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New from our pal Matt Baume: On January 11, 1993, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine introduced the first gay power couple of the 24th century … Garak and Bashir. One’s a dashing young doctor. The other’s a simple tailor who might also be a spy. From the very moment they met, their chemistry was delicious. And fans wondered: would these …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Proving the might of the Marvel brand, Black Widow set a new benchmark for the pandemic era in opening to $80 million at the domestic box office. The female-led superhero pic snared the biggest North American start since the COVID-19 crisis commenced, and the largest since Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in Dec. 2019. …

Variety reports: Marvel’s “Black Widow” is already crushing pandemic-era box office records. The superhero adventure raked in a mighty $39.5 million from 4,160 theaters on Friday, the biggest single-day gross since the onset of COVID-19. Through the weekend, “Black Widow” is poised to generated a huge $87.8 million, which would best the benchmark previously set by “F9” and its $70 …

Yahoo News reports: Dean Cain has publicly condemned Marvel’s newest version of Captain America, and Twitter is pushing back on his criticisms. The “Lois and Clark” actor appeared Monday on” Fox & Friends” to slam the character declaring, “I am so tired of all of this wokeness and anti-Americanism.” “I believe the pendulum will swing back to openly appreciating American …

Variety reports: After eight months of Four Seasons Total Landscaping jokes and merchandising (including a Super Bowl ad), the location has jumped into the pop-up concert booking business. On Thursday, the business announced a solo gig by singer-songwriter (and sometimes Against Me! frontperson) Laura Jane Grace for August 21. Fellow singer-songwriter Brendan Kelly of the Lawrence Arms will open for …

Deadline Hollywood reports: American Horror Stories, Hulu’s American Horror Story spinoff anthology series, will welcome some fresh and returning faces. AHS alums Matt Bomer, Billie Lourd and John Carroll Lynch are set to return to the wicked world of Ryan Murphy’s horror franchise as they round out the cast. American Horror Stories is a weekly hourlong anthology series that will …

Deadline Hollywood reports: As Universal’s pay TV partnership with HBO expires at year’s end, the studio’s streaming service Peacock will officially take its place starting in 2022. All Universal Filmed Entertainment Group’s theatrical releases starting next year will play on Peacock during each pic’s pay-one partner TV window, which is 120 days after a title’s theatrical release. Each movie will …

The New York Daily News reports: Nick Cannon’s a new dad… for the fourth time in the last year and the seventh time overall. The actor’s latest offspring is a baby boy, Zen, with model Alyssa Scott. In an Instagram post captioned “I will love you for eternity,” Scott is pictured with the baby, who was born on June 23. …

Deadline Hollywood reports: The Los Angeles Tourism & Convention board enlisted famed L.A. artist Shepard Fairey (best known for his image of President Barack Obama underneath the word “Hope) and his Studio Number One, along with designers House Industries, to create a new logo and brand identity for the city. Fairey’s work marks the first update to the logo in …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Actress Phylicia Rashad, the new dean of the Howard University College of Fine Arts, has sent an apology letter to students and parents for her previous gleeful tweet about Bill Cosby’s surprise release from prison. Rashad sent the letter Friday, offering her “most sincere apology” for her enthusiasm upon learning that Cosby’s rape conviction was overturned. She …

Deadline reports: Actors’ Equity says that fully vaccinated theater companies now can dispense with masking and Covid-19 testing mandates. The live-theater union’s newly updated protocols will remain in effect through the end of September. The updated protocols are available on Equity’s website, along with an updated intake form for theaters with mixed-vaccination status companies. Equity has separate protocols it’s negotiated …

Variety reports: A judge has shot down Britney Spears’ request to have her father removed from her conservatorship — at least for now. New court documents that were filed by the Los Angeles Superior Court show that the judge has denied a months-old request by Spears’ attorney, Samuel Ingham III, to remove her father, Jamie Spears, as her sole conservator. …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Phylicia Rashad, who played Bill Cosby’s TV wife for 12 years on two different hit shows, spoke out on Wednesday shortly after the comedian’s sexual assault conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The news came as an unwelcome shock to many in Hollywood, but Rashad was overjoyed. “FINALLY!!!!” she wrote on Twitter. “A terrible wrong …

Variety reports: On Monday, the Los Angles County Department of Public Health announced it “strongly recommends everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure” in light of the increasingly transmissible Delta variant. The precautionary recommendation comes just two weeks after the full reopening of California’s economy. Across the country, the Delta variant is …

Hip Hop DX reports: Queen Latifah was honored at the 2021 BET Awards with the Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday night (June 27). After a tribute performance from her “Ladies First” collaborator Monie Love, Lil Kim, Rapsody and MC Lyte, the seasoned MC/actress took the stage alongside her father to deliver her acceptance speech. Then in a rare moment, the …

Deadline reports: Donald Trump’s latest rally was another greatest hits of media attacks, 2020 election falsehoods and long-held and more recent grievances, and while it drew a large in-person crowd in Wellington, Ohio, it did’t get an audience on the three major cable news networks. The reason: They didn’t carry it. C-SPAN carried the rally as part of its Road …

Broadway World reports: Pride is here and so is a new spin on a classic that’s taking the gay anthem to the next level. Watch below to check out an amazing dance version of “I Am What I Am” featuring J. Harrison Ghee and directed/produced by Jimmy Larkin. The just-released video includes appearances by Grey Henson, Ezra Menas, Gaby Gamache, …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: William White, who goes by @Whiteyy18 on TikTok, has signed with to IMG Models and WME as part of the Endeavor family. White rocketed to fame after lip-syncing famous ‘80s tunes on TikTok, where he quickly gained a following of self-described “cougars,” or middle-aged women who swooned over the 21-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ontario. Besides becoming …

Variety reports: Winston Marshall, the banjoist from folk rock band Mumford & Sons, has exited the group after becoming embroiled in a political controversy for praising a book by right-wing journalist Andy Ngo. In March, Marshall tweeted his thoughts on Ngo’s book, “Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy,” writing “Finally had the time to read your important book. …

Variety reports: Three and a half years after Elton John announced his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour,” after an unavoidable pandemic delay, he has finally unveiled the closing stadium dates of that tour. It will make a final lap across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand next year after the conclusion of the arena dates rescheduled from …