Illinois Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Disturbed’s singer David Draiman has defended Taylor Swift in a recent concert in Illinois, stating that she was “for real”.The incident took place at a Disturbed concert in Peoria, Illinois on January 19. The singer had brought two fathers and their respective daughters onstage, prompting Draiman to address the girls. “So, I take it [the fact] that you came to the Disturbed concert, as opposed to the Taylor Swift concert, means that your parents are raising you on rock and roll,” he asked them.

IU aka Lee Ji-eun is headed to North America.From July 15 through Aug. 2, the K-Pop star will wrap up her sprawling, multi-continent ‘H.E.R.

Apparently, some people do not want this show to go on! Those behind a tribute act to Michael Jackson in Las Vegas claimed the late singer’s estate has been trying to cancel their show — so they’re taking them to court to battle it out now!

Jake Johnson knows all too well about why you should trust a mother’s intuition sometimes.

“Dope as Usual” podcast that he narrowly missed a 1988 school shooting after his mom barred him from going in.Johnson attended Hubbard Woods Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois, and on May 20, 1988, a woman named Laurie Dann walked into a second grade class and began firing shots.“I was sitting next to my mom, I was in fourth grade,” Johnson said. “Out of nowhere, my mother turns to me and goes, ‘You’re not going to school tomorrow.’”The “Mummy” star explained that he was set to go on a field trip that next day and begged her to let him go since he wouldn’t physically be in class.He noted that she had a “gut feeling” that she would “never” see him again if he attended that day.Johnson recalled how Dann, who reportedly suffered from mental illness, “walked into the school wearing a robe and nothing underneath” and went into his class.“The room was empty, she walked through, walked down the hall, walked into another room, shot seven kids, killed one of them.

A mother’s intuition saved Jake Johnson‘s life when he was a kid.

CNN will premiere the six-part series United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper on Feb. 18.

IU has announced her 2024 ‘H.E.R.’ world tour, featuring dates in Asia, Europe and the US.IU’s newly announced 2024 ‘H.E.R.’ world tour will kick off on March 2 at the KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea, where she will play four shows over two weekends. During the same month, the singer will also perform two shows at the Yokohama Arena in Japan.The K-pop idol’s upcoming world tour will then head to other countries and regions across Asia, including two shows in Taipei, Singapore and Jakarta in April, followed by two Hong Kong shows in May.In June, IU will host one concert in the Filipino capital of Manila, alongside two concerts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter You’d be forgiven if you thought butter was a carb, just like it’s totally understandable if you didn’t know the new “Mean Girls” is a musical. Paramount, which released the movie over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, chose not to explicitly market it as a song-and-dance spectacle, according to the studio’s president of global marketing Marc Weinstock.

Joe Biden‘s reelection campaign raised almost $100 million in the most recent quarter, helped in part by a huge haul during a Los Angeles fundraising swing in December.

Michaela Zee Tom Shales, a Pulitzer-winning television critic at the Washington Post who spent nearly 40 years at the publication, has died. He was 79. Shales died Saturday at a hospital in Fairfax County, Va., from complications due to COVID-19 and renal failure, his caretaker, Victor Herfurth, told the Washington Post.

William Earl Bill Hayes, a longtime star of the NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” died Friday at the age of 98. Hayes played the character of Doug Williams on the daytime serial since 1970, five years after the show’s debut. He met his real-life wife, actress Susan Seaforth, on the series set in the fictional Illinois town of Salem.

Halle Berry joined First Lady Dr. Jill Biden for a roundtable discussion that highlighted the importance of women’s health research at the University of Illinois on Thursday (January 11) in Chicago.

AleXa has announced her brand-new 2024 ‘sick of you’ US tour.Today (January 11), AleXa announced six dates for “part one” of her upcoming 2024 ‘sick of you’ US tour, which will take place from late-March to mid-April 2024.The K-pop idol will kick off her tour with a show on March 29 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in New York City, New York. In the same month, she’ll also play a show in Chicago, Illinois.In April, AleXa will play concerts in the cities of Atlanta, Tulsa and Dallas.

Mickey Cottrell, the PR executive who specialized in the indie film business and worked both as an actor and a producer, died on New Year’s Day at the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills. He was 79.

The 2024 Rose Parade is about to kick off!

A Friends fan on TikTok has noticed that the show's beloved characters, Monica and Chandler Bing, move into the iconic house from Home Alone. In a video by @kazascoot, they pointed out that Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) from Friends seem to have moved into none other than house from Home Alone, which was the home of character Kevin McCallister.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Casey Kramer, the daughter of film director Stanley Kramer who acted on stage and screen, has died at 67 years old, her family announced. She passed away at her home in Chicago, Illinois on December 24.

Luann de Lesseps is currently starring in Bravo and Peacock‘s The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy, where she reunited with her co-stars of The Real Housewives of New York City.

Marc Charles Williams, better known as Mars Williams, the front-and-center saxophonist of ’80s New Wave bands The Waitresses and The Psychedelic Furs, died Nov. 20 of the rare and aggressive ampullary cancer in a Chicago hospice facility. He was 68.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Credit country superstar Luke Combs for being a lot faster to get out ahead of a potential public-relations crisis than your average celebrity — to the point that he’s cleaning up messes before he’s had the chance to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. Combs woke up early Wednesday morning learning of a TV news interview with a weeping woman in Florida, Nicol Harness, who’d been slapped with a $250,000 judgment by a federal court in Illinois, along with having thousands of dollars seized from her frozen Amazon seller’s account, because she had sold $380 of unauthorized Combs merch on the website.

Travis Scott‘s fans got some bad news today.

EXCLUSIVE: BET Media Group is developing the unscripted series The Twins from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s G-Unit Film & Television and Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group.

Lola Dee, whose 1951 hit “Pretty Eyed Baby” under the name Lola Ameche rose to No. 21 on the Billboard singles chart, has died at 95. She died of natural causes in a Hinsdale, Illinois nursing facility, her publicist said.

Jaden Thompson Lola Dee, a popular singer in the 1950s who toured with Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante and Johnnie Ray, has died. She was 95. The pop singer, who was signed to Columbia and Mercury labels in the ’50s, died of natural causes in Hinsdale, Illinois at a nursing facility, as announced by her publicist and CD producer Alan Eichler.

The ’90s may have come and gone, but the music from that decade will live on forever. Depending on where you live, you can even relive the glory of the ’90s by seeing some of your favorite musicians perform IRL.The ‘I Love the ’90s Tour’ brings together some of the hottest acts of the ’90s so they can play their iconic hits.

Amber Liu, a member of K-pop girl group f(x), has announced new dates for her upcoming 2024 ‘No More Sad Songs’ world tour.Today (December 5), Amber Liu revealed the new Asia, Australia and New Zealand legs of her upcoming 2024 tour. It’ll feature four shows in Asia – in Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore – alongside two Aussie concerts and one New Zealand performance in February and March.In addition, the f(x) singer also announced that indie pop singer-songwriter Marielle Kraft will join her on the North American leg of the tour, which features eight shows across January 2024.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Country music hasn’t had a huge presence in the mainstream top 10 since Florida Georgia Line provided a couple of big crossover blips in 2014 and 2017 with “Cruise” and “Meant to Be.” But that changed in triplicate in 2023 with three Nashville exports— the well-established Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs, plus a blazing-hot newcomer, Zimmerman. His first three singles all hit No.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer An Illinois appeals court has upheld the conviction of Jussie Smollett, the former “Empire” star who orchestrated a hate crime against himself nearly five years ago. Smollett was convicted in December 2021 on five felony charges of disorderly conduct and was later sentenced to 150 days in the Cook County jail.

EXCLUSIVE: Entertainment veterans Elisabeth Rohm and Kara have partnered to launch Rohm Feifer Entertainment, a film and television production company that will look to tell inspirational, female-forward stories steeped in true crime and true narratives that resonate with audiences of all kinds.