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SHOWBIZ Wanda Sykes, Jonas Brothers, 'Queen of Versailles,' 'Bloodshed'
Adam Lambert video below
by Andrew Davis
2023-03-04

This article shared 3767 times since Sat Mar 4, 2023
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Award-winning comedian Wanda Sykes' new comedy special, I'm An Entertainer, will premiere globally on Netflix on May 23, a press release announced. The special, directed by Linda Mendoza, was filmed in early February 2023 at Philadelphia's Miller Theater. Sykes' 2019 Netflix comedy special, Not Normal, was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

The Jonas Brothers announced a five-show, limited engagement at Broadway's Marquis Theatre next month, Deadline noted. On March 14-18, Joe, Nick and Kevin Jonas will play five consecutive nights at the Marquis. "Jonas Brothers On Broadway = 5 Albums 5 Nights" will feature the brothers performing a different album each night along with greatest hits. The Marquis most recently hosted the musical Beetlejuice, which closed Jan. 8. The Jonas Brothers new record, simply called The Album, will be out May 12.

A new musical based on the award-winning 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles and the life of beauty queen, socialite and TV personality Jacqueline "Jackie" Siegel is in development, with Kristin Chenoweth attached to star/produce, Deadline noted. Lauren Greenfield's documentary depicted the often bizarre lives of Jackie and David Siegel, owners of Westgate Resorts, as they struggled to build the largest private home in America in Orlando, Florida—a $100-million house inspired by the Palace of Versailles. The project would reunite Chenoweth with composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), who is on board to write the music.

All the Beauty and Bloodshed—a story about internationally renowned bisexual artist/activist Nan Goldin and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid overdose crisis—will debut on HBO on March 19, per a press release. The movie premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in the main competition, where it became the second documentary ever to win the Golden Lion for best film. The film has garnered top awards, including Best Documentary from the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association and National Society of Film Critics.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards presented its statuettes for the outstanding motion picture and television performances of 2022 at the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, held Feb. 26 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, per a press release. Honored with individual awards were Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis for performances in motion pictures, and Sam Elliott, Jessica Chastain, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Coolidge, Jeremy Allen White, and Jean Smart for performances in television. The Actor for a motion picture cast performance this year went to Everything Everywhere All At Once and the Actors for television drama and comedy ensemble performances went to The White Lotus (drama) and Abbott Elementary (comedy). Also, Andrew Garfield presented Sally Field with the 58th SAG Life Achievement Award.

The 34th annual Producers Guild Awards (PGA) named A24's Everything Everywhere All at Once as best picture, per Deadline. The PGA's best picture award has long been an indicator of the Oscars' Best Picture Academy Award winner. Some of the other winners included shows The White Lotus and The Bear, the limited series The Dropout and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Honorary award recipients included Lena Waithe, Tom Cruise, the movie Till, producers Michael De Luca and Pam Abby, and Mindy Kaling.

Speaking of Kaling, she was called out after an old interview resurfaced of her joking about kissing out gay co-star Lee Pace without his consent while filming The Mindy Project, Yahoo! Life noted. The old clip is from an interview with Conan O'Brien on his late-night show Conan. Kaling described Pace as looking shocked before she walked backstage, encountering two writers who told her, "Hey man, what are you doing?! You could be sued for that!" The actress and producer said of what happened next, "And I got very scared. Then I said: 'Tell anyone and you're fired.'"

Jonathan Majors (who's in the upcoming movie Creed III and stars as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) is the cover star of Ebony Magazine's February 2023 issue, and his recent photo shoot sparked an online controversy, Instinct Magazine noted. The actor can be seen shirtless with a pink fur coat draped over his shoulders, paired with blue denim jeans—causing author Boyce Watkins to tweet, "Ladies, this is how Hollywood defines black masculinity. That's why so many of your men are defeated and weak." This post sparked major backlash, with The Black List founder Franklin Leonard responding, "This is how Jonathan Majors defines HIS Black masculinity, and it's weird that anyone would have a problem with that."

Tennis superstar Serena Williams received the Jackie Robinson Sports Award while out Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner was recognized at the NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena, California, ESPN noted. Angela Bassett was recognized as Entertainer of the Year, according to Deadline. She had previously won this year for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for 9-1-1 and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which won for Outstanding Motion Picture. One of the big surprises of the night was Will Smith (who was not present) winning the Outstanding Actor award for Emancipation. Other winners included TV series Abbott Elementary, Viola Davis (Outstanding Actress in film for The Woman King) and Nicco Annan (Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for P-Valley).

Miley Cyrus announced the track list for her upcoming eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, which will be out March 10, Out noted. The album will feature 13 tracks, including the already released "Flowers." The other songs on the album include "Jaded," "Rose Colored Lenses," "Thousand Miles," "You," "Handstand," "River," "Violet Chemistry," "Muddy Feet," "Wildcard," "Island," "Wonder Woman" and the title track.

Lea Michele will play Fanny Brice through the end of Funny Girl's run on Broadway, per The Hollywood Reporter. The Broadway production will play its final performance Sept. 3. In addition to Michele, Ramin Karimloo,, Tovah Feldshuh and Jared Grimes will remain with the production through the closing. Beanie Feldstein played the lead role from the March 26, 2022 previews through July 31, 2022, and Michele took over the role of Fanny Brice on Sept. 6, 2022.

Doctors fear Joe Exotic's prostate cancer has now spread to his bladder as the incarcerated former zookeeper balks at further treatment, per The New York Post. Exotic (real name: Joseph Maldonado-Passage)—the former star of Netflix's Tiger King true-crime series now in prison for a murder-for-hire plot against his rival—will likely die behind bars as he's not looking to undergo any treatment for his worsening diagnosis. TMZ previously revealed that Exotic recently wrote a new will and will leave everything to his fiance, Seth Posey.

Out Grammy-nominated singer Adam Lambert released his new album High Drama, a press release announced. An album of covers, High Drama is his first release via his new deal with BMG. (A few of the songs include "Chandelier," "Mad About the Boy" and "I Can't Stand the Rain.") The video for "Getting Older," a cover of the Billie Eilish song, is also out now. Directed by Heather Gildroy, the video shows Lambert dramatically transformed, with the aid of prosthetics, into an older version of himself. The video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_lUT0rVHbU.

After garnering international attention for playing Fancy Pants in the cult classic School of Rock, gay country musician Brian Falduto will release his album, Gay Country, on March 10, per a press release. Gay Country features the viral lead single "Same Old Country Love Song" which received TikTok love from School of Rock co-star Jack Black and influencer Tate Hoskins. The eight-song album will also include tunes such as "Slow Down Town" and "Big Boys Club," among others.

LGBTQ+ actress Jena Malone revealed that she was "sexually assaulted" while filming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2, according to Page Six. On Instagram, Malone—who played tribute Johanna Mason in the series—said her time filming in Paris "was extremely hard" as she was going through a "bad" breakup and had been "sexually assaulted" by someone she worked with. She added, "Lots of love to you survivors out there. The process is so slow and nonlinear. I want to say [I'm] here for anyone who needs to talk or vent or open uncommunicated spaces within themselves."

Actress Alison Brie and husband Dave Franco were making a video for BuzzFeed, where they read thirst tweets directed at them, when the former Community star reportedly declared her bisexuality, Out noted. "Listen, I am bisexual for a reason, and that reason is strictly to be used in a threesome by Dave Franco and Alison Brie," a tweet read by Franco said. Brie replied, "That's also why I'm bisexual!"

World of Wonder, the company behind RuPaul's Drag Race, is releasing the docuseries Click Boys, which follows the lives of LGBTQ+ adult content creators who earn income from OnlyFans, Out noted. Click Boys, which debuted Feb. 27 on WOW Presents Plus, follows the lives of Matthew Camp, Brock Banks, Lance Charger, Noah Way and Ty Mitchell as they discuss topics such as LGBTQ+ identity, body positivity and sex work.

Jennifer McBride—who was charged in connection with the theft of Lady Gaga's prized French bulldogs who were dognapped at gunpoint in Hollywood in 2021—is suing the actress/musician for alleging she was denied a $500,000 "no-questions-asked" reward, per NBC News. McBride pled no contest in December 2022 to receiving stolen property in connection with the theft. Now, she's accusing the "Paparazzi" singer of breach of contract, fraud by false promise and fraud by misrepresentation for not paying her the $500,000 reward.

Adriana de Moura called out Alexia Nepola for "shaming" a transgender woman on the fourth season of The Real Housewives of Miami, Page Six noted. "Alexia was shaming a trans woman at a Pride event," de Moura told Page Six. De Moura, an advocate for the trans community, said the scene still bothers her more than a year after it aired in December 2021.

Michael Darby—known for being on Bravo's popular reality series The Real Housewives of Potomac as the now-estranged husband of main star Ashley Darby—is suing fellow cast member and housewife Candiace Dillard Bassett for defamation after she claimed he offered cash to have sex with another man, Out noted, citing TMZ. Dillard Bassett's husband, Chris, was a main focus this past season due to multiple claims of women "feeling uncomfortable" from alleged advances and comments he made; among those women was Ashley Darby. This is the second time a situation has involved Michael's sexuality, after previous allegations of him sexually assaulting a male cameraman were cleared.

Internet users are finding buried clips of Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us; The Mandalorian) playing gay in an MTV show from 1999, according to Out. According to fan site pedro-pascal.com, Pascal starred in three episodes of an MTV show called Undressed in 1999 while acting under the name Pedro Balmaceda. Pascal is also getting ready to play gay again, this time in Pedro Almodovar's gay western romance short film Strange Way of Life.

Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent—who took the world of HGTV by storm with their first season of The Nate and Jeremiah Home Project—recently thanked their fans, Out noted. Although the fathers are thankful they can show their love and talent on screen, they're also cognizant of the trailblazers that came before them in the fight for mainstream representation. "We have such respect and admiration for the people that pushed this movement of equality. We know that we are standing on the shoulders of Harvey Milk, of everyone who's ever marched, of all of these incredible people who looked around and said society could be better," Berkus said.

R&B legend Stephanie Mills doubled down on her comparison between Beyonce and Diana Ross, That Grape Juice noted. Mills made headlines when she went on record to say that "Diana is the epitome of class [while] Beyonce is more hip-hop." Speaking with radio-show anchor Charlamagne Tha God, Mills said, "To me, you can't compare nobody to Diana. Not Beyonce. I don't care if they don't like what [I said].I'll say I said it. I'm not gonna apologize for it," adding, "Diana is the epitome of of glamour and grace. And I didn't say that Beyoncé wasn't. So, y'all don't like it. I'm sorry [I'm not apologizing]."

In a similar vein, Chaka Khan shared her opinions on the vocal talents of Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige and others during an interview on The Originals podcast for Los Angeles Magazine, Yahoo! noted. Talking about Rolling Stone's "200 Best Singers Of All Time" list published in January 2023, Khan (who placed #69) said, "I didn't even know what the hell you were talking about, so obviously this don't mean a great deal to me." After learning she was placed behind Mary J. Blige, who came in at No. 25, Khan said, "They are blind as a motherfu**ing bat! They need hearing aids. … These must be the children of Helen Keller!"

And a two-year-old clip of CeCe Winans calling the lyrics to Whitney Houston's cover of "I'm Every Woman" "demonic" has resurfaced, according to VIBE. In the November 2021 video, Winans can be seen giving a sermon at the Highland College Chapel, discussing the topic of pleasing the Lord and avoiding things that she considers "ungodly." Winans and Houston, who were good friends, did unite for Waiting to Exhale's theme song, "Count On Me."

Girls5Eva star Busy Phillips will play Mrs. George in the upcoming screen version of Broadway's Mean Girls musical, Playbill noted, citing Deadline. She is the latest to join the movie musical's adult cast, along with The Office's Jenna Fischer as Mrs. Heron. Mean Girls is adapted from the 2018 Broadway musical of the same name, which was itself based on a 2004 hit film written by Tina Fey and starring Lindsay Lohan.

"Pi: The 25th Anniversary IMAX Live Pi Day Experience" will take place, fittingly, on March 14 (3/14), according to a release. The special one-day only event will include a live Q&A with director Darren Aronofsky, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, composer Clint Mansell, actor Sean Gullette and other special guests live from Los Angeles followed by a screening of the restored film. See pi.imax.com/ to search participating theaters by zip code and to purchase tickets.

The Weeknd debuted his first-ever live album, Live At Sofi Stadium, via XO/Republic Records, a press release announced. The 31-track collection captures his sold-out two-night stand at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in November 2022 during his After Hours Til Dawn Tour. There are live renditions of songs such as "Wicked Games," "Kiss Land," "The Hills," "Starboy," "Can't Feel My Face," "Save Your Tears," "Die For You" and "Blinding Lights," among others. His recent remix of "Die For You," with Ariana Grande, also continues to put up numbers, with 23.2 million Spotify streams in under a week.

Justin Bieber's "Justice Tour" has officially been canceled, iHeart noted. Several fans reported receiving emails from their points of purchase about venues canceling the remaining shows. Bieber took a break from touring due to his Ramsay Hunt Syndrome diagnosis last summer and then decided in October to postpone the rest of the shows indefinitely.

CBS Media Ventures' nationally syndicated daytime talk show Rachael Ray will end after its current 17th season, Deadline noted. It's been a year of radical changes in the daytime syndication landscape, with Dr. Phil, Judge Mathis and The People's Court also set to wrap their runs this season and fellow shows The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wendy Williams Show, Maury, Dr. Oz and The Real ending within the past 12 months.

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, speaking during the SAG Awards, called on Hollywood to flex its economic muscles to democratize states where civil and human rights are under attack, Deadline noted. She also again called for an end to the industry's COVID vaccination mandate, which gives employers the right to require vaccinations as a condition of employment.

TMZ obtained more than 100 complaints made to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the Super Bowl broadcast—and reported that nearly all of them were about Rihanna's halftime performance, per Yahoo! Sports. The complaints compared Rihanna's set to pornography with "overtly sexual dancing" and movements that "were patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children." On the other end of the spectrum, celebrities like Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, U.S. women's national team star Alex Morgan and former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt lauded Rihanna's performance.

Singer/songwriter paris jackson unveiled her new single "bandaid" via Republic Records, per a press release. Drawing influences from '90s grunge and alternative, the anthem was "sonically inspired by Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana and lyrically inspired by Andy Hull and Conor Oberst." In 2020, she dropped her debut album, wilted, joined by collaborators Andy Hull and Robert McDowell of Manchester Orchestra.

Real-life married couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally (the latter best known for playing Karen on TV's Will & Grace) as well as David Cross will join Netflix's The Umbrella Academy for the show's fourth and final season, a press release announced. Offerman and Mullally will play a married pair of community college professors from New Mexico. It was previously announced that Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya and Colm Feore will reprise their roles.

Actor Isaiah Washington—known for his controversial 2007 anti-gay slur when he faced off with Patrick Dempsey when both were on the TV show Grey's Anatomy—has said he's quit acting, according to Extra. He tweeted, "It is with a heavy heart and a sense of relief that I am announcing my early retirement from the entertainment industry today." (He's 59.) Washington's last acting credit is for the 2022 film Corsicana, which he also directed.





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