Trans actress Laverne Cox talked with Variety about various subjects after Donald Trump’s presidential win—including leaving the country and hoarding estrogen. Cox said that she and several trans friends are so worried that they are contemplating leaving the United States, adding, “We’re doing research on different cities in Europe and in the Caribbean.” She also stated, in part, “Certainly, I’m concerned about LGBTQ+ rights, but I think it’s not a coincidence that the attack on LGBTQ+ people, particularly trans people, is happening at the same time that there is an organized attack on reproductive rights. There are right-wing people trying to repeal no-fault divorce.”
Art-house distributor/streamer Mubi canceled an entire festival it had planned in Turkey after local authorities banned a screening of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, per NBC News. When the company was told to pull the screening at the last minute by authorities who deemed it to contain “provocative content,” Mubi opted to cancel the festival altogether, saying that the ban targeted the “very essence and purpose” of the event. Queer—releasing in the U.S. with A24—had its global debut in Venice, to positive reviews. After that festival, Mubi acquired the film for multiple territories, including the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Latin America, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, Turkey and India as well as all rights, excluding theatrical, in Italy.
Prime Video has announced the premiere date for the third season of the LGBTQ+-inclusive series Harlem. A press release stated that it will debut Jan. 23 exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Kofi Siriboe, Logan Browning, Robin Givens and Gail Bean will join regular cast members Meagan Good, Grace Byers (who plays bisexual character Quinn), Shoniqua Shandai, Jerrie Johnson (who plays lesbian character Tye) and Tyler Lepley in recurring roles.
Lady Gaga is slated to make an appearance in season two of the hit Netflix series Wednesday, Variety noted. The exact nature of Gaga’s role is a secret, but sources say it will be a cameo during the second season, which is currently filming in Ireland. Wednesday star Jenna Ortega had previously told Variety “I’m sure Netflix would love” Gaga to appear in the new season of the series after a dance scene featured in the first season exploded on TikTok once it got remixed to Gaga’s “Bloody Mary.” Most recently, Gaga starred in the film Joker: Folie à Deux opposite Joaquin Phoenix.
Anne Hathaway and Zendaya are set to star in Christopher Nolan’s next event film, joining previously announced cast members Matt Damon and Tom Holland, according to Deadline. The film is expected to start filming next year and will reportedly have an IMAX release date of July 17, 2026. While it will mark the first time Zendaya will appear in a Nolan film, this will mark the third movie for Hathaway, who previously appeared in The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar.
Promoting his new album—Christmas Bells Are Ringing, out Nov. 22—American Idol alum Clay Aiken talked with Variety about everything from Shawn Mendes to the show that made him famous. When asked if current reality-singing competitions have the same cultural impact as the original Idol, Aiken responded, “Probably not. Things became very saturated. We don’t watch TV the same way we used to. We watch social media and streaming. It’s tough, if not impossible, to get everybody watching the same thing.” Talking about Donald Trump’s re-election, Aiken (a former political candidate himself) said, “I’m not going to lie and say I saw it coming like I did in 2016. Kamala was a great candidate and I am so impressed by what she was able to accomplish in the short time she had. But I can’t pretend I was surprised; she was up against almost insurmountable headwinds this year.”
Disney World’s new Villains Land-themed area will feature inspiration from 13 of the studio’s classic villains in a twisted storyline uniting the animated baddies in one place, according to EW. The villains will include the Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland); Jafar (Aladdin); Lady Tremaine (Cinderella); Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove); Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians); Captain Hook (Peter Pan); Gaston (Beauty and the Beast); Mother Gothel (Tangled); Ursula (The Little Mermaid); Hades (Hercules); Chernabog (Fantasia); and both versions of the Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves) and Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty). Another addition slated for Disney World in the near future is a new Indiana Jones ride replacing the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom.
Beyonce leads the 2025 Grammy nominations with 11, bringing her career total to 99 nominations—making her the most nominated artist in Grammy history, the AP noted. Her album Cowboy Carter is up for album and country album of the year, and “Texas Hold ’Em” is nominated for record, song and country song of the year; Beyonce also received nominations in different genres, including pop, country, Americana and melodic rap performance categories. Previously, she and her husband Jay-Z were tied for most career nominations, at 88. If Beyonce wins the album of the year, she’ll become the first Black woman to do so in the 21st century. Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Charli XCX—who earned her first nominations as a solo artist—all tied for second, with seven nods apiece; Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan have six each. The 2025 Grammy Awards will air Feb. 2 live on CBS and Paramount+ from LA’s Crypto.com Arena.
Judith Jamison—an internationally acclaimed dancer who later was artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for two decades—has died at age 81, CBS News noted. At a time when Black ballet dancers were rare, she began with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965. Jamison was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999; other honors included the National Medal of Arts and the Handel Medallion, NYC’s most prestigious cultural award.
Korean-Italian-American actor Alex Landi—whose best known role was as Grey’s Anatomy‘s Dr. Nico Kim, the first openly gay male surgeon and the first male Asian surgeon in the show’s history—will return to streaming services with the Korean romantic-comedy series Mr. Plankton, per Instinct Magazine. The series, currently on Netflix, stars Landi as John Na, although the show itself centers on the love story between the world’s unluckiest woman (played by Lee Yoo-mi) and a man born by accident (Woo Do-hwan). After starring on Anatomy, Landi was in shows such as Station 19 and Insatiable, and received plenty of exposure in Doja Cat and SZA’s “Kiss Me More” music video in which he was dressed up as an astronaut and was also shirtless between the two musicians.
Oscar nominees Benedict Cumberbatch and Rosamund Pike will star alongside two-time Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins in Guy Ritchie’s next feature, Wife & Dog, per Deadline. Plot details are secret, but the film is described as a “return to the colorful, back-stabbing world of the British aristocracy Richie explored in The Gentlemen film and TV series.” Filming is slated to start in February.
Veteran gay U.S. filmmaker Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine; Carol; Safe) will lead the competition jury at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival. According to Deadline, Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle described Haynes as a “dazzlingly gifted writer and director” in a statement. Haynes’ last feature was 2023’s Oscar-nominated May December, which stars Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Haynes had been set to next direct a gay romance flick starring Joaquin Phoenix; however, the film was shuttered after Phoenix pulled out. The Berlin Film Festival is slated to run Feb. 13–23, 2025.
Out Emmy-winning journalist James Longman has been named the chief international correspondent for ABC News, per a press release. Longman is a crucial part of ABC News’ royal coverage and helped to lead our standout reporting of the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles. Fluent in Arabic and French coupled with knowledge of the Middle East, Longman has also been an asset in covering the war in Syria, where he was among the first journalists to witness the fall of Baghouz, the last ISIS town, and the first to interview American ISIS bride Hoda Mothana.
The current wife of Martha Stewart’s former husband, Andrew Stewart, spoke out against claims made in the lifestyle mogul’s new Netflix documentary, Martha, according to People. Ahead of Martha’s Oct. 30 release, Shyla Nelson Stewart shared a statement via Facebook signed by her and Andrew regarding the film’s trailer; in the preview, Martha said that if a husband cheats on his wife, that “he’s a piece of s—.” Nelson Stewart said, in part, “While Andy quietly moved on and forward with his life, it appears that Martha continues to publicly re-litigate the marriage, including comments in a sensationalized trailer for an upcoming documentary on Netflix.” In her documentary, the television personality reveals both she and Andy had affairs in the marriage; Andrew told producers he “didn’t stray” until he learned she had.
Actor John Krasinski (The Office; Jack Ryan; A Quiet Place) has been chosen as People’s 2024 Sexiest Man Alive. “Just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts,” he told the magazine. “Other than maybe I’m being punked. That’s not how I wake up, thinking, ‘Is this the day that I’ll be asked to be Sexiest Man Alive?’ And yet it was the day you guys did it. You guys have really raised the bar for me.” He added of his wife, actress Emily Blunt, “I think it’s going to make me do more household chores. After this comes out, she’ll be like, ‘All right, that means you’re going to really earn it here at home.’”
And on a related note, Fox News host Greg Gutfeld told an awkward “joke” about actor John Krasinski being trans after learning Krasinski had been named People magazine’s sexiest man alive, per PinkNews. “I think it’s great that People has announced that a trans, uh, male can be the sexiest one alive,” Gutfeld said. “Krasinski never talks about it but he’s, you know, he’s trans. You know that?” In September, Gutfeld was criticized for claiming that preventing LGBTQ+ youth being outed to their parents was the “most amoral act since slavery.”
Sunset Blvd. star and former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger got blowback on social media after an Instagram comment she left sparked rumors that she was a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, Playbill noted. On Election Day, media personality Russell Brand shared a selfie with a red “Make Jesus First Again” hat, prompting Scherzinger to respond, “Where do I get this hat!!!?” After the firestorm erupted that included a 2016 Daily Mail interview in which she discussed her pro-life stance on abortion, Scherzinger said, “I deeply apologize for the hurt caused by my recent engagement with some social media posts. … Many presumptions are being drawn, which do not reflect who I am, what I stand for, or who I voted for. Many of the marginalized communities feeling hurt and concerned by the results of the presidential election are people I care about most. I stand with them, as I always have, throughout my life and career. If you know me, you know that.”
On a related note, The View defended Scherzinger against the “mob mentality” of social media, even saying she should not have apologized for liking Brand’s MAGA-style “Make Jesus First Again” ball cap, Deadline noted. “She shouldn’t have apologized,” panelist Ana Navarro said, but added, “don’t go on social media if you can’t take the heat because people are crazy.” Sunny Hostin added, “Emotions are so raw … but I think this is just ridiculous.”
Amazon is officially shutting down Freevee—its free, ad-supported video streaming service originally launched under the IMDb brand nearly five years ago, per Variety. Freevee will be phased out over the next several weeks. Going forward, content that had been on the service—such as the show Judy Justice and Bosch: Legacy—will be placed under Amazon’s Prime Video brand. In addition, Amazon has made dozens of Prime Video originals free to watch on Freevee, including Reacher, Savage X Fenty and A League of Their Own.
Out ran an article on gay porn stars who voted for Donald Trump. As for the interest in porn stars in the first place, the outlet stated that “they still have massive followings on social media and run pages on sites like OnlyFans and JustForFans that are mostly patronized by queer men.” Some of the entertainers include Devin Franco (who once posted “If you think Project 2025 is real you’re ret——d”), Arad Winwin and Alex Grant.
Mark Wahlberg’s new Mexican restaurant, Flecha Cantina, went up in flames right before its ribbon-cutting ceremony in Las Vegas, per The Independent. The fire broke out just one night before Wahlberg was set to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 7, marking nearly three weeks since Flecha Cantina’s grand opening on Sept. 14. A spokesperson said that only “the fire pit and the chair next to it” were damaged, and that no one was injured.