Strictly stars Katya Jones, 37, and ex-husband Neil, 44, were both injured and forced to pull out of rehearsals
11:46, 06 Sep 2026Updated 12:11, 06 Sep 2026
Katya Jones was injured and forced to pull out of rehearsals(Image: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)
Rehearsals for the new Strictly series didn’t get off to the best start last week after two fan favourites were unable to take part.
Katya Jones, 37, and ex-husband Neil, 44, were both injured and forced to pull out of rehearsals, it has been reported.
It came at the worst time for the former couple, as it also meant that they missed out on a number of pre-recorded group routines.
While they both returned to dancing on Friday, the damage could have already been done as it may jeopardise their chances of being paired with a celebrity. This will be particularly devastating for Neil, who didn’t get a partner last year.
A source told The Sun: “There was a real crisis on set when both Neil and Katya were injured at the same time and there were concerns they wouldn’t be able to recover in time for the series start in two weeks.”
They added that Katya and Neil were “gutted” to miss out on the group dances as it “guarantees screen time if they don’t get a partner, which Neil often doesn’t”.
The Mirror has reached out to the BBC for comment.
High-octane from the off, fans were treated to energetic performances by the pro dancers down the backstage of Elstree as glitter was thrown in the air and chandeliers rolled into shot. The infamous Glitterball also made an appearance, with judge Craig Revel Horwood attempting to smash it with a sledge hammer while co-stars Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke showed off their dance skills.
The trailer concluded by introducing its brand news hosts Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis and Josh Widdicombe, who held hands as they made their way down the brightly lit stairs. The trio are taking over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman after they quit the BBC show last year.
As part of a huge revamp, bosses also axed long-standing professionals, Karen Hauer, Gorka Márquez, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, and Michelle Tsiakkas in favour of new talent. While former Strictly contestant Ellie Taylor replaces Janette Manrara and Fleur East.
Sharing the trailer online, Strictly declared: “Let’s get this party started!”
Fans were ecstatic, flocking to the comments to share their thoughts, with one writing: “So, so excited for this to start, I literally look forward to strictly every year..” While another commented: “YES YES YES WE ARE SO BACK.”
WHEN it comes to girl groups going solo, there can only ever be one really successful member, while the others trail behind pretending to be happy for them.
Jade is enjoying huge success as a solo artist despite being the one member of Little Mix who didn’t want to take a breakCredit: ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockPerrie, Leigh-Anne and Jade went on hiatus in 2022 and have each spoken about the possibility of a reunionCredit: Getty Images for Warner Bros
In terms of their UK counterparts, Cheryl led the way for Girls Aloud and – although she’s not known for her music – Victoria Beckham will always be the standout Spice Girl.
As for Little Mix, it’s Jade Thirlwall who’s come out on top after her debut releases were met with huge critical and commercial success.
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While her bandmates Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards haven’t totally flopped – all three girls landed at number three with their solo albums – 33-year-old Jade’s highs have unfortunately highlighted their lows.
Leigh-Anne has turned her attention to reality TV after landed a stint on the upcoming series of Celebrity TraitorsCredit: WireImageThe Sun told last week how Perrie has split with her management company and record labelCredit: Getty Images
A well-placed insider told The Sun: “Perrie and Leigh are ready to come back now.
“They’ve done what they needed to do and would announce a Little Mix tour tomorrow if they could.
“It’s kind of ironic that Jade didn’t want the hiatus but she’s had the most success.
“But as much as she is, in her own words, Little Mix’s biggest fan, for Jade it’s just not the right time. She knows she’ll never get this chance again.”
Speaking of a possible Little Mix comeback, Perrie confessed recently she’s “ready and raring” while Leigh insisted she’s “a hundred per cent” behind getting back together.
Meanwhile, Jade has been a bit more coy in terms of timings. The Angel of My Dreams hitmaker said recently: “There will be a Little Mix reunion.”
But, suggesting her focus is elsewhere for now, she added to Capital: “It doesn’t matter how long that takes.”
We’re told Jade knows it’s not the right time for a break in her solo careerCredit: RedfernsBut Leigh and Perrie are waiting for the moment she’ll get back on stage with themCredit: JMEnternational for BRIT Awards/
We’re told that there is nothing but love between the three girls and they are as close as ever but Perrie and Leigh know that the more successful Jade becomes the longer they’ll have to wait to be back on stage with her.
Our source added: “Perrie and Leigh are super proud of Jade.
“They always knew she’d go on to do great things. They’ve each found the perfect balance as working mums but Jade doesn’t have kids so, for now at least, it’s all about her career.
“Perrie and Leigh just hope that it won’t be too much longer before Jade can clear some space in her schedule so they can be together again.”
It’s been a remarkable year for Bad Bunny, one of pop music’s biggest stars. After winning multiple trophies earlier this year at the Grammys, including album of the year for “Débi Tirar Más Fotos,” he can add another accolade: Emmy winner.
The Puerto Rican rapper and singer, also known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won his first Emmy for variety special (live) on Saturday for his historic Super Bowl halftime show. It was the first Spanish-language halftime show, a 13-minute spectacle that transformed a football field into a variety of scenes including a sugar cane field, bodega, wedding party and casita, like the one in his 2025 San Juan residency. It also featured performances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Mikael Wood, The Times’ pop music critic, called it “a busy and colorful performance that drew lines between the traditional folk forms of his native island and the throbbing reggaeton beats that have made him an icon to young people around the globe.”
Bad Bunny served as a producer on the show. It won seven Emmys overall, including for directing for a variety special and music direction.
Also honored at Saturday’s ceremony was Mariska Hargitay for her documentary “My Mom Jayne,” about her mother Jayne Mansfield, a Hollywood actor who died in a car accident when Hargitay was 3 years old. Hargitay also received an Emmy for directing the film and Tony Hardmon won for cinematography. The movie, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, had a limited theatrical run before being released on HBO in June 2025. Hargitay won an Emmy in 2006 for lead actress in a drama for playing Det. Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
In an interview with The Times last year, Hargitay said, “Making this film has been so extraordinary to me and totally reframed the narrative for me,” about Mansfield and the struggles she encountered over her brief but celebrated career. The film also revealed that Hargitay’s biological father was Nelson Sardelli, a former entertainer, and not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her and Mansfield’s second husband.
The first pair of Emmy ceremonies, formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys, are held over two nights, two weekends before the Primetime Emmy Awards, and honor many of the behind-the-scenes workers and craftspeople in television. An abridged version of the ceremonies will be broadcast Sept. 12 on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day.
Here is a list of winners from Saturday’s ceremony:
Michelle Keegan has reportedly quit a drama just weeks before she was set to begin filming and now a former Doctor Who star has is said to have taken over the role
22:32, 05 Sep 2026Updated 22:44, 05 Sep 2026
Michelle Keegan is said to have quit her ‘meaty’ role in a new drama just weeks before she was set to begin filming (Image: Getty Images for L’Oreal)
The actress, 39, is said to have been gearing to take on the part of a working class barrister in a new series that has been penned by Sherlock creator Steve Thompson, with cameras set to roll from November.
But it’s now thought that Michelle, who has to Palma, 18 months, with husband Mark Wright, has pulled out of the project in what is being called a “huge blow” for the production.
A source said: “Michelle was really keen to take on the meaty role, but the heavy filming schedule would take her away from daughter Palma for too long.
According to reports, former Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker has been drafted into the role instead but fans of Michelle will soon be able to see her in in Netflix drama The Woods, which is based on the Harlan Coben thriller of the same name.
Speaking to The Sun, the source added: “The hours were quite intense and the project was starting straight after her Netflix drama The Woods and she just couldn’t commit. She is dedicated to her acting career, but like all working mums has to prioritise being there for her family, juggling work, parenting and being present for Palma.”
Michelle shot to fame when in 2008 when she was cast as Tina McIntyre on Coronation Street, and stayed with the soap for seven years before making a permanent exit when the much-loved Rovers barmaid was killed off as part of a whodunnit plot. Since then, she has Michelle has become one of the most famous actresses in Britain, starring in top-rated programmes like Brassic and Ten Pound Poms.
Michelle previously starred in Fool Me Once for Netflix, which was based on Coben’s 2016 thriller, but this time round, she will play Lucy Silverfield, who helps her former partner, played by Tom Bateman. In
When the latest adaptation of The Woods was first announced, Coben said in a statement: “The Woods is a haunting and very personal story. It has everything you expect from us – twisty, turning, gasp-inducing – but at the core is a story of old love and yearning.
“Working with a cast led by Tom Bateman, Michelle Keegan, Mandeep Dhillon, Pearce Quigley, James Buckley, Tom Allen – it’s an embarrassment of riches.”
Penned by Danny Brocklehurst, the upcoming eight-part thriller begins with a mysterious disappearance 20 years ago that leaves a family devastated.
When new evidence comes to light that convinces barrister Paul ‘Cope’ Copeland (played by Bateman) his missing sister could be alive after all, he begins a relentless investigation to unearth the truth.
The Mirror has contacted Michelle’s representatives for comment
Andrew Scott considers the question and looks at me with a mischievous grin, retreating to a corner of the restaurant booth where we’re catching up a few hours before his new movie, “Elsinore,” the most personal film he has ever made, premieres at the Telluride Film Festival.
Scott turns over the question again. “Do I believe in ghosts?”
It feels like a reasonable thing to ask. Three years ago at Telluride, the yearning romantic fantasy “All of Us Strangers” memorably premiered, featuring Scott playing a character who worked through unresolved trauma by talking to the dead. Ghosts are elsewhere in his work, metaphorical (“Vanya”) and literal (“Hamlet”).
“If I had a gun put to my head — which you don’t have to — I would say that I don’t believe in them,” Scott says. “But the idea of the afterlife and where we will go is still really fascinating to me. Dreams and the subconscious, too. I don’t know what went on consciously in the world outside my hotel room here last night. I was perfectly content to be asleep. And I like the idea of thinking about death that way. I’ll just be asleep. It’ll be OK. It’s the undiscovered country.”
“The movie for me is about time,” says Andrew Scott. “What are you going to do with your time? Ian decided to to live and to be a light and to be around people for the glory of the theater.”
(Anthony Dickenson / Focus Features)
Dropping a line from Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy in this context feels unavoidable. In the powerfully moving “Elsinore,” Scott plays the real-life actor Ian Charleson, who, as he was secretly dying from AIDS, played Hamlet in a 1989 Royal National Theatre production, still considered one of the great performances in London theater history. Charleson was 40 at the time, known for playing Scottish Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in “Chariots of Fire.” He died eight weeks after leaving the National Theatre stage. “Elsinore” captures that journey in all of its glories and taxing challenges.
“That he would go for treatment in the morning and then play this Olympian role is just endlessly moving,” Scott says. “I don’t know how he did it.”
With our pint glasses filled with water as we adjust to Telluride’s altitude, we try to figure it out.
Charleson playing Hamlet, scaling the Everest for actors, reminded me of David Bowie making “Blackstar” as he was dying. As an artist, you’re not often given the chance to shape the narrative of your own end.
Being offered Hamlet doesn’t happen to every actor. To take it and turn it into something generous and useful — useful is a word I love about acting, that it’s useful to people.
When people are feeling down, they can watch a movie they love.
And see themselves. That can’t be underestimated.
What’s your go-to movie?
I will always watch “Bridesmaids” when it comes on TV. Comedy is precious to me. Laughing is precious to me. I don’t see it as the antithesis of tragedy. I think they’re one and the same.
The last time we talked, around the time of “Ripley,” you wanted to put out into the universe the idea of starring in a musical or a comedy. That hasn’t happened by the strictest definition. But you seem to be saying that genre labels don’t matter.
The reason, hopefully, that “Elsinore” is moving is that we approach some of the stuff with quite a bit of lightness. The effect is tragic and there are some heavy things in it. But my job, what I prioritized, is keeping it light.
My favorite actors are the ones that are funny. I worked with Lisa Kudrow last year on “The Comeback,” and yes, of course, she’s very funny. But if you look at that performance she gives toward the end, it’s so moving. People come away from things that are labeled comedies and go, “I just laughed at that.” Or people come away from things that maybe were really sad and say, “I was just devastated by that.” I think the job is to get rid of categorizing and make it more fluid.
Like life. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes, the bear, he eats you.
Exactly! I don’t love things that are overly serious. One of my big dreams for this film — and I do wish so much for this film because it’s so personal — is that people don’t feel like that they’re going to see something that’s depressing. I didn’t want to fetishize Ian’s death.
What do you hope audiences take away from watching it?
That they see themselves in it. You know, it doesn’t end well for any of us. The movie for me is about time. What are you going to do with your time? Ian decided to to live and to be a light and to be around people for the glory of the theater.
Speaking of time, next month you’re going to be celebrating a milestone, turning 50. Or not celebrating. I don’t know how you feel about birthdays.
I don’t love my birthday.
Any year?
My friends have said to me, “You gotta make some plans.” I love a party. Which is to say, I love other people’s parties. What I usually do is I leave it to the last minute and send texts around, saying, “I understand if you don’t want to come, but I might do this.” And then you do something small. I read something yesterday where you should go to your own parties like you’re a guest. I think that’s a very good way to to do it.
What about just being around for half a century? Is that in your head? You’re the one who just said it doesn’t end well for any of us.
I’ve definitely thought about it more. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I’ve thought, “Jesus, what?” I’m sure that’s because of my mom dying and that I’m approaching my mortality. Again, how am I going to use my time? One of the reasons I was so ferocious about getting “Elsinore” made was that I would put all of myself into this and then maybe I can chill out a bit more.
Andrew Scott in the movie “Elsinore.”
(Anthony Dickenson / Focus Features)
The personal aspects of this movie are striking. In addition to producing “Elsinore,” you yourself have played Hamlet on stage. You’re also a gay actor portraying someone who, at the time, would have torpedoed his career by coming out.
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the movies and would read Premiere and Empire magazine. Around 16 or 17, I started to realize that maybe if you’re gay, you wouldn’t be invited to movies. And I wasn’t wrong in thinking that, because there weren’t many examples. So I would omit things in interviews. I wouldn’t lie, but I really understood that about Ian’s generation.
There’s a melancholy moment in the movie where he says, “I wanted to be in the movies. I didn’t scale the heights.”
What a gorgeous little dream. A young boy goes, “I want to be in the movies.” And then to have that knocked out of you bit by bit. You’re not even going to be seen for the audition. Or, “Are you being a little fruity there?”
Did people tell you not to talk about being gay?
Very well-meaning people said to me, “Just keep that [private] because you’re not obviously gay,” which I often think is such an insult to say to people. “So maybe you can get away with it.” And I was like, OK. And I did that for awhile. But it was so insidious. When audiences think of acting, they think of actors pretending, like you’re putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes. So the fact that there was this whole section of gay actors who weren’t allowed to do that is awful. I’m so grateful that I get to do that.
What do you remember about the late ’80s and early ’90s in terms of navigating the AIDS epidemic?
It makes me emotional. It was extraordinary just to to have lived through that time and to be completely abandoned by your government, who wouldn’t even say the name of the illness. When I was a young adult, that’s what I was scared of. If you go for a sexual health screening, you go, “My God, am I going to die?” I remember going into those situations, and with no cause for such concern, feeling like I’m going to be punished for expressing myself in that way, because that’s the way the world was set up.
Let’s get back to Ethel Merman.
Please! [Laughs]
There’s that stanza in “There’s No Business Like Show Business” that goes: “There’s no people like show people / They smile when they are low.” Would you say that sums up the spirit of “Elsinore” about as well as any couplet could?
Yes, it’s so much about the power of community and show people. It’s about show people and smiling and getting on with the show.
When did you first feel that power of community?
Putting on “The Wizard of Oz” in a school play when I was about 10.
What part did you play?
Guess.
Dorothy?
[Laughs] No, a friend of Dorothy. Oh, come on. One more guess.
The Cowardly Lion?
No. The Tin Man. My mom sprayed me silver, in my hair and everything. We had a probably bit of aluminum foil and I had a funnel. I loved it so much. And I remember having a really extraordinary feeling of surprise, knowing the audience was there. For such a shy boy, when I had to do the big number, “If I Only Had a Heart,” it went to another level, better than rehearsal. I suppose the little showman, the little 10-year-old silver showman, came out.
A contestant on The Voice UK shared the inspirational support he’d received behind the scenes.
The Voice UK star was left emotional (Image: ITV)
A coach on The Voice UK was left in tears moments before Saturday’s episode came to an end.
The ITV competition has returned, with Kelly Rowland joining will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and duo Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones. During the third round of the blind auditions on Saturday (September 5), viewers saw a show-first, as a Scottish singer made history, becoming the first contestant to be given the Rewind. ITV had earlier teased the game-changing format, saying: “If a coach realises they have made a mistake, they can hit Rewind, bring the act back, and offer them a place on their team.
“However, with only one Rewind available to each coach, they must choose their moment wisely. For an act who thought their journey was over, it could change everything…”
Elsewhere during the show, an emotional final audition left Kelly wiping back tears. 24-year-old Aaren was the last performer that day, hoping to impress the coaches.
Before taking to the stage, the ambulance care assistant, from Warrington, opened up about the support he’d received behind-the-scenes. He shared: “I live with my nan, she means the absolute world to me, she’s like a second mum.”
He went on to reveal that his nan had been diagnosed with breast cancer, adding: “There was a level of uncertainty there, whether we would have to say goodbye, when that would be, so I moved over to look after her.”
Aaren’s nan went on to praise him as “such a lovely person, inside and out”. “This is all you’ve wanted to do,” she added, talking about his audition.
Aaren shared: “This is one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve done, and probably ever will do. But the amount of times my nan will say, I wish I’d have done this when I was younger. I don’t ever want to get older and have any regrets, I want to be able to say that I’ve tried.”
After his performance, both Kelly and Sir Tom turned around, hoping to win Aaren onto their team. Kelly shared: “I turned around because I love a male soulful voice, that wants to croon. Like nobody sings from their gut, heart and soul anymore… it’s a talent.”
As she heard about Aaren’s nan, she broke down in tears. She said: “That was sweet, to watch him love his grandmother like that, I love that.” She added: “You always want them to have this really sweet space for a woman who is a rock in their life.”
After the auditions came to an end, Kelly added: “Aaren had me moved to tears, he just makes me kind of putty. He’s so honest, he was a really special guy so I’m really excited.”
Dianne Buswell has addressed the notion that she could have been axed from Strictly Come Dancing when she was pregnant as bosses decided to add fresh talent to the show
21:26, 05 Sep 2026Updated 21:27, 05 Sep 2026
Dianne Buswell has insisted she never worried about getting the axe from Strictly(Image: Getty Images for BAFTA)
Dianne Buswell has insisted she never worried about getting the axe from Strictly Come Dancing while she was pregnant. The TV star, 37, has served as a professional on the BBC Saturday night favourite for almost a decade and in March, she and her partner Joe Sugg became parents to son Bowden.
Around the same time, as part of a huge revamp, bosses also axed long-standing professionals Karen Hauer, Gorka Márquez, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, and Michelle Tsiakkas in favour of new talent.
But now Dianne has insisted that whilst there is always a slight worry that she won’t be asked back to the programme, she wasn’t particularly concerned that she would be axed amid the “bloodbath” because of how much support she had received from the BBC in the first place.
She said: “We’re so lucky to be there every single year and you’re never guaranteed that you’ll be back. Of course, you always hope, but they’re putting on a show, and sometimes they will have to change it up.
Speaking to The Sun, she added: ““You always think: ‘Am I going to be back or not?’ But because of how supportive they were to me when I was pregnant and talking about me coming back, I didn’t feel like they would do that [axe her]. They were very aware that being a working mum while still dancing was possible and they wanted to accommodate that.”
This year’s Strictly Come Dancing will have a different feel entirely, with brand news hosts Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis and Josh Widdicombe having taken the reins from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
Dianne claimed that the decision of new presenters was “quite genius” and opined that if bosses had simply chosen two women, it would only lead to comparisons of Tess and Claudia. When it comes to the new trio Dianne said she is particularly excited to talk all about babies with Emma Willis, who previously trained as a maternity care assistant and has also fronted Emma Willis: Delivering Babies.
The star competed on Strictly Come Dancing last year alongside Neighbours legend Stefan Dennis, who eventually had to withdraw from the show over an injury, but prior to that Dianne was subject to criticism for performing whilst pregnant.
On her Instagram Stories, she shared a comment from a viewer that read: “I get so uncomfortable watching Dianne run down the stairs in heels, cartwheel and do tricks while pregnant.
“Your centre of gravity is off while you’re pregnant, just takes one slip to fall on the precious bump. She is a true professional and fabulous dancer but I think it might have been wise to sit this season out. She is 36 so classed as advanced maternal age mother regardless of how fit she is, I think BBC made a mistake here,
They continued by noting that Amy Dowden also took part in the BBC competition last year whilst facing health issues, adding: “It just doesn’t make sense. Like it didn’t make sense to give Amy a celebrity partner last year and look what happened there.” Fed up, Dianne shared her own thoughts as she reposted the comment, writing: “I have honestly had enough of comments like these.”
The Oasis reunion shows of 2025 have created memories of a lifetime for hundreds of thousands of people. The incredible nights, or as some might say, biblical gigs, saw friends and loved ones grinning or crying tears of joy as they witnessed something they feared would never happen again.
With their film, creator Steven Knight and directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace are trying to bottle that up and recreate the greatest musical comeback ever seen in Britain on a flat screen. But then, this isn’t any old concert documentary.
It tells some of the story behind the Oasis tour and then it also allows you to relive some of those moments again. And just when you think it might be flagging a bit, they have a joint interview with Noel and Liam which is entertaining and also illustrates how their relationship has come full circle.
The tour rehearsal footage is dynamite, adding scenes of tension and comedy. As the band wait for Liam to arrive, Noel paces nervously and technicians look edgy.
Liam is then portrayed as some kind of gun slinging cowboy pushing open the saloon doors as he strides in. No sooner is he inside than the band are off and Liam is belting out the hits and attacking the microphone as if his life depends on it.
And then, almost as quickly as he stormed in, he picks up his black Adidas bag and leaves again, with the rest of the band almost in a stunned silence at this whirlwind they are working with.
Noel must have had doubts at this point about if the tour would go smoothly, but he admits despite some last minute drama he was wowed by Liam’s performance in Cardiff.
And for the majority of fans who weren’t at the Principality Stadium on July 4, 2025, the footage and sound used gives you a real taste of what that moment felt like when the Gallaghers walked back on stage holding hands – a moment that even took Noel by surprise.
It is an iconic moment, and they capture it brilliantly, leaving me close to tears as I recalled one of the greatest nights of my own life.
Lots of captivating footage is then given over to different gigs around the world and the filmmakers have found fans with poignant and interesting stories about why they love Oasis and are going to see the shows.
There’s also time for a touching tribute to their friend Mani from the Stone Roses and a section about Don’t Look Back In Anger taking on extra meaning after the 2017 Manchester bombing.
But the documentary really excited me again when it revealed Noel and Liam sat next to each other for a joint interview, the first time in two decades. It can’t compete with some of their old chats with Steve Lamacq on Radio 1 after an afternoon of cigarettes and alcohol, but Liam and Noel are older and wiser now.
However there are still some great lines and fun to be had. Liam jokes about his two hip operations and is glad he stays still rather than running around like Mick Jagger on stage.
Noel admits he would look stupid with a tambourine on his head but his brother makes it look the best thing ever. And then at the end there is the forgiveness and signs of a new chapter for the Gallagher brothers.
“The music brought us back together,” Liam says. Noel agrees things are “fixed” and admits for the first time in their lives they regularly text each other. The bond even goes way beyond them as their kids are now all great mates and enjoyed getting hammered at the Oasis gigs.
The Gallaghers are not looking back, but forwards, and the anger between them has gone. Rather than betray the Oasis memories I made or compete with them, I tried to let the songs wash over me as much as I could. The film allowed my mind to flash back to last summer, and hopefully it will for other fans too.
It is definitely worth going to the cinema to watch it too for the sound quality, as streaming it at home is unlikely to be the same.
As Oasis fans, all our dreams were made in the Summer of 2025, and this documentary is filled with reminders of that. It ensures those wonderful memories live forever on screen.
It’s also the perfect appetiser for when tickets go on sale shortly to do it all again in 2027.
* Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger opens in IMAX and UK Cinema on September 9.
As a young sportswriter studying journalism at the University of Missouri, Seth Wickersham looked to Los Angeles for inspiration. At the campus bookstore, Wickersham bought his first sportswriting anthology, “The Last of the Best,” a collection of columns from the Los Angeles Times’ Jim Murray, one of four sportswriters ever to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Collections of work from Murray, Rick Reilly, Frank Deford and others offered Wickersham a road map for the career he wanted to build — and he has, with 26 years’ worth of work at ESPN meriting an anthology of his own. “Be on That Hill: Stories From the Summits of Sport,” which will hit bookshelves Sept. 22, is Wickersham’s third book. He said assembling an anthology is both “the coolest thing you could ever imagine happening” and “this weird mind warp.”
“When you’re just on a treadmill like I’ve been, the years just go,” says Wickersham, who’s been covering sports since he was hired by ESPN The Magazine straight out of college. “You don’t realize it, but then you take stock of it, and you’re like, ‘Holy cow, I’ve been doing this 26 years …’ It’s surreal to go back and look at it.”
Football has always been Wickersham’s first love — he weaved his journey as a high school quarterback into “American Kings” — but his latest book features stories about a college basketball coach on the job hunt and an NHL enforcer’s attempts to avoid head injuries.
“I’m trying to write about people who have a certain level of inner turmoil,” Wickersham says, “whether it’s Sean McVay after he wins the Super Bowl, or Jerry Jones when he’s threatening to sue the NFL to stop Roger Goodell from signing a contract extension.”
The sports media industry has changed dramatically since Wickersham’s career began. ESPN The Magazine no longer exists. Access to coaches and players is increasingly hard to secure. But Wickersham’s journalistic goals are the same today as they were when he bought Murray’s anthology.
“I want to be a link on a chain,” he says. “It’s hopefully an installment of a body of work that one day might help me be a link on a chain of the best who did this.”
This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.
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In addition to Jim Murray’s anthology, here are some other sports books that have inspired Wickersham.
“The Breaks of the Game” by David Halberstam: This is the Pulitzer-winning Halberstam’s first sports book, following the 1979-1980 Portland Trail Blazers. “When it comes to trying to decode a team, that’s the standard,” Wickersham says.
“Joe Namath and the Other Guys” by Rick Telander: Namath, the Hall of Fame New York Jets quarterback, serves as an example of quarterbacks’ rising celebrity profile in “American Kings,” and Telander is one of Wickersham’s favorite sportswriters. “The portrait he gave of Joe Namath in his twilight was just so rare,” Wickersham says. “I don’t think a book like that has ever been done.”
“When Nothing Else Matters” by Michael Leahy: Another book about an athlete in his twilight. This one documents Michael Jordan’s time with the Washington Wizards. “He worked his tail off as a reporter and really gave a brutally honest glimpse into what it was like to live and play with Michael Jordan the last few years of his career,” Wickersham says.
“The Franchise” by Michael MacCambridge: Wickersham read this history of Sports Illustrated in college. “It really not only gave a glimpse into how so many of these great stories by my heroes … were done,” he says, “but also how those guys got hired at Sports Illustrated. It was like a job road map.”
📰 The Week(s) in Books
Our fall book recommendations answer your call for learning and discovery this season.
(Kissi Ussuki / For The Times)
Our Fall Preview includes 29 books to keep on your radar this fall, as well as television and movies we’re excited about.
This week, we caught up with Raine De Leon, owner of Sons and Daughters Books, a formerly online bookstore that opened a brick-and-mortar location earlier this year. Here’s what they had to say about their IRL location, the local bookshops that inspired them and more.
This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Your bookstore began as an online store in 2024. What motivated you to open an online store? How did it grow from there?
A brick-and-mortar was always the end goal, since I wanted a physical space for writers, readers and other artists to come together for events and community building. Originally, the online store was actually an online poetry journal, where I published poets from around the world, wrote reviews, and held virtual readings. I wanted to translate that into an in-person experience.
What other bookstores, in Los Angeles or elsewhere, served as inspiration for the type of bookstore you wanted to open?
Skylight Books in Los Feliz and Village Well Books and Coffee in Culver City really inspired how I wanted the store to feel: warm, inviting and dynamic enough to serve both a neighborhood and a larger L.A. audience. I took inspiration from the Painted Porch in Texas in regard to curating the selection of books in the store. City Lights in San Francisco was also a huge inspiration for not only my store, but my life in general. The place it holds in the history of its community, the history of publishing and the history of poetry are profound, and I am trying to emulate that legacy as best I can.
What inspired the name Sons and Daughters Books?
The poet Charles Olson wrote a landmark essay, “Projective Verse,” in 1950. In it, he talks about poetic lineage and influence, and he says something to the effect of “We are the sons of the poets who came before us,” and that really spoke to me. I expanded it out to “Sons and Daughters,” with that same sentiment, to be a little more inclusive.
What type of selection can people expect at Sons and Daughters Books?
Our selection is almost all new books with focus on fiction, poetry, social sciences and more. We also have a cart of used books out on the floor every day, and on Sundays I bring out two more carts of used books.
For the new books, I selected each book in the store myself. I may not have read every book on these shelves, but I went line by line in our inventory sheets to select books that I wanted people to be aware of. Even though I am the only staff member, our “Staff Rec” table features reviews and picks from those closest to me. I wanted our selection to be extremely specific to me, my loved ones and the community the store is now in.
In the time you’ve been open, what events have been the most popular? Any particular upcoming events you’re excited about?
Our two most popular events are definitely our weekly stand-up comedy open mic night and our thriller book club.
September is our fullest month yet in regard to events, and I’m very excited for a few. We have two book launch events. The one on Sept. 26 is for “Valley Girl Manifesto” by Noelle Cope, a collection of both poetry and prose. The other, on Sept. 19, is for “Anger Is a Gift,” a new poetry anthology from FlowerSong Press. Both celebrate poetry, locality and connection.
Our full events calendar, which continues to grow, also features community workshops, silent reading clubs and more.
Sons & Daughters is located at 7817 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles.
VENICE, Italy — When Skyler Gisondo turns up in “Primetime” as “Decoy Dan” Plum, an aspiring 23-year-old actor cast to play teenage bait for an unsuspecting pedophile, the camera can’t take its eyes off him.
The second trap set in director Lance Oppenheim’s lurid sweeps-ploitation drama about “To Catch a Predator” follows Gisondo’s face, most often in extreme close-up, as Dan processes what he’s gotten himself into, attempts to make small talk with the predator and finally flees off set, where he sits down, steadies himself and sheds a shaken tear. The suspect, meanwhile, is an afterthought, or more accurately a punchline: He only truly captures the camera’s attention when he drops trou, rips the top off a canister of whipped cream and sprays.
It’s an arresting formal choice, repeated from the opening sequence — that of the viral “You see how this looks, right?” moment from the trailer — to the climatic suicide of Rockwall County, Texas, Assistant Dist. Atty. Bill Conradt Jr., whose case is explored in the Esquire magazine article on which Ajon Singh’s screenplay is based. With rare exception, “Primetime” doesn’t have the guts to look its predators in the eye.
And perhaps it doesn’t need to. The film directs its most gleeful energies instead to taking “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) down a peg. The former “Dateline NBC” correspondent, who turned a newsmagazine segment about men soliciting teens for sex online into a hidden-camera sensation in the mid-aughts, comes off here as a self-serious showboat who’s mistaken tabloid trash for accountability journalism. (As one audio technician complains, “Guy thinks he’s f— Mike Wallace.”) It’s not just that stentorian voice, either. Envy of “Dateline” co-anchor Stone Phillips provides as much motivation as ratings pressure from TV executive Jeff Zucker (playing himself), with Hansen micromanaging his crew, insulting his producer, Andie (Merritt Wever), and neglecting his wife and kids in the process.
At least in the film’s early going, this yearning for adulation is played for cringeworthy comedy, and effectively so; my hardest laugh came when Hansen screens the rough cut of a new episode for his young sons and brags to them about “To Catch a Predator” being moved to a better time slot. As the tone moves toward horror, though, the decision to make the host the story quickly stops paying dividends. Indeed, though the real-life broadcaster may not find all the ego-deflation very funny, even Hansen — who told my colleague Stephen Battaglio that he objects to the film using his name and likeness under the label “inspired by true events” — would have to admit that “Primetime” avoids the thorniest questions about the true-crime empire he built.
Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen in “Primetime.”
(A24)
Compared with David Osit’s superb 2025 documentary “Predators,” a kaleidoscopic examination of the phenomenon from the perspective of Hansen, the decoys, the suspects, law enforcement, journalistic ethics and the filmmaker’s own experience as a survivor of child sexual abuse, “Primetime” seems remarkably incurious about “To Catch a Predator” and its consequences. It would probably be too much to ask a scripted feature to explore the challenge of achieving convictions against defendants ensnared on an episode of “Dateline,” or to delve into the legal niceties of surreptitious recording. But the suspects here are so anonymized — seen in profile or steep angles through a hidden camera lens, spied at a distance on a monitor in video village, heard as a disembodied voice on a phone or read via text in an instant message — that there’s not much to argue over anyway. The predators are reduced from people to “perverts,” of scarcely more interest to “Primetime” than to the bloodthirsty viewer Hansen meets on a plane.
When an entrapped rabbi attacks Hansen during a sting, screaming in his own tight close-up, “You don’t have the right to do this. Who do you think you are?” the film briefly, mercifully breaks this pattern, and generates an electric moment of moral uncertainty. But it doesn’t last. Instead, in its depiction of the Conradt case — ostensibly meant to underscore “To Catch a Predator’s” worst extremes — “Primetime” stumbles into some of the very same gutter sleaze tactics as the original series, transforming what was in reality a grim mid-afternoon standoff into a tense, pitch-dark operation punctuated by lightning strikes, power outages and night-vision cameras.
Such poetic license offers little new insight into a topic that has already been picked over for two decades, but it might be forgiven were Hansen as easily dramatized as he is made fun of. Alas. “Primetime” itself seems to know this — why else hire Gisondo to play Jimmy Olsen to Pattinson’s unlikable Man of Zeal — yet proceeds to construct its second half around Hansen’s unraveling: an extramarital affair, about to be exposed in the National Enquirer; ratings losses to ABC competitor “Lost”; desperation to reel in a “whale” and willingness to cut corners to do it. By the time the film again confronts the specter of something wicked under “To Catch a Predator’s” glossy surface, it comes in the form of Hansen’s own phantoms, introduced in a grueling flashback to India in the 1990s and carried through to the film’s conclusion. Why we’re to care about this apparent flash of horror, if not of conscience, remains unexplained. What about the faintly ludicrous figure of the foregoing 100-plus minutes was supposed to make me care about his moral compass?
In the final estimation, then, “Primetime” isn’t a Chris Hansen hit piece. In fact, it’s so in love with its flawed protagonist that it can’t see he’s the least compelling character in the movie, an ambitious, arrogant, grasping, unscrupulous man we’ve met countless times before. Which may explain the film’s final bit of poetic license. The last we last see of Hansen, muttering lines from his script as the police process the Conradt crime scene, suggests a man disturbed, perhaps even chastened, by what he has witnessed. But of course the real-life Hansen continues his sting operations to this day under the banner of “Takedown,” a series on his streaming service TruBlu, and both there and in “Predators” he appears utterly unshaken, unhaunted, unbowed. So for all the tension between the film and its subject to come through in the press of late, the gulf between them is not so wide as one might suspect.
Graeme Souness is appearing in new ITV show The Box on Saturday night.
The Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit, 73, is one of ten celebrity contestants on Gary Lineker’s new game show. Also joining the line-up are Danny Aarons, Ellie Taylor, Joey Essex, JB Gill, Jenny Ryan, John Bercow, Ranvir Singh, Sara Davies and Shakira Khan on the new ITV show.
Away from the ITV show, Graeme has spoken candidly about his health over the years after he was diagnosed with a heart condition aged just 38, which left him asking ‘how can this happen to me’.
Graeme shared his experience with the British Heart Foundation (BHF), revealing what life was like following his diagnosis and treatment for heart disease as a young, physically fit man.
While managing Liverpool in 1991, the Scot was struggling to sleep and experiencing chest pains in bed. With a family history of heart disease, alarm bells were ringing. He underwent an electrocardiogram (ECG) – a straightforward test used to assess the heart’s rhythm and electrical activity.
Following the results, he was referred for an angiogram, a specialised X-ray procedure used to examine blood vessels. Despite displaying no obvious symptoms, Graeme was diagnosed with three blocked arteries and coronary heart disease. Just five days later, he was facing open heart surgery.
Speaking on the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) podcast, the Ticker Tapes in 2021, he said at the time: “At the time I was training like the professional football players and was only 38-years-old. I kept thinking ‘how can this happen to me?’
“I looked after myself in terms what I ate and drank and had trained from the age of 15 – I trained as vigorously as a professional athlete. I didn’t carry any weight, I never had done. How had this happened to me?
“I didn’t have the obvious symptoms that there was something badly wrong with my heart so I’m so glad I got checked when I did. It’s because of this that I’m here 30 years later.
“If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. At that time I was a very fit, young man. If you’re concerned about your family history, go and get checked. You must get yourself checked.”
In 2015, Graeme suffered a heart attack and has since become a British Heart Foundation (BHF) ambassador, throwing himself into numerous campaigns and events, as well as making visits to BHF research laboratories.
Graeme said of the terrifying health scare: “My heart attack was very scary but I’m still here, able to talk about it thank goodness. Fortunately, it hasn’t caused me any lasting problem.
“It’s so important to go to your doctor and get yourself diagnosed if you’re at all concerned. You owe it to yourself and those close to you – your wife, your children and your grandchildren. They want you around as long as possible.”
The Box launches on Saturday 5th September, with Episode 2 airing on Sunday 6th September, on ITV1, ITVX, STV & STV Player.
“So much has happened that she should have been a part of. My heart is particularly with Marie [Sarah’s mum] today.
Sarah’s cause of death was breast cancerCredit: GettyGirls Aloud formed back in the 2000’s on Popstars: The RivalsCredit: Getty
“Sitting with myself, hormones and sleep deprivation are probably not helping but as I type I’m feeling very sad and transported to this day 5 years ago.
“Such a milestone would have most likely had this impact anyway. Most definitely for all her friends and family.”
Nicola then took a moment to gush about her friend, sharing how proud she still is of her.
She continued: “I’m also feeling proud that Sarah left such a legacy with her charity and that everyone that vowed to help her on that quest is still powering through for that silver lining she was so passionate about.
“She’s saving lives. Wish to everything she didn’t have to lose her own xx”
The Sarah HardingBreast Cancer Appeal was founded in Sarah’s honour to fund research for women experiencing cancer in their 30s.
It has gone on to raise over £1million to date from various events including performances by her bandmates Cheryl Tweedy, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, and Nicola, as well as donations.
Michael Lomonaco can account for every minute of the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 — including the small decision that saved his life.
Lomonaco, the executive chef who ran Windows on the World on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, was on his way up to his office when he stopped at an optometrist shop on the ground level to have his eyeglass frames adjusted.
He was still inside when American Airlines Flight 11 hit the tower above him at 8:46 a.m.
“I felt the buidling shake,” he recalled in the new CNN Films documentary “Top of the World.” “And I thought that can’t be the subway. That’s impossible.”
Lomonaco was evacuated. From the street, he watched employees of his own restaurant wave a white tablecloth from a window more than 100 floors up. Seventy-nine Windows on the World employees and 91 guests died that morning in the gastronomic soul of the Twin Towers — the one part of the complex that belonged to New Yorkers who didn’t work there, and to visitors from everywhere else.
“Top of the World” premieres Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CNN and begins streaming the following day on the network’s subscription streaming platforms. The documentary short arrives on a double anniversary: 25 years since the attacks, and 50 years since Windows on the World opened on April 19, 1976.
It is the work of producer-director team Betsy West and Julie Cohen, who made “RBG,” the Oscar-nominated portrait of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film is a production of CNN Films, TIME Studios and Tribeca Studios, in association with Montalto Pictures and Storyville Films, and was inspired by Tom Roston’s book “The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World.” Actor Denis Leary voices the restaurant’s creator, Joe Baum, drawn from decades of archival recordings.
West and Cohen were reluctant to take it on. Both were working in network television news in 2001.
“There’s like a part of you that doesn’t want to go back there,” Cohen said in a recent interview. “But when we read this book and met some of the amazing people who had worked at Windows over its 25-year history, we realized this was actually a really good way into remembering there was a lot of beautiful stuff in the Twin Towers and like we shouldn’t let that disappear just because it ended so painfully.”
What emerges is a history of how a restaurant transformed the reputation of the monolithic Twin Towers, which received little respect from architecture critics and bafflement from a public that wondered why it was built in the 1970s by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as the city was fighting off financial collapse.
“This film tells a story of a restaurant that was very special to New York a time when New York was getting kicked in the teeth,” the Brooklyn-born Lomonaco said in a recent interview.
The World Trade Center operators turned to restaurant impresario Joe Baum to create a dining experience that would draw people to the Manhattan neighborhood largely known for its blocks of stores that sold radios and electronic parts. Baum was known for such New York dining landmarks as the Four Seasons and Tavern on the Green, and his new creation became an immediate hit after it opened in 1976, becoming a magnet for tourists and celebrities alike who came for the eye-popping views through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
At the time of the 9/11 attack, the World was the highest-revenue-generating privately owned restaurant in the U.S.
West noted another draw to the story was the stories of the many immigrants who worked at Windows, which proudly called itself “the U.N. of restaurants.” The film’s focus on the contribution of the foreign-born population to the restaurant industry stands in stark contrast to the image of immigrants conveyed by the Trump White House to justify its deportation efforts.
“Immigrants continue to make a contribution to our country and to the economy,” West said. “This was an opportunity to tell that positive story as opposed to what’s going on in our country now.”
Cohen and West scoured the Windows on the World Facebook page to find surviving former employees to help tell the story. Nathalie Tolentino was a hostess whose family came to the U.S. to escape political upheaval in Peru. Sekou Siby was a line cook from the Ivory Coast, who swapped shifts with one of the workers who died during a morning breakfast held in the restaurant on 9/11. Both talk about how the restaurant changed their lives.
Lomonaco is a central character in the “Top of the World,” as his arrival as the executive chef of Windows in 1997 boosted the restaurant’s culinary reputation. A hot chef who oversaw a turnaround at the 21 Club, another legendary New York dining spot, Lomonaco turned Windows into a destination for American cuisine along with the breathtaking views.
Lomonaco arrived after the restaurant was closed for three years following the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 that killed six people and injured more than 1,000 but left the towers intact.
Once Windows on the World was gone, Lomonaco was offered high-profile restaurant jobs in other parts of the country. But he had unfinished business in New York.
“I didn’t want to abandon my city,” he said.
In the first days after the attacks, Lomonaco said, he read nothing about Windows on the World; coverage centered on the massive loss of life among the first responders and at the financial firms inside the World Trade Center. But over time, he got attention and support for the families of the employees who lost their lives that day.
Lomonaco and the restaurant’s owners formed Windows of Hope, a charitable foundation that raised more than $22 million to pay for healthcare and tuition costs for the children of the victims. “We were giving checks to people to pay their rent before federal funds came through,” he said.
Lomonaco said he still meets patrons who give him a matchbook or coaster from their visit to Windows. “They feel like they have to give me or send me these little artifacts,” he said. “That’s what has touched me the most.”
Penny, the daughter of local copper Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), has since been caught up in a drugs smuggling plot, has caused a dangerous club crush, and enjoyed a brief romance with Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway).
Most recently, she found love with local businessman Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota), but before the romance could blossom, she found out she was pregnant, and confirmed that Vinny was the father.
In an unexpected twist, a midwife appointment soon revealed her dates didn’t match up, and her unborn baby is biologically Harry’s after they shared one night of passion, casting doubt over her relationship with Vinny.
Penny is yet to reveal the truth about the baby’s paternity as she moves in with Vinny and they set up a loving family home. Will the truth come out as Penny’s due date edges closer?
Away from Albert Square, Penny actress Kitty Castledine leads a much simpler life with her family in London.
She is the daughter of television star Lucy Alexander, who is famed for hosting popular daytime shows such as Homes Under the Hammer and A Place in the Sun.
Kitty’s father is ex-Premier League footballer Stewart Castledine, who played for Wimbledon for over 9 years. He also featured for Wycombe in the second tier.
Stewart has also appeared on television screens, hosting BBC One’s Big Strong Boys and Houses Behaving Badly.
Stewart and Lucy are said to have wed in 2000, during a ceremony in Richmond, London, after meeting through a mutual acquaintance.
They have two children, including Kitty and a son, Leo Castledine, 21, who is also a footballer and currently plays for Middlesbrough.
Who is Leo Castledine?
Leo is a midfielder for the Championship team Middlesbrough after joining the club in January 2026.
Prior to his current move, Leo was on loan at Huddersfield Town from Premier League side Chelsea, where he impressed, scoring 12 goals in 27 games for the Terriers.
“I’m absolutely over the moon to join what is a massive, massive club,” Leo explained about joining his new club. “It’s a really big step for me in my career, and I’m very excited to be here.
“There’s always been trust in young players at this club if they can perform, and I want to perform at my highest level”, reported BBC News.
Leo joined Chelsea as an Under-15 from AFC Wimbledon and worked his way up to make one substitute appearance for the first team, a Carabao Cup semi-final against Boro in January 2024. He has also worn the England shirt for the U19s five times.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer
SHE is one of the most recognisable women in music – but what does it take for some people to be convinced Avril Lavigne is not who she says she is?
The punk-pop icon rose to international stardom in the Noughties – but as her popularity peaked, a strange and startling rumour was also gaining traction in the shadows.
Conspiracy theorists are claiming that Avril Lavigne has been replaced by a cloneCredit: GettyAn image shared online bizarrely claiming to show minute differences between the ‘real’ and ‘fake’ Avril
The theory is as puzzling as it is disturbing – a dead Avril, a body double named Melissa and a supposed Hollywood cover-up – and like the catchiest pop song, it refuses to leave.
Born in 1984 in Canada and raised in a strict Christian household in sleepy Napanee, Ontario, Avril grew up in a small town of roughly 5,000 where her parents closely monitored her music choices.
But the precocious teenager was already plotting her escape, writing poems, learning guitar and gravitating towards the town’s grunge scene before her singing talent caught the eye of her first manager at a 1999 bookstore performance, aged just 14
With her parents’ blessing, she quit school and headed to New York with her brother, where she worked with a professional producer before landing a two-album deal worth around $1.25million at just 16.
Avril’s 2002 album debut saw her rise to fame go stratospheric. However it also contained the germ of the conspiracy theory that would go on to haunt her for years.
The album, titled Let Go, would later be believed by theorists to be a symbolic reference to her being replaced by another lookalike young woman.
Adding fuel to the conspiracy was the star’s grief following her grandfather’s death in 2003 – which believers would later say was the final chapter in the “original Avril” story. They claim that grief was so overwhelming, tragic Avril took her own life.
The bizarre theory appears to have first appeared nine years later when in 2011, a Brazilian fan page called Avril Está Morta – meaning Avril is Dead – launched the morbid rumour into the world.
It claimed the eyeliner-clad star was no longer alive – and had been replaced by an eerily similar young woman.
For years, internet sleuths have remained convinced that the Sk8er Boi singer died by suicide shortly after achieving mainstream fame, allegedly overwhelmed by her grief and the pressures that came with becoming a global pop star.
But the story doesn’t end with her supposed death.
Her record label at the time, desperate to protect its lucrative investment, allegedly concealed the tragedy and brought in an actress named Melissa Vandella to replace Avril.
The theory claims Avril’s then-label, Arista Records, buried her death and installed Melissa in her place to keep the lucrative hitmaker churning out music. The Sun has contacted Arista Records for comment.
Melissa, believers say, looked sufficiently like the singer to fool the world – allowing the machinery of Avril’s career to keep moving while the real star was supposedly gone.
While deeply distressing, at that time the macabre theory was at least only circulating on the fringes of the internet.
That was until American journalists at BuzzFeed tweeted about the Brazilian blog and the obscure rumour was thrust into mainstream music folklore.
In 2017, a viral thread racked up hundreds of thousands of retweets, exposing millions of social media users to the supposed Avril “clone” theory.
The chilling truth behind this morbid phenomenon says more about those spreading it than its star subject.
Experts say these theories can often come from people who are seeking a purpose in life.
They will find and obsess over even the most minor changes in the life of another person – often a high-profile celeb – to feel as though they have achieved something.
Daniel Joll, an assistant Professor in Social Psychology at the University of Nottingham, tells The Sun: “Conspiracy theories are a fertile ground for people feeling uncertainty in life.
“When they find something they can be a part of and investigate, it makes them feel like they’re almost becoming a journalist and that makes them feel important.
“This is also about people wanting to be unique by saying something or being a part of something that is out of the ordinary.”
Conspiracy theorists have even latched onto supposed changes in Avril’s handwriting by sharing side by side pics from different time periodsCredit: TwitterThe theory claims Lavigne’s record label buried her death and installed Melissa – who has an uncanny resemblance to AvrilCredit: Getty
Conspiracy theorists began comparing photographs from the beginning of Avril’s career with images taken after the rumours started, searching for proof that the woman in front of the cameras was not the same person.
Online truth-seekers even saw that she once wrote “Melissa” on her hand in a photoshoot.
To believers, it was practically a confession hiding in plain sight.
But that is where the theory’s elaborate house of cards begins to wobble.
The “Melissa” photograph was later explained as part of a promotional photoshoot in which Lavigne wrote supporters’ names on her skin and on paper.
Theorists still argue this was either an intentional leak by the body double signalling her true identity, or an insidiously dropped clue by her record label.
It is catnip for the internet: just outrageous enough to be dismissed, yet just plausible enough to make you wonder whether there might be something hiding beneath the surface.
Avril is far from the first celebrity to become the subject of a completely unverified cloning conspiracy theory.
One of the most famous examples dates back to 1969, when fans became convinced Beatles legend Paul McCartney had died in a car crash and been secretly replaced by a lookalike.
The theory exploded after The Beatles released Abbey Road, with fans scouring songs and album artwork for supposed clues.
Some even believed John Lennon could be heard saying “I buried Paul” in Strawberry Fields Forever.
John later said the line was actually “cranberry sauce”, while McCartney himself dismissed the rumours in a November 1969 interview with Life magazine.
Fans have also claimed Tupac Shakur faked his death, while a 2020 music video featuring a deepfake of the rapper reignited speculation.
What is key to giving these theories life is that they are outrageous enough to grip people while remaining vaguely believable.
Prof Jolley adds: “The reason why people are so stuck on Avril is because the theory is plausible.
Online truth-seekers even saw that she once wrote ‘Melissa’ on her hand in a photoshootCredit: @AvrilLorgSome fans are even convinced that the shady puppet masters of the Illuminati had cloned AvrilCredit: GettyAvril often appeared in in baggy trousers and neckties before the suspected cloningCredit: GettyHer trademark middle finger was then tucked away, while the loose tie slung over a shirt disappearedCredit: Getty
“When there is the slightest chance of plausibility, people will cling onto it and keep going and keep digging.
“This one feels plausible because it could be true. The possibility of truth can tickle people’s fancy.”
Every perceived alteration became another piece of their puzzle.
Early Avril had become synonymous with the scruffy skater-punk image that helped make her famous, often appearing in baggy trousers and neckties.
Suddenly snaps of the eyeliner smeared rock queen appeared to have had been wiped off the internet.
Her trademark middle finger was tucked away, while the loose tie slung over a shirt – once part of her pop-punk armour – had been consigned to fashion history.
The woman who emerged afterwards looked markedly more polished, with skirts and dresses replacing the tomboyish uniform and pink make-up softening the rebellious image.
Some went as far as being convinced that the shady puppet masters of the Illuminati had cloned Avril and replaced her with an actual laboratory-grown clone rather than a hired lookalike. Bizarre, right?
Theorists started using photo overlay tools to track subtle shifts in her facial symmetry, jawline angle, and earlobe detachmentInternet sleuths claimed Avril had started looking markedly more polishedCredit: Unknown
The Illuminati, believers claim, is an elite society that frequently targets the world’s biggest pop stars and turns them into puppets of their secret cabal.
The new bubble-gum pink pop girl was allegedly spotted glitching during red-carpet interviews where she paused, blinked rapidly, and answered questions flatly.
Believers refer to these as “clone glitches” or memory-wipe side effects.
Theorists started using photo overlay tools to track subtle shifts in Avril’s facial symmetry, jawline angle, and earlobe detachment.
The theory claimed bones do not radically change shape after adolescence; therefore, differences in the bridge of her nose and her jaw structure prove a physical imposter.
Professor Jolley adds: “These theories are made up to captivate our attention.
“I believe clones are just an intriguing application.”
And then came the clue conspiracy theorists found hardest to scribble away: Avril’s handwriting.
To believers, the change was more than a few wonky letters.
They began placing samples of Lavigne’s handwriting from different periods side by and poring over the shapes, slants and flourishes as though they were forensic investigators examining a ransom note.
Every loop, every letter and every flick of the wrist became potential evidence.
Conspiracy theorists claiming that the handwriting before and after the alleged switch looked fundamentally different.
Then, Under My Skin, Avril’s second album released in 2004, became another supposed treasure trove for believers hunting for hidden messages.
Slipped Away is also repeatedly cited as evidence, with its lyrics about someone disappearing and life changing forever interpreted as a veiled admission of Avril’s supposed death.
My Happy Ending has also been dragged into the theory, with fans searching its lyrics for signs of guilt, grief or a woman struggling beneath an identity that was never hers.
Appearing on Call Her Daddy podcast with host, Alex Cooper, Avril directly addressed the long-running internet theory and laughed it off calling it “dumb”.
The host, half joking and half serious, asked her: “So, is your name Avril Lavigne or Melissa Vandella?” The singer wasn’t too bothered and replied: “Obviously I’m Avril Lavigne.” Obviously…
The 39-year-old went on: “On one end, everyone’s like, ‘You look the exact same. You haven’t aged a day.’ But then other people are like, there’s a conspiracy theory that I’m not me.
“Honestly, it’s not that bad. It could be worse, right?” Lavigne laughingly admitted. “I feel like I got a good one. I don’t feel like it’s negative. It’s nothing creepy.”
Cooper told the star: “What’s crazy is you haven’t aged. I’m staring at you. And, like, I’m picturing you with your auburn hair. And I’m like, oh my God. You literally look the same from when you were younger.”
It’s all fun and games turning freckles into “evidence” – counting spots on an arm as though a decade of sun exposure somehow comes with a cloning certificate.
But behind the bizarre conspiracy theories was a very real battle. Lavigne, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2013, later described that period as the “worst time of my life”.
The Sun has reached out to Avril Lavigne’s management and past and current record labels for comment.
George Rainsford is returning to Casualty tonight as fan favourite Dr Ethan Hardy for the BBC medical drama’s 40th anniversary three years after his last apperance
George Rainsford played Dr Ethan Hardy in Casualty from 2014 until 2023(Image: BBC/Alistair Heap)
A former Casualty actor has admitted he was “ready to have a break” after nine years working on the medical drama.
George Rainsford is putting his scrubs back on and resuming his role as Dr Ethan Hardy for the BBC show’s huge 40th anniversary, which airs tonight (Saturday, September 5).
The actor played the popular doctor for almost a decade before leaving the BBC medical drama in 2023. Fans will know George’s charatcer Ethan was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease and left the E.D. three years ago to spend more time with his son, Bodhi.
Speaking exclusively to Betway about his exit, George explained: “At the time, I definitely wanted that time away. I was ready to have a break. It’s a fantastic place to work.
“I loved how generous they were with all the storylines I had over the years, and I loved everybody there but it’s filmed in Cardiff, and I’m not based there, so I needed to spend a bit more time at home. When you’re an actor, sometimes you want to challenge yourself and see what else is out there.
“After nine years, that feeling had gotten a bit stronger. I was keen to go back and do theatre for a bit and see what other screen work was out there.
“I’m glad we were able to have the conversation with the producers that it wasn’t final because I really enjoyed going back and I do think there would be a storyline there but at the same time, I was ready for a little break”
Since leaving Casualty, Jimmy has appeared in seven episodes of popular BBC period drama Call the Midwife as Jimmy Wilson and more recently played the role of Miles is movie Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger.
Ethan isn’t the only familar face returning to Casualty this week with Derek Thompson also reprising his iconic role as nurse Charlie Fairhead. Fans last saw him during his final appearance in March 2024, where he retired after 38 years in the NHS.
Although bosses haven’t shared too many details of Ethan and Charlie’s involvement in the 40th anniversary, they have said: “The gripping, anniversary event centres on a high-stakes major incident that throws Holby into chaos.
“Lives hang in the balance and the ED team are pushed to their limits in a tense and emotionally charged story that brings together some of the show’s most beloved characters.
“As the fallout continues, a major rescue operation unfolds, forcing impossible life-or-death decisions and testing the courage, resilience and leadership of those at the heart of the hospital.
“As Dylan Keogh (William Beck) battles personal tragedy while leading his team through their darkest hour, Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless) and Flynn Byron (Olly Rix) find themselves fighting for survival in a race against time.”
Casualty’s 40th anniversary specials will air on Saturday, September 5 from 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer
Actor and playwright Ellen McLaughlin, who originated the role of the Angel in Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” has put her own modern spin on ancient Greek dramas. Her “Helen,” a satirical reworking of Euripides’ tragicomedy and the eternal beauty myth, ought to be better known.
McLaughlin’s modern verse “translation” of Shakespeare’s “Pericles” is now receiving its West Coast premiere at Boston Court Pasadena. I’m traditionally more resistant to playwrights fiddling around with Shakespeare than I am with them updating Greek tragedy. Making Shakespeare’s plays accessible is a noble goal, but there are other ways to go about this beyond modernizing the text and diluting its lyrical beauty and nuance.
When actors understand what they’re saying, audiences tend to catch their characters’ drift while absorbing poetry that’s still at the root of the English language. But “Pericles” isn’t a play that should raise purist hackles. There is an authorship question. The first two acts and the final three may have been written by different writers. There’s an assumption that the second half is Shakespeare’s, but scholars continue to quarrel over attribution.
Julanne Chidi Hill, Desiree Mee Jung, Adam J. Smith, Joel Swetow (center), Rio Rasch, Nicole Javier and Alexander Matos in “Pericles” at Boston Court Pasadena.
(Brian Hashimoto)
Whatever the scholarly truth, it’s safe to say that “Pericles, Prince of Tyre,” to give this late romance its full title, is a patchwork. A strange epic yarn ignited by incest and attempted murder, the play is crammed with shipwrecks and miraculous rescues, devastating suffering and last-minute recoveries. I don’t think I’ve ever read the final act without shedding tears. That said, the play requires an extra-strength dose of willing suspension of disbelief.
McLaughlin’s most notable change concerns the frame of the play, which now unfolds in a disaster relief center. The conceit is that the worried and impatient evacuees amuse themselves with an impromptu performance of “Pericles,” of all unlikely theatrical works.
Outside, a monstrous storm rages. Inside, under flickering lights, a group of reluctant strangers is coaxed into acting out, in a converted gymnasium, a wild tale promising redemption from agonizing tragedy.
Randolph Thompson, Nicole Javier, Joel Swetow Adam J. Smith, Desiree Mee Jung and Rio Rasch in “Pericles” at Boston Court Pasadena.
(Brian Hashimoto)
The production, directed by Margaret Shigeko Starbuck, runs with the makeshift energy and comical freedom that this contextual shift allows. The characters aren’t professional actors, so it’s fine for them to wear their masks loosely. Flashlights illuminate darkened spaces. And props are improvised so that pool noodles are used for jousting and an earbud case serves as an engagement ring.
Joel Swetow, in the role of Gower, smoothly marshals the narrative, advancing the story from one delightful implausibility to the next, recapping what’s happened in the meantime and, when necessary, urging some of the more reluctant characters to stay with the performance. He also takes on the role of malevolent and benevolent kings, whom Pericles (an excellent Randolph Thompson) encounters on his tumultuous odyssey.
Most of the lead players lock into their roles once the performance of “Pericles,” the play within the adaptation, is underway. Thompson is particularly skilled at emotionally investing in his character’s plight even as the spontaneous production refuses to take itself too seriously.
Randolph Thompson, Joel Swetow and Nicole Javier in “Pericles” at Boston Court Pasadena.
(Brian Hashimoto)
A little meta-theatrical hamminess goes a long way, and actors in general have a tendency to overdo the joke. I appreciated the restraint that the cast imposes on itself without spoiling the fun. Nicole Javier who plays Thaisa, Pericles’ seemingly doomed wife, and Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson, who plays Marina, Pericles’ transcendentally good daughter born into sorrow, ensure that we care about the fate of a man who trails disaster behind him.
Julanne Chidi Hill, Desiree Mee Jung, Adam J. Smith and Alexander Matos adroitly flesh out the world of a play that sets virtue and vice in neon opposition. Their sporting way of differentiating their roles keep the staging brisk and lighthearted, qualities that are cleverly maintained by a design team that conjures ocean swells with a metallic-looking sheet, royal garb out of contemporary casual wear and a deadly threat from a pocket umbrella.
I missed the rhythms of Shakespeare’s music, though the most compelling poetic imagery in the adaptation is from the original. But the biggest sacrifice, one that is never fully restored unlike Pericles’ grievous losses, is the emotional weight of the play’s climax. It’s hard to allow yourself to fully believe in the incredible turn of events when the prevailing attitude is so emphatically tongue-in-cheek.
Adam J. Smith, Joel Swetow, Nicole Javier, Julanne Chidi Hill, Jamie Gallo, Randolph Thompson and Rio Rasch in “Pericles” at Boston Court Pasadena.
(Brian Hashimoto)
Johnson’s Marina performs with lovely gravitas, as do Javier’s Thaisa and Thompson’s Pericles. But the rollicking jollity that accompanies the final two acts, which includes the entrance of pirates and the abduction of Marina to a brothel, robs the ending of some of its pathos. A touch more solemnity would not have been amiss.
My eyes for once failed to moisten. But I was nonetheless relieved that Pericles’ happy ending is intact — a reassuring sight in our age of successive disasters.
‘Pericles’
Where: Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena
When: Check theater website for schedule. Ends Sept. 27
MIS-TEEQ will reunite for a one-off 25th anniversary concert next Saturday – and have hand-picked a special line-up of UK garage artists to warm up the crowd.
Mis-Teeq, from left, Su-Elise Nash, Sabrina Washington and Alesha Dixon, are playing a huge reunion show next SaturdayCredit: Getty
We understand the supporting acts are Damage, Egypt, Kele Le Roc, Malika, Gracious Kay and Monsta Boy and Rampage Sound – who are presenting the acts on stage.
A source said: “This concert is all about celebration for Mis-Teeq and they knew they wanted to have multiple acts to really whip the audience up.
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“They’ve secured Damage, Egypt, Kele Le Roc, Malika, Gracious Kay, Monsta Boy and Rampage Sound.
“It’s going to be off the charts.”
Kele Le Roc, performing during Kisstory On Blackheath in July, is among the supporting artistsCredit: GettyInsiders confirmed Damage, here in their hey-day in the Nineties, were also on the billCredit: Getty
Tickets have already sold out, as excitement builds for their reunion following their huge performance at Capital’s Summertime Ball in June.
Alesha and Su-Elise, both 47, and Sabrina, 45, confirmed they were reuniting for a one-off show in May, after The Sun exclusively revealed their plans earlier this year.
Speaking about their return, Alesha said: “We’ve been offered reunion stuff over the years, but it’s never felt right.
“This time, everything just lined up. “It feels like it is just slotting back into place.”
The band’s reunion is to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Lickin’ On Both Sides.
The record, which came out in October 2001, peaked at No3 in the Official Album Charts and bagged them five Top Ten singles including All I Want, One Night Stand and B With Me.
The trio, pictured here during their chart-topping days, reunited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their album Lickin’ On Both SidesCredit: Getty
ITV are screening this war film based on one of the most significant battles of all time, with a huge historic figure at the centre of it all
ITV are screening this war film based on one of the most significant battles of all time tonight(Image: PA)
History was turned into a legendary piece of storytelling when this film made its way to the big screen in 1970, retelling the real life events of war and now its set to appear on TV’s tonight.
Regarded as one of the great original epic war films, this movie helps to maintain the legacy of the decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars, in the 1800s.
Waterloo is a sweeping historical movie which remains one of the most powerful entries in the genre, with acclaimed director Peter Jackson even crediting it as a key influence on his work on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
It is a film that depicts the real-life Battle of Waterloo, focusing not solely on the conflict itself but also on the pivotal days leading up to the campaign, widely known as the Hundred Days.
It charts Napoleon Bonaparte’s downfall and his return from exile ahead of his crushing defeat at the 1815 battle. Following his comeback, the French military swiftly rallies to his cause, prompting alarmed European powers to forge a new coalition, and war inevitably follows.
Many have praised the film for its historical accuracy, with one viewer writing on Rotten Tomatoes that it is “the most accurate historical film ever”, which is enough to make history buffs want to watch it.
The grand-scale production was a joint venture between Italy and the Soviet Union, helmed by director Sergei Bondarchuk and featuring Rod Steiger in the role of the legendary Emperor Napoleon I.
Following a viewing of the film, one audience member posted a review on Rotten Tomatoes, saying: “This is a classic, and Rod Steiger is immense, making the new Napoleon movie look like an amateur nightmare.”
Another wrote: “remarkable film. One for the ages. A film like it will never be made again.”
It features a number of historical figures played by actors such as Jack Hawkins as General Sir Thomas Picton, Virginia McKenna as the Duchess of Richmond and Orson Welles as the famed Louis XVIII of France.
The film’s most striking element is undoubtedly the combat sequences, which deployed an astonishing 17,000 authentically costumed extras. The battle scenes were meticulously recreated to achieve maximum realism, using genuine numbers and eschewing special effects, establishing a record that remains unbroken for the largest number of costumed extras in any film.
This commitment helped secure multiple accolades, including two BAFTAs for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. It’s the director’s unwavering dedication to crafting these teeming, lifelike scenes that continues to strike a chord with audiences.
One viewer wrote: “Easily one of the best movies ever made. Actual soldiers given a Napoleonic battle training playing the extras, one of the most historically accurate film ever made.
“It allows one to immerse oneself in the battle and provides excellent viewing. With brilliant casting this film remains one of my favourites of all time.”
Yet despite the film’s critical acclaim, it struggled to recoup the costs of these monumental scenes at the North American box office. Consequently, its disappointing financial performance triggered a significant industry-wide decline in backing for large-scale practical effects, driven by commercial anxieties.
You can catch the historical drama on ITV4 tonight at 7.40pm. Alternatively, the film is available to stream on ITVX at your convenience.
The truth about the last words uttered by Australia’s famed ‘Crocodile Hunter’ have now been laid bare, two decades after the Wildlife Warrior’s untimely death
Rachel Vickers-Price UK and World News Reporter and Jamie Roberts Senior Showbiz and TV Reporter
03:18, 05 Sep 2026Updated 04:51, 05 Sep 2026
Steve Irwin poses with his daughter Bindi Irwin October 2, 2006 in Uluru, Australia. (Image: Getty Images)
A close confidant of legendary eco-warrior Steve Irwin has detailed the Aussie icon’s final moments, just as he realised death was moments away.
September 4 marks the anniversarry of Irwin’s untimely death. The passionate animal lover was known around the world for his infectious approach to conservation, capturing hearts with his zoo, TV show, and adoration for all creatures great, small, and even scaly.
It’s been two decades since Irwin’s shock death, and family and friends have paid tribute to a man considered an icon and animal-loving legend Down Under.
ICYMI: Irwin died while doing what he loved; he was out on Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, filming a nature documentary about stingrays when he copped a barb to the heart from the very creature he was there to film.
Cameraman Justin had been filming the crocodile hunter at sea when disaster struck. Speaking on 60 Minutes’ Steve Irwin: A Wild Life, Justin revealed the devastating moment Steve realised he was dying, and his final moments.
Justin told the programme: “We zipped around for 10-15 minutes before we found the stingray. And then, it was like, okay, game on. I mean, we’d only filmed with stingrays a hundred times before. They were awesome to film with. So we both slipped over the side of the rubber ducky and, yeah, started filming this amazing massive — it was massive — bull ray.
“Anyway, we chatted about the final shot, which would be the opening shot, because by now, the stingray was calm. It had buried itself in the sand. I said, ‘We’ll start this thing. I’ll just be close in front of this stingray. I’ll be a couple of metres from it. You go round behind it and swim up behind it.'”
Justin went on: “He swims up, swims over the top of it. It doesn’t move. But as he’s directly over the top of it, of course, it thought he was a tiger shark and started stabbing madly towards him with its tail. The water just boiled. I couldn’t see anything that was going on. Bubbles and thrashing.
“And then, all of a sudden, it stopped. The stingray swam away, the water calmed, so I just panned with the stingray. And as I let it go out of shot, as I panned back to Steve, he came jumping up out of the water, screaming, and the water around him is now full of blood.
“And he screamed out, ‘It’s punctured my lung!’ I threw the camera into one of the rubber duckies, dragged Steve into the boat. His khaki shirt is open, and he’s just got blood pouring out of a gash like that in his chest, right over his heart. But he’s conscious, and he says to me, looks me right in the eye, and he says, ‘I’m dying’.”
Bindi was just eight years old when her father died, and she shared a video of him as he recounted “the most incredible wildlife encounter of my life” – the birth of his daughter. Bindi said: “Twenty years ago, today, the world lost the most passionate and dedicated wildlife conservationist. Our family lost our superhero. My mum lost the love of her life; my brother and I lost the greatest dad.
“Grief never truly leaves us; we walk alongside it every day. Where there is enormous grief, there is even greater love.I always thought that my dad’s legacy is wildlife conservation; it turns out, his legacy is love. For our planet and for each other.”
Bindi added that her five-year-old daughter watches her grandfather’s documentaries every morning and feels “utterly loved by her ‘grandpa crocodile’, despite never meeting him. She went on “My dad left a lasting impact so poignant that it will ripple out for generations to come. I believe with my whole heart that his love will live on forever.
“Dad, I love you with my whole heart. Thank you for being our guardian angel. And most of all, thank you for watching over my daughter now, too. She loves you so much. We all do.”
Robert also shared a snap of him and his father with the caption: “Your legacy is forever.” Terri, also remembered her final few weeks with her husband, saying “grief still walks with me like my shadow”. She said: “With the passing of time I have gained more perspective and understanding. We were together as a family, on our crocodile research expedition, for what was to be our final six weeks together.
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“Ours was to be a long and sweet goodbye. Steve spent time with Bindi and Robert building swings and climbing trees. We all slowed down. Time slowed down. I believe that all of us, every one of us, gets to say goodbye.
“We just may not know that we’re saying it. Hold every moment dear with the ones you love. Until we meet again.”
One could say that I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment.
It’s a musical event some might have thought unlikely or impossible — but to me, it wasn’t a matter of if Beyoncé would ever release a collaboration with Selena but when. And on Thursday night, with the release of the special anniversary edition of Beyoncé’s sophomore album, “B’Day,” it finally happened.
Alongside an expanded track list that includes remastered versions of the 2006 album’s original songs, plus new remixes and collaborations, there’s “Irreemplazable (Como La Flor),” a mashup of Beyoncé’s first Spanish-language release and one of Selena’s most beloved hits.
In her tragic absence, Selena’s estate gave a rare blessing to Beyoncé for the collaboration. A press release for the album noted that this “resounding approval” from the Quintanilla family “made it possible for this timely and meaningful duet.”
“Two women from Texas. Two unmistakable and irreplaceable voices that broke down and continue to break down barriers,” read the statement.
But not everyone was happy about the remix. Some fans viewed the collaboration cynically, criticizing it as a way for Beyoncé to capitalize on Selena’s legacy, or to court more Latino fans. Some voiced their dissatisfaction under a post from Selena’s husband, Chris Pérez, on Instagram — but he was quick to shut them down.
“Shout out to Beyoncé for showing respect to an ICON,” wrote Perez on Instagram. “In my opinion, nobody will ever, CAN ever, top Selena’s performance. But, dammit … can’t you just appreciate that another iconic/amazing artist chose to highlight Selena in this way?”
For those who need reminding: This isn’t Beyoncé’s first foray into Spanish-language music — and it’s not even her first tribute to Selena.
Long before Beyoncé reached superstardom, she was a girl from Houston who grew up listening to Selena on the radio. In 2007, she credited the “Queen of Tejano” with inspiring her to release “Irreemplazable,” a Spanish-language companion album to “B’Day.”
Working alongside Cuban American composer Rudy Pérez, the songs on that record were workshopped to retain the spirit of their English lyrics without being word-for-word translations: the catchy “To the left, to the left” refrain in “Irreplaceable” became “Ya lo ves, ya lo ves / Te olvidé, te olvidé” (“Now you see, now you see/I forgot you).”
Like Selena, Beyoncé learned to sing in Spanish phonetically, and in a 2007 MTV Tr3s documentary on the making of the album, you can see her angling toward perfection as Pérez and a friend corrected her pronunciation. Some of the lyrics she was tasked with delivering were tongue-twisters, even for native Spanish speakers. Try saying “Tú creías que eras imprescindible” five times fast and in key.
“I spent a lot of time on it making sure it was perfect because I didn’t want to disrespect the language, because it’s so beautiful,” Beyoncé told People en Español that year.
At the time, Beyoncé wasn’t the only major American artist making waves in Latin music. The pop landscape was undergoing a massive shift, thanks to the work of such crossover sensations as Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, and Shakira — and artists in the States were eager to tap into the burgeoning Latino market.
And while that was certainly a part of Beyoncé’s calculus when plotting “Irreemplazable,” she has a personal attachment to Spanish music. “A lot of my family, a lot of my friends who I grew up with speak Spanish, I grew up in Texas,” she said in the MTV doc. “I just have so much respect for the culture, and I really relate to it.”
“The heart and rhythm of the music and the drums and the spiciness,” she added, in her People interview, “it all reminds me of Creole, which is my heritage, and where I come from.”
While Beyoncé’s early solo releases were built on R&B, she demonstrated a curiosity for global sounds like reggae, Latin and Arabic music. Selena’s background was in Tejano, yet she was heavily influenced by heavy-hitters in pop, disco and R&B — namely Jody Watley, Janet Jackson and Donna Summer.
The two share a similar cultural background, one forged by migration, changing borders and centuries of history. And, as second- and third-generation Texans, Beyoncé and Selena were both able to take their heritage and interpret it, while also melding it with the melting pot of influences they were surrounded by.
Twenty years after the release of “B’Day,” Beyoncé has had the luxury of growing and maturing as an artist. She’s delivered masterful musical dissertations that challenge rigid ideas of “genre” and reemphasized the Black origins of traditions like country, rock and Americana.
Selena didn’t have the benefit of time; but in the years since her death, her music has been kept alive, replayed, reinterpreted, and remixed, so that new generations continue to celebrate her Tejano roots. With “Irremplazable (Como La Flor),” Selena and Beyoncé’s artistry gets to coexist.
It’s a blending of their worlds and voices — the merging of two songs empowering women to move on from their heartbreak, as well as a union of two artists who are so different, but so very much alike.
A former ABC News employee is asking a court to drop CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman from her wrongful termination lawsuit, which claimed she was sexually harassed by him when they were colleagues.
Samira Said, a field producer for ABC News for four years, included the claims related to Gutman in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed Aug. 14 in Los Angeles County Superior Court against her former employer and its parent The Walt Disney Co.
Said’s lawyers filed a request with the court Friday to drop Gutman, who was named as a defendant. Lawyers for Said did not respond to an email asking why the request was made. ABC and Disney remain defendants in the suit.
The suit cited two incidents where Said claimed Gutman created a hostile work environment by making inappropriate sexual comments while on the job.
Gutman declined comment on the matter through a CBS News representative.
Said alleges she was wrongfully terminated from ABC News in 2025 after dealing with mental health issues. The suit accuses the company of violating California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act by not making accommodations for her. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages along with her attorneys’ fees.
Gutman, 48, was the first high-profile talent hire by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who took charge of the division in October. He recently filled in as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” and scored higher ratings than Tony Dokoupil, the program’s regular anchor.
Gutman spent 17 years at ABC News, where he mostly reported from Los Angeles.
