iStock/Alexander_Volkov(NEW YORK) — Discovery+ has announced a new cooking competition show with a potent twist: weed.
Hosted by comedian Ron Funches, Chopped 420 will feature “four budding cannabis chefs” who are “challenged to create tasty and mind warping dishes” using cannabis or CBD-infused products for each appetizer, entrée, and dessert they whip up.
And they have to be original dishes, obviously: they can’t just make a munchies run to Taco Bell.
At stake is a $10,000 grand prize.
Naturally, the five-episode Chopped 420 series drops on Discovery+ on 4/20, the ‘high’ holiday of the stoner set.
NBCUniversal/Peggy Sirota(NEW YORK) — Earlier this week, a bogus press release went out claiming that Pete Davidson was starting a production company with a woman named Michelle, to whom he’d secretly gotten married. The Saturday Night Live star refuted the claims and it was soon revealed that the report was a phony.
Now, the person who crafted the fake release has been arrested by authorities for breaking into Davidson’s mother’s house.
24-year-old Michelle Mootreddy arrived unwanted at the home in Staten Island, NY at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Davidson’s mother answered the door when Mootreddy arrived, told her he was not at home and instructed her to leave, but Mootreddy went around the side of the home and entered through a back door.
Police were called, arrested Mootreddy and charged her with criminal trespassing, stalking and harassment. She told police that she and Davidson had a “telepathic love connection.”
So far, Davidson’s reps haven’t issued a statement regarding the arrest.
National Geographic/Richard DuCree(LOS ANGELES) — Courtney B. Vance shares a rare side of himself in the upcoming anthology series Genius: Aretha.
Vance, who plays Aretha Franklin’s father, C.L. Franklin, tells ABC Audio that channeling the “singing preacher” demanded a lot from him.
“We’re gonna hear some singing from me, so I definitely had to flex the cords and get my lung capacity and my endurance up,” he says. “Because you’re doing things seven and eight and 10 and 20 times and from different angles.”
“So by the time you’ve finished — I’m drenched,” Vance explains. “And then we got to get ready for the next one… But it was a wonderful challenge.”
His unique challenge, Vance explains, had a lot to do with tapping into C.L.’s intense persona, which he calls a “force of nature.”
“C.L. was his own universe,” Vance says, before adding that Mr. Franklin was also very different from his other pastor role of Reverend Henry Biggs in 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife — which starred the late great Whitney Houston.
“Reverend Biggs… was just trying to hang on and figure out what the heck was going on in his marriage and his church [and] bring everything together,” Vance says. “But C.L. dominated every room he was in.”
Still, the Emmy-Award winner says C.L.’s story in Genius is a relatable one.
“It’s the same journey,” he says. “These folks came up from sharecropping in the Deep South and came to these towns… Memphis and then into Detroit… by force of his own will and charisma [and] turned himself into a national figure: the singing preacher.”
“He was the superstar until he pushed his daughter out [in front]… because she was a prodigy. She was a ‘genius,'” he quips.
Genius: Aretha premieres Sunday, March 21 at 9 p.m. ET on Nat Geo.
Courtesy Reelgood(LOS ANGELES) — Oprah Winfrey’s recent chat with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did more than spark a response from the Queen. It also shook up The Crown — the Netflix show, that is.
Analysis of viewing data from streaming service aggregator Reelgood showed that the Emmy-winning series saw its daily streaming spike to double its usual daily audience following the much hyped, and much seen, interview with the runaway royals.
What’s more, the company also noted viewing spikes after key “real life” crown moments, such as the Queen issuing a statement regarding alleged racism, which was spurred by the chat.
After the Oprah interview — which followed The Crown‘s four wins at the Golden Globes, perhaps adding to interest — the show rose to the #9-ranked Netflix show among the two million viewers and 300 streaming service choices on the Reelgood platform.
ABC(TEXAS) — The mask mandate in Texas may be long gone, but Matthew McConaughey is urging Texans to keep “masking up.”
The 51-year-old actor, who lives in Austin, appeared recently onCBS This Morning and shared his opinion on Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to lift the statewide requirement for face coverings.
“I was a little dumbfounded by the decision,” the Oscar winner admitted. “I understand ‘Go back to work.’ What I did not understand was, pull the mask mandate.”
“Look, we’re on our way,” he continued. “The mask is just this minor inconvenience. And I think I just want to remind not only Texans, but everybody out there, in my opinion, it’s not the mask we’re afraid of… it’s the word mandate. Alright? So let’s not let the word mandate get in the way of the practical use of this little tool called a mask.”
McConaughey reasoned with viewers, stating that masks are “a small inconvenience today for more freedom tomorrow” and that now Texan’s have the choice on whether they wear one.
“If you have the choice, keep masking up It’s proven to help,” the actor pleaded. “We don’t have much longer in this. We’ll get through this. Thank you.”
iStock/Alexander_Volkov(NEW YORK) — Discovery+ has announced a new cooking competition show with a potent twist: weed. 
