From the celebration of the landmark birthday of one American icon to the death of another and back to the infuriatingly frustrating finale of a current TV hit, it sure was a wild week in pop culture!
Here’s what you missed if you weren’t paying attention.
More:DWTS star fined for passing gas & 9 other crazy pop culture stories this week
1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer released
The first look for Lucasfilm’s latest masterpiece came out on Thursday and quickly racked up more than 5 million views before the end of the day. Don’t take the YouTube hits for happy excitement, however. The comments section quickly turned into a hateful war between fans bashing and defending the movie’s lead, Felicity Jones.
If you ask us, the movie looks pretty badass. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to hit theaters December 2016.
2. Drake drops new music
Fans were excited to wake up on Tuesday and find that the champagne papi had rolled out two new tunes from his upcoming album Views from The 6, which is reportedly dropping later this month. “Pop Style,” featuring The Throne, and “One Dance” with Wizkid and Kyla are now available for preview and download on iTunes.
We’ll just be over here sitting in the corner waiting for the videos to come out so we can see some more of Drake‘s sweet, sweet dance moves.
3. The Walking Dead fans demand answers
After months of not knowing if Glenn was alive or dead and a completely ridiculous cliffhanger finale that didn’t reveal which core character was killed by Negan, super pissed-off The Walking Dead viewers had had enough and decided to take matters into their own hands by demanding that AMC tell them who got bludgeoned to death.
“I would like AMC to show us who Negan killed in the Season 6 finale of The Walking Dead,” a petition on change.org reads. “We want this either in an interim episode that borders Season 6 and 7, or a short R-rated webisode that shows us the death in all it’s [sic] bloody glory. Either of these are fine as long as it’s released before May 30th.”
The petition had 6,864 supporters by Thursday.
4. The Rainbow Comes and Goes hits book shelves
Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, have always considered themselves close, but life sometimes took them in different directions. In their new book, The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss, you can read their touching correspondence to each other over the years.
We haven’t seen inside yet, but we sure hope there’s more amazing throwback photos like the ones Cooper has been posting on his Instagram.
The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss is now available in print on Amazon here and for Kindle download here.
5. Doris Day turns 92
America’s original sweetheart commemorated her 92nd birthday by releasing an adorable photo of herself with her dog, Squirrely, and the Internet exploded with glee.
Day was tickled pink when she found out that she was suddenly popular on social media, because it was bringing more awareness to her beloved animal rights causes.
“I don’t know anything about [Facebook] trending, but if it gets people to help the precious four-leggers around the world, then it’s a pretty great trend!” she said to People magazine. “My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has made that happen.”
6. The death of a country legend
While the world was excited to see Day doing well, it was also a dark time as many mourned the loss of singer Merle Haggard, who died on Wednesday of complications from pneumonia.
“A week ago dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn’t wrong,” Haggard’s son, Ben Haggard, wrote on Instagram. “A hour ago he took his last breath surrounded by family and friends. He loved everything about life and he loved that everyone of you gave him a chance with his music. He wasn’t just a country singer.. He was the best country singer that ever lived.” [sic]
7. 2 Dope Queens is the No. 1 podcast on iTunes
Can’t get enough of Jessica Williams on The Daily Show? Neither can anyone else. Williams and Phoebe Robinson’s new podcast titled 2 Dope Queens shot to No. 1 on iTunes this week. The two wickedly smart entertainers take on stories about “sex, romance, race, hair journeys, living in New York and Billy Joel,” according to their website.
You can listen and subscribe to the podcast here and download it on iTunes here.
8. Students’ throats slashed for real during production of Sweeney Todd
We’ve all heard of method acting, but this is just ridiculous. Two teenage boys were hospitalized in New Zealand this week after receiving cuts on their throats during an opening night performance of the play about a murderous barber.
Apparently, the students were using a real razor covered in duct tape and silver paper as a prop, according to the BBC. Both boys are in stable condition and the incident is being investigated as an accident.
9. The Slow Mo Guys throw some serious flames
If you aren’t acquainted with The Slow Mo Guys, you really should be. Not only are they hilarious with some downright delightful accents, but they turn out some seriously sweet experiments with their super high-tech slow-motion camera.
This week, their video blew up with a quickness when the guys showed us what a 50-foot flamethrower can do in slow motion. “Gav and Dan discover that often, some of the most beautiful things in life are the same things that will take your face right off,” the description of the YouTube video reads.
Ain’t that the truth.
10. Woman mistakes Kevin Hart for Chris Rock
File this one under epic fail.
Hart shared this video of himself having some fun with a clueless fan — and I’m using the term “fan” really loosely here — with his 33.1 million followers on Tuesday, and it quickly went viral. Leave it to Hart to turn a sticky situation into pure comedy gold.
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