The daily gossip: May 8, 2020

(Image credit: Robin Marchant/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

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1. Ariana Grande sweetly shows off her new boyfriend
2. Nicki Minaj is having way too much fun with all the pregnancy rumors
3. It's only natural to feel strongly about Cole Sprouse's goatee
4. Queen guitarist Brian May hospitalized for rear-end injury related to some 'overenthusiastic gardening'
5. Spike Lee will make you cry with his gorgeous tribute to an empty New York

published 8 May 2020

1. Ariana Grande sweetly shows off her new boyfriend

Ariana Grande has made her relationship with "rando" Dalton Gomez music video official. The singer collaborated with Justin Bieber on a coronavirus relief song released overnight, "Stuck With U," in which they each appeared with their respective shelter-in-place partners: Bieber with his wife, Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin), and Grande with her newish, normie real-estate agent BF. Grande and Gomez have reportedly been together for about four months now, People reports, adding that sources say "Ariana doesn't want to do another public relationship so she is trying to keep this one quiet, but she seems very happy with Dalton." Based on the adorable video, that seems about right.

Nicki Minaj playfully stoked pregnancy rumors during a Q&A with fans on Thursday night, where she teased that she'll have a baby bump picture ready "in a couple months." The 37-year-old rapper, who married Kenneth Petty, 42, in October 2019, revealed that she's been having "red meat cravings then salad cravings with extra jalapeños," which got fans thinking. When one ventured to ask if she was having morning sickness, Minaj played along, replying "Lmao. No throwing up. But nausea and peeing non stop. Omg what do u think this means guys????" Minaj has reportedly "always wanted to become a mother," a source told Us Weekly, but she's faked out over-eager fans before, including last July when she rapped that she was "'bout to ... be a mommy."

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We're all trying out new things in quarantine, and Cole Sprouse, specifically, is trying out a goatee. The Riverdale actor posted a black and white photo of himself sporting the new look — his second such image in a week — with the caption "how to polarize a young fanbase." And it's working! "Wow, when did u grow up?" teased Ashley Tisdale. Hollywood's Jake Picking said he loved the look, while singer King Princess thought it seemed more "villainous." Shannon Purser, a.k.a. Barb from Stranger Things, further warned "here come the think pieces" to which Sprouse cheerfully replied, "Already bought a fedora."

Queen guitarist Brian May confessed this week that he was recently hospitalized because he somehow "managed to rip my Gluteus Maximus to shreds in a moment of overenthusiastic gardening." May didn't bother elaborating exactly how "overenthusiastic gardening" might lead to such an uncommon injury, only that he did a "thorough job" wounding himself and "I won't be able to walk for a while ... or sleep, without a lot of assistance, because the pain is relentless." May added that he'll be taking a break from social media to recoup and "please, please don't send me sympathy." Turns out Martha Stewart was right, this is what happens when you don't quarantine with your gardener!

On Friday, director Spike Lee released a new short film called "New York, New York," which he described in an Instagram caption as being "a love letter" to the city's citizens. Shooting on Kodak Super 8 film, the Do the Right Thing filmmaker captures the city under quarantine, from its empty landmarks to its makeshift hospitals. The three-and-a-half minute video is set, appropriately, to Frank Sinatra's famous ode to the Big Apple. Slate's film critic Dana Stevens called it perhaps the "best Spike Lee movie of the 21st century," and while that may be egregious Inside Man erasure, you can watch it here.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.