Iconic R&B singer Toni Braxton and legendary comedian/actor Cedric The Entertainer have announced more dates for their Love & Laughter Las Vegas residency.
The dynamic duo has unveiled six new dates for their limited engagement show at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
The third installment of the residency begins Feb. 14, 2025, with a second show on Feb. 15. They will then return in the spring and mid-summer for more shows.
“I’ve been having the best time doing these shows and so excited we get to continue into 2025,” Braxton told Billboard.
“Sharing the stage with Cedric is seriously so much fun. I mean, he’s a comedic genius, but also, he’s like a brother to me, so it all feels seamless and really fated. Cedric is the Baron and me, I’m the Baroness. It’s a royal night of love and laughter.”
Cedric The Entertainer added, “Toni and I have been friends for years; we’d often laugh and talk about the idea of doing a Sonny & Cher, Donny and Marie-style Vegas show. Both of us have been performers for many years, so the idea was incredibly appealing.”
Toni Braxton and Cedric The Entertainer first launched their joint Las Vegas residency in April, with shows that spread throughout July.
Due to high demand, the pair extended co-headlining residency with six new dates. The second leg began in August, with the final two shows scheduled for Dec. 20 and Dec. 21.
“Comedy and song have been at the heart of the human communal experience since the beginning of time, and we are thrilled to join on stage to bring that experience to the Cosmopolitan,” they said in a previous statement. “We could all use a little more love and laughter in our lives.”
Tickets for Toni Braxton and Cedric The Entertainer’s Love & Laughter Las Vegas residency are on sale now at ticketmaster.com.
See their 2025 dates below.
Friday, Feb. 14
Saturday, Feb. 15
Friday, May 9
Saturday, May 10
Friday, July 11
Saturday, July 12
One day after Kendrick Lamar scored a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 with his surprise album “GNX,” the rapper announced a North American stadium tour with SZA for 2025.
The “Grand National Tour” will hit 19 stadiums across North America, between April and June of 2025. Tickets will go on sale on Friday, Dec. 6, at 10 a.m. local time on grandnationaltour.com, with an exclusive Cash App Visa Card pre-sale on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 10 a.m.
Lamar surprised fans everywhere on Nov. 22 when he dropped his latest full-length album, “GNX,” with no warning. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after its release, stealing the top spot away from the “Wicked” film soundtrack. “GNX” was Lamar’s fourth consecutive No. 1 album and sold 319,000 album units, according to Luminate. He also has seven of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, including “Squabble Up” at No. 1; “TV Off” at No. 2; “Luther” at No. 3; “Wacced Out Murals” at No. 4; “Hey Now” at No. 5; “Reincarnated” at No. 7; and “Man at the Garden” at No. 10. SZA features on the songs “Luther” and final track “Gloria.”
See the tour dates below.
Apr 19 – Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Bank Stadium
Apr 23 – Houston, TX – NRG Stadium
Apr 26 – Arlington, TX – AT&T Stadium
Apr 29 – Atlanta, GA – Mercedes Benz Stadium
May 03 – Charlotte, NC – Bank of America Stadium
May 05 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field
May 08 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium
May 09 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium
May 12 – Foxborough, MA – Gillette Stadium
May 17 – Seattle, WA – Lumen Field
May 21 – Los Angeles, CA – SoFi Stadium
May 23 – Los Angeles, CA – SoFi Stadium
May 27 – Glendale, AZ – State Farm Stadium
May 29 – San Francisco, CA – Oracle Park
May 31 – Las Vegas, NV – Allegiant Stadium
Jun 04 – St. Louis, MO – The Dome at America’s Center
Jun 06 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
Jun 10 – Detroit, MI – Ford Field
Jun 12 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre
Jun 16 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium
Jun 18 – Washington, DC – Northwest Stadium
Mindy Kaling and Morris Chestnut have been tapped to present the nominees for the 82nd Annual Golden Globes.
The nomination announcement will be broadcast live on December 9 via CBS, with Kaling and Chestnut unveiling the contenders across 27 award categories.
This year’s ceremony introduces two new categories: Cinematic and Box Office Achievement in Motion Pictures and Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television.
Other prominent categories include:
Over the years, notable figures such as Alfre Woodard, America Ferrera, Angela Bassett, Cedric “The Entertainer,” and Chloë Grace Moretz have presented the nominations, continuing the tradition of star-studded announcements.
The Golden Globes ceremony will air on Sunday, January 5, 2025, on CBS, with live streaming available via Paramount+ in the U.S. This marks the start of a five-year agreement to broadcast the Globes on CBS. Produced by Dick Clark Productions—a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge—the event remains one of Hollywood’s most prestigious award shows.
Additionally, Viola Davis will receive the esteemed Cecil B. DeMille Award during a special gala hosted by Nikki Glaser on Friday, January 3, 2025, at the Beverly Hilton.
Fans of film and television can look forward to celebrating the best of the industry in early January, with the Golden Globes continuing their legacy of honoring outstanding talent.
Peacock is bringing Bel-Air back for one final chapter.
The NBCUniversal streaming platform has renewed the series—a dramatic reimagining of the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air starring Will Smith—for a fourth and final season. The announcement comes roughly three months after the conclusion of its third season.
Bel-Air began as a viral YouTube video by Morgan Cooper, who reimagined the original comedy as a gritty drama. The concept gained traction, leading Peacock to greenlight the project with a two-season order in September 2020. The show officially premiered in February 2022, with Smith joining as one of the executive producers.
Season three delved deeper into the lives of Will (played by Jabari Banks) and Carlton (Olly Sholotan) as their friendship grew stronger. Carlton worked to overcome his struggles with addiction and repair his reputation, but their partnership also highlighted the fundamental differences in their perspectives and experiences.
Reflecting on the show’s evolution, showrunner Carla Banks Waddles shared during season three, “The most rewarding part has been seeing audiences go from skepticism to being fully invested in the story. Watching viewers start with a dislike for Carlton—asking, ‘What have they done with this character?’—to eventually rooting for him and his bond with Will has been incredible. Will navigating this dramatic, fish-out-of-water experience has been especially exciting to explore.”
The cast of Bel-Air includes Adrian Holmes, Cassandra Freeman, Coco Jones, Akira Akbar, Jimmy Akingbola, Jordan L. Jones, and Simone Joy Jones.
The series is produced by Universal Television and Westbrook Studios, with Waddles serving as executive producer alongside Cooper, Smith, Terence Carter, James Lassiter, Miguel Melendez, Benny Medina, Quincy Jones, and original Fresh Prince creators Andy and Susan Borowitz.
The fourth season of Bel-Air will mark the end of the show’s journey, offering fans a final chance to experience this fresh and dramatic take on a beloved classic.
Paul Mescal will make his “Saturday Night Live” hosting debut on Dec. 7. The Academy Award-nominated actor stars in “Gladiator II,” now in theaters.
Shaboozey will perform as musical guest for the first time. The six-time 2025 Grammy Award nominee’s single, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” has been #1 for a record-tying 19 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
Chris Rock will host “SNL” for the fourth time on Dec. 14. Rock is an Emmy and Grammy Award-winning comedian, actor, writer, producer and director.
Gracie Abrams will make her “SNL” musical guest debut. The Grammy nominee continues her worldwide tour in 2025 in support of her newest album, “The Secret of Us.”
Martin Short will return for his third individual “SNL” hosting appearance on Dec. 21 and fifth overall. The Emmy and Tony Award winner stars in “Only Murders in the Building,” streaming on Hulu.
Hozier will take the stage for the second time as musical guest. “Unreal Unearth: Unending,” the deluxe version of his chart-topping album “Unreal Unearth,” will be released Dec. 6.
In addition to the broadcast on NBC (11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT), “SNL” streams live on Peacock. Stream every season of “SNL” now on Peacock.
“SNL” will mark its 50th anniversary with a celebratory weekend culminating in a live primetime special on Sunday, Feb. 16.
“Saturday Night Live” is produced in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer is Lorne Michaels.
Katt Williams is pulling back the curtain on the strategy behind his unforgettable appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s YouTube series Club Shay Shay.
In a candid new interview with GQ, Williams opened up about the intentionality behind the explosive interview.
When asked why he chose to give Sharpe such a high-profile interview, Williams explained, “Shannon is in the rare position where people aren’t sure where his allegiance lies.”
He continued, “People aren’t sure if Shannon been bought and paid for. Is he in the pocket, ’cause these n-ggas paying him, or is he really just a regular?” In his view, Sharpe’s ambiguity created a unique opportunity. “There’s so many questions that it gives me the opportunity to allow this Black man to show his true colors, while I show mine.” For Williams, Sharpe represented the exact kind of fan he wanted to reach.
During his appearance at Vulture Festival, Williams revealed that he had cracked the social media algorithm before his Club Shay Shay interview and intended to use it to his advantage.
“I [set] out to kill the careers of the people I was talking about,” he confessed. “But it was so vicious that I erased all of the knockout blows and just left the jabs, so that the comic I’m talking about knows, ‘I know your real story, motherf—kers.’ Ima tell this, but you know what else I know.”
As viewers of the 3-hour-long interview may recall, Williams didn’t hold back, dishing out sharp critiques of fellow comedians, including Kevin Hart, Steve Harvey, and others.
Since the interview went viral, Williams has continued to stay in the public eye. He recently appeared in the Netflix comedy special “Woke Foke” and is set to embark on his Katt Williams: Heaven on Earth Tour, which kicks off in January 2025.
In addition to his comedy career, Williams has shared plans to expand his empire. He recently purchased a former military base in Alabama, where he intends to build his own movie studio. Drawing inspiration from production giants like Donald Glover, 50 Cent, and Tyler Perry, Williams expressed, “It’s just not fair to put all that pressure on Tyler Perry. He can only do so much.”
By Tabie Germain/BET.com
The Just For Laughs comedy festival, a once-dominant stand-up comedy showcase for Hollywood, is set to return under new owner ComediHa! next year.
Following a post-bankruptcy restructuring, an 11-day Just For Laughs festival is in the works for a July 16 to 27, 2025 run. With JFL president Bruce Hills no longer with the company, the role of top comedy curator for the English-language edition will go to newly-promoted head of programming Nick Brazao.
A 15-year veteran with JFL, Brazao held key positions in programming management and talent development and forged ties to American comedians and their agents and managers as the festival expanded its global reach.
The planned 2025 edition of Just For Laughs will include the return of the annual ComedyPRO conference. The summer 2024 edition of JFL was scrapped as ComediHa! completed its purchase of assets from former parent Groupe Juste Pour Rire as part of a recent court-directed bankruptcy protection in June 2024.
Resurrecting the English language JFL festival under a restructured Just For Laughs Entertainment Group was helped by Loto-Québec signing on as a key sponsor of the 2025 edition. “This irreplaceable support from Loto-Québec consolidates our position as a leader in the comedy industry and allows us to prepare a memorable edition for 2025,” Sylvain Parent-Bédard, president and CEO of Just For Laughs, said in a statement on Friday.
When Quebec City-based ComediHa! first announced its pickup of Just For Laughs assets, Parent-Bedard said his live comedy show production company looked to offer “diverse entertainment experiences to our Quebec, Canadian and global audiences.”
The comeback strategy at ComediHa! includes taking over in part from Just For Laugh’s former owners as a way for American and other global stand-up comedy artists to perform internationally and take advantage of touring concert revenues.
Just for Laughs got its start in the 1980s as an annual festival where Los Angeles and New York talent scouts discovered the next big thing for Hollywood sitcoms and movie roles. But the rise of the internet and social media as discovery platforms for self-promoting comedians has pushed the JFL festival down the assembly line for nascent comedy talent.
The Montreal festival, a flagship event for the city’s summer cultural season, also lost revenues at the height of the pandemic and had been impacted by reduced marketing and programming budgets at major U.S. networks and streamers.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Jussie Smollett, the actor accused of faking a homophobic attack on the streets of Chicago in 2019, had his conviction overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday, with a judge ruling that his second prosecution after the case had already been resolved was a violation of his right to due process.
Smollett has attacked the case from all angles since the saga was relaunched six months after charges were dropped, and on Thursday, in a 5-0 opinion, with two justices abstaining, the court declared that a second case opened against Smollett violated his due process rights.
“We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction,” Rochford wrote in the opinion.
Smollett, who is Black and gay, was a breakout star of the Fox TV series Empire when, in January 2019, he claimed he was attacked in the streets of Chicago by two Black men who hurled homophobic slurs at him and yelled, “This is MAGA country,” while beating him and putting a noose around his neck as he was walking to his apartment. The two men, Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo, said they were instructed by Smollett to attack him and that the actor had detailed to the brothers how to do it. The two alleged attackers testified that Smollett made the attack up and paid them $3,500 to do it. Smollett maintains that his allegations were not a hoax.
When Chicago detectives discovered this, the story became a sensation that combined issues of race and homosexuality, celebrity and social media, and came as Trump had taken to the White House and the MAGA movement was emboldened. Prosecutors eventually offered to drop the charges if Smollett agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond and perform community service.
Still, public outcry was harsh and loud, and with the DA accused of favoritism, a special prosecutor revived the case after its dismissal. Prosecutors alleged Smollett staged the attack, as he was unhappy with a TV studio’s response to hate mail he received. Smollett was convicted by a grand jury of six counts of felony disorderly conduct for falsely reporting the phony attack to the police; in November 2021, he was found guilty of five of the six counts. He served six days of a five-month jail sentence in 2022 before he was released on appeal.
On Thursday, Illinois State Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth M. Rochford determined that the special prosecutor’s case was a violation of Smollett’s rights.
Nenye Uche, who led Smollett’s defense team, expressed his gratitude for his client’s legal win.
“This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive persecution, and such a proceeding has no place in our criminal justice system,” he said in a statement after the ruling. “Ultimately, we are pleased that the rule of law was the big winner today. We are thankful to the Illinois Supreme Court for restoring order to Illinois’ criminal law jurisprudence.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
(UPI) — Viola Davis will be honored with the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille award, joining the ranks of icons Walt Disney, Robert Redford, and Oprah Winfrey.
“Viola Davis is a luminary whose profound talent has continuously shifted the lens through which we see and understand film. Presenting her with the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award is not only an honor but a reflection of our admiration for her relentless dedication to her craft and her monumental impact on the industry,” said Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne.
She added, “Viola’s courage in portraying complex, powerful characters has broken barriers and paved new paths, making her an emblem of excellence and an ideal recipient of this prestigious award.”
The iconic actress and activist was given a Golden Globe for her role in Fences, and has been nominated several other times.
Davis, who was recently a presenter at the Primetime Emmy Awards, will be honored at a special dinner on Jan. 3, alongside the Carol Burnett award honoree.
In 2023, Eddie Murphy was the recipient of the honor.
The Golden Globes will premiere Jan. 5, with nominations coming Dec. 9.
CNN will debut Luther: Never Too Much, Dawn Porter’s documentary about the life of Luther Vandross, on New Year’s Day.
The film will debut at 8 p.m. ET. Per CNN, the project “chronicles the story of Vandross from his formative years in Harlem, appearing in the Apollo Theater house band and the first episodes of Sesame Street, through his ascendance to become the indisputable master of the love song.” Vandross’ own voice is featured to tell the story via archival clips, along with interviews with Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Valerie Simpson, and Roberta Flack. Vandross died in 2005.
In a statement, Porter said, “We combed through hundreds of hours of interviews, concert footage, and images to develop this one-of-a-kind portrait.” Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent, CNN Originals and creative development, CNN Worldwide, noted that the network has had a tradition of showcasing music documentaries on New Year’s Day, with previous projects on Dionne Warwick, Carole King, and James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt.
The film premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, and Giant Pictures released the movie theatrically this fall. Max and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will air the movie later in 2025. Vandross’ version of The Beatles’ Michelle is available now and will be included in a compilation Never Too Much: Greatest Hits on Dec. 13.
The project is produced by Trish D Chetty and Ged Doherty for Raindog Films; Jamie Foxx and Datari Turner for Foxxhole Productions; and Leah Smith for Trilogy Films. Executive producers are Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman for Sony Pictures Television Nonfiction; Tom Mackay and Richard Story for Sony Music Entertainment; Jon Platt and Brian Monaco for Sony Music Publishing; Colin Firth for Raindog Films; and Phil Thornton on behalf of Foxxhole Productions, with Sony Music Vision as the distributor. Porter also serves as executive producer.
Source: Deadline