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Cher is out there hitting all the usual spots promoting her long-awaited autobiography, Cher, The Memoir: Part One. And a recurring theme in her chats is how unapologetically Cher she is, including talking candidly about how hard it was reviewing her 78 years on Earth, most of which she’s spent in the public eye.
And, Cher being Cher, sometimes that forthrightness can tip over into not-safe-for-morning-TV talk. That’s exactly what happened on The Today Show on Tuesday morning (Nov. 19), when the singing legend sat down to talk about the memoir with co-host Hoda Kotb and dropped an uncensored F-bomb while telling a hilarious story about some solid relationship and career advice she got from late comedy icon Lucille Ball.
To be fair, Cher warned Kotb that she was going to sprinkle some zesty language into the breakfast mix when the host asked about what Ball had counseled when Cher split from husband/singing partner Sonny Bono in 1975. “I can’t say it on TV,” Cher said before making sure that producers were “going to bleep it.” When Kotb promised that it would be censored, Cher went ahead and told the story, as-is.
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She then described reaching out to Ball — who went through a similarly public break-up with her husband and I Love Lucy co-star, Desi Arnaz, 15 years earlier — who gave some sage, and salty, advice after Cher found out that, as she told Kotb, Bono had taken “all her money” before their split. “I said, ‘Lucy, I’m calling you because to my knowledge, there’s never been a situation besides mine except yours,’” Cher said she told Ball about a female entertainer who publicly left their on- and off-screen spouse. “And she said, “F–k him. You’re the one with the talent!’”
Though the f-word is now bleeped in the online video of the moment on the Today feeds, after it happened a clearly shocked Kotb said, “Oh!… we didn’t have the seven-second [delay]. But we will get it for the next feed!”
After realizing the f-bomb had not been bleeped, Cher turned to Kotb and pointed the finger, saying, “Well you said I could!”
Kotb laughed, saying, “I should have bleeped it myself! Bleep!”
That oopsie moment followed Cher’s Monday night (Nov. 18) visit to the Tonight Show, where she did another funny bit with host Jimmy Fallon and talked about how difficult it was to really lay it all out in the book — which is the first half of a two-part project that will be followed by Part Two next year.
“It was a b–ch,” she told Fallon about the first half of the book, which follows her rise from Cherilyn Sarkisian to worldwide fame as one-half of the Sonny & Cher duo. “It’s not going through your life that’s hard so much. But I did it a couple of times because the first time it didn’t work out. The second time I just didn’t want to tell anything. And then I thought, ‘You know what? Give back the money.’ It’s hard because when you’re telling your life there’s parts you’d like to guard.”
More importantly for her fans, the new Rock and Roll Hall of Famer also casually mentioned that she’s working on her twenty eighth studio album and follow-up to 2018’s ABBA cover album Dancing Queen; she released the Christmas holiday album in 2023. When Fallon asked if a new LP was on the horizon, Cher said she’s “about to” begin work on one to wild applause from the audience.
Watch Cher on the Tonight Show below.
Kelly Clarkson‘s star was born a long time ago. In fact, 2025 will mark 23 years since America voted to make Clarkson the very first — and still in many minds the very best — American Idol winner. So even though she had nothing to prove on Thursday (Nov. 14) in the latest Kellyoke segment […]
On her promotional run for the movie musical Wicked, Ariana Grande has been talking a lot about how her starring role as Glinda is the gig of a lifetime. And while the singer has said she’s been basically prepping for this moment since she was in the single digits, that doesn’t mean she is taking it all so, so seriously.
Which might explain why on Thursday night (Nov. 14) when she dropped by The Tonight Show to talk up the movie that will hit theaters on Nov. 22, she was happy to have a bit of fun with one of the most beloved Wizard of Oz memes of all-time. In a clip posted a few hours before airtime captioned “Ariana Grande’s sister is a witch,” Grande and Fallon recreated the 2018 “THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST, BRO!” clip in which two men have a seriously heated discussion about whether Glinda the Good Witch is a princess or not.
In Ari’s hands, she is the overheated bro yelling, “Hold on, hold on, hold on. Her sister was a witch, right? And what was her sister? A princess, the wicked witch of the east, bro. You’re gonna look at me and you’re gonna tell me that I’m wrong? Am I wrong? She wore a crown and she came down in a bubble, Doug. Grow up bro, grow up.”
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Grande sold it like a champ, coming at Fallon hard while wearing a flowing pink gown as he stared at her in disbelief.
The singer later sat down with Fallon — with the long train on her ruffled dress taking up the rest of the couch — to talk about the movie, as well as her super-viral bit from her SNL hosting stint last month in which purposely, and hilariously, sang off-key in a sketch sending up Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.”
Asked if it was hard to sing off-key, Grande said it was “really fun. I really enjoyed it… it was a bit we found in the moment.” Grande said she pitched it the writers, asking if it would be funnier if her vocals got “progressively worse” as the bit went on. Speaking of SNL, Grande also talked about helping to get current cast superstar Bowen Yang a spot in Wicked, calling his performance as Pfannee “absolutely brilliant… he killed it.”
She then recreated the call she had with SNL major domo Lorne Michaels — including a spot-on impersonation of the show boss’ dry persona — in which she nervously asked him if he could spare Yang. “In that moment I realized I don’t have what it takes to get this to happen,” Grande said. “But I did beg,” she added, describing how Yang would fly back-and-forth between SNL and the Wicked set to be a part of the two-part film.
Grande has already spoken quite a bit about how she was willing to put everything else on hold when she heard that director Jon M. Chu was turning the Broadway sensation into a movie musical, saying she knew she had to “earn” the part and was willing to put her music career on hold to prepare for the role she’d coveted since she was a girl.
Ready to take “all” the acting and singing lessons to train her voice to become a coloratura soprano, Grande recalled that she got huge support from Fallon as she was preparing to audition, which was also when she was recording the video for her collaboration with Jimmy on his holiday song “It Was a… (Masked Christmas),” also featuring Megan Thee Stallion.
Even with all the mental preparation she did beforehand, Grande said getting cast along with Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba sent her into overdrive. “When they called me to tell me I had the part, I had one heart attack,” Grande said. “That was the first one. And then they told me I was going to be playing opposite Cynthia Erivo, that was the second heart attack. And then I died and I’m dead. And I’m dead here. And I’m still dead.”
She also brought along a never-before-seen video of her first rehearsal for the show-stopping swinging chandelier bit in which she almost booted a stunt coordinator in the face as she flew around in circles.
Watch Grande on the Tonight Show below.
Kelly Clarkson has turned the Kellyoke segment of her syndicated daytime talk show into a signature moment. Sometimes it’s touching, sometimes it’s fun and occasionally the singer and her crack house band turn around a cover that is so unique and totally Kelly that it makes you wonder if she’s casually created the perfect version […]
When fans of The Voice tuned in to the show on Monday night (Nov. 11) to check out the start of the Knockout rounds, there was one singer who was conspicuously absent. According to EW, host Carson Daly noted at the top of the episode that country singer Tanner Frick had dropped out of the competition after notching a four-chair turn earlier in season 26.
At press time, Frick had not commented on his absence and the show did not provide any additional information about why he left the series. But on Tuesday (Nov. 12), the Manchester, TN native who used to work at the city’s water & sewer department posted another snippet of a new song on Instagram featuring seemingly prescient lyrics.
“These whiskey nights and neon lights they all fade away/ But this lonesome road keeps calling me to stay,” he sings in his gravely country drawl over acoustic guitar. “So I’m back here, I’m on my own/ I can’t seem to leave this life alone/ I guess I’m a lone wolf and a stray/ Ain’t nobody want me anyway.” Frick did not comment on the song or his departure in the post, with the caption to the clip re-iterating the song’s refrain.
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Commenters were confused and had a lot of questions, with one asking “What happened???,” while another added, “Ugh I hate that you left the Voice. I had you as my top #1 artist! So sad to see you go but I hope everything is okay! You have an amazing voice and you have such talent. Keep pushing forward and good luck with your future.” One of his fans lamented that Frick could have “won it all.”
On Nov. 3 Frick seemed to preview his leave-taking in a TikTok video featuring the same song — which he said was titled “Lonesome Road” — while reminding fans to tune in to the show to see him perform.
Frick made a name for himself during the blind auditions round in early October with a cover of Morgan Wallen’s “Thought You Should Know,” which earned him chair turns from all four coaches, with both Snoop Dogg and Reba McEntire bonding instantly with the singer over their shared family roots in Mississippi. “While ya’ll still had your backs turned I was into this!” Snoop reminded fellow judges Michael Bublé and Gwen Stefani about his early adopter status on the country crooner.
Stefani said all the judges were won over when Frick sang with his “full voice,” which allowed his uniqueness to shine through, correctly predicting that the singer would go with country icon McEntire as his coach. Last week, Frick impressed again in a Battle Round duel with Tate Renner on Jelly Roll’s “I Need a Favor.” After he failed to advance in that round, Bublé snagged him for his team, calling the pick-up a “huge win for me” and dubbing the country singer a “piece of the puzzle” that he didn’t have.
EW reported that on Monday’s show Daly told fans at home that Frick, 26, had “left the competition after rehearsals,” with no additional information available at press time on the reason for his departure.
The Voice airs on NBC on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming on Peacock the next day.
Not for nothing, but singer/producer Mk.gee literally taught us how to say his name on his 2018 EP, Pronounced McGee. But, here we are with this week’s Saturday Night Live promo featuring host comedian Bill Burr, in which cast member Sarah Sherman just can’t do the math on how to sound out the Two Star & Dream Police performer’s stage moniker.
“Hi, I’m Bill Burr and I’m hosting SNL this week with Mk.gee,” says Burr, who will anchor the first show following this week’s historic election in which former President Donald Trump beat out Vice President Kamala Harris. “Mk.gee, how do you spell your name?” a confused Sherman asks.
“M, as in Mk.gee,” responds the enigmatic indie singer-songwriter, who recently revealed that he’s working in the studio on Justin Bieber’s next album. “Yeah, ‘K’ as ‘Kiss From a Rose,’ by Seal,” adds Burr. “Dot as in ‘dot com,’ the host continues as the musical guest concludes, “G as in ‘gee.’”
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“Okay, never mind, forget I asked,” an exasperated Sherman tells the men.
In the second bit, Sherman is very impressed with herself, rolling her eyes and saying, “Thank you, I do look ravishing today!,” to which Burr says, “I didn’t say you looked ravishing” as Mk.gee stands silent in a giant brown coat and matching hued shirt and black baseball hat. “I’m talkin’ about Mk.gee,” Burr assures her.
“Your hotel room tonight?,” Sherman goes on, as she pretends to be having a private conversation with a suitor via a non-existent earpiece. “What?” a confused Burr wonders. “Sorry, I’m on a call. Let me know when the promo starts,” Sherman tells him. “Sorry about that… where were we, Mickey Rourke?” Sherman coos while holding a finger to her ear to continue the phantom chat. The latter finally gets the attention of Rourke superfan Burr, though it’s too late at that point.
This weekend’s gig will mark 27-year-old New Jersey native Mk.gee’s SNL debut. Mk.gee is currently on a world tour that take him to Australia in December.
Watch this week’s SNL promo below.
Chloe Fineman has a well-established reputation for doing wickedly funny celebrity impressions, from her killer Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears takes to her wacky, mega-energy JoJo Siwa, eerily accurate Timothée Chalamet, as well as perfect takes on Nicole Kidman, Elizabeth Olsen and, of course, her daffy Jennifer Coolidge.
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So when Entertainment Tonight asked the comedian earlier this week if she was working on dialing in an impression of over-the-top pop star Chappell Roan for this weekend’s episode where the “Hot To Go” singer will be the musical guest alongside six-time host comedian John Mulaney, the typically game-for-anything Fineman wasn’t so sure.
“I might have one [an impression], but I also respect her too much that I’m like, ya know….” Fineman said of Roan, whose brash, colorful stage persona seems ripe for a Fineman take. “I feel like I have to get a temperature check,” Fineman added about what sounds like a game-time decision.
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Fineman also said she was psyched for the combo of Roan and Mulaney — a stand-up star who was is also a former SNL writer — admitting, “that wasn’t necessarily on my vision board, the two of them together, so I’m excited.” In September, Fineman wore her Roan fandom on her sleeve, telling People that she ” definitely had a Chappell Roan summer, as we all did… So, I was like, I can’t believe I might get to be in the same building and sing ‘Pink Pony Club,’ you know? So we’ll see. Hopefully that will happen.”
Saturday’s show will mark Roan’s SNL debut. The singer appeared to tease her next era on Tuesday in an Instagram post in which she shared some selfies and hinted at the follow-up to breakthrough The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess album.
“Album kinda popped off imo but it is time to welcome a hot new bombshell into the villa,” she captioned the pics, in a reference to the Love Island catchphrase welcoming new contestants that led fans to speculate that she’s working on her sophomore LP. Producer Dan Nigro also revealed that the album is in the works earlier this month when he said the pair had completed five songs already, including a “fun, up-tempo country song,” a “couple of ballads” and a “mid-tempo rock song.”
Omarion is set to star in and executive produce an upcoming original drama series titled Wild Rose. According to Variety, the former B2K lead singer and solo star will take on the lead role of Roosevelt (aka “Rose”), in the ALLBLK series that follows the contract killer whose family also runs a nonprofit. Explore Explore […]
If you were looking for a breezy break from the unrelenting torrent of news about the Nov. 5 presidential election, SEVENTEEN had just what you needed on Wednesday morning (Oct. 30). The 13-member K-pop boy band marked their debut performance on ABC’s Good Morning America by providing some musical caffeine via the first U.S. TV run-through of their new single, “LOVE, MONEY, FAME” from their 12th mini album, SPILL THE FEELS.
Though the song’s featured artist, DJ Khaled, was not on hand, S.COUPS, JEONGHAN, JOSHUA, JUN, HOSHI, WONWOO, WOOZI, THE 8, MINGYU, DK, SEUNGKWAN, VERNON and DINO, rocked the GMA stage with their signature mix of smooth vocal harmonies, rapping and intricate choreography as the members took turns in the spotlight for the English-language version of the song.
The performance came after the group racked up their sixth top 10-charting release on the Billboard 200 album chart with SPILL, which debuted at No. 5 with 66,000 equivalent album units earned for the week ending Oct. 24.
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The superstar group kicked off the U.S. leg of their [RIGHT HERE] world tour in Chicago last week, marking their first American dates in more than two years. The three-hour, 22-song show showcased tracks from across their four album, 12 EP catalog, including the debut live performance of “LOVE, MONEY, FAME.”
American CARATs can check them out next on Halloween night (Oct. 31) at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio (and again the next night), Oakland Arena in Oakland, CA (Nov. 5-6) and BMO Stadium in Los Angeles (Nov. 9-10); the latter will be their first U.S. stadium shows.
Watch SEVENTEEN perform “LOVE, MONEY, FAME” on GMA below.
Olivia Rodrigo is likely still on a sugar high after wrapping up her sold-out 95-show Guts world tour. So, naturally, on Tuesday night (Oct. 29) when she visited the Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon asked her to talk about two of the wildest things that happened to her on the road.
After holding up a copy of the Touring Issue of Billboard magazine with Rodrigo on the cover, Fallon dug right in on the singer’s intense road run-in with some border cops. “I got in trouble with the law for the first time in my life,” Rodrigo admitted. “We were going from Canada to, like, Portland or something. We were at border control, I give them my passport, and they’re like, ‘OK, whatever.’ And they knock on the door and they’re like, ‘We need Olivia.’”
Thinking it might be a border agent wanting an autograph for their daughter, Rodrigo came out of her bus at 3 a.m. to see what the problem was. “I’m delirious, and they take me to a room—and it’s an interrogation room, and there’s like, a big cop [with] a gun,” she recalled. “He’s like, ‘Have you ever been arrested?’ I’m, like, ‘No, I haven’t been arrested.’ He’s like, ‘Are you sure?’ I’m like gaslighting [myself]. I’m, like, Oh, my God, maybe I was, like, arrested and I didn’t know it,” she said breathlessly.
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After being warned she could go to jail for lying to a federal officer, Rodrigo said she started to freak out, worrying she would not be let back into the U.S. “Like, I’m so scared. I’m, like, having a panic attack,” she said. After a 30-minute interrogation, the border agent looked at her again and asked her to spell her last name. “[I said] ‘Olivia Rodrigo, like, R, O, D, R, I, G, O,’ And he’s, like, ‘Oh, there’s a girl who looks just like you, that’s your same age, that’s been arrested multiple times, and her name’s Olivia Rodriguez.’”
Fallon also asked Rodrigo, 21, to run down some highlights of the tour, which she said included going to the Philippines for the first time, which was special for her due to her Filipino heritage. “Yeah, it was so special and everyone was so great. [And] such good singers!,” she said, remembering how her fans there sang all her lyrics back to her perfectly on pitch and in key.
Jimmy also just had to bring up one of the most embarrassing moments from the tour, a mishap in Melbourne, Australia where Olivia went crashing through a trap door in the stage. After playing the clip of Rodrigo handling the trip-and-fall like a pro, the singer said it was actually “really scary. Watching the video back is pretty terrifying. I mean, show must go on, that’s showbiz, baby.”
That said, Rodrigo said it was actually kind of a “beautiful” accident in hindsight because she had just been in the Philippines and she’d been thinking about her family and heritage and after getting shaken up by the fall she went to the hospital to make sure she hadn’t sustained a concussion. While there, she was treated by a Filipino nurse who had the same name as the singer’s grandpa, who passed earlier this year.
“And so I was like ‘wow that was him looking out for me,’” she said. “Making sure I didn’t get hurt and so I’m really happy it happened. I think it’s a beautiful story.”
Rodrigo also plugged her new Netflix concert special Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS World Tour and stuck around to play a fun game of “What’s Behind Me.”
Watch Rodrigo on The Tonight Show below.