The daily gossip: Tom Cruise unleashed robots on the Mission: Impossible 7 crew, there's a Full House Easter egg in WandaVision, and more

(Image credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

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1. The Mission: Impossible 7 crew now has to work under the watchful eyes of Tom Cruise's robots
2. Elizabeth Olsen teases that there's a Full House wink in WandaVision
3. Having Jessica Alba for a mom is 'cringey,' her kids report
4. Blake Shelton has no idea why his song romanticizing minimum wage during an economic crisis might be offensive
5. Ben Affleck says Justice League was worth it to wear the Batman costume to his son's birthday

published 15 January 2021

1. The Mission: Impossible 7 crew now has to work under the watchful eyes of Tom Cruise's robots

As if being screamed at by Tom Cruise wasn't bad enough, the cast and crew of Mission: Impossible 7 are now reportedly working under the watchful, unblinking eyes of a pair of robots tasked with making sure they don't break any COVID-19 safety protocols on set. "Tom is so serious about making sure the shoot isn't shut down that he's splashed out on these robots as he can't be everywhere to ensure people are behaving themselves," one insider leaked to The Sun. Very normal behavior! As might be expected, the robots are freaking people out, with the source further describing them as "really sophisticated and rather intimidating" and "like the Terminator, only not as violent."

Disney+'s new show, WandaVision, is Marvel's twist on a family sitcom — a familiar setting for its lead actress, Elizabeth Olsen, who spent her earliest years tagging along on the Full House set with her older sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley. "It's weird growing up with that," Olsen told the Table Manners podcast of her and her sisters' childhood. Though you won't see it in the first two episodes out Friday, Olsen also teased that later in the series, there's even a small tribute to Full House. "You can't not [wink at it] — it was a very big show!" Olsen told Access Hollywood, and confirmed to TV Guide: "We have a very small nod, but it's there." You can read The Week's review of the premiere episodes here.

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It might sound cool to have Jessica Alba for a mom, but take it from her kids: it's extremely "cringey." "They think I'm the most cringey mom, the definition of cringey," Alba, who is the mother of 12-year-old Honor and 9-year-old Haven, told guest host Stephen "tWitch" Boss on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday. "They actually said that I should use the hashtag #CringeyMom. I'm like, 'That's so mean! There are so many more cringey moms than me, guys!' They're like, 'Even saying that, Mom, is cringey.'" Alba added that her kids grew up not knowing she was an actress and that Honor was "mortified" when she found out. Alba recalled Honor exclaiming, "You never told me you'd be in grocery stores and in Target!"

Blake Shelton is acting surprised that his new song, "Minimum Wage," is drawing backlash during one of the greatest unemployment crises in U.S. history. On the track, Shelton — who is reportedly worth between $60 and $100 million — sings about how his sweetheart "can make a man feel rich on minimum wage." As one Twitter user pointed out, the lyrics "[cement] the fact that rich people have absolutely no f--king clue." Shelton responded in an interview with CMT published Thursday, doubling down by saying that the backlash is "really not real" and come from "just four or five people that probably don't know anything about country music. They clearly hadn't heard the song or read the lyrics. If they had, they couldn't feel this way about the song." Alright sure, bud!

Children apparently aren't all that into watching acclaimed dramas about the Iran hostage crisis — who knew? Ben Affleck revealed to The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast that he decided to accept the role as Batman in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016's Suicide Squad, and 2017's Justice League "for my kids." As he explained, "I wanted to do something that my son would dig. I mean, my kids didn't see Argo." Affleck added that he even "wore the [Batman] suit to my son's birthday party, which was worth every moment of suffering on Justice League."

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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.