The daily gossip: Kanye West changes his name, Queen Elizabeth rejects the construct of time, and more

1. Kanye West is now known simply as Ye

Kanye who? On Monday, a California judge granted "the being formerly known as Kanye West" the right to legally change his name to "Ye," with no middle or last name. The rapper had filed the petition back in August, citing "personal reasons" for wanting to change his name. Pronounced "yay," Ye explained that his name is not just a shortening of his birth name but, rather, "the most commonly used word in the Bible. In the Bible it means you," he told radio host Big Boy in 2018. "So, I'm you. And I'm us. It's us. It went from being Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye, just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused — everything." The most common Biblical word, Newsweek points out, is actually "Lord" — but never mind. Ye is here to stay.

USA Today Newsweek

2. Queen Elizabeth turns down Oldie of the Year award because 'you are as old as you feel'

Queen Elizabeth II "politely but firmly" turned down an award for "Oldie of the Year," declaring that despite being 95, she doesn't meet the criteria, The Guardian reports. "Oldie of the Year" is handed out annually by Oldie magazine to recognize the contributions of older people. But 95 is middle-aged by the standards of the Galápagos tortoise, youthful in the eyes of a Greenland shark, and downright sprightly in comparison with a Great Basin bristlecone pine tree. Indeed, as the assistant private secretary to the queen wrote back, "Her Majesty believes you are as old as you feel, as such the Queen does not believe she meets the relevant criteria to be able to accept, and hopes you will find a more worthy recipient." Not to be discouraged, awards chair Gyles Brandreth floated the possibility that "in the future we will sound out Her Majesty once more" — like when she's old by the standards of the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt.

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The Guardian The Week

3. Meghan McCain reveals the incident with Joy Behar that made her quit 'The View'

In her new book, Meghan McCain writes that she left The View earlier this year because of the "way I'd been treated on the show as the resident conservative." Her last straw came shortly after returning from maternity leave, when she got into an on-air argument with co-host Joy Behar. McCain recalls trying to "ease the tension" by saying, "Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave!" Behar shot back, "I did not. I did not miss you. Zero." The moment went viral, and McCain says it "triggered my postpartum anxiety," writing that she burst into "uncontrollable sobbing" during a commercial break and later threw up in her office. McCain also writes that it was "difficult to manage" co-host Whoopi Goldberg's "open disdain for me." More broadly, she describes The View as a "toxic work environment," alleging HR reports "fall on deaf ears."

Variety The Week

4. The Mel Gibson comeback continues with 'John Wick' casting

The living proof that cancel culture isn't a thing has been cast as the first actor to join the John Wick prequel series. Mel Gibson, who continues his comeback from his history of racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic comments, will star in The Continental, a three-part special-event TV series for Starz that is set 40 years before the events in the John Wick movies. Deadline reports that the show will "explore the origin behind the hotel-for-assassins, which increasingly has become the centerpiece of the John Wick universe. This will be accomplished through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, who is dragged into the Hell-scape of a 1975 New York City to face a past he thought he'd left behind." Keanu Reeves, who stars in the film franchise, isn't likely to appear but is supposedly in talks to be an executive producer.

Deadline Vulture

5. Kate Beckinsale was hospitalized after trying to put on leggings

Kate Beckinsale has finally dished on the freak accident that sent her to the hospital in September — and no, it didn't involve a stunt for a new film. "Having done eight- or nine-hundred action movies, I hurt myself putting on a pair of leggings in my hotel room," the Underworld actress revealed to James Cordon on The Late Late Show. "I was doing a very intense emotional drama and not running up walls or anything. I was in my hotel room putting on a pair of leggings, and it felt like a sort of guitar string snapped and everything was horrible." Beckinsale described the pain as worse than giving birth: "I couldn't walk, I couldn't lie down, I couldn't sit down. I couldn't do anything," she said. "Eventually an ambulance came and they sort of rolled out a sheet and picked me up in it like a sort of sausage, and put me on a gurney."

InStyle