Whoopi Goldberg wants the job… AI-only work is banned… Fergie at the recording studio… Bebe Rexha update… and Meghan Markle faked podcast interviews

Listen to “Showbiz – June 20, 2023” on Spreaker.

 

With Pat Sajak announcing his retirement from “Wheel of Fortune” at the end of the upcoming season, a couple of celebrities have already thrown their hats into the ring to be considered for his replacement. Whoopi Goldberg was first to announce she’s interested, saying flat-out on “The View,” “I want that job!” Right behind Whoopi is Stephen A. Smith, who hosts ESPN’s “First Take” and “The Stephen A. Smith Show” podcast. On his podcast, Stephen said his mother LOVED “Wheel of Fortune” which led to him loving it. But Stephen isn’t thinking long-term here. He explained, “I ain’t trying to give up my day job. I ain’t trying to give up my podcast. But I gotta tell you, if ‘Wheel of Fortune’ called to ask me to host for a couple of days, I wouldn’t mind. I wouldn’t mind hosting that show while folks try to figure out what those letters mean, and what it equates into.” There’s already been speculation that Pat’s daughter Maggie could take over. She filled in for him in December, which may have actually been a test run. But then again, a lot of fans are hoping Vanna White will take over. She’s 66 but she ain’t dead! However, some fans are afraid that she’ll leave with Pat.

With the increase in artificial intelligence, the Recording Academy has come up with a new rule — only HUMANS are eligible for Grammys. While they say a song can have some AI, the human creator has to have a “meaningful” contribution to the music or lyrics. What qualifies as meaningful isn’t stated, but the Academy does say, “A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category.” The Recording Academy also made some other changes, including that the nominees for the “Big Four” categories — Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year — are being reduced from 10 to eight. And 3 new categories are being added: Best Pop Dance Recording, Best African Music Performance, and Best Alternative Jazz Album.

It’s been 6 years since Fergie dropped her “Double Duchess” album, 5 years since she jazzed up the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star Game, and one year since she surprised us by jumping on stage with Jack Harlow at the VMAs to perform his song “First Class,” which sampled her song, “Glamorous.” And now, finally, it looks like Fergie is ready to give us some new music. She was spotted sneaking into a recording studio in Santa Monica yesterday. She was trying to be incognito — wearing all black from her baseball hat to her sunglasses to her outfit to her bag — but it was impossible not to recognize her.

Toward the end of her concert in NYC Sunday night, Bebe Rexha was smacked in the face by a cell phone hurled at her from the crowd. She ended up getting 3 stitches and showed off her black eye online. The man who threw the phone at her was quickly arrested and got hit himself with multiple assault and harassment charges. But the most shocking thing about this whole situation happened when officers asked 27-year-old Nicolas Malvagna of NJ why he did it. The Manhattan DA’s office says Nicolas confessed, “I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny.”

Last week, Spotify and Archewell Audio released a joint statement saying they’d mutually agreed to go their separate ways. In 2020 Spotify signed Harry and Meghan to a 3-year deal worth $20M to produce content. After dragging their feet for well over a year, Meghan finally came out with her “Archetypes” podcast. But after 13 episodes in its first and only season, Meghan and Harry turned in their key cards. Also in 2020, Bill Simmons sold his sports and culture site “The Ringer” and its slate of more than 30 podcasts to Spotify for more than $200M. Rather than cash the check and check out, Bill not only hosts multiple podcasts, he also serves as Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetization. Back in January, Bill said he was embarrassed to share Spotify with Harry, asking, “What does he do? It’s one of those things where it’s like, what’s your talent? Why are we listening to you? So you were born in a royal family and then you left…You live in (BLANKING) Montecity and you just like, you sell documentaries and podcasts and nobody cares what you have to say about anything unless you talk about the royal family and you just complain about them.” Fast forward to Harry and Meghan leaving Spotify, and Bill now has more to say! On his self-titled podcast, Bill said, “I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation…‘The (BLANKING) Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we should have launched with them. I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories … (Blank) them. The grifters.” On top of that character assassination, Podnews is reporting that some — not all — of the interviews on Meghan’s podcast were done by members of her staff. Meghan’s voice would be edited in later to make it sound like she was actually conducting the interview.

 

See all Showbiz Top 5 stories

 

You May Also Like

NFL Christmas Halftime Performance

NFL Christmas Halftime Performance

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Sequel ‘in Development’

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Sequel ‘in Development’

James Kennedy Has Been Arrested for Domestic Violence

James Kennedy Has Been Arrested for Domestic Violence

Selena Gomez Shows Off Her Engagement Ring

Selena Gomez Shows Off Her Engagement Ring

TIME’s Athlete of the Year

TIME’s Athlete of the Year