ICYMI: Charmed co-stars share tributes to the late Shannen Doherty, Katy Perry says ‘Woman’s World’ is ‘satire’

A lot of dramatic stuff happened in the news over the weekend, as per usual, so you may have missed a few key entertainment moments. Don’t worry, we’ve got you.

Friends and co-stars remember Shannen Doherty

Actor Shannen Doherty died over the weekend from cancer, aged 53.

Doherty — best known for starring in 90s staples including Charmed, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Heathers — has been remembered by a number of her peers and former co-stars.

In 90210, Doherty played Brenda Marsh, a teenager who moves to Beverly Hills from Minnesota, and is overwhelmed by the glitz and glamour. Throughout the series she is caught in a tumultuous love affair with bad boy Dylan.

Jason Priestley, who played Doherty’s twin brother Brandon (yes, Brenda and Brandon) on the show, called the late actress a “force of nature”.

Fellow 90210 co-star Jennie Garth (who played Brenda’s frenemy Kelly) shared a tribute to Doherty on Instagram, describing her as “one of the strongest people I have ever known”.

“We were so often pitted against each other but none of that reflected the truth of our real relationship which was one built on mutual respect and admiration,” she said.

“She was courageous, passionate, determined and very loving and generous.”

In Charmed, Doherty played Prue Halliwell, the uptight eldest of the three Halliwell sisters. They are very cool 90s women living in San Francisco, who also happen to be witches living in a gothic house, trying to stop demons from infiltrating the modern world.

Rose McGowan — who joined the cast as half-sister Paige after Doherty was fired mid-series — acknowledged their lives “had been intertwined in a unique way”.

“We laughed at dark forces who wanted us to hate each other, instead we chose love and respect,” McGowan said.

“A soft-hearted badass as there ever was. A force of energy that will live forever in our hearts.”

Actor Olivia Munn, who shared earlier in the year that she underwent a hysterectomy as a part of breast cancer treatment, said she and Doherty bonded over their shared diagnosis.

“Looking back on the last text she sent me just a couple months ago, she asked how I was doing and if she could do anything for me…. True to form, Shannen was offering her support even though she was in the final stage of fighting this horrific disease,” Munn said.

— Velvet Winter

Katy Perry defends ‘Woman’s World’ as satire after comeback single bombs with critics and fans

Last week, Katy Perry released ‘Woman’s World’ from her upcoming album 143. This was meant to be the start of a new era, after the pop star sold her back catalogue for US$225 million ($332 million).

However, the comeback single and accompanying music video has been widely regarded as a flop, savaged in negative reviews from *deep breath* The Guardian, Pitchfork, Vulture, The Cut, The Music, Dazed, Consequence of Sound, and countless social media accounts.The criticisms largely centre on the song’s cliched, outdated message of fempowerment, as well as labelling Perry a “hypocrite” for working with producer and co-writer Dr Luke, the hitmaker who recently settled a defamation lawsuit in which he was accused of drugging and raping Kesha (who released her own comeback song ‘Joyride‘ last week).

In response to the backlash (or perhaps anticipating it), Perry has issued a clip, shot on the set of the ‘Woman’s World’ music video, saying it was intended to be satirical.

“We’re kind of just having fun being a bit sarcastic with it, it’s very slapstick and very on the nose,” she says.

The clip has already bombed, too, with Perry’s posts on both X and Instagram flooded with negative comments. Most of them lean on the fact the ‘Fireworks’ singer forgot one of comedy’s golden rules: If you have to explain that something is satire, then it might not be very good satire. It might just be offensive caricature.

— Al Newstead

PETA disrupted the premiere for Twisters, a movie about tornado chasers, to protest … rodeos?

Actors Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell and director Lee Isaac Chung just wanted to promote their action blockbuster Twisters at the movie’s LA premiere last week. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had different ideas.

As Chung introduced the actors, a protester took to the stage to denounce the inclusion of scenes set at a rodeo.

“There’s no excuse to promote the cruelty and the abuse and the whipping of animals,” they yelled while resisting security’s attempts to remove them, as seen in a clip shared on X (Twitter).Other protesters were seen outside the theatre with signs urging people to “lasso tornadoes, not animals”, think about the fact that “calves’ necks are twisted at rodeos”, and calling on Twisters’ distributor, Universal Pictures, to “stop glamorising rodeos”.

In a statement on its website, PETA said it wanted audiences to “consider the exploitation behind the troubling rodeo scenes staged for [Twisters]”.

“Rodeos provoke and terrorise normally docile animals into appearing fierce and aggressive, using cruel electric prods, flank or bucking straps, and spurs — which burn, wound, or dig into their skin and sensitive tissue.

“Injuries and death are common for animals in these events … which is why this summer’s biggest movie should condemn, not glamorise, this blood sport.

“PETA has urged Universal Pictures and the filmmakers to include a disclaimer in the movie’s end credits to expose the cruelty inherent in rodeos … and to discourage audiences from attending them, but they’ve been silent.

“There is no justification for forcing animals to recreate such distressing scenarios for a Hollywood production. Instead, Twisters should have used stock footage or CGI.”

What do we think PETA makes of the original 1996 movie Twister sucking a mooing cow up into a tornado?

(This is a joke, obviously the 1996 airborne Twister livestock was faked with movie magic — the same cannot be said for the 2024 Twisters livestock.)

— Yasmin Jeffery

After a hiatus, Harry Styles performs with Stevie Nicks

On Friday at a concert in London, the legendary Stevie Nicks brought out Harry Styles to perform two songs in honour of her late Fleetwood Mac bandmate, Christine McVie.

McVie died suddenly in 2022, but would’ve turned 81 on Friday.

Nicks told the audience: “Christine was Harry’s girl, she was my girl, she was your girl, and she loved all of you, and today would’ve been her birthday.”

The duo performed ‘Landslide’ and ‘Stop Dragging My Heart Around’, and Styles wore a songbird pin in a nod to McVie’s moving Rumours track.

Good luck not crying while you watch this one:

This isn’t the first time Nicks and Styles have performed together, with the duo’s friendship beginning back in 2015 when the young pop star gifted his idol a hand-piped birthday cake.

But this was Styles’s first public performance since he wrapped up Love on Tour in mid-2023, off the back of his Grammy Award-winning album Harry’s House. 

And some were shocked to see the ex-One Direction singer looking so darn grown up (with a mullet and moustache!).

But fam, he’s 30. What do you expect? Even our (my) favourite boy band members inevitably become men. At least this one has great taste in 70s rock (and is still hot).

— Hannah Reich

We regret to inform you that FBoy Island season two is imminent

“There’s only one thing stopping these men from infecting our hearts, souls and holes,” is the unfortunate way host Abbie Chatfield lets us know that we’re about to be accosted by a second series of FBoy Island, whether we like it or not.

The thing that will stop these apparently sick (?) men are the three “independent” women who are throwing themselves at the mercy of Binge’s most eye-roll-inducing reality TV show.

Never heard of FBoy Island? Basically, they strand 24 dudes looking to kickstart their influencer careers on an island: half are FBoys (read: like to have a lot of sex and treat women badly) and half are “genuinely” looking for love. And it’s up to three unobtainably beautiful women to sort one from the other.

If the gals get to the end and pick a nice guy, she and her beloved split a cash prize. But if they pick an FBoy, said boy walks away with all the moolah.

If that sounds like an awfully convoluted way to get dozens of hot people to get half-naked and scream at each other on camera then you would be correct.

But Chatfield has insisted this show is deeply tongue-in-cheek — they put the men in a house shaped like a penis, for instance — and a great place to host some “teachable moments” about misogyny.

“This isn’t The Bachelor where the Bachelor is held to the highest regard. These are FBoys… they’re getting called out and being exposed for who they really are,” Chatfield told Punkee.

And audiences got on board the first time around, with season one even garnering a nomination for best reality show at the 2024 AACTAs, (it lost to MasterChef Australia).

The women competing in FBoy Island season two have now been revealed to be “self-proclaimed corporate powerhouse” and 2023 The Bachelors reject Krystal Thomas, Ally Woodfall — who reportedly already dated season one FBoy Vernon Lyon before he ghosted her — and Geelong-based model, Nicole Mitrov.

Check out the trailer for FBoy Island season two below if you’re a fan of glistening flesh and keeping Australian reality TV crew in stable employment. The new season starts on August 5 on Binge.

SOURCE: ABCNEWS