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J.K. Rowling

Steven Yeun’s Big Year

Steven Yeun Variety

Steven Yeun is on the cover of Variety to promote his critically acclaimed new film Minari — which, for some reason, won’t compete in the Best Picture category at the Golden Globes and has been relegated to Foreign Language category, despite it being an American story set in America and made by an American director.

-I can’t believe that Margaret Qualley is dating Shia LaBeouf. On purpose.

-Good on John Mulaney for facing his problems. I hope he gets better.

A fresh wave of Wonder Woman 1984 reviews came out today because the screener embargo was lifted — and they’re much less glowing than the select early reviews Warner Bros curated.

-On the opposite end of the spectrum, Promising Young Woman also debuts on Christmas Day and the reviews seem to be getting even better.

-Oof.  Warner Bros is reportedly considering moving Dune back to a traditional theatrical release to “preserve its franchise potential.”

Prince William, Kate Middleton and their kids were reportedly spotted strolling with Prince Edward’s family — despite not being in the same covid bubble.

-This is an interesting look at why only a handful of celebs dominated this year’s media coverage. “With fewer people to photograph, almost every star was bound to get some traction just for stepping outside—and some say the stars have been cooperating to make it happen.”

-HBO Max is eyeing a Samantha-less Sex and The City revival. Don’t.

-This is a great examination of why J.K. Rowling‘s anti-trans stance shouldn’t be surprising. Her books are all about identifying/putting people in their place (wizards vs muggles, sorting hat, etc.) and she’s always seemed entrenched in her opinions, reluctant to allow much room for interpretation in her novels and “determined to map and describe every corner of her fictional world.”

-I missed the Eddie Izzard announcement but I love her and hope she’s happy.

Dominic West’s family holiday card is as awkward as you’d expect after the year he’s had.

The reviews for Netflix’s Bridgerton are glowing. “Frothy, silly escapism” is exactly what we need to ride out this craptastic year. Here’s hoping this leads to a wave of romance adaptations.

-This old ABC promo is blowing my mind.

Viola Davis and her husband take nightly baths together just to soak and talk—and sometimes she gives him facials. They have it all figured out.

Selena Gomez has cut ties with Hillsong Church. I’m surprised it took this long.

-So it’s been a few days since Ariana Grande’s engagement. Have we figured out why her ring is sideways yet?

Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan trying to make the twist in Wild Mountain Thyme make sense when asked about it in interviews is their best acting yet. (If you don’t know what the twist is, please please please give yourself an early xmas gift and spoil it.)

Mads Mikkelsen laughing off the suggestion of speaking to Johnny Depp about taking over his Fantastic Beasts role with “I don’t know him” is, well, fantastic.

-The more Chris Pratt jokes about being named the worst Chris, the more obvious it is that it bugs him immensely.

-The fact that Kirk Cameron grew up to be such a garbage person would have crushed my 1986 self.

-Not surprisingly, the Mission Impossible 7 crew are reportedly walking on eggshells after Tom Cruise‘s rant.

-FX has greenlit a comedy series about Native American teenagers called Reservation Dogs from Taika Waititi and filmmaker Sterlin Harjo.

Denzel Washington and Rami Malek hunt for a serial killer in The Little Things trailer.

 

Angelina Jolie’s Family Photographer

angelina jolie polaroid harpers bazaar

-For Angelina Jolie‘s interview for Harper’s Bazaar, she was photographed by her youngest son, Knox. She talks about how the pandemic is affecting victims of domestic violence and girls’ education.

-In a recent interview, Lil Twist claims that Justin Bieber‘s team once convinced him to take on drug charges for the singer (likely referring to an incident in July of 2013, when he was pulled over in Bieber’s car and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana). He said: “If they would have put weed charges on Justin in his early career, it would have been bad on him. So I got a call one day saying, ‘Twist, do you really love this kid?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Cool, if you love him then you can take the heat for him because you can come off a little weed charge.” Lil Twist later released a statement on his comments: “We are at a very critical point in society as we rewrite a new narrative that encompasses the experience of being Black in America. However, rewriting a new narrative requires one to stand in and speak his or her truth with confidence…In the spirit of being authentic, I felt it a disservice to my fans and the general public to not be completely transparent about my experience.”

Kristen Bell is promoting her new children’s book on racism and is getting a lot of blowback for glorifying colourblindness, as it comes perilously close to declaring Purple Lives Matter. There’s no mention of her donating the profits to a BLM charity but my god, let’s hope she’s not making money off this.

-Also, she’s in a new animated show voicing a biracial character who spends her free time drawing herself as a superhero whose afro puffs have powers? What??

Anthony Mackie appeared on Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show and gave a tearful talk about the importance of voting.

Taylor Swift is once again speaking up, using Twitter to call on the Tennessee Historical Commissions to remove statues of racist historical figures.

Jennifer Lopez and ARod are asking fans to name their new puppy and you know what guys, we are a little busy right now!

Dave Chappelle dropped a new short-form Netflix special titled “8:46,” which the streaming platform surprise debuted for free on its YouTube comedy channel late last night. (The title refers to how long Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee against George Floyd’s neck.)

Jessica Mulroney deleted all of her supportive comments to Vanderpump Rules star Stassi Schroeder, who was recently fired. Shinan is reporting that Mulroney’s family had been asking her to cut down on her social media but she wouldn’t stop.

-The Bachelor is getting its first Black leading man. Originally, Matt James was cast as a suitor on Clare Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette but when production was halted due to COVID-19, ABC started thinking of a new role for him. (It’s really weird that there’s no mention of the fact that the show was once sued by Black men for discrimination.)

-Despite both an NYT article and a Buzzfeed article questioning if Anna Wintour can survive the social justice movement, in a company-wide town hall today at Conde Nast, Roger Lynch reportedly said there is “no truth” to the rumour that she’s stepping down. Still, the rumours continue to circulate.

-Speaking of upheavals in publications, this report on Refinery29’s workplace culture is damning.

-I love how all the Harry Potter actors are condemning J.K. Rowling‘s ant-trans comments, including Emma Watson, Bonnie Wright and Rupert Grint. The kids are alright.

-This is an interesting piece on how Rowling‘s focus on denying trans rights may seem to have come out of nowhere, but there’s a clear lineage of transphobic thought in British media.

Kelly Clarkson‘s estranged husband is also her manager, which might make this divorce even more awkward. He also manages Blake Shelton, Kelly’s The Voice co-star.

Sharon Stone revealed she was once struck by lighting: “I was filling the iron with water. I had one hand on the faucet, one hand on the iron and the well got hit with lightning and the lighting came up through the water … I got picked up and thrown across the kitchen, and I hit the refrigerator. I was like, ‘Whoa!’ ”

-Scream Factory wants to release the original version of Event Horizon. See what the Snyder Cut has wrought?!?

-The Oscars will now include a locked 10 Best Picture slots — no more variation in a move aimed at diversifying nominees by literally adding more seats at the table for the final ceremony.

Will Arnett is a dad again.

-This week was hard and listening to this weird ass new song by Glass Animals got me through it. I love how the second half of the video shows how he recorded it during quarantine.

-The trailer for Netflix’s Feel the Beat is ticking a lot of my boxes:  it looks adorably cheesy, it was shot in Toronto, it’s about dancing, and it costars the dad from Veronica Mars and the best friend from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Mariah Carey and the Schitt’s Creek Cast Sing “Hero” to Graduates

-There were so many awesome moments in the Obamas ‘Dear Class of 2020’ celebration. Beyoncé delivered a powerful 10-minute speech, Taylor Swift told a story about missing her own graduation, and Lady Gaga also contributed a video. But my fave part was when the characters of Schitt’s Creek sang a song — with a surprise cameo from Mariah Carey!

J.K. Rowling is once again facing allegations of transphobia after she publicly took issue with a headline that used the inclusive phrase “people who menstruate” and then, when she faced pushback on Twitter, dug her heels in even further. (Seriously, is it that hard to understand the difference between sex and gender? She seemed to get it when she wrote the scene in which Hermione takes the form of Harry.)  Plus, of all the times for her to stir this up again — at the start of Pride and when the world is already on fire.

-Here are 8 fantasy novels by trans and non-binary authors, in case you need some new reading material.

-It is just me, or are The CW superhero shows imploding? On the heels of the Batwoman shakeup, The Flash’s Hartley Sawyer, who plays Ralph Dibny/The Elongated Man, has been fired for old tweets he made featuring racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments. (I stopped watching a couple of seasons ago but I do remember that character used to refer to a female scientist by her measurements instead of her character’s name, so this might not be a great loss for the show.)

-Meanwhile, Batwoman’s showrunner explained why they’re creating an entirely new role rather than recasting the main character.

-In other CW news, Riverdale’s writers have vowed to do better when it comes to their Black characters.

-Do we really believe Trump watches Insecure? Really?

Alexis Ohanian and wife Serena Williams spoke out about his resignation from the board of Reddit.

-Even Bryce Dallas Howard, who starred in The Help, doesn’t want you to watch The Help right now.

John Boyega thanked his fans and colleagues for having his back after his speech at a London protest.

Lea Michele‘s Broadway understudy says she was already monster when she was only 12.

-Federal prosecutors in New York have formally requested access to Prince Andrew as part of their ongoing criminal investigation into the abuses and sex trafficking of Jeffrey Epstein.

-K-pop continues to come through. BTS and their management company donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter. As soon as the band announced it, a team of stans called One in an Army vowed to match it and ended up raising $1,026,531 in just over 24 hours thanks to 35,609 donors.

Jennifer Aniston has also quietly donated nearly $1 million.

-Meanwhile, Terry Crews is facing criticism after posting some nonsense about “Black supremacy.”

Amanda Seyfried and Kevin Bacon try to have a peaceful vacation in the trailer for horror flick You Should Have Left.