Browsing Tag

Issa Rae

Justin Timberlake’s Post-Documentary Apology

–Justin Timberlake has apologized to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson. “I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he said on Instagram.

-Jezebel has the best headline: “Like Most Women in Their Late 30s, Britney Spears Has Received a Halfhearted Apology From Her Terrible High School Boyfriend:

-It looks like that documentary didn’t just wring an long-overdue mea culpa out of Timberlake; it may be helping turn the tide  for Britney Spears. A judge ruled against her father in the latest estate court hearing, denying his bid to retain control of delegating her investments.

–Pitbull also has thoughts on the Britney Spears’ situation: “They are not called mistakes they are called “must-takes” and mistakes don’t make you.” Um, ok?

-Holy crap, Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are creating and starring in a Mr. & Mrs. Smith TV series for Amazon Prime. Is that not the most perfect combination of words?!

-The men of the Buffyverse have finally started to show support for their female costars. So far, David Boreanaz has only liked Charisma Carpenter’s posts, but J August Richards, who played Gunn on Angel, tweeted to her “As I said to you yesterday, I am here for you, however you need me,” while James Marsters, who played Spike, tweeted “The Buffy set was not without challenges. I do not support abuse of any kind, and am heartbroken to learn of the experiences of some of the cast.” On a recent podcast, Marsters talked about how Whedon once confronted him because his character was supposed to be a villain and became a fan favourite instead. “I was terrified of Joss…I remember he backed me up against a wall one day and was like ‘I don’t care how popular you are, kid. You’re dead. You hear me? Dead. Dead!’ And I was like ‘Uh, it’s your football, man. Ok.'” (Marsters doesn’t get a total pass, though. He once admitted to writing a creepy song about Michelle Trachtenberg before she turned 18.)

-Speaking of Trachtenberg, her latest statement is the most damning so far. She edited her Instagram comment, saying there was a rule on the Buffy set that Joss Whedon was not allowed in a room alone with her. She starred on Buffy from the ages 14-17.

-This flew under the radar last year, but Buffy’s stunt coordinator and Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s stunt double (now a married couple) accused Whedon of threatening and surveilling them, and trying to manipulate them into breaking up.

–Grant Gustin of The Flash is gonna be a papa.

-I don’t think there’s been a better socially distance press tour than the one for the latest To All The Boys movie. First they had Lana Condor and Noah Centineo do a reaction video to the movie, and now Netflix asked them to write “goodbye” letters to each other.

-Also the new movie, which dropped on Netflix today, is currently 71% fresh.

-Chapelle’s Show’ is returning to Netflix and this time it has Dave Chappelle’s blessing.

-From her ICU bed, Ashley Judd detailed her “harrowing 55 hours” being transported from a Congo rainforest to a South African hospital – which included a 6 hour motorbike ride – after breaking her leg while working to track endangered apes.

-Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins says he was once slapped by Prince Harry. “It pissed me off, actually.”

-I just watched 9 minutes of Brie Larson eating food she made in her air fryer and I have no regrets.

-Insecure might be wrapping up, but Issa Rae is staying in the HBO business. She’s producing a Miami rap group comedy series RAP SH*T, which landed a HBO Max series order.

–Jamie Dornan promoted Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mara with this very cute IG video.

–Gina Carano announced a new movie project with Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, which might be the most hilariously fast downgrade ever. She told Deadline, “They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.” Look, TPTB in Hollywood (not including the on camera talent) are notoriously conservative. She wasn’t fired for being conservative, she was fired because she refused to stop making the Disney/Lucasfilm brand look bad. They’re just responding to market research about what’s going to hurt their bottom line.

–Jessica Rothe, Jack Kilmer and Michael K. Williams make money of people going to rehab in Body Brokers.

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Get Flirty For Fenty

–Rihanna and A$AP Rocky sat down to interview each other and talked skincare, beauty icons, favourite TV shows, and classic cartoons. They’ve got an adorable rapport. I love when she makes fun of his first red carpet appearance: “You coulda used some Fenty Skin back then.”

-Congrats to Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, just welcomed a baby girl to the world, their first child together: Daisy Dove Bloom. (Ok, I gotta give it to them. Daisy Bloom is an adorable name.)

-Also, I very much like that they announced the news on UNICEF’s Instagram account with a statement about the need for pre- and post-natal healthcare for women around the world.

–Jessica Mulroney would like to remind you all that Meghan Markle is her BFF, ok?

-This interview with Tiffany Haddish and John Mulaney is a delight, especially the bit with Haddish talking about wearing a prosthetic penis for confidence.

–This is a good look at how Trevor Noah‘s The Daily Show has gone from being jokes about the news to, more and more, the news with some jokes amid the pandemic — and it’s clearly working. His viewership numbers are astounding, and his videos have racked up millions of views on YouTube, including an extended interview he released in March that went viral.

-It’s worth watching Stephen Colbert’s segment last night, in which he talked about how NBA players are showing more leadership than the RNC convention. “Why should we pay attention to what they’re saying if none of what they’re saying tonight is about what’s happening in America right now? Why should we watch their reality show if it doesn’t reflect our reality?”

-In an new Zoom chat, Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji talked the most emotional scenes to shoot for Insecure season four. God, I hope they both clean up at the Emmys.

-Speaking of Emmy campaign appearances, watching Succession stars Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen get giggly over Shiv and Tom is a delight.

-Grey’s Anatomy alum Sara Ramirez has announced that they are non-binary. They quietly changed their pronouns on social media a while back, and today they posted about their gender directly: “In me is the capacity to be Girlish boy, Boyish girl, Boyish boy, Girlish girl, All, Neither.”

-This is a great piece explaining OnlyFans, the spotlight on its new celebrity users, and how platforms defined and popularized by sex workers are often the first ones to deny them their place at the table.

–Jaden Smith and Cara Delevingne‘s upcoming romantic drama Life In a Year is facing an uncertain future now that two of its supporting actors (Cuba Gooding Jr. and Chris D’Elia) are facing sexual misconduct claims.

-Not today, Terry Crews!

-Bravo is moving forward with its reality TV production, even Top Chef. All the contestants and judges will have to be tested and quarantined before production begins, the set will be socially distanced, and the judges won’t share food anymore.

-People are on baby bump watch for Jennifer Lawrence because of these pics.

-Weirdly, there’s lots of talk that TIFF is denying critics press accreditation this year — which makes no sense because pretty much everything is digital so it’s not like there’s capacity concerns. Hopefully this is a sign that they’re reversing their rejections.

-The Ringer posted a history of movie costars who hated each other and it’s exactly the type of content I needed today.

–Anya Taylor-Joy and Marielle Heller star in the trailer for The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix’s limited series adaptation of Walter Tevis‘ novel.

 

 

Issa Rae Talks Emmy Nominations

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–Issa Rae covers the new issue of THR and talks about her Emmy nominations (“Awards don’t validate you. They allow more people to know about the series, like, ‘Oh, what is this?’ That’s all you want”), why she thinks the Emmys recognized Insecure this year (“I’m going to be real. I think the pandemic, being quarantined during a period when our humanity was questioned, in a more front-facing way, definitely helped. We came on during a time when people were bored at home, and also there were racial uprisings, and our show served as a comfort”), and her love of I May Destroy You (“It’s amazing. It’s really disturbing. The conversations that have [been] sparked around it are just so necessary. I almost wish it had come sooner. It’s going to be so impactful to a generation of people”).

–Justin and Hailey Bieber and Shawn Mendes were all spotted at a home recording studio in LA yesterday.

–Dax Shepard is recuperating after breaking four ribs in a motorcycle accident on a California road course.

–Kirsten Dunst is very confused about why she’s part of Kanye West‘s presidential campaign materials.

–Ben Affleck isn’t done with Batman yet. He’ll appear along with Michael Keaton’s Batman in the upcoming Flash movie, which is all about the multiverse (oh god, I’m having CW crossover flashbacks). Interestingly, they confirmed Affleck’s Batman will appear in no other films or the rumoured HBO MAX show.

-Here’s a new teaser for the Synder cut of Justice League.

–Olivia Wilde just landed a secret Marvel project — and the hints have everyone thinking it’ll be a Spider-Woman movie.

–Bella Thorne joined OnlyFans yesterday and crashed the site.

-The ACLU has offered to help Britney Spears, tweeting “People with disabilities have a right to lead self-directed lives and retain their civil rights. If Britney Spears wants to regain her civil liberties and get out of her conservatorship, we are here to help her.”

–Sarah Cooper, the TikToker famous for lip synching Trump, just landed a CBS comedy.

-Speaking of CBS, they’re having issues with yet another problematic white dude showrunner. This one is the guy behind All Rise (which has a black female leave – a rarity on that network). Five writers from the original seven hired have left the drama over disputes with showrunner Greg Spottiswood about the depictions of race and gender. He kept his job after reviews by human resources. Said one writer: “We had to do so much behind the scenes to keep these scripts from being racist and offensive.”

-A former writer on the show said in a Twitter thread that the environment in the writers’ room is even worse than the article indicates.

-Ellen Show staffers will now get “perks” like five paid days off to use at their discretion, birthdays off, and paid time for doctors appointments and family matters. That … doesn’t seem like a lot?

-British singer James Blunt says once he developed scurvy after adopting an all-meat diet for two months to assert his masculinity while studying in a female-dominated class. Gotta love a good comeuppance!

-It was a rough day for Comedy Central shows that previously looked like they had a bright future. Drunk History has been canceled after six seasons — despite being renewed for a seventh season last year, while Comedy Central also canceled Tosh 2.0, reversing course on its January decision to renew the show for *four* more seasons.

-Starting tomorrow, all 1,687 of Cineplex’s screens will be open for business across Canada, making the exhibitor the first major theatre chain in the world to be 100% re-opened. I can’t imagine feeling comfortable in a movie theatre yet.

–Gillian Anderson joins Olivia Colman in the trailer for season four of The Crown, arriving Nov 15.

-Here’s the trailer for Sofia Coppola‘s latest film, On the Rocks, starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones, and Marlon Wayans.

-The new trailer for Netflix’s Love Guaranteed stars Rachael Leigh Cook and Damon Wayans Jr. as a lawyer and client who fall in love. That seems unethical but I adore them both and need more Netflix romcoms in my life so YUP!