Open Thread

Billboard Magazine reports: Cher has an unlikely favorite artist these days as she showed love to one of rap’s late West Coast legends. Cher joined The Jennifer Hudson Show on Wednesday (May 1), where she crowned 2Pac as her go-to these days. “2Pac,” she said when asked about her favorite artist. “[My boyfriend] Alexander started playing me 2Pac.” The depth …

NPR reports: It was a crowded Tony Award season this year, with 36 eligible musicals and plays opening on Broadway stages. But by the time Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry finished reading the nominations on YouTube, there were some clear front-runners: Hell’s Kitchen, a musical based on Alicia Keys’ life, and Stereophonic, a play with a lot of …

Deadline reports: Close races and sharp elbows are likely when the 2024 Tony Award nominations are announced Tuesday morning. With so many shows opening during the onslaught of the past two weeks, nominators might still be clearing their minds — and maybe taking a moment to eat and breathe — as they ponder and re-ponder the 36 productions that opened …

Billboard Magazine reports: As expected, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department makes a gigantic debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 4), securing the superstar her 14th chart-topping album. She ties Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists in the nearly-70-year history of the chart. Only The Beatles, with 19 No. 1s, have more. …

Variety reports: Pauly Shore wrote on Instagram that he was “up all night crying” after Richard Simmons continued to publicly distance himself from the biopic on his life that Shore is attached to star in. Furthermore, Simmons revealed on his social media platforms that he’s talking to film studios about making his own biopic. “I just read that a man …

Variety reports: A documentary about Kevin Spacey that was first announced prior to him being acquitted of multiple sexual offenses in the U.K. last year is now complete, with Variety able to reveal details, a first-look trailer, release dates and a multi-territory deal — including for the U.S. — with Warner Bros. Discovery. The two-part series “Spacey Unmasked,” first commissioned …

Variety reports: Spotify announced Wednesday that Taylor Swift‘s “The Tortured Poets Department” has become the first album in the app’s history to pick up a billion streams in a single week. And it did that with still a couple of days left to go in the seven-day period in question. The previous high-water mark for most album streams in a …

Variety reports: Category is: All Star Charity Extravaganza! Paramount+ and World of Wonder have officially announced the Season 9 cast of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” which will consist of eight alumni of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” stretching from its first season to Season 14. They will be competing for a $200,000 grand prize, but for the first time in “Drag …

Variety reports: It feels potentially unlucky to talk about “breaking records” when the subject is actual LPs, but there’s no way around combining these terms when we’re talking Taylor Swift, the modern queen of vinyl. She has broken her own record for the most sales of a vinyl album in a week, and did it in just three days, with …

Variety reports: Patrick Warburton has voiced Joe Swanson on “Family Guy” since the show’s first season 25 years ago, but the role has never exactly gotten his family’s seal of approval. During a recent PaleyFest LA event celebrating “Family Guy’s” 25th anniversary (via People magazine), Warburton revealed that his parents hate the Seth MacFarlane-created animated comedy and their disdain for …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Delta Burke was once addicted to crystal meth as a way to lose weight. Speaking with Chelsea Devantez on her Glamorous Trash podcast, Burke – who played Suzanne Sugarbaker on sitcom Designing Women – talked about her falling out with series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and subsequent drug abuse. “It got ugly and very sad,” said Burke. She …

Variety reports: Taylor Swift can’t quit breaking her own records. After Spotify revealed Friday that “The Tortured Poets Department” had become the first album in the DSP’s history to amass 200 million streams in a single day, the service updated that news early Saturday, to report that first-day streams actually surpassed 300 million, when all was said and done and …

Variety reports: Warner Bros. has released the trailer for M. Night Shyamalan‘s latest mystery thriller “Trap,” starring Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Marnie McPhail. According to the official logline, “Trap” follows a “father and teen daughter attending a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.” The film’s first look was …

The Athletic reports: NBA commissioner Adam Silver delivered the league’s most severe punishment in decades for gambling on Wednesday, banning Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter from the league for what he termed “a cardinal sin” of betting on the league’s games and sharing inside information. The league said Porter, who spent part of his time in the NBA and part …

Variety reports: Amazon Prime Video has officially ordered a 20-episode season of “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?” from MGM Alternative, the streamer announced Tuesday. As previously reported by Variety, the “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” spinoff will be hosted by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. “I grew up loving game shows, and I’m excited to …

Billboard Magazine reports: CBS has officially released a statement on Monday (April 15) after Billy Joel’s long-awaited concert special, The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden – The Greatest Arena Run of All Time, was cut off during the end of Joel’s iconic ballad, “Piano Man.” “A network programming timing error ended last night’s Billy Joel special approximately two …

Variety reports: Ryan Gosling returned to “SNL” this week in a cold open with “Barbie” co-star Kate McKinnon, reviving one of their most famous sketches, “Close Encounter,” in which they recount being abducted by aliens and their vastly different experiences aboard the spaceship. The original sketch debuted eight years ago and featured Gosling and McKinnon, alongside Cecily Strong (it currently …

Broadway.com reports: Three-time Tony Award winner Patti Lupone will return to Broadway in the fall—despite having left Actors’ Equity—starring opposite Mia Farrow, according to the New York Post. The duo will reportedly star in The Roommate, a new play by Jen Silverman, directed by Jack O’Brien, at the Booth Theatre. Actors’ Equity membership is typically required to work on Broadway; …

Variety reports: Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the company majority-owned by Donald Trump that operates the Truth Social social media network, have fallen about 50% off their high since they started trading a little over two weeks ago. TMTG stock closed at $32.59 per share Friday, rallying late in the day to close up 0.6% — but it’s …

Variety reports: The 40-year-old, kid-friendly franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is returning to movie theaters in live action, in a project that Paramount Pictures is targeting instead for adults. The studio is developing the bloody and intense graphic novel series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin” with screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith (“Boy Kills World”) and Walter Hamada‘s 18hz production …