Nonbinary actor Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us) will take on the role of one of the U.K.’s most mysterious and infamous modern day figures in Girl Next Door, Variety noted. The film—which will launch in Cannes—will tell the story of Samantha Lewthwaite, who became known as British terrorist “The White Widow” and one of the world’s most wanted women. As per the plot details, Girl Next Door centers on Lewthwaite (Ramsey), who fell in love with Islam long before being Muslim was politicized and militarized, and she became known by her nickname.
Alt-pop artist Gus Dapperton released a moody cover of Cher’s 1998 mega-hit “Believe,” via Warner Records, per a press release. The reimagined classic is the lead single from Dapperton’s forthcoming EP, Tunes For Late Spring, which arrives on June 7. The single follows “What You Won’t Do For Love,” an update of Bobby Caldwell’s 1978 hit. Dapperton will also start touring in July, hitting such cities as Vancouver, Las Vegas, Omaha and San Diego.
Queer Eye co-host Antoni Porowski has lined up some celebrity friends who will accompany him on a global culinary adventure in his upcoming Nat Geo docuseries No Taste Like Home, Deadline noted. The guests include Awkwafina, Henry Golding, James Marsden, Issa Rae, Florence Pugh and Justin Theroux. No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski—which Gordon Ramsay’s Studio Global Ramsay is producing—is slated to debut in spring 2025.
Stylist Law Roach revealed on “The Cutting Room Floor” podcast that client Zendaya still hasn’t worn looks from several fashion houses for red-carpet appearances after they refused to dress her early in her career, Variety noted. I would write Saint Laurent, Chanel, Gucci, Valentino [and] Dior, and they would all say, ‘No, try again next year. She’s too green. She’s not on our calendar,’” Roach said. Despite announcing his retirement from celebrity styling more than a year ago, Roach continues to work with Zendaya; he most recently styled Zendaya for this year’s Met Gala, where she was one of the event’s co-chairs.
After campus unrest forced a last-minute change of venue, a live event featuring and honoring Emmy-award winning actress Laverne Cox took place at CUNY School of Labor Studies, per a press release. Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library revealed Cox as the 16th LGBTQIA+ historic trailblazer in its “Standing on the Shoulders of Heroes” exhibition. This collection has already traveled from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Philadelphia, landing in NYC on April 27. The curated exhibit features icons such as Diana Nyad, Billie Jean King, Billy Porter, Harvey Milk, Barbara Jordan and more.
Oscar-nominated actor Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) shared a new update about their nonbinary identity and pronouns, per Out. Reposting another person’s post on X, Gladstone stated, “Two Spirit is not a catch all term for [rainbow emoji]; it’s way more specific and it’s a term that originates with Dine. I’m not Two Spirit: I use nonbinary pronouns.” The initial poster (Due Begay) had noted that there was some confusion regarding Gladstone’s identity and they/them pronouns during the media cycle surrounding the Oscar campaign for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Bob the Drag Queen announced on Mother’s Day that her own mother, Martha Caldwell, passed away, according to PinkNews. The entertainer—who won season eight of RuPaul’s Drag Race and who supported Madonna on her Celebration tour—has been open about Caldwell’s health battle in recent months. Commenting on a video posted on Instagram by RuPaul, in which the TV host celebrated Mother’s Day and reflected on his relationship with his own mother more than three decades after her death, Bob wrote: “Hey Ru. I lost my mother today. It’s been a tough one for me. This message came just in time.”
Actress Maria Bello and Michelin-starred Chef Dominique Crenn tied the knot on May 12 at the Montage Los Cabos in Mexico, People noted. Patricia Arquette, Gavin Rossdale, Mariska Hargitay and Vanessa Getty were among the celebrities who attended the wedding. When the pair made their grand entrance at the reception, they danced through the tables where their guests sat as they greeted friends and family. The couple later shared their first dance to the ABBA hit “Dancing Queen.”
STARZ announced Friday, July 5, as the release date of the new docuseries Down in the Valley, hosted by P-Valley star Nicco Annan, a press release announced. “For six 30-minute episodes, the audience will dive into the fascinating duality of the Deep South from a kaleidoscopic marginalized lens,” the release added. Down in the Valley will pull back the curtain on intriguing people and places in that area of the country. Annan—best known as Uncle Clifford on STARZ’s P-Valley—will be immersed in the people, sensuality, music, culture and stories of the South.
Queer celebrity Raven-Symone is extending her relationship with Disney with a new multi-year overall deal at Disney Branded Television, per Deadline. Under the pact, she will produce, direct and develop projects, with an emphasis on multi-cam comedies. First, she will executive-produce and direct the sitcom Alice in the Palace—a spinoff from Raven-Symone’s Disney Channel multi-camera comedy series Raven’s Home, which will not return for a seventh season. Raven’s Home, a spinoff from Raven-Symoné’s teen sitcom That’s So Raven, earned several Children’s and Family Emmy nominations.
Alexander Skarsgard is set to star alongside Harry Melling in the kinky queer romance Pillion, which is described as a “fun and filthy romance with heart,” per Instinct Magazine. Skarsgard plays an “impossibly handsome leader of a motorbike club” named Ray. Meanwhile, Melling is portraying the character of Colin—“a weedy wallflower letting life pass him by.” The film follows the story of Ray (Skarsgard) as he takes Colin (Melling) on as his submissive. The movie is adapted from British novelist Adam Mars-Jones’ 2021 book Box Hill.
CNN Films and OWN have picked up Dawn Porter’s documentary Luther: Never Too Much, about the late singer Luther Vandross, Deadline noted. The film— which counts Colin Firth among its executive producers and had Sony Music Entertainment as its sales agent—is slated to debut on CNN, OWN and streamer MAX next year. The film features interviews with people such as Mariah Carey and Jamie Foxx, and is both a musical journey and a personal odyssey. Vandross—who worked with icons such as Bette Midler and Roberta Flack before finding solo success—died in 2005 at age 54.
Queer actor/comedian Charlyne Yi alleged that they were “physically assaulted multiple times by an actor, as well as psychologically abused” on the set of Time Bandits—Taika Waititi‘s upcoming Apple TV+ series produced by Paramount Television Studios, per Variety. They also said they were “coerced to quit” the project and that they were denied workers compensation for an alleged back injury and PTSD. Time Bandits—based on Terry Gilliam’s 1981 film of the same name—was shot in New Zealand and wrapped production in January 2023; Yi’s character will still appear in the finished series, although their character was written out of episodes that were shot after they left.
During a panel at the Culver Theater that included the main cast and crew of the film Red, White & Royal Blue, director Matthew Lopez confirmed that a sequel is officially in the works, per Out. There’s going to be a sequel to the film,” book author Casey McQuiston added. “Matthew and I are writing it together. And that’s all we can say!” And lead actors Nicholas Galitzine (Prince Henry) and Taylor Zakhar Perez (Alex) are reportedly set to return for the sequel.
Queer actor Jake Borelli is departing the ABC show Grey’s Anatomy after its 20th season, per Deadline. He has been on the show for the past seven seasons including five as a regular. Borelli’s Levi Schmitt, an LGBTQ+ character, has been a popular character on the long-running medical drama who started as an intern at the start of season 14 and was most recently a senior resident working with the new group of interns at Grey Sloan Memorial. Borelli came out as a gay man during the show’s run.
The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) hosted its “Spring Gala: Ballet Brilliance” at NYC’s Cipriani 42nd Street, a press release announced. This one-night-only program featured a curated selection of excerpts from ABT’s upcoming summer season, including a preview of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works ahead of the New York Premiere in June. Guests who gathered for the performance, black-tie dinner and dancing at Cipriani 42nd Street included Katie Holmes, Anh Duong, Aoki Lee Simmons, Carly Cushnie, Charlotte Groeneveld, Crystal Kung Minkoff, Cynthia Rowley, and ABT Artistic Director and Interim Executive Director Susan Jaffe, among others
Downton Abbey 3 is officially under production, with main cast members returning and new additions to the feature franchise started by creator Julian Fellowes’ global TV phenomenon, Deadline noted. Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti is reprising his role from the TV series as Cora’s (Elizabeth McGovern) brother, Harold Levinson. New to the franchise are Joely Richardson and Alessandro Nivola, among others; Dominic West will also reprise his role as Guy Dexter from the second movie. Alongside McGovern, other returning key cast include Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Robert James-Collier, Joanne Froggatt, Allen Leech and Brendan Coyle.
As Duran Duran nears the end of its most recent run of North American dates, the iconic British band announced the reissue of its first five studio albums: Duran Duran, Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, Notorious and Big Thing, per a press release. Long out of print, this reissue marks the first time this collection will be available in the original one-LP and one-CD format, with remastered audio, since their initial releases. The albums will be available via Warner Music on July 19. Both formats will feature the latest album remasters, with vinyl editions cut at Abbey Road Studios in London.
ABC renewed most of its most high-profile unscripted series for the 2024-25 TV season, per Variety. Returning shows include American Idol, The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Jeopardy!, Shark Tank and Wheel of Fortune, among others. American Idol will enter its eighth season on ABC and its 23rd overall (including its time on Fox). This will be the first season for the ABC revival without Katy Perry, leaving fellow judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.
Oscar- and Emmy-winning actor Viola Davis and NAACP Image Award-nominated journalist and television host Joy Reid are among those who have teamed with co-founders David A. Wilson (the creator of media platform TheGrio) and tech leader Brandon John-Freso in launching ALTR (pronounced “alter”)—an innovative personal development app that offers short-form audiobooks by Black luminaries and authors, per a press release. Developed in partnership with Davis and husband Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, the app features a diverse array of audiobook titles that cater to the distinct life obstacles faced in the Black community. Ahead of the app’s third-quarter launch, people can visit landing.altrmindset.com to get exclusive content previews and early-access offers.
Roger Corman—the Oscar-winning independent director and producer of films like The Wasp Woman, Masque of the Red Death and The Little Shop of Horrors—died at his home in Santa Monica on May 9 at age 98, per Deadline. Affectionately referred to as “King of the B-movies” and “The Pope of Pop Cinema,” Corman was credited with launching the careers of Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, among others.
Emmy and Golden Globe winner Darren Criss (Glee; The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story) will return to the Broadway stage—this time alongside Helen J Shen in the Broadway premiere of the new musical Maybe Happy Ending, Deadline noted. Maybe Happy Ending will begin previews on Sept. 18 at the Belasco Theatre, with an opening night on Oct. 17.
The Prime Video series The Boys has been renewed for a fifth season, per Deadline. “The Boys is an unabashed and bold series that continues captivating our customers all over the world by piercing the cultural fabric season after season,” Amazon MGM Studios head of television Vernon Sanders said in a statement. The eight-episode fourth season will debut on June 13 with three episodes, followed by a new episode each week, ending with the season finale on July 18.
Meryl Streep says that a meeting is “imminent” where she’ll hear about the proposals for her to return for Mamma Mia 3, per Deadline. The Oscar-winning acting legend—honored with an Honorary Palme d’Or during the Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony—confirmed that “of course, I want to do it.” However, she wants to hear how producer Judy Craymer has resolved the issue of how Streep’s character Donna Sheridan can return when it was revealed during the 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, that Donna had died.
Tennis legend Serena Williams will host The 2024 ESPYS Presented by Capital One, per an ABC press release. The show will air live Thursday, July 11, at 7 p.m. CT on ABC from The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Williams’ turn as host will immediately follow the July 10 premiere of the first episode of the ESPN+ original series In the Arena: Serena Williams, an eight-part series about her life.
Legally Blonde has become the first big MGM title to have a TV spinoff for Prime Video, as the streamer has ordered Elle, a Legally Blonde prequel series, according to Deadline. Elle follows the character Elle Woods in high school as viewers learn about the life experiences that shaped her. The series is set years before the events in the first movie, which kicked off as Woods (Reese Witherspoon) graduated from college and headed to Harvard Law to pursue a legal career.
Judge Judith Sheindlin is suing the owner of The National Enquirer for defamation, saying a piece claiming that she is seeking a new trial for the long-convicted Menendez brothers is “unequivocally false,” per Deadline. “When you fabricate stories about me in order to make money for yourselves with no regard for the truth or the reputation I’ve spent a lifetime cultivating, it’s going to cost you,” Judge Judy told Deadline about articles in the Enquirer and InTouch. Former Menudo band member Roy Rossello’s claim that in a recent Peacock docuseries that then-RCA executive José Enrique Menendez repeatedly raped him as a teen has put a new spotlight on the Menendez brothers’ claims that they killed their parents to stop the ongoing sexual abuse in their Beverly Hills home and not to inherit millions.
In an interview with Whoopi Goldberg on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the topic of weight management came up—and Clarkson revealed that she’s taking a weight-loss drug even though it’s not Ozempic, per CNN. Clarkson said, “Mine is a different one than people assume, but I ended up having to do that too because my bloodwork got so bad. My doctor chased me for two years, and I was like, ‘No, I’m afraid of it. I already have thyroid problems. Everybody thinks it’s Ozempic, but it’s not; it’s something else.”
According to TMZ, Kanye West (or Ye) has parted ways with chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos as well as many of Yeezy’s employees. Yiannopoulos confirmed the split from Ye’s enterprise to TMZ, telling the outlet, “I wish Ye every success in the future. I have some concerns about his new team, and hope he proceeds with caution.” Milo provided TMZ a copy of his resignation letter, which mentioned issues over the formation of “Yeezy Porn.” In it, Yiannopoulos said he just can’t be involved in producing/distributing pornographic material for moral and religious reasons, and because it can be, “an imminent danger to my life as a recovering addict and an unacceptable risk to my spiritual and physical health as a former homosexual.” However, he said if West ditches the porn venture, he’d be open to returning to the company.
Meteorologist and Good Morning America regular Rob Marciano is no longer with ABC News, per The Hollywood Reporter. The exact circumstances of his departure aren’t clear, although Page Six said last year that he had been “banned” from GMA’s Times Square studio after making a colleague feel uncomfortable. (However, The Spun cited The Daily Beast in noting that Marciano was fired following a heated screaming match between himself and one of the producers of the morning show, and that he had a history of complaints about his behavior.) Marciano had been with ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly a decade, joining in 2014 after a brief stint as the co-anchor of the syndicated program Entertainment Tonight.