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“American Idol” Cancels 16 Year Old Caleb Kennedy, Drops Him From Show, After KKK Video Surfaces

Roger Friedman
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“American Idol” Cancels 16 Year Old Caleb Kennedy, Drops Him From Show, After KKK Video Surfaces

Caleb Kennedy, who seemed like an amiable kid, has been cancelled by “American Idol.”

The 16 year old country singer was outed by a website with a video made when he was 12. He’s standing next to someone wearing a KKK hood.

Kennedy has posted his exit to Instagram.

His mom told MSNBC: “This video was taken after Caleb had watched the movie ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’ and they were imitating those characters. It had nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan, but I know that’s how it looks. Caleb doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. He loves everyone and has friends of all races.”

Now there are only four contestants for the “Idol” finals. It was a bit of a surprise when Hunter Metts didn’t get chosen last Sunday. Maybe they can bring him back.

“Idol” has been plagued by problems this season. Wyatt Pike, who’s 20 and looked like he could go the distance, dropped out weeks ago citing “personal reasons.” He’s since managed to book a gig on Staten Island.

Meantime, the most recent show this past Sunday, featuring Coldplay, was the lowest rated so far of this season. And no one knows what happened to last year’s winner, a young woman named Just Sam. If anyone does, send me an email at showbiz411@gmail.com.

PS On Friday, “Idol” judge Katy Perry is releasing a new single. And I saw Luke Bryan out promoting something today. These people aren’t stupid. They sense a ship taking on water.

Critics Choice Awards Swoops in and Takes Golden Globes Date for January, Oscars Next to Move Up?

Roger Friedman
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Critics Choice Awards Swoops in and Takes Golden Globes Date for January, Oscars Next to Move Up?

Nature abhors a vacuum. And now that the Golden Globes are off the schedule, in come the Critics Choice Awards.

Formerly the Broadcast Critics, the CCA is swooping in and taking Sunday, January 9th to present its statues. Comprising both movies and TV the CCA has plenty of members of all colors and creeds, and they are all accredited journalists.

The show will air on the CW Network from 7 to 10pm that night. In the past few years it’s been coming from the Santa Monica Airport hangar, but it’s possible it could be moved up to the Beverly Hilton ballroom since it’s available.

Next up will be some kind of announcement moving the Academy Awards up from late February. My guess is they go for no later than the first Sunday in February. We’ll see.

Clive Davis Ready for Another Blow Out Zoom Gala This Weekend, with Brandi Carlile, HER, and a Surprise Guest Performing

Roger Friedman
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Clive Davis Ready for Another Blow Out Zoom Gala This Weekend, with Brandi Carlile, HER, and a Surprise Guest Performing

Clive Davis has finally returned to the New York area after a year of living away, first in Southern California, and them in Miami. He’s come back just at the right time, having celebrated his 89th birthday last month. New York is opening up, and the effervescent music mogul is focused on a big event this Saturday.

Clive is hosting his second Grammy Zoom gala for charity this Saturday, with another 2,000 guests. Among them will be so many A-listers Zoom may explode. The last one he did, in January, was an incredible success.

On this new Zoom, Clive tells me he’s got some spectacular and historic interviews. I told you a couple of weeks ago that he scored the first talk with Joni Mitchell since she became ill a few years ago.

But he’s also got Paul Simon, who Clive helped launch with Art Garfunkel at Columbia Records in the mid 60s. I will be taking notes. Clive and Simon & Garfunkel are essential rock and roll history.

Another interview that should be amazing will be with Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records. Clive tells me, “I wanted to talk to him about the time when the Supremes were breaking up. We were going through the same thing because Simon & Garfunkel were going their own ways, too.” This should be gold.

Two performers have already booked the Zoom gala– Brandi Carlile, and HER. The latter will sing Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which should be legendary. There’s a third “surprise” guest, but we have to wait and see who it is.

The other interviews are only with Elton John, Oprah, Brian May of Queen, and of all things, new rap star DaBaby. What was that like, I wondered? “You’ll see,” said Clive. “Very interesting.”

Between this event and the one from January, these extravaganzas should be preserved somehow. I asked Clive if he’d had inquiries. The answer is yes, from all the streamers. There’s an important series here. So stay tuned…

NBC’s “This is Us,” As Planned, Will End After One More Season As Ratings Decline

Roger Friedman
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NBC’s “This is Us,” As Planned, Will End After One More Season As Ratings Decline

The end is near for “This Is Us.”

The twelve hanky weeper soap on NBC will end after one more season, a year from now. The show is declining in the ratings, so it’s time to go.

And its stars are already leaving. Sterling K. Brown has a big movie career ahead of him. Justin Hartley recently signed to do an indie movie. The rest of them will start getting new projects. Christie Metz will probably try to have a music career.

How will “This Will Us” end? My guess is Jack is alive, and he kills all of them, in different generations. Or he kills the writers, since offing Jack meant Milo Ventimiglia got fewer episodes. One way or another, there will be a lot shreying and rending of garments.

Maybe NBC can do a crossover with “Ellen DeGeneres,” since she’s exiting the network then too!

Watch Patti Lupone Welcome Us Back to Broadway and “Company” with a Song: “I realized just how much theater means to me”

Roger Friedman
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Watch Patti Lupone Welcome Us Back to Broadway and “Company” with a Song: “I realized just how much theater means to me”

Patti Lupone is coming back to Broadway, finally, in “Company.” Here’s the video she sent out today. Just lovely. Also, don’t forget, Patti is a big Bruce Springsteen fan. She’s very cool.

NYC’s Landmarks Preservation Commission Caves to Wealthy Developers, Will Demolish Historic Buildings in Greenwich Village

Roger Friedman
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NYC’s Landmarks Preservation Commission Caves to Wealthy Developers, Will Demolish Historic Buildings in Greenwich Village

The absolutely useless New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission folded like a paper airplane last night.

They gave into wealthy real estate developers Madison Capital — aka Josh and Mark Zegen, brothers of actor Michael Zegen (“Mrs. Maisel”) and voted to demolish two historic buildings on lower Fifth Avenue. The small buildings will be replaced by a 213 foot tower of few large apartments for the very very wealthy.

The LPC rolls over more often than a whore on 42nd Street (in the old days). I had a personal experience with them in 2019 in which they approved ridiculous alterations for the front of a 120 year old building in the Village that would completely change the establish aesthetic.

Who are these people? Five commissioners voted against the demolition of 14-16 Fifth Avenue. You can see them in the video. But they are resigned to the majority of the other six, none of whom cares about the history of Greenwich Village. Just look at what NYU has done in the last twenty years. It’s disgusting.

(When the developers first proposed the building, it was 241 feet tall. Now it’s 213 feet tall, which is just as ridiculous. I’ve no doubt they planned to remove that footage from the start, it was just a loss leader going in.)

I can’t figure out why the people who live next door to 14-16, in number 20, aren’t outraged and don’t sue everyone involved. 20 Fifth Avenue is kind a classy establishment. Now they’re going to have a wrecking ball swinging back and forth for more than year building an enclave for billionaires. That can’t be on their bingo card.

You can jump in here around 1:15:00. Listening the architect may induce nausea. (“I’m very fond of this,” he says. Really, build it in your own neighborhood.)

Ellen DeGeneres Throwing in the Towel, Ending Talk Show After Season of Low Ratings, Scandal

Roger Friedman
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0
Ellen DeGeneres Throwing in the Towel, Ending Talk Show After Season of Low Ratings, Scandal

Next season will be the last for the Ellen DeGeneres Show. She’s calling it a day.

Ellen will end with 19 seasons, one short of a big 20. But they can’t make it and they know it. This season “Ellen” has been crippled by low ratings and bad press.

So DeGeneres will get a victory lap season, and then move on to new ventures. The signal was that she put her Beverly Hills mansion up for sale some time ago. She was bragging about staying at a house owned by Courteney Cox and commuting home to her estate two hours north of LA in Montecito.

DeGeneres has been plagued by scandal from last summer when it was revealed that her show’s backstage atmosphere was “toxic.” Employees were complaining and the subject of complaints. She seemed clueless while the show sank in the ratings. Guests and celebrities complained as well of poor treatment.

In the end, three producers were let go. But from September when the show returned, the ratings dropped like a rock. She’s down to 900,000 viewers per show per week. More than half the audience is long gone and not coming back.

Unclear what happens to her “Game of Games” show on NBC Primetime, also dying in the ratings, also produced by her. My guess is it’s gone.

The news of Ellen’s ending was first reported in The Hollywood Reporter.

Pop Singer Grimes, Elon Musk’s Girlfriend and Baby Mama, Was Hospitalized For Panic Attack After “SNL”

Roger Friedman
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Pop Singer Grimes, Elon Musk’s Girlfriend and Baby Mama, Was Hospitalized For Panic Attack After “SNL”

Oh, Jeez. Sending good thoughts to pop star Grimes, Elon Musk”s gf and baby mama. She says on Instagram she was hospitalized for a panic attack after Musk hosted “SNL.” Grimes appeared on the show as well. There was so much insensitivity leading up to the show, I don’t blame her.

Rock Hall: Tina Turner Leads 2021 Rock Hall Group of Inductees Including Billy Preston, Carole King, Jay Z, Todd Rundgren

Roger Friedman
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0
Rock Hall: Tina Turner Leads 2021 Rock Hall Group of Inductees Including Billy Preston, Carole King, Jay Z, Todd Rundgren

Tina Turner leads the list of inductees for the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Carole King, The Go Gos, Foo Fighters and Jay Z, who was dead last in fan voting, are the main class.

Billy Preston and Todd Rundgren, LL Cool J are among those chosen by the Hall separate from the voting. We’ve waited a long time for Billy Preston, so congrats to his manager, Joyce Moore, for fighting to protect his legacy. Billy was the actual Fifth Beatle. As the “Let it Be” anniversary release is coming this August, Billy’s induction is right on time.

For once the Hall got it completely right. John Sykes has transformed what was a mess into a success.

Carole King has already posted: “I wanted to be a songwriter so I could meet all the great artists and they would know who I was. I thought being inducted into the @rockhall
as a songwriter with Gerry Goffin was the pinnacle. Until now. Thank you for ALSO inducting me as an artist. And
Folded hands
to my fans always.”

Just a note on Todd Rundgren: always an innovator, like Billy Preston he had his own huge hits in the early 70s. But he also became a noted producer of everyone from Grand Funk Railroad to Meatloaf to XTC. He was way overdue.

Performer Category:

Tina Turner
Carole King
The Go-Go’s
JAY-Z
Foo Fighters
Todd Rundgren

Early Influence Award:

Kraftwerk
Charley Patton
Gil Scott-Heron

Musical Excellence Award:

LL Cool J
Billy Preston
Randy Rhoads

Ahmet Ertegun Award:

Clarence Avant

“Jeopardy!” Now in Real Jeopardy: Anderson Cooper’s Second Week Falls Below 5 Mil, Lowest Rating Recorded

Roger Friedman
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0
“Jeopardy!” Now in Real Jeopardy: Anderson Cooper’s Second Week Falls Below 5 Mil, Lowest Rating Recorded

Beats me. I thought Anderson Cooper was a good Jeopardy host.

But Cooper’s second week was a disaster, sending the ratings below 5 million for the first time in recorded history. The total was 4.8 million, down severely from Ken Jennings’ 6 million earlier this winter.

For a first run, non repeat “Jeopardy!” show, the number is cataclysmic.

The Cooper fail dragged “Wheel of Fortune,” its companion show, down to 4.8 million also.

Syndicator CBS has wrapped the season, so there’s nothing that they can do to remedy the situation. Instead of just putting Jennings in, they had to make this mess of things with the guest hosts. Week by week the ratings have just slid down with no reprieve. Crazy.

At this rate, by the time they finish up the season the show will be in dire straits. They will have to run the best of Alex Trebek all through August and highlight Jennings’ old wins before naming him permanent host.

Ironic, isn’t it? Jennings was the only non-celebrity to guest host besides EP Mike Richards, and he got the best ratings.

 

 

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