The daily gossip: Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies, Cardi B tosses microphone at fan who threw drink at her, and more

The Pee-wee Herman actor had privately battled cancer for years.

(Image credit: Christopher Polk / Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies at 70
2. Cardi B tosses microphone at fan who threw drink at her
3. Lady Gaga pays tribute to Tony Bennett: "Take care of your elders"
4. "Loki" trailer teases Jonathan Majors' next MCU appearance after abuse allegations
5. "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" no longer has a release date

By Brendan Morrow

published 31 July 2023

1. Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies at 70

Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian behind the iconic character of Pee-wee Herman, has died after a private battle with cancer, according to a statement shared Monday on his official social media pages. He was 70. "Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit," the statement said. Reubens developed the character of Pee-wee Herman while performing with the comedy troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s, and Pee-wee later received a stage show, HBO special, TV series, and several movies. In a posthumous statement shared on social media, Reubens apologized for "not going public with what I've been facing the last six years." He added, "I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you." Tributes quickly began pouring in, and Conan O'Brien remembered Reubens' "surreal comedy and unrelenting kindness" as "a gift to us all."

Cardi B, for one, is sick and tired of this whole "fans throwing things at musicians" business. The rapper tossed her microphone into the audience after a concertgoer threw a drink at her while she was performing in Las Vegas, video shared on social media showed. She was just the latest in a long line of musicians whose fans have been throwing things at them recently. According to TMZ, the woman who was hit with the microphone reported the incident to police the next day, so Cardi B is now listed as the suspect in a battery. TMZ also said that Cardi B's microphone allegedly "ricocheted and also hit another woman standing next to" the person who threw the drink, though it wasn't clear who went to police. During the same show, the rapper seemed to encourage fans to toss water at her because it was so hot out. She later posted about the incident on Instagram and wrote, "Jealous a-- b---h!!"

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

We hope you have tissues handy, as Lady Gaga's tribute to Tony Bennett is here. After the legendary singer died on July 21 at age 96, Gaga honored her friend and frequent collaborator in a moving Instagram post. "I will miss my friend forever," she shared. "I will miss singing with him, recording with him, talking with him, being on stage together." Gaga released two albums with Bennett and performed with him many times, including in 2021's special "One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga." Gaga told fans their relationship "wasn't an act" but "was very real," and "though there were 5 decades between us, he was my friend. My real true friend. Our age difference didn't matter -- in fact, it gave us each something neither of us had with most people." Gaga closed by urging fans to "take care of your elders and I promise you will learn something special."

The "Loki" season 2 trailer is here and, even after those domestic violence allegations, so is Jonathan Majors' Kang. Marvel has dropped the first footage from the second season of "Loki," in which Tom Hiddleston's title character finds himself being pulled through time and seeks help from Ke Huy Quan. The Oscar-winning "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star is making his MCU debut, but fans were taken aback to see someone else in the footage: Majors as Kang the Conqueror. "Make the hard choice," Kang says, specifically the "Victor Timely" version of him from the "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" credits. The trailer suggests Marvel is keeping Majors in the show after the actor was arrested in March for allegedly assaulting a woman, though his role in "Loki" would have been filmed before that. He has repeatedly denied the allegations, and he's going on trial in August. As far as we know, no future appearances by Majors in the MCU beyond "Loki" have been shot.

Miles Morales' story will be continued ... eventually. Sony has shuffled its release calendar amid the Hollywood writers and actors strikes. The sequel to "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" was delayed from December 2023 to March 2024, while the Marvel movie "Kraven the Hunter" was moved from this October all the way to August 2024. "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse," the sequel to this year's "Across the Spider-Verse," was also pulled from the calendar entirely after previously being scheduled for March 2024. This was said to be due to the actors strike, during which the stars won't be available to record dialogue. But even before the strike, the film looked unlikely to be finished in time despite "Across the Spider-Verse" leaving audiences on the edge of their seats waiting for the story to be resolved. In retrospect, it may not have been the best timing for every other summer movie to end on a cliffhanger just before Hollywood shut down indefinitely.

Explore More

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.