Matt Lucas apologises to Millie Bobby Brown after actress hits out at ‘bullying’

Comedian Matt Lucas has apologised to actress Millie Bobby Brown after he posted a Little Britain catchphrase alongside photographs of the 21-year-old on social media.

Lucas, 50, wrote “no but yeah but”, a phrase used by delinquent teenager Vicky Pollard in the sketch comedy series he co-created, on an X post that reshared pictures of the Stranger Things star.

The photos show Brown in Los Angeles wearing hoop earrings and a pink top, which Lucas said had prompted him to point out “the similarity by posting one of her [Vicky’s] catchphrases”.

The apology came after an Instagram post from Brown in which she hit out at negative comments and “bullying” about her appearance on social media and in news articles.

Lucas said: “Dear Millie, I just saw your post and wanted to respond, and provide some context. Nearly 25 years ago I co-wrote and appeared in a sketch show called Little Britain.

“There was a character in it called Vicky Pollard, who had blonde hair and always wore a pink top, and in the photo you had blonde hair and wore a pink top so I pointed out the similarity by posting one of her catchphrases.

“I thought you looked terrific and I was mortified when the press wrote that I ‘slammed’ you, firstly because that’s not my style, and secondly because I think you’re brilliant.

“I would not have posted it if I had thought it would have upset you but I realise it has and for that I apologise.”

Little Britain, which also starred David Walliams, began as a radio show in 2000 and moved to TV in 2003, running for three series.

Read more from Sky News:

Dolly Parton’s husband of 60 years dies

What we learnt from Meghan’s new show

Comedy ‘super producer’ dies after accident abroad

In her video, Brown said: “I want to take a moment to address something that I think is bigger than just me, something that affects every young woman who grows up under public scrutiny.

“I think this is very necessary to talk about. I started in this industry when I was 10 years old. I grew up in front of the world, and, for some reason, people can’t seem to grow with me.

“Instead, they act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger Things season one. And because I don’t, I’m now a target.”

She quoted headlines from articles, among them references to Lucas’s comments, which she said were “amplifying an insult rather than questioning why a grown man is mocking a young woman’s appearance”.

“This isn’t journalism. This is bullying. The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, is disturbing.

“The fact that some of these articles are written by women makes it even worse. We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women but, when it comes down to it, it seems a lot easier to tear them down for clicks,” she added.

“Disillusioned people can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman on her terms, not their own. I refuse to apologise for growing up. I refuse to make myself smaller to fit the unrealistic expectations of people who can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman.

“I will not be shamed for how I look, how I dress, or how I present myself. We have become a society where it’s so much easier to criticise than it is to pay a compliment.”

She ended her post by saying: “Let’s do better. Not just for me, but for every young girl who deserves to grow up without the fear of being torn apart for simply existing.”

Celebrities including Sex And The City’s Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as singers Pixie Lott and Lily Allen, left messages of support for the young actress.

Brown became a household name after starring as Eleven in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things.

The fifth and final series of the show, which started in 2016, is due to air this year.

The British actress also landed the title role as mystery-solving sleuth Enola Holmes in the 2020 film and its sequel two years later.

Brown, who married Jake Bongiovi, the son of rock star Jon Bon Jovi, last year, has been promoting the new Russo Brothers film, The Electric State, in which she stars alongside Chris Pratt.

Pritzker Prize goes to Liu Jiakun of China, an architect who celebrates lives of ordinary citizens

The annual Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to Liu Jiakun of China, who earned the field’s highest honor for “affirming architecture that celebrates the lives of ordinary citizens,” organizers announced Tuesday.

Liu, based in Chengdu in China’s southwestern Sichuan region, has said that the purpose of his architecture “is to create a beautiful, just and dignified living environment,” and that he tries to balance commercial needs with the human needs of the public.

The architect “upholds the transcendent power of the built environment through the harmonizing of cultural, historical, emotional and social dimensions, using architecture to forge community, inspire compassion and elevate the human spirit,” Pritzker organizers said in a statement.

Liu is known for creating public areas in highly populated cities where there is little public space, “forging a positive relationship between density and open space,” the statement said.

Organizers cited his West Village in Chengdu, a 2015 five-story project that spans a block. It includes a perimeter of pathways for cyclists and pedestrians around “its own vibrant city of cultural, athletic, recreational, office and business activities within, while allowing the public to view through to the surrounding natural and built environments.”

They also noted the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Department of Sculpture in Chongqing, which they said displays an alternate solution to maximizing space, “with upper levels protruding outward to extend the square footage of a narrow footprint.”

In an interview Sunday in his office in Chengdu, Liu said he was not one of those architects who likes to have a strongly recognizable visual style. Rather, he said, he pays more attention to method and strategy.

“Many architects use a strong personal style and form to gain a foothold in the world,” Liu told The Associated Press, speaking in Mandarin. “No matter where it is, people can tell immediately that it is his or her work with a very strong symbolism. But I am not such a kind of architect.”

“I don’t want to have a very clear or obvious style that can be recognized as mine just at a glance,” he said. “I take a more methodological and strategic approach. I hope that when I go to a specific place, I can use my methodology and strategy to adapt to local conditions. I like to fully understand the place, and then look for resources, problems … and then distill and refine, and finally turn (this) into my work.”

Liu also said he tries to balance his country’s artistic and architectural heritage with the realities of modern technology.

“I think China’s traditional architecture is of course brilliant and very classic,” he said, “but it is a product of its time.”

He said he hopes to deeply understand “the thematic part of tradition that can survive,” and then express it with contemporary technology and language. In that way, he said, “tradition can be used as a core … but the presentation of your work is contemporary.”

Liu said he also seeks to balance commercial imperatives with civic concerns.

“The rapid development of cities nowadays is basically driven by capital. It is natural for capital to pursue profits,” he said. But he added: “You have to leave the public the space they deserve. Only in this way can the development of a city be positive and healthy, rather than being completely high-density, where people live in drawers and boxes … without even a place to go and no space for communication.”

Liu is the 54th laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, established in 1979 by the late entrepreneur Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy. Winners receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.

The prize has often been equated to the Nobel. Asked if he thought the honor would impact his life, Liu replied: “I have thought about it. But I want to maintain normalcy … I don’t want to become nervous about everything. Of course, it has its advantages. I will definitely not need to promote myself too much. But will it also make me better at work? Not necessarily. Excessive expectations may become a pressure.”

He had another concern, too.

“And will it make me too busy and prevent me from working more attentively?” he pondered. “I hope to keep the normalcy and the freedom, as well as calmness.”

— —

AP senior video producer Wayne Zhang contributed from Chengdu, China

Matt Lucas apologises to Millie Bobby Brown after actress hits out at ‘bullying’

The comedian, 50, wrote “no but yeah but” – a phrase used by delinquent teenager Vicky Pollard in Little Britain – on an X post of pictures of the Stranger Things star.

Comedian Matt Lucas has apologised to actress Millie Bobby Brown after he posted a Little Britain catchphrase alongside photographs of the 21-year-old on social media.

Lucas, 50, wrote “no but yeah but”, a phrase used by delinquent teenager Vicky Pollard in the sketch comedy series he co-created, on an X post that reshared pictures of the Stranger Things star.

The photos show Brown in Los Angeles wearing hoop earrings and a pink top, which Lucas said had prompted him to point out “the similarity by posting one of her [Vicky’s] catchphrases”.

The apology came after an Instagram post from Brown in which she hit out at negative comments and “bullying” about her appearance on social media and in news articles.

Lucas said: “Dear Millie, I just saw your post and wanted to respond, and provide some context. Nearly 25 years ago I co-wrote and appeared in a sketch show called Little Britain.

“There was a character in it called Vicky Pollard, who had blonde hair and always wore a pink top, and in the photo you had blonde hair and wore a pink top so I pointed out the similarity by posting one of her catchphrases.

“I thought you looked terrific and I was mortified when the press wrote that I ‘slammed’ you, firstly because that’s not my style, and secondly because I think you’re brilliant.

“I would not have posted it if I had thought it would have upset you but I realise it has and for that I apologise.”

Little Britain, which also starred David Walliams, began as a radio show in 2000 and moved to TV in 2003, running for three series.

Read more from Sky News:

Dolly Parton’s husband of 60 years dies

What we learnt from Meghan’s new show

Comedy ‘super producer’ dies after accident abroad

In her video, Brown said: “I want to take a moment to address something that I think is bigger than just me, something that affects every young woman who grows up under public scrutiny.

“I think this is very necessary to talk about. I started in this industry when I was 10 years old. I grew up in front of the world, and, for some reason, people can’t seem to grow with me.

“Instead, they act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger Things season one. And because I don’t, I’m now a target.”

She quoted headlines from articles, among them references to Lucas’s comments, which she said were “amplifying an insult rather than questioning why a grown man is mocking a young woman’s appearance”.

“This isn’t journalism. This is bullying. The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, is disturbing.

“The fact that some of these articles are written by women makes it even worse. We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women but, when it comes down to it, it seems a lot easier to tear them down for clicks,” she added.

“Disillusioned people can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman on her terms, not their own. I refuse to apologise for growing up. I refuse to make myself smaller to fit the unrealistic expectations of people who can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman.

“I will not be shamed for how I look, how I dress, or how I present myself. We have become a society where it’s so much easier to criticise than it is to pay a compliment.”

She ended her post by saying: “Let’s do better. Not just for me, but for every young girl who deserves to grow up without the fear of being torn apart for simply existing.”

Celebrities including Sex And The City’s Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as singers Pixie Lott and Lily Allen, left messages of support for the young actress.

Brown became a household name after starring as Eleven in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things.

The fifth and final series of the show, which started in 2016, is due to air this year.

The British actress also landed the title role as mystery-solving sleuth Enola Holmes in the 2020 film and its sequel two years later.

Brown, who married Jake Bongiovi, the son of rock star Jon Bon Jovi, last year, has been promoting the new Russo Brothers film, The Electric State, in which she stars alongside Chris Pratt.

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years who inspired ‘Jolene,’ dies at 82

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s devoted husband of nearly 60 years who avoided the spotlight and inspired her timeless hit “Jolene,” died Monday. He was 82.

According to a statement provided to The Associated Press by Parton’s publicist, Dean died in Nashville, Tennessee. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” Parton wrote in a statement.

The family has asked for respect and privacy. No cause of death was announced.

Parton met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville at 18.

“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton described the meeting. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”

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They married two years later, on Memorial Day — May 30, 1966 — in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.

Dean was a businessman, having owned an asphalt-paving business in Nashville. His parents, Virginia “Ginny” Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean, had three children. Parton referred to his mother as “Mama Dean.”

Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings, Sandra and Donnie.

He inspired Parton’s classic, “Jolene.” Parton told NPR in 2008 that she wrote the song about a flirty bank teller who seemed to take an interest in Dean.

“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” she said. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”

Parton and Dean kept strict privacy around their relationship for decades, Parton telling The Associated Press in 1984: “A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me.”

She joked that she’d like to pose with him on the cover of a magazine “So that people could at least know that I’m not married to a wart or something.”

In 2023, Parton told AP Dean helped inspire her 2023 “Rockstar” album.

“He’s a big rock and roller,” she said. The song “My Blue Tears,” which was written when Parton was with “The Porter Wagoner Show” in the late 1960s and early ’70s, is “one of my husband’s favorite songs that I ever wrote,” she said. “I thought, ‘Well, I better put one of Carl’s favorites of mine in here.”

She also covered a few of his favorites on the temporary detour from country music: Lynyrd Skynyrd ‘s “Free Bird” and Led Zeppelin ‘s “Stairway to Heaven.”

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Ione Skye, 54, Reveals She Slept with Costar John Cusack — and Other Juicy Revelations From Her Memoir (Exclusive)

Actress Ione Skye, 51, is an open book in her debut memoir Say Everything. (Out March 4).

The delightfully juicy tome details everything from the Say Anything star’s bohemian childhood, her fraught relationship with her father, ‘Mellow Yellow’ singer Donovan and tons of famous friends like River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Sofia Coppola, Madonna and her first husband, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz.

“I’m a little nervous,” Skye tells PEOPLE of name-checking so many celebs in the book. But she also says that at her age, she’s found peace with telling the truth about her life and career.

“I think as you get older, you feel freer just taking chances creatively and not worrying so much about everybody being happy,” she says. “Or worrying about looking like a fool.”

“I definitely don’t want to hurt anyone. But some people I named in the book have read it, and luckily everyone has loved it.”

One of those readers? Her Say Anything costar John Cusack. Skye had always maintained that while they had crushes on each other during filming, they never hooked up on set. In the book, she divulges that they eventually did sleep together, albeit years later.

“I had to get it out of my system,” she writes in the book, of getting together with him after her divorce from her first husband, Adam Horovitz.

Related: Kathleen Hanna’s Rebel Girl Shares Love Story with Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock — Get a Sneak Peek Here (Exclusive)

She says she allowed Cusack to read a draft of her memoir, and afterward, he texted her: “You made the experience sound so meh! It wasn’t ‘meh’ for me,” he told her.

“I was like, I’m telling a story, and it was more about how all of our chemistry was in our working together and stimulating each other’s minds, not sleeping together!” Skye says, adding with a laugh, “I felt a little bad, but, oh well.”

Skye, who began acting at age 16, also reveals other crushes she had on costars, including her longtime friend River Phoenix, with whom she starred in 1988’s A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.

“River ended up being a brother to me, but I remember at the time thinking, ‘Oh I’m in love with him!’ I couldn’t wait to do my kissing scene with him. He was just delicious.’”

Related: Ione Skye Shares Final Text Exchange with Matthew Perry Days Before His Death: ‘Love This Guy’

She also goes into her tumultuous relationship with rocker Anthony Kiedis, who she dated when she was 16 and he was 24 and struggling with a heroin addiction. Skye also had an abortion after getting pregnant by him in her late teens. “I’m not in touch with him,” she admits, admitting that she’s a little nervous over what he’ll think of the book.

Skye also opens up about meeting and falling for Horovitz when she was 20, and what it was like being part of the “It Couple” of the early ’90s.

The duo got married in 1992, but during their union, Skye discovered her bisexuality and entered into a series of affairs, including one with model Jenny Shimizu, the author reveals. They eventually divorced in 2000, and Horovitz later married Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I wrote to Adam,” Skye says, of letting him know he’d be in the book. “He’s private, but also such a big part of my story so he couldn’t not be in it.”

One person who she knows won’t have any issue with the book is her husband of 15 years, Aussie rocker Ben Lee. (The two share daughter Goldie, 15, and Skye is mom to daughter Kate, 24, with her ex David Netto.)

Related: A Wedding in India for Actress Ione Skye

“My husband, yeah, he knew everything,” Skye says of Lee, 46. “I mean, he’s kind of amazing. I don’t think anything ruffled his feathers except that I spent so much time ruminating on a lot of the early chapters, and then by the time I got to the end and his chapters, I was sort of rushing through it. And he was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I’ve been by your side this whole time and you can’t rush through my part!”

Jokes and first-time author jitters aside, Skye just hopes that people will have as much fun reading her story as she did writing it.

“It’s almost like motherhood, in that you know it’s going to be a huge experience, but you don’t know how big until you get there,” she says of the three-year undertaking.

“But it’s one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done. I thought it would be kind of just annoying and difficult, but I ended up loving it. And yes, I do care about what others will think. But I also have the feeling that everything will be okay.”

Oops — Hulu ended its Oscars stream early, before the biggest award

Hulu’s stream of the Academy Awards ceremony ended before the Best Actress and Best Picture Oscars were announced.

Hulu’s live stream from Hollywood’s biggest night was full of glitches that left fans frustrated, including login issues and a premature ending.

On Sunday night, Academy Awards viewers streaming via Hulu encountered a note across their screens at about 10:30 p.m. ET: “Thank you for watching. The live event has now ended.” There was just one problem — the Oscars were very much still going and the biggest awards of the night were just around the bend.

Users said once they hit the erroneous message, they were unable to log back on and catch the announcements for the “Best Actress” and “Best Picture” categories.

The Oscars — hosted this year by Conan O’Brien — are an ABC production and, in turn, were broadcast on local ABC channels nationwide. In addition, it was available simultaneously as a live-streamed Hulu special for the first time, according to Disney, which owns ABC and Hulu.

Philadelphia-headquartered Comcast previously owned a 33% stake in Hulu, but sold the last of its share to Disney last year for $8 billion.

“It definitely felt like the time is now to make sure our big event programming is available to all viewers wherever they prefer to watch,” Walt Disney Television Executive Vice President of Unscripted Entertainment Rob Mills said, citing the company’s success with simultaneous streams (known as simulstreams) of Dancing With the Stars in recent years across ABC broadcasts, Hulu, and Disney+.

But simulstreams are only successful when they work and don’t send a flock of movie buffs spiraling across the internet. To make optics worse, Hulu’s stream ended during Anora director Sean Baker’s speech accepting the Best Director award while he spoke about the need to support production companies that prioritize sending films to theaters rather than direct-to-streaming models. The irony wasn’t lost on viewers.

So, what exactly prompted the Oscars stream to cut off early on Hulu? It had to do with scheduling.

Hulu gave the Oscars a set ending time of 10:32 p.m. according to The Verge — and that’s right when viewers started getting booted out of their streams. It appears Hulu’s livestream didn’t account for acceptance speeches running long and the typical amount of wiggle room usually allotted for live awards shows. In reality, the awards show ended closer to 10:45 p.m.

“This evening, we experienced technical and live stream issues on Hulu which impacted some Oscars viewers,” Disney said in a statement. “We apologize for the experience and will make a full replay of the event available as soon as possible.”

Earlier Sunday evening, Hulu noted that some viewers were also experiencing login issues and only marked the problem as resolved after 9 p.m. — more than two hours after the Academy Awards had started.

Both awards that Hulu-streamers missed were scooped by the indie film, Anora, including Mikey Madison winning “Best Actress” and the film taking home “Best Picture.”

Doylestown-set drama The Brutalist earned Adrien Brody his second “Best Actor” Academy Award for his role in the locally-set historical epic. The Brutalist won three of its 10 nominations for “Best Actor,” “Best Original Score,” and “Best Cinematography.” West Philly’s own Colman Domingo, who starred in Sing Sing, was up against Brody for “Best Actor.”

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo kicked off the awards show with an Ozian medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Home,” and “Defying Gravity.” Zoe Saldaña became the first American of Dominican heritage to win an Academy Award for her supporting actress role in Emilia Perez. Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell made history as the first Black man to win an Oscar for costume design.

Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg introduced a tribute performance to the late Quincy Jones, headlined by Jersey’s own Queen Latifah.

Millie Bobby Brown Calls Out Journalists For Criticizing Her Appearance: “This Isn’t Journalism, This Is Bullying”

Oscars: Tony Todd, Michelle Trachtenberg, Shannen Doherty Left Out of In Memoriam Segment

Millie Bobby Brown has hand enough. The British actress took to Instagram on Monday night, to hit back more forcefully at people on social media and the press who have commented on her appearance during the press tour for her new movie The Electric State, and also went so far as to name the journalists who have written stories about her appearance publicly.

In a near three-minute video, Brown discussed how she had been in the public eye since the age of 10, when she was break out star on Netflix’s monster hit series Stranger Things. “I grew up in front of the world, and for some reason people can’t seem to grow up with me,” Brown said. “Instead, they act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger Things season one, and because I don’t, I’m now a target.”

Brown read out headlines from four recent stories about her that focused on her appearance, and also named the journalists who wrote them. She added that the stories were not “journalism, this is bullying.”

She added, “The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, is disturbing, and the fact that some of these articles are written by women makes it even worse. We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women, but when it comes down to it, it seems a lot easier to just tear them down for clicks.”

Brown has been candid on the recent Electric State press tour about her unusual upbringing in the limelight. “I don’t have many friends, because of who I am,” Brown revealed to Vanity Fair. “I didn’t go to school, so I don’t have the best social skills when it comes to people my own age and friendships. I struggle with that quite a bit. I missed out on a few things. But I’m working through them.”

She also discussed with Vanity Fair how she has been sexualized online from an early age, which led her to delete social media for a period in 2022 in addition to her problems with body image.

I want to take a moment to address something that I think is bigger than just me. Something that affects every young woman who grows up under public scrutiny. I think this is very necessary to talk about.

I started in the industry when I was 10 years old. I grew up in front of the world, and for some reason people can’t seem to grow up with me.

Instead, they act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger Things season one, and because I don’t, I’m now a target.

I want to talk about some of the articles that have recently released while I’m on my press tour, and some of the writers who are so desperate to tear young women down.

One article reads, “Why are Gen Zers like Millie Bobby Brown aging so badly” written by Lydia Hawkin.

“What has Millie Bobby Brown done to her face,” written by John Ely.

“Millie Bobby Brown mistaken for someone’s mum as she guides younger sister Ava through LA” written by Cassie Carpenter.

Another article reads, “Little Britain’s Matt Lucas takes savage swipe at Millie Bobby Brown’s new mummy makeover look,” written by Bethan Edwards.

Amplifying an insult rather than questioning why a grown man is mocking a young woman’s appearance. This isn’t journalism, this is bullying.

The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, is disturbing, and the fact that some of these articles are written by women makes it even worse.

We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women, but when it comes down to it, it seems a lot easier to just tear them down for clicks.

Disillusioned people can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman on her terms, not their own.

I refuse to apologize for growing up. I refuse to make myself smaller to fit the unrealistic expectations of people who can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman.

I will not be shamed for how I look, how I dress or how I present myself. We have become a society where it’s so much easier to criticize than it is to pay a compliment. Why is it the knee jerk reaction to say something horrible rather than just say something nice?

If you have a problem with that, I have to wonder. What is it that actually makes you so uncomfortable?

Disney+ Scraps Princess and The Frog Sequel Series Tiana

Instead of The Princess and The Frog’s Tiana getting a series, another short-form project is being developed.

Disney+ is pulling the plug on its planned sequel series for The Princess and The Frog starring Tiana. Anika Noni Rose voiced Disney’s first Black princess in 2009’s The Princess and the Frog animated movie, and when it came time for The Walt Disney Company to start developing content for Disney+, it turned to Tiana as an obvious choice. However, it appears the Tiana series is no longer moving forward at Disney+, as The Hollywood Reporter states Walt Disney Animation Studios has shelved the long-awaited project and is abandoning original longform content for streaming.

A source for the outlet confirmed that with the scrapping of Tiana, Walt Disney Animation Studios will be performing layoffs at its Vancouver studio as its business strategy changes. An unannounced feature-length project that was going straight to Disney+ is also no longer moving forward, so that makes two projects Disney+ is losing out on. The only question is whether this unannounced project was for an established franchise or something entirely new.

The Princess and The Frog spinoff starring Tiana was announced in 2020 during Disney’s Investor Day as a musical following up on the ending of the animated movie. The reported reasoning behind Tiana being scrapped has to do with the project not being where it needs to be given its production cost. Some of that may be due to several creative changes behind the scenes. One of the last updates to Tiana involved naming Joyce Sherri (Midnight Mass) as lead writer and director. Tiana was thought to be coming out in 2024 but as you can see, that didn’t happen. The Princess and The Frog does have a short-form special in early development with Sherri still attached, and Steve Anderson joining as a director.

Tiana was described as following the titular character from The Princess and The Frog as she “sets off for a grand new adventure as the newly crowned Princess of Maldonia, but a calling to her New Orleans past isn’t far behind.” Nathan Curtis was set to produce with Jennifer Lee and Stella Meghie as executive producers. Sherri would have replaced Meghie as writer/director.

Examples of other beloved animated movies that got spinoff series on Disney+ include Zootopia, Big Hero 6, and Cars. Moana 2 was originally developed as an animated series for Disney+, but was later redeveloped as a feature film. Moana 2 recently crossed $1 billion at the global box office, and will be available to stream on Disney+ starting Wednesday, March 12th.

The Princess and The Frog is a modern twist on a classic tale that features a beautiful girl named Tiana who dreams of owning her own restaurant. When she meets a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, a fateful kiss leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana.

Disney Parks recently replaced Splash Mountain with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure as The Princess and The Frog-themed ride debuted over the summer. ComicBook was on hand at the Orlando-based resort for a preview of Disney World’s new Tiana ride and to dig a little deeper into the story behind the splashy, stunning overhaul.

Jay-Z sues Jane Doe weeks after she dropped her lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault

The rapper and Roc Nation founder, whose real name is Shawn Carter, on Monday filed a complaint in Alabama federal court that alleged Jane Doe’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, leveled claims against Jay-Z despite Doe’s alleged admission that the hip-hop mogul did not sexually assault her.

Buzbee, Doe and attorney David Fortney are listed as defendants.

The filing states the defendants had made a “desperate attempt to leverage Mr. Carter into an extortionate payoff which these malicious actors presented as the only path for Mr. Carter to prevent the public prosecution of a lawsuit by Doe.” The “depraved attack,” Jay-Z’s attorneys say, began with an attempt “to extort Mr. Carter beginning on November 5, 2024, through a menacing ‘private’ ‘demand letter.’”

Jay-Z’s lawsuit claims malicious prosecution, abuse of process, civil conspiracy and defamation. The last claim is only aimed at Doe.

Doe’s October lawsuit, which was amended in December to include Jay-Z as a defendant, caused him “to suffer actual and special damages, including, but not limited to, harm to his personal and professional reputation, harm to his business entity, Roc Nation — which resulted in his business suffering substantial losses in excess of $20 million — out-of-pocket loss, and emotional harm, humiliation, and harassment.”

His team is seeking a jury trial that would award them damages.

USA TODAY has reached out to Buzbee for comment.

The move comes more than two weeks after Doe voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be re-filed in the future.

Tony Buzbee calls Jay-Z’s lawsuit ‘baloney’

In a statement to Billboard, the Texas-based attorney said: “This case is baloney and has no legal merit. Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued this poor woman for weeks trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story. She won’t.”

The statement continued: “Instead she has stated repeatedly she stands by her claims. These same group of investigators have been caught on tape offering to pay people to sue me and my firm. This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course.”

Jay-Z’s filing claims Doe “voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story.”

It continues to allege that she “admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself … who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday.”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.

Demi Moore’s Daughters Respond to Mom’s Surprise Oscar Loss: ‘Never Been More Proud’

Scout LaRue Willis has offered a proud response to her mother Demi Moore’s Best Actress loss at this year’s Oscars.

Of all the surprises Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards had to offer, few were as shocking as Mikey Madison’s Best Actress win for her performance in Sean Baker’s Best Picture-winning dramedy “Anora.” Heading into Sunday, Moore was considered the favorite to take home the Oscar for her triumphant late-career turn in “The Substance.”

In the weeks leading up to the Oscars, Moore beat Madison at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards and SAG Awards. Madison’s biggest pre-Oscars win, conversely, was for Best Leading Actress at the 2025 BAFTAs.

In the wake of her mother’s loss, Willis, Moore’s second daughter with Bruce Willis, shared a photo on Instagram of her and her sisters Tallulah and Rumer standing with their mother. “I’ve never been more proud to be a part of this family,” Willis captioned the post.

In two Instagram stories, Willis also posted photos of her mother and wrote, “So beyond proud, this woman is nothing but integrity, bright beaming light and love! What Grace. I’ve never been more proud to be her daughter.” Willis also called Moore the “queen of my heart.”

Tallulah, Moore’s third daughter with Willis, shared on her Instagram a photo of her mother after the Oscars sitting with her dog Pilaf and two bowls of fries. In her caption, Tallulah called Moore “MY winner.”

Moore garnered immense goodwill for her acceptance speeches at this year’s Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG ceremonies. She spoke eloquently following her wins at those shows about everything from the difficulty of persevering in an industry like Hollywood to voting awards bodies’ long history of ignoring high-concept genre and horror films like “The Substance.”

Her speeches weren’t enough, however, to give her this year’s Best Actress win over Madison, whose performance in “Anora” was widely considered — like Moore’s in “The Substance” — one of the best of 2024. While she may have left the Oscars empty-handed, though, it’s clear she has plenty of support at home.

Before Sunday’s Oscars ceremony even began, Moore’s first daughter Rumer wrote an Instagram tribute to her mother.

“Watching you today, standing in your power, in your brilliance, in the culmination of decades of hard work, resilience, and undeniable talent — I have never been more proud. You have dedicated your life to your craft,” Willis penned. “Tonight, the world gets to witness what I have always known: you are a force.”

“No matter what happens tonight, you are already victorious in my eyes,” she continued. “Because your legacy isn’t just in the awards or accolades — it’s in the way you have redefined what’s possible, for yourself and for every woman who dares to dream. I love you more than words can say.”