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Logan Paul’s Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card sells for record $16.5M at auction

PEOPLE
Logan Paul poses for a photo at the Tempo by Hilton Times Square on March 26, 2025, in New York. Invision via AP

NEW YORK — Logan Paul has set a new world record — for the auction price of a trading card.

The wrestling and social media star’s rare Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card, a “Holy Grail” for collectors, sold for $16.5 million Monday at Goldin Auctions after 41 days of bidding. Paul had purchased the card in 2021 for $5.275 million, a Guinness record at the time for a Pokémon card. He had added a diamond necklace and custom case and wore the card at WrestleMania 38 in 2022.

Guinness World Records adjudicator Sarah Casson was on hand Monday for the auction’s closure, which was livestreamed on YouTube, and confirmed the price was a record not just for a Pokémon card, but for any trading card sold at auction.

“Oh my gosh, this is crazy,” said Paul, who placed the card around the neck of winning bidder A.J. Scaramucci, a venture capitalist and son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

The card was designed by Atsuko Nishida for a 1998 contest. Only a few dozen are believed to exist, and Paul’s card is believed the only with a quality rating of 10.

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Actress Rose Byrne poses with the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance award during the winner’s photocall at the International Film Festival, Berlinale, in Berlin, Feb. 22, 2025. Pool via AP
Actress Rose Byrne honored as Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year with parade and roast

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Dozens of cheering fans lined the streets of Cambridge Friday to celebrate the Australian actress Rose Byrne, who was honored as the 2026 Woman of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Byrne, the Golden Globe Award winner and Oscar nominee for her leading role in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” waved to fans and blew kisses as her car made its way slowly near Harvard University campus. Byrne, who also has starred in “Bridesmaids,” “Neighbors,” “Insidious” and “Damages,” later received her pudding pot award at a celebratory roast and attended a performance of Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 177th production “Salooney Tunes.”

In her review of “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” the Associated Press’ Jocelyn Noveck wrote that the film gave Byrne “a chance to display versatility and grit in surely the toughest dramatic role of her career.”

“I’m so excited to be in the parade and to see Rose Byrne. I loved her movie ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,’” said Jacqueline Metzger, a junior at Harvard and president of the university’s short-form improv group. “It was like so anxiety inducing and the best movie I’ve seen all year. So I’m super excited, and we love her. We love Rose Byrne.”

The parade included a colorful cast of characters, some in drag and bright wigs, one dressed as a cactus, and several dressed as revolutionary soldiers. Before heading inside Farkas Hall for the roast, Byrne joined members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals players in chorus line-style dancing.

At the roast, Byrne was put through a mock therapy session inspired by “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” She was asked to interpret a series of ink blots including one painting that Byrne joked looked like a “vagina.”

Based on her work in previous “Peter Rabbit” movies, she was asked to read in a scene from a new, fake entry into the series. This one saw her confronting a rabbit under the influence of drugs who shows up late one night.

“I don’t like it when you lie. Do you even care about the kids?” Byrne yells at the rabbit, who appears to be staggering. “How am I supposed to stay calm when you are ruining our lives? I know you are using again.”

The roast closed with Byrne donning a wedding dress and marrying the pudding pot. “This is marvelous,” she said, after getting her gold pudding pot.

Afterward, Byrne told reporters the day on campus with students had been “magical” and then spoke on what it's meant for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” to be recognized this awards season.

“It is a tougher subject; it isn’t a typical kind of Oscar fare, I suppose, and so it is very meaningful that the work is being recognized,” she said. “It really will live on and it’s very fearless and kind of radical and I’m really proud of that.”

Byrne also talked about returning to the stage in March after five years in the revival of “Fallen Angels” on Broadway, saying she was “absolutely terrified” but looking forward to starring opposite the “brilliant” Kelli O’Hara.

Friday’s event comes more than a week after the Justice Department released a huge trove of records surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, a longtime donor to the organization. The documents showed Epstein regularly donated $50,000 per year to Hasty Pudding between 2013 and 2019 to secure top-tier donor states and received special perks totaling more than $300,000.

In an undated news release announcing Epstein’s donations, Hasty Pudding officials described Epstein as a “well-known science and Harvard philanthropist” and said he “put his substantial support behind Harvard’s famous and oldest theatrical troupe.”

The Pudding is the oldest theatrical organization in the nation and one of the oldest in the world. Since 1951, it has bestowed the award annually on women including actors Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johansson and Annette Bening. Last year, the winner was “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo.

Byrne also acted in “Juliet, Naked,” “Get Him to the Greek” and “28 Weeks Later.” Her theater credits include “Medea, You Can’t Take it With You” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Actor Michael Keaton, known for his roles in films such as “Batman,” “Birdman,” “Beetlejuice” and “Spotlight,” is the 2026 Man of the Year. He received his pudding pot Feb. 6.

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Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson stands on the field before an NFL football game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers Sept. 24, 2023, in Las Vegas. Associated Press File Photo
Mike Tyson sounds the alarm on U.S. boxing, launching a Las Vegas amateur invitational

LAS VEGAS — When Mike Tyson was developing as a young fighter in New York in 1980s, he had plenty of chances to test the skills that would one day make him the world's best and fiercest heavyweight.

Now Tyson looks at the state of boxing in the United States and doesn't like what he sees. The title of heavyweight champion has gone from among the most prestigious in sports to one that’s nearly anonymous.

That's what drove the 59-year-old Hall-of-Famer to help launch the Mike Tyson Invitational on March 12-14 in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas. Tyson’s team sought out the nation’s top amateur boxers to give them this forum to go against each other with the long-range goal of elevating boxing to where it used to stand as a conversation-driving sport.

“I was watching some of the amateur fights and I was wondering, ‘We don’t have enough boxing clubs,’” Tyson said Friday. “Before, when I was fighting, we could fight at the Ohio state fair. Then I’d go to Colorado the next two weeks and fight in the national tournament. That’s what we need to be able to compete with the other countries. We need more competition.”

He is particularly concerned about boxing’s future in the Olympics. Until the International Olympic Committee announced last March that boxing would be included in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, there was doubt whether the sport’s longtime presence in the quadrennial event would end.

Tyson’s main focus is making boxing big again in the U.S. There is the occasional major event, such as the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford unified super middleweight title fight Sept. 13 before 70,482 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

But those attention-grabbing bouts only temporarily push back on the notion that boxing is in trouble at the grassroots level.

“Listen, boxing is dying, and that is what’s driving me,” Tyson said. “If I can be involved in any way in the uplifting and development of boxing, I’ll be happy with that.”

That would include working with UFC CEO and President Dana White, who grew up loving boxing before building his mixed-martial arts empire. Through TKO, the company at that owns the UFC and WWE, White is in a multiyear agreement with the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, and Sela, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The Alvarez-Crawford card was their first under this partnership. Tyson was among a number of former boxing greats and celebrities in attendance.

While the UFC is a one-man show, boxing is much more splintered with different sponsoring organizations and promoters competing against each other.

“I kind of like that organization,” Tyson said of the UFC. “It’s just one guy and we deal with everything. That might not work for boxing, but I like the idea. In the UFC, if they have one bad fight, the guy might not be in the fold. It’s for entertainment. That’s what it's about. In (boxing), if the guy stinks up the joint, they keep using him. So that has to be the criteria. Either you make exciting fights or you're not able to participate.”

There was no lack of excitement when Tyson was putting together his career that resulted in a 50-7 record with 44 knockouts. The self-proclaimed “baddest man on the planet” came as advertised, winning his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 in the first round.

His fights became a must-watch event, and Tyson was all business entering the ring, once declaring, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched.”

“We're all entertainers, trust me, especially fighters,” Tyson said. “If you don't perform well, people give their opinion about you. You may not like it. My job was always to make the people happy as a fighter.”

Now he's searching for the next Mike Tyson — or, rather, Mike Tysons — who can bring spark to the sport.

His invitational won’t be a cure-all, but it could be a start.

“I was taught as a kid, boxing is about putting (butts) in seats,” Tyson said. “That’s where greatness comes from.”

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By Associated Press

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