Taylor Swift thought John Travolta's VMA gaffe was 'hilarious'

By Wonderwall.com Editors 2:23pm PDT, Aug 28, 2019

How Taylor Swift reacted to John Travolta's VMAs gaffe

Viewers across the country were mortified when John Travolta's attempt to say "Idina Menzel" at the 2014 Academy Awards came out "Adele Dazeem." The "Grease" alum's flub at the MTV Video Music Awards on Monday, Aug. 26, however, had enough of a silver lining that it seems all is forgiven. John nearly presented "RuPaul's Drag Race" star Jade Jolie with the MoonMan Taylor won for her "You Need to Calm Down" Video of the Year honor. "He was so confident that it was her," Taylor's pal Todrick Hall recalled on the "Jerry O" show this week (via E! News). "I loved it! I saw it, and we talked about it backstage. Taylor thought it was hilarious," the choreographer continued. Besides, as Todrick put it: "Jade Jolie has made quite the living performing at Play nightclub and she is a fantastic drag queen. Everybody knows that she is the Taylor Swift doppelgänger, so I think that was the highest compliment he could pay her." Jade appeared to think the whole thing was funny, too. After the incident, she joked on Instagram,"Almost got my first award tonight thanks to @johntravolta 😂😂😂😘😘😘."

Brad Pitt spotted at Venice Film Festival with new tattoo

Brad Pitt was turning heads as he arrived at the 76th Venice Film Festival in Italy on Wednesday, Aug. 28, and not just because of his seemingly ageless good looks. Us Weekly noticed the 55-year-old actor and producer, who's in Venice to promote his new film "Ad Astra," appears to have a new black tattoo on his arm. The ink shows a figure of a man by a smaller figure of his shadow. It appears next to a Rumi-inspired quote from a 13th Century poem Brad reportedly got in honor of his ex, Angelina Jolie. "There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there," the text by the new tat reads. He reportedly got the tattoo in 2014. If Us Weekly's guess is correct and the man and his shadow suggest a riff on "Benjamin Button," perhaps the new image is a reminder that the "you" in the poem need not refer to Angelina, but to Brad, himself …

RELATED: Celebrity splits of 2019

Ben Affleck celebrates his birthday, marks one year of sobriety

Happy birthday, Ben Affleck! The "Justice League" star marked his 47th trip around the sun on Aug. 15 and celebrated with his kids, Violet, 13, Seraphina, 10, and Samuel, 7, over the weekend with dinner at Barton G in Los Angeles, according to Page Six. The tab reports that "desserts came out with sparklers" in honor of the birthday boy, who enjoyed a "Happy Birthday" serenade and some gifts from the kids he shares with his ex, Jennifer Garner, who did not join the group for the celebration this year. That's not the only milestone Ben's celebrating this month. According to People, he marked one year sober earlier this month. "He is very open about how challenging it is for him and works on his sobriety daily. Ben thinks of alcoholism as a disease — you shouldn't be ashamed of a disease," an insider tells the magazine." Noting that the actor and producer is "very serious about his sobriety," which "is definitely not easy" to maintain, he's "able to spend more quality time with the kids" now that he's sober. "The kids have had a great summer," says the source. "They have sleepovers at his house, and he takes them out for fun activities." After two previous stints in rehab, Ben entered a treatment center for help with his alcoholism a third time last year on Aug. 22.

Duane 'Dog' Chapman says fraudsters who tried to scam him preyed on other traumatized celebrities

Duane "Dog" Chapman believes the con artists who tried to scam him this summer are preying on folks who may be suffering loss or other traumas in their lives. Earlier this month, he revealed he'd narrowly avoided a scam in which he was offered nearly half a million dollars to give a talk in Dubai. The catch was he was expected to donate a portion of the funds back to the promoting organization, which wanted access to Dog's bank account to wire the funds. It was in the midst of that step that Dog and his rep realized they were being conned. According to Dog, who initially signed on to the deal before realizing it was a hoax, other celebrities were also targeted. "One of the victims was one of the 'Housewives' that lost the husband," he recently told Page Six, noting that his offer came as he was grieving the death of his wife, Beth Chapman. "Then I started noticing anyone that had been through a traumatic experience was bait," he continued. "You know, like, loss of a loved one, a very bad illness, stuff like that. These predators were picking on someone who was not in their right mind." Dog added, "I'm very proud we saved people a lot of money," by realizing the whole offer was a scam.

John Stamos is not convinced Lori Loughlin committed a crime

John Stamos doesn't get it — and by "it," we mean the "Fuller House" star can't grasp why his former costar, Lori Loughlin, would be punished by law for allegedly paying off USC to allow her daughters who have never rowed crew get into the school as rowing team recruits. In a new interview with GQ, John is asked point blank about the situation Lori and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli find themselves in alongside many other wealthy parents accused of cheating, money laundering and using other fraudulent means to get their children into college. "I gotta be careful. I want to wait until the trial happens, if it does, or whatever the result is, and then talk about it," John says. Asked if he's "close with" Lori, John says he is. "And I'll tell you one thing that has been strange is: Honestly I can't figure it out. It doesn't make sense," he continues. "I talked to her the morning everything hit. I just can't process it still…whatever happened, I'm pretty sure that the punishment is not equal to the crime, if there was a crime." Lori and her husband opted not to take a plea deal that was initially offered to them and are currently in the midst of various hearings. They continue to maintain their innocence — a family friend recently told Page Six they didn't realize their money would be seen as a bribe — and are expected to go to trial in 2020.

Prince William, Prince Harry to remember Princess Diana this weekend on the anniversary of her death

This weekend, the royal family ill mark 22 years since the death of Prince William and prince Harry's mom, Princess Diana, who died from injuries sustained in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. In spite of recent rumors of a rift between Harry and William, the brothers are expected to continue their tradition of spending part of the day together on the anniversary this Saturday. "They talk about the little things about Diana that made them laugh: the ski trips and outings to Thorpe Park [a British amusement park]; the effort she went to on their birthdays — all of it," a royal insider tells Us Weekly, adding that the brothers' "other halves and kids join them later." The two reportedly plan to have lunch or dinner together at Kensington Palace. "They always discuss Diana's charity work and brainstorm ways they can continue her legacy," the source says. "Helping others and being a role model to those less fortunate is at the top of their priority list."

Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson step out for dinner in NYC

After a brief split, Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson appear to be very much on again, judging from their recent dinner date at vegan, wood-fired pizzeria Double Zero in New York City's East Village this week. JustJared reports the 42-year-old Coldplay frontman and 29-year-old actress dined there with a female friend on Tuesday, Aug. 27. As they left, the couple clasped hands and smiled. The dinner comes after news Chris' ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow was the one who ultimately "pushed" him to reconcile with Dakota, so … props, Gwyneth!

Linkin Park's late singer Chester Bennington leaves more than $8M to family in new estate docs

When Linkin Park's Chester Bennington passed away at age 41 on July 20, 2017, he left a sizable estate to his wife, Talinda Bennington, and six children. New details about his assets surfaced this week in a filing related to his estate. The Blast reports documents show the late singer's music royalties and cash assets totaled more than $8 million, including $5.2 million future royalties. Another $1.5 million in royalties are cited as coming from Chester's Linkin Park publishing rights, plus $1.3 million more in "songwriter performance rights." The new filing also accounts for $653 in "miscellaneous rights." Chester also owned a number of real estate properties. Those are not included in the new tally.

Madonna delays Madame X tour

Madame X isn't quite ready for her fans yet. Madonna announced this week she's delaying the start of her Madame X tour for production reasons. A rep from Live Nation tells Rolling Stone the date change is due to "highly specialized production elements being delayed," forcing the newly minted 61-year-old to push back a scheduled performances at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House from Sept. 12 and 14 to Oct. 10 and 12. The singer's team plans to honor tickets for the original dates at the rescheduled concerts, but a planned Sept. 15 show there is being canceled and refunds will be issued to ticket holders. "Madame X is a perfectionist and wants to give you the most unique, magical, and musical experience," Madonna told Rolling Stone in a statement. "She underestimated the amount of time it would take to bring this kind of intimate theatrical experience to you and wants it to be perfect!!! Thank you so much for your understanding." Madonna released "Madame X" in June.