1. Matt James calls the Chris Harrison situation 'devastating and heartbreaking'
Calls for longtime Bachelor host Chris Harrison to retire are growing, with current Bachelor Matt James expressing his disappointment in the franchise. Harrison "stepped aside" from his job after an interview with the first Black Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay, in which he defended James' Bachelor contestant, Rachael Kirkconnell, for holding an antebellum South-themed party in 2018. On Instagram, James, the first Black Bachelor, noted that while there are "several episodes left in the season," he's "learning about these situations in real time," an experience that's been "devastating and heartbreaking." He added that Harrison's "failure to receive and understand" Lindsay's explanation of the racist history of the antebellum South was "troubling and painful to watch" and that his "greatest prayer" is that the situation results in "real and institutional change for the better."
Vulture
2. Shailene Woodley claims she's never watched a football game
Actress Shailene Woodley and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers' relationship has moved so fast that most people don't have a fully-formed opinion of it, much less a readily available couple portmanteau to reference them by (Wodgers? Shaileron?). News that Rodgers was dating the Big Little Lies actress broke less than a week before he thanked his "fiancée" during his NFL MVP speech; Woodley then confirmed their engagement on Monday's Tonight Show, saying the couple have actually been "engaged for a while." Not long enough, though, for Woodley to have ever been to, or watched, a football game! "I never thought I'd be engaged to someone who threw balls for a living!" she confessed. Yeah, life's funny like that.
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3. Nicholas Braun shoots his shot with Kim Kardashian
Nicholas Braun has some thoughts on the type of guy Kim Kardashian should date post-Kanye. "One who can make you laugh a little bit, or make you feel small cause he's so tall," the 6-foot-6 Succession star suggested in a video posted to his Instagram. "Just a guy who's talking about her on the internet. A guy who makes a video like this and he's sort of like trying to find a way to just talk to her because he doesn't know anybody who knows her," Braun said. He received support from celebs in the comment section, including Hilary Duff, Justin Long, and Demi Lovato. But there is an important question that remains to be answered: Does Kim Kardashian have the antibodies?
US Weekly
4. Cardi B tells Mariah Carey she's shy
Cardi B is thankful her interview with Mariah Carey for Interview Magazine was over the phone. "If it was in person, I wouldn't be able to look you in the eyes. That's how nervous I get around celebrities," she admitted. The rapper revealed she doesn't always want to meet her heroes. "My fans want me to interact with more artists, but if I love their music, I don't want to meet them because I don't want to hate them. I'd rather just not know them at all and love them." Cardi's husband, Offset, advises her to treat it like networking. But for Cardi, it's not that easy. "Growing up, loyalty was really big. But celebrities aren't like that, and that's something that you have to find out on your own."
Interview Magazine
5. Tom Holland lost a role in Star Wars because he couldn't stop laughing at the BB-8 stand-in
Things have worked out pretty well for Tom Holland, who told Backstage that at the age of 24 he's already "achieved everything I could possibly want to achieve." Not at all relatable, buddy! Anyway, Holland admitted that despite his success, he's blown auditions before, including when he tried to branch out from the Marvel Universe, where he plays Spider-Man, and into Star Wars. Holland tried for the role that John Boyega ultimately got, but he couldn't handle the woman standing in for BB-8 during the audition. "I was doing all of this, like, 'We gotta get back to the ship!' And she was going, 'Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop.' I just couldn't stop laughing," Holland said. Needless to say, a Star Wars role was not in Holland's cards.
Backstage Uproxx
