• Tesla is reportedly pushing back its robotaxi day to October.
• The move would throw doubt on one of Tesla's most important promises.
• Tesla's stock fell as much as 6% following the news of the delay.

Tesla is reportedly pushing back its robotaxi event to the fall, according to a report from Bloomberg on Thursday.

Elon Musk's automaker had been aiming to host investors at an event detailing its long-awaited robotaxi business plans on August 8, less than a month from now. Bloomberg reported that the company will now need more time to work up prototypes for the event, pushing the date back to October.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Shares of Tesla, which have rallied in recent months despite worsening financial results, sank more than 6% following the report.

While Musk is famous for missing his own deadlines, pushing back the robotaxi event would throw doubt on the company's most crucial promise right now: AI.

After initially staying above the fray in the industry's electric vehicle slowdown, Tesla is finally starting to feel the pinch of decreased demand. And its strategy to boost demand by slashing prices is taking a toll on the company's bottom line.

Following tough first-quarter financial results, Musk was able to win over investors with a couple of key promises — including a driverless taxi business that would operate like "a combination of Airbnb and Uber." So far, the company has shown off renderings of an app interface and a short video, but no verifiable product.

Powered by Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, fleets of driverless Tesla cars, belonging to the company and to individual owners, would be available for rides by anyone.

Tesla bulls like Wedbush analyst Dan Ives were unphased by the reported delay.

"While the knee jerk reaction will clearly be negative on a delay of August 8th," Ives wrote in a note to clients, "we believe the timing of robotaxis, partnerships, and the ultimate autonomous and AI driven technology does not change at all for our bullish Tesla thesis."

• A new lawsuit accuses Hyundai of artificially inflating its EV sales numbers.
• The lawsuit said one manager told a dealer he had to "hit a number" to appease Hyundai's South Korean owners.
• Hyundai has reported strong EV sales in recent months, even as demand for electric cars has slowed.

Hyundai has been accused of artificially inflating its EV sales in a lawsuit filed by a group of dealers.

The lawsuit says that the automaker encouraged dealers to falsely record sales of unsold electric models and accused one sales manager of telling a dealership he was "up against the wall" and had to "hit a number" to appease Hyundai's South Korean owners.

Hyundai has reported surging EV sales in the US in recent months, with the South Korean automaker's Ioniq 5 and 6 electric models recording record sales in May.

The company and its sister automaker Kia have largely defied a general slowdown in demand for electric vehicles, thanks to their array of hybrids coupled with more affordable battery electric models.

The lawsuit, filed in a district court in Illinois, says sales were inflated by a secret program that advised dealers to falsely report unsold vehicles as "sold" to a customer or placed into loaner service, only to reverse the sale the following month.

It alleges that those dealers who did so were awarded extra allocations of Hyundai's fastest-selling vehicles and other rewards and benefits.

The lawsuit says that in a phone call — a record of which is included in the complaint — a Hyundai sales manager encouraged a dealership employee to participate in the scheme, offering extra inventory of faster-selling gasoline and hybrid models in return. Per the suit, the sales manager apologized for the "slimy" request but stated that "desperate times call for desperate measures."

"We're kinda up against the wall and we gotta hit a number for the press and for the Koreans," the transcript quotes the manager as saying. "So if you can help out in any way, I can help you by giving you those pipeline cars."

Hyundai did not respond to a request for comment.

The company said in a statement to Reuters that it had opened an investigation into the allegations and did not condone falsifying sales data.

Do you work at Hyundai or have a tip? Get in touch with this reporter via email at tcarter@businessinsider.com.

• Obama may be quietly backing efforts for Biden to step aside, according to reports.
• Biden's poor debate performance has led to increased calls for him to drop out.
• A number of people in Obama's circle, including his former aides and George Clooney, have criticized Biden. 

Former president Barack Obama may be quietly supporting — or at least not objecting to — the Democratic push to oust Joe Biden, according to multiple reports.

On the Thursday morning broadcast of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" — a personal favorite show of Biden's — host Joe Scarborough said that the Biden team believes Obama is supporting the Democratic revolt against Biden's reelection campaign.

"What's going on behind the scenes is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this," Scarborough said on "Morning Joe," according to The Hill.

Scarborough's co-host and wife, Mika Brzezinski, chimed in, "I think Barack Obama has a lot of influence and there's a lot there."

Ever since Biden's disastrous debate performance — where he struggled to formulate his thoughts, repeatedly trailed off mid-sentence, and appeared confused at times — there have been growing calls from top Democrats for him to drop out of the race.

And major Democratic donor and Hollywood actor George Clooney joined that cacophony of doubt on Wednesday, publishing an op-ed in The New York Times in which he urged Biden to step aside.

Obama — who is close friends with Clooney — reportedly knew ahead of time what Clooney intended to write in his op-ed, sources familiar with the matter told Politico.

Though Politico wrote that Obama didn't orchestrate the op-ed, the outlet said the former president — whom Biden served under as vice president — didn't object to it.

Clooney wrote in his op-ed that he became concerned about Biden's condition weeks before the debate at a Democratic fundraiser in LA that Obama also attended. 

"It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010," Clooney wrote in the Times. "He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."

Obama may have noticed the same vulnerabilities in Biden that Clooney identified that night.

For example, when Jimmy Kimmel was interviewing Biden and Obama onstage at the June event, Biden struggled to keep up with the pace of questions, and Obama was left to pick up his slack, tying together loose ends in Biden's responses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Others in Obama's circle have been questioning Biden's ability to win and serve a second term. A number of Obama's former aides have also joined the chorus of doubts about Biden's reelection chances this November.

David Axelrod, a former advisor to Obama, said earlier this week that Biden is "dangerously out of touch" and is "not winning this race" against Trump. And the hosts of the "Pod Save America" podcast, also former Obama aides, have said Biden should seriously consider stepping aside.

Biden, however, has fervently and repeatedly argued that he's more than capable of defeating Trump and serving another four years at the top.

"I'm not letting one 90-minute debate wipe out three and a half years of work," Biden posted on X last week. "I'm staying in the race, and I will beat Donald Trump."

Representatives for Obama and the Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Democratic members of Congress are still calling on Biden to drop out of the race.
• 11 of them have done so as of Thursday, July 11.
• Other lawmakers are flatly predicting that Biden will lose to Trump.

President Joe Biden is facing calls to drop out of the presidential race from House Democrats following his disastrous debate performance in June.

It began on Tuesday, July 2, when Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first member of Congress to call for Biden's withdrawal. In a statement, he praised the president's record of accomplishments but said an "authoritarian takeover" would come if former President Donald Trump won.

"Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory — too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now," Doggett said. He later said on NBC that some of his House colleagues privately agreed with him.

That next day, Doggett was joined by Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, who told the New York Times that the debate represented an "opportunity to look elsewhere."

"What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race," said Grijalva. Both men are in their mid-to-late 70s and represent solidly Democratic seats.

Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts later joined them, telling a local radio affiliate that Biden should "step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump."

On Friday, July 5, shortly before Biden's interview with ABC News was set to air, Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois said on MSBNC that Biden should "let someone else do this."

And the following Saturday morning, Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota became the first swing-district Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw, saying in a statement that she does "not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump."

Separately, two members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition — Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington — said that they believe Biden will lose to Trump, but did not explicitly call on him to withdraw. Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado went on CNN to say the same thing.

Golden went as far as to say that he is "OK" with Trump winning, saying he rejects the idea that Trump is a "unique threat to our democracy."

On Wednesday, July 10, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to call for Biden to drop out.

If Biden were to step aside, Vice President Kamala Harris is one of several Democratic contenders who could replace him.

Here's a full list of the 10 House Democrats who have publicly called on Biden to drop out:

• Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas
• Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona
• Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts
• Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois
• Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota
• Rep. Adam Smith of Washington
• Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey
• Rep. Pat Ryan of New York
• Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon
• Rep. Hillary Scholten of Michigan

• I grew up in Australia and worked in tourism for many years.
• I've seen many tourists make the same mistakes, like expecting warm weather year-round.
• I've also noticed that many tourists don't sample the local cuisine.

I'm a born-and-bred Aussie who's been fortunate enough to work in travel and tourism, promoting Australia to international visitors. For many years, I attended international conferences, gave presentations at colleges, and ran seminars about Australia.

Tourism is an important part of Australia's economy and is expected to generate $265.5 billion this year. But it's also an incredible way to introduce travelers to everything the country has to offer.

Unfortunately, though, while working in the industry, I've seen visitors believe the same misconceptions about Australia and make similar mistakes over and over again.

Here are the five most common mistakes I see when tourists visit the country for the first time.

Underestimating the size of Australia

Australia is the sixth-biggest country in the world and the only country that takes up a whole continent. Despite this, many travelers aim to cover all of it on a short vacation.

When tourists try to do too much in one trip, they end up spending more time at airports than enjoying the sites.

Focusing on Sydney and ignoring other parts of Australia

The first place most people think of when they hear Australia is Sydney. However, I believe Sydney lacks the depth and culture of other Australian cities.

For example, when traveling to Sydney, you'll likely meet many fellow tourists. For a true Australian experience, I recommend checking out other cities, like Melbourne. After all, there's a reason it was named one of the world's most liveable cities.

Although I'm biased, I believe my home city of Melbourne offers far more to tourists and is always the surprise hit of any visitor I speak with. Here, tourists can expect lots of festivals and events throughout the year, a vibrant café culture, a famed art scene, and friendly people.

I also recommend taking a trip to the Outback before leaving Australia. Despite covering 81% of the country, few people visit this vast unpopulated region brimming with diverse wildlife and natural wonders like the stunning pink lakes. The crystal-clear skies are also magical for stargazing at night.

Visiting Uluru is also a must, as it offers an interesting insight into our history and Indigenous culture.

Thinking Australia is hot all the time

Another thing most tourists don't realize is that Australia isn't always hot. The southern half of Australia experiences a chilly winter, and in some mountainous areas, it snows.

Many tourists arrive in the middle of winter unprepared and are forced to buy warmer clothes because summer in the northern hemisphere is winter down under.

The good news is that if you live in the northern hemisphere, you can take advantage of end-of-season winter sales in your home country before your Australian vacation.

When the weather is warm, though, it's important to wear sunscreen. The sun in Australia is harsher than anywhere else I've been, and it's easy to get sunburned.

Even my Texan wife covers herself in lotion — and she's used to the sun and extreme heat.

Not experiencing the local cuisine

Australia has a diverse range of great food, and tourists are doing themselves a disservice by not sampling the local cuisine.

For a true Australian experience, I recommend trying a meat pie at a sporting event, a "parma" (aka chicken Parmesan) at a pub, and, of course, Vegemite on toast.

Being overly paranoid about deadly animals

When I worked in tourism, a lot of prospective travelers asked me how I survived all the deadly animals in Australia. Although it's true that Australia is known for having deadly snakes, sharks, and spiders, I've never seen one outside a zoo.

In fact, many animals are scared of humans and stay away from the big cities and places where humans are.

Of course, tourists should always exercise caution around wildlife. However, the chances of having an encounter with a deadly animal are quite slim.

• Jensen Huang isn't sitting comfortably atop the world's most valuable company.
• He doesn't want Nvidia to meet the same fate as Cisco or Sun, The Information reports.
• The two other companies were on top in the 90s, but collapsed when the dot-com bubble burst.

For Jensen Huang, unparalleled success has reportedly come with a healthy helping of anxiety.

The Nvidia cofounder has been christened the tech world's Taylor Swift — with a rock-star persona to match the company's unprecedented riches.

Known for his signature leather jackets, Huang was recently pictured autographing a woman's chest at a tech event in Taiwan — this as 31-year-old Nvidia became the world's most valuable company on Tuesday, edging out Microsoft with a $3.338 trillion market capitalization.

But The Information reported that behind the scenes, Huang, 61, is concerned with future-proofing Nvidia, telling colleagues he doesn't want it to meet the same fate as former tech titans Cisco and Sun Microsystems.

Having launched in 1999 as a maker of GPUs for gaming systems, Nvidia has had its stumbles over the years, The Information reports, including a failed attempt at software for self-driving cars.

There's no imminent sign of a slowdown for Nvidia's white-hot chips that are largely powering the AI boom.

But a glimpse at the histories of fallen tech companies illuminates just how quickly fortunes can turn.

Cisco shares plunged when the dot-com bubble burst

Several analysts have drawn parallels between Nvidia and Cisco, which also trafficked in hardware that fueled its day's transformative technology.

Cisco sold routers and other networking hardware during the dot-com bubble. It went public in 1990 and saw its stock crest in 2000, briefly becoming the world's most valuable company with a $569 billion market cap.

Sound familiar?

But then the bubble burst. Data centers built by telecom companies went untapped, and Cisco's hardware went from revolutionary to commonplace.

The company announced layoffs in 2001, and by October 2002, its share price had plunged 90%, according to Investor's Business Daily. While shares have never reached peak levels again, the company continues to operate.

Sun had a $200 billion valuation — and was later acquired for a fraction of that.

Another cautionary tale Huang reportedly heeds is Sun Microsystems.

"He tries to remind people not to get 'Sunned,'" a Nvidia employee told The Information.

The server and computer manufacturer experienced a similar ascent to Cisco during the dot-com bubble, with CEO Scott McNealy and programmer Bill Hoy emerging as celebrities of the tech industry, according to Forbes.

Sun's operating systems were an early hit and eventually led the company to a peak market cap of $200 billion in 2000, according to Marketwatch.

But eventually competitors caught up — and Sun failed to pivot to the lucrative software space, The Information reports.

It was acquired by Oracle for $7.4 billion in 2009.

The Information reports Huang is seeking to avoid the same fate by diversifying Nvidia's business beyond chips, including with cloud server rental and software businesses.

Nvidia AI Enterprise, for instance, is an operating system that trains AI. Whether history repeats itself remains to be seen.

Correction July 11, 2024: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Sun Microsystems' peak market cap. It was $200 billion, not $200 million.

• The first "Gladiator 2" trailer shows Paul Mescal as Lucius fighting Pedro Pascal's Marcus Acacius.
• In the original "Gladiator" movie, the younger Lucius was played by Spencer Treat Clark.
• Here's why Clark doesn't reprise the role in "Gladiator 2."

The trailer for the "Gladiator" sequel dropped on Tuesday, leaving fans wondering why Paul Mescal plays the slave fighter Lucius instead of Spencer Treat Clark, who played him in the original.

Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" starred Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius, a former Roman general who is betrayed and sold into slavery. Lucius, the heir to the Roman Empire, watches Maximus fight in the Colosseum.

The 2000 movie is one of the most beloved historical epics of all time and won five Oscars, including best film and best actor. Because of this, there's plenty of pressure on "Gladiator 2" to live up to the high expectations set by the original.

The first trailer for "Gladiator 2," which is out on November 22, suggests Lucius disappeared after the events of the original movie and forged a life for himself. But like Maximus, he's forced into becoming a fighter when he's captured by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) and his soldiers.

It's not surprising that Scott cast Mescal as Lucius for the sequel considering the Irish actor has become a rising star after his critically acclaimed performances in"Normal People," "Aftersun," and "All of Us Strangers."

But "Gladiator" fans on social media have said it's odd that Scott didn't ask Clark to reprise the role since he's still working as an actor.

Scott said he needed someone younger to play Lucius in "Gladiator 2"

Clark, who is now 36 years old, also played Joseph Dunn in "Unbreakable" opposite Bruce Willis — a role he later reprised in 2019's "Glass." And he's appeared in several TV shows, including "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," "Animal Kingdom," and "Manhunt."

In November last year, Scott told Deadline that he wanted to cast a younger actor to play Lucius in "Gladiator 2" and that he was impressed by Mescal, who is 28, in "Normal People."

Scott said: "I'm always looking for someone, something new and fresh. I mean, fresh is terribly important. So they're not carrying … baggage is a terrible word for what they've done before, because it's great stuff, but you will remember he just did this character already.

"I watched this show called 'Normal People.' It's unusual for me, but I saw one and thought, that's interesting. These actors are really good I watched the whole goddamn show and thought, damn."

He added: "So this came up at a time when I need a 23-year-old, 24-year-old to take up the mantle of Lucius. And I just said, 'You want to do it?' He said, 'Yeah.'"

Representatives for Spencer Treat Clark didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Correction: July 11, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated that the first "Gladiator" film won an Oscar for best director.

• I have three grandchildren aged 11, 10, and 7. 
• When they come over to my place, I make sure to have activities for them to enjoy. 
• I'm always overjoyed when their parents call to let us know they want to come stay with us again. 

I am 68 and still working as a travel writer. My husband is a retired professor aged 70 who still dabbles in special projects and teaches online. I love babysitting my grandchildren during school holidays and when their parents need a break.

We spend time playing games that I have created. I spend a lot of time pulling together activities because I get to tap into creativity in a different way than my work and the enjoyment they get out of it is incredibly rewarding. My husband and I have simple fun with the kids and get to be kids ourselves, a reminder of our childhood.

We have a unique connection to our grandchildren. We both embrace our inner child, and it is perfectly acceptable to be silly and laugh outrageously.

We enjoy our time together; time flies by, and everyone has fun. As a bonus, grandparents who engage with their grandchildren live longer, stay more active, and have more purpose, according to a 2016 study.

Our three grandchildren, ages 10, 11, and 7, are two girls and a boy. Every time they visit, I give them a choice of activities I know all of us, including Grandad, will enjoy.

I let them choose what activities they want to do

Every time they come over, I present the choices on a prepared menu, each item in a different color with boxes to check for the young ones to select their preferences. I sometimes make a "choosing clock" with the activities written in a circle on a paper plate or construction paper. The children turn the arrow to each activity in order of their preference. The fun begins just by doing this. They now expect choices and enjoy having a list to choose from and prioritize. If I pick them up in the car, I bring it with me to give them something to do on the way to our house. Sometimes, they jump from one activity to another, and other times, they stick with one for the whole afternoon.

One time, I made a doctor's kit with a toy stethoscope and plastic surgical tools from the dollar store. Grandad is usually a willing patient. Children of all ages love a tea party, and if we want to take it up a notch, we decorate tea party hats.

Playing restaurant is a variant of the tea party. The children draw up a menu on construction paper or a chalkboard. We can play one game of doctor for an hour, then have afternoon tea for another hour. It's mindlessly relaxing because I don't think about anything else while I am with them.

The children love maps, and we often draw maps of our town with them, adding their school, favorite stores, where both parents work, and where other family members live. Trees and cars are added. At times, these maps turn into treasure maps, with one grandparent aging the paper ahead of time, burning the edges to age them, and adding a pirate story to the treasure map.

Recently, my 10-year-old granddaughter came over and mentioned she wanted to paint her bedroom, so we went to the paint store and let her choose as many paint chips as she wanted. She then spread them out on the dining table and prioritized them in piles. We drew the layout of her bedroom, cut out templates for her bed, night table, dresser, and desk, and had her move them around to change the layout of her room. She went home with a rolled-up plan of the new layout, paint chips stapled to the design and was happy with the afternoon she spent with us. Something unplanned and fun for all of us. It's an example of making everything into a game. It encourages creativity and participation.

I love spending time with my grandchildren

The reward for this effort comes every time the parents call and say that the kids are asking when they can come over.

Playing with them is an escape because I play whatever they want to focus on and don't think about anything else. We can play one game of doctor for an hour, then have afternoon tea for another hour.

What's not to love? The children like to come to our house to spend time with us and don't want to leave.

Shelley Duvall, the beloved character actor best known for starring in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the Stephen King horror classic "The Shining," has died at age 75.

The award-winning actor died of complications from diabetes, her partner Dan Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter.

"Too much suffering lately, now she's free," Gilroy told the outlet.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

• Many celebrities, politicians, and entrepreneurs got their start working in fast-food chains.
• Jeff Bezos said working the grill at McDonald's taught him responsibility. 
• Former President Barack Obama worked at Baskin-Robbins in high school.

Would you be shocked to learn that many successful entrepreneurs and celebrities once made money flipping burgers?

From Jeff Bezos to Brad Pitt and Barack Obama, these celebrities prove that even the most successful people can have humble beginnings — and learn a lot of valuable lessons from working at fast-food chains. 

Here are 13 successful people who got their start working in fast food.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos got his start working the grill at McDonald's.

Before he became the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of $212.4 billion, according to Forbes, Bezos used to work at McDonald's.

In Cody Teets' book "Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald's," Bezos revealed he worked the grill and that the job taught him responsibility. Business Insider previously reported that Bezos worked at McDonald's over the summer when he was a teenager — and that Bezos' father had also been a McDonald's employee.

"My first week on the job, a five-gallon, wall-mounted ketchup dispenser got stuck open in the kitchen and dumped a prodigious quantity of ketchup into every hard-to-reach kitchen crevice," Bezos told Teets. "Since I was the new guy, they handed me the cleaning solution and said, 'Get going!'"

"I was a grill man and never worked the cash registers," he continued. "The most challenging thing was keeping everything going at the right pace during a rush. The manager at my McDonald's was excellent. He had a lot of teenagers working for him, and he kept us focused even while we had fun."

When she was just starting out, Rachel McAdams also worked at McDonald's.

In her own words, the actress wasn't a star employee at the fast-food giant and even accidentally broke an orange juice machine while she was on the clock, US Magazine reported.

"I worked at the local McDonald's for three years," McAdams told The New York Times in 2008. "I'm not sure why they kept me: I am something of a daydreamer and a dawdler, so they would only let me be the 'friendly voice' that greeted you when you entered the restaurant. I was slow — I would be organizing the sweet-and-sour packets in the customer's takeout bag while the line snaked out the door."

Barack Obama scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins in high school.

Obama worked at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop near his grandparents' Honolulu home in the summer of 1978. 

"Scooping ice cream is tougher than it looks. Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists," the former president wrote about the experience in a since-deleted LinkedIn post.

"My first summer job wasn't exactly glamorous, but it taught me some valuable lessons," Obama said. "Responsibility. Hard work. Balancing a job with friends, family, and school."

Before making it, Madonna worked at Dunkin' Donuts in Times Square.

The "Material Girl" singer told Howard Stern during a 2015 interview that she got fired when she squirted jelly filling on a customer. 

"I think I stayed there for maybe a week," she said, revealing that she got fired for playing with the jelly doughnut machine and for not taking it seriously. 

Brad Pitt dressed up as a chicken when he worked at El Pollo Loco.

The award-winning actor spoke about his brief stint working as an El Pollo Loco mascot with Ellen DeGeneres in 2019. 

Pitt told the talk-show host that before he made it big as an actor, he dressed as a chicken for the grand opening of the fast-food chain's location at Sunset and La Brea in Los Angeles, and that he had "no shame" about the job. 

"Man's gotta eat," he laughed. 

Jay Leno got his start slicing potatoes at the Golden Arches.

CNBC reported that the comedian and late-night host worked at a McDonald's restaurant in Andover, Massachusetts, as a teenager before hitting it big. 

"I worked at a restaurant on Main Street for two years, from 1966 to 1968," Leno told Cody Teets in "Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald's." "This was back in the good old days when they still had roast beef and strawberry shortcake, which I was a huge fan of."

"I had these massive forearms from cutting those potatoes," he continued, explaining that he was in charge of cutting the potatoes to make the chain's famous fries each day.

Queen Latifah's first job was at Burger King when she was 15 years old.

Long before she was an Oscar-nominated actor, Latifah learned the value of a dollar by working at her local Burger King restaurant. 

"If my brother and I wanted money in our pockets, we had to get jobs — my first was at 15, at Burger King. We had to come up with ways to create an income," Latifah, who back then was just known as Dana Owens, told Parade in 2011.

Pink once worked in the drive-thru at McDonald's.

In an interview with Food and Wine in 2015, Pink revealed that her family encouraged her to start making her own money as a teenager.

"I was a drive-thru girl at McDonald's. I had a Janet Jackson microphone — I had power," the singer told the magazine, according to Pop Crush. 

Before he founded Def Jam, Russell Simmons made $2.25 an hour working behind the counter at Orange Julius.

Simmons told Forbes that working at Orange Julius provided him a good learning experience, though the gig didn't last long. 

"I was fired after a month, so I learned you need to be inspired about work," he said. 

Gwen Stefani's job at Dairy Queen led to the formation of her hit band No Doubt.

The Los Angeles Times reported that "The Voice" judge worked at Dairy Queen as a young woman, where she also worked with her brother Eric Stefani and friend John Spence.

The group formed its first band, Apple Core, in 1986. They later renamed themselves No Doubt and went on to win two Grammy awards — arguably all thanks to Dairy Queen. 

Eva Longoria worked at Wendy's before making it big as an actor.

Longoria first alluded to her gig flipping burgers at Wendy's in her 2012 speech to the Democratic National Convention, The Huffington Post reported.

She later revealed that she worked the gig when she was underage in order to pay for her quinceañera — with a signed parent's permit that allowed her to work before it was technically legal to do so.

"I wanted to have a quinceañera when I was 15, and my family didn't have the money," the actor told Redbook, according to People. "I got a job at Wendy's and paid for it myself. I couldn't wait to get to work and make my own money."

Megan Fox dressed up as a giant banana when she worked at Tropical Smoothie Café.

"I worked at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Florida when I was 15," the "Jennifer's Body" star told Bang Media in 2009, according to Digital Spy.

"I would have to go out in the street wearing a gigantic banana costume and dance to try to get customers to come in," she continued. "There was no anonymity, the costume had a big hole cut out so that everyone would see your face."

"My friends from school would drive back and forth and yell all kinds of awesome obscenities at me," she said.

Jennifer Hudson said her "first and only real job was working at Burger King."

"I used to sing at the drive-thru window. That was my microphone," Hudson told People in 2018.