On the heels of the highly-rated People v. O.J. Simpson first installment of American Crime Story dominating the long-form Emmy categories with 10 wins, including best limited series, Ryan Murphy's anthology series has been renewed for a third season by FX, Deadline revealed. The title of the new 10-episode installment will be Versace/Cunanan and will examine the July 1997 assassination of legendary designer Gianni Versace on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by sociopath/serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who, eight days later, killed himself in a house boat as the Miami Dade police force moved in to capture him. Versace was his fifth and final victim.
HarperCollins' Avon Romance's first male/male historical romance novel, The Soldier's Scoundrel, is now being sold, according to a press release. In Cat Sebastian's book, sparks fly between former criminal Jack Turner and soldier Oliver Rivington. It is available for $4.99.
Grammy-winning singer and actress Diana Ross will return to Las Vegas for nine concerts at the Venetian next year, The L.A. Times noted. "The Essential Diana Ross: Some Memories Never Fade" will open Feb. 8 at the Venetian with additional performances on Feb. 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 22, 24 and 25. She sold out 18 shows at the same venue last year. Ross holds a number of honors, including Billboard's Female Entertainer of the Century Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 2017 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced, CNN noted. This year's first-time nominees are Bad Brains, Depeche Mode, Electric Light Orchestra, Jane's Addiction, Joan Baez, Journey, Pearl Jam, Steppenwolf and Tupac Shakur. They join past nominees who are back on the list: Chaka Khan, Chic, Janet Jackson, J. Geils Band, Joe Tex, Kraftwerk, MC5, The Cars, The Zombies and Yes. Fans can cast one vote a day through Dec. 5 by visiting RockHall.com .
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Alex Pall of EDM duo The Chainsmokers said Lady Gaga's lead Joanne single, "Perfect Illusion," well, "sucks." Now Gaga has responded, according to Billboard, tweeting, "maybe u guys'll like this 1 better," with a link to new single "A-YO." The duo replied, "Haha @ladygaga RESPECT." By the way, during that RS interview, Pall's bandmate, Andrew Taggart, jumped to Gaga's defense after Pall's frank review of "Perfect Illusion," adding, "She's a great artistlike, Jeff Koons made a sculpture of her."
Pete Burnslead singer of the Eighties goth New Wave band Dead or Alive and their smash "You Spin Me Round ( Like a Record )"died Oct. 23 after suffering cardiac arrest at age 57, Rolling Stone reported. The singer ( who became known in his later years for his many plastic surgeries ) also recorded notable Dead or Alive hits with "Brand New Lover" and "Something in the House." Boy George, who weathered comparisons both musically and stylistically to Burns, tweeted of the Dead or Alive singer, "Tearful about the passing of @PeteBurnsICON he was one of our great true eccentrics and such a big part of my life! Wow. Hard to believe!"
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Tituss Burgess told a crowd at a screening of the closeted-soccer-player drama The Pass, "I never had any trouble being myself. Myself was a problem for a lot of people, but I didn't have a problem," according to Page Six. The openly gay star added at the NewFest LGBT Film Festival last week, "I want to call attention to how normal our lives are, and to how powerful our messages are, and to have patience with those people who don't understand who we are for whatever reason… I know I am preaching to the choir, but we can't hide. We just can't."
After a much-buzzed-about season that led Logo to its highest rated Thursday night in network history, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' season two continues to break viewing records as the best season of a Logo original series ever, a press release touted. This season, which saw Alaska snatch the crown and join the Drag Race Hall of Fame, is up 62 percent from the show's first season, and up 35 percent from RuPaul's Drag Race's eighth season that concluded this past May.
Christian Slater was flanked by go-go boys jiggling in jockstraps at East Village gay bar the Cock for the after-party of his new flick King Cobra," Page Six reported. Before the wild party, Slater dished about sex scenes at the IFC premiere of the twisted film about the real-life murder of a gay-porn producer by a rival. Slater said he told director Justin Kelly he didn't want co-star James Franco to one-up him on-screen.
Radar Online has reported that Caitlyn Jenner will again be interviewed by Diane Sawyer ( and not Oprah Winfrey ) when Jenner's autobiography comes out next spring. A source stated, "Diane and Caitlyn have become close friends since Caitlyn's coming out as a transgender on ABC in an interview with Diane Sawyer in 2015. They talk all the time." ABC received the greatest ratings in over a decade when Jenner announced during a sit-down with Diane Sawyer that she was transitioning. Winfrey has publicly expressed her disappointment over not landing that interview on numerous occasions.
Melissa Rivers is said to be upset over the book Last Girl Before Freeway: The Life, Loves, Losses and Liberation of Joan Rivers, by Leslie Bennetts, Page Six noted. The Hachette Book Group biography, being published Nov. 15, allegedly reports that some friends of Joan, who died in 2014, feel Melissa was a not-very-talented drag on Joan's career. Melissa initially cooperated with the book, provided some family photos and gave Bennetts a list of people to talk to, but then decided not to be interviewed further.
Younger co-star Nick Tortorella has launched podcast "The Love Bomb"which he says is the "number-one podcast in sexuality, gender and health," Page Six noted. Tortorella told Page Six it "broke the bomb" when the publication reported on his "fluid sexuality" last June.
Janet Jackson covered her pregnant belly with a conservative Islamic-style outfit while out for a stroll with her billionaire Qatari husband in London, Page Six noted, citing The Daily Mail. The once-racy pop starwho sparked controversy when she exposed her right breast at the 2004 Super Bowlwrapped herself head to toe in a baggy black hooded top, ankle-length skirt and boots while walking hand-in-hand with Wissam Al Mana. On Oct. 20, the Grammy Award-winning star smiled and chatted with Al Mana, the scion of a wealthy Qatari family that owns fashion brands such as Hermes and shares in Saks Fifth Avenue.
Director Tim Miller has exited Deadpool 2 due to creative differences with star Ryan Reynolds, UPI.com reported. Miller, who directed the original comic book hit for Fox, had not officially signed on to helm the sequel but was developing the script and had planned on returning. Miller worked closely with Reynolds on the first film and is rumored to have been the one behind the leaked Deadpool footage that led to Fox greenlighting the film following positive feedback from fans. The film is expected to return in 2018.
An off-Broadway puppet show playing homage to The Golden Girls has been hit with a lawsuitbut it's not from NBC or the sitcom's creators, NewNowNext reported. Writer and creator Jonathan Rockefeller adapted the show from an earlier production, Thank You for Being a Friend, that he created with writer Thomas Duncan-Watt. However, Duncan-Watt has filed suit in Manhattan State Supreme Court, alleging the new production is a blatant rip-off of the original.
Androgynous '80s musician Marilyn is back, NewNowNext reported. Marilyn was even more famous for his friends than his music, thoughhe partied with Madonna and notoriously dated Bush's Gavin Rossdale for nearly five years. After personal setbacks, Marilyn is releasing new music with his old friend, Boy George, playing producer. "Love or Money" is Marilyn's first single in 30 years, and its reggae beats hearken to his roots in Jamaica.
The man accused of sneaking through Kendall Jenner's towering security gate and leaving her "terrified" in her driveway last August was found not guilty of stalking the model and reality TV star, The New York Daily News noted. However, in a split decision, a Los Angeles jury found Shavaughn McKenzie guilty of trespassing on Jenner's property the night of Aug. 14.
Heath Ledger's well-documented obsession with his psychopathic role as the Joker in the Batman movie The Dark Knight has a new twist: He turned his Manhattan apartment into a shrine dedicated to the iconic supervillain, The New York Post revealed. Police investigators who responded to the Oscar-winning actor's Soho loft after his fatal 2008 drug overdose walked into a world filled with Batman comic books, literature on the Joker and clowns, small clown statues and recordings of Ledger practicing his oddly shifting Joker voice in high and low octaves, a law-enforcement source said. Ledger's official cause of death was "acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine," according to a report by the New York City medical examiner's office.
Mouths of Babes (composed of women Ingrid Elizabeth and Tylan Greenstein of acts Coyote Grace and Girlyman ) has released the track "Lock & Key" from their upcoming full-length album, Brighter in the Dark, due out in early 2017, according to a press release. The now-married pair has received notable press both for their respective projects and together as Mouths of Babes; just last year, MTV covered their wedding as an inspirational story celebrating marriage equality. People can listen to the song at https://soundcloud.com/mouthsofbabes/08-lock-key-v1/s-ysEqQ.
Justin Bieber's streak of controversial outbursts during his Purpose World Tour continued, E! News noted. The 22-year-old had enough of his screaming fans during his show in Manchester recently, so he decided to simply drop his mic and storm off stage. E! News learned he warned the crowd not to start screaming while he was trying to talk to them.
Kim Kardashian is reportedly refusing to film scenes for Keeping Up with the Kardashians as husband Kanye West urges her to quit the reality show for good, The Inquistr reported. According to reports, she is still seriously shaken up after she was robbed at gunpoint of more than $10 million worth of jewelry on Oct. 2. She is now being encouraged to quit Keeping Up with the Kardashians by West over fears for both herself and the couple's two young children, North and Saint West.
A recent story about music legend Gladys Knight's legal fight over her son's Atlanta restaurants mentioned that one of his eateries that bears her name flunked its most recent health inspection, AJC.com reported. It was the second failure in a year for Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffle's popular downtown Atlanta location. Several violations were cited, including food stored at improper temperatures and the presents of various insects in the kitchen.
The Chemical Brothers' entire catalog of eight studio albums will soon be available in the U.S. on double LP vinyl, a press release stated. The influential U.K. band's first seven albums have been unavailable on vinyl for some time, but Astralwerks announced plans to release limited-edition colored vinyl of each on Dec. 9, followed by standard black vinyl on Dec. 23. Some of the albums include Dig Your Own Hole ( 1997 ), Come with Us ( 2002 ) and Further ( 2010 ).