Saturday, December 20, 2025
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One Direction’s Zayn Malik is Going to Try for A Comeback Record After Tanking His Career: Will it Work?

Can Zayn Malik make a comeback as a solo artist?

The former member of One Direction had one post-group breakup hit with “Pillow Talk.” All signs pointed to continued success. But then Malik released a bunch of self destructive albums and videos that were so off putting he tanked his career. It was a mess.

Zayn hasn’t been heard from in some time. But this week he’s posted notices that new music is coming. with Harry Styles and Niall Horan booming, Zayn may finally be getting his own act together. Does he even have a manager or a deal? Or is he just doing it all without counsel. The fact that his latest video clip starts with him smoking doesn’t bode well.

Sad News: Robert De Niro’s 19 Year Old Grandson Dies, Shocked Famous Friends Including Victoria Gotti Post Condolences

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This is very sad. Robert De Niro’s 19 year old grandson, Leandro Anthony De Niro-Rodriguez, has died. Leo is the son of Drena Abbott De Niro, who was adopted by the Oscar winner when he was married to actress and singer Diahnne Abbott in the 1970s.

Drena posted the news this morning on Instagram. She wrote: “My beautiful sweet angel . I have loved you beyond words or description from the moment I felt you in my belly .You have been my joy my heart and all that was ever pure and real in my life . I wish I was with you right now. I wish I was with you . I don’t know how to live without you but I’ll try to go on and spread the love and light that you so made me feel in getting to be your mama . You were so deeply loved and appreciated and I wish that love alone could have saved you 😞I’m so sorry my baby , I’m so sorry @carlosmare 😢💔. Rest in Peace and Eternal Paradise my darling boy”

Robert De Niro has sent a statement: “I’m deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo. We’re greatly appreciative of the condolences from everyone. We ask that we please be given privacy to grieve our loss of Leo.”  

Leo’s father, artist Carlos Mare, wrote back: “My dear Drena… words aren’t enough to express the joy he gave us or the loss we now endure with our families and friends. He is Godschild now. 🙏🏼 On this full moon his spirit luminates what could not be seen in the dark. You can’t spell LOVE without LEO”

Many well known people, like actresses Rosie Perez and Debi Mazar, also posted condolences indicating their shock at this incalculable loss.

The one poster who really came out of left field was Victoria Gotti. daughter of the late mobster John Gotti, She wrote, in part: “A young life cut far too short. Love you baby boy!!! Dearest Dreana you were a GREAT “hands-on” mom. It made you even more beautiful physically and emotionally!!! Leo SO appreciated the LOVE you gave him and held you so dearly in his heart. As I know you always did the same with him. Know you were a great mother daughter sister friend.”

Condolences to the extended families.

Why Have Meghan and Harry’s Public Relations Gone Sideways? Simple: They Fired the Pro’s to Save Money, Now They’re Out in the Cold

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It was back in October 2022 that the story broke. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, whose personal PR was always shaky, had fired the professionals who were repping them.

That meant Keleigh Thomas Morgan, partner in Ken Sunshine’s veteran and well traveled company, was out. So was the Hollywood and political network that came with Sunshine Sachs including Leonardo diCaprio, Barbra Streisand, and Ben Affleck. The company also has deep ties with all top Democrats including the Obamas and the Clintons.

The Sussexes decided to move their PR “in house.” Why? Just cheaper, really. They appointed Christine Schwirmer, whose wheel house was Silicon Valley and not Hollywood or politics, to run the show.

What’s happened? The whole thing has gone sideways? The Sussexes not only lost their deal with SiriusXM, but nearly every media outlet in the world has declared them “in decline,” a “Flop,” and so on. It doesn’t matter if it’s true. They may be loaded, for all we know. But the optics are bad. From Oprah to the Harry book, to the Queen’s funeral, and Charles’s coronation, it’s all gone wrong. People magazine and Rolling Stone have jumped on the “flop era” idea, with the UK Press hot to quote them.

Markle, who clearly calls the shots, made a big mistake here. The biggest attraction of a PR company like Sunshine Sachs — Rogers & CowanPMK, ID PR, and so on — has its leverage and ability to network its clients. By isolating herself, Markle lost that clout. Even Oprah isn’t sticking up for the royal couple now. This is, what we like to say, a “Shit show.”

The Markles — er, the Sussexes — need a crisis counselor right away. If they’re smart they’ll go crown in hand back to Sunshine Sachs and get the experts back on board. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long road back into the good graces of the public.

Madonna’s “Celebration” Tour, Put on Pause After Medical Scare, Has Never Stopped Selling Tickets — The Show Must Go On!

A week ago, Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary, announced that the famed performer has a health emergency and that her “Celebration” tour had been put on pause.

Since then we learned that Madonna went to the hospital ICU, had to be intubated, had gotten a bacterial infection, everyone around her was scared. But by then, according to the tabs, she was aleady home and “uncontrollably vomiting.” Contradicting this scenario, her friend Rosie O’Donnel; that Madonna was home and “feeling good.”

And what about the tour? Was it paused? No, as turns out. Ticketmaster is still selling tickets for every show beginning July 19th in Seattle. The show are about 75% sold, mostly through brokers like Stub Hub. There are multiple dates in cities like New York and Los Angeles. Some are sold more than others.

But so far, there’s no indication that anything has changed. Maybe that’s a good sign. The show will go on as planned? If you have Madonna tickets, please let me know via showbiz411@gmail.com if you’ve received word about your show.

Nothing can keep Madonna down!

TV UPDATE: “The Idol” Comes to An End By Skipping a “Lost” Episode and Making No Sense, After 5 Weeks of X Rated Sex, Bad Acting, And Mispronunciations

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UPDATE: So the end did come. It’s fairly obvious that HBO just dropped episode 5, filmed or not, and proceeded ahead to Episode 6, and an ending. The attitude was, rightly, let’s get rid of this thing. They skipped to the end without explanation.

Jocelyn suddenly turned against Tedros. The “c” word was uttered a few times. Really awful, miserable songs and dancing were shown. Everyone except Suzanna Son should be arrested. I guess in the end someone thought it would be a “plot twist” for Jocelyn to become Tedros’s possession, turning the tables. Clever, huh?

That’s done. We’ll see what the fall out is. Please, let’s move on.

Tonight at 9pm, “The Idol’ ends on HBO.

Cut short by a week to five episodes, “The Idol” featured X rated sex, S&N. and a lot of bad acting.

For star and producer The Weeknd, the end could not come any sooner. He’s released a bunch of music from the show, none of it selling or being played like his past hits. The audience has ignored the stuff.

The audience has also ignored the show. An average of 133,000 people have watched the last three episodes on HBO. The numbers are so bad that HBO is not giving Nielsen ratings anymore. We may not know how badly episode 5 does.

What will happen tonight? We’d all love it if someone killed Tedros, the Weeknd’s character. And if someone gave Jocelyn, the singing star, a brain and some clothes her actual size. A really funny ending would be Jennifer Lawrence wandering in naked from “No Hard Feelings.” But that won’t happen. More likely that Jocelyn’s assistant, Leia — played by Rachel Sennott — will kill Tedros and set the house on fire, leave town with millions she’s embezzled from her idiot boss.

However “The Idol” ends, HBO has rarely had a show people hated so much, and not for good reasons. A second season is not only unlikely, there may be a legislation to stop it. HBO has so many great shows, this one should just disappear. And The Weeknd? It may take a lot to repair his reputation.

PS Still the highlight of the show is Tedros mispronouncing “carte blanche” as cartay blanchay. It’s a clip that will never die.

Box Office: It’s Tough Out There, Not Just for Indy and The Flash, But for Asteroid City and Jennifer Lawrence, Too

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The big story at the box office are the big movies. Both “The Flash” and “Indiana Jones” are terrible disappointments.

“The Flash” is actually dead. “Indiana Jones” came in too exactly at $60 million today. It will be interesting to see if that number is a little high or low when the receipts come in tomorrow.

But it’s also tough out there for “smaller” movies. “Asteroid City” is starting to collapse. Wes Anderson’s twee of celebrities fell a sharp 58% from last week. It’s up to $18 million but a goal of $40 million is looking unlikely.

Jennifer Lawrence’s “No Hard Feelings” is also at a cross roads. The R rated comedy dropped 50% this week, and has $30 million in the bank. So Jennifer gets paid on the first dollar, but Sony may find itself pushing for big international sales soon. What will always remain is Jennifer in her birthday suit, ready for clipping from the streaming and DVD versions.

Indiana Jones Dial of Destiny Eyes Disappointing $60 Mil Weekend

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The fifth and final Indiana Jones movie is a disappointment at the box office. It looks the opening weekend will come in at $60 million. It should have been $100 million.

The trouble here began in Cannes. Which was not the right venue. It was too soon. And the way Disney handled screening single premiere screening was so off putting, the movie had little good will.

Certainly no one worked harder promoting the film than Harrison Ford. He was a real mensch. But he was one man pulling a heavy plough. Dial of Destiny has lived in the shadows of Mission Impossible, Barbie, and Oppenheimer as if it were just assumed people wanted to see it.

This all too bad because Indy’s last stand is a lot of fun. It also has a sensational ending, with Karen Allen. Go see it and be pleasantly surprised.

Kelly Clarkson’s Terrible New Album Had No “Chemistry”: Was a Sales Bust Despite Her 24-7 Presence on TV, Media

Kelly Clarkson has a magnificent voice. She shows it off every day on her hit syndicated talk show. These days, Clarkson is also omni present in the media. So you’d think a new album by her would be an out of the box hit.

Alas, Kelly’s “Chemistry” had none. Total sales for the week were just 53,657 according hitsdailydouble.com. Of that, around 44,000 were downloads and CDs.

But “Chemistry” — a terrible album that has spawned no single hits — finished 5th for the week in its debut.

I’m not surprised. The songs are horrid, unlistenable except the last one with Steve Martin on banjo. The album is just a collection of diatribes about Clarkson’s divorce. They are not well written or clever. Most of them sound the same as the others.

To make things worse, Kelly’s amazing voice sounds like she’s shrieking. It’s the opposite of the powerhouse vocal performance she gives every day on her show. If only she’d just recorded great cover songs.

Again, the album has launched no hit singles. Not one. Radio can’t play this stuff, and fans don’t want it. What happened to the Kelly Clarkson of “Since U Been Gone”? If she’s smart, she’ll put together an album of songs she’s performed on her show for Christmas release.

TCM Hosts Say Their Traditional Outros After Movies Were Cut, But Will Reappear After the Summer

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TCM is in the middle of so much chaos right now.

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson had to intervene after Warner Discover’s David Zaslav gutted the beloved channel. He fired around 70 people including all the top execs who make it so informative and cozy. The directing trio somehow got Zaslav to rehire one important person, Charles Tabesh, the longtime programmer.

Now it seems that while all this was going on, someone at TCM ordered the hosts to stop filming outro’s that talked about the movie we just saw. This will become evident, says host Dave Karger, over this weekend. But not to fear– with all the tumult, the decision was reversed and the outros will resume this fall.

Karger wrote on Twitter:

“Eagle-eyed TCM viewers will notice tomorrow that I don’t appear after the films I introduce. Same with @BenMank77 tomorrow night and Alicia on Sunday. But fret not: This change has already been reversed and our “outros” will return in September for Ben, October for me and Alicia.”

Ben Mankiewicz chimed in: “I know this seems like a bad omen to @TCM fans, but it’s a good sign. Outros – the made up word we use – were ordered back even before they went away. The lag time in production means we’ll wait until September until they reappear. Think of outros as taking a summer vacation.”

This stuff may not seem important in the face of global climate change, the Ukraine, immigration, and so on, but it is– this is what makes that other stuff palatable. TCM should not be tampered with under any conditions.

Fox News Will Pay Former Tucker Carlson Producer $12 Million After Claim of Hostile Workplace

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No wonder Tucker Carlson got the boot. He just cost Fox News $12 million.

His former producer, Abby Grossberg, sued the network saying Carlson had made her workplace “hostile.” She also said she was coerced her into providing false testimony in a deposition.

In a statement, Grossberg said: “I am hopeful, based on our discussions with Fox News today, that this resolution represents a positive step by the network regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace.”

This is just another blow to Fox News, which recently was awarded a judgement of $787 million in defamation case brought by Dominion Voting. Former talking head Bill O’Reilly cost them at least $32 million in a sex harassment suit, and there have been plenty of other suits.

Today, Geraldo Rivera exited the network after 23 years because he’d been treated very badly, fired from one show because he was the only sane one. So he quit.

Grossberg was smart. She taped all her calls with Carlson and his producers, then started leaking them. When she filed her suit against Fox, they fired her. She had the evidence, and it’s proved very damaging to the network.

And yet, Fox News viewers don’t seem to care about any of this — even if they know about it. It’s unclear if they because if their only source of news is Fox, this stuff either isn’t reported, or it’s buried. A lot of them may think Carlson is just on vacation.

Congrats to Abby Grossberg.