By Mark Gray
7:42am PDT, May 30, 2021
See you in 2022
Ellen is out and Kelly is in… next year. On May 26, NBC announced that "The Kelly Clarkson Show" will take over the slot currently held by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in the fall of 2022. Kelly has been a frontrunner to take over since Ellen announced she was retiring after 19 seasons.
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Political fight
Rand Paul accused music star Richard Marx of dangerous behavior after the senator received a suspicious package at his Kentucky home. On May 24, a package containing white powder arrived at the congressman's house. Where does the "Right Here Waiting" hitmaker come into play? On May 23, the hitmaker had tweeted, "If I ever meet Rand Paul's neighbor I'm going to hug him and buy him as many drinks as he can consume" — a reference to Rene Boucher, a neighbor who got in a fight with the senator in 2017 over yard waste being dumped near their property line; the neighbor is set to serve eight months in prison for assault. That set Rand off. "As a repeated target of violence, it is reprehensible that Twitter allows C-list celebrities to encourage violence against me and my family," Rand tweeted on May 24. "Just this weekend Richard Marx called for violence against me and now we receive this powder filled letter." Richard later said that the politician's refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is much more dangerous than "a wisecrack about Rand Paul's neighbor."
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Legal letdown, COVID-19 reveal
Kim Kardashian's hopes of becoming a lawyer have taken a hit. And she has COVID-19 to blame for one of her failures. The reality TV star revealed on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" on May 27 that she failed the "baby bar" exam — which is required of those seeking to become lawyers through apprenticeship rather than law school. "So, you guys, I did not pass the baby bar," she told her sisters as first seen in a teaser. Kim received a score of 474 on the test, when she needed a 560. "If you do law school the way that I'm doing it, it is a four-year program instead of your typical three-year program," she said in her confessional. "And after year one, you have to take the baby bar. This one, actually, is harder, I hear, than the actual bar." A frustrated Kim added, "I spent six weeks straight, 10 to 12 hours a day, studying. It was so important for me to take this, and to not pass gets your spirit down. It just makes you want to give up." Kim also revealed that as she was in the midst of crunch time as she studied to take the test for the second time, she, son Saint and daughter North were all diagnosed with COVID-19. (People magazine reports they were sick in November 2020.) She's since revealed she plans to try yet again.
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Big screen return
Kevin Spacey is headed back to the big screen. The disgraced actor will make an appearance in the Italian film "L'uomo Che Disegnò Dio." This will be Kevin's first movie role since he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017. The project will be released in early 2022. One of Kevin's accusers wasn't pleased with the news, telling TMZ the casting is "absurd." In the film, Kevin will play a detective investigating an alleged pedophile.
The one where it finally happened
Friends forever! On May 27, the long-awaited "Friends" reunion finally aired on HBO Max. During a nearly two-hour special, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer were again together in the same room, rehashing stories and telling secrets, including detailing Jen and David's near real-life romance. "I had a major crush on Jen," he said, to which she replied, "It was reciprocated." The two are adamant that they never hooked up because the timing was always off. In another tidbit, the cast revealed how Matt LeBlanc actually ended up in a sling (it happened during a taping!) Plus, creators never planned on Courteney and Matthew's characters ending up together, but the audience reaction changed things. And yes, they're still there for each other.
Billboard winner
Morgan Wallen wasn't allowed to attend the Billboard Music Awards, but that didn't stop him from being one of the big winners of the night. On May 23, the country singer earned three trophies, including top country artist, top country male artist and top country album for "Dangerous: The Double Album." Morgan was somewhat blacklisted from the show due to his N-word controversy from February — awards organizers said he wasn't welcome to attend in person, but his music would be eligible. Just a few days prior, the Country Music Association made a similar ruling about its upcoming awards. CMAs organizers said the singer will not be eligible in individual artist categories, but his music will be eligible, giving him the chance, should he be nominated, to take home major accolades, such as album of the year, song of the year or single of the year.
Pregnancy surprise
Surprise, surprise, Emmy Rossum is a mom! On May 24, the "Shameless" alum and her husband, "Mr. Robot" creator Sam Esmail, welcomed a baby girl. Prior to that, Emmy never publicly announced that she was expecting. "5.24.21," she captioned several images from a maternity photo shoot. "On a sunny Monday morning, at 8:13AM, we welcomed our daughter into the world." A surprise well done!
Unmasked
The latest season of our favorite weird reality competition show came to an end on May 26, and very few people were surprised by the winner: Nick Lachey. The 98 Degrees singer's name had long been linked to the "Piglet" character, and his name was trending months ago (heck, even his kids knew it was him from the get go). "I can't really mask my voice very well," he joked after taking off the porcine head (the other finalists turned out to be JoJo and Wiz Khalifa). "My kids wanted me to do this show for so long, like, 'Daddy, Daddy, please do 'Masked Singer,'" Nick said after his win while holding up his Golden Mask trophy. Referring to his kids, he then said, "Cam, Brooklyn, Phoenix, this was for you guys. I love you so much. Daddy's coming home with a little hardware."
