Country music star Jason Aldean has canceled three upcoming shows in Southern California as a result of Sunday night’s deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas. Aldean was onstage performing when 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on concert-goers attending the Route 91 Harvest, the outdoor country…
Here’s what’s new and interesting in entertainment and the arts:
New Jersey-bred rockers Bon Jovi, singer-activist Nina Simone, new wave outfit Eurythmics and pioneering rapper LL Cool J are among this year’s nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Historically, the ballot has been capped at about a dozen acts, but last year, that figure rose to 19, which repeats itself this year.
Ten of these, including Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, the Cars, J. Geils Band, MC5, the Meters, Link Wray, the Zombies and Depeche Mode, have been nominated before, but there were notable first-timers, including Simone and the Eurythmics.
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Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling barely kept it together during an unhinged chat to promote “Blade Runner 2049” in London.
The stars stopped by “This Morning” on Wednesday for what turned out to be an off-the-wall exchange with interviewer Alison Hammond, and pretty much nothing went as planned. Or did it?
To be fully appreciated, the clip, above, must be watched.
At one point, questions from an upbeat, wide-awake Hammond — whom Ford gruffly urged, over his coffee cup, to cheer up even more — prompted Gosling to pour himself a drink from a tiny booze bottle, explaining that he felt like “that’s where this is headed.”
The host joined him in his cocktailing in short order.
In one of the few moments of clarity, Ford said he found the stunts on their upcoming action film “extremely difficult” and mentioned accidentally punching his costar in the face for real .
“That’s show business,” Gosling quipped.
“The story is that I missed him 99 times and I hit him once,” Ford continued.
Gosling interjected: “They say don’t meet your heroes. I would say don’t get punched by them. Turns out it doesn’t matter who you’re getting punched by, it’s still just getting punched.”
We’ll toast to that.
In case anyone was wondering, Miley Cyrus and the women writers on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” love Hillary Clinton, and they got a chance to tell her to her face on the show Wednesday night.
During a special edition of “Thank You Notes” — the segment where Fallon sits at his desks and pens amusing missives of gratitude on various oddball topics — a handful of writers plus the pop star took the chair to gush over the former presidential candidate, who was Wednesday night’s guest.
Amid handshakes and sincere messages, a few jokes were had:
“Thank you, Hillary, for all the work you’ve done for public healthcare,” Jo Firestone wrote. “Ever since the election I’ve really depended on my government-subsidized anti-anxiety medicine.”
“I was with her, I’m still with her, and right now I literally am with her,” said Becky Krause. “Can I take a selfie?” (Note: You can see that selfie three pictures into the Instagram post below.)
Meanwhile, Cyrus got through about two words before choking up as she thanked Clinton for being a role model, inspiration and a voice of reason. “I could go on and on,” she said, “but I’d like to get right to the point. Can I give you a hug?”
The answer, of course, was yes. Then, after being showered with kind words, Clinton took a seat behind the desk herself to pen her own note.
“Thank you Miley, the ‘Tonight Show’ writers and all of the women and young girls out there,” Clinton said. “You are smart, strong and deserving of every opportunity. Together we’ve made our voices heard, we’ve done great things and we’ve come a long way. But as Miley would say, ‘We can’t stop. And we won’t stop.’”
Miley cheered — not minding that the former first lady has a bit of work to do on the segment’s trademark faux penmanship.
Sitting down with Fallon later to chat, Clinton discussed everything from the Trump administration’s response to the devastation in Puerto Rico to Kate McKinnon’s impersonation of her on “Saturday Night Live.”
In addition to criticizing President Trump’s Puerto Rico priorities, Clinton also slammed the GOP’s ties to the National Rifle Assn. and Republicans’ refusal to reevaluate their position even in the aftermath of tragedies like the massacre Sunday in Las Vegas.
“The vast majority of Americans and the vast majority of gun owners know we need common-sense gun safety measures,” said Clinton.
To Fallon’s relief, she promised to keep speaking out about gun control and other issues.
Because of the person I am I won’t be knocked down — ever. They can do what they like. They can say I’m fat, I’m thin, I’m whatever, and I’ll never stop. I just won’t. I’ve got too much to do. I’ve too much to be happy about.
Gabrielle Union is sharing harrowing life details with candor in her new book “We’re Going to Need More Wine,” particularly the emotional toll of suffering through a slew of miscarriages as well as being raped in college.
“I never wanted kids,” the “Being Mary Jane” actress told People, which excerpted passages from her memoir. “Then I became a stepmom, and there was no place I’d rather be than with them.”
Upon marrying NBA star Dwyane Wade in September 2014, Union began raising three boys: His nephew Dahveon Morris, 16, and his two sons from a previous marriage, Zaire, 15, and Zion, 10.
But having her own biological children has remained a challenge. Union has struggled with infertility, including “eight or nine miscarriages” and three rounds of failed in vitro fertilization.
“For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant — I’ve either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle,” she said.
But the actress hasn’t lost hope and said she and her husband “remain bursting with love and ready to do anything to meet the child we’ve both dreamed of.”
The “Birth of a Nation” star, who previously discussed the impact of her rape in a 2016 essay for The Times, went into further detail about the incident in her memoir as she recounted her journey as a survivor. Union was raped the summer before her sophomore year at UCLA. The stranger held her up at gunpoint at the Payless ShoeSource where she worked.
“The way my dad looked at me after [he heard what had happened], oh my God, is still a nightmare,” the 44-year-old wrote.
Union sued Payless for negligence but said she “wanted to sue them for my dad looking at me like that.”
“The look was: Damaged. Victim. Guilt. Fear. I was the kid you bragged about. I got great grades. Was the perfect athlete. Blah blah blah. And in that moment, I was damaged,” she wrote.
The man who assaulted her was caught and took a plea deal of 33 years in prison. Union won her case against Payless because the company had given no warning to employees about the assailant despite him being positively identified prior to her rape for robbing a different Payless location, People said.
The actress said she didn’t leave her house for a year after the incident except to go to court or therapy. She likened the incident to an “infection you can’t treat.”
“We’re Going to Need More Wine” hits shelves on Oct. 17.
Twentieth Century Fox is cooking up a “Bob’s Burgers” movie.
The studio announced Wednesday that it is developing a film based on the animated Fox comedy series, which last month won its second Emmy for outstanding animated program. Chronicling the misadventures of the Belcher family, owners of a struggling hamburger restaurant in a seaside town, the series recently kicked off its eighth season with a special fan-drawn episode.
The movie, produced by Fox Animation, is slated to hit theaters on July 17,2020.
“We know the movie has to scratch every itch the fans of the show have ever had, but it also has to work for all the good people who’ve never seen the show,” series creator Loren Bouchard said in a statement. “We also know it has to fill every inch of the screen with the colors and the sounds and the ever-so-slightly greasy texture of the world of Bob’s — but most of all it has to take our characters on an epic adventure. In other words, it has to be the best movie ever made. But no pressure, right?”
“A ‘Bob’s Burgers’ film fits perfectly with our initiative to redouble our family and animation efforts,” said Stacey Snider, chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox Film.
Céline Dion’s Las Vegas show went on as scheduled at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Tuesday night, but not until after the singer acknowledged the victims of Sunday’s deadly shooting at the nearby Route 91 Harvest country music festival.
The 49-year-old entertainer also said she and her show partners AEG Presents and Caesars Entertainment would donate all proceeds from the concert to the victims of the mass shooting, which was the worst in modern U. S. history.
FULL COVERAGE: Massacre in Las Vegas
“I hope that you’re doing OK,” the tearful Dion said, addressing the crowd in attendance, according to video obtained by TMZ . “I never start the show like this — standing in front of the curtain, just talking — but tonight is very different.
“After Sunday night’s incredibly tragic event, all of us here find ourselves asking a similar question: For you it’s, ‘Do we still go to Céline’s show on Tuesday night, only two days after the nightmare?’ For me, it’s, ‘Can I still do my show? Should I still do my show only two days after the nightmare?’ So I want you to know that the proceeds for tonight’s show are being donated to victims’ families on your behalf,” she said to a whooping round of applause.
“Thank you so much for being here tonight.”
According to People, Dion also said that on Sunday “we lost too many beautiful, innocent souls, and so many are still suffering. But tonight we’re going to let these families know that we are supporting them and that we will help them through their tragic loss.”
The Grammy-winner, who stood alongside signs reading #VegasStrong onstage, also dedicated the evening’s show to the first responders, the doctors and nurses “who are working around the clock to save lives” and to “so many heroes who did whatever they could to help complete strangers in a time of desperate need.”
TIMELINE: Deadliest U. S. mass shootings, 1984-2017
Other artists were affected by Sunday’s shooting and modified their upcoming performances accordingly.
Country star Jason Aldean canceled several shows in Southern California this weekend out of respect for the victims. He was performing onstage when gunman Stephen Paddock started firing on the crowd assembled at the outdoor music festival from a suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel nearby. The shooting left 59 people dead and injured more than 500 concertgoers.
“It is the right thing to do,” Aldean said in a statement. “It has been an emotional time for everyone involved this week, so we plan to take some time to mourn the ones we have lost and be close with our family and friends.”
Singer Jennifer Lopez, who’s been fundraising for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and whose “All I Have” residency at the Axis at nearby Planet Hollywood was set to continue Wednesday, postponed three shows and issued an apology to ticket holders.
“Jennifer is heartbroken that such a senseless tragedy occurred,” her rep told People. “Her thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
Several other headliners canceled Monday night performances, according to TMZ. Blue Man Group, Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, Wayne Newton and Chippendales resumed their performances Tuesday.
Evidently, someone’s decided to pay Kate Winslet a lot of money.
Deadline reported Tuesday that the Oscar-winning actress is joining the ongoing “Avatar” saga in the role of Ronal.
The news comes as a surprise for individuals who remember the stories of screaming and near-drownings that surfaced after Winslet’s time filming Cameron’s epic historical love story “Titanic.”
“You’d have to pay me a lot of money to work with Jim [Cameron] again,” Winslet infamously told The Times in a 1997 interview after filming had concluded.
Though the actress suggested in a later interview with Rolling Stone that her quote had been misinterpreted, she stood by the nightmarish stories from the set.
But in 2012, during the red carpet for the “Titanic” 3-D rerelease, Winslet defended Cameron ‘s actions during filming, explaining that “he only ever lost his temper for really, really good reasons.”
It appears that Cameron is not holding any grudges either.
“ Avatar 2 ” began filming last week, and Winslet will be joining returning cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. The sequel has a planned premiere date of Dec. 18,2020.
While Jimmy Kimmel is doing late-night television’s heavy lifting, agitating for healthcare reform and gun control, Andy Cohen and “Watch What Happens Live” have a different mission: uncovering every celebrity President Trump has tried to date.
Last month, Cohen got the scoop from Murphy Brown herself, as Candice Bergen recounted a wholly uninspiring date with the future president.
Tuesday night, it was actress Brooke Shields who was spilling the POTUS tea.
Shields revealed that Trump asked her on a date shortly after his divorce.
When Cohen suggested that the encounter took place after Trump’s divorce from Marla Maples in 1999, Shields agreed.
In reality, Trump’s proposition came after his divorce from his first wife – Ivana – in 1992, The Times has confirmed with Shields’ representatives.
Trump called Shields while she was filming a movie, she said, and told the actress, “I really think we should date because you’re America’s sweetheart and I’m America’s richest man and the people would love it.”
Shields refused the offer, stating that her boyfriend probably wouldn’t go for it. And, judging by the look on her face as she recounted the tale, she likely immediately hung up and took a scalding hot shower.
This article was originally published at 12:08 p.
