The daily gossip: Gwen Stefani claims she's Japanese, Gwyneth Paltrow remembers the '90s as a time for 'doing cocaine and not getting caught,' and more

Gwen Stefani has long faced allegations of cultural appropriation, but she has reflected on the criticism and vowed to make a change. Just kidding! The "Hollaback Girl" singer, who was accused of appropriating Japan's Harajuku subculture with her fragrance line Harajuku Lovers and album Love. Angel. Music. Baby, has doubled down by belatedly insisting she is actually Japanese herself. In a bizarre interview with Allure, Stefani said she came to this realization after traveling to Harajuku. "I said, 'My God, I'm Japanese and I didn't know it,'" she claimed, describing herself as a "little bit of an Orange County girl, a little bit of a Japanese girl, a little bit of an English girl." She also declared she identifies with the Hispanic and Latinx communities while acknowledging, "I'm an Italian American." The Allure interviewer, an Asian woman, was shocked, stressing that Stefani is "not Japanese" and that she walked away from the conversation "unsettled." Get ready for our first celebrity Notes app non-apology of 2023! 

What's in the box? A lot of cocaine, it turns out. On The Late Late Show, James Corden asked Gwyneth Paltrow what it was like being a star in the 1990s during "a time when there was no social media," and she had great, drug-related memories. "It was great," Paltrow declared. "I mean, talk about doing cocaine and not getting caught!" Paltrow continued by getting nostalgic about a time when one "could just be at a bar and be having fun, dance on a table," and "go home with some rando and no one would know" because there were "no paparazzi" in New York. Or, you know, at least that's what she's heard ... through friends. Paltrow previously said ecstasy is the hardest drug she's ever done, so we have a few questions about what's really in Goop's "Metabolism-Boosting Superpowder." 

Are we living through the production of Apocalypse Now … now? Francis Ford Coppola's new movie Megalopolis has "descended into chaos," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The sci-fi film, which has been described as the Godfather director's passion project, is halfway through shooting. But the Reporter says that in recent weeks, it has lost its production designer, supervising art director, and entire visual effects team. "It was absolute madness, being on set," a talent representative, whose client was fired, told the Reporter. The chaos calls to mind the famously troubled production of Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but the stakes are high for the director this time considering he's self-financing Megalopolis. He previously said he would spend $120 million of his own money, but a production executive told the Reporter he's "going to spend a lot more money than he intended." Coppola may have to ensure his investment pays off by sticking a few Na'vi in there. 

Ben Affleck is going full Dunkaccino. The actor was spotted taking orders, wearing an employee uniform, at a Dunkin' drive-thru in Boston on Tuesday, and a customer told NBC10 Boston he was "quick-witted and funny when they talked." But lest you assume James Gunn's DC shake-up led Affleck to search for a new gig, TMZ reports that "all signs point to this being a major ad," possibly for the Super Bowl. NBC10 Boston also reported a film crew was there, and TMZ spotted Jennifer Lopez in the drive-thru at one point. Affleck's love of Dunkin' is well-documented, though he faced some damning allegations in December when a Page Six headline blared that he had cheated on the chain by grabbing coffee at Starbucks instead. Unthinkable! But they've apparently patched things up, possibly after arranging some sort of open coffee chain relationship. 

Richard Linklater just learned the importance of casting normal people when you plan to work with them for 20 years. The Boyhood director announced in 2019 he's embarking on an insanely ambitious Merrily We Roll Along film project, which will actually be shot, in pieces, over the course of the next two decades. Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein were cast in the lead roles, and Blake Jenner was also set to star. The only problem? Jenner has since been accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife, Supergirl star Melissa Benoist. So according to Above the Line, he has been replaced in the film by Normal People star Paul Mescal, even though Jenner reportedly already shot scenes. Linklater presumably plans to ensure no other changes need to be made by stranding Platt and Feldstein on a deserted island until the late 2030s to prevent them from being canceled.