The movie Extremely Unique Dynamic, from Strand Releasing, will be at Vidiots starting Jan. 3 and will premiere at LA’s Laemmle NoHo 7 on Jan. 10, expanding to additional movie venues on Jan. 17 and to digital platforms/VOD on Jan. 29, per a press release. According to the official synopsis, “In this Meta-Asian-Queer-Stoner-Coming-of-Age-Bromantic-Dramedy, Ryan and Daniel, two childhood best friends and aspiring actors, spend one final weekend together before Ryan moves to Canada with his fiancé. Wanting to create one lasting memory, they decide to make a movie about two guys making a movie—about two guys making a movie. Along the way, bottled-up secrets arise as they unpack their decades-long friendship and put their extremely unique dynamic to the test.” The movie stars Harrison Xu and Ivan Leung; they’re also two of the film’s directors, along with Katherine Dudas (and all three wrote Dynamic).
IndieWire ran its list of the best LGBTQ+ TV shows and movies of 2024. Cinematic productions included the Luca Guadagnino movies Queer and Challengers as well as the movies Drive-Away Dolls (with Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan), Housekeeping for Beginners, I Saw the TV Glow, Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln, Will & Harper, and Love Lies Bleeding, among others. Some of the top queer TV shows included the Netflix show Arcane (season two), Peacock’s Couple to Throuple, HBO’s Fantasmas, AMC’s Interview with the Vampire (season two) and the Netflix performance Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda.
And Deadline ran its list of the top 10 new TV shows. Productions included Shōgun (a follow-up to the 1980 limited series starring out actor Richard Chamberlain); HBO’s Fantasmas; Baby Reindeer (starring bisexual Richard Gadd), the animated Disney+ series X-Men ’97 (which endured the firing of out head writer Beau DeMayo); True Detective: Night Country (starring lesbian actress Jodie Foster); the BET+ series Diarra From Detroit; Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; The Franchise and Landman. However, Deadline also included the 2024 presidential election.
Former President Barack Obama released his favorite music from 2024, including Kendrick Lamar’s “Squabble Up,” Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” as he continued his annual tradition, Variety noted. Other songs included Billie Eilish’s queer-themed song “Lunch,” Hozier’s “Too Sweet,” Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” and Ezra Collective & Yazmin Lacey’s “God Gave Me Feet for Dancing,” among others. Earlier this year, he shared his summer playlist, including Charli XCX’s “365,” the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and Blackstreet’s “No Diggity,” among other songs.
LGBTQ+ streaming platform Revry announced that Somebody Somewhere star Murray Hill will host its upcoming series King of Drag, LGBTQ Nation noted, citing Variety. Similar to the Emmy-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race, the show will reportedly feature eight of the country’s top drag kings competing for the “King of Drag” title. According to a release, King of Drag “will showcase drag kings’ unique talents including comedy, unconventional performances and timely commentary on masculinity, which has been part of the drag king subculture for decades.” Performers have until Jan. 5 to apply to appear on King of Drag via this form on Revry’s website.
On Feb. 1, Prince will receive a lifetime achievement Grammy Award—a prize historically given to overlooked and underrecognized artists, the Minnesota Star Tribune noted. Besides Prince, the Recording Academy announced six honorees for lifetime achievement: Frankie Beverly, the Clash, Bobby Jones, Taj Mahal, Roxanne Shanté and Frankie Valli. Prince has won seven Grammys (out of 38 nominations)—more than the other six lifetime honorees combined. A project by Prince, who died in 2016, is a finalist in February for the Grammy for best historical album, for Diamonds and Pearls: Super Deluxe Edition.
Israeli pop singer Eden Hason recently came out on Instagram, revealing that he is in a steady relationship, per The Jerusalem Post. “This is more about a need to let go than a song, and it comes from my most personal place,” posted Hason. “I was fortunate to write it … capturing so many emotions, from painful to fulfilling.” Hason is following in the footsteps of other notable Mizrahi singers who have come out, such as Sarit Hadad, who came out as a lesbian in 2021. Hadad was among those expressing support for Jason, commenting, “Proud of you, my dear. You’re brave and amazing, and this step will help so many people live in peace with who they are.”
Tony winner and TV actress Linda Lavin has died at 87. According to People, Lavin—who guest-starred on Barney Miller before getting her own TV series, Alice (winning two Golden Globes for the latter)—died on Dec. 29. She returned to Broadway in the ‘80s and won a Tony in 1987 (for her role in Broadway Bound) while continuing to appear on TV and in film. Just a few weeks before her death, Lavin had been promoting her new Netflix series No Good Deed (starring alongside Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano) and was still filming for her upcoming Hulu series Mid-Century Modern.
The Universal vehicle Wicked overtook the studio’s own Mamma Mia! to become the biggest stage musical adaptation of all time worldwide, Deadline noted. Through Dec. 29, the global take for the Cynthia Erivo/Ariana Grande film was an estimated $634.4 million, of which $424.2 million was from domestic and $210.2 million from the international box office. The top five overseas markets to date are the UK, Australia, Korea, Germany and Mexico—and the movie won’t be released in Japan until March 7. Also, the Broadway show Wicked became the first show in Broadway history to bring in $5 million in one week—beating Lion King’s previous record take of $2.3 million earlier this year by a substantial amount, according to Playbill.
The queer website Them has picked its 10 most anticipated albums of 2025. Some of them include Ethel Cain’s Perverts, Zora’s Belladonna, Shygirl’s Club Shy Room 2, Sasami’s Blood on the Silver Screen and Lady Gaga’s LG7. Of the latter, Them said that Gaga’s single “Disease” (released in October) “felt like a return to the electrocrash songs on Born This Way, like ‘Bloody Mary’ or ‘Heavy Metal Lover.’” The EP from Shygirl (who supported Charli XCX and Troye Sivan on their “Sweat” tour) will feature two recently released collaborations: “Immaculate,” featuring Saweetie; and “F*Me,” with vocals from French singer Yseult.
Before SiriusXM’s 10th Annual Radio Andy Holiday Hangout (which he co-hosts with Amy Sedaris) in NYC on Dec. 19, Andy Cohen talked with People about several topics—including the most “annoying” part of hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper. “Well, [it’s] that I have to be the straight guy,” Cohen said. “Literally, he’s in a puddle of giggles for the last 90 minutes of the broadcast, and I’m the one that’s hitting all the commercial breaks.” Recently, Cooper recently revealed his own biggest pet peeve about hosting the NYE show during an appearance on Cohen’s Bravo series Watch What Happens Live, saying it’s “just who he’s gonna insult and what the clean up on aisle three is gonna be in the morning.”
And in connection with that event, famed DJ Diplo revealed while being interviewed on New Year’s Eve Live with Andy Cohen & Anderson Cooper that he was currently tripping on LSD to shocked co-hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, People noted. “I did some on the helicopter, on the way here,” replied Diplo as Cooper keeled over in fits of giggles. “I’m not even lying,” he added. Cooper shared that he hadn’t been following Diplo on Instagram before the interview—but he will now.
NBC News ran a piece on Los Frikis—a film set in early 1990s Cuba in which hundreds of young, disenfranchised Cubans inject themselves with HIV during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, hoping to escape political repression by going inside government-run clinics, or sanitariums. Incredibly, this movie is based on true events. “I grew up in Miami, I have Cuban family, Cuban friends, but I didn’t know this story specifically, so it was very important for me to tell it,” said one of the movie’s leads, Puerto Rican/Guatemalan actor Adria Arjona.
Due to continued illness in the company, the Dec. 27 evening performance of the Broadway revival of Gypsy—starring six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald—was canceled, per Playbill. The Dec. 23 and Christmas Day evening performances as well as the Dec. 26 matinee and evening performances at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre had also been canceled. Starring McDonald as Rose, the cast also features Tony winner Danny Burstein as Herbie and Joy Woods as Louise, Jordan Tyson as June, Kevin Csolak as Tulsa, and Lesli Margherita as Tessie Tura, among others.
Comic/actress Michelle Buteau criticized Dave Chappelle for his seeming obsession with anti-trans jokes, Out noted. In the new Netflix special Michelle Buteau: A Buteau-ful Mind at Radio City Music Hall, she said, “I don’t think we’ll ever run into Dave, though, because he is the GOAT. And he’s the GOAT if that means ‘Going Off About Trans’ people.'” She later added, “Make it funny. That’s all. I can’t believe somebody would make millions and millions of dollars from making people feel unsafe. That is so wild to me.” Chappelle’s four last comedy specials on Netflix—2019’s Sticks & Stones, 2021’s The Closer, 2022’s What’s In a Name? and 2023’s The Dreamer—have all included jokes that were considered offensive to trans people.
Jason Momoa—who formerly played Aquaman in the DC universe—has signed on to play antihero Lobo in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, per Variety. The superhero movie, starring House of the Dragon actor Milly Alcock as the eponymous hero, also known as Kara Zor-El, willo be the second film in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe following Superman, starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. Production on Supergirl is set to begin on Jan. 13, with the film slated to debut in theaters on June 26, 2026.
JoJo Siwa’s latest tattoo is seemingly inspired by one of the most controversial statements she made this year, per AOL. The former Dance Moms star called herself the “CEO of gay pop” and has permanently branded the phrase on her forearm. Music lovers severely criticized her declaration, reminding her of the rich legacy of LGBTQ+ influences and queer icons in mainstream pop, including Elton John and Queen. She then walked back her comments, telling TMZ, “I definitely am not the inventor of gay pop, for sure not. But I do want to be a piece in making it bigger than it already is. I want to bring more attention to it. … I’m not the creator, I’m not the president. But I might be like the CEO.”
The American Cinematheque is running a week-long retrospective on the acting career of Timothée Chalamet, who’s not even 30, Variety noted. Tickets for the three screenings that Chalamet will appear at in person sold out nine minutes after they went on sale—a record for the organization. Actor Andrew Garfield will moderate a conversation with Chalamet and director Luca Guadagnino on Jan. 9 tied to a double feature of their two collaborations: Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All. In addition, Cameron Crowe (who directed Almost Famous) will moderate A Complete Unknown—the new film in which Chalamet depicts a young Bob Dylan—at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica on Jan. 11.
Out actor Thomas Dekker is also a musician—and has released the dark wave single “Child of Christ” with Peaches Christ, per Instinct. Dekker—who has been in productions such as Kaboom, Star Trek: Picard, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, A Nightmare on Elm Street and the upcoming Boris Is Dead—released his debut album, Psyanotic, by age 21. In 2017, Dekker publicly confirmed his sexuality and married Canadian actor Jesse Haddock the same year.
Gladiator II actor and LGBTQ+ ally Pedro Pascal made waves when he went shirtless while posing next to composer Brandon Campbell during a tropical beach vacation, Just Jared noted. The photos were shared on Instagram Stories by LNA Clothing co-founder Lauren Alexander. Also on the vacation was singer and Queer actor Omar Apollo. Alexander also shared a look at Pedro relaxing shirtless on a lounge chair while reading the 2009 mystery novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk.
Showing support for Blake Lively in the wake of her lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, actress Kate Beckinsale posted a video on Instagram in which she detailed instances where she has suffered harassment and abuse on various sets, according to Yahoo! Among other things, Beckinsale mentioned to a moment when she was referred to as “that c—t” all because she had called out a male co-star who was “drunk every day” on set—and added that she was “forced by a publicist” to do “the day after I had a miscarriage.” Beckinsale said she was “grateful to Lively for highlighting this is not an archaic problem no one is facing. This is continuing.”
After eight years, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a final divorce settlement, per The Hollywood Reporter. In a statement, Jolie’s lawyer James Simon said the agreement is “just one part of a long ongoing process,” adding, “Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.” Jolie and Pitt—who have six children—signed off on a default declaration in Los Angeles Superior Court, saying they entered into a written agreement on their marital and property rights, according to the Associated Press. They married in 2014 after meeting on the set of the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The divorce settlement doesn’t affect a separate legal dispute about a French winery, Chateau Miraval, that they owned.
In Argentina, a judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of ex-One Direction member Liam Payne, per CBS News. Also, the judge ordered preventive prison (a type of pre-trial detention) for two of them for having supplied Payne with drugs. Last October, Payne fell from his room’s balcony on the third floor of his hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Palermo in Buenos Aires. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.
Bisexual rapper Doechii went viral on Dec. 28 when she took to X (formerly Twitter) to post about her love of the sex act of scissoring, per Yahoo! “I’m sorry but I like to scissor and idk I just can’t help liking it,” Doechii wrote in a post that has garnered more than 5 million views. She actually scissored Katy Perry on stage at the 2024 MTV VMAs. In 2024, Doechii released the album Alligator Bites Never Heal and picked up four Grammy nominations for the upcoming award show.
The Bachelorette alums Ali Fedotowsky and Kaitlyn Bristowe reunited on the latter’s Off the Vine podcast—and Fedotowsky recalled a prior rocky encounter with comedian Ellen DeGeneres, according to EW. “Did you ever meet Ellen DeGeneres? Was she nice or no?” Bristowe asked, to which Fedotowsky said, “She made me feel pretty not great.” She added, “I was so excited to be on the show. I don’t think she’s a bad person; I just think that sometimes when you do a job like that all day every single day for years, you’re just kind of over it.” A clip from a 2010 interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show includes a part in which DeGeneres jokingly asks the Bachelorette star if she’s “drunk” during their chat.
On The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, renowned wedding planner Marcy Blum claimed J.Lo Lopez wanted Bruno Mars to perform at her wedding to Alex Rodriguez—but balked at his “ridiculous” fee, TooFab noted. Blum recalled telling Lopez that she had “just worked with” Mars on another wedding and he received $5 million to sing for 45 minutes to an hour. “‘Don’t be ridiculous!'” Blum claimed the “Let’s Get Loud” singer reacted. Lopez and Rodriguez started dating in 2017 and got engaged in 2019. They were set to marry in Italy in 2020, but the COVID pandemic forced them to postpone the ceremony. However, they would ultimately split in 2021, and Lopez rekindled her romance with Ben Affleck shortly after.
And the saga continues: Justin Baldoni is suing The New York Times for $250 million over its story about an alleged smear campaign against actress Blake Lively when they worked together on the movie It Ends With Us, EW reported. The 87-page lawsuit accuses the Times of defamation, and was filed on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles Superior Court. Baldoni’s filing follows Lively’s complaint against him and others that the actress filed with the California State Civil Rights Department, which the Times also published; in it, the actress accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and orchestrating an online smear campaign against her.