Celebrity

HBO’s Euphoria found Zendaya tapping into a much darker, grittier role than her Disney Channel beginnings on Shake It Up would have forecasted. But as she revealed in a new roundtable interview for The Hollywood Reporter, that evolution was only one piece of the other stress she felt in making her next acting move. “Being a young Disney actor, that’s one level, being a young Black woman is one level, and then being very hard on myself is another level,”she said. The roundtable, which found her in conversation with Janelle Monáe, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Rose Byrne, and Helena Bonham Carter, also allowed Zendaya to explain how those fears about making the so-called “right” decision can dissipate in time. “It’s also just a personal ...

Over the weekend, two women accused Justin Bieber of sexual assault. They posted their accounts to Twitter, one to an anonymous account and one on an accuser’s own page, where the stories were widely circulated. On Sunday (June 21), Bieber responded on his own page in a series of 15 tweets denying the first allegation and providing screenshots of emails and hotel receipts that aimed to disprove the accuser’s story. “I don’t normally address things as I have dealt with random accusations my entire career but after talking with my wife and team I have decided to speak up on an issue tonight,” he tweeted. “Rumors are rumors but sexual abuse is something I don’t take lightly. I wanted to speak out right away but out of respect to so many victims who de...

Long before he was the Billboard Hot 100 record-breaking, Grammy- and VMA-winning megastar maestro behind “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X was a Barb. Still is, in fact. The difference is now he’s a Barb with influence — and on Tuesday night (June 16), he used it to tweet at Nicki Minaj herself to ask if she’d appear on a song of his. This led a fellow Barb to ask, “How come you never claimed her when people asked if you were a barb?? We all knew who you were.” The question digs back into Lil Nas X’s past as the voice behind a popular Twitter account, one he was able to utilize to help “Old Town Road” go stratospheric. As Intelligencer’s Brian Feldman noted in 2019, “By trafficking in memes, viral threads, engagement bait, and Nic...

This morning (June 15), the Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ+ employees are protected from workplace discrimination, and that the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s Title VII does indeed extend its protections against sex-based discrimination to transgender workers. This is a huge win for the LGBTQ+ community, and one that underscores how trans people had continued to be targeted for workplace discrimination, as GLAAD pointed out on Twitter. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision affirms what shouldn’t have even been a debate: LGBTQ Americans should be able to work without fear of losing jobs because of who we are,” a message from the organization’s account read. Naturally, there’s been much celebration on social media from both LGBTQ+ celebs as well as alli...

In the days after J.K. Rowling, the author behind the hugely popular fantasy series Harry Potter, published a slew of transphobic tweets, many celebrities and organizations have responded by doubling down on their support for the transgender community. And one particularly powerful response came by way of genderqueer pop vocalist King Princess. Previously, on Saturday (June 6), Rowling shared a Devex article detailing the structural health care issues that people who have periods may face, and which have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Responding to the story’s headline, which referred to “people who menstruate” in inclusively non-gendered terms, the British writer tweeted, “I’m sure there used to be a word for those...

Dominic Fike has been poised for his debut breakout moment for the past few years now, scoring a No. 1 on the Alternative Songs chart in 2018 (“3 Nights“) and palling around with Brockhampton. He also got his own song, the ethereal “Dominic’s Interlude,” on Halsey’s album Manic earlier this year, where he managed to make a mere 76 seconds sound like a maximalist celebration. Fike’s first single from his first album was due to be released last week, but in a new note posted to Instagram on Monday (June 8), he explained why that was put on hold. “Instead something much more important happened,” he wrote. “People were forced to have a conversation that’s long been overdue. It doesn’t feel right to release music today but ...

Over the past week, as international demonstrations in support of Black lives and against racial injustice and violence have grown to unprecedented numbers, Justin Bieber has used his Instagram page to share his own support. He’s posted that “all lives do not matter until Black lives matter” and a guide to being an anti-racist ally, as well as how to honor Breonna Taylor on what would have been her 27th birthday on June 5. On Sunday (June 7), though, Bieber spoke out about his own relationship to Black culture, namely how he’s “benefitted” from it, and how he’s aiming to better use his platform now. “I am inspired by [B]lack culture,” he wrote. “I have benefitted off of [B]lack culture. My style, how I sing, dance, perform, and my...

At the end of last week, as global protests were spreading in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Lea Michele tweeted her support for Black Lives Matter. “George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end,” she wrote. Shortly after, Michele’s former Glee co-star Samantha Marie Ware quote-tweeted Michele’s statement and accused Michele of misconduct on the set of the show, which ran from 2010 to 2015. “Remember when you made my first [television] gig a living hell?!?! Cause [I’ll] never forget,” Ware wrote in all caps. “I believe you told everyone that if [you] had the opportunity you would ‘shit in my wig!’ Amongst other traumatic microaggressions t...

Last week, after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Demi Lovato posted in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. She also directed her fellow white people to do more. “Do not let your discomfort surrounding social issues prevent you from speaking up for those IN DANGER,” she wrote. “And reality is, until this STOPS COMPLETELY – THE BLACK COMMUNITY WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE IN DANGER. DO YOUR PART.” Since then, her social pages have been full of re-shared informational resources for activism and racial justice, including the pyramid of white supremacy, different funds and actionable ways you can support the movement, and even a plea to not mark black-square Instagram posts on Blackout Tuesday with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag (s...

The Rock has one simple message for President Trump: “Where are you?” In a long message posted early this morning (June 4), Dwayne Johnson went in, not directly addressing the president by name but calling out his lack of visibility at a time of mass protests and demonstrations against police violence and killings. “Where is our leader at this time?” he asked. “At this time when our country is down on its knees, begging, pleading, hurt, angry, frustrated, in pain, begging and pleading with its arms out, just wanting to be heard, beginning and pleading and praying for change?” He further addressed the lack of leadership, continuing the metaphor of a country down on its knees and wondering where the president is, knowing he could use his position to try to...

A Forbes headline from earlier this year declared that “Kanye West is now officially a billionaire (and he really wants the world to know).” This was further backed up by the magazine’s new “The Celebrity 100” list it unveiled today (June 4), placing West as the highest-paid musician in the world and the second-highest paid celebrity. (Notably, he placed only below his family member Kylie Jenner.) West, for his part, has stayed publicly quiet about the accolade on social media, where he’s also chosen not to weigh in on the ongoing protests against police violence and the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police, as well as the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and more Black men and women. But according to new reports, West has reportedly...

At the end of last week and into the weekend, thousands of Americans in cities like Minneapolis, Louisville, Columbus, Chicago, New York, and more gathered to protest police violence in light of the recent deaths of unarmed civilians George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and more. Soon, the movement had grown global, with notable demonstrations in New Zealand, England, Germany, Italy, and other European countries taking place, as well. Meanwhile, celebrities were using their platforms to support these protests and stand in solidarity. Lady Gaga, whose new Chromatica album was released as the demonstrations were growing on Friday, tweeted on May 31, “The voices of the [B]lack community have been silenced for too long and that silence has proven deadly time and time again.” Likewise...