Bradley Cooper has reminisced on his gay sex scene in Wet Hot American Summer with co-star Michael Ian Black, Gay Times Magazine noted. Appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers, the actor revealed that the scene wasn't choreographed, and jokingly agreed that they had "instant chemistry." Cooper added, "The joke of that scene was to make it the one serious scene in the whole movie. The whole movie's a joke, and then that one scene's shot dead seriously, and lit well. We played it totally real."
Netflix chose Dec. 15—the date of the fifth Republican debate—to launch a fake campaign ad for President Frank Underwood's re-election bid, according to Deadline. All episodes of the fourth season will debut on Netflix beginning March 4, just in time for primary season to hit a fever pitch in the real world. The streaming service also unveiled a campaign poster.
NBC has cancelled the live variety show Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris after one season, Deadline reported. The hour-long show—adapted from the British variety series Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway—was hosted and executive produced by Harris, and featured Nicole Scherzinger as co-host. "Best Time Ever" featured a mix of stunts, taped segments, Harris-orchestrated pranks and celebrity guest appearances.
Orange Is The New Black star Taylor Schilling is joining The Titan opposite Sam Worthington and Tom Wilkinson, Deadline noted. Set in a not-too-distant future, it tracks the journey of a military family that is relocated to take part in a groundbreaking experiment of man's genetic evolution into space. Schilling is joining the project straight off the back of filming season four of Netflix's Orange Is The New Black and also feature project Phil, starring and directed by Greg Kinnear.
Barbara Walters has named transgender personality Caitlyn Jenner the "Most Fascinating Person of 2015," TheWrap noted. Walters' annual TV special, which aired Dec. 17 on ABC, also featured actress Amy Schumer, actor Bradley Cooper, comedian Tracy Morgan, ballerina Misty Copeland, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, fashion designer Donna Karan, fighter Ronda Rousey, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and presidential canddidate/real-estate mogul Donald Trump.
Keke Palmer is opening up about her sexuality, and is refusing to label herself, The Huffington Post reported. The Scream Queens actress has released the music video for her song "I Don't Belong To You"—and the black-and-white video opens with her in bed with a man and ends with her at the house of a woman, fellow singer Cassie. Talking about the video, Palmer told People, "The video was to represent the young woman today —it's not the traditional woman anymore—and not the specifics of 'Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I bi?'"
Actress/comedian Margaret Cho has blasted execs behind the upcoming Absolutely Fabulous movie for casting a British actress in an Asian role, SFGate.com noted. Janette Tough, from Scottish comedy duo The Krankies, has been cast as a male Japanese fashion designer called Huki Muki; Korean-American Cho has taken issue with a white actor playing an Asian, calling bosses of the film racist. The big-screen adaptation of the 1990s British sitcom, starring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, has been written by Saunders and is currently in production for a scheduled cinema release in July 2016.
Speaking of Cho, is joining E!'s Fashion Police as a special guest host when the show returns in 2016, according to Instinct Magazine. Before her more regular gig, Cho had appeared as a celebrity guest on the fashion-centered series. Cho's addition follows this year's talent shuffle, which saw the exits of host Kathy Griffin and co-host Kelly Osbourne after Joan Rivers' death in September 2014.
CNN.com has run a feature on Tracey "Africa" Norman, a transgender model who, in the mid-1970s, was the face of Clairol's Born Beautiful hair color ( No. 512, Dark Auburn ) and had an exclusive contract with Avon, among other achievements. An African-American model already facing discrimination based on her skin color, she knew that any hint that she was also transgender would have ended her career and could have led to her death. After word did get out ( and work dried up ), Norman started competing in New York's drag-ball community, joining the House of Africa and mentoring its younger members for competitions. She was inducted into the ballroom hall of fame in 2001.
Sony Music Masterworks and Broadway Records have released the original soundtrack of the NBC television event The Wiz LIVE!, according to a press release. The soundtrack features the well-known hits "Ease on Down the Road," "A Brand New Day" and "Home," plus the new song "We Got It." The production aired Dec. 3, and re-ran Dec. 19 on NBC.
ABC has greenlit the eight-hour miniseries When We Rise, which the story of the latter generation of leaders in the LGBT-equality movement, according to NewNowNext.com . The mini will reteam Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black with director Gus Van Sant, who will executive-produce the series and direct the first two episodes. Milk's executive producer, Ben Cohen, is also on board to produce.
Two-time Tony winner Nathan Lane will be part of the New York Philharmonic's annual New Year's Eve celebration, La Vie Parisienne, Dec. 31 at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center, according to Playbill. The Broadway favorite will narrate Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals. The narration, in which each animal is a New York archetype, was commissioned by the Philharmonic and written by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, whose collaborations include the Tony-nominated and Olivier Award-winning Legally Blonde, The Musical.
For the first time in all of 2015, Buzzfeed took a backseat—to Ellen DeGeneres and Justin Bieber, according to Variety. The viral-content king took an unprecedented drop in overall video views for November, falling behind the talk-show host and pop singer. Clips from The Ellen Show ( released through EllenTube ) generated 1.1 billion views across YouTube, Facebook and other platforms, claiming the top spot for November video engagement.
Stage and screen actor Michael Urie, Tony nominee Brandon Uranowitz, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actress Sara Chase and Lauren Adams were among the stars headlining The Players' Dec. 13 tribute performance of the film Clue, according to Playbill.com . Presented by private arts social club The Players, the cult classic was performed live for one night only as a tribute to Jonathan Lynn, the film's director and screenwriter. Based on the popular board game and set in a gothic mansion, the 1985 whodunit starred Tim Curry, Michael McKean, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, Martin Mull and Lesley Ann Warren.
Page Six noted that Mariah Carey arrived at a downtown holiday party in the same sparkling red dress from the finale of her Beacon Theatre show. The diva's duds were perhaps only outdone by the night's co-hosts, who were dressed as characters from The Nutcracker. However, Kate Hudson turned up in a Christmas sweater with penguins, hearts and fir trees, while Martha Stewart's eggnog recipe was served to the likes of Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Harvey Weinstein, Larry Gagosian, Jann Wenner, Baz Luhrmann, Tom Hooper, Mary-Kate Olsen, Karlie Kloss and Natasha Lyonne ( and her dog ).
Leaping into Sean Penn's ongoing $10-million defamation lawsuit against Lee Daniels, Madonna said reports of former husband Sean Penn's violent and aggressive behavior toward her back in the 1980s are simply not true, according to Deadline. In a short declaration accompanying Penn's amended complaint, Madonna said, "I know the allegations in those and other reports to be completely outrageous, malicious, reckless, and false." Penn took the Empire co-creator to the courts this fall after becoming upset when Daniels used supposed "false and defamatory" language in an interview earlier this year that strongly suggested the actor was well known for his abuse of women.
New York rapper Azealia Banks—who's rumored to be on Rihanna's new album—was arrested outside Meatpacking club Up&Down after she allegedly went berserk and attacked a female security guard by punching her and "biting her in the boob," Page Six revealed. The arrest comes after Banks was nearly busted in September for an outburst on a Delta flight from New York to LA that was caught on video.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver believes that suspending player Rajon Rondo one game for allegedly directing a gay slur at referee Bill Kennedy during a Dec. 3 game in Mexico City was a fair and fitting punishment, according to SB Nation. Silver said, in part, "I don't think we should be making examples out of anyone. I think that's why the Players Association exists, as a check on authority of the league." Rondo has posted, "They absolutely do not reflect my feelings toward the LGBT community. I did not mean to offend or disrespect anyone."
N.W.A., Deep Purple, Chicago, The Steve Miller Band and Cheap Trick have been chosen to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, NBC News noted. Pop singer Janet Jackson, progressive rock band Yes and Britain's The Smiths were among those on the short list but who failed to make the cut; the disco group Chic was rejected for the 10th time. The 2016 induction ceremony will be held in New York on April 8.
Lenny Kravitz learned the hard way about government over-regulation when police raided a free dental clinic he sponsored in the Bahamas, Page Six noted. The actor is a longtime resident of Gregory Town on the island of Eleuthera, and his Let Love Rule Foundation has quietly contributed to local charitable programs. Kravitz flew several U.S. dentists there for the four-day clinic, but allegedly didn't get all the permits required.
Adele has just been announced as a performer for the 2016 BRIT Awards, Just Jared reported. The 27-year-old "Hello" singer will take the stage at the 02 Arena in London, although it's unknown which song she'll sing off her album 25. Adele has won three BRIT awards in the past and performed "Someone Like You" at the show back in 2011.
Netflix has acquired Divanation, a comedy that has Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton planning to star as members of a once-popular singing group forced to reconnect after their volatile split and 30 year estrangement, according to Deadline. It has been about 20 years since the actresses teamed in The First Wives Club. This fall, Netflix pledged to make as a feature an adaptation of the Kent Haruf novel Our Souls At Night as a starring vehicle for Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, reteaming those two.
In a major live TV blunder, host Steve Harvey inadvertently announced the wrong winner of the Miss Universe pageant tonight in Las Vegas, Deadline reported. Misreading the finalists, Harvey said Miss Colombia was the winner—but she was actually the first runner-up and Miss Philippines was the real winner. Harvey later tweeted, "I'd like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake. I feel terrible."
Scott Weiland, the former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, died from an overdose of alcohol, cocaine and ecstasy, according to TheWrap. Weiland was found dead on his tour bus on Dec. 3 before a scheduled show in Bloomington, Minnesota. People noted that bandmate Tommy Black will not face drug-possession charges related to the death. Bloomington Deputy Police Chief Mike Hartley said authorities never filed charges after "weighing what it would take to probe the narcotics charges against" Black.
HBO and the producing team behind the comedy series Ballers ( including Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg ) are being sued for copyright infringement, TheWrap noted. According to court documents, Everette Silas and Sherri Littleton have filed suit in federal court alleging that the premise for the show was stolen from their project, Off Season.
Nicki Minaj's ABC Family sitcom has cast its leads, toplined by the selection of Ariana Neal as young Nicki, TheWrap noted. Additionally, Selita Ebanks will play Minaj's mom, Grace; Wesley Jonathan is dad, Vincent; and McCarrie McCausland has been selected for the big brother role, Jaylen. Whoopi Goldberg will guest star as Nicki's neighbor, Miss Martha.
Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery ( who plays Lady Mary ) laid her fiance to rest, according to Page Six. During the service, Dockery, 34, called John Dineen, who died after a bout with cancer, "my hero, my king, my everything." In Ireland, Dockery also paid tribute to Dineen, 34, by singing "The Folks on the Hill," and told everyone she often sang this song to him.
The Young and the Restless has continued its ridiculously long reign as daytime's number-one drama, according to IMDB.com . The show's ratings are 35-percent higher than the next competitor ( The Bold and the Beautiful ), and "Restless" has been the top drama for more than 1,400 consecutive weeks—more than 27 years.
Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger isn't selling the Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach; he's going ahead with plans to renovate it and open it as a private club, according to Page Six. The fashion designer acknowledged rumors swirling that he is selling the hotel he bought in 2014 for $56.6 million.
