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The Kanye West fallout continues: Following Ye’s antisemitic comments, it appears his Donda Academy school is shitting down for the rest of the year.

An email supposedly sent to parents, reportedly obtained by Hollywood Unlocked, reads:

“Dear Donda Academy Families —

We hope this email finds you well.

First, we would like to express our gratitude for the community of families and scholars that Donda Academy brought together. However, at the discretion of our Founder, Donda Academy will close for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year effective immediately, Thursday, October 27. THERE IS NO SCHOOL TOMORROW.

Our leadership team will be working diligently to assist all families during this transition, ensuring that every scholar has what they need to succeed in their next community in a prompt and gracious manner.

We intend to begin afresh in September of 2023, and we are confident that our scholars will continue to advance as the creative innovators, courageous influencers and academic leaders of the next generation.

Thank you for your support.”

Of course, a lot has been going on with West lately: Adidas cut ties with him, it’s estimated he’s no longer a billionaire because of that, Shechers kicked Ye out of their office, and Madame Tussauds kicked Ye’s wax figure out of their museum.

The social media reactions to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are out, and the epic sequel is going over huge with critics. Saddled with the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, the sequel had everything working against it. However, director Ryan Coogler and the cast rose to the challenge. Based on the reactions, they’ve apparently delivered an emotional blockbuster piece that honors Boseman’s legacy while pushing the world of Wakanda forward as the African nation faces its greatest adversary yet: Tenoch Huerta’s Namor, whose performance is also earning rave reviews.

“#WakandaForever is exactly the cathartic experience I hoped it would be, helping us move past our grief while watching the Wakandans fight to do the same,” Travis Hopson tweeted. “The intro of Namor was incredible, the story bittersweet and packed with emotionally charged twists.”

“#WakandaForever is blockbuster filmmaking on another level,” Daniel Howat wrote. “It surpasses the incredible first film with high stakes and and thrilling world-building. It’s an emotional, dark journey, leading to a full-scale war, but always feels personal. This may be the best Marvel movie yet.”

“#WakandaForever is outstanding,” Orlando Maldonado tweeted. “It handles loss, grief and revenge with a maturity and seriousness rarely seen in the MCU. Black Panther continues to be their crown jewel. Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett and Tenoch Huerta all bring some of the best acting I’ve seen all year.”

“Namor is one of the better villains the MCU has had to offer. Tenoch Huerta just kills it!” Brandon Davis wrote. “Emotions are heavy. Ryan Coogler ups his game on the action. It’s a lot to take in, balance so much, and is powerfully good.”

“Black Panther: #WakandaForever is as epic as Marvel sequels get,” Germain Lussier tweeted. “The story is hugely ambitious & thematically rewarding with gut-wrenching twists and turns throughout. You feel the length but it’s fun, wildly beautiful and has the best credits scene in Marvel history, no contest.”

You can see more reactions to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever below:

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.

How has your first day at your job? As long as you didn’t almost kill James Gandolfini in a car crash after pretending you had a driver’s license, it went better than Michael Imperioli’s. Unless you ate the last donut in the break room. Then you’re a monster.

Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, recalled his first day on the set of the HBO series on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace. “The first day of work, I had to drive him. I didn’t have a driver’s license, you know, but I didn’t tell anybody that because I wanted the job. Because Christopher’s job was to drive Tony,” he said. “But I’m like, well, how hard could it be?” Famous last words (Pete Campbell can relate).

Imperioli continued:

“I had to drive backwards down the sidewalk with trees on both sides and extras running out of the way. Delivering dialogue to Tony Soprano. Looking forward. I mean, that’s hard to do,” he admits. “Even if you know how to drive which I do now. I did it like four times the fifth time. Boom, right into the tree. The airbags go off, Jim’s head snaps back.”

Imperioli was certain he was going to be fired, but when he looked at over Gandolfini, he was “laughing hysterically.” He was probably thinking about Dookie at the time. I’m glad no one was injured, but now I’m suddenly concerned that Imperioli crashed a vespa into Jennifer Coolidge on the set of The White Lotus. I eagerly await her tell-all.

(Via People)

During the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial earlier this year, it seemed like it was impossible for anyone to talk about anything else. Heard testified that she received “hundreds of death threats” every day because of the case; Billie Eilish ranted in an interview, “Who f*cking gives a f*ck? Women are losing rights for their bodies, so why are we talking about celebrities’ divorce trials?”

This topic came up in a new Teen Vogue profile of Phoebe Bridgers, and people are praising the singer-songwriter for her insight.

“I think that there’s been this falsehood — and I think queer people are included in this — of having to be the perfect victim, or the perfect survivor, or the perfect representation for your marginalized community,” Bridgers said. “If Amber Heard exhibited any neurotic behavior, it was held against her. Then Johnny Depp, out of his mouth, admitted some of the most violent, crazy sh*t in court, and it’s somehow like, people aren’t surprised?” She continued, “That whole situation was so upsetting to me, that it was treated like a fandom war. Laughing at someone crying in court? It was disgusting.”

About cancel culture, she added, “I mean, is [cancel culture] real? Who’s lost their job politically? One huge offender is in jail for actual sex crimes, and then anything short of that is, maybe, they lose a couple friends or lose a couple jobs,” she says. “Then five years later, they’re like, ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry.’ And they come back, but they never apologize — they never go away.”

Fred Armisen showed off his spot-on drumming impressions on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last month. Armisen’s command of the drum kit dates back to drumming for the band Trenchmouth or, more recently, Fred Armisen: Standup For Drummers on Netflix in 2018 — and countless instances in between. So, the rest of this article shouldn’t be surprising at all.

“I know how much you love the Beatles. Have you ever thought about doing a Documentary Now! on Get Back?” James Corden asked Armisen during last night’s (October 26) The Late Late Show. “Is that something you’d do? Which Beatle would you play?”

“Ringo,” Armisen said, impersonating the Beatles icon and throwing up two peace signs. “Peace and love. Peace and love. We absolutely would. I mean, I love that. That was such a great documentary. I loved it. I watched the hell out of it.”

The Beatles: Get Back is a three-part Disney+ documentary series directed by Peter Jackson that premiered last November.

Armisen has already successfully looped Cate Blanchett in to Documentary Now!, his mockumentary IFC series co-created with Bill Hader and Seth Meyers and executive production from Lorne Michaels, the trio’s former Saturday Night Live boss. The fourth season is currently airing.

Armisen told Corden, “The show really comes together very sort of last-minute. We sort of write it all on email. Every season almost doesn’t happen.” He added that Blanchett suggested her fourth-season episode, last week’s “Two Hairdressers In Bagglyport,” so it’s entirely plausible that Armisen runs with Corden’s Get Back idea.

Watch their chat above.

Piers Morgan sure gets riled up whenever he’s “defending” the Royal family against what he views as the ungrateful Prince Harry and the woman who “ghosted” him after a pub date, Meghan Markle. The ex-Good Morning Britain and current Fox Nation talking head is so very upset about what he calls the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s ongoing disrespect for his beloved Queen. This began last year after the Sussexes sat down with Oprah Winfrey and discussed fleeing to the U.S. due to venom from the Royals, which Meghan alleged included racist statements about their son, Archie.

Then Piers raged hard because Meghan dared to earn a living by writing a children’s book, and now, he’s one-upping himself by firing off barbs over Prince Harry’s upcoming memoir. It’s understood that the book won’t be the most flattering account of Harry’s experience in The Firm, and Penguin Random House has now (via Variety) confirmed the name of the memoir (Spare!) and the release date, January 10.

The title feels like an obvious (and accurate, with tone left open to interpretation) reference to how royal siblings are referred to as “the heir and the spare.” Yesterday, Piers was already warming up because Harry (who has definitely watched The Crown on Netflix) isn’t trashing The Crown on Netflix. And Piers had to point out that Netflix is “his employer,” and he’s had it with “Harry’s silence.”

Yet he doesn’t want Harry talking, either, especially because Piers feels that a January memoir release is timed to “ruin” King Charles III’s coronation date in early May 2023. “Charles should strip this petulant, selfish, greedy, hypocritical brat of all his remaining royal titles/status ASAP,” Piers wrote on Twitter.

Further, Piers has had it with Harry while remarking “what a d*ckhead” because “he trashes his family, again, from his California mansion. All while playing the big privacy & ‘humanitarian’ crusader.”

The responses are rolling in with one Twitter user observing, “All this just because she wouldn’t shag you.”

Other remarked upon how Harry’s donating his memoir proceeds to charity, and he makes his own living rather than enjoying those sweet British tax dollars. Then there are the people who are actually inspired to order the book due to Piers’ vitriol, and it does seem like he’s still hung up on Meghan Markle.

Spare arrives in bookstores (and online) on January 10, 2023.

Yesterday, Audible announced Origins, a new audio series that will feature music stars sharing stories about their early days. Billie Eilish is among the participants and in a statement about the project (via Billboard), she said how people perceived her early work was surprising.

Eilish said:

“It was so weird to me when I was first coming up and, and the thing everybody said was, like, ‘Billie Eilish’s music is so depressing and it’s so sad and it’s too dark,’ and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? Have you listened to The Beatles and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and ‘Yesterday’ and Lana Del Rey? Like, what the hell?’ It was so surprising to me that people thought anything I was creating was dark. I mean, it’s real.”

Audible’s description of the Eilish episode reads, “Billie Eilish challenges origin, resists definition, and rejects the very idea that who she was yesterday is who she has to be tomorrow.”

Doja Cat also has an episode and she said in her own statement, “I’ve always tried to bring my fans into my world. I am more interested in being myself than what others want me to be. I want people to get a real understanding of who I am, and I think Origins will help them do that.”

Emily Ratajkowski has walked hundreds, if not thousands of red carpets, but the Harper’s Bazaar Icons Party in September 2016 stands out above the rest. It was the night the model and author wore what she called her “most controversial dress.”

While appearing on the Harper’s Bazaar’s “Fashion Flashback” series on YouTube, Ratajkowski was shown a picture of a memorable Julien Macdonald dress that Pop Sugar described as “two strips of sparkly duct tape.” It was “probably the most controversial dress I’ve ever worn,” Ratajkowski said. “This caused such a… I had no idea what a scene this would cause.” She remembers somebody calling it “extremely vulgar and, like, it became this huge controversy on the internet and some of my agents were mad at me because they thought it was too sexy, or whatever.” A controversy on the internet? Over a woman’s looks? Well, now I’ve heard everything.

Ratajkowski was in her 20s at the time, and she “hadn’t registered that it was so sexy, because there is a panel in the middle, but it looks like there isn’t. And yeah, it caused this whole thing. And then I basically called the person who said it was a vulgar dress ‘sexist’ and there was drama.” Despite all the controversy, Ratajkowski (who’s used to the drama about her body) still likes the dress, and still thinks she looked “great” in it.

You can watch the video where Ratajkowski discusses the dress above.

As each day goes by, it seems Kanye West loses more and more public esteem and, perhaps more importantly for him, business partners. Brands and people with whom Ye has worked are distancing themselves from the rapper following his antisemitic comments, most notably Yeezy partner Adidas. (It appears that loss cost West his billionaire status.)

Now, even a wax rendering of Ye is facing a boycott: A West wax figure has been removed from display at Madame Tussauds London.

A Madame Tussauds spokesperson told BBC, “Ye’s figure has been retired from the attraction floor to our archive. Each profile earns their place at Madame Tussauds London and we listen to our guests and the public on who they expect to see at the attraction.”

The figure launched at Madame Tussauds London in 2015, alongside a figure of then-wife Kim Kardashian.

This comes shortly after a run-in with Skechers at their headquarters. The shoe company said West “arrived unannounced and without invitation at one of Skechers’ corporate offices in Los Angeles.” They added, “Considering Ye was engaged in unauthorized filming, two Skechers executives escorted him and his party from the building after a brief conversation.” The company also noted, “Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West. We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech.”

A couple days ago, Britney Spears shared a post on Instagram about showing off her body on Instagram. Given the specifics of the post, it was widely interpreted to be a dig at Selena Gomez. Now, though, Spears has offered some clarification, insisting she wasn’t throwing shade at Gomez at all.

The post starts, “Let me clarify about me sharing my beliefs on women judging other women for their own rights in expressing themselves … what I said had nothing to do with anyone specific at all … it was clearly a subject in hand all women have had to deal with … look I go way back with music !!! I honestly referencing my days when I was younger when I got discriminated against harshly … men in interviews discussing my boobs on live TV or showing my midriff and skin !!! If anybody knows what judgment feels like I’m sure Selena has gone through something pretty similar.”

She continued to note what she was actually talking about: “what I was replying to was honestly Kelis the MILKSHAKE video when women were finally shaking their asses .. that was a moment in history where people woke up to the fact .. pushing the boundaries of expressing oneself became explicit … tons of people were offended !!! I empower women to express their bodies however they choose … and TONS of other stars who had million-dollar budget videos who were known talked sh*t about her when she was a new artist trying to make it !!!”

Spears also offered some praise for Gomez, writing, “As for the beautiful queen Gomez, I got to be surprised by her on my wedding day and was completely in awe of her !!! I mean I played the DJ for 5 minutes like an idiot and played my favorite song of hers, ‘Bad Liar’ LOUD on the dance floor like a 6-year-old fan and got to sing my favorite song with her and I wanted to freaking pinch myself !!! I would like to tell Selena which she’s probably not even aware of trash news that her music has gotten me through lots and thank you again for making my dreams come true by coming to my wedding. you’re one person I have always wanted to meet and my dream came true and I will never forget it !!!”

Find Spears’ full post below.

“Let me clarify about me sharing my beliefs on women judging other women for their own rights in expressing themselves … what I said had nothing to do with anyone specific at all … it was clearly a subject in hand all women have had to deal with … look I go way back with music !!! I honestly referencing my days when I was younger when I got discriminated against harshly … men in interviews discussing my boobs on live TV or showing my midriff and skin !!! If anybody knows what judgment feels like I’m sure Selena has gone through something pretty similar.

and what I was replying to was honestly Kelis the MILKSHAKE video when women were finally shaking their asses .. that was a moment in history where people woke up to the fact .. pushing the boundaries of expressing oneself became explicit … tons of people were offended !!! I empower women to express their bodies however they choose … and TONS of other stars who had million-dollar budget videos who were known talked sh*t about her when she was a new artist trying to make it !!!

I apologize for my ignorance, but I didn’t even see the video for Ice Cream that Selena Gomez, who I genuinely look up to and have so much respect for had made … okay so maybe I’m not a part of the in crowd … either way me doing my silly fashion-forward videos and hearing the dopest remix I’ve ever heard of 3 months ago of the milkshake song brought me back to a time where I was always judges for what I wore as well!!!

As for the beautiful queen Gomez, I got to be surprised by her on my wedding day and was completely in awe of her !!! I mean I played the DJ for 5 minutes like an idiot and played my favorite song of hers, ‘Bad Liar’ LOUD on the dance floor like a 6-year-old fan and got to sing my favorite song with her and I wanted to freaking pinch myself !!! I would like to tell Selena which she’s probably not even aware of trash news that her music has gotten me through lots and thank you again for making my dreams come true by coming to my wedding. you’re one person I have always wanted to meet and my dream came true and I will never forget it !!! And as I’m writing all of this and she probably isn’t even aware of this nonsense !!!

I would like to tell other women to lift each other up … we are all in this together, life is too short to be judgmental !!! Women lift each other up higher to inspire each other !!! Never judge others by the way they express their bodies … recognition to ones own insecurities to what others do only brings others down … the judgements that the media has always done with me … through someone’s pain of feeling either too big, too small, too tall, too short, broken hearted or bullied all create their own way to express themselves … they do this because those are the times they find their true inner self and THAT’S when the best art is created …”