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Billboard reports: Ant-Man and the Wasp is proving anything but tiny in its box-office debut. In yet another victory for Disney and Marvel, the latest summer tentpole grossed $33.8 million on Friday from 4,206 theaters for a projected North American debut of $80 million-$83 million. That’s well ahead of the $57.2 million collected by Ant-Man on its first weekend in …

Billboard reports: In the first half of 2018, vinyl album sales grew 19.2 percent in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music — as compared to the first six months of 2017. In total, for the tracking period of Dec. 29, 2017 through June 28, 2018, there were 7.6 million vinyl albums sold; up from 6.4 million in the comparable frame …

The Associated Press reports: Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned. The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they …

The New York Daily News reports: The First Lady and thousands of other Americans danced around their misspelling of Independence Day. The incorrectly spelled #IndependanceDay was trending on Twitter Wednesday afternoon thanks to a slew of prominent users like First Lady Melania Trump, the city of Boston, the state of New Jersey, the U.S. Air Force and the Canadian Space …

Playbill reports: Oscar and Tony Award-winning cabaret star Liza Minnelli made a long-awaited return to the concert stage June 30 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. Minnelli joined longtime friend Michael Feinstein for the evening in which she discussed her legendary career on stage and screen and performed a selection of her signature songs. Among …

Buzzfeed News reports: Over the weekend, thousands of people in the Philippines attended the annual Pride march in Marikina City, east of the capital, Manila. Upon entering Marikina Stadium, where the march ended, Jamilah Salvador, a 19-year-old from Cainta, was greeted by a group of Christians holding up signs apologizing for the ways Christians have harmed the LGBT community. Salvador …

Rolling Stone reports: Brendon Urie partnered with GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) to help create GSA (Gender & Sexuality/Gay-Straight Alliance) clubs in high schools across America. To mark the new alliance, Urie pledged $1 million dollars to GLSEN to launch the initiative. “For years my fans have inspired me with their determination and creativity as they have …

The Hill reports: On Saturday, the last day of pride month, YouTube apologized to the LGBTQ community over its enforcement of certain policies on its platform, which have been criticized by LGBTQ YouTube video creators. The Google-owned video streaming platform acknowledged that it “had issues where [it] let the LGBTQ community down,” over “inappropriate ads and concerns” in its enforcement …

The New York Post reports: An exec at top Hollywood agency William Morris Endeavor, Skip Chasey, is still employed even though a man died in his basement dungeon after being mummified in plastic wrap and gaffer’s tape, according to a new report by podcaster Mark Ebner. The “sudden death during recreational mummification bondage,” as the Los Angeles coroner described it, …

Oh dear. Playbill reports: A host of Broadway artists united to record a music video for Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s 1985 anthem “We Are the World.” Released by Broadway Records, the video calls for healing and unity in the world today. Participating artists include Christy Altomare, Kelli Barrett, Andrew Burns, Nikki Renee Daniels, Jordan Donica, Rachel Eskenazi-Gold, Justin Guarini, …

On Friday, Amazon begins streaming the acclaimed series about one of Britain’s most infamous gay scandals. From the Hollywood Reporter: There is an eccentric bit of electricity that runs through A Very English Scandal, one of the tightest and brightest and most sublime miniseries — running at a meager three hours, one hour per episode — that you’re likely to …

Billboard reports: Playing to a rapturous New York City crowd that greeted her with a loving roar of sound, Kylie Minogue reciprocated the very vocal adoration from her fans by treating them to a previously unheard song — and an unplanned second encore — at her Monday (June 25) night concert. Entitled, appropriately enough, “New York City,” it was clear …

The Chicago Tribune reports: The pop-culture polyglot known as Cher snuck quietly into Chicago this past weekend. She was here to see three weekend preview performances of “The Cher Show,” a new Broadway musical about her life, work and loves that has its official out-of-town opening in Chicago on Thursday. The 72-year-old iconoclast hadn’t seen the show in production before …

The Hill reports: A top conservative leader criticized former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) for tweeting out a picture of gang members, saying they were House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) “campaign committee.” Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of Iowan conservative group The Family Leader, chastised the former governor on Saturday. Vander Plaats was responding to a tweet …

File this one under “womp womp.” An executive for the largest U.S. nail producer who voted for President Trump said he is so dismayed by the president’s trade policies that he is lobbying a Democratic senator for help. George Skarich, vice president of sales for Missouri-based Mid Continent Nail Corporation, told The New York Times that his nail company could …

Playbill reports: A new music video from Tectonic Theater Project and The Matthew Shepard Foundation features Tony winners Harvey Fierstein, Annaleigh Ashford, Billy Porter, and Mary-Louise Parker, along with The Boys in the Band stars Zachary Quinto and Matt Bomer, Bridget Moynahan, Torch Song-bound Michael Urie, and Michael Benjamin Washington. Judy and Dennis Shepard and Laramie Project director-playwright Moisés Kaufman …

Texas Monthly reports: A former Border Patrol agent who resigned from the agency after he was arrested on child pornography charges was later hired as a case manager at a major shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children in Brownsville, Texas Monthly has learned. Ernesto Padron worked at Austin-based nonprofit Southwest Key’s Casa Padre shelter last year, where, as a case manager, …

The New York Post reports: White House adviser Stephen Miller was accosted at a Mexican restaurant by a patron calling him a “fascist” — two nights before Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was hounded out of another south-of-the-border eatery, sources told The Post. “Hey look guys, whoever thought we’d be in a restaurant with a real-life fascist begging [for] money …

From the clip’s description: Broadway’s hottest dancers and two explosively responsive audiences came together for a fierce and steamy evening of fun and sensational striptease at Broadway Bares: Game Night, this year’s record-breaking edition of the annual spectacular. Produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Broadway Bares: Game Night raised $1,875,090 with two standing-room-only performances on Sunday, June 17, …

The New York Post reports: Tronc, one of the most lambasted corporate name changes of the digital era, is going to return to its original name, Tribune Publishing. An insider said that the name change for the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News was awaiting the completion of the spinoff of the Los Angeles …