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Priyanka Chopra is, without hyperbole, one of the most famous actresses in the world. She’s starred in numerous mega-hits in India (the third biggest market by box office revenue, as of 2019) and made a successful transition to Hollywood, including an upcoming role in The Matrix 4. So, when an Australian journalist questioned why she was chosen to announce the Oscar nominations, Chopra quickly corrected him.

“No disrespect to these two but I’m not sure their contribution to the movies qualifies them to be announcing Oscar nominees,” reporter Peter Ford, who refers to himself as “the best & most widely heard entertainment reporter” in Australia and New Zealand, wrote about Chopra and her husband, musician-actor Nick Jonas, being asked to reveal this year’s Oscar nominees on Monday. For one thing, the couple is based in London, so they didn’t have to wake up at 3 a.m. to get ready, like someone in Los Angeles would. It makes sense. Also, one of Chopra’s movies was literally nominated for an Oscar (The White Tiger was is up for Best Adapted Screenplay for writer Ramin Bahrani).

In response to Ford’s misguided tweet, Chopra wrote, “Would love your thoughts on what qualifies someone. Here are my 60+ film credentials for your adept consideration.”

Ford has since made his account private:

Earlier this year, Priyanka shared how she deals with the online vitriol. “I am just like everyone else,” she said. “In the morning when I’m driving to work or I’m having my coffee, I’m flipping through Twitter, Instagram, the news, and when my name pops up, I’m like, ‘Alright, what are people saying? How are we feeling?’ I just don’t react to it or let it affect my mental well-being.”

As for her role in Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix 4, Chopra can’t say much, other than her character is “something you don’t expect. [But] what I can say is I finished filming and it was the first movie I did after lockdown and I’ve never felt safer on a set.”

The Matrix 4 comes out on December 22.

(Via E! Online)

Jimmy Kimmel spent Tuesday night tearing into Donald Trump Jr.’s latest Fox News appearances, in which the “Fraudigal Son” dabbled in peddling QAnon conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden. As the late night host notes, Don Jr.’s main source of contention is that Biden hasn’t addressed the growing scandal involving New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, which Kimmel joked is making Don Jr. angry because Cuomo is “getting close to breaking presidaddy’s all-time sexual misconduct record by an American politician.”

However, things took a conspiratorial turn when Don Jr. said to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that maybe Biden shouldn’t weigh in on the Cuomo issue because he’s “probably not the best person to talk about these things given his history of sniffing children.” That quip is a reference to attacks during the presidential election about Biden being an overly affectionate grandfather type. More importantly, it peddles in dangerous (and false) QAnon theories that Biden, along with Democratic leaders like Hillary Clinton, are part of a secret cabal of pedophiles. Kimmel wasn’t having it.

Via The Daily Beast:

“We want to know what you are sniffing, that’s what we’d like to know,” Kimmel shot back. “If I was you Donny, I’d stuff the word ‘sniffing’ back into the family thesaurus.”

The “sniffing” reference from Kimmel must be a reference to people always noting Don Jr.’s amped-up state and wondering if he needs an intervention. Kimmel also challenged Don Jr.’s accusation that Biden has “the most disastrous first 60 days” of any American president. “Name 10 presidents. Go ahead, we’ll wait,” Kimmel quipped. “I’m working on a new game show for Donald Trump Jr. It’s called ‘Name 10 Presidents and Pee in this Cup.’”

(Via Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Daily Beast)

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s CBS Evening News interview with Oprah was bound to bring fallout, although the resulting tantrums have been… something. Piers Morgan refused to back down from his anti-Meghan stance, stormed off the Good Morning Britain set before quitting the show, and thanked his haters. Then Sharon Osbourne defended Piers and went off the rails on-air while arguing with Sheryl Underwood about why she (Sharon) should have her tears acknowledged after being called out for defending Piers after he was called out for racist remarks. That led to a hiatus (which has now been extended) for The Talk, and yeah, everyone has a take.

Ex-President Trump wants people to know that he’s not a fan of Meghan, and Don Jr.’s climbing aboard the ruckus, too. Mainly, he is very upset (while tagging Piers) about The Talk, which is mildly surprising because it’s not a Fox News program (I kid). “This is getting insane!” Don Jr. tweeted. “Now other shows are being pulled off the air because someone who actually knows someone else doesn’t believe they’re racist simply because someone else accused them of it with no basis simply because he didn’t believe someone else. Got it?!? @piersmorgan”

This was a response to Piers not understanding (and he’s joined by Don Jr. in that lack of understanding) why Sharon’s remarks are being investigated. Sharon addressed the matter with her apology, and it appears that the biggest issue is Sharon’s combative response to Sheryl’s calm expression of her concerns. At the time, Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (the Good Morning Britain regular who called out Piers in the first place) accused Sharon of “weaponizing her whiteness & White woman’s tears” during her on-air confrontation with Sheryl.

More allegations (regarding Sharon’s alleged statements about co-host Julie Chen) have since surfaced against Osbourne, and it remains to be seen when The Talk will return to broadcast. Regardless of what anyone else says, though, Piers Morgan believes that “The REAL scandal is me being branded a racist for refusing to believe a liar.”

He continued to tweet, including this entry: “Memo to all high-profile, insufferably woke, unctuously virtue-signalling, shamefully race-baiting hypocrites: I’m watching, and I will retaliate.”

And Piers also called out Don Lemon (in the below clip) for criticizing his former CNN colleague’s remarks about Piers refusing to believe Meghan Markle’s claims of racist remarks (about her son’s skin color) by an unidentified Royal. Not only that, but Meghan admitted that she felt suicidal during her time with the British Royal Family, which Piers also didn’t believe.

On Tuesday, there was a string of shootings at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area. Eight people died and it is being reported that six of those victims were Asian women, which is causing speculation that the shootings were racially motivated. This news comes in the midst of reports of anti-Asian violence during the coronavirus pandemic.

This is all upsetting news, and now Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner, who was born in South Korea and identifies as Korean, has offered a reaction. Taking to Twitter, she wrote, “We are white adjacent until we are not. Til someone calls us a chink, or mocks an accent, claims we started this virus from eating dogs and bats, attacks our elders, targets and kills us. Dunno wtf it does to say stop AAPI [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] hate but it is important to acknowledge this is very real.”

She also re-shared a small collection of insensitive jokes people on Twitter made about the shootings and added, “Like literally f*ck this f*ck you if you have ever made this joke.”

This comes just days after Zauner had one of the biggest experiences of her professional career: Japanese Breakfast made their debut appearance on The Tonight Show on Monday, during which they performed “Be Sweet” and “Jimmy Fallon Big!.”

Donald Trump had one of the least emphatic responses to Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. “She’s no good… I said it and now everybody is seeing it,” ex-advisor Jason Miller claims the former-president told him about the Duchess of Sussex. “You realize if you say anything negative about Meghan Markle you get canceled, look at Piers.” Trump also said that he’s on “team Piers” because he’s “the greatest, and they went and tried to cancel him simply because he criticized Meghan Markle.”

On Tuesday night, Trump was interviewed by Fox News Primetime host Maria Bartiromo, who brought up the rumors of Markle running for president in 2024. “What was your take on Meghan Markle now saying — meeting with Democratic operatives, she may want to run for president?” she asked. Trump replied, “I hope that happens. If that happened, I think I’d have an even stronger feeling toward running.” He added that “I think that what she talks about the royal family and the queen — I happen to think, I know the queen, as you know. I’ve met with the queen and I think the queen is a tremendous person.” Then, once more for emphasis: “And I’m not a fan of Meghan.”

An off-the-record “close friend” of Markle’s told Vanity Fair that “one of the reasons she was so keen not to give up her American citizenship was so she had the option to go into politics. I think if Meghan and Harry ever gave up their titles she would seriously consider running for president.” But Markle faces actor-turned-politician competition from Will Smith and The Rock. The future of the democratic party looks like Peacock’s archive.

(Via the Hill)

Based on the animus that Liam and Noel Gallagher have shown toward each other for years and continue to exhibit, it doesn’t feel like the brothers are gearing up to reunite Oasis any time soon. It does appear the pair is working on something new together, though, and it may even be related to Oasis.

The Sun reports that the brothers have established a company called Kosmic Kyte, which is officially described as being for “motion picture production activities.” Both Gallaghers are listed as being involved with the venture, along with Alec McKinlay, who runs Ignition, the firm that manages them. Given the success of recent biopics about Queen and Elton John, perhaps it’s possible that the duo is eying a movie about Oasis.

There was a hint recently that Liam and Noel might be up to something together, as in December, Liam tweeted at his brother and declared that “2021 is our year.”

In 2017, Liam gave his picks for who would play his brother and himself in a biopic, disparagingly choosing Rowan Atkinson for Noel: “Mr. Bean for Noel, because he’s annoying, isn’t he? You just want to punch his f*cking head in and be like, ‘Stop f*cking about, mate.’” As for himself, his pick is friend, actor, and former Super Furry Animals member Rhys Ifans, saying, “I don’t wanna go down the sexy hunky route, so none of that Tom Hardy nonsense for me. Rhys Ifans would be good for me. He’s a bit out there. Rhys and Mr. Bean. There you go.”

With 5:56 left in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans, Eric Bledsoe hit a shot that put the Pels up, 117-100. It seemed like they were right on track to waltz to a win over a playoff foe in the Western Conference, and then, Damian Lillard happened.

A torrid 25-7 run to end the game, spurred on by Lillard scoring or assisting on 18 of those points, led the Blazers to a 125-124 win. The 50 points Lillard scored were a season-high, and it came on 13-for-20 shooting and an insane 18-for-18 clip from the free throw line. For good measure, Lillard pitched in team-best marks in assists (10) and rebounds (six).

There was very much a meltdown by New Orleans. With 7.2 seconds left and the team up by three, Brandon Ingram got sent to the charity strip for a pair of shots but ended up missing them both. After fouling Lillard on the ensuing possession, the Pelicans got the ball and immediately gave it back on a Nickeil Alexander-Walker turnover.

And then, a ridiculous end of game sequence occurred. Lillard drew a foul while shooting a jumper and, as previously noted, he hit them both. New Orleans was out of timeouts, but ran as reliable of a play as they could: Have Lonzo Ball throw a wild pass to Zion Williamson, who tries to muscle his way through someone and score. It almost worked thanks to Ball dropping a dime, but Robert Covington provided enough resistance to keep the shot from going in.

NBA players were enamored with how things played out, unsurprisingly.

In a pair of fun extra notes, Lillard moved into a tie with LeBron James for the seventh-most career 50-point games, while the Blazers joined elite company for their consistency at the free throw line.

The two teams will play one another on Wednesday in the second night of a back-to-back.

This weekend Nick Jonas released Spaceman — his first solo album in more than four years. He performed the project’s two singles, “Spaceman” and “This Is Heaven,” on an Saturday Night Live episode he hosted and later delivered a video for the former track. While Nick may not be focused on the next stage of his career just yet, the singer revealed that it would be a dream to portray Bruce Springsteen in a movie.

“Well, growing up in New Jersey, Bruce obviously has a special place in my heart and my creative life,” Jonas said during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “And it is a dream of mine — and I’ll just go ahead and say it, hoping that it gets to the right ears — but it’s a dream of mine to play him in a movie one day and tell his story in some way that would be honoring to him and that he could be involved with.”

He also commended The Boss for the longevity of his career and the way he treats his fans. “[I] could only hope to have a career as lengthy as his and as important as his has been to people,” Jonas added. “And that was the thing that really stood out to me after going to a show is just, he’s been a champion for his fans his entire career, and you see it at the shows. It’s about them. Every moment’s about them, them having the best experience, best night of their week, their life, their year, whatever.”

You can watch the entire interview above.

Spaceman is out now via Island Records. Get it here.

Lil Baby has had a great last year and a half, and this Sunday saw another example of that. The rapper took the stage at the 2021 Grammys to deliver a fiery performance of “The Bigger Picture,” which was also among the night’s nominated songs. While his set was a memorable one, he later revealed another exciting thing that happened to him that night.

“I met jay z,” he wrote in a tweet. “He let the security walk with bey an he walked by his self. Boss sh*t.” Later, during an interview with Billboard, he spoke about the run-in. “I’m really not that fond of meeting other celebrities, but Jay-Z is a guy who I look up to, and look up to the way he moves and the things that he’s done,” he said. “I see myself following in his footsteps.”

Lil Baby also discussed his Grammy performance and explained why he felt it was important to show scenes of police brutality and riots. “I wanted to use a specific situation that would give people an understanding of where I come from,” he revealed. “I didn’t really want to use the George Floyd or Breonna Taylor [killings] or something. I wanted to use something that stood by me. That happened in Atlanta, and I live in Atlanta, and I’ve been in some of those same exact situations.”

Nine years ago, Disney forked out $4.05 billion to buy the Star Wars property from George Lucas (who’s used the money wisely). It’s been a hit-and-miss gamble, with at one sure-fire hit underperforming (Solo: A Star Wars Story) plus derided threequel (The Rise of Skywalker). Still, they own Star Wars, so they might as well make the most of it. With that in mind, it’s a bit strange to learn that, a year and change after it bowed, Disney+ will finally get around to making public some Star Wars content that’s both top-shelf and a bit arcane.

As per Variety, on April 2 the streamer will add a bevy of deep-ish cut Star Wars effluvia. The most high profile of them is the original Clone Wars, which ran for three seasons between 2003 and 2005. Directed by Samurai Jack’s Genndy Tartakovsky, it was meant to bridge the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Its first two seasons unspooled in five-minute bites — it was Quibi before Quibi! — but the third expanded into a full 12 minutes each. (In 2008 Clone Wars returned as a regular-length show, but minus Tartakovsky.)

It’s been a touch inexplicable that the first Clone Wars was AWOL from Disney+. Not so much another big newbie: the two Ewok spin-off TV movies from 1984 and 1985. A mere year after Return of the Jedi, the most marketable figures hit the small screen in Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, bringing back Warwick Davis’ Wicket, as well as esteemed actress Fionnula Flanagan. Ewoks: The Battle of Endor arrived the next year, this time with Wicket joined by Wilford Brimley and Paul Gleason, the mean principal from The Breakfast Club.

To answer your question: No, you’re not getting the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Okay, you sort of are: Disney+ will soon boast “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee,” the only genuinely good part of the franchise’s first major misstep — a cartoon interlude that, among other things, introduced the world to Boba Fett. Still, a dazed Carrie Fisher warbling the theme to Star Wars with lyrics or GTFO.

(Via Variety)