TV/Film
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LISA of BLACKPINK is getting down with Blackstreet and Dr. Dre, jamming out to “No Diggity” with her White Lotus castmate Tayme Thapthimthong in a recent clip. Posted to Max’s Instagram, the video finds the pair sitting in press-junket chairs as Thapthimthong flexes his vocals while LISA giggles and dances along. “Shorty get down, good […]
The Masked Singer pulled off one of its biggest surprises of the season during Wednesday night’s (April 2) “Boy Band Night” episode, revealing rapper, actor, and Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man as the celebrity beneath the Stud Muffin costume.
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The reveal came after Stud Muffin delivered a smooth and cheeky rendition of Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison,” complete with coordinated choreography and a clue package that hinted at his ties to hip-hop, brotherhood, and birthday shoutouts from BBD themselves. Clue deliveries during the episode came from Masked Singer alums Omarion (B2K) and Wayne Brady, the latter calling Method Man his “travel buddy.”
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“I had fun with it,” said Method Man, whose real name is Clifford Smith, Jr. “I’m always down to do something unexpected, and The Masked Singer let me just go out there and play. That’s what it’s about.”
Panelist Rita Ora had been adamant in her guess from Stud Muffin’s first appearance, and her celebration after the unmasking confirmed she’d been waiting for the win. “I knew it was you!” Ora exclaimed. “Your voice is so distinct — and you moved like a pro!”
The reveal drew gasps from the judges, with Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong both shocked by Method Man’s commitment to the disguise.
Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg floated guesses like MC Hammer and 2 Chainz earlier in the night, while Thicke aligned with Ora in the final moments.
The Wu-Tang legend is just the latest high-profile name to appear on season 13 of The Masked Singer, which has leaned into music nostalgia and heavy guest star cameos this year. Method Man’s appearance follows the show’s recent nods to boy band royalty like NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick and B2K’s Omarion, both of whom joined the panel this week to dish out clues.
Best known for his iconic role in Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man has also had a prolific career in acting and production, with credits spanning How High, The Wire, Power Book II: Ghost and beyond. His last solo album, Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab, dropped in 2022 and featured collaborations with Redman, Jadakiss, and KRS-One.
Season 13 of The Masked Singer continues next Wednesday with the Group C finals. As for Method Man? He’s officially out of the oven.
Billboard Women in Music 2025 Last Friday is really happening, folks. We’ve been covering updates about the film extensively since June of 2024 when Ice Cube told Flavor Flav that the movie was gaining momentum. “We’re working on it. We finally got some traction with Warner Bros.,” he said. “They have new leadership. My man […]
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A feature film by artist, graphic designer, music video director and Ed Banger Records’ longtime art director So Me is out today (April 1) on Netflix.
Banger tells the story of an aging French DJ named Scorpex, played by French actor Vincent Cassel. Scorpex gets mixed up in a mission with an intelligence agency that provides him with what he believes is the chance to return to the top with the movie’s titular banger. The film also stars Laura Felpin and features an appearance by French dance royalty Kavinsky. Watch the trailer for Banger below.
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The French language film expands an episode that So Me, born Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, directed for the 2021 French television series 6 X Confiné.e.s. This episode also starred Cassel as Scorpex, with So Me later writing the film based around the character.
“I was already contemplating a movie in this world, and the opportunity of shooting the [episode] came a little bit after actually,” So Me tells Billboard. “So in a way, the [episode] is a spinoff that came out before the movie itself.”
He adds that the bumbling but endearing Scorpex “generates empathy because we’re all sooner or later confronted with a cooler, younger version of ourselves. And it’s particularly true in a job where most of the audience is, well, young. Some DJs deal with it perfectly, some struggle a bit more, and I look at it with a certain tenderness.”
Having worked with many DJs over the years, So Me says these artists have “all inspired me, that’s for sure. However, I would say [Scorpex] is more of a composite. This scene is just so ripe for satire. It’s a lot of egos. And it’s pretty competitive.”
After spending years directing videos for artists including Justice (“D.A.N.C.E.”, “Audio, Video Disco”) Major Lazer (“Get Free”), Kid Cudi (“Day ‘N’ Nite”) and Kanye West (“Good Life”), So Me says making a movie was “always been a dream” of his.
“There’s a lot of common things: Framing, lightning, turning ideas into moving images,” he says of the commonalities between making videos and making this movie. “However, there are also some major differences, such as directing actors, basically telling a more complex story. Music videos are more of a place to experiment, but having shot a lot of things already probably put me at ease to attack the climbing of such a high peek.”
But while making a feature length film was new, So Me certainly had a lot of life experience to draw from in terms of telling a story that takes place within the DJ world of clubs, parties and studios.
“I hope [the film] shows an educated version of how things actually happen in the studio, backstage, et cetera,” he says. “My goal was that people who are in the know would find it credible, however showing how it really is would be extremely boring for people who don’t know. So it’s a fantasized version of this world that aims at feeling real.”
Following a fierce battle against throat cancer in 2014 that required two tracheotomies that robbed him of his signature honeyed voice, actor Val Kilmer died on Tuesday (April 1) at age 65. The Julliard School-trained star who got his start on the big screen in the comedies Top Secret! and Real Genius in the mid-1980s and went on to stardom after his biting turn as Iceman in 1986’s Top Gun passed away in Los Angeles from pneumonia surrounded by his family and friends, according to the Associated Press.
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The intense actor who also played Batman in 1995’s loopy Batman Forever and faced off with Al Pacino’s cop in the heist flick Heat that same year also lit up the screen in his mesmerizing, wraith-like portrayal of a tuberculosis-stricken Doc Holliday in 1993’s Tombstone. In a nearly four-decade career that spanned comedy, drama and historical epics, it was Kilmer’s eerily method portrayal of Doors singer Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 The Doors biopic that became one of his signature roles.
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Actress Jennifer Tilly — who auditioned for the movie for the role that Meg Ryan landed as Morrison’s girlfriend, Pamela Courson — posted a loving tribute to Kilmer on X following the announcement of his death.
“A long time ago, I was auditioning for the movie The Doors. It was kind of a cattle call. They paired together potential Jims with potential Pamela‘s. And they were running behind so we were spilling out of the casting office, sitting on the porch, the lawn, and the driveway,” she wrote.
“All of a sudden, a sixties convertible came screeching up, blaring Doors Music at top volume. And a guy jumped out and strode inside: He had wild hair and he was barefoot, shirtless, and wearing nothing but a pair of tight leather pants,” she added. “We all looked at each other like… Who is this guy? We were more than a little shook by the sheer audacity of his entrance. Well of course it was Val Kilmer and from that minute on, nobody else stood a chance. Rip King.”
Kilmer’s final movie appearance was a sentimental return for the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick, in which he appeared after losing his voice to cancer, with his lines digitally enhanced due to the damage to his vocal cords following radiation treatment.
In a statement, Heat director Michael Mann paid tribute to the famously Method actor who threw himself full-bore into his roles, saying, “While working with Val on Heat I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.” On Instagram, friend and fellow actor Josh Brolin wrote, “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those. I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
Cher, who dated Kilmer in the early 1980s, also honored the actor in her signature pithy way, posting on X, “VALUS Will miss u,U Were Funny,crazy,pain in the ass,GREAT FRIEND,kids U, BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness.”
Josh Gad also honored the “icon” who had a huge impact on him, posting a pic of Kilmer in his Top Gun uniform, writing, “RIP Val Kilmer. Thank you for defining so many of the movies of my childhood. You truly were an icon.” Director Francis Ford Coppola, who worked with Kilmer on the little-seen 2001 horror movie Twixt, said on Instagram, “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life. He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him.”
In addition to the lightweight Batman Forever, Kilmer also appeared alongside Marlon Brando in the bizarre, famously troubled 1996 science fiction movie The Island of Dr. Moreau, played painter Willem de Kooning in the 2000 biopic Pollock, as well as 1970s porn star John Holmes in Wonderland and Phillip II of Macedon in Stone’s 2004 sword-and-sandals historical drama Alexander.
Kilmer continued to star in films throughout the early and mid-2000s, often in direct-to-video projects or in cameos in small films. His 2021 documentary, Val, featured footage Kilmer filmed from throughout his career, including during his throat cancer treatment, with his son, Jack Kilmer, narrating the project.
Baylee Littrell, son of Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell, took center stage during Hollywood Week on American Idol with a moving original song dedicated to his late grandmother.
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The 21-year-old’s performance of “Hey Jesus,” a tribute to the woman he called his best friend, brought his parents to tears in the audience. Brian Littrell, visibly emotional, was seen singing along as his son poured his heart out on stage.
“Baylee, you’re so good,” judge Carrie Underwood told him after the performance, noting his “heat” and “genuineness.”
It’s been a few episodes since Baylee first stepped out of his father’s boyband shadow during the season premiere, and this week, he reminded everyone why he earned his spot in Hollywood Week. His heartfelt performance was one of the most memorable of the night and secured him a spot in the next round.
Hollywood Week also saw Idol’s most brutal cut yet, with more than half of the 144 contestants eliminated in what host Ryan Seacrest called “the biggest cut in Idol history.”
Among the standouts moving forward was 17-year-old Isaiah Misailegalu, who wowed with a masterful take on Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.” “You have such a gift, and you’re so confident on the stage,” said Underwood.
The youngest contestant, 15-year-old Mattie Pruitt, stunned the panel with her performance of Chris Stapleton’s “Cold.” “Nothing about that is 15,” said Bryan, noting the “rasp and pain and heart” in her voice.
Josh King, a 24-year-old airport pianist, found his redemption arc with a stirring rendition of Rick Astley’s “Hopelessly.” “Josh! If you had done that in your audition, you would have gotten three yeses, absolutely,” Underwood told him.
Among the contestants moving forward include Thunderstorm Artis, Amanda Barise, Jamal Roberts, Slater Nalley, Sonny Tennet, and Platinum ticket holders Canaan James Hill, Filo and Kolbi Jordan.
Among those who didn’t make the cut were Landynn Kennedy, Sam Sparks and Mikaela Bautista—contestants who had impressed in earlier rounds but couldn’t recapture the magic under pressure.
Showstoppers Week continues Sunday, April 6 on ABC, followed by head-to-head performances on Monday, April 7.
It looks like Will Smith is making a return to wearing a black suit. The West Philly rapper and actor sat down with fellow Philadelphians Gillie & Wallo for their Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast and the subject of how he decides on which movies to take came up. He said that he wants […]
This week, it was especially fitting that American Idol airs on Sundays. On the March 30 episode of the show, teenage contestant — and aspiring preacher — Canaan James Hill took the judges to church with his audition for the show, leaving Lionel Richie in particular stunned. Before diving into a soulful rendition of Earnest […]
Remember Hilary Duff‘s 2007 performance for the Today show’s summer concert series? SNL‘s Barry the Midwife (Bowen Yang) and Dr. Richards (Mikey Madison) do. In “Barry the Midwife” on the latest episode (March 29) of Saturday Night Live, the midwife-and-doctor duo at first have an awkward run-in when their patient is giving birth and the […]
While Morgan Wallen was the official musical guest on SNL this weekend, Joe Jonas co-starred in a musical sketch poking fun at New Yorkers waiting in stupidly long lines just to try a trendy new treat they’ve heard about on TikTok.
Picture this: It’s spring in New York City. It’s the weekend. It’s a beautiful day. You don’t have work. Your friends don’t have work.
As Mikey Madison, Ego Nwodim, Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman — the stars of one of SNL‘s latest spoofs to make use of a catchy pop tune — point out, you could go to brunch, see a movie, ride a bike, have a fling.
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Or you could wait in a big, dumb line.
That’s right. You could spend your day waiting in a line that goes around the block — for a limited-supply bagel, slice of pizza or creamy taco that showed up on your “For You” feed. While you’re waiting, you could sing about it like they do in Saturday night’s (March 29) “Big Dumb Line” sketch.
“Must be worth it — it’s a really long line,” Fineman emphasizes in an ad-lib directed straight to the viewer.
Perhaps there will be cronuts (the croissant-donut hybrid), or a concoction one can only hope was dreamt up an SNL writer: palad (pizza and salad combined), frasca (fries as pasta), fandy (fish that’s candy) or choda (cheese that’s soda).
“Big Dumb Line,” a sketch that was pre-taped ahead of the live show, is all good fun until Bowen Yang cracks under the pressure of the line, to his own horror and that of his pals. “I’m leaving. I’m leaving!” he screams.
That’s where Joe Jonas pops in with a motivational ballad, urging the NYC line dropout to trust the process. “Believe in the line/ You deserve this viral Greek yogurt/ Or to try Lisa Rinna’s wine,” the Jonas Bro sings with feeling in a surprise cameo.
Watch the “Big Dumb Line” sketch from Saturday Night Live below.