The Most Talked About Moments of 2019

Alex Morgan, the co-captain of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, helped the squad reach the 2019 World Cup final by beating England in the semi-finals. But her goal was not what made the headlines; it was her celebration — an exaggerated sip of tea, which just happens to be a beloved traditional British beverage. Morgan was accused of disrespecting her opponents, a claim she denied.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is probably the most well known freshman representative in Congress. An old video of her dancing during her college days surfaced and she got a lot of criticism for it. (Plenty of social media users defended her, too.) Her response? She posted a new video of her dancing, mocking her critics.

Baby Yoda is probably the most famous character of 2019. The internet has been going wild with memes featuring the itty-bitty baby Yoda, a character in Disney Plus’ new show, “The Mandalorian.” What’s not to like? He is cute and has come to save you from the Dark Side.

The Bottle Cap Challenge is perhaps the most viral trend since the ALS ice bucket challenge. Celebrities from Jason Statham to John Mayer have shown people that if they can do it, anyone can. The challenge was started by taekwondo instructor and fighter Farabi Davletchin. The challenge is to unscrew the top from a bottle with a single roundhouse kick.

The beloved musical made headlines for the wrong reason — its first movie trailer, showing cat-human hybrids, horrified the world. The dodgy CGI made the cats look too much like humans with just a little bit of fur, The mix was described by some as “cursed” and “nightmarish.” Director Tom Hooper said he didn’t understand what the big deal was about.

Two kids have won the famous Scripps National Spelling Bee competition at the same time several times in the past. But eight? Never. The competition officials might have kept going until only two or three finalists remained, but the organizers ran out of words after 20 rounds.

Tesla has been known for its groundbreaking designs of cars. Its cybertruck was several years in the making and its windows were supposed to be unbreakable. That’s why when at a demonstration a steel wrecking ball smashed the windows of the vehicle — which would normally not be a shock — everyone was shocked. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said the cause was a previous hit to the truck’s door with a sledgehammer, which cracked the base of the glass.

One of the most famous historic buildings in the world caught fire in April. Thanks to social media, the news about it quickly spread and thousands watched the building burn via several live streams. People talked about the disaster for weeks and millions of euros were raised to help pay for renovations. Some people have questioned whether all that money should be spent on a church when it could be spent elsewhere, including helping children living in poverty.

NASA reached a new milestone in 2019 when astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch took part in the first all-woman spacewalk on Oct. 18. Their task was to replace a faulty battery unit and it took just over seven hours to complete.

Black holes are probably one of the most captivating outer-space phenomena. So it may have come as a surprise to many that, until recently, we had no idea what one actually looks like. The first image of a black hole that is some 55 million light-years away in a galaxy called M87 was released in April.

“Andi Mack,” a family comedy-drama, is the first Disney Channel show in which a character says “I’m gay.” No other character on any other Disney project has uttered the words. Cyrus Goodman, played by Joshua Rush, comes out to a friend at a party. And the friend’s response? “Yeah, OK, cool.” No big deal.

The final episode of “Game of Thrones” may have been the most anticipated hour of television this year. It set a new viewership record with 19.3 million people tuning in. Too bad many were left disappointed, and some even demanded the whole final season be redone.

Greta Thunberg’s fierce speech at the United Nations about the global warming crisis took over the news and internet for weeks. Several moments, including “how dare you” and “you have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words” were replayed over and over again. While many applauded the young climate change activist, who is Time’s 2019 Person of the Year, others, mostly right-wing media personalities, were not impressed.

Fans of “Jeopardy” probably got used to seeing James Holzhauer. Some may have even thought he was going to become a permanent fixture on the show. After all, he won for 32 consecutive days. Just one person in the show’s history has had a longer winning streak — Ken Jennings with 74 consecutive victories. Holzhauer finally met his match in Emma Boettcher, a librarian who beat him by more than $22,000.

In November, Keanu Reeves, often referred to as the nicest man in Hollywood, shocked the world when he showed up to an event holding hands with his girlfriend. The 55-year-old Reeves is dating 46-year-old Alexandra Grant, who doesn’t hide her age or her gray hair. Within a day, celebrity news outlets were publishing everything-you-need-to-know stories about Grant.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper stole the show at the Oscars. They performed a duet of their Oscar-winning song “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born.” Hours, even minutes, later the internet was buzzing with rumors of an affair. The fact that Cooper split with his girlfriend, model Irina Shayk, a few months later fueled the tabloid speculations.

This year’s State of the Union address was going to be standard — President Trump giving a speech about the country’s economy, pressing issues and how his administration plans to tackle them. But Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, perhaps unintentionally, stole the show with her golf clap. She gave a standing ovation and nod of approval to Trump’s call to end “revenge politics.” Most people are of the opinion that she was ridiculing Trump.

Serving fast food to college sports champions has become a White House tradition. The women’s NCAA basketball champions Baylor were served fast food when they visited the president in April. The White House also gave out fast food to Clemson’s football team in January 2019 after its national championship win over Alabama. Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Chick-fil-A were on the menu.

The music event of the year was undoubtedly “Old Town Road,” a song by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. The song made headlines for many reasons: Is it a rap or country song? Why was it removed from Billboard’s Hot Country chart? It became such a hit that it broke Billboard’s Hot 100 record with 19 weeks at the top.

The infamous Peloton bike commercial ad is certainly among the most controversial — if not the most controversial — of the year. The ad showed a woman vlogging her workouts for a year as a way to thank her husband for the bike. The ad was instantly described as sexist. The actress from the bike commercial was later featured in an ad about a distilled spirits brand, owned by Ryan Reynolds. In it, she is seen drinking as her friends comfort her and compliment her looks, possibly as a reference to her previous commercial.

Area 51 has been the subject of many conspiracy theories and has fascinated the general public for decades. In September some people finally decided to see for themselves if the government really was hiding aliens there. More than a million people say they made the trip to Nevada. It started as a Facebook joke inviting people to the “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All Of Us” event. No ETs were found.

In June President Donald Trump took 20 steps into North Korea and became the first U.S. sitting president to visit the dictatorship. The move did not seem planned. Trump was meeting with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un as part of the negotiation process to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization.

Do they exist or don’t they? That has been the question for decades. In September the U.S. Navy provided something close to an answer. A spokesman admitted that three videos — one from 2004 and two from 2015 — that appear to show UFO sightings were actual footage of “unidentified aerial phenomena.” No specifics were given. One video shows an oblong-shaped object that speeds up away from view.

The Golden Globes are usually about who won what and the best- and worst-dressed celebrities. This year’s ceremony, however, made headlines for one more reason — the woman holding Fiji water to serve to the celebrities on the red carpet. She made it into the photos of many stars, including Dakota Fanning and Jim Carrey.

Politicians are no strangers to hot mics. Microphone gaffes are bound to happen every once in a while. But when they involve the leaders of the free world, people and the media take notice. Most recently, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made fun of President Trump’s predilection for long, impromptu press conferences. In response, Trump cut his attendance at the NATO summit short and called Trudeau “two-faced.”