The daily gossip: Lorde disgusts fans with story about swimming in the Potomac River, Shia LaBeouf admits his dad wasn't really abusive, and more

1. Lorde disgusts fans with story about swimming in the Potomac River

Oh my Lorde. During a Monday night concert in Washington, D.C., Lorde seemed to leave her own audience disgusted by casually revealing she swam in the Potomac River earlier that day. In between songs, she described "lying in the Potomac River" and thinking, which initially drew cheers from the crowd. But concertgoers seemed to change their tune as she continued, and it became clear this is really something she did. "I love getting to swim in water where I'm playing," she said. "It makes me feel like I know you a bit better, somehow." Apparently not, based on the crowd reacting with revulsion. A Potomac Conservancy spokesperson told Jezebel the Potomac River "remains too polluted for safe swimming," so the "Royals" singer might want to prepare for the possibility of growing a second head. Next up, Lorde will relate to New York City fans by washing up in the bathrooms at Penn Station.

Uproxx Jezebel

2. Shia LaBeouf admits his dad wasn't really abusive despite supposedly autobiographical film

More like Shia LaBluff. In an interview on Real Ones with Jon Bernthal, Shia LaBeouf admitted his father wasn't really abusive, despite what his supposedly autobiographical movie Honey Boy would lead you to believe. LaBeouf wrote and starred in the 2019 film, which was seemingly based on his childhood and which he described as a product of his own "pain." In the movie, the father character, played by LaBeouf, is abusive. But LaBeouf now says this entire narrative was "just f--king nonsense" because in reality, "my dad was so loving to me my whole life" and "never hit me." Despite this, LaBeouf acknowledges he did a whole "world press tour about how f--ked he was as a man," and as a result, his dad will "live with this certain narrative about him on a public scale for a very long time, probably the rest of his life." Whoops, sorry pop! It's probably something worth keeping in mind during LaBeouf's next Olivia Wilde text dump.

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IndieWire CinemaBlend

3. 'The Goldbergs' is finally killing Jeff Garlin

CGI Jeff Garlin is finally being put out of his misery — and getting the Roseanne treatment. Garlin's character will be killed off on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs after the actor was accused of misconduct on set. Co-showrunner Alex Barnow confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that when the comedy's tenth season begins, the patriarch of the family will already be dead. "This is going to be a family that has not reconciled the fact that their father's gone but has sort of moved on and has dealt with a lot of that," Barnow said. Wow, sounds hilarious! Garlin exited The Goldbergs after allegations that he acted inappropriately on set and made people uncomfortable. But for some time, his character remained on the show, and the use of stand-ins to make it appear like he was still around made for some hilariously awkward, unconvincing scenes. Clearly, there are fates worse than sitcom death.

Entertainment Weekly Vanity Fair

4. Anna Sorokin's former friend sues Netflix over 'Inventing Anna'

Netflix invented quite a bit when it came to its Anna Sorokin series, one of the subjects claims. Rachel Williams, former friend of con artist Anna Sorokin, is suing Netflix for defamation for her depiction in Inventing Anna. In the lawsuit, she cites various scenes she alleges never happened and were made up to make her seem "greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic." For instance, she points to the show suggesting she stopped being friends with Sorokin because she was having money problems, when in reality, it was because she discovered Sorokin "was a liar and a con artist." Her attorney also pointed to an interview where Katie Lowes, who played Williams, acknowledges differences between the character and the real person, and Williams says she wants to hold Netflix "accountable for its deliberate recklessness." We'll have to see if the streamer can prevail in court with the ironclad legal argument that, well, the show does have "inventing" in its title.

The Hollywood Reporter

5. 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' director is 'even more proud' of the movie today

Is it time for the Last Jedi discourse to end? Apparently not! In a new Empire interview, writer-director Rian Johnson says he's "even more proud" of his divisive Star Wars film The Last Jedi almost five years later. "When I was up at bat, I really swung at the ball," Johnson said. Though well received by critics, the sequel riled up some Star Wars fans, in part due to its depiction of an initially grumpy Luke Skywalker. But Johnson defended his take, noting the movie is about "building" the myth of Luke, "not deconstructing" it. He also told Empire he still hopes to make his own trilogy of Star Wars films, which Lucasfilm announced in 2017 but has barely talked about since then. "It would break my heart if I were finished," he said. The film quickly began trending online thanks to Johnson's comments, because if there was anything Twitter desperately needed, it was more The Last Jedi hot takes.

Empire