Support independent journalism, free from the trades and other publications that are part of the tinsel town machine.
For 12 years, Showbiz411.com has been covering Hollywood, Broadway, the music business and the business of celebrity. Ads are our main source of funding, but contributions (not tax exempt) from readers who enjoy the scoops, exclusives, and fact based reports are always welcome and very appreciated. To inquire about ads, email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
You can’t make this up. Justin Bieber is endorsing flavored donut holes at Canadian coffee shop chain, Tim Horton’s.
Think Dunkin’ Donuts. And Dunkin’ Munchkins. Same idea. Except they’re called Timbits. Or Timbiebs.
Justin, no Mensa candidate, is seen in the video below enthusiastically picking the flavors that best represent him.
What comes to mind is that there’s been no touring income for two years. And Justin’s albums haven’t sold especially well. His biggest hit this year was “Peaches,” which featured other singers, so his cut of the profits wasn’t so high. Another hit was with Kid Laroi. So Bieber may need money.
And this is what it’s come to. I’d love to see the books on his account over at Scooter Braun’s. Things must be pretty bad if they’ve stooped this low.
Actor William Hurt has been “out there” for a long time. A respected acting talent, he’s never been part of the mainstream of Hollywood or Broadway. He was always a little “off.”
And now comes the proof. Hurt has thrown in with the 9-11 “truthers” who believe the US government blew up the World Trade Center buildings. He’s narrating a film about it and has written a piece on the site of wacko conspiracy theorists Architects and Engineers.
Hurt says in the piece, called “It took me a long time to face what I knew to be true about 9/11,” that ten days after the 9-11 attacks he was on a movie set when he lost consciousness or something. The medics thought it might be a TIA or mini stroke But Hurt says no, it was when he had an epiphany.
He writes:
It was a busy scene involving over a hundred people. As I returned to what they call “start marks” for another “master shot” (of the whole scene before tighter “coverage” setups begin), I stopped. And I suddenly couldn’t remember where I was. What city was I in?
Then my body just “went” to New York. It was “there,” floating high up inside one of the imploding towers. I was trying to catch the falling bodies in my arms. Trying to pick them from out of everything and grab them to my chest to save them, but everything was passing through me — the immense pieces of concrete and superstructure mingled with the bodies of my fellows. I couldn’t catch them. They went through my arms. Everything did. I was what they call “losing it.”
A crew member came up and said, “Mr. Hurt, we’re ready.” I had no idea what he meant. The man asked, “Are you okay?” I heard his voice and said, “I don’t think so.”
Hurt says it wasn’t a physical issue. He was having some kind of out of body experience.
It took a while but, finally, I found pieces of evidence online. Mixed in among all the nonsense, there was sane and reasoned evidence. One of the sources, the strongest one by far, a source supported by thousands of responsible, honest, honorable, grounded, normal, respectful people — professional architects and engineers all around the world — was Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. An amazing act of courage and compassion meets us there when we can bring ourselves to seek the answers.
Um, these people are completely CRAZY. I am very worried about American society. Too many people think this stuff, and also think they’re being tracked by the vaccine. Mental illness is thriving around us. And here is William Hurt, who won an Oscar in 1985, is now in his 70s and hasn’t been in anything of importance for at least 15 years or more. He’s lost his mind. If anything, he’s become his character in the mind bender, “Altered States,” from 1980.
I’m not linking to the film or the website of these kooks.
Douglas played the patriarch of the Abbott family, John Abbott, on “The Young and the Restless” for 30 years. He was so popular that even after a bad team of writers thought he was too old and killed him off, Douglas was brought back over and over as a ghost, or a dream character.
Douglas started working in Hollywood on TV in 1961, and soon amassed a huge resume in the two decades leading up to his role on “Y&R.” He appeared on dozens of series, often multiple times, from “Mannix” to “Mission Impossible” to “Barnaby Jones” and so on.
But was in 1981 when “Y&R” creator Bill Bell remade the nearly ten year old soap, that Douglas found his niche. As the head of the Abbott family, he was the only character on the show with principles, a conscience, and tried to remain above the fray as everyone around him was involved in subterfuge, adultery, and other soap related chicanery. He was the moral center of the very immoral Genoa City. His run finally came to an end in 2016.
Condolences to his family and friends.
Rest in peace my dear TV husband Jerry Douglas. Thank you for the laughter all those years. Much much love to you and your beautiful family Kim and Hunter and everyone pic.twitter.com/cS478kBr5F
The race for Best Song at the Academy Awards is on. U2 has joined it with “Your Song Saved My Life” from “Sing 2.” Already in the hunt are Diane Warren and Reba McEntire, Beyonce, Van Morrison, and host of pop stars whose songs are featured in films this year.
Bono, the lead singer of U2, has a featured role in “Sing 2,” and so does the group’s classic hit, “I Still Don’t Know What I’m Looking For.”
Is there a new U2 album in the offing? I hope so, I miss them! But in the meantime, we’ve got this song. U2 has one Oscar already for Best Song, “The Hands that Built America,” from Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,” 2003.
I like everything about this trailer for Amazon’s “Being the Ricardo’s” starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. The Oscar winners look and sound like Lucy and Ricky. There’s an orchestrated version of the TV show’s theme music. Aaron Sorkin explores Lucy’s dustup with the Black list. Cross fingers, this could be a winner.
Mariah Carey has made a deal with McDonald’s. They’re offering some kind of Mariah Carey Happy Meal for Christmas tied to her annual “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
Mariah would not eat fast food, let alone McDonald’s, if you paid her. But I guess she will now since McDonald’s is paying her.
Years ago there was big all star concert in Hyde Park, London called Live 8. July 2005. I wrote:
Here’s the thing about Mariah: She is a diva, and she doesn’t even know it. While I sat with her, she sent back her spaghetti-and-meat-sauce dinner three times — because it had cheese on it.
It’s not like she’s allergic to cheese, either. It’s that she could smell that the grated parmesan came from a jar and wasn’t fresh. (“It’s a thing I’ve had since fourth grade,” she said.) It was kind of hilarious.
What I remember is a production assistant walking into this little mobile structure where Mariah was holding court. Snoop Dogg had walked in with a gold chain around his neck ornamented by a small pistol. The P.A. was a woman with a headset. She carried in a round aluminum take out container, covered in foil, and said, “Hi, this is your dinner. It’s spaghetti and meatballs.”
Mariah said, “Is that cheese I smell?”
PA: “Yes.”
“Is it from a can? I won’t eat it. I only eat fresh grated parmesan.”
The PA was gobsmacked, as she was delivering food to a lot of celebrities. Everyone else in the tents, including Paul McCartney, Bill Gates, and Sting, was eating the food they were getting. But Mariah refused, and yes, they went back and forth three times on this cheesy subject.
So Mariah eating a Happy Meal from McDonald’s? Uh, no. Not possible. (And PS I don’t blame her, it’s disgusting.)
All she wants for Christmas is a private chef, kids.
ABBA’s first album since 1982, “Voyage,” is more or less a bust.
Hitsdailydouble.com predicts “Voyage” will sell no more than 80,000 copies. It will finish its debut week at number 2, second to Summer Walker’s album, “Still Over It.”
Walker, a jazz and R&B sensation, will sell 100,000 copies more than ABBA. She’s shooting for 185,000 streaming equivalent copies.
ABBA’s comeback so far hasn’t been a great success. The album is terrible, and the singles from it have not been hits. Their London hologram show isn’t a big ticket seller either.
Powerhouse Texas attorney Thomas J. Henry is representing 68 victims in a lawsuit against Travis Scott, rapper Draka aka Aubrey Drake Graham, Live Nation, and NRG stadium with dozens more expected to follow suit as more victims forward to tell their stories and demands for justice.
With cases quickly mounting, Thomas J. Henry — headquarted in San Antonio, Texas — revealed that he sees potential damages for Astroworld injuries and deaths reaching billions of dollars.
“More and more injured victims are contacting my firm by the hour,” said Henry in a release. “While we are all still working to understand the full scope of the Astroworld tragedy, I believe the damages suffered by its victims could total in the billions.”
At least eight people have died as a result of the terrible injuries they suffered at Astroworld. Another 23 people were hospitalized, 11 people suffered cardiac arrest, and 300 were treated on site.
To assist in his firm’s investigation of the fatal music festival, Thomas J. Henry has brought in industry experts including Crowd Security/Crowd Control Experts Ron Martinelli and Stanley Kephart. These experts will help demonstrate how the organizers and performers of Astroworld failed to provide their attendees with a safe concert environment resulting in concert goers suffering injuries and death and will play a critical role in telling the victims’ stories.
Thomas J. Henry is offering immediate free case consultations to all Astroworld victims.
Brian Williams is leaving MSNBC and NBC next month, he says. He’s been with NBC for 27 years, and MSNBC since 2016.
The network is saying he wants to spend more time with his family which is code for “we didn’t want to pay him more and he’s taking his chances elsewhere.” But Williams will turn up somewhere else after the new year. maybe CNN Plus.
MSNBC is crumbling before our eyes. Rachel Maddow has already said she’ll leave her daily show next year and appear monthly or occasionally or something. But she’s the lead ratings getter, and she wants out, too.
All of this suggests that Rashida Jones — not the really gifted comic actress who’s the daughter of Quincy Jones — is taking a wrecking ball to an already precarious structure. Consistency is the key to success on these nighttime news networks. That’s why Fox News does so well. The only people who leave are discovered to be part of a scandal and are forced out.
Williams started his 11pm MSNBC show in 2016 after a time out from the network after he was discovered to be a prevaricator and embellisher.
NBC isn’t alone in having problems with on air talent. CBS News is a mess under new leadership that let Norah O’Donnell be kicked around in the press last week. With audiences shrinking, the news shows will soon be hosted by game show celebrities. The evening news will be retitled “Press Your Luck.”
The full list of songwriters and producers is out for Adele’s ’30” album, and so is Paul Epworth.
The man wrote and produced “Rolling in the Deep” and “Skyfall” has no credits on the new “30” album coming next Friday.
Epworth put Adele on the map with “Rolling in the Deep.” On the “21′ album he also had “I’ll Be Waiting” and “He Won’t Go.” On the “25” album Epworth brought “I Miss You” and “Sweetest Devotion.” The pair won six Grammys together. And 1 Academy Award.
But on “30,” five of the ten songs are by Greg Kurstin including “Easy On Me,” the kick off single currently at the top of the charts, Kurstin wrote “Hello.” Adele’s big hit from the “25” album six years ago.
The other big winner songwriter on “30′ is Dean Josiah Cover, aka Inflo. Cover has three tracks on the album including “Hold On,” now being used as an Amazon commercial.
There are also songs by Max Martn and Shellback, Ludwig Goransson, and Tobias Jesso Jr. The latter wrote “When We Were Young,” from the “25” album.
But no Epworth at all on “30” is a shock. Epworth definitely gave Adele a bluesier sound. Kurstin goes for the big weepy piano ballads. There’s nothing wrong with the latter, but for me, “Rolling in the Deep” is the jewel in Adele’s crown. It took her places vocally and instrumentally that she should be revisiting now. It’s also hard to believe Epworth didn’t have a song for the cockney accented diva.
This is kind of a tradition for divas, isn’t it? Mariah Carey’s big early hits were with Ben Margulies. Then she dumped him. Norah Jones wrote “I Don’t Know Why” with Jesse Harris, and that was it. Barbra Streisand never went back to the “Stoney End.” Only Dionne Warwick stuck with a good thing when she struck gold with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, becoming the standard bearer for their songs.