LINKS! Jussie Smollett’s story unravels, Armie Hammer as Batman?, ‘Leaving Neverland’ trailer…
THE BLAST – Evidently Jussie Smollett’s story gave some media outlets pause even before the current speculation that he may have faked his own hate crime attack. According to producers for Good Morning America, Smollett gave them pause during his interview with Robin Roberts, and as soon as he left the room they thought “something was amiss”
LAINEY GOSSIP – Some professional Hollywood gossip hounds are shutting this rumor down, but apparently there’s a ton of chatter about how Armie Hammer is going to be the next Batman now that Ben Affleck agreed that whole choice was a mistake for him
DLISTED – Leaving Neverland, the four-hour documentary about Michael Jackson’s let’s just say questionable relationships with children, now has a trailer. Avoid it or prepare to be squeamished
JEZEBEL – Breaking: Malia Obama acts like a 20-year-old
VOX – Amazon, the company that will shortly rule us all, paid $0 in corporate income taxes last year. And that is 100% horrible. But, given the company’s size, clout, and general dystopia-tude, it also makes perfect sense
THE BLEMISH – Nothing at all to add to this excruciating headline: “Police Shot Bay Area Rapper 25 Times After He Violently Slept In His Car”
CELEBITCHY – Vanity Fair‘s Oscar issue cover story on Gwyneth Paltrow is indeed amazing and ridiculous, but I’m too blown away by the fact that I forgot she won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. It’s only been 20 years since that movie came out! Gwyneth Paltrow managed to eradicate an Oscar’s worth of goodwill and credibility in less time than it took Malia Obama to exist currently
REALITY TEA – Unfortunately, Charlie Sheen will not appear on his ex Denise Richards’ inaugural season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
THE ASHLEY’S REALITY ROUNDUP – “Counting On Season 9 Episode 1 Recap: Pounding Hot Sauce & Proposing in a Hangar”
(Photo credit: Jussie Smollett’s story via Christopher Peterson / SplashNews.com)
John Sharp is Starcasm’s chief editorial correspondent-at-large. Tips: E-mail john@starcasm.net or Twitter @john_starcasm.