By Ben Church, CNN

(CNN) — Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl knew exactly what he would do if he won a gold medal at this year’s Winter Olympics; what he hadn’t planned for was the reaction from the rest of the world.

After retaining his parallel giant slalom crown in Livigno on Sunday, the 40-year-old celebrated by ripping off his top, baring his chest to the frenzied crowd, before flexing his muscles and dropping facedown on the snow.

The impassioned celebration was quickly clipped and shared across social media, with thousands enjoying what initially looked like a release of unbridled, unrehearsed joy.

And while Karl was absolutely over-the-moon with his gold medal moment, the reaction was very much planned as a tribute to his hero, Hermann Maier.

The skiing legend was one of the reasons that Karl got into the sport, and he would often celebrate his victories by ripping off his top.

“It was 25 years in my mind when I saw Hermann Maier in 2001 ripping off his shirt after winning the overall World Cup,” Karl told CNN Sports on Monday.

“He was my one and only idol and I waited my whole career for the right moment to do it, in tribute to him.”

Karl can now call himself a four-time Olympic medalist, having already won gold in the same event back in 2022 and silver in his Olympic debut in 2010 at Vancouver. He also claimed a bronze medal in the parallel slalom at Sochi 2014.

After his latest win, in his fifth Games, he became the oldest Olympic snowboard medalist ever and Austria’s oldest winter medalist in any sport.

Out of all his medals, though, the first gold in Beijing stands out as the most special, allowing him to have fun in Milan Cortina.

“The first medal is always super, super special,” Karl said. “When I was 10, I was writing on a sheet my goals for life. I wanted to be the fastest snowboarder on Earth, a world champion and an Olympic champion, and when you reach that goal for the first time, it’s always the best moment.

“But for my legacy, this second gold medal is really important, not that I had that in my mind. I just had so much fun. It was just a fun day out, carving down the mountain, through gates. It was a perfect day.”

Karl said he let himself enjoy his gold medal win for a brief moment on Sunday, but assured CNN Sports that he was in bed by midnight and already focusing on the remaining World Cup season.

The Austrian credits his love for snowboarding to his mother, who he said got him into the world of winter sports. But while snowboarding became his life, his first love was skiing, with Karl saying he could ski before he could even talk.

But after he found snowboarding at 10, the goal of becoming an Olympian was set.

“Olympics are, for sure, the greatest event for any sportsman,” he said.

“We have one chance every four years, one day in four years, you’re not allowed to be ill or injured. You have to be ready on this day.

“That I made four medals in six chances in my Olympic life, six days out of a 20-year career, it’s just amazing.”

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By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — In just over 13 minutes worth of music, stars and symbolism, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny rewrote what it means to be American in a time of strife.

For months, conservatives from the president on down have painted him as anti-American. Last night, Bad Bunny asked: What if I’m the real American?

Bad Bunny — who introduced himself with his real full name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — brought the iconography of Puerto Rican culture to his Super Bowl halftime show performance, a joyous and high-energy affair that celebrated the island where he was born and its place in the American story.

The artist did not shy away from overt political symbolism, ending the authentic and confident performance on a note of unity.

After playing some of his biggest hits, Bad Bunny stared down the camera and spoke in English for the only time during the performance to say, “God Bless America.”

He followed with a list of more than 20 nations in North, Central and South America while dancers trailed him displaying the flags of many of those nations, with the US and Puerto Rican flags most visible directly behind him.

While the US often uses the word “America” to identify itself as a single, distinct country, many of its neighbors use it to refer to a greater unified continent, a point that Bad Bunny hammered home when he spiked a football that read “Together we are America,” before launching into his nostalgic anthem “DtMF.”

The message was clear: Bad Bunny declared himself an American patriot in the broadest sense of the term and he doesn’t think it’s a view that should really be left up to a coin toss.

Meet Lincoln Fox Ramadan

While performing “NUEVAYoL” — a song considered to be a tribute to immigrants and Puerto Rico’s diaspora in New York — Bad Bunny was seen giving a Grammy statuette to a young boy who seconds before was watching the moment the musician won the award on TV, alongside two adults.

The young boy was played by a child actor named Lincoln Fox Ramadan, who was cast based on his resemblance to a young Bad Bunny. The segment was meant to symbolize the artist handing a Grammy to his younger self, a representative from Ramadan’s talent agency W Group told CNN on Sunday.

Wendy Woods, talent agent, owner and CEO of The W Group Artists and Entertainment group in Florida, said she was “blown away” by Ramadan’s performance and was “honored” to help him get on the stage with Bad Bunny.

For a brief moment, the Internet ran with rumors that the boy was Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old who was taken into ICE custody in Minneapolis and placed with his father in a family detention facility in Texas, before being released earlier this month while his case plays out.

Though ultimately untrue, the moment could be seen as a message of support to immi

By Clare Duffy, CNN

(CNN) — Lawyers for a now-20-year-old woman will argue that addictive features harmed her mental health in opening statements in a landmark trial against Meta and YouTube, the first of hundreds of similar cases to go to trial.

The plaintiff — identified by her initials, KGM — and her mother accused the tech companies of intentionally creating addictive platforms that caused her to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts. Lawyers for Meta and YouTube have indicated they will argue that a difficult family life, not social media, was responsible for her mental health challenges.

The outcome of KGM’s lawsuit could help guide how around 1,500 similar lawsuits against social media companies are resolved. Losses could put the tech firms on the hook for billions of dollars in damages and force them to change their platforms.

“I think that we will be able to show you evidence that indicates Instagram and YouTube created certain design features … to keep young users like (KGM) engaged for as long as possible,” KGM’s lawyer Mark Lanier said during jury selection in a state court in Los Angeles. “She became consumed by these platforms; her mental health declined. Her childhood, hence her adulthood, deviated from a normal path.”

Opening statements were delayed after a Meta attorney experienced a health issue and follow nearly two weeks of jury selection.

Parents and safety advocates, who for years have called for more online guardrails, say the trial is a crucial moment of accountability. Executives including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan are expected to testify in the coming weeks.

KGM also sued Snap and TikTok. Both companies agreed to settle the case ahead of the trial, although they remain defendants in other cases.

The tech giants have long denied that their platforms harm young users, and they’ve rolled out safety features such as parental control tools, “take a break” reminders and content restrictions.

A Meta spokesperson said, “we strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” A YouTube spokesperson told CNN the lawsuit’s claims are “simply not true” and that “providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.”

Plaintiff claims platforms create addictive ‘loop’

Jury selection in KGM’s case provided an early look at the likely arguments.

KGM began using YouTube at the age of 6 and Instagram at the age of 9, Lanier said. At some points, she used Instagram for “several hours a day” and YouTube for “six to seven hours a day,” according to Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt and YouTube lawyer Luis Li.

That was despite KGM’s mother’s attempts to use third-party software to block access to the platforms, according to her complaint.

Her lawsuit claims that features such as endlessly scrolling feeds, frequent notifications and body-altering filters caused her mental health challenges. She also alleges that on Instagram she experienced bullying and sextortion, a scam where a bad actor threatens to share explicit photos of a person if they don’t send money or

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — In just over 13 minutes worth of music, stars and symbolism, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny rewrote what it means to be American in a time of strife.

For months, conservatives from the president on down have painted him as anti-American. Last night, Bad Bunny asked: What if I’m the real American?

Bad Bunny — who introduced himself with his real full name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — brought the iconography of Puerto Rican culture to his Super Bowl halftime show performance, a joyous and high-energy affair that celebrated the island where he was born and its place in the American story.

The artist did not shy away from overt political symbolism, ending the authentic and confident performance on a note of unity.

After playing some of his biggest hits, Bad Bunny stared down the camera and spoke in English for the only time during the performance to say, “God Bless America.”

He followed with a list of more than 20 nations in North, Central and South America while dancers trailed him displaying the flags of many of those nations, with the US and Puerto Rican flags most visible directly behind him.

While the US often uses the word “America” to identify itself as a single, distinct country, many of its neighbors use it to refer to a greater unified continent, a point that Bad Bunny hammered home when he spiked a football that read “Together we are America,” before launching into his nostalgic anthem “DtMF.”

The message was clear: Bad Bunny declared himself an American patriot in the broadest sense of the term and he doesn’t think it’s a view that should really be left up to a coin toss.

Meet Lincoln Fox Ramadan

After all the pushback to Bad Bunny’s selection to headline the halftime show, the musician took the stage as a celebratory and active voice.

While performing “NUEVAYoL” — a song considered to be a tribute to immigrants and Puerto Rico’s diaspora in New York — Bad Bunny was seen giving a Grammy statuette to a young boy who seconds before was watching the moment the musician won the award on TV, alongside two adults.

The young boy was played by a child actor named Lincoln Fox Ramadan, who was cast based on his resemblance to a young Bad Bunny. The segment was meant to symbolize the artist handing a Grammy to his younger self, a representative from Ramadan’s talent agency W Group told CNN on Sunday.

Wendy Woods, talent agent, owner and CEO of The W Group Artists and Entertainment group in Florida, said she was “blown away” by Ramadan’s performance and was “honored” to help him get on the stage with Bad Bunny.

For a brief moment, the Internet ran with rumors that the boy was Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old who was taken into ICE custody in Minneapolis and placed with his father in a family detention facility in Texas, before being released earlier this month while his case plays out.

Though ultimately untrue, the moment could be seen as a message of support to immigrants across the US, harkening bac

Por Oscar Holland, CNN

El estilo de Bad Bunny siempre ha desafiado las expectativas. Por eso, en medio de la intensa especulación de que usaría su atuendo del Super Bowl para subvertir estereotipos masculinos, escenificar una protesta o criticar públicamente a ICE (de nuevo), quizá no sorprendió que no hiciera absolutamente nada de eso.

Se trató de una celebración jubilosa de la cultura y la música, no de una pieza incisiva de comentario social. El rapero puertorriqueño ya lo había anticipado en la conferencia de prensa del show de medio tiempo de Apple Music el jueves, cuando dijo que “la gente solo tiene que preocuparse por bailar”. Aun así, las casas de apuestas estaban recibiendo apuestas sobre si vestiría una falda, o incluso un vestido de gala, hasta el momento en que subió al escenario.

Al final, sin embargo, Bad Bunny simplemente hizo lo que mejor sabe hacer: vestir de forma impecable. Algo más extravagante podría haber sido una distracción indeseada.

La verdadera sorpresa fue que recurriera a Zara para sus atuendos, en lugar de a alguna de las muchas casas de lujo para las que esto habría representado un gran golpe. Aunque no está claro si Bad Bunny fue patrocinado por el minorista español de moda rápida para vestir su ropa, o si la decisión se tomó de manera orgánica como un guiño al cantautor que interpreta gran parte de sus canciones en español, los principales diseñadores seguramente habrían aprovechado esta oportunidad. Apenas la semana pasada, la casa de alta costura Schiaparelli incluso incursionó por primera vez en la moda masculina en sus 99 años de historia solo para vestirlo para los premios Grammy.

Al aparecer con el éxito de 2022 “Tití Me Preguntó”, balón de fútbol americano en mano, comenzó el show de medio tiempo como lo terminaría: vestido completamente de blanco. Su camisa de cuello y corbata asomaban por debajo de una camiseta tipo jersey de fútbol americano personalizada de imitación, que dejaba ver tenuemente su apellido familiar, Ocasio, y el número 64, lo que desató de inmediato teorías de fans sobre lo que podría representar. Las perneras de sus impecables pantalones chinos descansaban perfectamente sobre un par de sus zapatillas Adidas BadBo 1.0 (¿qué mejor escenario para presentar el nuevo color crema de la colaboración?).

El interludio como invitada de Lady Gaga presentó la oportunidad perfecta para un cambio de vestuario. Pero él, en cambio, se mantuvo firme en la temática y reapareció con un blazer color crema de doble botonadura — un cambio de guardarropa tan sutil que muchos espectadores probablemente ni lo notaron. Ricky Martin siguió la misma línea, aunque mostrando considerablemente más pecho, con un conjunto completamente blanco de sastrería suelta.

Conocido por combinar la alta moda con el streetwear, Bad Bunny tiene reputación de un estilo aventurero y subversivo. A menudo usa sus atuendos para enviar un mensaje, ya sea al llegar a la Met Gala con una cola floral de 26 pies de largo o al vestir una falda en “The Tonight Show” para llamar la atención sobre el asesinato de una mujer transgénero sin hogar. Pero el Super Bowl es un espacio amplio e inclusivo, y esta fue, por diseño, una noche en la que la ropa no fue la protagonista.

Un mensaje transmitido de forma silenciosa pudo haber sido sobre accesibilidad — y una reticencia a ostentar riqueza en un momento en que muchos hogares estadounidenses enfrentan el aumento del costo de vida. El escenario del Super Bowl ha sido en los últimos años una pasarela de lujo a medida (con excepciones recientes, como los bailarines de Kendrick Lamar usando camisetas de Uniqlo la última vez, aunque él vistió marcas de diseñador como Martine Rose y Celine). Zara, en contraste, es una marca al alcance de muchos espectadores. Dejando de lado por un momento su reloj Audemars Piguet de oro de 18 quilates, Bad Bunny pudo haber estado presentándose como un hombre común entre los ag