The daily gossip: February 24, 2020

1. Harvey Weinstein convicted in rape trial

Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein is officially a convicted rapist. The jury in Weinstein's New York trial on Monday found him guilty on two counts for sexually assaulting Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann in 2013. Although Weinstein was acquitted on the most serious charges of predatory sexual assault, which involved Annabella Sciorra's testimony and could have landed him a life sentence, he's still facing up to 29 years in prison. Weinstein, who pleaded not guilty, was ordered to jail Monday while awaiting his sentencing.

The New York Times

2. #MeToo activists react to Harvey Weinstein's conviction

Harvey Weinstein's conviction came more than two years after the flood of sexual misconduct allegations against him helped ignite the #MeToo movement, and Time's Up is celebrating this "historic moment." Time's Up CEO Tina Tchen said the verdict "sends a powerful message to the world of just how much progress has been made since the Weinstein Silence Breakers ignited an unstoppable movement," adding that "abusers everywhere and the powerful forces that protect them should be on notice: There's no going back." Weinstein accusers also hailed the verdict on Monday, with Ashley Judd writing, "For the women who testified in this case, and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere."

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Deadline Twitter

3. Celebrities lose their cool over Friends reunion announcement

The stars … they're flipping out over the Friends reunion just like us! A Friends reunion special was officially announced on Friday, as shared by Jennifer Aniston in an Instagram post that instantly devolved into The One With Way Too Many Celebrity Comments. "WHAT?!!" commented Michelle Pfeiffer. "Yeah, baby!!!!" declared Laura Dern. "NO F'ING WAYYYYYYYY," wrote Gwyneth Paltrow. "Oh. My. God," wrote Janice — okay, we may be making that last one up. Now, is it possible not everyone realized that we're actually talking about an unscripted reunion of the cast members and not a new episode of Friends? Perhaps, but we wouldn't dare risk ruining their day, their week, their month, or even their year by clarifying.

E! Online

4. Justin Bieber covers Marvin Sapp at Kanye's Sunday Service

Justin Bieber stood out in his Sunday best (a bright red hoodie), as he performed gospel singer Marvin Sapp's "Never Would Have Made It" during Kanye West's Sunday Service in Los Angeles. Bieber, who has been candid about his religious beliefs, shared a captionless video of the performance on his Instagram feed. Kim Kardashian West also captured the moment and posted it to her Instagram stories. Though he recently dropped a new album, "Changes," maybe we can expect a "Jeezus" album from Bieber soon, à la pal Kanye?

Hollywood Life

5. Neil deGrasse Tyson somehow finds a way to ruin Marriage Story

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson typically sticks to ruining sci-fi movies with his joyless literalism, but apparently he's been catching up on his 2019 Oscar nominees. "The film A Marriage Story (2019) should instead have been named A Divorce Story," he tweeted Monday morning, in reference to the Best Picture nominee that stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson playing a couple navigating the final weeks of their relationship. In addition to inducing a lot of annoyed groans, Tyson sparked others to make their own keen observations. "It's really 'Star War' when you think about it," said New York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff. "Goodfellas should have been named the Badfellas," another Twitter user helpfully offered.

Twitter