The daily gossip: March 18, 2020

1. George R.R. Martin might finally finish The Winds of Winter because he has nothing else to do

Apparently all it takes for George R.R. Martin to make progress on the much-delayed next installment of Game of Thrones is a literal global pandemic. In a blog post, the 71-year-old author said he is "aware that I am very much in the most vulnerable population" and reassured "I feel fine at the moment." He added that he is "off by myself in a remote, isolated location … and I'm not going into town or seeing anyone. Truth be told, I am spending more time in Westeros than in the real world, writing every day." Hey, whoever said this whole mess couldn't have a silver lining?

TV Guide Not A Blog

2. No, Oprah did not get arrested

Early Wednesday, Oprah Winfrey was forced to clarify that she had not in fact been "raided or arrested" after an obviously fake rumor about her alleged involvement in a Boca Raton sex trafficking ring pushed her name to the top of Twitter's trending topics overnight. In reality, Oprah has been sitting around doing what the rest of us are also doing: "sanitizing and self-distancing." The conspiracy theory apparently originated with the far-right group QAnon, and New York Times reporter Astead Herndon scolded anyone who actually fell for such a dumb hoax: "Y'all made Oprah tweet after midnight," he tweeted. "You should be ashamed of yourselves."

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

Newsweek

3. Bono wrote a song about coronavirus

If the global coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it's that celebrities get very, very bored when forced to stay indoors. On Tuesday night, U2 frontman Bono released his first new song since 2017, explaining to fans that he was inspired by viral footage of Italians singing with each other during quarantine. Bono's ballad, "Let Your Love Be Known," specifically describes wandering through the streets of Dublin during the coronavirus outbreak: "Yes there is isolation/You and me we're still here/Yes when we open our eyes we will stare down the fear." While it might not win him a literature Nobel, Bono added he only wrote the track "an hour ago."

Instagram The Guardian

4. Amanda Bynes is having a baby

Amanda Bynes is going to be a mom! The former Nickelodeon star quickly deleted a photograph of her ultrasound image with the caption "baby on board!," but not before fans caught a glimpse of the good news. "Amanda is just barely pregnant and she is very happy," a source confirmed to Us Weekly. Bynes' fiancé, Paul Michael, also shared an ultrasound pic with Bynes' name on it before taking it down later. The couple got engaged back in February, but briefly split up at the beginning of March. "Unclear what their exact relationship status is at this point," Cosmopolitan writes, "but wow — big news!"

Us Weekly Cosmopolitan

5. Idris Elba apparently thinks he caught coronavirus from Justin Trudeau's wife

Idris Elba evidently believes he caught the coronavirus from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, the sleuths over at Page Six have discovered. Elba announced Monday that he had tested positive for COVID-19 despite not showing symptoms, and in a video update he confessed that his "known exposure was March 4" and that he got tested after hearing about the diagnosis of someone else "also in the public eye." Elba also said he'd learned he'd been exposed last Friday, which was the same day news of Sophie Trudeau's diagnosis broke; additionally, the pair were photographed together at a charity event in London … on March 4. It just goes to show — you've gotta keep that six foot distance, people!

Page Six