Newsletter Wednesday, July 20, 2016

[LaineyGossip.com - Calling all smuthounds!] Wednesday, July 20, 2016 [Intro for July 20, 2016] [Leslie Jones/Taylor Swift] Dear Gossips, For the last couple of days, I’ve been writing repeatedly that Taylor Swift is going to be FINE. You needn’t worry about Taylor Swift. In my post [about Leslie Jones yesterday], I compared the unnecessary worry about Taylor to what’s happened to Leslie Jones. People started noticing however that while the racist accounts targeting Leslie were still active a day later, the trolling comments and snake emojis that Taylor Swift was receiving on Instagram [were promptly removed]. It’s a timely juxtaposition, yet another example of how the study of the celebrity culture can reveal greater truths about the larger culture – who enjoys the luxury of privilege and who is denied that luxury because they do not have any privilege? [Refinery29 posted a comparison] between the two examples and what they “suggest about the role of race and privilege when it comes to hate speech and censorship”. Another interesting angle you might want to consider in this situation: Taylor’s best friend Selena Gomez was on the cover of [The Hollywood Reporter] last week with Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram. The article is about how Instagram is leveraging its relationship with celebrities to increase their value, specifically for a share in the digital market “with an unfiltered swipe at rival Snapchat”. SNAPCHAT. And where did Mrs Kanye West release the receipts? On SNAPCHAT? On Snapchat! Just to be clear, so that we can see all the pieces at play: Instagram and Snapchat are rivals. Mrs West uses Snapchat to drag Taylor Swift. Instagram protects Taylor Swift by cleaning up her mentions… Coincidence or conspiracy? Also, Taylor’s other best friend, Karlie Kloss, is dating venture capitalist Joshua Kushner. Joshua’s firm, Thrive Capital, “[wired an undisclosed amount of money to Instagram]” just 3 days before Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion. Kushner’s “ante was the second largest investment” and helped “value the (then) 18-month-old (Instagram) at $500 million” Coincidence of conspiracy? Taylor Swift is tight with Apple. Taylor Swift has deep connections with Instagram. Ummmm…Taylor Swift is going to be OK. She is ALWAYS going to be OK. Leslie Jones, on the other hand…well… she’s quit Twitter I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart.All this cause I did a movie.You can hate the movie but the shit I got today...wrong — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) [July 19, 2016] Yours in gossip, Lainey [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 2:01 PM [Smutty Tingles] There is no Zayn Malik sex tape. Yet. ([Dlisted]) Brad Pitt lands in New York ([Just Jared]) Is Alicia Vikander changing her “narrative” too? ([Cele|bitchy]) Amy Schumer takes Tara Reid’s side ([TooFab]) Genie Bouchard will never be invited to #Taymerica ([TMZ]) Gwyneth still believes in steaming your folds ([The Superficial]) I like this hair ([Hollywood Tuna]) Obsessed with this outfit on Dakota Johnson ([Go Fug Yourself]) Kate McKinnon gets her hair pulled. And you have to watch it ([Pajiba]) [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 8:09 PM [Gaga and “the break”] [Taylor Kinney and Lady Gaga ] It’s an eternal relationship debate: do breaks work? Yesterday it was reported that [Lady Gaga] and [Taylor Kinney] have ended their engagement. Then Gaga posted this message on Instagram that seems to leave open the possibility for reconciliation: [Taylor and I have always believed we are soulmates. Just like all couples we have ups and downs, and we have been taking a break. We are both ambitious artists, hoping to work through long-distance and complicated schedules to continue the simple love we have always shared. Please root us on. We're just like everybody else and we really love each other.] A photo posted by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) on Jul 19, 2016 at 9:05pm PDT I never used to believe that people who say “we’re on a break” ever end up un-breaking. But I might be full of sh-t because my parents were divorced for over 10 years and my mother married someone else in between, but still eventually got back together. Is it a celebrity trend though? This “break”? Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner announced they would be divorcing last year. They’ve yet to file paperwork and there’s speculation that they might be working to get back together. Jillian Fink actually filed for divorce from Patrick Dempsey in January 2015. They called off the divorce a year later. Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth ended their engagement three years ago. Last Christmas they got back together. Gaga and Taylor have broken up before. So they have experience with breaking and un-breaking. I think though that the key to unbreaking is being honest about what happened during the break. Or maybe before the break. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 7:59 PM [One year later: Miranda’s Vice] [Miranda Lambert on Instagram ] Exactly a year ago today, [Miranda Lambert] and [Blake Shelton] announced their divorce. Not the Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner way but, like, RIGHT AWAY. Their statement was released as soon as the papers were signed. And the papers were signed just two weeks after they were filed. It was ugly at the beginning. I mean, they fronted like it wasn’t but…ahem… you know. You weren’t blind. Since then though, both have moved on. Blake and Gwen, of course, were entry level Swoki before Swoki took it to another level. And Miranda’s been dating musician Anderson East. Now, for Miranda, there’s new music. A song called Vice. It’s… very good. As soon as I hear her voice, I’m in. She sounds not angry, not bitter, but also not enthusiastic like, look at me I’ve come out the other side! Rather, this Miranda is… confessional? Confessional in a way that’s brutally introspective. Another vice, another call Another bed I shouldn’t crawl out of at 7AM With shoes in my hand Said I wouldn’t do it, but I did it again And I know I’ll be back tomorrow night I wear a town like a leather jacket When the new wears off I don’t even pack it If you need me, I’ll be where my reputation don’t precede me Maybe I’m addicted to goodbyes Standing at the sink not looking in the mirror Don’t know where I am or how I got here Well the only think that I know how to find Is another vice It’s hard not to read into that. That’s a deep dive, especially if you’ve been reading my blog this year. There’s no blame though, at least no blame directed at anyone else. Miranda’s sharing with us that she, to borrow from Gwyneth Paltrow, who was not the first to say it but will always be my touchstone, is often the “architect of her own misery”. I appreciate that. I feel like a lot of her fans would appreciate that too. This song is a hit. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 7:10 PM [Smutty Social Media, July 20, 2016] [Kate Hudson with Garry Marshall on Instagram] Since it’s the week of showing receipts, Chrissy Teigen hopped on Twitter to answer questions like how do celebs find their assistants (they steal them) and is it awkward to ask for another celeb’s phone number (yes). toss up between thai lady boy and John's "paid beard" [ — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) [July 20, 2016] I bet you those tents have showers. [Let’s do this! 😉🏕 Into the wilderness we go …. #StayWILD #HikingTrip] A photo posted by Reese Witherspoon (@reesewitherspoon) on Jul 19, 2016 at 4:09pm PDT DJ Four Names managed to stay quiet this week and he should be sending Mrs. West some flowers for making everyone forget about Nils Sjoberg. [A photo posted by Calvin Harris (@calvinharris)] on Jul 19, 2016 at 11:13pm PDT A “Never Say Never” reunion. [I Love You Big Bro Thank You.] A photo posted by Jaden Smith (@christiaingrey) on Jul 19, 2016 at 9:16pm PDT Taylor’s squad is indeed [making everything worse]. There is a reason [@khloekardashian] and I still follow each other on Twitter...its called not judging someone. [pic.twitter.com/i9TPizMuWK] — Ruby Rose (@RubyRose) [July 20, 2016] The house that George and Rande built. But why didn’t George do the voiceover? You are selling tequila from your own company, but a voiceover is a bridge too far? [Grab a Glass, Amigo. Our Tequila is your Tequila. Our Casa is your Casa. #HouseOfFriends] A video posted by Casamigos Tequila (@casamigos) on Jul 19, 2016 at 12:31pm PDT Spencer wants in on a narrative. Also, thinking about this week in gossip history, were Speidi a sort of prototype for Mr. and Mrs. West’s strategy of naming names? Out here tryna get in a narrative — Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) [July 18, 2016] Evan Spiegel, co-founder of Snapchat, is having a GREAT week. [I said yes!!! ❤️😍❤️😍❤️] A photo posted by Miranda (@mirandakerr) on Jul 20, 2016 at 8:39am PDT Kate’s personal tribute to Garry Marshall. [A hard day for those of us in the Garry camp. In reflection, I share some memories and feelings with you. Garry and I were shooting Mothers Day this past year my children came to visit the set. I was behind a wall about to do a scene waiting for the very words that every working actor is quite used to, "and....ACTION!" Much to my pleasant surprise the voice booming from behind the wall was my son, Ryder. I couldn't help but smile and after we finished the scene both Garry and I shared a moment. We knew in an instant that so many things come full circle. That once upon a time that was me on his lap yelling ACTION for my mother and pa on Overboard in 1987. That in Garry's words in that moment, "The circle of life is an amazing thing isn't it..." In that moment he was more then my director, he was family. That moment meant way more then any success of any film. I looked around the set and saw faces I had known and seen since I was a little girl. In one flash of a moment there was so much recognition of how loyal, wonderful, kind, generous, funny and profound Garry was. He kept his loved ones close, he loved people, he loved making movies, he loved to laugh, he loved loved loved. And those of us who were fortunate to know him like this were so lucky. The messages Garry shared with the world truly represented his character. He wanted peace and the importance of family and connection to be at the forefront of everything he did. I have so much admiration for his purity of such loving messages. He created things that made us feel good because he just wanted people around him to be happy. Once while shooting Raising Helen, I was reaching for a laugh. I didn't feel that a scene was going right and I wasn't hitting the joke and I was incredibly frustrated. He came over to me and gently held my hand and said, "Kate, sometimes we don't need to laugh, sometimes making us smile is even more important." Garry wanted to see the world smile because he knew we all need more of that. To everyone in the Garry Marshall family, I love you all so much. I will miss you Garry ❤️ I love you.] A photo posted by Kate Hudson (@katehudson) on Jul 20, 2016 at 6:02am PDT Vive la France. [🇫🇷🍷🧀🇫🇷🍷] A photo posted by Dianna Agron (@diannaagron) on Jul 20, 2016 at 7:36am PDT [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 6:35 PM [Mila Kunis’s very private casual sex] [Mila Kunis attends AOL Build Speaker Series to discuss 'Bad Mom' at AOL HQ on July 20, 2016 in New York City] [Mila Kunis] is currently out there promoting Bad Moms. As part of the media tour, she stopped by [Howard Stern]. And Howard asked her about her relationship with [Ashton Kutcher], how they ended up married. Mila obliged. With all the answers. I’ve embedded the audio below but, briefly, if you don’t have 8 minutes to spare right now she reveals that: -he invited her to his party and initially wanted to set her up with his friend -when she got there they realised they were super attracted to each other and started making out -she stayed over that night and broke her dating rule of not staying over at a guy’s place -they tried to just have casual sex, like their respective movies, Friends With Benefits and No Strings Attached So…you know… totally not private information AT ALL. And yet, both Ashton and Mila have been all like, oh, our personal lives are our personal lives and stay out of our personal lives and [media intrusion compromises our privacy] and blah blah blah. Sounds a lot like Jennifer Aniston, until it’s time to start selling a movie, right? You could argue that Howard Stern is different. That because he’s kinda one of them, HE’s allowed to ask those questions but no one else is. I totally agree. And you know what that’s called? Cherry picking. Cherry picking is the celebrity’s favourite move. What happens now then? What happens when someone else who isn’t Howard Stern wants to ask Ashton, “Hey, Mila said on Howard Stern that she stayed over at your place that first night. What do you remember about that night?” Is he going to storm out of the room and accuse that person of invading his privacy? Attached - Mila Kunis at AOL Build Speaker Series today and at the New York premiere of Bad Moms the other night. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 5:35 PM [Dork Storm 2016: The Comic Conning] [Pokemon] It’s that time of year again, when nerds flock to San Diego for the annual mecca known as Comic-Con. This year will be interesting because in an effort to combat bootlegging, they’re killing WiFi in the convention center. It’ll be interesting to see which studios choose to release official versions of trailers and other footage, and which withhold. Star Wars has proven several times over you can release the footage online almost simultaneously and still have a fun live event for the people in the room. It doesn’t have to be nearly as combative as studios and Comic-Con make it. Wednesday Star Trek Beyond is having its world premiere in San Diego. Technically this is preview night, but premiering a new Trek movie is a great way to kick off Comic-Con. And this premiere is Paramount’s big show for the week—they’re skipping Hall H, along with Fox, who isn’t doing any movie promotion, period. Comic-Con’s dominance as an industry event is definitely waning. Thursday [Justin Timberlake] and [Anna Kendrick] will be part of the Trolls panel kicking off the movie presentations in Hall H. Kendrick will be popular with this crowd, but I can’t wait to see Pips try and endear himself to arguably the one demographic totally immune to him. Oliver Stone is bringing Snowden, along with stars [Joseph Gordon-Levitt], [Shailene Woodley], and Zachary Quinto. This is entirely the wrong venue for this kind of movie. Distributor Open Road might as well have flushed their money straight down the toilet. But fitting right in is Luc Besson—making his first trip to Hall H—with his upcoming graphic novel adaptation, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (hella unwieldy title). Stars Dane DeHaan and [Cara Delevingne] will be on hand, and this will give us our first look at exactly how much like The Fifth Element this movie will be. I estimate it will be two mooltipasses less than The Fifth Element. Non-movie panel: Feral Audio is hosting a podcasting panel which will include the hosts of My Favorite Murder. Someone please ask if Elvis ever gets the cookie. Friday Here’s how you can tell movie studios are vacating Comic-Con: Friday in Hall H kicks off with a panel about Con Man, the streaming show starring Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion, about actors who make their living at conventions. Totally relevant, and Fillion is a HUGE draw at Comic-Con, but c’mon. Hall H was the movie hall for years. Now podcasts and streaming shows are filling those spots. AMC has back-to-back panels for Fear the Walking Dead (who is even watching this?) and The Walking Dead. That panel will include everyone who was lined up in front of Negan in the season finale, so it won’t be useful in determining who got the business end of Lucille. This will be the subtext of everything said on this panel—one of these people is no longer on the show. Game of Thrones is also having their panel in Hall H, so Friday is going to be batsh*t crazy lines to get in, which should be alleviated somewhat by a wristband system, but Thrones and Walking Dead are two of the biggest draws of the entire convention, so it will be a madhouse. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney is moderating the panel this year, which is fun. Hall H winds down with two more TV panels, South Park’s 20th season celebration, and Preacher. It’ll be interesting to see how many people stick around for Preacher—six-thousand seat Hall H seems way too big for a show that doesn’t have that determined of a following yet. Saturday Despite an overall lack of film presence, Saturday brings two HUGE panels—DC and Marvel. Warner Brothers/DC is up first, with a panel moderated by Conan O’Brien. The big draw is the Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman, and the first footage and/or trailer from Wonder Woman will likely screen. I hope they post the Wonder Woman stuff online, because I’m so curious to start getting a feel for this movie. Warners will also be promoting The LEGO Batman Movie, and Lainey should be happy that Charlie Hunnam will be present for Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur—expecting a trailer for that one, too, but again, who knows when it will be made available online. Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, and the cast of Kong: Skull Island will be on hand, but we only really care about finding out if Swoki Love goes to Comic-Con. And the panel wraps with Eddie Redmayne and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Star Trek is having a panel to mark the 50th anniversary of the first episode of the original TV show, which will feature Trek alumni including William Shatner and Scott Bakula. This is going to be angled more toward TV, and it’s moderated by Bryan Fuller (Hannibal), who will be producing the new Trek TV show. Another anniversary panel is Aliens, celebrating its 30th. Sigourney Weaver will be there, and a bunch of men who didn’t play Ripley. Won’t be surprised to see some new stuff from Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, which just wrapped production. They aren’t touting any tie-ins, but they just dropped some new key art, which usually means footage is coming. In what has become an annual tradition, some scheduling genius has slated the Women Who Kick Ass panel before Marvel, which means all the nerd-bros have to sit through an hour of women talking about portraying badass, interesting female characters before getting to the Marvel main event. This year’s panel includes Tatiana Maslany and Supergirl Melissa Benoist, among others. Marvel doesn’t have any info posted about their panel, but I can tell you it is PACKED TO THE GILLS with new stuff. If you’re in San Diego and at all divided on sticking out the wristbands and lines to get into Hall H for Marvel, DO IT. There is no guarantee they will release any of their new footage, so if you can see it, do. There will be all kinds of new information coming out of this panel. Next year is a big one for Marvel, and while I expect Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to go over like gangbusters, the movie I’m most looking forward to is Thor: Ragnarok. This will stop sounding crazy soon, I promise. Sunday No movies in Hall H on Sunday, but Sherlock is having a panel first thing in the morning. Amanda Abbington is the only actor confirmed at present, but I know at least one other will be in San Diego, so there’s probably a surprise appearance in store. Basically, if you’re a Sherlock fan, go to this panel. Fox’s TV division is showing off the return of Prison Break and 24: Legacy, which is notable for starring Straight Outta Compton’s Corey Hawkins. But the big draw will be a panel in the afternoon for Pokemon GO, which, if they turn Hall H into a Pokestop, will be madness. Did you see the [stampede in Central Park]? Vaporeons are rare, man. You gotta snap those suckers up. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 5:17 PM [Jennifer Aniston post-crusade] [Jennifer Aniston arrives at LAX, July 19, 2016] Here’s [Jennifer Aniston] arriving back in LA yesterday. It’s been a week since Jennifer Aniston told us that she is “fed up” with tabloid culture and impossible beauty standards and you wondering if she’s pregnant. You’ll recall, Jennifer wrote her op-ed for The Huffington Post. Not The New York Times. Not Vanity Fair. But HuffPo. And, as so many others have pointed out, it’s very possibly because she and [Arianna Huffington] are friends. In 2015, [Arianna hosted a luncheon] in Jen’s honour to help her campaign for an Oscar for her performance in Cake. Earlier this year [the two did a Q&A together] about sleep and Arianna’s book. [In my analysis of Jen’s piece], I wrote that my objection to it was her myopia. You cannot critique the celebrity ecosystem – of which she is a member, one of the most privileged members – without acknowledging the celebrity’s role in shaping and even entrenching the ecosystem’s flaws. It comes back to our buzzword of the week, thanks to [Taylor Swift]: “narrative”. Taylor claimed to have wanted no part of the narrative between herself and Kanye West, even though she’s been an active participant. Curiously, The Huffington Post called out Taylor this week [for that reason in a post] on Monday: Swift speaks of the “narrative” that she wants to be excluded from: the narrative of her feud with West and now, his wife Kim Kardashian West. And yet, in many ways, she has built an entire career on this narrative. It’s the ongoing narrative of West constantly antagonizing the sweet, innocent Taylor Swift, as she simply waits, bemused, for the world to come to her defense. Replace Taylor Swift with Jennifer Aniston and the Wests with Brange. Does that narrative work? In the 11 years since the Jen-Brad split resulting in Brange, haven’t we seen a tit-for-tat exchange between the three of them? And haven’t we seen Jennifer Aniston leverage the narrative of “when will Jen find love again” to her advantage to maintain and increase her popularity? I mean, it’s certainly not solely on the strength of her films. So…where’s The Huffington Post piece that asks those questions? And if she’s attacking the media for constantly fueling this “bullsh-t” that she so objects to, where’s the perspective that celebrities use the same media strategically to advance the storylines that celebrities themselves have hand-and-cherry picked to be disseminated? [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 3:45 PM [Idris dancing] [Idris Elba on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, July 19, 2016] This video needs to come with a warning. You need to be warned. DO NOT play this video at a meeting. Or at lunch with your mother/father-in-law. Unless, of course, you want to come in front of your colleagues or your partner’s parents. [Idris Elba] went on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (to promote Star Trek Beyond). Just seeing Idris. And hearing him. That’s enough, right there. But then he busts out a dance move. A couple of them. The last part? With his hand in his pocket? I warned you. I f-cking warned you. Oh but wait…it’s not over. Then he picks up a microphone and sings AND dances. Even with the mangled sound effects, the effect between your legs will not change. [Source] [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 3:01 PM [Matt and Ben… and Casey?] [Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, an Ben Affleck] [Matt Damon] is in the middle of his worldwide Jason Bourne promo tour and with that comes [a stop on Reddit]. He’s done an AMA (Ask Me Anything) before [for The Monument’s Men], and gave [pretty thorough answers then too]. Except, this time around, Matt’s doing more than just dishing out advice or Hollywood stories – he’s reframing his “Matt and [Ben]” narrative to include [Casey Affleck]… as an equal. In the AMA, he refers to Casey by name [four separate times]. In 2014? Casey received zero direct mentions in Matt’s online Q&A. This time around, Matt’s pimping out his buddy, and bigging him up at every opportunity. Matt, of course, produces Casey’s upcoming awards season effort, Manchester by the Sea. Manchester by the Sea won major raves at Sundance, and ended up leaving the festival with a cool [$10-million pick-up from Amazon]. The standout performance of the film though is Casey’s. He’s been nominated for an Oscar once before, for 2007’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and if you believe Matt, he’s due for recognition again. Check out Matt’s answer when asked who [his favourite actor is to work with]: “That's a really tough question because I've worked with so many really wonderful people, people who I admire a lot and become friends with. Choosing one would be really tough but I have to say, going back in my career, Casey Affleck is one of the best actors that I've ever seen in my life. Growing up with him, he's 5 years younger than me, he's kind of like a little brother to me, but watching his work develop over the years has been really fun. There's a movie that I produced that's coming out called Manchester by the Sea. I'm as proud of that as anything I've ever been a part of. Casey is the lead in that movie, Kenny Lonergan directed it, and Casey is absolutely brilliant in that movie. I'm really proud to see what the world thinks of this movie, it's a beautiful little movie.” It’s a little movie that’s getting a lot of advance love. And when talking about the “best advice he ever received”? Once again, [Casey is mentioned] in the same breath, and with the same esteem as him and Ben. “The other advice that I would say, my high school acting teacher Gerry Speca had a huge influence on me and Ben and Casey.” Don’t fret – he talks a lot about Ben in the Q&A too and jokes Ben gives himself the best parts in his movies, but it’s the inclusion of Casey that’s particularly interesting, and good for the gossip forecast. Manchester by the Sea [will premiere Nov. 18], making it prime fodder for Oscar season, and Matt’s starting his BFF hustle early. We know Matt can play the long game – he lobbied for golden recognition for his The Martian director Ridley Scott [at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January], and when he didn’t get a Best Director nomination, he shifted into a different campaign narrative to help him win the [Best Picture Oscar for producing instead]. Plus, he has an even stronger bond with director Kenneth Lonergan who directed him to one of the best performances of his career in the little-seen Margaret, a shelved project which finally hit theatres in 2011. But the Manchester by the Sea campaign looks to be a fun one. Matt produced the movie with John Krasinski, so expect teases of a Matt-Luciana and Emily Blunt-John Krasinski red carpet parade over the next few months. Emily’s The Girl on the Train hits theatres in October, and both movies are well-seeded for an appearance at TIFF in September. So, what will a Casey Affleck awards season look like? Which outlet will get the first tell-all interview about his March [split from wife of 10 years], Summer Phoenix? How does a Matt and Casey bromance translate on a red carpet? (Lainey: and how will Ben, who has his own projects to promote in the fall, participate in the campaign?) [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 2:41 PM [July 20, 2016 – Smutty Shout-Outs] [Benedict Cumberbatch for Carolina] Carolina! Happy 28th Birthday with love from Paula! I heard you have a Benedict Cumberbatch and Christopher Jackson problem. Here they are. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 2:19 PM [Privacy Policy] - [Unsubscribe]