Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.
Bryan Adams adds rock touch with music star-themed Pirelli calendar
Cher, Rita Ora, Iggy Pop, Jennifer Hudson and other music stars take centre stage in the 2022 Pirelli calendar unveiled on Monday, shot by Canadian rocker and photographer Bryan Adams. However the 62-year-old was unable to unveil his take of the famed calendar in person in Milan after testing positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Italy last week. He joined a press conference remotely via video.
Sorrentino says making personal film helped him deal with tragedy
Italian director Paolo Sorrentino says it was helpful for him to make “The Hand of God”, a coming of age film set in 1980s Naples that brings his own family tragedy to the screen. Sorrentino, known for “The Great Beauty” and “The Young Pope”, retells how as a 17-year-old he went to a soccer game on the night his parents were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Louis Vuitton star designer Virgil Abloh dies after private battle with cancer
Virgil Abloh, the American-born son of Ghanaian immigrants who became fashion’s highest profile Black designer and the creative mind behind Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections, died on Sunday at age 41, following a two-year battle with a rare form of cancer. Abloh, who also worked as a DJ and visual artist, had been men’s artistic director for Vuitton, the world’s biggest luxury brand, since March 2018.
Hate crime or publicity stunt? Chicago jury to hear case in Jussie Smollett trial
On a frigid Chicago night in January 2019, actor Jussie Smollett, a star on the TV drama “Empire,” reported that he was the victim of a hate-motivated street attack, but police later accused him of staging the whole affair as a publicity stunt. The case went to trial on Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, with a jury selected by late afternoon to hear evidence for six felony counts of disorderly conduct accusing Smollett of making false reports to the police.
BTS ’emotional beyond words’ to play in front of fans again
K-Pop sensation BTS are playing their first in-person concerts since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and legions of die-hard fans have descended on Los Angeles to see their idols in the flesh. The seven-member group from South Korea held the first of four “Permission to Dance on Stage” concerts at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Saturday.
R&B singer Ari Lennox held for disturbance at Amsterdam airport
American R&B singer Ari Lennox was arrested at Amsterdam Schiphol airport on Monday for disturbing public order, Dutch military police said, after she had accused airline staff of racial discrimination. “I’m being arrested in Amsterdam for reacting to a woman racially profiling me,” Lennox wrote on Twitter on Monday morning, following a tweet in which she had accused “Amsterdam security” of hating Black people.
Designer Virgil Abloh remembered at Fashion Awards
Designers and celebrities paid tribute to Virgil Abloh at the Fashion Awards in London on Monday, where the late Louis Vuitton and Off-White creative force was honoured as a leader of change within the industry. Abloh, the American-born son of Ghanaian immigrants, who became fashion’s highest-profile Black designer, died on Sunday following a two-year battle with a rare form of cancer.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)