Culture
Holiday Travel Guide: 7 Items That Should Be On Your Packing List
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Heading out of town for the holidays? According to AAA, an estimated 113 million people are expected to travel to their holiday destination and 102 million of them will be hitting the road. Meanwhile in the friendly skies, the TSA expects 2022 holiday travel numbers to hit “pre-pandemic levels.” A Music Fan’s Ultimate Travel Bucket List 12/19/2022 With gas prices still high and seasonal stress levels rising, the holidays can be overwhelming, but there are things that can help relieve some of your anxiety, like making sure that you have everything needed for ...
Cecily Strong Leaving ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Says Goodbye in Character on ‘Weekend Update’ Segment
Cecily Strong is the latest castmember to depart NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Strong’s final show was Saturday night’s edition on Dec. 17. She appeared as Kimberly Guilfoyle in the cold open and other segments, including one about “Jewish Elvis” as well as “Weekend Update.” In the latter, she played recurring character Cathy Anne, who was saying “goodbye” because she was going to prison. She joked that she’d be fine because she had “friends on the inside, they seem to be doing OK” as a photo of recently departed castmembers Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant were shown onscreen in prison garb. “Everybody has to go to jail at some point, right? It’s my time now,” she added. Breaking character a bit toward the end, she said: “I had a lot of fun here. And I feel really lucky that I have had so many ...
Austin Butler Can’t Help Falling in Love With Sarah Sherman’s ‘Jewish Elvis’ on ‘SNL’
Austin Butler brought his “casual” version of Elvis to Saturday Night Live, and SNL cast member Sarah Sherman graced the stage as “Jewish Elvis.” Sherman’s “Jewish Elvis” was the star of Butler, Cecily Strong, and Ego Nwodim’s retirement home in a sketch Saturday night. Butler dressed like a grandma and appeared to be the performer’s biggest fan in the theater — even revealing a T-shirt under her blouse with her catch phrase, “This is a zizzaster!” “The first night of Hanukkah, they really kick things off with a bang,” Strong says in the clip below. “Oh my god, I’m so horny I’m gonna friggin’ explode,” exclaims Butler, who was the host of SNL for the night in an episode that featured Lizzo as musical guest. “Oh! I’m like Niagara Falls over here,” adds Butler later in the sketch. “My chair ...
How Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon Changed a ‘George & Tammy‘ Scene That Initially ‘Disturbed’ Her
Jessica Chastain says a scene was altered in George & Tammy with the help of co-star Michael Shannon to give country icon Tammy Wynette more agency in the Showtime limited series. In the first episode of the series, based on Wynette’s personal and professional relationship with fellow musician George Jones, the duo is confronted with their future while Wynette is still married to her soon-to-be ex-husband Don Chapel. In an interview with Marie Claire, the actress and producer on the Golden Globe-nominated show shared that, in an early outline of the scene, Jones gets Wynette alone by distracting Don with an escort. For Chastain, the sequence around this moment was upsetting. “I read it, and I was deeply disturbed,” Chastain recalled. “[...
Austin Butler Finds Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Elvis on the Shelvis’ Ahead of ‘SNL’
Austin Butler tried to make a quick visit with Jimmy Fallon to get some advice before his SNL hosting gig this weekend. Instead of finding Fallon, he found an Elvis on the Shelvis in a skit for The Tonight Show. “Who is this?” Butler — who starred in a biopic about rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley — asks in the skit, picking up the doll off the mantle. Elvis on the Shelvis, played by Fallon, then comes to life for a musical performance. “Well, I move around the house when I’m a-home alone/ You did what you did/ You done what you done/ Elvis on the Shelvis never tell no one,” Fallon’s Elvis sings. “You’re going on the top of my tree,” Butler says after the Elvis on the Shelvis show. Butler’s SNL episode with musical guest Lizzo airs Saturday (Dec. 17) on NBC. Watch his clip with Fallon...
‘Mamma Mia!’ Sequel Director Ol Parker Teases Future for Film Franchise
It sounds like Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again director Ol Parker might be ready to take a chance on pursuing another film in the musical franchise. Parker, who helmed Universal Pictures’ 2018 follow-up to director Phyllida Lloyd’s 2008 hit Mamma Mia!, told Screen Rant in an interview published online Saturday (Dec. 17) that producer Judy Craymer has always intended to make a film trilogy. Craymer has credits on both films and also the ABBA-centric jukebox musical of the same name, which was the basis for the first movie and has had runs on the West End and Broadway. “Judy Craymer, the genius producer behind the musical and the first two films, always plans for it to be a trilogy,” Parker teased. “That’s all I can say. The first one made an eno...
23 Last-Minute Gifts That You Can Have Delivered Before Christmas
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Christmas is nine days away! If you’re among the millions of last-minute shoppers who are planning to buy gifts this weekend, this is the perfect gift guide for you. Below, find a list of 23 last-minute gifts for everyone on your list. From fashion to electronics, candy, self-care items and more, everything on our list can be delivered before Christmas with free shipping in most cases and curbside pickup options. On a tighter budget? Check out our roundup of the 25 best gifts under $25. Sugarfina Sugarfina Holiday Gift List Complete Bundle $98 Starting off w...
Donald Glover to Star In & Produce Spider-Man Movie Based on Hypno-Hustler Villain
Donald Glover is finally getting a Spider-Man movie. It’s just not quite what you think. Glover is attached to star and produce a feature set in Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man universe of Marvel Comics characters, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Myles Murphy, the son of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy, is on board to write the project, which has no title but is said to revolve on the Hypno-Hustler, one of the more obscure Spider-Man villains. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Created by Bill Mantlo, the writer who also created Rocket Racoon, and artist Frank Springer, Hypno-Hustler was very much a product of the disco music scene when he first appeared in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man No. 24 in 1978. His re...
Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ Played After President Biden Signed the Respect for Marriage Act
President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday (Dec. 13), protecting same-sex and interracial marriages across the country. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a video shared to Twitter from the event, Lady Gaga‘s “Born This Way” begins to play through the speakers once Biden signed the bill. “I’m beautiful in my way, ’cause God makes no mistakes / I’m on the right track, baby, I was born this way,” Gaga’s anthemic chorus is heard as the president stands up to hug his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and the rest of his team in celebration. Gaga’s “Born This Way,” off her 2011 album of the same name, has been a powerful LGBTQIA+ anthem since its release. “Born This Way, my ...
Adam Lambert Yearns for an ‘Ordinary World’ With Haunting Duran Duran Cover Off Upcoming Album
Pop-rock superstar Adam Lambert knows his way around a good cover. And on Tuesday (Dec. 13), the singer continued the trend with his latest ode to some ’80s rock icons. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Lambert unveiled his cover of Duran Duran‘s 1993 hit single “Ordinary World,” in which the American Idol alum slows the track down to create am almost eerie version of the grief-stricken original track. Backed up by a smooth piano and some orchestral strings, Lambert carefully croons out the aching lyrics of the track, never going as far as emulating Simon Le Bon’s signature vocal, but paying homage all the same. Lambert is set to debut his live rendition of the song on Wednesday’s season 22 finale of The Voice. The singer also announced that the ...
The 25 Best Pride Songs of 2022: Staff Picks
Trying to capture what a “queer song” sounds like in 2022 is a lot like trying to explain what the color yellow is — all in all, it’s not possible. That’s because, simply put, songs by queer artists released throughout 2022 run the gamut of popular music, from thundering electro-pop, to sultry R&B, to funkwave, hip-hop, Latin, indie rock, disco and much more. Gone are the days where openly-LGBTQ people — both artists and listeners — were siloed off into one stereotypical genre landscape, now replaced by an audience who are listening to a vast array of musical genres, and a bevy of artists ready to show off their skills in nearly every musical field. The result of that evolution is not only a diverse landscape of music created by queer artists, but a new frontier of pathways toward succ...
Bad Bunny Ends World’s Hottest Tour in Mexico City With Special Guests & Ticket Controversy
MEXICO CITY — For some fans, going to Bad Bunny’s Estadio Azteca show Friday night in Mexico City was a dream come true. But for others, it turned into a nightmare after they became victims of a scam, with Ticketmaster Mexico canceling their tickets at the entrance to the show saying they were fake and a throng of angry fans at the door demanding to go inside. Dozens of people who had arrived hours and some days earlier — coming from different places in Mexico and the U.S. — were not able to get inside Bunny’s fist night in Mexico City, which also marks the end of his tour. Valeria Carrillo, a young fan who came from the seaside town of Isla Mujeres and said she had paid over 9.000 Mexican pesos (some $455), was one of the unlucky ones. She stood in line since early in the morning to be on...
