ENTERTAINMENT

A judge in New York has ordered the halt of an auction of personal effects which belonged to Madonna The items included a letter from her ex-boyfriend, the late rapper Tupac Shakur and another letter criticising stars Whitney Houston and Sharon Stone. Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Gerald Leibovitz ordered Gotta Have It! Collectibles to pull 22 items from its ...

Dolly Parton will join Kenny Rogers in a final tribute concert this October. As the country star prepares to hang up his microphone, Rogers, 78, will be joined by special guests including Idina Menzel, Alison Krauss and the Flaming Lips for the farewell concert in Nashville on 25 October. But the biggest draw of all will be Dolly. It’s 12 ...

Luis Fonsi’s Despacito has become the most-streamed song of all time, just six months after it was released. The hit single has been played 4.6 billion times across all streaming services, overtaking Justin Bieber’s Sorry, which previously held the title. “What’s happened with this song is just insane,” said Fonsi, who hails from Puerto Rico and sings in Spanish. “I ...

The Muppets Studio have said they fired Steve Whitmire, who had voiced Kermit the Frog for 27 years, for “unacceptable business conduct”. Last week it was announced Whitmire was to be replaced but no reason was given. Whitmire has told the Hollywood Reporter it was because he spoke up against changes being made to the character he felt were against ...

Deadpool generated the most complaints to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in 2016, the body has revealed. The Marvel film, which was rated 15, received 51 complaints that focused on the level of “bloody violence”. It also attracted complaints about sex references and strong language. Suicide Squad, the DC Comics film, received 31 complaints. Referring to Deadpool, the ...

R&B singer R Kelly has denied allegations that he is holding several young women in an “abusive cult”. The singer’s lawyer said he would work “diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name”. A BuzzFeed report accuses the singer of brainwashing women, who got closer to him in an effort to boost their musical careers. Kelly has ...

Game of Thrones has returned for its seventh season – and the critics are generally quite happy about it. “It was a thrill to have the show back and it looked more stunning than ever,” wrote The Independent‘s reviewer. “By the end of the episode it is clear that the stage is now set for a war of truly epic ...

The American-born filmmaker George A Romero, who created the genre-defining Living Dead movie franchise, has died at the age of 77, his manager has said. Romero died in his sleep on Sunday with his wife and daughter at his side, after a “brief but aggressive battle” with lung cancer, Chris Roe said. Romero co-wrote and directed the film that started ...

Stuntman John Bernecker has died after suffering a fall on the set of The Walking Dead. AMC Networks said production on the eighth season of the hit zombie TV series was “temporarily” shut down after Wednesday’s “tragic” accident. A coroner in Georgia confirmed Bernecker died of blunt force trauma in hospital in Atlanta. The stuntman’s other credits include Black Panther, ...

Clint Eastwood’s new film about three Americans who stopped a terror attack on a train to Paris will star the real-life heroes of that 2015 incident. Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone will play themselves in The 15:17 to Paris, based on the book they co-wrote with Jeffrey E Stern. Actors will play younger versions of the trio in ...