Top Entertainment Headlines

Wednesday, September 16

Good afternoon Wypierdalaj,

Below are the latest entertainment news stories.

Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs’ are dropping the rapper and music executive as a client in his $100 million defamation lawsuit.

Michael Tremonte, a partner at Sher Tremonte LLP, said Combs, 56, “has not paid a substantial balance of attorney’s fees, costs, and expenses,” according to a declaration to withdraw as counsel, filed Monday in the Southern District of New York.

Tremonte said in the filing that Combs is more than six months behind on fees, and that there has been “a total breakdown in cooperation and communication between Mr. Combs and the Firm.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Sydney Sweeney has faced public scrutiny over her appearance.

The actress is currently facing backlash over her latest advertisement with Novig, a sports trading platform, ahead of football season. The campaign features Sweeney in a series of provocative images, with sports balls and athletic equipment strategically covering her body.

Rather than directly responding to the criticism, Sweeney appeared to address the conversation through a series of cryptic Instagram stories. She shared photos of celebrities, including athletes Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, and Megan Rapinoe, all of whom have posed nude for advertising campaigns in the past, seemingly suggesting that she is far from the first public figure to use nudity in a sports-themed promotion.

Lena Dunham has welcomed her first child with her husband, musician Luis Felber.

The “Girls” creator shared the news about the birth of her daughter, who was welcomed via surrogate, in an essay for Vogue published Sept. 16. TODAY.com has reached out to Dunham and Felber for comment.

Dunham in Vogue described the moment of her daughter’s birth: “And then, 13 days late, in the face of a solar eclipse and a meteor shower, she announced herself. I sat on a hospital bed, between the legs of a woman I hadn’t known a year ago, waiting for a glimpse of this person who I had been waiting for with something related to patience, but also none at all.”

Smartphones have become integrated into daily life for many of us. Perhaps your boss leaves you voice memos in off-hours, or you always read an actor’s Wikipedia page while watching their new show. Maybe every notification from your child’s daycare leaves you scrolling through old messages and photos.

This attachment to technology and the dopamine hit it provides may be negatively impacting our cognitive health, leaving us with shorter attention spans and lower productivity, research shows. But it can hurt your social wellbeing, too.

Want to Use Your Phone Less and Focus More? Try TODAY’s Free 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Attention Span

Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America has been roiled by the decision this week to drop Macklemore as an opener because of the rapper’s onstage pro-Palestinian comments. Since then, all of Sheeran’s other supporting acts have dropped out, including a group that performs with Sheeran during part of the show.

Sheeran, who is scheduled to perform in Philadelphia on Saturday, said the decision to cut Macklemore from the Loop Tour was the promoter’s, not his own. The “Thrift Shop” rapper exclaimed “Free Palestine” during the Sept. 5 date in New Jersey.

“To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, it in no way is criticism of you,” he said during the New Jersey concert. “This message is for peace, love, for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.”

Mikayla Matthews is leaving “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”

The 26-year-old MomTok influencer made the announcement that she’d be leaving the Hulu reality series in an Instagram post on Monday.

“I made my decision over a week ago, after hearing some news, that I will not be continuing the show at this moment,” she wrote.