It seems that a disagreement over Rent put the friendship between Neil Patrick Harris and Miyam Bialik in jeopardy.
On Tuesday night’s episode of The Late Late Show, the newly minted co-Jeopardy! host confessed that, unlike Tony winner James Corden, she really isn’t into musicals, and even having her pal NPH starring in Rent didn’t shake that.
“People expect that because I worked with Bette Midler and because I’m me, I’m supposed to love musicals. It’s not my thing,” Bialik confessed.
“Why do I have to like it?!” she said of musicals when Corden protested.
And therein lay the problem.
“When everyone is clapping at the end and you say to your boyfriend next to you, ‘I don’t want to stand for this,’ and then you look up and Neil Patrick Harris is looking right at you…it’s a bad day,” Bialik recalled with a nervous laugh.
Backstage, she said the former How I Met Your Mother star confronted her: “‘Why did you say you weren’t going to stand up?’ He read my lips!”
Bialik admitted that after the incident, “We didn’t speak for a long time,” adding, “[Neil] says that he forgave me and he sent me flowers when he heard I was still carrying this terrible guilt.”
When Fat Joe and Ja Rule battled on Verzuz two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden in New York City, many people were shocked to see Nelly walk across the stage to hug his former girlfriend, Ashanti. The two stars ended their eleven-year relationship in 2014.
“It was so weird because we haven’t seen or spoken to each other in over six years,” the “Rain on Me” singer said Tuesday on The Tamron Hall Show. “I really didn’t expect it. I didn’t know he was going to be there honestly, so when I saw him coming across the stage, I was like, ‘Oh.’ It’s been so long, I didn’t know how to feel or what I was going to feel when i actually did see him.”
Though they had a bitter breakup, now Ashanti says, “The anger is long gone.”
Tamron opened their interview discussing how SZA told Ashanti at the MTV VMAS earlier this month that as a young woman, she waited ten hours for Ashanti’s autograph.
“I’m a fan of hers and she actually posted the picture of herself and me when she was at the signing,” Ashanti said. “I was so touched and stunned and I felt the love. I didn’t want to stop hugging her.”
Next year, the 40-year-old singer will celebrate the 20th anniversary of her self-titled, RIAA-certified triple Platinum debut album, which was released in 2002. The album sold 503,000 copies during its first week, the most of any debut by a female artist at that time.
During the Tamron Hall Show appearance, the Grammy winner also announced that she’s obtained legal rights to the album masters, and will re-record the album on her own independent label.
L-R: E. Clayton Cornelious, Nick Jonas and Michael Urie; John Lamparski/Getty Images for Chicken & Biscuits
Nick Jonas is currently on tour with the Jonas Brothers, but apparently, he still has time to dabble in theater. He and his wife, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, have just joined the producing team of a new Broadway show called Chicken & Biscuits, which is currently in previews at New York City’s Circle in the Square Theater.
Chicken & Biscuits was written by Douglas Lyons and is directed by Zhailon Levingston, who at 27 is the youngest Black director in Broadway history. It follows the Jenkins family, who deal with family infighting and secrets while planning their father’s funeral.
Nick has a major background in Broadway, having appeared in productions of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Les Misérables. In a statement, he says, “Broadway has always had a special place in my heart, it helped launch my career. And after the last year and a half, Broadway is exactly what we need in this world.”
“This play highlights the importance of love, laughter, and family,” adds Nick, who visited the cast and creative team this past weekend. “It’s got energy, it’s got style, and it’s got heart. The kind of vibe that is so unique to live theater.”
Priyanka notes that this is her first foray into Broadway, but adds, “It’s time we see some more diversity on the stage, and this cast and production team is making history on that front.”
Broadway, of course, is a small world: Nick worked with another Chicken & Biscuits producer, E. Clayton Cornelious, and one of the show’s co-stars, Michael Urie, on the upcoming new movie version of the musical Jersey Boys. Nick also appeared with Urie in How to Succeed.
Chicken & Biscuits officially opens October 10 for a limited engagement that runs through January 2.
Michael Tullberg/FilmMagic — Amanda Edwards/WireImage
The CBS adaptation of the 1994 James Cameron hit True Lies now has its main couple.
Variety reports that actress Ginger Gonzaga, who will be seen in the Marvel Studios Disney+ show She-Hulk and currently appears on NBC’s Kenan, will be playing Helen, which was Jamie Lee Curtis‘ role in the movie.
As in the movie, Helen is fed up with her workaday life as her husband travels for his boring day job. But after years of typical married life boredom, she discovers Harry has actually been a bullet-dodging deep-cover operative for a secretive spy agency.
Arnold Schwarzenegger played Harry in the film; the trade reports Shameless veteran Steve Howey will be filling Arnold’s big shoes for the small-screen version.
Cameron, who adapted True Lies from the 1991 French film La Totale!, will executive-produce the series with his longtime Lightstorm Entertainment producer, Rae Sanchini.
The original True Lies film, which made more than $378 million worldwide, also starred Tom Arnold as Harry’s bumbling partner, Albert “Gib” Gibson; actor-turned Oscar-winning producer Grant Heslov as their tech expert, Faisal; and the late Charlton Heston as their spy agency boss. The late Bill Paxton also starred as Simon, a “pathetic” used car salesman who pretends to be a secret agent to woo Helen behind her husband’s back.
In a very welcome bit of good news, Mark Hoppus is now “cancer free.”
The Blink-182 bassist/vocalist shared the announcement in an Instagram post Wednesday.
“Just saw my oncologist and I’m cancer free!!” Hoppus wrote. “Thank you God and universe and friends and family and everyone who sent support and kindness and love.”
Hoppus added that he still needs to “get scanned every six months” and that it will take him “until the end of the year to get back to normal.”
“But today is an amazing day and I feel so blessed,” he wrote. “Can I get a W in the chat?”
Hoppus revealed he’d been diagnosed with cancer back in June. He’d been documenting his journey through chemotherapy over the last few months with the sincerity and humor he’s known for. He even changed his Twitter bio to describe himself as a “cancer haver,” which has now been triumphantly changed to “cancer destroyer.”
Metallica and Paramore may not seem that similar on the surface, but Hayley Williams relates to one particular part of the metal legends’ history.
On Wednesday, the Paramore Twitter account marked the 12th anniversary of the band’s 2009 album Brand New Eyes. “12 years ago today we were obviously mad as hell at each other,” the post reads. “Thank y’all for the grace.”
Williams then retweeted her band and added, “This was our ‘Some Kind of Monster,'” referring, of course, to the 2004 documentary that explored the personal turmoil and intra-band strife that marred the recording process behind Metallica’s 2003 album, St. Anger.
Brand New Eyes was the much-anticipated follow-up to Paramore’s 2007 breakout album, Riot! While Brand New Eyes earned critical and commercial accolades, Paramore, much like Metallica, was dealing with personal issues and fracturing relationships between band members. Just a year after the album’s release, brothers and founding members Josh and Zac Farro left the band.
Zac eventually returned to Paramore in 2017, and is featured on their latest album, After Laughter.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has created an entertainment empire with his G-Unit music label, and several TV series, including the Power franchise and his latest production, BMF. Now he’s mentoring future entrepreneurs with a new business program for teenage students in Texas.
On Monday, he inducted 75 students from three Houston high schools into the G-Unity Business Lab, which he created and is partially funding with $300,000 from his G-Unity Foundation.
“When you grow up with the circumstances that I grew up under, it starts to feel like the biggest restraint is the financial restraint,” Jackson told the kids, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I worked really hard against that, like I did things to try to not to be under those circumstances. And I just want to be able to help provide programs that allow you the information to do it the right way.”
The students will attend a 12-week after-school program and learn business concepts. Then 50 Cent will select winners who will receive seed money to start their own companies.
Houston Independent School District Superintendent Millard House II said students “will graduate with critical thinking opportunities and problem-solving possibilities, learning core business concepts, like writing a formal business plan, with the support of HISD teachers, Houston business leaders and the foundation.”
Meanwhile, Jackson, Snoop Dogg, T.I., Flo Rida, Monica, Kash Doll, La La Anthony and Jeremih were among the celebrities attending the BMF premiere on September 23 in Atlanta. The crime drama debuted Sunday night on Starz.
Move over Diamond plaques and Grammy trophies, because Metallica‘s The Black Album has now earned the most prestigious honor there is: a Funko Pop! recreation.
The toy company has announced a Black Album-themed set in its ever-popular line of adorable, big-headed vinyl figures. The collection includes period-appropriate plastic versions of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and former bassist Jason Newsted, along with a Funko replica of the record and its cover artwork.
You can pre-order the package now exclusively via Walmart.com.
The Black Album celebrated its 30th anniversary in August. Earlier this month, Metallica released a deluxe reissue of the record, as well as The Metallica Blacklist, a 53-track tribute compilation featuring covers of each one of the original album’s songs.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Innovation In Music Awards
Walker Hayes‘ career has had a big, big boost thanks to the viral success of “Fancy Like,” a move that was anything but calculated. The Alabama native is still blown away by how much the song has propelled him and his music, especially now.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen to a 41-year-old dude with a wife, six kids, two dogs and two gerbils,” Walker concedes toPeople, adding that it’s really geared to the everyday American.
“It’s a love song for people with mortgages and kids,” he says. “That’s it — that’s what we accidentally did. We wrote about everybody who lives in a strip-mall town, and they’re fine with it. And you know what’s cool about it is, that’s me.”
While Walker might be famous, he insists he’s just like the people he’s singing to on “Fancy Like.”
“My wife and I live in a cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood with a ballpark and a Y and some schools and strip malls — Chick-Fil-A, Kroger, Burger King, Waffle House, Applebee’s …We’re obviously like a lot of people, and really, it’s freeing because, wow, there’re more dudes out there like me,” he says.
(NEW YORK) — The NBA is warning players unvaccinated for COVID-19 that they will not be paid for games they miss due to local executive orders governing requirements for shots.
“Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses,” Mike Bass, the NBA’s executive vice president of communications, said in a statement Wednesday morning.
The new rule, initially reported by ESPN, could pose problems for teams like the Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors because New York and San Francisco are among the cities requiring COVID-19 vaccines to enter those teams’ basketball arenas.
The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Nets’ home court, requires one coronavirus shot to enter. At the same time, San Francisco’s Chase Center, where the Warriors play, mandates that only fully vaccinated people can enter.
On Friday, the NBA announced it had “reviewed and denied” Warriors player Andrew Wiggins’ request for a religious exemption and that he would not be able to play in Warriors home games until he meets San Francisco’s vaccine mandate. The Warriors’ first regular-season home game is scheduled for Oct. 21.
During the Warriors’ media day on Monday, Wiggins told reporters that his vaccination status is “private” but acknowledged his “back is definitely against the wall.”
“I’m just going to keep fighting for what I believe,” Wiggins said. “I’m going to keep fighting for what I believe is right. What’s right to one person isn’t right to the other and vice versa.”
Wiggins’ annual salary is $31.6 million.
Nets star Kyrie Irving, who makes about $34 million a year, was forced to participate in the team’s media day at Barclays Center on Monday via Zoom as a result of the vaccine mandate in New York. However, he refused to discuss his vaccine status.
“That doesn’t mean that I’m putting any limits on the future of me being able to join the team,” Irving, vice president of the National Basketball Players Association, said without elaborating.
The Nets home opener is scheduled for Oct. 24.
The vaccine mandates in San Francisco and Brooklyn only apply to players who compete in those markets, according to the NBA. Out-of-town players are exempt from executive orders.
The New York Knicks previously said its entire organization, including all players, is fully vaccinated and in compliance with the New York City law.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James publicly revealed on Tuesday that he got the vaccine.
“I think everyone has their own choice to do what they feel is right for themselves and their family and things of that nature,” James told reporters. “I know that I was very (skeptical) about it all. But after doing my research and things of that nature, I felt like it was best suited for not only me but for my family and my friends. And, you know, that’s why I decided to do it.”
The NBA is set to tip-off its regular season on Oct. 19 and teams are expected to play a regular 82-game schedule for the first time since the 2018-2019 season.
