There’s some healing that needs to happen…so I’m bringing myself to The Red Table.
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) July 2, 2020
-It’s been a busy week for Jada Pinkett Smith. First she called out Youtuber Shane Dawson for talking about masturbating to a poster of Willow Smith when she was 11. And now she’s once again denying those long-standing rumours of an open marriage after singer August Alsina gave an interview in which he seemed to confirm he’d had an affair with her — with Will Smith‘s blessing. Alsina said: “I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation … due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership they’ve spoken on several times…He gave me his blessing.. And I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life, and I truly and really, really, deeply loved and have a ton of love for her, I devoted myself to it…I just always stayed silent because I never want to be the person that causes confusion, I love these people. I have literally never been in love in that kind of way so much so that being intertwined in that way, walking away from it butchered me.” The age difference (she was in her 40s and he was 21 when this rumoured relationship allegedly started), plus the fact that she’s previously said she mentored him, is giving people pause.
-Today, Jada seemed to imply that she’ll be talking about this on Red Table Talk, tweeting “There’s some healing that needs to happen…so I’m bringing myself to The Red Table.”
–Christina Ricci was granted an emergency protective order against her husband, film producer James Heerdegen.
-According to court documents filed for her lawsuit against the Mail, Meghan Markle felt “unprotected by the Institution [the royal family], and prohibited from defending herself” during her pregnancy with Archie.
-Meanwhile, in a new video Prince Harry says institutional racism is “endemic” and is “committed to being part of the solution.”
–Brie Larson filmed a socially distanced episode of Hot Ones.
-This is a good look at CBC Gem, the best streaming service in Canada that no one seems to know about. It’s free and has shows like Normal People, Pen15 and Freaks and Geeks.
-A bunch of people in the industry — both supporters and detractors of Mel Gibson — talk to Variety about how his career in Hollywood seems to survive.
-Justice League’s Ray Fisher expanded on his thoughts on Joss Whedon, tweeting “Joss Wheadon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.” This is a very good recap of all the Justice League bts drama, including reports that Gal Gadot refused to film a scene Joss wrote where The Flash falls into her boobs. It also touches on other problematic Joss stories, like Charisma Carpenter saying he fired her from Angel for getting pregnant, and his ex-wife accusing him of using her as a “shield” so no one would question his feminism or relationship with women.
–Khloé Kardashian is potentially back together with Tristan Thompson.
–Ricky Gervais, Ramy Youssef, Kenan Thompson, Kumail Nanjiani and Dan Levy are featured in this year’s THR comedy actor roundtable. Levy says of Schitt’s Creek’s total lack of homophobia: “My feeling was if I were to include homophobia or bigotry of any kind in the show, it would be giving power to those people who see themselves on TV…I don’t ever consider our show to be very political, but I suppose that decision to just say, ‘We’re never going to show the dark side,’ is the quiet politics of our show.”
-Variety’s latest Actors on Actors video is with Homeland’s Claire Danes and Damien Lewis. Why did he take this call in his car?!
–Alicia Keys did Vogue’s 73 Questions and her house is gorg (it was filmed back in Feb).
-Welsh singer Duffy, who earlier this year revealed she had been drugged, kidnapped, trafficked and raped, has publicly called out Netflix for showing Polish feature film 365 Days, because it “glamorizes the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape.”
-Netflix is shifting $100 million to Black-owned banks.
–Jeffrey Epstein’s confidante and alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested by the FBI. It’ll be very interesting to see if she names names.
-Hulu has renewed The Great for a second season. I’m still not done the first but am loving it!
-This is such a good piece on the Golden Girls on why it’s weird the mudface scene is what the show is getting criticized for when the entire series is mired in racism and rape culture, and how it’s important to critically unpack all the messages we receive every day in pop culture and think deeply about how to reduce the harm in them.
-The Hamilton movie drops on Disney+ tomorrow and the reviews are glowing. It’s 100% fresh on RottenTomatoes with 82 reviews counted.
–Charlize Theron, Kiki Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in the new trailer for The Old Guard.
