The daily gossip: Obama gives Drake permission to play him in a biopic, Felicity Huffman lands comeback role, and more
Obama gives Drake permission to play him in a biopic, Felicity Huffman lands comeback role, and more
- 1. Obama gives former Degrassi actor permission to play him in a biopic
- 2. Felicity Huffman lands 1st role since the college admissions scandal
- 3. Cardi B boasts about hosting Thanksgiving with 37 people
- 4. Chef David Chang wins $1 million for charity on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
- 5. Prince Charles' pals sure are touchy about The Crown!
1. Obama gives former Degrassi actor permission to play him in a biopic
Former President Barack Obama has given Drake his blessing to portray him in a future biopic. "I will say this: Drake seems to be able to do anything he wants," Obama told Complex's 360 With Speedy Morman. "I mean, that is a talented, talented brother. So, if the time comes and he's ready …" When pressed if that means that the Canadian rapper has his stamp of approval, Obama said, "Drake has, more importantly I think, my household's stamp of approval. I suspect Malia and Sasha would be just fine with it." Still, Drake's acting chops might need a little dusting off, since it's now been 11 years (!!!) since the rapper played Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation.
2. Felicity Huffman lands 1st role since the college admissions scandal
More than a year-and-a-half after the college admissions scandal, Felicity Huffman is headed back to the small screen. Last year, prosecutors said Huffman paid $15,000 to have answers on her daughter's SAT corrected, and she pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Since serving her 11 day sentence in October 2019, though, Huffman has been "heavily courted for TV series and pilots," Deadline reports, and her new role will feature her playing "the unlikely owner of a minor-league baseball team."
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3. Cardi B boasts about hosting Thanksgiving with 37 people
The tone-deaf celebrity of the day is: Cardi B! Cardi earns the honor due to bragging about how "lit" her Thanksgiving was with "12 kids and 25 adults," while millions of regular Americans opted to cancel their holiday plans to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "Sorry my bad," Cardi B wrote after getting called out. "[W]asn't trying to make nobody feel bad. I just had my family in my home for the first time and it felt so good & uplifted me. I spent soo much money getting every1 tested but it felt worth it." Cardi, we've been over this!
4. Chef David Chang wins $1 million for charity on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Chef David Chang's final answer just helped him make a bit of TV history. The Momofuku restaurant group founder won $1 million for charity on Sunday's episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, making him the first celebrity ever to do so. Chang's winning question concerned the first president to have electricity in the White House. The answer was Benjamin Harrison, which Chang locked in at the suggestion of ESPN's Mina Kimes, who he called with his phone-a-friend lifeline. Chang's winnings are going to the non-profit Southern Smoke Foundation, which, according to its website, "provides funding to individuals in the food and beverage industry who are in crisis." Chang told USA Today after the show aired that he's "in shock" and "honestly can't believe it happened."
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5. Prince Charles' pals sure are touchy about The Crown!
Prince Charles' allies are attacking Netflix's The Crown as "highly sophisticated propaganda" due to the show's negative portrayal of how the British royal family treated Princess Diana. "Even Margaret Thatcher's family and friends haven't been as upset as Charles," Celebitchy notes, adding that "Charles spent decades carefully rehabilitating his image and Camilla's image only to see it all destroyed in ten hours of streaming drama." A "friend of the Prince of Wales" who spoke to the Mail on Sunday called it "quite sinister" that The Crown creator, Peter Morgan, was "using light entertainment to drive a very overt republican agenda." U.K. Culture Minister Oliver Dowden joined the chorus, preposterously suggesting the show should carry a "fiction warning" — you know, in case the use of actors didn't tip you off.
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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.
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