Beyonce to drop new album in July
Beyonce has revealed the title and release date for her next studio album, with the 16-track “Renaissance” set to drop July 29.
The superstar began listing the music and products on her website Thursday and several streaming services, including Tidal and Spotify, also announced the release.
Beyonce tipped off fans that something important was coming when she removed her profile photos across all her social media platforms last week.
“Renaissance” would be the follow-up to 2016’s “Lemonade,” but the artist has been hard at work of late, featured on rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s remix of “Savage” and opening the 2022 Academy Awards with a performance of her song “Be Alive,” from the film “King Richard.” In 2019, she curated and produced the soundtrack album “The Lion King: The Gift,” for the live-action remake of “The Lion King.”
Mo’Nique, Netflix settle suit:
Mo’Nique and Netflix reportedly have settled her lawsuit that accused the streaming service of racial and sexual discrimination for allegedly making her a lowball offer for a proposed comedy special.
The matter has been “amicably resolved,” Michael Parks, an attorney representing Mo’Nique in the suit, told The Hollywood Reporter.
The terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed Wednesday, when the streaming giant and the comedian and Oscar-winning actor jointly filed in a Los Angeles federal court for the case’s dismissal.
Mo’Nique’s lawsuit said Netflix officials offered her $500,000 in early
2018 for a comedy special and refused to negotiate further. Her suit said
that reflected a company tendency to underpay Black women. In contrast, the suit claimed, Netflix was willing to negotiate with other comics and made deals reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars for comedy specials from Chris Rock, Ellen DeGeneres, Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais.
Netflix denied the main allegations of the suit, filed in November 2019, in a statement at that time.
Patterson apologizes for comments:
James Patterson is apologizing for saying that white male writers are being subjected to “just another form of racism,” comments the bestselling author made during an interview with The Sunday Times in London.
Facing widespread criticism on social media, Patterson tweeted this week that “I absolutely do not believe that racism is practiced against white writers. Please know that I strongly support a diversity of voices being heard — in literature, in Hollywood, everywhere.”
Patterson told the Times in a story that ran last weekend that he worried that white men were having difficulties finding work in film and publishing, calling it “just another form of racism.
“Can you get a job?” he wondered. “Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers.”
Patterson, 75, has published multiple bestsellers each year and is ranked as among the world’s richest writers.