Category: 5. Entertainment

Nicole Scherzinger, mentor and judge on Netflix‘s new reality show Building the Band, is opening up about filming with Liam Payne before the singer’s tragic death last year.

The Pussycat Dolls singer was one of the creative brains behind One Direction during her time as a judge on the U.K. X-Factor, helping to put together the group that catapulted Payne and fellow band members Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan to global stardom in 2010.

Scherzinger spoke to Billboard about filming the Netflix contest — where 50 musicians form six bands without ever seeing each other — alongside host AJ McLean, Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland and Payne.

The British musician died aged 31 after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Oct. 16 in 2024. In a story published Thursday, Scherzinger reflected on her time spent seeing Payne’s rise to fame on the X-Factor and how much he appeared to enjoy shooting Building the Band.

“I thought it was so beautiful to see the journey, to see Liam come full circle,” Scherzinger said. “Especially my relationship with him, having helped form the band One Direction and then see him have such wildly, phenomenal global success with One Direction and with his solo career … [to see him] mentor these bands, it was really beautiful.

“I saw the joy it brought to Liam. I felt that this was his happy place. Like myself, AJ and Kelly, we’ve lived this. We’ve learned it.”

She continued: “To be able to bestow any inspiration and knowledge and wisdom and experience on any of these contestants and these bands, it brought us all joy. Particularly Liam. I felt this really inspired him and this was his happy place. This was his happy place because Liam was such a beautiful heart, and he loved to give back. He loved to help.”

Following Payne’s untimely death, the show’s producers and the star’s grieving family weighed Payne’s inclusion in the series. Ultimately, with his family’s consent, they decided to move forward.

Episodes of Building the Band began rolling out in groups, starting with the first four, from Wednesday, Jul. 9. Scherzinger said about the format: “It doesn’t get any more real than having a band put themselves together without any record execs or labels telling them what they have to do, what they have to look like.

“That doesn’t work anymore,” she added. “That’s the old formula.”

President Emmanuel Macron winked at Catherine, Princess of Wales when they met at Windsor Castle.
The 47-year-old French President clinked glasses with Catherine – who is married to Prince William and has Prince George , 11, Princess Charlotte, 10 as well as seven-year-old Prince Louis with him – in what was the first official French state visit in 17 years on Tuesday (08.10.25).
An image of Macron winking at Catherine, 43, quickly went viral on social media, as he and her father-in-law King Charles pulled out her seat and waited for her to sit down as an act of courtesy.
Several users on platforms such as X, TikTok and Instagram even questioned whether the suggestive move would land Macon – who has been married to Brigitte Macron, 72, since 2017 – in hot water with his wife.
According to the Royal Family’s website, there is no strict code of conduct when it comes to meeting a member.
It states: “There are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting The Queen or a member of the Royal Family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms. For men, this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way.”
The banquet’s seating plan was arranged with each member sitting opposite their spouse, so that King Charles, 76, was opposite Queen Camilla, Macron and Kate were seated together on one side, Prince William, 43, sat next to Macron’s wife.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was also in attendance, alongside several A-Listers such as Rolling Stones rocker Sir Mick Jagger, pop legend Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish and Slow Horses actress Kristin Scott-Thomas.
At one point during the banquet, the monarch quipped that his visitors had enjoyed an English sparkling wine that was produced by a French champage house, in a move he claimed would have been “scarcely believable” to those in years gone by.
He said: “This evening, we have drunk English sparkling wine made by a French champagne house. This would have been scarcely believable to at least some of our predecessors.”
Meanwhile, when Macron addressed the party, he insisted on pointing out the bond between the two European countries.
He said: “On either side of the Channel, there is a constant reminder that we must never lower our guard.”

Webtoon Entertainment, the media company that spearheaded the mainstream embrace of webcomics, is rebranding and reorganizing the structure of its North American entertainment and intellectual property business as it aims to scale up the adaptations of its many titles.

Effective immediately, Wattpad Webtoon Studios is morphing into Webtoon Productions, with David Madden elevated to president of the production company. He was previously head of global entertainment.

Additionally, Maximilian Jo, general counsel and corporate secretary for Webtoon Entertainment, will take on a new concurrent role as vp, head of strategy for the company’s global IP business team. Meanwhile, Tina McIntyre has been named head of the newly-formed Webtoon Consumer Goods division, in a sign that the company will seek to monetize on the mountain of popular titles and IP it has created over the years.

All three will report to Webtoon Entertainment chief strategy officer and head of global Webtoon Yongsoo Kim. 

“Our platforms are a staple of Gen Z culture and our entertainment teams are working with some of the most exciting voices in Hollywood,” said Kim in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We have hits on every global streaming platform, and people all over the world know that Webtoon means incredible content and passionate fandoms. Our rebrand as Webtoon Productions highlights our global Webtoon brand, signaling the incredible format, creator voices, and world-class IP that makes up our ecosystem. With the leadership of some of the most talented executives in the industry, we’re here to usher in a new era of entertainment and bring more Webtoon adaptations to the North American market.”

As Webtoon Productions president, Madden will continue to oversee the development, production, and sales for the company’s U.S. and international feature film, TV, and animation slate of adaptations from Webtoon and Wattpad. He joined Wattpad Webtoon Studios in 2022 as head of global entertainment, developing hit projects that bridge traditional Hollywood and creator-driven storytelling. Madden previously acted as president of programming, entertainment networks at AMC Networks; president of Fox Television Studios; president of entertainment for the Fox Broadcasting Company; and president of television for Berlanti Productions. 

In his new role, Jo will develop new strategic initiatives for Webtoon Productions and Webtoon Entertainment’s global IP ecosystem. He joined the company in 2021 as general counsel and was appointed to the concurrent role of corporate secretary in 2024. Before the exec joined Webtoon, he served as general counsel for Yeezy and general counsel & head of business & legal affairs for CJ Entertainment America, the U.S.-division of Korea’s largest entertainment conglomerate. 

McIntyre, meanwhile, will oversee the company’s publishing business, including the Wattpad Webtoon Book Group of imprints, as well as the merchandising and licensing teams. (The company relaunched its online retail destination, Webtoon Shop, in 2024 as it began veering into merchandizing.) She previously held marketing and publishing roles at Scholastic; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; and Hachette, leading campaigns for brands such as the Twilight Saga, Goosebumps and Gossip Girl; developing digital strategies for Harry Potter; and working with bestselling authors James Patterson, Julie Andrews and Patrick McDonnell.

Recent projects from Webtoon Productions include the Tubi hit movie Sidelined: The QB and Me, which premiered at number one and is said to have brought in the most new viewers for any title to date to the streaming service; international Netflix hit Mala Influencia; and Through My Window (A traves de mi ventana), one of Netflix’s most-watched non-English film of all time.

Among its upcoming slate are Sidelined 2: Intercepted and Kissing is the Easy Part, both for Tubi, an animated take on its sensation Lore Olympus, and Death of a Pop Star, being developed by Diablo Cody and Mason Novick.

Starz has released the trailer for Outlander spinoff Blood of my Blood with Harriet Slater, Jamie Roy, Hermione Corfield and Jeremy Irvine at the helm.

Premiering in the U.S. and Canada on Aug. 8, the prequel series details the love stories of the parents of Jamie Fraser (played by Sam Heughan) and Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), fan-favorite characters of the original show based on Diana Gabaldon’s book.

The trailer for Outlander: Blood of my Blood that debuted on Thursday shows Corfield’s character, Julia Moriston, transported back to the 18th century after a car accident in the 1910s. In the rugged Scottish Highlands, Julia and Henry Beauchamp (Irvine), as well as Ellen MacKenzie (Slater) and Brian Fraser (Roy), must defy the forces that seek to tear them apart, intersecting the couples in surprising and unforeseen ways.

The show also stars Tony Curran as Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, Séamus McLean Ross as Colum MacKenzie, Sam Retford as Dougal MacKenzie, Rory Alexander as Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, and Conor MacNeill as Ned Gowan.

The standalone prequel series features new characters and stories, welcoming in viewers unfamiliar with the Outlander universe while also promising to provide origin stories of those from early seasons of the show — offering new perspectives that will change what viewers think they know.

New episodes of Outlander: Blood of my Blood will air weekly on Fridays at 8:00 pm ET/PT on Starz in the U.S. and at 9:00 pm ET/PT in Canada.

Matthew B. Roberts serves as showrunner and executive producer on Outlander: Blood of my Blood, with Ronald D. Moore, Maril Davis and Jim Kohlberg also serving as executive producers. The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Kylie Kelce recently got candid and opened up about which of her daughters is the most “feral.”

On the Thursday, July 10th episode of her Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce podcast, the 33-year-old American podcaster talked about her four daughters, Wyatt, 5, Elliotte, 4, Bennett, 2, and Finnley, 3 months, whom she shares with husband Jason Kelce, the erstwhile American professional footballer.

Referring to her second-born child, Kylie said, “My most feral child, for a very long time, thought for sure it was Elliotte. No one was going to rival her. She was going to take home the title no matter who came along, because she achieved the utmost level of feral. And then Bennett turned 2.”

The mother of four went on to call her third daughter, Bennett, “tactical and feral” and admit that the combination is “more threatening and concerning.”

“It’s more threatening and concerning. She is the child who is licking surfaces. It’s gross is what it is. And, also, she’s constantly scheming, so that’s kind of concerning. She will purposely do things when you’ve turned around, which seems f****** up,” Kylie Kelce remarked.

And increasingly, you can learn even as a visitor. The school offers corsi brevi – short courses ranging from four-day intensives to week-long programmes – to give travellers a hands-on introduction to the art. Meanwhile, the tours include access to an archive of more than 800 mosaic works and the opportunity to glimpse into the classrooms where students and maestri work side by side. Leading each visit is usually one of the 79 guides that have specifically been trained by the school, or, for a more local flavour, Spilimbergo’s volunteer city guides, who often pair the experience with a stroll through the town.

The experience doesn’t stop at the school gates. Spilimbergo itself is full of mosaics: decorating the interiors of its imposing Roman-Gothic Duomo, embedded in shopfronts, woven into restaurant floors and tucked into hidden corners of the old town. On its main thoroughfare, Corso Roma, mosaic shops and showrooms display beautiful creations from the school’s alumni for purchase; while on the outskirts of town, Fabbrica di Mosaici Mario Donà, a historic family-run kiln that moved from Murano to Spilimbergo in 1991, can be visited by appointment to see where the enamels for the mosaics are made.

Photo agencies are to boycott the rest of the Oasis reunion tour, including the first “homecoming” gig in Manchester on Friday, over restrictions imposed on how newspapers, magazines, TV broadcasters and digital publishers can use pictures from the gigs.

The band’s management has told photo agencies and publishers that they own the rights to shots taken at the concerts for just a year, and then they will lose ownership of the images for any future use.

The industry norm is that such deals for independent photographers from agencies are struck in perpetuity so that publishers can continue to use the shots for pieces such as band retrospectives and tributes, and to illustrate future concerts.

The News Media Coalition (NMC) – which represents national newspaper groups including Guardian News & Media; the Telegraph; the Sun and Times publisher, News UK; and the Mirror and Express owner, Reach – lodged a complaint before the first gig in Cardiff after negotiations failed to sufficiently improve the terms.

The NMC also represents agencies including Thomson Reuters, Associated Press, PA Media, Shutterstock, Getty Images, France’s AFP and Spain’s EFE.

The bodies agreed to the stringent terms for the first two gigs in Cardiff, but have decided to boycott the remaining 39 dates in the UK and overseas after further negotiations with the band’s management failed to improve terms.

It is understood that before the year-long terms were agreed, the initial proposal was for the right to use images for only a month.

The NMC said the “highly unusual” restrictions would hit independent news agencies in the UK and abroad, as well as publishers and broadcasters that use stills to illustrate editorial reports.

The row is the latest to beset the highly anticipated tour, which has brought Noel and Liam Gallagher back together on stage for the first time in 16 years.

Last week, it emerged that the UK competition watchdog had written to Ticketmaster threatening legal action over the way it sold more than 900,000 tickets for the reunion gigs.

In March, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published concerns that Ticketmaster may have misled fans in the way it priced tickets for the band’s comeback gigs when they went on sale last August. Some fans paid more than £350 for tickets with a face value of £150.

The watchdog said Ticketmaster had failed since then to provide any undertakings that it found acceptable to resolve the issue of the way it sold the tickets.

Oasis have been contacted for comment.