Elton John will re-release his 1973 double-album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road on March 25 as a deluxe edition on CD, vinyl and limited-edition yellow vinyl, according to Rolling Stone. It'll also be released as a box set with a DVD of the long out-of-print 1973 Bryan Forbes film Elton John and Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye to Norma Jean and Other Things, and a 100-page hardback book about the making of the album. Also, on March 18 and 26, a film of Elton's Las Vegas show, "The Million Dollar Piano," will play at 500 movie theaters in the United States and 1,200 more in approximately 40 other countries.
Actress Gabourey Sidibe ( Precious; TV's American Horror Story: Coven ) has apologized for repeatedly using an anti-trans slur on The Arsenio Hall Show, saying she was unaware that it was an insult, according to an LGBTQ Nation item. In a discussion about life in New Orleans, where Sidibe resides, the actress said the word "tranny" no fewer than five times in under a minute when she appeared on the show Jan. 23. The remarks drew stern criticism from Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Comedian/actress Wanda Sykes appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Jan. 28 with a T-shirt from the Human Rights Campaign's ( HRC ) #LoveConquersHate campaign, according to a press release. The campaign aims to support Russia's LGBT community, currently being targeted by an "anti-propaganda" law. During her appearance as one of Leno's final guests as host of the Tonight Show, Sykes talked about her participation in HRC's campaign and what she felt was the need for more Americans to speak out against the situation taking place in Russia.
The Disney Channel show Good Luck Charlie! recently made history when it introduced viewers to Susan and Cheryl, the first confirmed same-sex couple ever to appear on the kid-oriented network, according to Hollywood Life. "Taylor has two moms!" proclaimed Bob ( Eric Allan Kramer ), upon meeting the two women, to which sassy wife Amy ( Leigh Allyn Baker ) responded, "Wow! Nothing gets past you, Bob." Disney Channel had never featured an openly gay character, much less a same-sex couple.
Madonna and Miley Cyrus teamed for a mash-up of "Don't Tell Me" and "We Can't Stop" at Cyrus' barn dance-themed "Unplugged" show that aired Jan. 29 on MTV, according to Billboard.com . Cyrus embraced her Nashville roots for the special, giving a countrified twist to "Bangerz" material such as "4 x 4," "Do My Thing" and "#Getitright," and covering Dolly Parton's "Jolene."
Following her performance of "Dark Horse" on this year's Grammy Awards, Katy Perry has her ninth Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit, according to a press release. Among her other chart-toppers are "I Kissed a Girl" ( 2008 ), "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," "Firework" ( 2010 ) and "Roar" ( 2013 ). Perry has now become the only artist to have risen to number one in each year of the current decade.
Legendary singer/songwriter Carole King was honored Jan. 24 as MusiCare's 2013 Person of the Year honors last night at the Los Angeles Convention Center, according to Rolling Stone. Among those performing her songs were Lady Gaga, James Taylor, Steven Tyler, Pink, Will.I.Am and Alicia Keys. Gaga made her usual impression by singing "You've Got a Friend" perched on a round stage billowing with white fog, dressed all in white and sporting platinum bangs at playing a white grand piano.
Actor Kellan Lutz recently talked about the secrets to transforming his body in the recent film The Legend of Hercules, according to The Daily Mail. Lutz, 28, said the transformation begain during the Twilight saga, in which he plays vampire Edward Cullen. He said that he hunkered down in the gym while cast members were put in "mall apartment complexes," and also reportedly followed the Paleo ( Caveman ) diet.
Actress Lori Petty ( Tank Girl ) has been cast in season two of the Netflix smash Orange Is the New Black, according to a SheWired.com item. Since Petty's role of surfer chick Tyler in Point Break, Perry has starred in movies such as A League of their Own ( pitcher Kit Keller ). Petty has also frequented the TV and voiceover scene as Daddy in the Prison Break TV movie, House and the Batman animated series.
Nicollette Sheridan will get a new trial in her wrongful-termination case against Desperate Housewives, according to a TV Guide item that cites The Hollywood Reporter. Sheridan originally sued ABC, Touchstone Television and show creator Marc Cherry for $20 million in April 2010, claiming she was unfairly fired for complaining about Cherry hitting her in the head during a September 2008 argument. In March 2012, a judge declared a mistrial when the jury couldn't reach a verdict and remained stuck at eight to four in Sheridan's favor.
Music superstar Beyonce is the subject of a course at Rutgers University called "Politicizing Beyonce," which uses the pop star's music and career to "explore American race, gender and sexual politics, according to Rolling Stone. The course will compare and contrast the "Irreplaceable" singer's music videos and lyrics with important works from the Black Feminist movement, including the writings of Alice Walker and the abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
Coming off of the heels of the history-making wedding, Grammy winners Macklemore & Ryan Lewis will unveil a special PSA set to their hit "Same Love" to kick off USA Network's Characters Unite Month in February to help combat discrimination in all of its forms and spread a message of unity, according to a NBCUniversal press release. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis said of their involvement, "We intended 'Same Love' to help spread a message of love, tolerance and acceptance and we are proud to align ourselves with the Characters Unite movement which shares the same goal. Through the new Characters Unite PSA, we hope to inspire even more people to take part in such an important cause."
Harvard University honored actress Helen Mirren with its 2014 Hasty Pudding Award, according to People.com . The Oscar winner was paraded around the streets of Cambridge, Mass., in a convertible alongside Hasty Pudding members dressed in drag—and later even twerked after being asked to do so. Mirren cursed momentarily, but bent over and shook her derriere for the crowd.
The finale of American Horror Story: Coven hooked 4.2 million total viewers, making it the highest-rated season finale of the FX drama, which has now aired three seasons, TheWrap.com reported. However, the "Coven" finale not only beat out its predecessors ( "Murder House" and "Asylum" ), but it also bested all broadcast competition in the 10 p.m. hour and ranked third in primetime in the 18-49 demo.
New York City's Shakespeare Theatre Company has announced that three actors—Patti LuPone, Phylicia Rashad and Richard Thomas—will join STC artistic director Michael Kahn for separate installments of the Classic Conversations series, according to Playbill. LuPone will talk Feb. 17, Rashad on March 9 and Thomas on March 31. The three artists will sit down with Kahn to discuss all aspects of classical theatre, from its influence on their past to its role in the present.
After revoking the Original Song nomination from the religious period-drama Alone Yet Not Alone, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explained why it did so, according to EW.com . At issue was composer Bruce Broughton, a former governor of the group's music branch, who acknowledged that he privately emailed members of that voting division and asked them to consider his song from the relatively obscure movie. No other song will take the revoked tune's place, leaving only four nominees ( songs from Despicable Me 2, Frozen, Her and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom ).
Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman ( Doubt; The Master ) was found dead of an apparent drug overdose—in the bathroom with a hypodermic needle still in his arm—inside a Greenwich Village home Feb. 2, according to the New York Post. In 2006, Hoffman publicly admitted that he nearly succumbed to substance abuse graduating from NYU's drama school, but got sober in rehab. Last year, Hoffman reportedly checked himself into rehab again for 10 days after relapsing in 2012. He won an Oscar for playing gay writer Truman Capote in the 2005 movie Capote. Multiple reports indicate Hoffman, 46, actually took part in an intervention for actor pal Heath Ledger, who died in January 2008 after overdosing on a lethal cocktail of prescription medications, Radar Online mentioned.
Hoffman's death has prompted another actor to come forth about his own addiction issues. According to The New York Daily News, Shawn Pyfrom ( best known as Andrew, Bree's gay son, on the TV show Desperate Housewives ) wrote on his Tumblr blog, "I can't stay quiet anymore about this. … I am an alcoholic and a drug addict." Pyfrom, 27, added that he's been sober for five months.
Actress Cate Blanchett has responded regarding allegations that Woody Allen ( who directed her in the film Blue Jasmine ) molested his daughter Dylan Farrow when she was 7—but some wonder if the reply would hurt Blanchett's Oscar chances, according to TheWrap.com . Asked about Allen's situation while she entered a party, Blanchett said she hopes the family can "find some sort of resolution and peace" in this "long and painful situation." Farrow had penned an open letter about the alleged abuse that also called out Blanchett and other stars of Allen's movies. Allen has called Dylan's allegations "disgusting" and "untrue."
Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory has listed his 2,827-square-foot house in Los Feliz at $1.85 million, according to The L.A. Times. The openly gay three-time Emmy winner recently bought Twilight vampire Robert Pattinson's place nearby for $6.375 million. The place Parsons is selling has two levels, and includes a formal entry, an office, a breakfast area, three bedrooms and four bathrooms.
In the second quarter of the Super Bowl, Coke became the first advertiser to show a gay family in an ad for America's big game, according to NBC News. The snippet appeared as one of many vignettes in a sweeping ad that celebrated America's collection of diverse creeds, codes and individuals. In the five-second clip, two male partners and their daughter go roller-skating while a chorus of children sings "America the Beautiful." Gay rights organization GLAAD praised the ad, calling it "a step forward for the advertising industry."
Stylist-turned-designer Rachel Zoe announced she would be canceling her show set for Feb. 13 and rescheduling for a later date in Los Angeles, The Huffington Post reported. Zoe explained that her new baby is the reason behind the cancelation. "As a new mother, my newborn son is too young to travel with me, and I'm unable to leave him for the amount of time required to appropriately prepare for the show in New York," she said.
Fresh off his first Oscar nomination for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club, Matthew McConaughey has reportedly signed on to star opposite Ken Watanabe in openly gay director Gus Van Sant's drama Sea of Trees, according to TheWrap.com . The story follows an American man ( McConaughey ) who takes a journey into the infamous "Suicide Forest" at the foothills of Japan's Mount Fuji, intending to take his own life. When he is interrupted by a Japanese man ( Watanabe ) who has had second thoughts about his own suicide, the two begin a journey of reflection and survival.
GSN announced that actress Rebecca Romijn ( X-Men; Ugly Betty ) will serve as host of Skin Wars, the eight- episode, hour-long competition show that seeks to find the most talented and versatile body painters in the country, according to a press release. Drag entertainer RuPaul and body-painting superstars Craig Tracy and Robin Slonina will serve as judges. The show will premiere during the summer.
Netflix is confirming that it has officially picked up a third season of the political drama House of Cards, according to Deadline.com . This marks the first renewal for the show, which originally landed at the streaming company with a straight-to-series two-season order. The deal for a third season came after months of negotiations and ahead of House of Cards' second-season debut the week of Feb. 10.
