PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Kevin Costner says he won’t return to ‘Yellowstone’
There’s no more work to be done for John Dutton: Kevin Costner will not be returning to “Yellowstone.”
Costner, 69, confirmed he would not be returning to the hit neo-Western series as patriarch Dutton, ending more than a year of speculation and negotiations. Speaking directly to fans in an informal video posted on his Instagram and social media pages late Thursday night, Costner said he would not participate in the second half of “Yellowstone” Season 5 – the series’ final episodes – currently being shot in Montana.
Instead of “Yellowstone,” Costner will focus on other movies and “Horizon,” the four-part Western movie series he has produced, co-written, directed and stars in.
The first “Horizon” film, which Costner has said he financed with $38 million of his own money, hits theaters Friday. The second movie, “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2,” will be released Aug. 16. Costner is already shooting the third movie in Utah.
Nelly and Ashanti secretly married 6 months ago
Ashanti and Nelly are married after giving each other a second shot at love.
The couple announced to Essence in April that not only were they engaged
Costner
but they also were expecting their first child together 20 years after they first met. However, on Wednesday, TMZ reported that the two had already gotten hitched more than six months prior.
According to St. Louis public records reviewed by USA TODAY, the couple were legally married Dec. 27, 2023.
Ashanti and Nelly had quietly dated on and off for around a decade, according to “Entertainment Tonight,” after both were nominated for (and later won) Grammy Awards in 2003. In 2021, after the two reunited at Fat Joe and Ja Rule’s Verzuz battle, DJ City gave Nelly Ashanti’s phone number.
Eras-inspired Tube map welcomes Taylor Swift fans
Taylor Swift’s Eras tour was welcomed by a sparkling London Tube map redesigned in the singer’s honor on Friday, as the British capital eyes a $379 million windfall from her tour.
Swift is performing eight shows at London’s Wembley stadium. They are expected to attract nearly 700,000 fans in total, the mayor’s office said in a statement.
Transport for London published a special version of its distinctive London Underground map to mark the occasion.
“Taylor’s Version” of the map, a nod to her decision re-record some of her work after losing control of the master recordings, replaced names of train stops with her song titles, with “Westminster” renamed “Gorgeous” and “Piccadilly Circus” becoming “Wildest Dreams.”
Swift’s billion-dollar tour has helped local economies since its U.S. start last year, although economists are generally skeptical that concert tours or big sporting events give more than a small boost to a country’s economy.
Madonna fans end lawsuit over late concerts
Two Madonna fans ended their lawsuit in New York accusing the pop superstar of starting concerts two hours late, prompting her legal team to threaten the plaintiffs’ lawyers with sanctions.
Michael Fellows and Jason Alvarez alleged false advertising and negligent misrepresentation against Madonna, 65, and tour promoter Live Nation after the singer began three December concerts on her “Celebration Tour” at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center after 10:30 p.m., though tickets promised an 8:30 p.m. start.
The plaintiffs said that because the concerts ended around 1 a.m., they had either to leave early or spend more to get home because of limited public transport and ride-sharing options, and see their plans for the next day disrupted.
Fellows and Alvarez, both of Brooklyn, said they would not have bought their tickets had they known about the late starts.
Fellows and Alvarez did not say in a Brooklyn federal court filing why they voluntarily dismissed their proposed class action with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again. In a separate filing, the defendants’ lawyer said the dismissal “was not the result of any settlement.”