Lady Gaga might perform a virtual concert on the popular online video game Fortnite sometime soon, according to Out Magazine, citing Kotaku. In a previous press release by Fortnite developer Epic Games, the studio announced that its "Rainbow Royale 2022" event will feature participation from artists like Gaga, Janelle Monae and Kim Petras; however, that just meant that their songs would be playing over the game during the event. Other high-profile musicians who have performed virtual concerts on Fortnite include Ariana Grande, Lil Nas X, Travis Scott and KoRn.
The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards certainly had some electric moments—including those involving LGBTQIA+ people, PinkNews noticed. For example, while promoting the LGBTQ+ film Bros, out comedian and actor Billy Eichner lambasted "all the homophobes on the Supreme Court" in a searing speech.Also, Artist of the Year winner Bad Bunny shook fans after kissing a man during his remote performance. The Puerto Rican rapper casually shared a passionate kiss with one of his male back-up dancers while performing his hit song "Titi Me Pregunto" to thousands of fans in Yankee Stadium. In addition, Best New Artist Dove Cameron dedicated her award to queer youth, Out Magazine noted. Lastly, queer artists from Lil Nas X, Bob the Drag Queen, Lili Reinhart, Peppermint, Colton Haynes and Saucy Santana were on the red carpet.
The first of the two 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies took place Sept. 3, as Disney+'s The Beatles: Get Back and CBS' Adele: One Night Only led the way with five wins, including Peter Jackson for directing the Fab Four documentary, Deadline noted. A few of the other winners included Queer Eye (Outstanding Structured Reality Program), RuPaul's Drag Race (Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series), Lizzo's Watch Out For The Big Grrrls (which won two awards), Chadwick Boseman (a posthumous award for voiceover work) and former President Barack Obama (Outstanding Narrator, for Our Great National Parks). An edited presentation of the Creative Arts Emmys will air on Saturday, Sept. 10, on FXX and stream on Hulu; The Primetime Emmys will air live on NBC on Monday, Sept. 12.
CBS Daytime revealed the fall premiere dates for its No. 1-rated lineup, including the official start date of The Young and the Restless' 50th season. Deadline noted. The soap kicks off its milestone year Friday, Sept. 30. as CBS' longest-running scripted series. Debuting a new logo in honor of the milestone, Y&R will celebrate its five decades all season with return appearances of fan favorites. There's also a special crossover episode planned with The Bold and the Beautiful on Monday, Sept. 26, which marks the start of the 36th season of "Bold."
The feud between country star Maren Morris and Jason Aldean's influencer wife, Brittany Aldean (about the latter's anti-trans comments) rages on, EW.com . noted. Brittany appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to address the multiple transphobic comments she has made since her initial post. (The first post was ""I'd really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life.") While introducing her, the host took a shot at Morris and her reaction to Brittany's comments, labeling her a "lunatic" and a "fake country music singer." However, not only did Morris joke she would change her profile picture to a photoshopped image of herself featuring a Tucker Carlson Tonight chyron that read "Lunatic country music person," but she has designed and released a new T-shirt that uses the phrase to slam both Brittany and Carlson. Morris added, "All proceeds will be split between
@TransLifeline & the @glaad Transgender Media Program." See https://shop.marenmorris.com/collections/hq-merch/products/lunatic-country-music-person-tee.
Billy Eichner—co-writer and star of Bros, one of the first major studio romantic comedies to star a primarily LGBTQ+ cast—clarified comments he made about streaming content starring LGBTQ+ actors feeling "disposable," CNN noted. In a new interview with Variety, Eichner praised the scale of his film: "This is not an indie movie This is not some streaming thing which feels disposable, or which is like one of a million Netflix shows. I needed to appreciate that." However, after the interview was released, Eichner tweeted that he was "not at ALL referring to the quality or monumental impact of streaming films, (he) was referring to the way that, historically, LGBTQ+ content has often been considered niche and disregarded by Hollywood."
Actor Jameela Jamil was slammed on social media for "giving instructions to trans people on how to stop being misgendered," PinkNews noted. Jamil accidentally described a non-binary social-media user as a "woman" during a Twitter spat. But, instead of apologizing and correcting herself, she laid out some guidelines for trans folk on how to avoid being misgendered. Jamil, who came out as queer in 2020, was quickly told by many of her followers that trans people should not be responsible for stopping others from misgendering them.
Two-time Oscar-winning actress/activist Jane Fonda is undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to Deadline. "This is a very treatable cancer," Fonda wrote on Instagram. "80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky." Fonda added that she "will not allow cancer" to keep her from speaking out on issues such as climate change and her "Fire Drill Fridays" campaign to raise awareness. "The midterms," she writes, "are looming, and they are beyond consequential so you can count on me to be right there together with you as we grow our army of climate champions."
U.S. LGBTQ+ sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson defeated reigning Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah in the 100-meter race at the World Athletics Continental Tour silver meet in Lucerne, Switzerland on Aug. 30, Essence noted. This was Richardson's first win in three attempts against Jamaica's Thompson-Herah, who hold records in both the 100- and 200-meter races. Clocking in at 11.29 seconds, Richardson defeated the Jamaican track star by just one-hundredth of a second. Richardson missed last summer's Tokyo Olympics after she tested positive for marijuana and was banned from the games.
Jennifer Hudson will kick off the premiere episode of her self-titled show on Monday, Sept. 12, by reuniting with American Idol judge Simon Cowell for their first sit-down conversation since that memorable 2004 season, Deadline noted. (Fantasia Barrino won that season while Hudson finished seventh.) The new Hudson series will feature celebrity interviews, topical stories, community heroes, viral sensations and music.
Call Me By Your Name's Timothee Chalamet blasted the social-media world at the Venice press conference for Luca Guadagino's Bones and All, in which he and co-star Taylor Russell play cannibal lovers on a road trip across the United States, per Variety. Among other things, he said, "I can't imagine what it is to grow up with the onslaught of social media, and it was a relief to play characters who are wrestling with an internal dilemma absent the ability to go on Reddit, or Twitter, Instagram or TikTok and figure out where they fit in." As for "Bones," the bisexual cannibal thriller received an eight-and-a-half-minute standing ovation at its premiere in Venice (for which Chalet wore a red backless jumpsuit).
Speaking of "Call Me," co-star Armie Hammer is one of the main subjects of the Discovery+ documentary House of Hammer, Variety noted. The documentary puts the camera on Hammer's female accusers, who now come forward to share the abuse they reportedly endured. The filmmakers say they asked Hammer to sit for an on-camera interview, but he declined to participate. Hammer is the great-grandson of oil tycoon Armand Hammer—and the family's history is laden with controversy; for example, in 1920, the actor's great-great grandfather, Julius Hammer, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter after a jury found him guilty when the wife of a Russian diplomat to whom he gave an abortion died.
Bisexual contestant Marina Gregory prevailed in the first-ever edition of the Paramount+ series All Star Shore, Out noted. In the end, all three queer contestants became finalists with their respective partners on All Star Shore, with the LGBTQ+ contestants being Gregory (The Circle: Brazil; Ex on the Beach: Brazil), Ricardo Salusse (Rio Shore) and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo (RuPaul's Drag Race). Gregory (who won $150,000) was previously known for winning the first-ever The Circle: Brazil series—which is when she came out as a bisexual woman.
Amazon Prime has set a 72-hour delay on reviews of its new series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power that are posted on the streamer's website, Deadline noted. "The Rings of Power" is set 1,000 years before the famous Peter Jackson-directed films, whose last edition came out 19 years ago, and eight years after the concluding film of The Hobbit trilogy. A League of Their Own, the episodic reboot of the Penny Marshall baseball movie, was the first title to reflect the update.
Comedian Aries Spears took some very personal shots at Lizzo regarding her weight and appearance—but social media rushed to her defense, TMZ noted. When asked if he thought Lizzo's music was a standout in this day and age, Spears (in an expletive-laden reply) immediately said she has a pretty face but a terrible body. However, one social-media post stated, "I'm really blown away that Aries Spears had the big-mouthed audacity to attack Lizzo for being fat. He's a fat Black man encouraging us to weaponize fatphobia against Lizzo; the math just ain't mathing."
While Tyra Banks has admitted that she spoke insensitively about the aspiring models competing on her early aughts reality show "America's Next Top Model," judge Janice Dickinson said she doesn't regret her harsh words, as she was only "acting," per Page Six. Dickinson largely escaped critique for her comments until last month when footage of the runway pro labeling model Robin Manning "plus-sized"— and asserting she shouldn't win because of it— resurfaced. The Season 1 panel—consisting of Banks, Dickinson, Kimora Lee Simmons and Beau Quillian—also deemed the 26-year-old "too old" and "too fat" to model professionally.
Lea Michele, the former Glee star and current Fanny Brice on Broadway in Funny Girl, talked with The New York Times about accusations of her being a bully, per Out Magazine. "I have an edge to me. I work really hard. I leave no room for mistakes," Michele said about her behavior on Glee. "That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots." In her book Sorry Not Sorry, the late Naya Rivera complained that Michele treated her like she was lesser and even refused to talk to her for part of the series.
Ashley Tropez—featured on the A&E show Beyond Scared Straight—was found dead in her home in Victorville, California at age 24, per Deadline. According to The Daily Mail, the woman she was squatting with in the abandoned building was immediately identified as a suspect. Alexis Call, 24, was arrested not long after and is being held at the High Desert Detention Center after being charged with murder.
Harvey Weinstein failed to get his Los Angeles trial on multiple sex crimes pushed back over the festival premiere and fall wide release of a movie about the investigation into his decades of abuse and sexual assaults, Deadline noted. Los Angeles Superior Court judge Lisa Lench rejected a move by the defense to delay the incarcerated producer's October trial start over the Maria Schrader-directed She Said, which they argued would be prejudicial toward Weinstein.
