I had been lowkey waiting to see if Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair would have any kind of behind-the-scenes scoop on the most recent Sussexit developments, what with the Queen’s bitchy statement about duty and the Sussexes’ “service is universal” clapback. Nicholl did coverage of that stuff as it happened, but usually she’ll wait a day or two to reveal what her (mostly Cambridge) sources are telling her. That has not happened in Vanity Fair (yet). I guess Nicholl was saving her big scoop for Entertainment Tonight. That scoop? That she read the same Times of London article which everyone already discussed, about how Prince William thought the Sussexes’ “service is universal” clapback was “insulting, disrespectful and petulant” and that William is furious, saddened and shocked by the Sussexes’ whole deal. Let’s see what fun new twist Nicholl can put on it:

Nicholl on Harry & Meghan losing their patronages: “I think Harry was both surprised and very disappointed to have had all of his military titles and the royal patronages taken away from him. This was the end result after many days of discussion and my understanding of the Sussexes’ camp is that both the couple were hoping they would be able to retain those royal patronages. Behind the scenes they tried very hard to convince Palace courtiers that even though they are living private lives out of the royal family that they are still committed philanthropists, who remained committed to the charities and the patronages that they’ve represented for the past couple of years.”

How William felt about the Sussexes’ clapback: “He feels that this statement that the Sussexes put out just moments after Buckingham Palace made the announcement was disrespectful. Certainly the feeling at the Palace is that the tone of the email was disrespectful to the monarch. It’s very unusual to hear anyone answer back to the queen, which is essentially, I suppose, what the Sussexes did in that responsive email.”

And to do it all as Philip was in the hospital: “I think also the fact that the queen is very preoccupied at the moment with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, unwell in hospital, suddenly Prince William was feeling very protective.”

[From Entertainment Tonight]

I enjoy the fact that no one can really elucidate why, exactly, everyone on Salty White Folk Isle is super-mad that the Sussexes merely released a statement, which happened to be a statement of fact. “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.” It was a simple, factual statement which directly contradicted the Queen’s attempt to slime her grandson as lazy and rejecting his duty: “The Queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of The Royal Family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service.” The Palace made their play: divorce The American and come back to live a life where your duty is to be your brother’s doormat. And Harry responded swiftly and emphatically. That’s it. Anyway, yeah, I’m starting to think that none of these white folks are actually salty about the fact that Harry and Meghan released a statement after the Queen! *clutches royal pearls*

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop has a new product: a Goop-branded vibrator. It’s already sold out, which is basically why Gwyneth spoke to the NY Times a few days ago. The interview was supposed to be Gwyneth shilling for the new Goopbrator, but she ended up bragging about how she’s always ahead of the curve on everything. Nevermind the extensive documentation vibrators and other toys have been selling out throughout the pandemic because people are stuck at home. Which would mean that Gwyneth is riding a wave, yet again, but she always believes she’s setting the trend. Let’s see if that comes up again in this NY Times piece:

What she was thinking with the Goopbrator design: “I think we were just trying to do something … perhaps a little more intellectual.”

New hobbies during the pandemic: “I wouldn’t say that I developed new ones, but I’ve definitely recommitted or doubled down on some, like meditation. I do that every morning. Before, it was maybe once every couple of weeks, or maybe not at all. Also, I’m cooking all the time, like everybody else in the world.

Playing Patient Zero in Contagion: “I remember being on set and people saying, “This could really happen, and this will happen in our lifetime.”

Posting an Instagram in February 2020 where she wore a mask: “This is a familiar pattern in my life. I do something early, everyone is like, “What is she doing? She’s insane.” And then it’s adopted by the culture. I had to take this trip to France when it was all kicking off. I wore it on the plane, but I didn’t wear it to the function that I was going to, and actually ended up getting Covid and coming home, and being one of the first people that I had heard of to have it.

Whether she plans to take the vaccine: “I still have antibodies. I want everybody else who isn’t protected to go first.

Having to pay out $145K for making dubious and false health claims: “That was stuff that happened a number of years ago when we were still a little company curating and buying third-party brands that were making claims around their products. We’ve come a really long way from being that small start-up. Even with the Yoni eggs. That was really around claims, but it didn’t involve the product. That egg is not dangerous. We still sell it.

[From The NY Times]

My God, she’s such a douche. Shrugging off her site’s consistent pseudoscience as “that happened a number of years ago,” like she doesn’t still host Wellness events where speakers suggest that their stickers cure cancer. And the thing about masks… once again, Gwyneth appropriates something Asian and pretends that she invented it. She did it yoga, Korean skin care, Yoni eggs and now public mask-wearing. Japanese people and Korean people have been huge mask-wearers for years, even before the Covid pandemic. We don’t talk about that enough, how much she’s stolen from Asian cultures and put her white-woman branding all over it and acts like she invented everything.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red and Instagram.

From everything we’ve seen, Princess Eugenie is one of the few people in the Windsor clan who seems to be especially close to Prince Harry. She’s still in contact with Harry and Meghan, and likely does a lot to support her cousin and his family privately. However, too many Sussex-stans seem to think that Princess Eugenie is, like, a Sussex enemy. The “Whogenie” comments are pretty mean, and it’s strange to hold a grudge against Eugenie for being annoyed that Meghan told people she was pregnant at Eugenie’s wedding. It’s also possible that the Sussexes did step on Eugenie and Jack’s newscycle when it came to August Philip Hawke’s baby photos and name reveal. It’s okay to love Meghan and Harry and it’s also okay to acknowledge that they sometimes step on other royals’ newscycles. I think that’s why *someone* went to People Magazine to clarify that Eugenie and Meghan have likely been in contact this whole time and there were no hard feelings:

It’s a baby boom for the royal family. Just days after Princess Eugenie welcomed a baby boy on Feb. 9, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced they are expecting their second child. Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter Zara Tindall is also expecting a baby — her third — in the coming months. As for chatter that Eugenie would have felt upstaged by Meghan and Harry’s reveal, insiders say the couples are close and have been in contact throughout their respective pregnancies.

“They would have known about each other’s due dates,” a family friend tells PEOPLE, noting that Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, who wed in 2018, are now living in Meghan and Harry’s U.K. home, Frogmore Cottage.

“These times tend to bring families together,” a royal insider adds. “What is lovely is Eugenie having her baby as Harry and Meghan are having theirs. They are very close. And they are all deciding to go their own route.”

Multiple sources also caution against reading anything into the absence of individual public well wishes from Prince William and Kate Middleton or other royal family members—instead, a Feb. 14 statement from Buckingham Palace reflects that “the firm decided to have an overarching message,” says the royal insider. Hours after Meghan and Harry released their news to the public, the couple received warm congratulations on behalf of the entire royal family. “Her Majesty, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales and the entire family are ‘delighted’ and wish them well,” a palace spokesman said in a statement.

[From People]

This actually reads to me like Eugenie’s people wanted to ensure that there were no hard feelings about the Sussexes’ baby announcement competing with August’s baby photos. Eugenie might have even been relieved that she wasn’t the only royal story going on last week – she got to spend August’s first days at Frogmore Cottage, cozy and recovering from her C-section, with no demands on her to present her baby immediately. She probably sent the Sussexes an Edible Arrangement for taking the headlines. I also think Eugenie is the York sister with “brains” – Eugenie understands (more than Beatrice) that her life resembles more of a royal-adjacency than a full royalty. Eugenie might end up moving to America with her husband and baby too for all we know.

Also: do you think Harry still talks to Zara? Zara and Meghan must be due around the same time. Z and H used to be very close friends (honestly, I always thought he was closer to Zara than Eugenie) but it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve heard about Zara and Harry keeping in touch.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Disney/LucasFilm fired Gino Carano about two weeks ago. She was a fan favorite on The Mandalorian, but now she’s being erased from the franchise and the Cara Dune toys are being discontinued. While it was clear that Carano’s anti-Semitic social media post – where she compared the plight of Jewish people during the Holocaust to Republicans in 2021 – was the final nail in her coffin as far Disney was concerned, it’s also clear that Carano knew she was on notice for months, given her increasingly toxic social media behavior. She was literally spreading QAnon conspiracies, mocking transgender inclusion, and screeching about mask mandates hurting her freedom. If you told me that she was friends with many of the January 6th insurrectionists, I would believe you.

Well, as soon as Disney fired Carano, she was hired by Ben Shapiro, an alt-right lunatic who absolutely knows a lot of the Jan. 6th insurrectionists because he helped radicalize them into the terrorists they are now. Shapiro and his production company plan to make a movie with Carano, but before that, Carano sat down with Shapiro for a lengthy, self-pitying interview about the dangers of cancel culture. Some highlights:

Before the anti-Semitic post, she knew she was in trouble with Disney: Carano came out swinging against Disney, admitting the writing had been on the wall since she had crisis talks with higher-ups last year after she was accused of being transphobic. “I’ve been through so much, and I’ve seen so much now, clearly, of the bullying that’s been taking place, and I saw it before. I’m not the only one that’s ever been bullied by this company, and I know that so deeply. I was prepared at any point to be let go because I’ve seen this happen to so many people. I’ve seen the looks on their faces. I’ve seen the bullying that takes place and so when this started… you know it’s only a matter of time. I’ve seen it happen to so many people and I just thought to myself, ‘You’re coming for me, I know you are.’”

Disney executives were watching her like a hawk: She also accused Disney of having a double standard, saying executives had been “watching [her] like a hawk,” but other people “on the same production [could] say everything they want, and that’s where I had a problem. I had a problem because I wasn’t going along with the narrative. I could share a story and would turn things around in the media, but I can’t do that because it would be selling out a friend that I don’t really have the same views as but I’m not gonna sell out someone to take the attention off me… everyone is afraid of losing their jobs.”

On her anti-Semitic post: Carano insisted she wasn’t trying to make comparisons, saying she’s “so inspired by the gentle spirit of the Jewish people going through” the Holocaust. She said her only intention was to “bring people together” and that she believed the post was “more about people tearing each other apart.”

Gina is full of self-pity for being cancelled: “I do want people to know that this has not been easy. I’m a human being, I have so much to learn and grow, and I am. I am deeply understanding, it’s like the curtains got pulled and I’m seeing so much. Being canceled might become trendy one day, but don’t think that when it happens to you, it’s gonna be easy because it’s not. It’s maybe going to be one of the hardest things that you’ve ever been through. But each day that goes by, you find your legs again, and you stop feeling sorry for yourself and you show up. My body is still shaking. It’s devastating, but the thought of this happening to anybody else, especially to somebody who could not handle this the way I can, no, they don’t get to do that. They don’t get to make people feel like that.”

[From The Daily Beast]

I mean, it’s clear that she’s absolutely an idiot. A tone-deaf idiot who centers herself as the victim of every story. She spent the past year spreading vile, hateful, dangerous conspiracies online and when she has to face career consequences for it, suddenly her body is shaking from the trauma of being “cancelled.” Girl, you literally said that your employers had you on notice, and that you knew that if you continued to post that offensive sh-t, you would be fired. Breaking news: Woman did some sh-t knowing she would be fired, yet she’s shocked that they fired her when she did some sh-t.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Dear Gossips, Mariah Carey should always be the main character, as she should be. And that’s how she’s always lived. In her book, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Mimi shares with us how she came to see the world the way she does – and why she has always insisted on centering herself in it. So on the ra…

I watched Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar over the weekend. I wasn’t going to because it’s $20 to rent, but so many people were talking it up on Twitter and I felt like turning my mind off. Oh my gawd, you guys – it is so stupid. And I mean that in the absolute best way possible. I simply felt good when I’d finished it. Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo clearly made a movie just to crack themselves up and everyone in it came along for the ride. I’m convinced they didn’t even write a role for Damon Wayans, Jr. They just told him what day to show up and he did the rest. I have a whole new love for Jamie Dornan. I won’t recommend it at $20, but check it out when it drops to $4-$6, it’s just the right kind of silly. It’s exactly the kind of thing I would need if I had small kids and needed to mentally escape for a few hours. It sounds like Kristen needs that now that she has 15-month-old twins, Shiloh and Luna. When one is quarantined at home with small kids, you have to get pretty creative in finding ways to check out. While on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Kristen told James that her current reprieve is to sit on her curb for a bit, just to get a break.

Kristen Wiig will admittedly do whatever it takes to get even a brief break from her young twins.

While stopping by The Late Late Show with James Corden on Monday, the actress, 47, and her Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar costar Annie Mumolo talked about parenting during the pandemic. Wiig — who welcomed twins with husband Avi Rothman via surrogate — said her two babies are about 15 months old now.

“How is it? Do you ever get a break?” asked Corden, a dad of three.

“Um, I go outside and sit on the curb sometimes,” Wiig responded with a laugh. “Because I’m afraid, I don’t wanna go on a full walk because then sometimes I feel like, ‘Oh, I should be there.’ But I need to get out, so I sit on the curb. Or just walk around in the driveway and FaceTime Annie.”

“It feels like a vacation when you just go out the door,” added Mumolo, who has a 14- and 10-year-old.

“You forget,” Wiig joked, “a walk really helps. But then when you’re in the house, you’re like, ‘I can’t be saved.’ “

[From People]

I know she’s kidding, but I 100% remember those days. I used to walk our Pomeranian. He had his own dog door and enough back yard to exercise given he was the size of an Ugg boot, but I leashed him up and walked him all over that neighborhood several times a day just to get away. And for those moments when I thought I’d snap, I opened my altar to Elmo and let him preach from the Gospel of Good Friends to my children for 30 minutes while I stood on the back step and cried as if my hair stylist had just retired. Annie, whose kids are 10 and 14, said she’d left for James’ show while the dogs and kids were running amok, and she just shut the door behind her and walked. I’ve known those days too.

James asked Kristen and Annie about Bridesmaids, which they wrote. He wanted to know if they knew it would be a hit. They told a funny story about how projections had indicated it would tank and they didn’t believe it when people told them it was taking off in the box office. I didn’t care for Bridesmaids, but I liked the cast enough that I was happy it did as well as it did. Maybe the Bridesmaids sequel could be Moms. All the characters living on the same block, and the movie is just them talking to each other as they sit on their curbs hiding from their kids.

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is like a Muppet movie, but all the Muppets are played by humans. It’s wonderfully silly. pic.twitter.com/9UMLmeNd97

— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) February 10, 2021

Embed from Getty Images

Photo credit: Avalon, Twitter, Getty and YouTube

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are rarely photographed these days, which is why I recycle so many older photos of them in our royal coverage. As such, I’ve come to study Meghan’s styling from her Suits days to her fiancee days to her early royal days to her IDGAF post-royal days. I feel pretty confident saying that in her fiancee days and early royal days (2018/2019), Meghan really was trying to be less glam. She was trying to tamp down her “Hollywood” side, probably because she was legitimately concerned of being criticized for being too glamorous, too Hollywood, too American, too superficial. She really tried to subdue her beauty for those salty white folks. But not anymore.

The change really started happening in the fall of 2019, I think. That’s when Meghan began to wear more makeup, she started wearing her hair a bit differently, and her styling just seemed to go up a notch. That coincided with Meghan understanding that she would be criticized no matter what she did, so she might as well be glamorous. The Sussexes’ You Could Have Had a Bad Bitch farewell tour in March 2020 was the culmination of that too – Meghan brought the coordinated looks and costume changes and she really just showed them all that no matter what, she still had her sparkle.

Now that she gets to do whatever the hell she wants without some prissy octogenarians telling her that she’s “breaking protocol,” I suspect that Meghan is enjoying herself a lot more. She wore an expensive Oscar de la Renta dress for that one-minute appearance on the Spotify video, and the Daily Mail is obsessed with the idea that Meghan is wearing “extensions.”

The Duchess of Sussex ‘made a statement with big glamorous curls’ for her first appearance since quitting the royal family yesterday, a celebrity hairdresser has claimed. Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, who last week officially split from the Firm, appeared in a 20-second video plugging their Archewell Audio podcast at a Spotify live stream event. In the clip, which was filmed at their $14 million Santa Barbara home, the expectant mother looked glamorous with waist-length locks styled into a bouncy blow-dry.

Celebrity hairstylist James Johnson told FEMAIL the stunning new look was likely achieved with the help of clip-in extensions, adding that the Duchess had had a ‘Hollywood makeover’. He explained: ‘I think a lot of us are feeling the need for a re-vamp, perhaps this is the image she’s always wanted to look like. Meghan is opted for a whole new cut, and it’s great to see her changing her style. She looks so glamorous with her Hollywood makeover. Curly and big is a good way to make a statement with a new look!’

Meanwhile the stylist suggested the Duchess likely achieved her glamorous new look with clip-in extensions, which could have added to the length and thickness of the royal’s hair. He explained: ‘This can be done using clip ins’ they’re a great way to add instant length and thickness when wanting to mix it up a hair style. Permanent extensions are much more maintenance. Clip ins can be great as it’s versatile to change up without any long term commitment.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I saw that people were mad about this piece and obviously comparing it to the Duchess of Cambridge’s lengthy history of wearing extensions, wigs and “fall” hairpieces and lying about it the entire time. That’s a legit comparison and we should talk about it, because Kate really has worn hairpieces and extensions off-and-on for many years. But… um, I kind of think Meghan flirts with extensions too? I definitely think she’s done extensions a few times when we’ve seen her in videos from California, and I think it’s more than possible that she achieved her “look” in the Spotify video with some extensions. That being said, I also think Meghan has been growing out her hair for the past year or so AND her prenatal vitamins probably make her hair thicker and lovelier. So I don’t know! Whatever is happening, Meghan is going for full-tilt glamour and I hope she makes all of those stuffy, salty people feel dull. I can’t wait for Kate to copy Meg’s look, complete with lush extensions too.

Screencaps courtesy of Spotify video.

Prince Philip has now been in a London hospital for a little over a full week. He checked into the hospital – reportedly walking in unaided – last Monday evening after feeling poorly at Windsor Castle. Philip has had frequent trips to the hospital in recent years, but this is one of his longest stays. People thought it was curious – and sad – that Prince Charles visited his father in the hospital over the weekend, and it caused a flurry of social media speculation that Philip was close to passing over. Still, Prince William then confirmed that Philip was “okay” and they’re just keeping Phil in the hospital out of an abundance of caution. Now we know why: an infection.

The Duke of Edinburgh is being treated for an infection and is not expected to leave hospital for several days, Buckingham Palace has said. Prince Philip was admitted to London’s King Edward VII’s Hospital last Tuesday as a precaution after feeling unwell. The 99-year-old husband of the Queen is “comfortable and responding to treatment”, the palace said.

The Earl of Wessex said his father was feeling “a lot better” and appreciated “lovely messages” from the public. Prince Edward told Sky News: “He’s looking forward to getting out, which is the most positive thing, so we keep our fingers crossed.”

Both the duke and the Queen, 94, received Covid-19 vaccinations last month. Prince Philip’s admission to hospital was not related to coronavirus. The couple, who celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary last November, have been spending lockdown at Windsor Castle with a small household staff.

Prince Charles visited his father for around 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon. A Clarence House spokesman said Prince Charles returned to his Highgrove residence in Gloucestershire after the visit.

[From The BBC]

An infection explains the time spent in the hospital – they want to ensure that he’s responding to the antibiotics or whatever treatment they’re giving him. My mom has had to stay in the hospital for days just to receive an antibiotic IV for an infection. The danger of sepsis is very real, especially with older patients. But they say Phil is responding to treatment, so good for him. My guess is that it’s something like a 10-day antibiotic treatment. Hopefully this will be the end to all of that ghoulishness. And it’s not like Philip could have gotten an “infection” from the shock of hearing about Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.

Back in January, we learned that People Magazine is introducing a new quarterly magazine devoted to “the royals.” The first cover of this new quarterly magazine is, as you can see, the Duchess of Cambridge in her doily-best at Ascot a few years back. I said at the time that this new magazine has a very sugary feel, like People is still trying to sell the American audience on the idea that everything is a fairytale when it comes to princes and princesses. Despite all evidence to the contrary, as we’ve seen with modern royals across Europe, especially the petty, half-assed Windsors.

I’m also trying to figure out if People’s editors understood that they were being shady by using Tatler’s throwback “Kate the Great” headline. As you may remember, the Tatler debacle was one of my favorite stories of 2020. Kate thought she was organizing a profile where she bitched about Meghan and complained about how hard she works, but Tatler made her sound like a f–king a–hole (which she is). Kate and her keen team of PR idiots tried to complain and explain the whole thing away, and eventually Tatler removed sections of the Kate the Great cover story from it’s online archives. Kate already went to People Mag for a Tatler mulligan last year, so I guess this is yet another Kate the Great/Top CEO/Keen and Exhausted do-over.

Kate the Great: How the Future Queen Is Defining Herself

At the 10-year mark in her royal career, Princess Kate has firmly established her voice. If the current Queen, 94, has embodied the very English stiff upper lip throughout her long reign, the millennial Queen-in-the-making, 39, has chosen a modern path: feelings are to be validated, mental health is to be prioritized, and laughter is to be encouraged. And like parents around the world, she’s doing this all while homeschooling 7-year-old George, 5-year-old Charlotte and 2-year-old Louis. There is no doubt that Kate faces pressures uniquely her own: She is the wife of one future King and raising another. To add to the pressures, there was also the resignation of her brother-in-law Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle from royal duty. The move left Kate as the only senior royal woman of her generation. “Kate is now the only real possible provider of the glamour factor,” says historian Sarah Gristwood, author of Elizabeth: The Queen and the Crown.

As she continues to straddle two very different types of leadership, she does so under the scrutiny of the world’s eyes. “You can look through 10 years of pictures of Kate Middleton and there are no off moments,” says Elizabeth Holmes, author of HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style. No, she’s not likely to speak out on issues royals have avoided for centuries, including politics and personal struggles. But in a turbulent world too often rocked by unrest, she can be counted on as a beacon of stability. “There is a tremendous power in being consistent and making people happy,” says Holmes. “There aren’t that many powerful people who can do that.”

[From People]

“The move left Kate as the only senior royal woman of her generation.” Which was the goal all along? Kate doesn’t play well with other women. Kate doesn’t want Eugenie and Beatrice to get any attention. Kate was instrumental in the vile hate campaign against Harry and Meghan. And, again, it’s all so short-sighted because Kate would much rather sit on her ass or go on vacation. What happens when the stakes are a lot bigger? As for all the happy horsesh-t about homeschooling – it reminded me of that Katie Nicholl story recently, where we learned that Kate was making do with a full-time videographer, a professional lighting rig, a full-time nanny, an office staff and a “skeleton staff” at Anmer Hall. The poor sausage!

Last thing: it’s weird to think about how Kate is a Millennial, mostly because she’s such a Victorian.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The sequel that I have been waiting over 30 years for will finally drop on Amazon Prime on March 5. Coming to America was one of my favorite movies as a kid. From Sexual Chocolate to Soul Glow, what is there not to love about that movie? I have been stoked since the sequel was announced last year and have been impatiently awaiting it. Of course this is from someone who is hating all of the reboots and sequels. As an 80s kid, Coming to America is so significant to me. The fact that the “mic drop” was culturally solidified by Randy “Sexual Chocolate” Watson says so much about Coming to America’s cultural influence.

Eddie Murphy was profiled in Essence’s March issue. He said that he didn’t want to “make a bad sequel,” for such a cult classic. Eddie went on to talk about the impact of Coming to America on American culture. Below are a few excerpts:

One of the greatest cultural moments of Barack Obama’s presidency was when he hit guests at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner with a mic drop in 2016. Twenty-eight years earlier, however, one of the most memorable mic drops to ever be performed on screen happed in the cult classic Coming to America, and we have Randy Watson, aka, Eddie Murphy, to thank for it.

“Coming to America is one of my films that has really worked its way into the culture,” Murphy tells ESSENCE in the cover story for the March/April issue. “People get dressed up as the characters for Halloween, and they still walk around saying catch phrases like ‘Sexual Chocolate.’ All of that stuff just kind of stayed around—like Randy Watson doing the very first mic drop!”

“The one thing that I didn’t want to do was a bad sequel to a movie that a lot of people have a lot invested,” he says. “A lot of people grew up watching Coming to America. It’s special to them. So, you don’t want to taint that.”

And it’s not just the comedy that makes the film special, Murphy adds, reflecting on the movie’s longevity in Black American culture and abroad.

“The legacy of Coming to America is that it is unique, it’s rare. Black people, we don’t get a lot of movies like this one. Coming to America is a romantic fantasy comedy. Usually, when we see ourselves on the screen, it’s heavy things…Rarely do we get just to go see some escapism. Just to go see a movie and not have to think about any of that stuff,” Murphy says to writer and longtime west coast editor Regina R. Robertson.

He continues: “Coming to America is an all-Black cast, but the movie’s not about race. It’s not about, having a foot in your ass or ‘Wake up’ or ‘Keep hope alive.’ It’s none of those things that you can just go and sit back and watch the movie. And it’s about these people and it’s about somebody that’s trying to find true love,” says Murphy. ” It’s like a fantasy, like a fairy tale. And that’s the legacy of the movie that it’s one of the few romantic fairy tales with Black people. I think that’s why we love it. That’s why 30 years later, we still watch it and they show it on Christmas and all that. Cause it’s this sweet thing.”

[From Essence]

I have loved Eddie for like ever and I am loving seeing him and Arsenio Hall bring Coming to America 2 to life. I feel it is something that we need right now. The last year has been so traumatic for many if not all of us. It should do all of our hearts some good. Especially if it brings laughter and nostalgia in a way that builds on the magic it created instead of trying to recreate that.

I agree with Eddie that it would be a tragedy if Coming to America was tainted by a badly written and executed sequel. I also agree with him when he said that the film was the black equivalent of a fairytale and that everyone regardless of race or ethnicity can enjoy it. Coming to America is a classic right up there with Harlem Nights, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I am looking forward to seeing some of the actresses from the original movie like Shari Headley and Vanessa Bell Calloway. I am also excited about seeing what the hell Teyana Taylor and Wesley Snipes are doing because the trailer had me laughing hard. Anyways, the first week of March is going to be lit. I get The Flash AND Coming To America 2. A girl can’t ask for anything more.

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