From shuttered award shows to exonerated pop stars, here are your top entertainment headlines.
Barrymore Out at MTV
The Writer's Guild of America and its ongoing strike are having ripple effects that extend beyond just a pause in producing our favorite scripted TV programs.
Drew Barrymore, who was tapped to be the master of ceremonies at the 2023 MTV Movie Awards, has pulled out of hosting duties. It's a show of solidarity as the writers who keep Hollywood afloat seek better contract terms with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
"Everything we celebrate and honor about movies and television is born out of their creation. And until a solution is reached, I am choosing to wait, but I'll be watching from home and hope you will join me," Barrymore said in a statement.
The show will go on but will proceed without a host.
The news came just a day after Hollywood's actors guild, SAG-AFTRA, said it was also standing in solidarity with writers.
The fallout also includes the ever popular Saturday Night Live airing reruns until a deal is worked out.
Ed Sheeran Wins
Ed Sheeran has been cleared of copyright infringement in the case brought against him by the family of Ed Townsend, a writer who worked with Marvin Gaye.
A federal jury found that Sheeran's 2014 Thinking Out Loud did not pirate key elements from Gaye and Townsend's iconic 1973 hit Let's Get It On.
"I am obviously very happy with the outcome of this case, and it looks like I'm not going to have to retire from my day job, after all. But at the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all," the pop star said in a statement.
The suit was filed in 2016, shortly after the Gaye estate won another copyright infringement battle against Pharrell Williams, T.I., and Robin Thicke for their own smash hit Blurred Lines.
The Sheeran trial had been delayed while another suit involving Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven was litigated.
