Conan is hosting the Oscars again. Tracy Morgan’s court-side hiccup. Drake’s lawsuit against his own label. Listen for SO MUCH MORE.

Tracy Morgan is a regular fixture at Knicks games, and he was sitting courtside last night watching his home team take on the Heat at Madison Square Garden. But something overcame him in the third quarter, and Tracy bent over and started puking all over the floor. And then he was so weak, he had to be taken off the floor in a wheelchair. The game was delayed for about 10 minutes while everything was cleaned up. Everyone has reached out to his rep for comment, but so far, we don’t know what happened.  But a spokesperson for MSG released a statement saying, “We hope Tracy feels better soon and look forward to seeing him back courtside.” And Knicks player Josh Hart said, “We hope everything is good with Tracy Morgan, avid lifetime Knicks fan, so prayers go out to him and his health and safety.” 

Conan O’Brien did such an okay job hosting this year’s Academy Awards, they’ve asked him to come back and be okay again next year. In a statement, Conan said, “The only reason I’m hosting ‘The Oscars’ next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech…” And you can hear more jokes like that during the 98th Oscars ceremony, which will air live on Sunday, March 15, 2026. In the meantime, Conan revealed on his podcast that this year, the Academy cut part of his Oscars promo because “the image of Oscar is very important to them.” Conan explained they were shooting a promo where Conan and the Oscar are in an unhappy marriage. Conan said, “The Oscar’s not doing anything. It’s just standing there like a statue, and I’m saying, ‘What happened to our marriage?’ and we’re fighting about things that couples fight about. At one point, I thought, ‘Oh this would be really great if the Oscar was just on the couch.’ Let’s lay it on a really big couch and I’ll be vacuuming and say, ‘Could you at least lift your feet?’ or, ‘Could you at least get up and help load the dishwasher?’” Conan said there was all this whispering going on and then one of the Academy reps finally came up to him and said, “Oscar can never be horizontal.” And Conan’s head writer said they had a problem when they wanted to put an apron on Oscar because, they said, “No clothing on Oscar. Oscar’s always naked.”  

Justin Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman is on the latest episode of The Town podcast. The host asks Freedman if there’s a chance Justin’s $400M lawsuit against Blake Lively — and her sexual harassment lawsuit against him — could be settled out of court. With the trail set for March 2026, both sides have rejected mediation. The host asked, “What’s the number? What would it require for this to go away?” Freedman rejected the idea of settling, explaining, “Justin has been destroyed by this…..In this day and age, the only way you can truly get back is to prove your innocence and that’s what we’re actively working to. That may only be able to be done in a courtroom.”  

Back in January, Drake filed a lawsuit against his label — Universal Music Group — claiming they “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit” out of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us which was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.” Now UMG has filed a motion to dismiss Drake’s lawsuit, adding a diss of their own! In their motion, UMG said Drake “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated. Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.” In their motion, UMG argues that it’s a double standard for Drake to expect them to promote his diss tracks against Kendrick and not vice versa.  BOOM. 

After years of controversy and delays, Disney’s live-action Snow White remake is finally hitting theaters this Friday. The $270M production has been plagued with problems from the start, beginning with Peter Dinklage’s criticism of Disney for “making that (BLANKING) backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.” Then there was the controversy over the casting of Latina actress Rachel Zegler in the lead role. Then there were the interviews where Rachel slammed the original 1937 movie, calling Prince Charming “a guy who literally stalks her,” which she said was “weird.” Rachel promised the remake would have “a modern edge” where Snow White “is not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.” Apparently, a lot of people don’t want anyone messing with the original story. And on top of ALL that, after the first trailer was released online last August, Rachel thanked everyone for the love and the views, adding, “and always remember, free palestine.” Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen, was born not only born in Israel, she won Miss Israel in 2004 and then served two years in the Israel Defense Forces. This has obviously caused a great amount of tension behind the scenes. As a result of all the controversy, Disney scaled way back on promoting Snow White, restricted interviews and nixed reporters at the red carpet premiere, and delayed advance ticket sales. With many calling for a boycott, industry experts say Disney is quietly bracing for a box office disaster.

and always remember, free palestine.

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) August 12, 2024