10 Things That Happened 10 Years Ago: June 15-21st

It’s time for another nostalgic look back at the good, the bad, and the just plain weird. Here are 10 things that happened 10 years ago this week.

1.  Trump announced he was running for president, and everyone chuckled. He descended his golden escalator, formally entering the fray on June 16th, 2015, and no one thought he had a chance. Hillary Clinton had announced her candidacy two months earlier that April.

2.  The Rachel Dolezal scandal broke. The former president of Spokane’s NAACP chapter resigned after it was revealed she was extremely caucasian. She made headlines again in 2024 when her OnlyFans page got her fired from a teaching job in Arizona.

3.  “Jurassic World” had the biggest opening weekend ever – $208.8 million. But the record only stood for six months. “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” opened to the tune of $248 million that December.

4.  Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s made-for-TV movie premiered on Lifetime. “A Deadly Adoption” was a typical Lifetime drama. The only comedy that existed was the fact that Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig decided to do a typical Lifetime drama.

5.  A-Rod got his 3,000th hit, and the fan wouldn’t give him the ball. His 3,000th hit was a homer snagged by pro ballhawk Zack Hample. Two weeks later, Hample finally traded the ball for some signed swag, free All-Star tickets, and a $150k donation to the charity Pitch in for Baseball.

6.  Brian Williams got banished to MSNBC for his B.S. helicopter story. He’d been suspended by NBC News earlier in the year after claiming he was on a helicopter that got hit by an RPG in Iraq.

7.  Sean Penn and Charlize Theron broke up. Yeah, they dated for a minute – or more like 18 months between 2013 and 2015. Their 15-year age gap may have been an issue, and also the fact that he’s known to be… difficult.

8. A divorced guy literally split everything down the middle. A woman in Germany left her husband of 12 years. He went viral after doing the only mature thing and sawing their possessions in half.

9.  Even Michael Jackson’s son thought the name “Blanket” was dumb. News broke that he’d started going by Bigi at school because he was sick of being bullied. (It was just a nickname anyway. Bigi was born Prince Michael Jackson II. MJ introduced him in 2002 by dangling him off a balcony with a towel on his head. Normal dad stuff.)

10.  Utah Valley University invented cellphone friendly stairs. Three separate lanes for walking, running, and texting. It’s been a decade… how has this design not become ubiquitous?