Alec Baldwin returns to work for first time since 'Rust' shooting
Alec Baldwin is reportedly working again for the first time since his involvement with the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of "Rust." According to Entertainment Weekly, the star recently traveled to England, where he's starting production on a new project. On Instagram Alec shared video from his "least favorite place," an airport, on Feb. 4, followed by clips that showed him musing on what life might be like in a foreign country as he walked through the streets of what appears to be a British city. (He was reportedly seen at Heathrow Airport in London last week.) No details about the new production have been announced, but the actor's IMDB page references a number of projects in the works, including a "cop thriller" called "Blue Blood" and a TV series listed only as "Untitled Kelsey Grammer / Alec Baldwin Project." Production on his Western, "Rust," has remained suspended since October, when a weapon Alec believed contained no live rounds discharged, killing the movie's cinematographer, Halyna, and wounding its director, Joel Souza. Alec later said in an interview with ABC News that he "didn't pull the trigger." Alec, along with a number of crew members and producers, face lawsuits from the film's script supervisor and chief electrician, according to EW. An investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
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NBC says Leslie Jones Olympics live-tweet feud 'has been resolved'
After Leslie Jones called out NBC for allegedly pressuring her to give up her hugely popular live-tweet coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the network issued a statement late on Feb. 7 saying the matter "has been resolved." "She's free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past," a spokesperson for NBC Sports told The New York Times. "She's a super fan of the Olympics and we're super fans of hers." Earlier that day, the "SNL" alum received a surge of support from fans for social media posts she shared Sunday night and Monday morning in which she said she felt she'd been "replaced" and believed the network had "blocked" some of her Olympics live-tweet videos. "Leslie Jones does not stay anywhere I'm not welcomed," she wrote at one point after posting about the free skate event. "I'm starting to feel like this should be my last olympics i live tweet," she wrote on Instagram. Responding to a fan on Twitter, she clarified, "it's NBC," not trolls who were making her want to quit live-tweeting the games. "They block my videos and they get folks who think they can do it like me. And I'm tired of fighting them." The next evening, NBC — which previously used Leslie's often hilarious Olympics recaps in the network's coverage of the 2016 and 2018 games — told the Times it had not blocked her videos. In her exchanges with fans, the comic had asked that those who want her to continue her Olympics coverage should contact NBC Sports, which airs recaps from Snoop Dogg and Kevin Hart in its Peacock coverage of the Beijing Olympics, but not Leslie. "I have watched olympics since I could walk lol. Me and my dad," she wrote on Twitter. "So this is from my heart. Y'all should be asking @NBCSports why they don't see that. And think they can replace me with just anyone. Again not saying I was first just saying it's frustrating. @TeamUSA." As the International Olympics Committee told Reuters in 2021, "Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs)" — in this case, NBC –"have the exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympic Games," including "distribution on social media," where even athletes "cannot post competition content natively" or it will be removed "automatically."
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Billie Eilish stops show to help fan get inhaler: 'We're taking care of our people'
Billie Eilish stopped her show at what appeared to be an at-capacity crowd at State Farm Arena in Atlanta over the weekend when she spotted a woman in the crowd who was having trouble breathing. Videos posted to social media show the singer pausing her performance to ask the young woman and her friends if she's OK and how Billie can help. "You need an inhaler?" she asks, before directing her stage crew to find one for her and assist the fan with whatever she needs. "It's OK … give her some time. Don't crowd," Billie tells the audience of thousands. In a clip published by TMZ, Billie then walks around the stage, telling other fans, "It's OK," repeatedly before saying, "we're taking care of our people … I wait for people to be OK until I keep going." The moment comes as Travis Scott and Live Nation face legal action from more than 1,000 people affected by a crowd surge at the rapper's Astroworld Festival in November that left 10 people dead and injured hundreds more. Travis has been blasted for continuing to perform as the chaos erupted and worsened before him. He's denied knowing how bad things had gotten, saying he couldn't see or hear what was happening in the audience from the stage. Billie is rumored to be replacing Travis as the headliner at Coachella this spring.
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Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian and more stars congratulate Kylie Jenner, Travis Scott on baby No. 2
The Kardashian-Jenner family expanded by one last week, when Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott welcomed their second child together. Kylie went public with the news over the weekend, sharing a sweet black and white photo of their 4-year-old daughter, Stormi, holding their new son's hand. The post ushered in lots of love and congratulations from Kylie's family and friends, including her mom, Kris Jenner, who reposted the pic on her Instagram "My beautiful grandson!! God is so good 💙💙💙 #repost @kyliejenner 💙 2/2/22," she captioned the post after commenting "Angel Pie" on Kylie's post. Kylie's sisters, Kourtney, Khloe and Kim Kardashian all chimed in on Kylie's pic, too, with Kourt writing, "Mommy of two life ❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼," while Khloe posted a series of blue heart emojis. Kim commented with emojis, too, posting, "👼🏽💙." According to a post on Kris' Instagram Story, Kim also sent a huge bouquet of flowers to her little sis, with a card that read, "Congratulations Travis, Kylie and Stormi! We are so excited and love you so much! Kim, North, Saint, Chiago and Psalm XOXO." Other famous pals who shared their congrats included Hailey Bieber, Stassie Karanikolaou, Khadijah Haqq McCray and Malika Haqq. While a source told People Kylie "wants to make sure she loves the name" before she shares it publicly, fans believe the new parents of two named their son Angel because of all the angel references that have appeared in Instagram comments about the baby. The date 2/2/22 is also what's known as an "angel number" in numerology, or a recurring sequence of significant numbers.
Jennifer Lopez talks 'brutal,' racist scrutiny of first Ben Affleck romance
In a new cover story for Rolling Stone, Jennifer Lopez reflects on how public scrutiny and racism fueled her first split from Ben Affleck in the early 2000s — and why she doesn't see another breakup in the on-again couple's future. When Jen and Ben went public with their romance in 2002, much of the chatter about their relationship involved stereotypes and racially motivated comments about Jen from the media. That included Conan O'Brien, who once joked about casting "our script intern" as Ben and "our cleaning lady" as Jen in a sketch about the couple, according to the magazine. "It was brutal. It's one of those things that you bury very deeply so you can move on and get about your business," she recalls in the feature. "It's funny because Ben and I were together, and we were so in love," Jen adds. "It was one of the happiest times of my life. But also, there was this other thing happening where we were being criticized, and it really destroyed our relationship from the inside out, because we were just too young to understand at that time what were really the most important things in life." After reconnecting, Jen and Ben gave the romance another try last year and they haven't looked back. In fact, the "Marry Me" star says she doesn't think they'll break up again. "I don't think we would have got back together if we thought that was where it was headed," she says. "We feel like what we found again is so much more important, and how we protect that and how we live our lives — what to share, what not to share — is the balance that we have now, the benefit of experience and the wisdom that we gained over the years."
Razzie nominations 2022: Jared Leto and his bad 'House of Gucci' accent up for Worst Couple, Bruce Willis gets his own category
Ahead of the Academy Awards nominations announcement on Feb. 8, the Oscars' self-proclaimed "ugly cousin," the Razzie Awards, has revealed the nominees for its celebration of the worst of the worst in 2021 movies. And while Megan Fox scored a Worst Actress nod for "Midnight in the Switchgrass," the film that sparked her romance with fiance Machine Gun Kelly, the clear winner (loser?) in this year's list — announced via press release on Feb. 7 — has to be Megan's costar, Bruce Willis. The "Die Hard" alum appeared in so many critically panned movies in 2021 that the Razzies created a new category just for Bruce: Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie. All eight of his 2021 releases are contenders. The Razzies also don't discriminate against stars who've won Oscar gold. Past Academy Award winners Jared Leto ("House of Gucci"), Ben Affleck ("The Last Duel") and Mel Gibson ("Dangerous") are all up for Worst Supporting Actor Razzies this year. Jared also scored a nod for Worst Screen Couple, his significant other being "Either His 17-Pound Latex Face, His Geeky Clothes or His Ridiculous Accent" when he played Paolo Gucci in "House of Gucci," according to Razzies.com. Battling Megan for the Worst Actress prize, meanwhile, are Amy Adams ("The Woman In The Window," which is up for five Razzies), Taryn Manning ("Karen"), Ruby Rose ("Vanquish") and Jeanna de Waal, whose "Diana the Musical" from Netflix leads with nine nominations, including Worst Picture. The Razzies present their not-so-honorable awards March 26, one day before the 2022 Academy Awards.
Kanye West scrubs Kim Kardashian, kids from his Instagram
In the wake of his explosive social media fight with ex, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West has reportedly taken down all Instagram posts about Kim and the former couple's four children. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Julia Fox has deleted photos of her with Kanye from social media, though she said on her Instagram Story over the weekend that they're still dating. Kanye's Insta-edit came after a video surfaced on social media that showed the rapper taking three of the kids to a brunch event hosted by Jason Lee, seemingly without a chaperone, according to Page Six. Most of the complaints Ye made public about Kim in recent days involved allegations she was keeping him from seeing their children — he claimed she tried to "kidnap" their daughter Chicago. He also slammed her for giving their eldest daughter, North, a green light to use TikTok "against" his "will." After his first tirade, Kim shared a statement on her own social media. "Kanye's constant need for attacking me in interviews and on social media is actually more hurtful than any TikTok North might create," she wrote, in part. "As the parent who is the main provider and caregiver for our children, I am doing my best to protect our daughter while also allowing her to express her creativity in the medium that she wishes with adult supervision — because it brings her happiness," she added. Kanye hit back at the statement multiple times. Those posts are among the ones he has since deleted.
NYU launches a whole course on Taylor Swift
A select group of students at New York University's Clive Davis Institute recently embarked on the school's first-ever course on "Taylor Swift as a creative music entrepreneur," according to a new report from Variety. The singer has even been invited to give guest lecture this term, which began on Jan. 26. As part of the class, students are set to delve into the "legacy of pop and country songwriters that have influenced" Taylor and take a deep dive into "the way her creativity and songwriting have made her a durable presence in a quickly evolving music industry," according to the syllabus. The class is being taught by Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos. Speaking to Variety, course chair and fellow music writer Jason King says Brittany knows how to "contextualize [Taylor] culturally, and get students to think more deeply about her and her music through the lens of gender, feminism, race, and class, and other categories related to identity." The course runs through March 9.