Kat Graham’s Diana Ross portrayal cut from ‘Michael’ biopic
Kat Graham attends Lifetime’s Summer Soiree at Santa Monica Proper Hotel on July 16, 2025, in Santa Monica, California. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
The new Michael Jackson biopic Micheal opens in theaters Friday, and while Diana Ross was good friend of the singer, she won’t be represented in the film.
Vampire Diaries star Kat Graham was cast to play Ross in the movie, but she revealed on social media that her part of the film has been cut.
“Ahead of the April 24 release of the Michael Jackson film, I want to share that certain legal considerations affected a few scenes, including the ones I filmed with an incredible cast,” she wrote on X. “Unfortunately, those moments are no longer part of the final cut, though the team worked hard to preserve as much of the story as possible.”
Graham didn’t go into detail about the scenes. Variety reported in early April that the film went through $15 million worth of reshoots and cut out scenes pertaining to Jackson’s child molestation accusations because a settlement with one of the singer’s accusers, Jordan Chandler, prevented his portrayal in the film.
Michael stars Michael’s nephew Jaafar Jackson in the title role, with Colman Domingo playing the star’s father, Joe Jackson.
In this May 4, 2015, file photo, Savannah Guthrie poses alongside her mother Nancy Guthrie during a production break while hosting NBC’s ‘Today’ show live from Australia at Sydney Opera House in Sydney. (Don Arnold/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE)
Today show host Savannah Guthrie is begging for answers in the abduction of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, saying that “someone knows something.”
“How can someone vanish without a trace?” Savannah Guthrie said in the final part of her emotional interview with her friend and former co-host Hoda Kotb.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, house in the early hours of Feb. 1, authorities said. Investigators have released surveillance images from outside Nancy Guthrie’s house, but the person who took her remains unidentified.
“Our anguish is real. We need help,” Savannah Guthrie said. “We need someone to tell the truth. I have no anger in my heart — I have hope in my heart. I have love. But this family needs peace — I don’t think we deserve anything more or less than any other person.”
“It is never too late, and when you do, the warmth of love and forgiveness that will come will be greater than can be imagined,” she said.
As she waits for answers, Savannah Guthrie said she’s leaning on her faith and is inspired by the deep faith her mother’s had through hard times, like after Savannah Guthrie’s father died when the Today host was a teenager.
“I saw her grieve, I saw her world shatter,” Savannah Guthrie said.
“And I saw her get up and I saw her believe and I saw her love. And I saw her hope and I saw her smile and I saw her laugh. I saw her joy. … I saw her faith,” she said.
“She taught me, she taught all of us,” Savannah Guthrie continued.
“I may not do it as well as her, but I will do it. I will do it for my kids. I will. I will not fall apart,” she said through tears. “I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them. I will not let them take my joy.”
“Faith is how I will stay connected to my mom. … And I won’t let sadness win for her,” she said through tears.
Kotb has been filling in for Savannah Guthrie on Today since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. Savannah plans to return to Today on April 6.
“I’m not gonna be the same,” she said.
But she added, “I want to smile, and when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
James Cameron and Billie Eilish on the set of ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D).’ (Henry Hwu)
“This is gonna blow people’s minds,” predicts James Cameron in the new trailer for Billie Eilish’s concert film, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D).
In the latest trailer for the film, which was co-directed by Cameron and Eilish, the two discuss the singer’s “creative vision” while determining where they can put the 3D cameras to capture her live concert. There’s plenty of footage from the show, soundtracked to “Bad Guy,” as well as behind-the-scenes footage of Eilish getting ready for a show.
“I just feel like I’m going to hang out with my friends,” she says while describing a show day. Eilish also shows off cuts and bruises she sustains by going down into the audience to slap and shake hands with her fans.
“I want to be the artist that I would wanna be a fan of,” she explains. In another scene, she tells Cameron, “I want to feel like it’s me and them.”
We also get additional footage of Eilish’s “puppy room,” which we initially saw in the first trailer for the film. At each tour stop, the singer arranges for a local rescue organization to bring over a bunch of dogs and puppies, so everyone on the tour can “chill” backstage while cuddling the animals.
“Multiple people on my crew have adopted dogs from tour,” says Eilish. “Everyone needs some dog love.”
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D) is in theaters May 8, in Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D and Premium Large Formats.
Clockwise from top left: Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy and Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.” (Getty Images, FILE)
Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars are mourning the loss of actor Nicholas Brendon, who died at 54.
Brendon, who portrayed Xander Harris on the long-running supernatural drama, was a central figure in the series’ original cast and remained closely connected to fans of the show in the years that followed.
Alyson Hannigan, who starred alongside Brendon for years on the series, shared a heartfelt note on Instagram on Friday, reflecting on their friendship.
“My Sweet Nicky, thank you for years of laughter, love and Dodgers,” she wrote. “I will think of you every time I see a rocking chair. I love you. RIP.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, also honored Brendon with a deeply personal post, referencing a poignant line tied to the show’s themes of identity and belonging.
“They’ll never know how tough it is to be the one who isn’t chosen. To live so near to the spotlight, and never step in it,” Gellar wrote. “But I know. I see more than anybody realizes, because nobody’s watching me.”
She added, “I saw you Nicky. I know you are at peace, in that big rocking chair in the sky.”
Other Buffy stars to pay tribute to Brendon include David Boreanaz, who played Angel on the show before moving to his own spinoff; Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia, a love interest of Brendon’s character; and Emma Caulfield, who played former demon Anya, who also became a love interest for Brendon’s character.
The news of Brendon’s death was confirmed in a statement shared on his official Facebook page, revealing he passed away in his sleep from natural causes. The message described him as “passionate, sensitive, and endlessly driven to create,” noting that in recent years he had turned his focus to painting and art, which he often shared with loved ones and fans.
His death marks another loss for the Buffy community. In 2025, Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn Summers, also passed away.
