Last month the Academy announced upcoming changes to the Oscars telecast, to combat the ratings slide which is affecting everything on broadcast TV including football, and for the Oscars is mostly down to the fragmentation of entertainment and a little bit the popularity of the host which statistics…

As we discussed earlier this week, Geoffrey Owens isn’t ashamed of the fact that he worked at Trader Joe’s for more than a year when his acting gigs dried up. An actor’s life is hard, and only a very small percentage of actors get to be picky about what projects they choose. Owens is best known for his role in The Cosby Show, but he’s worked consistently over the years in film, television and theater. He’s also taught acting classes. After the photos came out of Owens working at Trader Joe’s, the outpouring of support from the acting and artistic community was overwhelming, and Geoffrey ended up on Good Morning America to discuss the positivity that came out of it. And because this man’s karma is so good, he’s now fielding acting-job offers and he’s signed on to work on a Tyler Perry project:

Geoffrey Owens is about to get a hell of a lot of screen time thanks to Tyler Perry — he’s accepted the mega producer’s offer for an acting gig — and it’s a big one! Owens, who starred on “The Cosby Show,” was recently photographed working as a cashier at Trader Joe’s. Geoffrey was shamed by many for the cashier job and Tyler reached out via Twitter, saying, “I’m about to start shooting OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!!”

Sources familiar with the deal tell us joining Tyler is exactly what Geoffrey will do. We’re told he’s going to appear on Perry’s hit, “The Haves and the Have Nots.” Even bigger … it’s not a one shot deal. We’re told he’ll have a recurring role and appear on 10 episodes. The show — on it’s 6th season — shoots in Atlanta, and we’re told Owens will fly there next week to begin filming. As for his salary … that’s unclear, but working one job is always better than two.

[From TMZ]

I’m not sure if a Tyler Perry TV show is any actor’s dream role, but actors do enjoy working on his projects. Perry’s films and TV shows are usually just flat-out soap operas and they’re steady, paying jobs, so why not? And I hope more producers have seen all of this and decide to cast Owens in other roles too. Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj threw herself into the conversation too:

Since the world learned Geoffrey Owens was working at a Trader Joe’s grocery store between acting gigs, the Cosby Show alum has been inundated with support and even offered a job by Tyler Perry. And on Thursday, Nicki Minaj also offered her support to the actor — saying she wants to give him $25,000.

“This man is a whole f—— legend,” the rapper said during her latest episode of Queen Radio on Beats 1. “That man is now getting so many opportunities, I personally want to donate $25,000.”

Minaj also called out Karma Lawrence, the woman who took Owens’ photo at a Trader Joe’s in New Jersey where he was bagging groceries. Calling Lawrence a “stupid f—,” the star accused her of “trying to embarrass this hardworking man.”

[From People]

I mean, if Nicki Minaj wanted to give me $25000, I wouldn’t say no. But to be clear, Geoffrey Owens was never looking for charity. He didn’t send up a GoFundMe account. He did what thousands of other actors do – worked a second non-acting job to support his family. Minaj is right about one thing: Geoffrey Owens is a legend.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Dear Gossips,

Janet Jackson covers the new InStyle. It’s the beauty issue. The pictures are gorgeous. She is gorgeous. It’s a gorgeous thing, to see a 52-year-old black woman on the front page of a magazine where the conversation is about beauty.

But this isn’t the conversation about Janet J…

Jennifer Garner’s mom revenge movie, Peppermint, is out this week. The critics are trashing it, it has an abysmal 15% on Rotten Tomatoes as of press time, but the audience score is surprisingly high at 92%. It could be entertaining and it could do okay at the box office, which is what matters. It’s being called “ridiculous,” “cliched,” “mediocre” and more than that, “problematic.” The trailer raised alarm bells after showing Garner’s white character infiltrating an Hispanic neighborhood to gun down stereotypical gang members. It’s worse than that, according to many writers who saw the film. The bad guys are just straw men for Garner’s character to destroy, and they’re invariably people of color. What’s more is that it pushes a conservative agenda that brown people are baddies. I don’t need to tell you that we don’t need that narrative at this time. Here are segments from some reviews, with my favorite being Roxana Hadadi’s at Pajiba:

The obvious reality here is that this movie is less about Riley North as an avenging angel…. and more about her as a murderer of people of color, and how totally fine that is because somebody has to do it. It won’t be the police or federal law enforcement or the justice system but one formerly mild-mannered white lady who with some mixed martial arts training and the right kinds of weapons that she can buy totally legally is able to exterminate a problem no one else has the balls to. And that problem is Mexican men. – Pajiba

Garner has stated she was drawn to the film because it focused on a mother turned avenging angel. But what’s the message there? And what’s up with the bad guys being mostly tattooed Latinos without a trace of character distinction? Peppermint dissolves into a series of absurd sequences in which the goons basically line up so North can punch, stab, shoot or blow them up… After two hours of being barraged by this paint-by-numbers dreck, you’ll also feel dead inside. – Rolling Stone

All you really need to know about Peppermint can be gleaned from its title sequence, a hodgepodge of heavy-metal music, filters, and camera effects that would make more sense in a 2000s Simple Plan music video than they do here, in a film starring America’s sweetheart… Whatever moments of fun there are watching Garner infallibly tear through the ranks of the drug gang are canceled out by the movie’s lack of creativity and imagination. – EW

On the one hand, Jennifer Garner deserves far better. On the other, she cashed the check. – AV Club

[From Pajiba, Rolling Stone, EW and AV Club]

Everyone is talking about how inferior this is from director Pierre Morel (Taken, John Wick) but writer Chad St. John’s main screenwriting credit is the clunker London Has Fallen. Garner chose to star in this despite these glaring problematic issues with the plot. It does focus on a white woman gunning down people of color. I’ve worked on plenty of projects that have ended up completely different than the initial specs, but usually there were clear warning signs. It’s possible she got sold on the mom idea and didn’t realize what the finished product would be. I know I’m being generous because she still has a lot of the public’s goodwill. Imagine if Scarlett Johansson took this role, would our reaction be different? Do you think Garner is even going to field questions about the ramifications of this movie’s message? It’s disappointing that Garner’s action film comeback to her roots is just a cliched mess. She’s dealing with a lot of that lately.

Photos credit: Backgrid and WENN

Since I’ve been mainlining the US Open into my veins for two weeks, I’ve felt such a pleasant distance from all the political shenanigans going down. I’ve been paying attention, of course, because it’s hard not to when my Twitter feed is clogged up with Brett Kavanaugh BS and Bob Woodward stuff. The one-two punch of Bob Woodward’s book plus the New York Times op-ed seems to have done a number on Donald Trump. He’s been acting particularly unhinged this week, according to multiple sources and multiple media outlets. But because of my distance from the hourly shenanigans, I do have to ask: what’s so different this time? People have been saying that Trump is nuttier than a fruitcake for two damn years. Every week there’s a new scandal, controversy or act of treason and every week it feels like people are saying “no, he’s really losing his mind bigly over this, this week it’s different.”

Which brings me to this Salon exclusive, which features some interviews and statements from various physicians and mental-health professionals. Dr. Randy Lee, a Yale University psychiatrist, says that Trump administration officials contacted her almost a year ago asking for help with Trump’s mental state:

According to Lee, the revelations about the Trump White House found in the New York Times article and Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book “Fear” suggest “how deeply the troubles run and what effort is required to protect the nation from what are obviously psychological symptoms.”

“None of the behavior that came out in the Bob Woodward book — as in the Michael Wolff book [“Fire and Fury”] … is a surprise, since it is all consistent with the psychological signs we observed and warned against 18 months ago. Mental health is a science-based field of serious conditions that have predictable patterns. We foresaw the course of this presidency, based on our knowledge and clinical experience, and were concerned enough to put our warnings into a book. We now warn that things will rapidly deteriorate and that the president should submit to an urgent, independent mental health evaluation by an appropriate specialist, as is warranted. We may be delayed, but it is still not too late. The 25th Amendment is a political decision, but it would set in motion the proper treatment of an individual showing his signs of instability: restraint, limit-setting, and removal from access to weapons.”

Lee also told me that these worries about Donald Trump’s mental health by staffers and those other people in the president’s inner circle predate Wednesday’s Times op-ed: “Two White House officials actually contacted me in late October, stating that Trump was “scaring” them, that he was “unraveling.” Not wishing to confuse the role I chose, as an educator of the public, and a potential treatment role, I referred them to the local emergency room without inquiring much further.”

[From Salon]

Donald Trump has been scaring his staff for two bloody years. And none of those cowards have the balls to actually do anything about it. The story of the Trump Administration isn’t just one of a delusional, fascist maniac who is compromised by Vladimir Putin – it’s about he thousands of enablers who stood by and did nothing (but write a self-satisfied op-ed) while Trump burned down the world.

Speaking of the Stable Genius, here he is slurring “anonymous” twice in a row last night.

Trump’s pronunciation of “anonymous” is the best video of the night. pic.twitter.com/HCyo5fpN7a

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 7, 2018

And here he is calling the NYT op-ed “treason.”

Trump on the NYT op-ed: “Number one, The Times should never have done that, because really what they’ve done, virtually, it’s treason.”

(Note: It is not treason.) pic.twitter.com/yToQcG3hEv

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 7, 2018

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

Cardi B gave birth to baby Kulture on July 11th. She had big dreams of giving birth and going back to work quickly, but life came at her fast. She canceled her tour with Bruno Mars, and she’s been low-key this summer, enjoying her time with the baby. She did step out at the MTV VMAs and I thought she looked great. She’s obviously still nursing and carrying some of the pregnancy weight, which is completely normal. She looked amazing though. But according to Cardi, she’s thinking about getting some stuff done, plastic surgery-wise. Cardi’s no stranger to plastic surgery – she’s always been pretty open about her work and her various “tune-ups.” So what do you make of this?

Cardi B is considering liposuction following the birth of her first child, she said on Instagram Live. The Bronx rapper, who recently gave birth to daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus, told fans, “I still got, like, a lot of love handles right here. They’re not much, but it’s, like, you know, I’m used to having, like, a real tight stomach. So this extra skin is like, ‘Where the f–?k did you came from?!’?”

She added, “But it’s like I might just get a little lipo. Because I mean, I feel like I can work out and my stomach will be back how it used to be. But I really don’t have time to work out. I never been the type to work out. I never stepped a foot in the gym.”

[From Page Six]

Personally, I’ve always believed that most celebrity women “get their bodies back” after pregnancy by a combination of diet, exercise and plastic surgery. The difference here is that Cardi is pretty open about it. While I don’t think she go for lipo right now, I also think that if and and when she does do it, no one will say sh-t because she’s always been so honest about it. But yeah, give it three months. Give it six months. It seems like Cardi thinks her body was really supposed to just “bounce back” immediately. It doesn’t work like that for most women.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Apropos of nothing, do you remember when Melania underwent some mysterious operation that left her hospitalized for days, and then she wasn’t seen in public for weeks afterwards? Wasn’t that so weird? Well, there’s a theory going around that the operation and absence could be explained by a mysterious boob job. Just something to think about. As for what else Melania has been up to… nothing much, really. I imagine her days are filled with shopping, spa-going, watching TV (CNN!) and hanging out with Barron. But someone told her about the anonymous White House senior staffer who wrote that New York Times op-ed. And Melania has some thoughts!

First lady Melania Trump fired back at the anonymous source that stunned the White House with a New York Times op-ed Wednesday.

“Freedom of speech is an important pillar of our nation’s founding principles and a free press is important to our democracy. The press should be fair, unbiased and responsible,” she told CNN in a statement Thursday. The first lady had a specific message for the author: “To the writer of the op-ed — you are not protecting this country, you are sabotaging it with your cowardly actions.”

“Unidentified sources have become the majority of the voices people hear about in today’s news. People with no names are writing our nation’s history. Words are important, and accusations can lead to severe consequences,” she added. “If a person is bold enough to accuse people of negative actions, they have a responsibility to publicly stand by their words and people have the right to be able to defend themselves.”

[From CNN]

Do you think Melania had any part in writing this statement whatsoever? Melania is neither a true-believer Deplorable nor a sympathetic Resistance ally. She falls somewhere in between – she supports her husband in most things, but mostly she just doesn’t care. About anything. So I would imagine this statement is less about Melania having feelings about anonymous critics of her husband and more about her worrying that her husband grows more delusional and unhinged by the day. Besides, it’s not like the lying, racist trophy wife of a fascist is some kind of moral paragon. Basically, every time Melania opens her mouth, I’m reminded of how useless she really is.

As for the message of “the op-ed writer is sabotaging the country”… I mean, I agree with that, but for a different reason. The writer isn’t sabotaging the country because he or she wrote the op-ed. He (or she?) is sabotaging the country because literally no one will stop the baby-fisted fascist. No one will remove him. No one will invoke the 25th. No one will say “enough is enough.”

Also: Bob Woodward’s Fear includes a story about Melania outright REFUSING to appear on TV with her husband immediately following the “grab ‘em by the p—y” tape. Staffers were trying to talk her into helping her husband do damage control and Melania was “adamantly opposed” and she reportedly said, “Not doing that. No way. No, no, no” while she waved her hand.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

I’ve never cared much about Anwar Hadid. Anwar is Gigi and Bella Hadid’s younger brother, and after Bella and Gigi got nepotized into the modeling industry, they brought Anwar into it too. Anwar is a relatively successful male model – he gets hired for runway work, he’s been featured in some magazines, etc. But he doesn’t really have a memorable or even notable look? Also, he’s just 19 years old. Well, Anwar is about to hit the big time because Kendall Jenner is helping him out. There are rumors that Kendall broke up with Ben Simmons – they basically just had a summer fling – and now she’s out here, making out with Anwar Hadid at New York Fashion Week. This feels like corporate synergy.

Models Kendall Jenner and Anwar Hadid were spotted in an epic makeout session at New York Fashion Week on Wednesday — as his top-model sisters Gigi and Bella partied nearby. Spies said Jenner — who is, at 22, the world’s highest-paid model, and elicited ire recently from lesser-paid catwalkers — was at a Cipriani Downtown party in Soho with Hadid, 19, where the pair were seen furiously locking lips.

“Kendall was sitting with Anwar all night and made out with him for quite some time,” a spy said. “They didn’t give a damn who saw them.”

The pair’s been seen canoodling in the past: In June, TMZ posted pics of Jenner and Hadid kissing at a CFDA Awards after-party in New York. Pals insisted at the time that it was nothing serious. But it seems the relationship’s gathering steam since Jenner recently split with Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons. Jenner and Hadid were spotted together last week in LA on separate occasions with friends, including dinner at Nobu. (Their interactions on those occasions were described as just friendly.)

[From Page Six]

This gossip item does several things all at once. One, it helps Kendall promote all of her NYFW appearances in the coming days. Two, it draws attention to Kendall’s lips, which are expanding by the day and are almost “vintage Kylie.” Three, it helps promote Anwar Hadid as a model/celebrity and this will legitimately help him get work. I suspect that Kendall is just helping out her good friends, the Hadids.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Getty.

This is interesting! Yesterday, Us Weekly had an exclusive about Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale having a day-long mediation session about custody of their three sons. I remember covering Gwen and Gavin’s divorce – while it took a while for everything to be finalized, neither of them splashed intimate details throughout the divorce process in an attempt to smear the other one. I mean, I guess you could argue that Gwen “outed” Gavin as a serial cheater, but we truly already knew that before she even filed for divorce. Mostly, I thought that they had the right priorities and they were successfully co-parenting. I suggested that the mediation over custody was perhaps something to do Blake Shelton and how much time the boys spend in Oklahoma. Turns out, it wasn’t that at all.

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale are in mediation over opposing parenting styles, PEOPLE confirms.

“They have very different points of view on how to raise their kids,” a source tells PEOPLE of the exes, who share custody of their three sons: Kingston, 12, Zuma, 10, and Apollo, 4½. The source adds that while Stefani’s religious beliefs are a priority for her, Rossdale “isn’t a Christian and parenting in that way.”

A second insider tells PEOPLE Rossdale “loves his kids,” adding: “They’re the world to him. He’s a great father and wants to spend as much time with them as possible.”

[From People]

Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Gwen is a lot like Jennifer Garner in that way – always getting pap’d outside of church, nearly every Sunday. Gwen was raised Catholic and she is clearly committed to raising her sons in the church too. Blake Shelton often comes to church with Gwen too. But Gavin was never really into it, and I can understand – a little bit – why he’s like “slow your roll, maybe the boys shouldn’t go to church EVERY Sunday?” Religious differences are always tough, especially on the kids. Kingston is probably getting to that age where he’s questioning everything and Gavin thinks that’s healthy and Gwen is like “you’re still going to church, buddy.” I don’t know. I don’t have a solution for them. Maybe let the kids have a choice about church when they get to a certain age?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Well, it’s been four months. Maybe pregnancy rumors were always going to be inevitable. Here are some photos of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in London last night. They attended a gala music event called 100 Days to Peace, and the event benefited three military/veteran and mental health charities: Help for Heroes, Combat Stress and Heads Together. Basically, Harry and Meghan got to watch a lovely concert and it was work! But good for them.

As for the dress and the pregnancy rumors… the dress is by Jason Wu, the shoes are Aquazzura and the clutch is by Dior. Something positive: the color is gorgeous on her. Certain shades of blue can end up looking really cheap in photos, but this shade on Meghan looks gorgeous. As for the pregnancy rumors… clearly, the dress makes her look pregnant. She looks like she’s gone up several cup sizes overnight. The ruching or ruffles… I can’t really tell if it’s all an optical illusion or if Meghan really is suddenly top-heavy. Your guess is as good as mine! I’m 50% on a “weird ruffles, not pregnant” and I’m 50% on “totally pregnant and wearing a weird dress to try to cover up her sudden pregnancy curves.”

You can read more about the music gala here at People – it sounds like a lovely evening. Harry and Meghan also did a sort of meet-and-greet judging by the photos.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.