The current third season of HBO’s And Just Like That will be the end of the Sex and the City universe, showrunner/writer/director Michael Patrick King revealed in a statement on social media, per Variety. He wrote, in part, “While I was writing the last episode of And Just Like That… season 3, it became clear to me that this might be a wonderful place to stop. Along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Casey Bloys and Sarah Aubrey, we decided to end the popular series this year with a two-part finale and [extend] the original series order from 10 episodes to 12.”
Queer singer Jess Glynne criticized the Trump Administration for using one of her songs in an ICE deportation video, LGBTQ Nation noted. The 2015 single “Hold My Hand” went viral last summer after it was used to score an ad for British budget airline Jet2, spawning numerous memes. On July 29, the White House posted a video on X showing ICE agents leading men, chained at the wrists and ankles, onto a Global Crossing Airlines (GlobalX) flight; Glynne’s song plays over the clip, which includes actress Zoë Lister’s cheerful voiceover from the Jet2 ad. On Instagram Stories, Glynne posted, “This post honestly makes me sick. My music is about love, unity, and spreading positivity—never about division or hate.”
Transgender and non-binary athlete Nikki Hiltz edged Sinclaire Johnson with a time of 4:03.15 (to Johnson’s 4:03.77) to secure their sixth straight 1,500-meter national title at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Runner’s World noted. Hiltz—who made a coaching change this spring from longtime mentor Mike Smith to Juli Benson—stated that the win was very meaningful after they dealt with a hamstring issue in May. The final was expected to be between the two, as Johnson had recently broken Hiltz’s two-year-old U.S. record in the distance with a time of 4:16.32 at the London Diamond League. Hiltz, Johnson and third-place finisher Emily Mackay qualified for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sept. 13-21, per the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Before competing in the U.S. Track and Field Championships, sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was arrested after reportedly getting into a fight with her boyfriend (fellow U.S. runner Christian Coleman) at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state, per Yahoo! Sports. Richardson was charged with domestic violence, but the case has since been cleared. Richardson (who identifies as bisexual) and Coleman went public with their relationship in February, though Coleman reportedly told police that the two have been together for two years. Richardson pulled out of the U.S. semifinals, but she has a wild-card entry into the 100 in the World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Tokyo by virtue of her 2023 world title, OregonLive.com noted. She also fell just short of qualifying for worlds in the 200-meter sprint.
LGBTQ+ rapper Doechii officially announced her upcoming “Live from the Swamp Tour,” Variety noted. Produced by Live Nation, the 12-city North American headline run will kick off Oct. 14 at Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. (Some of the other stops include Toronto; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle.) The announcement happened on the heels of Doechii’s Lollapalooza debut—which saw her closing her set by driving off in an albino alligator-wrapped car, teasing the upcoming dates. In December, she will tour Australia for the first time, performing at the Spilt Milk Festival.
Madonna shared a three-track digital re-release of her 1985 single “Dress You Up,” per Rolling Stone. Released for the dance-pop song’s 40th anniversary, the digital edition features a remixed version, the 12-inch formal mix of the track and an instrumental mix. “Dress You Up”—with a video that had the singer performing the song live—was the final single off Madonna’s LP Like a Virgin. The song, produced by Nile Rodgers, was initially released on July 31, 1985. In a press release, Madonna dedicated the re-release to Barbie designers Mario Paglino and Gianni Grossi, who died in a car crash in Italy.
Lady Gaga will reportedly release a song titled “Dead Dance” that will appear in the forthcoming second season of the Tim Burton-helmed Netflix series Wednesday, per Variety. The song and video are expected to be released next month to coincide with her appearance in the show as Rosaline Rotwood, a “legendary Nevermore teacher who crosses paths with” the title character. Multiple media outlets recently reported that Gaga, who is currently touring, and Burton had been spotted on the Island of the Dolls in Xochimilco, Mexico, which is supposedly haunted and features hundreds of decaying dolls strung across trees and structures.
And speaking of Gaga, she leads the field of MTV VMA nominations with a dozen, followed by Bruno Mars with 11 and Kendrick Lamar with 10, according to Deadline. This marks the third year Gaga has led all nominees. Rosé and Sabrina Carpenter are next with eight each, followed by Ariana Grande and The Weeknd (seven), Billie Eilish (six) and Charli xcx (five); Bad Bunny, Doechii, Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll, Miley Cyrus and Tate McRae have four each. The Artist of the Year race is among Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Lamar, Gaga, Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd. The Moonmen will be handed out during the VMAs ceremony on Sept. 7 at the USB Arena in New York City.
SoulMusic Records and Second Disc Records announced that the Dionne Warwick deluxe 12-CD, 280-track box set Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings, 1962-1971 is now available, via a press release. This set is the first-ever collection to comprehensively chronicle the first decade of Warwick’s recording career and her era-defining collaborations with songwriter-producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The collection encompasses every original Scepter album and single release plus more than 60 rare bonus tracks—16 of which are previously unreleased (both in the studio and in concert). In addition, Make It Easy also features never-before-heard alternate takes of “Don’t Say I Didn’t Tell You So,” “Who Gets the Guy,” “Walk the Way You Talk” and “We’ve Only Just Begun,” along with the official CD debuts of Leslie Uggams and Warwick’s rare duet of Bacharach and David’s “Try to See It My Way.”
Add darts to the sports and activities that have banned trans females from competing in women’s matches. According to The Advocate, Dutch transgender darts champion Noa-Lynn van Leuven criticized the World Darts Federation’s (WDF’s) recently instituted ban. She acknowledged the organization’s new gender eligibility policy in a statement posted to Instagram, noting that “this decision does affect me personally—though, thankfully, not too severely at this point in time. But still, it hurts.” The WDF officially released the new policy in July, creating a “female” category designated “for those participants recorded female at birth, and within definition of female under this policy, which includes females who wish to transition to men, but not undergoing hormone treatment.” van Leuven has actually been prohibited from competing in WDF events since September, when the federation’s members first voted to implement the ban; she spoke out then, saying that she and other trans athletes were being “cancelled.”
Jordan Tannahill’s play Prince Fagg*t, directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury, will return Sept. 11-Oct. 26 as the second production at Studio Seaview, the new off-Broadway home of award-winning producer Seaview, per a press release. Prince Fagg*t becomes the second production from Seaview (following the Sam Gold-directed Angry Alan, starring John Krasinski) in its renovated Rem Koolhaas-designed theater, formerly the home of Second Stage. According to the release, “What begins as a theatrical thought experiment—six queer and trans performers imagining themselves into a world of inherited power and royal expectation—quickly becomes a gloriously profane and surprisingly tender love story.” The ensemble cast features Obie winner Rachel Crowl, Tony nominee K. Todd Freeman, six-time Obie winner David Greenspan, Mihir Kumar, John McCrea and N’yomi Allure Stewart.
Jenn Harris (American Fiction), Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals) and out actor Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) are now in the Broadway company of the Tony-winning Oh, Mary!, per Variety. They are starring alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race star Jinkx Monsoon, who is playing Mary Todd Lincoln. The performances will run through Sept. 28. The production—which follows Mary Todd Lincoln, an alcoholic aspiring cabaret singer, in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination—is written by non-binary Tony winner Cole Escola and directed by Tony winner Sam Pinkleton.
Lin-Manuel Miranda recently revealed on The Tonight Show that the movie version of his Tony-winning musical Hamilton will come to theaters on Sept. 5, per Variety. Miranda said, in part, “We filmed most of the original cast performing in Hamilton in 2016, and we always wanted to release it theatrically, but then the pandemic hit, and so we decided to release it on streaming so that everyone could see it at home whenever they wanted. But, Sept. 5, you will be able to see Hamilton in movie theaters nationwide and in Puerto Rico.” Hamilton premiered on Disney+ in July 2020—about a year before it was originally scheduled to debut in theaters.
Asia-set, Tony-winning musical Maybe Happy Ending has been the subject of controversy since the production announced that Andrew Barth Feldman (who’s white) would take over the show in the lead role of Oliver, following the departure of actor Darren Criss, Playbill noted. Now the show’s creators, Hue Park and Will Aronson, and co-lead Helen J. Shen have responded. On Instagram, Park and Aronson jointly explained the rationale behind their decision, saying they wanted Maybe Happy Ending to be “comfortably performed by anyone, anywhere—yet distinctly set in Korea.” They also pointed out that other roles on Broadway that were originated by white performers have seen Asian performers step into them in recent years, such as in Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, Cabaret and Oh, Mary! (which has a gay Asian American performer—Conrad Ricamora—playing Abraham Lincoln). Shen expressed her own mixed feelings but added, “I don’t know what’s [happening] forward, but to have this opportunity to play opposite my favorite actor in the world for 9 weeks, who happens to be PERFECT for the role is a huge moment of joy for me. Every perspective on this situation contains truth.”
Ironheart’s Shea Couleé is hitting the road with their first-ever DJ tour as a headliner, with fellow RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Aja, Luxx Noir London and Kerri Colby joining in for different dates, per Out. The name of the Halloween-inspired tour—Creepy.Sexy.Cool.—is a reference to TLC’s 1994 hit album CrazySexyCool. “Halloween has always been my favorite time of year,” Couleé wrote in a statement shared exclusively with Out. “It’s the one night where queerness, fantasy, and self-expression aren’t just accepted, they’re celebrated. Creepy.Sexy.Cool. is about keeping that energy alive on the dance floor—no rules, just rhythm, looks and liberation.” The tour will start Oct. 23 and has stops planned in Chicago, Atlanta, NYC, San Francisco, Seattle and LA.
Olympic ice dancer and four-time world champion Paul Poirier announced his engagement to his longtime boyfriend, Kevin, per Instinct Magazine. On July 29, Poirier posted the news on Instagram, writing, ““We did a thing
(he said yes).” The athlete told Outsports, “It was a very casual proposal at home during our evening routine. It was really nice to share that quiet moment together, and then to share the news with our families and closest friends. We’re both very excited!” Poirier came out in 2021 ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Kelly Clarkson suddenly canceled all remaining August performances of her “Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions—The Las Vegas Residency,” per Page Six. This is the second time Clarkson dropped residency shows at the last minute in just more than a month. The singer/talk-show host said the most recent cancellation is due to health issues with her ex-husband, talent manager Brandon Blackstock. Clarkson’s next round of performances is scheduled for November.
Controversial actor Jussie Smollett has been announced as one of the competitors on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, which will premiere on Fox on Sept. 25, per The Independent. He will be one of 18 celebrities who will take part in challenges based on military special forces training. Some of the other stars include Kody Brown (from TLC’s Sister Wives), Gia Giudice and Teresa Giudice from The Real Housewives of New Jersey, former NFL player Eric Decker, country music artist Jessie James Decker, ex-NFL player Andrew East, gold medal-winning Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East, former NFL player Johnny Manziel, model Eva Marcille and internet personality Mark Estes.
Conservative actor Dean Cain told Variety that, despite his political stance, he couldn’t be prouder of his work playing an out and proud sex-positive gay man in the 2000 film The Broken Hearts Club, per Queerty. “I played gay in two films, and I loved it,” Cain said. “And when I did Greg [Berlanti]’s film [Broken Hearts Club], people were, like, ‘We’re concerned because people might think you’re gay in real life.’ And I said, ‘Well, then I’ve done my job.’” However, in the same interview, the former Superman added, “I love President Trump. I’ve been friends with him forever. [He] is actually one of the most empathetic, wonderful, generous people you’ll ever meet.” In 2013, Cain came out in support of same-sex marriage telling the Huffington Post, “if anybody wants to get married, go ahead. I have a lot of gay friends. … I can’t understand why it’s an issue. For me, it’s a non-issue.”
On Watch What Happens Live, fashion designer/entertainer Isaac Mizrahi confirmed his romantic past with embattled actor Kevin Spacey, according to Queerty. In part, Mizrahi said, “It was before anyone was famous. He was an up-and-coming sort of Juilliard student and I was an up-and-coming Parsons student—and, you know, put it together. He was cute. Come on, he did have a minute where he was cute. Don’t judge me.”
Gay fitness author Jorge Cruise, 54, has gone public with his relationship with his boyfriend, Wyatt Ford, who recently graduated from college, Queerty noted. Cruise announced the news in an emotional post in which he mentioned his past struggles—including his journey of coming out at the age of 39—and how meeting Ford has given him a new lease on life. “Three years ago today, my heart was bruised, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if love was meant for me. Then Wyatt Ford showed up—and slowly, everything changed,” Cruise captioned. Cruise announced the boyfriends started a joint Instagram account with the handle CruiseWithFord.