For decades, he worked tirelessly to make himself the biggest movie star on the planet. Then he hit his “fuck-it 50s” and everything changed. Now, as he prepares a raw new memoir and a pair of films tackling racial themes, Will Smith is ready to speak his truth. By Wesley Lowery Photography by Renell Medrano
Pop Culture
Disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly was convicted Monday in a sex trafficking trial after decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children. The jury found Kelly guilty of racketeering on their second day of deliberations. He faces a sentence of 10 years to potentially life in prison. Kelly
The former president doesn’t need facts when he can still use his election-related lies to galvanize his base and splinter his party. By Charlotte Klein September 26, 2021 Donald Trump made clear over the weekend that he still wants to force Republicans to pay a political cost for failing to help him overturn the 2020
Saturday night, musical artist Lizzo appeared on New York City’s Central Park stage for the Global Citizen Live event. Dressed in a hot pink cat suit with removable ruffled sleeves, the performer wowed audiences with her biggest hits, including “Truth Hurts” and “Juice.” The Grammy award winner wanted to share more than music while she
John Lennon laughing, admitting to being “prejudiced” because he likes his Beatles songs the best and musing about whether he’ll be bald in 1984. Three fascinating audio interviews, most of which have never been heard before, have people buzzing. “Just reading the transcripts before we actually heard them was fascinating in itself,” said Paul Fairweather
Taking on this challenging role wasn’t a decision Coogan “took lightly.” By Dana Liebelson September 26, 2021 Steve Coogan, the English actor, will portray Jimmy Savile, the late British entertainer accused of abusing hundreds of children, in the forthcoming BBC One mini-series The Reckoning, according to reports. The Reckoning “will follow Savile through his early years in the dance halls of
A new documentary from The New York Times, Controlling Britney Spears, sheds new light on the horrifically invasive surveillance measures taken by the singer’s conservators. Spears has been locked in a battle with her conservators, led by her father Jamie Spears, that has seen her completely stripped of her legal and individual rights. The conservatorship
I’m going to tread lightly with this column, hoping to avoid any negative trappings of ageism or inter-generational bashing. But the fact is we evolve as music fans throughout our lives. The more we listen, collect, and observe, the more knowledgeable we become. At the same time, we develop preferences, biases, prejudices, and all manner
A Beginner’s Mind, the new album from Stevens and Angelo De Augustine, pulls inspiration from some “pretty problematic” movies. By Matthew Schnipper September 24, 2021 Daniel Anum / Courtesy of Sacks & Co. It is possible that “Cimmerian Shade,” a song written by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine, and loosely sung from the perspective
The basketball pro for the Golden State Warriors has to follow San Francisco’s vaccine rules, the NBA said. By Dana Liebelson September 25, 2021 The NBA has refused a request made by Andrew Wiggins, a 26-year-old Warriors’ forward, to get a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine. He can’t play home games until he follows
Your favorite 80s kiddos will return to Netflix in 2022. By Dana Liebelson September 25, 2021 Netflix dropped a new teaser for Stranger Things 4 on Saturday, and it looks like the next season promises to live up to its name. It’s very eerie! Let’s watch. The teaser opens with a smiling nuclear family arriving
Something big is coming. For us, it’s Don’t Look Up, the Adam McKay comedy that’s chock-full of celebrities ranging from Meryl Streep to Ariana Grande. For the characters in the film, it’s the massive comet headed for Earth, threatening to destroy the planet. It’s up to an astronomy grad student and her professor (played by
I feel a little bad for the person behind the Twitter account for the Fantastic Beasts film franchise. They likely could not have anticipated the property turning toxic by its association with transphobic author J.K. Rowling or the casting (and then un-casting) of Johnny Depp as Grindelwald. Fantastic Beasts began its life in 2016 as a
A judge has ordered the Trump Organization to hand over Ivanka, Eric, and Don Jr.’s company devices to the New York Attorney General’s office. By Bess Levin September 24, 2021 Time was, U.S. presidents left office and focused on their philanthropic foundations, became amateur painters, and wrote very long books. Then there’s Donald Trump, who’s
Here’s a timeline of every way Rihanna has described R9 so far. By Grant Rindner September 24, 2021 Rihanna attends her Met Gala After Party on September 13, 2021 in New York City.Courtesy of Johnny Nunez for Wire Image/Getty There was a time–a better, simpler time–when a Rihanna album came every year like clockwork. Between
Two days after commenting that she was “not ready yet” to mourn the death of Willie Garson, Sarah Jessica Parker has posted an emotional tribute to her Instagram account in memory of her onscreen and real-life friend. “It’s been unbearable,” Parker wrote of losing Garson, who died Tuesday. “Sometimes silence is a statement. Of the
Musicals very rarely make a smooth transition into movies — see Les Misérables or Phantom of the Opera or the recent Cats — so there’s a lot of pressure on Broadway darling Dear Evan Hansen to make the grade. The Tony Award-winning musical, which follows the story of Evan Hansen (played onscreen by Ben Platt),
Rihanna has done it again. The singer, mogul, and designer returns with Savage x Fenty Vol. 3, her third multi-faceted runway extravaganza to debut her newest lingerie offering. This year’s show is set to be another visual feat, with breathtaking choreography (thank you, Parris Goebel!), stunning architecture, and conceptual musical performances. It’ll also continue the
Director Ry Russo-Young dutifully tells the story of the legal battle surrounding her childhood to the exclusion of bigger, more compelling questions. By Cassie da Costa September 24, 2021 The director Ry Russo-Young was born, along with her older sister Cade, to two mothers. Her otherwise idyllic childhood was punctuated by the rebelliousness of that
Maine’s Senator Susan Collins is one of just a very few Republicans in office who say they support reproductive freedoms and access to abortion. Collins (along with Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, possibly the only other member of this club) presents herself as the rare pro-choice moderate Republican. Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other pro-choice/abortion rights groups have
R. Kelly got away with sexually abusing underage victims for more than two decades by ruling his inner circle enablers with an iron fist, a prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday at the R&B singer’s sex-trafficking trial. “The defendant set rules, lots of them, and he demanded complete obedience,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes said during
Fox News hosts have been riding the COVID conspiracy train since last year, but Joe Biden’s announcement of a requirement for service members combines two of their favorite talking points. By Caleb Ecarma September 23, 2021 Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been spouting conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine—and COVID in general—since the topic
The Lox found their niche at the turn of the millennium with a brash style of street rap all their own: You felt every “Fuck you” in your chest and knew they meant it. The Yonkers trio (Styles P, the live wire; Sheek Louch, a hulking ball of charisma; Jadakiss, a gravel-voiced assassin with a
Canadian supermodel Linda Evangelista revealed in an emotional Instagram post that she’s been left “permanently deformed” by a cosmetic procedure meant to decrease fat cells in the body. The St Catharines, Ont.-born Evangelista, 56, claimed that the procedure, known as CoolSculpting, did the opposite of what was intended, instead increasing her fat cells, causing her
There’s certainly no lack of chat apps that you can get if you happen to have an Android phone. In fact, you can get a great list of them over at Toms Guide. You can pick and choose the best ones for you, but you probably want more out of your chat apps than most
For Tarah Who?, volume isn’t so much a means to an end but an all-out priority, and in their new single “Supposedly a Man,” they prove that they can be loud and proud – but no sloppy about it. Too often in the past year have I come across a new heavy rock act that
You don’t get to describe yourself as pro-choice when you routinely do things that are the exact opposite. By Bess Levin September 22, 2021 Something you may have picked up on over the last several months is that reproductive rights are under assault throughout the country and people who support the right to choose are
A cresting drumbeat and soft but searing vocals are ready to come undone shortly after pressing play on the new single “Overwhelming” from rock artist Riku, but while the chemistry they have in this intro to the song is quite stirring, I would be lying if I said it eclipsed that of the lyrical and
The 10th season of American Horror Story has a special meaning for Lily Rabe. The New York-born actress has been part of the hit FX anthology from the beginning, appearing in all but one installment. This new chapter, subtitled Double Tide, gives her the chance to play two characters in one season. Episode 5 of
Willie Garson, who played Stanford Blatch, Carrie Bradshaw’s friend on TV’s Sex and the City and its movie sequels, has died, his son announced Tuesday. He was 57. “I love you so much papa. Rest In Peace and I’m so glad you got to share all your adventures with me and were able to accomplish