featuring

MADONNA has landed a host of A-listers to feature in cameos on her new music film.

Last night the Queen of Pop premiered the 13-minute Confessions II — featuring Hollywood’s Benedict Cumberbatch, supermodel Kate Moss and several other celebrities.

The film features six songs from her upcoming album.

During the one unreleased track, Danceteria, the singer slinks through a bathroom where Chelsea football aces Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro are at the urinal, while Richard E. Grant, Gwendoline Christie, Shygirl, Kate and Benedict rave in the toilet disco.

Sabrina Carpenter, who teamed up with Madge on the record’s lead single, the recently released Bring Your Love, also has a starring role.

Julia Garner, who was cast as Madonna in a yet-to-be-filmed biopic, appears in a scene where Madge flies over the crowd.

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OH BI-HAVE

Bianca Censori crawls on the floor in a g-string thong for Kanye’s birthday

The superstar’s ­daughter, Lourdes Leon, is in there too.

Other new tracks in the film are I Feel So Free, Good For The Soul, One Step Away and Read My Lips.

I first told in March how the superstar had enlisted her showbiz pals to be part of a four-day shoot at a West London studio for the video — and now she has proved it was worth the wait.

Her Confessions II collection is set to be released on July 3 — 21 years after her original Confessions On A Dancefloor album came out.

I revealed at the weekend that she is now eyeing up plans for potential concerts to celebrate the record’s release — but you are unlikely to see her follow in other stars’ footsteps with a Las Vegas residency.

Name-checking a state-of-the-art 20,000-capacity arena in Paradise,

Nevada, she said, during a Q&A: “Sphere seems cool, but I don’t want to wake up and look at Vegas every day.”

And she’s ready for fans to ditch their phones at any future gigs. She added: “Put your phones down, go out, and connect with people.

ABBA have hatched a scheme to take Mamma Mia! The Party to Manchester after it proved a hit in ­Stockholm and London.

Plans for a new entertainment venue next to the city’s Etihad Stadium have been recommended for approval by council planners.

The three-storey venue, set to be built beside Man City’s new North Stand and close to the Co-op Live, would offer a theatrical dining experience for up to 600 guests.

City have teamed up with entertainment giant Pophouse – founded by Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus – for the project, with bosses saying the city’s rich music heritage made it the perfect home for the production.

Pophouse chief executive Jessica Koravos said: “Manchester is known for its innovation in music and entertainment and we cannot think of anywhere better to bring one of the world’s most ­popular and ground breaking theatrical productions.”

TRAITOR STEPHEN’S MUSICAL

TRAITORS winner Stephen Libby fancies himself as the next Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I can reveal the Scottish fashionista has penned a musical that he hopes to bring to the West End in the not-too-distant future.

A source said: “Stephen has the musical all written and ready to go.

“He has always dreamed of his work making it to the West End.

“With The Traitors opening so many doors – both financially and in terms of connections – he feels like the time could be now.

“He’s been having various meetings and things are looking promising.”

Stephen and fellow Traitors winner Rachel Duffy split the hit BBC show’s £95,750 prize money earlier this year.

Since then he has been a regular on the showbiz circuit in London and even landed an ad hoc hosting job on ITV’s This Morning.

NIALL HORAN is on course to catch up with his One Direction bandmate Harry Styles this ­week by scoring his third No1 album.

The Irish singer released Dinner Party on Friday and it is ­currently in the lead to top the charts, after Sir Paul McCartney claimed pole position last week with The Boys Of ­Dungeon Lane.

ACE THEO TACKLES TOXICITY

FORMER England ace Theo Walcott is getting into the World Cup spirit despite hanging up his footie boots.

The Arsenal legend has teamed up with EE to front its new Yes Boys campaign.

The initiative aims to shine a light on the negative online influences shaping boys’ attitudes both on and off the pitch.

It comes as new data reveals 42 per cent of boys aged 11 to 16 encounter outdated phrases like “men shouldn’t show emotion” and “boys need to toughen up” every week.

Progress has been made over the years, but clearly there is still a long way to go.

DOLLS ASH: MY DANCE TRAUMA

PUSSYCAT DOLLS star Ashley Roberts has admitted she was so burned out when the group split in 2010 that even seeing people dance would make her cry.

The girls were known for their intense, choreographed routines but Ashley couldn’t bear to bust any moves after the break-up because of the trauma wrapped up in the group’s original run.

She said: “It was absolutely heartbreaking. I couldn’t even actually watch dancing because I would just be bursting into tears.

“When it first became my job, I was like, ‘Well, this is epic’.

“But then it got wrapped up in this bubble of a major pop group that was a global success.

“I got a bit on the other side and I was like, ‘Well, who am I actually outside of this, right?’

“I just felt very lost, very disconnected to the one thing that actually made me feel like it was like the essence of life to me.

“I just didn’t really recognise myself.

“And it was a really, really tough time.”

Thankfully Ashley has since healed herself, as well as her relationship with performing, and has reunited with Nicole Scherzinger and Kimberly Wyatt for a tour here this autumn.

On how she feels to be back, she told Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast: “Everybody’s like, ‘No, you’re in shape – you got this’.

“I’m like, ‘No, this is a whole other beast’.

“It’s like running a marathon in heels.

“We’re like, ‘Screw it’. You never know when we’re going to be able to do this again.

“We’ve got to just do it – we’ve got to say yes and just go for it.”

Swissh look, Sam

SAM SMITH mixed business with glamour by pairing a shirt and tie with an eye-catching gold corset.

The Stay With Me singer’s snap has been released for the first time as part of a book called The Elegance Of Time, celebrating the 60th edition of Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival.

Sam played at the event – held annually near Lake Geneva – in 2023, and this photo, along with 150 other intimate portraits of artists including Raye, Lionel Richie, Benson Boone and Pulp, will be included in the book, which is out tomorrow.

BBC bosses splashed out on therapy for UK Eurovision act Look Mum No Computer after he came last in the contest and was ridiculed online.

The performer, whose real name is Sam Battle, said the fallout from his quirky entry Eins, Zwei, Drei is ongoing, so he is still seeing a counsellor.

Sam told The Euro Trip podcast: “There was some sort of therapy stuff. The BBC got me a therapist, which is amazing.

“I’ve never really had one before. They were very accommodating. In fact, I’ve still got the therapist because obviously the fallout is another thing. They don’t just leave you.”

Now Sam reckons the only way forward for the UK at Eurovision is to send a hard rock band.

He said: “We went for ‘very good sensible pop songs’ and then for something ‘a little bit left field’. Still didn’t quite work.

“My tip? Metal. Do we have anything to lose?”

Acclaimed German director Wim Wenders announced he was withdrawing his 1975 film, “Wrong Move,” from distribution due to a scene featuring then-13-year-old actor Nastassja Kinski topless.

Kinski played Mignon, a mute acrobat and street performer, in the film. In the controversial scene, she is featured lying on the bed topless as she tries to seduce her 30-something co-star Rüdiger Vogler, who plays Wilhelm.

Wilhelm enters the room, removes most of his clothing and gets into bed with her, slaps her, pushes her away and then caresses her face and cradles her.

Kinski, who also starred in Roman Polanski’s “Tess” and Wenders’ “Paris, Texas,” has voiced her discomfort with the scene for decades and recently told a German news outlet that, although she “didn’t know much at the age of 13,” she could tell that it wasn’t right.

In a 1997 USA TV interview, she was candid about wishing some of her work could be scrubbed from the screen permanently, saying, “I’ve done quite a lot of movies, a lot of movies that I want to just go and burn someplace. You always calculate ‘how much would that cost? How would I do that?’ and just know it’ll exist forever. It won’t be showing all that much, but just the fact that it’s there and it’ll exist.”

She told W Magazine the same year, “If I had had somebody to protect me or if I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. Nudity things,” Kinski said. “And inside it was just tearing me apart.”

Per the Hollywood Reporter, Wenders received a lifetime achievement award at the German Film Awards last week and addressed the “Wrong Move” issue in his speech, saying that he would not shoot the scene today. He also said that he knew that keeping it in the film had continued to cause Kinski pain.

“I can’t blame the 29-year-old young man I was then, 50 years ago, who made a film of his time; wanting, in a way, to capture the zeitgeist,” he added before calling on the members of the German Film Academy to debate the issue and aid him in finding a resolution.

On Wednesday, the “Perfect Days” director issued a statement that was posted on social media saying that he would withdraw the film from all current forms of distribution.

“As the only person responsible at the time for Wrong Move who is still here, I recognize that Nastassja Kinski should have been better protected back then. For that, I apologize to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no ifs and buts.”

Wender said that “the many reactions, comments, and conversations of recent days” had a played role in shifting his perception of the issue but that society must find appropriate ways of dealing with controversial film works from the 20th century.

“Only after that process has taken place — even if it takes considerable time — and once we have been able to present a mutually agreed solution, which will include Nastassja Kinski, will we make the film available again.”

Kinski commented on Wenders’ statement on Wednesday. The following has been translated from German:

“Wim, after all that, all those years, only because the public has now commented in so many newspapers, as well as colleagues, and now because thousands — even though I asked for so long — only now because of the public, do I read THESE words from you, W. Wenders: ‘Nastassja, back then 13 in the first film, Wrong Move.’ ”

Proposed $250 bill would mark the first time a living person has appeared on US currency in more than a century.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent says preparations are under way to print a new $250 banknote featuring President Donald Trump’s face, with lawmakers to decide whether the bills will be put into circulation.

US law bars any living person from appearing on US currency, but legislation was introduced last year to create an exception to allow current and former presidents to be featured.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Bessent said a design had been prepared in anticipation of a change in the law.

“Right now, there is proposed legislation – front of the House, in front of the Senate – to change the first requirement so that a living person, Donald J Trump, could be on a $250 bill,” Bessent said.

Bessent made his comments after The Washington Post reported that Treasurer Brandon Beach, a Trump appointee, has been pushing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to expedite the process for a new currency note to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

“I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the president of the United States, the person who’s president of the United States, on the 250th anniversary bill,” Bessent told reporters.

A design mock-up obtained by The Washington Post showed the words “America 250 anniversary”, a nod to the US declaring its independence on July 4, 1776.

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Behaviour of dictators, monarchs

A banknote featuring Trump’s face would be the latest example of the US president expanding his personal brand in his official capacity since returning to the White House in 2025.

Banners featuring Trump’s portrait have been hung on the Department of Justice and other federal buildings.

And his slate of appointees to the Kennedy Center governing board added his name to the national performing arts facility, which Congress originally designated as a memorial to assassinated President John F Kennedy.

Trump’s signature is also set to appear on US currency as part of plans to mark the 250th anniversary, a first for a sitting president.

US banknotes have until now featured the signatures of the Treasury secretary and the treasurer.

In March, the US Commission of Fine Arts, led by Trump appointee Rodney Mims Cook Jr, approved the minting of a commemorative gold coin bearing the Republican president’s image.

The announcement, which relied on a legal loophole for commemorative coins, prompted a backlash from critics, who likened the move to the behaviour of dictators and monarchs.

The BBC has seemingly pulled episodes of Top of the Pops that featured Scott Mills from iPlayer after the corporation made the decision to dismiss the radio star last month

The BBC has seemingly pulled episodes of Top of the Pops that featured Scott Mills from iPlayer. In yet another scandal for the public broadcaster, Scott Mills, a BBC radio favourite for decades, was axed from his role in March.

The Mirror revealed that the former BBC Radio 1 and 2 DJ was questioned in 2018 over the historical allegations of serious sexual offences, but the investigation – which began in 2016 – was closed in 2019 after the CPS deemed there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

The allegations are reported to have happened between 1997 and 2000. The Metropolitan Police told the Mirror that the teenage boy at the centre of the investigation was under 16.

For more than 40 years, Top of the Pops was the BBC’s major music programme that showcased the acts who were in the charts that week and gave a platform to some of the biggest names in the industry, with the likes of The Beatles, Spice Girls and Madonna amongst countless others all having performed on it over the years.

READ MORE: BBC bosses poised to offer Scott Mills Radio 2 replacement to rightful ‘heir’READ MORE: Scott Mills replacement hopefuls battling it out for his Radio 2 job

The programme, which ended in 2006, is still repeated regularly but now the The Sun has reported that the three episodes in which Scott, 53, served as host, have now been wiped from the corporation’s streaming service.

The episodes in question originally aired in 1999 and around that time, he welcomed the likes of Billie Piper, Mariah Carey and Westlife onto the show to perform their latest singles. The Mirror has contacted the BBC for comment.

On Wednesday April 1, The Mirror revealed that the BBC was forced to terminate Mills’ contract after receiving compelling new information. The BBC then confirmed the Mirror’s report a day after it emerged that they knew of information relating to the police investigation. They pledged that they were “doing more work to understand the detail of what was known by the BBC at this time.”

The Metropolitan Police said a man, who was in his 40s at the time of the interview in 2016, was investigated over allegations reported to have happened between 1997 and 2000. Today, BBC News reported that director general at the time, Tony Hall, was not aware of the allegations.

The investigation was dropped in 2019 after the CPS deemed there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. As first reported by the Mirror, Mills was sacked over allegations relating to his ‘personal conduct’ after the final edition of his breakfast programme aired.

Following his dismissal, Mills issued a statement via lawyers thanking his well-wishers. He said: “I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart all those who have reached out to me with kindness, my former colleagues, and my beloved listeners, who I greatly miss.”

On the police probe, he said: “The recent announcement that I am no longer contracted to the BBC has led to the publication of rumour and speculation. In response to this the Metropolitan Police has made a statement, which I confirm relates to me.

“An allegation was made against me in 2016 of a historic sexual offence, which was the subject of a police investigation in which I fully co-operated and responded to in 2018.”

He added: “Since the investigation related to an allegation that dates back nearly 30 years and the police investigation was closed seven years ago, I hope that the public and the media will understand and respect my wish not to make any further public comment on this matter.”

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