The Fox show So You Think You Can Dance unveiled its new judging lineup, and LGBTQ Dancing with the Stars runner-up JoJo Siwa will be part of it, per Out Magazine. Siwa will be joined at the judge's table by Glee star Matthew Morrison and dancer/The Ellen Show figure/former judge Stephen "tWitch" Boss. Cat Deely, who has hosted the show since 2006, is returning as host. The 17th season of So You Think You Can Dance will premiere Wed., May 18, following the season finale of The Masked Singer.
Speaking of Siwa (who also made headlines because of her new short hairdo), she told Variety that she is no longer attached to a Will Smith-backed movie adaptation of Bounce, based on the YA book by Megan Shull. "That project got put on hold, and then went away," Siwa told Variety at the GLAAD Media Awards. "It wasn't the one." The project fell apart months ago, sources said, and its demise is not related to Smith's assault of comedian Chris Rock at this year's Academy Awards.
Indigo Girls will unite with members of their renowned backing band and special guests from across the globe for "Look Long: Together"—a career-spanning concert special featuring hits, rarities and, for the first time, full-band live renditions of songs from 2020's Look Long album, per a press release. Between multicam performances, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray discuss songwriting and reveal the inspiration behind signature songs in a series of intimate home movie segments. The event will debut on veeps.com on Sunday, May 8, at 8 p.m.; interested persons can buy the show for $17.99 at indigogirls.veeps.com .
Queer music icon Bitch released the official video for "Pages," a press release noted. The track is the fifth single to be released from her album Bitchcraft, out now on Kill Rock Stars. Bitch is currently on tour in support of Bitchcraft. The tour will include shows at stops such as NYC; Portland, Maine; Cleveland; Evanston, Illinois; Minneapolis; and Pensacola, Florida, among others. More is at bitchmusic.com .
Bravo has canceled Shahs of Sunset after nine seasons, Page Six noted. Sources close to the reality show said the Ryan Seacrest Productions-produced series reportedly became "too expensive" to make. The news came after Page Six revealed that star Mike Shouhed was arrested for domestic violence on March 27 in Los Angeles—although the two developments are supposedly not related. Also, Bravo is reportedly in the early stages of a new project that would feature some of the original cast, including Reza Farahan (a member of the LGBTQ+ community), Mercedes "MJ" Javid and Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi.
Out comedian Billy Eichner is set to host Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration, an upcoming comedy event taking place during Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival, Out Magazine noted. While working in the Judd Apatow-produced gay rom-com Bros, scheduled for a September release, Eichner will help celebrate LGBTQ+ comedians during Netflix's latest comedy festival. As the host of Stand Out, Eichner will introduce headliners such as Wanda Sykes, Tig Notaro, Margaret Cho, Eddie Izzard and Sandra Bernhard. The celebration will take place Saturday, May 7, at L.A.'s Greek Theatre.
A who's who of the music and entertainment business packed into New York City's Casa Cipriani to attend mogul Clive Davis' 90th-birthday party, per Page Six. The evening kicked off with CBS Morning anchor Gayle King interviewing the music legend, who didn't hold back; he even "summarily touched on" finding love with a man after his second marriage ended. (Davis publicly revealed his bisexuality in 2013.) David Foster hosted part two of the evening which included performances by Earth, Wind & Fire, Barry Manilow, Patti Smith, Art Garfunkel, Dionne Warwick, Kenny G and Bruce Springsteen, who performed via video because he was "quarantined in Jersey."
Embattled actor/director/singer Jussie Smollett posted a stream-of-consciousness song to Instagram, talking about his court case and the injustices brought down upon him by the disbelievers within the system, Deadline reported. "Some people chasing that clout / Just remember this … this ain't that situation / You think I'm stupid enough to kill my reputation?" Smollett raps. Smollett promised there will come a day when he can sit down and talk with his followers, and gave a shout-out to "D.L."—possibly CNN anchor Don Lemon, one of his prime defenders. The former Empire actor is currently on release from Cook County Jail while appealing his conviction for his staged attack.
HBO Documentary Films is releasing a new retrospective of the classic Broadway musical Spring Awakening this May, per Out Magazine. Fifteen years after the show had its first smash hit and Tony-winning run, the musical's original cast and creative team—including former Glee co-stars Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele as well as John Gallagher Jr., Krysta Rodriguez and Skylar Astin—have reunited for a special one-night-only reunion concert benefiting the Actors Fund. Spring Awakening: Those You've Known, directed by Michael John Warren will debut Tuesday, May 3, on HBO and will stream on HBO Max.
British actress Talisa Garcia (Baptiste) has been cast in the anticipated Disney+ series Willow—marking the first known time an openly trans actor has been cast in a production from Disney-owned Lucasfilm, home to the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, Deadline reported. In the TV spinoff of the 1980s fantasy classic, which is now in post-production, a princess assembles a party to join her on a quest to rescue her twin brother.
Netflix star Joe Exotic reportedly wants to divorce estranged husband Dillon Passage so he can wed a John Graham, Page Six noted, citing TMZ. Exotic met Graham in February 2021, when they were both locked up at FMC Fort Worth Texas, and are still together even though Graham is no longer behind bars. Exotic is serving a 21-year prison sentence for a murder-for-hire case involving animal-welfare activist Carole Baskin and has been estranged from Passage, his second husband. Passage and Exotic wed in 2017, People Magazine noted.
Speaking of Exotic, it was a packed house at West Hollywood's Hamburger Mary's when Peacock's Joe vs. Carole took over the legendary drag bingo night to benefit AIDS/LifeCycle, per a press release. The hosts were Jeffery Bowman, creator and producer of Legendary Bingo; and drag queens Allusia (dressed as Carole Baskin) and Roz Hernandez. Based on the Wondery podcast Joe Exotic, hosted and reported by Robert Moor, Joe vs. Carole follows big-cat enthusiast Baskin (Kate McKinnon), who learns fellow exotic animal lover Joe "Exotic" Schreibvogel (John Cameron Mitchell) is breeding and using his big cats for profit; a rivalry develops that results in Exotic being in prison.
SZA revealed that her long-awaited sophomore major-label album, some six years in the making, is finally finished and on the way, Variety noted. Asked for details on her next project, she said, "I think it's my most unisex album. I think it's for everyone." Also, explaining why she was on crutches at the Oscars, she said, "I fell out of bed before I [went]" to Las Vegas for the show.
Dancing with the Stars is leaving ABC and moving to Disney+ in a groundbreaking arrangement, Deadline reported. DWTS has received a two-year pickup — for Seasons 31 and 32 — and will debut exclusively on Disney+ this fall in the United States and Canada, becoming the first live series to debut on the service. It is also believed to be the first live streaming reality show in the United States, marking another milestone for direct-to-consumer platforms.
David Barta came out as pansexual during the premiere episode of the fifth season of MTV's Ex on the Beach, per Out Magazine. Barta became a reality TV star during his stint on Fox's Paradise Hotel, where he presented as straight and dated costar Kendall Galan; however, it didn't take long for him to open up on Ex on the Beach about the recent journey he's had with his sexuality. The current season of MTV's Ex on the Beach has a lot of LGBTQ+ representation. Besides Barta, this cast features gay men Joelle Brian and Jonathan Troncoso (World of Dance), bisexual women Kyra Green and Emily Salch (Love Island USA), trans woman Arisce Wanzer (Strut) and bisexual man Mike Mulderrig (Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club).
VH1announced that the winner of season 14 of RuPaul's Drag Race will earn a record-breaking grand prize of $150,000—a 50% increase from past seasons, per Out Magazine. The show is now also adding a cash prize for the runner-up of the season worth $50,000. Historically, there has never been a cash prize for runners-up on Drag Race, making this a first for the series.
The April 7 performance of Broadway's Plaza Suite was canceled after Sarah Jessica Parker tested positive for COVID, Deadline noted. A second test confirmed the diagnosis. Parker's husband and co-star, Matthew Broderick, previously tested positive and missed last week's performances of the Neil Simon play. Parker performed with an understudy.
Warner Bros. Unscripted Television/Telepictures has ended the run of daytime talk show The Real after the show's core station group, the Fox Stations, opted not to renew it after eight seasons, Variety reported. The original hosts included actor Tamera Mowry-Housley, stylist Jeannie Mai, singer Tamar Braxton, singer/actress Adrienne Bailon and comedian Loni Love; Garcelle Beauvais succeeded Mowry-Housley after the latter left. Following the news of The Real's cancellation, Love posted a message on Instagram, blaming the pandemic for show's demise, Deadline noted. The series won three Daytime Emmy Awards and two NAACP Image Awards.
Kanye West pulled out of his scheduled appearance at the Coachella festival, per Variety. (TMZ initially reported the item.) West had been scheduled to play the closing night of the two-weekend festival, which runs April 15-17 and April 22-24. West also pulled out of a planned headlining appearance at the 2020 festival—which ultimately was postponed until this year due to the pandemic—days before it was announced.
Abbott Elementary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph revealed in a recent interview that she was once fired from a TV pilot over an issue relating to her race, according to EW.com . "People's thinking was not very inclusive. You [had] directors who were still trying to tell you how to be Black," she told People Magazine of her experience attempting to forge a path through Hollywood in the 1980s. "I was fired from a pilot because the producer told me I was 'not Black enough.' Those were his words. It was horrible. I can still remember the way I felt."
ABC set the spring season finale dates for its scripted programming, including the series signoff for Kenya Burris' long-running Black-ish, per Deadline. The 13th and final episode of season eight of the Anthony Anderson/Tracee Ellis Ross-starring show will air on Tuesday, April 19. Also, season finales have set for Thursday, May 26, for the 18th season of Grey's Anatomy; and Wed., May 18, for The Goldbergs, The Wonder Years, The Connors, Home Economics and A Million Little Things.
The man accused of shooting Lady Gaga's dog walker in an attempt to steal her dogs was accidentally released from jail in Los Angeles, Out Magazine noted. According to Entertainment Weekly, 19-year-old James Howard Jackson—who was taken into custody as the main suspect behind shooting Fischer and kidnapping Gaga's dogs—was released due to a "clerical error" within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Police officials are now investigating this "inadvertent release" and searching for Jackson so he can get back in custody.
Some of Will Smith's upcoming projects have been paused in the wake of the Oscars-slap controversy, per Page Six. The actor, who stunned the world when he smacked comedian Chris Rock in the face for making a joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith, has had a Netflix film and a movie for Sony put on hold, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Among other things, Sony is also putting the brakes on Bad Boys 4; however, the slave drama Emancipation, made for Apple+, has already been completed.
ABC approved The Great American Tag Sale with Martha Stewart, which will run this summer, per Deadline. The show will see the celebrity part ways with pieces from her vast collection of furniture, art and housewares. It comes after the Disney-owned network canceled a slew of unscripted series, including the Alec Baldwin-fronted game show Match Game, Celebrity Dating Game and The Hustler.
The Masked Singer creator Wonwoo Park is developing a Eurovision Song Contest-style format that will "bring people together, regardless of nationality," Deadline reported. Also, talking about the Masked Singer episode that will feature Donald Trump's controversial former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Park said, "It can't always be pleasant when the mask comes off and the more Masked Singer seasons [globally] we do, the more we realize you can't always have contestants that everybody loves."
Julian Lennon broke his longstanding vow never to perform his father's most iconic solo song, "Imagine," during a benefit for Ukrainian refugees, per Page Six. "Today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad's song, 'Imagine'," Lennon wrote on YouTube. "The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for." The singer-songwriter son of Beatle John Lennon presented the cover version of his father's ode to peace as part of the Stand Up For Ukraine campaign, a global fund-raising effort broadcast from Warsaw.
Todrick Hall responded to accusations related to him allegedly not paying certain dancers in his music videos and the recent backlash he's received from Celebrity Big Brother 3 fans, Out Magazine noted. In part, Hall accused his critics of speaking out against him out of jealousy or revenge after things didn't work out according to their own plans and expectations. Recently, the controversies surrounding Hall escalated to a new level after he appeared on the third season of Celebrity Big Brother—a show that includes 24/7 live feeds watched by thousands of fans.
Cardi B deleted her Twitter after trolls brought up her children in response to the rapper not attending the 2022 Grammys, per Page Six. "I'm deleting my twitter but On God I hate this f—kin dumbass fan base," she tweeted before taking down her account. "You got the slow dumbasses dragging my kids all cause y'all though [sic] I was going to the Grammys and I didn't the f—k ?" Cardi's song "Up" was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the awards show.
A New York Supreme Court jury found Nathaniel Glover—better known as Kidd Creole, from Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five—guilty of manslaughter in the first degree, Pitchfork noted. In 2017, he was arrested and indicted after stabbing a homeless man, John Jolly, to death in New York City. Glover is expected to be sentenced Wed., May 4.
Bruce Willis has reportedly been preparing for his decline in health for some time, selling off all of his prize property in New York and beyond, per Page Six. Willis has spent a number of years selling nearly $65 million worth of luxury properties to focus on life with his family in California. It was recently announced Willis will retire from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia—a brain disorder that affects his ability to communicate.
