Billie Eilish released the video for the single “Lunch,” off her new album Hit Me Hard and Soft, a media release announced. In a commentary, Vulture stated, “On ‘Lunch,’ Eilish is serving up a spicy queer anthem,” adding that the musician, “who opened up about being queer last year, goes on to fully detail an encounter with a woman in the song.” The video, which Eilish directed, made its broadcast premiere on MTV Live, MTVU, MTV Biggest Pop and on the Paramount Times Square billboard.
Conservatives have spoken out against the documentary series Queer Planet, according to PinkNews. A trailer for the NBC show offers a preview of the world’s “rich diversity of animal sexuality,” including gay penguins, bisexual lions and sex-changing clownfish. However, on X, conservative users criticized the show, with one person writing, “This is so f***ed up and evil for our youth.” Queer Planet is slated to air June 6 as part of NBC and Peacock’s Pride Month celebrations; openly gay actor Andrew Rannells narrates.
Former ESPN personality Jemele Hill said that WNBA player Caitlin Clark owes some of her “worth” as a marketable WNBA player to being straight and white, per The New York Post, citing Fox News. Among other accomplishments, Clark signed a $28-million Nike sponsorship deal shortly after graduation and inked an historic, multi-year partnership with Wilson. However, the LA Times wrote that Clark’s success “draws questions of race and equity” in a league in which 70% of the players are Black and nearly a third are LGBTQ+. “We would all be very naive if we didn’t say race and her sexuality played a role in her popularity,” Hill (who writes for The Atlantic) told the LA Times. “While so many people are happy for Caitlin’s success—including the players; this has had such an enormous impact on the game—there is a part of it that is a little problematic because of what it says about the worth and the marketability of the players who are already there.” Several famous people have come to Clark’s defense, including NBA player LeBron James and former player Charles Barkley, Inside Edition noted.
Actor/singer Joshua Bassett has released his new single “The Golden Years” via Warner Records, per a press release. The track is the lead single from his upcoming debut album, The Golden Years, arriving July 26. Bassett—who is part of the LGBTQ+ community—is most widely known for his portrayal of Ricky Bowen in the Disney+ original series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Hulu has revealed its slate of Pride Month programming, per a press release. Among the releases are I Kissed a Boy, with Dannii Minogue hosting the UK’s first-ever gay dating show; the special An Audience with Kylie, with singer Kylie Minogue performing at London’s Royal Albert Hall; the limited series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, starring Daniel Bruhl; Pride Across America, which shows Pride parades in NYC, Chicago and San Francisco; the 2013 movie Kill Your Darlings, with Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan; the 2015 special Margaret Cho: Psycho; the U.S. version of Queer As Folk; and the 2023 movie All of Us Strangers, with Andrew Scott. More content is at the Hulu Has Pride Hub.
Also, Hulu’s new unscripted series Dress My Tour will premiere with all 10 episodes on July 23 on the streamer, a press release noted. With Kate Upton hosting, the series follows 11 aspiring fashion designers as they create looks for some of music’s biggest names. Emmy-winning costume designer Marina Toybina and creative director/choreographer/Emmy-nominated director Laurieann Gibson will be mentors and judges; musical guest judges include Paula Abdul, JoJo Siwa, JT of The City Girls, Ty Dolla $ign, Toni Braxton, Coi Leray, French Montana and Jessie James Decker.
Ms. Lauryn Hill’s 1998 debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill topped Apple Music’s list of the top 100 best albums of all time, per Variety. Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the Beatles’ Abbey Road, Prince’s Purple Rain, Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, Nirvana’s Nevermind and Beyonce’s Lemonade round out the top 10. Some critics have taken issue with the lack of Latin, country, jazz and dance albums on the list while others said the list favored recent albums over older, more foundational ones.
I Am Celine Dion—an in-depth documentary about the iconic Canadian singer—will debut globally on Prime Video on June 25, a press release noted. The release stated that the film “gives us a raw and honest behind-the-scenes look at the iconic superstar’s struggle with a life-altering illness. Serving as a love letter to her fans, this inspirational documentary highlights the music that has guided her life while also showcasing the resilience of the human spirit.” The trailer is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzV4mSZPke0.
The provocative queer drama Sebastian will premiere in select theaters later this year—and will screen at NewFest Pride on June 2, a press release noted. According to the release, “Max (Ruaridh Mollica) is a 25-year-old aspiring novelist, living in London and paying his dues working at a literary magazine. Frustrated by his own ambitions and the pressures to succeed, Max begins moonlighting as a sex worker with the pseudonym Sebastian, secretly meeting men via an escorting platform and using his experiences to fuel his stories.” The double life soon leads Max to wonder about Sebastian’s impact. The June 2 event will include a Q&A with Finnish-British writer/director Mikko Mäkelä.
Queer musician and former American Idol finalist David Hernandez is releasing a re-imagined version of the title track from his first EP, I Am Who I Am, a press release noted. The new version has been shortened to “I Am,” but still tells the story of David’s earlier years, which involved growing up in a broken home among family members struggling with substance abuse—all while being bullied in school for his differences. The song is being released to Apple, Spotify and all major streamers on Friday, May 31. His latest album, Don’t @ Me—with the singles “Vices” and “When it Rains, it Pours”—is available on all digital platforms.
British actress/writer Michaela Coel is no longer developing a series with connections to her smash BBC/HBO hit I May Destroy You, per Deadline. I May Destroy You EP Phil Clarke said Coel had played with various ideas for what was loosely termed I May Destroy You 2 before deciding against going further. Premiering just after the pandemic began in summer 2020, I May Destroy You was a generation-defining hit. Loosely based on Coel’s experience of sexual assault and starring Coel and Paapa Essiedu, it followed a young writer in the public eye who seeks to rebuild her life after being raped. Since I May Destroy You, Coel has starred in projects such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Amazon’s Mr & Mrs. Smith remake.
Supernatural co-stars DJ Qualls and Ty Olsson are officially engaged, Instinct Magazine noted. Qualls revealed the news on the May 15 episode of Locked and Probably Loaded—his podcast with Kelly Blackheart. “Ty and I became inseparable from the very beginning,” Qualls said. “And over the last 10 years, our relationship evolved to what it is today. Now, we’re getting married. He also talked about how important mutual respect and caring are in their relationship.
Actress Scarlett Johansson said she had to threaten legal action to get ChatGPT to have a soundalike voice taken down, per Deadline. The Black Widow actress stated that OpenAI founder Sam Altman was advised of the actor’s objections to the voice feature but still pushed forward with the update. OpenAI pulled the AI voice that users compared with Johansson’s, but the company insisted it is “not an imitation” and that it “supports the creative community.” Saturday Night Live worked in a riff on the controversy during its “Weekend Update,” with Johansson’s husband, Colin Jost, joking about comparisons between the voice-activated ChatGPT and the film Her (in which she voiced the central, inanimate character).
The LEGO Group and Universal Products and Experiences are joining forces for four new Wicked-themed LEGO sets, according to Playbill. The new Wicked sets, featuring mini-figurines, will be released Oct. 1—and the first of the two Wicked films is slated to hit movie theaters on Nov. 27. The two-part film will be led by Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba as well as Grammy winner Ariana Grande as Glinda.
Grammy-winning and multi-platinum Canadian artist Nelly Furtado released her new single—“Love Bites,” featuring Tove Lo and SG Lewis—via Nelstar/21 Entertainment/Casablanca Records/Republic Records, a press release noted. “I felt called back to music from the DJ community,” said Furtado. “DJs were remixing my songs at concerts, clubs, and on social media, and I realized how much people like to dance and escape to my music. It’s the healthiest vice you can have, and I love the opportunity to write music that lets people escape more than anything.”
Following the movie’s launch at the Cannes market, Goodfellas and Utopia announced sales of The Last Showgirl, which stars Pamela Anderson as a veteran Las Vegas showgirl forced to reinvent her life, Deadline noted. The Las Vegas-set film also stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, Billie Lourd and Jason Schwartzman.