anyone who traveled with Wells to or from Horn Island on July 4, 2026, and “absolutely no evidence” that the death or disappearance was racially motivated. The grand jury said the position, condition, time of discovery, and location of Wells’ body were consistent with drowning.
Wells, a Black student-athlete and wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College from Ocean Springs, went by boat with friends to Horn Island, a remote barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, to celebrate the Fourth of July. Friends said he chose to stay behind. He was reported missing that night. His body was found in the water near the island on the morning of July 6 by a National Park Service ranger. Both the Mississippi State Chief Medical Examiner and an independent forensic pathologist hired by the family, Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, ruled the cause and manner of death undetermined.
Drowning was not ruled out and was described as a diagnosis of exclusion. Non-fatal bruising was documented on the back of Wells’ head; an independent exam also noted traces of blood and blunt-force injuries to the head and back. Toxicology showed no drugs in his system.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, told those gathered that she could not understand how the panel reached a drowning conclusion given autopsy findings that included trauma to his body. “How can a jury come to the conclusion of drowning, despite knowing that there was trauma to his body, and despite hearing many inconsistencies?” she asked. She said the family learned of the grand jury’s decision only minutes before Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath posted a video announcing it. “Last night was a reminder that our son’s life does not matter to those who hold positions that are supposed to serve and protect the public,” Wonsley said through tears. “Nolan is loved. He is cherished. He is honored. And he did not deserve to have his life taken away so suddenly.”
Crump said the family would continue seeking answers. “The district attorney called the state’s investigation exhaustive,” he said. “Was it exhaustive? Or were they just exhausted? Because an exhaustive investigation should lead to the truth of what happened to Nolan Xavier Wells.” He argued that drowning should not be certified until other causes, including blunt-force trauma to the back of Wells’ head and body, are ruled out. “Common sense tells you that this child did not just drown.” Crump and others again asked the U.S. Department of Justice to open an independent investigation, noting that Horn Island is federally maintained. They also called for release of the full investigation file and the state medical examiner’s complete autopsy report.
He called for Mississippi to keep the investigation open, release the full state autopsy report, and for the U.S. Department of Justice to step in if state officials do not pursue the case further. The family also released the full independent autopsy report. Rev. Al Sharpton echoed the call for continued scrutiny, saying a “no true bill is not an answer.”
The case drew national attention and online speculation after photos circulated of Wells with white friends on the trip. Authorities and the grand jury rejected claims of racial motivation or foul play. The DA’s office has said Wells’ friends loved him, that he chose to stay on the island, and that there is no evidence contradicting that account. Some of the friends’ attorneys have described them as completely innocent and noted they faced threats amid public rumors.
The Tuesday Atlanta event is expected to feature Crump, the Wells family, and members of their legal team. They plan to reiterate demands for transparency, continued investigation, and federal review. The Congressional Black Caucus had previously requested DOJ and FBI involvement. As of the scheduled start time, no further details from the press conference itself were immediately available. The family has maintained throughout that they seek a full accounting of how Wells died after going out with friends and not returning.
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Riley Burruss just put a very specific kind of reality-TV childhood into words.
On her mother’s podcast, Speak On It, Kandi Burruss asked her daughter a question a lot of Bravo kids never get asked on camera: did growing up on The Real Housewives of Atlanta embarrass her? Riley’s answer was not a vague “it was a lot.”
It was school hallways, boy classmates, and a standing request that her famous mom not pull up at the front door.
Riley Burruss: Classmates Would Talk About Mom Kandi’s Craziness’
Riley said classmates who watched the show would talk about Kandi’s “craziness,” her lingerie on TV, and her Freaknik years. The comments from the boys were worse. They would tell her they had seen her mom on television and start talking about Kandi’s body. Riley’s response, she said, was immediate: “No, we’re not doing that. Stop talking about my mom.” Then she would call home and ask Kandi to pick her up down the street so she would not have to hear it at dismissal.
That detail is the heart of the clip. It is not just that a child of a reality star heard gossip. It is that the gossip was sexual, it came from male classmates, and it followed her into the most ordinary part of the school day. Riley framed it as something she tried to manage quietly: keep it cute, shut it down, change the pickup spot.
Kandi pressed her on what “craziness” actually meant. Riley pointed back to the version of her mother that television sold: the lingerie, the party years, the storylines that made Kandi one of RHOA’s most watched cast members. For viewers, those scenes were entertainment. For Riley, they became material other kids could use.
The conversation lands because Riley is no longer a child extra on her mother’s show. She first appeared on RHOA around age seven, later went to NYU, and has since built her own on-camera life, including Next Gen NYC. That makes the clip feel less like a confession extracted from a teenager and more like an adult looking back at the cost of a family brand.
Online, the reaction split in the usual Bravo way. Some people heard a daughter describing how sexualized comments about her mother followed her to school and thought that should have been enough to change what went on television. Others treated it as an inevitable side effect of fame and pointed to Kandi’s long run as proof that the show also paid for the life around it. A few replies were cruder still, turning Riley’s discomfort into a punchline about Kandi’s image.
The more useful reading is narrower. Riley is describing a specific failure of the reality-TV contract: the child does not get to opt out of the audience. She can ask her mother to park down the block. She cannot ask every boy in her class not to watch the show.
That is why the clip traveled. Not because it revealed a secret feud, but because it made the private inconvenience of public sexuality sound ordinary, specific, and still a little raw.
Keep up with Season 17:
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Kelli Potter, the Real Housewives of Atlanta chef and restaurateur, recently underwent Lipo 360 plus J-Plasma and shared early results days after surgery. The posts, circulating in mid-September 2026, quickly drew both compliments on her contour and pointed criticism tied to her on-show feuds, finances, and past comments about co-star Drew Sidora.
Potter, formerly known as Kelli Ferrell, joined RHOA in later seasons after building a public profile as the “Queen of Waffles” behind Nana’s Chicken-N-Waffles.
RHOA Star Kelli Potter Undergoes Lipo
She has spoken about divorce from Mark Ferrell, co-parenting four daughters, restaurant struggles, and a more than $217,000 default judgment tied to a business loan. Creditors have sought bank information that could lead to account seizures.
The Procedure
Lipo 360 targets fat around the midsection—abdomen, flanks, waist, and back—in a full-circle approach. J-Plasma (also called Renuvion) uses helium plasma energy to tighten skin after fat removal, aiming to reduce looseness that liposuction alone can leave. Combined procedures are marketed for more defined results with relatively quicker visible change than traditional lipo. Potter’s content, including video of her 5-days-post-op experience with Dr. Ladipo, has been described by some accounts as appearing sponsored.
Early footage and photos showed her in compression garments discussing recovery. Supporters said the results already looked improved. Detractors questioned whether the work went beyond advertised Lipo 360 and J-Plasma.
Criticisms and Online Backlash
The loudest reaction centered on hypocrisy. Earlier in 2026, after Drew Sidora shared her own Lipo 360 results, Potter and Sidora traded body-shaming comments. Sidora had previously likened Potter’s figure to a “stuffed Cornish hen.” Potter posted before-and-after images of Sidora and wrote that she would “always be a SpongeBob box shaped Buick even after you got the P special”—a reference to the hourglass look associated with some Atlanta Housewives procedures. Fans immediately noted Potter then pursued a similar midsection procedure.
Comments across X and Instagram repeated the same themes: she “had all that smoke for Drew just to go get the same procedure,” called her a “weird ass bitch” for the turnaround, and said she “never beating the hater allegations.” Others accused her of getting a BBL in addition to Lipo 360 because of how her lower body appeared in after photos. Some simply said a daily walk would have produced comparable change without surgery.
Financial timing drew equally sharp remarks. Viewers pointed to the outstanding judgment and restaurant-related debt while she paid for elective cosmetic work. Comments included “Lipo over paying past due debt,” “priorities are mixed up,” and questions about whether she “paid Gary back.” A few noted she had previously emphasized limited prior work (such as breast implants) while criticizing others.
Additional aesthetic critiques mentioned unbalanced proportions—larger upper body versus legs—or that her original shape did not require the procedure. A smaller group defended her, saying she looks good, adults can choose body work, and fans should not police women’s decisions.
Context on RHOA and Potter’s Public Image
Potter’s time on the show overlapped with divorce, financial pressure, restaurant expansion and contraction, and high-volume fights with Porsha Williams and others. She has described filming as one of the hardest periods of her life because personal crises played out on camera and then again in public reaction. Cosmetic procedures are common among Housewives casts and frequently become plot points or reunion fodder. Potter’s choice fits that pattern while colliding with her own earlier shade and documented money troubles.
The discussion illustrates two recurring realities of reality television: cast members often get the same work they once mocked, and viewers treat unpaid debts as fair game when a star posts new curves. Potter has not issued a lengthy public response to the latest wave of comments in the available coverage. Results from Lipo 360 plus J-Plasma typically continue to settle over months as swelling drops and skin tightens further.
Whether the procedure was a private confidence move, a sponsored appearance, or both, it has become another chapter in Potter’s already turbulent RHOA run—one that fans are using to score old grudges as much as to evaluate surgical outcomes.
More From AtlantaFi.com:
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Taste of Soul Atlanta returns October 17–18, 2026, as a free two-day outdoor celebration of soul food, live music, culture, and community in the heart of Vine City.
The festival takes place across from Mercedes-Benz Stadium at the main entrance of Northside Drive and MLK Jr. Drive (Atlanta, GA 30314). Hours run noon to 9 p.m. both days. Festival grounds entry is free with recommended registration; ticketed experiences include the Soul in the City Concert and Sunday’s Cocktails & Wine Festival.
Taste of Soul Atlanta: Dates, Times, Info – What To Know
Note: Official listings and the event website confirm the weekend of October 17–18 rather than October 11–12.
A Festival Rooted in Place and History
Taste of Soul Atlanta (TOSA) is held in Vine City, one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods and the longtime home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Organizers describe the site as the footsteps of where civil-rights leaders gathered over plates of soul food to discuss the issues of their time. The event positions Atlanta as America’s Soul Food Capital and bills itself as the largest festival west of Peachtree Street.
The gathering is designed as a family-friendly, citywide experience that brings people together around Southern and soul cooking, live performances, art, and people-watching. Soul food here is framed as “life, love and family, served on a warm plate.”
Food, Market, and Flavors
The Open Air Taste & Market occupies the grounds both days. Food vendors focus on traditional soul food (fried or baked chicken and catfish, greens, mac and cheese, meatloaf, casseroles), plus soul seafood, Cajun-soul, Caribbean-soul, African-soul, South American-soul, and fusion interpretations. Vendors are required to offer affordable “taste” portions. Arts-and-crafts and market vendors add shopping alongside the food trucks and booths.
Expected attendance is around 25,000 with capacity for roughly 100 vendors. No power is provided on site, and the festival is styrofoam-free.
Music and Stages
Free music plays throughout the day on the Phoenix Sound Stage (1–9 p.m.); lawn chairs are welcome. The 2026 Phoenix Stage lineup is listed as coming soon. A ticketed Soul in the City Concert occupies a private main-stage area (concert area typically opens earlier; check will-call for wristbands). Last year’s programming featured a deep roster of R&B, soul, and local artists across Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday, October 18, the Taste of Soul Cocktails & Wine Festival runs 4–8 p.m. It highlights African American-owned wines, spirits, and cocktails—positioned as one of the country’s largest tastings of its kind. 2026 participating brands were still to be announced at last check; prior years included names such as Uncle Nearest, Ten to One Rum, Ebony Wine, and others. Tickets are sold separately.
KidZone operates both days from noon to 8 p.m. Additional Sunday programming blocks appear on the events page (12–4 p.m. and 4–8 p.m. ticketed options). BrunchTOSA and a Labor Day 5K have been part of the broader TOSA experience in other years.
Getting There and What to Bring
Organizers strongly recommend MARTA: Vine City station is about a three-minute walk; Ashby station is roughly 15 minutes. Biking is encouraged. Driving is possible but parking is limited and paid in nearby lots; carpooling and respect for Vine City neighbors are requested.
Allowed items include lawn chairs, blankets, one sealed water bottle per person, and small bags subject to search. Pets are not permitted. Coolers, outside food, tents, glass, and weapons are prohibited. The site is wheelchair accessible. ATMs, restrooms, medical services, and lost-and-found are on site.46
Nearby hotel options listed by organizers include the Signia by Hilton, Hard Rock, Glenn Hotel Autograph Collection, DoubleTree, and Clarion.
Planning Ahead
Register for free entry and watch TasteofSoulAtlanta.com for the 2026 artist announcements, exact concert times, and vendor lists. Vendor applications (food, beverage, market) have rolling deadlines with space assigned closer to the event. The festival has run since 2015 and continues to grow as a neighborhood-rooted celebration of Atlanta’s culinary and musical traditions.
Check the official site closer to the weekend for weather updates, final lineup, and any last-minute logistics. Bring an appetite, a chair, and time to wander.
Explore Your Atlanta
Atlanta has just what you need, not just today but every weekend. From exploring the city’s diverse restaurant scene to taking in a beautiful park greenspace or even checking out the hidden gems, Atlanta has some of everything.
First, to find all the good things happening in the city this week, all you have to do is take a look at downtown Atlanta. That’s where some of the best restaurants are as well as where the visitors, namely tourists, are.
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DDG’s Hit-A-Thon 2 is in full swing in Atlanta, turning a luxury house into a 24/7 studio, party spot, and livestream set as the Michigan-born streamer-rapper builds a new album in real time with his chat and a rotating cast of guests.rdyIwLARGE
The weeklong marathon runs September 14–21, 2026. DDG (Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., also known as PontiacMadeDDG) framed it as the biggest music-focused streaming event, relocated to “the biggest city in music” after last year’s inaugural Hit-A-Thon produced the Blame the Chat album.
That project was shaped live—chat voted on beats and cuts, guests dropped in, and the result later fueled a tour that stopped in Atlanta.
This year’s version follows the same core formula but with more scale: a reported $10 million Atlanta house complete with murals, a theater, and a club-style space DDG dubbed “DDG City,” a play on Magic City.
Parties, studio sessions, and late-night hangs happen on stream. Viewers watch on Twitch (twitch.tv/ddg) with clips and official audio snippets hitting the DDG Live YouTube channel.
What’s happened so far
The stream launched with a house tour and immediate technical hiccups that DDG addressed on air. Since then the house has been busy. Notable pull-ups include Kai Cenat crashing the stream, T.I. offering advice after seeing the ATL-movie-inspired trailer, producer Zaytoven working on a track called “Mike Jack,” and sessions with BunnaB (“Scrub The Ground”), OMB Peezy (“Get Up With Me”), Fox BD and Seddy Hendrinx (“AH HA”), Boston Richey and BenDaDonnn (“What You Hiding For”), plus appearances from Pluto, DuB, Deshae Frost, YKNiece, Jayda Wayda, Adrien Broner, DreamDoll, and BJRNCK. Recent clips highlight a DreamDoll/BJRNCK collab titled “Familiar” drawing strong reactions.
Official audio drops already circulating include “5 AM In ATL,” “Get Up With Me,” “AH HA,” and others. DDG has said he’s recording far more than he needs—aiming to select about 15 songs for the final project, which he plans to release roughly two weeks after the stream wraps. In a mid-week interview he described the live, chat-driven process as the future of making music and noted Atlanta’s pull as both a music capital and a place with personal and cultural resonance.
The vibe
It is part recording camp, part reality show, part after-hours hang. Chat still influences beats and decisions. Segments mix serious booth time with gaming, house tours, and parties. The energy is high but uneven by design—a marathon with technical glitches, last-minute guests, and the pressure of creating on camera. Fans and clip pages have been circulating standout verses and studio moments daily.
DDG invited rappers and streamers publicly ahead of the event and continues to leave the door open for drop-ins. The remaining days through September 21 will determine the final tracklist and whether the Atlanta setting produces the “biggest music stream” he teased.
Watch live on Twitch or catch recaps and audio on the DDG Live YouTube channel. The album drop is expected in early October if the post-stream timeline holds.
Got an event or know of something opening in and around Atlanta? Holla: CJ@AtlantaFi.com. See what’s poppin’ in the ATL! Subscribe to our news alerts here, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
