Here's everything that's been happening in the world of Pop Culture this past week... in case you missed it! Feel free to comment on any of the stories and info shared here, add any news bits that you caught going on that may have been missed, or at least show us some love if you read the post but have nothing to comment on by clicking on that little heart icon at the bottom of the post...

GENERAL POP CULTURE NEWS:

- The White House Correspondents’ Association is rescheduling its annual dinner for July 24^th after postponing the April event following a shootout in the building with a gunman who allegedly was trying to assassinate President DONALD TRUMP, who was in attendance. The WHCA board made the decision to move forward with rescheduling the event “after thoughtful consideration” and input from its members; the event will now feature significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures. While additional details including the venue have not been formally announced, President Trump announced he will again attend the event and claimed it will take place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which was formerly the Trump Hotel.

- NAMES, HASHTAGS, MEMES, AND TRENDS FROM THIS PAST WEEK –

“Married at First Sight UK” scandal; Happy the Elephant; NBA Finals

AWARDS UPDATE -

- The Tony Awards: The 79^th Annual Tony Awards, which previously announced performances by all nominated musicals and a tribute performance by the entire original cast of “The Book of Mormon” for that musical’s 15^th anniversary, will pay tribute to the 30^th anniversary of Broadway musical “Chicago” with special performances by stars associated with the musical including QUEEN LATIFAH (Oscar-nominated for playing “Mama” Morton in the film version), JULIANNE HOUGH (who danced the “Hot Honey Rag” with 2023 Tonys host ARIANA DEBOSE), and ALEX NEWELL, WHITNEY LEAVITT and DYLAN MULVANEY (who all did stints in the Broadway revival). They will join Tonys host PINK for the tribute along with other performers including JESSE TYLER FERGUSON and ADRIENNE WARREN. Additionally, actress RACHEL ZEGLER will deliver a special tribute to “A Chorus Line” and actor LESLIE ODOM JR. will perform “Without You” from “Rent” during the In Memoriam segment. The 79^th Annual Tony Awards hosted by Pink will broadcast live to both coasts on CBS and stream live on Paramount+ starting at 8pm ET/5pmPT; prior to the broadcast actors LAURA BENANTI and TITUSS BURGESS will host the pre-show “The Tony Awards: Act One Live” beginning at 6:35pm ET/3:35pm PT on Pluto TV.

GOVERNMENT 101 -

- US: A federal judge ordered the removal of President DONALD TRUMP’s name from the Kennedy Center and blocked Trump’s plan for a renovation of the building that would’ve led to a two-year closure of the facility, citing that the board of the Kennedy Center - which currently consists of only Trump appointees – unlawfully added Trump’s name to the venue and approved the plans to close the center for extensive renovations when only Congress has the power to make those decisions regarding the venue. The judge ordered Trump’s name be removed from the façade and other areas, including digital signage and official materials, within 14 days.

- US: A federal judge imposed a temporary halt to the Justice Department’s plan to create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate any individuals that the Trump Administration deems were “unfairly treated” by the Justice Department in the previous administration. The fund had already received bipartisan pushback over the prospect it would be used to compensate individuals Trump pardoned after they participated in the violent insurrection on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. The judge stated that the Justice Department was prohibited from “taking any further action pursuant to the creation or operation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which includes the transferring of money to the Fund; the consideration of claims submitted to the Fund; and the disbursing of any funds from the Fund.” After the fund was announced several plaintiffs including a former federal prosecutor filed a lawsuit against the DOJ, arguing the fund “incentivizes unlawful behavior and facilitates and astounding abuse of taxpayer funds” and also claimed the fund lacked transparency requirements and was unconstitutional because the Executive Branch cannot allocate taxpayer money without Congressional approval. The judge has given the DOJ until June 5^th to file opposition to the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order, and until June 10^th to reply. A hearing is scheduled for June 12^th; however, acting Attorney General TODD BLANCHE claims the hearing will not be necessary because the Trump Administration is “not moving forward” with the planned fund but did not shoot down the other portion of the alleged “settlement” between the IRS and the president, which states the IRS would agree to never audit the president, any of his family members, or his businesses ever again.  

- US: The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to now allow Alabama to use a GOP-friendly congressional map that the Supreme Court previously ruled in 2023 was unconstitutional. The change to the congressional map will reduce the number of majority Black districts in the state from 2 to 1, all but assuring one of the state’s two Black Democrat representatives will lose his seat.

MOVIE NEWS:

- Warner Bros. and Legendary announced the sequel to video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie” will be titled “A Minecraft Movie Squared!”.

- Filmmaker ZACK SNYDER is attached to write and direct a reimagining of JOHN CARPENTER’s 1981 cult classic sci-fi action film “Escape from New York” for Studiocanal and The Picture Company.

- Actress ANNA KENDRICK has been tapped to direct the film adaptation of TAYLOR JENKINS REID’s 2017 novel “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” for Netflix.

- Filmmaker WIM WENDERS announced that his foundation will be withdrawing his 1975 film “Wrong Move” from circulation because of a topless scene featuring actress NASTASSJA KINSKI, who was 13 at the time of filming. Wenders added, “As the only person responsible at the time for “Wrong Move” who is still here, I recognize that Nastassja Kinski should have been better protected back then. For that, I apologize to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no if and buts.”

- MOVIE CASTING UPDATE -
- Actress SYDNEY SWEENEY will star in a film adaptation of LINDSEY ANDERSON BEER’s debut novel “Hollow”, a reimagining of WASHINGTON IRVING’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, which Anderson Beer will write and direct.

- Actors DANIEL RADCLIFFE and JONATHAN GROFF will costar in the Vietnam War thriller “Trust the Man”.

TV NEWS:

- HBO drama series “Euphoria” series creator SAM LEVINSON confirmed the series is officially over and that the season 3 finale is the series finale.

- NBC announced it will film country singer/songwriter ALAN JACKSON’s final concert performance on June 27^th at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium for a primetime special that is being described as a celebration of Jackson’s career and will spotlight his catalog spanning more than three decades. “Alan Jackson: The Last Show” will air on NBC and stream on Peacock later this year.

- Starz has ordered a new spinoff from the “Power” franchise dubbed “Power: Legacy”. The new series will pick up after the events of “Power Book IV: Force” and will follow characters Tariq St. Patrick and Tommy Egan (played by MICHAEL RAINEY JR. and JOSEPH SIKORA, respectively) – both of whom have appeared in multiple series in the franchise – as they reunite in New York “to take the city by storm”. The first season will consist of 8 episodes. No word on when the series will debut.

- TV CASTING UPDATE –

- Journalist SCOTT PELLEY was terminated from CBS newsmagazine series “60 Minutes” after calling out new leadership at the series and CBS News in a meeting earlier this week. Pelley reportedly stated that CBS News editor-in-chief BARI WEISS was “murdering” the popular news program after two of the show’s correspondents and an executive producer were let go last month.

- Actor DEAN GEYER is joining the cast of ABC daytime drama series “General Hospital” in the role of Tristan Roberts. While there is no description for the character it was noted that the character’s name was a nod to late actor TRISTAN ROGERS, who played spy turned District Attorney Robert Scorpio on the series on and off from 1980 to his death in 2025. Geyer’s first appearance is scheduled for July 13^th, which coincidentally will the show’s 16,000^th episode.

- Actress JESS MCLEOD has been upped to series regular for season 2 of AMC drama series “The Audacity”. McLeod recurred in season 1 as Harper, the brilliant, pink-haired Chief Technology Officer at data-mining startup Hypergnosis.

- Actor/comedian MATT ROGERS has been added to the season 2 cast of Amazon Prime Video drama series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”.

- Actor JOSHUA JACKSON has joined the season 3 cast of Apple TV drama series “Your Friends & Neighbors” in a major recurring role, joining MICHELLE MONAGHAN, who was recently announced as a new series regular.

- TV RENEWALS* AND PICKUPS/EXTENSIONS** -

* “Devil May Cry”, Netflix, renewed for third and final season

* “The Marlow Murder Club”, PBS, renewed for season 4

- TV CANCELLATIONS* AND TRIMMED/NOT-EXTENDED SEASONS** -

* “Euphoria”, HBO, concluded with season 3 finale

* “The Hunting Party”, NBC, cancelled after 2 seasons

MUSIC NEWS:

- Rock legend BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist TOM MORELLO announced plans for a protest music festival ahead of the US midterm elections. The pair revealed that the one-day Power to the People festival will take place on October 3^rd at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland and will celebrate “freedom, justice, equality, and rock ‘n’ roll” with a portion of ticket proceeds going toward the charities VoteRiders and HeadCount. The lineup for the event so far includes Springsteen, FOO FIGHTERS, DAVE MATTHEWS, BRITTANY HOWARD, JOAN BAEZ, DROPKICK MURPHYS, JACK BLACK, SERJ TANKIAN, KILLER MIKE, TAYLOR MOMSEN, and THE LINDA LINDAS.

- The Freedom 250 Great American State Fair event on the National Mall in Washington D. C. has been cancelled after nearly every artist who was reportedly scheduled to attend publicly announced they were pulling out of the event after stating they were mislead into believing the event would be nonpartisan. US President DONALD TRUMP said he is now planning a rally in Washington D.C. on June 24^th in place of the concerts with “God Bless the USA” singer LEE GREENWOOD, opera singer CHRISTOPHER MACCHIO, and the United States Marine Band with the Joint Armed Forces Chorus performing at the event.

- Canadian rapper DRAKE has become the first artist with 100 career hits on the Billboard Radio Songs Chart.

- LAST WEEK’S NEW #1 SINGLES AROUND THE WORLD –

Australia: “The Cure” by OLIVIA RODRIGO

France: “Sexy Nana” by AYA NAKAMURA & LA RVFLEUZE

Germany: “Beauty and A Beat” by JUSTIN BIEBER ft. NICKI MINAJ

Hong Kong: “Glass” by GARETH.T

Ireland: “Rein Me In” by SAM FENDER & OLIVIA DEAN

Japan: “Cutie Sphere” by CUTIE STREET

Sweden: “Djurens Vaggvisa” by HUMLAN DJOJJ

- LAST WEEK’S NEW #1 ALBUMS AROUND THE WORLD –

Australia/ UK: “Florescence” by MAISIE PETERS

Italy: “Ryan Ted” by TEDUA