Yesterday we covered the news, revealed after the Sony hack email dump on Wikileaks, that Ben Affleck had asked the PBS show Finding Your Roots, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to edit out segments revealing that he had a slave owning ancestor. Many of you noted that Affleck has political aspirations and that may be why he doesn’t want the negative parts of his ancestry to be made public. That could be the case, but I don’t understand that reasoning at all. We can’t help who our ancestors are. Of course Affleck could have been getting bad advice, as Gates noted in his email to Sony CEO Michael Lynton, but he chose to follow it and to strong arm PBS.

Many people have noted that this news compromises PBS’s integrity, as Gates brought up in his emails to Lynton. I listen to NPR and watch PBS and while I do think that I get much higher quality, in-depth programming from those nonprofit sources, I know they’re not unbiased. I think most people know this, and aren’t faulting PBS or Gates for giving in to Affleck’s demands. He’s a powerful Hollywood player and he dangled the carrot of getting Matt Damon on the show. PBS is not immune to pressure from Hollywood, and this story illustrates that.

Ultimately this is a much bigger PR debacle for Affleck than the non-issue of having a slave owning ancestor. It shows that he’s more concerned with covering up any and all negativity rather than being honest with the public. If he’s this controlling about a minor issue, imagine how slippery he’d be as a politician (especially if the issue at hand is Ben’s gambling or the rumors about his personal life). This speaks to his character. Anderson Cooper and and Bill Paxton (among others) were confronted with the news that they had distant slave-owning relatives, and both dealt with it head-on, as you would expect from celebrities on genealogy shows.

Here’s the segment of Finding Your Roots where Cooper is told that his fourth great grandfather was beaten to death by a slave. Anderson said the guy probably deserved it.

In contrast to Cooper, did Affleck react poorly when confronted with the news that he had a slave-owning ancestor? We’ve seen him have knee jerk reactions to issues rather than consider them thoughtfully. He is a committed philanthropist, but I do question whether he’s cut out for politics, if that’s his intention. As of now, Affleck has not responded to this issue on social media or with a statement. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and PBS issued comprehensive statements defending their editorial choice, as we covered yesterday.

Over the weekend, right around the time that the news broke that Affleck had censored his genealogy, the new teaser trailer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice conveniently “leaked.” Then, Warner Brothers put out the official version. It does seem like good timing to change focus from Affleck’s scandal. Yesterday, director Zach Snyder put out a new photo of the Batsuit. The official reasoning for the photo release was to thank fans for coming to IMAX theaters to screen the teaser trailer last night. (That was meant to be the first viewing of the trailer, but it “leaked” ahead of time. Slashfilm reports that Snyder added six additional seconds to the IMAX version of the trailer to thank fans.) If anything, this photo shows that the Batsuit can be worn by just about any tall, filled out actor.

Ben Affleck is shown at the Farmer’s Market on Sunday with his daughter, Seraphina, and out with his wife, Jennifer Garner, and their son, Samuel on April 7. Credit: FameFlynet

To celebrate her directorial film debut, Cougar Town star Courteney Cox attended the special screening of Just Before I Go in Hollywood, Calif. on Monday (April 20).

Donning a red V-neckline mini dress and black heels, the Friends alum, 50, was joined by her 10-year-old daughter Coco, fiancé Johnny McDaid as well as ex-husband David Arquette and his newlywed wife Christina McLarty.

Coco nearly stole the fashion spotlight in a textured sparrow printed jacket, black T-shirt, distressed denim jeans and teal colored strappy heels.

Once inside the ArcLight theater, Courteney was joined by Friends costar Jennifer Aniston, who proudly posed for photos with her longtime pal. The pretty pair were also photographed with Jennifer Meyer-Maguire and Laura Dern.

Just Before I Go – starring David Arquette, Elisha Cuthbert, Kate Walsh and Missi Pyle – tells the story of a man (actor Seann William Scott) on the verge of giving up on life who travels to his hometown to make amends.

The actress-director took to Twitter after the Hollywood event.

So grateful to my girls For hosting last night’s special screening of @JBIGmovie pic.twitter.com/pHpHiQj1Eq

— Courteney Cox (@CourteneyCox) April 21, 2015

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John Travolta is currently promoting a movie called The Forger. He was in New York yesterday promoting the film on Good Morning America and Letterman. During the interview with GMA, he was asked about HBO’s Going Clear. I’ve embedded the video below. John is asked to explain why his Church is suc…      

Have you heard about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash-success Broadway musical Hamilton? Miranda wrote, directed and stars in the epic life story – told through hip-hop-based musical numbers – of Alexander Hamilton, the original gangster/Founding Father. The show has gotten rave reviews and Miranda is being called a genius. Go here to see Chris Hayes’ wonderful interview with Miranda. Anyway, the show successfully transitioned from off-Broadway to Broadway this year and Miranda is getting even more heat. So of course Death Eater Madonna had to stop by the show. Except that Madge is such a pill, she texted all the way though Act 2. Miranda called her out on it too.

Madonna reportedly has a hard time separating herself from her phone. The singer, 56, got into hot water when she allegedly started texting during a performance of Hamilton at New York City’s Public Theater on Saturday, The New York Daily News first reported.

Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star, author and composer for the show, made a pointed reference to an unnamed celebrity audience member who practiced poor theater-going etiquette.

“Tonight was the first time I asked stage management NOT to allow a celebrity (who was texting all through Act 2) backstage #noselfieforyou,” Miranda Tweeted on Saturday night. It was later deleted, but a source in the audience tells PEOPLE that Madonna was at the performance and texting throughout the night.

“It was definitely her,” a source says. “She was texting, I believe, although at one point she also pulled out a Blackberry. She was also 20 minutes late and caused quite a stir getting to her seat.”

The source adds that Madonna’s behavior was “extra distracting” because the show is in such an intimate theater. Eventually, the pop star did stop texting, the source says – after someone else in the audience “finally hissed ‘Shut it off!’” during the finale. “To her credit, she did,” the source adds.

[From People]

People Mag also had a reminder of another incident, back in 2013, when Madonna attended a screening of 12 Years a Slave and she texted throughout the film. When someone in the audience told her to put it away that time, Madonna yelled, “It’s for business … ENSLAVER!”

Yeah… it’s not cute. I don’t understand how people can talk on the phone or text through a movie or a Broadway show. Beyond the fact that it’s rude as hell, how do you even concentrate on one or the other? How can focus on the conversation you’re rudely having or the show/film? But this is just further evidence that no one matters but Madonna.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

After all kinds of speculation about where he’s been the last month (click here for my post from yesterday), Johnny Depp returned to Australia today on a private jet with Amber Heard. Photographers were there to document the arrival, which was more like a show. He’s waving to his public. They’re …      

When I was just glancing through the thumbnails of this Just Before I Go premiere photoset, I thought Courteney Cox was Pippa Middleton. Right? Squint your eyes and just look at the small thumbnails – totally Pippa, right? Anyway, Courteney came out to support her new film (she directed it) and let’s talk about her look here, because we haven’t talked about her in a while. First off, her Botox/fillers look a lot better. She was tragically over-filled and over-Botoxed for too long, but either she’s getting better injectibles or she’s easing up on said injectibles. Second of all, are those boobs new? CB thinks Courteney has always had them and it’s just a good dress. I kind of think they look new/newish.

Courteney walked the carpet with her daughter Coco Arquette (David Arquette and his new wife were there as well) and her fiancé Johnny McDaid. CC and McDaid got engaged last summer and I haven’t heard much about their wedding plans. I think they just got engaged and that’s as far as they’re taking it for now, but who knows?

Many of CC’s close lady friends came out to support her. Laura Dern came out, as did Tobey Maguire’s wife Jennifer Meyer. And lo and behold, Jennifer Aniston came out too! Aniston has been utterly MIA since the Oscars. Imagine that – a major celebrity being able to effectively go undercover for two full months. The tabloids were missing her a few weeks ago, so they claimed she was in hiding because she was pregnant. So go ahead and Bump Watch these photos – I don’t think she looks pregnant at all, but some will want to believe. It’s also worth noting that while Aniston came out to support her friend, Aniston did not walk the carpet. Aniston just came out for CC and posed for a few photos inside the venue.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Getty.

An expectant Ashlee Simpson and husband Evan Ross struck a pregnant post at the special screening of Just Before I Go in Hollywood, Calif. on Monday (April 20).

Joined by Evan’s sister Tracee Ellis Ross, the parents-to-be looked every bit the smitten newlyweds while gazing into each others’ eyes and smooching on the red carpet.

The mom-to-be, 30, looked lovely in a blue maxi silky dress paired with a black overcoat.

On Friday, we spotted the couple at the Tracy Anderson gym in Studio City.

This will be the first child – a girl – for Ashlee and her husband, 26, whom she wed on Aug. 30.

She is already mom to 6-year-old son Bronx with ex-husband, Fall Out Boy rocker Pete Wentz.

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“To Sarah on her birthday (umm, belated bday-whoops!):

We hope the tiny dictator shook her fists and used her considerable powers for good to make sure you had a wonderful day! You have so much wisdom to pass on to her, most importantly that “Team Nobody is better than Team Piz”, Jordan Catal…      

To recap: Nick Loeb sued his ex-fiancee Sofia Vergara over the embryos they created while together. He wanted a baby and Sofia gave up some of her eggs, and they even implants some embryos into a 44-year-old gestational carrier a few times although the implantation didn’t “take.” There are still some girl-embryos left and Nick wants custody of them so that he can implant them in another woman and presumably raise those daughters himself. At first, all of the legal shenanigans and press coverage was done as John and Jane Doe, and with unnamed sources throwing massive amounts of shade. Then over the weekend, Sofia’s lawyer came out and confirmed what we already knew, that Nick was suing Sofia over her alleged desire to destroy the embryos. Sofia’s lawyer said Sofia does not want to destroy them… or implant them. She’s fine with just keeping them frozen indefinitely. Now Nick is speaking directly to the media.

Nick Loeb is speaking out about the lawsuit he filed over his frozen embryos created with then-fianceé Sofia Vergara in 2013. The businessman’s lawyer, Abram Moore, said in a statement to PEOPLE Monday that Loeb “has made every effort to arrive at a private resolution” with the Modern Family star, but was “forced” to file a lawsuit when they couldn’t come to an agreement.

Loeb claims that Vergara, 42, who is now engaged to Joe Manganiello, wants to destroy the two female embryos they created – a charge that Vergara has strenuously denied. In his statement, Loeb, 39 – who wants “to bring his daughters to term” – said that he wasn’t seeking to hold Vergara to “any parental or financial responsibilities or obligations” and would “give her the opportunity to be involved with the child in the future, should she change her mind.”

“I have always strongly believed that life begins at fertilization and that every embryo is a life on a journey towards birth,” Loeb said. “I created these two female embryos with the purpose of taking them to term and not destruction, because I have always dreamed of being a father. I take the responsibility and obligation of being a parent very seriously. Creating an embryo in the natural way can lead to parenthood obligations, even where a man doesn’t want to become a father. Where a man does want to become a father, and wants to impose no obligations on the other party, he should have that corresponding right. However life comes to be created, it should have no determination on either the rights of wanting to be or the requirements of having to be a parent.”

[From People]

Sigh…I think it’s tacky to fight this out in the press, and it feels like Nick has ulterior (political) motives, like he’s trying to get the anti-choice crowd to take up his cause. If this really is decided by a court somewhere, it will be interesting to see what case law is used and what case law is made for this kind of situation. I think Sofia is smart to take the position of “don’t destroy the embryos but don’t implant them either.” That way Nick can’t say the embryos are in any “danger.” And seriously, if he wants to be a father so badly, why doesn’t he move on, date a lady and get her knocked up the old-fashioned way?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

She’s got that glow!

Expectant mama Tiffani Thiessen hit the red carpet with husband Brady Smith and their 4-year-old daughter Harper at the Milk+Bookies Sixth Annual Story Time Celebration in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday (April 19).

The Saved by the Bell alum, 41, and her husband are expecting their second child – a boy – within weeks.

“It’s amazing to me to think that in just a short amount of time our family will have the sounds of a little baby in our home again,” she recently said. “We couldn’t be more excited. And Harper… is she ever.”

We can’t wait to hear their exciting baby news soon!

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