The daily gossip: Jonah Hill swears Baby Yoda didn't give him a black eye, Ron Perlman declares Don't Look Up criticism 'sick,' and more

1. Jonah Hill swears Baby Yoda didn't give him a black eye

Jonah Hill has a black eye, but he wants to clarify that it's "from my surfboard" and definitely is "not from a fist fight I got into with Baby Yoda because of our falling out." For those unfamiliar with our newest celebrity feud, Hill recently revealed that Leonardo DiCaprio made him watch The Mandalorian, and "it was like, Baby Yoda was so cute, but I just didn't give a f--- because I didn't know anything that it was about." After that quote went around, Hill found it hilarious the way news outlets presented the story as if he was in some sort of WWE-style feud with Baby Yoda. Hill insisted that "Baby Yoda and I are dear friends and text at least once a week," and despite how things might now look with the black eye, he wrote on Instagram that Disney "definitely did NOT pay me off to protect the fact that one of their marquee stars has a big mouth and would definitely catch hands if he didn't sucker punch me with his little baby green fist." The Taylor Swift-Damon Albarn feud has got nothing on this.

Page Six Uproxx

2. Ron Perlman goes off on 'twisted' criticism of 'Don't Look Up'

Just when you thought we might be able to look away from the Don't Look Up discourse. Ron Perlman, who appears in Netflix's climate change satire, didn't mince words to The Independent about the mixed reviews, proclaiming to the people who wrote a negative review, "F--- you and your self-importance and this self-perpetuating need to say everything bad about something just so that you can get some attention." Some critics felt the movie's satire was didactic and ineffective, but Perlman declared of the criticism, "It's corrupt. And it's sick. And it's twisted." He also suggested "journalism is trying to do everything they can to co-opt and maintain their importance" because the "internet has almost killed" it. It's not often you see an Oscar campaign that largely involves proclaiming detractors sick human beings, but we'll see how this one works out for them!

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Variety People

3. 'West Side Story' stars sort of address Ansel Elgort allegations

The stars of West Side Story spoke with The Hollywood Reporter to address — or, more accurately, dance around — the allegations against their co-star Ansel Elgort. In June 2020, a woman accused the actor of sexual assault. "Only the people who were involved in that situation know what actually went down," Ariana DeBose said, while Rita Moreno said it would be "absolutely horrendous and wrong for anyone to take sides in that matter," adding, "It's not for me to make those judgments." Rachel Zegler also reflected that "there's been a lot of awakening" since the film was shot, prior to the allegations against Elgort. "You just hope that the people involved are OK," Zegler said. Elgort wasn't interviewed for the article, but he previously said his relationship with the accuser was "brief, legal and entirely consensual."

The Hollywood Reporter People

4. Christina Ricci on babysitting: 'I almost got the kids arrested'

Christina Ricci is perhaps not a top contender for the babysitter hall of fame. The Yellowjackets star on The Late Late Show reflected on working as a babysitter when she was 12, revealing the one time, she "almost got the kids arrested." According to Ricci, she babysat kids just slightly younger than her, and they were all feuding with a girl down the street. "So I decided to take the kids out with me to egg her house," Ricci said. She planned to egg the house and then, when the girl's dad came out screaming, make a run for it and have Ricci walk back out with the dog as if she was just taking him on an innocent stroll. That alibi wasn't totally foolproof, though, since "we had also been prank calling her and leaving horrible messages on her machine beforehand, so nobody believed me." This was her last time babysitting, if that doesn't go without saying.

Entertainment Weekly

5. Nicolas Cage: 'I am a goth'

File this one under "keeping up with Nicolas Cage's crow." Cage chatted with the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, and of course the subject of his pet crow Hoogan came up. "He has taken to calling me names ... it's comical, at least, it is to me," Cage said of his crow. "When I leave the room, he'll say, 'Bye,' and then go, 'A—.'" "Crows are very intelligent," Cage noted, "and I like their appearance, the Edgar Allan Poe aspect. I like the goth element. I am a goth." Perhaps it's appropriate, then, that the actor is set to play Dracula. Oh, sorry, not actor — Cage is continuing his quest to get people to call him a "thespian" instead. "'Thespian' seems more like it's about finding some truth within and then projecting it for others to get it," Cage said. "At least, it does to me. But I'm not always on the same wavelength as everyone else."

Los Angeles Times