From Queen Bey's tribute to the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll to the banning of a historic poem, here are your top entertainment headlines.
Note: A major 'Succession' spoiler appears as the last item in today's article. Stop reading after the third story if you're not up to date on Season 4.
BEYONCÉ HONORS TINA TURNER
With the passing of Tina Turner at 83, tributes for the pop legend are pouring in. Among those paying tribute to Turner are other musical legends such as Beyoncé, Cher, and Pete Townshend of The Who. Beyoncé, in particular, stressed that Turner paved the way for her career and so many other musicians. “My beloved queen, I love you endlessly,” Beyoncé wrote on her website. “I’m so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way."
INAUGURATION POEM BANNED
A South Florida elementary school has restricted the poem read at President Joe Biden's inauguration. Poet Amanda Gorman, who wrote the prose for the event, has vowed to fight back against the ban. “I'm gutted,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech."
REGAL OWNER EXITS BANKRUPTCY
Regal owner Cineworld has announced plans to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July after restructuring its debt over the last nine months. The British-owned movie theater chain was considering selling all or part of its business, but opted for a restructuring that will wipe out its shareholders and ultimately lead to the firm being delisted. The news marks another milestone in the movie industry's ongoing recovery from the early days of the pandemic.
MAJOR 'SUCCESSION' SPOILER ALERT BELOW: DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO DATE
BRIAN COX ON 'SUCCESSION' TWIST
The final season of HBO's Succession has gotten plenty of nitpicking from long-time fans, and now star Brian Cox is joining the peanut gallery. Cox said the death of his character Logan Roy early in the fourth season came too soon. “I was fine with it ultimately, but I did feel a little bit rejected," he told the BBC. "You know, I felt a little bit, oh, all the work I’ve done and finally I’m going to, you know, end up as an ear on a carpet of a plane." Series creator Jesse Armstrong separately said he wanted Roy to die early on, so the show could explore the aftermath.
The gaming industry has seen multiple large scales deals this month alone, including Microsoft's megadeal for Activision Blizzard. And, seemingly in response, rival Sony, picked up Bungie for $3.6 billion, a studio once owned by both Microsoft and Activision. The sector is reportedly on track to spend $150 billion on mergers and acquisitions just this year alone, a record-breaking total, according to investment firm Drake Star Partners. Michael Metzger, a partner at the firm specializing in technology, media, and communications, joined Cheddar to discuss the flurry of deals in the gaming space and what might be behind the hot M&A activity.
Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs and TRM Labs, joins Cheddar News to discuss why Facebook is ditching its crypto project and what that means for the space.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter at Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new YouGov poll that looks at how Americans feel about marijuana and politics.
A virtual gathering in the online space, Decentraland, of Elvis Presley impersonators is looking to grab the Guinness World Record for most Elvis impersonators in one place after the record-keeping org recently approved the use of avatars as stand-ins for people.
A powerful winter storm hit the Northeast over the weekend leaving 100,000 New Yorkers in the dark as well as snowfall up to 30.9 inches in parts of Massachusetts. The nor'easter hit with blizzard conditions of wind speed and poor visibility.
After classic rocker Neil Young demanded removal of his music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation coming from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the platform made the decision to take down Young's songs and continue supporting Rogan with whom they have an exclusive contract. The move touched off a firestorm of controversy, leading to responses from both the streaming service and the podcasting host. Evan Nierman, CEO of Red Banyan Crisis PR, joined Cheddar to break down the latest on the fracas. "I think when [Spotify] initially said, we're not going to be commenting on that, that was a silly move because guess what? They did end up commenting about it, and nine times out of 10, when an organization says they're not going to be issuing a comment, they ultimately do," Nierman noted.
The 1999 cult classic "Fight Club" has been given a very different ending in China — and this time, the authorities win. Cheddar News speaks with Joan Solsman, senior media reporter at CNET who breaks down how China is using films for political messaging.
NFT art platform TRLab recently raised $4.2 million in funding. TRLab launched just last year but says its platform focused on NFT curation and distribution is growing quickly. The company hopes to bridge traditional and digital art worlds and help artists explore NFTs as an emerging medium. TRLab co-founder and chairwoman Xin Li-Cohen and co-founder and CEO Audrey Ou joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
