Open Thread

Variety reports: Oliver Anthony’s viral breakout hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making the singer-songwriter the first artist ever to notch the achievement with no prior chart history in any form. He is the sixth artist in Billboard chart history to debut a first solo Hot 100 entry at No. …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Paul Feig took to social media to remember his friend Laura Ann Carleton, who was shot and killed after engaging in an argument with a man about the Pride flag she had on display outside of her store. “Our wonderful friend Lauri Carlton (seen in this picture) was murdered yesterday in her store @magpi_shop in Lake …

Variety reports: As Hurricane Hilary nears landfall in Los Angeles, weekend events from concerts to sports games are being postponed until further notice. The L.A. Galaxy vs. Real Salt Lake MLS match has been moved from Sunday, Aug. 20, to Oct. 14. MLS will honor all tickets purchased for Sunday as access to the October game. Los Angeles Football Club …

Deadline reports: Don Lemon made his first extended comments since he was fired from CNN, telling podcast host Kara Swisher that he feels “vindicated” following the exit of CNN leadership after his departure. Lemon was let go from the network’s morning show in April. But in June, CNN boss Chris Licht himself was shown the door, following the publication of …

Deadline reports: In a rare occurrence, the remnants of hurricane might hit Los Angeles this weekend with tropical storm-force winds (39-73 mph) and heavy rain. What began as Tropical Storm Hilary off the coast of Mainland Mexico strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane early today with winds of 110 mph as of 3 p.m., PT. That’s just 1 mph shy …

Deadline reports: Jerry Moss, the Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert more than 60 years ago and helped build it into one of the most successful independent record labels in history, died today in Los Angeles. He was 88. Named for its co-founder, the artist-focused A&M Records was launched in …

Billboard Magazine reports: Universal Music, Sony Music and Concord are suing the Internet Archive over a project to digitize old vinyl records from Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby and other iconic artists, calling it “blatant” copyright infringement under a “smokescreen” of preservation. In a complaint filed Friday in Manhattan federal court, the labels took aim at the Internet Archive’s …

ESPN reports: Retired NFL star Michael Oher, whose supposed adoption out of grinding poverty by a wealthy, white family was immortalized in the 2009 movie “The Blind Side,” petitioned a Tennessee court Monday with allegations that a central element of the story was a lie concocted by the family to enrich itself at his expense. The 14-page petition, filed in …

Variety reports: “Barbie” continues to shatter records nearly a month after the Malibu icon first graced the big screen. The Greta Gerwig comedy has earned $1.18 billion at the worldwide box office and now ranks as the second highest-grossing release in the history of Warner Bros. Internationally, the film earned $45.1 million from 75 markets to bring its foreign gross …

Billboard Magazine reports: Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor is sharing some positive news about his battle with cancer. The 62-year-old musician, who revealed his stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis in November 2022 (he was initially diagnosed in 2018), says he expects to live another five years thanks to a “nuclear medicine” called Lutetium-177. Taylor tells BBC Breakfast that scientists contacted …

Variety reports: The organizer of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival is seeking over $2 million in damages from the 1975 after frontman Matty Healy’s on-stage protest against the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws resulted in authorities canceling the event. Healy kissed his male bandmate — bassist Ross MacDonald — on stage, resulting in the group getting banned from performing in Malaysia. The shutdown …

Variety reports: The “prince of England’s hearts” falls for the American president’s son (or is it the other way around?) in “Red, White & Royal Blue,” an effervescent gay rom-com that might be easily dismissed as a mere trifle, were it not for the still-historic novelty of its existence. Arriving less than a year after “Bros,” director Matthew López’s Amazon-backed, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Add Billy Porter to the list of thousands financially affected by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, following the revelation that the actor will have to sell his house, at an extremely precarious moment for entertainment workers. “I have to sell my house… Because we’re on strike. And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work],” …

USA Today reports: Rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. The sentence for the 31-year-old Canadian rapper, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, was handed down Tuesday after several delays. The rapper was given about 10 months of credit for time he’s served since his conviction in December. Lanez’ …

The New York Times reports: William Friedkin, a filmmaker whose gritty, visceral style and fascination with characters on the edge helped make “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” two of the biggest box-office hits of the 1970s, died on Monday at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 87. The cause was heart failure and …

Deadline reports: A female BBC journalist has discovered that she receives more than 80% of all the online abuse received by the entire corporation. Marianna Spring, the BBC’s first disinformation and social media correspondent, tells The Times newspaper that, during the first six months of this year alone, she received more than 11,771 personal slurs. She tells the newspaper: “It’s …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Meeting for the first time in more than three months, the Writers Guild and the AMPTP on Friday failed to reach an agreement to resume contract negotiations. Their inability to agree on terms for returning to the bargaining table comes after their much anticipated meeting to discuss a possible resumption of talks. “As of now, there is …

Variety reports: As she heads into the third weekend of release, Warner Bros’ Barbie has hit two new milestones, crossing both $500M at the international box office and the nine-century mark worldwide. The Greta Gerwig-directed phenomenon added $16.8M from 69 offshore markets on Thursday, bringing the overseas total to $509.7M through yesterday. Globally, the doll is standing tall with $916.1M …

Variety reports: Apple CEO Tim Cook today boasted of a new milestone for the world’s biggest tech company: It now has more than 1 billion paid subscriptions across all apps and services, up 150 million year over year. During the quarter, sales in Apple’s services unit grew 8.2%, to $21.21 billion. The services segment includes the App Store, Apple Pay, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: There’s no stopping Warner Bros. Barbie as sources tell us the Greta Gerwig movie has a shot at hitting the billion mark this Sunday worldwide, if not Monday. Stateside she’s eyeing a third weekend around $55M, -41%, give or take, and she’ll cross the $400M stateside mark by Thursday, her 15th day of release. That’s faster than …