FEBRUARY 21, 2019

There’s a rumor that WHOOPI GOLDBERG is the SURPRISE HOST of this Sunday’s Oscars. She’s hosted four times before, in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2002. She’s been absent from “The View” since February 6th, and that started some speculation that she’s secretly preparing for the gig. But on yesterday’s episode, JOY BEHAR threw some cold water on that talk. She said that Whoopi has been out recovering from PNEUMONIA, and added, “She’s not really even well enough to host the show right now, much less the Oscars.”  And an ABC spokesperson said the rumor was “absolutely false.”

 

“Empire” actor JUSSIE SMOLLETT was charged yesterday with filing a false report. It’s a felony charge, and he could be looking at up to three years in prison. Chicago Police believe he orchestrated the supposed hate crime in Chicago on January 29th. Jussie’s lawyers say they will “mount an aggressive defense.” The two men who allegedly attacked Jussie say Jussie PAID them to attack him and make it look like a hate crime.  They’re cooperating with police. Meanwhile, newly-obtained video shows the brothers buying ski masks and a red hat at a store the day before the attack. One of them is also believed to have bought the rope that was placed around Smollett’s neck during the “attack”.

 

DANIEL RADCLIFFE has never shied away from talking about his struggles with alcoholism. Things really got out of hand when he was 18, and filming the sixth Harry Potter” movie, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”. He stopped drinking in August of 2010, which was just before the seventh movie came out. Daniel admits that he used alcohol to deal with some of the PARANOIA that came with fame. “The quickest way of forgetting that you were being watched was to get very drunk.  He said SOME of that feeling of ‘being watched’ was in his head . . . but he also admitted that he felt a lot of actual pressure, because people expected him to be happy and friendly all the time, just because he was rich and famous.

 

The ACM nominations were announced yesterday, and leading the pack are Chris Stapleton and Dan + Shay with six apiece. (Dan Smyers also has four additional nods as a producer and writer of their nominated songs.) Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves has five nominations.  Dierks Bentley, Brothers Osborne, Florida Georgia Line, and Bebe Rexha each got four. Entertainer of the Year category – Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, plus Chris Stapleton.  This did NOT please Reba McEntire. “It doesn’t make me very happy because we’ve got some very talented women out there who are working their butts off.”  Luke Combs is nominated for New Male Artist of the Year, and Male Artist of the Year.  Same thing for Ashley McBryde who’s up for New Female Artist of the Year, and Female Artist of the Year. The ACM Artist of the Decade Honor is returning.  We’ll find out the honoree very soon.  They’ve only given that to five other artists:  Marty Robbins in 1969, Loretta Lynn in 1979, Alabama in 1988, Garth Brooks in 1998, and George Strait in 2009. The ACMs are April 7th on CBS.  Reba McEntire will host for the 16th time.

 

For 34 year old Chris Lane, there’s no better muse than his 29 year old girlfriend Lauren Bushnell. They’ve been dating for 4 months. She’s been a source of songwriting inspiration and he says will definitely play into the kind of songs that he writes.

MIRANDA LAMBERT’s police officer husband Brendan McLoughlin is no longer walking the beat in Times Square. He’s been pulled off the streets because he’s become a celebrity.  He’s now a driver for the “higher-ups.”  Reporters were following him around, and tourists were trying to get selfies and autographs.  It was too distracting for his fellow officers.  A police source said, “It would be hard to do his job with [everyone] hounding him.”  Brendan was the cover model on a romance novel called, “Lincoln Hospital”.

 

Amazon is spending $1 billion to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” into a TV series. Amazon’s Jennifer Salke said, “There’s a fantastic writers room working under lock and key … There’s a security guard that sits outside, and you have to have a fingerprint to get in there, because their whole board is up on a thing of the whole season.”  “Multiple sources” confirm Aragorn will take center stage on the upcoming show.

 

GWYNETH PALTROW is countersuing the guy who sued her for allegedly injuring him in a skiing accident. She says HE ran into HER.

 

MAREN MORRIS has released the track listing for her new album “Girl” . . . which drops March 8th.

 

The rescue dog that LUKE BRYAN and his wife Caroline recently adopted has passed away. You may recall that he was 18 and near the end of his life when they took him home and gave him comfort.

 

CHRIS HEMSWORTH will star in a movie about HULK HOGAN. WOODY HARRELSON and KEVIN COSTNER play Texas Rangers on the trail of Bonnie & Clyde in “The Highwaymen”.

 

 

 

Blanket Jackson is 17.

Corbin Bleu is 30.

Charlotte Church is 33.

Jennifer Love Hewitt is 40.

Mary Chapin Carpenter is 61.

Kelsey Grammer is 64.

Anthony Daniels is 73. C-3PO.  He’s the ONLY actor to be in all ten “Star Wars” movies.

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