The daily gossip: June 19, 2020

(Image credit: Jon Furniss/Invision/AP)

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1. Lord of the Rings costars pay tribute to Ian Holm
2. Jersey Shore's Angelina Pivarnick threatens to show the world 'the group chat' after dramatic season finale
3. Jimmy Kimmel gets summer vacation this year, too
4. Alicia Keys releases powerful new song, 'Perfect Way to Die'
5. Supermodel Ashley Graham chips her front tooth on her mom's cookies

published 19 June 2020

1. Lord of the Rings costars pay tribute to Ian Holm

The Lord of the Rings world is paying tribute to actor Ian Holm, who died Friday at the age of 88 and played Bilbo Baggins in director Peter Jackson's trilogy. "Off to the Grey Havens goes dear Ian Holm," wrote Holm's co-star in the series, Dominic Monaghan, who played Merry Brandybuck. "Pete Jackson said he was the best actor he had ever worked with. I studied him whenever I could. On set and off it, he was a magical man. So sweet. So full of twinkle. So GOOD at it all. Namarie Uncle Bilbo." Elijah Wood, who played Bilbo's nephew, Frodo Baggins, also chimed in. "So sad to hear that the singular, brilliant and vibrant, Sir Ian Holm has passed," he wrote. "Farewell, uncle."

Angelina Pivarnick is threatening to bring out the big guns … and "show the world the group chat." Her warning followed Thursday night's season finale of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, which covered the aftermath of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jenni "JWoww" Farley's "disastrous" bridesmaid speech at Pivarnick's wedding last November, and which led Snooki to quit the show over the ensuing drama. Jenni, for her part, insisted that the ladies "apologized over and over." Nevertheless, Pivarnick took to Twitter after the show to vent, writing, "[d]o you really want me to show the world the group chat that you guys didn't know I was in talking s--- about me the night of my wedding? And you wonder why I couldn't let things go." Biiiiig yikes!

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It's a shame Alice Cooper never wrote a song about late night TV being out for summer, because Jimmy Kimmel is going to be taking the next few months off "to spend even more time with my family," as he announced on the June 18 episode of his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. "I've been doing this job for almost 18 years, I've done 3,130 shows," he said, adding that "there's nothing wrong, my family's healthy, I'm healthy, I just need a couple months off." In the meantime, Jimmy Kimmel Live will continue to air, with a "cavalcade of very kind and capable people" filling in as guest hosts while Kimmel's out. The guests will reportedly start hosting once the show's two-week hiatus ends on July 6.

On Friday, Alicia Keys released a powerful new song called "Perfect Way to Die," which was initially written after the deaths of Michael Brown and Sandra Bland, and "chronicles the mourning of a mother whose son has been shot to death." Keys introduced the song on Instagram by writing, "The song title is so powerful and heartbreaking because WE are heartbroken by so many who have died unjustly.⁣⁣ Of course, there is NO perfect way to die. That phrase doesn't even make sense." Keys will also appear on Friday night on a special Juneteenth edition of Verzuz, in a piano battle against John Legend, which you can tune into at 8 p.m. ET here.

There is no doubt that supermodel Ashley Graham adores her mom — the two have even posed together in the past, in a bikini ad for Graham's collection Swimsuits for All. But when Graham shouted out her mom on Thursday evening, it wasn't exactly for a happy occasion. "Shout-out to Linda Graham for making the best oatmeal cookies in the world … and putting them in the freezer … and having your daughter break her tooth on them," Graham said in her video, pulling her hand away from her mouth to reveal the painful-looking damage. Linda Graham didn't seem too perturbed, replying to the post with: "Cookies, anyone?"

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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.