By now you’ve heard of Robert F. Smith. He’s the billionaire who spoke at Morehouse College’s graduation Sunday, and announced he’s paying off ALL of the student loans for this year’s class. Well, OPRAH was the commencement speaker at Colorado College over the weekend, and she posted a picture of herself with a VERY happy graduate. One of her followers said, “Should have paid off their student debt. lol.” And Oprah gave it right back. She said, “Already paid 13 million in scholarships. Have put over 400 men through Morehouse.”
Say what you want about the final season of “Game of Thrones”, one thing is VERY clear. During filming, the cast was very, very THIRSTY. A couple episodes back, a coffee cup accidentally made its way into a scene, and now, fans noticed two PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES in Sunday’s series finale – in two different shots. The first goof is sitting behind Samwell Tarly’s foot. The second appears a few minutes later, between the feet of Ser Davos Seaworth and Gendry Baratheon. HBO hasn’t responded. To be fair, this was after some extremely angry dragon action, so maybe these characters were just trying to stay hydrated? Some fans are using these mistakes to support their claims that the final season was rushed and sloppy. One website listed several goofs from previous seasons of “Game of Thrones”, which include accidental laptop power cords and a character wearing jeans. HBO hasn’t responded, although there’s a good chance the water bottles will be edited out, just like the coffee cup was.
KEANU REEVES once bought an ice cream cone at a movie theater concession stand just so that he’d get a piece of paper so he could give his autograph to the 16-year-old kid working the box office window.
MEL B had to leave rehearsals for the SPICE GIRLS reunion Friday because she went temporarily blind in her right eye. A source says “She has herpes in her eye, so this can happen . . . They gave her some drops and she’s good now. It was nothing major.”
One of CHARLES KELLEY’s favorite Memorial Day memories was the time LADY ANTBELLUM did a “Salute to the Troops” show. They performed with soldiers who had served, and one of the servicemen that was performing with them gave him a bracelet. When one of their brothers falls, a fallen soldier . . . they give him a bracelet in his honor. It has their name and all those things, and their numbers and stuff. But he gave it to me and said, ‘Man, if he knew that you were wearing it and being up on stage and doing this.'” Charles didn’t want to take it. It didn’t feel right, but the soldier insisted. Charles was honored, and still has the bracelet. He often wears it on stage to remind himself of the men and women who’ve served, and made the ultimate sacrifice. In completely different Lady Antebellum news: The power went out at their show in Vegas the other night, so they went into the audience and did an unplugged version of their new song, “What If I Never Get Over You”.
Racing legend AL UNSER JR. was arrested for drunk driving in Indianapolis.
JON PARDI announced that his next album is called “Heartache Medication”, and it’ll be out September 27th. He released the title track as the first single and he stayed true to his sound. It has just the right amount of twang. He also announced the dates of his “Heartache Medication Tour.” RILEY GREEN is the opener, and it’ll kick-off October 1st in Nashville and wrap November 2nd in Bakersfield, California.
It is the time of year where animal shelters across the country are overwhelmed with newborn kittens and pregnant mom cats. Animal organizations like Best Friends Animal Society owe a great deal to volunteers, who happily give their time to make sure every newborn kitten that comes into the shelter has a chance to find a forever home. One of the sweetest ways an animal lover can help Best Friends and their kitten broods is by volunteering for a feeding shift at one of the organization’s kitten nurseries. 89 year old actor Robert Wagner recently signed up for one of these shifts at the Best Friends Animal Society Lifesaving Center in Los Angeles, where he spent several hours carefully bottle-feeding hungry newborn kittens.
“Napoleon Dynamite” is getting a sequel . . . in comic book form.
Whitney Houston’s estate has struck a deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing for 50-percent of its assets including royalties from music, films and merchandising. A hologram tour featuring Houston’s likeness is the first priority of the new contract. Pat Houston said, “People had forgotten how great she was. They let all the personal things about her life outweigh why they fell in love with her in the first place.”
LAINE HARDY won “American Idol” on Sunday. Ironically, JIMMIE ALLEN never even made it to the finals. He recently shared a clip of the night Jennifer Lopez gave him his walking papers. Taste of Country asked Jimmie if he has advice for the losers. He said, “It’s just a restart. Jumping too fast into a career is like putting a car on the road before it has tires, or a transmission. You’re just not ready yet. You’re in the building process.”
BRETT YOUNG posted a photo of himself and his wife Taylor on Instagram. His hand is on her baby bump and he captioned it, “Nursery shopping with my girls this week.”
On the finale of “The Voice” tonight, the Final Four will perform with Hootie & the Blowfish, Sarah McLachlan, Travis Tritt, and Toby Keith.
This is interesting. ERIC CHURCH is about to be the first solo headliner to perform without an opening act at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. It’ll happen when he takes the stage on Saturday. The stadium’s been around for some 20 years.
RILEY GREEN can pinpoint the moment he knew country music was his calling. It was back in 2014 when he was opening for The Marshall Tucker Band. He forgot one of the lines while singing “Bury Me in Dixie” but the crowd didn’t even notice because they were all in and loving the song.
Mr. T is 67.
