We don't blame you for focusing on little but Eurovision over the weekend.
From hot favourite the Netherlands' shock disqualification, to Israel's contested participation and Switzerland's historic win, it was a hell of a year for the song contest.
Here's what you may have missed in entertainment news while you were dancing to Eurotrash bangers.
This week's stories:
- Celebs are losing followers after attending the Met Gala
- Here's who won big at the BAFTA TV Awards
- The $115.2 million lifeline for Australia's performing arts companies
- Jerry Seinfeld has been publicly booed, in case you'd like to see that
- A baby was left on the floor at a Taylor Swift concert and people have feelings
- The Bear S3 teaser, the Gollum spin-off and more TV news
The celebrity #blockout2024, explained
On the same night the A-list descended on New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in their couture last week for the $US75,000-a-head Met Gala, Israeli military forces launched an attack on Rafah, where 1.3 million people are sheltering. And now social media users are mad at the celebrities they perceive to have flaunted their wealth and privilege at fashion's night of nights while maintaining silence on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
In protest, Instagram and TikTok users are sentencing celebs including Kim Kardashian, Zendaya, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj to the digital guillotine (the "digitine", if you will) by blocking them on all platforms and posting about it with hashtags including #blockout2024, #digitine, #letthemeatcake and #celebrityblock.
"We gave them their platforms. It's time to take it back — take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money — by blocking them on all social media and digital platforms," TikToker @ladyfromtheoutside urged in a clip that's been liked more than 578,000 times.
Other users have created lists naming and shaming the celebrities they deem to have failed to address the issue of Israel and Palestine adequately, so their followers may block them.
— Yasmin Jeffery
The Brits hit the red carpet for the BAFTA TV awards
Despite what some people might think, British TV is so much more than Vera and Doctor Who, and the BAFTA TV awards over the weekend proved it.
Top Boy — a Netflix drama set in the housing estates of east London that stars Little Simz (!!) — won two little golden faces for best drama and best supporting actress (Jasmine Jobson).
The Sixth Commandment — which tells the true story of a churchwarden who befriended, manipulated and murdered a retired schoolmaster — took home two awards, for best limited drama and best leading actor (Timothy Spall aka Peter Pettigrew).
And while prestige drama The Crown had a total of eight nominations this year — including Melbourne actor Elizabeth Debicki for her portrayal of Princess Diana — they didn't take home a single one.
The best homage to the royals IMHO came from Joe Lycett. The comedian and talk show host bet his two literal aunties (who appear regularly on his show) that if they could get 100k followers on Instagram he would go to the BAFTAs dressed as Queen Elizabeth I — and they did it.
He was rewarded for his efforts by taking home the award for best entertainment performance for his talk show Late Night Lycett.
The other big fashion statement of the night was the red Artists4Ceasefire pin, seen on numerous lapels, including that of Brian Cox (who was nominated for best actor for his turn as Logan Roy on Succession). Khalid Abdalla (who played Princess Diana's boyfriend Dodi Fayed in The Crown) arrived on the red carpet with the words "Stop arming Israel" written on his palm and a bag of 14,000 red sequins, which represented children who have been killed in Gaza.
And, finally, Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) took a shot out of her bracelet/tiny flask after losing the best entertainment programme award for her Home for Christmas concert, proving once again that she is a true icon and sending all of us online to try to find our own special bad news bracelet.
— Katherine Smyrk
$115.2 million for performing arts schools at 'risk of collapse'
Australia's leading performing arts schools — including the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) — will receive a $115.2 million boost in Tuesday's federal budget.
As reported in The Saturday Paper, a number of important arts training organisations will share in the funding over four years, with an extra $36.9 million in ongoing annual funding set to be announced.
ABC Arts has confirmed NIDA will receive the biggest share of funding, at $51.9 million, AFTRS will receive $23.2 million and the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association Dance College will receive $13 million. Organisations securing funding up to $10 million include: the Flying Fruit Fly Circus ($7.3 million), the Australian Ballet School ($6.5 million), the National Institute of Circus Arts ($6.5 million), the National Academy of Music ($3.7 million) and the Australian Youth Orchestra ($3 million).
The new funding provides a lifeline to the organisations, who say they are at "real risk of collapse", with analysis finding that government support has fallen below 2014 levels.
Arts minister Tony Burke told The Saturday Paper: "Unless we want to be a country where quality content overwhelmingly comes from overseas, we need to properly invest in our emerging talent.
"If we're serious about wanting to make sure that work in the arts isn't only available to people who can afford it, then we need to make sure these institutions are properly funded."
— Hannah Story
What's the deal with student-led protests?!
Nothing can go right for Jerry Seinfeld lately. First his Pop-Tarts movie goes down like orange juice on cornflakes (badly), and now he's being publicly booed!
Seinfeld was the guest speaker at North Carolina's Duke University over the weekend, where he was given an honorary degree. But dozens of students left their own graduation during his commencement speech in protest of the comedian's support of Israel.
Videos from the event show groups of students, some carrying the Palestinian flag, leaving the football field while chanting "free Palestine". Audible boos drown out Seinfeld's introduction before quickly being challenged by chants of "Jerry! Jerry!" as the actor received his degree.
Seinfeld delivered his speech despite the interruption, vowing to "defend" the concept of privilege.
"I say, use your privilege. I grew up a Jewish boy from New York. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian," he added.
Seinfeld has been vocally supportive of Israel since October 7, when militant group Hamas killed more than 1,100 people and took about 240 hostage, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Meanwhile, Israel's military operations have killed almost 35,000 Palestinians, according to local officials.
Duke University has released a statement addressing the interruption, saying the institution "respect[s] the right of everyone at Duke to express their views peacefully, without preventing graduates and their families from celebrating their achievement".
— Velvet Winter
Taylor Swift fan goes viral for putting baby on floor at Paris concert
A Swiftie at one of Taylor Swift's Paris shows this weekend — the beginning of The Eras Tour's European leg — has come under criticism for bringing their baby into the standing area of the concert, after another punter posted a picture of the baby laying down on the arena floor. Baby finna be in the pit.
The original tweet, shared by fan account @jacnights13, was swiftly shared, with many users expressing upset.
"Not to be one of those people but I would genuinely call security if I saw a baby in the pit because it is NOT safe there," it was captioned.
On venue La Défense Arena's website is a recommendation, not a rule, that patrons not bring children under 4 years old to the arena.
— Jared Richards
The Bear S3 teaser, Gollum spin-off and more TV/movie announces you might have missed
A heap of shows and films were teased in the last few days.
Let's start with The Bear, which dropped a 42-second teaser for season three, mostly just of Jeremy Allen White looking handsome and pained in a kitchen. We were also given a release date of June 27, with all episodes dropping on Disney+.
Warner Bros. has announced its latest film in the Lord of the Rings franchise, tentatively titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Slated for release in 2026, it'll focus on the sinister, slimy creature played by Andy Serkis in the films, with the actor returning to his live-motion suit. He'll also direct the film, with original trilogy director Peter Jackson attached as producer. Hopefully it's better than the Gollum-starring video game released last year, ranked by Metacritic as 2023's worst game.
We're also getting a sequel to Red, White & Royal Blue — 2023's gay royal rom-com starring Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez, based on the popular queer romance book of the same name by Casey McQuiston. The leads will return, as will writer-director Matthew López, with McQuiston co-writing, given there's no novel sequel for the film to work with. In the meantime, you can see Galitzine play a sexy Harry Styles-esque figure in The Idea of You or a sexy King seducer in Mary & George. What range he has.
And, finally, Heartbreak High has announced a third and final season, via a video where star Thomas Weatherall teases what was in his character Malakai's farewell letter to Amerie.
We don't get that detail – or any info on the cast or release date – but surely this means Malakai is coming back from Switzerland, right?
— Jared Richards