Hours after the MTV Video Music Awards wrapped in Newark, N.J., an armada of black S.U.V.s rolled into Manhattan to ring in Tuesday morning at various after-parties.
Two decades of tabloid fodder collided at the party for Columbia Records at Up & Down on West 14th Street, under a ceiling filled with silver balloons, like a fancy prom.
Miley Cyrus, who performed at the awards show, came with her father, Billy Ray Cyrus (who collaborated with Lil Nas X on the Song of the Year winner, “Old Town Road”), and Kaitlynn Carter. The tabloids have been awash in sightings of Ms. Carter and Ms. Cyrus, after her split with her husband, Liam Hemsworth.
Across the room was Ms. Carter’s ex Brody Jenner, the Kardashian-adjacent reality star, who was there with his reported new girlfriend, Josie Canseco, daughter of a baseball great. Lil Nas X danced in the V.I.P. area, wearing a leopard-print cowboy hat, while Diplo D.J.-ed serenely from the booth.
Around 2 a.m., the Jenner-Canseco group decamped to Avenue in Chelsea for an after-party hosted by DJ Khaled. Guests were piled high on banquettes along the club’s narrow wood-paneled interiors, like modern vignettes from Rembrandt’s monumental group portraits.
DJ Khaled’s heroic grouping included French Montana and 2 Chainz. Victor Cruz and ASAP Ferg mingled on the floor. Above the crowd, waiters lofted bottles of Dom Pérignon with glow-in-the-dark labels and fiery sparklers, as the D.J. called out birthdays.
Outside, tensions mounted within the crowd lapping at the velvet rope. A young blond woman who was denied entry weepily threatened the doormen with “my dad’s lawyer.”
Slick Woods, the model, posed for a selfie with a fan, who appeared to grope her. She slapped him hard across the face and said loudly, “It doesn’t work like that!”
The doormen eyed each other warily, then unlatched the rope. Better to have her inside the tent, perhaps.
Fuel for Tennis
Plenty of dishes were served at the 20th annual Taste of Tennis event last Thursday, where tennis stars and celebrity chefs raised money for youth tennis programs in New York. But none involved an actual tennis ball.
“I’ve been hit with a tennis ball in the mouth,” said Felix Auger Aliassime, the 19-year-old tennis prodigy from Montreal. “And it doesn’t taste that good.”
He was among the two dozen tennis players who took a break from their United States Open preparations to meet fans and sample food at Cipriani 42nd Street.
“Tennis tastes like lean, mean athletic food,” said Richard Blais, the headlining chef, displaying the kind of on-message media training that is as sharply honed as his knives.
A former winner of “Top Chef All Stars,” Mr. Blais M.C.-ed a cook-off between Venus Williams and Serena Williams, who were given 15 minutes to do what they could with zucchini noodles, riced cauliflower and a vegan egg. The contest was judged by their sister, Isha Price, who diplomatically declared it a draw.
The Williams sisters were joined in the packed room by John Isner, Coco Gauff, Gaël Monfils, Daniil Medvedev, Donna Vekic and Bethanie Mattek Sands. Andy Roddick had a more food-friendly waistline now that he is seven years into retirement.
Seventeen chefs, including Masaharu Morimoto of Morimoto, Anastacia Song of American Cut, and John Stage of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, served bite-size dishes including pulled pork tacos, macaroni and cheese balls, bacon skewers and caviar on blinis.
Marc Murphy, the restaurateur behind the now-shuttered Landmarc and Ditch Plains, said that what tennis players had in common with chefs was, “they’re nice people and we’re nice people.”
“It’s the passion that comes out,” he added.
Mike Tyson, the retired boxing champion and father of Milan Tyson, a young tennis fanatic, had a different theory. “They’re megalomaniacs,” he said.
