The daily gossip: The Cyberpunk 2077 release is not going well, Eminem apologizes to Rihanna, and more

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1. Let's check in on how the release of Cyberpunk 2077 is going!
2. Eminem 'wholeheartedly' apologizes to Rihanna
3. Shania Twain finally makes 'an exception' for Brad Pitt
4. Obama also spent this year binge-watching TV and movies
5. Tom Cruise may or may not be dating Hayley Atwell

published 18 December 2020

1. Let's check in on how the release of Cyberpunk 2077 is going!

Cyberpunk 2077 was only one of the most-anticipated video games of 2020, what could go wrong? Well, one week after its release, the Keanu Reeves-starring role-playing game has been removed from the PlayStation Store by Sony, and the company offered refunds to people who purchased it after widespread complaints about how terribly it played on older devices. "We should have paid more attention to making it play better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One," its developer, CD Projekt, said after it had already sold eight million pre-orders of the game. Cyberpunk's huge graphic requirements were the root of the frustrations; as Kotaku writer Ethan Gach reported last week, "I've spent an hour playing Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox One, and it hasn't been pretty." Or you could chalk this up to 2020 striking again.

There are few things more satisfying than men apologizing to Rihanna, so thank you, Eminem, for stepping up! The rapper said "mea culpa" to Rihanna on a new track, "Zeus," which was included on his album, Music to be Murdered By - Side B, out Friday. "And wholeheartedly, apologies, Rihanna for that song that leaked/I'm sorry, Ri, it wasn't meant to cause you grief," Eminem raps, a reference to a decade-old song of his that leaked in 2019, in which he said "of course I side with Chris Brown" — who pleaded guilty to felony assault in 2009. Eminem wasn't quite as friendly to Snoop Dogg, who'd left him off his 10 best rappers list: "Man, dog, you was like a damn God to me/Man, not really, I had dog backwards," he raps.

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It's been 23 years since Shania Twain destroyed Brad Pitt by including him on her list of unimpressive men. But seeing as Friday was Pitt's 57th birthday, the singer decided to cut him a little slack. "Happy Birthday to Brad Pitt, I'll make an exception for today," Twain tweeted, including a winking-kissing emoji. That's quite the change of tune since she wrote the dismissive lyric "okay, so you're Brad Pitt," in her 1997 hit "That Don't Impress Me Much." As Shania explained back in 2017, she decided to include Pitt in the song after seeing his nude photos in Playgirl: "I just thought, I don't know what all the fuss is about. I'm like, 'Well that don't impress me much, I mean what is all the fuss?'" she told Billboard. Devastating.

Retired Chicagoan author Barack Obama shared his list of his favorite movies and TV shows of 2020 on Friday, and Tiger King was notably absent! Instead, Barry spent his year binging The Queen's Gambit (relatable), The Good Lord Bird (excellent choice), and the Prime Video series The Boys, which is notable for having what Decider describes as a "uniquely unsettling and super rowdy scene [that gives a] whole new meaning for 'mind-blowing sex'" (do read on). Meanwhile on the movie front, Obama predictably enjoyed the documentary Boys State, the animated movie Soul (which isn't out yet for the rest of us plebs), and Lovers Rock, a movie that is essentially one long dance scene. Check out his whole list here.

Tom Cruise is rumored to be in a relationship with his Mission: Impossible 7 co-star Hayley Atwell, evidenced, apparently, by the fact that they're in a movie together. This revelation, shared by The Sun, follows rumors that Cruise was in a relationship with his other Mission: Impossible 7 co-star, Vanessa Kirby (she shut that speculation down), as well as his Mission: Impossible - Fallout skydiving instructor. Vulture speculates that the whole Atwell rumor, provided to The Sun by an anonymous "source," is from someone on Cruise's payroll who is attempting to distract from the fact that the actor can't seem to stop shouting at people about COVID-19, even as he was spotted wearing a mask that isn't recommended by the CDC. Good luck with that!

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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.