All Posts By

Jen McDonnell

Taylor Swift Claps Back at Damon Albarn

Taylor Swift is NOT happy that Blur/Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn said in a new interview that she doesn’t write her own songs. (When the interviewer tried to correct him, he said, “That doesn’t count. I know what co-writing is. Co-writing is very different to writing. I’m not hating on anybody, I’m just saying there’s a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes. Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great.”) Swift tweeted in response, “I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this. I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging. You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really fucked up to try and discredit my writing. WOW. PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering.”

Jack Antonoff added: “I’ve never met damon albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs taylor writes and brings in. if you were there … cool … go off. if not … maybe …. shut the f–k up?”

-Likely feeling the heat from Swifties, Albarn quickly jumped onto Twitter to try to diffuse the situation, posting “I totally agree with you. i had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait. I apologise unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting.” I mean, it was a Q&A so I don’t really see how things were taken out of context but sure, man.

-Also, lots of people are pointing out how many co-writers he had on his last album, and also that Billie Eilish (who he praised in the interview) co-writes with her brother. Why bother going after one of the world’s biggest female singers in the first place, let alone when you don’t have a leg to stand on?

Garrett Hedlund is having a rough few days. Sources confirmed to People the rumours that have been floating around for a while that he’d split from baby mama Emma Roberts, and on Saturday he was arrested in Tennessee for public intoxication.

Evan Rachel Wood details more alleged abuse by Marilyn Manson in her HBO documentary Phoenix Rising, which debuted at Sundance. She accuses him of violently dragging her through a hotel, says he threatened to “fuck up my whole family from the bottom up, starting with my dad,” and says she was “essentially raped on camera” during the filming of Manson’s 2007 video “Heart-Shaped Glasses.”

Kristen Stewart says she and fiancée Dylan Meyer celebrated their engagement before things started locking down again. “We were kind of moving about the world a little more freely at the time. We did have an engagement party, which was nice and lucky and obviously not something we could have done now so I’m thankful for that.”

Kanye West and Julia Fox rocked some Canadian tuxedos in Paris.

-After Emilio Estevez bowed out of the Mighty Ducks series amid rumours that he disagreed with its covid protocols, Josh Duhamel has stepped in for season two.

Eric Clapton continues to try to drive any remaining fans away, claiming people vaccinated against covid are under ‘mass formation hypnosis.’

Adele apologized to some fans with Facetime calls after she abruptly postponed her Vegas residency.

-The Wire creator David Simon reveals that he almost had to choose a completely different theme song because Tom Waits could not figure out how to use a VCR.

Brad Pitt has teamed up with music producer Damien Quintard to relaunch the historic Miraval Studios in France, where Pink Floyd, Sting, The Cure and AC/DC recorded their albums.

-Did every TV writer decide this was the season that their characters were going to have heart attacks after a Peloton ride?

Prince Andrew having 72 teddy bears is the least disturbing rumor about him to surface lately.

-This is a fun piece about which celebrities are actually reading the books they claim to be reading.

Will Arnett, Ken Jeong, Annie Murphy, Conan O’Brien, Sharon Stone, Marshawn Lynch and more improv their way through crime scenes in the official trailer for Netflix’s Murderville. Improv can be hard to watch but this trailer intrigues me.

 

Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Are New Parents

-Congrats to Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra, who’ve welcomed a baby girl via surrogate.

Adele posted a tearful video about cancelling her Vegas residency the day before she was set to start. “We’ve tried absolutely everything we that can to pull it together in time, and for it to be good enough for you, but we’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and COVID… half my team and half my crew are down with COVID they still are and it’s been impossible to finish the show.” It’s a heartbreaking video but god, I hope she figures out a way to make it up to the fans who’d already travelled to Vegas for this weekend’s show. She’s clearly there already so I wonder if she could host an event for any ticket holder who can prove they booked their hotel before she made the announcement or something?

-Another rough day in celebrity deaths. Singer Meat Loaf has died at aged 74, while comedian Louie Anderson has died at 68 following a battle with cancer.

-Covid keeps screwing up Tom Cruise‘s plans. Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 have both been delayed to 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Jennifer Coolidge told Jimmy Fallon that Ariana Grande doing an impression of her on his show helped her career. The actress, who starred in Grande’s “Thank U Next” music video, shared, “You should know, it was sort of the beginning of a lot of cool things that happened for me. I was going through a dead zone, not much was going on. Then Ariana did this imitation on your show and you encouraged her. And then this ball got rolling.”

-Meanwhile, she’s returning to The White Lotus for season two, thank god.

-Supernatural fans, rejoice: a cast-heavy rewatch podcast series is coming.

Cynthia Nixon responded to Chris Noth’s removal from the finale of HBO Max’s And Just Like That following allegations of sexual assault. “I think we were very lucky that those changes were able to be made. And I think we are very proud of our show.”

-Speaking of And Just Like That, Sarita Choudhury (who plays Carrie’s real estate agent Seema) says she was “shocked” by the flak the show got.

Whoopi Goldberg is back in the trailer for Star Trek: Picard’s second season.

Bill Paxton’s family can seek punitive damages against Cedars-Sinai in a wrongful death suit. The late actor’s family claims the hospital and his doctor covered up their negligence by not performing an autopsy and they didn’t learn one hadn’t been done until after the actor had been cremated.

-Um, should I be watching Peacemaker? ‘Cause this clip of Adrian Chase/Vigilante is amazing (and not cause it stars the cute guy from Bridgerton and UnREAL).

-Sony has yet to secure a date for Spider-Man: No Way Home in China, but the country will allow Woody Allen’s recent romcom a release.

Will Forte returns to his SNL roots in the promos for this weekend’s show.

Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, When You Finish Saving the World starring Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard, is getting good reviews out of Sundance.

-Apple TV’s “Everyone but Jon Hamm” commercial is cute.

Sam Claflin plays a stodgy author whose book becomes a bestseller in Mexico when the translator (Verónica Echegui) rewrites it in Amazon’s Book of Love, which debuts Feb 4.

Bruce Willis, Luke Wilson and Devon Sawa star in the trailer for Gasoline Alley.

Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader Are Dating

-Over the weekend, I sent my friend DeuxMoi’s item about how Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader are rumoured to be dating, because them as a couple just makes so much sense to me. People has now confirmed it, with sources saying they’ve been “quietly” dating for more than a year and “she’s really happy.” The costarred in the 2019 Disney+ Christmas movie Noelle.

Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes are fueling reconciliation rumors after she publicly supported his new music.

-Buffy star Charisma Carpenter has responded to recent remarks made by Joss Whedon, calling him “a former tyrannical narcissistic boss who is still unable to be accountable and just apologize.”

Tom Holland is reportedly in the running to be the 2022 Oscar host. I don’t hate this. He’s got the biggest movie of the year, and we know from his Rihanna lip sync that he’s game for anything.

Sia says she was suicidal and entered rehab following the outrage over her feature directorial debut, Music. Kathy Griffin defended her, saying “the attacks she received were because of kind of sexism, ageism and misogyny”, though autistic people who got caught in the crossfire aren’t buying it.

-I don’t have a lot of interest in a series based on Fatal Attraction — or at least I didn’t until Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan were cast as the leads.

Pamela Anderson and her fourth husband are splitting after one year of marriage.

Robert Pattinson‘s The Batman is 2 hours and 47 minutes long – without credits. What are we doing here, guys?

Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz are joining their One Tree Hill costar Sophia Bush in an upcoming episode of her new CBS show, Good Sam. I love that these three are still so tight but also, what great marketing. If my TL is any indication, OTH love still runs deep.

-The White Lotus is heading to Sicily for its second season.

-Season two of Upload (starring the good Amell) debuts on March 11. I really liked the first one.

-Crews on film and TV shows are worried about how lax covid protocols have gotten.

-The reviews of The Gilded Age are good, but with Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski starring, I’m going to watch it either way.

-Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt fights back against her abusive ex (Michiel Huisman) in the trailer for the six-episode phycological thriller Angela Black.

Anne Hathaway and a barely recognizable Jared Leto tell the story of WeWork in the trailer for Apple TV’s new limited series, WeCrashed.