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The Weeknd

The Weeknd Talks Darkness and Drugs

weeknd gq cover

The Weeknd covers the Sept issue of GQ and talks about his dark persona (“I am not dark. My art is dark, and I’ve gone through dark times. I’ve used those dark times as inspiration for my art. But I feel like because I’m not dark, I was able to channel it and put it into my music and into my art”), quitting drugs (“Drugs were a crutch. It was me thinking that I needed it. And not doing the work to figure out how not to need it. And I’ve spent the last few years realizing that and thanking God that I don’t need it”), and bingeing The X-Files during the pandemic (“Everyone copied them, bro. Everyone”).

-In her new GQ profile, Olivia Rodrigo says she’s been following the Britney Spears news closely. “I think, as an industry, people are getting better at not taking advantage of and manipulating and bullying young women. But it’s still so apparent, and I witness that too. Not near at the level that Britney has, obviously. I think that’s an important paradigm that I hope that we’ll be able to break in the coming generations. I’ve definitely seen corporate dollars be prioritized over people’s mental health.”

-Meanwhile, Britney Spears’ lawyer has filed to expedite the removal of Jamie Spears as conservator.

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber‘s charity single “Stuck With U” has helped many, many families of first responders.

Courteney Cox posted an IG video of her playing piano as her 17-year-old daughter Coco sang Adele‘s “Chasing Pavements.”

-This is a fascinating look at how Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson so rarely has an on-screen romance — and why big Hollywood blockbusters have begun to eschew romance plots in general. I always assumed it was a personal preference that some actors have (character actor Neal McDonough won’t kiss anyone who’s not his wife), but it also points to a larger trend towards sexless action heroes. Maybe because Hollywood has gotten criticism for writing women as one-note love interests, it’s just opted to not include them at all instead of writing fully fleshed out love interests. Which sucks.

-Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist may be rescued by Roku! The streamer is eyeing a wrap-up movie.

-The Met Gala is normally held in May but was pushed back this year. Page Six reports that those making the cut for invites include Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Ratajkowski, Camila Cabello and Lupita Nyong’o.

-Is South Park still popular? Let’s hope, since its creators just signed a $900 million deal to release 14 movies.

-Jeopardy is reportedly close to picking its new full-time host — and it looks like it’ll be Mike Richards. I really thought it’d be Levar Burton, Ken Jennings or Aaron Rodgers. Richards is a producer on the show and the fact that he’s in late stage negotiations is leading a lot of people, including a contestant during his run, to think this was always in the works and the guest host appearances weren’t ever about auditioning for the gig.

Taylor Swift is teasing a Phoebe Bridgers collab. Yes, please!

-I really like this list of the 40 best musical performances on TV. No one but Prince at the Super Bowl could be number 1, but the one that’s stuck in my brain craw remains TV on the Radio’s Letterman appearance at number 5.

John Corbett and Bo Derek, who’ve been together for 20 years, got married last Christmas.

-I’m so confused about why Kristen Bell had a stylist for her recent road trip.

Ryan Reynolds says wife Blake Lively often does uncredited punch ups on the scripts of his movies.

-With Free Guy getting good reviews (currently 84% fresh), THR profiles director Shawn Levy, who seems to keep his head down and do the work. He currently has 15 projects in development for Netflix.

-I mainline teen movies — the cheesier the better — but He’s All That might be a bridge to far for even me. Luckily, the trailer recaps the entire movie so I don’t even need to watch it.

-Here’s the trailer for the much-delayed new series Y: The Last Man, based on the beloved graphic novel.

The Weeknd Talks Grammy Snub

the weeknd billboard

The Weeknd is still all up in his feels about his Grammy snub. Calling it “an attack,” he tells Billboard: “I use a sucker punch as an analogy. Because it just kind of hit me out of nowhere. I definitely felt … I felt things. I don’t know if it was sadness or anger. I think it was just confusion. I just wanted answers. Like, ‘What happened?'” He added that the three previous Grammy Awards he’s won “mean nothing” to him now.

Taylor Swift fans are feeling a little duped today: a rumour of new music turned out to be re-packaged previous releases.

Armie Hammer has exited the upcoming TV series The Offer, which tells the behind the scenes story of the making of The Godfather. This was a really buzzy project — one wonders if he’s just laying low because of what’s already being talked about, or if he’s bracing for more.

-Wow. Call Me By Your Name’s Luca Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet are eyeing a reunion for the coming-of-age horror story Bones & All, which is — wait for it — a cannibal love story. I’m not joking.

-The latest installment of Variety’s Actors on Actors features Riz Ahmed and Steven Yeun, who discuss language and what it was like expressing themselves in American Sign Language and Korean, respectively, in their most recent films.

-I don’t watch Snowpiercer, but this interview with Daveed Diggs is a delight!

Miley Cyrus did a NPR Tiny Desk concert and covered Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You.” It’s a bit hard, but I’ll allow it.

Wendy Williams says she hired a P.I. to follow her husband when they were together and he discovered a mistress. “The P.I. followed her to her GYN appointments. The P.I. ended up finding out that the girl was pregnant.”

-I don’t watch RHOC, but Rick Leventhal‘s daughter seems to be reading her new stepmother for filth on social media.

Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson‘s new Malibu estate looks less palatial than I was expecting.

Daisy Ridley and James McAvoy are among the stars appearing for charity in Celebrity Bake Off, but McAvoy has clearly already won in every way that counts.

Joshua Bassett released a new video, but posted on Instagram “hiiii, i wrote this song half a year ago, and this release has been scheduled for months!” — just in case you thought he was trying to wade in on the Olivia Rodrigo vs Sabrina Carpenter diss track drama.

Zendaya is defending the 12-year age gap between her and her Malcolm & Marie costar John David Washington: “People often forget — which is understandable because I’ve been playing 16 since I was 16, you know — [but] I am grown. I knew that, as I grow and as I evolve, there would be that moment where I could play someone my own age.”

Zendaya also let it slip that her Spider-Man 3 character will be “running from aliens.” Sigh. How has MCU not yet grasped that the beauty of the Spider-Man movies is that they’re about a high school kid dealing with neighborhood baddies. The smaller stakes is why Homecoming was so great.

-This is a very good piece on how the MCU has conditioned its audience not to accept change. There’s a great show to be had in WandaVision if the whole thing is a construct she’s created to cope with her grief, but I’d be surprised if it goes that way. And we barely got three episodes of “what the heck is going on?” weirdness before they’re feeling the need to shift into explaining.

Trevor Noah explained the GameStop stock drama as if he were a bubbly Margot Robbie in The Big Short.

-Netflix confirmed that Lupin’s remaining 5 episodes will debut this summer.

This is a good piece on how when it comes to onscreen diversity, quality is just as important as quantity.

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo play BFFs in the trailer for Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar.

Drake’s Yacht Makes Waves

-The world is falling apart and most of us don’t want to leave our houses, but at least Drake is having a good time on his giant yacht.

-According to Us Weekly, Kim Kardashian wanted to control the PR campaign surrounding her divorce and figure out a settlement before filing and making it public, but she was blindsided by yesterday’s leaks. People also reports that she’s been preparing to file papers.

-Meanwhile, the bizarre rumour that Kanye West is dating YouTube makeup star Jeffree Star was shot down pretty quickly, but that was a wild 20 minutes.

Dr. Dre has issued a statement after being hospitalized for an apparent brain aneurysm. “I’m doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry just got another fawning People cover story about how happy they are since the move.

-While most movie stars jump to TV via prestige limited cable series, Catherine Zeta-Jones is joining the back half of Season 2 of Fox’s Prodigal Son — and she’s playing a medical resident.

-I really hope Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are in the same bubble, seeing how they’re visiting each other while LA’s cases are surging.

-I’m glad that Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist saw a ratings jump when it returned last night. It’s so, so good. But it sucks that Lauren Graham has had to be written out of this season because she committed to another show that was supposed to be done filming, but the pandemic delayed it.

-Of course Kylie Jenner is cashing in on covid by releasing a luxury hand sanitizer. Of course she is.

-Promising Young Woman is coming to VOD next Friday. It’s worth the rental. Trust me.

Sterling K Brown posted a TBT video of him getting on stage during the Magic Mike live show and it’s what the world needs to heal right now.

The Weeknd‘s creepy plastic surgery fail in his new video is going to haunt my dreams.

-The Grammy Awards’ new tentative dates puts it at the same time as the SAG Awards, which seems dumb.

Julia Fox plays a cam girl in the trailer for PVT Chat.

-A drone pilot teams up with a robot super solider, played by Anthony Mackie, to locate a doomsday device in the trailer for Netflix’s Outside the Wire.