GoneTrending

After advancing to the Top 24 and being hailed as one of the show’s “biggest stars we’ve ever seen,” American Idol contestant Kenedi Anderson has left the singing competition series, despite appearing to be a lock for the finale. Longtime host Ryan Seacrest announced the news during Sunday’s episode.

“You might have noticed that there was no voting information during Kenedi’s performance just now,” Seacrest said via The Wrap. “Since we taped these shows in Hawaii earlier, Kenedi has decided to withdraw from our show for personal reasons. We send her well wishes.”

Following Sunday’s episode, Anderson confirmed on Instagram that she did, in fact, step away from Idol for personal reasons, which she did not elaborate on:

For personal reasons, I’m unable to continue on American Idol. This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I know it’s necessary. I’m so grateful to American Idol, the judges, the producers, the amazing contestants, and all the fans who have supported me. Thank you for giving me such an amazing opportunity to share my voice, chase my dreams, feel so much joy and happiness doing what I love, and make lifelong friends along the way.

Anderson’s surprise exit was particularly sad because she was such a fan favorite and even blew away this season’s judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Ritchie, and Katy Perry.

“Well I believe you might be the biggest star we’ve ever seen,” Bryan said after one of Anderson’s performances in March. “No doubt, I believe top 10.”

“I don’t know how you haven’t been recruited, but you check every box and a lot of all of them,” Perry said. “Get ready to become your own hero.”

(Via The Wrap, Audacity)

DJ Khaled has claimed yet another major key, and this one is forever. The DJ, producer, hype man, and all around party starter, was honored with the 2,719th star on the illustrious Hollywood Walk Of Fame. People came out in droves on Hollywood and Vine to witness the “I’m The One” maestro be honored with a star on the famous sidewalk and DJ Khaled was joined in the ceremony by some high profile friends in Jay-Z, Diddy, and Fat Joe.

“It’s just not me, it’s we,” Khaled said when standing on the podium. “I’m doing this for my kids… I just wanna make it super clear, we’re just getting started. Anything you’ve seen me do before. Just imagine at the more trillionth power level ever. Cause I’m not stoppin’, I’m making more music… they ain’t believe in us!”

He thanked his wife and kids profusely, before Fat Joe took to the stage to say some words on Khaled. “When I met him, he made me move out of New York to Miami,” Joe said. “When I think of Khaled, I think of love. That’s the only reason why you see the heavyweights here like you see them.”

“I remember that day when you told me, ‘They don’t believe me, Puff.’ I was like ‘Khaled, what are you talking about? You’re doing great…’But they don’t believe me.” Diddy began. “I remember from that day, you worked all the way up. You’re a pioneer; you’re an icon and a brilliant businessman. But most importantly, you’re a great friend to all of us here…Your energy and your work ethic is unmatched, we celebrate you for everything.”

Khaled was overcome and his Instagram page currently filled with photos and videos illustrating how grateful he is for the honor. “This right here, my star, I want my star to represent the light, the love that shines on everybody,” Khaled told the crowd, before adding, “There’s only one Khaled, that’s all I have to say.”

https://www.instagram.com/djkhaled/

Mark Wahlberg has a complicated relationship with Boogie Nights. It was the first movie that took him seriously as a leading man after his Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch days (it’s also his best performance). But in 2017, the actor said that he hopes “God is a movie fan and also forgiving, because I’ve made some poor choices in my past. Boogie Nights is up there at the top of the list.” Wahlberg starred in Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Entourage, but Boogie Nights is his biggest regret? Sounds like someone has been drinking too much olive oil and sleeping too little.

But Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movie means enough to Wahlberg that he still owns Dirk Diggler’s comically large prosthetic penis. “It’s in a safe locked away,” he told host Ellen DeGeneres on Tuesday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “It’s not something I can leave out. My kids are looking for, y’know, the spare phone charger and pull that thing out, like, ‘What the heck is this?’ It wouldn’t be a good look.”

Maybe Wahlberg and Chris Hemsworth can trade sometime? See if anyone notices.

You can watch Wahlberg’s interview with Ellen above.

New Post Malone music may be coming sooner than we think. According to his manager, Posty’s long-awaited fourth studio album Twelve Carat Toothache is set for release next month.

Malone’s longtime manager Dre London shared the news in a recent Instagram post. In a video, London is seen playing tennis, saying, “We out here on a Monday. Monday f*cking motivation. We making excuses, or we getting results. It’s either results or f*cking excuses.”

Though Malone doesn’t appear in the video, nor does the video seem to have much to do with Malone or the album, the video is captioned, “Results Or Excuses Choose Your Side! @postmalone album coming next month! What u want in life results or excuses!! #MondayMotivation.”

Though Malone has not confirmed the album’s release date, he is set to play a slew of festivals this summer, including Hangout Festival and Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash Festival, which has fans speculating that he may release new music beforehand.

This isn’t the first time London has implied that Post Malone is ready to release new music, Back in January, London took to Instagram to express frustration toward Republic Records for allegedly delaying Twelve Carat Toothache‘s release.

“Our sync & energy always on a Insane level!!,” London said. “Album has been done!! We Ready!! But seems @republicrecords @universalmusicgroup isn’t [shrugging emoji] Posty fans no more need to press me anymore we did our part!! Now it’s time for the label to get the business right before we drop BIG Album! Hit them up! We been ready like u are! #DreVision #2022 It’s Time!!!”

Also next month, Malone is set to appear in court alongside producer Frank Dukes, both of whom are being sued by Canadian musician Tyler Armes, who claims to have contributed a guitar tune to the song’s final composition.

The Fast & Furious franchise, at this point, heading into its tenth and allegedly final film, is limited only by its own imagination. Look at how far we’ve all already come. The first movie was about Vin Diesel and his crew stealing DVD players, which is kind of hilarious in hindsight. There was a nuclear submarine in the eighth movie. Ludacris and Tyrese went to space in the ninth. Han’s death was depicted on-screen two separate times with two separate explanations, and now he’s back, again, working alongside the man who tried to murder him, who is played by Jason Statham, whose mother in the franchise is played by Dame Helen Mirren. Charlize Theron plays a cyberterrorist who has had both braids and a bowl cut. Anything is possible here.

And so, if we accept that this is a universe where anything is possible, the logical follow-up question becomes: Where do we go from here? What can the final film do that would truly catch the audience off-guard in a thrilling way? My position on this is that Jason Momoa — recently added to the cast, of course — should play Satan and Vin Diesel should drive a muscle car to Hell and defeat him with a wrench. But there are other options. Lots of them. I have so many ideas. Like, for example, this one…

The time has come for at least one Muppet to join the Fast & Furious family.

I’m serious here. Kind of. I am kind of serious. Let’s toss one or more Muppets into the stew. The energy is the same in the two universes, with whimsy and chaos and death-defying stunts. Maybe that last one feels like a stretch to you. I assure you, it is not. Vin Diesel once flew across the Abu Dhabi sky in a stolen luxury car that crashed through windows from one skyscraper to another. Miss Piggy did this in The Great Muppet Caper.

My point here, to the extent I have one, is this: The Muppets and the Fast Family not so different, really.

But you probably want some suggestions. Right? You want a few ideas for simple ways to loop the Muppets into the Fast & Furious universe? Buddy, I sure hope so, because I have a bunch. A reasonable argument can be made that I’ve put more thought into this than I have into any present I’ve ever purchased for a loved one. I feel okay about it. Here we go…

— We add Animal and put him behind the wheel of a NoS-fueled neon Honda for a car chase and we put Tyrese next to him in the passenger seat so Tyrese can do his whole “Are you serious right now?” thing, where his character is always shocked by the events unfolding in front of him even though, once again, his character has been to outer space in a Pontiac

— Kermit shows up to a gala in Monte Carlo wearing a tuxedo and Michele Rodriguez becomes a little smitten by him — continuing a long tradition of humans falling in love with Muppets, with the most famous example being Charles Grodin and Miss Piggy, probably — and Vin Diesel begins raging with jealousy to the point that it almost tears the entire Family apart

— Alternatively, or possibly additionally, the villain Jason Momoa is playing could fall in love with Miss Piggy and she could be sent to an underground Tasmanian speedboat race to woo him and infiltrate his organization, possibly using a fake identity, possibly featuring a name like Jasmine St. Aspen or Veronica Ferrari, and yes, I do think Jason Momoa would be incredible at playing a villain who is lovestruck by Miss Piggy

— Gonzo shows up at the very beginning, stares dead into the camera, and proceeds to narrate the entire film to the audience in character as Charles Dickens, just like he did in The Muppet Christmas Carol, with Rizzo the Rat by his side

— Kurt Russell’s Mr. Nobody character explains that they can’t breach the villain’s compound without some high-tech spoofing device to get past the gate, and Ludacris says “Lemme talk to my guys in the lab,” and then blammo, smash cut to Ludacris with Bunson and Beaker, all holding blowtorches in an extended montage set to literally any Pitbull song

— During a break in the action, maybe on a private plane that is flying from one scenic location to another, Jason Statham’s character explains his entire arc — sworn nemesis who tried to kill everyone for what they did to his brother only to reverse course and join the Family later on even though he was thought to have murdered Han, who has actually secretly been alive the whole time — to an incredulous Fozzie Bear

— We keep everything about the film human-only and Muppet-free until the very last scene, where we catch up with everyone for one final Family barbecue and look over Vin Diesel’s shoulder as he’s saying grace and see that the grill is being manned by the Swedish Chef

These are just some possibilities. I can think up some more. I will almost definitely think up some more. It might be all I think from now until I see the movie. Vin Diesel, if you are still reading, please consider this. Please consider adding a Muppet to the Fast family. For me. For us. For everyone.

But mostly for me.

After the success of the heart-shattering series Normal People, Hulu has taken another one of Sally Rooney’s devastating novels and once again cast a bunch of hauntingly beautiful people in a new series, this time set to a new Phoebe Bridgers song.

Conversations With Friends stars Alison Oliver as a young college student who becomes entangled with a married couple, also while dating her best friend and roommate. So, the friends start doing a whole lot more than just conversing, clearly.

The series also stars Taylor Swift’s muse Joe Alwyn, Sasha Lane, and Girls’ Jemima Kirke as they all embark on relationships with other people and each other. The series is directed and executive produced by Lenny Abrahamson.“Conversations is really a coming-of-age story,” Abrahamson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Centering on Frances, who is trying to figure herself out… it’s prepared to challenge the viewer’s own sense of what is good or right in various situations.”

This is Rooney’s second TV adaptation after Normal People became an early pandemic hit, and Bridgers became an instant fan. Her song “Sidelines” can be heard in the latest Conversations With Friends trailer.

The twelve-episode series is set to premiere on May 15th. Check out the trailer above.

It might seem like Millie Bobby Brown has been around for a while, and that’s because she has been in the spotlight since she was twelve when she became the breakout star of Netflix’s smash show Stranger Things (and a short stint on Grey’s Anatomy where she out-acted her older peers). Despite landing a dream role on a TV show, Brown has been getting more transparent about the struggles of being a young woman growing up in the spotlight.

The actress, who turned 18 earlier this year, was on The Guilty Feminist podcast to discuss the upcoming season of the sci-fi series and addressed the downside of being a teen with millions of followers on her every move. “I deal with the same things any 18-year-old is dealing with: navigating being an adult and having relationships and friendships, and it’s all of those things,” the teen said. “Being liked and trying to fit in, it’s all a lot, and you’re trying to find yourself while doing that. The only difference is that obviously, I’m doing that in the public eye.”

Brown is no stranger to unwelcome comments about her look: when she turned 16, she pleaded with the internet to let her act like a kid without criticizing her every move. The Enola Holmes actress came under fire around the same time for her review of the Netflix series You which features a stalker-murderer who she was “obsessed” with. Social media tore her apart, without realizing that that was the whole point of the series: to show how easy it is for teenage girls to be manipulated.

On The Guilty Feminist, Brown continued that she was “overwhelmed” after turning 18. “Definitely seeing a difference between the way people act and the way the press and social media have reacted to me coming of age…It’s gross, and it’s true,” she said, “I think it’s just a very good representation of what’s going on in the world and how young girls are sexualized. And so I have been dealing with that, but also have been dealing with that for forever.”

The long-awaited season of Stranger Things will hit Netflix this summer, and many fans have noticed how different the main cast looks now in season four as opposed to season one which makes sense, as that was over 5 years ago. They are grown, but they are still kids! Let the kids be kids! They will be doing their taxes soon enough.

In case you missed it, Jimmy Kimmel has been feuding with the “Congressmonster” Marjorie Taylor Green for the better part of a week. Well, no, that’s not right. Jimmy Kimmel has been doing his job — telling jokes on TV — and Rep. Greene seems to be so bad at hers that she often ends up being the butt of said jokes.

The QAnon-loving Congresswoman got so riled up over a recent joke Kimmel made following the Oscar incident — he suggested Will Smith should’ve slapped her instead — that she filed a report with the U.S. Capitol Police.

“You may have heard, the Congressmonster is not happy about a comment I made about her on the show,” Kimmel explained to his audience Monday night. “She even called the cops on me. Me, she would like arrested, but the people who attacked the Capitol? It’s time to drop that already.”

Greene also took to Twitter to call out Kimmel for his “racist” and “misogynistic” comments, claiming she’d received multiple death threats from his violent leftist fans. The irony is ripe considering Greene recently gave an impassioned speech describing women as the “weaker sex” and has supported taking up arms against Democrats in the past but this whole thing has reached a new level of idiocy thanks to, who else, Matt Gaetz.

The disgraced Florida rep. invited Greene onto his podcast where the two skewered Kimmel for his “attacks on women,” and the late-night host found the situation so bizarrely amusing that he aired Gaetz’s comments on his show.

“Jimmy Kimmel is a total jerk,” Gaetz said in a clip Kimmel played for his audience. “And it seems that his trend is to attack women, which is particularly troubling.”

Kimmel pointed out that Gaetz is currently under investigation for sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl before airing the rest of his rant.

“His critiques of you and our colleague Lauren Boebert are highly gendered,” Gaetz continued. “Because he’s [saying], oh, you’re a ‘Klan Mom,’ right? So, he’s attacking you as a mom and as a woman. And he attacks Lauren Boebert and says, ‘oh, she looks like stepmom porn.’ See how he does that?”

And even though Gaetz is practically salivating for a pat on the back for his ass-backward defense of women, Kimmel had to burst his bubble by reminding the alleged criminal that he’s been the subject of some of the show’s biggest burns.

“That’s not fair at all,” Kimmel responded. “I make jokes about men too. I made jokes about you, in fact. Remember when I said I feel bad for you because you didn’t have a girlfriend in high school until you were 30? Remember when I said your political background will come in handy when you’re a registered sex offender because you’re used to knocking on strangers’ doors to introduce yourself? Apology accepted, Matt”

You can watch the full clip below:

(Via Mediaite)

While music has long been a part of the Tim And Eric formula, Tim Heidecker has been taking non-comedic music more seriously in recent years. In 2020, he dropped his well-received album Fear Of Death and now he’s getting ready to share another: Today, he announced High School is set for release on June 24.

Heidecker produced the album with Mac DeMarco, Eric D. Johnson (best-known for being a member of Fruit Bats, The Shins, and Bonny Light Horseman), and Drew Erickson (who just this year has worked with Lana Del Rey, Father John Misty, and Florence And The Machine). Also involved with the project is Kurt Vile, who features on a song called “Sirens Of Titan.”

This comes after Heidecker also had an impressive lineup of indie collaborators on Fear Of Death, which featured contributions from Weyes Blood, Stella Mozgawa 0f Warpaint, Brian and Michael D’Addario of The Lemon Twigs, and Jonathan Rado of Foxygen, as well as audio engineering from Sarah Tudzin of Illuminati Hotties.

Heidecker also announced a new tour, which will consist of both musical performances (alongside the Very Good Band) and stand-up comedy.

Watch the “Buddy” video above. Below, find the High School art and tracklist, as well as Heidecker’s upcoming tour dates.

1. “Buddy”
2. “Chillin’ In Alaska”
3. “Future Is Uncertain”
4. “Get Back Down To Me”
5. “I’ve Been Losing”
6. “Punch In The Gut”
7. “Stupid Kid”
8. “Sirens Of Titan” Feat. Kurt Vile
9. “What Did We Do With Our Time?”
10. “Kern River”

07/05 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/07 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/08 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/09 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/10 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/11 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/13 — San Francisco, CA @ Palace of Fine Arts
07/15 — Portland, OR @ The Aladdin
07/16 — Vancouver, British Columbia @ Vogue Theatre
07/17 — Seattle, WA @ The Neptune
07/20 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fitzgerald Theater
07/21 — Madison, WI @ Barrymore Theatre
07/22 — Chicago, IL @ The Vic
07/23 — Cleveland, OH @ The Agora
07/24 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian
07/25 — Toronto, Ontario @ Danforth Music Hall
07/27 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur
07/28 — Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
07/29 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
07/30 — Washington, D.C. @ Capital Turnaround
07/31 — Durham, NC @ Carolina Theatre
08/01 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
08/03 — Houston, TX @ The Heights Theater
08/04 — Austin, TX @ The Paramount
08/05 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory Studio
08/07 — St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Music Festival
08/08 — Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
08/09 — Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
08/10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union
08/12 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
08/24 — Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House

High School is out 6/24 via Spacebomb. Pre-order it here.

Final Fantasy is one of the most influential franchises ever created. The long-running JRPG franchise is credited with not only turning Square Enix into the giant publisher it is today but also popularizing an entire genre in the western parts of the world. It’s possible that without games like Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy VII we would have never seen JRPGs grow the way they did.

While no single person is responsible for the popularity of Final Fantasy, a lot of credit goes to Hironobu Sakaguchi. He is frequently credited as the creator of Final Fantasy and while he hasn’t touched the series since 2003 his influence on it can’t be understated. Even now his influence can be seen in places like Final Fantasy XIV where, despite him not actually working on the game, he has accidentally created his own clothing line.

Sakaguchi is a big fan of Final Fantasy XIV and has been tweeting about his adventures through the smash hit MMO. However, not only does he make no effort to hide his username, but he used his own name so it would be easier for players to recognize him as they go about the world.

While this is very cool for fans of the franchise, it created an accidental market inefficiency in the game when Sakaguchi would craft items. In Final Fantasy XIV, player crafted items have their name attached to them so when players would buy items from Sakaguchi they would eventually get resold at higher prices because of the name recognition He essentially created a clothing line for himself by complete accident, one that has been dubbed the “sakaGUCCI” line. Since Sakaguchi did not want to break the economy of a game he enjoys he had to find a way around it. He explained what he did in an interview with IGN and also talked about his new potential as a clothing designer.

“Pieces I craft have my name on them, so if I put them on the market they’ll get resold, destroying the game’s balanced economy… But that also means I’m handicapped by not being able to sell what I craft on the market,” he explains.

Sakaguchi’s solution is to make players bind the items to themselves. As a result, players can’t sell the item on the market, but in effect it means that the item is now priceless. Sakaguchi has been conducting giveaways in-games, with some items going to acquaintance and others going to a handful of players, allowing him to put his own unique mark on the world of Final Fantasy 14.

Indeed, Sakaguchi’s career as a fashion designer may be just beginning.

“Please, IGN,” he jokes, “help me collab with the real Gucci.”

The entire interview with IGN is a real treat to read because it lets us see how much Sakaguchi still loves the franchise he helped create despite not working on Final Fantasy anymore, and who knows maybe this is the first step towards him getting an actual Gucci collaboration some day.